Capital 14 by Capital

Capital ta l e s o f t h e c i t y

Racy Women September 2014

milk it baby

issue 14

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Stitch in time

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A collaboration with Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Galison

6 September – 16 November 2014

IMAGE William Kentridge The Refusal of Time (detail - film still), 2012 COURTESY THE STATE ART COLLECTION , ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA ON LOAN FROM THE STATE ART COLLECTION , ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA , PURCHASED THROUGH THE TOMORROW FUND, ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION, 2013

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BOLD WORLDS Pictures at an Exhibition

JANÁČEK Sinfonietta DEAN Trumpet Concerto Dramatis Personae MUSSORGSKY (arr. RAVEL) Pictures at an Exhibition

Fri 10 October 6.30pm Michael Fowler Centre WELLINGTON

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Capital THE COVER:

made in wellington

Celebrating WOW hitting the city. Jewellery: Found Jewellery Jacket: Jacque Shaw Model: Aleisha Robertson from KBM Makeup: Natalee Fisher Photo&Editing: Ashley Church

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C o n ta c t U s Phone +64 4 385 1426 Email editor@capitalmag.co.nz Website www.capitalmag.co.nz Facebook facebook.com/CapitalMagazineWellington Twitter @CapitalMagWelly Post Box 9202, Marion Square, Wellington 6141 Deliveries 31–41 Pirie St, Mt Victoria, Wellington, 6011 ISSN 2324-4836 Produced by Capital Publishing Ltd

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s a Capital, (good to get that namecheck in there early) political news and information is what much of this city runs on. Although it is unlikely there will be any major changes in our local representatives, the national election is of course of major interest and occupying headlines throughout this month. We asked former current affairs journalist Lindsay Perigo to cast his experienced eye over the national scene. This month he provides a cynical overview. And while we are thinking about government, music sounds like a serene and balancing activity for those beleaguered downtown civil servants; Janet Hughes tells us how some let it all out in the joys of lunchtime singing. WOW, the wearable arts event, dominates the latter part of September and was the starting point for our talented cover artists. Raw milk is in vogue and a growing part of the changing food scene. Writer Beth Rose talks to the fervent advocates, the farmers and the scientists who are weighing up the health implications of unpasteurised milk for our communities. ARISE church couple Nadia and Levi Marychurch talk to Kelly Henderson about what is important in providing a quirky and warm family home. John Kerr expounds on the joys of Nerd Night and Melody Thomas includes us in her conversation about life with a baby; this time it’s travelling internationally. To help us to work even better with our local readers and community we now have a new community diary page which runs alongside our calendar section. School and charity fundraisers are an important part of how our community functions. We want to help get their message out. Here’s a very cost-effective option for the not-for-profit sector. To promote your event in our magazine is simple, go to capitalmag.co.nz/community and register your information. I look forward to hearing from you. Alison Franks Editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz

contents

b e y o n d t h e pa i l Beth Rose tracks the rise of raw milk

Night of the Nerds

W h e n yo u d o n â&#x20AC;&#x2122; t g o to wor k

Sharing a beer over quantum physics

Jeff Kennedy talks money, food and scooters

10 Letters

54 periodically speaking

12 Chatter

56 by the book

NEWS shorts

by the numbers

64 interior

Money talks

19 new products

68 house

20 tales of the city

good sport

22 Opinion

Torque Talk

WELLY ANGEL

27 CULTURE

BABY, BABY

DIRECTORY

WHAT THE FLOCK A Stitch in time

40 herding reindeer

84 CALENDAR

43 fashion

86 community notices

50 edibles

87 top dog

Contributors

s ta f f Alison Franks Managing editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz Lyndsey O’Reilly Campaign coordinators Haleigh Trower sales@capitalmag.co.nz John Bristed General factotum john@capitalmag.co.nz Shalee Fitzsimmons Art direction and design shalee@capitalmag.co.nz Rhett Goodley- Hornblow

Design design@capitalmag.co.nz

Craig Beardsworth

Factotum

Anna Jackson-Scott Journalist Gus Bristed

Distribution

L indsa y P eri g o Journ a li st Lindsay Perigo, writer and speech coach, is a former radio and television broadcaster. Some recall branding TVNZ’s news and current affairs “braindead” when he walked out in 1993. He calls present TV journalism “proof of death after death.” He is the author of The One Tenor – A Salute to Mario Lanza.

F ran K in g D e si g n Assi st ant Fran is a third-year student studying towards a Bachelor of Visual Communication Design majoring in Graphic Design at Massey University. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, Fran moved south to Wellington to further her obsession with and knowledge in the area of design.

Stockists Pick up your Capital in New World and Pak’n’ Save supermarkets, Moore Wilson, Unity Books, Magnetix, City Cards & Mags, Take Note and other discerning greater Wellington outlets. Ask for Capital magazine by name. Distribution: john@capitalmag.co.nz.

Submissions We welcome freelance art, photo and story submissions. However we cannot reply personally to unsuccessful pitches.

F rances S am u el Po e tr y Frances Samuel lives in Wellington and works as a museum exhibitions writer. Her first book of poems, Sleeping on Horseback, was published this month by Victoria University Press.

C arl rosati I l lu str ator Working under the moniker ‘The Cloud Commission’ is a one-man illustration outfit based in Wellington, recently relocated from the UK. Carl currently works as Associate Art Director for Pikpok games in Wellington and spends most of his time playing Hearthstone (Toothking #1327) and dieting.

WILLIS

Congratulations Pimp my Friend winner Claire Redmond Nominated by her friend Amanda Moresi Claire received a total makeover ...

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letters

A youthful revisit

Cake delight

I picked up your magazine at the airport and was delighted to read All Hail the Hutt by David Cohen (#13).

I tried my hand at the incredible Tamarillo cake from the (#12) Capital Mag. It doesn’t look nearly as pretty as your creation, but it tasted amazing. I used raspberry essence in the buttercream instead of rosewater. It was a hit with young and old at my family pot-luck lunch today. Thanks for the inspiring creations.

I too grew up in the Hutt though probably a bit later than your writer. Despite the different times it cleverly evoked in me enjoyable nostalgia for my youthful escapades a few years back. A great read, thank you S Melaney, Auckland

Rugby: winner on the day I found your story about Cory Jane (#11) on-line. I really liked it, it told me a whole lot more about him than I have seen anywhere else. He came across as a nice man and happy to acknowledge his wife’s input into their success. Rugbyhead, Manawatu

Satisfied with the news I am delighted to renew my subscription for another year of Capital magazine, which I find brisk and newsy.

Name supplied, Wellington (abridged)

Hank-you Hey Capital. I am so glad you included an article on knitting in your last issue. My friends think I’m a “nana” for sewing and knitting my own clothes since I was a teenager and I really think these crafts have a bad name for being boring or uncool. Thanks for writing about LightsUp Knitting-I hope it will change the way people see knitting - it’s not just for grandmothers! A Johnson, Wellington

M Allen, Upper Hutt

Letters to editor@capitalmag.co.nz with subject line Letters to Ed, or scan our QR code to email the editor directly.

welly words

Sterner stuff Thoughtful Qantas and Jetstar staff apparently offered tissues to Kiwis as they travelled home after recent rugby games. Wellyword hopes AirNZ will be as thoughtful to departing Afrikaaners after Wellington hosts the September 13 test here?

Called out Viva México is helping diners connect with the “non-tech challenge”. Diners are requested to place their phones in the bowls in the centre of each table, enjoy their meal without technology, and the first person to pick up their phone pays for the meal. A non-internet connection is it possible?

YEARS

Photography by Grant Sheehan

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ink inc.

Win, wine and dine Winners of this year’s Visa Wellington On a Plate Awards include all the best things: cheese, wine, meats and pastries. Wairarapa cheesemakers Kingsmeade Cheese took out Producer of the Year and Best Sustainable Producer; Matahiwi Estate was Runner-up Producer of the Year; Te Horo Foods received Best Established Producer, and tied for Best New Producer were charcuterie champions Big Bad Wolf and specialist baker Clareville Bakery.

Gillian Parkinson Tattoos? Is the trend deeply etched into the city’s cultural canvas or will it fade? Gillian talks about colouring up.

In the running

Art or rebellion? Artistic – to me tattoos are like collecting art, I tend to collect less traditional forms of art.

Round the Bays is a finalist in the Sport and Leisure category at the Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards. The February event sees more than 14,000 people make their way around the capital’s inner bays. Winners will be announced on 4 September at St James Theatre.

What does your family think? I’m 50, I hide my tattoos from ‘older’ parents.... Its just easier that way. Why this design? The design was by Simon Morse Of Dr Morse Inc. I wanted something that represents my soul mate, ‘Hubs’. Simon designed this fantasy creature which represents my darling protecting my heart and watching over me.

c hat t e r

welly words

Trick of the light Just when smoking indoors has become taboo at all levels of society, the rise of the health conscious e-cigarette is throwing a lighted match into a haystack (yes we know there is a mixed metaphor there) Our Wellyworder was asked for a light recently as he disciplinedly puffed away on the e-ciggie.

Random selection The three minutes of your time survey has morphed into another beast altogether. A youthful householder was recently corralled by a doorknocking canvasser into first being randomly selected to take part, then asked to provide contact details, then to agree to an appointment at a time suitable to the interviewer. Feeling bulldozed but still helpful, our citizen was surprised when after a few questions the laptop was handed over with the instruction to continue answering. Said interviewer played Candy Crush on her phone while she waited.

Hard work Periodically people give us stuff in the hope that we’ll help them flog it off to you in the glittering pages of Capital. Recently a CD from local band Vorn arrived. The accompanying card had a sobering message about the difficulties of marketing music that doesn’t have a gimmick like a child prodigy or famous parent attached. Hard work is not such a catchy sound bite. Very true Vorn, very true. But you have a quirky album title. More Songs About Girls and the Apocalypse will surely be a winner.

Flickering lights? A new independent electric company has been launched in Wellington after a successful six-month pilot. Flick Electric is a complete departure from usual electricity providers, says Flick’s Chief Executive Steve O’Connor. “The price of electricity changes every 30 minutes, with higher prices at heavy consumption times. New Zealanders pay a flat per-kWh rate to account for these peaks and lows. Flick Electric provides access to spot market prices so that customers can choose the price they pay by choosing when they consume.” Flick also separates the rate of power from distribution, metering, and company costs, unlike other power companies who lump it all together in one bill.

Trash palace upgrade Porirua’s community-based recycling operation will begin expanding in the coming months after being awarded $150,000 from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund. The Mana Recovery Trust will recycle paper, plastic, cardboard and glass from businesses across the lower North Island.

NE W S SHORTS

Smokin’ Signups for NZ’s first Stoptober, stop smoking month, are open throughout September. The big red Stoptober ball, which quitters sign when they sign up to quit, will be stopping in Cuba Street on 27 September. Good job Ministry of Health, but what about Act Like a Loon June and No Starch March?

Our (water) forces combined

C a rv i n g a r e p u tat i o n Ryan Lake, of Peter Camp Builders, has been named the Wellington Registered Master Builders Carters 2014 Apprentice of the Year. Lake impressed judges with his skills, knowledge and toolkit. “Ryan stood out with extensive knowledge, and his toolkit was one of the best ever seen in the competition,” they say. Ryan was awarded either a $2,000 study grant or Carters voucher, and a place at an Outward Bound Leadership Programme. He will compete in the national competition and finalists will complete a carpentry challenge on 17 October before the national winner is announced. Wellington’s Matthew Gulbransen came second, and third was Daniel Whalley of Upper Hutt.

That don’ t fly Cr Andy Foster doesn’t expect the NZTA’s final decision on the Basin Flyover to be any different from the interim one, which means another solution must be found. “Doing nothing is not an option.” The New Zealand Trasnport Agency, Wellington City Council and Wellington Regional Council will be meeting over the next few months to discuss other options for this “crucial part of the city,” Foster says. “The flyover was to be beneficial for all modes – walking, cycling, public and private transport. Whatever we come up with we hope will deliver the same benefits.” Decisions about other transport proposals, such as the Bus Rapid Transit and Island Bay to City Cycle Route, hinge on the Basin developments – so watch this space.

