Plenty March 2020

Plenty tunes in and turns on to catch up with some great Bay bands, Dr Hamish Campbell fills us in on what lies beneath and Kate Meads makes it easy being green, and we find out about finding homes with The People’s Project and the fine art of distilling with the Pink and White Gin Co. So cheers!

culture :: media :: art :: food ahurea ao pāpāho toi kai

F RE E M AGAZ INE

ISSUE 17 plenty.co.nz

17

MARCH TWENTY TWENTY

ANDY TAYLOR Editor/Kaiwhakatika Tuhinga SARAH LANE Designer/Kaiwhakatauira

Whakapā mai info@plenty.co.nz plenty.co.nz fb.com/plentyNZ ISSN 2463-7351 (Print) ISSN 2624-4837 (Online)

Plenty Magazine is published by Plenty Limited.

Copyright 2020 by Plenty Limited. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the prior consent of the publisher. Plenty accepts no responsibility for the return or usage of unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Opinions expressed in Plenty Magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of Plenty Limited.

O O TE ROHE. Ā TIN NG Y NT

PLENTY BRINGS YO UT HE

Got something to tell us?

T OF THE BAY. KE BES IA Y R PL E VE

RAYMOND HINTON Sales/Advertising

Share thet c e e road with care h T rf e p ix m

As we pressed eject and tossed our ‘Dec 2019 Bitchin’ Summer Sounds’ homemade mix tape into the backseat of the Plenty station wagon, we realised that with New Zealand Music Month just around the corner we were gonna need a new autumn soundtrack. All those summer tunes were great, but as the tans fade and it’s back to work, we’re looking for something new to get us through the commute.

And that’s when it struck us, bang, like a sliding glass door that wasn’t there before: putting together each issue of Plenty is kinda like creating the perfect mix tape.

There’s that period of discovery, of seeking out new shit that you haven’t heard before – fresh, fun, funky, and something else that begins with f – and that you just want to play over and over. But you also know you gotta put some slow burners in there, something to make you think, because thinking is basically a really good thing and if we don’t think we end up with President Trump.

Of course, no mix tape is truly a great mix tape without some righteous classics, so we like to mine the past for something worth revisiting; they don’t make ‘em like they used to and we love a blast from the past. And last but not least, every good mix needs something that is basically just nonsense – that strangely danceable single from that weird concept album – because we all need a bit of light relief, otherwise you just come over as too cool for school.

And there you have it. Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something, um, stupid. And all you have to worry about now is getting the order right, getting it all to work together, mixing the fast ones with the slow ones, and then writing something awesome on the cassette. Like ‘March 2020 Bitchin’ Autumn Sounds’.

Our Bitchin’ Autumn Issue of Plenty has some great sounds from some great Bay bands, from those just starting out on their musical journeys to those at the top of their game and taking on the world. It also has some cool stories about people making a real difference in the ‘hood’, people bringing positive change when all we tend to hear about is the negative, and some people proving that the Bay is the most creative place to be in Aotearoa.

(The publishers would like to apologise to their respective parents for repeatedly using the term “Bitchin’”. We recognise now that swearing is not big and it’s not clever.)

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

01

12

Striking A chord

16

The writing is on the wall

Side A

06

Still waters run deep

02

Something good is stirring – and not being shaken – in Rotorua: a brand new, locally made gin that’s coming to a boozer near you.

Black Dogs and Babies is the newest release by musician Jason McIver – Matt Mortimer caught up with him to take a listen.

Kate Meads is one of the country’s leading authorities on reducing waste – find out how you can b a part of a positive change.

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

22

Sanctuary Island

28

50 Shades of Beige

34

The earth beneath our feet

A rip to Motohoroā is often overlooked – but never regretted; this is much, much more than a bird sanctuary.

Fish and chips; where would we be without them – now find out all about them with Plenty’s ultimate guide to the national dish.

We live on shaky isles, but do we really know what makes the earth move under our feet. Dr Hamish Campbell fills us in

Side B

interview with Brett 50 An Taylor From painting on canvas to sculpting in glass and bronze, artist Brett Taylor’s career has been an arc of creativity.

Resonators 38 Harmonic

If you haven’t heard the Harmonic Resonators’ take on barnstorming countrified waiata, then we reckon you soon will.

44

56

Keeping it real

60

Battle in the dunes

Home again Homelessness used to be something that happened elsewhere, but now it’s here – and now The People’s Project is doing something about it.

They came, they saw and man have they conquered; local boys done good L.A.B have a hot album and there’s no sign of a let up in sight.

One of the bloodiest battles in the Bay was fought on the beach near Matatā – and almost no one has heard of it.

03

05/ 05

REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE TO PLENTY MAGAZINE

Tired of fake news, endless advertorial, and click bait?

Want some relaxing you-time and to escape that endless rabbit hole of screen time?

Still undecided about whether you can pull off double denim?

We can’t help you with the last one, but boy oh boy, or girl oh girl can we put you on the road to redemption for the forgotten art of great reading. Leave us well-thumbed and fashionably dishevelled on your coffee table.

Keep a copy on your desk for when you need to tune out of the office. Or stash a back issue by the bathtub for when you can’t be bothered with the book club recommendation.

Oh, and let us soak up the condensation from that late summer cocktail.

We can take it, because we’re there for you.

Become a part of the story and subscribe to the next four issues.

plenty.co.nz/subscribe

04

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

Illustration by the very talented www.KatrinKadelke.de

PINK&WHITE CO.

s r e t Still Wa p e e d Run

Est.

2018 WORDS ANDY TAYLOR // PHOTOGRAPHY KURT MATTHEWS

They’re resurrecting a memorable Rotorua tradition, they’re remaking the image of a much-maligned tipple, and they’re harnessing magma to do it. They’re Pink and White Geothermal Gin – and they’re coming to a bar in the Bay near you.

G

IN, LIKE BLUE CHEESE AND BOGANS, has long suffered from something of an image problem.

The 1751 print Gin Lane and Beer Street by English artist William Hogarth showed the supposed ill effects of gin, in contrast to the industry and prosperity of beer, and kicked off the bad-mouthing of this noble spirit; the whole ‘mother’s ruin’ tag has stuck ever since.

Gin Lane and Beer Street was in fact something of a stitch up, a hatchet job on a foreign interloper – gin was the new Dutch kid on the block back in 1751 – and aimed at bigging up British breweries. But if Hogarth thought beer was such a builder of character he’d clearly never been in an East Coast boozer at closing time on a Friday night (or at the Plenty office on crate day for that matter).

Likewise, the whole thing about gin making you cry is just that – a thing, a myth, in fact a load of BS. Gin is just alcohol, just like beer, brandy and whisky, so if you’re tearing up

06

over your G and T, it’s probably the company you keep. (Although seeing someone order a Midori does tend to make us break down and weep.)

No, there’s a reason British breweries saw gin as a threat. As early as the 1500s soldiers drank a tot of ‘Genever’, the precursor to modern gin, for its calming effects – from which the term ‘Dutch courage’ is believed to have originated.

Historically many saw it as a herbal remedy, but the main reason the Pommes were worried is simple: gin is awesome. The Victorians knew it, embracing it as their social lubricant of choice and using it to mask the bitterness of the antimalarial drug quinine (thereby keeping the far east colonies humming); the Bright Young Things of the Jazz age knew it, making it in bathtubs to beat prohibition and party like it’s 1929; and Ian Fleming – the creator of James Bond knew it – opening the endless debate in Casino Royale on whether a gin martini should be shaken or stirred (and whether Daniel Craig was the best Bond, like, ever).

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

Brad Christie, Kurt Matthews and Mitch Collins the founders of Pink and White Gin

And now, add to that noble lineage, three blokes from Rotorua: Kurt Matthews, Mitch Collins and Brad Christie were brought together by a shared – and let’s face it, a bit quirky – interest in distilling. But they’ve always done things different in Rotorua.

“Gin is a very customisable spirit. You have juniper as a base, but after that the sky’s the limit.”

“Kurt and I have been good mates since our school days and I became friends with Mitch through our wives,” says Brad. “I found it uncanny that Mitch and Kurt both had the very same idea about starting up a local distillery and harnessing geothermal energy to power the still. So I thought it would be great for them to meet. And once we started

“When Rotorua was being put on the map as a tourist destination in the Victorian era,” says Mitch, “visitors came from all over the world to see the Pink and White Terraces, and the Victorian tradition of gin as a very civilised, social drink was really popular here. The Georgians before had looked down on it a bit thanks to the likes of Hogarth, but the Victorians knew better, building these chic ‘gin palaces’ that were designed to raise the whole tone and make it all a lot more respectable. We wanted to reference that in our gin and also that era in Rotorua’s history – which is why we chose the famous name: Pink and White.”

talking we all kind of developed this idea further, and it kind of just grew from there,” he says, with remarkable understatement.

Understatement, because Mitch, Brad and Kurt are three kinda quiet, typically selfeffacing Kiwi blokes, and yet the idea that they came up with in late 2018 was pretty special: to produce a gin that was unique to Rotorua and one that was made locally and spoke to a city steeped in Victorian history.

Oh, and ultimately the still was going to be geothermally powered. Like we say, they do things different in Rotorua.

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

07

By early 2019 the trio had purchased their still and set it up – where else? – in Brad’s garage, with Kurt at the controls. Fortunately, he had a bit of a background in this and currently works in a brewery. “I’d tinkered away at distilling for years, though I don’t actually tend to drink that much!” says Kurt, highlighting what we feel is an admirable character trait for someone making booze in a garage.

“What I like most is the experimentation.

Gin is a very customisable spirit. You have juniper as a base, but after that the sky’s the limit, as opposed to something like whisky or rum which is all about these huge variables in a long production process like barrelling and aging. Gin is a very short, clean, pure process, and the base spirit is really like a blank canvas – once you have that base you can play with it and paint in with flavours.

Where stories of the

TARAWERA ERUPTION

The idea: Produce a gin that was unique to Rotorua and one that was made locally and spoke to a city steeped in Victorian history.

We’re keeping traditional to the juniper, coriander, citrus and roots. It’s interesting that a lot of people say they don’t like gin, but most of them are actually tasting the tonic as opposed to the gin itself, so we think it’s time to take a bit of a fresh look at gin and wanted to bring some fresh tastes as a part of that.”

The government, however, those buzz-kill PC party poopers, somewhat frown upon people producing booze for sale and public consumption in a shed. So before too long Pink and White Gin needed to graduate to more salubrious (and certified) premises.

Enter Croucher Brewing, who in an act of supreme Good Bastardness, offered the startups some backroom space to tweak the fina product. “Croucher Brewing have been really helpful to us and we’ve been really lucky there,” says Brad. “They will save us a huge amount of time and resources. They have been on this journey before with their craft beer and understand where we are at and where we are going.”

COME TO LIFE

OPEN 7 DAYS Book online

and save

1180 Tarawera Road, Rotorua

www.buriedvillage.co.nz

Readers familiar with Croucher Brewing may note that there is not a lot of geothermal activity immediately apparent in the brewery, so where does the thermally powered still fit in.

“The ultimate goal is to be producing spirits through a geothermal bore, but we want to get the gin just right and with a dedicated local following before taking it down that track,” Mitch says. “By utilising the geothermal steam via a heat exchanger, we can heat the spirit in a boiler up to about 100 degrees, and evaporate it through a plated column still for a clean, renewable gin!” If this sounds vaguely dangerous, rest assured that Mitch has a background in the geothermal industry, so we’re not really talking a ‘blokes-boozeand-boiling-water-in-the-shed-what-could-gowrong’ scenario. “While Rotorua has a lot of bores, these are in zones where you can’t simply set up shop and distill, so it’s certainly been a challenge,” says Mitch. “But it’s something we’re pretty committed to. We’ve identified several bores and leads have been very promising. We’re focused on building a distillery as a Rotorua destination, as well as making a great product.”

Tweaking the final product has involved a lot more than your typical homebrew self-sampling.

Blind tasting with other gins has seen the Pink and White product score highly, and all three agree they are pretty happy with the end result.

