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CONTENTS

CAPITAL MADE IN WELLINGTON

THE COVER: A Wellington Summer Left to right Monica Buchan-Ng Zoey Radford Scott Frith Armstrong Ella Esau Photograph by Sarah Burton

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is for Festivals. February is festival month for Wellington. We have the Sevens. We have festivals big and small, international and fringe performances, and waterfront and community festival celebrations to enjoy throughout the month. The biennial NZ Arts Festival has been one of the great success stories for Wellington. Begun in 1986, it would not have got off the ground without the energy of its pioneering volunteer helpers and today still receives many voluntary hours. The success of the Wellington festival has spawned other events notably Auckland’s own festival and an annual writers and readers event. During the 2012 festival more than 275,000 people attended events, 30% came from outside the region. We also have a re-energized annual Fringe festival with a great mix of events on offer all through February. Then there are the community festivals in suburbs such as Island Bay and Newtown. There is no shortage of events to attend and enjoy. In this issue we offer a tapas plate of festival fare. Sarah Lang talks to the Spanish community and looks at events with a Spanish influence in the festival programme, which begins on 21 February. She also talks to Kathryn Carmody, who’s taken the reins of Writers Week. Melody Thomas talks to James Coyle about organising community festivals and to musicians Eb and Sparrow who are performing at Homegrown on Wellington’s waterfront this month. And lest you think all we care about is going out, Catharine Mackenzie looks at the success of the police information phone line set up by community benefactor John Perham, and John Bishop reports on Levin and licorice. Please ensure you share in some of the festival fun this month. Let’s stop talking about last month’s weather and enjoy the action. Alison Franks Editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz

T H E C O L O U R O F S PA I N It’s not just buenos días 34

CALL FOR JUSTICE

LIFE’S A PICNIC

Just tell us

Eating out

LETTERS

CHEERS

CHATTER

SWEET SUCCESS

NEWS

BY THE BOOK

BY THE NUMBERS

LOOKING TO LIGHT A FIRE

TALES OF THE CITY

HOME

CULTURE

INTERIORS

HOW EB GOT HER FLOW

SPORTS

WHAT THE FLOCK

CARS

FASHION

BABY, BABY

STREET STYLE

WELLY ANGEL

JEWEL OF THE AISLE

DIRECTORY

EDIBLES

CALENDAR

CONTRIBUTORS

S TA F F Alison Franks

Managing editor alison@capitalmag.co.nz

Diane Clayton Haleigh Trower Lyndsey O’Reilly John Bristed

Campaign Coordinators sales@capitalmag.co.nz

Shalee Fitzsimmons

Art direction and design shalee@capitalmag.co.nz

Jeremiah Boniface

Design

Craig Beardsworth

Factotum

Gus Bristed

Distribution

General Factotum john@capitalmag.co.nz

ASHLEY CHURCH Ph oto g r aph er Ashley is Creative Director of Dinosaurtoast and one sixth of Wellington’s all girl art collective: Holla Graphix. Full of wanderlust she loves to travel and often explores fashion culture and people in her work. When she’s not photographing, she sleeps.

CATHARINE MACKENZIE Journ a li st Catharine is a former Parliamentary Press Gallery journalist who always liked writing features. She is also a former trustee of the Wellington Sculpture Trust.

STOCKISTS Pick up your Capital in New World and Pak’nSave supermarkets, Moore Wilson, Unity Books, Magnetix, City Cards & Mags, Take Note and other discerning greater Wellington outlets. Ask for Capital magazine by name. Distribution: john@capitalmag.co.nz.

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

BECCA O’SHEA I l lu str ator Becca is a graphic designer and illustrator by trade, a lover of hand drawn type, font making, and minimalism in her practice. Her favourite things to combat a busy lifestyle include gardening, cooking, and spending time outdoors. beccaoshea.com

SARAH LANG Journ a li st An award-winning magazine feature writer and North & South alumna, freelancer Sarah Lang, 33, is a self-confessed bookworm who lives in Mt Cook with her husband Michael.

Got BEEF? Winner of two 2013 Hospitality Association Awards for Excellence.

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O B I T UA RY

A C A P I TA L LOSS In December Capital Publishing lost a special staff member. Our sales manager Gaye Matheson died at Te Omanga Hospice after some years coping with cancer. Gaye had worked at the company for over 15 years and she was part of the furniture (in the best sense). She was one of the driving forces behind Capital Times newspaper and in turn became the driving force behind Capital magazine. If it were not for Gaye you wouldn’t be sitting down reading it now. When the newspaper closed she convinced the managing editor to give it a go and started working her magic on the wonderful advertisers who make it possible for us to produce it. In all the time I worked with Gaye I never heard her less than cheery on the phone. She was always ‘Absolutely wonderful thank you’. Her chirpiness with clients was legendary, her work ethic impressive and she certainly knew how to sell. Even as a second bout of breast cancer and chemotherapy loomed she remained calm and positive. I’m sure it was a different story at home but she never allowed it to affect her work persona. As we get used to the office without her we realise just how truly organised she was. Her desk was laid out logically with military precision, her emails filed away and inbox empty, and she knew where everything was. We’ve also laughed discovering the stationery she had stock-piled. Dozens of pens I can understand (they seem to evaporate from my desk) but 50 bulldog clips? Knowing Gaye, she had a very good reason to keep them and would have had the patience to tell me why with a smile. Cheers Gaye. Craig Beardsworth

LETTERS

AUTHORS LO OKING GO OD I wanted to commend you on the By the Book section in your magazine. I am enjoying the quality of both author photographs and the interviews. I particularly like your featured poem and the breakdown. I am not a great poetry fan but find that section piques my interest and expands my reading. Liz Cramond, Lower Hutt Unfortunately the poem and breakdown do not feature in this issue but will return in March – Editor

RECIPES ARE GREAT My family loved Mary Christmas, (issue 7). We were amused by the feature in your magazine and everybody loved the Chocolate Almond pudding from Mary Tuohy. So much so my daughter has already made it again for a birthday and I can see it will become a regular family celebration dish. Keep up the good work. S. Mary Wilson, Porirua

SENSATIONAL HEADLINES TO SELL PRODUCT The opinion article, “What’s Democracy…” by Alick Shaw in the recent issue 7 is very timely and right on the button. It is becoming more and more obvious that we in NZ are missing out on democracy. This applies equally to local and national government. We should be asking ourselves why? While Alick Shaw refers to local politics the question is equally relevant for national politics. When less than half of the registered voters participate in elections we lose democracy and get a government selected by the few who do participate, who understand the importance of the vote. As with most social issues there is no simple answer, but the factor of voter apathy is not one we should attribute to the people. If we have voter apathy we can hardly blame the voters; they are reacting to the political environment that has been created. In a similar way, we cannot blame some sectors of the

population for being over-represented in poor health and incarceration statistics, when the system has created the environment in which they live. So who is responsible? Again no simple answer, but a combination of several factors, the media, political propaganda, ‘spin’ from political parties; all share some responsibility. The media look for sensational headlines, to sell their product. TV teaches us to seek entertainment value in a 30-second sound bite. Political spin responds to the media focus; adverse comment is criticised, encouraging the answer that people want to hear. Labels such as ‘fascist right’, ‘Teleban’ or ‘loony left’ are bandied about, and while not taken seriously (surely?) the impression is created, the message is out there. The Free Range Economic ideology of the West has not delivered on its promises over the past 40 years. It has also not delivered democracy, but it has delivered what we now have; inequality, kids’ poverty, environmental degradation – and voter apathy! It is time to re-evaluate what the people want and expect from government. If we do not do so, what do we expect; less democracy more inequality, more of what we have had over the last 40 years, and where is that going to end up? If we fail to change our attitude to be responsible for the government we put into power we the people do not have a good future. Phil Malpas, Otaki

BEST CIT Y IN THE WORLD Hello dear Editor I found this magazine at New World, bought it, read all of it and fell in love with it. I have lived in Welly for the past three years and I am calling it home for ever, best city in the world hands down. And this is coming from somebody who has lived in Vancouver, Chicago, Mexico City, Sevilla and Barcelona and think Welly is bee’s knees, better than all put together. I am a fan of the magazine. Natalia Albert, Wellington (abridged)

BEAUTIFUL MAGAZINE First of all, as a longtime (currently part-time) Wellingtonian let me congratulate you and your colleagues on the beautiful magazine – what a great successor to Capital Times! I was thrilled to see Nicola Young’s article and my photographs in the October issue and am rather proud to have contributed to your magazine. As other readers have commented already, a pdf-subscription would be terrific. Matthias Seidenstücker, Berlin, Germany. We are working on it – Editor

FANTASTIC ACHIEVEMENT Just recently I read your article about Mary Fisher, the blind swimmer. I had to let you know that I admire the range of topics you cover, and this one specifically had me thinking. I appreciate how you discuss such people as Mary Fisher and her achievements even though it’s not typically a ‘mainstream’ discussion point. I may not be right about many things (the mainstream thing included!) but I know you’ve done a fantastic thing with several articles. This is true not only for Mary Fisher, but for people like me, a reader, who feel a sense of faith with these columns and the support you show for normal people. Faith has to be the best word for what you inspire – I feel as if my ideas of other people have been influenced for the better because your positive work reflects the values of the reader. So on behalf of other readers that I’m sure feel the same way, thank you for what you do. It’s great. (abridged) Adam Slocombe, Island Bay Letter to editor@capitalmag.co.nz with subject line Letters to Ed, or scan our QR code to email the editor directly.

C HAT T E R

NOT JUST A SHOW FOR KIDS

BLOOD BROTHERS What do Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement do in the shadows? Berlin is about to find out. Waititi and Clement’s vampire mockumentry, What We Do In The Shadows, has been selected for the Berlin International Film Festival in February this year. What We Do is Waititi’s first feature since Boy, and received strong reviews for its world premiere screening at the Sundance Film Festival in January before being selected for the Berlin festival, which will be its European premiere screening. The film features Waititi and Clement, also the writers and directors of the film, as two ancient bloodsuckers flatting in Wellington. They act alongside other Kiwi actors Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer and Stu Rutherford, and shot the film in Wellington in September 2012.

MIGHT Y NO MORE Local bar Mighty Mighty will close its doors at the end of May this year, joining the ranks of departed Wellington music venues The San Francisco Bathhouse and Sandwiches. Once a Pakistani restaurant, 104 Cuba Street became Mighty Mighty, a bar and venue hosting national and international acts such as The Clean, local Wellington folk band Fuyukos Fables and The Oh Sees. Fringe Festival shows and burlesque events have also taken place there over its seven-year lifespan.

Dogs, as well as people, will be a major feature of the coming auditions for the musical Annie. While humans have also been known to respond well to food bribes, it’s the dog character, Sandy, who accompanies lead role Annie and needs to be highly trained and obedient. The search for a suitable dog will begin early March, when hundreds of dogs will audition alongside hopefuls for the human parts. A shaggy look and a competent dog handler will be the main prerequisites. About 300 Wellington actors are queuing up for parts, including10 orphans and their understudies, Annie, and several Annie backups. Su Pollard, who will play the devious, gin-soaked Miss Hannigan, says she spent half the time chasing dogs around the stage during some productions, which is why it’s so important to find a cooperative canine. Paws crossed.

D ON’ T BE A BITCH Is your human secluding you? Are they bored and lonely? Annoying human next door? Suggest a ‘casual playdate’ at the Small Dog Socials on the first Sunday of every month, an entirely volunteer run activity. There won’t be any big dogs to intimidate, but plenty of pups your own size to pick on. A social occasion for you and your human! All smallies welcome – dogs and humans. 3pm, Petone Beach

C HAT T E R

WELLY WORDS GO OD MAN What better place for generosity than the grocery store? A kindly fellow from Newtown made everyone’s day when he paid for an elderly lady’s groceries as she fumbled frantically with her payment, silencing the tut-tutters with his display of holiday cheer.

CHEESE PAT TER Everyone likes a good pun now and again (at Wellyword we err on the side of ‘now and always’) so we appreciated the fromage fanatic at an establishment in town. A Wellyworder spied a sandwich board which read ‘Sweet dreams are made of cheese – who am I to diss-a-brie?’ Any cheesier puns, email us at editor@capitalmag.co.nz . As a reward we are happy to offer the blue vein in the fridge left over from the Christmas party.

WINE WEATHER One Wellyworder spotted a sign at a Lambton Quay bar which spoke to their sensibilities: Forecast for tonight: Alcohol, low standards & poor decisions.

FESTIVAL FEATURES Independent Māori Theatre Te Pūtahitanga a te Rēhia presents the Pūtahi Festival, a week of Māori theatre. The Battalion, The Beautiful Ones, and Not in our Neighborhood are among the productions for the festival, which aims to support and share Māori experiences. Studio 77, Fairlie Terrace, 25 February.

BACK TO THE BEACH Beaches on Wellington’s south coast pose ‘an unacceptable health risk’, Greater Wellington Regional Council data shows Shark Bay, Scorching Bay, Shelley Bay, Worser Bay, Seatoun, Breaker Bay, south end of Lyall Bay, Island Bay, Owhiro Bay, Hataitai Beach, and Balaena Bay all with levels of bacteria too high to swim in. Wet weather causing run-off from urban areas is usually to blame. Once Wellington sees some fine weather bacteria levels should improve, according to the council.