Wellington’s water services will be integrated after a proposal was approved to combine water delivery across Wellington, Porirua and the Hutt Valley. The Wellington Water Committee will oversee each council’s water management to ensure that water across the region is meeting the agreed-upon standards. “Each council has different priorities as well as local variation,” Cr Iona Pannett says. The committee will also ensure each council is sticking to its strategic plans and working to budget. The Regional Council’s bulk water supply function will merge with Capacity Infrastructure into a new entity. Capacity is currently owned by Wellington, Porirua, Hutt and Upper Hutt city councils. Pannett says some have expressed concern about the amalgamation. “People are suspicious of an agenda to privatise or commercialise water services. But the WCC is strongly opposed to water meters,” she said. “It would be very unpopular in Wellington.”

s encetw io s ns h hoe r a tdse r

Thanks a million Wellington’s cycleway projects will be accelerated by increased funding promised by the Government. $100 million will go to urban cycleway development around the country over the next four years, the Government announced. Projects in the pipeline include Island Bay to City, the Great Harbour Way, and Middleton Road. “This shows that most parties now realise the importance of improving cycling infrastructure,” says Mayor Celia Wade-Brown.

History repeated Maintenance work has begun on Thorndon to preserve and enhance the architecture, culture, and history of the suburb. Tinakori Road village and surrounding area will receive footpath improvements; new kerb sections and road resealing, two new seats, and signs with local historic information, over the next few months. Katherine Mansfield will of course be featured, with pavers bearing quotes from the writer, and from local artist Rita Angus, and composer Douglas Lilburn, as a reminder of some famous artists associated with the suburb.

trade chocolate

T h e y h av e spoke-n Blueprints for an Island Bay to city cycleway are being prepared by the Wellington City Council, after assessing routes proposed by a panel of Wellingtonians. The public will see the results this summer. “The citizens’ panel did sterling work, which has helped move from 20–25 route ideas to something that we can take forward,” says WCC’s Isabella Cawthorn. The panel’s preferred options took in Adelaide Road (from Dee Street), Luxford Street, Rintoul Street, Waripori Street, Russell Terrace, and Riddiford Street to the John Street intersection, or Adelaide Road (from Dee Street), Stoke Street and Hanson Street to the John Street intersection. The panel believes these routes would minimise parking loss. They also recommend a two-way cycle path on flat sections, dual cycle lanes on both sides of the road on hills, and speed limit reduction in some areas. The panel thinks such measures will encourage people who don’t bike but would like to, with opportunities to build skills and confidence.

One hundred percent fair trade organic chocolate arrives in Wellington food stores early September, from Trade Aid’s new Christchurch chocolate factory. Cocoa bean growers usually draw the financial short straw in the chocolate-making process. Trade Aid buys its beans directly from CONACADO, a cocoa co-operative in the Dominican Republic and sugar from Cooperativa Manduvirá, a farmer-owned co-operative in southern Paraguay. Because CONACADO grow, harvest, dry and process their beans themselves, their profits are not lost to Western chocolate manufacturers. “This gives cocoa and sugar farmers a 30% growth in the value of their exports,” says Trade Aid manager Geoff White. “We want people to think more about where their food comes from.”

by the numbers

SCULPTED B ODY year the Wellington Sculpture Trust was established

number of permanent sculptures commissioned thus far (13 inner city, five on Cobham Drive and six in the Botanic Gardens)

35,000

annual grant from rate payers – the rest of the money funding sculpture projects is raised privately

the number of biennial installations on four plinths outside Te Papa administered so far by the trust

WHEY HEY HEY!

147

years the Royal Society of New Zealand has been advancing science and technology

2,300

litres of raw milk being delivered to Wellington each week by Levin dairy farmer John Martin

37 267,256

staff members

1.2

dollars in millions given to the Centre for Public Health Research to study potential health benefits from drinking raw milk

67.9

amount in millions allocated for Marsden Fund research grants in 2013 (it covers physical/life sciences, math, engineering and

450

urban families taking part in the CPHR raw milk study

100,000

estimated number of New Zealanders consuming raw milk

number of journal articles downloaded from their website per year

social science projects)

HIGH IN FIBRE

TEUTONIC FORCES

years since the Cotton Store opened in Wellington

number of films in this years’ German Film Festival

110

number of fabrics available on their website

years it’s been running in Wellington

3,500

tea towels imported in one shipment

646

cushions on the shelves currently (anyone for a pillow fight?)

number of international guests visiting to take workshops and panel discussions

deckchairs ordered for a client promotion

number of yodelling workshops (if Julie Andrews is the tutor I’m there with cow bells on)

At Her Majest y’s pleasure

1967

year Rimutaka Prison opened (the original Prison Wi Tako, opened in 1919)

1,217

number of inmates (the largest in the country)

570

staff

2012

year a special dementia unit opened for older inmates struggling with daily tasks – the first of its kind in New Zealand

Compiled by Craig Beardsworth

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FAREWELL Exhibition runs until 29 November

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This moving image exhibition is a (re)creation of a farewell; a way of communicating the humanity found in the many departures that have been made from these shores. Includes footage drawn from newsreels, home movies and feature films. Curated by Gareth Watkins. Image: Weekly Review 9 (National Film Unit, 1941).

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Enter s ta g e l e f t

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han g ou t Cuckoo on Queens Wharf

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Tim at Moore Wilson’s

Craig Beardsworth meets The World of Wearable Arts stage manager, Ali Kirkpatrick

li is a freelance stage manager. The average punter in row G never sees her but her work is vital for the show to run smoothly. It’s one of those jobs where an “average” day doesn’t exist. “Rehearsal days can be up to 12 hours, production week [leading up to opening night] can be up to 18, and oneoff events can be all-nighters”. Despite this, she cheerily adds “it’s not as bad as it sounds”. The stage manager and their team are the main line of communication between the creative team and the production team. “We also manage the rehearsal room, and assist in the implementation of the creative concept through to reality. We make things operate for people – connecting the dots and problem solving to create a seamless event.” The World of Wearable Arts show is her current project. This means managing 200 on-stage performers plus a 40-strong crew behind the scenes. WOW rehearsals are six days a week for six weeks before opening night (300 hours of onstage rehearsals) so Kirkpatrick takes her down time seriously “I pretend to do yoga and run a bit but with two little people (five and 20 months) most extracurricular activities revolve around their social lives”. When she does get out it involves KK on Ghuznee Street. “The food is super tasty and we are regulars so the staff just know

our order.” At Moore Wilson’s “Tim at the coffee counter makes the best and cheapest coffee in town”. Breakfast at Prefab and Sunday brunch at Maranui also figure large and during WOW season after an 18-hour day, Cuckoo on the waterfront is the ideal late-night haunt. The nature and scarcity of stage managing work means Kirkpatrick has to travel sometimes. Her husband, also in the industry, is currently touring in Europe so when they step off the plane a walk around the green belt or Otari Bush is a must to reconnect with their city. “I love the fact that this is the capital city, yet the beach is just there and the mountains are just over there. I love the food, the wine; the immense pride that we take in our coffee and the fact that it is ok to be a coffee snob.” For a holidays a beach is vital. “My hubby races road bikes. Our breaks are often timed with his races. Tour of Northland (March) runs from Whangarei to Russell and back so the girls and I tiki-tour around, hang out on the beach and hug really big trees while hubby pedals his little socks off ”. “I have my girls, my man, my health and our little house – there isn’t much more I really need...perhaps those second-hand Versace boots on Etsy, but let’s be honest – I don’t really ‘need’ them”.

Photograph by Tamara Jones

opinion

The real dirtiness in politics written By Lindsay Perigo | illustrated by Cloud Commission

"Every election” said H. L. Mencken, “is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”

lections, we may agree, are a process whereby loot is exchanged for votes, to gratify the power-lust of sub-humans who crave control over real humans. Our 2014 election campaign kicked off with a frenzy of auctioneering that would have startled even Mencken. Tens of millions here, hundreds of millions there – in reckless indifference to where it might all come from and flagrant contempt for the Other People whose money it is. Reacting to Labour’s multi-trillion-dollar health package, outgoing Health Minister Tony Ryall was moved to note, “The bidding war between parties on the left is now out of control.” Was it ever under control? Did National ever behave any differently? The best that might be said of National is that its bribery has been marginally less irresponsible than Labour’s. What is especially ominous about this latest bribery epidemic is that it takes place against a backdrop of the most dumbed-down electorate ever. Our latterday child-molesters of the mind, the education bureaucracy and the teacher unions, have seen to that – in faithful obeisance to their unacknowledged mentor, Antonio Gramsci, the Italian Marxist who enjoined communists the world over to destroy Western Civilisation not by overt revolution but by stealth, a “Long March through the Culture,” infiltrating and mortally corrupting all core institutions and organisations. When Jamie Whyte expressed dismay at how “communistic” the views of his protagonists were in the minor parties’ debate on TV3, he was 100% correct;

Gramsci's future is indeed coming to pass. Even more disturbing, however, is that probably a majority of voters, especially new voters, no longer know what “communistic” means … or would care if they did know. Their conceptual faculty, the capacity for abstract thought which they would otherwise employ in discussing questions such as the role of the state and the rights of the individual, has been crippled by their Gramscian molesters so decisively that coherent conversation on such matters is now impossible. Raise subjects like this and you’ll simply draw blank stares and an outbreak of quacking (girls) and droning (boys) that the molesters have promoted in place of clear and cultured speech. Voting is purely a question of: who is offering me the biggest bribe? No politician, Jamie Whyte excepted (and bless him for providing the fresh air that he does), has the courage to take this on. Conviction politics has become extinct. “Opinion polls,” Mike Moore once admitted, “have made cowards of us all. Politics is the gutless in thrall to the clueless.” Therein lies its real dirtiness, not in the machinations, grubby though they maybe, revealed in equally grubby Nicky Hager's latest dump of stolen emails. What to do? Well, it’s possible the drooling beast will destroy itself by its own fashionable incapacity to get motivated about anything. A recent report on Stuff.co.nz projected that the turnout of under-30s at this election will be the lowest ever. “Three out of five young Kiwis didn't bother voting last election, and even fewer will bother this time.” This is most

opinion

Opinion

encouraging. One should do nothing to dissuade the molesters’ little monsters from just staying at home and texting “awesome” and “cool” to each other all day. Methinks this is not enough, however; there are proactive steps we could take to ensure that the heads that are counted on election day have something in them. Disenfranchising the molesters – the propagandists who masquerade as teachers, and the education bureaucrats – would seem an appropriate place to begin. This group, more than any single other – in brazen betrayal of its sacred duty – has been responsible for the destruction of literacy, conceptual, oral and written, that is now so catastrophically apparent. How else could someone whose “speech” is as mangled as any drawling teenager’s become the most popular Prime Minister in recent memory?! It seems only fitting that this group, having done so much to turn the vote into a thing of menace, should be denied access to it. Further, the indoctrination centres known as teacher training colleges should be closed down. These are nothing more than seething cauldrons of primitivism, where thought, science and learning are dismissed as “Eurocentric” and the worship of ancient, barbaric superstition is made mandatory. Journalists, too, should be made to experience some intimation of what life is like under the totalitarian regimes so many of them so uniformly admire, where there is either no right to vote or only one party to vote for. Far from being guardians of free speech and open debate, members of the Fourth Estate have become its annihilators. For neutral reportage they have substituted their own subjective, state-worshipping ejaculations, steeped in the bromides of the above-mentioned primitivists. When Winston Peters called them “Politically correct Nazis” he probably thought he was being semiflippant; in fact, his description is entirely correct. Journalists have become the self-appointed Thought Police of our time, going about their inquisitions with the ferocity of a Savonarola. As champions of the Culture of Umbrage, they are continuing Adolf Hitler’s totalitarian mission by non-military means. When

meaningful (or even meaningless) debate threatens, it is enough for someone to say, “I’m offended” for that debate to be shut down and the offender sent off for “sensitivity training.” Freedom of speech has given way to the soft tyranny of Political Correctness, where no one dares say anything for fear of offending someone. In fact, it’s worse than that – we’re talking hard tyranny here. It’s not widely realised that Peters could, under law on the statute books right now, go to jail for his “two wongs” quip. Journalists have done much to engineer this disgraceful state of affairs. They want dictatorship? They should be given it! Of course, it goes without saying that politicians should be barred from voting, except for those rarities like Dr Whyte who go into politics to get the creatures out of our lives. Power-lust and control-freakery are pathologies, and it’s already recognised that the mentally-incapacitated should not vote. Aside from these specific prohibitions, it must be possible to devise a political literacy test to establish that would-be voters know for whom and for what they’re voting and to bar those who don’t. Is it too much to expect of voters that they be informed? Much as we quite rightly expect would-be motorists to acquire certified driving skills before being let loose on the roads, may we not demand that would-be voters demonstrate a certain level of political awareness, about New Zealand politics at least, before being let loose in the polling booth, where their actions, as on the road, could be lethal to others? I make this proposal in the expectation that informed voters are more likely to be responsible voters, and we might thus be spared the calamitous, communistic consequences of yet more “advance auction sales of stolen goods.” Enlightened Wellington voters have little to fear from such a test. I’m confident that many capital residents – and readers of this magazine in particular – would pass it with ease. Untold Aucklanders, by contrast, would have congenital difficulty with it; it’s unlikely any hypercaffeinated Ponsonby poseur would get to vote at all. There must be something to be said for that!

