˜° August, ˜˛°˝
life+style The Weekend Sun °
See pages ˜ - °
THE WEEKEND
Des O’Leary
Oscar Garden
Family history weekend
Nick Charles
Terminus
life+style The Weekend Sun ˜°2˜ August, August, ˜˛°˝ ˜˛°˙ 2019
Come downtown and Taste Tauranga It’s said that if only people were immersed in the art of cuisine and gastronomy, we would all be wiser and better. We’d also have that warm feeling of a satisfied appetite after indulging in the tastes and flavours of pleasant and delicious food. The word gastronomy was derived from the French word gastronomie, coined in 1814 by Joseph de Berchoux as the title of a poem he wrote on good living. It’s that time of year again to do some of that good living while doing justice to the cuisine and new flavours emanating from Tauranga’s downtown restaurants and cafes. For the whole month of August, Taste Tauranga 2019 is a scrummy, savoury festival of food in Downtown Tauranga. With over 28 eateries involved, there will be an abundance of delicious food and beverages to taste. There will be events, workshops, tapas trails, a burger competition, speciality menus, and the opportunity to win a pair of diamond earrings from Peet Jewellers.
Events
In 2018 Taste Tauranga featured unique events from degustation menus, wine and cheese matching, a whisky night, meet the winemaker and much more. This was so successful that in 2019 the number of events has doubled. “Last year we found almost all events and tapas trails sold out,” says Millie Newitt from Downtown Tauranga. “Our businesses in the city centre realise the
value of putting on an event that is unique and special. “For August 2019 we have over 30 events taking place including the tapas trails, a real feature event of Taste Tauranga.” The month begins with a French wine and cheese night at Liquorland, followed by many other events including a Ladies’ hour at Brooklyn Patio and Bar, the Tauranga Coffee Festival and a Double Dragon Noodle Night Market at Our Place, pub crawls with mini pub quizzes at each pub, a whiskey tasting at Macau Lounge, and wine tastings and a beer mini-festival. Providore’s Winemaker Peter Bartle will be expounding on the qualities of wines at The Hop House and local brewers from Funk Estate, Slab Brewing, Fitzpatrick’s Brewing, Rocky Knob Brewing and Lumberjack Brewing will be part of a weekly series at The Barrel Room, introducing attendees to the best craft beers Tauranga brewers have on offer. The Syd Workshops at Our place will delve into the delicious textures, aromas and tastes of homemade pasta. Learning how to make fettucine, gnocchi, ravioli and bowtie pastas could be a perfect date night out.
Vote for the best burger
“We’ve introduced a burger competition this year,” says Millie. “There are over 13 businesses participating. You will have a chance to vote for your favourite burger by filling in an entry form, plus go in the draw to win dining vouchers to the value of $300!” The burgers look amazing. The Brooklyn Burger is
BURGER COMPETITION
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˜ August, ˜˛°˙
life+style The Weekend Sun ˆ
Try out the new flavours and cuisine buffalo chicken, McClure’s pickles, aioli with a side of herb potatoes; CBK has the Dr Cheese burger - charcoal smoked prime beef patties with grilled cheese, a branded bun, relish, tomato, tangy sauce and finished with gooey liquid cheese. Over at the Loop Deli Café is the Angus beef burger, and Cornerstone has a 220gm NZ ground beef patty stuffed with mozzarella cheese and an egg yolk, served with tomatoes, lettuce, gherkins, crispy pancetta and truffle mayonnaise on a sesame rosemary bun. The Full Monty Python burger at the Crown and Badger comes with 200gm of Angus beef brisket with bacon, crumbed camembert, fried egg, caramelised onion, cheddar cheese, sauce, beets and salad in a toasted Volare brioche bun topped with a pickle. There’s burgers with kumara croquettes, mushroom duxelle, ketchup, mustard and aioli pearls and burgers laced with Marmite, bacon, provolone cheese and fried pickles, and served with creole fries. And a coffee and cake special at Robert Harris Café in Willow St. There’s plenty of quizzes going on around town too, as part of the Tauranga Pub Crawl. Sample three Tauranga pubs, each with their own mini pub quiz, from 3pm-8pm on Tuesdays to Sundays, and 12noon – 8pm on Fridays to Sundays during August.
