Plenty Magazine Issue 11

Plenty

Katee Shanks charts the return of James Rolleston, Lonnie Berg returns, talks shit with Jason Hoyte and nails our production model, The Winsley Twins enter the Island of Woo and Plenty gets into the unknown with UFOs, ďŹ nds about how sustainability begins at home, and goes south of the border, down Mexico way (in ĹŒhope).

culture :: media :: art :: food

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Plenty Magazine is published by Plenty Limited. Copyright 2018 by Plenty Limited. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the prior consent of the publisher.

Plenty accepts no responsibility for the return or usage of unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Opinions expressed in Plenty Magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of Plenty Limited.

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ANDY TAYLOR

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Plenty Magazine

TWENTY EIGHTEEN

Don’t blame it on the sunshine, a few have blamed it on the moonlight, and we can all blame it on the good times, but don’t even think about And blaming it on the boogie. (1)

one In fact, when it comes to climate change, which is what we’re talking about in case you more didn’t realise, let’s give up on the blame game and start playing the change game. t h i n g Because regardless of how we got here, if we want to pass on a liveable environment before we to Keith Richards and our future generations, we are going to have to change the go. We want way we do things.(2) you. We want you to become a part of And that means we as in ‘we’ – not we as in, well, everyone else: the Plenty by becoming a government, big business, or that flatmate you had who started the worm subscriber, naturally, but farm which went really wrong that summer. Nope, it’s you and me, it’s we are also looking for a us and we who are gonna have to embrace sustainability, kick some few new members to join our butt(3) and get this party started. crew. People to help us make And with that in mind, in this issue we’re highlighting some Bay this magazine. of Plenty peeps who are making sustainable very doable, and So if you’re a get-up-and-go-getter with they’re doing it right here and right now. Read all about it driving ambition and the need to succeed, you know where. well then the National Business Review is You can also read all about a bunch of other cool stuff the place for you. If, on the other paw, you in Plenty 11. Rotorua boy Jason Hoyte, Whakatāne want to be a part of what we think is the best artist Lea-anne Sheather, and the dearly departed independent media voice in the Bay, then get in Hans Tapsell to name a few, as well as the touch. We’re looking for someone to help us achieve world-famous-and-unknown-in-New Zealand our very own sustainability and to keep on keeping Suzanne Hanson of Tauranga. And also on, because, frankly my dear, we don’t give a damn and James Rolleston; he was part of our very we intend to keep on keeping on for a very long, long time. first issue and after his recent roller Sustainability again, and even though we’ve said it before, we coaster ride and his return to the seem to have to keep saying it – this magazine is independently big screen we are stoked to catch owned and operated, with no affiliation to any of our past or present up with him and hear about employers, nor any sponsors. It’s just Andy and Sarah, Jenny, Katee his first film back in the and Angela, Shelby, Nicola, Alexandra, Mr Mulcahy, Bob Sacamano, saddle. He’s here together Art Vandelay and our noble advertisers who want to help spread the word with producer Ainsley of Plenty. Get in touch and become a part of the gang.(4) Gardiner, who is also no stranger to But hey, enough about us, as we’ve said before it’s all about you. So slip into your Plenty. Talk about dancing trousers, pull up your favourite chair, pour yourself a stiff one... and delve sustainability. headlong into the weird and frightening world of Plenty 11.

(1) The publishers would like to state that no members, living or deceased, of the Jackson Five agreed to cooperate in the production of this editorial.

(2) Plenty Magazine would like to acknowledge that while we didn’t trademark ‘Change Game’ as the intellectual property of Plenty Magazine, Copyright 2018, we really bloody should have.

(3) The Editor would like to note that neither Plenty, its contributors or publishers, condone violence in any form. Except maybe against wasps; they’re just bastards.

(4) The Designer and co-founder would like to add that I thought we’d agreed not to do this stupid footnote thing? It’s a nightmare to lay out.

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WORDS KATEE SHANKS PHOTOGRAPHY MICHELLE HYSLOP & SUPPLIED FILM STILLS

James Rolleston lived, and almost died, in Ōpōtiki.

T WOULD STILL HAVE BEEN a tragedy had it been any other 19-year-old who crashed into the Otara Bridge on July 26, 2016, but because it involved a teenager who had the adoration of the nation, it was much, much more.

By the time he had hit 19, Rolleston had appeared in most major Kiwi films in the years after his debut in Boy – The Dead Lands, Dark Horse, The Rehearsal and Pork Pie. He had Hollywood firmly in his sights.

The crash, the injuries sustained

by Rolleston and his good mate Kaleb Maxwell, Rolleston’s rehabilitation and reintegration back into the community, as well as the subsequent criminal charge and court case, have been well documented over the past two years.

And just as well, as Kiwis anxiously waited to see if the youngster who had captured our hearts at the age of ten was still as magical as we all wanted him to be.

They needn’t have worried.

Though he continues his recovery, it’s his openness and his beautiful, beautiful smile that ensure his star has not been diminished.

Pork Pie was the last time we saw Rolleston on the big screen, but his much-anticipated return to acting since the crash and the next step toward his Hollywood dream is out now throughout the country.

The Breaker Upperers had its world premiere at the South by South West Festival in Austin, Texas in the middle of April and earned rave reviews from US critics. But for Rolleston the movie was just a chance to be back doing what he loves.

“It was really good, good to be back in that environment, good to be around familiar faces, good to be doing what I enjoy doing,” he says. “Even though there were lots of complications like fatigue issues, I was sleeping on set, it was awesome just to be doing it.”

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“This is one hell of a tough industry. It’s feast or famine and in reality, 50% of the job is being out of work.”

“I had huge support from Madeline (Sami) and Jackie (van Beek) and the rest of the cast and crew, all who did what they could so I could perform to the best of my ability.”

Sharing the producer’s chair with Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) and Carthew Neal (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) on The Breaker Upperers, was Whakatāne’s Ainsley Gardiner who had worked with both Rolleston and Waititi on Boy. She describes Rolleston as incredibly talented, and given her list of credits that’s not faint praise.

“The Breaker Upperers was shot quite soon after the accident,” Gardiner says. “Films of any kind are hard both mentally and physically, and we were definitely hoping it wouldn’t take too much of a toll on him. I’d seen his audition for the role, James has natural talent and ability, and I was confident he would be able to play the part. It was whether that would be enough - and it was.”

Gardiner is also confident Rolleston will go on to bigger things. “There has been a lull for James, but that has not just been solely as a result of the accident.

“He started acting as a youngster and had an incredible run of work, which is almost unheard of in the film industry. When you’re a kid, acting isn’t really your job, but when you’re an adult as James is now, it is.

“And this is one hell of a tough industry. It’s feast or famine and in reality, 50% of the job is being out of work.”

According to Gardiner, Rolleston not only had to contend with the aftermath of the crash, but also of becoming an adult actor.

“These things happened to James all at once, but he needs to remain optimistic. He is talented and works hard, I know something will be just around the corner for him and it will be sooner than even he thinks. The success of The Breaker Upperers will help to create new momentum for James.”

Gardiner notes that before the accident Rolleston was on an upward trajectory and got diverted, but just needs to build the momentum again. “He kind of hit multiple crossroads, and learned a lot of life lessons, but he’ll be fine.”

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Scenes from the movie The Breaker Upperers

Gardiner also notes that the premiere of The Breaker Upperers has drawn some great feedback. “It was interesting to showcase it to an American audience, to see what they found funny and what they didn’t. And it will be more interesting comparing their reactions to the movie with reactions from Kiwis.”

Like Gardiner, Rolleston couldn’t wait until The Breaker Upperers hit New Zealand screens.

“It [the movie] got some awesome reviews in the States, people love the film and that’s a real positive. I’m really keen to see how people here react to it,” he says.

And of Gardiner, Rolleston says she is like a “really close Aunty”.

“Yeah she mothers me, that’s the feeling I definitely get when Ainsley’s around!

With her having young girls she slips easily into the mother role and, when she did, I’d be like – Ainsley, Ainsley, Ainsley – I can do that.”

Ainsley Gardiner, top, and James Rolleston

“But it’s great to have someone that familiar on set. When you’re with someone you’ve come to trust so much, you feel so comfortable with – you just have to nail your performance.”

And Gardiner admits she is maternal toward Rolleston. “I’ve known him since he was a kid, and when you’ve known someone for that long I guess it’s natural. I worked with James when he was a child on Boy, and then when he was a man on The Breaker Upperers, but in my mind and in my heart I was still thinking of him as a boy, and that’s when the mothering comes in.”

And while there are no current movies in the pipeline for Rolleston, something he sounds almost apologetic for, there is his foray into theatre.

“Later on this year I’m going to be involved in a theatre production of Tutanekai and Hinemoa this is the first show I’ve even considered.”

“It’s great to have someone that familiar on set.

When you’re with someone you’ve come to trust so much, you feel so comfortable with – you just have to nail your performance.”

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“I’ve loved every role I’ve been fortunate enough to take on – even Mana from The Dark Horse, which was a hard and very emotionally demanding part.”

Remarkably, he says he was always the shy kid who avoided being in front of a crowd. “At a Q&A after a screening, you’d be lucky to get two or three words out of me, so yeah, this performance will take me out of my comfort zone for sure.”

And there is still his ongoing rehab. “It took me a while to realise I needed to take some time to heal. A while back I was rushing into things and I can admit now, I couldn’t do stuff, I needed to let my body heal.

“It’s pretty frustrating – but I have to do it. At the end of the day frustration isn’t going to get me anywhere – healing is just something that has to happen. If I don’t approach it with that attitude, I’ll just get more frustrated.”

Rushing however, has been part of Rolleston’s life for a long time. As part of a restorative justice conference in the wake of the 2016 crash, whānau spoke about the busy lifestyle he had led since living in an adult world after Boy. Rolleston’s Nan, Christina, who raised him and who he credits with “everything good that I am”, told the conference that the night of the crash he had rushed back from Auckland to see his mates – “the boys,” and that her moko was caring, sensitive and humble and that when it came to fame “we tried to slow it down for him”.

Christina and her husband took over the care of Rolleston when he was four after his mother, Christina’s daughter, became unwell.

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“My Nan and Koro originally had a farm on Matakana Island,” Rolleston says, “and that’s where my mum and her siblings were brought up. They ended up moving back to Ōpōtiki, where my Nan’s whānau is from [my Koro comes from Rotorua and Matakana Island], and that’s where she raised me.”

