It's the new year and time to start a new column, writes Elisabeth Easther
In 2013, I started writing a series for the travel section called Kia Ora. Every week I'd pick a small town, an island or a suburb in Aotearoa and share some of its charms. By the time that series came to an end, I'd shone a light on more than 200 different places. Of course, it wasn't practical, or cost-effective to go to every single destination I wrote about, so when I chose a spot, aside from using the good old internet, I would also get on the blower and find a local to talk to.
READ MORE:
• He Tāngata: Lucy Haslam
• He Tāngata: Laura Douglas
• He Tangata: Caryn Young, of Adventure World, on encounters with hippos, gorillas and buffalo in Africa, and travelling through Japan
• He Tāngata: Robin Corbett on trying to watch the rugby overseas
I'd ring libraries and hairdressers, real estate agents and schools. I'd cold-call all sorts of organisations, my selection based on what I perceived as the friendliness of their website. When a person answered the phone, I'd launch into my preamble about what I was writing, then ask to be directed to the area's biggest cheerleader. Invariably, eventually, I would find my source and, as much as I came to love all the places I wrote about, I became equally fond of the people who generously shared their time and town stories with me. Over four years, only once did I unwittingly ignite a local squabble -,which isn't too bad in the great scheme of things.
When it came time for Kia Ora to be out to pasture, the natural thing to take its place was He Tāngata because, as much as I loved the locations I wrote about for Kia Ora, it was the people who made the most lasting impression and a new series emerged.