G R I T YO U R T E E T H Fluoride in drinking water is in the news this month. Professor Paul Connett, an American chemistry and toxicology specialist is speaking in Wellington, Kapiti, and Masterton against fluoridation of drinking water. The talks coincide with Kapiti Coast District Council’s 2014 reassessment of water fluoridation, which includes a tribunal that hopes to correct misinformation about fluoridation. In 2011, Upper Hutt City Council agreed to lobby the Regional Council to stop fluoridation, and Lower Hutt City Council voted not to hold a referendum. Some 22 out of 67 New Zealand councils still fluoridate their community’s water, while in Europe only the water in Ireland, and parts of England and Spain are fluoridated. Many other European countries have experimented with fluoridation, but haven’t continued the practice. Australia and the United States supply around 70% of their population with treated water. Water in Wellington is fluoridated, except in Petone, Paekakariki, and Otaki. Prof. Connett will speak in Wellington, 11 February and Kapiti, 13 February.

NEWS SHORTS

PESKY PESTICIDES Just how bad are New Zealand’s pesticide levels? Which foods should we examine suspiciously before eating or discarding? Alison White presents research on pesticide levels in New Zealand food at her Dirty Dozen exposition, 12 February 8pm, Southern Cross.

CAPTURING C R E AT I V I T Y The capital’s culture is set to be satirised this February, in a mockumentary web series poking fun at Wellington’s creative image. Virginia, Isobelle, Miriam and Martine conceived the idea while living in Melbourne. Surrounded by people who were defined by their threads, what bike they rode, and what coffee they drank (sound familiar?), they brought the idea to Wellington. The series follows four young, creative females living in New Zealand’s capital: Lennon, a self-proclaimed style-setter running her own blog while working parttime in a vintage clothing store on Cuba Street; Imogen, a ‘mixologist’ (read: bartender) set on inventing the next cocktail, working in a well-known Cuba Street hangout; Willoughby, a singer/song writer and aspiring DJ whose life revolves around getting the next ‘gig’; and Frankie, a filmmaker and Toi Whakaari dropout who sees every spare moment as a chance to network. Their PledgeMe target for the series was more than doubled, and they started filming in December 2013.

SOMETHING FISHY HERE A HOME AT THE HOSPITAL Newtown’s Fever Hospital is the new home for Wellington SPCA, who moved from Mansfield Street to Alexandra Road in December last year. It’s time to celebrate with a Grand Open Day, where there’ll be lots to see and do, and the Governor General will dedicate the building to its new use. The Grand Open Day, 140 Alexandra Road on Waitangi Day.

A group of community volunteers have helped to temporarily relocate native fish from Papawai Stream. Wellington City Council requested volunteers to help remove the fish last month so that the stream could be cleaned of gravel, which causes overflow and flooding in lower Prince of Wales field and the houses in Salisbury Terrace during periods of heavy rainfall. The relocation efforts were a success and the fish are thriving.

NEWS SHORTS

A DANCE OF ONE’S OWN Dancer and choreographer Craig Bary’s new show Straight-Laced is a dance exploration of relationship choices. The concept appealed to Bary as a contemporary issue for New Zealand, as well as Australia, where he resides, as a recent marriage equality bill was refused by Australia’s federal parliament but passed in New Zealand. A Palmerston North boy, Bary says Wellington is an inspiring and dynamic place to work, although it doesn’t have the same career-advancing opportunities as Sydney. He is teaching at the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) dance college. “You have to go where you can make a career,” he says. The dance was partly inspired by Bary’s personal experiences, but also gives the audience the freedom to interpret the themes of the show in their own way. Straight-Laced, Footnote Dance – ChoreoCo, 2 March, Bats Theatre.

NURSES TO RELIEVE PRESSURE Five new nurses will be placed in the Wellington and Hutt Valley region as a result of the increase in scholarships for graduate nurses to work in higher-need communities. Scholarships have increased from 30 to 48 this year announced the Minister of Health, Tony Ryall. An extra $16 million over four years will be invested to support Very Low Cost Access practices. Interest in the scholarships has been strong from both nurse graduates and general practices. Waitangirua Health Centre, Newtown Union Health Service, Te Aro Health Centre, Hutt Union and Community Health Service, and Porirua’s Ora Toa will each receive one nurse. The 48 graduate nurses will work alongside GPs and practice nurses to deliver care to communities with the greatest need. The increased budget is to strengthen the primary health care system and provide New Zealanders with affordable general practice care. Funding for the scheme has increased by more than 85 per cent in the past six years – from $27 million in 2007/08 to $50 million this financial year.

SHA K Y BUSINESS Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett already has emergency earthquake supplies and he’s going to add a rainwater tank. Leggett is the newly elected Chair of the Wellington Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group (WCDEMG). He says the recent Eketahuna earthquake is a reminder that communities in the Wellington region need to reaffirm their earthquake emergency plan with family and friends. And the emergency preparations must be regularly updated, he notes. Leggett’s role is to liaise between the emergency response centres in the greater Wellington region, as well as make decisions as to where funds are spent. The Wellington region is known for its earthly instability, making emergency supplies such as extra water and food stores indispensible.

BY THE NUMBERS

F E S T I VA L SMORGASBORD

BOOKING SE RV IC E

BIRDS OF A F E AT H E R

300 +

number of performances in the New Zealand Festival

1965

year The National Library was established

225

size in hectares of Zealandia bird sanctuary

30%

of attendees are expected to be from out of town

6.8

8.6m

15th

festival (the first was in 1986)

number of catalogued items in millions, including 5.3 million in the Turnbull Collection

long predator-proof fence designed to keep out 13 pest species (and drunken students)

275,000

people attended 2012 festival events

55,000

number of volumes in original bequest by Alexander Turnbull in 1919

32 km

of tracks to wander inside

freely downloadable images available on the website

different species of native bird plus reptiles, fish and invertebrates

100

+ little spotted Kiwi

2485

FLUORIDE FREE

2003

year the Petone aquifer was tapped into for the use of thirsty Wellingtonians

distance away in km to place where the water is said to originate (underneath the Taita Gorge)

250,000

estimated number of litres drawn per month

12,500

visits per month (assuming 20 litres per person)

GRAND OLD DAME

P O R I R UA GEM

100

years since the Opera House in Manners Street opened

years since Pataka Art Museum opened in Porirua

1381

seat capacity in the main auditorium

visits per year

lines in the fly tower (what the curtains and scenery hang off)

160,000 20,000

number of ghosts said to haunt the corridors (bit crowded?)

Compiled by Craig Beardsworth

40 +

objects and photographs in its historical collection exhibitions a year

OUR PEOPLE

SUPER SURFERS Danny and Will McDowell are 23-year-old twins who look like they’ve stepped out of Home and Away to patrol the surf at Titahi Bay, with their quintessential sandy hair and mellow beach-bum drawls. Their story began with their parents, who were keen lifesavers. Their Dad even represented New Zealand. They met at the surf club, fell in love, and brought up Danny, Will and their older brother a couple of doors down from the Titahi Bay club so they could grow up amongst the sun, surf and sand. The boys started out as nippers at six years old. They’ve climbed the ranks to patrol captains and they still can’t get enough of it. “We’ve grown up as a part of the surf club and as we’ve gotten older we’ve seen that it’s a hugely family orientated club and that’s pretty awesome really. We love the competing part of it. We’re a really competitive family. And coming down on a Sunday (club day) and just chilling out,” said Danny. Will agrees. “Basically just being at the beach pretty much all the time, during the summer and that. We’re both water boys, love the water, so it’s good to be down here.” So what about when they’re not down at the beach? “We’re tradies. I’m an electrician,” said Danny, “and I’m a plumber,” said Will. “Our club is known for our social side and hosting events. If people from other regions are coming down they have events here, ‘cos we have the bar and we’ve got the kitchen, and we’ve got a guy Ken who does the food, big barbies and that. Every Sunday night the bars open and everyone comes down and has a few drinks and a meal.” Written & photographed by Sarah Burton 16

TA L E S O F T H E C I T Y

BA NG E R S AND CASH

FAV E M U SIC Pink Floyd

FAV E F O O D Beer & steak

COFFEE Maranui

WEEKEND

Mountain biking

T R AV E L Peru

Smallgoods entrepreneur SIMON HARRISON says summer means sausages.

this do well. It’s not always about price it’s about value. The best, surprisingly, doesn’t have to cost more. “Beer and a great steak, honestly what could be better? It’s a great business to be in as long as you are prepared to get your hands dirty and work hard. “As an old Pink Floyd fan really I can’t think of anything better than accompanying it with a burst of Dark Side of the Moon. “On Sundays I cook – our own gold medal bacon, eggs, and Pandoro bread. And I love mountain bike riding. I’ve lived all over the world, and Wellington really is the best place I’ve ever ridden. “We love to eat out in Wellington because there is such a mixed and diverse range of foods. Maranui Surf Club in Lyall Bay and the Chocolate Fish are my favourites. “Walking to Cafe Eis with my beautiful wife for a morning coffee and then getting on my mountain bike and exploring is a pretty good start to a day in Wellington. “I have just come back from Sri Lanka. I love to go to different places and explore life. It’s amazing what you learn and find out about yourself when you get out and explore. My favourite destination is Peru. I lived there for four years when I worked for Fonterra and would love to go back and give back. Wonderful people, fascinating culture and so much to see and do”.

am a part-owner (with business partner Rob Cameron) of Cameron Harrison, a Tawa small goods manufacturer. We have two stores – in Ngaio and Kelburn – and sell wholesale to shops as far afield as Auckland. It’s always busy and business is fairly steady, and that’s the way I like it. “During the summer months, November through April, people buy steaks and sausages, but at Christmas, sales typically quadruple, and the three days before Christmas are manic.” “Over all, beef is far the biggest seller, but during the summer we make thousands of sausages. About 5,000 a week – so that’s 80,000 odd sausages, all made by hand.” “Our business is about providing the best possible products produced by knowledgeable staff, who love what they do. All are qualified butchers, except for me.” It seems a surprising occupation for someone with a dairy technology qualification from Massey University. “I love business and saw an opportunity to fill a need. Butchery is not easy but it’s very rewarding when you can get everyone aligned and the common goal is to be the best in the business.” Independent butchery provides opportunities for those still in the game to grow. People are sick to death of poor quality meat and zero service. Butcheries that understand

Photograph by Benjamin & Elise 19

F E AT U R E

LIFE’S A PICNIC WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS | ILLUSTRATED BY BECCA O’SHEA

O TA R I W I LT O N B U S H TROUP PICNIC AREA

T E O R UA I T I , A K A T H E P O I N T D ORSET RESERVE

A sheltered clearing surrounded by buzzing, chirping native bush with plenty of walking options, including a short hike to a spectacular 800-year-old rimu tree.

Steeped in history and surrounded by spectacular views, the area is well-suited to a romantic picnic date, although children love clambering round on top of the gun emplacements. Just watch them near the cliffs!

Pros: Free to the public, push-button gas BBQs. Half a dozen bush walks, all less than an hour return. A fantastic canopy walkway and a botanic garden dedicated solely to native plants. Cons: Access can be tricky. If you’re carrying gear the easiest way to the Troup lawn is from the northern carpark on Churchill Drive. It’s an easy 5-minute walk along a step-free track. Getting there: Drive or take the No 14 bus. Top tip: Keep your eyes up and you’re likely to see some impressive kereru display diving. They swoop straight up, stall, and then bank steeply back towards the ground. P R I N C E S S B AY One of the South Coast’s best spots – a lovely, sandy beach tucked between Houghton Bay and Te Raekaihau Point. Pros: Stunning views to the Kaikoura Ranges on a clear day. Sheltered, great for rock pool exploration. Large changing rooms and toilets. Buy fish ‘n chips in Island Bay or Lyall Bay and get there before your chips go cold. Cons: Not much in the way of shade. Water is south-coast freezing, but still swimmable. Getting there: Drive or catch the No 23 bus to Houghton Bay and walk for five minutes, or the No 3 to Hungerford Road and walk around the coast. Top tip: Bring a snorkelling mask and flippers – the Bay is part of the Taputeranga Marine Reserve and divers report that fish are getting more plentiful as well as more curious in these parts. W E L L I N G T O N B O TA N I C G A R D E N S Both the Soundshell and the Dell are fantastic picnicking spots – with lovely trees, plants and flowers all round and enough grass for the kids to run wild yet remain within eyeshot. Pros: Close to town, serene surrounds, great walks, lots of shade. Cons: We’re at a loss to think of any! It can get a little crowded in summer but there’s always a secluded nook to escape to. Getting there: Drive, take the Cable Car, walk from town or catch the No 3 or No 13 bus. Top tip: In the Begonia House you can see begonias the size of dinner plates. 20

Pros: Amazing views of Wellington Harbour including Barrett Reef, which the ferry, Wahine struck in 1968, and Steeple Rock, where the ship eventually capsized. A $400,000 facelift in 2012 saw the site beautified and interesting educational signage installed. Cons: Exposed to the elements. Access involves some steep climbing. Getting there: Park at Churchill Park and Breaker Bay, or take the No 11 bus. Top tip: The reserve can be accessed from the Pass of Branda, Churchill Park or the middle of Breaker Bay Beach. Be warned! This is Wellington’s unofficial nudist beach, and a warm day is likely to see a bit of flesh on show. M AT I U – S O M E S I S L A N D A slightly more out-of-the-way picnic spot, but well worth the journey. Enjoy great views to Petone, Eastbourne and Wellington city, learn about the island’s fascinating history and even stay the night to increase your chances of spotting tuatara. Pros: Excellent for native wildlife spotting. The island is predatorfree and home to kākāriki, North Island robins, little blue penguins, weta, skinks, geckos and tuatara. There are day walks easy enough for the whole family and a reasonably priced (adult $10) 2-hour guided walk is also available. Plenty of picnic tables and lookouts. Cons: More costly than your average picnic, once you factor in the $23 return adult fare on the ferry. Getting there: Take the East by West Ferry or else you can paddle there yourself – check the rules about landing on the island on the DOC website first. Other top-notch Wellington picnic spots: Days Bay, Scorching Bay, Oku Street Reserve (Island Bay), Carrara Park (Newtown), Tarakena Bay, Shorland Park (Island Bay – more free gas BBQs), Zealandia, Wellington Zoo.

