DB’s World Cup Diary – South Africa 2010 (part 1)

In 2010 I travelled to South Africa for the FIFA World Cup. During my travels I wrote weekly articles for the Matamata Chronicle. I have combined these articles and will present them in two parts – pre-tournament and during-tournament. Part 2 is posted here....

Lyon – yeah!

Lyon is one of my favourite cities. It’s French. It’s fabulous. And it’s fresh. I’ve been to Lyon a couple of times – once as part of a work trip and once as part of a football trip – and both times I was more than a little impressed (which, admittedly, is not...

DB’s World Cup Diary – Germany 2006

In 2006 I travelled to Germany for the FIFA World Cup. During my travels I wrote weekly articles for the Matamata Chronicle. Here is the complete series (which I chose to present as one long post because I know how annoying it is to have to click links more than you...

New Zealand’s East Coast

I finally made it to Gisborne, New Zealand, a few days short of my 40th birthday. Apart from Invercargill, it was the only thing resembling a major centre in New Zealand that I had yet to visit. So, as much as anything, it was nice to tick that off the list. My first...

Beside the mountain

I went to the Taranaki region yesterday to take some photos for a client. It was a nice day out and the weather was great – even if it was a long drive (but that doesn’t really matter). It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Taranaki....

Tampere Times

I’ve visited Tampere, Finland’s second city, six times.* I’ve been there in the middle of summer, when it doesn’t get dark at night, and in the middle winter, when the snow’s piled up and it’s minus 20 degrees Celsius outside. And I’ve been there in spring and autumn...