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GUIDE TO THE BEST MUSIC, CULTURE AND SPORT IN THE USA FOR THE NEXT YEAR

Coachella 12 - 14, 19 - 21 Apr, Indio, CA High Water Fest 13 - 14 Apr, North Charleston, SC New England Metal Festival 19 - 20 Apr (TBC), Worcester, MA New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 25 - 28 Apr, 2 - 5 May, Fair Grounds Race Course, New Orleans, LA

SPORT

2019 MARCH MUSIC Back Porch 1 - 4 Mar, Northampton, MA Innings Festival 2 - 3 Mar, Tempe, AZ Crssd Festival Spring 2 - 3 Mar, San Diego, CA Savannah Stopover 7 - 9 Mar, Savannah, GA Musink 8 - 10 Mar, Costa Mesa, CA South By Southwest (SXSW) 8 - 17 Mar, Austin, TX Gasparilla Music Festival 9 - 10 Mar, Tampa, FL Pot Of Gold Festival 15 - 17 Mar, Chandler, AZ Treefort Music Festival 20 - 24 Mar, Boise, ID Big Ears 21 - 24 Mar, Knoxville, TN Beyond Wonderland 22 - 23 Mar, San Bernardino, CA Buku Music + Art Project 22 - 23 Mar, New Orleans, LA Savannah Music Festival 28 Mar - 13 Apr, Savannah, GA Rapture Festival 29 - 30 Mar, Miami, FL Ultra Music Festival 29 - 31 Mar, Miami, FL

SPORT NCAA Wrestling Championships 21 Mar - 23 Mar, Pittsburgh, PA

APRIL MUSIC Phoenix Lights 5 - 6 Apr, Phoenix, AZ Country Thunder Arizona 11 - 14 Apr, Florence, AZ Old Settler’s Music Festival 11 - 14 Apr, Dale, TX Lucidity Festival 12 - 14 Apr, Santa Barbara, CA

Golf Masters Tournament 11 - 14 Apr, Augusta, GA Tortuga Music Festival 12 - 14 Apr, Fort Lauderdale, FL NBA playoffs 13 Apr, Finals concluding in June Boston Marathon 15 Apr, Boston, MA

CULTURE King Lear 4 Apr - 7 Jul, Cort Theatre, NY Jackson is back on Broadway, and she’s climbing the tallest mountain any actor can climb. Glenda Jackson is King Lear.

Merrie Monarch Festival 22 - 27 Apr, Hilo, HI Hawai‘i Island’s weeklong festival celebrates the art of hula. The highlight of this festival is a world renowned three-day hula competition featuring some of the best hālau hula from Hawai‘i and the continental United States.

ROARING SURF IN HAWAI‘I? CHEERING CROWDS IN FLORIDA? BIRD CALLS IN WYOMING? BOOK A DATE TO FIND YOUR USA SOUND...

Yosemite National Park, CA The best short hike is Waterfall walking at Vernal Falls. This 10.4km-long trail passes through the thundering mist created by two magnificent cascades: Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls.

Yellowstone National Park, WY Try hot-tubbing in the wild!

Boiling River is a bathing spot where hot springs enter Gardner River to create perfect soaking conditions.

Great Basin National Park, NV Do some Moon-walking. Two hours’ drive from the neon glow of Vegas, the night sky is so clear you can regularly see five planets.

Rangers offer free lunar-lit night hikes in summer when there’s a full moon.

SPORT Summer Camp 24 - 26 May, Chillicothe, IL Bottlerock Napa Valley 24 - 26 May, Napa, CA Sunset Music Festival 25 - 26 May, Tampa, FL Neon Desert 25 - 26 May (TBC), El Paso, TX Bunbury Music Festival 31 May - 2 Jun, Cincinnati, OH The Governors Ball Music Festival 31 May - 2 Jun, Randall's Island, NY

MAY

SPORT

MUSIC

JUNE

West Coast Weekender 2 - 4 May (TBC), San Diego, CA Sunfest 2 - 5 May, West Palm Beach, FL Welcome To Rockville 3 - 5 May, Jacksonville, FL Beale Street Music Festival 3 - 5 May, Memphis, TN Shaky Knees Festival 3 - 5 May, Atlanta, GA M3 Rock Festival 3 - 5 May, Columbia, MD Lightning In A Bottle 8 - 13 May, Bradley, CA Shaky Beats Festival 10 - 11 May, Atlanta, GA Rolling Loud Festival 10 - 12, May, Miami, FL Epicenter Festival 10 - 12 May, Rockingham, NC Hangout Fest 16 - 19 May, Gulf Shores, AL Sonic Temple 17 - 19 May, Columbus, OH Electric Daisy Carnival 17 - 19 May, Las Vegas, NV Chicago Open Air 18 - 19 May, Bridgeview, IL Rooster Walk 23 - 26 May, Axton, VA Boston Calling 24 - 26 May, Allston, MA Rocklahoma 24 - 26 May, Pryor, OK California Roots 24 - 26 May, Monterey, CA

sounds of nature

Kentucky Derby 2 May, Louisville, KY US PGA 16 - 19 May, Farmingdale, NY Indianapolis 500 26 May, Speedway, IN

MUSIC Roots Picnic 1 Jun (TBC), Philadelphia, PA Nelsonville Music Festival 6 - 9 Jun, Nelsonville, OH CMA Music Festival 6 - 9 Jun, Nashville, TN Spring Awakening 7 - 9 Jun, Chicago, IL Hot 97 Summer Jam 9 Jun, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ No festival has been more integral to the development of hip hop than Hot 97 Summer Jam. Giving a platform to the freshest names, as well as providing fans with an opportunity to see the superheroes of rap. Anyone who’s anyone has played Summer Jam.

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 13 - 16 Jun, Great Stage Park, TN Originally focused on jam bands and folk rock, this festival has expanded to include an impressive array of genres.

Mountain Jam 13 - 16 Jun, Bethel, NY Clearwater Festival 15 - 16 Jun (TBC), Croton-On-Hudson, NY Firefly Music Festival 21 - 23 Jun, Dover, DE Bonanza Campout 21 - 23 Jun, Heber, UT Electric Forest 21 - 24 Jun, 28 Jun - 1 Jul, Rothbury, MI An eight day psychedelic tribute, held in the middle of a forest, and one of the biggest electro/jam band festivals.

Mamby On The Beach 22 - 23 Jun (TBC), Chicago, IL Summerfest 26 Jun - 7 Jul, Milwaukee, WI

SOUNDS LIKE? GUIDE TO STATE CODES • AL- Alabama • AK - Alaska • AZ - Arizona • AR - Arkansas • CA - California • CO - Colorado • CT - Connecticut • DE - Delaware • FL - Florida • GA - Georgia • HI - Hawai‘i • ID - Idaho • IL - Illinois • IN Indiana • IA - Iowa • KS Kansas • KY - Kentucky • LA Louisiana • ME - Maine • MD Maryland • MA - Massachusetts • MI - Michigan • MN Minnesota • MS - Mississippi • MO - Missouri • MT - Montana • NE - Nebraska • NV - Nevada • NH - New Hampshire • NJ New Jersey • NM - New Mexico • NY - New York • NC - North Carolina • ND - North Dakota • OH - Ohio • OK - Oklahoma • OR - Oregon • PA Pennsylvania • RI - Rhode Island • SC - South Carolina • SD - South Dakota • TN Tennessee • TX - Texas • UT Utah • VT - Vermont • VA Virginia • WA - Washington • WV - West Virginia • WI Wisconsin • WY -Wyoming

Belmont Stakes 7 - 9 Jun, Belmont Park, NY US Open Golf 13 - 16 Jun, Pebble Beach, CA NBA Draft 2019 20 Jun, Barclays Center, NY

CULTURE King Kamehameha Day Celebration Parade and Hoolaulea 8 Jun, Honolulu, Oahu, HI During King Kamehameha Day Celebration Parade and Hoolaulea the Native Hawaiian community celebrates its pau history, its legends, its music, its hula, its traditional crafts and demonstrations and its honoring of Hawai‘i's first King, Kamehameh.

Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival 15 - 23 Jun, Detroit , MI Every June, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival brings the world’s finest chamber musicians to metro Detroit for two weeks of performances in spectacular downtown and suburban venues.

JULY MUSIC Essence Music Festival 4 - 7 Jul, New Orleans, LA Forecastle Festival 12 - 14 Jul, Louisville, KY

DECEM BER

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MUSIC

Gulf Coast Jam 30 Aug - 1 Sept, Panama City Beach, FL Bumbershoot 31 Aug - 1 Sept, Seattle, WA Electric Zoo 31 Aug - 2 Sept, Randall's Island, NY

WEIRD BUT WORTH IT The Great Outhouse Races Feb, Sapphire Valley, NC To bid farewell to winter, Sapphire Valley Resort hosts a unique race every February that involves outhouses (toilets that are outside) on skis. Spectators come from throughout the southeast to line the course and cheer on those brave enough to see if their outhouse crashes and burns or sails across the finish line.

All proceeds from the event go to charity.

Underwater Music Festival 5 - 7 May, Big Pine Key, FL Yes, literally underwater.

Hundreds of divers and snorkelers dive into a coral barrier and play “instruments” (examples: “fluke-a-leles” and “trom-bonefish”) made by a local artist, to the tune of songs that are transmitted through waterproof speakers. The point of the festival? It’s not for the out-of-this-world Instagram shots - but to promote reef conservation.

Duck Tape Festival 4 Jun, Avon, OH The Duck Tape Festival pays homage to the perpetually handy tape, highlighting its many uses in everyday life.

From a colorful duct tape-themed fashion show to an impressive parade of duct tape-covered floats, this unique festival in Ohio might just inspire how you use the sticky stuff going forward. Be one of the first to arrive, and you’ll receive a free roll!

Pitchfork Music Festival 15 - 17 Jul, Union Park, IL This three day event is a music genre melting pot of rock, hip-hop, electronic, jazz, punk and any other genre and sub-genre you want to celebrate. With a record fair, food, art and beverages from local and national vendors, this truly is a cultural feast.

Rock Fest Wisconsin 18 - 20 Jul, Cadott, WI Camp Bisco 18 - 20 Jul, Scranton, PA Global Dance Festival 19 - 20 Jul (TBC), Denver, CO Faster Horses Country Festival 19 - 21 Jul, Brooklyn, MI Float Fest 20 - 21 Jul, San Marcos, TX Floydfest 24 - 28 Jul, Floyd, VA The Peach Music Festival 25 - 28 Jul, Scranton, PA

SPORT MLB All-Star Game 7 - 10 Jul, Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH An integral part of the season for baseball fans, it’s become known as the Midsummer Classic. In 2019, the best baseball players in the world will converge in Cleveland.

CULTURE Oahu 49th Annual Ukulele Festival 21 Jul, Kapiolani Pk, Waikiki, Oahu, HI The music swirls over the tops of trees toward Diamond Head. It’s upbeat, infectious, and all about surf and sunny days. It’s music you want to dance and sing to. It embraces everyone who hears it. That’s the irresistible charm of the ukulele.

SPORT Summer X Games – Extreme Sports 1 - 4 Aug, Minneapolis, MN US Open – Tennis 26 Aug - 8 Sep, NY

SePTEM BER MUSIC Music Midtown 14 -15 Sep (TBC), Atlanta, GA iHeartRADIO Festival 21 - 22 Sept, Las Vegas, NV River City Rockfest 21 Sep (TBC), San Antonio, TX Life is Beautiful 21 - 23 Sep, Las Vegas, NV This festival features some of the hottest acts in the music industry, plenty of food and drink, a learning center, art and even a Ferris wheel.

CULTURE L. A. County Fair Most of Sep, Los Angeles, CA The largest fair in the USA features everything from pig racing to rodeos and big name bands.

Aloha Festival Floral Parade 29 Sep, HI A hugely colourful and scented occasion in Oahu starts a series of events all over the islands.

AUGUST OCTO BER MUSIC

Lollapalooza 1 - 4 Aug, Grant Park, IL A gathering of music, dance, comedy and craft booths, Lollapalooza is another multi-genre delight which also provides a platform for political and non-profit artists and groups.

Pickathon 2 - 4 Aug, Happy Valley, OR Outside Lands 9 - 11 Aug, San Francisco, CA Moonrise Festival 10 - 11 Aug (TBC), Baltimore, MD Woodstock 16 - 18 Aug, Watkins Glen, NY Billboard Hot 100 Festival 17 - 18 Aug (TBC), Long Island, NY Burning Man 25 Aug - 2 Sept, Blk Rock Desert, NV

MUSIC A3C Hip Hop Festival 2 - 6 Oct (TBC), Atlanta, GA Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 4 - 6 Oct, San Francisco, CA Dirtybird Campout West Coast 4 - 6 Oct, Waterford, CA

Austin City Limits Music Festival 5 - 7, 12 - 14 Oct, Zilker Park, Austin, TX Inspired by a concert series of the same name, this festival is an eight stage celebration of music, an art market, food and drink, dedicated family area and much more.

Hillberry 10 - 13 Oct, Eureka Springs, AR Desert Daze 10 - 13 Oct, Riverside, CA Aftershock Festival 12 - 13 Oct (TBC), Sacramento, CA

SPORT IRONMAN World Championship 2 Oct, Kailua, HI World Beach Games – Multi-sports 9 - 15 Oct, San Diego, CA US Grand Prix 31 Oct - 4 Nov, Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX

CULTURE New York’s Village Halloween Parade 31 Oct, New York City, NY A colourful and spooky occasion with over 20,000 scary monsters on the prowl among the bands, puppets and assorted weirdos.

Lights All Night 27 - 28 Dec (TBC), Dallas, TX Snowglobe 29 - 31 Dec (TBC), South Lake Tahoe, CA Decadence Arizona 30 - 31 Dec (TBC), Phoenix, AZ Snowta Fest 30 - 31 Dec (TBC), Minneapolis, MI

2020 JANU ARY MUSIC The Groove Cruise 9 - 13 Jan, Miami, FL What started as a group of 125 friends going on a cruise in 2004 has erupted in to the world’s largest fully charted electronic dance music cruise experience.

The Rock Boat 24 - 29 Jan, Miami, FL

NOVEM BER FEBRU ARY SPORT

College Football Championship 11 - 14 Jan, New Orleans, LA Extreme Sports Winter X Games 23 Jan (TBC), Aspen, CO

MUSIC

Voodoo Experience 1 - 3 Nov, New Orleans, LA Hard Day Of The Dead 2 Nov (TBC), Pomona, CA Electric Daisy Carnival Orlando 8 - 9 Nov (TBC), Orlando, FL Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival 9 - 10 Nov (TBC), Los Angeles, CA Levitation 9 - 10 Nov, Austin, TX Dreamstate Socal 23 - 24 Nov, San Bernadino, CA

SPORT

CULTURE

CULTURE

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 28 Nov, Central Park West, NY

The Oscars 9 Feb, Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, CA

Super Bowl 2 Feb, Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, FL Daytona 500 23 Feb, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL

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RECONNECT WITH NATURE IN ONE OF THE USA’S NATIONAL PARKS

Glacier National Park is a vast wilderness in Montana's Rocky Mountains, with glacier-carved peaks and valleys running to the Canadian border. It has over one million acres of protected land and within the park, there are over 130 named lakes, over 1,000 different plant species and hundreds of animals including grizzly bears,

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

mountain goats and even rare wolverines and Canadian lynxes.

Visitors to Glacier National Park can enjoy over 1100 kms of hiking trails (amoung them a route to the photogenic Hidden Lake) the scenic mountain drive along Going-to-the-Sun Road and views of the glaciers that are still carving their way through the landscape.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK The name "Great Smoky Mountains" comes from the ever-present fog that looms over this mountain range situated along the North Carolina -Tennessee border. Established in 1934, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is not just home to a diverse ecosystem of flora and fauna, it’s also home to a rich history of Appalachian culture, some of which can be explored at The Mountain Farm Museum at Oconaluftee Valley.

Visitors to Greatt Smokyy Mountains M tains National Park k can see over er 100 waterfalls,, go boating on Fontana Lake e and hike the Appalachian ppalachian Trail.

Acadia National Park.

Located in the state of Maine, this is one of the beautiful national parks on the east coast. It's home to a wide array of wildlife including black bears, bald eagles, bobcats, moose, beavers and porcupines.

One of the most popular attractions in Acadia National Park is Cadillac Mountain, which sees the first sunrise in the United States during the autumn and winter months.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK The Grand Canyon is the result of over 70 million years of geological events. Tectonic plates lifted the ground creating the Colorado Plateau, glaciers and rifts created valleys, while the Colorado River carved its way through the gorge.

Grand Canyon is not only scenic drives and dramatic views, but it’s also home to an impressive range of wildlife.

Hiking is the most popular activity within the park and is open year-round. There are numerous year-round opportunities for those who like oppor well-maintained trails as hiking on w well as ffor those who prefer hiking more rugged and less-traveled on mor trails.

TAKE THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED AT ONE OF THESE NATIONAL PARKS Arizona - Petrified Forest The extensive petrified wood, fossils of the forests that once stood in the desert is what visitors come here to see. Not just of geologic interest; it’s also quite beautiful, the wood’s organic material replaced by minerals of varying colors. Don’t be tempted to tuck a piece in your pocket – the visitor center includes a display about the supposed “curse” on those who do, complete with letters of apology from those who claim to have felt its effects...and who mailed the wood back.

Kentucky - Mammoth Cave The longest known cave system in the world, with over 600 explored kilometres. The Frozen Niagara section looks, as it sounds, as if the great waterfalls had been formed out of rock.

The only way to visit the cave is by a ranger-lead tour.

Nevada - Great Basin This park offers unforgettable vistas and the opportunity to explore the region around Great Basin Desert. Wheeler Peak is a 3,962-metre mountain in the park that can be hiked or driven, making for stunning photographs. The park also offers underground exploration, in the form of the distinctive Lehman Caves.

Florida - Dry Tortugas Almost 113 km west of Key West lies the remote Dry Tortugas National Park. Accessible only by boat or seaplane, the park is known the world over as the home of magnificent Fort Jefferson, picturesque blue waters, superlative coral reefs and marine life - great for snorkeling - and the vast assortment of bird life that frequents the area.

Texas - Big Bend Deep in the heart of southwest Texas lies the well-known, but rarely visited, Big Bend National Park. The remote location is likely the reason, but Big Bend is worth the effort it takes to visit it. The entire Chisos Mountain Range, a portion of the Chihuahuan Desert, and the Rio Grande form spectacular scenery here.

Yellowstone was the first national tional es and it it’ss park in the United States not hard to see why. Around es cov er 10,000 geothermal features cover ing it the much of the park, making largest supervolcano in North th America. Yellowstone one is famous for geysers like Old Faithful aithful and hot springs like the Grand Prismatic.

The park is also home to o other famous destinations like the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone River and the Lamar Valley where the bison still roam free.

FREE TO SEE

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

ZION NATIONAL PARK Nestled in southwestern Utah is Zion National Park. Because it's located near the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin and Mojave Desert regions, it has some of the most unique landscapes packed with mountains, canyons, rivers, arches, desert, and forests.

Zion National Park is also an important place to study ancient humans who made the area their home about 8,000 years ago.

Some of the park’ss most notable attractions include Angel's ngel's Landing, Kolob Arch, ch, the Narrows Narro Narr Narrow ows ows and the Emerald Pools Trail. rail ail Yosemite National Park In addition to being a national park, Yosemite is also designated as a World Heritage Site. Yosemite National Park is in central California, in the western Sierra Nevada. Though it covers around 3,027 square kms of area, visitors spend most of their time in the 15.2 square km area of the Yosemite Valley.

Within the valley are some of Yosemite’s most famous sites like Yosemite Falls, the Sentinel Dome, Cook’s Meadow Loop and Yosemite’s most famous attraction El Capitan, the vertical rock formation located on the north side of Yosemite Valley.

Alaska: Gates of the Arctic National Park. The northernmost and second largest National Park in the USA, there are no roads in or out, so visitors must schedule flights or be intrepid hikers to visit this remote Alaskan wilderness. The same size as Switzerland, the Park contains no National Park Service facilities, visitor centers or campgrounds and is a maze of glaciated valleys and gaunt, rugged mountains. A habitat for grizzly bears, wolves, moose and wolverines.

Arizona: Montezuma Well National Monument. One of Arizona’s hidden gems. Visit the spot where life began, according to Yavapai legend.

Arkansas: Hot Springs National Park. Eight bathhouses built between 1892 and 1923. Some now home to offices, shops and museums, others still provide baths in the thermal pools.

California: Channel Islands National Park. California’s Channel Islands National Park is an oasis of natural splendor, earning the nickname “America’s Galapagos.”

Travel by boat and experience two of the five islands that comprise the park - Anacapa, with its steep sea cliffs and lighthouse, and Santa Cruz, the most diverse. Get up close to the rich array of plant life, sea birds, fish and marine mammals - some found nowhere else in the world.

Colorado: Hovenweep National Monument. Discover six prehistoric villages that once housed more than 2,500 people between A.D. 500 and 1300. The park is a designated International Dark Sky Park, making it one of the best places to go stargazing.

Connecticut: Weir Farm National Historic Site. This historic site is the only national park devoted to American painting. Pick up free art supplies at the park to experience a memorable family holiday.

Florida: Biscayne National Park Discover underwater shipwrecks along the Maritime Heritage Trail, or keep your feet dry to walk in the footsteps of early pineapple farmers.

Kentucky: Mammoth Cave National Park. As the longest known cave system in the world, Mammoth Cave National Park is among one of the coolest places in the U.S. to visit with kids with over 600 kms of the caves to explore.

Louisiana: Jean Lafitte National Historical Park. Discover New Orleans’ rich cultural mix while learning Cajun traditions from people who live them and watch an alligator bask on a bayou’s bank.

Minnesota: Voyageurs National Park. A water-based park with 218,054 acres and more than a third of that is water. The park consists of four large lakes and 26 smaller interior lakes. Accommodation ranges from resorts with lakeside cabins to houseboats or camping on secluded islands. You can sight-see by motorboat, canoe or kayak and enjoy swimming, fishing and hiking on more than 43 kms of trails.

Nevada: Great Basin National Park.

This park receives less than 10 inches of rainfall annually but more than 800 species of plants rest along its trails. Keep your eyes peeled for wildlife too.

New Hampshire: Appalachian National Scenic Trail. If you’ve ever thought of hiking along the Appalachian Trail, New Hampshire is one state where you can enjoy the public footpaths. The trail rolls 416 kms through the state, with elevations ranging from 120 metres above sea level to nearly 2000.

New Jersey: Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park. The Great Falls of the Passaic River is the second largest waterfall, by volume, east of the Mississippi River and next to Niagara Falls. It is centered in an industrial historic district, considered to be "The Cradle of American Industry."

Ohio: Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Home to Everett Covered Bridge, one of the top places for photography in the national parks system. You can also stroll by the Ohio and Erie Canal or hike to Brandywine Falls.

Oregon: Oregon Caves National Monument South Carolina: Congaree National Park. South Carolina’s only national park lies amongst a humid subtropical climate. Hiking is one of the best ways to see Congaree National Park. There is a short Boardwalk Trail, multiple established trails, and you can even explore the backcountry.

Virginia: Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. The only dedicated National Park for the Performing Arts, this is located on 117 acres of national park land in Fairfax County, Virginia, near the town of Vienna.

Virginia: Cumberland Gap. Over 130 kms of trails across 24,000 acres make this a hiker’s paradise as you take in the sounds of the wildlife around you.

Wyoming: Fossil Butte National Monument. Discover the fossilised records of fish, reptiles, plants and insects that once called Fossil Lake home. Let your kids create their own fossil souvenir and watch the experts process fossils.

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Why Kiwis are loving Hawai’i With visitor numbers up almost 20 per cent, Hawaii’s six islands are exerting a powerful pull.

Honopu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) Tommy Lundberg

N

ew Zealanders are really embracing Hawaii – with about 85,000 of us visiting there in 2018, a record year surpassing even the days of the late ‘80s (when all flights to the USA required a compulsory fuel stop in Honolulu).

Not only are Kiwis visiting Hawaii in record numbers – just under 20 per cent above arrivals in 2017 – they are also staying for record numbers of days, averaging 9.5 days to be precise.

That gives ample time to do more than just visit Honolulu, fun though that is; it means Hawaii’s other five islands are eminently reachable, bringing many different aspects of this fascinating destination into play.

So what does each island offer in terms of different strokes for different folks? Many refer to Oahu as the main island and some never venture far – or at all – from Waikiki, the vibrant neighbourhood in Honolulu.

More of that later. Here’s what makes the other islands of Hawaii so unique:

family). But it has another side – like the easygoing surf towns of the North Shore and the lush green mountains of the east coast, where you can find Kualoa Ranch, good for horseback riding, a four-wheel drive tour including the sites for some famous movies among the 70-odd that have been filmed there, including Jurassic Park.

Moloka‘i If solitude or a break from the crowds is your thing, Molokai might be your place. The most laid back of all the islands, Molokai contains no traffic lights and no big resorts. Kalaupapa National Historical Park, a remote part of the island, can be reached only by mule, hike, or plane.

Molokai has numerous beaches, including Papohaku, a 5km stretch of white sand, one of Hawaii’s largest. The stunning Halawa Valley could be said to resemble the Garden Of Eden and houses the impressive Moaula waterfall.

Kaua‘i Beautifully lush, it’s clear within minutes of arrival why Kauai is known as the “Garden Isle”. Scenery and beauty is the big thing on the island as only about 20 per cent of the land mass is accessible by road or foot.

A helicopter ride over rugged cliffs, tangled jungle and mountain peaks reveals some of this beauty while the western side of the island contains Waimea Canyon – compared by some with the Grand Canyon (praise indeed). You can hike there or at Koke’e State Park or visit the Napali Coast, the Kalalau Valley (regarded by many as one of the planet’s natural wonders) and the North Shore’s Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge. Kauapea Beach (sometimes known as Secret Beach), is also located on the north shore of Kauai and is an impressive stretch of golden sand accessible after a downhill hike.

Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) Tor Johnson

Lāna‘i New Zealand America’s Cup aficionados will remember Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA from the dramatic racing in Bermuda and, before that, in San Francisco, California.

Well, Ellison is your host on this privately owned island, once housing the pineapple plantations of the Dole company but now home to two stunning Four Seasons resorts and some worldclass golf courses.

There is another side to Lāna‘I, a comparatively unexplored dimension; Lāna‘I’s spacious beaches, like Hulopoe, are attractive, Lāna‘I City has galleries and boutiques and those more active can explore the many off-road adventures and trails on offer where the mode of transport could be bike, horse or foot.

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Set within lovely tropical gardens with beautiful frangipani trees, the hotel is right on the gorgeous Ka‘anapali Beach — a sensational location. Wander along the beach or the boardwalk and you’ll be at the shops and restaurants of Whaler’s Village in just a couple of minutes.

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The Island of Hawai‘i The island of Hawai‘i is also known as the Big Island due its size and diversity of landscapes and experiences.

From lush valleys and waterfalls to dramatic fields of lava, the island is famous for some special experiences that include volcano viewing, star gazing, swimming with manta rays and exploring some of Hawai‘i’s oldest and most significant cultural sites. Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, one of the most popular attractions in all Hawai‘i, allows visitors to get close-up to a live volcano.

Explore by foot, take a helicopter tour over the recent activity areas or even stay a night on the rim of the Kilauea caldera at historic Volcano House.

Kiwis are familiar with black sand beaches but here you can see a green sand beach, its colour also influenced by volcanic activity, fertile jungle valleys, waterfalls and even snow – the island’s high peaks of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea have snowfalls in winter.

The Kona and Kohala Coast – the location of the famed Ironman competition – also boasts good beaches and snorkeling with manta rays while the Hilo area has rain forest hikes, botanical gardens and waterfalls.

Maui The second largest island is ideal for beach blobbers and adventurers alike and the scenery along the Hana Highway makes this one of the great drives. Great beaches like Kaanapali and Wailea are perfect for the

O‘ahu This popular island boasts surf, shopping and outstanding cuisine plus icons like Waikiki, Diamond Head and ‘Iolani Palace (once home of the royal

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‘resorties’ who crave relaxation while the more active can head to Haleakala National Park for some gobsmacking sunrises from the summit of a (dormant) volcano and then head off on a breathtaking 40km cycle ride back downhill.

There is snorkeling aplenty among sea turtles and the added attraction of a seventh Hawaiian island (the crescent-shaped atoll of Molokini where the snorkeling and diving is great). Humpback whales can be seen between November and May and there are inland attractions too – like Hawaii’s cowboys (yes, true) called paniolo who still wrangle cattle in Maui’s open fields. Local produce includes coffee, dragon fruit and chocolate – so foodies who enjoy sampling local cuisine will also be prone to falling in love with this island.

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Hip hop culture is a tourist attraction in its own right famous rapper points out must-see sights in Los Angeles, California.

Who better to explain the heart, soul and popularity of Los Angeles’ famed hip-hop scene than a rapper?

James McCall, aka Nocando, that’s who.

McCall/Nocando is an accomplished artist who has made a series of videos highlighting areas, events and icons which embody the hip-hop life. A legendary underground rapper from South Los Angeles, he is a recording artist, emcee, an organiser of indie rap nights at clubs and a ghost-writer of songs for award-winning TV series Empire.

Now he is busy making LA’s hip-hop scene accessible not only to those already bitten by the bug and keen to sample the hip-hop environment that gave rise to so much talent – but also to those who want to understand and demystify hip-hop culture.

One of his videos, for example, showcases World On Wheels – a roller skating rink with a difference. It’s where locally-produced records are aired first, ever since the days of Ice T and Egyptian Lover.

Los Angeles is the beating heart of West Coast rap, the birthplace of the distinctive sound of layers of synthesizers and groves that went global

through the likes of Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur and many more.

The heartbeat of West Coast rap remains not only strong but interwoven into a large slice of LA life. It is no longer a “genre”. West Coast rap has become a bona fide culture, a way of life that can be seen in many different ways.

Fashion Another destination Nocando explores is the Slauson Supermall, known locally as the Slauson Swap Meet. Originally about 10 small kiosks in a strip mall, it is now housed in a massive warehouse with over 100 stalls and just about anything for sale that a self-respecting hip-hopper might require, from street fashion to custom jewellery to used video games and Jordans.

Many rappers, DJs, producers and “kids from all over” visit the mall with influential hip-hop folk like Drake and A$AP Rocky among those who have had custom pieces made here. Haggling is acceptable – required, even – and the prices can be gloriously cheap. And it’s not just the shopping, Slauson Supermall has some popular restaurants too.

Food Still hungry? Nocando highlights Delicious Pizza – run by the same guys who launched indie record label Delicious Vinyl in 1987, booming the careers of Pharcyde, Young MC and Tone Loc. And this isn’t just about pizza – they throw and host events, listening parties and regular community get-togethers with outlets on West Adams Street

Venice, California (the more hip hop side of town) and another closer to Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard.

Chef Edwin “E-Dubble” Redway has opened a soul food spot on West Boulevard and Slauson – Grilled Fraiche.

E-Dubble is known in Los Angeles for his food trucks (hunt them down on Instagram) and has linked up with and

now homer to an event called Bananas, a colourful, eclectic night of indie rap and alternative music held every last Tuesday of the month. A visit here could result in spotting the next big West Coast star.

Beat Junkies, the O.G. Turntablists, recently celebrated 25 years as a crew and have now opened the Institute of Sound, a DJ school in Glendale where, on Saturdays, the best

cooked for elite rap artists like The Game, Drake and T-Pain. Roy Choi is a world-renowned chef also linked with food trucks (Kogi BBQ taco trucks) and delicious Korean tacos – and has opened a healthy restaurant in Watts called LOCOL.

mixers, scratchers and selectors in the world of DJing and rap music give classes, tutorial and free workshops. Poo-Bah records and Amoeba Music are must-go record stores Talking of creative licence, a must-see (and must-do) is the Venice Art Walls where an ever-changing canvas allows people to (legally) express themselves with aerosol paint – though you have to submit your ideas first.

Music Then there’s Kaos Network, the famous (and LA’s longest running) open mic workshop, an icon close to Nocando’s heart as that’s where he started, winning “battles” against many emcees. Kaos is

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War and peace Continued from p9

Volcano House, the first accommodation to be built here, is on the rim of the Kilauea caldera: a vast crater than has sunk over the aeons leaving rims that step down from a hillside behind us and again to the crater floor about 100m below.

Some distance into the crater is another crater quietly smoking in the daylight. Only when darkness fell did we see scraps and ribbons of lava tossed in the air above the lake’s surface as if Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, was tidying up the toyroom.

We had hoped to see the legendary lava flows into the ocean but the volcano had been quiet for some time. Instead, we drove through the old flows to the coast, following the black spills that have leaked from Kilauea’s numerous vents and fissures like bleeding wounds. The long-dried lava ends abruptly on the coast, the black cliffs a solid barrier against which the wild Pacific hurls and thrashes below. The only disappointing part of the trip was that we missed the eruptions that flowed for three months last year. But there was plenty more to see.

Although we hired cars on Oahu and Big Island, Hawaii has an excellent public transport system that costs only $2.75 each one-way, no matter how long your journey, or $5.50 for a day pass that will get you everywhere. Warning: you need exact change, if you only have a $10 bill

See: Hawaiian hotel in Room Check review >> p47

An aerial view of Pearl Harbour (above); Ala Moana shopping mall.

Photos / Getty Images

that’s what your fare will be. The bus drivers are as typically surly as Auckland’s, and the bus companies as stingy with information — don’t expect timetables or route guides at bus stops.

Car hire is also relatively cheap — but watch out for add-ons. Our $100-odd car hire bloomed to $400 with insurance and GPS. And watch for the prepay at the garage when you refill your car before returning it — they tell you they will refund the difference but they don’t.

It was only about US$9, but frustrating nonetheless. And watch which shuttle you book to the airport. Avoid Ohana Transit: they didn’t bother to show, leaving us highly stressed with an international flight to catch, plus a US$30 taxi trip on top of the shuttle fare. We only got a refund after PayPal intervened.

And now that I’m one of the Kiwis who has been to Hawaii, I recommend you join the club: see Earth’s fiery processes at work, pay your respects at the war memorials, shop till your credit card snaps in half and swim with sharks.

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War and

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Hawaii is for shopping, water adventures and volcanochasing but it also remembers its Pacific War heroes in a big way, writes Helen van Berkel

N

ew Zealand is full of three kinds of people right now: those who have been to Hawaii, those who are going to Hawaii and those who are in Hawaii. That meant no shortage of recommendations from friends, family and colleagues of places to see, shop and eat for my upcoming holiday with my daughter — but also led to the mortification of bumping into the big boss from work at the travel agent as I paid for our fare. It turns out though, according to US Immigration, she’s not my daughter so much as “Family Unit 2” or as she will henceforth be known, FU2.

The international dateline means Hawaii is almost 24 hours behind us so you will arrive in Honolulu after an eight-hour flight on the morning of the night you left. Which is great because you don’t lose any time. And with a teenager in tow the first stop is the shops.

Ala Moana is the best-equipped mall within walking distance or a short package-laden bus ride from Waikiki. All the big names from American popular culture are there: Nordstrom, Macy’s, Target, Victoria’s Secret, Bergdorfs, Jimmy Choo, Sephora. FU2 was in heaven, but quickly learned her summer’s worth of hardearned waitressing money wasn’t going to go as far as she thought given the price tags typically didn’t include tax.

Ross is another must-shop — even Scrooge me got out my credit card and gave it a battering.

It offers end-of-line designer clothes, helpfully putting the original price ($278) so you can compare the Ross prices ($70). Americans visiting from Oklahoma recommended we try the Swap Meet at the Aloha Stadium on Sunday which, at FU2’s insistence, we did, only to find a largely disappointing collection of cheap souvenirs — gifts for colleagues, sorted. We bought a deliciously garish Hawaiian shirt each, matching of course.

Walmart is a must-do, just to check out the people. Most of the big chain stores in the Target and Walmart space also offer groceries, which is probably why food is so cheap compared to our duopoly prices. We marvelled at the oversized wine and vodka bottles and puzzled in horrified fascination at the packaging that promised “real chicken” (as opposed to what?) or worse, 80 per cent real chicken.

We stocked up on basics such as fruit, milk and cereal so we didn’t have to eat the over-corn syruped collections of chemicals masquerading as food at neighbouring diners. We did take the recommendation of dining at Duke’s in Waikiki, enjoying a lunch and a cocktail, and we visited the Cheesecake Shop, which offers more than the

Hawaii is the home of surfing (above); Iolani Palace was restored in the 1970s.

Photos / Getty Images

eponymous dish. And, okay, we might have gone more than once. And try the local dish poke — pronounced “pokay” — which is a divine mix of vegetables, dressings and cubes of raw fish.

The US military is highly visible in Hawaii — a total fail of their camouflage gear — and serving personnel get priority boarding on flights, and tour discounts. That’s because Hawaii is home to the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, still active despite the events of December 6, 1941. Much of it is a memorial now and entry tickets are free — tours cost — but limited so get in early or book.

Explanatory dioramas take you through the background to the war’s outbreak, and a video offers the story of that infamous Sunday morning. Even as a story you’ve heard before it’s a heartbreaking reminder of the futility of war and a shameful reminder of how ghastly we humans are towards each other.

You are quietly herded on to the shuttle boat to the Arizona Memorial.

There, under your feet, is the resting place of more than 1000 young men, killed in their beds barely before their lives had begun. They are revered as heroes, but most didn’t get the chance to be heroes. They didn’t get to say I do to their sweethearts or hold their firstborn in their arms, or graduate university or become captains of industry; their potential was cruelly snatched from them on a warm, sunny Sunday morning.

And so many have died: memorials throughout the Pearl Harbor complex recognise those who died in submarines, in other conflicts in the Pacific. Across the harbour, another bus trip away, the Battleship Missouri is moored for your exploration. Walk the teak deck where the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed, including by New Zealand, which officially ended the war. Explore the crew quarters, the mess, the administration hubs of life afloat, even the bridge. The Pacific Aviation Museum is also here, and back on the mainland is the Bowfin Submarine. On the way back to Waikiki, stop in at the Punchbowl Cemetery, where America has buried its Pacific War dead, a place of row upon row of plaques and memorials, disturbed only by the slow-moving tourist buses.

Long before America decided to use Hawaii as a military base, these eight islands were an autonomous kingdom, and its monarchs lived at Iolani Palace in Honolulu. There had been previous royal residences for the kings and queens of Hawaii but the palace you see today was built

by David Kalakaua in 1879. He drew inspiration from the grand royal palaces of the European monarchy. He was also an early adapter, and the palace is fitted with electricity, an indoor toilet and a telephone. But the monarchs only got to enjoy the magnificent state house until 1893 when foreign residents in Honolulu — mainly US citizens — overthrew Queen Lili’uokalani and imprisoned her in her own palace. A poignant quilt she made while a prisoner in her own home is on display in her former suite.

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The palace was used in the years that followed as a seat of Government and was poorly looked after until the senators moved out and it was restored in the 1970s. An excellent audio guide leads you through the panelled rooms, your feet encased in little blue Smurf bootees to protect the polished wood floors. You see the throne room where monarchs were crowned, the elegant dining room, the magnificent staircase and the “throne room” where, well they did other business. Even the utility rooms downstairs build a picture of casual elegance without the bloated grandeur of the European ruling families of the time. The US has since apologised for the annexation of the nation — it became a state in August 1959, and a sovereignty movement is afoot.

But FU2 was getting tired of the grown-up stuff and it was her turn: although, to be fair, chucking her into an ocean full of sharks gave me a certain degree of satisfaction too.

We hired a car and drove up to the North Shore — it was the wrong season for the famed surf, sadly — but we climbed aboard the Abunai and headed into the deep blue in search of Galapagos sharks. Conditioned by crabbers tossing leftover bait, the sharks gather for a feed at the sound of a boat engine. We donned masks and snorkels and climbed into a cage and gazed into the clear so-blue water as the sharks cruised by below. I counted a dozen at one point, the biggest of which about 3m long.

We carried on driving around the coast in the hope of seeing surf but the water was picture-perfect calm.

Rounding Oahu gives a glimpse into the volcanic roots of this island chain. I read somewhere that Hawaii is one volcano and each crater is simply a different eruption. I’m not sure whether that’s true or not but that volcano has spent millennia spitting up impressive cliffs rising vertically from flat sands, the ridges of ancient lava flows still clear under thick green foliage.

It’s a relatively easy walk to the top of Diamond Head crater. You can join the long line of people — most of them whingeing about how unfit they are — through a tunnel that cuts through the rock edge of Diamond Head and takes you into the crater, then up the path to the top of the rim. It offers expansive views of Waikiki and along the coast as you vie with the dozens of other walkers all pointing their cameras in the same direction. It’s been a while since Diamond Head blew, but on Hawaii’s Big Island (or Hawaii Island) is the very active Kilauea Volcano, which is still spewing lava.

Flights depart several times a day to Hilo and we caught the earliest possible in our search for flowing, glowing lava. Our GPS denied that the gigantic dormant volcano Mauna Kea existed and we ended up instead on a thin ribbon of road that took us through the lava field of Mauna Loa. Eventually, we noticed Mauna Kea’s perfect peak behind us. I was glad I’d hired a 4WD as the road up was metal in places, steep and winding, but with an unexpected bonus: snow. White patches edged the road as we climbed to more than 4000m, determined to see the observatories in their puffballlike bubbles at the top. It was high enough for both of us to suffer from a touch of short-lived altitude sickness: dizziness, nausea and headaches. You’re above the clouds and it’s a popular place to watch the sunset. We only had one night, though, as another night glow was calling us: the crater lake at Kilauea.

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SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE THERE Close your eyes and imagine you’re in amongst the buzz and energy of New York City with this online collection of ambient sounds. Taken from 25 different neighbourhoods, you can enjoy background jazz from Harlem’s clubs, the excitement around Times Square, busy markets of Chinatown or the chitchat of the cafes of Greenwich Village. soundsof.nyc

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IN AN EMPIRE STATE Helen Van Berkel wakes up in the city that never sleeps

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leven storeys below my hotel room, a large crowd hurried by. Something Was Happening. I rushed downstairs and joined the unsmiling throng as it flowed up Seventh Avenue. Where were these people going? There were fat ones, short ones, pretty ones, well-dressed ones, a United Nations of humanity on the move.

No one was smiling but almost all were headed in the same direction. First stop seemed to be Times Square, where the crowd paused to worship the neon gods sprawling and writhing across the building fronts. A kaleidoscope of colour flowed like a pixelated tide up and down the walls of stone. Buy! Drink! Wear! Watch! The crowd pushed against barricades where more people with cameras and lights and sound booms milled around a lineup of women who may or not have been famous.

I had expected New York to be like this, but with more jostling and more beaten-up taxis. Sorry, I mean cabs. Instead, the famous yellow icons were shiny, clean and modern: although a Prius painted bright yellow simply doesn’t look like a Prius. And, as in every movie ever made about New York, my progress towards Central Park was accompanied by a cacophony of car horns, clouds of steam swirling from white and orange chimneys in the street and the underground rumbling of rushing subway trains.

It’s a city that is familiar. It was my first visit to the Big Apple but it felt like I’d seen it before: streets made into canyons by cliffs of office-block windows; the Plaza Hotel, the Chrysler Building, the Rockefeller Centre, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, the green railings of the subway.

I was staying in the Moxy, a micro-hotel on 36th Street in Midtown Manhattan. By the time I was crossing 42nd Street, I was ignoring the red hand along with the locals and not taking photographs of blackclothed cops with guns. As I threaded through the bumper-to-bumper traffic to cross 49th Street against the lights, a greybearded driver yelled “asshole!” at me as he lurched his yellow cab from one lane to another without warning. I couldn’t help grinning — I really was in New York!

I only had a few days in the City that Never Sleeps, I was on foot and I had nowhere near long enough to see everything this greatest of cities has to offer. I was determined to see what I could.

The grid pattern of streets makes

Inset: Central Park. Above: Times Square. Right: Empire State Building, as seen from the Moxy Hotel’s Magic Hour rooftop bar.

Manhattan easy to navigate: the streets run roughly east to west and the avenues north to south. There are more streets than avenues because Manhattan is roughly sausageshaped and lies on a more-or-less northsouth axis bounded by the East, Hudson and Harlem Rivers. And it is one of the most filmed cities in the world.

So many of the sounds I was hearing and scenes I was seeing for the first time, I had seen and heard before. Subway stairs emerged at occasional street corners, disgorging gouts of hurrying humanity.

No-one seemed concerned at the beggars who lined the streets, handwritten cardboard signs propped against their knees. A tragic number of bearded, holloweyed old-young military veterans sat crosslegged, their signs apologetic: “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have to” read one. “I served this country” read another, outside a souvenir shop crammed with “I [heart] NY” caps and T-shirts. I gave him my lunch leftovers from Tao, a rather nice Thai restaurant in the neighbourhood. He took it without a glance or a word of thanks.

It was almost a surprise to emerge from the canyon of skyscrapers at one of the

many entrances to Central Park. Horseis extensively landscaped and curated. drawn carriages lined the street waiting And although in large swathes of it you for those seeking a romantic interlude in can almost pretend you are truly in the one of the best-known parks in the world. countryside, every now again another I had a park map but decided to follow my skyscraper will loom over the treetops, feet. The paths were wide and squirrels its windows like eyes staring back at you. scampered through the trees as I walked.

Even the pretty little lakes are man-made.

I crossed bridges edged with low stone Emerging from the Ramble and seeing balustrades and took shelter from the the sun glint on the golden buildings of sporadic rain underneath picturesque 5th Avenue, across the Jackie Onassis arches. A saxophonist played gentle Reservoir, I realised the sun was starting jazz and violinists with long to set and I was half a park and 20 New York ponytails and short leather blocks from my hotel. I scurried skirts stomped and danced back through the gathering NORTH BERGEN to their own interpretation of darkness. But it wasn’t fear that Central Park music.

I felt at being alone, in the dark, Rockerfeller Moxy Centre As I neared the Bethesda in Central Park, New York — it MANHATTAN Fountain, a heavyset bulldog was exhilaration. And I was NEW YORK footsore. cruised nonchalantly by on a 5km In fact, I never felt afraid in skateboard. I did a double take: the heart of New York City — which yes, it was a bulldog and yes, it was boasts one of the lowest crime rates of on a skateboard. The dog powered itself any major US city. Even deciding to go along using its back legs before jumping up the Empire State Building shortly after back on and carrying on its way.

Occasionally under the trees just starting midnight and a few drinks in the Moxy’s to change into their autumn wardrobes, Magic Hour Rooftop Bar that night, I and great humps of grey and black rock a companion felt 100 per cent safe on heaved out of the grass like the slick backs our dash in the dark — although we were of diving sea creatures. disappointed as the doors closed minutes For a while I fancied I was exploring before we got there. original Manhattan when the Canarsee I got my second chance on my last Indians walked the island before the Dutch morning in New York. I wanted to see the and English arrived. But alas: Central Park Statue of Liberty as well, but was running

COVER STORY

| 17.02.19 |

THE SUMMER OF LOVE 2019 will mark 50 years since Woodstock and this August two festivals are set to mark the occasion. Original Woodstock co-creator Michael Lang’s official ‘Woodstock 50’ festival will take place at Watkins Glen, New York.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the historic site of the original event, will also host a three-day festival featuring live music, TED-style talks and special exhibits. woodstock.com, bethelwoodscenter.org

5

NEW YORK CITY VIBES.

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Building. Each time I circled the viewing out of time. I rationalised that I’d be able deck I saw something different: the tiny to see the lady and her lantern from the apartment buildings almost lost in the top of the State. shadows of giant neighbours; recessed It was a cold, wet morning as I balconies, greenery flourishing on a hurried to be first in the queue when rooftop, empty, seemingly abandoned the door opened at 8am. There are two lots awaiting development; a tangle observation levels, an inside one on of roads that coiled like snakes and the 86th floor and an outside one on disappeared into what could only the 102nd. From the top of the Empire be one of the road tunnels State Building, the streets of connecting Manhattan to Manhattan look like a giant Long Island. sculpture of carefully GETTING THERE Auckland to New York Back in the street I placed Lego blocks. return Economy Class flights, had a few minutes to Neon billboards flying Qantas, are from $1399pp. walk the seven blocks several storeys high hot.co.nz added vibrant life to the Rockefeller STAYING THERE as taxis honked and Centre, the birthplace Moxy NYC Times Square, 485 7th Ave. crawled 64 storeys of television in moxy-hotels.marriott.com below.

America. The centre The Statue of is actually about 20 DETAILS Liberty was an almost separate buildings with visittheusa.com indiscernable hazy shape the Rockefeller Plaza at on its little island about 10km the heart of the complex. to the south. Also to the south NBC has its studios here and, of the 22-storey Flatiron building, a vertical course, the tiered towers have served as cliff splitting 5th Avenue and Broadway a background for many a movie. (the part of the street before it becomes Only a handful of skaters were on famous). The apartment blocks of the artificial ice rink surrounded by the Stuyvesant Town were a tetris of roofs row of flags representing the member towards the east. Tank farms and tunnels nations of the UN. As I passed by, the proliferated as I continued northeast New Zealand flag unfurled in a passing around the viewing deck towards the gust — a reminder that it was time to go swooping eyebrows that top the Chrysler home.

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18 | Tuesday, February 19, 2019

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Reserve your seat

Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly will take you back to the golden age of cinema, writes David Skipwith

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of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction appointed himself chief curator of the monthly schedule while committing to preserving the 228-seat theatre solely for film projection, with many of the prints coming from his private collection.

“As long as I’m alive and as long as I’m rich,” Tarantino says on the theatre’s website, “the New Bev will be showing double features in 35mm.”

A visit to the New Beverly — which reopened in December after almost a year of renovations — is a journey back to the golden age of cinema, with throwback ticket prices sitting at around $14 or less, even for double features.

After queuing outside (pre-order tickets online but get there early to secure a good seat and enjoy the camaraderie among movie fans) the lobby showcases large-format posters, often from Italy or France, while old Looney Tunes cartoons and vintage trailers are shown before each screening.

Throughout February, the New Beverly is paying tribute to Burt Reynolds with a selection of his films on offer including Angel Baby, his screen debut Smokey and the Bandit and Boogie Nights. The Godfather Part II, Purple Rain, and Jaws are among other classics on show.

Kids can enjoy weekend matinees while loyal fans can catch one of Tarantino’s films, which screen each Friday at midnight (Pulp Fiction is running this month) — you might even spot him among the reserved seats in the back row.

Tip for young players — while collecting your popcorn at the concession stand, ask the staff to source you a packet of frozen Junior Mints from the freezer — to ensure you get the full New Beverly experience.

New Beverly theatre; Quentin Tarantino (right); Burt Reynolds (left). Photos / Getty Images; Supplied

Pacific Ocean Oregon Idaho

U S A Nevada Utah

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Los Angeles

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winner blamed the rise of digital projection for “the death of cinema” but has since underlined his commitment to 35mm and 16mm film by resurrecting the New Beverly.

Located on Beverly Boulevard, the historic building first opened in 1929 and went through various incarnations as a vaudeville house, candy factory, Jewish community centre, celebrity nightclub and adult theatre, before the late Sherman Torgan transformed it into the New Beverly in 1978.

Having frequented the cinema as a patron since 1982, Tarantino spent a decade forking out more than $7300 a month to help Torgan keep developers at bay, before he eventually bought it outright in 2007. Seven years later the director

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os Angeles is paradise for movieloving holidaymakers and while the major Hollywood studios offer in-depth tours fit for the whole family, serious film buffs can now get their celluloid fix at Quentin Tarantino’s revitalised repertory cinema.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood in Burbank takes fans on a two-hour tram and walking exploration of iconic backlots, sound stages, and exhibitions showcasing props and costumes from the DC Universe and the Harry Potter films.

