I’ve just come back from a weekend in Kuaotunu. Where, you ask? I know, it’s a mission to find if you’re not from the ‘Mandel. Basically you head to the Kopu Bridge at Thames and turn right to get there via Tairua and Whitianga or left via Coromandel town. About an hour and a half [...]
New Zealand
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2
SepThe Kuaotunu killer cone!
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25
AugWhitianga’s scallops are sizzling this weekend!
I’m as excited as a kid in a candy store for the upcoming Whitianga Scallop Festival! In fact I reckon even a kid would take a freshly sauteed scallop over a gummy bear any day. The famous festival started in August 2005 and about 2500 people came that first year to sample the locally harvested [...]
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18
AugJucy launches a funky hotel in Auckland
We’ve all seen the 1950s pouty red-head blowing kisses from the side of Jucy Rental vans and cars roaring up and down the countryside in their lime green and purple kit. Well now Jucy Lucy is all set to kiss you goodnight in her very own budget hotel. You’ll find the brand new Jucy Hotel, [...]
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11
AugCome to my place for the RWC
Auckland Scene: Folk are running about in a veritable feeding frenzy in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup. Party Central looks like it’s going to end up being more of a state of mind and less of an actual place. The All Blacks are personally testing the public transport stretch into Kingsland. Mt Eden [...]
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29
JulPlenty of brain food at Kai to Pai
Auckland Scene: In a world obsessed with counting calories, going organic and eliminating G.E, it’s nice to know that we live in a country that still celebrates tucker as a cultural icon, rather than something to be scrutinized at its molecular level. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t shudder at the fact [...]
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19
JulFree phone calls from Lawrence to the rest of the world!
From where?! I hear you ask. Lawrence is a tiny squeak of a town in Central Otago and only known to me because I have cousins there whom I have visited only once, age 17. Well not even there – they live even more remotely on a farm in the wop cacks and I remember [...]
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25
JunPork belly get in ma belly! Dinner at The Grove
Last night I treated me and The Bloke to dinner at Auckland’s number 1 restaurant (as voted by Metro Magazine) The Grove. It was a chilly Auckland night but Thursday parking was good thanks to a sneaky spot outside The Den Adult Concepts on Wyndham Street, which leant all sorts of connotations to The Bloke’s [...]
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17
JunRotorua’s newest hotel is a funky 1960s motel!
And it’s the grooviest thing to hit Rotorua since – goodness, is there anything groovy about Rotorua? Certainly nothing like this: we’re talking rhinestone-studded rhinoeros heads above the fireplace, black chandaliers and white leather. I just spent the weekend in Rotorua to get amongst New Zealand culture as I am tasked with revising a New [...]
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15
JunRent a house in NZ during Rugby World Cup
We’ve got the Rugby World Cup coming to New Zealand next year and already fans are booking tickets and accommodation. But we’re hearing news of hotels and B&Bs charging like wounded All Blacks hundreds of dollars per night more than usual, so how about house-swapping or renting a house from a local? On the kiwi [...]
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10
JunTop 6 foodie places in Havelock North
My top 5 turned into a top 6… Hawkes Bay is my childhood stomping ground, and Havelock North is a little village that punches above its weight for eating, drinking and being generally merry. Here’s my list of the places I try and get to each time I visit: Black Barn Growers Market This vineyard [...]
Megan Singleton is an