Skip to content

Photos, travel stories, reportage and random stuff from New Zealand and around the world by Peter de Graaf

  • Home
  • New Zealand
  • Pacific
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Caucasus
  • Middle East
  • Africa
  • Weird Travel
  • Photos
  • About

New Zealand

New Zealand Photos 

Top news photos of 2020

January 2, 2021January 2, 2021 pdg 0 Comments Battle of Kororāreka, coronavirus, Covid-19, Dame Whina Cooper, Haruru Falls, Kerikeri, Kerikeri Fire Brigade, Moerewa, Ngātokimatawhaorua, Otiria, Otiria Marae, Panguru, Project Island Song, Tai Tokerau Border Control, Waitangi, wētāpunga

A global pandemic, iwi-led Covid checkpoints, Waitangi Day festivities, politics, record-breaking rainfall, floods and fires — 2020 had it all.

Read more
New Zealand 

Takahē and naked trampers on the Heaphy Track

April 4, 2020September 20, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Gouland Downs, Heaphy Track, hiking, Kahurangi National Park, Karamea, takahe, tramping

The author encounters takahē, kleptomaniac weka and naked trampers on New Zealand’s longest Great Walk.

Read more
New Zealand 

The Te Araroa Project

November 13, 2019October 25, 2020 pdg 0 Comments hiking, Kerikeri, Mangamuka, Ninety Mile Beach, Omahuta Forest, Puketi Forest, Raetea Forest, Te Araroa

What drives more than 1000 people a year to walk the length of New Zealand? I decided to find out.

Read more
New Zealand 

Sir Hekenukumai Puhipi: The bridge builder

June 30, 2019September 20, 2020 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.

Read more
New Zealand 

One man’s war: A Hokianga soldier remembers

May 29, 2019September 20, 2020 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.

Read more
New Zealand 

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

May 28, 2019September 20, 2020 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.

Read more
New Zealand Top stories 

Walking New Zealand’s Hokianga Coastal Track

April 20, 2019January 2, 2021 pdg 3 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.

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

Stairway to heaven

February 13, 2019September 19, 2020 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.

Read more
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.

Read more
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.

Read more
New Zealand 

Brother’s bones home at last

September 10, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 2 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.

Read more
Europe Featured New Zealand 

The far-reaching wake of the waka

May 27, 2018September 19, 2020 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?

Read more
New Zealand Weird Travel 

The highwaymen of Hokianga

May 22, 2018September 19, 2020 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.

Read more
New Zealand 

Godson to the Queen

May 21, 2018September 19, 2020 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.

Read more
Europe New Zealand 

Hundertwasser in Holland: ‘Your loss is our gain’

May 20, 2018September 19, 2020 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.

Read more
New Zealand 

The life of Brian

May 19, 2018September 19, 2020 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,

Read more
New Zealand 

Te Paki: New Zealand’s top hike

May 17, 2018January 2, 2021 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.

Read more
Asia New Zealand 

Against the odds: Surviving the Burma railroad

May 16, 2018September 19, 2020 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.

Read more
Asia New Zealand 

Peace at last for shipwreck’s ‘hungry ghosts’

May 15, 2018September 19, 2020 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”.

Read more
New Zealand 

Where the sun rises

May 14, 2018September 19, 2020 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.

Read more
  • ← Previous

About the author

Kia ora and welcome to Ramblings, a random collection of travel yarns, stories and photographs by Peter de Graaf. I’m a reporter and occasional travel writer based in Kerikeri, a small town in New Zealand’s Far North. Read more...

LATEST

Top news photos of 2020
New Zealand Photos 

Top news photos of 2020

January 2, 2021January 2, 2021 pdg 0

A global pandemic, iwi-led Covid checkpoints, Waitangi Day festivities, politics, record-breaking rainfall, floods and fires — 2020 had it all.

Armenia in pictures
Caucasus Photos 

Armenia in pictures

October 10, 2020December 28, 2020 pdg 0
Laos in pictures
Asia Photos 

Laos in pictures

September 27, 2020October 1, 2020 pdg 0
Azerbaijan in pictures
Caucasus Photos Top stories 

Azerbaijan in pictures

August 9, 2020December 28, 2020 pdg 0

WEIRD TRAVEL

Is this the world’s most bizarre place for a castle?
Europe Featured Weird Travel 

Is this the world’s most bizarre place for a castle?

July 22, 2020December 28, 2020 pdg 3

It has everything you’d ever want in a medieval castle. There’s only one problem: It’s in the middle of a giant steel mill.

The Merry Cemetery: Where folk art conquers grief
Europe Top stories Weird Travel 

The Merry Cemetery: Where folk art conquers grief

August 24, 2019December 28, 2020 pdg 0
Is this the world’s strangest parade?
Europe Photos Weird Travel 

Is this the world’s strangest parade?

August 11, 2019September 20, 2020 pdg 0
Transnistria: How to visit a country that doesn’t exist
Europe Featured Weird Travel 

Transnistria: How to visit a country that doesn’t exist

July 19, 2019September 20, 2020 pdg 2

PHOTOS

Top news photos of 2020
New Zealand Photos 

Top news photos of 2020

January 2, 2021January 2, 2021 pdg 0

A global pandemic, iwi-led Covid checkpoints, Waitangi Day festivities, politics, record-breaking rainfall, floods and fires — 2020 had it all.

Armenia in pictures
Caucasus Photos 

Armenia in pictures

October 10, 2020December 28, 2020 pdg 0
Laos in pictures
Asia Photos 

Laos in pictures

September 27, 2020October 1, 2020 pdg 0
Azerbaijan in pictures
Caucasus Photos Top stories 

Azerbaijan in pictures

August 9, 2020December 28, 2020 pdg 0
Georgia in pictures
Caucasus Photos 

Georgia in pictures

July 5, 2020December 28, 2020 pdg 0
Copyright © 2021 . All rights reserved.
Theme: ColorMag by ThemeGrill. Powered by WordPress.