Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce Kleyer, a New Zealander who lives in the once industrial but now hip suburb of Montreuil, a short Metro ride just outside of Paris. Bruce runs a woodworking and steam bending workshop together with Peter Steitzner.

Having acquired machinery originally used for building the arms of horse [...]

Being a product designer sees me spending significant amounts of time in Guangdong province, southern China, where a huge percentage of the worlds stuff is made. It’s a busy place, ever changing, ever growing and spending time here certainly shapes my opinions as a designer and as a consumer. A plus side to the factory [...]

Heading north out of Wanaka, in the South Island of New Zealand, State Highway 6 bridges a young Clutha River. The river is glacier fed and even at the height of summer the water temperature is still what might be called “refreshing”. Standing on the bridge it’s easy to spot trout flirting with local fisherman. [...]

Impulsive Air New Zealand grab-a-seat flights to Nouvelle Calédonie led to a quick holiday that turned out to be very different from what we had been planning and expecting.
The first surprise was a pleasant one. I had never realised that such a tasty slice of France existed only 2 and a half hours from my [...]

Cartel is a great little not-too-pretentious and not-too-conservative bar in SOL Square (Off Lichfield Street), Christchurch.
It’s a tiny little space, but I seem to recall the bartender saying something about bringing a horse inside for the staff party?

I went Etchells yacht racing on Hong Kong Harbour. The boats are stored out of the water and the owners make a phone call to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club who arrange for their boats to be craned into the water and readied. You just turn up, go sailing for a few hours, and [...]

Tree Crop Farm is a romantic little B&B made up of a small farm house and 3 standalone cottages, all nestled snuggly into the Akaroa hillside.

My partner and I stayed in one of the cottages on a cold and rainy weekend which made it all the more enjoyable to be rugged in front of an [...]

It goes without saying that San Francisco is one of the more liberal US cities, and you come to feel it as you walk the streets. Bicycles and skateboards are common forms of transport, and if you have to drive, it’s quite likely you’ll be in a hybrid Toyota Prius.
Upon my first visit to the [...]

Despite being a must-do activity for Kiwis and tourists alike, until now I had never been to Ninety Mile Beach. Having finally done it feels like I have completed some kind of rite of passage.
It is a truly liberating feeling to drive at 100 kilometres per hour on what is probably the widest two-lane highway [...]

Clovelly is a sweet suburb a couple of beaches south of Bondi, and north of Coogee. There is a small village about 7min walk up the hill from the beach, that is home to Clodeli, a delicious cafe and deli that serves great corn cakes with tomato salsa and wasabi.
The village also has a great [...]