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CAPITAL Campaign Spread Kuini sheets

Tory Whanau runs for mayor AUTUMN 2022 $9.90

In bed with Hnry

Taro reading

Divine eats from the East

Cartoon castle Coloured-in and cosy

The talent issue THE STORIES OF WELLINGTON

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Head into outer space at Te Papa this summer, on an interactive experience where gaming wizardry plus captivating live action equals high-stakes adventure!

Explore the rest of our cosmic offering, for full immersion in the Mars experience: SPACE ON A P L AT E

LATE NIGHT FRIDAYS

SPACE S TAT I O N STORE

To find out more visit tepapa.govt.nz/visit/exhibitions/destination-mars

CAPITAL

The stories of Wellington

s we go to print the parliamentary precinct is besieged by protestors. Protests are not unknown in the capital, but perhaps it’s been a while. And while there is clearly a mixed group of protestors and causes, it’s not hard to find locals with a sneaking or open sympathy with the emotion behind the protest, and probably with the protestors’ opinion on at least one of the issues being raised. Wellington has very much agreed with the science and achieved a very high vaccination rate. Accordingly, I think, we are now impatient and want to get on with living, and the restrictions have begun to pall. Voicing this sentiment just elicits an eye-roll and a groan from Aucklanders, who have of course had to cope with much more. Against this background, with one eye on the likely spread of omicron, and the possible need to pivot in haste, (NB: the new buzzword) we have brought together stories that highlight the wide and varied talent around the region. Some focus on little-known people and achievements, and others on much higher-profile accomplishment. Tory Whanau certainly qualifies as high profile. Tessa Johnstone talks to her about her campaign to become our next mayor. Not high profile, despite being exceedingly talented and prolific, is George Rose, who talks to John Bristed about his design work. Craig Beardsworth explores the recently rejuvenated craft of rugmaking with Padraig Simpson; and the highflying achievements of two brothers in quite different sports caught the eye of Griff Bristed, who describes their divergent pathways. Food is always close to our heart in this office and the crew eagerly sampled the Asian treats left over from this issue’s photoshoot, investigating the sweet flavours of Asia. The flavours were new to many and took some by surprise. Do try them. Of course our regular columns are all there, and much much more. Thank you for the feedback on our refreshed cover design. We do welcome your comments. See you in May.

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The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Although all material is checked for accuracy, no liability is assumed by the publisher for any losses due to the use of material in this magazine.

Alison Franks Editor

What gets you up in the morning? Is it the sound of a ﬁve-cylinder turbocharged engine with increased torque producing 294kW? Maybe it’s a combination of athletic handling and tenacious grip from the new RS torque splitter and iconic quattro drive system. Or it could simply be pulling back the curtains and seeing that RS honeycomb grille smiling back at you. With the RS 3 in your driveway, you’ll never sleep in again. The RS 3 Sportback has arrived.

Staff

Featured contributors

Managing editor Alison Franks editor@capitalmag.co.nz Campaign coordinators Haleigh Trower haleigh@capitalmag.co.nz Sophia Montgomery sophia@capitalmag.co.nz Ava Gerard ava@capitalmag.co.nz Milly Brunel milly@capitalmag.co.nz Factotum John Bristed john@capitalmag.co.nz Art director Shalee Fitzsimmons shalee@capitalmag.co.nz Designer Elaine Loh design@capitalmag.co.nz Writer Arthur Hawkes journalism@capitalmag.co.nz

SOPHIE CARTER Publi sh i ng c o ordi n ator

SASHA B ORISSENKO Journ a li st

Originally from “middle of nowhere,” England, Sophie does a bit of everything. When she’s not at Capital she’s designing trendy t-shirts for her small business Eddie, or attempting to try every café, bar, brewery, and restaurant in Wellington.

Sasha is a multimedia journalist whose work has appeared in Al Jazeera, Vice , The New York Times, and more. Hailing from Tauranga, she has otherwise spent her years living in Dunedin, Nelson, Auckland, Denmark, and Hungary. She's now back in Wellington for good, and desperately longs to be a member of the Kelburn corgi club.

CRAIG BEARDSWORTH Writer

JACQUI GIBSON Writer

Having previously helped edit ArtZone and reviewed for Capital Times Craig's association with the Capital whanau is long and scandalous. He’s managed a dealer gallery, sings professionally (when covid allows) and teaches Music Theatre at Te Auaha. He lives in Newtown with his partner and Delilah the bouncing Maltese.

Jacqui is a Te Aro-based freelancer who writes about food, travel, old buildings and clever people. Mum of Fanny Mae, a sharp-clawed apartment cat, she ditched the family car this year for getting about on foot, bus, and Mevo.

Publishing coordinator Sophie Carter hello@capitalmag.co.nz Accounts Tod Harfield accounts@capitalmag.co.nz

Contributors Melody Thomas, Janet Hughes, John Bishop, Anna Briggs, Sarah Lang, Deirdre Tarrant, Francesca Emms, Dan Poynton, Chris Tse, Claire Orchard, Harriet Palmer, Jess Scott, Claire O’Loughlin, Chev Hassett, Joram Adams, Sanne Van Ginkel, Rachel Helyer Donaldson, Matthew Plummer, Fairooz Samy, Adrian Vercoe, Sasha Borissenko, Siobhan Vaccarino, Annie Keig, Courteney Moore, Josiah Nevell, Monica Winder, Craig Beardsworth

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

THE TRUTH IS OUT TH ERE

12 March - 14 August 2022 Joe Merrell, still from ‘The Eyes Are Always There’ (2016).

C O N T E N T S

12 18 21 22 24 29

CHATTER NOTEWORTHY BY THE NUMBERS NEW PRODUCTS TALES OF THE CITY CULTURE

36 A run for office

34 George the shark

Meet Tory Whanau, Pōneke’s ‘maybe’ Mayor

The beast that’s lurking in L'affare

44 It’s a tuft life Wool that belongs on the wall

Talent on target

Meet Harry and Sallie

They’ve got talent, we’ve got their stories

We chat to the city socialite and her shy sibling

C O N T E N T S

Tax and relax

Comic book castle

Yes yam

The start-up that’s making tax less taxing

Peek inside the most vibrant in the Valley

Mochi and moon cakes – our pick ‘n’ mix of Eastern sweets

LIFESTYLE

BY THE BOOK

Bro codes

76 92

Bug me

The giraffe weevil is sticking its neck out

Reverse

EDIBLES KAI TO TRY

Fashion forward poetry from Elizabeth Nannestad

Park and field – meet the sporty Miramar brothers

104 106 108 110 112

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MAKING SUSTAINABILITY SIMPLE

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S E C TCI HO AN T TH EE RA D E R

A l o e ve ra Names such as these Aloe vera is commonly grown as a houseplant and gained favour because the gel from its leaves makes a soothing skin salve. It is used for its health, beauty, and medicinal properties. The name derives from the Arabic word “alloeh” meaning “shining bitter substance”, while “vera” is Latin for “true”. Let’s have a look Its thick, succulent leaves are plumped up with a watery gel. The leaves grow from the base of the plant and have jagged edges with flexible spines. It's fast-growing, taking only a few years to reach a mature size. The spiky flowers appear on stalks, in shades of yellow, red, or orange. Did you know? Aloe vera has been used for medicinal purposes for millennia in Greece, Egypt, India, Mexico, Japan and China. Egyptian queens Nefertiti and Cleopatra used it as part of their beauty regimens. Alexander the Great and Christopher Columbus used it to treat soldiers' wounds. TLC When grown outdoors it is best grouped with other succulents with similar needs. It needs a sandy or gravelly soil. To blend aloe into a border planting, pot it separately and use it as a focal point. Raising the pot to eye level will make it more prominent. Potted aloe grow well on decks and patios, where it is handy in an emergency for soothing burns and bites. Our plant of the month comes from James Cameron, Twigland.

One

Knit wit Geo Knits Slow is the handiwork of designer Geo Gregory. Using secondhand fabric she creates new garments, giving a second life to material that would otherwise get binned. Geo, who began knitting during her fashion and textiles degree in England, wanted a more sustainable product to use than wool. A fellow knitter suggested shredded fabric, which was the catalyst for Geo’s signature style. Her process involves knotting together cloth scraps to make a ball of “yarn”, then using a loop stitch and large 20mm needles. This is knitted together to produce jumpers, vests, and bags.

Two Tr a i n s p o t t i n g Daily Wellington to Auckland passenger trains could become a reality after KiwiRail floated the idea in a recent communication. Beautiful views, spacious cabins, no faffing around at airports – but let's not get ahead of ourselves; they only added the option to a recent survey. Paul Callister from pressure group Save Our Trains says this is still a sign KiwiRail is reacting to the public blowback. He’s referring to their decision at the end of last year, to axe same-day intercity services in favour of multi-day journeys aimed at tourists.

C H AT T E R

New in town

Fa s h i o n t h a t wo r ks Boutique meets barber at That Was Then, This is Now, the CBD’s latest locale for quality goods and custom cuts. Tucked down Lombard Laneway, they stock brands like Buzz Rickson’s, RGT, and Redwing, with an emphasis on workwear, military styling, and selvedge denim. You can even pop out the back for a slick new haircut and grooming products to match.

Three S p i n n i n g ya r n s Threads Textiles Festival (16–20 March) celebrates all forms of textile art, with more than 15 free exhibitions coming to the region. The Dowse will hold a one-day symposium on 17 March to crown the festival, exploring textiles as a contemporary art form. Presentations from textile figures, include fashion designer Kate Sylvester and Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed (work pictured). Faig’s psychedelic “melting carpets” form an integral part of The Dowse’s colourful exhibition Silk Web which runs until 10 April. The Central Asian motif of carpet-weaving is core to Silk Web, where the three artists, all natives of the Eurasian steppe, combine their visual heritage with their contemporary leanings, creating works which straddle the old and the new, the foreign and the familiar, the traditional and the radical. Artists Ahmed and Dilyara Kaipova work directly with artisanal Uzbek weavers to create their large woven works, while Saule Dyussenbina takes traditional visual forms and incorporates digital and video formats as well as watercolour.

Four

C l u m sy c l u m sy According to insurance company State, we’re an accident-prone bunch. I mean, the largest fund in New Zealand actually has “Accident” in its name. State have collated all their claims to give us a recklessness roadmap. They found garages are the most mistake prone space in the house, people called John have the most accidents, breakfast is the least mistake-prone meal of the day, and people in the North Island make more mistakes compared to those in the South. Also, watch out for your wing mirrors on Wednesdays, as they’re prone to go missing on this day more than any other.

It's cool to kōrero Kia haere tātou ki te hutupōro. Māku ngā tīkiti e hoko

Let’s go to the rugby. I’ll buy the tickets.

S E C TCI HO AN T TH EE RA D E R

F i ve

Wheely good The Big Bike Film Night will pedal its way to The Penthouse Cinema, Brooklyn on 6, 7, and 9 March. Each evening will show short films devoted to the two-wheeled. Among the eight features will be a bike and raft journey through South America, a look at how bikes can be used in art, and the story of a school improving wellbeing through cycling. From commuters, to the adrenalin junkies, to those who are still using stabilisers, this collection has something for everyone.

S eve n

Six

I n t o t h e fo l d

I n yo u r fa c e Need the ultimate team pep talk? Using the app Swysh fans can request a personalised message from athletic stars. Launched in 2020, the app first featured Australian footballers, but is now looking to add more New Zealand athletes to the platform. All Blacks, Aaron Smith, and Wellington’s own Central Pulse player Whitney Souness are among the 155 kiwis already involved. Twenty percent of all proceeds are donated to two children’s charities, UpsideDowns and the Graeme Dingle Foundation. So far Swysh have donated over $35,000.

Te Papa’s four outdoor plinths have new residents: artist Ben Pearce’s large origami-style sculptures. Although Ben is the eighth artist on the plinths, he’s the first to receive a new iteration of the award, called the Collin Post 4 Plinths Project, which is sponsored by the Post family. They’ve also upped the prize money to $50,000. “I felt a light hearted, humorous, gentle, playful, all-age approach would suit this project – a work to make people smile,” said Ben. Charles Post, son of the late Collin, said that the plinths project was a way to celebrate his dad’s arts patronage, and to foster support for Wellington sculpture. “My sister Emma and I were delighted to honour our father in this way,” Charles said. Digital imagery of the statues will also be used to make a limited run of digital NFTs.

Eight

Flash photography Derek Henderson, Chris Sisarich, Harry Culy (p.52), Sara McIntyre, Lizzie Bisley, and Mark Gee will join a host of other top photographers to preside over Capital Photographer of the Year, the Wellington region’s biggest photography competition, closing 27 April (p.16). The diverse judges are known internationally for their commercial

and artistic work, and they do disagree (sometimes quite spectacularly), so don’t be put off by their achievements; they are drawn to a variety of imagery and composition, which makes for an extra-interesting competition. Shalee Fitzsimmons, judging panel convenor, is fizzing at the selection. “The calibre of judges is very exciting. They’re the cream of the crop of New Zealand’s creative community.” Check out our categories, and enter your photograph at capitalmag.co.nz/cpoty

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20 22

capitalmag.co.nz/cpoty

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Society

Structure

Movement

Rangatahi [21 and under]

Art Zone

Inside

The categories

Whenua

Capital Photographer of the Year (CPoTY) is back for 2022. With some of Aotearoa’s most prestigious creative minds as judges and significant cash prizes, CPotY celebrates the region through the lens of its clever residents. CPotY will culiminate in an award ceremony and public exhibition.

Submissions close April 27 2022. For more info or to enter, visit capitalmag.co.nz/cpoty

Art Zone

Enter now

Entry is free, so have a go!

N O T E W O R T H Y

ODDS AND SODS Construction of the new $290 million national archives facility has begun, with Minister of Internal Affairs Jan Tinetti turning the sod on the Aitken Street site. Architects Warren and Mahoney worked with sculptural artist Rangi Kipa and design agency Tihei for the building’s design, which will include a bridge, to enable easy strolling from the library to the archives. The landowner, a Canadian pension fund, is financing the $200m base build. The fitout cost, about $90 million, was allocated in Budget 2020, and will be owned by the Crown.

VICIOUS CYCLE

GREATER GRANTS

WORST IN LIVING MEMORY

The Island Bay cycleway debate has reared its helmeted head again. This time, the council is considering the removal of 80–100 parking spaces along a 1.6km stretch of The Parade, which has reignited hostilities between factions. One camp wants to improve the present setup, where parked cars sit awkwardly between the cycle lane and the road; the other wants to return to the old painted cycleway. Both positions are entrenched in their respective social media groups.

The Nikau Foundation, which distributes grants to good causes throughout the region, is opening applications for 2022. They have $900,000 available to regional community organisations. Last year they awarded $902,834, including $3500 to Cycle Safe Porirua for an e-bike, $5,000 to Special Olympics Kāpiti, and $2,000 to kids’ marine educators Mountains to Sea. This year, Nikau Foundation will be adopting sustainable development goals from the UN, a roadmap to champion equality through funding and investment.

Following a prolonged drenching, some Wairarapa farmers could be facing one of the worst harvests in living memory, according to Colin Hurst of Federated Farmers. Parts of the region have experienced flooding, with some reporting half of pea crops ruined, others reporting total ruin of their crops. Cereal crops in the region, coated in silt from the receding water, are now damaging harvesting machinery. “We get patches of rough weather this time of year, but it’s very unusual to have such a sustained period of rain,” says Hurst.

