I’ve just arrived home from Slovenia where the swimming was amazing. It seems the Slovenians share with me a similar enthusiasm for hurling oneself into the water. The lakes and rivers are exquisite - I’m tempted to say they’re even more beautiful than what we have back home in New Zealand. What I most appreciated [...]

I was crossing the border into China the week before last week and spotted this rather interesting bomb disposal equipment, parked metres away from the queue in which I was standing. It seems somebody has to wheel up to the suspicious package or bag and using the go-go-gadget-like claw, pick up said object and place [...]

It’s been a while since I visited Japan and enjoyed the amazing assortment of packaged sweets on offer. Even Muji sells amazing pinwheel cakes and delicately packaged candy.
Fortunately my friend’s Tristan and Yuka have just returned from Tokyo with a truckload of Japanese lollies to satisfy my sweet tooth.
I especially like the long thin white [...]

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 [...]