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All Entries from the New Zealand Category

A Bit of a Panic over the Earthquake in New ZealandSeptember 03, 2010

But so far, immediate extended family is fine.  My much-loved Auntie Coral was my shaky moment but my sister in New Zealand, and my cousin - Auntie Coral’s daughter - assured me that she had phoned home and Coral and everyone else in that clan is fine.

It was a panic though, and I had a reception and fireworks display to attend.  It was good to make those email and phone contacts between…

God Visits New ZealandJune 28, 2010

Loved this ... my people, my country.

Modesty Forbids ... and yet Market Myself I must.June 22, 2010

Modesty forbids that a girl from smalltown New Zealand speak highly of herself.

We leave our childhoods, more often than not, having had humbleness and modesty and all those other conventions hammered into our very souls.

And so ... one becomes a photographer and hopes that marketing herself and her work is something she can just kind of ignore ... that people will find her, hire her, based on ... well, what?

So I have 2 tours to market, I…

A Lovely Day for the Kiwis ...June 20, 2010

A wee bow to the New Zealanders at the World Cup ...

‘In fact, they were all brilliant, because this was a brilliant result. Remember this day, and keep the points table. History is a wonderful thing.’
The New Zealand Herald, writes about today’s World Cup match against Italia.

Sunday 20th June, 4pm!June 19, 2010

It has been an insanely busy 48 hours but it’s done now ... well, except for the photo processing and continuing work on the project plans, preparing marketing for the marketeer maestro and all that.

But you know how it is when you turn up to take photographs of some of your favourite people and end up going home with those 3 Arturo Pérez-Reverte‘s book you would have searched for eventually, except some exceptional friends found them…

Pavlova ...June 18, 2010

I made this famous New Zealand dessert tonight. 

You see, Raf was coming over for dinner and so, for Raf, I made pavlova.  However , not long back from Peru, he’s still experiencing stomach problems.  He battled valiantly but Gert and I had to soldier on alone through the huge pavlova after a rather nice, slightly spicy Persian Chicken ...

That means there’s still half of this MASSIVE pav in the fridge for tomorrow.

If curious, I was quite…

a quote, from james k baxter ... new zealanderJune 02, 2010

anyone who listens long enough will write again.
accept that silence instead of always pushing.
James K. Baxter, New Zealand poet.

huge thanks go to leonie wise, godess and poet (whose book i haven’t managed to buy yet)

meanwhile, here i am giggling over a conversation i believe i had with a slightly drunk kiwi friend, after being woken from a deep…

20,000 kms from Home ...March 31, 2010

I have written of Sas before, and now she has the whole beautiful new blog thing going.  Another kiwi a long way from home, she posted this poem yesterday ... I had to borrow it because it’s beautiful.

I hear you calling me.
haere mai, haere mai
in my dreams
haere mai, haere mai
from the land you call to me
call to me
come home

my…

Tell Me What You Know ... please.March 23, 2010

David Wall, is an old friend, a superb photographer and a New Zealander… and he is a bit of a guru for me.  He was well into his professional career when mine was barely a twinkle in my eye but he made the time to talk depth of field and iso, to discuss which camera and why, to encourage me with equipment.  And so here I am, wanting to say thanks David and…

Red Wine and Memories of Another LIfeMarch 19, 2010

It’s amazing how many memories I found in just one mouthful of red wine tonight ...

A long time ago, before my Istanbul life ... before Belgium.  My first marriage was over and I wasn’t sure what my post-long-marriage plans were.  Friends of mine invited me to their holiday home in Bannockburn, backcountry Central Otago.

An exquisite landscape that smells of wild thyme, warm rocks and sweet grasses, or that’s how I remember it.

I…

Paul Turner, Musician - an InterviewMarch 01, 2010

I have a new photo gallery up over in People ... and you can read all about him over in my Interview section.

Paul Turner is a hugely talented musician and excellent kiwi bloke.  More to follow, as I make plans to gift give-away one of his cds.

Home ...February 16, 2010

Lately, New Zealand women have been appearing in my world, amazing women like Wendy, who arrived a couple of weekends ago, delighting me with excellent conversations and this sense of recognition that seemed to come from just getting that way of speaking, those life experiences, this way of seeing the world ...

Then came Leonie over on her beautiful blog with exquisite photographs and reminders of home in her poetry.

She, in…

Lieutenant Colonel John Boswell, New Zealand Army, MesenFebruary 14, 2010

Sometimes you find yourself in the right place with the camera and voila ... I was pleased with this photograph taken during a commemoration in Mesen. 

Lieutenant Colonel John Boswell was always a welcome guest on the Westhoek and is much missed now he has been reposted elsewhere. 

New Zealand Day Celebrations, Holland - Homegrown EventsFebruary 04, 2010

This Saturday, 6th Feb, there’s no better way to celebrate Waitangi Day (otherwise known as New Zealand Day)  than with Andy - from Homegrown Events.

He has brought together three great Kiwi bands and there will be a Haka performance for those curious about this fierce Maori war dance.
There will also be free raffle tickets at door with some great prizes to be won, including high quality shirts from the fashion label ‘NZA’, vouchers for tasty homemade Kiwi…

Sam Hunt, PoetJanuary 13, 2010

Sam Hunt is probably my favourite poet, although the competition is strong ... Hone Tuwhare, Michael Ondaatje, Anne Michaels - the last two just happen to be superb prose writers as well.

