Capital 93

CAPITAL Social climbers

Hilly homes throw privacy out the window SUMMER 2024 $11.90

Chip chip Barbecue Island hooray ballet time

Your local fish and chip shop in snaps

Three recipes to make your taste buds dance

Birds and banter on Kapiti Island

The holiday issue 9 772324 483036 THE STORIES OF WELLINGTON

Good Bon es Michele Beevors 09 DEC 2023 28 APR 2024

dowse.org.nz Zarafa, 2021

The Palliser Kitchen by Attilio welcomes you with deliciously good, Mediterranean-inspired seasonal plates made to match our beautiful Palliser wines. Pop over the hill from Wellington to enjoy lunch in the Martinborough sunshine from Thursday to Monday.

Our Cellar Door is open seven days for wine tastings, with antipasto plates available Tuesday and Wednesday.

Book your lunch or wine tasting online at palliser.co.nz/bookings Palliser Estate Winery and Cellar Door : 96 Kitchener St, Martinborough. +64 6 306 9019

PalliserEstateWines

PalliserWine

Summer at the Palliser Kitchen

Tasting Room, Restaurant & Distillery Te Kairanga, Martinborough Vineyard & Lighthouse Gin at home under one roof on the edge of the Martinborough Terrace.

BOOK YOUR VISIT AT THERUNHOLDER.CO.NZ

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OPEN 7 DAYS

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89 MARTINS RD MARTINBOROUGH

Discover a summer full of fun in Porirua!

Run wild in our parks and explore our reserves

Swim, snorkel or relax at one of our seven beaches

Summer Concert Series

19–22 JAN

Cool As Drink Challenge™

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angitai, Kahoa aeat He ai V Sis iF un

Ima ge

an M

p a’a

ga

n 3 02 ,2 ai ak iv

cr ed it:

16 FEB–3 MAR

Take in some art and culture at Pātaka Art + Museum

Sip, snack or feast your way round our cafés and bars PoriruaNZ.com

Waitangi Day

6 FEB

© 2023 MARVEL

AN EXHIBITION BY

EXPERIENCE THE MARVEL UNIVERSE LIKE NEVER BEFORE! Get up close to this exclusive worldfirst exhibition that has already thrilled thousands of visitors and families.

WORLD PREMIERE

OPEN DAILY UNTIL APR 28, FROM 10 AM

Immerse yourself in a world of superheroes including iconic characters like Storm, Ms. Marvel, Ghost-Spider, Moon Girl and many others and explore the rich tapestry of the Marvel Universe’s 80 years of history.

From original comic art to state-of-the-art props, costumes and priceless memorabilia, this memory-making exhibit is not to be missed.

Available tickets include general admission as well as a range of family packs, sensory-sensitive sessions, and late-night experiences.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW

WellingtonNZ.com/MarvelExhibit

CAPITAL The stories of Wellington

I

t’s holiday time, 2024 – a fresh year to make and undertake those New Year resolutions.

It is interesting that setting aside a time to reflect and think about plans and purpose and to reset goals is a notion shared by many cultures and religions. I’m concerned mainly with the big-picture items or goals, rather than those routine vows to exercise more, get more sleep, spend less, or just to be nicer.

But even those are good for a rueful laugh six months later.

We celebrated 10 years of Capital magazine back in 2023.

A lot has changed in the publishing industry in that time and is still changing. Achieving the financial stability to continue publishing calls for new strategies. Even what constitutes news has changed markedly, as have ideas about fundamentals such as advertising, privacy, harassment, and free speech. And we grapple with these ideas routinely.

However, one constant among our goals at Capital mag has been to provide you, dear reader, with a “good read”. To that end we have included our regular short story for summer reading. We hope this one, from award-winning chef turned food writer Jackie Lee Morrison, will whet your appetite for further summer reading.

Melody Thomas (formerly our bird columnist) managed to visit New Zealand treasure Kapiti Island overnight to experience the dawn chorus for herself, and has written about it to help you make holiday plans.

Our art director Rachel Salazar has worked with Wilson Barbecue to create the ideal smokey summer menu for you.

Craig Beardsworth explored music festivals, the quintessential summer experience, and found a lesser-known one for us; and Maddie Boles de Boer explored house design and communal living in suburban Wellington.

Subscriptions $89 for 6 issues $149 for 12 issues New Zealand only

To subscribe, please email accounts@capitalmag.co.nz or visit capitalmag.co.nz/shop

Stockists Pick up your Capital in New World, Countdown, and Pak‘nSave supermarkets, Moore Wilson's, Unity Books, Commonsense Organics, City Cards & Mags, Take Note, Whitcoulls, Wellington Airport, Interislander, and other discerning nation-wide outlets.

Distribution: john@capitalmag.co.nz.

Contact Us Phone Email Website Facebook X/Twitter Instagram Post Deliveries ISSN

+64 4 385 1426 editor@capitalmag.co.nz capitalmag.co.nz facebook.com/CapitalMagazineWellington @CapitalMagWelly @capitalmag Box 9202, Marion Square, Wellington 6141 31–41 Pirie St, Mt Victoria, Wellington, 6011 2324-4836

Enjoy your summer and nail those New Year resolutions.

Produced by Capital Publishing Ltd

Alison Franks Editor

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

Copyright ©. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of Capital Publishing Ltd.

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Staff

Featured contributors

Managing editor Alison Franks editor@capitalmag.co.nz Sales manager Milly Brunel milly@capitalmag.co.nz Campaign coordinator Haleigh Trower haleigh@capitalmag.co.nz Factotum John Bristed john@capitalmag.co.nz Project manager Shalee Fitzsimmons shalee@capitalmag.co.nz Art director Rachel Salazar artd@capitalmag.co.nz Designer Elaine Loh design@capitalmag.co.nz Content manager / writer Sophie Carter content@capitalmag.co.nz

M I L LY B RU N E L S a l e s m an ager

HANNAH MAHON Publi sh i ng c o ordi n ator

Born and bred among the Pōneke hospitality scene, it makes sense Milly drinks coffee like it’s water. She enjoys a pint in the sun, a swim on the South Coast, and is known to collect enough furniture to fit out a small mansion.

Hannah is a designer and budding creative. She enjoys visiting art galleries and historic places around the world.

She studied communication design, specialising in advertising, and produces her magazine, which aims to elevate second-hand goods.

RACHEL SALAZAR Ar t di re c tor

ELAINE LOH D e si g n er

Rachel is a Pōneke-based art director, illustrator and designer. An all-rounder hobbyist with a taste for the arts, she can be found watching old movies, collecting sentimental bits from flea markets, or hiking outdoors.

Elaine is a designer and letterer from Wellington. When she's not at Capital, you'll find her brewing coffee at Pour and Twist. She is now a devoted new mum to a retired brindle greyhound, Mikey.

Publishing coordinator Hannah Mahon hello@capitalmag.co.nz Accounts Tod Harfield accounts@capitalmag.co.nz

Contributors Melody Thomas, Janet Hughes, Anna Briggs, Sarah Lang, Deirdre Tarrant, Francesca Emms, Dan Poynton, Chris Tse, Claire Orchard, Harriet Palmer, Griff Bristed, Claire O’Loughlin, Chev Hassett, Joram Adams, Sanne Van Ginkel, Rachel Helyer Donaldson, Fairooz Samy, Adrian Vercoe, Sasha Borissenko, Courteney Moore, Monica Winder, Craig Beardsworth, Bex McGill, Charlotte Fielding, Jackie Lee Morrison, Andrew Morris, Humaidi Ridwan, Gus Bristed, Olivia Melhop, Andy Hansen, Olivia Lamb, Michael Riddell, Janet Bayly, James Dobson, Dan Corbett, Zara Cook, Blair Wilson, Casey Wilson, Madeleine Boles de Boer

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

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C O N T E N T S

12 14 17 18

CHATTER NOTEWORTHY

BY THE NUMBERS NEW PRODUCTS

26 Nowhere, everywhere, all at once Whangaehu River valley meets Waitangi weekend

39 The return Short fiction by Jackie Lee Morrison

20 This old thing Dr Felix Marx digs deep

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CULTURE

03 FEB —31 MAR KIRIKIRIROA HAMILTON

33

Birdsong and banter

Shoreline shenanigans on Kapiti Island

C O N T E N T S

54 64

44

Sar street social

How a trio of houses rewrote neighbour norms

BUG ME EDIBLES

66 Smoke signals Blair and Casey of Wilson BBQ put a spin on a Kiwi classic

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72 74

Fish 'n pics

BY THE BOOK WELLY ANGEL

76 Just like us

Zara Cook gives us the Inside Scoop

Melody Thomas emphasises solidarity

78 80

Coming

S

N!

CALENDAR PUZZLED

Shape-shift your summer in Kirikiriroa Hamilton. With twenty-three temporary out-door sculptures, Hamilton Central will be transformed into an Artscape for everyone to enjoy.

BOONARTS.CO.NZ/BST

C H AT T E R

CPotY Snapshots

Title: Fisherman Photographer: Ben McCallum Category: Society Behind the camera: Liam lives in Te Whanganuia-Tara. He is interested in issues of national identity, and the relationship between the natural and the built environment.

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Patch up

Why photography? Photography encourages him to take a closer look at his environment, even at its most banal – making life far more interesting.

The recently unveiled sculpture Forces of Nature appears to sew up the geological fault scarp at Harcourt Park with giant orange stitches. Designed by Conrad King, Upper Hutt City Council Parks Reserves Officer, and Horticultural Officer Mark Raines, the artwork is meant to symbolise human endeavours to control nature, but also represents how futile these efforts prove when nature decides to unleash its full power.

Camera: Fisherman was taken on a Lubitel 2, which is a Russian 1950's tlr with expired Portra 160vc.

The snap: The waterfront was empty bar one, single mysterious silhouette in the distance, said Ben. "We locked eyes. With a few simple gestures he poses for a photo. The shutter clicks and we both continue on with our journeys. I'll never know if he caught anything."

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Ben's intention behind this photograph was to illustrate the characters he found around the city.

"Full-body framing is used to best show off the full character and personality of these people."

Bragg ing rig hts Wellington has taken the crown as Aotearoa’s most creative city for the 22nd year running. Winners are decided using the Infometrics Creativity Index, which looks at the percentage of a city’s workforce employed in the creative and arts sector. In 2022, 6.9% of Wellington City’s workforce, or 12,403 people, were employed in the creative sector. As a region we dominated the top ten creative cities, with Lower Hutt, Kāpiti Coast, South Wairarapa, and Porirua all up there.

Infometrics have predicted that Upper Hutt may also creep into the top ten soon thanks to the opening of film production company Lane Street Studios.

Don't miss!

Want more CPotY snapshots?

Get more snap happy goodness at capitalmag.co.nz

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C H AT T E R

F i ve

Around the block Designers Johnson Witehira and James Prier have created Pū Rākau blocks – building blocks featuring the Māori alphabet as Māori language and cultural teaching resources. The blocks build on an earlier iteration designed

by Witehira. A Kickstarter campaign in October received more than double the required pledges to get the idea off the ground ($23,304 at time of writing). The Pū Rākau blocks are the latest product from their design studio Paku, which the pair founded in 2021, first launching Māori gardening tools for tamariki.