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N O T E W O R T H Y

WA S T E NOT It’s been about a year since a new bylaw intended to reduce landfill waste came into effect. The good news is, the latest data shows green waste in landfill has reduced. To recap: with the Southern Landfill fit to burst, WCC required that any council waste receptacle could only contain a maximum 10% green waste, and that landfill users must separate green waste prior to entry. The data shows a 22 per cent increase in green waste that would have gone to landfill, and a 24 per cent increase in recycling.

END OF DAY

CAPITAL ENDURANCE

A LAND FAR AWAY

Wellington City Council’s first female Māori councillor will not run again after six years on council. Jill Day, formerly a primary teacher, was elected from the Takapū Northern Ward in 2016, “with the aim of supporting struggling families”. During her tenure, she backed a number of community projects, such as the 2019 reopening of the Linden Community Centre in Tawa, the development of the Alex Moore Park sports hub in Johnsonville, and the renovation of the Frank Kitts Park playground. Day has not confirmed any post-council plans.

Wellington will host a top global bike competition in April. The Enduro World Series (EWS) mountain bike race will host one of its four domestic qualifiers starting at Makara on 25 April. Riders accrue points in these events, which allows them entry into the global competition, to compete for the world title. “Our ambition is to develop Capital Enduro into one of the best enduro races in the world and a must ride, whether you’re an elite, pro, or recreational rider,” says Craig Murray, the event’s director.

Ngāti Kahungunu, one of Wairarapa’s largest iwi, is involved in a Supreme Court hearing. The iwi were seeking two sections of Treaty settlement land: a forest section in Wairarapa, and the 318-hectare Pouākani lands between Taupō and Mangakino. Chris Finlayson acting for the Raukawa iwi, who have rohe over the central North Island location, said Kahungunu had no historical claim to the land, and that the allocation related to their previous ownership of some land in the area. The Supreme Court has since reserved its decision.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT, AND USER-EXPERIENCE DESIGN “It gave me the chance to apply the skills I had learnt to a project I was passionate about.” Find out more at wgtn.ac.nz/ict-graduate-school

AUCKLAND | WELLINGTON | CHRISTCHURCH

B O C O N C E P T.C O M

B Y

One a penny

Small but mighty

Join the club

T H E

N U M B E R S

55,000

660

kilograms of sultanas go into Countdown’s hot cross buns

bakeries presented their buns at the 2021 New Zealand Hot Cross Bun Competition

years since the hot cross bun was invented

the average price in dollars of a Wellington hot cross bun

153.1

160,000

billion dollars in the NZ economy made by small businesses in 2018

percentage of businesses with fewer than 20 staff

number of small businesses in New Zealand

percentage of millennials who are likely to stay with a company for five or more years

530

2.5

percentage of New Zealanders who belong to a club, group, or organization

dollars a year spent by the average household on culture and recreation clubs

million people take part in sport and recreation in any given week

percentage of people who participate in clubs that are solely online

community centres in Wellington city and suburbs

CO M P I L E D BY S O P H I E CA RT E R

That’s a record

5.35

1.001

501,000

quickest recorded time in seconds to peel and eat a kiwifruit

width in metres of the world’s largest liquorice allsort

eggs hidden in the world’s largest Easter egg hunt

duration in days of the fastest travel of New Zealand on foot by a woman

21 21

N E W

P R O D U C T S

3. 2.

6. 8.

7. 11. 10.

12.

Chocolate bunny

1. Cretacolor pastel sticks, $2.99 each, Gordon Harris 2. EOS Emil brandy loafers, $179, Gubb's Shoes 3. Savannah plaid brown throw, $149, BoConcept 4. Lucid brown glass vase, $129, BoConcept 5. WCF organic milk chocolate bar, $11, Wellington Apothecary 6. Aleph warm chocolate brown cheek/lip tint, $58, Orinoco Designs 7. L’affare chocolate coffee beans, $7.50, L’affare 8. Bian Gua Sha stone, $40, The Minimal Co 9. Juno extra fine gin, $93, Juno Gin 10. David Shaw Arnold armchair, $2999, McKenzie & Willis 11. Hübsch brown hourglass, $89.99, Orinoco Designs 12. MM Linen Sabel coffee square cushion, $149.90, McKenzie & Willis

S E C T I O N

H E A D E R

S E C T I O N

H E A D E R

TA L E S

O F

T H E

C I T Y

Fine feathers BY A RT H U R H AW K E S P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G G S

EAT

READ

MUSIC

PETS

TRAVEL

PhuThai Esarn

Consumed by Aja Barber

Nadia Reid

Henry and Charlie, guinea pigs

Northland

From Air Force to Salesforce

amantha Rae Jones is one of those enviable people who can pivot. Since the age of 18, Sam had been with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, working in logistics. It entailed a lot of responsibility and took her all over the world. She quit the service after six years in 2015 for a new calling: sustainable fashion, something that she had always kept on the back burner, constrained by her workload and frequent travel. She moved to the capital two years later to grow her ethical clothing business, Little Yellow Bird, taking a three-month intensive business course. “I lived in downtown Wellington; those early years before I moved out to the suburbs were a lot of fun. I fell in love with the city first, then I met my partner, Tim Foote.” Little Yellow Bird sells organic, ethically-sourced cotton clothing. Its headquarters are on Haining St, with a second space in Porirua. Like most pivoters, Sam didn’t start over completely. Fashion’s sustainability issues relate to its supply chain, something she already understood from experience. “The supply chain in the Air Force is really important, particularly regarding aeronautical safety. You have to know where every part comes from. It all has to have traceability and transparency.” Although she began the business solo, she now has a partner in the business and they set about applying this framework to clothing. On Little Yellow Bird’s website and social media you’ll find information on all the links in their supply chain: well-compensated Indian workers, Fair Trade-certified factories, organic growers, a cotton recycling programme. Since becoming a business owner and a mum, spare time is dedicated to family. “I can usually be found at my local pool on a Sunday morning, often followed by a park visit. We don’t work much on weekends so we spend our time together as a family or we visit friends. Our daughter is obsessed with playgrounds at the moment, so we’re lucky to have a lot of options to choose

from.” Outside of Little Yellow Bird, Sam has earned Master’s degrees in International Relations and Engineering Management, so has had enough of formal study. “I’d like to try something more practical and creative, like ceramics or floristry: my partner always makes fun of me for not having any hobbies!” From its inception in 2015, Little Yellow Bird went from strength to strength, supplying sustainable uniforms and aprons to festivals and events, creating a consumer clothing line, and holding contracts with more than 400 organisations including New Zealand Post, Ethique, and Air New Zealand. In 2019 Sam became a mother to a baby girl. The pandemic came four months later and the lucrative events sector evaporated overnight. She and her partner were parenting without any family support, during what she calls “a really, really stressful time”. Time for another pivot. Sam chased new business from “values-aligned creatives,” with merchandise for those who don’t want their logos on non-sustainable clothing. She has created clothing runs for the Green Party, the journalist David Farrier, and the American activist-author Sonya Renee Taylor. Sam first made inroads into the sustainable fashion market by travelling. She went to India in 2015, with no phone, venturing into “remote villages where we were the first foreigners to visit”. These trips, with her business partner, she says, have enhanced her relationships with her suppliers. “I used to go over there several times a year, pre-baby and pre-pandemic. I’d love to be able to go there again soon and visit our team.” If she could take a break and head off for a Kiwi holiday, it would be to a beach in a remote corner of Northland, but for now the Eastern Bays suffice. “We love zooming around on our bikes, exploring a beach or some rock pools, then having morning or afternoon tea somewhere. That’s a favourite weekend activity in our house.”

BLACK STAR This exceptional three-bedroom penthouse located in the renowned Bolton Hotel offers an international lifestyle without compromise.

he discreet and low-key entrance magically tricks the senses, theatrically adding a “wow” factor on arrival into the impressive living space. Sun and light, captivatingly illuminate the interior via strategically placed skylights. Large picture windows frame the green hills of Thorndon - a visual union with nature and a powerful first impression. In contrast, an entire glazed wall with internal sliders melds indoor/outdoor flow to a generous tiled deck, showcasing sensational views of the CBD, harbour, chameleon OrongoOrongos and the last of the sun. A centralised gas fireplace with built in shelving adds a convivial feel, anchoring the room and

allowing seasonal variations to the configuration of the furniture placement. The subtle colour palette reflects the reductive, minimalist and edited vibe. The well appointment compact kitchen demonstrates a carefully considered balance between open-plan and concealment, with a double width internal slider allowing for balance and flexibility if required. Dark wood cabinetry in the kitchen pairs with stone white counter tops and features both a bar and generous Butler’s pantry with sink and plenty of storage. Light polished wood flooring and white louvered shutters add a touch of glamour to the breakfast nook, a savoured contemplation spot.

Each office is independently owned and operated. Eton Avenue Limited (licensed under the REAA 2008)

The three double bedroom positions have been designed for flexibility depending on the owner’s needs. Architectural gravitas elevates the Master bedroom with an expansive curved floor-to-ceiling window allowing the views to take front and centre. The master includes its own private deck, walk-in wardrobe and full bathroom. The closely located second double bedroom replicates these extensive city scape views and includes a slider onto the main deck. The third bedroom is in a separate area of the apartment and has its own walk-in wardrobe and en-suite. Adding the cream to this lifestyle experience – this penthouse comes with exclusive use of the hotel’s gym, swimming and spa complex, concierge service, five-star Artisan restaurant,

secure car parking, plus a large storage unit. Located within convenient proximity to the Golden Mile, Parliament, Victoria University and the central railway station, the hotel’s superb location allows walking an easy option. Unmatched penthouse living in the Capital.

Debs Metson +64 27 446 3495 debs.metson@nzsir.com

Photograph by Jackie Cooper

C U L T U R E

TREASURE HUNT Artist Lisa Reihana has created a “treasure hunt” along Wellington’s waterfront to honour Te Moananui a-Kiwa (the great ocean). Kura Moana (school of the sea) consists of six large installations, including an inflatable sculpture and an augmented-reality work. Reihana is the Artist in Focus for this year’s Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Following covid restrictions, the festival cancelled much, but is running a truncated programme of mostly outdoor events, exhibitions, and online events including chamber music and writers’ talks. Explore until 20 March.

IM-MUNE

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“It’s nice not to have been forgotten,” Ian Mune tells Capital of winning the New Zealand Television Legend Award. “This also tells me exactly how old I am!” (80). An advocate for homegrown stories, Ian has 100-plus screen acting, writing, and directing credits – including the film Goodbye Pork Pie (co-writer) and documentary Billy T: Te Movie (director). Ian still acts in productions including TV dramas The Brokenwood Mysteries and The Pact, while also working with and helping bring through young talent.

“Seats are sitting, waiting, to be polished up by your behind” is a lyric from “Bums on Seats”, written by Kāpiti singer-songwriter Andrew London to let ticket-holders know they’ll eventually get seats at a Paraparaumu production of Let’s Talk About Me!. The satirical musical based on Andrew’s songs has been postponed twice. Catch “the bum song” on YouTube.

Formed at Wainuiomata College, “dystopian post-punk” band Vietnam performed from 1982 to 1985, releasing their self-titled EP in 1985 before disbanding. Thirty years later, Vietnam was hailed a “lost classic” of Kiwi music by bloggers and record collectors – and Spanish label BFE Records reissued it as a full-length vinyl EP in 2016. Co-founder/songwriter/bassist Adrian Workman says this sparked their second album This Quiet Room, with previously unreleased and new tracks available digitally, on CD, or as limited-edition vinyl LPs.

COFFEE & GREAT READS

vicbooks.co.nz

C U L T U R E

U N D E R WAY S Former Ōtaki resident Jerome Kavanagh is a practitoner of taonga pūoro (traditional Maori instruments) who has performed globally. He’s also Victoria University’s 2022 Creative NZ/NZ School of Music composerin-residence, for 10 months from March. For one of five projects, he’ll co-compose an album, Mana o te Wai: The Power of Water, with locals Salina Fisher and Neil MacLeod. “It’s about how their and my ancestries are joined by forgotten waterways under Wellington city,” Jerome says. He was a solo artist, lyricist, and cocomposer on the collaborative 2009 Grammy-winning album Calling All Dawns.

THEIR RIGHTS

SLEEP TALK

HER HUTT

Screenrights is a non-profit royalties-collection agency for New Zealand and Australian screen producers and screenwriters, also facilitating screen-content licenses for the likes of educators and government organisations. Its Cultural Fund doesn’t fund productions directly, but identifies initiatives that diversify and expand screen content. This year Screenrights will provide mentors for people inexperienced in making funding submissions. “Applying for funding can be quite onerous, particularly for newer storytellers,” says Rachel Antony from Screenrights. “It’s about reducing barriers.” Contact Screenrights by 15 April.

Writer, spoken-word poet, and playwright Helen Vivienne Fletcher, who has multiple disabilities, has received a new annual solo-theatre commission for deaf and disabled artists, as part of the TAHI: NZ Festival of Solo Performance, an annual affair in September. The commission “TAHI Tupu” (“tupu” means “to grow”) will see Helen perform a show about her sleep disorder and assistance dog.

“I’ve tried to convey the feeling of living in the Hutt Valley,” said Ans Westra, New Zealand’s pioneering documentary photographer. Her 1988/1989 residency with The Dowse saw her take photographs across Lower Hutt, including Petone and Naenae. In 1991, photographs from this residency showed at The Dowse, which is now exhibiting Time Capsule: Ans Westra in the Hutt (until 1 May). Photographs are also displayed in the CoCo Pop Community Space and on nine billboards around Naenae.

V E R DI

L A TR AVIATA 9 –16 JULY 2022 ST JAMES THEATRE WELLINGTON 30

EMMA PEARSON VIOLETTA OLIVER SEWELL ALFREDO PHILLIP RHODES GIORGIO GERMONT TIANYI LU CONDUCTOR SARA BRODIE DIRECTOR BUY TICKETS NOW AT

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AstroTarot NZ

Bibi is an intuitive clairvoyant and well respected Wellington based tarot reader.

2022 yearly forecast for Pisces & Aries

After discovering her gift in Japan, Bibi has shared her ability and insights, both nationally and internationally, with many. A mind expanding experience can change the way life is viewed and lived.

with Bibi

Book your own personal reading with Bibi. Email astrotarotnz@gmail.com or phone 022 139 2710

Family/Friendship

Pisces

18 Feb–20 Mar Planets: Neptune & Jupiter Dreamy + imaginative nature Major Arcana: Moon Intuition + creativity Birthstone: Amethyst Affirmation: I don’t have to please everyone

A r ie s

21 Mar–19 Apr Planet: Mars Create the life you envision Major Arcana: Emperor Leadership vs Dictatorship Birthstone: Red Jasper Affirmation: I am lovable, I am worthy, I am valued, I am deserving

Love/Romance

Career/Finance

2022 is about deepening bonds and attracting new people into your life. This will make you feel more in the flow. Time to drop fixed mental constructs and social masks that separate you from others. Like the rainbow fish, share some of those glittering scales - you have more than enough. Be more authentic and intimate, see the bigger picture, get more clarity. With emotional honesty comes closeness and meaning. Equality in friendships is essential. Be present. Self-denial is not the answer.

