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

SMACK TRAP NOVEMBER 2013

MAN OF LETTERS ISSUE 6

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CONTENTS

WAT E R B A B Y Young New Zealander of the year, Sam Judd is cleaning our beaches, one coastline at a time 30

A BRIGHT IDEA

T O B E FA I R I T HAS TO B E F R E E

Gina Jones wants to light the city in a rainbow

Miramar pupils live the dream of free education

9 LETTERS

10 CHATTER

58 BY THE BOOK

BY THE NUMBERS

TALES OF THE CITY

64 THE HEART OF A HOME

GLASS VAULTS

68 INTERIOR

THE SMACK TRAP

69 SPORTS

SUBURBAN PIONEER A SCHOLAR’S LETTERS

26 CULTURE

44 FASHION

77 DIRECTORY

WHAT THE FLOCK

72 A TALE OF TWO BENTLEYS

COFFEE +

THE BOUTIQUE POP

77 BABY, BABY

SKATEBOARDERS’ DANCE

78 DIRECTORY

EDIBLE

80 CALENDAR

BLIND AMBITION

PARTY ON BARCELONA

Do you suck at social media? Be honest - it’s ok if you do.

CAPITAL THE COVER: Celebrating fireworks and long nights with family. Kids left: Indi Fitzsimmons-Lole right: Levi Quick Photograph by Sarah Burton

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MADE IN WELLINGTON

ovember. Guy Fawkes begins the month with a big bright bang. In my childhood Guy Fawkes was one of the highlights of our calendar. We had enormous bonfires and many many fireworks purchased by the neighbourhood children, with our own savings and often in the days before, safely lit by us without any adults around. On the night of course, our parents joined in the lighting of sky-rockets, Catherine-wheels, the splendidly named Golden Rain and Mounts Vesuvius and Egmont, star crackers, the hardly missed Tom Thumbs (they were so feeble) and many others. Sparklers were great for little children, see our cover. I don’t recall anybody losing an eye or getting much more than minor burns, though my little sister did once burn her feet a good 24 hours later recklessly trawling through the ashes of the bonfire in her new summer sandals. I can’t think how my mother let her wear her new sandals straight away. I am keen for all children to still enjoy the excitement of fireworks but think it time we shifted the celebration to a local public event. It has been suggested before (in fact my friends are sick of hearing me on about it); why not make Matariki, usually in June each year, our annual celebration with fireworks? It’s winter, the grass is short and often damp so there’s less fire risk, it gets dark early so children needn’t stay up so late to join in the fun, it’s colder so adolescent men might be less keen to stay out late firing off random displays into letter boxes. More to the point, Matariki is already growing as a local celebration and fireworks could be part of it. And a reminder to the gardeners among us to plan-to-plant. What do you think? Let me know. In this issue we have assembled some wonderful local stories. Mary Fisher, a very impressive young sportswoman, talks to Arrun Soma about some of her achievements and challenges. Principal Kyran Smith demonstrates an impressive commitment to her pupils and tells John Bishop how important it is that they all enjoy a confident beginning to their education. Melody Thomas tells us where to look to spot her bird of the month and Catharine Mackenzie outlines a colourful project which, if it gets the green light, will light up our city summer and winter. And much more. Alison Franks Editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz

CONTRIBUTORS

S TA F F Alison Franks Managing editor alison@capitalmag.co.nz Gaye Matheson Advertising manager gaye@capitalmag.co.nz 027 444 7364 John Bristed General Factotum john@capitalmag.co.nz Shalee Fitzsimmons Art direction and design shalee@capitalmag.co.nz Jeremiah Boniface

Design

Craig Beardsworth

Factotum

Gus Bristed

Distribution

BENJAMIN + ELISE Ph oto g r aph ers Benjamin + Elise are a husband and wife photography team with a love for authentically natural portraiture. With Wellington as their base they travel far and wide documenting creative weddings and interesting people.

MARK SAINSBURY C olum n i st Despite a thirty-year career in television, the last seven years working out of TVNZ’s Auckland studios, two things remain constant with Mark Sainsbury: he loves Wellington and he loves cars. So after leaving the small screen, he now has the time to devote to both, and he remains a committed resident of Newtown.

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

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

THANKS Armstrong Motor Group | Max | Andy Levi, Angeline & Fillip Quick | Knowledge Services, DOC | Janet Hughes

SOPHIE NELLIS Writer Sophie is a writer, ESL teacher and amateur urbanist. She has contributed to The Rough Guide to France, Frommer’s Paris and the Urban Travel Blog. When she’s not at work, you’ll find her out and about exploring whichever city she currently calls home.

CATHARINE MACKENZIE Journ a li st Catharine is a former parliamentary Press Gallery journalist who always liked writing features. She is also a former trustee of the Wellington Sculpture Trust.

ArtZone makes New Zealand art a pleasure. To subscribe visit www.artzone.co.nz

News & Articles Easy-to-use listings of exhibitions and artists

Gary Nash, Stop, 2013, free blown glass, alu panel, glass tubing, transformer, photographer Anna Boyd

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LETTERS

BABY COLUMN TOPS Melody Thomas certainly hits the spot with her baby stories. She puts into words exactly what I imagine most mothers feel about their always beautiful offspring. Her column in last month’s Capital about moving in with the baby’s Grandad was tops. I was sitting in a café near a woman who shed a tear as she read it. Enough said. Thomas Aitken, Lower Hutt

IMPRESSED I just wanted to drop you a line to say how impressed I am with Capital Magazine. It was really lovely coming across a Wellington-specific mag that is also beautifully designed. Rachel Hay, Wellington

BREAST IS BEST

B OYS

I was pleased to read of the science and research development happening here in Wellington relating to breast cancer and its detection. It is so good to know about the things happening right here in Wellington Liz Cramond, Lower Hutt

I like your magazine and am interested in breast cancer research, don’t get me wrong, it was really interesting to learn about the technology developments, but I would also like to read some more for males, not to be too demanding or blokey but maybe even some more sport. I liked the cycling story a while back. Paddy Lewis is generally good for a laugh. Andrew Jamieson, Mt Victoria

SAME OLD I was interested to read your not so very well written story about designer Johnson Witehira. He’s obviously a success and good on him. But why does anyone who’s got anything Maori in him or her have to be immediately referred to by who his tribe or whoever those Maori names refer to are. I’m descended from people who came from England and Scotland but nobody refers to me as of English/Scottish descent. I’m just a New Zealander. Edith Cameron, Karori

See Mark Sainsbury on Bentleys and in this issue skateboarders, swimmer Mary Fisher and of course Paddy, in this issue. - Ed.

Letters to editor@capitalmag.co.nz with the subject line ‘letters to ed’.

C HAT T E R

S TA R GRAZING A peculiar fashion of recent times has been for the stars to adopt children from diverse parts of the globe. Now, the Carter Observatory allows you to turn the tables on the Jolie-Pitts and let your child adopt a star! The Carter Observatory has put several stars up for ‘adoption’. For $50, the lucky parents of said star will receive a certificate of adoption and instructions on how to locate your nebulous darling in the evermoving stellar sphere.

KNOW YOUR CITY

Identify the street and location, send your answer to editor@capitalmag.co.nz and go into the draw to receive a 10-trip coffee card from Moore Wilson.

R I M U TA K A PUKKA The Rimutaka Forest Park celebrated its 25th anniversary last month. The 22,000 ha park, which stretches from the South Coast and follows the ranges up the island towards Masterton has good reason to celebrate – after a rather successful quarter-century of pest-reduction programs, the park now boasts a sizable population of kiwi, kereru, ruru and tui. The park includes the old Rimutaka Incline, which was built in 1878 as a rail route from Upper Hutt to Featherston. Rail is still important to the park – the Incline was replaced by New Zealand’s longest passenger rail tunnel, which runs under the park, in 1955. The Department of Conservation also maintains two huts and campsites in the park.

The winner of last month’s competition is Josh Burt. The mosaic is on the Gus Watt apartments in Frederick St. A coffee card is on the way – Ed.

C HAT T E R

WELLY WORDS LEND ME YOUR EARS City Gallery always has a good shindig when opening a new tranche of exhibitions. Good wine, fine food and erudite small talk with coiffed glitterati is usually the order of the day. For the latest round they added a live performance by sound artist Kusum Normoyle who screamed into a microphone until the distortion shook the gallery foundations. Apparently her practice explores the idea of intervention, displacing normal expectations of female body and voice. Her success was made manifest in the number of people with fingers in their ears.

CHEERS

COLLEGE RU L E S College St 25 years ago was an all but anonymous industrial alley linking Cambridge and Upper Tory. A haunt for dodgylooking blokes in gabardines and scrotty schoolboys sharing a pack of Craven-A’s. Then Jeff Kennedy and L’Affare arrived - and Moore Wilson’s expanded - and things never looked back. College Street today is a ‘destination street’ with well over a dozen businesses humming away happily in a street that seems always flooded with sunshine and crawling with cash happy shoppers and lattephiles. And now New Zealand homeware, furniture and accessories specialist, Citta Design has opened its first Wellington outlet in the street. Citta joins Nood, Magnolia, Miss Wong, Goodness, Chop, Traverse, Room99, Brooklyn Bread & Bagels, Simply Skin, and all the rest of the upmarket boutiques, businesses, and bodegas, to help write the latest chapter in the continuing story of the little street that could.

A Courtenay Place shopper seeking ciggies, entered a 24/7 store and found nobody to serve him. The serve person appeared minutes later to find the place was now full of people waiting. “Oh,” he said to our hero, “There was nobody here when I went out.” “With service like this you’re damn lucky to have any” was his reply … and the shopfull of frustrated customers clapped.

Michael McDonald

PO CKET DIAL FOR HYPO CHONDRIACS Wellingtonians are enthusiastic users of the Healthline, placing 13,600 calls to the service last quarter, compared to Auckland, Waitemata and Counties Manakau’s combined 26,200 calls. Healthline has launched a new symptom checker app that allows patients to access its services from a smartphone.The app offers advice for a range of symptoms which users can consult on the go.

COFFEE CHAT Overheard in a central cafe: “Who feeds all the Hawke’s Bay farmers while their wives take a week off for WOW?”

CUSTOM SKINCARE Marta Camara, a Portugese-born 29-year-old local, has developed an entirely hand-mixed organic skincare range. Camara hand blends all her own product, and prefers to work one-on-one with customers to produce specific blends for each person.

NEWS SHORTS

P OLY F I T N ESS WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY SARAH BURTON

SHOUTS OF encouragement, plenty of raucous laughter mixed with a lot of sweat and cranking music. Sisters count each other’s reps, a husband works out alongside his wife. This is no ordinary gym. And if it were, you wouldn’t find many of these people here. After a string of family members and close friends had been diagnosed with health problems, Yanetta Hiko (leading the class above), along with her ‘Aunty’ Helen Te’o decided to build a safe group fitness environment that gives family the motivation and support to achieve their health goals. Whanau Fitness was born. “It relates to many ways Polynesian families connect and work together. It’s attracts these families because there is no judgment, intimidation or discrimination toward weight, appearance or status,” said Yanetta. To begin with, classes were held in hidden corners of parks around the city. They used children’s play equipment, old tyres from Beaurepaires, buckets of water and ropes. Whanau Fitness now has its own studio with a range of classes that Yanetta takes in the mornings and evenings to fit in around her full time job. Sisters Helen and Tului Sola have been coming for about a year and a half. Tului, 47, had never set foot in a gym. “I came out of necessity for my health, but the atmosphere, the whole concept 12

of whanau… I like the concept of family and I like how she makes us work. I have a lot of respect for her.” Helen agrees that Yanetta doesn’t give them an easy ride. Outdoors she would take them jogging. “It’s very rare that you see a whole lot of big Polynesian and Maori people running as a group and at the front is our leader who’s a very small person shouting orders at us.” Yanetta also holds nutrition classes. “She puts it in our heads all the time that if you’re going to exercise then you’ve got to eat good,” said Helen. Rachel Yates encouraged her flatmate to attend. “I said don’t worry, it’s normal people.” “It’s a communal approach rather than individual when you put your headphones on and run on the treadmill. You actually get to know people, I’ve been to their birthdays and had dinners with them.” Helen Te’o is obviously proud of her young co-founder and what she has achieved. “It’s such a close-knit whanau and they’re all on that same waka together.” Yanetta Hiko is speaking at Festival for the Future, Te Papa 22-24 November in one of the ‘Young Innovator’ sessions.

NEWS SHORTS

NEW DEPUT Y Re-elected Mayor Celia Wade-Brown and Justin Lester as Deputy Mayor will lead the new city council. At 34 years-old, Lester, is the youngest councillor. He has served one term, is a businessman and law graduate. Let us hope he can help fend off any other ‘dying city’ claims.

COME HOME TO RO OST In its latest attempt to lift visitor numbers, Zealandia has slashed its prices from $28.50 to $17.50 for adults. The wildlife sanctuary attracted 87,897 visitors last year. Its target was 175,000. Wellington City Council has allocated an extra $350,000 in annual funding to the sanctuary until the end of the 2014/15 financial year. Over four million visits are made to Wellington every year: 750,000 international and over 3.4 million domestic.

YOUNG OPTIMISM Rising sea levels may threaten to put Te Papa underwater by the end of the century but the young innovators drafted to speak at the Festival of the Future, which the museum will host over the 22-24 November, are putting their brains together to inspire a slightly more optimistic take on the future. The festival will combine short talks from young innovators with longer keynote speeches from established innovators like Dr Sean Simpson, whose business, LanzaTech, converts waste into useable energy.