Tapas Trails
The Tapas Trails will certainly disrupt the hum drum of winter providing an evening of sensational flavours, divine cocktails and a great night out with friends.
Running on two Tuesdays, one Thursday and two Sundays during August, the Tapas Trails take the appreciative diner on a journey of three to four iconic restaurants and bars. Tuesday’s trail starts at Oscar and Otto, then on to Macau, then next stop Nomad Food + Wine, ending up with dessert at Clarence Bistro. The Thursday Tapas Trail is RYE Bar & Grill, The Phoenix and Lone Star. The two Sunday Tapas Trails start at CBK Craft Bar Kitchen before heading on to the Cornerstone Bar & Eatery, then The Crown and Badger, finally ending up at The Hop House. “The Sunday one is crafty, based on quality beers,” says Millie. “The Tuesday Tapas Trail is full of spectacular flavours; and Thursday has a real street food - American cuisine feel. Each Tapas Trail has its own unique character.”
Specialty Menus
Many of the restaurants and bars also have specialty menus for August, from Tapas Thursday at Macau Lounge where people can enjoy delicious Asian fusion bites to Takara for a seven-course dinner special of authentic Japanese dishes. And there’s an added surprise at Barrio Brothers Tauranga with their delicious Taste Tauranga Pineapple Express set menu where anyone who orders it will go in the draw to win two full mountain ski passes. And what better way to celebrate winter than head over to Alimento Eatery which will be serving up a seared lamb rump with roasted winter vegetables, parsnip puree, red wine and plum jus; served with a Rosalie Liddle Crawford red wine to match the dish.
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˜˛°˙ 2019 life+style The Weekend Sun ˜°2˜ August, ˜˛°˝
Sundowner of the Skies The story of Oscar Garden – the forgotten aviator
Mascot Aerodrome. Photo: National Library of Australia.
When Oscar Garden landed his Gipsy Moth plane Kia Ora in Australia on November 4 1930, after flying solo from England, there were no welcoming crowds as no-one was expecting him. The Sun newspaper in Sydney dubbed him Sundowner of the Skies. A sundowner is an Australian swagman who arrives unexpectedly out of nowhere on sundown and disappears the next morning. Oscar became the youngest and most inexperienced pilot to fly solo from England to Australia. When he had set off from England about two-anda-half weeks earlier in his second-hand, open-cockpit plane, he was wearing carpet slippers and had half a dozen sandwiches on his lap. He was 27, had just learnt to fly, and had only 39 flying hours behind him. His 18-day-flight was the third fastest after Bert Hinkler and Charles Kingsford Smith. “I felt I couldn’t get on with my life if I didn’t write his story,” says Mary Garden, Oscar’s daughter. “The story was there pushing me and I had to write it. “Oscar had thought ‘I’m going to be the first to fly solo to New Zealand’ but when he got to Sydney he realised that his plane didn’t have the range to fly over the Tasman Sea.” Mary says Oscar’s plane was less powerful than most modern motorcycles.
