It has been said the book is a love letter to the people of Te Tii, the Northland town where he was living at that time.

[1] In October 2012, he wanted to participate in the Transit of Venus poetry exchange at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany.

It is the only poetry collection in New Zealand to make it to platinum, meaning more than 5,000 copies of the book have been sold.

Colquhoun was the convenor of the 2004 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Also in 2004, he received the country’s largest literary award, the Prize in Modern Letters, worth $60,000.