Three Get on board Bowlzilla Wellington, New Zealand’s biggest skateboarding festival, is returning 15 – 18 Feb, with gnarly flips, tricks, and other skating terms unknown to this non-skater. The weeklong festival includes learn-to-ride classes, music, BBQs, and to round it off, the New Zealand National Bowl Skating Championships. Director Chad Ford says, “For our ninth year we are making sure everyone knows how grateful we are for all their years of support in the best little city in the world.” Photo above by CPotY finalist Humaidi Ridwan.

It's cool to kōrero Ka haere mātou ki te kōpuha a te wikene e heke mai nei.

Hiahia haere atu ai koe?

We’re all heading to the bach next weekend.

Wanna come?

Four

Six

We t s u i t u p

Ye a r o f t h e D r a g o n

Break out the breast stroke for the 2024 Scorching Bay Open Water Challenge. On 17 February swimmers will take to the water, to compete in 500m, 1.25km, 2.5km, and 5km races. It’s the second annual challenge in Scorching Bay, which, unlike the Wellington Harbour Challenge on 2 March, is nicely tucked away from the harsher winds. If you’re still feeling the chill, there’s a hot cuppa waiting at a cafe nearby.

Chinese New Year celebrations are going ahead on the Wellington waterfront. The festivities were not held in 2023 and the outlook for 2024 also seemed bleak, until Asian sauce giant Lee Kum Kee stepped in as an event sponsor. The festival, running from Feb 17–18, will be held at TSB Arena and Shed 6, with food, craft stalls, and cultural entertainment. A waterfront parade and fireworks have not been confirmed.

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N O T E W O R T H Y

FA R F RO M T H E M A D D I N G C LO U D

A

s artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve at a fearsome pace some industry boffins predict a change in the way information is stored. Concern over the confidentiality of information stored in the cloud is driving a trend back to on-premises servers.

Mark Presnell, Managing Director of Convergence, an eCommerce integration firm, says, “The abilities of AI are impressive, but they also pose some worries about entrusting sensitive information to the cloud.”

demolished in 2021. With the library nearby and a new toilet block, the development has created a heart for the beachside suburb. Porirua Mayor Anita Baker wants the park to be an activation point for events, recreation, and relaxation.

P U M P ACT I O N

D

ucks will have to quack elsewhere, as a pond near Aotea Lagoon has made way for a new family-friendly pump track. The loop of mounds and curves provide riding experience for people on bikes, scooters, roller blades, roller skates, and skateboards. The track is 100% funded from the Transport Choices programme, administered by Waka Kotahi, as part of the Papakōwhai Rd shared path being constructed.

PA R K A N D P R I D E

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itahi Bay residents have a new gathering place thanks to a commemorative park project. The new civic area in the middle of the Whitehouse Rd shops replaces the Marines Hall, which was

L E T T H E B U I L D E R B EWA R E

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ising building material costs are finally slowing down according to QV CostBuilder. Martin Bisset, a spokesperson for the construction cost database, said a better economic outlook internationally and an easing of global supply chain issues had helped calm the upward spiralling of costs. “Fuel costs have largely stabilised, inflation is in slow decline, and interest rates are expected to be at or near their peak now.” The cost of building an average three bedroom home was up 4.9% this year compared with 11.3% last year.

Follow us : in 1882, Established the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts is one of the country’s longest-serving arts institutions and has supported the arts in Wellington for over 140 years.

Come visit us in our beautiful waterfront gallery.

Open daily, free entry.

Contemporary Art

Visit us : 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington Call us : (04) 499 8807

Gifts and Indulgences

Find us : www.nzafa.com

Follow us :

Unique Venue

nzafa

academygalleries

N O T E W O R T H Y

(48 years), and Silaina Sione (52 years). The pair say they always wanted to be nurses and never really considered anything else as a career. Both of them were attracted to caring for people. They have seen many changes during their careers, including technology advancements and shorter hospital stays for patients. Deteriorating work conditions are frustrating, they agree, but have not dulled their love of the job.

Anchico for football, Caitlin Lafaele for netball, and Ayla Giesen for tennis. The scholarship covers financial support, mentoring, personal development, and paying it forward. The usual 12 recipients increased to 14 this year after Rebel Sport became a sponsor.

F RO M D R E S S TO Y E S

C

harity styling service Dress for Success has rebranded as Yes for Success. The organisation helps people to prepare for work.

Their support includes clothing and styling advice, ready-forwork programmes, mentoring, and ongoing career support. Yes for Success recently celebrated the opening of a new client hub and boutique at 90 The Terrace.

The recycled clothing boutique offers quality clothes at affordable prices, reduces waste going to landfill, and raises funds to support the charity’s workshops and coaching programmes.

O N E H U N D R E D N OT O U T

A

century of joint service by two nurses was celebrated at Wellington hospital in December.

The milestone was split between theatre nurses Jenny Kendall

CA L M YO U R FA R M S

C

rime in rural areas continues to increase, according to the latest Federated Farmers survey.

Of the 1,000+ farmers questioned, 67% said they had experienced a crime on their farm – a 14% increase from the 2021 survey.

Federated Farmers spokesperson Richard McIntyre said sentencing judges need to stop going lightly on those convicted of illegal hunting and the killing or stealing of livestock. Farmers need to be vigilant in reporting all instances of crime, and the government needs to ensure rural areas get a fair share of police resources.

S P O RT I N G C H A N C E

Y

oung high-performing local sportswomen have received scholarships from the Tania Dalton Foundation. Launched in 2018, the yearly award provides three years of assistance to up-and-coming athletes. Several Wellingtonians won awards, including Farina

Follow us :be missed Not to

Art To Go 15 December 2023 - 14 January 2024

Water World 12 January - 11 February 2024

Anneke Borren & Ronald Boersen Pottery Exhibition 18 January - 4 February 2024

Rembrandt Remastered 16 February - 17 March 2024

Art To Go

Visit us : 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington Call us : (04) 499 8807

Water World

Find us : www.nzafa.com

Follow us :

Rembrandt Remastered nzafa

academygalleries

HUTT SOUNDS 2024

GO WEST

NIK KERSHAW THE MOCKERS THE CHOIRBOYS RIKKI MORRIS

3 MARCH

BREWTOWN, UPPER HUTT

FINAL TICKETS ON SALE soundsnz.co.nz 3CG EVENTS

B Y

T H E

BEACH, PLEASE

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N U M B E R S

PLANE AND SIMPLE abroad Kiwis 3+ oftaketrips each year

degrees Celsius, the water temperature at Hot Water Beach

the number in millions

enlarge Freyberg 22,000 inandtoOriental Bay

7.55 of euros New Zealanders

Praia do Cassino in 254 ofBrazil, the longest

40 tourists in New Zealand

tonnes of sand brought

the amount in billions spend on overseas travel every year

beaches in 2004

kilometres, the length

the percentage of

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who are Australian

the number of copies of the Treaty stored at Archives New Zealand

24,000

the number of people that attended Homegrown 2023

year Waitangi Day 1974 the became a public holiday

5

beach in the world

65,000

the estimated number of species that New Zealand’s coastal environment is home to

WAITANGI DAY

9

the time in hours of the longest nonstop commercial flight from New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN)

HOME GROWN

16

184 Treaty of Waitangi was signed the number of years ago the

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who signed the Māori 530 Māori language version of the the estimated number of Treaty of Waitangi

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the number of stages the minimum age for entry the number of acts performing CO M P I L E D BY HANNAH MAHON

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1. Moyuru Yoshiko Sleeveless Dress, $499, Zebrano. 2. Bonnie and Neil bath mat, $105, Small Acorns. 3. Barrel aged gin, $85, Lighthouse Gin. 4. Wouf big beauty bag, $79.99, Auckland Art Gallery. 5. Stockholm pendant, $1299, BoConcept. 6. IZIPIZI honey reading glasses, $78.99, Auckland Art Gallery. 7. Bonnie and Neil soft pink vase, $160, Small Acorns. 8. A Guided Discovery of Gardening: Knowledge, Creativity & Joy Unearthed by Julia AtkinsonDunn, $50, Unity Books. 9. Mountain Biking Enamel Mug, $16.90, Wellington Museum Store. 10. Beachside mango and passionfruit sour 6 pack, $19.75, Sunshine Brewery. 11. Wellington Museum Neutral Layered Tria Circle Stud Earrings, $73, Wellington Museum Store. 12. Alfie & Evie yellow binx shoes, $239, I Love Paris.

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9 Dec 2023–5 May 2024 © Guo Pei. Courtesy of Guo Pei.

TA L E S

O F

T H E

C I T Y

This old thing

BY S O P H I E CA RT E R P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N DY H A N S E N

HOLIDAY

CAFE

FILM

ANIMAL

BAND

Lisbon

Cafe Villa, Ngaio

Lord of the Rings

Gray Whale

Krautschädl

Dr Felix Marx goes from dinosaurs to the deep.

W

hen it comes to weird workplaces, Felix Marx’s might be the weirdest. Palaeontologist, biologist, and Te Papa curator Felix spends most of his time in Te Papa’s storage and research facility – a space smelling strongly of bones (think dog-treat section at a pet shop), packed to the rafters with fossils, skins, skeletons, and a 52-million-year-old whale with legs.

“It’s a cast of a Pakicetus,” Felix explains. “Initially whales were land animals, then they started to go into rivers to feed, and then they made it from rivers out into the sea. There’s a remnant of the hip bone found in modern whales.” Much of Felix’s work consists of fitting these puzzle pieces of evidence together to create an evolutionary narrative. “Palaeontology is in this very rare realm where you’re looking at something you can barely imagine, and yet it’s actually real. It’s like a detective story, trying to find out what they were like and how that relates to the world today.”

Recently Felix has been preparing for Te Papa’s new exhibition, Dinosaurs of Patagonia. Running throughout summer, the exhibition’s main attraction is the 30-metre cast of a fossil Patagotitan, one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered. One of the world’s smallest, the 1kg Manidens, will also be on display, along with 10 other fossil casts. “The exhibition spans the entire time that dinosaurs were alive, starting with some of the very earliest dinosaur fossils from Argentina, going through to some of the last, just before the asteroid hit.”

The touring exhibition has come from Argentina’s Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio. Te Papa will be its only stop in New Zealand, and Felix and fellow curator Alan Tennyson have updated it to create a special focus on palaeontology in Aotearoa.

Originally from Austria, Felix became hooked on dinosaurs as a child (his favourite being Deinonychus).

The fascination was spurred on by his father, a hobby geologist who took Felix along to famous fossil sites around Central Europe.

Felix began to study palaeontology at the University of Bristol, England, with dinosaurs in mind, but soon found that all of his classmates had the same idea.

(Sidenote: palaeontology is the study of fossils, not specifically dinosaurs as many believe thanks to a certain Friends character).

“It felt a little bit boring, that everyone goes with dinosaurs,” says Felix “I was genuinely interested in them.

But I thought, mammals are cool as well.” He became particularly interested in mammals that evolved on land but now live in the water, such as whales and dolphins.

“How do you adapt to the sea? You want to breathe air, but of course, you can’t do that underwater. You have to maintain your body temperature, but water conducts away the heat. Everything that you do, you have to reinvent, and so, from an evolutionary point of view, I thought that was really fascinating.”

