This is more of a photographic record than an essay on the merits of Eastland, which is the big Eastern most chunk of the North Island jutting out into the Pacific Ocean. […]
Eastland Roadie.
The Roads Less Travelled
This will be a post with more pictures than words. There’s been a bit of an illness out and about in the world in 2020 putting paid to most people’s travel plans. […]
Are We Sitting Comfortably?
It’s 4pm on a sunny Tuesday, January 1st 2019. Amazing to think just a few short years ago, or nearly twenty years in fact, yesterday, we were all concerned about aeroplanes falling out […]
Surprising New Zealand
Let’s talk about New Zealand again! My wife and I love a road trip, we have just finished one around the central South Island, a short 4-day epic. There are images from […]
Retail Therapy
The title is ironic, if you really did need therapy for anything in New Zealand; one of the worst things you could do is go shopping. I was watching the television news […]
Eating Out
There’s an awful lot of, mostly awful, advertising on New Zealand television. Much of it the sort of thing you’d see on QVC in other countries. One of the most common phrases […]
Superlatives And Other Things
If I had a dream job, it would be working with words and pictures, improbably as a roving blogger and photographer for Tourism New Zealand. I’m not greedy; they could just pay […]
The Deep South
This should probably go on my photography blog, but there is a bit more explaining to do than on the usual photography post so I’ll wheel out the words blog for this […]
20 Tips For Surviving Driving In New Zealand
It seems an awful lot more people are visiting, or moving to New Zealand these days. Either because of Brexit, or Trump, or cheap airfares and new aeroplanes, which can fly further. […]
The Living Is Easy
We have an iconic New Zealand comic character from the 1970’s called Fred Dagg. We were big fans in my home when I was growing up. Fred Dagg was an archetypal Kiwi […]
Road Trip
This can be a travel post of sorts. Well it’s not even of sorts; it’s a travel post. I went for a drive. I know I don’t write much anymore. Not sure […]
Driving south in the North Island
I’ll get straight to the point for once. I said once upon a time that only two towns in New Zealand were worth making a special trip for. Russell and Queenstown. I’d […]
A River runs through it
This is a bit of a travel post. I’m going to talk about a place plenty of people on their New Zealand holidays travel through, but not many travel to. I’d venture […]
Winner!
I know, I know, there was another post on here for a while, I took it down. Varied reasons, none of which matter all that much. I will be putting more stuff […]
A list of things to do
You’ll have noticed I’m not putting much on here anymore. I’m not sure why not, but it may have something to do with the fact that I’m back home in New Zealand […]
A word to the unwise
I spoke to someone the other day who is going for a big adventure overseas. Traveling they said. They’d not been far from home before and were having an epic adventure out […]
An open letter to Emirates Team New Zealand, from Team New Zealand.
Manukau Heads lighthouse G’day Deano and the crew. This is from us back home. You’ll be having some strategy meeting. Knocking around a few ideas. Hell, you might even be asleep. Us […]
Going for a drive
I’ve been back in New Zealand for just over a month now. For three weeks of that month I went for a bit of a drive, just to have a look around, […]
The trip home
The 2nd of July 2013. 8:30 am on the 2nd of July, my dear friend Dawn, my colleague, the person who does what used to be my day job in another part […]
Going home
Momentous day today, it’s worth a note. Friday 17th of May 2013. Sounds non-descript, a day like many other days in mid-May. However, it’s my own May Day, nothing to do with […]
East Cape, revisited
This post is special. It’s about an amazing part of New Zealand. I wanted to get some proper images up of the location this story is about. It’s an incredible area and […]
A look to the West
It seems there is a bit of a travel theme setting in to the blog now, this is, what, Three in a row? My blog isn’t a travel blog but I do […]
On getting robbed in Italy
This is going to be something like a travel essay. I had to look up what an essay actually was though. For your information in case you don’t know either, it’s a […]
On France
I live about two hours from France as the crow flies, to coin an expression. I think that would be a particularly fast flying Crow given how fast I usually drive. But […]
On travel
Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, will be to decipher the bits of this post where my tongue is in my cheek and where it is not. I live overseas […]
A spot of lunch
Are we sitting comfortably? I want to tell you a story about a lunch. Fresh homemade bread, some thick slices of cold ‘off the bone’ Ham, a bit of chutney, a Kit-Kat […]
Scottish Highland scenes
I don’t usually do photographic blog posts but I think this particular trip deserves the distribution of a few of the images. I hope you enjoy them. This weekend I spent some […]
Once upon a French holiday
I’m sitting on a comfy chair with an iPad on my lap, there is a bit of a breeze, not much but just enough to move the air without chilling it.It’s amazing […]
On a Scottish Mountain
I don’t usually do blog posts so close together. I wrote my 100th post yesterday. I actually wanted to write this one for my 100th though. I guess maybe I felt the […]
When in Rome
A few years ago I had to go to Rome for a special occasion, the wedding of a great friend of mine to her soon to be husband. When I say had […]
A week on Capri
Ever since I was little, well young, I’d wanted to go to Capri. I’m not even sure why. I lived at the bottom of the world and don’t remember seeing it in […]
A few days in Lisbon
I was going to do a travel review, but I think an essay is more called for. I’m not actually sure what an essay is or why I’ve called this one but […]
Japanese food, in Manchester
I’ve not done a restaurant review before, apart from a few lines on a restaurant review site of course. I eat out quite a bit but never been moved to write too […]
A quick trip down New Zealand
If you come here a bit, you’ll know I am from New Zealand but live in England. People ask me about New Zealand a lot, so, now that I can write it […]
How to get to New Zealand
I’m going to enjoy writing this one. It’s a story I have told to so many people I can’t even count. I have yet to tell it to someone without getting a […]
In the mountains
This is a bit of a variation from my usual rants and raves. It’s odd I’ve not done more travel writing as travelling is about my favourite thing to do. I should […]
On the move
Far too much seriousness about the blog lately. Let’s have a revisit of what I like a lot and do mostly with my day. I’m going to offer some insights, observations, tips […]
In praise of London.
I am going to sing the praises of the worlds greatest city, London, today. London is where the worlds greatest empire was administrated and is an incredible mix of history and culture. […]
Cornwall
It is a very long way to Cornwall from pretty much everywhere except Devon. It is at the far end of an intermittent dual carriageway which is apparently stationary throughout the summer […]
A visit to Wales in general and Cardiff in particular
I had a lovely drive the other day. A good chunk of the principality of Wales. I drove from Welshpool to Cardiff on Monday afternoon, a distance of about 120 miles. The road […]
Sandysview 