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218 Willis street, Wellington, Ph 644 920 0913 solAnDergAllerY.Co.nZ

solander 22 september - 25 october

Kathryn madill/ new Works barry cleavin/ portrayals and betrayal emily valentine/ Feathered Finery/ WoW window feature

45 Laings Rd, Lower Hutt 23 AUG — 23 NOV 2014

Creating a Healthier Home

dowse.org.nz

Courtesy of Page Blackie, Wellington and Two Rooms, Auckland. Photo: Tom Hoyle

GARRY NASH: NEON SIGN 31 Aug – 23 Nov

10am-5pm, Saturday 20 September

Ethical Issues of our Time: Computers, climate and conception

Evolutionary Psychology in Everyday Life

Transvaal Museum

6pm-8pm starts Wednesday 1 October

6pm-8pm starts Thursday 2 October Garry Nash Lost in Wonder (detail), 2013 Courtesy of the artist

For more information visit our website www.victoria.ac.nz/conted

Cnr Norrie and Parumoana Streets, Porirua City - www.pataka.org.nz

w hat t h e f l o c k

M istress Dunno ck Name: Dunnock or hedge sparrow (although it is not a sparrow and belongs to a family called the accentors). NZbirds.com reports several wonderful alternative names too – shuffle-wing, winter-fauvette, smoky, titlene, blue jig and cuddy. Status: Introduced. The birds were brought in from England by acclimatisation societies between 1865 and 1896. Habitat: Found throughout the main islands and offshore islands, from sea-level to subalpine scrub, in farmland, orchards, plantations, scrub and native forest. They are “cover lovers” – preferring habitats which provide them with some concealment. Dunnock are more common in southern New Zealand, with populations thinning out north of Waikato and sightings rare in Auckland. Look for them: Dunnocks make a fun little challenge for the fledgling birder, as they appear very similar to sparrows at first. The most obvious differences between the two are that the sparrows are larger and have a sturdy, triangle shaped bill, whereas dunnocks are more slender in shape and have a similarly slim, pointed bill. Call: A variety of chirps, cheeps and a high-pitched tseep. Feeds on: Mainly seeds, especially cereals, grasses and weed species, plus some invertebrates which form the bulk of a chick’s diet. Did you know? Dunnocks exhibit some fascinating and complex breeding behaviours. While some birds are monogomous, females are often polyandrous (breeding with two or more males at once), a mating system that occurs in less than one percent of all bird species. Some dunnock practice polygyny (one male with multiple females) and a few are even polygynandrous – with two or more males having exclusive sexual relationships with two or more females. In addition to this, dunnock exhibit a strange behaviour during their breeding season (which starts about now). The female lifts her tail and waggles it, the male then pecks at her “cloaca” (the common cavity into which the intestinal, urinary, and generative canals open) for up to a minute before mating – so as to displace the sperm of competitor males before having a go at fertilising her himself! If it were human it would be: That rather plain-looking man or woman that you might mistakenly overlook as lacking in sex appeal, where all that’s needed is the right time and the right partner (or partners) to unleash a kinky, libidinous all-nighter.

culture

Set the scene Andrea Bosshard and Shane Loader will shoot their latest film in locations around Wellington from 20 September. Torchlight Films’ The Great Maiden’s Blush used a Boosted campaign to fundraise the $7,500 needed to finance the film. Filming locations across the city include Seaview, the Opera House, Avalon Studios, the Hutt River, the waterfront, Wellington Hospital, Freyberg pool, inner city cafes, and beaches around Wellington. The film is a socially-minded female-centred story about two first-time single mothers who share a room in a postnatal ward. Andrea Bosshard & Shane Loader founded Torchlight Films and have worked together as a filmmaking partnership since 1985.

It’s time South African artist William Kentridge’s exhibition The Refusal of Time (above) opens at City Gallery Wellington in September. City Gallery is flying four people over from Europe for three days to install the tricky work. The five-piece video installation, which combines theatre, film, sculpture, drawing, music and dance, tackles the elusive nature of time and our efforts to control or deny it, and explores different ways of understanding and measuring time, from Newton to string theory. The exhibition developed out of conversations between Kentridge and Harvard University science historian Peter Galison. City Gallery’s Olivia Lacey says it’s the first time the City Gallery has hosted an exhibition of this magnitude.

Tumeke cinema

Matt Grace

Years to come The Wellington Arts Festival will remain a biennial event complemented by mini-festivals, instead of moving to an annual model. “We heard very clearly from audience and stakeholder research that demand is not for more regularly held mega-arts festivals, but for complementary smaller festivals that cater for niche audiences,” says marketing manager Meg Williams.

The first Maori 3D animated short premiered in Australia to a kapai crowd. The Rangimoekaus was made in Wellington through collaboration with Yoobee School of Design and Te Wananga O Aotearoa and includes a production crew of 30 Kiwi creatives. It is screening along with five other Maori films as part of the Aotearoa Maori Film Festival in Sydney and Brisbane. There are about 25,000 Maori now living in Australia so it was tumeke to see the Mozzies out in force, said director Helen Bethune.

Chamber Music New Zealand Presents

BORODIN QUARTET

Definitive and incomparable, they return from Russia to perform the beating heart of the chamber music repertoire Shostakovich | Myaskovsky | Beethoven

Thurs 16 Oct 7.30pm | Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington | Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm 27

chambermusic.co.nz |

/ChamberMusicNZ | 0800 266 2378

culture

The politics of theatre

Ebony Lamb

New month, new Moon

Politics is the order of the month at Bats and Circa Theatres. Destination Beehive sees duo Pinky Agnew and Lorae Parry turn election campaign blunders into comedy. “We’re sharpening our wits on some quite frankly blunt objects that seem to be passing as politicians,” Agnew says. The show will be updated nightly with new impressions as the election campaign unfolds, and it finishes strategically on election night. Meanwhile, Bats Theatre and the No Fefe Collective – the comedy duo of James Nokise and Anya Tate-Manning – are hosting a festival of political satire. RaucousCaucus2014 includes a poetry and experimental theatre event, solo shows, a fundraising event and, at the centre of the festival, Public Service Announcements: Election Special. “We’ve got some of the best actors in Wellington,” Tate-Manning says. “Ginette MacDonald plays Judith Collins and it’s great because Judith and Ginette are both terrifying!” No fefe means No fear in Samoan. “It reminds us not be afraid to be too critical, to be brave,” Anya says. “We make fun of everyone – some are too easy. And the politicians are so mean to each other that nothing we say is going to be that bad! We felt we had permission,” she laughs. Destination Beehive closes 20 September. RaucousCaucus2014 closes 6 September.

Whipped

Moon, Newtown’s newest Pizza bar and music venue, opened 29 August and will play a host of shows throughout September. The bar, on the premises of the old “Bar Edward” at 167 Riddiford Street, is the brainchild of Wellington musician and entrepreneur Benjamin James. The music-oriented venue is his second business (or third – his first lasted less than three days before it was shaken beyond repair by the Canterbury earthquakes). He co-owned record store Evil Genius (in Berhampore) which moved to Newtown and became Deathray Records just over a year ago. James intends Moon to be for young and old alike. It will have a focus on local and international artists, local craft beer and NZ whisky. September shows 4–27 September.

Miss Drag Wellington 2009 will be the first man to perform Lashings of Whipped Cream: a Session with a Teenage Dominatrix, first written and performed by Fiona Samuels in Wellington in 1993. Ricky transforms into Mistress Dominique for the hour, as the theatre becomes a BDSM dungeon and the audience, a block of prospective clients as the Mistress shares the secrets of her profession. Lashings, 18 - 27 of September, BATS Theatre

culture

W i l l kom m e n to Wellington Norman Meehan and Paul Dyne will join Kiwi horn player Hayden Chisholm in a jazz concert as part of the German Film Festival celebration events. Meehan, Associate Professor at the New Zealand School of Music, said he’s delighted to play for the first time with Hayden, whom he’s known for a few years. “Hayden is a fantastic musician and to work with him and Paul will be wonderful. The music events Goethe promotes are always interesting and it will be an honour to contribute in that environment.” The festival screens 25 German films (18 feature films and 7 short films) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is joined this year by a host of other events such as the jazz concert, a yodelling workshop, and a panel & workshop on international co-production. German Film festival, 4-14 September, Paramount, Wellington

K e y t o s u c c e ss The New Zealand School of Dance has been working their new grand piano six hours a day since it arrived at the end of July. The school expects the Schimmel grand piano K-189 to last 50 years, and benefit 59,000 kiwis, says development officer Elizabeth Isaacs. Gold lettering inside the piano names the major donors who helped raise funds for the purchase. The piano cost just over $55,500, with over $29,000 raised by the Lion Foundation, Pub Charity, and Wellington Community Trust and the rest through individual supporters. NZSD resident pianist Phil O’Malley helped to research and select the piano, and was first to play it when it arrived at the school.

“Nailed it” Manicures & Pedicures

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Shellac Manicures $40 Pensioners’ Special - Foot soak & toenails clipped $25

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Bookings : 0211 126 528 www.nailedit.co.nz 29

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A stitch in time Written by Craig Beardsworth | Photography by Benjamin and Elise

Stichbury’s winning work Observer depicts a man with his face obscured sitting at a telescope or projector. It is large and immersive. The medium, charcoal, is relatively new to him. He has been experimenting with it for the past year. He describes charcoal as “affectatious’”. It gives a scale and depth more powerful than painting. His mother is a former Hong Kong fashion designer. She never sketched in front of him but he found albums of her elegant drawings when he was young. As a child he would draw pictures and then demand that his mother give an opinion about their composition. “Does it look right? Is that in the right place?” Her reluctance to share this part of her life was frustrating to him. “She was fearful that I might follow her into fashion. Instead I became something much worse – an artist!” Stichbury often doesn’t enter competitions. “They usually require sending a ‘one-off piece’ so you have to take time out of the body of work you are creating to produce them.” He also likes his work to make a connection on a personal level. To connect with one person is more important than the opinion of a judge. Having said that, he is thrilled to have won. And what will he spend the prize money on? “It will be with great pleasure that I go down to the student loans office before I leave next week, and then...champagne.”

ouglas Stichbury had never won an art award until last month. The $20,000 Parkin Drawing Prize is an impressive way to break a drought. Set up by local hotelier and arts patron Chris Parkin, the award is in its second year and attracting wide interest from the art world (454 entries and 80 finalists) so it is no mean feat to catch the attention of judge Gregory O’Brien. After six years completing a Master's degree here at Massey University, Stichbury now bases himself in Switzerland and splits his time between Basel, Hong Kong where his parents now live, and Wellington. The road to Basel was serendipitous – local gallery Suite offered to represent him soon after graduation. Keen to challenge himself he applied for a six-month lectureship in Beijing and after that a grant to study Chinese in Taiwan. There he met his girlfriend who later got a job in Basel so he applied for an art residency in Zurich to be near her. Throw into the mix more art residencies in Auckland, China and Germany and you can see Stichbury has been very busy. He likes the format of art residencies: “They are project based, you have a defined time to produce a body of work – it focuses the mind.” Being based in Basel also helps keep him on task. “It’s very boring, it’s smaller than Wellington (or certainly feels like it) and there are no distractions so I can get on with work.”

