Ten Years in Pōneke: Part Five – Somes Speedrunning
Or, hey I was supposed to finish all of these articles in 2025 but then life happened so I guess we’re doing little quests in 2026 as well. [Warning: This piece talks about disease, war and death.] Matiu / Somes Island is the ever-present spectre looming in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, one of three islands that the harbour […]
Ten Years in Pōneke: Part Two – (a very long walk)
In 2015 I was living at Weir House. It was my first year of study and the first time I’d spent any longer than two weeks away from my parents. I was mooning over a girl who didn’t like me back, bad at being a person and making connections and pretty sure I wasn’t into […]
A walk for transgender youth
This week’s profile takes us to the other side of the Remutaka Ranges for a very good cause. 1. Hello! Who the heck are youse and what are you up to? I’m Kylie, and collectively we’re the Parry/Hannen whānau. My 17-year-old daughter and I are walking across the Wairarapa into Wellington to raise money and […]
“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.
Mushroom, mushroom
Last week Zealandia published a glorious little photo-essay An Enchantment of Fungi, alerting us to the fact that after a long dry summer, the recent rains have brought forth a rich crop of fungal fruiting bodies. I went for a walk there last Friday and found plenty of variety amid the damp forest, especially on the Valley View and […]
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 […]
Escarpment
Abandoned railway stations. Precarious swingbridges over precipitous chasms. Hidden valleys full of lush forest. Remnants of ancient kāinga. Those might not be what you’d expect from the recently-opened Paekakariki Escarpment track. I certainly expected rugged landscapes and magnificent views, and you get those in abundance, but there’s much more here to be discovered than you might imagine […]