the leaves on certain trees are already sprouting their brightest of bright green shoots, pale pink buds of the first fruits are forming, and the magnolias have had their short and astonishingly beautiful hurrah. the brightness is arriving in the sky earlier and earlier each morning and it has now become appropriate to take long […]
rakiura (stewart island) is new zealand’s third-largest island (home to around 400 people). located a 1-hour boat ride across foveaux strait (or a short flight from invercargill). it’s bounded by a 164-kilometre coastline, one with ever changing moods, fringed by rocky coves and fine sandy beaches, surrounded by clusters of small islands. it’s māori name, […]
we pack our bags the evening before, stuffing them with sleeping bags, gas cookers, pots, cups and a change of clothes. we rise, in the early morning, before the sun shows her face over the horizon. in the van, we head back from patons rock towards the takaka hill. i stare out the window, watching […]
monday, we head to the airport for a flight to dunedin, our third attempt to stay at road’s end cabin, a canopy camping escapes favourite of ours, nestled quietly into a hill, surveying the wilds of brighton beach below. our hosts, paula & nathan have thought of everything giving this little cabin a cosy luxuriousness […]
day one // auckland to waiomu we pack in the thick warm soup of the morning, both of us covered in a sticky sheen of sweat within minutes. cold showers and we’re cool for a few minutes before commenting again how much like singapore this humidity feels. on the ferry there’s almost no difference between […]