“We’re focused on building a distillery as a Rotorua destination, as well as making a great product.”

Which brings them pretty close to supplying Pink and White to a bar near you. While Mitch and Kurt have skill sets that are obviously suited to Pink and White’s production goals, Brad – a structural engineer by trade – brings a less obvious but no less essential something to the party. “We’re at that stage now where we’re just waiting on final consents, bottle and packaging designs, customs clearances, before we press the button,” says Brad. And given his day job, he’s not unfamiliar with – as he puts it – pushing a bit of paper. “Like with so many things, the devil really is in the details. There are just so many hoops to jump through, the shift from the garage to brewery has been huge, but it’s been all the little things along that way that take time and resources. And because we have day jobs and family; time and resources are in short supply!”

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

09

“Like with so many things, the devil really is in the details.”

At Plenty we have a bit of a soft spot for people doing the mahi while working the nine to five and juggling the family. It’s a cool thing; it’s a Kiwi thing. Like cooking up a business model between friends and brewing gin in the shed. “We really just wanted to create a cool local brand, something that locals would embrace and visitors would want to take home,” says Brad. And creating cool local brands in the Bay is something we can all embrace.

Preschool | Primary | College

Experience

being an ACG Tauranga student

Becoming a ‘Student for a Day’ is the best way to get a feel for life at ACG Tauranga.

Experience first-hand our welcoming and supportive environment, and see what sets us apart from other schools. A personalised timetable provides the opportunity to mix with like-minded students and learn from our specialist teachers.

Student for a Day runs at any time of the school year.

Call now or book online 0800 222 355 | tauranga.acgedu.com

Striking a

Chord WITH J A SON M C IVER

The often-used phrase of ‘Jack of all Trades’ is thrown around pretty loosely nowadays; it’s a general symptom of well, something. But when we heard such a man Jack existed in the music world and resided in the wider Bay of Plenty area, we had to investigate. In response, we dragged music aficionado Matt Mortimer away from his headphones and out into the bright light of day to download and listen in to the latest from Taupō’s Jason McIver.

Being a muso means many of those commonly over-used phrases about – well, being a muso – get rolled out on a regular basis. ‘It’s my life,’ ‘I couldn’t live without my guitar,’ or ‘it hasn’t been the same since it went digital’ (okay I made that last one up), but for Jason McIver a life spent behind a guitar and on a stage wasn’t necessarily a set deal from Day One. “At 10-years old,” he says, “my parents were keen for me to learn the guitar, but to be honest I wasn’t really interested.” Not quite story over though folks – thankfully, otherwise this would be the shortest article in Plenty’s history – because as quick

as you could say “C-sharp minor with a suspended fifth”, a certain album hit New Zealand in the nineties, and for some of us black-jean wearing types it had quite the impact. Enter the epic Smashing Pumpkins album, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness; it was Number One with a bullet in Aotearoa in ’95, and 1979 was the best slice of power pop since sliced bread.

Jason McIver was one of these rocking the Pumpkins (although the black jeans wearing bit is not confirmed) and it shows.

“I got a book of tab’s and just sat around learning it,” he says. “And I mean – that whole album; with the strings, the arrangements… it just changed everything for me.”

Anyone who has heard any tracks off this masterpiece will know exactly how Jason’s drive and passion for the album came about. But if we get started on this album right here, then this whole article just turns into a ‘Jason and Matt 5-star album review of the Smashing Pumpkins greatest work’. We’d start saying things like, ‘The world is indeed a vampire’ (for all you SP fans out there), but it would be lost on others. So, on with Jason instead.

With the book of tabs under his belt, Jason could soon be counted as a member of what could be considered a

WORDS MATT MORTIMER IMAGES LULA MCIVER PHOTOGRAPHY

12

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

hard core band in nature to some, namely an outfit called Heathen Eyes, who smashed their way into the industry in the early 2000’s. Think less Pumpkins and more Seattle grunge and you’re on the right track.

Musical ‘Jack of all Trades’ Jason McIver P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

13

Right, Jason McIver live at Kinstock in Taupō, and below with family.

Gauging the success of an artist or band is never an easy thing, but earning spots on the New Zealand charts and even popping into the television mainstream of Good Morning for a wee chat gives you an idea of where Jason McIver was heading. Bear in mind too that on-line music services were in their somewhat tender years at this stage – we were still in the realm of the dying music format or the CD at this stage.

As anyone who has played in a band for a while – and spent enough time with the same group of musicians in confined spaces and strained circumstances – will know, sometimes differences occur and lives change. You get enough creative people in a room and just watch the tension build; and a somewhat inevitable implosion occurred within Heathen Eyes as the guys started to realise different directions were calling. It started with a change of line up, and then later it ended in a separation.

Jason has never been one for just one genre though and heading in different directions gives an opportunity to switch up genres too – and that is a part of his real appeal. After listening to a bit of Heathen Eyes it would be easy to put him in a box as a hardcore fan and man, but the truth lies elsewhere as the first few chor s of his latest single, Black Dogs and Babies, will attest. And for the sake of a shameless plug – download it. Seriously. Check it out, have a listen, it’s old-school cool acoustic. It’s a song he wrote all around having children and of course a couple of dogs – it’s not all picket fences and living happily ever after – it’s just a great groove and shows the versatility of his musical chops.

The shift in location ignited a shift in focus The Heathen Eyes days were Auckland-based, but that is an area he moved away from five or so years ago, an not surprisingly the shift in location ignited a shift in focus for his music too, in both genre as well as a reboot of his mindset. “I’m getting back to the enjoyment of playing again,” he says, “rather than searching for more singles or being discovered. Just the love of playing really.”

These days his personal listening includes artists from the 1960’s to the 1990’s, and that is a testament to the mixture of influences that feed into the Jason McIver music making machine.

This versatility has spread not just with music styles, but he’s also ‘collected the set’ when it comes to having musos on hand to give him any and all line-ups for whatever anyone asks for.

14

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

You get enough creative people in a room and just watch the tension build...

It’s a clear-cut plan for sure, and the result – The Jason McIver Collective – is the full band he can call upon for any occasion and which formed the backbone of his latest release, Black Dogs and Babies.

“This was a really fun track to record, even if the title eludes to dealing with depression and anxiety while raising a family.

Everyone worked quickly on ideas and Jake (Jake Booth, Mordecai Records, Studio engineer) is always really easy to work with and knows how to serve the song. He captured the sound in my head really well.”

As with everything Jason has achieved, the thing that stands out is his down-to-earth attitude, and he is quick to thank all those that have been a part of the journey: “Mate, everyone who I’ve ever played with. Obviously, family is top of the list though. And Jan Hellriegel. She’s been amazing.”

Having any kind of working relationship with enzed music royalty like Jan Hellriegel is pretty cool!

“My wife had worked with Jan on her ‘All Grown Up’ album,” Jason says, “and she almost forced me to send her my first single to check out. That single was The Crystal Pool, and Jan signed me up to her Songbroker publishing company and has been a wealth of information and advice since then, not to mention having me open for her on her recent tour which was extremely exciting for me.”

The key thing that sticks out with Jason is his humble attitude, and that’s something we love. As much as the Alice and Chains t-shirt helped, he’s just a good bugger to talk to, and one hell of a nice guy to boot.

Walking back along the Taupō lakefront, back to the daily grind of work on a sunny Taupō arvo, it wasn’t just fishing on the lake taking place. Jason is fishing in his wallet for change for a homeless guy on the street.

“You know,” he says, “when I first moved down here, I did some busking, not just to raise some coin, but also in the hope someone would hear and it would open a door somewhere. It actually did – and got me a semi-regular spot at a pub in town, so I guess I get it to a certain extent.”

He gets it. You should get his album.

Whakatane Clinic

Our talented Whakatane team are highly skilled in their field and passionate about the wellbeing of the animals in your life.

The Whakatane clinic has wide a range of products from pet food to veterinary products so come in and see our trained and qualified staff about how we can help make you and your pets happier.

Number one in your animal's health WHAKATANE 100 Commerce St, Whakatane 3120 P: 07 307 0759 F: 07 308 7842

EDGECUMBE 40 Bridge St, Edgecumbe 3120 P: 07 304 9184 F: 07 304 8170

0800 838 748 (24HR CALL-OUT AVAILABLE)

KAWERAU 37 Liverpool St, Kawerau 3127 P: 07 323 1052 F: 07 323 9063

Going green, reducing your carbon footprint, caring for our environment – call it what you will – is nothing new.

For the vast majority of Kiwis it’s something we know we should be doing, often try to do, but usually put into the too hard basket.

It’s way too easy to feel that you’re just a drop in the ocean and it’s a government thing, but unless you’ve had your head buried in the proverbial sand for the last year, you’ll know that we’ve collectively run out of excuses.

The writing is on the wall and it’s time to act.

Kate Meads tells us how.

WORDS SARAH LANE PHOTOGRAPHY ART VANDELAY

16

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

W

E’VE ALL SEEN THE PHOTOS

and the news clips: seabirds tangled in plastic, whales full of plastic, the great pacific arbage patch literally a floating continent of the e stuff. And while politicians a gue about what to do and a few vocal holdouts continue to deny that there is anything to see here, most of us are left feeling helpless and more than a bit hopeless.

The good news is that there are very real steps that we can all take – steps that together will have an impact – and while you might think you’ve heard this one before, trust us; read on because we’re all gonna need to get on board with this.

“If every Kiwi avoided using just one piece of plastic tomorrow, that would be four million less pieces of waste going to the landfill ” says Kate Meads, formerly known as “The Nappy Lady”, she now just goes by Kate, one of New Zealand’s leading authorities on ditching our addiction to plastic. For fourteen years she has been on a bit of a crusade – and now that crusade is becoming a bit of a groundswell. She currently works with 50 councils plus numerous businesses and other organisations throughout the country with a primary focus of educating the general public on the ever-growing waste issue New Zealand is facing so as to help them incorporate best practices into their recycling programmes, as well as by holding workshops and speaking events up and down Aotearoa. And the practices that she preaches are things that each and every one of us can easily incorporate into our daily lives, but that collectively can make a difference “There is this real feeling of being overwhelmed by it all,” Kate says.

“Doing something ‘all or nothing’ is such a Kiwi mentality, and also when you see your neighbours not putting in any effo t it makes you wonder why you’re bothering, because all your good is being outweighed. But you just have to remember that doing that one thing – not using a plastic straw, wrapping your sandwich in paper instead of plastic, getting a reusable cup – is going to have an impact. We’re so busy worrying about how to get to zero waste that we’re not getting anywhere – instead we just have to think about doing one thing at a time.

And then at least we’re on the road.”

Kate, who calls Katikati home, wasn’t always the perfect ecowarrior – which is nice because it gives hope to us all!

“I was terrible,” she says. “I just used

to chuck everything. I’d jump up and down on the rubbish to get some more space in the bin! I was still of that mindset that believes that rubbish just goes away – it just vanishes into thin air once the rubbish truck has left my street! I put out a full bin load every week just because I could! It wasn’t until I had my son that I had and saw how many disposable nappies I was going through that I had my light bulb moment.”

It’s tempting here to say that the rest is history, but it’s been a long and winding road – a road that more and more of us are going to fin ourselves on.

“At first it was pretty mu h just personal change, then I started teaching people about cloth nappies, which led me to get some contracts with councils – because they could see waste skyrocketing through disposables. That’s when I became the Nappy Lady! Which I’m now trying to get away from as it’s been way too long and I’ve got a bunch of other stuff goin on! But as I started learning more, I discovered composting and wanted to spread the word on that, which led to gardening . . . and on it goes.”

“If every Kiwi avoided using just one piece of plastic tomorrow, that would be four million less pieces of waste going to landfill.

“But for me, the best thing anyone can do is focus on just one thing. Start with something like getting your own reusable coffee cup, ma e it a part of your lifestyle so that it is just ‘normal’ and then look around for the next thing, like going to a butcher instead of the supermarket. A lot of people get very inspired and want to change everything tomorrow, only to lose motivation when it all becomes a bit much. It’s like being on a diet – it’s all consuming but you secretly can’t wait to just ‘go back to normal’ once the weight is off – and of course then you put the weight right back on! So instead of having a family meeting and taking on the world, choose one thing at a time and make it your new normal, then once it’s part of your lifestyle move on to the next.”

