PONSONBY NEWS - MARCH' 24

HI PONSONBY…

Finished. Ready to move in. Seeking the last 21 members of The Greenhouse community.

Nearly seven years have elapsed since we purchased the site on Willamson Avenue and Pollen Street with an ambitious vision to express an Aotearoa aesthetic. Auckland’s amazing landscape – notably our glorious, imposing Waitakere Ranges bejewelled with their unique black sand beaches –was our design inspiration.

Our hope was to create a landmark building for Tāmaki Makaurau, one that would be embraced by its citizens. A building that people would stop on the street to gaze at; would capture different moods of the city at dawn or dusk; would be a thing of beauty in the glare of the March sun or the gloom of deep grey wintercdf and only grow lovelier with age. It had to be original and timeless, simultaneously anti-contemporary and classic – a tough, some said impossible, ask.

The Greenhouse blossoms with singular features: a shimmering façade comprising of 150,000 iridescent, green-glazed, handmade bricks from Italy’s Sant Anselmo, meticulously detailed interiors, quality and attention to detail reminiscent of beloved Auckland buildings. There is even a luxurious, woodpanelled, first-floor residents’ lounge and dining room that captures the evening sun and oozes 1920s opulence.

We think we have done what we set out to do and we hope Aucklanders agree. For me, as a builder of 28 years, who started out doing spec houses with my brother Carl and has specialised in central Auckland apartment building since, founding Ockham with my best mate Benjamin Preston in the madness of the GFC, it’s been the project of a lifetime.

It has been an honour to dream, design, consent, market, and construct this building entirely in-house alongside my incredibly talented and dedicated Ockham colleagues.

The term ‘passion project’ is so overused that it’s nearly bloodless, but to have (at the time of writing) 750 RSVPs to our open day on the last weekend of February – that people around the neighbourhood like what they see enough to want to pop in – is as big a validation as we could hope for.

I am exceptionally proud that the Ockham team has delivered The Greenhouse through the toughest construction environment I have seen. Together, we got through a pandemic with hard lockdowns, shortages of you-name-it, the worst construction inflation in a quarter century, and throughout 2023, rain of biblical proportions. Any developer or house-builder finishing a large property in Auckland in early 2024 has probably been in Sisyphean combat with a rock for several years and has finally, breathlessly pushed it to the top of the hill, only to see there’s a steeper hill just ahead – but we carry on.

The largest apartments at The Greenhouse are sold, with people moving in from early March, and we are looking for the last 21 people to join our community in what we think is Auckland’s most irresistible suburb. There is a variety of corner two bedrooms (northwest facing), one bedroom plus study (northwest facing), and studios (east facing and west facing), priced from $790k through to $1.725m.

Some of our residents wanted a new place in the centre of the action, some are downsizing from family homes in fartherflung suburbs, others were after a no-maintenance Auckland bolthole. Whatever your reason, The Greenhouse will always be a building you’ll be proud to call home.

Mark Todd, Founder and head of acquisition and conception Ockham Residential

MEET THE GOODWINS. NOT JUST ANOTHER

FAMILY IN REAL ESTATE

In the vibrant tapestry of Auckland's real estate market, we believe there is another family name to consider – Goodwin, synonymous with excellence in real estate for four generations in Auckland.

The current generation is guided by the vision and legacy of founder Ashley Goodwin. With an illustrious career spanning more than 50 years in the industry, Ashley's leadership propelled Goodwin Realty's sales team to the coveted rank of #1 in New Zealand an impressive 13 times under a national franchise. With Catherine Goodwin, the oldest of four children, at the helm in 2011, Goodwins made a strategic decision to specialise in property management, emerging as an independent agency.

Over the ensuing 12 years, Goodwins unwavering commitment saw them entrusted with managing over NZ$1.5 billion in property value across Auckland. As the years passed, their expertise in property management grew in tandem with their dedication to provide unparalleled service to their clients.

Reflecting specifically on their involvement in Ponsonby and neighbouring suburbs, in 2018 Goodwins became the exclusive accommodation partner for American Magic in the

36th America's Cup to be held in Auckland in 2021. They went on to assist INEOS TEAM UK and Prada The Challenger of Record, meeting many local residents in the lead up to the event. Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Goodwin's' dedication remained steadfast and while the event was diminished, lasting relationships were forged and the facilitation of significant opportunities for their clients achieved.

One such recent opportunity arose from a relationship developed during the lead up to the America's Cup, which ended in an off-market sale of a charming property in Melford Street, St Marys Bay.

Fast forward to 2022, Goodwins decide to embark on another transformative journey, integrating their property management acumen with their extensive sales expertise to form a full-service agency dedicated to meeting all clients' property investment and sales needs. Goodwin's evolution reflects their enduring commitment to excellence and innovation in the ever-changing real estate landscape.

In this tradition, Goodwins are now honoured to be the property partner for Kea, the global network of Kiwis and their businesses (keanewzealand.com). Kea is a community dedicated to nurturing connections and supporting Kiwi expats worldwide. Kea CEO Toni Truslove said Goodwins will be trusted advisors and offer quality service to the Kea community. “Advice on the ever-changing property market is something that our community are often searching for. Goodwins is a family owned firm which prides itself on providing support for Kiwi moving offshore who want to rent

their homes and returning Kiwi looking for rental or permanent accommodation in the Auckland area.”

Through Goodwin's collaboration with Kea, they aim to provide valuable insights and support to the expat community, further extending their commitment to Kiwis all over the globe, not just those living in Auckland.

While accolades are not Goodwin's primary focus, they’re proud of the recognition their team members have received. Brendan Goodwin, now leading the sales team, has been consistently recognised for his commitment to excellence, winning consecutively at the REINZ awards for Business Development Manager of the Year in 2019 and 2020 and earning finalist recognition for the REINZ Residential Salesperson of the Year – Rising Star awards 2023.

At the heart of Goodwins is family, a family which is not defined by your last name. It’s a team of 24, including Catherine, Dave, Brendan, Aleina and Sophia (all pictured on the front cover). This team is dedicated individuals working together to enable the lifestyles of our people, our clients, and our community, driven by their passion for service and integrity.

Contact Brendan Goodwin for any of your real estate requirements.

M: 021 278 7770

E: brendan@goodwins.co.nz

W: goodwins.co.nz

T: 0800 GOODWINS

004 COVER STORY: MEET THE

010 LETTERS & EMAILS

011 FROM THE EDITOR

012 DAVID HARTNELL: ONE MINUTE INTERVIEW

013 CHLÖE SWARBRICK: MP AUCKLAND CENTRAL

016 HERNE BAY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

020 HELENE RAVLICH: APARTMENT LIVING

031 GAEL BALDOCK

036 AUCKLAND RAINBOW PARADE

040 MIKE LEE: AUCKLAND COUNCILLOR

041 PUNEET OF PONSONBY

043 MELISSA LEE

044 LISA PRAGER

045 HELEN WHITE: MP FOR MT ALBERT

046 DESLEY SIMPSON: DEPUTY MAYOR OF AUCKLAND

047 WAYNE BROWN: MAYOR OF AUCKLAND

052 PONSONBY PARK

056 EAT, DRINK + BE MERRY

060 FACES AT GREY LYNN FARMERS MARKET

063 FASHION & STYLE

065 LIVING, THINKING & BEING

069 PONSONBY PROFESSIONALS

070 ARTS & CULTURE

076 ROSS THORBY

078

PONSONBY NEWS is published monthly, excluding January by: ALCHEMY MEDIA LIMITED, P.O. BOX 47-282 Ponsonby, Auckland 1144, T: 09 378 8553, www.ponsonbynews.co.nz

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Auckland Rainbow Parade - 17/02/24 Mahesh Muralidhar and Sarah Trotman are pictured enjoying the parade.

Find your top spot

Whether it’s a brand new architectural feature like 56 Pollen St, or a classic character refurb, we’ve got special spaces to suit all kinds of businesses.

Retail and Office spaces available for lease now:

PH 09 522 0039

BLAIR HADDOW

Blair Haddow

021 544 555

blair.haddow@bayleys.co.nz bayleys.co.nz/blair-haddow

BAYLEYS REAL ESTATE LIMITED, PONSONBY, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

Herne Bay 4 Masefield Avenue

Auction: 2pm, Wednesday 6th March 2024

Mt Eden 92A Marsden Avenue Auction: 2pm, Wednesday 6th March 2024

Grey Lynn 34 Dryden Street

Auction: 2pm, Wednesday 13th March

Ponsonby 2 Wanganui Avenue Price by negotiation

Working alongside top-ranking Bayleys agent, Blair Haddow, over the past year, Keenin has learned on the job the art of establishing enduring relationships and managing the sales of some of Auckland’s most exceptional properties.

Keenin is quick to recognise the importance of market knowledge and exceptional professionalism and how to ensure clients are delivered a first-class real estate experience and deliver consistently outstanding results.

Working as a buyers advocate, Keenin is results driven in achieving the best outcome for each and every client. Exceeding expectations is the reason Keenin is in demand from both buyers and vendors. Working behind the scenes to ensure a seamless and stress-free experience for his clientele.

Keenin

027 301 6400

keenin.whitcher@bayleys.co.nz

WLB GOOD CITIZENS AWARDS 2023

The Waitematā Local Board’s Good Citizens Awards 2023 have just been announced and we have to say that we find it quite unbelievable that despite 20 nominations Gael Baldock has been denied an award – in fact it’s disgraceful!

Gael is a tireless and committed community worker and advocate in our Waitemata local area, giving her time freely, and only ever wants the best for our community – we would be much the poorer without her.

Gael is a no-nonsense straight shooter, and even though she is fiercely independent, the decision to deny Gael an award smells of political bias and fragile egos.

You must wonder what the criteria is to be worthy of receiving an Award – if Gael doesn’t reach the criteria, then who else would?

Michael

& Kathryn Avenell

CYCLEWAYS, FOOTPATHS, RAISED CROSSINGS AND AT’S SAFETY MEASURES

Footpath repair and maintenance should be Auckland Transport’s number one concern. Everybody becomes a pedestrian once they get off of or out of each mode of transport. AT could more directly address people's safety by prioritising pedestrians and topping the list with 25% of the population who are mobility impaired, if they separated the very different needs of those walking from those cycling. As Olga George pointed out, even the Ponsonby News editor and Simon Bridges have been injured by uneven pavements.

The Pt Chevalier to Westmere cycleway is likely to back up traffic through the Westmere shops if the Garnet Road / Meola Road roundabout is reduced to single lanes. Currently traffic flows by splitting those going to Grey Lynn from the commuters travelling to the Western Motorway via Meola Road that only cause congestion at peak hours.

AT’s sensible ‘dig once’ policy could be used to increase offstreet parking for Meola Road dog walkers, as endorsed by Mayor Wayne Brown when he asked Councillor Mike Lee to take Gael Baldock’s design to the Auckland Transport Board. As an engineer, the Mayor estimated the cost at “somewhere around $180,000. This is a guesstimate based on $180/sq m of asphalt at the going rate.”

issuu.com/ponsonbynews/docs/ponsonby_news_ july_22_website/12

Surely combining dogwalkers' carparks with road maintenance and these new works would reduce disruption, address community concerns and give better value for money whilst reducing harm for people crossing this busy road with dogs anxious to run?

AT approved the design for the Great North Road cycleway without sufficient funds and $400m Annual Budget shortfall. Motorists already have to stop and do ‘hill starts’ to turn into the Great North Road ridge from Nixon, Maidstone, Pollen, Mackelvie, Scanlan, Sussex, Turakina, Ariki, Beaconsfield, Elgin, Harcourt and Northland streets while lights stop Bond Street traffic.

Surely a more pragmatic and cost-effective-way to introduce 'safety related improvements' would be removing speed humps in these side roads that could save at least $2.5m?

Strong community and local board support can only be known by consultation that reaches the users of that particular project. Assessment that works are actually needed must be backed by clear evidence of harm by statistics of DIS (death and injury statistics). Concerned members of the community have sought official information that has shown many projects (eg, Three Lamps project) are not based on evidence of DIS. We can not reduce harm if it isn’t there in the first place.

Gael Baldock, Community Advocate

KARANGAHAPE ROAD VIBRANT AND CONVENIENT FOR ALL

I have operated a business on Karangahape Road for 28 years and would like to see our street parking remain permanently.

Following on from AT’s latest blunder where they attempted to replace our street parking with bus lanes secretly overnight, thinking we wouldn't notice!

There was no communication with the businesses. Unfortunately for AT’s agenda, many of our customers, couriers and other trade operators can’t use buses or bicycles.

It seems to me that someone has a vested interest in diverting customers away from the central areas. Indeed what was AT thinking in a campaign running a Black Friday free buses to the malls?

My message to AT from Auckland's longest-running vintage store is, “leave our parking alone!”

Also, how about replacing the public toilets removed from Pitt Street for the city rail construction? An acceptable replacement was promised over a year ago. Not a great look for a world-class tourist destination.

We survived Covid disruptions and the carnage on our street with two years of bike lane construction, how about we get to keep the essential basic convenience of street parking?

Allison Rothville, Owner Vixen Vintage Boutique, Karangahape Road

AT HAVE GONE COMPLETELY BONKERS!

I totally agree with Roger Hawkins’ letter to the editor in the last issue – AT have gone completely bonkers!

The work done in Three Lamps raising the pedestrian crossings when no one ever could get over 20km max driving through, and putting the bus stop out cutting off a lane doesn’t make sense? A waste of ratepayers' money once again.

This is as nutty as the off ramp from the North Western Motorway at Newton Road.

I thought the new Mayor, Wayne Brown, was going to stop all this wasteful use of our rates?

Thanks goodness we have people like Gael Baldock questioning and bringing so many issues to our attention, that might slip quietly between the cracks.

We, the Auckland Central ratepayers, need to stand up to these ideologists. I am curious to know where they come from?

Michele Wade, Herne Bay

Meet the Goodwins is our cover story this issue. What a month it’s been and during February, (17th) Ponsonby Road was packed for the annual Auckland Rainbow Parade. Celebrating diversity, this event brings big crowds to our strip and everyone always has a good time.

With 6 letters to the editor, locals like myself, will be very disappointed and disgusted with the Waitematā Local Board’s decision to not give community advocate Gael Baldock a Good Citizens' Award. Gael received 20, yes, you read that right, 20 nominations. For all the hard unpaid work she does she certainly deserves better. I will never waste my time again applying after this. There are other ways to acknowledge outstanding Aucklanders like Gael.

We send our thoughts to the Greens following the sudden and unexpected death of Efeso Collins. He was a young man with a big political career ahead and his passing is a huge loss to the country.

This issue, Helene Ravlich has been exploring the beauty of apartment living.

A way of life around the world for many years now, apartment living offers lifestyle and location-plus in some of Auckland’s most in-demand destinations. And despite many Kiwis still determined to secure their own patch of land, more and more are choosing to opt for apartment life for a myriad of reasons.

As our population grows, and urban land becomes progressively scarce, apartment living is an increasingly smart choice for all stages of life. In Spain, 65 percent of the population live in apartments, with

LET’S TALK ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY

In the latest issue of Ponsonby News (February 2024), our Auckland Central MP is quoted as saying, “Let’s talk about our community.”

So, let’s talk about safety.

Our community is feeling unsafe due to the increasing anti-social and criminal behaviour flourishing in the post-covid years.

A recent home invasion in a side street off Karangahape Road, resulted in both residents being hospitalised. One of whom jumped off his third-storey balcony fearing for his life, after having had a gun pointed at his head. He is still in hospital with two broken legs. Two days after the event, the offenders were back on the street terrorising residents in the neighbouring property who were barricaded in for 24 hours fearing the worst.

This example appears to be the tip of the iceberg. The area is plagued with ongoing anti-social issues and criminal behaviour such as:

(1) openly drug dealing undeterred in broad daylight.

(2) openly using methamphetamine.

(3) being a public nuisance.

This would have to be the largest breakdown in law and order that the country has ever seen.

2024 is seeing the return of cruise ships to the Ports of Auckland. It appears that the glossy brochures and publicity for Ponsonby and Karangahape Road sadly do not match the reality.

The community is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Police as it appears that criminals have the upper hand without consequence. The community is also disillusioned with the

Jay Platt and Martin Leach

Switzerland, Germany, Greece and Italy close behind. Europeans have embraced vertical living for centuries, and there are plenty of compelling arguments for Kiwis to do the same.

Just remember to always do your due diligence before commiting to buy.

Last month, deer milk lattes (Bambi-Chino’s) were being served up to pooches at iconic Ponsonby café, Bambina. Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more milk offerings, these were served not to their human customers but to their doggie regulars!

We know there needed to be change but we can’t wait until Meola Road reopens – if it ever will!

Regular readers know we are strong believers in freedom of speech and we LOVE getting Letters to the Editor - we print as many as we have room for so please keep them coming.

DIARY DATE: 9-10 March. Pasifika is on once again in Western Springs. Will we see you there? (JAY PLATT & MARTIN LEACH)

Auckland City Council which seems to have its head in the sand regarding community safety.

We would like to know how our local MP intends to help resolve these issues to restore safety in the Ponsonby and Karangahape Road precinct.

Alwyn Jones

KIA ORA E TE WHĀNAU, TĒNĀ KOE ALWYN, Everyone should be and feel safe. It’s as simple as that. The circumstances of Alwyn’s initial letter are grave and awful and are being urgently addressed.

I am grateful, as always, when a community member reaches out directly with their concerns so that I can be across the detail, immediately engaged and accountable to resolving it. I can let our community know that we are actively working with a group of residents and businesses, Police, Community Patrols NZ, Auckland City Mission, Council, the Mayor’s Office, Kainga Ora, Auckland Transport and the new Minister of Housing on a coordinated plan to get to the root of these issues and solve them.

One of the core concerns I have heard is the fragmentation of responsible agencies and departments, as well as the lack of transparency and accessibility of communications on what’s actually happening to resolve these problems. We are presently coordinating a monthly meeting with all concerned with measurable actions and updates as a constant reflection on progress.

I continue to invite any and all members of our community to reach out whenever they need support.

Ngā mihi nui, Chlöe Swarbrick, Your Auckland Central MP

Photography: Connor Crawford

DAVID HARTNELL: ONE MINUTE INTERVIEW WITH CLARE THOMPSON

Clare Thompson was a former teacher who has built her business brick by brick, and her educational Brick Pit is quite the hit.

Tell us about your art teacher days?

I loved my work as art teacher at Westmere School. The community has changed so much, I wanted a concept that enabled people to think outside the square in 3D, not just one dimensional.

How has Lego changed your life?

I didn’t play with Lego until I was 40. My children taught me how to play, how to engage, enjoy and build. They are my inspiration for creativity.

What is The Brick Pit New Zealand?

We offer creative team-building events with Lego – it’s all about collaboration, creativity, problem solving, relationship building, competitiveness, engaging team members and most of all serious fun.

What do you like the most about Ponsonby?

I spent the first 25 years of my life there. I grew up playing pool and hanging out at the Leys and later at the Gluepot. My mother worked at the takeaway next to the Gluepot and Friday nights were my favourite. We were allowed a chocolate milkshake.

How did you survive the pandemic?

Growing nikau trees from seeds, loving and annoying my children.

What was your childhood like?