We love to LOVE, be in LOVE, and feel that juiciness called LOVE flow through our veins. Oh yes, LOVE makes the world go round for good reasons. Did you jump to this section first? Felt stuck in the muddy waters lately? Have you noticed the sparkles of the sunrise glistening on the horizon? If so, time to muster the courage to leave the small pond. You’re ready! Unchartered waters are waiting to be explored. Take that leap of faith. SPLASH! You’ll find each other. Patience.

Want to swim in circles in that fishbowl all your life? Is the status quo what you really want? Are you going to follow that child’s finger on the other side of the fishbowl as you have or, are you ready to leap and grab all opportunities that present themselves to you? The tides are turning, going back and forth, weighing up the pros and cons is a natural process. Are you going to let that ship sail? 2022 is your chance to leap out of the stagnant water. Towards the end of the year you could join other sea creatures. Imagine!

How is Billy Goat Gruff doing this year? Everyone knows you’re a strong Billy Goat,v but are you teachable and open to new suggestions and ideas? Remember Trolls are pretty stubborn too so don’t cross the bridge just to get to the other side. Are you being pulled in all directions, if so who’s pulling you? Does this person have your best interests at heart? Pulling together as a flock is important if you want to cross the bridge unscathed. Let someone help you. Welcome advice. Let go of those who have ulterior motives - and if it’s you, let go of your own ulterior motives.

Climb every mountain, ford every stream... till you find your dream. A new relationship is coming your way Aries, or a present relationship is deepening. This is not the time for locking horns. Someone is stirring your soul and fills your life with purpose. You have gained a lot of wisdom. Be tenderhearted with another. Share your joy. Clip, clop, clip, clop cross that bridge together and when you get there saviour the moment. The grass tastes best when munched together.

New opportunities or an influx of money is coming your way this year. Strength is assured by keeping your accounts in order. An honest accountant, someone who has integrity and is fair, will prevent you from chewing up your resources. Don’t get too greedy and stray from the path! You’re prepared to work hard to reach the peak but it doesn’t have to be lonely at the top. Be warned, don’t let selflimiting beliefs prevent you from missing any chances that support your career or help you financially.

Taurus & Gemini in the next issue Disclaimer: These general readings are for inspirational purposes only. For financial, medical or mental health advice, seek professional support.

C U L T U R E

PA S T O R A L CARE New Zealand’s first professional portrait artist was William Beetham, who painted in Europe, and at Tsar Nicholas’s court in Russia before emigrating in 1855 aged 46. Though he and his wife Mary lived in Naenae, they purchased pastoral station Brancepeth (in the Wairarapa) for their four sons. It increased in size with generations of Beethams. The Beetham clan has to postpone reunion plans, but the next best thing? Aratoi in Masterton’s exhibition William's Legacy: The Beetham Portraits (from 12 March), displaying 20 portraits of family members, including those painted by William.

BYE, WELLINGTON

MUM AND DAD

RED CASH

Max Patté, a British-born sculptor and multi-media and light artist, is best known in Wellington – his home of 20 years – for Solace in the Wind: the statue of a naked man leaning toward the sea on the waterfront. In April, Max will co-open a gallery in Sydney. He’ll be involved from Spain, where he’s moving with his wife and children because it’s close to UK family. “Thanks, Wellington,” Max says. “I’ll miss the south-coast sky.”

I’ll Tell You This for Nothing is a 60-minute solo show written and acted by Kate JasonSmith (pictured, yes all one word) about the life of Kate’s mother Phyllis Garvin JasonSmith, a frontline nurse in WWII. Find out why France awarded her the Legion d’Honneur for courage. It’s one half of a double-bill act at Circa from 22 April. Jan Bolwell, who directs I’ll Tell You, also performs a solo show Milord Goffredo, a re-creation of her Dunedin butcher father’s mind-boggling WWII exploits.

Following the shift to red, the government has announced a $121-million package to help the arts sector weather covid restrictions. The existing Arts and Culture Event Support Scheme gets boosted by $70.7 million, enabling organisers to plan events over the next year. The existing Cultural Sector Emergency Relief Fund gets $35.5 million for individuals and organisations most affected.

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S O C I A L

N O T E S

George the shark P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G G S

George Rose began to show his imagination and his talents way back when. He talks to John Bristed about his projects.

hen he was a teenager he found a piece of guttering which he bent, cut, and hammered into a neat dorsal-fin-shaped triangle. He stuck it on top of an old apple crate, added a bit of hose running from the top of the triangle to a mouthpiece as a snorkel, and painted the lot black. Then with some bootlaces, he attached it to his back, and swam, suitably weighted, round Seatoun Beach with the black fin just sticking out of the water. People noticed, and somebody called the police. They gave him a good ticking off, but they must have laughed. It’s 30 years since George Rose completed his first interior design project at Café L’affare. Customers over the years have remarked on the bits of broken ship on the walls, the aeroplane-propeller fans in the ceiling, and the remarkable water fountain. All of them look as though they might be genuine bits from old planes or shipwrecks, or industrial salvage from some 19th-century factory. George actually dreams these pieces up, then he makes them in his workshop out of wood, old iron, and other materials, and paints them so cleverly that they look convincingly real. Café L’affare has recently reopened after a “refresh”, and to celebrate the event he’s produced a construction which will stand among the tables. You might not immediately recognise it as a sculpture. Aficionados of Heath Robinson’s drawings will be immediately interested. L’affare’s CEO, Paul Cockburn, commissioned the piece. George has named it Dark Vueccano as a paean to lost childhood (it might be an abandoned lost toy if it were not two metres tall). He refers to it tenderly as “the Beast”. The Beast is made out of giant bits that could be oversized homemade Meccano. George has used lumps of steel, bits of brass, wheels, glass, cogwheels, two enormous mocked-up Eveready batteries and vast amounts of clever trickery with paint, lacquer, brass dust, and rust. He’s made Dark Vueccano look like a complicated and once-useful gadget which has been salvaged and scrubbed up a bit. But there’s more. This not a Steampunk prop. The sculpture is interactive, it has a use. You can step up to its eye-

pieces and view images in extremely good stereo on slides taken with some difficulty on an antique Russian “Sputnik” camera which George obtained from Czech Republic. The Sputnik camera is interesting in that it has three lenses (one for viewing and two for capturing the stereo image). It produces images on medium-format 120-size film, which gives great resolution, and, more to the point, 6cm x 6cm slides, which give a much better picture than the tiny slides of the past. The photos you can see (George took them with the fancy camera) include images of new and emerging artists who created the artwork on the latest L’affare coffee bags, and people who were involved with the redesign at Wellington’s L’affare. There might even be one of George there. George’s touch is on show in various ways at a number of Wellington cafes and restaurants. His partner, Rebecca Hardie Boys, makes live ginger beer and sells it to many of them. The labels are beach drawings/cartoons; check the tide to find out if yours is sweet or dry. On the sweet ginger beer label, the tide is in. George drew them. How did he get to be a man of so many parts? As a young man he was interested in producing films; he couldn’t afford to pay anyone so he had to use his imagination and abilities to design and make his own film sets. To support his interest he became a cabinetmaker, and was soon making refectory tables for the Windsor Castle Company. Soon he was making tables, chairs, and bars for Wellington restaurants. Eventually, as George Rose Design, he became a restaurant designer. His work is still seen in many eateries and cafes round the city. He has always delighted in making bespoke statement pieces: his wooden-block floor still stands out at Scopa, up the road Logan Brown has a spectacular “Etruscan” light, and there’s the big bar and mirror at Fratelli’s; there are plenty more. But he’s done nothing else anything like Café L’affare’s Dark Vueccano slideshow sculpture.

F E AT U R E

A run for office P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G GS

Has would-be mayor Tory Whanau got the right stuff for the capital city? Tessa Johnstone finds out.

F E AT U R E

ory Whanau trusts her gut feelings. When she was 20, studying full-time at university, working two jobs and about to take on a third, she became briefly fixated with Lotto. “It was all I could think about for two weeks – and then I won.” She won $1.2 million to be precise. “I just bought one ticket, that was all I could afford. I was looking at other people in line going, I’m going to win, you’re not. I just knew. I had a gut feeling.” The money allowed her to take a year off uni to travel, pay off her parents’ mortgage, and support family, and – thanks to the hard word from her financially-savvy mum – has continued to give her freedom to choose her own path. Now 38, Tory is gambling again; she’s chucking her hat into the ring for Mayor of Wellington. She was the first mayoral candidate to announce a challenge, and, judging by the media coverage of her launch, is probably a strong contender in the local government elections in October. Tory has a good feeling about this punt too. “[On the night of the launch] I walked up to the podium thinking, this could be bad, this could be a disaster. I’d never given a political speech before, but as I started speaking the cogs turned, and I just loved every second of it. It was like the best night of my life, it felt so right.” In the audience were several high-profile Green MPs, who have publicly and privately given Tory their backing. While Tory is seeking endorsement from the Greens, she’s adamant that running as an independent candidate is the right move for her.

“I’ve made it very obvious that I have Green values, but I want to show that I can work with anyone, that I’m not there to push an agenda – I’m there to push a vision, and I hope it’s a shared vision, but if it’s not, then how do we get to that point?” Tory was a key player in the Green Party from 2015 until October last year, first as their digital director and then as chief of staff. She was intimately involved in the coalition negotiations between the Greens and New Zealand First in 2017. Though some long-term Green Party members criticised the party for the compromises made during that process, Tory is proud of the work that was done, and puts it down to good relationship management. “Regardless of politics, I’ve always treated people with respect. You couldn't get much more diverse than the Greens and New Zealand First working together. Doing that for three years, that was hard, but it built up that skill set for dealing with difficult conversations and difficult politics.” On social media you may find a mock movie poster made for Tory by colleagues when she left the Greens. It depicts her at the front of the pack in heels, a blood-spattered shirt and pencil skirt, an axe dangling from her hand and the tagline “Watch out for her sting”. So is there some truth in it? Is she tough? “Yeah, I’ve had to make hard decisions over the years, especially when it comes to team-building. It’s an unfortunate side effect of it, I daresay. When I was digital director it was all about the comms. It was a really pleasant role. When I became chief of staff my mode had to change quite a bit. It was hard.”

F E AT U R E

The same skill set could be put to good use if Tory’s successful in her bid for mayor. Wellington City Council has been beset by infighting for several years and voters may be looking for a mayor who can rally the troops and get on with the work. Tory is confident she can get it done. “You’re bringing together passionate people, who all want the best for Wellington, but may have different ways of getting there. It’s about consensus-building, treating every single person with respect and teaching people how to compromise.” If she’s successful, Tory would be the first Māori mayor of Wellington. She says she wouldn’t take this responsibility lightly. “I think Wellington's ready for that. How epic would it be to have our first indigenous mayor of Wellington?” Tory, who is of Pakakohe and Ngā Ruahine descent, says she wasn’t always proud to be Māori. As a five-year-old she was photographed for a story in a magazine, a kid from Cannons Creek squinting at the camera and standing side-on to show off her new school bag. The headline: Starting Fair. Do Māori pupils have an equal chance of success in our education system? Tory says that while she wasn’t conscious of it then, it was her first clue that Māori were meant to fail. Another came when a high school teacher told her she’d likely fail school certificate given her “background”. “There’s been this lingering expectation that I would fail from all angles. But that’s what drove me to want to succeed, that’s what

drove my parents to push against that and go ‘not our daughter’.” Tory’s family moved to Patea from Porirua when she was about seven to be closer to whānau. “It was: Patea Māori Club, freezing works, everyone was related. I loved it. It was peak community. It was safe; we would walk to school every day. A real strong Māori vibe, we were proud to be Māori.” Her parents had very little money in their early years, and were determined to make sure their kids had a different life. “It was a really loving upbringing, but money was tight. They didn’t want me to have it that tough, so education was always front of their minds.” While Patea was great for giving the kids a community, the local high school wasn’t going to cut it for education, says Tory. “They decided early on they were going to send me away and that was tough for all of us because we were such a connected family.” Tory’s parents, who still live in Patea, made big sacrifices to send Tory to New Plymouth Girls’ High. Tory’s Dad moved to Australia to work in mining for several years to make it happen. “Getting me to succeed was always the priority, every parent wants that, but I count my blessings. They put me first constantly, they went without so I could have the best.” After that Lotto windfall, Tory took a year off, but she did return to university, completing a film and media studies degree and then a postgrad diploma in business. She says that while she’s grateful for what her parents did and where that boarding school

F E AT U R E

education got her, it also undermined her cultural identity. “It was chipped away at over a number of years. I was surrounded by girls from wealthy farming families. These girls were lovely. Some of them were my sisters, but there was a level of ignorance. They would make comments, not intending to hurt me, but offhand comments.” Tory recounts conversations about the Māori All Blacks and Māori political protest (including protests her koro was involved in) that tore down what Māori were doing; to this day she regrets not standing up to this casual racism. “I was the only Māori in the class, and I felt so small. I didn’t know how to participate in the conversation. I had no backing, I had no confidence, and I felt small.” It was her now former husband – still one of her best friends – who challenged her perceptions of herself and set her on a path to reclaim her culture and identity. She started learning te reo Māori again, talking to her koro – well-known Taranaki activist Rongo Tupatea Kahukuranui – about politics, and gradually restored some pride in her whakapapa. Her campaign website spells out her commitment to including mana whenua in council decisions. But asked where she stands on the development of Shelly Bay, she’s firm that it’s not for council to meddle in. “I’m going to support mana whenua, I’m not comfortable wading in. I’d rather let their

internal processes play out first. As tangata whenua, I feel uncomfortable taking a preferred position while it’s playing out.” Tory is very willing to talk about Wellington’s other problems though, and has a list of the priority issues down pat: action on housing, homelessness, personal safety, and climate change, accelerating infrastructure fixes, and supporting businesses in their recovery from covid. She is currently a political consultant – some might say a lobbyist – but says if she was elected, the council role would be her full-time gig. She’s realistic that the city has a rough ride ahead. “It’s going to get tough over the next few years. If we see Let’s Get Welly Moving come through there’s going to be major disruption on our streets. She foresees a communications challenge making Wellingtonians “comfortable” with the disruption, communicating the vision behind it. “And who knows where covid’s going. We’re going to need some strong leadership around that as well.” Asked why she wants the job – and why mayor rather than a shot at Parliament – Tory reckons it’s about local community. “There’s something so exciting about leading the community, the bringing together of your town, of your city. I feel I have the skill to be able to do that. In Wellington we’re quite progressive, so it’s a city I’d be proud to lead.”

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F E AT U R E

It’s a tuft life

P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M O N I CA W I N D E R

Padraig Simpson has a gun and knows how to use it. Craig Beardsworth talks to him from a safe distance.

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ugmaker Padraig Simpson can’t talk to me in his studio space – it’s been commandeered by a clutch of fashionistas for a photoshoot. With ten creatives sharing a space, there’s always something happening. The denizens of Sector 22 in an old Garrett Street building include a photographer, a screen printer, a painter, a fashion designer, a DJ, a seller of vintage hats, and Padraig. The space is a clamour of colour, people, and art works. In the middle lies a calm square of couches around a coffee table – a communal oasis for breaks. We begin our chat there while waiting for models and photographers to disperse.

