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MADE IN WELLINGTON

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for awesome or October. Even though it’s Spring here and no Autumn mists in which to trick or treat, celebrating Halloween is established now. I know, I know it’s a ‘ghastly American sugar fuelled trip,’ but, as I may have said before, I’m all for building more festive community events into our calendar. If we want community spirit let’s develop it. We at Capital like birds, as you may have noticed already with our monthly What the Flock column, and this month we are celebrating with our own cover bird ready for All Hallows Eve. Also this month Iona Pannett, a hard-working and committed Green councillor, gives us an overview of the Basin problem, or is it one? Beth Rose alerts us to a growing competitive sport, free diving and the perils that lurk in the deep, while Melody Thomas looks at the rise of upcycling and how we have taken to it with gusto. New contributor Jamie Melbourne-Hayward takes a milky look from Cuba Street to Cuba. My thanks to the French Embassy for the opportunity to publish the delightful reminiscence of writer Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut, former resident of Randell Cottage. By the time of our next issue we ought to have a new government in place and life in the capital will resume its usual rhythm, political gossip still swirling but without quite the same fervour. Our sales and readership numbers are growing month by month and we are enjoying the progress. A cafe copy was spotted being eagerly read in Riverton (deep South) recently. Questioned by our visiting locals, the proprietor said he had lived in Wellington and had organised a regular supply for himself and customers. We are delighted with your feedback and comments. Please keep them coming. I look forward to hearing from you. Alison Franks Editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz

CONTENTS

NO. 8 HA R DW I R E D INTO THE GENES Big ups for upcycling

SQUEEZE ON YO U R LU N G S

COUNTLESS TREASURES

Oxygen is over-rated for Chris Marshal

Dreams of a distant land

LETTERS

THE FORREST CANTINA

CHATTER

LIQUID NEWS

NEWS SHORTS

PERIODICALLY SPEAKING

BY THE NUMBERS

BY THE BOOK

NEW PRODUCTS

HOUSE

TALES OF THE CITY

ABROAD

OPINION

TORQUE TALK

CULTURE

WELLY ANGEL

WHAT THE FLOCK

COMMUNITY NOTICES

BABY BABY

THE ART OF AQUIRING

DIRECTORY

FASHION

CALANDER

EDIBLES

TOP DOG

CONTRIBUTORS

S TA F F Alison Franks

Managing editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz

Lyndsey O’Reilly Haleigh Trower

Campaign coordinators sales@capitalmag.co.nz

John Bristed

General factotum john@capitalmag.co.nz

Shalee Fitzsimmons

Art direction & design shalee@capitalmag.co.nz

Rhett GoodleyHornblow

Design design@capitalmag.co.nz

Craig Beardsworth

Factotum

Anna Jackson-Scott

Journalist

Gus Bristed

Distribution

R H E T T G O O D L E YHORNBLOW

JAMIE MELB OURNEH A Y WA R D

D esig n er

Jou rna li st

A born and breed Wellingtonian, Rhett is one of our two in-house designers. He is the Robin to our Batman but insists he drives the Batmobile. Rhett is passionate about growing Wellington and is a strong believer in giving opportunities and never restricting yourself. He’s often found cooking paella, fishing for tarakihi and cutting mean shapes.

After a three-year hiatus in Barcelona, where he moonlighted as a tour guide, Jamie has returned to Wellington. His writing has been published in Spanish and English, in Oceania and Europe.

STOCKISTS PHOTOGRAPH BY SALLY YOUNG

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.

THANKS Madeleine Wong | Bex McGill | Katy Williamson | Fran King | Emily Elliot

BETH ROSE Journa l ist Beth loves writing about people and issues. Relocating from London in 2011, she now spends most of the year writing in Wellington and the rest of the time travelling the country in a six-metre converted bus, finding out lots of interesting stuff from the boltholes of NZ.

E VA N G E L I N E D A V I S Ph oto g r apher Evangeline Davis, currently majoring in photography at Massey University, is entranced with humanity and the natural world. Her work explores the beauty in the mundane, the ordinary and the overlooked, in her practice of photography. Evangeline adds whimsy and empathy to her subjects by layering her own fantasies on to the images created.

LETTERS

WINNING SCALPS AND EXPOSING SCANDAL

BEER AND UNIONS

PONSONBY POSEURS As an aspiring hyper-caffeinated Ponsonby poseur myself, I take umbrage at Mr Perigo’s call to bar folk like me from voting. Mind you, I’m right behind his “political literacy test” to stop *others* from voting.The bibulous and sesquipedalian for a start.

I was fascinated to read about Nerd Nite in your latest issue #14. It sounds a very interesting evening and great to hear about something I had no idea happened here in this city. I am really enjoying the view of the region that you present.

Thanks for another great issue. Little Beer Quarter definitely gets my vote. Always a pleasure to look in and sample their wares when visiting Wellington. And as Stacey Jane Walsh intimates, few places can rival Wellington for such a well-connected strip of gorgeous craft beer establishments. More power to them all. I was ready to be outraged however when I read Mr Perigo calling the education bureaucracy and the teacher unions “child molesters of the mind.” But it brought back to mind reading his mentor Ayn Rand equating progressive educators with a medieval sect of child thieves called the Comprachicos, a group of barbarians who stole children from their parents to sell them to circuses as freaks – but not before applying the “medical procedures” to them necessary to turn a healthy and beautiful child into an ugly and laughable freak. The methods of these butchers was hidden, but their results appeared right out in the open, right on the child’s face if that was where the torture was applied. The reverse is true of the education bureaucracy and the teacher unions today: their methods are right out there in the open, but their results are hidden; the traces are left only in the children’s minds that are left stunted where once they might have grown wings.I expect that was what he was meaning.

N Smith, Otaki

Al Sirilan, Epsom, Auckland

The dirtiness of politics alluded to by Linday Perigo in your last issue, #14, may be easily explained by observing that there are very few genuine ideas separating the fundamental positions of major NZ political parties. And so, when a battle of ideas is not possible, what results instead is a battle of men and women. A battle not of the ideologies that guide these parties in their use and abuse of state power, but a battle only about winning scalps and exposing scandal. No wonder our elections, and our politics, are as sordid as they are. Martin McAtamney, One Tree Hill, Auckland

MR PERIGO So Mr Perigo is still alive then? He made some sound points, without going overboard. A poll among my voting-age children confirms that very few of their friends have much interest in this election. And yes, few of them can tell you what ‘communistic’ is. We reasonable parents now just tell our children who to vote for to save them the effort and the country from ruin. Sam Pierson, Auckland

NERD NITE

Joe Kelly, Auckland

WE NEED TO MOVE. OK so we’ve all had time to absorb the rejection of the ill-fated basin flyover plans. The idea was to smooth the move around the basin. There seems to be no alternative. How can they refuse it without suggesting a reasonable alternative to improve the traffic flow. It’s just another half-assed decision. Years ago, the council got browbeaten out of running its Vivian St end to the motorway in a tunnel, so cross traffic wouldn’t be impeded. Now it’s the Basin. In the meantime traffic just grinds slower. There must be some visionary whizz out there who can dream up a plan which will appease the powers that be, and the nay-sayers, and keep the people and businesses who want to keep moving, moving. Please stick your head up,whizz. P Burton, Heretaunga Letters to editor@capitalmag.co.nz with subject line Letters to Ed, or scan our QR code to email the editor directly.

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C HAT T E R

HELLO HA L L OWS

INK INC.

Instead of being a curmudgeon this Halloween and frightening trick and treaters with childhood obesity statistics....(am I projecting here?)...why don’t you educate the sugar-craving urchin at your door with these useful facts. Make them work for their Minties. • Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows’ Eve, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It precedes the day in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering martyrs, saints (hallows), and departed believers. • While some scholars think Halloween has Christian origins others argue it has pagan roots – most likely being influenced by Celtic harvest feasts. • Halloween’s first recorded reference appears around 1745. “All Hallows’ Eve” appears in 1556. • Jack-o’-lanterns were originally used to ward off evil spirits. • In Scotland and Ireland trick or treating is referred to as “guising”.

SIMON MORSE: What led you to getting a tattoo? I love art. I’ve been drawing since year dot. Eventually getting a tattoo, or 20, was pretty inevitable. Why did you choose the design? I didn’t really choose it. I’m a huge fan of Destroy Troy’s work so I let him choose whatever he was in the mood for doing that day.

TO OT Y DUT Y

Family – for it or against? The bold lines, sharp teeth and green eyes scare my toddler a tad. Tho she loves how it looks like it has been drawn with crayons.

Do you toot in the Mt Vic tunnel? some say it is a tribute to local woman Phyllis Simmons was buried alive in the fill by her lover − a tunnel labourer named George Coates. He was hanged at Mt Crawford prison in 1931.

Where is the tattoo & why? On my arm. It’s there to keep the other animal tattoos company.

C HAT T E R

SPEAKING IN TONGUES

WELLY WORDS

BRO CCOLI BATH With the proliferation of good restaurants in Wellington we have become a discerning bunch when it comes to food and service. One Wellyworder with a mini-me was recently served broccoli in the burbs. When she pointed out to the waitron that the liberal (and unsolicited) sprinkling of chilli would not wash with a fouryear-old she was presented with a glass of water so she could wash off the chilli at the table. Lucky it wasn’t undercooked.

ET TU HIPSTER? And while we’re on the subject of food service, another Wellyworder wonders if the preponderance of hipster waitrons, who think ignoring you elevates the hipness of the establishment, is on the rise here. Courtenay Place harbours at least two restaurants where waiters were too busy chatting up girls to come over with menus and water.

October heralds several celebrations – Halloween, Diwali and of course the International Day of the Rural Woman on the 15th (surely we all know about that one?). Here at Capital HQ we feel it’s our duty to keep you on your toes linguistically so we’ve collected some useful sayings in various languages that you can bandy about in polite conversation. Shubha Deepawali – Happy Diwali (Hindi)

Maim ēka āma las’sī kī jarūrata hai krpayā – I need a mango ំ lassi please (Hindi) Tinihanga ranei hamani! – Trick or treat! (Maori) I’ll have ya guts for garters – You’ll be in trouble (English)

NIGHT MARCH Early film footage and photographs from Wellington’s World War I war effort will be projected onto the St James Theatre, Shed 1 and 147 Cuba St at night time on Oct 16 – 18. 100 years ago to the day 10 ships left Wellington carrying over 8000 soldiers. The free multimedia event is curated by the City Council with help from Film Archive, Te Papa and Archives New Zealand.

FLOTSAM AND DISSENSION The surfing Community in Lyall Bay are worried about the possible airport extension. The jury (and tide) is out thus far about how reclaiming land will affect the swell. Several years ago the community looked into building an artificial reef to improve surfing conditions but it was scuppered because of a lack of funding. Expect support to ebb.

WELLINGTON GIVING US THE RUNAROUND

KATE KEEPS US SAFE

Registrations for Round the Bays 2015, Sport Wellington’s annual fun run, open 3 November 2014. The event will take place on Sunday, 22 February 2015. This year’s event of more than 14,000 people raised over $50,000 for the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research.

Kate Sheppard is doing us another service. The woman, who helped us to become the first country in the world where women had the right to vote in 1893, has replaced the ‘green man’ at eight intersections near Parliament, helping keep Wellingtonians safe while crossing the road. Good woman.

NEWS SHORTS

R U N WAY TA K E S OFF

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT The development of Wellington’s public spaces is (fittingly) in the hands of the public. The Wellington Civic Trust hopes for plenty of public engagement in “Avenues and Oases”, a free seminar on possible improvements to Taranaki Street and Kent and Cambridge Terraces. Gaylene Preston, Wellington filmmaker and one of the key speakers, believes the key is creating sheltered spaces. “It doesn’t matter how beautiful a space is, if there’s a cold wind whistling through you won’t find me there.” Courtyards are one option she raised. 18 October, Rutherford House

HURRICANES Injuries haven’t stopped Wellington rugby players Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Reggie Goodes and Ardie Savea from rejoining the Hurricanes for the 2015 Investec Super Rugby squad. The trio have all committed to the Hurricanes until the end of the 2016 season. Goodes was concussed earlier in the year. Toomaga-Allen injured his knee, and Savea his shoulder .

Wellington airport have launched an information booklet, campaign, and website to outline the benefits of a runway extension to the public. Construction of the 300 metre extension into Lyall Bay would begin in 2016 if approved. The campaign focuses on the economic impact of the extension, such as the time saved by direct international flights, and the number of people who would travel on these flights each day.The economic impact report by consultancy EY says the direct economic benefit to the Wellington region would up to $684 million over 40 years. Airport chief executive Steve Sanderson says “analysis shows that travellers flying direct from Wellington to Asia and North America could save up to 33% of the time spent to make these trips via Auckland.” The benefits include an increase in international travellers and cites a 120% increase in Chinese visitors to New Zealand since the service between Auckland and Guangzhou was introduced in 2011. As part of the campaign, notable Wellington figures are shown holding signs in support of the extension, such as Weta Workshop founder Sir Richard Taylor, Vice Chancellor and Chancellor of VUW Professor Grant Guildford and Ian McKinnon. The Chamber of Commerce also endorses the extension. The airport will submit Environmental Impact Assessments as part of the consent application as it progresses. Mr Sanderson says the airport has support from the region, businesses, the Chamber of Commerce and tertiary institutions in the city rather than on opposition.

