Embedded Files
A birdseye selection of my published writing.
Follow the links to go to the original work. Alternatively, you can see the copy on this site by clicking the headlines on this page, or the 'Writing' dropdown tab.
Sensitive
Sensitive
It was meant to be a five-minute trip, but Maree Geary and Shane Carnell's car plunged into the Tauranga harbour killing Maree, an expectant grandmother and recent retiree.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times, 2021
In a moment, the two-time ultramarathon winner couldn't move. His partner is by his side in ICU holding a hand that can't feel hers.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post, 2022
Unknown to him, sitting on the couch and sharing a glass of port before bed was the last time Garry Harpur would see his son. A moment he would not change even if he could, and one he would cherish forever. The next night, a knock on the door from police tore family's heart open with the news the 23-year-old St John ambulance officer died on the job.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
A builder labelled a hero after freeing a man from a submerged car in Tauranga Harbour was in tears after learning the desperate rescue attempt wasn't enough to save a woman also trapped in the vehicle.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times, 2021
Edward Duffy bought a batch of new plants the day he died - the latest additions to a garden he dedicated to his late wife Sally. Sally's Garden.
Tragically, he never got to plant his latest purchases.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Bashed with a baseball bat, told to kill themselves, weapons pointed at them.
These are examples of the kinds of abuse Bay of Plenty roadworkers say they experience daily.
They say verbal and physical attacks have become so prolific it feels like it’s just part of the job.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
A school student was left bloodied after she was repeatedly punched in the face by a stranger while waiting for a bus outside Rotorua Library.
She is now recovering with a concussion, split lip, swollen nose, a tender jawline, and bumps over her head.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
A Tauranga widower is “totally gobsmacked” after receiving a two-page letter “full” of religious references from a Jehovah’s Witness volunteer soon after his wife died.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
Data & Research
Data & Research
The number of children living in emergency housing is soaring, up 62 per cent in the city - with one child saying they are "terrified".
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
A business owner who owns her own home says she wouldn’t be able to eat or put fuel in her car if she didn’t get the Accommodation Supplement.
She’s not alone, with over $2.62 million spent weekly on thesupplement across Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty and Rotorua, according to the Ministry of Social Development’s latest figures provided to the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend under the Official Information Act.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
Fifteen Rotorua motels were each paid more than $1 million for emergency housing over two years.
Figures released by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) under the Official Information Act show $62.9m was spent on emergency housing in the Bay of Plenty between July 2019 and June this year.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Coffins as large as bookshelves and bodies unable to fit in a crematorium are part of a new reality for funeral directors adapting to rising obesity rates.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
More heinous, more sick, and more twisted.
That's how Rotorua family lawyer and refuge chairwoman Mihi James describes the drug-fuelled and increasingly "blatant" abuse of women in Rotorua, some beaten in broad daylight.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Environmental terrorism fears have led an iwi trust to hire security for a Rotorua lake after online threats to introduce invasive clams that could “obliterate” its “delicate ecosystem”.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Thousands of Tauranga seniors are falling every year, promoting payments of more than $57 million to the city in claims to help them recover.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
Profiles & Human Interest
Profiles & Human Interest
Pauline Tai used to do whatever it took to get her hit.
If she wasn't using meth, the mum of three and grandmother of six was selling it to fund the habit and get by.
For 18 years.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Two Mongrel Mob members are hoping to change gang culture from the inside out after a lifetime of crime.
Karl Goldsbury and "Baldy" have both served plenty of jail time but are now working with Tē Tuinga Whānau Support Services to help reduce gang harm.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
A decade ago, Sid Saluja was waiting tables and studying in a new country, unsure what he was going to do with his future.
Fast-forward to now and his restaurant, Atticus Finch, is flying high, having just won three titles at this weekend’s Rotorua Hospitality Awards.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
In a dim warehouse room, a machine that was churning out 1000 metres of paper a minute just a week previously is still.
There is no water or pulp coming in. The conveyor belt has already been taken off.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Listicles, fun, advertorials
Listicles, fun, advertorials
Relationships pass the honeymoon phase and couples can slip into coexisting without noticing as life gets busy, complicated and stressful.
Instead of waiting for it to hit the fan, local relationship experts have offered relationship and couple therapy exercises everyone can do at home.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
When Tauranga teacher Sophie Hucker pulled into her driveway on Tuesday, she was surprised to find it had a new addition.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
The countdown seemed slow but the moments between standing on the ledge outside the plane and diving towards the ground seemed even slower.
Jumping out of a plane with Skydive Tauranga was my first skydive, something on my bucket list that I hadn't gotten around to in my 25 years.
Originally published: Bay of Plenty Times
Death. It's not some we like to talk about with great enthusiusm. But sadly it happens to us all and perhaps it's time we changed our thinking towards it? That's the theory behind a new Death Cafe that's started in Rotorua, where locals get the chance to sit down with those who deal with death every day and nut out some details and finer points for when their time eventually comes.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Social Issues
Social Issues
A 76-year-old man has his coffee black because he can't afford milk any more and saves $5 a fortnight to afford medication.
Another couple in their late 60s feel "ripped off" by their struggle in retirement, dipping into their small pool of savings to get by.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
A 70-year-old battling pneumonia after living in her cold car for a week has been given a warm bed.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
Donations to a Tauranga food rescue service are down 14,000kg a month and the city foodbank had to shrink food parcels - sometimes going without basics such as potatoes and onions - as its expenses soar by $10,000 a month.
Charities trying to feed people in the city are straining as food prices and demand rise during the cost of living crisis.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
A man who lived in a cave in Mount Maunganui for nearly two years has been offered a home.
The 65-year-old doesn't regret his new home, but he believes a young family should have been a priority over him.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Children desperate for counselling are waiting up to six weeks to get help while some schools are picking up the tab to pay for their own experts as mental health and wellbeing issues spiral.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
A Bay of Plenty clinic director who has seen alcohol addiction end in death is supporting calls for law changes to the current alcohol act.
She joins the 20 district health boards who have collectively called to urgently review and change the alcohol laws.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
Crammed in a tiny two-bedroom campground unit, mum of three Natasha Anderson feels "trapped".
She moved to Tauranga from "too expensive" Auckland two years ago to be closer to family, and has lived in the unit ever since.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
Children are growing up "severely traumatised" in chaos, violence, poverty and neglect due to meth, a Tauranga foster home leader says.
Of the children coming through Homes of Hope Charitable Trust's doors, about 70 per cent are there because of meth, the trust's chief executive Hilary Price says.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Rotorua Daily Post
Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder could be waiting years to get an assessment as demand outstrips funding, according to a Tauranga social agency.
Originally published: The New Zealand Herald and Bay of Plenty Times
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