Category Archives: New Zealand

Romancing Aotearoa and Beyond

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Why did I choose this tagline to go with, and who or what is Aotearoa? I live in New Zealand, and the Maori name is Aotearoa, which means Land of the Long White Cloud. And when you are flying around New Zealand, or at sea looking back, all you can see is a layer of cloud on the horizon.

I was born and bred here. I have only ever ventured overseas twice, once when I was fifteen, to Australia for three weeks, and again when I was 35 to Fiji for a long weekend. I never did my OE (Overseas Experience) and I have never regretted it. I’ve always loved the country that I live in and want to stay here.

So, Aotearoa, New Zealand, it is a beautiful green country. Green as in the colour. We have a lot of native bush that is various shades of green, with the occasional splash of yellow or red. We have lots of pasture, which are home to sheep, beef and various other animals.

But it is the native bush that has me. I love the bird song that comes with the native bush. We have some weird and wonderful birds, most of them pretty drab by overseas comparisons, but they are beautiful none-the-less. The Tūī (parson bird), bellbird (korimako), fantail (Pīwakawaka), Weka, Pukeho, Kākā, Kea, Kākāpō, shining cuckoo, morepork (owl), grey warbler (Riroriro); their dawn chorus birdsong is unique and beautiful, except at 4am when the bellbirds first haunting single note reverberates through the forest.

The smell of the forest after a rainstorm, the dampness of the leaflitter, the coolness of the breeze through the trees, the noise of the branches and leaves rustling, it’s a magical place that transports me to New Zealand when there were no inhabitants here, before the Maori, the Mori Ori.

New Zealand has a population of just over 5 million people, so we have a lot of space compared to many countries, and I guess that is part of my love for the country, the wide open spaces, the national parks where we can experience birds in their native environment.

I just love New Zealand. What more can I say? If you want to see for yourself, check out this video for Helicopter Lines

Planning and Plotting

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It’s been a week. Work, Monday to Thursday. Friday was Matariki, which is Maori New Year, an opportunity to remember those who have left us, plan ahead for the future, and celebrate those who are around us. My Partner, Mr H and I took his daughter back to Christchurch. He brought her up two weeks ago. She was supposed to drive herself, but she broke her collarbone, and so Mr H went down and picked her up.

It was a lovely drive, and a great opportunity to get some photographs for inspiration around the Murchison / Maruia area. I won’t share them here, but I did share a photo of the Maruia falls on my instagram page.

Lunar, being…Lunar
Maruia Falls
Kaikoura ranges from Canterbury Plains

So, writing / planning / editing wise – I am slowly working through a second edit of Second Hand Daughter. I’m taking my time on this, which I probably shouldn’t be but I’m enjoying reading this again, plus I didn’t really plan to edit this month, it was a planning month.

And planning I have been. I have planned out most of Carol’s Christmas, and have 4 main characters, Carol Sawyer the main character, Emma Thornton, her daughter, Noah Thornton, her ex husband and Iona who is her best friend and business manager. I like the story plan I have in place for this, and will start writing next month.

I’m also still ticking along on my Dragon series. I have a couple of ideas that I can work with. The original plan is to write 5 stories relating to the series, however with a major idea I’ve had, this could expand. I can’t wait to introduce you to some of the characters in this series. Keep an eye out on my facebook page for some introductions.

I’ll keep working on the dragon series for now, and see what else develops. I started writing one of the stories a couple of years ago, so I will have a read through and work out what I want to keep and what I don’t, and I hope to use November to write this novel – or at least complete it.

Anyhoo – I hope you’ve had a good week, and I’ll catch up with you next week.

Kia kaha peeps