S ENCETW IO S NS H HOE R A TDSE R

INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Zaria Forman

Design symposium Semi-Permanent turns the Embassy Theatre into a hive of creative energy 5-6 November as it returns to Wellington. It’s a new round of animation, advertising, graphics and illustration seminars and workshops. Wellington’s 2014 input comes from RESN and Clemenger BBDO. It’s almost 10 years since design firm RESN last took part in Semipermanent, in the company’s first year of operation, RESN’s Rik Campbell says. They’ll be sharing their adventure tales and battle-scars from the intervening years – “not for the squeamish or faint of heart!”

STREETSCAPING Wellington CBD streets will be upgraded over the next several months, with the addition of trees, light displays, street furniture, pocket parks and cycle facilities to the streetscape. $15 million has been approved to develop streets such as Eva and Leeds streets, Bond Street, Masons Lane, the Cable Car tunnels, lower Cuba Street and Victoria Street. Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says the projects build on Wellington’s compactness and walkability.

TONGUETIED Research student Ranui Baillie is part of a Wellington team that has identified a special type of tongue cancer cells. The team at Gillies McIndoe Research Institute (GMRI), led by Dr Swee Tan, believe the cells to be the driving force behind the progression of cancer. “The cells have been shown to be resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so if we can find a way to control these cells we could radically improve patient outcomes.” The 24-year-old research student is completing her medical degree. “I feel privileged to be given the opportunity to participate in research with such high calibre scientists at this early stage of my training.”

BY THE NUMBERS

PLIMMER’S MARK

1930

350,000

year Charles Plimmer died and bequeathed the income from his estate to Wellington City Council for use in beautifying bays, beaches and reserves miles, radius from the Wellington post office in which projects must fall in order to be considered for funding average number of dollars given per year to projects around the city

FEELING TEST Y?

14,000

approximate number of students preparing to sit exams in Wellington in levels 1-3 and scholarship in November

14,000

approximate number of students starting to feel nervous

120

subjects being examined, from Drama to Earth and Space Science

number of high schools in the Wellington/Kapiti region

days of exams, sweaty palms, jitters and late-night cramming

YA CAN’ T BEAT A TRUMPET

8 26

number of times the NZSO will perform their Bold Worlds programme around the county in October (once in Wellington) age that imported soloist Håkan Hardenberger started studying the trumpet number of brass instruments on stage during Sinfonietta by Janacek (that means it’s gonna be LOUD)

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

number of sailings per day that the East West Ferry makes between Queen’s Wharf and Day’s Bay

minutes to get there (or 30 if the ferry diverts to Matiu Somes Island)

11 90

cost in $$ one way

BE MY GUEST

232

number of guest rooms at the Intercontinental Hotel

languages spoken by the 215 hotel employees

3920

number of times the new revolving door turns in a day

light bulbs in the new hand-made chandelier in the lobby

21,000

muffins made by the in-house pastry team every year (that’s roughly 1 billion calories)

Compiled by Craig Beardsworth

duration in minutes of the Harbour Explorer which runs on fine weekends (It stops at Seatoun, Day’s Bay, Somes, Petone, them back to Queen’s Wharf)

GNARLY DIWALI

number of years Diwali Festival of Lights has been officially celebrated in Wellington

20,000

people expected to attend over the course of the day (19th October)

number of food/general stalls (and enough mango lassi to SWIM in!)

minute fireworks display to finish the festival at 9.45pm

CALLING ALL ARTISTS, HISTORIANS, PERFORMERS & ACTIVISTS Thistle Hall is offering a FREE space over the 2015 ANZAC period for arts, performance and public discussion to present historical and contemporary views from the peacemakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; perspective. To find out more or make a proposal, contact Treason Seditio by 1 November 2014 at office@thistlehall.org.nz or on 04-3843088. www.thistlehall.org.nz/projects/ww100.html

W W W. T H I S T L E H A L L . O R G . N Z

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TA L E S O F T H E C I T Y

DRESS TO E XC E S S

MORNING FIX Café Caribe in Brooklyn

WA L K

Wind Turbine reserve

GOOD EATS The Corner Store

P IC N IC

Shorland Park Island Bay

G E T AWAY Cook Islands

KATE RAILTON-JACKS, manager of the Costume Cave talks to CRAIG BEARDSWORTH as she heads into one of the busiest times of the year – Halloween.

“Y

ou must have the best job in the world” and “you must dress up all the time” are two remarks Kate Railton-Jacks hears a lot. She thinks she does have the best job but only gets to dress up half the time. She’s too busy dressing people. “Put simply, I make people’s dreams (or nightmares!) come true. I dress people in costume, for Halloween, film, theatre, functions, parties, help schools and charities, and basically try to instil the belief that joy, fun, and happiness comes from within.” Railton-Jacks has a Diploma in Photography and is currently “plodding” extramurally through a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English and minoring in Social Anthropology. “I’m lucky as my family and work team are so supportive when I get writer’s block or procrastinate by looking at pictures of small fluffy animals online. Writing is a creative outlet and I’m working on a series of children’s stories at the moment. Whether I’ll ever get around to publishing them is another story!” Work involves dealing with customers and physical work. Kate is up and down ladders all day, lifting masses of fabric and clothing. Sewing skills are also important − there is always something on the wish-list that needs to be created. “When I get excited I’m like one of those inflatable wavy-arm balloon people outside car yards, describing the next costume I think we ‘need’ to make, or I’ll draw incomprehensible squiggles on a napkin with swatches of material safety-pinned to it…and my staff seem to understand me!” Recent creations include an Edwardian bustle for Katherine Mansfield Birthplace, Elsa from Disney movie Frozen, a Tree and next on the list are a goose and Daenerys from Game of Thrones. “Lobby (the lobster) is

our most popular costume. He parties every weekend. I get some odd requests sometimes, someone asked for a toothbrush the other day...” With two-step children and a menagerie at home (two cats − Ole Man Rocket and Vlad the Impaler, a free range bunny called The Baron, two fish and Cheech the Chihuahua) Kate doesn’t feel the need to wander too far from Brooklyn, and is a self-confessed homebody who keeps things local. “My husband Phil and I will go to the Corner Store, the Penthouse, or the local chippy and park up at Island Bay if we have a date night.” Sundays involve pancakes in PJs around the kitchen table and piling into the car to spend time at Shorland Park. “I love Brooklyn and Island Bay as it feels like you’re away from the city in just a few minutes. I always miss the morepork and tui when we go away. They are our background music when we sit on our deck.” If she can wrench herself away from Wellington then the Cook Islands is the perfect destination. “Being on Island time is a great way to be. I love Atiu. The island has many caves to explore, a rich history, amazing bush and there are so many beautiful birds.” When she was last there the power shut off at 11pm and the main entertainment was a disco in the hall on Saturday night. Living and breathing clothes all day long rubs off on Kate’s dress sense. She describes it as “Cave Couture”...an eclectic mix of op shop, vintage, costume and comfy and her mood. “I love jewellery, but can’t wear too much at work, I’m terrible at catching things on coat hangers! I found an earring in the girdles box the other week that I had lost two years ago! It was a good day.”

Photography by Benjamin & Elise 21

OPINION

FLYOVER: WE NEED PLAN B WRITTEN BY IONA PANNETT | ILLUSTRATED BY CLOUD COMMISSION

Consent was declined last month for the proposed Basin Reserve flyover. Councillor Iona Pannett, a longstanding opponent of the flyover, has taken an optimistic stance regarding possible appeals (final date September 26) and suggests the roading issues could be resolved.

he Board of Inquiry appointed by the Government to hear the case for the Basin Reserve flyover was supposed to deliver only one decision and that decision was a yes. The decision of the board to decline consent surprised many; obviously, as it became apparent there was no back-up plan. If the matter is kept out of the courts (at the time of writing, no decision had been made public on this point), it is possible that a realistic Plan B can be developed. The board’s decision was the right decision; the flyover is ugly and wouldn’t have given motorists the relief they demanded, evidenced by the minuiscule time savings. At a time that cities around the world are removing flyovers, we should move on and build consensus on what should happen at the Basin. So what might a Plan B look like? In the long term, – an enduring solution; and in the short term a solution that will deliver a quick win and show all road users that there is an alternative to the flyover. This plan should not just be seen as a roading project, but also as an opportunity to build and enhance

a nationally significant area comprising the worldranked Basin Reserve cricket ground, the seat of the Governor-General, and the National War Memorial. But first we have to ask, is there a problem? The answer will differ depending on who you are; some people will say it is unacceptable congestion, others poor-quality public transport and urban blight. But the answers can be reconciled. compared with most cities, Wellington does not have a significant congestion problem. Providing some specific solutions to peak-time delays whilst restoring the Basin is a realistic proposition. Car use figures do not support the need for road building throughout the city. The NZTA and Ministry of Transport’s own statistics show that Wellingtonians drive less than anyone else in the country and our car use has flattened out and is on the decline in parts of the city. The future may also be different from what we imagine. Research from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in Canada shows that many younger people

OPINION

are driving less than those a generation ago. For them, it is often technology rather than the car that enables opportunities to communicate with family and friends. Recent University of Otago research suggests that this trend is already apparent in New Zealand. The board found that NZTA did a poor job of considering alternatives. The job is now to look at them properly, irrespective of whether there is an appeal. Here are some suggestions for the components of a Plan B (no silver bullet here). Funding would come from a range of sources including the Government, the City Council, and business: •

•

Build a collaborative process including all the stakeholders to work on some durable solutions that will address urban blight, build sustainable transport links and protect the area’s heritage. A strategic plan for the Basin needs to be developed and finalised as a priority with stronger protections under the District Plan. The old Museum Stand should be saved and appropriate uses found for it. Throughout, the heritage of the Basin Reserve needs to be respected, whilst protecting it as a world-class cricket venue and further enabling it as a community facility. develop and implement plan for Kent and Cambridge Terraces and Adelaide Road. Green space and housing should be provided along these arterial routes.

•

Move the former Home of Compassion crèche back to its original site and find a use for it. • Encourage businesses to develop around the area; the location is perfect for small business. • Install bus and cycle lanes to speed up journeys around the Basin. Ensure that the Basin Reserve itself is safe to encourage pedestrians to use it as a transport route. • Further investigate a tunnel by the Basin. Otherwise, an at-grade solution should be implemented as soon as possible. • More work needs to be done with the schools to minimise the amount of traffic during term time. • Bus services to and from the Eastern and southern suburbs need to be improved. Increasing levels of service plus lower fares will convince people to move from their cars. • Light rail needs to be implemented; it is not as expensive as critics would have it. Is there political will to implement an enduring solution? Let’s hope so, as the alternative solution of legal action only benefits the lawyers. The working group established between Wellington City Council, NZTA and the Regional Council sounds promising but read between the lines and it seems clear that some elected representatives still want a flyover. It is time now to move on; Plan A has failed. It’s time to move to Plan B and re-imagine the Basin’s future. Iona Pannett is a Wellington City Councillor.

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CULTURE

WINNING VOICE Baritone Christian Thurston, 23, has won the $4,000 Dame Malvina Major Foundation Aria. Christian is studying a PostGraduate Diploma in Performance Voice and has a Bachelor of Music in Classical Performance, both from Victoria University School of Music. He won the Aria as part of the Wellington Regional Vocal Competitions.

LEAVING AN IMPRINT Rosemary Mortimer has won a NZ printmaking award. Interface III was selected for the 34th Mini Print International of Cadaqués 2014 from 740 exhibiting artists from 56 countries. Rosemary teaches printmaking at Whitireia Polytechnic and Inverlochy Art School. She has a Master of Design from Massey University. Each winner will each have a solo exhibition at Taller Galleria Fort, Cadaqués, Spain, in 2015.

I N V E S T I G AT I O N S IN COLOUR RO CK ON Vacant City (right), Head Chef and Jah-Mon Fever were the finalists from the Wellington region in 2014 Smokefreerockquest & Smokefree Pacifica Beats national finals, held 26-27 September. The bands are from Wairarapa College & Rathkeale College, Wellington High School and Aotea College.