OPINION

F E AT U R E

A FESTIVE FELLOW When he’s not rehearsing with his bands The Nudge and Newtown Rocksteady at nearby studios or sipping coffee at Baobab cafe, James Coyle can usually be found in the Newtown Festival offices, where he oversees the team looking after the festival’s entertainment. “There’s not many weeks where I don’t spend a day at the festival office, but a lot of my work is done after hours too... Last week I was at the service station and two bands each drove up and we had this three-way conversation to sort out some details, all while we were putting petrol in our wagons,” he laughs. The networks forged through his work as Newtown Festival programme coordinator come in handy for Coyle’s other jobs. He’s been involved with Big Day Dowse and is organising the music for Island Bay Festival, which is celebrating its 30th year. Last year he was the main MC for the Summer City Garden’s Magic concert series, putting in a weekend last month too. A graduate from Victoria University of Wellington in Architecture, festival organisation isn’t exactly what he studied to do. But for Coyle the two are connected: “Community festivals are a way to re-imagine the urban space for a day. On this day we inhabit the street, dance to the music, buy and sell in the markets, empty the cash machines of all their cash and invite the rest of the region into our place.” It’s perhaps this kind of talk, coupled with the fact that Coyle’s such a permanent fixture in the suburb he lives in, that leads some to jokingly refer to him as “The Mayor of Newtown”. Coyle, who has heard the nickname before, says, “I can think of some other people more deserving of the title, but it’s pretty funny. I should just claim it... The mayor next door!” Island Bay Festival Day in the Bay: Sunday February 16th, Newtown Festival: Sunday March 2nd. Written by Melody Thomas | Photographed by Vanessa Rushton 22

CULTURE

Caption: Shigeyuki Kihara, ‘Culture for Sale’ (2012) performance documentation. Courtesy of Shigeyuki Kihara Studio, 4A Center for Contemporary Asian Art and Campbelltown Arts Center for Sydney Festival 2012. Photo courtesy of Susannah Wimberley.

C U LT U R E AT A P R I C E

A free concert will take place this Waitangi day at Te Papa. The NZSO National Youth Orchestra will play the late New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn’s Aoteraroa Overture, an important New Zealand musical landmark. A fittingly New Zealand concert for the day.

LIKE OIL A N D WAT E R

Artist: Gretchen Albrecht, Title: Cloudy Mirror, Medium: 5 Colour lithograph with chine-colle’, Year: 2012

AOTEAROA OVERTONES

Shigeyuki Kihara’s exhibition comes with a cost. Comprising a video and audio installation, Culture for Sale raises questions about the nineteenth-century German phenomenon of Völkerschau, the ‘human zoo’, a popular form of exotic entertainment and colonial theatre in the 1800s. The exhibition asks if viewers want to pay to see such entertainment themselves in what some have called a ‘human jukebox’. It’s aimed to raise questions relevant to any coloniser/colonised debate. Kihara received a grant from the Goethe Institute to research artifacts relating to Völkerschau trend. Culture for Sale, February, City Gallery.

Four years of printmaking is on show at Solander during February. STRUCK is a collaboration between master printmaker John Pusateri and artists such as John McKaig, Gretchen Albrecht, Jason Greig, Tiffany Singh, Ayanah Moor, Mark Braunias, and Askew One. The works were created at the Auckland Print Studio STRUCK at Solander Works on Paper, 218 Willis St.

Jason Johnson, Nick Brown, Chris Winter, Ebony Lamb, Bryn Heveldt 24

MUSIC

HOW EB GOT HER FLOW WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS | PHOTOGRAPH BY KATE MACPHERSON

Last year was a great year for Wellington folk-slash-country-slash-indie five-piece Eb and Sparrow. They recorded their first album, due for release later this year, and found themselves opening for big names both local and international - like Anika Moa and Beth Orton, and to a crowd of 4000 alongside Rodriguez, the subject of Academy Award winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man. And this month they play at Homegrown on the waterfront.

s well as playing guitar and singing in the band, Ebony Lamb writes all their songs. But just five years ago Lamb had no idea she could write songs. She also didn’t know how to play an instrument, or that she could sing. “I was always creative, but... I’d stopped creating. I was in quite a bit of conflict for years and years,” she says. It wasn’t until she was in her late twenties that Lamb felt her creative block begin to crumble, triggered by the breakdown of her romantic relationship. At that point Lamb only knew a few chords on the guitar, and singing and songwriting were the last thing she imagined herself doing – she’d always thought a return to creative endeavours would be in the form of painting or photography. “I didn’t understand how [songwriting] worked and I had no idea where to start. Then I just started writing, so prolifically, like a song a day for a very long time. It came out of me at a hundred miles an hour,” she says. That is certainly where Lamb’s musical journey began, but the real beginnings of Eb and Sparrow happened later, when Ebony (nicknamed Eb), met Bryn Heveldt, nicknamed The Racing Sparrow for his childhood days as a lightning-quick ‘yachty’. With a plethora of songs under her belt and no way to record them, Lamb was forced to reach out to someone with the skills to do so – and Heveldt was her man. “A mutual friend of ours said that I should call him. It took

me weeks to do it but eventually I did and we talked for ages and ages on the phone. I remember thinking ‘you can trust this person’,” she says. Despite being from an electronic and metal background, Heveldt agreed to help record Lamb’s plaintive solo folk songs. “I used to make him go out of the room and come back in and press record again... I was so self-conscious and vulnerable that I couldn’t sing properly if someone was around,” she admits. Eventually Heveldt was allowed to remain in the room, and began adding his own flourishes on the guitar. Fast becoming a solid creative pair, they had as yet no plans to perform to a crowd, until they booked a “great little gig” opening for country singer Donna Dean. They were hooked. Five years have passed and Eb and Sparrow, now with Jason Johnson on bass, Nick Brown on drums and Chris Winter on trumpet and occasional guitar, are building a steady and loyal following. “I’m in a band with four guys who are incredibly tolerant and kind and very good musicians and somehow we just make a sound.... and the songs seem to resonate with people. It’s part of my soul that just comes out. I don’t think twice,” says Lamb. And for those who, like Lamb, have found themselves in conflict through suppressing creative impulses? “It’s never too late,” she says, “I think people need to hear that.”

W HAT T H E F L O C K

MISS AUST R A L ASIAN GANNET Name: Australasian gannet. Maori name: tākapu. Status: Native, not threatened. NZ holds the bulk of the breeding population – only about 13% breed in Australia. Habitat: Gannets nest in large breeding colonies on New Zealand’s mainland as well as offshore on islands or rock outcrops. Look for them: On the coast. Gannets have a 1.8m wingspan and are predominantly white, but with a creamy golden head, dark facial patches about the eye and black on their wings and tail. It also has a very bright blue ring around each eye. The nearest breeding colonies are in the Marlborough Sounds, but they are small. The nearest large colonies are on Farewell Spit and at Cape Kidnappers. Gannet sightings are fairly common on any North or South Island coast, even when breeding colonies are some distance away (Gannets travel up to 500k in search of fish every day). Those unfamiliar with the species will probably have mistaken them for gulls at some point – keep an eye out for the very impressive trademark plunge-dive. Call: Not very vocal at sea, but noisy at the colonies where they sound an ‘urrah urrah’ to announce landing, indicate territory and during bill fencing with the mate, and an ‘oo-ah’ to indicate take-off. Feeds on: Mainly fish, some squid. Gannets dive from up to 30m above the sea, reaching speeds of 145kph before hitting the water, diving deep and spending up to 42 seconds underwater chasing prey. Research out of Massey University in 2012 showed that this behaviour can prove perilous when the birds dive en masse – sometimes two birds aim for the same fish and the collision kills one or both birds. Gannets have been found with their necks and heads pierced by the beaks of other gannets. Did you know? In an attempt to attract gannets to nest on Mana Island, decoy birds were placed on the western cliffs in 1997. So far no colony has been established, but the technique has worked at Young Nick’s Head, near Gisborne, and the Friends of Mana Island recently moved the decoys to a different site to try their luck again. If it were human, it would be: The closest thing we see to human plunge diving is probably the kids (and some brave adults) who clamber up the platform next to Circa Theatre and hurl themselves into the water below. Them and anyone who’s done the big jump at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre in Kilbirnie.

CULTURE

BRONTË NOT SO ENGLISH ANYMORE

E AT, P R AY… W E AV E ? A Wellington-born girl, an Italian word, and an Indian weaving technique. They have little in common, but together, they form the handmade rug brand by Olivia Smith. Meaning knots in Italian, NODI is the result of three years living in Milan and an inspiring five months in India, where Smith researched how fibres could be dyed and woven to create different textures. NODI’s Wellington launch is at August on Garret Street, 14 February.

LOVE IS AT THE MUSEUM It’s a month of love-inspired comedy and activities at the Museum of Wellington City & Sea this February. On Valentine’s Day a special entertainment programme for couples and throughout February the lovethemed activities will continue with ‘Love Letters to Wellington’: you write a letter to the capital. If you prefer to receive, the love-letter machine is for you: just insert a ‘penny’ and it spits out a love letter!

Beloved writer Charlotte Brontë had definitively English roots, but it is New Zealand-born writer and performer Mel Dodge who will portray her this month. Dodge will head the one-woman show Miss Brontë with the direction of experienced director Lyndee Jane Rutherford, winner of the Chapman Tripp Award for Most Promising Director in 2006. Miss Brontë is the story of Charlotte Brontë who, alone after the death of her siblings, searches desperately for the manuscript sister Emily may have left before her death. In her hunt for this manuscript she takes the audience through the story of the sisters’ remarkable careers: their secret loves, tenacity and personal tragedies. “Bronte spent much of her life in relative seclusion, so the idea of her living in her imagination and conversing with her ghosts seems fitting,” Dodge says. Dodge used Brontë’s letters, diaries and biographical works to find the truth and relevance of her personal story. It is not the first time Dodge has become enamoured with the era: she performed Jane Austen is Dead to sell out seasons last year in Wellington, Adelaide and Melbourne.

CULTURE

A SHIP CAME INTO HARB OUR , CARRYING... ...a tempestuously shipwrecked audience! This season’s version of A Tempest off Matiu-Somes Island will be authentic right down to the (mostly) deserted island where the original Shakespearean play is set. Stage company Bard Productions has recently been granted a 10-year concession by the Department of Conservation to do a show on Matiu-Somes Island annually, and A Tempest is the first production in that series. Note it’s been slightly updated since Shakespeare’s time: the production is completely wind, solar, and hydrogen powered, as Matiu-Somes has moved completely off fossil fuels.

SOMETHING OU TR AGEOUS T H I S WAY C O M E S The word on the street is that there’s lots of leather in this year’s version of Macbeth, and the street may even resemble the setting. A definite contemporary edge pervades this version of the classic play, to be performed as part of the annual Wellington Summer Shakespeare programme at the Botanic Gardens Dell stage. This Macbeth is saturated with gangs, filth, drugs and alcohol, and features wacky costumes and makeup. It’s a more aesthetic focus to what is traditionally a densely-worded production. The result? Sons of Anarchy meets Outrageous Fortune, apparently. Director Sarah Delahunty, who liaises with the Onslow College drama department biennially to direct their productions, has selected drama-hungry high school students to support the lead performers, widening the theatre scene in Wellington and promoting new talent. The equally maniacal roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are taken by VUW graduates and experienced theatre performers Jackson Coe and Kirsty Bruce. Delahunty wants to make Shakespeare more engaging for those who think it’s all words and no comprehension. Let’s just hope the actors understand their Shakespearean lines better than Leo did in Romeo and Juliet.

HIGH CAMP Writer Donna Oblongata and visual artist and performer Patrick Costello bring their wacky show The 7 Person Chair Pyramid High Wire Act to New Zealand for the first time. It stars a bat. And Charles Darwin. And the Yeti. And a rope maker who lives in a cave. And it all takes place on a self-designed stage of about 1 x 2 metres, by performers described by Oblongata as, “like the royal court’s appointed storytellers who are a little bit off”. Despite this, she reassures us, “there’s definitely a plot, and it’s easy to follow.” And word has it they’ll be at a certain Wellington-based Camp this year as well. The 7 Person Chair Pyramid High Wire Act, Puppies, 11 February

CULTURE

A detail of Tours Scrums: Adelaide Road, Wellington, 1981. Photos: John Miller.