One of the best studio tours on offer, the Warner Bros. experience differs from the Universal Studios theme park — there are no rides and the focus is on providing an insight and education on the film- and television-making process and how the magic of Hollywood comes to screens.

The Warner Bros. tour varies from day to day depending on what areas of the backlot are being used but generally includes a visit to a talk show set, and a sitcom set, taking takes you past the sound stages used for The Ellen DeGeneres Show and instantly recognisable locations used in shows such as Friends and Pretty Little Liars.

The tour concludes with a self-guided visit to Stage 48: Script to Screen, an interactive sound stage that highlights the key phases of production: screenwriting, set design, visual effects and post production.

Many tourists will come to LA looking to tick off the big attractions and pass on the opportunity to take in a film during their overseas holiday, but hardcore cinephiles should certainly include the Tarantino-owned New Beverly Cinema as a must-visit destination.

Almost five years ago, the two-time Oscar

Ariz.

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Checklist LOS ANGELES GETTING THERE For information on the New Beverly cinema, go to thenewbev.com ONLINE DiscoverLA.com

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ROAR, CHIRP, BARK, SQUEAK – Nestled among lagoons and mature trees, Lincoln Park Zoo features historical architecture and world-class wildlife exhibits. It’s a great place to spend time when the weather’s nice and you want to enjoy time away from the bustling city. And an added bonus, it’s completely free and open to the public on any day of the week.

You don’t even need to check in or get a ticket. lpzoo.org

SOUNDS DELICIOUS – Taste of Chicago is the world’s largest food festival, drawing food lovers to Michigan’s lake front every summer since 1980. Bring an appetite and discover classic local dishes, specialty cuisines and inspired chef creations. There are pop-up restaurants, street food trucks and stands representing top eateries. Go sample-crazy and fill up on all the flavour of Chicago. July 10-14. facebook.com/TheTasteOfChicago

LEARNING THE WAY AROUND There’s a treasure trove of museums and galleries to see, writes Bill Fink

M

ove over New York, Paris, Rome and London. The world’s best museum town may in fact be America’s Midwestern city of Chicago. If you combine the size, scope and significance of Chicago’s major museum collections, with their easy accessibility, amazing architecture, and spectacular lakefront setting, then Chicago has a complete package that rivals or beats the offering of any city on earth.

Like just about every kid growing up in the Chicago area, I went on annual school field trips to the city’s “Big Three” museums: The Art Institute, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Science and Industry (the “cool one” because you got to press lots of buttons). Sometimes we’d get the bonus of visiting the nearby Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium.

As a kid, I didn’t realise how lucky I was to have these attractions in my home town. And that was even before the list of Chicago museums expanded to an astounding 128 (according to Trip Advisor), including 35 ethnic museums reflecting the city’s diverse immigrant heritage.

Much of Chicago’s two main museum campuses was created on the shores of Lake Michigan as part of the 1893 World’s Fair. The massive neoclassical structures maintain their sense of history while also investing in improvements and holding special exhibits that continue to give visitors the same sense of awe and wonder I felt getting off that big orange school bus and staring up at their towering marble columns for the first time.

Standing between the stunning Chicago skyline and the boats bobbing in the seemingly endless waters of Lake Michigan, the five major cultural attractions outlined below are not only essential to see in any visit to Chicago, but on their own, make Chicago an essential place to visit.

The Art Institute of Chicago The bronze lion statues guarding the entrance to the Art Institute signify the value of the priceless treasures inside, while the wide marble stairway and grand entrance speak to the breadth of the displays. The numbers are staggering: 1.6 million annual visitors come to see the 300,000 works of art exhibited in more

Inset: Live science show at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Above: SUE the T-rex at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.

than 90,000 square metres of space, the second largest art museum in the United States.

It’s not just about the quantity, but the quality of works inside that make the museum a mustsee. From Old Masters to Impressionists, Pop Art and Surrealists, the Art Institute’s collection represents every major art movement in history with some of the best examples of every school of art, boasting an all-star lineup with favourites like Picasso’s Old Guitarist, Monet’s Water Lilies and Rembrandt’s Old Man with Gold Chain along with more obscure surprises like rooms full or armour and miniatures.

Marvelling at the 6sq m of dots comprising George Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is worth the Art Institute’s $25 price of admission by itself.

You don’t have to be an art scholar or history geek to enjoy the museum.

Joining in free guided tours or renting the headphone audio guide will add background colour to the paintings, and make you feel like an art expert by the end of your visit. Kids can become artists themselves with free hands-on

projects in the Artist’s Studio, while even adults will enjoy the creative lessons in the Interactive Gallery. artic.edu

The Ancient Egypt realm of relics and mummies is a perennial favourite, now supplemented by high-tech movies in the museum’s 3D theatre.

Continue marvelling through halls The Field Museum of of meteorites, treasure troves of giant gems, artefacts from world cultures, and Natural History fascinating plant and animal exhibits, a Looking up at the Field Museum’s massive lifetime’s worth of education under one columns and arches as a kid, I reckoned roof. Stop by the Grainger Science Hub for this building was big enough to house hands-on learning experiences, then refuel just about EVERYTHING in the world, so in one of two restaurants before was only mildly surprised to find going for another loop. three-storey tall dinosaur and Chicago fieldmuseum.org mastodon skeletons looming ARLINGTON in the main hall, the largest HEIGHTS Lake The Museum of of the 20 million historic Michigan CHICAGO specimens now on display Science and Industry NAPERVILLE there. The museum’s current I remember as a kid in the celebrity is SUE, at 12 metres Museum of Science and ILLINOIS long, the largest and most Industry, racing to beat my 20km complete T-Rex skeleton ever friends to press the button at the discovered, and who, despite being 67 next display, activating machinery to million years old, has her own popular reveal the inner workings of a steam Twitter feed (@>SUEtheTRex). To celebrate engine or a rocket ship, lighting up a the museum’s 125th anniversary, new section of the massive model railroad exhibits include “Maximo” the 37-metre diorama, or answering illustrated quizzes long titanosaur skeleton surrounded about food, energy or outer space. by a squadron of flying pteradons amid We’d beg the teachers for a ticket to enter the Coal Mine attraction and special primeval hanging gardens. tour of an actual captured World War II Dinosaur exhibits are only the beginning German submarine, looming 76m long in of the Field Museum’s seemingly endless the back gallery. tour through the history of earth and The MSI continues to dazzle kids and space and everything they contain.

USA

| 24.02.19 |

AND ALL THAT JAZZ – Chicago has long been fertile ground for blues, jazz, gospel, hip hop, punk, house — and everything in between.

It is therefore no surprise that Chicago is a great place to enjoy live music. From venues that have achieved legendary status such as Buddy Guy’s and Green Mill, intimate neighbourhood clubs, historical music halls and exciting festivals like the Chicago Jazz Festival and Lollapalooza, no matter your musical taste, you’ll find it live in Chicago.

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Chicago is a great city for wandering.

The downtown area is famous for its towering skyscrapers, Art Deco gems, public art and the parks on the banks of Lake Michigan. · There are a number of world class museums, over 200 theatres and a fantastic music scene including authentic jazz and blues bars. · You won’t go hungry with the incredible dining scene, with Michelin-star restaurants as well as plenty of local favourites like the deliciously cheesy deep dish pizza. · Sports lovers will have the chance to catch an iconic sports team.

The Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, White Sox and Bears all call Chicago home.

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huge domed Grainger Sky Theatre with adults alike with all the old favourites, immersive journeys into the night sky and new exhibits ranging from a hall of and galaxies beyond. Exhibits on planets, mirrors to a living tornado, a whisper space travel, and star science make for gallery, the educational splash park an out-of-this-world experience. It’s worth playground of the Idea Factory, and it just to walk to the Planetarium for a updated halls of farming, energy, main view of Chicago’s skyline. street America, and transportation, with adlerplanetarium.org plenty of buttons still to press.

Except the newest The Shedd generation of “buttons” GETTING THERE includes the controls Aquarium Air New Zealand flies direct from Auckland to Chicago, with of a flight simulator, The Shedd Aquarium return flights from $1489. virtual reality (with nearly 2 million tours of outer annual visitors) hot.co.nz space, digital art, boasts 20,000 HOT TIP and computer aquatic creatures Get a Chicago City Pass. This discount coupon modelling. You’ll on display in their book offers admission fees and VIP entry to the museums (and a couple other spots), a leave hardly even native settings, $112 saving if you visit all the attractions. realising you’ve everything from citypass.com/chicago spent the day cute penguins and DETAILS learning in one of the sea otters to creepy visitheusa.com world’s largest science crustaceans and surly classrooms — maybe with moray eels. With a view an urge to begin a new career over Lake Michigan, the as a railroad engineer or space aquarium naturally has a large Great shuttle pilot.

Lakes exhibit, along with Caribbean msichicago.org Reef and the stunning Wild Reef exhibit.

The fan favourite, the regular “Aquatic Presentation,” features educational The Adler Planetarium and entertaining lineups of leaping Built on a peninsula jutting into the lake, dolphin shows, curious beluga whales, the 12-sided (for the signs of the Zodiac) performing seals and sea lions.

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travel

16 | Tuesday, February 19, 2019

USA

» I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL – Named one of the best rock clubs

by Rolling Stone, the legendary Troubadour in West Hollywood is a must visit for music fans. Since 1957, it’s played an important role in the careers of many musical legends including the Eagles, Guns N’ Roses, Carole King and Van Morrison. This landmark venue still remains popular and is the perfect place to listen to live music in a historically rich setting.

TRIP THE SUNSET STRIP – Running along Sunset Boulevard, LA’s famed Sunset Strip’s clubs and venues became a popular haunt for musicians in the 1960s, including David Bowie, Jimmy Page and Jim Morrison. It’s a little less wild these days, but you can still see live music at venues like Whisky a Go Go, The Roxy and the Viper Room, or grab a drink at Rainbow Bar and Grill, a popular hangout for music legends.

Oh, such a perfect day ...

Life’s a beautiful Californian beach in LA’s South Bay, where Eli Orzessek discovers his hidden athletic side

A

pproaching my first beach volleyball lesson, I feel a sense of trepidation as visions of beach jocks kicking sand in my face fill my mind.

My feet are sinking in the deep, soft sand of LA’s Hermosa Beach — walking to the net is a challenge in itself and the warm-up hasn’t even begun.

Our coach Mark, an actual Olympian, looks exactly as you’d expect — tall, tanned and muscular, with a sandy blonde ponytail framed by an undercut. He’s the archetypical Californian beach jock — despite being from New York state originally.

As for me, I’m short and stocky and I’ve just eaten a large serving of French toast, battered and encrusted in sugary frosted cornflakes. As we begin our warm-up, scuttling back and forth across the sand, I feel my breakfast threatening to return.

I’m starting to become uncertain that a beach volleyball session was the best return to exercise for me, following a sedentary two months recovering from abdominal surgery, but hey — why not jump in the deep end?

After a somewhat shaky start, I’m delighted to report that I am in fact a natural at beach volleyball. Mark praises my “perfect passes”, while others in the group ask if I’ve played before.

I choose to ignore my stinging arms, which have turned a fetching shade of pink from being smashed by the ball over and over.

Despite my obvious talents, I’m completely

pooped by the end of the one hour coaching session — and as it happens, there’s little time to rest before we move on to our next activity: a two-hour bike tour around LA’s South Bay. Luckily for me, it’s fairly relaxed as far as bike tours go — an entirely flat coastal cruise. The Marvin Braude Bike Trail, also known as The Strand, is a concrete bike path that runs for 35km along the Los Angeles coastline from Will Rogers State Beach in the north, to Torrance County Beach in the south.

For our tour with Bikes and Hikes LA, we’re sticking to the beaches of the South Bay. From Hermosa, we pedal along the Strand towards Redondo Beach, passing beautifully weathered beach houses that induce romantic visions of California in the 60s. The pink stucco Sea Sprite motel, with its cutesy vintage signage just adds to the nostalgic vibe — and it turns out it was even used as a filming location on the OC. Naturally.

As we leave Hermosa Beach and turn on to the road, a guy looks at us and says, with a Southern California drawl, “You guys are doing great. Everybody loves you”. I’m not sure if he’s entirely serious, as this isn’t the most touristy area, but I choose to take it at face value.

The people of LA tend to be uber-friendly and say “dude” a lot — but sometimes, you’re just not entirely sure how genuine it really is.

Top, Hermosa Beach and above, volleyball lessons on the sand. Photos / Luca Steeb; Eli Orzessek

At breakfast, when I make a break for the bathroom, a young waitress intercepts and engages me in friendly conversation.

Then she asks if I’m a food blogger or influencer and asks if I can mentor her. I tell her I’m just a humble travel writer from New Zealand and offer my Instagram handle. I never receive a follow though — perhaps she’s disappointed to see I have fewer than 500 followers. In Los Angeles, you’ve got to have a hustle.

The bike path diverts through a less-than-scenic carpark before we arrive at the Redondo Beach Pier — where a much-welcomed table of organic coldpressed juices await us. It’s all very Californian.

The pier also has a nostalgic appeal, akin to a west coast Coney Island — and serves all the beachfront delicacies, from corndogs to funnel cakes and plenty of fresh seafood. One souvenir shop specialises entirely in toe rings, with a shop front font that’s right out of the 60s.

We round the horseshoe-shaped pier and observe locals fishing, while opportunistic seagulls circle around in search of fish guts. Then it’s back through Hermosa Beach and on to the more upmarket Manhattan Beach.

Along the way, we come across a farmers’ market with a stall offering samples of a wide range of beautiful summer fruits — and they all taste amazing, like sweet sunshine. Nearby a dude in mirrored sunglasses walks five dogs, ranging in size from Bernese mountain dog to chihuahua.

Like nearby Hermosa, volleyball nets line Manhattan Beach — but the houses start to get

travel

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 | 17

LAUGH YOUR HEAD OFF – If you like a laugh, chuckle or chortle, Los Angeles is your town. The city is a known breeding ground for new comedic talent and a hotbed for the venues that showcase them.

There’s the Comedy Store and the Laugh Factory, where many famous faces have graced the stage and The Groundlings, an improv school and theatre that launched the careers of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and John Goodman, among others.

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The cultural and geographical heart of L.A, surrounded by must-see hotspots. There’s plenty to see and do, within walking distance, and of course you’re in one of the hottest hubs of L.A.

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a bit more modern and affluent, although not quite as charming. The stretch of shops behind the beach attracts a posh clientele, thanks to its boutique shops and blossoming dining scene.

A number of professional athletes call the area home, lured in by the fresh air and ocean scenery — including Maria Sharapova, Tiger Woods, Shaquille O’Neal and Lamar Odom.

Our tour concludes back at Hermosa, but we return to the Manhattan Beach centre in the evening to dine at Iron Chef David LeFevre’s restaurant M.B. Post.

The menu is focused on sharing plates — and as we’re cutting it tight for a later engagement, the staff give us the express version, with plates of incredible food and cocktails to match arriving at breakneck speed.

Starting with the most exquisite bacon and cheddar biscuits (more like scones) perfectly complimented by maple butter on the side, we munch our way through it all — and I pocket a couple of biscuits to enjoy later.

Then we rush down the road back to Hermosa to catch the evening show at the famous Comedy and Magic Club — where Jay Leno is known to perform on Sundays. I’m most excited to see the famous “puffy shirt” from Seinfeld on display. The headliner for the night is Orny Adams — you might know him as the coach from Teen Wolf, but I didn’t.

He’s very loud and occasionally funny, but my highlight is Cristela Alonzo, who wins me over with her observations on 90s dial-up internet — which probably goes over the heads of the rest of my group, who are all in their mid-20s. Sue me, I’m old.

At our morning volleyball session, Coach Mark tells us as a Hermosa Beach local, he rarely feels the need to leave the area and go downtown. And after a perfect day in the South Bay, I can see what he means.

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18 | Tuesday, February 26, 2019

USA

» PLENTY TO CELEBRATE – Join in on a celebration of blues, soul, funk, and rhythm & blues at the Waterfront Blues Festival. Set along the west bank of the Willamette River, this Portland flagship festival has become a treasured tradition and also serves as downtown Portland’s signature Fourth of July Celebration with its spectacular display of fireworks. waterfrontbluesfest.com

OPERA IN THE PARK – Portland SummerFest’s annual Opera in the Park hosts a series of free outdoor performances at Washington Park – home of the International Rose Test Garden. With more than 10,000 rose bushes from around 650 varieties, you can test your senses by enjoying its sights, scents and sounds. portlandsummerfest.org

Portland three ways

A tour guide can extend horizons for a solo traveller, writes Stephanie Holmes

A

fter being screamed at by an angry homeless woman within my first 15 minutes of stepping outside my hotel, I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy my time in Portland.

It was raining and the grey skies were mirrored in the grey streets, the Willamette River snaking powerfully through the city like a major artery. It didn’t help that it was Halloween, I was jetlagged and I didn’t really have any idea where I was going or what I was going to do with myself.

Travelling alone can be a blessing and a curse, sometimes both at the same time. There’s a sense of joy in the freedom it affords you — you can go wherever you want, whenever you want, without having to explain or commit to anyone else.

But when you’re a stranger in a new town, that freedom can sometimes be overwhelming, often lonely. You really need to put yourself out there to meet new people — there’s no safety net in the same way there is when travelling with a friend or a partner.

A place like Portland — known for its supercool hipster vibes, world-class food and huge craft beer scene — can be slightly intimidating. Where do you start in this city of approximately 77 breweries and 3744 restaurants? And who will you to talk to while you sample the city’s best?

Well, that’s where a guided tour becomes your new best friend. You get to find some of the most amazing spots in the city and — best of all — you have an automatic posse of new pals to enjoy it with. Even if you’re the only one booked on to the tour, there’s always going to be a guide, and they’re obliged to talk to you, it’s their job.

On my trip there last year, I found three great ways to see and experience Portland, no friends necessary.

1. THE BEER BUS TOUR Portland is a sprawling city and its 77 breweries are dotted across its 95 official neighbourhoods.

Navigating public transport is no fun when you’re on holiday, especially if you’re getting merry drinking beer, which also means selfdriving isn’t an option.

Enter Brewvana, a tour company that will take you to some of the city’s best breweries either

on foot, or by mini-bus.

I was on the Pacific Northwest is Best tour, visiting four different breweries and sampling a few different beers at each. The four-hour itinerary is enough to really get you well-oiled and, quite frankly, ready for bed.

Our guide, Benjamin, was the perfect Portland host — he moved to the city for the beer, and now takes great pleasure in showing guests the best on offer.

He drove us around in a 12-seater mini-bus, which had the tour rules printed clearly on the wall — including be respectful of others and yourself and, worryingly: “no puking on the bus”.

We visited four of the city’s best independent breweries — Culmination, Laurelwood, Ex Novo and Lompoc, spanning a few blocks of the city’s Eastside. Although, really, you have no need to know where you are or how it relates to the rest of the city as your guide will get you everywhere you need to go, tell you how long you have at each stop, show you where the toilets are, remind you to pick up all your things when you leave, before dropping you right back where you started as if the whole thing never happened.

The tour is a happy medium between complete craft beer nerdery and beginner basics — our group of four spanned those categories and everyone seemed to leave happy. And probably a little drunk. brewvana.com 2. THE WALKING FOODIE TOUR I was surprised to learn The Big Foody, a walking tour company, began in Auckland 10 years ago.

It was founded by British expat Elle Armon-Jones and the tours are designed to showcase a city

A selection from New Deal craft distillery. Photo / Supplied

through the eyes of a local. She runs six Auckland itineraries, plus one in Canterbury. The idea has proved so successful her friend, Laura Morgan, transported it to Portland and launched The Big Foody PDX. Laura’s not from Portland but she was drawn there thanks to its amazing food and drink and now loves sharing it with visitors. She has excellent industry contacts, so knows the places to go that aren’t necessarily easily found by tourists.

We were due to meet for our tour at Smith Tea, a boutique tea-maker and cafe on the central southside. Walking there in the middle of the day, I wondered if I had somehow got lost . . . there was nothing but warehouses all around and the area had a rough around the edges, “should I be here alone?” kind of vibe.

But, out of nowhere, Smith Tea appeared, a tranquil space where I sampled four different varieties with pleasant names, like Red Nectar, Meadow and Silent Night.

Across the road, a non-descript doorway lead to Olympia Provisions, one of the best charcuterie restaurants I’ve experienced. If I’d been on my own, there’s no way I would have walked through that random warehouse doorway, too fearful of potentially having taken a wrong turn. But with Laura’s guidance, I felt as if I was getting an insider’s glimpse at a hidden secret.

We walked many blocks, sampling some of the best local produce — Jacobsen Salt, hard liquor from New Deal distillery, and heavenly chocolate at Cloudforest.

All the producers had something in common with Laura — none of them was from Portland, but they have grown to love it thanks to its excellent food and drink scene.

travel

Tuesday, February 26, 2019 | 19

ALL TOGETHER NOW – Described as ‘a major force in the vibrant Portland music scene’ Tender Loving Empire is an independent record label, which also happens to be a consignment-shop-art-handcraft-studioconcept store. Basically a creative hub where owners Brianne and Jared Mees are saying “Here are all the things we love. We really hope you love them too”. Having grown to four stores across the city, it’s a place for everything creative in Portland, all together. tenderlovingempire.com

TAKE ME TO PORTLAND.

For more on Oregon, turn to p20-p21, and go to nzherald.co.nz/travel for video from Stephanie Holmes’ trip

PORTLAND RETURN FLIGHTS And, thanks to my tour with Laura, I started to feel that way too. thebigfoody.com

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Checklist PORTLAND GETTING THERE United Airlines flies from Auckland to Portland, via San Francisco. Return Economy Class fares are from $2158. united.com House of Travel has deals for flights and three-night accommodation in Portland from $1810pp. hot.co.nz DETAILS travelportland.com ONLINE visittheusa.com

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Oregon has high desert country to the east, balmy coast to the west, and mountains, rivers and forests in between.

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OU R FAVOU R I T E T H I N G S A BOU T P O RT L A N D Portland is famous for its street food and has more than 600 food carts.

The Alder St Food Cart Pod covers a whole city block and is a great place to sample local delicacies. · Craft beer lovers, look no further, you’ll find over 75 breweries, beer fests, brew ‘n’ view movie theatres and tap lists galore. Rogue Distillery and Deschutes Brewery are a couple of our favourites. · You don’t have to go far from town to find yourself paddling, hiking or checking out a beautiful waterfall.

Columbia River Gorge, just 30 minutes from downtown, is the perfect place to go for your fix of the outdoors.

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Clockwise from above: Touring with Cycle Portland; Olympia Provisions; a tea-tasting flight at Smith Teamaker.

Photos / Travel Portland; Stephanie Holmes

3. THE CYCLE TOUR One of the best ways to see a new city is by bike.

You can get in among its hidden neighbourhoods, away from the well-trodden tourist paths, and discover things it would take hours to find on foot.

If that sounds appealing, meet Cycle Portland, a tour and bike rental company conveniently situated downtown, close to the river and the weekend markets.

Portland is a great city for cycling, with more than 550km of bike paths, and the majority of drivers patient and happy to let cyclists pass.

We cycled an easy 12km over the course of four hours, across some of Portland’s famous bridges over to the trendy Central Eastside of the city. Each stop negated the calories we’d just burned on the bike as there was a small feast waiting for us.

Like every New Zealander knows, a day can’t start without coffee, so our first stop was Cup & Bar, the cafe combining Trailhead Coffee and Ranger Chocolates. These two companies both have a focus on ethical, sustainable, small-batch production and distribution. Trailhead even delivers its beans to local cafes by bike.

Portland has become synonymous with food carts — this is the city that launched the trend that enables talented chefs to get their start in the industry, without the burden of high leases and overheads. There are now more than 500 carts around the city and competition is fierce.

Sam, our cycle guide, took us to one of his favourites, Cartopia, a pod of food carts in the supercool foodie neighbourhood of Hawthorne. A giant serving of Portuguese chicken and potatoes meant it was hard to get back on my bike — luckily we took a gentle ride through leafy suburban streets.

By the time we made it to Fifty Licks, I had made room for a scoop of their gourmet icecream.

We rode along the Willamette River, heading back to Cycle Portland. Their base was only a street away from where my Portland experience began — the corner where the angry homeless woman screamed obscenities at me.

But this time, the sun was shining and everything looked a lot brighter. All it took was a few new friends to show me the vibrant heart underneath the city’s hard surface. portlandbicycletours.com

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Gibbs Farm, out west, makes it on to our list of the world’s great scuplture parks. “Only way to better this park would be the addition of a masterpiece by Phil Price,” writes, er, Phil Price.

Art » p15 There are more than 20 breweries in Bend, meaning the city of 87,000 has more breweries per capita than any other in Oregon.

USA » p20-p21

Bend, Oregon $200

S

tart your day with a hearty breakfast at Jackson’s Corner, famous for: beer. The city’s numerous craft beer breweries make a local favourite that’s known for its locally and organically up the Bend Ale Trail, which even has its own passport. You can sourced menu. Breakfast and coffee should set you back knock off a whole lot of stamps by taking the Bend Ale Trail about $20.

Passport Passpo Express Tour, which visits 11 of the 26 breweries Oregon is known for its lush and beautiful — the th itinerary is different for each tour. $80 landscapes. For a taster, head to Pilot Butte State While Wh you’re on the beer buzz, have dinner at Crux For more Fe Park, which is right in town. At any point in the city, Fermentation Project, which has a great food menu on Bend and other you’ll have a view of the 150m dormant volcano as well as excellent brews. The Grilled Cheesy great Oregon sights – that is Pilot Butte. The hike to the top isn’t too hard is a particular favourite here. $40. sa including Portland – sandwich at just under 2km — and you’ll have great views For the evening, head to the Tin Pan Theater for a see p18-p21 over the city once you reach the top. unique cinema experience. This tiny movie theatre un Enjoy lunch with views over the Deschutes River at seats seat around 30 and only shows independent films. A movie ticket, popcorn and a beer (of course) should only Greg’s Grill. This scenic spot offers classic American fare and has a good kids’ menu if you have any little ones in tow. cost around $20.

A meal and a drink will cost you around $30. .