Aratoi Museum hosts Milan Mrkusich’s first major exhibition in 20 years this October. Chromatic Investigations presents the Dargaville-born artist’s works from 1994 to 1997, displaying his fascination with colour and background in architecture, son Lewis Mrkusich says. “He’s always believed colour is the most important thing in art.” That said, Lewis doesn’t remember Milan having a favourite colour. “He just likes them all.” The pre-planned installation, which includes curved wall sections, has never before been shown as there hasn’t been a suitable space. “I’ve been looking around the North Island. It’s a happy event to find a place to show Milan’s work.”

Online: ikoiko.co.nz Auckland: 195 Karangahape Rd Wellington: 118 Cuba St | 198 Lambton Quay

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B L AC KA DDE R I S BAC K Comedy is second nature to Thomas McGinty. He first hit the stage 20 years ago as a Kapiti College student playing Bugsy Malone. After taking seven years off acting to focus on his bands Gentleman Bastards, Big Brother, and Dr01dlounge, he’s back on the stage as Private Baldrick in Neil Haydon’s production of Blackadder Goes Forth. “It took a little while to get back into acting. You have to think a lot about where you are. With music you don’t have to worry about where you walk on stage.” He also holds an advanced diploma with honours in painting from the Learning Connection. “I’m into too many creative things – I can’t decide!” He’s bringing this creativity into his role as Baldrick. “I didn’t want to copy the TV actors. I did my own take on it.” 22 October – 1 November, Gryphon Theatre, Wellington

BIG, B OLD BRASS

ITALIAN INFLUENCE

After seven years, Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger rejoins the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for Bold Worlds. He performs Trumpet Concerto Dramatis Personae, commissioned for him from Australian composer Brett Dean. NZSO brass players – 12 trumpeters, two euphoniums, two bass trumpets, four trombones, and a tuba – perform Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta, and the full orchestra joins in for the finale, Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. 10 October, Michael Fowler Centre

Francesco Ventriglia is the new artistic director at the Royal New Zealand Ballet. The 36-year-old Italian, who has been freelance producing and choreographing throughout Europe for the past year, arrives in November to oversee the RNZB’s 2015 programme, a “year of great stories” – two full-length literatureinspired works. “Ventriglia understood the RNZB’s unique point of difference, that we focus on classical as well as contemporary ballet,” says RNZB’s Andrea Tandy.

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CULTURE

BIGGER AND BET TER Kapiti’s Mahara Gallery received $250,000 to redevelop. “We would like to become the district’s gallery, akin to Pataka or the Dowse,” Mahara’s Pip Howells says. The Wellington Community Trust donated the money for the redevelopment, which includes gutting the gallery building and trebling the gallery space. The upgrade was spurred by an offer for Mahara to permanently house Frances Hodkins’ Field Collection. The loan is on the condition that the gallery can take care of it correctly. They plan to begin a year’s construction in 2017.

FA M O U S FIVE A giant translucent pyramid and a nine-metre oil painting are among the works presented in Solo 2014: Five Wellington Artists, at the Dowse in Lower Hutt. The exhibition includes new works by Karl Maughan, Peter Trevelyan, Samin Son, Moniek Schrijer and an installation by Ruth Thomas-Edmond.The show includes performance and collage, and jewellery made from unlikely materials. From 18 Oct, The Dowse Art Museum

Ruth Thomas-Edmond, Untitled, 2014, tape on paper.

T H E WA L R U S I S BAC K New owners Stephen and Michelle Homer are in business running the Walrus Gallery and Frame Shop in Taranaki St.They are back living in Wellington after 15 years working in Asia. Stephen, who has been working as a consultant in International Marketing, had a ‘vision’ of returning to New Zealand, and setting up some sort of business. “Every night over a glass of wine, the vision got better”, he said. They had already bought a house over the internet, sight unseen, “why not a business!” added Michelle. This year, after buying the business on Trade Me, they moved back with their nine year old son, and set about putting things in order. Jean Manley, has been working in the Frame Shop for seven years, so was able to show them the ropes, and her ‘expertise has been invaluable’ says Michelle. The landlord is happy to see the gallery back up and running too, adding “I don’t care what you sell so long as it’s not legal highs”. The Homers are quite happy to keep it as a gallery and are exhibiting artists’ work. The they bothlove the energy of the area, they say there is a lot of foot traffic and interest in what’s happening with the space. “Everybody who walks in has a story. That’s what we love”. Sharon Greally Robert Franken design, Livingroom of a fish, tapestry 1984

CULTURE

Lisa Harper-Brown and Mark Stone onstage

MODERN D O N N NA A N NA

T H E M A N Y TA L E N T S O F NA N C Y B RU N N I N G

Lisa Harper-Brown landed her first critical operatic role at the unusually early age of 22. “I sang an entire audition, and then the panel said all they wanted was someone who could ping out a top ‘a’. So as I walked out the door that’s what I did!” She was in. “My voice was mature for my age. I sounded like Maria Callas.” It is a maturity that befits her role as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Having played the part before, she says this interpretation is much more multidimensional. “It’s a very new Donna Anna. This is a strong character – not the innocent victim as she is traditionally portrayed. She’s much more empowered; she seeks vengeance.” This new interpretation was a challenge, but ultimately more satisfying. “I was seeing everything from a completely different perspective. It was difficult to get my head around. But it was much more enjoyable because she’s more of an average woman making everyday mistakes. She doesn’t come up with solutions or get on with or placate everybody.” Sounds like a version of the classic Opera more in tune with the modern woman and the present day. 11—18 October, St James Theatre

Many acting and directing credits later, Nancy Brunning has moved into writing. She recently returned from a two-week residency at The Banff Centre in Canada as its first Indigenous Writing Programme participant. She worked on redeveloping Hikoi, a work-in-progress staged at this year’s Matariki Development festival. She began the play in the 90s but shelved it when she was pregnant. The 2011 Te Reo Mauriora, which found that the Māori language needed to work harder to stay in the home, inspired Brunning to pick the script back up. The thespian, of Ngati Raukawa and Ngai Tuhoe descent, says that the transition from acting to writing has been challenging. Before she left she was looking forward to the challenge and growth that she expected from two weeks of intensive scriptwriting. “As an actor, you’re a vessel and mouthpiece for another’s ideas. Instead of waiting for someone else to give voice to social issues, I thought, ‘Why don’t I do it myself?’”. Home again, Brunning will continue to edit Hikoi for ten weeks with assistance from an online tutor from the centre.

POINTED WORK Alayna Ng, Adriana Harper and Tonia Looker spend so much time on their toes, they like to put their feet up once in a while. Between rehearsals of A Christmas Carol, which runs in Wellington from 30 October to 8 November, the Royal New Zealand Ballet dancers relax and unwind from the physical demands of ballet with cross-stitch, knitting and baking. Alayna learned to knit from another dancer in the company while they were on tour. “I borrowed needles from my grandmother’s massive stash and knitted a friend a birthday beret.” In 2010,while she recovered from a knee reconstruction, her knitting really took off. “I couldn’t move much so I made scarves – I was on a roll!” She’s now making a cardigan for her cousin’s baby. Adriana also had a knee reconstruction, but found she couldn’t concentrate on cross-stitch during recovery. Now well again, she’s working on a huge tiger picture. Childhood embroidery lessons were her first craft experience, and inspired her to pick up cross-stitch later. “It was mainly me and old women. It’s a very Nana thing to do, but it clears my mind – you have to really focus.” Tonia is master baker for the company. “As a child I used to make breakfast in bed for my parents, which got more and more elaborate as I learned to use the oven. Now I bake any kind of sweet things.” Her specialty is macadamia cookies with chunks of white and dark chocolate, and her cheesecake is also a favourite among the company. “There are 34 hungry dancers in the building – within ten minutes it’s gone!” It’s not all rest, relaxation, and cookies between training sessions. Between dancing, crafts, and baking, the dancers do gym, Pilates and flexibility training to keep themselves en pointe. Left to right: Adriana, Tonia and Alayna get creative between rehearsals. Written by Anna Jackson-Scott | Photography by Rhett Goodley-Hornblow 29

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W HAT T H E F L O C K

SISTER RURU Name: Morepork. Māori names: Ruru, koukou, peho. Status: Native. While generally considered unthreatened (even common or “moderately abundant”) Wingspan, the National Bird of Prey Centre, reports that, “we actually don’t know much about… the New Zealand sub-species. Of the few populations that have been monitored, fledgling rates have been very low indeed. If this is generally the case then morepork populations may be more threatened than we think.” Habitat: Widespread throughout the country, mainly in forests (both native and exotic), as well as in some urban parks and gardens. Morepork also inhabit most of our forested offshore islands. Look for them: At night, by following their call. Morepork are small, dark-brown birds with a sharp, hooked bill, heavily flecked breast, and feathers right down to their yellowish feet, but in the dark you’re likely to see not a lot more than large, yellow or yellow-green eyes in a small, dark face. Call: You’re kidding, right? Feeds on: Mainly large insects like weta, huhu, moths and cicada but also mice and young rats (yessss!) and small birds, especially silvereyes (nooooo!). Did you know? Morepork are also found in Australia, Timor, Southern New Guinea and nearby islands, and the birds have at least twenty common names, many onomatopoeic like our own − like mopoke and boobook − mimicking the bird’s famous two-pitched call. If it were human it would be: In Māori mythology the ruru is wise and closely associated with the spiritual world − the ancestral spirit of a family group sometimes taking the form of a ruru and being referred to as Hine-ruru (“owl woman”), with powers to protect, warn and advise. We’re reminded of our very own Sister Loyola Galvin, formerly of the Island Bay Home of Compassion, who is undoubtedly wise, similarly petite and who spent much of her life protecting those in her care.

Kingdom of the Netherlands 30 Courtenay Place, Wellington, www.30upstairs.co.nz Wednesday – Friday 12 - 5pm / Saturday 11 - 4pm

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18 OCT 2014 — 22 FEB 2015

Image: Hendrik Kerstens, Bathing Cap, 1992. Courtesy of Nunc Contemporary

PETER MADDEN Coming from all the places you have never been 31 Aug - 23 Nov 2014

Fine Art At Inverlochy Art School

Children’s Classes Painting Print-Making Screen Printing Photography Jewellery Sewing

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Pataka gratefully acknowledges the support of:

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Sir Roderick & Gillian, Lady Deane

F E AT U R E

S QUE EZ E ON YOUR LU NG S WRITTEN BY BETH ROSE | PHOTOGRAPHED BY CHRIS MARSHALL

Chris Marshall can hold his breath underwater for six minutes, a skill that allows him to swim to a depth of sixty-five metres without oxygen. This month the Wellingtonian will defend his title as New Zealand’s National Freediving Champion.

completely at home in the silence of the deep. “I’ve always been comfortable in the water,” he says, “which is really important if you want to be good at freediving”. Like many Kiwi freedivers, Chris’s underwater obsession

nter the cool, dark world of the freediver, where water pressure from above can force lungs to contract to less than a sixth of their normal size. The mere thought is enough to make land-lovers feel on edge, freediver Chris is 33

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down on the surface, and two timed ‘dynamic’ underwater distance swims: one with fins and one without. Depth competitions happen separately at Lake Taupo where there’s more space”. The contest’s protocols are strict to ensure competitors have not exceeded their limits and endangered their health. When the diver surfaces, they must prove their awareness by removing their headgear and signaling an ‘OK’ to the judge before their results are recorded. “I was disqualified from last year’s World Championships in Serbia for forgetting to remove my nose clip,” says Chris, “which meant I missed the opportunity to take part in the final”. In addition, any diver who blacks out is also disqualified. Kathryn and Chris are both familiar with some of the more frightening effects of freediving. “Blackouts occasionally happen when a diver exceeds their limits. It is the body’s natural self-preservation mechanism kicking-in,” explains Chris, speaking from experience. “You blackout way before your body runs out of oxygen, and there is always someone nearby to help”. This did not put Chris off getting back in the water. “We respect our environment, we follow the rules and adapt to conditions gradually through training and experience to mitigate against risk, so these incidences are rare,” he says. “We never dive alone,” adds Kathryn, “always in pairs or as

began with scuba diving and spearfishing. This has since led to competitive national and international freediving, underwater hockey and underwater rugby. “I started spearfishing ten years ago and I was soon looking for ways to improve my breath-hold so that I could stay down for longer. I found a training course run by Lazy Seals Freediving Club that taught relaxation and underwater swimming techniques so I signed up”. Kathryn Nevatt is one of the founding members of Lazy Seals in Wellington and was an instructor at Chris’s training. She also happens to be the New Zealand Women’s National Freediving Champion, with a breath-hold of over seven and a half minutes, frequently beating the men at competition level. Inspiration and support from other freedivers, including Kathryn, is what Chris says gave him the motivation to improve his skills. “There are so many amazing freedivers in New Zealand, particularly in Wellington. Seeing what others are capable of achieving inspired me to improve my ability. It was Kathryn who encouraged me to join Lazy Seals and take my freediving to a competitive level”. This October Wellington plays host to the National Indoor Freediving Championships, in which both Kathryn and Chris will compete against the best freedivers from around the country. “We are judged in three disciplines,” explains Kathryn, “a timed, still or ‘static’ breath-hold face