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Beyond the pail written By Beth Rose | photography by beth rose & unna burch

Think milk, think Fonterra? Nope, not Miles Vincent. For three-year-old Miles, milk is the delicious, creamy, white stuff collected in pails each week through his family’s organic herd-share agreement.

t’s unpasteurised, raw milk and Miles is one of a growing number of Wellingtonians – and indeed New Zealanders – who are drinking raw or “real” milk despite the known health risks. But what about the benefits? The Centre for Public Health Research (CPHR) at Massey University in Wellington is looking into the possibility that drinking raw milk may reduce the symptoms of certain health conditions including asthma and eczema in children. If the results demonstrate a conclusive link, it will prove what many raw milk drinkers have always believed: that raw milk can be good for you. Wednesday is milk collection day for Miles, his six-year-old brother Jaxon and his mother Agnieszka. The family from Thorndon has been collecting and drinking raw milk for two years and Agnieszka is a strong believer in consuming food that’s grown and produced in a natural, traditional way. “I grew up in Poland and as a child I was diagnosed as anaemic. I was often tired,

fainting and my immunity was very low. My grandmother began looking after me, feeding me traditional meals using organic vegetables, meat broths and raw milk. It was completely normal to drink raw milk back then and it wasn’t long before my health began to recover. “One of my strongest childhood memories is of drinking fresh milk that was still warm from the cow. It tasted almost like vanilla. I can’t say if it was the milk that made me feel better. I’ve just put it down to the traditional diet my Grandmother fed me. None of my family were ever ill from raw milk and my great-grandmother and grandmother lived well into their nineties.” Agnieszka is softly spoken but resolute in describing her beliefs. When she saw the same symptoms of anaemia in her eldest son she chose to return to the methods used by her matriarchs. “When Jaxon was four he was diagnosed with iron deficiency anaemia and the family doctor said he’d never seen such bad results.

Weston Price Weston Price was an American dentist who, in the early 20th Century, researched the connection between changes in diet and nutrition and the effects on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health â&#x20AC;&#x201C; beginning with their teeth. The study took him all over the world, including New Zealand, and people who say raw milk is part of a healthier traditional diet often cite his work. Many scientists disagree and suggest Weston Price was undertaking research to prove an ideology and that he ignored the much shorter life expectancy of people at that time.

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“Jaxon was always tired and not even a trip to the zoo could excite him. Like my Grandmother I looked at ways to improve his diet to make him feel well again, including researching the Weston Price Foundation. “Last year I found an organic herd-share scheme with Jersey cows. It’s irresponsible to buy or drink raw milk without researching it for yourself because of possible health risks, so I met the farmer, looked at the milking sheds and I was impressed by his standards. “Now we are herd-shareholders, the boys are enjoying the same diet I had as a child and Jaxon is a rosy-cheeked, normal energetic sixyear-old again.” When the CPHR at Massey recruited families who drink raw milk to take part in their study, Agnieszka was keen to be involved. “I’ve always believed raw milk benefits our health and any research that could prove the link would be helpful. Miles is showing signs of mild asthma and as that’s one of the conditions that may benefit from raw milk. It seems right that we should take part.” Dr Collin Brooks is running the day-to-day research from Wellington-based Massey University. “The study aims to determine whether drinking raw milk reduces the prevalence and symptoms of conditions that include eczema and asthma. If a connection is found, it doesn’t mean we will be looking to prescribe raw milk, as the

proven associated health risks of drinking raw milk – such as food poisoning with bugs including listeria and E coli – rules that out. “A positive link may mean that we could harness the element of raw milk that is shown to benefit people’s health and that could help develop new treatments for allergies and conditions. “With one in four Kiwi children suffering from asthma symptoms, we felt the claims that drinking raw milk can benefit people’s health were worth looking into.” The study is funded by a $1.2m grant from the Health Research Council and will run for three years. “We are looking to recruit 300 families from across urban centres in New Zealand who already drink raw milk. Then we’ll recruit 150 families from the same urban localities that don’t drink raw milk as a comparison. “Families will complete questionnaires about allergic symptoms, respiratory health, diet and lifestyle, and nurses will make home visits to administer lung function and skin-prick tests and collect blood samples to check immunity levels. The results will allow us to compare the respiratory and allergic status of both raw milk and nonraw milk drinkers. “Not enough robust research exists examining the possible health benefits of raw milk. Neither is there enough scientific data which accurately and objectively looks at the risks of drinking raw milk,” says Collin.

Dr Collin Brooks

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An indicator of the growing number of people choosing to drink raw milk in Wellington can be seen in the increasing supply to the city by dairy farmer John Martin. “I began selling raw milk five years ago, supplying 150 litres a week, eighteen months later that had doubled and now I’m up to 2,300 litres a week.” John has been farming all his life, but only recently shifted to raw milk production. “I started selling raw milk about the same time I began collecting my pension. My son Andrew looks after our herd of 330 KiwiCross cows and I make the deliveries from Levin three times a week. “It was my wife Phillippa’s idea. She’s researched alternative therapies and nutrition, including the Weston Price Foundation, and she could see a market for raw milk in the region.” John is a true advocate of raw milk and is a member of the Raw Milk Producers Association who take seriously their right to supply a high standard of raw milk to consumers. John’s family business shows no signs of slowing, but there is one potential sticking point. The Ministry For Primary Industries has just completed a public consultation on the sale of raw milk to consumers, which proposes to change things. According to the Ministry’s discussion paper, the rules for selling raw milk in New Zealand have become out-dated and people are not truly aware of the rules or the risks. The growth in sales, therefore, is causing alarm. Nigel French, Professor of Food Safety at Massey University, help draw up the discussion paper. He estimates that around 100,000 people are already consuming raw milk in New Zealand. “People drinking raw milk must be better educated about the risks: it’s bacteria from cow faeces getting

into the milk that causes illness and a serious case of E Coli (0157) can be life-threatening. Milking practices must be of a higher standard and farms’ Risk Management Plans are not geared up to handle raw milk production. “When people say raw milk has historically always been part of a healthy diet, they ignore an important fact: historically, humans didn’t live as long. One of the reasons we live longer now is because our lives are better separated from poo, and that extends to raw milk.” Both Agnieszka and John have made submissions to the MPI consultation to safeguard their respective right to buy or sell raw milk, but John is not overly critical of the government’s approach. “They’ve done a dedicated job. The consultation paper is heavily biased to the health risks as I expected. My concern is that they’re using data from abroad, which won’t reflect New Zealand’s high standards of cell-count monitoring and specific daily, weekly and monthly safety tests,” says John. Agnieszka, however, suggests that the attention to raw milk is side-tracking from greater consumer health issues; “We should have the freedom of choice to buy raw milk, in the same way people can choose to buy cigarettes and alcohol – substances that are far more harmful than raw milk,” she says. While some groups fear illness outbreaks from raw milk could harm New Zealand’s reputation as a dairy producer and would like to see “prohibition” – a term used liberally in the MPI’s discussion paper – outlawing the sale of raw milk is not a proposed option and we’re unlikely to see the arrival of a raw milk speak-easy. The CPHR study concludes in 2016 The MPI will release the consultation results, customarily, “in due course”.

John Martin's Kiwicross cows

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R aw fa c t s Raw milk is simply cow-fresh. It hasn’t undergone pasteurisation (heat treatment to 72°C for 15 seconds) to kill pathogens, or homogenisation to prevent separation. Raw milk can only be bought “at the farm gate”. It is illegal to sell raw milk in supermarkets and cornerstores. Only five litres of raw milk can be bought at one time, for consumption by the buyer and their family. It cannot be sold on. If contaminated, raw milk can harbour potentially dangerous bacteria such as listeria, E.Coli, campylobacter and salmonella. Most food poisoning results in stomach upsets that can go unreported. This makes it difficult to track the numbers or to link raw milk (or other foods) as the exact cause. Campylobacter is a common type of food poisoning. A Canadian study by Nadine Ijaz found that a person was more likely to catch Campylobacter from unwashed leafy green vegetables or undercooked chicken than from raw milk.

M a r i a’ s r aw m i l k ha l l oum i Authenticity and tradition are what makes Maria George-Green’s halloumi “the best tasting halloumi outside Cyprus”, according to her friends and family. The authenticity comes from the raw milk ingredient, and the tradition from the halloumi-making method passed down through her Greek-Cypriot heritage. Maria buys her raw milk from farmer John Martin and cooks it up into delicious, salty, squeaky halloumi at her home in Kilbirnie. Before she started using raw milk, though, Maria’s cheese just hadn’t been cutting the curd. “Pasteurised milk from the supermarket used to make my house smell every time I made a batch of halloumi and ricotta, but when I switched to buying raw milk, it just smells creamy and delicious. By cooking the milk Maria is inadvertently making the raw milk safe, as the heating used to turn it into cheese pasteurises it “I know about the risks of risks of raw milk,” Maria says, “I’d drink it but I’m just not that into milk, I prefer to make it into cheese.

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BEST RESTAURANT hospitality new zealand AWARDS for excellence 2014

toast martinborough 39

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Herding reindeer written by Janet Hughes | photographed by rhett goodley-hornblow

orth end of The Terrace – public service central. But come midday Thursday, office escapees challenge the grey stereotype with an hour of singing St Andrew’s hall, led by community music specialist Carol Shortis. Others come into town especially for their weekly fix. People come when they can – attendance is casual and affordable, and the 10-trip concession card has no expiry date. The drop-in vibe signals Carol’s inclusive approach to singing. Anyone is welcome, and there’s no need to be shy – the unspoken rule is that everyone has a right to sing. Some of us sing in choirs, some nowhere else but the shower; some have extensive musical knowledge, others are complete beginners. And most of us keep coming back, though work sometimes gets in the way. First, we follow Carol in some vigorous warmups. Funny noises and coordination challenges get us laughing and moving, and then we’re singing. Newcomers catch up in no time, with little to memorise – Carol teaches short songs, with few words, repetitive forms, and simple tunes that stick. She sings a line at a time for us to repeat, and in no time we’ve got the sequence nailed. Laughs abound, but an astonishing amount of work gets done in the hour. We’ve no sooner proudly sung a new song through than Carol divides the group, to sing it as a round. After a stumble or two, we get it, and can’t believe how lovely the overlapping harmonies sound. Triumphant grins are Carol’s cue to divide us again, and the numbers per part are looking tiny, but again we get there – I was so sure I couldn’t. A part-song follows, gathering complexity by increments. Carol calls this “unwrapping” a song, layer by layer, until the “reveal” when it all comes 41

together. It sounds as if it should be hard, but all it has taken is persistence. The space fills with something more than the sum of our individual voices, and we understand the song from the inside. It’s immensely satisfying. We learn songs in many languages and musical idioms – a canoeing song from the Solomon Islands, some Hebrew songs, several from Africa, a reindeer-herding call from Lappland and more. The English-language repertoire ranges the globe and the centuries, from wassail to Gospel. In a few sessions, my ear improves appreciably. Carol leaves singers feeling they have discovered something new, rather than been taught to do it. She tells me she enjoys teaching adults – the spark of “intelligent communication between peers”. Her philosophy is to “respect the musician I see in every person”. To avoid condescension, she prefers to demonstrate rather than describe, using vivid analogies rather than technical terms to allow for people’s variable musical knowledge. On the community singing spectrum, Carol locates the lunchtime sessions at the low end in terms of complexity and ambition. Like many community choirs, this group isn’t auditioned – it’s about inclusion, “permission to sing”. Unlike most choirs, it has no performance dimension; we sing for our own pleasure (shared, for sure) rather than others’. But, Carol points out, even recreational singing offers the satisfaction of developing your sound. And along the way, there is the sheer enjoyment of “living in a song”. It shines on the faces of the singers heading away from St Andrew’s each Thursday; listen up and you’ll surely catch someone humming to the reindeer on the way back to the office.

fash ion

chummy blooms

Styled by Shalee Fitzsimmons Assisted by Madeleine Wong & Bex McGill Flower styling by Mindy Dalzell from Twig & Arrow Photographed by Ashley Church

fash ion

From left to right, top to bottom

my blossom

Arielle Merman Cruz skirt, (sale) $99, Madame Fancy Pants Sonia dirty banana shoes, (sale) $149, Gubbs I Love Ugly Samuel watch, mint, $115, Superette Kip & Co check board pillowcase, $79, Superette Bow tie, $99, World Espresso mug, $7, Superette Bow tie, $99, World SonShona Joy crossover bodycon dress, $129, Superette Status Anxiety wallet Norma, pink, $89, Madame Fancy Pants Snowbell McKinlays, $179, Gubbs

It’s a friendly and quirky style for the friendly, quirky season. Gloomy black is gone and bloomy pastels are in. Popping stripes, happy prints and warm florals of course. Everything’s a pleasure, and you’re chuffed.

fash ion

From left to right, top to bottom

best bud

Birdie yellow dress, $209.50, Vintage Heaven Snowbell McKinlays, $179, Gubbs Bow tie, $99, World Sahara mustard McKinlays, $179, Gubbs Starter cap light denim, $69, Superette Papercup little miss sunshine dress, $185, Swonderful Espresso mug, $7, Superette Stolen Girlfriends Club totally wired silk shift, $319, Superette For Richer For Poorer womens Celeste grey socks, $22, Superette Papercup sweet sixteen skirt, $78, Swonderful

Like having a cuddle with a long-lost friend, Spring is back in town. Bluebell blue, daffodil yellow and fresh whites. Mix it up with texture and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be afraid to be a bit weird. Sun-showers donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t follow rules, so why should you?

street style

Jack Becroft

Will Sklenars

1. Wellington fashion needs more I reckon Wellington fashion is fine the way it is. It has it’s own personality.

1. Wellington fashion needs more People (to wear the things). 2. The best store in Wellington is Pete’s Emporium

2. The best store in Wellington is Area 51, Good as Gold, Emporium – can’t decide.

3. My fail-safe fall-back outfit is Whatever I can find with Sharks and Skulls on it. And collar tip protectors for windy days.

