After our memorable Cook Strait crossing, we didn’t have much time to have lunch. We grabbed a Subway sandwich each and ate them on the way to our first stop on the wine tour. There were thirteen of us, and we managed to cover a lot of the world with passengers from...
During our recent trip to Wellington, we decided we’d like to catch the Interislander ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton. We wanted to see a few of the sights instead of hanging around the city for the entire weekend. The weather wasn’t too good with lots of wind...
I haven’t done the trip from Auckland to Wellington for a long time. Yep, I was excited about the prospect of a trip South. We picked up the van we had to drive to Wellington the night before. It’s a little van with vinyl seats and not much leg room. Mr. Munro...
This photo was taken at the Goat Island Marine Reserve in New Zealand. The water is clear and the area pristine and full of fish. I took this photo of blue mau-mau from the rocks. People snorkle and dive here, but as you can see it's easy to see fish without getting...
Happy New Year! I hope 2010 is full of happiness and lots of good books for you all. I don't make New Year resolutions, but on Christmas day I mentioned to my husband that we really needed to have Christmas dinner on the beach one year and also to have a white...
Today I visited Newmarket (an upmarket shopping area not far from the inner city) and then stopped at Sylvia Park, one of the local malls. I was peering out the window on the way there and I saw it... An ad for a magazine. I noticed one of the headlines on the cover...
This is a shot of Albert Park (named after Prince Albert) in Central Auckland. It's not far from the university and on a fine day, it's the perfect place for students to eat their lunch. Mystery writer JA Konrath has a very interesting post about e-books and what he...
This week's critter is a hyena and pup. This photo was taken in Kenya, and we stopped to watch the mother and three pups. Her burrow was right near the road. They're not the prettiest creatures, but they are interesting to watch. Hyenas aren't exactly common in...
A pukeko is a swamp hen, part of the rail family. While some of our native birds have become extinct because of introduced predators such as rats, cats and stoats, the pukeko has adapted easily and is very common. They happily live in town and city reserves where...
