Capital 29

CAPITAL MARCH 2016

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ROAD FROM DAMASCUS

INDIA EATS

ISSUE 29

SKIN IN FICTION

TURBINE RETURN

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

“ Phantom Billstickers gave our campaign a Kick Up the Arts!”

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

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M

arch does not come in like a mad March hare in Wellington. It is an extension of our golden summer, if we are lucky; and this year our Easter holidays are part of it.

And lucky we are this March with festival happenings throughout, with the New Zealand Festival and the Fringe, Cuba Dupa and Newtown, and many school and other fundraising festivals. All of them involve a coming together of communities for fun and laughter, things to be encouraged.

This month, Beth Rose talks to young Syrian refugee Dalal Alshaib about settling into a new country and a new community, with all the difficulties it entails.

The discussion about her family learning English prompted me to wonder, on a slight tangent, why we Zealanders have been so slow to acknowledge the benefits of learning another language, and to implement an effective learning policy. Occasionally you still hear statements such as “what’s the point, you’ll never use it” – formerly said of Latin and French studies, particularly at secondary school, now more often of Te Reo. However the all round benefits and those particularly to brain development in children are well established. Yet we still have few multi-lingual people here in New Zealand. And not much seems to be changing. Let me know if I am wrong; occasionally I am.

Darusha Wehm talks to Sarah Lang about the new and slightly scary cyber-world opening up in virtual and real books.

Roger Walker shares his colourful experiences with that classic car, the Mini, and Michael Dobson talks about his life-long love of motorbikes.

Conscious as we are of concerns around healthy eating, we have left chocolate alone this Easter, and food writer Unna Burch gives you salted caramel instead.

And much, much more.

Don’t forget to vote on the flag referendum. You have until 24 March.

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.

ERRATA Last issue we mentioned that Maranui were planning to sell their very popular Café Deluxe in Kent Terrace. We misnamed part-owner Kate who’s the clever chef for the group … she wants it to be known that she’s definitely nothing other than Kate Richardson.

Also in the last issue on page 63 we named the head baker at Little Dough Co. incorrectly. Harry Gyde is the baker, founder, and owner.

WGTN + AKL + CHC + DND WGTN + AKL + CHC + DND

15 Garrett St (just off Cuba)

www.thefabricstore.co.nz

This is your last chance to save up to 50% on regular ticket prices when you book 2 or more Wellington concerts within the series.

Subscription bookings close 31 March 2016, 4pm

LAST WORDS! SEASON ‘16

There is something extraordinary about the final masterpieces of great composers!

BOOK NOW TICKETEK.CO.NZ

orchestrawellington.co.nz

The Panoptic Tower Kelcy Taratoa

21 FEB – 15 MAY 2016

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

Kelcy Taratoa Without Conscience 2015 Collection of the artist

CONTENTS

R OA D F R O M DA M A S C U S How does a Syrian refugee family settle into Wellington life?

26

SPANNER UP

IF THE SHOE FITS

INDIAN EATS

A petrolhead talks about his two wheel obsession

Miriama Grace-Smith turns her love of shoes into a business

The third and final instalment from a travelling family

36

42

70

10 LETTERS

50

MONEY ON THE HONEY

12 CHATTER

52

LIQUID THOUGHTS

14

NEWS SHORTS

56

PERIODICALLY SPEAKING

16

BY THE NUMBERS

58

BY THE BOOK

18

NEW PRODUCTS

61

SKIN IN FICTION

20

TALES OF THE CITY

66

INTERIOR CHEMISTRY

22 CULTURE

74

TORQUE TALK

39 HE-HE

76

WELLY ANGEL

40

78

BABY, BABY

WHAT THE FLOCK

44 FASHION

80 DIRECTORY

46 EDIBLES

82

CALENDAR

48

84

ON THE BUSES

ADD SALT 7

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 Dagula Lokuge dagula@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

Tod Harfield Accounts accounts@capitalmag.co.nz Craig Beardsworth

Factotum

Gus Bristed

Distribution

CONTRIBUTORS Sharon Greally | Melody Thomas | Kelly Henderson | Janet Hughes | John Bishop | Ashley Church | Beth Rose | Evangeline Davis | Laura Pitcher | Unna Burch | Joelle Thomson | Anna Briggs | Charlotte Wilson | Griff Bristed | George Staniland | Dean Watson | Sarah Lang | Sharon Stephenson

B E T H R O SE Journ a li st

XANDER DIXON Ph oto g r aph er

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

Xander is a young Wellington-based photographer, with a particular interest in social documentary and escaping into the outdoors. Intrigued by the often overlooked, he’s just as fascinated with concrete suburbia as he is with tramping in the mountain high country. Seek him out on Instagram @xander.dixon

TA M A R A J O N E S Ph oto g r aph er

CRAIG BEARDSWORTH Fac totum

Tamara has recently returned from Australia where she spent a year honing her photography. She loves soft light, falling shadows and fashion. Check her work out at tamarajonesphotography.com

Craig is the assistant editor of our sister publication Art Zone. He sells advertising too and writes, sings, teaches and reviews theatre on RNZ. Because the office is small and he’s opinionated – he invariably gets involved in the production of Capital. He’d prefer his official title to be ‘taonga’ but no one agreed.

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, Wellington 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 Anna Cotterell

8

now open mojo at st. james theatre Open late, every night, in celebration of the NZ Festival. 26 February - 20 March 2016.

77 COURTENAY PLACE, WELLINGTON

LETTERS

SUSTAINABILIT Y AND COLOUR Your Capital has an alive interest in design in Wellington. Two questions are worth your attention; has architecture become part of the fashion industry and been cursed by mock sustainability (green-wash), and can we stop the current fashionable absence of colour?

Sustainable architecture should profess the wealth of successful precedents and international best practice for costeffective, sustainable, efficient plans and design. But often it would be more appropriate to give sustainability awards to the Mechanical Engineers who keep the buildings warm and cool in spite of the design.

Vitruvius (1stC BC) got it right when he said good architecture is commodious to fit its neighbours, not visually unusual or spectacular. Complicated, high-cost, unsustainable structural engineering is often required in fashionable designs to support cantilevers, leans and slopes in many new buildings. They are usually clad with glass which is probably the most unsustainable cladding material in common use. Even triple-glazing loses four times the heat of 90mm batts, double glazing loses 700% and single glazing 1,200%.

The beautiful old CBDs of cities throughout the world were built by cost-driven developers. They are filled with tall windows which is the easiest way to make attached boxbuildings with trussed roofs commodious, if not delightful.

The fashionable Wellington trend to paint it black is a dull tragedy. There is no city in the world which is black! Aberdeen is probably the nearest with its indigenous dark grey granite, but it glistens in Aberdeen’s soft daylight and frequent drizzle (smirr).

Until the BNZ building Wellington had no black buildings and it should have remained on its own, unique. Since then several black, macabre monsters have arisen and many Art Deco and neo-classic landmark buildings have had their beautiful modelling concealed by the removal of shadows and colour. Buildings were coloured in response to the horrors of war, depressions and epidemics. We were looking for reasons to be happy not grim.

Suppress fashion and always promote knowledge of timeless precedents.

Daryl Cockburn, Te Aro

AGE AND BEAUT Y I’d like to commend you for putting an older woman on the excellent cover of your recent edition. It takes courage and I hope other readers appreciate that too. I’m as much a fan as anyone of looking at pictures of beautiful young people which appear on most magazines, but it’s just more of the same really. Your eclectic and clever choice of wildly imaginative covers make the magazines stand out. And it’s such a pleasure to read. Capital is showing leadership and style.

P Prose, (address supplied)

AHEAD ON POINTS Thank you for Arty Farty (last issue p34) about the mother and baby sessions at the City Art Gallery. My daughter-in-law did not know about them and plans to attend in the New Year. As someone who is not allowed to hold my grandson, in case I drop him, I was pleased to be able to help in some small way.

Old art lover, (address supplied)

GREEN WITH ENVY I am delighted to know that Tim Park has from his office enjoyed sightings of karearea in central Wellington(last issue p58). Despite regularly visiting, crossing and even occasionally stopping to eat my lunch in the vicinity of Civic Square, I have never spotted the New Zealand falcon on the wing. I am green with envy.

J Roberts, Hutt Valley

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

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

INK INC.

P O P- U P B E AU T Y Estee Lauder has ridden to the rescue of beauty shoppers with a pop-up shop offering a full range of products from Clinique, MAC, Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Lab Series Skincare for men and Aramis and Designer Fragrances.

The store at 102 Lambton Quay also offers a phone order option and will remain until Australian retailer David Jones opens their shop mid-year in the former Kirkaldies space.

The pop-up was also "a way to make sure our 16 staff were employed during that period," said Jessica Carew, Estee Lauder Companies communications manager.

D OMINIC VAMD ON What led you to a tattoo?

I had a client that had a full body tattoo, which got me fired up to get my own. A workmate then gifted me a tattoo for my birthday.

FRIEND FOR LIFE Dr Robin Philipp, who grew up in Raumati before moving to Britain, flew home in February for a function at Parliament that named him the first Life Friend of the Mahara Gallery in Waikanae. The founder of the Philipp Family Foundation supports the four-year-old MaharaNga Manu Children’s Art Project, where Kapiti schoolchildren create art and poetry about the local environment. While here, Philipp launched an exhibition of the project’s best work.

Family – for it or against?

My family are into it. Me kids and missus love it.

Why did you choose the design?

I love the Japanese meets tropical style.

Where is the tattoo & why?

On my right arm, so I can stick it out the window when I'm driving my truck. I don't have a truck yet but one day, that'll be me.

12

C HAT T E R

WELLY WORDS SHINE SHINE ON This La Niña summer is a bit of all right, dontcha think? Oriental Parade is thronged with the sun-burnished, tills are ringing loudly as people are hanging around the city, and road rage is at an all-time high. Perhaps it’s safe to change the slogan to ‘You can’t beat Wellington in a good month’?...Nah.

SPOILS OF OILS A travelling vegetarian Wellyworder emailed us (yes, we have fans across the dietary spectrum) to say she’d discovered a burger bar in Waihi that had a chip fryer devoted to vegetarian fare.

Meat was in a separate compartment and never the twain shall meet. Apparently no Wellington chippy does this – if you know of one please contact us.

We’ll spread the word faster than aioli.

TARTAN T WIRL And for a very Cuba St sight, a couple were observed stopping at a group of busking fiddlers. Before you could say “och aye” or “Culloden” they, unabashed, began Scottish dancing. The onlooking crowd admired and grew. Perhaps the group began playing The Campbells are Coming, for the dancing ceased, they refused all coins and disappeared into the night. Must be the effect of all that tartan at the Tattoo last month.

IT'S COOL TO KORERO It is still cricketing season so....

Ko te he rohe!

It’s a boundary!

PEAKING E A R LY If you’ve managed to climb to the top of a Wellington peak, be it Wrights Hill or the Brooklyn Hill to the Wind Turbine, you deserve a prize, right? To celebrate Parks Week (3-15 March), tag a picture of yourself on a Wellington peak during March and post it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #PeakBragging. The best posts win prizes from the Wellington City Council, which has an interactive map of 12 recommended Wellington peaks online. Other events include free yoga on Oriental Bay beach, Dogs n Togs at Khandallah Park, and various guided walks. See wellington.govt.nz

CARRY THE TORCH Aro Valley, Host neighbourhood of the 2078 Olympic Games. Feel the spirit, enjoy the spectacle, taste the corruption, the Arolympics are back, according to their Facebook. “Represent your street, Carry the Olympic torch, Parade into the Aro Park Stadium with your new Olympic outfits at the big opening ceremony, Win gold and glory for your street, Make Aro Proud”. It’s all part of the Aro Valley Fair on Saturday 12 March dreamt up

by Stephen Templer and Kelvin Aris to bring the little suburb’s people together. Sounds fun.

13

NEWS SHORTS

OUR OWN B A C K YA R D A recent survey of 10,000 Kiwis shows some surprising things about our holiday habits. We often make those arduous long-haul flights, but a whopping 87 percent of Kiwis feel they haven’t seen enough of their own country, even though 99 percent said it was important to do so.

As for Wellingtonians, fewer than half of us have visited Golden Bay at the top of the south, though 70 per cent of us have visited Queenstown. And with baches out of reach for many, one in five Wellingtonians plans to buy a motorhome or caravan in the next 10 years.

LEANING IN

COASTAL CHALLENGE

WATERWORKS

The folks at Wellington-based firm Studio of Pacific Architecture have a sense of humour: their design for the city’s new air-traffic-control tower shows it appearing to bend to the wind. Mayor Celia WadeBrown turned the first sod in the Tirangi Road, Kilbirnie, construction site. Construction of the $18-million tower should be complete in July 2017.

In other windy-city news, the Evans Bay Zephyrometer sculpture has been repaired and is flying high again.

The Tora Coastal Walk – a threeday walk on private land along the Wairarapa coastline, farmland and native bush – has just turned 21.

To celebrate, the Tora Challenge (1 May) is back after the first event in 2014 proved popular.

You can run or walk 6, 18 or 32 kilometres, raising money for the Life Flight Trust.