Rolleston lost Koro when he was eight, “but I’ve definitely been blessed with the best with my Nan. She’s a funny little ball of energy and one of the strongest people I know.

“When she has to put her foot down you know about it. She has definitely guided me, and shown me the way to become the best young adult I can be.”

Before Boy, and any time he was between films after Boy, he was at school in Ōpōtiki, hunting in the Waioeka Forest or down the coast, fishing in one of the rivers or streams, arriving at his school ball on horseback, or hanging out with mates. He reckons that while he may have spent too many days in the concrete jungle of Auckland, he easily slips back into being an Ōpōtiki local when he goes home.

“I don’t get back there as much as I would like to, especially since Nan has shifted to Tauranga, but it will always be the place I return to when I need to chill out and to get grounded.”

And while his Hollywood dream has not abated, right now Rolleston is okay with where he’s at. When he reflects back on the roles he has played, he says each of them holds a special place.

Scenes from the movie The Breaker Upperers

“I loved the cheekiness and the spontaneity and the personality of Luke from Pork Pie – that was an awesome role. But to tell the truth, I’ve loved every role I’ve been fortunate enough to take on – even Mana from The Dark Horse, which was a hard and very emotionally demanding part.”

He says he’s not sure if there is a character he would give anything to portray but, if he finds one, he’ll be sure to let us know. So stay tuned. You know there is going to be a lot more to the James Rolleston story.

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CONFIDENTIAL

Under the Radar WORDS ANDY TAYLOR

PHOTOGRAPHY ART VANDEL AY & IMAGES SUPPLIED

Is there a corridor of UFO activity that runs through the Bay of Plenty, have we already made contact with alien life, and why do we have to meet in a garden centre to get a coffee at Easter. UFOCUS NZ President Suzanne Hansen talks to Andy Taylor about all this and more.

Suzanne Hansen is probably one of the most internationally acclaimed Kiwis you’ve never heard of. In the past year alone she has addressed both her peers and public meetings in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Australia, the United States, and Canada, and Finland is next on the horizon. The research organization she leads, UFO Focus New Zealand (UFOCUS NZ), has staff in New Zealand and Australia and ties to associated organizations around the globe, in particular with CEFAA (a Chilean military, aviation and government UFO investigation group).

And after a TV appearance in 2010, TV3 enjoyed the highest number of website hits it had ever seen.

The reason you’ve probably never heard of her is that her field of research is one that most Kiwis still have difficulty discussing. When it comes to chitchat round the BBQ, New Zealanders are about as likely to kick around the possibility of alien life as we are to get into a deep and meaningful conversation about politics or religion. UFOs are still a no-go area in mainstream New Zealand, and that is odd, because they are not exactly strangers to us.

One of the earliest, well-documented UFO episodes in New Zealand came in 1909, when what would become a spate of sightings began on the West Coast. On 31 July an engine driver and fireman aboard a train out of Hokitika noticed a powerful light out to sea that appeared to be rising and falling in the sky. When the train stopped at Nelson Creek Station, excited passengers crowded the platform to watch.

Reports soon came in that two dredge hands in Gore had seen what they called ‘an airship’ with figures on board descend and then shoot upwards in a yellow glare, and in August a woman in Kelso had her house buzzed by a flying object that made the tin roof vibrate.

Then, from Napier, Feilding, Wellington, Blenheim, Kaikoura and Nelson fresh reports flooded in, with many of the witnesses being well-respected members of their communities. Reports described a bright light enveloped in an opaque body that moved in a wavelike fashion at a height of between 300-900 metres, which often shot vertically out of sight at speed. Early explanations that it was a German airship on a spy mission were discounted by the speed and range of the sightings, and the theory that the booze was to blame seems unlikely; much of the country was under strict prohibition so widespread drunkenness would have been difficult – and expensive – to organise (let alone cover up). In early September the sightings ceased just as suddenly as they had begun.

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Suzanne Hansen of UFO

CUS NZ

Reports of UFOs continued sporadically, but the next major episode that piqued national attention came on September 4, 1969, when Hauraki farmer Bert O’Neill happened upon a bleached and crushed patch of manuka on his Ngatea farm. Investigators would surmise it had taken 20 tonnes of down force to leave the impression in the hardy manuka – so this was no playful crop circle as found in an English cornfield – but there was no explanation for the deep furrows also found at the scene, nor for the traces of radiation found in the dead manuka. Bert’s farm was soon overrun with sightseers and three similar circles and severely spooked horses appeared shortly after on a Rotorua farm. There were similar occurrences in Auckland and Te Kuiti, and then – just as in the case of the 1909 sighting – things went quiet.

In the early hours of December 21, 1978, came the most important episode in all of New Zealand’s UFO history. In what is considered to be one of the most important – and inexplicable – sightings not just in New Zealand but anywhere in the world, mysterious objects began appearing on the radar screens at Wellington Airport. The objects were over Kaikoura, and an Argosy turboprop freighter was in the vicinity, so Wellington asked its pilot, Vern Powell, to take a look. What followed was a truly remarkable train of events.

GROUP OF THOSE WHO SAW THE KELSO AIRSHIP IN DAYLIGHT: Back: R. Russell, Mrs Russell, Agnes Falconer, T. McDonald.

Front: T. Jenkins, Cyril Falconer, A. Russell, G. McDuff.

Powell and first officer Ian Pirie made radar and visual contact with the objects almost immediately and remained in contact for several hours, reporting fast moving lights that changed colour and direction before their eyes and which were once clocked at covering 24 kilometres in just five seconds. At one point up to five unidentified objects were seen on radar and other aircraft and ground observers also saw the show. Suddenly Kaikoura was front page news, and if it had ended there the episode would have been remarkable as it was. But it didn’t end there.

The incident was reported around the world, and the government took it equally seriously, with an RNZAF Skyhawk being put on standby to intercept any further sightings.

On the evening December 31, 1979, Australian television reporter Quentin Fogarty (who was on holiday in New Zealand at the time) was asked by his network to take a camera crew up on another scheduled Argosy flight and reconstruct Powell and Pirie’s flight for the camera. He hired local cameraman David Crockett, and Crockett’s wife Ngaire went along as sound recordist. What they didn’t know was that they were all going to get a lot more than any of them had bargained for.

Just after midnight pilot Bill Startup and co-pilot Robert Guard noticed unfamiliar lights towards Kaikoura and within minutes as many as ten objects were lighting up the sky around them as well as the radar back in Wellington. For an hour the aircraft was followed and overtaken by the bright, fast moving lights, in a breathtaking aerial display. There was no need for a reconstruction, this was the real thing.

When the Argosy touched down in Christchurch Crockett and Fogarty immediately prepared for the return journey. Due to the speed of the objects Crockett had been unable to get good clear images, and he was eager for another shot at it. His wife Ngaire was somewhat less eager. Just two months earlier an Australian pilot had disappeared in what sounded suspiciously like a similar UFO encounter, and she’d had more than enough for one night; she got off and stayed put in Christchurch.

Back in the air Crockett didn’t have to wait long to redeem himself. As the Argosy broke cloud a bright light appeared directly ahead and closed to within 15 kilometres – a virtual stone’s throw given the Argosy’s speed. For 12 minutes Crockett filmed it while Startup and Guard attempted – with remarkable bravery or folly – to maneuver closer. Then suddenly the object seemed to stall and the Argosy flashed over it and set a course for Wellington where it landed at 3:15 am.

The incident was reported around the world, and the government took it equally seriously, with an RNZAF Skyhawk being put on standby to intercept any further sightings. Crockett’s footage, after making prime time news here and across the Tasman, was sent for analysis in the US, where hoaxing, light anomalies and everything from illegally operating helicopters to meteors were ruled out. To this day it remains one of the most discussed and mystifying UFO records of its kind.

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the ht) inspecting rvey Cooke (rig . cle cir Researcher Ha atea s within the Ng ground marking

All of this is old news to Suzanne Hansen. For 43 years she has made the investigation of UFOs and UAPs (that’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon to you) her life’s work. In 2000 she founded the UFOCUS NZ Research Network, and between that and her public speaking she also finds time to be an author, archivist and public relations spokesperson. Over the phone Suzanne sounds about as far from the Hollywood stereotype of the X-Files UFO conspiracy theorist as you can get, and our meeting only confirms this: thanks to New Zealand’s holiday trading laws, the only place we can find open over Easter is a café attached to a garden centre in Bethlehem. It’s a most unlikely setting, but while the good people of the Western Bay buy potted colour and winter vege we take coffee and talk UFOs. Having dedicated her life to the topic, it’s not surprising that there was a light bulb moment for Hansen. “In 1975,” she says, “I was travelling with a flatmate on a country road out the back of Hastings, and we saw a light coming towards us. We were pondering on what it was, whether it could be an agricultural aircraft or helicopter, when it just blinked out and reappeared instantaneously over the adjacent hills near us. It changed position in the same way a couple of times, until we suddenly realized it was flying up behind us and it came right over the car. It was incredibly bright, wider than the road and made a very distinctive noise – and it inspired me to start researching UFO/UAP sightings and finding other people who had seen something similar.”

Finding and interviewing those people has shown her that Kiwis from all walks of life, young and old, and from all across the country see UFOs and there is no real pattern to the sightings. “Some people like to think that sightings are more common in summer, when we are outside more, but that’s not the case,” she says, “although there are areas that seem to have more sightings than others.”

“Kaikoura obviously, the Dome Valley north of Auckland, the Kaipara Harbour area . . . but the Bay of Plenty and Taupō/Central Plateau areas have a long history of sightings. From the work we’ve done and also from data shared by other countries, including CEFAA in Chile, and also Iceland, it seems there is a connection between seismic and volcanic activity and UFO sightings. There is substantial documentation internationally about sightings of objects with clear configurations of lights that are not the legally required aviation lights, prior to, during and following major volcanic activity. This is not to be confused with the reported shimmering sheets of lights that have been described as some sort of aurora in the sky just before volcanic activity.”

The Bay of Plenty and the Taupo areas have a long history of sightings.

