Contributors
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The Great Kiwi Can Cooker
How to upcycle a New Zealand staple in the name of sustainable backcountry dining. MY DAD IS NEITHER A HIGH-COUNTRY FARMER NOR YOUR ARCHETYPAL DO-IT-YOURSELF BLOKE, BUT HE IS AN OLD-SCHOOL MOUNTAINEER. MOSTLY THIS INVOLVES SLEEPING IN CANVAS TENTS, TRANSPORTING CABBAGES BY SKEWERING THEM TO THE CRAMPONS DANGLING FROM HIS PACK, AND BEING A CURMUDGEON…
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On the road
Mixing it up on the roads of Wānaka prepared cyclist Mikayla Harvey to mix it up with the world’s best. IN THE WINTER OF 2020, NORTHERN ITALY ENTERED ZONE RED, ‘LA ZONA ROSSA’, A SUITABLY DRAMATIC TERM FOR THE SEVERE RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED TO CURB THE SPREAD OF COVID-19. For local cyclists, both amateur and professional,…
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The truth is up there
A brief history of space junk in, and above, Aotearoa. IN JANUARY 2019, CRICKET FANS AT A NEW ZEALAND-SRI LANKA MATCH AT THE BAY OVAL IN MOUNT MAUNGANUI WERE STARTLED BY A CLUSTER OF LIGHTS TRAVERSING THE NIGHT SKY. TURNS OUT THEY WERE BITS OF KOSMOS 2430, A RUSSIAN MILITARY SATELLITE, HEADED FOR THE SPACECRAFT…
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Book Reviews: A Biker’s Tale and A Life of Extremes
A Biker’s Tale by John Hellemans IT’S PROBABLY MY BAGGAGE, BUT I’M SUSPICIOUS OF THE PLETHORA OF “HEY-LOOK-WHAT-I-DID” BOOKS WEIGHING DOWN ‘OUTDOOR ADVENTURE’ SHELVES IN BOOKSTORES AROUND THE WORLD. (REALLY? I WAS IN LABOUR FOR TWO DAYS, GAVE BIRTH TO A NINE-POUND BABY, THEN DIDN’T GET A FULL NIGHT’S SLEEP FOR THREE YEARS. BUT THAT’S…
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Book Review: A Life of Extremes and A Biker’s Tale
A Biker’s Tale by John Hellemans IT’S PROBABLY MY BAGGAGE, BUT I’M SUSPICIOUS OF THE PLETHORA OF “HEY-LOOK-WHAT-I-DID” BOOKS WEIGHING DOWN ‘OUTDOOR ADVENTURE’ SHELVES IN BOOKSTORES AROUND THE WORLD. (REALLY? I WAS IN LABOUR FOR TWO DAYS, GAVE BIRTH TO A NINE-POUND BABY, THEN DIDN’T GET A FULL NIGHT’S SLEEP FOR THREE YEARS. BUT THAT’S…
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Book Review: Railways Studios
How a government design studio helped build New Zealand By: Peter Alsop, Neill Atkinson, Katherine Milburn and Richard Wolfe For 65 years, the go-to designers who produced advertising for any-and-all clients was Railways Studios, the design studio of the New Zealand Railways. The Railways Studios decorated every city and town in New Zealand with outdoor…
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Book Review: Scenic Playground – The story behind New Zealand’s mountain tourism
Scenic Playground (Te Papa Press) explores the story behind the promotion of New Zealand’s mountains from the 1890s onwards. With an exquisite gallery of photographs, paintings and posters the book explains how the country built its reputation as an alpine playground. The ultimate coffee table book for a mountain bach, Scenic Playground is a lavish,…
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Point of Return
Same place, different time. On the way up the West Coast to ride the Old Ghost Road in April 2019, I spotted this WOF sign in Waimangaroa, just north of Westport. We were running late, so as hard as it was for me to pass by an intriguing example of kiwiana, all I could do…
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Stumbling in the dark
Illuminating LUMA. One of the many things we lost in 2020 was the LUMA Southern Light Project. As we welcome it back, musician and light artist Scott Kennedy ponders LUMA’s flickering dream of “maybe”. As I write this, it’s two weeks before the start of the LUMA Southern Light Project, and as you read this,…