BLINK AND IT ’S GONE Camp A Low Hum returns for its last year this February. The staple of the Wellington music circuit is a consistent sell out event that has been running for seven years. Blink, the organiser, is now taking a break from camp, but not from other music events and shows, and says this year’s camp will see bands playing in places at the campground you’ve never even been to. 7–9 February, Wainui Camp ground, Wainuiomata

IT’S NOT ALL BL ACK AND WHITE Photographer John Miller’s latest exhibition covers the historic and contemporary nature of the protests that sprung up against the 1981 Springbok Tour, in which, according to Miller, the capital’s protests were renowned for their tight discipline and sense of purpose. A mix of black and white and colour photography (above), “You’ll either love it, you’ll hate it, or you’ll be in it,” Miller says. Over 30 years later, the subject proves itself still relevant, as the recent death of Nelson Mandela evoked a more intense reaction of remembering the Springbok protests than the Tour’s 2011 anniversary. Incorporating sound recordings with the photography, Miller brings home the immediacy of the protests which are etched into New Zealand’s history. Tour Scrums, City Gallery, February

STARS IN THEIR EYES Films by Starlight returns for nine evenings during February and March. Cult classics will screen at different outdoor areas around the city, bringing fresh air and a cultural infusion of French, Japanese and New Zealand films. Food and craft stalls will precede all Waitangi Park screenings. Whale Rider: Wed 6 Feb, Odlins Plaza | The Adventures of Tintin: Sat 8 Feb, Williams Park | Gardening With Soul: Wed 22 Feb, Wakefield Park | Beyond the Edge: Sat 1 Mar, The Dowse | The Princess Bride: Wed 5 Mar, Waitangi Park.

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YOU’LL BE THE FIRST TO LAUGH Luwita Hana Randhawa, one of the few woman in the Malaysian comedy scene, is returning to Wellington to give us a taste of her stand-up style. A relative newcomer to the comedy circit, she feel lucky the growing scene gave her the opportunity to perform. The former international student returns to her beloved city of study to perform at the Fringe Festival, where she is the first Malaysian participant. But that’s the last thing on her mind: “(for my own sanity) I’m trying not to think of it in any historic terms. I just want to come over, do my thing and do it well,” she says. Nothing to be Done, Fringe Bar, 19 February

F E AT U R E

CALL FOR JUSTICE WRITTEN BY CATHARINE MACKENZIE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BENJAMIN & ELISE

It is hard to imagine a less likely crime fighter than Wellington businessman John Perham. Genial and charming, he is at the time of life when he could be enjoying himself on his retirement lifestyle block in the Wairarapa. Instead he has chosen to help prevent crime in New Zealand, and is succeeding in an unimaginable way.

“I could not understand how someone could not identify who had killed those children. I believe that if we had had Crimestoppers established in New Zealand at that time, we would have had an aunty or cousin ring us to say: ‘There’s something nasty going on’, and maybe the babies would still be alive”, he says. A former stockbroker, investment banker and chief of Canterbury Health, the National Provident Fund and the IRD, Perham was working with the New Zealand Police in 2008 when 96 medals including nine Victoria Crosses were stolen from the National Army Museum in Waiouru.

ithout personal fuss or publicity, he is leading his new Crimestoppers organisation in campaigns all over the country, working with police, farmers, iwi, families, retailers, schools and anyone else who is fed up with crime in their area. Persuasive and softly-spoken, he uses his business experience and formidable organisational skills to gather sponsors and supporters for the programmes, throwing in his own money when needed. Crimestoppers, the charity he founded for the New Zealand Police only four years ago, is about to receive its 50,000th anonymous call.

“It takes courage to report violence particularly where the perpetrators are close to you...” This outraged the legendary Tory peer Lord Michael Ashcroft, the biggest collector of Victoria Cross and George Cross medals in the world for the Imperial War Museum. Lord Ashcroft helped fund a $250,000 reward for information which ensured the medals’ return some months later. He then came to New Zealand and talked to Police Commissioner Howard Broad about Crimestoppers, which had begun in the USA after the murder of a policeman. Lord Ashcroft had funded it in the United Kingdom and was prepared to help New Zealand get it going. He kept his word. Commissioner Broad turned to John Perham and Crimestoppers was launched here in October 2009. Lord Ashcroft provided the legal agreements, branding and organisational details free of charge. Other

Almost every appeal for information from the Police includes the phrase “Or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111”. Many of the calls are about drugs, missing people and, increasingly, violence. “It takes courage to report violence particularly where the perpetrators are close to you,” says Perham. “Criminals try and promote a view that you shouldn’t nark. They want to create the maximum fear of retribution. But it’s rubbish. It’s merely a vehicle to keep the fear level high.” Police do prefer people to say who they are, but in a small community, neighbours and family know that they cannot always be protected. So an anonymous hotline works. It was disgust at the black hole of information about the murder of the Kahui twins in 2008 that motivated John Perham to get involved. 31

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sponsors, including TelstraClear, Vodafone, the Radio Network and PwC, came in to help. But it wasn’t always easy to convince senior police the anonymous hotline was a good idea. They want named witnesses who can stand up in court to ensure convictions. “It has taken some time to convince both the police and public that it would be a vital (extra) service,” says Perham. Guaranteed anonymity is so important to Crimestoppers that New Zealand calls go to a British call centre of trained receptionists before being redirected back to local police here. The Director of Intelligence and Prevention for the New Zealand Police, Mark Evans, a Crimestoppers board member, is certain the charity works. “I have seen serious offenders caught, harmful drugs seized, property recovered and lots of crime solved

A former Napier contractor and farmer, McVicar also came out of comfortable retirement 12 years ago to fight crime, outraged at the murder of Hutt schoolgirl Karla Cardno. He ended up supporting the distraught and shocked victims of many of New Zealand’s most ghastly murders. The Sensible Sentencing Trust received tip-off calls right from the beginning, from the public, prison officers and policemen trying to prevent criminals offending again. One policeman lost his job for publicising the history of a paedophile who was causing trouble in the local community. People want to help, he says, and they often talked to the local community constable before these were abolished “by the bean counters”. He says New Zealand’s crime rate may be dropping, and Crimestoppers is one of the tools. But he also gives

“Trust and confidence in the police are at their highest for 30 years.” and prevented because a member of the public called Crimestoppers. It really does work,” he says. A battle-hardened crime fighter with an OBE for policing in Northern Ireland, Evans moved to New Zealand in 2009 to revamp the New Zealand Police intelligence systems. “From over 20 years of dealing with some truly awful crimes, I know how valuable Crimestoppers is. We police in New Zealand with the support of communities. For those who wish to remain anonymous, Crimestoppers offers the best way to communicate information about crime and criminals. But what about vexatious calls, trying to get an innocent neighbor into trouble? The police say there have been hardly any. Many calls are not specific enough or give information already known to police, but Evans still estimates one in four is valuable enough for the Police to take some action. This widespread acceptance of Crimestoppers is a brilliant result for John Perham and his team in only four years, but what difference has it made to crime? “Crime is at its lowest level for 30 years, down 17 per cent in the last three years,” says Evans. “Trust and confidence in the police are at their highest for 30 years. These statistics are exceptional internationally.” He gives Crimestoppers credit but says it is only part of the picture, a view supported by another prominent crime fighter, Garth McVicar of the Sensible Sentencing Trust. 32

credit to the Three Strikes legislation which he says is becoming effective. “We have a number of people on two strikes,” he says, “but none on three.” McVicar adds that the statistics cannot always be believed as the Government and Police have set targets to keep conviction rates down. They encourage plea bargaining and warnings instead of court cases. Crimestoppers’ success can be measured in other ways, however. Three new dedicated hotlines have been set up already for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, for general corporate crime, and for rural stock theft. Campaigns have included ‘Make that call or have the tangi’ against drink driving with Bay of Plenty iwi; ‘Nail ‘em’, against rural stock theft; ‘Hot Property Isn’t Cool’ in the upper North Island, and ‘Safer Schools’ marking laptops and phones in schools with DNA material to identify the owners. Perham is particularly pleased with the schools’ campaign. “Across the New Zealand school system, burglaries are down by 25 per cent, part of that attributable to our ‘Safer Schools’ programme,” he says. Future campaigns include family violence, metal theft, drink driving, vehicle theft (“an epidemic in this country”), rural theft of quad bikes and fuel; and retail theft “If it’s too cheap, it’s probably stolen”. “It’s about lifting people’s confidence to say what is going on,” says Perham. “We’d rather prevent crime than report it afterwards”.

THE COLOUR O F S PA I N

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WRITTEN BY SARAH LANG

Not so long ago, Spain wasn’t on the local radar; Sangria or, at a push, paella was about as far as familiarity went. Listen now in a cafe and the chatter includes discussion of tapas, the advantages of shopping in Barcelona, the architecture of Gaudí and the merits of the siesta. The New Zealand festival also shows its up-to-the-minute chops with its cluster of events from the Iberian peninsula. Sarah Lang investigates this Spanish invasion.

hen a Spanish señorita walks into Poquito Espresso & Wine Bar on Tory Street, all eyes turn to her, and the bartender and a handsome patron stop her to say hello. That’s not just because of her tumbling curls, dark pools of eyes and sparkling smile. It’s because Leticia Murillo is a social butterfly by New Zealand standards, if not by Spanish standards, so she knows people. She likes to go out most nights and chat to locals when she does, just as they do in Spain. Plus she’s met just about every Spaniard in town. Murillo, 36, has lived in Holland, France, Ireland and the UK, but mainly in her hometown of Zaragoza, Spain, where her family still lives. Earning a Bachelor of Business at the University of Zaragoza, she worked as a global export specialist for various companies. Then, after gaining a Masters in translation, she moved to Island Bay two years ago to begin a career as a freelance translator (English, Spanish, French). “I wanted to live in an English-speaking country

close to nature, where you can be happier and less worried than in other countries. And I love Wellington. It’s cute and people are very open, friendly, responsive, respectful, and interested in my culture.” You can take the girl out of Spain, but you can’t take Spain out of the girl. Murillo speaks passionately about the culture known for its tapas, sangria, paella, flamenco, bullfighting, beautiful women, art and architecture. And she has organised a plethora of events to spread the Spanish language, food, music and culture in her adopted town. Through online platform chalkle. com, she’s run more than 100 informal introductory classes on Spanish cooking, language and culture – sometimes combining all of the above. “I’ve noticed everything Spanish is becoming popular in Wellington.” For starters, we’ve built up quite an appetite for Spanish-style tapas (small plates for sharing). Just look at all the Spanish-themed eateries and tapas bars springing up – and staying up

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is cheaper following the Eurozone crisis. Given 25 percent unemployment, austerity measures, political corruption, social unrest and rocketing crime rates, many Spaniards are tempted to leave. Between 2008 and 2012, the number of young Spaniards (up to age 34) emigrating rose by a staggering 41 percent. Why not come to the home of The Lord of the Rings? The number of Spanish nationals with New Zealand residence visas nearly doubled in the year to June 2013, and numbers of temporary work visas for Spaniards have risen every year for the last four. Though there are still only 200 Spanish nationals living in Wellington, the group is growing – and already has a strong presence. “The Spanish community here is small but so active,” Murillo says. “We all know each other, and we’re always meeting at parties or restaurants or going to somebody’s house for paella. And we’re members of the same groups.” She belongs to the Wellington Spanish/Latin-Amer-

– in Wellington’s crowded restaurant scene. Newish entrants include Poquito (‘a little bit’ in Spanish), El Matador, which join stalwarts Havana, Zibbibo and Osteria del Toro. Every week on Paella Mondays, Osteria del Toro’s chef demonstrates how to cook then serves up Spain’s best-known dish; and in August the restaurant held a celebration dinner with Spanish food, wine, musicians and flamenco dancers as part of Wellington on A Plate. Wellingtonians don’t just want to eat Spanish cuisine, we want to make it ourselves. Wholesalers Moore Wilsons sells a lot of Spanish food, wine, cookbooks and paella pans, and in October to mark Spain’s national day Fiesta Nacional de España hosted paella and wine tastings. Over at Aro Valley Community Centre, Murillo’s popular Chalkle class Friday Fiesta! Tapas & Sangria is a hit. She shows the group how to prepare tapas and sangria as they listen to Spanish music, play Spanish games, then eat and

“Flamenco is so Spanish, so different, so amazing...” ican Meetup Group, which meets on Monday nights and has 219 members (including Kiwis practising their Spanish). Occasionally, she watches Spanishlanguage films with the Spanish and Latin American Club on Tuesday nights. And every 2–3 months she meets around 10 Spanish women at dinner at different restaurants. “We talk about how our lives have changed, and we compare New Zealand and Spanish men a lot!” One of her Spanish acquaintances is Javier Murcia, a 32-year-old sculptor for Weta Cave. Growing up in Tenerife, on one of Spain’s Canary Islands, he lived in Denmark and Italy before moving here in February. Whether he stays depends on work, but he’s loving living in a country as laidback as he is, and close to the outdoors he loves. “Wellington is very like the island I’m from. I haven’t been with a

drink together. “People don’t only learn the recipe but about the culture too,” Murillo says, whipping out a Spanish fan and Spanish placemat from her bag like a Spanish Mary Poppins. She also teaches private Spanish-language classes. Murillo isn’t the only one teaching Wellingtonians how to say buenos días. The Viva Spanish! language school, which opened eight years ago with eight students, now has 400–450 annual enrolments and counting. Some students are preparing to travel: some to Latin America, some to Spain itself. According to Flight Centre, the number of Kiwis travelling to Madrid rocketed by more than 15 percent in the year to October 2013, and Barcelona’s nearly as popular. The appeal is primarily our perception of Spain’s exotic culture, and partly because holidaying there

Top left: Leticia Murillo. Top right, Middle left, Bottom left: Spanish fare at Poquitos. Middle right: Hopkinson Smith playing Spanish music of the 17th Century in this year’s International Arts Festival.