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

17

“The thing is, we don’t have to be perfect.

I’m not perfect – I drive a V8 and I’m a complete petrol head – but we don’t have to be perfect to make things better. We’ve literally, in just two generations, created a massive problem on the planet and we’re leaving a massive clean-up operation for future generations.”

One of the biggest contributors to that problem is packaging. From disposable cups to triple-wrapped produce and cheese slices separated with plastic squares, it seems we’re doomed to be a part of an everincreasing whirlwind of wrappers, lids, straws and cling film. ake wet wipes as just one example; so handy around the home and such an ecological nightmare because they are largely polyester – and not paper tissue as so many people believe. Kiwis currently get through about 700,000kg of wet wipes annually, that’s about 53 million individual wet wipes every year – and an awful lot of that ends up being flushed down the loo. Which, as numerous towns and cities are finding out, o ten leads to blockages and sewerage spills.

“It’s irresponsible packaging,” says Kate.

“Companies put ‘flushable’ on the pa kage because technically it is physically possible to flush these things, but flushab doesn’t mean it won’t block the system, it doesn’t mean it’s biodegradable. The problem with things like that is that even if they do miraculously make it through the sewer system, they still end up at the wastewater treatment plant – where they are separated and end up in the landfill. Kiwis also put near y one million disposable nappies into the waste stream every day – that is an incredible volume of waste, much of which is polyester, that we are leaving to our kids!”

“People often complain about how much packaging there is on things, things like bagged lettuces. If we stop buying them, the supermarkets will stop stocking them – it’s as simple as that.”

“Similarly, when you buy your meat from the supermarket, it comes in a polystyrene tray, it sits on a jelly pad – what I call a ‘meat nappy’ – and then it’s all wrapped in film. Go ba k just a generation or two and when you went to the butcher your meat was wrapped in wax paper – and that was all. So it is only recent generations that have created this problem and it’s up to this generation to lead the charge in reversing that.”

Just hearing the phrase ‘meat nappy’ makes Plenty never want to shop for meat anywhere except the local butcher ever again. And therein lies one of our roads to redemption; shopping wisely can help stop waste at the source.

“Milk used to be delivered in glass,” says Kate, “and I can’t understand why we can’t just buy milk in glass bottles from the supermarket – and they do have this down in Balclutha. It doesn’t have to be delivered; you just take you bottles back and get full ones. Similarly, swap-a-crates go back and get reused over and over and over, whereas stubbies are used just once – and often end up on the side of the road. As consumers we have the power to make change.

18

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

“We’ve literally,

in just two generations,

created a massive problem on the planet and we’re leaving a massive clean-up operation for future generations.”

People often complain about how much packaging there is on things, things like bagged lettuces.

If we stop buying them, the supermarkets will stop stocking them – it’s as simple as that. So shopping smarter is a really easy change and one that can really make a change. It’s everybody’s responsibility. It’s too easy to blame the council or the government and sit back on the couch and wait for them to act, but as consumers we are ultimately responsible for creating waste. The producers will just keep giving us what we want, so we have to change how we consume.”

If you’ve ever needed a better reason for a swap-acrate, we’d like to hear it. But all joking aside, the writing is on the wall but people like Kate Meads from Katikati are the best chance we’ve got of reworking the script to a happier ending.

WHAKATĀNE’S MOST SPACIOUS PRESCHOOL

Under Two room

NOW OPEN!

Very limited spaces available Visit any time, any day

“Building a sense of self worth and optimism”

Coastlands Preschool

5 - 9 Fishermans Drive, Coastlands, Whakatane 07 308 9302 admin@coastlandspreschool.co.nz

www.coastlandspreschool.co.nz

f

Follow the footsteps of wild kiwi in

Whakatāne - the Kiwi capital of the World™

WHAKATĀNE VISITOR CENTRE Corner of Quay Street and Kakahoroa Drive, Whakatāne P. 0800 942 528 E. whakataneinfo@whakatane.govt.nz

Amid the bush-clad hills between Whakatāne town centre and Ōhope Beach, an environmental success story is taking place.

More than 300 Kiwi now reside in the area, in some instances living a mere stone’s throw from suburban streets. Yet 20 years ago they were facing a grim future.

Their numbers alarmingly down to just eight, predators were killing 95 per cent of their chicks in the first few months of their life – and the population was at risk of being lost forever.

Today, thanks to the volunteer-led Whakatāne Kiwi Trust predator control operation, the birds have made a spectacular comeback.

Kiwi night walks From April to June, Kiwi Night Walks are held every Friday evening. Hear the kiwi calling and rustling through native bush, and discover other fascinating creatures that come alive at night.

Take a self-guided walk If you can't make a Kiwi Night Walk, enjoy a self-guided walk of the Fairbrother Loop. Night or day it's an exciting place to visit. Download the map for points of interest and information about the wildlife you might encounter.

Kiwi wandering trail A self-guided scavenger hunt. Find the ten life-like, life-size bronze kiwi statues which wander right through the heart of Whakatāne.

For bookings and more, visit Whakatanekiwi.org

whakatane.com/kiwi-capital

whakatane.nz

Sanctuary

Island

MOUTOHORĀ (WHALE ISLAND)

WORDS KATEE SHANKS PHOTOGRAPHY SUPPLIED & COURTESY OF WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT COUNCIL

22

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

For centuries she has sat at the periphery of the spotlight illuminating the Eastern Bay of Plenty – patiently waiting to shine. And while it has come at devastating cost, now is her time.

Moutohorā (Whale Island) is best described as the cubic zirconia in the tiara after Whakaari (White Island) was bestowed the jewel in the crown title long ago. But while Whakaari huffed and puffed, introduced species were excised from Moutohorā and she was lovingly cloaked in native flo a and fauna.

Since 1988, Phil van Dusschoten has been helping restore the mauri (essence) of the island and is passionate about who she has become. Moutohorā lies about 7km off the Bay of Plenty coastline and about 9km from the mouth of the Whakatāne River mouth. The 143ha Island (with an approximate 78ha foreshore) is a remnant of a complex volcano that has eroded, leaving two peaks.

Evidence of Māori occupation on the island has come in the form of a number of archaeological sites, including an extensive pā site on, naturally, Pa Hill and numerous house terraces, garden sites and middens (food refuse dumps).

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

23

Permanent Māori occupation on Moutohorā stopped in the early 19th century, with the first European endeavour an unsuccessful attempt to establish a shore-based whaling station in the 1830s. Four decades later sulphur was extracted from the island and sold to an Auckland refine y, but it was of poor quality and the venture was abandoned in 1895. Then, between 1915 and 1920, 26,000 tonnes of rock was removed from Moutohorā for the construction of Whakatāne’s harbour wall.

In 1965 Moutohorā was declared a wildlife refuge and the island was bought by the Crown in 1984. The wildlife refuge status was revoked in 2012 and the wildlife management reserve allows for the cultural take of mutton birds to be legal on the island.

It was shortly after the Crown purchase that Phil began his romance with the island. In 1988 and as a police o er with search and rescue experience and four generations of sea captains in his wake, he was transferred to Whakatāne. Perhaps the first tale h heard about Moutohorā came from the kuia who used to sit near the old bus station.

WHAKATANE GOLF CLUB

Championship course - one of the finest golf courses in the Bay of Plenty.

With fast running greens and lush, forgiving fairways, the course offers golfers of all levels a challenging but rewarding 18 holes.

Relax afterwards at our lounge bar and restaurant/ cafe with tasty home-made snacks and meals.

Par 70, 6009m course just 10 minutes from town near the airport.

WHAKATANE GOLF CLUB 181 Golf Links Rd, Paroa 07 308 8117 whakatanegolfclub@gmail.com www.whakatanegolf.com

“I used to sit there with them and learn about the town and about the island,” Phil says. “Moutohorā, when she has her hat on, so I learned, means good luck.”

By 1988/89 Phil says the Department of Conservation was ready to share the island restoration process by allowing controlled access to the island. The firs concession was issued to the Coastguard and Phil was part of this, setting up plans, undergoing training, clearing the tracks and then guiding tours to the Summit and Pa Hill.

In 1997, Phil retired from the Police and bought a charter vessel – Diveworks – and it became the Department of Conservation’s main operator for serving Whale Island. Due to fire risk during the re establishment years until 2008, department staff manned the island from November to March with the Diveworks crew replacing the department crew every Tuesday for 11 years.

Transportation and involvement with countless scientific xpeditions including Landcare Research helped Phil develop a keen interest in Whale Island but the highlight, he says, has been in his involvement with transitioning most of the introduced flo a and fauna, including tens of thousands of trees and plants and over 20 kiwi and other species.

Once the goats, introduced earlier to the island, were expunged, a planting programme began and 12,000 plants covering 45 species are now established.

Moutohorā is blanketed in pōhutukawa, māhoe, kanuka, bracken fern and grassland. There are 190 native and 110 introduced plant species, and the island is now completely free of the goats, rats, cats and rabbits, which had previously devastated native plants and animals.

The most signifi ant feature of Moutohorā’s current fauna is the breeding colony of grey-faced petrels.

Sooty shearwaters, little blue penguins, the threatened New Zealand dotterel and variable oystercatchers also breed on the island. Threatened species which are occasional visitors are the Caspian tern, the North Island kaka and New Zealand falcon. Other species present include common forest birds, captive-bred red crowned parakeets, three lizard species and fur seals.

There are even Kiwi on the island.

Introduced species were excised from Moutohorā and she was lovingly cloaked in native flo a and fauna.

The satisfaction of seeing the once-barren valley and hills now covered with trees, some exceeding 10 metres in height, with birds everywhere is truly satisfying, Phil says.

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

25

“In those earlier days, one of the out-of-ordinary trips to the island was to return a number of large stones taken by someone who later found out that the theft and possession of them brought bad luck.

“They took them to the Department of Conservation o e and left them there with a note. We transported them back across the water, carefully placing them back on the Boulder Bank.

“Another involved the return of a fur seal pup that had been found by police in the boot of a car on its way to Tāneatua to be a family pet. We dropped the pup back to Whale Island in the morning only to find it beat us back o Whakatāne in the afternoon.”

Sometime in the early 1990s the odd New Zealand fur seal, kekeno, started turning up just inside the north western corner of the island - initially on a steep rocky face. Numbers gradually began to grow and they moved around the Island.

Now the bulk inhabit the island’s south east corner.

The seals at Moutohorā are extremely friendly, which Phil puts down to the fact that the seals moved into the area subsequent to the many snorkelling charters he has taken to their home. “They were used to sharing the water with people right from the start.”

In 2006, Phil established Whale Island Tours and, in 2007, submitted his first oncession application to take people to the island. As part of the application this is what he wrote: “It would really be my desire to work in with other concessionaires in order to provide a complete opportunity for the public to learn, experience and become aware of the island and the success of the restorative process – like a field trip” Now operating as Diveworks Charters, Phil, his wife Stephenie and their four children Ari, Scott, Carly and Ellie, back their husband and father’s passion and have become a “mom and pop” tour operation. “I think Ari was three weeks old when we took our first our out,” Steph said.

As well as a Whale Island Guided Tour, Diveworks Charters offer Dolphin and Seal Encounters and Fishing and Diving Tours. This year Phil, Steph, Carly and Ellie have been guiding the tours with Steph describing the vessel and crew as a “Faulty Towers” operation.

“Not everything comes off faultlessly all of the time but boy do we have some laughs along the way,” Steph said. “That laughter is contagious and is shared around the boat.”

Whale Island Tours are set down for four hours, but are not often brought in on time. “We get out there and Phil is so very passionate about the island and ensuring everybody gets to see the best of it.”

26

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

“The satisfaction of seeing the oncebarren valley and hills now covered with trees, some exceeding 10 metres in height, with birds everywhere is truly satisfying.”