Spend your afternoon getting a taste of what Bend is most

TOTAL: $190

Travel lines

Photo / Aaron Marineau/Travel Oregon

for

Eli Orzessek loves buffets and brandy snaps.

“There’s a trick to buffet success,” he intones.

“Go overboard early on and you’ll make yourself sick and miss out on dessert, which is actually the best part. Go for small plates and plenty of variety.” New Zealand » p24 Dean Raynel walked the length of the North island to raise funds and awareness for Alzheimers. He reckons the glorious Tararua Ranges were the toughest part. “You will need to make sure you are reasonably fit for the steep ascents and descents, but there are huts along the way every four hours so you are never any more than two hours to the nearest one if the weather turns,” he writes. “It is important not to go up until you have a good window of weather.” New Zealand » p27 Amsterdammage — sorry, Amsterdam — is trying to change its image as a hen and stag party destination. “It’s a minority, but a very loud minority that offends people. Yes, I would like them to go other places, but I’m also a realist,” says Frans Van der Avert, head of Amsterdam Marketing. Opinion » p31 The Italian-owned Costa neoRomatica, which sails between Tokyo and South Korea from April to November, is a good ship for cruisers who like Italian dining. “You will never go hungry eating the food included in your fare,” reports Neil Porten. Ship Check » p33 Damien Christie reckons flying from Invercargill is to Rakiura is quicker than taking the ferry.

“And for just over $100 each way, it’s a great vantage point to see exactly how big Stewart Island/Rakiura really is,” he writes.

Flight Check » p34 Some people put strip club ‘dollars’ in the donation containers at Auckland airport.

Seriously. We don’t like » p39

Where we are Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour.

Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.

Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

the North Island to ell walked the length of ople with Alzheimers. ne Dean Rayn ds to help pe raise awareness and funr most beautiful places, on p27 . . . fou p to He shares his

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Hawke's Bay Today

MAY MUSIC

ROARING SURF IN HAWAI‘I? CHEERING CROWDS IN FLORIDA? BIRD CALLS IN WYOMING? BOOK A DATE TO FIND YOUR USA SOUND...

2019 MARCH MUSIC Back Porch 1 - 4 Mar, Northampton, MA Innings Festival 2 - 3 Mar, Tempe, AZ Crssd Festival Spring 2 - 3 Mar, San Diego, CA Savannah Stopover 7 - 9 Mar, Savannah, GA Musink 8 - 10 Mar, Costa Mesa, CA

South By Southwest (SXSW) 8 - 17 Mar, Austin, TX Gasparilla Music Festival 9 - 10 Mar, Tampa, FL Pot Of Gold Festival 15 - 17 Mar, Chandler, AZ Treefort Music Festival 20 - 24 Mar, Boise, ID Big Ears 21 - 24 Mar, Knoxville, TN Beyond Wonderland 22 - 23 Mar, San Bernardino, CA Buku Music + Art Project 22 - 23 Mar, New Orleans, LA Savannah Music Festival 28 Mar - 13 Apr, Savannah, GA Rapture Festival 29 - 30 Mar, Miami, FL Ultra Music Festival 29 - 31 Mar, Miami, FL

SPORT NCAA Wrestling Championships 21 Mar - 23 Mar, Pittsburgh, PA

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SPORT Golf Masters Tournament 11 - 14 Apr, Augusta, GA Tortuga Music Festival 12 - 14 Apr, Fort Lauderdale, FL NBA playoffs 13 Apr, Finals concluding in June Boston Marathon 15 Apr, Boston, MA

CULTURE

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King Lear 4 Apr - 7 Jul, Cort Theatre, NY Jackson is back on Broadway, and she’s climbing the tallest mountain any actor can climb. Glenda Jackson is King Lear.

Merrie Monarch Festival 22 - 27 Apr, Hilo, HI Hawai‘i Island’s weeklong festival celebrates the art of hula. The highlight of this festival is a world renowned three-day hula competition featuring some of the best hālau hula from Hawai‘i and the continental United States.

West Coast Weekender 2 - 4 May (TBC), San Diego, CA Sunfest 2 - 5 May, West Palm Beach, FL Welcome To Rockville 3 - 5 May, Jacksonville, FL Beale Street Music Festival 3 - 5 May, Memphis, TN Shaky Knees Festival 3 - 5 May, Atlanta, GA M3 Rock Festival 3 - 5 May, Columbia, MD Lightning In A Bottle 8 - 13 May, Bradley, CA Shaky Beats Festival 10 - 11 May, Atlanta, GA Rolling Loud Festival 10 - 12, May, Miami, FL Epicenter Festival 10 - 12 May, Rockingham, NC Hangout Fest 17 - 19 May, Gulf Shores, AL A multi-genre music festival in Gulf Shores Public Beach. Its recent lineups have included Kendrick freakin’ Lamar, The Killers, The Chainsmokers and more. This festival features many genres of music over many stages, including rock, indie, hip hop, and electronic dance music.

Sonic Temple 17 - 19 May, Columbus, OH Electric Daisy Carnival 17 - 19 May, Las Vegas, NV Chicago Open Air 18 - 19 May, Bridgeview, IL Rooster Walk 23 - 26 May, Axton, VA Boston Calling 24 - 26 May, Allston, MA Rocklahoma 24 - 26 May, Pryor, OK California Roots 24 - 26 May, Monterey, CA Summer Camp 24 - 26 May, Chillicothe, IL Bottlerock Napa Valley 24 - 26 May, Napa, CA Sunset Music Festival 25 - 26 May, Tampa, FL Neon Desert 25 - 26 May (TBC), El Paso, TX Bunbury Music Festival 31 May - 2 Jun, Cincinnati, OH The Governors Ball Music Festival 31 May - 2 Jun, Randall's Island, NY

SPORT Kentucky Derby 2 May, Louisville, KY US PGA 16 - 19 May, Farmingdale, NY Indianapolis 500 26 May, Speedway, IN

CULTURE Chicago - The Musical 7 May, Ambassador Theatre, NY

SOUNDS LIKE? GUIDE TO STATE CODES • AL- Alabama • AK - Alaska • AZ - Arizona • AR - Arkansas • CA - California • CO - Colorado • CT - Connecticut • DE - Delaware • FL - Florida • GA - Georgia • HI - Hawai‘i • ID - Idaho • IL - Illinois • IN Indiana • IA - Iowa • KS Kansas • KY - Kentucky • LA Louisiana • ME - Maine • MD Maryland • MA - Massachusetts • MI - Michigan • MN Minnesota • MS - Mississippi • MO - Missouri • MT - Montana • NE - Nebraska • NV - Nevada • NH - New Hampshire • NJ New Jersey • NM - New Mexico • NY - New York • NC - North Carolina • ND - North Dakota • OH - Ohio • OK - Oklahoma • OR - Oregon • PA Pennsylvania • RI - Rhode Island • SC - South Carolina • SD - South Dakota • TN Tennessee • TX - Texas • UT Utah • VT - Vermont • VA Virginia • WA - Washington • WV - West Virginia • WI Wisconsin • WY -Wyoming

sounds of nature Yosemite National Park, CA The best short hike is Waterfall walking at Vernal Falls. This 10.4km-long trail passes through the thundering mist created by two magnificent cascades: Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls.

Yellowstone National Park, WY Try hot-tubbing in the wild!

Boiling River is a bathing spot where hot springs enter Gardner River to create perfect soaking conditions.

Great Basin National Park, NV Do some Moon-walking. Two hours’ drive from the neon glow of Vegas, the night sky is so clear you can regularly see five planets.

Rangers offer free lunar-lit night hikes in summer when there’s a full moon.

JUNE MUSIC Roots Picnic 1 Jun (TBC), Philadelphia, PA Nelsonville Music Festival 6 - 9 Jun, Nelsonville, OH CMA Music Festival 6 - 9 Jun, Nashville, TN Spring Awakening 7 - 9 Jun, Chicago, IL Hot 97 Summer Jam 9 Jun, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ No festival has been more integral to the development of hip hop than Hot 97 Summer Jam. Giving a platform to the freshest names, as well as providing fans with an opportunity to see the superheroes of rap. Anyone who’s anyone has played Summer Jam. Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 13 - 16 Jun, Great Stage Park, TN Originally focused on jam bands and folk rock, this festival has expanded to include an impressive array of genres.

Mountain Jam 13 - 16 Jun, Bethel, NY Clearwater Festival 15 - 16 Jun (TBC), Croton-On-Hudson, NY Firefly Music Festival 21 - 23 Jun, Dover, DE Bonanza Campout 21 - 23 Jun, Heber, UT Electric Forest 21 - 24 Jun, 28 Jun - 1 Jul, Rothbury, MI An eight day psychedelic tribute, held in the middle of a forest, and one of the biggest electro/jam band festivals.

Mamby On The Beach 22 - 23 Jun (TBC), Chicago, IL Summerfest 26 Jun - 7 Jul, Milwaukee, WI

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WEIRD BUT WORTH IT SPORT Belmont Stakes 7 - 9 Jun, Belmont Park, NY US Open Golf 13 - 16 Jun, Pebble Beach, CA NBA Draft 2019 20 Jun, Barclays Center, NY

CULTURE King Kamehameha Day Celebration Parade and Hoolaulea 8 Jun, Honolulu, Oahu, HI During King Kamehameha Day Celebration Parade and Hoolaulea the Native Hawaiian community celebrates its pau history, its legends, its music, its hula, its traditional crafts and demonstrations and its honoring of Hawai‘i's first King, Kamehameh.

Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival 15 - 23 Jun, Detroit , MI Every June, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival brings the world’s finest chamber musicians to metro Detroit for two weeks of performances in spectacular downtown and suburban venues.

Grand Canyon Star Party 22–29 June, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ Amateur astronomers from across the country volunteer their expertise and offer free nightly astronomy programs and telescope viewing.

JULY MUSIC Essence Music Festival 4 - 7 Jul, New Orleans, LA Taste of Chicago 10 - 14 Jul, Grant Park, IL The world’s largest food festival, drawing food lovers to Michigan’s lake front every summer since 1980. Bring an appetite and discover classic local dishes, specialty cuisines and inspired chef creations. There are pop-up restaurants, street food trucks and stands representing top eateries.

Go sample-crazy and fill up on all the flavour of Chicago.

Forecastle Festival 12 - 14 Jul, Louisville, KY Pitchfork Music Festival 15 - 17 Jul, Union Park, IL This three day event is a music genre melting pot of rock, hip-hop, electronic, jazz, punk and any other genre and sub-genre you want to celebrate. With a record fair, food, art and beverages from local and national vendors, this truly is a cultural feast.

Rock Fest Wisconsin 18 - 20 Jul, Cadott, WI Camp Bisco 18 - 20 Jul, Scranton, PA Global Dance Festival 19 - 20 Jul (TBC), Denver, CO Faster Horses Country Festival 19 - 21 Jul, Brooklyn, MI Float Fest 20 - 21 Jul, San Marcos, TX Floydfest 24 - 28 Jul, Floyd, VA

The Great Outhouse Races Feb, Sapphire Valley, NC To bid farewell to winter, Sapphire Valley Resort hosts a unique race every February that involves outhouses (toilets that are outside) on skis. Spectators come from throughout the southeast to line the course and cheer on those brave enough to see if their outhouse crashes and burns or sails across the finish line.

All proceeds from the event go to charity.

24-Hour Drone 29 Apr, Hudson, NY Three-hundred people camp out on the concrete floor of an old industrial factory for 24 hours straight, experiencing “Sound without the tight hands of Time.” The music is mostly ambient, atmospheric and the point is to disconnect from daily life and redefine the concept of community.

Pillows are strewn all over the venue, and attendees are encouraged to spend the entire festival lying down so that sound waves move horizontally across the body..

Underwater Music Festival 5 - 7 May, Big Pine Key, FL Yes, literally underwater.

Hundreds of divers and snorkelers dive into a coral barrier and play “instruments” (examples: “fluke-a-leles” and “trom-bonefish”) made by a local artist, to the tune of songs that are transmitted through waterproof speakers. The point of the festival? It’s not for the out-of-this-world Instagram shots - but to promote reef conservation.

Duck Tape Festival 4 Jun, Avon, OH The Duck Tape Festival pays homage to the perpetually handy tape, highlighting its many uses in everyday life.

From a colorful duct tape-themed fashion show to an impressive parade of duct tape-covered floats, this unique festival in Ohio might just inspire how you use the sticky stuff going forward. Be one of the first to arrive, and you’ll receive a free roll!

MUSIC

SPORT

The Peach Music Festival 25 - 28 Jul, Scranton, PA

SPORT MLB All-Star Game 7 - 10 Jul, Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH An integral part of the season for baseball fans, it’s become known as the Midsummer Classic. In 2019, the best baseball players in the world will converge in Cleveland.

CULTURE Oahu 49th Annual Ukulele Festival 21 Jul, Kapiolani Pk, Waikiki, Oahu, HI The music swirls over the tops of trees toward Diamond Head. It’s upbeat, infectious, and all about surf and sunny days. It’s music you want to dance and sing to. It embraces everyone who hears it. That’s the irresistible charm of the ukulele.

AUGUST MUSIC Lollapalooza 1 - 4 Aug, Grant Park, IL A gathering of music, dance, comedy and craft booths, Lollapalooza is another multi-genre delight which also provides a platform for political and non-profit artists and groups.

Pickathon 2 - 4 Aug, Happy Valley, OR Outside Lands 9 - 11 Aug, San Francisco, CA Moonrise Festival 10 - 11 Aug (TBC), Baltimore, MD Woodstock 50th Anniversary Festival 16 - 18 Aug, Watkins Glen, NY 2019 will mark 50 years since Woodstock and this August two festivals are set to mark the occasion. Original Woodstock co-creator Michael Lang’s official ‘Woodstock 50’ festival will take place at Watkins Glen, New York.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the historic site of the original event, will also host a three-day festival featuring live music, TED-style talks and special exhibits.

Billboard Hot 100 Festival 17 - 18 Aug (TBC), Long Island, NY Burning Man 25 Aug - 2 Sept, Blk Rock Desert, NV Gulf Coast Jam 30 Aug - 1 Sept, Panama City Beach, FL Bumbershoot 31 Aug - 1 Sept, Seattle, WA Electric Zoo 31 Aug - 2 Sept, Randall's Island, NY Electric Zoo annually takes over the lush parkland of Randall's Island Park, bringing electronic dance music to the forefront of New York City.

SPORT Summer X Games – Extreme Sports 1 - 4 Aug, Minneapolis, MN US Open – Tennis 26 Aug - 8 Sep, NY

Lights All Night 27 - 28 Dec (TBC), Dallas, TX Snowglobe 29 - 31 Dec (TBC), South Lake Tahoe, CA Decadence Arizona 30 - 31 Dec (TBC), Phoenix, AZ Snowta Fest 30 - 31 Dec (TBC), Minneapolis, MI

MUSIC Music Midtown 14 -15 Sep (TBC), Atlanta, GA iHeartRADIO Festival 21 - 22 Sept, Las Vegas, NV River City Rockfest 21 Sep (TBC), San Antonio, TX Life is Beautiful 21 - 23 Sep, Las Vegas, NV This festival features some of the hottest acts in the music industry, plenty of food and drink, a learning center, art and even a Ferris wheel.

CULTURE L. A. County Fair Most of Sep, Los Angeles, CA The largest fair in the USA features everything from pig racing to rodeos and big name bands.

Aloha Festival Floral Parade 29 Sep, HI A hugely colourful and scented occasion in Oahu starts a series of events all over the islands.

OCTO BER MUSIC A3C Hip Hop Festival 2 - 6 Oct (TBC), Atlanta, GA Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 4 - 6 Oct, San Francisco, CA Dirtybird Campout West Coast 4 - 6 Oct, Waterford, CA Austin City Limits Music Festival 5 - 7, 12 - 14 Oct, Zilker Park, Austin, TX Inspired by a concert series of the same name, the festival is an eight stage celebration of all things music, along with an art market, delicious food and drink, a dedicated family area and much more. Originally a one-weekend event the festival successfully expanded to two weekends in 2012.

Hillberry 10 - 13 Oct, Eureka Springs, AR Desert Daze 10 - 13 Oct, Riverside, CA Aftershock Festival 12 - 13 Oct (TBC), Sacramento, CA California's biggest rock festival storms into Sacramento with a powerful lineup of rock and metal favorites. With alumni like Megadeth, Korn, Ozzy Osbourne, Nine Inch Nails, Godsmack, Alice in Chains, and System of a Down, this is the place to see genre legends in the western United States along with up-and-comers to the scene.

IRONMAN World Championship 2 Oct, Kailua, HI World Beach Games – Multi-sports 9 - 15 Oct, San Diego, CA US Grand Prix 31 Oct - 4 Nov, Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX

CULTURE New York’s Village Halloween Parade 31 Oct, New York City, NY A colourful and spooky occasion with over 20,000 scary monsters on the prowl among the bands, puppets and assorted weirdos.

NOVEM BER MUSIC Voodoo Experience 1 - 3 Nov, New Orleans, LA Hard Day Of The Dead 2 Nov (TBC), Pomona, CA The annual HARD Day of the Dead in LA, is a Halloween and the Day of the Dead themed celebration of EDM. The two-day dance party is the signature event of the HARD concert series and boasts a lineup of over 30 DJs, producers and performers from around the world.

Electric Daisy Carnival Orlando 8 - 9 Nov (TBC), Orlando, FL Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival 9 - 10 Nov (TBC), Los Angeles, CA Levitation 9 - 10 Nov, Austin, TX Dreamstate Socal 23 - 24 Nov, San Bernadino, CA

CULTURE Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 28 Nov, Central Park West, NY Balloons as tall as buildings, lip-synching Disney stars, and 300 pounds of glitter: Welcome to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Ever since its debut in 1924, the parade has evolved from a two-block procession of circus animals into what is easily a favourite over-the-top spectacular event of the year.

2020 JANU ARY MUSIC The Groove Cruise 9 - 13 Jan, Miami, FL What started as a group of 125 friends going on a cruise in 2004 has erupted in to the world’s largest fully charted electronic dance music cruise experience.

The Rock Boat 24 - 29 Jan, Miami, FL

SPORT College Football Championship 11 - 14 Jan, New Orleans, LA Extreme Sports Winter X Games 23 Jan (TBC), Aspen, CO

FEBRU ARY SPORT Super Bowl 2 Feb, Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, FL Daytona 500 23 Feb, Daytona International

CULTURE The Oscars 9 Feb, Hollywood, CA Public tickets to the Oscars don’t really exist, but there are free tickets available to people who want to sit in the bleachers and watch the procession of red carpet action. These tickets are available in a lottery that the Academy calls a “Fan Experience.” The tickets don’t actually get you into the ceremony itself, but this is the cheapest and safest bet for getting some in-the-flesh Oscar action.

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THE ICONIC SOUNDS OF KISS – You don’t have to be a KISS fan to rock this attraction! KISS by Monster Mini Golf includes a glow-in-the-dark, rockin’ miniature golf course filled with stateof-the-art video design and KISS memorabilia. There are also arcade games, a rock ‘n’roll gift shop and wedding chapel if you fancy tying the knot, while a live DJ plays continuous KISS music, trivia, contests and prizes. Only in Vegas! kissminigolf.com

THE BUZZ OF A SPORTS ARENA – Las Vegas’s famed party atmosphere extends to the sports scene, where of course, everything is brighter, bigger and louder. Book a ticket to the world-class T-Mobile Arena to scream, yell and cheer for local hockey greats, the Vegas Golden Knights, UFC bouts, basketball and more. Or check out Lagasse’s Stadium at The Palazzo for best Super Bowl party in town. t-mobilearena.com

WHEN LAS VEGAS GETS Ilona Hanne enjoys a side of gluttony at Sin City’s annual festival of food and drink.

V

CA

egas isn’t called Sin City for nothing. The city is a hedonistic playground, full of glitzy casinos, bright neon signs, sequinned dancers and a whole lot more. Everything in Vegas is bigger, brighter and more luxurious than anywhere else, so it’s hardly surprising its annual food and wine event is too. Celebrity chefs, a giant bottle of prosecco opened with a sabre, a bicyclepowered margarita maker, models covered with little more than some well-placed body paint and even live “mermaids”, are all par for the course of Vegas Uncork’d.

The mermaids made their appearance at the Grand Tasting event at Caesars Palace, splashing merrily in the pool in the Garden of the Gods, while up to 2500 ticket holders enjoyed the opportunity to taste a range of dishes from top chefs, along with drinks designed by incredibly creative mixologists. More importantly, judging by the lines at some of the booths, the event also giave people the opportunity to get up close (and take a selfie with) some of the biggest names in Vegas restaurants.

On offer were samples of some of the signature dishes from chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Guy Fieri, Giada De Laurentiis and Guy Savoy (whose black truffle and artichoke soup served with toasted brioche had people queuing for seconds and GETTING THERE thirds on the night).

Hawaiian Airlines flies from I piled my tray high Auckland to Las Vegas, via Honolulu, and made use of the with return Economy Class fares from handy wine glass-sized Vegas Uncork’d’s Grand Tasting event at Caesars Palace. Photo / Getty Images $1385. hot.co.nz slot in it that let me try DETAILS a few tipples to help Ramsay is a longexchanging contact details with him.

Vegas Uncork’d 2019 takes place from May 9-12. time supporter of “It’s just great to be talking to all these wash down the tasty Guests include Gordon Ramsay, Guy Fieri, Guy Uncork’d, which is great chefs, being part of this group really samples. The problem Savoy, Lisa Vanderpump, Nobu Matsuhisa, and Christina Tosi. vegasuncorked.com now in its 12th year. does feel special,” Valastro said. wasn’t holding your “It’s a great event, If mermaids aren’t your thing or you food and drink, it was ONLINE where we can talk visitlasvegas.com prefer a daytime event, then Picnic in the deciding what to try next. visittheusa.com about our food and get Park may be the Vegas Uncork’d event for Although all booths, mini people excited by what is you. bars and grills were always happening in our restaurants Like the Grand Tasting, this gives ticket busy, there was no question as well as seeing what our holders the opportunity to sample drinks, that the arrival of Gordon Ramsay 500km friends and colleagues are cocktails and bites from some of the top attracted the most attention.

USA doing,” he said. chefs connected to MGM Resorts, and it’s He has six restaurants in Vegas, NEVADA UTAH Certainly, despite every held at their outdoor venue, The Park. and all were represented at the chef clearly bringing their With stalls offering temporary festival. As he moved between R N Las Vegas best dishes to the table tattoos, (real) flower crowns and lots of his booths on the night, he was IA ARIZONA on the night, there was comfortable spots to sit and eat, Picnic constantly followed by a stream also plenty of hugging, in the Park felt like all the best bits of of fans. back slapping and general summer music festivals put together . . .

As well as sampling his food, camaraderie happening between without the bad burger stalls. Instead of guests were excited by the opportunity them, with the chefs posing for as many greasy food trucks, we helped ourselves to to try his signature cocktail — Notes From selfies with each other, as their fans were delicious cocktails created by mixologist Gordon. This cocktail, a delicious blend Craig Schoettler along with food from of Plymouth gin, green tea, lemongrass, with them. It isn’t unusual during the the Voltaggio brothers, Graham Elliot, peach and lemon was served with a twist evening to hear one chef invite another to Masaharu Morimoto and more.

— a British flag scroll printed with one of their restaurant, or offer advice or support Chef Graham Elliot, who’ll be familiar to Ramsay’s famed insults from his TV shows. to some of the newer chefs present.

“Congratulations on the worst dish in the Cake Boss star, Buddy Valastro — a huge fans of MasterChef USA where he features competition so far,” read one of mine.

US TV star in his own right — was spotted as a judge, was there, cooking up a storm He’s not always critical, of course; posing for a picture with Ramsay and in between chatting to fans.

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FO

He doesn’t currently have a presence in Vegas, (he’s operating Coast at MGM Cotai in Macau), he says that could yet change.

“An event like this does make you think about opening up here. Vegas is certainly an exciting place to be when it comes to the culinary world.”

As with all the chefs at the event, Elliot was personable and friendly, making it feel more like I was talking to an old friend than to a top chef. “You’re from New Zealand? That’s my friend’s favourite place.

I’ve not been there yet, but I do know New Zealand lamb is great to work with.”

I moved on from his booth — after tasting delicious grilled octopus with salsa verde — because more food was waiting to be tasted. Cupcakes designed to look like burgers, some grilled lamb rib with harissa, churros served with dulce de leche sauce, even some candyfloss on a stick.

Although The Grand tasting and Picnic in the Park are two of the headline events of Vegas Uncork’d, there is a lot more to see and do during the festival. Each year tickets go on sale for a range of oneof-a-kind experiences that will capture

USA

| 03.03.19 |

THE SHOW ALWAYS GOES ON – No visit to the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’ is complete without taking in a show – or several. Las Vegas’ famous Strip is literally heaving with big name acts, delivering dazzling entertainment every night of the week. From must-see music legends to magicians, from comedians to cabaret, this is where the world’s most talented and famous performers strut their stuff. No matter what you’re into, Las Vegas is sure to be music to your ears.

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OU R FAVOU R I T E T H I N G S TO D O I N A N D A ROU N D L AS V EG AS GRAND CANYON. Explore the stunning national parks and recreation areas just outside the city including the spectacular Grand Canyon. · HIGH ROLLER . This 168 metre observation wheel gives you amazing views over Las Vegas. · NEON MUSEUM. Explore Vegas history through unique neon signs. Tour the Neon Boneyard where more than 150 neon signs rest.

the imagination of any foodie fan or culinary enthusiast. Whether you are a masterchef in the making, or simply enjoy cooking shows on TV, Vegas Uncork’d will have events guaranteed to appeal to your tastes and makes for a fantastic reason to travel to Vegas in May. Arlene DeBois, a Chicago native who was at Vegas Uncork’d for her third time, said her advice was to commit to going as soon as possible, then keep watching the schedule as it is posted to determine which events you want to attend.

The Grand Tasting and the Picnic in the Park give you the best access to the most chefs at the event, so booking in to at least one of those events is probably wise. After that, it’s really up to you as to what you want to eat and where. No matter what you choose, you are unlikely to be disappointed.

