Crowning glory on display
Crowning glory on display
Hold on to your hats - there's so much on at the moment that it's hard to keep up with it all. Today sees the opening of master milliner Lindsay Kennett's hat exhibition at the Lakes District...
Miranda Spary
Love that nice friendly policeman
Love that nice friendly policeman
Thanks for all the feedback on the policing story last week. It seems a lot of you are feeling the same way about wanting more police presence on the downtown streets, especially at night. In...
Brought back to earth by the hole police
Brought back to earth by the hole police
Here I am, all taut and terrific after a weekend of yoga with Lance Schuler, who can make even the blobbiest body do weird stuff. It's a bit scary sometimes, and no-one was more scared than...
Yoga business takes off in resort
Yoga business takes off in resort
Queenstown is not only the adventure tourism capital of New Zealand, it's also fast becoming the yoga capital as well. Columnist Miranda Spary finds out why.
Tears and triumphs at the show
Tears and triumphs at the show
Gosh - mower rage - I mean I'd heard the expression "mowing down the opposition" but I'd never really thought of it actually happening ... lawnmowing as contact sport? Terrifying. ...
No new tea towels or undies
No new tea towels or undies
Happy New Year to you all and I hope that your Christmas was as strange and wonderful as ours. We had a selection of small relatives - three very small ones and three nearly teenagers - and...
Hearts and strings, tres romantique
Hearts and strings, tres romantique
Emily Bryant's life sounds so romantic.
Life always interesting in this fair town of ours
Life always interesting in this fair town of ours
Arrowtown book buyer Miranda Spary continues her regular column about her recommendations for a good read and life as she sees it.
Read all about it: Best books of 2010
Read all about it: Best books of 2010
Arrowtown book buyer Miranda Spary lists her best reads of 2010.
Shooting success for all involved
Shooting success for all involved
Niamh Peren is used to appreciative audiences in Arrowtown, and those who attended the private screening of her new documentary, The Great Bunny Hunt, there last weekend were no exception.
Nothing so busy as being alone
Nothing so busy as being alone
What a week - loneliness is not as quiet and peaceful as you might think. My darling has been away with our boys for a bit of father-son bonding, on a fishing trip in Western Australia. ...
Selfish Giant perfect antidote
Selfish Giant perfect antidote
Caroline Hutchison broke our hearts before Christmas three years ago, and now she's going to do it again.
Read all about it
Read all about it
Arrowtown book buyer Miranda Spary continues her regular column about her recommendations for a good read and life as she sees it . . .
Cafe born of chat at 'party hole'
Cafe born of chat at 'party hole'
A conversation between two friends at the "party hole" at last year's New Zealand Golf Open at The Hills sparked the creation of the Wakatipu's newest cafe, Smokorun@Placemakers, which opened just over a month ago - and already there are plans to expand the business.
March of time more of a blur
March of time more of a blur
Gosh, December already? Wasn't it just March a week or so ago? This year has been such a blur. It's already that ever-out-of-sync Rocky Gully Ski Club's AGM on Sunday. One year we held the...
I'm back doing it by the book
I'm back doing it by the book
Yes, I know I forgot to mention any books last week - thanks for all the reminders that this IS a book column. My only excuse is that my computer did its usual nervous breakdown when our...
Grab your teens and go
Grab your teens and go
Sometimes a book keeps haunting you and everything around you reminds you of it. I told you a few weeks ago about Ray Avery, the author and hero of Rebel With A Cause. I keep thinking of...
No OSH tosh at Fiji Diwali
No OSH tosh at Fiji Diwali
Hope you all had a happy Diwali last week. I hadn't ever been a Diwali celebrant before, but I'm a total convert now. Especially in Fiji, where Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) has...
The task: to feed 10 million
The task: to feed 10 million
The memories of August's disastrous flooding in Pakistan remain fresh for Gibbston Valley-born Alastair "Cookie" Cook, as he tells Miranda Spary in a series of recent emails ...
Shirkers ruining the equation
Shirkers ruining the equation
Spring is all about hard work - gardeners gardening, bees making honey, churches running fairs, chickens laying eggs ... well, apart from three shirkers in my flock. A dozen hens, one rooster...