Coaling from the clouds

One of Westland’s most dramatic engineering marvels, the Denniston Incline, is the main feature of Westport’s coalmining museum, Coaltown. In 1859, surveyor John Rochfort first discovered coal in a small creek 14km north of Westport. How­ever, it was not until 1860 that Dr Julius von Haast found seams of prized bituminous coal high on the fog-shrouded […]...

Beyond the fringe

During late spring and early summer the night sky appears to be rather feature­less. In the west the bril­liant riches of Scorpius and Sagittarius have disap­peared, while in the east Orion, lord of the summer sky, is just rising, and the inverted Southern Cross is scraping the southern horizon. The pattern of stars forming most of […]...

Quest for the Kakapo

Here is a timely insight into one of the most extraor­dinary birds which have ever lived. Once thought to be an evolutionary ‘missing link’ between owls and parrots, the kakapo is fighting a losing battle against the forces of habitat change and predation. Fewer than 50 birds are left: a few on Little Barrier Island; […]...

Scots make their mark

The Scots Brought their past and their present with them — and a determina­tion to forget neither. Long before surveyor William Tuckett rowed to the head of Otago harbour in April, 1844, and discovered to his “unqualified satisfaction” a site for a new town, Free Church of Scotland colo­nists had already named the capital of […]...

New Zealand scientists dive in Antarctica

Results Are Starting to appear from an Antarctic scuba diving project undertaken by New Zea­land scientists over the last few summers at Cape Armitage, Ross Island. The research headed by Dr Chris Battershill (lately of Canterbury University, now of Queensland) had a dual purpose. The first was to examine subtidal ecology in a particularly harsh and […]...

Last chance for snail

Department of Conserva­tion staff have been making a last-ditch attempt to save a colony of flax snails on the remote island of Motuopao, off Cape Maria Van Diemen. The snails, thought to be a sub-species of Placostylus ambagiosus, number less than ten individuals. Their existence has been under threat by the native rat, kiore, which […]...

Wasp warfare

New Zealand has a wasp problem. If you don’t believe it, take a trip into the beech forests around Nelson. Here the singing of birds is replaced by the buzzing of millions of wasps. Holidaymakers are dismayed to find their favourite tramping, fishing and picnicking sites over­run by these venomous insects. In late summer the […]...

The spirit’s flight

The Cape Reinga-Spirits Bay region of the Far North has great significance for Māori. According to Māori mythology, when the spirits of the dead return to Hawaiki, the homeland of their ancestors, they travel along sacred pathways of the Muriwhenua (land’s end). The dramatic landscapes and seascapes of this area are the inspiration for the following photographs and writings....

Deep water fishing

A visit to your local fish shop will only confirm the fine print on the supermarket boxes: most of the fish we are eating these days was unheard of a decade ago. Furthermore, we are now exporting these strange-sounding entities (hoki, alfonsino, orange roughy, oreo dory) all around the globe. Fishing has become a major new industry, but the operation bears […]...

Masters of the sky

We may have lost our giant eagle, but New Zealand still has two ‘hawks’, one of which is the acknowledged aerobatics supremo....

Terror of the forest

New Zealand’s forests were once the home of the largest eagle in the world. This enormous bird had claws as big as a tiger’s, and could strike its prey with the force of a concrete block dropped from the top of an eight-storey building....

The country is my classroom

More than half a million New Zealanders have received their schooling not in square classrooms but in housetrucks, boat cabins, caravans and bedrooms. Most have never met their teachers, but all praise the merits of a great New Zealand institution: The Correspondence School....

Over the tops

On 26 April, 1989, Michael Abbott stepped into the surf off Farewell Spit, completing the first full-length traverse of the South Island. In 130 days the 29-year-old architect had walked 1600km, crossed the Main Divide 32 times and climbed 58,000 vertical metres — equivalent to seven ascents of Mt Everest....

A chance to meet the contributors.

“On the first night out of Nelson I was in real trouble,” recalled Warren Judd, writer of our Deep water fishing article. Warren, who describes himself as a profes­sional hangover of the ’60s but is in reality a cell biology lecturer and part-time farmer, was reading the small print on his packet of seasick tablets […]...

Magazine

Issue 200

Jul - Aug 2026

Solar power
Horses of Huntly
Forget me not
Whaling
Red admirals

Issue 200 Jul - Aug 2026

Trending

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....
Outdoor education is at a crossroads....
The age of fossil fuels is ending, and the world is entering the era of solar power. What matters now is how fast we make the shift....
This four-bunk stone hut in the Ruahine Forest Park is unique and full of stories....

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