SHOWS. Whether you are into headline acts, famous DJ's, comedians or the magic of Cirque du Soleil — there really is a show for everyone. · FUN FOR FREE. Watch the fountain show outside the Bellagio, watch the Volcano erupt at the Mirage and see the light show downtown at the Fremont Street Experience. · SHOPPING. Outlet malls at either end of The Strip, designer stores aplenty and everything in between.

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14 | Tuesday, March 5, 2019

USA

» THE SILENCE OF THE STARS – The days are spectacular in Utah: the nights even more so. Utah has an incredible 43 state parks, and almost a quarter of these are certified International Dark Sky Parks. Head out on a night sky photo shoot and see why Utah’s Kodachrome Basin State Park earned its name – or simply lie there and gaze in stunned silence. visitutah.com

THE WHOOSH OF A FISHING LINE – This breathtaking land of contrasts sounds like heaven for nature lovers, hunters and anglers alike. Cast your line into the waters of the Green River as you float through Red Canyon. See a myriad of rainbow and cutthroat trout as they dart through crystal clear waters. Or if hunting’s your game, Utah is a haven for deer and elk, wild turkey and grouse.

Land of adventure In the vast and surprising landscape of Southern Utah, Winston Aldworth finds plenty to do

A

n adventure tour in Southern Utah will challenge any preconceived notions about America being a land of litigious, sofa hogs. In a four-day roadtrip, my group of four antipodean travellers encountered a place of bracing outdoor adventure, with steely-eyed guides.

We did our Southern Utah adventure in January, meaning the place was a lot colder . . . but also a lot more empty. Many of the sites we visited would be heaving in summer, particularly the stunning national parks, Bryce Canyon and Zion.

As a bonus, travelling in winter meant we could start our trip with a couple of days skiing at the renowned fields near Park City.

But it was Utah’s vast adventurous south that blew me away.

Capitol Reef National Park For pure Road Runner scenery, the drive into Capitol Reef National Park can’t be beat. The horizon is dominated by vast red-rock cliffs, the road dotted with small towns.

We stretched our legs with the 7km walk into Hickman Bridge, a naturally formed stone bridge structure, the sort of thing that pops up in Utah to make you feel like you’re on Mars.

Thor point Bryce Canyon National Park messes with your sense of perspective. You arrive high on the edge overlooking a giant canyon and look down into the gullies and valleys running between hundreds of towering hoodoos — pillars of red rock carved out by water and weather over aeons.

It’s one of America’s most famous national parks, and home to Thor’s Hammer (so called

because it looks like . . . well, have a guess). This is the kind of environment that you feel should dwarf you, so we entered the maze of paths along the Navajo Loop, walking along snow-framed empty paths between the red towers. The scene was made more eerie by the lack of other humans.

You can check out a video of me crawling along fearfully at nzherald.co.nz/travel. (People die on this trail — including a teenager who hiked it little more than a week after us. There’s a fatality every few years. Treat this path with respect.)

Narrow thing For a more relaxing tour of Zion’s wonders, we suited up in thick waterproof pants and booties to follow the Virgin River as it wound between yet more towering cliff faces.

This walk — the Narrows — is one of Zion’s most popular hikes. We set out early, feeling we had the whole valley to ourselves, and — sometimes up to our waists in freezing water — glad of our waterproof warmth.

Zion life The mightiest of Utah’s “Mighty Five” national parks, Zion is one of those rare places that immediately humbles you. Conversation in the car halts as the we emerge from a tunnel to find ourselves miniaturised by rock walls that seem to run a mile into the sky. We are ants in a ditch. Zion National Park is like a big, red Fiordland on steroids with a road through it. And there’s loads of adventure in there . . .

Fearing where angels tread Walking along a clear, mostly level path should not be this difficult. For the most part, Angels Landing is a straightforward hike on an uncomplicated surface. The difficulty is what’s along the edges of that uncomplicated surface — along the top of the path at Angels Landing, there’s a sheer 396m drop on either side. Trip up on this path and you’re on the fast track downward. I found it challenging in the extreme, physically invigorating and mentally exhausting. I was stoked to get to the top — for the glorious views of Zion — and relieved to get back down.

Hiking the Narrows, inside Zion National Park.

Photo / Michael Car II

Riding the Wave Each morning in the little town of Kanab, there’s a lottery. Travellers gather at the rangers’ station in the hope of winning one of 10 permits to hike to one of Utah’s most stunning rock formations. Even in Southern Utah — where mind-boggling rock formations are the norm — the smooth contours and easy patterns of the Wave are special.

You’re assigned a number and balls tumble from a hand-spun lotto machine. Ranger Ron, who runs the lottery on our visit, gives dramatic warning of mortal risk (“People diiiiee out there,” he intones).

Despite having just 40 there on our day (they

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Tuesday, March 5, 2019 | 15

THE CALL OF THE WILD – Located where the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau meet, Utah is famed for its natural diversity: from deserts to vast forests to massive mountains. A must-do is Antelope Island State Park where you’ll see and hear millions of birds as well as bison, deer, bighorn sheep, antelope and more. Hike, mountain bike or horseback ride the park’s backcountry trails for spectacular views, sandy beaches and salty lake waters. stateparks.utah.gov/parks/antelope-island/

TAKE ME TO UTAH.

Clockwise from far left: Steep drops on Angels Landing; Scrambling in Zion; Rising around the Hurricane Cliffs.

Photo / Michael Carr II; 123RF; Winston Aldworth

UTAH

Wyoming

Utah

Colorado

Nevada

Salt Lake City

Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion are the five amazing national parks that make up the Utah Mighty 5®. Experience them all and more on this road trip across southern Utah and Arizona. The stunning natural monuments will take your breath away.

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GETTING THERE United Airlines flies from Auckland to Salt Lake City, via San Francisco, with Economy Class return fares starting from $2267.70. united.com

ONLINE Canyoning in the Huntress Our bad luck at the Wave lottery ended in good VisitUtah.com fortune on the Huntress.

We had taken a sand-dune tumbling spin in a Humvee to Peek-A-Boo Canyon (check out foreveradventuretours.com), where we hiked twisting corridors of red earth through the carved landscape and saw millennia-old footholds carved in the walls by indigenous Americans.

TOP TIP You’ll probably come through Later, we abseiled through the Salt Lake City on your way to stunning Huntress canyon, Southern Utah. Aussie basketballer Joe shimmying over multiple rock Inglis, of the Utah Jazz, gave the Herald walls with a guide from Zion this tip for Kiwis seeking good coffee and a Ponderosa Ranch Resort good cafe in the state capital. (zionponderosa.com).

“Publik — at the huge one on West Temple. You can get avocado on toast — Desert riders like normal [food], not like deep-fried, We hit mountainbike trails to shitty American food.” cycle the Hurricane Cliffs, where looping paths slide along hillsides, with occasional drops into a massive scrubland of low bush and intertwining trails.

It’s beautiful riding, with around 65km of singletrack trails meandering through tussocky terrain, with mountain views. As we ride the ridgelines, our drier-than-a salt-plain guide, Christian, from Zion Adventure Company (zionadventures.com), points out Zion dominating the horizon to the northeast, while out west the Pine Valley Mountains stand tall.

The ride — along with the views it offers — make a suitably knackering finish to a week of adventure.

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Canyonlands National Park

Capitol Reef National Park Bryce Canyon National Park

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get up to 400 in summer), everyone in our group of four missed out. (Top tip from locals in the know: South Coyote Butte lottery is at 10am and it’s a good backup, with fewer people in it.)

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Check-in Desk

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Salt Lake City B

egin the day with a hearty feed and a decent coffee — that’s rare in the United States. Publik Roasters are known for their great brews and their Publik Kitchen has a menu that’s bound to take your fancy. Breakfast and a coffee should set you back around $20. publikcoffee.com A tour of the Salt Lake Temple is essential for visitors to the city — and best of all, it’s free.

Numerous tour guides are available to show you around and teach you a bit about Mormon history, heritage, art and culture. lds.org For a unique experience, burn off some steam at Social Axe Throwing — it’s exactly what the name suggests. Walk in for an hour-long session and throw some axes at a target on the wall. An hour costs US$15, which is about $22. socialaxethrowing.com After all that exertion, you’ll have built up a bit of a thirst — the perfect opportunity to try a “dirty soda”, a sugary treat you’ll only find in Utah, where most of the Mormon residents don’t drink. Thirst Drinks is just around the corner and serves up bizarre soda mixes, such as Coke with raspberry puree and blackberry. $5 thirstdrinks.com Grab a cheap lunch at a local secret spot — the Tacos el Toros stand at 50 800 Street, serves cheap burritos and tacos — grab one of each and you’ll have a filling lunch for around $8.

Get a good look at the city sights with Salt Lake City Bicycle Tours. The Big City Loop Tour takes you around the city for a three-hour ride, with stops for breaks and interesting facts. It costs $80. saltlakebicycletours.com After your bike tour, you’ll have built up an appetite. Grab some classic American pub food and a couple of beers at local award-winning craft brewery Red Rock Brewing. $40 redrockbrewing.com Thanks to your dinner choice, you’ll now be aware that you can in fact drink in Salt Lake City.

Celebrate this often-forgotten fact by finishing with a nightcap at UnderCurrent, a hip hot spot that offers ingredient-focused medleys in a loft atmosphere. A couple of their creative cocktails will cost you around $34. undercurrentbar.com

TOTAL: $209

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In wilderness is the preservation of the world.

Henry Thoreau

$200

You’ve been wearing compression socks wrong. Ask Away » p4 Tim Roxborogh doesn’t know if it’s OK to ask for two cookies on Air New Zealand domestic flights. Travel Bugs » p6 Burnie, in Tasmania, is home to the world’s largest boutique distillery, Hellyers Rd Distillery. Australia » p9 The Jenkins family shifted to Kaikōura from Christchurch after the quake of 2011. They set up their business, Kaikōura Cheese, just in time for the Kaikōura quake of 2016. Today they’re going strong and have a strong focus on sustainable farming.

New Zealand » p12-p13 If you’re thinking of doing a group coach tour, Linda Thompson recommends trying spring or autumn for both a less crowded trip and cooler temperatures. “Every place will be packed with other tourists beyond your wildest nightmares, and the northern summer is hot! ,” she says.

Solo traveller » p16 Angel’s Landing, in Utah’s stunning Zion National Park, is a 455m tall — and downright terrifying — hike. “Walking in a straight line was never meant to be this scary,” writes Winston Aldworth.

USA » p14-p15 The Olympic Games were born at Olympia, in Greece, in 776BC. “The centrepiece is the Temple of Zeus,” writes Nicola Lamb. “Round remnants of mighty columns lie piled on the ground like grey, crumbled tractor wheels.”

Cruising » p18-p21 For those quitting alcohol, the first sober holiday can be a challenge.

Opinion » p22-p23

For more on Utah, see p14-p15

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Where we are

Rob Tulloch, who works with the Interislander ferries, once witnessed a ceremony in Kathmandu in which animals are decapitated in front of the Nepalese king. “A guy with a big curved kukri knife lopped the goat’s head off — blood gushed everywhere,” he says.

“Then the same thing happened to a water buffalo — this joker decapitates the beast with one fell swoop. It was all very matter of fact, and the people around us were all chatting away.”

He Tangata » p27 Nic Hamilton needs to talk about the Air New Zealand safety video.

Flight Check Omnibus » p30-p31 Seattle’s annual Bumbershoot festival takes place over three days at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center under the Space Needle.

“It is monstrously amazing,” writes Anna Armitage.

Letters to the Travel Editor » p34

144, flown aboard Qantas QF Winston Aldworth has ey. dn Sy from Auckland to on p30...

His Flight Check appears

Economy Class airline passengers are being promised a revolution in seat design, with London designers Layer producing a prototype seat fabric that uses smart textiles and sensors to adapt to your body and make the journey more comfortable.

Travel Wires » p35

USA

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PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM Philly’s long been one of the premier destinations for art lovers, writes Greg Fleming

U SA

PENN.

Philadelphia VIRGINIA 200km

I

remember an artist friend, years back, lamenting the fact that he went to Europe to see the great Impressionist and postImpressionist paintings and was annoyed to discover that many of the most iconic pieces resided in a museum in Philadelphia.

And here I was in the Barnes Foundation building looking at them.

The Barnes (barnesfoundation.org) has 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, and seven van Goghs, not to mention the odd Soutine, Manet and Modigliani. Albert C. Barnes was a native and, it has to be said, rather strange Philadelphian who got rich GETTING making a cure for gonorrhoea and THERE ear, nose and throat infections and United Airlines flies from Auckland to Philadelphia, started collecting art in 1902. via San Francisco, with return Today the collection is valued Economy Class fares from $2549. at US$25 billion and is housed Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Photo / Getty Images united.com in a splendid, purpose-built DETAILS building on the Benjamin Franklin but was removed as it argued the statue was not rodinmuseum.org) and the discoverphl.com Parkway. For anyone with just a “art” but a “movie prop”. Predictably this impacted Philadelphia Museum of Art — visithteusa.com cursory knowledge of modern art it visitor numbers and a compromise was reached, often described as Philadelphia’s is a breath-taking experience, with the with the statue being replaced with a bronze inlay answer to the Parthenon and the paintings so familiar in reproductions hung of Rocky’s Converse sneaker footprints and the third largest art museum in the US three deep on the wall, it is often hard to know statue itself placed on a pedestal near the foot of (philamuseum.org). It’s home to more Picassos where to look. the steps to the right of the museum. Both spots and Van Goghs, plus baroque masterpieces A highlight was seeing some of Modigliani’s are a popular with tourists and countless poses of

by Rubens — and my favourite, Rogier van der finest work — with 12 paintings each, the Barnes a triumphant Rocky are struck day after day.

Weyden’s 15th-century diptych The Crucifixion. and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, There’s no sign of Rocky-mania slowing down Just 15 minutes’ walk from the Barnes have the world’s largest collections of his work.

— when I visited, the sequel franchise to Rocky, Foundation, it, too, deserves a full day of your time Do splash out and get a guided tour and has a Pay What You Wish Admission on the the excellent Creed, had just completed filming its — otherwise the experience may seem first Sunday of the month and every Wednesday sequel in the city. overwhelming. Better still set aside two days. evening. And you’ll walk — or come on, run — up Once that’s done get ready for more art — Also on the beautiful Benjamin Franklin the infamous “Rocky Steps” to get there. the Philly Museum has a superb collection Parkway (modelled after the Champs Elysees) is The statue of Rocky — which was filmed and of Renaissance, American, Impressionist and the Rodin museum (with nearly 150 sculptures based in Philly — used to be at the top of the Modern masterworks and also blockbuster steps leading to the Philadelphia Art Museum, special exhibitions throughout the year. from every phase of Auguste Rodin’s career —

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CLASSIC ROCK The quintessential granddaddy of Austin’s music venues, The Continental Club has been rockin’ Austin since 1955, with everything from country to rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues to jazz. Originally an intimate 1950s swanky dinner club, it has now grown into a Texas landmark and hosts live music every night of the week. continentalclub.com

BAT OUT OF HELL From March to October, visitors and residents line up nightly on the Congress Avenue Bridge to witness North America’s largest urban bat population emerge. Arrive early for a front row spot and watch these nocturnal creatures fly out from beneath the bridge, forming a surreal dark cloud as they ascend into the night sky.

TASTING THE SOUL OF Cool rules in Austin, the Lone Star state’s capital city, writes Rachel Muir

W

ith a Texas-size shiny, red boot kicking up its heel on the roof, Allens Boots was hard to miss.

Inside were more than 10,000 pairs of cowboy boots, silver belt buckles ranging from merely shiny to massive statement and stack after stack of Stetson hats.

Not to be outdone, Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds, a few doors down on South Congress Avenue, was crowned with an outsize statue of its own: a 3.5m zebra in full Carmen Miranda costume. Inside, clothing racks were packed with costumes and vintage clothes: Cleopatra to Care Bears and almost everything in between.

On the same block was Uncommon Goods, a self-described “emporium of transcendent junk,” where a stuffed bobcat frozen mid-pounce vied with risque tarot cards for customers’ attention. The Austin Motel, a couple of blocks down, looked like it had surfaced from a groovy time capsule with its longtime billboard proclaiming itself “So Close and So Far Out.” Across the street, a busker gamely spun his drumsticks in front of a “Willie Nelson for President” mural.

There was not a Starbucks, Gap or Walmart in sight.

We were in Austin’s SoCo neighbourhood — the offbeat heart of the capital city famously described by former governor Rick Perry as “the blueberry in the tomato soup” of Texas.

Austinites assured us we weren’t exactly in the Lone Star state.

“I could never live in Texas,” said tour guide and musician Jason Weems. “This is Austin.”

We spent four nights in the city, attracted by little more than a sale airfare and a sense that Austin was cool.

After a late-evening arrival, we spent the morning of our first full day on Austin Detours’ two-hour “Real Austin” tour (austindetours.com). The small group van tour, led by Weems, included stops at some of the capital city’s highlights. Our tour started in SoCo and headed north over the Colorado River on the Congress Avenue Bridge.

We saw Austin’s landmarks: its towering, sunset-red state Capitol building — its tallerthan-the-US Capitol stature a bragging right

Main: South Congress Avenue. Inset: Allen’s Boots Photos / Visit Austin

for Texans everywhere, Weems said — and the expansive University of Texas campus, including its clock tower, famous as a campus centre and infamous as the site of the first mass shooting of the modern era. Also, the LBJ Presidential Library is there.

Our progress was marked by street art, from the “Hi: how are you?” frog mural near the university famously worn on a T-shirt by Kurt Cobain, to the pretty, looping cursive “I love you so much” on the side of Jo’s Coffee in SoCo, originally written by a woman to her partner but widely seen as a love letter to the city itself.

We also stopped to see street art on an almost dizzying scale at the Hope Outdoor Gallery, an abandoned construction site turned into a community graffiti park.

Colour, tags, cartoons and slogans blanketed every discernible space of the three-storey, one-acre park. In my line of vision were Count von Count from Sesame Street, an alien, a Viking hat and the phrase “Global warming is a hoax.” It was a little like looking into a strobe light.

Weems also introduced us to our first Austin food trailer, Gourdough’s (gourdoughs.com), with its immensely satisfying — and just plain immense — doughnuts. (A waiter at another restaurant told us he only lets himself eat one a year.)

Consumed: the “Flying Pig”, pastry the size of a salad plate, covered in maple glaze and topped off with a mound of bacon.

We tried the popular Odd Duck (oddduckaustin.com) for our first dinner.

The restaurant, which got its start in a trailer, focuses on pairing locally sourced ingredients in unexpected ways, including the salty, delicious pretzel pig-face carnitas and a tasty redfish ceviche with sweet potato curry and grapefruit.

The next day we checked out three Austin retail legends that are within a block of each other on the busy thoroughfare of Lamar. We browsed at Waterloo Records (waterloorecords.com), an Austin legend at which customers can hear any of its massive collection of CDs and vinyl before purchase. I bought my first CD since 2009 (the awesome live music sampler KGSR Broadcasts, Vol. 24).

Next, we marvelled at the 7500sq m Whole Foods, now topped with an ice rink, just a few iterations from the humble natural food store that opened its doors in Austin in 1980. Finally, we made our way to Book

People (bookpeople.com), the city’s largest independent bookstore, a place close to heaven on earth for an avid reader.

After perusing its stacks, laden with handwritten staff-pick cards, and chatting with employees seemingly at the ready with offbeat recommendations for any genre, I emerged with five books by authors unknown to me.

We concluded our day at Fixe (fixesouthernhouse.com), a restaurant that aims to “celebrate the soul of the South,” which reminded me how excellent Southern cooking can be. The legendary biscuits (more like a savoury scone) are fluffy, buttery, served steaming with a heavenly pork spread. The restaurant also offers up a fantastically crispy fried chicken and multiple savoury variations of that Southern staple, grits (cornmeal).

Since we were celebrating the soul of the South, we made it a point to schedule a Texas barbecue stop. My pulled pork sandwich at La Barbecue (labarbecue.com), a food trailer in Cesar Chavez Park favoured by locals — was perfect, tangy barbecue balanced with a chipotle coleslaw.

With temperate weather much of the year, a lot of life in Austin is lived outdoors. We made a short-lived attempt to follow suit, embarking on an afternoon bike tour that was cut short by rain.

USA

| 10.03.19 |

SOUND OF SERENITY Austin provides plenty of opportunities to be among nature while being right in the heart of the city. The Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail and Boardwalk at Lady Bird Lake is one of the city’s main outdoor attractions, enticing visitors to its tree-lined trail along the Colorado River. Experience the lush urban path that meanders along the water’s edge as well as passing by skyscrapers and cultural attractions.

11

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Live large and think big in Dallas, enjoy Austin the ‘Live Music Capital of the World’, visit Texas’ largest city Houston and learn some fascinating history in and around San Antonio.

Travel: 06-30 Jun, 15 Nov-18 Dec 19

With more than 250 venues throughout the city featuring all different genres of music. · MURAL SCENE

Check out the bright and funky murals that exemplify Austin’s quirky side and pop up around around the city. ·

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This is a vibrant walkable neighbourhood packed with boutiques, restaurants and music venues. It’s where you’ll be able to pick up a pair of cowboy boots from the famous shop — Allen’s. · A FOODIE PARADISE

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Stroll through the grand Texas State Capitol building and visit the Bullock Texas State History Museum for a glimpse of the past.

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restaurant patios, street corners, in parks.

“Lady Bird Lake is absolutely beautiful,” We stopped to watch the “Washboard said John Mutchler, our guide from Rocket Electrics (rocketelectrics.com), Tie Guy”, clad in trademark cap and which runs the company’s daily bike percussive tie (yes, he plays it), set up his tours along the lake trail. We had an stage on South Congress Avenue. expansive view of the Austin On our last night in Austin we skyline across the water, one ate at a place we still can’t Mutchler says is constantly get out of our heads — Uchi U S A changing given Austin’s (uchiaustin.com), the storied Dallas exponential growth in the sushi restaurant that a TEXAS tech sector, and of the few decade ago catapulted Austin Austin Houston crew teams that braved the into a new class of food city.

MEXICO rain to practise. The trail Certainly it revolutionised 1000km winds around to Barton Springs the way I think of sushi, which — an outdoor pool fed by natural admittedly had not been particularly springs and open year-round sophisticated. We tried “biendo,” — and the city’s mucha take on spring roll of shrimp GETTING THERE photographed Stevie Ray tempura with slivers of Return Air New Zealand Vaughan statue. grapes on top; a variation flights to Austin, with a Like Weems, Mutchler on what Japanese three-night stay, are priced from is a working musician children have for breakfast $2175pp, twin share. as well as a tour guide. with salmon and green hot.co.nz “Music is what brought tea (which seems to have DETAILS me,” he told us. Austin ruined cereal for Sophie); visittheusa.com has about 250 live music and “hot rocks” with wagyu venues, he said, ranging from beef. Each dish was a micro annual festival Austin City Limits work of art. to clubs on Red River St, north of the Early the next morning, I wandered Colorado River. down to a still mostly empty SoCo for My daughter, at 18, was too young to get a last look and coffee at Jo’s before we into most of the city’s clubs, but live music packed up and headed to the airport. permeates the city — in coffee shops, on — Washington Post

travel

14 | Tuesday, March 12, 2019

USA

» ALL ABOARD: Experience Nashville from the Cumberland River on the grand riverboat The General Jackson. This unique 90m-paddle wheel showboat is reminiscent of the opulence of the American Victorian era. Guests are entertained with live stage productions playing tribute to the many styles of music that make up the vibrant Nashville scene. generaljackson.com

WALK OF ART: Nashville’s creative spirit spills out into its art galleries and each month First Saturday Art Crawl sees an alliance of galleries and museums inviting the public to explore the vibrant downtown art scene. This free event offers opportunities to view local and worldrenowned artists and artworks, as well as enjoy a festive atmosphere with street art and live music.

Heat’s on in Music City You’ll visit Nashville for the live music and you’ll stay for the food, finds Oliver Pelling

I

’m not supposed to say this, but hot chicken is stupid. That is my opinion.

You didn’t ask for it, but you can have it.

This is not a popular opinion among my friends (nor the cult-like following that hot chicken has amassed in recent years), for whom the spiciness of the fried poultry they stuff into their faces represents the gastronomic equivalent of a dickswinging contest, but I don’t care. My friends are idiots.

Perhaps I’m alone in this, but I eat food for flavour. And heat comes at the expense of flavour. It’s quite difficult to taste something when you are dribbling into your lap and the entire inside of your cranium feels like it’s been plugged into an electric radiator and set on fire. It’s science, goddamnit.

What isn’t stupid is reasonably hot chicken. That is, chicken with enough heat to smack you up a bit (without risking any permanent damage), and enough flavour to encourage a mild to severely life-altering addiction.

And incredibly addictive reasonably hot chicken is exactly what I’m having as I sit at a table inside Hattie B’s Hot Chicken — a Nashville institution — where the heat level ranges from

Martin’s Bar-B-Que.

southern, mild and medium; up to hot, damn hot!; and shut the cluck up! A piece of medium followed by a piece of hot, I discover, offers a blissful balance of heat and flavour. For reasons given above, I have opted not to cluck with the hottest option.

It’s important to remember that nobody cares what I think, and Nashville’s sweaty affair with hot chicken dates all the way back to the 1930s.

One James Thornton Prince can lay claim to the first hot chicken shop, Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, which he opened in 1945 and handed down to his great-niece, Andre Prince Jeffries, in 1980.

But why so hot? Legend has it that Thornton Prince was something of a serial philanderer and his girlfriend at the time, having had enough of his nonsense, attempted to burn the Lothario out of him with a batch of secretly spicy chicken.

Unfortunately for this particular vexed damsel, Thornton Prince liked it, and took it upon himself to burn the dish into Nashville’s culinary lexicon for good.

