Didn't do very well this year...

I'll be the first to admit I was rubbish on the posting front in 2018.

But what with domestic and overseas work travels and selling and buying houses and undertaking a massive reno and getting over the (slight) culture shock of life in the country, it has been one hella busy year.

I'm working through the break so no time for a round-up of the year's highs and lows. Instead, here's my story from the December issue of North & South Magazine about happiness - you can't buy it but can you develop an algorithm to obtain it? Read the story here.

Happy New Year etc and I promise to try and be a better blogger next year.

Bonjour Bora Bora

So I've just come back from four nights of being cooked in the Gold Coast heat which wasn't always pleasant.

But while I recover, here's my story on Bora Bora's luxury resorts, one of three stories I have in the December issue of Kia Ora, Air NZ's inflight magazine (and this one is the cover story - insert happy dance!) 

Martinborough House

Earlier this year, I walked the Tora Track for a story for North & South Magazine.

That's when I meet one of the co-owners of the Tora Track, Kiri Elworthy, and got to nosy around her gorgeous house. The story of that house is in the December issue of NZ House & Garden Magazine. 

   

Oops

So I went to Bali for Kia Ora Magazine and came back, and then went to Oamaru also for Kia Ora Magazine and also came back.

In between, there has been a heap of deadlines and renovation of the new house and all the other usual twists and turns of life. Apologies to the three people who are still reading this blog.

But here are some pics of the Bali media trip where we stayed at the ever glorious Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay and then Alila Villas Uluwatu (both of which I stayed at last year for a story). This time we also ventured to Canguu where we stayed at the fantastic Hotel Tugu Bali, a traditional Balinese hotel which is charmingly old school, an oasis among the sometimes chaos of Batu Bolong Beach. If you're headed to Canguu, then I would definitely recommend it.

         

Bali bound

For the second time in just over a year, I will spend a week in Bali for a magazine. It was supposed to be Lombok but then the devastating quakes happened last month and, not surprisingly, that media trip was pulled.

But am looking forward to returning to Bali tomorrow - just hope the quakes there this week have also abated. Wish me luck!

Today's visual is of one of the gorgy resorts I will be staying at - Alila Villa Uluwatu. Be still, my beating heart.

    

Lesser known river cruise destinations

My story about his was in last Sunday's Sunday Star Times (click here to read).

Sadly, I haven't done all of these but hopefully soon...

 
Pic Credit: Stuff NZ)

Kapiti and Palmerston North

Kept it local for the October issue of Kia Ora Magazine, the Air NZ inflight magazine, with a story on my new hood, the Kapiti Coast (click here to read) and one on the best places to eat and drink in Palmy (click here to read).

San Francisco - an Edible Excursion

Playing catch up but this ran a week or so ago, my story of the food walking tour of SF's Ferry Building I did recently (click here to read).

Bora Bora

So last week I spent six nights in Bora Bora, the French Polynesian idyll that's as nice to say as it is to visit.

Of course it was for work. And I was on my own (not so much fun in honeymoon central). And it rained most days (but it was bath-water warm and didn't last very long). And, don't hate me, but I got to stay at four amazing resorts for a magazine story - Four Seasons Bora Bora, the St Regis Bora Bora, Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa and Conrad Bora Bora Nui.

I was sooo spoiled but, of course, loved every minute of it. Now I have to go back to cooking and cleaning for myself (and generally deal with the trauma of not having a butler or five star service).

But when I'm scrubbing the toilet, I can always look at these pictures and be transported back to paradise.

Now I just have to write the bleeding story....

          

What I did last week

So Macau. There was great food, amazing architecture, some giant pandas, casinos, 30+ degree heat and oh so many delicious pastel de nata (Portuguese egg tarts).

It was a fun media trip and now I just have to write the story - in between moving house (yup, we sold the Mt Vic place and have moved into our 16 acre lifestyle block in Otaki - sorry to spring that on you, but more about that later).

In the meantime, here's some visual evidence of last week.

     

Canvas and Invercargill and Macau

There's a lot in that heading, I know, but I've just come back from two days in Invercargill for a story (the first time I've ever been there), am heading to Macau for six nights on Sunday for another story, and here's the link to the cover story of Canvas Magazine (NZ Herald) published last Saturday (click here).

Pics - the welcome I got from The Seriously Good Chocolate Company in Invercargill yesterday, where I did a choccie making class, as well as the cover of Sat's Canvas Mag. See you on the other side.

Tauranga - and another Impossible Burger

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to nibble my way around Tauranga for a story for Kia Ora Magazine. That piece is in the August issue (click here) as is yet another something I scribbled about the San Francisco jaunt to Impossible Foods (click here).