PRIMOLife Winter Issue 2015

LIFE

VOL 2 | ISSUE 7 | WINTER ISSUE 2015

FREE –

PROPERTY • LIFESTYLE • IDEAS

Take me home!

Cha...cha...

Channing Magic Mike's back and he's got all the right moves

The latest listings from

WA’S BEST PROPERTIES Stocker Preston

. y a l p s e m o c k r With wo There are many conventional ways to celebrate success, but you’ve never relied on convention. Reward yourself with the new Audi A1 Sportback. Featuring a fresh, dynamic design, it’s guaranteed to catch eyes and turn heads. From the Audi music interface and Bluetooth with audio streaming to the ultrasonic rear parking sensors, the latest A1 Sportback will reward your hard work with every turn of the key.

Visit Audi Centre Perth to book a test drive.

337 Harborne Street, Osborne Park | Tel. 9231 5888 | audicentreperth.com.au MD22023. MRB4146.

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LIFE

PRIMO Published by PREMIUM PUBLISHERS (PEARD MEDIA PTY LTD) Freemason's House, 181 Roberts Road, Subiaco WA 6008 (08) 9273 8933

TIME FOR A REFRESH

T

hose among you who are regular readers may spot a little difference in your favourite magazine - but don't worry, it's all designed to enhance your time spent with our pages.

We've created a new section - PRIMOProperty - which brings all our property-

focused features, including new build, showhome and development news further to the front of the magazine, as well as decor ideas and innnovations. You'll find the Peard Real Estate Group and Stocker Preston listings in this section too.

Some things, however, stay the same and that means we've still got the best, exclusive entertainment, lifestyle and travel content in town. You've probably already noticed our cover star - the delectable Channing Tatum, who's back doing his thang in Magic Mike XXL. Gill also interviewed hot new star Amy Schumer, star of a real riot of a movie, Trainwreck.

Gill also visited Kauai, one of the most exclusive and beautiful islands in the world and home to movies like Jurassic Park and The Descendants. Jealous, much? I don't have much to complain about of course - I put Pan Pacific's new Premier Rooms through their paces and am pretty impressed, and also meet some of the unsung heroes behind one of our city's most beloved institutions - Perth Zoo. Matthew meanwhile falls in love with a car - the BMW's incredible i3 to be precise - and also ponders on the endless repetition of his life as a father of five in his column Home Truths.

If you've ever longed to have the luxury of a Sodashi spa experience - your luck's in. We've got one up for grabs in the new Bodhi J Pier Street spa and, take it from me.

Once you've experienced it, you'll want one every week.

We'd like you to meet Kirby Burgess, WA's own star of the new Dirty Dancing production heading to Perth in August - she shares her favourite things, and in a bumper few months for amazing shows, you've also got The Lion King, Lord of the Dance and Cold Chisel to look forward to; and of course we've got giveaways galore. I hope you enjoy this extra special winter issue - see you in September.

G abi

Winter issue

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Gabi Mills gabi@premiumpublishers.com.au PUBLISHER Aisha Iscel aisha@premiumpublishers.com.au CREATIVE DESIGN Cally Browning cally@barecreative.com.au DIGITAL DESIGN Alyssa Karvinen alyssa.k@iinet.net.au SALES Natalie du Preez (0426 752 352) Kevin Farrell (0417 931 829) Lisa Fisher (0450 460 253) PHOTOGRAPHIC Crib Creative cribcreative.com.au CONTRIBUTORS Felix Browning, Adam Collins, Trish Gallagher, Sandra Harris-Ramini, Anna Hartley, Ara Jansen, Matt Jelonek, Dea Lalovic, Drisana Levitzke-Gray, Warren Littlefair, Matthew Mills, Kristoffer Paulsen, Gill Pringle, Colleen Sheehan, Vicky Sofield, Alex Speed, Kirsten Tennant.

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES sales@premiumpublishers.com.au EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES gabi@premiumpublishers.com.au COVER IMAGE: Channing Tatum photographed by Brian Bowen Smith.

All rights reserved. No material published in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without prior written authority. Every endeavour is made to ensure information contained is correct at time of going to print. Š2015 PRIMOLIFE is published monthly by Premium Publishers. Visit primolife.com.au

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

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PRIMOcontents WINTER ISSUE 2015

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+ PRIMOcover

MAGIC MOVES

Channing Tatum and the boys are set to thrill in Magic Mike XXL

28

Decor

Cook up a storm with our collection of stylish pots and pans

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Regulars 10 - 17 PRIMOpicks What's hot this month and your chance to win, win, win 72 ANNA'Sadventures Anna's stand-up debut 74 DRISANA'Sdiary 76 PRIMOpeople Meet the team at Perth Zoo 80 FAVOURITEthings Star of Dirty Dancing, Kirby Burgess 82 PRIMOfashion Winter boots

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

84 PRIMObeauty The Sodashi story so far 88 PRIMOhealth 90 PRIMOeats TV chef Rachel Khoo's charmed life 94 PRIMOmeet the brewer The Monk's head brewer and his beer thoughts 96 PRIMOdrinks James Halliiday shares his wine expertise 100 PRIMOweekender Visit Cockatoo Island, Sydney 102 PRIMOtravel 102 Kauai 106 Vietnam primolife.com.au

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win

29

Tickets to see The Beachboys

win

78

This cast iron casserol dish from Kitchenaid

win

A family pass to Perth Zoo

112 46

Homes

PROPERTY

40 PRIMOfinance

24 Property Profile

44 PRIMOcareers

110 PRIMOcitystay Pan Pacific's newly refurbished rooms

18

Feet first

PRIMO

46-69 PRIMOproperty WA’s best residential listings from Peard Real Estate and Stocker Preston

26 Real Estate Runway Gen Y girls doing it for themselves 28 Comfort cooking Pots, pans and ladels

116 PRIMOride BMW's S 1000 XR

30 Showhome of the month The Toorak by Webb & Brown-Neaves 32 Builder of the month Atrium Homes

118 PRIMOsport Read our Ashes preview

34 News HIA charity home

112 PRIMOdrive BMW i3 is a real gamechanger

120-126 PRIMOentertainment 120 Magic Mike 122 Trainwreck 124 Cold Chisel 126 Ant-Man 127 NEXTbig thing Oh Mercy's Alexander Gow 128 PRIMOparties 130 HOMEtruths

Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games is coming to Perth.

70 SPOTLIGHT ON . . . the Margaret River Hospitality Group

70

36 Gardening 38 Hot tips Making the most of Domain's innovative apps 39 Auctions Peard Real Estate's David Lynch shares his auctioneering expertise

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

9

PRIMOpicks Our bumper winter issue is designed to give you heaps of ideas to keep the whole family amused from July til the end of August - and lots of chances to win of course.

BLUR-D LINES WE LOVE A good celebspotting yarn here at PRIMOLife, so when news broke that Brit-pop gods Blur were set to grace Perth Arena, one of our staffers was quick to grab braggers’ rights with his tall tale.

He claimed that he had been on first-name terms with Damon Albarn and the boys back in the day when the cockney rockers were first hitting the big time.

A little probing, however, revealed the truth – our man had actually only sold them the odd pick and a packet of bass strings when he was working in a guitar shop in Ipswich, England, a few miles down the road from their

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

home town of Colchester, in the very early 90s. But still, cool story bro.

Anyway, a lot of water’s flown under the bridge since then, with Blur going from strength to strength and earning their stripes as bonafide music industry superstars.

Taking the 90s by storm, their raw, punchy sound famously battled for indy dominance with their northern contemporaries Oasis – a stoush that flared often and drew comparisons with the love/hate affair the Stones had with the Beatles.

Blur, though, were at the forefront of the Cool Britannia movement that revitalised the UK sound as the new

millennium approached, turning heads with their debut album Leisure before exploding into the mainstream with Modern Life is Rubbish in 1993.

After that, five back-to-back UK number one LPs followed, giving the world classic anthems such as Parklife, Girls and Boys and the magnificently visceral Song 2, work that won them five BRITS and saw them nominated for the Mercury Music Award.

Solo projects followed – Damon heading off to Gorillaz and bassist Alex James to make cheese – and we had to endure a long, 18 years without the Britpop kings setting foot on Aussie soil.

But now Damon and Alex

are back, along with drummer Dave Rowntree and guitarist Graham Coxon to play some of the country’s biggest venues, including Perth Arena on July 30.

The tour follows the release of their muchanticipated eighth studio album, The Magic Whip, their first release in 16 years as a four-piece, which is produced

by Stephen Street – of The Smiths and Kaiser Chiefs fame – and is due for release on April 27.

It promises to be a great gig as a great band makes a long overdue return.  Blur play Perth Arena on July

30.Tickets ticketek.com.au primolife.com.au

BUFFET MAKES A WELCOME RETURN THIS WINTER, RENDEZVOUS Hotel Perth Scarborough is re-introducing the mouthwatering buffet-style dinner, at the Straits Café Buffet, and is focusing on local Western Australian produce.

The buffet will offer a

delectable menu, combining traditional foods with a modern Australian twist - all while guests overlook the breathtaking Indian Ocean.

The menu changes daily to present seasonal food to ensure it’s fresh and tasty.

Off your trolley WE’VE ALL BEEN there.

You pop down to the local shops to buy a few things.

You remember a few other things you need when you’re there. Suddenly you’re traipsing home carrying far more than you planned, feeling like a stressed packhorse. Thanks to the new CarryMaster trolley those days are over.

This clever Australian invention carries all of your groceries for you, leaving your body and mind free.

Invented by a concerned husband for his frustrated wife, the CarryMaster was first conceived about eight years ago. At the time it was showcased on the ABC’s New Inventors program and won the people’s choice award on the night.

Since then the design

and manufacturing have been refined and the CarryMaster is now available for all Australians to enjoy.

If you prefer to walk to your local shop, simply walk the CarryMaster along with you.

Place all of your groceries and shopping in it and walk home.

The CarryMaster is incredibly easy to maneuver and glides effortlessly. It’s compact enough to fit in apartment lifts and can collapse to a size that fits under a bed. The heavy-duty black bags are reusable, so you’ll have no need for planet-harming plastic bags.

Drivers can also benefit from the CarryMaster. It fits easily into the boot of a car. Use it at the supermarket, put the full bags of shopping into your boot and when you get home you can use it to get your groceries back inside easily. No need for

The buffet will be open every Friday and Saturday night - adults will be able to indulge from $59 and kids for $20. The young, dynamic international team of Rendezvous’ chefs will help bring guests a special dining

multiple returns to the car and no back-breaking lifting.

Unlike traditional shopping carts, the CarryMaster lets you spread your groceries across four bags, so your shopping won’t get squashed. There’s even a ledge at back that allows you to carry a large item like a carton of drinks.

The CarryMaster’s frame is extremely robust. The handles are incredibly comfortable to hold and there’s even a drink holder for your coffee or water.

Available from carrymaster.com. au for $295 (including GST & delivery).

experience in one of Perth’s most iconic spots.

Rendezvous hotel and its famous buffet have long been a baeachside favourite with locals and thanks to Scarborough’s growing reputation as a top spot, it’s worth a visit for the views alone. The hotel itself has been an attraction for major celebrities such as John Travolta and Michael Jackson.

Back in the day, the buffet was previously known as The Pines Buffet, regularly pulling in 200 to 300 people per seating thanks to the talented chefs and world-class views of the ocean.

The views haven’t changed but the menu is right up to date - why not give it a whirl this weekend?

The Rendezvous Hotel, Straits Cafe Buffet, open every Friday and Saturday night, adults $59, kids $20. Email straits. scarborough@rendezvoushotels. com to book or call 9245 1000.

win a CarryMaster, worth $295. Visit PRIMOLife’s Facebook page or primolife.com.au.

Good luck!

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

11

PRIMOpicks

Win

one of five copies of Gurrumul's latest album.

Visit PRIMOLife’s Facebook page for details.

Good luck!

NATIONAL TREASURE

sings from the heart

HIDE AND SEEK HIDDEN TREASURES WINTER music series returns to the West End this July, featuring a line-up who have one thing in common - Fremantle. Whether they call Fremantle home or have emerged from the port city, all of the artists who will be performing over the next few weeks hold a special place in their hearts for Fremantle.

Celebrating Fremantle’s vibrant musical culture, from old favourites to local gems, four venues – PS Art Space, The Navy Club, The Buffalo Club and The National Hotel – will play host to Hidden Treasures, warming up the West End of Fremantle every Thursday in July.

A $15 ticket will grant a night’s membership to all four venues, which will host staggered performances so music lovers can enjoy a variety of performances.  Tickets and a full program of events can be found at fremantlestory.com.au/ hiddentreasures

WITH THE JULY 31 release of Gurrumul’s third studio recording, The Gospel Album fast approaching, the announcement of a national tour in support of the album will delight his many fans.

He is embarking on a six-date national tour,The Gospel Songs, a rare opportunity to see this mesmerising performer live in concert, accompanied by an orchestra and local choirs.

The Gospel Album is a dedication to his mother and aunts, who brought him up with songs and lullabies from the church at Elcho Island. As a small boy Gurrumul was not only influenced by the traditional music of his clan but by the gospel music he heard every Sunday at the local Methodist church. The Gospel Album is a reimagining of the spiritual songs that came to north-east Arnhem Land via Christian missionaries - and is set to be a highlight of Perth’s live performance calendar this year.  Gurrumul’s Gospel Songs Tour, Perth Concert Hall, Wednesday August 12, 7.30pm.

Visit premier.ticketek.com.au for tickets.

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

primolife.com.au

LIOR CELEBRATES A DECADE

gr

O

SP PE ea P r e EC NIN b u t s t a s en dg rt t th IA G e t up is LS ( c d ca o n ea r d di l s t o t io t o r n s he e c m lp eiv ay w e ap it h pl a n y) y

IN CELEBRATION OF the 10-year anniversary of the release of his acclaimed debut album Autumn Flow, renowned Australian singer/songwriter Lior is heading out on a national theatre tour, performing the album in its entirety from start to finish, as well as selected favourites from his back catalogue.

The tour will coincide with a re-release of the iconic album, now featuring previously unavailable tracks.

Lior burst onto the Australian music scene in 2005 with his stunning debut album. Recorded and released entirely independently, and spearheaded by the muchloved and timeless opening track This Old Love, it became clear immediately that Lior was a special talent. The album was released in a time when independently funded and released records were still a rarity, with artists such as Lior and John Butler paving the way for a model that is now deemed common place.

Thankfully, the faith and

Win

a double passes to Lior's 10th anniversary tour at the Astor Theatre, Perth, on October 30. Visit PRIMOLife’s Facebook page for details.

belief in the music paid off with the album becoming one of the most successful independent debuts in Australian history with sales surpassing platinum status. A swag of accolades followed, including three ARIA nominations (including Best Male Artist), as well as Triple J’s prestigious ‘J Award’ nomination for Album of the Year.

“I was driving late one night shortly after releasing Autumn Flow when the radio announcer on Triple J intro’d This Old Love by some new independent artist,” says Lior. stage by some of Australia’s “I was just getting over most talented and respected the fact that they had actually musicians, including Brett decided to play one of my Hirst who originally played on tracks when she came back Autumn Flow and who has on the air after the song had been a live main-stay in Lior’s finished saying that she had band ever since. Evan Mannell been inundated by calls from who has played with Faker, people wanting to find out James Morrison, King Curly about this track and artist. It blew me away and I think it was and Elana Stone, will be on drumming duties alongside then I realised that there was something about this album that Sydney-based percussionist, drummer and composer Bree could connect with people in a Van Reyk (Sydney Dance special way.”

Company, Australian Chamber For this special anniversary Layout option 2 Sarah Blasko and Orchestra, tour, Lior will be joined on

Good luck!

Darren Hanlon). The highly regarded Melbourne musician Ben Edgar will be on guitar duties, a man of many genres who has performed with the likes of Missy Higgins, Megan Washington,Vika and Linda Bull and Gurrumul. Rounding out the world class band is Newcastle native Gerard Masters on piano, a long-time friend and cohort of Lior’s.  Lior’s 10th anniversary tour, the

Astor Theatre, Perth, October 30.

Visit boxoffice.stagetix.com.au

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PRIMOpicks

BABY STEPS

WEDDED BLISS

ONE OF THE highlights of the West Australian Opera 2015 Season will be the much-loved Mozart opera The Marriage of Figaro. Set several years after the Barber of Seville, which was presented by West Australian Opera earlier this year at the City of Perth’s Opera in the Park event, The Marriage of Figaro endures as one of Mozart’s most popular and frequently performed works.

The opera takes place on one mad day at the villa of Count Almaviva, a serial philanderer who has designs on beautiful servant-girl, Suzanna - even as she and her beloved Figaro plan for their upcoming wedding.

The Countess Almaviva hatches various schemes with Suzanna, Figaro and Cherubino, the Count’s amorous page, to expose her husband and thwart his plans.

What follows is an intricate web of self-interest, trickery, plot turns and mistaken identify.

Opera Australia principal artist Samuel Dundas will perform the role of Count Almaviva. Joining him on stage will be Russian-born soprano Elvira Fatykhova as the

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

Countess Almaviva while in a change to the original casting, Emma Pearson will sing the role of Suzanna, stepping in for Emma Matthews who had to withdraw at a late stage.

Bass James Clayton, who featured in the 2009 production, will reprise the role of Figaro.

Also appearing will be Fiona Campbell as Marcellina, Andrew Collis will have dual responsibilities for the characters Don Basilio and Don Curzio; Jennifer Barrington will sing the role of Barbarina and Mark Alderson, Antonio.

Helpmann Award-winning director Neil Armfield mixes surprising elements into a traditional setting, with lavish period costumes and a minimalist set alive with splashes of colour.

US-based Australian conductor, Antony Walker, will make his debut with West Australian Opera leading the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in this production which will also feature the West Australian Opera Chorus.

The Marriage of Figaro, His Majesty’s Theatre, July 14, 16, 18, 21, 23 and 25 at 7.30pm.

IN ANOTHER GREAT addition to Perth’s big night out collection this year, Dirty Dancing will be heading to the city’s Crown Theatre Perth in August for a limited season.

Two extraordinary young talents have made the leap from chorus to leading roles as the two iconic characters in this new production of the much loved musical. The role of charismatic dance teacher Johnny Castle is played by Kurt Phelan while the role of innocent young Frances “Baby” Houseman is played by Kirby Burgess, who shares her favourite things with PRIMOLife in this issue.

A NIDA graduate, Kurt is an actor, choreographer and writer.

His musical theatre credits include Singin’ in the Rain, Witches of Eastwick, Saturday Night Fever and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Burgess has been seen on stage in Sweet Charity, An Officer and A Gentleman, Hairspray, High School Musical – Live on Stage and on television in Wonderland.

“I’m thrilled to bring this wonderful new production of Dirty Dancing to Perth,” said producer John Frost.

“The stage musical gave audiences the chance to hear the songs from the hit film performed live and to experience the breathtaking dance routines. People flocked to it, breaking records all around the world. Now, ten years after the world premiere in Sydney, it returns home to Australia where the magic began with a sensational new cast, and audiences can again have the Time Of Their Lives.”

It’s the summer of 1963, and 17 year old Frances “Baby”

WIN one of THREE double passes to Dirty Dancing, visit PRIMOLife’s Facebook page or primolife.com.au

to enter.

Good luck!

Houseman is about to learn some major lessons in life as well as a thing or two about dancing.

On holiday in New York’s Catskill Mountains with her older sister and parents, Baby shows little interest in the resort activities, and instead discovers her own entertainment when she stumbles upon the staff quarters when an all-night dance party is in full swing. Mesmerised by the raunchy dance moves and the pounding rhythms, Baby can’t wait to be part of the scene, especially when she catches sight of Johnny Castle the resort dance instructor.

Baby’s life is about to change forever as she is thrown in at the deep end as Johnny’s leading lady both on-stage and off with breathtaking consequences.