Hattie B’s is what gentrified hot chicken looks like, sure, but it’s brilliant. And it’s popular — there are now three Hattie B’s in Nashville, one in Birmingham, Alabama, one in Memphis, one in Atlanta and even one in Las Vegas. The business model has transcended the United States, too. “Do you know Belle’s Hot Chicken in Melbourne?” asks Hattie B’s owner Nick Bishop after I tell him where I live. Yes, I do. “Those guys came over

here, saw what we were doing, and took the model back with them.” Even KFC pinched the “Nashville hot chicken” moniker for a spell in 2016, the cowards.

There’s barbecue here too. And Martin’s BarB-Que Downtown dishes up some of the city’s finest slow-smoked hunks of dead animal. The massive, relatively new establishment makes everything from scratch, every day, and specialises is West Tennessee’s whole-hog barbecue tradition.

When you’re done with chicken and barbecue, consider Nashville’s honky-tonks, where you may opt to have a quiet drink and enjoy some rowdy country music or, as your writer opted, to lose a fight with tequila. Lower Broadway — or “Honky Tonk Highway” — is where you’ll find them in all their garish neon, country-musicslangin’, booze-soaked glory. If you visit one, make it Robert’s Western World. If you visit two, head for AJ’s Good Time Bar too. And if you visit three, may God be with you.

If I’m being honest, and I am, I’m not sure how many Nashvillians frequent the honky-tonks.

They seem to be more to the tastes of the temporarily-in-town-types — Americans travelling on business or overseas tourists. I say this because most of the people I talk to in the honkytonks are either Americans travelling on business or overseas tourists.

I want to go where the locals go to watch live music, though, and The Mercy Lounge, a venue built inside an old flour mill on Cannery Row, is where I go. The club has something of a reputation for showcasing the best local talent, and hosts international touring artists too (even Midnight Oil have played here). During my brief visit, my ear’oles are exposed to the sweet, soulful

travel

Tuesday, March 12, 2019 | 15

HONKY TONK TIME: Robert’s Western World is a classic honky tonk located in the famous historic district of downtown Nashville and has hosted many big name country artists. Grab a stool, order the house specialty – fried bologna sandwich – and listen to live bands play whilst visitors two-step in front of the stage. With no cover charge you pay what you wish when the band passes the tip jar (or bucket, as the case may be). robertswesternworld.com

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Sundown in Nashville; inset Lee Fields. Photos / Robin Little, Getty Images

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For the music fans out there a back stage tour will be unforgettable.

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sounds of both Alanna Royale and Lee Fields. I bought both of their records, had them signed, and will one day give them to my daughter, if she puts me in a good retirement village.

For music history, Nashville is home to the Johnny Cash Museum.

Featuring the world’s largest collection of Johnny Cash stuff — from clothes to guitars, handwritten letters to furniture — it’s officially endorsed by the Cash family, and has apparently been voted the #1 music museum in the world. I don’t know about all that, but I do know that, for fans of Cash like me, this place is a mecca. And if you like that, RCA’s famous Studio B — where Elvis, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson have recorded — is just down the road.

The truth is that there is too much of Nashville to fit into the 1000 words I have been allotted.

I’ve run out of space to talk about the Ryman Auditorium, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the uber-hip 12 South neighbourhood, Jack White’s Third Man Records, or Pinewood Social — a restaurant with bowling alleys, karaoke rooms and an Anthony Bourdain-sized stamp of approval. There’s even a cupcake vending machine . . . Oh, and did I mention the chicken?

OU R FAVOU R I T E T H I N G S TO S E E A N D D O I N N AS H V I L L E

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DC: THE OUTSIDE STORY There’s plenty to do in the federal capital without an entrance fee, writes Sheila Consaul

W

ashington DC is known for its vast abundance of things to see and do. But if you prefer getting sunshine and fresh air to lingering in museums or riding on bus tours, there’s a long list of ways you can enjoy this capital city’s great outdoors.

Every sightseeing trip to DC should include visiting the stunning white marble monuments and buildings, such as the White House, Washington Monument, Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, and the US Capitol. A great way to visit them is on a bicycle. One of the companies that makes it easy to grab a bike and tour DC on two wheels is Capital Bikeshare (similar to NZ’s Onzo bikes). To ensure rider safety, the city has implemented a series of bike lanes and there are plenty of paved trails and sidewalks close to the major tourist attractions. If you want a special DC nighttime experience, tour the monuments after dark when they shimmer in the moonlight. Capital Bikeshare’s bikes are available 24-seven and equipped with reflectors for night-time touring.

If you’re more comfortable with a guide and a group, take a bike tour. Try Fat Tire Tours or Bike and Roll, whose guides will tell you fun facts and historic anecdotes along the way so you can spend more time looking at the sights than your map. However, if a bicycle is too low-tech, upgrade to a motorised Segway. Known officially as a personal motorised mobility device, you can rent one or take a tour — the power boost may be just what you need to zip around DC. Contact DC Segway Rentals or Segs in the City and for guided tours, try City Segway. And, just as in New Zealand, electric scooters are the latest option to get around town. Look for Lime, Skip or Bird scooters and download an app before you head out.

The massive National Mall, also known as “America’s Front Yard,” is the perfect place for Segway or scooter riders to cruise around, taking in the outside of many of the Smithsonian Museums. Or head in the direction of Constitution Gardens to pass by the impressive World War II, Martin Luther King, Korean War Veterans and Vietnam Veterans memorials.

If water sports are more to your liking, there are many ways to enjoy DC’s highlights from the Potomac River. You can rent canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, sailboats, paddle boats, hydro boats, swan boats, sculls or row boats from Boating in DC. They are in seven locations along the river so what you want to see may determine where you rent from and the kind of watercraft best suited for your trip.

If you’re more comfortable as crew than captain, opt for a guided tour. Experienced boaters can rent larger boats to ply the river through Boat Setters or you can let someone else drive while you simply enjoy the ride by hiring a captain. Make sure your Potomac River experience takes you by The Kennedy Center, or what functions as

National Portrait Gallery.

The Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art.

Lincoln Memorial.

Georgetown Waterfront. Photos / washington.org

America’s national cultural centre, because its massive 192m white facade is best viewed from the river.

For another way to enjoy DC, strap on your hiking boots and hit one of the many trails. The American Hiking Society recommends several top hikes in and around the city including: The C&O Canal Tow Path, Rock Creek Park, or the Potomac Heritage Trail. Combine a hike on the C&O Canal Tow Path with a stop in historic Georgetown. Once a bustling shipping port, this tiny DC neighbourhood is now the perfect stop before or after your time on the Tow Path for lunch, a drink or one of its famous Georgetown Cupcakes.

You can access the busy Mt. Vernon Trail at the central Theodore Roosevelt Island and at other major landmarks, including Arlington National Cemetery and various Metro stations. The Mt. Vernon Trail snakes along the Potomac River with breathtaking views of the city. Along the trail, you will also experience the roar of jets at Reagan National Airport, so if you love aircraft bellies, you’ll be in heaven.

A worthwhile stop along the trail is historic Old Town Alexandria. This charming town still boasts cobblestone streets and offers plenty of shops, restaurants and cafes. If you reach the end of the trail — all 29km — visit Mt. Vernon, George Washington’s home.

The estate is worth a few hours for a tour to hear about the former president’s contributions to the nation and get a better slant on life in Colonial America.

Finally, if all this outdoor activity means you need some down time, find a patch of grass and settle in for a picnic. Favourite spots include the National Mall, US Botanic Gardens, Constitution Gardens, Tidal Basin/West Potomac Park and the US Capitol Grounds.

Takeaway food outlets are plentiful in DC — especially during the week when they cater to DC’s working wonks.

The local food trucks that line the streets are highly sought after for their fresh — often ethnic flavours — and convenience. For a more traditional European-style picnic to take away, try Dean and Deluca in Georgetown or Glen’s Garden Market in Dupont Circle.

If you are visiting in the summer (May to August), plan your picnic for the evening hours and catch some free live music at one of DC’s many outdoor venues. The military bands are a perpetual favourite for an upbeat sound or if jazz is more your style, head to the National Gallery of Art for its Jazz in the Garden series.

So although Washington DC is known for a plethora of indoor activities, including the museums, renowned art galleries and guided tours, there’s plenty to do and see without ever setting foot inside.

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absolutely don’t want to miss the Lincoln Memorial and reflection pool, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the impressive Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument and National Mall.

SMITHSONIAN MUSEUMS. These

incredible museums are free to enter and with 17 in total it would be hard to see them all in one visit so it pays to do some research. Some popular ones are the Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, American History Museum and the National Museum of African American History & Culture.

NEWSEUM. This is an excellent museum of

news that covers lots of modern history with exhibits on the US Civil Rights, 9/11, FBI, Berlin Wall, Vietnam War and the moving Pulitzer Prize photo gallery.

GEORGETOWN. This idyllic, tree lined suburb is great to wander. There are beautiful mansions, high end shops, riverfront restaurants and the picturesque Georgetown University.

U STREET & 14TH STREET. Walk from U Street down 14th towards Logan Circle in the evening as you’ll be spoilt for choice with dining options in this vibrant area.

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EIGHT HOURS TO TAKE OFF With an extended layover in Houston, Stephanie Holmes steps out of the airport and into outer space

F

lying back to New Zealand from Costa Rica last year, I ended up with an eight-hour stopover in the Texan city of Houston. I’d chosen this route because it meant only two flight connections, not three, and because my other options for getting home meant going through LA and San Francisco.

LAX is much improved in recent years, but getting through security can be a slow and sometimes intimidating experience. San Francisco may have therapy dogs and yoga classes but, connecting through there can sometimes mean long queues and missed onward flights.

Houston, on the other hand, was as close to a delight as an airport experience can be.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport was light and airy, the queues were almost non-existent and the TSA agents were friendly and welcoming.

But what to do with eight hours — a standard workday — to kill? It would be a waste to spend all that time in the airport, no matter how nice it is. So instead, I took a whirlwind city tour, to find out what this stopover destination has to offer.

1 Everything’s bigger in Texas . . .

Inset top: Exhibit at Space Center Houston. Photo / Space Center Houston.

Inset bottom: Presidential sculptures at David Adickes’ workshop. Adickes is a Houston-based artist.

Photo / Stephanie Holmes

Of course Richard Cook, my guide from Texana Tours, picked me up in his giant SUV. Cars are super-sized here and you’ll see more SUVs than not on the freeways — which incidentally are also huge.

Richard took me for an orientation drive around the city, starting with a glimpse at one of his favourite spots — the workshop and studio of sculptor David Adickes. In a non-descript industrial area of the city, this working studio has become somewhat of a drive-by destination.

four walkable zones, covering a diverse range of Here you’ll find gigantic sculptures of topics including the Holocaust, Fine Arts, Buffalo historical figures, mostly former Soldiers and contemporary crafts. presidents.

We took a quick walk through the Museum of We hopped out of the car Natural Science and I instantly wished I could for a quick walking tour have stayed longer. There’s so much to see you around the parking lot, home to startlingly life- could easily spend a whole day here — from the planetarium to the three-storey butterfly garden; like representations the huge collection of dinosaur skeletons and of Clinton, Obama, fossils to a hall dedicated to Ancient Egypt. The the Bushes snr must-see exhibit is the Weiss Energy Hall, with and jnr, Reagan, floor-space almost the size of an American Carter . . . all the way football field, designed to look like a 21st-century back to Jefferson, offshore drilling rig. The hall shows the history John Adams and of oil in Texas, and also looks to its future, with Washington. a range of interactive exhibits that the kids will We whizzed past love. hmns.org a few of the city’s burgeoning craft breweries 3 The Space Center is out of — St Arnold’s, Karbach and this world Eighth Wonder; then past Union Space nerds young and old will lose their mind Station — formerly a working train over the Space Center Houston and its more station, now the entrance to the baseball than 400 authentic Nasa artifacts (don’t even stadium Minute Maid Park; and go there, conspiracy theorists). The Center Graffiti Park, a few blocks of the is geared towards fun, interactive education city’s East End where all the and encourages kids to get excited about buildings are covered in careers in science, technology, engineering colourful street art. and mathematics (STEM). As well as the world’s But the next big thing largest collection of moon rocks (one of which to worry about was you can touch), there’s a full-size replica of my rumbling stomach. the shuttle Independence mounted on top of Jackson St BBQ has the original Nasa carrier aircraft (which you been feeding Houston’s can walk through), plus spacesuits, rockets, hungry hordes for four command modules and lunar roving vehicles. years and its bright red Across the road, the Johnson Space Center exterior is hard to miss. is Nasa’s working Mission Control Center Walking in, the smells from and training base for the current breed of the kitchen were sublime and astronauts. It’s also home to Rocket Park, where the staff were super friendly one of only three of the remaining Saturn V (just like those TSA agents). rockets is on display. At more than 110m tall, Richard recommended the Trinity — a it was part of the Apollo programme that tasting plate of meat and one side dish, all for took mankind to the moon, but this just US$9.95 ($14.50). You’ve guessed particular rocket never made it it, this, too, was huge and I was GETTING THERE into space. Left to rust in a field thankful I’d skipped breakfast on United Airlines flies direct from for years, a warehouse was my morning connecting flight.

Auckland to Houston, with code-share finally built around it and jacksonstbbqhouston. partner Air New Zealand, with onward com the rocket was restored connections to domestic and to its original glory. It’s international destinations. hugely impressive.

2 You’ll need united.com Spare enough time for more than a GETTING AROUND a visit to the gift shop — Richard Cook offers personalised tours around stopover for the you’ll definitely want to the Houston region. texanatours.com museums stock up on souvenirs, DETAILS There are 19 places to see in official merchandise and visithoustontexas.com the Houston Museum District memorabilia. traveltexas.com (houmuse.org), connected in spacecenter.org visittheusa.com

Photo / Visit Houston

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Tuesday, March 19, 2019 | 15

»

A chef’s tour of

SAN

EXPLORE THE BEST OF SCANDINAVIA & THE BALTIC

FRANCISCO Al Brown lists some of his foodie favourites from an ever-changing culinary city of superlatives

W

hen it comes to San Francisco, it’s nearly impossible to name just five favourite food-related activities when you find yourself in this culinary nirvana. I have been lucky enough to have a couple of visits in the past five or six years.

Although some things will inevitably change in this progressive and liberal North Californian town, some things never go out of style.

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market To get a feel of what is grown in the region, head to the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Held three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday), it acts as a window to what’s in season and at its best. This is no tourist trap — the majority of the 40,000 weekly shoppers are locals. Make sure you don’t fill up on breakfast beforehand as there are plenty of delights to sample as you venture through.

Swan Oyster Depot It’s no secret that I’m a lover of crustaceans, molluscs and the like. There is a small, yet famous fish market on Polk St called Swan Oyster Depot. It’s more than 100 years old and has been owned and run by the same family since 1946.

You can get anything on the menu as a takeaway option from early in the morning; however if you want the true oyster-bar experience, securing a seat at the counter is a must.

Don’t be surprised to wait for a seat; due to

popularity there is often a queue down the street.

Chez Panisse Anyone interested in where the whole “Californian Cuisine” movement started should really try to secure a reservation at Chez Panisse. This neighbourhood bistro was established in 1971 by muchlauded and respected Alice Waters. It is without question a San Francisco icon, its fame built around organics, seasonality and sustainability. Don’t expect molecular smoke and mirror tweezer food, think generous portions and protein cooked at its prime.

Tartine Bakery While San Fran is known for its baked goods, the talk of the town is always about the sourdough. My all-time favourite bakery in the world is San Fran’s own Tartine Bakery. It’s a must-visit, either first thing in the morning for fresh croissants, sticky buns and great coffee or drop by for lunch for their delicious hot-pressed sandwiches using local organic ingredients. With only a couple of locations, be sure to grab a loaf to go to preserve the Tartine experience.

Reykjavík FINLAND NORWAY Bergen

Al Brown is an ambassador for Regal King Salmon. regalsalmon.co.nz

Helsinki Oslo

Stavanger North Sea

N

Napa Valley Lastly, no trip to San Francisco would be complete without an excursion to the beautiful countryside of Napa Valley or Sonoma wine country. They are littered with wonderful wineries, outstanding farmers markets, restaurants and cheese-makers.

Eidfjord

SWEDEN

Stockholm

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12 | Tuesday, March 19, 2019

USA

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TENDER HEART

An inconvenient ruling keeps one San Fran area the way the locals like it, writes Peg Fong

T

here is a fine line separating San Francisco’s highpaid tech workers in one of the world’s richest cities from residents who live in its poorest neighbourhood, and according to some people, that’s the line to the washroom.

No neighbourhood in as prime a location as the Tenderloin should have been able to stave off gentrification for as long as it has. But part of the Tenderloin’s charm — and some say its curse — is that it has long defied any attempts to upscale its gritty shops, grimy apartments or even clean up its streets.

“Am I afraid there will be tech workers kicking out residents who live here?” asks long-time Tenderloin tour guide Del Seymour — often referred to as the unofficial mayor of the neighbourhood. “Not at all. As desperate as these workers are for housing in San Francisco, the truth is when you’re making $100,000 a year, you’re going to expect to have your own toilet.”

Most of the housing available in the Tenderloin is in protected historic buildings

Del Seymour, tour guide at Tenderloin Walking Tours.

Photo / Supplied

where updates and refurbishments aren’t permitted. In these buildings, there’s usually just one bathroom per floor, forcing residents to share the facilities. The lack of private toilets,

by Seymour’s reckoning, has kept the neighbourhood free from market housing for workers in the tech sector.

In San Francisco, the richest city in the US by median household income, a single person who earns US$82,000 ($120,000) qualifies as low-income; for a family of four, that threshold is US$117,000 a year.

There aren’t many tech workers living in The Tenderloin, despite the neighbourhood being a short distance away from the headquarters of some of the world’s most recognisable brands, including Apple and Google.

Instead here, there’s still room for immigrants to begin their American dreams, space for artists to create and for activists to advocate and agitate.

For Fernando Pujals, who works at the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, and a transplant from Florida, his neighbourhood may be the last place in San Francisco where no one is transfixed with their phone screens or wearing headphones.

“People say hello here and if you begin a conversation, there are conversations back.”

Visitors to San Francisco will always check out the Golden Gate Bridge or Fisherman’s Wharf but most miss the Tenderloin.

“It’s not for every traveller coming to San Francisco. They may read that it’s dirty or gritty and dangerous,” says Pujals. “The traveller who comes here is slightly adventurous. They’ll find this is a place where there are children and seniors and families and this is the heart of San Francisco.”

The Tenderloin has long had a raucous history as the vice area of San Francisco, with its gambling dens, speakeasies and bordellos. The name was given to the neighbourhood reportedly by an on-the-take police sergeant assigned to vice duties in the early part of the 20th century. As a vice cop in the Tenderloin, the sergeant could leave his hamburger-days behind. Instead, he declared, he would be paid by slabs of tenderloin.

The vegan special is the most popular dish at one of the neighbourhood’s most beloved restaurants. Former cab driver Elias Shawel opened Tadu, named after his grandmother, after he got tired of telling passengers that there weren’t any good Ethiopian restaurants around.

The vegan combo of collard greens and chickpeas, cooked with tomatoes, is a favourite of even meat lovers, says Shawel, who runs the restaurant with his wife Nani Tsegaye. The family, who immigrated to the US from Ethiopia a decade ago could afford to start their 10-table restaurant only because they received a community grant and could house the restaurant in a building owned by a non-profit organisation.

“The Tenderloin is special to me because it is America but it also reminds me of Africa,” says Shawel. “The diversity here, the look and the excitement around, it’s just like being in Africa.”

Walk down any street in the Tenderloin and

travel

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 | 13

OUR FAVOURITE CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP. See also: Al Brown on a chef’s tour of San Francisco >> p15

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Street art and the locals of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.

Photos / Gurpreet Singh; The Tens

the language heard could be Nepali or Vietnamese or Spanish and the food found in family restaurants come from anywhere from Yemen to Sudan to Cambodia.

The Tenderloin isn’t all scrappy grit, completely sealed off by the grandeur and the wealth that dominates San Francisco’s other neighbourhoods.

The Phoenix Hotel, with its themed rooms from the 1950s, is where you can channel your rock-star fantasies with a courtyard pool. If jazz is more to your liking, the Tenderloin was once the home of the Blackhawk Jazz Club where, for 14 years the greats, including Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck and Thelonious Monk performed and recorded before it shut down in 1963 when musical tastes changed. Across the street, on the corner of Turk St and Hyde St, the recording studio Wally Heider Studios opened up in 1969. The Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young all recorded there before that studio shut down in 1980.

These days, the Black Cat Jazz on Eddy St is where to go for cocktails and live jazz. A surprise guest may appear to join top performers from around the world. Recently, Golden State Warriors all-star and MVP Steph Curry went on stage with a tambourine while his wife, Ayesha Curry, a restaurateur, picked up a fivestring bass for a raucous jam with a band.

If serenity and quiet are more your scene, the Tenderloin also has surprising pockets of tranquillity. The Onsen, also on Eddy St, is a restaurant and Japanese-style bathhouse in an old brick building. Visitors can have a communal soak, then dine on miso ginger soup with poached egg and chilled somen noodles with smoked white soy and pickles.

Co-owner Caroline Smith said the Tenderloin is the perfect location for Onsen, which opened in 2016.

“We really felt welcomed by the tight-knit community here,” she said.

The former Cohen Alley between Leavenworth and Hyde had long been a cesspool in the neighbourhood with open use of illicit drugs. Over the years, the area was revived then reclaimed as one of the Tenderloin’s few community open spaces. Today, planted trees and gardens have transformed the alley into the Tenderloin’s version of a national forest with colourful murals on exterior walls and outdoor performances PianoFight, a multipurpose venue for theatre for sketch comedy and live acts on Taylor St, runs regular shows including the largest audience judge theatre competition in the country.

“There’s diversity here you won’t find anywhere else in San Francisco, in terms of socio economics, ethnicity, view points and creative wants and needs. It’s truly all over the map.

You can take a tour of the world here,” says PianoFight co-founder Rob Ready.

travel

38 | Tuesday, March 12, 2019

SPONSORED CONTENT

50,000 KIWIS CAN’T BE WRONG Disneyland Resort, Anaheim

Anaheim biggest mainland attraction in the US for NZers - and here’s why.

Mickey, Minnie, Donald and pals may be the first things that spring to mind when you think of Anaheim, California – but this interesting city has a lot to offer outside of Disneyland.

It doesn’t take much digging to discover gems that will appeal to travellers of every age and inclination. The Southern Californian city (just 46km by car from Los Angeles Airport) is the one of most popular mainland destinations for New Zealanders visiting the United States, with over 50,000 making the trip each year.

There’s a lot happening in Anaheim right now, with new hotels, and Galaxy’s Edge (an ambitious Star Wars-themed extension to Disneyland where, among other things, you get to pilot the Millennium Falcon) set to open soon, plus other world-famous attractions like Knotts Berry Farm.

But there’s more to the city than hotels and theme parks. With great food, a sophisticated beer culture, shopping and sport, it’s a city really worth discovering.

First port of call for food loving travellers should always be the Packing House, located in

The Packing House

the Anaheim Packing District. The Packing House started life as an orange packing facility and is now a two-storey food court full of excellent food and beverage options.

The BXCR Wine Bar offers a range of fine wines from California and further afield and is located in a 1920’s railway carriage; Sweetbird specialises in that American classic, fried chicken, served as delectable sandwiches; there’s delights such as homemade ice cream, authentic Syrian food, and bubble tea – genuinely something for everyone.

Also in the district is the Anaheim Brewery, with its range of beautiful beers made to be shared. It’s located in what used to be a Packard car dealership and is part of a growing beer movement, with craft and microbreweries popping up all over the city. Even the downtown Disney district has welcomed a California brewery, Ballast Point.

Another food-oriented attraction is the Boysenberry Festival. Knott’s Berry Farm hosts an annual Boysenberry Festival, in which many types of foods are infused with boysenberry flavor. All boysenberries can trace their roots back to Southern California.

This year’s event will be running for four weeks (March 29 - April 28) so visitors will have a longer time to experience the delicacies on offer.

Anaheim is also a shoppers’ paradise. There’s the massive South Coast Plaza, just 23km from

Anaheim, the largest mall on the USA’s West Coast. The Outlet at Orange is another great mall, just 10 minutes from Disneyland, with 120-plus stores, 30 movie theatres, plus bowling, a skate park and day spa.

There are also boutiques in the middle of town, with the newly developed Anaheim Center Street Promenade a great place for the fashionconscious.

If sport’s your thing and you want a taste of America’s best-loved game, head to a baseball game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim and watch the Los Angeles Angels in action.

When the Angels win a game at their stadium, the halo at the top of the “Big A” sign in the carpark lights up. This has led to a catch phrase “light that baby up”, which fans chant at games, so soaking up a truly all-American experience is a great pastime for visitors.

Getting around Anaheim’s central district has become a lot easier with the development of the new FRAN (Free Rides Around the Neighbourhood) micro-transit service.

It’s great for budget-conscious travellers and allows you to experience all the great attractions located in Anaheim’s central district.

For more information about a city packed with imagination and unique character, see www. visittheusa.com/destination/anaheim

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INCLUDES 7 nights accommodation, 5 day mid size Hertz car rental & detailed itinerary.

After exploring vibrant San Francisco, set off on one of our favourite bucket list road trips along the iconic Pacific Coast Highway.

Explore the lovely beaches, quaint towns, and incredible coastal scenery en route to Los Angeles. For unobstructed coastal views we recommend driving this route North to South.

NEVADA San Francisco Yosemite Monterey/ Carmel Big Sur

CALIFORNIA Central Coast Santa Barbara Malibu

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Travel: 01 Nov-18 Dec 19 More dates available, see in-store.

155pp share twin per night.

OUR FAVOU RITE THINGS ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO ALCATRAZ Ferry across to Alcatraz to do the fascinating audio tour. You definitely need to book in advance in the summer as it sells out. · GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE Walk, drive or cycle across the iconic bridge, the best views are once you’re across so you can get the bridge and the bay in your photos. · VIBRANT NEIGHBOURHOODS A few favourites to check out are: Nob Hill with its great architecture, the Mission District for the awesome dining scene, Haight Ashbury for its boho feel and Alamo Square with the famous row of colourful Victorian houses. · ART The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, that was transformed and reopened in 2016 and The de Young Fine Arts Museum are two excellent choices for art lovers.