NEVER ON TOP Wellington is the first major New Zealand city to have one of New Zealand’s 23 Great Rides after the Prime Minister opened the Rimutaka Cycle Trail last month. The cycleway follows the old rail trail through the Rimutaka ranges. When the railway opened in 1878 it was so steep it required a special rail system to get trains to the summit – now Wellington cyclists can see if their legs fare any better. The trail, which runs from Petone to the Orongorongo Station, is part of Nga Haerenga – The New Zealand Cycle Trail, which will eventually run the length of the country. The Rimutaka Cycle trail effectively links several extant regional cycleways into a 116 km trail. The first three sections are open, and the final section, between Ocean Beach and Orongorongo, will open shortly. “The Rimutaka project will raise the visibility of cycling in the city, but more needs to be done to cater for urban cyclists,” said Mary Varnham. Varnham was one of the proposers of the Great Harbour Way cycle trail project, which seeks a 72 km cycleway around the whole of Wellington Harbour. “Urban cycleways are crucial,” says Varnham, “because they are in areas where large numbers of people can actually enjoy them.The problem for Wellington region projects rail is getting the many councils in the region on board. “It’s always on the agenda, but it never floats to the top”

BY THE NUMBERS

ON THE BUSES

H O L L O WA Y ROAD

LOOKING S K Y WA R D

223

buses in the Go Wellington fleet

1870s

decade the first houses were built

years since Carter Observatory opened

number in millions of passengers every year

number of gallows (since removed)

number of telescopes

number of routes offered around Wellington (98 if you include Johnsonville, Porirua, the Hutt and Masterton)

160 heritage-listed pohutakawa trees

2240

bequest in £ by Charles Rooking Carter in 1896 to establish an observatory in Wellington

18.50

cost in $ for an adult to watch the planetarium show

150

cost in $ for a monthly pass

CONNECTING THE DOTS

years since The Learning Connexion starting teaching art

131

number of students onsite in Lower Hutt

323

litres of Fas acrylic paint used in a year

101 8 38

number of kiln firings a year public exhibitions a year mentors and tutors

BEST TRADE PRACTICE

number of years Trade Aid has been helping people from poor countries improve their lives through fair trade

S E X UA L HEALING

years since the New Zealand Aids Foundation began

number of Awhina Centres (where you can get tested for HIV and a host of other STD’s) around the country

stores around New Zealand

800

volunteers working in their stores, trusts, and education outreach

35,000

number of condoms distributed around New Zealand per month

30+

number of countries Trade Aid import craft and food from

minutes it takes to get tested for HIV

1,007,070 weight in kgs of coffee imported in 2011-2012 (no wonder the staff are so friendly – they’ve been on a coffee high for four decades)

COMPILED BY CRAIG BEARDSWORTH

OUR PEOPLE

UNDER THE RADAR A few years ago Ian McKinnon helped set up a gardening project at Central Apartments, a council-owned social housing venture. Once a month they and the residents weeded, trimmed, planted and tidied up. “I am a hopeless gardener so my job was to gather up the rubbish. I walked around with a black rubbish bag, wearing gloves, gathering up rubbish by hand. Someone watching could easily have thought I was on periodic detention, not the Deputy Mayor.” That’s his approach to public life. Take on the jobs that need doing; lead by doing, and perform useful service. His father, mother, three brothers and a sister have all served their country and their communities. “We learned that we were expected to contribute; that’s the way it was.” Ian has stepped down from the Wellington City Council after nine years, six of them as deputy mayor. He did the “below the radar” jobs – chairing the Audit and Risk Committee, and the review of the Chief Executive’s performance – important but not glamorous roles. After the 2010 election, Celia Wade Brown, then newly-elected mayor, wanted Andy Foster as her deputy. The other councillors resisted firmly and obliged her to have Ian instead. Ian was head of Wanganui Collegiate School, deputy head at Eton and then principal of Scots College. He is chancellor of Victoria University and has served in other roles. Now aged 70, with a serious royal honour on his chest, and a nomination in the Wellingtonian of the Year award coming up, rest and retirement still aren’t on his agenda. “I was acting mayor when Ed Hillary died. I got officers to set up a memorial book. Seeing people come in droves to record their respects was very satisfying. These jobs, life in general, are about making things happen.” Written by John Bishop | Photography by Tamara Jones 16

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

B E AU T I F U L B R I D E S A N D B E AU T I F U L H A L L S

BRUNCH Charlie Bill’s

PETS

two cats

PERSONAL STYLE Stevie Nicks in peak Rumors heyday

FAVE SUBURB Newtown

FAVE HAUNT Goldings

The newly engaged NICOLE SKEWS talks Wellington weddings

y fiancé Simon and I live in Thorndon and work in the public service in central Wellington. In my spare time I’m a social justice activist, and Simon is a roller derby bench manager. We also spend our weekends with Simon’s four-year-old son, Sam. His hobbies include watching Star Wars: A New Hope three times a day and being the best step-son I could hope for. Simon and I got engaged on my birthday in September, and we had ordered a ring online using rose quartz and rose gold. We got a semi-precious stone cut in a traditional solitaire setting and it feels like it belongs on my finger every day. It’s such a nice combination of personal invention in classic engagement ring style (above). We’ve set the date for our wedding in November 2014, but even though that feels like ages away we’re well under way with planning. The hardest thing to sort was the venue – none of the ‘wedding venues’ advertised in Wellington felt right to us, so we went on a hunt to find some lesser-known locations. Wellington has a wealth of beautiful halls. They’re often owned by the Wellington City Council, hobby groups, communities or cultural groups. Not many of them have an online presence, so we had a few scouting sessions and finally we settled on the absolutely gorgeous Vogelmorn Hall. I find it astounding that a character hall is $30 an hour, while other venues within a ‘wedding’ niche will charge around four thousand dollars. Given we’re trying to plan a wedding on a small budget 18

befitting two people in their twenties paying off debt, catering has been the scariest thing about the wedding. After heaps of number-crunching and we decided to flag the whole crazy-price per head thing and do a potluck dessert feast. One of our friends, Jem Yoshioka, is an incredibly talented illustrator and designer. She drew us as an engagement announcement and will do our wedding invitations as we get closer to the time. Through her, Simon and I now live in cartoon form too! We wanted to have a website to share the wedding planning with whoever wanted to read it, and eventually use the site to manage RSVPs and a gift registry. So we dorkily bought matrimonypony.co.nz and Jem (a woman of many talents) brought it to life. Our good friend Megan, a wedding celebrant, will marry us. It means heaps to have someone who is close with us lead the ceremony, rather than a stranger. We’re also fortunate to have Tim Kelly as our wedding photographer. He is so talented and his pictures feel like they tell stories rather than tick boxes. I have just started a pottery class through Adult Community Education, as I’m hoping to hand-make our wedding favours, whatever they may be. The class is really reasonably priced and we’re such a mixed bunch of novices it’s one of the highlights of my week. So far I’ve made two wonky pots I think I’ll give to my mum and pretend they’re masterpieces just to see her face.

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

“I

do go into a space like that... Especially when playing live. I get immersed. It’s quite a euphoric outlet... an awesome place to go to,” says Pierce. The place is synesthetic, the music represented in shades of blue and green. Synthesizers, guitars and drums are washed over and blended like watercolours, providing a lush backdrop for sweet and pleading vocals. There’s a vulnerability to it that suggests these two must be very trusting of each other. “We’ve been friends for a long time now... so we’re very comfortable. [But] relationships are things that grow and sometimes are hard,” says Larsen. None of this is sounding very manly, I comment. Larsen laughs, saying, “We’re pretty girly anyway.” “Yeah, we’re not too concerned about our masculinity,” adds Pierce. 20

The pair met at Massey University in 2007. Both were studying design, and started throwing musical ideas around. After a trip to a family bach in Foxton in 2010, the band was formed. Glass Vaults released two EPs in two years, Glass EP and Into Clear, both through independent Florida-based label Jukboxr, and both produced, mixed and mastered by Bevan Smith who became a third band member along the way, playing guitar and synthesizer in the live show. Both EPs were highly praised by international music blogs. Then last year, Larsen and Pierce temporarily left Smith behind to tour the US for three months. “That very much tested our relationship,” says Larsen, “...But I think now it’s the best it’s ever been”. Their music isn’t for everyone. I imagine most of Glass Vaults’ audience is made up of people not unlike

OUR PEOPLE

SOUNDS FROM THE DEEP WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS

Richard Larsen and Rowan Pierce, the core members of Wellingtongroup Glass Vaults, make luscious, evocative soundscapes that make me feel as if I am lolling about slowly, deep underwater.

the band members themselves; stylish, artistic and self-deprecating 20-somethings. I’m trying not to say ‘hipster’, but it slips out anyway. The boys are tentative about claiming the title. “No-one’s a self-proclaimed hipster,” says Larsen, “You could write an article on that couldn’t you? Like, ‘what is hipster now?’ It feels like a year-ago term and I’m not even sure what a hipster is anymore.” “I think our music is for people that like to get on a vibe. A good vibe,” says Pierce. “And hipsters like to get on a vibe, so I guess it probably is for them. There you go! It’s music for hipsters and other people too,” summarises Larsen, laughing. Their just-released third EP Bright – to be

released later on vinyl – is a testament to this. Where earlier records had listeners rolling in the deep, this one breaks a sparkling surface and takes a breath. And they’re currently working on an album which promises to take the transition even further. “We’re collaborating with more people and bringing more voices into play. Stepping away from the electronic producer thing... it’s more of a band now,” says Larsen. Glass Vaults play live now as a five-piece, with new bandmates Daniel Whitaker on organ, synth, vocals and percussion, and Ben Bro joining in on vocals. “It’s much more enjoyable... hanging out, playing with your bestest friends. There’s so 21

much love,” says Larsen. “Bestest friends,” laughs Pierce, but he agrees: Glass Vaults have emerged from the depths to splash about in sunny shallows. “There are all sorts of yellows and golds and oranges now too. The sound is much more joyous.”

Glass Vaults perform at Puppies on 29 November as part of the Square Wave Festival, a new electronic music showcase set up by Blink of Camp a Low Hum, held in five New Zealand cities over November.

F E AT U R E

THE SMACK TRAP WRITTEN BY AARUN SOMA | ILLUSTRATED BY JEREMIAH BONIFACE

“Without a doubt, without a doubt. I’d be well and truly dead by now” Jake says adamantly. “I’d either be dead from overdose or stabbed by someone. In the last five years I’ve been stabbed three times.”

he former junkie, in his late twenties, talks candidly. Jake is not his real name. From the rural North Island, Jake’s come from a life of crime. Now on the Wellington methadone programme, Jake says he’s reformed. He’s a different man. Different from the 11-yearold pot smoker he once was. Different from the teenager raving on party drugs. That all began when he was hanging around with family members who dabbled in drugs.

chased from place to place by the police. He’s done jail time, been convicted more than a hundred times: assault, disorderly conduct, and serious theft. He stole to feed his $500 a day habit. “I had nothing. I was a shell of the person I was previously. I would lie to my own mother and steal from my own family”. “[Doesn’t matter], if it’s Christmas Day, your birthday, your mum’s dying… you’ve got a habit and you’ve gotta maintain it”.

There are no methadone programme waiting lists in Auckland... however in Wellington, there are 32 people waiting. He moved to Wellington for work but got heavily involved in hardcore drugs. When dating a prostitute he began on morphine, which turned into an intravenous heroin addiction. A downward spiral began to wring the life out of him. Very quickly Jake’s world went from everything he could’ve asked for – loving parents, a job, cars, motorbikes, a surfboard – to “a real darkness”. He lost everything, including his mind. “Wonderful memories turned into a spot that was full of nothing. Just newspapers and needles and shit. Just shit.” All those belongings, gone for a tenth of their value, to pay for the liquid venom he was pumping into his veins. Jake was squatting in abandoned houses, being 22

A few years ago when he was released from prison and no one was there to pick him up, he finally woke up. He’d previously thought about cleaning up, and tried, but he couldn’t do it on his own. He went to the Wellington Opioid Treatment Service, run by the Capital and Coast District Health Board, where he was put on a waiting list. He burst into tears, being told he couldn’t get methadone treatment straight away, knowing life would continue its agonising course. “You’re at a knife point. You’ve got a gun to your head every day.” Every day “you’ve gotta steal, you’ve gotta lie, you’ve gotta run. As sick as you’ve ever been. And that’s what the waiting list means for people.”