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Kiwi woman but I can see and feel a big difference between passionate Latin people, and more relaxed Kiwis.” His Kiwi flatmates and friends are intrigued by a culture they see as exotic, and he’s also mates with around 10 Spanish guys who work for Weta. “We ate paella together the other Sunday. I’ve met other Spaniards at parties, some in the street. If I can hear they’re Spanish, sometimes I stop and say hola (hello).” We can all say hola to Spanish culture when the 2014 New Zealand Festival opens on February 21. No other culture has such a strong festival presence – not even close. “As the festival programme evolved, a strong Spanish theme emerged which ties into the festival’s strong themes of passion and fire,” says artistic director Shelagh Magadza. When I tell Murillo that the festival features a flamenco show by legendary Spanish dancer Israel Galván, her face lights up. “Flamenco is so Spanish, so different, so amazing,” she says of the high-energy performing art that combines guitar, song and dance. She recently gathered a group of Spaniards to go to a flamenco performance by touring Spanish dancer Isabel Rivera, and she’s talking to Meow about staging regular flamenco performances. This month, Murillo returns from her first trip back to Spain. She’s here on a work visa, but wants to apply for permanent residency. “The more time I spend here, the more Spanish things I will try to do,” she says. For instance, she’s thinking about setting up an “authentically Spanish” bar/eatery, where patrons can choose whatever takes their fancy from tapas on the bar. “It’s important to me to keep Spanish traditions and culture alive – and the more the better as, culturally, it makes us richer.”

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Dubbed a genius by the Guardian, Spanish dancer Israel Galván performs traditional flamenco with an avant-garde twist in La Curva, Wellington Opera House, February 27 to March 2. Argentinian legend Osvaldo Golijov presents his Grammy Award-winning opera Ainadamar, a tribute to Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, Michael Fowler Centre, March 2. The world’s leading lute player Hopkinson Smith brings alive Spanish Music of the 17th Century on baroque guitar at Pataka (February 23) and Wesley Church, February 24. Briar Grace-Smith’s play !Paniora! tells the strangerthan-fiction story of an East Coast hāpu with Spanish blood in its veins, thanks to a Spanish whaler, Soundings Theatre, Te Papa, February 26 to March 5.

Top left: Javier Murcia. Top right: stuffed Spanish olives. Middle left: Flamenco dancer. Middle left, bottom right: A fish dish & white sangria at Poquito. Left bottom: Israel Galván performing in La Curva in the International Arts Festival.

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STREET STYLE

NICK CLARK

MISMA ANDREWS 1. Wellington fashion needs more: Calm sunny days!

1. Wellington fashion needs more: Superhero outfits in public.

2. The best store in Wellington is: Ziggurat - it’s Cuba Street’s most dangerous temptation.

2. The best store in Wellington is: I like Fusion, it’s super local and they’ve got everything I need.

3. My fail-safe fall-back outfit is: I’m nowhere near chic enough to have such a thing...

3. My fail-safe fall-back outfit is: Pretty chilled - jeans and a baseball T suits me perfectly.

4. My best fashion accessory is: My hat that hides all my bad hair days...

4. My best fashion accessory is: I’ve got my trusty cheese-cutter hat, I’ve had it for years now, it belonged to the granddad of one of my best friend’s.

5. The one thing missing from my wardrobe is: All those great masculine things that never got made in little girl sizes - like a truly badass motorcycle jacket.

5. The one thing missing from my wardrobe is: A full-on and legit BATMAN suit.

By Ashley Church 44

FASH ION

SEQUINS NATURALLY The wooden floorboards of Katie Collier’s bedroom floor are sprinkled with sequins. They stick to her feet and are then traipsed throughout the house. She’s halfway through making another sequined jumpsuit to add to her collection, this one inspired by the iridescent skin of a lizard. It’s a painstaking process, sewing each sequin on by hand. Katie is half-way through a Masters of Fine Arts at Massey. She is drawn to natural forms, especially the human body. “I am also interested in the contrast between ‘natural’ and overtly synthetic materials.” Previously, she created a nest of human/animal hybrids, clothed in printed silk and hair. A tent made entirely of soft white duvets pitched inside a dimly lit bar. And a garment that earned her a runner-up place in the ‘Illumination Illusion’ section of the 2011 WOW awards. “My entry wasn’t actually an outfit, I was pushing my luck a little. It was really a puppet. A three metre tall, mutated skeleton, which was made to look as if it was melting, inspired by Salvador Dali’s poetry.” The shimmering suits attract a lot of attention at gigs and parties. “You make a lot of new friends when you look like a disco ball. It allows you to transform outside of your usual self and any ideas about how you should behave. I have found that in a bizarre outfit any experience I have, even really ordinary things become more surreal.” A lot of strangers take her photo, once someone came up and licked her. A few months ago she was approached to make stage outfits for American indie sister duo Prince Rama. “I was at a gig of theirs. As soon as they saw the jumpsuit they came straight over and wanted to know where they could get one. I am pretty excited to make them as I really admire what they do.” Written & Photographed by Sarah Burton 45

EDIBLES

ON THE FRINGE Fringe Festival marketing manager Brianne Kerr wants Wellington to fondle the fringes, wander down a hidden lane, sit in a dodgy van, get lost in a sea of lycra and/or wooden puppets, witness circus acts on a spinning clothesline, play bogan bingo or have dinner with a dysfunctional couple. “Give it a go. Don’t be afraid. Embrace the weird.” She’s been involved with Fringe through both performing and publicity since her first tender days in Wellington post graduating from Christchurch’s NASDA in 2002. “My first day in Wellington was the day of the Fringe launch for that year. So I rock on up, it was at The Matterhorn and Helen Clarke presided over the opening and it was this amazing introduction to Wellington, this amazing festival of creativity in this teeny tiny bar. I’ve been in love with the festival ever since then.” Marketing the festival is a wholly satisfying job, she says. “We’re in charge of getting the vibe of the festival out there and to get Wellingtonians in the know about this weird and wonderful cutting edge stuff that’s going on around them.” A good section of Wellington does embrace the offbeat shows of the festival but Bri would like to see a wider audience. “People might dress up for the Sevens but that will be their one time where they go down Cuba Street as the weirdo, and you know, they love it, but then, they’re locked away again.” “It’s cheap and cheerful. Sometimes the most horrific shows are the ones you talk about the most later on!” Fringe Festival from 7 February Written & photographed by Sarah Burton 46

EDIBLES

J EWEL OF T HE AI SLE WRITTEN BY CRAIG BEARDSWORTH | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BENJAMIN & ELISE

ix and Fogg conjures up images of a Dickensian law firm and seems apt since owners Roman and Andrea Jewel met while studying for a Masters’ degree in law. Andrea said the peanut butter brand name was sparked by Around the World in 80 days by Jules Verne. Phileas Fogg circumnavigates the world chased by Inspector Fix. “A crazy adventure is what we were about to embark on so it seemed like a perfect name”. Both Andrea and Roman left safe jobs dealing with law to peddle peanut butter and crazy is what some people have called them. For Roman it wasn’t an overnight decision: “It’s been 18 months of thinking and experimenting and trying out the market at fairs”. In December that he gave up his job tutoring law students through profs exams and in January the first order from Moore Wilson’s arrived. For both, law has been enjoyable but a lot of time is spent trying to solve abstract problems. They hankered for problem-solving that ended with a tangible product. Law also brings with it a certain expectation from people. Andrea says, “you get treated differently; people assume so much about you whereas the past six months has exposed us to all sorts of people who treat us as equals”. So why peanut butter? Three years ago the couple changed their diet – meat, processed foods and sugar out and vegetables and whole

foods in. They were keen to create a spread without preservatives or sugars and there were very few other brands on the market. Extra crunchy was also hard to find so they set out to make the best peanut butter possible. Their recipe uses only peanuts and a little salt. The shelf life is no problem as the oleic peanut they source from Australia has a high oil content which also adds to the taste. Roman clearly relished the challenge of making the best peanut butter and looked at every aspect. Labels, grinding machines and jars were all assessed. Roman laughs, “the top of the jars are angled away so it’s easier to lever a knife in if the lid’s stuck.” January has been a baptism of fire with a great response from the public. Moore Wilson’s placed three orders in seven days and the 400 jars a week production has risen to 1000. This is unsustainable long term, as they want to keep production at a manageable level and don’t see the brand expanding into main supermarket chains. Keeping things small and localised gives them the freedom to respond to situations as they arise. “We heard about a festival the other weekend and thought let’s give it a go. Because we’re small we can do that without a lot of fuss.” And as for the inevitable nut jokes? Roman’s friends tell him to stop using the phrase ‘That’s nuts’ but everyone is hoping news of Fix and Fogg will spread smoothly.

LIKE GRANDFATHER LIKE SON With roots in Eastern Europe but two feet planted firmly in New Zealand’s capital, Ari Chait is continuing his Zaida’s foodie work. Zaida, which means grandfather in Yiddish, is the new name of the revamped Brooklyn Bread and Bagels Company on College Street. “I called [my grandfather] Zaida as a child, and he was where it all started,” Chait explains. It was 1920 when Charlie Chait left Poland for New Zealand, where he began the renowned Dixon Street Delicatessen. It then passed to his son and daughter-in-law, Martin and Jayne Chait. As their bread-making expanded beyond Dixon Street’s confines, the Brooklyn Bread and Bagel Company was born, bringing with it the baking expertise Martin and Jayne had picked up on their European travels. “The story goes that my mother [Jayne] convinced a Russian baker in London to give her the recipe, and she brought it back to make New Zealand’s first Russian rye and bagel breads,” says Chait. That was 1980. Ari moved the bakery to its current location in 2001, and it flourished there under the same name until last November, when renovations and a name change were in order. Chait chose a name that reflected the family tradition of the company, while the accompanying refurbishments show his Wellington side: he liaised with local designers and manufacturers to make the interior change. And the bread? Still as delicious as ever. Chait has opted to keep the traditional techniques of sourdough starters and brick oven baking, while remaining up-to-date with specialities like gluten-free loaves. While Zaida is no longer around to witness his influence on Wellington’s food culture, Chait has ensured he lives on. As for the future of Zaida, Chait has promised his daughter she’s got first dibs. Written by Anna Jackson-Scott | Photographed by Ashley Church 50

EDIBLES

D O GGY-BAGS DELIVERED A new family option is available from My Food Bag, the dinner-delivery company for busy bees. It is aimed at families with two or three children younger than ten, and is developed by dietician Nadia Lim. The Classic Bag, for those with older children, and the Gourmet Bag for professional couples, were originally launched with the company.

HERBS FOR HA PPI N E S S New herbs have been planted at Wellington’s Colonial Cottage Museum, but they’re medicinal rather than culinary. Hypericum perforatum, or St John’s Wort, is a leader in the treatment of depression and anxiety and the primary treatment for depression in Germany, proving more effective than the placebo effect. The happiness herb also highlights the family’s connection to the Manners Street pharmacy, where a family connection used to work. Motherwort and Gypsywort are the other two types of plants sown at the cottage, also used for medicinal purposes.

YEASTIE BEASTIES

LET THEM DRINK TEA It is a truth universally acknowledged that cake goes well with everything, and that includes Writers Week. Literary critic and Jane Austen specialist Terry Castle will join fans for High Tea at the Museum Art Hotel. Likewise, Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert is taking her own best-selling advice and will dine high tea style at the same venue. While Gilbert’s session is sold out, Castle’s is selling fast: this confirms the above truth about cake.

Most of their beer is brewed in Invercargill, but don’t hold that against them. Award-winning Wellington-based brewing company Yeastie Boys are being flown to England to brew their Gunnamatta pale ale as part of the annual Wetherspoon’s festival in April. Stu McKinlay and Sam Possenniskie, the brains behind the brew, will team up with the Adnams Brewery once in the UK. McKinlay is ecstatic: “Adnams’ head brewer, Fergus Fitzgerald, was recently named UK Brewer of the Year and his team is the ideal partner to work through the technical intricacies of brewing such a left-field beer,” he says.

CO OL, BREW Hot is not always the order of the day when Wellington’s having an elusive fine spell, so for the coffeecrazed capital, it will be welcome news that their once boiling beveage can now be enjoyed cold. Barista Aklesha has opened True Brew, a coffee bar specializing in cold drip coffee, infused cold drip, chemex, jebena and V-60 pour over. Aklesha uses a manual brewing technique, eschewing espresso machines, milk and sugar. The result is, according to his website, “a richer and more intense coffee experience”. And if you’re worried about losing your sugar with your caffeine hit, never fear, he offers baked goodies. Upstairs, Dukes Arcade, Willis Street.

MUSICAL CHEERS Although Black, a recent addition to the Newtown scene sells coffee as the name suggests (Havana coffee, if you’d like to know), it’s a disguise. Art and music are the main reason for the shop, which displays local artists and sells New Zealand punk Vinyl. Black Coffee, 133 Riddiford Street, Newtown.

