Capital 24

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

OFF SPRING SEPTEMBER 2015

MEATY CUTS ISSUE 24

$4.90

ENDLESSLY INVENTIVE KING PIN SPIN

Thirty years of quality education Become part of our journey in 2016 +

Automotive

+

Nursing

+

Beauty & Hairdressing

+

Radio

+

Building Trades

+

Office Administration &

+

Business

+

Civil Construction

+

Outdoor Adventure

+

Creative Writing

+

Paramedic

+

Early Childhood Education

+

Performing Arts

+

English Language

+

Photography

+

Film

+

Publishing

+

Hospitality

+

Social Work

+

Information Technology

+

Te Reo Māori

+

Journalism

+

Transport

+

Māori Art

+

Visual Arts & Design

+

Music

+

Waka Ama

Computing

>> MASTERS + POSTGRADUATE + DEGREES + DIPLOMAS + CERTIFICATES

Whitireia and WelTec are strategic partners delivering more choice to students.

APROPOS 31080R

Honda Cars Wellington 65 Kent Terrace 04 913 4000 Opening Hours: Mon to Fri: 7:30am – 5:30pm, Sat: 9:00am – 5:00pm, Sun: 10:00am – 5:00pm

www.honda.co.nz

HR-V

The all new HR-V is here – redefining space, quality and style. Combining the elegant fluidity of a coupe with the utility of a SUV, the 5-door crossover HR-V offers luxury, dynamic performance, and class-leading space. see. be seen.

head turner

CAPITAL MADE IN WELLINGTON THE COVER: Spring lamb.

Art direction: Shalee Fitzsimmons Photography: Ashley Church

SUBSCRIPTION Subscription rates $77 (inc postage and packaging) 11 issues

New Zealand only To subscribe, please email accounts@capitalmag.co.nz

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

PRINTED IN WELLINGTON

S

ome years ago, almost all schoolchildren here knew that daffodils equalled spring and most could probably quote the first verse of Wordsworth’s “The Daffodils”, or at least, triumphantly, the opening lines: “I wandered lonely as a cloud/ That floats on high o’er dale and hill/When all at once I saw a crowd/A host, of golden daffodils.”

English poets are not still taught here with the same fervour and that’s no bad thing; or at least that’s another discussion we could have; but daffodils still define spring for us, they are blooming in Wellington, and we have had fun looking at September through spring goggles.

We have talked to gardener Mel Beirne about her stint with the Brooklyn Community Orchard and to a group of young mothers charting a new path to independence.

Sean Plunket looks at the re-invention of the Mini, and our very own on-trend Unna Burch shows you how to make simple spring rolls.

Mutton dressed as lamb was another angle helpfully suggested to us for our spring fashion shoot. Our art director Shalee took great pleasure in the planning and kept a firm eye on the outcome.

Ina Bajaj discussed the starting of her Spring Spa business and the risks involved.

Various events this month are planned around fundraising and daffodils and spring flowers; and then of course the month moves into the full-blown splendour of the wearable arts show.

We hope you enjoy the magazine and the month.

Alison Franks Editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz

This publication uses vegetable based inks, and FSC® certified papers produced from responsible sources, manufactured under ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems

The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Although all material is checked for accuracy, no liability is assumed by the publisher for any losses due to the use of material in this magazine.

Copyright ©. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of Capital Publishing Ltd.

CONTENTS

OFF-SPRING Five teen mums share their stories of motherhood

32

KING PIN SPIN

E N D L E S S LY INVENTIVE

The Wellington skate-scape

An industrial designer talks 3D printing

62

54

10 LETTERS

54

12 CHATTER

56 EDIBLES

14

NEWS SHORTS

60

FOOD DIRECTORY

16

BY THE NUMBERS

62

LIQUID THOUGHTS

18

NEW PRODUCTS

66

PERIODICALLY SPEAKING

21

TALES OF THE CITY

68

BY THE BOOK

73

MONEY, MONEY

78

HOUSE

24 CULTURE

STREET STYLE

28

READY TO PREACH

30

WHAT THE FLOCK

42

MAP THAT

44

LIQUID THOUGHTS

49

WHAT THE FLOCK

96 CALENDAR

84 TRAVEL 88

WELLY ANGEL

91

TORQUE TALK

92

BABY, BABY

98

50 FASHION 7

ON THE BUSES

CONTRIBUTORS

S TA F F Alison Franks Managing editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz Campaign coordinators Lyndsey O’Reilly lyndsey@capitalmag.co.nz Haleigh Trower haleigh@capitalmag.co.nz Kate Ellis kate@capitalmag.co.nz

John Bristed General factotum john@capitalmag.co.nz Shalee Fitzsimmons Art direction shalee.f@live.com Rhett Goodley- Hornblow

Design design@capitalmag.co.nz

Craig Beardsworth

Factotum

Anna Jackson-Scott Journalist Gus Bristed

Distribution

CONTRIBUTORS

JOHN KERR S ci en c e c olum n i st

L AU R A P I T C H E R Street Style

John loves science and loves talking about it. After stints in research and academic publishing, he moved to Wellington three years ago to work at the Science Media Centre where he helps journalists get their heads around the latest research and science news.

Laura is in her third year studying graphic design and marketing at Massey University. She is our behind-the-scenes elf, assisting with design and interior and fashion shoots. A fashion enthusiast, she has recently been given a camera and is on the hunt around Wellington for the latest street style.

Emma Steer | Melody Thomas | Kieran Haslett-Moore | Kelly Henderson | Janet Hughes | John Bishop | Tamara Jones | Ashley Church | Benjamin & Elise | Beth Rose | Evangeline Davis | Bex McGill | Unna Burch | Joelle Thomson | Frances Samuel | Alice Brennan

STOCKISTS Pick up your Capital in New World, Countdown and Pak’n’ Save supermarkets, Moore Wilson's, Unity Books, Magnetix, City Cards & Mags, Take Note, Airport, Interislander and other discerning region wide 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 Bex McGill | Laura Pitcher | Josh Wooton

ASHLEY CHURCH Ph oto g r aph er

M E L O DY T HOM A S Journ a li st

Ash is a photographer who goes by the pseudonym Dinosaurtoast. She is every bit as quirky as the name suggests – she loves people, culture, fashion and her dog Shiloh. Working with Capital is one of her favourite projects, thanks largely to all of the interesting people she meets. Check her work out on Instagram @dinosaurtoast or www.dinosaurtoast.com.

Melody is a writer, columnist and producer for radio who uses her work to offset terrible FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out. Writing for Capital provides just the excuse she needs to pry, consider and explore the world vicariously, all from her little window desk in Island Bay. Catch up with Melody between Issues on Twitter @WriteByMelody.

8

LETTERS

SO DISAPPOINTED I'm so disappointed at your ignorant and frankly offensive description of Louise Nicholas as a 'rape victim' on page 28 of your Winter 2015 #23 issue.

What a sad but good example of how important and powerful the words we choose to use are. Calling Louise a 'rape victim' not only freezes her identity in an incredibly sad and difficult time of her life, but also ignores and reduces the amazing work she has done for sexual abuse awareness in New Zealand. Her achievements are multiple and she deserves so much better than to be known as a victim.

I really enjoy your magazine, but please be more careful to recognize the power that you have over those you write about.

Daisy (email address supplied) Most of the women mentioned were known for careers that spanned a range of activities e.g. former Prime Minister Helen Clark is now in a top role at the UN. Louise Nicholas came to public notice as a rape victim. It is also the description ascribed to her in the information from the campaign. Ed.

Goldsmith artist Dorthe Kristensen of Vilders makes contemporary jewellery with individuality and flair.

Bring in your old gold jewellery and gems and Dorthe will work with you to give them new life.

Open: Fri 12 – 5 Sat 11 – 3 or by appointment.

104 Aro Street, Wellington Phone (04) 384 7989 / 021 615 971 www.vildersgallery.co.nz

FOUR WHEELED ENJOYMENT I was quite surprised to find another radio man as your car reviewer. I was surprised you chose the gritty Sean Plunket, and even more surprised to find that he was quite funny, he knows a bit about cars and that I enjoyed reading his column.

P. Davidson, Eastern Suburbs

MORE INFORMATION PLEASE I know that it was an item about a band, but the pictures which went with the Phoenix Foundation article in your recent issue were surprising. At a glance I would never have picked that it was a music story.

And even them, having gone to the trouble of putting the photographs on the page you might have gone to a tiny bit more trouble and told us who they were.

Marie Jackson, Wellington (abridged)

Women’s shoes size 10+

Be spoiled for choice & feel amazing in our stylish long shoes. A perfect stop to and from Wellington Airport.

Shop Hours Mon-Sat 10-4

27c Waitoa Road, Hataitai Ph: 04 9201004 | willowshoes.co.nz Auckland | Hamilton | Wellington | Christchurch 10

REAL PEOPLE D OING REAL THINGS To the team at Capital, I just wanted to say, that up until 20 mins ago, I have NEVER read your mag. BUT at Commonsense Organics a friend insisted she buy it for me, well I have to just say, it's a BRILLIANT read, I love how creative you have been with EVERYTHING, style, paper , type, photography, story angles the whole shebang!!

What struck me most was the human touch, not only HUGELY informative, but so lovely to hear real people, doing real things, alongside the goings on in the city…. not a celebrity or diet or scandal therein..JOY JOY JOY!!

Carry on, I will be on the look–out for the next edition.

Kind regards and thanks for thinking outside the box, marvellous!!

Wilhelmina van der Aa, (abridged) Letters to editor@capitalmag.co.nz with subject line Letters to Ed or scan our QR code to email the editor directly.

Spring has arrived!

Come visit our garden centre and set yourself up for a new and exciting growing season!

Open every day from 9am till 5.30pm.

240 Middleton Road, Glenside 04 477 4090 www.twigland.co.nz

RD E R S E C TCI H OA N THT EE A

INK INC.

SPRING AWA K E N I N G In celebration of all things springy we have compiled a list of important spring activities for you to participate in.

Well, ok it’s just a list of things with ‘spring’ in the title but we thought it was quite witty....hope springs eternal.

• • •

•

ANDRE SIMPSON

•

Why you chose design?

I had wanted a traditional Gypsy style girl's face in side profile for a while and finally found an artist, Mark Sender Iddles, to depict it in the way I wanted.

Pick some spring flowers – daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, peonies, magnolias and plenty more.

Eat a spring roll (and if they’re Vietnamese spring rolls then eat a dozen – those suckers are amazing).

Drink some spring water – the aquifer in Petone is pure, chemical-free and free – take a bottle to Buick Street.

Spring cleaning – shake those rugs, open the windows, turn off the telly and throw the kids outside.

Cook some spring vegetables – ‘tis the season to gorge yourself on spinach, silver beet, asparagus, broccoli. A trip to the market is an event in itself.

NAILED IT

Family – for it or against?

Totally against my tattoos. I grew up in a family of Jehovah's Witnesses and left pretty early.

They'll never appreciate any artistic value in tattooing. But hey it's my body.

Te Papa has been named a top destination on the planet.

It is one of nine New Zealand destinations named in Lonely Planet’s top 500 Ultimate Travelist, which highlights places their expert advisers believe every traveller must experience.

“It’s especially exciting to be the one man-made place in New Zealand on the list. When you find yourself in the company of Fiordland National Park and Waitomo Caves, you know you are doing something right,” says Te Papa’s Chief Executive, Rick Ellis.

Where is the tattoo & why?

The tattoo is on the back of my upper arm. I hate when people rattle on about what their tattoos mean and represent. It's a personal thing but mostly it's about the art.

12

C HAT T E R

WELLY WORDS

DECENT D O CENT Been to the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa yet? One plucky Wellyworder braving the crowds and a 40+ minute wait watched as several militant docents patrolled the lines sending people off to dump bags and large jackets in storage. When approached, a grim looking guard explained that with 6000 people through in a day too much damage was inflicted on the exhibition so all things bulky are outski. Even then it seems people just can’t help touching things. Don’t you remember what teacher said? – ‘Look with your eyes’.

O N LY O N E The Wellington Free Ambulance is promoting a Wear a Onesie Day to encourage Wellingtonians to open their wallets.

Wellington Free Ambulance is the one and only paramedic service for Greater Wellington and Wairarapa. They help one in ten locals every year and is the only free ambulance service left in New Zealand.

Wellington Free Ambulance Annual Appeal 11–13 September.

COMBS CLAT TERING The tension was high as the combs and hairdryers flew at the recent Wellington Regional Hairdressing Competitions, held upstairs at Mac’s Bar. Christa Rowling, senior stylist at getfunkd Willis, won the Oceanic – The Cut Hairdressing Award. Other Wellington salons to feature in various category honours included Blue Cactus, Reds, Mane Salon and Vivo.

IT'S COOL TO KORERO It’s father’s day in September – get practicing now!

I love you dad Aroha ana ahau ki a koutou papa

DA F F O D I L S PA S T The Booth family have run a daffodil farm in Middle Run, Gladstone, since 1891, and they’re still at the centre of Carterton’s annual daffodil picking festival today. The bulbs have self-seeded since they were originally planted, says John Booth, who's also the Mayor.

“Every few years we plough the field to bring the bulbs closer to the surface. They’re from the originals, back in the 1800s.”

The festival this year celebrates spring on 13 September. Funds go to local charities, Plunket, and St John.

13

NEWS SHORTS

HEADING O U R WAY Would-be immigrants to New Zealand will have more chance of being accepted if they’re happy to live somewhere other than Auckland. Peter Biggs of the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency has welcomed a change which gives applicants with job offers from outside Auckland 30 bonus points instead of the current 10. “A little nudge to other parts of the country will benefit both the migrants and the regions they go to.” He say that with innovative businesses, reasonable house prices, excellent commuting options and easy access to the coast, “Wellington offers a fantastic lifestyle.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PORIRUA

FAIR TRADE HISTORY

MONEY TALKS

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Porirua, an awards dinner at Te Rauparaha Arena on Saturday 3 Oct will recognise 50 amazing Porirua people who have helped make the city what it is today.

Various other activities will take place throughout the anniversary weekend, including a prize-giving fancy dress pool party at the Aquatic Centre on Sunday.

Tickets for the dinner are $100 and available from the Arena and TicketDirect.

Trade Aid Wellington celebrated its 40th birthday last year, publishing a history of the store which appeared last month. Celebrating 40 years of Trade Aid in Wellington traces the shop from its beginnings in a bookshop, to its campaigning against child slavery in the 90s.

Local book designer Paul Dodge teamed up with volunteers to record anecdotes and key dates.

Wellington High School and South Wellington Intermediate will receive a share of the $90,146 Asian Language Learning in Schools fund for new classes in Japanese and Mandarin. Paul Foster-Bell MP made the announcement, saying “We are a trading nation, so it’s important our future workforce has the opportunity to learn another language and understand another culture.”

Programmes begin next year, and schools can apply for the second round of funding from now until 25 September.

14

S ENCETW IO HOE R A TDSE R S NS H

PUBLIC SE RV I C E C I T Y Nearly 30% of New Zealand public service staff left their roles within the first 12 months according to a recent Government Administrative and Support Services Benchmark report. It says this is well above the international benchmark of 8%. The PSA’s Erin Polaczuk notes that “high staff turnover leads to reduced morale, less experience in the workplace and higher costs for continuous recruitment”. She says happier workers produce better work, and the Government should create high-engagement workplace culture across the public service.

JET SET GO

WORLD RECORDS GAINED

HOMELY HOSPITALIT Y

Qantas is adding 72 new Wellington–Brisbane flights to its network in time for Christmas. The seasonal service responds to demand from holidaymakers jetting off for summer. Onward connections to Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan cater for farther-flung fun.

Blind Wellington swimmer Mary Fisher recently picked up her fifth IPC world record, for the women’s 50m freestyle at the New Zealand short course champs in Auckland. Fisher featured in our issue #6 in November 2013. She’s looking forward to the 2016 Paralympics in Rio a year away. New Zealand was the most successful country in the world on a per capita basis at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The hospitality of the capital is growing in popularity, according to Crowe Horwath and Hospitality NZ, who recently released a market insights report showing Wellington as second only to Auckland in the number of guest nights hosted. With bookings on the rise and guests staying longer, Hospitality NZ’s CEO Bruce Robertson predicts “those that prosper will be those that reinvest in businesses with appropriate refurbishment and positioning, and those that are able to find, train and retrain staff to deliver an outstanding experience.”

ONE LADDE R. MANY WAYS. OUR NEW NATURAL WOODEN LADDE R IS DESIGNED FOR YOU.

SHOP ONLINE OR IN STORE AT 11 HUNTE R ST WELLINGTON

BY THE NUMBERS

FLOSS GOSS

DWELLER SELLER FELLA

CAFE AFFAIR

3

years The Kilbirnie Dentists have been in Kilbirnie

5

years John Kettle has been selling apartments to Wellingtonians

25

years that Cafe L’affare have been roasting up a storm

61

years experience between the three staff

6,000

estimated number of apartments in the Wellington CBD

400 +

cafes supplied with beans from Invercargill to Northland

2

months before you should renew your toothbrush

10,000

projected number by 2020

1

metre of dental floss used in an average week (that’s assuming you FLOSS people)

10,000

cost in $ for a two hour private training course so you can learn to make the perfect coffee

67,600

poached eggs prepared per year at their College Street cafe

16

teaspoons of sugar in a 600ml soft drink

projected number of apartments that won’t be accessible to door-todoor salespeople, trick-or-treaters, Mormons etc because they won’t have security card access – ha!