Padraig makes rugs using the tufting technique, a traditional way of making textiles by punching a looped wool thread through a wide-weave fabric. The resulting loops can be cut to create exposed wool ends, which create a dense felt-like pelt. Tufting, which began as a folk craft in North America in the early 19th century, has multiple applications, from woolly mittens and jackets to decorative rugs. It used to be a laborious, loop-by-loop process, but in recent years hand-held tufting guns allow anyone to shoot up a woolly storm. With the covid pandemic forcing everyone indoors lockdown #1 saw a groundswell of enthusiasm for craft. Tufting became a thing on TikTok and its ascendancy was sealed. Padraig joined the fray during lockdown #2 in 2021. A video inspired him to order a gun and he began experimenting when it arrived in September. Entirely self-taught, he learnt by trial and error. Tufting requires a backto-front approach – a stencil is drawn on the backing cloth, and wool is shot

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through from behind, following the pattern, to create loops on the other side. Progress can’t be assessed until it’s turned around. Padraig rolls his eyes as he recalls time spent pulling strands of yarn out and resetting plans. Padraig’s background as a graphic designer has led him to plenty of artistic crossover between mediums. “My design aesthetic is illustrative and therefore looks ‘flat’ so suited to the two-dimensional aspect of rug design.” Several of his design-pad doodlings have been translated into early experimental rugs. Padraig’s rugmaking rise has been meteoric – receiving the gun just four months ago, he is now tufting full time. He has a couple of regular design clients, and more than enough rug commissions. A simple, small rug takes about eight hours to complete. He has found working with wool “freeing”. With design clients, he explains, “you have to work to a strict brief ” to produce a prescribed look. With rugs, on the other hand, “the commissions are looser and I have freedom to explore”. With a New Zealand wool supplier around the corner, he’s exercising his legs: “I average three trips to buy wool a week at the moment”.

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Talent on target BY C R A I G B EA R D SWO RT H A N D A RT H U R H AW K E S

Talent is a special natural ability or aptitude; a natural capacity for success in some department of mental or physical activity. Wellington is brimming with talented people, whose success breeds growth and development, and invigorates the region as a whole. We look at a small sample.

Streetdog named desire

Reign of sound

A new flagship workshop and showroom, and two funding rounds raising $1.6 million – not a bad result for what began as a 2020 lockdown project. Luke Sinclair and Kendall Bristow set out to make "the world's most beautiful moped-class e-motorcycle". Their Streetdog prototype proved so convincing they were oversubscribed with investors. They have paired classic motorbike design with minimalist technology and layout – the result is an uncomplicated riding experience, good for the environment. Sinclair and Bristow want to change the way New Zealand and the rest of the world commute: e-motorcycles reduce congestion and carbon emissions. With a 100km range and a top speed of 50km per hour, it can be driven on a standard car licence. The first batch of 100 will be released later this year and then the pair will look further afield. “We will be sending trial units overseas within the next year as part of our research and testing phase,” says Kendall. You can catch a sneak preview of the Streetdog at Wellington Airport.

The Deluge portable synthesizer looks like a box with a confusing multitude of LED buttons (over 170, plus several knobs for good measure). For electronic musicians the box is an exciting advance in music making with sequencing, sampling, looping, and synthesizing all presented intuitively in portable form. Sequencers have been around since the 1970s – they allow musicians to pre-program rhythms and melodies and manipulate recorded sounds. Deluge inventor Rohan Hill came up with his take on a sequencer in 2014. “There were other machines out on the market but most either had to attach to a screen or the buttons had one LED colour – with multiple colours we could represent more.” Deluge is the tool of the modern electronic composer and performer – instead of manuscript paper and ink, musicians compose on the machine and can alter elements in real time while performing. With a team of five behind him, Hill assembles the units in Wellington and exports the majority abroad.

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Beyond fun

Splat the rat

A Geare change

Beyond is a virtual reality gaming company that specialises in crafting complex 3D worlds. It was founded in Wellington in 2018 and released its first offering, a VR game called Oddball, in early 2020. Oddball is a zany, free-roaming shooting game, where up to eight players navigate psychedelic palaces and enchanted forests while firing pink pellets at each other. Unsuspecting victims can be turned into pineapples. Think paintball with a dose of Dr. Seuss. The 12 members of the team are an even split between tech whizzes and artists. Two of the founders remain, CEO Jessica Manins and COO Anton Mitchell, who helm the company. Beyond’s current projects include a new near-completed VR game with Wētā Workshop, and a foray into NFTs. Fluf World is an NFT created by Auckland’s Non Fungible Labs. It comprises 10,000 digital rabbit avatars, which constitute a kind of exclusive owner’s club, with the rabbits representing saleable assets which can be traded on a marketplace. Beyond worked with rapper Snoop Dogg to create a series of burrows for the rabbits: lavish, virtual 3D spaces which can be navigated and customised.

“Doesn’t every one harbour a desire to be a rat catcher?” asks Robbie van Dam. Lured by the challenge to find an efficient and humane rodent control alternative, he joined forces with fellow designer and friend Craig Bond in 2004 to form Goodnature. The trap they invented is gas canister powered so it can reset itself 24 times before requiring any maintenance. They also developed a toxin-free bait and a device that refreshes the bait automatically after each kill for six months. For pest control on large farms and remote forests the trap has hugely reduced time and effort. Squeamish urban dwellers can set and forget. The business has grown to almost 50 staff on the back of strong international sales. Van Dam reckons 90% of Goodnature’s rat and possum trap products are exported overseas. And after 17 years, how many kills is he responsible for? “More than the Pied Piper,” he laughs. “On average each trap is making one kill a month and there are 500,000 out there”.

Judith Geare is an expert speaker of the German language. The Goethe Institute, from which she’s retiring after 37 years as head of the language department, hosts about 300 learners per year, and aids many thousands more through their outreach programme in schools. Alongside teaching, Judith was frequently co-opted for German accent coaching in plays and feature films. Native speakers would often say of Judith that they had never heard a foreigner with such an assured command, but it wasn’t a clear-cut path. German was something she and her school friends badgered their French and Latin teacher to add; they relented in her final years. At Otago University she embarked on a double major in French and German, then dropped the French to struggle on with German. “The penny finally dropped, and I discovered I loved it!” Her efforts were rewarded with scholarships in Trier and Vienna, and she later taught around New Zealand, and in Berlin and Bremen, before joining the Institute in 1984. In 2020, her life’s work was recognised with the award of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

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Meet Harry and Sallie BY SA S H A B O R I S S E N KO P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G G S

f Sallie Culy isn’t working at Clyde Quay afterschool care or singing in the Wellington Community Choir, she’s catching the bus from her Miramar flat of 22 years into the city to hang out with her friends over hot chocolate and fizzy drinks. Little Beer Quarter, Fusion, Iko Iko, Paper Bag Princess, Good as Gold, Area 51, Cheapskates, Milk Crate, Swimsuit, and Boardertown are among the Wellington icon’s favourite hotspots. “I love hanging out with people I’ve never met before and getting to know them. I love getting to know people from different countries,” the 41-year-old says. Her brother Harry Culy – artist, curator, book designer, and recipient of the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award – says his sister has always been “super independent, friendly, and creative”. That’s why, after several years of Sallie’s going to Harry’s house every Tuesday to draw with felt-tip pens on A4 paper, the pair decided to apply to the Wellington City Council to display Sallie’s work on the revolving lightboxes on Courtenay Place. “We didn’t have any idea where it was going to go, but I thought these drawings are amazing, unique and different. Over time her drawings started to stack up. We had a box with hundreds of drawings in it. They bring both me and Sallie heaps of joy and I wanted to nurture that a little bit.” Sallie was born with Williams syndrome. She and Harry make a great team, as he is particularly conscious of the barriers people with intellectual disabilities have in the arts. “People with intellectual disabilities are often excluded from art spaces as there are so many hoops to go through,” says Harry. “Sometimes it’s not all that accessible. I live in that world and I’ve started to learn how it works.” He had some experience writing proposals, and was delighted when this one was accepted. “I thought the public might get the same amount of joy from Sallie’s drawings that our family does. She loves

Wellington and the many friends she has here. It’s a visual diary of her life. We’re looking through her eyes, and it is a chance to see a different side of her.” The eldest of four children, Sallie grew up with her parents in Mount Victoria. She always had an affinity for drawing, which is no surprise as art seems to be in her DNA. “The wider family is an arty bunch, for sure,” says Harry. Her cousin, Katie Melody Rogers, who was born in the same house and on the same day as Sallie, is an Auckland creative and stylist. Sallie’s mum and dad, a teacher and economist, are hugely supportive of Sallie’s endeavours and Harry says they are chuffed with the drawings. People are the main focus in the drawings – family, friends, “or people that Sallie loves through the screen”. That includes Rihanna, Beyoncé – Sallie especially loves Beyoncé – Ricky Martin, and Dr Warner from Shortland Street. Then there are flowers, family members including their dad John, Aunty Jan, and Harry’s cat, and her skateboarding mates. Meat also features in Sallie’s drawings – specifically hamburgers and roast chicken, which Sallie loves. “Sallie’s a big meat-eater. We don’t eat a lot of meat in my flat but when Sallie comes over to draw we’ll put on a roast or cook up some spaghetti bolognese.” Skateboarders have always made Sallie welcome. They too hang out in the streets as their playground, Harry says. “We look out for each other because we care about where we live and we want to help the city,” says Sallie. Harry and his brother were big skaters in their teens and early twenties. Now Sallie says she goes to the skatepark at Waitangi Park “heaps – if the weather is good I go every day. They’re my mates. Skating is cool. I’ve been trying to learn from my friends and they’ve taught me some tricks. I care about them and they care about me.”

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Hello to Everybody will light up Courtenay Place until 25 May. It was a long time coming. “I picked the drawings that I liked but it was hard to think what they would look like blown up. This happened ages ago,” Sallie says. Then Covid-19 came to New Zealand, which Sallie found extremely hard. “I hated the lockdowns,” she says. “We need to help save this town. People need to be patient and honest with their health. I don’t want to do another lockdown.” Harry says Sallie’s always been a social butterfly. “People with Williams syndrome are super social. They have a social proclivity that’s completely foreign to me. I’m not the same. I’m super introverted.” Harry made an instagram account @salliespics to post pictures of Sallie’s art, and he has been overwhelmed by support from the community. “Your art is revolutionary, I love it,” one commenter said. Another said: “Congratulations Sallie!!! You are such an icon.” Since its inception in January, the account has gathered over 2000 followers. “It’s crazy. Some photos have 100 comments. I don’t know these people but Sallie does and they all love her and are pretty proud.” Sallie too is delighted with the exhibition: “I feel pretty good. It’s awesome. It’s cool to see them huge in the street.” There’s been so much interest that the pair plan to make a book of Sallie’s work “but it’s still a few years away,” according to Harry.

F E AT U R E

Tax and relax BY R AC H E L H E LY E R D O N A L D S O N P H OTO G R A P H Y BY J O S I A H N E V E L L

One company has made tax returns a doddle.

hen Hnry co-founders James and Claire Fuller moved from the UK to New Zealand a decade ago, creating an award-winning, multi-million-dollar fintech company was not part of the game plan. The couple and their young daughter, Isabelle, swapped London for Wellington to be closer to Claire’s family, and they were enjoying freelance contracting in the capital. Claire, who has a background in finance, compliance, and legal and data analysis, was working as a consultant for EQC and MPI. English-born James trained as a developer before going into management consultancy in the technology sphere. He took up senior consultancy roles for Deloitte, Davanti, and Westpac before also going to work as a contractor, for Wellington start-up incubator Creative HQ. They loved the flexibility of self-employment but the downside was the endless load of financial admin: the hassle of income tax, invoicing, expenses, GST and ACC. An “old-school” accountant made them put away 33% of their income against tax when their real tax rate was closer to 25%. Sitting in their boardroom in their airy, modern Brandon Street offices, the couple explain how Hnry, their app-based accountancy service for self-

employed people, was born out of these frustrations. To understand how much tax they actually needed to pay, James created a couple of spreadsheets. “Hnry really started as us taking a bit more control.” Their intention was not to start a business; it was simply to spend far less time thinking about tax. “It was to find out: how do you cope with this thing, so you can actually get on with your life and not think about taxes the whole time?” Claire loved contracting “so much” she was forever convincing friends to go freelancing. Inevitably, the question of how to manage their taxes would arise. “Then I’d helpfully offer James’s time!” At that point, he says, “we were just people going through some spreadsheets, helping some friends out, we didn’t think ‘Oh, this could be a business’.” But then those friends would tell their friends about “the guy who had these spreadsheets” and word spread. By now James was working in the start-up community at Creative HQ and he could see the business potential in people motivated by “the endless possibilities of starting something from nothing.” The couple assembled some calculations about how much money a self-employed person needs to put aside relative to earnings, and James wrote some code for an algorithm to automatically calculate, deduct, and pay the right amount in taxes.

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Hnry

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In early 2017 the pair created a “basic” one-page website and advertised their services on Twitter. “To our surprise people signed up,” says James. Amazingly, says Claire, people were so desperate to sort their tax out that they were happy to hand over their money to an unknown online venture. “It shows the pain points. They needed the service so badly, they were like, ‘Oh please just take the money’, and they were so hopeful that it would work out.” The Fullers spent evenings and weekends on their business, although, says James, “it still felt more like a hobby business”. But by 2018 their side hustle had grown into something significant enough for James to go unpaid to work on it fulltime. Hnry raised nearly a million dollars from local angel investors, and the pair started to hire a small team. In March 2020, Hnry was launched in Australia. Since then Hnry has mushroomed. It is New Zealand’s largest specialist accountancy, with “tens of thousands” of Kiwi customers. It has a customer base in Australia “in the early thousands” that is growing by 25 to 30 per cent per month. There are 40 staff (30 in Wellington and 10 in Sydney) and the company plans to double that this year. Hnry is a two-time winner in the Wellington Gold Awards: in 2019, as Emerging Service of the Year, and in the Supporting Gold category in 2020. In February Hnry was valued at $100 million and secured a $16 million investment from a US growth equity firm, Left Lane Capital. Some of that money will go towards further expansion offshore. Hnry is looking at several other markets, says James. He won’t say where, but finds it exciting that “we may be in a third country very soon.” The Fullers, who each have a 16.21 per cent stake in the company, say that Hnry’s “one-stop-shop” offering is a world-first. The pay-as-you-go service charges $1 for every $100 earned, with a cap of $1,500 on fees annually. Hnry’s software automates your taxes, generates invoices and tracks expenses. Customers get a Hnry bank account into which their self-employed income is paid, and a payslip so they can see where their money is going. There’s also expert support via email and an online chat service.

