Daniel Etherington

Onwards we go, traversing Mexico on the backpacker conveyor belt, or thereabouts. Amazing country, a place of overlapping cultures, layers of history, crazy hybridisations. On a relatively benign level, this hyrdisation takes the form of stuff like me and Fran, being tired and hungry and not feeling like navigating another Mexican menu, instead going to [...]

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The city of Oaxaca (capital of the state of the same name) really is a place of contrasts. Its centro historico consists of several blocks of beautiful old ‘colonial’ villas and numerous churches, all focusing on the central zocalo and alameda adjoining plazas. It’s here the good burghers come to stroll and sit – entire families out together [...]

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Having a great time in Mexico – especially now we’re out of Mexico City, but we’re nibbling bits off out trip now as we’re running out of cash. Sydney really knocked us as it´s so pricey, and we stayed a bit long in NZ. I love the place, and it’s cheaper than Australia, but despite [...]

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After leaving dear old NZ, things have moved apace. Well, not exactly, but in retrospect it feels like it as in the space of just a few weeks, we’ve moved through four different countries. There’s no way I could pretend five days at the wonderful Octopus Resort on Waya Island in Fiji was rushed. The [...]

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Leaving NZ tomorrow. Got a lot of thoughts to get down about the country, and particularly about how it’s changed over the past 10 years, but not really got the time to blog just now! Having a busy day sorting stuff out before heading out on the next leg of our journey. Off to Fiji [...]

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Seem to be rushing around heaps at the moment, with ne’er a moment to do any blogs. Loads of stuff I want to write about, but by the time I get to a PC, days or weeks have passed and other subjects have presented themselves. All this rushing has for the most part been for [...]

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Been doing a lot more holiday-ish, touristy things recently. My oldest chum Nick, whose Kiwi connection is the reason I first decided I wanted to come to NZ (his dad is a New Zealander), is here on holiday with his wife Amani. They’re keen and experienced divers and one of the main things they wanted [...]

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Went to bed the other night, turned out the light then felt a sharp pain in my leg. Thought Fran was sticking a particularly sharp claw in me, but the next day a large red mark and swelling indicated it was some sort of beast. I was stung by a wasp in my bed once [...]

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Just as an addendum to the previous post, this doesn’t mean I want to eat loads of meat now. Still plan to base my diet around veg and seafood. Though I’m not keen on all seafood. Been eating some NZ greenlip mussels recently. Never been a huge fan of mussels – there’s just too much [...]

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The very word makes me think of Delicatessen, where that sublime French disdain for people who don’t eat meat was aired. For the sake of convenience, friends and family have considered me a vegetarian for the past 16 or so years. In reality, I was only really a proper vegetarian for a few years at [...]

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