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@nzbarry.bsky.social
100 followers 230 following 870 posts
Aesthete. Idler. Traveller. Eater. Drinker. Reader. Watcher. One-time lawyer. Dunedin, NZ

Travel related posts on @NZBarry@mastodon.nz
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Susie Ferguson is one of our wonderful #RNZ people: she comes to us from Edinburgh via London and many war and disaster zones. I've recently read and enjoyed her memoir, Bloody Minded: War, Womendhood and Finding My Voice.

#booksky #radiostar #susieferguson

www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Barry Allan's review of Bloody Minded
4/5: Susie's time as a war correspondent seems to have been pre-ordained: as a child, she was "mesmerised" by war and disaster on TV. She had a comfortable start to life in Edinburgh (her father was a...
www.goodreads.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Two in particular stand out as changing me forever. First = A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It started off life long trends of reading literary fiction and Russian Literature. John Milton's Paradise Lost made me think hard about my place in the world, as non-believer.
runwithskizzers.bsky.social Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · 4d
performative reading, lack of reading skills, nobody's reading anymore -- NO!

tell me about a book that changed you

for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
November 13, 2025 at 5:52 AM
While up north, I went to the old family farm, and drove through it to Kerikeri. Everything in town is closing so I head to the Stone Store (actually the lovely pub beside it) then back to Paihia via Haruru Falls.

Link to post: asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/old-farm-k...
Old Farm, Kerikeri
My parents were farmers for most of their lives, starting with a small block just north of Gore, then one about twice the size in Pouto (on the Kaipara Harbour) and ultimately one three times the size...
asbarrywanders.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Reluctantly accepting the offer to buy my Restaurant Brand shares - totally screwed by finaccess restauracion, who hold too many cards. Share price well off its peak, they've refused dividends. One surprising health benefit - no more annual shareholder free meals.
November 11, 2025 at 5:45 AM
On my recent trip north, I went to Cape Reinga and to the best café in New Zealand, but doing these things was not the reason for going north.

No - I went for a school reunion: 150 years of education in the Okaihau district.
asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/back-to-sc...
Back to School
My family moved to a farm near a tiny town called Okaihau in the early 1970’s - we lived there for 8 or so years, although I went off to Whangarei for school and then work after just five years.
asbarrywanders.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Something new, interesting happening at the Lyttleton Arts Factory: the idea is to honour three musicians "In a Bar". I saw the "prototype" on Saturday: Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones and Leonard Cohen. The band performed some of their songs, quoted them, told stories about them. Lots of fun!
November 11, 2025 at 3:01 AM
I was really dubious about watching #OneBattleAfterAnother, worried that the title might be a literal description of what happens. Yes, there is a fair amount of violence, but it's much more than that which means I ultimately enjoyed the movie a lot more than expected. #filmsky
November 8, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Way back in 1993 or so, I gave up being a lawyer because I wanted to study poetry and other literature. I was already studying extramurally at Massey, and Robert Neale had taught some of the Canterbury Tales in a survey paper. I ended up doing a paper with him, devoted to Chaucer.
November 7, 2025 at 12:54 AM
More from my recent trip up north - I drive back to Kaitaia from Cape Reinga, stopping at the Te Paki sand dunes and Hohoura. In Kaitaia, I have dinner at Peekaboo, and spend the next day driving down the coast to Paihia.

asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/cape-reing...
Cape Reinga to Paihia
I spend a bit of time at Cape Reinga, admiring the views and thinking of Naomi Arnold.
asbarrywanders.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:07 AM
#Bugonia didn't have me falling off the edge of my seat with laughter (Lobster did) but has its moments of humour. It's a sustained showdown between conspiracy theorist Teddy and Michele, who he is convinced is an alien and responsible for earth's ills. #filmsky

letterboxd.com/nzbarry/film...
A ★★★★ review of Bugonia (2025)
Two characters are central to this movie: Teddy, with multiple conspiracy theories, and Michelle, CEO of a local pharmaceutical firm. He's a beekeeper, and the earliest scene has him talk about colony...
letterboxd.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:22 AM
The end of one trip and the start of another: I drive home from Hokitika via Lake Coleridge (featurung a power station), then I fly to Auckland and drive to Cape Reinga (featuring a lighthouse. I also have a glorius steak and oyster pie on the way.

asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/home-and-a...
Home and away again
Features a power station and a light house: exciting for some!
asbarrywanders.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:59 AM
What a stunning show this is! Beth Giibbons performs for an hour in the splendour of France's National Library.

