Who is Brad Olsen, boy wonder and economist extraordinaire?
It’s not often that someone graduates from university one year and becomes a senior economist commentating on national media the next. George Driver investigates the meteoric rise of the high-flying Brad Olsen. Read here Published on The Spinoff website, June 6,...
A silence has fallen over Queenstown, but the town’s remarkable spirit remains
As the bars reopen and businesses regroup in post-Covid Queenstown, George Driver finds a town filled with bargain prices, eerie streets, fear and hope. A “tourism bloodbath”, a “broke, empty paradise” facing a “tsunami of unemployment”. The headlines about Queenstown...
The tourism crisis as seen from Clyde, the tiny town in the Central Otago mountains
How will the tiny town on the edge of Queenstown's tourism boom and bust survive the Covid crisis? Growing up, Clyde always felt like a quiet backwater... Read here Published on The Spinoff website, May 13, 2020.
Te Araroa hikers caught out by lockdown
After the nation wide lockdown went into effect, some Te Araroa Trail walkers emerged from the bush to a very different New Zealand. Read here Published on the Wilderness magazine website, March 28, 2020.
Scoot along the mekong
Five days riding a scooter along the banks of the Mekong River through Cambodia’s little-visited rural interior. Read here Published in the Sunday Star Times, February 9, 2020.
From heaven to hell on the coast of Cambodia
During a week on a tiny tropical island off the coast of Cambodia, a tent in the sand is the best form of accommodation. But with rampant development on Cambodia’s coast this could soon be another paradise lost. Read here Published in the Sunday Star Times on January...
Krakow: Why there’s more to Poland’s historic heart than just old buildings
With a sprawling royal castle and an old town to rival the finest in Europe, Krakow is the historic heart of Poland. But there’s more to the city than old buildings. Read herePublished in the Sunday Star Times, September 29, 2019.
Pula: A slice of Italy in the Balkans
Scattered with Roman ruins, olive groves and cypress trees, Pula offers a touch of Italy in the Balkans and a taste of Croatia away from the tourist-clogged Dubrovnik. Read here Published in the Sunday Star Times on September 8, 2019.
Sofia: A budget backpacker’s paradise
Travelling Europe on $30 is still possible in Bulgaria's capital. Read here Published in the Sunday Star Times, May 5, 2019.
George Driver is an award-winning freelance journalist based in New Zealand. Email: [email protected]
Following the Anzacs to Passchendaele
'I'm looking out at the scene of one of the worst chapters in human history. And yet it feels like the most peaceful place in the world.' Read here Published on the RNZ website, April 25, 2019.
The only tourist in Plovdiv
Named the EU’s Culture Capital for 2019, Plovdiv might be the best travel destination you’ve never heard of. Read here Published in the Sunday Star Times, April 14, 2019.
Correcting a deadly wrong turn
After two people died on a popular alpine day walk in Fiordland, DOC is grappling with how to make the route safer. The car park for the Gertrude Saddle Track, just before Homer Tunnel, is regularly overflowing in summer, as people head to what’s been described as the...
Rust never sleeps
The fate of the North Island’s forests is in limbo as myrtle rust begins to take hold. Some warn it could cause sensitive ecosystems to collapse. In autumn last year, a stormy westerly wind blew across the Tasman Sea. It was the perfect transport for microscopic...
DOC criticised for Gertrude Saddle deaths
The death of a tourist who fell on the Gertrude Saddle route in Fiordland may have been prevented if DOC had not delayed installing warning signs, according to the coroner. Two people died less than a year apart in very similar circumstances on the popular tramping...
Tahr control labelled a ‘total failure’ and could cost millions
The Conservation Authority has labelled DOC’s management of tahr a total failure and says the government may be forced to invest millions to reduce numbers due to years of neglect. Himalayan tahr are meant to be kept to less than 10,000 animals under a control plan...
Hut booking trial reveals rampant fee dodging
A recent online booking trial at Brewster Hut in Mt Aspiring National Park found at least half of hut users may have been dodging hut fees. Last summer, DOC trialled a booking system at Brewster and Siberia huts in a bid to manage the...
Editing portfolio
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Luxury lodge proposed near Rees-Dart Track
A luxury lodge has been proposed 700m from the popular Rees-Dart Track, which could result in thousands more helicopter flights up the picturesque valley each year. A heliport has also been proposed further down the valley, which has raised concerns that the...
Fractured landscape
With the closure of another hut in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, George Driver investigates the challenge of keeping a foothold in one of the most rapidly changing landscapes on Earth Looking at Murchison Hut, you’d have no inkling it may soon tumble 200m onto...
Limiting appeal
Parking restrictions on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing could be just the beginning. Plans to limit the number of people walking this and other popular trails around the country are in the pipeline. By George Driver Tongariro is glowing red. Ngauruhoe, fingers of snow...
Crowd Control
New Zealand is grappling with a rapidly rising number of tourists, but we haven’t reached the crest of the wave yet. DOC expects the number of national park visitors to double in the next six years, when the number of international visitors is expected to hit nearly...
From the wilderness, with love
From meeting your soul mate to rekindling a relationship, the backcountry is the perfect love potion. George Driver speaks to couples who found love in the hills Walking side by side at an incredible location, gazing into a campfire under the stars – it’s probably not...
The last wilderness
The last wildernessLike a Noah’s Ark of New Zealand wildlife, Hauturu/Little Barrier Island has one of the most intact and diverse ecosystems anywhere in the country. George Driver visited New Zealand’s first nature reserve to see what Aotearoa was once...
The trauma of rescue
Search and rescue volunteers witness some of the most horrific events in the New Zealand wilderness. Sometimes they are left with lasting scars. George Driver investigates how they cope with the psychological strain of the work. On a sunny morning, sitting at his home...
In the shadow of greatness
At some point, you’re going to want to throw off the training wheels in search of a more adventurous backcountry experience. These 10 walks offer the next step beyond the greats. 1. Around the Mountain Circuit, Egmont National Park Circling what...
Trapline tramping
Trampers around the country are heading off-track to help save native birds from the brink of extinction. George Driver discovers the tales of the trapline trampers. Rugged peaks, beech forest, glacial valleys – the features of Matukituki Valley in Mt Aspiring...
Backcountry meltdown
Increasingly ferocious storms, rising sea levels and soaring temperatures are expected to knock out more tracks, campsites, huts and erase the alpine features which attract hundreds of thousands into the outdoors. After ploughing through the South Pacific,...