One man’s war: A Hokianga soldier remembers
Bill Guest only left North Hokianga once and reckons it was only luck that brought him back alive. The 96-year-old veteran shares some of the horror, and humour, of World War II.
Read more
Author: pdg
Kiwi couple’s answer to the housing crisis: A tiny house on a trailer
Rangimārie Mules and Jared Hiakita didn’t want to start their life together shackled to a giant mortgage. Their solution was a tiny house on a trailer.
Read more
Bohemia’s bagpipe festival in pictures
Every two years the International Bagpipe Festival draws pipers from all over Europe — and occasionally from as far away as New Zealand — to a small town in the Czech Republic.
Read more
Walking New Zealand’s Hokianga Coastal Track
Three days of wildly beautiful coastline — and chances are you won’t have to share it with anyone.
Read more
A beastly back rub: Hanging out with the hyenas of Harar
There are times in your life when you ask yourself: How did I get here? For me, one of those times was in a rubbish dump at night in Ethiopia with a 60kg hyena on my back.
Read more
Six things to do in Harar, Ethiopia, that don’t involve hyenas
If you find yourself in Harar, Ethiopia, but you don’t fancy getting a back massage from a hyena: Relax. There’s plenty of other things to do.
Read more
Why you should visit Europe’s least touristy country
A lively capital, an ancient cave monastery, the world’s biggest wine cellars and a Soviet time warp await visitors to Europe’s least touristy country.
Read more
Stairway to heaven
In the bush west of Kerikeri, a small town in northern New Zealand, a Korean spiritual leader says he is building a global headquarters for an organisation of 100 million members.
Read more
Waitangi Day in pictures
A selection of my favourite images from Waitangi Day, the anniversary of the signing of New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi, taken since 2010.
Read more
Best photos of 2018
From a new Prime Minister’s visit to a tearful whale stranding and a mass haka in the rain, these are a few of my favourite news photos of 2018.
Read more
Another Samoa: Tramping in the tropics
Hikers’ haven American Samoa is home to the only US national park in the Southern Hemisphere.
Read more
The Birdman of Atiu
Birdman George has made it his life’s mission to save the feathered creatures of Atiu in the Cook Islands
Read more
Bushwalking in the Grampians
Wildlife abounds in the Grampian Mountains of northwestern Victoria.
Read more
Five things to do in Australia’s Grampians
Hiking, wildlife spotting, Aboriginal culture and wine — a few of my favourite things in Victoria’s Grampian Mountains.
Read more
Fiji’s Sawa-i-Lau Caves: ‘Swim towards the light’
A trip to an underwater cave in the middle of an island pushes the author’s most basic fear buttons.
Read more
Vanuatu in pictures
Vibrant coral reefs, lush rainforests, other-worldly landscapes created by active volcanoes, extraordinary homegrown religions untouched by missionaries, and some of the happiest people on Earth – welcome to Vanuatu.
Read more
15 things to do in American Samoa
American Samoa is just a short hop from Apia in the other Samoa, yet it’s so far off the Kiwi traveller’s radar it might as well be on another planet. But if you do end up in the only US territory south of the Equator, what can you do there? I decided to find out.
Read more
Brother’s bones home at last
In 1976 Paul Thomas promised his mother he would bring his brother’s remains home. In 2018 he finally succeeded.
Read more
Romania’s singing sheepdogs
One of my favourite experiences during my last visit to Romania involved a chance encounter with a shepherd, a pack of singing sheepdogs and a 19th-century-style road crash involving a horse-drawn cart.
Read more
American Samoa in pictures
American Samoa is so far under the radar even well-travelled friends looked at me blankly when I told them where I was going.
Read more