Travelogue
Argentina - It was the Land of Opportunity - 20 February 2011
La Boca is the working class district near the docks, famous for its narrow cobbled streets and brightly coloured houses. If paying a visit it pays to be cautious. It’s a fairly rough area and tourists are sometimes targeted by petty criminals. I found the area remarkably small, largely consisting of a single street, so I had trouble working out what the attraction of the area for tourists was. Nearby is the famous Estadio Alberto Armando, better known as La Bombonera, the Chocolate Box, the home of Argentina’s most popular football club, Boca Juniors, with a capacity of over 60,000. Home matches are sold out, and the crowd jumps up and down, literally rocking the stadium superstructure. Their main rival is cross town club River Plate, with whom the contest the Superclasico.Thomas De La Rue Limited made a fortune out of Argentina and other Latin American nations, they being the printers of national currencies. You can buy entire sets of past currencies in street markets, immaculately preserved, ironed flat and restored in some cases with the finest strips of surgical tape. The designs are fascinating, but usually feature stern looking statesmen and generals, which in this part of the world tend to be one and the same. The old peso was replaced by the australe, which in turn was replaced by the new peso. Periods of hyper-inflation render the original denominations worthless. So units of currency which originally began life at one-for-one with
Diego Maradona - What A Player I'd Been If I Hadn't Done Coke - Part II - 17 February 2011
Maradona arrived in Belgrade on a private jet with film director, Kustinica . It’s unclear who the jet belonged to, whether a charter or Maradona. Given his run-ins with the authorities over the years and prodigious outgoings supporting a decadent and opulent lifestyle, not to mention those of his numerous hangers-on, how much money Maradona
Buenos Aires - Paris of the South - 30 January 2011
My plane to Buenos Aires was late, very late. So late in fact, that it had yet to arrive in Auckland to go to Sydney to return to Auckland, for the journey back to Buenos Aires. According to the staff at the Aerolineas Argentinas check-in desk, the schedule had been disrupted by “unexpected volcanic activity over Patagonia”. This utter
Diego Maradona - What A Player I'd Been, If I Hadn't Done Coke Part I- 26 January 2011
To get an insight into football, and Argentine football in particular, you can’t go past the documentary ‘Maradona’ by Palme D’or winner Serbian, Emir Kustinica. Filmed over two years from 2005 to 2007, it includes archival footage and interviews with the great man himself at home with his family in Buenos Aires, and on a trip to Belgrade
Wellington's South Coast - Plunderers, Poachers and Shipwrecks - 8 January 2011
The South Coast near Wellington on New Zealand’s North Island is an inhospitable stretch of land at the best of times. The winds are sometimes extreme with gales from the north and the south. The only time there’s calm is when the wind is changing direction. However, the barrenness belies a tapestry of life, death and history to beguile the
Christchurch - Red Sticker City - 3 January 2011
New Zealand’s second-largest city has 400,000 residents but big country town feel. Just a few streets from the CBD and you could be in a small regional town with one-tenth of the population. It’s noted for the picture postcard idyll with the Southern Alps’ backdrop complete with earthquakes but with other less inviting undercurrents.On 4
St. Kilda - Bikers, Beggars, and Bohemians by the Sea - 23 December 2010
St. Kilda, now a funky seaside suburb near Melbourne, has a chequered history full of gangsters, pimps, prostitutes, crooked cops and, well, pyromania. Many of its landmarks have a habit of burning down – the sea baths, the St Moritz Ice Rink, the pier kiosk and the Palace nightclub – have all been lost to fire. Some remain, including
Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Tragedy at Diamond Island - 12 December 2010
Cambodia is a country which has experienced more than its fair share of tragedy, some on a scale barely comprehensible to most foreign observers. This year, what was supposed to be a celebration of the Water Festival, turned into disaster on Diamond Island near the capital, leaving many questions unanswered as to why, in a country not noted for
Life and Death on the South Island's West Coast - 3 December 2010
The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island has some of the most stunning scenery to be had anywhere on the planet. The life of Coasters is shaped by the rugged beauty of its landscape which contains a lethal legacy clearly illustrated by recent events. To drive the coastal road of the West Coast is to privilege one of nature’s
