Tag Archive: Kaipara Harbour

Jul 11

Rooting for the Kaipara Harbour

As the farmer set off to work with four professional tree planters, I thought about the behind-the-scenes effort that’s often required to produce results. Years of grit, guts, luck, courage, team work and a heap of money was behind our thrilling America’s Cup win. On average, each race took a few minutes short of 25. …

Continue reading »

Jun 13

Spark staff plant the Kaipara coastline

People power to plant the edge of the largest harbour in the southern hemisphere is being provided gratis by one of our country’s largest companies. Spark NZ, through its charitable arm the Spark Foundation, enables its staff to spend a day a year contributing to a worthy cause. Last week, 11 Spark people turned their …

Continue reading »

Sep 24

Floss plays just for the fun of it

    Dear Readers, I can hardly believe it, but I’m having to backtrack on a bold declaration made in a previous column. Early this year I declared full of certainty that while Jas the puppy could bark and jump and beg, she would never, ever make me play. I backed up this emphatic statement …

Continue reading »

Sep 01

Notebook made with love and a bit of Batley House

It was surely a world first. A bloke who contacted me to buy a copy of my book asked for a hunk of the house as well. “Sure,” I replied. “I’ll see what I can find.” Dave suggested weather board, but a scavenge in the wood heap in the back paddock turned up something I …

Continue reading »

Jul 28

Satisfying time amid the mud

Each morning I’m a picture of sartorial style in muddy overalls, beanie and gumboots as the farmer and I move cattle. Up until the big wet we moved young bulls in the intensive grazing system every two days, but now they’re in smaller paddocks. In larger areas they stomp the lot to muck by the end …

Continue reading »

Nov 19

Freedom campers need to play by the rules

I hadn’t thought ‘lightly’ and ‘politely’ could be interchangeable until a letter from a rental vehicle company proved that, indeed, this is so. We share a Kaipara beach with ‘no camping’ signs which were ignored by some freedom campers I met during a preprandial wander. The couple, whose van had been parked all day, were …

Continue reading »

Jul 24

Floss’s Bark: Skirting around farm gear

A Blog by my Dog. Dear Readers, My boss recently went on a cattle moving mission dressed like a real girlie girl – and being a female, I’m qualified to comment. Oh, the shame! I was, of course, wildly excited when cattle broke through a fence and got onto the beach. Not only is this …

Continue reading »

Nov 27

Celebrating a century at Batley

  The Roadley family – about 130 of us – recently celebrated a century on a block of land whose first owner holds a dubious honour in New Zealand’s short history. Thomas Spencer Forsaith, who in 1839 signed on to buy 2000 acres on the shores of the Kaipara Harbour, will hopefully always retain his …

Continue reading »

Aug 13

Cut! It’s Country Calendar

REx and Rae taking scallops from a dredge

The Country Calendar camera was rolling when the farmer flung himself off the couch and started crawling towards the kitchen. He’d been quietly reading the newspaper while producer/director Kerryanne Evans interviewed me. Before filming started, we’d gone all out to ensure silence because the smallest sound gets picked up by the high-tech equipment. The fridge …

Continue reading »

Aug 03

Country Calendar crew is due

“I’ve got eagle eyes,” trilled the farmer in a most unfarmerly fashion while strolling down the hall and waving something small and shiny. “My watch!” I’d spent ages scouring the gravel road several kilometres from home where I was sure I’d lost it months earlier while moving bulls. Remarkably, it was in perfect condition which …

Continue reading »

Older posts «