It wasn’t long before all of Felix’s assignments revolved around whales, becoming a running gag in the department. When the time came for his PhD studies, he was told about a professor at the University of Otago who specialised in marine mammal palaeontology; Felix managed to get a scholarship to study there and made Aotearoa his home.

His job has continued to take him around the world.

He spent several years working at Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science, completed three seasons of field work in the deserts and coastal deserts of Peru, and worked in Belgium and Melbourne.

Nowadays, he is settled in Ngaio, and travel is reserved for visits to his family in Austria and his wife’s family in Mexico, with their son Oliver. The nearly three-year-old is raring to get stuck into his dad’s work.

“He’s told me he wants to dig up a penguin fossil” laughs Felix, “I was very pleased because this is actually feasible.

There are lots of penguin fossils in New Zealand.”

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BUSTING THE MYTHS WE HEAR ABOUT TRAVEL AGENTS! We’re in an era when much can be arranged online with a few clicks. This has led some to wonder whether travel agencies are a relic of the past. Petra and her team at House of Travel emphasize this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, thanks to new technology and changing times, they’re doing more for their clients than ever, and business continues to boom!

HERE ARE SOME COMMON MYTHS THEY OFTEN HEAR! TRAVEL AGENTS….

• “cost so much more than booking online” • “just book flights & hotels” • “are not up with the play on all platforms available” • “won’t work with research I’ve done” • “can’t do it better than me” • “are only for older travellers or those who have got lots of dosh”

3.

So much of our pricing is the same if not lower than online, so why not let us weave it ALL together for you and create your dream holiday together! And REFER no. 10…

4. We understand all aspects around travel including the potential challenges and anxieties! This is where we excel, and our role is to address these and alleviate many of these for you!

5.

We 100% encourage you to do your research.

This combined with our personal experiences and intel is gold!

6.

We have extensive, long- standing relationships with many travel suppliers, be it tours, cruises, sight-seeing, rail and much more. Invaluable!

SO, WHY USE A TRAVEL CONSULTANT? Well, here is how House of Travel Wellington CBD add comfort, value, expertise, experience & great Kiwi service.

7.

Our constantly updated technology, behind-the -scenes systems and “industry-only” platforms enable us to do so much more.

1.

8.

Insurance – no brainer, it’s part of our duty of care.

9.

We’re NZ owned and operated, TAANZ bonded and you are protected by the Consumer Guarantees Act because you’re buying through us in NZ.

2.

Let’s face it, booking yourself is not always easy nor stress-free. Part of the fun is collaborating with someone who gets it! We ask the questions you didn’t even know you should ask.

Flights and hotels are just the basics. It is everything else in between that makes your trip truly special. “You don’t know what you don’t know” both good and bad!

10. And if things go “pear-shaped”, just one phone call to us and we’re on to it all for you!

SO, EVERYONE FROM O.E’RS TO RETIREES, CONTACT US... WE’RE HERE TO GET YOU MOVING ON YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE!

T: +64 4 499 4699 | E: wellington@hot.co.nz | W: hotonhunter.co.nz HOUSE OF TRAVEL WELLINGTON CBD (formerly HOT Brandon & Hunter Sts) C/- REGUS, LEVEL 6 AON CENTRE | 1 WILLIS STREET, WELLINGTON

C U L T U R E

CO U N T RY G I R L

J

enny Mitchell promises to play Trouble Finds a Girl, the song that won her the 2022 APRA Award for Best Country Song, around the region this summer. The song calls out harassment and abuse of women, and Jenny says she had her younger sisters in mind when she wrote it. “It’s about an issue that’s super important to me but is a topic that can make people uncomfortable. My other music is often happy and positive, whereas this song really makes people think.

It’s my first song in this vein and it’s somewhat changed what I see as the purpose of my music. I feel really lucky to be able to tell this story.” Jenny will perform at the Wairarapa Country Music Festival

(5–7 January), the Summer Series of Truckstop Greytown (13 January), and at Gardens Magic at the Botanic Gardens (21 January).

Heke (Cousins). All episodes are currently available to stream on TVNZ.

SICK OF DICK

LO CAT I O N LO CAT I O N LO CAT I O N

A

TV show filmed in Wellington has impressed viewers across the motu, with one reviewer claiming it’s “the most powerful TV drama we’ve created in years.” After the Party, which stars Kiwi treasure Robyn Malcolm, was filmed in locations around Wellington’s south coast beaches and bays, Mākara, Johnsonville, and Lower Hutt’s Alicetown. A bunch of Wellington actors were involved, including Peter Hambleton (The Hobbit) and Tanea

A

n Upper Hutt artist is saving glass bottles from landfill and turning them into drinking glasses with fun, feminist designs. Bells Driver, who works under the artist name Fantail and Flax, is making a series that celebrates female anatomy. The first collection of glasses feature vulvae because she thinks we need to see more of them out in the world.

“I'm bored of seeing dicks ruling the narrative in society, tired of seeing penises being graffitied on walls,” says Bells. She believes the vulva is sacred, magical, and powerful: “The more we see, feel comfortable with, and get to know the anatomy of the vulva, the better the world will be,” she says.

Small Acorns is a store full of personal treasures, beautiful fabrics, vintage & contemporary design, infused with colour & a touch of eclectic whimsy. Let us help you refresh your home for the new year, from the smallest of details to the largest, we have lots of inspiring ideas for you. Cushions, bed linen, new curtains and blinds, furniture upholstery, and more.

cnr Blair & Wakefield Streets, Wellington www.smallacorns.co.nz / 04 802 5795

C U L T U R E

in case you wondered, are the luminous shapes that you see when you close your eyes tight and press them with your fingers.

P EAC E A N D U N I T Y FIND AN ISLAND

N

ī Dekkers Reihana, director of Lads on the Island (Circa Theatre, from 3 February), hopes people will walk out of the theatre, call up their besties and say “Thank you for being there when I sucked, love you”. Nī says the writer, Sam Brooks, is “in my opinion, one of our country’s most talented playwrights. The rhythm of Sam’s writing is so considered, so intentional and so musical. Brooks’ work always makes me laugh, and I’m a strong believer in using comedy as a vehicle to deliver a story right to the hearts of audiences.” Lads is loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

T

o mark the fifth anniversary of the Christchurch mosque attacks, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Te Tira Pūoro o Aotearoa presents Beyond Words.

A programme promoting unity and peace. It includes the world premiere of Ahlan wa Sahlan, a new work from acclaimed New Zealand composer John Psathas, ONZM. Psathas composed the piece in collaboration with Moroccan vocalist Oum and Greek oud virtuoso Kyriakos Tapakis, who will both perform at the concert on 9 March at the Michael Fowler Centre.

L I TT L E L A N D S CA P E S

A

ngela Lane’s landscapes are surprisingly small. You can’t help but move in for a closer look.

Phosphene (City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi, until 18 February) is the painter’s first New Zealand exhibition since her return from a decade in Berlin. Her works are described by writer Stephen Ellcock as “wondrous scenes of atmospheric and celestial phenomena” which draw on artistic and scientific exploration of skybound phenomena. Phosphenes,

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hris Tse hosts How to Read my Poem (24 February, The Embassy Theatre) as part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

Chris will chat with Tusiata Avia, Hannah Mettner, Morgan Bach, and Arihia Latham about what their poems mean to them, why they were written, and how. Chris is a long-term contributor to Capital’s ReVerse poetry column, and has been extra busy since he became the Poet Laureate in August 2022. “It’s a massive role and there’s so much status attached to it. But I’m still just Chris who lives in Thorndon and does a bit of poetry.”

L AST C H A N C E

Y

ou’ve only got a few weeks to see Mataaho Collective’s installations Takapau and Kiko Moana, at Te Papa until 28 January.

Takapau is a monumental 200sqm installation made of webbing and steel, spanning the whole doubleheight entrance gallery. Kiko Moana is an 11-metre-high blue cascading ocean made of 60 panels of tarpaulin. Mataaho Collective is made up of four wāhine Māori artists: Bridget Reweti, Sarah Hudson, Terri Te Tau, and Erena Arapere.

F E AT U R E

Nowhere, everywhere, all at once P H OTO G R A P H Y BY PAT W I LS O N

Every year in February a thousand or so people descend on an idyllic backcountry farm in the middle of nowhere to create something out of nothing.

Craig Beardsworth contemplates another season of summer festivals.

W

aitangi weekend last year I was on a farm in the Whangaehu River valley 50km east of Whanganui. The few cows that grazed the hill country there had been moved and replaced with 1000-litre plastic water bins. The nearest available cell network was a half-hour drive away. A phalanx of purple portapotties lined the secluded side of a field, and speakers were being set up on makeshift stages.

The secret location had been revealed in an email only a week before the event. That same email urged everyone to bring their own food supplies. There were food trucks, but no guarantee they would last.

Restocking was impractical as…well, we were in the middle of nowhere. We were at the music festival Welcome to Nowhere.

My partner and I had travelled from Wellington on Friday afternoon in a convoy of shuttles. We were among the first to arrive as the shuttles were scheduled for a secondary use. They were ferrying some of the thousand expected revellers and their camping gear from a car parking area 10 minutes away. Camper-vans were allowed onto the site but cars were not. Those who had arrived early

were given jobs to do. Despite forecasts for three 28-degree days in a row, the morning had seen heavy rain. Pathways down to a second stage and river plateau needed shoring up with gravel. Shovels were distributed and people took them happily. Others helped to raise marquees over the camp stage and distribute beaten-up couches to rest areas.

Billed as an underground music and arts festival, Welcome to Nowhere has sought to differentiate itself from other music festivals. The EyeGum Music Collective who produced it didn’t want a facsimile of music festivals already doing the rounds. Among the goals was to create a sense of community. Everyone pitches in to help where necessary. Arteshar Grundy, known as Teesh, is one of the six members of EyeGum. Her first experience at an EyeGum event is typical: “I turned up to a gig and chatted to the guy on the door. I ended up helping sell tickets and he gave me my $10 back at the end of the night.” That was in 2013. A year later she joined officially, and is now one of the group’s principal music consultants.

EyeGums’s attitude to audience participation probably reflects its house-concert origins. In its

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early days, Teesh’s Aro Valley flat and others around the central city hosted various popup music events.

The group would invite up-and-coming acts to play.

“I just thought it was normal that If you turn up early you should help us set up, and if you’re here at the end you should help clean up”. At Welcome to Nowhere they limit numbers to try to preserve that camaraderie. There will be 750 tickets to the 2024 festival. “It’s a no brainer for us – the joy of smaller events means you begin to recognise faces over three days. You care more about people”. And if you care more, It’s likely you’ll happily take the shovel when it’s handed to you.

EyeGum’s house concerts began to be noticed.

Affordable tickets and high quality new acts achieved success. The collective scouted for talent and developed a loyal following. By 2016 the house concerts were attracting hundreds of people, “We had 30 noise complaints in seven months” said Teesh. “We knew it was getting out of hand”. Live music venue San Fran invited the collective to its Cuba Street location. Fast-forward seven years and ‘EyeGum (free) Wednesdays’ are a staple of the San Fran gig calendar. That first ‘official’ vote of support boosted the group’s confidence to experiment. They branched out with Gathering in a Forest which ran 2016–17, and then Great Sounds Great, now an annual one-day multi-venue festival. With seven stages across six Cuba precinct venues, it showcases 25+ independent Kiwi musicians.