The Te Awarua-o-Porirua Whaitua Committee have been out and about at Porirua events, asking locals about how they use and value their streams, harbour and coast. It’s the first of multiple whaitua committees being set up by the Greater Wellington Regional Council to collect information on, and prioritise objectives for, land and water management. Porirua residents have until 31 March to contact the committee by email, phone or social media.

19 MAR – 24 JUL 2016 EXCLUSIVE NEW ZEALAND VENUE 326 MAIN ST PALMERSTON NORTH WWW.TEMANAWA.CO.NZ Banco de México Fiduciario en el Fideicomiso Museos Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo | World tour management: Terra Esplêndida | Admission charges apply

NEWS SHORTS

MAD ABOUT MOULD As uni students finish dragging lumpy mattresses into their new digs, Parliament is hearing that Wellington flats can damage students’ health. Last month, Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association president Jonathan Gee and welfare vice-president Rory Lenihan-Ikin gave an oral submission to a select committee about the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, to follow their written submission.

Arguing that the proposed minimum standards for rentals should encompass ventilation and heating, the pair submitted a mould-ridden ceiling. They also said that Wellington student Tori Sellwood went to bed in winter wearing multiple layers and still shivered so much that sometimes she couldn’t sleep.

KEEP CLEAR

MUSEUM-MAKING

TRAIL RIDERS

Keep your dogs away from the Otaki River mouth and estuary. That’s the latest warning from Greater Wellington Council following the death of a dog last month at the Otaki river mouth. Samples are still being tested, but toxic-algae poisoning is suspected. If you do walk your dog nearby, use a leash. Toxic algae flourish in this warm weather, but rivers and waterways are monitored weekly; see gw.govt. nz/summer-check for updates.

Wellington ratepayers have until 15 March to make submissions on what they want from the Movie Museum and Convention Centre, now that the Wellington City Council has put funding for it aside early. (Do they think impresario Peter Jackson is going to change his mind?) If no one else has any ideas, we propose a live feed that shadows Jackson.

If State Highway 1 between Paekakariki and Raumati South seems light on cyclists, it’s because they’re cycling the new Te Ara o Whareroa Trail, a six-kilometre sealed trail through Queen Elizabeth Park, which opened in January. Alongside locals, recreational cyclists from further afield have also come to try the gently zigzagging track, which opens up previously unseen scenery in the region’s most popular regional park. It’s worth a walk too.

BY THE NUMBERS

GO OD BANGS

LET THERE BE BLO OD

151

number of shows in the 2016 Fringe Festival

260 +

65

number of venues used by performers – including Snapchat and a bathtub

usual number of donations collected per week in the Wellington region

13

different blood products are made from the blood collected

4

% of possible donors who actually roll up their sleeve and give

35

number of days blood lasts before it has to be disposed of

30

% of blood that goes towards helping cancer patients

15 26

average $ cost of a show (that’s about the same as a movie and you’re helping local artists, not fat-cat Hollywood executives) number of years Wellington has been fringed

ART SEXTET

6

exhibitions opening at Pataka in Porirua to coincide with the New Zealand Festival from 21 February

1

the number of life-size doublehulled waka made of recycled plastic you can spy in George Nuku: Bottled Ocean 2116

6

video works from Mediterranean artists in Cross Borders

HAY WARD HO

43

projected cost in millions of the Haywards interchange between State Highway 2 and 58 on the Hutt Motorway

119 40

crashes between 2009 and 2013

2

years expected before it’s ready to use

WICKED WICKET

car parks created in a park and ride for Manor Station

MATERIAL MAT TERS

4

cricket fixtures at the Basin Reserve coming up in March (1, 8, 23, 30)

13

number of years The Fabric Store has been in Wellington

3

of those four fixtures are Plunket Shield matches – support the Wellington Firebirds as they play the Northern Knights, Auckland Aces and Canterbury

8

number of stores, including three in Australia and one in the United States

6000 40

rolls of fabric in stock

6,500 1

current capacity of the Basin Reserve mascot for the Firebirds – Pyro (who apparently nests in the RA Vance stand)

Compiled by Craig Beardsworth

16

shades of leather (and 50 of grey?)

CROSS THE ROAD WITH A CLEAR HEAD Leave your distractions at the kerb

Think. Look. Cross.

NEW PRODUCTS

2

4

3 1

5

6

8

7

9 10

11

12

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PA R T Y PICNIC 1. Pinot Noir Noa – $95 – Seresin 2. Dark Chocolate assorted flavours – $3.99 – Trade Aid 3. The Caker – $50 – Minerva 4. Meri Meri Balloon Kit – $36 – Tea Pea 5. Easel Rug – $1399 – Let Liv 6. Down to the Woods – $39 – Small Acorns 7. Relax birthday card – $8.90 – Iko Iko 8. Marble Cheeseboard hexagon – $80 – Stacks 9. Clarus – $299 – Willow Shoes 10. Sunnylife birthday candles – $22.90 – Iko Iko 11. Poppies for Grace banner Yay – $68 – Tea Pea 12. Martini pitcher – $225 – Cranfields 13. Woven pastel basket – $60 – Stacks Furniture Store 14. Aura 'Kami' side plate – $24 – Stacks Furniture Store

18

citygallery.org.nz

RITA ANGUS · BILLY APPLE · DANIEL BUREN · FIONA CONNOR · JULIAN DASHPER COLIN MCCAHON · DANE MITCHELL · MILAN MRKUSICH · JOHN NIXON JOHN REYNOLDS · PETER ROBINSON · MARIE SHANNON · IMANTS TILLERS PETER TYNDALL · JAN VAN DER PLOEG · GORDON WALTERS

UNTIL 15 MAY 2016

support from

Julian Dashper Untitled 1996, collection Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Courtesy Julian Dashper Estate.

Celebrating 25 years of curating beautiful gifts, homewares and furniture.

40 Johnston St - www.cranfields.com - 499 4336

SECTION HEADER

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

PIGEONHOLED

R A D IO

G YM

CAFÉ

I N ST RUM E N T

F E ST I VA L

Radioactive

Club Active

Blue Belle Island Bay

Tambourine

Womad

WRITTEN BY SARAH LANG | PHOTOGRAPH BY XANDER DIXON

Artist KEDRON PARKER says we shouldn’t pigeonhole pigeons.

A

toddler is chasing the pigeons at Te Aro Park – aka Pigeon Park – wildly waving his water bottle. Artist Kedron Parker, who’s found a pew untouched by pigeon poo, is watching him approvingly through oversized fluorescent-yellow sunglasses. “Kids really look at birds while adults often look through them,” she says thoughtfully.

“Especially when they’re non-native birds like pigeons.”

Seeing that humans and pigeons co-exist in Wellington, Parker wants us to look past the poo and those pecking beaks vying for our sandwich crumbs. She and her friend Adam Ben-Dror are putting on a show called Hello Pigeons as part of The Performance Arcade, a free live-art mini festival to be held 2–6 March in shipping containers on the waterfront. “Adam and I realised we’d never properly met a pigeon, so we decided to facilitate a meeting between two species, blind-date style.” They’ll take walking tours of several pigeon hotspots, encouraging participants to hold and pat a pigeon. “Don’t worry: these ones are calm, used to being held.”

Funded by Wellington City Council’s Public Art Fund, Hello Pigeons is also part of the Fringe Festival.

For her last Fringe Festival show in 2014, Parker created a multimedia sound installation in the Woodward Street pedestrian tunnel under The Terrace, imagining what Kumutoto Stream (which once flowed there) sounded like in 1850, before becoming Wellington’s first culverted stream.

In 2015 Kumutoto Stream became the first permanent public multimedia work in Wellington.

Originally from the “bible belt” of Virginia, USA,

Parker lived in LA for seven years, playing and singing in various bands. She also worked in post-production on the animated TV series Rugrats. In 2003, she moved to Wellington with her husband (they’ve since separated). “Wellington is a lover you can’t quit. I realised it was where I wanted to raise a family.” She lives with her three sons, aged 12, 10 and 7, in wild, windy Owhiro Bay. “Owhiro Bay beach is one of Wellington’s best-kept secrets. It gets the last of the evening light and is a great place to go with a glass of wine. The Owhiro Stream – the only remaining stream that flows to the South Coast – runs the length of the Owhiro Bay Community Garden, and I love feeding massive eels from the footbridge.”

Further afield? “My favourite walk is Te Raikaihau Point in Houghton Bay, where bush opens up to a stunning coastal view. Most days I do spin or yoga at Club Active in the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre. I like the vibe there; the people are real and friendly. I love the Blue Belle Cafe in Island Bay for the same reason, and Laundry on Cuba Street is a yummy hangout spot for beer and great DJs. “On Sunday mornings I DJ with my radio partner Axolotl on Radioactive’s world-music show, Global Pulse. We play the most insane, wonderful music, mainly sourced from the treasure-trove CD stacks at the Wellington Central Library.”

Hello Pigeons is on until 6 March, at 1pm. Book at Facebook.com/hello pigeons 21

CULTURE

SHIFTING SHA PE S Lower Hutt’s Civic Gardens are once again alive with sculpture as Shapeshifter Sculpture 2016 comes to town. Held biennially to coincide with the NZ Festival, this year’s Shapeshifter event (which runs from 26 Feb to 20 March) features more than 50 sculptures from 42 artists. There’s also an indoor display featuring smaller works by the same artists. As always, everything is for sale. Pack a picnic, sit amongst the sculpture and fill your culture cup at the same time.

Courtney Johnston, Shapeshifter’s Artistic Director

YOU’ VE GOT A FRIEND

WHEN JULIA MET JONI

COASTING ALONG

He’s been described as an artist who changed the way we think about NZ’s art history. Judge for yourself at Julian Dashper & Friends, the City Gallery’s major retrospective of the late artist’s work.

Featuring paintings, sculpture, photographs and video, the exhibition runs until May and includes work by artists such as Rita Angus, Billy Apple and Colin McCahon. Julian died of cancer in 2009, aged just 49. He’s survived by partner Marie Shannon, whose work also appears in the show.

Legendary songstress Joni Mitchell might not have “known love at all� but her fans certainly know a thing or two about the Canadian singer’s extensive back catalogue. On Sunday 13 March ex- Fur Patrol singer Julia Deans and Director Shane Bosher will be discussing how they approached Mitchell’s songs for their NZ Festival show, Both Sides Now (12 and 13 March), in which Julia wraps her tonsils around Mitchell’s oeuvre. Hear them upstairs at St James Theatre at 1pm.

You’ve probably heard of the US music festival Coachella, but Coastella? That would be the inaugural Kapiti music festival planned for Easter Saturday (26 March) at Southwards Car Museum. The day-long, family-friendly festival features 13 bands on two outdoor stages, including Kiwi legend Don McGlashan, Irish songstress Noelle McDonnell and the cheekily-named Aussie band Sex on Toast, whose 80s Funk will get festival-goers busting a move. Feeding and watering the hordes will be the Kapiti Food Truck Collective and local craft breweries.

www.thunderpants.co.nz : more than just great pants

drag some colour into your drawers www.thunderpants.co.nz

P QÇ 7 I

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CULTURE

F R I DA C A R L OA D Fans of Frida Kahlo aren’t letting 140km get in the way of their love for the iconic Mexican artist. Instead, they’re organising a road trip to Palmerston North’s Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History to check out a photographic exhibition (17 March – 24 July) of Kahlo’s life. Featuring more than 200 items, including self-portraits and family photos, this is the only NZ showing of this exhibition, which has so far travelled to Arizona and Portugal. Frida would no doubt approve.

WORLD’S FIRST

PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC

THE BARD IN THE YARD

Making the transition from page to stage isn’t always easy, but Kate de Goldi obviously missed that memo. The world premiere of the prolific writer’s children’s novel, The ACB with Honora Lee, is at Circa until 26 March. Adapted by Jane Waddell from the novel which was shortlisted for the 2013 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards, the story revolves around the relationship between a young girl and her eccentric grandmother who’s losing her battle with dementia.

Expect the heart strings to twang.

Classical music lovers will be going Dutch in April, when Edo de Waart takes up the reins of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO). The Amsterdam-born maestro kicks off his NZ musical directorship with a Masterworks series and symphonies by Mahler, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Elgar and Strauss. We hear he’s a major thing globally, having waved his conductor’s baton everywhere from Rotterdam and San Francisco to Sydney and Hong Kong. See for yourself on 2 April.

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” runs the line from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The Bard clearly wasn’t referring to the Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe, whose version of his last play will be staged in the courtyard of Eastbourne’s Muritai School (1–5 March). This is the 20th anniversary of the community theatre group, which was formed in a back yard 20 years ago. A special feature of this year’s production is the original music composed by filmmaker and award-winning guitarist Michael Riddell.

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CULTURE DIRECTORY

Photo: Renaissance Woman 2008, Margriet Windhausen.

THE B U RD E N OF DR E A M S

Photo: Sex on Toast

CO AS T ELLA

PRO FES S IO N AL LEVEL SC R EEN ACT IN G FO R YO UN G TEENS

Writers Week; Muriel Barbery, 11th March, 4pm, Ticketek.