F E AT U R E

Methadone is a prescription drug. Drug addicts go to treatment centres, where methadone is given to them to substitute for their illegal drug use. Methadone gives them a high, but it’s a drug that’s controlled, and it’s a way to help junkies get their lives back on track. After waiting for treatment, Jake’s been on the programme for a few years now. He credits it, with saving his life. There are no methadone programme waiting lists in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, the New Zealand Drug Foundation says, but in Wellington, there are 32 people waiting up to 11 months to get help.

what’s the solution? Clarissa says it’s a numbers game. She says her department of six case managers is looking after 450 methadone patients. Staff retention is difficult, because the issues are so heavy. The number one problem though, in Clarissa’s view, is that there’s not enough support from GPs in the community. Once methadone patients are seen at Wellington Hospital, if appropriate, they can be dealt with and prescribed methadone in the community. Clarissa says drug use is the only chronic illness GPs can choose not to treat, and GPs are unwilling to be involved. She

“It’s not acceptable. We don’t like the waitlist anymore than the patients do”. Jake puts it in perspective, “When you ring up for methadone, you’re desperate…if you’re willing to surrender and say I cannot control my life anymore”. Drug Foundation Executive Director Ross Bell says the Wellington waitlist is shocking. “It’s simply not good enough”. People who are turned away will continue to use illegal drugs, he says, and may never again reach out for help. Ross points to research, which he says, has already been overtaken, showing that for every person on a methadone programme, $25,000 per year is saved in taxpayer money. This is for things like prison, health and housing bills. So although 32 waiting is a small number, the loss of taxpayer money is huge. The potential loss of life is even greater. The head of Wellington Opioid Treatment Service is Clarissa Broderick. The waiting list is too big, she says, “It’s not acceptable. We don’t like the waitlist anymore than the patients do”. Getting methadone is critical for some people, she says. “It’s as important as if you’ve got cancer and you wanted treatment.” The junkie lifestyle Jake describes Clarissa says all kinds of professionals are using the Wellington methadone service. “We’ve had journalists, lawyers, nurses…so anybody.” The CCDHB service not only provides support for getting people off illicit drugs, but it also helps users get jobs, their kids back, and into housing, she says. So why is there a waiting list in Wellington? And

believes community doctors think recovering junkies are a risk to deal with, but “I think they need to give our people a chance”. Ross Bell says “Methadone patients aren’t animals”, and he too believes more GPs need to step up to manage the patient overflow. He says funding for GPs would entice them to take on methadone patients. Clarissa Broderick says that when junkies eventually become patients they do get quality treatment. A new interim programme has just begun which doesn’t provide full methadone support, but acts as a middle step, to stop patients slipping through the gap. It offers another prescribed drug alternative, and professional human contact for drug users who raise the white flag. Clarissa says she’s looking to develop partnerships with the primary health care sector, and get more GPs on board. For Jake, the waiting list is still a painful memory. “When you get there, you’re desperate, so having to be told that’s it’s gonna be another year before you get seen, it’s crushing. It’s crushing”. He was recently at the clinic, and saw a junkie wanting methadone get turned away. The man chased down a GPs’ car and was banging on the windows, begging for help. “All they’re doing is extending how long someone’s gonna be a junkie for”. Jake says, “Methadone is such a life-saver when you get to it”.

OUR PEOPLE

LIVE GENEROUSLY This month marks the first birthday of One Percent Collective, the Wellington-based charity on a mission to transform the way we think about giving. “One of the main reasons people don’t give to charity is that they tell themselves that they can’t afford it,” says founder Pat Shepherd. “Giving 1% of your income won’t have any negative impact on your life. But, together with everyone else’s 1%, this small amount of money can have a positive effect.” Launched last year, One Percent Collective’s ultimate vision is to see everybody donating 1% of their income to charity. The collective raises money for six New Zealand-registered charities and donors can choose to which charities they donate or have their donation split between all six. In the past year, One Percent Collective has managed to raise over $32,000. But there’s more to the charity than simply encouraging individuals (or ‘kind citizens’ as OPC calls them) to set up regular payments, and this is why it is called a collective. Keen to build a community around the idea of generosity, One Percent Collective works with local artists and businesses to spread the word about giving 1%. “We’re trying to spark the giving evolution in New Zealand,” explains Pat, a Scot by birth who has called Wellington home for the past eight years. ”It’s such a small, walkable city, Wellington is a great place to get collaborations like One Percent Collective going.” Musicians involved in the collective include The Black Seeds, who donate 1% of their touring profits to the charity, and Warren Maxwell, who gives 1% of his creative labour. Local businesses such as The Southern Cross, Hell Pizza and Hot Yoga Wellington offer benefits to holders of a One Percent Collective card, a Snapper card which features the charity’s logo on one side. The cards cost $30 and all proceeds go towards the charity’s running costs. A pocket-sized reminder that here in Wellington it pays to be generous. One Percent Collective is celebrating its first birthday, 23 November at The Southern Cross. Written by Sophie Nellis | Photography by Gareth Moon

CULTURE

DADA AESTHETIC

THE CRASS MENAGERIE

FIREWORKS AND FANTASY

CREATIVE MILESTONE

The Menagerie, we’re told, will be a variety show that brings together theatre, dance and comedy as well as “burlesque, cabaret and just a touch of rope bondage”. To be held every second month from 23 November at the Fringe bar, this menagerie is for people made of sterner stuff than Laura Wingfield.

Fireworks from the NZSO will follow soon after Guy Fawkes has lit up the harbour. The NZSO’s Fireworks and Fantasy tour will light up the Michael Fowler Centre on 9 November. Featuring works by Britten, Tchaikovsky, and Berlioz, a night at the orchestra might be a good follow up to a night of exploding things.

Pablo’s is celebrating 20 years since it opened in 1993 as an artists’ studio that allowed people with a history of mental illness to express themselves via creative means. To mark this milestone the annual art auction on 19 November has over 100 works to be be auctioned, including works donated from established New Zealand artists like Michel Tuffery, Piera McArthur, who has a major exhibition coming up at the Portrait Gallery in December, and Dick Frizzell, who describes the charity as “a totally visibly effective clarity charity.”

Japanese experimental music and noise is not well known here. Masami Akita is described as a noise musician. He is one of the world’s most prolific performers of the genre, and has released more than 350 recordings. Using his stage name Merzbow, he will play at Bodega on 17 Nov.

PIETARI INKINEN Also in NZSO news, Pietari Inkinen, the company’s music director, has announced that he will remain in that position for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Since joining the NZSO in 2008 Inkinen’s signature achievement has been the NZSO’s celebrated world tour in 2010.

CULTURE

I N TH E F R AME EXPOSURE 2013 is the annual Massey College of Creative Arts graduate exhibition. It’s where the public gets to see the work of Massey’s newest wave of young artists and designers from all the major design disciplines. This year, for the first time, the promotion of the exhibition has been the responsibility of the students themselves. After a lengthy process of evaluation, 4th-year students Caitlin Gray, Ashley Pickett, Kate Whitley, Jacob Marshall, and Rhianna Field were selected to be responsible for branding and marketing Exposure 2013 to the public. The central branding device they came up with is a blue frame. Symbolic of artistic focus, the frame is an invitation to “look at our work.” It’s also a practical device for marketing the exhibition. The blue frame has been turning up all over town, physically framing public artworks, installations and even park benches. Again there is an invitation: “Look at this; someone designed this; an artist created this.” The team, in association with 3rd-year graphic design student Bryn Fenemor, also produced the three minute “Hype” video – showing Massey design students at work – which have been projected spectacularly on the frontage of the Grand in Courtenay Place, and on the Embassy’s big public LED screen. This is all designed, as Kate says, to get “people to come along and appreciate all the hard work the students have done.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Ashley. “We want the public to understand what we do,” she says. Their Blue Frame marketing campaign is an opportunity for the public to see the best work of almost 300 talented final-year students. Exposure, running from 9 to 23 November, is part of Massey University’s BLOW Creative Arts Festival, and one of its signature events. www.blowfestival.co.nz

Designer: Lucilla Gray | Photographer: Robin Smith Model: Juliette Perkins - Red11 | Makeup: Kodi Dysart Hair: Darren Meredith

Michael McDonald

Latest Design Mobel Mattresses now available at

Bedpost Wellington the Home of Design Mobel

240 Thorndon Quay 04 473-5303 www.bedpost.co.nsz bedpostwellington@xtra.co.nz

CULTURE

C I V IC V IOLENC E EVERYONE LOVES a parade but this one is different. The Great Strike Parade from Queens Wharf to Parliament on 5 November commemorates an all but forgotten event in New Zealand’s history. Perhaps it should not be so forgotten. It’s certainly interesting that the dramatic events on our waterfront of 100 years ago seem as relevant now as they were then. If you don’t know your history, the old saying goes, you risk repeating it. The great strike of 1913 began over a mundane question of wages and conditions on the Wellington wharves. The dispute took place, though, at a time of increasing middle-class concern over international socialism and working class empowerment. Not surprising then that the situation quickly deteriorated and it wasn’t long before nearly every port in the country was shut down. What followed was two months of some of the bitterest scenes of civic violence and armed confrontation New Zealand has seen. It was also the time of the infamous ‘Massey’s Cossacks’, young farmers from up country who rode into town at Premier Massey’s request to set about the strikers with their billysticks. To remember the events of October – December 1913, the Great Strike Commemorative Parade, complete with mounted ‘Cossacks’ and defiant workers, will start at Queen’s Wharf at midday on 5 November and progress along Lambton Quay to Bunny Street. There will be stirring and appropriate speeches made and some wonderful informative literature handed out. The parade is designed to be the dramatic highlight of People’s History 2013, an initiative of the Museum of Wellington City & Sea, the Labour History Project, and the National Library of New Zealand. The three institutions have combined their considerable resources to explore the lives of Wellington workers in an engaging fashion and tell their stories through stimulating presentations, photo displays, and events. 1913 Great Strike Commemorative Parade – 5 November For more information on the timings and events of People’s History 2013 go to www.museumswellington.org.nz

Mounted special constables during the waterfront strike, Tasman St Wellington. REF: 1/2-049059-G

CULTURE

LOVE IS ALL AROUND Two fine dance events are part of the 20 year celebrations of DANZ. Wellington dance studio L.O.D (Love Of Dance) will have its annual showcase, In the Name of Love, 7 and 8 of December. Unsurprisingly, the show is organized around the theme of love, each act beginning with a song featuring “in the name of love” in the title. The theme unites the show, which is important , considering that the show will feature all the company’s dancers, from toddlers to adults. Natalie Woodhall and Marina Macfarlane took over Wellington dance-scene stalwart Andrea Pender’s 20-year old studio in 2007 and turned it into L.O.D. Woodhall was herself a former pupil of Pender’s. L.O.D. will also perform a standout piece from last year’s showcase at the DANZ 20th anniversary show on November 16. A longtime advocate for dance in Wellington and throughout the country, providing resources and training support to many of the country’s dance organizations, DANZ will itself be supported this month by a showcase of some of the finest dances from the schools it represents.

“ S H E C A N ’ T.” “ O H Y E S S H E C A N .” MICHELE AMAS has gone where no woman has gone before – and written a panto. This old, much loved, very British, Christmas-seasonal family theatrical event has nearly always been written by crazy old theatrical loons with more than a touch of madness in their quills – and Roger Hall, of course. Hall, drawing heavily on his English heritage, has been single-handedly responsible for writing most of the pantos staged in New Zealand in the past twenty years or so. And they’ve all been wildly successful. But now this chick wants to have a go. Is nothing sacred?? After 23 years in theatre and an impressive list of awards and achievements behind her, Amas is no stranger to acting, writing, stagecraft, comedy, and children – most if not all of the principal elements required for producing a fun-filled theatrical holiday event for all the family to enjoy. And they are fun. Anyone who remembers as a child screaming at the top of their lungs “He’s …behind… you” to a blundering and baffled Dame can attest to that. Amas’s new panto has taken the story of the goose who laid the golden egg and given it all the classic treatment – topical humour, contemporary themes, a big burly man to play the Dame (Gavin Rutherford to continue this long and honourable tradition), lots of risqué jokes, double entendres, and wildly enthusiastic audience participation. Supported by the formidable musical genius of Gareth Farr and Paul Jenden, directed by the award winning Susan Wilson: it will be new, it will be funny, and it will be different. Michael McDonald Mother Goose, Circa Theatre 16 November through December.

sam judd

F E AT U R E

WATER BABY WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS

Listening to Sam Judd spin the colourful yarns that make up his life, I imagine the parents of a younger Judd sitting at home, wringing their hands and worrying about his future. But they needn’t have been concerned. This year Judd received an honour to make any parent proud, when he was named the 2013 Young New Zealander of The Year for his work as co-founder and CEO of Sustainable Coastlines, a not-for-profit organisation that works “with sleeves rolled up” to keep our coastlines beautiful.

“I

t is fair to say that I took a different path than expected. My Mum certainly had aspirations of me being dressed in a suit but it didn’t quite work out like that,” says Judd. It comes as no surprise that many of Judd’s formative memories involve water. He grew up in Kelburn, near the Botanic Garden, and recalls splashing about in the gardens’ fountains with the family’s Newfoundland dog. “I have always been a water baby. My parents say that before I could swim I would hurl myself in the water and cause them considerable distress by doing so. I remember seals barking around Red Rocks and summer holidays taken in Awaroa down in the Abel Tasman,” he says.

“My family were adventurous. When I was about two years old, we went halves with another family on a piece of land in the middle of the Abel Tasman National Park. Old train carriages were bought and became a makeshift bach. We spent a month of each year with no electricity and no shoes on, going feral in the bush. The two families comprised eleven people and we shared one gas fridge that was about one cubic foot...” Judd’s budding relationship with water grew stronger when, at just ten years old, he learnt to scuba dive. “My first dive was at Scorching Bay and was admittedly average, but the next one was beautiful at good old Titahi Bay. I grabbed what I thought was a sea slug

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and to my shock... a big rock next to me opened its eye – it was an octopus! It sucked onto my hand and freaked me out but ever since then I have had a huge amount of respect for ‘octies’...” he says. Judd attended Wellington College, and while sustainability wasn’t a big part of the curriculum then, fairly frequent detentions provided him with an “excellent training program for picking up rubbish.” In 2002, he moved to Dunedin to do a double degree in Law and Political Studies at Otago University. It was here that Judd began surfing and freediving. “We would go out, spear a bag of fish and grab a few delicious paua, then invite girls, asking them to bring

salads, bread and dessert. Our food budgets went on buying beer and we would have all these lavish dinner parties even though we were poor students. It was great,” he says. Judd split his six-year double degree with a one-year exchange to La Universidad de Colima in Mexico, passing three final-year law papers taught and examined entirely in Spanish, despite landing in the country with “zero Spanish ability”. Judd returned to Dunedin but by this time he’d well and truly caught the travel bug, and in 2007 he took a second student exchange, this time to La Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile. He can’t have known, but he was now just one grand adventure away from finding his calling. “At the end of 2007 I bought a Kombi van with the

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excellent idea of driving it from Chile to Ecuador. After the engine caught fire high in the Andes, which I extinguished by smashing a bottle of Chilean Merlot and beating it down with my jeans, I realised... standing there with no pants on in the ice, that [it] wasn’t really happening,” he says. Instead he pooled his money with a couple of friends and they flew to the Galápagos Islands, and volunteered to pick up rubbish for the National Park. “Six of us removed 1.6 tonnes of rubbish in eight days. We found endemic animals dead wrapped up in plastic. It was obvious that the stuff was travelling from overseas... I could just tell that something was wrong,” he says.

