Capital 42

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

HAERE MARAE WINTER 2017

Th e growt h issue

ISSUE 42

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Lower Hutt: your winter wonderland

The Dowse Art Museum warm up with us The Dowse has cosy nooks to take a breather from a hectic schedule and enjoy fantastic art.

Once you’ve topped up your “me” time the Mine shop has gorgeous locally-crafted jewellery and ceramics, books and designer products to brighten up your day — dowse.org.nz, open daily 10am–5pm, FREE admission

Bellbird Eatery at The Dowse Opening at The Dowse in June 2017, Bellbird is a modern upmarket eatery with an emphasis on fresh seasonal fare sourced from the Hutt

region. Our tap beer will be brewed locally, our coffee roasted locally, our bread baked locally. It’s all about keeping it in the family — bellbirdeatery.co.nz

Chocolate for the Soul You deserve the best. And, that’s exactly the type of chocolate you will find at The Chocolate Story in Petone and Zany Zeus in Moera. These treats have been road-tested by superstars from near and far and found to be unashamedly delicious — thechocolatestory.co.nz & zanyzeus.co.nz

Petone Settlers Museum stories and discovery

Sweet As Hutt Chocolate Challenge outrageously good hot chocolate

This architectural gem is a treasure trove of local stories and history. This is the place to reflect on the history, while staying cosy and warm — petonesettlers.org.nz, open Wed–Sun, 10am–4pm, FREE admission

Mouth-wateringly wonderful. Competitively delectable. This competition invites you to wrap your laughing gear around the best hot chocolates imaginable — 13–30 July, facebook.com/sweetaschallenge

Walk in Style guided fashion tour Walk in Style is a Petone guided fashion tour lead by stylist Frances Hamilton. You’ll discover creations by local designers. Once you’ve brightened up your winter wardrobe you are invited to relax with platters at Oli & Mi — book at jacksonstreet.co.nz

— Bring a friend, explore the museums, treat yourself. Enjoy the best right here in Lower Hutt. huttvalleynz.com/winter

CAPITAL

MADE IN WELLINGTON

Hold onto your hat Model: Gothami Jayasinna Art direction: Shalee Fitzsimmons Photography: Bex McGill See page 69 for full shoot

W

elcome to issue 42, and the beginning of our fifth year of production. We are proud of the achievement, although it’s not a big-number milestone. And we think it better celebrated in May, than as we approach one of our big two-month issues, so take this as notice that we intend to make a big noise next year.

In this issue we look at growth and development of all sorts: from developing sports talent, ways of managing water use, making one's way in fashion in Wellington, and the development of young composers with the NZSO. We showcase the talent of young photographer Chev Hassett in our Day at the Marae, and provide a calendar for Matariki, a festival that is growing every year. We also look at the regrettable growth of our drugs problems; and Melody Thomas highlights developments in our courting patterns and our growing willingness to talk about sex.

Tina Makeriti tells Sarah Lang about her desire to see Maori and Pacific Island publishing grow.

And for fun and because it's winter, we offer you a hat-filled fashion shoot, among our many regular features.

Wellington in winter is alive with events, happenings and activities; enjoy them, and we are back in August to celebrate food.

Thank you to our advertisers, readers, writers, photographers, designers and contributors who make this magazine possible.

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

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

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

PRINTED IN WELLINGTON

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.

6

CONTRIBUTORS

Staff Alison Franks Managing editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz Campaign coordinators Fale Ahchong fale@capitalmag.co.nz Griff Bristed griff@capitalmag.co.nz Haleigh Trower haleigh@capitalmag.co.nz Lyndsey O’Reilly lyndsey@capitalmag.co.nz Factotum John Briste d john@capitalmag.co.nz

Craig Beardsworth

Factotum craig@capitalmag.co.nz

Art director Shalee Fitzsimmons shalee@capitalmag.co.nz Designer Rhett Goodley- design@capitalmag.co.nz Hornblow Editorial assistant Laura Pitcher laura@capitalmag.co.nz Accounts Tod Harfield accounts@capitalmag.co.nz Gus Bristed

Distribution

SE BA ST IÁ N G A L L A R D O Ph oto g r aph er

B E X M CG I L L Ph oto g r aph er

Chilean architect Sebastián, spends his time walking around Wellington with his talented wife Catherine, enjoying the wind and the coffee around Newtown, where they live. Together they document beautiful weddings all around New Zealand. www.milladelpino.com

Bex is currently in her final year of study at Massey University, majoring in Photography. She loves fashion, cats and large amounts of chocolate.

SHA L E E F I T Z SI M M O N S Ar t D i re c tor

B E T H R O SE Journ a li st

Shalee blew in on the wind from up north many years ago. She's our resident Art Director, stylist & designer. Obscure music enthusiatic, fanatical online shopper and sav-guzzling misfit, Shalee puts the it into Capital. Check her out on Instagram at made.you.loook.

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 sixmetre converted bus, finding out lots of interesting stuff around New Zealand.

Contributors Melody Thomas | Janet Hughes | John Bishop Beth Rose | Tamara Jones | Joelle Thomson Anna Briggs | Charlotte Wilson | Sarah Lang Bex McGill | Billie Osborne | Deirdre Tarrant Sharon Stephenson | Francesca Emms Sharon Greally

Stockists Pick up your Capital in New World, Countdown and Pak’n’Save supermarkets, Moore Wilson's, Unity Books, Commonsense Organics, Magnetix, City Cards & Mags, Take Note, Whitcoulls, 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 Kirsty Bunny | Claudia Lee Jenny Ruan | Tom Cardy

8

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In collaboration with Te Whare Rokiroki—Maori Women’s Refuge, help play a part in the ‘One Million Stars to End Violence’ project, which aims to weave 1 million stars

by July 2017 to be used in an installation at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

15 June at 5pm Wellington Museum Queens Wharf Entry by koha museumswellington.org.nz

337 High Street, Lower Hutt 04 566 8232

Coastlands Shopping Centre, Paraparaumu, Kapiti Coast 04 892 0010

STAR WEAVE JAM

MEDIFOODS. C O. N Z

CONTENTS

12 LETTERS 14 CHATTER 16 NEWS BRIEFS 18 NEW PRODUCTS 21 BY THE NUMBERS

22

TALES OF THE CIT Y When David Playle isn't blow drying hair he's hanging out in Newtown

56

DAY AT THE MARAE

25 CULTURE

33

H20 WOE

36 POT OF GOLD Young composer Reuben Jellyman will pretty much write for any genre

41 STICKY SITUATION

Chev Hassett trains his camera on a place close to his heart

52 SEX SEGMENTS Intimacy and desire – what mum didn't tell you

44 48 74

HUTT IN BRIEF DEPARTMENT OF CONVERSATION FASHION BRIEFS

69 GET A HEAD We doff our cap at... hats

We're still in a fug over drug laws

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CONTENTS

94

IF NOT ME THEN WHO?

90

76

FORAGING AND SKULDUGGERY Porcini is worth scrabbling in the undergrowth

MANDATORY WEARING Two women have been serving up men a feast of fashion for 20 years

80 83 84

108

LIFESTYLE BRIEFS FISHY BUSINESS EDIBLES

KICKING ON THE DOCK OF T-BAY The rugby talent in TJ Perenara was picked up early

84

SHEARERS’ TABLE Lamb shanks for winter – who could ask for more?

92 88

SCONE IN 30 SECONDS

BY THE BOOK

98

A HOME FROM HOME We visit a Churton Park zinger

102 104 112 114

WELLY ANGEL TORQUE TALK BABY, BABY CALENDAR 116

GROUPIES A big bunch of big dog lovers

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N E W Z E A L A N D S Y M P H O N Y O R C H E S T R A

SHATTER YOUR PERCEPTIONS

LETTERS

HEY Hey, the adrenaline issue (#40) was cool. Good stories about people that mostly I’ve never heard of, doing interesting things, that I will never do.

Keep it up.

J Kirby, by email SEEKS POETRY I look forward to your magazine every month, in particular the book stories which I find lively and interesting. Especially the recent ones on the romance writer (#39) and the science writer, (#40). Such very different writers and people. I remember, though, that you used to run a regular poetry feature, which I enjoyed very much. I am, in general, not a poetry reader but I liked the monthly taster. Is there any chance of that coming back?

A Andrews, Hutt Valley Thank you for your endorsement. The possibility of bringing back the poem is still part of our planning.

We are keen to bring it back, if possible. Ed GONE FISHING Your Fishy Business column is really useful. A copy is usually in our reception and we like the information about various fish. It is often discussed among us at our workplace. We liked the recent Spotty column (p 57, #41).

C Binny, by email

ANNE LOESER FIRST VIOLIN

ALE XANDER SHELLEY RETURNS

29 JUL

wvv

WELLINGTON MICHAEL FOWLER CENTRE 7.30PM

VISIT

HOUSE DELIGHT I always enjoy your mag but would have liked to see more of the houses you featured in your May issue (#41). I realised after a read through that you have written about them in more detail previously but I would have loved to see more in that issue.

They all looked so beautiful, I had immediate house envy.

S Maple, Kapiti We have taken note of your feedback for the future. Ed.

NZSO.CO.NZ FO R TI CK E T D E TA I L S

A L E X A N D E R S H E L L E Y C O N D U CTO R PA B L O S Á I N Z V I L L E G A S G U I TA R

You can send letters to editor@capitalmag.co.nz with the subject line Letters to Ed

LEONIE HOLMES FROND R O D R I G O C O N C I E RTO D E A R A N J U E Z BA RTÓ K C O N C E RTO F O R O R C H E ST R A 12

LUCA

SPECIALISTS IN COLOUR & HAIRSTYLING

We use & recommend

lucahairstyling.co.nz | 262 Thorndon Quay | 499 9122

TER S E C TCI H OA NT H ADER

INK INC.

DO NOT PA S S G O Wellingtonians have until 15 August to nominate locations for a Wellington edition of Monopoly.

Suggestions so far include the Bucket Fountain and the Petone aquifer for Water Works, and a Chance Card that sees you spending too much on cheese at Moore Wilson’s. Comedian Raybon Kan has suggested a “Baby Boomer” card where you start the game already owning property and Renters United offered a Community Chest Card that reads “You destroyed your tenants’ lives, pay $750”.

DENISE STROM What led you to get a tattoo?

My big OE (UK). I wanted something that would embrace who I am and where I come from.

TURBULENT TIMES It’s a bumpy ride for Wellington Airport’s runway extension project. Earlier this year the Court of Appeal overturned a Civil Aviation Authority decision to approve a 90-metre safety area at each end of the proposed runway extension.

The airport company immediately sought to appeal, saying it must have certainty to run its business. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the airport's appeal but Wellington Airport is still waiting to learn when that will be.

Rebellion or art?

Art. I think if it was rebellion I would have chosen something totally different and less meaningful to me.

Why did you choose the design?

My tattoos are reflective of where I came from and being a proud Kiwi.

Family – for or against it?

Both – it’s very interesting listening to people’s perspectives on tattoos. Initially, I was anti-tattoos but I don’t regret it. I'm keen to get a couple more.

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C HAT T E R

WELLY WORDS

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH What do you do when you’re three, playing halfway up a tree in a cafe courtyard and caught short? Call out to dad? No. Climb down and find a loo?

No. Pull your pants down and pee from the tree tops? Yes. Made perfect sense for one wee boy at a local er...watering hole in Newtown. Mum was horrified, dad tried to hide a smile and the other cafe patrons roared with laughter.

BRAZEN DISPLAY Kiwi ingenuity is alive and well at Wellyword HQ. A gym-going staff member got caught without a hair tie after a workout, so used her sports bra to tie her hair back after a shower.

Not a bad improvisation, she thought, and then walked through town forgetting it was there.

CROSS SAFELY A Wellyworder was amused one recent school morning to pause at the school crossing, and wait while two unaccompanied children safely crossed the road – all while the supervising teacher, with her back turned, chatted to another adult from the safety of the traffic island in the middle of the road.

IT'S COOL TO KORERO Kātahi te tama tāroaroa!

Kua tere tana tupu ake.

What a tall boy! He's grown fast.

C R E E P Y, MUCH? Heard of Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch? Well, this hairy, scary beast – some say he’s mythical, some say he’s real – has been sighted in Polhill Reserve, and your help is needed. The Sasquatch (16–17 June) is nocturnal, so the theatre show (whoops, hunt) must happen by dark. The folks from midwinter-solstice festival Lōemis aren’t giving much away, but you can count on two expert-tracker guides, a torch, and several shots of adrenaline. If you survive the evening, join Lōemis event Ritual on 21 June, the year’s longest night. A procession and band accompany a papier-mâché beast, Somnium, from Wellington Museum, where it’s been installed, to Whairepo Lagoon, where it will be set alight.

FRESHEN UP A new report from the Ministry for the Environment, Our Fresh Water 2017, indicates that while some parts of New Zealand are improving or maintaining their water quality, around 20% of our waterways have been getting worse.

There are various causes, including farm animals. Federated Farmers water spokesperson Chris Allen says the report backs their “tackle the hotspots” approach, and that sustainable results, “will only be achieved with all members of the community, including farmers, working towards achieving outcomes catchment by catchment.”

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NEWS BRIEFS

ART S HUB This month the Wellington City Council will make a decision about the proposed establishment of a world-class national centre of music in Wellington’s Civic Square, following public feedback. The project is supported by two other partners, Victoria University of Wellington and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The centre would be a home of musical performance, education, culture and the arts, with the Wellington Town Hall as its focal point. The total cost of the full project is forecast to be $187 million.

CHEERS!

MOTHS TO THE FLAME

NEW FACES

It’s a hard job, but someone had to decide which Garage Project brew would be best for Singapore Airline’s passengers. Simon Turcotte, General Manager New Zealand of Singapore Airlines, says, “Ultimately we selected Hāpi Daze pale ale, as it has broad appeal and would serve as a great ambassador for New Zealand craft beer to our customers worldwide." The airline has just announced that it will now serve Hāpi Daze on all Singapore Airlines flights departing New Zealand.

Hundreds of young people flock to the capital every year, according to data from FigureNZ. Over a seven-year period almost four thousand 15–19-yearolds moved to Wellington, and over nine thousand 20–24 year-olds. So who’s leaving? All other age groups, apparently. The largest group leaving the windy city are 30–34-year-olds, with over three thousand moving away during the data period.

Grant Robertson, the incumbent in the Wellington Central Electorate seat, will be opposed by National candidate Nicola Willis, who was selected unopposed after Paul Foster-Bell pulled out. James Shaw for the Greens, who came third behind Foster-Bell in the last election, also has his hat in the ring. Gayaal Iddamalgoda, candidate for the Migrant and Refugee Rights Campaign (Aotearoa/NZ), is standing for the first time on a platform of equality, dignity and human rights for all New Zealanders.

BAO AND BEERS WINE AND WONTONS DINE IN OR TAKEOUT AND WE CATER

59 taranaki st. www.mrgos.co.nz 16

NEWS BRIEFS

C O M E F LY WITH ME Things are really taking off at the site of the new air-traffic-control tower at Lyall Bay. The tower, which leans into the prevailing northerly wind, reached its final height of 32 metres when the 10-tonne cab roof was craned into place last month. Project manager Shane Beech says they’re on track to complete the tower this year. The cab, where air traffic operations are carried out, provides 360-degree views of traffic around the airfield. The lower levels will house meeting rooms, office space and technical equipment.

HAND TO MOUTH

DECIDEDLY DECIMAL

WAG OR FLAG

Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association President Rory Lenihan-Ikin says more and more people are accessing student support services. “Unfortunately this is not a surprise, considering most students live in poverty for the duration of their studies.” VUWSA’s food bank, Community Pantry, has seen a rise in the number of students needing help. It gave out 152 food parcels in the first quarter of 2017 compared with 69 in the first quarter of 2015.

Fifty years ago New Zealand said goodbye to pounds, shillings and pence and welcomed in dollars and cents. To mark the anniversary on 10 July, BNZ Heritage, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Commission for Financial Capability will be sharing the history of this event, with online resources, exhibitions and celebrations.

Children can have a digital lawyer at their fingertips, thanks to the new “Wagbot”. Using the Facebook Messenger system the chatbot responds to students' questions about common problems such as detentions, and provides advice based on the sorts of problems people had brought to Community Law Wellington over the years. We expected educators to be wary of this bot, but a teacher from a Wellington school said it was good that students can find out about their rights: “A well informed community is a healthy community.”

