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Ramblings

Ramblings

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

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Northland

New Zealand 

‘We can hear ourselves think again’: Stillness descends on Mangamuka as highway closes for the second time in two years

December 1, 2022January 18, 2023 pdg 0 Comments Far North, Hokianga, Kaitaia, Mangamuka, Mangamuka Gorge, Northland, Tautoko FM, Te Araroa

Two years ago a massive slip wiped out a highway and turned Mangamuka into a ghost town. Now it’s happened again.

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New Zealand 

Project Island Song: Return of the giants

July 21, 2021July 21, 2021 pdg 0 Comments Bay of Islands, giant wētā, Motuarohia, Moturua, Northland, Paihia, Project Island Song, Russell, Urupukapuka, weta, wētāpunga

An ambitious ecological restoration project aims to return a small corner of New Zealand to the way it was before humans arrived.

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New Zealand 

Getting high in Northland: A peak-bagger’s guide to the North’s 10 highest mountains

April 28, 2021January 9, 2022 pdg 0 Comments Far North, hiking, Kaipara, Northland, peakbagging, Raetea, Te Raupua, Tutamoe, Whangarei

How to climb Northland’s highest peaks — well, some of them anyway — and where to find them.

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Photos 

Best photos of 2019

January 3, 2020April 26, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand, Northland, Paihia, photography, Russell, Sir Hekenukumai Puhipi, Tuia 250, Waitangi

For once picking my favourite photo of the year was easy.

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New Zealand 

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

May 28, 2019May 29, 2022 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.

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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.

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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.

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New Zealand 

Godson to the Queen

May 21, 2018May 29, 2022 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.

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New Zealand 

Te Paki: New Zealand’s top hike

May 17, 2018May 29, 2022 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.

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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.

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Asia New Zealand 

Peace at last for shipwreck’s ‘hungry ghosts’

May 15, 2018April 11, 2021 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”.

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New Zealand 

An everlasting link

May 13, 2018May 29, 2022 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.

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New Zealand 

Stranded

May 12, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 2 Comments Karikari, New Zealand, Northland, Spirits Bay, stranding, whales

Two mass strandings in a month push whale rescuers to the limit in New Zealand’s Far North.

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New Zealand 

Journey to the end of the map

May 9, 2018May 29, 2022 pdg 0 Comments Hokianga, Northland, Pawarenga, Te Aupouri, Whangape Harbour

I’ve never been able to resist places at the end of the map. Show me a dead-end road, a peninsula or a cape, and I’ll show you somewhere alluring and mysterious.

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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

How to ride New Zealand’s Timber Trail without blowing your budget — or busting a gut
New Zealand 

How to ride New Zealand’s Timber Trail without blowing your budget — or busting a gut

January 15, 2023January 20, 2023 pdg 0

Ancient podocarp forest, soaring suspension bridges and oodles of history make the Timber Trail one of New Zealand’s best cycling experiences.

‘We can hear ourselves think again’: Stillness descends on Mangamuka as highway closes for the second time in two years
New Zealand 

‘We can hear ourselves think again’: Stillness descends on Mangamuka as highway closes for the second time in two years

December 1, 2022January 18, 2023 pdg 0
“We were starving”: How my aunties saved their family from famine
Europe Featured 

“We were starving”: How my aunties saved their family from famine

August 6, 2022August 15, 2022 pdg 0
Jordan in pictures
Middle East Photos Top stories 

Jordan in pictures

July 1, 2022August 6, 2022 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

Jordan in pictures
Middle East Photos Top stories 

Jordan in pictures

July 1, 2022August 6, 2022 pdg 0

Proud desert dwellers, extraordinary hospitality, and the ancient, rock-hewn city of Petra: Just three of the reasons you need to visit Jordan.

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
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 

Albania in pictures

September 13, 2021August 6, 2022 pdg 0
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