Welcome to Nowhere is the largest event EyeGum has produced. Now in its fifth iteration, it hosts over 50 artists ranging from folksy singer songwriters to funk, electronica, hip-hop, and metal. Poets and installation artists are also in the mix.

The intimate house concerts are largely over now. Teesh knows they were special, not just as a training ground for her and the collective, but also in helping kickstart talent. “The Mermaidens played at my flat in 2016 and we probably paid them $50. Now they’re playing Laneway and touring Europe”. At her 20th birthday celebration,

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eight years ago, Hans Puckett played. Now they are playing South by Southwest, a film, multimedia, music festival in Houston, Texas.

Teesh seems to be a natural at picking good bands. She thinks being exposed to multiple music genres as a child helped hone her ear.

Her first memory of music was at five listening to Aqua (a Danish-Norwegian band famous for Euro-pop anthem “Barbie Girl”). She also admits to dancing around her bedroom to the Black Eyed Peas, and singing to Bic Runga CDs and other Kiwi music. “I knew all the words to the Nature's Best album series – mum and I sang them in the car”.

Teesh’s Auckland childhood was defined by music. Her Kenyan father, a DJ, regularly fed her Ethiopian jazz CDs. Her mother introduced her to 70s punk. “Mum was adopted by a pastor so probably rebelled in her teenage years by listening to ‘unacceptable’ music.” Music was motherdaughter bonding time. They would visit the yearly Grey Lynn Music Fest, and at eight years old Teesh went to her first WOMAD in New Plymouth. “It was just mum and me moving from stage to stage listening to everything from Ska to Drum & Bass, folk to jazz. It was all so good.”

High-school brought more new sounds.

The Top 40 diet of safe mainstream fare was augmented by friend groups who introduced her to hip-hop and metal. Every genre bought with it new discoveries and new loves. “While my metaller mates were obsessed with their music I was swinging wildly between soulful Billie Holiday and industrial techno,” Teesh laughs. When pressed she admits to four great loves: indie rock, hip-hop, folk, and electronica.

What really fascinates her is how the music is all interconnected. How one thing spawns another.

“I’m obsessed with influence. Joining the dots and seeing what is connected to what.” Teesh sees a clear line of influence from Neil Young to the 90s grunge bands. Her favourite album of all time is Young’s 5th studio album “On the Beach” released in 1974. “It’s the root of the grunge

sound. It’s folk, but you can hear the beginnings of Nirvana and Pearl Jam”.

Teesh has built up a formidable knowledge of the scene in Wellington and New Zealand, and how it fits into a wider context. She now consults occasionally for gigs at Meow in Edward Street.

She represents local singer Deva Mahal and manages her performance schedule, and for the past two years has had a slot on Radio Active.

Tune in at 4pm on a Tuesday and you’ll hear ‘Aunty Histamine’ presenting an unsurprisingly eclectic potpourri of songs.

Teesh’s knowledge and track record helps the collective to attract big names to Welcome to Nowhere. Though EyeGum is dedicated to scouting and presenting newly discovered New Zealand acts, they now have the chops to entice international bands. Last year American singer songwriter Ty Segall and the Freedom Fighters played, a mix of garage rock and psychedelic rock.

The atmosphere was electric. It felt like the entire festival populace descended on the grassy river plateau where the main stage was set up. Later the stage was taken over by some thrash metal. We retreated up the valley to our tent but that didn’t dull the sound any. The following morning, the river below became a stage for a poetry reading.

EyeGum’s community philosophy creates a special environment where folk, metal, and soul can cohabit with poetry readings echoing off the cavernous walls of a river valley. Saturday morning began with a camp meeting (everyone happily turned out!). We were told where to recycle, where to report slippery patches so gravel could be deployed, and where to get the safety of our drugs checked. Late afternoon camp quizzes included a troupe of drama students recreating famous album covers in tableau for the crowd to guess. There was an independent publisher selling zines and books from a multi-roomed tent and an art collective had created installations in the surrounding trees. On paper it sounds a bit HiDe-Hi, but the reality was very rock and roll.

Welcome to Nowhere, February 2–4, 2024.

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31

grow your own

Succulents

For your hot and dry garden

Your friendly home and garden centre

04 388 8435 69-71 Miramar Ave, www.palmers.co.nz Miramar, miramar@palmers.net.nz Wellington

CHRIS AND KATHY PARKIN PRESENT

MEOW MEOW’S PANDEMONIUM

in association with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Sat 24 Feb Michael Fowler Centre

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Birdsong and banter: Haerenga to Kapiti Island P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M E LO DY T H O M A S

If you’ve never been to Kapiti Island, here’s your chance.

Melody Thomas discovers nature, rare bird song, and history

whispering through the winds on her journey to this island sanctuary.

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J

ust off the coast of Paraparaumu, Kapiti Island reclines like a bush-shrouded god.

The waters of the Rauoterangi channel lap at the island’s eastern side, where black-backed gulls attend to their chicks, and gannets dive into the choppy water. Among the thick blanket of kohekohe, tawa and nīkau trees flit pīwaiwaka and pōpokotea, while kākā lend their outlandish screeches to the island’s prehistoric air.

Kapiti Island is a predator-free sanctuary for endemic bird species, many of them endangered, and home to a handful of tangata whenua who managed to keep hold of their land at the island’s northern tip. For years I’ve looked out to Kapiti, wondering how it would feel to rest my head in the shadow of Tuteremoana, lulled to sleep by the call of the ruru and shuffling of kiwi.

Today, I get to find out.

My friend Natalie and I arrive at the Kapiti Island Nature Tour check-in in Paraparaumu early, and are greeted by Pania Barrett, whose ancestor Te Rangihīroa first arrived on the island in the early 1820s, with the infamous Ngāti Toa leader Te Rauparaha. Today, it’s Pania’s job to welcome visitors, and to make sure we don’t inadvertently bring any unwanted species to the island. Once our bags have been checked for ants and rodents, and the bottoms of our sneakers sprayed and scrubbed, we’re handed our packed lunch and directed to the beach, Paraparaumu beach is as close as you can get to Kapiti Island from the mainland, and in less than 20 minutes of boarding the boat we’re disembarking.

Our visit begins at Rangatira Point, one of two areas open to the public, with an hour-long tour.

After a short but thorough history lesson, our guides Makiwera and Mokomoko lead us through a lowland bush track and over a wetland boardwalk. If we hadn’t just learned about the island’s history, it would be easy for to mistake our surroundings for untouched remnants of ancient Aotearoa: of the land encountered by the legendary Polynesian explorer Kupe, where birds ruled, welcoming each day with a dawn chorus pākeha settlers described as “deafening”. But if you know or are taught where to look, there are clues to its complex – and at times fraught – history.

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Take the bush, which is regenerating following fires lit in the 1800s to clear land for farming. Pointing to the many karaka and pōhutukawa trees, Makiwera explains that the original forest cover was dominated instead by towering rata and podocarps like mataī and miro. Today only a small number of these ancient trees remain, in the deep gullies untouched by flames. The island was once the centre of a busy whaling industry, with up to 2,000 people living here. Dotted around the island are artefacts dating back to the time when southern right whales were still plentiful, including the large try pots used to boil down their blubber. As for the island’s predator-free status: just last century this place was home to cats, goats, deer, sheep, cattle, pigs, dogs, as well as more than 22,000 possums and two species of rat (kiore and Norway) which roiled in plague-like proportions. Makiwera shows us evidence of this recent history, pointing to the trunk of a large nīkau palm which is covered in thousands of tiny rat scratches, which stop at a height presumably aligning with the two mostly-aerial applications of brodifacoum poison in the 1980s to take care of them (which, thankfully, it did).

After our tour, we are let loose to explore, and most of us head for Tuteremoana, the island’s highest point, eyes and ears peeled for birdlife. We are lucky enough to hear the haunting, chime-like call of a kōkako, of which only a handful of relict populations

remain in Aotearoa, scattered in northern forests and offshore islands. As we climb, the forest begins to change, epiphytes and small-leafed vines adorning trunks like jewellery. Mist settles in, and a rustle draws our attention to a tīeke, or saddleback, rummaging for kai. He is completely undaunted by our proximity, flicking up leaves and twigs and laughing maniacally just as I crack a joke about making it to the summit.

After a couple of hours, we crest the final rise to the top of the maunga. On a clear day, our efforts would be rewarded with views out to Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D’Urville Island in the west, the Kaikōura ranges to the south, and Mount Taranaki to the northwest.

But on days like this, when Kapiti wears its crown of clouds, the mood is eerie. When Te Rauparaha first set his sights on Kapiti, he was looking for connection to the wider world: its proximity to whaling and shipping routes provided an appealing base from which to build his empire. Now, people come for the opposite reason: to disconnect. Shivering in the clouds, staring down the cliff face into a sea of white, we could be standing on the very edge of the world.

After our hike, we head back down to the beach and reboard the boat for the island’s north end, Waiorua. The bay is sheltered and peaceful, with no obvious signs of the epic battle there 200 years ago, when Māori allies tried one last time to wrest the island back from

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Ngāti Toa. We carry our bags to the lodge, search them one last time, and are shown to our cabins and glamping tents for a pre-dinner rest. The bird encounters continue, however, and over the next hour I shoo a brazen weka from our cabin, stalk a takahē into the long grass, and receive an epic fright from a kākā swooping onto my shoulder to see if I’m carrying biscuits as well as a cuppa.

Before the light begins to fade, we gather in the lodge to eat before our guided night walk. Pania talks us through what to expect, while chef Benji rattles about in the kitchen, preparing delicious kai – root vegetable and kawakawa soup, roast lamb and sticky date pudding. The vibe is DOC hut meets marae meets family home, but the dishes magically disappear from a shelf by the kitchen (thank you whānau), and visitors are made to feel instantly at home.

We’d expected to be led by the night tour guides deep into the bush to wait quietly for passing kiwi. But here on Kapiti, you needn’t travel far for a magic experience. As we tie our shoes on the deck, a startling sound erupts from under our feet. A pair of kororā, or little blue penguins, are mating, and the sound coming out of them isn’t far off what Pania had earlier told us to expect: a “purring donkey crying” (though I also detect grunting like a small pig). Our group is split into two, our guide Pikitia (Pania’s cousin) leading the way in a

stunning combo of socks and crocs, the first clue that our tour might not involve a substantial hike. We shuffle as quietly as we can along pathways around the lodge and into family backyards, following beams of red light from our torches. At one point we stumble into an extra small kororā, who waddles quickly in our direction, head down as if he’s mid-topple. He shuffles into Nat’s leg before deciding to switch directions, shooting off towards his home in the bush.

The penguins are delightful, an absolute highlight of our time on the island, but the bird we are most keen to see is kiwi pukupuku, or the little spotted kiwi. The smallest of all kiwi species, kiwi pukupuku became extinct on mainland Aotearoa in the early 1980s. Today, Kapiti Island is their population stronghold: of around 2,000 kiwi pukupuku in Aotearoa, between 1,200 and 1,400 live right here, so there’s nowhere we’re more likely to see them.