Coastella International Music Festival hits the Kapiti Coast this Easter. The day-long festival includes more than 13 bands on two stages set in spectacular surrounds.

Featuring Sex on Toast, Don McGlashan, Lawrence Arabia, The Balkanistas, Electric Wire Hustle frontman, Mara TK, Estere and much more in this year's not-to-bemissed festival!

Rata Studios will host some of NZ’s premiereleague tutors to coach teens to reach their potential as young actors on camera. Acting coaches Miranda Harcourt and Perry Piercy, will develop craft and spirit for up to 30 aspiring young actors from around NZ, aged 12 to 15 years, during the April school holidays.

26 February – 3 April Mahara Gallery, Waikanae Free entry

March 26th Tickets via Eventfinda www.coastella.co.nz

18th April- 22nd April 1 Monorgan Rd, Strathmore RATA STUDIOS www.ratastudios.co.nz

Margriet Windhausen and Paul van den Bergh; Once There Was A Tree, Andrea Gardner; Frances Hodgkins & Petrus van der Velden.

Floor talks: 2nd, 9th, 16th March at 11am.

USA BLUES GUITAR MASTER CHRIS CAIN

CURAT OR TAL K AT THE DO W S E

W EEK O F J AZ Z

Join Alice Tappenden, the 2015 Blumhardt Curatorial Intern for a talk and tour of this is the cup of your heart, an exhibition that brings together works exploring loss, longing and nostalgia. Alice will reflect on her role as curator and will be joined by some of the artists from the exhibition: Andrea Daly, Ruby Joy Eade, Emil McAvoy, and Marie Shannon.

Victoria University’s Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music gets jazzy with a week of ear-catching events on campus. Check out USA blues guitar master Chris Cain, attend Rodger Fox’s open rehearsal with the NZSM Big Band, or settle in for a Jazz Happy Hour.

Sat 12 March, 2pm FREE The Dowse Art Museum 45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt www.dowse.org.nz

11 – 18 March Victoria University, Kelburn Campus visit www.nzsm.ac.nz 24

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F E AT U R E

THE ROAD FROM DAMASCUS WRITTEN BY BETH ROSE PHOTOGRAPHED BY GEORGE STANILAND

A newgroup of Syrian refugees has arrived in Wellington to begin the hard work of creating a new life on the other side of the world. Capital talked to a refugee family about their move here a year ago.

Habiba, Nusaiba, Dalal, Kasem and Khaled

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F

licking through photographs on Google Images, nineteen-year-old Dalal Alshaib, a refugee from Syria, shows me places she’s visited on family holidays in her homeland. We are sitting in her new home in Naenae, talking about the life she left behind and the one she has now in Wellington.

Dalal points out a picture of Mount Qasioun, where she used to go on picnics. “From up there you can see the whole of Damascus,” she says. Mount Qasioun has a four-and-a-half star rating on TripAdvisor and is listed as a top tourist destination. Now, ISIS and other militants use it as a vantage point to fire missiles into the city.

“Did you visit Syria before the war?” Dalal asks me. “Syria is an amazing country. I had a great life. I have a big family and when we had celebrations, we all met in one house. There was music and dancing.

Do you know the dance called dabkeh?”

Dalal can see immediately that, like most people she has met since arriving in Wellington a year ago, I’ve hardly any knowledge of Syria before the war began. Spurred on by my ignorance, she springs to her feet.

“Men and women hold hands in a circle and we go round like this. And you move your legs and feet like this.” Dalal is dancing around the living room of her state home, skipping and flicking her feet, arms

outstretched, holding hands with imaginary participants. She demonstrates the dabkeh to Syrian folk music recalled from the festivities of her childhood in Damascus.

At this moment Dalal is like any other normal light-hearted energetic teenager. She dances without inhibition. But she, like many young Syrians, has witnessed life-altering atrocities.

“Children have seen all kinds of death – from bombs, chemical weapons and drowning in the sea.

Young people have been put in prison and tortured and all this because people in Syria want their rights.”

In March 2011, when security forces responded to pro-democracy protests with gunfire, a civil war ensued. The situation has since evolved into a sectarian war between President Assad’s Shia Alawite sect and Syria’s Sunni majority. ISIS is exploiting the situation and has advanced over fractured borders to occupy parts of Syria and bring further misery.

“Syrian people don’t know how ISIS came to be there. Suddenly they arrived and started fighting for control of Syria. ISIS say they are Muslim on their videos, but they are lying, they are not Muslim. They kill Muslims and all real Muslims hate ISIS.” Dalal is proud of her homeland and devastated at what it has become. The fighting has scattered her family and she longs for things to return to the way

Dalal Alshaib

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they were. Relatives fleeing Syria have sought refuge in Germany, Turkey and Egypt. Eight of Dalal’s close family are also making a new life here in Wellington and she still has several aunts and uncles living in the conflict zones of Damascus.

“When the war began near the area where we lived, we could hear the bombs and missiles landing on the buildings and some of our neighbours were killed. My father wanted to protect his family and so he moved us from the area of Rif Damascus into the central city of Damascus.

“When we moved house, I thought it would be all over in one or two months and that we could move back to our home.” But Dalal’s father, Kasem, could see that this wasn’t going to happen. He organised safe passage for his family to Egypt, via Lebanon and, ultimately, on to New Zealand.

“I left Damascus at sixteen years old, but I didn’t want to leave Syria, I love Syria. My mother made me leave. When we arrived in Cairo, we all stayed at my cousin’s house in the district of “6th of October City” where lots of Syrian people live. The conditions there were very bad.

“I had to give up my studies and begin working with my father. We made Syrian food at home, which we sold to restaurants. I hated living in Egypt – it was dirty and it wasn’t safe. I wanted to go back to Syria to die. I wanted to have my dignity back.”

Things in Egypt got worse when Dalal and her then fourteen-year-old sister Dyanna were in a road accident. “The tuk tuk that we were travelling in

overturned. Dyanna was okay, but I broke both my shoulders. No one helped us and the driver got away.”

After two years in Egypt, Dalal’s father began looking for a way out and a Syrian friend suggested he speak to the United Nations. After many interviews, the family were offered refuge in New Zealand.

“My grandmother was very sick and needed kidney dialysis. My father explained this and told the UN how we were living: that I was sleeping in the living room with my Grandmother and my sister was sharing a room with my parents. There were nine people in a two-bedroom house.”

Dalal, Dyanna, their parents, grandmother and two aunts and uncles arrived in Auckland in November 2014. After six weeks at the Refugee Resettlement Centre in Mangere, everyone was transferred to Wellington.

“It was very hard when we first arrived,” says Dalal. “I didn’t understand anything anyone was saying. I started at Naenae College and volunteers were assigned to me. One girl – who is from Sudan – speaks Arabic and she helped explain what my teachers were saying. I also have a translator app on my phone.

“My Kiwi friend Shanaya helped me learn English.

We’d walk to college together and she’d point at things and say “lamppost” or “letterbox”. I have lots of Kiwi friends at college now. Everyone has been so helpful and welcoming. The Red Cross organise meet-ups at the Syrian Consul and so I’ve made lots of Syrian friends here too, but they all live in Newtown.”

Kasem Alshaib

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F E AT U R E

FROM DAMASCUS TO WELLINGTON •

•

•

•

•

More than 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of civil war in 2011.

There are 6.5 million internally displaced people in Syria, and over 4.5 million Syrians have sought refuge in other countries.

• According to New Zealand Red Cross, Syria became the world’s top source of refugees in 2014, overtaking Afghanistan, which had held this position for more than three decades.

There are now more people forcibly displaced worldwide than ever before, surpassing the end of the Second World War, when New Zealand welcomed its first official refugees: in 1944, 733 Polish children arrived in Wellington Harbour.

“New Zealand has a 70-year history of welcoming refugees”, says Rachel O’Connor, National Programmes Development Coordinator for New Zealand Red Cross. Rachel oversees the organisation of volunteers and processes involved in resettling refugees in New Zealand.

“New Zealand Red Cross is responsible for the needs of refugees once they have left Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre. We prepare houses with linen and kitchen equip-

ment, using donations made by the public.

We organise and train volunteers and set up orientations. We support families in their new lives for the first 12 months.”

Since it was announced more than 80 Syrian refugees would be arriving in Wellington in early 2016, Red Cross have been inundated with offers of help from Wellingtonians.

“We train 600 volunteers each year who will support refugees and guide them through situations such as enrolling with doctors and schools and how to use public transport.”

Red Cross echoes Amnesty International NZ’s call for the government to double the quota of refugees that New Zealand accepts each year, which currently stands at 750. This figure hasn’t been increased in nearly thirty years. Last year the government agreed to add 600 places for Syrian refugees, spread over the next two and a half years.

“We would like to see the quota increased to reflect the significant displacement of people worldwide, which is at an all time high. But it has to be adequately resourced to prevent it impacting host communities,” says Rachel.

Dalal with her family in their Naenae home

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F E AT U R E

Dalal is now the translator for her whole family, although her mother, Nuseba, is learning English at classes during the week.

While we’re talking, Nuseba comes in to introduce herself, keen to use her English.

She’s holding a plate of Syrian sweets and a glass of homemade fruit juice: “raspberry,” which is a new word and not an easy one.

I ask Dalal how her family feel about their new home “Here, in Lower Hutt, there is lots of space and it’s so quiet. New Zealand has beautiful landscapes and I really like Wellington – everyone is very welcoming. When I go outside, I wear my hijab, and I haven’t experienced any discrimination.”

Dalal shows me selfies she’s taken on her phone in which she’s wearing different hijabs. In some photos she is standing in the Wellington Botanic Garden with her aunt and her seventy-three-year-old grandmother. Dalal says her grandmother has adapted well to living here.

“She has met lots of Syrian people in Wellington and that has helped. She’s learnt a bit of English, but she says “hello” in reply to everything. It has been hard for her and she talks about going back to Syria a lot.

“If I went back to Syria now, I don’t know where I would go. All of my area has been destroyed and a lot of the people I used to know will have changed. Every day I think

about my friends and family. Have you seen what’s happening in Madaya? People there are starving and it is so close to where I lived in Damascus. It’s maybe the same distance from here [Lower Hutt] to Wellington.”

Fighting has trapped around 40,000 people living in the town of Madaya, and some have died of starvation. The situation is desperate and BBC News reports say that some Syrians have resorted to eating cats and grass to survive.

While I’ve been talking to Dalal, her father has been on the phone speaking Arabic, so I ask Dalal if he is talking to people in Syria. “Yes, he’s talking to his friends. I hear him on the phone a lot, talking about how many people have died and I see how sad he is. I don’t want to hear bad news, but there is never any good news.”

In only a year, Dalal’s English is bordering on fluent. She studies English along with accounting and economics at college and has big plans for the future.

“I want to improve my English and then go to Victoria University of Wellington to study commerce. I visited with my teacher and I really liked it. I’m very grateful to my teachers and friends, and to New Zealand Immigration. Maybe one day I will go to Syria, or I will make my life here. New Zealand is a beautiful and safe country.”

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F E AT U R E

S PA N N E R U P PHOTOGRAPHY BY XANDER DIXON

MICHAEL DOBSON is a longtime motorbike petrolhead.

He chats enthusiastically to JOHN BRISTED about his history with motorbikes.

“I

t was the motorcycle boom. We’d all been to see Easy Rider. That was a formative movie – we saw it first time for the bikes, second time for the music, and the third time I finally got all the drug references,” says Michael Dobson, remembering the excitement.

“I bought a little Honda 90. I did a whole lot of miles on that thing, falling off it, and modifying it, and then swapped university for a job in construction to get enough money to buy a brand new Ducati 750 which was quite expensive in its day. I sold the Ducati, bought a Kawasaki H2 which is a 750 chopper 2 stroke – it was a great motorbike. After that I got my Ural, which is a Russian motorbike. In 1974 people would laugh at it – and now, the bike hasn’t changed in looks and people stop me on the street and say “what a cool-looking motorbike.” The other 10 or so bikes he has owned have all been BMWs. “I’d also been involved in working on racing bikes with my brother; then a friend asked me to go and help him out in a motorbike shop, so I began working as a full-time mechanic and the rest is history.

“Bike racing … I spent time spannering for Bill Biber from Martinborough … he won the Castrol Six Hour…and spannering for Mike Pero (Mike Pero mortgages) … he was national road racing champion and a hugely good guy … I worked with him (and his brother Ian) in Australia.

“I’ve had 40 years specialising in Kawasaki, Ducati, and BMW, and now I’m fortunate enough to be able to work from home, and I spend a day a week working for Boyle’s in Adelaide Rd just to stop myself getting cabin fever.”

Dobson is one of the organisers of “Polished Rockers”, a motorbike show for custom, classic and café bikes held

on the Kapiti Coast in March. “It’s a winning formula: a free-entry motorbike show, in summer, on the Coast, at a brewery, with a rockabilly band, food trucks and so on, and anyone can bring a bike as long as he or she rides it there – how bad can it be?

“We had 360 bikes in the show last time and about 600 in the carpark, so almost 1000 bikes. It’s a dead-end street, we’ve got a road closure, and the X Ray Cats … the same band as last time.

