NZ Herald - The Best of 2017 Summer Magazine

SUMMER 2017 MAGAZINE

T H E B E S T T H E

V E R Y O F H O L I D AY

S E A S O N I N

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M A G A Z I N E

L I F E S T Y L E & E N T E R TA I N M E N T • F O O D & D R I N K H O M E & L I V I N G • FA S H I O N & B E A U T Y • T R AV E L

SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

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INSIDE Siena Yates goes on to the set of Thor: Ragnarok with Taika Waititi

FOOD

In Vietnam Eli Orzessek finds valuable booty, crazy nights out and confronting relics of war

FASHION AND BEAUTY 29

New Zealand model Zippora Seven tells Rebecca Barry Hill about her extraordinary life

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Timeless red lipstick helps you feel confident and powerful, reckons Kim Knight

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States of Undress presenter Hailey Gates travels the world exploring the global fashion industry

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Ray McVinnie eases up on the size and heft of meat cuts to enjoy a roast in warmer conditions

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For a holiday breakfast, nothing beats a fried egg or two, writes Kathy Paterson

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Barbecues and New Year parties provide more opportunities to drink alcohol, so take care

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Anna King Shahab investigates the cultural cuisine of Auckland

Kym Ellery talks to Dan Ahwa about life in the French capital

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Ruth Spencer provides a non-users’ guide to home improvement

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Claire Mummery inspires people to grow their own food in an organic, sustainable way

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Test your memory with 50 of the toughest questions from Canvas magazine’s weekly quiz

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TRAVEL 21

Stephanie Holmes discovers a multitude of treasures — and a foodie heaven — in beautiful, baffling Jerusalem

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Those who have had sex on a plane are in an exclusive group, writes Winston Aldworth

HOME AND LIVING

“Brilliantly funny” Stuff.co.nz on A Midsummer Night's Dream

Throughout the year, the New Zealand Herald’s suite of lifestyle publications entertains, amuses, inspires and informs our readers with their sometimes sassy, sometimes quirky take on the world.

On Monday, bite titillates the palate; on Tuesday, Travel takes our readers around the world. Viva reveals the best things in life – food, fashion, beauty, décor and more – each Wednesday, and TimeOut updates all things entertainment on Thursday.

Our weekend magazines, Canvas and Weekend, add yet another layer to our offering.

Producing these magazines doesn’t happen by accident: it requires the skills and talents of the country’s best writers and photographers, designers and editors. Their work is regularly recognised with awards from their peers, as well as the appreciation of their readers.

To celebrate the verve and depth of our lifestyle publications, we’ve gathered some of their best work from 2017 – selected by their editors – and showcased it in this bonus publication. And we’ve added some new material: check out the food section for an easy, scrumptious holiday breakfast and some tips on getting through the BBQ season hangover-free.

January special: 4 tickets for

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SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

Images indicative only. © Pop-up Globe International Ltd. 2017. All rights reserved.

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Media Sponsor

The central city gym Les Mills has ruled the fitness community for almost 50 years. Greg Bruce went undercover to find out why.

Location Sponsor

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LIFESTYLE AND ENTERTAINMENT

HERE COMES SUMMER

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LIFESTYLE + ENTERTAINMENT

UNDERCOVER AT LES MILLS The central city gym Les Mills has ruled the fitness community for almost 50 years. Greg Bruce went undercover to find out why.

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fter entering through a sophisticated computerised identification gate, you descend straight down a narrow stairway into the fantabulous subterranean labyrinth of the men’s changing room, where you are struck immediately by the dank smell of sweat-soured polyester mingled with the bright desperation of Lynx body spray.

You can’t believe the size and provisioning of the changing room. If you brought enough protein bars and raw kale, you could happily live out the looming apocalypse down here. There are five separate changing zones and hundreds of lockers. There are several hairdryers, there are ironing stations, mirrors of every size and persuasion, endless bench seats, drinking fountains, sophisticated glass doors leading to the “wet area” with its multiple public and private showers, steam room, sauna, spa pool and plunge pool/conversation pit.

You are in awe of the nudity, absolutely flagrant and often in direct contravention of the rules — men standing conversing by the pool, for example, with their raw buttocks and penises exposed, sometimes directly in front of the sign saying “Swimsuits must be worn”.

Signs in the wet area order “No inappropriate behaviour” but tantalisingly provide no detail or photographs.

You get changed, go back up the stairs and enter the gym itself through a narrow doorway, then you follow a red line painted around the outside of the muscle floor, where surprisingly few people are using the selection of free weights and pulleybased weight stations.

At multiple points, lest you be tempted to stop and try a lat pulldown or some such, signs appear with messages such as “This way to the world’s best fitness classes” and “This way to the world’s best group fitness”.

You go up some stairs, across a glassed-in walkway, down some other stairs, around a corner, up more stairs, higher and higher, possibly endlessly, you think, until continued on p6 »

The Les Mills gym building on Victoria Street in Auckland / Photo Jason Oxenham

SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

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LIFESTYLE + ENTERTAINMENT He saw the exertainment and it was good: Canvas writer, Greg Bruce / Photo Guy Coombes

« continued from p5

finally you emerge — as if into heaven — through the floor of the glassed-in light and glory that is Studio 1.

The feeling of the building to this point has been sweaty, cramped, intense and a bit of a hodgepodge, aesthetically speaking, but then suddenly there you are, at the epicentre of the Les Mills global juggernaut, in the beautiful, megachurch-like space that is ground zero for the group fitness classes that have been the main spur for the company’s emergence as one of the world’s biggest and best-known fitness empires.

It’s beautiful in there, so bright and hopeful. You hear angels singing. You recognise them as the vocalists on a terrible dance track. You have arrived for your first-ever Les Mills group fitness class. This is BODYPUMP™ and, over the course of your three month membership, it will change your life. Results may vary.

DURING MY first month’s membership, although the gym is only 180m from my office and my regular attendance had been mandated and paid by my company, I went only five times.

My excuses were many and not at all original: my life was too hard, I was too busy at work, had too many children at home, was morally above all that doof doof/ra ra motivational crap, wasn’t worried enough about the way my body looked, was no longer trying to attract sexual partners and was already doing enough daily walking to exceed most medically mandated exercise minimums.

I had joined the gym out of professional obligation, basically in an attempt to answer in print the question of why, whenever anybody asked me where my office was, the only surefire way to get them to understand was by saying, “Opposite Les Mills on Victoria St.” How was it, I had been asked to discover, that this place, which from the outside — and frankly also from the inside — is a bit of a shitter by acceptable design standards, had become an “Auckland Institution”; a place a lot of very attractive people like to go and distribute their nudity widely across the changing rooms?

Having wasted most of my first month’s membership, I also wasted most of my second month’s, but by my third and final month, as my fear of failure grew and my attendance at Pump picked up correspondingly, I began noticing changes in my body that led me to start taking my shirt off in front of my wife with increasing frequency.

Initially, her response was mostly laughter but then one night, while I stroked my flexed bicep next to her on the couch, she said, “You are actually starting to look quite ripped.” From that point on I was suddenly at the gym every day. Whenever I was in the vicinity of a mirror at home or elsewhere, it was all I could do to keep my clothes on.

“Shadow there, shadow there,” my wife said one night, pointing to some areas of increasing definition on my torso. She began to count off the zones of my nascent six-pack: “One, two, three, four,” she said, paused, looked up at me, then continued more hesitantly, “Five, six”.

“You were going to stop at four,” I said.

“Well, let’s be honest,” she said, “those two are ribs.”

At Pump class, I started really loading up the weight on the Les Mills SMARTBAR™ and blasting all major muscle groups. I could feel the strength growing in my upper body and I could see the beginnings in me of the sort of physique I recognised most readily from the leading sculptures of the renaissance.

The soft downlighting over the mirrors of the main vestibule in the Les Mills changing room provided maximal emphasis of the definition on my objectively probably-not-very-changed body and there were days when I stood in front of that mirror after class finding it all-but-impossible to go back to work.

THIS NEW body obsession wasn’t really related to the job I had been sent to do —

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but that’s not to say it didn’t matter.

By the time my membership period had just days to go, while I sat half-naked on the couch next to my wife one night, she asked how I was going to cope when it expired.

“I don’t know,” I told her, stroking the developing hump of my right triceps. “I’m actually really upset about it.”

As recently as the 1990s there were two main types of idealised fitness body: the slim, toned body of people who did mostly cardio-based training, and the massive muscular body of people who did mostly weight training.

The modern fitness class, as developed and exported worldwide by Les Mills International, and particularly its industry-standard Pump class, have helped collapse those bodies into one, so that, even outside the gym you can make a good guess at the type of body that has done a lot of Pump: cleanly defined bunches of lean — but not bulging — muscle, strong shoulders and upper backs, and world-class buttocks.

Les Mills makes most of its enormous pile of money — in 2014, PwC estimated its earnings at more than $100 million a year — not through its own relatively small network of New Zealand gyms, but by creating and selling continually updated group fitness classes like Pump to other fitness clubs around the world.

Two million people worldwide take one or more Les Mills classes each week: Body Combat, Body Jam, Body Attack, Les Mills Sprint, Les Mills Grit and so on. Body Pump is the granddaddy of them all though. As of May, it was taught by 58,600 instructors in 16,400 clubs in more than 100 countries.

In the press release to celebrate the 100th update of Pump earlier this year (all the company’s group fitness programmes are updated quarterly), Les Mills described the class as having a “cult-like following of devoted participants”.

IHRSA, the trade association serving the international health and fitness industry, credited Les Mills International in 2003 with “doing for group exercise what McDonald’s did for hamburgers” — a claim the company repeats on its website.

It’s easy to see why. The learning curve for Pump is absurdly shallow and short. At my first class, it took me seconds to figure out how to load weight on to the specially designed Les Mills SMARTBAR™ barbell and seconds more to arrange my Les Mills SMARTSTEP™ with four supporting riser rings.

The basic set of exercises is so simple that I had mastered basically all of them halfway through my first 30 minute class. By my second class, I was comfortable with the thought of any of the 100-150 other attendees checking out my form. By my third class, while in the middle of a set of power presses, I found myself absorbed, in a classic flow state, physically and emotionally fully engaged in the movement and the dance-pop sounds of Blame by Zeds Dead & Diplo feat. Elliphant.

According to the company’s CEO Phillip Mills, Les Mills is in the motivation business; its key motivational weapons being, “The teacher, the music, the moves, the studio design, the energy of the crowd, the bonds created among members and instructors.”

STUDIO 1, where by far the biggest proportion of Les Mills Victoria St branch’s classes are held, is clearly designed to inspire awe. You emerge into it from narrow stairs at the back of the room, and you’re immediately facing the stage at the front where, if you give yourself up to her implorations, the instructor promises deliverance from the malaise that is your current body.

It’s deliberately massive, big enough for 230 people, and surrounded on three sides by floor-to-ceiling windows giving views over central Auckland’s classier offices and up to the expensive sophistication of Ponsonby.

Jackie Mills, who is the company’s chief creative officer and Phillip’s wife, told European academic researchers in 2015: “There are two things that are crucial to getting a population moving: one is music; the other is the power of a group ... Essentially, what we are trying to do is almost to provide distractions! You have fabulous music, great lighting and a motivated instructor, so we can encourage

LIFESTYLE + ENTERTAINMENT

It’s beautiful in there, so bright and hopeful. You hear angels singing. You recognise them as the vocalists on a terrible dance track.

You have arrived for your firstever Les Mills group fitness class.

people and help them to adhere to an exercise discipline through some type of entertainment while they exercise — we call it exertainment.”

If you think this sounds a little like something the leader of a cool, modern church might say, that’s crazy talk — you don’t go to church to get fit.

Les Mills’ standardised group fitness classes allow devoted adherents to regularly gather with a like-minded group of people in an awe-inspiring space provided by a sophisticated and powerful organisation that demands a non-trivial proportion of attendees’ weekly income, for an uplifting session in the hands of a charismatic leader, for the purposes of becoming a better person.

I clearly remember standing in that first Pump class, awkwardly holding an embarrassingly light barbell, sceptical and ashamed at the thought of anyone I knew seeing me, but even more clearly I remember my last Pump class, arrogantly picking up the bar, smashing on an extra 2.5 clicks per side and blasting my chest to hell and back to the pulsating 128 beats per minute of The Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling.

I had seen the exertainment and it was good.

I HAD been a member at Les Mills Victoria St for 11 weeks and had just finished a very good, very uplifting class when I stopped in at reception to cancel my membership.

“Can I ask why you want to cancel?” the nice-smiled woman at reception asked me.

It was a question I had neither expected nor prepared for. I couldn’t tell her that I was an undercover reporter whose company-mandated reporting period had come to an end, but neither did I have a suitable alternative explanation and I didn’t want to lie.

“I’ve achieved everything I wanted to achieve,” I told her.

Her smile didn’t waver, although she took long enough to answer that I could see she was a little thrown. “Okay,” she said eventually, “You feel like you’ve just done everything you can?”

“Yes,” I said.

She messed around on her computer screen for a few seconds, then told me I was going to have to speak to somebody in accounts.

I felt nervous, like I’d done something wrong, although I suspected that I hadn’t.

The whole thing seemed crazy. I had given them my money for a period, and that period was up, and now I wanted to leave. Why wouldn’t they let me leave? Why did I have to explain myself to them at all, let alone twice?

The receptionist picked up the phone and called accounts.

“He’s achieved all his goals,” she said.

There was silence for a second or two, then she said, more slowly and deliberately: “He’s achieved everything he wanted to achieve.”

After a while, she handed me the receiver.

“Hi,” I said.

“I hear you’ve achieved all your goals,” said the woman in accounts. I thought I detected a little laugh in her voice. It was pretty clear that everybody involved in this sordid transaction knew I was not being completely honest, and they were going to use that knowledge as leverage to ensure my exit was made maximally difficult.

“Tell me, what’s the secret?” she asked brightly. “I’ve obviously been doing it all wrong!”

I tried to come up with a convincing explanation, or a joke, or anything really, but all I could think of was my shame.

We were engulfed by a short and painful silence, then she changed tack and tried to convince me to put my membership on hold. It seemed to go on forever, this one minute conversation, but I held my nerve and finally she and Les Mills relinquished their power over me. Or did they?

A week or so later, after I had repeatedly made clear to my wife how much I was missing Pump class, I sat down with her on the couch and discussed whether we could afford for me to take out a personal membership. She said no. I have not taken my shirt off in front of her since.