And we do. Towards the end of our tour, one of our party alerts us to rustling in the bush beside him. We crouch and wait in silence, and when the rustling resumes, Piki shines her red light into the bush. Kiwi pukupuku shuffles past, her round body and long, slender beak lit up for a few wonderful seconds. It’s a fleeting sighting, but it doesn’t matter. We have seen kiwi pukupuku in the wild, and it’s a special moment.

Happily, we head off to our beds.

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The next day brings bad news: the weather is turning, and we need to leave earlier than anticipated.

Those of us who had looked forward to a day exploring Waiorua are reassured that we can come back and do so. For now, it’s important we leave while the boat can still navigate the surf at Paraparaumu.

Leaving the island is hard. We were told of a ranger who became so attached to the motu that he asked to be buried here, and it’s easy to see how the place could burrow in under your skin. Where else are kiwi more common than blackbirds, the kererū so unafraid they graze right on the ground, and bats the only mammals besides a handful of lucky humans? But it’s time to go, so we pack our bags and walk as slowly as we can to our pickup spot.

Later, the whole experience will feel like a dream.

The incredible birdlife; the wonderful hospitality; the stunning, changeable whenua; penguins nesting among palm trees, and nearly every creature that graces your vision a rare taonga. It’s not easy or inexpensive to get to Kapiti Island, but it’s something worth saving for. And if it takes you years to get there, well, it doesn’t matter at all. The bush will only get bigger, and the manu aren’t going anywhere.

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S T O R Y

The return

BY JAC K I E L E E M O R R I S O N

Over his shoulder, the banana man was being led away into a private room for questioning. It was good to be back.

An Na had never been to the US before. She had a passport — her dad was American — but her parents had split when she was a baby and he’d gone back to the States, his only contact with her birthday cards that arrived too late, or Christmas cards with no message, just the signature, “Dad x”. There was never a return address.

She’d held onto that “x” for years. Once, she’d asked her mother to tell her about him, but she’d scoffed and called him “laan yun” — a deadbeat — then killed the conversation. At a Lunar New Year party at her aunt’s house in Khandallah, she’d cajoled her mother’s sister into telling her a little more.

“Your mum was in her final year of uni, and he was over here on a working holiday visa. They met at a club on Courtenay Place, of all places. He swept her off her feet. He had that effect on people.

“After you were born, she wanted him to settle down, but he’d had a bit part in The Lord of the Rings — who didn’t, eh? — and fancied himself a bit of an actor. Eventually, he left for ‘better opportunities’ in LA. Your mum was devastated.”

One of her cousins went running past, holding a pair of chopsticks in the air and screaming.

“Oi! Don’t run with those! You’ll fall and take your eye out!” She started after the child and glanced back at her. “Don’t tell your mum I told you — she’ll kill me.”

Jackie Lee Morrison is a writer, editor, and expastry chef, based in Wellington. When not writing, you’ll find her eating all the noods and petting all the dogs.

T

he landing was rough, wheels screeching as the plane hit the runway. There had been a collective yelp, somewhere between an “ooh!” and an “urgh!” An Na could tell solely from that sound who among her fellow passengers was a local and who was a tourist. She was just relieved they hadn’t taken off again mid-landing, something every Wellingtonian had experienced at least once.

An Na hadn’t expected to be back here so soon, but as she collected her bags and joined the customs queue, comfort nudged against her heart. The line was so long — what was the hold up? She peered over the heads in front of her. Someone was trying to bring in a banana and getting a grilling. Typical.

The next available customs officer caught her eye and beckoned her forward. She handed over her declaration card. “Kia ora.” He scanned the contents. “Been in New York, eh? And you’ve got some food to declare?”

“Just some sealed biscuits.”

He made a mark. “Okay, thank you. Follow the orange line, please. Welcome home.”

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So, her dad was an actor. That made sense. There was only one photo of him in the house — An Na had found it hidden in her mum’s closet. He was tall and fair. She put her photo next to his and studied them for hours, trying to pick out any similarities. Did she have his eyes? The shape of his mouth?

“You look just like your po-po’s side of the family,” everyone said. “You’ve got the Li cheeks and legs.”

She hated the round fullness of her face, her calves that never fit into boots or skinny jeans. Maybe, she thought, if she’d looked a little more like her dad, he would’ve stayed. But she had her twice-a-year cards, so she watched American TV shows and movies intensely, studying the extras. Maybe he would stroll across in the background, turn to the camera, and wink slyly; a wink just for her.

She was 14 when the illusion was shattered. She’d never know if it was intentional or a mistake, but one Christmas, a card showed up, complete with a photo of her father, his new wife, and their twin daughters, all posing in front of a jolly, fat Christmas tree. “Happy holidays from the Martins!” said the printed message, clusters of holly adorning the borders. They were all wearing matching Christmas sweaters. The straps of An Na’s swimsuit cut into her shoulders. The twins looked like dolls, all rosy cheeks and curly blonde ringlets.

After that, she threw all her cards away. She woke to the sound of the council rubbish collection outside her house and imagined the jaws of the collection vehicle mashing each one into tiny pieces, destroying every ‘x’.

While she had disposed of her “laan yun” father, she hadn’t thrown out her American dream. If there was one thing he’d given her, it was the opportunity to get out of Wellington. And so, fresh out of university, she took it.

An Na really had tried to make a go of things in New York, even changing her name to Anna to better fit in. An Na was from a tiny island on the other side of the globe, left off most world maps. She was “not quite meat, not quite fish” as her goong-goong had said, constantly battling the “Where are you from? No, where are you really from?” questions. Anna, on the other hand, was just part of the multicultural fabric of the city.

She’d envisioned herself in a well-paid job, commuting every day on the subway, eating at the coolest Lower-East Side restaurants. She’d write that novel she’d always wanted to and land a literary agent.

Here, she could really start living.

Reality, of course, was very different. The city was so big and impersonal, and nobody cared if she was An Na

S T O R Y

or Anna. She got lost all the time, the GPS on her phone unable to navigate through the claustrophobic buildings of Manhattan. She’d heard Americans were friendly, but here in New York, she felt like she was always being insulted. She walked too slowly, was flustered when she tried to order at bodegas and delis and was passed over in line, got lost on the subway constantly. People didn’t understand her accent — they frowned at her, or, worse, laughed. Even the pigeons glared as she passed by, as if saying, “Whaddya want? Get outta here!”

She’d thought she wanted the anonymity, the chance to reinvent herself away from the identity that dogged her in New Zealand. But now that she was here, she realised she was swimming in an ocean of others just like her. Everyone had moved from small towns, seeking some sort of American dream. They all had a side-hustle, something to ensure they could keep living, even if it killed them.

She stayed on the floor of a friend of a friend for two weeks, until one night he unzipped her sleeping bag and pressed his body against her back, his hand creeping across her waist and stomach. She got up, locked herself in the bathroom, and dropped $300 on an AirBnB listing. She stayed there until she heard him leave for work, then packed her things, and spent the day sitting in Central Park.

Strangely, nobody seemed to want to hire a graduate with no experience. An Na applied for a dozen jobs and was ghosted by all. She bought a new wardrobe and went to a trendy hairdresser she saw on TikTok, who cut her mid-length hair into a bob, complaining the whole time about how thick and coarse her hair was.

The cut didn’t suit her. She paid a hefty deposit to move into an apartment in Midtown with two other young professionals, but they were out all day working and partying, and she never saw them.

Her money was running out and she was lonely. She set her sights lower and was hired for a part-time job, which involved standing on a street corner and conning people into visiting a hack chiropractor in Chinatown.

“See,” she would say as they stood on her rigged scales, “your balance is off. Your humours are out of line. A readjustment would do wonders for you.”

Her boss told her to put on a bit more make-up.

It would help bring in the punters, he said. Would she consider wearing a cheongsam, too? Really play up the Chinese angle? She quit. She was behind on her rent. Her invisible flatmates left increasingly passive aggressive messages on the fridge.

She found herself sitting in a chair at the blood plasma donation centre, needle sticking out of her arm,

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Googling how much she could get for selling an egg.

It wasn’t much — only two grand.

“Your blood isn’t coming through properly,” said the nurse. “It’s too thick. Are you anaemic?”

She didn’t know. Probably. She’d been living off cereal and beans since she’d got here. She’d tried to make jook once, just like her mum did, but she’d somehow both burnt and undercooked the rice.

“You shouldn’t be giving plasma if you’re anaemic.

Go home and eat a steak.”

The nurse pulled the line from her arm and a thick worm of blood oozed out. She put a plaster over the wound and held her hand out to An Na. It took a moment for her to realise she was holding out a $20 bill. That was it? She did a quick calculation: if she donated every week for a month, she’d take home $80. Over a year, she could earn $960. An Na opened her mouth to speak and vomited.

Her mum had her hand in the air, waving. An Na let herself be embraced. She could smell the same shampoo and perfume her mum always wore.

“How was your flight? Did you sleep?”

“It was okay. Got a few hours.”

“Let’s get home, eh? I put a pot of jook on.”

She’d been away for a year — not very long at all — and she was looking forward to seeing her friends.

She wanted to feel like she belonged again.

Driving around the Basin Reserve, she checked her phone — she’d sent a group message when she landed (“Hey! I’m back! Coffee at Milk Crate?”) but only a couple of people had replied, and nobody had rushed to set up a date.

“Auntie Karina and your cousins will be so glad to see you. Maybe you could go with them to Penray — strawberry season’s just around the corner.”

“Yeah, maybe,” An Na said, still looking at her phone.

She scrolled through her Facebook and Instagram, searching for hints and insights into the lives she’d left behind. Had they even missed her? Here was a group photo from a winery over the hill; here a reel from a phone placed on a lazy Susan at Dragons.

Face after face filled the screen as the camera spun around the table.

Her mum was still talking, but An Na wasn’t listening. She dropped her phone into her lap and looked out the window. She’d come home seeking comfort, but she was starting to get the feeling everything had moved on without her.

S T O R Y

Her mum had stopped talking and An Na realised she’d asked her a question. “Sorry?”

“I said, have you thought what you want to do now you’re home?”

“Oh. No, not really.”

Her mum went quiet, but An Na heard the unspoken words in the tick of the car’s indicators.

They turned off into Johnsonville. An Na’s phone buzzed.

“Hey, you’re back! For good, or just a visit?

Coffee sounds great, but Milk Crate closed, stink.”

“No way — they’re an institution. What about Lamason?”

“Closed, too. Sad, eh?”

The car pulled into the driveway. An Na pulled her bag out and her mum opened the door. She could smell the jook from where she stood — warm, and savoury, with a hint of ginger.

“Leave your things by the door. You can unpack later.”

An Na did as she was told, slipping her shoes off, and padding into the kitchen. Her mum was already at the stove, ladling steaming jook into faded melamine bowls. An Na slid into a chair and the jook bowls hit the table.

“Eat up, while it’s hot.”

She picked up her spoon and scooped up a mouthful.

Instantly, she was five, sitting around this same table at 6am, eating jook to welcome her po-po from Hong Kong. Another mouthful, and she was 16 and hungover, her mother berating her for sneaking out with her friends. She scolded her while she peeled and sliced pei dan, dropping slices into her bowl.

One more, and she was 22, finally back in New Zealand, realising it was true what they said: you could never go home again. She was back, but it wasn’t the same; she wasn’t the same.

“How is it?” her mum asked, but she didn’t mean the jook, she meant being back at the start of everything all over again. She meant how did it feel to give up on a dream.

