A few weekend’s ago the Barlow family packed up the Matamata Camper and headed an hour or so north to spend the night on the edge of the Firth of Thames. Literally. Right on the edge. A few minutes south of Kaiaua on the western coast of the Firth of Thames is a long thin strip of land between the coast road and the beach that seems to be very popular with caravaners and motorhomers. Ray’s Rest, it’s called. I...
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A couple of weeks ago one of my boyhood heroes – Steve Sumner – passed away after a battle against prostate cancer. I guess it was expected (speaking with people who knew him it definitely was) but still, when it came, it was a shock. For me, a central piece of my formative years, not that I was fully aware of it way back then, is now gone. Looking back, I don’t remember having too many idols when I was a kid. There...
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When you get to my age – you know, the age when hair starts sprouting out the top of your ears – you figure you’ve pretty much seen everything worth seeing in NZ. Well, figure again. The Matamata Camper’s Waitangi weekend trip took the Barlow family north to Lake Taharoa, the largest of Northland’s three Kai Iwi Lakes. Jean had been threatening me with a trip up there for years. She’s been a number...
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I believe I’m mad about football. Still. In many ways that’s true.
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When you have a camper you start discovering places you didn’t know existed. Some are even right on your doorstep.
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