• This article first appeared in Canvas magazine on July 23, 2017

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Kids go free!*

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Day pass includes the exciting new Bird Show, plus 10 close-up animal Encounters and more. rainbowsprings.co.nz/summerholidays *T&C’s apply. See website for info.

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hose craving a bit of excitement will be lining up for The Big Splash, a 9-minute ride that ends with a thrilling water slide. The Big Splash takes visitors through some of New Zealand’s most interesting stories, sights (including dinosaurs) and sounds, before ending with a specular drop down a water slide.

This is the only one of its kind in Rotorua, and it’s incredibly cooling in the summer heat. The cost of the Big Splash ride is included in the entry ticket so you can ride it as many times as you wish.

Both new and returning visitors will be delighted by the new attractions on offer at Rainbow Springs.

These include the new Free-Flight Bird Show, which showcases the talents of some of the park’s more colourful inhabitants, the exotic birds. Here you’ll see the special bond between bird and handler, as exotic species perform tricks such as skateboarding, collecting up rubbish and balancing on balls.

Those wanting a sneak peek at the birds can see cockatoo Charlie being trained to ride a skateboard on the Rainbow Springs website (see below for URL). It’s wonderful to see such beautiful creatures use their innate intelligence to develop new skills – both adults and children will be delighted to see their tricks close-up.

Also new is the Science in the Forest exhibition, where visitors can spend time with scientists uncovering weird and wonderful facts about New Zealand’s native forest.

This is the perfect place to take shelter from the summer sun, while learning all about our wonderful indigenous species. You can also fly a miniature drone and see live insects up close.

There are a host of new ‘playscapes’ at the park, where kids (and the young at heart) can climb, swing, wriggle, balance and splash to their heart’s content. This includes an amazing new ‘water play’ zone so be sure to bring a towel! The playscapes are dotted around the park, and you’ll learn how to see like a trout and dig for grubs like a kiwi!

Animals and birds are abundant at Rainbow Springs, and visitors can get close to the action with daily animal encounters including junior tuatara feeding, native reptile encounters, and trout feeding. There is a daily schedule available online so you can plan your day’s itinerary before you head to the park.

One of Rainbow Springs’ most popular attractions are the kiwis. Over 1,500 kiwi chicks have safely hatched and then been released back into the wild at the hatchery, and you can see all the action behind the scenes for just $10 with the Kiwi Encounter Behind the Scenes Tour.

Kiwi lovers can also visit the nocturnal house, where kiwis are kept behind glass in a darkened environment during daytime hours, and once it’s dark outside they are free to view kiwis in an enclosure without glass.

“If they are lucky enough, they may even catch a glimpse of a kiwi chick breaking out of its egg and seeing the world for the first time!”

Rainbow Springs is open from 8.30am to 10.30pm in summer, and there is an on-site café as well as picnic facilities available. The native bush provides the perfect shady haven from the sizzling summer sun (there’s even a waterfall to relax by) and the kids can have loads of fun at the on-site playground.

Spend a morning, afternoon or even the whole day here and enjoy all the Rainbow Springs has to offer.

See www.rainbowsprings.co.nz/kidsgofree for more information.

LIFESTYLE + ENTERTAINMENT Taika Waititi: Telling Kiwi stories in a Kiwi way for the the resot of the worldway w/ Photo Victoria Will/Invision/AP

Everybody loves

TAIKA Siena Yates goes on to the set of Thor: Ragnarok with Taika Waititi.

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ecrecy on the Thor: Ragnarok set is out of control. Phone cameras are covered with stickers, there are posters of superheroes imploring everyone to “keep secrets” and “smash and shred” confidential documents.

Which is why, when I find a crime-solving board covered in pins linked by string, I figure it must be important — it’s been made by the director, after all.

Except the director is Taika Waititi and the board is utter nonsense.

It’s covered in questions like “what are the infinity stones?

Is Fury a real name?” and random notes like “beauty and brawn can save the world”. There’s a picture of a purple man in a floating chair, a crude pencil-sketch of Thor and a bunch of random doodles.

It’s a pretty good indication of what we’re in for.

Even Waititi’s trailer stands out from the rest, with its “Please take off your shoes” sign.

Everywhere you look there are signs of his influence, but nowhere more so than on set, where his laughter is audible from outside the studio and inside he is running around in his classic-cut suit and cheese-cutter hat, pretending to be The Hulk.

He sets up the film’s star Chris Hemsworth for a fight scene with The Hulk and, after the first take, yells: “You smashed him, bro. You f***ing smashed him, eh?”

He then introduces the second take with: “Okay, let’s do one more that’s cooler.

Slash better, slash less shit. And come in hotter. As in: your face. Make it more hot.”

And in the downtime, he starts beat-boxing over the mic.

I AM WILLING to bet no Marvel set has ever been quite like this one. Everyone I talk to is totally enamoured by the Kiwi director’s humour and energy.

The costume designer describes Waititi as “a dream”, using words like fantastic, great and loveable in one sentence. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg; everyone loves Taika Waititi.

They speak of him with a kind of reverence, admiring how his vision and vibe are changing everything. It’s hard not to feel a sense of pride in this Maori boy from New Zealand who told Kiwi stories in a Kiwi way, and did it so well the rest of the world is desperate to bottle it up and take a piece of it.That’s what Marvel did, and they’re hooked.

Producer Brad Winderbaum says right from the pitch, Waititi’s vision was fresh and exciting, and the heart of those Kiwi stories were exactly what they were after.

“Everyone at Marvel really liked [What We Do In The] Shadows and when we went back and watched ... Boy in particular, we realised this guy, he had the right tone for a Marvel movie — really great characters, funny but capable of great depth,” says Winderbaum.

“The other thing Taika really brought to the table was a driving energy that is very prevalent in the comic books but that we never have captured on screen before, which is this kind of all-out, balls-to-the-wall, epic space adventure that just grabs you by your collar and yanks you on this journey and doesn’t let go. He really made it clear that he was the guy for the job right away.”

It helped that Hemsworth was so much a fan that when Waititi’s name came up, “I was screaming about [him] ... he had my vote.

“As soon as we got on the phone and started talking about things we disliked about what we’d done before, we were laughing going, ‘Good, well any time we feel it’s heading in that direction let’s just do the opposite’,” he says.

“Then at times it’s like, ‘we’re pushing this too far’, so you’ve got to reel it back in a bit, but you’ve got to have that field to play in or ... you kind of restrict yourself. Just having Taika lead the ship here has given it that fun sort of energy.”

And while back home we’re still just impressed Waititi landed the gig, for him, it’s business as usual.

He’s surrounded himself with fellow Kiwis, the atmosphere is relaxed, the cast are constantly improvising — as is the Waititi way — and ideas are flowing.

“The main difference ... I think is just the scale. The machine is a lot bigger and moving that machine around takes a lot longer,” says Waititi.

But, he adds, “The shooting style is very similar, the way I work with the actors is very similar ... you just have to create friendship and a very relaxed environment; we usually play music, there’s a lot of kids around all the time ... so I think that’s what’s sort of kept the job enjoyable.”

While Waititi admits he was uncertain how a major studio like Marvel would

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LIFESTYLE + ENTERTAINMENT

But while the vibe is 80s, the aesthetic is 60s Marvel, as Kiwi production designer Dan Hennah draws a huge amount of inspiration from Jack Kirby, a long-time artist for Marvel who was instrumental in helping Stan Lee create many of Marvel’s major characters.

It’s a move that even Hennah admits is a huge risk, considering Marvel’s other ventures are aiming for a more futuristic look.

Set and match: Taika Waititi directs Chris Hemsworth in Thor: Ragnarok. / Photo Disney-Marvel Studios

handle his style, he was comforted by the work they’d done with other directors whose unique styles shone through, like James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

“I knew that they would at least listen to what I had to say, otherwise it would’ve been a very weird practical joke. I just was very vocal right from the beginning saying, ‘I think it should be like this’ ... and they kept agreeing.”

Waititi’s film sees Thor imprisoned and trying to get back to Asgard in time to save it from the ruthless Hela (Cate Blanchett), but to get home he has to get through The Hulk and travel across the universe.

His main goal was showcasing Hemsworth’s comedic talent and making Thor more multidimensional than he’d been in the past.

“My idea of what a hero should be comes a lot more from 80s movie stars, you know? Like Bruce Willis and Indiana Jones ... so I wanted Thor to become more like those kind of heroes who are not only great at action but really funny.

“I just wanted people to be more on side with Thor and make Thor the most interesting character in the film; there’s no point calling a movie Thor if he’s not the coolest thing in it.”

BUT THEN, everything about this is a risk. Hiring an indie film-maker from little ol’ New Zealand to make a blockbuster for one of the biggest studios in the world is a risk. But that’s the point; Thor: Ragnarok isn’t playing it safe.

“It’s one of those things, you know, you jump on the ride and hold on tight, because if you don’t stay with it, it’s gonna fall over, so it’s really important to embrace the idea completely and take the full ride,” Hennah says.

“I think Taika’s humour and approach just reinforce that and, without a director who was going to reinforce that, you’d be in an entirely different place. You can’t have one without the other.”

Waititi’s set is flooded with Kiwis behind the scenes and on camera. Hennah is production designer, having worked on most New Zealand-made productions, including all of The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films.

New Zealand’s most famous stunt performer, Zoe Bell, worked as Blanchett’s double; Karl Urban is in it and Waititi has a cameo.

But most impressively, he especially brought in Cohen Holloway, who’s been in every Waititi film and Rachel House, with whom he’s worked closely — including Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

House says while it was “initially very overwhelming to stand alongside those super-famous people”, Waititi’s influence soon made the Hollywood set feel like home. “[He] just made it feel real and fun and good. It was wonderful to see him be in charge of something that epic and he seemed right at home, he was so relaxed and ... people loved working with him. That’s a real testament to us, how we are,” she says.

“There was crew from New Zealand there as well; mates I’ve met on other jobs ... and that’s how we are, everybody hangs out. It was a fun time.”

Waititi even seems to have invented a role specifically for House.

“Topaz is in the Marvel universe but ... I’m not sure they necessarily followed through on all those qualities,” she laughs.

Either way, she says “he certainly injected his own sense of humour. It’s very us, it’s very Aotearoa.”

• This article first appeared in TimeOut on October 13, 2017

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FOOD + BEVERAGE

ROAST REDUX Ray McVinnie eases up on the size and heft of meat cuts and accompaniments to enjoy a roast in warmer conditions.

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hy do we like roasts so much? Is it some atavistic liking for the crusty, browned exterior and succulent interior of roasted meat that is hardwired in us as a result of evolving from people who cooked the hunt over a fire? Possibly. Humans love what are called “browning flavours” present in the exterior of fried, barbecued and roasted meat.

The traditional Kiwi roast was often lamb or mutton with roasted and boiled vegetables and a flour-thickened gravy — not something I go for these days. Wanting to insure a regular supply of browning flavours from larger pieces of succulent sliced meat, I prefer a lighter roast and interestingly flavoured accompaniments, especially when the weather is warmer.

Until the invention of the home range in the mid-19th century, roasting was done on a revolving spit over a fire. Roasting today is done by the domestic oven, a machine we should be grateful for, as many traditional societies didn’t have the fuel, wealth or space for home ovens or even roasting over a fire.

In Europe any oven-cooking had to be done in the residual heat of the local baker’s wood oven (often for a fee of some kind) once his bread was cooked, which meant only low temperature, slow-cooked dishes could be produced as the temperature dropped (the oven wasn’t reheated).

The following are roasts that take advantage of the luxury of a domestic oven, with strategies like deboning in the case of the lamb and opening out flat in the case of the chicken to speed things up.

Butterflied leg of lamb with mushrooms, grilled cos lettuce and feta cream ( serves 6 ) With the bone removed, this is the quickest way to roast a leg of lamb. Cooked

lettuce? Absolutely – the French have a long tradition of cooked lettuce dishes.

I got the idea for the following lettuce from Amano restaurant where genius chef, Jo Pearson’s great charred cos with cream cheese is a favourite of mine. This is good with steamed rice.

Ingredients 1 kg Butterflied boneless leg of lamb, cut in half 3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped 5 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil 3 sprigs Thyme, large 350 g Button mushrooms, halved

100 g Feta, crumbled 100 g Sour cream 4 Baby cos lettuce, enough stalk left on to hold the lettuce together but any outer coarse or damaged leaves removed, halved lengthways 1 small handful Mint

1 2

Heat the oven to 200C. Line a large, shallow roasting tray with baking paper Put one half of the lamb on a clean board, meat side up. Slice into the thicker parts of the lamb but not right through. Turn the lamb over so it is skin side up, cover with plastic wrap and beat with a rolling pin or meat hammer until it is about an even 4cm thick all over. Repeat for the other half.

3 Rub the garlic all over the lamb and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4 Heat 3 Tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan and brown the lamb well on both sides.

5 Put the thyme on the paper-lined tray and put the lamb on top, skin side up.

6 Put the pan back over high heat, add the mushrooms and brown well.

7 Scatter the mushrooms around the lamb on the tray. Place in the oven and roast 15-20 minutes for medium.

8 When the lamb is almost ready, put the feta and sour cream into a small bowl and mix well. Taste and season.

9 Heat a barbecue, ridged grill or frying pan over high heat.

10 Brush the cut side of the lettuce with the remaining oil, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and place on the grill cut side down until well browned and hot. Remove to a warm serving platter and slice each half in half again if desired. continued on p14 »

Butterflied leg of lamb roast / Photo Bite

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FOOD + BEVERAGE

Roast Chicken / Photo Bite

« continued from p13

Roast chicken with Chinese flavours and cucumber and peanut salad ( serves 6 ) Ingredients 4 Tbsp Japanese soy sauce, naturally brewed 2 Tbsp Shao Xing Chinese rice cooking wine, or use medium sherry 1 Tbsp ginger juice, made by grating ginger and squeezing out the juice 1 tsp Chinese five spice 1 Tbsp golden syrup 3 Garlic cloves, crushed 1 Tbsp vegetable oil ½ cup water 1 Chicken, size 14, cut down each side of the backbone with kitchen shears and through the breast cartilage, chicken opened out flat

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1 large cucumber, peeled, split in half lengthways, seeds scooped out with a teaspoon, cucumber cut into irregular 1cm thick x 10cm long sticks (or you could simply slice it 1cm thick into crescents) 1 red chilli, thinly sliced 2 spring onions, thinly sliced 1 handful coriander sprigs ¾ cup roasted peanuts, unsalted, crushed coarsely or chopped 1 tsp sugar 4 Tbsp Rice vinegar 1 Tbsp sesame oil 6 servings steamed jasmine rice

1 Heat the oven to 200C. Line a large, shallow roasting tray with baking paper.

2 Put the soy sauce, wine or sherry, ginger juice, five spice, golden syrup, garlic, vegetable oil and water into a small bowl and mix until the golden syrup dissolves.