140

TUNNEL VISION

299,258 kg of gelignite used in the

construction of the Rimutaka train tunnel

1955

year it opened

8.79

tunnel length in kms (the longest regular-use passenger tunnel in the country – the Kaimai Tunnel near Tauranga is slightly longer but it ain’t regular)

5

services a day between Wellington and Masterton courtesy of Tranz Metro

B OMBS AWAY

1942

year construction began on the Wright’s Hill Fortress (a WWII initiative in response to the perceived threat of Japanese invasion)

620

metres of interconnected tunnels

3

number of gun emplacements – only two were installed

135

weight in tons of each gun – they had the capability of firing a 172kg shell at a target 30 kms away [insert appropriate expletive here]

Compiled by Craig Beardsworth

HABITUAL FIX

6

Habit Health and Fitness Clubs in the Wellington region (plus one in Auckland)

2003 126

year the business was established fitness classes offered weekly

153

staff on hand including nutritionists, physiotherapists, and personal trainers

3

'Club of the Year’ gongs at the New Zealand Exercise Industry Awards

Create Your Future Massey University College of Creative Arts Wellington creative.massey.ac.nz Apply now for study in 2016 Programmes include commercial music, creative media production, MÄ ori visual arts, fashion design, textile design, fine arts, photography, spatial design, industrial design, and visual communication design.

Larissa Flutey Textile Design

NEW PRODUCTS

SPRING CLEAN

Papucei metallic boots $359 - Willow Shoes

Castle Art Tea Towel, Patchwork 1 - $99.00 Small Acorns

Jute lamb - $9.99 Trade Aid

General Eclectic spot pillow $54.90 - Iko Iko

Factory Cabinet - $271 Stacks Furniture Store

Sweeper & Funnel $129 - Let Liv

BKR water bottle Lolita $49 - Let Liv

Menswear Illustration $60 - Gordon Harris

Kartell Grace K Handbags, Backhouse - $377

18

Status Anxiety Audrey Wallet $109 - Miss Wong

Everything Balm $24.90 - Trilogy

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe coffee, L'affare - $9.00/200g

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2015

AUCKLAND / 8–13 SEPT WELLINGTON / 15–19 SEPT DUNEDIN / 26–27 SEPT NEW PLYMOUTH / 29 SEPT–4 OCT

www.goethe.de/nz

Sprache. Kultur. Deutschland.

SECTION HEADER

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

GARDEN REIGN

CLOTHING

E AT S

A RT I ST

HO L I DAY

AU T HO R

gumboots

The Salty Pidgin

Kemi Niko & Co.

Kaiteriteri

Elizabeth Knox

WRITTEN BY ANNA JACKSON-SCOTT | PHOTOGRAPH BY ASHLEY CHURCH

Mel Beirne is many things: a mother, a primary school teacher, an event coordinator – and a founder and volunteer of the Brooklyn Community Orchard.

I

n 2008, a food group was created out of the Brooklyn branch of the Transition Towns sustainability movement. Beirne and co-founder Kelda Hains found suitable land on Harrison Street, leased it from the council, and planted their first trees in 2009.

Wellington’s first community orchard was born.

It’s a community as much as a food movement. “We set up the orchard to focus on local food and provide an opportunity for those interested in contributing to their community to get together for learning. It’s not just about the food, it’s about the people.” A core group from Brooklyn, including men and women, children, teenagers and families, come to each working bee, and others join when they can. Mel says the orchard is increasingly in demand.

“Every year the orchard is used more and more – to garden, to eat, to gather and enjoy the calm and beauty of the landscape.” It’s also a walk-through for kids on their way to school. The group held their third big planting earlier in the year.

Spring is change-time at the orchard. “Colour returns: the orchard starts with the almond bursting into blossom, followed by the plums. The borage starts taking over, the spring bulbs push through the grass..It’s time to feed the trees and berries, sow wild flowers to attract the bees, mulch the trees and keep on top of the weeds. And we always have a spring workshop.”

Mel has always loved the outdoors, and she loves spring in Wellington: “The trees in blossom, growing summer crops, warmer days and no more condensation on our windows.”

When she’s not at the orchard, she enjoys the South coast, the wind turbine (“Wellington’s spring winds!”), the harbour and 21

Princess Bay. “I love how Wellington is small enough to get to the beach, the bush and the city in a matter of minutes – or all three in one day.” She’s been living in gumboots, but as it gets warmer she’ll swap them for Birkenstocks. She concedes a tropical island holiday would be nice, or camping at Kaiteriteri with her whanau. “We go there each year for reading, swimming, beautiful scenery and the amazing climate... the simplicity of life.” She also likes to take her kids to sports games in the weekend, and jokes that if she could study again, she’d learn “how to train a husband”.

Fittingly, Brooklyn is her favourite part of the capital, and when she retreats indoors it’s often to local café the Salty Pidgin. Hawthorn Lounge, The Embassy – “I’ve just emerged from the film festival”– and Thorndon pool are other city haunts. She frequents the public library, enjoying her favourite authors – Elizabeth Knox, Barbara Kingsolver and Tim Winton. The best book she’s read lately is M.L. Stedman’s debut novel, The Light Between Oceans. She’s also a fan of local artists Kemi & Niko, especially enjoying their public art project of last summer Miniature Hikes, a series of tiny colourful huts scattered across Wellington.

Wellington has 30 community gardens now, and more people are caring for the earth and for future generations. Beirne longs for a planet where papatuanuku, the land, “is respected by all and all people are treasured.” Brooklyn Community Orchard is certainly a step toward that vision.

S K AT E F O R HOPE WRITTEN BY ANNA JACKSON-SCOTT | PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSICA NOONE Toby Chappell says skateboarding saved his life, and now he’s on a mission to raise awareness of depression across the country – by skateboarding the length of it. He plans to travel around 2,600 kilometres by skateboard from Cape Reinga to Bluff from 3 November to 18 February, stopping to speak about depression at schools, churches, and skate parks, under his organisation Skate for Hope. He’s organised a benefit gig at The Rogue & Vagabond on 12 September, and a Givealittle fund to raise money for his trip and for youth not-for-profit organisations.

“Awareness is the main thing. People take notice when someone famous dies but many people kill themselves every year. We can’t even talk about suicide unless it’s a famous person. If I help just one person to see that it’s okay to talk about it or tell their parents then it’s all worth it.”

Chappell was diagnosed at 21 with depression. After 28 years and multiple suicide attempts, Chappell turned a corner. “Bob Dylan said ‘get busy living or get busy dying’. I had to decide whether I was going to keep putting all my effort into hurting myself or do something.”

22

He’d been working as a chef until mid 2014. “I couldn’t do it anymore. I was having panic attacks everyday so I had to let it go.”

He got a mental health team together at the end of last year, but skating has been much more effective than medication, he says.

He started skating long distances every day. “Skating is a Zen place for me, I don’t think about rent or fighting or having enough money, I just skate and I’m free. Some people meditate; I skate.”

He says it’s a good vehicle to reach a different demographic, as well as keeping himself mentally healthy. “It occurred to me that I could use skating as a physical vehicle to get around the country but also as an emotional and mental vehicle to reach a demographic in youth centres or skate parks that might not be reached otherwise. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to a mental health professional, all I wanted was to go skating and talk to my mates.

“That’s the great thing about skate culture: you can turn up anywhere in the world and be like ‘hey man.’ It’s like an unspoken brother or sisterhood – you just have that connection.”

Brighten up your bedroom this summer Shop for unique, handmade quilts, cushions and rugs from around the world.

86-96 Victoria Street

04 499 1839

This Spring Decorate with Trade Aid www.tradeaid.org.nz Bright Beautiful Quality Handmade Textiles

www.tradeaid.org.nz

88 Victoria St, Wellington, 499 1839 125 Jackson St, Petone, 586 7626

CULTURE

W H AT A NIGHT

BAUSCH DANCE WORKS TO STAR Two Pina Bausch works will be seen at next year's New Zealand Festival, in March 2016. The late German choreographer’s Rite of Spring (1975) and Café Müller (1978) will be performed by her dance company Tanztheater Wuppertal.

This will be the first time the company has performed in New Zealand.

“The festival has wanted to bring the Pina Bausch company to New Zealand for a long time,” says the festival’s Artistic Director Shelagh Magadza.

Michael Morris of the London arts organisation Artangel has said Bausch’s contribution to the arts “is equal to that of Samuel Beckett or Francis Bacon.”

www.zebrano.co.nz

Code

Chocolat Moss

fashion | sizes 14+

Chalet Euphoria

The German International Film Festival opens at Nga Taonga Sound & Vision on 16 September with Bornholmer Strasse, which tells the story of the night in November1989 when the Berlin Wall came down.

Wellington resident John Lister was working for American broadcaster NBC at the time, and can recall the scene: “When reports came in of what was happening at NBC's stage in front of Brandenburg Gate, anchorman Tom Brokaw asked if I was going to miss history or ride with him to the Gate. Here the East Germans built the Wall three metres thick, to withstand the impact of a tank travelling at 100kmh. This created a platform large enough for people to stand on top of it. It also created a backdrop for the NBC’s stage. A young West Berlin couple sat on the edge of the Wall, holding an umbrella. Out of sight, the Eastern side trained a water-cannon at their backs on low pressure. Presumably, East German guards believed the cold and wet on a crisp November night would be enough to dissuade trespassers. Perhaps they didn't want us to televise a naked use of force. Whatever the reason, the stream of water hit the couple's umbrella, causing it to spin. NBC's theatrical lights caught the water droplets as they spun off the umbrella, producing an effect like a firework pinwheel. Rather than provoking fear or anger, the East German state made itself look impotent and contemptible. An hour later, broadcast live on prime-time, the Wall ceased to exist as a barrier between East and West.”

The film festival runs until 19 September.

Wellington: 40 Johnston St & 127 Featherston St 24

Summer collections are arriving now.

View online .... lookbooks, ideas, shopping ..... or try the range in store.

Lower Hutt: 330 High St

Exceptional homeware, gifts, accessories and jewellery sourced from around the world 111 Tory St | Wellington

196 Featherston Street WorkShop: 34 Rongotai Rd

co nz

CULTURE

SUB SUCCESS Subscriptions to Orchestra Wellington concerts have risen by 600% over the past three years. Manager Adán E. Tijerina says that before the concert hall doors open, their six main concerts this year are assured of 1,000 filled seats. Tijerina puts the upsurge of subscriptions down to three factors – programming (this year all Tchaikovsky’s symphonies are heard in order of composition – a rare feat), drawcard performances by pianist Michael Houston, and a lower price point.

The next concert on 5 September includes Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto.

NEW AT PATAKA

ART OF THE STATES

STRINGS AT TACHED

Reuben Friend will replace Helen Kedgley as the new Director of Pataka, the award-winning gallery in Porirua. Kedgley, who retires after 15 years at the gallery, hands over the reins to Friend who is described by Euan Dempsey of Porirua City Council as “representing a new generation of Maori artists,” having been curator of his own art curatorial consultancy company and previously curator of Maori and Pacific arts at City Gallery Wellington.

Courtney Johnson, Director of The Dowse Art Museum, has been awarded a $7,500 scholarship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to travel and study in the US. Johnson will visit museums and galleries to research techniques and strategies for improving access and connecting visitors to museums.

Puppeteers will be on show when Dame Kate Harcourt opens the Out Of The Suitcase Puppet Festival in Island Bay on 1 October. The first national gathering of puppeteers since 1986, the festival runs for five days. OOTS organiser Rose Beauchamp says the many great performers include Joko Susilo, an Indonesian shadow puppeteer whose show The Fall of Alengkar is backed by Wellington's 11-strong Padhang Moncar Javanese Gamelan band. Susilo is an eighth-generation puppeteer.

INSPIRED BY BACH MICHAEL HOUSTOUN

Bach | Ross Harris | Lilburn | Rachmaninov | Shostakovich | Liszt

Wed 23 September, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre WELLINGTON Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm

Buy tickets: ticketek.co.nz | 0800 842 538 Adult tickets from $35

A sublime musical journey through time 26

(Booking fees apply. Child/Student tickets available.) chambermusic.co.nz/houstoun

CULTURE

ALL A B O U T JA Z Z Martinborough’s annual jazz festival began one morning in the gym, when Ian Cresswell was sitting on an exercycle. He turned to Ted Preston, now the festival’s music director, and asked if he was interested in starting a jazz festival. “He said ‘well I’d quite like that’.” They called upon their local friends “and wives!” to help, and Jazz in Martinborough was born. It returns this year 2–6 September, and includes workshops as well as performances.

LYRICAL LINE

IN THE CLUB

EB AND FLOW

Renée Fleming is to America what Kiri Te Kanawa is to New Zealand. Beloved, beautiful, a master of her craft and a diva par excellence. They also share the same voice type (lyric soprano) and are famous for covering many of the same operatic roles. Fleming is singing with the NZSO in September. It’s her first visit to New Zealand, and only concert in the country, so catch it if you can on 12 September, Michael Fowler Centre.

The New Zealand Festival is a wee way away, but the organisers have launched a Culture Club to keep members satiated in the meantime. The club is designed for art, culture, and creativity lovers, who get early access to events such as the biennial arts festival and writers week, and the annual jazz festival.

It also provides access to one-off events, and to digital content such as poetry, artist interviews, and a club forum. Anyone can join for a monthly donation of at least five dollars.

The band with the old time jazz and blues singer edge is how they’re now describing themselves. Eb and Sparrow (featured #8) the Wellington five piece band whose new album Sun/Son has just been released, are taking off on a tour of the country which starts in Cuba St venue San Fran on 5 September.

We Want to WOW You

Main & Dessert + Glass of Bubbles

39pp

$ 169 Willis Street, Wellington Mercure Wellington Abel Tasman

Book Your Table Today 0800 774 632 Pre-show bookings best to book 6pm

Menu Available: 24 - 26 September 1 - 3 & 8 - 10 October

MUSIC

READY TO PREACH WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS | PHOTOGRAPH BY LAURA PITCHER

“No matter what I do, all I think about is you, even when I’m with my boo, you know I’m crazy over you.”

T

hose of a certain generation will recognise those lyrics immediately – the melody will come rushing back and perhaps even images of the singer, Kelly Rowland, slow dancing in the street with the bandaid-wearing rapper-next-door, Nelly. The song was Dilemma, the third single from 2002’s Nellyville, and certainly in Porirua where I went to school you couldn’t escape it. I still can’t hear it without singing along.

The effect on Zimbabwe-born Upper Hutt rapper Tapiwa Mutingwende, aka Young Tapz, was even stronger.

“That song changed my life. Music was already around, but you don’t notice it till something grabs you. When Nelly came out I was like, whoa. He gets me. He gets my life. That’s when I started paying attention,” he says.

At that time Tapz was eight years old, living 120km south of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, in a place called Wedza. A year later he and his family would be on a plane to Wellington, seeking a brighter future in our windy, sea-swept capital. For young Tapz, the whole experience was “pretty weird”.

“In Zimbabwe we didn’t really have playgrounds. I remember the first time I went to one here. It was in Petone, and I saw the ocean for the first time. It was crazy. I was on the swing just watching the ocean, and I was so surprised as to why all the other kids weren’t in awe,” he says, laughing.

The first few years of being the new kid were tough – Tapz didn’t speak much English and the other kids were at an age of wariness towards difference.

“But it challenged my perspective … I learned to embrace my differences and my flaws, and I learned to accept people for who they are and not what I want them to be,” he says.

28

By the time his teenage years rolled around, Tapz had developed a deep appreciation for how music made him feel and a desire to pass that feeling on to others. But he didn’t figure out exactly how he was going to do that till 2010, when he began rapping.

Fast forward just three years, and Tapz is being asked to record his debut EP Forest at Red Bull studios in Auckland. In the first song, Eminence, the then-17-yearold announces, “I’m ready to go, I’m ready to lead, I’m ready to teach, I’m ready to preach. I’m a future leader.”

And he says it with such confidence you can’t help but believe it. Like so many of his generation Tapz isn’t about to settle for anything less than exactly what he wants. However, he knows he’s only going to get there through hard work – he says he learned that from his father, and from his formative years in Zimbabwe.

Since the release of Forest, Tapz has spent much of his time “bouncing around New Zealand”, playing festivals like Rhythm and Vines and Homegrown, collaborating with Australian electronic duo Hermitude, headlining a 2000-strong show in Sochi, Russia, and joining forces with another Zimbabwe-born New Zealand musician – rapper, singer and producer Mzwètwo. Through his work with Mzwètwo Tapz became part of what appears to be a small music collective named Gallantino, but which Tapz describes as a “belief system”.

“It means ‘Bravery in the name of…’ and I keep it close to my heart in everything I do. If something doesn’t require bravery there’s no point. Music is brave because you put all your heart and time into it and there’s a possibility of it not working out,” he says – then his face lights up with a smile and he adds, “But it is going to work out.”

