The Kiwi and the Emu

The Kiwi and the Emu Series 2 episode 4 - Sue Dymond Part 2 Come and join Carolyn and Elise as they interview Karen Plimmer and Murray Peat from Auckland who also appeared on this program in 2020. Two legally blind parents now bringing up a 4 and a half-year-old daughter, Emily,  who is very vibrant. They discuss support workers, childcare, their plans for school and what it is like to have a youn...

The Kiwi and the Emu Series 2 episode 4 - Sue Dymond Part 2 This is Part two of the interview with Sue Dymond, a lovely lady who Elise met when she first went to Ringwood Toastmasters in February 2023. Sue has a wealth of information regarding disability, disability rights and advocacy, the Australian National disability insurance scheme, Toastmasters and has also authored her own book. She also h...

The Kiwi and the Emu Series 2 episode 3 - Sue Dymond Part 1 Carolyn and Elise are back to interview Sue Dymond, a lovely lady who Elise met when she first went to Ringwood Toastmasters in February 2023. Sue has a wealth of information regarding disability, disability rights and advocacy, the Australian National disability insurance scheme, Toastmasters and has also authored her own book. She also...

The Kiwi and the Emu Series 2 episode 2 - Helen Keller Carolyn and Elise are back together to profile Helen Keller just after her birthday in June. They also discussed Toastmasters, the pathways program, and its lack of accessibility to people who are blind and have low vision, hybrid meetings and Club officer training. In New Zealand, they have just changed many laws and regulations pertaining to...

The Kiwi and the Emu Series 2 - Welcome Back In our season opener, Caroline and Elise are back together to discuss what is happened over the last three years with COVID-19 being something we all now live with. People are managing their lives in new and different ways. We discussed how people are doing things a little different these days. Are you still working from home, are you having meetings on...

What is it like to have the Coronavirus? In this special addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 36 you’ll find out! We have our first guest on the show from the United States of America, Helen Watley from Belen New Mexico Helen has a job with a company and also runs her own business, both of which she now does from home because she cannot get in to Albuquerque around 36 miles from her actual hom...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 35, It is when we have the second part of our two part interview with Dr Bronwen Scott. Bronwen is an orientation and mobility specialist and also works in the field of cortical vision impairment. Bronwyn also shared with us her experiences working with people both before and during the recent COVID-19 lockdowns in Melbourne and around Australia. In...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 34, It is both our first two part episode and Elise does an outside Broadcast from the beach at Dromana and takes a walk along the cafe and restaurant strip. Using her make-believe futuristic Apple Watch, she then teleports back to the porch at Mumma Kazz’s place to continue the Interview where Carolyn and her speak with Dr Bronwen Scott who is an o...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 33, We travel to Palmerston North New Zealand and speak with Dr Jonathan Godfrey, National president of blind citizens New Zealand and a lecturer in statistics at Massey University. Jonathan loves talking about his hobby farm, he shares with us many fun anecdotes around how they had to do things different on the farm. Jonathan also shares with us ho...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 32, We travel to Melbourne’s north west and talk to Kate and Joshua Grogan. Kate is the supporting Mum and Josh is our first school aged student to appear as a guest on our show. As you can imagine, there are certain challenges as a vision impaired student in their first year at high school. So, adding the challenges of being homeschooled and surviv...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 31, We speak with Nerissa and Ian Cassell who are Elise and Karen’s Auntie and Uncle who an’t , that is to say that everybody who is a grownup who comes over to your house when you were three and four years old had to be called “Aunty and Uncle” as that is what we did in those days. Karen Lonsdale, AKA ‘Mumma Kazz Lonsdale”, is back to help her sist...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu, We have made it all the way to Episode 30, where we return to Auckland NZ and interview one of our own, Carolyn Peat. Karen Lonsdale, AKA, Mumma Kazz Lonsdale returns this time in a fuller role to help her sister, Elise Lonsdale to Interview Carolyn. Carolyn describes her role working on a review committee, her role at BlindCitizens New Zealand and dining...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 29, We go to the mid north coast of New South Wales to talk to the blind Australian of the year, Adam Morris. Adam describes what his life was like for him and his wife, Di prior to the Coronavirus and the shutdowns in New South Wales. He describes how things are now in NSW. Adam also talks about his interest in Judo. Don't forget to stay tuned for...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 28, We speak with Maggie Rush from West Auckland New Zealand. Maggie describes her life prior to COVID-19, talks about her craft group, blindness groups that she attended and how the lockdowns in NZ have affected her family and friends. Maggie is a lot of fun to talk to and I'm sure you will agree, this will be a great episode. Please enjoy. Don't f...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 27, It is Elise Lonsdale’s turn to sit in the Corona Chair and face her own Niece, Madison Rendall and her co-host Carolyn Peat. When it was announced in July that Melbourne was going into a second stage three lockdown, Elise accepted an invitation from her sister, Karen Lonsdale to spend that time with her and the rest of the family rather than be...