STOP AT

MODERN ASIAN HAWKER FOOD 17

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3 2

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6

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13 12 8

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art, design, curiosities and a dash of the absurd. www.qtmuseumwellington.com

BY THE NUMBERS

New & improved!

Growth This issue is loosely themed around growth.

Here are some facts to ponder while you wait for your soufflĂŠ to rise in the oven.

Height skite

Humans experience two growth spurts. The first one; in early childhood around the ages of 2 to 3, can range up to 10cm a year.

The second growth spurt happens during puberty. Girls grow about 8cm per year, and boys grow about 10cm per year.

Growth slows steadily after puberty – and has largely stopped at age 21 and 25 for women and men respectively.

50m 45m 40m 35m 30m 25m 20m 15m 10m 5m

Sky scrapers Average native tree heights

8m

25m

50m

15m

10m

Manuka

Pohutukawa

Rimu

Mahoe

Kowhai

Kahikatea and Rimu are slowest growing taking up to 500 years to reach full height

240k 230k 220k 210k 200k

Come hither

Statistics NZ predict 65,000 more people in the region over the next 30 years.

growth 21%

Wellington City population growth

Regional residents

203,933

246,692

2016

2043

Nailed it

Human finger nails grow at an average rate of 3mm a month.

3.0% 2.7% 2.6% 2.4% 2.2% 2.0% 1.8% 1.6%

Grow Welly Economic growth

Fingernails require three to six months to regrow completely.

The longest female nails to ever exist measure a total of 601.9 cm.

2%

Dec 2015

Compiled by Craig Beardsworth | Illustrated by Shalee Fitzsimmons 21

2.8%

Dec 2016

SECTION HEADER

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

Curl-up a n d d ye WRITTEN BY FRANCESCA EMMS | PHOTOGRAPH BY ANNA BRIGGS

COFFEE

Peoples Coffee

SUBURB Newtown

BRUNCH

Seashore Cabaret

SPORTS Netball

DOCO

Leave it to Beavers

If you’re looking for David Playle there are only a handful of places he could be.

W

hen David Playle’s not at LUCA Hairdressing, where he’s renowned for his blow-waving and upstyling, he’ll be at one of his favourite haunts. “There are really only a few places you would find me,” he says.

His number one spot? Peoples Coffee in Newtown.

He says for him it’s “the absolute most – they’re pretty much my whanau.” Or if it’s the weekend you might see him at Seashore Cabaret in Petone, his favourite brunch spot. He says they send light into his belly every time and it’s a great place to go to get into deep silly conversations with friends. The best thing about it, apart from the food, is the view, “out of this world.”

If he’s not in Wellington then he might be at a netball tournament. He belongs to the Cook Strait Men and Mixed Association and also plays with Wellington-based Te Hokioi. “I love netball,” he says. “I do hair for the Wellington Pulse team for the home games, and I play far too much of it myself.”

David’s busy at the salon, plays sports and spends lots of quality time with his people. But he also appreciates his quiet time. “I’m not much of a bar or clubs human. Actually, they scare me,” he says. He has a few places where he likes to go alone. “Les Mills Extreme, it’s where I do my ‘me’ time. I’m usually not comfortable when people talk to me there.”

The War Memorial at Pukeahu Park was designed as a place for reflection and that’s certainly how it works for David. “I like to sit and imagine what kind of stories all those soldiers and families must have had. I tend to be at

peace when I’m there. It’s a real honour to connect with such a place.”

Being dyslexic means he’s not a big reader, so when he hears about something interesting he’ll try to find a documentary to watch. He says he always has something to chat to his clients about, but admits that he sometimes gets a bit obsessed with a topic. At the moment it’s beavers in America. He recommends watching Leave It to Beavers, especially to see how they build their lodges.

So does he love animals? “When I turned 30 my friends persuaded me to settle down and get a pet. Seven years later we’re still working it out.” He and Honey Shalma, a pure-bred Chow Chow, go to the Sunday markets and often take walks together around Newtown.

“Newtown definitely trumps all other suburbs in Wellington,” he says, “It reminds me of what Kingsland and Grey Lynn in Auckland were like before they got all flash. It’s where you see the most understated style and fashion.” When it comes to his own style, he wears whatever feels good. “I don’t tend to follow trends. I look back at old photos and I’m still the same.”

He says that working at LUCA “allows me to have the freedom to express my artistic view.” But the satisfaction of his clients is his top priority. “Sometimes hairdressing is understated but I assure you, creating can only be achieved when the energy between the guest and the hairartist are in harmony with each other.”

23

Percolators Brass Band presents

New Orleans style brass music drawing on the tradition of second line parades.

10 June at 2.30pm Wellington Museum Queens Wharf Adults $15 Children & concession $10 Bookings essential museumswellington.org.nz

Create Your Future Do what you love

art, design, MÄ ori visual art, commercial music and creative media production Massey College of Creative Arts creative.massey.ac.nz

24

Sally Pardoe

CULTURE

GIVING NOTICE The first event in the city council’s ReCut series on 28 April was reportedly an impressive spectacle. To celebrate the re-opening of lower Tory St, costumed dancers, singers and musicians performed on platforms as plumes of flames shot into the air. Capital loves the idea of pop-up cultural events outdoors, but this one was first mentioned on the council’s Facebook page on 24 April, meaning few knew about it in time. The council says the next event will be timed around the Lions’ games but still don't have a date.

THEY STILL REMEMBER

SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING

GOING PLACES

October 12, 1917 was the deadliest day in New Zealand’s history, with 3,700 New Zealand casualties – including 845 killed – in the Battle of Passchendaele. A century later, an exhibition from the Memorial Museum Passchendaele, The Belgians Have Not Forgotten, is touring to New Zealand. It visits the indoor Hall of Memories at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park from 10 to 28 July. Photographs, movies, artworks and artefacts illuminate ANZAC experiences at Passchendaele and, more widely, in all of Flanders fields, where famously poppies grow.

Before she became one of New Zealand’s best-known artistic photographers, Fiona Clark created a documentary-style photographic series Te iwi o te wahi kore (the people with nothing) about Taranaki iwi Ngātiawa/Te Atiawa and their disappearing kaimoana. She presented the 104 photographs to various groups, including a Treaty tribunal, to assert iwi rights and challenge pollution of the local foreshore and seabed. Fifty-five of these photos show at Dowse exhibition Fiona Clark: Te iwi o te wahi kore (15 July-29 October).

In 2013, for his Whitireia performingarts degree, Porirua-raised SamoanScottish dancer Callum Sefo interned with New Zealand’s leading contemporary-dance company Black Grace. He subsequently joined the company, and has since performed in seven countries. Now he’s dancing in Black Grace’s national tour of As Night Falls, an ode to a troubled world which shows at the Opera House on 24 June.

Winter Getaway quality luggage at everyday low prices Numinous London, Lipault, Victorinox, Tatonka, Eminent, The NZ Luggage Co, Voyager, Antler, and more!

moorewilsons.co.nz

CULTURE

OUR DA R K E S T NIGHT Andrew Laking and Claire Mabey (right), a couple who produce their own arts events, have widened the winter-solstice celebration Lōemis (15–21 June) to nine events after the popularity of 2016’s inaugural festival. Laking and his musician friends have composed a score that they’ll perform at The Roxy’s screening of Haxan, a silent film about witchcraft (15 June). On 18 June, a candle-light concert inside the Carillon tower begins with Joel Vinsen’s experimental soundscapes (looped sound designed for particular spaces), followed by mainly medieval and renaissance songs performed by male quartet Aurora IV.

BEYOND THE STEREOT YPE

WORLDS COLLIDE

SO CK IT TO HIM

The dusky-maiden stereotype forms a starting point for an exhibition examining the experiences and contribution of wāhine Maori. Showing at the National Library’s Turnbull Gallery, Wāhine: Beyond the Dusky Maiden (6 June to 25 August) spans photographs, paintings, sculpture, weaving, and other taonga. It starts with ancient kōrero (stories) about female atua (gods), moves onto notable wāhine tipuna (ancestors), and finishes with inspiring contemporary wāhine. Check out Robyn Kahukiwa’s poster depicting goddesses, and Ans Westra's (above) photographs of wāhine at work.

Voice and acting coach Jon Hunter teaches at Toi Whakaari and the New Zealand School of Music – “And I engage in one or two creative challenges a year.” This year he’s directing the NZSM’s biennial opera production: a modern take on Leoš Janáček’s 1920s opera The Cunning Little Vixen (Hannah Playhouse, 28–30 July), about a forester and teacher infatuated with a gypsy. “I’m curious to explore the intersection of the human and animal worlds, particularly where urban sprawl has happened.”

Andy Gartrell has busked at the Wellington Night Market for three years, entertaining kebab chompers with his looped acoustic pop mash-ups. On three occasions, different people have put socks into his hat. “My feet must look cold.” Now his regular gigs include entertaining Reading Courtenay’s ticket-buyers on Friday nights, and he’s released his first EP. “I’m so stoked.”

26

Photo: Getty Images/ Carlos Hernandez

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C L A I M I N G S PA C E

By Sarah Lang

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At age 40, curator Leanne Wickham discovered she was pregnant. “It was a shock as I already had two kids.” She’d just applied to become director of Expressions Whirinaki Arts & Entertainment Centre – Upper Hutt's art-gallery, theatre, civic-hall and café complex. Wickham told the board she was pregnant, but got the gig anyway. “It’s been a juggle, but a great challenge,” says Wickham, mum to children aged 16, 13 and four. Her four-year tenure has seen visitor numbers more than double from 65,000 to nearly 150,000. “I wanted to keep the local focus but also have national and international focuses to attract people from the wider region.” She’s now known for securing world-class touring exhibitions, including US spacephotography exhibition The Evolving Universe (11 June to 27 August), the Smithsonian Institution’s first-ever exhibition in New Zealand. “My husband’s friend said he didn’t do art galleries, but he’d go see photographs taken in space.” Also on, until 25 June, is this year’s local-history exhibition The Blockhouse: The Battle That Never Was, about the stockade occupied by the Wellington Militia’s Hutt Battalion from 1860 to 1861. Never attacked by Māori, it’s since served as a courthouse, scout hall and hayshed. Tour the heritage building on 11 June.

When we chat, award-winning playwright, producer, director and poet Mīria George is in Melbourne to attend a global creators’ summit at indigenous-performance festival Yirramboi. “Indigenous voices are claiming their space worldwide,” she says. She’d stopped in on her way back from her $30,000, three-month FulbrightCreative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency at the University of Hawaii. George, who also identifies as Māori, was the first Cook Islands winner. “I’m so proud of that, and so grateful.” Post-Melbourne, she returned home for the third Kia Mau Festival (2–24 June): an annual showcase of contemporary indigenous theatre and dance, organised by George and partner Hone Kouka (who run Maori and Pacific theatre company Tawata Productions). “This year Kia Mau’s expanded from Wellington city to Porirua and Upper Hutt, and next year we’ll also be in Lower Hutt and the Kapiti Coast.” She directs genre-bending production Fire In The Water, Fire In The Sky (6–10 June), which she wrote in Hawaii about climate change, colonisation, and Christianity. “The audience can follow three movers [two dancers and one kapa-haka performer] around Pataka’s exhibition spaces.” Kia Mau, which presents 15 New Zealand productions, also hosts Canadian dancer/choreographer Santee Smith’s solo show NeoIndigenA.

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ON GOING OUT WITH THE TIDE 8 April – 30 July 2017

image Colin McCahon Tui Carr Celebrates Muriwai Beach 1972,

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CULTUR AL DIRECTORY

KIA MAU FESTIVAL

THE UNDERTONES LIVE AT SAN FRAN

Kia Mau Festival is a heart-warming cultural celebration, led by Wellington’s own Māori and Pasifika theatre and dance companies. Kia Mau Festival is a unique and innovative opportunity for whānau and communities across the Wellington region to engage with today’s tangata whenua and First Nations artists, from across the globe.

In venues across Greater Wellington Region.

The Undertones – the legendary Irish punks who enjoyed seven UK chart hits – play Cuba St’s San Fran in July as part of their acclaimed 40th Anniversary World Tour.

Punk and New Wave fans can look forward to turning back the clock and getting their Teenage Kicks live and direct from The Undertones – who tour New Zealand for the very first time!

Friday 2 – Saturday 24 June. www.kiamaufestival.org

San Fran, 171 Cuba St 11 July, 8pm Tickets from www.utr.co.nz

BLACK GRACE PRESENTS AS NIGHT FALLS A poetic ode to our troubled world, As Night Falls is a beautiful new work performed by Black Grace, choreographed by Artistic Director Neil Ieremia, set to the timeless and passionate sound of Antonio Vivaldi.

“A new masterpiece.” – National Business Review, 2016.

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OPINION

H 2O wo e W R I T T E N BY G EO RG I N A AU ST I N - E L L I S | P H OTO G R A P H BY O S CA R K E YS

M

y concerns about water amount to its being available and tasting good, ideally without my paying for it. I've just returned from living in London and a brief stint in Sri Lanka, where water quality and taste rank low. Coming home, there was no purer joy than turning on the tap and having my glass of water at the kitchen sink. Now, with time, my appreciation has faded.

I turn on the tap and think nothing of it.

I am peripherally aware that we should probably know more about New Zealand’s various water issues, but the Instagram generation wants its information in easily digested bites. So let me try to deliver it.

Scarcity, cost, allocation and pollution are the key issues.

They are all intrinsically connected, highly emotive issues, and to examine any one is to open Pandora’s box.

Depending where your interests lie, you will probably deplore certain parts of the population: farmers, conservationists, local iwi, bureaucrats, current and future generations – definitely water exporters. Probably Aucklanders. This makes for awkward and entertaining dinner-table conversation. I recommend you engage.

But why should Wellingtonians care? First of all, in terms of lifestyle, our health and enjoyment of natural resources is inversely related to pollution levels. Economically and socially, it’s important to consider what resource “ownership” means for everyone.

33

OPINION

Management Wellington Water, on behalf of its Council owners, oversee distribution to the four metropolitan cities; Wellington, Porirua, Lower and Upper Hutt. Kapiti and Wairarapa are under separate management and source.

Source From two main collection areas; the Hutt and Wainuiomata rivers and from eight wells at Waterloo.

Flushing toilet

6L full flush

Taps

10L per minute

Drinking water

At least 3L per person per day

Shower

15L per minute

Bath

90L

Garden hose

15L per minute

Washing machine

100L per load

Cooking

About 1.5L per pot

Most Wellingtonians are lucky to receive water which is diverted from rivers, treated and piped straight to our homes. Unlike some parts of the country, we don’t really have to think about it. Historically, our infrastructure, population and consumption have matched our access and means of paying for it. However, times are changing and so are we. If we don’t value a commodity, it is vulnerable to abuse.

Our growing population and new development are expected to put a strain on existing infrastructure.

We can’t predict the effect of climate change. Reserves in case of severe earthquake may be necessary. And at the same time, we need to protect the environment. All of this costs money.

Asking people to pay for water is contentious. The last resort of the very liberal is along the lines of “Water falls from the sky, why must I pay for it?” But the water component in your rates bill is not the cost of the water itself; this cannot be charged for. It is the cost of the infrastructure for and administration of its delivery. A great deal of energy is involved in moving water against gravity – just pick up a bucket-full to appreciate how much.

The Kapiti Coast switched to a water metering system to help recover the costs of the infrastructure.

Although a user-pays system is effective in motivating

people to save water, charging users is unpopular, and even politically untenable (apparently the Kapiti councillor who mooted the change was voted out). There is also the cost of installing meters to consider, and infrastructure construction costs are currently rising faster than inflation, which can limit savings to rate-payers.

Education can decrease consumption, and is cheaper than infrastructural measures. If we do not decrease per-capita water use, then Wellington will soon need a new source of water. Developing any such source incurs environmental damage, so delaying doing so means preserving the environment.

On average we use 350 litres of water per person per day. If we were to reduce water use by 15% or 50L per person per day, then a new water source might not be needed until 2040. In Sydney, usage was brought down to 1970s figures just by conservation efforts.

I don’t know many Wellingtonians who actively conserve water, but if we were all more careful it could have a massive benefit at no cost to us. This would require acknowledgement of water as a scarce resource.

In the words of the late John Clarke aka Fred Dagg; “We don’t know how lucky we are”, and maybe that’s the problem.

wellingtonwater.co.nz/publication-library/ sydneywater.com.au/annualreport/ performance/water_efficiency.html

34

(litres rounded)

The water we use

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MUSIC

Pot of gold W R I TT E N BY DA N P OY N TO N | P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G G S

It’s tough being a composer, and there’s not much money in it.