“Two prize-winning sections stand out. One is the Artist’s Choice; we get a judge who knows nothing about motorbikes but a lot about art. They can do it simply on what they think is a lovely looking motorbike. They don’t care that the front brake doesn’t work and it’s got the wrong sized tyres. Gerda Leenards is our guest artist this year, and she will pick what she thinks is the best looking bike.”

“The other standout section is called Spirit of Smash Palace, and that’s Smash Palace in Christchurch; it began after the earthquake; they opened a bar on a vacant block, called Smash Palace, made out of scaffold tubes and old buses and it was a huge hit. This section is in the spirit of Smash Palace and the subtext is that Chrome Don’t get you Home. So what we’re looking for is outrageous, but not all highly polished … just looking good.

And there are a dozen other prizes.

“When you get motor bikes and their riders together, they’re just like car owners, or perhaps dogs going round sniffing each others’ bottoms. It’s what we all do. All the bikes turn up, you look at them for a while….”

Polished Rockers, Tuatara Brewery, Paraparaumu, 13 March.

Bottom right: “My bike used to be a white police bike with big wide fairings.

It’s an example of what happens when good cops go bad.

What I’ve done is minimalise the police bike”.

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SECTION HEADER

37

HE-HE

POSTCARD FROM M A L AY S I A WRITTEN BY DEAN WATSON

D

ear GO Wellington buses, Congratulations. Your advertisements telling me to go to Malaysia worked. To be fair, I found my Malaysian/ Kiwi partner long before I saw your rear-end Malaysian persuasion, but if it wasn’t for your persistent daily reminders on the No. 14 bus, I never would have come here. Don’t tell my partner that.

So I’m writing this from Malaysia. It’s a pretty big country for a small country, so let me be more specific.

I’m writing this from Taiping, Perak. That’s like saying I’m writing this from Wadestown, Wellington. Which of course, is ridiculous, because no one sends postcards from Wadestown.

Taiping is a great place. I think you’d really like it. The roads are smooth. Not quite up to Wellington’s baby’sbottom standards, but your big wheels would be up to it.

If you get the chance, make sure you visit during Chinese New Year. Everyone gives money to one another during this time, because they’re so busy seeing all of their relatives they don’t have time to go out and buy real presents.

With everyone sitting pretty I’m sure fare evasion would be low around this time.

The exchange rate is great – one New Zealand dollar is currently buying 2.7 Malaysian Ringgit. Over here, that will buy you a cheap dinner! But I’ve checked and hawker stalls don’t accept Snapper card, so make sure you exchange your millions of NZ dollars for zillions of Malaysian Ringgit before you leave.

It’s been great meeting my partner’s parents for the first time. No, really. We’ve been staying at their house.

It’s cheaper than Wadestown. They have a Shih Tzu that likes to bite my feet. I don’t think it’s ever tasted a white person before. Have you ever been in a town where you’re the only white person? It’s confronting at first, but you get used to it. You’re yellow, so you’ll fit right in over here.

You’ll also have no trouble fitting in if you like air condi-

tioning. Unlike Wellington, it’s incredibly humid over here.

You know how it’s always windy in Wellington? It’s always humid in Malaysia. On the upside, high humidity doesn’t turn your umbrella inside out.

I’m not sure whether you know much about New Zealand politics, being a bus and all, but over here in Malaysia, the Prime Minister isn’t very popular. He doesn’t even have a pretentious son with an Instagram account. The Malaysian Prime Minister does it all by himself. He stole a couple of billion dollars from the Malaysian people and deposited it in his personal bank account. If you disagree with his way of doing business, you are wrong. Did you know they still hang people in Malaysia? Luckily, I will not die in Malaysia because I love the Prime Minister and because I saw the travel doctor before I left.

One of the biggest differences between Wellington and Malaysia is that it isn’t really safe to walk around outside.

Even if you’re a local, you could still be robbed. The thieves don’t discriminate. If Malaysia had a flag referendum, the thieves would steal both flags. Like I said, the lack of discrimination is refreshing. I haven’t been robbed yet, but I hope to experience an authentic Malaysian knife robbery soon.

I’ve learned that Asian culture is all about family.

Once you tap on, you never tap off. Even though I’m only meeting my partner’s family for the first time, everyone has been incredibly welcoming. I feel like I belong. The feeling of belonging is at its strongest when they give me money. I don’t even have to write a column for them, they just give it to me. I really do love this place. However, I don’t think I could live here permanently and not just because internal affairs won’t let me. I’ll visit again, no doubt. My partner will see to it. And if she forgets, I’ll always have you to remind me.

Love Dean

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W HAT T H E F L O C K

MISS PI ED ST ILT Status: Native, declining.

Habitat: A self-introduced species thought to have arrived here from Australia around 1800, poaka flourished in their new habitat, and by 1993 were thought to number 30,000 birds.

Look for them: In all kinds of wetlands from estuaries and salt marshes to river beds, lake shores and lagoons. Look for a medium-to large-sized, black and white wading bird with long red legs and a long, fine-pointed black bill. Pied stilts move gracefully, raising a foot at a time above the water before placing it down again daintily. They are often seen feeding alongside oystercatchers.

Call: Most commonly heard is a highpitched, yapping alarm call not dissimilar to that of a toy poodle.

Feeds on: Mainly invertebrates – insects and worms when on land and aquatic insects and larvae in water.

Did you know? You’ll know pretty quickly if you’ve ventured near a pied stilt nest.

The birds fly to a great height before flying directly at the intruder, giving a harsh cry as they pass close overhead. If this intimidation tactic fails they will even attempt diversion by simulating injury, masterfully shamming broken legs or wings.

If they were human they would be: We’re sure there are many graceful, long-legged Wellingtonians who would fit the bill aesthetically – the capital’s dancers and models for example – but when it comes to a beauty who is also a dedicated parent and an extremely talented actor, we couldn’t go past Chelsie Preston Crayford (Eagle vs Shark, Home by Christmas, Underbelly, What We Do in the Shadows etc etc).

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42

FASH ION

IF THE SHOE FITS WRITTEN BY SHARON GREALLY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA BRIGGS

I

t’s a dream many of us have, to turn your passion into a job. For Miriama Grace-Smith, it’s become a reality.

“I’ve always been obsessed with shoes,” she tells me. “I’ve always loved clothes and shoes, and I’m lucky enough to have been able to turn my hobby into a job”.

Luck may not have too much to do with it. Her mother is an award-winning writer of screenplays and short stories, and an actor, and her father works on film sets.

Miriama’s childhood was spent surrounded by creative types. “I grew up around artists, writers and musicians, so that world was normal to me.” A creative life wasn’t just written in the stars – it was in her blood.

Grace-Smith studied visual arts at Whitireia Polytech for a year after leaving school. She also has a BA in Fine Arts from Massey University. After finishing art school, she painted some canvases on commission and began customising vintage clothing, streetwear and skateboards. Grace-Smith has also worked as a wardrobe designer on the feature film The Pa Boys, and says it was “amazing,” to see her work on the big screen.

Inspired by native flora and fauna, she began designing an off-the-peg streetwear range of t-shirts, sweatshirts, bomber jackets and bucket hats, and opened a Facebook page. Word soon got out, and the orders flowed in. It was time to move into bigger premises.

The result is Foresight Clothing. She and her builder/ musician partner Jack Crombie have been building their business over the past few years, starting off in the old fish and chip shop in Paekakariki. Last November they moved into Cuba St, next to San Francisco Bathhouse. They love the area, and find the community very supportive.

As well as Grace-Smith’s own designs, Foresight Clothing represents other local artists and designers, including Dirty South from Raumati South, Sam Phillips from Paraparaumu, jewellery by Roni Stigsdottin, stone carvings

by Tim Steel from Pukerua Bay, and works by muralist, glitterest and painter Xoe Hall.

Supporting the Wellington art community is an important part of their philosophy.

“Foresight is envisioning the future, where you want to be and what you want to become and believing that you can bring that vision to life. We need foresight to believe that all our hard work will eventually pay off, and that’s why we reckon that Foresight is a brand for everyone.

“Reactions to our street wear have been really positive. Cliff Curtis has been walking around in one of our hoodies. And Heath Manukau from Nesian Mystik was wearing our Mango bucket hat at One Love NZ Festival – whoop whoop!”

It was the shoes that did it for me, however. Her glitzy, sparkly, crazy over-the-top designs sent me into a rapture I hadn’t felt since a diamante stiletto-heeled purchase in a moment of weakness a few years back.

“The shoes do attract a lot of attention”, says Miriama.

“People stop to look at them first, then they check out the rest of the stock”.

Her shoes caught the eye of Kiwi company Cindy Heels, who had her customize some of their heels. She has gone on to customize footwear for private clients, who bring in a favourite pair of heels or boots. She likes to talk to each client and get a “feel” for what they want. “The shoes inspire me. Each shoe has its own personality.” Her custom decoration has incorporated collage using comic book strips, beads, and glitter; the materials have entailed “a whole lot of trial and error.”

Grace-Smith is also involved in a collaborative working studio and exhibition space, and is one of seven Maori women artists exhibiting at present at Toi Wāhine HQ in Porirua, in a show featuring multimedia artists, jewellery artists, and filmmakers. Miriama says she is very stimulated by the collective.

“I have started learning Maori design through tattoo artists, ta moko, and find it very inspiring in my own work”.

Hmm, which pair of shoes will I subject to her dynamic designs?

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S E C TFIAOSNH IHOENA D E R

REFINED LINEN 44

Opposite page – top to bottom, left to right: Grey & white cotton rug – $110 – Trade Aid Megan shoes – $349 – Minnie Cooper Norm stone storage jar – $99– Let Liv Raffia sun hat – $40– Trade Aid Linen 7/8 length pant teal – $219– Viva Banana Blue white shirt– $260 – Viva Banana Blue cob shirt – $260 – Viva Banana Blue tan print – $360 – Viva Linen 7/8 length pant – Zebranos – $219 Wayward St Utility Tote – $550 – Caughley Small oval kaisa basket – $22.99 – Trade Aid Cultiver linen sheet set – $420 – Let Liv

Top left: Banana Blue tan print dress – $360 – Viva Top right: Second edition Wayward St Utility Tote – $550 – waywardst.com Bottom left: Baby blue No more rain coat – $683 – Zebranos Bottom right: Cartise shirt – $140 – Viva

Photography by Rhett Goodley-Hornblow Styled by Shalee Fitzsimmons

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EDIBLES

GIVE US OUR DA I LY B R E A D A fresh baguette? Crunchy on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside, baguettes are truly a gift from the carbohydrate gods. For Berhampore Primary School, they’re also a way of raising funds for resources such as library books and art supplies. Each Friday students can order fresh, hand-made Acme & Co baguettes baked by Prefab cafe’s bakers in their special French baker’s oven. And they’re made with organic flour, with no nasty preservatives. It’s possible the initiative could be rolled out to other schools.

BEST IN CLASS

A WHOLE LOT TA EGGS

If your brain is about as scrambled as your eggs before the day’s first coffee, that early-morning caffeine hit might now also keep you safe, thanks to a Wellington City Council initiative aimed at reducing pedestrian accidents. It’s all about crossing the road with a clear head, and 10 Wellington cafes have partnered with the Council to feature this message on take-away coffee-cup lids. So now you have no excuse not to focus on the way to work.

It’s that time of the year again, when brewers dust the hops off their clothes and enter their creations into the New World Beer & Cider Awards. Both established brewers and backyard enthusiasts are encouraged to enter the 13 categories, including IPA, Stout, Porter and Black Beer, and Apple and Pear Cider. Best in Class winners also have their product distributed in 137 New World stores.

First the numbers: 816,000 litres of milk, 61,200kg of bacon, 2,754,000 eggs and almost nine million cups of coffee. That’s what Astoria co-owner Janice Kirkwood reckons her Midland Park cafe has ploughed though in the past 20 years.

Opened in 1996 by Janice and Sue Dempsey, Astoria has been responsible for nurturing the careers of many of Wellington’s foodie stars.

creative 7287

THE POWER IS IN YOUR HANDS

www.emersons.co.nz

46

EDIBLES

THE POWER AND T H E G L O RY Think raw food is the preserve of hippies on a hygiene strike? Think again. Raw is becoming the next big thing and Tawa mother of five Mashal Butler has jumped aboard the train with Raw Glory, a range of delicious uncooked desserts and treats. Available from Moore Wilson’s and Commonsense Organics, the frozen desserts are also gluten, dairy and cane sugar free.

Goodies include a caramel and chocolate slice and a mixed berry and coconut “cheesecake.”

Treating yourself has never been this healthy.

RUSTIC ITALIAN

MODERN ASIAN

CHAT TING WITH CHICKS

It started with a fish – and ended up with a 70-seat trattoria. That’s the journey of brothers Joe and Gino Cuccurullo, who converted their father’s fish market business into the Mediterranean Food Warehouse in 1990. They began importing speciality products from the Med and eventually expanded into a deli, pizzeria and cafe. Following a major renovation of their Newtown site, the brothers are now opening in March a trattoria and courtyard to serve regional Italian dishes.

