Raukura O Te Koroto

Our family friend Nic Moon won the commission to design a sculpture which was also a useful structure at Wenderholm Regional Park to celebrate 50 years of regional parks in Auckland.  She worked with three mana whenua groups on the project.  We were delighted to be present at the dawn blessing for the sculpture by mana whenua groups […]

Auckland Regional Parks

  The Regional Parks in Tamaki Makaurau are amazing –  26 of them, from Te Arai in the north to the Hunua Ranges in the south, and on both east and west coasts.  Many have baches which were farm cottages,  now available to the public to rent for holidays. We honour the foresight of the regional […]

Two Roads Worth Travelling

From Turanganui-a-kiwa to Te Wairoa: on the inland road… From Gisborne, the inland road leads across plentiful plains, up into rugged hill country , and then descends into Tiniroto, Frasertown and Wairoa. A side road took us to Tiniroto village – pub, school, community garden and a couple of houses clustered above the lake.  A hospitable publican […]

Te Wairoa…(Wairoa)

Te Wairoa itself has all the charm to be a thriving town.  The shops and cafes stretch along the edge of the river, colourful and cared-for.  Houses are plentiful – and unbelievably cheap, around $100,000 for a modest bungalow .   But there aren’t enough paying jobs.  The Wairoa Freezing Works, once a major thriving employer […]

Kotare Village and Koanga Institute

We’ve known Kay Baxter and Bob Corker for more than 25 years.  They did design plans for our land at Awhitu, and our orchards were planted with Kay’s recommended varieties of heritage deciduous and subtropical plants.  We have a huge respect for their work over the years.  So we decided to go to an Open […]

A new voice in Grandpa Herald

We are enjoying the frank, provocative columns by Rachel Stewart, recently recruited by Grandpa Herald from the Taranaki Daily News.  She has just won the 2016 Opinion Writer of the Year  Canon Media award.  Her powerful statements about male predators, and farmers who abuse the environment, have made this Whanganui Dairy Farmer and falconer somewhat […]

The Bird Watchers…Himali McInnes © 2016

  …as read at Going West by author Himali McInnes They think they come here to watch us, with their peculiar glasses glinting in the sun and their field books for lost creatures. Little do they know that we watch them even more closely. They are so ugly, with their plucked skin, their croaky voices, […]

Spring Equinox greetings from Earthsong…

A rhythmic chorus of frogs and a coloratura tui wake us at 5 am each day here at Earthsong.  As Tanya’s photo above shows, the frogs are afrogging in our pond.  And the tuis are acrobatting in the tallest trees. Auckland in spring is tempestuous – sudden gusts and showers, days of rain followed by frosty nights […]