Any typos spotted in this post have just learned that a party is never a party without chips and dips! If spotted, please direct them to the nearest supermarket aisle holding onion soup mix. There's a party on and it's an emergency. Only Kiwi dip** will save the day!

*Lollies are sweets or candy.

**For the kiwis, think a thick Dunedin accent. For the lovely overseas people replace the words "chips and dips" with an emphatically said, "chups and dups."

***Kiwi dip is an iconic New Zealand party dip featuring cream and onion soup mix, with lemon. There are fancier versions, but this is the old faithful. Just in case you want to have a party and need some quick dip to have with your chips. (It's not a party without chips and dip!)

#food #Newzealand

Biosecurity NZ is stepping up efforts on Auckland’s North Shore as more yellow-legged hornets are detected.
A local Conservationist is encouraging residents to set up simple homemade traps to try to capture these hornets because they pose a real risk to our NZ agriculture & honey industries! Every effort helps. 🐝💛 If you think you see or capture one, Biosecurity encourage people to notify them of finds & they'll come to try collect a sample! #yellowleggedhornet #biosecurity #newzealand

So last week I asked Kiwis and Aussies if people prefer their fairy bread with margarine or butter, crusts on or crusts off, squares vs triangles.

It turns out that I'd stumbled upon one of the great issues of our time.

The Great Fairy Bread Debate of 2025 is still happening. The most interesting revelations culled from VERY FIRM opinions are:

Apparently the fairies cannot enter the bread if you are a complete monster and neglect to cut the bread, leaving all four crusts. Do not do this or fear Great Judgement and potentially tutting. (Much worse than it sounds. You will feel shame.)

Squares are a travesty, unless they are not. A diplomatic suggestion that squares are just two triangles back to back does not work and will be met with great uproar and virtual snorting.

Butter is the Kiwi preference, unless feeding vegans. If one is feeding vegan fairies, one must check the labels of the margarine for non vegan infiltrators. If spotted, one must tut loudly to let them know they've been spotted. (Please see above point.)

If one is feeding their fairies butter, one must get the spreadable kind, otherwise fear the event of Butter Lumps and Torn Bread. There is no coming back from this. You have failed your fairies.

(Continued Below)

#food #australia #newzealand

And now for something REALLY POSITIVE. ❤️
Steve Walker recorded this incredible kākā by chance (he simply wanted a flying kākā pic) on Rakiura / Stewart Island a couple years back.
TURN UP THE SOUND.
#naturelovers #birds #environment #nature #birdsong #kaka #birdphotography #newzealand

And now for something REALLY POSITIVE. ❤️
Steve Walker recorded this incredible kākā by chance (he simply wanted a flying kākā pic) on Rakiura / Stewart Island a couple years back.
TURN UP THE SOUND.
#naturelovers #birds #environment #nature #birdsong #kaka #birdphotography #newzealand

@mementomaori

Slightly off topic but related to the folly of men confronting Māori toa.

When I first watched this video o the history of Wairau a lot of things suddenly fell into place for me and once again reinforced the importance of teaching and understanding #Aotearoa #NewZealand #NZPol colonial history.

Over a decade ago I was working on harvest videos for a winery in Wairau Valley. In the small township there is a memorial to the settlers "Who were killed near this spot by natives of New Zealand on the 17th June 1843".

After seeing this memorial I became curious as to what the history and context to the ‘Wairau Affray’ might be.

Turns out the story behind the battle is quite different from the one the colonialists would have you believe.

https://youtu.be/xS5NddAkUgs

Backlash after #NewZealand government scraps rules on incorporating #Māori culture in classrooms - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/04/new-zealand-maori-culture-school-classrooms-government-scraps-rules extraordinary and racist backtracking

Backlash after #NewZealand government scraps rules on incorporating #Māori culture in classrooms - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/04/new-zealand-maori-culture-school-classrooms-government-scraps-rules extraordinary and racist backtracking

Our documentary "Something in the Water" is now live online for everyone to watch! 🎞️

This is an important issue that everyone should be more informed about, make a pot of popcorn and give it a watch. 🍿

Something in the Water follows Greenpeace Freshwater Campaigner Will Appelbe through the Canterbury region of New Zealand, as he meets people who are fighting to protect lakes, rivers, and drinking water from intensive dairy industry pollution.

https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/video/something-in-the-water-documentary/

#dirtyDairy #tooManyCows #greenpeace #documentary #freshwater #water #NZPol #NewZealand #Aotearoa

Scotland is hoping that the memory of an agonizing 2022 loss to New Zealand can inspire the team to a first win over the All Blacks in Edinburgh on Saturday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2025/11/04/more-sports/scotland-all-blacks/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #moresports #scotland #newzealand

I've just witnessed a completely civil and righteous rage against the machine by an elderly man (80s+) at supermarket self-service checkout here in small city Aotearoa #NewZealand and it was a little bit wonderful.

He'd just finished paying for his groceries when the machine started saying "Please take your items" every 15 seconds or so. At first he just says "I'll do it in my own time thank you," while bagging things up.

The machine keeps telling him to take his items. After around the 5th time, he starts really arguing back:
"I don't have to do what you tell me to do."
"I'll take as long as I need thank you."
"I'll thank you to stop harassing me."

On around the seventh or eighth request that he take his items, he stands back, crosses his arms and says loudly snaps, "No! Not until you be quiet!"

The machine keeps going. The man just stands there, crossed arms, chin stuck out. A standoff is on. Staff come over and ask if they can help and he tells them that if they switch the voice off, he will continue bagging his things and go. If they don't, he's retired and can wait all day.

Machine is turned off/down with sympathy from supermarket staff. Moments later the man leaves the supermarket with the air of someone who's just won a war, expression completely stoic.

Milky Way setting behind Lake Wakapitu from Drift Bay, New Zealand South Island. Aurora Australis can be seen in the South (left), with the lights of Queenstown in the North. #photography #landscapephotography #astrophotography #newzealand #silentsunday

Milky Way setting behind Lake Wakapitu from Drift Bay, New Zealand South Island. Aurora Australis can be seen in the South (left), with the lights of Queenstown in the North. #photography #landscapephotography #astrophotography #newzealand #silentsunday

November 2025 calendar in A4 size for printing. Click (or tap) on photo to open by itself, then save to your device and print from there. I make a new one each month and stick on my fridge. Photo is mine so feel free to redistribute.

Sunset over the Hokianga Harbour, Northland, Aotearoa New Zealand.
#calendar #NewZealand #photo #Aotearoa