Born in Brisbane, Australia in 1970, my parents were ’10 pound poms’ who immigrated for a better life – which they found – in New Zealand!  My childhood was one of moving, moving, moving.  Not a bad thing, I believe it gave me the ability to adapt to the many different situations that life forever throws at you.

At sixteen my English teacher kindly told me that I would never amount to much and that my writing was nothing to write about…given that writing and reading was all I loved to do this was a major blow to a young girls esteem.  What followed was several years of finding my way, some travel and the slow realization that an education was probably a good thing.  

In 1991 I enrolled at  the University of Auckland in a Bachelor of Arts, where I studied Anthropology, Archaeology, History and much more.  After graduating I decided that what I wanted to do most of all was archaeology.  And so I found myself at the University of Exeter (UK) studying for my Masters of Arts in Archaeology.  My  final piece of work was a landscape study of the north coast of West Penwith in Cornwall. 

Once in Cornwall I was very loath to leave and even though jobs were few and far between I stayed.  Cornwall had become the land of my soul and it was quite soon when it became the land of my heart – here I met and married Adrian, several years later my son Michael was born. During my time in Cornwall I was a teacher of archaeology in adult education, cajoling and bullying grown ups into passing their GCSE or A level in archaeology.  I struck up a friendship with Jacqui Wood the director of Saveock Water Archaeology and spent some time teaching and working on her training dig site near Truro (see my article on Saveock here).   I also had my first attempt at writing, publishing a slim volume called “Cornwall in Prehistory”.  Many of those who criticized the book overlooked the fact it was written for the absolute beginner, the first timer, the newbie to Cornish prehistory.  NOT the academic who already knew what they were looking at…

In 2005 another life change occurred – my Cornish born and bred husband decided he’d like to live somewhere else?  New Zealand was the obvious choice.  Here archaeology took a back seat as I focused my attention on raising my son and later a daughter (Hannah).  BUT with a brain that doesn’t go to sleep I thought I would like to attempt a novel and so ‘A Viking Moon’ was born. It took several years from concept to completion as things like kids and life kept interfering but perseverance won out.  Book two shouldn’t take quite so long…

PS  – It didn’t…

2021 – Update

Such a lot has happened since I last thought to update this wee bio. As you will see from below books two, three and four are now complete with book five being recently started. It has a provisional title of ‘A Celtic Moon’, there will be a book six and then I think that will be where I leave Sarah’s story…

I have also found myself back in the archaeology world, if only at the edges, as a volunteer at the Auckland Museum in the Archaeology Department. I have the great pleasure of working alongside some fabulous women who I admire very much for their passion and love of archaeology. I’ve been there about four years and recently was asked to join a dig on the island of Otata in the Hauraki Gulf. My contributions in archaeology are tiny but for me mean more than I can say.

On a personal note, Brad the Dog passed away at the beginning of 2020 – his passing left a huge hole in my heart. However, in April of this year we adopted a rescue pup by the name of Maze and if you follow me on Instagram you will see regular pictures of her.

Don’t forget if social media is your thing you can look me up on Instagram – tonimaree.rowe. Or you can also find me on Twitter @tmrowe70 Follows and likes gratefully received!

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