Tole Street Park was an extension of our back garden, Pt Erin in summer, bike rides and running in and out of everyone’s houses (no one ever locked their doors). The neighbourhood was full of ‘the hippies, artists, gays, Islanders and everyone else in between. We were rough and tumble. We never wore shoes.

I will die happy if?

I’d have a cup of coffee on my death bed for the first time in my life. I am hoping that it might kick start me again!

Dream holiday internationally?

Spain. I’ve been there so many times I have lost count. Drinking red wine and eating Spanish chorizo. I blend in as long as I don’t talk with my twangy Kiwi accent – it’s a total give away.

Most Kiwi thing about you?

Jandals, although I have just recently discovered Crocs. A good hat and a lavalava in summer away from the sun.

Best day of your life to-date?

There are many – buying a house at 20 and being broke for five years when all my friends were partying. Meeting my partner at 26 and our children 10 years later.

Last thing you bought that you regretted?

Cheap gin, although we used it for a gravlax instead and it was delicious.

See yourself in 10 years?

It really doesn’t matter to me as long as I have my children close.

If you were reincarnated, what would you be?

A cat. Mine has a wonderful life. He has ADHD.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

That people judge me before they know me. And that I don’t really look like Selma Hayek.

How would you like to be remembered?

That I was generous with my family and close friends.

What do you love most about your age?

That I am still learning every day. I just learned from my daughter what an RTD means.

Something that you really disapprove of?

That people have stereotypes of who you are as a person. I don’t fit into stereotypical boxes, which I really love.

Biggest disappointment?

That I didn’t buy my family house in Ponsonby Terrace. I had the opportunity but couldn’t convince my parents. I bought a house in Grey Lynn at 20, which seemed like a rebound and I still own it today.

Ever seen a ghost?

Plenty – I grew up in the church. We had a ghost in our house and out the back garden that always came out on All Saints Day. We just learned to live with it.

How do you chill out?

We have spent 28 years developing our garden from a rubbish tip (I am not joking), car batteries, bottles, privet trees to a beautiful native garden that is almost completely private. Now we overlook the garden, good gin in hand.

(DAVID HARTNELL, MNZM)  PN

www.thebrickpit.co.nz

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: Auckland Central MP

We were sitting in the Parliamentary debating chamber on the evening of Tuesday 20 February under urgency as the Government rammed through laws without public input or scrutiny.

New Green MP, former Auckland mayoral candidate and gentle giant Efeso Collins sat between Te Pāti Māori CoLeader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and I as we talked about the truncated select committee process and I apologised to ‘Fes as I accidentally blasphemed. He laughed his disarming, inviting, trademark laugh.

None of us ever could have guessed that the next morning he would pass away while carrying water buckets to fundraise for clean, safe drinking water for kids in the Pacific. He left us as he lived, embodying values of care and humility and service.

I sat behind ‘Fes not even a week before as he delivered his maiden speech to our Parliament. Many have quoted from it in celebrating his uncanny ability to say what we were all thinking with such power, clarity, grace and eloquence. Nowhere was this more abundant than when he spoke of love and its ability to drive our collective capacity for change. Near the end of his maiden, ‘Fes laid out why he was here:

The American civil rights activist James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” We commit to working across this House as a nation and with each other irrespective of our postcode, income bracket, skin colour or level of qualification attained. But, in order for that work, we must come with humility, the desire to listen and, dare I say it, maybe speaking last. If I was to inspire anyone by getting to this House and

my work over the next three years, I hope that it’s the square pegs, the misfits, the forgotten, the unloved, the invisible – it’s the dreamers who want more, expect more, are impatient for change and have this uncanny ability to stretch us further."

Shocked grief rippled through our Parliament on Wednesday 21 February as party leaders across lines acknowledged a human being that represented the best of us. It was yet another showcase of how he left us the same way he lived: bringing people together, calmly, in reflection of our shared humanity.

Much more must be and will be said in the coming days and weeks and months about an astounding leader, orator, father, husband and friend.

I intend to honour Fa'anānā Efeso Collins’ legacy in continuing our collective, crucial work to unify and collaborate around a higher cause: for systems that serve people and our planet, instead of exploiting them. That means the tangibles ‘Fes never shied away from naming: a fairer tax system, ending poverty, secure housing, well-paid and respected social workers, climate resilience and policies that uphold and recognise our place in the Pacific.

I will miss my friend dearly, as I know many of our communities will, but we know his love and light lives on in each of us. Moe mai rā e te rangatira. (CHLÖE SWARBRICK)  PN

CHLÖE SWARBRICK, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick

Fa'anānā Efeso Collins delivers his maiden speech in Parliament in February

IT’S A TEAM EFFORT... WE COULDN’T DO IT WITHOUT OUR CONTRIBUTORS

CONNOR CRAWFORD

I am a working artist and photographer with a colourful and rhythmic perspective. I enjoy shooting the front covers of Ponsonby News.

DAVID HARTNELL - MNZM

For the last 53 years I’ve been a freelance entertainment journalist and author. I’ve lived in the Grey Lynn area for over three decades; I have met and interviewed some amazing people.

GAEL BALDOCK

We each follow our moral compass shaped by training. Mine is sculpting, architecture, sociology, anthropology and betterment of our shared world by community advocacy… and saving trees.

HELENE RAVLICH

A freelance writer and copywriter for almost 20 years, I have written for publications all over the world and couldn’t imagine myself in any other job.

KEN RING

My yearly NZ Weather Almanacs began in 1999. During the tragic 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, my work created international interest. I currently live in Ponsonby.

LISA PRAGER

A life long advocate for community issues, I am passionate about protecting and enhancing our natural environment and built heritage.

LUCY KENNEDY

I am a young local writer who loves to read! Each month you will find my reviews of new books for people who love to read as much as I do.

MIKE LEE

I am the councillor for Waitematā & Gulf. A former seafarer, former chair of the ARC, conservationist, PT advocate, and author. I have represented the Ponsonby area since 1992.

PHIL PARKER

Journalist and published author, I have had a career involving both wine writing and hosting boutique wine tours in the Auckland region.

PUNEET DHALL

I am an Aucklander of Indian origin, Punjabi and Sikh. I have a keen interest in food, wine and politics.

SARITA SOLVIG BLANKENBURG

I am a passionate Ayurveda practitioner based in Ponsonby for the last 15 years. Inspiring others to live a healthy and fulfilled life is my higher purpose.

ROSS THORBY - QSM

I have had a wanderlust for travel ever since I was old enough to own a passport. Since I discovered cruising, I have become unstoppable.

photography: Alex McVinnie

HERNE BAY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION SAYS…

The planned removal of resident parking space outside 16 Shelly Beach Road by Auckland Transport (AT) to make way for a 10 metre, short-term parking zone for a proposed 47-lot apartment building that doesn’t have carparks, is a bad precedent and should not have been approved.

Our Waitematā Local Board supported the decision of AT, even though there was intense opposition from residents and this association.

The decision to establish this 'parking zone' has now set a precedent for developers who build apartments or multi-unit developments without carparks. Can they now expect to get on-street parking zones for drop-off and pickups? In time, if they become the norm, these 'drop off zones' will replace the on-street parking to which residents are entitled and for which this association has fought hard to obtain.

The most recent Auckland Unitary Plan states that new developments must provide their own on-site resident and visitor parking. AT confirms that all new developments built after September 2013 are not eligible for parking permits and that has been rigidly enforced.

In an interesting move this month, the developer of 16 Shelly Beach Road, Williams Corporation, has indicated it will withdraw their 47-lot apartment development, and revert to building only 12 apartments, all of which have carparks. At the time of writing, this decision had not been relayed to AT.

Williams Corporation Managing Director, Matthew Horncastle, said whether the parking zone was implemented or not “consequently doesn’t matter” to his company now.

So, we ask, as Williams is not going ahead with their noncarpark development, will AT review the approved zone and withdraw it, or use it as a template for the future when other developers without off-street parking for vehicles in their developments come knocking on AT’s door?

Also, why did AT give approval to the new zone when a Resource Consent application to Auckland City by Williams

Corp to construct these new 47 cheap apartments without carparks had not been approved?

We have seen the parking zone approval document that was obtained from a traffic consultant working for Williams Corporation. As a result, we have formally written to Auckland Transport asking for it to relay to our association, any outcome from the Williams Corp application. We have done this on the basis it has huge implications for the parking permit agreement in place for Shelly Beach Road and other streets in our area.

The AT document, titled a Permanent Traffic and Parking Changes report, was dated December 15, 2023, and recommended to AT’s Traffic Control Committee that any vehicle could park in the new zone between 8am and 6pm Monday to Sunday. The new zone would come into effect immediately or “once traffic control devices…are installed.”

The AT staff report on the proposal said internal consultation within the organisation revealed most teams were supportive of the new zone or raised no objections to it. External consultation had been undertaken and there had been considerable opposition to the new 10-minute parking zone, mainly because it would block a space or spaces used by those with street parking permits.

In a recent article on this subject, HBRAI has pointed out that if all the developable properties in Herne Bay sought similar concessions from AT as the Williams request, then residents would lose 70% of their current parking.

For that reason, the association and its membership remained opposed to replacing any resident parking.  PN www.hernebay1011.nz

The development by Williams Corp in Shelly Beach Road that now has carparks on site.

LEYS LITTLE LIBRARY NEWS…

Kia ora Ponsonby. Wow, Pride was a fabulous time in our wonderful suburb.

For those of you who aren’t quite ready to give up the fabulousness of Pride, take some time to have a wander past the closed Leys Institute Library at 20 St Marys Road.

There you will find a photo exhibit of late 20th, early 21st Century Pride, including Parliament protests in the build up to homosexual law reform as well as images of the Hero Festival in Auckland and the Wellington Devotion Festival. Thanks to Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection and the National Library of New Zealand – Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa – for their help in gathering this snapshot of Queer life in Aotearoa.

With summer starting to depart, we are now back into our rhythm for the year. This means our regular programmes are once again up and running. If you are a parent, guardian or a grown-up who cares for a little one on a Wednesday, bring them along to one of our Wriggle and Rhyme sessions at either 10am or 11am at Ponsonby Baptist Church.

It a fun half-hour of music, movement, bubbles and joy. Don’t forget to pop by the Little Library before or after to replenish your supply of library books for you and your little one.

For our school-aged community (ages 10 and up) we have a regular Dungeons and Dragons group that meets every second Saturday 2pm-3:30pm (next meeting is Saturday 9 March). Beginners are most welcome, as of course are experienced players. So if you love, or want to learn how to fight elves, warlocks and giant beasts, join us at Leys for a campaign.

The craft-inclined in the community are most welcome to come along and check out our social knitting group on the third Tuesday of the month at 2pm (next meeting Tuesday 19 March). Meet other like-minded crafty folk, have a hot drink and share your latest project.

Those in the community with a literary interest may wish to check out our Shared Reading Group and our Book Chat. Shared Reading is the second Tuesday of the month at 4pm (next meeting 12 March).

It is a relaxed session where one of our librarians reads a short story or poem and then as a group we discuss the text. Book Chat meets on the fourth Thursday of the month at 10am

(next meeting 28 March). It is a social gathering where you can hear about what others are reading and share your latest read.

In addition, our magnificent librarian Claire curates a collection of the library’s new releases for you to peruse so you can find your next great read.

Just a reminder that Easter falls early this year. Below are our hours for the long weekend. Hopefully, we will all get to enjoy a bit more summer sunshine before the cooler autumn days are truly here.

29 March Good Friday – Closed

30 March Easter Saturday – 9am - 4pm (normal hours)

31 March Easter Sunday – Closed

1 April Easter Monday – Closed

2 April Tuesday – 9am - 6pm (normal hours resume)

Monday - Friday 9am - 6pm, Saturday 9am - 4pm, Sunday closed.

Chloë – Manager Community Library – Pouārahi, Pātaka Kōrero ā-Hapori.  PN LEYS INSTITUTE LITTLE LIBRARY, 14 Jervois Road, T: 09 377 9209, www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz

ELEVATING WELLNESS TO NEW HEIGHTS AT ELYSIAN RESIDENTS' RETREAT

In the heart of Parnell, lies a sanctuary of tranquility and rejuvenation unlike any other.

The Elysian Residents' Retreat, designed in collaboration with Vicky Cullinane of Studio Red Wellness, is redefining luxury living with a focus on well-being. This wellness oasis, an integral part of the Elysian luxury residential development, offers an unparalleled experience that caters to every aspect of the residents' health and happiness.

Vicky Cullinane, renowned for her expertise in creating transformative wellness spaces, has brought her approach to the Elysian Residents' Retreat. "Our aim was to craft a sanctuary where luxury and wellness intersect, providing an escape that nurtures the body and mind," explains Cullinane.

The retreat features a mineral pool, offering therapeutic benefits amidst serene surroundings, a state-of-the-art sauna for ultimate relaxation, and a multi-purpose 'Red Room' designed for yoga, Pilates and strength work.

Central to the retreat's design is the integration of New Zealand art from Grace Wright, Ngataiharuru Taepa and Shane Cotton, enhancing the space with a cultural and spiritual depth that speaks to the soul.

"Art has the power to inspire and heal, which is why we've carefully selected pieces that resonate with the essence of wellbeing," Cullinane adds. This artistic ambiance is complemented by natural elements and materials, creating a connection that is vital for mental and physical health.

Jerome Buckwell, Principal Architect at Crosson Architects, collaborated closely with Cullinane to ensure that the architectural design of the retreat harmonised with its wellness goals.

"Collaborating with Vicky on the Elysian Residents' Retreat allowed us to explore how architecture can support and enhance wellness," says Buckwell. "We focused on creating spaces that are not only beautiful but also deeply functional and nurturing."

The Residents' Retreat has been designed to meet the modern needs of Elysian’s discerning residents. From the tranquil mineral pool to the versatile 'Red Room,' every aspect of the retreat is tailored to foster health and relaxation. "We believe that wellness is a lifestyle," Cullinane notes, "and the Elysian Residents' Retreat is where this lifestyle comes to life."

This cutting-edge facility stands as a testament to Elysian's commitment to providing a lifestyle that transcends traditional luxury. "Our collaboration with Studio Red Wellness and Crosson Architects has been instrumental in bringing our vision for Elysian to life," says HR Group CEO Hannah Williamson.

"We're not just offering residences; we're offering a way of life that prioritises well-being in every sense."

As Elysian prepares to welcome its residents, the Residents’ Retreat stands ready to offer a unique and transformative health journey, setting a new benchmark for luxury living in Auckland.

In the pursuit of excellence, Elysian proves that true luxury is not just about what you own, but how you live.

www.elysian-parnell.nz

HELENE RAVLICH:

EXPLORING THE BEAUTY OF APARTMENT LIVING

A way of life around the world for many years now, apartment living offers lifestyle and location-plus in some of Auckland’s most in-demand destinations.

And despite many Kiwis still determined to secure their own patch of land, more and more are choosing to opt for apartment life for a myriad of reasons.

As our population grows and urban land becomes progressively scarce, apartment living is an increasingly smart choice for all stages of life. In Spain, 65% of the population live in apartments, with Switzerland, Germany, Greece and Italy close behind. Europeans have embraced vertical living for centuries and there are plenty of compelling arguments for Kiwis to do the same.

Just last month, Mayor Wayne Brown opened Ockham Residential’s 19th apartment building, 10-unit The Greenhouse on Williamson Avenue, which has been clad in 150,000 Italian-made bricks and is the development business’s flagship building. Set to be a landmark on the Ponsonby skyline, it’s an example of an ambitious apartment project available locally that has been done very, very well.

If you’re thinking about making the move to apartment living, read on for some great reasons why…

Apartments are low maintenance

Unlike a house and land, there is less upkeep involved with an apartment, which means less time spent on maintenance so your weekends are free to get out and enjoy life. Apartments are also, by design, easier to clean and often on a single level, while a body corporate maintains the building, giving you more time to relax and do things you enjoy.

An award-winning painter, Evan Woodruffe has been a convert to apartment living since 1999, mainly in the Greater Ponsonby area, from St Marys Bay to Grey Lynn, Freemans Bay and now Kingsland. He says, “the best thing is that it frees up time to concentrate on my work and career. If you are not a DIY person and don't want to spend time maintaining a typical Kiwi wooden house, then apartments with their built in Long-Term Maintenance Plans and building managers are a great way to keep on top of work that needs to be done and get it done by others.” A proportion of the body corporate fees go to this, “and with careful planning you can avoid nasty surprises and big bills.”

Suzie Paine works as an agent with Bayleys, and has project managed and sold many of Auckland´s prestigious inner city apartment buildings off the plans as one of the top project marketers in New Zealand. Having embraced apartment

living for the past 13 years, she says: “Don’t think for a second you won’t like it. You will have so much more time on your hands to do other things and you will honestly wonder why you didn’t do it sooner! You pay your body corporate fees and someone else does all the work, requiring a lot less hassle than owning a standalone home with gardens and the like.”

Apartments are often in top locations

When it comes to apartment living, location is crucial, but chances are the apartment you’re looking at will be located in a popular urban area with fabulous access to public transport, nearby amenities and schools. So you can walk out of the apartment, drop the kids at school, and grab a coffee at your local cafe, all without venturing too far from your doorstep. Increasingly, people are even choosing to lose the car and instead grab an e-bike or Uber everywhere, a choice which can be easier on the wallet and kinder to the planet.

Evan advises that you “choose the location carefully, it's as important as the apartment. Don't worry about whether the furniture fits, get new furniture. And you don't need a bedroom for the adult children to stay ‘maybe one day’. That will end up being a bedroom full of stuff you don't use.

Evan Woodruffe & Jeanne Clayton

At $100k a bedroom, it's more economic for them to get an Airbnb when they visit.”

Apartments are tops when it comes to security

As a woman, this feature is hugely attractive to me and I’m guessing that I’m not alone. Many appreciate the fact that premium apartment buildings come with security features such as secured entrances, intercoms and security cameras, which can provide added peace of mind. The body corporate also takes care of the maintenance and monitoring of these, so you don’t have to worry about fixing things yourself or whether it’s been done professionally.

Suzie agrees that it’s a top priority for her as well, saying, “Security is very important to me, so knowing I don’t ever have to worry about that is a non-negotiable. When I go away I can just lock the door! It’s also very private.”

Evan says that apartment living can also mean that someone is always looking out for you, “As depending on the size and demographic of the block, there can be a real community feel. Our current apartment is one of four and we all get on, run a WhatsApp group and have catchups. This was a great help during the lockdowns of 2020. A community is what you make it, and some places have been better than others.”

A great apartment will have plenty of amenities

When assessing the pros and cons of apartment living, you can’t overlook the many fantastic amenities offered by many premium developments. Community amenities offered by many apartment buildings include residents' only gyms, indoor or outdoor swimming pools (sometimes both), rooftop grills, outdoor gardens and courtyards.

You’ll also find storage units, business centres, concierge services, bike sharing and recreational spaces in some, all of which make life easier for those lucky enough to live within their walls.

In conclusion, when asked if she would ever return to a standalone house, Suzie says, “That’s a good question. Let me think about it…No!” And although Evan acknowledges that “anything is possible,” he’s clearly a convert for all of the above reasons and more. “Apartments are a sign of diversity and maturity in a culture,” says the artist. “All the most exciting cities in the world have them and Auckland is heading that way.