3. My fail-safe fall-back outfit is Hoodie, trackie shorts, and trainers. Comfort is key. 4. My best fashion accessory is My cap, easiest way to not have to do your hair.

4. My best fashion accessory is My pounamu necklace which is set in silver and bronze, made by Keri-Mei Zagrobelna. She’s a jewellery baawse.

5. The one thing missing from my wardrobe is A decent trench coat.

5. The one thing missing from my wardrobe is My crystal skull. Have you seen it? By Ashley Church 46

New season’s styles arriving daily….

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It’s the perfect section header

marrIage of

FOOD BEER

And you’re invited The Fork & Brewer is Wellington’s high temple of beer-infatuated cuisine. Make a date for lunch or dinner, book your Christmas do, or just pop in to enjoy a bite with one of our house-brewed specialties. We’d love to see you. Open Mon-Sat, 11.30am till late, 14 Bond Street, Wellington

s ef c i oi o n nh b er a ideefrs at sh

Deep and meaningful The heart and soul of Electric Wire Hustle rests in Wellington, but their reach extends around the globe.Their brand of, “soul informed by beats, hip hop, electronica and guitars” is coupled with conscious messages and themes delivered by Mara TK. In 2010 they played 14 countries.This year they’ve signed to Questlove’s Okayplayer Records in the US and Somethink Sounds in the UK, announced a collaboration with homegrown international sensation Kimbra, and have just returned from shows at The Roots Picnic in Philadelphia, with The Gaslamp Killer at Low End Theory and Dam Funk’s club night Funkmosphere in Los Angeles. Ahead of the release of their second album Love Can Prevail this month, Melody Thomas asked Dave “Taay” Ninh and Mara TK a few questions.. Tell me what the song “If These Are The Last Days” is about? Dave: If an arrow is sticking out of your side, don’t argue about where it came from or who made it; just pull it out. Also maybe it’s about time we were all a little less self-centred and let those closest know how much they mean to us. Mara: It’s about spending whatever time is left to us without conflict. It’s about holding on to your morality, which in the height of capitalism will become harder to do. We’re moving away from a commodity-based economy into one based on ideas. What’s the message behind the title, ‘Love Can Prevail’? Dave: There is suffering, there is injustice and there is greed but there is also love. These are all part of the human condition, love however can trump them all. Mara: Some people might think that’s cheesy, but that’s really what I need to hear right now; some encouraging words: it’s all good. If these are the last days, are you happy with the fact that Love Can Prevail is the final record of your existence? Dave: This album encapsulates a few years of hard earned life. However I feel like it’s only just got us to the point where we can really deliver a message — so if you give us the luxury of another round, you won’t regret it. Mara: Oh hell no, not me, I would never be happy with any album being my last. Written by Melody Thomas | Photograph by Chika Takami 49

edibles

On paper

Crowd funding brewing Renaissance Brewing is the first NZ business to crowd-source funding to expand its business. Their Snowball Effect campaign ends 12 September. The company says Wellington is the spiritual home of craft beer in New Zealand. “It would be safe to say that the early pioneering craft breweries like ourselves, Emersons and Tuatara only survived to become successful because of drinkers in Wellington,” says development manager Roger Kerrison. So far, 21% of the investors are from the Wellington region – a good solid percentage, says Kerrison.

Havana

Big apple in t h e l i t t l e c a p i ta l New York’s five boroughs are hitting Mt Victoria in September in the form of a New York inspired deli/ diner on the corner of Roxburgh and Majoribank St’s. Business partners Elie Assaf and Bryn Thomas conceived the idea several months ago. “So we packed our bags and took off to New York to get the vibe and feel for it,” Assaf said. They ate at around 35 different places over 10-12 days. “The cheapest was $4.50 for two grilled cheese sandwiches and the most expensive, $450 at Peter Lugers, which has been open since 1885.” They plan to bring New York’s quality dining to the capital. Lebanese-born Elie moved to Wellington in 1995 and opened Phoenician Cuisine on Cuba Street, a branch of his parents’ Phoenician Falafel in Kent Terace.

Awa Press will release a paperback edition of Anne Else’s latest book in September, after the ebook spent months at No.1 on Amazon’s food memoirs’ bestseller list. The Colour of Food: A memoir of life, love and dinner spans Else’s life from childhood to now, in her 60s, forging a community of new friends through her food blog Something Else to Eat. And all spliced together with recipes, along with advice from the Duchess of Windsor – “If you don’t take care you may serve an entire meal pinkish mauve, from lobster bisque to sherbet.”

Taste of Africa Yeshi Taye is on the hunt for a larger kitchen to keep up with demand for her Ethiopian relish cooking sauce, Mamia’s. Taye, who arrived in Wellington 15 years ago from Ethiopia, uses Ethiopian chilli in her sauce but the rest – red onion, garlic, ginger, pepper and more – are local Kiwi ingredients.

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Dumpling l a dy

A taste of Lond on Carlita Campbell has returned from a three-week culinary tour of London after winning the $10,000 Ōra King Chef’s Bursary award in March. The chef de partie from Wellington’s Cobar Restaurant says “In 24 days I took six flights, 53 trains, 15 buses and seven cabs; worked 181 hours; peeled 435 baby carrots; made 268 quenelles; met 56 talented and passionate chefs; and had one experience of a lifetime!”. She says her time in London taught her to make bolder, riskier choices. “There was a confidence you have to have to survive in London and from this confidence came a lot of infusions and culinary creations that were definitely ‘outside the box’.” She’s now incorporating what she learnt into her own cooking and plating. “I have been more inspired to ‘push the boundaries’ when combining flavours on a plate,” she said. But the London industry was also surprisingly similar to New Zealand kitchens. “There were moments in the middle of service at Marcus at the Berkeley and I would think to myself ‘we can produce the exact same dishes back home’.” The money behind the London industry helped it to run more efficiently. “Having financial backing helped London to be a cut above what we offer here. They employ five times the number of chefs found in a kitchen here,” she said. Front of house staff in London treated the job more as a career. In London I was surrounded by passionate front of house, commis chefs and sommeliers who love what they do and strive for perfection day in, day out,” she says, “and knowing I can survive the hard kitchens in London is a huge achievement,” But she’s gained a new appreciation for the relaxed NZ approach.

Vicky Ha, self-described queen of dumplings, said her Taranaki street store started with a storm. “Literally there were water features pouring through the door!” Business has been going the same way. “It’s been nuts.” The queen of dumplings began with a dumpling stall at Wellington’s City Market. She subleased a commercial kitchen for the past two years before the business outgrew it, prompting her move to 117 Taranaki Street. House of Dumplings locally sources most ingredients, using Wellington organic Tofu, Wairarapa free range pork and veges from Levin.

The hot pie man Michael Kloeg of The Clareville Bakery is the supreme winner at this year’s New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards. The Carterton baker’s lamb cutlet and kumara mash pie was named NZ’s best pie out of 4832 entries, and also took out the Gourmet Meat category. Entries came from 533 bakeries around New Zealand. Kloeg says winning the pie awards was “a rollercoaster of emotion. You’re just waiting by the phone to hear. I’ve been trying to win for 15 years really, ever since I started.”

the forest cantina

P o c ket s of go odness

by unna burch I made this, my two boys were out and about with my parents (who live a very convenient 15 minute drive away from us). I had the house to myself, no kid noise, just music and the pasta production. To have time to cook with no interruptions is a huge treat. Any parent will have my back on this, time to yourself, whatever you do with it, is bliss! When making ravioli, the part that takes the most time is making, resting and rolling your homemade pasta. Skip this step and use won ton wrappers. Found in the freezer section of an Asian supermarket, this is such an awesome little cheat as they are the perfect thickness for ravioli. And they are incredibly cheap. To make your own fresh pasta, check out my recipe on my website, www.theforestcantina. com under the FOOD section.

avioli are little pockets of goodness, each one lovingly made by hand. I am drawn to ravioli on a menu. Especially if filled with shellfish or crayfish as it is that much more luxurious, something I don’t get to eat every day. Most of the pasta I make is fast. A quick sauce tossed through some cooked dried pasta, a little cheese and some herbs. And there’s nothing wrong with that, food doesn’t have to be complicate but when I have a little more time on my hands, I find joy in making things like ravioli. I feel like a real Italian Mama when I make these. I often describe my cooking as ‘’weekday and weekend’’ – I make easy food during the week, and at the weekend when my husband is home, or when the kids are with the grandparents, I indulge in food that ‘takes time’. The day

Method Roast pumpkin Serves six as a main course (with salads or a side of greens and garlic bread) 1 x pack of won ton skins OR homemade pasta dough, rolled out into sheets, about a 7 or 8 setting on your pasta machine. For the roast pumpkin 650g peeled and diced pumpkin. I used ½ butternut and 1 buttercup. Also using less pumpkin and part golden kumara is nice too. 3 cloves garlic, not peeled 1 bunch thyme 1 Tspn runny honey (to bring out the sweetness in the pumpkin) 35g butter drizzle of olive oil Salt and pepper For the rest of the filling 200g ricotta 200g grated parmesan 1 small shallot or 3 spring onions, finely diced zest 1 lemon, finely grated pinch ground nutmeg 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped To serve Bunch sage (about ½ cup) leaves picked 100g butter Parmesan shavings (I do mine with a vege peeler) 1 punnet micro greens or extra flat leaf parsley Flaky sea salt + pepper

1. 2.

Pre heat oven to 220 °C fan bake. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Add the pumpkin, single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and honey, dot over the butter. Season with salt and pepper and add the thyme on top and place whole garlic cloves on. Bake for 20mins or until golden. Remove from oven. Discard thyme and remove the garlic and set aside. Cool the pumpkin. 3. When the pumpkin is cool add it to large mixing bowl and mash up. Remove the garlic from its skins and finely mush it up and add to the pumpkin also. Add the cheeses, shallot, lemon zest, nutmeg and parsley to the pumpkin and mix well to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Set mixture aside. To make ravioli 1. Lay-out a sheet of your pasta or about 7 wonton wrappers at a time out on a lightly floured bench. Take heaped teaspoon sized portions of the filling and place along the sheet or in the centre of the wonton skin. Place another sheet on top and join the two pieces together so that there are no air bubbles. 2. If using wonton wrappers, they have a powdery cornflour layer to one side of them. Place the filling on top of the cornflour side, if you lightly brush the edges around the filling with a small amount of water it will help seal them. 3. To give your ravioli a nice shape, cut circles with a cookie cutter or glass. I then pick up each ravioli and press together, ensuring they are sealed well otherwise water will get in when boiling and the filling will come out. Putting togeteher 1. 2.