3 Put the chicken into a large mixing bowl and add the soy sauce mixture, turn the chicken over several times so the soy mix coats it. Cover and marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight.

4 Place the chicken on the paper-lined tray, skin side up. Spoon the marinade over the top. Place in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until cooked through. Test by inserting a small knife into the thickest part of the thigh and making sure the juices run out absolutely clear. If the chicken looks like it may burn before it is cooked, loosely cover with foil.

5 When the chicken is almost ready, put the cucumber, chilli, spring onions, coriander and peanuts into a large salad bowl. Put the sugar, vinegar and sesame oil into a small bowl and mix until the sugar dissolves then pour this over the salad just before serving.

Mix, taste and season with salt.

6 Remove the chicken from the oven and place on a board.

7 Pour the cooking liquid in the bottom of the roasting dish into a small saucepan, skim off some of the fat, bring to the boil and boil to reduce by half so it is syrupy.

8 Using a meat cleaver or a large knife cut the chicken into serving portions. Don’t worry too much about the bird’s anatomy, just cut through or around the bones.

9 Serve with the reduced cooking liquid, steamed jasmine rice and the cucumber salad.

Sirloin roasted with pumpkin and beetroot ( serves 6 ) Ingredients 600 pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, in 3cm pieces 250 g Baby beetroots, bought, precooked, dried on paper towels and halved 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 kg beef sirloin, in one piece 3 garlic cloves, squashed roughly

2 sprigs Rosemary, each 15cm long 100 ml Red wine 250 ml Beef stock 1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar 1 Tbsp Butter 1 large handful Watercress, or micro watercress sprouts

Sirloin roast / Photo Bite

FOOD + BEVERAGE

1 2

Heat the oven to 220C. Line a large, shallow roasting tray with baking paper.

Put the pumpkin and beetroot on the tray, add 3 Tbsp of the oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well so that the oil is evenly distributed, spread the vegetables out and place in the oven for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is just tender.

3 Put the beef into a large bowl and add the remaining oil and the garlic. Turn the beef over several times.

4 Heat a frying pan over high heat and brown the beef well, especially the fat.

5 Once the pumpkin is tender, remove from the oven and make a space for the beef in the middle of the tray. Place the beef (and the bits of garlic) in the middle, fat side up.

6 Pour the fat from the frying pan and reserve.

7 Put the rosemary sprigs on either side of the beef. Place back in the oven for 25-30 minutes for medium or less or more until cooked the way you like it.

8 Remove from the oven, transfer the beef to a warm dish, cover loosely with foil and rest for 10 minutes. Keep the pumpkin and beetroot warm.

9 Place the frying pan over high heat and add the wine. Let it bubble for 20 seconds then add the stock. Boil until reduced by a third, add the balsamic and butter, mix well, remove from the heat, taste and season.

10 Serve the beef sliced across the grain of the meat with the red wine and stock mixture in a bowl or jug with the vegetables on the side and the cress around the beef.

• This article first appeared in Bite, April 28, 2017

®

HEARTBURN? INDIGESTION?

*Strugala et al. 2010 J Int Med Res, 39:449-457. Always read the label. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist see your healthcare professional. TAPS DA 1703DB.

*Strugala t l

SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

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Photo Bite

FOOD + BEVERAGE

Holiday breakfast For a holiday breakfast, nothing beats a fried egg or two, especially eggs with crispy edges and a wobbly yolk, writes Kathy Paterson.

Café O spicy eggs (Serves 2) 1 Tbsp grapeseed oil 3 large very fresh eggs 1 Tbsp oyster sauce or hoisin sauce 1 spring onion, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted Few sprigs coriander ½ red chilli, finely sliced, optional Lime wedges, for serving

1 Place a medium heavy-based frying pan over high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, carefully break the eggs into the pan. Let them settle for about 30 seconds, then lower the heat and continue frying for about 1 minute, or until the white is set. Lift eggs out of the pan with a kitchen slice on to a serving plate.

2 Drizzle over the oyster sauce or hoisin sauce. Scatter over the spring onion, sesame seeds and coriander sprigs. Top with slices of fresh chilli, if using 3 Serve eggs with toast and if wished, a side of bacon. Use the bacon fat left in the frying pan to fry the eggs.

• Kathy Paterson contributes to Bite, published with the NZ Herald every Monday

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FOOD + BEVERAGE

DRINKING SEASON A cool drink on a hot day doesn’t have to mean a hangover tomorrow, writes Mikki Williden.

B

arbecues and New Year parties provide more opportunities to drink alcohol, which can create anxiety for some over whether they should accept the invitation for fear of over-drinking (and subsequently over-eating, putting a dent in their healthy lifestyle habits).

For others, the increase in social outings make them feel the worse for wear next morning.

Even two to three drinks can result in disrupted sleep patterns, dehydration and a low mood state. These factors increase tiredness and sugar cravings for at least the next day, which can send healthy lifestyle habits into a spin.

Avoiding social occasions entirely is not the answer — social connections and community have a large positive influence on overall health and wellbeing, especially at this time of year.

Instead, a bit of preparation can go a long way to help you enjoy summer while minimising your alcohol intake. Here are a few tips: 1 Plan in advance at which functions you will enjoy a drink and which you will stay alcohol-free. Ideally you will have at least two alcohol-free nights per week.

2 If you normally enjoy a drink at home before or during dinner, consider opting for a non-alcoholic drink instead to allow for the increased frequency of social occasions.

See the panel for some of my favourite alternatives.

3 Have plenty to drink during the day before the function — we often drink our first drink too quickly due to dehydration, so not only do we feel the effects of alcohol sooner, we drink more than we intend to.

4 Try a calorie-free drink alongside the alcoholic one: soda water with a wedge of lime, for example. This will help keep you hydrated and slow down your drinking — it’s difficult to drink as much overall with this in hand.

5 Eat alongside or before you start drinking, as this will slow down the effects of the alcohol, making it less likely that you will drink more than you intend to.

6 Ask for a smaller measure of alcohol or pour of wine.

7 Decide ahead of time what your non-alcoholic drink of choice is, so you don’t end up grabbing an alcoholic one almost unconsciously out of habit. Where necessary, take your own alcohol-free drinks to party or barbecue.

8 Don’t let anyone refill your glass until it is empty, as it is difficult to keep a track of how much you are drinking.

9 Drink plenty of water when you get home and add some lemon or orange zest and a pinch of sea salt to it. The lemon zest contains d-limonene, which helps stimulate glutathione peroxidase in the liver, one of our major antioxidant enzymes. This will help mop up reactive oxygen species caused by alcohol and the breakdown of fried, highly refined party food. The salt will help your body absorb the water and prevent dehydration — often the major cause of a hangover.

Alternatives to high-sugar soft drinks 1

Soda water with a kick: try a wedge of lime or lemon, or fresh grated ginger, or raw apple cider vinegar.

2 Sparkling water with ice cubes that have mint or berries added to them — looks festive.

3 Sparkling water with added herbs and vegetables/fruit, adding monk fruit or stevia as a sweetener if desired. Try: a. Cucumber, thyme and strawberry b. Strawberry, lemon and basil c. Blueberry, pomegranate and mint d. Cubes of frozen watermelon and mint e. Strawberry, cucumber, kiwifruit and lime f. Basil and mango 4 Home-made iced tea using six fruit tea bags to eight cups of hot water.

Steep for around four minutes then leave to cool.

5 Sparkling or still water with Barker’s unsweetened blackcurrant juice added.

6 Six Barrel Soda company have a great salted cucumber and mint drink that is refreshing, contains no sugar and comes in single-serve bottles.

7 Kombucha that has a low residual sugar count, such as Remedy or Lo Bros brand.

8 “1Above” drink. Designed initially for helping alleviate jetlag, this lowsugar alternative tastes great and has electrolytes added to help keep you hydrated on a warm summer evening.

9 Phoenix light cola. Sweetened with stevia, it makes a better choice than other diet beverages.

10 Hopt soda drinks are higher in sugar than those I’ve mentioned but have less than half that of a standard soda drink. Flavours include watermelon and mint, salted lychee, pear and basil and elderberry and herb.

• Mikki Williden is a nutritionist who contributes to Bite, published with the NZ Herald every Monday. Illustration by Emma Pascoe

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Cocavo have launched five variants: Original; Light; Chili & Lime; Coriander Lime & Ginger and Turmeric & Lemon Zest.

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SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

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FOOD + BEVERAGE

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How to eat

one are the days of going out “for a Chinese” and this is a good thing. There’s more and better Chinese cuisine on offer in Auckland than ever, and increasingly restaurants are specialising in fare from particular regions, their menus focused on things like Xi’An’s hand-pulled noodles and pita bread-ish “burgers”, Shanghainese dumplings and buns, halal cuisine from the Muslim Uyghur province, Taiwanese noodle soups and Cantonese roast meats.

One cuisine that seems to be especially popular with our multicultural palates here in Auckland is the famously fiery fare from Sichuan. Sichuan (formerly Romanised as Szechuan) is a large province in Southwest China. The cuisine has become well known for its liberal use of Sichuan peppercorns and dried red chillies, which add both lip-numbing qualities and Scoville-driven heat — a combination known as “ma la”.

A good Sichuan cook knows precisely how to balance the ma la, in dishes where that is key, and to make sure other flavours and mouthfeels are allowed to shine, too.

Here are some of our favourite Sichuan dishes around town:

SICHUAN

Anna King Shahab investigates Auckland’s cultural cuisine.

GONG PAO CHICKEN Tianze Dumpling House, 695 Sandringham Rd, Sandringham The cheerful yellow and red interior of Tianze may as well have been designed to invigorate the senses in much the same way as their Sichuan-driven menu. In the popular dish gong bao chicken, cubes of Sichuan pepper-dusted chicken breast are stir-fried with toasted peanuts, diced carrot and celery, and plenty of garlic and dried red chilli. Unless you ask for it extra hot, Tianze’s version is fairly mild — apart from those dried chilli mines.

MA PO TOFU Spicy House, 557 Dominion Rd, Balmoral This classic Sichuan comfort food translates as “pockmarked grandma’s tofu”.

Bite-size cubes of silken tofu swim in a gelatinous ma la sauce enriched with bean paste and little specks of minced pork or beef. Spicy House’s version is generous with the dried red chilli and has fresh red chilli as well, plus the tart, numbing hit of Sichuan pepper and fermented black beans to add an umami note. The silky texture and plainness of the tofu provides a foil for the fire, then it’s all mopped up with steamed rice — somehow this all adds up to something very comforting.

Spicy House stays open very late, the fluoro strip lighting a beacon on the dark street. If you decide you need a fiery fix in the wee hours, you’ll be in good company; there’s often a horde of folk waiting outside for their takeaways, even at 1am.

DUMPLINGS IN SPICY SAUCE Chongqing Noodle House, 340 Dominion Rd, Mt Eden This jazzed-up Sichuan take on dumplings features on many menus round town but the perfect al dente wrappers at Chongqing Noodle House make it my pick for best in town. Chongqing is a very big city bordering Sichuan, and in the past few years several Chongqing-specific restaurants have popped up in Auckland.

Spicy soups are the mainstay in this eatery — they’re very good but whatever you order, you must get a side of the dumplings in spicy sauce. The wonderfully silky

Gong Pao chicken from Tianze Dumpling House / Photo Michael Craig

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Auckland has more and better Chinese cuisine than ever Photos Michael Craig

wrappers cosset a simple filling of minced pork. They lie in a shallow pool of a sauce made from chilli oil, soy sauce, black vinegar, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, sugar and sesame.

HOT AND SOUR FERN ROOT NOODLES Spicy Cuisine, Dominion Rd, Balmoral Cold dishes are popular in Sichuan cooking and, unsurprisingly, they’re often also very hot! These black noodles are made from a bracken fern root that grows up high on mountains. They’re cooked al dente and served doused in a thin sauce made with black vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, Sichuan pepper, a bit of red chilli and perhaps a pinch of sugar, topped with a little spring onion and coriander. As the name suggests, the predominant flavours are hot (more of the pepper than chilli in Spicy Cuisine’s case) and sour, from the black vinegar. I swear to you, perfectly balanced, slippery, cold, spicy noodles are just the best thing to eat on a hot, humid day.

DAN DAN MIAN Eden Noodles, 105 Dominion Rd, Mt Eden There is never not a queue to get a table at Eden Noodles; no matter the proliferation of noodle houses round town with comparable menus, Eden remains the shining light. The whole menu is worth exploring, but the noodles are the star of the show, especially when you opt to pay the extra few dollars for the hand-pulled or hand-cut variety. Some eateries go for a more Westernised, drier approach but the dan dan mian here comes in an authentically spicy-sour soup, topped with crispy, salty-sweet pork mince and pickled vegetables. Your lips will be thoroughly numbed by the peppercorns, and your constitution will be thoroughly invigorated.

• This article first appeared in Weekend magazine on September 23, the first in a sixpart series on Auckland’s cultural cuisines.

SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

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SPONSORED CONTENT

IT’S A DATE!

The Travel Corporation’s family of brands highlight seven destinations marking special anniversaries in 2018 to inspire your travels.

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TASMANIA: Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens 200th

Hobart’s Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2018. Early buildings and structures include the Superintendent’s Cottage of 1829, once divided to house convicts on one side and the superintendent on the other. The Gardens are open daily from 8am to 5pm.

Get to know the friendly locals of Hobart and surrounds on AAT Kings’ 12-day Perfect Tasmania holiday. Visit Hobart’s Salamanca Markets, the Museum of Old and New Art plus witness the natural beauty of Cradle Mountain and indulge your tastebuds with fresh Tasmanian salmon and local artisan cheeses. Priced from $5,650 per person twin share including accommodation, sightseeing, many meals, transport and an expert Travel Director. Departure dates from September to April. www.aatkings.com

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CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA: Celebrating 100 years since the creation of Czechoslovakia

The country may have split up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, but both countries will be marking this special anniversary. Exhibitions are planned at several museums and locations including Prague Castle, the National Museum and the plinth of the former statue of Stalin.