Especially if you’re writing music for classical orchestras.

B

ut this doesn’t stop Reuben Jelleyman, who survives in the precarious world of composing by giving just about any type of music a go. The 23-year-old Wellingtonian is one of a new breed of composers who’ll gladly take on a full symphony orchestra, but is just as happy conjuring spacey electronic sounds or gigging in Irish bands.

Reuben is also an accomplished percussionist, specialising in marimba and vibraphones; he has immersed himself in Indonesian gamelan and Pacific island music; he has played in jazz and rock bands as well as Renaissance recorder groups; and recently he’s taken up the organ and the bagpipes. He’s also completed a degree in physics. Gone are the days of the narrow “classical” specialist.

Growing up in a musical family in Auckland, Reuben was exposed to classical music and taken to orchestral concerts from an early age. He reports being “pretty into Beethoven” at age four or five, exploring his harmonies on the piano. Family connections also meant he became personally acquainted with the heavyweights of New Zealand composition.

Reuben recognised the risks of a musical career when he began his studies at Victoria university. He was drawn also to jazz, but ultimately modern classical music offered him the scope he wanted: “the modern stuff is so varied and occupies this huge space and you build your own world using these tools.” His teachers at Victoria helped him, but “I don’t know, I kind of had my own ideas”. On whether you can be taught composition, he says “You have to find it yourself ”.

Reuben’s taking the July premiere of his latest orchestral piece in his stride, although it’s being played by the National Youth Orchestra under one of classical music’s superstars, British composer James MacMillan.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what he’s about,” Reuben says nonchalantly of the world-famous MacMillan, who will conduct Reuben’s Vespro in Wellington and Auckland. “But with the NYO it could have been any famous conductor.”

The NYO has performed under a string of international conductors, and Reuben thinks the orchestra has “some real star players” after working with them.

“It’s great to work with young energetic talent,” he says.

The NYO, which is run by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, has been the training ground for around half of the NZSO’s current players.

Reuben is this year’s NYO Composer in Residence, which he says gives him “an incredible opportunity” to have his music played by a high-quality orchestra.

Many composers never get to hear their work played by a full orchestra, as they are expensive things and logistical nightmares. They often have to be content with hearing their orchestral music synthesised digitally, or even just imagined in their heads.

Reuben is luckier than most, or his CV suggests, simply more talented. He’s already had pieces played by the NZSO and the Auckland Philharmonia – a rare achievement for a young composer – but he’s even more chuffed to have the NYO perform his work.

“They’re of my generation and they’re the musicians I’m going to continue to work with for the rest of my life,” he says.

“We’re beginning this exploration of music at the same time.”

Tjasa Dykes, the NZSO’s Artistic and Education Coordinator, says the Composer in Residence scheme, running since 2004, tries to find new compositional talent and encourage interest in contemporary music – among both players and audience – in a chiefly classical environment.

“There is a special energy in the hall when the young compositions get paired with young performers,” she says.

“There seems to be a real interest from the NYO players to perform works of their peers and to help each other to explore new fields.” The young composers push boundaries, she says, and the young musicians are willing to meet their expectations.

36

MUSIC

Tjasa says MacMillan, one of the world’s best composers and conductors, is very supportive of the young composers involved with the project.

Reuben has had his music played as far afield as Finland. To reel off a few of his achievements here: in 2015 he was joint winner of the NZSO Todd Corporation Young Composers Award and a finalist for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award; and he has represented the Composers Association of New Zealand at the Asian Composers League festivals in Singapore and Vietnam.

But Reuben doesn’t like sitting around waiting for funding and prizes from institutions. He believes composers should create their own opportunities and try to be an active part of the community, not write “hypothetical music” in universities.

“It’s our job as contemporary musicians to be entrepreneurial,” he says. “If I want my music to be part of a scene I better be organizing concerts and getting performances of my own music from my friends. You’ve just got to put energy into it, it’s got to be intense.”

In May he did just that with his audio visual installation Dirac at Wellington’s LUX Light Festival, “a piece of street art inside a shipping container.”

Capital magazine went to check it out on Cuba Street, and as the write-up said, “this immersive work leads you through a corridor of light and surroundsound, projecting electronic sonic materials into fascinating frozen visuals”. In the spirit of street art, people of all ages tramped through the container, accompanied by Reuben’s visuals on large screens, evoking the very fabric of the universe or, as he puts it, “quantum behaviours at cool temperatures”.

Reuben’s eerie electronic sounds mesmerized many.

Others just looked bewildered, while some young girls on their Friday night jaunt used the space like a cat-walk, not even pausing to look at the screens. Not to every composer’s taste, but we’re sure the radically community-minded Reuben was very satisfied.

“I believe this kind of music, whatever we call it, has a scene that should exist alongside jazz gigs in the city,” says Reuben. “You get to a bunch of venues in Wellington and there’ll be some bustling energy of live

music happening and new classical music could have a platform like that. It’s happening in Europe.”

Reuben is fascinated by vast ideas and imagery. In Bach’s Passions the “concept of this big form” drew him. And he recalls listening to Carmina Burana as a child and longing to make a film to its soundtrack, articulating a “huge vision of something terrible”.

He has experimented with sound installations and performances at night time in venues such as Wellington’s Toi Poneke Arts Centre, to create a more intense atmosphere. He sees a need for “flexible formats where things can be different for different gigs”.

Although some would say the symphony orchestra is now an indulgent institution that’s had its day, among competing musical technologies, Reuben insists it still has a great future. “I don’t think any of this software reproduction quite hits it on the head. You’re creating a world by writing a piece.”

Reuben says he wouldn’t have made it as a composer if it weren’t for the understanding friends and family who have supported him in many ways, including financially. He is philosophical about the persistent poverty of most composers.

“I’ve never really been paid, that’s the truth,” he says. “It’s not sustainable. I’ve been working on three full-time projects with zero pay – just a couple of fancy dinners – and they’re big ones with lots of public.”

“It’s all right if you live very frugally, but it’s exhausting.”

The NYO concert will also feature another NZ premiere from the 2016 NYO Composer in Residence, Celeste Oram. As well, there will be two internationally renowned masterpieces: Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Macmillan’s own Percussion Concerto No.1.

NZSO National Youth Orchestra Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra TWO WORLD PREMIERES BY YOUNG KIWI COMPOSERS Celeste Oram and Reuben Jellyman.

Friday 14 July, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, 6.30pm Directed by James MacMillan

38

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OPINION

Sticky icky law W R I T T E N BY RO S S B E L L

I

t’s said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.

New Zealand drug law fits this definition perfectly.

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 was passed in the early days of the War on Drugs — Muldoon was prime minister, Reds were under our beds, Please Mister Postman was the number one hit. Our drug law is an outdated relic that has since proven to cause more harm than good. Its focus on criminal-justice solutions to health problems was a mistake, one that we’re still paying the price for.

New Zealand’s heavy-handed approach over the past 40 years has done little to address the serious health and social harms caused by problematic drug use. It’s only made the problem worse, especially for young people and Māori.

We have failed to invest properly in the health of our people, with the government spending more on drug law enforcement and punishment than on timely prevention, good education and quality treatment. Drug harm has not been reduced and a whole lot of money has been wasted.

Our drug law has seen a largely criminal justice response to what is fundamentally a health problem. We can all agree that there are many harms from cannabis use: cognitive impairment, risks to physical and mental health, driving impairment, educational and employment disadvantage, and drug dependency.

These are real problems. But they are problems that exist and persist under our criminal-justice approach.

Despite our ‘tough on drugs’ response, New Zealand has one of the highest cannabis use rates in the world;

41

OPINION

385,000 people use cannabis annually and about half of the total population has tried it. Disturbingly, cannabis use among young people — to whom cannabis causes the most harm — is high.

Sadly, many of those who most need support can’t get the help they need. An estimated 50,000 New Zealanders can’t access treatment, and not only because there is not enough on offer. We see stigma and fear of legal consequences blocking people from stepping forward for help.

Maori also bear the brunt of our current drug law, being three times more likely than others to get a drug conviction, making up about 40 per cent of the prison population for drug offences, and offered fewer opportunities to access Police diversion schemes. It's a complicated area, but Maori miss out on alternative resolutions because: the schemes aren't available to all parts of New Zealand, are not available to people with existing convictions, and institutional racism ("unconscious bias").

Criminalizing individuals for minor drug offences, such as possession or petty dealing, is a punishment that lasts a lifetime, affecting education and employment prospects.

What is even worse is that it is predominantly young New Zealanders who get caught up in this insane cycle.

We need to flip the system on its head by supporting young people, not punishing them. Instead of wasting millions on policing and prisons, we should be investing younger and earlier in high-quality prevention and education, and ensuring people who get into trouble from their drug use receive appropriate and timely treatment.

Our politicians shouldn’t be afraid to flip this issue on its head. A public opinion poll conducted last year showed 64 percent of voters support either cannabis decriminalisation or legalisation.

This is not a new idea. Over 30 countries have decriminalisation policies in place, some since the early 1970s, and eight states in the US, plus Washington DC, have legalised cannabis; Canada will legalise next year.

New Zealand should be willing to pick the best policies,

and avoid the worst experiences, of these countries.

We are well overdue for change.

As a first step, we should do what Portugal did way back in 2001: decriminalise drug use and invest in education and rehabilitation instead. Under the Portugal model, people busted with drugs don’t get processed through the court system. Instead they are referred to health professionals who can talk to them about drug use and refer those who need it to treatment. Portugal now has lower rates of youth drug use, a huge reduction in drug-overdose deaths, and fewer people in prison. Their system works because they invested heavily in prevention and treatment at the same time as they changed the law.

Just think how different our drug problem would be if New Zealand spent money on helping rather than punishing people. The government currently spends $351 million annually fighting against drugs, with only 22 percent of it going to treatment services. Decriminalisation combined with health referrals and better access to treatment would be welcomed by communities currently under stress from problematic drug use.

Taking things a step further and establishing a strictly regulated cannabis market would also have the benefit of earning millions through taxation, while at the same time undermining the power of the black market.

If this idea makes you nervous, it shouldn’t. It is possible to be against drugs while at the same time supporting drug law reform. Families unsure where they sit on this issue should first answer this: if your child or grandchild ran into problems with cannabis, would you want them to face our criminal-justice system or talk to a health professional?

Ross Bell is Executive Director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a charitable trust dedicated to preventing and reducing alcohol and other drug harm.

42

SECTION HEADER

An opera by Leoš Janáček Conductor Kenneth Young . Director Jon Hunter Designer Owen McCarthy . Lighting Designer Glenn Ashworth Featuring students from

the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University HANNAH PLAYHOUSE 28-30 July 2017 TICKETS www.hannahplayhouse.org.nz

NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL OF MUSIC

4 June – 13 August 2017

43

www.pataka.org.nz

Artwork courtesy of the artist

HUTT IN BRIEF

D ON’ T HOLD YOUR BREATH

CLEAN COLLAB ORATION

CROSS CULTURAL

According to the Impact of Respiratory Disease in New Zealand report, more than a sixth of children living in the Hutt Valley have asthma – one of the worst rates in the country. Associate Professor Jim Reid from Otago University says Kiwis are too relaxed about asthma. “It tends to get minimised, but last year 70 people died from asthma.” Early diagnosis of the disease is important to prevent long-term damage to the lungs. An asthma control test can be carried out at a doctor's surgery or pharmacy.

Upper Hutt City Council and Forest & Bird are partnering with local farmers and landowners to improve the Mangaroa River’s water quality through riparian planting. Native flora can help to filter nutrients, sediment, and bacteria, preventing them from entering the waterway.

The council is looking for more landowners interested in improving their riparian zones along the Mangaroa River. Contact the council’s Sustainability Officer on (04) 527 2169.

Lower Hutt teenager Yibeth Morales Ayala (above), a former refugee from Colombia, will speak at a lunch at Parliament on 15 June. It’s one of a number of “Crossing Cultures” events the Red Cross have planned for World Refugee Day, which falls on 20 June. Yibeth is an active member of the New Zealand Refugee Youth Council, hosts a youth radio show and stars in the interactive documentary Together We Make a Nation.

44

HUTT IN BRIEF

SAFET Y FIRST

HALL OF FAME

LO OK UP

About 70,000 Wellington Water customers in Lower Hutt, who usually receive unchlorinated water, have had their water chlorinated following a positive E.coli test result. The chlorination will continue while investigations are under way. The public fountains in Petone and central Lower Hutt have been closed as a precautionary measure. Wellington Water will be looking at non-chemical treatment options to allow the public fountains to be reopened.

Eight businesses will be inducted into the Wellington Region Business Hall of Fame at a dinner to be hosted at the Silverstream Retreat on 7 July. Presented by Deloitte Private and the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the event celebrates the diversity and dedication of businesses contributing to the economy, and recognises the delivery of business excellence in a resilient and sustainable way.

A colourful geometric artwork in Lower Hutt’s CBD, Catchment, by Wellingtonian David Brown, has replaced an advertisement that was there for nearly 30 years. It’s the first artwork in a new series planned to add to the vitality of the area. Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace says, “Finally we have an artwork that is an exciting and dynamic welcome into the CBD.”

45

HUTT IN BRIEF

FANTASTIC FOUR

CHARGING AHEAD

YOUNG INSPIRATION

Four mayors will meet on 16 June to discuss the critical issues facing the Wellington Region, encouraging growth, and working together. The discussion will have a particular focus on infrastructure, transport and resilience. The mayors present will be Ray Wallace (Lower Hutt), Mike Tana (Porirua, above), Wayne Guppy (Upper Hutt) and Justin Lester (Wellington). www.hutt-chamber.org.nz

A recent addition to ChargeNet NZ’s electric vehicle infrastructure is a fast-charging station in Upper Hutt’s city centre. Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy says, “We are pleased to support clean and sustainable transport choices. We look forward to the growing uptake of electric vehicles.”

Lower Hutt business leaders have been encouraged to collaborate with YOUth Inspire in an attempt to lower youth unemployment. Twenty percent of Lower Hutt’s 18–24-year-olds are unemployed, compared with the national average of 14.9% for this age group. YOUth Inspire helps young people connect with employment, education and training opportunities. So far 381 young people have been placed on pathways to employment and further education through these programmes.

8 July–6 August Space Place at Carter Observatory Entry included in general admission museumswellington.org.nz

Antarctica and the impact of climate change on us and our planet

CHANGING THE FACE OF RETAIL The face of retail in Upper Hutt is changing.

Customer preferences are transforming and there is a desire for something new and innovative that doesn’t fit the mould. Come experience the exciting and contemporary furniture and homeware on offer at Created Homewares or check out the new Avison’s Living and Leisure.

Discover the changing face of Upper Hutt for yourself, and find out what makes our Main Street unlike any other.

SUSTAINABLE SHOPPING Retailers and shoppers in Upper Hutt are being encouraged to change a habit of a lifetime and say “no thanks” to plastic bags this August.

Free with purchase at participating stores, this reusable bag features stunning fantail and river imagery by Upper Hutt artist Pip McKay. Brought to you by Upper Hutt City Council, join us in celebrating our natural landscape and take a step towards a more sustainable life. While stocks last!

IT’S EASY TO GET HERE Utilise our free parking or catch the train and arrive one minute away from our unique stores.

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F E AT U R E

Depar tment of conversation P H OTO G R A P H BY A N N A B R I G G S

Besides being a good neighbour to Wellington’s endangered birds, Paul Stanley Ward is using screens to get kids off screens and into nature. SARAH LANG explains.

A

s funny and chatty as he is particular about details, Paul Stanley Ward couldn’t be more enthused about his passion for getting kids and adults into nature and conservation. The Newtown writer for web and screen laments the fact that, in a generation, we’ve gone from children expected back from roaming the countryside at tea-time to cotton-wool kids who aren’t allowed to walk to school by themselves and are sometimes babysat by devices due to time and economic pressures.

“Not that I’m a purist or anything,” says Ward, who has Estella (9) and Sylvie (7) with partner Lucy Kebbell. “My kids are sometimes on ipads while I’m in meetings. Lucy and I considered ourselves outdoorsenabling parents, then realised that was just in the weekends. In their daily lives, the girls live close to school, and never go roaming on their own.”

