New Zealand

Tokangawhā / Split Apple Rock

Approx. 50 metres off the coast between Kaiteriteri and Mārahau, Māori legend says the rock was split by two gods arguing over ownership.

Geologists say it was a naturally occurring joint in the granite which water, waves and ice weakened over time.

📸 Pablo Heimplatz

The UK’s Online Safety Act is genuinely draconian. The internet in one of the most powerful tools in history. Access to it should, frankly, be a right. In some places it is.

The UK government, past and present, is hiding behind the disingenuous “won’t someone please think of the children” argument.

While this may be a legitimate concern, I won’t be lectured or take lessons from PETA.

They euthanise over 95% of animals, including people’s pets that they’ve stolen from porches.

Then there’s their unscientific claims including “milk causes autism”. As someone with autism, I find that offensive.

I’m sorry, the account you’re trying to reach has died of cringe. 💀💀💀

Time to lead the way, I say.

Hoake! / Let’s go!

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, speaks with King Charles ahead of the King delivering the speech from the throne in the Senate in Ottawa. Between them is draped the flag of Canada.(Source: Associated Press)

Perhaps not the most popular of takes but I loved seeing the King open the Parliament of Canada.

Prime Minister Carney and Canada are showing that patriotism, tradition, and constitutional heritage can be centrist principles and don’t have to be the preserve of the right.

New Zealand next, please!

A wooden pier stretched into a still, dark lake with mist touched mountains and low grey clouds in the background.

Lake Rotoiti in the Tasman District in the northwest of South Island.

Surrounded by beech forests, the lake has a maximum depth of 82 metres and is popular for tramping and trout fishing.

It is, unsurprisingly, a popular photo destination.

📸 Tim Foster

Canada’s closest ally shouldn’t be the US (especially now). It should the UK and the Commonwealth.

I know it’s not very popular or trendy to think it, and there are all manner of political and economic implications and ramifications nowadays, but I wholly support #CANZUK.
🇨🇦🇦🇺🇳🇿🇬🇧🤝

It all comes down to profit, sadly. Selling cow’s milk – especially to China – is far more profitable to farmers than wool from sheep. Something like 97% of milk produced in New Zealand is exported.

New Zealand has always had dairy farming, it was just dwarfed in size and revenue by the sheep industry. Specifically the wool industry which, as recently as the 1960s, accounted for ⅓ New Zealand’s export revenue.

That 24 million continues to decline year on year.

New Zealand sheep population peaked in 1982 at 70 million but only 5 years later it was overtaken by dairy farming as New Zealand’s primary agricultural sector and there are now estimated to be slightly more cows than sheep in NZ.

Two lambs inquisitively look into the camera as sun shine over a paddock.

Two lambs in a field in Rosewill.

Sheep farming is a major industry and in its early days NZ built itself on the wool and lamb trades.

With approximately 24 million, NZ has the highest density of sheep for any country in the world and were the world’s leading exporter of lamb.

📸 Tim Marshall

Lest we forget. #ANZACDay #ANZAC

“𝘒𝘢𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘢 𝘪 𝘬𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘪: 𝙠𝙪𝙖 𝙖𝙧𝙖 𝙠𝙚, 𝘬𝘶𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘪 𝘮𝘦𝘢 𝘢𝘪.”

“He is not here: for 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐧, as He said.”

Believer or not, wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and hopeful Easter!

✝️🙏🕊️

(Apologies for late post!)

Kia pai tō whakatā Aranga!

Hope you have a good Easter!

✝️🐣

X used to be a good place to post for gaming. I could share ideas and tips with followers and those I followed. It was engaging and fun.

Then Musk bought it and suddenly my timeline wasn’t people I followed, it was generic clout chasers and U.S. alt-right rage bait.

What a platform Musk tanked.

Update to my gaming account on X being suspended.

I appealed asking which rule(s) I broke as it’s just a gaming account save that one post re: Trump and Greenland.

Reply is below.

So p*rn, graphic violence, and overt racism are fine. Question Trump? Ban.

It’s so laughably pathetic. Oh well 🤷‍♂️

A wide but shallow waterfall careens over a cliff into a large, dark pool surrounded by greenery.

Rainbow Falls (Māori: Waianiwaniwa; lit. “Waters of the Rainbow), a single-drop waterfall on the Kerikeri River.

The 27 metre waterfall is popular with tourists and located along a 3.5 km track.

The river passes through kiwi habitat, regenerating native trees such as kauri and tōtara.

📸 Marc St

I went here as a kid in the 90s and you could spend all day up there and never see another visitor.

Now? Can’t get close to it for the crowds, mainly – I hate to say – overseas tourists who have absolutely no respect for the area.

I quite like them but they are invasive and cause issues.

A stone church with dark slate roof sits atop a hill heavily flowered with purple and pink spear-like lupins as the sunsets in a golden sky.

The Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of Lake Tekapo.

The iconic Anglican church was built in 1935 to commemorate early settlers.

One of the most photographed places in NZ, in recent years its grounds have been damaged & services interrupted by est. 600,000 annual tourists.

📸 Peter Hammer

So I recreated the account from X in this post 👇 on BlueSky and within 12hrs it’s been labelled “spam” and all posts hidden 🙃

I only made 2 posts and they were pictures from a game I play (which X account was about)

Apparently that counts as “spam posting/interaction churn” (what even is that??) 🙄

It’s always busy. Can’t blame me!

Apologies that this post was a few days late! 🙈

A hobbit hole at Hobbiton. Stone steps lead to a round wooden door that is ajar and sits nestled in the side of a green, flowered hill.

A house burrowed into a hill with a yellow door and picket fence with flowers planted all over.

A wooden wharf stretches into a tranquil pond with the Green Dragon pub, with its thatched roof, in the background.

25 March was the day the One Ring was destroyed in Lord of the Rings canon.

The site of Hobbiton, a farm west of Hinuera, was chosen by Peter Jackson because it “looked like a slice of ancient England”.

Originally temporary, it was eventually kept and, of course, can be visited.

📸 Nate Johnston

I can’t how that idea got putin his head… 🤔

It really has turned to 💩 since Musk bought it. Never see posts from anybody I’m following, just ads and rage baiters.

Head to South Island for those stars, friend! Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve is the largest reserve in the Southern Hemisphere at over 4,000 km²! I camped out there a few years back (only during summer!) and it was amazing!

Have fun, friend, wherever you go!

My X account (not to do with New Zealand) got suspended.

I can submit an appeal but, because they haven’t told me what rule I broke, I don’t know on what grounds I’m appealing.

My last post compared Trump’s preying on Canada to his well known predatory behaviour.

I wonder if that’s what did it? 🤷‍♂️

Why not both? They each offer different experiences and landscapes.

North Island: Tropical beaches, touristy cities, volcano climbs, lush forest hikes.

South Island: Rugged mountains, glaciers, lakes, open country
tramping.

Pick the former for relaxation; the latter for adventure.