29

W HAT T H E F L O C K

MISS RED - C ROWNE D PAR A K E ET Name: Red-crowned parakeet.

finding local birdlife hotspots if you’ve already exhausted these havens.

Māori name: Kākāriki.

Status: Endemic, relict.

Habitat: Once common throughout New Zealand, kākāriki are now largely restricted to pestfree offshore islands and sanctuaries, although a steadily-growing population inside Zealandia has lead to more sightings in surrounding Wellington. When environmental conditions are good kākāriki breed quickly. It’s been less than five years since the first significant mainland relocation of birds from Kapiti Island to Zealandia, but in March Zealandia banded their 500th bird.

Look for them: Take an active approach with a day trip to Matiu/Somes Island or Kapiti Island, or if you prefer to stick to the mainland – visit Zealandia. Look for a medium-sized parrot in emerald green with an obvious red crown (if the crown is yellow, you’ve spotted a yellow-crowned parakeet). eBird.org is a wonderful resource for

30

Call: Listen for classic parakeet-y chatter (“ki-kiki-ki”), or else a softer tur-tur-tur call and a quiet babble while feeding.

Feeds on: Seeds (particularly flax), berries, buds, shoots, flowers, fruit and some invertebrates.

Because kākāriki often forage for food on the ground, even feeding fledglings there before they learn to fly, they are particularly vulnerable to mammalian predation.

Did you know? In Wellington red-crowned kākāriki are much more common than ‘regionally rare’ yellow-crowned kākāriki, whereas in much of the rest of the country the reverse is true.

If it were human it would be: Next to the muted tones of most of New Zealand’s other endemic birds the kākāriki look like over the top, bedazzled showgirls, their chirpy, loud chitter chatter adding to the overall effect.

PrinciPal Partner

Certified staff providing knowledge and expertise to over 1,000 clients nationwide

Classical Hits N EW Z E A L A N D SY M P H O N Y O R C H E ST R A p re s e n ts

“ Congratulations Staples Rodway. Excited to see you reach Platinum Partner and can’t wait to work together to help small businesses across New Zealand thrive.”

James Judd

CON DUCTOR

VICTORIA CRONE, XERO NZ MANAGING DIRECTOR

Level 6, Todd Building 95 Customhouse Quay, Wellington Phone: 04 4727919 info@stapleswellington.co.nz

ROSSINI

William Tell Overture

www.staplesrodway.co.nz

S T R AU S S

Blue Danube Waltz WAG N E R A R R . L A N G LE Y

Die Walküre – The Ride of the Valkyries

we’re your

AND MANY MORE

WELLINGTON

fro m

funeral

f ul

l to

guide

fa m

ily -le d f u n

s l a er

Saturday 19 September

Free pre-concert talk 45 minutes prior

F U N E R A L S N AT U R A L LY

nzso.co.nz FOR TICKET DETAILS VISIT

45 HAINING STREET TE ARO WELLINGTON 04 974 5076 BROADBENTANDMAY.CO.NZ

7.30pm

michael fowler centre wellington

F E AT U R E

OFFSPRING WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASHLEY CHURCH

"The trees are coming into leaf/Like something almost being said…

Last year is dead, they seem to say/Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.”

- Philip Larkin, ‘The Trees’

In many ways they are the picture of maternal devotion. The mums with newer babies quietly offer a bottle or duck out to a more private room to breastfeed, while those with bigger kids run about the hallways wrangling, gently scolding or reminding them to take care. Laughter and heavy footsteps bounce off the walls of the hallway. The tamariki are excited – they’re missing school today. And so are their mums.

Meet Sarah, Hinehou, Hayley, Esta and Hineora, all current or past students at He Huarahi Tamariki School for Teenage Parents, in Tawa.

Make-up Natalie Fisher

Thanks to the He Huarahi Tamariki School for Teenage Parents Art Direction Shalee Fitzsimmons Hair getfunkd Willis

Kids dressed in Mokopuna Assisted by Rhett Goodley-Hornblow Laura Pitcher & Josh Wooton

32

Hayley Walker & Ruby Walker

Esta Walker-Visala & Abdulmaalik Abdullah-Visala

34

F E AT U R E

Hineora Mike & Te Amorangi McLaughlin

35

F E AT U R E

Hinehou Mason & Rinoa Turua-Mason

36

Sarah Smith & Noah-Lee Smith

37

F E AT U R E

HAYLEY WALKER , RUBY WALKER

ESTA WALKER-VISALA, ABDULMAALIK ABDULLAH-VISALA

Age: 16, 8 months Living in Paraparaumu

Age: 19, 2 Living in Berhampore

“I was 14. I was in the kitchen making scrambled eggs and I threw up all over the floor. My Mum came in and said, ‘Are you sure you’re not pregnant?’ and I just burst into tears saying, ‘I don’t know’. So she ran out and got a pregnancy test, and then she started crying and we all started crying. I think after three months she just got used to the fact that she was going to be a grandmother.

It took me a month to figure out if I wanted to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. Abortion was completely out of the question. At the time I was really against it, I thought it was killing a baby but now that I think about it more… I don’t know. If I got pregnant again now I’d probably have one.

I expected motherhood to be just no social life, and full of spewing, dirty nappies. I didn’t really think of the benefits to it. But now that I’ve had her it’s way more than that, ‘coz I love her more than anything.

People my age I think are becoming more understanding of the idea of young Mums. Much older people – they’re more judgemental. What you hear is that young Mums are abusive, do drugs, smoke… I think that’s the stereotype because we’re so young. But every girl at school – we all base our lives round our kids. It’s nothing like what I’ve heard.

Before Ruby, I was thinking of dropping out. I was smoking weed with all my friends. I was in the wrong friend group definitely. And she’s pretty much changed my life around ‘coz now I have a reason not to do that stuff. I want to get through school and then do an early childhood course or go to university – I’m still deciding. Having Ruby’s changed how I’m seeing my future.”

“When I found out I was pregnant I cried quite a lot, because I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t ready. I was with his Dad. He was shocked too – he didn’t say anything to me the whole night.

My pregnancy was horrible. I was sick all the time and I just wanted it to be over. And after he was born it was really hard trying to get the bond with him. I had post-natal depression, so that took a while. People at school would say, ‘When you first met him did you cry?’ and I hated saying, ‘No, I felt nothing really’. Because it was just so hard. We started to get that bond just after his first birthday. Now it’s so good, everything feels so warm.

I live with my Nana. She helps out a lot. My Mum’s around but we’re not that close – I want Abdul to know her and for them to get along, but it’s hard when we don’t. She was 17 when she became a Mum as well. I always said, ‘I’m not gonna be like you!’ and then I got pregnant and it was like, ‘Shit.’

I’d kind of dropped out of school before I found out I was pregnant. I was planning on doing nothing. I didn’t have any dreams. I didn’t like school, it wasn’t for me. I would never have gone back to school if I didn’t have him. Now I’ve got my level three and I’m just doing my UE. Hopefully I’m going to go to Vic next year, I want to do a BA in Criminology and Psychology. I’m interested in the mind and how it works, especially the criminal side. I think HHT has prepared me for it, I’m just scared about meeting new people. That’s one of my biggest worries, people who are probably a lot younger than me.”

F E AT U R E

HINEORA MIKE, TE AMORANGI MCLAUGHLIN

HINEHOU MASON, RINOA TURUA-MASON

Age: 18, 3 Living in Titahi Bay

Aged: 16, 4 months Living in Porirua

“I was 14 when I had Te Amorangi and then I turned 15 three months later. I didn’t find out I was pregnant straight away because there were times when I thought I was getting my period. But my stomach started growing bigger and I thought, ‘Ok I’m not losing this fat…’ and when my family told me to take a test it came up positive. I went to get a scan just to be sure and I was 26 weeks already.

Mum took it the hardest. She was a teen parent too, so I guess she wanted the best for me and realising I was going to be a teen parent really hit her. Dad was really good. He was calm. He said there was no point getting angry or upset about it because what’s done is done.

Back then I didn’t think I was young, but when I look back now and I see my cousins who have just turned 14 I think, ‘You're so young!’ What did they think about me when I was that age?

I was scared before I had baby because my sister had kids and they annoyed me. I thought I didn’t want kids ever! I remember holding my nephew for the first time and I didn’t know what to do. So I thought, ‘How am I going to be when I have a baby?’ And then he came out and it felt like I just knew what to do. Everything came to me.

Now it’s all about trying to figure out what I want to do after school. Whether I’m going to go to work or university or polytech. I never really thought about it all ‘til I went to the teen parent school. Then I thought, ‘Wow! I would love to go to university.’

I don’t really feel like I’ve missed out on much because I’ve got so much support that I still get to live a little bit of that life.

It’s just now I have responsibilities. I feel young, but old.”

“I found out I was pregnant at 24 weeks, on Christmas Eve. Everyone was like, ‘You’re going to be a great Mum. If you need anything I’ll be there for you.’ The one person who didn’t do that was the Dad. When he found out he was really angry – he’d had a bad day at school and he was blaming it on me. I was a bit upset about that but I got over it ‘coz I had too much other stuff to deal with and I didn’t need him in my life. So now we don’t see each other. Never.

I live with my parents, brother, two sisters and baby. I’m the oldest. I think every teen parent should have their Mum with them. They need someone to help them out. My Mum was there through everything. My Dad, he’s like my brother – we can joke around about everything. He’s 31, so him and my Mum were teen parents as well, and it’s really easy to talk to them. We have that close bond. Mum thinks I got pregnant at a young age because I wasn’t allowed to do most things.

They wanted a good future for me, so I wasn’t allowed to drink, smoke, do drugs. But yeah, they’re really supportive and caring.

Dad told me just to focus on baby for now and figure out what I want to do when time passes, but in the back of my head I want a good job, a good house, I want to do good in school. When I go to school Rinoa stays at home, and every three hours I have to express in the medical room. Up ‘til about three days ago she’d sleep perfectly, and now when it comes to night she’ll stay up until 2 a.m. Cheeky miss. She’s really fun to hang out with. You say hello and stare into her eyes and she’ll just start smiling at you. She’s really special.”

39

F E AT U R E

SARAH SMITH, NOAH-LEE SMITH Aged: 23, 7 Living in Paremata “I was sixteen and a half when Noah-Lee was born. You think you’re invincible. You think, ‘it’ll never happen to me’, and then boom! I still have a couple of my friends from before; my two best friends, but I did lose a couple. They stopped inviting me to things. Then I moved to HHT and made all these new friends. I didn’t want to go to the school at first – I thought, ‘I don’t want to go to school with a bunch of teen Mums.’ It hadn’t hit me yet. Then once I got there it was really cool. We’ve all got something to talk about, and they’re really accepting so we made new friends really fast.

When school finished I got some grants and scholarships for study so I did a Certificate in Youth Work and got Student of the Year for it. Then the tutor told me I should go do the Bachelor of Social Work. I was like, ‘No I can’t do that, that’s level 7.’ But I graduated in March, and I just got a job as the youth work tutor. If I didn’t have Noah-Lee I’d probably be working somewhere like Glassons… retail or cafe work. But I’ve got someone to look after. I don’t want to have to rely on anyone else, so I had to do something that was going to earn money. And I like helping people.

I always have to have a goal now. I’m saving for a nice car, then it’ll be a house. I’ve always wanted to own a house because we’ve always lived in rental properties and I’ve moved house probably 40 times. In the last year we’ve moved three times, and Noah-Lee finds it hard. He gets unsettled and it was affecting his school, but he’s doing all right now.

Noah-Lee’s pretty smart. He’s addicted to Lego and computers and he doesn’t really like going outside, but we went camping last summer and he was all, ‘Oh this is so awesome!’ We got to one of the days where someone had to go into town to get some more food, and he said, ‘No no no, I don’t want to go’. All the other kids went but he said, ’I wanna stay here next to the river.’ He loved it.

My mum was with me when I found out and she said, “We’re going to make it work and everything’s going to be ok’. But if I went and got pregnant now she’d probably kill me. She’d be like, ‘What are you doing? You finally got everything sorted!”

40

CAPITAL MA DE

I N

WELL I NGTON

SUBSCRIBE $77 for 11 issues of Capital, delivered to the your door.

HOW TO ORDER

• visit capitalmag.co.nz/subscribe • email accounts@capitalmag.co.nz with Subscribe in the subject line • or post your contact details & payment to PO Box 9202, Marion Square, Wellington

Offer is valid for NZ postal addresses only.

Price includes p&p.

www.capitalmag.co.nz

45

E T N T O HU TT T U PE ER R H PP WE U O 41 L

F E AT U R E

6

W

MAP T H AT N BU

AT E

W RL

OO

QU

N BU

33. NZSO – Michael Fowler Centre,

7.

Centre City Wines & Spirits – 2/4 Waring Taylor St / 70 Willis St

8.

Citta - Design – 11 College st

9.

CMNZ – Michael Fowler Centre

50. Labels – 322 Tinakori Road, Thorndon 51. WORLD – 102 Victoria St 52. Zebrano – 40 Johnston St + 127 Featherston St

ERM

E TC RO AU T S ON

ST

LT

B EN S T

RD

27. Magnolia – 111 Tory St

49. Vein and Skin – 38 Roxburgh St

RI

26. Made It – 103 Victoria St

48. Unity Books – 57 Willis St

O

25. Life Pharmacy James Smiths – cnr Cuba and Manners Sts

47. Trade Aid – 86-96 Victoria St

AK

24. LetLiv – 11 Hunter St

46. The Fabric Store – 15 Garrett St

N

23. L'affare – 27 College St

45. The Dowse Art Museum, 45 Laings Rd, Lower Hutt

RD

22. La Boca Loca – 19 Park Rd, Miramar

44. Spring Spa – cnr Tory and Jessie St

RI

21. InterContinental – 2 Grey St

43. Small Acorns–cnr Blair & Wakefield

O

20. Katie Underwood – 15 Brandon St

42. Robyn Mathieson – 196 Featherston St

AK

Terrace

N

19. Kakapo Ink – Level 2, 16 Cambridge

41. Ripe Coffee – 22 Waione St, Petone

BOTANIC GARDENS

TI

40. Redcurrent – 14 Allen Street

TI

15. Havana Coffee – 163 Tory St

T

T CL

37. Pravda – 107 Customhouse Quay

39. Rasch Leong – 30 Bay Rd, Kilbirnie

18. Jane Daniels – 97c Customhouse Quay

N

Featherston St

14. Harrys – 31 Dundas St, Seatoun

17. Iko Iko – 118 Cuba Mall + 198 Lambton Quay

TO OL

36. Portlander – cnr Whitmore &

38. Raglan Roast – 40 Abel Smith, 22 Herd St + 12 Holland Street

16. Honda Cars – 65 Kent Tce

RA

35. Photo Plus – Dukes Arcade, cnr Willis and Manners Sts

13. Gordon Harris – 182 Vivian St

LA

BOW

12. Goethe Institut – 150 Cuba Street

34. Old Bank Arcade – 233–237 Lambton Quay

EN S T

11. Fidels – 234 Cuba St

NQ U AY

THE

BOW

10. Crafters & Co 211 Victoria St

1

31. New World Metro – 68-72 Willis St

BTO

TO

E

Bud Florists – 242 Fergusson Dr, Upper Hutt

LAM

ERS

TC

6.

29

FEA TH

SE

RA

32. NZ Opera – St James Theatre,

7H

W

S T OR E O M MHO T I U

O UR

Broadbent & May – 45 Haining St

169 Willis St

CU

E

BO

5.

OR

T TS

Bistro 169 – Abel Tasman Hotel,

H

M IT

OU

4.

30. Miss Wong – 14 College Street

AY

ST

Autospray – 7 Majoribanks St

QU

AY QU N T TO S MB UT L A S TO

3.

AY

258 Thorndon Quay

29. Ministry of Food – 34 Bowen St + 105 The Terrace

QU

Aro + Woolstore Design Centre,

N

2.

TO

28. Minerva – 237 Cuba St

MB

Active Feet – 85 The Terrace

OO

36 ST

NY

W

LA

1.

