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My wild place

Light, personal and loving tributes from a series of New Zealand writers, describing what it is about their chosen place in nature that makes it special to them

2 April 2022

  • Mount Aspiring national park.

    Giant sand dunes and whistling ducks: NZ readers’ favourite wild places

    Guardian readers
    With ever-changing skies, clumsy seals and theatrical flats, New Zealand’s landscapes offer drama and consolation

19 February 2022

  • Cathedral Bay, Coromandel, New Zealand.

    ‘Aotearoa is and always will be beautiful’: New Zealand readers’ favourite wild places

    From Castlepoint to the Mātakitaki river, New Zealanders are in awe of the natural world around them

12 February 2022

  • Old tracks of the Denniston Incline gravity railway in the abandoned coal minding town of Denniston, New Zealand.

    Every beautiful thing came from the Papahaua mountains, and the trees were its lifeblood

    Becky Manawatu
    Not only did the mountains seem to watch us, they stimulated a hunger to scour the forest floors and decipher codes stamped in lichen

5 February 2022

  • View of Piha beach and Lion Rock at sunset, New Zealand.

    Nōku e whakaora mai ana i tōku reo Māori, i kaha te pā mai o te wawaro e tō ana i a au kia haere ki te moana

    Shilo Kino
  • Piha beach and Lion Rock, New Zealand, at sunset

    As I reclaimed the Māori language, the more I heard whisperings to go to the sea

    Shilo Kino

21 January 2022

  • The Blue Lake in St Bathans, New Zealand.

    Slipping into St Bathans’ Blue Lake is like swimming in Cleopatra’s bath – but on another planet

    Kiran Dass
    The colour of the lake reminds me of a film in which a group of elderly people are rejuvenated by aliens via a swimming pool

14 January 2022

  • The Tarawera Falls, New Zealand.

    Blasting through a cliff face, the beauty of Tarawera Falls is testimony to a partner’s grief

    Morgan Godfery
    In Māori legend Mount Tarawera blew her top after discovering that her lover, Mount Pūtauaki, had left her

8 January 2022

  • Karekare Falls, Waitakere Ranges, New Zealand.

    Despite hours of terror lost in the tangled bush of Karekare as a child, I’ve always returned to it

    Charlotte Grimshaw
    I remember intense fear and despair, and the objectively correct understanding that we could die

4 January 2022

  • The lower slopes of Mount Owen, the highest peak in Kahurangi National Park on the South Island of New Zealand

    Mount Owen is beautiful, the views majestic, but halfway up I needed a nap

    Naomi Arnold
    You need your wits about you on the marble karst of Mt Owen – a fall would require surgery or a body bag. But I didn’t care

2 January 2022

  • Avalanche Peak

    As I bum-shuffled my way down the scree at Avalanche Peak I wished I was back in the bush

    Rose Lu
    As my family were neither middle class nor white European I didn’t venture into the bush until I was an adult – I’ll never forget my first time

28 December 2021

  • The Whanganui river on New Zealand’s North Island.

    Whenever the world gets too loud I come to Koriniti Marae, where the birds welcome me home

    Leigh-Marama McLachlan
    The sacred Māori meeting place is a place our ancestors once walked. Even when there is no one here, I am not alone

26 December 2021

  • Looking back to the Hauraki Gulf from the Mokohinau Islands.

    I spent my house deposit on a boat to reach the Mokohinau Islands – the magic on our doorstep

    Clarke Gayford
    It wasn’t a financially astute move but it led to my TV series and helped me discover the truly important things in life

19 December 2021

  • The Waimapihi Reserve near Wellington. New Zealand.

    What was I doing, blundering through Waimapihi Reserve in the dark? Discovering new treasures

    Ashleigh Young
    At first I was full of dread but as I pressed on I noticed things I had never seen in daylight
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