Little Biddy is a legend; a feisty four-foot female gold prospector whose hard-working, hard-living history is still remembered in the West Coast town of Reefton. Bridget Goodwin, also known as ‘Little Biddy’ or ‘Biddy of the Buller’, was born in Ireland in 1813 but followed the gold trail via Ballarat and Bendigo to the South [...]
My wilderness trail experience started at the northern trailhead, with a brisk introduction to the local ‘barber’. He’s a particularly fearsome character and Greymouth residents tell me he cuts right to the bone! However, this is no barber with a pair of scissors in hand but is in fact a local wind; a unique phenomenon [...]
Robbie Crickett, who with his wife Connie runs NZ Adventures tours, tells it how it is. If he says the road is steep, then it’s steep. If he calls it rough, women soon find out why; in the pre-tour information provided, it was suggested that we bring along support underwear. But the fact that people [...]
It was pretty obvious from the outset that I wouldn’t be riding this epic alone. One mention of this legendary trail and friends came flocking. Who wouldn’t want to ride what is arguably our country’s greatest back-country trail? It’s not a matter of ‘who you gonna call’ but who wouldn’t you call. So, after one [...]
Lake Brunner has become a very popular summer destination for many Kiwis, many of whom own holiday homes on the shores of the lake. I recently discovered a secluded piece of paradise tucked away on the south-western side of the lake, away from the busy boat traffic, jet skis and water skiers. Requiring little more [...]
Lake Kaniere has been described as one of the most beautiful lakes in New Zealand. Situated only a short 19km inland from Hokitika, the lake is surrounded on three sides by mountains that are capped in snow during winter, and provides a variety of activities including water sports, fishing, bird watching, tramping, waterfalls and beautiful [...]
The Kawatiri River Trail was the brainchild of the Buller Cycling Club who mustered together up to 100 local volunteers to transform river and seaside swamps and gorse-ridden land into 8km of stunning (and easy) cycling and walking trails beside the lower Buller River. Taking six years to complete, the last of the board walks [...]
Unless you’ve been there, you probably think of Westport as being wet and cold, and the victim of 10 rounds with that heavyweight champion of misery, Economic Downturn. Not a lot of good things have happened to Westport in the past quarter of a century: a forced stop to native logging hit the place hard [...]
Riders on last summer’s Tour of Aotearoa labelled the West Coast Wilderness Trail as the best trail they rode in their 3000km plus odyssey from North Cape to Bluff. Given the tour weaved through much of the Nga Haerenga New Zealand cycle trail network, that’s a big call. Trip Advisor says: “There’s a reason this [...]
Auckland’s wild west coast is just a stone’s throw from the city, but once you emerge from the dark bush canopy of the Waitakere Ranges, you feel as though you’re on another plapan> For a family of East Coasters accustomed to the Pacific Ocean and the golden sands of Gisborne, the land and seascape [...]