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“He was just chugging along for 12 hours a day with no radio. He was very determined. When he landed at the various stops along the way, he often found no one spoke English, he had to find food and sometimes slept under the wing of the plane.” Oscar had planned his stops, taking a route that landed him in places that included Munich, Baghdad, Karachi and on to India and Singapore, and finally Australia. “The Air Ministry in England told him where he could land but they gave him the wrong directions on two occasions which is why he crash landed in India.” It was one day of repairs before Oscar set off again to fly to the next place. “What set my father apart was that he was such a perfectionist, so would do his own engine maintenance. Even here in Tauranga he was known as the best tomato grower. Most of the early aviators died in crashes, but he did that flight and then he did so much more.” Oscar went on to fly for British Airways, Imperial Airways and then for Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), the forerunner of Air New Zealand. In 1943 he became TEAL’s Chief Pilot and Operations Manager; as the ‘Boss’ of this fledgling company, he steered it through its formative years. “The pilots called him the Father of Air New Zealand,” says Mary. “He left suddenly in 1947, three years before I was born, and became a tomato grower in Tauranga. He never flew a plane again.” She started to piece together his story, first as
THE N I L E V A R T
˜ August, 2 ˜˛°˙ 2019˜˛°˝ ˜° August,
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“When he had set o˜ from England about two-and-a-half weeks earlier in his second-hand, open-cockpit plane, he was wearing carpet slippers and had half a dozen sandwiches on his lap”
feature articles about his flying adventures, then, as she discovered more about him, she wondered, if he had been so famous, why was he forgotten? “I keep stumbling on more information.” She found an early account of him escaping death. “When he was 11, his uncle paid him to go for a joyride, but his mother wouldn’t allow it and on the next flight the plane crashed and everyone died. “For a long time, I really had no interest in my father’s story because I was trying to recover from him,” says Mary. “I had a lot of therapy. He did a lot of damage, not deliberately but because he was so damaged himself, and he inflicted it on others.” On completing her PhD, Mary realised that she needed to not just write an account of her father’s life but infuse her own voice and story through the book. This has given Sundowner of the Skies a wider appeal beyond just aviation enthusiasts. “Air NZ paid for me to go to Auckland and interview pilots Dad trained to fly the flying boats in the 1940s. Thank God, because they’re all dead now. They just worshipped him. “But he disappeared, became a hermit, hated socialising and never went on holiday with us. I think that was his past catching up with him and him not being able to deal with it.” “Growing up we were told to keep out of Dad’s
Mary Garden
way. I knew very little except that his father died of a heart attack which is not true - he died of chronic alcoholism which is on the death certificate. I read all the court documents about how his grandfather was an abusive alcoholic.” She is astonished with how much she has found out about Oscar’s life. “It was very healing for my mum and me, and we realised why he turned out so damaged.” Maurice Gee, who is married to Margareta, Oscar Garden’s eldest daughter and Mary’s halfsister has written of Mary’s book: “This book is beautifully told and bravely too, and the width of research is astonishing.” Mary’s book ‘Sundowner of the Skies – The story of Oscar Garden the Forgotten Aviator’ will be launched at Classic Flyers on Sunday, August 11 at 2pm. There is no cost but bookings are essential. RSVP to Gillian MacColl on 027 524 1008 / gillian.maccoll@gmail.com or Mary Garden +61 488410016 / marygarden@ Rosalie Liddle Crawford bigpond.com
Oscar picking tomatoes
Croydon Aerodrome ˜° October ˜˛˝˙.
Photo: National Library of Australia
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August,˜˛°˝ ˜˛°˙ 2019 life+style The Weekend Sun ˜°2˜August, Ben Picking outside one of Tauranga’s historic buildings on The Strand. Photo: John Borren
DNA and family history Know your whakapapa, ancestry and heritage For those who love the idea of exploring their family history and unravelling their DNA mystery, there’s an exciting free weekend event in August that will delight all the genealogy enthusiasts amongst us.
Bev Hodges,
It will appeal to the beginner and the most advanced family historian seeking guidance on how to find out information and where to look. And it’s an opportunity to get together with other genealogists. The We Relate Te Aukaha Family History Weekend School, to be held at the Tauranga City Council Chambers on Saturday and Sunday August 17 and 18 includes a seminar series both days, as well as optional extras including an Oral History Workshop on Sunday and Tours of Historical Interest. Organiser and Tauranga Library Digital Programmes Specialist Bev Hodges says the weekend is planned over two days in order to fit in all the speakers. “They’re all experts in their fields,” says Bev. “This is the first time we’ve done it this way. We’ve always celebrated Family History Month in the library but we’ve decided to have a big splash this time and make it a big event.” “We’re calling it a weekend school with a series of speakers both days, and in another stream, an oral history workshop all day Sunday. We’re also cooperating with the Elms and the Brain Watkin House to have tours on offer.”
