New Zealand | Ramblings

Sir Hekenukumai Puhipi: The bridge builder

June 30, 2019 pdg 0 Comments Haami Piripi, Hector Busby, Hōkūle’a, Jacinda Ardern, Mau Piailug, Nainoa Thompson, Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti, Ngātokimatawhaorua, Polynesian Voyaging Society, Sir Hek, Sir Hekenukumai Puhipi, Sir James Henare, Te Aurere, Voyage of Rediscovery, waka, waka hourua

Sir Hek Busby spent a lifetime building bridges – over rivers, between peoples, and across the mighty Pacific Ocean.

New Zealand

One man’s war: A Hokianga soldier remembers

May 29, 2019May 29, 2019 pdg 0 Comments Faenza, Hokianga, Italy, Kohukohu, Motukauri, Rawene, World War II

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.

New Zealand

Kiwi couple’s answer to the housing crisis: A tiny house on a trailer

May 28, 2019May 29, 2019 pdg 0 Comments food sovereignty, Hokianga, Northland, tiny house

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.

New Zealand

Walking New Zealand’s Hokianga Coastal Track

April 20, 2019April 20, 2019 pdg 2 Comments hiking, Hokianga, Hokianga Coastal Track, Kai Iwi Lakes, Maunganui Bluff, Ōmāpere, Waimamaku Coastal Track, walking

Three days of wildly beautiful coastline — and chances are you won’t have to share it with anyone.

A cut-out of Ilchi Lee welcomes visitors on a bushwalk called 'The Way of New Life'

New Zealand

Stairway to heaven

February 13, 2019 pdg 0 Comments Dahn yoga, Earth Citizens Organisation, Earth Village, Ilchi Lee, Kerikeri

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.

New Zealand Photos

Waitangi Day in pictures

February 8, 2019February 8, 2019 pdg 3 Comments Bay of Islands, Hekenukumai Puhipi, Jacinda Ardern, Treaty of Waitangi, Waitangi Day, Waitangi Treaty Grounds, waka

A selection of my favourite images from Waitangi Day, the anniversary of the signing of New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi, taken since 2010.

New Zealand Photos

Best photos of 2018

January 24, 2019 pdg 0 Comments haka, Jimmy Cliff, Northland, Richie McCaw, Waitangi, whale rescue

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.

New Zealand

Brother’s bones home at last

September 10, 2018September 10, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Malayan Emergency, NZ Defence Force, SAS, Te Auraki

In 1976 Paul Thomas promised his mother he would bring his brother’s remains home. In 2018 he finally succeeded.

Europe Featured New Zealand

The far-reaching wake of the waka

May 27, 2018February 13, 2019 pdg 0 Comments Leiden, Museum Volkenkunde, Netherlands, Te Hono ki Aotearoa, Te Papa, waka

What makes a group of Dutch students so passionate about Māori culture that they travel halfway around the world each year to take part in Waitangi Day festivities?

New Zealand Weird Travel

The highwaymen of Hokianga

May 22, 2018June 2, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Hokianga, Northland, Waimamaku, Wild West

Once a year the Wild West saddles up and rides into Waimamaku for a day of highway robbery.

New Zealand

Godson to the Queen

May 21, 2018September 14, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Albert Victor Pomare, Northland, Queen Victoria, Waitangi Treaty Grounds

The fascinating and little-known tale of how Queen Victoria came to have a Māori godson.

Europe New Zealand

Hundertwasser in Holland: ‘Your loss is our gain’

May 20, 2018May 21, 2018 pdg 2 Comments Hundertwasser, Kindervallei, Netherlands, New Zealand, Valkenburg, Wellington, Whangarei

How a ‘New Zealand monument’ designed by eccentric Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser ended up being built in Holland instead.

New Zealand

The life of Brian

May 19, 2018September 14, 2019 pdg 0 Comments Brian Parkinson, New Guinea, New Zealand flora and fauna

Prolific author Brian Parkinson has become a leading authority on New Zealand’s flora and fauna, despite having no formal qualifications,

New Zealand

Te Paki: New Zealand’s top hike

May 17, 2018May 24, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Cape Reinga, Great Walks, hiking, Kapowairua, Ninety Mile Beach, Northland, Spirits Bay, Te Paki, Te Rerenga Wairua

Could the Te Paki Coastal Track around New Zealand’s northern tip qualify as a Great Walk? I decided to brave the mosquitoes to find out.

Asia New Zealand

Against the odds: Surviving the Burma railroad

May 16, 2018August 1, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Burma railroad, Dutch East Indies, Northland, World War II

Seventy-five years after being conscripted into the Dutch East Army during World War II, a Northland man’s service – and his ordeal on the notorious Burma railroad – has finally been recognised.

Asia New Zealand

Peace at last for shipwreck’s ‘hungry ghosts’

May 15, 2018May 26, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Chinese, Hokianga, Maori, Northland, shipwreck, Te Rarawa, Te Roroa, Ventnor

A Northland woman’s quest to discover the truth behind a century-year-old maritime tragedy has brought two peoples together – and brought peace to hundreds of “hungry ghosts”.

New Zealand

Where the sun rises

May 14, 2018May 15, 2018 pdg 0 Comments cycling, East Cape, Gisborne, Tikitiki, Tokomaru Bay, Tolaga Bay

Travelling around East Cape in search of the easternmost pub in New Zealand – by bicycle.

New Zealand

An everlasting link

May 13, 2018June 4, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Leiden, Museum Volkenkunde, Northland, Te Hono ki Aotearoa, Waitangi, waka

A traditional carved canoe has created a new bond between New Zealand and the Netherlands, two seafaring nations with a shared history going back almost 400 years.