Featuring hit songs including Hungry Eyes, Hey! Baby, Do You Love Me? and the iconic (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life, Dirty Dancing has become one of the most popular musical productions of all time.

Dirty Dancing, Crown Theatre from August 2 until August 30 Visit dirtydancingaustralia.com.

primolife.com.au

A spirited

LOVERS OF VINTAGE comedy will be looking forward to the Black Swan Theatre Company’s production of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit in the Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA, from July 18 to August 9.

When writing the classic, well-loved play, Coward knew a comedy about ghosts would be a hard sell in wartime Britain, but he was convinced that the lightness of it would prevail.

“I knew it was witty, I knew it was well constructed, and I also knew that it would be a success,” he said at the time.

And he was right. Debuting to great acclaim in the West End in 1941 and conquering Broadway soon after, Blithe Spirit is widely considered to be one of Coward’s greatest works and has had many revivals.

Socialite and novelist Charles Condomine invites eccentric medium and clairvoyant Madame Arcati (Roz Hammond) to his house

WHAT’S ON

SHOW

to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book.

Unfortunately for Charles (Adam Booth), the psychic summons the ghost of his dead wife, Elvira (Jo Morris).

It’s soon clear that the temperamental and morally untidy Elvira wishes to reunite with her husband, much to the dismay of Charles’ new (and living) wife Ruth (Adriane Daff), who cannot see or hear the ghost.

Actor and comedian Roz Hammond will bring Madame Arcati to life in all her madcap, outlandish glory, alongside WA favourites Adam Booth, Adriane Daff, Michelle Fornasier, Ella Hetherington, Michael Loney and Jo Morris.

One husband, two feuding wives and a whisper of mischief in the air – who will win in Coward’s unworldly comedy?

Blithe Spirit, Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA from July 18 to August 9.

IN PERTH

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3 OCT

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9-10 OCT

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20 OCT

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30 OCT

COLD CHISEL

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16 NOV

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28 NOV

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PRIMOpicks

THE LION’S SHARE IT’S FINALLY PERTH’S turn to enjoy one of the most incredible stage shows of all time - The Lion King is coming to WA for the very first time.

James Thane, executive producer, said: “We are thrilled to present Julie Taymor’s ground-breaking production in Perth for the very first time. West Australian audiences packed out our last show Mary Poppins, and we expect they will be equally keen to see this Broadway smash hit.”

In its 18th year, The Lion King remains ascendant as one of the most popular stage musicals in the world. Since its Broadway premiere on November 13, 1997, 22 global productions have been seen by more than 75 million people and, cumulatively, run a staggering 112 years.

Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions (under the direction of Thomas Schumacher), The Lion King is only the second show in history to generate five productions worldwide running 10 or more years.

Translated into seven different languages (Japanese, German, Korean, French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese), productions of The Lion King can currently be seen on Broadway; London’s West End, Hamburg, Tokyo, Madrid, Melbourne, Basel and on tour across North America and Japan, for a total of nine productions running concurrently across the globe.

Having played 20 countries on every continent except Antarctica, The Lion King’s worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history.

The show’s director, costume designer and mask co-designer Julie Taymor continues to play an integral part in the show’s ongoing success. The first woman to win a Tony Award for Direction of a Musical, Taymor has in recent years supervised new productions of the show around the world.

The Broadway score features Elton John and Tim Rice’s music from The Lion King animated film along with three new songs by John and Rice and additional musical material by South African Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer.

The resulting sound of The Lion King is a fusion of Western popular music and the distinctive sounds and rhythms of Africa, ranging from the Academy Award-winning song Can You Feel the Love Tonight to the haunting ballad Shadowland.

The ensemble cast will feature representatives from Zimbabwe, China, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Brazil and the United States.

For tickets visit thelionking.com.au/perth

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

GOOD VIBRATIONS ICONS OF THE Californian sound The Beach Boys are bringing their classic sound to the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Kings Park and Botanic Garden on Saturday November 21 with special guests John Paul Young & The Allstar Band and Glenn Shorrock.

One of the most influential and enduring bands in pop history, The Beach Boys are the Sounds of Summer with album sales of over 100 million, 32 American Platinum and Gold awards, an induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

Captained by Mike Love, The Beach Boys music defines youth and Fun, Fun, Fun, evoking places where life is renewed through sun-drenched days in the surf and glorious nights in the sand.

Their catalogue spans five decades and has produced a swell of more than fifty timeless hits including California Girls, Good Vibrations and Wouldn’t It Be Nice among many others.

The Beach Boys play an astoundingly hectic schedule of concerts, averaging 150 shows a year and this Australian visit takes them to concert venues and outdoor festivals, coast to coast.

Surf’s up for the fabulous Beach Boys at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Kings Park & Botanic Garden on Saturday November 21 with special guests, John Paul Young & The Allstar Band and Glenn Shorrock. Tickets are on sale now visit ticketmaster.com.au or call 136 100.

Win

a double pass to see The Beach Boys perform in the open air. Visit PRIMOLife’s Facebook page or primolife.com.au.

Good luck! primolife.com.au

WINTER WARMERS MISSING THE TWILIGHT Hawkers Market? On the last Friday of each winter month the Perth Town Hall undercroft and foyer will transform into a colourful international food

market serving hearty meals and snacks with a side of live music.

After supper, head upstairs to the main hall at 8pm for the free Singers & Strings concert series.

Winter Supper Club presented by the City of Perth Friday July 31 and August 28, 4.30pm to 8pm, Perth Town Hall, free.Visit visitperthcity. com or call 08 9461 3368.

WIN Bakeware and a cooking class at Taste Budds Cooking School

ARGUABLY TWO OF Australia’s greatest rock’n’roll bands, Hoodoo Gurus and special guests Eskimo Joe, are heading to the Cable Beach Amphitheatre for what promises to be one of the shows of the year Cable Sounds - on Saturday August 8 as part of WA Country Cups.

Cable Beach Amphitheatre is situated in front of the Cable Beach Club Resort and overlooks Broome’s world-famous Cable Beach. The amphitheatre has previously played host to concerts from Opera Under The Stars, Hilltop Hoods and Icehouse among a collection of other big national touring artists.

And as an added bonus, all Cable Sounds ticket purchasers will also receive free entry to Ladies Day on August 11.

For tickets head to ticketmaster.com.au (136 100) or Broome Visitor Centre (08 9195 2200). For full event information head to: mellenevents.com. All information on WA Country Cups head to wacountrycups.com.au

Celebrating the launch of KitchenAid’s durable non-stick Bakeware range, here’s your chance to win a KitchenAid Bakeware pack and two Taste Budds Cooking School vouchers (valued at $375 in total).

The prize includes: a loaf pan, square pan, pie tin and 2 six cup muffin pan.  Visit PRIMOLife's Facebook page or primollife.com.au to enter. Good luck!

Scitech Planetarium, feature exhibitions, heaps of exhibits, science shows and puppet shows, plus much more!

ScitechWA

www.scitech.org.au

Scitech is proudly supported by the Government | of Western Australia

winter 2015

PRIMOLIFE

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GURUS OF ROCK

PRIMOspecial

The original Magic Mike He’s the creator of one of the most popular dance shows of all time but even for Riverdance’s Michael Flatley, the curtain must finally fall.

By GABI MILLS.

MICHAEL FLATLEY DESERVES to put his feet up.

The 56-year old’s latest Irish danceinspired blockbuster - Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games - enjoyed a sell-out season in London’s West End last year, and now the international production is heading to Australia as part of a 15-country tour, following an extensive UK tour in September.

It’s thanks to Michael and his talented troupe that the world is even aware of the special art form that is Irish dance. When Riverdance first exploded into life in 1994, the global spotlight fell on this sensational dance form, as he introduced the world to the hypnotic traditional Irish dancing of his childhood before going on to create Lord of the Dance in 1996.

Since then, his name and the Lord of the Dance brand have become synonymous with spectacular artistry and grand scale productions that have mesmerised more than 60 million people in 68 countries around the world.

Michael’s latest show has exciting and ground-breaking new technology, including

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

holographs, dancing robots, world champion acrobats and 34 of the greatest Irish dancers in the world. A new score composed by Gerard Fahy, new choreography, stunning new costumes and special effect lighting add a breath-taking new dimension to the original masterpiece.

The new show is just as captivating, and just as tough on the stars of the show; if you don’t want to give your all on stage, don’t bother applying for a part.

“Dangerous Games is a reimagining of the original classic show,” says Michael, speaking to me following a final performance

on UK TV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

“It’s got a brand new score by gifted composers, all new costumes and a new show. If you saw the show 20 years ago, this one will be familiar but new. Audiences so far have all loved it - it’s very special.”

He’s right of course - the magical combination of a mass of talented young dancers filling the stage during Lord of the Dance with its mesmerising dance styles rooted in the traditional form of Irish dance is as thrilling to witness as it was two decades ago.

Add to the mix now a classic tale of primolife.com.au

good vs evil based on old Irish folklore, as well as a passionate love story expressed through dance, and you’ve got a winning formula.

The casting process for the ‘Lords’ was exhaustive, says Michael.

“It’s very difficult to cast. There’s a plethora of great young talent out there and thanks to our connections with the dance community, we hear about who’s the best around. I meet the final choices at rehearsal - we pick people who are hungry to learn, who want to become stars.”

Those who make it as far as rehearsing with Michael are "technically pretty perfect.”

“They have that something special,” says Michael. “But that has to be coupled with a hard work ethic.You can’t compare our dance to any other form of dance - it can be absolutely brutal and many will retire before they’re 25.

“Over those 20 years we’ve had maybe five stars who’ve made it to 30 and still performing - it’s really rare to keep going that long.”

Which makes Michael’s own longevity as a performer of the art form all the more extraordinary.

“It was emotional saying goodbye on Britain’s Got Talent,” he says, revealing earlier in the year in an interview with Graham Norton that he suffered from, among other things, a damaged left knee, a

Win

torn right calf muscle, two ruptured Achilles tendons, a fractured rib and a broken bone in his foot.

He plans to retire at the end of 2015, with a final performance planned in Austria.

However, for the boy from Chicago who set the world record for tapping speed at 28 taps per second, and subsequently broke his own record in 1998 with 35 taps per second, you suspect this won’t be a retirement that involves slippers and a pipe.

one of FOUR double passes to Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games.

Visit PRIMOLife’s Facebook page or primolife.com.au to enter. Good luck!

“I’ve got a few things up my sleeve,” he says, one of which is a recent first exhibition of his art at the Hay Hill Gallery in London.

You suspect that those dancing shoes won’t be staying still for long. PL Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games, Crown Theatre, Burswood, September 15 to September 20,Tuesday at 7pm,Wednesday to Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, Sunday at 1pm and 6pm.Tickets from $69.90 from Ticketmaster on 13 61 00 or visit ticketmaster.com.au

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

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PRIMO PROPERTY

Greenpleasant and

PROPERTY DEVELOPERS STIRLING CAPITAL SET A NEW ECO AGENDA WITH THEIR VERDANT APARTMENTS

Inside

THE LATEST PROPERTY LISTINGS FROM THE PEARD REAL ESTATE | PRIMOLIFE winter 2015GROUP

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24 24 Property Profile Stirling Group's portfolio of developments 26 Real Estate Runway Meet the real estate entrepreneurs behind Perth Style Co. and Crib Creative 28 Comfort Cooking 30 Showhome of the month The Toorak, Webb & Brown-Neaves 32 Builder of the month Atrium Homes 34 Property news Building begins for the HIA charity home 36 Gardening Pruning roses 38 Hot tips Domain's useful apps and how to sell your home via auction

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

YATES MY GARDEN APP

by KIRSTEN TENNANT

WHETHER YOU’RE A seasonal garden professional or a wannabe green thumb, the Yates My Garden app is about to become your very best friend.

Offering assistance with everything you need to know, the My Garden app helps you to design, grow and manage your ideal garden from the comfort of your own backyard.

The app holds your hand through every step of your garden renovation.

From offering an array of inspiration to helping design, plan, grow and manage your plants, the app really has everything a budding gardener could need. And if you ever come across some pesky problems in your backyard, the app can even help you diagnose the issue and ensure your garden continues to thrive for seasons to come.

Users of the Yates My Garden app will be inspired via posts from fellow Garden Club members before designing their personal ideal garden.

With the ability to find seeds and plants which best suit the climate and conditions of your area, along with the

opportunity to see how your garden will look with the ‘Garden Visualiser’ - this app serves as your golden ticket to a perfect backyard space.

The app helps you track the progress of your plants by sending you helpful reminders to ensure you feed and water them correctly at the right times. Your garden will remain healthy and thriving thanks to the app’s ‘Problem Solver’ which helps to diagnose and treat plants affected by pesticides, weeds and disease.

You can even create a shopping list to take to your nearest Yates retailer.

Best of all, you can show off all your hard work to your friends and family App straight of the from month the app, sharing your posts to Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

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PROPERTY | PROFILE

STIRLING EFFORT Stirling Capital is a WA-based boutique property group building residential projects that set new standards across the board, from eco-friendly city-fringe apartments to a luxury waterside development, right on the marina’s edge.

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IN A STATE that currently seems to be in a constant state of flux, there’s a property group which matches that ever-changing landscape with an innovative, agenda-setting vision.

Stirling Capital which started operating in 2005 is a private real estate investment and development group with over $600 million of investments under management.

The company specialises in high quality urban-infill and social infrastructure projects and has delivered a range of land subdivisions, mixed-use residential, commercial, retail, student and aged care accommodation across the Perth metro area.

But that doesn’t really paint the full picture of this local, high performing group’s portfolio.

With a growing team that’s currently delivering residential projects with an estimated value of over $500 million, and with several high-end residential projects completed including the South Cott Apartments in Cottesloe and the Mindarie Apartments at Mindarie Marina, Stirling Capital is no slouch when it comes to aiming high.

Each project has a distinct character, and is underpinned by the company’s commitment to delivering quality, sustainable, unique developments.

A prime example of this drive to create

developments of distinction is Verdant Apartments, an $80 million energy efficient residence. If you’ve always wanted to live in an eco-friendly fashion without compromising on location, style and innovation, then Verdant is a dream come true.

Located in Stirling Street, and just moments from Perth’s CBD,Verdant Apartments residents will not only enjoy all the benefits of a very central location, but also a raft of eco-friendly features unique to the development.

It’s a development that more than lives up to its ‘green’ name: communal electric cars and bikes, scooters, three-storey living green walls and intelligent energy monitoring systems are just some of the features future residents at Verdant will enjoy, heralding a new era for green innercity Perth living.

Designed by award-winning architects MJA, the development will feature 136 quality one and two bedroom apartments across 19 levels by the time it’s completed in 2018.

The development has been designed with a range of energy efficient measures including solar panels and a solar-boosted central gas hot water plant servicing all apartments, cross-ventilation to reduce the need for air conditioning, and efficient primolife.com.au

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Fast facts - Stirling Group’s current projects Where Stirling Street, Perth What Verdant Apartments Ready Early 2018 How much From $385,000 for 1 bedroom, from $512,000 for 2 bed.

Website verdantperth.com.au

Where Port Coogee What Barque Marina Village Apartments Ready Mid 2016 How much From $395,000 for 1 bedroom, $485,000 for 2 bedroom Website barqueportcoogee.com.au

Where Carine Rise What Amber Apartments Ready Mid 2016 How much From $585,000 for a 2 bedroom, $975,000 for 3 bedroom Website ambercarinerise.com.au

Where Mindarie Marina What The Marina Apartments Ready Now How much From $399,000 for 1 bedroom, $545,000 for 2 bedroom Website themarinaapartments.com.au

INNOVATIVE DESIGNS Stirling Capital's developments are setting a high benchmark in terms of location and design standards. Above, the Marina at Mindarie is the perfect place to enjoy the west coast lifestyle.

lighting and water fittings.

Each apartment will feature designer kitchens and quality fittings throughout, many with uninterrupted city views.

Residents will share an expansive roof terrace with sweeping city views that incorporates a large gym, sauna, BBQ and entertaining area, private dining room and sun deck.

Stirling Street is well connected, with Perth’s cultural centre and all the potential of Yagan Square within walking distance.

Two childcare centres are nearby as well as a post office, cafes, restaurants, bars, shopping and entertainment precincts.

Stirling Capital director Luke Reinecke said this development offers an exciting

lifestyle and is another step forward in Perth’s revitalisation.

“Verdant Apartments will set a new standard for clever, energy efficient living combined with ground-breaking design elements, while remaining completely affordable,” he said.

“We're already seeing a major rejuvenation of this pocket of the city and with millions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects underway on Verdant’s doorstep, we expect these apartments will be immensely popular with owner-occupiers and investors alike.”

Apartments are available from $385,000 for a one-bedroom and from $512,000 for a two-bedroom unit.

Other businesses are also drawn to Verdant’s unique offering with the recent announcement that popular Claremont eatery Homestyle Food Bar is planning to open its second food outlet in the ground floor of Verdant.

“We’ll be offering a full catering service so local residents can host their own private parties on Verdant’s roof terrace, and local businesses will have easy access to quality catering for office functions,” said Tony Brackenreg, Homestyle Food Bar’s owner.

Although this kind of eco-friendly residential project is not uncommon in parts of Europe, Luke and the Stirling Capital team believe that it’s the first of its kind in Perth.

“We think sustainability is a huge concern for many people in Perth,” he says. “Buildings of all kinds have seen a greater incorporation of environmentally sustainable initiatives in recent years and, thanks to the building’s location, it will reduce residents’ reliance on cars, allowing them to walk, ride and take public transport easily.”

The addition of electric communal vehicles, including 20 bikes and two electric cars, will allow residents to forego the expense of running a car, as they’ll be available for booking at short notice and low cost.

Each apartment will be fitted with low flow water fittings and fixtures with high WELS ratings for taps, showers and toilets, which means daily water use is expected to reduce by around 55% on average, which means lower bills.

Low energy fluorescent and LED light fittings with energy efficient controls will be provided. Outdoor areas will also be fitted with motion sensors and timers.

“We will also be providing an optional energy monitoring tablet-based system providing residents with the information that allows them to operate appliances in a way that reduces energy consumption without lowering levels of comfort,” says Luke. Real-time usage information is generally not available and results in a great deal of wastage.

“High maintenance and costly facilities, such as a swimming pool, have deliberately not been included at Verdant, while solar panels will provide renewable energy to the building and that will also reduce strata costs.”

It’s no coincidence perhaps that the growing so-called Stirling Precinct is attracting headlines - and investors. The area has seen a 20% population growth in just five years and forecasters predict that over 10,000 new dwellings will be needed by 2026. Stirling Capital had the foresight to snap up another key site, a block away from Verdant, at 108 Stirling Street three years ago and recently gained approval to develop 168 residential apartments. In addition the existing single-level office building was acquired with a long-term Government agency lease in place, providing investors with a low-risk commercial property investment opportunity.

The group is also forging ahead with plans for a significant $200 million, 235 apartment development at Canning Bridge.

For more details visit stirlingcapital.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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The real estate runway

with SARA JAMES & KAITLIN BECK

Gen Y sisters

DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES

The teams behind Perth Style Co. and marketing agency Crib Creative are at the forefront of a new generation of businesswomen, raising the bar high when it comes to transforming the real estate marketing arena.

THEY’RE THE NEW breed of Generation Y ‘Millennials’ who are sweeping our nation as start-up business owners-turned entrepreneurs.

These young guns are the future and bear no resemblance to the generation of workers before them.

From the sleepless nights, the thrill of risking it all and the relentless knockbacks, these twentyish to early-thirty-somethings possess the mentality to grow and take charge of industries at a rapid pace. It’s a glass-half-full approach, employing innovative and creative thinking while constantly challenging the usual status quo that drives the success of these young business people.