Experience both countries on Uniworld Boutique River Cruises’ 10-day Enchanting Danube and Prague holiday between Budapest and Prague. A showcase of the best of Central Europe, this new 2018 journey features old-world capitals, charming towns and villages, and two nights onshore in Czech capital Prague. Priced from $4,799 per person twin share and including cruise accommodation in a luxury stateroom, all meals and drinks onboard, excursions and transfers. Departure dates from May. www.uniworld.com

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CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA: Film tourism and Mandela anniversary

Actress Alicia Vikander will take on the role of Lara Croft in the 2018 release of Tomb Raider, which was filmed in Cape Town’s Table Mountain National Park.

Also putting South Africa in the spotlight, July 17 will mark the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth.

The former President of South Africa worked tirelessly to dismantle the legacy of apartheid in the country and is celebrated the world over.

Enjoy a stunning view of the Twelve Apostles mountain range and neighbouring Table Mountain while exploring South Africa on Adventure World’s nine-day Best of the Cape itinerary. Spend four nights at the Twelve Apostles Hotel – the only hotel within the National Park itself – and four nights at the luxurious Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve. Both hotels are part of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection.

Priced from $2,949 per person twin share, including transport, accommodation, many meals, private transfers and sightseeing. Departures daily year-round. www.adventureworld.co.nz

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AUSTRIA: Von Trapp 80th anniversary

On April 4, 1968 civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The legacy left behind by Luther King Jr. is felt most poignantly at this site, now home of the National Civil Rights Museum, which traces the history of the United States’ Civil Rights Movement from the 17th Century to the present day.

Guests travelling on Luxury Gold’s nine-day Southern Grace escorted journey will visit the museum as part of a holiday that starts in Nashville before continuing to Natchez and New Orleans. It is priced from $5,975 per person twin share, including accommodation in handpicked hotels, daily breakfast, a selection of handpicked VIP experiences, the services of a travelling concierge and travel on a luxury coach. Departure dates from May. www.luxurygoldvacations.com

The Von Trapp family’s inspiring story of a timely escape from Nazi-occupied Austria captured the hearts of millions thanks to the Sound of Music. 2018 marks 80 years since the real-life Von Trapp family’s escape, and while they didn’t cross the mountains to Switzerland as the film portrays, their fleeing to Italy via train and later to New York was no less remarkable.

Guests travelling with Trafalgar on the 10-day Sound of Music holiday will walk in the footsteps exploring the locations made famous by the fictional retelling of the Von Trapp’s story. In Salzburg, a two-night stay at Schloss Leopoldskron will delight fans who recognise parts of the building as the ‘Von Trapp Mansion’. A Be My Guest dining experience will welcome travellers to a Salzburg farm to dine with a local family and enjoy their delicious homemade cheese strudel. Priced from $2,903 per person twin share including 9 nights’ accommodation in handpicked hotels, many meals, sightseeing, VIP entry to many sights, an expert Travel Director, transport and airport transfers. Departure dates from May. www.trafalgar.com

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MEMPHIS, USA: Commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.

NORTHERN FRANCE: 100 years since the end of the Great War

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War came to an end. On this day, the Allies and Germany reached an agreement for the Armistice and brought an end to four years of fighting in the First World War, and 2018 will mark its 100th anniversary.

Guests can join Insight Vacations on a fourday World War 1 Battlefields journey through the countryside of Northern France, dotted with war cemeteries and memorials. Begin in Paris and travel to Flanders Fields and Belgium’s Ypres Salient battlefields, including visits to Hill 60 and the Passchendaele Memorial. Priced from $1,706 per person twin share including three nights of luxury hotel accommodation, daily breakfasts, sightseeing, transport, transfers and a dedicated Travel Director.

Departure dates from April. www.insightvacations.com

CANADA: Canada’s 151st birthday

Let’s face it, not everyone made it to Canada during 2017 when the country was celebrating its 150th anniversary. The good news is, it’s still a great place to visit during the 151st year of Canada’s confederation in 2018, and remains on the bucket list of many Kiwi travellers.

Starting in Vancouver and taking in Whistler, Jasper, Banff and Vernon, Contiki’s new 11-day Snap Canada trip takes 18-35s to the heart of one of the world’s most photo-friendly destinations. Travellers will be accompanied by an expert Trip Manager who knows all the spots for special shots and provides some photography tips and tricks along the way. Priced from $2,875 per person including 10 nights’ twin-share accommodation, many meals, entry into national parks, an experienced Trip Manager and Driver team, transport and sightseeing. Departure dates from June. www.contiki.com

TRAVEL

JERUSALEM: Where pilgrims tread Expecting a city of history, conflict and religion, Stephanie Holmes discovers a multitude of treasures — and a foodie heaven — in beautiful, baffling Jerusalem.

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itting alone in the shade on a white plastic chair, a woman softly weeps into a wad of paper napkins. Cast aside on her lap, a prayer book reveals pages of Hebrew script, curling beautifully into words that will hopefully bring healing to whatever burden has left her so bereft.

Steps away, the lower portion of the Western Wall’s towering height is obstructed from view by a crowd of women, hands outstretched on the sun-warmed stone. Some also weep, others are lost in contemplation, rocking forward and back while reciting words quietly under their breath.

At their feet lie the beginnings of a carpet of white paper — prayers once tucked into the Wall’s cracks and crevasses, since fallen and discarded on the ground. With more than a million pieces of paper tucked into the wall each year, these ancient cracks have limits to how many prayers they can physically absorb. Are the ones that remain the prayers chosen to be answered by God, the ones cast aside not worthy of redemption?

The stones themselves date back to 19 BCE, the time of King Herod, and prayers have been offered here for centuries. The Wall’s most famous recent visitor was Donald Trump, the first sitting US President to visit the site. Like so many before him, he pulled a note from the pocket of his (ill-fitting) suit and tucked it into a small crack.

Wouldn’t you just love to know what he prayed for?

Law dictates men and women cannot pray together, so the sexes stand separated

by a thin dividing fence. Its even-spaced gaps enable curious tourists to steal sneaky glances and take surreptitious photos across the divide.

Interested to see what happens on the men’s side, I peer through a gap and watch a Hasidic Jew in his pristine overcoat and black hat, who has clearly decided his prayer deserves a higher audience. He throws it in the air, again and again, trying to reach the cracks metres above him.

It keeps falling back to earth, yet still he throws until finally it sticks in the branches of one of the caper trees growing incongruously from the limestone blocks. Satisfied, he picks up his plastic shopping bags and walks away, his prayer now safe for the holy Wall to decide its fate.

ISRAEL has called to me since I was a child. My grandmother was born here to Russian immigrants; and it was in Jerusalem that she met my grandfather, a British RAF pilot stationed here in the 1940s. Choosing love over religion, she became estranged from her family and spoke little of them when she arrived in England to start her new life.

No one is really sure how many siblings she had, or where the family ended up, so there’s a chance I’m passing distant relatives as I turn the corners of the Old City’s laneways, searching people’s faces for similarities to my own. No great recognition strikes and although I thought my trip to Israel would be about rediscovering my family’s lost roots — like so many others who make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land — continued on p6 »

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TRAVEL

A BEAUTIFUL, BAFFLING MASS OF CONTRADICTIONS AND CONUNDRUMS it becomes about so much more.

But not for me the delusions of Jerusalem Syndrome; a sudden obsession with a newfound connection to God. Instead I become enchanted with the city itself.

For a non-believer, Jerusalem is a beautiful, baffling mass of contradictions and conundrums. The past is tangible, from the Roman cobblestones underfoot to the glimmering gold of the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount, to the ancient limestone buildings the colour of age-yellowed paper.

I’d intended to swot up before my trip but starting with the history chapter in the Lonely Planet, I was lost almost as soon as I’d begun. How can you learn more than 5000 years of history in just a few weeks? How can the pages of a book teach you the true story of a city for which conflict and division has become a centuries-long fact of life?

For me, it was too much. I resigned myself to being an observer, not an expert. It became a pilgrimage of the senses, and one I will never forget.

Of course, there’s no escaping religious history in Israel, especially in Jerusalem.

There’s the Western Wall and its mesmerising daily study of faith and humanity; the calls to prayer from the minarets of the mosques in the Muslim Quarter; and the hallowed beauty of the Christian Quarter’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Consecrated in the year 335, people now queue for hours inside the musty walls and incense-thick air to touch, for just a few seconds, a stone where Christ was said to be crucified.

On the cobblestones of Via Dolorosa, groups of pilgrims follow the path that Jesus is believed to have walked on the way to his crucifixion. We stop to let a contingent of Italians pass by on their way to one of nine Stations of the Cross. In polo shirts and matching white baseball caps, they look like any other tour group you’d see in any tourist destination in the world, apart from the fact they are following a priest, a man bearing a large wooden cross, and someone on guitar, singing songs of Jesus.

There’s also no escaping the fact this is a country under extreme division. Young Israeli Defence Force troops are on every corner, serving out their compulsory military service with good grace but the threat of danger ever present. Less than 36 hours before my plane had touched down in Tel Aviv, a 23-year-old female Israeli police officer had been stabbed at Damascus Gate, dying in hospital. Three Palestinians armed with knives and a home-made gun had been shot and killed. The site of the attacks was just 10 minutes’ walk from my hotel.

But the city feels far safer than I had previously imagined, with an infectious buzz about it like nowhere I’ve ever been before. In the laneways of the Muslim Quarter’s Arab Market, every doorway reveals a new treasure — an Armenian ceramics shop, the owner sitting at the back, hidden like a Where’s Wally puzzle; boys juicing endless bunches of carrots ready for the end of the day’s Ramadan fast; a display of colourful spices just crying out for a photo.

At night, parts of the Old City become even more alive. When the stallholders from the Machane Yehuda market shut up shop for the day, young Israelis come out to party at the bars that line the market’s alleyways. There’s a booming craft brewery scene in Israel and plentiful bars in which to sample them. The nightlife continues into the early hours but, for us, jetlag takes hold and we admit defeat.

Walking back to our hotel after midnight, just me and my blonde Aussie travel companion, we’re not bothered by any passers-by and we arrive home refreshed, deliberating whether we should sleep or go to the Western Wall to see it late at night.

I can’t guarantee this feeling of safety is a constant, but it was certainly a welcome surprise from the Israel I thought I knew from stories I’d seen in the news.

The Western Wall: a mesmerising daily study of faith and humanity. / Photo AP IF THERE is one constant in Israel, it’s food. Everywhere we go we are fed as if we are starving pilgrims coming in from the cold. We have a seemingly infinite-course dinner at Machneyuda restaurant, where the food is as good as the atmosphere and we leave with barely any room for the cocktails still to come.

We should have learned our lesson the previous night at The Eucalyptus, where acclaimed chef Moshe Basson charmed us with his gentle spirit and elaborate tasting menu. Basson was the founder of the slow food movement in Israel and guests should be prepared for a lengthy dinner. Pace yourself; you’ll be wise to leave a little on your plate at each course, as each new mouthful is more delicious than the last and, should you have the stamina, the last mouthful will be a long time coming.

As we make our way through the piling plates in front of us, Basson tells us about his love of food, his experimentation with edible indigenous plants, and the importance of family in his story of success. His son has come back to work with him in the Eucalyptus kitchen, after training in Lima with acclaimed Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio, but it seems Basson senior is still the star.

Diners take turns to politely interrupt our conversation, wanting to personally thank the chef for their meals. An American man with two gangly teenage sons promises tickets to any US Open Basson would care to watch; a woman who is apparently a famous New York Jewish restaurateur patiently waits to get her photo taken with her hero. Basson takes it all in his stride. It seems he too is used to being a part of Jerusalem’s beautiful, baffling, perfect pilgrim trail.

• This article first appeared in the NZ Herald Travel magazine, 11 July, 2017

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TRAVEL

The mile high diaries Misunderstood and possibly rather messy, those who have had sex on a plane are in an exclusive group, writes Winston Aldworth.

F

or almost as long as humans have dreamed of flight, they’ve thought about having sex up there.

In 1785, just two years after Frenchman Etienne Montgolfier stunned the world with the first successful balloon ascent, the betting book for Brooks’s, a London gentlemen’s club, got straight to the important stuff.

“Ld. Cholmondeley has given two guineas to Ld. Derby, to receive 500 Gs whenever his lordship f***s a woman in a balloon one thousand yards from the Earth.”

Today, flight has been democratised — you no longer need to be a Lord to get into the Mile High Club. But of all the exclusive clubs a traveller can get into, the MHC is surely among the most discussed, most dubious and least-entered.

The membership qualification seems pretty simple. Dictionary.com says the MHC is “the putative association of persons who have done the sex act more than a mile high in the sky”. “Done the sex act”, eh? Who says romance is dead?

So, if you’ve had sex on a plane, you’re in the club (by common consensus, you cannot get into the club on your own).

“Actually it was pretty dumb, I more or less did it so I could say I had,” says Joanne*.

“It was Business Class on Japan Airlines, in the middle of the night, with my thenbloke.” The cramped quarters in the plane toilet took the shine off the experience.

“We are both tall so it was cramped and not as fun as you’d think. It’s hard to keep your mind on the job when you are trying not to press the flush button or turn on the taps. On the plus side, there are lots of paper towels handy. I am sure it is possible to have a blissful mile-high experience, but I think you’d have to be flying First Class.”

She might be right. First Class services on many carriers allow an impressive amount of privacy for their high-paying passengers.

Aboard an Emirates A380, First Class passengers have access to a shower — making the sensible Middle Eastern carrier the only airline in the world to effectively encourage passengers to get naked in-flight. Each First Class passenger gets five minutes’ worth of water in the shower, and you have the bathroom to yourself for 30 minutes. If you’re travelling with your partner, you add your five minutes together to get 10. And the bathroom is yours for an hour. A sign on the door reads, optimistically: “No more than two people allowed in shower.”

Aboard Singapore Airlines’ A380s, First Class passengers can have adjoining suites, connecting with their partner to create a surprisingly large area with a sizeable, comfortable bed. There are sliding doors, making this enclosed space fully private.

Just be sure to keep the noise down.

