A sunny morning walk along the canal, out toward Port Meadow, my baby nestled against me. Dappled waters. Cow parsley, horse chestnut and hedgerows dripping with may. Could not have dreamed of a more perfect welcome home.
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All articles filed in Adventures in Aotearoa
Hunua Ranges (2)
The carpark was so full when we arrived in the Hunua Ranges this Easter weekend that we had to backtrack and park on the road. Unsurprising, given the strong sunshine and crisp autumn air, but off-putting. We decided to walk the Cossey-Massey loop, hoping that the majority of people would be taking the much shorter Hunua Falls track, and fortunately we were correct.
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Roadtrip to Rotorua
We agree on a time to meet, and I start planning the night before. Countless tiny tabs on my phone in the dim light of the lamp while O sleeps. Routes plotted in the Maps app. Mental calculations: if we reach here by 10.30, will we manage to get there by 3? In the end: we leave later than we’d hoped. Of course. It wouldn’t be a family roadtrip if we left on time. But it’s not disastrous. We’re off, the Toyota Blade close behind, rainclouds battling it out with the sun for possession of the sky.
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Waimahia Path
It was a sticky hot December morning when we set out on this walk, brightly sunny at first, giving way to heavy grey clouds that chased us back to the car. The path starts at the bottom of a new housing estate, crosses over a mangrove bay, then twists in between the estuary and back…
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Tōtara Park Bridle Path
We’ve been having a very wet and humid summer this year. It’s February now and Auckland is still green, long after you would have expected her to have turned gold. To be honest, it isn’t very pleasant walking weather
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Half Moon Bay Marina and Bucklands Beach
It was a moody afternoon in early December when O and I ventured out to East Auckland to explore the Bucklands Beach pathway. Heavy storm-clouds threatened,
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Piha Beach
Piha is on the West Coast of Auckland; the journey out there is as enjoyable as the destination itself. From South Auckland we drive through Hillsborough, Blockhouse Bay, Green Bay and Titirangi – the suburbs getting progressively more wild and beautiful, the road progessively more twisted, narrow and heart-stopping. We follow signs for the Twin Coast Discovery Highway
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The Mangemangeroa Walkway and Cockle Bay
It is the kind of walk that has the power to draw you out of yourself. At every twist and turn there are new tiny glimpses of beauty. Birdsong echoes across the bay. Sunlight pushes through the canope, dappled and dancing across a bed of leaves. You are in turn embraced by the cover of the trees, then exposed to the vast expanse of the skies.
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Wattle Downs South Path
The path winds for 8km (in one direction) around the Wattle Downs peninsula, overlooking the very tidal Manukau harbour, flanked by an eclectic architectural collection of houses with enticing back gardens. Toward the end there is a little beach
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Upper Nihotupu Reservoir
This was my first real outing after my exam, back in March. Tucked away in the Waitakere Ranges, hidden among giant tree ferns, a few hours of late afternoon sunshine filtered through the green of the bush and reflected back from the deep blue of the reservoir.
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Salt Water (- a brief hiatus)
From Devonport Wharf through Maungauika Reserve down to Cheltenham Beach. And back again. Just hopping on here real quick with some photos from an evening walk we took yesterday, after a long day of study. Swimming in the sea is always so magical. Spent today sleeping in, spring cleaning the whole house, changing bedsheets and…
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Hunua Ranges
A postcard from the Suspension Bridge Loop Track, 164A Moumoukai Road, Hunua Ranges Another throwback adventure from September, when my weekends were still my own. The Hunua Ranges are located just about half an hour south west from where we live and the drive over feels like an adventure in itself, full of exciting names…
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Forest Escape
Hello! I’m in intense study mode over the next few weeks (- on top of full time work -) for an upcoming exam, so this is just a heads up that I probably won’t be posting any updates or reflective pieces of writing between now and then. I’ve got a few ideas lined up that…
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absolutely positively
A postcard from Wellington. Hi my loves, I’m recently back from a week of leave spent in Wellington – as you might have gathered from last week’s post. I generally try to use trips away as an opportunity to send out real batches of postcards, but on this occasion I didn’t manage to do so,…
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Road Trip to Wellington
We set out much later than planned. A younger me would have been upset by this, but these days I have all but outgrown the impulse. “Perfect timing”, K remarks happily as we join State Highway 1, providing just the right amount of affirmation for me to relax back into my chair and let myself…
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Mudflats and Butterflies
A postcard from Sanders Reserve Recreation Path, 180 Sanders Road, Paremoremo. A throwback to the end of July, before we went back into lockdown, when we hopped in the car on a cloudy cold day and chased the sun out to Paremoremo Creek, overlooking Waitemata harbour. Undulating trails, sandy hills, tidal mudflats, Monarch butterflies, an…
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Rest and Regroup
I’m sitting at our desk in our study with the wooden slats of the blinds angled just enough to let in the light. Outside is blue sky. I can see a fantail bobbing up and down among the sun-warmed leaves of a fern tree. This is September. The past month has gone fast. Barely three…
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Auckland Botanic Gardens
We started up by the Visitor Centre, meandered happily through the Edible Garden, descended down into the Arboretum, picked up the Puhinui Stream Forest Trail, hopped over a style into Tootara park, paused to watch a squabble of brightly coloured parakeets, then climbed
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Three Years in New Zealand (- as a Doctor from the UK)
On the eve of my three year anniversary in New Zealand, I wanted to pause for a moment to try write the words that I would have found comforting back in 2017, before I left.
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Standing on the Edge of the World
Blue, green and grey. There’s nothing more soothing for the soul than this.
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Mad to Live 