“When they have infrastructure to support them and transport options nearby, they really are a wonderful way to live.”

(HELENE

RAVLICH)

 PN

MEET ANAH JORDAN, YOUR LOCAL APARTMENT SPECIALIST

A passionate inner-central local working out of Barfoot & Thompson’s Grey Lynn office, Anah Jordan is an expert when it comes to buying and selling in the increasingly popular premium apartment market.

With more than 18 years sales and marketing experience under her belt, Anah has a keen understanding of the city's multi-faceted and diverse neighbourhoods, as well as an in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of zoning regulations and even where to buy to secure the best water views.

The empathetic professional works closely with her clients to understand their needs, recognising that buying and selling a property is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make in life.

This is where aligning with a great agent comes in, delivering a first-class real estate experience and superlative results every time.

Recently ensuring successful sales campaigns for apartments in Grey Lynn and Eden Terrace and currently working with Barfoot & Thompson’s city branch selling apartments off the plans for The Grey on Great North Road ridge. Anah also has a genuine passion for the lifestyle that apartment living has to offer.

She loves matching prospective buyers with premium apartments that align with their wants, needs and aspirations, and understands the unique marketing requirements that come with selling a slice of some of the city’s most exciting urban spaces.

A recent testimonial speaks of the agent’s intimate knowledge of transacting within the apartment market, saying: “I am involved in the real estate industry myself, and meet agents on a daily basis. I can honestly say that Anah Jordan is one of the best I have encountered.”

ANAH JORDAN, 533 Great North Road, Grey Lynn, M: 022 127 9080, E: ajordan@barfoot.co.nz, www.barfoot.co.nz/a.jordan www.facebook.com/anahjrealestate/ www.instagram.com/anahjrealestate/

The Grey, 393 Great North Road, Grey Lynn due for completion end of March

@ THE STUDIO OF TABLEWARE

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Zone Bathroom Accessories

Global Kitchen Knives

THE BLINDS EXPERIENCE: HELPING BUSY PEOPLE CREATE THE HOME SPACE THEY REALLY WANT

The ideal package for busy people.

Our customers who are almost always busy people, from professionals to working mums, tell us they have an idea for their home space, a colour, a style, a feel, but how to bring it all together without taking too much time?

All of us want our home space to look good, our spaces are important to us and they reflect us.

Soft and warm, streamlined and cool, Boho or minimal, we all know the type of look we want – we just need someone to put a package together that makes it simple

The Blinds Experience does exactly that with a simple threestep proposition:

Step 1 – Take time to connect with our truly independent interior designer – Kylie Murphy from The Style House, 6090 minutes is often all that’s needed to get your ideas out of your head and bounce them around with Kylie – there is no charge to you for this valuable time with a truly independent interior consultant.

Experience

Step 2 – The team at The Blinds Experience picks it up from there, taking the ideas from your session with Kylie and turning them into reality with locally made, quality window furnishings.

Step 3 – Finally have the feeling that you did some ‘good in the hood’ in a simple and yet meaningful way. On your behalf, we will donate 5% of the value of your purchase to one of two of our partner charities – you simply choose which one and we send you a certificate of your donation.

Our Total Care Package ensures that your blinds work as you expected them to, or we fix them for free

So, if you feel that you don’t have time to bring a fresh new integrated look to your home space, touch base with the team at The Blinds Experience, as our customers have found out… The blinds are only part of it!

Call for more information: M: 021 139 2317, www.theblindsexperience.co.nz

FOR THE SECOND TIME IN OVER 50 YEARS, THIS ICONIC MASTERPIECE IS FOR SALE

Impeccable craftsmanship, natural light and serenity are the hallmarks of this extraordinary home, designed and built in 1972 by its owner/architect Russell Withers – Stanish & Withers.

The romantic vision of ruin, ‘The Withers House’ stands as a testament to democratic architecture, a humility of career, a counter-culture in design and a materiality cleverness.

‘The Withers House' is an aesthetically seminal structure. Rejecting the villa typology, but still signalling to it through the bull nosing of the roof line the dwelling is insouciance to the perceived building style of the times.

Fluid curved forms, generous proportions and an everchanging interplay between light and space combine to create a warm and practical environment featuring detailed brickwork, bespoke lead-light windows, cedar, redwood and native timbers. Withers owes much credit to his brick masons for their exceptional work on Arthur Street. Russell, interested in architectural tectonics, pursued a fascination with curves

and corbelling of the brickwork, something you just don’t see in buildings today.

11 Arthur Street transcends the conventional. It is a celebration of diversity, permanence and intentional living, breaking away from the traditional confines of its neighbours. A true rarity, this residence has been preserved in near-original form, providing a private oasis yet so close to Ponsonby Road.

Described as ’a living piece of art’ the building continues to inspire both architects and individuals alike.

TO BE AUCTIONED Saturday 9 March 2024

Sale details rwepsom.co.nz/EPS32364

More details about the Withers House www.thewithershouse.com

BLAIR HADDOW:

‘CRACKING’ KIWI SUMMER

Equates to a positive mood across Auckland’s inner-west residential property market.

A return to the ‘normality’ of a classic Kiwi summer – long hot days at the beach with a picnic, relaxing with the kids around the swimming pool in the back yard, or socialising with friends beside the barbecue on the deck – has seen a consequential return to traditional habits and patterns in Auckland’s residential property market, according to a longstanding expert of the industry.

Bayleys Ponsonby senior salesperson Blair Haddow said that for the first time in three years, now unincumbered by the restraints of Covid-19 or the floods and constant rain of early 2023, summer 2023/24 has brought back immense positivity to the psyche of people living in, or wanting to live in, the Auckland inner-west suburbs of Ponsonby, Herne Bay, Grey Lynn and Westmere.

“I’ve seen this more relaxed approach evidenced in the property sector too – with far more people coming through the open homes, and taking a much more laid-back attitude to physically viewing a property both inside and out. Buyers out and about for viewings this year aren’t rushing in and out trying to avoid rain, or shaking off umbrellas at the front door for example. It’s just a much nicer scene to be part of for everyone – the way it used to be.”

Blair Haddow said that with Auckland’s afternoon temperatures throughout January and February regularly tickling mid-to-high 20 degrees on the thermostat, more and more potential buyers coming through his open homes were asking if he had any dwellings with full size swimming pools coming up for sale or they are looking for a flat lawn with space for a pool.

“There’s a feeling that this summer could stretch well into April,” Blair said. “And buoyed by this current season of fine hot weather, buyers are also romanticising about spending next summer around the pool in their next home. It’s a requirement I make special note of when compiling my buyer database, so I can accurately match up specific buyers with specific properties as and when they come up for sale through me.”

Showcasing the return to a more upbeat overall environment for buyers looking at Blair Haddow’s listings for sale in the Westmere, Ponsonby, Herne Bay and Grey Lynn locales, is the latest tranche of beautiful dwellings which have been placed on the market for sale this year.

Blair has been so busy at the end of 2023, and straight back in to 2024, that he has taken on an enthusiastic sales associate to work with buyers – including those looking through Blair’s menu of stunning listings, as well as introducing them to other properties within Bayleys Ponsonby’s portfolio across the city’s inner-west district.

Blair’s new sales associate is Keenin Whitcher, who comes from a background in automotive sales, and will now be learning from a master in the real estate scene.

Among the latest selection of gorgeous homes for sale across the Auckland inner-west precinct which Blair and Keenin are proud to be marketing are:

92a Marsden Avenue in Mt Eden – a grand and stately four-bedroom/three-bathroom two-storey homestead with immaculate gardens accessed by multiple indoor/ outdoor flow points and overlooking the peaceful parkland and playground of Centennial Park.

· 4 Masefield Avenue in Herne Bay – an elegant threebedroom/two bathroom north-facing home with views over the inner harbour from an easy-care section with space for a paddling pool.

34 Dryden Street in Grey Lynn opposite Grey Lynn Park –an architecturally renovated five-bedroom/three-bathroom villa complete with swimming pool and double off-street parking. The home has been designed by the owner’s father who is an architect.

· 20 Wharf Road in Ponsonby – a character four-bedroom/ two-bathroom villa built on two levels.

24 Harcourt Street in Grey Lynn – a three-bedroom/twobathroom fully renovated villa with an amazing back yard.

41 Franklin Road in Freemans Bay – an entry level twostorey home featuring two bedrooms.

Three other ‘red hot’ listings with Blair at Bayleys Ponsonby were pending final paperwork as this edition of Ponsonby News was going to press and are expected to be profiled in the April edition of the magazine. (BLAIR HADDOW)  PN

www.facebook.com/BlairHaddowResidential

92A Marsden Ave

4 Masefield Ave

POINT CHEVALIER COMMUNITY NOTICE

Since the closure of the Pt Chevalier Library, the adjacent park has been popular for undesirable behaviour and there has been a lot of shoplifting.

Concerned about community safety, some locals organised a community meeting at the Bowling Club on 22 January. Locals and guest speakers talked about reviving, “the spirit and safety of the Pt Chev heartland,” in an area that was, “once a vital community hub.”

Attracting more people to an area increases safety. We learnt that reopening the library is not a solution because the repairs are expensive. Another decision was to set up a Residents' Association as neighbourhoods that work together are stronger. Details to follow at next community meeting.

The Police representative asked that all crime be reported as Police presence is proportional to their statistics. There has been a noticeable improvement since then, as Police have regularly visited the area.

Neighbourhood patrols help as a deterrent to bad behaviour and they invited locals to join a local 'Community Patrol’.  PN

www.facebook.com/CommunityPatrolsNewZealand

KEN RING: WEATHER BY THE MOON AUCKLAND WEATHER DIARY, MARCH 2024

For March, expect less than half the rain average, but more sunshine than normal.

The first week is the sunniest, the second week is the cloudiest, the third week is expected to be wettest, and the remainder of the month is mostly fine and dry. The barometer should average around 1017mbs. The best weekend for outdoor activities may be 2nd/3rd.

For fishermen, the highest tides for the year are on 12h. The best fishing bite-times in the east should be around dusk of 9th-10th, and 23rd-26th. Bite-chances are also good around lunchtime of 2nd-4th and 16th-18st.

For gardeners, pruning is best on 7th-9th (waning moon descending), and planting is best on 19th-24th (waxing moon ascending). For preserving or longer shelf-life, harvest crops or flowers around the neap tides of 5th and 19th. Allow 24-hour error for all forecasting. (KEN RING)  PN

For future weather for any date, and the 2024 NZ Weather Almanac, see www.predictweather.com

GAEL BALDOCK: COMMON SENSE ISN’T THAT COMMON

Commuters and locals were unimpressed with Auckland Transport announcing Meola Road closure until the end of April, on the very day it was meant to open, after their Waitangi Day holiday.

A timeline of works is required to coordinate a ‘Dig Once’ project that buries power lines underground, upgrades stormwater, repairs the sunken road over the closed landfill and installs a cycleway on the northern side of Meola Road. So, AT knew at the beginning of the project – why did they choose to keep the community in the dark? This excuse is a coverup, “Our teams made the decision to extend the road closure to reduce the overall time and costs of completing the project.”

Since Meola Road has been narrowed from 9.2m to 7.2m, construction would be impossible around one lane of traffic. When I tried to set up a Meola Monarchs butterfly garden, I was told that methane from the old dump could cause an explosion if there was a spark and, although I don’t believe it, that would have made a more believable story.

At least illuminated motorway signs and one between the motorway off-ramp and Pt Chevalier Road, are giving commuters a choice to continue along the motorway or Great North Road or to enter the maze of detours through the ‘bird streets’ of Pt Chevalier.

However, the two-way cycleway is a disaster waiting to happen because of the probability of head-on collisions. What if a child with a head injury were to require an ambulance and the road was blocked by a broken-down bus?

Between outer-link and 101 route, there are 88 buses that stop at two in-line bus stops, in both directions. Potentially blocking traffic 352 times a day, not counting humps! Recessing the bus stops again with traffic lights behind the northern stop would be cheaper and safer for students crossing to access Western Springs College through MOTAT.

In June 2011, Nicole Rosie, New Zealand Transport Agency [NZTA] Chief Executive, told a government select committee, “By queues, rather than traditional speed signs and other things, we slow traffic down.” youtu.be/ jBHPBdjKJik?si=jmQBqJF2HSxgfA4B Heather du PlessisAllan asked about the loss of productivity and called it “crazy” when transport bloggers admitted it creates more emissions.

An exorbitant amount is spent in the name of ‘traffic calming’ (creating queues). There was never enough room on Meola Road with cars parked on both sides and opposing lanes of traffic. Drivers had to navigate around parked cars by pulling

over and giving way to the oncoming traffic. It's a ‘no-brainer’, that naturally slows traffic, achieving the same end.

Soccer players from all over Auckland come to park by Seddon Fields, and Meola Reef Dog Walking Park attracts owners from far and wide. What a shame they couldn’t also install off-street parking for dog walkers at the same time or at least prepare the ground for future works. issuu.com/ponsonbynews/docs/ponsonby_news_ july_22_website/12

The experiment to move Kiwi’s out of cars onto bikes has failed. “I'm not a believer in 'build it and they will come'. There's a cultural resistance: we love our cars,” Auckland Transport CEO Dean Kimpton told NZ Herald. “In that emissions reduction plan, cycling is supposed to rise to 17% of all trips. But it's still stuck on 1%. We've got the facilities available and people aren't using them.” They are expensive outdoor gymnasiums for a minority who don’t contribute to their construction or consider other road users.

For cyclists concerned with motorists' visibility turning into busy Pt Chevalier Road, it's more sensible to use the quieter, parallel Huia Road as a designated shared cycleway with painted ‘sharrows’ and speed restrictions. It would save revenue, avoid congestion, stop commuters ‘rat running’ residential streets and leave the road well flowing.

The Pt Chevalier, Meola, Garnet Road route has 29 proposed humps. This project intrudes into Garnet Road on either side of the roundabout. It is the same ‘Waitematā Safe Routes’ cycleway design the community rejected six years ago. It hides cyclists between parked cars and the kerb in a ‘blood sandwich’. It stops short of the Westmere shops, so they didn’t have to be consulted. The two-lane roundabout becomes single lanes with zebra crossings on all four roads. Traffic that continued along Garnet Road will now be blocked by the commuters travelling along this busy ‘Highway to the West’.

Cycleways that started under National to address emissions targets ($50M May 2009, $100M August 2014) are being discontinued. AT already has a $400M budget shortfall. With the National Government’s removal of fuel tax revenue, transport budgets need to be cut. Let’s start with aspects of the ‘Pt Chevalier Cycleway’ making it better, cheaper and safer. (GAEL BALDOCK)  PN GaelB@xtra.co.nz

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

AT IMPROVEMENTS

Two years ago, I provided a solid argument to AT’s Board and all other interested parties involved (in advance of its approval by the AT Board), explaining why the ‘improvements' project proposed for Meola Road and Pt Chevalier Road and in conjunction with the Great North Road ‘improvement' was a total failure waiting to happen AND a total waste of $77,000,000 at least!

No one listened... Indeed a number of agitated zealots with AT and Bike Auckland tried and succeeded to override all the commonsense arguments provided to stop these two projects and assured us that these projects would save lives and “stop climate change.” Yeah, right!

In their latest attempt at justification for this waste, AT are using the newly narrowed Tamaki Drive as an exemplar and an excuse to justify deliberately narrowing Meola Road, removing essential car parking for the playing grounds and the dog park, pushing bus stops out INTO the road (if you can believe that), and installing 28 totally useless RAISED pedestrian crossings that are simply not needed.

What a fatuous and rubbish argument/explanation.

Tamaki Drive is now awful (the cyclists insist on staying on the road for goodness sake, while the two cycle lanes are almost exclusively used by pedestrians along with the actual pedestrian footpaths that always existed. I avoid it like the plague.

All these projects are very expensive designer's dreams, and the community’s nightmares. Meola Road is a disaster waiting for AT to finally finish to impose their ideology upon all the local residents and those others who have no option but to try and use this critical thoroughfare.

Worse still, these ‘improvements' cost a fortune, do not “save lives” any more than the original roads, and they deliberately congest our roads.

What is wrong with our politicians that they cannot STOP this corporate madness from seemingly the entire AT bureaucracy?

AT are intent on making our neighbourhoods worse not better and the only people who can rein them in are the Mayor and council. And yet, the Mayor has gone soft and not lived up to his pre-election promises to “sort out AT" and the council who have proven to be both useless and powerless. So why are they there, on their huge salaries, I’m obliged to ask?

The ONLY councillor worth his salt on these issues, Mike Lee, was indeed removed from the AT Board by Mayor Brown in what must be seen as the most catastrophic decisions for the ratepayers and commuters in Auckland.

To replace Councillor Mike Lee, the one sage voice in council regarding AT, with Councillor Chris Darby was a dreadful mistake and these ridiculous raised pedestrian crossings are the direct result of Councillor Darby’s appointment to the AT Board. A huge mistake by Mayor Brown by any measure.

Critically, as the DSI Stats decisively show/these ‘improvements' such as the multiple raised crossings and removal of a lane in Three Lamps in Ponsonby Road, do NOT save lives OR reduce injuries and as a result, AT’s zealotry and profligate spending makes our roads NO SAFER.

Yet still those politicians that we have not been able to vote out (or in – thank you Genevieve Sage), continue to allow these numbskulls to waste OUR MONEY on unnecessary, unwanted

and grossly expensive ‘improvements' that very obviously do not improve our neighbourhoods, lifestyle or community.

AT are an absolute disgrace and must be stopped from continuing the construction of all these idiotic raised pedestrian crossings and put AT projects under the direct control of the cost accountants within council (not local boards, they have consumed the AT Kool-Aid and are completely at odds with the community needs and wants).

It is time to start firing large numbers of AT staff who are all seemingly intent on just one thing – making up 'improvement projects' in order to keep themselves in highly over-paid jobs! Enough – this stupidity (there is no other word for it) must stop now!

Roger Hawkins, Herne Bay

PLAY STREETS – NARROWING THE CITY

I write in response to Gael Baldock’s column 'Join the Dots'. She brings some very valid points with regards to ‘Play Streets’ and narrowing of the city. At what point did we think it was a good idea to teach children to play in a road?

When I was on the local kindergarten committee, we looked at putting in a wooden platform with a steering wheel and a fake anchor. It was a place designed for children to sit under a sun cover, to ‘play and pretend’. Pirates, water police, fishing, dolphin watching were some of the ideas the children wanted for play.

However, the Auckland Kindergarten Association said absolutely not, it would give the impression that a child could be in a boat without life jackets. Fast forward to 2023 and we are encouraging children to play in roads, yet they are blocked off as a temporary measure for a limited time, but what about after? If a child ‘escapes’ from a property, which they have done many times sadly, where would they go? To where they played previously, only the ‘temporary project’ has finished but a two or three-year-old won’t recognise that will they?

As for Queen Street, the narrowing of this has seen a near disaster with a fire truck and a bus, the bus turning right into Queen Street from Customs Street and a fire truck coming out of Queen Street turning right to Customs Street in an emergency. The bus drove into the paths to avoid a head-on with the fire truck. I have ridden my e-bike up Queen Street, there were blockages in the bike lane, a wide footpath that had homeless on it, so others were walking in the bike lane. Then, as I got to the Civic, the bike lane disappeared and I rode in the road bus lane to K' Road, not a problem only the quality of the bus lane was hugely dangerous on a bike.

