“How doth the little busy bee, Improve each shining hour…” observed hymnwriter Isaac Watts in the 18th century. Bees are remarkable creatures, and they have captured our fascination since ancient times. Indeed, their social organisation and language skills can make them seem almost human....
For the last 25 million years New Zealand’s shores have been receiving a constant influx of Australian immigrants: plants and animals which have been blown across the Tasman by the prevailing westerly winds. Most successful among the travellers have been the birds, and their continuing arrival provides a bright spot on our often bleak ornithological […]...
Automation has brought to an end the tradition of lighthouse keeping in New Zealand. By mid-1990 the switch will be complete and the manned lighthouse will be no more. Tony Reid visited four of the remaining keepers to discover what draws these people to their unique and seemingly romantic way of life....
Tony reid describes himself as “unashamedly urban in background, tastes and living skills.” Understandably, the idea of visiting lighthouse keepers in some of New Zealand’s wildest and most remote locations caused the former Listener editor some apprehension. “I was protected by luck and an Austrian photographer named Arno Gasteiger,” says Tony. “While the weather forecasts […]...
As rumours of gumboot shortages, washed-out highways and damp cricket matches drifted down the island, it finally dawned on sun-dazzled Wellingtonians that the North was not enjoying the glorious summer weather that they were. Among the many expressions of sympathy that flowed north was the suggestion that the 1990 Commonwealth Games be transferred to Wellington, […]...