Pondering this conundrum, he had an idea. Why not set up a digital platform to get kids doing fun outdoor missions to engage them with nature and science? Ward, 42, teamed up with film-producer friend Vicky Pope. “We’re both from film-and-TV backgrounds, and we both observed our young kids growing up in very different ways from the traditionally Kiwi outdoors upbringing.” Over nearly three years, largely working unpaid, the co-producers researched, funded, developed and in April launched Wild Eyes: Nature Missions for Kiwi Kids, targeted at 8–12-yearolds. A month later, 1,000-plus kids had signed up.

On the interactive website, kids can create an avatar, share photos of completed missions, and earn points (with bonus points for including adults). “As you

go up levels,” Ward explains, “your avatar’s eyes get wilder, until they look like a morepork on an acid trip”.

Pages for each of the 21 missions provide an instructional template, and other members’ uploaded photos for inspiration. To foster a bully-proof environment, kids can’t comment on others’ posts except by using positive emojis with a New Zealand nature theme.

Six missions – including Fake a Moa Discovery and Build a Backyard Bivvy – have instructional videos, presented by the very funny Christian Dennison (actor Julian’s twin), and Nova Waretini-Hewison (daughter of Wild Eyes’ director Dean Hewison), with comedian Robbie Nicol as the shrunken-down “science guy” explaining the nitty-gritty.

Wanting Wild Eyes to be free for all kids, Ward and Pope pitched for funding by making the following points: that nature and science are largely absent from primetime TV; that there’s very little local content online; and that there’s a gap in and demand for environmental education. They hit gold when NZ On Air’s Kickstart Digital Media Fund awarded them $300,000.

First came research. They talked to educators, scientists and digital entrepreneurs, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Unlocking Curious Minds Contestable Fund paid for workshops. “We wanted digital natives to tell us what they liked doing outside. We also did one-on-one interviews with parents and kids, who sometimes reported differing things about the kids’ screentime.

Some 10- and 11-year-olds we met had never been to a beach, a stream, a forest, couldn't recognise a

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duck. One girl was on a tablet from 3pm to 8pm each night, watching music videos and makeup tutorials.”

Ward appreciates the irony of using screens to get kids off screens. “It's never been effective for elders to wag their fingers and say ‘don’t do this’ so we’re providing an alternative.” His daughters love Wild Eyes, he says, with a grin that tells you a joke’s coming. “We made Estella Wild Eyes vicepresident, then, because of family-jealousy issues, made Sylvie our youth ambassador.”

Until the age of six, Ward lived in Marton, a farming town near Whanganui, where paddocks were "be-back-by tea-time playgrounds”. His dad was the local cop and their house doubled as the police station. When their home hosted a latenight knife-fight, his schoolteacher mum decided the family should leave town. They moved to Upper Hutt then Johnsonville, on the edge of farmland where Churton Park is now.

Ward studied English, theatre, film and history at Victoria University, where he met Kebbell, before doing an Oxford University Master’s in Modern English literature. “I quickly figured out I wasn’t cut out for a PhD or being stuck inside.”

They lived in Sydney for three years, where Ward edited expat-targeted website NZ Edge, then spent a year in the US, where Ward was story producer for Discovery Channel reality shows. “We came back to Wellington to breed.”

For nine years, his day job has been editor then senior writer for NZ On Screen, a state-funded online showcase of local television and film. Ward pulls back to part-time work there (currently two days a week) when busy with other projects. Over the past decade, he’s written a TV series, TV documentary, and four short films including the award-winning Choice Night, produced by Pope and loosely based on Ward’s experiences on nights out in Courtenay Place as a teenager in the 1990s. He’s co-writing a feature film with director Mark Albiston, but that’s on hold while he and Pope “kick Wild Eyes out of the nest”.

Ward also leads the Polhill Restoration Project, which has over 50 trappers and 550-plus Facebook members. They nab pests, plant natives, post photos of trapboxes, and celebrate

wildlife encounters in Polhill Reserve, which spans 70 hectares of scruffy gullies bordered by Brooklyn, Aro Valley, and Highbury. It’s used by over a thousand mountain-bikers, runners, walkers, commuters and dog-walkers a week.

A life-long “bird nerd”, Ward fell for Polhill when a kaka landed on him during a run there. He discovered that, thanks to spillover from adjacent Zealandia, Polhill was home to manu taonga (treasured birds). Ward became one of the Polhill Restoration Project’s first volunteers, and soon became its leader. “We thought ‘how can we help look after our native neighbours?’” In 2014, a tīeke (saddleback) was discovered nesting there for the first time in a century outside sanctuaries on the mainland. Ward posted photos online and the survival story went viral.

Ward, whose enthusiasm is infectious, has got sponsors on board including the city council, DOC and local businesses Garage Project and Goodnature. Affiliates include Victoria and Massey Universities, Zealandia, Brooklyn Trailbuilders, and Wellington TrailRunners (whose members clear traps).

The fusion of recreation with conservation has made international news, and the project was a 2016 WWF Conservation Innovation Awards finalist. Ward’s now looking for funding for a nature trail featuring local artists.

“We want to make the act of conservation a conscious one, creating a kind of kaitiaki [guardian] kit by talking positively about simple ways to engage – like setting backyard traps, planting natives, keeping cats well-fed and contained, and dogs on leads in reserves. If we care about nurturing nature in the city – and want to achieve ambitious things like predatorfree New Zealand – then we need to have experiences that engage us with nature, science and sustainability, both off and online, where we spend so much time.”

"When I was growing up, much of New Zealand's native taonga could only be found in books or offshore islands.

Now in Wellington, thanks to collective effort, it's in our back yard. What a privilege and opportunity to live, work and play alongside kaka, karearea, tīeke and maybe – stay tuned – our namesake kiwi!"

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Couldn’t find a 25th birthday card – plenty of other special dates like 20,30,40,50 etc though.

But perhaps a Congrats card is just perfect for you, as I know your lovely personality is why people always come back to Petra.

You always made us feel special as if we were the only persons you had to deal with. So as your team look forward to another 25 years, as successful as the previous 25, best wishes from Penny and Bas Walker.

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ON HUNTER ST 51

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F E AT U R E

Sex Segments * Content warning: The things described in this article are of a sexual nature.

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new podcast, called BANG! examining sex, intimacy and relationships over a lifetime, will be released this winter. Produced by our very own MELODY THOMAS for Radio New Zealand, the podcast starts at the beginning, exploring the ways our parents talked to us about sex (or didn’t) and the struggles of parents attempting “the talk” now; it travels through the fraught teen years, the perils of modern dating and the ways relationships change after babies and marriage, all the way to sex in retirement homes. A new podcast, called BANG! examining sex, intimacy and relationships over a lifetime, will be released this winter.

To celebrate the release of BANG! Melody spoke with three Wellington women about the ways that desire and intimacy have changed over their lives.

Hannah Hannah is a 30-year-old sales rep and mother of three young children, who's been married for five years. For Hannah and her husband, starting a family changed their sex life – but perhaps surprisingly, it was for the better.

My sex life started at 14. If I think about my kids doing it at this age it makes me super uncomfortable and a bit sad. I would be mortified. The whole experience was as you would expect, awkward, making sounds you think you should make because you'd watched a few movies.

I was more doing it to say I did it than anything else. It was with my childhood neighbor. I didn't even like him, but he was popular so I did it with him. I remember thinking he had a really thin penis, like a pencil. That's actually the only defining memory I have of my first time. I haven't said a word to him in years – we aren't even friends on Facebook. He was only 14 too; dicks are still growing at that age, yeah? I hope his dick grew.

When my parents found out it was completely by accident through a letter mum found in my uniform.

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I was usually so careful with letters so maybe I left it there subconsciously so I could talk to her? She told dad and they sat me down and had a massive talk to me about how boys think about sex at this age, and what they really want. It was a really awkward open conversation. It would have been so uncomfortable for Dad, I can't believe he did it. I didn't appreciate it back then.

But I so appreciate it now.

My enjoyment of sex has changed so much. Thinking about it now, I really wish that I could go back and tell my young self to wait until my husband came along! I used to give sex out willy nilly and the only person I waited with was my husband....is there something in that?

When I was pregnant I didn't want to be touched…

Everything repulsed me. Except porn. And not just any porn, women on women porn. I have never been a watcher of porn – it actually makes me a little bit uncomfortable. But when I got pregnant I used to watch it on my phone all the time, I'd hang out to be home alone to watch it. I have not watched porn at all since, the urge has just disappeared.

Sex massively changed after I had kids – I don't know what it was. I think possibly because my husband had seen every part of me through childbirth and I lost all self-consciousness with him. Or that everything was stretched and more sensitive. I actually had a proper porno orgasm about six months after my first kid. It was mind blowing. It's gotten better and better and better.

I'm so excited about the future. I can't imagine what it will be like to have sex without the fear of waking anyone up or someone walking in. Or having enough time to do it in the day! Each phase of our sex life has come so naturally. There has been no expectation of it to get better – at each phase I really have thought, can it get any better than this?! We've been through so much together and I think that adds to our sex life. Our kids, the family that we have built – what we've been through to try and make everything work all contributes to that connection.

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Janis

Sarah

Janis is a 56-year-old flight attendant who grew up in Hawkes Bay, but has spent most of her adult life in Wellington. The mother of four recently became engaged to a man she met through the dating app Tinder.

Sarah is a 26-year-old Wellingtonian who works in communications and has been on and off dating in the capital for almost a decade, moving from congregating at the food court in Courtenay Place in large groups, to pashing guys (and sometimes girls) at Establishment, to meeting strangers from Tinder.

I lost my virginity at 15 to a boy I met on holiday at Mahia…

I’m sure his parents must have known but nothing was said to either of us. After that, we lost touch.

Sex education was diverse. I had a mother who had no trouble whatsoever informing me (and most of my friends) about how you did it and what an amazing experience it was. In fact, I now think she went a little too far. What teenager wants to know how her mother took it up the arse by mistake one night when she and her partner were doing doggie? I remember the "sex information evening" at intermediate school but can't recall any of what we were shown.

I met my partner on Tinder. My friend took ahold of my phone and downloaded the app. I was amazed at how many men were on there. In my age group it isn't so much a "hook up" app, and I liked the decisiveness of it. If I liked the pithy and succinct sentence they had written and they looked okay, then I swiped right. Most dates I went on were for a coffee or a drink at a bar. I found this easy – within five minutes I believe you know if you're attracted to someone or not. I've never used Tinder looking for a sexual partner, although I did have men asking me if that's what I wanted. They were upfront and knew what they wanted and respected the fact that that wasn't what I was looking for. My partner and I met for a coffee one Sunday afternoon and it was obvious to both of us that there was chemistry. By the following Saturday we had spent the night together. He immediately deleted his profile and Tinder, and I did the same. We became engaged in April.

My sex life now is satisfying and fulfilling. Sex can drop off when you have a young family, but once I got to my 40s it took off! You're more relaxed, you know exactly what you do and don't like and you don't feel embarrassed expressing yourself. As men get older I think they mature enough to realise it isn't all about them getting off and they are more considerate of ensuring that you are finding it pleasurable as well. We both have the same sex drive, which I think is important and we both enjoy sex together immensely.

I can't imagine my sex life changing much in the future.

If health issues prevent either of us from fully engaging in intercourse, I think we would work around it. I know my grandmother was enjoying an active sex life well into her 70s – hopefully I've inherited her genes!

I was 16 when I lost my viriginity and was the second to last in my friend group – the last girl was Christian. I would describe it as virgin on virgin awkward, on a single bed during a school night and my Mum was home. Weirdly enough, I was on top.

The guy was kind of my boyfriend, but nothing was official on Bebo or Facebook. He didn't invite me to his ball and I didn't invite him to mine so I wouldn't class it as an official relationship. We were both keen to not be virgins. I think we thought we were under pressure to not be inexperienced. I genuinely thought I was ready and he passed my three rules – I had to know his name, I had to not regret it and we had to be sober.

Strict criteria – I don't know how anyone made the cut.

My parents were supportive and not strict, but sex wasn't something that was discussed often. My Mum had to drive me to get the morning-after pill once after a regrettable drunken encounter. I was 17. She even paid the $35 for the pill before dropping me off to work, where I was a part-time fairy for children's birthday parties. If there was any judgement, she never told me and she never held it against me.

I’ve used Tinder. It gives you more chances for meeting someone you might possibly never run into. Some think it's unnatural, but it enables people to make more genuine connections through a wider pool, rather than potentially settling for less in a smaller circle. But I also appreciate and accept those who don't want to filter their future boyfriend or girlfriend through an app. Tinder is what you make of it.

You get to direct this and make up your own mind.

If I compare my sex life now back to my mechanical sex encounter when I was 16, I'd say it's dramatically improved.

I think sex has and will continue over time to become less taboo to talk about. There's no shame in having sex if you're in a safe and comfortable situation; and even more so, there's no shame in enjoying sex. Whether it's with a partner, an ongoing fling or a one-night stand. I've been able to orgasm through the clitoris for ages and recently I discovered that I could orgasm vaginally through intercourse. I was so, so proud. It was almost as great as getting a degree except I get more personal satisfaction out of it.

Names have been changed

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Day at the Marae P H OTO G R A P H Y BY C H E V H AS S E T T

Koraunui Marae wharenui.

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Community service W R I T T E N BY L AU R A P I TC H E R P H OTO G R A P H Y BY C H E V H A S S E TT

C

harmaine McLean-Whaanga, Chev’s grandmother, was in the famous Washday at the Pa by Ans Westra as a little girl. Fiftythree years on, Chev is now a photographer himself, exploring Māori cultural identity in modern New Zealand. We asked Chev to show us around the Koraunui Marae in Stokes Valley, where he grew up.

Chev’s connection to the marae goes right back to its beginning. His great grandfather and friends built it in the late sixties as an urban marae for youth in the area. Koraunui Marae is a marae for nga iwi and was built with the support of a collective of local iwi, the Stokes Valley community, and Father McHale, who was responsible for Māori pastoral care at the time. “Father McHale offered land for the marae to be built on, but it’s not a Catholic marae. This marae is for everyone,” says Heneriata Gemmell, a co-ordinator at the marae.

Chev’s grandparents have also been involved in the marae all their lives. His grandfather was a teacher at the marae for more than a decade and his grandmother, Charmaine, is still heavily involved in the marae’s operations,

including the its Mana Wahine programme, which supports local Māori women. Chev’s father was a carver for the marae, working on Ngāti Porou pou for the wharenui before he was killed in a motorcycle accident. “He still has a carving room at the marae with the carving and tools left in the same place as before he left,” says Chev.

His bi-cultural background, with a Pakeha mother and Māori father, meant that Chev’s family connection to the Koraunui Marae made it an important place to learn about his Māori heritage while growing up. “I went there once or twice a week throughout my childhood. I’d go there whenever I needed to learn and gather knowledge about my culture.”

Today, the Koraunui marae’s dream is flourishing through the services it offers to the community, says Tariana Turia of the Maori Party. It currently offers a free health clinic, playgroups, a mothers’ group, marae hire, free classes and whanau support. Chev spends a day at the marae with his camera, and shows us the places and people who make it all happen.

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1.

Rau Sparrow, a consultant at the marae. She is also involved in the mana wahine program.

2.

Charmaine McLean-Whaanga, Chev’s grandmother, is part of the mana wahine program at the marae. She also practices mau rakau, MÄ ori massaging and medicine.

3.

Heneriata Gemmell and Ellen Matoe drinking tea after

washing the dishes. Both women help with the day-today organisation of the marae.

Heneriata has four generations of family at the marae.

4.

Boil-up in the wharekai.

5.

Tukutuku panels with photographs of ancestors inside Koraunui Marae. The Virgin Mary statue was a gift to the marae.

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6.

Shane Te Kira and his class: Te Kira, Chase, Jacob, Peiyiin and Alex. The boys attend one of the many classes at the marae, which offers alternative education courses and classes in literacy skills, employment skills, carving, and Te Reo.

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Entrance to the wharenui.

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The seven stars of Matariki

1 Matariki Fireworks Show

As you may know, Matariki is the Māori name for the sevenstar constellation also called the Pleiades, which rises in the north-east sky before dawn, usually appearing in June, though sometimes in May or July. Translated as “tiny eyes” or the “eyes of God”, Matariki ushers in the Māori new year, and celebrations are in order.

From fireworks to film, art to orchestras, we’ve rounded up seven stars for Matariki.

When: 6.30pm, Saturday 24 June Where: Waterfront promenade behind Te Papa How much: Free Know-how: The Wellington City Council has listened to calls for fireworks at Matariki, stumping up this year for a short, small fireworks’ show close to the shore, which will likely become an annual event.