The edge of the road has potholes, slumping and rubbish. I was heading up to the Auckland Domain, so turned left onto the K' Road cycle path. I had to come out of that path to ride the very wide footpath as there were rubbish and broken glass in the cycle lane. After the Domain I rode along K' Road cycle lane and turned left to head to the Symonds Street entry to the NW cycle path. There I navigated large spikey nuts in the cycle lane and, for my own safety, rode the wide path to the lights. No normal cyclist would use these lanes on that section, e-bikers maybe, but the buildup of rubbish and debris make it a dangerous option.

Cyclists can legally use bus lanes, so why have we narrowed Queen Street down? I rode down Queen Street perfectly fine prior to the narrowing. As a cyclist, the most dangerous road to ride, on or off a cycle path, is a removal of seeing what is ahead and to the sides. Melbourne is wide and open; they have trams and cars running alongside each other and cycle

lanes. Wide and open for all three to navigate each other and yet Auckland is being narrowed down causing driving and cycling hazards.

What is Gunthorp’s ulterior motive to bypass a planned agenda with a 'Notice in Motion'? Why are we seeing fewer allowances for those that have mobility issues? Eke Panuku’s 'Three Month Henderson Street Trial' at a cost of $1.4 million dollars prevented wheelchairs and walkers from exiting at intersections and crossings. Why? For a cycle lane that went unused.

Locals fought for almost three years to have the disaster removed. A deck was installed right outside a pokie bar, why? Why not outside more than 25 other restaurants across Henderson? To encourage gambling or something else more sinister? What is going on with council agencies? We have AT run by a man who encouraged people to drive to malls, who now wants cars removed from roads under his ‘masterplan'. Is he confused in his ideas or is he just a puppet dancing to someone else’s tune?

Name withheld on request

DISAPPEARING DISABLED PARKING

As an audience member, I regularly attend Waitematā Local Board public meetings. At the February meeting, Gael Baldock delivered a presentation on the board’s lack of priority for disabled parking in the immediate streets surrounding Queen Street as a follow on from her article in the December 2023 Ponsonby News about the WLB’s motion.

In 2020, the Waitematā Local Board resolved at its June Business Meeting that: “The board request Auckland Transport urgently investigate and take appropriate action on ensuring the provision of adequate disabled parking on the side streets off Queen street.” (WTM/2020/133).

Although these steep side streets are against accessibility requirements, no other parking has been provided, as per the motion, for those with mobility impairment who make up a quarter of our population. “Should they be given a quarter of all parking spaces?” Gael asked the board.

The disability carparks that were once in Federal Street were sacrificed for the cycleway that is only used by the odd scooter but is otherwise an observable waste of money! All parking was removed from the Viaduct parking area and those disabled parking spaces weren’t replaced elsewhere. The very convenient Downtown Carpark with free disabled parking has recently sold, so how are these people meant to access ferries, restaurants and entertainment facilities in the Viaduct?

So, while Auckland Transport is busy narrowing vehicle carriageways everywhere and requisitioning vehicle lanes for cycles and buses, they have lumped ‘walking and cycling’ together. Little consideration is being given to actual pedestrians, with uneven footpaths badly in need of repair. Some older folk and mothers/fathers/child minders with prams, disabled in wheelchairs or crutches are getting the elbow from the Council Controlled Organisation whose actions (or lack of) proves the convenience of the disabled is only a priority on paper inked four years ago.

Other parking for the disabled has disappeared as a result of construction for the metro and not replaced in surrounding locations. Baldock asked that Auckland Transport insist on the relocation of disabled parking during construction projects and that they be more vigilant on ticketing those

without mobility permits who treat these as convenience parking without thought for the difficulties of genuine users.

Grant Mountjoy

WHY IS CITY VISION CLAIMING ALL THE CREDIT?

How many Ponsonby News readers know about the awkward two-sided relationship that exists between the members of our Waitematā Local Board?

It’s easy for we residents to imagine a wonderful, united team working together for the greater good of Aucklanders in the Waitematā Local Board area, but, sadly, the inside story reveals this to be pure fiction. If you attended the monthly WLB meetings you would quickly observe the unease between the two factions that make up the board.

This was also displayed in full sight in the last two editions of the Ponsonby News. WLB Member Alex Bonham wrote an article in December on behalf of her group, City Vision. She presented a celebratory roundup of recent board activity. One would think that her group was solely responsible for all the useful progress made. Aren’t the successes down to the whole board? This feels divisive and one-sided. Board successes need to be attributed to the whole team, including the C&R members of the board.

Additionally, in this article it appears to imply that Julie Fairey is the councillor for the whole of Waitematā.

This is misleading and seems hugely disrespectful to Mike Lee, our hard-working, actual Waitematā and Gulf Ward Councillor.

WLB and Council’s Ward boundaries are different. The majority of the area is in Mike Lee’s Ward, while Parnell, Newmarket and Grafton are in Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson’s Orakei Ward, and a tiny area of Newton falls in Julie Fairey and Christine Fletcher’s Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa Ward.

Alongside independent candidates and those groups mentioned, Rock The Vote NZ stood for WLB and Auckland Council in the last local body elections, and we are keeping a watchful eye on the goings-on.

Rock The Vote NZ, www.rockthevotenz.com

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF A GOOD CITIZEN?

Apparently, according to Gen Sage, Richard Northey, Anahera Rawiri and Alex Bonham (City Vision members of the Waitematā Local Board), it is someone who doesn’t stand up to them, doesn’t attend almost every public board meeting, doesn’t express an opinion or advocate for community groups, doesn’t stand out and certainly not someone with a quirky sense of fashion, who challenges your thinking or holds a different political view.

Denying community advocate Gael Baldock a Good Citizen’s award (literally a piece of paper and a thank you) with 20 nominations in support, is quite possibly the very worst decision the Waitematā Local Board has made in the past 14 years. And there have been some absolute shockers.

When I asked the Chair, why not Gael? This was the response from Gen Sage:

“Because… a majority (the board – the City Vision members) felt that the award would not be appropriate. The board’s deliberations on this were not conducted in a public forum so

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33

it is not appropriate to elaborate further. The board needs to focus on more important issues, and I don’t propose to give this any further attention. The matter is closed.”

I am disgusted. I didn’t submit a nomination, but no one gives more of their own time than Gael does and no one deserves recognition more that she does. Especially when it just involves shaking her hand.

Not only did the board deny a very worthy applicant (for no good reason), but they have also devalued the awards given to every past, present and future recipient. Shame on you.

Jo Malcolm

GOOD CITIZENS' AWARDS:

WHAT A SIMPLY RIDICULOUS PROCESS

I trust none of the panel that were charged with selecting the numerous award winners for the Waitematā Local Board's Good Citizens' Awards were nominated themselves, because looking at the results of this year’s selections, they should all, if they have a conscience, decline the nomination and/or any award. What a simply ridiculous process.

I now understand that the ‘panel' did not make the decision, but rather the WLB – Chaired by Genevieve Sage (City Vision), forced a vote from the entire WLB.

This was NOT how the process is supposed to work and again this seems to be yet another failure by the Chair of WLB. (The list seems to be getting longer by the day!)

How can so many nominees be selected, when one critical individual was deliberately snubbed?

I understand that there were multiple nominations for Gael Baldock, and I for one would happily support that nomination as all caring and thinking locals should.

When there are so many nominations for that one individual and it results in no award, there can only really be one conclusion.

It appears this nominee has been voted down by the very members of the WLB she has the courage to hold to higher standards. I suggest this is why the obvious nomination for Ms Baldock was so spitefully ‘declined' by the panel?

I am keen to understand the processes and the rationale for the full WLB and Chair's decision to take the vote away from the panel?

Perhaps we could source the details on the members of the panel – in particular, those who voted in the final process for this year’s selection. It would be interesting to know which way they each voted and just who was involved in the final selection of the ‘winners'.

Have our local politicians descended so far, that they cannot put their personal vitriol and bias aside and recognise those in our community who do put in such a special effort – even if the recipient’s politics are different from their own (and often mine)?

This level of nastiness reflects the sort of negative politics and inability to see reason that has been the hallmark of the recently rejected Labour Government. It must stop immediately, for the good of our community!

Having witnessed the antics of this latest board, I am pretty sure that I could name the three (or possibly four) board members and/or panel members who would likely react so

poorly by rejecting the one non-selection. They should all be ashamed of themselves.

If you sit on a selection panel, there is no place for personal spite, and even less place for 'sitting on a fence' and abstaining. Panel members are selected and delegated the responsibility to make a decision and that is what they must do.

To not act in the best interests of the Waitematā Local Board is a personal failing and personal animosity has no place in modern local politics, nor in the 'Good Citizens' Awards'.

I think time has well and truly run out on those of the WLB who did not support all the good people who do so much for our area. I look forward to any response with the detail I have requested – it should be available from the minutes, I am hoping.

Roger Hawkins, Herne Bay

20 NOMINATIONS?

STILL NO GOOD CITIZENS' AWARD FOR GAEL

The Chair of the Waitematā Local Board, Genevieve Sage, let the community down when she 'broke ranks' from the team she campaigned with to secure herself the position of Chair of the board. Sage managed to pull this off with the minority support of City Vision. Goodness knows what deals they have done to keep each other happy, but the board appears to continue its dysfunction as a result of the dubious back room deals.

Word is that Community Advocate, Gael Baldock, who received over 20 nominations for the Local Board's Good Citizens' Awards and yet was declined one. Most people get one nomination, I reiterate the community nominated Gael 20, yes, 20 times. Anyone who has reached out to Gael for support knows she perhaps talks more than she needs to and could probably be more efficient with her time. That said, she appears to work fulltime, in a voluntary capacity, for our community. She should be acknowledged for her good work holding council and our dysfunctional Local Board to account and for fronting up to the board every month (despite it being run like a classroom full of naughty children).

There are two parties on 29 February – one, where the 'Good Citizens' of Waitematā will gather with our self-important Waitematā Local Board Members, in a farce to receive their well-deserved awards. The other, fabulous community advocates who will celebrate and debate their diversity of views. They don't all agree with each other, and they come from all walks of life, but these community advocates respect each other's contribution. Our Local Board and Chair could learn a thing or two about respect from them.

I know which one I want an invitation to and it's not the one that is designed for yet another photo op of Chair Sage.

John Phillips

GOOD CITIZENS' AWARD

I have heard via the grapevine that the wonderful, the extraordinary Gael Baldock has been denied a Good Citizens' Award by the Waitematā Local Board. I understand her nomination was supported by a large number of the good people of Ponsonby. Gael is intelligent, well read and she campaigns for the things which matter in our local community.

She cares passionately about Auckland. Why would she be denied an award for all the hard work she does unpaid?

Sir Bob Harvey

AUCKLAND RAINBOW PARADE - PONSONBY

SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY

Photography: @deanecohenphotography

Photography: @deanecohenphotography

MIKE LEE: COUNCIL’S ASSET STRIPPING LONG TERM PLAN – A LONG-TERM DISASTER FOR AUCKLAND

On 20 February, Auckland Council’s Budget Committee, chaired by Mayor Wayne Brown, signed off the council’s draft $102 billion Long Term Plan.

The key feature this year, apart from the rates increases (7.5% this year, 3.5% in 2025 [election year] and 8% in 2026) is the proposed 35-year lease of the Port of Auckland, and the sell-down of the remaining shares in Auckland International Airport. The plan is out for public consultation – or should I say council’s version of public consultation – until 28 March.

Last year, Mayor Wayne Brown, despite having no popular mandate for asset sales (he never mentioned this once in his election campaign), tried and failed to sell all the council’s shares in Auckland International Airport, managing to muster enough votes to sell just under half.

This was achieved only after much political arm twisting on the part of the Mayor, (at one stage brandishing a toilet brush under the nose of one startled councillor) and trading jobs for votes. At the same time, the Mayor pushed through the biggest general rates increase in the 22-year history of Auckland Council.

The airport shares, gifted to Auckland Council in 2010 by the legacy Manukau City and Auckland Councils, are a sound inter-generational investment, being of both strategic significance and commercial value, the dividends providing long-term income supplementary to rates.

But rust never sleeps. Hard on the heels of his decision late last year to sell the Downtown Car Park Building, this year Mr Brown is determined to sell the remainder of the airport shares and also, via a 35-year plus lease, to effectively sell the Port of Auckland, valued between $2-3 billion.

The stated reason for the sale of the airport shares last year was the need to repay council debt – however, debt levels have ended up very much as they were before the sale. This is because, despite election promises to ‘fix Auckland’, the council and its CCO’s have an ongoing and systemic spending problem which he has not tackled at all.

This time, Mr Brown has come up with a completely new reason for pushing a massive sell down of council’s strategic assets, the biggest privatisation in New Zealand local government history: the pretext this year is to liquidate those income-earning assets and put the cash into a ‘professionally managed’ ‘Future Fund’.

Many of us will remember what happened to the council Diversified Asset Fund (c$400m worth of international stocks, bonds and cash) inherited from the ARC.

Ironically, some of the same council finance officers, who five or six years ago successfully pushed to get hold of the Diversified Assets, which until then been managed by a small but highly competent CCO, Auckland Council Investments Ltd, earning an average 18% return, and then promptly sold cashed it up and spent the funds, are now extolling the value of the Mayor’s ‘Future Fund’.

The chances of this ‘Future Fund’ (in reality a cash Slush Fund) avoiding the fate of the looted Diversified Asset Fund are slim indeed.

If the Mayor gets his way, the remaining airport shares, still a very significant package amounting to 11% of the AIAL total shareholding worth c$1.4 billion, will be transferred to the ‘Future Fund’ but the predetermination, which lies beneath the glossy veneer of the ‘AK Have Your Say’ Consultation Document, is revealed by the following statement which appears twice, pages 9 and 59: “It is almost certain that most if not all of the AIAL shares would be sold over time." So much for consultation, so much for democracy.

Mayor Wayne Brown who came into office on a promise of ‘fixing Auckland’ is now halfway through his term. His actual record of fixing anything is modest indeed (think road cones and AT). In his first year in office, the Mayor banged on obsessively about moving the Port from Auckland.

That obsession has been replaced by a new one, moving not the Port but moving the ownership of the Port from the people of Auckland, our children and grandchildren, to wealthy foreign shareholders. Once that lease is signed, it will almost certainly be extended at the convenience of the leasee. It’s effectively a sale.

Most troubling is that the council, as it did last year with the sale of the airport shares and the Downtown Car Park Building (currently stalled by legal action), is trifling with its statutory public consultation obligations set out in the Local Government Act. Despite this being legally a ‘special consultative procedure’ relating to strategic assets, the consultation the public will be getting will not include the traditional right for ordinary citizens to present to their elected councillors in a public hearing.

There will be hearings for selected ‘regional stakeholders’ but not for the citizens of Auckland, the people who candidate Wayne Brown convinced was ‘Mr Fix-it’. Rather than Mr Fixit, he has turned out to be ‘Mr Sell-it’. (MIKE LEE)  PN

www.mikelee.co.nz

Port of Auckland earning $1m per week for ratepayers. Wayne Brown no longer wants to move the Portjust its ownership.

PUNEET

DHALL:

AMERICANOS AT COCO'S

The minute you walk into Coco’s Cantina you feel it.

That warmth, that excitement. Italian trattoria with a K’ Road ‘kick’. Here you ‘dine with a smile’ any time of day.

Kira Mancefreire, front of house manager, tells me that the crew likes to think of the vibe as ‘Nonna’s’, the nickname for Italian grandmothers, whose homes are so inviting and food and drink so hearty and delicious. Simply filled with love, that all-so-special ingredient that elevates a thing to greatness.

Logan Cole, originally a Lyttelton lad, is the mixologist here. And the cocktails are awesome. He fell in love with New Zealand’s only commercially available Vermouth, the 144 Islands No. 2 Sweet Vermouth.

It is distilled with the grapes combined with the herbs, bush and tree barks found on the 144 vineyards just north of Kerikeri.The 144 No 2. Vermouth has a combination of sweet and bitter and ostensibly overt flavours that really do kick all other vermouths to the kerbside. Logan mixes a generous portion with Campari and soda served on rocks in a mid-level tumbler.

For such an awesome aperitif, you simply want to play the ‘bar snacks’ card. Logan shows me their original ‘O.G’ dish –thick-cut polenta chips with confit garlic aioli.

A bite on those and a swig of Americano, deliciousness oozes, and the famous Coco miles fill the room. The light shines through the door and collides with our good feelings and then ‘badaboom’, cue music from the heavens, “Drums, please! Summer, summer, summertime… time to sit back and unwind…” (PUNEET DHALL)  PN

@puneetofponsonby

@144islands @dhallandnash

144 Islands No.2 Vermouth

(Rosso)

Northland, New Zealand

144 Is Northl

A red with d Matai Delicio peel, b Camp

A red base wine of Syrah, sweetened and fortified with distillates of Kerikeri Orange, Totara, Kahikatea, Matai, Kauri, Northern Rata and Kanuka Flowers. Delicious on its own or with ice and a slice of orange peel, but we like serving it in a cocktail with 1/3 Campari and 1/3 Stranger & Sons Gin on Ice.

“THE YACHT SQUADRON CHANGED THE DIRECTION OF MY LIFE”

For 33-year-old Hayley Gillespie, walking into the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron building at Westhaven in 2020 changed the direction of her life.

Now, Hayley, who lives in St Marys Bay and works for the charitable trust, Graeme Dingle Foundation, crews on a yacht at least once a week and has literally hundreds of new close friends who she meets at the squadron for sailing and, just as importantly, for social activities.

“Before I decided to find out what the squadron was all about, I had this perception it was expensive, it looked exclusive and as someone who wanted to be involved in water sports and give sailing a go, I wasn’t sure how to become involved,” she says.

“In fact, we are a community with people of all ages at different stages of their lives who just want to be on or by the water.”

Hayley is one of 2500 members of the squadron across a range of categories, both sailing and non-sailing. Educated at Southland Girls High School, Hayley spent 10 years working in radio and more recently as a brand manager for the New Zealand Herald, Radio Sport and Newstalk ZB. She convinced her employer in 2018 that the media needed to focus more on environmental and social impact outcomes and championed that cause. Four years ago, she moved to youth charity, the Graeme Dingle Foundation, to develop her craft and now runs her own business, using media and communications to help social and environmental causes.

As Hayley’s father has always been a keen sailor and boat builder, it was destined that she would be involved in some sort of on-water activity.

She now crews on a yacht named ‘Extreme' that can manage between five and 15 crew comfortably. She is also part of a campaign sailing the classic yacht ‘Rawene’, built in 1908.

“I am still learning, but now find I can teach new sailing crew members what I have learnt which is something I love,” she says.

Hayley emphases that squadron members do not need to own yachts, or even boats of any kind.

“You may not be a yachtie, but you’ll love being by the water and maybe you get involved in recreational boating on friend’s or neighbour’s power boat or jet ski.

“I think it’s just a love of the water and being near it that attracted me as a member,” she says.

Hayley says the new membership category Clubhouse Member, will be really attractive to locals such as her, but also to those who might not necessarily want to become a sailor.

