TODAY!

Just aw quick note to say that I'm going to the Kapa Haka finals today. It's a Maori performing arts competition, and I'll tell you all about it later. But if you want to watch some of it, it's being streamed live here: https://www.maoritelevision.com/haka/te-matatini Going from 8:40am-3pm here, which I think is 4:40 pm to 10pm …

There and Back Again

Feb. 14: Hobbiton, New Zealand In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that …

Island in the Sun

Feb. 7-13: Waiheke Island, New Zealand Imagine if Martha's Vineyard was a 35 minute ferry ride from Boston instead of from Woods Hole, 2 hours from Boston. And also, it has the climate of Napa Valley. And actual vineyards. Well, that's Waiheke Island. Right off the coast of Auckland, it's an island that is almost entirely …

Once A Year Day!

Feb. 6: Waitangi, New Zealand A week after happening upon Auckland Anniversary Day, we found out that we were 5 minutes from Waitangi for Waitangi Day! Waitangi Day is rather a bigger deal- once known as New Zealand Day, it celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 that 'unified' the Maori tribes …

How to Hunt a Kiwi in 15 Easy Steps!

Feb. 5: Russell, New Zealand Sign up for a nighttime forest walk. Meet up with 3 charming young Brits and your guide. Learn some things about kiwi (the birds), like that they only come out at night, can’t fly, have superwarm, downy feathers that repel water, and don’t need to drink- they get all their …

You Put Your Right Foot In…

January 31- Feb. 3: Russell, New Zealand You should know how the day is going to end when you wake up to a moth the size of a bird on either side of the bed. But we’ll come back to that. Our last day in Torbay we went to the beach and swam/hiked/slipped/fell down a …