Possibly the most over-the-top thing in civil aviation in recent years is the The Residence, which Etihad has installed on select A380s. It’s an outrageous spot offering wealthy passengers a living room, a separate bedroom and an ensuite shower room. Etihad also has First Apartments on some 787s and A380s, a slightly more affordable, but no less private alternative.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that fliers are more likely to get into the MHC when they’re travelling with an established partner. But the experience of New Zealander

Stephen shows a more casual encounter can occur.

“About 20 years ago I was flying from London Heathrow to Miami. I checked in and went to the bar in the departure area. I got talking to a girl around the same age as me and we got on really well.

“The flight was delayed by a couple of hours and the drinks were going down well, so we decided to go up to the gate and ask if it was possible to sit next to each other on the plane. The overnight flight was about two hours in when they turned the lights down and we started to cuddle a wee bit. One thing led to the next — kissing and fondling — the flight wasn’t even half full and we had a row to ourselves.

“The plane was really quiet and I went to stretch my legs in the middle of the plane where the toilets are. My new friend followed me and we stood in the hallway between cabins kissing. The excitement grew — over her shoulder I could see an air hostess walking up the aisle so we pushed our way into the toilet to finish off. I now fly often in my present job and every time I go to the toilet it brings a cheeky little smile to my face as I recall the memory.”

“I fly a bit for work and am always excited about flying,” says Pat, another MHC inductee. “I always wanted to get into the Mile High Club. My partner is openminded, though to be honest with you I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d told me to bugger off.

“I’d say we qualify for a special category, as we were in the main cabin, not the toilets. It was on a longhaul flight that departed late. The lights were out quickly after a meal service. It was a particularly empty flight. So we had a whole row to ourselves.

The trick was to slide a blanket behind the raised armrests to create a barrier, blocking you from prying eyes from behind. My partner and I are fairly small, so we were able to get it on discretely.”

The legality of the MHC is vague. It depends on factors such as the country you fly out of and the country you fly into, along with the nation of the airline. Crucially, the country where the plane is registered is the one under whose laws you’re flying.

You’d perhaps be unwise to attempt a Mile-High manoeuvre on a flight between two countries renowned for conservative customs and laws.

The crucial point is whether or not the act occurred in sight of others. Shagging in front of strangers is generally considered an indecent act wherever you’re landing.

The other key point is in the pre-flight safety briefing: Obey crew instructions.

Chances are the crew won’t be delighted with passengers making the beast with two backs at altitude. And that’s understandable — aside from anything else, this is their place of work. Imagine if two people you didn’t know started having sex in a small room at your office. Consider also, the awfulness of airplane toilets. They’re cleaned, quickly, between flights and barely once airborne.

Tim, a New Zealander, timed his run for just after the toilet had been cleaned.

“On holiday in Asia, I hooked up with an ex-girlfriend who happened to also be a former flight attendant. The flight was an overnighter departing around 9pm. It wasn’t full, and after dinner was served and the lights were dimmed, we moved to the middle where we had four seats to ourselves.

“Cosying up under the blanket, one thing led to another as we talked about old times and the naughty things we used to do. We got a little frisky and moved from touching and fondling to kissing.

“We reached a point when she asked if I wanted to ‘finish it off’ in the toilet. Four hours into the flight and all was quiet, a flight attendant had just finished cleaning a toilet. We made our move. “The toilet seemed clean, or at least smelt good having just been cleaned and sprayed with air freshener. We had to keep it quiet.

“She warned that the toilet could be opened from outside, but the cabin crew wouldn’t do it unless it’s for an absolute emergency. I must say it was a thrill and would recommend it for couples in search of a little excitement. Even if you do get caught, the worst that could happen to you is getting a red face.”

It could be a very red face. “I’m not sure what the right way is to make people stop going in there, or get them out once I know they’re in,” wrote Travel’s Secret Stewardess. “When I bang on the door, requesting you return to your seat, only to be ignored, you leave me little choice but to make a PA to the entire cabin — at least that way I know you will hear.”

Welcome to the Mile-High Walk-Of-Shame Club.

• This article first appeared in the NZ Herald Travel magazine on 22 August, 2017. All names have been changed.

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SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

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explore the

Kaua’i

O’AHU

Kaua’i

HONOLULU

BEST FOR NATURE, LANDSCAPES, REJUVENATION

MOLOKA’I

Sunny Po'ipu – The most consistently sunny area of the island, the inviting waters of Po‘ipū make it popular with locals, visitors and marine life. Smiles are irresistible on the South Shore, where beach days abound with plenty of postcard sunsets.

Canyons and cliffs – The rugged terrain on the ‘Garden Isle’ ranges from gaping chasms to dramatic coastal cliffs, balanced by copious verdant flora and breath-taking waterfalls. Peer into the Waimea Canyon, or kayak Hawai‘i’s only navigable river.

The North – Surfing and an irresistibly laid-back vibe make up the lifestyle on this largely unspoiled island. The North Shore is home to movie-set vistas including secluded beaches and the stunning Napali coast

LANA’I

O'ahu

Best for beaches, food, culture

Town & Country – Three-quarters of Hawai‘i residents call ‘The Gathering Place’ home. This brings a vibrancy and diversity that extends from the nightlife and cuisine to the rich history and tradition.

Yet miles of beaches, including the famed North Shore surf breaks, and forest trails are just a fun drive from the resorts and bustling vibe of Waikīkī Downtown – Arts, culture and local cuisine thrive in Downtown Honolulu.

Explore ‘Iolani Palace, Chinatown and the popular local eateries and surrounding neighbourhoods

Moloka'i

Best for culture, history, adventure

Most Hawaiian – More than 50% of Moloka‘i’s people have indigenous heritage. Locals advocate preservation of land and culture and there is an aloha spirit which visitors find genuine and welcoming.

Saint Damien – A young priest who travelled to Moloka‘i’s remote Kalaupapa Peninsular in 1873 to care for Hansens’s disease (also known as leprosy) is the USA’s first saint. Today the spectacular peninsular is a national park offering a time-travel adventure, by foot or by mule!

Hālawa Valley – This end-of-the-road valley once was home to hundreds of sacred taro patches. Guides take you on a trail past ancient temples to waterfalls pounding into swimmable pools.

hawaiian islands Maui

BEST FOR BEACHES, BIKING, SPONTANEOUS ADVENTURES

MAUI

Sun and surf – Justifiably famed for its glorious sands, Maui’s got a beach for every mood – wind-whipped kiteboarding meccas, calm snorkelling coves, hidden gems and some of the biggest surfable waves on the planet. Or just plop down on the sand and scan the horizon for wintering whales.

Trails galore – The island’s hiking trails wind through a bamboo forest, climb to lofty ridgetops, wander past waterfalls and crunch through a cindery volcanic national park.

Locavore heaven – Grass-fed beef from Upcountry pastures, day-boat fishing and bountiful organic gardens ensure Maui’s chef-driven restaurants have the raw ingredients to whip up their famed Hawaiian Regional Cuisine creations.

Lana'i

Island of

HAwai'i

BEST FOR SECLUSION, LUXURY, SERENITY Secluded – Ignoring the great views of neighbouring islands, Lāna‘i feels like your own private island. Visitors to Lāna‘i seek serenity and luxury, but with great possibilities for soft adventure and an active holiday.

BEST FOR HIKING, CULTURE, ACTIVE VOLCANOES

island of HAWAI’I

#letHAWAIIhappen

Trail junkies, unite! – Kīlauea, Earth’s most active volcano, conjures up a dreamscape for hikers: emerald valleys, cooling waterfall pools, lava flows spilling into the ocean, and some of the loftiest summits your boots will ever struggle to top.

Hawaiian Culture – On the island of Hawai‘i, culture is participatory – absorbed rather than simply observed.

Wildlife – Spinner dolphins leap, sea turtles cruise, manta rays glide and coral gardens are packed with brightly coloured fish.

During the season, humpback whales steal the show.

TRAVEL

In Vietnam Eli Orzessek finds friends to help him navigate the bustling cities, crazy nights out and confronting relics of war.

I

f I’ve learned one thing through group travel it’s that as long as we’re not playing sport — or talking about it — Kiwis and Aussies get along like a house on fire.

Two days into Contiki’s Vietnam Highlights tour I lost my Eftpos card to a machine at the airport in Da Nang. I grabbed my cash and ran to catch up with my group as they boarded the bus. Little did I know, in this part of the world, you get your cash before your card and I didn’t notice mine was gone until 6pm that night.

The next morning, after a sleepless night of beeping scooters, I was sweating on the bus again, wearing a hat I’d bought in Ho Chi Minh City that simply said “F$@k Life”. Despite being on a bucket list-type holiday, I’d been culture shocked from the hectic pace of the city and rattled by the lost cash card. I wasn’t having the easiest time.

“Eli, don’t be sad,” exclaimed one half of a couple from Perth. “We’re gonna get you wankered tonight!”

What goes on aboard a Contiki tour

AND THAT’S exactly what happened that night in Nha Trang, a strange coastal resort town with more Russians than Vietnamese.

After dining at a restaurant on the beach accompanied by several of the finest extra-strong cocktails, a few of us grabbed some cheap local beers and hit the sand.

Under the lights of the gondola made up of Eiffel Tower replicas that stretches across the water, I bonded with the Aussies and a couple of Americans, one of whom was a second-generation Vietnamese guy whose parents had left for the States in the 70s.

By the time we stumbled back to our hotel at 3am, you could say I was “wankered” — and was definitely over the loss of my card.

I’d never considered myself to be the kind of person to embark on a bold journey with a big group of strangers. As an uptight introvert, my nerves only increased as the tour approached — and everyone would get this look on their faces as soon as I said the word “Contiki”.

Advice ranged from “prepare your liver” to “pack lots of condoms” and I can tell you, it didn’t really help with the nerves.

However, one day alone making bad yet interesting decisions in Ho Chi Minh City left me yearning for the security that comes with travelling as a group. When you’re alone, you might just do the kinds of ill-informed things I do, like jumping on the back of some guy’s bike for an informal tour that probably cost more than it should’ve — although this is Vietnam, so it still wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things.

And hey, without ill-advised solo traveller behaviour at the start of my journey, I would’ve missed out on a lot of things I wouldn’t otherwise have seen. We wove through the famously hectic traffic, smoking cigarettes, one scooter in a sea of many more going through an underground tunnel under the Mekong.

We passed an ominous looking hospital for tropical diseases, stopped by the markets and a couple of temples, then continued on to the slightly disturbing part of our tour: the American Markets, where you’ll find a huge range of discarded US Army gear from the Vietnam War. By the time I returned to the Vien Dong Hotel drenched in sweat and clutching an egg banh mi and slightly out of pocket, I was ready to join the group. We were all meeting for the first time that evening in the lobby and there was that slightly awkward air that I remembered from the beginning of school camp. Much like school camp, I was on my own.

But I came to find that although most had come with friends or partners, I wasn’t the only solo traveller in the group. One American woman was closer to my age (at the 30s end of the scale), a veritable Contiki veteran with many trips under her belt.

Our tour manager, Lisa, turned out to be a New Zealander, living her dream

While stocks last. Terms and conditions apply. Prices correct at time of going to print.

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TRAVEL

A sea of scooters in Ho Chi Minh City; Eli Orzessek kicks back with a cocktail.

leading tours through Southeast Asia, and the familiar accent was comforting to hear.

OUR FIRST day together in Ho Chi Minh City kicked off with a traumatic visit to the War Remnants Museum, which Lisa had warned us could be “confronting” — particularly for the Americans. Despite having worked in news before, nothing could prepare me for the horrific images that lay within — children inside the museum were looking at pictures of children mutilated during the war. Strangely, the gift shop sold a variety of posters of American movies.

While the Contiki tour manager’s role is not to be a guide — locals are hired to show us around each area — they fill an important role in keeping everyone happy and together while on the road and are there to support you if you’re having a hard time with anything. It’s something you come to appreciate while touring a country like Vietnam.

On from Ho Chi Minh, we were on the road to a chaotic domestic airport to head to Da Nang — where the infamous Eftpos incident occurred — before driving up to Hoi An for tailored clothing and then on to Hue, following the famous Hai Van Mountain Pass road driven on Top Gear.

In-between all these destinations were some pretty crazy nights out, but another highlight was a boat tour around Nha Trang. Known only as Funky Monkey, our host was a permanently shirtless Vietnamese dude with a large tattoo of a gorilla emblazoned across his chest.

Together with a couple of friends, a beaten-up drum kit and an electric guitar, they became the “Funky Monkey Boy Band”. They banged out an inspired selection of songs relating to which countries all the tourists on board came from — Gangnam

Style for the Koreans, Wonderwall for the Brits and oddly, Backstreet Boys for the Americans. While I was expecting to hear Royals for the Kiwis, the band managed to pull out a pretty decent haka.

When pulled up to perform with the band, I and the other Kiwi on board gave a pretty poor performance. I’ll be honest: poorly-executed haka performed by drunk, white New Zealanders overseas tend to make me cringe. And I don’t really know the moves. Luckily, Lisa stepped in and saved the day — a theme that would continue during our 10 days on the road.

ONE OF Contiki’s trademarks is the “day song”, a tune chosen by the tour manager which plays on the bus every morning. Our song was Pitbull’s Time of Our Lives and, while I’m a big fan of his Miami Grill restaurant franchise, I wasn’t too keen on hearing him every day. But there’s a point to this — your song is rammed into your brain, so if you happen to hear it again when you’re back to your boring life, you’ll be transported back to your Contiki experience.

I wasn’t sure I would ever hear Time of Our Lives again — I’d never even heard it in the first place. But one afternoon, many months after I’d returned home from the tour, I heard Ne-Yo’s soulful strains singing the chorus drifting into my backyard from my neighbour’s house.

And what do you know? A bit of “you know you got the biggest booty in this spot” from ole Pitbull and it was like I was back on that bus, surrounded by that sea of scooters.

• This article first appeared in the NZ Herald Travel magazine, February 7, 2017

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MADE IN NEW ZEALAND

FASHION + BEAUTY

DREAM WEAVER International New Zealand model Zippora Seven tells Rebecca Barry Hill about her extraordinary life.

Z

ippora Seven answers the phone so quietly I think there’s something up with the line. It’s hard to reconcile the softly spoken model with the epic global career she has built since she was discovered 10 years ago.

But photographs of the 25-yearold — whether professional or the many exotic locales on her Instagram account — speak louder than words. Other than dreamy shoots with the likes of Gucci for Viva, she has appeared regularly in the pages of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle and fronted campaigns for Chloe, DKNY and Gap, her ethereal, sun-kissed looks and down-to-earth charm making her a favourite of swimwear brands and edgy editorials alike.