PREVIOUS PAGE: Niki Stepankova (nee Roderick, NZL) competing at the 2009 Depth World Championships, Long Island, Bahamas. TOP LEFT: Kathryn at the 2009 Wellington Winter Championships. BOTTOM: Chris in the Red Sea, Dahab Egypt. Photographer: Jacques de Vos

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a group, and in competitions there are high safety standards”. Kathryn assists at the depth competitions in Taupo. “We use Fishfinder sonar technology to track competitors and there are always other freedivers in the water monitoring their progress and behavior. “Each competitor must announce the depth they are intending to dive to ahead of entering the water, which prevents them from exceeding their limits. A base plate is then set at their nominated depth, from which they collect a tag”. Whilst Kathryn assists depth dives, she no longer competes in this category herself, due to a freediving injury. “I am exceedingly competitive and I was putting too much stress on my body to go that little bit further. On one occasion I got to down to fifty metres and on turning to make my ascent I experienced ‘lung squeeze’, which is a rupture of the tissue that takes time to recover from. My competitive nature was tempting me to push myself too far, so now I only compete at the indoor events”. Despite the potential danger, Chris doesn’t see freediving as an extreme sport. ”Freediving requires a person to be completely calm. When you need to hold your breath for a long time, relaxation is really important. This is something we talk about a lot in training, along with the risks and how to spot and rescue a freediver in trouble”. Chris now helps others to improve their freediving techniques in Wellington’s Freyberg pool with Lazy Seals Club Manager Ben Jeffares. “Freediving is growing in popularity and we’re seeing new clubs opening up around the country, which is great for the sport

and for the competitions,” says Ben. “Freediving has always been popular for collecting seafood. Attending training courses means learning about safety in the water and rescue practices, along with the techniques that help them to become better freedivers.” Awareness of the sport has recently received a boost via the latest Steinlager advert featuring world champion freediver and double world record holder, Will Trubridge, making a seemingly death-defying dive into the notoriously deep Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas. Will also happens to be a New Zealander. It seems Kiwis have a knack for the sport, possibly something that extends from being an island nation with plenty of appetising incentives in the water. Wellington in particular has many of the top names in the sport. “I believe we are the most blessed New Zealand city for shore diving,’ says Chris.” Scuba and freedivers can access so much of the Wellington coastline. I can drive fifteen minutes from the CBD and be at three different coasts and, depending on the direction of the wind, either the south or west coast will be good for diving.” Chris’s confidence and enthusiasm for freediving is contagious and he encourages everyone to give it a try. “Anyone can have a go at – physiology doesn’t really come into it. It’s a cheap sport as all you need to take part is some water and, in Wellington, a decent wetsuit. The National Championships take place at Porirua pool on 4 and 5 October.

William Trubridge (NZL) competing at the 2009 Depth World Championships, Long Island, Bahamas.

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NO.8 HARDWIRED INTO OUR GENES

It is a new term, but the concept is old as the hills. For as long as people have struggled to make ends meet or to come up with solutions to tricky situations, they have been forced to improvise, giving old junk new purpose. Add in environmental pressures and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a growing number of people questioning the throwaway character of our society. It is no great surprise, then, that Upcycling is on the up. And given how much we cling to the notion of a genetic-level number 8 wire mentality it should be something we excel at. We found a few Wellingtonians who, in their own ways, are all contributing to

WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS | PHOTOGRAPHED BY BENJAMIN & ELISE

this flourishing eco trend.

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ebecca Roberts owns The General Store in Aro Valley. Never quite sure what her ‘passion’ was, Roberts only knew that she liked to work hard and use her hands. When she moved to Wellington five years ago (from Christchurch, via England), Roberts took up a job as head projectionist at Island Bay’s Empire Cinema. The cinema hadn’t yet made the digital switch, and the job meant learning some new tactile skills, like threading projectors and making up films. “I think this is where it all started for me as I found all of the workings quite logical and I was quite good at it. From here I think I got confidence to build things with my hands,” says Roberts. The General Store is a beautiful little shop full of handmade design pieces, vintage and retro

homewares and industrial furniture and upcycled pieces made by Roberts. “Big metal things are my favourite finds, old filing cabinets with their original metal handles, the more drawers the better!” she says. With the help of an angle grinder and some fresh paint, old beige office supplies that might have been lucky to end up as scrap metal are given new life as unusual and beautiful storage spaces. “A lot of old items were made with proper craftsmanship and quality materials, it is so wasteful just to throw them away, [and] it’s such a satisfying feeling having an idea and then making it yourself,” she says. Roberts sees this city as the perfect place for what she does: “People in Wellington have the desire for things that are a bit different, which is why upcycling really works here.”

Rebecca Roberts

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elena Coolen grew up in Tawa, and has been upcycling for as long as she can remember. “I have a disabled Mum, so right from a young age I had to get creative about ways of doing things,” she explains. She laughs when I ask about her first upcycle project. “I really wanted roller skates and my parents couldn’t afford them…” she says, describing how her small self stormed into the garage and took to rake handles with a drill, fixing these makeshift ‘wheels’ onto a couple of pieces of wood with some 6-inch nails. “I strapped them to my feet and shuffled round the back yard. They were pathetic,” she recalls fondly. Coolen’s upcycling skills have improved somewhat since then. Through her business iUPcycle (iUPcycle.co.nz), she not only sells her own inventive projects − reimagined clothing, furniture and household objects − but also runs workshops aimed at empowering others to adopt the "ReUse, RePurpose, ReCreate" mantra. Her workshops run the gamut of materials, processes and attendees, but what Coolen most enjoys is

working with kids, "at risk" youth and those with mental illness. “The success really is in the journey. It’s not about what you end up with, it’s about that high or that healing that you get from creatively solving something,” she says. Coolen tells of one workshop where, over the course of three days, a “staunch” young man got so carried away with screen printing his handmade tag onto clothing that he removed his pants so he could brand them too. “By empowering him to tell his story in a constructive context… it was validated,” she explains. He left her with a hug. Coolen obviously loves what she does, and the fact that what she does has the potential to make a real difference. “If we keep abusing our environment … there’s just no way we can sustain it. For every person who has the courage to do something different and think a bit creatively − that’s a person who’s going to go out into the world and take it to their network… and that’s going to create a movement,” she says.

Helena Coolen

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ernadette Casey’s story is a testament to the fact that what we learn as children can significantly change the future. Like Coolen, Casey’s upbringing had a huge influence on the work she does. “Mum was a farmer’s daughter and would be sent fleece straight from the shearing shed which my sisters and I would card. Mum would then spin the carded wool into yarn and make it into jumpers. My mother made everything we wore and taught us to sew, knit, crochet, weave… I remember one year for Christmas we were given wool and the tools to hand tuft rugs... So no great surprise that I was drawn to a career in textiles,” she says. Casey’s company The Formary upcycles on a grand scale, identifying waste fibres and reworking them into innovative new textile

products with huge international demand. An example is WoJo, a Formary-created upholstery fabric made by blending wool with jute fibres from discarded coffee sacks. In 2010, The Formary signed a deal with Starbucks to reupholster around 8,000 Starbucks stores within five years, and more recently the company met with the Chinese government’s Ministry of Agriculture to talk about possible uses for rice straw waste, of which millions of tonnes are burned a year, significantly adding to China’s air pollution problem. “Over 90% of [textile] waste is able to be converted into valuable product. Our sustainable approach and the scale of our clients means our work has a significant positive impact on the environment.”

Bernadette Caseys

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F E AT U R E E XT R A

MAKE YO U R S E L F A CONCRETE PLANTER This is a great (and easy) thing to do with old jars or vintage cake and jelly moulds. First you have to find the mould you want to use. Vintage decorative cake tins and jelly moulds work well. But use your imagination! You want to find something preferably made of metal, plastic or glass (if you don't mind smashing the glass later). Secondly you need to find a smaller object that will fit inside your mould to create the hollow to fill with a plant or candle.

1. 2. 3. 4.

Buy a small bag of dry concrete or mortar mix. Use an old bucket or ice cream container to mix the concrete. Pour in enough mix to look like it will fill your mould, then add water. Keep adding water and mixing until there is no dry powder left and it's not too stiff to mix. If you add too much water and it becomes too slushy then add more powder to balance. 5. Put some oil on the inside of the mould to stop the concrete sticking to it. 6. Fill your mould roughly 3/4 full. Give it a stir and bang it on the table a few times to get out any air bubbles. 7. Then get your second mould and place it in the middle of the concrete (it's important not to pick something too big for the inside mould, as you don't want the concrete sides to be too thin. At least 1cm of rim is preferable). 8. Wriggle it around and push down so that the concrete rises up the sides and you create a hollow in your mix. Weight it so it stays in place, either filling it with water or placing something on the top. 9. After a few hours twist the inside mould around so that the concrete doesn't stick to it. 10. Another few hours later when the concrete starts to set, pull the inside mould out. 11. Leave the mould for up to a week until the concrete has set. You can see the difference in colour and feel as it's drying. If the mould was metal or plastic then turn it upside down and it should slide out with a bit of help. If it's glass, you're going to need to smash it out! Be careful and wear eye protection. Sometimes it needs a few more days to set fully, then you can plant your cute succulent in there! 48

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THE ART OF ACQUIRING The quirky, the old, the unique, the new. Everybody has an irrational soft spot for collections. But this is a modern take on the teaspoons and coins of yesteryear. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about shoes, badges and wall-art. The feel is homely, with a pinch of twee and a dollop of the unusual.

Styled by Shalee Fitzsimmons Assisted by Madeleine Wong, Bex McGill & Fran King Photographed by Ashley Church

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

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By Tamara Jones

EDIBLES

A DOSE OF C U LT U R E Frozen yoghurt truck BerryCulture has opened outside Moore Wilson’s, bringing a dose of culture and raspberries to the Capital. Sarah Harrow is the fourth generation Harrow to make a living from the Christchurch family farm: her great grandfather, Cecil Harrow, set up the berry farm in 1920. She and a food scientist developed the recipe over three years. It combines milk, cream, sugar and eggs with four strains of live cultures. She is keen to support other small businesses. Her toppings include the Wellington Chocolate Factory’s brittle caramel topping, Bohemein chocolate sauce, and Fix and Fogg peanut butter.

BREWREAUCRACY

COFFEE CONNIPTION

Victoria Street’s The Occasional Brewer has had a great response from the public since opening its doors in August. Individuals, work groups and friends have been using the professional equipment, turning the place into a bit of a party zone. The company enables the public to brew their own beer from scratch, emerging with about forty litres of craft-style beer.

Red rabbit are celebrating the approaching summer, and their one-year anniversary, with a batch of fresh new coffees. “They’re seasonal coffees we hope people want to drink over summer!” Steve laughed. Kenyan, Nicaraguan and Guatemalan varieties dominate the new batch with “summer fruit deliciousness,” Steve says.

MOVING HOUSE Dumplings have appeared on Manners Street, courtesy of Vicky Ha, The Dumpling Queen. Having moved to permanent premises on Taranaki Street, House of Dumplings has opened a second outlet, a hole-inthe-wall on Manners.

EDIBLES

FOODIE FA M I LY

ON A MISSION

Maxine Scheckter, recent graduate with a cookery and patisserie diploma from WelTec, has embarked on a one-year French pastry course in Paris. The daughter of Steven and Valda Scheckter, who own Petone delicatessen Ontrays, attends Ferrandi, and says the French are “a lot more traditional in their pastry execution, but experimental with their flavours – fig éclairs, for example.” She wants to represent New Zealand in pastry competitions when she returns.

Ruth Pretty, Capitol restaurant head chef Amy Gillies and Havana head chef Mark Rawlins, along with cooks from Wellington’s Mission Auxiliary team, are among the contributors behind the new foodie publication Fresh from the Mission. It’s the Auxiliary’s third cookbook fundraiser, the previous two being great successes. The Vavasour Trust covered the publication costs of the book. All sales proceeds go to The Wellington City Mission They hope to raise $100,000 for Mission for Families.

FOOD BINGE After the biggest Visa Wellington on a Plate yet, Portlander’s numbers are out:

FIRED UP

•

The Fire Truck now serves lunch on the corner of Tory & Wakefield (outside the new designer pop up shop). Kim Eddington and Will Michell’s meals-on-wheels specialises in the traditional South African fast-food bunny chow, which contains no bunnies. The truck will be there every Thursday until December, when they move to Taranaki Wharf for the summer.