#bethgibbons #musicsky #livemusic

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRVu...
Beth Gibbons - Concert dans la Bibliothèque nationale de France - ARTE Concert
YouTube video by ARTE Concert
www.youtube.com
November 2, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Breakfast!
November 2, 2025 at 10:04 PM
I think I have been reading to much Steve Braunias true crime - I became convinced that I had murdered (by stabbing) someone and that the cops were about to get me. Waking up, it took a long time to convince me that I had been dreaming.
November 2, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I watched David Lean's movie of #DrZhivago twice in about 1981: I have finally read the book. I wrote a lot of notes when reading it to keep track of things and have prepared a summary. Lots of Russia's revolution, two lovely women and Yuri Zhivago. #booksky

www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Barry Allan's review of Doctor Zhivago
4/5: I'm not sure why, but the 1965 movie was shown in my local cinema in the early 1980's. I went twice in a week, loved it, and planned to read the book, but have only just done so. This isn't a rev...
www.goodreads.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:28 AM
For those of you who want 20 minutes of Morphine of a Saturday afternoon, enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H1T...
Morphine - Live at Bullet Sound Studios (1994) v2
YouTube video by Morphine Global Fans
www.youtube.com
November 1, 2025 at 12:57 AM
This Bay of Fires show on #TVNZ is doing no favours to Tasmania and isn't even set in the Bay of Fires - closer to Strahan on the other coast, in a tinytown called Zeehan (I've actually stayed a night there).
October 31, 2025 at 7:02 AM
It's a wet day in Hokitika, so I spend time in the Westland Industrial Heritage Park and hang round town before enjoying a beer or two at one of the two craft breweries on the West Coast. #nztravel

asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/heading-we...
Heading West - Stage Three
I’m woken around 9:30 by the fellow in the next cabin - he needs to get to a dramatic sounding dentistry appointment in Greymouth and his car won’t start.
asbarrywanders.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:39 AM
When I was at #WordChCh, I went to a talk by Steve Braunias about his book, #Polkinghorne. I've now read it - it was quite the trial, with Polkinghorne on trial for the murder of his wife, with lots of detail about his meth and sex worker habits #booksky #truecrime

www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Barry Allan's review of Polkinghorne
4/5: On 5 April 2021, Pauline Hanna is found dead in the house she shared with her husband, eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne. 16 months later, he is charged with her murder: the Crown theory is that he...
www.goodreads.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:26 AM
There's a new (three week old) podcast by Bill Nighy, Ill-advised: his credentials are that he's old and is someone who got almost everything almost precisely wrong, defying people's expectations that he knows what's happening or has something important to say.

shows.acast.com/ill-advised-...
Procrastination | ill-advised by Bill Nighy
shows.acast.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:36 AM
On my trip to the West Coast a couple of weeks ago, I head along the Haast River, down to Jackson Bay to see some Southern Rock Lobsters and up to Hokitika for the musical genius that is Shayne Carter.

Link to post: open.substack.com/pub/asbarryw...
Heading West - Stage Two
I left off my last post at the Blue pools, at the head of Lake Wanaka.
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 6:04 AM
The view from the hostel kitchen this morning - that's Russell in the distance.
October 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
I do a bit of local travel - down the coast for fish and chips at Kaitangata, then I start on a journey across to the West Coast (of New Zealand): down to Balclutha, through Alexandra and across to the Blue pools at the head of Lake Wanaka.

asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/heading-we...
Heading West - Stage One
After coming home from the USA and spending several weekends in Christchurch, I don’t leave town at all in September - instead I focus on the things I can’t do while travelling.
asbarrywanders.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 5:47 AM
I missed his shows in Dunedin but am first in and front row centre for Shayne Carter's solo show in Hokitika.
October 17, 2025 at 5:45 AM
I have written quite a lot about Victor Pelevin's Babylon at www.goodreads.com/review/show/... It's a weird mixture of ancient history, Russia and advertising, where Tatarsky ascends much higher than anyone could possibly expect. It's dense at times but funny. #booksky #Russianlit
Barry Allan's review of Babylon
4/5: This was a tough book to read, with numerous references to Sumeria, Buddhishm and advertising jargon but worth the effort for the humour and interesting ideas. I think I can only write sensibly a...
www.goodreads.com
October 10, 2025 at 2:49 AM