F E AT U R E

Hnry grew 500 per cent in the 18 months since June 2020, says James, who is the chief executive. The rise is partly due to the number of people going into selfemployment in response to the pandemic. But people were already moving into contracting or the “gig economy” before covid hit. Some couldn’t access their accountant in lockdown, and they turned to Hnry. Others have side hustles: Hnry’s customers include real estate agents who do Uber driving, and couriers who work for scooter companies. Meanwhile a lot of Hnry’s new customers have been in self employment for some time and are simply “tired” of handling the financial admin themselves.A third of people who join Hnry, he says, have an accountant but still have unfiled accounts or unpaid taxes. “Some people have a six-figure tax debt. We’ll help them get back on track.” The name Hnry was “crowd-sourced” via the startup community. Claire and James liked the idea of a service with a name, suggesting a person who was “friendly, approachable, smart and fun, trustworthy, who invokes that feeling of efficiency”, says James. Two people suggested Henry, and it stuck, minus the “e.” Most traditional spellings for domain names are unavailable. It’s a “cult joke” among start-ups, says Claire, that you remove a vowel to get the domain name you want. The only downside is some “delightful misspellings. So we also own Horny.com and Horny. com.au, just in case.” “But we love the name,” adds James, who is wearing a Hnry-branded top. It’s personable, and customers relate to it. “Imagine if we’d called ourselves Auto Tax App.” James says he and Claire are “best friends who went into business together”. The couple met in London while working at global data company Experian. Claire was in the finance team and James was in tech support. The app he was responsible for kept breaking. It was “clunky”, he admits. “Claire frequently had to call for tech support.” It was Claire’s workmate, she insists, who needed more help. “If my colleague

phoned, you did it remotely. But if I phoned you popped up the stairs!” The pair married in Britain in 2010 and Isabelle was born in 2011. “London and children were not a winning combination” says Claire, who convinced James they should move to Aotearoa when Isabelle was 14 months old. Colleagues at Deloitte London said to move to New Zealand would be “career suicide”. But James, who grew up in south-east England, agreed to try Wellington for a couple of years. Within six months, he’d decided to stay. “This was home now. I couldn’t go back to the UK, things here were so nice. Particularly for raising children, and all the great stuff that comes with living here – it was so superior to living in London.” Now in Khandallah, they’ve swapped a three-hour daily commute for a quick trip into Wellington’s CBD. Daughter Emilie, 6, was born in 2015. Weekends are spent visiting Claire’s parents in Paraparaumu, trips to Martinborough and BBQs with friends. “Weekends are a chance to connect. Otherwise the days just fly off the calendar and you don’t see anybody,” she says. Claire, who is chief operating officer, jokes that she and James started Hnry “so we didn’t need to think about our tax, and now literally all we think about is other people’s tax”. But they don’t mind, says James, as long as their customers don’t have to think about it. The pair spend a lot of time trying to raise awareness about tax in selfemployment. “The nature of work itself has changed so much” he says, “government and the banks haven’t really changed with the times. When they imagine small business, they imagine a plumber with three employees.” But in fact the vast majority of small businesses are actually “sole, independent operators.” Hnry may be a modern way of doing tax in the 21st century but Claire says 40% of Hnry customers still come via referrals. “Basically it’s the advocacy of our customers that has built this business.”

Hnry

S P O N S O R E D

C O N T E N T

F E AT U R E

The +MORE team adding more to your business +MORE is a business advisory and accountancy firm in Wellington. We believe every small and medium New Zealand business deserves access to business coaching that is fuelled by technical capability and practical commercial experience. That’s why our Wellington team are here to provide business owners with advice that has depth to support them through the challenges that come with being in business. The past two years have highlighted how important it is for us to deliver and support our clients in more than just an accounting capacity. “The +MORE team truly care about your success,” says +MORE Director Jason Keen. “We understand that success looks different to everyone. Whether it’s spending more time with your family, growing your business, or achieving financial freedom. Whatever success looks like to you, we will listen and work with you to help you reach your business goals.” Our people are what make us stand out. Jason Keen, Charlotte Moodie and Jeremy Anderson lead the +MORE team here in Wellington. Jason’s expertise covers the full range of client services supporting the success of business owners, with particular expertise in business coaching, forecasting, annual planning, sale preparation, valuation, restructuring, and business and shareholder tax advice.

Photo from left: Charlotte Moodie, Jason Keen, Jeremy Anderson

Charlotte combines her global brand experience with small business practicum to deliver outstanding results for her clients. Her industry experience cuts across a wide range of diverse sectors including farming and rural, multinational, commercial property, high net-worth individuals, construction, retail, and hospitality. Jeremy takes pride in guiding business owners through planning, forecasting, and coaching with a suite of tools and strong business connections to help them grow their capability and performance. He holds extensive industry experience: in the media and film sector, brewing, construction and project management arenas, as well an array of client encounters in trades, retail, services, wholesale, and hospitality. If you are an ambitious business owner and need an advisor that can coach you to success and help you reach your goals, then +MORE is the best place you can be. Offices: Ground Floor, Promotus House, 58-60 Oriental Parade, Oriental Bay, Wellington 6011 Level 1, 65 Waterloo Road, Lower Hutt 5010 www.plusmore.co.nz info@plusmore.co.nz

Autumn at Circa Theatre

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H O M E

Comic book castle

Among the Aro Valley hills there’s one house that you just can’t miss. Daphne Carvalho gives us a tour of her distinctive home and garden.

P H OTO G R A P H Y BY G EO RG E STA N I L A N D

H O M E

came to Wellington from Malaysia to study. I arrived in 1982 on a one-way ticket with a bank draft of $3,000. That included my university fees! Luckily university fees were only $1,500 then, as it was an aid programme for nearby developing countries. I drew the curtains the next morning and saw horizontal rain. In summer! I blamed myself for making stupid, life-changing decisions at 18. I quickly fell in love with the city, though. Houses scattered over the hillside. The crisp blue sky I’d previously only seen in jigsaw puzzle images of quaint houses. I could explore the compact city on foot, with all the little streets and walkways. I even got used to the windy and rainy days. I met Graeme at university at the mainframe terminals. No one had personal computers then. One day he told me about a camera he’d bought. Being a poor student, I asked him to take photos of my graduation so I could send them to my parents. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in January this year.

The half-moon table and mirror, along with all the things on it, are from my parents’ house. We’re Catholic and all the Portuguese Eurasians in Malaysia have altars in their homes. I didn’t bring their altar back here, having a houseful of stuff already. The tabletop became a replacement altar for the religious statues.

B Y

T H E

B O O K

The mid-century vanity was a second hand purchase. I travelled to Kāpiti to get it and the guy thought I was crazy to think I could fit it into my Nissan Tiida. There’s nothing like being underestimated to get the adrenalin and motivation going.

This is our first home. We started looking because Graeme’s parents would come down once a fortnight and drag us to these renovation “opportunities”. It would have been easy for a builder like his dad, but not us. I was afraid we’d take forever to do a place up. That was 1994, and we’ve never moved.

H O M E

The fairy lights around the front door are a Christmas staple. I put about 4,000 white lights on the bushes outside the front of the house and 1,000 coloured ones inside the front door. I take them down a couple of months later. The neighbours start asking in December where the lights are if I don’t put them out early enough. The border in front is filled with flowery plants to attract bees. In warm weather the air hums with them. I make the most of the sunny paved area and have lots of pots of veggies in summer. I adore colour and paint many of the pots to brighten them up, where I experiment with colour schemes and painting techniques.

I've been a Snoopy fan since my earliest memories. I loved the Peanuts cartoon strip in the newspaper and read each one every day. I had a vision of Snoopy lying on his house for our letter box for ages, but I couldn't quite find a suitable box to match my vision. Graeme decided it was a rural mailbox I needed. We decided to stop at Dannevirke Mitre 10 one day on a holiday drive home and I picked this one. It was made of metal and green, which I thought I could work with. I etched and painted it to look like Snoopy's house, then drew a template for Snoopy which Graeme cut out of plywood. I painted him up and made his ears from leather which Graeme attached.

H O M E

This is our bird house villa. I found it on Mighty Ape and asked Graeme to get it for my birthday. It sat in a box for a year or so. After we painted the house, I still had some of the tester pots and decided it would look great in the same colour scheme. I don’t think the birds like it, but passersby are always taking photos of it next to the house.

This is an Indigo Gold tomato plant. People passing by keep on asking what it is. The tomatoes are jet black until they ripen and their bottoms turn gold. I received a range of seedlings from a family in Tawa who grow interesting varieties. They weren’t cheap, but are the best tomato plants I’ve ever grown. I used to be a botanist and plant pathologist, so plants are my first love.

The bright colours of the house stand out, even in dying light. I love seeing it glow on a winter’s day. It’s four storeys tall at the back so it looms over other houses in the area. Someone told me that the back of the house was originally the front. When I look at it from the dog park I think they’re probably right, it has far more features on that side.

H O M E

We repainted the house in 2017. It’s quite pricey to paint the house as it’s four storeys, with a basement at the back. You must have the house completely scaffolded, which costs as much as the painting! I went to a Resene ColorShop with many schemes to get some help. I ended up with four. Passersby watched with amusement and gave feedback when patient Graeme painted various colours on the window frames and walls. People in the street often tell me they love it, that the colours make them happy, and that they’re grateful to see it on their walks. One lady said it helped keep her spirits up, especially in winter. I guess my objective to make the house look (and make people) happy has succeeded.

Hello Rusty! He’s a tiny, athletic, happy cat with a big purr. We went to Kitten Inn to “look at” kittens. It was summer and there was a pen of playful, dozy kittens. They were all cute and we couldn’t decide. I heard a loud purr and wondered who it was. Graeme tracked the purr down and pulled out a small bright orange kitten who glowed in the sun.

We entertain in the dining room. The area is light and bright. Besides the windows, there’s also a rooflight extending from one end to the other. The tiny deck opens out to the left and overlooks the doggie park beside Central Park. I’m getting a dog when I retire. This area is perfect for one.

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L I F E S T Y L E

FLOSS FOR THE FUTURE A jaw-dropping 16 million toothpaste tubes wind up in New Zealand’s landfills each year. Laura Nixon is on a mission to change this with her Porirua oral care company, Solid. In early 2019 Laura began producing toothpaste tablets, which are “toothpaste minus the water.” Water makes up 40% of everyday toothpaste, but the drier tablet form means it can be distributed in glass containers, which can be returned, cleaned, and refilled. Solid have expanded to eco dental floss, mouthwash, and tooth powders, and Laura aims for them to be “New Zealand’s most sustainable toothpaste company.”

WAIRARAPA VACAY

ROCK AND ROLLING

The absence of international tourists has hit a lot of New Zealand businesses hard. However Wairarapa has beaten the trend and actually benefited from a surge in domestic tourism. Wellington's Dot Loves Data analysed eftpos and credit card activity from 2.8 million consumers spending outside of their local area. They found that much of the Wairarapa had an 6% increase in visitor spending compared to last year, Carterton being the most popular destination with a rise of 21%.

A turquoise truck, popping up outside Te Aro bars, along Island Bay’s waterfront, and in Porirua, is the latest venture of Ben James, the man behind Moonbar, Newtown (Cap#14). Ben opened Herb’s Mobile Record Store, a fourwheeled shop, late last year and has built a loyal band of customers who follow the truck’s whereabouts via social media. The stock includes new and secondhand vinyl records, cassette tapes, retro game consoles, and CDs.

BRICK AND MORTAR Homes under one million dollars don’t scream “affordable.” And average valuations in only 38 Wellington suburbs fall into this category. Property database CoreLogic found Waitangirua in Porirua to be the cheapest suburb, with a median valuation of $663,000. Featherston was close behind at $680,300, then Carterton at $709,350. All suburbs rose by at least 11%, but the biggest increase was seen in Upper Hutt’s Riverstone Terraces, where median house prices rose by 36.1% in the last year. All of these however become bargain prices compared with those in Seatoun, where the median value reached an exceptional $2.2 million.

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B U G

M E

Giraffe weevil BY M E LO DY T H O M A S

Name: New Zealand giraffe weevil

Habitat: Pepeke nguturoa are common in lowland native bush in the North Island and rare in the South Island, though one has been recorded as far south as the Hollyford Valley in Fiordland.

Māori name: Pepeke nguturoa (“long-beaked beetle”), tūwhaipapa and tūwhaitara. The last two are named for the Māori god of newly-made waka, because of the way the weevil’s body and snout resemble a waka and prow.

Look/listen: Giraffe weevils lay their eggs on dying wood between October and March, so now is your last chance to spot them for a while.

Scientific name: Lasiorhynchus barbicornis Status: Endemic, near-threatened

Tell me a story: If you’re lucky enough to catch a mating joust, this is what you’re seeing: The female begins to bore her hole in the wood, while a male mates with her and then stands over her, ready to fight off any rival males (he’s also there to help her out if she gets stuck in her hole). If a large competitor stumbles upon the scene, he’ll start a joust with the male, and the weevils will use their snouts to fight each other until the loser either retreats or topples onto the forest floor. Should a smaller male encounter a mating pair, he won’t attempt to fight a larger one, but rather sneak in and mate with the female while the bigger male is distracted. This mating tactic has been shown to be as effective as that of the bigger males, which is why we see such a range of body sizes in male giraffe weevils. When she’s finished, the female lays a single egg in her hole, which is then refilled with sawdust and hidden with bark fragments.

Description: Giraffe weevils are incredibly cool and weird-looking insects, with a distinctive elongated snout, which males use to joust over females (more on that below). Giraffe weevils vary hugely in size; as an article in The New York Times put it, “the largest male weevil is 30 times larger than the smallest. In human terms, this would be like having a friend who was the combined size of two adult giraffes.” Male and female giraffe weevils look so different that they were originally named as two different species by the British: males are generally larger, between 15mm and 90mm in length, with antennae at the very tip of the snout (or rostrum). Females are between 12mm and 50mm long and their rostra are shorter, with the antennae halfway down, allowing them to bore deep holes into trees to lay their eggs, without damaging their antennae.

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Jellicoe & Bledisloe: Hamilton in the 90s Photographs by David Cook 23 February – 15 May 2022

New Zealand Portrait Gallery Image: David Cook, Plunket Terrace. From the ‘Jellicoe & Bledisloe’ series, 1993-1997. Ink jet print.

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E D I B L E S

NA NA N O S H Tīhi (cheese), parāoa pohema (flatbread), and kumara chips feature in a te reo menu at Kuikui Lane, the newest cocktail bar to open on Victoria Street in the central city. Inspired by the kuia/ nans of the world, the influence of manaakitanga (hospitality) is woven into the bar’s ethos. Billed as a relaxed environment where you can be your authentic self, it’s meant to feel just like your nan’s place. Many of the food and drink options are locally sourced.

KNEADED MORE DOUGH

TITAHI TAPS

A NEW AFFAIR

Pizza aficionados are mourning the loss of Tommy Millions on Courtenay Place. Slated to close in late March, the high-profile pizza joint has been a popular stop-off for both daytime corporate types and late-night revellers. An early-1900s underground public toilet block was repurposed in 2011 by Athfield Architects, who designed the kiosk to incorporate original brickwork. This is the last of the three-outlet empire built up by owner Tom Kirton over 10 years.

Contract brewing is now an option in New Zealand thanks to a new enterprise in Titahi Bay. The Beer Engine is not your standard craft beer factory – they brew on behalf of breweries that don’t have their own facilities, allowing small operators to produce beer in an affordable way. The public can visit their taphouse to sample beers from these contract breweries, and a selection of rotating guest taps from around the country.

The sound of coffee machines at Café L’affare was replaced by those of jackhammers and saws over the summer break. The 32-year-old café has completed a three-year project, moving the head office and roastery off site and revitalising and expanding the front of house at its College Street premises. The final phase was a marathon six-week renovation resulting in a new function space, lobby, kitchen, ventilation system, and loos. A boutique roastery remains on site so the familiar sounds and smells will still greet you.

Pihama Lavender

DISCOVER A SECOND SUMMER IN TARANAKI AN INITIATIVE OF VENTURE TARANAKI

Te Rewa Rewa Bridge

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A LIGHTER S H A D E O F PA L E Double Vision Brewing has collaborated with Lower Hutt yeast lab Froth Technologies, to create Frothin', an India Pale Lager (IPL). IPL is a hybrid of IPA hoppiness with the crisp profile of lager. Brewed using all New Zealand ingredients, their experimental beer is cold-fermented and explores cold dry-hopping, where hops are added late in the brewing operation. “These techniques contradict long-established brewing practices, but are backed up by science to extract the best flavour and aroma compounds from the hops,” says Ryan Carville of Froth Technologies.

