Month: January 2019

Looking forward to Waitangi Day

Questions and optimism from Glenn McConnell

Here’s a young journalist who always asks questions that get me thinking all day. Glenn McConnell writes an occasional column in the Dominion Post and I enjoy his clear writing and fresh viewpoint.   Today’s article (link below) is no exception and well worth a read in the run up to Waitangi Day. Continue reading “Looking forward to Waitangi Day”

Unsheltered – book review

Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver

Other reveiws of Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered focus on the political; the coy way that Trump shadows the book but is never mentioned by name, the crisis in mid-America in employment, health, etc, our hurtle towards ecological crisis. It has all this; it is trademark Kingsolver.

But I read the book very literally.  To be unsheltered is a primal fear. Unsheltered gave me goosebumps. It is as threatening as a horror story, more so because the menace lies in the undercurrents while things on the surface look good enough. Continue reading “Unsheltered – book review”

Educated – book review

Educated, by Tara Westover

As I read this story, I wondered – how much can really be true?

How, given the emotional brainwashing and abuse of her childhood, could Tara succeed so brilliantly – from unschooled junk-yard kid, through Harvard and Cambridge to a PhD in only ten years?  If I was reviewing this as fiction I would call it unbelievably contrived. Continue reading “Educated – book review”

The rafting fallout (yes, we did)

White water rafting truths

  • Wear a helmet. You will fall in. There will be rocks.
  • Not all dry bags are equal. Pay for quality.
  • When a water-tight barrel explodes open in a rapid, dry things get wet.
  • Securely tied items can do a Houdini and wave goodbye as you’re clinging to the upside-down raft.
  • If you lose your heavy camp stove at the bottom of a river and a waif dives for it, it will miraculously light first click.
  • Chilly bins need to be tied shut.
  • Waterlogged bagels are inedible.
  • Sunnies should be tied on. What did I tell them?
  • A cairn piled on a rock on the side of the river may indicate a ledge wide enough to pitch camp. Stop!
  • Memories of past trips are rose tinted. Add an extra few hours and serious amounts of fear to any memory. I would argue (and did) that a rafting trip is nothing at all like giving birth, but it is true you soon forget the pain and turn around and do it all over again.

Continue reading “The rafting fallout (yes, we did)”

Packing list for rafting

Summer camping on the river

Here’s my packing list for an overnight rafting trip. (There’s no rain forecast and someone else is looking after the raft!) Off down the Ngaruroro river tomorrow.

Newbies often asked what to pack for a multi-day rafting trip. You need to be fairly tight, to fit in on the raft, but weight is not as issue like it is for a tramp. Continue reading “Packing list for rafting”