Guided tours involve a walk to the Saddle, a walk into Sulphur Bay, usually a swim in the summer months, circumnavigation of the Island, viewing the amazing rock formations and seeing the friendly kekeno seals. “People get out to the island and they don’t want to hurry, it’s so absolutely peaceful out there,” Steph said. “People start off wanting to see the birds – they go for the birds – but once they start walking something happens – they get enveloped in the peace – and they just want to take their time. When people step onto the beach at the beginning of the tour the footprints from the day before have been washed away and you get this feeling of being the only people to have ever been to the island. There’s little footprints – evidence of kiwi and blue penguins – and the beautiful beaches, both beaches are beautiful. When you go into Sulphur Bay and you’re looking across the sea, especially when the sea is flat and the sky is blue, and you can see Pūtauaki – it’s just magic.

From the Saddle you can see Whakaari and Cape Runaway.”

“I remember one guy, when we got back to the shop, said to us it just does something to your heart doesn’t it,” Steph said.

“And I do believe it does your heart good – it’s good for you.”

• Holiday accommodation •

“Moutohorā, when she has her hat on, so I learned, means good luck.”

• Short and long term options • Stunning sea views 1 and 2 bedroom apartments Self service apartments

Heated swimming pool and gym facilities 200m to restaurant, cafés and shops Beach across the road

Beachpoint Apartments at Ohope Beach 5 West End Road, Ohope Beach, New Zealand P. 07 312 6100 E. beachpointohope@gmail.com

www.beachpoint.co.nz

50

Shades of Beige

WORDS BOB SACAMANO

As Plenty’s writers, designers, photographers, and landscape gardeners crisscross the Bay in search of the word on the street and the inside line on the movers

and shakers of the zeitgeist, one thing is constant: it’s not an undying dedication to great journalism; it’s not an endless search for the truth; no, good people of

the Bay, it’s hot chips. And battered fish. Yes, greasies, fush and chups, shark and tatties, call them what you will, Aotearoa’s favourite takeaway keeps us from running on empty. And it keeps you running too: every week Kiwis scarf down nearly seven million servings of fish and chips – that’s 120,000 tonnes a year you greedy buggers – so we thought it high time we delved deeper into this national phenomenon. Here is the result: the definitive Plenty guide to fish and chips, which is almost entirely 50°/° true – give or take.

Some scholars believe that

the earliest reference to fish

and chips can be found in preliminary

sketches of The Last Supper by Leonardo

da Vinci, which appear to show battered terakihi

being served (to everyone except Judas Iscariot – who

probably got one of those gnarly deep fried frozen crab sticks

instead); but the first confirmed mention of our national dish in literature

is made in 1517 by Leonardo da Vinci in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Sadly, due to political correctness gone mad, the quote referring to Juliet’s

controversial preference for vinegar instead of ‘mato sauce has been removed from the definitive Little Golden Books version of the famous play. Which is stink.

Fast forward to 1839 and British novelist Charles Dickens refers to a ‘fried fish warehouse’ in Oliver Twist, although the first documented reference in Aotearoa

of what would become our national takeaway dish of choice is in a now sadly lost journal entry by Governor George Grey in 1864: “The country’s future hangs in the balance,” he wrote as fighting raged throughout the land, “and Mrs Grey’s chips are rubbish - wish we could afford the bought ones.” The merits of ‘the

bought ones’ – whether biscuits, cake, chips or haircuts – was, sadly, a sentiment that would echo dramatically down throughout the history of New Zealand.

28

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

29

If the Governor could indeed have found some bloody coin for the bought ones, then he should also have left the windy confines of Wellington behind and headed north by north-east, because the best fish and chips have always been found in the Bay of Plenty. Maybe it’s our proximity to the moana, maybe it’s just because we’re awesome, but the Bay’s chippies regularly feature amongst the country’s favourites. A 2019 survey by NZME using “social media” (by the way, do the “ ” thing with your fingers when you read this) listed the top seven fish and chip shops in the country and two of those were right here in the Bay. Two out of seven is like, way above the per capita average thingy, though the omission of the chips at the Ōhiwa Oyster Farm calls into question the so-called science behind this so-called “social media” (did you do it?).

nasty chemicals in the detergent folks.

This leads us to believe a great many more meals should probably be eaten off yesterday’s paper, although to be frank we doubt this will in any way make the slightest difference in saving the planet; to actually do something of environmental value skip this rubbish and go read about Kate on page 16.

But the issues that fish and chips raise about health are vastly surpassed by more important questions, questions that divide families, that define communities in the north and south of this land; tough questions that demand hard answers.

The faint of heart may want to look away now.

First up, forget your who-shot-Kennedymoon-landing-denial-tinfoil-hat-wearing hogwash conspiracy theories, let’s get to the nitty gritty: whatever happened The mention of science brings us to to the crinkle cut chip? Supposedly the elephant in the room. Fish and chips developed to hold more sauce than the regular straight cut, ‘the are high in saturated crinkle’ saw its heyday fat, salt and calories in the late 80s together (known scientificall as with big hair and the ‘hot ‘deliciousness points’) . when correctly fried, chips in a bag’ boom And those are bad, driven by food trucks m’kay. So bad in fact offered a degree at sporting events and that a definitive study of crunch and fat those vaguely depressing by the British Magazine fairs favoured by rural of Medicine showed delivery never before New Zealand. The crinkle, that everyone who ate seen in a chip. when correctly fried, fish and chips more offered a degree of than twice a day in 1902 crunch and fat delivery never before is now actually definitively dead. So don’t eat fish and chips more than twice a day. seen in a chip, and in addition they looked really fancy. In short, crinkle cut chips, like Equally troubling is research by the Holden Toranas, impressed girls; because – Robert Sacamano Institute in Georgia, like the Thunderbirds and flyin cars – they Ukraine, that has shown that neither were the future, they represented utopia fried potatoes nor tomato sauce count and a brave new world. And then, like ABBA as one of your five-a-d y servings of T-shirts and hickeys, they vanished. Their vegetables. The same institute’s 2012 usurpers were the ‘Oh look at me I’m so study showing that eating fish and chips effin special’ shoestring fry and the ‘I out of the paper – as opposed to off can’t be arsed chopping them up’ wedges a plate – vastly reduces your carbon favoured by bogans. Wedges, bogans and footprint was to be expected; it’s not big hair are still rocking in Hamilton by just the energy used in heating the water the way, which is nice in a “It’s happening to wash the resulting dishes, it’s the somewhere else” kinda way.

The crinkle,

30

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

The insidious return of the bog-standard straight cut, the cut that saw off both the shoestring and the wedge and that now reigns supreme, is not something we should wring our hands over though. There is nobility in its simplicity, a beauty in its utilitarianism. And utilitarianism is the ism that best sums up fish and chips The next difficult question, and the one you’ve all been waiting for, is sauce. Now we like to think we’re nonjudgemental here at Plenty, but putting vinegar on your chips is wrong, in so many ways. We’ll leave it there, but if you do the vinegar thing, well, we’re not angry, we’re just disappointed. The New Zealand Fish and Chip Condiment Council lists tartare sauce as an acceptable accompaniment, but let’s face it: if you don’t have a crusty old bottle of tomato sauce in the back of the fridge then you’re probably a communist.

‘Deliciousness’ point rating system as thoroughly tested and researched by Plenty

LESS DELICIOUS

DELICIOUS Lettuce or other plant derived salad item Battered Fish Tomato Sauce Aioli

High in saturated ies fat, salt and calor as lly ica (known scientif s’) ‘deliciousness point

Cheezy weezy le it)

(Goog

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

31

And that in turn brings us to Kumara chips. . .

Like flared trousers and Bacardi, you tend to look back on kumara chips and wonder

Now, while these are a seasonal fave in

certain

quarters

of

the

Plenty

what you were thinking. . .

office, the kumara chip remains an

enigmatic choice that comes and goes from fashion like flared trousers and

Bacardi rum. Are we wrong? Hands up

anyone who says we’re wrong. Yeah?

Well you’re wrong. But seriously, the kumara chip remains the nuclear fissio

of the deep-fried world; so promising,

with the heady mix of sweet and salty,

carbs and a crunchy skin, and yet so far this potential has yet to be realised.

Is it the thickness, the oil used in frying,

the variety of kumara? We don’t know, but it just seems that what should be the

perfect marriage made in heaven usually comes over a bit stodgy. Like flare

trousers and Bacardi, you tend to look back on kumara chips and wonder what

you were thinking at the time. And yet we’re confident that within our lifetime

the perfect kumara chip will be achieved, and that’s a further reminder of why it’s great to be alive right now.

They were there during the dark days of

struggle and strike in the 1930s and 40s, often the only treat for a lot of Kiwis

doing it hard – surviving through economic

downturn and the legacy of English cuisine, looking forward to fish and chips Friday

on a winter Wednesday. They were there for Sir Ernest Rutherford – who wrote

passionately of the wedges he and his team enjoyed after fathering nuclear physics

– and for Kate Sheppard – who famously celebrated winning the vote for women and

making us the first real democracy in the

world by shouting battered snapper and two scoops for all the suffragettes. And they were there for ‘The Fish and Chip Brigade’ –

David

Lange,

Michael

Bassett,

Roger

Douglas and Mike Moore, four ‘she’ll be right

politicians’ who said yeah nah to the Yanks

and made us nuclear free – and for Olympic runner John Walker – the Kiwi fl er who broke the 3:50 mile in Gothenburg in 1975

Maybe it’s our proximity to the moana, maybe it’s just because

and famously said his training regime was hard yakka and fish and chips for lunch

The remarkable thing is that all, well most,

we’re awesome, but the Bay’s

of this is true. John Walker really did eat

chippies regularly feature

‘75, we really did tell the US Navy to piss

amongst the country’s favourites.

Because that’s the great thing about fish

and

chips:

they’ve

always

been

fish and chips before wowing the world in

off in ’85, and as long as you run a mile in under four minutes after chowing down on

greasies and form a super-power defying government you’re good to go too.

there for us, always in the background,

Because isn’t that what fish and chips are

forbidden and yet flirtatiously available

dangerously, it’s knowing the risks and doing

always reassuringly hot, salty and fillin ,

when most needed; late at night, just like that hottie friend of your old flatmat who . . . yeah, nah you get the picture.

all about? It’s sticking it to The Man, it’s living

it anyway. We had chips long before Ronald ‘invented’ fast food, and by god we’ll guard the Pacific’s triple star from strife and

war knowing that on every main street of this great nation any proud Kiwi can walk in and order two fish and a scoop. It’s a Kiwi institution, it’s the way of our people, and it’s bloody yum.

32

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

The Earth Beneath our Feet WORDS ANDY TAYLOR

THE ERUPTION AT WHAKAARI WHITE ISLAND So go back far enough, and Ōpōtiki and the eastern suburbs of in December last year reminded us all that we live on shaky ground.

Seismic and volcanic activity has been a constant part of our history, and the geology of the Bay of Plenty is remarkably complex and constantly volatile; Dr Hamish Campbell, one of New Zealand’s leading geologists, fills us in on just what lies beneath our feet.

“There’s a lot going on in the Bay of Plenty,” says Dr Hamish Campbell. “It’s one of the more dynamic parts of the, well, world, because the Bay of Plenty is essentially being stretched from east to west in a classic case of rifting. And as this extension occurs, faults in the Bay do what they do – they shift suddenly, and you get events like the Edgecumbe earthquake.”

Spring chickens reading this will need reminding that the Edgecumbe quake was a relatively shallow 6.5 magnitude temblor that rattled the Bay back in March 1987. Damage was recorded in Te Teko, Kawerau, and Matatā, but the worst hit was Edgecumbe where the dairy factory was extensively damaged and railway lines buckled and bent. An 80 tonne New Zealand Railways train was toppled, and twenty-five people were injured, though thankfully there were no fatalities.

“The remarkable thing about the Bay of Plenty rift,” says Dr Campbell, “is that we can measure the rate of shift – thanks to GPS technology, with 32 satellites at 30,000 kilometres! – and we know that in Rotorua there is about 9mm of east-west extension every year, while up in Tauranga it is 16mm. So it is a gape that is widening as you go north with the fulcrum at about Taihape.