• • • • • • • •

1,278 Dine Wellington set menus and 1,306 Matador Burgers sold 1,815 king scallops 1,380 Boomrock lamb ribs 1,200 kg of potatoes 714 venison pot pies 200 kg of kumara 261 kg of Wagyu mince 100kg of tamarillos 60kg of chilli smoked bacon

And, to make it all happen, 408 Red Bulls to fuel the kitchen.

THE FOREST CANTINA

CR I SPY ON THE OU T SIDE BY UNNA BURCH

alloween is a day for an overindulgence in SUGAR! I have the biggest sweet tooth so this is the perfect excuse to give into my biggest weaknesses. I wasn’t allowed to trick or treat as a kid, but in saying that, I didn’t know many kids in the smalltown New Zealand I grew up in in the 1980’s who did.

We have really loved dressing up as a family the past few years and enjoying this relatively new, for Kiwis, celebration. It has become more popular here since I was young – dressing up...sugar, how could it not become major! Just like Christmas, it’s all about the kids, and I love seeing that excitement and joy (joy mixed with hard-core pumped-up sugar adrenaline) on their faces as they run around the neighbourhood. One very special treat for adults and kids alike are homemade donuts. They are perfect for sharing

and your kids will have so much fun helping to decorate these with you. If you have never tried a freshly fried brioche donut, well, you have not lived! Crispy on the outside and fluffy in the centre, so good. I have used the famous ‘Little and Friday’ brioche donut recipe. I tested a few different donut recipes out and this one is by far the best. I put my own twist on it and topped it with a few different creations. A Nutella ganache with chopped roasted hazelnuts, a lemon glaze, and a cinnamon and sugar one filled with a custard cream. I have also made my donuts a lot smaller than the Little and Friday ones, yielding 30 instead of 15. I think little morsels are perfect and it means you can try two (or three) different flavours if they are a little more petite. For a cute little serving idea, I used some plastic vampire teeth (from the $2 shop) as a little holder foreach donut. Enjoy.

METHOD For the Brioche dough Brioche dough (from the Treats from Little and Friday gorgeous cook book)

1. 2.

550ml milk 60g fresh yeast, crumbled, or 3 tsp dried yeast 6 ½ cups flour 3 tsp salt ½ cup caster sugar 3 eggs 140g butter, at room temperature 2 ltr canola oil for frying icing sugar, to coat

Nutella Ganache topping ¾ cup Nutella ½ cup cream 1 tsp flaky sea salt 25g hazelnuts, roasted, skins rubbed off in a tea towel

Lemon Glaze 1 cup icing sugar, sifted Lemon juice, approx. 1−2 lemons Yellow pearl sprinkles (or lemon zest to garnish) Cinnamon sugar 1 1/3 cup sugar 2 ½ tsp cinnamon 1 cup cream, whipped 1 cup pre-made store-bought custard 1 tsp vanilla bean paste 2 tsp icing sugar

In a saucepan, heat the milk over a medium heat until lukewarm. Remove from the heat and sprinkle over the yeast. Stir until yeast has dissolved. Place the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Using an electric beater with a dough hook attachment, mix at a low speed. If you don’t have a beater, mix by hand until fully combined. Add yeast mixture and eggs to bowl, continuing to mix to a low speed. Mix until a sticky dough forms. Stop mixer and scrape down the dough from the sides of the bowl. Increase to medium speed and mix for 10 minutes until an elastic, shiny dough forms and pulls away from the bowl. If doing this by hand, tip dough onto bench and knead for 10 minutes. MY TIP: I put a tea towel under the mixer so that it doesn’t move around on the bench. Also brioche IS supposed to be really sticky at the beginning. Don’t be tempted to add any extra flour or your donut won’t be as light and fluffy. Cut butter into small pieces and gradually add to the dough mixture, mixing until well combined. Cover bowl with a tea towel and allow the dough to prove until it has almost doubled in size. Tip the dough onto a floured bench. Now it’s ready to use.

For the Donuts 1.

Roll out the dough on a floured bench to 2cm thick. Using a 7cm cookie cutter (or glass) cut out about 30 circles (10 for each topping). I left the cinnamon sugar ones whole as the filling will be piped inside and I took the took the centre out of the middle of the rest to get a classic donut shape. I did that with a wine bottle cap as my hole cutter. Save those centre “holes” and fry those also. Ain’t noting wrong with them! Allow the dough to prove for 10-15 minutes, depending on the weather. It will need less time if it is a warm day. You will know it’s ready when a dry skin has formed on the dough. MY TIP: While it is proving make your nutella ganache (see instructions below)

THE FOREST CANTINA

Note I actually found it really hard to source plain yellow sprinkles that I used on my lemon glazed donuts. But I then came across “Cupcake Sweeties” in Lower Hutt. A gorgeous small local business who had exactly what I need and a huge array of anything and everything thing else baking. Thanks for sorting me out ladies! www.cupcakesweeties.co.nz Tip Donuts are best eaten the day they are made. They don’t keep well.

4. 5.

Pour oil into a large saucepan to at least 2cm deep and heat to 180 degrees C. To cook donuts accurately you will need a thermometer. If you are not using one, heat the oil over a medium heat – once it starts smoking its too hot. While that is coming up to heat, mix cinnamon and sugar together in a shallow dish. Coat these while they are hot so that the sugar mix sticks to it. The others need to be cooled. Depending on the size of your saucepan, drop several donuts at a time into the hot oil. You do not want them to touch or they will stick together. Cook for two minutes on each side. You want the dough to be quite dark and crisp. Coat the whole donuts in the cinnamon sugar immediately after they come out, and then allow to cool. MY TIP: I flipped the donuts round a few times in the oil, making sure none of the surface was dry before removing, a few at a time and tossing in the cinnamon sugar. If it’s dry the sugar mixture won’t stick. Repeat, remove and allow the remaining donuts to cool on a separate rack.

To decorate: For the Nutella ganache donuts 1. 2.

3. 4.

The ganache needs a little time to firm up before using. So I made the ganache while the dough was proving, set it aside and came back to decorate once the other flavours had been put together. Heat the cream in a saucepan until almost, but not boiling. While that is coming up to heat put your Nutella into a bowl. Pour the hot cream over the Nutella and allow to sit for a minute or two. Whisk together to combine. Add the salt and whisk again. Chop the roasted and skinned hazelnuts and set aside. Once the ganache is slightly thick but still smooth, take 10 donuts and dust on both sides with icing sugar with a seive. Fill the centre of the donuts with a spoon of nutella ganache. Top with hazelnuts.

For the lemon glaze 1. 2.

Put the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually add a little juice at a time until you have a nice smooth glaze. The thinner you make it the more transparent it will be. Take 10 of the donuts and dip the smoothest side into the glaze. Top with a little zest or yellow sprinkles. Set aside on a rack to dry.

For the cinnamon donuts 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Crème diplomat is a combination of whipped cream and crème patissiere. My cheat’s version uses store-bought custard to save on time. There will be left over of it to dip your donut holes in. Combine the whipped cream and the custard together. Then fold through the vanilla paste and icing sugar. Put the mixture into a snaplock bag (or piping bag) push down to one corner and snip off the corner tip and now you are ready to pipe. Take the tip of a teaspoon and push a hole through the side of the prepared cinnamon donuts and wiggle the spoon end around inside to make room for the filling. Push the tip of the bag slightly inside the donut and pipe the filling in so that they become plump and fat filled to the top with creamy custard goodness.

LIQUID NEWS

NEW WINE COLUMNIST

P ORT E R P OW ER WRITTEN BY JOELLE THOMSON

ome people have all the luck. Take John Porter. He is a lawyer and winemaker by day, a pheasant breeder by hobby, and just to ensure that every spare moment is taken up, he is replanting native trees on a rough hill country block at Riversdale Beach. It sounds like the ideal way to make a crust, indulge a passion and give something back to the world at the same time. Not to mention the creative rewards of making his own wine with the ultimate cellar-hand, his 25 year old son, Hugo, who is following in the family footsteps and studying law at Victoria University. But what with two day-jobs and a weekly commute between the Wairarapa and Wellington, life’s not all one big Riedel glass filled with Pinot Noir. In fact, it’s just as likely to be a glass of bubbles. This year Porter has turned his Pinot talents to spakling wine, producing 130 cases, which he made from the 20-year-old pinot noir vines that he and his wife, Annabel, planted in Martinborough two decades back. The bubbly was made entirely with grapes grown in 2012, so it is a vintage sparkling wine. It is also a “methode.” The name refers to the champagne method and means that the bubbles are derived from a second fermentation in the bottle. Once the wine was made and finished, it was bottled with a little yeast to kickstart another fermentation. It was then sealed and left to do the wild thing: ferment like mad. This results in carbon dioxide (CO2), which has nowhere to escape to, so it dissolves in the wine and there you have it: 2012 Porters Cuvée Zoe Blanc de Noir. 64

This month the new bubbles trickle onto Wellington restaurant wine lists. The Wellington-lawyer-turned-Wairarapa-winemaker first made a bottle of fermented sparkling wine in 2001, naming it after his wife, Annabel, but when supplies had almost dwindled to zero, he felt the time was ripe to create a new one. And Zoe is his daughter, hence the name. Like the first bubbly, Cuvée Zoe is made almost entirely from Pinot Noir (‘blanc de noir’ – white of black) but Porter included 15% Chardonnay in the formula because this adds a rich pastry character. It’s that same sort of appeal that shines through in still wines − the ever popular buttery Chardonnays. A little bit of buttery goes a long way, so 15% was the threshold for Porter. When it comes to greener matters, he confesses that he has taken a leaf out of fellow winemaker Clive Paton’s book to help regenerate those barren Wairarapa hillsides. And the pheasant thing? “I’ve been a pheasant shooter all my life and have a pheasant on my wine label because I think they’re the most beautiful birds. It’s the Chinese Ringneck Pheasant that we’re raising and releasing to the wild.” It also happens that he is rather partial to a cooked pheasant with a large glass of Pinot Noir, time permitting. Porter’s Pinots and the new 2012 Porters Cuvée Zoe Blanc de Noir are available at Boulcott Street Bistro & Wine bar, The White House, Zibibbo or online at www.porterspinot.co.nz

Cherry Orchard Antiques Make the choice without the hassle of choosing - take home a DoggyBag mixed pack from ParrotDog featuring one bottle each of: Bloodhound, BitterBitch, DeadCanary and FlaxenFeather. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a real nice option.

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LIQUID THOUGHTS

THREE NEW MARTINB OROUGH GRIS Martinborough winemaker Simon Groves has boldly gone where few winemakers have before, labelling a trio of new Pinot Gris ‘Italian style’ (bone dry and refreshing but also full of flavour): ‘James Pinot Gris’ (luscious; very much in the mould of France’s Alsatian Pinot Gris and ‘Autumn Harvest’ Pinot Gris (tastes like liquid white honey poured on fresh lemon tart). The three wines are made from Colin Carruthers’ and Deborah Coddington’s vineyard on Te Muna Road, Martinborough and are available at the Martinborough Wine Centre and also, soon, online at www.redbankjames.co.nz They range in price from $25 to $46; the Autumn Harvest was pricey to make; it was made from late harvested grapes, which shrivelled on the vine, which intensifes the flavour but reduces the quantity of juice in each grape. www.redbankjames.co.nz

TEQUILA RISING

LOW AS YOU GO

Mexico restaurant in Dixon Street is picking up where the Spanish conquistadores finished off when it comes to high-quality distilled drinks. We’re talking tequila, which is on a roll. Sales in New Zealand show 45% growth over the past year, due in partly to a new wave of 100% agave tequilas, such as 1800 Tequila by Jose Cuervo. Its tropical favours come from the addition of coconut during distillation. Ask for a Coco Loco, a Bounty or even a Cocorita next time you visit Mexico, Dakota, Electric Avenue, Hummingbird, Concrete Bar, Foxglove or Public.

When the country’s drink driving laws tighten in December this year, low-alcohol beverages will take on an appealling glow. Enter Riesling. A new shipment from Germany is now available at Regional Wines, Logan Brown and soon at Moore Wilson’s. Look for Studert Prum, Weingut Toni Jost and, for a push-the-boat-out experience, Muller Catoir. These wines cruise in between 8.5% and 9.5% alcohol.

AFFORDABLE MOUTON If you’re still shivering in cool spring breezes and hankering after a full bodied red, Centre City Wines has supplies of Bordeaux’s best vintage in the past five – and they are affordable; the 2010 Mouton Reserve Cadet Medoc is at Centre City Wines for about $33. It is also available in a half-bottle by request.

