Last weekend, for the first time in nearly two years, our children were all together in our old family home. They are city dwellers. Currently, that means living in Wellington and Bangkok – although change is afoot, one way or another. So, what better to do than get […]
Alert: Read on at my peril – because, my friends, once you’ve read this confession you may wish to unfriend/unfollow and generally unknow me. It all happened one day last week. I was striding purposefully through town, to work. One sentence written and here’s the first confession: I […]
Or Jill Goes Political A month or so ago, after we left Wimbledon Tavern, we set off in search of a beach and an ice-cream. The sun still had the power to burn and I was clinging to summer like paua to rock. But the wind was from […]
Most people associate Wimbledon with tennis and some with wombles on the Common. Not many will think of the small, okay tiny, settlement in Southern Hawkes Bay. A bright spark, probably in an office somewhere in Wellington, has changed the boundaries and technically Wimbledon is now in the Tararua District. […]
Four o’clock last Saturday afternoon, the temperature was thirty plus, and on the platform at Napier Station we and everyone else sizzled from the heat and the anticipation. This was no ordinary train service. There isn’t one any more for passengers on the Napier line. We were there […]
So far it’s been a day filled with music, parades, air displays, promenades, and lots of laughs. Everyone is out to have fun. . And now we’re Otane bound. What Ho and all that.
Some might think that Otane, in Central Hawkes Bay, is about as off the beaten track as it’s possible to get. Wikipedia seems to think so. But Otane does have a school, a café, a town hall, a country pub and, on Sundays, a market. Once a year, on Waitangi Day, […]
Jill’s Scene has been off the scene since going tropical back in November. But this month sees us out and about, off the beaten track, once more. The small village of Otane, in Central Hawkes Bay, features twice. We were there on Waitangi Day – a post is […]
Eschewing Ormondville toasted sandwiches was one thing, coming up with an alternative was another. We were hungry! We fancied somewhere untried, somewhere with food, lots of it, and not too far away. Our stomachs rumbled as we drove south. If there’s a debate to be had whether Mangatera ( the hotel is […]
After a long hiatus through the winter months, spring, and a birthday in need of a celebration, saw us out and about once again. This time to the Ormondville Pub, more correctly known as The Settlers Arms. We’d never been before and it well and truly met our core […]
Jill's Scene 
The korero