PyroStar International’s artistic designer Robert McDermott, the man behind the Guy Fawke’s Sky Show, is planning a display that represents the seven sisters. Wind, stay away.

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2 Matariki Rising

Kaumātua Kapa Haka

When: 16–25 June

When: 24–25 June

Where: Te Papa, Museum of Wellington City and Sea, The Dowse (Lower Hutt), Expressions (Upper Hutt), Pātaka Art+Museum (Porirua), Mahara Gallery (Waikanae)

Where: Te Papa

How much: Free or koha Know-how: This year, Te Papa’s Matariki celebration folds in various institutions around the Wellington region.

Kicking things off on16 June at 7pm is a cultural celebration around a fire outside Te Papa, with storytelling and farewells to loved ones who have died.

Over six days, the events include storytelling workshops, cooking demonstrations, cultural performances, and kapa haka (see number 3).

How much: Free Know-how: Tied to the Te Papa celebrations, this popular kapa haka competition brings together 400-plus seniors – some in their 90s – from all over the country for a weekend of sweat and culture. It’s also a popular spectator sport.

Mass performances on both days are open to the public and, if you prefer the couch, fear not: it’s live-streamed on Te Papa’s website.

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4 Te Oro o ngā Whetū: The Echo of the Stars When & Where: Friday 16 June, 6pm & 8pm; Wellington Museum; Saturday 17 June, 2pm, Pātaka Art+Museum How much: Koha Know-how: Wellington Museum, Pātaka Art+Museum and Chamber Music New Zealand present family concerts that weave the music of taonga puoro (traditional Māori instruments) and traditional chamber-music instruments in a unique homage to Matariki.

Performers include school students from Porirua’s Virtuoso Strings Orchestra, the New Zealand String Quartet, ngā taonga puoro artist Alistair Fraser, and te reo composer and musician Ariana Tikao.

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Tātai Whetū: Stroma

Matariki Tau Hou

When: 28 June, 7.30-9pm

When: June and July

Where: The Hannah Playhouse

Where: Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

How much: Adult $30; Students and Seniors $20

How much: Tickets range from koha to $10

Know-how: Te reo composer, singer and taonga puoro (Māori instruments) player Ariana Tikao, and taonga puoro player Alistair Fraser perform in this Matariki-themed concert with Stroma, a fluid professional ensemble of musicians dedicated to contemporary music.

Among the six pieces performed are three composed or co-composed by Tikao, including the premiere of Amokura by Tikao and the late Hirini Melbourne.

Know-how: These 28 docos and features focus on Māori culture and changemakers.

Documentaries Te Matakite o Aotearoa (about the 1975 Māori Land March) and Bastion Point: Day 507 support the current City Gallery exhibition Colin McCahon: On Going Out with the Tide. Documentaries about kuia Dame Whina Cooper and land-rights campaigner Eva Rickard support the Turnbull Gallery exhibition Wāhine: Beyond the Dusky Maiden (see Culture, p26).

7 Pūkana whakarunga!

Gaze wildly to the realm above! Pūkana whakararo! Gaze wildly to the realm below When: 1–24 June Where: Toi Poneke Gallery How much: Free Know-how: Māori fibre artist Suzanne Tamaki, who is also on the Wellington City Council’s events team, curates this exhibition of nine leading Māori and Pacific artists including brothers Ngatai and Kereama Taepa.

Most works relate to representations of carved pou, while Reuben Paterson’s glitter-on-canvas work Afternoon Delight resembles two exploding fireworks, with lightplay that tricks the eye into seeing movement.

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BOT TOMS UP Cover your bum with the new root-vegetable print undies from Thunderpants this winter and you’ll be helping to fund organic garden projects around New Zealand. Throughout June and July, two dollars from every pair sold will go towards the Soil and Health Association’s Project Gro initiative. Thunderpants directors Josie and Sophie Bidwill explain, “We love that we are able to help communities set up their own gardens. It aligns perfectly with our philosophy of slow growth and sustainable practice.”

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Porirua will again host the annual Miromoda Runway Show. Promising a dynamic night of high fashion, the show features collections from invited New Zealand designers and is followed by a runway pop up store. Director Ata Te Kanawa says "combined with the community involvement and spirit, Porirua is the best venue we have had the pleasure of working at.”

The show, which is expected to sell out, is on 24 June at the Pataka Art + Museum.

Six young local designers are preparing capsule collections for a catwalk show at Te Papa on 6 July.

Melina Askew, Kirsten Meaclem, Bridget Scanlan, Rebecca Tannant, Jerome Taylor and Ischtar Toomey were selected by mentoring and support platform Creation Station, which was set up to help Wellington fashion designers create their own fashion labels. A fully equipped fashion studio, Creation Station received funding from the council’s Arts and Culture Fund to run the programme.

Wellington label Kowtow has been awarded an A grade in the annual Ethical Fashion Report. One of only two NZ labels that received an A, it has cemented their place as leaders in sustainable and ethical fashion. The report ranks labels in terms of their policies, worker empowerment, awareness of their suppliers and their processes, and room for improvement. Only 13 out of the 106 brands involved worldwide received an A grade. The average overall grade for New Zealand brands in the 2017 report is B-.

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BUSINESS

Mandatory we a r i n g W R I T T E N BY J O H N B I S H O P P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G G S

U

p bustling Cuba Street is a clothing business catering for men, but run by women, which is celebrating twenty years selling high-quality locally made garments, often tailored specifically for clients.

Surviving in retail for twenty years is quite an achievement: doing it by designing, making and selling your own garments in the Wellington market is quite remarkable.

Mandatory is now a well recognised fashion label for the discerning male; its founders, Clare Bowden and Fiona Edwards, who met on the Wellington Poytechnic (now Massey University) fashion course, shun mass production for both commercial and ethical reasons.

More and more customers are seeking transparency in the supply chain of goods they purchase, and Mandatory trades on being local and bespoke, not foreign and mass produced.

The business began in June 1997 when the pair, with $5,000 and a lot of volunteer labour, moved into premises at 108 Cuba Street formerly occupied by the menswear shop Xenon, which sold pirate shirts and tapestry waistcoats.

Their makeover gave it a copper floor with beige and red signage, Clare recalls. “We sold student collections on consignment alongside Sale or Return stock from Marvel Menswear in Auckland, plush knitwear with velour yarn in bold block colours.”

Providing fresh designs every week for the rack and taking orders to custom fit the clothing was part of Mandatory’s style from the start.

Cuba Street, which had always been at the centre of the fashion and clothing manufacturing industry in Wellington, boomed as Wellington’s cultural, artistic, music and creative scene exploded in the late 90s. Cuba was a bit out there then, and it still is.

Clare started out managing the manufacturing workroom and moved to the shop floor during the global financial crisis of the early 2000s. These days she buys cloth and co-designs the range, coordinates the manufacturing schedule and works alongside the managers of the workroom and the shop.

She says doing business now is harder than it was in 1997, and not just because they are over the initial burst of enthusiasm and zeal of a start-up.

“There’s more competition now. The global financial crisis had a huge impact. People are worried about job security.

“People are not as lavish in their choices as perhaps they were; they are more deliberate, more considered about their spending.”

So, what kind of clothing does Mandatory offer, and how has it enabled them to survive and thrive in a notoriously difficult industry?

Mandatory differs from most modern menswear stores in that it offers custom-fitted and custom-made garments for the same price as stock.

“Guys can shop according to their taste regardless of their shape, and trust that the garments will fit well and last a long time.”

It’s a model that makes economic sense when using quality materials, and is one of the reasons Mandatory has earned a loyal following over the past two decades.

“We use the ends of runs from Italy and the USA, and sometimes from Japan, to source our fabric. An end of run for a major manufacturer is a tidy supply for us. And we upcycle our own ends to a children’s craft group to make patchwork garments.”

They respect and follow Vivienne Westwood’s mantra: “buy less, choose well and make it last.”

“We offer what guys like, and make it to fit them individually. And so we don’t overproduce all sizes in all colours in a small market.”

It makes commercial sense as well as being environmentally sound – and customers like it because they keep on coming back. “We are helping guys to shop well,” she says.

Clare explains the key to their success as “the ability to supply actual demand”. This way waste is reduced and costs are managed: “This has seen us last the distance. Garments designed, fitted, made well and sold for purpose are worn often and last longer while looking better than their massproduced, cheap counterparts.”

Clients are 30 to 60, and “often they are aging with us,” Clare says.

The environmental consciousness is quite explicit.

The shop sells leather alternatives like the Matt and Nat brand, which makes manly vegan bags and luggage with linings made from recycled plastic bottles.

After 20 years Clare looks back. “We have an identifiable design style, and our clothing lasts a long time.”

Mandatory’s blog profiles the staff – all women, all creative, and all committed to the business. A couple of the machinists, who hand-make every garment, have been with Clare and Fiona for more than 20 years.

In 1997 Clare was in her late 20s. In another 20 years she’ll be of pensionable age, but she says she will still be at Mandatory.

“Sometimes it surprises me that I am still here, but I have incredible clients, decent, respectful, interesting men with amazing careers, a pleasure to be around.”

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INTERIORS

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1. Castle wally stripe cushion – $135 – Small Acorns 2. Felt wall flag – $31.90 – Created Homewares 3. Cotton crochet rainbow bunting – $39.99 – Trade Aid 4. Plywood mountains – $33 – Created Homewares 5. Illuminate bunny night light – $27.95 – Moore Wilson's 6. Uno cot – $1,500 – Let Liv 7. Castle Tutti Frutti pillowase – $95 – Small Acorns 8. Castle multi spot duvet cover – $235 – Small Acorns 9. Jellycat bashful unicorn – $39.95 – Moore Wilson's 10. Kids robes – $79 – Baksana 11. Wishbone bike original – $275 – Sustainability Trust 12. Felt crown and wand dress up set – $35 – Trade Aid 13. Filled rainbow cushion – $29.99 – Trade Aid 14. Mckinlays Hunter Jr hot pink boots – $119 – Gubbs

LIFESTYLE

FLOWER POWER Budding florists will be able to bloom when the Wellington School of Floristry opens in July. Located in Queen St, Upper Hutt, the school offers workshops, night classes and a full floristry course. Owner and principal Jane Evans says she has two excellent tutors lined up to teach with her, and she will also be using floral artists to teach specialist topics such as Ikebana and sugar flowers.

FACE THE DAY

ZERO HERO

Apparently you’re not allowed to eat avocados if you ever want to own a home. But no one said anything about putting them on your face! Daily Face Oil No1, from Brooklyn-based Wiki skincare, combines oils from kiwifruit seeds, borage, manuka, jojoba, sea buckthorn fruit and our favourite – avocados. It’s a pick-me-up for sensitive or dry skin as we head into those trying winter months.

One day Hannah Blumhardt said, “Wouldn't it be great to live without a rubbish bin?” So when she and Liam Prince returned to Wellington two years ago they just didn’t buy one. The zero-wasters send nothing to landfill, use no more than one wheelie bin for recycling a year and buy no disposable plastic. This July they’ll be travelling around with their zero-waste road show, The Rubbish Trip, promoting the five “R”s – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot.

THE perfectlY bAlAnced ipA BIrD

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MORE FOR LESS OR LESS IS MORE A brand new Kmart store has opened in Petone. The 4,250 m2 store shows off Kmart’s new layout with wider aisles for easy wheelchair and pram access. Along with clothing, toys and homewares, Kmart says it has also brought jobs to Petone. More than 100 locals have been hired.

Wellington’s W inter Hideaway since 1882 To book vist www.martinboroughhotel.co.nz

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FISHY BUSINESS

Moki Name: Blue moki Māori names: Moki

and be sure to use the species’ preferred foods as bait: think shellfish (mussel, tuatua) and crab, and the moki-mad angler’s favourite – crayfish parts. Despite their lush lips, moki mouths are relatively small for their size – so be sure to keep baits little so they can take them in one.

Scientific name: Latridopsis ciliaris Looks like: A species of trumpeter with an attractive elliptical silhouette, a deeply forked tail, large scales and thick, fleshy lips. A blue moki has a grey-blue body with broad dark bands across its back, and is silver/white on its side and belly. A comparatively long-lived species, moki can survive for more than 30 years (the oldest recorded was 43), and grow up to 80cm long – though most don’t exceed 63cm.

Cook: Blue moki fillets are firm and slightly flaky and hold their shape well, making them suitable for many cooking methods, from pan frying to poaching to currying.

Did you know? Because of the location of their spawning grounds, moki are culturally important for East Cape and Cape Runaway iwi. In his 1951 book The Autobiography of a Maori, Ngāti Porou clergyman, journalist, farmer and historian Reweti T Kohere wrote about the ritual surrounding the opening of moki season, in a section titled “The Sacred Moki”: “Very early in the morning, long before sunrise, the removers of the tapu put out in their canoe, without tasting food and even without using the beloved pipe. … On the return of the fishers, a woman prepares the hangi in which the moki caught that day are cooked and eaten by the fishers only… Other fish which were not moki were not eaten, but were suspended on a tree as offerings to Pou, the god of fish.”

Habitat: Blue moki are native to the south-western Pacific Ocean around New Zealand, sometimes also occurring off the south east coast of Australia. Every winter, adults travel along the east coast to their only known spawning ground between East Cape and Mahia, for the most part travelling south again afterwards (most moki are caught south of this point, though some will be found as far north as Auckland and even the Three Kings Islands). Juvenile moki inhabit rocky reefs inshore, whereas most adults hang out offshore, schooling over open, muddy bottoms.

Feeds on: Bue moki are carnivorous and pass their time sucking crabs and other crustaceans, shellfish and worms from the mud.

If they were human they would be: attractive and slim with an impressive pout, plus fussy about what they’re fed – we see moki as the supermodel of New Zealand’s waters.

Catch: Rarely caught by accident, as fishing for blue moki requires careful targeting. Look for sandy or muddy bottoms in close proximity to rocks and reefs,

Remarkably Fresh Fish

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In-store at Porirua Prestons 04 384 4056

EDIBLES

WHOLESALE HA L A L Meat trade between Iran and New Zealand has resumed. Sanctions imposed in 1995 in response to Iran’s attempts to become a nuclear power were lifted last year when MP Nathan Guy signed the deal. There was a slight delay because of the requirement for a mullah to be present at meat processing plants to ensure the meat is killed in accordance with halal standards, but this has been overcome.

HUNGARY FOR MORE

BIG B O OK OF BEER

TASTE OF HUMOUR

Former economist Zoltan Loranth has opened Doppio, a bakery and cafe in Tinakori Rd in Thorndon. He and his wife Greta moved to New Zealand from Hungary three years ago, and to Wellington once their bakery’s popularity outgrew Nelson. They specialise in Danish “morning” pastries and breads. Zoltan did the fitout himself, and believes it has a very Europeancoffee-house feel. Doppio means double in Italian, and it was inspired by their being a husband and wife team.

Wellington has been listed as one of the top three cities in Oceania to visit if you are a beer aficionado.

Lonely Planet lists the others as Melbourne and Perth. Perth is home to Australia’s original craft beer brewery, well known Little Creatures. So if you let only the finest barrel aged imperial stout pass your lips, then a copy of this book guide could be a useful investment.

Luke Owen Smith, who imports artisan “craft chocolate” (handcrafted in one place from bean to bar), sells around 100 varieties through his online shop the Chocolate Bar, at local markets and in selected stores. He’s matched four favourites to the four medieval humours for chocolate-tasting and poetry-reading event Humours, Ekor Bookshop, 19 June, during midwinter-solstice festival Lōemis. Four poets read a new piece, each inspired respectively by one of the medieval humours.

MEXICO WELLINGTON

41 Dixon Street • 04 894 6982 84

EDIBLES

WA S T E L E S S WA N T L E S S How often do you throw out those old vegetables which have been forgotten in the back of the fridge? New research from the University of Otago has revealed the best way to make your veges last longer seems to be wrapping each item in a paper towel then locking it inside something airtight, such as a snaplock bag or Tupperware container. This might seem like common sense, but the results were impressive. For more information visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz.

SKILLED REFUGEE

BET TER SKIP LUNCH

Since a resolution concerning refugees was adopted in 2000 by the UN, 20 June has been known as World Refugee Day. The Pomegranate Kitchen (see issue # 35) offers catering, and lunchtime deliveries to Wellington businesses.

It currently has four refugee staff, and during that week will be offering authentic food specials which can be ordered online.