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P E R I O D I C A L LY S P E A K I N G

NEW SCIENCE COLUMNIST

HIGHRISE LOWS WRITTEN BY JOHN KERR | PHOTOGRAPH BY EVANGELINE DAVIS

Scientists have uncovered a subtle and surprising effect of Wellington buildings moving in the wind: a ‘low-dose’ motion sickness that doesn’t result in the familiar roller-coaster nausea, but instead manifests as drowsy fatigue.

ellington being the windy city that it is, most of us have had the experience of being in a tall capital building shaken by the wind. That slight shift in equilibrium as a solid gust of Wellington wind pushes with all its might against a seemingly unshakable corporate monolith of steel, glass and concrete. Though they offer commanding views of the city and harbor, it seems Wellington skyscrapers may be victims of their own vertical success on Wellington’s − all too common − windy days. A new study in the capital has found that some workers in wind-buffeted office blocks experience a condition called sopite syndrome, named after the Latin sopire, meaning ‘to put to sleep’. Dr Steven Lamb, a Wellington-based researcher for the University of Western Sydney involved in the study, describes it as “a form of mild motion sickness caused by a gentle rocking motion, which makes people feel sleepy, distracted and unmotivated.” He also points out that scientists think that sopite syndrome might explain why a rocking motion sends babies to sleep. “Building motion,” he explains, “can cause sopite syndrome in a relatively small proportion of occupants, which makes them feel sleepy and reduces work performance.” To study the effect of wind-wobbled buildings, it would be hard to find a better natural laboratory than Wellington. Not only does the surrounding geography make it one of the windiest cities in the world, the capital’s poorly planned position atop the alpine fault means buildings are required to be extra flexible to handle earthquakes. The international team of psychologists, physiologists and engineers behind the study (just published in the Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics), went to great lengths to prove it was the swaying of buildings in the wind and not something else causing drowsiness and fatigue. Over eight months, they monitored people working on high floors and low floors in tall buildings in the CBD, on windy days and calm days, repeatedly surveying their mood and activities and asking to 68

them complete cognitive games to test their mental sharpness. They put motion sensors in buildings and tracked wind patterns. After crunching all the numbers they were pretty certain of the results: on windy days, people up high in tall buildings are more likely suffer from poor mood and concentration, and feel they are performing below average at their job. Before you suggest that maybe it was just the weather outside and nothing to do with building motion − the wind did not have the same effect on those working on the lower floors. Dr Lamb and his colleagues estimate that about one in twenty people working on floor ten or above in Wellington buildings suffer this sleepy form of motion sickness and a “large adverse effect on their work performance” on days with high wind – which is about 53 work days a year! This drowsiness and grumpiness not only dragged down the building occupants’ self-rated work performance, it also led to sufferers taking 30-40 per cent longer work breaks. There is a silver lining; Dr Lamb hopes that the findings will help to develop new building standards to reduce these effects in the future, in windy cities around the globe. “We’ve heard reports of building motion in just about every city in the world that has tall buildings and strong winds, including cities in China, Taiwan, the USA, France and Australia.” That may be cold comfort for those already working in Wellington’s higher office spaces, but Dr Lamb also has some immediate advice for workers suffering wind-induced motion sickness. “We would encourage organisations to be proactive and allow staff more flexible work arrangements, such as working from home, more time away from their desk, or working on lower floors, if the office occupies multiple floors,” he says. The top floors of skyscrapers certainly offer amazing panoramas of the capital but you have to ask, given this wind-induced weariness, is it worth the view?

BY THE BOOK

TEA GIG Jesse Aston was woken up with a phone call from a mate in Melbourne about two years ago. “He said, ‘Hey man, we wanna open a café in Melbourne, do you want to come and sort it out?’ A few months later Aston left Wellington to help start up Little Big Sugar Salt. Previously Aston’s career had revolved around booze. Managing bars such as St Johns and Hope Bros, working as a wine rep, studying viticulture and working on vineyards in Waipara and South Australia. Setting up the Melbourne café led him on an interesting beverage related segue. “I looked around at tea for the café and I was like, do you know, this kinda means nothing to me. So I started buying loose leaf tea, raw products, herbs, spices, and blending them together at home.” Though he won’t be quitting his day job, hip-hop is a passion of Aston’s. While blending teas, drinking red wine and listening to The Roots one night, Aston got a bit creative. “I started writing stupid names on the front of them like Cee Lo Green, A Chai Called Quest and Minty J Blige.” Customers loved it. Homie-T was born. Other varieties are Lemonem, ‘Ello Blacc and Marvin Graye. There are plans brewing to extend the range with the likes of Chamomiles Davis and Berryonce.” He’s looking at setting up a charity to help out impoverished tea growing communities. And what will the charity be called? ‘For The Homies’, of course.

Written and photographed by Sarah Burton

BY THE BOOK

RE - VE RSE INTRODUCED BY FRANCES SAMUEL

PRAISING THE COOK They say the sexual impulse is like a fiery horse. When you break an egg one-handed into the frying pan it sounds like distant hooves crossing a dusty plain. By Jenny Bornholdt, from How We Met (VUP, 1995)

IN BRIEF About: Wellington’s Jenny Bornholdt is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated poets. She was Poet Laureate from 2005 to 2007. In brief: This poem comes from one of the first poetry books ever given to me. It was a gift from Max (pseudonym alert!) – my then flatmate, and an Honours English student. He would research a subject obsessively, but when it came to writing the essay, he lost interest. He knew so much, but I’m not sure he passed the course. Anyway, first up, let’s all ‘try this at home’ and crack an egg with one hand. (Step two is to decipher the sound of one hand clapping, but that’s getting too far off the subject.) ‘Praising the cook’ comes from Estonian Songs – a group of poems with titles taken from Veljo Tormis’s recording Forgotten Peoples. Other titles include ‘The ox climbed a fir tree’ and ‘What are they doing at your place?’ so it was hard to choose, but, well, the Year of the Horse decided it. Why read it? Food for thought. Also, short poems you can read once and then carry around with you for the rest of the day, or even your life. Like this one, also from Estonian Songs: My mouth was singing My heart was worrying O deceptive mouth covering up for the heart like that.

WALRUS GALLERY

JOURNEYS Retrospectives of the work of Robert Franken and Lynn Todd (sculpture) 24 September to 21 October 111 Taranaki St, Te Aro, Wellington / www.walrusgallery.co.nz enquiries@walrusgallery.co.nz / 04 382 8383

BY THE BOOK

GUNNING FOR HOME Last year’s supreme winner of the New Zealand Post Book Awards, Kirsty Gunn, returns from London in October to take part in talks about her latest book around the country. An unexpected trip back to Wellington led her to write Thorndon: Wellington and Home, My Katherine Mansfield Project. It explores the meaning of ‘home’ through her experience of rediscovering childhood and developing a new attachment to the city of her birth. Kirsty will conduct a walk through Thorndon on 8 October, and be in attendance at Unity Books on 9 October.

HOW BAZAAR, HOW BAZAAR A trio of Wellington authors will preside over writing workshops for children at Book Bazaar over the school holidays. In association with Gecko Press, Mary McCallum, Paul Beavis, and Barbara Else will give tips and methods on how to get ideas and creations down on paper. Book Bazaar, Capital E, 29 September – 11 October.

LIT TLE TREASURES

B O OKSNAILS

Poet Paula Green and illustrator Jenny Cooper have come together to create children’s poetry anthology, A Treasury of New Zealand Poems for Children (Random House NZ). Colourful illustrations accompany poems by established New Zealand writers such as Margaret Mahy, Hone Tuwhare, Joy Cowley and Bill Manhire. They are joined by newer poets, offering a diverse overview of New Zealand children’s poetry.

Meg Williams began the Wellington Slow Reading Club, a weekly meet-up for lit enthusiasts too busy to read. She formed the idea out of embarrassment that she was an “avid reader” who couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually read a book. She’ll be there with suitcase of books in hand 5 − 6pm every Sunday at the Library bar. No homework required.

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IN THE SHADOW OF WAR

BY THE BOOK

T WO SEAS ON S AN D C OU N T LES S TREASU RES WRITTEN BY THANH-VAN TRAN-NHUT | PHOTOGRAPHED BY EVANGELINE DAVIS

In January 2014 Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut swapped the boulevards of Paris for the windswept hillsides of Wellington. Here she reflects on her six months living and working in Thorndon as the Randell Cottage’s writer in residence.

’m back in Paris now and living my second summer this year. After a spell of cold and rainy weather, the temperature has risen again and I hope the white Japanese anemones will settle nicely under my rose bushes. In between their roots are bits of New Zealand soil, and some of their leaves once stirred in the Wellington wind. They are my links to a small garden on a hill in Thorndon.

It has been weeks since I left, but I still return to Randell Cottage in thought. I only have to close my eyes and recall the familiar routines: pulling up the shades of the entrance door in the morning and leaving it open, lifting the sash window in the kitchen to let the wind fill the rooms, connecting to a wi-fi network named Writers Trust. That’s how it was for almost six months and I can still feel the cool brass of the hexagonal 73

FOCUS ON

BY THE BOOK

Randell Cottage in Thorndon has been a writers’ residence for New Zealand and French writers since 2001. Vietnamese born / French resident Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut spent summer 2013-14 there working on a new book. Her books about Mandarin Tan, a 17th-century Vietnamese detective, have been translated into several languages.

planes dipped and yawed − the kind of wind that lifts a giant eagle with a wizard astride and messes your hair when your picture is being taken. And you know you’re not in France when a wind from the south means chilly weather. I loved this place where the moon waxes and wanes in the opposite direction to the one in the northern hemisphere, where people drive on the left-hand side, rotate clockwise at roundabouts, and swim laps likewise (yet run laps anticlockwise?). It’s all a matter of symmetry and it forces you to change your point of view. It has been six months of ongoing discovery: trevally and tarakihi, red cod and hoki, kumara and Smitten apples, flat white and magic slice, hangi and fish & chips. On the track of an extinct endemic gecko, I stumbled upon feisty kaka, clever kea, a precious white kiwi, two nearsighted kune kune and one short-lived baby fantail. I had mesmerising encounters with birds and beasts drawn by French explorers in the 19th century. I pored over atlases printed in Paris in 1826 while sitting in the National Library of New Zealand, 19,000 km away and 188 year later. All this thanks to a book collector named Alexander Turnbull whose grave I always ran by on my way down to the city centre. I was surrounded by books: Two Worlds, First Meetings between Maori and Europeans, 1642 − 1772, written by Anne Salmond; The Mijo Tree by Janet Frame; a pile of works by New Caledonian authors. In the Cottage were books that gave me a glimpse of New Zealand society: short stories by Katherine Mansfield and other Kiwi writers, The Honey Suckers by Victoria McHalick, novels by Fiona Kidman and Kirsty Gunn (the Kiwi 2009 Randell Cottage resident), The Collector’s Dream by Pierre Furlan (the French 2004 Randell Cottage resident), so beautifully translated by Randell trustee Jean Anderson. And one very special book written by Susan Price: A Mind of His Own, The Childhood of Hugh Price. It tells the story of

doorknob, the little snib that keeps the lock retracted. The front door stays open most of the time, a luxury one can afford in this part of the world. Bird-songs and occasional music drift into the house. There are no locks on the gate, no shutters on the windows, just a welcoming threshold. I remember the light in Wellington. Golden rays on the afternoon of my arrival in January, washing over the cottage while shadows gathered beneath the hills; pale light reflecting off a blank grey sky; black light on hot pink flowers and tangerine-coloured leaves, when magic took over the Botanic Garden; illuminated words cut into Katherine Mansfield’s metal skirt; the glow of a bus brushing across the Braille sculpture on Lambton Quay. I remember the string of yellow and red lights moving along the coastline as I looked across the Lady Norwood Rose Garden from the spur above; darkness closing in on the harbour under clouds grazed by a dying sun. And the silver sliver of a moon sailing through a sky studded with unfamiliar stars, the Southern Cross to remind me that the Equator lies north and the South Pole is only 5,400 km away. There were days of rain, but not enough to dampen my memories. Drizzles and showers, the sound of drops skipping on the path or pounding on the iron roof just meant more moisture for the plants. And weren’t we surrounded by water anyway, with the harbour beckoning below, lustrous or leaden, depending on the mood of the clouds? I would run down to the wharf, racing through the old tombstones in Bolton Street Memorial Park, to watch people jump off planks, their bodies in flight before they hit the icy water. Beneath the surface, clinging to wooden poles, yellowy crabs and star-shaped creatures watched them fall in slow motion, shrouded in a veil of bubbles. Of course there was the wind, chasing clouds over Tinakori Hill, making airport windsocks fly frantically while airborne