Hayley says the squadron’s off-water amenities are great. There was a wonderful members’ restaurant and bar, offering a stunning view of the harbour with moderately priced food and alcohol as well as lots of activities such as comedy festivals, quiz nights and other special events. The squadron’s new Lighthouse Cafe, that has been very successful over summer, is also very dog friendly, she says.

Join the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron as a Clubhouse Member

Residents in local suburbs such as Herne Bay, St Marys Bay, Ponsonby, Freemans Bay and Wynyard Quarter can join the squadron under a new membership category called 'Clubhouse Membership' specifically aimed at locals over the age of 18 years.

These category members will have unlimited use of club facilities and receive full member discounts and all offers.

A Clubhouse Member can enjoy access to dining, socialising and unique events, while being able to relax with breathtaking views of the Waitematā Harbour and Harbour Bridge. Whether you’re catching up with friends for coffee, a drink or food, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron provides the perfect setting. Utilise the club’s outstanding spaces for meetings or social get-togethers and invite your networks to one of the world's most recognised sporting clubs to enjoy a variety of off-water events.

With so much to offer, the squadron is delighted to welcome our community through open doors.

For just $300 per annum or $25 monthly, clubhouse members are also entitled to discounted food and beverage offerings, discounted bottle shop purchases, discounted room hire and special pricing on yachting apparel purchases. To join this or any other membership category at the squadron, come and say hi to our friendly reception team, go to www.rnzys.org.nz or phone for further information on 09 360 6800.

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is New Zealand’s leading yacht club, with an illustrious history dating back to its formation in 1871. Its mission is to deliver outstanding events both on and off the water for its members and aims at becoming a vibrant, fun and welcoming place to be through quality events on an off the water, a food and beverage offering members can be proud of and that reflects the squadron’s unique location on Auckland’s waterfront.

Hayley on the helm of sailboat ‘Extreme' during a Friday evening race

HON MELISSA LEE: POSITIVE PROGRESS – DELIVERING ON OUR PROMISES

I hope that everyone has had a great start to the new year and a fantastic summer. To those celebrating Lunar New Year, I trust that you have had a great time with friends and family.

As our Government forges ahead on its priorities for its first 100 days, I am pleased to be able to give you an update that is centered around action and the progress that the Government is making on its promises to you.

New Zealanders have been let down for too long – having put their faith in the previous government, we only saw wasteful spending and far too little progress, with our incredible country falling behind on so many measures.

This is a reason why people voted for change. In the Mt Albert electorate, I would like to thank everyone for their support, where we fell short this time by just 18 votes. Nevertheless, the new Government is in and we remain focused on turning the country around and delivering on our promises.

As the new Government, we want to enable people to succeed and thrive, ensuring a great quality of life for all and making the right decisions to help provide New Zealand’s amazing people, who have so much potential, with what they need and deserve.

We have listened to voters and are responding to key issues and priorities. I have personally heard from a lot of you about the issues you are concerned about, and we are all familiar with these. To name a few, cost of living, transport, crime, education and health.

As a mother myself, I know firsthand the desire to give our children the very best head start in life. So, I am proud that we have begun introducing changes to ensure all children get a world-leading education.

We’ve ensured that all primary and intermediate students will be taught an average of one hour a day of each of reading, writing and math. Cellphones are also being removed from classrooms to help children remain focused. It is pleasing to hear that schools which have already implemented this are reporting increased engagement, wellbeing and concentration.

The Government’s law and order work has started, with the first steps being actioned and we remain committed to cracking down on gangs and crime.

We are bringing fuel prices back down for Aucklanders, with the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax set to end on 30 June this year.

We have also repealed Labour’s controversial Three Waters legislation, keeping the management of our water with local and regional councils.

We have set our transport priorities for Auckland. We’ll be focusing on building and maintaining the roading network in the city we love, ensuring reliable public transport and delivering a safe network which makes efficient use of the money we spend. Fixing potholes is also a priority.

In the public transport space, key focuses will include the completion of the City Rail Link and Eastern Busway, the Northwest Transit Corridor and the Airport to Botany Busway.

We have also requested a cost-effective proposal for the Waitemata Harbour Crossing in place of Labour’s proposal which was unaffordable and unrealistic.

Our Government is focused on spending wisely and where it matters most – not on things like Labour’s Auckland Light Rail, which was expected to cost up to $29 billion, and which after six years cost $228 million without delivering a metre of track.

Moving forward, there is a lot of work to do. Over the weekend, the Prime Minister gave his State of the Nation address where he was very honest about the challenges that we as a country are facing together.

He did also highlight that Kiwis are very resilient. This is something that I completely agree with. We have gone through a difficult time together facing a global pandemic, natural disasters, conflict overseas and economic downturn. We were badly let down by a distracted government who would not deliver on their promises.

As we move out of our first 100 days, the Government will be deciding and announcing longer-term priorities. I look forward to providing you information on these. Auckland is a beautiful diverse and vibrant city and one with so much potential. I am eager to do my part to help people here flourish.

I look forward to the next report I can give you on the tangible changes that we are making for New Zealand.

As always, I remain committed to you and to our country and I wish you the very best. (HON MELISSA LEE)  PN

National Member of Parliament. Ministerial portfolios: Economic Development | Ethnic Communities | Media & Communications | ACC (Associate)

M.Lee@Ministers.govt.nz

Authorised by Hon Melissa Lee, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

LISA PRAGER:

MUTINY IN THE AIR

Kicking butt at Auckland Transport (AT) was the key promise that got Wayne Brown elected Mayor of Auckland by a majority just over a year ago.

He said he would demand AT change its approach from, “What it thinks Aucklanders want, to what they actually want,” as well as declaring his was the strong arm to deal with all the run- amok Council Controlled Organisations (CCO’s). It looks instead like he has fallen in with them.

The appointment of Richard Leggat as Chair to the AT Board, seems to me to be counter intuitive. Leggat, a professional director is a self confessed MAMIL (middle-aged man in lycra), a well known cycling advocate, director of Bike NZ, chair of the NZ Cycling Trail and on the board of Cycling NZ.

Brown believes, “Leggat will bring a fresh perspective to lead Auckland Transport. He is well placed to drive the initiatives and innovations needed to improve transport outcomes in Auckland.”

Oh yeah, right! His past involvement on the Board of Waterfront Auckland and Eke Panuku should have rung alarm bells. Facts not lost on Councillor Maurice Williamson who, at the Transport & Infrastructure Committee (TIC) meeting recently, questioned Mr Leggat’s appropriateness for the position of Chair, “I’m no car hater,” hissed Leggat in response.

Elected members really have no control of the CCO’s.

I had foolishly expected by now that Auckland Transport would be totally restructured. However, the long-term cycleway plans continue, as does the congestion creation, and I find every corner of our city brimming with safe space obstacles, suspension braking barricades and confusing painted road markings. All deliberate impediments to the smooth flow of our city.

It’s no surprise that after listening to the mind numbing, self congratulating, fake statistic riddled corporate speak from Auckland Transport’s CEO Dean Kimpton, that I realise absolutely NOTHING has changed.

The pedal power of the bike lobby in Tamaki Makaurau is not to be underestimated, nor the shrewd antics of City Vision, the well-meaning Women in Urbanism Aotearoa (WiUA) and of course AT’s own special breed of very annoying cone heads.

Removing all parking on Meola Road, narrowing the passageway to an unsafe squeeze and filling in the historic indented bus stops is proof of their agenda.

Combine this with AT’s intention to build 27 raised crossings at a total cost of over $850,000 along Pt Chevalier Road, Meola Road and Garnet Road now feels like a siege on the good citizens of Waitematā/Western Bays, who have fought long and hard to stop this rort.

Brown blames the factions within council for not supporting him, but I blame him for ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’, thus fuelling his own neo-liberal hallucinations. Clearly a citizen uprising is the only way forward, innovative actions of passive resistance perhaps?

The Meola Road mess is an example of “incompetence not corruption,” says one Auckland Transport insider. Back in

2018, AT’s own safety report highlighted over 45 roading, footpath and drainage failures along the Richmond Road, West Lynn cycleway route, most of which have still not been fixed.

Brown’s desire to suddenly seek approval from the woke faction who deplored his ascent is most strange, even stranger is the blatant support from Simon Wilson who has become Brown’s biggest ‘fanboy'.

The community groups that worked hard to leverage him into the top spot are now in shock, with the news that the Mayor now intends to increase rates by 38% over the next three years rather then stick to his pre-election promise to reprioritise and reorganise the way the corporate arm of Auckland Council spends our money.

These details are contained in the 773 page document up on the council website. See it for yourself.

The 'Public Consultation' over the Long Term Plan has begun and, unless we raise our voices loud and clear, this corporate capture of our public assets will be completed.

Brown was voted in to stop Panuku getting into bed with private developers and yet that is exactly what is going on as they sell off public buildings and properties, unchecked, across the city.

Apparently, the mantra currently muttered in the corridors at Council regarding the proposed extreme rates hike is “pay more, get less!” How on earth do they think the current citizens of Auckland will be able to absorb the extra costs? They need to stop spending so much of our money on rearranging roads and focus on curtailing their own spending.

(LISA PRAGER, Westmere)

 PN

HELEN WHITE: MP FOR MT ALBERT

Auckland’s water and transport infrastructure won’t fix itself. But the Coalition Government has deliberately washed their hands of problems that will cost our country billions.

I’ve kicked off 2024 by getting out and about in the Mt Albert electorate and hearing from as many people as I can. This has included holding public meetings and constituent clinics at least weekly, all over the electorate.

I am also meeting many people who are actively and deeply involved in supporting members of the community. For example, those who work in the CABs, JPs and the Community Patrol are all doing amazing work.

The Parliamentary year has also begun, and I’ve grown increasingly concerned that the Coalition Government is shifting the burden of fixing our infrastructure problems to ratepayers. Most of us just can’t afford the dramatic rate increases the Government’s choices will lead to. It will make life more expensive for homeowners and likely renters.

The loss of the Auckland regional fuel tax leaves the Council with a $1.2 billion hole in its plan to decongest Auckland (over four years). There is no way to fill it other than rate rises or cutting the projects. I totally reject the suggestion these projects are 'nice-to-haves' rather than necessities.

Decongesting Auckland is incredibly important to the productivity of the whole country. It has been estimated we lose $1.3 billion every year in productivity and people spend 80 hours a year stuck in traffic.

The Government is doing a similar thing with water services. Nationwide, our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater networks are facing a crisis. Labour’s Affordable Water Reform was about delivering safe, reliable and affordable water services that keep families and our environment healthy and support our city.

In Mt Albert, this reform would have reduced risks of flooding and allowed for more affordable housing, which relies on this infrastructure. It would have meant we’d be able to swim at our beaches, even when it rains!

In Auckland, in 30 years, average annual costs per household under Labour’s plan would have been 63% less than likely costs under continuation of the current stand-alone council delivery of water services. Ratepayers in other parts of the country would have seen even larger cost reductions, some up to 90%.

The Government has repealed our reforms, but the work still needs to be done. Fixing New Zealand’s water infrastructure is estimated to cost up to $185 billion over the next 30 years. Councils will now need to do it themselves.

Instead of seeing the problem and finding a practical solution, Christopher Luxon is leading a Government that is comfortable to let councils take the blame in years to come when they inevitably have to increase rates. Every ratepayer in the country will end up paying more and, for some households, these rates will become unaffordable. The Government’s own peer-reviewed advice explains this.

For me, it’s always been about rates. Labour’s plan would have helped councils fix the country’s pipes and made sure households wouldn’t see huge rates increases. (HELEN WHITE)  PN

As always, please get in touch if there is anything I can do to support you, your community or your business.

helen.white@parliament.govt.nz www.labour.org.nz/HelenWhite

First Monday | 2-5pm

First Saturday | 11am-1pm

a

09 360 5720

Second Monday | 1-4pm

Eden/Albert (St Lukes) CAB

Third Monday | 1-3:30pm Grey Lynn/Ponsonby CAB

DESLEY

SIMPSON:

DEPUTY MAYOR OF AUCKLAND

Celebrating Lunar New Year 2024 in Auckland: Honouring Tradition and Community

Xīn nián hǎo, in Auckland the Lunar New Year celebrations 10-25 February have been a spectacular display of cultural richness and community spirit.

We have proudly celebrated a community that has been in New Zealand since the 19th Century. Across the city, from the bustling streets of the CBD to the suburbs, the Year of the Dragon has been greeted with great enthusiasm and joy. The dragon, a symbol of power, strength and good luck in Chinese culture, has taken centre stage in the festivities, with colourful dragon dances weaving through the streets, which are believed to bring prosperity and good fortune for the coming year.

The city came alive with multiple free, family friendly events across the region ending with a four-day showstopper –BNZ Auckland Lantern Festival at Manukau Sports Bowl. Over 500 handmade lanterns were on display including a brand-new lantern commissioned to commemorate the Year of the Dragon.

This was the first year the iconic festival was delivered with the support of naming rights partner, BNZ. The partnership is a fantastic initiative that allows us to bring to life the world-class cultural experiences that make Auckland so special, while reducing the reliance on ratepayer funding.

The Lunar New Year festivities have brought Aucklanders of all ages together, where they have had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the celebrations, the culture and the heritage. With nearly 70% of the Chinese population in New Zealand living in Auckland, it is fantastic that the Lunar New Year has been marked and showcased.

Delivering major cultural events (BNZ Auckland Lantern Festival, Diwali and Pasifika) is referenced in the Council’s latest consultation paper. I encourage all readers to make a submission on Council’s 10-year budget 2024-2034 – also known as the Long-Term Plan. This is open for consultation from 28 February – 28 March.

There are some big strategic changes suggested including a proposal by the Mayor to lease Auckland’s Port operations and invest the potential multi-billion dollar proceeds into a council-owned, diversified regional wealth fund.

There are also some choices around the spend to get Auckland moving, strengthening Auckland’s resilience to flooding and making do with what we have while spending where it is needed most. Decisions on cultural, community services and water infrastructure are included too.

In short, we want Aucklanders to have their say if they want council to do less and spend less or do more and spend more. These choices will have a direct impact on what rates increases you will pay and therefore service levels provided.

Please tell us what you think. The associated consultation documents and ways to share your views can be found on the council website akhaveyoursay.nz (DESLEY SIMPSON)  PN

Chair – Auckland Domain Committee

www.desleysimpson.co.nz

www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Pages/default.aspx

Ockham's Mark Todd & Mayor Wayne Brown

WAYNE BROWN: MAYOR OF AUCKLAND

Ockham’s latest residential masterpiece, The Greenhouse

This week I had the immense pleasure of opening Ockham’s latest residential masterpiece, The Greenhouse, a 10-storey pleasure to look at on Williamson Avenue right opposite Ponsonby Countdown.

This building is exactly the sort of response to the much needed city intensification that is how we want population growth to look like. It fits in with all the rules and brings residents into the centre of Ponsonby and all of its attractions – shops, bars, parks and services – all within walking distance. It is why my wife and I have lived nearby for the last 20 years.

We love the mix of commercial, residential and plain unusual and Mark Todd of Ockham and his hugely talented architect Tania Wong have made the most of the site using lovely glazed green bricks from near Venice in Italy. The building’s quality is superb.

In the morning before the opening, I spoke to a large audience of the city’s business leaders where Scott Pritchard, the CEO of Precinct Properties, who was responsible for the equally brilliant Commercial Bay, described what the city most needs and that is residents. With the Greenhouse, Ockham has delivered.

More residents in the city centre make use of the existing infrastructure, support more shops, reduce crime and is much preferred by council compared to remote greenfield developments like Drury that are just a cost to ratepayers as inevitably residents there will want all the things like trains, buses, pools and libraries that developers don’t provide.

Ponsonby is one of our earliest residential areas and this latest offering will age well in our favourite suburb.

Well done Ockham. (WAYNE BROWN, BE FIPENZ)  PN Mayor.Wayne.Brown@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz www.facebook.com/WayneBrown4Auckland

ROGER GRAY: BEHIND THE RED FENCE – PORT OF AUCKLAND

As I write this, it’s a stunning summer day in Auckland. The sun is sparkling off the Waitematā and the port is absolutely humming with activity.

There are currently three cruise ships supporting Auckland’s tourism and hospitality businesses, a roll-on roll-off cargo ship is discharging new vehicles and the last of the summer campervans and a couple of container ships are unloading your next pair of shoes and the products you’ll soon see on the shelves at your local supermarket.

Because goods arrive at their Auckland destination, the port is the lowest carbon option for importers. Auckland’s port is also located in a naturally sheltered harbour and largely unaffected by serious weather events and storm surges, so is a great port of choice for shipping lines.

Last week, the team moved more containers per week than we have in years, and we are having our largest cruise season ever. This year, over 350,000 people will come ashore at Port of Auckland. Across the country, cruising passengers are expected to spend over $600m this year.

We’re seeing this first hand as CBD bars, restaurants and hotels are planning more staff for cruise ship arrivals. And demand for cruises is not slowing down. A recent survey out of Australia shows one in four people expecting to go on a cruise this year and New Zealand was named as the preferred international destination.

Around 3000 people access the Port of Auckland daily for work – stevedores, truck drivers, Customs and MPI officers, shipping agents, pilots and more. These essential workers are quietly enabling the city to thrive. The team that work behind the city’s historic red fence are also incredibly efficient at moving vehicles and containers through the port – the average time vehicles and containers spend at the port is around two days.

Now, let’s be honest, Port of Auckland isn’t moving any time soon. Our operations and footprint will change over time, but a port relocation in the next 30+ years just isn’t likely. So, we need to make sure we can support Auckland’s freight needs well into the future.

Over the next 12 months we expect to start channel deepening so we can welcome the larger ships soon to be coming our way, but we also need to build the port infrastructure that goes with it. We are planning to invest in developing its

berth capacity over the next three to five years, and start the design and consent process to build a cruise facility that can adequately support the industry.

Port of Auckland in 2015 promised the city there’d be no more reclamation into the harbour and we’re sticking to our promise. However, in order to support the city into the future, we need to complete the berths at Fergusson North and Bledisloe North. And we need freight owners to choose rail to move their cargo.

Whilst the port is naturally the low-carbon entry port for goods in and out of Auckland, the challenge we face is that the port currently subsidises moving containers on and off the port by rail to the tune of $7m. Whilst we have the capacity to move up to 120,000 TEU (20ft equivalent containers) by rail per year, the demand from cargo owners to use rail doesn’t exist and as a business we need to start recovering the costs.

So, starting this year we are phasing in rail handling charges starting at $20 per TEU and slowly increasing to $90 over the next five years. What we will also do though is increase road access charges for trucks, particularly during peak times. To support a low-carbon city. To do our bit to reduce congestion, we will keep rail cheaper than our off-peak road access charges. We expect this will support a modal shift from road to rail.

In December, we were proud to receive the Deloitte Top 200 award for 'Most Improved Performance'. This wasn’t just because of the financial turnaround where we more than doubled our dividend to council, but we have seen the safety culture transform and the relationship with our unions, particularly the Maritime Union of NZ, change to one of partnership and collaboration.

Last month, we released our half-year results and were pleased to announce a larger dividend to council than we did in the first half of FY23 and that we are on track to return a full year dividend of $35m.

And we continue to improve.