“In the Bay of Plenty specifically, there have been a lot of sightings at particular periods of time between Mayor Island and Motiti Island. In 1995, a sighting was made in Tauranga Harbour by fishermen who described a silver spherical object that passed over them and headed towards the Kaimais. That was reported to us, and we also interviewed a Hamilton air traffic controller, the late Graeme Opie, who sighted the same object from the control tower on the other side of the Kaimais just two minutes after the fishermen. Graeme was hooked, and became my colleague in UFOCUS NZ for the next 20 years, while still a practicing senior ATC. Because we are a small country we can often get corroborative evidence from different sources and from overseas as well, and for us that is a significant aspect of our research.”

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“But certainly for decades NZ airline pilots have reported seeing unusual aerial objects, even things going into the sea in that area of the Bay of Plenty, and former pilot the late Bruce Cathie believed there is a ‘corridor’ running through the Bay and out to the sea that shows very high activity.” Cathie, like Hansen, made UFO research his life’s work after a sighting, and also like Hansen is probably more known internationally than in his native New Zealand. His ‘Harmonic’ series of publications introduced a whole generation to his theories in the 70s and 80s, and continue to be widely discussed online today.

Living in the internet age is certainly a plus for an organization that gathers information from across the country, but Hansen also points out that it can be a burden. “There is just so much hoax material out there and it’s so very easy to spread that from the safety of your keyboard!”

“And of course,” she adds with a somewhat weary smile, “Chinese lanterns are the bane of our lives! I shudder to think how many hours I’ve spent on the phone talking to people who are sure they’ve seen something amazing but which we are pretty sure – from their description of the movements, the appearance etc – are just Chinese lanterns. And some people thank you for clearing it up – and others abuse you! Because they really want to believe they’ve seen something and don’t want to accept an alternative explanation.”

“Many New Zealanders do have a fascination for the subject - perhaps it’s because we have a small population yet a long history of sightings. Our population was even smaller in the 50s and 60s when there were some major sightings, so everyone probably knew someone who had seen something back then.”

“The subject is opening up now. Probably more so overseas than here, but we’re getting there.

There are a lot more people coming into the field too. With the recent ‘revelations’ from people who have worked at the Pentagon, scientists, former military personnel and aviation people as well, it is becoming more mainstream and people are less worried about being looked sideways at. Everywhere I go to speak, anywhere in the world, there are always people who are happy to ask questions openly, and then there are those that come up to talk to me privately in the car park afterwards!”

So does she find herself lingering in carparks, waiting for the shy stragglers who weren’t quite ready to tell their story in front of a crowd?

“Yes,” Hansen laughs, “I’m afraid to say I do! Because they really want to share. So many people call and want us to tell them what it is they have seen. Well, we can’t always do that. We can tell them logically what it’s not likely to be from the description and details and we can collate that with international sighting research data. People are also coming forward with sightings they had many, many years ago. These are often very upstanding, almost conservative people in the older age groups and their families are often quite shocked – because they never spoke of it FOR AN HOUR THE AIRCRAFT WAS FOLLOWED AND before and are only now willing to OVERTAKEN BY THE BRIGHT, FAST MOVING LIGHTS, come forward.”

IN A BREATHTAKING AERIAL DISPLAY.

Still images of Quentin Fogerty’s ‘re-enactment’ flight when all aboard got a brush with the real thing, and - far right - the real thing.

With the coffee gone we are about to head out, so instead of waiting for the car park moment I ask Suzanne the $64,000 question: does she think we’ll ever have contact?

“All the research,” she says without hesitation, “is pointing to the fact that there are plenty of objects out there that are ‘ours’ and that are mistaken for UFOs, but also that some of the objects we are seeing are clearly not ‘ours’.

Increasing numbers of scientists, aviation industry people, and military people are coming forward because they are looking for answers themselves.

I recently spoke at the International UFO Congress in the USA and was also asked to facilitate sessions for those who claim to have had contact and encounters with occupants of landed craft. Those attending the sessions included professionals, aviation and military personnel who are now going public on these matters. And then there are people right across the board, in all professions and walks of life, who claim to have already had contact. Some of them talk openly about it, others only in private because they worry they might lose their jobs, but when you have that amount of increasingly credible evidence it seems safe to assume that contact has been made and is being made.”

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to New Zealanders are about as likely life kick around the possibility of alien gful as we are to get into a deep and meanin on. conversation about politics or religi Perhaps it’s a good thing it’s Easter and everything is closed, because it’s not yet noon and I’m thinking it might be nice to have something stronger than coffee to help mull all that over. But while my mind boggles, it’s another day in the office for Suzanne Hansen, and UFOCUS NZ will just continue on its way.

“We investigate and collate information about UFO sightings in New Zealand, document and archive it, and share our information and research internationally,” she says. “And we’re not here to convince people, we’re here to record. We’re about to add the archive material of the Dickeson family, who were veteran UFO sighting researchers in New Zealand, and who published the UFO magazines Xenalog and SATCU. Once that is up we will have one of the biggest online UFO sighting archives in the world on our website, ufocusnz.org.nz. That’s not bad for a small country.”

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Great

question

bloody great

mate,

question

Words LONNIE BERG

MICHELLE HYSLOP

Photography

Jason Hoyte talks shit

P L E N T Y. C O . N Z // M AY 2 0 1 8

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He calls it talking shit.

First things first, the Bay of Plenty connection is that he grew up here, in a manner of The fine art of making speaking. He moved to Rotorua when he was four and has fond memories of Kuirau Park, it. for paid people laugh and getting but was sent off to boarding school at the It’s an art that requires a unique set of criteria to tender age of eight. I ask him if his parents were posh English people – that being the get right. Well, thinking of slipping on a banana peel, that might be putting too fine a point on it. only race who routinely send their young off to be raised by strangers – but no, his parents You do at least need to be funny and for a few were middle management but divorced and stars to align. For Jason Hoyte it’s a chemistry Jason was living with his dad, whose new with his long-time partner in crime Leigh Hart, partner’s son attended Dilworth and loved it which means they simply riff off each other without scripts on their daily drive time show on and so Jason followed suit. And he loved it Radio Hauraki, TV fishing show parody Screaming too, and even missed it when he left, but that Reels and the Alternative Commentary Collective, didn’t last long thanks to the joy of being a young man in the ‘80s, free for the first time amongst other collaborations. in his life. I’m thinking shoulder pads and a lot For me, the art of making shit up, like this article of hair product. But that’s just me. for instance, requires only one thing; the frozen terror of a fast looming deadline. And it’s today.

Right now in fact. Why, why, why do I do this to myself? I find myself hoping the offices of Plenty magazine burn down. But no, damn them and their cheap-as-chips-hot-desk-nonsense-runon-the-smell-of-an-oily-rag-two-laptops-and-anangry-redhead productivity model; Plenty doesn’t have an office.

Like the economic lives of most actors,

I briefly contemplate creating an accident for myself. Nothing too painful that would cause serious harm or mean that my dog would go walk-less, just bloody enough to elicit sympathy and get me out of doing this.

the early years were feast or famine

Jason went to teachers’ training college in Epsom but found the strict rules and regulations were too much like being back at school; it didn’t take. He then attended Auckland University, to please his father No such luck. mainly and started the ubiquitous BA or as it I’ve tried the dog ate my homework line on my is universally known Bugger All, but that didn’t editor but he’s a hard-hearted bastard so after last either. Not that he didn’t enjoy it. He just two weeks of guilt-ridden havering and a flurry of didn’t attend any lectures. white lies I reluctantly open my phone to saved recordings and press play.

Next up was a year long stint with Greenpeace, going door-to-door all over Auckland trying The Jason Hoyte story is not a rags to riches to get people to sign up for subscriptions. one. Despite being a comedian he comes from a Good for the soul and the planet, and if any perfectly respectable family. And I bet it wasn’t Aucklanders out there were thinking that bloke that many years ago that his father was still on the telly looked familiar, well now you know. wondering when he was going to get a real job.

That’s not to say he’s not successful. He is, and But while all this was going on Jason Hoyte he looks it too when we meet in a Titirangi café. the real Jason Hoyte - was assiduously working I can imagine him doing a late night comedy gig away at his true passion: acting. in the United States like The Daily Show. He’s got a nice, well-lived-in face, is well-spoken and has By his last year at school he was acting in four beautiful daughters who are doing well. So, plays outside Dilworth, but like many a creative well, how did he get into comedy and what’s he type he wasn’t encouraged to put all his eggs doing in Plenty? into that particular financially fickle basket.

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“I was always told, ‘You’re a big fish in a small pond, but outside of school you’re going to be a little fish in a bigger pond and you can’t make a living’, so I never really believed it could be done. But while I was doing an amateur play of Twelve Angry Men at the Dolphin Theatre in Onehunga I met Scott Blanks, who ran comedy nights at Kitty O’Briens and was starting a comedy festival. I used to talk a lot of shit during the run of the play, and Scott said to me ‘You’ve got to do stand up comedy’.

We had a duo called

Sugar and Spice

which was the naffest name we could think of.

Sugar and Spice, which was the naffest name we could think of, and that did really well and from there I got an agent and started getting acting work and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 20 years or so (as well as raising the aforementioned four daughters).”

Like the economic lives of most actors, the early years were feast or famine.

“You’re on the bones of your ass for most of the time and then when you do get work you end up giving it all away ‘cos you owe everybody.”

“I had a great mate, Jonny Brugh, and I asked him if he’d like to do stand up with me and so we had a duo called

y G D a a a a aaa a y y yyyy Maaaattttttteeee P L E N T Y. C O . N Z // M AY 2 0 1 8

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The joy of being a young man in the 80s, free for the first time in his life...

I m thinking shoulder pads and a lot of hair product. for their mates to turn up to a BBQ. As someone perpetually confused by daylight saving, it spoke to me. Here’s an excerpt: HART

It’s a tough time of year ‘cos people get confused.

HOYTE You gotta put our clock back an hour don’t you?

HART

Your watches. You gain an extra hour so you gotta put ‘em back.

HOYTE Yeah, the days are longer so you put ‘em back.

HART

It feels longer. You just get a sense of longevity, the world’s not spinning faster or anything.

HOYTE The whole spectrum of time doesn’t change.

HART At this point we launch into the obligatory conversation about Auckland house prices and the good old days when houses were affordable but interest rates weren’t and I learn that his mother lives in Matatā, a little BOP village I’ve been smitten with for decades. The All Blacks were invented there, among other things, but that’s another story, though you can see Plenty 03? if you don’t believe me.