BY THE BOOK

the young boy who, with Beverley and Susan, would later gift Randell Cottage to the Trust, making the writers residency possible. It contains old pictures of houses, ships and trains, toys and stamps, notebooks and certificates, things that make up a life and keep its memory alive. Above all, it shows the love of a daughter for her father. Every time I opened the gate, I was reminded that Randell Cottage is a Wellington landmark: the round metal plaque states that it is a Notable Home − Home of Sarah & William Randell, bricklayer, and their ten children. On several occasions, from my desk, I sighted groups of tourists peering into the garden. Behind waves of pink anemones the small house with a red roof elicited looks of appreciation and it felt nice to be somehow a part of a historical place. On my numerous visits to Te Papa, I would stop at the World of WearableArt exhibition, where clothes from past international shows held in Wellington were on display. I marvelled at the creativity of the designers: a gown bristling with spikes of polished wood, a shiny laser-cut dress crafted after a Rorschach inkblot, a bodice etched with an ancient map, under a coat lined with paua shells. And a corset of white china whose blue willow pattern had been directly lifted from a plate donated by Beverley Randell. Once again, Randell Cottage appeared in the warp and weft of Wellington’s cultural fabric, as history wove itself into art and beauty. Even at the movies I was reminded of the Cottage. Relaxing in a velvet-clad sofa at the Light House Cinema where I saw What We Do in the Shadows, a parodic vampire movie filmed in Wellington, I followed Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh and Jemaine Clement on their nightly prowls. True, they were keen on any unclogged artery, but they definitely demonstrated good taste when they singled out Denis Welch, my predecessor at Randell Cottage. During my residency, I went to the South Island to hike with my husband Joël who came to visit; to Christchurch, Auckland and Palmerston North, on my tour of the Alliances Françaises in New Zealand; to New Caledonia where I was warmly welcomed by Nicolas Kurtovitch (the French 2007 Randell Cottage resident); to Australia to give talks at universities in Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide. 76

I left many times. But always I left lighthearted because I knew I’d return. I roamed endlessly around the Botanic Garden where blue and purple hydrangeas grew in a fairytale hollow. I watched the seasons pass as roses bloomed and withered, their petals scattered by the wind. I felt the temperature plummet and saw the light fail, when the summer song of the cicada ceased sometime overnight. Time was catching up on me. So I tried to outrun it by doing more, cramming my days with new experiences, stretching them till three in the morning. I hopped on bus 10 to the zoo, bus 11 to Seatoun to do the Eastern Walkway, took the East by West Ferry to Eastbourne. I committed to memory the sound of traffic lights signalling it was safe to cross, the tug needed to open the letter box by the gate, the shimmer of the silver fern globe floating above Civic Square. The last moments I spent with my friends in bestloved places: dining out and drinking ginger beer at Sprig & Fern; having tea at the Cottage; indulging in an afternoon flat white at French Cancan; returning to my favourite haunt, the hole in the wall on Bond Street called Fisherman’s Plate, with superb Vietnamese soups and derelict decoration. All my travels and experiences fuelled a blog I kept over these two seasons in which I sought to capture the moments and encounters that made this residency so special. It tells of the lectures I gave at the Alliances Françaises in Wellington and Palmerston North, the reception at the Résidence de France where I was officially greeted by Ambassador Laurent Contini, the annual general meeting of the Friends of the Randell Cottage, the presentation I gave at the National Library, just a week before my departure… In the end, at five in the morning on 26 June, Gollum watched Fiona Kidman and her husband Ian give me my last Kiwi hug. And yet, half a world away and ten time zones behind, I haven’t lost my bearings. Just as explorers of old, hoping to return, buried bottles in the sand to mark their passage, so I’ve left a part of my heart under long white clouds − right here: 41°16’42.8”S, 174°46’06.3”E.

HOUSE

CLIFFHANGER WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY BETH ROSE

Susie and Brad Ilg’s stunning four-storey 1930s house, leaning out over the harbour high up in Roseneath, is the essence of Wellington’s architectural panorama as viewed by passengers on a Cook Strait ferry.

hen they arrived in Wellington sixteen years ago from the desert southwest of America, sunlight was a priority for Susie and Brad. “The north facing aspect of the property has all-day sun and with sea views from every floor I had my heart set on this house from the moment we viewed it at the open home”, says Susie. The couple, both geologists, started out renting a house on Grafton Road, a stone’s throw from the labour of love that is now their hillside home on The Crescent. “We moved to New Zealand when Brad took up a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Victoria University in Wellington, working on the Alpine Fault near Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. It’s not unusual for geologists to travel for a job and I was able to bring my own geology consulting work with me from New Mexico,” explains Susie. “We’d only planned to stay for two years but we quickly fell for Wellington’s charm. When I became pregnant with our third child, Galena, we decided to buy a family home and stretched the budget to have this place, which was then just two levels. I was in love with the open-plan kitchen and family area and I couldn’t see us living anywhere else. When the sale went through we were still waiting for our visas to be confirmed, which made it a nail biting time, but the gamble paid off; we got our visas and our beloved home”. 78

The bathrooms were the first areas to be renovated with new tiles and furnishings. All are well lit and simply decorated in neutral colours that are practical yet indulgent. At the same time the whole property was re-plumbed, re-wired and before long, Brad found himself undertaking a personal geology project at home. “We needed more storage”, says Brad, “so we started digging”. “The original plan was to build an open deck below the living and dining area, and to build a new storage space under an existing lower deck. I knew the main part of the villa at the higher end of the property was on bedrock, but the bottom part rested on silt, which meant at least four meters of excavation would be required just to put in robust foundations for the structures we had in mind. “As geologists now living on a hillside in a seismically active part of the world, we wanted to make our home as safe as possible and with all the work it was going to take, we needed to revise our plans and create more practical and better value spaces.” The lower deck ended up forming part of the ceiling for a new luxury guest apartment, which Susie aimed to run as a B&B in order to recoup some of the money spent on the renovations. “We needed to find a way for the property to pay for itself and we knew we were in a great location for tourists visiting

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HOUSE

Wellington,” Susie explains. “I wanted the new space to be in keeping with the simple elegance of the rest of the villa, so we copied the original mouldings of the main house to put in the new guest bedroom, along with reclaimed solid hardwood doors to preserve a sense of history”. The colours of the guestroom, particularly the en – suite, complement the organic blues and greens of the harbour. The result is a cosy seaside retreat where guests can admire an unobstructed, classic Wellington sea view. “I operated the guest apartment as a B&B business for around five years and now it’s just an excellent space for hosting family and friends.” As a reward for all his hard work, Brad built himself a man-cave on the fourth level that he could use as a workshop and space for storing the gym gear of nineteenyear-old Cody, fifteen-year-old Tanner and thirteen-year-old Galena’s. “It is one of the best used rooms in the house”, says Susie. “We now have enough space for everyone to do their own thing.” The entire project took over six years to complete, and for the first four years Brad worked on his own with casual help via Student Job Search. “We did everything by hand using picks, shovels, buckets and wheelbarrows,” says Brad. “We took advantage of the gradient by installing chutes that would help move dirt and rubble down hill. Access to

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the bottom of the property is pedestrian only, which meant every bit of dirt had to be removed by wheelbarrow for the last 100 metres, partly on steps. Eventually, a total of 88 skips took away the debris that was cleared to make room for the new foundations and rooms”. The result is a practical spacious family home where new areas are blended with the old. Original matai floorboards throughout the main house have been retained and this helps to balance the couple’s hand-made wooden dining furniture from New Mexico with the more delicate architectural décor of the 1930s. This year, Galena’s bedroom finally got a makeover too and, Galena was allowed to design and decorate it herself, with some help from Mum. Pinks feature heavily along with brightly coloured balloon lamps − all personalised with some of her own artwork to create the perfect teenage girl’s sanctuary. “Now the house is exactly how I’d pictured it”, says Susie, “but it really is a labour of love. You can’t have a property like this, exposed to the constant winds of Wellington, without expecting to take care of the odd maintenance issue. It was the kitchen and dining area that I fell in love with at the beginning, but now I couldn’t live without the family lounge and it’s wonderful harbour view in all weathers”

HOUSE

C A F E C ON OUR L E CH E , F IDEL ? WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY JAMIE MELBOURNE-HAYWARD

ON any given day, we can meet at Fidel’s on Cuba street and drink Havana coffee under an enormous Cuban flag. Afterwards we might head to the hidden-away Havana Bar – where pictures of Che Guevara look over us with radical scorn – to dance to jazz and indulge in rum. Our famous bohemian street was not named in solidarity with a revolutionary communist island, but rather after an early settler vessel, the Cuba. In fact, do we have any meaningful connections with the Caribbean nation? I wanted to find out.

outside under the shade of an umbrella drew sideways looks from the men; only women cower under umbrellas in Cuba. My first impressions were like scenes straight out of a movie: Buena Vista music humming out of bars, peacocks parading on patios, cheap cigars, Soviet-style disco-halls, Cadillac taxis rides,

arrived in Havana to oppressive humidity, 27-degree highs, and brilliant lightning storms. The building opposite my hotel in the colonial quarter had been "under renovation" for 35 years and a jungle of thick vines coated the scaffolding – it wasn’t hard to imagine a kingdom of monkeys living inside there. Venturing 81

ABROAD

A MISSION TO UNCOVER THE MILKY T RU T H I N C U BA

and enough rum to keep Hemingway satisfied. In Cuba you’re forced to confront the value of things, both in a broader sense, and because the island has a dual currency. Visitors are supposed to deal in the tourist currency, pegged to the US dollar. Locals use Cuban pesos.US$1is worth around 25 pesos. A glass of delicious, freshly squeezed sugarcane costs a tourist $4, and a local one peso. So your sweet drink buys 100 rounds for a local – it’s easy to make friends in Cuba. During an evening stroll beside the harbour, overlooked by several Spanish forts, a Cuban man befriended me. We became acquainted playing chess under a street lamp (a Russian tourist had mailed him the ornate set). After grinding me down to checkmate a couple of times, he invited me to try my luck again on the uneven days of the month, when he works as a night doorman. On the rare occasion I managed to beat him, he complained I had dulled his senses with US$1beers. That sort of purchase is beyond his means. Here, some tricycle-taxis charge $5 for a ride, while others will take $1. It’s basically pot-luck, or how hungry your man is, and it drives a market-orientated Westerner mad. You’ve just got to roll with it, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. On the upside, there’s virtually no gun crime. An amazing fact considering the proximity to the United States and the brutal violence in nearby nations like Jamaica, Mexico, or Honduras (with a murder rate comparable to a country at war). In comparison with her neighbours, Cuba’s level of security and social cohesion is astounding. My friend the doorman is called el Mar, which means "the sea". One afternoon he offered to give me an unofficial tour of the city. The fact I speak Spanish helped me blend in, but el Mar still got nervous around the authorities. A few years ago the police caught him talking to tourists and took him in for questioning. El Mar detests the government. “We are not a free people,” he kept telling me. He doesn’t share in the joy of working for peanuts, a sentiment echoed by the roughly

600,000 people (six percent of the country) who apply for immigration to the US each year. Frustrated is the word used a lot to describe their situation. For el Mar Cuba is an authoritarian state, and its citizens are “silenced and bought off ” by the government employing almost half the population as state employees or policemen. That’s a figure the Cuban International Press Office refused to acknowledge, confirming only that there are “quite a few.” I travelled to Cuba to investigate children’s bones being fortified by milk. The question was simple: how does New Zealand milk help undernourished children in Cuba? It’s one of the most innocent news stories you could ever hope to write. However, as often happens when you mention Cuba, the blinds came down. The trade arrangement is simple: milk there, cigars, coffee and rum back – no one has ever complained about the deal from the New Zealand end. The NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade website states: “In the year to December 2012, total New Zealand exports to Cuba were worth NZ$22.3 million, of which over NZ$19 million was in dairy products. The trade is driven by the Cuban Government’s social policy of providing each Cuban child under seven with a litre of liquid milk every day”. Fonterra – the fourth largest dairy conglomerate in the world – provides powdered milk for the charity programme. They declined to comment, saying: “On this occasion there is nothing we would like to talk about. I appreciate this is not the answer you were looking for.” Then, just days before arriving in Havana, the Cuban press office refused me permission to discuss the programme. At the airport I was questioned: they asked me if I would like to interview Fidel Castro (in jest), what I thought of the Cuban revolution of 1959, and reiterated I should not under any circumstance carry out journalistic investigations. It’s something the Cuban government is weary of and wary to discuss, because as the saying goes: “The triumphs of the revolution are healthcare, education, and arts, and the failures are breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

