It's been a week of filling in gaps - exploring a few highways around the North Island that, as a South Islander, I'd never driven before ...

You could say the 12 Apostles are the Great Ocean Road's poster boys - even though they are simply pillars of resistant rock and that at last count there were only eight of them.

The Spencer Family have lived in the same house for 500 years; I've been living in mine for 15, yet they don't seem to have accumulated nearly so much clutter, writes Jill Worrall.

Sitting in Auckland in 2012, 1950s Britain looks a bit dull - the Beatles hadn't even been formed let alone discovered acid, writes Winston Aldworth.

"What are hotel star ratings based on?" a colleague asked the other day, after staying in a 5-star hotel she wasn't particularly impressed by. Jim Eagles investigaes.

Graham Reid celebrates the pleasure of cheap kitsch souvenirs.

'No passport required' is true enough, though the overall message of Auckland's new campaign slogan seems dusty to me.

If you've made a few landings at Wellington Airport, there's a decent chance you've experienced at least one hairy approach.

Last week's discussion of bullfighting proved to be - wait for it - something of a red rag...

In Spain, they love bulls so much they torture them publicly, kill them slowly and cheer loudest when their ears are cut from their still-warm bodies.