Standing outside my childhood home in Kuala Lumpur. The latest issue of NZ’s #1 travel mag Let’s Travel is out and it has two of my articles. On pages 50-53 is my tale of going back to my childhood home of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. And by home, I also mean literally in the sense…
Waitomo Road Trip In The New V6 Holden VFII – 10 Photos Including The World Famous #Casuallean
Holden’s new VFII. Just two days out from a road trip to Waitomo in the central North Island for Let’s Travel Magazine (New Zealand’s #1 travel mag – for more go to letstravelmag.com) my car broke down. My trusty, unspectacular, 1600cc 2001 VW Golf station-wagon just conked out. There was also some weird problem with…
New Zealand’s Only Tea Estate: Zealong Tea + A Luxury Waikato Farm Stay
Statues at the Zealong Tea Estate. Turns out in all of New Zealand there is only one solitary tea estate. In a country famed for agriculture, horticulture and our basic enthusiasm for growing stuff, we don’t make any of the product so many of us drink on a daily basis. That is, all except for…
Road Trippin’ Through Tauranga & Coromandel In A Brand New Holden Commodore VFII – Top 10 Photos Of The Car
The Holden Commodore VFII – the French Country House Tauranga behind. It’s the first time I’ve ever driven a car without having to put the keys in the ignition. I know this is technology that’s been around for more than just a little while, but when you normally drive a 1600cc 2001 VW, the novelty…
Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White Dies – Their Epic Rivalry With The Commodores
Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire. Maurice White was the heart and soul of a band who overflowed with both. They overflowed with funk too, not to mention the touches of jazz and gospel and the grooves of Africa and Latin America that ran through their music. And all told, some of the greatest…
Why Robin Williams Loved Rotorua – Top 50 Rotorua Photos Incl. The Black Swan Boutique Hotel
Rotorua’s Black Swan Boutique Hotel. When Robin Williams died, one of the best stories to come through to my Newstalk ZB radio show was from a Kiwi couple who’d once bumped into the actor in Rotorua. They were riding their mountain bikes through the city’s famed Redwood Forest (5600ha, officially named Whakarewarewa Forest) and had taken…
Why David Bowie Did The Lord’s Prayer At The Freddie Mecury Concert In 1992
David Bowie reciting The Lord’s Prayer, Wembley Stadium, 1992. There’s been so much written about David Bowie in the week and a bit since he died, but this piece about him doing the Lord’s Prayer at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1992 is my favourite. For decades it’s been easier…
Glenn Frey Dies Aged 67 – 6 Of The Best Lesser-Known Eagles Songs
Following on from my New Zealand Herald tribute yesterday to Glenn Frey of The Eagles who’s died at the too young age of 67, I wanted to re-release this article from last year. It was my response to finally seeing The Eagles live in concert and now that we know Frey only had months to…
Wearing An Eagles T-Shirt To A Wedding – Rembering Glenn Frey, Dead Aged 67
Who wears an Eagles shirt to a wedding!? We were all thinking it. Actually, a bunch of us were saying it too. Friends of mine were getting married in gardens next to a beach on New South Wales’ Central Coast a couple of years back and amidst all the suits and gowns was a good…
David Bowie’s Ineffable Cool – 3 Of The Best From One Of The Giants Of Pop
David Bowie always struck me as one of those people who could have never not been famous. There was a certain indefinable charisma, star-power and cool that surely rose beyond the mere audacity of talent. Not to mention all those other legend-hood requirements like luck, timing, smarts, hard work, knowing the right people and never…
Barry Gibb Releases Statement Thanking Robert Stigwood For “All The Success” Of The Bee Gees
Robert Stigwood with Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb. Bee Gee Barry Gibb’s statement about former manager Robert Stigwood who’s died aged 81: Robert Stigwood was an enigma. A Victorian figure cast into the sixties to work with Brian Epstein and The Beatles. He hitch-hiked from Adelaide to London with a powerful vision to rule the entertainment world….
Waikato’s Stunning Blue Spring – 12 Photos From 1 Of NZ’s Hidden Gems
The Blue Spring, Waikato Said smugly, I’ve been raving on about The Blue Spring in the Waikato for months now. Not like these Johny-Come-Blue-Spring-Latelys at Stuff.co.nz who’ve today asked the question: “Is it NZ’s best kept secret?” Months! Four to be exact. But still, months! Truth be told, like most Kiwis I’d never heard of…