And this gape explains the unusual Y shape of the North Island.”

34

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

Auckland would have been neighbours? “Crudely put, yes,” Dr Campbell says. It’s a thought that the residents of both locations would no doubt find somewhat enlightening Enlightening Kiwis about the land they call home is something Dr Campbell has been doing for quite some time. A geologist as well as a palaeontologist, he appeared as a presenter on the popular Coast television series and co-wrote the best-selling In Search of Ancient New Zealand with Gerard Hutching. For many years he was also the science communicator at Te Papa but is probably best known in academic circles for the extensive research he has done on the Chatham Islands – in fact he currently runs guided tours of the islands exploring their geology, culture and native flora and fauna Like a lot of our history, Kiwis tend to be a bit in the dark about what is going on beneath our feet. We’re certainly aware of our recent earthquakes, and we all know that there are massive and dynamic forces pushing and pulling on the land we live on, but that’s probably about it. Most of us would just rather not think about it until confronted by the very destructive powers of nature.

Image: Pacific Ring of Fire 2004 Expedition.

NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration; Dr. Bob Embley, NOAA PMEL, Chief Scientist.

Kiwis tend to be a bit in the dark about what is going on beneath our feet.

“Part of the problem is that geologists keep changing their minds,” laughs Dr Campbell. “Or at least they used to. These days we have a much better understanding, thanks to far more extensive research and the use of better technology.

So while theories used to come and go a bit, we now have a much clearer picture of what is going on.”

Edgecumbe Earthquake 1987

It is a picture – in the Bay of Plenty particularly – of volatility. “The rifting that has seen the east and the west pushed apart has meant that the mantle has become closer to the surface,” Dr Campbell says.

“To put it another way, the crust has grown thinner as it has been stretched wider, so in places the crust beneath the Bay of Plenty is only eight to ten kilometres thick, which geologically speaking is remarkably thin.

Archives New Zealand from New Zealand / creativecommons.org

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

35

Edgecumbe Earthquake 1987 Archives New Zealand from New Zealand / creativecommons.org

“In places the crust beneath the Bay of Plenty is only eight to ten kilometres thick, which geologically speaking is remarkably thin.”

That means the area is very dynamic, because fluid – and therefore mobile – magma is closer to the surface where it can cause tremors, but it also means we can exploit geothermal energy, because ground water is getting down and feeling that heat from the magma below.”

All this activity on land is part of a much greater pattern played out across vast areas of the southern Pacific. “What s happening off the east coast of the North Island is that the oceanic crust on the Pacific plate is sliding under the continental crust of the Australian plate. Think of the oceanic crust as milk and the continental crust as cream – the continental crust is less dense, like cream, and it rides up over the oceanic crust that is denser, as in the case of milk. It is all about buoyancy on a grand scale – so continental drift is the shunting around of large blobs of cream by the flow of the milk, or seafloor spreading

Which brings us to where Whakaari/White Island fits in to all this.

“Whakaari is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire,” Dr Campbell says. “It is actually a fairly young volcano, and it’s important to remember that just 20,000 years ago the sea level was 125 metres below present, so there would not have been much sea between it and the coast for thousands of years. What this means is that while there may have been eruptions at Whakaari in the past, we don’t see much evidence of this in the fossil record on land today, but essentially think of it as another Ruapehu. The Bay of Plenty is a part of what we call the Taupō Volcanic Zone, which is a bit of a double whammy – there is rifting going on but also subductionrelated volcanism. We’ve identified eight super volcanos – volcanos that have and can produce more than 500 cubic kilometres of material when they erupt – and there are obviously Taupō and Rotorua, but the others are largely buried. The idea of super volcanos sounds a bit fantastical, but we only have to go back to the very modest 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera to be reminded of what the volcanoes in the Bay of Plenty can do.”

PACIFIC RING OF FIRE

Whakaari/ White Island

Taranaki

36

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

“The idea of super volcanos sounds a bit fantastical, but we only have to go back to the very modest 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera to be reminded of what the volcanoes in the Bay of Plenty can do.”

Dr Hamish Campbell Photo by Bronwyn Campbell

It’s not all bad news though. Globally, sea levels are on the rise, with oceans increasingly eroding away at the islands and continents we live on and with such a huge coastline the Bay of Plenty is right in the firing line. Strangel , the rifting beneath us that causes so much seismic activity may also have some benefits “It has always been assumed that if we have rifting in the Bay of Plenty – this stretch of the east and west – then what lies within that rift should be sinking as the finite amount of material is stretched out to cover an ever-increasing area. In short, the land within the rift should be getting lower and the sea should be coming in. In fact, we’ve got the opposite: we’ve got the coast actually rising in the Bay of Plenty. Parts of the New Zealand coast are definitely sinking, other parts are relatively stable, but in the Bay of Plenty the coast is rising – and that, dare I say it – is probably because the mantle is rising below us as the crust is growing thinner. Sea levels are rising three to four millimetres per year globally, but the Bay of Plenty coast is rising at more like five millimetres. So it is tectonic uplift that is slightly outpacing the rate of rising sea levels.”

That’s probably not reason enough for us all in the Bay to kick back and discount a warming climate, but it is at least one positive to be taken from all the moving and a-shaking that is going on beneath us.

The Ōhope Golf Club is a world-class links course with arguably the best views in the Eastern Bay

Call us on 07 312 4486 or come and visit us – we’d love to meet you!

Affiliated members, groups & visitors are always welcome 541 Harbour Rd, Ohope 3121

07 312 4486

ohope@golf.co.nz

www.ohopegolf.co.nz

- PRESENTING -

HARMONIC R E S O N ATO R S

38

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

T

HE HARMONIC RESONATORS started out as a family jam and are now taking Aotearoa by storm. Plenty caught up with frontman Jeremy Hantler to hear about crowd-funding their new album, embracing Te Reo, and Making Yodelling Great AgainTM.

WORDS ANDY TAYLOR IMAGES SUPPLIED

The holy grail of many a recording artist in the age of social media is ‘going viral’. It’s proven to be a one-way ticket to a recording contract for some, and a blessed release from the day job for others. But in the deafening cacophony that is the online world in 2020, how does an up and coming country slash folk outfit cut through the noise and make a splash? Well, if you’re the Bay’s Harmonic Resonators, you release a couple of relatively low budget, high energy versions of some classic Māori waiata with a country twist – and watch it go ballistic.

Thousands have watched their Facebook videos, hundreds have left glowing comments, and the band have gone from a weekend family outing to being in high demand throughout the country. They’ve played at Tūrangawaewae Marae for the Māori King, they’ve gigged in Australia, and they’ve had so many requests for shows that they can’t keep up. It’s a far cry from squabbling over harmonies in the back of a Honda Accord.

“We all played and sang

“I reckon I came out of the womb singing,” says Jeremy Hantler over a beer in Tauranga. “Our family were down at the country music club pretty much every Friday night really. My Dad had been in a band for many years and only gave it up to spend more time at home with the family – but then my parents joined a country music club and that was it. We all played and sang as a family, Dad played guitar, and Mum chose the songs and even made us matching outfits.”

as a family, Dad played guitar, and Mum chose

the songs and even made us matching outfits.”

Hantler has an infectious laugh and the ease of someone used to being onstage, but he also has the down to earth engagement that belies his day job as a teacher. He may be the band’s front man, but he’s just one of the family at heart.

“We did all sorts – funerals, parties, country music shows – and everywhere we went we were always singing harmonies in the car and arguing about who sang which part! Ah the awesome acoustics of a Honda Accord. It worked fine for a long time but then my brother’s voice broke, and then my voice broke – and we had to do a bit of rearranging of who sang what!”

“So yeah it’s fair to say I grew up with country music. But then I got out of country, studied jazz and Māori music, and came back to country about three years ago. When I moved to Tauranga, I really just started up the band as an excuse to get the family together to play; we started doing Sunday arvo pub gigs to pay for the gas and it just grew from there.”

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

39

Frontman Jeremy Hantler

There were a few personnel changes, but within a year the Harmonic Resonators had settled into a line-up and a groove all of their own. “Dad plays guitar, Mum sings the bangers at the end of the show, my best friend – we went to school together and were best men at each other’s weddings – is on ukulele, his Mum plays bass, and on lead guitar we have a young fulla from the country music club just to keep us from being too square.

The early Resonators gigs became something of a must-see for those in the know. Kiwi-country versions of Lorde and Adele tunes followed by singalong classics, exceptional musicianship ripping through barnstorming belters, and, um, yodelling.

“Contrary to what you may think, yodelling at the pub went down a treat.”

“Contrary to what you may think,” Hantler laughs, “yodelling at the pub went down a treat – I’m gonna get a hat that says Make Yodelling Great Again – and we were kinda playing pop stuff but giving it the country twist and people seemed to really like it. The school I was teaching at had a lot of Māori students and I worked with the kapa haka group, and one of the songs we did there was Tauranga Moana. I thought that this was a really cool song that could be a great local singalong – I really never thought so much about it or the fact that it was a Māori song.

TRIPLE P IN THE BAY

The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program® is one of the world’s most effective parenting programs.

It gives parents the skills they need to raise confident, healthy children and teenagers and to build stronger family relationships. It also helps parents manage misbehaviour and prevent problems occurring in the first place.

For parents, whanau and caregivers with children aged up to 16yrs, there’s something for everyone.

Researched and Evidenced based parenting program.

Triple P in the BAY phone: 027 3112140 email: ardell@xtra.co.nz facebook: Triple P in the BAY www.triplep-parenting.net

‘Small changes for Big differences’

We’ve translated a couple of country songs into Te Reo, but mainly we just ‘countrified’ Māori waiata, and it seems to be a really good fit, both from our side as performers and the reception we get. Tauranga Moana just struck a chord with people - and to be honest I’m not sure what it actually is that people like so much!

The family buzz, the surprising Te Reo Māori fluency, or just that we all look like we’re having a good time jamming – and once we put a version on Facebook everything snowballed from there. I got asked to play ANZAC day at a lot of local marae and I did a few solo, but soon realised it’s really the family band sound that makes the magic. The band got invited to play Waitangi gigs, and then Matariki gigs, then Christmas gigs and as much as we’d love to take every gig that comes our way, we also have day jobs.”

With criss-crossing the country in a Ford Transit full-time out of the question, the Resonators decided that the best way to get their music out to the masses was to record. But in the era of Everyone’s Got Talent!

TV shows and shrinking record sales, the long and involved process of securing a record label seemed like too much rigmarole. Instead they took a more Kiwi, DIY approach.

The Harmonic Resonators in action

“We recorded the album at Red Room studios in Puhoi, and paid the money to get it properly tracked and mastered by Chris at KOG studio. The music was way too special to cut corners on that bit,” Hantler says, “and then did some crowd-funding to get it out there. Because we did it ourselves, we asked people to pre-buy the album to pay for the printing and had 700 snapped up for Christmas – which was a really amazing result, but brought problems of its own! My wife (“Mrs Resonator”) and my Mum (“The Matriarch”) did all the postage and packaging.

That was a mammoth task, but we got there.”

The album, Waiata Ngahau, is a neat encapsulation of the band and also something of a celebration – it’s all there, with a great ‘live’ production sound and an assured confidence brought together by a bunch of musicians who know exactly what they are doing. The title – Waiata Ngahau – is fitting, meaning that the songs are uplifting, and spirited, and yet it almost ended up being called something else entirely.

“Doing Māori songs has given us some great exposure,

but that’s not why we do them.

I really love those songs.”

“I had a few ideas for a title - like Me Waiata Tātou - but they had macrons in them, and I knew that this was going to be problematic for iTunes – the software sometimes doesn’t recognise macrons and we didn’t want people to love the music and then not be able to even find it! And equally we didn’t want to drop the macron because that is misspelling the word. But then my mate Steve from Parkby Projects who was doing our CD design couldn’t remember the name that I’d given him and he said, “Was it Waiata Ngahau?” And I said, “ah . . . yeah sure. Yeah that’s totally what it was!”