“In an old house we were renting that was infested with mosquitoes and stink beetles, Sustainable Coastlines was born over a shot of tequila.” Judd returned to New Zealand and with the help of “branding guru” Camden Howitt, got the business kickstarted. “The idea was to be an apolitical charity that runs large-scale coastal clean-up events. We soon realised that in many places.you can pick up all the rubbish and it will fill up again in a matter of weeks,” he says. Feeling like the charity was an “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff ”, Sustainable Coastlines switched their focus to education: running programs to em-

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power adults and children to have a positive impact on the water near them. And it seems to be working. To date, Sustainable Coastlines staff, volunteers and the 26,500 people who’ve participated in their events have removed 123,817 kilograms of rubbish from our waterways, and unlike those High School detentions – they’ve done it with a smile. “Our program makes it fun... it is no longer a chore... it simply becomes something people want to do. People are already looking for an excuse to give something back to the beaches we all love. We create that excuse and make it fun.”

It’s hard work that gets your hands dirty, but if he were to do it all over again, would Judd still trade business suit for wetsuit? “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he says: “I am proud of the direction I chose because what do we really want to be remembered for? Having a positive impact on people, or just a positive impact on ourselves?” The annual Love Your Coast Wellington event runs from 11 November. www.sustainablecoastlines.org

F E AT U R E

A BRIGHT IDEA WRITTEN BY CATHARINE MACKENZIE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH BURTON

Gina Jones was driving along our grey motorway into Wellington in 2010 when she had a bright idea. Why not reflect Wellington’s weather with a rainbow along State Highway One from Petone and the Ngauranga Gorge to the Mount Victoria tunnel?

ina had already been asked by the Tunnels Alliance, led by the New Zealand Transport Authority, to come up with ideas for decorating the Terrace Tunnel. How would it be if the rainbow guided all lighting or painting of tunnels, bridges and other infrastructure along the state highway? She had a look at recent colourful artwork on the sides of the highways out of Melbourne and Sydney and came up with a Rainbow Corridor for Wellington. The Wellington City Council approved the idea and its art advisers asked her to link the colours to the

The Tunnels Alliance liked the idea and commissioned Gina to design bright orange panels for inside the Terrace Tunnel. They also installed wiring for her lighting. Feedback from motorists was excellent and Lexus New Zealand organised a fashion shoot with one of their latest cars against the background of brilliant orange panels inside the tunnel. The next stage was to install special orange lighting. NZTA agreed verbally at the time, as confirmed by email, to pay for the inside lighting if the artist could find a sponsor for lighting the entrances.

“yellow for the roses in Bolton Street, orange for the creativity of Te Aro, red for Cuba Street’s red light district...” districts of Wellington that the road passed through. So her rainbow theme began with blue for Petone, with green, purple and red for the Taniwha of Wellington coming out of the Ngauranga Gorge. From there the rainbow changed to green for the foliage of Kaiwharawhara, yellow near the stadium, red for Project Crimson on Tinakori Hill, yellow for the roses in the Bolton Street Memorial Park, orange for the creativity of Te Aro, red for Cuba Street’s red light district, green again for the National War Memorial Park, blue near the Mt Cook Police Station and royal purple in the Mount Victoria tunnel. 37

Gina and her husband, Malcolm Fleming, approached the Wellington Sculpture Trust, responsible for commissioning and funding much of the public art work in Wellington. The Wellington Sculpture Trust agreed to underwrite and fundraise for lighting the exterior of the tunnels. But it also wanted commitment in writing from the parties involved, NZTA and the council, to the whole Rainbow Corridor concept. At this point progress stalled. Meetings were held, personnel changed, letters written and telephone calls made, but no decisions emerged from either party.

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More than a year later, nothing has changed. Mr Fleming says they have become very frustrated with the whole process but particularly the council’s lack of decision-making. “Gina’s done hundreds and hundreds of hours on the project,” he said this week. “It’s a legacy project so which artist wouldn’t like to have that implemented? “It’s creative. It’s smart. Auckland and Christchurch are pumping away but Wellington is not doing these things.” It is not as if there is lack of support for the idea in the council. The Public Arts Panel has approved it and Councillor Ray Ahipene-Mercer, leader of the Arts and Culture portfolio, is very enthusiastic. “The (Rainbow Corridor) idea is fantastic. It should be done. It’s a wonderful project,” he said. “If we are going to do something about the entry into Wellington, this project is exciting. I’ve seen the design and art work for it. It’s fantastic,” he said. But despite the enthusiasm, the project seems to be totally lost in the fog of the council’s decision-making processes. Natasha Petkovic, manager of the council’s arts team, said there was confusion over who “owned” the project. The Council thought it was NZTA but NZTA said its involvement was just for the tunnels. No commitment had been made to a rainbow along the length of State Highway One. It is up to the council, said Rod James, NZTA State Highway Manager. “Our position is for WCC to take a lead in this. It’s an urban design issue. We would need them to be committed to the whole overall idea.”

In the meantime, NZTA has signed off the Terrace Tunnel project without installing the recommended lighting. The council says NZTA ran out of funds. However, Mr James did say that NZTA would be open to looking at the Rainbow Corridor colours for the Mount Victoria tunnel if the council was able to be a leader. The Tunnels Alliance asked Gina Jones three years ago to be involved “earlier” with the Mount Victoria tunnel upgrade. Panels and lighting for that tunnel were designed and Gina asked lighting experts to test the luminosity of her “Royal Purple”. But nothing further has happened and no more work has been commissioned. The Wellington Sculpture Trust has been trying to move the project along. “This one is taking its time,” says former chairman, Neil Plimmer. “We need a clearer commitment from the other parties before the trust and the artist can do more detailed planning and we start fundraising.” “A lot of people need to buy into this plan and it takes time to get that commitment,” he says diplomatically. And the trust is not going to fundraise unless support is given in writing to the whole scheme. “There’s no point in doing little bits of it, otherwise it becomes meaningless,” says the new chair, Sue Elliott. “Half a rainbow isn’t a rainbow” Ms Elliott says she likes the project. “I like works of art that are lyrical and have a journey and this one definitely does. It would be a glorious ribbon through the city.”

OUR PEOPLE

TO BE FAI R I T HAS TO BE F R E E WRITTEN BY JOHN BISHOP | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BENJAMIN & ELISE

Something rather special is happening in a primary school in the eastern suburbs of Wellington. Kahurangi School in Miramar, rated decile two with 135 pupils from many ethnicities, is trying to live the dream of free education.

he parents, staff and board under the guidance of the driven and determined school principal Kyran Smith have decided not to charge parents anything for their children to attend the school. Not a cent in donations, voluntary contributions, payment for class outings. None of the school fees that state schools aren’t supposed to charge, although most do. “We don’t offer anything less in the school because we don’t seek extra funding from parents. Instead we change our needs. We look for savings,

“We have volunteers to assist with the reading programme; coaches for the mini-ball and netball games. Families come with us on school trips. Parents come to meetings and special assemblies a lot. “Many of them have huge work commitments. In this community they work long hours for low wages, but they can offer themselves during the school day, and work in the evening. Kyran says there are many skills in the school community. “We have a mum who applies for grants for us. Another parent is a trained tree planter. As relationships have developed, we have found more

“I never took the notes home from school that asked for money... my family just couldn’t afford whatever it was.” and we operate within our operational grant (from the Ministry of Education),” says Kyran. “We have chosen to be a free school, but we are careful about who we share that with. “We want to remove any barriers to involving families, and money, or the lack of it, is a barrier, but we don’t seek to generalise our approach to other schools. The school seeks partnerships. The most important one is with the parents, who are expected to contribute time and skills instead of money.

and more skills in the parents’ group. She agrees that making the school “free” is a political statement. “We are asked to break down barriers, and improve partnerships. Those things make a true difference to the learning experience of the students. Politics aside, being free shows we want to remove any barrier. “As a child, I often had an envelope from the school pinned to my clothing. “I never took the notes home from school that

OUR PEOPLE

asked for money for something, because my family just couldn’t afford whatever it was. I played just one sport a year – netball. The school has European, Maori, Polynesian, Asian, migrant and refugee children attending, but “we don’t discuss it. It is not who we are.” Kahurangi is just a street away from a rather more elite private boys’ school, Scots College. A class of year five Scots’ boys raised $800 for Kahurangi selling lollies and home baking to their fellow pupils.

“I chanced on teaching. I worked as an untrained pre-school teacher and found that I was quite good at it. I enjoyed it, so I went and got trained. “This community is perfect for me. I am driven, social-justice-oriented, and I very much desire equity. Inequality makes me angry. I want every child to be equally deserving. “There ought not to be levels of education according to what the parents can afford. We are a school that doesn’t assume there are gaps (of income and social status) among our families. We are com-

“This community is perfect for me. I am driven, social justice oriented, and I very much desire equity. ” Kyran says the relationship is reciprocal. “They use our fields for sport, so (it’s) not wholly focussed on raising money.” The school also gets help from the Port Nicholson Rotary Club which has bought electric pencil sharpeners and supplies pictorial dictionaries and other books. Extending use of the school library to the community is under discussion with the Wellington City Council. In the new school building the modest library was deliberately located in the foyer of the school opposite the public counter of the school office. Kahurangi was formed by merging the Strathmore and Miramar South schools. Initially it operated on the Miramar School site while the Strathmore school buildings got a three million dollar make over; the school moved to Strathmore in term two this year. Kyran Smith got the top job in the merged school. She’d been Deputy Principal at Miramar South School for eight years and Assistant Principal and Senior Teacher before that.

mitted to evening out the playing field.” An analogy about physical height makes her point about income disparities in education. “Short kids need stepladders to get up to higher levels, but taller kids shouldn’t be forced to use the stepladders. “My ideal for the school is that no one feels isolated. Everyone should feel able to join in. Everyone wants to feel connected with others.” Her beliefs reflect her own past. “I was fostered as child. I didn’t have the easiest life. I come from hardship. “Relationships were key for me. With no parents close by, my support came from the many. I had people that I admired. I feel fortunate that I didn’t take anything for granted. Life is not easy for some. “I am passionate about not saying that this school is disadvantaged – that’s just a statistical rating, it’s not based on the (quality of the) people. “We are not helpless – or poor. “I was in a decile eight or nine school and I felt isolated. I hope and I strive to make sure that it’s not like that here. This school is perfect for me.”

OUR PEOPLE

HUNT LIGHTLY Emerging out of the water after a dive Tim Li looks efficient and formidable with his speargun, sack of paua and camouflage wetsuit. But high school teacher and free diving enthusiast Li isn’t just about the kill. “The more I’ve dived the more greenie I’ve become. Because when you’re down there and you experience what nature has to offer you see so much cool stuff it’s unreal. You get a really strong appreciation for it and you don’t want to lose it.” “What’s the point in going out every single day and shooting fish and stocking up your freezer? If you need more fish, go out there and get some fresh.” From Titahi Bay to Moa Point, Tim and his mates have many favoured and secret spots for diving. They make sure they vary their hunting locations to keep the natural balance. Tim tries not to spend money on kaimoana, and is well versed in the ways of the hunt. “When you are spearing you’ve got to be real stealth, as much a part of the environment as possible.” But what to do if you still want to share what you find down there without always killing it? Tim bought a camera and began documenting his dives. “Now it’s more about me getting footage than anything else. Sometimes I’ll go out for a dive and just go looking for stuff to film. Today I saw a little octopus on the way and just started playing with it and filming it. “Any living creature you see is a buzz. There have been times when I’ve had shoals of thousands of fish swim past me, swimming all around me. But your camera always dies when that happens!” The Insatiable Pursuit blog is where the footage ends up along with his brother’s fly-fishing and his uncle’s hunting exploits. An ode to the “unquenchable desire” of seeking out that perfect catch. Written and photographed by Sarah Burton

FA S H I O N

FASH I ION

FASH ION

NEW L AU N C H

ENGLISH C HA R M

ROLLING OFF T H E C AT WA L K

It’s been a successful year for fashion students at Massey University; Georgie Veitch (see Capital 5), who graduated from the school in 2012 took out the Westpac Young Designer of the Year competition back in September. The next cohort of young designers will strut their wares in a series of shows during Launch, 15-16 November.

Fresh stock for the Miss Selfridges range is unpacked in Kirkcaldie and Stains every two weeks. This landmark of the retail scene has launched a new range. The new fashion is available in season with the UK and at similar prices, give or take a euro or two. “Price-wise it is probably very similar to Top Shop” said fashion buyer Julia Lilly. “It is the biggest range Kirk’s has taken on in recent times.” Asked what it offers, Lilly said, “cut and fit accross lifestyle.” “What these well established English lines offer is skill across all aspects. They understand real women, the range covers casual denims, smart daywear and special occasion. We stock jeans from size 4–16, fabulous jeans from skinny to relaxed. “Actually as a ”shortie” myself, I notice they also cater very well for women who are not statuesque.” Although the seasons are out of sync, Europeans dress for central heating much more than we do, she said. Designers do a lot of trans-seasonal items, cotton jerseys, sleeveless tops “and of course we’ve included a bit of black to ensure Wellington women feel looked after,” laughed Lilly.

