History

Pohutukawa-flame of the north

Whether providing shade for a summer picnic, standing sentinel on a crumbling cliff or splashing Christmas crimson along garden edge, street or shoreline, the pohutukawa is one of the trees New Zealanders hold in greatest affection. Its grizzled bark and joyous blooms speak to us not just of the enduring qualities of the tree, but of the land itself.

Magazine

ISSUE 028

Oct - Dec 1995

Mt Ruapehu

Highway 35

Kites

Worsley

Pohutukawa

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History

The happy-go-lucky highway

Poor as can be, but living the lives of kings—a Coastie's description of the laid-back lifestyle on New Zealand's easternmost seaboard—means there's always time for loving and laughing. Father and daughter Wallace and Jardine Walker make that quintessential East Coast connection while whanau and friends fish from Hicks Bay wharf for kai moana to put on the table tonight. Hicks Bay is one of a few dozen isolated communities on the Coast; forgotten treasures along a happy-go-lucky highway.

History

The mountain has spoken

As if to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its last major outburst, on September 18, 1995, Ruapehu sprang unexpectedly from repose to violent activity. Over the next few weeks a white plume billowed to over ten kilometres above the mountain, raining black showers of ash across most of the North Island and disrupting air and ground traffic. On the night of October 11, with most of the water from the crater lake exhausted , molten magma fountained from the crater for several hours. Shafts of lightening cracked through the base of the dense ash cloud every few seconds. Fire had come to the mountain again.

Travel & Adventure

The boy from Akaroa

Blake, Coutts, Dickson—on such household names stands the formidable reputation of New Zealand's blue water sailors. Eighty years ago, another New Zealand sailor gained international kudos as a skipper of a fateful voyage in the Southern Ocean. When disaster struck, he saved himself and his fellows in one of the most remarkable feats of seamanship the world has seen.

Society

Dancing with the wind

Creations of whimsy, imagination and hope, kites have long fascinated us earthbound humans. They allow us, their fliers, to vicariously escape the burdens of gravity—even life—as they soar through the heavens. And with lightweight modern materials, almost anything can be made to fly—even a 12-metre dolphin!

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