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

41

Which brings us to the question of what is a seemingly all-Pākehā country band doing with an album called Waiata Ngahau and performing songs in Te Reo Māori.

It’s a family affair: the full Resonators lineup.

“I think people realise it’s not a token thing,” Hantler says. “I’m not gonna lie, doing Māori songs has given us some great exposure, but that’s not why we do them. I really love those songs. I’ve been going to parties where we’ve been singing them for yonks and as a music teacher I’ve been singing them with kids for ages. I understand that some people might see it from the outside and think it’s strange, but if you come along to one of our gigs you’ll see the reactions we get and it all seems to make sense. The support has been overwhelmingly positive and that’s given us the confidence to keep doing what we’re doing. I think things are changing a bit in schools now, but we have to remember that we’re not far along from when parents would complain if their kids were taught Māori songs. So even if we’re just helping to move that journey on a little bit we’re happy.”

“We have to remember that we’re not far along from when parents

And what is next on the Harmonic Resonators journey? Having conquered Facebook, and with one successful album down; where to now?

would complain if their kids were taught Māori songs. So even if

“I’d really like to make a kids album,” says Hantler.

“We get so much feedback from people about how kids love our music and we see loads of videos with kids singing along, but most of our music is not in kids’ keys, so we’d like to record some songs that they can really rip in to! Probably some old school songs, probably some Māori songs, but definitely songs that sound like they’re ‘from here’. I got to travel a bit recently and really noticed how many other cultures have really distinctive forms of folk music, songs that everyone from that place knows and can burst into at the drop of a hat. You can instantly think of Irish music, Scottish music, Balkan music, Swedish music; pretty much everywhere has something. It got me thinking ‘where are our heritage songs?’ So I’d kinda like to do something that would be a gateway to people attaching themselves to, and resonating with, music that specifically sounds like it’s from here. And I think we could do it – I reckon in some ways we’re the folkiest folk band in the country!”

we’re just helping to move that

journey on a little bit, we’re happy.”

They’re definitely helping us to figure out what ‘New Zealand folk music’ could be, they’re Making Yodelling Great Again, and they’re putting on brilliant shows worthy of the standing ovations they receive. You’re hopefully going to be hearing a lot more of The Harmonic Resonators in the Bay of Plenty.

42

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

Home Again

Homelessness in Aotearoa is no longer confined to our biggest cities.

Back in the day, a small number of local characters became well-known street personalities to everyone working in our city centres, but those days are gone.

Homelessness here has followed international trends, taking various forms, from rough sleeping or couch surfing, to families living in cars or being stuck in emergency motel accommodation for months on end. Cities and towns up and down the country are grappling with this issue and the Bay of Plenty is no exception. Now a new initiative in Tauranga is taking a very different approach to the issue, so Plenty caught up with The People’s Project to find out more.

WORDS ANDY TAYLOR // IMAGES SUPPLIED

44

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T ĹŞ - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

The sad reality of an increasingly large homeless problem became evident in Tauranga in around 2015. From the printed page to social media, everyone had an opinion, and to be sure some of the initial responses to the issue weren’t well considered. But ultimately the Tauranga community came together to try and find a positive solution, and the result was Our Community Project – or OCP – a working group of stakeholders from across the region including Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District Councils, Tauranga Moana Men’s Night Shelter, The Salvation Army, Tauranga Community Housing Trust, Te Tuinga Whanau, SocialLink, Housing New Zealand, Ministry of Social Development, Bay of Plenty District Health Board, Te Puni Kōkiri, Police and iwi Ngāti Ranginui. Steph O’Sullivan, chief executive of Ngāti Ranginui at that time, was the driving force behind it.

After researching what has worked elsewhere, and trying to get a better understanding of the size of the problem (a Tauranga City

Council initiative counted 80 people sleeping rough throughout the area in 2018), OCP reached out to non-governmental organisation Wise Group, which had launched The People’s Project, a unique approach to solving homelessness, in Hamilton some years earlier.

“At the start of The People’s Project in Hamilton, 80 people were identified as sleeping rough on the streets,” said Wise Group’s joint chief executive Julie Nelson.

“Today, only two of those 80 people remain unhoused. The Project’s success has made a positive and lasting difference to the Hamilton landscape, with Police reporting a reduction in inner-city crime and Hamilton City Council’s surveys reporting businesses and the public feel safer. There are a lot fewer people sleeping rough and begging and public education has restored empathy back into the community.”

In Tauranga, OCP and The People’s Project worked in partnership to find a sustainable source of funding to bring the Project’s service to the city. In February 2018 this became a reality, as part of a broader rollout of Housing First across the country which saw the Government come to the party with funding.

Housing First was coming to Tauranga.

Wise Group’s joint chief executive Julie Nelson

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

45

The People’s Project team

The Housing First approach has been successful in many places overseas as well as here in New Zealand largely because it recognises that it is easier for people to address issues such as past trauma, mental health and drug and alcohol use once they are housed. It is an approach that grew out of the work of Dr Sam Tsemberis, a clinicalcommunity psychologist on the faculty of Columbia University Medical Centre’s psychiatry department. While traditional responses to homelessness relied heavily on emergency housing and acute medical care, Tsemberis’ Housing First takes a very different approach. In short, the priority is to quickly move people into appropriate housing and then immediately provide wrap-around services to support them. It’s an approach backed by more than 20 years of evidence and is proven to have ended homelessness for more than 80% of people who engage with the programme.

“Giving someone a home is so much more than just a roof over their heads,” Julie said.

“People say things like, ‘Thanks for not giving up on me, you don’t know what it means to have the keys to my own home’. It’s very special and it makes what is often intensive and challenging work incredibly fulfilling.”

46

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

“...Businesses and the public feel safer. There are a lot fewer people sleeping rough and begging and public education has restored empathy back into the community.”

Housing First is not just about housing however.

Every person seeking assistance receives wraparound support, using an individualised ‘one plan’ approach that means all services working with a person know the plan and work together to help that person achieve their goals.

“Without doubt, houses end homelessness.

But Housing First is an enduring support for as long as it is needed to help people sustain their tenancies – whether that is supporting access to health, addictions or budgeting services, or mentoring a relationship with a landlord – whatever it takes to support the person to be able to stay in their home,” Julie said.

“The goal of Housing First is to end homelessness - not to manage it.”

Making a house a home in Tauranga On 6 June 2018, The People’s Project opened its Tauranga city service with psychologist and former Tauranga City Council community development advisor Simone Cuers leading a team with a range of backgrounds in social work, counselling, psychology, support work, lived experience and law enforcement.

Simone said 10 people were waiting outside the office before it opened on that first day, and 22 ultimately came through the doors, with those who had been sleeping rough very malnourished, tired and unwell.

Nearly two years down the track, the team has seen more than 350 people. More than 70 are registered for the service and 55 people have been supported into homes of their own.

From the outset, the service’s biggest challenge was finding housing. “There were, and still are, a very small number of 1-2-bedroom dwellings available on the rental market, and there were, and still are, long waits for state housing in Tauranga,” she says.

“At the moment, we only need 30-40 more houses, but because Tauranga is one of the most expensive places in New Zealand, this is a struggle. The majority of our clients are single people who can afford a maximum weekly rent of approximately $320; that is a onebedroom flat, there are few properties in that price range, and demand is high.”

The team works with public, private and community landlords to find housing stock. Around one-quarter of the people who have been housed to date are in housing from Kāinga Ora (formerly Housing New Zealand) and social housing provider Accessible Properties Ltd.

Tauranga Caseload - June 2018 to 31 January 2020 -

55

ACTIVE CLIENTS

36

PEOPLE HOUSED

91

REMAIN HOUSED

“All our clients are on the register for state housing, but demand for state housing in Tauranga is incredibly high and the number of state housing spaces available in the city has not kept up with demand,” Simone said.

Which is where private landlords and agents come in.

More than three quarters of the people who have been housed are in private rental properties. Simone says the team is often asked by the public what they can do to help homeless people, and she is resolute on this: “Help us find more housing for the people we’re working with.”

%

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

47

‘Home’ by Hayley Hamilton, The Monster Company, Raglan

To make this easier, The People’s Project has a compelling offer for landlords through its relationship with community housing provider LinkPeople. Property owners and agents can simply sign up and in return they are guaranteed 52 weeks market-rate rent, guaranteed repairs to any property damage and highly experienced tenancy managers.

First National Real Estate’s Genna Short is one supporter who has come on board. “The clients The People’s Project put forward have been thoroughly vetted,” says Genna, “the rent is always paid on time, and the properties are wellmaintained because if any repairs are needed, the case manager is on the phone to me right away. They also visit tenants regularly and support them to keep their homes clean and tidy.

Quite simply, The People’s Project has made my job easy,” Genna said.

Sadly, Simone notes, poverty is the real issue for the people the team works with; it is not uncommon for clients living in private rental properties to have little more than $40 left to live on once they’ve paid their rent and bills. This, she says, is why partnerships between the state, community housing and private landlords were even more critical for people in Housing First services, because they allowed clients to receive subsidies which kept their rents at around 25% of their incomes.

While there is undoubtedly more work to be done in our community, it’s clear that Housing First works and they are seeing the results – day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month and year-by-year.

48

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

“Giving someone a home is so much more than just a roof over their heads.”

“One person we work with was homeless, living in parks around Mauao for more than 16 years; he recently celebrated his first-year anniversary in his own home. Another person is interested in finding employment now that their home is stable, others are reconnecting with whānau, building their resilience through connections and relationships, and people are seriously committed to looking after their homes,” Simone says.

“To see the change in someone who has been living on the streets for many years, to being housed for several months is amazing. We see a lot of pride in how our clients care for their homes, and we own a lawn mower which clients enjoy using to mow their lawns regularly,” she says.

“In the same way it took a collaborative community approach to bring The People’s Project to Tauranga, it takes a community to end homelessness. One service cannot do this alone.

The support The People’s Project has received from central and local government agencies and local service providers has been key to what has been achieved in Tauranga to date,” Simone says.

With results like this, there’s a real sense of hope that by working together as a community homelessness will be rare overall, brief when it occurs and never a way of life. And if there’s one thing we can aspire to in the Bay, it’s that.

Tony gets things DONE! Tony Bonne has been leading the Whakatane District for the last nine years as Mayor. Now, as a salesperson for Ray White Real Estate, the second biggest Real Estate Company in New Zealand, he’s leading the sale and purchase of your biggest asset, just as his father D’Arcy did before him.

Why choose Tony to sell your property? Why choose Tony to help you purchase your dream home? Because Tony knows this district. After being in local government for 18 years, he understands the region, what it’s like to live here, and what you need to know to find your new home.

✓

Do you want INTEGRITY?

✓

Do you want a real estate salesperson you can TRUST?

✓

Do you want great SERVICE?

✓

Do you want it DONE?

If you are considering selling, or you’re looking for your dream home, contact Tony, he gets things DONE!

Tony Bonne 027 440 1126 tony.bonne@raywhite.com www.rwohope.co.nz Paramount Realty Ohope Limited Licensed (REAA 2008)

The work of Bay of Plenty artist Brett Taylor has a classical and yet very Kiwi aesthetic. His sculpture explores the human body and nature via cast bronze and glass – two particularly difficult to master art forms – and yet remain solidly grounded and real, seemingly drawn up from the earth around us. His work can be found everywhere from Taupō (where the seven-metre-tall ‘Heartland Taupō’ sculpture makes a commanding presence beside the Taupō Museum), to private collections in Washington and Hong Kong.

PLENTY Did you follow in her footsteps and go to Elam?

BT No! I dropped out of school. In those days the school system never really related to right brain thinking – I think they do a bit better now – but in those days you had to fit into a very, very small box, and I wasn’t ready for that. But it’s not easy to stay in the art world, and in my early years I used to pump gas in order to be able to keep doing my art. I used to work night shifts so that I could spend the day doing art; as long as I had bread and butter, I could keep doing what I wanted, which was drawing and painting.