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Keynote speaker is Richard O’Brien who hosted the popular TV programme The DNA Detectives. DNA Specialist Michelle Patient will follow Richard’s address with the topic ‘What’s all the fuss about?’ and a DNA panel question time. “A lot of people have done a DNA test but when they get their results they don’t know how to work it out. Michelle’s an expert,” says Bev. “On Sunday we’ll all be with Sue Berman for the first 45 minutes, and then 12 of those who have booked will go off and spend the rest of the day working on oral history with Sue. Bev says the Tauranga City Library and some of the other libraries in the district will be sending staff along, especially to the Maori Land Court Minutes Book talk, as some training in this area will help them assist people who make inquiries. “A lot of the Maori community search through the minute books to source the land they belong to. We have people searching that information almost every day.” Whakapapa specialist and former Senior Librarian for Maori Research Raewyn Paewai from Auckland will be giving a talk on how to use the Maori Land Court Minute Books which contain detailed information about Maori history, Whakapapa and land. “When an owner of Maori land dies, it is necessary for the person or persons succeeding to that land to prove their entitlement or right of succession,” says Raewyn. “To do this they must present their Whakapapa to the Maori Land Court. Whakapapa is found
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“For those who love the idea of exploring their family history and unravelling their DNA mystery, there’s an exciting free weekend event in August that will delight all the genealogy enthusiasts amongst us”
throughout the MLC minute books.” Emerson Vandy from the National Library in Wellington will be speaking on the topic ‘Papers Past’ and there will also be speakers on Scottish and Irish research, and family search. “Morag Hughson is an expert on Scottish history but she’s also a techno expert so she’s going to run workshops on blogging too,” says Bev. “I am researching not just my own family tree, which comes from the island of Unst in Shetland, but in fact the whole island,” says Morag. “I’m doing what is known as a one-place-study. I decided to embark on this when I discovered a wonderful resource, the Highland & Islands Crofting Commission interviews from 1892 which contain transcripts of interviews with ordinary folk, crofters, explaining how they farm and how much rent they pay for the privilege. “In order to determine whether each interviewee was my own relative or just someone else from the island, I decided at that point to do the whole island.” Seonaid Lewis, from Auckland City libraries will outline the free online resources available to budding genealogy enthusiasts. “And I’ll be talking about heritage inventories,” says Ben Pick, Heritage NZ’s Lower Northern Area Manager. “This is about capturing all the heritage information in one place at a certain point in time. I’ve recently done an inventory process with Waitomo Council. We rallied a bunch of volunteers and they went around the Waitomo area taking photographs. “The reason I’m talking at the family
history weekend is that genealogists are very well placed to undertake these kind of inventory projects.” The weekend school will run from 9.30am – 4pm on Saturday August 17 and Sunday August 18 at the Tauranga City Council Chambers. The Nga Wahi Rangahau: Library Research Collection will be open on both days with staff to assist, and participants are encouraged to bring a laptop or other device to access the Library databases including Ancestry, Find My Past, My Heritage and the British Newspaper Archive. “We’re not expecting everyone to stay for every talk, only the ones they’re interested in, so they can come and go as they please,” says Bev. To register, go to the Eventbrite website
Richard O’Brien. Photo: STUFF
Rosalie Liddle Crawford
Morag Hughson
Photo: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. AWNS-˜˛ˆ°˙˛˜°-ˇ˛-ˇ (J Br emner)
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August,˜˛°˝ ˜˛°˙ 2019 life+style The Weekend Sun ˜°2˜August,
Slice of heaven Des O’Leary’s first book When Des O’Leary was teaching in a South Auckland school, he became aware that books reflecting the lives of young immigrant multicultural Kiwis were scarce. He decided to help remedy this by writing one himself.
Photos: John Borren
The result is that this Tauranga author has now had his book ‘Slice of Heaven’ shortlisted for First Best Book in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The awards celebrate the contribution that children’s authors and illustrators make to ‘build national identity and cultural heritage’. A total of 164 entries were received for the awards this year, with 29 books making the shortlist. ‘Slice of Heaven’ is a young adult novel which tells the story of a group of teenagers who attend a multi-cultural high school in South Auckland. A teacher for over 40 years, Des says he was inspired to write the novel while teaching at Aorere College from 2003 to 2015, where he was Head of English for some years. “Part of my job there was to find books for students to study,” says Des. “I gave some of my Year 10 classes a selection to read and one of the girls read them all. “I asked her which particular book she liked, she showed me and I asked her why. She said ‘it’s a book about people like us, I like reading stories like that’. “She was a 14-year-old Year 10 student in South Auckland and the characters in the books were all in their 20s and working in London. I thought ‘well it’s not actually about people like you’.