Xxxxx / Photo Xxx

continued on p30 »

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FASHION + BEAUTY

Zippora and brother Jasper, discovered when she was 15/ Photo Michael Craig

« continued from p29

Home base is New York, but she flits frequently between Europe and Australia.

It’s not unusual for her to pack up in a New York minute and fly across the other side of the world for a day or two.

“I’m lucky I have friends in every city,” says Zippora, on the phone from her mum’s houseboat in Waiheke, during an extended summer break. “I went to Barcelona last week and saw friends I hadn’t seen for about five years. We went to an exhibition at a museum, walked around all these cool Gothic buildings and ate tapas.”

The week we chat is just as heady. Despite her plans to languish in New Zealand until the end of the month, a last-minute booking for a job in Paris saw her fly out that night. For the former Waiheke kid who hangs in the same circles as famed fashion photographer Bruce Weber, and is building her own home on the outskirts of New York, the jet-setting lifestyle is something she takes in her stride.

“I love to wander around and explore but I usually get off the plane and go straight to the studio. My job is to be really friendly and happy and social and nice. If I’m in swimwear and it’s practically snowing, I’m not a diva, I like to get the job done and do it well. Although there are definitely times when I’ve been shooting for 12 hours that it’s very hard to smile.”

ZIPPORA’S mother and New Zealand-based agent Ursula Dixon refuses to take any credit for her daughter’s easy-going nature. When she was born, she looked

I’M NOT A DIVA, I LIKE TO GET THE JOB DONE AND DO IT WELL tiny and delicate, so in her mum’s youthful exuberance she gave her a name that means “little bird”. Rather than saddle their daughter with a double-barrelled surname, Ursula and her partner came up with Seven, making it legal a few years later.

“Zippora was born one of those people who go with the flow,” she says. “She was an easy baby. She always loved nature and the outdoors, the ocean. Her dad’s family sails a lot, and we’d call her Little Captain. I’d be downstairs in the safety of the cabin, and she’d be up there battling with the sails in a storm. She was a tiny wee thing but she was really strong and self-sufficient.”

She was also painfully shy, so much so she wouldn’t talk to her friends on the phone. When Zippora and her older brother Jasper were discovered at the Freemans Bay Fair when Zippy, as she’s known, was 15, Ursula says she couldn’t help but worry how she’d overcome her social anxieties, let alone fare in the world of modelling.

But it was Zippora who made it clear she wanted to pursue it. “And it really helped her,” Ursula says. “Modelling became a place she could quietly shine. She loved it. She found a way of communicating that wasn’t verbal.”

Zippora agrees. “I was a very quiet person and I’m still pretty quiet, I guess. It wasn’t until I started to understand the world I was working in and the people, that I realised everyone is the same as me. Everybody has insecurities and feels weird. The best way to feel comfortable is just to be happy and chill.”

There’s nowhere she’s happier or more chill than at the beach — surfing, sailing, drawing — so it’s no surprise that her bohemian vibe translates so readily to the page.

JUST BEFORE Christmas 2016, Zippora and her American-French boyfriend Terence Connors flew to Auckland to spend time with her family. Then they chartered a yacht and sailed around the Hauraki Gulf for a week, partly for a sun-drenched break, but also to collaborate on a work assignment with the isles of Waiheke, Coromandel and Great Barrier providing a stunning backdrop for a shoot for Australian swimwear brand She Made Me. The couple have also worked together for Tigerlily and shoe brand Soludos as well as editorials for Russh magazine and Harper’s Bazaar. Yet when they met five years ago it was through friends rather than work. Terence, a film-maker, realised

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that if the two of them were going to spend any time together, they’d need to infuse work into the mix, so he turned his hand to fashion photography.

“When we first started dating he was intimidated because his idol photographers had photographed me, and he didn’t want to take my photo,” Zippora says, laughing, referring to the likes of Weber, Cass Bird and Max Doyle.

“He was scared I’d get angry at him.”

When they’re not working on commercial projects, they’re working on their house. The couple recently bought land in Montauk, arguably the least pretentious part of the Hamptons at the tip of Long Island, New York.

Past all the fancy beach resorts is a small fishing compound that, in the 1970s, attracted artists such as Andy Warhol and the Rolling Stones. Now, with its strong art scene, it pulls an increasing number of young creatives but Zippora says she likes that it’s also sleepy and quiet.

Inspired by baches on Waiheke and Great Barrier, she hopes to get off the grid with a solar-powered house built from recycled shipping containers. “People [in the US] are surprised that kind of stuff happens in New Zealand. They think it’s all just farms.”

One of her more worldly neighbours is Weber, the photographer with supermodels on speed dial. He was one of the first to photograph her, and they have remained friends. “He’s the one who told my boyfriend, Keep taking photos of her, every day’. He’s so supportive of us. He has a lot of lunches and things because he wants everyone to meet.”

The shutterbug bug has also caught on with Zippy, who takes a camera everywhere she goes. If she doesn’t continue to model into her future, she hopes to work on the other side of the lens. But for now, the work continues to come thick and fast. Helping to keep her chaotic world together is Ursula, who has worked as a model agent for about the same time that Zippy has been modelling. “It’s definitely an advantage,” says Zippy, “because she knows me so I ask her for advice on so many things.”

WHEN SHE she was 16, she found herself at the centre of controversy, when Russh published topless photos of her in the bath as part of an editorial. Despite her agents at the time expressing disappointment they’d used a model under 18, Ursula said she was thrilled with the artistic results.

FASHION + BEAUTY

With boyfriend Terence Connors; mother and agent Ursula Dixon / Photos Norrie Montgomery, Sandy Crichton

The images also revealed, like many of Zippy’s shoots, that despite her introverted nature, she was comfortable in her own skin. Later, she shot a book of nude photographs with Kiwi photographer Derek Henderson, a project that has since become one of her favourites.

“I was always comfortable with my body, just not always in front of the camera,” says Zippora. “It’s something I’ve learned. You get used to it. The more shoots you do, the more practice you get and the more you’re able to relax.”

• This first appeared in Viva magazine on 29 March, 2017 To discover more visit viva.co.nz

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FASHION + BEAUTY

Sex, power and the potency of the red lip Timeless red lipstick helps you feel confident and powerful, reckons Kim Knight.

R

ed for stop. For danger. For love, but also lust. The first colour of the rainbow and the colour our eyes can see farthest and longest.

Scarlet, Flame and Cherries in the Snow. Ruby Woo, Dragon Girl and Fire Down Below. Lipstick is just wax and oil and pigment. But it is also sex and power and confidence. Desire (and desirability) in a twisty tube and a clever title.

Why do women paint their mouths red?

“Because it’s iconic,” says Lisa Matson, L’Oreal Paris makeup director for New Zealand. “Depending on what you wear it with, and how you wear it, you can pull off being a business woman, a seductress, or even something quite feminine and pretty. Fashions change, the catwalk changes, but there’s nearly always a red lip.”

In 1810, German poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published his book The Theory of Colours. “The colours are acts of light,” Goethe wrote. “Its active and passive modifications.”

On red: “The effect of this colour is as peculiar as its nature. It conveys an impression of gravity and dignity, and at the same time of grace and attractiveness ... thus the dignity of age and the amiableness of youth may adorn itself with degrees of the same hue.”

Kim Knight gets lippy - red lippy / Photo Fiona Goodall, Getty

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SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

Wednesday morning: Antipodes moisture boost in Remarkably Red, $34 It’s 7.30am and I am walking to my bus stop and Mt Albert is lit like a Peter Siddell painting. I can smell winter daphne like someone has just put their arms around me and I am smiling a pinky, reddy smile. A small, school-uniformed boy stops just short of me on his scooter. Looks at my lipsticked face, grins, and says: “What’s up, Dawg?” This has never happened to me before.

Most days, I wear lipstick. A safe, pinky-bronze that does not stand out in the mornings and is gone by lunchtime because I bite my lips when I think and my coffee mug collects the rest. I never bother to re-apply and by the time I catch the bus home the minimal foundation, mascara and eyeshadow I’ve chucked at my morning face has worn off. I like the effect of properly applied makeup, when I become more eyes and less bags-under-my-eyes, but who has the time or energy?

Matson says red lipstick has to be perfect. “With anything bright or dark, if it’s not put on with a perfect outer line and balance, it looks wrong, and it’s really obvious if it’s crooked.”

Pro-tip: “People tend to put lipstick on with an open mouth, but the best way to do it is with a closed mouth so you can see the balance. Work on one side, and then match the other. It looks really odd if it’s smudged or skewiff.”

The pay-off: “If you want to look smart, in the least amount of time, put on a bright lipstick. It’s the fastest way. A ponytail, mascara and a bright lip and it looks like you’ve

FASHION + BEAUTY made an effort.”

Thursday morning: Maybelline New York loaded bolds in Dynamite Red, $20 Every woman knows it’s lips or eyes. Emphasise one at the expense of the other. Do not, under any circumstances, go big on both. (Maybe men can’t figure out where to look first?

Experts advise aiming for somewhere on the face.) Anyway, lips or eyes. Choose one. Now I’m late for work. I’ve just discovered that if you don’t do the eyes, your mouth will look like the spawn of a sex doll and a fairground clown. You need your eyes, and particularly your eyebrows, to balance out the gaping, scarlet chasm that used to be your mouth. I call an Uber. I can’t believe the driver doesn’t tell me how Dynamite Hot I look. Maybe he’s scared of clowns.

Thursday night: L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche matte addiction in Retro Red, $23 I am going out for dinner with a vegetarian and my mouth is a wild animal that’s just fed on the beating heart of something definitely not quinoa-based. My friend is a cheek-kisser, but when she arrives I waft my face near hers because it took about 45 minutes to figure out this lip-liner, lipstick combo and I’m not messing it up now. We order roasted cauliflower, flaming cheese and cocktails.

In 2012, researcher Nicolas Gueguen recruited eight women to sit in four bars in a seaside resort on the West Atlantic coast of France. Over the course of 12 nights, the women — working three observational shifts of one hour at a time — wore red, pink, brown or no lipstick.

According to Gueguen, “the red lipstick condition was associated with a higher number of male solicitations and a shorter lead time between the arrival of the confederates in the bar and the first courtship solicitation of a male”.

More simply: ladies in red scored faster and more frequently.

On an online dating website, women in red T-shirts got more clicks than those in black, white, yellow, blue or green. And, when one group of researchers showed men photographs of women posed against different-coloured backgrounds and asked, “How likely is it this woman would have sex on a first date?” it was determined that: “Red is a visual indicator of sexual receptivity.”

This will not surprise anyone who has watched a nature documentary on macaques or baboons. Or has been to a bar in New Zealand.

Friday morning: Nars Audacious in Shirley, $54 Shirley is Little Red Riding Hood grown-up and eating wolves for breakfast. I am wearing a virginal white shirt, but my lips are stained and pouting. All I can think about is sex. Shirley sex.

Friday lunchtime: Clinique Chubby Plump & Shine liquid gloss in Super Scarlet, $42 New Zealand joined World War II in 1939. By 1941, the Government had ordered blackouts in coastal areas. Windows were covered with black curtains, paper and paint, and street lights were dimmed. Meanwhile, on the beauty front: “Attenshun! Lips

right! England expects every woman shall be a beauty! There’s no retreat from Victory Red!” War was hell on Earth, but lipstick could make the world a better place.

“Think victory, wear victory,” said the 1941 New Zealand Herald advertisements.

“Whether you’re in uniform or with uniform, feet will step lighter, hearts will beat quicker to its thrilling, courageous colour!”

Sugar, tea, butter, flour and petrol were rationed. Lipstick was not. Winston Churchill asked women to “make do and mend” — but he also asked them to “make up for morale”.

Saturday: Estee Lauder Pure Colour Envy Hi-lustre in Killer Kiss, $63 The shoes I want are on sale. The bra I want is on sale. The jeans I want are on sale. I am in Newmarket and EVERYTHING IS PERFECT. It’s the lipstick. It has a hint of shimmer, it makes my skin brighter and my heart happier. Nothing bad is going to happen to this face today. I head for the changing room, and the saleswoman hands me a scarf.

“For your lippy,” she explains. I have no idea what she means. The website of a glossy magazine advises that when trying on clothes, I should drape a silk scarf over my face and head like a beekeeper’s mask, making sure I fold it in around my lips. I examine the scarf more closely. Someone with pink lipstick has been here before me. Amateur.

The internet repeatedly cites Queen Schub-ad of ancient Ur as the first woman to wear red lipstick. Circa 3500BC, it’s said she used crushed rocks and white lead to make the cosmetic that didn’t come in a push-up metal tube until 1915. French actress Sarah Bernhardt flew the flag for renewed acceptance of red lipstick in the late 1800s, and more recent red-lipped icons include Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, continued on p34 »

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FASHION + BEAUTY

« continued from p33

Gwen Stefani, Dita von Teese and Taylor Swift.

In the 1980s, Madonna toured Like a Virgin with her mouth painted exclusively in M.A.C’s Russian Red and Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love girl band literally rocked a red lip.

Back then, Canvas beauty editor Tracey Strange was a business reporter. “To me, wearing red lipstick was then, and is now, the equivalent of wearing a lowcut dress ... people just look at your mouth when you speak. I found that so off-putting. It’s like having a conversation with someone looking at your boobs. It’s not their fault, but it’s the main reason I don’t wear it.”

Strange says almost anyone can wear red lipstick. “If you’ve got lips like a squid ring — really thin, with no shape, it’s just not going to work. But if you were wearing red lips in your 20s, you can still wear red lips in your 60s — you just have to be a bit more careful, because your lips will be thinner, and the lipstick will bleed into the lines around your mouth a lot more.”

It’s worth investing in the primer and the liner: “Red lipstick can lift your mood. It just makes a statement, and it somehow makes you look really pulled together. If you’ve got a really good lip, you don’t need very much else. It’s the equivalent of a flash handbag!”

Sunday: Tom Ford Lip Colour in Flame, $88 Like butter on hot toast. Really, really expensive toast. Tom Ford is the smashed

avocado of the lipstick world. I took him to brunch. In the car, en route to fried eggs and steamed sticky rice with Laotian tomato relish ($13.50 or approximately one-sixth of the cost of 3g of Tom Ford lipstick), the man I live with said: “You look amazing — but I’m not going to kiss you.”