Originally from Auckland, Brett Taylor has made the Bay of Plenty his home for 18 years, with his current studio nestled on the cliffs overlooking the Matatā coast (and incidentally, the dunes of Ōtamarākau – see our history feature on page 60). Part workshop, part art gallery, part foundry, the studio shares the cliffs with an ancient pā site and an organic avocado orchard, and The Winsley Twins paid it a visit.

Eventually I studied graphic arts at Auckland Technical Institute, but I studied design, which wasn’t really right for me, and then eventually went back to Auckland Arts Academy a few years later. I was there literally at the time when they said, “Throw away your pencils, it’s all going to be computers from now on,” which is unfortunate because that crams you into a certain genre of work. And my ‘analogue’ approach has remained with me to this day – I like tactile things and I like drawing, I like clay. I think a part of the reason is that there are so many more surprises in those mediums – and as artists, or humans for that matter, we’re always in pursuit of the things we don’t understand. So those surprises that come with tactile things, the mistakes, the wrong turns, the effects of gravity! All those are invaluable. They’re gifts from the process.”

PLENTY Did you come from an artistic background?

BT Yes, very much so. My mother was one of the first students at Elam School of Fine Arts, there with people like Toss Woollaston, but in those days’ artists were considered to be the fringe dwellers of society. They probably still are, but we’ve managed to weasel our way into polite society a bit more in recent years! My mother was part of that crowd and at a very dynamic time in New Zealand art, but ultimately my mum chose another canvas – she had a family. But when I grew up there were always paper and glue and things like that around on the table, there were always things going on, so art just seemed a part of life. As opposed to something ‘other’ as it is for many Kiwis.

AN INTERVIEW with Brett Taylor

INTERVIEW THE WINSLEY TWINS WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY ANDY TAYLOR IMAGES SUPPLIED

50

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

Right: ‘AMBER’ Cast Glass Below: ‘DON’T THINGS LOOK DIFFERENT FROM ABOVE‘ Stoneware

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

51

PLENTY And sculpture, which is what you are best known for currently, was always what attracted you?

BT No, initially I was attracted to drawing. I loved drawing, and still do; everything I do starts at the drawing board. But there was always a three-dimensional aspect to it – I was virtually carving things into paper – and I suddenly realised my place was in 3D. Paintings have depth of course, because you can portray perspective, but a painting can never be the same as an actual object. At the same time, I realised that it was really hard to find a point of difference in painting. A friend, Ron Hall, who is an award-winning artist in his own right, told me that out the back in any gallery you can find stacks and stacks of paintings leaning against the wall, because it is so hard to find a real point of difference. That’s true I suppose for sculpture too, but to a much lesser degree; once you get up into four or five kilos of glass or more of bronze then things start to happen that can never happen on a canvas.

PLENTY Transitioning from painting to sculpture is quite a shift – in both mind set and skill set.

BT Yeah! And it’s been a tough learning curve, and there were many, many failures. The thing with glass is that you can only cast it twice – after that, the molecular structure changes and then it’ll start cracking. It might last a couple of weeks or a couple of months, but it will eventually just fall apart – which is not something you want to happen when you’ve sold it and it’s on someone’s mantelpiece!

So, you only get two shots at getting it right, and if you don’t get it right you have to start all over again. So, the mistakes can be ‘gifts from the process’ but they can also be . . . well, y’know. I was lucky enough to study with George Andrews (see Plenty 10). And after that I started buying equipment and welding up stuff and George would come over and help out and we’d go riding together. And like I say it’s been a learning curve, but we got there.

The thing with sculpture is that it’s pretty hard yakka. You just have to sit down, make yourself comfortable and push your way through. Working with bronze is all pyrotechnics and fireworks on a casting day, but before you get there you have to spend hours, days working in the wax. And wax is really horrible stuff to work with, especially on a hot day – which is everyday here in summer!

Above: One of Brett’s many drawings Left: ‘ANALOGUE CURVE’ Bronze

52

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

53

PLENTY You were originally from Auckland, what brought you to the Bay? BT My mother had a place at Rotoiti – from way back, before the war! We used to come down from Auckland and spend time there, but I was pretty young and though I loved it, it wasn’t until I was talking to people at her funeral that I reconnected. Some of the stories from there, from Hinehopu, were about how there were still people netting freshwater crayfish – koura – in canoes, and that was only a generation ago. So that kind of reignited the great graphic picture I had from my mother, and about that time Auckland was getting just way too busy for me.

I did well in Auckland with portraiture. But in Auckland you have to get to know the right people, and I just didn’t handle the pressure of that city at all! I was young and going through lots of shit and getting into trouble and was basically just way too interested in entertaining myself instead of thinking about any kind of future. I was always drawing and always painting though, and it dawned on me that this was the most important thing – so I just decided that I was off to the lake. That was my late twenties and all I did for the next few years was paint and mow lawns!

‘EVE’ Stoneware

PLENTY You were never tempted to pack it in and get a real job?

BT No. Not really. I think everyone has a creative side to them, and we’re all called to do something, but most of us have to earn our crust, feed our families. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to handle doing pretty shitty work to earn my crust while I kept slogging away at drawing. It’s always tempting to improve the way you make a living but that can start to take precedence, and I was always quite capable of going out and just getting any kind of job that I had to – dishwashing, courier driving, pumping gas – whatever was going at the time. But I never felt a sense of being misplaced. Dishwashing took me around the world mate! And about 25 years ago that brought me to a place where I didn’t have to do those jobs, my art could support me. Which is a real great place to be.

54

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

March SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY - SUNDAY 12 APRIL

2020

SUMMER ARTS FESTIVAL We are excited to be presenting a wide range of amazing arts events for the community this season - all organised by local people, and taking place in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Whether you’re keen to experience performing arts, see exceptional visual arts, get to know local creatives, absorb international art perspectives, or just have a day out with the family, there’s something for everyone in the mix...

MOLLY MORPETH CANADAY 3D EXHIBITION Mon–Fri 9 am - 5 pm, Sat - Sun 10 am - 2 pm. Te Kōputu Exhibition Centre, Whakatāne Cost: Free Presented by Arts Whakatāne and exhibition partner District Council, this national award aims to support and promote artists by presenting 3D work across a range of disciplines.

MONDAY 9 MARCH

ORGAN RECITAL BY JOHN WELLS 7.30pm. Lounge at Whakatāne Little Theatre.

Cost: adults $30, concessions $25 and children $5.

An amazing musician - playing contemporary and classical pieces. A concert not to be missed. Hosted by Music Whakatāne.

FRIDAY 20 MARCH

MONDAY 30 MARCH

CENTRAL TO THE SOUL MOVIE FUNDRAISER 5.15pm for drinks and nibbles, 6.15pm for Movie.

Whakamax. $20 tickets at Good Life This is a fundraiser for Arts Whakatāne to help with organising and financing arts events for the Whakatāne community.

April SATURDAY 4 APRIL

BRENDAN DOOLEY MAGICIAN 5.30 pm. Mayhem! – Kids Show 7.30 pm Cheeky, Quirky & Classy – Adult/Family Show Gateway Theatre. Cost: $20 Adults, $30 Family and $15 Concessions. Book: The Good Life, Whakatāne.

SATURDAY 21 MARCH

MMCA “THE ART OF LOOKING” SARAH HUDSON 10:30 - 11:30am. Te Kōputu Exhibition Centre, Whakatāne.

Cost: Free A kid-focused interactive tour of the dynamic, exciting and sometimes confusing world of contemporary art.

SATURDAY 21 MARCH

TAIKO DRUMMING 6.30 pm. Liberty Centre. Gold coin donation Experience Taiko drumming at it’s best. The night will include a performance from your local drumming group, Kagutai. WaiTaiko from Hamilton and a performance from a professional drummer, Kenji Furutate from Japan. This is a unique cultural experience and one not to be missed.

MMCA 3D TALK 11am. Te Kōputu Exhibition Centre, Whakatāne.

Cost: Free Deborah Rundle 2018 3D Award major winner and preselection judge 2020. Deborah will share her views of the present Molly Morpeth Canaday Award 3D exhibition as a preselection judge.

SUNDAY 26 APRIL

AROHA STRING QUARTET 4pm. Church of St George & St John.

Gold Coin Donation Founded in 2004, this versatile Wellington-based quartet is known for its passionate musicality, impressive technique, and multicultural innovation.

It is committed to presenting string quartet works from western classical and avant-garde repertoire to traditional Chinese folk music. Hosted by Music Whakatāne.

“A new generation of talent already snapping at the heels of established acts.”

ARTS ON TOUR NEW ZEALAND

PRESENTS the ULTIMATE

family-friendly Show!

Image from 2020 3D award Art work entry by Monique Lacey

2020 Molly Morpeth Canaday Award 3D exhibition

Open for viewing 16 February - 12 April 2020

public programmes

11am Saturday 21 March Gallery Talk - The art of looking, Sarah Hudson.

11am Saturday 4 April Gallery Talk - Deborah Rundle, past major winner 2018 MMCA 3D Award and Pre-selection judge 2020.

March 24 - Peoples Choice Award Announcement

location

te kōputu a te whanga a toi – whakatāne exhibition centre, kakahoroa drive, whakatāne event information www.mollymorpethcanaday.co.nz

FRIDAY 20 MARCH 5:30PM & 7:30PM WHAKATANE GATEWAY THEATRE

Adults $20; Family 30; Concessions $15 Book: The Good Life, The Strand, Whakatane

Image: Boyd Anderson

Keeping it real WORDS BOB SACAMANO IMAGES SUPPLIED

They came, they saw and now they’re conquering all. From playing underage in East Coast pubs to headlining international stages, the full-on groove machine that has become L.A.B have come a long, long way, and we have the sneaky feeling that they’re just getting started. These boys from the Bay have done good.

In three years, L.A.B have released three stand out albums, toured to sell out shows up and down Aotearoa, and pretty much established themselves as the soundtrack to our lives. Last year alone they played to over 200,000 people, won the Radio New Zealand people’s choice award for best live act, and received rave reviews both here and across the Tasman. They’re so good that the Aussies will be claiming them any day now.

56

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

Good luck with that Cobber, because L.A.B – the name, apparently, doesn’t really mean anything except as a reference to a laboratory – are about as Kiwi as it gets. The band was formed by drummer and producer Brad Kora of much-loved dub/electronic outfit Kora together with brother Stu (also of Kora), Papamoa boy Joel Shadbolt (of Batucada Sound Machine), former Katchafire bassist Ara Adams-Tamatea and keyboardist Miharo Gregory. Each successful in their own rights, the joining of their forces has created something much greater than the sum of the parts. Their latest album – the creatively titled L.A.B III – was recorded at coproducer Lee Prebble’s (of Fly My Pretties and Black Seeds fame) home studio, The Surgery, in Wellington throughout 2019. The band were living, eating and sleeping in the studio for week-long stints, working around the clock, and the result is a tour de force that captures the sound of a band alive and in full flight.

There are plenty of ‘70s influences, as well as Isley Brothers, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, the Police and reggae standards, guitar riffs, strings, horns, soulful piano and knockout vocals. L.A.B. III defies gravity in places and is gob-smackingly good. It’s hard to believe it’s three in a row in just three years.

playing, we were rehearsing, mostly up to six hours a day. Dad was a hard taskmaster, if we stuffed up, we’d get a whack with a ruler. Out of that I think we all became perfectionists!

And possibly also became tarred with the taskmaster brush; at least that’s what quite a few musicians we’ve tried to work with say!”

The last time Plenty caught up with Brad Kora was about three years ago and L.A.B. was just starting out. Even in those days it was easy to see where the work ethic and focus that would be needed to propel L.A.B. skywards had come from however: together with Dad Tait Kora and at least one of his brothers, the family band would be gigging virtually non-stop around the eastern Bay of Plenty.

At school the brothers formed the eclectically titled Aunty Beatrice and, with the help of Whakatāne High School music teacher Tom Bayliss, won the Smokefree Rockquest with Mince Pie, a song they’d written about hanging out during lunch hour and sharing, naturally, a few pies. Aunty Beatrice went on to win the Battle of the Bands three years running, but one of the more little-known facts about the Kora brothers is their success as jazz musicians. “Every year we [the school] entered a band into the New Zealand secondary school’s jazz competition,” Tom Bayliss says.