Being a life-time National Radio listener I hadn’t caught Jason’s radio show on Hauraki and, not having a TV, hadn’t seen him on the box.

Or so I thought. Looking them up on Youtube I instantly recognized Leigh Hart from the Hellers commercials (even without owning a TV for many years I knew the ads) promoting bacon and sausages around New Zealand. And I watched the one where the pair explained the Idiot’s Guide to daylight saving while waiting

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But when we put ‘em back and we lose the hour. . .

HOYTE Well we’re not losing the hour, your gaining the hour ‘cos you’re putting it back so what would be my nine o’clock would be your ten.

HART

Only if I hadn’t put my watch back though – we’re still in the same zone.

HOYTE That’s irrelevant, whether it’s 24 or 12.

So now would actually be. . . one.

HART Again.

HOYTE Again.

HART

I just know that when we lose the hour, every time we lose the hour, that’s the time I normally go to the gym. It’s really annoying.

And that ain’t nothing compared to the confusion and outrage caused by the pair’s deadpan fishing show parody Screaming Reels, where no fish are ever caught but sexual innuendo is ceaseless.

When it screened in Australia earlier this year our trans-Tasman cousins were, um, miffed.

“You’d think that when we used venetian blinds to try and catch fish, people would go. . . Mmmn this might not be serious.”

How did that happen?

Although Screaming Reels is finished both here and for our not-so-sophisticated neighbours across the ditch, Jason and Leigh have got other targets in their sights.

“Channel 7 bought it and I think they knew it was a comedy and it played in the weekends at five or six in the afternoon, but then for some reason they replayed it at 9am or 10am on a Sunday morning under the banner that it was a documentary/reality show, with no concept whatsoever that it was a comedy.

“And the Australians! There was outrage! I’ve never had so much abuse in my life. It was like, ‘What sort of f***ing show is this? They never catch a single f***ing fish!’

“People genuinely thought it was a serious fishing show, which Leigh and I love. So people were watching it going, ‘This is the most terrible fishing show we’ve ever seen!

These guys are useless!’

“We did another show called the Late Night Big Breakfast, which was a piss-take of breakfast television. Now we’re thinking of doing a show which is basically a piss-take of Prime Time.” Jeremy Wells, look out!

I must admit I’m entranced. In an age where we live more and more in a media bubble and what we watch, the music we listen to, and how we get our news is ‘chosen’ for us by anonymous algorithms, I’m delighted to find a whole new world of home grown Kiwi comedy.

I might have to rethink my entire media existence, buy a TV and start listening to commercial radio for the singular pleasure of listening to guys like Jason Hoyte talking shit.

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“The future of humanity resides in being in love with nature.

If we were in love with the planet and incorporated that love into all of its systems, we wouldn’t have an ecological crisis.”

– Charles Einstein, in ‘Living the Change.’

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LIVING THE CHANGE WORDS ANGELA FRANK PHOTOGRAPHY TRISTAN THOMSON & SUPPLIED FILM STILLS

– inspiring stories for a sustainable future

You’ve no doubt heard the idiom ‘Be the change’ – an appropriated ‘quote’ originally attributed to twentieth-century peace icon Mahatma Gandhi. It infers that to affect profound change in the world, we must start with ourselves. But in a time where messages of hope are not liberally broadcast and those of disaster and crisis further a sense of dismay, it’s not easy to know where to begin.

The New Zealand documentary ‘Living the Change,’ a feature film that promotes a positive response to global crises, revealing how we can, in fact, be-the-change, is a good place to start.

The film aims to explore solutions to the global environmental crisis by telling the inspiring stories of people who are pioneering sustainability in their own lives and communities, and it pretty much does just what is says on the tin. It delves into renewable energy, waste, the food system and the economics of sustainability through the stories of everyone from a Hawkes Bay farmer turning his sheep run into an eco-friendly farm of the future, to a family who set themselves the goal of producing no rubbish for an entire year.

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It is unusual to feel uplifted from a climate change conversation, but the documentary brims with beauty and positivity, seamlessly showcasing communities and people who have initiated genuinely sustainable practices.

The film is the brainchild of directors Jordan Osmond and Antionette Wilson, who are based right here in the Bay, and who somehow manage to remain upbeat despite the seriousness of the subject matter.

“Passion is fundamental to the whole-process from the shooting and editing to the research,” Antoinette says.

“Our aim is for the film to be a catalyst for opening up the discussion for communities to talk, and hopefully, for projects or initiatives to spring up and be strengthened by people coming together for the screenings.”

“My hope is that all the documentaries inspire, empower and provide solutions to help navigate the transition from our current destructive industrial society to a new way of being.”

Inspired to make a difference, Jordan began training himself in film-making; telling true stories through the lens of his camera about people in action, creating a better world. Incidentally, he met Antoinette, a writer and editor, during a shoot.

“My hope is that all the documentaries inspire, empower and provide solutions to help navigate the transition from our current destructive industrial society to a new way of being.”

Initially, the directors hadn’t set out to make a featurelength film, they were in the process of shooting content for a series of shorts. But they chanced upon an opportunity to interview Charles Eisenstein – a longtime personal hero and influential thinker – while he was visiting New Zealand.

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To be part of making change you don’t need to reinvent the wheel

Eisenstein is an author and speaker whose philosophy is essentially holistic, based on the premise that social and environmental well-being is not possible while the current norms driving economic, social, and physical division are perpetuated by separatist ideologies.

The inherent message in this interview was so pertinent to their project and the fundamental motivations so central to their own story telling that they realised they were going to need ‘a bigger boat.’

With the footage from Charles’ interview now a driving voice, Jordan and Antoinette set a new trajectory for the writing process: editing for a longer arc, weaving a narrative while continuing to explore local contexts, and seeking stories that complemented the ideologies that he had verbalised.

A smorgasbord of successful projects feature in the final product, describing processes that activate change and invest in ecological and societal health. All headed by high-capacity people from all over Aotearoa: from experts to activists, scientists, scholars, and gardeners.

We set out to make a solutionsbased film – not an issues-based film

Scenes from the movie ‘Living The Change’

It is unusual to feel uplifted from a climate change conversation, but the documentary brims with beauty and positivity “We did wonder at first if we were being ambitious, combining too much,” Antoinette says, “but change needs to happen from everywhere, every direction. We wanted to include as many solutions and voices as we could that would link together in a coherent way.” When asked which of the subjects or experiences personally resonated, without missing a beat Antoinette says, “The thing I’ve been really inspired to move to in my personal life is zero waste.”

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“Everyone of the people in the film are inspiring,” Jordan adds, “they’re all doing amazing things and making valuable contributions.” But the Riverton forest garden had impacted him at a personal level, and you can see that in the film.

It’s a two-acre property at the bottom of the South Island where, over twenty-three years, Robert and Robyn Guyton have cultivated a food forest, designed to attract and feed insects and birds, as well as people. “That approach to living as part of nature – that we are nature, not separate, just one being of many in the forest.

That really said a lot to me.”

After the recent Tauranga premiere, the film crew and guests sat for a Q&A panel, which included Leo Murray of ‘Why Waste’, a compost collection service which aims to provide eco-friendly solutions for the hospitality trade. “It often requires a level of privilege to achieve or even start these kind of projects,” he says. “But everyone knows of someone who is already doing something. To be part of making change you don’t need to reinvent the wheel; ask how you can help.”

After touring Australia the crew are now arranging North Island screenings, and throughout the release tour ‘Living the Change’ has been received with an overwhelmingly positive response. In Hobart, however, amidst the overture it was also criticised for being “Pollyanna” – too positive, preaching an unrealistic, over-simplified message, but Antoinette’s response remains robust.

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“To a degree, yes, because of who the film attracts we tend to be speaking to our own – ‘preaching to the choir’ as it were. But we all need to grow much braver in having these discussions. Much braver. By bringing people together and talking, we can only make that ‘choir’ stronger. It’s a good thing, ultimately.”

The films purpose is to expose solutions and generate positivity toward embracing shifts in lifestyle, guiding its viewers to reconsider their impact on the planet, to reconnect with their communities, and inspire changes within their own lives.

“We set out to make a solutionsbased film – not an issuesbased film – and we feel we’ve achieved that.” And you can be a part of the change by getting on over to Happenfilms. com to see about arranging a screening near you.

Food For

u o g h h t T Words Bob Sacamano Photography Sarah Lane

of At Plenty magazine we spend a lot of time in cafés. And I mean A LOT an time. Not for us the confines of l office with stuffy air and artificia

light, no siree Bob, we’re happier , surrounded by our fellow citizens And watching life’s rich pageant unfold. it. we can’t pay rent, so that settles

The Daily Café Te Puke

Okere Falls Store Rotorua

So, Plenty do most of our interviews in

cafés, we have meetings in cafés, and we distribute the magazine to pretty much

every café we lay eyes on. In fact if you’re reading this in a

café take a look around you, there’s a good chance one of us is there right now. But when some of our readers suggested that we write about a couple of their favourite cafés we

thought that was taking things a bit too far; where would that lead? We might never leave Café Cocos in Whakatāne and

brave the world without sundried tomatoes scones for a start But when we learnt a bit more about the cafés in question we were hooked, because they aren’t just doing things differently, they’re warping the whole concept of what cafés are and

the roles they play in our lives. These are not just places to be together alone, read the paper and soak up some gossip

and coffee, these are places that are helping to bring their communities together and make ours a better place.

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e r o t S s l l a F e r e Ok Sarah Uhl fell in love with Okere Falls when she first laid eyes on it and was soon a resident.

The little community 20 minutes out of Rotorua up State Highway 33 on the way to Tauranga

was a step back in time, close to a picturesque lake and surrounded by bush – who wouldn’t fall in love? And yet something was missing.

Sarah Uhl, left, of the Okere Falls Store.

“When I came here, there was quite a disconnect in the community. On the one hand you had the

locals, who lived here, and then there were the visitors and who came for kayaking and the

lake. And there was some animosity between

the two groups, because there was no common ground. They only ever saw each other on the side of the road and never really met

and interacted. Because there was nowhere

for this happen.” While most people would have

consigned that to the too hard basket, Sarah took a different course of action: she decided to build some common ground. The result was the Okere Falls Store.

