A beachfront bure at Mango Bay Resort. Going to Fiji on a Monday and coming back on a Friday seemed like one of those half-baked, I-haven’t-had-enough-sleep ideas I was surely going to talk myself out of. And yet it progressively seemed less and less silly. There were soon-to-expire air-points to get me there, the cheap…
Category: Hotels
The 80s “Executive Opulence” Of The Cove In Taupo
My bedroom at The Cove with the door opened to the spa pool. Taupo’s always been a place I’ve thought of fondly, mainly for historic reasons: first time table-top dancing, first time playing pool on a round pool table, first time waking up in a room choked with second-hand smoke, and the first time landing…
Waikato – Wai Not? Maungatautari & Hamilton Zoo 2014
An inquisitive chap / meerkat, Hamilton Zoo. This time a week ago I was relaxing in the living room of my B&B in Cambridge, New Zealand after a big day’s driving and walking. Cambridge is an affluent, extremely photogenic little town in New Zealand’s Waikato region. While it was primarily a visit to the hilly forest…
LA 2014: Top 50 Photos, Including Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood, Downtown, Beverly Hills, The Getty Center And Santa Monica
From behind the Hollywood sign in the Hollywood Hills. Hard to believe it’s already a week since me and my ankles arrived back from LA. Lesson learned, just because as a Kiwi you can save a bit of money flying via Australia instead of direct to California and back doesn’t mean you should. Am I…
The Most Fun Job Ever – My Top 30 Whitsunday Islands Photos 2010-2011
On Friday’s episode of The Two (Pam Corkery / Tim Roxborogh – Newstalk ZB) amidst the usual mix of politics and general topicality, we were talking about the most fun job you’d ever had. A list had just been published by the New Zealand Herald of the most fun jobs in the world – including…
Cutters Cove At New Zealand’s Mini Gold Coast – Mount Maunganui, Autumn 2014
The beach at Mount Maunganui in front of Cutters Cove. A couple of weeks ago I had a wedding to attend at New Zealand’s mini-version of Australia’s Gold Coast – Mount Maunganui – and as is traditionally the case with me, I thought, “Let’s stay somewhere awesome!” The Mount (as it’s known by Kiwis) is…
The Finest Golf Course In The Coromandel – The Dunes Golf Resort, Matarangi – 16 Photos Included
Photo courtesy of thedunesmatarangi.com I’ve never been much of a golfer – an alleged seven shots in a row in the water April 2009 still haunts me – but this potentially career-limiting affliction doesn’t stop me from enjoying the occasional golf resort. Especially when it’s a place like The Dunes in Matarangi (Coromandel, New Zealand)…
Herald On Sunday Travel Article To The Waipoua Lodge, Waipoua Forest, Northland – 15 Favourite Photos
Tane Mahuta, NZ’s largest kauri tree. If you can get beyond my almost unforgivable use of the cliche “tastefully appointed” in describing what was indeed a very tastefully appointed suite, here is the link to my latest Herald On Sunday travel article. The Waipoua Lodge sits on the edge of the greatest Kauri forest in New Zealand,…
The World’s Largest Sand Island – Herald On Sunday Article To Queensland’s Fraser Island – 25 Favourite Photos
Here is the link to my latest Herald On Sunday travel article, published today and all about the largest sand island in the world, Fraser Island in Queensland. Fraser Island is three times the size of Singapore and is dotted with freshwater lakes, covered in rainforest and home to Australia’s purest-bred dingo population. There’s also…
Where To Stay In Sydney & Melbourne If You Love Historic Hotels
Melbourne’s Hotel Windsor. Yesterday the Herald On Sunday published two of my articles in a very swish looking two-page spread. I’ve been ducking across the Tasman a bit lately and figured it might be fun to seek out a couple of not just luxurious hotels, but places with genuine points of difference. Click here for…
Tioman Island Malaysia – Why I Went Back 3 Years In A Row – Herald On Sunday Article From 2008
Tioman Island, Malaysia. With winter just a little over a month away here in the Southern Hemisphere, I’m thinking where might be nice to duck away for a couple of weeks of tropical sunshine. I’m determined to go somewhere different, but it’s amazing how Malaysia – the country I spent seven years as a kid –…
New Zealand’s Kauri Coast – Luxury Amidst Some Of The World’s Largest & Oldest Trees
Kauri from Trounson Forest, near Waipoua Forest. With seven years as a kid in Malaysia, the slightly odd pairing of a simultaneous love of jungle and skyscrapers almost seems in my DNA. Normally people love one and hate the other – I love both. That doesn’t mean I like stubby dumps like the 12-17 storey…