Bring 2 large pots of salted water to the boil. Once boiling, cook 2 batches at a time in both pots, about 9-10 ravioli in each pot for 4mins. 3. While they are cooking, heat butter in a small frying pan. Once melted add sage leaves. Cook till the butter is slightly brown and nutty smelling and the sage leaves are crispy. But do not burn. To plate • Add ravioli to the centre of a plate (3 for an entrée) and spoon round some of the sage butter. Shave over some parmesan cheese, sprinkle over flaky sea salt and pepper. Top with micro greens in the centre. Eat immediately. Enjoy! 52

cheers

P e r i o d i c a l ly s p e a k i n g

N igh t of t h e n erds Written by John Kerr

Knitting, zombies and quantum physics are an odd mix, but for Wellington’s ongoing series of Nerd Nite evenings, it’s par for the course.

elf-described as “like the Discovery Channel, with beer!”, Nerd Nite is a series of free, fun-yet-informative talks from speakers who are ‘nerdy’, i.e. knowledgeable, about their topic, which can be pretty much anything under the sun. “It’s an opportunity for people to get together, eat and drink and listen to people talking passionately about their passion” explains Wellington Nerd Nite founder and organiser Aimee Whitcroft. “We’ve had speakers on everything from geo-engineering to the physics of pole-dancing.” The range offered at Nerd nights was evident at my first experience. Nursing a lager near the Hotel Bristol’s toasty log-burner I listened to three 20-minute talks covering wildly different topics. Up first was Tash Barneveld, knitting maestro and owner of Holland Road Yarn, who wove together the seemingly disparate strands of knitting and computer programming. She explained how the art of knitting, with its complex systems of letters and numbers to describe patterns and repeated actions, was not so different from the discipline of writing the digital code that underlies the computer applications and games so ubiquitous in the modern world. In fact, the earliest automated knitting machines used cardboard punch cards stunningly similar to those that were used in the first computers. According to Tash the two worlds collide in the form of online groups of “knitting machine hackers” who override the standard functions of knitting machines to knit scarves and sweaters with photorealistic images or live twitter feeds. Clearly far from being the territory of docile grandmothers, knitting is alive and well in the internet age. Next up was a tongue-in-cheek presentation from lawyer Rochelle Furneaux explaining how the legal system applies to the undead in the case of a zombie apocalypse. I was surprised to learn Haiti has real anti-zombification laws reflecting historical fear of voodoo practices. The night was rounded off by a crash course in quantum physics from cosmologist Prof Matt Visser, describing the bizarre behaviour of particles when you get down to smaller-than-atoms scale. In this ‘quantum’ world things are only described in probabilities until directly observed. For 54

example a particle may have a 50/50 chance of being in a given location. According to some physicists, until you actually look, the particle exists in multiple states simultaneously, both there and not there. Matt explained how this led to the mind-bending idea that each time a random sub-atomic event takes place, the universe splits between the possible outcomes. This ‘many worlds’ interpretation of quantum physics leads to the conclusion that an infinite number of universes exist, spanning every possible reality. With the audience’s minds reeling, Matt then handed over to Rachel Lenart, director of the recent Circa Theatre production of Constellations. Physics and theatre seem odd bedfellows, but I was enthralled when Rachel elaborated on how this ‘many worlds’ theory was woven into the narrative of Constellations, with the script leaping between the multiple possible realties unfolding in the relationship between a physicist and beekeeper. It was refreshing to get a more substantial, chewy dish of knowledge on topics I knew little about (or didn’t even know existed) served in a relaxed atmosphere with a good drink and non-metaphorical food. Nerd Nite has its origins in Boston in the early 2000’s. Events are regularly held around the world. In 2010 Aimee and a friend began a Wellington chapter, the first in the southern hemisphere. The bi-monthly event has hosted speakers on all manner of unusual topics such as 3D printing, ninjas, lockpicking, Angry Birds (yes, the game) and sheep shearing. There is no denying that the term ‘nerd’ has a rough history. Aimee prefers to define it as a “catchall for people who are curious and like to know about things.” The crowd had its fair share of thick-rimmed glasses and geek-chic styling, but also sported a few grey-haired types and at least a couple of kids who were definitely under the drinking age. It also had a relatively even split of guys and gals. I’m happy to be counted amongst the ‘nerds’, and will head to the next Nite. I encourage you to satisfy your inner nerd and take yourself and some friends on down to the Bristol. As the official Nerd Nite motto says, ‘be there and be square’. The next Nerd Nite kicks off at the Hotel Bristol at 6pm on Monday 22 September. See wellington.nerdnite.com for more details.

t hhee b k s e c tbiyo n ao do er

By the book

Music to your ears written by anna jackson-scott | photograph by liane mcgee

Tracy Farr’s The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt (see Capital issue 4 for a synopsis) is the only debut novel to be shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards.

arr is a part-time fiction writer who moved with her husband Craig Stevens to Wellington in 1996 after several years in Vancouver where she worked as a scientist. In New Zealand she’s been involved in botany, DNA sequencing, and studying New Zealand’s seaweed species for Te Papa. Now she’s at the Royal Society of New Zealand, mixing her scientific skills with humanities work. A science background has had two main effects on her writing. “In science I’d observe and record things,” Farr says. “That’s given a precision to my writing.” But in fiction she prefers to take the opposite approach. “I use observations as a starting point and then just go for it – making everything up,” she says. There are even a couple of mentions of seaweed for the observant reader. She says much of her of the novel came from “quite random stories from both sides of my family, magpied with shiny inspiration. I grew up hearing their stories – my dad’s mother living on a rubber plantation in Malaya; a room full of oriental treasures or the shoes her nanny had worn on her bound feet.” Three-word phrases, taken from her great grandfather’s old radio show notes, provided snippets of information with which she could imagine “what might’ve been ... I could fill in the background stories myself.” The novel centres on Perth’s Cottesloe beach where the author grew up. “It’s the one on all the postcards,” Tracy laughs. “My mother learnt to walk on that beach, so it’s really important to me. I visit the beach and think ‘I’m home now’. In lots of ways the novel is a love letter to the Perth that I left behind when I moved away.”

But Farr didn’t want Lena to be autobiographical. “I was interested in invention, in how a character is constructed, and how far you can push that character and keep her believable.” The author started out writing short stories, which she published in anthologies, the Listener, and journals such as Sport. But she couldn’t get a collection accepted – publishers wanted a novel. Making the shift took several false starts. “With Lena I found a story and a character that I thought could carry the weight of a novel,” she said. Freemantle accepted her manuscript but wanted to work with her to make some changes. “They took a risk on me – I was very lucky,” Farr says. “It was really collegial, enjoyable process. You know collaborating is going to improve the work.” But the biggest challenge has been balancing her writing with a job, her husband, and her 16-year-old son, Spencer. She works three days per week and takes writers’ residencies or visits friends’ holiday homes whenever she can. “Binge writing works for me,” she laughs. As for writers’ characteristic selfdoubt: “a little positive feedback goes a long way,” she says. “For someone to say something I’d written was good enough to put in a book was enormous encouragement.” Next up is what she’s calling “my Rock-Paper-Scissors novel. The two main characters are a geologistturned-poet (rock and paper), and a textile artist (scissors) with a complicated family. It’s been resting off to the side for the last few months, fermenting.” The winner of the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards will be announced 22 September, 2014. 57

by the book

the break-down

Re- v erse

How We Remember: New Zealanders and the First World War Edited by Charles Ferrall and Harry Ricketts Victoria University Press $40.00 By Con Flinkenberg

INTRODUCED BY FRANCES SAMUEL

Ashleigh Young is the previous writer of this column. She’s an editor at Victoria University Press, and a teacher at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her first book of poems,

Who: Two members of Victoria’s English Faculty have collected essays by 19 New Zealanders which demonstrate the many ways that New Zealanders remember The Great War. Contributors include C.K. Stead, Redmer Yska, Dave Armstrong, Chris Pugsley, Jane Tolerton and Paul Diamond.

Magnificent Moon, was published to acclaim in 2012.

My Amour I’m growing armour, my amour. Thick leather and scurf is all over my body replacing my skin, now creeping along the walls of my lungs. By degrees my breath grows numb. I wake up and my head is enveloped in tin. I slide back a little door, and there you are sleeping and I close it again. My mouth rattles at the grating. If you are to hear me I must shout everything. I clank hopelessly when we go walking, like a terrible broken engine, pistons frothing. My amour you take my rusted hand and lift it gently, not minding.

What: Fascinating range of essays, none of them reverential: New Zealanders who were prisoners of the Turks; the tribulations of the Maori Contingent; the role of Truth newspaper in the war; conscientious objectors; war artists; Maurice Shadbolt’s role in building the New Zealand Gallipoli myth; New Zealand nurses in the Great War; literature inspired by the War; a homosexual scandal; a playwright’s journey in crafting a play about the War; walking the ground at Gallipoli; interviewing the last survivors. A range of voices and topics that vastly expand and illuminate how the War affected its time and ours.

By Ashleigh Young, from Magnificent Moon (VUP, 2012)

Two quotes: “…the New Zealand Wars of the nineteenth century are arguably at least as significant in New Zealand’s history. It is doubtful whether many of those who attend ceremonies at Gallipoli or visit the war cemeteries of France have ever visited the site of the clashes at home.” “Bad-breathed, blatant, bellicose, bible-banging bunkumites are, and have been these last ten months, bellowing from pulpit and platform and in the press, for the bloody and brutal business of human butchery”

In brief September is WOW time in Wellington and this poem fits with the vibe of magical bodily transformation. The ‘I’ in the poem imagines growing all-enveloping ‘armour’, probably in response to a personal sadness or difficulty, possibly to protect against the precariousness of falling in love. Throughout, the ‘amour’ (lover) remains patient, present. There’s a wonderful tension here as hard, metallic words and sounds – rattling, clanking, shouting – meet with tenderness: a little door is slid back, a rusted hand is lifted gently.

Why read it: Two more quotes from the book: “The returned men are all dead. They no longer march in columns to the cenotaph. Their grandchildren and great-grandchildren wear their medals on 25 April”. “The past is never dead. It’s not even past” (William Faulkner).

Best lines to quote ‘I clank hopelessly when we go walking, like a terrible/ broken engine, pistons frothing.’ Why read it? It’s unexpectedly moving. Many of us can relate to the kind of feeling/armour the poet is describing.

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by the book

Making headway Headland, a digital journal start-up, has reached its Boosted campaign target “with 11 days to spare!” say founders Liesl Nunns and Laura McNeur said. Headland is a place for novice and established Kiwi writers to publish short fiction and creative nonfiction stories. “Headland, by definition, is a word that invokes bravery. We are setting out to establish an online home for literary acts of courage and create a journal that we ourselves would love to read,” McNeur and Nunns explained. The Wellingtonians are backed by “an awesome volunteer team”. Headland will be accessible through Amazon.com.

It ’s a crime Fallout (Upstart Press), published in September, is the latest in Paul Thomas’ Ihaka series. It weaves three storylines into the politics surrounding New Zealand’s confrontation with the USA over its anti-nuclear stance. Wellingtonian Thomas is a journalist with a regular sports column in the New Zealand Listener and a general column in the NZ Herald. He has published four earlier Ihaka novels.

C h i l d ’ s p l ay

A new c ha p t e r Tim Skinner says he and wife and Glenda are entering “a new chapter” since deciding to close Capital Books in early September. The lease expired on 31 August. Skinner said they’d be spending more time with their “lovely offspring”, working on the house and on his 30ft 1935 classic yacht – “it was a moment of insanity buying that!” Tim laughs. “I’d hate to be doing nothing – that would be awful.” Predictably, the low online prices of sites like Amazon and the Book Depository and the rise of ebook services made Capital Books financially unfeasible. “The lease was coming up for renewal and when we added up the costs it seemed a bit dicey,” Skinner said. He and Glenda had also had health issues. The best thing to do to combat closing bookstores is to buy locally, Skinner said. So he’s not a fan of the Kindle? “No definitely not but my kids have stuff like that,” Skinner laughs.

Joy Cowley has won the 2014 The LIANZA Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award for her novel Dunger. Judge Jane Thomsen praised Cowley’s work, finding Dunger just as remarkable as her earlier stories. Other local winners include Mandy Hager, who won the Young Adult Fiction Award for Dear Vincent, and Fifi Colston’s Wearable Wonders, which picked up the Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award. Kawata Teepa won the Te Kura Puonamu award for Nga Kaitiaki a Tama!