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They believe that those opportunities are limited only by their imagination and drive, and with the evolution of technology, the possibilities for the progression of their offerings multiply.

They make their own working titles, they are passionate, calculated and push all the boundaries. They’re attracted by the flexibility of working hours, the ability to call their own shots and build their own empire.Y-Gens are hitting the road to success and backing themselves for an action-packed career.

Two leading examples of this are close to home for us here at PRIMOLife - our photographic friends from Crib Creative and the real estate styling company doing Y-Gen style, Perth Style Co. Both companies are fronted by like-minded business chicks - they team up to not only

empower one another but to compliment their businesses and product offerings. It’s a collaboration that’s challenging the way property is marketed across Perth.

Both of these businesses have real estate marketing at their heart, an avenue of mainstream marketing that in itself is a real art. They’ve both realised that a good collection of photos that tell a story about a home can make the difference between a quick sell and a lingering listing.

Real estate marketing has changed thanks to the digital evolution. Potential buyers want to see their next dream home now, at the click of the button, so it’s essential that the photographs that are showcasing your home are the best that they possibly can be.

Buyers use print and online and have access to view properties 24/7. What’s primolife.com.au

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required these days to help vendors sell the dream is the creation of sexy visuals, capturing perfectly a vision of the lifestyle that the property has to offer a buyer.

“I was a real estate agent prior to starting Crib,” says Alana Earl, managing director of Crib Creative. “I have always had a real love for marketing and noticed while working as an agent myself that there was a bit of a gap in terms of real estate marketing in Perth as opposed to what was happening in the

“Our styling and staging ensure the property has a strong personality that speaks to target buyer demographics,” says Kaitlin Beck of Perth Style Co. “Working with the right photographer and team of creatives ensures the most flattering angles are captured as well as ensuring the emotional aspects like the small detail and the elements of our styling are captioned. It’s this combination that markets any house as a home and, more

virtually with the power of property videos.”

“Attracting online buyers and international investors through the internet is the future. From aerial drones’ footage of the suburb to the ambience of a staged dinner party, videos showcase every aspect of what a home can offer buyers from anywhere at any time.” PL Contact Crib Creative at cribcreative.com.au and Perth Style Co. at perthstyleco.com.au

– • • • •

Fast facts

making videos work for your property

90% of consumers search online 24/7 marketing of your property 90% of mobile users share videos Videos reach a national and global audience of potential buyers / investors • 1 million people watch videos daily on the internet • 1/3 of web users are watching video right now

– The future of real estate marketing • Real estate marketing has changed

eastern states as did Sara and Kaitlin at Perth Style Co. “Crib started small with just me and a photographer and over the four years we’ve grown to a 16-strong team of creatives including photographers, videographers and draftsmen who shoot not only real estate for sale but for some of Perth’s best builders, architects, venues and businesses, as well as PRIMOLife magazine features.

“We have a head photographer who manages the photography side of the business and have seen fantastic growth in the video side of things, with people starting to realise the importance of video not only in real estate but also for promoting small business. It is important that we keep with the fashion and be progressive with our brand - we love pushing the limits.”

It’s not just about just pointing and shooting, says Alana.

“There is a lot to think about, most importantly shooting the house in its best light and that’s where our relationship with Perth Style Co. came into the mix.”

TALENTED TRIO Above and left, Kaitlin Beck and Sara James (Perth Style Co.) and Alana Earl (Crib Creative) offer a powerful combination of marketing expertise and innovative creativity to their real estate client base.

importantly, a desirable product.”

Perth Style Co. is the brainchild of Sara James and Kaitlin, a duo who saw a large gap in the Real Estate styling space. Through their savvy property marketing messages, a loyal social media following has rapidly grown within the Perth real estate community and beyond. The word is out that these creative forces offering pre-sale consultations to property marketing and styling concepts are rising stars.

“Real estate marketing has changed thanks to technology,” says Sara. “Perth is on the world map as one of best places to live, and our property values reflect that desirability. We need to step up our marketing and adopt successful techniques that we see working internationally.

“We have the ability to show a buyer through a property and its surrounds

thanks to the digital evolution. A home for sale is just like any other consumer product on the market and needs the right team to market and sell it.

• The right agent, the right real estate stylist and right creative agency is your property selling dream team. These team of professionals know how to get results you need.

• As 90% of consumers search for property online, your home is available for the world to see 24/7 so the visuals you are selling are so important to convert online interest to genuine buyers.

• Savvy ‘Y-Gen aka ‘Millennials’ are the new breed of homebuyers and they are constantly online. They have constant access to the internet - they like and share products that are right at their fingertips. How will they find your home? How will your home draw attention?

• An influx of overseas buyers means video is taking off and is now a tool more important than ever to include when marketing your property.

If you would like more information about Perth Style Co. Presale Consultations contact Sara or Kaitlin today. perthstyleco.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PROPERTY | HOMEWARES

1

Comfort cooking

2

The nights are cold and dark so what better time to create comforting meals in the kitchen with our roundup of the best pots, pans and accessories around.

WIN 3 6

7

4

5

WIN 8

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primolife.com.au

WINE, SAFFRON AND CHILLI-INFUSED MUSSELS

WIN

10

A wonderful simple fresh recipe, with a delicious flavour.

Serve with crusty bread to sop up all the sauce. Serves: 4-6.

WIN

INGREDIENTS 2 large onions, halved and very finely 9

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sliced 2 small red chillies, very finely sliced 300ml dry white wine ½ tsp saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsp hot water 500 ml fish stock 2 tbsp tomato paste sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper 1 kg fresh mussels, beards removed

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and cleaned several thyme sprigs

WIN

the products marked with this badge. Visit PRIMOLife's Facebook page for details.

1 Forest Fable Pear Cameo ceramic pie dish, $22.95. 2 AGA City60 contemporary oven, acqua. 3 Blinq Gourmet 3pce Cook Set - Glass Lids & Capacity Marks, $299 4 Terre Etoilée Chef Rectangular Terrine with Plate, $99.99. 5 KitchenCraft Roasting Dish, $29.99. 6 Copper pot, 7 RD Davis & Waddell Rectangular Terrine with Lid, $29.99 7 Blinq Elite N/S 4pce Cook Set - Glass Lids, $439.00 9 Beechwood solid and slotted spoons 10 Sparq flatbed pizza stone, $109.95 11 Davis & Waddell Electric Digital Control Slow Cooker, $99.99 12 Davis & Waddell 2pce Round Pie Dish & Casserole Set, $49.99

WIN To celebrate the launch of the KitchenAid cookware range we’re giving away this beautifully designed Cast Iron Casserole Dish (valued at $399.95.)

To enter post your favourite winter warming dish via PRIMOLife’s Facebook page.

METHOD Add the oil to a braising pan. Place the pan over a medium low heat, add the onions and cook stirring for 5 minutes until the onions glisten and soften. Add the chilli and saffron thread mixture and cook 30 seconds.

Add the wine, fish stock, tomato paste and season well with the salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer 5 minutes.

Good luck!

Increase the heat to high, and when the sauce is boiling, add the mussels and thyme sprigs. Cover with the lid and cook 3-5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until the mussels steam open.

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Serve immediately with crusty bread.

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PROPERTY | SHOWHOME

TIMELESS ELEGANCE Webb & Brown-Neaves’ newest showhome, The Toorak, is the perfect home design for those who crave classic architecture in the modern day.

THE BEAUTY OF balance radiates from The Toorak, a majestic two-storey home designed to suit a 17m-wide frontage. Inspired by the Georgian-Toorak style with timeless French overtones, this four bedroom masterpiece conquers common, constrained thinking to deliver a whole new level of luxurious living.

Live in beautiful balance with four generous bedrooms, each serviced by its own elegant ensuite. Three vast and versatile living

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areas embrace a range of social activities, complemented by a modern ‘galley-style’ kitchen complete with scullery.

Other lavish touches include a cathedral ceiling entry and void, grand staircase and classic Georgian-style traits such as slim brick and feature render bands.

Simon Birkhead, General Manager: “The Toorak is the latest release within the $400 to $800K range that Webb & BrownNeaves is focusing on this year,” says Simon primolife.com.au

Fast facts

Birkhead, general manager of WBN. “Aesthetically the home offers all of the detail associated with Georgian-inspired design, including beautifully detailed architraves, mouldings and custom-styled gutters.

“The slimline brickwork on the front elevation brings balance and symmetry to what is a very grand and polished home while the aesthetic detail is cleverly juxtapositioned with a very simple boxon-box layout for ease of construction - meaning The Toorak’s perfectly balanced floorplan can be easily manipulated to offer a variety of customised living options.” PL

THE TOORAK

• Stunning traditional front elevation features a classic combination of render and Georgian style face brickwork, detailed mouldings and corbelling, highlighted by a shinglelook, tiled roof.

Welcoming entry porch with glazed, extra high, double timber doors with wrought iron detailing.

Double clay brick construction with acrylic rendered external finish to all elevations (excluding face brickwork).

• Colorbond™ custom profile, oversized gutters; Colorbond™ fascias and downpipes.

For outdoor entertaining in style, extra high, Benchmark profile double doors provide direct access from the living / dining / kitchen area to the spacious alfresco with plasterboard ceiling and designer cornice.

• Powdercoated aluminium sliding doors and windows (Benchmark profile to the front elevation),

including flydoors, and flyscreens to opening windows.

Choice of clear or obscure glass to wet area windows; clear glass to remaining aluminium windows and doors.

• Double storey home with high ceilings and spacious, versatile living and sleeping zones to both floors.

• Spacious sunken lounge with extra high Benchmark front windows.

Hand finished wrought iron balustrade with intricate detailing and classic timber handrail to the stairs and void.

• Gourmet kitchen / scullery / walk in pantry with sliding door access to large laundry.

Generously sized bedrooms, all including direct access to a dedicated ensuite.

The Toorak, from $709,250. Four bedrooms, four bathrooms, two car bays.Visit The Toorak Display home at 61 Kintail Road, Applecross.Visit wbhomes.com.au for information. winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PROPERTY | BUILDER OF THE MONTH

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY For the Marcolina family, the best foundation for a new home is one built on strong family values. And they should know – they’ve been building new homes for West Australians now for three generations.

THE ORIGINS OF their family business, Atrium Homes, hark back 50 years to patriarch and designer-builder Wilhem Marcolina Senior. Wilhem focused on achieving excellence through quality construction, attention to detail and pride in workmanship, and these principles are still

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the focus of the present generation of the Marcolina family.

“We’ve been building on our family values for over 50 years now,” said Atrium Homes director Daniel Marcolina.

“They’ve helped us get to where we are today, building beautiful award-winning

homes for West Australian families. For us, the benchmark for prestige homes is achieved by striving for uncompromising quality above all else – the quality of our design, construction and guaranteed personal service.”

Atrium Homes has built hundreds of beautiful new homes over the decades but it wasn’t until this year that they found time to build themselves a new home. Their new bespoke office building at 9 Wilcock Street in Ardross is a stunning showcase of their award-winning design and construction techniques.

Designed by Bill and Pat Marcolina, together with the Atrium Homes design team and design company Valmont, the new building provides more room, improved facilities and more user-friendly office space for the growing number of staff. It also offers more comfortable surroundings for client meetings, including the fantastic new pre-start and consulting rooms.

This is where you get to sit in comfort and style to make all those important and exciting decisions about how your new primolife.com.au

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an initial consultation with the client, after which we prepare a detailed brief to ensure a design that is perfectly attuned to the client’s lifestyle and expectations,” said Stuart.

“Because Atrium Homes is a small, family-owned company, we can follow the progress of each home with the client, from our initial design concept right through to completion. That is the most rewarding part of the design process - following this progression and ultimately creating a quality home that will exceed our client’s expectations.”

The design for your new home can be based on one of Atrium’s display homes, from previously designed custom homes, or completely individually designed. As a very special offer, Atrium Homes is currently offering a free design service – normally valued at up to $2,000 – when you choose them to build your new home.

Feel free to pop in for a coffee; the Atrium design studio is open Monday to Friday, and the team is more than happy to

BEAUTIFUL DETAILS Atrium Homes have built hundreds of homes over the decades - and now have a new bespoke office in Ardross to complete the picture.

home will look, using custom designed product displays and the latest technology to show you how those finishes and fittings will actually look in your home.

“This really is a new and exciting chapter for Atrium Homes,” Daniel said.

“Being in a more accessible location has made it easier for our clients to visit us, and the well-appointed entry foyer helps promote our company image and show off the many awards that we’ve collected over the years.

“It is significant that in 50 years, our family business has only moved twice

before. We really value the idea that there’s a future in everything we build.”

The new offices have also given Atrium a greater capacity to create individually designed homes. An important element of the building process is getting the design right, and having the ability to work personally with your designer is a real advantage.

Stuart Toplis and Cameron McDonald are two of Atrium’s top designers. Between them they have over 40 years experience, and they both enjoy working closely with clients, getting to know them and how they live.

“We start the building process with

talk about ideas you may have for your next family home.

Atrium Homes also has a stunning range of display homes both north and south of the river, which you can visit either during normal display hours or by private appointment. Locations are on the website - visit atrium-homes.com.au - or call them on 6310 8888 or 0418 941 415 (a/h). The free design service* is only available for a limited time, so if you’ve been dreaming of a brand new home – stop dreaming and let Atrium Homes make it a beautiful reality! *Conditions apply. PL winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

33

PROPERTY | NEWS

HOUSING INDUSTRY

digs deep

Three major players in the housing industry have joined forces to build a charity home that will help address mental illness and depression in the residential building industry.

IN A NEW initiative from the Housing Industry Association (HIA), a four-bedroom home will be auctioned in March next year, with support from Dale Alcock Homes and Stockland to help raise funds to fight mental illness in the building and construction industry.

Stockland has donated a block of land for the project at the beachside Amberton community in Eglinton, in Perth’s northern suburbs, and Dale Alcock Homes, part of the ABN Group, will be donating its services and skills to build the home.

Ron Dwyer, chairman of the HIA Charitable Foundation, Dale Alcock, managing director of the ABN Group, and Col Dutton, Stockland general manager for WA, attended a ground breaking ceremony on site.

Ron said the HIA Charitable Foundation was partnering with beyondblue this year to help address depression and mental illness in building and construction.

“These are conditions that can affect one in four people employed in our industry,”

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

he said.

“The HIA Charitable Foundation was created to improve health and welfare outcomes in the building industry and broader community.

“It has created a vehicle for the industry to be able to give back to the industry and wider community, where people need a hand up.

“Many other members of the building industry are also donating time and materials to complete the Amberton charity home project, and we welcome their contributions,” Ron said.

Dale said the charity home would not only raise valuable funds to address depression and mental illness in the building industry, but also vital awareness of the conditions in what was a male-dominated industry.

“The HIA charity home has our full

support and the support of many of our suppliers and contractors.”

Col said he was pleased Stockland’s partnership with the HIA and Dale Alcock Homes would support the HIA Charitable Foundation and beyondblue.

“I’m delighted Stockland and our partners can contribute to this important initiative which will help beyondblue continue their outstanding work for people with mental health issues across the community,” he said.

“Stockland donated a block of land free of charge for the charity home which is just over one kilometre from the beach and close to the impressive feature park and Livvi’s Cafe at our popular Amberton community in Eglinton.

“I believe the charity home’s coastal location at Amberton on Perth’s sought after northern beaches will generate a lot of interest and make the project a great success.”

The charity home, which will include landscaping and whitegoods, will incorporate livable home principles, including universal access to ensure all ages and abilities can live or visit the home.

Other livable homes features include a hob-less shower in the bathroom, wideraccess doorways throughout and an open-plan kitchen.There will be no steps in the home.

The design includes a home theatre, al fresco and dining area, plus highquality inclusions such as stone benchtops throughout.

Since its creation three years ago, the HIA Charitable Foundation, a national organisation, has contributed $375,000 to research on mesothelioma, which was conducted by the National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases in WA. PL primolife.com.au

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35

PROPERTYWEEDING WOMEN

EVERYTHING’S COMING UP

roses

Get your secateurs ready – it’s rose pruning time again.

HERE AT WEEDING Women we prune roses in July and August. Roses need annual pruning to encourage new growth and new growth results in more flowers, so it’s something you’ll want to be doing over the next few weeks.

Don’t be afraid to cut hard, discarding one third of the rose and tall fast-growing roses should be cut back even harder.

This means removing as many old stems as possible and leaving young stems to generate lush new stems and in turn lots of blooms.

The other reason we prune hard annually is to reduce fungal disease, by allowing air and light into the shrub. This is simply done by removing all useless, old and misplaced wood. Remove any lingering flowers, leaves, dead (brown or grey wood) and suckers. Also remove all spindly, weaklooking growth.

Before you begin, check the condition of your tools.You’ll need to ensure that all the blades on your quality secateurs, long handled loppers and pruning saw are sharp

36

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

and clean. Clean cuts to the branches are imperative, as blunt tools will damage the stems allowing disease to enter the plant.

See each rose as an individual and aim to cut (at its origin) any branches which cross through the middle of the plant. Suddenly your pruned rose should start to resemble a vase.

The three or five green, healthy, vigorous branches which you choose as the framework for the next season’s growth, should be cut back to an outward facing

bud. This is to encourage the new growth away from the centre of the plant.

While you prune it’s very important to remove all the fallen flowers and leaves, so as to reduce the amount of fungal spores which may lay dormant until next spring.

For hygiene purposes make up a solution of 1 per cent bleach to 1 litre of water (10ml per litre) to dip your secatuers into as you prune between each shrub to eliminate cross infection.

Spray each pruned rose and the ground around them with a lime sulphur immediately after pruning. If the spraying is left until later, the lime sulphur will burn new shoots.

Lime sulphur is a multi-purpose spray which works by forming a protective film of sulphur, preventing the entry of fungus into plants and trees, and specifically to roses. It also has other uses with fruit trees, ornamental plants and deciduous trees. It is the most effective spray for winter in that it controls hard to kill pests and diseases and also controls moss and lichen. As with all products, read the instructions on the bottle well.

With pruning and spraying completed, sprinkle a designated rose food around the drip-line zone and work in well. Make sure never to heap fertiliser around the trunk of any plant any time.

As soon as new growth begins, then start to water well every couple of days.

The two types of roses which vary in the style of pruning from the common variety of Hybrid Tea and Floribunda, are climbing roses and miniature roses. In this case, climbing roses which are trained onto a trellis or fence and layered in a horizontal position to encourage flowering, require a

much lesser pruning. Miniature roses which are really tiny replicas of the Hybrid Tea forms, obviously require less pruning too.

Now is also the time to re-position any roses which weren’t thriving where they were. Transplant dormant winter roses into

PRIMOLIFEUBER

a sunny spot. However be careful not to let the roots dry out at all, even though it’s a grey winter sky, rose roots must remain moist during the transplant. PL Visit weedingwomen.com.au for more information.

SPONSORED CONTENT

PROPERTY | HOT TIPS

APP-Y DAYS There’s no denying it, Aussies love their mobiles. But think again when you see someone sitting in a cafe scrolling their phone screen - it’s not just photos of lattes and sunsets they’re pouring over; more likely, it’s property.

IN THE US, Google reported 27 per cent of property searches are from mobile devices - however, figures from Domain. com.au shows it’s at a whopping 60 per cent in Australia.

In Sydney especially, there’s a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment for buyers. The desperation to get into a highly competitive market means those actively engaged in the hunt for a home, to buy or to rent, are relying on mobile technology more than ever before to assist them in the process.

This mobile trend has some lessons for sellers, too, who need to think about the ways buyers are looking at their homes.

So what tech tools are available to those on the property journey?

Domain.com.au have been investing heavily in consumer technology to cater to this growing need and help people get ahead in the property market, developing multi-award award-winning apps with unique features to be used across smartphones, tablets and wearable devices.

So here’s a helpful overview of the most innovative and helpful tools available to download and use today, thanks to our friends at domain.com.au.

