Jamie C Desplaces

Having spent four years between Asia and Australia and with no inclination to return back home to the UK, Jamie Desplaces opted to give New Zealand a try. Six years later, he's still there.Just a few weeks after arriving, he secured an assignment to write about the country's fracking industry, a two-month investigation that was hailed by environmental and political organizations, and won a feature of the year award. Jamie quickly discovered the sacred connection between Kiwis and their land, a connection that he now feels. Having explored all corners of New Zealand, the great outdoors has become his obsession. Few weekends pass without camping in the Coromandel, wandering the Waitakere Ranges, or biking the lush green lands of the Waikato.It's also somewhat poetic that Jamie, having attended the same school as J.R.R. Tolkien, whose tomes of Middle-Earth tales inspired the movies that have so promoted the majesty of New Zealand, now also has the opportunity to share its legend with others.Jamie's work has been published in Beats, Escape, Massive, and on USAToday.com. He has published a novel and is head writer at Verve magazine in Auckland, where he lives with his partner, Heather.