Fashion cycles forward this month in the Wheel Stylish show. New season style from local designers is showcased astride hip, step-through bicycles. The runway becomes a cycleway filled with style-clad models. Fashion from Design Cartel, Harry’s Boutique, Kilt, Mavis & Osborn, Missy’s Room, My Boyfriend’s Back and Philippa and Alice is on show on bikes from Newtown’s Bicycle Junction. Frocks on On Bikes, promoters of everyday cycling – without stress or lycra choreograph the show. The group encourages local women to bring cycling into daily life. “Biking from A to B can give you loads of things we all love – more time, more money, more confidence and more freedom,” says co-organiser Bella Cawthorn. “It’s a no-brainer,” she said. “You wear what you want, it’s convenient, and the CBD is more pleasant and economically vibrant.” Bike commuters in Wellington have doubled since 2006. And Frocks on Bikes has expanded from its Wellington base to 12 other cities across New Zealand and Australia.

Designer - Lucy Minseon Jeon Photographer- James Hirata

Written by Louise Thornley Wheel Stylish: 6pm Thursday 14 November, Sustainability Trust, Forresters Lane.

W HAT T H E F L O C K

MRS S I LV E R E Y E Name: Silvereye, Waxeye or White-eye. Māori name: Tauhou (meaning “stranger”). Status: Native and abundant. Habitat: Found throughout Australasia and the Pacific Islands, the silvereye was first recorded here in 1832, but not in numbers until the 1850s. It is assumed a large flock was diverted here by a storm. Now widespread and found everywhere except in the highest alpine areas and inland Otago. Look for them: In your backyard; on pathways, fences and in trees along suburban streets; flitting in and out of bushes on a City-to-Sea walk; in scrubby coastal dunes and estuaries... they really are everywhere. Look for a bird a little smaller than a sparrow, catch a glimpse of the tell-tale olive green colouring, then identify for certain by the bright white rings around the eyes. Call: High-pitched, excited clee-clee-clee or a plaintive cree. Also has a warblerish song. Feeds on: Invertebrates, fruit and nectar, depending on the season. Early settlers welcomed the silvereye, calling it the ‘blight bird’, for the good work it did clearing orchards and gardens of aphids and damaging insects. Did you know? It’s time to vote for your favourite New Zealand native in the 2013 Bird of The Year competition! Head to www.birdoftheyear.org.nz to cast your vote. If it were human, it would be: Mayor Celia Wade-Brown – busy, bespectacled and beautifully green.

BUSINESS

COFFEE+ WRITTEN BY SOPHIE NELLIS

Sometimes an unlikely combination can produce a beautiful result. The second part of a series on Wellington businesses that have combined coffee and retail with interesting results.

M AT C H B O X

PHOTO ESPRESSO

With a shop full of colourful crafts and clothes from independent designers and an elegant white-walled gallery space at the back, Matchbox is the embodiment of Cuba Street cool. For co-owners Lauren Whalley and Cherry Holahan, Matchbox brings together their respective interests and experience; Lauren is a photographer and Cherry has a background in fashion. Combining retail and art has helped them reach a wider range of potential customers and generated more interest in the space. “We have customers of all ages and from all walks of life because there is something in here for everybody,” says Cherry. “People come in for one aspect of Matchbox, and discover there’s another element to us as well.” And having different revenue streams has brought a degree of financial stability. “Businesses are finding it harder nowadays so having another string to your bow adds a bit extra, both financially and to the space itself,” Lauren says. Matchbox has recently moved to a much larger groundfloor store which, among other things, has allowed them to expand their zine collection and start stocking books published by local independent publishers. Looks like they must be doing something right.

Business partners Suzie McGoldrick and Ange Brosnan have been taking a multi-pronged approach for years. At Photo Espresso you can buy a camera, develop photos and satisfy all your caffeine needs at the store’s sleek coffee bar. “For us, mixing coffee and photos wasn’t about adding value”, says Suzie. “Printing out photos can be an emotional experience. It’s nice to sit there with a coffee, spending time with your memories.” The pair had the idea for a coffee-cum-photo store over a decade ago, when Ange had a café next door to Suzie’s camera store. They opened Photo Espresso on Courtenay Place five years ago and, a couple of years later, moved to a bigger location on Victoria Street. With this last move came a shift; it used to be the cameras and photos that brought in most of the money and customers, now it’s the coffee. But Photo Espresso has adapted accordingly and many of the coffee regulars support the photo side of the business as well. In a nod to the times, Suzie’s current passion is encouraging people to develop their smartphone photos, some of which are exhibited on the wall behind the coffee bar. Coffee, cameras and creativity: Photo Espresso’s recipe for success.

BUSINESS

THE BOUTIQUE POP WRITTEN BY MICHAEL MCDONALD | PHOTOGRAPHED BY BENJAMIN & ELISE

You know that Number 8 Wire thing? People say it is overused as a metaphor for kiwis and their inventive abilities, but I’m not so sure. New Zealand still seems full of people capable of conjuring up something new, or useful, or saleable, in the most unpromising circumstances and out of the most unlikely materials.

eaving aside some of the better known historical examples of the genre – the Hamilton jet, the Pearse aerial hedge-hopper, the automatic stamp dispenser, and the Acme Thunderer – I’m pleased to announce that the good old No. 8 mentality appears alive and well and to have passed seamlessly to the sub-Boomer generations; it is particularly evident in the local drinks industry. It was Geoff Ross, remember, who cooked up his first batch of 42 Below in the garage. Now look at him. It’s enough to make you sick he’s so rich and famous. And what about all this craft beer and

beads and patchouli oil and turned into voracious extractive capitalists just like the rest of them – this new young breed of entrepreneur seems actually to care about the world. Crazy weird stuff, man. It’s all organic, and fair trade, and being nice and that sort of thing. And, actually, you know, it’s great. A recent incarnation of the new, inventive, cool, and ethically retro is the Six Barrel Soda Co. And the Reg.Prop., Joseph Slater, exactly fits the mould. Young, Clark Kentish, inventive, go-ahead, ethical, co-operative, not too greedy, and nice. But, really, what’s with the soda? It’s American isn’t it? We never had soda. We had Raratonga

“people should buy products from companies that aren’t horrible.” real ale fermenting away in secret barrels and vats in the weirdest places all over town? Overseen by passionate young blokes who seem almost to be re-inventing the art of brewing, this isn’t recipeswapping night at the Home Brew Club. This is the real oil. The right stuff. And what the young appear to have discovered – or re-discovered – is a thing a lot of us older buggers seem almost to have forgotten. It’s something to do with integrity, ethics, do-goodiness – I don’t know. Whereas back in the day all us spaced-out hippies used to rave on about peace, and universal love, and brown rice – before we all biffed the 50

Orange, Raspberryade, and Pineapple Crush; warm and dust-covered, from the shelf above the cabbages in Mrs Chin’s fruit shop (ahh, the memories). Soda was something you only ever came across in Archie comics, and soda jerks were those irritating Yank smartarses in films starring Jimmy Stewart or Ernest Borgnine – “what’ll it be buddy?” And it was a kind of mystery. What was a soda fountain? What did it do? It wasn’t the sort of thing you were likely to encounter in the Adams Bruce dairy in Courtenay Place. Basically a soda is carbonated water with a syrup added. In the classic American idiom it all

BUSINESS

took place in something called a drugstore (don’t ask). The fountain – a glorious piece of art deco plumbing – would produce fizzy water, a jerk would add the syrup, make an annoying wisecrack, snap some gum, then hand the soda over to Annette Funicello and Tab Hunter ‘making out’ after school and looking forward to a bit of light necking and heavy petting in the back of the Chevvy. Well, it turns out that soda à la Américaine can be rather good. I had one of Joe’s unusual celery, cucumber and apple sodas, and I really liked it. I’ll be working my way through the rest of them, that’s for sure. The whole thing began for Joe about three years ago. This was shortly after he and his mate, Mike Stewart, had set up the instantly hip Monterey bar in Newtown. In keeping with the neo-ethical zeitgeist most of their beers and wines were locally and/or independently produced.

and could ditch the well-known commercial product he’d been obliged to rely on. The sodas took on a life of their own and, shortly, the Six Barrel Soda Co was formed and took up residence on the first floor of the corner of Dixon and Eva streets. Among the exotic sodas on offer are Cherry and Pomegranate, Hibiscus, Orange Dandy, Kola Nut and Sarsaparilla along with lemon, ginger, raspberry, lime and more. There’s a simple but effective menu of the chips, scrambles and sliders variety as well as truly excellent coffee and – yes – alcohol (local beers and ciders, naturally). You can also buy stuff to take away; not only the wonderful syrups – all of which are made right there on the premises, and available in attractive 500 ml bottles – but also organic fair trade cane sugar and people’s coffee beans. As Joe says, “people should buy products from companies that aren’t horrible.” Someone should frame that.

Cherry and Pomegranate, Hibiscus, Orange Dandy, Kola Nut and Sarsaparilla... There’s a kind of instinctual turning away from anything big, commercial, mass-produced, and international and a turning back towards the small, honest, crafted, artisan, and local. Part of Monterey’s schtick is classic old cocktails from the heydays of the 20s and 30s. Joe quickly found that the big brand syrups just weren’t doing it for him so, in the absence of any local supplier, he began to experiment and make his own. Ginger, raspberry, lime, lemon – it worked. These syrups were great. The taste was distinctively different. They were made with real, natural, organic ingredients and free trade sugar. Therefore, these cocktails not only tasted good but they made you feel good just by drinking them – “Hey, give us another Sidecar, Joe, I’m helping the planet here, man.” People loved them. After a while Joe began to focus on syrups for sodas and not just cocktail mixers. He produced his own tonic water – apparently a quite difficult feat –

Not surprising that in the last year or so Six Barrel Soda Co has become a quietly very cool place to be, and meet, and snack, and just hang. A really Wellington place with not a jerk in sight. There are no immediate plans for more Six Barrel Soda Companies, although Joe doesn’t entirely dismiss the idea. It’s just the way things are done these days; quietly; in their own time. Meanwhile Six Barrel syrups and products are definitely getting out there and are now available from well over 20 suppliers throughout New Zealand, as well as Brisbane and Melbourne. Six Barrel, by the way, has a curious meaning. Traditionally wine and beer producers would use a small barrel – one sixth the size of the usual – to experiment with new or different products. As Joe and his sodas are nothing if not about experimentation, the imagery seemed good, although ‘sixth barrel’ had to give way to Six Barrel in the service of easier pronunciation.

OUR PEOPLE

SKATEB OARDERS’ DANCE PHOTOGRAPH BY LUKE BROWNE

Skateboarding is an art, it’s not just a bunch of kids playing around says young filmmaker Jason Gallant, the skater behind Let it Roll, a Wellington film two years in the making and just released. Featuring more than 14 top local skaters and shot almost completely in the capital, Gallant is selling his 40 minute DVD. “I wanted to create something physical ,” he said, “make it official, not two minutes to get lost on Youtube.” Gallant, 22, has been fascinated by skateboarding since he was 10 years old. Frequently perceived as an uban menace practised by lay-about youth, he describes it as a creative sport that attracts self motivated people who don’t give up. “Skaters are adventurous. It’s an exploring art. We go out and make something out of nothing. In the street, you paint your own portrait of what skateboarding is. It’s a dance. We appreciate architecture in a different way, he said. A bench is not just a bench.” Wellington is a nice looking city and the street skating culture is more active here than in Auckland, where it is based more around skate parks, Gallant said. “It is not as rugged on the street as it used to be. Although it’s an individual activity skaters form strong bonds with each other, he said. He compares the effort with learning a martial art or to dance. “Skaters are athletes, it’s like having a black belt,” he said. “Skaters compete against themselves, You set a goal and achieve for yourself. It’s a growing sport, it develops who you are in all aspects. “Tricks that look cool take hours to perfect. It’s not just destroying stuff.” “Can you have high expectations but low patience,” he asked rhetorically. Sometimes the hardest things are the best,” he says sounding like any headmaster or parent. 53

EDIBLE

CHO CS AWAY Wellington chocophiliacs take note: something seriously wonderful is about to take off. If you’re into chocolate and the whole chocolate thing, this is likely to blow what remains of your cocoa-addled brain. Down in Eva Street, in a building site called the Wellington Chocolate Factory, they’re putting the final touches to the décor, installing the last pieces of exotic chocolate-making equipment from Italy, opening the first sacks of imported cocoa beans from Madagascar, Venezuela and Trinidad, and starting – gently – to roast. Oh ... the smell. It’s unbelievable. Rochelle Harrison has started this place with her partner Gabriel Davidson. She reckons, in time for Christmas, they’ll have the shelves fully stocked with what she promises will be “the finest craft chocolate in New Zealand.”

ITALIAN ON CUBA

BEAUJOLAIS

Cuba Street’s erstwhile Mediterranean establishment, Italian on Cuba, recently shut its doors after a tumultuous few years which revealed the businesses accounts were maybe more bunga-bunga than bellissma. Rumours of an Al Brown venture are unfounded according to the man. All eyes are on the boarded up shop to see what will happen next.

Anyone who has had the misfortune of arriving at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport after midnight will know that there is precious little that rouses a French person after nightfall. One such thing is the annual Beaujolais Nouveau vintage, which can only be sold after 12.01am on the third Thursday of November. The Alliance Française will host its own celebration at the CQ hotel on Thursday 21 November at the slightly more dignified hour of 6pm.