The original store was built in the 1940s and had been selling petrol and pies for many years. After purchasing and relocating the

building slightly, Sarah and her friends and family set about giving it a tasteful renovation and turning it into a café and store. “We didn’t want to lose the feeling of the old store,” she says, “we

wanted to keep that 1950s feeling

and warmth, because the aim of the

Store is to bring people together, to be a place where locals and visitors

can get to know each other and build a community.”

“THE AIM OF THE STORE IS TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER, TO BE A PLACE WHERE LOCALS AND VISITORS CAN GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER AND BUILD A COMMUNITY.”

Pay the Store a visit on any given

Sunday and you’ll see that is proving a roaring success. Locals in Swanis

rub shoulders with Kathmandu-clad city slickers, and in the car

park Juicy vans lurk by glistening SUVs festooned with expensive

mountain bikery. There are a lot of first names bantered about and newspapers being handed back and forth, dogs lolling on the steps

and kids eyeing up the deserts being served at the next table. Weta

Workshops couldn’t build a better celluloid depiction of a classic Kiwi community rounding out the weekend if they tried.

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And yet there is a lot more to the Store

than just that. Since its inception it has hosted local and international musicians, offering an intimate venue for live music while almost

every other has fallen by the wayside, and for the last ten years it has also held a

hugely popular beer festival. But in parallel

to this, as it has grown it has also worked to ensure its impact on the environment

has been reduced, and in typical Okere Falls

Store fashion, they now plan to take this to the next level.

“We already work to reduce plastic and we have bioloos made by a

Rotorua company,” Sarah says. “But

we realized we have to do more. I think we can all agree now that we have

to make serious changes, but I think

too many people are looking for the

government or big business to come

up with the answers. That’s not going

to happen, sustainability has to begin at

home with each of us, and because the Store is our community home we’ve decided to make it our focus.”

This runs from giving up on single use plastic straws and using Kiwi made

THEY’VE BANNED PLASTIC BOTTLES AND THE SUGARY STUFF WITHIN THEM, A MOVE THAT WASN’T POPULAR WITH EVERYONE, IN PARTICULAR THE MAKER OF A CERTAIN COLA DRINK . . .

compostable coffee lids, to getting

off the grid with solar power on the

roof and – hopefully by next year – switching their delivery vehicle to

an electric. They’ve also banned plastic bottles and the sugary stuff within them, a move that wasn’t

popular with everyone, in particular the maker of a certain cola drink. “We got a lot of support for not stocking those products, but we also had quite a bit of pressure put on us. But it was worth it.

For every six plastic bottles bought, only one ever makes it to a recycling plant – the others end up in the ocean or landfill, and take generations to break down – poisoning the environment as they do.

And obviously the producers aren’t going to change until we stop using their products.”

It’s fighting talk from Okere, but we’d put our money on them any day. “People forget how much power they have,” says Sarah. “Hopefully we can help to remind them.”

TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR THE GOVERNMENT OR BIG BUSINESS TO COME UP WITH THE ANSWERS. THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, SUSTAINABILITY HAS TO BEGIN AT HOME

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T he Daily Café Carry on down SH33 towards Tauranga and you’ll have the option of hitting the fancy new eastern link expressway or diverting into Te Puke; take the latter option cos you’re in for a treat.

And we’re not just talking about the broad

majesty of Te Puke’s main street. No, we talkin’ bout the revolution The Daily Café are cooking up in Commerce Lane that runs parallel.

The Daily Café was brought to our attention by the Mad Master Baker of Manawahe, purveyor of the world’s best

“WE GET AROUND ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE TO OUR FREE PIZZA NIGHTS, PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE, AND TO SEE THE CONNECTIONS IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT.

sour dough, Maurice

Lees of Bread Asylum fame. The Café

started off as a

dream five years ago, a non-profit punt into

the unknown aiming to

be something different, not just about great

food and coffee, but a place that actually

made a difference and gave people a place to belong. The brainchild of Marty

and Chrissi

Rebecka Billington of The Daily Cafe

Robinson, locals

who had seen the boom days of

the region, as well as the struggles

involved with how PSA had ravaged it, they teamed up with Richard Crawford, Andrew Reid, and

Rebecka Billington to open a new local café. There’s nothing really

new in that idea, but their concept of a community café that would put all the profits back into the people around them certainly is.

“The idea of The Daily Café was to put something back into Te Puke, but also to put Te Puke back on

the map,” says Rebecka. “Its about acting locally, and leading the way,

THE FOCUS COMES IN THE FROM OF A LAID BACK BUT MODERN SPACE FITTED OUT WITH DONATED FURNITURE – AND FARM GATE – AND AN ECLECTIC, GRASS ROOTS – AND VERY KIWI – TAKE ON GIVING IT BACK.

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“THE DAILY WAS JUST A RANDOM IDEA TO HAVE A NON-PROFIT CAFÉ, TO HAVE A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE CAN COLLABORATE, WHETHER IT’S VIA THE COMMUNAL KNITTING OR JUST AS A PLACE TO TALK”.

food in their freezer

but to create a sense

of home, a focus for everyone.”

The focus comes in the from of a laid back but modern

space fitted out with donated furniture –

and farm gate – and an eclectic, grass

roots – and very Kiwi – take on giving it back.

Free pizza nights for

example are billed as ‘No Strings

Attached’ and baskets of knitting

scattered around the café provide those with time on their hands the

chance to make something to keep young ones warm.

“We get around one hundred people to our free pizza nights,

people from all walks of life, and to see the connections is what it’s all about. Whether its on the pizza nights, or at cottage pie night where volunteers cook emergency meals for people in

need, or through the communal knitting while you are waiting on

your coffee, a random chat with the barista across the counter, or a simple smile from a stranger - we all crave to connect.”

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And connection is what The Daily Café does, whether it be bringing locals together or

making a difference on the other side of

the world via something as simple as a cup of coffee.

‘’All our coffee comes from The Good Trust, which stands behind the brilliant

concept of converting coffee to fresh

water. Every coffee sold at The Daily Café converts to one week’s worth of fresh

water for someone in Cambodia, so it’s a

really simple way of making a difference.”

“The Daily was just a random idea to have

a non-profit café, to have a place where

people can collaborate, whether it’s via the

communal knitting or just as a place to talk.

But now we have school programmes, we do lunch orders, and it has just grown as the community has made it grow. Sometimes the little things can have a big

impact. And you never know what can grow out of having a coffee and a chat.”

Reminding people of the power they have, and how we can have an impact in Te Puke and across the world.

We mentioned up at the get-go in the editorial that it was going to have to be we. Okere Falls Store and The Daily Café are showing us how to be us.

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Where spectacular is par for the course While other clubs around the country are bogged (literally) during the winter months, WhakatÄ ne’s sun-filled golf courses offer crisp, dry greens yearround, coupled with some pretty spectacular scenery.

whakatane.com/golf

Set between Ōhiwa Harbour and Ōhope Beach, with views out to White Island on the northern side and the harbour wetlands to the south, the Ōhope International Golf Club is rated one of the top links courses in New Zealand.

With sandy soils and more sunshine than any other North Island region, the 18hole course is dry underfoot year-round, offering consistent playing conditions.

Greg Turner (New Zealand golfing legend) says this of the course: “The seaside terrain is as dramatic as anything in the British Isles and the views are exceptional.

This is links golf to match the very best anywhere.”

10 minutes from town, the Whakatāne Golf Club championship level course offers another spectacularly scenic game. With fast running greens and lush, forgiving fairways, the course provides players of all levels a challenging and rewarding 18 holes.

If you’re after a road trip as well as some great golf, the Ōpōtiki Golf Club course is worth the trip. This picturesque 18-hole course is situated on gently rolling hillside overlooking the coastline and Ōpōtiki township, offering pressure-free golf with tree-lined, undulating fairways.

For a more laid-back round, the Te Teko, Kawerau and Murupara courses both allow for a relaxing game for anyone who pops in.

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2 KAWERAU

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MURUPARA

1) MURUPARA GOLF CLUB 2) KAWERAU GOLF CLUB 3) TE TEKO GOLF CLUB

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4) WHAKATĀNE GOLF CLUB 5) ŌHOPE INTERNATIONAL GOLF CLUB 6) ŌPŌTIKI GOLF CLUB

For more detailed information about the courses and to book a round, visit whakatane.com/golf

T H E L E A - A N N E, THE WITCH AND THE LOUNGE-ROOM AN INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST LEA-ANNE SHEATHER When art becomes a compulsion, an obsession, an outlet for dreams, a non-negotiable inclusion to any given day – Lea-Anne Sheather is what this looks like.

The Winsley Twins took some time to find out how the artist gathers inspiration for her incredibly detailed and sought after artworks that are founded in spirituality, nature and the human condition.

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INTERVIEW THE WINSLEY TWINS WORDS ALEXANDRA PICKLES PHOTOGRAPHY ANDY TAYLOR & IMAGES SUPPLIED

PLENTY Do you start an art piece with a

clear idea of the end result, or is there some flexibility there?

LS Every single one is different. Sometimes, in a flash, I just get the image in my head of what to do… but that’s rare. Other times, I get parts of it in my head, so I start those parts and the rest comes along gradually.

I have an idea of what I want to say, and then I just put some more thought into it. I have so many ideas that it’s about sorting out which one to choose from. Each work takes so long to complete that I try to be careful about what I work on, and use the time wisely.

PLENTY Do you work on more than one piece at a time?

LS If I had a bigger studio, I probably would have more than one piece going at a time. Having said that, there are a couple of smaller ones that I’ve started and then put aside, so I guess I do have a few things going on at one time. This big one here that I’ve started the background on [points to piece under construction], I kind of know what I want to do with it, so I’m thinking about that. Sometimes it’s good to have another one going on the side because my mind can get cluttered up with the one that I’m working on at the time. It can stop me going overboard, if you know what I mean? I don’t have to say everything in one piece.

PLENTY Is your work referenced to particular topics? If so, can you tell me about some of them?

