New Zealand’s main industries are fishing, forestry, horticulture and most important to us, tourism. That’s crucial for a visitor to keep in mind as we travel the South Island and see the clearcut sections of hillsides, denuded right down to bare earth, which are such a common site here. Many […]

Dion Edgar told us that it costs about $100,000 to complete training to become a helicopter pilot. He spent many years saving up money from shearing sheep at $3.00 each in the windy Falklands, Scotland and New Zealand. “You can do 300 or more sheep per day,” he said, “it […]

Some of Daniel Monopoli’s best food memories come from his Italian grandmother’s kitchen, at their family summer house on the beach. One particular memory is a succulent veal flank cooked on a George Forman grill drizzled with a Sorrento lemon and some chili. Simple food appeals to this young chef, […]

Greytown, New Zealand is the perfect place to putter. Walking up and down the main street, we discovered a bevy of tastes and saw the skills of many Kiwis who have chosen to leave Wellington for the charms of this appealing town, that was settled in 1854, the country’s first […]

Today we drank in new tastes, sights and sounds…and began with an early morning train ride from Waterloo Station in North Wellington up to the Wairarapa district, a foodies paradise dotted with artisan craftspeople who create great tasting wines, olive oils, jams, fruits, and chocolates. The 90-minute train ride took […]

Logan and Brown are the two last names of a pair of famous chefs known far and wide in Wellington, a city of about 180,000 where arts, culture and especially food are at the top of their game. The pair opened in a converted former bank building on Cuba Street, […]

One common refrain heard time and time again is, ‘well see you again, we’ve gotta get together again, let’s make plans to do this again’ but how many times do you really do that? The complication of geography, meeting great people in faraway countries makes you know full well you’ll […]

We’re en route to Wellington and are waiting at Auckland’s new and improved domestic terminal. After the 13 hour flight, it was nice to get out into the air, and we followed the blue trail from the international terminal over here to domestic departures.  Outside we passed some lovely spring […]

We are off, tomorrow at 6 am, flying to Los Angeles and then tomorrow night, to Auckland and then Wellington New Zealand. It has been a day of packing and trying to remember everything, and accepting that things won’t get done but will upon our return on Dec 3. One […]

I ordered a burger at the Outback Steakhouse in Orlando. A meal voucher had spat out of the Delta self check-in when my flight was delayed, and I took it to this temple of gastronomy to see what I could get. In tiny print down at the bottom, my server […]