Michael McDonald

EDIBLE

HIGH TIDE

WELLINGTON IN A B OX

DIRT Y LAUNDRY

All the best Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc producers have been hoping their wine would be on board the fastest yacht competing in the Marlborough Wine Race on November 14, which is release day for their 2013 wines. The ‘high stakes’ wine race (two boats have hit rocks in past events) is a dash across the unpredictable Cook Strait from Waikawa to Wellington where it ends at the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club. Around 25 yachts will compete.

Foodies might think that a Wellington in a Box gift-box is taking our claim to be the nation’s most compact city somewhat too seriously. The offer brings together nine of Wellington’s best-loved artisanal food products. Although no collection is really complete without curly fries and a milkshake from Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, even we concede that the selection of products, from Peoples’ Coffee to Parrot Dog beer, is rather stellar assemblage of our culinary scene.

There was a time when you could count the number of good bars on upper Cuba Street on one hand and still have a four fingers and a thumb to play with. That’s changed in recent years. The latest fine wateringholes in the area, the The Laundry, opened with fanfare in September. It has fast been adopted by the bohemian Aro Valley set, whose preference for esoterically soiled fashions has left us thinking it may, in fact, be exactly the right name for a bar.

CHEERS

beer

CHEERS

SU BURBAN PION EER WRITTEN BY KIERAN HASLETT-MOORE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHALEE FITZSIMMONS

n 2005 I moved from a rambling run down villa in Mt Cook to an even more run down one room-wide worker’s cottage in Newtown. At the time Newtown was a melting pot of students, council tenement residents, young professionals and mental patients, and an unlikely home for a craft beer pioneer. On our second night in the new flat we ventured out to see what the bar scene of Newtown had to offer and stumbled across a newly opened pub called Bar Edward which occupied two former shops, one of which I recalled being a toy shop in my childhood. Three beer taps poured Emerson’s Bookbinder alongside a couple of ubiquitous brands from DB. We chatted with the bloke behind the bar. He had big plans. Later I would come to know that the big dreaming barman was the owner James Henderson and I would come to count him as a friend. Soon the DB beers disappeared and more taps went in pouring beers from Emerson’s, Tuatara, Founders and Invercargill Brewing Co. This was when Bar Bodega and The Malthouse were championing craft beer in the city but the suburbs were firmly in the grip of the big brewers. Where the downtown craft beer bars offered arrays of taps and noisy music-filled environments Bar Ed offered something that is often missing from the Wellington beer bar scene, the environment of a ‘Local’ where conversation, sociability and banter reigned. Bar Ed gradually earned itself a reputation for having some of the cleanest beer lines in Wellington, not something you could always count on back then. A handpump served sociable English-style beers, and Sunday roasts were introduced, both adding to the bar’s comfortable local vibe.

Bar Ed hosted a range of events, some of them important to the beer world. In 2008 the Yeastie Boys launched themselves at the bar, and it hosted the first AGM of the consumer group the Society Of Beer Advocates. Important personal moments – I toasted the signing of my mortgage with a pint of Bookbinder after walking from the bank, and when I farewelled my life as a cheesemonger and drank to my future in the beer industry with my former co-workers from Moore Wilsons. Newtown has changed since 2005. It is still a melting pot of students, council tenement residents, young professionals and mental patients but I am no longer one of them, having departed the rather mouldy worker’s cottage for an ugly but sunny house in the hills of Brooklyn; and perhaps most importantly the suburb is now catered to by a range of bars and eateries selling craft beer, and the pioneer is no longer a lone bastion. Bebemos, Baobab, Monterey and The Villa have all joined Bar Edward serving craft beer to the drinkers of Newtown. Last month Bar Edward turned nine, a massive achievement in the hospitality industry and an occasion of surprise on my behalf. A party at the bar celebrated the milestone and farewelled James who has sold the business to concentrate on his Mt Victoria gastro pub The Hop Garden. Bar Edward has set a standard both for the Wellington craft beer scene and for how I think a pub should be. It has never been over-pretty, but has always got the basics right, a good sociable atmosphere, good service and great beer. I hope the new owners continue with those fundamentals. James’s now his sole focus is now the Hop Garden, which has in some ways been a pioneer for Mt Victoria as Bar Edward was for Newtown, introducing good beer alongside good food with a sunny social vibe to the downtown suburb. Cheers!

BY THE BOOK

WINTER IS COMING

LIGHTING UP WRITERS WEEK

Calling all fans of bestselling fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire and its TV spawn Game of Thrones. Author and co-executive producer George R R Martin is in town and will sign books at Whitcoulls Lambton Quay on Friday November 22 between 12.30-1.30pm. No, the two new books he’s spruiking aren’t the final instalments in the series, but they are related. Martin’s written a novella set in the same fictional land for Dangerous Women (HarperCollins, $49.99), an anthology of new stories about readers’ favourite fantasy worlds, written by the genre’s big-names and co-edited by Martin. Also tapping into GOT fever is The Wit and Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister (HarperCollins, $24.99): a collection of the randy dwarf’s quickest quips and cleverest counsel.

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Eleanor Catton, the youngest ever winner of the Man Booker Prize with her novel The Luminaries, will participate in Writers Week in Wellington in March 2014. Eleanor, who has an MA in Creative Writing from Victoria University and teaches at the Manukau Institute of Technology, will deliver the New Zealand Book Council Lecture during the New Zealand Festival Writers Week in March 2014.

NEW ONLINE B O OKLOVERS HUB The New Zealand Book Council has launched Booknotes Unbound – www.booknotes-unbound.org.nz – an expansion of its online site. It is edited by Rachel O’Neill and Emma Gallagher.

Promoting Prosperity by Peter Alsop and Gary Stewart (Craig Potton, $79.99)

Reform: A Memoir by Sir Geoffrey Palmer (Victoria University Press, $80)

If you like design, vintage style or Mad Men, you’ll lose yourself in this coffee-table book about the art of early New Zealand print advertising before TV took hold. With close to 750 images – many in glorious full-page or double-page spreads – Promoting Prosperity salutes and embodies excellence in illustration, typography, copywriting, design and production. Essays add context.

The former Prime Minister’s memoir pivots around his role in reforming institutions, laws and policies as a law professor, politician and judge. The book doubles as a legal and political history of New Zealand, but it’s not all academic: there are plenty of personal anecdotes about Palmer’s childhood, background and influences.

BY THE BOOK

RE-VERSE Bio: Rachel O’Neill is a poet and visual artist. Her debut poetry collection One Human in Height, funded via PledgeMe, was recently launched in Wellington. In brief: ‘Early Growth’ was included in Best New Zealand Poems 2011. Set at a child’s birthday party in rural New Zealand, it uses insistent, sing-song rhyme and near-rhyme. It muddles together a child’s and an adult’s perspectives, which gives me a strong impression of this fantastic, riotous kids’ party. The mixture of naïve observation with formal sentence construction and proper names also gives the poem a surreal quality, which I think mirrors the complexity of finding one’s feet, of beginning to make sense of experience. Learning the names of things can make them seem more mysterious, not less. Favourite line: ‘One father keeps calling these the inseparable years.’ That image of the fine growth rings on a tree stump evokes a child’s early years, passing so quickly that they blur in parents’ eyes. What else is in the book? One Human in Height also features a selection of Rachel’s drawings, part of a series called Love Letters to Barbara Cartland.

E A R LY GROWTH By Rachel O’Neill, At her party the boy runs best with the hard-boiled egg. During the obstacle course she meets him at the bird feeder on top of which raisins are scattered. ‘I’m a bird,’ she nibbles and the boy really does bob and nod. Later he says, ‘we’re twins, and I can telepathically read the thoughts in your head,’ at which point she makes a dent in his leg. It’s spring. Sometimes she hears an animal cry as it comes out of its tent, or what’s it called? The uterus. It’s taken from its mother and put on the teat. After the birthday cake the kids run around, they bleat, skitter and find their feet. They start to count the exposed growth rings on a tree stump, loops as fine as hairs. One father keeps calling these the inseparable years. from One Human in Height (Hue & Cry Press, 2013)

BL ACK HUMOUR The Breakdown: Wake by Elizabeth Knox, Victoria University Press, $35. What: A brew of supernatural horror, psychological thriller and literary fiction by the awarded author of The Vintner’s Luck, who writes for adults and children from her home in Wellington. This one’s definitely for grown-ups. Plot: One day in a small South Island settlement, most of the locals go mad and bloodily tear each other to death, leaving just 14 survivors. An inexplicable force field around the zone’s perimeter makes them faint when they try to leave, and stops help from arriving. In brief: After the “crazy serial killer zombie stuff”, the survivors struggle to cope with each other, with their ignorance about the invisible force known as No-Go, and with the troubles of a life in limbo. Convincing detail: “All the other adults got a certain look whenever Oscar was scared, a look that told him they were hurrying their own emotions away out of sight.” Black humour: “‘Guidebooks are so useful,’ William went on, ‘but they could have included a bit more detail on local epidemics of madness and murder’.” Good to know: Writing the book was Knox’s way of processing her feelings about catastrophe after her mother was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and her brother-inlaw was hit by a truck and died. Why read it: Once you accept the magical realism of the premise, the characters’ reactions aren’t just realistic – they’re riveting.

BY THE BOOK

A SCHOLAR’S LETTERS WRITTEN BY SARAH LANG | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BENJAMIN & ELISE

Dr Tim Beaglehole, 80, has been enjoying the company of his father: the internationally recognised scholar, historian, professor, writer and critic Dr John Cawte Beaglehole (1901–1971). No, there’s nothing supernatural going on here. Tim, an historian and formerly a professor and the chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington, has spent the better part of 10 years researching and writing first a biography of his father then an anthology of his letters. “It feels like I’ve been spending time with him,” he admits. Indeed, Tim has devoted much of his eighth decade to his father – a decade of life that John lost to heart failure.

ith his avuncular air, Tim welcomes me into the family home in Karori, where he grew up, where his parents grew old, and where he lives with wife Helen, a children’s author. His “wonky leg” (cause unknown) has him limping a little, but this former marathon runner is no frail pensioner. He ushers me into his study, where his father once hunched over his desk until midnight, fountain pen in hand. Bookshelves bear thick volumes, many

ing than most fiction, and just as literary, with all their evocative figures of speech and other literary devices. John, who considered himself a writer, could seamlessly adapt tone and style to different genres including history books, poems, articles and reviews. Had he pursued literature or travel writing, he could have been the Hemingway of his generation. “His prose dances off the page,”says Tim, who has a theory about why his father spent incalculable hours writing letters. “As a child he

I didn’t want them lost to history, so I thought: ‘Why not do a volume of letters?’” owned by or written by his father. John’s edited journals of Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks take pride of place. On a table is the first advance copy of ‘I think I am becoming a New Zealander’: Letters of J.C. Beaglehole (VUP, $80), just retrieved from the mailbox. This anthology of letters is anything but a dry, dull tome. Introduced by Tim’s foreword and a list of correspondents, the letters are more fascinat-

stuttered very badly, and he almost said ‘to hell with it, I’ll put it on paper’. He got over the stutter at university, but letters were how he expressed himself best.” When John died in 1971, he was completing the final revisions of his magnus opus: The Life of Captain James Cook, which became the definitive biography of the explorer. Tim prepared it for publication. Nearly 30 years later, after writing about his 60

BY THE BOOK

father for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, he tackled his dad’s biography. “His story needed telling and I thought I was well-placed to do it.” A Life of J.C. Beaglehole: New Zealand Scholar was shortlisted for a 2007 Montana Book Award. While researching the biography, he found some of his father’s letters. They were so good he tracked down more. “Lots of people had kept them because they thought they were something special. I used the odd phrase from the letters in the biography, but I was very impressed with what a remarkable letter writer he was. I didn’t want them lost to history, so I thought: ‘Why not do a volume of letters?’”Victoria University Press said yes – if Tim could get well over a million words worth of letters down to 200,000. It wasn’t easy to decide on the longlist, the shortlist or the chosen ones. “I chose complete letters,” Tim says, meaning letters that needed minimal editing and few omissions; he added explanatory footnotes where necessary. “They’re letters which reveal an essential part of John’s gifts as a letter writer. Letters that show how good a letter can be.” Making the case for letters as a literary form, John’s missives

Did his mother? “I don’t know. I think she must have.” The affair ended when Paul married, but they remained friends and the letters continued. Tim has included 39 of his father’s 500 letters to Paul, simply because of their quality. He included just six of the 81 letters John wrote to his parents as a London Ph.D. student, at an average length of 4000 words. “They were written with the knowledge they’d be passed around to the wider family,” says Tim, who mourns the demise of letter-writing.“Emails aren’t quite the same – they lose something to the technology. Letters are much more personal and digressive.” Certainly John’s letters have incredibly tangential flights of fancy (about the skies and stars) and extraordinary detail (describing, for example, a port in Egypt). The question of whether his letters are true accounts or literary artifices is a thorny one. “One decides how one wants to look to different people,” Tim points out. Of course, Tim ended up reading about himself – and was amused by passages about young “Timothy’s” imperfect pronouns and thirst for somersaults. He’s included six letters from his father to him: giving advice, telling funny anecdotes and discussing their shared interests. “He was much more talkative on paper than in person. As a father he was relatively

