commemorations on Nov

As we head into summer soft mint, metallic and white colours shine through at Pru & Co!

Come in and check out our range of Moana Road sunglasses! A great idea as a Christmas gift or as a gift for yourself this summer. …with Linden Leaves Pure New Zealand Bodycare.

TREAT YOURSELF TO A SPRING MAKEOVER…

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Beauty gift includes 3 full size products: Natio Nail Colour – Kashi 15ml, Rosewater Drench Mineral Face Mist 200ml, Super Long Lash Mascara – Black 10ml, presented in a Natio cosmetic bag.

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MOANA ROAD SUNGLASSES

OMLET’S AUTOMATIC CHICKEN COOP DOOR

The safest and most convenient way to let your chickens in and out of their coop. Ready to attach to your chicken house or run. Battery powered, with both a timer and a light sensor.

270 Mt Heslington Rd, Brightwater Ph. (03) 542 3224 | www.chooks.co.nz

MATT BROWN Wine Station manager Michelle Osgood is the brains behind the first Food Truck Off.

BATTLE OF THE food trucks

Words: Kat Duggan

Which is the best food truck in the top of the South? Come February we’ll know, when the first Food Truck Off comes to The Wine Station.

The Wine Station in Blenheim will host a battle of food trucks in February in a bid to crown the best food truck of the top of the south.

Station manager Michelle Osgood says the event will also take advantage of 2020’s ‘extra Saturday’, falling on February 29. She has been mulling over the ‘The Food Truck Off; Battle of the Whangamoas’ for around six months.

“We have had a lot of food truck events in the last two years, since we have been open, and we just wanted something that would sort of bring some different people to town,” she says. “We also just wanted to get people together and have a street event, and that was the only way to do it.” Open to food trucks based in Marlborough and Nelson, Michelle is hoping to attract around 20 to 30 operators. A trophy is being made and donated by Havelock copper artist Tony Matthews, and attendees will be invited to vote for their favourite food truck.

“The idea is that maybe it will become a four-yearly event,” Michelle says. It is also hoped that the event will attract more people to the region. “I sort of envision that the food trucks will also get their followers to come along; the more of your own followers you have got, the more votes you’re going to get.” Entry to the event will cost $10, with funds raised going to the Blenheim Rotary Club. Volunteers from the organisation will be marshalling the event. Running from 12pm and 7pm, it is hoped the event will be appealing for both lunch and dinner time crowds, Michelle says. Attendees will be entertained by buskers, and The Wine Station will have the doors open to allow tastings of their wide array of Marlborough wines. “It’s really cool. I’m pretty excited, and I’m overwhelmed at how excited other people are,” Michelle says. “It’s an extra Saturday that no one knew they had.”

Those interested in entering The Food Truck Off could contact Michelle directly via The Wine Station’s Facebook page, or via email; michelle@thewinestation.co.nz.

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER CREATES DREAM HOME

Striking a balance between entertainment and family living was at the fore when Blenheim architectural designer Jason Anderson created his dream home.

Words: Kat Duggan MATT CROAD

Normally tasked with bringing the dreams of others to life, the owner of Anderson Architectural Design was free to create his own brief for the 2018-19 build.

The vision was an entertainer’s home which would also provide comfortable family living, Jason says. “The main living area is separate from the kid’s wing; we’ve basically got a wing of the house where it’s got three bedrooms and a bathroom, and a separate media room, he says. “Then the living, dining and kitchen just flows outside to a massive deck.”

An external corner stacker door enables the kitchen and dining room to be opened right up; the partially covered deck acting as an extension of the internal space. Here, a large pizza oven takes pride of place complete with barbecue and outdoor benchtop, alongside an outdoor lounge suite.

Situated to maximise views of the stunning Richmond Ranges and the vineyards in between, the majority of the home is on the ground floor. American oak stairs have built in LEDs to give off the impression that they are floating and lead to the upstairs quarters of the home.

Here, the master suite and home office take up an entire level, complete with walk-in wardrobe, ensuite with double shower and a private balcony. The 370m² L-shaped home was carefully positioned on the 3000m² section to enable almost every room to cash in on the stunning northwestern views. The large array of windows, coupled with a range of skylights throughout the home also allow in an abundance of natural light. The main bathroom is no exception; a large opaque window flooding light onto the modern freestanding bath, itself a standout feature.

Double glazed windows with thermally broken joinery maximise the heat from the Marlborough sunshine and are complemented with extensive underfloor heating throughout. Polished concrete flooring adds a touch of luxury to the living spaces, flowing freely to the deck outside and meeting the American Oak staircase and charcoal carpet in the hallway. The grey, white and timber colour scheme of the home’s interior ties in effortlessly with the exterior of the home, finished in charcoal Rockcote and cedar cladding. The position of the home maximises privacy, and Jason says it was crucial to maximise the space available on the large section to create a functional yet stylish home.

“We wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before, something a bit different,” he says. “It’s a good family-sized section where you can actually raise kids and stay there for twenty or thirty years.” Situated at the Marlborough Ridge’s Bradleigh Park, the home is surrounded by rolling hills and on a good day, views to the North Island’s south coast.

Built by Roger Townley Construction, it received a Gold Award in the Family Favourite category of the 2019 Registered Master Builders Awards.

Based in Blenheim, Jason and his team at Anderson Architectural Design pride themselves on high quality designs to suit a range of lifestyles. They enjoy working closely with their clients across the country to help them bring their dream homes to life; taking ideas and requirements from the client and coupling them with their knowledge and expertise. Jason has completed work across the top of the South Island, as far north as the Bay of Plenty and in Christchurch and the Otago Lakes area in the south.

ON THE JOB

Emma Bailey is a qualified phlebotomist, leading a team based at Wairau Hospital and across the region.

What does a phlebotomist do? A phlebotomist performs blood tests, allergy testing and non-blood specimen collections. We also visit people out in the community who are unable to get to the collection rooms and can also visit workplaces to carry out tests as requested. Who do you work alongside and where do you work? I work alongside a lot of great people phlebotomists, technicians, scientists, nurses, doctors and a wide range of medical staff. I work in multiple locations which could see me doing ward rounds at Wairau Hospital, home visits, at the hospital collection rooms or at the Picton or Maxwell Road rooms.

What inspired you to train as a phlebotomist? When I started, I thought this would be an interesting job to do. I didn’t know too much about what the job involved but once I began, I really enjoyed it. There are always new things to learn as practices and techniques change frequently. What qualifications do you have and how hard is the training? I am a ML-PAT Medical Laboratory pre-analytical technician. To obtain a qualification you start with getting a job in a laboratory. You have to do a minimum of two years training on the job before you sit the exam. There is more to a phlebotomist’s job than taking blood samples; what else do you do in an average day? So, we do a lot around the community. We do house calls which involves going around rest homes and to other patients who are too unwell to come into the collection centres.

We could either be working in multiple sites in either Picton, Maxwell Road in Blenheim doing home visits or at the hospital, so we do get a bit of variety. We also supply some medical related stock to doctors and rest homes and fill and pack those orders. Hospital ward rounds happen twice a day so that gets you out for a bit. Best part of your job? Having someone saying they didn’t feel a thing or be surprised that it was painless gives you a really good feeling. What’s the worst part? Having to take blood off little kids. As are unsure what is going to happen it can be quite frightening for them. Do many people faint? You do get the odd person that faints but not very often. We always tell people to make sure they are well hydrated and to let us know that they have fainted before or they feel unwell and we would get them to lie down.

How do you help someone who is needle phobic? This is hard one. We try to make it as easy as possible sometimes lying down and not being able to see what is happening is good.