Crying a river Tragedy at Pike River Mine: how and why 29 men died (Awa Press) by Rebecca Macfie is the first winner of the recently established Bert Roth Award. It also won the 2014 Best First Book of Non-Fiction and was shortlisted for the New Zealand Post Book Award for Non-Fiction. Tragedy at Pike River Mine details “the mistakes that were made, safety regulations sidelined, and danger signs ignored, along the road to the Pike River Mine disaster on November 19 2010,” judges said. “Macfie reclaims the past and demonstrates the importance of labour history.”

m o n e y ta l k s

when you don’t go to work as told to John Bristed | Photograph by Rhett Goodley-Hornblow

Nelson lad, Jon Jeffry Kennedy has been involved with Wellington restaurants ever since he came here for University. Think Macavitys, Toad Hall, film catering, Mt Cook Cafe, Empire Foods, Caffe L’affare, Astoria, Pravda and Prefab.

nthusiasm, ideas, good people, luck, application, trial and error, and a lot of hard work, enabled Jeff to build up L’Affare, his restaurant and coffee business, to the extent that he was able to sell it for more than $20 million. A few years later he’s reappeared at the head of Acme and Co, a group of foodies behind Prefab, his new cafe and entertainment centre. Nowadays you’ll often see him on his scooter round town delivering the bread they bake. Figuring he must know something, we braved his famously gruff front, enjoyed a visit with him in the smart new function hall he’s built as part of Prefab, and asked him a few questions about money. Who influenced your attitude to money? I’ve always been pretty useless at money. I know it’s been said about a trillion times, but always since I was at school I’ve done things that I’ve wanted to do and kinda got paid for it. So I don’t really have an attitude towards money ...other than I don’t believe in it in a sense, because money is no different to a rock or a piece of paper, it’s what’s money is perceived as. Like if people believe in money they think it has an existence on its own and a power on its own, whereas I don’t believe it has any true value at all really, it’s just a method of exchanging goods and services and and so on. When you were a kid did you have any pocket money? Yes 2/6d and that was enough to go to the rugby game in Nelson and the movies and sit in the back row with girls.

Did you have to work for it? To sit in the back row with the girls? …. we had to sweep up the leaves and mow the lawns … How did you begin your career? I was at University doing theatre and anthropology and English and I needed to earn extra money so I washed dishes … I was an underwater ceramics engineer at the Beefeater Arms (on the Terrace) and there were a lot of dishes and pots. What did you earn? I do remember earning $100 a week which was a small fortune at another place I worked in and subsequently owned, which was Macavity’s (later renamed Toad Hall) on Plimmer Steps … I worked for the Dutch people there, Jan and Chel Calkoen. So you must have got some ideas from that time when you were washing dishes? It seemed like cooking food for people was a worthwhile unpretentious act carried out by a human. So how did you start? Because nothing much else interested me like being an accountant or ... How did you get from dishes into food? It must have been at Macavity’s where we actually started our own business opening at night, it didn’t open at night then, … we took a sublease out on the

m o n e y ta l k s

premises, so it was our own business but we paid rent for using it at night and it was very very busy.... actually I first started cooking at Bacchus (Courtenay Place) as a trainee with Casey Corrie Did you need any money to start this? Well no, we didn’t, we just signed the lease and away ….. I remember a big Bedford flat deck truck load of vegetables for the whole week was 25 dollars, and I remember entrees were 50cents and mains were a dollar for fillet steak Does money make you happy? Well everyone knows the answer to that question don’t they. No. What makes people happy is being connected with other people and doing something worthwhile, that’s what makes people happy. What’s the biggest frivolous luxury you’ve ever bought? What about a yacht? Do you have health insurance? Yes

What are you going to do when you retire? That’s not going to happen. I’ll either get run over on my scooter or have a massive coronary …. I’m never going to have the problem of going to an old people’s home. Have you ever had financial advice from anybody? Yes, I had financial advice when I owed about a million dollars about the time of the 80s crash …. I’ve been told off for saying this but the financial advice I got was to get on the first flight and leave the country. But I asked if they could give me a ten-point list of things to do to restore a company; and I looked at them, I focused on the steps and did them. It meant liquidating all your wasted stock and all your liabilities in a sense, ringing up every supplier and promise that you could pay them on a certain date and make sure you did, and also to focus on coffee and the cafe. And when we did that we never looked back ... which was quite good advice when you think about it. Do you still work as hard? … and I know the answer is yes because I hear you getting out on your scooter at 5.30 or 6 in the morning and hurtling off to work.

Do you have kiwisaver account? Yes Do you invest in the share market? No. To me it’s foolhardy to expect someone else to look after your money for you because more than likely they will lose it. Do you give to charity? Very much so, but not to people who knock on our door. Because those people are just people working for the charity …. the charity doesn’t do anything to raise charity much, they pay people to collect their money which I don’t agree with. And the people who collect the money get most of it. We do a lot of charitable functions in this hall (at PreFab) lots. In fact more than anything else.

Well because I am in a sense so stupid, work to me is ... that word is transferred into the word play... right? I play a lot. I like to play and the work is the play. I couldn’t do work in a job per se. Have you overcapitalised PreFab? I have to go to another meeting now (laughs). What single decision has had the biggest financial impact on your life? Building this inner city village that we’re sitting in now.

Welcome Susi e Ellis & Jan Browne Oxygen extends a warm welcome to Hands On property investors and tenants and are proud to have Jan and Susie join our expert team of Letting Consultants, Property Managers and Body Corporate specialists.

Susie 04 566 6976 Jan 04 566 6975

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For family and friends written by Kelly Henderson | Photography by Daniel Rose

Levi and Nadia Marychurch have turned their Porirua home into a café-inspired haven. Drawing from Wellington and Melbourne cafés, the creative couple have designed a light and relaxing space where they can enjoy the essentials: spending time with loved ones and drinking good coffee.

lthough they only entered the property market about five years ago, Levi and Nadia are no strangers to the art of home renovation. This three-bedroom house, which the couple found on TradeMe, is in fact their third fixer-upper. They purchased it two years ago, downscaling from a fivebedroom house that was just too big. Along with the fact that they are well priced, Levi and Nadia say they enjoy purchasing fixer-uppers because they can create a home that is uniquely their own. “There are lots of late nights when you're renovating, but it's always worth it,” says Nadia, a born and bred Wellingtonian. “Living in a home that has our style is important to us." When they came across this Porirua property, the couple knew it would need a lot of work. They liked the pine floors, but the rest of the house was not quite “their style”. They were up for the challenge though and, with the help of family members, they have been able to do most of the renovations themselves. Levi took on the outdoor work, doing all the landscaping himself and building a fence and a deck. Teaming up with Nadia’s dad he also built beautiful French doors and a big bookshelf. Inside the house the couple have re-done the fireplace using timber and tones of white and grey, creating a feature that adds a beautiful ambience to the lounge. 68

They also did some work on the kitchen and the bathroom, installing a new toilet and basin. They refreshed the house by painting the entire inside and outside, opting for lots of white for the interior. “We wanted to create a light, airy, calm feel for our home, with cafe vibes and interesting things to look at,” Nadia says. The couple value spending time with others, so one of their main goals when designing this house was to create a space where people could come and enjoy each other's company. They have created this desired café-feel for the kitchen area by using tiles (which Nadia put in herself), lots of white, and a spearmint colour. “The most important thing we want in our home is a feeling that you can relax and have lots of good food and coffee...Family and friends are so important, and they make a house a home.” When creating the interior style for their home Levi and Nadia were also inspired by Swedish design, its simplicity, minimalism and functionality. You can see this influence coming through in their use of white and the clean, functional layout. Functionality is a must for the busy parents who both work at ARISE Church, overseeing the nationwide youth ministry and pastoring the church's campus on the Kapiti Coast. Nadia is also the Creative Director at ARISE, a role which has seen her doing stage and venue

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bought it. Now we have people wanting to know where they can find one the same.” The couple try to leave all their secondhand pieces in original condition, meaning this filing cabinet is still sporting its $25 price, which is written on the top in vivid. Along with second hand stores like Trash Palace, Nadia also searches TradeMe for interesting furniture and home ware items. One of her favourite finds is an old organ. “It only cost $5, and it still works,” she says. Another of the couple's best finds, a replica Eames chair, was spotted in the most unexpected of places. “I had been really wanting to find an Eames chair, but I hadn't come across anything,” explains Nadia. “I kept hunting and then one day we took the kids to play at a park and there was this replica chair sitting abandoned under a tree.” The couple’s dining table was originally an old study desk which Levi and Nadia were given as a wedding gift, they took the drawers out and have been using it as a table ever since. Paired with mismatched chairs, this dining room set adds another element to the café-style in the kitchen. Now that all the renovations are complete in this Porirua home, the Marychurches are gearing up for their next step. The creative couple couldn’t stand still for too long, so they recently sold this home and purchased another fixer-upper in the Hutt Valley; this time an old villa. “We have always wanted to do up an old villa, so we're really excited,” Nadia says. They move in late October and are looking forward to their next renovation journey.

design for many of the church's conferences and events. She says this role has helped sharpen her eye for detail, a skill she has also been able to use to craft the aesthetic for their home. “She has the vision and I apply the elbow grease,” says Levi. As the parents of two young children (six year old Ryder and four year old Mika), Levi and Nadia want to keep their house child-friendly, while still looking good. The kids have their own area to play, but the couple say that just like any family, their home does not always look pristine. They try to be relaxed about this and live by the motto that everyone in the family “does their piece” when it comes to cleaning up. They also enjoy giving their kids a presence in their home and have framed one of Ryder’s drawings which hangs near the kitchen. The couple have incorporated interesting secondhand finds into their interior design. When they’re shopping for home wares the couple’s go-to stores include Nood and IKEA, but Nadia also has a talent for finding beautiful second hand pieces. She has perfected the art of mixing the new with the old to create an interesting character for their home. One of the standout secondhand finds in the Marychurch home is a beautiful old-school filing cabinet that is made out of solid wood. “This is my favourite piece in our home,” Nadia says. “I found it at Trash Palace for $25 – it was being sold as wood. Back when I found it filing cabinets weren't popular, so we had to explain to a lot of people why we

good sport

A race for equal opportunity written by Kelly Henderson | Photography by Benjamin and Elise

Men and women compete on the same playing field in few sports, but in motor racing, Wellington’s Chelles Roberts is holding her own. And she takes pride in being able to “do it herself”.

“I

t's a highlight for me to know that when I have placed well in an event, I can say I did that myself,” although she says, her partner (a mechanic) enjoys helping her out. A member of Harbour Capital Car Club, Chelles has been involved in motorsport for almost 19 years. She’s currently based in Wainuiomata but grew up on a farm in Taranaki and has always been around cars and machinery. “My Dad was a mechanic and he taught my sister and me to do basic maintenance on cars – oil changes, changing brake pads – enough so we could be independent,” she explains. “Although no-one else in my family races, it seemed fairly natural in some ways that I might get into the sport.” She decided to give motorsport a go when she was in her early 20's. “I was watching a stage of the Taranaki Tarmac Rally and there was a woman driving. I turned to my partner and said, ‘I can do that!’” It wasn’t just a throw-away comment; soon her partner had built her a race car and she was entering her first-ever event, a hill climb. A hill climb is done on a strip of road that is shut off by an official MotorSport New Zealand Car Club. Here the competitors essentially drive as fast and as

hard as they can from one end to the other. “When I got to my first hill climb I was wondering what on earth I thought I was doing,” Chelles laughs. “I was so scared that my legs were shaking and I stalled on the start line. Once I actually did it though, I realised that this is what I wanted to do.” As time has gone on, this enthusiastic amateur has become more and more passionate about the sport, pushed by her competitive and independent nature to constantly improve. For her, the pleasure is both the speed and the test of skill and talent involved in motorsport. “It becomes a bit obsessive,” she explains. “If you're competitive, you do an event and you find yourself thinking, ‘I could do better’…even though you're competing against others, you're also competing against yourself to try and improve what you did last time.” Chelles is currently racing a Mitsubishi RS Mirage 1996 which she has had for nine years. It was imported from Japan from the Mirage Cup Series and it’s also road legal. Although she would find it very hard to part from her Mirage, Chelles says her dream race car is a “naturally aspirated (no turbo)” Japanese car. Her dream daily driver car is a 1969 Dodge Challenger, and (if money wasn’t an obstacle) her ultimate dream car is an Audi R8 “with all the fancy options”.