RL

AY

ST

NY

AT E

BOTAN GARDE

3

ALL

40 EN

TT CE MB RID GE

16

TC E

ST

30

4

12 C U B A

38 28

ST

13

11

RIA

ST

10

ST

BUL

LER

LIS

ST

TH

ST

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY

NIC ENS

KEL

BU

RN

PD

ERR

AC

E ST

NCA RD

ET

E

8 2 THO

RD RI O

Y QUA

NA K

ON

ST

TI

RND

ON

BS

HO

KEY E N T E R TA I N M E N T

MOLESWORTH ST

50

SHOPPING FOOD/DRINK OT H E R 43

ST BB

CD MA

AR D

BA

ES M

ALD

TO

CU

ARO

SALAMA

NS T

WIL

NC

T

RIO

MA

ON

E

LA

ERM

RA

R AC

SA

CL

AV E

46

ON

NT ERR A

TER

SIE

LL

VIC

THE

CO ST

MA

VIV

IAN ST

51

ST

R TO

TA L

MA

17

WE

TT

JES

ST

ST RS

BA

ST

CO

ST

LLA

LD IE EF

IA S T

ST

5

ABL

UL

RY

ITH

35

31

CU

ST

47

48 7

ST

ST

E

ST

TO R

15

IAN

R AC

BO

LIS

VIC

26

AKI

VIV

29 TER

Y Q UA

ST

EE

B TO N

RIA

UZN

LAM

WIL

TO

ST

CE

THE

17

42

VIC

AN

GH

NQ U AY

34

24

BA

25

ON

21

GR

BTO

NS T

EY

52 20

37

18

44

DIX

TO

CU

27

ST

TO

NE

ERS

CIVIC SQ

RY

23

HO

CO

ST

52

AY

TA R

AN

QU

Q U AY JE R V O IS

M

FEA TH

SE

AK

OU

TO

ND

38

UR

TEN

AY

PL

LLE

GE

CA

32

W

MH

ST

S TO

EVE

CU

33 9

K IT T S FRANK

8

ST

BLE

ST

TE PAPA

CA

39

WAITANGI

KEN

19

43

ELI

2

ZA

BET

HS T

UN O R AT MA IE SE A N R R I I M ILB K 2

38 14

AM

49

SECTION HEADER

WE LIKE TO M O V E I T, M O V E I T WRITTEN BY ANNA JACKSON-SCOTT | PHOTOGRAPH BY ASHLEY CHURCH

Dancing for fitness has grown in the last few years, and Gina Andrews is tapping into that trend, launching Habit gym’s first barre class in July. It uses ballet fundamentals for strength and balance, but don’t be fooled: it also includes burpees, squats and lunges. “It’s less prissy than traditional ballet – it’s an extension of ballet.”

Andrews has been a dancer all her life, beginning ballet as a child and training through her teenage years. She completed dance teaching qualifications through Nelson’s Peta Spooner Academy of Dance while she was in high school. After graduating, she came to Wellington to pursue fulltime dance training at the New Zealand School of Dance, graduating in 2009 in contemporary dance. She found working as a freelance performer and teacher was inconsistent, so she got a part time job at Habit gym in Evans Bay. “I wanted something permanent for steady income and ended up getting a part time job at Habit in 2011.”

Andrews and a colleague from the dance industry came up with the concept of mixing ballet and dance with gym workouts early in the year. “It’s becoming more and more popular and we recognised that.” Andrews’ experience as an instructor and dancer drew many enthusiasts. She says there was a preconception it was a dance class. “They assume it’s going to involve ballet because of the barre. It has fundamentals but we don’t plan dances. It is a dance fit class tailored to gym members, a real mix of dance, pilates, yoga, and functional exercises.”

The dance angle still appeals mostly to women, but Andrews says a few men have tried it. “I wouldn’t say a lot but I’ve got a handful trying it. It’s not something men tend to want to regularly do.”

She gets her true dance fix in the weekends, contract teaching contemporary classes with New Zealand School of Dance for students and the public around Wellington.

44

45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt 04 570 6500 | dowse.org.nz

KOKOMaI

C r E A T I v E F E S T I v A L , WA I r A r A pA

16-25 oct 2015

promise and promiscuity a new musical by jane austen and penny ashton

A hilarious night out for fans of Jane Austen , come dy and music . one Show only, don't miss out. Enjoy a pre-show dinner, or meet penny Ashton after the show, for drinks, dessert and general merriment at the White Swan Hotel, main street, Greytown. Tickets $34.00 For further show information and more Kokomai events visit Kokomai.co.nz tickets avail able at e ventfinda .co. nz , carterton e vents centre and wair ar apa i - sites

45

F E AT U R E

KING-PIN SPIN WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY GUY RALLS

Wellingtons skateboarding scene offers a wonderful variety of options for all aspects of the sport. A recent skate ban at the new Pukeahu War Memorial Park, at the top of Tory St however, has left some people feeling distinctly out in the cold… and not just the skaters.

I

t’s a crisp, sunny, midwinter morning, and four 40-something chaps are cutting an unusual look in Karori’s semi-rural Ian Galloway Park. Specifically, they’re mopping the deck of the park’s most dominating feature, a 3.65-m vertical (vert) ramp that sits in the sea of greenery like some kind of squared-off Spanish galleon. (A vert ramp is more or less U shaped with near vertical sides and with flat areas at the top of each side of the U from which boarders can take off to do their tricks).

They’ve got a dog and an epic portable sound system that’s pumping out high-energy 80s punk rock, and in between taking turns washing down the greasy ramp with sugarsoap they’re chatting about the tweaks each has made to their custom skate setups. There’s a sort of muted expectation in the air, and the rather definite feeling that various acts of swashbuckling skate piracy are about to be thrown down.

And before long, that’s precisely what happens.

Chris Wood is a very good skater. Decked out in full safety gear, he drops into the ramp and pendulums from side to side, performing a range of large airs, handplants and full-coping grinds. He’s just inches away from his three mates who are awaiting their turn. It’s a routine of impressive balancing acts performed with a mixture of finesse and aggression fifteen feet above the ground, punctuated by the raucous approval of the watchers and underpinned by the serene nonchalance of the dog (who’s called Misty, and has clearly seen it all before). At one point Wood misjudges and nearly goes overboard, for a nanosecond risking the very severe consequences that that would entail, then he drives a fine line back into and down the ramp. There are impressed “oooh’s,” ahhh’s,” and expressions of relief.

Dean Hunt, who’s 42 and no slouch on the vert himself, explains why he and his middle-aged skate mates do what they do: “You live the sport,” he says. “Jay Adams (star of

seminal skate film Dogtown and Z-Boys) put it best with the words, ‘You didn't quit skateboarding because you got old; you got old because you quit skateboarding’. I’ve made 99 per cent of my friends from riding skateboards, and when we were 17 or 18, we were wondering if we’d still skate when we were 30. Well, we’ve eclipsed that. I still skate with someone who turned 50 last Friday.”

Hunt grew up in Paraparaumu Beach, skating a vert ramp that the one in Karori is modelled on. He recalls a Wellington skate scene that was vastly different from the street-centric focus of the sport in the city today: “There were vert ramps everywhere, at Naenae, Avalon, Tawa and the beach.” He recalls top international professionals like Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero and Lance Mountain coming to do demos on them, and he remembers with awe a privately owned, indoor skate park built on the current site of the Westpac Stadium called the Skate Pit – then the largest skate park in the southern hemisphere, with five ramps, a snake bowl and multiple other features. “It was a destination,” Hunt says. “A place people made a pilgrimage to.”

These days, the Karori vert is the last of its kind in the city, vert ramps having given way to small skate parks and a smattering of mini ramps. The shift has mirrored global trends and been influenced by the rise of street skating, with its focus on ollying – tapping the tail of the board down hard, getting it airborne and using this as an entry point for other tricks such as flipping the board, jumping stairs and sliding ledges and rails. Modern skate parks seek to offer an enclosed and idealised version of the features street skaters use, as well as providing concrete banks, bowls and ramps that tend to be favoured by older skaters.

But for many street skaters, cities themselves are the fabric upon which they create their art – and Wellington, it seems, excels in the quality of its particular weave.

TOP RIGHT: Riley ollies a concrete bank at Waitangi Park BOTTOM RIGHT: Peter Coleman carves the bowl at Waitangi Park 46

47

F E AT U R E

Jack Fagan is one of the most prominent street skaters in the city, and perhaps the most active exponent of its skate offerings.

He’s a graphic designer and filmmaker with a keen interest in architecture and landscape design, and his series of Green Belt videos has showcased the skate scene in Wellington – as well as the city itself – to an impressed international skater audience.

Wellington’s appeal as a skate city is its compactness and the rich variety of its skate terrain, he said. “It’s like all these global skate meccas combined into one, all within skating distance of each another. Downtown, for example, is really reminiscent of Philadelphia, and New York; the vibe on the waterfront is a bit like Barcelona; and Mount Vic and Brooklyn, with their hills, offer the kind of skating you find in San Francisco. Heaps of skaters are moving to Wellington from Auckland, and some even from Japan and the US, because it offers all these different types of skating in one place. It’s definitely happening here.”

Wellington does have skate traits of its own, though:“There are a lot of wooden ledges everywhere, especially on the waterfront. They’re good for sliding, and it’s awesome because they are renewable. The city does lack the concrete and marble ledges seen in China and Japan, and all the booming cities coming up. But the vibe of skating in Wellington is not about going to a particular spot that’s known for skating. It’s more raw, like true street skating – skating through cars, up kerbs, skating the whole city. You’ve got your board, and the street in front of you, and you just do whatever, adapting to your surroundings, reinterpreting the landscape and the street architecture.”

But what does Fagan think about recent moves to ban skateboarding in specific parts of the city, and the no-skating signs going up at Pukeahu War Memorial Park? “The main attraction there is the open, smooth flat ground, which is really rare in Wellington – that and the fact that it’s central, good for practising, car-free and a nice place for people to meet up. There’s been some damage done to the steps and ledges in the few months since it opened, but the council could have avoided it if they’d just asked one skater who said ‘put some metal edging down’, as has been done in Auckland’s Aotea Square.

“Whatever happens though, skateboarding is not going away and some people are not going to stop skating there –

even if they employ security guards. It’s just going to pull out the punk spirit that modern skating was born from back in the 80s. But it’s not like that any more, and it doesn’t have to be like that.”

Fagan might be right. I walk up to the Memorial Park and pause at the top of the steps that overlook it. Someone approaches from behind me, and I turn to see a friendly soul who introduces himself as Chris Leach, Information Officer for the War Memorial. Together we watch skaters cruising lazily into the space below, oblivious to the temporary ban. And it soon becomes clear that telling people they can’t skate here is the last thing that Leach wants to do.

“It breaks my heart,” he says. “I just wish for the place to be used. Most of the skaters are respectful, with only a fringe handful being abusive. And banning them is just going to make them angry. I’ve also had members of the public come up to me and say that they like the skateboarders being here at night because it makes them feel safe, and that they enjoy seeing people use the park at 8pm when it would otherwise be an empty space.”

He adds that he’s also had skaters suggest that metal edging is retrofitted to steps and ledges to prevent further damage – which he feels would be a “perfect solution” – and that the best outcome would be skaters working with the War Memorial to establish times when they could skate without disturbing other visitors. Leach seems to be breaking ranks with his higherups over his views, but he clearly wishes to avoid the situation becoming hostile and entrenched between skaters and the Memorial staff.

Many of the young soldiers to whom the Memorial is commemorated would more than likely be skaters if they lived in Wellington today, said Leach. “Ultimately, everyone should be able to use the park, regardless of what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. It’s just figuring out how we all act in a respectful way, and how to minimise any damage. The place needs to be engaged with. And the skaters will be all over it, because they’re a really organised crew.”

TOP RIGHT: Chris Wood boardslides the coping at the Karori vert ramp in Ian Galloway Park.

TOP BOTTOM: Kento Imai pop-shuviting on the waterfront

PRIME PARKING Short & long terms options available

CALL TODAY

10

$

EARLY BIRD PARKING BEFORE 10AM

James Smiths Car Park - Wakefield Street CASUAL & WEEKEND RATES AVAILABLE

0800 776 638 WWW.PRIMEPARKING.CO.NZ 48

49

FASH ION

This is top shelf, premium-range fashion. Tender creams, succulent reds and gamey prints and patterns.

Stay abreast of your wardrobe as winter melts into spring.

FINE CUTS All accessories supplied by Moore Wilson's Knitted Loop wool scarf - $120 - Robyn Mathieson 50

Art Direction Shalee Fitzsimmons & Rhett Goodley-Hornblow Photography Ashley Church

FASH ION

Arlington Milne peach coin purse - $135.00 - WORLD Lonely Hearts Lulu strap bra - $116.00 - The Service Depot Harry's Classic Shirt - $195.00 - Harry’s Munro jacket in resin - $379 - Mandatory

Anemone boot in beige - $355 - Miss Wong Josephine top in white - $499 - WORLD Mesop cardigan Quebec in oatmeal - $205 - Miss Wong Mid-rise jeans in white - $289.90 - Miss Wong

51

FASH ION

Strawberry tee - $149 - WORLD Peach spot socks - $33 - WORLD

Wrap neck vest - $189 - Mandatory

EOS Willo boots - $239 - Gubbs

Kenya print Vans - $119 - Gubbs Good + Co silk scarf - $289 - WORLD Sharma tie - $135 - Mandatory Fur neck warmer in pink - $299 - WORLD Red mesh scarf - $120 - Mandatory

52

FASH ION

Blanket coat in hot wired - $270 - Robyn Mathieson Deadly Ponies, Mr Molten handbag - $345 - The Service Depot Mid-rise jeans in Labyrinth - $339.90 - Miss Wong Hills Hats, confetti bucket trilby in grey - $85 -Miss Wong

53

McKinlays Sahara desert boot - $179 - Gubbs Nique summit top - $139.90 - Miss Wong Cap sleeve dress - $319 - Zebrano Otsu field dress in grey - $229 - The Service Depot

STREET STYLE

HIGH SPRING The higher the waist the better this season as the hems are higher and the denim is grungier in a highwaisted comeback. After a very cold winter, I was excited to see some lighter denims and casual t-shirt looks creeping into the streets, at the ready for the warmer months ahead. Kate shows off her pins in a skin-tight style (the kind of jeans you sneakily undo a top button on after a large meal). This trend is not just for women either; Jarrod’s baggy jeans were an amazing second hand purchase. He paired these with some glam accessories for a fresh daytime look. Spring, we and our high waisted denims are ready and waiting for you.

By Laura Pitcher

THRIVE www.thr ivecloth ing.co.nz

ETHICAL

54

NZ MADE

SLOW FASHION

55

EDIBLES

MONKEY MISCHIEF There is a new food truck in town. Named Hungry Monkey, the purple and white eastern Malaysian feast machine is moving between Tennyson St in the CBD and the Lower Hutt Riverbank markets on Saturdays. Lynn Wong handmakes everything with a “health conscious mindset.” Their most popular dish is a close contest between the open pork belly bun or the “very traditional” peanut pancake, which is also their cheapest offering.

HOLY MACKEREL

STREET FO OD

MILKING IT

The doors at Adelaide Trading Co. have been open for just over two months and they have developed a following amongst the growing community of foodies in Behampore. A café with a deli on the side, one of their more popular dishes is the kippers on toast, which is made from whole mackerel smoked on site, and purchased locally from Newtown Fish Supply. Find the A.T.Co. at 469 Adelaide Road, Berhampore.

Willis Street’s Chilean street food shop Puro Chile opened a food truck last month. Owners Rodrigo Cartagena and Luis Guerrero say, “Our aim is a place with the spirit of a picá – a food spot where you take away nice food for a cheap price and with a friendly service.” Cartagena says. “We sell empanadas, completos and sandwiches – something you would normally grab on the go from a food truck or a little shop.”

The Chilean friends arrived seven years ago, and have been chefs for ten years.

The first locally made almond milk has come from Michela Palmer and Rick McMahon.

Both have had food intolerances for a long time and found it hard to find good quality alternatives. Palmer began making almond milk at home 18 months ago and realised there was demand out there. She left her job in June to make the milk full-time in their Lyall Bay kitchen, and was approached

by Commonsense Organics to supply them.

“It escalated really quickly!”

CRAFTERS CRAFT BEER CAFE BAR BOTTLE STORE OPEN 7 DAYS 211 Victoria street / www.craftersandco.com 56

EDIBLES

T WO SHORT WHITES Cordon Bleu-trained sisters Sue Wright and Nicky Brindle opened new Greytown cafe Two Short Whites to avoid the boredom of retirement, Wright says. “We thought ‘either the rocking chair or our last adventure’ so we opted for the last adventure.”

Nicky came up with the name, according to Sue. “We wanted to be long blacks but that was genetically not on. We’re both short and almost white unfortunately.”

The cafe includes a cookery school for “a laugh and a drink and a chop chop,” and serves “responsible food”, without soft drinks or too much added sugar and salt.

PHOTO BY PATINA PHOTOGRAPHY

BEE AWARE

PLANT-BASED

RAGS TO ROAST

Bee aware this September, it’s bee month.

Spring is the time to think about planting to ensure the bees have plenty of food when they start flying in the warmer months, local beekeeper John Burnet says. They like native plants. Blue, yellow, or purple flowers are favourites, and many herb varieties. Rosemary and lavender are easy-growing bee-magnets.

Wellington Beekeepers Association will sell bee-friendly plants at the Otari-Wilton’s Bush Open Day, 26 September.

The vegan and raw food movement has spread to Greytown. Food Forest Organics, a 100% vegan store selling produce from James Cameron’s family farms near Featherston, opened earlier this year. Sally Duncan who manages the store says their plant-based range has been well-received. “People are very open to and interested in what we’re doing. There’s a real raw food movement. A lot of people are coming over from Wellington and there are a lot of tourists coming through.”

At 12 Holland St Raglan Roast has opened another black roller door. They now have three coffee outlets in Wellington, the others on Abel Smith St and Chaffers Dock. There are a total of nine across New Zealand. Their secret-recipe beans are available only at Raglan Roast’s own outlets not at other cafes or supermarkets, and are still roasted in the small surf town whence they take their name.

