Waihau Bay: a sentimental journey. And: An Announcement
When I was six years old, our town of Opotiki (the real-life model for my fictional Ruatane) was flooded. Water went right through our house, leaving a major clean-up job […]
work-in-progress
Tongariro
In the centre of the North Island is Tongariro National Park, the oldest of our national parks and a fascinating area to visit. I had an extra reason for my […]
Rangitoto Island
One of the delights of writing my books is the excuse it gives for visiting interesting places. I hadn’t been to Rangitoto Island for many years, but when a character […]
1908 – travelling on the Main Trunk Line
Building the North Island’s Main Trunk Railway Line was an enormous task for New Zealand. It took more than twenty years to complete the 680 kilometre line from Wellington to […]
Passchendaele
Today is the anniversary of what was, in terms of lives lost in a single day, the greatest disaster in New Zealand history. On the 12th of October 1917, during […]
Celebrating Spring
It’s springtime in this part of the world. Blossom on the trees, daffodils in the orchard, calves and lambs in the paddocks (although not in ours; our sheep live a […]
New Year’s Day
The New Year arrives early in New Zealand, thanks to our position close to the Date Line. So it’s already eleven hours old as I write this. 2010 has got […]
Writing about real people
Although I use historical settings, I’ve studiously avoided using real, historical characters in my works. Over the years I’ve read and enjoyed many books that do portray real people, but […]