Thoughts on leaving New Zealand

A fabulous country with dramatic and fantastical scenery, interesting land uses and wonderful seabirds and seascapes. Extremely hospitable and friendly people and most roads so free of traffic that the UK will seem desperately busy and overcrowded when we return there.

Also a place of exciting weather and natural phenomena, though not without jeopardy, even peril - cyclones, landslips, seismic events such as earthquakes, tsunami and volcanoes.

All this with a backdrop of sad misuse of the place, which is partly being recognised by more people. Very intensive land use, whether for meat and dairy production, huge areas of one-species forestry (all Monterey Pine), very little native forest remaining and many deliberately introduced non-native predators.

Humans, from the earliest settlers about 800 years ago, have been responsible for most bird extinctions, but rats, cats, stoats, weasels and ferrets have played a huge and on-going part too.

What an incredible place it must once have been!Read more