Contact Details
Ph: +64 3 353 4677
Cell: +64 21 158 2816
heather@kiwitravelwriter.com
RSS Syndication
Travel Tips...
What Topic This Week? Unfortunately, many times as I sit to compose this weekly column I doubt I have the discipline, guts or talent to do so.
Why does it always have to be on a travel-related topic? (Because it's on the travel pages Heather). Why can't I just write about what I think about the world? (Why should anyone be interested in what you think about the state of the world?) Why is it so hard for an opinionated woman like me to think of a topic week after week, month after month? (Who knows? Who cares how hard it is for you?)
Such are my thoughts as I sit at the computer contemplating a blank screen. I am not a disciplined person. I find it difficult to remember to take medication when it's been prescribed. I just don't do routine...
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More about Heather Hapeta:
She loves to travel, write, and take photos. This passion is reflected in her destination stories, personal essays, articles, columns, and photos.
She's a 5th-generation kiwi, of Scottish, Irish, Cornish, and English descent and specialises in writing about her backyard - New Zealands superb South Island. Heather has a particular interest in writing for people who wish to understand the atmosphere, culture, festivals and tastes of travel. All her pieces are about places she has been and her own experiences.
She also writes tales about her range of experiences in other countries: "I feel so alive when I'm travelling". Heather particularly loves South East Asia and says, "I'm willing to take risks, and travelling alone, means I've discovered the world is full of wonderful people and places".
Her insatiable curiosity and spontaneity ensures that even when she's feeling overwhelmed by new experiences and struggling with language barriers, she remains calm on the outside while huge unknown fears fly around her insides.
Heather has travelled in over 35 countries and has had in excess of 200 articles published in various magazines and newspapers: recent work has appeared in Morning Calm (Korean Air's in-flight magazine), Sydney Morning Herald, Australia & New Zealand (UK travel magazine), as well as in New Zealand publications such as NZ Listener, and the Four Corners website. She also has a travel column in each issue of Homestyle Magazine and a monthly travel segment on Plains FM 96.9.
She tutors in writing, (travel, journaling) and gives popular talks about her travels e.g. Conversations with A Passionate Nomad & Running Away from Home. She also writes book-notes for the national FWEA Book Discussion Scheme. Her photographs are available to accompany the travel stories, and recently one of her short stories, a fictionalised story about the death of her Maori husband, was selected for Home: new short short stories by New Zealand Writers. (Random) Later this year another of her stories has been selected for an anthology about Banks Peninsula - the nearly-French settlement on New Zealand's east coast of the South Island.
In summary, Heather is a writer who loves to travel and lives in New Zealands garden city, Christchurch. She is a member of TRAVCOM (New Zealand Travel Communicators), New Zealand Society of Authors, Christchurch Press Writers Festival Trust, and was travel editor of the Christchurch Citizen newspaper, and where she wrote a well received weekly, 700-word-column.