“We’d usually play Ōpōtiki on Wednesday and Thursday nights and Whakatāne on Friday and Saturday nights,” Brad recalls. “If we weren’t

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

57

“I had these incredibly talented brothers and suggested they enter a small jazz combo. And with the help of an exceptional lady called Merenia Gillies, we did just that. Merenia had the boys coming in early in the morning and practicing for hours, she really cracked the whip with them.”

With another task master standing over them, and only weeks before winning the Rockquest, the Kora brother’s small jazz combo was crowned the best in all New Zealand’s high schools – no mean feat for a band of brothers who you might say didn’t exactly embrace jazz to their hearts.

Kora came to be in 2002 when fellow Kora brothers Laughton and Fran were both Wellington-based at Toi Whakaari, broke students studying theatre and dance, and playing in restaurants for free food. An offer of a gig resulted in the throwing-together of a band and Kora’s first live performance was the One Love Festival in front of 11,000 people – fitting, given that L.A.B recently headlined the same festival to an even bigger crowd.

58

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

Then, in 2013 Laughton and Brad left the band, and that’s about when things get really confusing. Laughton can be seen on the big and small screen, directs theatre and is also a part of Kora. Brad runs a gym in Whakatāne and is part of L.A.B with Stu Kora, who is also in Kora, and Fran Kora is one of four in the Modern Māori Quartet, as well as a part of Kora, and Laughton and Fran are in the Marley Reggae All Stars. It’s simple really.

This cup of overflowing extra-curricular commitments forced both Kora and L.A.B onto the backburner, but soon the brothers individually, and in unison, did some goalsetting, and for Brad and Stu it was L.A.B. The rest as they say, is history, except for L.A.B. this is clearly early days. Already back in the studio and already preparing for another round of touring, the hardest working band in the country are showing absolutely no signs of easing up. It’s peddle to the metal for 2020 just like it was for 2019.

Whatever happens, you can expect continued crazy busy but good times for the Kora side of the band, known locally as “Wairakians” – a play on their roots in the Whakatāne suburb of Wairaka. And don’t expect the dizzying heights of international stardom to go to the heads of these guys.

“That’s the best part about being from Whakatāne. Doesn’t matter where you go in the world and with who.

Come home and nobody gives a shit,” Brad laughs.

“It keeps things real.”

You can expect continued crazy busy but good times for the Kora side of the band, known locally as “Wairakians”.

Great casual dining atmosphere, awesome cocktails and perfect for large groups or parties

The Bay’s most authentic Mexican cuisine

19 POHUTUKAWA AVE, OHOPE BEACH 07 312 6122 HELLO@CADERA.CO.NZ

CADERA.OHOPE

TUESDAY - FRIDAY: 4PM TILL LATE SATURDAY - SUNDAY: 11AM TILL LATE

Battle in the Dunes WORDS WHARE AKUHATA /// PHOTOGRAPHY ANDY TAYLOR The drive along the Matatā Straits between Whakatāne and Te Puke is about as Kiwi as it gets. Pōhutukawa and toi toi-clad sandstone cliffs on one side, rolling dunes and the big blue ocean on the other. On a good day it’s a postcard of peace and solitude.

What many motorists travelling the straights don’t know is that those dunes were the scene of one of the most brutal conflicts to take place in the Bay of Plenty.

This was the 1864 Battle of Kaokaoroa; it was fought between iwi supporting or opposing the British and, because it occurred just a day before the fateful battle at Gate Pā (Pukehinahina), it remains largely forgotten. Whare Akuhata, whose ancestors fought in the battle – and whose tūpuna Henare Taratoa played a key role at Gate Pā – looks back on the bloody battle of the dunes.

Maketū, as seen from the site of the redoubt besieged in 1864.

60

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

T

HAT THE BATTLE OF KAOKAOROA was overshadowed by Gate Pā in its immediate aftermath is perhaps understandable, given that the latter involved the defeat of colonial troops and was on the doorstep of Tauranga. But why it remains in the shadows today is a mystery. Māori have always remembered the importance of conflicts that, according to historian Vincent O’Malley, have profoundly shaped the course and direction of our history; rather than the battles of the First World War, he notes, the New Zealand Wars is the defining conflict in our history. But for the majority of New Zealanders, most of these defining battles are just place names, or are completely unknown.

The battle of Kaokaoroa is a perfect example, both of how selective our history is but also of the complexity of the New Zealand Wars as a whole. This was one of the biggest battles fought in the Bay of Plenty, it was quite possibly pivotal to deciding the outcome of the British strategy in the central North Island, and – most surprising of all – the combatants on both sides were almost entirely Māori.

On the one hand Te Arawa (from the Rotorua Lakes area) supported the colonial forces, while on the other side was an East Coast contingent

that numbered some 800 toa (warriors) from Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau ā Apanui, Ngāti Awa and Tūhoe.

The East Coast contingent’s aim was to assist the Māori King in fighting the colonial forces that were invading the Waikato; to do this they needed to pass through Te Arawa territory and join the Kingite forces assembling in the Waikato. Te Arawa were conflicted in that they knew that if they let this East Coast force through to the Waikato then they could be seen as aiding anti-government forces and have their lands confiscated. The previous year, and ahead of the planned invasion of the Waikato, the Crown had enacted the New Zealand Settlements Act that provided for the confiscation of land from those tribes who were in what it termed “rebellion” against the Crown. More than 1.2 million hectares of land was confiscated throughout the country, most of it in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and East Coast/Hawkes Bay. To avoid further confiscation therefore, Te Arawa had good reason to side with the Crown, but it is worth noting that it was also a chance to settle some old scores with neighbouring iwi, particularly Ngāti Awa. To confuse matters even more, some hapū of Te Arawa chose a different allegiance, siding with the Waikato iwi in their struggle against the Crown. It was, to put it mildly, a very complex situation.

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

61

The battle of Kaokaoroa is a perfect example, both of how selective our history is but also of the complexity of the New Zealand Wars as a whole.

T

ŪHOE AND NGĀTI WHARE from Te Urewera had already skirted Te Arawa’s rohe and made it through to Waikato, where they played a significant role at the Battle of Ōrakau. Other iwi had travelled to the Waikato via Tauranga, and this route was the principle reason the colonial forces established a base there – to block any further reinforcements from taking part in the coming battle – but for Tauranga Māori the force represented the clear and present danger of land confiscation.

The East Coast contingent initially tried to skirt Tauranga by forcing their way through Te Arawa territory via the lakes. On 7 March they met Te Arawa forces at Lake Rotoiti and skirmishes were fought at Tapuaeharuru, at the eastern end of the lake, and on Taurua, the hills above. After three days of fighting, the East Coast contingent fell back towards Matatā, but it had been a close run thing. Both sides had suffered equal losses, but foremost among the fallen was Apanui, a high chief from the East Coast. He fell at Te Tu-arai, the wooded headland just to the eastward of ‘Emery’s house’, the home of an early settler still remembered today by Emery’s Store overlooking the lake.

It was not long before the East Coasters were once more on the move. On 21 April they approached Maketū, where government forces had established a redoubt, and fighting soon broke out, with the redoubt making good use of two field guns that had been brought up. After several days a standoff developed, with the attackers dug in about a mile east of Maketū and clearly preparing for an assault on the defenders. But on 26 April the warship HMS Falcon and the gunboat Sandfl arrived and the course of the conflict changed dramatically; the two ships began a bombardment of the East Coast iwi who, lacking artillery, were helpless to respond to. A 300-strong Te Arawa reinforcement group had also arrived and the combined forces were too strong for the East Coasters, who withdrew along the coast under harassing – but at times surprisingly accurate – fire from the Falcon and Sandfly and pursued by the Te Arawa f rces and some colonial troops.

The idyllic outfall of the Pikowai Stream, scene of the East Coast contingent’s bloody last stand.

62

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

On 28 April they found themselves at the western end of the Matatā straights, Ōtamarākau; the long sandy beach that stretches back eastwards is called Kaokaoroa – ‘the long rib’ – and it was there that the two forces began to play out the final and fateful last stages of the conflict The Falcon and Sandfly had now withdrawn, so the ensuing battle was to be fought at close range, with muskets, flintlocks and double and single barrelled shotguns. It raged over the sand hills and kūmara plantations between the sea and the high sandstone cliffs, and while both sides fought fiercely it soon became clear that the East Coast forces were losing ground.

They made a stand near the Pikowhai (or Puakowhai) stream just west of Matatā. The principal Arawa chiefs engaging them, beside the energetic Pokiha Taranui, were the old warrior Tohi te Ururangi, Matene te Auheke, Te Waata Taranui, Te Mapu, Rota Rangihoro, Henare te Pukuatua, Te Araki te Pohu, Te Kohai Tarahina, Paora Pahupahu, and Kepa te Rangipuawhe, men who represented all sections of the Arawa people. On the East Coast side an estimated 400 men boldly held their fire and then unleashed a fearsome volley designed to decimate the advancing Te Arawa warriors. Remarkably, it had little effect – the Te Arawa line surged on The fighting was furious, with further musket volleys exchanged before the two sides met hand to hand. Little quarter was given, and while Te Arawa were triumphant, the fighting didn’t go all their way; they lost one of their most significant rangatira, Tohi Te Ururangi, who was mortally wounded on the battlefield. In revenge his widow shot and killed Te Āporotanga, a Te Whakatōhea rangatira who had been taken prisoner.

It was an act of utu that was bitterly resented and that would have repercussions later in Ōpōtiki.

The East Coast contingent carried out a gallant fighting retreat to the estuary at Matatā, but the writing was on the wall. They had left waka near there while on the advance, and though some managed to escape in these along the Orini River that ran parallel with the coast and connected the Awaa-te-Atua with Whakatāne, others were not so lucky; they tried to escape inland, but were pursued and killed as they climbed the sandstone cliffs The two-day battle had devastated the East Coast contingent and it soon broke up as the various iwi within it drifted homewards. It was a stunning victory for Te Arawa, so much so that even Governor Grey chose to comment, praising Te Arawa and noting that 53 dead from the East Coast contingent had been left on the battlefield, as opposed to just one casualty for Te Arawa.

This was one of the biggest battles fought in the Bay of Plenty, it was quite possibly pivotal to deciding the outcome of the British strategy in the central North Island.

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // M A R C H 2 0 2 0

63

An accurate tally of losses will never be known, but Grey’s comment is interesting in that it was perhaps the first admission of the vital role the Crown’s iwi allies would play in the war.

It was also probably the only recognition the battle at Kaokaoroa ever received. On the following day, 700 Imperial Army troops, with a further 1000 in reserve, attempted to storm Gate Pā – only to be resoundingly defeated by a force of just 225 Tauranga and Kingite Māori. The humbling of Crown troops by such a small force was considered a much more ‘newsworthy’ event at the time, and Gate Pā remains one of the best known – if not fully understood – battles of the New Zealand Wars (See Plenty 15).

If the East Coast contingent had broken through the resulting battle or battles may have been even more newsworthy. In the days before electronic communications the unexpected arrival of the East Coasters in the Western Bay would have been a very unwelcome development for an Imperial Army licking its wounds in the aftermath of Gate Pā. Similarly, if they had reached the Waikato, the events that played out in the following months of 1864 could have been very different indeed.

T

HE DEAD OF KAOKAOROA were buried close to the Awatarariki Stream, near Matatā. It is a watercourse prone to flooding and on several occasions these floods have given up the dead. As recently as 2015 human remains – including two skulls – were discovered following flooding; poignant reminders that Kaokaoroa is not ready to be forgotten completely.

On the East Coast side an estimated 400 men boldly held their fire and th n unleashed a fearsome volley designed to decimate... Ōtamarākau (looking west) where the fighting retreat played out in the dunes.

64

P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // P O U T Ū - T E - R A N G I 2 0 2 0

Share the road with care