Category: Countries

Christchurch is about the same size as Wellington, and it has its CBD precincts set out like Wellington does. It has High St to correspond to Lambton Quay for high tone shopping; the Strip on Oxford Tce to correspond to Courtney Place for eats and drinks; the South of Lichfield alleyway to correspond to Cuba […]

To the dull-eared outsider, antipodaeans all sound the same. Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans all sound somewhat cockney, because all the dull-eared outsider can pick up is that we drop our r’s. The most dull-eared I’ve ever encountered is a colleague in the States, who was looking to deride my accent, and so started […]

First, some housekeeping announcements. Note to the dude who stole my seat as I got back on the bus to Christchurch at Kaikoura. (a) If you were sitting there before, how come my History of New Zealand is on the seat next to you? (b) I trust you have had a satisfying holiday and in […]

Over New Year’s Eve, I read the 500-odd pages of Michael King’s Penguin History of New Zealand. There was a hardcover edition, but I wasn’t disposed to pay an extra $40 for colour illustrations and callout quotes. I’m not a visual person, and my suitcase allowance is finite. The paperback is still weighty enough, even […]

A town of 40,000 counts as the Big Smoke around these parts. Guess I’m in rural New Zealand now. Nelson’s flat, by Wellington and Auckland standards, which makes it feel sunny and open. The Marlborough region which Nelson abuts gets the most sunshine of New Zealand—and they have the vineyards to prove it. They had […]

With the necessary preamble that this yet again is terribly disjointed—I’m not managing the grand narratives this trip that I did in England, mainly because I’m not particularly goal driven this time around in where I’m going. So. I beg leave to report that the one culinary establishment I was looking forward to in Wellington, […]

Maori TV has not been created for the entertainment of Visiting Whitey. Maori TV is enmeshed in the problematic history of Maori–Pakeha relations, with decades of Pakeha drumming their fingers waiting for the Maori to die off and swindling their land, even as they were congratulating themselves for having the best race relations in the […]

A prosperous and productive New Year to my readers, and a’ that. Oh yeah, I was in Auckland, wasn’t I? Hm. Scenic alright, especially from the vantage of Devonport, with its “dormant” volcanoes dotted with fortifications and cannons, waiting for Imperial Russian fleets that never turned up, and with a clear shot across to the […]

So, I’ve been in Wellington for, oh, 17 hours, 11 of them in a small hotel room. I’ll be back for more tomorrow, but the report so far: Wellington as seen driving in from the airport is implausibly scenic for a capital city. Suburban houses perched among hills and forests, moving in and out of […]