WEARABLE APPS In the house-hunting journey, being the first to know when a property comes to market can be crucial. Now propertyseekers can receive alerts on their wrist as well as on their phone – so they will never miss out on a listing in their search area.

Owners of an Apple Watch or Android Wear who have the Domain app will be able to: ✓ Search and view property information and photos at a glance

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

✓ Receive instant notifications about properties that meet their criteria, and when details or inspection times update ✓ Organise properties as favourites and schedule inspections ✓ Pick up where they left off with their iPhone to explore properties in more detail Download the Apple Watch app from the App Store and the Android Wear app from Google Play.

NOW CARDS IN THE GOOGLE APP Domain is the first and only Australian app to integrate with the Google app to deliver Now cards, joining a swathe of international apps such as Airbnb, Spotify and Zillow.

Home seekers with the Domain and Google apps on their mobile will receive helpful, real-time information about properties they are looking at. Instead of flipping between apps, webpages and emails, Domain’s Now cards in the Google app give users the information they need, exactly when they need it, to stay organised and ahead in the property market.

Whether buying, selling or looking to rent, having the right information at hand

can mean the difference between getting a dream home, or missing out.

To use, you just need the Domain Android app and Google app on your device and download the App in the Play Store.

MOBILE APPS Did you know, 80 per cent of shortlisted properties on a Domain user’s account are selected from their mobile device? Domain’s multi-award winning smartphone and tablet apps are used every week by more than 3.6 million Australians on their property journeys.

Key features include the exclusive visualisation of 4,000 schools and their catchment zones over properties, inspection planning and directions, suggested nearby properties and locations, quick touch agent contact, smart notifications, and beautiful photo galleries.

SCHOOL ZONES School Zones is one of the most highly used features of Domain’s website and mobile apps. That’s for good reason securing a home within a boundary to a high performing school can add thousands of dollars to a purchase price, but this also makes it often a stressful time for parents wishing to send their children to a particular school.

Domain’s School Zone tool is the most comprehensive and visual tool available and lists over 4,000 public schools all over Australia, clearly identifying where properties fall within a catchment, and providing key information about each school.

You can access School Zones across Domain’s desktop, mobile and wearable apps. PL primolife.com.au

PROPERTY | HOT TIPS

THE POWER OF THE GAVEL These days, selling your house by auction is becoming increasingly popular in WA after years of success throughout the eastern states.

MANY BELIEVE THAT auctions are the best way to secure a high price for a property, given the competitive nature of buyers and the high pressure environment of an auction. David Lynch, a qualified auctioneer and licensee at Peard Real Estate Group’s Leederville office, has seen a big increase in the number of auctions for his properties in recent months.

SELLING BY AUCTION: THE PROS  Competitive Bidding There is no sale price limit when it comes to auctions.Your property is worth what buyers are prepared to pay for it on the day.

This is often well received by the seller, unsurprisingly.  Complete Control The seller sets the terms and conditions of the sale for an auction so they are always in control.  Protection for the seller The seller is protected by the reserve price.

This means that your property will not sell unless bidding reaches a pre-agreed level. This figure is determined carefully between the seller and agent and the property will not be sold for less.  Sense of urgency Auctions generate a sense of urgency among buyers. Typically, a set ‘end date’ for the sale of the property will be made and this encourages any potential buyers to make a decision on the day. Genuine buyers

will also have typically viewed the house within the first two weeks of marketing. As auctions have a strict timeline, interested buyers are forced to take prompt action.  Exposure through marketing The property is usually held exclusively by one real estate agent for a fixed period of time during which marketing of the property is intense and very effective in attracting interest.  Three chances to sell your property Before the auction - buyers have the opportunity to approach the real estate agent prior to auction day with an expression of interest.

On auction day - if the reserve price is reached.

After auction - if the reserve price is not met, the real estate agent will contact the highest bidder for further negotiations.

SELLING BY AUCTION: THE CONS  Cost There may be additional costs involved to sell a property via auction. Usually this is used to cover the cost of hiring a specialist auctioneer. It is important to discuss and compare the costs to sell via auction with your agent.  Sales evidence In some cases, an auction isn’t the right way to sell a particular property. For example, for a large block of identical units which are all of a similar specification, everyone would

be aware of the sale price of other units, thus a private sale could result in a higher sale price per property. To discuss find out whether auctions is right for your property - consult your agent.  Special conditions of sale Generally, auctions are not suited to buyers who wish to purchase subject to finance as often bids are unconditional. Alternatively, some potential buyers could be anxious at the thought of bidding for a property at auction. Both situations limit the potential number of buyers that your property could appeal to.

David Lynch’s investor database now exceeds 1,000 clients of which he has regular contact with. He also has a large overseas client base, focusing in on clients from the east coast of Australia, Singapore and Asia, Dubai, London and South Africa, who are always looking to invest in Perth property.

David is a licensed auctioneer, and is a proud member of the REIWA Auctioneers’ Committee. He is always keen to show his auction wares and he excels in providing these services not only for property auctions but also charity auctions. PL To see him in action, keep an eye out for any up and coming auctions at Peard Leederville. Call David on 0409 955 554 to discuss whether your property is right for an auction sale. winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

39

PRIMOFinance

F I N A N C E

with WARREN LITTLEFAIR, GENERAL MANAGER OF PEARD FINANCE

IT’S TAX RETURN TIME –

are you prepared?

Make sure you’ve got all your paperwork in order and there could be a tax return windfall with your name on it.

IT’S THAT TIME of the year again where we are being bombarded by advertisements about end of year sales from every possible retailer.

I don’t think I have gone to my letterbox in recent days without having some reminder that we are at the end of the financial year. Everything from stationery stores to car dealers must spend half their yearly advertising budget at this time of year.

With all these advertisements around it must mean something else - tax return time.

Most people dread this time of the year but with a bit of planning you can make it stress-free, or at least relatively stress-free.

For many of us putting in our tax return means we’re hoping to get a tax refund

40

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

windfall.

To do this we are generally claiming deductions for a variety of things ranging from investment properties to work-related expenses.

The Australian Tax Office has very strict rules around what you can and cannot claim for so make sure you get advice from your accountant to ensure what you are claiming for is actually legitimate. The joy of getting a nice tax return will certainly evaporate if the ATO knocks on your door to audit you.

In this article we’re going to focus on work-related claims.

Most people tend to claim some workrelated expenses at tax time and these can range from small claims to rather large

claims so you need to make sure that the claim is accurate and is allowable. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they don’t keep receipts.

There are specific rules around what is required in keeping receipts so if you are unsure, make sure you refer to your accountant or the ATO website.

Make sure your work-related claim is genuine. There are very, shall we say, interesting claims people have tried to make under the name of work-related expenses and while they are quite humorous, they didn’t make it across the line.

As a general rule you need to make sure the claim you are making is related to the field of employment you are in. However, there are some claims which are very industry-specific so you need to make sure that these claims are allowable. For instance, there’s no point trying claim a clown’s outfit if you are a politician but then again. . .

One area people can get themselves into trouble with the tax office is claiming their car as a work-related expense. Using your car to drive to and from work as a general rule is not a claim allowable by the ATO. Many people have tried to claim items such as train and bus fares but these have been disallowed by the tax office. If you do use your car for work purposes make sure you keep correct records such as a log book and make sure you can substantiate your claim.

There are many other claims people make and the items above are just a small selection. The ATO has a fantastic website which gives some great tips to make sure you will not fall foul of the tax office.

The best advice I can give you is to make sure you are getting the right advice before you submit your tax return to ensure you get the return you are entitled to - and keep the ATO from knocking on your door for an audit. PL primolife.com.au

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

41

PRIMO H&Gproperty property

Welcome to the listings section of PRIMOLife HAPPY NEW (FINANCIAL) YEAR!

PEARD REAL ESTATE OFFICE LOCATIONS

port hedland

karratha

dampier

11

Bateman 65 Broadhurst Crescent roebourne

Expressions of Interest bed 4

bath 2

onslow

pannawonica

Luxury, Location, Lifestyle!

65 Broadhurst Cres, Bateman has to be one of the most beautifully presented homes in Bateman. The degree of excellence, thought and attention to detail that has gone into creating this masterpiece is immediately apparent.

Style, class and quality abound! With so many reasons to view, it has to be top of your list.

marg.kudla@peard.com.au

This high quality fully renovated home, in sort after Bateman is situated on a 698sqm block. A very peaceful and serene location, this beautiful home is located close to schools, Murdoch University, St John of God Hospital and the upcoming Fiona Stanley Hospital, major transport, shopping centres and parks.

Tom Price Paraburdoo

Opportunities to purchase homes of this calibre in the area are rare, so don’t delay! To view this property call Marg Kudla today on 0457 515 007.

We are half way through the year and our Group has certainly been busy selling property!

Last month was a time to celebrate after receiving the news that we were WA’s Top Group in the latest REIWA Awards. We were ranked against 11 other property groups, some with over 40 offices. We achieved our first placing with just 12 offices, collectively selling $125.1 million worth of property during the month of May - an outstanding effort by the Group which really showcased our strength.

This achievement is a true testament to our hardworking employees, so congratulations to each and every one of you and thank you for your ongoing hard work, dedication and passion. It cements our strong belief that it’s not about the ‘quantity’ of offices, but rather, the ‘calibre of staff’ and, if you ask me, we employee the best people around.

The new financial year has arrived and we all know what that means, tax time! If you’re a property investor it’s an important time to knuckle down and get your finances in order.

Make sure you are aware of what income and deductions you are eligible to declare to leverage your investment and generate a tidy tax refund.

Too often I’ve see investors miss out at tax time simply by failing to know what they could and couldn’t claim, so to be sure you don’t fall into the same trap; you can find a complete list of claimable tax deductions on the ATO website.

This PRIMOLife is a double edition, jam-packed with great reads and premium properties. I hope you and your family enjoy exploring the pages!

12

7

car 1

Marg Kudla 0457 515 007

victoria park

bull creek 8

9

Peter Peard CEO of The Peard Real Estate Group

10

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

primolife.com.au

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F I N A N C E winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

43

PRIMOcareers

MAKING THE GRADE Ranking number one against companies boasting three times the number of offices is no mean feat, and certainly showcases the Peard Group’s strength.

Dea Lalovic sits down with the women behind one of the most important jobs in the company – recruiting the right people to drive the Peard Real Estate Group’s brand.

MELISSA FARRELL IS the Director of Peard Group’s Business Resource department and is responsible for the challenging task of finding the right people, for the right job, and it’s safe to say she’s got it down pat.

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

Dea Lalovic Peard Real Estate has a dedicated Human Resources and Recruitment department, what’s the difference between the two?

Melissa Farrell Not many real estate companies have both, and that’s really our point of difference. The HR team focuses

on recruitment and the performance management of admin, property management and conveyancing staff as well as coordinating leave cover for the Group.

My department on the other hand focuses solely on the recruitment of potential new and experienced sales associates, shareholders, sales managers and licensees. We’re heavily involved in the planning of new offices and basically any other opportunities that may assist with revenue building for the brand. I work closely with Peter Peard, the Group’s CEO, and Elli Doran, our Business Resource Assistant who, like me, live and breathe real estate and collectively we share over 60 years of industry experience.

DL You have been in real estate for 21 years, and much of that career has been with Peard Real Estate, how did it all begin?

MF I applied for a receptionist position with First National in Woodvale working under Bill Keenan. Bill quickly became my mentor and helped me build the core foundation and work ethic that I needed to be successful. I fell in love with all aspects of the real estate business, it wasn’t long before it was in my blood and I was hooked! I worked my way through all of the different positions in a real estate office which I guess has given me the first-hand knowledge to help in my current position.

I joined Peard Real Estate in 2002 and you could say I’ve never looked back.

DL What is you main role as the Director of Business Resources?

MF In a nutshell, it’s my job to find the right people to grow our business. I think the success of any large company is a wellrun ship that has the right people steering it, and without a doubt, our people are the reason for our success.

My department is committed to hiring like-minded people who are continually striving for excellence. I always emphasise that we don’t just have a ‘bums on seat’ attitude - we take the time to get the recruitment process right. Over the years I’ve learnt that it is all about getting the culture perfect within all of the departments. Naturally, the happiness of our staff is crucial to our success so we ensure that we not only recruit for the position, but for the office as well.

DL What is your recruitment approach?

MF My recruitment approach is really relaxed. I’m easy going and have a genuine passion and drive for what I do. I’m really committed to finding the right people and helping those people get to where they want to be, whether they are new to the industry or established and looking to further their career. primolife.com.au

For me, it’s about getting to know the person and finding out what they want from their real estate career and helping them get there.

DL So how do you select the “right” person for the job?

MF It varies really. Real estate is a unique sales industry where people from all walks of life can enter and do really well, so there is no particular mould to fit.

For new sales associates, first and foremost I look for hard workers who are driven by customer service, not money.

That’s crucial for me. Then, it’s about characteristics such as approachability and likability because, after all, people need to feel comfortable with someone who is selling their home.

Lastly, I look at their sales experience and whether they have owned their own business in the past. Real estate is much like owning your own business, so that internal drive to make it work and strive for excellence is really important. We can support you with training and tools but you need your own drive, no one else can give you that.

DL Do you know if a person is going to fit the Peard culture as soon as you meet them?

MF Almost always! I’m a pretty big believer of first impressions. Fitting in with our Peard culture has to be top of my list when speaking with someone. Sure you might be a fantastic sales person but if I don’t feel

that your personality and work ethics are going to fit well within one of our existing teams, I’ll have to make that tough call. It’s very important to match personality types within an office, that’s really what gives our company the great retention rate it has.

DL What role does the innovative Peard Career Centre play in the recruitment process?

MF It plays a massive part! I think what I love most about the Peard Group is that they genuinely believe in the development and training of all staff, which is really important to me. We identified the need to offer more training to newcomers and so that’s exactly what we did with the training school.

Having no previous real estate experience is no longer an issue thanks to the Careers Centre. We see an extremely high calibre of sales associates graduating from the course which is a tribute to our Training Manager, Sylvia. If you have the ethics and willingness to learn, Sylvia will give you the tools and knowledge to be successful in the industry.

DL What does Peard Real Estate offer property professionals that other agencies do not?

MF I’m going to have to pump up our tyres here. We really do offer the full package - unbeatable support, ongoing training, a fun working culture, innovative marketing and the opportunity to grow within one of WA’s best real estate companies. We were ranked the ‘Top Group’ in May and are consistently named REIWA’s number one

office, these numbers don’t lie; we must be doing something right!

Our administrative support is second to none and with a centralised head office, everything is streamlined and taken care of at a head office level. Our marketing department is regularly being recognised as an industry leader, offering unmatched marketing with cutting-edge initiatives.

I’m pretty confident that what we offer is unique.

DL What would you say to someone considering the industry?

MF If you have a genuine interest in real estate - take the plunge! It can be an amazing career and lifestyle with plenty of reward. Think of it as your small business within a larger business but without the financial burden of overheads like buying, stock, rent etc. Pair up with the right company that offers you training and support and you are bound to do well. My door's always open, if you have the passion and drive, I want to hear from you! PL

THINK YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES? Call Melissa today on 0404 084 244 and find out what Peard Real Estate can do for your career.

Lots to celebrate in May as the Peard Real Estate Group was ranked number 1 in WA.

REIWA May 2015 Statistics

TOP 30 ROOKIES

13

10

NATASHA CHEUNG Peard Real Estate, Swan Valley 3 Listings sold

KAREN RICHES Peard Real Estate, Hillarys 7 Listings sold

16

12

JULIET WILLS Peard Real Estate, Hillarys 2 Listings sold

VIKTOR SUTRISNO Peard Real Estate Canning Vale 7 Listings sold

— by listings sold

14

KATHY McGURK Peard Real Estate, Mindarie 2 Listings sold

TOP 30 SALESPERSONS

— by listings sold

5 12

24

TODD UTLEY Peard Real Estate, Hillarys 8 Listings sold JOHN COWUP Peard Real Estate, Mindarie 7 Listings sold

25

12

JAMES & KYLIE KENNEDY Peard Real Estate, Hillarys 7 Listings sold

13

JARROD O'NEILL Peard Real Estate, Hillarys 7 Listings sold

JAY DASS Peard Real Estate, Joondalup 6 Listings sold

TOP 30 SALESPERSONS 15

TOP 30 TEAMS

By listings sold

TOP 30 REP LISTINGS Sold by auction

— by value sold

14

TODD UTLEY Peard Real Estate, Hillarys $6,243,000

DEAN BRADLEY Peard Real Estate, Leederville 1 Listing sold

17

CLINTON EDWARDS Peard Real Estate, Leederville 1 Listing sold

19

MARCUS LORD Peard Real Estate, Scarborough 1 Listing sold

JOHN COWUP Peard Real Estate, Mindarie $5,578,000

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

45

FOR SALE Alkimos 31 Loggerhead Road

From $480,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Aveley 4 Hancock Avenue

From $429,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Baldivis 1 Coates Avenue

$629,000-$659,000 bed 5 bath 3 car 2

Baldivis 22 Pride Fairway

$575,000 - $625,000 bed 5 bath 2 car 2 46

This stunning home is set in the fantastic new beach side suburb of Alkimos Beach, with ocean views from the front porch. This cleverly designed home offers maximum functionality & naturally lit living areas. Featuring a centrally located kitchen overlooking spacious open plan living dining area that flows onto the alfresco garden area.

CONTACTS Paul Turner/Alison Beuck PHONE 0400 072 005/0414 244 742 EMAIL paul.turner@peard.com.au

Ashby 21 Matisse Street

Low-Mid $600,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Only 2 years old- this very well located home has to be the best value property in Aveley today. Situated within walking distance to Aveley Primary School, two parks, cafes and the local shops this home has been designed to incorporate all that you could ever want. Boasting two living areas plus an additional study area, this home is generous in all its features and fittings.

CONTACT Natasha Cheung

Balcatta 5 Yambago Court

If you're looking for a ready-to-go home for your family in a lovely quiet Baldivis street, you wont want to miss the chance to explore this substantial property on a 652sqm plot. The red brick exterior is bordered by a mature, well-tended front garden with frangipani and native plants all around. Once youve walked through the front door, youll know that this is a special place. CONTACT Andreas Nikakos

Baldivis 21 Goodison Close

Why build when you can move straight into this fabulous brand new National Homes built home. Boasting 5 beds, 2 baths and 4 living areas! This home has been designed with a family in mind. You will be impressed from the moment you step through the double door entry of this home, with high quality fixtures and fittings its evident that no expense has been spared..

CONTACT Kim Lindsay

Baldivis 6 Bulmer Way

PHONE 0433 288 953 EMAIL natasha.cheung@peard.com.au

PHONE 0413 962 074 EMAIL andreas.nikakos@peard.com.au

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

PHONE 0407 137 062 EMAIL kim.lindsay@peard.com.au

$649,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

From $489,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

$450,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Please do not miss the opportunity to become the proud owner of this stunning high spec home, situated in the sought after Ashby Rise location. Comprising 4 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, 5th bed/study, enclosed theatre & enclosed games. It simply doesnt get any better than this! Just unpack and enjoy. Call to register your interest now.

CONTACT Diane Williamson PHONE 0431 112 750 EMAIL diane.williamson@peard.com.au

This stunningly presented modern home has 2 living areas, large bedrooms & a great low maintenance garden. Whether you are looking to get into the area, downsize or looking for a home to lock up & leave, this gem is perfect. Features include separate lounge, spacious kitchen, family/dining area & high ceilings & skirtings throughout CONTACT Shaun Pettit PHONE 0411 725 511 EMAIL shaun.pettit@peard.com.au

If your comparing building to buying then this property is a must see! Located in the prestigious Highbury Park Estate, directly opposite a beautiful park and close to the shopping centre, schools and a growing restaurant precinct. This quality 4 x 2 home has some great features including 544m2 Block & 200m2 of living space.

