Books by local author
CANNIBALS, CROCODILES AND CASSOWARIES
A New Zealand Forest Ranger in the Jungles of Papua New Guinea
It is 1967 in Papua New Guinea.
Despite never having left New Zealand before, Ross takes to living and working in the jungle like he was born there, right down to learning Pidgin and eating bush meat from some particularly suspicious sources.
From hair-raising experiments with stump-blasting to being caught in the arrow-fire of a tribal battle, Ross’s life is never dull. He has a tug-of-war with a reef shark over his dinner catch, witnesses (and photographs) a young men’s initiation ritual that few non-natives have ever seen, visits cannibals and head-hunters in their isolated villages, gets caught in storms at sea in an open boat, climbs to ancient rock-paintings and burial caves, experiences the mysterious power of native superstition, races against time to get death adder victims to hospital, witnesses more post-mortems than he cares to remember, gets arrested in PNG’s Eastern Highlands for photographing a chain gang at work (and talks his way free with photos intact), goes crocodile hunting with a barking dog for bait, seeks out the isolated tribe that suffers from the “laughing death” (kuru), encounters fascinating customs among isolated tribes, and collects the artefacts that formed the backbone of the National Museum of New Zealand’s PNG collection at that time.
When he encounters jungle bridges that have lost their decks, he drives his Holden across the stringers! When asked by the NZ National Museum’s Curator of Pacific Ethnology to procure or photograph a rare fertility figure that no-one in PNG is even prepared to talk about, Ross makes a secretive deal with a witchdoctor that results in him smuggling one out of a remote village wrapped in his spare shirt.
Price includes NZ postage
Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut
This Wednesday, we are having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.
John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!
As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!
John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.
Share your question below now ⬇️
Calling All Puzzle Masters! Can You Solve This?
When John was six years old he hammered a nail into his favorite tree to mark his height.
Ten years later at age sixteen, John returned to see how much higher the nail was.
If the tree grew by five centimetres each year, how much higher would the nail be?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?
Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.
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