Australia’s notorious Port Arthur
Australia has been celebrating its convict past — again. In 2010, 11 dinky-di former convict sites were inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. They...
Marc’s magnificent molehill
UNESCO, in conjunction with the International Astronomical Union, has decreed 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA).
It marks the 400th anniversary...
[H2O]3
Among the many venues hosting the Beijing Summer Olympics, few are more likely to attract comment as the National Aquatics Centre. This new...
Auckland’s aging coathanger
When I first came to Auckland some 50 years back, the only way to take a vehicle to the North Shore was to trundle...
The Alhambra
Given the Middle-eastern tensions that bedevil the world today, we may sometimes forget that for eight centuries Spain was an Islamic nation. The...
Saving light
Each year more than 120,000 people visit Cape Reinga and its lighthouse. The Cape itself is certainly worth checking out as it is currently...
Broken but not subdued
For generations Christchurch’s cathedral has been the city’s symbol, its focal point and, in many ways, its very identity. Of all New Zealand...
The Baroque glories of Schloss Eggenberg
Europe has more magnificent castles than you can shake a stick at. Few, however, match the glories of Austria’s Schloss Eggenberg. Apart from...
Constructing a new ‘House of Pain?’
Dr Kerry Rodgers has been uncovering Dunedin's soon-to-be Forsythe Barr Stadium
In July 2009, with the lawyers paid off, ground could finally be...
Raising the bar on Old Farmer Thames
The Thames Barrier is the world’s second largest movable flood barrier. It was constructed between 1974 and 1984 at Woolwich Reach to provide flood...