Thankfully, the pizzas will still be available.

If you’ve ever coveted the ceramic plates, bowls and sake cups at Dragonfly, you’re in luck because Tania Saladi and Brent Wong, the brother and sister team behind the restaurant and the Asian Food Republic range of fresh and vac-pac meals, jams and fortune cookies, have opened Orient Modern Asian Home Store on Kent Terrace.

When good food and charitable causes intersect it’s always a good thing. On 18 March the Portlander hosts another of its popular Chic Chat series, a female-only event which features a two-course lunch, champagne and an inspirational Wellington woman speaker. For March, Carissa Fairbrother, a financial adviser, will speak about achieving financial health.

Best of all, part of the proceeds go to this month’s charity, The Catwalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust, which raises funds for spinal cord injury research.

47

THE FOREST CANTINA

ADD S A LT UNNA BURCH I saw a documentary once about a famous salt water taffy company in America. They tried to franchise the company in other states, but the taffy never tasted the same. It was said that because it wasn’t made by the sea, it lacked the salty sea air to make the taffy perfect!

Before that doco, I never really considered making my own lollies or sweets, but I began with truffles, which are easy, then marshmallow, the next level up, and these “salt caramels” are slightly more

difficult. It requires a candy thermometer and a bit of patience, and you do have to fight the urge to take the caramel off before it is actually ready. But you will get soft, chewy caramels as a result and they make a rad homemade gift. You can individually hand-wrap caramels in baking paper, twisting the ends to give them that traditional wrapped-sweet look, place them in a nice jar and label them with a tag. Such a great idea for Easter, Mother’s Day or Christmas.

INGREDIENTS

METHOD Grease a baking tin (22cm x 15cm) with a small amount of butter and line with baking paper.

Time Takes time

Place the cream, vanilla extract and half the butter (30g) in a small saucepan over a medium-high heat. Bring to the boil then remove from the heat and set aside.

Makes Approximately 40–50 caramels 175ml cream 1 tsp of vanilla extract 60g butter 2 teaspoons sea salt 250g Fair Trade sugar 160g golden syrup

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the sugar and golden syrup over a medium-high heat. Mix together with a wooden spoon until the sugar is melted and completely dissolved. Once it is dissolved, put the candy thermometer into the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 155°C on the thermometer. Remove the pan from the heat and then stir through the warm cream mixture.

I took the candy thermometer out and cooled it a little under cold water (so that you get an accurate second reading) dried it and put it back into the pan. Place the pan back on a medium heat and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 127°C, occasionally stirring around the sides with a wooden spoon so it doesn’t catch and burn. It does take some time to get to 127°C so be patient. Mine also smoked a little and seemed like it was burning; reduce the temperature a little if you are worried. It is important to get it to the correct temperature, otherwise it won’t set and you will have a caramel sauce instead of caramels to chew!

NOTE This is NOT a recipe to do with kids or with pets at your feet in the kitchen. The caramel gets to scalding temperatures, so please be careful.

When it is at the correct temperature, remove the thermometer and stir through the remaining 30g of butter until completely incorporated. This will make the caramel glossy. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking tin and sprinkle evenly all over the top with sea salt. Allow to cool completely before slicing into individual caramels. You need to dip a knife in boiling water. This allows it to slice without sticking and you’ll need to re-heat the knife with each slice.

My kettle top opens up, and I dipped directly into the kettle, making the process easier. The cutting does take some time.

Once they are cut, wrap in individually cut baking paper and store in an airtight container. They will keep like this for one month.

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SECTION HEADER

49

MONEY ON THE HONEY WRITTEN BY CRAIG BEARDSWORTH | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA BRIGGS Isy Harris and Rosie Bristed are pro-bee. They’re passionate about pollen and hives and honey and most importantly – bee welfare and the food chain for humans.

The pair have developed Buzz Life, a model to educate people to help create a bee-friendly environment.

“Bees are endangered, and their populations shrinking in many places round the world, including here,” said Rosie.

“Wild populations of honeybees used to be common, but have been almost completely wiped out by the Varroa mite, which crept into the country a few years ago.”

“Monoculture is becoming the norm, here and internationally. Industrial pollination is now entirely done by managed colonies of bees. The wide variety of plants with flowers upon whose nectar and pollen bees live and produce the honey from are becoming less and less” said Isy. Buzz Life has been developed as part of the Live the Dream programme, a nine week accelerator programme designed to develop social entrepreneurship and enterprise skills, where they developed their idea and business model.

“We are running workshops that will directly up the number of bees within Wellington. Any profits will go toward teaching the same workshops in schools. The best outcome will be increased awareness and better decision making.”

A chance encounter fostered their close interest in bees. After working together in Wellington they travelled to Byron Bay in Australia. “I was hitchhiking and got picked up by this epic hippie who talked about the effect pesticides and urbanisation had on bee populations and gave me a pottle of honey his bees had produced” said Rosie. The chance meeting made such an impact that she tracked the man down on the internet and a mentorship developed.

Meanwhile, Isy found the Live the Dream project. Their joint proposal was accepted and they were on their way.

Email buzzlifeyeah@gmail.com

50

S I M P LY ST U N N I N G M E AT S

Available in-store or online www.prestonsmasterbutchers.co.nz WELLINGTON, PORIRUA, PALMERSTON NORTH

LIQUID THOUGHTS

MARTINB OROUGH’ S NEWEST WINES

S AT U R DAY IN THE SUN

It’s a family affair at the new Grava Wines vineyard, formerly Hudson Vineyard, in Martinborough. It’s also mostly a Pinot Noir affair (no surprises there). “We wanted to do something totally new in Martinborough,” says winemaker Alistair Gardner, who graduated in 2002 from the post-graduate winemaking and viticulture course at Lincoln University.

There are four other shareholders in the new wine company.

They make four wines, a Pinot Noir, a Riesling, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Rosé made from Pinot Noir. Gardner is alternating between working vintages in Martinborough and in Spain, where he previously worked and lived.

Take 2,000 tickets, 16 wineries and a 10-minute drive east of Carterton and what do you have? This year’s Harvest Wairarapa festival. This wine festival is held in a clearing of 600-odd-year-old totara trees, on the banks of the Ruamahanga River. It’s low-key in style with music from local musicians, a focus on locally produced food (above), and the opportunity to taste a wide range of northern Wairarapa wines – many of which are made in such small quantities that they are rarely seen beyond the cellar doors of the wineries at which they are produced. Visit the website to find out more. www.wairarapaharvestfestival.co.nz

TE KŌKĪ NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL OF MUSIC CELEBRATE THE ARRIVAL OF JAZZ AT KELBURN 11–18 MARCH 2016

USA BLUES GUITAR MASTER CHRIS CAIN Thursday 17 March 7pm Memorial Theatre, Victoria University TICKETS: EVENTFINDA.CO.NZ

ENJOY FREE EVENTS ON CAMPUS JAZZ AT LUNCHTIME RODGER FOX’S OPEN REHEARSALS WITH THE NZSM BIG BAND JAZZ HAPPY HOUR CHRIS CAIN MASTERCLASS FOR LISTINGS INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.NZSM. AC.NZ

LIQUID THOUGHTS

THINK PINK Sales of pink wine are outstripping other styles internationally, suggesting that we drink with our eyes as much as our taste buds, writes JOELLE THOMSON.

P

eople as various as Donald Trump, Seth Godin and Mark Twain have doubted the veracity of overnight success stories. When Trump said they are 20 years or more in the making, he was talking politics; but you could say the same about that noman's-land pink wine we call rosé, sales of which are rising 10 times as fast as table wine in general in the United States.

Similar patterns are emerging in this country. All of a sudden, or so it seems, blokes drink pink. Hence the ‘brosé’ moniker for this new-found male penchant.

If pink wine seems suddenly popular, however, consider this: in 1995 there were 415 hectares of Pinot Noir grapes growing in New Zealand and in 2015, there were 5,564 hectares.

That’s a lot of growth, over 1,000%. The statistics come from New Zealand Winegrowers’ annual reports, which collate data supplied by winemakers nationwide. Given that not all winemakers respond to requests for information, the real figure is probably even higher, but you get the picture.

The growth of local pink wine has risen in tandem with the growth of Kiwi Pinot Noir. It is not a coincidence. The pink stuff can be made from any type of wine grape, as long as a red one is involved somewhere along the way, but the vast majority of New Zealand pink wine is made from Pinot Noir.

The process of making pink wine more often than not uses a French technique called ‘saignée’, which literally means bleeding off. In this case, a portion of fermenting Pinot Noir juice is run off into another tank to make rosé – pink wine. It’s a clever way to kill two birds with one stone. It creates a pretty pink wine with red fruit flavours; the hallmark of Pinot Noir – strawberries, raspberries, dried cranberries. And, secondly, this process concentrates the depth of colour in Pinot Noir because it reduces the volume of juice that’s in contact with the grapeskins; hence, deeper coloured wine. It’s a win/win for winemakers and wine drinkers; better quality Pinot Noir, and a tasty light ‘red’ to chill and drink as a refreshing every day type of vino.

So, why exactly is pink wine all the rage right now?

There is a strong trend globally to lighter styles of food and wine; rosé fits the bill more comfortably than full-bodied reds. It also lends itself to lower-alcohol wine styles, as the Brancott Estate Rosé, recommended this month, shows – it contains only 9 per cent alcohol and remains flavoursome.

Local Pinot Noir and rosé both suddenly seem successful, but their modern story has been at least 20 years in the making.

DRINKING WITH OUR EYES 2015 Papillon Rosé $25 One word springs to mind: unconventional, this blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay is a combo that winemaker Lance Redgewell says he didn’t plan; but it works in this bone dry, super-fresh, medium-bodied pink, which tastes of dried cranberries and dried red plums.

Pricey, but prepare to be impressed.

2015 Te Mania Rosé $21.99 Here’s a biodynamic wine from Nelson, made entirely from Pinot Noir grapes which were grown along strict environmentally-friendly principles; the wine tastes of concentrated red berry fruit.

2015 Palliser Estate Rosé $22, 12.1% ABV This is the first ever Palliser Estate rosé wine, and it’s made from Pinot Noir grapes grown on two Martinborough vineyards, which were picked and given four hours skin contact before being fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures to preserve the upfront red fruit flavours.

2015 Brancott Estate Flight Marlborough Rosé $17.29, This wine is lower in alcohol but not in taste, thanks to vibrant acidity adding a zesty freshness to the dried red fruit flavours.

54

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

RETURN OF THE URBAN TURBINE WRITTEN BY JOHN KERR

Brooklyn was the obvious place to put a wind turbine – and not just because of the wind.

W

hoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. The gigantic blades of the Brooklyn wind turbine mark a soothing regular beat for the visitors to the monolithic structure. The turbine looks down on the city, and is a stark and unmistakable outline on the skyline.

At least it used to. The hill behind Brooklyn is disturbingly bare as I write this. After 22 years standing up to the worst of the Wellington wind and cheerfully turning it into useable electricity, it reached the end of its working life and was taken down late last year.

This month a new bigger, better, version of the turbine will be erected on the same site and the Wellington horizon will be complete once more.

Installed in 1993 by the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand, the turbine was a test site for wind-powered electricity generation.

For better or worse, Wellington arguably holds the title of the windiest city, not only in the New Zealand but the entire world. The geography of Cook Strait funnels those notorious winds directly into Wellington to ruffle hipster haircuts, whisk plastic shopping bags into the sky and tear umbrellas inside out.

This made Wellington the natural choice for the test installation.

The turbine was designed to handle Wellington’s fiercest gales, capable of withstanding winds of up to 216km per hour (the peak winds in the 1968 storm that sunk the Wahine in Wellington harbour reached around 200km/h).

Harnessing this energy, the old turbine produced enough power each year for around 110 homes. In its first year, it produced over one million kilowatt hours of electricity, smashing the world record for turbines of its size and class.

As the very first commercial wind turbine in New Zealand, it set the stage for the growth of an entire industry. Precious data collected from the pioneering project informed the development of wind farms in New Zealand. Today, five per cent of New Zealand’s electricity comes from wind, with almost 500 turbines powering 300,000 Kiwi homes. None of this would have been

possible without the humble, trailblazing Brooklyn turbine.

But the turbine wasn’t just a test of the technology; it was also a test of the people of Wellington. A report published by ECNZ four years after its installation acknowledged the public relations side of the project. One of the stated goals of the project was to “gauge the reaction of the New Zealand public” and, “by suitable siting and promotion, improve the levels of public acceptance and enthusiasm.” It was no accident that the turbine’s spinning blades were visible across the city.

ECNZ was dabbling in a relatively new technology that was causing uproar overseas. In Britain, community groups had railed against the sprouting of wind turbines across their picturesque rural landscapes. Would New Zealanders similarly rebel against the aesthetic impacts of wind power?

It seems not, in the case of the Brooklyn wind turbine.

Even decades later, I must agree with the report’s conclusion that public reception was “overwhelmingly positive”. Wellington embraced the turbine; it featured as the logo of a local cricket team, made it on to the cover of the Wellington phonebook (remember those?) and was emblazoned on ceramic tiles embedded in Brooklyn footpaths. Today the turbine still features on Wellington souvenirs and postcards and, until its recent dismantling, was a regular sightseeing destination.