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CONDITIONS: Valid for new bookings only to 29 Mar 19 or until sold out. *Valid with a minimum purchase of 2 nights accommodation. ● Travel dates based on United Airlines. Air New Zealand travel: 18 May-16 Jun, 3 Aug-18 Sep & 20-31 Oct 2019. ● Flights are Economy Class flying United Airlines or Air New Zealand via Auckland. ● SELF DRIVE: Excludes any one way fees, road tolls, fuel and national park entrance fees ● *FINANCE OFFER CONDITIONS: House of Travel 2.5% fee applies. Offer available instore only, not available online. GEM Visa, Gem CreditLine and Q Card lending criteria, fees, terms and conditions apply. For full finance offer terms and conditions, see houseoftravel.co.nz/finance-offer ● For full terms & conditions, visit hot.co.nz/usa2019-sfo CMPUSA2019

USA

14

THE SOUNDS OF FREEDOM – An absolute must-do is the Boston Freedom Trail. This unique collection of significant landmarks and historic sites and sounds, tells the story of the American Revolution and beyond. Step back in time at the Old State House Museum, visit the birthplace of the Boston Tea Party, Faneuil Hall (the ‘cradle of liberty’), Paul Revere House, not to mention monuments, museums and burial grounds. As fascinating as it sounds. thefreedomtrail.org

WHISPER ACROSS THE WORLD – Boston has many cultural treasures and one of the best is the Mapparium, a three-storey, stained-glass orb that puts you inside the world.

A rich tapestry of lights, words, quotes and music illustrate global shifts over the past century - and test your geography knowledge. Try the acoustics: a mere whisper on one end of the walkway can be heard on the other side of the globe. marybakereddylibrary.org/project/mapparium

MORE THAN JUST A TEA Julianne Gauron has the lowdown on the old and new highlights of historic Bean Town

B

oston is one of the oldest cities in America, rich in colonial and maritime history, with architecture spanning many centuries. Less widely known are the modernisation, growth, and food scene that have emerged in the past decade. In the summer, the city reverberates with festivals, live music, free outdoor activities, farmers’ markets and endless ways to enjoy local culture. There has never been a better time to visit.

Because of its density of sites and experiences, Boston is great for walking — tackle it by section, bring comfortable footwear and use Uber and the subways to break up the journey. The Boston Harbor Walk is a recent addition that allows you to follow the water’s edge from Charlestown, to Downtown, the Seaport to North End’s Italian haunts. If you get ambitious you can walk south to the Fort at Castle Island in Southie and take a swim at Pleasure Bay, or M Street Beach, like the locals do.

Be sure to stop off for coffees or beers along the way.

Downtown It’s the smell of the apple-cider donuts that grab your attention when you walk into the Boston Public Market in downtown.

This place is a recent addition to the city — what Faneuil Hall must once have been — showcasing the best artisanal foods of New England: honey, cheeses, beers, chocolates, fruit, fish, and those donuts. Show up hungry and plan to take gifts home with you. Vendors are knowledgeable and can give you a miniculinary tour of New England, its farm and food culture. A new spin on old delights.

Another revamped experience in Boston is the beautiful Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park, a perfect summer

CANADA

USA

Boston 200km

activity. Ferries take you from the dock near New England Aquarium and the New England Greenway out to the various islands and forts. Although this has always been a part of the city, in the past decade the Parks have created engaging events for adults and children and better access.

Today, you can rent a yurt on some of the islands and stay overnight (book well in advance for weekends, and check out REI Stores for gear rentals — rei.com).

The historic-registered high-end Ames Hotel, with its revamped interior is in the heart of the city. If you are aiming to really dig into the history and heritage of Boston (sans car) this is a great locale.

where one-off beverages are created for the customer and of course there’s Lucky’s Lounge, the area’s original dive bar.

Though there are many great food trucks here, for a serious meal head to local favourite Sportello, Blue Dragon, Row 34, the Coppersmith or new addition Chickadee. Be warned, Boston’s food scene is pretty fierce, so booking on the Open Table app is advised.

Back Bay

The Boston Institute of Contemporary Art.

Seaport The Boston Institute of Contemporary Art’s Seaport building was one of the sparks in the recent redevelopment of the city.

The site, once a wasteland of parking lots and dive bars, seemingly grew up overnight. Check out Lucky’s which still remains. In 2018, the ICA Watershed opened in East Boston, which can be reached by a ferry ride across the harbour, included in your museum ticket. The trip is worth it for the views back across the Boston skyline alone. While in Eastie you can sneak into the Downeast Cidery and drink some of their free samples. And the Seaport ICA has wonderful live music events on their expansive deck on summer evenings.

If you are feeling hungry, you have great options. Flour is a famous bakery group founded by Joanne Chang, with pastries to die for. Drink is a high-end speakeasy

Courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Photos / GBCVB

Newbury St, Boston’s famed Back Bay shopping street full of designer names, is overrated. Instead head away from the Garden to find interesting local stores. Ministry of Supply is a successful tech-driven apparel brand — you can 3D print your own garment in the store — and Johnny’s Cupcakes is a stellar graphic design experience. Frye boots is a fashionable local brand with its origins in the Civil War, Muji’s is a classic everything store and Reformation is a sustainable Californian brand fighting fast fashion.

Boston Museum of Fine Arts is the fifth largest museum in the United States.

Grab a coffee in the recently added atrium beside the Chihuly sculpture and check out the photography and fashion exhibits. Summer 2019 includes Gender Bending Fashion and Georgie Friedman: Fragments of Antarctica. If you’re in town during MFA Late Nites, get a ticket and join in the all-night revelry in the museum. Expect the unexpected, from DJs, to artmaking and intriguing food.

Or head to Third Thursdays at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum just next door. The museum lights up with live music from local musicians, thought leaders and artists in residence, just as it did when the extraordinary building was

USA

| 24.03.19 |

THE SIZZLE OF SEAFOOD – This seaside city might just be foodie heaven. Boston’s culinary tradition is varied and vibrant and fresh shellfish is a highlight. Get your fill of oysters with ‘shucks for a buck’ at dozens of restaurants around town or catch your own fresh lobster in Boston Harbour. Fried clams are another local delicacy, with most locals agreeing that the North Shore is the place to find these, with hot picks including Woodmans, JT Farnhams and the Clam Box. You’ll be ‘clam-ouring’ for more.

15

SAY HELLO TO BOSTON.

PARTY Sox, hot dog in hand as twilight drops is a summer necessity in Boston; the worse your seats the better a fan you are.

Near Fenway Park, newly added The Verb Hotel has a funky vibe and an outdoor swimming pool which is a relative rarity in Boston.

Check out the free evening music from Boston Landmarks Orchestra’s Concerts at the Hatch Shell, alongside the Charles River Esplanade.

Beacon Hill

Out of Town

Guests love a visit to the World’s End Shakespeare on the Common is a feature conservation area south of the city in of the Boston summer, and like many of Hingham. The two drumlins landscaped the best activities it’s free. Bring a picnic

by Frederick Law Olmstead sit in Boston dinner and a blanket from your hotel harbour and as much of the world as (beverages incognito as New England is old-school on liquor laws), and relax into a I travel, this remains one of the most beautiful places I have seen. It’s stunning gorgeous evening under the stars.

For summer 2019, the troupe will perform in all seasons.

To the south, Cape Cod is a famed Cymbeline, a tragedy which is also beach destination. Skip it and head purported to be a romance bordering to the vibrant, fabulous artists’ on comedy.

GETTING enclave at the end of the There’s free yoga all THERE cape, Provincetown over the city, including Hawaiian Airlines flies (PTown). You can take Copley Plaza and the from Auckland to Boston, the Ferry from Boston, Frog Pond on Boston via Honolulu, with return and potentially get your Common, where you Economy Class fares from whale watching fix in as will be surrounded by $1799. you cross Stellwagen Beacon Hills residents hot.co.nz Bank National Marine walking their dogs, just DETAILS Sanctuary. as their ancient forebears visittheusa.com Although people say exercised their right to graze Bostonians are crazy drivers, their sheep on the shared we believe we are assertive and common land in the early colonies. tactical, but either way the road network Walk along the Charles River, once here was laid out by cows. renowned for its dangerously unsafe Save yourself the trouble and use Uber, water quality, now classified so highly the subway, trains and ferries as much as that the Charles River Conservancy has a possible.

Charles River Swim.

In summer, there are loads of bikeThe band the Standells made it a point of acclaim with their song Dirty Water — “I sharing options and the Minuteman love that dirty water, Oh Boston you’re my Bikepath will take you out of vibrant Davis Home”, a beloved classic which echoes Square in Somerville through historic Lexington and Bedford and makes a around Fenway Park Stadium’s hallowed great ride with lots of coffee and ice green stands as fans sing along. cream stops along the way.

A game at Fenway watching the Red

BOSTON

RETU RN EC ONOMY FLIGHTS from

1799

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pp flying Hawaiian Airlines from Auckland.

Travel: 24 Mar-01 Jun, 14 Aug-25 Sept, 01 Oct-20 Nov, 05-12 Dec 19

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from

ACCOMMODATION

105

$

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ADD ON A N EW ENGLAND SELF -DRIV E 12 DAYS/11 NIGHTS

from

2265

$

pp share twin

INCLUDES 11 nights accommodation & 10 day mid-size Hertz rental car.

New England is filled with rich history, scenic villages and outdoor adventures at every turn. Discover historic cities, white sand beaches, lighthouses, brilliant autumn foliage, expansive lakes and panoramic mountain views.

Travel: 01 May-30 Jun, 01 Sep-31 Oct 19

OU R FAVOURITE THIN GS TO SEE AND DO IN BOSTON

MAINE Bar Harbor/ Acadia National Park

Stowe

White Mountains

FREEDOM TRAIL Walking this trail takes you past so many buildings and locations significant to the American Revolution. · MUSEUMS There are some great museums such as the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Science. · ARCHITECTURE Check out the styles of the Colonial era, Federalist era and Victorian brownstones.

Make sure you visit Beacon Hill and the picturesque Acorn Street. · RED SOX Stop by for a tour of Fenway Park, and if in season a game is an experience not to be missed.

World’s End, Hingham, Massachussets.

Photo / Liz West

Green Mountains

Kennebunkport

NEW HAMPSHIRE

MASSACHUSETTS

Portsmouth

Boston

The Berkshires

Cape Cod

Newport

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home to its namesake, one of Boston’s leading ladies.

Be sure to head down Clearwater Street to local secret, the Bodega. Even if you aren’t in the market for edgy street fashion, the experience of walking into an unremarkable quickie mart and then emerging in a high-end boutique behind the shelves is worth the stop, even if only to be able to say: “Yeah, I know where the Bodega is.”

travel

14 | Tuesday, March 26, 2019

USA

»

SEATTLE

COOL Amanda Linnell gets a little help from some local friends to find the many hip experiences this Pacific Northwest city has to offer

I

t was the 90s and I was backpacking around Europe when I first met Buzz. This coolest of cats, he was travelling in a Kombi van and we ended up working a ski season with a group of friends in the Pyrenees. He was from Seattle and would tell me tales of weekends spent hiking and skiing in the mountains, hanging out in coffee bars and partying with some of the best bands that made their name in the city.

Ever since, I have dreamed of making it to Seattle — the birthplace of Sub Pop, the record label responsible for most of those 90s grunge bands, and the place where coffee culture began, thanks to Starbucks. Having friends on the ground helped ensure my itinerary was a healthy mix of the expected and the unexpected. Here are some cool things to do: Buy vinyl . . .

Seattle is full of excellent record stores selling a selection of new and used vinyl. It was while chewing the fat about the local music scene with the owner of Singles Going Steady in Belltown (a great store renowned for punk and grime), that I picked up a print-out of a hand-drawn map of where to find the best vinyl. Easy Street Records

Seattle Art Museum (top); Pike Place Market. Photos / Supplied, Getty Images

& Cafe in West Seattle is a cool place to hang, sift through a selection of vinyl, CDs and memorabilia — I left with a beanie, T-shirt and fridge magnet, as well as some brilliant albums.

Named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the US’s top record stores; apparently Eddie Vedder worked a shift in 1995 and played on repeat the store’s copy of Sonic Youth’s new record Washing Machine. Everyone’s got a story.

In Ballard (see Make Like A Local…) you’ll find Bop Street Records (which apparently has half a million vinyls on the floor-to-ceiling shelves) and Sonic Boom for a good mix of independent records. In Capitol Hill you’ll find the vast Everyday Music where you can hang with the hipsters and rifle through the endless rows of records. The coolest of cool in Seattle is, of course, Sub Pop, and its airport store (departure side) means getting to the airport early is a must.

Satisfy your fashion cravings . . .

At one of the most beautiful stores in Seattle, Totokaelo. Its gallery-like space houses fashion labels from Dries Van Noten to Yohji Yamamoto, Balenciaga to Rick Owens, along with ceramics, textiles and homewares from names such as Alvar Aalto and Isamu Noguchi. You’ll be hard pushed not to blow the budget on one piece to bring home. Situated in Capitol Hill (the capital of cool), there is lots to explore and see: next door is the literary haven that is the Elliott Bay Book Company.

Embrace the peace . . .

When you walk in to the Seattle Art Museum you won’t be able to resist going “wow” at the largescale sculpture of a western hemlock tree hanging overhead. Artist John Grade made a full plaster cast model of a loving tree and it stretches to 45m in length. SAM is an elegant, peaceful gallery with impressively curated collections and exhibitions. Allow yourself 2-3 hours for an unrushed exploration, and don’t miss Big Picture: Art After 1945 a significant collection of abstract paintings and sculptures by greats such as Pollock, Rothko and Jasper Johns. American Modernism showcases the likes of Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin and Marsden Hartley. The museum also has a great cafe and a gift shop.

Eat and drink . . .

Reassuringly for Kiwis, the city of Seattle takes its culinary scene pretty seriously. Time your visit during the annual Taste Washington festival (every March) and join in the multitude of happenings from visits to artisan food producers in the region and restaurant events, to the Grand Tasting where you can “sample” wines from more than 200 winemakers. This is a fun event.

Any other time of the year, head along with every other person in town, to Pike Place Market and eat yourself silly from all the delicious stalls. I recommend taking a Savour Seattle Signature tour and learning all about the amazing history of the market as you go.

Make like a local . . .

On a Sunday morning, grab a coffee and head to the suburb of Ballard for the farmers market.

Ballard Avenue is lined with buskers, food and artisan stalls, selling a huge range of goods

travel

Tuesday, March 26, 2019 | 15

TAKE ME TO SEATTLE.

The Elliot Bay Book Shop (top) and the Seattle Needle.

Photos / Supplied, Meric Dagli

SEATTLE

R E T U R N EC O N O M Y F L I G H TS from

1385

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pp flying Hawaiian Airlines from Auckland.

Travel: 24 Mar-01 Jun, 14 Aug-25 Sept, 01 Oct-20 Nov, 05-12 Dec 19

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155

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A D D O N A PAC I F I C N O RT H W E ST SE L F - D R I V E 9 DAYS/8 NIGHTS

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2165

$

INCLUDES 8 nights accommodation & 8 day mid-size Hertz rental car.

See the rich landscape of Mount Rainier, an active volcano and Washington state icon. Enjoy coastal scenery along Oregon’s Pacific Coast Scenic Byway and see some of the world’s tallest trees in Redwood National Forest.

Travel: 01-31 Oct 19

OU R FAVOU R I T E T H I N G S TO S E E A N D D O I N S E AT T LE

WASHINGTON Portland

Washington Portland Oregon

Checklist SEATTLE GETTING THERE Return flights from Auckland to Seattle with Hawaiian Airlines (via Honolulu, for travel on selected dates), start from $1385. Add on a nine-day Pacific Northwest selfdrive tour, including accommodation and rental car, from $2165pp, twin share. hot.co.nz

PIKE PLACE MARKET This cool market is filled with loads of treats. Aisles of fruits and vegetables, tables overflowing with fresh flowers and booth after booth selling all sorts of locally made arts and crafts. · MUSEUM OF POP CULTURE (MoPOP) An amazing museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction. · BOEING FACTORY Go behind the hangar doors to discover Boeing’s inner workings and see the flight line and airplanes in various stages of assembly. · CHIHULY GARDEN AND GLASS This stunning museum showcases the art and career of world-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly.

Get high . . .

If you want to. Marijuana is legal in Seattle and there are pot shops dotted around the city. I can’t confess to getting to one of these stores while I was in town but, in the name of research I asked my contact on the ground, Buzz, for his recommendations of where he likes to shop “just to find something to take the edge off at the end of the day, and then fall asleep”.

Whatever, Buzz. His faves? Have A Heart, Uncle Ikes and Herban Legends. But you can Google “Weedmaps” to find your nearest store. FYI, there are laws around pot smoking,, so it would pay to check those out before you partake.

Seattle Mt.Rainier Mt.St.Helens

OREGON

Redwood National Park

Eureka CALIFORNIA San Francisco Monterey

Big Sur

Central Coast Santa Barbara

Los Angeles

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Get even higher . . .

Head to the top of Seattle’s Space Needle. With views out to Mt Rainer, Elliot Bay, the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, it’s the perfect place to fully appreciate how perfectly placed this city is — and why hiking and skiing are all very much among the locals’ favourite pastimes.

They’ve just spent $100 million upgrading the Space Needle experience by removing, yes removing, barriers, walls and even the floor and adding more glass and the world’s only revolving glass floor to create the feeling that you really are floating in the clouds. Fancy a vino? The new wine bar near the top is the perfect place to watch the sunset over the city.

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TO G E T H E R

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USA Seattle

including special kombucha on tap, hot organic apple cider, handmade ceramics, fresh flowers, infused honey, and products from the Gaia Harmony Farm — you get the vibe. Permanent fashion boutiques, bars and cafes will also work to ensure you will come away with your tummies and shopping bags full.

Look out for the sweet store Blumenkinder with beautiful handmade ceramics, clothing and art. (221 NW Market St).

MARK-2565_WK6

Canada Vancouver

pp share twin

USA

16

GET THE BEALE STREET BLUES – Beale Street is the place where blues legends like B.B. King got their start. Also known as ‘party central’, the street is lined with more than 25 bars and nightclubs, a melting pot of delta blues, jazz, rock ’n’ roll, R&B and gospel.

Take a stroll, watch street performers, browse music memorabilia, and enjoy some lip-smacking southern barbecue food while you’re there.

WALK ON WATER – The Mighty Mississippi is the second longest river in North America and boasts nearly five miles of parks, riverboat cruises and water activities. The recently completed Big River Crossing allows you to walk or bike across the Mississippi River for the first time in history – and take in staggering views along the way. Don’t miss Mud Island, where you can walk along a scale model of the lower Mississippi River. bigrivercrossing.com

MEMPHIS LEGENDS Oliver Pelling has long-distance information on this iconic city

S

o the elevator will ding like elevators do and four or five ducks will waltz on to the red carpet that’s been rolled out in the foyer to receive them. The ducks will be closely followed by a bellman (an adult bellboy) who’ll be directing traffic with a cane. The bellman’s official title is actually The Peabody Memphis Duckmaster.

The Peabody Memphis Duckmaster will be offering encouragement to the ducks by saying things like, “very good!” and “very nice!” Emboldened, the ducks will continue their march along the red carpet to the fountain in the middle of the foyer, before clambering up three steps and jumping in. There will be a large and enthusiastic crowd gathered, and they’ll be taking photos, giggling, ooh-ing, aah-ing, and have very little idea what is and isn’t real anymore.

The ducks will swim around the fountain for a bit before eventually jumping out, retracing their steps along the red carpet, and getting back into the elevator, followed closely by The Peabody Memphis Duckmaster.

The elevator doors will slide shut, the crowd will burst into rapturous applause, and the ducks will return to whence they came, presumably to grapple with the harrowing reality that the rest of Memphis is their lives much more will be spent than Elvis. this way. Two In regard to marches a day, the other point: every day, forever. like much of the There is of course America tourists some necessary tend to neglect, context to help explain Memphis does indeed this peculiar deployment have its problems. You’ll see of ducks at The Peabody it as you drive (or more likely, are driven) between the Memphis hotel, but we’ll get GETTING THERE more suburban tourist to that in a bit.

An 11-day Tastes and attractions. Boarded Mention Memphis to Sounds of the South up homes, abandoned any of your annoyingly Trafalgar trip, including return businesses, dilapidated well-travelled friends and flights transfers, accommodation apartment blocks, shrubs they’ll either go: “Oh yeah, and some meals starts from and weeds reclaiming Elvis! Graceland! You’ve $6155pp, twin share, departing entire blocks. gotta go to Graceland!”

October 22 In a country as or “Oh yeah, it’s a bit of hot.co.nz developed as America, a dive.” In a way, both of they’re the kind of sights that these people are correct. If you will come as a sad, surprising shock. do find yourself in Memphis, not Until last year, Memphis’ poverty rate visiting the home of perhaps the most was the worst in America. According to a influential pop star of all time (and the 2018 report by the University of Memphis enormous, theme park-esque adjoining (UoM), its poverty rate is now the second facility) does feel at least mildly heretical. worst in America. Memphis also happens You’re there — you might as well. But

to be the second slowest-growing city in the country — ranked 487 out of 515 American cities in terms of its economic growth. And while the UoM report claims that things are getting better, it urges “cautious optimism”.

Far from any of this being a reason to not visit Memphis, the exact opposite is true. It’s merely important, real-life context for an important, real-life place. A city’s wealth is not indicative of a city’s worth, after all, and to learn of Memphis’ colossal cultural history, to see and hear her story for yourself, is to give respect where respect is due.

For a start, if you like music, any type of music, a visit to Memphis is a pilgrimage whether you realise it or not. Take Sun Studio: open today for both tourists to visit and recording artists to use, it’s where the likes of Elvis, Johnny Cash, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis cut wax and spent the 50s and 60s learning how best to bring the world to its trembling knees.

Ground zero for rock and roll, and still very much intact. Less than a 10-minute drive away, you’ll find The Stax Museum of American Soul Music — the original site of

the unfathomably influential Stax Records.

Think Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Booker T. and the MGs. Memphis oozes this stuff.

One piece of information that your annoyingly well-travelled friend may or may not relay to you is that you can’t visit Memphis without visiting the National Civil Rights museum. Built within the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, it’s one of the most poignant and profound monuments to a man — and a movement — you’re likely to find anywhere in the world.

“Memphis is super-proud of its history,” says Lahna Deering, a musician, local radio host and Sun Studio tour guide of seven years. “It’s not all happy history, but the legacies left behind are mind-blowing, and a little hard to fathom at times.”

Speaking of legacies, you can take a stroll down Beale St and jump into any of the neon-drenched blues bars (B.B. King’s Blues Club, if you have to pick one), then dribble over one of the best barbecue feeds of your life at Charlie Vergos Rendezvous, a smoke-filled circa-1948 basement barbecue joint that will make

USA

| 31.03.19 |

THE HOME OF SOUL & ROCK ’N’ ROLL – It’s little wonder Memphis appears in more song titles than any other city in the world. It abounds with musical sights and sounds, including the opportunity for a tour of Graceland, the stately home of ‘The King’ himself. Other must-see and hear attractions include the Civil Rights Museum, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and Sun Studios, the recording home to many big name artists including Elvis, Johnny Cash and Ike Turner. Then there’s the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, a fascinating journey through the city’s musical heyday in the 70s. Legendary.

17

THE SOUNDS OF THE SOUTH.

TOUR

TRANSFERS

FLIGHTS

INCLUDED

INCLUDED

INCLUDED

SELECT MEALS INCLUDED

TASTES AND SOUNDS OF THE SOUTH 11 DAY/10 NIGHT TRAFALGAR TRIP

from

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PACKAGE INCLUDES

Return economy flights · Airport transfers 10 day Trafalgar Trip · 10 night hotel stay 10 breakfasts · 5 dinners

▲

Travel: Based on 22 Oct 19 departure.

More dates available, see in-store.

Graceland

Memphis

Nashville

TENNESSEE

MISSISSIPPI ▲

LOUISIANA Frogmore Plantation ▲

Oak Alley Plantation

New Orleans

City tours in Memphis, New Orleans. · The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. · Delve into the life and foot-tapping tunes of Johnny Cash with a member of his family. · Visit Graceland, Oak Alley Plantation, Frogmore Plantation, Rock 'n' Soul Museum, Sun Studios, Country Music Hall of Fame. · Visit former Four Seasons Hotel chef Esther Carpenter’s 1804 home and enjoy a traditional three-course Deep South dinner. · Enjoy a fun cooking demonstration and Creole meal at the New Orleans School of Cooking.

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a sermon at the Full Gospel Tabernacle. you believe that god and brisket are Just keep in mind it’s an actual church, made of the very same stuff. not a tourist attraction, so leave the selfie If you want Vietnamese food, and sticks (are they still a thing?) at home. you’re well within your rights to Memphis is also home to a massive want Vietnamese food in Memphis, outdoor shop housed inside a gigantic Tennessee, head to Pho Bin (on Lahna’s glass pyramid that has actual, real-life recommendation).

Sports fan or not, you’d do well to catch alligators inside it. But that’s a tale for another time. a Grizzlies game if you’re in town during Unlike the Austins and Nashvilles of the NBA season. The team itself are the American south, Memphis isn’t one of the worst in the league — sanitised and packaged up shockingly bad — but there is pretty for the consumption of arguably not a single more pleasure-cruising international authentic “local” experience, K E N T UC KY in any city in the world, than visitors. Memphis is Memphis.

Nashville handing over your hardAnd Memphis is America TENNESSEE Memphis earned money to knowingly — the good, the bad, and the G EORG I A watch a losing team. ugly. “We’re all here trying to A L A BA M A For more locals-only make it work,” says Deering.

100km entertainment (because Beale “And that shines through.”

St is decidedly not that), spread As for The Peabody Memphis Ducks, your wings and visit Minglewood Hall, the short version is that a general Loflin Yard, Wild Bill’s, Hi Tone Cafe or manager of The Peabody got pissed on Lafayette’s Music Room to get a fill of whiskey at some point in the 1930s and what’s happening, musically-speaking, in decided it was a good idea.