LS More than anything, I think of my art as being like a story. As a descendant of immigrants to another country, I feel like I haven’t really got my own stories, so the stories are a mish-mash of lots and lots of people’s stories put together. So I see my paintings as a mish-mash of lots of different stories that make my own little world. People often ask if my work references a certain legend, and I’ll say, “Well, not really.” It’ll be a snippet of something I’ve heard in a Mexican fairy tale, or a snippet of something else, and it all comes together into this particular idea. At the moment, all my works are referencing this place called the Island of Woo, which is an imaginary place where my creatures are made; they’re little shamans, like little witch doctors or spiritual beings, who are connected. I think of that connection as being the word ‘wild’.

The word ‘wild’ to me is when you’re really in tune with everything and you’re intuitively connected to nature.

These little guys are all connected into that little plug that I call ‘wild’, and they’re made in the Island of Woo. So that’s the fairy tale aspect of it all - the story. But the deeper kind of connotations to that is a response to the disharmony I see in the world, and our disconnection with nature. It’s a response to treating everything in nature as a commodity rather than something to relish and treasure and look after. So there is that light-hearted side of it, but it comes from a deep place of concern, I guess.

Not despondency, but I guess anguish of what we’ve done.

PLENTY Do your ideas flow easily or do they

nag at you over time to be developed?

LS Some do nag. It’s amazing how cyclic things are; you’ll be doing something, and it comes back to me that this is something I was thinking about doing 30 years ago. And it comes back, and it comes back, and I guess that’s the essence of who you are. I’ve always tried to act like a conduit to the ideas; like a priest would be a conduit to God, I would be a conduit to ideas. I’m just there to put them on paper or canvas, so I try to really listen to the intuitive side of myself and not necessarily always analyse it, but trust that the intuition is wiser than my analysing self… and usually it is.

PLENTY How do you describe your

painting/drawing technique?

LS Painstakingly slow [laughs]. I just love to play with what paint can do. I’ll let that happen sometimes, but then I’ll have to go back and fill in the details. I’m obsessed with texture and details. When you do a lot of drawing of nature, you stop and think, “Man, nature is incredible. Look at this tiny little seed and what it’s got in there,” so I just feel like I want to pay tribute to all of it. The paint sometimes creates its own texture, or I’ll pull it out more.

The art world can be superficial in lots of ways, and I find it difficult.

PLENTY So are they paintings or drawings?

PLENTY Out of all the mixed media you

LS Well, I guess they’re more drawings because of the way I work with the paint, using small brush strokes and lines. But when I let the paint just ooze along, it’s more like painting. I mean, painting and drawing are kind of the same in lots of ways too.

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The most important thing for me is to be authentic.

work with, which is the most challenging?

LS I do like working with oils, I just hate the clean-up… and the stink and the mess of it. Because I work in the house, I’m very aware of the fumes and I don’t want them going on to my grandson, so I usually work with acrylic.

But I like the slowness of oil, the richness you get from it and the layers you can build. The mediums I’m using now involve a lot of translucent paint, so it’s more like working with oils - lots of glazes and layering that you can get with it.

The golden mediums are quite incredible really, and you can get slowing down mediums. I’d probably do more oil paintings if I had my own studio space.

Currently, it’s my lounge.

I’ve always tried to act like a conduit to the ideas; like a priest would be a conduit to God, I would be a conduit to ideas. I’m just there to put them on paper or canvas”

PLENTY How important is negative space to your artwork?

LS Negative space is probably the most important thing, really. It’s hard to describe what negative space does; it gives power to the image, I think. It’s easy to work with negative space in the drawings because you’ve got this lovely stark whiteness, you know? With paintings, that’s another thing altogether. You’ve got your background colour, so that becomes a negative space, but it has a weight to it, so I find the negative space in paintings a bit more challenging than drawings. I’m quite inspired by David Hockney’s use of negative space, particularly his earlier drawings.

PLENTY At times, does your personal history

intertwine with your art?

LS I think so. As I said, my ancestors have come to this place.

I don’t have any Māori ancestry but you’re surrounded by it and you can’t claim it as your own, because it’s not, but it does get into you as well. I think there’s that kind of personal history going on all the time. Sometimes you feel like there are people from the past talking to you. Sometimes in dreams and sometimes just as a feeling. The concept of ‘past’ to me is that human understanding of time. Time is probably quite flat, it’s not like we think it is. When I say I think my ancestors are speaking to me from the past, I think they’re probably actually right here with me in this realm. I get a sense of them being there sometimes, and I suppose that filters through in the work PLENTY Tell me a bit about this Island of Woo? LS Even though it’s an imaginary world, it is this world. It’s where nature has the upper hand, not us. I was drawing lots of little animals but I felt like they weren’t in a place, and the trigger came for me when I read this book from a photographer and he had dressed people up as shamans, but he had put them in this place, I can’t remember the name, but that’s when I was like, “Oh, mine come from the Island of Woo”, like he’d just opened the door. I really avoided painting people for quite some time, but there’s little hooded people and they’re all quite little and you can’t see their faces, but they’re in there and they’re a bit insignificant within the Island of Woo. I think that’s to show the majesty of our world - the mundane next to the magical, and playing around with that concept. These people are hooded because when you have a mask on, you have a sense of being able to access the ‘wild’ really easily; you feel like you can go somewhere a bit deeper. It intrigues me that so many people in this area wear hoods, so maybe it’s people’s desire to connect to that place.

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PLENTY What is the most important piece of advice you’ve gained so far in your art career?

As an artist, you’re privileged in lots of ways, even though it’s also a curse.”

PLENTY When working towards an exhibition,

do you have a big picture in mind that tells a story, or is it more like separate chapters?

LS Well, (Whakatāne artist) Mandy Hague and I are going to have an exhibition at Te Kōputu a te Whanga a Toi - Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre during May, so I’ve planned out what I’m hanging, and what I need to produce to get to that point. So, in my mind, they’re going to be segments of the same idea. I wouldn’t use the word chapter, more like leading up to the big story.

LS Two things come up in my mind that I think about quite often. One is that use of negative space, and the other one was about not always finishing. Because I’m that obsessive personality, sometimes if I just leave things and look at them after, it can be more powerful because you’ll see things you didn’t see at the time. It’s such an isolating experience, and art is seen so much as a commodity now that the first thing people will usually ask when you have an exhibition is, “How many works did you sell?” And it’s demoralising, because I don’t actually sell a lot, but that’s not why I make work. I make work because I have to make work. If I don’t make work, I feel like my purpose in life is gone. If you sell work, that’s a bonus because it means you can justify your existence somewhat and help pay the bills and buy materials, but it’s really, really not why I make work, but people don’t get that. When people ask about selling them, it’s like they’ve popped my balloon.

Those thoughts start to swell around in your head, so I do my best not to let them get in there. So when you asked about good advice, there are people who will prop you up when you get to a place like that and it’s not necessarily advice, but it’s the stuff that helps keep you going.

PLENTY Do you have any advice for someone who might be starting out as an artist?

LS Well, you need a thick skin. Some people find success easily, but they are few and far between. The art world can be superficial in lots of ways, and I find it difficult. The most important thing for me is to be authentic. If you lean towards what your dealer might be saying, you lose that authenticity.

But if you’re starting out as an artist, just be prepared for a ton of disappointment.

As an artist, you’re privileged in lots of ways, even though it’s also a curse. It’s hard that you can’t make a living out of your art and concentrate all of your energies on it. Most of the time, I feel like I’m running myself absolutely thin. When you do a painting and you know it’s connecting with people and they’re moved by it in some way, (or disturbed even) there’s some sort of deep reaction that’s pretty special when that happens.

It’s still not the reason that I do it – it’s just a fringe benefit.

B E S PO K E FR A M I N G, O R I G I N A L AR T & VA LUAT I O N S M O N DAY TO F R I DAY 10 A M – 4 PM (O R BY A P P O I N TM E N T ) 2 D A P P E N Z E L L D R I V E , W H A K ATA N E P H O N E 07 3 07 9 3 0 2 O R 0 21 2 4 4 6 0 0 4

IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE of Lea-Anne’s work check out her exhibition ‘Drawing the Road to Woo’ at Art & Acre in Whakatāne, Artbay Gallery in Queenstown, Zeayou in Taupō, Compose in Tauranga or online at sheather.itgo.com

Paperwork Stealing Your Family Quality Time?

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the

clothing project WORDS BOB SACAMANO • DESIGN NICOLA DOBSON • PHOTOGRAPHY SARAH LANE & IMAGES SUPPLIED

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It’s not a hand out, it’s a present, a gift, a koha, from the community, to the community

T

hey say that giving is better than receiving, and for confirmation of this look no further than The Clothing Project. In just five years this 100% volunteer-operated charity has given nearly 2000 beautifully prepared and lovingly collated gift bags of children’s clothing to families in need throughout the eastern Bay of Plenty. They’ve harnessed the energy and creativity of 30 volunteers to turn a fledgling idea into a model of community spirit, and when founder Amy Revell says she never had a master plan and is just making it up as she goes along, then Plenty sees a kindred spirit and we love it even more.

The story begins back in October of 2012, not long after Edgecumbe resident Revell had given birth to her second child and was part of a young family trying to make ends meet. A friend passed on some pre-loved clothing, and Revell was struck by how this simple act could take so much pressure off her and her family.

“After the arrival of my son,” Amy says, “I was gifted some baby boy’s clothes. Being a family on one income and as my son was growing so fast, this was such a blessing for our family and made such a difference.

It was such a simple act, but it got me thinking about other families that might be facing the same situation.”

Amy realized that a lot of children’s clothes ended up forgotten and packed away, thrown out or donated to op shops. And while there was nothing wrong with the latter, she felt there was an opportunity to do something different – and to make a difference. “You have to remember that not everyone can afford op shop prices,” Revell says, “and not everyone has a network of friends and family to help out with hand me downs.

And when you have a young family, you really have so much else going on and so much else to worry about. I just thought there had to be a way to get pre-loved clothes to the people who need them, but to do it in a really cool way.”

Following conversations with friends and fellow mums the concept grew from a bright idea to a burning ambition, and in February 2013 The Clothing Project was born. The plan was simple: collect and distribute donated kids’ clothes to those that need them – but the twist that Amy and her crew brought to the mix was a master stroke. Instead of stuffing a bunch of used clothes into a plastic bag and handing it over, The Clothing Project carefully select matching items for boys or girls of specific age groups, wash them, and package them up in a funky carrier bag or gift box. A delivery from The Clothing Project is not a hand out, it’s a present, a gift, a koha, from the community, to the community. There is a big difference between charity and giving, and The Clothing Project’s branded brown carrier bags – pink ribbons for girls, blue for boys – and natty boxes have nailed it.