Energy company Meridian, which inherited the old turbine from ECNZ, says the new version will be 67-metres tall, dwarfing its 45-metre predecessor. Thanks to its larger size and leaps in turbine technology since the 90s, the new kid on the Brooklyn block will crank out enough electricity to power almost 500 homes annually.

The decision to resurrect the Brooklyn turbine has the public very much behind it. When the old turbine was reaching the end of its usable life, a survey found that 85 percent of Wellington residents wanted to see it repaired or replaced.

All going smoothly, the new turbine should be up and whooshing by April.

56

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Hand in hand we skip down Molesworth Street.

It’s good to be alone in a capital city.

It’s good to steal flowers from the parliamentary gardens while the ministers are in session.

Ah, look at your face.

You’re as beautiful as jazz, as jasmine.

We chuck pebbles at the night sky.

Cracks appear in the moon.

By Iain Sharp from The Pierrot Variations, Hard Echo Press (1985)

BREAKDOWN

Join us for Wellington’s 16th Writers Week Tue 8 - Sun 13 March 2016

get your programme!

verb book·sell·er \ˈbu k ̇ -ˌse-lər\

Bio: Iain Sharp was born in Glasgow in 1953 and emigrated to New Zealand with his parents early in 1961. Apart from occasional forays to Wellington to raid the parliamentary gardens, he has lived mainly in Auckland. Since 2001 he has worked as a manuscript librarian in Sir George Grey Special Collections. In earlier times he was a jobbing journalist and book reviewer. He has published five volumes of poetry: Why Mammals Shiver (1981), She Is Trying to Kidnap the Blind Person (1985), The Pierrot Variations (1985), The Singing Harp (2004) and (with his partner, Joy MacKenzie) Sharing Our Ghosts (2011).

In brief: This is one delightfully unruly couple! I love the way Sharp’s careful crafting of the form of the poem works with his word choices to strengthen this impression of good-natured rowdiness. Clever use of the line break emphasises the playful contradiction between the lines “it’s good to be alone / in a capital city”. This is closely followed by the teasing aphorism “it’s good to steal flowers”– really? Well, yes.

If they’re “from the parliamentary gardens” particularly “when the ministers are in session”. With each additional line I become more convinced. The repeated sounds in the extravagant compliments “you’re as beautiful as jazz / as jasmine” create a sweet effect – a stutter, a skip – that is the slight out-of-breathness of a speaker who’s just been skipping downhill. When “we chuck pebbles / at the night sky”, naturally “cracks appear in the moon”. From a pair of wayward desperadoes on Molesworth Street such feats are only to be expected.

Why bother: This poem is tailor-made for those rebels among us who’ve adventurously stayed put in Wellington for the summer hols.

Seriously, if not now for a spot of skipping downhill hand in hand, nicking flowers from parliament, then when?

58

BY THE BOOK

BINGE ON BOOKS If ever there was a day for booklovers to indulge, it’s Friday 11 March. A “Friday Off Work Pass” ($110) gets you six sessions, a packed lunch, and a tea or coffee at the New Zealand Festival’s Writers Week (8–13 March). We’ll see you there. There are also 15-ticket passes (now, that’s dedication), or just pay as you go, with 36 sessions including solo speakers and themed panel discussions. Stars include genreblurring writer-performer Miranda July, neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, marathon runner Christopher McDougall, and fantasy author Jasper Fforde.

AIN’ T NO B OYS’ CLUB

NO SMAILL FEAT

FINDING TIME

One of Sarah Laing’s self-deprecating comics about life as a Karori mum-of-three appears in Three Words: An Anthology of Aotearoa/ NZ Women's Comics (Beatnik Publishing, $35). The book, which Laing co-edited with Indira Neville and Rae Joyce, features their work and that of 60 other artists. Expect polished, widely-distributed comics like Sharon Murdoch’s Munro the Cat series, as well as homemade one-offs sourced from zines, blogs, shoe boxes and even tattoos.

Wellington novelist Anna Smaill (profiled in Capital October #26) was named one of two Honorary Literary Fellows in the New Zealand Society of Authors’ annual Waitangi Day Honours. Bestowed by her writing peers, the honour recognises significant literary achievements – and the Booker longlist certainly counts. Ever modest, Smaill deflected attention to the NZSA’s tireless advocacy for New Zealand writing. The other new fellow is Christchurch thriller writer Paul Cleave.

As director of the International Institute of Modern Letters, Damien Wilkins (above) still makes time for his own writing. This month Victoria University Press publishes his 11th book Dad Art ($30), an amusing read about a Wellington engineer trying to find time for online dating, an elderly father and a needy adult daughter. Everyone is welcome at the 10 March book launch/ VUP Writers Week party at the Embassy’s Black Sparrow bar.

59

BY THE BOOK

SKIN IN FICTION PHOTOGRAPHED BY ANNA BRIGGS

SARAH LANG meets a sci-fi writer with a computer chip implanted in her hand.

S

ci-fi author Darusha Wehm has pink-and-blue-streaked hair, a Canadian accent, and a computer chip implanted under her skin between the left thumb and forefinger. The width of a grain of rice and a little longer, it’s an NFC or near-field-communication chip, which lets mobile devices within four inches of each other share data wirelessly. One day it may do all sorts of nifty things, but right now its main job is unlocking things like apartment doors and phones.

At her Cuba Street apartment, Wehm shows me how the chip unlocks her iPhone. “Do you want to touch it?” she asks, holding out her hand. I’m squeamish, but I touch the chip anyway, letting out an involuntary ‘ew’ and pulling my hand away quickly. Wehm isn’t offended. She knows some people are grossed out by “body modification” or “human enhancement” through technology: anything from piercing and tattoos to chip implants.

In November, Wehm flew to Düsseldorf, Germany, to be keynote speaker at the conference SCIENCE + FICTION. Billed as “the world’s first cyborg fair”, it was hosted by a German club for people interested in human enhancement, with speeches and chitchat in one room, and a sort of trade show for browsing implant chips and other devices in another room.

“It was a fascinating mix of artists, philosophers, academics and technologists talking about human enhancement through technology and body hacking.” Bodyhackers, I learn, aren’t murderers or grave-robbers: they’re tattooists and piercers who implant technology in the body to make people part-cyborg. During the conference, as global media hovered nearby, Swedish tattoo artist/body-hacker Jowan Österlund implanted three men with the Northstar V1: a two-dollar-coin-sized disc that lights up tattoos from beneath the skin of the arm.

Later, when Österlund offered Wehm a trade – a quick, simple NFC implant for a stack of her paperbacks – she didn’t hesitate.

She sat at a small table in the trade-show room by a pile of her paperbacks. “Jowan pulled up the skin like this and injected the chip using a hollow syringe. It took about 30 seconds – I didn't bleed or anything.” Turns out the implant can't unlock her door – it’s the wrong frequency – but Wehm doesn’t mind. She just likes the idea of having it. “Because, long before the technology existed, I wrote about characters with chip implants swiping their hands to open doors."

A Canadian Kiwi who’s lived in Wellington since 2011, Wehm has published six novels as e-books and paperbacks, and 11 short stories in magazines and online forums. Five of her novels were self-published. Just one – her 2009 novel Children of Arkadia – was released by a traditional publisher, Canada’s Bundoran Press.

“It was great to have their expertise and reach different audiences, but I realised I like doing everything myself. I’m a control freak.”

As a “hybrid author,” Wehm uses whatever medium or model works best for each piece of writing, whether that’s traditional publishing or self-publishing, the written word or podcasts, e-books or paperbacks. Paperbacks are available, but the vast majority of her sales are e-books bought online, since readers of sci-fi tend to be early adopters of technology.

Set in virtual worlds, with implanted technologies and artificial intelligence, hers are novels of ideas, posing questions about human identity, the nature of consciousness, and how political systems impact on our lives. At the cyborg fair, she spoke about the relationship between stories, science and body enhancement, fears that artificial technology will dehumanise us, and the point at which people become cyborgs.

When they get a hearing aid? A pacemaker? A chip? Taking a break from sci-fi, she’s just self-published the first book in a new “mainstream” series. In Packet Trade, computer-science student Devi Jones and six workmates are running off-grid

61

BY THE BOOK

data servers for a cloud data-storage company from a sailboat. “That could be done with existing technology,” says Wehm, who ran technical details past partner Steven Ensslen, a computer-database designer. “So the book is sciencey but not science fiction. It’s comfort fiction: there’s peril but you know everyone will be okay.”

Between February and April, she’s releasing Packet Trade in five e-reader episodes, one a fortnight. “They’re self-contained but have an overarching arc, like episodic television.”

Each one can be read during a half-hour commute. Packet Trade is also available now in its entirety as an e-book or paperback through Amazon and other major online bookstores, or directly through her website darusha.ca (where the first chapter can be read free of charge).

At 41, she’s not making a full-time living from writing, but money doesn’t motivate her much. “Emails from readers thanking me for my books are worth more than money to me. And I'm very lucky to have a partner with a good job and a supportive attitude who wants me to do what makes me happy.”

For 10 years, Wehm worked for Canada’s pensions’ department. In 2005, she discovered NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) – now a global event – where participants draft an entire novel during the month of November.

“The novel was terrible but fun to write.” The next November, she wrote another, better novel, and self-published it in 2007. Just not in a traditional way.

“Beautiful Red came out first as a free podcast, because people wanted to consume fiction that way, back before Amazon and Kindle existed.” Four of her five podcast novels have had over 10,000 downloads, and she’s been shortlisted three times for the Parsec Awards, the highest

international honour for science-fiction podcasting. “Listeners emailed, asking me to make e-books so they could support my writing. By the time we sailed away, it became apparent that this [writing] is what I do now.”

In 2008, the child-free couple boarded sailboat Scream for what turned into a three-year trip down the west coast of Canada, the USA and South America then through the Pacific Islands, stopping for months at a time in various ports. After a road trip through New Zealand, they decided to move to Wellington, Wehm’s mother’s home city. “I lived in Victoria on Vancouver Island and they’re not dissimilar cities: small, walkable, artsy seats of government.” The couple lived on-board at Chaffers Dock for three years before moving to Cuba Street.

While working from home can be lonely, Wehm finds company and support online through international professional-writers’ group Codex. In 2012, there was cause for celebration when her novella Fire. Escape was shortlisted for the Sir Julius Vogel Award, for excellence in New Zealand speculative fiction. In 2013 she founded online magazine Plan B to publish crime and mystery stories, and has collected the best in five e-book-only anthologies, and a paperback omnibus. Currently Plan B is on hold while she concentrates on her new series. The second book, Sea Change, is out in May, and at least two more are planned.

Wehm could talk for hours on the future of books.

“Books are strange. They’re an entertainment commodity – you buy a book, read it, that's it – but they’re also a priceless cultural good.” Traditional publishers, she says, tend to either publish light reads that will sell well – or precious artefacts that won’t. “They’re caught up at the extremes and it’s time to meet in the middle.”

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ACTIVE

FOOTIE YO U T H The first two months of 2016 has seen a massive surge in junior rugby registrations. “At this time of the year we would typically see junior numbers in the low hundreds, so to be nearly at 1,500 is great news,” says Wellington Rugby Football Union manager of amateur rugby Will Caccia-Birch. The surge in numbers is probably due to the introduction of online registration, the Hurricanes reaching the Investec Super Rugby final last year and the All Blacks winning the World Cup. Every registered junior player will be offered a free family pass to the Hurricanes first Investec Super Rugby home match at Westpac Stadium, against the Southern Kings on Easter Friday.

NIGHT TIME RUNS

FIGHTING FIT

COMMON COURTESY

Registrations have opened for Butterfly Creek Nighttime Madness. Runners and walkers of all fitness levels have the chance to go for a run through the forested tracks above Eastbourne on August 20. The catch being it’s run at night, so you’ll need head torches and a good sense of balance. Racing is done in pairs and there are different tracks from seven to 15km and gradients to suit all fitness levels and ages, from seven to 95 years of age. From the native beech forest of the East Harbour Regional Park you can look back at an illuminated Wellington city.

The Naenae Boxing Academy has been granted $1,600 from Bayer New Zealand. The German life science company has a funding arm for helping develop community projects throughout the world. General Manager of the Naenae Youth Charitable Trust Kerri Graham says the funding will help improve life for young people by introducing cooking sessions for the boys and their parents. Boxing makes up only 20% of what the academy does. Graham and her husband Billy mentor over 100 boys, teaching them life skills and respect, and developing their confidence.

Some drivers consider cyclists lane-blocking pests. But during the Frocks on Bikes’ Valentine’s Day ride, organiser Leah Murphy was delighted to see smiles and waves, and hear friendly toots. “A little courtesy works magic,” Murphy says. “We’re starting to see drivers and cyclists being more aware of and human to each other.” Let’s hope the courtesy will be extended to men in hi-vis vests as well as ladies in pretty frocks.

