One warm March afternoon, I made my way further up the North Island. From the map on the seat beside me, I knew I would come first to Te Kuiti. The town was already on my radar, having seen it before from the viewing car of the Overlander train I’d taken from Wellington to Auckland in … Read More
“We are all worms. But I do believe I am a glowworm.” — Winston Churchill I’ve never been one much for Lord of the Rings. I’d give all the money in the world to be Lucy Pevensie and step through that fateful wardrobe, but for whatever reason, I’ve never felt particularly drawn to the world … Read More
My mother left this morning for St. Louis. She’ll be gone for just three days, attending a conference, meeting with editors, and pitching projects and proposals. But as she packed last night, folded two changes of clothes neatly into the space of her carry-on suitcase, and filled miniature bottles with two showers’ worth of shampoo … Read More
I woke up in New Plymouth with no particular inclination to spend more time there than needed. If the schedule had allowed, I perhaps would have ventured closer to Mount Taranaki, a 2,518-meter active volcano that appears on maps as an almost alarmingly perfect sphere. Like Mount Fuji, Taranaki – known also by its pakeha … Read More
Hometown, NZ. It’s a tall order for any small town to attempt to fill, but along an unassuming road just over a hundred kilometers north of Wellington, a little place called Foxton, population 2,700, dares to make such a claim. Maybe it was an instinctive desire to prove it wrong or just the obscurity of … Read More
A roadtrip invariably begins with expectations. Whether a caravan of campervans or a solo expedition, the decisions you make before setting out are what set you up for the journey ahead – who you’re with, where you’re going, just how you plan to get around. “To expect” comes from the Latin expectare – to await, to … Read More
I can’t help but look for them all over the city; strings of red Chinese lanterns above the Macanese streets. They hang in rows of graceful symmetry, so beautifully oblivious and suspended above the din below; above vendors handing out samples of beef jerky or almond cookies from wide, woven trays; above the black and … Read More
I’d never regretted learning Spanish until Tahiti. I arrived in March of this year, where I planned to spend three weeks working on a black pearl farm on a remote atoll named Ahe. But when I reached the island, its coral ring tucked away in the northeast corner of French Polynesia, I found only four … Read More
It’s easy to get caught up in the logistics of travel. Rental cars, hostels, activity bookings, highway routes…the list goes on of everything there is to keep track of, not to mention getting various other ‘life concerns’ taken care of. On the eve of my departure from Wellington, about to spend a month traveling the … Read More
People have come and gone But the land remains steadfast Bindings of people, and the land Is our history. * * * The treaty today Every year on the Saturday closest to Waitangi Day, thousands of young Kiwi expats flood into London Underground stations and ride the Tube on the infamous Circle Line pub crawl. … Read More