ABROAD

GOOD SPORT

ABROAD

In this poor country still struggling under a trade embargo, food is a valuable commodity and milk is scarce. The country produces 500 million litres of milk per year with a population of around 11 million to feed. New Zealand dairy companies produce roughly 19 billion litres of milk per year, with a population of four million. In Havana the press office eventually agreed to see me, and explained why discussing milk is not kosher. The Cuban government views food imports as a matter of national security, and moreover the milk trade touches on the issue of the US trade embargo. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Cuba sourced most of its milk from East Germany, aligned then with the USSR. But nowadays powdered milk has to be shipped from liberal nations like New Zealand and Holland. On top of that, Cuba claims the US government pressures nations and companies that trade with them. For example, in July last year American Express was slapped with a US$5.2 million fine for selling tickets to US citizens travelling to Cuba. Embargo aside, the Cuban refusal to cooperate with my milk investigation is in step with their authoritarian stance on freedom of the press. Reporters Without Borders ranks the communist island state 170 out of 180 in it’s 2014 report on press freedom. China, Iran, Syria, and North Korea are a few of the nations that rank lower. Frustrated is a word you hear people use a lot. Although New Zealand and Cuba are worlds apart, it pleased me to see our glut of milk making it to some deserving mouths. It’s the regular people who suffer under the US embargo. The island maintains a ration-card system, and after reaching seven years of age most kids go without milk. The New Zealand government for the past 22 years has asked, along with almost every other nation on earth, for the US embargo on Cuba to be lifted. Despite the embargo, life goes on. Almost everyone is fit and healthy, with lean diets, and high fruit and vegetable intakes. According to the first Cuban doctor I met – you’re bound to run into a few – people live comfortably if they put in the voluntary effort. What’s more, those at the top don’t drown in money – political power perhaps, but that’s something else. The doctor earns 600 Cuban Pe-

sos (US$25) per month. He asks: “Do you see any house in Cuba without a fridge, a TV, a washing machine, and an oven?” The Doc. says people don’t go without food, or the basics. There is universal free education and healthcare, and transport is super cheap. It cost me 1c to travel one hour in a packed, but cheerful, bus from Havana to the Eastern palm-lined beaches – a taxi ride would have cost $25. Poverty in Cuba is a complex issue, because they’re rich in non-economic ways. Recycling has become a high-art form, including street installations, car repairs, and even eccentric donkey carriages. The island has gone from a colonial, mono-culture (sugar cane) economy, to diversifying its food supply, and promoting human capital as its largest economic driver – mostly in the medical area. In many studies Cuba ranks as one of the most sustainable nations of earth, alongside vastly more advanced nations like Germany, Switzerland, and Norway. Following the Global Footprint Network’s definition of sustainable development (data it presents to the United Nations) Cuba has an ecological footprint of less than 1.8 hectares per person (the earth’s bio-capacity is 1.9 hectares per person. In comparison New Zealand’s footprint is around 7, one of the highest in the world). That coupled with its high ranking on the Human Development Index demonstrates Cuba has one of the best balances between human welfare and ecological wellbeing. Of course, Cuba’s sustainability is a special case, a mixture of local initiative and embargo-induced austerity. The last place el Mar took me on our Havana tour was to a school, to enquire about the government’s powdered milk programme. The obliging headmaster led us to a store room and handed me a small, unmarked bag of powdered milk. As easy as that. I was now illegally investigating calcium. The absurdity of the whole affair was contained within that moment. The only thing that remained for me to do was invite Fidel for a coffee in Havana – mind you, the powdered milk probably wouldn’t have made for a good flat white.

more blue in sky

T O R Q U E TA L K

SA LE SME N… WHO NEED S THEM? WRITTEN BY MARK SAINSBURY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY RHETT GOODLEY-HORNBLOW

I had a major problem reviewing this car. Not with the car but with the reviewing bit. You see it’s a tad difficult to assess a vehicle when you can’t actually get your hands on it.

to cope with the load. The beauty of the CVT is the smoothness of the ride. You can of course option up your Jazz but the list isn’t huge given how much is standard. (I was intrigued by the kayak holder and would love to see the figures on that one) and of course if you want leather that’s a pay-for option across the range. What is impressive is the five-year warranty, what’s not is the rear drum brakes on the base Jazz S. I would have thought discs all round to be a standard on any new car these days. The only annoying factor for me and this is not unique to the Jazz or Honda, is the modern raking front screen style which necessitates small quarterlights sitting either side of the dash. I hate making right turns where you’re having to constantly try and peer over and around the thick pillars to make sure the way is clear, but this is a factor with modern design in other makes too. Space-wise the Jazz feels a very comfortable car and while not having the lavish space of the Civic or Accord you never feel as if you are in toy. The build quality as you’d expect is excellent, and although I am a fan of the auto I’d really like to try the six-speed manual. Maybe in another couple of months when I can prise one out of them again. The small Hondas are sometimes dismissed as the prerogative of the retired, but the updated look, interior, and performance of the Jazz means it will hit a wider market. And of course now you know you can fit the surfboard inside, it’s a simple choice! And as I say the only worry for the Honda salespeople is convincing punters why they need to spend more on a bigger model, and as they are flying out the door so fast why do they need salespeople at all?

he folks down at Honda on Kent Terrace were very apologetic but secretly they must be skipping into the sales room each day. The problem seems to be that they are selling too many cars. In the top ten overall, and running at second bestselling small car, the Jazz it would appear is selling itself. Dealers usually fall over themselves to accommodate reviewers and to be fair the team at Honda were doing everything they could, but quite simply the cupboard was bare and every time one came in: out it went! After eventually getting my hands on one it’s not hard to see why. Honda have made millions of these cars, usually marketed as the Fit in other territories, and this is the third generation of what was already a very popular car. But the improvement this time round could come back to bite them. The reason? Well at $23,700 for the base model s with a 1.3 litre motor up to $30,900 for the RS Mugen with the CVT auto you would have to at least pause before spending $39,000 on a Civic or $47,000 on an Accord. Yes size will matter but the Jazz’s magic seat option means you can literally fit a surfboard inside thanks to this ingenious design and its multiple configurations. The seats themselves are a big improvement both in terms of material and comfort, and the improvements have carried on throughout the interior, which now also sports touch-screen entertainment and a reversing camera. The car I eventually got to test was the Honda Jazz RS CVT, $26,900 list price. With that you get the 1.5 litre motor, bigger alloys and some other bits and bobs - a lot of car for relatively little money. I particularly like the constant velocity transmission which Honda has returned to for the Jazz. Small cars with relatively small engines and automatic boxes often annoy me because of their tendency to be changing far too often 87

W E L LY A NG E L

WHAT WOU LD DEIR DRE 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

UNPLEASANT CHILD – WHAT ’S NEW? My generally well-behaved and pleasant four year old has started playing-up something chronic. She's refusing to do tasks she had no problem with a month ago and her attitude is as dark as the night. Is this just a phase?

Islam. I am anxious; my wife is appalled and wants to avoid the wedding. She feels we must be prepared to demonstrate or at least stand up for our convictions, and that at least it might help our daughter to reconsider her plans. What do you think? Anxious, Wellington

It does not seem silly at all. The world is a mess and it is religion that drives your troubles. the war-mongering, dissension and Welcome to the world – count yourself tensions. You don’t think it is silly or you A JOY TO THANK lucky so far and settle in to the challenges would not be asking the question. She is of parenting. All children are perfect at Where do you stand on thank-you letters? your daughter, you need to support her, some stage, this is why the human race Are they still expected after a formal whatever she does or you stand to lose reproduces – you will eventually have a event, ie a wedding, a formal party or her and your grandchildren. She may selective and positive memory of her – a weekend stay? Or is an email or text reconsider but she needs to do that for change and share the tasks, upgrade the sufficient? herself and putting up opposition may smiles. It is a phase. very well make her proceed? There are a Unsure, Martinborough number of probably/maybes here. Stay ISIS PROBLEM I recently had an Injection Donut at a on her side and be there for her. Book Religious differences split my extended trendy café in Napier – definitely for the your air-tickets, trust her to decide and be family a generation back, my mother from there for her. Life is too short ! Gen X set! – but my reply to this is more a strongly Presbyterian family married a as an ex-Gen person! Thank-you letters are a pleasure to write and a joy to receive, Roman Catholic and her father would not If you’ve got a burning especially in this Injection-communication attend the wedding. The rift affected all her siblings and the grandchildren. Today question for Deirdre, email age we now live in. Take the time to that seems silly. Now our daughter (in angel@capitalmag.co.nz write, the event took time and thought to another country) is planning to marry a with Capital Angel in the prepare –you will feel good and so will the Muslim and maybe/probably to convert to subject line. recipient. Just coping, Seatoun

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KEEP PORK OFF YOUR FORK! FOR WORLD VEG MONTH 2014

SAFE are running public meetings on how to get started on their 30-day October Go Veg Challenge.

New Zealand’s premier spring festival ‘The Taranaki Powerco Garden Spectacular’ − 2014 features stunning gardens and events.

1 October, 7pm, St Andrews on the Terrace

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Marianne MacDonald & Luke Sullivan Maranatha Building 63 Great North Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1021

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You are invited to a free public talk on how you can help animals by making a simple change to your diet. Get on board now to learn more about the hottest diet around!

An event to raise funds for Shakti, a not-for-profit organisation for ethnic women’s development & domestic violence prevention. 21–24 October, 10am − 5pm. Closing Night Party, 24 October, 6pm, 19 Tory Street, Wellington

B LU E DR AG ON M OV I E F U N DR A I SE R

Lynley Tulloch & Sandra Kyle The Link, Cnr River Road and Te Aroha Street, Hamilton, 3261

Atrocious pig farming conditions have shocked the nation and prompted many to give up meat altogether.

If you have ever thought about going meat-free, now is the time to take action. For the month of OCTOBER SAFE is running the 30-Day Go Veg Challenge.

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In addition, this year they have introduced the PX1000 a polarised glass lens of the highest grade - for boating, yachting and fishing .These polarised lenses, combined with the scratch resistance properties of glass, make these ideal for all water sports enthusiasts with both toughened nylon and fashion acetate frames.

See these for yourself at the new Vuarnet Store (Level 1, 262 Thorndon Quay) or The Board Factory , 35 Cuba St. 90

B A B Y, B A B Y

A DAUG H TER L IKE YOU BY MELODY THOMAS

Perhaps I’ve gone too far in internalising the message, but when it comes to parenting I can’t escape a pesky voice in my head warning me that "pride comes before a fall"

t’s that extreme but completely normal FEAR that comes with having all your happiness tied up in one vulnerable human − the same feeling that leads every single parent in the history of the world to play out morbid and inescapable internal scenarios where their child is harmed or worse, and their lives ruined forever. But this concern − that at some stage I’m going to pay for the downright obnoxious happiness motherhood has given me - is also based in sound historical fact. Because I was once a beautiful, happy, charming little girl. And then I became a teenager. I was the kind of teenager you hope your daughter doesn’t befriend, or your son fall in love with. Loud, arrogant, and with an intellect I put to use only to outwit those in positions of authority (i.e. teachers and parents), I was expelled from Wellington Girls’ High School at 14 (or as they put it, ‘asked to leave’) when, during a full school assembly with the girls standing to attention as our headmistress took the stage, I threw a tennis ball that hit her square in the forehead. Far from the picture of rosy-cheeked innocence that is often painted of girls, my friends and I would escape from our houses on weekends with a thirst for male flesh, competing to see who could collect the best conquests and swapping notes when we reunited. My parents tried to ground me, or else shipped me back and forth between their (at this time separate) houses, but nothing seemed to slow me down. At my new high school, Aotea College, the majority of my teachers either despised or feared me, and while in retrospect I feel bad for the hell I must have created for them, at the time they were the enemy. They had power over me, yes, but worse than that − they were ‘old’, therefore painfully, agonisingly, mortifyingly dull. Now that I think about it, the dread that nags me as I gaze upon my angelic daughter is likely the result of a curse issued

by my mother around that time. Who knows what atrocity I had committed but in a blaze of (perfectly justified) anger, my mother raised her arms and in a dramatic and dark tone howled that I too would “once know the anguish and pain of a daughter like myself ”. Funnily enough, she was quoting her own mother. While I considered my rebellion to be wholly original it was in fact just karmic retribution conjured up by my grandmother. I was her pay-back, and so Sadie must surely be my mother’s. It’s a dangerous way to think − the kind of thing that could easily turn from nervous half-joke to selffulfilling prophecy. And there is another way to think about it − after all, I came right in the end. According to all counts I should have been pregnant ten years ago, or jailed for shoplifting, or killed in any one of the dodgy situations I marched into with such insufferable disdain for my own safety and the effects my actions had on others. But somehow I turned things around, and from expulsion at 14 I would go on to be awarded Dux, or Top Scholar, in my final year. Things have turned out so well that when I mention those horrific teenage years in front of my parents now, they chuckle fondly as if they found it all rather harmless and charming and knew all along it would work out, saying things like “Oh you weren’t that bad”. Perhaps in that moment when I woke up to the fact that my grand rebellion was only hurting myself and that a better way to ‘show them’ was to prove them wrong and to try to live up to my potential, I broke the curse. Maybe this sweet little girl is a reward, a gesture of good faith from mistress fate meant to say well done, you all got through it, now let the joy begin. Time will tell, but I know one thing for certain − you’ll never hear me cursing Sadie with a daughter like me. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. 91