If you haven’t experienced the European soul food at daytime eatery Field & Green, why not start with a Neolithic feast? Laura Greenfield – formerly head chef at London’s Sotheby’s restaurant – has created a fourcourse, 100-person Lōemis Feast (Vogelmorn Bowling Club, 17 June), inspired by Scandinavia’s Lucia Night, when supernatural beings roam, and animals speak. Let’s hope those on the plate don’t. There are also vegetarian and gluten-free options on offer.

Winter at the Cross 39 Abel SMITH ST | OPEN LATE 7 DAYS www.THECROSS.CO.NZ

MEXCELLENT Wintry southerly gales are here and Mexico’s winter menu has also arrived.

There’s enough jalapeno in some of the dishes to take your sinuses to Arizona if you have been feeling the winter chill.

We’ve also heard reports of the kids’ menu including Mexican wordfinds and trivia to keep los niños y niñas entertained, while you re-live your trip to Cancun with your ex from ten years ago with a tequila tasting.

S H E A R E R S ' TA B L E

Torn pasta with bra ised lamb shank, cherry tomatoes and burrata mozzarella

BY N I K K I & J O R DA N S H E A R E R

This dish takes all the comfort flavours and textures of winter, but we have given it a fresh facelift. The lamb shanks can easily be replaced with beef short ribs or beef cheeks, if you prefer. There are quite a few components to this dish and the braised lamb shank does take a while, but it is sure to impress, and it is a firm favourite at our winter dinner parties.

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbsp olive oil 2 lamb shanks 1 onion, diced 3 garlic cloves 4 sticks celery, sliced 1 cup red wine 1 cup beef stock 1 tin cherry tomatoes 2 Tbsp tomato paste Pasta 200g 00 flour 3 egg yolks 1 whole egg To Serve 3 fresh cherry tomatoes per person 1 red onion, peeled and quartered 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 golden kumara, peeled and shaved into thin ribbons ¼ cup oil 1 punnet burrata mozzarella, torn just before serving 8–10 fresh basil leaves 2 Tbsp balsamic crema

If you have never made pasta before then you really must give it a try… it looks harder than it actually is. Pasta machines are not expensive and once you have the knack of feeding the dough through you will be a convert. There is no comparison between the texture of freshly made pasta and store-bought, especially when free-range eggs are used.

METHOD

1.

Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in pan. Brown lamb shanks, remove and set aside in a good heavy, lidded casserole dish.

2. Sauté the onions, garlic and celery for 3–5mins in pan.

Deglaze the pan with the wine, then transfer the contents to casserole dish along with the shanks, adding stock, canned tomatoes and tomato paste.

3. Braise the shanks at 180 degrees for 3–4 hours. There should be no need to reduce the cooking liquid at the end, as it will now be thicker and stronger.

4. Put flour in large shallow bowl, make a well in the centre and add the yolks and egg. Stir from the centre outwards, slowly incorporating flour until a rough dough is formed. Knead with hands until smooth. Wrap tightly in cling-wrap and leave to rest in refrigerator for half an hour.

5. Drizzle the tomatoes and onion with balsamic vinegar and 1 Tbsp oil and roast at 180 degrees for 10–15 minutes until tomatoes blister. Set aside.

6. Heat the extra olive oil in a small pan and fry the kumara ribbons until golden. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.

7. Once the lamb shanks are cooked (they should be falling off the bone) remove from casserole dish and shred.

8. Strain the cooking liquid and season to taste.

9. Divide the pasta dough into 4 portions. Roll the portions of pasta through pasta machine and tear into rough squares.

Heat a large pot full of salty water. Once it reaches a rolling boil, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain.

10. To serve: Place pasta in between the lamb on plates and spoon over roasted cherry tomatoes and onion. Place small amounts of fresh basil and torn burrata mozzarella around the plate. Spoon over the strained cooking liquid.

11. Top with the crispy kumara and drizzle with balsamic crema.

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EDIBLES

Scone in 30 seconds CO M P I L E D BY C R A I G B E A R D SWO RT H

F

or some people autumn Saturday afternoons are for lazing about; but for the Wellington members of the New Zealand Opera Chorus (myself included) they are for singing and acting our way through a six-and-ahalf-hour rehearsal for the June season of Carmen.

Taking pity, Capital thought a treat was in order which could also serve as serious scientific research. So, between bursts of lusty Toreador anthems, we treated a bevy of singers to a selection of scones from local cafes.

And thus the Great Capital Scone Tasting was born.

Opera singers are famous for being demanding (think ‘diva’ ) and this lot were no different, asking if palate cleansers would be available between scones.

A scone tasting is a solemn occasion calling for studied deliberation – but sorbet? Seriously? I quickly scotched that idea.

We gathered a selection of date and cheese scones from cafes around the city. Rules were simple – eat, give a mark out of 10 and comment. The word “moist” was banned. All tasting was blind.

Results Highest marks in the date category went to the Leeds Street Bakery in the CBD, with an average of 7.5/10.

The product was described as caramelly, sweet but not too sweet; brown sugar on top was a nice touch, and cinnamon a great addition.

A close second on 7/10 was Gypsy Kitchen in Strathmore. Strong citrus flavours, very buttery, good fruit to dough ratio – rather like a strudel, and several people mentioned its “Christmassy” flavour.

Honourable mention goes to Small Batch in Petone with a chewy, strongly- flavoured, zesty number.

Pandoro in Allen Street, Baobab in Newtown and Fidels on Cuba St all delivered the goods too.

The cheese scone seems to range wide in its ingredient base. A couple of bakers added a point of difference with onion or tomato. Where does one draw the line between between a cheese scone and a savoury scone? Our panel

charged into the second round unperturbed.

First place was shared by Park Kitchen in Miramar and Caffe L’affare in the CBD – both scoring 7/10.

Park Kitchen’s entry was soft in the middle with a light crust; the cheese was well balanced and the addition of pepper, herbs and onion proved a winner. Caffe L’affare wowed with a cheesy topping that packed a punch and a great consistency inside.

Honourable mentions – Automat in Khandallah produced an entry with great texture, a crunchy outer and a cheesy top. Moore Wilson’s in College Street was also well liked with a spicy parmesan after-kick.

After a fast and furious session of scone-tasting, the chorus members returned renewed for the second half of rehearsals – heavier, happier and heartier.

New Zealand Opera’s production of Carmen by Bizet is on 1, 3, 6, 8 and 10 June at the St James.

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SECTION HEADER

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MARY’S NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH A LITTLE LAMB. Come in and try the Wairarapa's nest lamb from Palliser Bay Station, only at Portlander.

89 Portlander Bar & Grill | www.portlander.co.nz | Corner Featherston & Whitmore Streets

EDIBLES

Forag ing and skullduggery A N A DV E N T U R E STO RY BY S H A RO N G R E A L LY

Mystery and intrigue lie in the hills around Wellington.

I

was out walking the dog recently, and he barked madly at something in the bushes. A cloaked man. “I’m just here for the birds”, he claimed initially, but eventually admitted he was foraging – for Porcini.

I couldn't work out why he was being so secretive about gathering plain old mushrooms, but these are not your average fungi. Porcini are the King of Mushrooms.

People die for them, literally. The porcini industry is a billion-dollar global trade, infiltrated by organised crime.

Called the anarchist of the fungi kingdom, porcini cannot be cultivated commercially, so supply is a problem.

In Italy it is illegal to forage for porcini, because doing so can be life-threatening. In the Italian mountains, where they grow precariously close to precipices, they have accounted for 3,000 mountain rescue operations in recent years. Distinct sleuthing talent is required to collect the world’s most valued wild mushroom under cover of darkness while hoping not to be caught.

Italians are very particular about their porcini, and will pay two to three times as much for their own primo funghi as for the Chinese product. China supplies 75% of the global market, providing a great income for many poor farmers. In three intensive months, they can double their annual income, so it’s worth going the full hog.

Technically porcini are not a single mushroom species.

The prized boletus edulis is part of a group of around twenty species of mushroom, the bolete family. Porcini have spongey tubes underneath that release their spores, rather than the classic mushroom gills.

The name porcini means“Little Pig” in Italian, because of their distinctive shape. They are also known as king boletes, cèpes in French, penny buns in England, and Steinpilz (“stone mushroom”) in German.

Tom Hutchison, head chef at Capitol, first discovered porcini when a friend sent him a box of them from Christchurch. “It was like finding gold”. Now he is a keen forager.

He prefers the aromatics of the older porcini, likening them to truffles, but says the younger ones are more flavoursome. He uses them in risotto and ravioli, and

wrapped in puff pastry. But his personal favourite is simply to saute them “with butter, salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon”.

Porcini were first discovered here, in Christchurch’s Hagley Park, probably introduced on the imported roots of container-grown beech, birch, and oak in the mid19th century. In the past couple of years they have been found in our Wellington bush, mainly under radiata pines mycorrhized with porcini hyphae, or filaments, which release enzymes to absorb nutrients. Porcini flourish happily in a symbiotic relationship by a living tree. They are not easy to find in amongst the forest litter, and you have to work hard to find them.

There appear to be no official guidelines on their safety in areas that are sprayed regularly, or their use in eating establishments. Suppliers are not obliged to provide any information about their sources. “It’s a bit of a grey area”, I was told by the Wellington City Council. The Ministry of Primary Industries likewise had very little information.

My man on the track, who wishes not to be named for obvious reasons, says he works seven sites around the Wellington hills, “seven days a week, five hours a day”.

His grandmother taught him to forage at the age of five, and it’s a good business. He makes $50 per kg, and supplies local restaurants where he’s well known.

The fungus is found on deciduous trees like linden and oaks, as well as pines.It takes time and effort to learn where and when to find them, information which is jealously guarded. He certainly wasn't giving me any tips, but he did share his favourite recipe.“Sliced, sauteed in butter and eaten with a pinch of salt and black pepper, on ciabatta”.

One secret he did give away – if you can’t find/afford truffles, fry porcini with garlic, olive oil, and shaved parmesan, and serve on brushetta. “It will taste just like white truffles”.

As he was about to scurry off with his haul, he reached into his pocket. I felt a flicker of fear, but he just pulled out his phone.

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BY THE BOOK

BIRD’ S BRAIN When Victoria University Press authors read from their work at a university alumni event last month, publisher Fergus Barrowman introduced Hera Lindsay Bird by mentioning the pleasure he took in ordering multiple reprints of her debut collection Hera Lindsay Bird. That’s very rare for a New Zealand poetry book – as is the fact it will soon be published globally (Penguin in November). Bird won the $12,000 Sarah Broom Poetry Prize and one of four best first book awards, at the Ockham NZ book awards last month.

LEE-DER OF THE PACK

THE STARS ALIGN

ADAM’S FAMILY

Fantasy writer Lee Murray is nominated for best novel, best collected work (as coeditor), and the Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Award at the Sir Julius Vogel Awards, presented in June at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand Convention. Murray and fellow Wellingtonian Dan Rabarts are co-writing supernatural crime-noir series Path of Ra; the first book Hounds of the Underworld is released internationally in July.

Award-winning local poet, prose writer, editor and artist Gregory O’Brien received an honorary doctorate in May at a Victoria University graduation ceremony, to acknowledge his three decades of contribution to New Zealand artistic life, through his writing, art, and curation. “I am thrilled and honoured,” he tells Capital. “I count my lucky stars to have fallen in with such inspiring and enlightening company in New Zealand arts and literature.”

Following her first novel I’m Working on a Building (2013 Capital#4), Pip Adam’s second, The New Animals, is out on 8 June (VUP, $30). This tragi-comedy is about three Generation X-ers tired of working in fashion, and three moneyed millennials who take the industry far too seriously. Adam, also a creative-writing teacher, has a Better Off Read podcast series, where she talks with her family of fellow New Zealand authors.

Exhibition until 3 September 2017

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Explore the best free public museum and gallery in the Wairarapa

Gottfried Lindauer, Ngatuere Tawhirimatea Tawhao, Collection of Aratoi Regional Trust. Korere/Feeding funnel from Pukengaki area. Collection of Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hiro. Hei Tiki, pounamu. Collection of Aratoi Regional Trust, Broughton Collection.

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The Painter in the Painting 20 May-6 August

Roberta Thornley A Serious Girl 27 May- 20 August

Whenua Hou: New Māori Ceramics 3 June - 27 August

Euan Macleod, Boatman 2, 2005, oil on canvas

Euan Macleod

BY THE BOOK

I f n o t m e, t h e n w h o?

P H OTO G R A P H BY S E BA ST I Á N GA L L A R D O

Kapiti Coast author Tina Makereti has become something of an activist for Māori and Pacific literature. She takes the train to town for an interview with SARAH LANG.

W

ho knew that Māori and Pacific literature make up only three per cent of the New Zealand canon? In May, award-winning author and creative-writing lecturer Tina Makereti gave an Auckland Writers Festival lecture about this underrepresentation. “I wanted to present how our house of literature does look, how it could look, and what radical renovations might turn it around.”

We’re chatting at Mojo Courtenay Place, as she jokes about her complicated coffee order and a bread roll brought from home. Makereti laughs a lot. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, but takes very seriously what she does – and what she believes needs doing. Rather than letting the door shut behind her, she’s all about holding it open and beckoning others through. “People need to see the problem first. Very few Māori and Pacific writers are publishing their work regularly, and I find it distressing that it’s so hard for people to tell their stories.”

She’s not blaming publishers. “It’s partly economic, social and cultural pressures that particularly affect Māori and Pasifika writers. So people often don't get past the early stages of writing careers.” As a new writer, she didn’t meet any Māori writers for years. “I was like, ‘Where is everyone?’” Now she’s a committee rep for Toi Māori Te Hā Contemporary Māori Writers group, and organises the regional and national Māori Writers Hui. Makereti reckons we need at least 20 Māori and Pacific writers publishing regularly, not just the current handful. “A strong body of work is often seen as a nice-to-have, but I believe it’s crucial for social reasons.

If you want to understand where people are at and

where they want to go, they have to tell their stories.

That’s how I ended up teaching, because we need to do something about this.”

Between 2014 and 2017, she ran a paper called the Māori and Pasifika Creative Writing Workshop at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters. She left this summer to lecture fulltime at Massey University, Palmerston North, teaching creative writing internally and extramurally from first-year to PhD levels. “This position is a big deal for me because it's really hard to get those permanent full-time creative-writing jobs.” She thinks Māori and Pacific literature should be taught as a distinct paper at universities, and hopes this will happen at Massey.

It means an 80-minute commute to Palmerston North, but some days she works from the Kapiti home she shares with her 15-year-old daughter (another daughter has left home) and author husband Lawrence Patchett. They met as IIML students.

Her job allows some time for her own writing, but right now academia is her focus. During semester breaks and annual leave, she’ll revise the first complete draft of her second novel The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke. Due out next year, it’s based on a true story of an orphaned Māori teenager exhibited as a “savage” in Britain during the 1840s. “I’m interested in things that aren’t well known but should be. Often literature grabs your imagination more than straight history.”

Between teaching, writing and family, she’s too busy for much else. “One full-time job has replaced all my part-time jobs.” She was Curator Māori for Museums Wellington for two years, and spent a year as Nga Taonga Sound & Vision’s curator-at-large. Is she still

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on the advisory group for the New Zealand Festival’s Writers Week? “I don’t know! I’m terrible at saying no, but right now I'm running just to keep up.”

However, two projects were too important to turn down. One was curating the latest Courtenay Place lightboxes exhibition, on until 30 July. The Magical Māori Mystery Tour of Wellington came about courtesy of “a moment of synergy”. Makereti, who had decided against pitching a lightbox exhibition with her IIML class, saw a portfolio by student Debbie Broughton that seemed a perfect fit for the space. Designed primarily by Johnson Witehera, the exhibition features Broughton’s sometimes humorous but fundamentally serious pieces of writing by Rachel Buchanan and Alice Te Punga Somerville, which tell Wellington’s hidden Māori histories and critique their usual representation. Archival photos add context.

“How good is it to see photos of Parihaka and Te Aro Pa on Courtenay Place?” Makereti asks.

The other project is a book she co-edited with Witi Ihimaera, at his request. Out on 3 July, Black Marks on the White Page (Penguin Random House) is an anthology of Maori and Pasifika fiction written by 36 authors over the past decade. “This needed to happen. These stories show the diversity of our communities: where they’re from, and how and what they write.”