It’s the ingredients that make it taste so good.

Find it all at labocaloca.co.nz

57

FOREST CANTINA

SALMON, FENNEL AND AV O C A D O R I C E PA P E R ROLLS / BOWL UNNA BURCH

I

love that, as the seasons change, so does what we eat; food gets lighter and dinners don't have to be hot. By the end of each season, I am hanging out for change – by the end of winter I dream of salads, summer cherries and Pimms cups in the sun.

In my cookbook I talk about easy weekdays and slow food weekends, and this recipe is a good example. It is delicious served as fresh spring rolls, or if you don't have time to roll (they can be a little fiddly) then serve the filling as a “bowl” instead. That's what I love about food, you INGREDIENTS Makes 12 rolls For the dipping sauce 1 cup organic tamari (or light soy) 1/2 cup runny honey 1/4 cup FairTrade sugar 1 thumb size piece of ginger (skin on sliced) 2 cloves garlic, sliced 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar 1 teaspoon sesame oil Filling 100g vermicelli noodles 1 pack rice paper 200g Regal natural wood smoked salmon 1 large avocado, thinly sliced Lemon juice to serve Extra dill to garnish

For the fennel and herb salad 1 large fennel 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 cucumber 1 long red chilli, diced Small bunch mint (I used common and Vietnamese) and dill, chopped 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

can adapt it to the time you have just by thinking a little outside the box. I chose to use wood-smoked salmon.

It has a delicate smokey flavour and the most amazing texture, really soft and melt-in-the-mouth. This dish is brought to life with fresh herbs and fresh chilli, and the avocado gives it a creaminess.

The dipping sauce would make a good marinade for meat too. Just pop it into a bag with the meat of your choice and leave to marinade overnight before cooking – perfect for the BBQ season ahead.

METHOD

Put the jug onto boil first for the noodles. While that is boiling, make the dipping sauce. Put all the ingredients for the dressing into a small pot, whisk well to combine and dissolve sugar. Bring to the boil and then remove to steep while you prepare the rolls.

For the vermicelli noodles, put into a bowl and pour over boiling water.

They are ready to use once they are soft from the boiling water, about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Flake the salmon and set aside. To make the salad, cut the fennel as thin as you can, I used a mandolin. Add to a bowl with the lemon juice and toss well to prevent the fennel going brown. Cut the cucumber in half and scrape seeds out with a teaspoon and then cut into thin half-moon shapes. Add cucumber to the bowl with the remaining ingredients, seasoning with a little flaky sea salt.

To roll, take a large bowl of warm water and submerge a sheet of rice paper into the bowl until soften but not completely soggy (if it's too soft, it will rip easily) Put a small pile of noodles on the rice paper, off centre, about 1cm from the edge, top with two slices of avocado, some fennel salad and a little salmon. Roll up like a cigar. Repeat until all the rolls are made.

Sieve the solids from the dipping sauce and put into bowls (optional to add extra sliced chilli to the dipping sauce). Serve by squeezing lemon over the rice paper rolls and top with extra dill. If you are making bowls, put the noodles in a pile on the bottom, serve with the salad to one side and the salmon next to it. Serve garnished with extra herbs, and a wedge of lemon on the side. Dress with the dipping sauce just before eating.

58

SECTION HEADER

59

FO OD DIRECTORY

NEW WORLD METRO WILLIS ST

G O O D CHEM IS T RY

Take the stress out of birthdays, celebrations, office functions, or get togethers. New World Metro in Willis St makes catering effortless. A plate full or trays full.

Delicious choices all made fresh on the premises.

Bookings call 04 471 6580 or email richard.taggart@foodstus.co.nz | 70 Willis Street.

Imagine your best friend was an amazing chef. She knew a guy who could style a table like no-one else.

And together they threw a stunning dinner party in your home (and cleaned up afterwards). We can’t promise we’ll be best friends, but we can promise we're brilliant at private party catering. www.goodchemistry.co.nz

L E A F Y R IDGE O L IV E S

MINISTRY OF FOOD BAR & KITCHEN

Leafyridge Olives is the largest commercial olive grove in the Wairarapa. We supply award winning extra virgin olive oil to some of Wellington’s finest restaurants, as well as through several retail outlets.

We welcome visits to our beautiful grove.

Ph: 06-370-2603 / Cell: 0275-421-228 www.leafyridge.co.nz

The ideal place to escape the daily grind on The Terrace!

Modern seasonal menus matched with handpicked wines, great coffee and an extensive range of beers.

Daily specials and deals available as well as a fantastic event space available for hire.

Bookings call 04 499 5209 / 105 The Terrace www.ministryoffood.co.nz

S TR AW BE R RY FA R E

T EA T O W EL S PECIAL

Enjoy superb desserts, pre-show meals and delicious weekend brunch. Be assured we won’t disappoint your sweet tooth. Visit soon we’ve got free customer parking next door. 25 Kent Terrace, Wellington 04 385 2551 www.strawberryfare.co.nz

Drying the dishes has never been so beautiful. We have collaborated with the talented Gina Kiel to produce a limited edition tea towel, celebrating our windy little city. Available for $20 inc p&p (within NZ).

Email: design@capitalmag.co.nz to order.

60

Get inspired Wairarapa escape …

WITH A

PROUD TO SUPPORT KOKOMAI CREATIVE FESTIVAL 2015

S OLWAY. C O. N Z | 0 8 0 0 S OLWAY

Portlander Bar & Grill Corner Whitmore and Featherston Streets portlander.co.nz (04) 498 3762

STEAK... SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.

LIQUID THOUGHTS

TAYLOR MADE WRITTEN BY JOELLE THOMSON

Marlborough winemaker Jules Taylor is forging new styles of sauvignon blanc You can take the girl out of Marlborough but you can’t take sauvignon blanc out of the girl, especially when that girl is winemaker Jules Taylor.

She talks with me about her love affair with sauvignon blanc, the wine that lifted New Zealand wine exports from tenthbiggest-to sixth-biggest export earner over just 18 months. She says she is in love with sauvignon for its own piercingly vibrant freshness, although “many people say they refuse to drink it.”

“I never cease to be amazed at the fruit pungency of sauvignon blanc,” says Jules. She talks about its growing importance to this country’s economy New Zealand has 35,313 hectares of vineyards; 20,027 are planted in sauvignon blanc and Marlborough (which is dominated by this grape) has 22,903 hectares of vines. In the past year, 83% of New Zealand wine exports have been – sauvignon blanc.

So with a sea of savvy to produce to satisfy demand, it is little wonder that many New Zealand winemakers choose a different wine with which to fill their own glasses.

Taylor’s staunch advocacy of the ‘savvy’ makes her an exception in Kiwi wine circles; a Marlborough winemaker still in love with sauvignon blanc, and so much so, that she now makes three easily distinguishable different styles.

“I make what I believe people want to drink rather than following trends. I think most people want a good, honest product.”

The good part is pretty easy for trained winemakers with good business managers. Taylor can tick both of these boxes.

She was born and raised in Marlborough, and studied zoology, and plant and microbial science at the University of Canterbury and then did the postgraduate wine course at Lincoln University of Agricultural Sciences in 1993. She then worked as a winemaker in Marlborough, Italy and Australia, returning home and starting her own ‘JT’ label while working at Marl-

borough Valley Cellars in 2001.

Seven years later with her husband as business manager, she took the plunge into full-time winemaking for her own label. This frees her up to develop what she calls “a little bit of a sauvignon blanc evolution”.

Taylor makes two radically different style departures from the vibrant, fruity classics that generally define Marlborough savvy.

Not that there’s anything wrong with them, she says: “I love them but I think some people see savvy as a bit of a cash cow, and there are a lot of people around the world making wines that they label as ‘Marlborough-style sauvignon’ but doing it at lower prices. We need to keep the New Zealand brand alive and at the forefront of people’s minds.”

Her savvy trio includes a tick-all-the-boxes, fresh ‘n fruitdriven light white; a big creamy number (also known as OTQ) and a rich, sweet dessert wine.

“I know people in restaurants who want a low alcohol sauvignon blanc but I am holding off, for now. I think one way to produce good sauvignon blanc at lower alcohol levels would be to genetically modify yeasts to produce low alcohol wine that still retains its natural glycerol (which contributes to the body of a wine). But I would rather drink one glass of full octane wine than two of low alcohol.”

Taylor describes sauvignon blanc as ‘a miracle grape’: “It amazes me every year in Marlborough because it varies so much, depending on which vineyard you are in, which part of the vine you pick the grapes from, when you pick, which yeasts you use to ferment the wine and so many other variables. I want to highlight that variety for wine drinkers with the wines I make.”

And so she does.

W

www.centrecity.co.nz NEW SPECIALIST SHOP OPEN AT 70 WILLIS STREET. FINE WINES, SPIRITS, SINGLE MALT WHISKY AND CRAFT BEER On Licence Function Facility, Wine & Single Malt Tasting events, BBQ facility.

62

CALL 04 4737095 2/4 Waring Taylor St, Wellington

SPA1238

N O !

T G E N I BR L EL FI W S

A H

Love to shop at the

Old Bank Arcade

de Spa cHocoLatier perfect Look WaLLace cotton

HiGHer taSte reStaurant moJo SmitH tHe Grocer StarbuckS

Spark Business Wellington has great Fibre plans – the perfect choice for businesses with high usage or a need for high speeds.

REACH MORE CUSTOMERS

GeorGie Love Hair Studio L’occitane LuSH SHampoo pLuS Spa expreSS

WORK SMARTER PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS FUTURE-PROOF YOUR PLANS

0800 535 735 info@hubwellington.co.nz

WE’LL COME TO YOU.

andrea moore GoLd excHanGe i Love uGLy i Love pariS miSSy’S room ricocHet ruby SHaLLa JeWeLLerS tayLor boutique tory & ko viGi WorkSHop

www.oldbank.co.nz Open 7 Days

LIQUID THOUGHTS

WINEY R OA D Seduced by the pale lights of a small town? Baptist Sieber and Carolyn Irwin were, which saw them move from Marlborough’s massive winemaking industry to Martinborough’s tiny one to set up Columbo Wines on Todds Road (you didn’t misread; Todds Road has, annoyingly, no apostrophe). He is Swiss-born and has a background as a grape grower in Marlborough, but fell for Martinborough’s village-like atmosphere, which reminds him of home. She is Irish born-and-bred. Together they grow the grapes, make the wine and run a cellar door tasting room, open to visitors on Saturdays, Sundays and throughout summer. It is on a 16 year old vineyard, which gives them access to good quality pinot noir grapes. Their first vintage, 2014, is available at Moore Wilson’s, Ontrays in Petone and at Martinborough Wine Merchants.

HAWKE’S BAY VS B ORDEAUX

TOAST TICKETS

If you’ve noticed Malbec appearing with surprising regularity on local wine labels, that’s because Kiwi winemakers are upping the profile and proportion of this dark black grape in the wines they make. A miniscule 142 hectares are planted nationwide; mostly in Hawke’s Bay, with a smidgeon in the South Island. It’s originally from Bordeaux, France, but there’s more malbec grown in Argentina than anywhere else today.

How do the best red wines from Hawke’s Bay rate?

Wellington wine collector, consultant, writer and judge Geoff Kelly is offering two chances to find out in early September. He is opening his library of reds and pulling out 1998 Hawke’s Bay labels such as Esk Valley The Terraces, Mill’s Reef Elspeth Syrah and Te Mata Coleraine (all made with Hawke’s Bay-grown grapes).

To round things off, he has an outstanding range of 2005 Bordeaux and Hawke’s Bay reds. Both will feature at tastings to be held at Trinity Hill Winery in the Bay. Bookings essential.

This is not an advertisement but music lovers, pinotphiles and anybody else keen to hot foot it over the hill to Toast Martinborough this year needs to be alert. The tickets to the annual event sell out swiftly and go on sale via Ticketek from 9am, 23 September for the festival on Sunday 15 November this year. For more details: info@toastmartinborough.co.nz

creative 7287

MALBEC MAKES A MARK

www.emersons.co.nz

64

Castle’s new big charcoal flower bedlinen is the perfect happy neutral. Put it with any colour combination for an instant bedroom punch.

Boom, bed done. Exclusively at...

cnr Blair & Wakefield Streets,Wellington www.smallacorns.co.nz/0800 22 67 67

QUINOVIC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

VIVIAN STREET BEFORE

AFTER

04 382 8300 info@quinovic-vivianst.co.nz www.quinovic-vs.co.nz

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

POSSUMS TRIPPING IN THE PINES WRITTEN BY JOHN KERR

Wilding pines are getting a boost from invasive pests and mind-bending fungi.

W

hat do you get when you mix possums, pine trees and poisonous mushrooms? It sounds like a bad joke, but it represents a serious challenge for conservationists. A new study by New Zealand ecologists has revealed that possum and deer play a role in spreading wild pines in New Zealand soils, in areas including the Wellington region.

Pines that spread from forestry plantations into uncultivated areas are a threat to New Zealand’s native flora and fauna.

They compete with native trees, blocking out sunlight and coating the ground with plant-suppressing needles. They are also a greater fire hazard than native bush; in dry conditions pines burn with more heat and flames spread like, well, wildfire.

“The rate of spread of these trees is really taking off,” warns Dr Jamie Wood, an ecologist at Landcare Research. “There are dire predictions that in the next decade or so vast areas of the South Island and parts of the North Island will be forests of these invasive trees if they are not controlled.”

The latest estimates show one and a half million hectares of land nationwide are already affected by wilding pines, and the government spends $3.5 million annually trying to keep them in check. Here in Wellington a number of projects are attempts to keep them out of native bush in areas like the Rimutaka Forest Park.

To determine how these pines are spreading across New Zealand, Dr Wood and his colleagues studied the dispersal of invasive mycorhizal fungi – species of mushrooms and truffles that help the pines grow by living around the roots of saplings and trading nutrients with them. Without these fungal networks around their toes, the pines would struggle to grow in native soils.

“The question was how these things spread around the landscape, because the trees need the fungi in the soil to establish.”

Dr Wood and his colleagues suspected that invasive mammals were eating the fungi and spreading their spores in

droppings. Using motion-activated infra-red cameras hidden in South Canterbury forests, they managed to spot the culprits red-handed; possums and wild deer were caught on film nibbling away on the pine-friendly fungi.

They didn’t stop there. Samples of deer and possum droppings analysed in the lab showed the researchers that spores from mycorhizal fungi had survived being eaten and excreted.

Experiments then showed that these spores were still viable – they could still grow on sapling pines and boost their growth.

All the findings pointed towards the firm conclusion that deer and possums were spreading the mycorhizal fungi that help wilding pines grow in new areas.

As to which invasive mammals, Dr Wood confesses that his research might have only revealed the tip of iceberg. “We’ve only looked at possums and deer. There could be a whole suite of other animals doing exactly the same thing. For example, pigs, hedgehogs, rats and mice – they could all be actively spreading the spores around. We just don't know.”

Some of these fungi are not what you would expect animals to be eating, because they are toxic... well, toxic-ish. One of the mycorhizal fungi the possums and deer were caught eating was Amanita muscaria, a classic Alice-in-Wonderland-style red and white toadstool. If eaten, it can make animals (including humans) pretty sick, but also can induce a delirious, drunken state.

So, are the possums and deer getting a buzz off these mushrooms? Dr Wood admits it is an intriguing question, but one for another study.

“It is possible that they are actually doing it for some enjoyment reasons, but we’d need more evidence.”

Tripping animals aside, the three-way ecological co-operation between invasive mammals, fungi and pines represents a tricky conservation challenge for which ecologists have a surprisingly direct name: ‘invasional meltdown’.

66

MINERVA 237 Cuba Street Wellington Ph: 04 934 3424

We’re a wee bit different.

We’re a wee bit different.

Level 2, 16 Cambridge Terrace, Wellington Level 2, 16 www.kakapoink.com Cambridge Terrace, Wellington kakapoink@gmail.com www.kakapoink.com phone: 04 499 6868 or 0274 KAKAPO kakapoink@gmail.com phone: 04 499 6868 or 0274 KAKAPO

Superb selection of craft, textile, fashion, food, and lifestyle books and magazines, gifts, threads, calendars and cards New in store – an exquisite range of Italian stationery and giftwrap Open Mon - Fri : 10am - 5.30pm Sat: 10am - 4pm Sun: 11am - 4pm - during WOW

www.minerva.co.nz

Live Beautifully | Give Beautifully

14-16 Allen Street, Wellington ph 04 803 3432

www.redcurrent.co.nz

BY THE BOOK

R E -V E R SE INTRODUCED BY FRANCES SAMUEL

Oner a k i B e a ch, R a ou l Isl and

I was raised by rocks, but not as one of them. Upended

heart of darkness

by storms, I was raised by nikau palms, but I was never one of them. I was raised by waves – the waves talking, always talking

57 Willis St, Wellington 6011 (04) 499 4245 • www.unitybooks.co.nz wellington@unitybooks.co.nz

to themselves, always listening – and raised as one of them.

