This coastal walk is arguably one of the best overnight tramps in the Waitakere Ranges, the densely forested hills on Auckland’s northwestern flank. It’s a tramp through subtropical forest to a ...

My journey began when I saw a photograph of two women laughing in front of a road sign that read ‘Forgotten World Highway’, part of a slide show played during the funeral of a dear friend. Thelma and ...

What would New Zealand’s history be like without the world wars? The terrible Russian winter and Napoleon’s folly may be to blame for those catastrophes, accord­ing to historian Adam Zamoyski’s ...

The difference between exploring and being lost is the ability to return home. Te Rā tells the story of Māori voyaging and weaving technology, and has finally returned home—for now. It’s a cold winter ...

Not seen since 1922, Hadramphus tuberculatus (the Canterbury knob-bled weevil) has been largely for­gotten—a category X (presumed extinct) species. It was once com­mon throughout lowland Canterbury ...

According to my dictionary, “fiord” (also “fjord”) is a Norwegian word meaning a long, deep, narrow inlet of the sea with steep, often mountainous sides, originally eroded by glaciers. By this ...

The social security act was passed 50 years ago in September 1938. It was the culmina­tion of the Labour government’s efforts to ensure its citizens would never again suffer the poverty experienced ...

It’s one of New Zealand’s most important wetland habitats, and it’s also one of our most polluted lakes. Restoring it to its former abundance of birds and fish will take generations, but it’s possible ...

Kairara: one blink and you will miss it. It’s nothing more than a few farms scattered at the base of Tutamoe Mountain, about 20 km north of Dargaville. Not a tourist in sight on the day I passed ...

Toward the southern end of the Kaingaroa Plains on the volcanic plateau in the central North Island lies an area that, for its altitude, is as cold as anywhere in the country bar inland Otago. In ...

The Mackenzie Country is a unique New Zealand landscape: raw, open, full of light. This tussock wilderness is a world away from the organised patchwork quilt of Canterbury, yet is separated from it by ...

Where do young sea creatures spend their first weeks? What’s at the root of oceanic food chains? Kelp forests are to Aotearoa what coral reefs are to other marine ecosystems. Or they used to be. South ...