Makereti always wrote bits and pieces, but never imagined it could become her career. After focusing on motherhood, then spending three years as a kaitautoko Maori (academic support worker) at Massey, Palmerston North, she decided to give writing a crack. Between 2009 and 2013 she did a creative-writing MA then a PhD at the IIML, moving from Palmerston North to Kapiti to live as Wellington was too expensive. She had early success, winning short-story and creative science-writing prizes in 2009. “When I finished studying, that was the hardest time in my life. You need so much perseverance and stamina to write while earning a living in other ways.”

But she made it happen. Both of her books – shortstory collection Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa (2011) and novel Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings (2014) – won the Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction. Her novel – which cuts between different time periods and has Moriori, Māori and Pakeha characters – explores cultural culpability, and how descendants of different ethnic groups reconcile their identity with their history. Makereti has ancestors from all three groups, if stories about her Moriori forebears are true.

She and her sister moved around North Island towns with her Pakeha father, after he split from their Māori mother. As a teenager she discovered more about her Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Ati Awa, and Ngāti Rangatahi ancestry. She clams up about her childhood. “It’d make this interview two hours long.

It’s complicated.” When she started writing, she took her middle name as her surname.

Does she describe herself as a Māori writer?

“Initially I didn’t want to be identified that way, just because people think they know what that means and they don’t, or they think you represent everyone but you don't. But I quickly got over that and now I just say I’m both [Pakeha and Māori]. I’m comfortable with the dual identity, but I’m still interested in questions about how you manage to be both.”

What’s next? After two time-consuming novels, she’d like to put together a book of personal essays and another short-story collection. Last year her short story Black Milk won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Pacific region. “I’m still disbelieving. It opened up my world a bit.” Her prize included a trip to the Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica – an experience she wrote about in an essay published in non-fiction anthology Home: New Writing (Massey University Press) in July.

“Writing can be hard. But I persevere because I know how privileged I am to do this. Not everyone gets to tell their stories.”

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A home fro m a h o m e W R I TT E N BY B E T H ROS E | P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G G S

A

childhood spent off the grid and surrounded by native bush has been reimagined in a Churton Park townhouse. Photographer Bonny Beattie has created a homage to her upbringing and her artistic heritage in an unassuming home.

Small, modern and secure, these numerous almost identical two-level town houses are built for practicality and convenience, and have their own pool, tennis court and gym. Who lives in a house like this? Appearances – as they say – can be deceiving.

Bonny and her husband Kyle Beattie, a website and app creator, started renting here six years ago when they came back to New Zealand after a year in Kyle’s home country of Zimbabwe. The initial attraction was being able to arrange their tenancy while still overseas, whereas it usually requires a face-to-face interview with the landlord.

The couple have since enjoyed the security and stability of their little rental and have no plans to go anywhere until they buy somewhere of their own, which they say is a few years away yet. “Churton Park developments leave covenants on bush land, so there are places we can go walking. And we have access to doctors, pharmacist, supermarket and a café,” says Beattie.

This all sounds neat and tidy, but the Beatties also hold creativity and individuality dear, and

there are obvious limits on scope for personalisation and dramatic expression if you don’t own your home: the walls must stay where they are. An artistic mind, however, finds ways around them.

Paintings of nature, nostalgic family photographs and bright still life compositions own the rooms.

Beattie’s early family life was lived self-sufficiently off the grid, at Helena Bay, near Whangarei, with her mother, stepfather, sister and two brothers. Her stepfather, John Robinson, built their house, on 390 acres of bush, and it was surrounded by a further 500 acres of Department of Conservation land.

Recalling the decade at Helena Bay is making Beattie laugh. “There was no fridge,” explains Beattie.

“I realise how unusual it can sound but for me, it’s completely normal.”

The beloved homemade house no longer exists. The next owners lost it to a house fire – in its remote location, there was nothing that could be done, and it burnt to the ground.

For her Masters’ degree in Fine Arts at Massey University, Beattie produced an abstract “reconstruction” of her family’s home using old photographs, framed and re-photographed. The essence of this work is also what makes their townhouse in Churton Park a home.

Her own artwork sits alongside bought and made curiosities, mirrors and frames made by her

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father Craig MacDonald, and vivid watercolour paintings by her mother Elaine Stewart. “My Mum’s paintings are of native trees and birds. She doesn’t paint traditional watercolours; her work is saturated with colour.” At first I mistook the paintings – including intricate close-ups of leaves and seeds – for more photographs.

Images of people and nature hung along the walls in carefully chosen frames form an exhibition that tells her personal story in things, places and moments. In the wedding photos, the photographer becomes the photographed.

The couple got together more than 11 years ago in Rotorua, where they were high school sweethearts. Now, they are newly-weds. They were married six months ago in Beattie’s old family stamping ground of Whangarei.

The wedding photos show an arid, exotic scene untypical of New Zealand. The most obvious flora, cacti, and the Mexican-style setting contrasts starkly with the climate of the Wellington they now call home.

As with many freelance photographers, home is also where work happens. The second of the two bedrooms is her office. “I mostly do product work, photography for companies and brands, quite often with artists and interior designers,” says Beattie.

Ceramicists Paige Jarman and Wundaire (Felicity Donaldson) have both worked with Beattie on styling their work. A stack of their pottery is still sitting on Beattie’s dining table, where it has been photographed.

Beattie keeps a blog of her work, where both professional and personal projects feature. It includes images exploring the Rotorua house of her grandmother, from whom she says she’s gathered much inspiration.

“My grandmother sells life-insurance. Her job isn’t creative, but she has travelled all over the world and her house is full of interesting things that she’s collected. I’ve always wanted to be an artist, and seeing all her things made me want to travel and I thought, ‘How can I do this professionally?’”

Beattie lived with her grandmother while attending Rotorua Lakes High School. During her fourth form year, the school built a darkroom and employed a photography teacher. Those years were perhaps especially formative for Beattie, as it was here she also met Kyle.

When the couple eventually decide to up-sticks from the little Churton Park townhouse, they’ll in effect be taking their carefully crafted nest with them. Both are keen on the idea of a mid-century home where their collection of deco furniture and brightly complementary furnishings will find a fit.

Their life is lived in multiple eras simultaneously. Photographs reflect the past, but the colourful accessorising and the art collection together give their home a modern vibe. Visitors are drawn into their story, by the visual reality and by Beattie’s enthusiasm to share it verbally with their visitors.

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W h a t wo u l d D e i r d r e d o?

CHEAPSKATES Is it unfair and/or unethical to go into shops and try things on or to look at goods in a shop and then go online to order if the goods are cheaper online? My flatmates and I are arguing about it.

Lone flatmate, Highbury I think this is a pretty common practice, and it has been identified by retailers as a threat. You will differ with your flatmates over many things – the dishes, the housework, the fridge contents, hot water... all part of life's learning. On a scale of one to ten this is not up there at all. You can research and buy wherever you wish. Those with scruples can do it their way. The end result is still consumerism – now that is an entirely different topic!

GRANNY FLATS My elderly mother can no longer live alone.

I think it’s my duty to have her live with me.

My brother died a few years ago and there is only me. My partner disagrees violently, and says it will spoil our life. I know it won’t be easy in a lot of ways, but I think family does have to come first. What do you think?

Dutiful, Horowhenua I agree family comes first, but your partner is family too. Maybe see if you can agree on a plan – can you create a

“mum” space within your house, or by adding a mini-flat? A room with access to bathroom and cooking, which means she has some independent place to be?

Agree on a timeline as a tester. It may work fine, but have a plan in case not and if she needs medical support further down the track. You need your space too and I am sure that is a real part of the negative concerns your partner is voicing. Talk it through (with your mum as well) and follow through on whatever you agree on.

Try to respect everyone's wishes.

OVERMOTHERED Do you think we have reached a peak in all this talk about mothering and babies?

I know motherhood is hard, but need it be talked about and written about endlessly?

Why would anyone expect it to be a relaxed easy period of their life?

Mother of six, Upper Hutt Marketing for motherhood is massive and you can read it and indulge or not.

Life is not easy but the rewards, joys, frustrations, failures, successes and magic are all part of the picture and the more information, opinion, help and support that all mothers have access to the better.

I think you were in a grouchy mood when you wrote this and hopefully have found something to cheer you up by now.

PLAYING FAVOURITES I am watching my son and daughter-in-law repeatedly show favouritism to one of their three children. It is subtle but definitely happening and beginning to be noticed by my grandchildren. Do I comment or say it’s their business?

Silent watcher, Kelburn As a grandmother myself I would agree that this is a delicate zone and probably one that needs all your tact and a calm approach.

Unless you are living with your family it is difficult to truly know. Maybe you can make a very clear show of your own equality of treatment when visiting or being with them.

General discussion about your own experiences as a mother might be a way to bring the topic up. I would be careful not to make any accusation, as this is ultimately your perception. They are the parents and it is their family dynamics at stake, not yours. Stick to being there for them all.

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

Fine print, small print, or “mouseprint” is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service.[1] The larger print that is used in conjunction with fine print by the merchant often has the effect of deceiving the consumer into believing the offer is more advantageous than it really is, via a legal technicality which requires full disclosure of all (even unfavorable) terms or conditions, but does not specify the manner (size, typeface, coloring, etc.) of disclosure. There is strong evidence that suggests the fine print is not read by the majority of consumers.[2]Fine print may say the opposite of what the larger print says. For example, if the larger print says “pre-approved” the fine print might say “subject to approval.” [3] Especially in pharmaceutical advertisements, fine print may accompany a warning message, but this message is often neutralized by the more eye-catching positive images and pleasant background music (eye candy). Sometimes television advertisements flash text fine print in camouflagic colors, and for notoriously brief periods of time, making it difficult or impossible for the viewer to rea Fine print, small print, or “mouseprint” is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service.[1] The larger print that is used in conjunction with fine print by the merchant often has the effect of deceiving the consumer into believing the offer is more advantageous than it really is, via a legal technicality which requires full disclosure of all (even unfavorable) terms or conditions, but does not specify the manner (size, typeface, coloring, etc.) of disclosure. There is strong evidence that suggests the fine print is not read by the majority of consumers.[2]Fine print may say the opposite of what the larger print says. For example, if the larger print says “pre-approved” the fine print might say “subject to approval.” [3] Especially in pharmaceutical advertisements, fine print may accompany a warning message, but this message is often neutralized by the more eye-catching positive images and pleasant background music (eye candy). Sometimes television a colors, and for notoriously brief periods of time, making it difficult or impossible for the viewer to rea Fine print, small print, or “mouseprint” is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service.[1] The larger print that is used in conjunction with fine print by the merchant often has the effect of deceiving the consumer into believing the offer is more advantageous than it really is, via a legal technicality which requires full disclosure of all (even unfavorable) terms or conditions, but does not specify the manner (size, typeface, coloring, etc.) of disclosure. There is strong evidence that suggests the fine print is not read by the majority of consumers.[2]Fine print may say the opposite of what the larger print says. For example, if the larger print says “pre-approved” the fine print might say “subject to approval.” [3] Especially in pharmaceutical advertisements, fine print may accompany a warning message, but this message is often neutralized by the more eye-catching positive images and pleasant background music (eye candy).

Sometimes television advertisements flash text fine print in camouflagic colors, and for notoriously brief periods of time, making it difficult or impossible for the viewer to reaine print, small print, or “mouseprint” is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service.[1] The larger print that is used in conjunction with fine print by the merchant often has the effect of deceiving the consumer into believing the offer is more advantageous than it really is, via a legal technicality which requires full disclosure of all (even unfavorable) terms or conditions, but does not specify the manner (size, typeface, coloring, etc.) of disclosure. There is strong evidence that suggests the fine print is not read by the majority of consumers.[2]Fine print may say the opposite of what the larger print says. For example, if the larger print says “pre-approved” the fine print might say “subject to approval.” [3] Especially in pharmaceutical advertisements, fine print may accompany a warning message, but this message is often neutralized by the more eye-catching positive images and pleasant background music (eye candy). Sometimes television advertisements flash text fine print in camouflagic colors, and for notoriously brief periods of time, making it difficult or impossible for the viewer to rea Fine print, small print, or “mouseprint” is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service.[1] The larger print that is used in conjunction with fine print by the merchant often has the effect of deceiving the consumer into believing the offer is more advantageous than it really is, via a legal technicality which requires full disclosure of all (even unfavorable) terms or conditions, but does not specify the manner (size, typeface, coloring, etc.) of disclosure. There is strong evidence that suggests the fine print is not read by the majority of consumers.[2] Fine print may say the opposite of what the larger print says. For example, if the larger print says “pre-approved” the fine print might say “subject to approval.” [3] Especially in pharmaceutical advertisements, fine print may accompany a warning message, but this message is often neutralized by the more eye-catching positive images and pleasant background music (eye candy). Sometimes television a colors, and for notoriously brief periods of time, making it difficult or impossible for the viewer to rea Fine print, small print, or “mouseprint” is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service.[1] The larger print that is used in conjunction with fine print by the merchant often has the effect of deceiving the consumer into believing the offer is more advantageous than it really is, via a legal technicality which requires full disclosure of all (even unfavorable) terms or conditions, but does not specify the manner (size, typeface, coloring, etc.) of disclosure. There is strong evidence that suggests the fine print is not read by the majority of consumers.[2]Fine print may say the opposite of what the larger print says. For example, if the larger print says “pre-approved” the fine print might say “subject to approval.” [3] Especially in pharmaceutical advertisements, fine print may accompany a warning message, but this message is often neutralized by the more eye-catching positive images and pleasant background music (eye candy). Sometimes television advertisements flash text fine print in camouflagic colors, and for notoriously brief periods of time, making it difficult or impossible for the viewer to rea

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T O R Q U E TA L K

And… touch the steering wheel W R I TT E N BY RO G E R WA L K E R | P H OTO G R A P H Y BY R H E T T G O O D L E Y - H O R N B LOW

I knew I’d been on this planet for a while when a chap in the lift at a hotel I was recently staying at in Auckland asked me if I was there for the Masters Games.

A

t a young age I learnt to drive on Uncle Bill’s Ferguson tractor at his farm in Te Puke, where international Formula One, racing car driver Denny Hulme was the next door neighbour.

The tractor had no synchromesh, no gauges and no cruise control. Hell, it didn’t even have suspension – but it did have keyless entry. When the engine got too hot it simply caught fire.

Fuel use? It didn’t really matter, in those days, petrol cost less than 27 cents a litre.

I know a writer in the Wairarapa whose new house generates its own electrical power, disposes of his waste products, heats itself in winter and generally manages itself.

When he wakes in the morning and the sun strokes across his photovoltaic roof, the resultant whirring and the sound of water in his pipework make him feel that the house is a living thing; and as a bachelor, he appreciates the companionship.

This brings me to the car … I’ve been driving around in a BMW 530d. This is a “state of the art” new car, and for those who care it’s the seventh generation of BMW’s 5 series. Not only is it more spacious and lighter than its predecessor, but careful design has reduced wind noise and enhanced its sleek beauty. And unlike the Fergie tractor, which made absolutely no effort to stop you driving into a fence or reversing over a cow, this BMW will do its remarkable best to save you from yourself. (Happily for those of us who are good and confident at driving, almost all the 5 series automated functions can be switched off, so you can crash it if you really want to).

Recently a German car manufacturer made a bold statement: “Over 130 years ago we replaced the horse. Next up is the coachman.” It’s true in New Zealand that most drivers would be better as passengers. We have a Trumpian proclivity to be erratic, unaware of others in our vicinity, and impulsive.

In this BMW, the driver is on the way to becoming the passenger. Read on.

If you’re driving along a motorway you’ll actually have to touch the steering wheel – but only every 30 seconds. It’s part of “driving assist”. The handbook jauntily states: “Driving assist offers automatic driving in monotonous and dangerous situa-

tions including traffic jams, slow moving traffic or long journeys on country roads and motorways. It navigates junctions and hazardous lane changes, and takes action when the driver cannot or will not”. Give it a try. It feels slightly unnatural at first but it works. It goes round corners on its own, and slows or stops to match other traffic.

Its optional “Technology Package” features “gesture control” – for example, you can wave your hand in front of the screen to tell it you want to answer a phone call (or if you don’t want to) or to change the radio station.

Remote control parking: there’s a fancy key with a tiny touch-screen. The key certainly starts the car. It also tells you – as you lie in bed – if the car has fuel, if it’s locked, if the lights are on, or if it needs servicing. It also enables you to back the car out of the garage without even being in the car! On the dashboard the head-up display posts the speed limits wherever you are. It even it told me “10kmh” going into a parking building. How does it know?

This 5 Series quietly monitors its temperatures, tyre pressures and fluids, and it also connects to an app for your phone.

