I adore all animals (with the notable exception of sandflies, which can all burn in bleach, and centipedes – the less said there the better!), from bunnies to bambis, and even to mice and rats.  However, I’ve never lived anywhere where mammals were native, and I feel a bit bad going all gooey over what are essentially introduced pets. So it’s a good thing I like birds!  And New Zealand has some amazing birds.  Around Wellington, in the near vicinity of our house, I can see tui and fantail, kereru and the occasional bellbird.  On my recent South Island road trip I got to see far more exciting birds. Like this kea: Yep.  It’s a parrot.  An alpine parrot.  In NZ.  Living way up in the mountains, above the snowline! And they really are parrots.  Check out the colouring on the feathers: *Swoon!*  I live in hope of finding a discarded kea feather, just for the iridescent olive gorgeousness of it (fun side note: the Metropolitan Museum of Art uses round coloured metal tags as …

My sister the chef tramps in the same way I sew: slightly obsessively.  So any road trip with the two of us involves me with a bag of hand sewing at the ready in the most accessible pocket of my backpack or suitcase, and frequent rambles and daywalks with the chef leading the way. In the days before New Years eve we’d had nothing but tiny 20 minute explores to scenic locations, and sister was getting restive, so I promised her a proper long walk (a compromise between my ‘What about a museum?  Is there a botanical garden around here?’ and her ‘Let’s stay in this great cabin I heard about!  It’s only a five hour walk up a mountain – super easy!’).  The weather threatened rain, but we both geared up with merino tops and waterproof jackets and set off on the Charming Creek walkway, which she had read about in a tramping book and I liked because it sounded charming. The path began in a carpark literally next door to the coal mining …

New Zealand has a reputation around the world for being ‘Clean & Green’, and their marketing slogan is ‘100% Pure New Zealand’, so many people, including some Kiwis, don’t realise that New Zealand has active coal mining, and that coal mining played a significant part in New Zealand’s development and history. The biggest coal mining area in New Zealand is the West Coast of the South Island.  I travelled down the West Coast at the end of my first 6-month visit to the country, over a decade ago, but somehow I completely overlooked the coal mining. I’m not sure how I managed to do that, we drove through Westport, which features a life-sized coal statue of a coal miner, and a museum called the ‘Coaltown Museum’, and past the Stockton open-cast mine, with big piles of coal. Piles of coal at the Stockton mine, Ngakawau, West Coast The mine buildings, at Ngakawau The coal transport system, Ngakawau Security and coal, Ngakawau Trains carrying the coal away, Ngakawau As it is in most places, coal mining …