Few other places in New Zealand have been defined by the waves that roll upon the shore. But at Raglan, where one of the world's finest point-breaks peels around the great mountain of Karioi, surfing has connected industry and culture.
A salvo of fireworks opens the Winter Festival in Queenstown, now a key event in the calendar of the rapidly evolving town. It became a centre of trade after gold was discovered in the Arrow River in 1862, and though the commodity might have changed, entrepreneurs and developers are still striking it rich following a new seam of high-value tourism.
Like mechanical crayfish making landfall, the bulldozers that line the shore at Ngawi are an original solution for an unusual location. But as Mark Scott discovers, it’s not the only thing that makes this seaside community unique
William Trubridge's quest to dive a hundred metres on a single breath.
Birthright of the beach
Saving those who can be saved and comforting those who cannot is all in a day’s work for St John paramedics.
The Hokianga is a harbour steeped in history. Maori call it "the nest of the northern tribes" because it was here that their great voyaging ancestor, Kupe, made landfall from Hawaiki, and here that his descendants settled. Hokianga has been a nest for Europeans, too. Over the past two centuries, sawmillers, shipbuilders, missionaries, traders, farmers, fishers, hippies and artisans have found a home along its sheltering shores. To trace the waves of Hokianga settlement, veteran journalist Mark Scott and photographer Arno Gasteiger hit the road while former editor Kennedy Warne took the sea route, navigating the harbour by kayak.
Infamy in the heart of the Amazon.
Powerful waves, jagged rocks, black sand and spectacular scenery. Piha, on Auckland's west coast, is a magnet for beachgoers with a taste for the dramatic. But the currents are treacherous, and each year 200 swimmers owe their lives to the vigilance and courage of Piha's lifeguards.
The road—an insignificant thread of grey, vulnerable to every slip and avalanche from the massive mountains embracing it—and, below ground, the railway line are the fragile capillaries which nourish human activity in this vast South Island wilderness area.
The wounds of war are a long time healing. On Bougainville, where thousands died during the Pacific's bloodiest conflict since the end of the Second World War, the fighting is over—but the task of rebuilding has only just begun.
Mark Scott discovers the attractions of sheepdog trails and jam-making.
Kaikoura to Greymouth—the hard way. That's the guts of the South Island Four-Wheel-Drive Coast to Coast Teams Enduro, now in its sixth bone-jarring year. New Zealand Geographic sent two masters of the mudhole, wizards of the winch, lone rangers of low ratios along for the ride.
Symbol of the warmth and charm of fa'a Samoa—the Samoan way—the gaily decorated communal pool is a focus of village life. As children frolic, its waters rinse away the grime of the day. Later, adults will seek out its coolness, washing together and talking as the sun sets. Yet beneath an apparently relaxed surface run troubling undercurrents, as Western ideas of individual freedoms challenge a rigid, traditional society where family and village are everything.
Silver ghost shrouded in mist, the river slips past ranks of low ridges north of Huntly. Revered by Maori, coveted by European, fought over in bloody battle, today's Waikato seems far from its former glory, its importance measured in megawatts and cubic metres per second. Yet the river-New Zealand's longest-retains. its mantle of greatness.
Homesickness and uncertainty show on the faces of Tokelauans returning to the islands. Although Tokelau is counted as part of New Zealand, living conditions in this last Pacific dependency lag far behind those in the rest of the country, and the islanders are faced with the dilemma of whether to become independent. But in this lonely tropical outpost the cool of the evening brings its own rewards: moonrise moments of timeless charm.
Kiwi cowboys have been riding, roping and wrestling on the rodeo circuit for night on 50 years.to these down-under marlboro men, rodeo is more than a sport, it's a life -a quest that takes them from Invercargill to Kaitaia in pursuit of that magical eight-second ballet between man and beast
Fiordland National Park consists of a million hectares of rock and river, forest and fiord—some of the wildest and most untouched country in New Zealand. The place is a magnet to adventurers, who come here from around the world to experience true wilderness.
Mark Scott continues his exploration of the Cooks, looking in this article at the southern islands.
To some, they are New Zealand's Majorca. To others, a totemic link with the Polynesian voyagers who settled Aotearoa a millennium ago. Fifteen tiny islands and atolls sprinkled over close to a million square miles of ocean, the Cooks are a diverse group of communities, each with its own distinct flavour.
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