“It’s okay.”

“You’re back now, though.”

An Na scooped up another mouthful of jook.

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Through the Wall of Birth and Death

17 Feb – 4 Aug 2024

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Photo: Jenni Carter

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F E AT U R E

Sar street social P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G G S

In this trio of houses, a staircase becomes the town square, a trampoline

the local amusement park, and a shared view into each other's lives fosters a neighbourhood. Madeleine Boles de Boer talks to the contented residents.

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W

ith its unforgivingly steep hills and yawning valleys, Wellington’s landscape naturally separates its residents. Building houses on top of one another up the side of a slope is common, creating an organic vertical separation between each household. A trio of houses on a hill in Wadestown challenges this notion.

Connected by a central staircase and a common area anchored by a trampoline, the three Sar Street residences enjoy community and connection. The communal environment is thanks to the owners of two of the three houses, Craig Burt and his wife, Ang Hall.

Craig, an architect and director at Parsonson Architects, and Ang, a paediatrician at Te Whatu Ora, bought the section that their two properties sit on over twenty years ago. “At the time we were doing a lot of work subdividing sections and

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building new houses for clients, so we kind of just went ‘Let’s keep our eye out for something’”. The something ended up a classic 1920s villa, with a large, bush-covered hillside section and three large macrocarpa trees.

After renting it out for a time, the couple moved into the existing house 10 years ago when Ang was pregnant with their first child. They found it needed updating. The steep section enjoys sweeping views of Wellington harbour, but the traditional house had no East-facing opening windows. The couple reworked the home for modern living, added windows to capture the view, installed a shower, and moved the kitchen to create an open-plan space. Intending to build a second home on the hill above, the alteration made them think about how the site works — and how the houses (and households) could work together.

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Craig has a professional interest in creating communities through housing. He cites Australian not-for-profit Nightingale Housing as inspiring his firm’s direction. Nightingale creates multi-unit housing developments, connecting designers with purchasers in a collaborative, equitable, sustainable approach to housing. While this wasn’t a multi-unit dwelling, he used Nightingale’s principles regarding shared-use areas as a springboard for design.

“If we’re going to divide the site up, how do we do it, and how do we create private spaces, but also create those spaces where people can interact?” He started with the stairway “spine”, which travels up the edge of the section past the original house to the couple’s new build.

Much consideration went into whether to fence off sightlines into the existing house — one they would soon be walking past daily. They decided to leave the view into the home open, as the new layout afforded privacy where it was needed (the living and dining areas) but leaving

the central island visible. This decision sowed the seeds for the community feel of the current living arrangement.

“When someone’s standing at the kitchen sink looking out and you come up and down the stairs, there’s a wave that happens every day.”

The house is now rented to tenants Rob and Laura MacGregor, and their young daughter. Moving from Auckland for Laura’s job, they had little connection or community in Wellington. The shared outdoor area has given the MacGregors both. “It’s really nice to have everything quite open with the trampoline and the kids all playing out there. On nice sunny days, the adults go out there and have conversations as well. It definitely feels like a little community, nicely social and good fun” says Rob. The trampoline, and shared fish and chips and pizza nights, are also enjoyed by the neighbours across the way. Laura and Ollie Hewitt, and their four children, moved in next door during the pandemic. A neighbourly

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exchange of coffee and bread during lockdown led to Craig designing an alteration to their 1920s villa, cementing a relationship between the households.

Eventually, a “bridge” was added to connect the central staircase to the Hewitts’ path. Now, all seven children enjoy regular trampoline dates, and the adults have a sense of community.

Craig and Ang are happy the communal spaces became a real-life neighbourhood hub. “You can create those spaces, but you also need the participants to want to participate,” says Craig.

Collective buy-in from their neighbours means both spontaneous and planned moments of connection.

The couple set their sights on the hillside above after completing the alteration on the existing house.

Naturally, Craig designed the house himself. Being his own client was “really, really hard.” With no restrictions but budget, he found his imagination running rampant. “I don’t know how many designs

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I did for this, probably seven or eight. But at some stage, you’ve got to make a decision and commit.” He concluded that “hard things are often the most satisfying.”

The result was a visually simple home, designed to blend into its highly visible site.

Black corrugated iron cladding and varying depth mean that the more you look at it, the more details start to appear. However, “There’s a lot of work that goes into making it look really simple,” says Craig.

Inside, the attention to detail is evident.

The entrance is framed by art from the couple’s children alongside pieces from architectural friends and local artists. The compact hallway reveals little about the spacious, light-filled kitchen, living, and dining area — a common

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architectural practice of compression, then expansion to a reveal. The family enjoys their sweeping harbour views from built-in window seating in a cosy corner.

With unfiltered access to breathtaking views, Craig made restrained choices as to how they were seen and complemented. “We were always going to have a lot of glass. But I was quite conscious that with that glass comes a lot of light, and if it’s a white space it can feel really cool. We’ve gone for a lot of timber to give warmth to the feeling of the space”.

The house is a journey of textures and surfaces, all contributing to its warmth. The downstairs bathroom has a wall of semi-opaque material used in conservatories to let natural light in. Black walls and navy joinery and carpet create an intimate, snug second living space downstairs. A wardrobe is framed by tactile pegboard. A glass floor in the upstairs hallway lets light through to the entrance

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below. Coloured glass in a window “gives a bit of joy”.

While the communal living and dining spaces are downstairs, the three bedrooms are on the second floor, enjoying an even higher perspective on the harbour.

In an exercise of control, the bedroom windows are a narrow, horizontal. Craig says that the choice is often questioned by visitors, but makes sense once you’re in the space. “It’s for when you’re in bed and creating a landscape view. It’s about framing those special moments seeing it all at once.”

The set-back levels outside translate into rooms tucked into the hill, and a crows-nest-like study at the back, accessed via a timber ladder at the end of the upstairs hall. Landscaping is in progress, continuing the theme of playing with levels and inhabiting the hillside.

Now with the community established, the couple are looking to further utilise their sloping section. They’re playing with the idea of adding another, smaller house, this time below the original villa — communal pizza and fish and chips in the courtyard included.

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B U G

M E

New Zealand grasshopper

BY M E LO DY T H O M A S

Name: New Zealand grasshopper Scientific name: Phaulacridium marginale Māori name: Kauwhitiwhiti, mōwhitiwhiti Status: Endemic, not threatened Description: Kauwhitiwhiti is a small species of short-horned grasshopper endemic to Aotearoa.

They are sexually dimorphic in size, with males between 10 to 15mm and females 20 to 30mm long. While they do have wings, they are usually teeny tiny (the scientific term is micropterus), and not large enough to support flight. NZ grasshoppers can be striped or unstriped, and range in colour from brown to green tones (most commonly brown).

Habitat: This grasshopper is found in low altitudes throughout the North Island (including here in Pōneke), the South Island, and Stewart Island and on many smaller islands.

Look/listen: Mōwhitiwhiti prefer open spaces where they can thermoregulate their bodies by basking in the sun, and are commonly found on sand dunes

above the high-tide mark, and along open, grassy river flats. They feed on grass and are well camouflaged in their chosen environments.

Tell me a story: Aesop’s Fable The Ant and the Grasshopper tells of a grasshopper singing and dancing the summer away, and an ant who spends the time hard at work, collecting and storing food for the winter.

When the cold season hits, the lackadaisical grasshopper finds itself starving, while the ant has more than enough to see it through. The moral of the story? It’s best to plan and prepare for the future rather than to dilly dally the days away. An idle soul shall suffer hunger. But I say there is something to be said for living life like the grasshopper! What is the point of summer if we spend it all in toil? Of course it’s important to fill the cellar with food, but it’s is also important to fill the wells of our souls with joy, to keep us in good spirits in harder times. Also, in the original story the ant, who has much, refuses the grasshopper any, and he perishes. Which doesn’t seem to me like an example to follow. Let the ants among us learn from the grasshopper, and enjoy a restorative, joyous summer!

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F E AT U R E

Fish ’n pics P H OTO G R A P H Y BY Z A R A CO O K

Photographer and designer Zara Cook captures the cultural significance of the local fish and chip shop. Inside Scoop documents the typography, vernacular, and quirkiness of these neighbourhood landmarks. Here’s a little taste.

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Zara Cook, a Mount Maunganui native, ventured to Wellington to study for a Bachelor of Design at Massey University four years ago. Fuelled by her fascination with Kiwi fish and chip shops, she crafted Inside Scoop, a heartfelt ode to these cultural icons. Her favourite fish and chip order is a classic piece of battered fish with chips, accompanied by tomato sauce (don’t forget the lemon). She’s also a fan of a hometown delight called cheezy weezys – hot chips smothered in mayo and cheese, a delicacy she’s not (yet) found on Wellington menus.

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Brooklyn Fish Supply, Brooklyn

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LEO'S Takeaways, Newtown

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Rainbow Takeaways, Newtown

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The Creation of Chips

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P E N N E FO R YO U R T H O U G H TS

new takeaway pasta joint has opened in Strathmore Park.

Spazio, managed by head chef Nirmal John, is serving up the classics like lasagne, spaghetti, and tiramisu for dessert (if you’re good).

Nirmal, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu and cut his teeth at Shepherd Elliott and Sean Golding establishments Shepherd and Concord, and has now opened his own spot. Nirmal decided Miramar would be the perfect place for a shop selling pasta, the ultimate family comfort food.

S

GO HARD OR GO HOME

everal new foodie power couples have released limited edition drinks. Moore Wilson’s Tory Street store is celebrating its 25th birthday, and to get in the party mood they’ve teamed up with Cuba Street’s Southward Distilling.

Together they’ve created a special gin, with fresh herbs and citrus aromas – a nod to their famous orange juice. Duncan’s brewery and Apostle Hot Sauce have also joined forces to create a new beer. The lovechild of the two Kāpiti brands is a smoothie sour, called San Jorge. In true Apostle style the beer is fruity, zesty, and packs a punch.

T

L EA F T H RO U G H T H I S

ess Eden (see Cap#88) of @eden.vegan Instagram fame has released a recipe book, with photographs taken

by Capital’s own Anna Briggs. It’s chock-full of plant-based recipes Tess has developed over the years.

The book's title is her Instagram handle, Eden Vegan, which she has been using since she started in 2017, and maintains her message that being vegan shouldn’t mean missing out. Cruelty-free to the core, the book has been printed with vegetable inks and bound using non-gelatine glues.

CO F F E E P EO P L E

W

hile Wellington is the nation’s coffee capital, coffee-based experiences are few and far between. Peoples Coffee plan to fix this, and have opened their

PART LOCAL LEGEND, PART NEW ZEALAND ICON. www.sunshinebrewery.co.nz

E D I B L E S

third shop, and a new roastery HQ. Located in Newtown, just around the corner from their first store on Constable Street, the shop will offer in-depth tours and roasting tourism. This new venture aims to bring back the hands-on 'Bean-toCup' process followed when they launched 20 years ago.

TK gained an appreciation for whiskey working at an underground whiskey bar in Sydney, and has since been a big part of the Wellington hospo scene, shaking up cocktails at Ascot rooftop bar and the now-closed Matterhorn.

hair. Co-owner Richelle Okada says, “Now we can get back to doing what we love: bringing cats and people together for their mutual benefit.”

