Zoe at work in a garden

Meet Zoe, the Very Green Gardener

Our interviews with cool people continue! 1. Hey, who are you and what do you do? I’m Zoe and I run The Very Green Gardener, which is a little gardening company in Pōneke. We maintain people’s gardens as well as support them to do their own gardens. (Editor note: Zoe also writes an excellent newsletter […]

paper bottles of Mothers Ruined Gin on a beach

A ginterview with the mothers of Mothers Ruined

Full disclosure: I have worked with the Mothers on Boom Gin – a collaboration with my ethical clothing company, which is funding a scholarship to the weekend for fat babes that I run. Even if I hadn’t done that though, I would still think they are very cool and interesting people who make delicious products […]

Joel, a Pākeha man, stands outside the beehive and smiles

Meet Joel MacManus, the journalist that Wellington actually deserves

It’s been a very weird week in Wellington where we’re thinking actually Chris Bishop has done good for once with the District Plan? Very strange position to be in. Obviously, city councilors who want a city for the living and future have pushed for this for a very long time, but I don’t think it […]

“Slow down you bastards”

Tom’s been walking again. Follow his latest tramping adventure from traversing the Hutt Valley to Kāpiti via the Akatarawa Road here.

Towards Tangi-te-Keo

Up the back of Newtown — past the hospital, past New Zealand’s first branch library, past the community display-window where the Conscientious Objectors’ memorials absent from Pukeahu Park quietly underscore ANZAC celebrations — runs a narrow path marking the spine of Tangi-te-Keo (later Mt Victoria). Māori knew the spine of Tangi-te-Keo as Te Ranga-a-Hiwi, the Ridge of […]

Snapshots of Mount Victoria

A few photos I took as I walked the dog in the Mount Victoria town belt, and of the unveiling of a new living sculpture at the Innermost Gardens.   “A Living Sculpture” On April 3rd, Grant Lyon’s sculpture “Yeah, Nah” was unveiled by Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown at the Innermost Gardens in Mount Victoria, at […]

Kākā cam

With more and more kākā spilling out of Zealandia and spending their ne’er-do-well days rioting in the neighboring suburbs, there are now nests outside the fence. So the council has set up some nestboxes to keep the new families safe, and in one, they’ve set up a live camera. Today, the five chicks are only […]

Nga Manu Nature Reserve (Waikanae)

Yep, its not food.  But I was seriously impressed with this place in our back yard that I had no clue existed. Nga Manu is the largest remaining remnant of coastal lowland swamp forest on the Kapiti Coast, and was established as a reserve in 1974.  It has developed over the years to the well laid […]

Serious Monkey(ish) business at Wellington Zoo

Okay, let’s get the puns out of the way. While it is never inappropriate to spank your monkey in public, and only Peter Gabriel can shock the monkey, at Wellington Zoo you can, however, touch some monkeys. Sort of. Well, the touching part is correct, but technically the Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs aren’t actually primates, they’re a […]

Spot That Pigeon!

Take a break from watching polls and start watching birds with The Great Kererū Count. Forest & Bird have teamed up with local company Thundermaps to create an easy way for all of us to track these magnificent yet near-threatened native pigeons, using the Thundermaps smartphone apps or web application. Kererū are vital to the health of our […]