After our stop at Mapua we drove over Tākaka Hill to Tākaka township, which still has a distinctively ‘alternative’ atmosphere, with its gentle pace, organic shops and old-style hippy culture. Tākaka obviously also continues to have a strong community focus, and a more modern political focus too – a clear Black Lives Matter statement on […]
School Holiday Adventures…
July 19, 2020 by 1 Comment
We look forward to school holidays because we get to be kids again for a few days! Two of our favourite young ones come for overnight stays in our apartment- Ellie, aged 8 (Tanya’s grand-niece) and Taiga aged 10 (our Japanese neighbour from Earthsong days). With each of them, we look at what’s on downtown, […]
Don’t Dump in Dome Valley, Auckland Council !!!!
July 19, 2020 by Leave a Comment
On Friday 17 July we joined a hikoi from Albert Park to Aotea Square to protest against the possibility of Dome Valley – Te Whārua o Waiwhiu – north of Warkworth, becoming a major dump site for Auckland City’s rubbish collected by Waste Management Services. Like Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, who organised the march […]
HAPPY MATARIKI , FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
June 19, 2020 by Leave a Comment
21 June is our mid-winter solstice- and, of course, mid-summer solstice for our friends and relations in the northern hemisphere. We wish you all well for the coming year; and from Aotearoa we wish you Happy Matariki as well, as we celebrate the rising of the Seven Sisters star cluster in the north-eastern sky just […]
Beyond Rahui…
June 18, 2020 by 1 Comment
Two huge challenges are spreading around the planet- the sickness caused by the Covid-19 Virus, and the liveliness aroused by the healthy Black Lives Matter movement. Surely we humans can use these two dramatic experiences to shape real changes for our futures together on this tiny, fragile planet? We’ve been moved by the shifts which […]
Living in Level One …Catching Up with Whanau, Friends and Photos..
June 18, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Our government’s success in managing Covid-19 has meant we were able to move from Rahui Level 3 to Level 2 on 14 May, and to Level 1 (life as “normal” except for closed national borders) at midnight on Monday 8 June. Emerging from Rahui Level 3 enabled us to spend a few days of blissful […]
Dementia Auckland
June 18, 2020 by 2 Comments
We recently discovered that the new Dementia Auckland organisation is located next door to us in Grey Lynn in the building down the driveway between the two Ockham apartment blocks. Since we have friends and family members dealing with dementia issues (and some of our own anxieties, says Charmaine!), we decided on Friday 5 June […]
Remembering Atareta Poananga
May 17, 2020 by Leave a Comment
We were both saddened to read of Atareta’s recent death. Here is a letter of thanks from Tanya to Moana Maniapoto, well-known NZ musician, lawyer and powerful social justice advocate, expressing gratitude for her tribute to the late Atareta Poananga, wahine toa no Ngati Porou, Ngati Rangitane… Kia ora Moana, I want to thank you very much […]
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