G O I N G U N D E RG RO U N D

H

ead down the stairs on Cuba Street to the not-so-secret basement bar Dee’s Place.

Named after owner TK’s greatgreat-uncle, the bar offers a weekly list of cocktails, wines, beers, and whiskies, and a cosy interior with dark wood furniture, rugs and candles.

T

FELINE GOOD

wo years ago Neko Ngeru Cat Café in Petone closed its doors, and went in search of new premises. Now they have new digs in Lower Hutt. Felinophile customers can book a 55-minute slot to enjoy a coffee with the cats.

The cats are rescues and most will be available for adoption, so you might end up bringing home more than cat

A

D O N ’ T H A I L KA L E

otearoa’s most hated vege has been revealed, and drumroll please – it’s kale. Not a particularly surprising discovery, as the smelly, bitter leaf has long been the destroyer of smoothies, salads and roasts. Around 4,500 Kiwis had their say in the survey undertaken by gardening company Yates, and crowned tomatoes top of the crops (controversially, as they are actually a fruit), with broccoli and kūmara taking second and third place.

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E D I B L E S

Smoked pear and blue cheese salad with a smoked hot honey vinaigrette dressing

Smoke signals P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N N A B R I G GS ST Y L E D BY R AC H E L SA L A Z A R

As much as everyone loves the classic Kiwi BBQ, the food choices tend to be a bit predictable and are rarely veggie-friendly (bread or lettuce anyone?). Blair and Casey of Wilson BBQ are sharing three go-to recipes they regularly make for friends summer gatherings, with interesting options for die-hard meat-lovers and vegetarians (and with a few easy swaps, for vegans too). They've added some creative twists, utilizing the smoker on unexpected summer ingredients. These recipes are hassle-free, leaving you more time to soak up the sun and enjoy great meals with friends.

Blair’s culinary journey began at McDonald's, before his next job at Mitre10 ignited his love for BBQs – he wound up with seven of them. Not a fan of her mum's food, Casey learned to cook from a young age.

In 2017, the couple combined their cooking prowess, rolling out Wilson Barbecue as a food truck. Fast forward to 2020, they opened their first restaurant in Johnsonville, and have recently added a second spot in Willis Lane.

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Reverse seared bone-in ribeye with chimichurri

Smoked mushroom burger

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Reverse seared bone-in ribeye with chimichurri Serves 2 Steak 1 bone-in ribeye barbecue steak rub

Chimichurri 60g flat leaf parsley 6 tbsp white wine vinegar 6 garlic cloves 2 tsp chilli flakes 2 tsp dried oregano 1 tbsp barbecue brisket rub 1 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Prepare the chimichurri first. The easiest method is to place all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until you’re happy with the consistency.

2. Tie steak using butcher’s twine. Place a loop around the bone then up around the edge of the ribeye and back to the bone pulling meat into a circular shape. Cover ribeye with barbecue steak rub, both sides and right around the edge.

Leave it to rest for 30-60 minutes, while you head out to set up the barbecue.

3. Light your charcoal or wood, and adjust the barbecue until it is running at 107°C (225°F).

4. Place the seasoned ribeye into the barbecue, as far away from the heat source as possible.

5. Once the internal temperature of the steak has reached 55°C (130°F) remove from the barbecue and cover lightly with tinfoil to rest.

6. While the steak is resting bring the temperature of the barbecue up to around 287°C (550°F). Sear the steak directly above the heat source to create a nice crust, flip and do the same to the other side. You want it hot so the crust develops quickly without overcooking the steak.

7. Slice and drizzle your perfectly cooked steak with chimichurri. Enjoy!

Smoked mushroom burger Serves 1 Mushroom burger 2 portobello mushrooms 3 slices tomato barbecue chip seasoning pickles, sliced 1 milk burger bun, cut in half 2 slices red onion 1/4 avocado, sliced rocket (or other leafy greens)

Burger sauce 1/2 cup mayo 60mls American mustard 1 tsp chip seasoning 2 tsp white sugar 1/4 cup ketchup 5–10 finely chopped pickles 1 tsp pickle juice

1. Mix all of the burger sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

2. Remove the stem of the mushroom and cover both sides in barbecue chip seasoning, allow to sit for 20 minutes.

3. Place into the smoker at 135°C (275°F). Cook until tender all over, test with a skewer.

4. While the mushrooms are smoking, toast the buns to a nice golden colour (this will stop the sauce soaking into them).

5. Assemble your burger! Then spread half of the burger sauce on the top and bottom buns.

Place the mushroom on the bottom bun, greens, and then place the rest of the ingredients on top.

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Smoked pear and blue cheese salad with a smoked hot honey vinaigrette dressing Serves 4

1.

Light your smoker and set it up to run at 105°C (225°F). For this recipe I used apple wood for a light, sweeter flavour.

2.

Cut pears in half remove the cores, then slice thinly lengthways.

3.

Place the hot honey in a heat-proof ramekin and into the smoker for 30 minutes to give it a smokey flavour.

Then remove and allow to cool.

4.

Place pear slices onto a tray and place them in the smoker for 5–7 minutes. You don’t want to cook them, just give them long enough to pick up the lightest smoke flavour.

5.

Place the sugar into a saucepan, heat over medium to high heat until the sugar melts. Keep it on the heat until it turns a light caramel colour, then remove. While it is still liquid stir the walnut pieces through, and then spread the mix out thinly on a piece of baking paper and allow to cool.

Once cold, smash into small pieces.

6.

To assemble the salad place the greens into a bowl. Lay the smoked pear slices on top. Crumble over the blue cheese. Drizzle over the smoked hot honey dressing. Finish it by sprinkling the caramelised walnut pieces on top. Enjoy!

Salad 2 pears 2 tbsp white sugar 3 cups of seasonal greens 1/2 cup walnut pieces 100g blue vein cheese

Dressing 4 tbsp olive oil 4 tsp hot (spicy) honey 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

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B Y

C H AOS T I M E

W

hy did Lynn Davidson make a late-life decision to leave Aotearoa, with scant resources, to build a life in Scotland? Her new book Do you still have time for chaos? (Te Herenga Waka Press, 8 February) explains. The memoir looks at what made and fractured her, including an account of single parenting with its shadows of poverty and stigma. Lynn is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer who grew up in Pukerua Bay.

T H E

B O O K

F LO R A EX P LO R E R

S

andra Morris loves writing about and illustrating plants and animals, so she’s sure to have a marvellous time as the 2024 Botanic Garden Artist in Residence.

She will be there from 1 February with one simple task, to showcase the garden’s magnificence. Sandra was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as an illustrator and to education last year. Her books have been published

by New Zealand publishers and in Australia and the USA.

TO P T H R E E

A

t the end of last year, Eirlys Hunter’s children’s book The Mapmaker’s Race (Gecko Press) was nominated for Italy’s premier children’s book prize. The Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi is longlisted by a jury and then shortlisted by children. Eirlys’ book was one of three finalists in the 11+ category. She didn’t win, but Gecko Press publisher Rachel Lawson describes being a finalist as a massive achievement.

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H OST W I T H T H E M OST

E

xpect glitter and general fabulousness when Sam DuckorJones hosts Writing the Rainbow (Capital E, 24 February), a workshop especially for young LGBTIQ writers and readers. Twelve to 16-year-olds can experience seeing their stories on the page and themselves starring in their very own zines. Sam is a New Zealand sculptor, poet, and artist. His first book, People from the Pit Stand Up (2018) is an illustrated collection of poetry.

Human Traces

57 Willis Street, Wellington unitybookswellington.co.nz

16 DEC – 31 MAR

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W E L L Y

A N G E L

What would Deirdre do?

you visit at different times. After so long it seems the friendship is not only because of your childhood friend and it is reasonable to continue.

DA I LY SE X

A DV I C E F RO M D E I R D R E TA R R A N T

My husband is 12 years older than me and rather suddenly has become extremely interested in sex and wants it every day. I work fulltime and am not that bothered, at 55. How do I tell him to stop being so excessive? He says it’s healthy and I should be pleased.

Fed up, Kelburn

O N T HO N G AG A I N My son’s fiancée (whom we all love) is coming on holiday with us again this summer. My only issue is that she will wear a thong which is extremely revealing and seems very out of place at our not very smart beach. She doesn’t just swim in it but seems to wear it all day for all activities. I know other family members find it awkward. They are frequently in wetsuits diving or surfing. Would I be out of line to ask her to wear something else or to cover up a bit?

Anxious nearly mother-in-law, Karori

You both need to be pleased, surely? It takes two to tango and all that jazz. But perhaps you can find a way for you both to enjoy this rejuvenated enthusiasm. Compromise?

T O O M U C H ST U F F

She should really realise this herself. I would not hesitate to mention it to her. There are some lovely sarongs around – maybe a Christmas present from the children? Your other option is to let it be. Does it embarrass your son? Maybe suggest she pops a shirt on for meals as a starter?

I am trying to persuade my elderly parents to downsize from their three bedroom house and large garden to two bedroom house with no garden. They have accepted they need to move, but won’t do anything about sorting their stuff. How do I get them to make decisions?

Weary, Upper Hutt

FRIENDS NO MORE

This story is familiar. Is all their ‘stuff' actually theirs, or is there a bit of family residue? If not, lead by example and spend some time helping to clear shelves – and offer to help with their possessions. Is there “stuff “ you or other family members like and can take? Start with something specific – books, the linen cupboard, pots and pans. There are a lot of memories involved. It will happen. Little steps. It is good to get started – I have friends who left it all too long and never made the shift they knew they should have. Nostalgia is a powerful force and gardens have much to answer for. Maybe smaller home with a small garden? Good luck.

I have spent a lot of time with a particular family over the years, holidays, Christmas at their family bach. This began with my close friendship with one of the family during schooldays. Unfortunately due to a work-related conflict of interest, that friendship after 20 plus years has dissolved. The extended family still invite me to join them. Ought I to continue to accept or should I decline the invitations in the best interests of my former friend, who will not respond to any messages from me.

Bach buddy, Petone Have you been visitors at the same time since the conflict arose? Tricky. I feel you probably should see if that relationship can find new ground although it sounds quite a closed door. I would feel uncomfortable I think but it is your call. It must seem strange to the family. I assume

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

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WĀ H I N E

Just like us

BY M E LO DY T H O M A S

T

his morning I woke to my far-too-chirpy sevenyear-old son quizzing me on football facts. I was barely awake, but I was still expected to be able to name my dream team, and to defend my choice of Messi over Ronaldo, and the fact that I wanted a mixed-gender team with Sam Kerr and Alex Morgan in it. During this discussion, my sleepy-headed 10-year-old began to stir from beside me, where she’s been sleeping since she got food poisoning (both for her reassurance and for mine.)

Despite the fact that no-one was dressed and lunchboxes weren’t made, we took ten minutes to snuggle down under the blankets, warm limbs intertwined as the day’s first light poked its head through the window. I inhaled the tops of their heads and squeezed them into me, hyperaware of my good fortune to have been blessed with such incredible souls to share my life with.

I am perhaps especially aware of my privilege at the moment, given that my social media feed is full of parents and children undergoing the most horrific and unbelievably violent assault in Gaza. At the time of writing, more than 17,700 Palestinians have been reported killed since October 7, and more than 7,000 of them are children. This is equivalent to twenty-three primary schools of 300 children. It is unfathomable, too much pain to truly get your head around, and I know I’m not the only one forcing myself to look, to bear witness, even as my heart cracks apart.