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HOUSE

INTERIOR C H E M I ST RY WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA BRIGGS

The cobbler's children have no shoes is a very old saying but the same does not seem to hold true for interior designer's families. If it’s AMANDA HOLLAND'S family they live in a stylishly simple and comfortable house. We take a quick look inside.

I

t’s an unusually hot, still Wellington day when I climb the winding streets of Mount Victoria to Amanda Holland’s home, but the moment I step inside I am filled with a clear-headed calm that makes me wonder about the effect of spending every day in a space like this.

“With all our family busy-ness I'm not sure how calm it usually is!” Amanda laughs, “But joking aside… this really is a family home, filled with the people and things that I love. It is always uplifting.”

Amanda leads me down the short entrance hall, past a wall of beautifully-framed artwork and through a large opening revealing what must be one of the best harbour views in the city.

We take a seat at the dining room table, its zinc top dappled here and there with paint that never quite made it onto her daughters’ art projects, and Amanda tells me about her home, her family and her journey to find her chosen career.

She is an interior stylist and the owner of boutique lifestyle store Small Acorns, a mainstay on the Wellington interior and retail scene for more than 20 years, and known even to those who’ve no reason to visit for its colourful, cushion-filled window displays. While interiors are Amanda’s true love they weren’t her first – before setting herself on this career path, she spent 12

years working full time as a pharmacist.

“My Dad was a dentist, and sciences were my thing at high school, so I guess some kind of career in the medical field was always on the cards… I never really saw myself as being creative or arty,” she admits.

She was, however, an avid collector of objects and a believer in the importance of making a space one’s own.

“At university I bought hessian to cover the walls of my bedroom because I wasn’t allowed to paint… and when I graduated from pharmacy school all my friends went out and bought clothes and I bought ceramics,” she says, smiling.

It shouldn’t have surprised anyone then, when Amanda, working at a pharmacy in Kilbirnie, took over a lease on a small shop space across the road, and opened the first version of her now-popular store.

“When it became obvious that Small Acorns was turning into more than a 'hobby shop' and I was contemplating giving up my career in pharmacy my parents were horrified,” she reminisces, but adds, “They’ve since come around.”

One might expect someone from such a clean, clinical field to have a design ethos that follows suit. While painstaking care has obviously gone into every nook and cranny of

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this family home, shared with husband Mike, daughters Milly, 16, and Eva, 12, and Bruno the dog, the end result is relaxed – a far cry from the austere, monochromatic living spaces that often fill today’s design magazines.

“My personal style is totally eclectic, and colour-filled without being in-your-face-bright…

A curated mix of things that I love, that make me smile, that fill me with joy,” she says.

When we tour the rest of the house, it is these special, sentimental pieces that she points out: the artworks painted by her daughters, which sit among professional works from New Zealand and abroad, the old bentwood chair she perched on to do homework while at high school, a group of old medicine bottles discovered in the basement of Napier hospital and saved from the tip, and a beautiful, worn Indian water carrier salvaged in a Wellington junk shop 20 years ago and transformed into a console – “the piece I’d save in a fire”.

But every vintage, junk-shop or homemade object is juxtaposed with something contemporary.

“Without a little bit of vintage a modern space can look a bit cold and clinical, and without a bit of contemporary in a vintage space, it can look a bit Nana-ish… I prefer an interior that is a perfectly imperfect blend of both. The nature of a vintage piece means that it is a one of a kind item that can't be replicated and so is unique to the home. I'm into individuality and staying true to yourself… so this is really important to me,” she says.

Amanda is a big fan of colour – her dynamic and adventurous stylings, many of which use the textiles and prints of luxury brand Designers Guild, are a big drawcard for many of her clients.

In the rooms of this house and others that Aman-

da has had a hand in, it’s not unusual to find two or three bold prints that a less brave soul would never think to bring together. One of the first things I notice on entering the master bedroom is that the set of doors leading out to the leafy back patio is framed by three different fabrics.

“Most people don’t think to do something like that and I love it when I can persuade one of my clients to go there. Mixing is a great way of bringing in a different look and feel, and it can also be quite cost-effective… you can go with something that has a real wow factor but on its own is a bit overwhelming, and mix it with something else that actually makes it look more beautiful,” she says.

When pressed for her mixing guidelines, Amanda says there are no hard and fast rules but that she tends to stick to a few main colour tones and always incorporates lots of white and a little black – the rest is just experimentation and trusting your gut: “You know when it works and when it doesn’t.”

In its current state – immaculately tidy and empty of the hustle and bustle of family life – the house feels like a sanctuary, but as we finish our interview Amanda stresses again that this is first and foremost a family home, and it pays not to be too precious about things.

“I’m a little bit anal in that I like to plump my cushions up each night before bed, and I insist on the beds being made – but everything else… you just have to close your eyes to it,” she says, “Perfection is over-rated, especially when it comes to your home. What is more important is a space that nurtures you and your family, that is filled with the things that have meaning for you, and that inspires you on a daily basis.”

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ABROAD

INDIAN E AT S WRITTEN BY AIDAN RASMUSSEN

The third and final instalment from the Rasmussen family as they travel in India.

It’s the destination that brings you there, but it’s the people you meet that leave the biggest impression. So Aidan Rasmussen and his family found as they wandered the backstreets of Kovalam Beach, Kerala, South India.

A

ll the Cyrillic signs and menus, sharp cheekbones and blonde hair made us feel as though we had stumbled upon a forgotten Russian outpost when we set foot in Kovalam. But spend a little time getting lost in its maze of streets just a few metres back from the boardwalk and you could imagine you’re in a tropical version of Venice.

Okay, maybe that’s a stretch – there are no canals or sexy gondoliers serenading loved-up couples.

Instead there are countless coconut trees rising up out of marshy ground criss-crossed by concrete pathways, which may have once been mangrove swamps or estuaries. There are papaya, mango and jackfruit trees, too. In the maze of skinny streets are colourful stalls, restaurants, tour operators, yoga studios and clinics offering Ayurvedic treatments. Unlike Venice, it’s perpetually sunny, it’s not at risk of being subsumed by the sea, and it doesn’t stink.

With its warm water, waves and mellow vibes, Kovalam is the quintessential holiday town. Its main attraction, Lighthouse Beach, looks out over the Arabian Sea. It’s almost as far south as you can go, 20 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala’s state capital. Being a top-drawer destination for European and Indian tourists makes it one of India’s more expensive locales. Depending on what you want, its beachfront restaurants and phalanx of sun umbrellas and loungers might seem like heaven, or hell. If you are in the latter camp, take time to look beyond the obvious and uncover some of Kovalam’s real charms in those back streets. There you’ll find a scattering of cheap eats you might otherwise miss. This sometimes

means sticking your nose into places your mama told you not to frequent.

It’s 12pm and the lunch rush at Rosemary’s is about to begin. Officially the restaurant – and I use that word very loosely – at the lighthouse end of Lighthouse Beach doesn’t have a name. But that’s what Nanu jokingly calls it when I ask. Nanu is the brother of Rosemary who makes the best thali (lunch) in Kovalam. His precise role in this venture is unclear, though he does take orders and bring out plates. The restaurant is run out of Rosemary’s house, which consists of a large kitchen and a bedroom that’s opened to seat customers when it gets too busy. From midday to 1.30pm it’s a foodie’s version of musical chairs, as those in the know come to fill themselves with Rosemary’s amazing home cooking.

For $1.50 you get a plate of white rice, beetroot thoran, potato curry, boiled tapioca and a big side bowl of channa masala. It rates as one of the best food experiences we’ve had in the 2 ½ months we’ve spent in India. Rosemary is a widow and everything she makes goes towards her son and daughter’s education and the repair of her kitchen roof, which otherwise may not survive the coming monsoon season.

At 3pm you’ll find us at Chai Guy’s. That’s not his real name – it’s Virino – but the moniker our daughter Selva gave him has stuck. His shack is at the opposite end of the beach and behind the backstreets, on the other side of the swamp. This is where Kovalam comes for some homemade deep-fried goodness. He might only do three things, but he does them well. There are bananas dipped in batter, spiced

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ABROAD

chickpea patties and, my favourite, cumin, cardamom and jaggery flavoured balls of wheat flour. Nothing costs more than six rupees (or 13 New Zealand cents) and it’s almost impossible to stop at one. That’s if you can beat off the quick fingers that swiftly dismantle the crusty pyramid Virino constructs on his large baking tray. It looks like hot work as he’s always stripped to the waist. Despite the heat, the wiry middle-aged man with the slight paunch is never without a smile or above having a chuckle with his customers of all ages. He always has some kind of treat for Selva, usually a poppadum.

If Kovalam’s back streets are its arteries, its hardworking residents are its beating heart. They are warm, unhurried, not too bothered if you don’t buy what they’re selling, and happy to engage. This is partly why we return to Rosemary’s and Chai Guy’s. It’s why we buy fresh coconut water from Yashoda who has been rehydrating tourists for 15 years; we learn a little about their lives. In Yashoda’s case, we hear about the negative impact of the global demand for coconut oil on her small business. We come back also because they pay Selva just the right amount of attention. This might seem an odd thing to say, but when you travel with a child through India, the attention they attract is often overwhelming. We’re yet to experience this in Kovalam.

This lightness of spirit is why we didn’t deliberate for too long when Khan, a rickshaw driver and tout, sidled up to us outside Yashoda’s coconut stand and asked if we were interested in touring the backwaters 16km south of Kovalam.

Kerala is famous for its backwaters, a series of brackish lagoons, lakes and canals – natural and manmade – that extend through almost half the state. Depending on how much time you have you can go by small boat, kayak or

canoe. For overnight stays, and longer, you can travel by houseboat. We rode in a six-seater powered by an onboard and driven by a young man called Arun – I think. His English wasn’t the best, but he tried his hardest to make the journey as interesting as possible pointing out terns, cormorants, eagles, dogs resting in the shade, and a location where part of the movie Anaconda was shot. When we agreed to go on the tour we weren’t sure what to expect. It wasn’t that we were disappointed – it was good to get away from Kovalam and the backwater was something we’d never experienced – but this particular backwater felt like it had seen better days. Still, there was a beauty about it.

The tour ends where the backwater meets the Arabian Sea, which crashes against the golden sand of a steep beach that acts as a natural dyke. We stopped for a coconut cut open by a man who had the bearing of a sixty-year-old but the physique of someone half that. I watched him stab rough-hewn poles twice his height into the hard sand as he built a frame for a makeshift shop. He did it effortlessly, with a smile on his face and even took time to pause and wave at Selva.

They call Kerala God’s Own Country. This could be in reference to its religious tolerance – Hindus, Muslims and Christians have coexisted here peacefully for many centuries. Perhaps it has something to do with its natural beauty.

Maybe it’s the unique cuisine shaped by thousands of years of trade along its coast with Rome, Greece, South China, Arabia and of course Europe. I know we’ve only sampled a small slice of this beautiful state, but I like to think this slogan reflects the hospitality of its friendly residents who often have so little but have given us so much.

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74

T O R Q U E TA L K

HONEY I BLEW UP THE MINI WRITTEN BY ROGER WALKER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY RHETT GOODLEY-HORNBLOW

At my High School, there was a hated maths teacher. One afternoon, a few of us lifted his Mini and inserted it sideways tightly between two walls at the back of the school. Luckily for us they never found the culprits but the headmaster pressed a team of (other) pupils into service to deal with the job of retrieving it.

W

hile the Guinness Book of Records sets the record for most people crammed into a Mini classic at 27, (lots of people have tried, see youtube) we schoolboys being larger than the average Pom, could only manage 12 and eight of them were complaining loudly.

Apart from the static amusement, Minis were so much fun on the move. I raced go-karts in those days. Like Minis, they cornered hard with no body roll. But unlike the rear-drive rear-engine karts, the front-drive Minis had diabolical understeer, which we could only mitigate by loading up the boot with bags of cement. And corner they certainly did. A friend kept driving his so hard on a country road that he kept tearing the front wheels off the centre studs. Despite this, driving karts was terrifying while driving the Minis felt absolutely safe.

Recently I was a guest at the BMW-sponsored ‘Mini Track day’ experience at the Manfeild race track. There were various driving challenges involving new Mini Coopers. I was fast but rubbish. I hit a cone on the slalom and failed to stop in the “box” at the end of the accelerate-and-brake contest.

Disqualification failed to remove the grin from my face.

The high point of the day was being a volunteer passenger in cars raced hard by competitive professionals. The door handles and wing mirrors frequently kissed, my adrenaline pumped and the rubber shrieked on the many corners, while the drivers laughed at each other’s mistakes.

At this same event, in a pit garage with dry ice and operatic music, the new Clubman was unveiled.

I’m sure you know all that stuff about Sir Alec Issigonis’s iconic creation (unless you thought the Greeks hadn’t designed anything decent since The Parthenon) and its brilliant passenger and transverse motor packaging. Minis were the polar opposite of those gas guzzling, mini aircraft carrier, be-finned, chrome-jewelled, corner-lurching, obese luxo-barges being built across the Atlantic.

Issigonis’ friend John Cooper, designer and builder of Formula One and rally cars, collaborated with him to produce the Mini Cooper adding zing to an already successful package.