In 2010, the Huffington Post surveyed men for their thoughts on lipstick. Many hated it, but many more hated its absence. Sample quote: “It can look gorgeous, but it needs to be accompanied by extremely limited smiling and a hearty ‘f*** you’ attitude.”

Done.

Bugs, plants and minerals have all been harnessed to feed the human desire for red. Debbie Abercrombie, an Auckland-based interior designer who runs nationwide workshops on colour, says it’s the duality of colour that attracts us.

“It is the strongest positive and also the strongest negative. We see it as festive, and passion and powerful — but we also see it as danger and warning and loss of blood.”

Red is a primary colour and lends warmth to a room and for that reason, says Abercrombie, will never go out of fashion. But, similarly, it might not make Pantone colour of the year (currently Ultra Violet) anytime soon.

“Trends are really to do with the things that are happening in our environment, socially and politically. At the moment, we’re seeing so much related to being healthy and chemical free and that’s where that greenness is coming through.”

Monday: Antipodes Ruby Bay Rouge, $34 Early in this experiment, a colleague caught me trying to remove red from my hands, my teeth and my chopsticks. “Red lipstick,” she said. “It’s brutal.” I was literally wearing this experiment on my sleeve. “I’m so healthy, you could almost eat me,” said the packaging. For lunch, I had salmon sushi and pigmented wax.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, oh dear God. I thought we were done but the editor wants pictures. Kiekie Stanners has worked with Lorde, Rita Ora, Natalia Kills, Broods, Ruby Frost — and me. M.A.C’s New Zealand national artist says red is her empowering, attention-grabbing, go-to colour. There is, she promises, a red for everyone.

“It has never gone away. Maybe wear it very matte, or as a pinched lip stain, or a sharp, electric red application. We’re not giving people hard and fast rules anymore.

Take this direction, take this mood of a classic red lip and make it your own.”

Wednesday: M.A.C Retro Matte lipstick in Ruby Woo, $40 I have a loud mouth. Ask my mother, my partner, any one of my former high school teachers. I like to use all my words and now the lips that form those words have gone full drama. I see red, I see red, I see red. And I really bloody love it.

• This article first appeared in Canvas on July 29, 2017

H

Picture supplieda

FASHION + BEAUTY

ailey Gates is the definition of cool today. She has modelled for Miu Miu and Maryam Nassir Zadeh. She once worked at literary magazine The Paris Review, and starred in the reboot of Twin Peaks.

At a Met Gala honouring Rei Kawakubo in May, she wore a big straw hat by Jacquemus, one of the designer’s proteges. And her Instagram posts range from calling out the NRA to sharing films fundraising for Planned Parenthood.

The New York-based presenter, model, writer and actress with the signature waist-length braid is currently known for hosting Viceland series States of Undress, exploring fashion and beauty through a global, intellectual and personal lens. In the first season she visited fashion weeks in Pakistan, Russia, Palestine and China, asserting herself as a refreshingly honest, charming and intelligent fashion voice — showcasing the power that clothing can have, even in places of conflict or upheaval.

Season two broadened her scope beyond fashion weeks, and turning her gimlet eye on her own country. Episode one, titled Packing Heat in Heels and filmed after Trump’s election win, looked at the rise of conceal-carry fashion — and conservatism — in the US. Following the neo-Nazi marches in Charlottesville, she wrote on Instagram: “Considering a States of Undress special on the polo shirt, the uniform of the Fourth Reich”.

One of the most compelling episodes saw Gates visit France to explore the burkini ban. She joined a burkini-clad interview subject at the beach where the pair drew stares and comments.

“There wasn’t a lot of fashion programming that wasn’t centred around the idea of schadenfreude or judgment; there isn’t a lot of fashion programming in general,” explains Gates of the deliberately clever approach to the series — a refreshing antidote to the often frivolous or mocking fashion stereotype.

“What people tend to forget is that when you talk about fashion, so often you are talking about the territory of women’s bodies, and it doesn’t really get more political than that.”

What was your relationship with fashion like before the series — and how does

THE POLITICS OF FASHION

States of Undress presenter Hailey Gates travels the world exploring the global fashion industry and the issues it faces. She spoke to Zoe Walker. that compare to now?

Complicated and now fraught. Haha.

You were detained in the Congo, experienced airstrikes in Gaza and met a hardline Islamic cleric. Did anything in the first season put you off filming a second?

Strangely no, but I will say there was something that I feel we took for granted when we travelled last year and that was having a president who was a diplomat and was relatively well liked abroad. The risk of becoming collateral got very real in the last couple of months of shooting this season.

When travelling for the show, how do you settle on what to pack and wear?

I have to strike a very fine balance of first wearing something that respects the culture of the country, and wearing something “cool” enough so the audience feels they can trust me, but not something too “cool” that it gets in the way of me doing my job. I make mistakes, of course. But I like to look like myself, I think it catches people off guard a bit and makes them more at ease that I am not a shiny person in a sleeveless dress and TV makeup. I have strange teeth, long hair and most of my time on the road I look like shit, and for some reason it also helps me to feel less aware of the cameras.

You featured in Twin Peaks — how does it feel to be a David Lynch muse?

I still don’t understand how it happened.

You did your first US episode for season two. Why did you decide to stay close to home? What did you learn from that?

We felt that it was important after spending so much time abroad to come home and examine difficult parts of our own country. After the election there was a slew of “liberal think-pieces” where “coastal elite” journalists would strap-on their boots and go out into the Rust Belt to figure out who “these people” are. The aim of this episode was not to solve the gun debate but to talk about fear. What are people afraid of? And I think what we came to find was that the fear that these gun-wielding women had really stemmed from a fear that most women have: men overpowering them. They just choose to deal with their fear in a slightly more drastic way.

• This article first appeared in Viva on 23 August, 2017

SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

35

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HOME + LIVING

ALL EYES ON KYM Kym Ellery talks to Dan Ahwa about life in the French capital.

I

’m sitting on a linen sofa in an apartment in the third arrondissement of Paris. Children laughing at the neighbouring school compete with the familiar sound of sirens in the distance. The lingering smell of a Christian Dior Ambre Nuit candle wafts past as Michael Kiwanuka’s soulful Love & Hate gently plays in the background.

Across from me, Kym Ellery, dressed in black with bare feet and carefully bedraggled hair, is strumming the first few chords of Neil Young’s Heart of Gold on her acoustic guitar, sprawled across another linen sofa. Past the linen drapes and out the open window, pretty apartments with shutters and flowerbeds peek in. Paris has welcomed Ellery with open arms. Her eyes light up.

“The very first time I came to Paris, I fell in love. I was travelling to Europe with one of my best friends Kinga Burza [the director, who recently filmed a L’Oreal Paris campaign with an Ellery-clad Elle Fanning] and looking back it was one of the most exciting things to happen to me. continued on p38 » Kym Ellery / Photo Darren McDonald

SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

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HOME + LIVING

THE VERY FIRST TIME I CAME TO PARIS, I FELL IN LOVE « continued from p37

“Even as a kid I loved France. When I was about 8 our principal’s wife was French, so the language was part of the syllabus and my life from an early age,” says the 34-yearold Australian who moved to Paris in January 2016 and splits her time between her European base and her Sydney headquarters.

“What I work on in Paris as opposed to Australia is very different; the team is much smaller, less chaotic. In Australia I need to focus on multiple departments. There’s a constant flow of people needing my attention,” Ellery says. “Here I have space in my mind around the collections.”

Her new base gives her the opportunity to be more creative, and her apartment indicates a designer with an insatiable passion for culture, music, travel and art. Shelves are laden with books about Matisse, Leonard Cohen poetry, Patti Smith memoirs and Parisian history. (“I love going back and reading about Lutetia, before it was called Paris.”)

A woven art piece by LA-based Australian artist Benjamin Barretto hangs opposite an ornate gilded mirror above the fireplace, the opposing pieces indicative of Ellery’s taste for mixing both contemporary and classical design.

THE WORLDLY designer, whose middle name is Kahurangi, is also respectful of her roots: a trinket box with Maori carvings made by her uncle and a small woven kete gifted by her grandmother are treasures that have also found a home in Paris, connected to her family in Waiuku, where both her parents came from before moving to Perth.

Ellery’s trajectory from the remote mining town of Karratha in Western Australia is impressive, graduating with a certificate of fashion design in Perth followed by a fashion illustration course at Central Saint Martins, before returning to Sydney and working for Australian stalwart Scanlan & Theodore. But it was her role as part of the fashion team for indie magazine Russh that announced her arrival as Australian fashion’s “It” girl, before starting her own label in 2007, aged 23.

A decade later, she’s still got it. Today the brand is seen as a serious contender in the contemporary luxury womenswear market, stocking in big name retailers including Dover Street Market, Lane Crawford, Galeries Lafayette and Net-a-Porter; and worn by celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Rihanna and, more recently, Celine Dion. This has instigated the need to open a New York office to better service the red-carpet industry.

Making its debut on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar in 2015, Ellery is the third Australian brand after Martin Grant and Collette Dinnigan to be accepted by the governing body of the French fashion industry, the Federation Francaise de la Haute Couture du Pret-a-Porter des Couturiers et des Createurs de Mode. It’s a major coup for any brand outside France, with Ellery receiving business advice and mentorship.

The Ellery look is distinctive and her penchant for fluted flared pants, rigorous tailoring, ruffles and bell sleeves is in demand; architectural styles she describes as “modern classics”, always with a slight 70s bent and proudly made in Australia using innovative textiles from Italian and Swiss mills. The hardened French fashion press have given it their seal of approval.

“I don’t feel pressure here because they’ve really welcomed us and appreciate the newness the brand brings to Paris Fashion Week. They love that I’ve chosen Paris as the city I live in. It’s become home quite quickly,” she says. “I’m still very much an outsider but every day I improve my communication and understating of the culture.”

During the day, she requests every Uber driver change the station to 89.9FM TSF Jazz, a tactic she whispers “so they know I am familiar with Paris, and they don’t take me for a ride.”

In February, she was awarded Emerging Brand of the Year at the Elle UK Awards, further validation towards her growing business in the Northern Hemisphere. “It was important because it’s a British publication and the other recipients of awards were such iconic people. I never thought I’d hold the same microphone as Debbie Harry!”

BACK AT her apartment, close friend Darren McDonald is photographing Ellery exclusively for Viva to mark the release of her second line of eyewear in collaboration with Specsavers. Darren, who attributes his start in the industry to Ellery when they met in 2011, is also responsible for the new eyewear campaign starring Gemma Ward.

The collection is inspired by a coterie of icons including Peggy Guggenheim, Truman Capote, Iris Apfel, Carrie Donovan, Jerry Garcia and Buddy Holly.

“It involved a lot of research and discussion with our team about who we are as a brand and what type of woman is going to wear these glasses. To go from garments to eyewear and still incorporate elements significant to our DNA was important, so we looked at textures in terms of acetates and beautiful polished metal finishes that we use in our garments, like zips and buttons. Each pair has an eye insignia stamped on the back of the ear pad with a small diamante feature, and it was a real joy to come up with those ideas.”

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SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

At home in Paris / Photos Darren McDonald

For New Zealand women, Kym believes the range will complement their style perfectly. “I love Zambesi and Nom*D — that deconstructed, artful feeling. The eyewear will definitely add a beautiful accent to that style.”

We visit her showroom on Rue de l’Universite in St Germain, an elaborately gilded salon. Ellery’s French musician boyfriend Maxime Sokolinski (brother of French actress and singer Stephanie “Soko” Sokolinski) is playing his electric guitar next door.

Ellery changes outfits before we head to lunch at the iconic Cafe de Flore. We take a seat on the terrace as people pause to admire this chic woman clad in black with a wide-brimmed felt hat.

All eyes are on her: she is simultaneously witty, charming, intelligent and graceful, what the French would describe as “tres cool”. But Ellery is oblivious. “Try some of this tarte tatin, it’s delicious,” she says, smiling. She hands me a fork before taking an elegant bite, then sits back in her chair and gazes out at the City of Lights.

• This article first appeared in Viva magazine on August 2, 2017 To discover more visit viva.co.nz

HOME + LIVING

DIDN’T DO-IT-MYSELF

E

Ruth Spencer provides a non-users’ guide to home improvement. very industry has an arcane language that its experts use to dazzle you. Here are some of the home design terms you’ll hear when you’re doing up the place — and what they really mean.

ANTIQUEING: what the stress of living in a building site is doing to your face.

BUILDER: the person who picks the radio station you and the neighbours will be listening to from 7am for the next six weeks.

CONVERSATION PIECE: an ugly substitute for eclectic taste.

CREDENZA: nobody knows what this is. A type of fish soup?

CURATED: the home as the heavily-edited gallery exhibition of the self. If you expect your friends to pretend to admire it, serve wine and cheese at the opening.

FITTED KITCHEN: old industry joke. If it’s fitted, it won’t. You haven’t felt this rubbish about sizing since the Topshop dressing rooms.

FIXTURE: a terrifying word to hear from a tradie, as in: “I’ve fixture toilet,” when - as far as you were aware - it wasn’t broken.

FLASHING: what the plumber’s heavy toolbelt is responsible for.

FLOCK WALLPAPER: already over. Get the flock out of here.

GREIGE: grey-beige, the most popular interior colour because it matches all your possessions once the plastering dust settles on them permanently.

HARDWARE: something the doors need, so called because it costs the same as a new computer.

INCANDESCENT: what you’ll be when you get the final bill.

MINIMALISM: Great if you like clean lines and a slight echo. You’ll need a storage unit for your knick-knacks because the designer threw up a little when you used the word knickknacks.

MOULDING: either ornate plasterwork on your ceiling or what they find when they open up the bathroom gib. Confusingly, your moulding can be moulding.

OPEN PLAN: the ongoing changes to the supposedly approved design. Requires an Open Wallet.

PAINT SAMPLE CHART: a torture device. None of those paint colours actually exist; Half Tea is the only one they really make because that’s what you’ll choose when it all gets too overwhelming.

SHABBY CHIC: the furniture, the rugs, the walls and the inhabitants are distressed.

SPLASHBACK: what the shower does since you went for the waterfall showerhead.

SUITE: what you say with deep satisfaction when you hear the unfixable cracking sound your old bathroom units make hitting the skip.

TEST POT: what you’ll be tempted to do to make the renovation process more enjoyable.

THROW PILLOW: the safest way to express mid-project frustration.