He’s included six letters from his father to him: giving advice, telling funny anecdotes and discussing their shared interests. fizz with life and liveliness, humour and humanity, intellect and imagination, wit and warmth, affection and adventure, forthrightness and fun, sympathy and spirit. Any writer would envy his gift for observation and his ability to entertain. The chosen letters represent John’s various stages of life in chapters entitled Student, Depression Years, Lecturer and Public Servant, Starting on Cooks and Banks, Scholar and Public Figure. They represent his wide range of correspondents (friends, family, colleagues, collaborators, fianceé, wife, sons, niece, nephew, just for starters). They demonstrate the broad range of his knowledge, interests and involvements. Letters to newspaper editors, for instance, highlight the then-radical left-wing views that would leave him jobless and cash-strapped for many years. Tim left out letters that contained comments which could offend others or their relatives. “Dad had his foibles and could be very sharp and acerbic. But sometimes you have to forgive what people say and do, and if you know them really well it’s easier to do that.” While researching the biography, Tim discovered that his father, while married to his mother, had an affair of perhaps two or three years with Janet Paul (nee Wilkinson), John’s colleague and friend. “My [two] brothers and I hadn’t known that.”

silent, partly because he was preoccupied by his writing.” Though John wasn’t emotionally expressive with his children, Tim thinks that’s a generational thing. As a child, Tim wanted to be a yacht designer, and later considered diplomacy, but like his father he was drawn to history. As a historian, John’s focus was writing books, while Tim’s focus was teaching students. Since “retiring” in 1996, Tim served on the university council for three years then as chancellor for five years. “Retirement is a great opportunity to do other things, not to stop doing things.” He’s also served on various historical and art organisations, and currently sits on the New Zealand Press Council. But as his ninth decade begins, his main assignment is enjoying life. He and Helen have circumnavigated New Zealand on their yacht, sail every summer, and delight in their six grandchildren, who all live in Karori. Family comes first, and Tim’s glad he’s told his father’s story – and shared his father’s stories. “I’m very lucky because, as they get older, many people wish they knew more about a parent, but they never had or took the chance. I’ve got to know Dad far more fully – and got to appreciate even more what a remarkable man he was.” 62

HOME

THE HEART OF A HOME WRITTEN BY LARISSA MCMILLAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JONATHAN KAY

George Bernard Shaw wrote, “A happy family is but an earlier heaven.” It seemed a phrase fitting for the Small household; a family of happy proportions, nestled in the gladed bosom of Wadestown. “What,” you ask, “makes this family so happy?” Well, each other it would seem. Relationships built on laughter, love and the solid foundations of a recently rebuilt home with a view of the harbour.

eith and Hannah Small have five children in total. Maisie (nearly five years old), Fred (13), Zac (15), Emily (17), Harriet (19)… six if you count the ‘fur baby’ Arlie, the resident Schnoodle. You’d be correct to think that the Smalls would need some room in which to stretch out.

town building that contained two flats (one on top of the other) he had a brainwave. His friends the Smalls were hunting for a place close to town. The kids wanted to be around their friends more and Keith works as a ophthalmologist at the hospital. They needed a more convenient location than the current one; in the hills of Ohariu. Gerald sketched

When... Gerald Blunt came across a 1960s Wadestown building that contained two flats he had a brainwave. Their two-bathroom, six-bedroom house complete with open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge fits the collective comfortably. With a rumpus room downstairs where Zac and Fred lounge around with their Xbox and Harriet away at Otago University, the family are certainly close-knit but not under each other’s feet. When friend Gerald Blunt (who happens to be an urban designer) came across a 1960’s Wades-

up some architectural plans and sent them along to Keith and Hannah who saw his vision. The family rented a house nearby and the building of their new dream home began. The move from Ohariu was a big one. The family were moving from a four bedroom villa, a hectare of land, complete with rolling gardens and large machinery sheds.

INDOORS

HOME

It was important to find a home with enough outside space to have a garden. The property of just over half a hectare was attractive to the family, especially to super-Mum Hannah, who has mad keen green thumbs. The garden was mostly trees when they moved in. The tall sycamores and pines were topped and the steep hill terraced and landscaped. The icing on the cake was a tree house, custom designed by Keith and Zac. The kids all help in the garden, a luscious edible nirvana that takes one out of the nearby city and into a haven of native plants, vegies and blooms.

was contracted to finish the job. The conservatory doubles as the entrance to the home and is laid with convincing artificial grass. A cheerful dining table is used by the family in the summer and the kids enjoy the turf as they would real grass – lying on it and playing with toys. This is also one of Keith’s favourite spaces in the house, with its feel of solitude and sense of light and space. Keith and Hannah decided upon the interior design, opting for simple whites and neutral tones to blend in with their 1800’s furniture

The kids all help in the garden, a luscious edible nirvana that takes one out of the nearby city... Built in 1964, this retro gem sported purple shagpile carpet. It has been removed to expose the original cork-tiled floor. Part of the floor was knocked out between the levels so a staircase could be added. Original doors and handles remain, as does the slate fireplace in the lounge. The bacheloresque billiards room and bar was converted into Keith and Hannah’s upstairs bedroom. A sixties thumbprint still remains if you look closely, but never-the-less, this pad remains current. Expansive double-glazed glass windows open up the lounge, kitchen and dining area to an epic view of the Wellington harbour and city. Malcolm Opie from Big O Construction was pivotal in getting this family home in shape. Keith and Hannah agree that Malcolm was a dream builder. “He was good at seeing detail, nothing was a problem. He’d make it work.” The rebuild was not without its frustrations. A delay happened when a retaining wall was needed for the bank under the house. Much council red tape ensued, causing the build to last a year. When the family moved in, the conservatory hadn’t been finished – the company commissioned to build it went bust. A second company

inherited from Keith’s parents. A family piano has prime position over-looking the harbour. Keith’s father migrated from Scotland with just the piano and a suitcase, and the ebonies and ivories served the 2013 version of the Small family well. It is still used regularly, Keith and Harriet both enjoy playing it and Maisie is currently under Keith’s tutelage. Keith’s musical talent runs deep… you may see him singing bass in the Wellington Orpheus Choir. On the 10th of November The Small family house is featuring in a fundraising home and garden walk for the Wadestown School. Hannah believes the secret to a happy home is talking, eating together and most importantly of all, having a good laugh. “We are family orientated. We are a team… everyone gets involved in what each other’s doing. We all pitch in to help.”

The Small house features as part of the Wadestown School fundraising home and garden walk, 10 November.

INTERIOR

SPORTS

SPOI LT, NA RCI SSI ST IC , A N D LI K EABLE WRITTEN BY PADDY LEWIS

I’ve always had problems dealing with people who are either inherently likeable or that I feel a little bit sorry for. It especially becomes an issue when you really feel like you should dislike them.

ake Sonny Bill Williams, for example. I really want to dislike him, but there’s no logical reason why. Through the media, he has come across as spoilt (walking out on the Canterbury Bulldogs without telling anyone in 2008), troublesome (sex in a bar toilet and a couple of driving convictions before discovering Islam), selfish (the only player to miss the World Cup victory parade in 2011), and now narcissistic. He was unavailable for the Rugby League World Cup… then the day after the Kiwis team was named he thought “in 10 years would I have regrets about not making myself available? I’ve got a lot of time after I’m retired. It can be played off as selfish, but I just left it in the coach’s hands” and thus suddenly made himself available. As a result, young Melbourne Storm player Tohu Harris had to be cut from the team to meet the requirements of the tournament organisers. Talkback, newspaper columnists, and everyone in a smoko room up and down the country quite rightly went ballistic, and most of them weren’t particularly amiably disposed towards SBW – even if they did see the potential X Factor he brings to the Kiwis. It was an argument that ran along the lines of “what a bastard SBW is…but I’m pleased he’s in the team.” Illogical. He is one of the most gifted athletes ever, winning a Super 15 title, NRL Grand Final (twice), Rugby World Cup, a heavyweight boxing title, the TriNations…the list goes on. He comes across as likeable. But his actions – for example in the Tohu Harris case – mean he isn’t well liked off a playing field. He doesn’t have a management team with the nous to handle all these public faux pas particularly well. Contrast him with one of the biggest public relations conjobs I have seen since someone convinced someone else there was a Big Sky Fairy who created heaven and earth. Dean Barker seems a likeable bloke. He’s married to a likeable former NZ hockey player, has a likeable family, and plays down his potential playboy status as an Americas Cup skipper and matchracing yachtie to seem like an everyday father from the ‘burbs.

The PR con-job is that, despite being 8-1 up in the Americas Cup, then losing 9-8, he and his crew came back to New Zealand as some kind of heroes. It was bizarre. Civic welcomes, parades…but they lost. Badly. Dean’s record, to be fair, isn’t that great. He has only won one America’s Cup and that was only because another man with a public image akin to that of SBW – Sir Russell Coutts – let him sail the last race after Coutts had put New Zealand 4-0 ahead. He lost the Americas Cup in 2003 and failed again in 2007. Then, thanks to the aforementioned massive marketing con-job, Kiwi hopes were raised to the heights and ultimately dashed last month in San Francisco. Yet Barker and his team escape any opprobrium whatsoever. The parades and civic receptions were, to me, obscene. Some commentators said it was an example of us “growing up as a nation”. Well, if accepting defeat is a sign of national maturity, we have become the French of the South Pacific. So here we have two likeable characters – Sonny Bill Williams and Dean Barker. Whether or not the public likes them comes down to the quality of the public relations campaign. Dean has it. SBW doesn’t. Having a good PR image is important in sports these days. The love fans give the NZ Breakers is crafted on a carefullymanaged campaign strategy, backed up with a winning team. It’s the same with the All Blacks. Their media strategy is mapped to the nth degree, and their success feeds that strategy. Public relations, marketing communications and a compliant media contingent got Dean Barker out of what could have been a very nasty reception on his return home. It even appears he will keep his job. Sonny Bill Williams won’t necessarily be blamed if the Kiwis don’t bring the Rugby League World Cup back to NZ. But his ongoing lack of public relations nous and plain good sense will continue to stain that outwardly likeable image to the point where the dislike overtakes the breathtaking talent. 69

SPORTS

BLIND AMBITION WRITTEN BY ARRUN SOMA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASHLEY CHURCH

Seeing is believing … it couldn’t be further from the truth for Wellingtonian Mary Fisher.

ike many twenty year olds, she loves music, cooking, and socialising. But Mary is different. This Paralympian has achieved more than many would in an entire lifetime. Although she has a string of swim competition bronze, silver, and gold medals under her belt, and became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year’s Honours list, life is only just beginning. And now she has been nominated in November’s Wellington Sportsperson of the Year Awards. Mary Fisher was born partially blind. To explain her condition, Aniridia, Mary simply says it’s “where some of my DNA was messed up”. At a child, she had 10% normal vision, but she slowly lost it during high school. She is now completely blind, although she can tell the difference between light and dark. She describes having been a “pretty happy kid”, who knew she was different, but “it didn’t bother me as long as I could keep up”. While children at school learnt their ABCs, Mary also learnt Braille and how to use a cane. Perhaps overcoming adversity while so young set Mary up to nail what was to become her absolute passion. At primary school in the Hutt Valley, Mary took a liking to school swimming. Mary says she doesn’t have a lot of natural talent. Swimming, though, is a feeling of being free. “It is very liberating ”, she says. Mary steers herself by brushing her fingers along the lane rope. She competed in her very first swimming meet at the age of nine, a novice competition. She says she wasn’t the best kid out there, but her talent began to be developed and at age 11 she was selected to go to Sydney in a team organised by the Royal Foundation for the Blind for the Southern Cross Games. This was her very first time out of New Zealand. That’s when it dawned on Mary that training hard and being motivated might lead to great things. “Representing the nation was pretty exciting”, she says. She didn’t have a clue what was to come. As a 14-year-old she competed in the Oceania Games in Darwin, with other disabled competitors. She travelled alongside people with amputations, cerebral palsy and other conditions, and rooming with them gave her a sense a being part of a team. Some great friendships developed, where her wheelchair-bound roommates helped her 71

find things she couldn’t see, and she could assist them by reaching items in the room that were too high up. Mary says this camaraderie gave her “reason and potential” for taking swimming to the next level. “It doesn’t matter what kind of team you’re part of, able-bodied or not”. Years on, Mary has swum across the the world. She’s competed in Australia, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States and says the pinnacle of her career has to be the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Being told she’d qualified, Mary says “that was probably the favourite phone call of my life”. That’s when she knew all her hard work and training had paid off. She pays homage to her family and coach for their support and effort in getting her to where she is. It became real when she got her lanyard for the games, and the silver fern emblem on her jacket. “This is real, this is the biggest sporting competition, you’ve reached your highest level”. But if that was real, Mary’s achievements are next level. She competed in three freestyle events and one backstroke race, where she picked up two silver medals and a bronze. And on the last day of competition, swimming in the 200 metre individual medley Mary blew things out of the water. She not only won gold, but claimed the new world record for that event. “To get gold on the last day, that was the icing on the cake”. And when she heard the New Zealand national anthem play, “I remember being up there feeling I had four million people behind me”. This year at the World Swimming Championships Mary won five gold medals. Five. And at the New Zealand Open competition, she broke more world records. Mary reflects: “Everyone has adversity in their life. It’s a human thing, everyone has challenges. And when you overcome them it’s very good for your sense of self ”. Majoring in psychology at Massey University, Mary wants to work in speech therapy, and she’s already helping parents whose children have speech impairments. She’s also taking a life writing course, where she’s doing an autobiographical piece. But her life tale is only just beginning. The chapters are short, but full. This twenty-year-old makes the word disability redundant. The Mary Fisher story continues.