Memphis in 2019. And if you pick your As for the long version, you’re better visitation days carefully, you can actually off asking The Memphis Peabody go and watch Reverend Al Green perform Duckmaster himself.

Natchez

Join this tour for a little honky-tonk, home cookin', hot-footed hoedown and a whole lot of Rock 'n' Roll on this inspiring and leisurely jaunt through the Deep South.

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» THE ROAR OF AN ACTIVE VOLCANO – Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park protects some of the most unique landscapes in the world and encompasses two of the world’s most active volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Witness the aftermath of Kilauea’s 2018 eruption – and occasionally the active flow that includes fiery red lava pouring into the ocean and night-time lava fireworks). The park’s 134,000 hectares include many beautiful hiking trails, guided walks, museums and protected wildlife. hawaiipacificparks.org

SAMPLE SIZZLINGLY GOOD LOCAL FOOD – With a neverending range of fresh, seasonal ingredients, Hawaiian cuisine is a beautiful tapestry of flavours and traditions. From feasts fit for ki alii (royalty) to the local delicacy poke (raw marinated tuna or octopus), you’ll find delicious culinary treasures on every Hawaiian island. Oahu, known as The Gathering Place, is a foodie paradise and Honolulu offers a melting pot of trendy eateries and casual diners dishing up local specialities.

Savour every flavour Tempted by so many foodie treats in Honolulu it’ll be hard, but remember to leave room for dessert, writes Brett Atkinson

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or a walking tour touted as discovering the best food in Honolulu’s Chinatown, we seem to be taking a long time to try anything Chinese. Not that we’re complaining though, as the first stops with Aloha Food Tours are definitely showing off the fusion flavours the city is known for.

With a family background blending Hawaiian, Malaysian and Japanese ancestry, our guide, Ryan Conching, is as ethnically diverse as the rest of Honolulu, and he promises plateloads of foodie treats unique to Hawaii. His initial culinary overview comes with a warning to “Make sure you pace yourselves”, and memories of a food tour blowout in Penang’s Little India come flooding back. Who knew there was a natural limit to the human body’s ability to absorb satay and samosas?

Sweet buns for sale on Kekaulike St. Photo / Getty Images

It’s Vietnamese, Laotian and Thai flavours merging at The Pig & the Lady, originally a stall at the Diamond Head farmers’ market, and one of the first restaurants to inspire Chinatown’s emergence as an after-dark eating and drinking destination. Locals still crowd the Saturday morning market for grilled pork banh mi sandwiches, but this afternoon’s star is pho ga (chicken noodle soup), packed with star anise and as good as anything in Hanoi. A drinks list punctuated with local craft beer and ciders compels us to make a dinner booking for later in the week.

From The Pig & the Lady, Ryan leads us down King St before detouring to the Kekaulike Market, framed by palm trees straight from the South Pacific, but infused with heady aromas of Asian provenance. Poke (pronounced po-kay) is popular from Portland to Ponsonby, and in cool eateries heaped servings of raw tuna or salmon are served with rice, quinoa, and occasionally a side order of a Lululemon yoga mat.

Concealed at the back of the market, there’s definitely nothing New Age or hipster about Maguro Brothers, and shimmering slabs of some of the world’s best tuna are sliced and

diced carefully by two brothers from the Japanese city of Kawasaki. Hawaiian ahi tuna is served with a spicy shoyu sauce, but it’s the hamachi (yellowtail) tuna flown in from Japanese waters that’s a revelation: buttery, unctuous and served with delicate slivers of raw wasabi, not the green ersatz paste dispensed at your local sushi place.

Around the corner at the Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery we’re finally trying Chinese flavours, but even these come filtered via the ethnic mash-up of Honolulu.

Char siu dumplings and steamed buns are filled with pork hash, and Ryan explains the local term for these treats is manapua, a contraction of the Hawaiian phrase mea ono puaa, meaning delicious pork thing.

Apparently, it’s a tradition to buy a box of manapua for work shouts or office birthdays — forget savouries and sausage rolls in Honolulu — and while they’re delicious and porky, we hold back slightly knowing there’s more to come.

Through Chinatown’s Hotel St bar district, taking a breather on a sultry Honolulu afternoon, it’s past the 1922 heritage grandeur of the Hawaii Theatre to the Fort Street Mall. We’re now on the edge of the city’s compact downtown, and the pedestrian walkway lined with eateries is a popular lunch spot for local desk jockeys.

A French creperie stands next to La Mision

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THE WHOOSH OF WHALES: THE DANCE OF DOLPHINS – In Hawaii’s winter months, hundreds of humpback whales can be found in the warm, indigo waters around Maui. Witness the slap, splash and whoosh as this majestic creature breaches the water, or dip your head underwater to hear their mesmerising squeaks and groans. If you’re lucky, watch a spinner dolphin as it dances through the wake of your boat – or look down to see a green sea turtle swimming below. Snorkelling or diving is also a must-do in Maui with many amazing spots – it’s like being in an ocean-size aquarium!

SOAK UP HAWAI‘I SUNSHINE.

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KA‘ANAPALI BEACH HOTEL MAUI Honolulu is known for fusion flavours (left); Kekaulike Market is infused with aromas of Asia (top); yellowtail tuna flown in from Japan and sold in the market is a treat.

Photos / Getty Images; flickr

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Set within lovely tropical gardens with beautiful frangipani trees, the hotel is right on the gorgeous Ka‘anapali Beach — a sensational location. Wander along the beach or the boardwalk and you’ll be at the shops and restaurants of Whaler’s Village in just a couple of minutes.

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✓ ACTIVITIES daily. ✓ BEVERAGES Two complimentary drinks. ✓ 20% OFF entrees at Tiki Terrace Restaurant. ✓ $50 DINING CREDIT at Gerard’s Restaurant. ✓ FREE WiFi.

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Taqueria — emblazoned with #MMGA, Make Mexico Great Again — but we’re headed for the humble Fort Street Cafe.

The older Vietnamese owners don’t speak much English, but the menu packs in as many flavours as a gap-year-traveller’s Southeast Asian itinerary, and we’re soon tucking into crispy lemongrass fried chicken and Thaistyle iced tea while the grandkids haphazardly steer a delivery trolley up and down the laneway.

Ryan leads us on to the two final stops of the tour. Madre Chocolate features treats crafted from cacao pods from Guatemala, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

There’s even a “chocolate” bar made of roasted coffee beans from the volcanic Kona slopes of Hawaii’s Big Island, and it provides an espresso-like hit as we stroll to the tour’s conclusion.

Available around Hawaii, super-refreshing shave ice is usually served topped with traditional flavours like lime and coconut, but at the Wing Ice Cream Parlour, it’s more like mad scientist time as flavours could include Mayan chocolate, roasted garlic or blueberry and lavender. With vintage vinyl spinning on the turntable and quirky decor including a former rock god’s twin-neck electric guitar, a retro vibe infuses the compact space, but there’s definitely nothing old-fashioned about the innovative tastes on offer.

Leave room for dessert when you’re eating your way around Chinatown, and order Wing’s lemongrass and coriander shave ice as the perfect way to beat the Honolulu heat.

FLIGHTS & 6 NIGHTS IN A POOL/COURTYARD VIEW ROOM

BREAKFAST

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THE BLUE

In this extract from Lonely Planet’s book The Vanlife Companion, find out the best stops on a campervan trip along America’s Pacific Coastal Route.

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ewitching ribbons of Hwy 1 and Hwy 101 await all along this route up the West Coast, from California into Oregon and Washington. Uncover beaches, seafood shacks and piers for catching sunsets over boundless ocean horizons — better yet, your odds of finding an overnight spot with an ocean view along this route are excellent.

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There will be gridlock, but don’t despair. Hwy 1 runs straight through the city’s biggest, most breathable greenspace: Golden Gate Park, a conservatory of flowers, arboretum and botanical gardens.

Follow Hwy 1 north over the Golden Gate Bridge. Guarding the entry to San Francisco Bay, this iconic bridge is named after the straits it spans, not for its “International Orange” paint job.

Park in the lot on the bridge’s south or north 200km side, then traipse out on to the pedestrian walkway for a photo.

CANADA Slow-moving, wonderfully twisted Hwy 1 runs along the WASHINGTON Seaside Astoria Marin County coast, passing Newport nearby Point Reyes. Over Cape Perpetua OREGON Port Oxford Bandon the next 161km from Bodega Redwood National Brookings Bay to Mendocino, revel in and State Parks a remarkably uninterrupted UNITED Mendocino stretch of coastal highway.

STATES San Francisco More than halfway along, watch for the lighthouse road turnoff north of Point Arena town.

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Around Point Arena The fishing fleets of Bodega Bay and Jenner’s harbour-seal colony are the last things you’ll see before the highway dives into California’s great rural northlands. Hwy 1 twists and turns past the Sonoma Coast’s state parks packed with hiking trails, sand dunes and beaches, as well as underwater marine reserves, rhododendron groves and a 19th-century Russian fur-trading fort.

At Sea Ranch, don’t let exclusive-looking vacation homes prevent you from following public-access trailhead signs and stairways to empty beaches.

Further north, guarding an unbelievably windy point since 1908, Point Arena Lighthouse is the only lighthouse in California where you can actually climb to the top.

It’s an hour-long, 56km drive north along Hwy 1 from the Point Arena Lighthouse turnoff to Mendocino, crossing the Navarro, Little and Big Rivers. Stop and stretch (or stop for the night) at one of the wind-tossed state beaches or parklands along the way.

Avenue of the Giants and, if you have more time to spare, to the Lost Coast.

Redwood national & state parks

At last, you’ll reach Redwood National Park (nps.gov/redw). Commune with the coastal giants inside Lady Bird Johnson Grove or the majestic Tall Trees Grove (free drive-and-hike permit required). For more untouched redwood forests, wind along the 13km Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (parks.ca.gov), passing grassy meadows

● Lonely Planet’s The Vanlife Companion is a practical and inspiring guide to great campervan adventures around the world. Reproduced with permission from Lonely Planet © 2018; lonelyplanet.com

Samuel Boardman State Scenic Corridor This 19km stretch of coastal splendour features giant stands of Sitka spruce, natural rock bridges, tide pools and loads of hiking trails. Along the highway are more than a dozen roadside stops and picnic areas, most of which allow you to stay for 12 hours — so they make excellent dry camping spots, and you’ll wake to an Instagrammable ocean view.

The viewing platform at Natural Bridge Viewpoint (Mile 346, Hwy 101) offers a glorious photo op of rock arches — the remnants of collapsed sea caves — after which you can decide whether you want to commit to the hike down to China Beach.

Port Orford Perched on a grassy headland, the hamlet of Port Orford is in one of the most scenic stretches of coastal highway, and there are stellar views even from the centre of town.

If you’re feeling ambitious, take the 4.8km trail up Humbug Mountain, which takes you up, up, up past streams and through prehistoric-looking landscapes to the top, where you’ll be treated to dramatic views of Cape Sebastian and the Pacific. If it’s time to stop for the night, a parking lot atop the hill at the end of Harbor Rd charges a nominal fee for overnight camping (and restrooms at the visitor centre nearby).

Mendocino & Fort Bragg Looking more like Cape Cod than California, the quaint maritime town of Mendocino has white picket fences surrounding New England-style cottages with blooming gardens and redwood-built water towers. Its dramatic headlands jutting into the Pacific, this yesteryear timber town and shipping port was “discovered” by artists and bohemians in the 1950s and has served as a scenic backdrop in more than 50 movies. Once you’ve browsed the souvenir shops and art galleries selling everything from driftwood carvings to homemade fruit jams, escape north to workaday Fort Bragg, with its simple fishing harbour and craft brew pub.

About 40km north of Mendocino, Westport is the last hamlet along this rugged stretch of Hwy 1. Rejoin Hwy 101 northbound at Leggett for another 145km to Eureka, detouring along the

filled with bright colours and a heavy scent. In May and June you’ll also find magnificent floral displays at the hilly, 12ha Azalea Park.

Majestic redwoods lining road in Lady Bird Johnson Grove, California Photo / Lonely Planet

where Roosevelt elk roam. Then follow Hwy 101 north to Crescent City, the last pit-stop before the Oregon border.

Brookings, Oregon Your first stop on the Oregon coast, Brookings has some of the warmest temperatures on the coast, and is a leader in Easter lily-bulb production; in July, fields south of town are

Bandon Optimistically touted as Bandon-by-the-Sea, this little town sits happily at the bay of the Coquille River, with an Old Town district that’s been gentrified into a picturesque harbourside shopping location. Along the beach, ledges of stone rise out of the surf to provide shelter for seals, sea lions and myriad forms of life in tide pools. One of the coast’s most interesting rock formations is the much-photographed Face Rock, a huge monolith with some uncanny facial features that does indeed look like a woman with

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Thousands stop annually at the Tillamook Cheese Factory (tillamookcheese.com) for free samples and a picture-window view of the massive cheese-making factory floor.

Manzanita One of the more laidback beach resorts on Oregon’s coast is the hamlet of Manzanita.

You can relax on the white-sand beaches, or, if you’re feeling more ambitious, hike on nearby Neahkahnie Mountain, where high cliffs rise dramatically above the Pacific’s pounding waves.

It’s a 6km climb to the top but the views are worth it: on a clear day, you can see 80km out to sea.

Cannon Beach Cannon Beach is one of the most popular towns on the Oregon coast. The wide sandy beach stretches for kilometres, and you’ll find great photo opportunities and tide-pooling possibilities at glorious Haystack Rock, the third-tallest sea stack in the world. For the area’s best coastal hiking, head to Ecola State Park (oregonstateparks.org).

Seaside

The Sonoma-Mendocino coastal route, the Pacific Coastal Highway. Photo / Lonely Planet

her head thrown back — giving rise to a requisite Native American legend.

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area This stretch of coast offers something altogether different in the landscape: sand. Lots of it.

Stretching 80km, the Oregon Dunes are the largest expanse of oceanfront sand dunes in the US. Sometimes topping heights of 150m, these mountains of sand undulate inland up to 5km.

Hikers and birdwatchers stick to the peaceful northern half of the dunes, and the southern half is dominated by dune buggies and dirt bikes. At Mile 200.8, the Oregon Dunes Overlook is the easiest place to take a gander.

In Reedsport, the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park offers summer tours of the 1894 lighthouse.

touch pools on the Oregon coast. You’ll also get a good look at the tallest lighthouse in Oregon, Yaquina Head Lighthouse (not to be confused with Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, 5km south).

At the cutting-edge Oregon Coast Aquarium (aquarium. org), seals and sea otters are cute as can be, and the jellyfish room is a near psychedelic experience.

Lincoln City The sprawling modern beach resort of Lincoln City serves as the region’s principal commercial centre. In addition to gas and groceries, the town does offer a unique enticement to stop: from

Cape Perpetua Whatever you do, don’t miss the spectacular scenery of the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, 5km south of Yachats. You could easily spend a day or two exploring trails that take you through mossladen, old-growth forests to rocky beaches, tide pools and blasting marine geysers. At the very least, drive up to the Cape Perpetua Overlook for a colossal coastal view from 245m above sea level — the highest point on the coast. While you’re up there, check out the historic West Shelter observation point built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. There’s a good campsite here, too.

Just south of Cape Perpetua, look for Cook’s Chasm, a rock formation that spouts water when the waves churn around it; the parking lot here offers endless views (and no signs forbidding overnight stays). This entire area was once a series of volcanic intrusions that resisted the pummelling of the Pacific long enough to rise as oceanside peaks and promontories. Acres of tide pools are home to starfish, sea anemones and sea lions.

Newport Don your marine-biologist cap and head to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, a spit of land that protrudes nearly a mile into the ocean.

This headland is home to some of the best

Oregon’s busiest resort town delivers exactly what you’d expect from a town called Seaside, which is wholesome, Coney Island-esque fun. The 3.2km boardwalk — known as “the Prom” — is a kaleidoscope of seaside kitsch, with bike rentals, video arcades, fudge, caramel apples, saltwater taffy and more.

Check your tide table and head to the beach; Gearhart is famous for its razor clamming at low tide. All you need are boots, a shovel or a clam gun, a cut-resistant glove, a licence (available in Gearhart) and a bucket for your catch. Watch your fingers — the name razor clam is well earned. Boiling up a batch is likely to result in the most memorable meal of your trip. For information on where, when and how to clam, visit the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife website; it’s a maze of a site, so just Google “ODFW clamming”.

Fort Stevens State Park Thousands of vessels have been lost in the Graveyard of the Pacific, from warships to barges to freighters. A few are occasionally visible at low tide, but the easiest one to spot is the Peter Iredale, resting at Fort Stevens State Park. The ship was driven on to the shore by rough seas on October 25, 1906, and the wreckage has sat embedded in the sand ever since. Today, kids have made a jungle gym out of the rusted skeleton and families picnic and build sandcastles on the nearby sand at low tide. (No lives were lost in the wreck, so don’t let the thought of ghostly sailors dampen your fun.)

Astoria

Cannon Beach, Oregon Photo / Getty Images

mid-October to late May volunteers hide brightly coloured glass floats — which have been handblown by local artisans — along the beaches, making a memorable souvenir for the resourceful and diligent vacationer.

Tillamook Not all coastal towns are built on seafood and sand.

Tillamook has a different claim to fame: cheese.

Astoria sits at the mouth of the Columbia River, where you’ll find some of the Pacific’s most treacherous waters, thanks to river currents rushing out where ocean tide is trying to get in. The town has a long seafaring history and has seen its old harbour attract fancy hotels and restaurants in recent years. The Columbia River Maritime Museum (crmm.org) sits right on the edge of the Columbia River, offering a look at everything from old boats to washed-up maritime mementos. A Coast Guard exhibit — featuring a rescue boat plying dramatic, fake waves — makes you really appreciate the danger of their job.

Oysterville & Nahcotta The charm of these old communities — the only ones on the bay side of Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula — derives not just from their history but also from the absence of the beachfront towns’ carnival atmosphere. Tiny Oysterville stands largely unchanged since the oyster boom of the 1870s.

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A HOLLYWOOD BOWL CONCERT – Act like a local and spend a summer evening in a bleacher seat or a coveted box at the acclaimed Hollywood Bowl. Pack a picnic and sit outside under the night sky enjoying the sounds of music – from orchestral performances by the ‘LA Phil’ to hard rock, reggae, jazz, blues, funk or fireworks. You can even get tickets from just $1 for the ‘party seats’ at the back. hollywoodbowl.com

ENJOY THE THRALL OF BASEBALL – A must-do LA experience has to be eating dodger dogs at Dodger Stadium while listening to thousands of screaming, cheering baseball fans. Home to the LA Dodgers, this 56,000-seat icon of American sports history has fielded some of the greatest players in the game – and some of its most passionate fans. The stunning, iconic venue even offers behind-the-scenes tours to view the stadium from a whole new perspective. losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com

FOOD FIT FOR THE David Skipwith gets fed up with LA in the best possible way

Downtown LA, viewed from the Griffith Observatory.

Photo / Aayush Tuladhar

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os Angeles has always been popular with Kiwi tourists heading to Hollywood and Disneyland but the City of Angels is also a dream destination for food lovers.

Temptations are everywhere in the form of traditional diner meals and classic fast food, but LA has a wealth of eclectic eateries and high-end restaurants providing myriad options beyond chicken waffles, hotdogs, burgers and fries.

From coastal locales such as Manhattan Beach, to the revitalised Downtown and Hollywood areas and beyond, LA boasts a vibrant culinary scene that reflects the city’s rich ethnic and cultural diversity.

A hidden gem of the South Bay, Love & Salt has established itself as one of the city’s most popular restaurants, laying down rustic, Italian-inspired dishes just steps from the renowned Manhattan Beach Pier.

The large open space features a slateblue and grey dining room, long granite bar and an open kitchen, providing a relaxed and lively setting for a fun date, or group or family meal.

Share plates, pasta and Downtown LA’s pizza are the go-to Grand Central Market. options here — standouts from our table include an entree of prosciutto and pear with bufala mozzarella, a grilled skirt steak with Drawing Jerusalem inspiration artichokes, and flavours grilled from a radicchio, and diverse and chimichurri, plus colourful grilled octopus community, salad.

Broken Spanish The cocktail and offers a unique wine lists are suitably experience serving laidback and complement up shared crowd-pleasing the menu well; there’s a good home-style dishes.

GETTING selection of French and Italian The duck meatballs and THERE labels and their California bacon, with salsa chipotle Air New Zealand flies equivalents and several are a must, before mixing direct from Auckland to LA and matching tortillas with tasty local craft beers are with return Economy Class a variety of sumptuous available on tap. If you flights from $1099. dishes such as esquites — lived in the neighbourhood, hot.co.nz corn, with bone marrow, you’d be here every week.

DETAILS guero chile, and Cotija A similar buzz has been visittheusa.com cheese — and barbacoa short created Downtown at Broken rib, with Sangre de Toro beans, Spanish — an award-winning bacon, and chipotle. modern Mexican restaurant, just The restaurant features a beautiful bar a stone’s throw from the Staples Centre area adjacent to the main high-ceilinged entertainment precinct. dining space, where you can indulge in a The menu follows the evolution of its cocktail or two, or choose from a wellclassically trained head chef, Ray Garcia, rounded wine list and quality selection of an LA native, whose food is strongly beers. influenced by his Latin upbringing.

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If you’re Downtown during the day around lunchtime, or are looking for a more casual setting for a bite in the evening, explore the international fare on offer at Grand Central Market.

Having celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2017, the bustling thoroughfare building packs in more than 50 food stalls of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, and fish from California and around the world.

Choose from an almost endless variety of creative cuisine, from vegan ramen and handmade pasta to authentic street tacos and award-winning coffee.

I did the rounds and queued at Prawn Coastal’s seafood counter to order a soft bread roll chockful of Maine lobster stewed in a broth with roasted onion and red pepper, fresh Thai basil, tangy coleslaw and aioli. Superb flavours abound and the sandwich provides ample fuel to keep you going for the rest of the afternoon or night.

Another casual dining option is The Fields LA — a new foodhall next to the recently opened Banc of California Stadium in Downtown’s Exposition Park.

The 200-seat dining area features seven hip eateries from multi-award winning

chefs and a spacious outdoor cafe, while upstairs houses Free Play DTLA — a gastropub run by chef Tim Hollingsworth.

If you want to treat yourself come dinner time, take things up a notch at Gwen, a European-style, chef-driven butcher shop and restaurant that is redefining fine dining culture in LA. On Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard, Gwen is the second restaurant from Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone (his first is Maude) and offers an elegant feast-style menu presenting up to 20 dishes that call on fire-based cooking techniques.

Gwen’s in-house butcher shop is the heart of the restaurant, sourcing hormonefree, ethically raised and slaughtered meats and game direct from ranchers, to provide to the kitchen and the home chef seven days a week.

Vegetarians be warned — the tasting menu is dominated by meat, and a focus on steaks, which range in price and size from $95 for a 500g New York strip to a $199 1kg aged ribeye, with sides of duck-fat potatoes and Josper roasted carrots the perfect complements.

No matter where you are in LA, you’ll be spoiled for choice.

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SCREAM, HOLLER & GASP – You’re never too old to go to Disneyland.

Spread over seven ‘lands’, this iconic theme park overflows with brilliant adventures. It’s also a must to hit up the legendary Universal Studios Hollywood, Six Flags Magic Mountain, as well as OUE Skyspace, California’s tallest open platform, where thrill seekers can get panoramic, 360-degree views, and slide down a 13m glass chute - the Skyslide. Then there’s the famous ferris wheel at Santa Monica Pier, Warner Bros Studio and many more thrills, spills and spectacles. disneyland.disney.go.com

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Cocktails at Broken Shaker, the rooftop bar of Downtown LA’s Freehand hotel.

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Downtown Los Angeles used to be a place to avoid but in recent years the district has been dramatically transformed into a bustling cultural hub well worth your holiday time.

The once-desolate area has been revamped and has grown beyond housing the city’s drab business centre, sparking life into a collection of neighbourhoods each with their own distinct personalities.

Deciding what not to do Downtown is now the hard part for tourists, with a huge range of first-class hotels, bars, restaurants and shopping on offer, along with museum attractions, and live sporting and music entertainment.

I was fortunate enough to bunk down at the Freehand Los Angeles — a high-end hotel/hostel hybrid featuring mostly private and exquisite rooms along with a range of comfortable shared accommodation spaces for groups of four, six and eight.

Located in the former Commercial Exchange building at 8th and Olive (formerly the publishing house of Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs), the Freehand is full of beautiful dark cedar and hand-woven textiles, which give it a film-noir feel.

Be sure to pop up to the popular Broken Shaker bar on the rooftop pool deck before dinner and enjoy a cocktail or craft beer while casting your eye across the beautiful LA skyline.

Countless attractions are within striking distance of Downtown — including the magnificent Natural History Museum, the La Brea Tar Pits, or contemporary art museums such as The Broad and Getty Center.

If you have the time and are visiting during the NBA season (October-April), make the effort to catch a Lakers or Clippers basketball game, or big-ticket concert at the Staples Center.

You don’t have to be a sports nut to enjoy US basketball — entertainment is the name of the game. All the glitz and hype, with amazing selections of food, beverages and merchandise conveniently at hand, ensure the spectator experience is far above and beyond anything served up at Auckland’s Spark Arena or Eden Park.

Downtown shopping offers something for everyone but avid readers simply can’t go past The Last Bookstore — a giant two-storey space packed with more than 250,000 new and used books and magazines, rare collectibles, and a large space dedicated to new and used vinyl records.

If you feel like venturing further afield, take an afternoon trip to the Griffith Observatory, where you can enjoy incredible views of the Hollywood Sign, Downtown LA and the Pacific Ocean.

Entry to this iconic cultural attraction — featured in many Hollywood films including Rebel Without a Cause, The Terminator, and La La Land — is free. Time your visit for sunset to get the best photos but be prepared for crowds looking to do the same.

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FLYING AIR NEW ZEALAND FROM AUCKLAND