Many of the posts about Gaza implore those in the west to care by insisting that Palestinians are “just like us”. I understand the point: to humanise a traditionally dehumanised people, so those in other places might empathise and stand in solidarity. But it also irks me. Of course the people of Palestine are just like us. Of course those children are exactly like our children. All around the world, precious small souls wake their parents too early to quiz them on a newfound obsession, be it football, horses, ballet or monster trucks. They are held through the night by worried caregivers, skin hot to the touch. They have funny

mannerisms and cheeky little friend groups, are loved by their teachers, and known to pinch a biscuit from the plate when nobody’s looking.

And now, unfathomably, the children of Palestine are running for their lives. Too many of them are buried in the rubble, limbless, parentless, shaking from head to toe, terrified into numb resignation, while the world watches on. Whether you’re comfortable using the word genocide or not, whether you believe in a country’s right to defend itself or not, there is no action that justifies turning a place into a “graveyard for children”, as The United Nations has described Gaza. You cannot convince me that what is happening there is acceptable.

Generally speaking, I avoid talking about current events in this column, as you can never be sure how much will have changed between the time of writing and publication. But silence on Palestine is not an option.

Even if 2024 brings about a long overdue ceasefire, and that nightmarish death toll finally stops climbing, there will still be an urgent need to support those who have survived. To join protests, contribute what we can to relief funds and call on our government to do the same.

And it’s not just Palestine we need to be ready to stand for. Here on home ground, our own leaders seem intent on winding back the clock of progress and doubling down on deeply entrenched inequities for Māori. On stoking the fires of prejudice, feeding damaging (and ineffectual) “tough on crime” narratives, and further increasing the gap between the haves and have-nots. We all need to be ready to stand for those who hold less power than us: whether that’s men for women, wealthy for poor, cis for trans people, pākeha for Māori and Pasifika, able-bodied for disabled. To say nothing is to be complicit, and there is too much on the line to be complicit. Columnist Emma Wehipeihana said recently (quoting her cousin Anahera Gildea), “We don’t need allies, we need accomplices. See you on the protest line, e hoa mā”.

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C U L T U R E

Festival of Pots & Garden Art

D I R E C T O R Y

Heavenly Bodies: Valentine's Under the Stars

Celebrated for its ambience and varied showcase of artistic creativity the festival brings emerging and established artists together to share ideas and connect.

Visitors can enjoy captivating exhibitions, hands-on workshops, live demonstrations, and insightful discussions that explore the art of pottery and its fascinating history.

Enjoy a live planetarium show and delicious grazing platters then create some drawings together and spend some time in the funfilled photo-booth. Sip on a complimentary drink and enjoy a WCF chocolate bar as you raise a toast to your love under the majestic cosmos. Tickets $65.

19–24 January Anam Cara Gardens 150 Rangiuru Rd, Ōtaki Beach. otakipotteryclub.org/ festival-of-pots-kapiti

Wednesday14 February Space Place 40 Salamanca Rd, Kelburn. spaceplace.nz

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Ian Scott Painting New Zealand 23 Nov 2023 – 11 Feb 2024 New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata Shed 11, 60 Lady Elizabeth Lane, Wellington Waterfront

Supported by

Chris and Kathy Parkin Ian Scott, Rita Angus in Taradale, 1987, Collection: The Arts House Trust

C A L E N D A R

FANTASTICAL BEASTS: MEMBERS’ GROUP SHOW A celebration of fins, fangs, feathers and fur NZ Academy of Fine Arts, 1 Queens Wharf NGAHUIA HARRISON: COASTAL CANNIBALS Work focused on Whangārei Harbour City Gallery, Te Ngākau Civic Square.

Until 21 January WHIRIWHIRIA Weaving from artists connected to Ōtaki Toi Mahara, Waikanae. Until 21 January DIANE ARBUS: A BOX OF TEN PHOTOGRAPHS Ground-breaking work from the 1960s City Gallery, Te Ngākau Civic Square.

Until 21 January AROTAKE TOI: MAHARA ARTS REVIEW Biennial show of Kāpiti and Horowhenua artists Toi Mahara,Waikanae.

Until 28 January TONY FOMISON: LOST IN THE DARK Outsider paintings – monsters, misfits, and medical deformities Whirinaki Whare Taonga, Upper Hutt.

Until 28 January IAN SCOTT: PAINTING NEW ZEALAND Featuring previously unseen works NZ Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Shed 11, Queens Wharf. Until 11 February

EERIE PAGEANTRY: JULIA ROBINSON AND DON DRIVER Folk-horror-infused art City Gallery, Te Ngākau Civic Square.

Until 18 February TE OHONGA THE AWAKENING Contemporary Māori art from the collection Wellington Museum, Queen’s Wharf NGĀ TAONGA TUKU IHO / TREASURES OF KĀPITI Local treasures from private and public collections Toi Mahara, Waikanae GOOD BONES: MICHELE BEEVORS A knitted menagerie of life-size skeletal animals The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt SIX EXTINCTIONS Events that changed the World Te Manawa, Palmerston North

January

1 New Year’s Day A day to polish up our ‘‘best intentions’’ 5 WAIRARAPA MUSIC IN THE COUNTRY FESTIVAL A three-day gingham and Stetson fest.

Tauherenikau Racing & Events Centre, Featherston. Until 7 January

9 GARDENS MAGIC Daytime kid’s garden trail and activities, evening concerts and light show Wellington Botanic Garden, Glenmore Street, 9am-11pm. Until 28 January 10 NEW ZEALAND CYCLE CLASSIC Five-stage elite men’s cycling road race Roads around the Wairarapa.

Until 14 January SPLASH AND DASH Fortnightly outing to build swimming and running prowess Freyberg Beach, Oriental Bay, 5pm 13 HARBOUR HIKE: DISCOVER BARING HEAD / ŌRUA-POUANUI You will need to book a place. R13 Baring Head Carpark, Coast Road, Wainuiomata, 10am–2pm 19 FESTIVAL OF POTS & GARDEN ART A pottery lover’s dream with local and guest artists work Anam Cara Gardens, Otaki Beach.

Until 24 January SUMMER CONCERT SERIES Four performers over four nights Aotea Lagoon, Porirua, 6–8pm.

Until 22 January WELLINGTON PHOENIX v MELBOURNE VICTORY Sky Stadium, 7pm

一攀眀 匀攀愀猀漀渀 稀攀戀爀愀渀漀

C A L E N D A R

20 NZ STREETSTOCK CHAMPIONSHIPS – FINALS All classes will be racing for glory Wellington Speedway, Te Marua, 5pm 21 BATTLE HILL FARM DAY Hands on outdoor experiences for the whole whānau 608 Paekākāriki Hill Road, Mana - Porirua, 10am–2pm GREYTOWN COUNTRY MARKET The third Sunday of each month through to March Main Street, 10am–2pm 22 WELLINGTON ANNIVERSARY DAY 27 Z MANU DIVE BOMB CHAMPS PŌNEKE WELLINGTON Develop your style and be in to win Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform, 9am.

Until 28 January

February

3 MARTINBOROUGH FAIR 500+ stalls and only 8 hours!

Martinborough Square and surrounds, 8am–4pm LADS ON THE ISLAND Comedy of magic, mescal, and mates Circa Theatre. Until 2 March ENZED SUPERSTOCK TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS Speedway’s most iconic event Central Energy Trust Arena, Palmerston North, 6pm. Until 4 February

BOON SCULPTURE TRAIL Sculpture walk and arts trail Hamilton CBD. Until 31 March 6 WAITANGI DAY Celebrations region-wide – get out there and enjoy 10 WELLINGTON PHOENIX V WESTERN UNITED Sky Stadium, 5.30pm OUTFIELD FESTIVAL Music, food, art and camping Hawkes Bay, 10 February 14 VALENTINE’S DAY HEAVENLY BODIES: VALENTINE’S UNDER THE STARS Show, food, drinks, drawing and photo booth. R18 Space Place, Salamanca Road, 6pm

21 BLACKCAPS v AUSTRALIA T20I Sky Stadium, 5.30pm 23 AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS International and national acts strutting their stuff Many venues region wide. Until 17 March 25 KĀPITI WOMEN’S TRIATHLON Long distance triathlon and duathlon Raumati Beach, Garden Road, 8.45am 29 GOLDEN SHEARS, MASTERTON Flock to see speed shearing at its best War Memorial Stadium, Dixon Street. Until 2 March

March

16 NZ FRINGE FESTIVAL Dip your toe into the unknown Many venues city wide. Until 9 March

3 HUTT SOUNDS 2024 The Human League and 80s friends rock the ‘hood Brewtown, Upper Hutt, 2–9pm

17-18 ŌTAKI KITE FESTIVAL A weekend of family fun Ōtaki Beach, 10am–4pm

NEWTOWN FESTIVAL Music, food, brews, stalls and crowds.

Hall Street to Rhodes Street, Newtown. All day

18 SOUTHERN CROSS ROUND THE BAYS FUN RUN/WALK A category for every capability Waitangi Park, 7.45am

4 ART IN THE CATHEDRAL Artists’ work discussed over four days Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, Molesworth Street, 11am

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Answers will be published online at capitalmag.co.nz/ crossword

Answers will be published online at capitalmag.co.nz/crossword

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1. Restaurant specialising in a particular shellfish (6, 3) 6. Healthy summer meal (5) 8. The band comes back for more (6) 10. Torrent, signal your mate (4) 12. Waka (5) 14. Material used to propel a boat (4) 15. Sharing snack with salsa (5, 1, 3) 17. Call out into a canyon, Kiwi DJ (4) 19. Intentions for the New Year (10) 21. Sweet fizzy drink (8) 23. Sun, te reo (2) 24. Beach treasure (6) 26. WOMAD, Bay Dreams, Homegrown (8) 27. Island Bay coastal walk, home to seals (3,5) 29. Colourful ice cream topping (9) 30. Quick noodles (4) 32. Result of sunburn, pain (5) 36. Skinny dip, ___ all (4) 37. Seafood, te reo (8) 38. Red, black, blue, or logan (5) 39. Suddenly silent (4, 2) 40. Graphic magazine (5) 41. To laugh frequently, te reo (6)

2. Fancy boat (5) 3. Making a rough measurement, _____ it (7) 4. Hiking essential (8) 5. Summer, te reo (7) 6. Eye protection, colloquial (7) 7. Morning condensation (3, 4) 8. Jealous (4) 9. Māori god of the sea (8) 11. Dry off (5) 12. Grab me a __ __ from the chilly bin (4, 3) 13. Swimming, doggy ____ (6) 16. Film, twins separated at birth meet (6, 4) 18. Men's NZ rugby team (10) 20. Killer whale (4) 22. Buttery biscuit, _____ moment (7) 23. Suggest (9) 24. There’s nothing like a ____ in the tub (4) 25. Water sport requiring a board (7) 26. SPF rating (6) 28. A rest is good for your _____ (6) 29. Sand castle essentials (6) 31. Wake up call (5) 33. Seaweed (4) 34. Lip sun saviour (4) 35. Tamariki play area (4)

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