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Amy Revell and Kylie Carpenter, co-founders of The Clothing Project.

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could take so much pressure off her and her family.

“The packaging idea came about as I really wanted to make sure the families that received clothing felt loved, valued and cared for. It’s these values that are at the centre of why we do what we do. We wanted to show the families that we care about them in our community, and they matter to our community. It was important that they felt like the clothing was a gift, not a hand me down. Just putting odd clothes into a plastic bag made me feel that we would be telling these families that just the bare minimum is good enough when you are experiencing a difficult time, and that is not what I wanted. The challenge though was to find a way that was easy to package the clothing, easy to store and distribute while making it look like a gift and be environmentally friendly. Fortunately I found the carrier bags, and the concept continued to grow from there.”

What Amy Revell doesn’t mention is the huge amount of work that such an enterprise takes.

This is not a hobby that can be tidied away with a couple of hours work of an evening, this is a full time undertaking that pulls in the help of a huge cross section of the community. And while Amy is often seen as the face of The Clothing Project, she is quick to point out that it is fuelled by a legion of volunteers quietly working away in the background.

The clothing is carefully sorted, washed and packaged into distinctive bags by a dedicated team of volunteers.

“We started off in 2013 with three volunteers; we now have 30 that work really hard to ensure the children in our community have access to suitable clothing. That covers everything from acting as trustees and committee members, to the volunteers who sort and pack clothing, wash and mend soft toys, knit, sort shoes, do sewing, create our newsletter, manage our social media or help with catering or events.”

Phew. But while the glory of hindsight makes this sound like it was a walk in the park and that everything just fell into place, it wasn’t and it didn’t.

To say that The Clothing Project and Amy have had their ups and downs is a bit of an understatement.

Last year Amy was lucky to walk away from a car crash that totalled her vehicle, and the entire project was more than lucky to survive the flood that tore through the Eastern Bay in 2017.

The Clothing Project’s premises – they occupy the old Anglican Church Hall in Edgecumbe – escaped the deluge, but suddenly everyone involved had flooded homes, lost jobs and a damaged community to deal with.

“The Edgecumbe floods had a huge impact on me and (co-founder) Kylie Carpenter. We both live in Edgecumbe and had to evacuate, and we cut our work load for two months as we needed to make sure our health and families came first, but we were also assessing how we could help our community with the skills and systems we had in place. We were so thankful that our storage location didn’t get damaged, and we were able to help families in our community that needed clothing, knew us, and didn’t want to go to the recovery centres due to the extra stress that could put on them. It really made our volunteers appreciate just how that ‘gift feeling’ made a difference in time of stress – as we experienced first hand with the clothing, toys and food we were generously gifted while evacuated from our own homes.”

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All of this could have – should have – knocked The Clothing Project out of action. It didn’t.

“We got through with the amazing support of people - in many forms, family, friends and our own volunteers coming together. All the organisations we work with touched based to make sure we were ok and if there was any way they could support us.

That was huge for us and meant so much.”

The entire project was

more than lucky to survive the flood that tore through the Eastern Bay in 2017.

One year on from the flood, Amy, Kylie and the crew are not resting on their laurels by any stretch of the imagination. “One of the bigger projects we hope to get underway this year is looking at providing the 12 plus age group with clothes. This project is going to be completely different from what we currently do and will require a great deal of input from young people in our community on what this should look like and how we can make sure our values of feeling loved, valued and cared for are still at the forefront. The Clothing Project is an evolving thing, it’s always changing, and we are always looking at how we can improve what we do, and what gaps we can fill in our community.”

And they are always looking for help, whether it be volunteers or donations, so why not get on over to theclothingproject.co.nz and be a part of something that is really very, very good.

-The clothing project Helping the most vulnerable members in our community; our children.

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Custom website design, built on extraordinary relationships, experience and value.

CAN YOU LEND A HAND?

Mexican

South of the border WORDS RIKA FUKUSHIMA PHOTOGRAPHY SARAH LANE

When the weather turns chilly outside, it’s time to get some chilli inside – and so Plenty heads South of the Border, Down Mexico Way. Well, we’re heading out East actually, and Ōhope Beach to be precise. Because that’s where you’ll find Cadera, the best little Mexican restaurant this side of the black stump, and there’s no one better to help us tell our fajitas from our mojitos than owners Kathy Potter and Tom Johnson.

This dynamic duo were bitten by the Mexican bug while overseas and spent two years working in Mexican eateries to learn authentic techniques and recipes before returning to the Bay and starting up the much-loved Taco Taco food truck that plied the streets of Whakatāne.

“Mexican food was always our go-to choice when eating out,” says Kathy. “I think what drew us to it initially were the flavours. The freshness, the depth and variation of tastes – and textures too – but there is also something about not just Mexican food but the way of preparing it and eating it that really captures the imagination. It’s a social thing from start to finish. Making Mexican food just brings your kitchen alive, with everyone involved, adding their take on things, and making it their own.

That’s one of the things that we really love about it – Mexican food is so flexible, so adaptable and you can take it in so many directions.”

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Comida y bebida

Let’s face it, there are few things in this world more reassuring than

a plate of tacos and a pitcher of Margaritas.

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Mexican

Their four-wheeled venture proved so popular that in 2016 they set up Cadera - Mexican Bar and Restaurant down by the beach in Ōhope and ever since they’ve proven a firm favourite with great tasting food, a sun-soaked deck, and – our particular weakness – an awesome menu of real Mexican cocktails that will put a smile on your dial no matter how hard the day has been. Because let’s face it, there are few things in this world more reassuring than a plate of tacos and a pitcher of Margaritas.

“Atmosphere is just such an important part of any dining experience, and especially with Mexican food. It’s not about a single plate, a single dish, it’s about different flavours, variations, combinations, colours, a whole way of dining and enjoying food with friends and family. Eating, drinking and being together, fresh ingredients, great tastes, and the whole dining atmosphere; that’s what we wanted Cadera to be – everything that Mexican cuisine brings to the table.”

So how can you bring a bit of that to your casa? Well we’re here to help. But first let’s back up the bus, because a little learning never hurt anyone. Mexican cuisine began about 9,000 years ago – on a Thursday – when agricultural communities figured out how to grow maize crops and perfect the process of soaking and hulling the maize to improve nutritional value and flavor. With that basic ingredient in place, the rich and varied flavours of the region– corn, beans, chili, pepper, chia, avocado – had a vehicle. But with the coming of the Spanish (and let’s be honest, there were definitely pros and cons to that meeting of cultures) beef, pork, chicken and cheese were added to the mix and suddenly you had a veritable taste sensation that the world has been going crazy about ever since.

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Comida y bebida

But as the popularity of Mexican food spread across the globe, things started to go a little skewwhiff. With genuine Mexican ingredients often unavailable overseas, local chefs made do with what they had at hand with, shall we say, mixed results. And I say that as someone who once ordered nachos and got a plateful of fried mince and baked beans with sour cream and potato chips on the side; it was as if the chef, bless him, had worked from a photograph rather than a recipe.

As the popularity of Mexican food spread across the globe, things started to go a little skewwhiff. . .

thing, with considerable differences between the various regions of the country, whether that be because of the predominance of their produce – fish on the coast for example – or regional spices that have been refined over hundreds of years. The shake-and-stir sachets from the supermarket are pretty much just salt and cheap spices, so do yourself a favour, go the extra mile and get some authentic Mexican food happening; it’s not only great tasting but because it’s all about fresh, unprocessed ingredients, you can munch away guilt free even before the Margaritas kick in – but more of that later.

Admittedly that was years ago when chipotle and corn chips were like the proverbial hen’s dentures in New Zealand.

These days, you’ve got no excuse, so if you want to go Mexican, do it with genuine ingredients and authentic flavours.

Because when we say Mexican cuisine, we use the c-word wisely: the subtlety and variation of Mexican food is a beautiful

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Mexican

The good news is that Mexican food is all about fresh produce – and no one does that better than the Bay of Plenty. “Fresh ingredients really are the key,” says Kathy Potter, “you don’t just need the flavours of fresh veggies, you need their crunch and their colour. Take nachos for example –it’s a classic that everyone knows, and it’s so easy to personalise. If you don’t like tomato then you can leave that out, if you love coriander you can add more of that, same with the spices. One of our favourites at Cadera is slow cooked pulled beef – it’s a little bit smoky with a chipotle sauce – but you can have nachos with beef, chicken, pork or just beans, don’t be afraid to experiment. But you do need good fresh corn chips for the crunch.”

So leave the half eaten bag of Doritos at the back of the cupboard.

Mexican food is all about fresh produce and no one does that better than the Bay of Plenty.

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Mexican spices are also very adaptable, and they play well with others. “A really good combination of Mexican and Kiwi flavours is fried squid, which is not a particularly Mexican dish, but it’s very popular and really easy to make. We put two types of chilli – ancho and pasilla, which it isn’t too hot!

– into the flour we use to coat the squid, then fry for just over a minute and serve with a chipotle mayonnaise. It’s a great starter dish or light meal.”

The classic is of course tortillas, and again Kathy says that once you get the basics right you can go wild. “We use soft flour tortillas, and it’s really important to grill them for a few seconds on each side – you don’t want a cold tortilla – and it’s also good to fight the temptation to over-fill them.

You can’t enjoy the flavours when you’re worried about the fillings falling out! Tortillas are the base

Comida y bebida

to so many dishes, you can fill them with cheese and grill on both sides to make a quesadilla, or fill with any number of things and boom! – you have a taco! In Mexico you will find almost exclusively corn tortillas about half the size of what we’re used to here, but we think the flour tortillas suit our Mexican/Kiwi blend the best.”

some kind of sweetener – you could make your own syrup, but we like to use agave nectar – and then salt the rim. But like Mexican food you can make it your own by adding something like a dash of habanero chilli, or maybe raspberries or passion fruit – there are so many possibilities.”

Naturally the perfect accompaniment to all this is cold beer or – Oh, go then, if you insist – a cocktail.

And when we say cocktail, we mean Margarita.

So many possibilities. And how can you go wrong. “I just don’t think you can have a bad time with Mexican food,” Kathy says, “unless of course you overdo it on the jalapeños! But seriously, it is just such a fun cuisine to share with friends and family.”

