What better to do on All Souls Day than wander around an ancient pa site?Otatara Pa is on the outskirts of Napier, approximately 13km from the centre of town. It’s one of the largest pa in New Zealand. The site is jointly managed by the Department of Conservation […]
I picked the wrong winner. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves didn’t win the Man Booker. The good news is that for the second year in a row the prize has come down here, to the bottom of the world. New Zealand’s very own Eleanor Catton won in […]
Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, is the friendliest and prettiest capital city in the world. It’s true I could be biased – some of my favourite people live there. (You know who you are don’t you – all of you.) Wellington is famous for its cultural life. I’ve attended […]
Here in New Zealand, the sap has risen – trees everywhere are bursting in to leaf . The short, grey days of July are consigned to memory – until next year. The blue skies and warm winds of spring invite skiving off. One day last week we did just […]
During the summer of ’75 my AFS host family showed me around Minnesota. One memorable trip was to Itasca State Park and the source of the Mississippi River. Mississippi was famous to me as the word guaranteed to trip you up in any spelling test until you remembered […]
I like to travel. I like to come home with photographs. In recent years I’ve used my iPhone. For a point and shoot camera it’s not too shabby at all. But when I found myself, iPhone in hand, stalking a butterfly near Kanchanburi, I knew my phone camera […]
Reunions of one sort or another have been on my mind. Our globe-trotting Bangkokians are back in the country, some writing friends are meeting again soon for the first time in years, my occasional series on life as an AFS exchange student has got me thinking about old friends. […]
“The open road speaks for a perpetual becoming.” Pico Iyer I’m continuing my tradition of reading well-known books years after they came to the attention of the rest of the world! But the gap is narrowing. Pico Iyer’s The Open Road was published six years ago, where […]
Come with me down memory lane. I want to show you Breckenridge, Minnesota, my hometown while I was an exchange student during the 1975 -76 school year. These photos, except for one, were taken when I visited in 2006. Breckenridge sits at the junction of the Otter Tail and Bois […]
My poppies are in flower. My quince tree is at bud burst. The sap is rising, spring is on its way and my thoughts are turning to travel adventures. Okay, okay, if the posts on this blog are anything to go by that’s not exactly new. Through […]
Jill's Scene 
The korero