Roger Gray, CEO, Port of Auckland www.poal.co.nz

PONSONBY U3A: MARCH 2024

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

At the February meeting of Ponsonby U3A, what a treat it was for members to hear about the icon that most know, love and frequent so often – Auckland Art Gallery. To step inside the doors of this beautiful building is to be transported into a world of warm wood, changing light and magical images.

Kirsten Lacy joined the gallery as Director in April 2019. With master's degrees in art history, curatorship, and business administration, Kirsten is a qualified artist and has impressive experience in Australian galleries.

In her warm and authentic manner, Kirsten gave an overview of the gallery, its role in the community and some of the key strategic areas of focus in the years ahead such as reflecting that we are a migrant nation. There are approximately 700 works of art which are constantly turned over. Just in the last year, one hundred new works were added. Kirsten touched on the functions of curatorial, collection development, conservation, publishing, education and the many programmes in place. For example, over 10,000 students per year come through the doors. Around 350 events per year are held around performance and programmes for people. There is a huge number of supporters and benefactors, for although the gallery is publicly funded by the Auckland City Council, 50 percent of costs must be self-generated.

Kirsten told how New York philanthropists, Julian and Josie Robertson, fell in love with New Zealand. They lent 12 of their modern art paintings to the gallery and 30,000 people came to the exhibition. The Robertsons were duly thanked. Julian responded that it was the single most extraordinary act of thanks he’d ever experienced and promptly gifted the gallery 15 of their masterworks. You can see the resulting exhibition, The Robertson Gift: Exhibiting Modernism until early August.

Currently exhibiting until early May is the fabulous Guo Pei: Fashion, Art, Fantasy. Guo Pei is China’s most renowned couturier. She is famous for dressing celebrities, royalty and political elites who wish to stand out. Based on the legacy of her grandmother who strove to keep the old traditions of China alive, her creations use gold and silver metal threads. The results are colourful, vibrant, playful.

Ponsonby U3A’s President and geologist, Ian Smith, gave a fascinating account of geological science’s preoccupation with time. Three hundred years ago during the Enlightenment and the beginning of modern science, a debate began about the age of the Earth.

Archbishop James Ussher, using the ages of generations of people of the Hebrew-derived Old Testament, concluded creation was at nightfall on 22 October 4004 BC. And that is where the idea that earth is 6000-years-old came from.

Contrary thought began and Ian chronicled the various iterations of theory throughout the next centuries. For example, sedimentary rock layers were thought to represent time but how long did each layer represent? Seemingly, the argument was settled in the 20th Century when scientists focused on finding the oldest rocks. This culminated in the discovery in Australia of a 4.3-billion-year-old rock. And now the fire has gone out of the argument.

Ponsonby U3A welcomes new members and visitors. There is a meeting every month which features top-notch speakers from all walks of life. At the same meeting is a ten-minute talk from a member.

Members can join over 30 special-interest groups where new friendships are made. If you are interested in attending, please call President Ian Smith on M: 021 130 2330.

(CHRISTINE HART)  PN

NEXT MEETING: Friday 8 March.

GUEST SPEAKER: Shamubeel Eaqub, Economics, Politics and You.

VENUE: Herne Bay Petanque Club, Salisbury Reserve, Salisbury Street, Herne Bay.

ENQUIRIES: Ian Smith, President, Ponsonby U3A. M: 021 130 2330, www.u3a.nz

Kirsten Lacy

Photo: Jinki Cambronero

DAVENPORTS LAW: STRATEGIC TRUST AND TAX PLANNING

Albert and Mae had owned a successful business for many years. It had started out small, but now had a number of staff and locations throughout the country.

They enjoyed a great lifestyle in the city and had a holiday home in Omaha. Both their family home and their bach were in their family trust. Their accountant, who is also the independent trustee on their trust, had recommended that many years ago to protect from business risk in the early days.

Albert and Mae owned the shares in their business in their personal names. One of their children worked in the business and they hoped that at some stage in the future she might want to take over when they were ready for retirement. But they were quite a few years from that. It had been quite some time since they had reviewed the trust deed, wishes for the trust and revisited their wills. They also couldn’t remember if they had enduring powers of attorney.

They went to see the lawyer they had used for many years for the business and any personal matters that arose. He advised them that Trust Law had become very specialised over the last few years and given the potential complexities of their affairs, they should go and see a specialist trust lawyer. He gave them a recommendation and they made an appointment to see her.

The lawyer reviewed their documents and gave them lots of practical advice around their trust, wills and wishes (including updating the enduring power of attorneys that they did have, to include alternates in case one of them had died or they both lost capacity). They hadn’t realised that the spouses and partners of their children were beneficiaries of their trust. While they loved their in-laws and didn’t expect any issues in the future, they really did want to make sure that what they

passed on to their children would not be divided in two in the event of a separation. The lawyer suggested ways in which they could fix the trust to prevent that from happening.

She also questioned why the shares in the business weren’t in a trust. The value of the company had increased significantly over the years and she explained from an asset protection perspective, it was important to have all their valuable assets in a trust.

She also said that there were potential tax benefits to having the shares in the trust. Despite the negative publicity around the trust tax rate increasing to 39%, trusts still offered a very flexible vehicle to be able to provide greater tax efficiency. Albert and Mae had been paying their grandchildren’s private school fees for a number of years, and she said that even those could be more effectively paid through a trust. The lawyer said she would liaise with their accountant, and bring in specialist tax advice if required, to create greater efficiencies.

Albert and Mae were thrilled. They came away feeling confident, and even if they hadn’t fully understood some of the detail around the tax piece, they knew they were in good hands.

With the change in the trust tax rate to 39% from 1 April 2024, it is the perfect time to review your affairs to ensure that you are getting the most from your structuring. Even if your income producing assets are already in a trust, there may be opportunities to re-structure for commercial reasons that will give you greater tax efficiency. It is the perfect time to be getting legal and tax advice. If you have your company shares held in a trust, talk to your accountant and lawyer about the feasibility of declaring a dividend before 31 March 2024 and whether that is the most efficient thing for you to do.

Trusts, Assets And Tax Implications.

Trusts are invaluable asset protection mechanisms, which allow a person to hold property and assets on behalf of another for the good of the beneficiaries.

However, when you’re dealing with transferring assets in or out of a trust, it is important to consider the tax consequences. There needs to be careful planning and structuring, often with your accountant and lawyer working together.

To get specialty advice for your situation contact Tammy McLeod or one of the Trust Team today.

CRAFTED LEGAL ADVICE FOR PEACE OF MIND.

PONSONBY CIVIC SPACE: MARCH UPDATE

The new civic space site at 254 Ponsonby Road has been transferred back from Eke Panuku to Auckland Council. This enables the project to proceed once resource consent is received.

BRAVO!

The Community-Led-Design Group (CLDG) has since been lobbying to quickly activate the site, starting with the removal of alcohol advertising from the building and replacing it with a display of LandLAB’s latest design images in the windows. When the hoardings go up around the site, the CLDG is working on a co-lab to have these decorated by a mural artist, with input from the local schools. Meanwhile, council has mounted a sign panel with images of the project on-site.

On 7 February, a further workshop was held with the Waitematā Local Board, where council staff provided an update on the detailed design. The CLDG sought a briefing post the workshop and was provided with the summary below:

“Members (of the Waitematā Local Board) were happy to receive the detailed design which will be presented for approval at the next business meeting on 20 February.

"Members were issued with the 50% detailed design drawings. Also an ‘options comparison’ for the reused toilet block.

"The project is currently on budget.

"Staff have reviewed the proposed design for adaption of the reused toilet block and instructed LandLAB to continue with the timber battened look.”

The CLDG is delighted by this decision as we see the creative adaptation and upgrade of the recycled toilet block by LandLAB as an important feature of the design. We are very much in favour of the wooden shroud which integrates the toilets into the rest of the design, softens the materiality of that area of the civic space and honours the cultural input of mana whenua.

Public toilet amenities are often reduced to barely functional necessities, attracting subsequent disrespect of them by users. By creating a beautiful toilet facility, the amenity is upgraded

and the overall design of the civic space is enhanced, whilst encouraging more respectful use of the facility.

The CLDG is very appreciative of the considerable design expertise that LandLAB brings to this project. Their substantial existing work within Tāmaki Makaurau bears testament to their proficiency. It has always been an aspiration of the community for the new civic space at 254 Ponsonby Road to be an exemplar of design excellence in urban amenity. And it is this aspiration that the design group and the CLDG are keeping front of mind as the final detailed decisions are made.

The CLDG presented to the Waitematā Local Board at their 20 February business meeting in support of the approval of the detailed design. We are delighted that the board unanimously and enthusiastically resolved to:

“Approve the detailed design for the new civic open space at 254 Ponsonby Road and request staff to progress the project to procurement and construction."

The board also thanked the Community-Led-Design Group for their ongoing support of this project.

THIS IS BRILLIANT!

The CLDG once again extends our thanks to the WLB for their continued advocacy and support for the new civic space at 254 Ponsonby Road, which is now well on the way to being realised. Enabling works are planned to begin this month, with the erection of site hoardings.

SO BE EXCITED!

For more information or to contact the CLDG, visit the website; 254ponsonbyrd.org.nz or see our Facebook pages; Ponsonby Park or 254 Ponsonby Road.

(JENNIFER WARD)  PN

www.254ponsonbyrd.org.nz

BAMBI-CINO’S

Deer milk lattes being served up for pooches at iconic Ponsonby cafe.

Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more milk offerings, Bambina Cafe on Ponsonby Road is serving up deer milk lattes – or as they call them, ‘Bambi-Cino’s’ – not to their human clients but to their doggie regulars!

To celebrate International Love Your Pet Day, 20 February, Bambina cafe has teamed up with one of their regular customers, Rebecca Davidson, who owns Nutrideer, a premium pet food supplement, the core ingredient of which is deer milk powder, to offer free Bambi-cino’s.

In case you didn’t know, deer milk has one of the highest protein profiles, superseding cow and goat milks and even other meat and plant sources. So, Bambina’s beloved pooches will get to indulge in these supercharged deer milk lattes and reap the multiple health benefits.

Bambina Cafe co-owner Matt McMillian said: “We love all our doggie regulars, so it’s great to be able to provide them with something special and packed with fantastic health benefits. And what better day to start offering them than on International Love Your Pet Day? We’ve trialled it with a few of our furry friends and they have been lapping them up and we’re loving seeing their cute, furry milk moustaches!”

Rebecca added: “I’ve been a regular at Bambina for years and have been sharing the journey of the research and science behind Nurtideer with Matt and then there is the name –Bambi-cino – it just all lined up! New Zealand has the only deer milking operation in the world, and we recently launched the Nutrideer range in Asia and we’re looking to export to other markets later this year, so we’re excited to start the Bambi-cino trend in NZ and hope it catches on internationally.” www.nutrideer.nz

COMMUNITY AND RESIDENTS (C&R) ELECTED MEMBER UPDATE (WAITEMATĀ)

We, Sarah Trotman ONZM, Greg Moyle JP and Allan Matson are your C&R Local Board Members.

It is our privilege to serve our community on the Waitematā Local Board. This month’s update acknowledges the good work of local Business Associations, challenges with the Waitematā Local Board Good Citizens' Awards, the need for Open Workshops and the extended Meola Road closure.

Good Citizens' Awards

We have been inundated with calls from members of the community upset at the declining of Gael Baldock, Community Advocate, from receiving a Local Board 'Good Citizens' Award. Ms Baldock received a staggering 20 nominations from the community we serve. Ms Baldock met the awards' criteria and should have received the award.

To those who will receive Good Citizens' Awards on 29 February, hearty congratulations and warm thanks for the good you do for our fabulous community. From supporting those struggling with homelessness at Lifewise Merge Cafe to planting at Meola Reef, there is so much good to be celebrated across our neighbourhoods.

Business Associations

The Waitematā Local Board area spreads from Newmarket and Parnell across the city centre through Ponsonby to Grey Lynn and Westmere. This month, the board has had presentations from a number of the Business Associations. Parnell Business Association is deeply concerned that Auckland Transport continues to explore a cycleway on Parnell Road, despite their request for a pause. Across town, in the Uptown Business Association area, we need to see better engagement from Eke Panuku on development around Maungawhau Station. Development around the CRL stations present a once in a generation opportunity, we need to get it right.

Open Workshops

The Waitematā Local Board meets on three Tuesdays each month for Workshops held behind closed doors. The board also meets for one formal Business Meeting each month, typically the third Tuesday of the month. Attendance at the Business Meeting is low, this indicates a lack of interest by community. Interested stakeholders and community share with us that they see the Business Meetings as a “box ticking exercise, the real business being done behind closed doors at Workshops.”

The C&R team agrees that most Workshops should be open to our community. We will table a Notice of Motion at the next formal Business Meeting to advocate for a minimum of two Open Workshops each month.

Meola Road Closure Extended

We were as disappointed as our community to learn, at the 11th hour, that Auckland Transport decided to keep Meola Road closed for longer than previously communicated to the community. We have expressed our deep concern to Auckland Transport at the lack of clarity for our community and the need for better, proactive communication with all stakeholders impacted by projects across the Local Board area. We have arranged a walk through of works at Meola Road to better understand the delay and to hear more about their future communication strategy and timelines for road opening.

It is our privilege to serve you on the Waitematā Local Board, don’t hesitate to reach out to us if we can be of assistance.

Allan.Matson@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Greg.Moyle@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Sarah.Trotman@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz and M: 021 487 583.

A TRIP TO SCOTLAND

Aroha Jakicevich recently undertook a journey with her father Jak through the distilleries of Scotland, pausing for an investiture steeped in tradition.

Embarking on a pilgrimage to Scotland, the birthplace of whisky, holds a profound allure for any enthusiast. Raised on tales narrated by my father of distant distilleries and the mystical Scottish Highlands, the idea of tracing those stories back to their origins was an alluring prospect.

Our adventure began on a crisp Edinburgh day, as autumn whispered through the cobblestone city streets and gothic spires. In just a few days, we would find ourselves within the walls of Blair Athol Castle in Pitlochry, nestled in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. This was the moment that brought us across the world, my father Jak having been invited to become a Keeper of the Quaich. Bestowed upon those who have devoted their lives to championing Scottish whisky, the honour was a testament to his dedication and passion.

The Keepers of the Quaich is an exclusive and international society that recognises those who have shown outstanding commitment to the Scotch whisky industry. Membership is extended by invitation only, following a stringent vetting process conducted by a select committee. The committee diligently reviews each nominee's contributions to the world of Scotch whisky, ensuring that only those who have truly championed and influenced the industry are inducted.

The society boasts members from diverse backgrounds – master distillers, whisky experts, writers, enthusiasts, with each having left a lasting mark on the whisky world. To stand among them is to be counted in a lineage of guardians of Scotch whisky's heritage and future. There, in the grandeur of Blair Castle, my father was inducted as a Keeper of the Quaich.

With the formalities behind us, we hit the road, weaving through the countryside and navigating narrow, single-track gravel lanes. Flanked by oak trees, winding roads opened up to bright blue skies and rolling hills of golden barley. In 25 days, we explored 30 stunning distilleries, each visit debunking myths and reshaping our understanding of whisky making. Now that we’re home, it’s time to sit down at Dida’s with a dram or two and share a few tales.

Here’s a thought: come on into Dida’s on Jervois Road and try some of our whiskies; it is, after all where Jak, Keeper of the Quaich, likes to hang out. Slàinte! (AROHA JAKICEVICH)  PN

DIDAS WINE LOUNGE, 60 Jervois Road, T: 09 376 2813, www.didaswinelounge.co.nz

Come and visit us in our new intimate 35 seat dining room

Dinner: Thursday to Saturday

210 SYMONDS STREET T: 09 377 1911

www.thefrenchcafe.co.nz

thefrenchcafe

- Gusto Italiano

GUSTO MEANING ‘TASTE AND ENJOYMENT’

When you dine with us, the focus is on freshly prepared classic dishes, featuring an excellent range of pasta, seafood, meats and our pizza classics.

We also offer our pasta dishes to takeaway, phone for details or check our website for the menu.

263 PONSONBY RD, THREE LAMPS, 09 361 1556

www.gustoitaliano.co.nz

New Autumn hours (13 March onwards)

Open 4pm till late Wednesday to Sunday

Pop in for Drinks and Snacks, Walk-ins Welcome

23 Ponsonby Road T: 021 379 700 kolauckland.co.nz

Modern Asian Eatery

Dinner: Tuesday to Saturday | Lunch: Saturday

210 SYMONDS STREET | T: 09 377 1911 | anise.co.nz

Email: info@anise.co.nz | Instagram: @anise_auckland

Photography: Babiche Martens

Photography: Babiche Marten

Photography: Babiche Marten

PHIL PARKER:

KORERO TE REO!

So, that’s an odd title for a wine column. But there is a method in my madness.

Since the borders reopened after Covid, foreign tourists have been streaming back to Aotearoa in huge numbers. Around 90% my wine tour clients have been from the USA, and almost all of them were liberal folk who embraced diversity. They were lured here by our reputation for great wine, food and scenery and friendly people. But one thing which has delighted them is the way we have embraced bilingualism.

I have heard it so many times over the past two years, that our point of difference compared to many other former colonies, is the way we have encouraged and exhibit biculturalism – especially in our language. Signage, place names, transport announcements in both Māori and English have been just one more thing that made their trip here unique and memorable. Let’s keep it that way.

Speaking of diversity, here’s a lineup of wines from Aotearoa/ New Zealand, Chile, and Italy including three organic wines. Ka kite ano.

Loveblock Marlborough Gewürztraminer (organic/vegan)

2021 - $26

From Kim Crawford’s organic Loveblock Vineyard, overlooking the Awatere Valley. Just a tad of sweetness, but essentially dry and elegant. Delicate integrated palate of rosewater, lychee, pink guava and mandarin. Tangy, lengthy finish. Fabbo! Available: widely.

Westbrook Waimauku Albariño 2023 - $45

First one off the new block of albariño at Westbrook’s Waimauku vineyard near Kumeu. Made by the renowned James Rowan. Gorgeous and complex, opening up with mineral salinity and mandarin citrus. Then jasmine and honeysuckle on the mid palate and a tangy lengthy finish. Yum. Available: westbrook.co.nz

De Martino Viejas Tinajas Chile Muscat 2022 - $45

Unusually dry for a muscat. Aged in earthenware amphorae. Golden hued, with a slight haze. Floral notes of rosewater

and jasmine, plus ripe pineapple and white peach. Dry finish. Available: Dhall & Nash Fine O Wine.

Clevedon Vineyard Munros Road Arneis - $32

Another very dry white style. Arneis is relatively rare in NZ. Flavours of apricot, frangipane tart and herbal basil leaf, with soft acids but very dry finish. Available: Dhall & Nash clevedonvineyard.co.nz

Mont’Albano Nero D’Avola Sicilia Italy (organic) 2022 - $26

Voluptuous and silky. Intense flavours of cassis, fruitcake, black berry fruits and a core of medium tannins. Ripe and seductive. Available: Dhall & Nash, Herne Bay Cellars.

De Martino Viejas Tinajas Chile Cinsault 2018 - $45

Cinsaut is the fourth most widely planted grape variety in France, particularly in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. This Chilean wine is nicely aged, soft and rounded. Would pass for a premium pinot noir in a blind tasting. Mainly savoury characters of soy, mushroom and truffle. But wrapped up in dark fruit flavours of cassis, black cherry and dark chocolate. Available: Dhall & Nash.