CHEERS

FREE DI V E BY KIERAN HASLETT-MOORE

Sean Golding spent seven years working in the film industry until last year when he realised his dream and opened Golding’s Free Dive in the Hannah’s Apartment complex. He hasn’t looked back since, he hasn’t had time!

while another bears a Sean Golding mural with the words ‘Beer is Love’ emblazoned across it. Stuffed dead animals, sci-fi figurines, old skis and golf clubs all come together and through some kind of dark magic seem to work together. Six taps and one handpump serve a constantly changing line-up of beers with an emphasis on sessionable sociable styles that fit with its ‘comfortable local’ status. In contrast to some of the boundary pushing beers offered at Hashigo Zake, Sean says the Goldings beer offering needs to be “accessible, there can be no snob factor or intimidating tone about what you’re selling, it’s for everyone.” That doesn’t however mean the beer is geared to the lowest common denominator or mainstream, much to the surprise of a handful of customers who have assumed that dive bar equates to cheap lager. Beers from Canterbury’s Brew Moon, Dunedin’s Emersons, Rotorua’s Croucher and Golden Bay’s Mussel Inn have appeared alongside beers from the new Wellington brewers, American imports and many more. Food comes in the form of pizzas produced at Pizza Pomodoro across the courtyard and toasted sandwiches knocked up by the bar staff out the back. When Christchuch’s iconic brewpub The Twisted Hop opened in the Poplar Lanes there was nothing but the back door of a brothel around them. By the time the earthquake ended their time in the CBD the lanes were a hive of quirky and not so quirky hospitality businesses. The same thing seems to be happening with the Hannah’s apartments with Pomodoro’s and Golding’s now being followed by a coffee roastery, a bakery and a chocolate company. Clearly it takes a lot of good beer to make good food.

hen I first met Sean Golding he was covered in thick dust, he was clutching a power tool in his hand and had one of his trademark wide-eyed mischievous grins stretched across his face. It was 2010 and we were in the dark basement space that was soon to become Hashigo Zake. Sean was an investor in the new venture and was madly trying to put the finishing touches on the cult bar’s ‘look’. Sean was a set painter and model maker for the film industry, and he brought a wealth of creative skills to the fledgling company that would go on to become one of the capital’s most influential bars. After completing the fit-out at Hashigo, Sean went back to the film industry until he was able to open Golding’s in 2013. Dive bars have two distinct histories. In America a ‘dive bar’ was a semi-legal neighbourhood bar where locals would gather to drink and socialise in often less than genteel, cobbled-together surroundings. In London during the 60s and 70s dive bars were the precursor to the beer exhibition pubs that went on to influence the modern concept of a craft beer bar. Golding’s Free Dive borrows from both traditions although Sean is quick to point out his bar is just a homage to the great dive bars he has visited. “You can’t create a dive bar, but there are things you have to get right in any neighbourhood bar it has to be for the neighbourhood, when you put the wrong bar in the wrong place it just won’t be sincere and your neighbours won’t embrace it and claim it as theirs,” Sean says. Ten months in, Golding’s Free Dive is getting it right. The décor combines Sean’s passion for taxidermy, sci-fi and graphic design. It is quirky, comfortable and well suited to the apartment-surrounded foodie precinct that is developing there. Warm brick lines one wall 52

M AT C H Y, M AT C H Y

BUSINESS

SWEET SUCCESS WRITTEN BY JOHN BISHOP | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH BURTON

Levin licorice maker is paying for his staff to take holidays overseas. It’s part of his success story. Employees who’ve worked for Roger Halliwell’s company RJ’s Licorice for ten years are shouted an allexpenses-paid week overseas. And RJ’s now employs 60–70 staff so it’s not an insignificant cost to look forward to. It all began in 1982, when Roger Halliwell sold The Paint Pot, the family paint and wallpaper business which he’d worked in since 1960 and owned since 1972. Then Granny’s Licorice, a local business, ran out of money, and the receivers asked him to manage it. A few months

Quietly over the past 20 years RJ’s has made itself the market leader in licorice in New Zealand, and now exports over half its production, earning the company a business success award in 2012. Those growing up in the 1950s and 1960s will remember the licorice pipes and serrated black strips sold under the Black Knight label. Liquorice Allsorts were a staple of family television viewing in the 1960s, (along with Minties, blackballs and frozen buzz bars). “Licorice is something that you either like or you don’t,’ says Roger Halliwell, the owner and manager of RJ’s, “and people are clear about whether they prefer black or red. Red

“Roger regards being in Levin as positive for the business.” later he bought it, but five years later sold it to Arnotts who then sold it to Nestlé who then moved operations to Auckland. The staff at Granny’s shrank from around 70 to just 17. “In 1994 I bought the land and buildings back and started another licorice business with my wife Dixie and son Regan James; hence the business name of RJ’s Licorice.” Lots has happened since then. Halliwell says RJ’s now make 17 of the top 25 licorice products sold in New Zealand. It’s a story of quiet achievement, very welcome in a town like Levin which has seen plenty of company failures and job losses over the years.

has less licorice and more glucose than black.” Licorice is a plant, a perennial herb of the pea family. The word comes from the Greek meaning ‘sweet root’. The Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Assyrians, Babylonians and Chinese all used liquorice as a flavouring and as a medicine. Liquorice is recorded in England as early as 1200 in the monasteries of Benedictine and Dominican monks, and in 1700s licorice was produced in the northern towns of Pontefract and Worksop, mainly for medicinal purposes. In 1720, a seven-year-old boy called George Dunhill is

BUSINESS

reputed to have added sugar to the medicinal recipe to make the first liquorice sweets, which became known as Pontefract cakes. Halliwell points out that although RJ’s licorice sticks are being found everywhere – in dairies, supermarkets and movie houses – it’s licorice, but not as it used to be. Today the raspberry-filled milk chocolate logs, the mango and white chocolate logs, or chocolate covered liquorice bullets are being chewed, munched and savoured by the 20- and 30- somethings whom RJ’s Licorice wants to make the new generation of licorice eaters. “Soft eating black licorice is the biggest seller, but logs filled with chocolate or other sweet filling are right up behind.” Roger regards being in Levin as positive for the business. “It’s handy for transport – both rail and road, and the workforce is reliable and stable. If we were in Auckland the cost of transport would be greater.” At the factory, Karen, one of the office staff, takes me through the four-page health and safety document. Roger is sitting at his desk just behind us opening the mail. I surrender my watch, pen, and cell phone and am given a magnetic clip board with a magnetised pen. Inside the factory, Roger and I wear long white bibs from head to knees, and a white hair cover. He has his own pair of gumboots. I put white canvas covers over my shoes. Health and safety is taken seriously. So is product quality. A food technologist is checking product off the line every thirty minutes. To make the brew take a tonne of black licorice paste, add molasses and other ingredients like aniseed, mix in a big tank, and then cook. Twenty red streams of chocolate-filled logs are emerging slowly from a machine and making their way down the conveyor belt where another machine chops them into the required 17cm length. They are mechanically wrapped, packed and electronically tagged with the date of manufacture, use-by date and batch number.

New Zealand Film selected for the Pasadena International Film Festival The New Zealand Film and Television School has turned out another winning film with Entropy being selected as an Official Selection to be screened at the 2014 Pasadena International Film Festival. Entropy is a short film directed by Isaac Cleland, Crew 25. It’s about a young man struggling to come to terms with the inevitability of his own fate. He dreams of a world where his life and those of the people around him

The factory operates two shifts, from 5.30 in the morning till 10pm five days a week. “We have the machinery to do twice our present sales volume. We could meet the demand in New Zealand operating about two days a week. We have to export to make the plant economic. “There’s $20 million of equipment in the factory – all financed from cash flow over the years. If we were to get to supply one of the big overseas supermarket chains then we would be producing at the peak of the plant’s capacity. A local boy Roger gives back to the community. He’s served on the local council, as a leader in Rotary, and he funded the Halliwell Hockey pitch. “I played a lot of sport when I was younger, and I benefitted. Levin benefits from having a hockey pitch which is to a national standard and a number of major hockey events now take place in Levin.” Like many manufacturers Roger would like a more stable exchange rate. “Variability is the problem, because we can’t change our selling prices and the cost of the commodities can shift markedly with changes in the exchange rate. “Labour supply is not an issue. If we have a job vacancy we advertise and we’ll get 100 replies. “Our biggest problem is that people compare prices on an unreasonable basis. Licorice costs more than boiled sweets, but really you can’t compare the two on quality grounds.” Back to the all-expenses-paid week-long overseas holiday. “Typically it’s Australia or a Pacific Island”, he says. On a machine sealing bags of chewy licorice bullets with a supermarket label, I met Eileen who has been in the factory from the day it started 18 years ago. She took her trip to Fiji and is very much looking forward to the next one. “We going to be paying out a bit over the next couple of years as a number of staff reach that milestone,.” says Roger. And he’s very happy about it.

are of no consequence. With his time running short, he fights to make what remains of his life meaningful and his own. Director Cleland graduated from The New Zealand Film and Television School in 2013. His passion as a filmmaker is for exploring stories that reflect experiences and themes from the people of New Zealand. Entropy captures this; it explores the harsh realities of significant themes such as life and death. Over 300 submissions were received for the 2014 Pasadena International Film Festival; from the USA, Brazil, Canada, France, India,

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Iran, New Zealand, Romania, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland and the UK. Entropy was one of the few short films chosen to be screened at the festival; the talent shown in the film impressing the selectors. We are delighted that another of our student films has been selected for an international film festival said Sima Urale. “It’s great that we and our graduate filmmakers are getting international recognition.”

Entropy will be screened at the Pasadena International Film Festival 12-16 February 2014.

BY THE BOOK

LO C ALS AT WRIT E RS W E EK BY SARAH LANG

DUNCAN SARKIES

JILL TREVELYAN

JACK LASENBY

Who: Genre-bending playwright, novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and stand-up comic Duncan Sarkies wrote Two Little Boys (both the book and the screenplay),the film Scarfies, and two episodes of HBO series Flight of the Conchords.

Who: Award-winning biographer, curator and art-collection manager Jill Trevelyan has opened our eyes to the lives of some of New Zealand’s most influential artists, including Rita Angus and Toss Woollaston.

Who: Jack Lasenby is one of our mostawarded writers for children and young adults. Known for terrific yarns about oldschool, heartland New Zealand, he’s the man behind the Aunt Effie series, and the fabulous 2012 book Uncle Trev and His Whistling Bull.

What: Sarkies performs stories and songs from his recent novel The Demolition of the Century (Penguin, $30). A mystery/ crime caper turns out to be about the demolition of an historic building and the disintegration of the mind with age. When: Hannah Playhouse, Wellington, Tuesday March 11, 6pm; The Dowse, Lower Hutt, Thursday March 13, 7pm; Aratoi, Masterton, Friday March 14, 7pm; St Peter’s Village Hall, Paekakariki, Saturday March 15, 4pm. Why: Sarkies is funny, the novel is funny, and this night out is sure to be fun, with plenty of slapstick comedy and rousing ditties.

What: Trevelyan will discuss her latest biography Peter McLeavey: The Life and Times of a New Zealand Art Dealer (Random House, $64.99). Find out how she tells the wider story of contemporary New Zealand art through the lives of our great artists. When: Mahara Gallery,Waikanae, Sunday March 9, 4pm; Embassy Theatre, Wellington, Wednesday March 12, 3.15pm. For: Anyone interested in New Zealand’s art and culture, or the art of biography. By the way: If Peter McLeavey intrigues you, see the Film Archive’s one-off screening of documentary The Man in the Hat, Tuesday March 11, 7.30pm.

By the way: If you like a more theatrical format, you might also enjoy a mini-play taken from Wellingtonian Damien Wilkins’s latest novel, Max Gate. As Thomas Hardy lies dying, his friends fight bitterly over who’ll get to tell his story. Embassy Theatre. Sunday March 9, 4.45pm.

What: Children’s book doyenne Kate De Goldi talks with Lasenby about his inspiration and why he once said “Responsible adults may read my books, provided they sit an exam afterwards”. When: Saturday March 8, Hannah Playhouse, 12.15pm. Why: Now that he’s in his 80s, we should snap up every chance to hear from this national treasure. By the way: Award-winning Swedish children’s author Ulf Stark is in town, discussing his views on writing for children and his love of great adventurers, Sunday March 9, Hannah Playhouse, 12.15pm.

BUSINESS

BY THE BOOK

LOOKING TO LIGHT A FIRE WRITTEN BY SARAH LANG | PHOTOGRAPHY BY TAMARA JONES

Kathryn Carmody looks tired, frazzled and a little nervous. But as the first-time Writers Week programme manager chats she relaxes. This woman talks with her hands, her arms, her whole body. When she laughs, she throws her head right back. When she ponders a question, she stares into the distance, and certainly has no problem with long pauses. I like that she’s not trying to toe the PR line, nor trying to make herself sound as impressive as possible. She answers honestly, and sometimes asks herself the hard questions.

regional programme, with sessions in Paekakariki, Lower Hutt, Waikanae and Masterton. “Three dykes on a stage in Paekakariki has sold out!” Carmody says, raising her arms skyward. Perhaps her biggest change is introducing workshops and small-group seminars – a growth area for literary festivals. Her accounting degree helped her squeeze them into a tight budget. Carmody didn’t do an English degree, though literature was always her biggest passion. “I couldn’t really see a way through. I thought about being a teacher, librarian, editor or journalist and none of those things felt quite right. So I followed my nose.” While she studied, she worked the floor at Capital Books, before spending three-and-a-half years in the UK, working in

riters Week comes to the capital every two years as part of the New Zealand Festival. Between March 7–12, countless readers will taste-test a buffet of 77 events starring 130 novelists, illustrators, historians, critics, journalists, playwrights, screenwriters, poets, translators and biographers. International bookings this year include novelists Elizabeth Gilbert, Rachel Kushner, Tom Keneally and Jaspreet Singh, biographer Jung Chang, historian Margaret McMillan, astrophysicist Marcus Chown, economist Loretta Napoleoni, cartoonist Alison Bechdel and literary critic Terry Castle. New Zealand luminaries include Eleanor Catton, Elizabeth Knox, Anne Kennedy and Liam McIllvaney.