“The key to a great Margarita is a good quality Tequila,” says Kathy. “There are so many different varieties of Tequila, and some are better than others. Some of the cheaper varieties are blended with corn syrup, and that certainly won’t do you any favours the next morning. At Cadera for our Margaritas we us 100% blue agave Silver Tequila, fresh lime juice, a squeeze of lemon and then

And that’s something Kiwis know about, so think about making it Mexican, think about fresh ingredients, chillies, and spicing up your life. And think about checking out the good folks at Cadera to see how its done.

Cadera - Mexican Bar and Restaurant facebook.com/Cadera.ohope 19 Pohutukawa Ave, Ōhope

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1779 1873

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TALL TAILS AND TOPSAILS THE LIFE OF THE TRADER HANS TAPSELL WORDS ANDY TAYLOR

Few people can claim to have lived as full a life as Hans Tapsell. Born in 1779, he sailed the Mediterranean when Moorish pirates menaced it, fought the British and Swedes under the Danish flag, watched the battle of Copenhagen, and spent time as a prisoner of war in Sweden.

He was at the island of Saint Helena when Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled there, and for decades he sailed the Pacific as first mate and then the captain of whaling ships.

It’s the stuff of ripping yarns indeed, but the second chapter of Tapsell’s life, which saw him based in Maketū in the Bay of Plenty is equally colourful; there, from 1830 till his death in 1873, he worked as a flax trader and boat builder while warfare raged around him, married into nobility, and bought both Whakaari (White Island) and Moutohorā (Whale Island). And along the way he bore witness to the incredible transformation of the region and the country as a whole.

THE TRADE IN THE INNOCUOUS FLAX PLANT WAS FAR FROM IDYLLIC. IN FACT IT WAS POSITIVELY MURDEROUS

Born Hans Homan Falk (though this is sometimes recorded as Felk) in Copenhagen, Tapsell was shuttled between grandparents and an uncle following the death of his mother, and these short coastal sea voyages seem to have given him his taste for salt air. Just where his taste for adventure came from remains to be seen, but by the time he arrived in New Zealand he had, as outlined briefly above, already travelled extensively. He had also taken the name Philip Tapsell (supposedly a variation of ‘top sail’) so that he could work on British ships, but he never lost his love for his home country no matter how far he roamed.

His first contact with our shores was nothing to be proud of however. As part of the crew of the whale ship New Zealander, in 1809 Tapsell took part in a raid on a Māori settlement in the Bay of Islands in retaliation for the massacre that took place on the convict ship Boyd; unfortunately the Europeans meted out their utu on the wrong tribe, so more innocents lost their lives.

His next visit was not much better. Sailing aboard the convict ship Catherine, Tapsell and his crewmates had another run-in with local Māori - and no lesser character than Hongi Hika this time - in the Bay of Islands, but fortunately this episode was somewhat less bloodthirsty.

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H.G Robley, British officer’s painting of a haka with muskets at Maketū, c.1865, Alexander Turnbull Library

THIRD TIME LUCKY. AND UNLUCKY. Tapsell’s third visit could not have been more different. Arriving as first mate aboard the whaling ship Asp, he was once more in the Bay of Islands when he met Maria Ringa, who was of Ngāpuhi descent, noble birth, and by all accounts beautiful. Much against his captain’s wishes, Tapsell decided to marry Maria and on 23 June 1823 all surrounding vessels ‘dressed ship’ and offered a thunderous salute from their guns to mark the occasion of what is believed to be the first officially solemnised wedding in the country. There was a huge banquet with roast pork, and a cask of rum was drunk dry before Tapsell and his bride went ashore to stay with the local missionary, Thomas Kendall, who had presided over the ceremony. After further toasting and banqueting, Tapsell and Maria promenaded through the village before the happy groom fell into a blissful slumber.

When he awoke, his bride was gone. And no amount of calling and searching ever found her. New Zealand’s first officially solemnised wedding had lasted just hours.

ALL AT SEA

Having lost his wife, Tapsell returned to his constant mistress, the sea. After a long and successful trip the Asp arrived in London laden with whale oil, but before long Tapsell was back on the briny, moving up in rank and taking command of a ship of his own. His whaling voyages took him far and wide, but like a moth to a flame he eventually found himself back in the Bay of Islands in 1829. Here he learned of the death of Maria, the wife who had deserted him, and, with what can only be described as creditable optimism, he took a new one. This time Tapsell sought the counsel of the Anglican Reverend Samuel Marsden, who not only found him a suitable bride – Karuhi, sister of Ngāpuhi chief Wharepoaka – but promptly married them.

Karuhi stuck around much longer than Maria. In fact she went to sea with Tapsell on his next whaling trip, and duly shared the privations and adventure that came with it: many of the crew were ex-convicts and bordering on mutiny, the ship leaked badly and had to be constantly pumped out, and on the return voyage they were nearly wrecked on a reef.

Karuhi bore it all with decorum, but perhaps Tapsell realised if he wanted to remain a married man it was time for a change of pace. The flax trade was booming and he approached a Sydney firm who had a government contract with a view to setting up a trading station. They accepted his offer immediately, and Tapsell established himself in Maketū, close to the rich fertile land of the Bay where flax grew everywhere.

Through his wife’s connections the word was sent out to iwi in Tauranga and Rotorua that a business opportunity was in the offing, and within days negotiations were underway to establish trading networks. These would eventually stretch to as far afield as Taupō and Matamata, but the trade in the innocuous flax plant, which was processed into rope, was far from idyllic. In fact it was positively murderous.

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HE HAD BOUGHT BOTH WHAKAARI (WHITE ISLAND) AND MOUTOHORĀ (WHALE ISLAND) AND FOR A TIME HE LIVED ON THE LATTER WHERE HE OPERATED A TRADING STORE WITH HIS DAUGHTER KATARAINA

TAPSELL AND HIS CREWMATES HAD ANOTHER RUN-IN WITH LOCAL MĀORI - AND NO LESSER CHARACTER THAN HONGI HIKA

AN INDUSTRY AND ARMS RACE

The chief item of barter that Tapsell and the other traders brought with them was the musket, so while thousands of people were soon involved in a large-scale industry that supplied dressed flax to Sydney, an arms race was also ignited. As muskets, powder and shot were bartered throughout the Bay, old scores were settled amongst iwi and hapū – and new ones were born. It was a time of constant alliance and counter-alliance, subterfuge and betrayal, and in what would become known as The Muskett Wars tens of thousands of Māori were killed or displaced, and tribal lines forever disrupted.

Tapsell himself saw fit to equip his Maketū trading post – which he established at the local pa site – with twelve cannon, and he, his family and workers were regularly besieged as war parties crisscrossed the area.

In the midst of this turmoil Tapsell’s second wife, Karuhi, died of illness. She had been a loyal and industrious partner, and Tapsell sailed with her body back to the Bay of Islands where she was buried, but he was not one to mourn for long; he soon found his third partner in the form of Hine-i-turama Ngatiki, a high-ranking woman of Ngāti Whakaue of Te Arawa. This time the marriage was a Māori affair, though no lesser than the Catholic Bishop Pompallier would later solemnise it in Whakatāne in 1841.

The couple would go on to have six children, whom the Bishop would also duly baptise.

But things were far from happy families. In 1836, a war party seeking retaliation for the murder of a relative sacked Maketū pa and Tapsells’s store with it. The missionary printer W R Wade recalls Tapsell, a tall, well-built man, ‘standing with a good deal of composure, a drawn sword in his hand’ as he stoically watched his world go up in flames. With everything gone, the family moved to Matatā, and on the way there Tapsell’s first son was born and named Retireti – Retreat.

RETREAT

And retreat it was to be. The demand for flax was waning, and Māori were turning to food production instead, so when Tapsell’s Sydney connections ended their arrangement he went into business in Whakatāne, trading up and down the coast in potatoes and other staples. In the late 1830s one of his agents drowned at Matatā, then in 1840 one of his charter ships was wrecked at Maketū, with Tapsell and his family lucky to escape with their lives.

Trading declined further as local iwi quarrelled with their neighbours, and in response Tapsell turned to boat building. He had bought both Whakaari (White Island) and Moutohorā (Whale Island) earlier and for a time he lived on the latter where he operated a trading store with his daughter Kataraina.

But the biggest blow was yet to come. Hine-i-turama was visiting their daughter Ewa at Ōrākau pā in the Waikato when British troops attacked in what became one of the best-known – and possibly infamous – battles in The Land Wars. While numerous warriors died in battle, a sizeable number of women and children were also killed following the surrender, many by being bayonetted. Tapsell’s third and final wife, the mother of his six children – and the cofounder of a long line of descendants – was one of the fatalities.

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Photograph of three carte-de-visites, one depicting Philip Tapsell and his daughter Kataraina.

THE END

Tapsell lingered on in the Eastern Bay. He remained fit and healthy, living with his family in Whakatāne and Maketū, before passing away in August 1873. Legend has it that he gathered his family at his deathbed and asked them not to mourn him, but to mark his death with a single musket shot and his burial in Maketū, again, with nothing more than a single musket shot.

Tapsell’s was an extraordinary life. His exploits before he reached Aotearoa are virtually cinematic, and his life here was no less remarkable. He moved between the Pākehā and Māori worlds, and he navigated the waves of conflict that wracked the Bay at that time, some of which – it must be said – he played a part in both creating and fuelling. So when he died, Tapsell left behind a fantastic albeit sometimes controversial story, a story that is still being debated today.

But he also left behind a considerable legacy. His children went on to play important roles in the region – Retireti, as just one case in point, became a high-ranking police official in the Bay – and the following generations continued in the same vein; 27 of his descendants would fight in The Great War, for example, with one of his grandsons joining two of his own sons to charge Turkish troops at Sari Bair in Gallipoli.

And the Tapsell name lives on in this country to this day, as many of his descendants continue to play prominent roles in all walks of life.

One thing is indisputable: his was indeed a life less ordinary.

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Webb, Steffano, 1880-1967 : Collection of negatives.

Ref: 1/1-008958-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22794486

STANDING WITH A GOOD DEAL OF COMPOSURE, A DRAWN SWORD IN HIS HAND’ AS HE STOICALLY WATCHED HIS WORLD GO UP IN FLAMES

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