“Looking at it again, I realised the book was about immigrants, about people coming to live in another country. That’s what resonated with her. She was born in NZ but her family were Samoan.” Des thought he’d look around for some more books that reflected life amongst multicultural South Auckland schools. “At that stage I couldn’t find any. That’s a few years ago now. “There were a lot of books about young Maori and teenagers, but few from a multicultural aspect. So, I decided to have a go at writing one myself.” He started writing it in 2005. Once completed, his next challenge was to get it published. “It’s quite difficult to get a young adult book published in NZ. I sent it to several publishers. Most of them were very nice and said ‘thank you but no thank you’, and told me to go away and keep trying. “I was fortunate that M˜karo Press published it. The publisher told me it needed to be completely rewritten. She gave me some pointers which were really helpful so I rewrote it. “And then we started the editing process. Crikey. There’s a lot of work turning a rough manuscript into a publishable novel.” He has been in touch with the original girl who sparked his interest to write the book. “She’s now an adult living in Australia and she was really excited and rapt to hear about it. It was nice to get in touch with her.” The awards ceremony will be held in Wellington on Rosalie Liddle Crawford August 7.
˜ August, ˜˛°˙
Nick Charles Australia’s virtuoso of acoustic roots and blues What better way to flick away the winter blues than to spend a quiet evening listening to the deft virtuoso finger plucking of master guitarist, Nick Charles. Who am I kidding here – Nick is arguably one of the most excellent blues guitarists in the world, has won every blues award in Australia multiple times, received numerous accolades, and twice won the Australian Song Contest. He is signed to the Grammy Award-winning label, Solid Air Records USA. This Melbourne-based performer will be performing in Katikati and at the Jam Factory in Tauranga in September, bringing a range of music from blues, folk and early ragtime, acoustic and roots guitar. “I haven’t been over for a couple of years and thought it was about time I reacquainted myself with the New Zealand audiences,” says Nick. “I’ve got new material, both instrumental and songs, and I always like to get them out on the road, get them around and get them heard.” I asked him what his favourite piece is. “There’s a tune on my latest album called Penelope. I like to think it’s a summary of everything I’ve written. That’s my favourite piece in this point of time.” The album he is referring to is ‘The River Flows’ which won The Age Blues Album of the Year in the 2016 Victoria Music Awards.
“If you compose a good solid melody and play it with feeling, it allows the listener to create their own story. There’s a feeling or a story in a melody that you try and get across. “The album’s been out for a couple of years now and it’s still the bulk of my show. I’ll be presenting brand new material as well, from my next album, which will be out within the next three or four months.” Nick says his show will be about 40 per cent songs and about 60 per cent instrumental. “I’m more inclined to be an instrumentalist. Whenever I do covers they’re usually classic blues or country blues and I do the odd Dylan song like every other singer-songwriter in the world. “I’m always trying to continue to develop the instrumental approach and write some songs with something to say, and try and bring that together into a performance that’s entertaining and pleasing.” “I grew up in the 60s and it was all Beatles and Stones and I heard the folk music that was exploding at the time. Through that I got into early folk and blues. The British blues explosion is responsible for turning a lot of people onto this style and putting their own slant on it.” Mike Garner will be opening the show at the Jam Factory. “I can’t remember where we met but I’ve known him for quite a long time and we’ve done a few shows together. We may even have a bit of a jam at the end there, you never know.” What I do know is that it’s going to be very Rosalie Liddle Crawford excellent.
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August, ˜˛°˝ ˜˛°˙ 2019 life+style The Weekend Sun ˜°2˜ August,
Terminus Riding a virtual travelator through a digital world This week I flew across a mysterious alien world on a digital travelator, passing humanoid clones and slipping down through tunnels and into orbs that gently allowed me to float on by.
The quilts by Jess and her mother, Cynthia Johnson.
