During February we have felt a growing sense of pride in Aotearoa- pride in the progress we are making to become a Treaty-based nation and in our growing capacity for diversity -the ability to welcome and include people of different ethnicities, cultures, religions and genders. We’ve enjoyed the rainbow colours of Skytower, and of […]
Solstice Greetings from the Far South!
December 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
… from Ōtepoti-Dunedin, where for two weeks we’re housesitting for friends, Fiona and Glenn Erik, former neighbours at Earthsong. It’s wear-merino weather here still, cold even on the sunny days… We’ve slipped easily into our gracious 1920s red brick homesit high on the hills of Ōpoho in North Dunedin, and are enjoying tending to gardens and […]
Ōwairaka
December 19, 2019 by 1 Comment
In late November we became involved in political action on our local maunga in Tāmaki Makaurau – Ōwairaka/Mount Albert. We had heard on the news that a small group of local residents had gathered half way up the mountain to stop a tree-felling firm from carrying out the instructions of the Tūpuna Maunga Authority to […]
New Books by Women in Aotearoa
December 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
We’ve had precious time in the evenings to read three new New Zealand books. We have really enjoyed two new novels written by NZ lesbians we know, set firmly in Aotearoa, and with some clear political implications. It’s so lovely for us as lesbians to read about ourselves and our worlds for a change! […]
Whirinaki Te Pua-A-Tane forest
November 18, 2019 by 3 Comments
Tanya’s four-day adventure with Stephanie.. On the last morning of our recent tramp out of the magnificent Whirinaki Podocarp Conservation Park (located between Rotorua and Te Urewera), Steph’s acute eyes spied a whanau of whio, the rare native blue duck – parents and six ducklings – preening themselves on a log, far below us in […]
Whānau, Whāngai…
November 18, 2019 by 7 Comments
Charmaine’s journey…. I have been on a journey too, this month, but a very different one from Tanya’s. I’ve just returned from a week in Sydney and surrounds, spending time with my birth family. Many of you will know that I have two families. I grew up knowing I was adopted, and believing that I […]
Local Body Elections
October 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
We are especially delighted that our friend Lyn Riesterer , of Whakatohea descent, became Mayor of the Opotiki District Council – she is the first gay Maori woman Mayor in Aotearoa. Lyn has been on the Opotiki District Council for two terms, and was Deputy Mayor in her second term. Her background is in education […]
Mulame: Lema Shamamba’s Exhibition
October 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
We went to the opening of Mulame in Objectspace Gallery in Rose Road, Ponsonby. The exhibition, curated by Ane Tonga, comprises a series of framed, embroidered panels by our friend Lema Shamamba, depicting aspects of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it is powerfully political. Since she came to Aotearoa ten […]
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