By Gregory O'Brien, from Whale Years, AUP (2015)

BREAKDOWN Bio Gregory O'Brien is a Wellington writer, painter, literary critic, and art curator. The poems and drawings in Whale Years were inspired by his journeys following the migratory routes of whales and seabirds across the South Pacific Ocean. An exhibition accompanies the book, and many of the poems have been set to music.

In brief Feeling a bit stifled by society? In the 1800s, you might have jumped on board a ship and swum ashore at Raoul Island in the Kermadecs.

There, you could start life afresh with a scattering of other adventurers and their families. Leaving again would be tricky, though, because you'd have to watch for another ship to pass by.

I heard about this from a friend who worked on Raoul for months, weeding out exotic plants to help restore the volcanic island to its presettler state. So, with tales of old-time Raoulies in mind, I read this poem as a miniature life story of a misfit who, from troubled beginnings, finds his true home on the island. Over time, the speaker’s relationship with the surrounding sea has become one of family – he feels 'raised' and nurtured by this environment. ‘Talking, always talking’ beautifully conveys the ocean’s constant movement and sound, but, for the ‘I’ of the poem, the waves are also ‘listening’. The settlements on Raoul couldn't last – eruptions and politics for starters – yet the abandoned passionfruit vines and peach trees grew on … until some New Zealanders wearing DOC stubbies arrived to rip them out.

68

BY THE BOOK

FOR THE CHILDREN Bookshops that have won a share of the $100,000 grant, pledged by US author James Patterson, have been announced, including two Wellington recipients: Hedley’s Bookshop in Masterton will use their funds to employ a Children’s Book Ambassador, connect children with books via a local school, and the Children’s Bookshop in Wellington also scooped a prize. “We have worked to identify bookshops for whom this money may make a real difference,” says Patterson, “and for whom getting children reading is a real passion.”

SAFE SEX PIONEER

SIR EDMUND, ILLUSTRATED

WHALE SONG WIN

Wellington writer Jane Tolerton goes behind the scenes of WWI in her book Ettie Rout – NZ Safe Sex Pioneer. Ettie’s campaigning led to safe-sex kits being made compulsory issue for NZ troops, the only Allied Army to adopt the controversial stand. With 20 percent of the 100,000 men in NZEF found to be infected with VD, and a round-up of 101 street women in Paris showing 91 to be carriers, the issue was rife. Published by Penguin Random House NZ.

Parents of adventurous little Kiwis should look out for a new children’s picture book that tells the life story of Sir Edmund Hillary. The book, written by David Hill and illustrated by Wellingtonian Phoebe Morris, is published by Penguin Random House NZ.

Wellington author Mandy Hager has won the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award for Singing Home the Whale, which also took Best Young Adult Fiction.

Judging panel convenor Bob Docherty said that “the book would have won in any year it was entered, and the decision was unanimous for the panel,” adding; “this book should be compulsory reading for any country that still hunts whales”. Wellington was well represented by five finalists in this 25th year of the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

BUSINESS

ENDLESSLY INVENTIVE WRITTEN BY SARAH LANG | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA BRIGGS

Some nights, at around 2am, award-winning industrial designer Dylan Mulder rides his Solowheel – an electric unicycle – from his apartment on Tory Street to his studio on Abel Smith Street, in Toi Poneke Arts Centre. And because he takes a ramp into the building and a lift upstairs, he doesn't need to stand on his own two feet until he’s at his desk.

T

he trip only takes two minutes, but why 2am? Is he an insomniac? A workaholic?

A little of the latter. “It’s because a print is ending and I want to put another one on,” Mulder explains. He shows me two behemoth 3D printers that work 24/7 to create three-dimensional objects from his computer designs. Changing the print wirelessly and remotely is possible, he says, but impractical.

“You need to take the object off, prepare the bed, check things.” Fifteen minutes after he set his alarm, he’s back home in bed.

These early excursions earn a few funny looks from drunken students stumbling home, and they wake up his partner Carmen Taylor, but at least he’s not trying to work from their one-bedroom apartment any more.

He worked from home for about six months. They didn’t have much space to start with, and when two giant 3D printers

arrived, Taylor told him enough was enough.

“She said get a studio or we’ll have to move.”

He shared a workshop for a year; then, needing more space, he moved into Toi Poneke in April. “I need a sanitary environment over there, a mess space here, and a sanding spot there,” Mulder explains, showing me around.

“And I need to be able to make some noise.”

The 28-year-old with the floppy hair, pierced earlobe and big grin is of Dutch and Maori heritage. He’s also outspoken and outgoing, and talkative, often failing to finish sentences and going off on tangents. “I need to slow down. I’m thinking too fast.”

He has a lot to think about. At any one time he’s working on about a dozen different projects, which he can’t detail due to non-disclosure agreements. Currently he’s concentrating on four secret projects, including making a product prototype for

Dylan Mulder

70

BUSINESS

a household-name food company, and medical prototypes to help stroke victims rehabilitate. After the initial concept design and sketches, he works on computerassisted design (CAD) files, then uses 3D printers to turn the designs into objects, mostly prototypes, props and models. For instance, he continues to make figurines for storyboarding the Thunderbirds TV show, and makes 3D-printed jewellery and skulls, which he sells online.

So how exactly does 3D printing work? Bear with the jargon for a sec. Mulder mainly uses fused deposition modelling: the classic ‘glue-gun’ printer layers fine strands of melted plastic (filament) on top of each other to make an object. His more advanced, higher-grade printer uses stereolithography, where a UV laser cures photo-reactive resins that have various properties (such as being flexible and castable). By refining the design from version to version, he reduces the time from concept to final master design – and saves his clients money.

“I assess it and go back and make this or that wider, smaller, softer – and print it again.”

From day to day, exactly what he’s working on depends mainly on deadlines and, occasionally, on what he feels like doing. “I enjoy both physical and digital work but I didn’t want to be just a desk monkey or a flunkey sanding boxes. The cool thing is I’m part of both industries.” He also works as a CG modeller and conceptual designer (building three-dimensional computer models without producing the object itself) and as a consultant for companies wanting to integrate new digital technologies. “I’m a jack-of-all-trades and I have my fingers in a lot of pies.”

All this work makes for unsociable hours. After a 9–5.30 workday, Mulder goes home for dinner then returns to the studio to work until 11–11:30 pm. And yes, that includes weekends. “I work long hours just for now because it feels necessary. Because I want to make something of all this.” His ambition isn't surprising. It's hard to make it in this field. Each year there are only one or two new industrial-design jobs at the likes of Fisher & Paykel and Phil & Teds.

There were no jobs available when Mulder graduated with a Bachelor of Design with Honours, specialising in industrial design, from Victoria University. So he worked behind bars for a year. Then, in 2011, he began contracting for Human Dynamo, a fabrication and model-making studio, mainly making props for The Hobbit trilogy. When work dried up two years later, he decided

to employ himself, choosing the company name Mulder & Skully as a play on the X-Files duo. “Sourcing custom work started out of necessity. I took on one client, then another, and it just compounded. Now I’m getting good projects and making good money.”

That's partly thanks to his success in the World of Wearable Art Awards. In 2012, his sculptural blackleather bra “Ninja Fighting Fish” made it into the live show. In 2013, he won the coveted New Zealand Design Award with “Samurai Silent Dragon", with Japanese lettering and golden dragons sewn onto a garment made of black-plastic panels. And in 2014 he came second in the Weta Workshop Costume and Film category with “Emperor Hidden Moth and his Minions”, consisting of three garments made from plastic hexagons that changed in colour and appearance. This year he had so much work on that he didn’t finish his entry, whose spiky blueplastic components are strewn over a workbench. “It can wait until next year.”

Has he always made things? “Yep. I wanted to be an inventor as a kid. I made a lot of things out of polystyrene. And you know those glow-in-the-dark stickers that kids put on the ceiling? Well, I was sick of star, planet and dinosaur shapes, so I mixed PVA glue with glow-inthe-dark paint, made shapes I liked, baked them in the oven and it worked.” He was eight at the time.

Fast forward 20 years and he’s just bought a fifth 3D printer to keep up with demand. So far he hasn't worked out how to print clones of himself, but Mulder jokes that his printers are his employees. “They don’t talk back or have coffee breaks, there’s no minimum wage, they do what they’re told, and they’re very efficient. It’s about how can you sit back and get computers to work for you?

That’s where we’re shifting.”

In 10 years from now, he wants to have more printers working for him – and some actual employees from different disciplines, too. “What frustrates me is there’s all this top-quality talent coming out of New Zealand universities in 3D printing and digital technology, but there are no jobs to go to. A lot of graduates go overseas or go into hospitality. It’s such a waste. Especially as it’s all digital so it can be outsourced here, working wirelessly.

We need an initiative to keep talent in New Zealand, bring them together and help them make connections with overseas clients. I get pretty ambitious with my goals, but what’s the harm in trying for it?”

72

M O N E Y, M O N E Y

RAISED EYEBROWS WRITTEN BY HARRIET PALMER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAITLIN MCKONE

T

here was $35 in the till at the end of East Day Spa’s first day in business in 2002. Owner Ina Bajaj had just sold up her successful restaurant the Curry Club and, with no experience, thrown herself eyebrows first into the beauty industry.

In 2002, luxury beauty spas were a relatively new concept in Aotearoa. Ina says there were perhaps five scattered across the country.

But she foresaw a future where spaces offering beauty treatments, massage and time out for busy people would be big business. Ina invested $400,000, mostly from the proceeds of her restaurant’s sale, with a bit extra from her parents, and held her breath.

“My vision from the start was to be as big as Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop. I wanted to take the brand globally.”

She was on the money. In just 12 years, Ina has created an empire with an annual turnover of $7 million and close to 200 staff. She’s taken the brand overseas, with her flagship spa now in Bali. She plans to expand in Asia and has her sights set on Malaysia and Singapore.

People don’t shave their own legs, paint their own nails or pluck their own brows so much these days, she says – they go to the experts.

Ina has two brands – Spring and East – operating at seven locations across Wellington, Auckland, and Queenstown, and Bali where she is developing a second spa. In addition, she operates luxury accommodation in Wellington, Bali and Italy.

The signage for her original Wellington site on Thorndon Quay continues to dominate the skyline, and Ina recently opened Spring at the old Il Casino site on Tory St. Spring brings to the city what Ina and her team call a “social spa experience”. The setting is open and bright – instead of being tucked away in cubicles, customers sit together. They can zone out using supplied ipods, or log in to the wifi.

Sounds like a dream, but Ina is adamant the road hasn’t all been silky smooth. It’s been weeks without weekends, days without downtime, and a few hiccups along the way. Last year she 73

M O N E Y, M O N E Y

abandoned the Australian market after closing her Spring spa in Melbourne.

She says it was tough, but c’est la vie, you don’t get anywhere in business without being brave, and Ina embodies bravery. She does not, as has been suggested, sit around getting her nails done all day.

“You need to have guts because it guts you,” she says.“You can do all your research and create business plans but at some stage you really just have to jump in the deep end.

“People tell me I’m lucky, but this isn’t luck. It’s perseverance and passion and drive.”

Ina is not the stereotypical dippy beauty salon owner. She takes her business seriously. While she confesses to being a spender, not a saver, most of the profit goes straight back into the business. When she is spending, she says it’s on property.

She has developed a formal organisational structure which is run from a corporate head office. Her corporate team is mostly made up of women.

“It is annoying when I hear comments like ‘Oh, so you have a beauty parlour’… Our business-to-business interactions are very normal and professional, and we aren’t judged as less than a normal business just because we are women.

We dominate a large portion of the spa and beauty market and we do it all with perfectly manicured hands.”

Ina is of Indian heritage but was born in Tanzania. The family moved to Kenya while she was still in nappies. When she was eight, they shifted again to Wellington so she and her siblings could take advantage of the Kiwi education system. She lived in Karori then Lower Hutt and attended Samuel Marsden Collegiate.

After the sacrifice and investment they had made in her education, Ina’s parents weren’t entirely happy with her vocation.

“They wanted me to be a lawyer or do something in finance but I wasn’t an academic type. I went to uni to eat lunch.”

While Ina didn’t end up with a doctorate, she says her parents’ efforts helped her develop a head for business and an appetite for entrepreneurship.

“This comes from being new migrants and a minority race. Survival, tolerance and acquiring a thick skin is taught and instilled at an early age.”

While she was studying toward the BA in sociology she eventually completed for the sake of her parents, Ina worked at fashion store, Carter’s on Lambton Quay.

She loved it. “I love looking after people. I think I was most happy being a shop assistant.”

She says her real inspiration and perhaps the secret to her success comes from her love for people and nature. During her time in Kenya she spent a lot of time on safari, and continues to do so on frequent visits home to see family.

“Patience is a virtue that the savannah taught me. We have so much to learn from animals. It has influenced how I live and work. I was brought up on sensory experiences.

I understand the benefit and happiness you can have from experiences that invoke a deep sense of emotional satisfaction and sense of journey. This has carried through into my world of spa and beauty.”

This points to what might be called the point of difference in Ina’s spa. She was one of the first to bring eastern beauty practices, such as hot stone massage and ayurvedic rituals to Wellington, and she continues to travel the world looking for new treatments and experiences.

Ina says the journey customers have when they are with her is important, and this is reflected in the East Day Spa’s Yatra, a Hindi word for journey. The Yatra represents a philosophy all her staff are taught to follow. This means using direct language and avoid superfluous dialogue, so guests feel comfortable and informed without too much intrusion. The process is followed as precisely on a client’s third or fourth visit as it was in the first, providing consistency and familiarity.

“We accomplish business growth through the quality of not only the treatments or products, but the consistency of excellence,” she says.

Ina herself exudes a kind of eastern serenity. She’s warm and attentive and clearly very happy, which she says is the secret to success. She doesn’t appear to enjoy talking about the wealth she’s accumulated.

“I have the best job in the world. The greatest return on my business hasn’t been the money, it’s the happiness. Money doesn’t mean happiness. I don’t understand how anyone could be a success without loving what they do.”

74

HOUSE

FULL HOUSE WRITTEN BY SARAH LANG | PHOTOGRAPHED BY ANNA BRIGGS

A Wellington sculptor has made a home for himself, his girl, and his art.

“N

o one ever has trouble finding this place,” says Max Patté of his home on a super-steep street in Island Bay. The “17 Knoll St” sign above the front door lights up at night, conceding how hard it is to find some Wellington addresses in the dark. The other clue that a sculptor lives here is the pair of burly men guarding the front door.

They’re not there to intimidate intrigued passersby. Named Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2, Max’s glassfibre reinforced concrete sculptures were inspired by figures of infantrymen at the Anglo-Belgian War Memorial in Brussels.

And the pup playing near them? Max sculpted his sister’s dog Foxy as a birthday present, and this is a later edition. Standing on a plinth nearby is a naked cast-metal man leaning into the wind, it’s a smaller version of Max’s best-known sculpture, Solace in the Wind, which can found on the Wellington waterfront.

Inside the colourful, retro-styled house, Max and his partner Amy Fitzgerald have company. In the living room, busts made by Max stare from the built-in bookshelf. In the bedroom, the eye is drawn not to the ocean views but to a stooping man called Rest – a two-metre-tall figure in black plaster. He once gave Amy a fright when she woke up. “People often ask why I live with so much of my work,” Max says. “I’d only ever seen

my work in the studio surrounded by mess, and I just wanted to see it in context in my own home.”

Tired of his dark, stark Brooklyn apartment, Max bought the 1920s bungalow in December 2011 after looking for the perfect place for three years.

“I knew this corner of Island Bay was slightly elevated, and I've never been a fan of living on the flat. I saw this house listed one Saturday morning, drove past, wound down the window to talk to the owner, and he said ‘Don’t wait for the open home, just come in now’. It was a beautiful morning, and it was so sunny and totally private.”

Max was sold. “I'd always fancied living in a house with a cathedral ceiling, so I got rid of the flat ceiling and put skylights in.” He cut grooves into the sloped ceiling to slot in his speakers. He added more windows. He built the furniture, the bookshelf and the new kitchen units himself.

“I love this kitchen so I do most of the cooking,” Amy says with a smile and an Irish lilt. “But Max was the cook when he was trying to woo me.” The couple met in a Wellington pub in 2010, and got together in 2012, and Amy moved in in 2013. The 35-year-old teaches at Urban Yoga and runs her event-management company Flow Events from the home office. Keeping her company is the neighbour's cat, who has adopted 17

76

77

HOUSE

Knoll St as her home despite the dog at the door.

It is half the size of the average New Zealand house, somewhere between 70 and 80 square metres not counting the garage and laundry downstairs. But throw open the French doors and the living space feels a lot bigger – and very light, thanks to the skylights and a giant mirror in the living area that reflects the sun from the garden.

Although it’s full of art and curious artefacts, like African glass plates and bronze casts of three dead mice, the house doesn’t feel at all cluttered.

“Max is a Virgo, totally OCD and a real clean freak,” Amy teases, and Max laughs. “I need space to think clearly. Work is really messy so I can’t stand to come home and have stuff everywhere. I wanted to create a really cosy, warm environment.”

He pauses and looks around. “You know, this is a completely different place at night – every single light is dimmable.” He prefers the glow of incandescent bulbs – the original electric lights – over LED bulbs. Strategically placed lamps and bulbs illuminate various arrangements (photos, art, busts, books) on the bookshelves.

