All posts filed under: Travel

Heaven on Earth: Mele Cascades, Vanuatu

Every winter, NZ television is full of advertisements for escapes to tropical islands. Ads for Rarotonga, Samoa and Fiji dominate, but this year there have been a lot of ads for Vanuatu. Mr D & I went to Vanuatu on holiday last year, and it was amazing. This year Vanuatu is pushing tourism very heavily, because most of the country was devastated by Cyclone Pam this March, and the country desperately needs tourism money to rebuild. Unfortunately I don’t think a Vanuatu holiday is on the cards for us for this year, but I can’t help thinking back to the islands, and thinking of our favourite spots, and wondering how they fared. My favourite spot in Vanuatu was the Mele Cascades. It was, basically, more than anywhere else I have ever been, heaven on earth. I love Hawaii, and it is, beautiful, and wonderful, and it is home, it is tÅ«rangawaewae. I will always go back to Hawaii, dream of a certain valley, feel most connected there. But the Mele Cascades were paradise. They were …

Going on a Gorilla Hunt

Published by The Dreamstress

I love Art Deco Weekend in Napier, but I love it for the chance to dress up, and because I know so many fabulous people who go. I’m not actually that keen on most of the official events of the weekend: generally they involve crowds, being really hot, and announcers who say things like “When this building was new it was the Roaring ’20s and all of Napier was dancing to the Charleston” while I mutter things like “Oh, for Pete’s sake! When this building was new it was 1932, because there was this little earthquake thing in 1931 that levelled Napier, causing it to be rebuilt in Art Deco Style which is y’know, the whole reason we have this weekend – supposedly. And ’32 is Great Depression, because the fall of ’29 put paid to the Roaring ’20s pretty effectively, all over the world. Seriously, you’ve only been announcing this for what, 11 years? Learn something!” Yes, under my cap of dark gold waves and cheery smile hides the soul of a curmudgeon. One …

A textile tour of New Zealand: five fabulous places to visit

Published by The Dreamstress

Jules asked about things that the textile and fashion enthusiast should see in NZ. Sadly, there aren’t actually many exclusively textile and fashion focused places to visit in New Zealand – there is the NZ Fashion Museum, but it doesn’t have a building, so just does travelling exhibitions (and so far they have been more eye-candy than sink-your-teeth-into-them-and-learn exhibitions), and there are small scattered fashion and textile history displays at other museums. Many of these are fabulous – just not all in one place. With that said, here are my five top picks of textile-y things to see and do in New Zealand. I’ve picked things that are open all year round, rather than special one-off events like Art Deco Weekend, World of Wearable Arts, or Victorian Days, so that a visitor to NZ could feasibly see all of them in one trip. I’ve put them in North to South order. 1) Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland Much as I love Wellington, I have to admit that the best spread of historic dress on display …