WASTE: what you’ll feel about the project manager’s fee when you realise you haven’t seen him in weeks.

VANITY UNIT: an interior designer.

• This article first appeared in Canvas, April 15, 2017

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SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

39

Sun, sea, space and style

Working from home beside the beach a few days a week sound good? Experienced property developer John White discusses an exciting lifestyle trend for the established 50 + community

W

hen he describes the people, who will live in his new waterfront community next to the boat ramp and tavern at Mangawhai, John White doesn’t like to use the word baby boomers.

“They’re active over-50s,” he says, “There’s a big demand for people to downsize their big sections and house, but this is not a retirement village, there are no health facilities. Since I developed my first community in 1980, Headland Farm Park on the shores of Whangarei Harbour, I’ve learned that people must have a common interest, something that brings people together so they get to know each other in the street and a community is created.”

The experienced property developer got lucky in 2015 when he purchased the land next to his home that had been the grounds of the Mangawhai Tavern since around 1865, at one time being used as the village’s sports field. White was able to retain the riparian rights for the Harbourside Estate he created.

“We have built a set of steps and ramp for kayaks down to the beach where there is good swimming for the top half of the tide and plenty of shade under the grand old pohutukawa trees,” he says. “The public has walking access along this strip next to esplanade reserve. In the estates, we’ll have a swimming pool with a paved courtyard and a glass orangery for residents to get together.”

Creating a series of covenants around the 24 properties - owners must be members of the Residents Society, take a 1/24 share of the common land and must choose from one of the three designs

SPONSORED STORY - meant the council allowed John to build the houses on compact plots of about 350sq m each, rather than the 1000sq m typical of the area.

Taking his cue from old trees, instead of building fences around the houses he’s used an orchard of more than 450 citrus trees, placed so they do not interfere with sun and sea views.

The residents’ society will employ a gardener, householders will enjoy the 16 varieties that will flower and fruit for seven months of the year and, most importantly “you’ll be able to pick a lemon for your gin,” says White.

But it is the house designs that really set the estates apart. John knew that his active community wouldn’t want huge places to clean and maintain, but would want sun, a sense of spaciousness and a better design than the standard cookie-cutter. He found his solution when he spotted Wellington architect Andrew Simpson of Wiredog’s award-winning tiny house in a magazine.

“I rang him up and said I’d come and sit in your house for half a day. If I like it, I’ll get you to do the houses for here, if I don’t, I’ll go home.”

Luckily John loved the clever way Simpson had used his own 5m x 5m spaces, so commissioned him to design three houses one two-storeyed, one with a half floor, the third on one level, all somewhat larger than Simpson’s original (the smallest is 104sq m).

The pair considered and rejected the idea of lifts (too expensive, not needed for the active crowd) and the houses are planned to make the most of their compact footprints.

There are three styles of houses, all named after citrus varieties: the largest, Seville, uses high ceilings and sliding glass walls to double the sense of space. There are no corridors, and the two upstairs bedrooms can be opened to the living rooms below by handsome shutters, so could function as study, media or hobby room. The open-plan kitchen, with its island bench, is the heart of the living area, and a good-sized laundry provides plenty of storage, plus there’s a guest loo downstairs.

A Warmington fire keeps the well-insulated house warm in winter, louvres and opening windows circulate air in the summer.

“Every room benefits from the extra open space,” White says. “These are selfish homes, they’re not designed for extra people, just the odd guest.”

He made sure the finishes are the sort of quality expected from an architect-designed house, with cedar exterior siding and pergolas, polished concrete floors and birch ply finishes on interior feature walls and cabinets, granite

on the kitchen counters and good appliances.

There’s even a David Trubridge light fitting, a nod to the seaside location, and John has also negotiated a $30,000 furniture package from Forma for people wanting a fresh, new look.

Downstairs, glass walls slide away to open the dining area to the deck and the views of the sea through stately pohutukawa trees just beyond the flat lawn.

There will be 10 Seville homes, with seven each of the smaller Clementine and Lisbon versions.

White has also negotiated what he calls a “fair and firm contract” for buyers to use builder Phil Thompson and his Coastal Homes team. The houses are all built under the strict supervision of Wiredog Architects and sited according to the master plan to protect the privacy and outlook from each house. Shared facilities include stormwater reticulation, a private water bore (a lucky find, as many places in the neighbourhood are on tank water) and a gated security system.

The Resident’s Society manages the communal areas, pool, garden and maintenance of the shared private road.

All other property maintenance is the responsibility of the owner. Only one of the purchasing owners must meet the age requirement.

Mangawhai is an ideal location for those looking to maximise their lifestyle without compromising proximity to the city for an affordable price. The bustling village boasts an excellent butcher, cafes, restaurants and access to well patrolled surf beaches as well as the estuary for boat and kayak lovers.

A thriving community of locals as well as regular summer beach-goers means the Village carries just the right balance of amenities and community life along with special events and character. The regular farmer’s market offers a chance to purchase fresh, local produce on a Saturday morning as well as catch up with the locals and for all your day to day needs, there are full services available.

The historic Mangawhai Tavern offers a great place to unwind beside the water with a good meal on a weekend afternoon after a round of golf at the Mangawhai Golf Club or a day out on the water, fishing or diving.

Local vineyards include Lochiel Estate, Millers Vineyard and Te Whai – all within a short drive of the village.

Surrounding Mangawhai are unique walking tracks to make the most of the outdoors and from it’s easy to find location off State Highway One, Mangawhai is a perfect base to explore some of Northland’s other amazing beaches like Te Arai and Pakiri.

HOME + LIVING

Claire Mummery in her Waiheke garden / Photo Babiche Martens

EARTH MOTHER

Claire Mummery’s Waiheke-based company inspires people to grow their own food in an organic, sustainable way, writes Ginny Fisher.

W

hen the idea of worm farming leaves you with a tinge of excitement, you realise the woman you have been chatting to for the past few hours has left an indelible mark on your soul and an urge to grow vegetables everywhere. But back to the worms.

“They’ll eat anything, bones, citrus, paper . . . the only thing they won’t munch are shells: well if you leave them long enough, they’ll get through them eventually,” says organic food farming guru Claire Mummery from her Waiheke oceanfront haven, a sheltered pocket of Church Bay.She plunges her hands between squirming pink invertebrates and fingers the soil like it’s gold.

As rich in organic farming knowledge as her compost pile is in microbes, Claire has been building up knowledge for the past 30 years. Grow Inspired, her Waiheke-based company, has assisted restaurants — Cable Bay and Poderi Cristi included — large-scale organic gardeners and residential clients to create manageable organic food plots that encourage sustainable living and shun chemical spray use.

She says the best tasting fruit and vegetables —which anyone can grow, even in the city — start with quality soil, and require no weedkiller or chemical additions.

“If you don’t believe in climate change, you’d better start. I’ve recorded weather patterns and plant growth for the past decade and what I can say is, it’s wetter and there has been a scourge of pests and disease. Chemical sprays have made it worse, of course.

“My passion is to inspire people to grow food in an organic, sustainable way. When people look to the internet for knowledge on how to do this, it’s too overwhelming, there’s so much information. I invite people to contact me through my Facebook page for advice. Anyone can reach me.”

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One of Claire’s own big “ah ha” moments came after meeting Dr Ravi Sangakarra from Sri Lanka. Dr Ravi was a believer in effective micro-organism research, which began in Japan 30 years ago.

TheEMproductcontainsanumberofstrainsofbeneficialmicroorganismsincludinglactic acid bacteria, yeast and phototrophic bacteria, that all work together to ferment organic substances.Thisrichmicrobialconcoctioncanbesprayedoncropsandhomegardensand Claire says it’s magic at restoring soil quality.

Another advantage of EM is that it allows plants to directly absorb amino acids from their roots, which leads to fruit and vegetables with higher sugar levels — and of course they’re tastier.

Composting is another of Claire’s specialities; she teaches workshops year round.

She’s a fan of the bokashi composting system. Translated as “fermented organic matter,” bokashi was developed in Japan in response to the huge amount of food waste in their highly populated urban environments. Even here in New Zealand up to 50 per cent of our waste is food, so it makes sense we should be composting, Claire says.

For a small amount of kitchen waste, she recommends buying a standard Bokashi system — made up of two buckets that fit tightly inside each other.

The top bucket has holes in the bottom. Every time you put the food into this bucket add a tablespoon of Zing and squash it all down. A small amount of liquid will drain into the bottom bucket, which can be used as as fertiliser.

She has many other tricks up her sleeve and enourages people to join her Facebook page for weekly growing tips and updates.

Her passion for growing is catching and as she drives me up her treacherous, slipdamaged driveway back to the ferry, she shares a quote from Audrey Hepburn: “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

• This article first appeared in Viva magazine on September 27, 2017 To discover more visit viva.co.nz

SUMMER BRAINBENDER Test your general knowledge — and your memory! — with 50 of the toughest questions from Canvas magazine’s weekly quiz.

QUESTIONS 1 What word can mean a shoe, a cocktail, or the offspring of a female horse?

2 What does the Ishihara test measure?

3 Karoshi is the Japanese word for death caused by what?

4 The drug Sildenafil is better known by what name?

5 Where are you most likely to find an octothorpe?

6 Norman Quentin Cook – the performer better known as?

7 Gene Cernan, who died in 2017, was the last person to do what?

8 Owairaka, Toka Toka, Beauregard -- popular varieties of what?

9 “Such is life” – whose last words, in legend if not in fact?

10 Architect Jorn Utzon never saw his most famous building completed. What is it?

11 In 1869, Emperor Napoleon III challenged inventors to come up with a new food.

What was the result?

12 Who was the only person to become US Vice-President and President, without being elected to either role?

13 Which movie tough guy began life as Marion Morrison?

14 What did Richard and Maurice start in San Bernadino, California?

15 A Billy is reportedly sold every 10 seconds. What is it?

16 What is made by fermenting, winnowing, grinding, conching, tempering and moulding?

17 First sold in many countries as the Soundabout, this popular gadget was much better known by what name?

18 “Ghostface Chillah” is the logo of which popular smartphone app?

19 Pogonophobia is the intense dislike of what?

20 Carnivores eat meat. Herbivores eat plants. What does a sanguiniphore eat?

21 Who lives at 124 Conch St, Bikini Bottom?

22 In 1917, Gideon Sundback patented a “separable fastener” – now known as what?

23 Survivalists are busy preparing for TEOTWAWKI – meaning what?

24 What does the Swiss water process remove?

25 In what three-week sporting event does the leader wear a pink jersey?

26 Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Sugar Plum Fairy – real people who feature in which 1970s song?

27 For many fashion lovers, a “Birkin” is the ultimate what?

28 In 1886, John Pemberton invented a supposed cure for drug addiction, headaches and impotence. What was it called?

29 In texting and on social media, what’s the meaning of IIRC? 30 On the Internet Movie Database, which movie is rated out of 11, not the usual 10?

31 At the Wimbledon tennis tournament, who are the “BBGs”?

32 Who was Lara and Jor-El’s famous son?

33 What uncomfortable piece of furniture is located in the Red Keep’s Great Hall?

34 “Blessed be the fruit” is a common greeting among citizens of what nation?

35 Criminals Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh – better known as?

36 What felled All Black Gary Knight, on September 12, 1981?

37 Running from one to five, the Saffir-Simpson scale is used to measure the strength of what?

38 What is a puffling?

39 South Point, Cape Byron, Cape York, Steep Point – what are they?

40 About 20km apart, which two Marlborough towns are named after former Prime Ministers?

41 “Automatic Binding Bricks” were the forerunner of what international success story?

42 What word can be either a type of pasta or a species of penguin?

What links: 43 Murderers, Kumara Patch, Mangamaunu?

44 Hatha, vinyasa, ashtanga, kundalini?

45 Stout-legged, heavy-footed, upland, South Island giant?

46 Gub-Gub, Snowball, Wilbur, Pua? 47 Lisp, Ada, Ruby, Python?

48 October, carnation, velvet, orange?

49 Christine, Stand by Me, Hearts in Atlantis, Dreamcatcher?

50 Tony Chapman, Pete Best, Glen Matlock, Jason Everman?

ANSWERS: 1 Mule 2 Colour-blindness 3 Overwork 4 Viagra 5 On a keyboard – it’s a formal name for the hash symbol. Like this: # 6 Fatboy Slim 7 Walk on the moon 8 Kumara 9 Ned Kelly 10 The Sydney Opera House 11 Margarine 12 Gerald Ford 13 John Wayne 14 McDonald’s 15 An Ikea bookcase 16 Chocolate 17 The Sony Walkman 18 Snapchat 19 Beards 20 Blood 21 SpongeBob SquarePants 22 A zip -- zipper if you’re American 23 The end of the world as we know it 24 Caffeine, from coffee beans 25 The Giro D’Italia cycle race 26 Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed 27 Handbag 28 Coca-Cola 29 If I recall correctly 30 This is Spinal Tap 31 The ball boys and girls 32 Superman 33 The Iron Throne (from Game of Thrones) 34 Gilead (location for the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale) 35 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 36 A flour bomb, tossed from an anti-apartheid protester’s plane 37 Hurricanes 38 A puffin chick 39 Mainland Australia’s most southerly, easterly, northerly and westerly points. 40 Seddon and Ward 41 Lego 42 Macaroni 43 They’re NZ surf breaks 44 Types of Yoga 45 Species of moa 46 They’re all fictional pigs (from Doctor Dolittle, Animal Farm, Charlotte’s Web, Moana) 47 Computer programming languages 48 Revolutions (Russia, 1917; Portugal, 1974; Czechoslovakia, 1989; Ukraine 2004-05) 49 Movies based on works by writer Stephen King 50 Band members who split with their group before its mainstream success (Rolling Stones, Beatles, Sex Pistols, Nirvana)

SUMMER MAGAZINE 2017

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AWARENESS

The devastating Port Hills fire last summer showed how much indiscriminate and widespread damage a rural fire can inflict.

Fighting these fires is dangerous and expensive.

Predictions of drier summers point to a growing hazard.

The risk is greatly reduced though, if you check out the local rules for lighting a fire – ‘Before you light, check it’s alright’.

At different places, at different times, there will be complete fire bans.

Or, you might be able to light a fire with a permit. Or, there might be no permit necessary.

You need a clear area for the fire. Make sure you can, and do, put it out before you leave.

So, ‘Before you light, check it’s alright’ www.checkitsalright.nz

www.nzwood.co.nz