I’ve been collecting shells since I was about 10 when I lived in Fiji. After living in New Zealand for a while I packed away my shells for about 30 years or so. I had tried hard but ultimately failed to appreciate New Zealand Mollusca. One day I decided I needed to make sense of what I had and discovered quite a bit had changed taxonomically. I also discovered that I was wrong about the shells of New Zealand, they are of course amazing. To be honest and perhaps a bit unfair, when trying to like the shells of this country the 2 books by A.W.B Powell drove me crazy, finding the way they were organized very unhelpful. (Otherwise I have much respect for Powell).

Anyway, from time to time I go to Raglan to see what the sea has thrown onto the beach and continue to look at the relationships and evolution of shells of the Indo Pacific and New Zealand. I’m also a huge fan of all aspects of Aotearoa New Zealand’s fauna, flora and geology.