North & South January 2022

Dear readers, No matter who you are or where you’re reading this, it’s probably safe to say that it’s been a hard year. I don’t want to dwell on the compounding fog of stress and uncertainty we’ve been stumbling through ever since the first Delta case was reported here on August 17. We’ve all been stuck in it, with varying degrees of intensity or vulnerability. We could all really use a break. Which is why we wanted to do something a little different in this issue. A very astute and important adviser to this magazine — the 12-year-old son of our art director — observed that there’s been quite a bit of grim news on the cover of North & South over the course of 2021. The housing crisis and the astronomical…

This month’s best letter wins a reader’s treasure trove from Potton & Burton valued at $269.95! The titles include: Ray Ching: New Zealand Bird Paintings by Ray Ching — A sumptuous book from New Zealand’s greatest bird artist; Mana of the Pacific: Wisdom from across Oceania by Apisalome Movono & Regina Scheyvens — inspirational proverbs and wisdom from the Pacific Islands; Line-Up: New Zealand Surf Photography by Logan Murray — stunning images for connoisseurs of perfect surf; After Dark: Walking into the Nights of Aotearoa by Annette Lees — a beguiling exploration of Aotearoa — from dawn to dusk; and New Zealand’s Seabirds: A Natural History by Kerry-Janyne Wilson — mysterious lives of our seabirds revealed.…

Congratulations to Nicola Harvey for her well-researched article trying to give an accurate assessment of the tremendous challenges facing our farming and rural communities today (“The Fight for the Future of Farming”, December 2021). As a past successful South Island livestock farmer, a gold medal award winner for farming excellence back in 1983, and someone who has remained connected to rural New Zealand and agriculture ever since, I feel I am in a position to make some practical comments on this very complex issue. There is no question that the famers of our great country are facing some of the most challenging, uncertain and unprecedented decisions of our entire history. On the one hand, as they always have, they are moving with the times, improving and enhancing farming techniques, skills and strategies…

Pete McKenzie Pete’s feature in this month’s magazine on the incredible — and until now unknown — involvement of two wily Kiwi diplomats in the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis was sparked by a rewatch of the 2012 movie Argo. A throwaway comment about New Zealand in the dialogue caught his interest, sending him down a reporting rabbit hole of spies, classified documents, and closely held secrets — kept by some until their dying day. As a kid Pete wanted to be a spy, then a diplomat. He says this story reminds him of what drew him to both professions. Emily Simpson Many thanks to our guest editor Emily, who is behind this month’s cover story, “Making it in NZ”. The former editor of Sunday magazine, Emily has 25 years of experience as a…

*While stocks last! Gift a subscription to North & South this Christmas. The gift that keeps giving. SUBSCRIBE TO NORTH & SOUTH TODAY $19 EVERY 3 ISSUES via direct debit, just $6.33 per issue $40 6 ISSUES save 33% off the retail cover price $75 12 ISSUES save 37% off the retail cover price Already a subscriber? Simply renew your subscription today. TERMS & CONDITIONS: Offer valid for all subscription orders received before 16 January 2022 and for delivery within New Zealand. Savings are based off the retail cover price. Rates include GST and postage. Offer is available to existing subscribers, who must opt in at the advertised rate. This subscription offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Please allow 6–8 weeks for the delivery of your first magazine. For overseas rates and full terms and conditions,…

AUCKLAND Obit for a Stoat In the end, it wasn’t the rangers, the dogs, the cameras or the traps. It was the loneliness that killed him. We don’t know much about the stoat who died on 5 November. No name was provided in the Department of Conservation’s press release, no date of birth. Chances are he grew up in Auckland. At some point, he took the plunge and swam the distance of 15 kilometres to Motutapu. There, he joined a group of stoats who roamed the coastline, lived on a diet of invertebrates and birds and enjoyed the great outdoors. Stoats, members of the mustelid family, are popular in parts of the world. Some people even keep them as pets. Not in New Zealand. A great threat to native species, they’re considered pests to…