CONTACT Kim Lindsay PHONE 0407 137 062 EMAIL kim.lindsay@peard.com.au

Great well-presented 4 bedroom home, separate living and open plan dining family area. Reverse ducted a/c with zones to close off. Solar panels & Side Access with drive through ability at the back of garage. Great backyard with space to add a pool or enlarge the great alfresco entertaining area.

Owners are on the move and its priced to sell!

CONTACT Camille Ainsley PHONE 0417 508 364 EMAIL camille.ainsley@peard.com.au View more properties online at domain.com.au

FOR SALE Baldivis 29 Bonney Drive

From $529,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Baldivis 91 Borough Road

Offers Over $490,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Belmont 36 Fredrick Street

From $615,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Burns Beach 15 Umina Way

$1,195,000-$1,250,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

If fun and games is your aim, then this four bedroom stunner in Baldivis ticks all the boxes. The perfect family home with room for all ages to enjoy some down time, this 2012-built home on a 641sqm has plenty of room for a pool in the back garden as well as a shed, while indoors, there's a purpose built theatre/games room which currently houses a snooker table.

CONTACT Andreas Nikakos

Baldivis 47 Wallaby Parade

Stunning display quality home offers 4x2x2 theatre room, open plan meals family & kitchen, 3 spacious minors bedrooms with separate activity/study in the kids wing.

Stunning out door entertaining area with wood decking overlooking the salt chlorine pool. High fences and grassed area.

Ballajura 22 Seaspray Crest

PHONE 0413 962 074 EMAIL andreas.nikakos@peard.com.au

CONTACT Melissa Mendes PHONE 0400 459 411 EMAIL melissa.mendes@peard.com.au

273SQM - Easy access to Graham Farmer and Great Eastern highway to take you into the CBD, Crown Casino, Empire Bar and Belmont Racecourse. Belmont forum has all your shopping needs covered, reading cinema, Oasis leisure centre. Also close to upcoming Perth Stadium and domestic and International airport also a stone's throw away.

CONTACT Dena Constantine PHONE 0422 902 020 EMAIL dena.constantine@peard.com.au

Winner of the MBA Best Display Home 2014 in its category this sensational residence is currently utilised as a display home - 24 months secured lease with an exceptional $5,000 per month rent paid in advance, and the added bonus of all displayed furniture included. Live your dream life in this opulent residence.

CONTACT David Lynch PHONE 0409 955 554 EMAIL david.lynch@peard.com.au

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$479,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

From $629,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Bull Creek 3 McWhae Place

$1,100,000-$1,150,000 bed 5 bath 3 car 4

Burns Beach 32 Semaphore Avenue

From $815,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Wide double gate side access to park the caravan, boat or trailer. Great large sized home theatre room with double door entry for privacy. The rest of the living is in the kitchen dining area with a fantastic open flow out to the alfresco entertaining. With added features such as reverse ducted a/c, NBN, water tank & solar boost this is a must see property.

CONTACT Camille Ainsley PHONE 0417 508 364 EMAIL camille.ainsley@peard.com.au

Perfect for the family who love their space! Located on an 851m2 elevated block with views to the city and surrounds, this bright, sunny and spacious architecturally designed home must be seen to be truly appreciated. Features 4 bedrooms, renovated bathrooms and an upstairs retreat!

CONTACT Natasha Cheung PHONE 0433 288 953 EMAIL natasha.cheung@peard.com.au

Meticulously renovated throughout by the current owners, this stunning 5 bedroom plus study, 3 bathroom residence will capture the imagination of professional couples and families alike with its impeccable attention-to-detail and a wonderful location amongst every possible amenity and some of WAs very best schools.

CONTACT Wayne Hocking PHONE 0414 863 854 EMAIL wayne.hocking@peard.com.au

ALMOST BRAND SPANKING NEW !!

Save the headache of building & move straight into this contemporary and streamlined family abode freshly completed in 2015. Boasting quality finishes, spacious living areas, a separate kid’s wing and superb home theatre, everything you need is here. Act now – You won’t find better at this price !!

CONTACT Todd Utley PHONE 0417 910 967 EMAIL todd.utley@peard.com.au

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

47

FOR SALE This fantastically spacious home on a large 576sqm in The Butler area of Butler is an absolute must see. You will be 12 Claremorris Parkway Green impressed with the way the space flows in this home with

Butler 27 Langport Way

bed 4 bath 2 car 2

bed 3 bath 2 car 2

From $439,000

Butler 50 Pembury Way

$399,000-$419,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Canning Vale 10 Caladenia Place

From $749,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Canning Vale 9 Dorchester Turn

$799,000 plus bed 4 bath 2 car 2 48

front occasional living/large study, cinema/living, kitchen living dining area & 4 spacious bedrooms. This home is going to suit the family buyer as it ticks all the boxes CONTACTS Paul Turner/Steve Wilcox PHONE 0400 072 005/0421 277 366 EMAIL paul.turner@peard.com.au

You have worked hard, paid your taxes and maybe even set your kids up, but now its time to enjoy what you have longed for. There is no better way than this stress free 3x2 downsizer positioned in a picture perfect location overlooking a wonderful park with all you need to just lock up and leave.

Kick back and relax, its all done for you.

CONTACTS Steve Wilcox/Paul Turner PHONE 0421 277 366/0400 072 005 EMAIL steve.wilcox@peard.com.au

Your Own Private Paradise Amazing 4x2 plus study. Big block below ground pool, 6 x 4 powered workshop with too many extras to list this is a must see. Check out all pictures on Internet. Walking distance to shops schools parks and transport.

CONTACT Karen Willis PHONE 0437 704 427 EMAIL karen.willis@peard.com.au

Class and Elegance all the way In ""RANFORD ESTATE"" tucked in a secluded little pocket close to everything is this very elegant home. A Two storey home complete luxury and finished to the highest quality this home is a delight to present If you are looking for a highly finished luxury home this is it.

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

CONTACT Jemima Botha PHONE 0416 406 410 EMAIL jemima.botha@peard.com.au

Mid to High $300,000

PHONE 0448 803 741 EMAIL tammy.peard@peard.com.au

Butler 8 Newmarket Parade

$510,000-$530,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Astute buyers seeking a luxurious, low maintenance entertainer will appreciate immediate value in this quality constructed ex-display home set in tranquil setting overlooking fabulous open space and enjoying wonderful ocean views. This property will most certainly take your breath away and is in a class of its own!!

CONTACTS Steve Wilcox/Paul Turner PHONE 0421 277 366/0400 072 005 EMAIL steve.wilcox@peard.com.au

Canning Vale 40 Admiralty Road

Walk the kids to Caladenia Primary School This modern 2-storey residence is located just 500m from sought after Caladenia Primary School. Opposite a beautiful lake, This property will not disappoint.

From $729,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

CONTACT Erin Phillips PHONE 0448 858 101 EMAIL erin.phillips@peard.com.au

Carine 19 Holmesfield Crescent

$859,000 - $909,000 bed 5 bath 2 car 2

Get into your own three bedroom two bathroom with double garage cottage home on a low maintenance block.

Close to the new Butler high school, parks, shops, butler train station and only a short drive to watch the sunset over Jindalee beach. Fantastic buying for the first home buyer or investor. Call Tammy Peard 0448803741 to arrange a private viewing.

CONTACT Tammy Peard

Tucked away in a quiet pocket of Carine is a home with its own delightful character and warmth. Views of the city skyline from the front balcony, open plan lounge/dining with polished Jarrah parquetry floors, formal entry, air conditioning, newly renovated kitchen, large protected alfresco area, salt water pool with pool blanket, and wonderful lush, reticulated green gardens with a grassed area for children and pets to play safely and securely on a 684m2 block. Amazing home for families wanting space with CONTACT Karen Riches a great lifestyle location.

PHONE 0408 646 651 EMAIL karen.riches@peard.com.au

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FOR SALE Carine 36 Lorraine Street

From $749,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

Claremont 21/54 Gugeri Street

Mid to High - $300,000's bed 1 bath 1 car 1

Coodanup 15 Beacham Street

From $379,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Doubleview 3 Ryndle Street

From $1,100,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 2

Overlooking the Okely/Lorraine Reserve and steps from Carine Open Space is this elevated and delightful home offering a versatile floor plan to adapt to suit your individual needs. Fresh modern renovated kitchen, formal lounge and study/playroom, dining, multi-purpose room at the rear of the garage, cosy patio overlooking the tropical swimming pool, fenced grassed area, single lock up car accommodation plus plenty of off street parking on a sizeable 762m2 block; there is CONTACT Karen Riches a lot of home on offer PHONE 0408 646 651 for the money.

EMAIL karen.riches@peard.com.au

Carramar 17 Merrang Circuit

This beautifully renovated apartment in a small boutique complex is perfectly positioned to enjoy all that Claremont has to offer. With both the train station & the fantastic Claremont Quarter less than 300m away, you can leave the car in its secure bay. Youll be impressed with the quality of finish, this is a must view!

Connolly 26 Kingston Heath Court

CONTACT Damien Lloyd PHONE 0410 574 626 EMAIL damien.lloyd@peard.com.au

COODANUP Optimum building size for family (203sqm), land size (486sqm). Living/family area and separate area for the kids to study. Island kitchen table with s/steel appliances and lots of storage. Wood flooring, soaring high 31c ceilings.

Master bedroom features en-suite and 2 WIR. Fully reticulated gardens, under roof alfresco area.

CONTACT Chee-Boon Lee PHONE 0450 026 811 EMAIL cheeboon.lee@peard.com.au

Charm and Convenience You’re spoilt for choice with this 3 bed plus study/4th bedroom, 1 bath home offered for the first time in nearly 30 years. On a huge 831sqm block, with a functional floor plan and oodles of storage and space, below ground pool and huge outdoor area, move in and enjoy or renovate and extend!

CONTACT Sam Mannino PHONE 0402 822 457 EMAIL sam.mannino@peard.com.au

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Offers in High $600,000's bed 4 bath 2 car 2

From $920,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Cooloongup 4 Nabberu Loop

Buyers over $349,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 1

Doubleview 4 Danby Street

AUCTION bed 4 bath 2 car 2

A beautiful, elegant 2 storey home in a whisper quiet location near the fabulous Carramar golf course. Standing tall and proud on a whopping 674m2 block, this home offers so much flexible family living space both inside and out. Located near the Carramar shopping village, Carramar primary school, local parks, and the Carramar golf course, this house ticks all the boxes!!

CONTACT Berny Wales PHONE 0407 994 052 EMAIL berny.wales@peard.com.au

This stunning residence offers a luxurious lifestyle with fabulous quality throughout. The spacious open plan kitchen, family and dining areas feature porcelain flooring throughout and access to the attractive undercover alfresco entertaining, resort style heated pool and low maintenance borders. Also features a spacious theatre/lounge with bar, large study, air conditioning and plantation blinds, secure double car garage and approx CONTACT Carl Freeman 672sqm block.

PHONE 0408 793 037 EMAIL carl.freeman@peard.com.au

A super backyard will have summer lovers fighting over this property that has so much to offer. Big secluded timber gabled patio with decking overlooking a beautiful below ground swimming pool. If you have projects to work on then you'll love the 6m x 6m (approx) powered workshop that is sure to keep you busy over the weekends and after work.

CONTACT Mitchell Russell PHONE 0430 574 655 EMAIL mitch.russell@peard.com.au

Privacy and Proximity Armed with a list of must-haves? Look no further than this well maintained 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home just minutes from the beach, with ocean and Rottnest glimpses, and a long list of internal features including three living areas, two courtyards, heaps of natural light, air-conditioning and tons of storage.

CONTACT Sam Mannino PHONE 0402 822 457 EMAIL sam.mannino@peard.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

49

FOR SALE Carine 36 Lorraine Street

From $749,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

Claremont 21/54 Gugeri Street

Mid to High - $300,000's bed 1 bath 1 car 1

Coodanup 15 Beacham Street

From $379,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Doubleview 3 Ryndle Street

From $1,100,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 2 50

Overlooking the Okely/Lorraine Reserve and steps from Carine Open Space is this elevated and delightful home offering a versatile floor plan to adapt to suit your individual needs. Fresh modern renovated kitchen, formal lounge and study/playroom, dining, multi-purpose room at the rear of the garage, cosy patio overlooking the tropical swimming pool, fenced grassed area, single lock up car accommodation plus plenty of off street parking on a sizeable 762m2 block; there is CONTACT Karen Riches a lot of home on offer PHONE 0408 646 651 for the money.

EMAIL karen.riches@peard.com.au

Carramar 17 Merrang Circuit

This beautifully renovated apartment in a small boutique complex is perfectly positioned to enjoy all that Claremont has to offer. With both the train station & the fantastic Claremont Quarter less than 300m away, you can leave the car in its secure bay. Youll be impressed with the quality of finish, this is a must view!

Connolly 26 Kingston Heath Court

CONTACT Damien Lloyd PHONE 0410 574 626 EMAIL damien.lloyd@peard.com.au

COODANUP Optimum building size for family (203sqm), land size (486sqm). Living/family area and separate area for the kids to study. Island kitchen table with s/steel appliances and lots of storage. Wood flooring, soaring high 31c ceilings.

Master bedroom features en-suite and 2 WIR. Fully reticulated gardens, under roof alfresco area.

CONTACT Chee-Boon Lee PHONE 0450 026 811 EMAIL cheeboon.lee@peard.com.au

Charm and Convenience You’re spoilt for choice with this 3 bed plus study/4th bedroom, 1 bath home offered for the first time in nearly 30 years. On a huge 831sqm block, with a functional floor plan and oodles of storage and space, below ground pool and huge outdoor area, move in and enjoy or renovate and extend!

CONTACT Sam Mannino PHONE 0402 822 457 EMAIL sam.mannino@peard.com.au

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

Offers in High $600,000's bed 4 bath 2 car 2

PHONE 0407 994 052 EMAIL berny.wales@peard.com.au

From $920,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Buyers over $349,000

Doubleview 4 Danby Street

AUCTION bed 4 bath 2 car 2

This stunning residence offers a luxurious lifestyle with fabulous quality throughout. The spacious open plan kitchen, family and dining areas feature porcelain flooring throughout and access to the attractive undercover alfresco entertaining, resort style heated pool and low maintenance borders. Also features a spacious theatre/lounge with bar, large study, air conditioning and plantation blinds, secure double car garage and approx CONTACT Carl Freeman 672sqm block.

PHONE 0408 793 037 EMAIL carl.freeman@peard.com.au

Cooloongup 4 Nabberu Loop bed 3 bath 2 car 1

A beautiful, elegant 2 storey home in a whisper quiet location near the fabulous Carramar golf course. Standing tall and proud on a whopping 674m2 block, this home offers so much flexible family living space both inside and out. Located near the Carramar shopping village, Carramar primary school, local parks, and the Carramar golf course, this house ticks all the boxes!!

CONTACT Berny Wales

A super backyard will have summer lovers fighting over this property that has so much to offer. Big secluded timber gabled patio with decking overlooking a beautiful below ground swimming pool. If you have projects to work on then you'll love the 6m x 6m (approx) powered workshop that is sure to keep you busy over the weekends and after work.

CONTACT Mitchell Russell PHONE 0430 574 655 EMAIL mitch.russell@peard.com.au

Privacy and Proximity Armed with a list of must-haves? Look no further than this well maintained 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home just minutes from the beach, with ocean and Rottnest glimpses, and a long list of internal features including three living areas, two courtyards, heaps of natural light, air-conditioning and tons of storage.

CONTACT Sam Mannino PHONE 0402 822 457 EMAIL sam.mannino@peard.com.au View more properties online at domain.com.au

FOR SALE Doubleview 31 Paramatta Road

AUCTION bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Dudley Park 38 Creery Street

From $335,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 1

Duncraig 142 Lilburne Road

$749,000 - $799,000 bed 4 bath 3 car 4

Duncraig 46 Oakapple Drive

From $749,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Perfect Blend of Location & Modern Living Fall in love with this charming, renovated family home offering modern conveniences perfectly blended with the original charm and character.

Featuring both formal and open plan areas, stunning wood floors, high ceilings, huge stylish kitchen, stunning outdoor entertaining area and so much more. Inspection will impress!

CONTACT Sam Mannino PHONE 0402 822 457 EMAIL sam.mannino@peard.com.au

MANDURAH Immaculate lock n leave in top location. A brilliant downsizer, this outstanding home is walking distance to Mandurah’s most popular attractions. Great kitchen and 3 private courtyards for entertaining or quiet retreat. Light, bright, secure and low maintenance, you have space and privacy without the hassle of a big yard.

CONTACT Maureen Parsons PHONE 0413 033 144 EMAIL maureen.parsons@peard.com.au

Doubleview 6 Williamstown Road

$879,000 - $939,000 bed 4 bath 3 car 2

Duncraig 10 Stenness Place

$749,000 - $789,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 3

Make this modern Lilburne Road home your new address and you will be in the centre of it all! With schools, shops, transport & beautiful Marri Park all in such close proximity, your family will love the convenience of living here! Fresh, bright & airy open plan interiors, 4 bedrooms (2 with new en suite bathrooms) plus a 3rd bathroom, and a stunning parkling pool for the summer, a remote double garage plus extra secure parking.

Duncraig 27 Tristania Rise

This lovely big home is set in a lovely location surrounded by quality family homes, on the best streets in North Duncraig.

This spacious home is in original condition but beautiful condition. The outdoor patio/entertaining area is surrounding by private low care gardens.

Duncraig 76 Granadilla Street

CONTACT Frances Goncalves PHONE 0414 136 151 EMAIL frances.goncalves@peard.com.au

CONTACTS Lyn Stowe/Anne Dearson PHONE 0405 109 113/0417 773 490 EMAIL lyn.stowe@peard.com.au

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From $2,900,000 bed 4 bath 3 car 2

From $698,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

Immaculate Family Living!!

A big home and even bigger value are on offer in this well maintained family home, offered for the first time in nearly 50 years. On a full 713sqm corner block, the home boasts 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and includes a separate granny flat. You’ll enjoy multiple living areas, well-appointed kitchen, large yard with alfresco, and great location opposite Hale School’s playing fields.

CONTACT Sam Mannino PHONE 0402 822 457 EMAIL sam.mannino@peard.com.au

Just new to the market and unlikely to last, this home offers amazing space inside and out, on a rare 846m2 block with a choice of 3 or 5 bedrooms! Sitting high on an elevated cul-de-sac the home also boasts an amazing location - just a stones throw from all the amenities that matter including primary school, shops and public transport!

CONTACT Namita Mehra PHONE 0409 920 737 EMAIL namita.mehra@peard.com.au

Live the lifestyle of the rich and famous with this beautiful home set on lavish 1743m2 in the prestigious “Carine Glades Estate”. Enjoy a full-sized tennis court, laze by the stunning resort-style pool, sip your favourite drink by the indoor-outdoor bar, or entertain under the large alfresco. Large formal lounge, generous dining, expansive casual living areas, large kitchen with a servery window to the formal dining, a computer nook, generous games room. Elegant marble floors adorn the casual living, study to the front CONTACT Namita Mehra of the house, ducted aircon PHONE 0409 920 737 throughout & security system.

EMAIL namita.mehra@peard.com.au

Superb value in South Duncraig. Situated on a 777sqm block, on the high side of the street overlooking Granadilla Park, is this lovely family home. It offers a fantastic opportunity to buy into this great location at an affordable price. Offering 2 separate living areas and easy care reticulated gardens. A little cosmetic TLC will transform this original home and realise it’s potential.