NO RESPITE FOR HOSPO

WINDOW SERVICE

CHEFFING GOOD RESULT

The government’s new five-step border policy gives no relief to the struggling café/restaurant scene according to Hospitality NZ’s CEO Julie White. She suggests that the Arts and Culture Event Support Scheme should be extended to hospitality to help its struggling workers. “New Zealand is mostly closed for the rest of the year – or half-closed at best. The ten days’ isolation rule will stop almost any tourist visiting. We will miss the big tourism season.”

Tucked down a side-street in Newtown, Mason, probably Wellington’s smallest restaurant, has solved the question of where to get a drink before you eat – just head next door. The accurately-named Next Door bar opened late 2021. It’s connected to Mason’s dining room by a handy window in the wall. Tasty snacks can be passed through for customers to enjoy with their drinks.

In three rounds of intense cooking by 50 international entrants, Sian Davis, the New Zealand contestant placed in the top 10. The Wellington Institute of Technology student chose “foraged food” as her theme for the three-day event, using locally sourced ingredients like kawakawa and seaweed. The annual Young Chef Olympiad, which is based in India, allows just one entrant per country. Weltec Tutor Simon Clarke says the competition, the world’s largest for budding chefs, has been held virtually for the past two years because of covid restrictions.

Street Art

Extend your summer and escape to Taranaki - 2021’s sunniest region. Discover delicious food, world class surf breaks, endless tracks and trails, amazing arts, and a fascinating and heart wrenching history. Be blown away by just how much there is to see and do. Stop dreaming and start planning your long weekend getaway like no other in Taranaki.

Taranaki.co.nz/visit

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We think Glenorchy is worth sharing We are The Great Glenorchy Alpine Base Camp. There will always be a wide range of ‘all inclusive’ wild nature adventure packages on offer here for you to choose from. We make it easy for you, not just transfers but all logistics, pack lists, specialist equipment, inductions and the best guides in the business to keep you safe. Most importantly, we do everything we can to make sure that the adventure stories you take home are worthy of occupying ‘prime time’ in the museum of your great life. Our adventure offering spectrum includes something for everyone, regardless of age, ability, fitness or experience. Our backyard is the Unesco South West New Zealand World Heritage Area or, Te Wahipounamu. It is 2.6 million hectares of remote pristine wilderness with spectacular alps, forests, river systems, lakes, beaches and wild ocean coastlines. We are all avid outsiders, love living here and know that you deciding to spend some time with us in our backyard will add richness and beauty to your

already great lives. We hope that you becoming more acquainted with some of our backyard’s lesser-known secrets will stir a new affection in you, an affection for the importance of all our fragile pristine wilderness areas. The Great Glenorchy Alpine Base Camp itself, is either your adventure base for the duration of your stay or your start and finish point. It is an intimate series of timber huts (not very big, not very many) clustered around some shared facilities. Simple pleasures. The huts themselves come in a range of different configurations (including some self contained). There is a little locally made clean burning wood stove to keep you warm in each of them. We tend to try to play these huts down a little and at the same time know you’ll love them. They’re cosy with splashes of colour, bluetooth speakers, rugs, blankets, great lighting and other stuff. www.thegreatglenorchyalpinebasecamp.co.nz

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Yes yam P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G GS

We explore the sweet sensations from East and Southeast Asia. We live in a multicultural society: it’s time we got to know our flavour neighbours.

Sweet east eats

Pandan panna cotta

Singapore choux in

with yuzu granita and freeze-dried mandarin

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Sweet east eats Get to know your pandan from your ube. Two foodies give us a run-down of their favourite ingredients from East and Southeast Asia.

Vicki Young is the head pastry chef and baker at Floriditas and Loretta. She’s a mainstay of the capital’s food scene, having worked with a number of restaurants, and as a private chef, to craft exquisite savoury and sweet menus. When she’s not doing any of these things, Vicki makes jaw-dropping celebration cakes for clients all over the region, and puts on dessert degustation pop-ups. She is a keen advocate of local produce and supports New Zealand producers as a member of Eat NZ’s 30-strong Kaitaki Collective. You can keep up with Vicki’s culinary endeavours on her popular Instagram page, @vickieats.

Elaine Loh is co-founder of Pour and Twist café, which serves manually filtered coffee and a variety of specialty drinks incorporating Asian flavours like matcha, taro, and black sesame. Although she was born and raised in Wellington, Elaine’s parents made sure she knew about her Malaysian-Chinese heritage: this meant Mandarin in the house, and regular trips to Malaysia. “Food is important in many cultures, but in Chinese culture, it brings everyone together. I like how symbolic it can be; for example, fish. Eating fish, especially during Chinese New Year, is a must because the character for fish is a homophone for abundance.”

Sago gula melaka: Coconut sago pudding

Sesame and redbean mochi

Taro cookies

Tang Yuan: Black sesame glutinous rice balls in syrup

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Lychee

Sago

Matcha

Taro

Soft, fleshy fruit about the size of a grape with a hard rind. Sweet with notes of grape, pear, and rosewater.

Sago is the starch from the core of palm tree stems. It’s sold commercially in small balls which can be used in various forms.

Powdered green tea leaf; a versatile flavour and colouring, with a vegetal, slightly bitter taste.

Taro is a mild-tasting root tuber. It’s one of the world’s earliest cultivated plants.

E: It has a floral umami flavour profile. Yukimi is a famous Japanese brand of matcha ice cream mochis. At Pour and Twist we do a lot of matcha drinks – ceremonial-grade matcha, matcha taro, matcha strawberry, matcha lychee.

V: We love a savoury dish with taro and pork belly cooked in fermented bean sauce, which is from my dad’s village in China. Growing up this was a real treat! Taro milk tea is a really popular option at bubble tea shops.

E: They’re so sweet and juicy. I only had these when I was at my grandpa’s or aunty’s house in Malaysia. Fruit in Asian culture is a love language! Your parents cutting up fruit for you is their way of showing love.

V: There is a Cantonese dessert with coconut and sago. It’s a real treat and a textural delight. I have it often after a banquet meal at Chinese restaurants.

Matcha and taro drink

Kuih Talam: Steamed coconut pandan cake

Bubble tea with tapioca pearls

Red bean filled moon cake

Taro layer chiffon cake

Ube cake Tau Foo Fah: Silken tofu pudding

Pandan layer cake 83

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Ube

Chinese yam

Red bean paste

Tapioca

Ube is another root tuber, bright purple in colour. It’s very popular in Filipino cuisine.

The Chinese yam 山药 (shānyào), also called the cinnamon vine, is one of the few tubers that can be consumed raw.

This paste comes from boiling and mashing red adzuki beans. Sugar is added to make a popular filling for dessert foods.

V: These give a very popular flavour profile in Chinese cooking and can be eaten in sweet or savoury dishes. My grandma would always buy us yam cookies.

E: At most Asian supermarkets you can get matcha and red bean taiyaki – a Japanese filled cake shaped like a fish. You can get different fillings like matcha, chocolate, and even cheese, but the traditional filling is always red bean paste.

Tapioca is the powdered starch from the cassava plant, another root tuber. It’s grown mainly in Thailand and Indonesia and consumed all over East and Southeast Asia.

E: Ube is a bit sweeter than taro. You can get halo-halo sundaes, which use ube ice cream as a base.“Haluhalo” is Tagalog for “mixed,” so they come with a whole bunch of stuff. Another classic Filipino food is ube pandesal: sweet bread with a cheese filling.

Canned longan

V: Tapioca is a popular base for boba or bubble tea, a textural drink I grew up with on visits to Guangzhou, China. The balls are basically flavourless, so it’s more of a textural thing.

Tapioca starch

Red beans

Tofu

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Pandan

Silken tofu

Black sesame seeds

Yuzu

Cultivated all over East and Southeast Asia, the green leaves provide a distinctive flavour and colour.

Tofu is the curd from soy milk. The soft, silky varieties come from curdling the milk with an organic acid also used in the cheesemaking process.

The darker, nuttier version of the hamburger bun variety. Black sesame has been shown to contain more nutrients than its white counterpart.

This East Asian citrus fruit is a hybrid of the tasty mandarin orange and the unpalatable papeda fruit.

E: The leaves have a sweet, grassy aroma, with hints of coconut. Pandan is often used in little cakes, which are dyed green with the leaves. There are steamed Malaysian cakes known as kuih; some have green and white layers – pandan for green, coconut milk for white.

E: Tang Yuan are glutinous rice balls, often stuffed with black sesame paste. We have them in a pandan and sugar soup. They’re a big part of Chinese culture, but I never liked them as a kid. Now I love them!

V: Sweet silken tofu is a popular, refreshing dessert in Chinese cuisine. It is served with sugar syrup and best eaten after your roast duck noodle soup.

Coconut milk

V: Yuzu is a fragrant citrus from Japan. Gelissimo do a great yuzu sorbet. Neville Chun is the only grower of yuzu in New Zealand. You can try yuzu olive oil in dressings or with vanilla ice cream.

Rice flour

Canned lychee

Pandan leaves

Tapioca pearls

Ube jam

Yellow rock sugar Black sesame seeds 85

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Pandan panna cotta

with yuzu granita and freeze-dried mandarin BY V I C K I YO U N G

his dessert is a nod to the baked custards and jellies of my Cantonese childhood. Growing up we would often go with my 婆婆 [por por] to her friend’s house and she would always make pandan coconut jellies for us to eat. I remember the wobbly bright green and white diamonds on the plate, crunchy from the agar agar, with a warm aroma reminiscent of vanilla. When we went to yum cha on Sundays, these jellies would often make an appearance on the dessert trolleys, next to the mango puddings adorned with tropical toothpick umbrellas. This is a nod to childhood nostalgia with a modern twist: pandan – fondly referred to as “vanilla of the East” – infused into panna cotta, with a touch of almond. The

For the panna cotta 400ml coconut milk 200ml coconut cream 110g caster sugar 1/2 tsp natural almond essence 100g pandan leaves (you can buy them frozen at an Asian supermarket) 125ml water 6 gelatin leaves For the granita 250ml water 100g caster sugar 50ml yuzu extract For the garnish Freeze-dried mandarin segments Equipment Blender or juicer 2 saucepans Sieve Moulds or deep dish for panna cotta Dish or heatproof container for granita Cooking thermometer Measuring jug or scales

crunch, this time, comes from the refreshing yuzu granita and textural pops of mandarin. The mandarin is freezedried from Food Nerd (a freeze-drying company here in the capital). This recipe uses gelatin, but can be easily replaced with a vegan gelling alternative such as Jel-It-In. As well as incorporating textures, I wanted to highlight flavour and the role each component plays in the dish. The panna cotta is not too sweet, allowing the grassy (and almost bitter) taste of pandan to come through. The nutty almond adds to the warmth and creaminess of the coconut base, and the fragrant Japanese yuzu gives a refreshing sweetness. The mandarin cuts through the creamy component with its acidity, adding to the sweet citrus of the yuzu.

1. Blend pandan leaves with 125ml water to extract juice. 2. Put pulp and juice with all panna cotta ingredients together in a saucepan on low heat until sugar dissolves (do not boil). 3. Strain and cool down to 45°C. 4. Reconstitute gelatin in cold water, squeeze out excess water when soft, and add to the cream mixture at 45°C max. (or lower, but warm enough to dissolve the gelatin). 5. Pour into moulds or set in a deep dish. 6. Refrigerate to set, for four hours or overnight. 7. For the granita, bring sugar and water to boil, then add yuzu extract. 8. Pour into a tray which fits into the freezer and let it cool to room temperature. 9. Put in freezer. Stir and scrape mixture every 30 minutes with a fork, until a shaved-ice consistency is achieved. 10. De-mould panna cotta, and serve with granita and freeze-dried mandarin segments. Enjoy! Makes up to 10 small panna cottas

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Singapore choux in BY JACQ U I G I B S O N

When Singapore met Paris – Mariah Grace explains the cuisine clash that inspired Grace Patisserie.

hank goodness for Sylvie Hu Yang, I say, taking a second bite of the petit gâteau that bears her name. The 36-year-old server is the latest muse of pastry chef Mariah Grace, owner of Grace Patisserie on Tory Street, which is now nearly three years old. Quizzed by Mariah about her favourite flavours, Sylvie, who hails from France but lived in Shanghai for a year, cited citrus and pandan, a Southeast Asian plant with subtle grassy vanilla and coconut notes. A week of brain-wracking later, the “Sylvie” was conceived: a glowing finger of tart lime curd, infused with pandan, layered between vanilla shortcrust pastry, and topped with a toasted ruffle of coconut meringue. Dressed in shards of gold leaf, curls of lime zest, slivers of raw coconut and two tiny pea-shoot tendrils, the Sylvie, I can testify, is heaven on a plate. There are eight petits gâteaux in the temperaturecontrolled display case, next to rows of pastelcoloured macarons and a cabinet of light flaky croissants and rich golden pastries. Each dessert is named after a staff member and inspired by their individual taste. I ask which one Mariah likes best. “Generally speaking, I do love rose as a flavour, particularly when paired with lychee and raspberry,” the 27-year-old says, taking a seat during a late-afternoon lull in her cafe. In fact, Grace’s most popular cake was a rose, lychee, and raspberry petit gâteau, called “Ruby” to follow a gemstone theme, which was served in the spring of 2020.

“Every season, I redesign the menu to match a new theme and what’s seasonally available. I start with the flavour combination – always a fusion of Asian and more traditional European flavours – before moving onto the cake design and ultimately the production. The part I enjoy most is coming up with new ideas, experimenting with new flavours, and surprising our customers with something different every few months.” Singapore-born Mariah and Kiwi husband Andrew opened Grace Patisserie in April 2019. The pair had not long returned from a month in the Ukraine, where Mariah studied French pâtisserie techniques at the Kiev International Culinary Academy under founder and pastry chef Tetyana Verbytska and visiting Dutch dynamo Frank Haasnoot. For Mariah, the sabbatical added to a three-year culinary arts and business degree from Wellington’s Le Cordon Bleu and stints pastry cheffing at QT Wellington and Sofitel Wellington, where Andrew also worked. Just months after opening Grace Patisserie, the duo snaffled the Dine Wellington award, one of Wellington On A Plate’s top three awards, for a Mariah-designed dessert called “The Egg.” The passion fruit “yolk,” coconut mousse “egg white” and white chocolate “egg shell” had a few punters sure the sweet orb was in fact a real chicken’s egg. Judges, more familiar with awarding the Dine Wellington to the festival’s best main course, were, in the end, just too blown away by The Egg’s realistic appearance, as well as its utter deliciousness, to look past it for the win.

Grace

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“As a young child, I knew I wanted to be a chef,” says Mariah, who grew up between Myanmar, Singapore, and Auckland before permanently settling in Wellington in 2014. At high school in Singapore, she studied baking and culinary science, before “falling in love with pastry” during an internship at Absinthe Restaurant Française on Singapore’s popular Boat Quay. “There are so many flavours and cuisines in Asia – that’s when I started to imagine the possibilities of combining those food traditions with French pastry techniques.” In Wellington, says Mariah, locals tend to know Chinese and Thai food, but are less familiar with dishes and flavours outside these two dominant Asian food cultures. That’s something she hopes will change. And it’s why she was one of the first in the door when Mabel’s, a new Burmese restaurant, opened on Tory Street earlier this year.

