Skip to content
Ramblings

Ramblings

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

Pacific

Pacific Photos 

Tonga in pictures

May 2, 2020July 11, 2021 pdg 0 Comments Ha'apai Islands, Neiafu, Nuku’alofa, Tonga, Tongatapu, Vava'u Islands

Unspoiled beaches, decrepit ferries, spontaneous schoolkids and a slow-paced way of life in one of the world’s last absolute monarchies.

Read more
Pacific 

The Pacific’s forgotten slave trade

April 1, 2020July 4, 2021 pdg 0 Comments Australia, blackbirding, Port Vila, slave trade, slavery, Tanna, Vanuatu

It’s Australia’s shameful secret: A human trade in which tens of thousands of Pacific Islanders were kidnapped as labour for Queensland’s sugar plantations. Their descendants’ calls for an apology have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Read more
Pacific 

Another Samoa: Tramping in the tropics

November 15, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments American Samoa, hiking, Pago Pago, Tutuila

Hikers’ haven American Samoa is home to the only US national park in the Southern Hemisphere.

Read more
Pacific 

The Birdman of Atiu

November 8, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Atiu, conservation, Cook Islands

Birdman George has made it his life’s mission to save the feathered creatures of Atiu in the Cook Islands

Read more
Pacific 

Bushwalking in the Grampians

November 6, 2018October 14, 2019 pdg 0 Comments Australia, Grampians, Grampians Peaks Trail, Halls Gap, hiking, kangaroos, Victoria

Wildlife abounds in the Grampian Mountains of northwestern Victoria.

Read more
Pacific 

Five things to do in Australia’s Grampians

November 6, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Australia, Grampians, hiking, Victoria

Hiking, wildlife spotting, Aboriginal culture and wine — a few of my favourite things in Victoria’s Grampian Mountains.

Read more
Pacific 

Fiji’s Sawa-i-Lau Caves: ‘Swim towards the light’

November 1, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Fiji, Sawa-i-Lau Caves, Yasawa Islands

A trip to an underwater cave in the middle of an island pushes the author’s most basic fear buttons.

Read more
Pacific Photos 

Vanuatu in pictures

October 16, 2018October 16, 2018 pdg 0 Comments Ambrym, Efate, Maskelyne Islands, Port Vila, Tanna, Vanuatu

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
Pacific 

15 things to do in American Samoa

September 22, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 4 Comments American Samoa, Aunu’u Island, Fagatogo, Ofu Beach, Pago Pago, Tisa’s Barefoot Bar, Tutuila

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
Pacific Photos 

American Samoa in pictures

August 9, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 9 Comments American Samoa, Pago Pago, Tutuila

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
Pacific 

Walking with koalas

July 7, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 4 Comments 12 Apostles, Australia, Great Ocean Walk, hiking, koala, Victoria

Koala love-calls provide the sound track along the coast-hugging, 100km Great Ocean Walk in Victoria, Australia.

Read more
Pacific 

A walk in another world

June 19, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 6 Comments Anetakitaki Cave, Atiu, caving, Cook Islands

Most Pacific islands lure visitors with promises of sun-soaked beaches — but on Atiu one of the biggest attractions is a place where the sun never shines.

Read more
Pacific 

Samoa on two wheels

May 28, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments cycling, fa’a Samoa, Saleaula, Samoa, Savai’i

A guide to cycling around Savai’i, the bigger, less developed and more chilled-out of Samoa’s two main islands.

Read more
Pacific 

Uncovering Aitutaki’s hidden past

May 21, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Aitutaki, Cook Islands, Punarei Culture Tours

One man has made it his mission to revive knowledge of pre-Christian ways in the Cook Islands.

Read more
Pacific 

A toast to the Walking Dead

May 20, 2018December 28, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Atiu, Cook Islands, tumunu

On Atiu, in the Cook Islands, resourceful locals brew their own beer from oranges and socialise in bars hidden in the bush.