CONTACTS Paul Middleton/Sue Middleton PHONE 0419 939 391/0422 046 457 EMAIL team.middleton@peard.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

51

FOR SALE If living so conveniently close to the city and very rarely East Perth to use your car sounds like the ideal place to live, 52/99-105 Wellington Street needing then you need to view this great light, bright & spacious

It's not often you get a great modern home on a large 607 East Victoria Park block, so this property will certainly tick all the boxes 14A Nottingham Street sqm and possibly a few more.

bed 2 bath 1 car 2

bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Mid -High $400,000

apartment. Featuring 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, ample living space and 2 car bays in a secure gated complex.

CONTACT Dean Bradley PHONE 0411 110 779 EMAIL dean.bradley@peard.com.au

From $769,000

So if you're after a home and not just a house, register your interest today CONTACT Tash Welburn PHONE 0409 884 176 EMAIL tash.welburn@peard.com.au

Situated on a quiet street with wonderful neighbours when you enter through the double feature doors you will feel right at home. Only a 5 minute drive or 10 minute walk to the Vic Park Cafe Strip, restaurants, shops and hotels.

Wow! You couldn't get much closer to the cafe strip if you East Victoria Park 2/17 Canterbury Terrace tried, literally seconds from the action.

bed 3 bath 2 car 2

AND MUCH MORE...

bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Ellenbrook 63 Coniston Drive

Are you looking for a light filled, modern, spacious 3 bedroom home, with a great outdoor entertaining area, 2 large separate living areas and low maintenance gardens? Do you need access to public transport, medical centres and schools? Look no further than this beautifully presented home positioned close to Holy Cross College and Ellen Stirling Primary School. CONTACT Tiffany Bray

Ferndale 163 Ferndale Crescent

Whether you are looking to purchase your investment or first home, this property is guaranteed to impress everyone.

Sitting on a spacious 732sqm Green Title block and strategically situated within walking distance to the shops, public transport, beautiful parks and schools, this location could not be more ideal!

Be impressed by this amazing home sitting on 690sqm Gosnells situated within walking distance to the shops, 80 Southern River Road strategically schools, beautiful parks, public transport and many other

East Victoria Park 171 Carnarvon Street

$799,000

From $429,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Gosnells 59 Ashburton Drive

From $399,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 2 52

CONTACT Lynda Hastings-Smith PHONE 0404 383 629 EMAIL lynda.hs@peard.com.au

PHONE 0412 930 820 EMAIL tiffany.bray@peard.com.au

CONTACT Vicktor Sutrisno PHONE 0422 774 044 EMAIL vicktor.sutrisno@peard.com.au

Make this #1 in your viewing list!

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

From $719,000

END DATE SALE bed 4 bath 2 car 2

$420,000 bed 4 bath 1 car 2

Fabulous 2 story 2 year young energy efficient home eagerly awaits new owners CONTACT Tash Welburn PHONE 0409 884 176 EMAIL tash.welburn@peard.com.au

End Date Sale: All offers presented Tuesday 30TH JUNE 2015 by 6pm (unless sold prior) Buyers guide MID TO HIGH $500,000 A perfectly positioned masterpiece, in the heart of Ferndale, a stone's throw from the Canning River Reserve, local parklands, cycle paths, walkways and cafe.

CONTACT Seroja Kasli PHONE 0404 036 333 EMAIL seroja.kasli@peard.com.au

hosts of amenities. This location could not be more ideal!

CONTACT Vicktor Sutrisno PHONE 0422 774 044 EMAIL vicktor.sutrisno@peard.com.au

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FOR SALE Greenwood 35A Bankhurst Way

From $650,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

This absolutely gorgeous family home boasts a chef’s dream kitchen overlooking the open plan family & dining, alfresco entertaining area and private backyard. Modern designer décor, Blackbutt flooring, feature high ceilings in the living and dining, LED downlights throughout, ducted reverse cycle air conditioning, large double garage, and low maintenance established garden. Near new home positioned on a 548sqm green titled block.

CONTACTS Julie Vincent/Ron Vincent PHONE 0403 809 445/0403809209 EMAIL julie.vincent@peard.com.au

Greenwood 6A Daley Street

From $449,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 1

This beautifully maintained home has a neutral decor plus excellent storage both inside & out. The solar panels, roller shutters to the windows and dual access to the backyard are a bonus. An enclosed games room adds an extra living area.

Good size lounge, kitchen with breakfast bar, small water tank and lock up garage.

CONTACTS Julie Vincent/Ron Vincent PHONE 0403 809 445/0403 809 209 EMAIL julie.vincent@peard.com.au

THINKING OF SELLING? CONTACT ONE OF OUR PREMIUM PROPERTY PEOPLE FOR A COMPLIMENTARY APPRAISAL.

E.O.I bed 4 bath 2 car 3

Heathridge 15 Westerly Crescent

END DATE SALE bed 5 bath 3 car 2

From $449,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

PEARD.COM.AU

Harrisdale 8 Baldessin Avenue

Harrisdale 163 Keane Road

Located only 750m from Carey Baptist College in Harrisdales Vertu estate, this 4 bedroom 2 bathroom + Study, Scott Park designed home has room for the whole family and all the toys! With sleek clean lines and modern finishings you know you're on a winner with this one.

CONTACT Erin Phillips PHONE 0448 858 101 EMAIL erin.phillips@peard.com.au

A spacious and stylish family home including a granny flat, entertainers bar, patio and paved sitting area. Gorgeous succulent easy care garden beds lead you up to the spectacular pool area with below ground solar heated salt pool. Blackbutt timber flooring, renovated spacious kitchen, 20x solar panels - monitored inverter panels and separate systems to main dwelling and granny flat, Monitored ADT alarm system, reticulated low maintenance garden beds front and back, 2x huge rainwater tanks.

CONTACT Gaylene Bicheno Built 1984, 798sqm block.

PHONE 0419 929 616 EMAIL gaylene.bicheno@peard.com.au

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Harrisdale Whitmore Loop

From $460,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Hillarys 1/20 Coolangatta Retreat

$749,000 - $799,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Be impressed by this phenomenal 2012 built residence comfortably situated in a peaceful and quiet location within close proximity to the shops, public transport, schools, beautiful parks and many other hosts of amenities.

CONTACT Vicktor Sutrisno PHONE 0422 774 044 EMAIL vicktor.sutrisno@peard.com.au

6 LUXURY VILLAS AND TOWNHOUSE Brand new 3 x 2 homes fully fitted and finished to top quality specification. Choice of designs and colour schemes. Fully completed and ready to move in. Fabulous location, walk to Stockland Harrisdale Shopping Centre ( Under Construction Now). Call now for your opportunity to secure your choice.

CONTACT Mike Eldridge PHONE 0413 741 043 EMAIL mike.eldridge@peard.com.au

Set in a quality complex, beautifully positioned next to Broadbeach Park with walk trails, lakes, grassland & play area for the kids. Good sized private study, chef’s kitchen is spacious and well designed, large meals & family area boasts a reverse cycle split system air conditioner. Large double remote garage with storage area & shopper’s access, high ceilings throughout, wool insulation, patio with roofing, & bore reticulated gardens in the complex.

CONTACTS Kathy Hamilton/Simon Neilson PHONE 0497 333 000/0403 909 256 EMAIL kathy.hamilton@peard.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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FOR SALE Hillarys 169 Flinders Avenue

From $599,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Iluka 72 Romano Crescent

$1,095,000 - $1,145,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Make all of your coastal dreams come true within this lovely, freshly painted beautifully presented low maintenance townhouse. Private alfresco area, large formal lounge, tiled open-plan living and meals area, remote-controlled double garage, internal shopper's entry, storage area and visitor parking within the complex.

CONTACT Gaylene Bicheno PHONE 0419 929 616 EMAIL gaylene.bicheno@peard.com.au

HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME !!

Standing proud in an elevated location this superbly crafted abode will appeal to those looking for quality, generous living areas, a workshop & convenient rear access for boat or caravan parking. Includes study, home theatre & games room. Extremely well presented and priced, this home is an absolute must see !!

CONTACT Todd Utley PHONE 0417 910 967 EMAIL todd.utley@peard.com.au

Iluka 5 St Helena Way

$799,000- $829,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

$730,000-$750,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Joondanna 6/81 Baden Street

bed 4 bath 2 car 2

bed 2 bath 1 car 1

Kallaroo 10 Henderson Drive

From $799,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2 54

promises a lifestyle second to none. One of only two properties remaining. Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity!

CONTACTS Steve Wilcox/Paul Turner PHONE 0421 277 366/0400 072 005 EMAIL steve.wilcox@peard.com.au

A fantastic opportunity to live in a most enviable lifestyle location in North Shore Estate. Open plan living is the focus of the informal living areas which encompass the stunning kitchen, expansive family room as well as the lounge and dining area with tranquil outlook to the entertainment area. The secluded low maintenance back yard is a stylish haven for entertaining with pitched pergola, timber decking and built in BBQ. Seize this unique opportunity to buy this affordable property, perfectly packaged CONTACT Sheila Stritch for carefree living on a PHONE 0412 212 748 664sqm block.

EMAIL sheila.stritch@peard.com.au

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

CONTACT Todd Utley PHONE 0417 910 967 EMAIL todd.utley@peard.com.au

This magnificent residence redefines expectation and makes Jindalee easy with a floor plan that you can only love!

3 Windjammer Parkway entertaining Impeccably presented throughout lies this home featuring

Brand new Ventura Built Home set in the prestigious suburb Jindalee Jindalee estate, combining location, affordability and 37 (lot 1) Roundhouse Parade ofquality all into one. This 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home

$535,000

HARMONIOUS FAMILY HAVEN !!

Close to Currambine Market Place and just a short stroll to the beach, you cannot go past this versatile, convenient & fully renovated crowd pleaser. Boasting a study, soaring ceilings, natural Blackbutt timber floors, a wood fire place and a pool, all on a big 747m2 block, this home has it all.

CONTACTS Steve Wilcox/Kathy McGurk PHONE 0421 277 366/0451 669 139 EMAIL steve.wilcox@peard.com.au

Superbly renovated 2 bedroom Villa and located in a prime location. This would be the ideal first home or a great investment for the astute buyer. All the hard work has been done, newly renovated and so stylish. Beautiful kitchen, soaring ceiling, split system air-conditioning, private rear courtyard, landscaped front garden, lovely flooring.

From $399,000

CONTACT Phyllis Gemelli PHONE 0407 386 501 EMAIL phyllis.gemelli@peard.com.au

Kallaroo 12 Bigola Court

From $1,250,000 bed 5 bath 3 car 3

theatre room, gourmet kitchen overlooking spacious family & dining room. ducted air con, stylish floor coverings, window treatments and light fittings throughout.

Individually designed extra spacious home, rich in personality & framed by landscaped gardens on a 1051sqm block in the North Shore Estate.

The home has generous proportioned living areas, striking well fitted kitchen, open plan living area with a cheerful outlook to the tropical pool & spa with pool blanket & solar heating, gazebo, entertainment area & fenced lawn area. Ducted evaporative air conditioning throughout, bore reticulation & security alarm.

CONTACTS Sheila Stritch/Belinda Lawrence PHONE 0412 212 748/0432 547 921 EMAIL sheila.stritch@peard.com.au

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FOR SALE Kallaroo 19 Clyo Way

$699,000 - $719,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Karrinyup 25 Pawlett Way

From $899,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Kingsley 12 Twickenham Drive

From $725,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Kinross 2 Melfort Circle

$549,000+ bed 4 bath 2 car 2

You'll love the coastal lifestyle in this light and bright pristine spacious family home on a 624sqm block with a great floor plan and set in a whisper quiet locale. Welcoming tiled entrance foyer with security door.

The kitchen, dining and family room create a spacious light-filled cheerful living area, with a glorious tranquil outlook and flows out to the private paved Pergola/Patio entertaining area and tropical pool.

CONTACTS Sheila Stritch/Belinda Lawrence PHONE 0412 212 748/0432 547 921 EMAIL sheila.stritch@peard.com.au

Karrinyup 128 Newborough Street

Live the quiet life and enjoy the beautiful features on offer from within this leafy residence that boasts a slight elevation and a wonderful position in a whisper-quiet street. There is also a shaded side area for private outdoor entertaining, family room with a burning pot belly wood fireplace, kitchen with plenty of character, small library area or study nook, ducted reverse-cycle air-conditioning, garden shed, chicken coop, vegetable patches, splendid inland views and treetop glimpses. Look no further – this CONTACT Karen Riches could very well be your PHONE 0408 646 651 new home!

EMAIL karen.riches@peard.com.au

Karrinyup 26 28 & 28A Paine Court

Endless opportunities for this property at 12 Twickenham Dve, Kingsley with 4 big bedrooms, study, two separate living areas, below ground pool park location, walk to Whitfords train station, Woodvale college catchment Plus A WHOPPING 1,245sqm BLOCK. FOR PROPOSED R40 re zoning.

Kingsley 8 Alperton Court

CONTACT Lee Parkinson PHONE 0422 233 484 EMAIL lee.parkinson@peard.com.au

Set up high in one of Kinross's best streets is this lovely family home. Light and spacious, the property is perfect to move in and enjoy. 2 living areas, newly renovated chefs kitchen, ducted evap A/c & wooden blinds throughout living areas.

The backyard is terraced with the perfect place for a pool or Bali gazebo.

CONTACTS Lyn Stowe/Anne Dearson PHONE 0405 109 113/0417 773 490 EMAIL lyn.stowe@peard.com.au

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$699,000 - $739,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 3

From $399,000

Handy Pad in Hip Location This 3x1 home in a premium location is characterised by beautiful outdoor areas, Jarrah floors and decks, and heaps of handy parking.

There’s potential to expand upwards or out at some stage, but as is, it’s well presented, freshly painted and ready for someone new.

CONTACT Mandy Bizzaca PHONE 0409 915 210 EMAIL mandy.bizzaca@peard.com.au

Looking to build your dream home in Karrinyup but can't quite find what you're after. Well.... A fantastic opportunity has presented itself to purchase your very own GREEN TITLE block in a prime pocket of Karrinyup. Located at 26, 28 & 28a Paine Court, these level street frontage lots are titled and ready to go! This is certain to attract interest within the market & wont last long at this incredible price!

CONTACTS Ben Keevers/Les Lindsay PHONE 0404 056 010/0407 420 384 EMAIL ben.keevers@peard.com.au

From $649,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Kinross 29 Ailsacraig Ramble

Offers over $539,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

HIGH & MIGHTY Beautiful 4 big bedroom, 2 bathroom home, plus three separate living areas, in a cul-de-sac location. Includes a double lock up garage, below ground fenced in pool. Walk to train stations, Primary schools and located in the Woodvale College catchment area.

CONTACT Lee Parkinson PHONE 0422 233 484 EMAIL lee.parkinson@peard.com.au

Fantastic family home set in a quiet street close to park, transport & schools. This property needs a family! Fantastic chefs kitchen, huge open plan living with soaring ceilings, fantastic outdoor entertaining patio with backyard, suitable for a cricket pitch or pool. 638sqm block.

CONTACTS Lyn Stowe/Anne Dearson PHONE 0405 109 113/0417 773 490 EMAIL lyn.stowe@peard.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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FOR SALE Kinross 71 Selkirk Drive

High $500,000's bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Langford 138 Nicholson Road

From $490,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Mandurah 10 Hopevale Place

$699,000 - $725,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Mandurah 27 Amazon Drive

From $329,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 1 56

Situated in a leafy pocket of Kinross, this substantial family home combines the best of classic quality with todays modern conveniences and materials, creating a contemporary yet charming haven for your family. With an impressive outdoor entertaining area and sparkling pool, this is ideal for the family looking for space to move and room to play!

CONTACT Jay Dass

Landsdale 15 Chalkwell Bend

BEAUTIFUL RENOVATED PROPERTY 3 well-appointed bedrooms 2 bathrooms Built in wardrobe in the master Land size: 692 sqm

Lower Chittering 110 Citron Way

PHONE 0407 205 421 EMAIL jay.dass@peard.com.au

CONTACT Stefen Chitra PHONE 0403731 014 EMAIL stefen.chitra@peard.com.au

ERSKINE Situated on a large 3686sqm block. Located close to estuary and beaches this gorgeous 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home plus study and heated pool with spa has a lot to offer.

Features formal lounge and dining, security system, limestone paved outdoor area, wrap around verandas and large powered workshop/shed... the list goes on.

CONTACT Simon Goodwin PHONE 0432 039 627 EMAIL simon.goodwin@peard.com.au

GREENFIELDS This beautiful, substantially renovated home is a delightful surprise. The lovely modern feel is complemented by tile fire, ceiling fans and downlights throughout. The chic hairdressing studio could easily be converted into a granny flat or teen retreat. Parking for boat/van. Spend all summer in the pool. Be quick.

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

CONTACT Maureen Parsons PHONE 0413 033 144 EMAIL maureen.parsons@peard.com.au

From $649,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

$565,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

Mandurah 16 Tyneside Loop

From $420,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Mandurah 31 Middleton Loop

From $370,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 1

This elegant home has been cleverly designed and immaculately built to offer spacious, high quality, low maintenance living. Generous 540sqm block of green title land, brick & tile BGC home built in 2009, beautifully manicured front yard with paved triple driveway & double gate to back yard. Open plan gourmet kitchen, meals, family & games area, spacious theatre room, reverse cycle a/c. Paved alfresco under main roof with ceiling fan, beautifully landscaped rear garden, alarm system with video display intercom & solar CONTACT David Mead hot water system.

PHONE 0428 814 407 EMAIL david.mead@peard.com.au

Located in a newly established subdivision and surrounded by quality homes is this 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with open plan kitchen, meals and lounge, separate home theatre room and reverse cycle air conditioners throughout all on a fully fenced 5 acre property with spectacular views. This property has it all, just move in and enjoy the space!

CONTACT Samantha Hill PHONE 0407 666 905 EMAIL samantha.hill@peard.com.au

MEADOW SPRINGS This beautifully designed and immaculately presented house is truly impressive. Spacious open plan dining and living areas, excellent kitchen with shoppers entrance, great sized bedrooms, new carpets, freshly painted through, modern windows treatments etc.

Nothing for you to do, just move in.

CONTACT Rick Uren PHONE 0414 779 834 EMAIL rick.uren@peard.com.au

MEADOW SPRINGS Stunning and spacious double storey home located in a quiet street. Features 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, quality kitchen fitted stone benchtop, quality s/steel appliances, dishwasher, double sink. Ducted zoned r/cycle air conditioning. Powder room with separate toilet downstairs. Drive through garage for extra parking.

CONTACT Rick Uren PHONE 0414 779 834 EMAIL rick.uren@peard.com.au View more properties online at domain.com.au

FOR SALE Mandurah 36 Longmeadow Vista

From $499,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Maylands 6/33 Kathleen Avenue

From $299,000 bed 2 bath 1 car 1

Mount Hawthorn 72 Sasse Avenue

Mid $700,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 1

Nollamara 16A Berrigan Street

$449,000-$499,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

MEADOW SPRINGS Modern masterpiece with designer touches and luxury living. Built by Home Group WA and located opposite lovely park. Open plan dining, family and gourmet kitchen with 900 mm s/steel appliances, stone benchtops. Separate home theatre, study, separate activity room. Under main roof alfresco area with decking.

CONTACT Rick Uren PHONE 0414 779 834 EMAIL rick.uren@peard.com.au

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW!!

An extremely Smart and Extraordinary opportunity for First Home Buyers, Investors or FIFO to be grabbed with both hands!!!This enchanting two bedroom, one bathroom family home has plenty to offer, for the first home buyer this a great way to step into your first home, end the rental cycle.

CONTACT PK (Pankaj Kapur) PHONE 0424 194 509 EMAIL p.k@peard.com.au

This solid house has all the makings of a great family home.

Comprising of 3 good size bedrooms, separate lounge room with wood burning heater, large kitchen and dining room.

The home has been extended and offers a flexible floor plan.

With a mix of character features and some upgrades, this house is PRIME for refurbishment.