“I was super excited to go. The mohinga, a lemongrass and fish rice noodle soup, was very close to what I remembered from my childhood in Burma. And, of course, the thargu, a coconut sago dessert, served with chilli, pineapple, and mango was also really good.” As the days get colder, Mariah is looking forward to introducing customers to a fresh interpretation of the flavours typically associated with autumn. Think spiced apple, hazelnut and caramel. Five days a week (except Monday and Tuesday), Grace Patisserie customers can sit inside or outside on the deck, drop in for a high tea (though you’ll need to book for that), or pop in to grab a box of takeaways for the road. Before I head home, I hover over the glass display case one more time. I select two petits gâteaux (the Sylvie, of course) and two hōjicha macarons. That’s a sweet macaron infused with roasted Japanese green tea – another unexpected yet tasty twist on a classic French staple.

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IT SEEMS THE JUDGES WERE STUNNED. GolD aT THE BREWERS GUIlD of NEW ZEalaND aWaRDS.

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Meet Apostle’s newest saint. Andrew is a refreshing, delicately sweet blend of blueberry and Szechuan and habanero chillies, complemented with vibrant notes of lemongrass and ginger. This mild but delightfully tingly sauce pairs perfectly with pork, dumplings, soft cheeses, noodles, and even gin for a great summer cocktail. Apostle’s diverse hot sauce range is gluten free, vegan, and handmade in small batches by Lydia and Mat on the Kāpiti Coast. With six flavours to choose from there's a saint to suit any dish!

Create fresh nut mylk with Mylk Made concentrated mylk bases; a simple, sustainable solution for waste-free nut mylk. With a 12 month shelf life, you can make what you need, when you need it. The slow process of stone grinding achieves the extremely smooth consistency of our mylk bases, and helps to retain the full nutritional content from the whole nut. All natural; no gums, binders, or additives. Just simple, real ingredients. Packaged in glass jars and bulk buckets; we offer a carton free solution with packaging that is able to be reused over and over again. A waste free solution that is both good for you and good for our environment.

It all started with three friends, inspired to create a kaffir lime forward dry gin, using botanicals sourced from New Zealand and around the globe. Twelfth Hour Distillery has created a refreshingly tantalising dry gin perfect for summer. Botanical oils have been retained to give you a full mouth feel, with a more complex taste. With only eight botanicals, less really is more. Triple award winning in its first year, small batch distilled, and handcrafted right here in New Zealand. Made by our group of friends, for you to share with yours.

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Small in size, big on taste, and zero in gluten! These delectable mini bites are perfect for a hiking snack, to add to an afternoon platter, or to carry you through a Sunday movie marathon. Loaf’s mission is to produce food that our customers would happily pass off as their own – with these mini bites it’s no different. Loaded with chunks of marshmallow and coated in smooth milk chocolate, you’ll wish you made them yourself. Whether you like to stick with the classics or want to elevate your taste buds with a fruity twist, the choice is yours! Available in most supermarkets across the country or shop online.

With one easy payment, we deliver a kilo of delicious coffee right to your door once a month. A coffee and courier bundle so you can save. A great option for those coffee comrades out there! Havana Coffee Works Roasters Choice Subscription is packed in four beautiful 250g foil bags with a one-way reseal valve. Feel good knowing your beans are kept fresh until the next delivery. Whether it's for a gift, or for yourself, we know this will not disappoint.

Mamia's is real food in a jar. An award-winning Ethiopian sauce made in Wellington that can be used in a variety of ways. Some of the more popular being a curry paste or stew, barbecue marinade, pizza base, stir fry, nachos, relish on a burger or sandwich, or as a dip with some corn chips. You can purchase our sauce in three different heats: mild, medium, and Kiwi-hot.

Boring® is an audacious addition to the vibrant plant milk category. Made with a tough crowd in mind, Boring® Barista Grade Oat Milk is smooth, creamy, and delicious. It complements your brew by letting the espresso shine and holds its texture nicely when poured. Think of coffee as the lead singer while Boring® is on drums. Great for the pros in cafes, or for everyday milk stuff at home, Boring® is boringly similar to regular milk, just without the milking bit. It doesn’t even come from anywhere fancy like Sweden, it’s all made in New Zealand using South Island oats. Consistency, texture, taste, sustainability: we take care of all the boring details so you can focus on what you do best.

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READ ALERT Wellington bookstores have been quieter since covid changes have come in. Jessica Godfrey from Vic Books says “the effects have been very apparent with a dramatic drop in pedestrians and in-store sales”. Mary Fawcett from Schrödinger's Books in Petone says sales have “definitely dropped.” Unity’s Adrian Hardingham says sales slowed noticeably then improved, though they’re still a little lighter than usual. Meanwhile, Deborah Coddington from The Martinborough Bookshop hasn’t noticed any drop (perhaps partly because it’s on the only main street). Online sales are steady in these bookshops.

WAHINE WRITING

DIY

LOCALS LAUDED

The first issue of Awa Wāhine, a print magazine to be published twice yearly, is subtitled “Kotahi” (“one”). Editor Ataria Rangipikitia Sharman, who has a Master of Arts in Māori Studies from Victoria University, has collected 12 pieces of writing, predominantly by wāhine Māori. The think-pieces, creative writing, personal essays, poetry, and other writing span topics from reproductive rights to performance art – including a piece on taonga pūoro (traditional Maori instruments) by Wellington singer-songwriter Ariana Tikao.

Lower Hutt property lawyer Robert Metcalf came to a Vic Books event and asked Lisa Adler, the Pipitea store’s manager, if she’d consider stocking his debut short-story collection The City Limits, about Wellingtonians experiencing change or self-reflection. She liked it. Now it’s also stocked by Good Books, Unity, Schrödinger's (Petone), and Writers Plot (Upper Hutt), after Robert visited each to persuade them to stock it. “I’m my own publisher and distributor,” says Robert, who handdelivered a copy to Capital’s office.

We like seeing Wellington trump Auckland with its writing prowess. Local authors received 15 longlist spots in the 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards, while Auckland got 10. This is from a total 40 finalists (10 each in the fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction categories). Wellingtonians up for the fiction award are all women: Kirsten McDougall, Gigi Fenster (pictured), Alice Tawhai, Whiti Hereaka, Sue Orr, and Clare Moleta.

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About the poet: Elizabeth Nannestad was born in Auckland. She studied medicine at Otago University and has worked as a doctor and forensic psychiatrist. Her first collection, Jump, won the Poetry Award at the 1987 New Zealand Book Awards. Her third and most recent book is Wild Like Me (Victoria University Press, 2013).

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Re-verse I N T R O D U C E D BY C H R I S T S E

In brief: Since before it became the dominant colour in many Wellingtonians’ wardrobes, black has traditionally been used in fashion to evoke luxury, elegance and seduction (think little black dress). Nannestad’s playful ode to a mysterious black dress riffs on the idea of black being commanding, conjuring up a world of possibilities and inviting the reader to imagine what sort of power they could wield while wearing a dress such as this.

B L AC K D R E S S I like it, second hand, dirty and soft I like the swing and the openings Black dress given to me. Who wore it? Whose waist’s the same as mine? And what say she wants it back again?

Why I like it: The initial simplicity poem of the poem’s subject soon gives way to several layers of mystery. We’re given very few clues about what the dress looks like, only that the material is “dirty and soft.” This textural description might be familiar to those who look for treasures in opshops or who have been the final link in a hand-me-down chain. The mystery of the dress is heightened by the fact that the speaker has been gifted it but isn’t privy to its origins or procurement. They don’t know its original owner or whether they may in fact want it returned to them. This all contributes to the dress being a somewhat dangerous artefact that could lead its wearer to be erratic and unpredictable – what sort of person has rum in their tea and asks for it to be spilled on them? Perhaps one possessed by “a material of hell.” Nannestad’s evocative language creates interesting contrasts: hot tea and cold fingers; command and obedience (“I will if you like...”).

High time she wore it. The black’s a perfect fit. I’d go up to anyone dressed like this snap my fingers and say: Bring me sweet black tea. I’m cold, so cold the beds of my fingernails and my lips are blue. Make it hot put rum in it and spill it on me I will if you like pick up my skirts and get out but first, speak to me. Say at least, That suits you well. Can’t tell you that I’m wearing a material of hell.

Read more: You’ll find all sorts of clothing strewn on the bedroom floors of New Zealand poets. For other sartorial poems, check out: I Wear Aviators to the Club by Tayi Tibble, Black socks by Airini Beautrais, Love the Glove by Mary McCallum, and Retail therapy with Artemisia Gentileschi by Helen Rickerby.

By Elizabeth Nannestad From Jump (Auckland University Press, 1986)

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Bro codes BY G R I F F B R I ST E D P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M O N I CA W I N D E R

You can follow completely different paths in life but it’s universal that hard work, coupled with talent, equals success. But you might break a leg or two along the way.

utside of the All Blacks, there are few superstars of New Zealand sport, but our wee nation still produces many great athletes. Some are at the top of their field, and many others achieve exceptionally through hard work and dedication. All too often their stories fly under the radar. Ben and James Huntley are brothers from Miramar who’ve taken totally different paths to dramatic success in their sporting careers. Names like Cullen, Nonu, Barrett, and Umaga are the crowning glory of New Zealand’s rugby reputation, but its backbone consists of premier-level athletes who play for the love of the game, and beyond the club scene don’t receive much recognition. Poneke Rugby Football Club captain Ben Huntley is one of those players. He didn’t come to rugby until he was 11 or 12, when he switched from football. At school, he says he was no great shakes, never making it to the 1st XV. Upon leaving he joined the Poneke club and played socially for a year or two, then began to take the club game seriously, playing his first game for the Poneke prem side in 2008. In 2021 Ben tallied his 200th game for the prominent Wellington club. This is rarefied air for club-level footy players, where attrition from injury, the intensive time commitment, and the need to play at a consistently high level mean few club-level players last so long. Ben indeed broke his leg in his second season at prem level (2010). 98

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Poneke football club was founded in 1883, and their website lists only 10 players before Ben who cracked the double ton. He reckons he knows most of them personally. At 33 Ben is still going strong, and looking forward to the season ahead. During the season, Ben is at the club at least five times a week: two team training sessions, two gym sessions, and the game day. He credits his longevity to hard work – he has always been a “meticulous trainer”, turning up to pre-season trainings, getting and staying fit. It’s become obvious to him over time that those who don’t “do the mahi” inevitably get injured more seriously. Outside of the club and rugby, Ben works full time as a roofer, an apprenticeship he began as soon as he left Rongotai College. In his spare time he likes to hang out with friends, his partner Sonia, and his labrador Frankie. Club rugby has given him many things, he says, including best mates, occasional jobs, and overseas travel, but the players aren’t paid. Poneke, says Ben, “relies on being an awesome club” to attract excellent players. A season in Hawaii, in an apartment right on Waikiki Beach with food and accommodation covered, is the closest Ben has come to the perks of the game. He played there with good friend Hilton Mexted (son of All Black Murray). Ben describes the footy as “agricultural, but very physical”. It resembled the style of American football, with “guys flying into rucks” – a more physical game, but not particularly skilful. Ben made his mark, scoring hat-tricks in several games. Ben will have played with or against almost all the recent All Blacks from the Wellington region; he’s played with Dane Coles, and against Ardie Savea, who, on the wing, straight out of school, “was an absolute weapon”. Asked what

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separated players like him from players like them, he replies that if you stand out from a young age, you get picked up in the system, and focused on. But he also observes, possibly too humbly, that they have natural and physical talents “way better than mine”. Ben’s younger brother James (28) has chosen a very different sport – skateboarding, which in New Zealand is pretty much the opposite of rugby. It’s young, fresh, not exactly clean, and focused on the individual. It has been described as an art form, rather than a sport, where there isn’t necessarily a clear winner – much the way surfing might have been viewed 50 years ago. James Huntley is not a household name. He is unrecognised by most people other than awed youngsters at the skatepark, but he is at the very top of the country’s rapidly growing skate scene. Hard work is a cornerstone of his success, like that of his brother. He stressed repeatedly as we chatted that practice and persistence are crucial to improving skateboard skills. James’s prowess on a plank with wheels has been obvious from a young age. At 16 he won his first national title, and in 2010 at 17 he won the open nationals, competing against men up to 20 years older. He also played soccer, but called it quits at about age 12 when he was dodging practice to go skateboarding. Skateboarding is James’s full-time occupation, since the business he worked at shut down due to covid in 2020. While this had its obvious downside, it allowed him to spend even more time on his skateboard, and further success quickly followed. A typical day begins at 7am, with skateboarding till midday. This is his most intense practice time, while the skateparks are empty, and he can focus on learning new tricks and pushing his

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limits. In the afternoon he skates in a more relaxed way, consolidating recent learning from earlier in the day, or practising the basics. James will have a rest, and then in the evening skate with friends once they finish work. His partner Dylan has been a constant support over the past decade. This lifestyle is possible due to James’ sponsors. He recently became a pro for DEF skateboards, which means the New Zealand company sells a “James Huntley” skateboard on the mass market. James receives a modest royalty from every purchase of this skateboard. By sporting standards it is a humble lifestyle. James reckons that only very few internationally-known skateboarders are well compensated for their perilous stunts. But he feels there is change in the wind, now that skateboarding featured in the most recent summer Olympics. The bad boy rep of skating is changing. He sees many more mothers bringing young children to the skatepark, encouraging them to have a go at skateboarding, rather than learning to ride a bike or a scooter. And in Auckland there are several skate schools, which are very popular. Despite the change in the sport’s standing he says being moved on by security guards is still a problem for most street skaters. “Covid made it worse. Especially if you are in a group, they feel they have an excuse. It’s part of why we need an indoor skatepark in Wellington,” James says, “to give skaters a chance to practice. And scooters break the ramps. There is nothing except for the Rec, which is just not skater friendly.” James’s high standing is evidenced by the global success of his new video Salted which is featured on well known international platforms such as

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Transworld. The name is a nod to his early career; as a young “grommet” at the skatepark, with red hair and sweat-encrusted hat, “Salty Red” was his nickname. Early videos featuring the name can be found online. More recently he has been individually featured on the largest skate-centric Instagram page – The Berrics, which has more than 2.9 million followers. As a result, his own page blew up overnight, growing by thousands of followers in 24 hours. Being featured by the Berrics is validation for James; if the bigwigs in America are taking notice of him skateboarding at Treetops (Newtown skatepark) in Wellington he must be doing something right. Scrolling Instagram is research for James. He sees what tricks are “in right now” then puts his own spin on them. Fashions come and go in skateboarding, with “style and the way you complete a trick almost more important than the trick itself ”. Although injury free, he says his worst injury was a long time ago when at 16 he broke his leg in three places doing a trick at Chaffers. James and Ben’s dad Wayne Huntley played football for New Zealand and their mother Jo Stokker played prem level soccer and softball for many years, so clearly athleticism is in their genes, but they each chose strikingly diverse sports. There is a kind of yin and yang to their achievements, James at the tip of a rapidly growing sport, and Ben at the foundation of the strength behind our national sport. Two brothers who worked their way to the pinnacle of their game in different respects.

