A Treat at Tongariro

We ‘ve just had an invigorating break in the dramatic Tongariro National Park in the Central North Island. We enjoyed the icy air and  rosy snow-capped mountains at dusk on our first day,  exploring the mounds on the plateau left by an ancient avalanche, a drive up to Scoria Flat on the rocky volcanic slopes of Ruapehu, misty bush walks beside […]

Arts, Animals, Admiration, Ambivalence..

We had an unexpected opportunity in late April to visit the Gibbs Farm Park in Kaukapakapa, north of Auckland. On earlier journeys we’d glimpsed from the road Bernar Venet’s corten steel cluster (called 88.5° ARC x8) but were even more impressed by Neil Dawson’s beautiful Horizons and Maririjke de Goey’s The Mermaid, above…     […]

ALL FRESCO: K-Road Art 2015

Dingy alleyways and dirty walls around Karangahape Road are blossoming with art works. Congratulations to the K-Road Business Association for inviting good street artists to enliven some of the bare walls in the neighbourhood.  This is a very creative alternative to fighting a losing battle against random taggers! Once a good piece of street art is created it […]

Curious about Earthsong?

Here’s your chance to get an overview of the process of development over twenty years, to meet residents, go on a guided tour, visit some homes, enjoy autumn at Earthsong, and finish with a chat over afternoon tea.  These tours are held every three months, so if you can’t come to this one, come on Saturday 22 August or Saturday […]

Heretaunga

Late in March we had our annual holiday with six women friends, all of us growers and farmers.  This year, our tenth get-together, Jenny and Lesley from Pokaiwhenua Tree Farm near Putaruru organised our stay in the the old homestead on Clearview Estate at Te Awanga, in Heretaunga (Hawke’s Bay).  We had a comfortable house,  a variety […]

Multicultural Mount Roskill

The day after our return from Heretaunga we spent some hours enjoying the enormous diversity of Auckland today, especially in dance, drama, sport and food. There were  recycling centres staffed by young volunteers who explained what went where, and good humour and respect was evident everywhere.

On the home front..

Pavement artists outside our door…       Kumara harvest… Yuki harvesting old heritage variety Taputini                         the MAD team… high school students Making A Difference at Earthsong during their special holiday programme Autumn bounty…a day’s harvest at Earthsong    

Sky City Melt-Down?

Sky City melting? the long hot summer, women’s rage, a new anti-gambling government?  or is it just time to pull that hypodermic syringe out of the sky?