CARS

A TA L E OF T WO BE NTLEYS WRITTEN BY MARK SAINSBURY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHALEE FITZSIMMONS

Bentley. There’s something glorious about the name for lovers of fine cars. I know this because a few years ago I succumbed to the allure of the Bentley. Before you start sending me begging letters presuming I have more money than I know what to do with, bear in mind I dipped my toe into a 1971 model. It is, however, relatively rare, being a Bentley Corniche convertible bought new more than forty years ago by Fletcher Holdings Ltd for the family and company patriarch Sir James Fletcher.

t the time considered the sporty model, it was a favourite of stars of stage and screen and presumably wealthy New Zealand captains of industry. So what would today’s equivalent be to the 1970’s sporty Bentley? It is without doubt the Bentley Continental GT Speed. When the Corniche came out it could boast a top speed of of 185 kph and used 23 litres/100 km. The GT’s top speed is 320 kph (that’s cruising) and it uses less petrol than my one. But what about the thrill, the joy, the pleasure of driving? Some of that may be tempered by the price of course. The GT Speed I was entrusted with sells new for around half a million dollars. Yes, say it slowly. This one, as is becoming more common these days, was imported from the UK where it was a Bentley demonstrator and with 7500 miles on the clock, is a relative snip at $325,000. But bear in mind that the optional sunglasses case emblazoned with Bentley logo and with its own special slot in the centre console was alone a $2000 extra (see opposite page). God knows how much prospective buyers would spend on the sunglasses themselves? I once asked a mate in the motor trade who dealt with Aston Martins and Lamborghinis, “Who walks into a dealership and spends the price of a house (outside of Auckland) on a car?” The usual profile was a young male who’d just inherited Dad’s business, he said. But luxury cars are another matter. We sell a lot of them in this country. There are plenty of people who are willing to spend the money. And it goes back to those price-impervious emotions.

The thrill, the joy, the sheer pleasure. And there’s no getting away from the pleasure driving one of these machines brings. While it’s perfectly well mannered tooling around town, when you plant your foot on that accelerator everything changes. I did exactly that as we headed off to take some photos and the squeals of delight from the admittedly non-car-person photographer Shalee were proof positive. They’re seductive things these Bentleys, all beautiful stitching and hand-polished finish, the chrome and leather, every gizmo you could imagine and, yes, somewhere to put your sunglasses. Colour is important too. This one was onyx black with linen upholstery, supposedly the best combination – which makes me wonder why then do they produce them in colours supposedly less desirable? Driving it was a sensation except for police radars and I can’t afford any points on my licence. But with all that power and four-wheel-drive it feels like it’s glued to the road. And so it should be. There’s been a lot of change in automotive engineering since 1971. When I returned the six-litre W12 with its eight-speed gearbox and drove off in my seven-litre V8 with its trusty three-speed automatic I wondered if I would swap given the opportunity. The answer is no, although it would be to my financial advantage, and not because of any fault with the GT Speed which is a hell of a car. But for those of us who have love affairs with cars there’s an indefinable quality to the ones that have stolen our hearts; whatever their weaknesses we’re stuck on them for life.

ABROAD

PARTY ON BARCELONA WRITTEN BY SOPHIE SCHRODER

Former Wellington journalist Sophie Schroder has been living in Spain’s seaside party city, Barcelona, for the past three years. The almost weekly festivals that rotate among the different “barrios” or suburbs bring citizens together and make it a wonderful place to live.

nly a few hours after touching down in Barcelona, I found myself lost in one of the biggest festivals of the year, jetlagged and surrounded by everything from dinosaurs to drug pushers. I inched my way around a particularly large Triceratops, tried to avoid the advances of one of the famous Barcelona “Beer Boys” who can be identified from kilometres away with their cries of, “beeeer, beeeer, cereveza, beeeer (hashish, marijuana, cocaina)?” and finally spotted my friend at the end of the street by the pterodactyls. And there we were, two fresh-faced Kiwi girls who’d never really been abroad alone, and somehow an evening stroll to the hostel had turned into a 10,000-people-strong party with bands jamming on

Historians think this particular week-long festival has been taking place in mid-August since the early 1800s, and rather than a religious festival, it is a civic celebration. Well in advance of the date, each street forms a community club and holds meetings to decide on the street’s theme. Work is then delegated, materials are sourced through friends, contacts, or recycled from previous years, and the streets get to work. There’s nothing nicer than walking through Gracia in the summer heat in late July, and seeing entire streets lined with long wooden tables, an assortment of delicious tapas, and the people of the barrio – from young children playing naked with water, to ancient-looking ladies knitting decorations – work-

It is a celebration of the Gracia suburb which would be the Kelburn of Barcelona. every corner and each street dressed up to a theme (evidently we’d ended up on the pre-historic road). It was the best kind of initiation into the very lifeblood of Barcelona: its festivals. They’re not solely an excuse for a good party, they are a platform to embrace and celebrate the community and the culture, which in this part of Spain is Catalan. My first festival, “La Fiesta Major de Gracia,” with the dinosaurs was a perfect example. It is a celebration of the Gracia suburb which would be the Kelburn of Barcelona. It has a very strong Catalan presence, striking gold and red Catalan flags adorning many of the balconies in the area. 74

ing together to achieve something worthwhile. Constanza Ternicier lives on Calle Progres, the grand winner of this year’s street decoration competition with its Jurassic Park theme (yes, the dinosaurs again). She watched the daily progress and the transition from a quiet side street, to a Mesozoic era lair complete with a three-storey snarling T-Rex and a working fountain. “It’s amazing to see what people can build with basically nothing,” she says. ”Just a bit of chicken wire, papier mache, and paint, and I suddenly had a gigantic dinosaur greeting me by my door each day.” And apart from the physical transformation, Ternicier says that the community spirit gained from

ABROAD

being involved in the festival is invaluable. “One day I got home from work, and the whole street was seated around tables on the roadside eating dinner together,” she says. “I was instantly invited to join them, and in between the food and the sangria, I got to know most people who live on my street”. New Zealand certainly has its share of great festivals, but I’ve never seen anything on the same level as Spain. Kiwi festivals are also generally implemented by official organisers, rather than on a grass roots level. Catherine Saganic, a Kiwi living in Barcelona, says festivals in Barcelona have been an important way for her to understand and feel a part of the culture. “I always look forward to the Gracia Festival, which I reckon is the best in Barcelona,” she says. “It’s left a big impression seeing elderly joining the young people

theory that having children doesn’t need to mean death to a social life. A regular attendee of Piknic Electronik is another Kiwi, local Dj Megan Shackell. “It is a great way to make different kinds of music accessible to a more diverse crowd. “In Barcelona there are festivals full of people from different ages and backgrounds all socialising together, but I’m not sure how this would go down in New Zealand, which has regular problems with alcohol use in all-age festivals. It comes down to the cultural attitude to drinking,” she says. “However, New Zealand festivals offer unmatched locations. Dancing in the ocean whilst listening to some of the best Kiwi music on a stage just some metres from the water, like at Splore, is unbeatable.”

Hardened party animals stick to the speakers blasting a showcase of some of Europe’s best Djs live... in creating amazing art to display on the streets. In New Zealand events are much more age-segregated. It would be great to see all community members, young and old, working together in a positive way.” The Gracia festival is just one of hundreds that take place in Barcelona each year, and there are new ones popping up all the time. Piknic Electronik was launched last year, and was so popular that this year it is held every Sunday from June through September. As the name suggests, it’s a celebration of electronic music, but with a difference... it’s completely family friendly. At 2pm each Sunday, the stunning Montjuic gardens, with vistas spanning from Barcelona’s mountains to the sea, are transformed into a playground for both children and grownups. Hardened party animals stick to the speakers blasting a showcase of some of Europe’s best Djs live, while families looking for a fun day out for adults and children sit on blankets with a picnic further up on the bank, or frolic in the water spray machines, and jump on the bouncy castles. It often strikes me that this mix of electronic music, alcohol, and children would never be kosher in New Zealand. Piknic Electronik is proof that it works, and supports the Spanish

Shackell also points out that one of the biggest barriers to the accessibility of Kiwi festivals is the cost, and cites the upcoming Barcelona city-wide festival, La Merce. “La Merce offers free stages all around the city, with local and international artists performing, and a beer is about a euro. The low cost of this encourages even more socialisation,” she says. “In New Zealand not only is the transport to get to the festival expensive, but once you’ve paid the entrance fee and bought a beer, you’ve probably spent more than you earn doing a day’s work.” Locals asked about the festival fetish in Barcelona say the community closeness, among other things, is a product of the geography of the area. Dense city apartment living is the norm, and to get outside for fresh air you need to go onto the street. In New Zealand however, many of us have the luxury of a lovely green garden and our own outdoor space where we entertain in private. I enjoy the social aspects of Barcelona, though I still yearn for my luscious garden back home and its swingseat to idle away a summer evening reading a book. It’s just that after this experience living in Spain it would be cool to share my garden with more people ...even cooler if one of them was a three-storey-high T-Rex.

B A B Y, B A B Y

P U T TH E B O OK S D OW N BY MELODY THOMAS

e live in the Age of Information, where 100 books have been written on every subject, any question can be answered with the click of a button, and advice can be sought from hundreds of like-minded people instantaneously by posing a question through a Facebook status. But the sea of information can be difficult to navigate. In a world where every man and his dog can publish their thoughts, how can we sort the genius from the mad? The truth from the bullshit? It’s especially tricky when the person seeking answers is vulnerable – a sleep-deprived and unsure new parent, for example. From the moment my pregnancy was made public, a tsunami of information and advice swept forward to envelop me. The Allendes and Nerudas and Smileys of my bookshelf were replaced with title after title of pregnancy and parenting ‘guides’. My inbox was swamped with helpful links. I was directed to antenatal classes, breastfeeding support and PIN groups. My doctor filled my handbag with brochures. It was all given to me with the best of intentions, and at the time I was grateful. Some of it was useful, essential even. But for the most part the more I read about how to be pregnant and how to give birth and how to be a parent, the more terrified I became. My internal narrative was taken over with worries. What if I’m putting on more weight than I’m supposed to? What if my body doesn’t know what to do in labour? What if I can’t breastfeed? What if I can’t get my baby to sleep? It was debilitating. But thankfully I had another source of information to turn to, one that I’d relied on for much longer and trusted more than any book, webpage or pamphlet. I

had friends and family who knew me, many of whom had children of their own, and who told me exactly what it was I needed to hear: “Put the books down. Everything is going to be fine. You will know what to do.” So I stopped reading and started the slow process of learning to trust myself. For every day that passed where I didn’t read someone telling me what I should be feeling or doing, I became more in touch with what my body and brain were telling me. The panic-ridden inner narrative began to fade and a calm, steady voice took its place. When I did have a question or concern I reached out to my friends and family, gaining strength from the wonderful little community that appeared to be growing around us. I felt empowered and, for the first time since the worries began, excited. We were having a baby! We were about to welcome a brand new little human into our lives! Yes it would be exhausting and overwhelming and intense but it was also going to be fun and joyous and exhilarating. I just needed to cast a look at the faces of my friends to know that. There is a place for books and webpages and all the rest of it – this kind of information can be really useful, provided you have the time and energy to sort it. And just as all babies are different, we are different too. Some parents and parents-to-be read and research a lot and really enjoy it. But if it’s all getting to be a bit much, and your head is so crowded with nap schedules and settling techniques and you-must-definitely-do-this’s and youshould-NEVER-do-that’s that you can’t hear yourself any more, just put the books down. Lift your eyes from the page and look instead to the faces of those who have been waiting for you to turn to them all along. 77

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F I R E W O R K S A N D FA N TA S Y Michael Fowler Centre 9 November

The NZSO get into the Guy Fawkes spirit, not by attempting to blow up Parliament, but with an evening of explosive, engaging sounds COMEDY IN THE HUTT WITH DAI HENWOOD

TOAST MARTINBOROUGH

BEAUJOULAIS NOUVEAU

WORLD CUP QUALIFIER

Kiwi provocateur Dai Henwood brings his peculiar brand of comedy to the Hutt.

Savour fantastic wine, food and music gorgeous Martinborough

Celebrate this year’s Beaujolais vintage with the Alliance Francaise

Martinborough Square 17 November

CQ Hotel 21 November

The All Whites will take to the pitch at Westpac Stadium to secure a place in the 2014 Fifa World Cup.

The Foggy Dew Irish Bar 15 November

Westpac Stadium 20 November

WELLINGTON SKY SHOW Wellington Harbour 9 November (9pm) Of course, for those who simply cannot let November go by without watching something explode, there is a more traditional fireworks display on the waterfront. Tune in to Classic Hits or ZM at 9pm for the synchronised sound track. In the event of postponement, details will be posted online. BLOW CR EATIVE ARTS FESTIVAL

FREE NZSO CONCERT

Fourteen days of exhibitions, symposia and forums featuring the students of Massey’s School of Creative Arts at several locations on the Massey campus.

Adam Page, famous in the Indie music world for his unpredictable, multi-instrumental solo sets, has composed his first symphony for the NZSO. It will premiere at Te Papa.

Massey University 9-23 October

Te Papa 30 November

PABLOS

DANZ20

THE MENAGERIE

BROKEN RIVER

An eclectic art auction to benefit Pablos art studio.

A 20th anniversary for the books; DANZ20 will feature performances from several of the DANZ’s finest local companies.

Comedy, theatre, music and a touch of rope bondage… its about as much fun as you can have without getting arrested.

Award-winning playwright, Ralph McCubbin Howell premieres his new work, Broken River at BATS.

Opera House 16 November

Fringe Bar 23 November

Great Hall, Massey University 19 November

BATS from 23 November

TOP DOG

Lucius a nine year old Alaskan malamute oversees the daily hiring out of the Enormous Crocodile cycles on the waterfront. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He is too pretty for his own good,â&#x20AC;? and gets a lot of admiration and smiles, says owner Tony Christie. Although a wilderness dog Malamutes are a very sociable animal They like social order but always see themselves at or near the top, he said.