In this addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 26, we go to Wollongong New South Wales to talk to Maria Chapman. Maria looks after her elderly Italian mother and her indigenous husband. She discusses the impact on her mother's social life at the local RSL, shopping centre and other activities as well as how it has affected her husband’s indigenous support group. Maria also discusses the impact o...

In this special addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 25, we talk to Lana and Don Thompson from Perth WA. They tell us about the things they did before the Perth shutdown in march and how they have emerged. Western Australia is enjoying relatively normal life compare to other parts of Australia right now. Carolyn Peat from Auckland New Zealand and Elise Lonsdale from Melbourne Australia intervi...

In this special addition of the Kiwi and the emu,Episode 24, we talk to Mary Schnackenberg & Clive Lansink from Auckland NZ. They tell us about Mary’s Braille transcription business, the advocacy that they do for people and how they were supporting people to ask the right questions when it comes to disability support through the level four lockdown in New Zealand. Clive and Elise discussed Law...

Episode 23 of the Kiwi and the Emu. In episode 23 of the Kiwi and the Emu, we travel to Palmerston North New Zealand and speak with Kylee Maloney who is an award-winning broadcaster, public speaker and musician.  Kylee discusses how the level four lockdown affected her and her household.  She gives us an insight into depression and how her confidence has been knocked around when travelli...

Episode 22 of the Kiwi and the Emu. This is the first episode where we speak with somebody who is not actually blind or has low vision. Lea Nagel from Victoria’s Statewide Vision Resource Centre, SVRC, speaks to us on how their flagship support skills program has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lea talks to us about the lead up to the first Victorian lockdown and how they needed to move the...

Episode 21 of the Kiwi and the Emu. From our first episode in Victoria’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, where Carolyn is still in Auckland New Zealand but Elise has taken up residence at a sisters place on the Mornington Peninsula, we produce this recording from the famous porch where the Lonsdale family have held many great parties over the years. These days, we cannot use our sound system...

Episode 20 of the Kiwi and the Emu. Elise is back after 3 days away to do the editing. On return to Melbourne, she had to leave again and set up with her sister on the Mornington Peninsula prior to the latest round of level 3 restrictions being placed on the whole Melbourne metropolitan area. This is why 10 days have elapsed between the recording of this interview and its publishing as a podcast....

Episode 19 of the Kiwi and the Emu. Today we talk to Tewai and Latoya Halatau from Auckland. We learn about their work with the disability community in the Pacific and we hear about their business Vision Pacific that offers support to the disability community. We explore how Maori and Pacific People had to process their funerals and put aside some cultural practices during lock down, Carolyn Peat...

In this edition of the Kiwi and the Emu, Episode 18, we talk to Paul Brown and his partner Nicola Owen, who were given an international award by the American Council for the Blind for their work with audio description during New Zealand’s lockdown. We will find out what they did and talk about their company Audio Describe Aotearoa. We also talk about how they participated in the Black Lives Matter...

In this special edition of the Kiwi and the Emu, Episode 17, we visit with David and Christine Pocock from Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs. They went on a cruise and returned home to face two weeks of self-isolation immediately followed by the level 3 Victorian lockdown. Find out what happened when David needed to go to hospital, the toilet broke and how much trouble Christine went to get permis...