Midwinter approaching. Cabin fever creeping up on me in the apartment. Yearning to smell the sweet fragrance of the damp forest…so I contacted my old tramping friend, Steph, and we decided to take off to Maungatautari, near Arapuni, 3 hours drive south of Auckland. www.sanctuarymountain.org.nz Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari is a remarkable mainland ecological island protected […]
Closer to Home…
April 19, 2019 by 1 Comment
… the opening of Pacific Sisters, an amazing exhibition on loan from Te Papa at the Auckland Art Gallery– ” a collective of Pacific and Māori fashion designers, artists, and performers, the Pacific Sisters electrified 1990s Auckland, bringing the ground-breaking style of an urban, New Zealand–born Pacific generation to the mainstream. Through pioneering, daring shows, the […]
Friday 15 March 2019: a day to remember with pain
March 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
You will all have heard about the terrorist attack on Muslim people praying in two Christchurch mosques last Friday, 15 March. Our hearts go out to the families who have lost dear ones, and to all Muslim people in Aotearoa, whose hopes for a safe country to live in have been so cruelly shattered. E […]
Friday 15 March 2019: a way to look forward with hope?
March 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
On this same day, before the evil erupted in Christchurch, tens of thousands of young people in Aotearoa left their schools to demonstrate their deep concern about climate change and the future of our planet. We went to Aotea Square in Auckland to support them. It was inspirational- thousands of young people of all cultures […]
A Capital Visit
February 19, 2019 by 1 Comment
Charmaine’s cousin Audrey had her 90th birthday at the end of January , and we took a trip to Wellington/Whanganui-a-Tara for her party. We have quite a few lesbian friends in Wellington whom we hadn’t seen for some time, so we stayed four nights, and caught up with several of them. Our AirBnB purpose-built cottage […]
Tai Haruru
February 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Soon after our return from Wellington we went for a few days to North Piha to stay in the lovely Forest and Bird house, Tai Haruru, again. It’s a very restful place in the bush, old-fashioned and well-furnished for five in the house and another four in a separate self-contained flat. Tanya had her 40th […]
…and finally, a good place to stay…
December 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment
…a small town whose population increases from 3000 to 10,000 for a couple of weeks over Christmas and New Year, every year, but outside this peak Christmas period offers a lively, diverse community, every outdoor activity you can think of , and outstanding places to stay, to eat, and to explore: Whaingaroa-Raglan As part of […]
Creativity in the City…
November 18, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Architects… Taiga, our 9-year-old friend from Earthsong, joined us for a day exploring the work of some of Aotearoa’s leading architects. Fifteen central Auckland architecture firms held open days, and we managed to spend time at four, talking with staff and looking at current project models, past work images and futuristic designs. Taiga had two […]
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