In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, just behind the Model T. After British Leyland’s demise at the hands of the unions, the various brands were sold off. Among the sales the MG went to China, and the Mini to Germany, where BMW are now the proud custodians of the ”Britishness” of the Mini. To its credit, BMW has carefully grown and diversified the family range without compromising its DNA. Each new model is welcomed like royal baby Charlotte.

The Clubman is the biggest ever Mini, but has lost none of the cuteness, cleverness and character of its siblings. An illuminated logo is projected onto the ground below the driver’s door at night. The French doors at the rear can be opened by waving a leg under the rear bumper (or a walking stick if you can’t stand on one leg).

There are two Clubman models, the three-cylinder 1.5 litre Cooper ticketed at $39,900 and the four cylinder 2.0 litre Cooper S at $49,900. You can decorate it to your complete satisfaction, with its choices of 17-, 18- or 19-inch black or silver wheels, 22 interior and exterior trim options, and 12 body colours.

Mine was the Cooper with the John Cooper Works Package (additional cost). Unladen, it had a ton of torque, was civilised, refined, and as obedient as a puppy, and miserly at the pump.

The 27 people who crammed into the classic would be much more comfortable in this one.

It’s very hard to identify its competition. It’s a sort of sporty little wagon. For this confirmed Miniac, its enormous practicality, and timeless, unique, stylish design, ticks all my boxes.

75

W E L LY A NG E L

WHAT WOULD DEIRDRE D O?

LEOPARDS AND ALL THAT

CREEPER

I have left my husband and have met another man, whom I like, but I don’t know whether I am in love. I don’t hate my husband. He is a charming, interesting and selfish man. We had many good times during our 25-year marriage and he was a good father, but we disagreed on things like fidelity and loyalty.

We had grown apart for various reasons but mostly his extra-marital affairs, one of long duration, were why I wanted out. Our adult children have been very bothered by the separation and have been working to persuade us to reunite. My husband is keen and says it will “be different now.” I am unsure. Are the children’s wishes relevant?

Weary, Karori Your children are adults and you are the only one to consider. It sounds as though you have made the break and are content with it? Be friends, meet up with the children often, and both be in their lives. He won't change; so unless that is ok (and it wasn't for 25 years) now is your time to commit to a new way forward – life is too short for any more unhappiness. Your new man has a right to your undivided attention, and let this relationship find its own path.

䌀栀漀挀漀氀愀琀

On Valentine’s Day I received a creepy card and a single rose. I am pretty sure it was from my boyfriend’s lechy uncle. Do I tell the boyfriend or just ignore it?

Annoyed, Masterton You don't know, and Valentines are often secret admirers so just accept it, say nothing and smile.

TO O CO OL My friends laughed the other day when I said to a mutual friend whose father had died, “I am sorry for your loss.” They said I sounded like Kanye West. It may be an Americanism but it seemed to fit the situation. What should I have said?

Mystified, Tawa Whatever you say in this situation is hard.

You sound as though you spoke from the heart and your words were perfect. I am with you and it is totally fine that you made the acknowledgement – it is not what you say but how you say it.

䔀甀瀀栀漀爀椀愀

䴀漀礀甀爀甀

LOVE WAS IN THE AIR Valentine’s Day was lovely, my boyfriend was very romantic and now he says he’s not sure where we’re going or even whether we are heading down the marriage path. We have been together three years. What does this mean? I would dump him but I do love him.

Should I move on?

Bewildered, Te Aro "I would dump him but I still love him" What does this mean? It sounds a little cavalier and not at all heart-broken. Valentine’s Day is a celebration and a pretty commercialised event, which you choose to engage in – or not. It sounds as though you had a lovely day but that he is getting cold feet.

Three years is a substantial relationship, so you need to talk about your commitment to each other and how you both see it going. Maybe Valentine's Day has sparked something that needs to be resolved for you both?

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

伀戀椀

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昀愀猀栀椀漀渀簀猀椀稀攀猀 ㄀㐀⬀ 一攀眀 猀攀愀猀漀渀 挀漀氀氀攀挀琀椀漀渀猀 愀爀爀椀瘀椀渀最 渀漀眀

圀圀圀⸀娀䔀䈀刀䄀一伀⸀䌀伀⸀一娀 圀攀氀氀椀渀最琀漀渀㨀 㐀 䨀漀栀渀猀琀漀渀 匀琀 ☀ ㄀㈀㜀 䘀攀愀琀栀攀爀猀琀漀渀 匀琀 䰀漀眀攀爀 䠀甀琀琀 ㌀㌀ 䠀椀最栀 匀琀 76

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28

B A B Y, B A B Y

PUSH AND SHOVE

BY MELODY THOMAS

P

resuming there is such a thing as a textbook labour mine was anything but. But because my “‘birth plan” was just to do the best I could, I never regretted anything about it. My baby was healthy, there were no issues with bonding or breastfeeding, and as a happy side-effect of our emergency cesarean my vagina remained wholly untroubled – no small bonus when every other body part is fast becoming unrecognisable.

It wasn’t until I passed the halfway point in my second pregnancy that I began to understand I was holding on to some latent, childbirth-related trauma; that I had in fact lost the most important thing any woman can have going into labour – the unshakeable belief that your body will do what it is meant to do.

What happens when your personal experience contradicts this belief? How do you get back to that place of blindly trusting your body when your body has proven somewhat untrustworthy?

For the past few weeks I’ve been joking with anyone who asks that this time round I’m opting for a caesar – that I experienced three or four labours in one the first time, so I’ve earned the right to go the “easy route” this time. Who wouldn’t see the appeal of going out to a nice dinner, getting a good night’s rest, then popping into the hospital in the morning and emerging a few hours later with a baby? But as the weeks progress I’m beginning to realise my jokes are more cocky posturing than truth – a fear of failure dressed up as cool indifference. And when it comes to the task of pushing a lanky-limbed watermelon out of an orifice that happily holds onto a tampon, fear is not your friend.

This is where I was at a week ago – aware that a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) was probably the ideal scenario, but completely unconvinced that I was capable of it; going into scans and midwife appointments hoping to be told I had

a low-lying placenta or some other such complication that would mean opting for a C-section guilt-and shame-free; each day edging me closer to an event that had me frozen in place, unable to untangle the noxious threads holding me there. And then my sister went into labour.

Like mine, it was a long one. I was in the Coromandel when her waters broke, and by the time I arrived in Wellington she’d already been having fairly full-on contractions for about 11 hours.

Like mine, her contractions were irregularly spaced, and when the midwife checked her cervix hours after I got there she was only three centimetres dilated. As she groaned and writhed about in agony, the experience of my own labour came flooding back to me. All that pain for so little gain. By the time the call was made to get to hospital for an epidural, I was as convinced that her labour was going to follow the path of my own as I was that I was having an elective C-section in May. I just couldn’t go through it all again.

And then things changed. The epidural took away her pain, but unlike mine it did nothing to slow the progress of labour. In fact the next time the midwife checked she was 8cm dilated. A couple of hours later she was ready to push. An hour and a bit after that I watched as my perfect, tiny nephew was pushed out into the world and pulled up to his mother’s breast. It was absolutely the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed.

I’m still not entirely sure what I’d like to happen when my time comes. If for some reason I’m told an elective cesarean is the best option for me and the baby then yes, my vagina and I will share a celebratory high-five. But watching a labour progress as it’s ‘meant’ to has done a lot to restore my faith in the possibility that my body can do that too and, if push comes to shove, I reckon I’m willing to give it one more go.

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Atelier 494

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DIRECTORY

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Phone: 021 2266112 / 04 476 8114 bevshort@xtra.co.nz

Visit Sue Daslers Pottery Workshop and Gallery on the south coast at Lyall Bay, where you can purchase locally made hand-thrown ceramics, including the tactile South Coast Series, vibrant Tapa range and earthy terracottas.

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CALENDAR

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MILD MARCH MISSION Ok, so it’s officially autumn but our summer has been fabulous so surely that’ll mean March is warm too, right? Make the most of the dying strains of summer and go check out Titahi Bay and swim swim swim.

Titahi has a really long gentle sloping beach, so it’s perfect for families. It also means lots of shallow warm water....well, anything is warmer than Lyall Bay.

SMELLO-VISION

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A few metres south of Landfill Road off Happy Valley Road lies The Tip Track – yes, yes we know it doesn’t sound enticing, but the views are stellar and you get a great overview of Planet Earth (the composting plant that yearly diverts 100,000 tonnes of sludge and green waste from going into the landfill). Half-way up you can stop off at some abandoned stockyards and then on to Hawkins Hill and more extraordinary views – two hours of puff and picturesque panoramas.

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6 March, 8.00 am, Newtown Streets

KILBIRNIE WORLD FOOD FAIR & INFLATABLES DAY A whole field of New Zealand's best and biggest inflatables.

STILL GOT THE BLUES: A JAZZ SERVICE FOR HARD TIMES

13 March, 10.00 am, St Patrick's College, 581 Evans Bay Parade

S E C TFESTIVAL ION HEADER NEWTOWN The festival celebrates 20 years.

MARCH

02

THE PERFORMANCE ARCADE An annual Live Art mini-festival and programme of free events.

6 March, 10.00 am, St Peter's on Willis

2— 6 March, Wellington Waterfront

07

WATERFRONT POP-UP VILLAGE A collection of shipping containers filled by an array of Wellington artists and designers.

PARKS WEEK: TE ARA NGA TIPUNA WALK Follow the footsteps of the first people to live in Wellington.

2— 30 March, Taranaki Wharf

FANTAILS OF WELLINGTON CITY How much do you know about New Zealand's cheeky piwakawaka? Join an exploration of the life of these small native birds in Wellington city and their relationship with pest mammals.

7 March, 2.00 pm, Pipitea Marae, 55 Thorndon Quay

16 March, 7.00 pm, ZEALANDIA Eco-Sanctuary

03 BOOK CLUB: WRITERS WEEK Book Club host Emily Perkins and a panel of writers and readers take their cue from the Julian Dashper show at City Gallery and discuss conversations between the local and international, between artists, between friends.

3 March, 5.00 pm, City Gallery, Civic Square FOR THE BIRDS A walk-through art experience in native forest; a celebration of light, flight and birdsong; part of the New Zealand Festival programme.

3–19 March, 8.00 pm, Otari-Wilton’s Bush, 160 Wilton Road

05 AFFORDABLE FINE ART MARKET Showcasing Wellington's emerging fine artists.

5 March, 10am–4pm, Fran kits underground carpark SILA: THE BREATH OF THE WORLD More than 60 Orchestra Wellington musicians, cut loose from a conductor’s rule and scattered around Civic Square, are allowed to play at their own speed.

5, 6 March, 5.00 pm, 3.00 pm, Civic Square WELLINGTON PHOENIX V ADELAIDE 5 March, 7.15 pm, Westpac Stadium

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PLUNKET SHIELD: FIREBIRDS VS NORTHERN KNIGHTS

D'ANGELO One of the founders and leading lights of the 1990s neo-soul movement, along with Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Maxwell.

8—11 March, Basin Reserve

10 CHALK ABOUT Start in the playground, go anywhere … Turning the old game of chalk outlines in the playground into something new.

10 March, 7.00 pm, Pātaka Art + Museum, Porirua

11 LYALL BAY SCHOOL FAIR 11 March, 5.00 pm, Lyall Bay School, 2 Freyberg St,

12 PARKS WEEK: OUT IN THE PARK Join local singers, drag queens and kings, comedians, and circus performers for the annual queer fair.

12 March, 10.00 am, Waitangi Park

13 DAME KIRI TE KANAWA WITH VOICES NEW ZEALAND CHOIR Recital, featuring Schubert, Strauss and Brahms and others.

13 March, 6.00 pm, Michael Fowler Centre

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17 March, 8.30 pm, TSB Bank Arena.

19 CUBADUPA Wellington’s vibrant street festival.

19, 20 March, midday, Cuba Street Wellington

20 URI CAINE AND NEW ZEALAND STRING QUARTET Pianist and composer Uri Caine uses classical music as a springboard for jazz improvisation.

20 March, 5.00 pm, Michael Fowler Centre CULTURE KICKS FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT Wellington teams representing groups from around the world battle it out for the 2016 Culture Kicks Trophy.

20 March, 9.00 am, Wakefield Park, Adelaide Rd, Berhampore

26 COASTELLA INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL All roads are leading to Kapiti this Easter.

26 March, 2.00 pm, Southwards Car Museum, Paraparaumu

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ON THE BUSES

KERRY ANN LEE Bus route: No. 2 to Hataitai

Frequency: every so often

Work: artist

“I don’t drive so public transport is great. When I was working in Beijing I treated the back of the bus like my mobile office but that’s because I had a 90 minute commute. Wellington trips are quick and easy.”

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, n o t g n i Well

After 22 years, the Brooklyn Wind Turbine has slipped away into the great hillside in the sky.

It’s being replaced with a younger, sexier model but in the meantime, we’d like to pay homage to the hours of selfless energy the Turbine has put into the community.

View our tribute to this Wellington icon at meridian.co.nz/brooklyn Thanks, Wellington, for your support of the Brooklyn Turbine and of course, for all the wind.

MER//0094A