With it you can locate your car, toot the horn, or turn the lights on to help find it, and lock or unlock it when you find it; and it even knows how far you can travel with the fuel on board.

The car and I took a trip along the motorway to the new Porirua Town Centre. I noticed the first ever New Zealand McDonald’s outlet that I used to take the kids to years ago, had gone. Sad. There is, however, an architecturally award-winning kiosk serving a great coffee. I struck up a conversation with a passing bloke who admired the car, and shared my chips.

Turned out he’s the new mayor of Porirua and, as I discovered, a fellow car culturalist and admirer of technology. We noted how, like ladies at a champagne breakfast, the eightspeed auto gearbox helps the almost silent 195kw 6-cylinder 3-litre engine to take its frugal sips of diesel. We wondered where they’ll stop.

This BMW 530 is about as far removed from Uncle Bill’s tractor as it’s possible to be.

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SPORTS BRIEFS

DESIGN EDGE Fortunate car enthusiasts, and of course potential buyers, were invited recently by Armstrong Prestige to test drive the new Land Rover Discovery generation 5 at Boomrock.

Our car enthusiast says, “I wasn’t sure whether I was in an SUV or spaceship with all the technology packed into the cockpit.” Design-wise this edition has taken a step into the future, in both appearance and performance. The classic boxy look of the Disco has been exchanged for a very sleek-looking nose. But it still packs a punch, with the Discovery’s different terrain modes allowing access almost anywhere, with apparent ease, he tells us.

PRIDE TO STAY PUT

ST MARY’S RISING

MARATHON EFFORT

The British and Irish Lions are travelling all over New Zealand in June and early July. They will spend at least a week in Wellington, their longest stay in any single city. Given that the supporters' contingent may be more than 25,000 strong, Courtenay Place had better prepare for being overwhelmed from Sunday 25 June to Sunday 2 July.

Two years ago, St Mary’s didn’t even have a rugby team. Now, their sevens team is on top of the world, after winning the national title against Hamilton Girls High School in late December and then recently winning the SANIX world rugby youth invitational tournament in Japan against schools from Australia, England, Hong Kong and Japan.

The team is coached by Tuga Mativa with close friend Ardie Savea. They practise at Rongotai College because there is no playing field at St Mary’s.

The Wellington marathon is being held on Sunday 18 June, doubling as the national championship. Event manager Michael Jacques expects about 5,000 entries. Local Japanese runner Hirotaka Tanimoto is the event favourite. He will be up against reigning champion Ciaran Faherty. The Wellington marathon course is known to be quite fast, being a flat track around the waterfront. It remains to be seen whether the contestants encounter a howling northerly.

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RATA STUDIOS TUTOR: JESS WEICHLER PROFESSIONAL MEDIA ARTIST, CODER AND EDUCATOR

GOOD SPORT

K i c k i n’ o n t h e dock of T– Bay CO M P I L E D BY G R I F F B R I ST E D | P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G G S

All Black halfback TJ Perenara was identified as a top sporting talent before he left school. He discusses the path from Porirua schoolboy sport to top international rugby at Hurricanes HQ on a freezing training day.

What rugby club did you play for growing up?

I played for Norths growing up and then after school.

That’s the same club as All Blacks like JC. Were they around?

Yeah bro, Jerry Collins was the best club man that I’ve ever met. He used to play for the Hurricanes on a Friday night and come and play for Norths on a Saturday. He used to get in trouble for it, but yeah, he just loved the club so much, so he was a hero for a lot of kids out there growing up.

T Bay is a good surf spot. What was it like to grow up there?

I was never a very good surfer, so stuck to the rugby field.

Every day the boys would be down at the beach or at the park playing footy or softball. It was a good upbringing. When I have kids, that’s where I wanna live and raise them.

You went to Mana College, and obviously played rugby there. Was it a good school?

I loved my time there. Everyone said go to a bigger school, it’ll give you a better chance with footy, but I’m a believer that if you are good enough you’ll make it anyway. Mana was where all my mates went to school. They are probably the main reason I played footy in the first place. It was somewhere I always felt at home.

From your time playing in Porirua and Wellington, do any coaches stand out in your memory as cementing your passion for the game?

My dad! He was the man for me growing up. He never put any pressure or pushed me too hard. He coached our team and had a key to Onepoto Park, which had lights so we could train at night. He would just say, “The key is there if you wanna train on off days,” – things like that. He would never push it but opportunity was there. Often he’d arrive back from work and if he saw I was down at the park he’d come down and help me out. He always said that if I didn’t wanna help myself then there was no point in him helping me. He made sure it was always from within that made me have that drive.

You probably grew up doing the haka in front of the TV, and now you’ve been leading it for the AB’s. What does this mean to you?

It’s definitely a special moment for me – just doing the haka is special, but to be able to lead it, especially Ka Mate, is big for me. It originated from where I’m from, in Ngati Toa land.

Te Rauparaha wrote it. So to do it for the people and the tribe that I grew up around, it’s massive for me.

The Maori tattoos you have, have they a significance as to where you are from, or who you are?

Half of my moko represents where I’m from, my family and my heritage which is Te Arawa (Rotorua/Bay of Plenty) and the other half represents where I grew up, which is Ngati Toa (Porirua). It’s special to me. Everyone’s moko is different, they are special to each individual. I didn’t actually know too much about moko and Maori heritage before I got it, so I wanted to make sure I learned and understood what it was going to mean and where the koru actually come from and what each pattern sorta meant, so that was special for me.

I’ve always wondered about the wings I can see on television coming out the top of your jersey. Can you tell me what that is?

Yeah, nah that’s a more personal one, so probably not.

What about siblings? Was there rivalry, are they sporty?

Both of my elder sisters played sport growing up too. Especially Eden, the middle one, she played a lot. They were both better than me and they let me know that too. In our family there’s a lot of competition.

Do you think that’s good for you?

I think it is. A lot of people tell kids not to be too competitive and to play for fun and stuff like that. I’m a believer that if they are over-competitive it is easier to scale it back. Hard to build that drive once you are a little bit older. I actually remember playing a game of cricket on Christmas day where we had a 12-

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hour game of cricket. ‘Cos me and dad were always on opposite teams and they wouldn’t stop playing until they had won.

Obviously you were pretty determined too? I wasn’t giving up either. That speaks volumes about our family, to be honest.

Do you have a partner? Where’d you meet?

Yeah I do. I met her at a party while I was still at school, so we’ve been together quite a while now, about seven or eight years. I was still at school, she was her first year out of school.

Have you bought a house?

Is it something you encourage younger players to do?

Yes I have. I think property is a very good investment. It’s a safer investment than stocks and shares. It’s something that I would drive young kids to do. It’s something you can drive past every day, you can touch it and you can work on your house.

Not just a number on a computer? Yeah, something which can’t just be wiped away with a backspace. It’s there; you can control how it works a little bit more and that opens up other avenues for you later on.

Where’s your favourite place to travel?

I like going to Ireland for footy, it’s an awesome place. They like footy, the people are very friendly and cool. Outside of that, I went to the USA at the end of last year with my partner. It was awesome. We went to New Orleans. I’d love to go back there and I’d love to do New York again too.

What do you do in the off season?

I actually work on my craft a lot more. The off season is a time when you can be really selfish as a rugby player. A lot of trainings are team oriented; the off season is an individual time where I can just focus on how I can make myself a better athlete. I know everyone talks about rest and stuff, but for me it’s more of a mental break away from a footy environment, not a break from physical work. So that’s a time where I put a lot of work into myself and make sure that for me, I am a better athlete than in that last game.

Is there anything you do which the boys rip you out for?

Yeah, probably competing [TJ laughs], they know that I’m here to win.

Obviously the Lions series is on everyone’s radar. Do you remember the game with Dan Carter in Wellington?

Yeah, I do. There’s two things I really remember from that tour, and that’s his game – he was insane, scored like 35 points or something. And the ad on TV, where the Lions are playing bulrush against the AB’s.

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Do you think players from four different nations coming together is one of their downfalls?

I don’t know, to be fair, but I think if we put a combination of NZ, SA and Australia I think it’d be a good team. I don’t see how putting those best players and combinations together can be a bad thing.

Are the AB’s gonna sweep them?

The AB’s mindset is that you go out every game to win, so there will be no-one in their environment who will be saying “oh I hope we can beat them 2–1”; everyone will be saying how they wanna win every single game they go out and play.

Who’s a player you’ll be watching out for?

Connor Murray [Ireland], he’s a great halfback and the way he’s played the game over the last few years, he’s taken his game to a new level. He can be decisive for that team and someone who if he is playing good footy could put us under the pump.

What do you do to relax outside of rugby?

Basketball is a game I really do enjoy and I like competing. Relaxing isn’t for me, just doing nothing, I find that harder than being active. I find I get that fix through basketball.

I saw on your twitter you were given a playstation the other day. What’s your favourite game?

At the moment, probably Modern Warfare remastered. We gotta little crew that have been playing together for years now, from Porirua. We’ve been through all the different Call of Duty’s. So that’s the one we are jamming at the moment.

You play in the Wellington social basketball league with Julian Savea, is that something you are allowed to do?

Yeah, we are allowed to, as long we don’t get injured I suppose.

I remember when we played you, Julian took a heavy fall.

Yeah, I was the one that made him fall too! [laughs] For Julz and I that’s probably our happy place. Outside of footy that’s somewhere we can just go and be ourselves you know and just shoot some hoops. The first time we came down there people labelled us as “rugby players” but now we are down there a lot more often and everyone’s comfortable with it.

Can I print that?

Yea, sweet go for it.

Pick to win the NBA? Cavs [Cleveland Cavaliers].

www.covertogs.co.nz

B A B Y, B A B Y

A ra i n b ow of choice

BY M E LO DY T H O M A S

O

f all the indignities of motherhood, not many come close to last Saturday – as I crouched low in the graffitied toilet stall of an underground bar, milking myself into the bowl. I am happy, nay proud, to say I was a little bit drunk. Awesomedrunk. The kind where you’re just a bit loose and full of yourself, and you can’t seem to help making the people around you laugh. It was such a great night and one I desperately needed – following roughly 20 months of enforced sobriety – but because it’d been so long I’d forgotten the very important fact that breastfeeding breasts need regular emptying. And so here I was – swaying slightly, giggling to myself as breastmilk squirted off in every direction, eavesdropping on a couple of girls waiting to use the loo, who were busy complimenting a boy’s eye makeup.

That was the other thing about this gig – the crowd was different from most of the others I go to. For a start they were young – most in their late teens to early twenties – but aside from that it was pretty tough to make assumptions about any of them. They were boys in dresses and girls with their heads clean shaven, girls kissing other girls and boys giggling shyly into their drinks. An effeminate DJ performed in a tight red skivvy under a denim dress, working the wind of a nearby fan to great effect, posing and batting their lashes as the draft played with their hair. In the middle of the room a very tall, hairy guy in a singlet jumped up and down on the spot for a full two hours while next to him, a chubby character in black mesh waved a fan marked with the word “femme”. It was unquestionably the most diverse crowd of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of being part of, and the atmosphere was charged with good vibes. I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

You might wonder what this has to do with parenting, but dancing in that room that night got me thinking about my kids – about the fact that my four-year-old daughter is already opting for clothing decorated with bunnies and unicorns, where her little brother is being gifted PJs proclaiming he’s a superhero. About the friend whose boy loved wearing dresses

until he started school, and another whose little boy wanted his face painted the same pink-and-purple cat as his friend, who happened to be a girl, and was told “you want different colours though, don’t you?” and “how about a tiger instead?”

I know it seems like small stuff. If it only happened now and then this kind of thing would be laughable. But it happens all the time, and very quickly our kids get to understand what is expected of them because of the gender they are assigned at birth according to the genitals they are born with – our girls learn to be cute, and sweet, and passive, and our boys are congratulated for confidence and assertiveness. Or many of them do. As they get older, the kids who don’t fit these moulds are bullied for being too queer, too sensitive, too bold, too pushy. All because they don’t embody an arbitrary set of preferences assumed on the basis of what is between their legs.

As parents we all want our children to be happy, so it’s understandable that we might wish for them to fall somewhere inside the “norm”. To have wants and desires that align with the majority. To express themselves in a way that doesn’t make them a target. But we also have absolutely no control over this – they will be whoever they are “meant” to be, and if we can’t accept and encourage them, they will learn to suppress their natural inclinations and invest energy that should be put to use exploring and enjoying life in attempting to mimic whatever model of male and female is offered to them.

In that room that night, every single person was being given express permission to be their true selves. Everyone was welcome. Everyone was ok. You might not have been able to tell who were the girls and who were the boys, who was straight and who was queer, but it didn’t matter. We were all just people, dancing and smiling and looking out for each other. It was beautiful. It was important. It gave me a glimpse of a future that is possible for our children, if we just spend a little less time encouraging them to conform and more doing our bit to create a world with space for everybody.

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ART CLASSES – ACRYLIC ART WEEKEND WORKSHOP 2

June

24 & 25, 10.30am, Gordon Harris, 182 Vivian St

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WORLD REFUGEE DAY COMMUNITY CELEBRATION

NEW ZEALAND OPERA: CARMEN A parade of hit tunes set in an exotic locale with a fearless heroine. Accompanied by Orchestra Wellington.

1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 7.30pm, St James Theatre

Entertainment and food, a celebration of refugee resettlement. Hosted by Red Cross.

24 June, 11.30am, Mungavin Hall, Porirua MIROMODA RUNWAY SHOW

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6.30pm, Pataka Art + Museum, Cnr Parumoana & Norrie Streets, Porirua

THEATRESPORTS: 2017 4, 11, 18, 7pm, Circa Theatre

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WILD DAY OUT

17 NZSO PRESENTS: SCHUMANN & BARBER World-class cellist Daniel Muller-Schott performs Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor.

7.30pm, Michael Fowler Centre

6.30pm, Michael Fowler Centre WINETOPIA

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15 HURRICANES V CRUSADERS 5pm, Westpac Stadium CMNZ PRESENTS: KUIJKEN QUARTET

HURRICANES V BRITISH & IRISH LIONS

Celebrating two contrasting facets of Kuijken’s artistry.

Part of the New Zealand Lions Series 2017.

7.30pm, Michael Fowler Centre

7.30pm, Westpac Stadium

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TAKE TWO – EASY LISTENING, SIPPING MUSIC

7.30pm, Botanic Garden, Glenmore St entrance

David and Dennis entertain with easy listening, sipping music in the newly refurbished QT lobby.

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7.30pm, Westpac Stadium

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21 Jun–2 Aug, 10am, Taranaki Wharf

Annual Johnsonville craft fair, raising money for the Haven and Sunshine House in Sri Lanka.

28 & 29 , 7.30pm, 30, 2.30pm Hannah Playhouse, 12 Cambridge Terrace

24 WHANAU WORKSHOP: JUNK PUPPETS 21 Jun–2 Aug, 10am, Sustainability Trust

9am, The Salvation Army, 125-137 Johnsonville Road

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HURRICANES V CHIEFS 7.30pm, Westpac Stadium

RHYS DARBY MYSTIC TIME BIRD 9, 10, 8pm, The Opera House

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QT SIPS & SOUNDS Live Jazz sessions as part of the 2017 Wellington Jazz Festival.

7–11, 6pm, Circa Theatre MERATA – MAKING WAVES Matariki screening showcases documentary on Māori filmmaker Merata Mita.

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Netta Cooper and Erin Cassidy began the giant breed dog-walking club two years ago after attending separate Leonberger and Newfoundland clubs. It began as a way for “all the big dogs to get together and show the world how nice they are, at a time when dogs were getting a bit of a bad rap” says Erin.

Two years later and the group’s numbers, much like the dogs themselves, have grown dramatically. Recent walks have attracted about thirty people with their furry giants, not to mention the hundreds of bystanders who gather to take a look. Last month, however, the group’s not-so-furry Great Danes had to sit this walk out because of the cold.

Large dogs of a wide variety of breeds meet once a month for a Sunday stroll at either Petone beach or the Wellington waterfront. While each owner can tell you the highlights and lowlights of each particular breed (Newfoundland slobber, for example, was mentioned more than once) one thing they can agree is generally true is that big dogs make placid dogs. As for what led them all to such large purchases? No single reason, apparently. Members Julie and John Rogers said they came home with their Black Russian Terrier after they “went looking for a small dog but couldn’t find one.”

The walks are open for all dog-lovers to enjoy– “You don’t need a dog to come join us” says Erin.

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