Once a top-secret Soviet facility, Stalin’s secret bunker is now open to the public. Peter Campbell from Intrepid Adventure writes the first full account of the bunker to be published in English on the internet. Thirty-five metres underground the air feels denser, cold and clammy. Welcome to Josef Stalin’s secret bunker. The bunker, located in the centre of Samara (known…
Samara sits concealed on a bend in the Volga River. Inconspicuous and forgotten, Samara is Russia’s sixth largest city and a major contributor to Russia’s aerospace industry. This little known city was closed off to foreigners during the Cold War and this has perhaps contributed to its obscurity. Despite this, Samara is an exciting, dynamic city with good restaurants, hotels…
The “fasten seatbelts” sign flashed on, signaling our final descent. The clouds that had obscured Europe for the majority of the trip, slid past the aircraft windows and opened up the view to a featureless landscape covered with snow and long shadows thrown off by a sinking sun. I began to feel that familiar sense of anxiety when the wheels…
It is December, people talk excitedly about the upcoming holidays – what they want to do, where they want to go. Travel agents advertise frenetically, trying to out do the cut throat competition for trips to exotic and warm destinations: Egypt, India, Thailand, and for the first time this year I even have heard advertisements for Indonesia. Times change rapidly…
Canterbury local Helen Heddell is not a usual hero, but her volunteer role which she took up in the aftermath of the Christchurch February 22 earthquake was vital. Hedell coordinated the catering for the Farmy Army which assisted the clean up of Christchurch after the February 22 earthquake. “We had anything from 200 to 1200 volunteers a day which we…
The Cardinal of Manila, Gaudencio Borbon Rosales, has spent the last two weeks visiting the Cook Islands. He took time out this week to chat about his visit, his life and renewable energy. Sitting on the veranda of the Bishop’s House in Avarua, Cardinal Rosales looks as though he enjoys life. “I am astounded by how people live here,” he…
Christchurch fencer Luke Robertson will be a leading contender in the National Championships in Wellington on November 19-21. Peter Campbell talks to the man others call El Toro. Charging feet thunder, metal clashes. It’s Monday evening and New Zealand’s reigning sabre champion is polishing his lunges and ripostes. “When I step onto the piste and put my mask on, I…
The winds that chill New Zealand’s winter rush across 2500km of sea from Antarctica. In winter, Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth, a place of darkness. Scientists work there throughout the year. Air support enables them to turn an inhospitable land into a laboratory where they research climate change, biology, oceanography, and an innumerable number of other subjects. Peter…
New Brighton band Smoking Jacket reformed for a one off concert on Saturday at Thompson Park, 16 years after its last album. The band was a key attraction at the We Love New Brighton Fun Day. “I wanted to support local bands and Smoking Jacket is legendary. I was stoked when they agreed to play for us,” said Marcus Puentener,…
An absorbing and skilful story, exploring the attitudes of a younger brother who has grown up overawed by the image of his elder brother, whose life is changed when he goes to Bosnia and Serbia to explore the land that took his brother’s life.
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