Bohemian ‘The Author’ Hawkes Bay Merlot 2023 - $26

Great wine from a difficult vintage when Cyclone Gabrielle blitzed many vineyards in Hawkes Bay. Soft tannins, red cherry, plum jam and dark chocolate with a hint of raspberry and a hint of toffee apple. Available: Dhall & Nash vineonline.co.nz

Mont’Albano Montepulciano D’Abruzzo Italy (organic) 2022 - $24

Big and generous with a savoury oak backbone. The classic wine of Abruzzo in Italy, an Italian red made from the Montepulciano grape variety. This wine is ripe and almost sweet, with boysenberry, cassis, spiced plum, almond and leather. Medium to firm tannins. Hints of soy and truffle. Available: Dhall & Nash bythebottle.co.nz (PHIL PARKER)  PN

www.finewinetours.co.nz, phil.parker@xtra.co.nz

Your

LIME BAR'S RECENT 25TH BIRTHDAY PARTY - PONSONBY

Lime Bar 25th Birthday Party

Faye & Richard Davis

Isaac, Jack Sansom & Harris Danielson

Jo Rewi, Janelle Calder, Alex Fraser & Bridget Dalzell

Valentino, Joyce, Jen Wool & Dan Wright

Mollie Fox Fraser, Kevin Fraser & George Fox Fraser

Scottie Stevenson, Nevak Rogers, Racheal & Rob Anthony

Katie Rey & Diana Kerr

Aaron Johnston, Kevin Fraser & Rachael Antunovich

The Hipstamatics

FACES AT GREY LYNN FARMERS MARKET

Daniel Verry can be found at Grey Lynn Farmers Market on Sunday mornings, giving visitors a chance to try his tasty range of fermented foods.

Where did you grow up?

On a sheep and beef farm in Piopio, enjoying country life in the King Country.

Did you ever aspire to carry on the farming tradition?

No, I am very happy that my cousin, who didn’t grow up on a farm, has the passion and dedication to take on the family farm. But I still enjoy visiting and helping out with docking and other farm chores.

Why did you leave Piopio?

For university – I studied Agribusiness at Massey in Palmerston North. Then I got a finance job in Wellington.

How was life in Wellington?

Wellington was great fun – I had a tight group of friends from Massey. I loved skiing and snowboarding and anything outdoor-focused, plus the nightlife. I met Marea there when I got back from a season working as a snowboard instructor on snowfields in the US. My uni friends had roped her into their women’s cricket team while I was in the US.

Was that the end of your travels?

Not at all. The following year we both spent a ski season in the USA on our way for a traditional Kiwi OE in London and Europe. We spent our last five months exploring Europe in an old UK postal van.

What brought you home?

Marea was pregnant with our first child so we moved to Hamilton to be close to family.

You settled in Hamilton?

Yes, I got a job with Fonterra lasting 14 years – eight years working on product costings and six years on revenue forecasting. Marea had intended to take a break from paid work but two months before our son was born she got offered her ideal GIS role for DOC.

None of this sounds like a business making fermented food.

Marea has always had a passion for natural unprocessed foods. She was always fermenting foods at home – foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, sourdough and kefir. She got so experienced, that she taught others how to ferment foods. And, in 2017, that led to the birth of GoodBugs with Marea and a couple of friends making sauerkraut to sell at our local farmers market.

Why fermented foods?

They are very good for health. The fermentation process has no oxygen, so it encourages lactobacillus bacteria. These are

the good bacteria that thrive naturally in our gut and support good health. We always have sauerkraut and/or kimchi on our dinner table, adding it as a condiment.

Do you add the bacteria?

No – we use a wild fermentation that encourages the wild bacteria to eat the natural sugars in the vegetables.

Your business is much bigger than that now.

Yes – we both work full-time on our family business. Even our four children help with labelling and washing jars when they haven’t got other commitments. And our weekends revolve around selling our products at farmers markets – Hamilton, Cambridge, Tauranga, Parnell, and Grey Lynn.

What is your most popular product?

Honey mustard sauerkraut. It’s a good gateway sauerkraut for people who aren’t used to the taste. We’ve sweetened it up with honey, but it is still full of the live probiotic goodness. My favourite is the Golden Kraut that has orange, turmeric and ginger. Purists can always eat our Zuurkool which is simple traditional sauerkraut. Zuurkool is Dutch for sauerkraut – a tribute to one of the GoodBugs' founding friends and her Dutch heritage. Our kimchi is also popular for having the 'right amount of spice for the Kiwi palate'. Kimchi is the Korean cousin of sauerkraut, literally meaning spicy fermented vegetables. Our most unique offering is the fermented pesto – it has a lovely tang.

Why are farmers markets important?

Sauerkraut is an unfamiliar food for many Kiwis. They are often curious because they have heard about sauerkraut but might not have had a chance to try it. We give them a chance to ask questions and try different versions so they can find one that suits their tastes.  PN

www.goodbugs.co.nz

www.greylynnfarmersmarket.co.nz

VISITING MARQUES DE MURRIETA

Late last year, I had the pleasure of once again visiting Marques de Murrieta. It had been far too long between visits, over which time the winery had been renovated and transformed.

Marques de Murrieta is located in Spain’s Rioja, a unique single vineyard, that is called Ygay. The history of this impressive property starts around 1870 when Luciano de Murrieta y García-Lemoine acquired the vineyard. Like many, he had travelled to Bordeaux and acquired knowledge before returning to Spain. Armed with knowledge of ageing in oak, he returned and unlike in Bordeaux vinified in American oak and let the wines mature for much longer. Marques de Murrieta set a milestone for Rioja becoming the first commercial winery, shipping wine to Cuba and Mexico. Recognised with his promotion to the Marques de Murrieta and built his Chateau, Castillo Ygay. When he died childless in 1983, Vicente CebriánSagarriga, Count of Creixell, took over the winery with his wife, Chus Suárez-Llanos. Today, Murrieta is run by their children Vicente D. and Cristina Cebrián-Sagarriga.

All of the wines from Marques de Murrieta are made from the 300 hectares of vineyards that are in one continuous vineyard around the castillo. Situated at an altitude of 320 – 483 metres, it’s a beautiful and unique site, most of the region around it made up of various small parcels planted on a variety of different sites. The reds are based around tempranillo, with smaller amounts of Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha. Capellania, the white wine from Viura.

Marques de Murrieta’s top cuvee is Castillo Ygay, a Gran Reserva produced in only the finest years. A consistent 100-point scoring wine that sits comfortably at the table with the world’s finest. Whilst carrying a premium price tag, when

you compare it to those at said table, the relativity should see you diving in boots and all for all you can secure. Securing these wines is the increasing challenge. They are allocated the world over, a part of which we are very lucky to have for New Zealand.

The property and castle have been systematically restored since 2014. Now reopened again, it’s breathtaking. Not only the final construction and site, but how this has been achieved. The buildings have all been created how they would have been originally from stone, hand cut and lifted brick by brick.

Marques de Murrieta is a winery that’s all about experiences. So much so that you can no longer visit there to ‘pop into the cellar door’ you must put aside a day for an experience. Quite simply, if you don’t, you can’t visit. You go from the vineyard visit to the cellars, then to a private dining room for a tasting over lunch carefully matched with all the wines. A visit here truly is an experience. One that I’ve told everyone who will listen about. Now, that’s clever marketing.

The wines from Marques de Murrieta are on promotion this month at all Glengarry stores. Pop on in and create your own experience with this wonderful Spanish icon.

(LIZ WHEADON)  PN

www.glengarrywines.co.nz

Check out a quick video on our visit there...

LUCY KENNEDY: MARCH BOOK REVIEW

Bunny – Mona Awad

“Their cheeks are plump and pink and shining like they’ve been eating too much sugar, but actually it’s Gossip Glow, the flushed look that comes from throwing another woman under the bus.”

Samantha Mackey hates her life. She hates the pretentious privilege that runs rife through Warren University. She hates her poverty, herself, her crushing, fervent insecurities, her writing – she hates it all. Most of all, Samantha Mackey hates her classmates, the Bunnies, an exclusive, cult-like friend group, who are so quaint and cutesy and precious that she wants to hit them. And then apologise. And give them cupcakes.

The Bunnies all call each other ‘Bunny', a pet name that is adorable, charming – Just like you, Bunny! Why thank you, Bunny! They are aggressively cheerful, insufferably twee and incredibly isolating. Until the Bunnies invite Samantha into their world, leading her into a mental, magical warren of Grimm Brothers-esque horror, all dressed up in polka dots and a sparkly bow.

A darkly funny and saccharinely satirical view of the cut-throat struggle for success women go through in academic and literary spheres, friendship with claws hiding behind it and infused with just the right amount of horror, Mona Awad’s ‘Bunny' will nuzzle up against you, blush-pink and soft, before clamping its jaws on you and refusing to let go. (LUCY KENNEDY)  PN  out of 5!

instagram @lucykennedyreviews

NEW ARRIVALS AT ZEBRANO

Discover the latest arrivals at Zebrano and elevate your wardrobe with our selection of designer labels, thoughtfully curated with your curves in mind.

Visit us and receive a friendly 'kia ora' or 'bonjour' as we help you discover the ideal fit for you. Alternatively, shop on our website anytime.

2500, www.zebrano.co.nz

ZEBRANO, 22 Morrow Street, Newmarket – opposite Westfield. T: 09 523

1. Deeanne Hobbs – Step Top

2. Loobies Story – Agatha Pant and Fearless Ruffle Top

3. OBI – Samurai Drape Dress

4. Curate – Love Story, Treat Yourself and Something Borrowed

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4.

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BRINGING NATURAL ELEMENTS INTO HOME DÉCOR

When ASH&STONE established its Ponsonby crystal shop, one of its core objectives was to bring a contemporary view to crystals and their uses and to showcase crystals as design aspects that add both texture and elemental connection to interiors.

“Whether your focus is on interior aesthetics or energy, crystals are a stunning way to enhance your home,” says Ashleigh Scopas from ASH&STONE.

“We’ve set up our retail environment so that customers can easily visualise how a piece might look in their own space and try these alongside other display elements. It makes it easier to envision the fit.”

Given the sculptural element of larger crystals, these warrant showcasing in feature spaces within your home. Smaller pieces can be used on coffee tables alongside books, plants or lamps. Polished spheres or smaller clusters often look beautiful sitting inside a ceramic bowl or display dish.

So how to choose the right crystal?

“Just like a bespoke art piece, we find customers are often inexplicably drawn to something,” says Ashleigh. “They’ll come in with a set idea of what they’re looking for, but a particular piece will catch their eye and they keep returning to it. That’s likely the piece they’ll take home!

“But we also talk with you about your interior, the look you’re wanting to create, and help you try pieces on for size.”

ASH&STONE, 3 Redmond Street, Ponsonby or online at ashandstone.online

SARITA SOLVIG BLANKENBURG:

THE ART OF LIVING WELL

"LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE...

…and medicine be thy food.” This quote by Hippocrates around 400 BC has never been more relevant. With an increasing reliance on prescriptive drugs and alarming prevalence of digestive diseases, we must go back to the basics and eat simple seasonal food, that suits our individual needs.

Ayurveda, the ancient healing system from India, is all about bio-individuality. We are all unique and there is no onesize-fits-all approach. Based on our body-mind constitution (dosha), we should follow a vata, pitta or kapha-specific diet. In addition, our needs change on an annual, seasonal and even daily basis as the cyclic rhythms of the earth affect the biorhythms of our bodies and minds.

Knowing your doshic constitution is pivotal to follow a diet that suits you as an individual and brings your body and mind into balance.

A vata person should eat more warm, cooked, grounding meals. Stews, curries, roasted vegetables and soups are favourites. Dry, cold foods such as popcorn, crackers or excess raw foods will bring vata out of balance and can cause bloating, constipation and anxiety.

A pitta person should eat more cooling, detoxifying meals like leafy greens, steamed vegetables, juicy fruit, simple grains and protein-packed lentils. Spicy, pungent and sour foods such as tomatoes, onion, garlic, meat, citrus and chilis can throw pitta off balance and cause acidity, inflammation and impatience.

A kapha person should eat more stimulating, light foods. Bitter vegetables and herbs, leafy greens and pungent spices are perfect for kapha. Oily and heavy foods such as dairy, fats, wheat and sweeteners will cause weight gain and sluggishness for kapha people.

Each dosha is also associated with a season. To stay balanced, it is important to adjust your diet accordingly,

especially during the season that is associated with your primary dosha. During summer, which is governed by hot and fiery qualities of pitta, we should consume cooling detoxifying meals and drinks.

Undigested food can harm the gut environment and if it enters our circular system, can trigger disease. Ayurveda acknowledges the root cause of many chronic diseases originate in our digestive tract. A weak agni causes toxicity within the body and compromises its ability to flush out environmental impurities. Ayurvedic practises focus on regulating the digestive fire, cleansing the body of toxins and strengthening our immune system to enjoy physical, mental and spiritual health.

Part of every ayurvedic consultation is to assess your doshic constitution, the strength of your digestive fire (agni), and the level of impurities (ama). Based on these findings, a customised treatment plan will be created that includes your dosha-specific diet, lifestyle principles, cleansing procedures and herbs or spices that turn your food into medicine.

On our ayurveda cleanse retreats, we apply all these concepts and offer a delicious plant-based cuisine, prepared by Little Bird chef Gawain Cowley, following the principles of seasonal, dosha-specific cooking. Every guest will have an ayurvedic consultation prior to the retreat to assess their doshic constitution and individual needs which will be incorporated into the retreat menu. During a cooking class we will explain the principles of ayurvedic food preparation and demonstrate how to turn them into a delicious meal.

If you would like to come on our Ayurveda Autumn Cleanse retreat at Parohe on Kawau Island from 21-24 March, please contact Sarita@ayurvedanz.com

(SARITA SOLVIG BLANKENBURG)  PN

Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner & Yoga Therapist

www.ayurvedanz.co.nz M: 021 144 5768 | @ayurvedanz

HAPPY BCORP MONTH, PONSONBY

Bcorp is an independent international designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency.

You might have seen the BCorp logo displayed on companies' products or websites and it means you can trust that brand’s ethical and sustainability credentials. Every year during March, the global BCorp community celebrates what it means to be a BCorp or, in other words, a force for good in business.

Here are a few facts to help you understand what BCorp certification is and why you should be looking out for it when you’re shopping.

Fact 1:

Becoming a BCorp is really hard

The BCorp endorsement is globally recognised as the highest standard for corporate responsibility and the verification process is incredibly rigorous. What’s more, every three years, companies must re-demonstrate that they continue to meet these standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability.

Fact 2:

There are 7351 certified BCorporations in the world

In August 2023, there were 7351 certified BCorporations across 161 industries in 92 countries. All of these companies, businesses of all sizes, across multiple industries, demonstrate

to the world that there is a better way of doing business. They prove to the world that it’s possible to balance purpose and profit.

Fact 3:

Some of our best loved local brands are BCorp certified In Australia and New Zealand, there are over 650 BCorps, including some of your favourite brands.

Ecostore is BCorp certified and the team at ecostore are enormously proud of their certification. Sustainability Manager, Romain Mereau, says, “It was a huge mountain to climb, getting certified, but it was worth it. We learned to look at everything through a BCorp lens, and we’re proud to showcase this proof that we’re living our values every day.”

Alongside ecostore's range of home and body care products, you’ll find several other BCorp certified brands at the ecostore shop in 1 Scotland Street.

Choosing these brands are a great way to make sure that the products you’re bringing into your home are helping to change the world for the better.

Pop into the store and check them out during BCorp month.

ECOSTORE, 1 Scotland Street, Freemans Bay, T: 09 360 8477, www.ecostore.co.nz

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34

'FANTASTIC BEASTS' EXHIBITION

I am deeply saddened that the Auckland Museum has pulled the pin on the 'Fantastic Beasts' exhibition that was due in 2024. Not only will many Harry Potter fans, young and old, miss out on a magical event, I am dismayed that it was cancelled due to the pressure from a rainbow group, even though a facilitated staff workshop decided to go ahead with it 8/9. That so many organisations seem to fall to their knees in submission to influence from 'rainbow groups' these days is really shocking. The supposed inclusion of a few means the exclusion of so many more. And the huge income that it would have brought in for the museum has now been lost. This also means that ratepayers will bear the brunt of the unnecessary loss. The objection to the exhibition going ahead was that it was associated with JK Rowling, who has been wrongly slandered for saying that there are only two sexes. That her vilification continues to go unchallenged is both a travesty and a tragedy. When will we be able to think about what is going on in the culture war with more perspective?

Linde Rose, Pt Chevalier

EFESO COLLINS

I would like to express my shock and sadness at the untimely passing of Green Party MP Efeso Collins.

This was a shock to not only his family but the whole of New Zealand.

I met Efeso only once and while I did not agree with his political views, I could tell that he was a nice guy who cared about the people and about his community that he served. He seemed to me to be a man of the community and a person who worked very hard for his constituents and community, especially the South Auckland community in which he both lived in and served.

His passing is a great loss to all, no matter what one's political views are. He is gone too soon, he had lots of talent to give.

So, my thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, loved ones and the community that he served so well. May God give them strength and comfort at this very sad and difficult time.

Eternal rest grant unto him lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him, may he rest in peace. May he rest in peace, amen.

James

Bryenton, Grey Lynn Resident

expressed in Ponsonby News are not always the opinion of Alchemy Media Limited & Ponsonby News.

Opinions

Auckland Rainbow Parade - 17/02/24 Mahesh Muralidhar and Sarah Trotman are pictured enjoying the parade.

JAMES JOHNSTON: JOHNSTON & ASSOCIATES

Business Growth, Sales Expectations and Insights for the 2024 Calendar Year

Recent surveys reveal some interesting thoughts from business leaders and sales drivers. Here are some key points for Ponsonby News readers:

68% of those driving sales for their businesses are setting growth budgets for 2024.

· Half the companies planning for 2024 growth are expecting it to be less than 10%.

Our Australian sales counterparts are more positive about the 2024 year outlook for growth than we are in New Zealand.

· 54% of New Zealand companies felt the revenue they achieved was adversely impacted by last year’s general election cycle.

· It seems there’s a lack of focus on 'business development' within businesses, frustrating sales leaders and their teams.

In terms of AI, 78% of salespeople are not using it, but 70% of them think it will impact or transform sales.

‘Trust’ is sited as the key reason customers buy from companies and salespeople.

2023 Sales Performance Summary.

54% of companies achieved growth in 2023.

2023 was a tougher year for sales than 2022.

30% fewer sales people achieved sales targets than in 2022.

2023 was highlighted by longer purchase decisionmaking times and reduced budgets.

Biggest Challenges for Sales for 2024? Clients having a reduced spending budget. Continued pressure from inflation.

· Competition.

The main area sales leaders will invest in for 2024 to grow their revenue is 'Marketing and Brand Activity' – basically getting your business and your team out in front of your audience.

Competition is considered a bigger factor limiting sales and growth, than supply constraints and the local/global

economy, which was a post-Covid hangover. Competition is in the top three biggest challenges for 2024.