CONTACT Phyllis Gemelli PHONE 0407 386 501 EMAIL phyllis.gemelli@peard.com.au

Don't miss out on this near NEW middle Villa. Grab your bags & move straight in, there is absolutely nothing else to do, but to enjoy this QUALITY built home. Situated on a quiet street, within walking distance from the local shopping centre and Nollamara Primary School. Features Include open plan design, quality tiling throughout, entertainer's kitchen & s/s air con CONTACT Richard McNicol PHONE 0433 838 547 EMAIL richard.mcnicol@peard.com.au

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Mandurah 40 Moyup Way

$779,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Merriwa 6 Calder Retreat

From $365,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

Muchea 40 Steer Street

$515,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Nollamara 35A/B Maroog Way

$499,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

SOUTH YUNDERUP This is canal living at its best with open views to the Estuary and your own private jetty and slip way.

This beautifully appointed 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom Scott Park home has all you could wish for. Call for a viewing, you better be quick a property of this calibre and price won’t last long.

CONTACTS Pauline Bill & Julie Isherwood/ PHONE 0487 832 539 / 0499 778 496/ EMAIL pauline.bill@peard.com.au

Nestled in a quiet street, freshly painted on the inside and neatly landscaped on the outside, brick and tile home built in 1994, 591sqm (approx.) lot of green title land. Inviting front yard with low maintenance garden, sheltered carport, security screens on all doors and windows, tiled entry and main living areas, large paved patio for outdoor entertaining area and feature raised garden bed that could be converted to veggie patch or water feature, reticulated lawn for kids or pets to play and plenty of room for a CONTACT David Mead pool, spa and shed if desired.

PHONE 0428 814 407 EMAIL david.mead@peard.com.au

Located in the heart of Muchea is this neat and tidy 2 storey, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom cedar home situated on an approx 1 acre block. Freshly painted and featuring a study, family room, dining room, lounge room, games room, modern style country kitchen with dishwasher, updated bathroom and reverse cycle air conditioner. Don't miss out, give me a call today.

CONTACT Samantha Hill PHONE 0407 666 905 EMAIL samantha.hill@peard.com.au

Imagine deluxe hotel finishes, high ceilings and large rooms; you have just pictured yourself in this fantastic home.

All this while well located on the Southern side of Nollamara.

A & B AVAILABLE NOW! VILLA C UNDER OFFER! CONTACT David Weir PHONE 0402 930 908 EMAIL david.weir@peard.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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FOR SALE North Beach 26A Lawley Street

$865,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Ocean Reef 10 Volante Elbow

High $700,000's bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Ocean Reef 3 Tahara Vale

From $899,000 bed 5 bath 3 car 2

The choice is yours - wonderful lifestyle facilities are all within just metres of your front door to enjoy. Boasting a brand new chefs kitchen and ensuite bathroom this sunny north facing property without common walls, offers attractive timber floors, very high ceilings and plenty of windows which give it a light & bright presentation. Set upon a low maintenance lock up & leave 469sqm lot.

North Beach 7 Chrysostom Street

What an incredible opportunity to purchase this delightful coastal home positioned in a quiet cul de sac only one street back from the ocean! At a glance, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, study, front lounge/dining, open plan kitchen, family meals area, double carport and patio.

Ocean Reef 11 Aquarius Ramble

CONTACTS Chas Paridis/Les Lindsay PHONE 0418911289/0407 420 384 EMAIL chas.paridis@peard.com.au

CONTACT Pauline Lyon PHONE 0427 968 070 EMAIL pauline.lyon@peard.com.au

From $1,050,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

From $1,999,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Wooden floorboards give a warm welcome throughout the hall & living spaces, while the ceiling with recessed lighting in the lounge room.

Well- equipped kitchen, patio & an alfresco area with a built-in pizza oven & BBQ, pool with a spa bordered by an easy to maintain garden.

Electric security gate, amazing amount of space underneath the house, an undercroft which currently accommodates a theatre room, the third bedroom, laundry and additional bathroom. This is a beachside home with bags of character, an CONTACT Ben Keevers ideal location and loads PHONE 0404 056 010 of potential.

EMAIL ben.keevers@peard.com.au

This beautiful home is less than 18 months old and presents as a display home. With panoramic ocean views, modern dĂŠcor, quality fixtures , spacious living & outstanding outdoors, it will suit new or established buyers. Beautiful kitchen has ocean views & overlooks the pool, outdoors & open living areas. Stunning views from the oversize master. Great outdoors with ocean views, alfresco, pool, easy care gardens & spacious balcony. Ducted air-conditioning, alarm, laundry storage & huge garage. Block 707 sqm. CONTACT Shane Capelli Year Built 2014 PHONE 0410 339 499 EMAIL shane.capelli@peard.com.au

This spacious family home is an entertainers delight. Enjoy cocktails from the Balinese style gazebo overlooking the saltwater pool. The home is beautifully renovated with the latest trends in modern decor throughout. The layout is practical & open plan. Situated in a quiet street within walking distance of the beach, boat harbour, coastal walk and cycle trails.

CONTACT Juliet Wills PHONE 0411 782 808 EMAIL juliet.wills@peard.com.au

Ocean Reef 4 Thimble Court From $935,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Ocean Reef 4 Windward Loop

From $799,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2 58

Fully renovated family home with separate office, lounge/ theatre room, kitchen with pendant lights over a large island bench overlooking the covered and paved alfresco, landscaped lit rear garden & salt water solar heated pool. Ducted reverse cycle air-conditioning, boat parking, alarm, 730m2 block. Walk to foreshore reserve, Ocean Reef Boat Harbour, Mirror Park, shops, schools and Mullaloo Beach.

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

CONTACTS Shane Capelli/Juliet Wills PHONE 0410 339 499/0411 782 808 EMAIL shane.capelli@peard.com.au

Endless Horizons Thimble Court is one of the highest streets bordering the Perth coastline. It has sweeping panoramic views from the City to Fremantle, Scarborough to Rottnest Island & beyond. Huge rooms with high ceilings. A grand central staircase dominates the entrance & the tropical landscaped solar heated pool is protected from the elements.

Stamp your mark to make her sparkle.

Juliet Wills 0411 782 808 juliet.wills@peard.com.au

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FOR SALE

evolutionsettlements.com.au | p: 9273 8977 Licensee Evolution Settlements Pty Ltd T/A Evolution Settlements View more properties online at domain.com.au Licensed Real Estate Settlement Agent ABN 30 528 638 171

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

59

FOR SALE From the moment you walk through the front door you are Ocean Reef with bright & easy open plan living, freshly painted 115 Constellation Drive greeted throughout with light wood look flooring in all main living

Padbury 16 Carterton Place

bed 4 bath 2 car 2

bed 4 bath 2 car 1

From $699,000

Padbury 32 Hubbard Drive

From $649,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

Padbury 53 Macquarie Avenue

From $539,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 0

Port Kennedy 21 Emden Link

Offers Over $525,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2 60

areas & carpets that blend seamlessly give this house a natural flow, large pitched patio, BG sparkling pool & limestone retained easy maintenance gardens.

CONTACT Pauline Lyon PHONE 0427 968 070 EMAIL pauline.lyon@peard.com.au

From $649,000

Situated in one of Padbury's best streets, this immaculately presented north-facing residence offers a family friendly floor plan, tranquil gardens & an array of living & entertaining spaces both inside & out. Spacious kitchen with outlook to the pool, solar panels, large all seasons outdoor entertaining area, below ground pool & powered shed for additional storage. The elevated block delivers CONTACT Jarrod O'Neil splendid inland views PHONE 0411 103 617 & ocean glimpses. EMAIL jarrod.oneil@peard.com.au

Padbury 48 Simpson Drive

Nestled on a large 720sqm block in the City of Joondalup's proposed re-zoning (R40), this beautifully renovated property boasts more features than the average home.

Featuring 3 separate living areas, spacious bedrooms and a large backyard complete with gorgeous gardens, all you have to do is move in and enjoy! Grab this one and run!

Parkwood 3/23 Golf Road

CONTACT Jarrod O'Neil PHONE 0411 103 617 EMAIL jarrod.oneil@peard.com.au

4x2x2 in sought after Kennedy Park location, stunning below ground pool, fabulous entertaining areas to the alfresco and huge patio. Light bright and modern open plan design family room, meals area and island bench kitchen, Separate theatre room & activity room.

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

CONTACT Melissa Mendes PHONE 0400 459 411 EMAIL melissa.mendes@peard.com.au

From $619,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

From $349,000 bed 2 bath 1 car 1

Port Kennedy 7 Beagle Place

$388,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Situated in a quiet Pinnaroo Heights cul-de-sac this spacious 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home has plenty of room for the growing family. The home is just waiting for your personal touch & features spacious living areas, large blank canvas backyard, spacious kitchen, large outdoor entertaining area with built in gas BBQ, below ground pool, potential drive through access, CONTACT Jarrod O'Neil garden shed, year built PHONE 0411 103 617 1986 (approx.) EMAIL jarrod.oneil@peard.com.au

Located in a quiet, family friendly street with renovated kitchen, 2 separate living areas, reverse cycle air conditioning, solar hot water system, alarm, security screens, large all seasons outdoor entertaining area, grassed areas for the kids, cubby house, reticulated easy care gardens, lock up parking with electric door and drive through access to the backyard and additional CONTACT Jarrod O'Neil parking for your PHONE 0411 103 617 boat/caravan. EMAIL jarrod.oneil@peard.com.au

Do not miss this golden opportunity to secure a renovated two bedroom home strategically situated within walking distance to Riverton Forum shopping centre, public transport, restaurants and many other hosts of amenities.

CONTACT Vicktor Sutrisno PHONE 0422 774 044 EMAIL vicktor.sutrisno@peard.com.au

This family friendly 4x2 property offers you 3 separate living areas starting from the formal lounge and dining to the central family room and step down to the games room over looking the spacious back garden which is a blank canvas just waiting for your creativity and flair. Well sized patio area to entertain friends and family. Plus there's a powered workshop for the CONTACT Melissa Mendes handyperson.

PHONE 0400 459 411 EMAIL melissa.mendes@peard.com.au

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FOR SALE Quinns Rocks 3 Aleri Circuit

From $499,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Safety Bay 286 Safety Bay Road

$1,050,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

Scarborough 179 Duke Street

From $679,000 bed 4 bath 1 car 2

Secret Harbour 69 Three Bears Loop

$635,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Fabulous size 4 x 2 home with activity & really generous size living areas. Boasts an awesome renovated Kitchen that would be a pleasure to cook in. Fabulous entertaining area with all weather pergola , built in bbq & loads of room to add a pool on this 598m2 block, that also has rear access.

CONTACT Jan Buchanan PHONE 0408 802 381 EMAIL jan.buchanan@peard.com.au

Kick back, enjoy the view, live the lifestyle and watch the world go by. Imagine watching the sunsets on a warm summers evening while taking in the beautiful ocean. Set on a 917m2 block sits this 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom lovely home.

Overlooking the shoreline of Safety Bay makes this home for attractive living.

CONTACT Graham York PHONE 0467 773 977 EMAIL graham.york@peard.com.au

Character Home Oozing Potential This charming 4x1 home is the ideal renovator’s project, with an upgrade of the original bathroom and kitchen sure to reap rewards. Highlights include the wonderful outdoor areas, character features and the versatile room upstairs. And it’s close to cafes, shops and Scarborough Beach.

CONTACT Mandy Bizzaca PHONE 0409 915 210 EMAIL mandy.bizzaca@peard.com.au

This gorgeous 230sqm good looking Dale Alcock home situated in The Break on a whopping 630sqm block is only five years young and has the lot. There is a HUGE backyard to do whatever you want: swimming pool, workshop, kids paradise. Great street appeal and address. Sought after area in ever popular Secret Harbour .

CONTACT Julie Pym PHONE 0411 436 537 EMAIL julie.pym@peard.com.au

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Rockingham 143 Parkin Street

$1,750,000 bed 6 bath 3 car 4

Safety Bay 8 Laguna Street

Offers Over $445,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 2

Scarborough 4/60 Drabble Road

$549,000 bed 2 bath 1 car 1

Shoalwater 5 Vitesse Approach

From $475,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

1644 SQUARE METRES just two streets from the waters edge.

A potential 5 LEVEL 19 METRE BUILDING could be built as a BOUTIQUE HOTEL OR APARTMENTS with commercial/retail ground level. Located in the WATER FRONT VILLAGE SECTOR which is GAZETTED AND APPROVED FOR HIGH DENSITY 5 LEVEL OCEAN VIEWS, lies this prime landholding with two current homes. CONTACT David Lomax PHONE 0409 084 940 EMAIL david.lomax@peard.com.au

You will just love this stunning home in top location it has the presentation of a show home and is very close to beaches, shops and schools. Built on a 809sqm block of land with wide side access to huge powered workshop. The outdoor living is a real feature of this home, it has cafe blinds all around, high ceilings and can accommodate the largest family parties.

CONTACT Fran Satherley PHONE 0414 447 343 EMAIL fran.satherley@peard.com.au

With only 5 minutes walk to the beach this home offers one lucky buyer an excellent lifestyle, this street front home has a huge outdoor entertaining area, lock-up garage & ample parking at front. No strata fees, good rent return, great secure entry, reverse cycle air-conditioning, newly installed hot water system, refurbished kitchen, high ceilings, painted throughout, polished jarrah floorboards, massive outdoors with tranquil timber decked tree covered entertaining area, water feature & mango tree!

CONTACT Leigh Wilson Desirable South Scarborough PHONE 0410 056 092 location.

EMAIL leigh.wilson@peard.com.au

If you like your home space to be open plan and flexible, then this is the spot for you. This neutrally decorated 4x2 house in a quiet Shoalwater street has the kind of interior layout designed to suit those who like their living space expansive and bright as a button with a mix of carpets and tiling throughout.

CONTACT Andreas Nikakos PHONE 0413 962 074 EMAIL andreas.nikakos@peard.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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FOR SALE Shoalwater 57 Eldon Street

$529,000 bed 5 bath 2 car 2

Sorrento 25 Elfreda Avenue

From $899,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Swanbourne 22 Nidjalla Loop

Auction bed 4 bath 2 car 2

The Vines 9 Merlot Court

From $589,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2 62

Sellers have decided to move on and need to sell. This large family home is just waiting for you to add your own personal touches. Complete with 3 living areas 4 bedrooms all with robes plus a study or 5th bedroom. Open plan living with modern kitchen with easy care tiles. Located in the sort after Anchorage Estate call now and book in your viewing.

CONTACT Phil Carnaby PHONE 0418 910 824 EMAIL phil.carnaby@peard.com.au

Shoalwater 7 Celtic Crescent

Offers Over $479,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

A beautiful residence in old Sorrento which combines elegant, resort-style living with sophisticated decor throughout. Stunning Jarrah floorboards throughout the home gives a wonderful depth and character to each room. Thanks to an extremely tasteful renovation, this is a house which will deliver on every level. With split system air conditioning throughout, the lounge, living room and open plan dining room are generously proportioned and there's a great sense of light and space. A wine cellar/bar area is CONTACT Ben Keevers a useful spot to enjoy PHONE 0404 056 010 a sundowner.

EMAIL ben.keevers@peard.com.au

Stirling 3 Avocet Road

Must see, modern, light & bright 4 year old home set quietly in sought after Swanbourne. Surrounded by modern homes, this is the ideal easy care home for all the family to enjoy.

Featuring fun outdoor pergola, solar heated pool, open plan chefs kitchen plus spacious lounge, dining and family rooms overlooking pool area.

Tapping 14 Nobel View

CONTACT David Lynch PHONE 0409 955 554 EMAIL david.lynch@peard.com.au

Do you love federation features such as solid Jarrah Floor boards, decorative cornicing and fire places? Are you looking for a family home where the kids can play safely in your backyard and be seen from all the living areas? Do you love entertaining and look forward to relaxing in the spa at the end of a hard day overlooking gardens? If yes, then this could be your next CONTACT Tiffany Bray family home!

PHONE 0412 930 820

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

EMAIL tiffany.bray@peard.com.au

PHONE 0400 459 411 EMAIL melissa.mendes@peard.com.au

Not your average duplex, this home sits on a huge 597sqm blk with drive through access to a 6x6 double colourbond garage. Modern kitchen & bathroom, plenty of room out the back for the kids to play in a fantastic location close to Sheldrake Reserve. Features include kitchen/meals with Tasmanian oak floors and air conditioner & large separate lounge with a/c. CONTACT Shaun Pettit

$549,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 1

PHONE 0411 725 511 EMAIL shaun.pettit@peard.com.au

Mid- High $600,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

Trigg 45 Floyd Street

$1,600,000 bed 2 bath 1 car 1

This immaculate presented Gemmill Home built property has room to move and has space for the whole family. The floor plan is modern in design and has on offer 4 spacious bedrooms 2 bathrooms, huge open plan tiled family room, games room, kitchen, plus open lounge/home theatre for the movie enthusiast and is located in the modern sought after pocket of Shoalwater. CONTACT Melissa Mendes

A stunning, beautifully presented, spacious family home sitting high and proud on the street. With plenty of space for the whole family to enjoy, decorated throughout to a high standard with attention to detail, and all the extras for todays modern living. Homes of this calibre and class are always in high demand, so act fast to secure today!!

CONTACT Berny Wales PHONE 0407 994 052 EMAIL berny.wales@peard.com.au

Positioned on the crest of the Kathleen Street hillside with uninterrupted ocean views down the street, sits an original fisherman's cottage on a generous corner block of 711sqm. This site has building friendly dimensions, dual vehicle access and the promise of 180 degree panoramic water views from a second level.

Elevated above the drone of the traffic, yet so close to the natural beauty of the Trigg Island foreshore and CONTACT Les Lindsay Clarko Reserve.

PHONE 0407 420 384 EMAIL les.lindsay@peard.com.au

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FOR SALE Two Rocks 24 Leichhardt Drive

$599,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 1

Waikiki 14 Hazlett Place

Buyers Over $349,000 bed 4 bath 1 car 1

Warnbro 36 Mulloway Place

Buyers Over $349,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 1

West Leederville 15 Kimberley Street

Mid - High $900,000 bed 4 bath 1

Stunning, spectacular, exquisite in one word wow! Leave the hustle & bustle of the city behind and enjoy holiday feeling all year round in this unique and exceptional property. Only meters to the beach this artistic timber pole house offers a relaxed, sophisticated atmosphere while providing all the luxury of a modern lifestyle.

CONTACT Peggy Middelveld PHONE 0415 566 825 EMAIL peggy.middelveld@peard.com.au

This 4x1 in a quiet cul-de-sac is packed full of extras that will make living here so easy. Complete with reverse cycle a/c, modern kitchen with 900mm cooker, dishwasher, roller shutters, solar panels, side access and below ground pool.

Located close to shops, schools and parks. All you need to do is add your personal touches and make this house your home.

CONTACT Phil Carnaby PHONE 0418 910 824 EMAIL phil.carnaby@peard.com.au

You couldn't help but fall in love with this beautiful home, and from the moment you step onto the driveway with the maintenance free front garden you will be impressed.

Beautifully presented living areas, featuring a lounge room, dining area and a well-appointed kitchen overlooking the easy access massive outdoor entertaining patio area.

CONTACT Graham York PHONE 0467 773 977 EMAIL graham.york@peard.com.au

Only so often does a property of this calibre become available for you to enjoy. Located in a great spot close to cafes, shopping, almost smack bang in the middle of Subiaco and Leederville the locale of this Federation style property simply cannot be faulted.

CONTACT Dean Bradley PHONE 0411 110 779 EMAIL dean.bradley@peard.com.au

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Victoria Park 6/13 McMaster Street

From $535,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Warnbro 14 Redfin Close

Buyers Over $349,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 1

Waterford 6 Waterford Avenue

From $979,000 bed 4 bath 2 car 2

West Perth 177D Fitzgerald Street

Auction bed 3 bath 3 car 2

Be quick to secure this magnificent top floor apartment with CITY VIEWS. ONLY 6 apartments in the group, with 2 on each level.