Jess Johnson and Simon Ward have opened Terminus, a stunning virtual reality world at Tauranga Art Gallery. I went to have a look and found myself quickly immersed in the dream realms of Jess’s mind brought to life by Simon’s digital imagery. Commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia and the Balnaves Foundation, Terminus was premiered at the NGA in May 2018. This is the first time it’s being shown in NZ. Simon met me at the gallery and we stepped through to Jess’s complex worlds of layered patterns and figures. I thought I’d find the paintings hanging on the gallery walls confronting or disturbing, because I was expecting the more irrational juxtaposition of images that can be found in surrealism. However I found myself experiencing a sense of rational detachment, appeased by her colour palette, ideas, and objects. They combine in patterns and ways that are dreamlike in their strangeness but which give my mind a softly tranquillising effect. Along one wall there are large-scale quilts, a collaboration between Jess and her mother Cynthia Johnson. For these, Cynthia has taken
Jess’s drawings and given them newer layers of language that enhance again the sense of texture but in a different way. Without even slipping through into the virtual world via the five virtual reality stations housed within bespoke structures, there are many unique aspects to this exhibition that make me want to come back and experience it again. The soft colour grading through the paintings, tapestries and installations is offset by the appealing use of brighter greens, blues, magenta and reds printed into a floor maze that links the works and virtual portals. The pinks, greys and soothing salmons are interspersed with geometric and cryptic patterns. For those who come from a world of gaming, there will be recognised references to earlier gaming experiences woven into the designs. For myself, I see a world of geometry and maths, populated by fantastical and unusual objects and mannequins. Gradually I relax into the mental disruption I find I have where for moments it makes sense and then it doesn’t make sense. As our minds reach to understand these worlds of Jess’s, I find mine plucking out what seem to be Egyptian pyramids, bricks, altars, and figures, with unusual symbols that beckon. I wonder if she sees these as dreams or nightmares or something else again. Once I don a headset I find that Simon has taken Jess’s drawings and fantastically transformed them into 3D worlds that stretch in all directions
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˜˜°August, August,˜˛°˙ ˜˛°˝
life+style The Weekend Sun °° Jess and Simon at the installation at the National
“Once I don a headset I find that Simon has taken Jess’s drawings and fantastically transformed them into 3D worlds that stretch in all directions around you”
around you. I turn around and find freestanding pillars rising and towering above me. A large worm-like creature curls and floats from around a brick wall towards me. As it opens its mouth and passes by, I reach out to touch it but find I can’t see my hand and I’m not touching anything. I look down and find myself standing on a small circular digital mat. The bricked courtyard I’m in slowly starts to turn and curve away from me and I find I’m slowly drifting down through layers of worlds that revolve slowly as I pass through them. Simon and Jess are both Kiwis. Simon works in Wellington and Jess is in New York. His video and virtual reality collaborations and Jess’s work have been shown in many cities including New York, Tokyo, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Sydney and Hong Kong. How they collaborate is itself a wonderful mystery, as I find that Simon’s translation of Jess’s imagery is true to her original vision yet opens up a fantastical experience. There is the sense of having no power or control over the worlds they have created with Terminus, yet at various points I find I can head-butt coils of large coloured string and floating mannequins as they float with me inside a large red orb. In another world I can move my
head changing the colour background of the world that I’m travelling through. The orb appears again, benign and friendly, yet later I wonder if it symbolically represents the power or mind behind these worlds, keeping me lulled. As I experience the slippage through time and space, I find my journey propels me across five distinct realms Fleshold Crossing, Known Unknown, the Scumm Engine, Gog & Magog, and the psychedelic Tumblewych. In each one I brace myself, initially on guard, and waiting for a monster or some evil to befall me. Each time, I find I am a mostly passive observer, and nothing dark or ominous happens. The large spider doesn’t get me, the worm doesn’t swallow me, and I’m not harmed. It helps that I’m holding on to Simon’s arm for some of these virtual rides. Later, while talking with him, I find myself starting to look for the story in these worlds. Why are there humanoids, what are they doing, why do they float with me through the orb? Who is in control of this world I find myself in? To experience this for yourself, go to the Tauranga Art Gallery from now until October 27 between 10am – 4.30pm daily Rosalie Liddle Crawford
Gallery of Australia.
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life+style The Weekend Sun ˜° August, ˜˛°˝