Within New Zealand though, there are some pre and post covid and post 2023 weather event infrastructure issues, combined with population growth that must be addressed for our economy to grow and operate efficiently and remove some of the frustration for businesses and the supply chain.

Business may be more challenging in 2024, but opportunities for growth remain by embracing technology where appropriate as part of their strategic sales planning along with good leadership and good people in their team.

New Zealand is transitioning through a change in Government and businesses are still feeling out what the new Government is like to operate under and deal with, so their trust and enthusiasm is somewhat muted in relation to the economy and their operating environment.

The specter of inflation and interest rates drives some conservatism in decision making, If we commit to this project, how much will it really cost and how much will it cost to service it?

2024 is about getting things back to equilibrium and consistency of output and performance.

Disclaimer – While all care has been taken, Johnston Associates Chartered Accountants Ltd and its staff accept no liability for the content of this article; always see your professional advisor before taking any action that you are unsure about.

T: 09 361 6701, www.johnstonassociates.co.nz

‘PARIS DRAWINGS’ MERTHYR RUXTON STUDIO EXHIBITION

As the artist told Ponsonby News, “In June last year I arrived in Paris for a month’s stay and decided that I had to find something to do.

"I know the city well and was keen to escape the crowds of tourists that milled about in the summer heat.

“From Montmartre where I was staying, I walked down the hill to the main Sennelier shop opposite the Louvre on the Left Bank. I asked an assistant there if she knew of a good lifedrawing class I could join and she recommended L’Academie de la Grande Chaumière – an old established art school in Montmartre. I read up about it online and turned up for class the following day.

“Chagall, Modigliani, Lempicka, Fernand Léger, Louise Bourgeois, Joan Miró and Chaïm Soutine (among others) studied at this school since it opened 120 years ago.

“The studio we worked in was large and airy with high ceilings that helped with the summer heat. You can sense the history as soon as you pass through the large wooden entrance doors, stone stairs are worn with 120 years of use as are the wooden floors, drawing boards and easels. Everything looked original.

“Paris works hard to retain its character and the school had a wonderful dusty ancient atmosphere. It was perfect.

“The courses they offer include painting, drawing from life (model vivant), sculpture and design. Some of the classes are untutored as was the case with the life drawing class I did. The models were actors and dancers with strong lyrical bodies and they were a delight to draw.

“It was fascinating to work amongst a group of eccentric Parisian artists and to feel integrated in a small way into the Parisian art world. They say that all things French have their origins in the Revolution and I had first-hand experience of this. The group dynamic was fascinating and I was interested to be part of it.“

The exhibition opens on 23 March at 639 Takatu Road, Matakana. There are further details on the website.

www.merthyrruxton.com

ST MATTHEW’S CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

With violinist Martin Riseley: 2.30pm, Sunday 17 March

Don’t miss the dazzling violinist Martin Riseley performing Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole Op 21 with conductor David Kay.

St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra is delighted to bring you another glorious concert which features the dazzling violinist Martin Riseley playing Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole Op 21 under the baton of David Kay.

The programme also includes Vaughan Williams’ The Wasps Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite Op 20a.

New Zealander Martin Riseley began violin studies at the age of six, gave his first solo concert at 10 and studied with English violinist Carl Pini and Polish violinist Jan Tawroszewicz. As a member of the Vivo String Quartet, he received a special award from Lord Yehudi Menuhin. He graduated with a BA in Music from Canterbury University and attained a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Juilliard School in 1996.

Since then, Martin Riseley has performed with most leading New Zealand orchestras, several in Mexico, and has also performed as soloist in Australia, Japan and Great Britain and in 2002 premiered a concerto written for him by the ESO’s composer-in-residence, Allan Gilliland.

He is currently Head of Strings at the New Zealand School of Music.

St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra is Auckland's longest established chamber orchestra and has garnered a devoted following. Please arrive early to ensure a good seat.

TICKETS Eventfinda or door sales cash only. Adults $30, Concessions $25, children under 12 free.

ST MATTHEW-IN-THE-CITY CHURCH, corner Wellesley and Hobson Streets, www.smco.org.nz

Sun 17 March at 2.30pm

PROGRAMME

Vaughan Williams The Wasps Overture

Lalo Symphonie Espagnole Op 21

Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Suite Op 20a

SOLOIST Martin Riseley CONDUCTOR David Kay

ST MATTHEW-IN-THE-CITY Cnr of Wellesley & Hobson Street, Auckland City

@ SATELLITE2

Art galleries can be sanctuaries for the creative mind which give form and colour to ideas, issues, beliefs and perspectives, some controversial and confronting, others downright uplifting. satellite2 represents this creative spectrum with a diversity of exhibitions in March and beyond.

PRIDE

Pride of Place, the celebration of Pride in our community, rolls over into March. satellite2 has been beyond delighted to welcome some of the original members of PULSEArt with a selected retrospective of their work. For 24 years, PULSEArt has been proudly asserting the group’s lesbian identity through their art and we first exhibited the group in our CBD Satellite gallery in 2009. This exhibition, titled Pride in Pulse, honours the wonderful Beth Hudson who passed away in 2020, and PULSEArt has regrouped to remember her and to celebrate the longevity and future of the group.

Also sharing Pride of Place is ceramicist Paul Herbert whose hand-built works exhibit elegance, intellect and humour. His work reflects the natural world and human interaction with it.

TWO PROPHETS

Post-Pride we have two ultra-significant exhibitions which reference two indigenous cultures, Moriori and Maori and their visionary leaders, Nunuku of the Rekohu and Rua Kenana of Maungapohatu.

Nukuku's Light – Paintings by Miriam Cameron 24 March – 21 April

Opening Sunday 5pm 24 March

An exhibition of works by expressionist Miriam Cameron whose travels to the Chatham Islands Rekohu with artist Nigel Brown and friends resulted in a series of paintings remembering Nunuku, the land, sea, and sky of his people, the Moriori who lived for eight centuries under a covenant of peace and, out of this, their art, the petroglyphs and dendroglyphs of cave rock and tree.

From the Land – For the Land: The Rua Panels 17 March – 14 April

Opening Sunday 2pm 17 March

Venue 30 Victoria Road, Devonport

An allegorical mural by artist Tony Johnston on the life of Rua Kenana, Tuhoe visionary and prophet. The 10-panel mural 20m long, previously housed in Manukau City Council chambers, never seen in public previously. Accompanying text written by the Late Roderick Finlayson.

satellite2, 61a Victoria Road, Devonport, www.satellite2.co.nz

Miriam Cameron - Nunuku's Light

Tony Johnston - Rua Kenana

Beth Hudson - Flirting with the Fairy

250 GALLERY NEW SHOW

This month, 250 Gallery is featuring the works of photographer Charlotte E. Johnson.

DWELL

Charlotte E. Johnson

In these works Charlotte steps away from still photography and moves into flowing media allowing for introspection to find a personal sense of identity.

29 February – 23 March

Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm

Opening event 1pm – 4pm, Saturday 2 March

"Where are you from?"

For most of us, our birthplace and the land we grew up in have strong ties to personal identity. When asked to describe ourselves, it's commonplace to state our name and our nationality. Where we are from is part of our core selves. It can give us a sense of belonging, of grounding.

I grew up in Cornwall in the UK. Summer tourists would pack themselves like sardines onto the golden beaches, but in the grey and wet winter months, the blustery shores and clifftop walks were mine alone. I would walk for hours, resting on rocky outcrops to watch the waves crash and feel the salt spray on my skin. When I first came across 'the gap' at Piha Beach in Auckland, it reminded me so vividly of the west

coast of Cornwall. Over years of repeated visits to Piha, I came to realise that I was seeking out that memory of another place and time. In dwelling in the past, I lost a sense of myself in the present.

This exhibition is the product of an 18-month introspective considering identity. It features a series of mixed-media works visualising the ocean and incorporating place by using seawater in paintings. I was first introduced to this loose style of semi-uncontrolled creation by my mother, and so the making of each work strengthened my connection to family, home and identity. DWELL also features a moving image/sound work to visualise the liminal space I inhabited during this time.

Charlotte E. Johnson is a British-born artist, currently living and working in Auckland. DWELL will be Charlotte's second solo exhibition and is her final submission towards a Master of Fine Art. Charlotte has exhibited across Aotearoa New Zealand as part of solo and group exhibitions, and pieces are held in the New Zealand Maritime Museum, the McGregor Museum and private collections. Charlotte’s multidisciplinary approach produces emotional artworks inspired by her own thoughts, feelings and experiences.

PLAYBACK THEATRE

This month, we will be hosting the Auckland Playback Theatre on Friday 15 March. 7pm – 8.30pm. Gold coin koha.

MIKHAIL GHERMAN: 'THE CAPTAINS SERIES' @ OREXART

21 – 24 March. Orexart has the pleasure of presenting ‘The Captains Series’, an exhibition of paintings by Mikhail Gherman.

Gherman majored in painting and design at Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland in the 1980s. Since leaving art school, he’s worked as a creative director in fashion and advertising, including as the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Karen Walker.

‘The Captains Series’ is a collision of some of Gherman’s perennial obsessions: outsiders, junkshop art genres, solitary men, and a news cycle bursting with violence.

Gherman has made hundreds of paintings of weatherworn, hirsute captains, all superficially alike yet completely unique. The intensity of the captains’ gaze is heightened by the diminutive scale of the works: a mere 52mm x 35mm. Closer inspection reveals these canvases are, in fact, Beehive matchboxes, adding combustibility and danger to the already-present power of the captains themselves.

The paintings’ subjects have been raised within codes of masculinity so strict that the captains possess remarkable similarities, both in their appearance and their gruff mien. Even so, Gherman’s work also shows these codes aren’t enough to contain the captains, whose assumed camaraderie occasionally explodes into vicious all-out brawls. In attempting to destroy each other, are these almost-identical men also waging war against themselves?

The work will be on display for four days only, from Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 March. For further information email rex@orexart.co.nz

www.orexart.co.nz

Brawling Captains triptych detail

Brawling Captains: oil on canvas, 400 x 400mm

ROSS THORBY:

AFRICA HERE WE COME

As I am writing this, I am surrounded by the random detritus of packing.

As I am writing this, I am surrounded by the random detritus of packing.

Suitcases again have been reclaimed from the attic and are now on the spare bed full to overflowing with the 'must haves' for three months at sea and yet for some reason – I still haven't a thing to wear.

Once again I am about to board the Queen Victoria, this time for the 2024 World Cruise and for what has become to me, an annual pilgrimage, but for my traveling companion, a rite of passage.

We are fortunate this year in sailing to Europe via the west coast of Africa – an itinerary that will allow me some time to do a safari in Africa, immerse myself in the culture of the Philippines and explore the exotic islands of Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

Others in the 'World Cruise Community' have found unfortunately, that their itineraries have drastically changed due to current world events.

Some ships that had been planning transits through the Suez Canal are now avoiding the area as that particular route is fraught with a stoush that gets more complicated by the passing day.

The only option left is the longer trip to the Southern Hemisphere around Africa and there has been some fast diplomacy rearranging ports and arranging provadoring to accommodate an entirely new route that neither they nor their passengers had considered when planning for the trip had begun sometimes, up to three years ago.

Passengers who were due to embark or disembark at now canceled ports, are left to quickly apply for new visas for countries that they never intended or dreamt of visiting, canceling flights and hotels and rebooking them and all whilst hoping for compensation for their costs when only a few weeks before they had thought that their holidays were secure, paid for and settled.

It's times like these that a good travel agent is worth their weight in gold.

Apart from the human tragedy unfolding in the Middle East and the effect on the global economy which could be catastrophic if the crisis of the Canal continues, it is also a shame that those passengers will miss out on transiting through the Canal which separates Africa from Asia and which is truly one of the World's great wonders.

Cut through the sandy desert by Ferdinand De Lessops, a Frenchman - and opened in 1869, he was repeating a feat completed by the ancient Egyptians several millennia ago; but was subsequently foiled by falling water levels and shifting coastlines.

A transit through the modern canal should be on a bucket list for anybody with an interest in well, anything.

Entering from the Mediterranean, the wind suddenly drops and the desert air envelopes you like a well needed hug from Mother Egypt. On one side are the dunes and barren landscape of the Sinai and on the other the green plantations of Sugar spreading as far as the eye can see.

Rustic villages float past with children playing on the canal banks and on the other side the guards of the Sinai, in full uniform with a gun strapped over their shoulder, standing every 500m motionless and staring blankly out across the water.

The ship passes bombed out buildings from the Seven Days War, half finished resorts now being reclaimed by the encroaching plantations and towns with mosques - their Imran call to prayer echoing out from towering minarets. On the other side is desert and substantial monuments to various wars and insurrections and eventually a sign made of coloured stones declaring 'Egypt'!

The mouth of the canal leads into the Red Sea which finishes down at 'Bab El Mandeb' - in Arabic, 'The Gate of Lamentation' a poignant name if you consider what is going on at present - the strait between Yemen and Djibouti.

As you round the corner into the Gulf of Aden you will have passed Mecca and the Sudan, great pods of whales frolicking, peasant fishermen. Sometimes pirates disguised as fishermen and simple sailing vessels plying their trade, now unfortunately UN frigates and flying missiles add pollution to the sights whilst the area is again a flash point in a stoush not truly understood by most of us.

It saddens me to think how many places that I have visited on past journeys are not accessible anymore. The world's borders are tightening and there is much to explore, but if Covid and the current itinerary changing conflict has taught us anything it's to go now while it's still available.

So, Africa here we come. (ROSS THORBY)  PN

UPTOWN ART SCENE

After a year of rain-thinned hues, artists have begun 2024 with strong, colourful works that seem full of bold resilience.

At pop-up 250 Gallery (250 Ponsonby Road), painters Hamish Haldane, Sarah Oostendorp and Sean Whittaker presented 'What Would Donald Judd Do?' While each artist used different media, from Perspex and oil colour to airbrush and paint pen, their work was connected through minimalism, the use of single, primary colours and using the circle as a central motif.

The shiny surfaces of Sam Mitchell’s paintings at Melanie Roger are anything but minimalist. Her head and shoulder portraits swirl with patterns and historical references, all in glorious pinks and blues. Following on from last year’s exhibition at the Dowse, these new works are assured and focused, balancing nuanced narratives with a riot of dayglo exuberance. However, even with their visual cues bubbling to the surface, 'The Curse of Knowledge' shows the impossibility of discerning another’s multifaceted inner self or fully expressing our own.

At Ivan Anthony, Julian Hooper’s usual tubular line work is invaded by an orphic prism of shifting colours in his show 'Talking Pit'. Their diagrammatic nature is softened by playfully exposing the constructed nature of a painting, by painting back in the wooden frame beneath the canvas, while the canvas itself is lain skewwhiff, forming a frame within a frame.

Patrick Lundberg’s ‘eybodey', also at Ivan Anthony, is as intriguing as this exhibition title. Drawn in by small pops of colour, closer eyeballing of his intimate painted objects reveals complex tussles between close colour groups and rigorously worked surfaces. Especially with the very tall, very narrow works, travelling along them becomes a meditative act, as the meticulous construction of each section persuades us to slow down as we cross from one to the next.

A long hot summer requires refreshment by some cool observation of art – make sure to visit one of the galleries in our very arty hood.

EVAN WOODRUFFE, Studio Art Supplies www.studioart.co.nz

Sam Mitchell with Heavy Metal

Sam Mitchell's Two Eves, at Melanie Roger

No title (7) by Patrick Lundberg

MISS PEARL NECLIS – what your stars hold for March

Aquarius (the Water Carrier)

21 January - 19 February

You have always liked the feeling of being on the edge and this month is no different as it makes you feel very alive. You need to communicate how you are feeling though, because the ledge you are sitting on can be precarious.

Taurus (the Bull)

21 April - 21 May

You don’t like to change much but once you do, it can fire you up. Sometimes you wonder what all the fuss is about and wished that you had done it sooner.

Pisces (the Fishes)

20 February - 20 March

It’s the same old scenario with you this month. You’ve taken on more than you can handle. Concentrate on the present and accomplish or daydream and lose focus?

Leo (the Lion)

23 July - 21 August

Someone close to you has begun to act a bit weird this month and you can’t quite work out what’s going on. You just have to be there and try and adapt if anything changes.

Gemini (the Twins)

22 May - 21 June

Just be open so that people know where they stand. You’ve never been the one to come forward and show off, so why do it now and be on show.

Aries (the Ram)

21 March - 20 April

You know its really hard being satisfied by what you’ve got but it’s about time you are. Just take it slowly and you’ll learn to appreciate just what you do have.

Scorpio (the Scorpion)

You seem to have something on your mind and for some reason you feel the need to blurt it out. However, it's best not to create any conflict so think it through before anything is said.

Virgo (the Virgin)

22 August - 23 September

Just adapt to the movement of life going on around you and you might discover a slice of peace that you’re after. If you’re not satisfied, then that’s a step you might need to learn.

Cancer (the Crab)

22 June - 22 July

You know how other people can be to comment on what’s clearly none of their business. Well this month you must ignore anything you hear or you’ll say or do something that could potentially be life changing.

Sagittarius (the Archer)

23 November - 22 December

You have quite a lot of pent-up emotion that needs to be released and you’re looking for an outlet. The best place for you to discharge the feelings you have should be in the direction of the one you’re having a relationship with.

Libra (the Scales)

24 September - 23 October

Don’t bow to pressure and rush anything that you’re working on. It maybe taking some time but the outcome will be worth the wait.

Capricorn (the Goat)

23 December - 20 January

Don’t rush into anything you’re not comfortable with this month. Make sure you have all the tools available before you act on any feelings you might be having regarding a work colleague.

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DID YOU SAY™... APARTMENT CHAT

Luke Crockford of Ray White who sold two luxury Penthouse Heritage Apartments on Hobson Street, comments that the demand was strong from qualified buyers in the market for this iconic building, reminiscent of the infamous Farmers.

Offering resort-style residential living with old-fashioned concierge services and two swimming pools, fully equipped gyms plus a tennis court.

Luke is proud to be able to assist his clients for life to sell their residential home and take them on a journey of finding their next dream home. Delivering exceptional service and marketing with good sound advice around the market has laid the foundation of nearly 85% of his business being referral based with a history of great results across Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and Westmere.

“The year has started well and looks to continue with a great range of high-end property coming onto the market.”

Cameron Brain, Auction Manager and Auctioneer, Ray White City Realty Group, comments that the Auckland apartment market started to heat up towards the last quarter of 2023 and has continued into the start of 2024.

“Where we have seen more activity than before is in the larger and affluent apartment market with buyers looking to either downsize from family homes, lifestyle change or those just looking for that luxury lifestyle. Our apartment auction activity has always been a measure of wider seller and buyer sentiment and 2024 has not disappointed with 59 auctions booked for the January and February months with a clearance rate of 83.3%.”

When it comes to lending for residential apartments, Grant Patten, Loan Market, says, “Lenders will all lend on apartments with differing rules applying to each situation. Each bank has a different criteria for deposits and the degree of lending will vary from bank to bank and is often determined by location and internal floor size.”

“If you are thinking of selling, I am available to provide a confidential appraisal and marketing strategy to ensure you capture all the market. Please call me anytime.” Luke says. For

more information: Luke Crockford M: 021 277 8565.

Being