“It would be nice to break even. It would be nice to come out of it not having had a tantrum.” accounts jobs and on horse farms. “Once I got a job doing both!” Returning to a year-long job as cashier with Unity Books, since 2000 she’s worked as a freelance book publicist, along with other book-related gigs including event management for book awards. That intimacy with the literary scene isn’t the only reason Carmody was the woman for the job. The lifelong Wellingtonian was also coordinator for the past three Writers Weeks under the two previous programme man-

As well as sessions with individual writers, panel sessions will discuss everything from 21st-century faith to the art of translation, from astronomical influences to the interplay between facts and invention in fiction. It’s not all about the words, either: there are sessions on design, comics, digital publishing, even Weta’s visual effects. Foodies can take high tea with Elizabeth Gilbert and Terry Castle, or listen to Big Ideas For Breakfast over coffee at The Jimmy. There’s a strong schools’ programme and 59

BY THE BOOK

agers. Carmody, who lives in Rongotai with her female partner, likes a quiet life, and was unsure about going for the boss’s job. “But a couple of people gave me a short swift kick in the pants: ‘You can’t be the assistant forever – you’ve got to step up now or never’. I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t given it a go, and now I’m glad I’m doing it.” As assistant, she’d seen first-hand how busy and stressful the job was. And indeed, since the job began in January 2013, she’s worked 10-hour days, six-day weeks. “But how much of that comes down to my personality rather than the job? As Lloyd Jones once told me, things can take as much time as you give them.” The biggest time-sucker, she says, is “probably the most important thing. Sitting down and having

yes, the festival pays for flights and accommodation in Wellington – and no, not just for internationals. “Otherwise you’re playing favourites, and it’s important to have professional relationships.” The biggest challenge of her role is the festival’s architecture. “You might not be able to do things in the way you’d like because of the budgets, the venues, the responsibilities.” Responsibilities includes promises to partners like the Adelaide Writers’ Week, with whom they share many authors, and understandings with sponsors of the wider New Zealand Festival. “It doesn’t necessarily affect how we programme the festival, but it’s something that’s kept back-of-mind.” If she’s asked, she’d do it all again, but says she’d needs to upskill in some areas, and see some restructuring. “It [Writers

“Three dykes on a stage in Paekakariki has sold out!” conversations face-to-face with all sorts of people, exploring ideas and really getting to the kernel of what you want to achieve.” Carmody began with a wishlist. “Some writers are approached every time, like Anne Carson, Wendy Cope and Seamus Heaney.” Initially, she approached agents, keeping publishers involved – and yes, she was starstruck over some authors: “Malcolm Gladwell. A.M. Holmes: dammit, she’s going to Auckland.” An international author will come either to the Sydney– Auckland festivals in May or the Adelaide–Wellington circuit in March – never both. Or the decision boils down to simply when the next book is out. “I was a bit surprised by all the politics. I hadn’t realised for some people it’s pure business – your previous relationships or common interests don’t come into it. Some of it was a bit shocking.” When you put a lot a time into trying to book an author, and it doesn’t happen, that’s frustrating but “part of the territory. I’d much rather someone said no straight up. But if they just need a bit more time to decide then it falls over, that’s still okay. The hardest one is when authors don’t really want to come and others [agents, publishers] want them to. I’ve seen it before when people don’t want to be on stage, and this time I think everyone coming wants to be here.” Though it’s a long plane trip, New Zealand is often on authors’ must-see lists, and many stay on for holidays. And

Week] does need a rethink around resource and emphasis. It’s way better each time than the time before but it’s important to keep improving the model.” So why is Writers Week important or even necessary? “I do actually ask myself that quite regularly because it does feel like a bit of a folly,” she says, pausing. “Do we need festivals at all? There are so many organisations – libraries, bookshops – having events and celebrating books all the time. But Writers Week is well loved, and its audience numbers are growing, in line with international trends.” So it boils down to supply and demand? “Yeah. And to shake things up a bit, maybe? To take the best things people are doing and integrate them into our programme? To showcase things in a way that some audience [members] discover them and go looking for them elsewhere? I think it’s useful. I think it has a place.” A less fraught question is what she’s hoping to achieve with this programme. “To inspire, affirm and reinvigorate the audience. It’s about lighting a fire in people.” Any other hopes? “It would be nice if it was as popular as last time, or to get just a few more people. It would be nice to break even. It would be nice to come out of it not having had a tantrum.” And, surely, having seen lots of sessions? “Well, I saw the two former programme managers turn off their phones, walk into a session and enjoy it, and I’d like to do that.” I get the feeling she’ll quietly make it happen.

IF YOU WANT TO LEARN FILM THERE IS ONLY ONE PLACE The New Zealand Film and Television School Wellingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only practical film course

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57 Willis St

One year programme: Intakes in February and July. A practical, hands-on programme that covers all aspects of filmmaking including: lighting, camera, sound, editing, art department, writing, directing and producing.

The New Zealand Film and Television School is a subsidiary of Whitireia New Zealand Limited

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FROM ROME TO RAUMATI WRITTEN BY KAREN SHEAD | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL ROSE

It’s a hard task turning an old family bach into a modern-day beach house while maintaining its original feel, but Deb and Don Stantiall have achieved just that at their holiday home in Raumati.

orer Hall, as Deb’s father named it more than 50 years ago, is a perfect blend of new and old. The light and airy living and dining space with its wall-length windows offering open views of the ocean feels fresh and modern, but everywhere there are reminders of what this once traditional Kiwi bach used to be like. The lounge is the best example. The original Axminster carpet – also on the floors of the two bedrooms – and the recently refurbished 1970s sofa and armchairs really hint at the past. As do the low beams – now

area for family holidays until one day a friend told her dad that there was one for sale. “The owners already had an offer for it, but the man said he liked my dad’s face and sold it to him. My dad put down two pounds, as it was in those days, as a deposit, shook hands, and that was it – it was a done deal.” Deb and her family – two older sisters and one older brother – frequently enjoyed the bach for family holidays. “We had some wonderful times,” she recalls, “we got to know other families who came here regularly, it was lovely.”

“He called it Borer Hall, which also sounds very grand, but really it was just a little old bach full of borer.” painted white instead of black – and the coach lamps hanging on the walls. They are all a reminder of the original feel Deb’s father created back in the 1960s. “My dad wanted to re-create the feel of an old English pub,” she explains, “so he put in old black beams and there were lots of hunting horns and horse brasses.” The house has been in the family for 54 years, since Deb was three. Her parents used to rent a bach in the

Her father was always keen to make alterations. “My mother said she always lived with a ladder in the lounge,” she laughs. He made the entrance that still stands today, including a sweeping terracotta-tiled staircase with pillars at the top, which was influenced by his travels. “My father liked the Spanish Steps in Rome and that’s why he built these steps. He went to Waitangi and

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liked the double pillars on the marae so he copied those,” says Debs. “What was once a little old cottage, had grandiose steps and a grand entrance. “He called it Borer Hall, which also sounds very grand, but really it was just a little old bach full of borer.” Deb and Don bought the property, which sits at the end of a track off of Newry Road, in 2007 after both of her parents had died. They had a clear idea of the changes they wanted to make and employed local architect Graeme Boucher from Coast Edge Design to carry out the work. “He had a great feel for the place and understood our vision,” Deb says. “We didn’t want it to look like suburbia.” The work took almost six months, and Deb and Don, as well as their three grown-up children, Ben, Andrew and Rosie, are all pleased with the results. “The kids love it,” says Deb, “they often come up with friends. It is a great family place.”

two of which are flanked by windows, and there is also an island, which separates the kitchen from the rest of the house while retaining the open-plan living. Long gone are the small, painted ceramic tiles that used to cover the walls and counter surfaces. Instead there are sleek surfaces and a shiny, orange feature wall. As part of the renovations they also installed a laundry cupboard, which Deb insisted on as there “never used to be anywhere to do the washing,” and a new bathroom with a shower. There is also an outside shower, a feature from the old days. “We all used to run up from the beach to be the first one in the outside shower,” says Deb. “The water didn’t stay warm for very long, so you wanted to be the first to use it.” The bach sleeps six people – two in the master bedroom, three in the girls’ bedroom (so called because it is where

“My mother said she always lived with a ladder in the lounge... Deb and her older sisters slept), and one on a bed in the living room. To house a few extra guests, in 2010 Deb and Don built a separate bunk-house, which sleeps three and also has a bathroom and small kitchen area. It is the small touches that really personalise this beach house and hint at stories from the past. The entrance hall boasts an array of hats hanging on the wall. “My mother was a great hostess, she had a drink in one hand and a pile of hats in another,” says Deb. “Now friends can help themselves to a hat from the wall if needed.” There are old tennis racquets and an arrangement of vinyl covers hanging on the walls in the bunk-house; an old record player, an antique fishing rod, not forgetting the coach lamps in the lounge; and small ceramic pots made by Deb’s mother dotted around the house. For Deb, it is these “bits of her mum” which make the place feel so special. “I always feel my spirits lift when I come here,” she says. It’s easy to see why.

Deb, who works part-time running a rental property company, and husband Don, a recruitment consultant in the IT industry, live in Eastbourne but spend most weekends at their beach house, with Teddy the dog, come rain or shine. Family use the house as a stopover when visiting relatives further up the coast or come for holidays, and since completing the renovations it has also been host to family celebrations including a niece’s wedding and a 60th birthday. “It’s a great place to entertain,” says Deb. The renovations opened up the house to make it more open-plan and the living space, which leads to the deck and garden, make it ideal for entertaining. The lush garden, which Deb and Don landscaped themselves, also leads straight down to the beach, where they have recently put up a new sea wall and wooden steps. The open hallway and newly installed kitchen were major parts of the renovation. What used to be a small galley kitchen was opened out and runs around three walls,

INTERIOR

MEXICAN WAVE LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM Mexican tin cross, $149, Iko Iko Nesting dolls set, $24.99, Trade Aid Cups all over floral pattern set of 4, $74.90, Corso de’ Fiori Tablecloth, $73, Cotton Store Melamine flower plate yellow, $6.90, Iko Iko Mexican plastic Day of the Dead flags, $24.90, Iko Iko Oshi black and white skull cushion, $49, Iko Iko General Eclectic demi candlestick, $16.90, Iko Iko Coloured candles, $1.90, Iko Iko Teatowel cachahuete linen/pink, $29.90, Corso de’ Fiori 66

INTERIOR

Paros cushion, POA, Citta Clavata small woven basket set, $144.80, Citta Porcelain flower diffuser, $34.90, Corso de Fiori Hanging planter, from $44.90, Citta Hand cut glass tumbler in blue, $20.00 each, Libby Beattie Interior Design Salseras set of 3, $40.00, Libby Beattie Interior Design Vases, $75, Sue Dasler Sola round tray, $129, Citta Candy skull shot glass, $14.90, Iko Iko 67

HOUSE

SPORTS

A G O OD RUN WRITTEN BY PADDY LEWIS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEN LAKSANA

He’s been the voice of both the agony and the ecstasy of the Phoenix and the All Whites for seven years, and now football commentator and radio host Jason Pine is hoping it’s less of the former and more of the latter when he takes on the Round the Bays half-marathon for a good cause.

he 43-year-old broadcaster will be one of 14,000 runners taking part in the AMI Round the Bays on Sunday 23 February 2014, but he has more reason to finish than most. Pine is involved in the Run for Research in conjunction with the Round the Bays to raise money for the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research. Runners are sponsored by their friends and family to complete the run. “I’m hoping to raise as much as possible really. The Malaghan Institute does such amazing work in the search for cures to diseases that could affect us all at some time in our lives so anything I can raise to help them do that would be great,” he said. Rather than take the easy options of the 6.5km or 10km runs, the experienced match commentator and sports news reader has chosen to do the 21.1km half-marathon. “I’ve done one before – in Nelson in 1996. I ran it in 1:38, but I was a lot younger then! My wife Bex has been the major inspiration for this one. Prior to this year she hadn’t even run a 5km, but she trained for and completed the Wairarapa half-marathon in her target time, which I thought was great. I also like to challenge myself and this will certainly do that. One day I’d like to run a full marathon, so this is a step towards achieving that goal,” Pine said. Despite the lure of social occasions over Christmas, Pine has been training solidly for the event with the assistance of New Zealand and world champion mountain running legend Melissa Moon. “The training hasn’t been too bad. With the long days it’s a lot easier to get out at night. I try to run three–four times a week. I hope I’m on track.” Pine, who cites the Phoenix’s playoff win on penalties over Perth Glory as his favourite match to commentate (“It was 1–1 after full-time and extra-time so the game went to a penalty shoot-out. Phoenix ‘keeper Liam Reddy saved two penalties and the crowd went nuts”) has been mixing his day job with running training and is building up to the big day. “I’ve done a couple (of training runs) around the 10–11km mark, but nothing much longer than that. I’ll start running 69

longer distances as the event gets closer,” he said. His football commentaries are also taking up his time as the Phoenix work through another busy A-League season, but interestingly his inspiration for his unique commentaries doesn’t come from one of the footballing media greats, but a rugby commentator. “I was greatly inspired by the late Graeme Moody who was a rugby commentator, but instilled in me the need to paint vivid pictures for listeners but also inject humour and colour into radio commentary and to always let people know where on the field the action is happening. His great mantra was “field position” which I always try to remember.” “I just love commentating and I feel very lucky and privileged to have the job I do. Football has given me opportunities I could only dream of when I was growing up as a sports-mad kid.” Pine, who cites current skipper Andrew Durante and Paul Ifill as his favourite Phoenix players, thinks new coach Ernie Merrick’s change of philosophy has brought a change in the Phoenix culture. “He clearly wants the side to play a possession-based, passing game. The days of the Phoenix lumping the ball long are gone. The biggest noticeable change is when the defenders get the ball now, their first thought is to play a short pass, not a long one. All the players have bought into the change of philosophy and you can tell they enjoy playing under Ernie,” said Pine. After covering the All Whites at the last World Cup in South Africa, Pine hasn’t managed to convince his radio bosses to send him to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil – yet. “I would love to go. A World Cup in Brazil – the home of football in many ways – would be, and will be, amazing. I’d give anything to be there,” he said. It’s a work in progress…but first, there’s the small matter of that 21.1km…. AMI Round the Bays, Sunday 23 February 2014 www.wellingtonroundthebays.co.nz Run for Research www.runforresearch.co.nz

