Development West Coast
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KATs and Dogs
Leia (yes, as in Princess) trots happily alongside me. We are headed towards a sign-up table in a gravel carpark in Haast, where Anya-Lucia Kruszewski, a Department of Conservation (DOC) trainer, is waiting to receive dogs and their owners. Leia, an 18-month-old border collie, completed her first Kiwi Avoidance Training (KAT) with Anya and my…
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The festival season is upon us
The 1964 guide to the best music festies of the South Island. Down here in the roaring forties, summer comes with the kind of long days and warm nights that lend themselves to the wearing of small amounts of clothing and to dancing in fields until the sun goes down, and then comes up all…
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A song for Big Bay
[PHOTO ESSAY] Dinner when it’s cooked / breakfast when it’s shucked / surfing, food beneath our boards / all of Big Blue’s rewards / spend all our time living / no need to be forgiven / we exist in nature’s rhythm. Awarua Bay, also known as Big Bay, spans eight kilometres along the southwest coast…
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The smell of uranium
“HOLD YOUR BREATH JUST FOR A MOMENT. I CAN SMELL THE URANIUM ON IT.” PRIME MINISTER DAVID LANGE TO HIS AMERICAN OPPONENT AT THE OXFORD UNION ‘NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE MORALLY INDEFENSIBLE’ DEBATE, MARCH 1, 1985. One evening in November of 1955 a pair of long-in-the-tooth miners rolled out of a West Coast pub. On the…
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Pills ‘n’ hills and roadkill: The 1964 guide to cycle touring in the South Island
Dan Slater spent a month circumnavigating Te Waipounamu by bicycle so you don’t have to. Actually, you should, because it’s a good time. But there are a few things you really need to know first. AH, CYCLE TOURING IN AOTEAROA – LIVING THE DREAM! DAY AFTER DAY OF GENTLE PEDALLING ALONG COUNTRY LANES, WHISTLING JAUNTY…
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Where there’s smoke
In praise of the rural fire siren THIS STORY STARTED WITH ONE OF THOSE FACEBOOK COMMUNITY GROUPS. IN BETWEEN THE UN- MICROCHIPPED DOGS, UPCOMING PUB QUIZZES, CARDBOARD BOXES TO GIVE AWAY AND ISOS CASUAL CLEANERS FOR AIRBNBS, A DISCUSSION HAD IGNITED AROUND THE VOLUME OF THE TOWN FIRE SIREN, AND COMPLAINTS ABOUT THEREOF. THE HASHTAG…
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Where can I take my dog?
How to avoid the pound when you hike with your hound. THE WORDS “DOG” AND “WALK” GO TOGETHER LIKE “BARK” AND “BITE”, SO IT’S PRETTY FRUSTRATING TO ARRIVE AT A TRACK WITH YOUR BEST MATE, ONLY TO REALISE YOUR MUTT IS NOT PERMITTED. A SIGN ANNOUNCING THAT IT IS LAMBING SEASON, OR THAT THERE’S BEEN…
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The 1964 guide to the best rural bridges of the South Island
Gap fillers galore. BRIDGES SPEAK TO SOMETHING IN US. THEY ARE A PERVASIVE METAPHOR, POPPING UP IN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS (BURNED ANY BRIDGES LATELY?), MORTALITY (THE BRIDGE TO THE LAND THE DEAD), FISCAL POLICY (BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR), AND FAKE- QUOTE MEMES. (NO, INTERNET, ISAAC NEWTON DID NOT SAY “WE BUILD…
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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…