I’ve been listening to a Radio New Zealand interview with Sam while working on an interview here in Berlin this morning.  I’m not ‘working’ until tonight and it’s snowy cold outside. …

How to make a New Zealander terribly homesick ...January 12, 2010

I experienced so much of what you see here ...

A whale watch tour boat on the coast of Kaikoura allowed me to see 6 whales in the wild, and on our return to shore, a massive pod of dolphins, hunting in a pack of well over 100 surrounded the boat for a while chasing fish. 

I…

A Little Bit about New Zealand ... with an updateJanuary 09, 2010

“New Zealanders who go to Australia raise the IQ of both countries.”
Robert Muldoon, Former-Prime Minister of New Zealand.

I found this website with some small facts about New Zealand on it ... the above comment amusing me because my lovely brothers both live permanently in Australia.

Note:  “Robert Muldoon, who made this superbly cutting comment, did not provide any numbers to back it up. Unfortunately, therefore, we cannot claim it as…

Radio New Zealand Archives - a treasure trove for this kiwi so far from homeNovember 08, 2009

Most specifically, Radio New Zealand archives of Kim Hill’s Saturday Morning Show ... bliss!

They write: Click through to individual programme pages for the full list of guests interviewed by Kim Hill. Each page has audio links for listening and download, plus associated information and links, details of music played on the programme, and more…

The wee cup runneth over, sitting here in my room preparing for this afternoon’s photography gig,…

Wish You Were Here, Pink FloydSeptember 14, 2009

Uncle Barry will be buried in the early hours Belgium time - Tuesday afternoon New Zealand time.

He chose this song and it’s probably what everyone is thinking, although he was just so ill.
So, here in the new house, Julie, Jessie and I have opened the red wine and we have Pink Floyd up loud - we’re talking about Uncle Barry and Keith and Mum, Nana Nellie, and Jack and Harold, Grandma, George and Colin and all the…

Rain ...September 01, 2009

I left New Zealand back in 2003, blissfully unaware that I might not live there again for years, or maybe forever ... no more favourite dog and I wandering the South Island’s beaches and lake shores, the ones we had come to know and love so well as we followed my first husband’s career over 16 years.

It started raining just now here in Belgium.  I was quietly resting after carrying umpteen loads of ‘stuff’ up…

Some Kiwi Speak, with DefinitionsAugust 25, 2009

I revisited some special made in New Zealand words and phrases. You can find out more than you possibly want to know here.

Bloke: usually a man, and often used when referring to a stranger as in, “That bloke, Joe Blow, is a really nice guy once you get to know him”.
Blow me down: expression of surprise, as in; “Well! Blow me down, I didn’t know that.”
Bob’s your Uncle: roughly translates to ‘there ya…

Jenna Sauer, Writer/Model/Blogger/WandererAugust 22, 2009

Like a lot of young kiwis, I need to be away from New Zealand now. But I also need it to be here when I am ready to come back.
Jenna’s Blog

I liked that she captured how it feels, even for older wandering kiwis.
Maybe this is what home is about ... it being there when we need to go back.


I found Jenna via a newspaper from home.  Titled Helen Clark - 60th Most Powerful Woman in the WorldAugust 21, 2009

So it turns out that Gert and I spent some really pleasant hours with a small group of 7 on Flanders Fields, one of whom was just listed as the 60th most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine -  former Prime Minister of New Zealand - Helen Clark, now head of the United Nations development programme in New York.

I have to say, she is a lovely woman, very down-to-earth and friendly.

Topping the 100 Most Powerful Women…

I miss early mornings in New ZealandAugust 16, 2009

I used to live on Dunedin’s Otago Peninsula and I loved it.

There was nothing better than slipping out into the early light on a frosty blue sky morning with my camera ...

Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances MayesAugust 09, 2009


Back in the days when I was the wife of a New Zealand Airforce officer, living on Base Woodbourne up in Marlborough (‘up’ because I came from ‘down’ in Dunedin) I bought a book that has traveled everywhere with me ever since.

I devoured Frances Mayes Under the Tuscan Sun as we moved off base and out of that airforce life down to Fiordland, in the south west of…

Speedos (togs in New Zealand speak) versus Undies (underpants in New Zealand speak)August 09, 2009

Gert has speedos, I explained they’re not quite ‘the thing’ in New Zealand and that we actually have rules about them ...

On being a kiwi legend ...August 09, 2009

One of my favourite people in the world sent me this a long time ago.  It made me smile as I read simply because it contains a million memories of growing up in New Zealand. I wanted to make it shorter but couldn’t find anything I could cut out ... it’s all real.
Thanks Christine.

I’m talking about hide and seek/spotlight in the park. The corner dairy, hopscotch, four square, go carts, cricket in front of the rubbish bin…

Kay McKenzie Cooke, PoetJuly 23, 2009

I have published an interview by Kay Cooke McKenzie over in my Interviews section.

*walking through the Octagon
How can one not love
this drizzle?
Burns’ dark glower
as I rush by
under splattered cover.
Ah, there.  See.  That girl
in the fake-fur,
tiger-skin hat
smiling to herself
does too.
Kay McKenzie Cooke.

Katherine Mansfield, WriterJuly 04, 2009

Would you not like to try all sorts of lives - one is so very small - but that is the satisfaction of writing - one can impersonate so many people.
Katherine Mansfield (one of my favourite New Zealand writers)

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