But why is the firewood painted bright colours?

Well, these stubs of wood are actually a screen to hide all the cables, not fuel for the pot-belly stove.

Max painted them in rainbow colours so they’re not mistaken for firewood again by people holidaying here. Max and Amy rent out the house when they go back to Europe for a month or more at a time, usually in the New Zealand winter, sometimes planning trips around enquiries for accommodation.

In summer, Amy and Max move between the front garden and the deck depending on the direction of the wind. Max terraced and landscaped the back garden himself, carving out a flat space carved from an extremely steep back yard, even by Wellington standards. At the head of the outdoor table is a huge fireplace shipped from Max’s grandparents’ house, and another giant mirror that bounces the sunlight back into the living room. Trees and bushes provide privacy, Max’s “God head” sculptures look on, and overhanging strings of coloured lightbulbs (inspired

by Matterhorn’s courtyard) light up the space at night.

Max has also built a steep path up to a breakfast nook with a table, two chairs, and a view of the ocean and sometimes the South Island.

Growing up in Gloucestershire, England, Max went to art school then fell into the film industry as a freelance sculptor for film, theatre, and television. “I’d travelled a lot and I wanted to get away from London and spend a year somewhere comfortable, with a good chance of getting work.” He arrived in New Zealand in April 2006, immediately scoring a job at Weta Workshop, first in the fibreglass room and eventually becoming head of the sculpting studio. Here he worked on projects including The Hobbit, Mad Max and District 9, and also began making his own art.

“Suddenly I had this free time as everyone actually went home at 6pm, which is unheard of in London, and I wasn't spending three hours a day driving to work and back.”

Meanwhile, his boss Sir Richard Taylor liked Max’s work so much that he let him use Weta’s space,

78

79

HOUSE

facilities and technicians to make his own artworks. “It was something that artists dream of,” Max says. He made Solace in the Wind in a contemplative, soul-searching frame of mind, after hours sitting by the waterfront thinking about where he was and how he’d got there. The two-metre-high cast-iron sculpture depicts a man leaning into the wind with his back arched, arms held back, eyes closed, and an ambiguous expression that could be serenity, anguish or vulnerability. It was installed on the waterfront in February 2008, on loan for a year before the council bought it. The sculpture has quickly become a Wellington icon, sometimes being prank-dressed and now a selfie co-star.

Four months ago, Max moved out of Weta and into his own studio in Miramar. He is moving away from sculpture towards art that uses light. Two of his large lightworks hang in the bedroom and Amy’s office. You can lose yourself gazing at them, pressing buttons on a remote to change their colour either immediately or in a slow fade.

The idea for the lightworks began with a friend’s gift of a book on Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. This famous drawing depicts a man moving between two positions, based on the “divine proportion” (also known as the golden ratio): a mathematical formula of 1 to

1.618 which appears in nature and in human proportions. It’s no accident that Max’s lightworks are all 1618 millimetres in diameter.

“But I don’t want people to think I’m just the guy who makes work that’s divinely proportionate. I like the use of light and colour, and how it affects mood. At the moment I'm playing with different lights and the fading of lights to reflect the qualities of the evening sky only found in Wellington and especially the south coast.”

Ten of his lightworks will show at The Max Patté Experience at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery from 12-27 September. In his first Wellington exhibition, the lightworks will change colour in a slow fade that’s imperceptible to the eye but may alter the mood of the room. Max will give artist talks on September 13 and 26, before the exhibition travels to Auckland, where his first-ever show got a rave reception last year.

The couple probably won’t live in New Zealand forever – the dream would be six months here, six months in Europe – but as long as they’re in Wellington they’ll stay in Island Bay. “There aren’t many places in the world where you can listen to the waves as you fall asleep.

And Wellington has been very good to me.”

The Max Patté Experience, New Zealand Portrait Gallery from 12-27 September.

DO YOU HAVE A WILL? Say

I will

the will to live is not enough and make an appointment with RASCH LEONG LAWYERS

PARTNERS Ramona Rasch LLB David Leong LLB 1st Floor Kilbirnie Plaza 30 Bay Road | Kilbirnie, Wellington | Tel 04 387 7831 | www.raschleong.co.nz

81

ABROAD

THE THREE PILLARS OF WISDOM WRITTEN BY HAMISH MCGREGOR

Seventh-century AD Iran. The first Zoroastrian refugees trudged from the vast, arid Iranian interior to the Persian Gulf. At their backs, Arab armies were propagating the new faith of Islam throughout the Iranian plateau. Seeking to preserve their ancient faith, the refugees farewelled their homeland, packed into dhows and set sail for the horizon. At the head of the Persian Gulf the dhows turned due east and crossed the Arabian sea to an uncertain future on the Indian subcontinent.

L

anding in Gujarat, the Zoroastrian priests petitioned the local ruler, King Jadhavrana, to let their flock settle in India. The King produced a bowl of milk, filled to the brim, to symbolise that his realm had no room for the new arrivals. In response, the priests produced sugar and stirred it into the milk to signify the Zoroastrians’ wish to assimilate and enrich his society.

The King relented, and the Zoroastrians, thereafter known as Parsis ("Persian”) were permitted to settle in Gujarat. Thus began the Parsi Zoroastrian community in India, as related to me by Wellington’s lone Parsi priest.

A native of Mumbai who now calls Wellington home, he draws on a knowledge of ancient Zoroastrian ritual handed down by his father to minister to Wellington’s tiny Parsi community of half a dozen families.

Over afternoon coffee in Johnsonville the Parsi priest relayed to me the rich history and tenets of his faith. Named after the Iranian prophet Zoroaster who lived 3500 years ago, Zoroastrianism is believed by some scholars to be the oldest revelation-based world religion, predating even Judaism. For many centuries Zoroastrianism flourished as the official religion of three of the great Persian Empires until Islam supplanted it as the predominant faith in Iran.

Zoroaster is an enigmatic character about whom we know frustratingly little. He was born into an alreadyancient Indo-European religion which has vanished.

Zoroaster possessed the yearning to understand man’s place in the cosmos which marks a prophet, and a desire to improve the human condition.

He expounded a new religion that departed radically from the prevailing polytheism, acknowledging Ahura Mazda, the supreme deity, the one true God. Zoroaster charted a dualistic universe, eternally divided between good and evil, their cosmic struggle reflected in the choice believers had to make in their own lives; and the judgement that consigned their departed souls to merit a place in Paradise or in Hell. Zoroastrianism has three pillars: good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, representing a person’s obligations to a supreme deity; it represents a way of life as well as a religion.

Zoroasters’s teachings on the omnipotence of God, Heaven and Hell, the eternal battle between good and evil, and the Last Judgement percolated down the centuries to influence the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

While today the Parsi Zoroastrians are ensconced in India, not all Zoroastrians left Iran in the wake of the Arab invasions. Some chose a precarious existence in their homeland. During my most recent stint living and working in Iran with my Iranian wife, I returned to the desert city of Yazd, home to one of the largest remaining Zoroastrian communities in Iran.

TOP RIGHT: The minarets of Yazd BOTTOM RIGHT: Zoroastrian Tower of Silence

82

83

ABROAD

In the nineteenth century remote Yazd had the largest population of Zoroastrians in Iran, but last century it began to dwindle as Zoroastrians, like other Iranians, sought economic opportunity in Tehran or overseas. Today fewer than 30,000 Zoroastrians remain in the whole Islamic Republic of Iran, out of a total population of 70 million.

Certain restrictions are a fact of life. Zoroastrians cannot, for example, aspire to high political office. But they are an officially recognised religious minority and maintain a few constitutionally-guaranteed privileges such as the freedom to perform their rites and ceremonies.

Situated right in the middle of Iran, Yazd is an ancient city, already long inhabited by the time Marco Polo visited in the thirteenth century AD, when he described a “good and noble city” known for its fine silks. Yazd is also the hometown of my wife’s extended family, all Shia Muslims. The city’s religious legacy of Zoroastrianism mixed with the piety of traditional Iranian Shi’ism draws me whenever I visit Iran.

This time, arriving in the chilly pre-dawn by bus from Tehran, I made for my favourite accommodation, the traditional Silk Road hotel. Behind forbidding outer walls and a modest door, the hotel was a metaphor for the way the city itself has stubbornly shielded civilisation from the desert. Down ancient stone steps, the inner courtyard enclosed a sky-blue fountain. In the comfortable austerity of my room I slept off the long bus ride through the desert.

To walk Yazd’s labyrinthine old quarter with its undulating mud brick walls beneath the turquoise minarets of a 12th-century mosque was to step into a 19th-century orientalist painting. The narrow streets are cleft by shafts of harsh sunlight, alternating with tepid shadow. Veiled women swish by in billowing chadors. The quarter has been recogised as a UNESCO heritage site.

Iconic wind towers crenellate the skyline. They catch the dry desert winds, funnelling them down to interior pools which draw off its broiling heat to create cool air flows that cool down the houses in 50-degree summers.

The city’s alleys, mosques and underground teahouses are quiet, unhurried places, that offer the traveller quiet reflection. The quaint water museum draws but a trickle of visitors to its displays of hydrology, a science of existential importance in the desert setting.

Outside the old quarter, Yazd’s famous confectioners do a brisk trade in baklava, coconut ice and candy floss.

After 6pm the bazaar wakens from late-afternoon slumber, thousands of shoppers wandering and bargaining in its narrow confines.

Retiring to an uptown juice bar to escape the afternoon sun, I chatted with the inquisitively kind owner about Yazd’s Zoroastrian legacy. With typical Iranian hospitality, he stepped outside and flagged down a teenage motorcyclist to take me to the Zoroastrian fire temple.

The fire temple was built in 1934 with the help of Parsis in India, who maintained charitable and social links with their co-religionists in Iran. The temple is a modest but elegant rectangular structure with a round pool in the foreground. The facade is dominated by a mysterious symbol, the half-man, half-eagle Farvahar. This Zoroastrian guardian angel has become a motif of the religion.

Laughing primary school pupils were trying to sketch the temple as I stepped into its sparse interior. Behind a glass partition was the inner sanctum and its sacred flame, symbolic of purity. This temple was just eighty years old, but its flame had been transferred from much older temples, where it had been tended by Zoroastrian priests, unextinguished for millennia.

As the afternoon glare surrendered to the soft light of evening, I caught a taxi to the desert fringe of the city. On two barren hilltops stood the castle-like Towers of Silence, where Zoroastrians centuries ago laid their dead in the open air. Not wanting to pollute the earth, the faithful preferred to let the elements wither their mortal remains. This practice has long since ceased in the interest of hygiene and decorum, but the crumbling towers are a stark relic of Yazd’s special pre-Islamic past.

On this evening the decrepit towers were deserted. I sensed nothing macabre lingering in the towers despite their purpose. My only companions were local teenagers riding motorbikes up and down the barren slopes. From the top of one of the towers, I gazed at the desert horizons and the pink and beige city skyline in the looming dusk. In the graceful dilapidation of the Towers of Silence I felt happy to be once more in Yazd, my favourite Iranian city.

TOP RIGHT: The Yazd skyline BOTTOM RIGHT: A young girl wearing chador in the old streets of Yazd

84

85

W E L LY A NG E L

WHAT WOULD DEIRDRE D O? Got a problem? Maybe we can help.

Welly Angel Deirdre Tarrant, mother of three boys, founder of Footnote Dance Company and teacher of dance to generations of Wellingtonians, will sort out your troubles.

ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN My friends all tell me I am a terrible driver. I think they might be right, I don’t like driving much and am not very good at remembering road rules, but I passed my test on my first try and I haven’t had any serious accidents.

Should I stop driving or are they just teasing?

Jumpy, Island Bay They may be right but you seem to be coping and practice makes perfect. Surreptitiously enrol in a defensive driving course and invest some me-time in this. You will certainly improve and gain confidence along the way. Keep driving.

A PLAGUE ON NEIGHB OURS My neighbour loves to garden and keeps on offering to mow my lawns and weed for me. I am a sporadic but organic gardener. I know it’s very neighbourly, how do I tell her to please keep out of my garden?

Green fingers, Karori

Most people would be thrilled at this help so try to stay friends. Invite her over for a garden tea and explain what is important to you and see if she offers help that works for you both. Find something she can actually do or that you can do together.

Maybe a spring Sunday out there together will make it clearer how you feel and what you want to do? If all else fails and you can't find a middle green gardening ground then just tell her. Keep out of my patch. I assume it is a garden and not a wilderness or is that another issue?

WRONG EITHER WAY My daughter behaves badly to her former partner, the father of her son; she has reason to be angry and upset with him but he has always been a good and caring father. She is rude to him on family occasions and frequently manipulates situations that present him in a bad light, e.g. making it difficult for him to see his son; it is to my grandson’s detriment.

There is a court case looming. If I say anything in support of my grandson’s father I will be at fault. Where ought my loyalties lie – with my daughter or with my grandson.

He has the right to be involved. Avoid family gatherings that they both attend for a few years until there is a more positive way to handle it. Tell your daughter what you intend to say – you are not being disloyal – this is your grandson.

SUCK IT UP My best friend has asked me to be a bridesmaid. I can’t stand the guy she is marrying. Is it okay to say no to being a bridesmaid?

Spinster of Thorndon They have made their decision and she has asked you and it is a real honour that she’ ll be hoping you will accept. If you are a real friend you will ultimately have to be friends with them both so I suggest you suck it up now and find the positives and be a real best friend as well as their bridesmaid. Enjoy helping in the planning.

Have fun at the wedding and keep your opinion to yourself. She does not want to hear it.

Anxious, Heretaunga Your daughter needs to be mature and behave positively for the sake of her son. Be honest and acknowledge that she is still struggling with the breakdown of the relationship but is a great mother (is she?) and that equally his father is trying to develop a good relationship with his child.

86

If you’ve got a burning question for Deirdre, email angel@capitalmag.co.nz with Capital Angel in the subject line.

How Do You Get Paid for Doing What You Love?

Have you ever wondered, what would it be like to do work that’s really stimulating? Something creative? Something that has real meaning and purpose and can heal your soul?

In life, people can often end up doing something they ultimately don’t enjoy.

It’s a common story. Conventional wisdom says if you get an education… a well paying job… and a house then everything will go well with you.

But, following this path can end up stifling creativity and squeezing all the colour out of life.

The good news is it doesn’t have to be that way.

Tobias Taane’s story illustrates this well. After years of dedicated training Tobias found himself in a career that did not make him happy.

After making the decision to move to Wellington he discovered a way he could unleash his creative urges. It all started when he discovered the forge at - The Learning Connexion - School of Creativity & Art.

Read more about it online at www.creativecareer.co.nz

For the past few years he has hammered steel from recycled truck springs into blades.

Examples he’s produced include an 11th century longsword, and a Pompeii style gladius. Stunning work!

Tobias says, “I love getting my hands dirty and just doing it.”

Not only does he love what he’s doing, he gets paid too. His work is steadily gaining attention and increasing in sales thanks to his online presence.

His story is just one of hundreds of powerful examples of people who have transformed their lives by following the path of creativity and art.

There’s an important pattern that if applied to your own life can yield similar results. Each person’s story is different and at the same time shares common elements.

Discover how 14 different people, some of them just like you, made rewarding careers from creativity.

QUEENSGATE YOU’LL FIND IT AT QUEENSGATE With over 140 stores in-centre, whether you’re after family fun, food, homeware, electronics or fresh new fashions for spring, we’ve got you sorted.

BE IN TO WIN 1 OF 3 $1,000 SHOPPING SPREES * Just spend $50 or more in one purchase at Westfield Queensgate before 22 September 2015 and you’ll have the chance to win one of three $1,000 Westfield Gift Cards to spend on whatever you like. *Terms and conditions apply.

T O R Q U E TA L K

THIS ONE WORKS WRITTEN BY SEAN PLUNKET | PHOTOGRAPHY BY RHETT GOODLEY-HORNBLOW

R

emaking a classic is always a risky business. Peter Jackson’s King Kong and Fiat’s 500 kind of worked but VW’s Beetle didn’t.

To be worthy of a remake you have to be great in the first place and as the wee car that epitomised the sexual revolution and the new found freedom brought by the pill, the Mini certainly qualifies.

I’ve had a bit to do with Minis over the years. My first real girlfriend had one, so did some of my mates. They were fun to drive, cheap to run and kind of cool.

While the new look Mini has been out for a few years I hadn’t reintroduced myself until an excited editor rang me to say the folk at Jeff Gray BMW had a veritable pocket rocket to play with; a John Cooper Works Hatchback in the tradition of the old top-of-the-line Mini Cooper.

Now the Minis I remember had, to put it kindly, austere interiors. Straps for door handles, a simple speedo in the middle of the dash and bugger all else to write home about.

This baby is a different story entirely with the cabin being adorned by more bling than a rapper’s chest. Circles, chrome, and racing chequered details are the order of the day. Rather than push buttons, aircraft switches with wee black metal dividers are used giving the cabin a real fighter cockpit feel.

