Flora Feltham wrote an early version of our cover story when she was living on Wellington’s predator-free reserve Mana Island with her husband, then a DOC ranger. The couple spent two years on the island, often alone, spanning Feltham’s first pregnancy and 10 months of their baby’s life. An incredible honour, she says, but it […]...
A diabolical gamemaker scatters 85 flags across the Pisa Range. He assigns each flag a certain number of points. Some are buried in brambles, others hidden in gorges. Some, fiendishly, will lead you away from fresh water. You have 24 hours, and a map. Go....
Human antidepressants flow into waterways after passing through the body, where they affect the behaviour of fish. Australian researchers created tanks of water polluted with one of the world’s most commonly prescribed antidepressants, fluoxetine (also known as Prozac), at concentrations that have already been detected in waterways around the world. Over two years, the scientists […]...
Warming seas will make life much harder for pāua, a NIWA study has found. Scientists raised young pāua in seawater of various temperatures and pH levels, then monitored their growth. “Essentially, seawater of the future will be warmer, with lower pH levels,” said Vonda Cummings, pictured, who led the study. “We found that the outer […]...
New Zealand’s highest mountain, Aoraki/Mount Cook, forms the cornerstone of the country’s longest cycle trail. Starting from the Southern Alps, this 260-kilometre trail descends 540 metres through the Mackenzie Basin and down the Waitaki Valley to Oamaru and the Pacific Ocean. The Alps 2 Ocean (A2O) trail has eight distinct sections, which can be ridden individually, […]...
Cabbage Trees, flax and bush-clad hillsides plunging into a shimmering blue sea. Sounds like New Zealand, right? Well, not quite. This is the Republic of Georgia, and the sea in question is the Black Sea, not the Tasman....
Butterflies and moths are active in the middle of the day, and mostly through spring and summer. So that’s when Chrissie Ward, 77, goes for her transect walks. Once a week, right through every warm season since the spring of 2009, she has walked the same 4.5 kilometres around the outskirts of Nelson, following and […]...