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TRAMP AND GLAMP Was your last camping trip a bit of a flop? Tramped into the Tararuas one too many times? The Great Glenorchy Alpine Base Camp coordinates various kinds of trips, including glacial treks, couples’ wilderness retreats, and climbing icy mountains. All begin at their base camp (“camping, but not camping”) in Glenorchy, in the heart of the South Island. The camp boasts all the simple pleasures of nature, but also a sauna and wood-fired restaurant. Diving, skiing, spear-fishing, and star gazing are a few of the activities on their itineraries, with the odd helicopter ride thrown in for good measure. Tours begin from 31 March.

PARTY IN YOUR TOGS Out in the Pool Party is returning for another year. This annual shindig is intended to provide a welcoming environment for LGBTQI+ community and celebrate diversity and inclusivity. Hosted by Wellington City Council, it will boast gender-neutral changing rooms and loos, water inflatables and good music all evening long. Sessions will be held at Thorndon Pool on 6 March and 3 April. There will be plenty of lane space to paddle, perfect your butterfly stroke, or lounge in the last of the sun.

BOWL THEM OVER The Basin Reserve will host this year’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. Seven games will be held in the stadium between 13 – 30 March, starting with our own White Ferns versus the Aussies. All-rounder Sophie Devine, who plays for the Wellington Blaze, will lead the team which includes seasoned World Cup legends as well as some shiny new talent. Go get ‘em.

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HURRICANES POUA The Hurricanes women’s rugby team has a new name for the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki season – Hurricanes Poua. The name was carefully considered, with input from “wāhine associated with the club and some players within the team,” as well as iwi experts. Poua, as a verb, means to elevate, lift high, to plant firmly and establish; and as a noun, support, pillar, goalpost, or mentor. The team’s first Super Rugby Aupiki match against Matatū, will be in Christchurch on 6 March.

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W E L L Y

What would Deirdre do? A DV I C E F RO M D E I R D R E TA R R A N T

D O I S AY N I X T O P R O T E ST O R S ? I have family members who camped at Parliament last month, protesting about the government mandates re vaccination. Others are appalled at their behaviour. Do I ignore it and invite them all to a family gathering later this year or choose one side to ensure it is a pleasant occasion? Sitting on the fence, Wilton Family is family and there have certainly been extra pressures on opinion and relationships of late. Here are your options: invite and hope differences will be shelved. Invite and ask everyone to respect difference for a few hours. Invite those whom you know agree with you, the host? It's tricky and you sound doubtful that being together will be pleasant, but maybe airing opinions and being together is worth a go? Try a potluck lunch with a clear timeline and maybe the conversation will be mostly about the amazing food. Invite them all. Good luck.

D I Y F IG H T A BU SE I am convinced my cousin is in an unhealthy relationship. She has acknowledged difficulties, but I can’t work out why she doesn’t get out. She is capable, and has a job. She seems paralysed with fear. How do I say the right things that will achieve results and help? Anxious, Titahi Bay This sounds familiar and there is a lot written about the challenges of breaking up and leaving a relationship. Fear could be a real factor not only in the relationship, but also of the ‘after’ realities. Would she consider professional help and advice? Talk to her, invite her out and keep regular contact, make it clear you are there for her if needed and give her space to talk to you. Avoid making judgements or being a ‘do-gooder’ but be a friend as well as a relative. Keep in touch.

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F L AT TA K E OV E R My flatmate is choosing to work from home again, almost all the time. I think the work should be kept in the bedroom, not out in the flat’s one living space, where it interrupts any possible enjoyment in joint activities as we all have to be quiet for work calls. What do you think? Stuck in the bedroom, Newtown This needs action and a solution that works for all of you. Sit down and talk it out. This is the new way of working and could go on for awhile, maybe forever, so you all need to make it work. Is there an alcove or nook that could be a designated workspace? Or maybe the kitchen is given some time parameters for use as an office? Forcing any of you to live from your bedroom if you don’t want to is not really going to work. Write down the solutions, be creative both in terms of space and time, and give it a trial . Revisit, fine tune, make it work and be happy!

U N W E L C OM E I N M Y OW N K I T C H E N My son has become a vegetarian and now wants us to cook using different utensils and not to cook meat in the kitchen when he is around and has to smell it. I am happy to use different equipment if he wishes to buy his own, but I think being barred from my own kitchen except when it suits him is a bit much. He does pay board. What is the solution? Meat lover, Karori I had this many years ago and survived. The vegetarianism didn’t! He cannot change the kitchen but he can do his own cooking and set up his own MasterChef station. He can get his own pots and implements and do his own thing. This way he is empowered and you can still cook. Maybe buy him a set of coloured chopping boards to start it off. He will make great food! There are wonderful dishes without meat and they are good for us all. If you’ve got a burning question for Deirdre, email angel@capitalmag.co.nz with Capital Angel in the subject line.

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WĀ H I N E

Sins and gins BY M E LO DY T H O M AS

orgive me reader, for I have sinned. I have preached endlessly about the need to do away with New Year’s resolutions and instead embrace the excess and hedonism of summer, but this year I have betrayed you: I have entered 2022 resolved, with goals, and with the purchase of not one but three self-help books. Let me explain! I’d like to blame covid. Because why not? Covid is a perfectly reasonable excuse for every current failure, with the bonus that no-one is likely to jump to its defence. I’m not entirely sure how covid is to blame for my sudden backtrack, but perhaps it’s something to do with the anxiety and endlessness of it all. With the need to wrest some control back, to feel as if I am doing something, rather than being done to. As well as buying the books, I have created several colour-coded entries in my bullet journal, one for a 30-day yoga challenge (failed on day 8), another for listing books read (six so far, Matrix by Lauren Groff being my favourite – absolutely exquisite), and one extraambitious chart with a square for every single day of the year, to be coloured in according to what exercise I have done. This last one has proven the most motivating, following a four-day no-exercise stint in which I was forced to fill in four consecutive black blocks, which harmed my heart so that I have not repeated it since. I have also purchased a HIIT (high intensity interval training) app called Seven, having fully realised the truth of “use it or lose it” (that is, after a certain age you have to exercise essentially every day just to maintain basic function) and am to be found regularly lunging, squatting, thrusting, and proudly asking people to squeeze my quads.

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And I have finally set myself on a trajectory towards something I had always hoped I might attain: being one of those old ladies floating happily at sea, seemingly oblivious to the ocean’s temperature. Every Monday and Friday the “Ladies who Lyall” meet just before 7am on Wellington’s most exposed and unfriendly beach, where they change and walk into the surf, straining to stick to the thread of their non-water-related conversation as a means of distracting themselves from the absolute madness of what they are doing. There they bob, rain or shine, for ten minutes, before returning to struggle into trackpants and beanies, and head off to whatever else awaits them. At the invitation of a friend I have been occasionally joining them, and it is one of the best things I’ve ever done. The company of women, temporarily separate from partners and homes and children, bonded in this mad pursuit. The ocean and sand, as yet untouched by the slowly-waking world. The cold, which begins as the part you dread, then becomes exactly what you crave. I remain dedicated to the pursuit of hedonism. My new goals don’t have anything to say about eating leftover birthday cake for breakfast (so good!), wasting a morning “working from home” in bed with Ted Lasso and my Satisfyer Pro (those two things are unrelated, I think…), or drinking too much gin too many nights of the week. But I am also focused on gratitude: for the incredible planet that houses us all, for the people who love and hold me and make me laugh, and for the wonderful body that continues to move me about the world. I don’t know what 2022 will bring, though I suspect it won’t be easy. I hope this finds you rested and well, embedded in a web of support and love, and with the courage and strength to stand up for what you believe in, to be there when called upon by those asking allies to become active accomplices, and to face whatever is coming. He waka eke noa.

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Toitū Te Whenua The Land Will Always Remain Ian-Wayne Grant, Simon Lardelli, Jacqui Colley, Jenna Packer and Bruce Foster investigate forces which shape our environment. The exhibition’s kaupapa focuses on matters that affect all of us in Aotearoa and around the world: our physical environment, the land, our home, actions, history, and how this shapes our identity. 5 Mar–26 Jun 12 Bruce Street, Masterton. aratoi.org.nz

D I R E C T O R Y

SGCNZ Wellington Regional UO Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival Be entertained, amused and inspired by our region’s youth with their 5 and 15 minute reimagined Shakespeare scenes. Enquiries: 04 384 1300. See www.sgcnz.org.nz for details or Covid-changes.

11, 12, 13 Apr 7pm Wellington East Girls’ College Hall 131 Austin Street, Mt Victoria. sgcnz.org.nz

Footnote New Zealand Dance From the creative team behind Dry Spell, a lush and darkly evocative contemporary dance performance, comes a brand-new work touring across Aotearoa in May. Footnote New Zealand Dance is thrilled to present this new full-length show by choreographer Rose Philpott, with sound design by composer Eden Mulholland.

11 May 2022 Wellington Opera House Manners Street. footnote.org.nz

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C A L E N D A R

t’s a difficult time for our performing arts whānau and the hospitality industry that hosts them. While this calendar is correct at time of printing, some events are at risk of cancellation. Please check before you make plans.

JELLICOE AND BLEDISLOE: HAMILTON IN THE 90S Photographer David Cook’s documentation of his Hamilton neighbourhood in the 1990s New Zealand Portrait Gallery

THERE IS NO OTHER HOME BUT THIS Exhibition of Areez Katki and Khadim Ali’s textile and embroidery works Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth

CAPITAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2022 Large regional photography competition, free to enter capitalmag.co.nz/cpoty, until 27 April

LIGHT BOXES: HELLO TO EVERYBODY Sallie Culy’s drawings exhibited on light boxes Courtenay Place

OPEN WINDOW: CHEVRON HASSETT New works from Wellington photographic artist Chevron Hassett Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth

LISA REIHANA: KURA MOANA Music, sculptures, and augmented reality exploring Wellington’s seas Wellington waterfront, until 20 March

LISA REIHANA: NOMADS OF THE SEA Immersive 3D video installation weaving fact and fiction into a visual narrative Pātaka Art + Museum, Porirua

HURRICANES v HIGHLANDERS Super Rugby fixture Sky Stadium, 7pm

MELTDOWN: VISUALISING CLIMATE CHANGE International exhibition by artists dealing with the decline of glaciers Whirinaki Whare Taonga, Upper Hutt

10 QUADRUPLE ENTENDRE: NUCLEAR FAMILY Four comics bring back last year’s sold-out show The Fringe Bar, until 12 March

HILMA AF KLINT: THE SECRET PAINTINGS Large abstract works, the artist’s first NZ showing City Gallery, until 27 March TE RONGO KIRKWOOD Results of artist’s residency at NZ Glassworks NZ Glassworks, Whanganui, until 27 March JOURNEY TO MIDDLE EARTH Wētā Workshop’s Lord of the Rings costume trail Various locations, until March 31 RITA ANGUS: NEW ZEALAND MODERNIST Exhibition of the artists’ works spanning 40 years Te Papa, until 25 April JACK TROLOVE: KEENING New figurative impasto paintings Te Manawa, Palmerston North, until 29 April

WHANGANUI ARTS IN REVIEW Winners of the Whanganui Arts Review 2011–2021 Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui

March 3 LOW-SENSORY HOUR Reduced light and sound hour, in association with Autism NZ Wellington Museum, 4pm 5 TOITŪ TE WHENUA Exhibition by five artists exploring the forces which shape our environment Aratoi, Masterton

12 BOOKS IN THE TIME OF THE PANDEMIC Kirsten McDougall, Sarah Krasnostein, and Octavia Cade talk writing and creativity during the pandemic Hannah Playhouse, 11.30am THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE Mixed exhibition of artworks related to aliens and UFOs The Dowse, Lower Hutt THREADS TEXTILE FESTIVAL Galleries host workshops, talks, and exhibitions of textile art Wellington region, until 20 March

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13 NEW ZEALAND v AUSTRALIA ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup round 3 Basin Reserve, 10am

TOKOWHĀ Male classical voice quartet perform opera, with musical and Pasifika extras Waikanae Memorial Hall, Waikanae, 2.30pm

15 GOOD FRIDAY

18 SMELLS LIKE OUTER SPACE Scent installation by aromatic specialist Nathan Taare on the smells of the universe Carter Observatory, 10am, until 20 March

KĀPITI RUN FOR YOUTH Fun run in aid of local groups assisting Kāpiti youth Maclean Park, Paraparaumu, 8.45am

23 ENDURO WORLD SERIES QUALIFIER Karori Park hosts Wellington’s first EWS world qualifier Karori Park, 9am, until 24 April

19 CASTLEPOINT RACES Historic horse race across the sands of Castlepoint Castlepoint, Wairarapa, 11am HURRICANES v CHIEFS Super Rugby fixture Sky Stadium, 7pm 25 TIMBER…! Gruff woodchopper reunites with son, by Damon Andrews and Matt Chamberlain Circa Theatre, 8pm, until 30 March INSTRUMENT-MAKING WORKSHOP Sam Palmer teaches how to make and play a kōauau (wind instrument) Wellington Museum, 12.30pm 27 CARTERTON WHEELBARROW RACE Annual wheelbarrow race to fundraise for St Mary’s School Carrington Park, Carterton, 11am

April

18 EASTER MONDAY

1 APRIL FOOL’S DAY

25 ANZAC DAY

2 DON McGLASHAN AND THE OTHERS Former Muttonbird tours new album Bright November Morning The Opera House, 7.30pm

27 CPOTY CLOSES Entries close for Capital Photographer of the Year capitalmag.co.nz/cpoty

8 HURRICANES v CRUSADERS Super Rugby fixture Sky Stadium, 7pm 9 BEERS AT THE BASIN Beer, food, and live music festival Basin Reserve, 11am 11 SGCNZ SHEILAH WINN SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL Shortened, reimagined Shakespeare scenes from regional youth Wellington East Girls’ College Hall, 7pm, until 13 April

May 5 SWAN LAKE RNZB revives Russell Kerr’s production of Tchaikovsky ballet The Opera House, 7.30pm, until 8 May 8 HURRICANES v FIJIAN DURA Super Rugby fixture Sky Stadium, 3.30pm 11 FOOTNOTE NEW ZEALAND DANCE Contemporary dance performance, choreographed by Rose Philpott with sound by Eden Mulholland. Wellington Opera House

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1970s, brightly coloured puzzle game (6) Salvador Dali’s Persistence of _____ (6) Week long Jewish festival (8) Composer, writing music at 5 years old (6) “Whats that, ____? Timmy fell down the well?” (6) Target of an April prank (4) Dance, te reo (8) NZ’s most intelligent bird (3) 14 March is dedicated to this mathemactic symbol (2) Creating a great cocktail (8) Descent off a vertical drop (6) “____ makes perfect” (8) Reptile, likes to blend in (9) Third prize (6) British driving champion (8) Capital Photographer of the Year category (6) Smallest university in NZ (7) Famous NZ arts festival (6) Wool and needle (4) 2022 Winter Olympics host (5)

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First name of TV talent show judge (5) “____! I’m gonna live forever” (4) This gives you five points in rugby (3) Made a discovery, _____ moment (6) Surname of Kiwi swimming paralympian (6) Aspiration (4) Gifted Roald Dahl character (7) Academic (12) Learn, te reo (3) Symbolic person, animal or object that brings luck (6) Ballet shoes (6) This province hosts the WOMAD festival (8) Professional cook (4) Good at rhyming (4) “Nobody puts ___ in the corner” (4) Sporting skill of Forest Gump (7) Aussie alternative to the Easter Bunny (5) Kiwi singer, clear drink (3) Big reader (7) Spelling competition (3) Golfing must have (5) Break a ___ (3)

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