Read more
Pacific Top stories 

One foot in paradise

May 17, 2018December 28, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Aitutaki, Cook Islands, One Foot Island, paradise

I’d only been on Aitutaki, a series of atolls sprinkled around a picture-postcard lagoon in the Cook Islands, for a few minutes when Captain Terrible ruined my plans for this story.

Read more
Pacific 

Twin peaks: Walking Vanuatu’s volcanoes

May 17, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Ambrym, hiking, Vanuatu, volcano

Craters of boiling lava, lush rainforest, bizarre landscapes and charming Ni-Van guides make the walk over Ambrym’s twin volcanoes one of the best overnight hikes in the Pacific.

Read more
Pacific 

Doing the island hop

May 16, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Fiji, island hopping, snorkelling, Yasawa Islands

Rainbow-coloured reefs, sunset tubing, fire dancing, Fijian hospitality and much more put the Yasawa Islands on the map.

Read more
Pacific 

Exploring Fiji on foot

May 16, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Fiji, hiking, Yasawa Islands

I’m sure my insistence on seeking out walks in Fiji’s Yasawa Islands marked me out as something of an eccentric.

Read more
Pacific 

Lending a hand in Fiji

May 15, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Fiji, Vinaka Fiji, voluntourism, Yasawa Islands

A “voluntourism” programme is improving lives in Fiji’s Yasawa Islands.

Read more
  • ← Previous

About Ramblings

Kia ora and welcome to Ramblings, a fairly random collection of travel stories, photos and reportage from New Zealand and around the world 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

Fiordland’s Hollyford Valley: A walk back in time
New Zealand 

Fiordland’s Hollyford Valley: A walk back in time

April 6, 2022April 7, 2022 pdg 0

Where experiencing one of New Zealand’s wildest places doesn’t mean you have to go without fine food and lodgings.

The Hunger Diary: My father and the Dutch famine
Europe 

The Hunger Diary: My father and the Dutch famine

March 26, 2022March 28, 2022 pdg 2
Ukraine revisited: Invasion rekindles memories of long-ago trip
Europe Photos 

Ukraine revisited: Invasion rekindles memories of long-ago trip

March 20, 2022March 20, 2022 pdg 0
The Bone Church of Kutná Hora: Final resting place of 40,000 people or macabre tourist attraction?
Europe Weird Travel 

The Bone Church of Kutná Hora: Final resting place of 40,000 people or macabre tourist attraction?

November 18, 2021November 19, 2021 pdg 0

WEIRD TRAVEL

The Bone Church of Kutná Hora: Final resting place of 40,000 people or macabre tourist attraction?
Europe Weird Travel 

The Bone Church of Kutná Hora: Final resting place of 40,000 people or macabre tourist attraction?

November 18, 2021November 19, 2021 pdg 0

The monks of Sedlec Abbey, in what is now the Czech Republic, turned a problem into a morbid masterpiece.

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, 2020July 4, 2021 pdg 3
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

PHOTOS

Ukraine revisited: Invasion rekindles memories of long-ago trip
Europe Photos 

Ukraine revisited: Invasion rekindles memories of long-ago trip

March 20, 2022March 20, 2022 pdg 0

Towering monuments, vibrant cities, and a national identity which has somehow survived Soviet oppression and a turbulent history — those are a few of my memories from a trip to Ukraine long before the Russian invasion.

Egypt in pictures
Africa Photos 

Egypt in pictures

November 12, 2021November 12, 2021 pdg 0
Cambodia in pictures
Asia Photos 

Cambodia in pictures

October 4, 2021October 4, 2021 pdg 0
Albania in pictures
Europe Photos Top stories 

Albania in pictures

September 13, 2021October 4, 2021 pdg 0
Czechostalgia: A photographic ramble through 1990s Bohemia
Europe Photos 

Czechostalgia: A photographic ramble through 1990s Bohemia

August 28, 2021August 28, 2021 pdg 0
Copyright © 2022 Ramblings. All rights reserved.
Theme: ColorMag by ThemeGrill. Powered by WordPress.