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Along with changing perceptions of women racers, Chelles wants to change the thought that anyone who is involved in motorsport is a “boy racer”. Chelles says all the car clubs she has been involved with also work hard at this by ensuring that everything is done legally and safely. Even when you’re racing safely, things that can still go wrong. While she has been fortunate not to have had any accidents, she is very serious about keeping herself protected, having all the best safety equipment including a roll cage and one of the top race seats in the world, (made here in Wellington by Racetech who export their racecar seats all over the world). Drivers must wear fireproof overalls and helmets, and Chelles chooses to add a neck brace and gloves, saying she does everything she can to keep herself safe. Keeping safe is also about maintaining your car to ensure it’s in the best condition. “If you maintain it properly, generally things don't have catastrophic failures ,” says Chelles. “You find yourself changing the oil every 2000kms, changing your brake pads often. You’re putting your car into such an extreme circumstance, so you have to be aware of these things.” Chelles believes Wellington is one of the best places in New Zealand for motor sport. “I have lived in Taranaki, Auckland and Wellington, and Wellington has the most active club sport scene; it’s the capital of club sport in New Zealand.” There can be up to 50 racing from the four Wellington motor racing clubs plus a few out of towners who compete at major Wellington events including the annual Port Road Street Sprint in Seaview (Chelles’ favourite event), the Mount Victoria Hill Climb and the Shelly Bay Street Sprint. Then after all the racing is over and done, there’s the social side. Chelles loves it all.

Although motorsport can be an expensive hobby, in her experience it’s completely up to the individual how much money they want to invest. “It can be costly, but I choose a budget of $5,000 per year and once I hit that, that's it,” she says. Outside of racing Chelles has her own photography business, and also loves to travel, “so I don’t want to spend all my money on my car!” A couple of highlights of her 20-year involvement in motorsport have been winning Rookie of the Year when she was at the Hutt Valley Car Club, and placing in the top five in a 60-lap endurance race. Chelles has also gained a lot of satisfaction from being involved in the organisational side. As a Motorsport New Zealand Clerk of Course she is qualified to run events. Many of the events she’s organised have been aimed at helping younger people learn to drive and get involved in motorsport. Keen to see more women enter a male-dominated sport, she is also on a committee headed by New Zealand’s number one woman rally driver, Emma Gilmour, which promotes women in motorsport. “When I started I was pretty much the only woman there with my own car,” she says. “The others would be the wife or the girlfriend who might drive their husband or partner's car because they were made to. In the car club I was in I think there were three of us who raced because we wanted to.” Being one of so few women back then meant that Chelles experienced her fair share of stereotyping. “I had one gentleman tell me that I needed to go home and cook for my husband,” But over the years she has noticed a real change. Now there are many more women getting into the sport, and starting at a younger age. “It's so much better now. Lots of men actually encourage you and think it's fantastic that women are racing. The attitudes in general in the social world have improved so much…we can actually get younger women in and they don't feel so threatened by this male attitude any more.”

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Kia kaha written By Mark Sainsbury | Photography by Rhett Goodley-hornblow

Once upon a time a review of a Kia would begin with a concession.

bit like that unathletic kid giving it all in the school sports. “Good effort” and “good on you for trying”, all that nonsense. That’s because ‘Korean” cars (as we perhaps now look at product from China, and once did with Japan’s) used to be seen as triers … the game little fellas that were doing their best to emulate the big boys. That situation has been over for some time. Kia is now mainstream and has long been long prodding at the lucrative family small car and suv market. And this year the US Road & Travel magazine named Kia’s Cadenza (Optima in New Zealand) as its International Car of the Year at the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It all goes back to Kia nabbing German Peter Schreyer as their chief design officer back in 2007. He drove a hard bargain, “Yes I’ll do it but build me a state of the art design studio in in Frankfurt to match the ones you have in the home country”. He’s the guy who has given Kia that signature look with the bowtie style grille (any issues with that Chevrolet?) that is mirrored in design cues – the front screen for instance – throughout the range. The Koreans love this guy so much he was not only appointed one of Kia’s presidents but given design oversight for both Kia and Hyundai. He is the first non-Korean to wield such influence in the conglomerate. Yes, yes, yes, I hear you say history’s great what about the product. Here’s another game-changer. The hot hatch market, initially dominated by the Golf GTI, has been around for years, so it says something about a company’s confidence when it steps into that ubercompetitive market. Peter Schreyer’s latest offering is Kia’s version of a hot hatch. The Pro_cee’d GT. Why a car needs apostrophes and underscores I simply don’t know but Kia’s most potent hatchback ever on our roads is certainly a

thing of beauty. Built in Kia’s Slovakia plant it arrives here as a three-door hatch – the five door is not yet an option in this market. The attention to detail in the design is impressive and so, as we have come to expect, is the build quality. Equally impressive is the chat you get when parking it up. Burly males give it the thumbs up as it certainly looks the biz. On the road it lives up to the looks but doesn’t exude the raw power you might sense from some of its European rivals. Its 1.6 lite turbocharged engine delivers 150 kw (that’s 200 hp!) and 265 Nm of torque - plenty there but this is less “boy racer” more “competitive adult”. It’s designed to have some fun in but also be a practical daily drive. In fact it’s been the daily drive for Matt Foot, (son of Brendan, the Kia principal in Wellington) to such an extent that it’s relegated Matt’s Porsche to the garage. And before you remind me that dealers always spin some kind of yarn like that, I volunteer with his wife Karen at the SPCA and so was able to subtly check the facts on that one and indeed right now it’s Kia 1 Porsche 0. It comes of course with all the bells and whistles and the Recaro front seats really enhance the sporty characteristics. They give good support without being so grippy they annoy you. It also has a neat feature that changes the whole instrument panel. It replaces the analogue speedometer with a digital one with a torque meter that tells you when you’re in the sweet spot. That is actually quite useful because the engine is so civilized, or perhaps my other cars so “uncivilized”, that you hang around in the lower gears for longer than necessary until you learn to trust the pull it has higher up the gears. It is of course only available as a manual. So in here’s a beautifully made nicely handling sports car you can drive every day. It’ll cost you $43,990 + on-road costs. 77

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what wou l d De i rdre d o? Got a problem? Maybe we can help. Welly Angel Deirdre Tarrant, mother of three boys, founder of the former Footnote Dance Company and teacher of dance to generations of Wellingtonians, will sort out your troubles. Sophisticated and grey I notice Wellington women ‘of a certain age’ very often have their hair in a classic, often grey, bob. Is this a special Wellington look? And do you think long hair is aging on women over 40? Newcomer, Northland Wellington women are ageless! I have never noticed the hairdo thing although we do get told we wear too much black but that can be put down to our consummate sense of sophistication. I really don't have an opinion on this - a hairdo is your own long or short, and ageing is out of fashion so it is all about how you feel .

p.s. I have a classic bob and have had the same fabulous hairdresser cutting my hair for thirty years. It feels great.

Gen Y manners My grandchildren come to visit and I love to have them, but I find their table manners appalling. My husband says correcting them is not our business. I feel part of our role as grandparents should be to help them develop suitable social behaviour. What is your view? Uptight, Kelburn Enjoy them, manners and all. If they are at your place and you feel compelled to correct them then go for it, but I am with your husband on this, it is not your responsibility. You do not mention their ages so am assuming they are small so they will grow up and will probably come right? Social conditioning is a marvellous thing.

A brave face Is plastic surgery just the new version of braces and straightening of teeth? My daughter is proposing to have a facelift at 40 and wants us to help pay for it in lieu of Christmas and

birthday presents. We don’t like the idea and don’t want to assist. She says it’s the same as when we paid for braces for her teeth many years ago. Are we being oldfashioned and even if so surely a gift should be something we can also take pleasure in. What do you think? Unwilling, Wairarapa This is an intriguing argument. I have researched this with friends and it has resulted in some lively dialogue. It is you giving the gift to your daughter and it is your choice and I think you should be happy about what you give. This is clearly not the case and your daughter is 40 so plenty old enough to fund her own facelift if that is what she wants. I would stick to your guns and explain you are unhappy and find another solution for the birthday. I don't think you need to take pleasure in the gift necessarily but certainly you should take pleasure in the giving! If you’ve got a burning question for Deirdre, email angel@capitalmag.co.nz with Capital Angel in the subject line.

WELLY ANGEL

b a b y, B a b y

Se e ks perf ec t spac es by melody thomas

They say there’s two sides to every story and that’s certainly been the case of our most recent adventure in parenting. I’m writing from the U.S. where Sadie, Baby Daddy and I have spent the past three weeks, having decided to get overseas before our 18-month old hit the full-airfare mark, and with grandparents in Oregon feeling seriously deprived of granddaughter cuddles.

used to love flying. I’d watch five movies in a row, down a couple of beers, overshare with my lucky neighbour and pass out thanks to the help of half a sleeping pill. I’m so far down the travel-freak spectrum I actually enjoy plane food - I don’t care if breakfast is dry eggs, rubbery sausage and a stale chunk of bread so long as it’s compartmentalised and someone takes my tray away after. This trip was different - 24 hours with no down-time and a baby that refuses to sleep, go to her Dad or even glue herself to a screen will destroy anything you love. And it’s from that state of half-dead depravity that our holiday was launched - the holiday of two sides. On the one hand it’s been glorious. Our first week in San Fran was spent exploring the Mission and watching in amazement as our super-social daughter befriended every jaded person on the BART train system - handing out tiny invisible things and even grabbing the butt of a distinguished silver fox who I’m sure thought I was using my baby as an excuse for a fondle. From there we travelled north to a wedding on a ranch in a town aptly named Forestville, where Sadie woke every morning with a huge smile, requesting a trip to feed the sheep and wander through the community garden picking raspberries, cherry tomatoes and chasing hummingbirds. On to Lake Tahoe for hikes to alpine meadows and the ever-elusive hunt for the bears we were warned about daily, then to Oregon to lounge in 30 degree heat while our beautiful nude buddha played in the sprinkler. Finally, the grandest adventure so far - five nights camping in Yosemite National Park, staring in awe at giant granite cliffs shooting straight up from the lush valley, sitting quietly to watch herds of muscled, antlered elk and swimming at every given opportunity. All the activity brought on a sudden development spurt and real words begun to emerge among Sadie’s nonsense syllables, each reflecting our new surroundings - in San Fran: bagel, hola and taco, in Tahoe: beach, chipmunk and squirrel,

in Yosemite: marmot, deer and mountain. We’re testament to the fact that babies can fit in around your life and that you don’t need to say goodbye to your old self when a little one comes along. But that’s just one side to the story. One the other hand we are walking wrecks, only able to push through the fog of extreme sleep deprivation and actually connect with these amazing experiences after three or four cups of good, strong coffee. We have limited time here and are reluctant to squander it so every hour is filled with another activity. From Sadie’s delightful new wake-up time of 5:30am, it’s a blur of trains, sights, lunch, coffee, more coffee and walking, walking, walking. When she finally goes to sleep we find ourselves unable to do the same, our exhaustion exacerbated by an inability to get to bed before midnight. The dizzying heights of adventure and freedom from work and Wellington winter are matched by extreme lows that have me on the verge of collapse and swearing off the second baby we’d begun to talk about. It’s so intense that I have to actively remind myself to enjoy this experience, because all too soon l’l be back home and wishing I’d been more appreciative of the journey. When you tell people you’re going travelling with a baby they all say the same thing - “Oh it’s so great! Different, but great!” They never elaborate on what the ‘different’ means but I’ve figured it out. For me, travel has always been equal parts exhilarating and exhausting, restorative and draining, relaxing and stressful. Travelling with a baby is still all of these things, but the balance is tipped less in your favour. This has easily been one of the best trips of our lives, but I have no expectation of returning refreshed. If anything I’m going to need a holiday to recover from this holiday, but lucky for us there are a couple of sets of Grandparents in New Zealand missing a certain little girl like crazy, and an escape shouldn’t be too hard to come by. They can consider this column an official request. 81