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Classics Museum, New Zealand
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‘Sunday, Monday, Happy Days…’ One thing the Kiwis do very well is preserve their past. The Rainy Isles contain many world class museums, including a number helping to preserve New Zealand’s motoring heritage. I’m a bit partial to looking at old vehicles, and recently visited the Classics Museum in Hamilton, an amazing place chock full…
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Spencer P. Jones
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The other sound of Te Awamutu, New Zealand A google search for ‘famous musicians from Te Awamutu’ comes up with predictable results: it’s all about a couple of brothers that had a successful vaudeville pop band in the late 70s/early 80s. And about the younger brother’s subsequent band that sold zillions of albums of nice…
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Rotorua, New Zealand
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Sun and sulphur For more on Rotorua click here If you liked this post, you may also enjoy Mt Taranaki National Park, Stromboli and Etna
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Gumboots
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Form and function, New Zealand The intensity and volume of rainfall in New Zealand is biblical, and calls for serious waterproof gear. That’s why the slap slap of summer jandals turns to the plod plod of gumboots as winter closes in. In New Zealand, gumboots are not just for the farm or worksite. Kiwis are…
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Ever tried an oatcake?
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Oatcakes are a Scottish savoury biscuit traditionally made of oats, lard and water. Legend has it that oatcakes are called ‘oatcakes’ because oats are the main ingredient, though perhaps the real origin of the name has been lost in the mists of time. That aside, the whisper round the croft is that oatcakes have been…
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Interislander Ferry, New Zealand
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‘North, south, east and west.’ Last week I caught the Interislander Ferry from Wellington to Picton. Although Wellington is in the south of the north island, and Picton is in the north of the south island (stay with me), both towns are on the same latitude. However, when travelling to Picton it is still colloquially…
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Doin’ an Aussie, New Zealand
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What is more Kiwi than the Swandri bush shirt bro? They’ve been keeping rural New Zealanders warm and dry for nearly 100 years. At the Puke Ariki (te reo Maori for ‘hill of chiefs’) Museum in New Plymouth there is a little exhibit tracing the history of Swanndri clothing. Clearing up the heritage of the…
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Minties
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‘It’s moments like these…’ I’m a bit partial to a look through a local museum. Sure, after a while they all get a bit samey: a butter churn, a clothes wringer, and one of those irons you have to put in the fire before ironing your slacks. Maybe an assortment of horrific olden days pharmaceuticals,…
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Mt Taranaki National Park, New Zealand
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‘Round the Mountain I’ve spent the last four days completing the ‘Around the Mountain Circuit’ walk at Mt Taranaki (Mount Egmont) National Park. The Mt Taranaki volcano is impressive to say the least, and dominates the landscape in the inevitably named Taranaki Region. Its last major eruption was over 150 years ago, and Geonet (those…
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Honour Them With Peace
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Written in brass on the flagstones of the War Memorial in Auckland are the words ‘Honour Them With Peace’. Is there any more fitting way to commemorate those who gave their lives for us?