SPORTS

SP ORT S STAR S AS ROU G H DIAMON DS BY PADDY LEWIS

n 1989, I was sitting at the airport with my rugby team, waiting to board a flight to Hamilton for a tournament. One of our key midfielders turned up, only to be arrested in front of us for assault, attempted rape and some associated charges. There’s nothing more guaranteed to create discussion than having one of your teammates – especially one who presented as a pretty standard sort of bloke – arrested in front of you for serious crimes. I remember the chat around “well, that’s a turn-up for the books” and that was pretty much that. The downside was I got thrust into a midfield role I was completely unprepared for and got legally beaten up myself in a match against Auckland. But I digress. Up until November, most people who keep up with current affairs would have known Russell Packer as a) the Warriors prop and/or b) a bloke who was caught urinating on Suncorp Stadium by TV cameras before a match against the Brisbane Broncos last year. Depending on your hygiene standards, he was someone who was neither a superstar nor a bad guy. That all changed in November last year when he hit a bloke outside a Sydney bar and then stomped on his head, causing a fractured eye socket amongst other injuries. According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, the NSW judiciary has a weak record when it comes to sentencing assault cases. In Packer’s case, his court appearance came at the same time as a number of high-profile unprovoked assaults. His lawyer said he had not even entertained the thought of a custodial sentence, and so everyone was surprised when Packer got sent to jail for two years. Everyone, that is, apart from most of the population, who agreed online and on talkback that Packer was lucky

the chap he assaulted didn’t suffer more serious injuries. Ninety-three percent of Newcastle Knights fans (his new NRL club) polled wanted him gone as soon as he pleaded guilty. We have a pretty weak record ourselves in New Zealand at dealing with high-profile sportspeople before the courts. There are plenty of examples (mainly of rugby union and league players) getting into scraps in public which then lead to the odd fine, and in many cases, police diversion. What amazes me even more is the level of irresponsibility. Packer was described as “surprised” and “confused” by the two-year sentence. Alcohol-fuelled or not, there is still a certain amount of conscious thought required to stomp on someone’s head. Blaming alcohol is just a crutch – most people who get drunk don’t end up punching and kicking others in the head. Packer is 24 years old and has two children. He has been playing in the NRL for five years. It’s not as if he’s a new boy suddenly overwhelmed by his elevation to the limelight. His behaviour, and previous on-field wee-wee, also call into question what personal development programmes the New Zealand Warriors have in place for players. Sometimes the rough diamonds have to be cut. Clearly the Warriors didn’t do it. A jail sentence might. The Packer sentence should put not just put sportspeople on notice, it should also remind the New Zealand judiciary that the bulk of the citizenry won’t stand for this sort of behaviour. How we deal with irresponsible 24-year-old fathers and alleged sporting ‘role-models’ who don’t seem to want to grow up is another matter entirely. 70

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CARS

SHARK ON THE PROWL BY MARK SAINSBURY

got a call the other day from my cell phone provider, (the modern day robber-barons in my book, what they squeeze out of us is extortionate) and their offer was quite simple. They want to phase out the plan I’m on and put me onto a brand spanking singing dancing juggling new one. My first thought was that the plan I’m on must be a good one otherwise why shift me off, then I realized it’s a ploy to sign you up to a longer contract and usually one that involves offering your first born in sacrifice if you ever want to get out of it. The woman on the phone was very persuasive, not pushy, just gently coaxing me to say the “yes” word. For roughly the same as I’m paying now I’d get free this and extra that and I can call my daughter in Australia for nothing. The clincher though was better technology. Just say yes and I would get a brand new i-phone 5s. I occasionally get a bit challenged on technology. The phone I have now, a humble i-phone 4’s has served me well and I still don’t know how to work or use most of the features. With the i-phone 5s I’ll have even more amazing features I don’t know how to use. Which brings me to the new BMW 435i M Sport. A little bit more expensive than the i-phone, this one with the optional head-up display was hitting nearly $129,000. And it bristles with technology. Technology will literally set up this car for you. How do you want to drive? You can have the drivetrain setup in ECO, PRO, Comfort, Sport and Sport+. The last switches off all the other fancy techno bits that stop you from looking like a twat by inevitably losing control of what is a very powerful beast. Memo to self: Don’t engage Sport+. The torrent of technology doesn’t end there, gone are the days where you need to check such mundane things as oil level, water levels, tyre pressures; yes, technology does it all for you. Even if you wanted to get all retro there simply isn’t a dipstick on the engine. This car doesn’t even have an owner’s manual. Yes it’s electronically stored on the car’s computer and if you have been sticking it in Sport a bit too much it will decide to bring the servicing forward to compensate. I could devote an entire column on what it can do with your phone, 4 or 5, but the coolest part was writing an initial with your finger on top of the i-drive touch controller (big knob on centre console) and it finds people beginning with 72

that letter in your phone contact. It also responds, perhaps more safely, to voice commands. The question is: Is this all too much? Perhaps for some motoring fossils stuck in the days of yore (like myself), but the likes of myself need to wake up. It’s like the phones, they are changing and there’s nothing you can do. Someone more savvy than myself would have had the car set up, and connected, music sourced, driving mode established and tyre pressures checked in a nanosecond. This car really is gorgeous. With the M-Sport wheels and looking like a prowling shark in mineral grey with black leather and dark chrome, I really got to like it. It’s perfectly well mannered for city driving but change that mode and plant boot and it’s a rocketship. The noise is something unexpected. There’s little of it. Again it seems perfectly civilized; unlike many other high performance cars it’s not roaring at you all the time. However for those who love the rumble, flick it into sport and you can get your fix. The M-Sport was pretty well sorted. The only extra on this car is the aforementioned head-up display. These are becoming more common on premium cars these days and what I once thought as a bit gimmicky I have to now embrace. A head-up display electronically puts a sort of hologram above the dash. When driving it appears to be sitting above the bonnet and as in an American jet fighter, it enables you to monitor crucial information without taking your eyes away from the screen. This one helpfully tells you your speed, the local speed limit and any navigation cues you need. I really liked it. And at two grand its still cheaper than ticking the sunroof or TV options.. My wife loved this car and was making all sorts of noises about it until I raised that price issue. Of course I hadn’t pointed out to her the one feature that would ensure an immediate sale. She has become mildly engaged (obsessed) with internet radio. And of course from her perspective, forget the six cylinder engine twin-scroll turbocharged with Valvetronic, double-VANOS and high-precision injection. Forget the stop/start function that I found a touch annoying, which shuts down the engine when you stop at the lights (it can be switched off). Forget the host of features this car boasts. It can operate internet radio and in our household that is a technological breakthrough. Now to steel myself for that “Guide to new phone.”

SECTION HEADER

B A B Y, B A B Y

M Y BEST SELF BY MELODY THOMAS

here is an environment or situation when we are our best selves, and for me this is camping. Living in a tent, bathing in the ocean and a million miles from a mirror I am not only at my happiest, but also my most helpful, self sufficient, tidy, ingenious and adventurous (the only thing I am not is more modest). As I type this I am sitting on our air bed, dampening the sheets with my togs, glancing up from my computer every minute or so to look out the tent door at the ocean, striped light blue, dark blue, green, and the surrounding canopy of pohutukawa. Sadie is asleep in her pram under the awning, covered in just a sheet, and Baby Daddy is off catching snapper for dinner (fingers crossed). When this article is finished I’ll have to wait for low tide, walk down the pebbly beach and cross a river, knock on the door of the neighbouring backpackers and beg to use their Wifi. For me this is heaven. When I said we were heading off for three weeks camping at Maraehako Bay on the East Cape, 11-month -old in tow, people either recoiled or rejoiced. “That’s brave!” some said. The rest reminisced glassy-eyed over family camping trips of their own. The East Cape is where my childhood camping trips took place; I caught my first fish surfcasting off the beach in Te Kaha, devoured child-sized ice creams in Omaio and cruised the windy roads in the back seat of the Orange Roughy – our rust-coloured Holden Kingswood. When I think back to those times every memory is bathed in a golden glow. It could be the rose-coloured spectacles of reminiscence but, judging by the weather this past week, it could be spot on. 74

Sadie is in her element. She wakes up half an hour later than usual, gurgling with delight and covering us in kisses as we pull her into our bed. She eats grass, stares up at swaying pohutukawa canopies, performs strange, ritualistic dances with handfuls of tiny stones and squeals at birds and children. At the local store she grins goofily at tourist-weary locals, blowing them kisses and delighting in the smiles they can’t help but offer back. She’s on that brilliant cusp of crawling and pulling herself up but not actually walking, so we can let her potter about exploring and talking to herself without worrying that she’ll wander off and get lost. She won’t remember any of this obviously, but I’ve no doubt these experiences will be imprinted somewhere in her subconscious – in an unexplainable pull towards nature, a love of warm sun on her skin and cool breeze on her face, a feeling of calm at the rhythmic pulse of the ocean. It’s important that we take time to step back from our lives. To get some perspective, to lie about and ponder, to explore and enjoy the company of the people that make us feel best. And the only thing that gets me down about all of this is thinking about those who can’t afford to escape once in a while – who are too busy surviving the day-to-day to think about time away. This should be something that everyone gets to do, even if just for a week a year, because when we look back over our lives surely these are the times we will think of. The bright, clear memories that light up the rest of our years, acting as frames of reference; markers for happy reminiscence. And who’s to say we don’t all deserve a life worth remembering.

W E L LY A NG E L

WHAT WOU L D DE IRDRE D O? My friend and I went clothes shopping. She bought an expensive dress and when I asked her if she would show her husband that evening, she said “Oh no I will put it in my wardrobe for much later, then when he asks me if it’s new I can hand on heart say “No I’ve had it for ages”. Do you think this is dishonest? Fashionista, Martinborough

Should I feel aggrieved that my son and partner who returned to NZ for Christmas spent only two days with me, and the rest of their three week stay with his mates, in admittedly, locations with better weather? Unhappy Raumati Yes! Disinherit immediately, then have a coffee and consider that there are worse things and it was lovely to have them for Christmas and great that they even have friends and came home in the first place. Never mind the weather!

Depends on whose money you are spending? If it is your money why bother considering the issue. If it is his you are lying and what does that say about the relationship? Just buy and wear when you want to.

You look like someone who would be a good neighbour. Our house is parallel to our neighbours. This hasn’t been a problem in the past – they would use their blinds, we would use our curtains. No big deal. But now the exhibitionists from hell have just moved in. They seem to have forgotten about the blinds, privacy, decency. Our house is now curtained in darkness in desperation. What do we do? Vampires of Berhampore

What do I do when my ex-partner persists in contacting me for advice? Is it time I suggested placing an on-line singles ad for him so some other poor lost soul can take over and help him out? Tired, Levin Not your problem, but send him the links and be nice. The world needs nice people not moaners.

Open your blinds and have a seance, then an orgy. Have you gone over and invited them for tea and a welcome chat? Telling them how you feel might work? Otherwise keep your curtains open when you want light and get on with your lives. My new partner bought his ex a quite expensive Christmas present. I received a nice gift. Am I being mean spirited to feel uneasy? Anxious Roseneath You have the man – don’t be a grinch! How long is it polite to wait before re-gifting Christmas presents? Not impressed, Te Aro

Recently I invited some workmates over to my pad after work for a quiet drink. As we were travelling there in the car one colleague rang her partner and invited him over as well but didn’t ask me if it was OK. It’s not like I was specifically catering for a set number of people but I was taken-aback that she didn’t check with me first. Am I being an etiquette Nazi or should people still respect basic manners? Wondering, Wadestown This is a big fat NO and I am with you totally! The more etiquette Nazis the better and it is your home, your invitation and your generosity so you totally have the right to respect.

Re gifting is a no unless it is chocolates or wine or jam and you are sharing. On the other hand apparently Trade Me is the place if you have to be a re-giver and I am told billboards go up in Paris the day after Christmas so you are in good international company.

If you’ve got a burning question for Deirde, email angel@capitalmag.co.nz with Capital Angel in the subject line. 75