News
Merry merry
A most Merry Christmas to you and yours from Number 8 Network. Our resident pook Osborne has plenty to chew on to keep him out of mischief. But he’ll be back yarning before you know it. As will Number 8 Network. Great Beginnings Gordonton were in the festive spirit nice and early.
[continue reading…]
News
Rain watch
Another month and no shortage of rain! Rain watchers Mike Taylor and David Riddell tally up the rainfall for November. In a nutshell – after a dry first two months of spring, November saw a return to wetter conditions, with 82mm recorded at Puketaha and 85.5mm at Gordonton (NB: rainfall was not recorded at Gordonton
[continue reading…]
You’ve got mail!
Rural postie Michael Blank featured in the latest Home Range magazine. The 24-page, full colour publication is packed full of local stories from Gordonton, Puketaha, Orini and Horsham Downs and put together with love by Number 8 Network. If you didn’t see the magazine or would like a link to the digital editon, click here.
[continue reading…]
Christmas display sparkles at Woodlands
Number 8 Network got into the festive spirit and took a stroll around the Christmas-decorated historic Woodlands Homestead. N8N was rather taken with this image, that’s Don Riddell in the framed photograph, who used to live in at Woodlands with
[continue reading…]
In the kitchen at the Firepot Cafe
It’s two years this month since Carmen Ko took over the Firepot Cafe, with her wife Yupin. It’s been just great, she tells N8N’s Annette Taylor. This story featured in Home Range magazine recently. “I really love Gordonton,” says the Firepot Cafe’s Carmen Ko. “There’s a warm feeling here. I love the locals. Some come
[continue reading…]
Ride on mower for sale – and a chance to help Pukemokemoke reserve
Here is a special request from Pukemokemoke’s Warwick Silvester. “You will know the Pukemokemoke bush reserve at Tauhei. We have spent the last five years getting rid of privet and turning those areas into grass. We have lots of grass and it’s a good way to suppress regrowth of privet. Mowing the grass has
[continue reading…]
Home Range
You’ve got mail!
Rural postie Michael Blank featured in the latest Home Range magazine. The 24-page, full colour publication is packed full of local stories from Gordonton, Puketaha, Orini and Horsham Downs and put together with love by Number 8 Network. If you didn’t see the magazine or would like a link to the digital editon, click here.
[continue reading…]
In the kitchen at the Firepot Cafe
It’s two years this month since Carmen Ko took over the Firepot Cafe, with her wife Yupin. It’s been just great, she tells N8N’s Annette Taylor. This story featured in Home Range magazine recently. “I really love Gordonton,” says the Firepot Cafe’s Carmen Ko. “There’s a warm feeling here. I love the locals. Some come
[continue reading…]
Out & About
Struggling to find the words: inside Fukushima’s nuclear plant
Gordonton’s Iris Riddell toured inside the disabled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant recently. She shares the experience here. “Your total radiation dose on this tour will be 0.01 millisieverts – about the equivalent of a dental x-ray.” That’s what we’d been told, barely 40 minutes earlier. I tried to keep that firmly in
[continue reading…]
Huimai explores Pukemokemoke
Children and helpers from Huimai Playcentre had a great time exploring the bush and critters at Pukemokemoke Reserve recently. The budding biologists completed a treasure hunt, spotting intricate spider webs, cicada shells, birds and trees along the way. And of course there was time to take time out and have a breather in the
[continue reading…]
Country Cooking
Muttonbird on the menu
David Riddell whips up a special lunch I’ve often seen sooty shearwaters at sea, and occasionally on their breeding grounds, but until now I’d never eaten one. When on the table they’re better known as muttonbirds; I spotted some in the window of a Ngaruawahia butcher’s shop the other day and thought I’d give one
[continue reading…]
Duck with bacon and red wine – divine
Duck hunting started with a bang on the weekend, as the shrieks and wails from nearby pukekos attested to. We don’t have a gun, and we’re not very good at sitting near a pond in a maimai, waiting for the sun to get up but we do relish duck dinners. Luckily, I have a
[continue reading…]
History
From Gordonton to Oxford and back
The first Maori woman to gain a PhD – from Oxford, no less – began her educational journey at Gordonton School 78 years ago. Dr Ngapare Hopa still lives in her parent’s house, in the middle of Gordonton village. She featured recently in Home Range magazine. She has headed Auckland University’s Maori Studies Department, worked
[continue reading…]
Working hard in 1909
Albert Chapman subdividing the land along Piako Rd, 1909. This photo, from Gordonton’s John Bridman, is the second in a sequence taken by roaming photographer SC Smith. In the background are the original Bridgman farmouse and stables. Hamilton City Libraries librarian Perry Rice said the heritage section has many other SC Smith photos in
[continue reading…]