I was slightly concerned about fitting my big frame into the new super Mini but surprisingly the two door yielded plenty of space, though the seat just behind me was reduced to a shelf once I’d got myself comfortable in my clever driver’s seat. The speed (often surprising) shows large as life on the speedometer; it’s also copied to the heads up display right in front of the driver, but my height meant it was a bit hard to read.

Now while the standard Minis are pretty snazzy in themselves, this wee beast’s four cylinder, two litre direct injection turbo-charged engine – and not just one turbo charger, two – means it packs more punch than its ancestor could have dreamed of. Reports say this Mini will do nearly

250kmh – that’s more than 150 mph. Whoever heard of an off-the-shelf Mini doing that speed? That’s nearly 100kmh faster than the 1966 1275 Mini Cooper, and in those days that was some car. And this one looks hotter. There are also 17 inch alloy wheels, run flat tyres, a snazzy aerofoil on the back of the roof and all sorts of options for sporty stripes and colours.

It all comes together in a brash over-the-top kind of way and once I wound up the superb sound system I had the feeling I was in a nightclub a couple of generations below my comfort zone.

But everyone loves a night out dancing and a great blast over twisty roads had me busting moves I wouldn’t dream of in an old Mini. There are Sport, Green and Mid driving modes to choose from; I left it permanently in Sport. The grunt, the torque, and the connected immediacy in the ride and steering made it a truly enjoyable experience. The Mini hugged the corners, kicked like a mule when I put my foot down ... and the years fell away.

I’d love to have turned off the traction control and really let rip on a race track. For the dedicated and serious driver this car has more than enough to keep you interested.

If I were a younger man without a dog, a partner, kids and rubbish to run to the landfill I’d drive the JCW Mini everyday simply because it’s that much fun. This car makes you feel good and somehow transports you back in time to a place where you smiled more and worried less and looked forward to getting behind the wheel.

If you want to feel younger without Botox injections this could be the car for you.

We had a heated discussion about it in the coffee room at work. With a new Mini owner supporting me I had to tell proud driver of an aging Porsche that the JCW Mini would leave his bucket of bolts for dead.

So as far as remakes go, this Mini gets a big tick from me – it’s as good as Benedict Cumberbatch’s take on Sherlock Holmes.

89

B A B Y, B A B Y

FOLLOW THE LEADER

BY MELODY THOMAS | PHOTOGRAPH BY MARION TROTIGNON

T

here are parents for whom all the big decisions – which is the best bassinet, how long to breastfeed, to sleep train or not to sleep train – are made after days or weeks of painstaking research. Then there are parents like me, who are either too lazy or too intimidated by the task at hand, and rely on more responsible parents to do all the research so we can then just do what they did.

This has worked a treat for all of Little Miss’s two and a half years. Soon after she was born I learned to feed lying down so I could continue to sleep through at night (thanks Jess). When we grew to need more space, LM moved into a cot with one side removed, pulled tight against our bed for easy feeds (thanks Nat and Ryan).

Our carseat was chosen because it was able to remain rear-facing for longer than any other on the market and so deemed safer (thanks Hana and Jake). I have wonderful friends who I can clearly see are great parents, so I have never hesitated to take their suggestions on board – after all, this must have been how parenting was done before all the books were written, right? When we were all neighbours in tiny villages with no access to Google?

With my workload picking up and the demands on Grandma and Grandad beginning to get out of control, we realised it was time to look at childcare options. I asked friends, “Where do your kids go?”

“Sign up to Playcentre. It’s all about learning through play,” suggested one friend. “Oh no, don’t sign up to Playcentre,” said another, “It’s so demanding.” “‘X is great because they only do half-days, which is better for your child’s psychological wellbeing,” confided a dad. “And Y is great because they take your kids all day”, whispered a mum. “X has an amazing playground.” “But if they go to Y they’ll get straight into Y School.”

Through the deafening alarm bells, I realised we were going to have to figure out some stuff for ourselves – and that this is probably more and more how it goes from here, as our little blobs start to turn into proper little people with individual needs.

Because I threw out all of the parenting books during pregnancy, I had to develop a now well-honed instinct to get me to a certain point in solving this puzzle. It’s the instinct that made me realise that, work or no work, LM needed more time with other kids. She’s naturally a bit shy, and so far an only child, so a bit of socialisation will do her a world of good. I’d also like that socialisation to be with kids from backgrounds different from hers. With teachers that have time to attend her individual needs. With fun as a focus because after all, she’s a toddler. But beyond that I’m stumped.

After narrowing the options down to a couple of favourites, we have waiting lists and substantial costs to navigate, and my reliance on others has left me quite out of shape for the marathon this seems to be turning into.

Of course necessity will push me to action and we’ll figure out something that works for us.

The books might not say it, but a huge part of parenting is figuring it out as you go along, faking it till you make it, gritting your teeth through each tricky spot and hoping for sunshine on the other side. And while we will get there all on our own, I know the next time I’m faced with a big decision – how to get LM to stay in her own room through the night, dealing with tantrums, which style of dance class to attend – I will still turn to my friends and ask them what they did or do. Partly because I’m lazy, but mostly because I can’t understand the point in building a strong little like-minded community if you can’t then reach out to those people when you’re just not sure.

90

The Vein and Skin Clinic offer: • Varicose vein treatments

Active Feet Podiatry “we will put the Spring back in your step!”

• Ability to diagnose and treat skin lesions • Liposculpture • Thread lifts • Snoring • Dermal Fillers • Botulinum toxin injectables • Medical grade lasers for: • Fraxel - rejuvenation & scarring • IPL - pigmentation & facial veins • Light sheer – hair removal

We can tailor a plan of treatment to suit YOUR needs.

www.veinandskin.co.nz Phone 0800 63 99 68 or (04) 939-1353 enquiries@veinandskin.co.nz

Dr Tim Halpine DPM (USA) MPNZ

Level 2, 85 The Terrace Wgtn Ngaio Medical Centre

04 473 8696

www.activefeetpodiatry.com

photoplus.co.nz

(04) 471 1836

shop@photoplus.co.nz

Find us in Dukes Arcade, on the corner of Manners & Willis

Antactica Online starts Monday 28 September

Family and Memory in Contemporary Italian Novels 6pm-8pm starts Tuesday 6 October

King Arthur: Swords and sorcery, truth and legend

Print old school photos from your new school phone.

At Photo Plus we can help with all your photographic needs, retro or otherwise.

Pop into our shop in Dukes Arcade, cnr of Manners and Willis, or find us online at photoplus.co.nz

6pm-8pm starts Thursday 15 October

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

Print from your device, direct to canvas, corrugated iron, wood & more • Big and small we print it all!

DIRECTORY

LIKE TO ADVERTISE? WE’RE TAKING BOOKINGS FOR THE NEXT ISSUE NOW

award winning electricians

04 576 9976 peakelectrical.co.nz

97c Customhouse Quay

janedaniels.co.nz

SALES@CAPITALMAG CO.NZ WWW.CAPITALMAG.CO.NZ 04 385 1426

D WELLINGS of WELLINGToN

SUMMER IN STORE NOW

A Sp par t ec me ia nt lis ts

of WELLINGTON

Residential Letting & Management Agents Residential Letting & Management Agents

If you’re thinking letting your weus cantoday find tenants you so call free us today for an We can findoftenants forproperty, you. Call for anfor obligation rental obligation free rental assessment and experience our outstanding for yourself! assessment and experience our outstanding serviceservice for yourself!

Ray Fairbairn

Ph (027) 229 4604

PO 11422 Box: 11422 MannersStreet, Street, Email Wellington – 04 801 5652 PO Box: Manners dwellings@xtra.co.nz Faxwww.dwellingsofwellington.co.nz 04 801 5662 – Email dwellings@xtra.co.nz www.dwellingsofwellington.co.nz

DOUBLE UP

your order for

FREE

100 Business Cards +100 FREE 250 Busi ness Ca rds +250 FREE 50 0 Busi ness Ca rds +500 FREE 1000 Business Cards +1000 FREE

8 Waring Taylor St Wellington Ph: 04 499 6588

Some conditions apply

92

DIRECTORY

63 Cambridge Terrace, Wellington 6011 ph: 04 385 1743 / www.thirstyliquor.co.nz

A for Awesome

KILBIRNIE DENTISTS

Collision repair specialists All insurance and private repairs, rust repairs, tinting, detailing, restoration. Enquiries welcome. pop in now for a free estimate while you wait 7 Majoribanks St | Ph 384 5461 | admin@autospray.biz

A dental experience the whole family will enjoy!

04 387 9392 /62 Rongotai Road www.kilbirniedentists.co.nz

Newtown Laundrette Wilson Street

www.newtownlaundrette.co.nz

OPEN 7 DAYS *Service

or Self Service *Blankets *Minks *Ironing *Eftpos *Parking available *Detergent provided *Commercial Service

253Wakefield St Wellington 6011 50 Bridge St Nelson 7010

Porirua City Laundrette Kilkerran Place www.poriruacitylaundrette.co.nz

www.vintageheaven.co.nz t : 03 546 6177 e: admin@vintageheaven.co.nz

PRAVDA Monday – Friday 7:30am till late

BLUNT XS METRO Best selection of award winning BLUNT Umbrellas and Commuter Rainwear

Saturday 9:30am till late Sunday – Closed

VUARNET STORE Level 1, 262 Thorndon Quay, 04 473 6459

107 Customhouse Quay, Wellington • 04 801 8858 • pravdacafe.co.nz 93

SCOTT OUTLET 194 Jackson St, Petone 04 586 0631

CALENDAR

F R E E W E L LY

Feeling the pinch? Check out the following ideas...

SEPTEMBER

ARRRR ME DADDIES It’s Father’s day on 6 September. It’s also International Talk like a Pirate day on 19 September. We suggest you combine these two vitally important days and take Pappy down to the Evans Bay Marina. Walk among the boats, talk to some old sea salts and avoid all fruit rich in Vitamin C. Make dad feel like a special pirate and give him scurvy.

VEGE SURPRISE Wellington has a network of over 30 community gardens. Many are free for the public to visit, tend, and reap the rewards. They dot the region from Upper Hutt to Owhiro Bay and Khandallah to Miramar. Pick up a trowel and some secateurs and develop those green thumbs.

1 DAY 3 DAY 9 DAY WINTER SEASON LOCAL SENIOR FAMILY VISITOR

S

M

T

W

T

F

S

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Buy your licence online or at stores nationwide.

Visit fishandgame.org.nz for all the details.

This year we’ve introduced a brand new range of licences to better suit your fishing needs. Whether you’re out there for a day or the whole year, you’ll find the right licence for you.

fishandgame.org.nz

SEPTEMBER

04

WELLINGTON FREE AMBULANCE FUNDRAISER CONCERT This is a fundraiser concert for Wellington Free Ambulance, featuring Merrin, Solsona, Cold Shot and No Sleep After Midnight, organised by Petone Rotary Club.

4 September, 7:30pm, Angus Inn, Lower Hutt

04

MASTER OF VIN(E) COMPETITION NZ Young Wine Professional of the year Alexis Robin runs a NZ wine appreciation class, with proceeds going to the NZ Red Cross.

4 September, 6:30pm, CQ Hotels Wellington

04

WELLINGTON FOOD SHOW Food, chefs, awards, wines, gadgets, kitchen appliances, beers, coffees.

4–6 September, Westpac Stadium

05 ORCHESTRA WELLINGTON Orchestra Wellington’s fourth concert, Fate, features Tchaikovsky’s breakthrough Symphony No. 4.

5 September, 7.30pm, Michael Fowler Centre

06

OBSTACLE RACING WORKSHOP Obstacle course racing or mud running is said to be one of the fastest-growing sports of all time.

Learn to scale walls and crawl under barbed wire in the mud.

6 September, 12pm, at the top of Marjoribanks Street, Mt Victoria

06

The glorious Tchaikovsky score is a cornerstone E C T INational O N HBallet EAD ER of The SRussian Theatre’s repertoire, directed by Evgeny Amosov.

19

11 September, 7:30pm, the Opera House

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 The eighth Rugby World Cup, hosted this year

by England. What will you be doing?

11

19 September – 1 November

RUGBY: ITM CUP MATCHES WELLINGTON LIONS V TASMAN 11 September, 7:35pm, Westpac Stadium, WELLINGTON LIONS V OTAGO 17 September, 7:35pm, Westpac Stadium

24 WORLD OF WEARABLE ARTS Two spectacular hours of incredible garments.

WOW’s annual Awards competition.

24 September – 11 October, TSB Arena

WELLINGTON V HAWKE’S BAY 30 September, 7:35 pm, Westpac Stadium

25

11

WELLINGTON HOME & GARDEN SHOW The latest ideas, products and services for your home. Gather inspiration and advice.

MOSAIC ART EXHIBITION Marvellous Mosaic is a diverse range of works from professional and emerging New Zealand mosaic artists.

11 September – 18 October, Bottle Creek Gallery, Pataka Art + Museum

12

NEW ZEALAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Classical music’s greatest hits. International diva Renée Fleming performs for the first time with the NZSO, and the orchestra’s Music Director Emeritus, James Judd, returns to NZ. 12 September & 19 September, Michael Fowler Centre

13

CARTERTON DAFFODIL FESTIVAL Carterton’s annual Daffodil Festival offers activities ranging from daffodil picking, street markets, and an art exhibition.

13 September, 9am – 4pm, Carterton Events Centre, Holloway St, Carterton

13

CUBAN FUSION SALSA LESSON This is a fun way to learn Salsa or see it in action.

25–27 September, Westpac Stadium

26 SPRING FESTIVAL Celebrate the end of winter with Otari-Wilton Bush open day, Tulip Sunday and Kids’ Day Out at Wellington Botanic Garden.

26 September – 3 October

28 LION FOUNDATION NETBALL CHAMPS Central Zone teams battle it out for the championship title.

28 September – 2 October, ASB Stadium, Kilbirnie

27 PATAKA EXHIBIT: PEACE IN 10,000 HANDS Pataka is the first public institution to exhibit Peace in 10,000 Hands. This is New Zealand photographer Stuart Robertson’s global project to capture the ancient symbol for peace, a white rose, held in the hands of 10,000 people from every walk of life, in every country on the planet.

27 September – 15 November, Pataka Art + Museum, Porirua

FATHER’S DAY The annual celebration of fathers.

Don’t forget to call or visit your dad.

13 September, 6pm, Southern Cross Garden Bar

6 September

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL A bouquet of films from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, presented by The Goethe-Institut.

ANIKA MOA: QUEEN AT THE TABLE TOUR Anika Moa arrives in the Wellington region.

16–19 September, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, 84 Taranaki St, Te Aro, Wellington

24 September, 8pm, King Street Live, Masterton & 26 September, 8:30pm, San Fran, Cuba St

11

RUSSIAN NATIONAL BALLET THEATRE: SLEEPING BEAUTY

16

95

24

ON THE BUSES

STEPH SEAGAR Bus route: 83 bus from Jackson Street

Frequency: every second weekend

Work: customer service

Travelling to Eastbourne on the weekends, the buses can be less busy than during peak hours. I find the journey relaxing, I listen to music and watch the scenery. It's peaceful, serene and a chance to have quality time to myself. Which is why, even though I have a car, I like to take time out and catch the Eastbourne bus.

96

When you pay this much care and attention to the land, it’s not surprising that you create a medal winning Sauvignon Blanc.

THE ONE.

Jeff Gray BMW Wellington Hawke’s Bay Manawatu Christchurch

THE NEW BMW 1 SERIES RANGE. The new BMW 1 Series Range: the dynamic 118i, the sporty 125i and the high performance M135i takes the original BMW 1 Series and advances it to a whole new level. Unmatched driving dynamics with BMW’s signature rear-wheel drive makes every surface a smooth, luxurious drive. With ConnectedDrive transforming access to the technology we’ve come to depend on, and our extensive 5-year warranty and 3-year service plan the BMW 1 Series isn’t just the one you’ve been waiting for, it’s the one for you.

FEATURES INCLUDE: • 8-speed Steptronic transmission • Rear view camera • ConnectedDrive Services and Apps

• Alloy wheels • Navigation system • Park Distance Control

Drive-away from $48,500 or

185

$

per week.*

YEAR YEAR 5 YEAR WARRANTY 3 NO-COST SERVICING 5 ROADSIDE ASSIST

BMD0080_JGW_1S_CP

Visit Jeff Gray BMW today to experience these Ultimate Driving Machines, and find out why BMW New Zealand continues to be the number one selling premium vehicle for 2014 and the most awarded brand by the country’s automotive experts.

Jeff Gray BMW 138 Hutt Road, Kaiwharawhara, Wellington. (04) 499 9030. www.jeffgraybmw.co.nz *This offer based on a 118i with a Drive-Away Price of $48,500. Finance offer based on a 48 month loan agreement with a 20% deposit and 47 monthly payments of $739.87 ($185 weekly). The final payment of $14,065 in month 48 is a Guaranteed Future Value based on the vehicle travelling no more than 40,000 kilometres in total. A fixed 8.99% p.a. interest rate applies and a $250 booking fee is included. The total payable is $58,538.89. Offer expires 31/10/2015 and is subject to BMW Financial Services lending criteria. Model shown is BMW 125i.