You only have to literally walk a few houses to the cafe strip where you can enjoy numerous restaurants, cafes, shops and so much more.

CONTACT Tash Welburn PHONE 0409 884 176 EMAIL tash.welburn@peard.com.au

This thoughtfully designed home is one that you should have on your list. Complete with two reverse cycle a/c's, alarm system, security screens and roller shutters - this home is perfect if you work nights or work away. With a large patio area and low maintenance gardens that you will fall in love with. All this located on a 565 square meter block close to schools, shops CONTACT Phil Carnaby and transport.

PHONE 0418 910 824 EMAIL phil.carnaby@peard.com.au

INVESTMENT PARADISE! CLOSE TO CURTIN UNIVERSITY AND WATERFORD PLAZA! 4 good size bedrooms A study area (can be turn into a bedroom) 2 bathrooms (one being an ensuite) Open plan layout throughout the property CONTACT Stefen Chitra PHONE 0403731 014 EMAIL stefen.chitra@peard.com.au

Fantastic investment opportunity or first home buy!

3 BEDROOMS x 3 ENSUITES. This opportunity is yours to purchase an end-terrace Townhouse opposite Robertson Park. Sun drenched open plan living, dining, kitchen areas.

Private courtyard. Corner balcony with northerly aspect overlooking Robertson Park.

CONTACTS Ros Conway/Caroline Bicknell PHONE 0435 609 428/0405 763 301 EMAIL ros.conway@peard.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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FOR SALE Willetton 19 Scarp Terrace

From $689,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Yanchep 10 Hornpipe Court

From $479,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 0

Your first steps taken inside this home, you are guaranteed to feel like this is the home for you! Situated among great neighbours and located within close proximity to Southlands shopping centre, schools, public transport, beautiful parks, and restaurants.

CONTACT Vicktor Sutrisno PHONE 0422 774 044 EMAIL vicktor.sutrisno@peard.com.au

Fantastic opportunity to purchase this lovely 3 x 1 home on a huge 901m2 piece of prime coastal land, only a stones throw from the beach. Purchase as an investment now, & build your dream home down the track. Its all about the lifestyle & how you want to live. The choices are endless, but the choice is yours!

CONTACT Jan Buchanan PHONE 0408 802 381 EMAIL jan.buchanan@peard.com.au

Woodridge 75 Hilltop Rise

$490,000 bed 3 bath 1 car 2

Yanchep 12 Kinglake Road

Mid $400,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

This is a fantastic opportunity to secure one of the larger blocks in Woodridge with nearly 6 acres of land with a mix of bush, paddocks and a massive riding arena with the added bonus of a very neat 3 bedroom 1 bathroom home and 2 huge sheds.

CONTACT Tracy Kriwopischin PHONE 0419 998 306 EMAIL tracy.kriwopischin@peard.com.au

This well presented coastal home is all about the Yanchep Lifestyle, laid back & easy living with attention to detail, you will fall in love upon entering this stylish pad with large spacious rooms & absolutely no maintenance with the use of astro turf, everything has been done !! This home will be ideal for buyers of all ages to move in, kick back & just relax!!

CONTACT Pauline Lyon PHONE 0427 968 070 EMAIL pauline.lyon@peard.com.au

THINKING OF SELLING? Yanchep 6 Oyster Lane

From $399,000 bed 3 bath 2 car 2

Located in a quiet established street in the new Capricorn development this cottage style property sits just opposite beautiful bushland, very private and tranquil all that just a short stroll to the cafe and the famous Yanchep Lagoon Beach.

CONTACT Peggy Middelveld PHONE 0415 566 825 EMAIL peggy.middelveld@peard.com.au

CONTACT ONE OF OUR PREMIUM PROPERTY PEOPLE FOR A COMPLIMENTARY APPRAISAL. PEARD.COM.AU

Upgrade your Peard Real Estate listing to a half or full page ad to showcase your property in star style!

Contact Gabi for details on 0414 336 470 or email sales@premiumpublishers.com.au 64

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

PREMIUM PUBLISHERS

View more properties online at domain.com.au

BUNBURY

BUSSELTON

DUNSBOROUGH

COWARAMUP

MARGARETaRIVER

AUGUSTA

stockerpreston.com.au

Ambergate

RURAL RETREAT

Contact Boyd Reilly

0439 906 022 9753 0888

Perfect for a tree change, this large 4 bed, 2 bath home on a 5031sqm block is located in highly sought after, picturesque, rural retreat of Ambergate. Only 8mins from Busselton town centre, you have the best of both worlds. Enjoy your own tranquil retreat in a family friendly community with all the facilities of Busselton close by.

Augusta

OUTSTANDING OCEAN VIEWS!

$699,000

Contact Alf Fandry

0407 441 140 9758 0300

Set on a huge 1594sqm subdividable block this unique home has amazing ocean views of Flinders Bay and the Southern Ocean. Once in the formal entry you will find a spacious open plan living area, kitchen, and enclosed dining area with access to an alfresco deck for entertaining and enjoying the fabulous views. Ample parking and room for caravan and boat.

Bunbury

GENUINE CHARACTER WITH VIEWS

$1.1M

Contact Rosemary Lynch 0418 932 546 9792 1888

This beautiful character home welcomes you when you walk in with its mix of polished floors, plush new cosy carpets and French doors leading to the verandah from most rooms. Ducted evap A/C, fireplace and jarrah decking to the rear partly enclosed verandah gives extra space. Situated on an elevated block on one way street so traffic is minimal.

Cowaramup

HARMONIOUS FAMILY LIVING

$650,000 - $680,000

$475,000

Contact Beth Sibon

0418 937 438 9755 5123

An exceptionally well laid out floor plan makes for harmonious family living in this 4 bed, 2 bath home.

Constructed of brick and Colorbond, this spacious abode comes complete with a very workable kitchen, a formal lounge/sitting room, a double lock-up garage (including extra man-cave space), oodles of storage throughout, walk in robes in 3 of the 4 bedrooms.

Augusta $650,000

Contact Alf Fandry

0407 441 140 9758 0300

Bunbury

HUGE BLOCK ‘N VIEWS : HOLIDAY HOUSE Great inlet views, subdividable 1502sqm block, comfortable 3 bed, 1 bath with fabulous jarrah floors and huge open plan living, garage/workshop with its own toilet and laundry. Holidays, future subdivision and retirement are all options with this classic in Brady Street. View now before it’s too late.

BEACHSIDE INVESTMENT

Contact Alf Mainstone

0402 026 608 9792 1888

All you are looking for in an investment property. 2 storey with ocean views - no strata fees - excellent long term tenant - easy access to CBD - double bedrooms with robes - jarrah staircase - upstairs lounge - A/C - well appointed kitchen - rear courtyard - near new furniture included. You will be impressed by this recently refurbished unit in one of Bunbury’s best locations.

Cowaramup

FAMILY FOCUSED

$369,000

Contact Jill Turton

0418 933 345 9755 5123

Rough and tumble on the back yard lawn. BBQ with mates on the big covered rear deck. Watch the kids wriggle to the Wiggles in the living area (hide the lego and dolls house in the activity room.) Snuggle in the cosy lounge to read a book or two. All can be achieved in this well proportioned 2013-built 4 bed, 2 bath home with double lockable garage.

Cowaramup

DESIGNED WITH FAMILY IN MIND

$475,000

$575,000

Contact Bec Hannan

0409 988 593 9780 5777

If you are seeking a spacious home in a quiet location that has been meticulously maintained, look no further.

With 4 bed, 2 bath and 3 separate living areas, your new family home is designed to give each family member their own space, whilst providing generous communal areas for the family to gather.

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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BUNBURY

BUSSELTON

DUNSBOROUGH

COWARAMUP

MARGARETaRIVER

AUGUSTA

stockerpreston.com.au

Deepdene

HOME AND INCOME IN DEEPDENE

Contact Alf Fandry

0407 441 140 9758 0300

Rare 5ha rural property with house and short term let cottage, secluded adjoining National Park opposite Jewel Cave between the pristine beaches of Hamelin Bay and the seaside town of Augusta. An excellent lifestyle property with home and income, good water source from 2 dams, and cleared paddocks for the animals of your choice.

Dunsborough

HOLIDAYS ON THE BEACH

$729,000

Contact Chris Stott

0477 091 371 9756 8888

Dunsborough

BIG FAMILY, FAIRWAY HOME

$695,000

Contact Louis De Chiera 0418 909 899 9756 8888

Geographe $695,000

Contact Jason Cooper

0407 770 426 9753 0888

66

This 2013 quality built home overlooks the 4th tee and fairway and boasts 5 bed, 3 bath, 3 living areas and massive alfresco. Situated on a private 783sqm block close to town, community centre and playing fields, this home is stylishly finished to create the ultimate fairway home package.

LARGE LOT - LOVELY HOME - NEAR BEACH This is the perfect opportunity to secure yourself an awesome lifestyle in the heart of central Busselton.

Close to the main shopping precinct and the beach, this lovely quality built home on a 1225sqm lot will certainly excite the entire family. Quality built 4 bed, 2 bath with separate lounge, open plan family, dining and kitchen area.

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

$445,000

Contact Tony Branch

0408 921 812 9756 8888

Stocker Dunsborough Preston

This spacious fully equipped family cottage is situated in one of the most popular fully managed absolute waterfront resorts in the region. The villa has 2 large bedrooms and a mezzanine floor that can be used as a 3rd bedroom, providing room for the whole family to holiday in comfort. The resort is a short walk from the town centre.

$499,000

Dunsborough

A DOWN SOUTH PAD Located in a secure gated complex in central Dunsborough. 3 large bed, 2 bath, low maintenance townhouse. Small garden, A/C in living area. Complex has double tennis court plus swimming pool. Holiday let or live in permanently.

EXCEPTIONAL VALUE, LARGE BLOCK

Contact Laura Bannister 0429 956 664 9753 0888

When they say it’s all about location, they are right!

Situated in a cul-de-sac with just 17 houses, this is a great place to live in the sought after Dunsborough Lakes. With just over 1km from Dunsborough Town Centre you are spoilt for choice, with cafes, restaurants, local shops and supermarkets. Here you will be in the heart of the neighbourhood.

Geographe

ATTENTION SOPHISTICATED BUYERS

$525,000

Contact Justin Geracitano 0423 524 524 9753 0888

With 4 bedrooms, 3 showers, 3 toilets and 7 sinks, this impressive brand new home awaits your sophistication and class. Located in Busselton’s new Settlers Beach Estate, it prides itself on close proximity to town and the beach, with great walkways in and around the protected wetlands that Busselton is famous for. Extra large garage with a storage/work area inside.

Karridale

AWESOME LIFESTYLE PROPERTY

$579,000

$639,000

Contact Mark Murray

0427 030 301 9755 5123

Create your own private paradise within nature’s paradise at 173 McDonald Road, Karridale! 42.12ha of stunning rural land off a bitumen road, a magic dam site, numerous house site options and stunning views across the Leeuwin Naturaliste Ridge. Just a stone’s throw from the Karridale Tavern and beautiful Hamelin Bay.

primolife.com.au

BUNBURY

BUSSELTON

DUNSBOROUGH

COWARAMUP

MARGARETaRIVER

AUGUSTA

stockerpreston.com.au

Margaret River $419,000

Contact Clare Andrews 0448 023 265 9780 5777

Margaret River $449,000

Contact Susan Millar

0417 958 028 9780 5777

Margaret River

Margaret River

A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE A classic family friendly suburban double brick and tile 4 bed, 2 bath with 2 living areas, enclosed yard and a big paved patio, this is a very practical and affordable place to live. Perfect for owner occupiers or investors, the property has a northeast facing living area and is located in a good street near a large park.

A PLEASURE TO WALK INTO

DELIGHTFULLY DIFFERENT

Contact Morena Bamber 0407 503 072 9780 5777

Margaret River

ENVIABLE POSITION

$499,000

Contact John Mondy

0427 440 671 9780 5777

Contact Ken Preston

0418 932 747 9780 5777

Margaret River Stocker Preston

Lovely to look at, inside and out, is this immaculate 3 bed, 2 bath home. 2 living areas, north facing back garden with big pitched roof outdoor area, parking for 3 cars, with double gates through to the fully fenced back yard. All on 631sqm in Riverslea a few doors down from a large public open space.

Arrange a time to view this delightfully different home located in the popular Rapids Landing Estate in order to appreciate all it has to offer! 4 bed, 2 bath home with fabulous street appeal enhanced by the use of interesting materials and feature colours. Large 707sqm lot, interesting floor plan, plenty of storage and a fantastic north facing entertaining area.

$499,000

$430,000 SAGC

Located in a quiet neighbourhood, tucked in down near the Darch Brook, this 4 bed, 2 bath home in Riverslea is the perfect family home. Good size bedrooms, 2 separate living areas and a large open plan living area that leads out to a great outdoor entertaining area are only a few of the features.

ROCK SOLID INVESTMENT 2 office units are available in a high profile position on the main street of Margaret River. Affordable modern space in a great location with established tenants but also an option to set up your own business! Currently providing a 7% return, great investment for your super fund!

WALK TO TOWN DEVELOPMENT

Contact Chris Jarrott

0402 906 726 9780 5777

Margaret River is growing and demand for low maintenance central units is growing with it. This property offers the opportunity to capitalise on this demand. Zoned R30/40 and on 1021sqm gives you the potential to create a 4 unit site. Deep sewerage is available at the rear of the property lending itself to such development.

Margaret River

SIMPLY STUNNING

$495,000

$499,000

Contact Steve Harry

0428 933 327 9780 5777

Margaret River $679,000

Contact Shane Galbraith 0407 579 286 9780 5777

This gorgeous modern 3 bed, 2 bath cottage styled home has so much to offer, with fantastic street appeal and a fabulous floor plan. Well thought out and beautifully executed it has so many high quality features to list! Lock up and leave luxury with a faultless finish that is not often seen. Inspect now.

WORLDS AWAY IN THE HEART OF TOWN Come home to this delightful 3 bed, 2 bath character home and you’d think you’re in rural Europe! Set on a rare 2499sqm corner block on the beach side of town, this enchanting family home with 2 living areas (1 suited as a studio/granny flat) wraps beautifully around a private Mediterranean courtyard. The best of town and country only minutes to the coast!

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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BUNBURY

BUSSELTON

DUNSBOROUGH

COWARAMUP

MARGARETaRIVER

AUGUSTA

stockerpreston.com.au

Peppermint Grove Beach

CLASSIC PEPPY WITH LOTS OF POTENTIAL

Contact Larisa Tomuli

0438 272 932 9792 1888

With breath-taking seascape and suburb panorama, this 5 bed, 2 bath beach house has oodles of potential to upgrade if desired, or simply enjoy as is. Well built in 1986 and in a fantastic elevated location, this property has had some refurbishment to modernize the kitchen and bathroom but has stayed true to its original beach house form.

Quedjinup

ROOM TO MOVE

From $599,000

Contact Ross Sorgiovanni 0419 949 852 9756 8888

Only 10mins drive to town, this 3 bed, 2 bath plus study home on a 1ha block is located in a quiet cul-de-sac.

The home features a spacious open plan living area, vaulted ceilings, wood fire heating, A/C and timber flooring. The property features a 9m x 7.5m powered colorbond shed,. 2 rain water tanks as well as mains water, 2.6kw solar system and fenced veggie patch.

Quindalup

PEACEFUL QUINDALUP HAVEN

$775,000

Contact Joe Jordanoff

0498 935 086 9756 8888

Striking, contemporary luxury. In the heart of Quindalup’s finest locations stands this architecturally designed masterpiece that makes a bold statement in style. Tucked away in the peaceful beachside area, this magnificent abode is only 150m to the lapping waters of Geographe Bay. There are 4 spacious bedrooms, 2 separate living zones and a north facing alfresco.

Witchcliffe

SOMETHING FOR THE SUPER FUND?

$1.25M

$1.045M INCL GST

Contact Bob Scott

0438 907 656 9780 5777

68

Great opportunity to secure this 2456sqm Freehold premises in the town of Witchcliffe. Well established business has a secure 3 year lease with options in place. The shop front is vacant offering the option for someone to purchase with a business in mind and have the income from current lease or lease the area to new tenants.

PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

Peppermint Grove Beach

PREMIER BEACHFRONT LAND

Contact Larisa Tomuli

0438 272 932 9792 1888

Panoramic 180 degree ocean, shoreline and Capel River views from this 855sqm block in an elevated beach front location. A quick glance at recent sales for the area and you will see genuine value here. Beautiful swimming beach and Capel River for you to enjoy all manner of water activities. Pathway through reserve to beach and Capel River. 5mins drive to Capel town.

Quindalup

FIRST TIME OFFERED TO MARKET

$650,000

Contact Tony Farris

0417 951 838 9756 8888

Prime 1.42ha lifestyle property taking in views over Geographe Bay - stunning northern aspect onto protected old growth jarrah and marri forest - private treed boundaries and unique homestead position offering utmost privacy - perfect 1.42ha with generous 1200sqm building envelope - fully fenced boundaries with completed crossover and secure entry gate.

Quindalup

A STREET FROM THE BEACH GEM!

$565,000

$1.55M

Contact Peter De Chiera 0418 931 206 9756 8888

Yabberup $1.195M

Contact Debbie Bridges 0417 186 018 9756 8888

This superbly designed and presented, 4 bed, 3 bath beach residence is situated on a spacious 820sqm block only one street from a beautiful sandy beach.

Terrific indoor/outdoor living areas with bi-fold doors to fabulous alfresco area. Features include R/C A/C, log fire, terrazzo floors and double garage UMR.

2 HOUSES : STUNNING VALLEY VIEWS Stunning 45.24ha rural property located 20kms to the east of Donnybrook, off the Donnybrook-Boyup Brook Road in Yabberup, within the scenic Preston Valley. Established pastures on good soil types, water supply via 3 dams, fenced, stock yards and state forest adjoining along it northern boundary. 2 houses (main house and original farm house) plus studio.

primolife.com.au

Witchcliffe’s Finest Lifestyle Development

FROM $210,000 Huge lot sizes from 2001m2 - 5855m2

Stage 2 Finished Lots Now Available Winter Buyer Incentives Apply reserveonredgate.com.au

Contact Tony Farris: 0417 951 838 - tonyf@stockerpreston.com.au Office: 08 9756 888869 winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

PRIMOspotlight on ...

COOKING ON GAS Left, the Margaret River Hospitality Group (from left Anthony Janssen, Tony Howell and Alex Brooks) provided delicious canapes for the guests at the Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association’s launch party (pictured right) at Willy Bay Resort in Margaret River.

FIRST

AMONG EQUALS

Top chef Tony Howell and his team turned on the glitz for the launch of the Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association - a first for his new catering group, MRHG.

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

WILLY BAY RESORT in Margaret River was the place to be at the end of June, as it played host to an important launch for the region’s tourism future.

Feeding all the VIP guests who turned up to toast the newly named Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association (MRBTA) was left in the capable hands of one of the area’s top chefs, now heading up the Margaret River Hospitality Group (MRHG).

It was an important first assignment for MRHG’s executive chef Tony Howell, and especially close to the heart of the talented cook who has made the south west his home.

The MRBTA launch celebrated the unification of the Geographe Bay and Augusta Margaret River tourism associations, as agreed by an overwhelmingly positive vote by association members.

MRHG director Anthony Janssen said that he felt privileged to play an official part int the celebrations.

“Congratulations to the Augusta Margaret River and Geographe Bay

Tourism Associations for having the vision to unite our region,” said Anthony.

“Forming one tourism association will not only create consistencies and business efficiencies, but it will continue to build and strengthen tourism in the South West.”

Anthony said that he and Tony and hospitality expert Alex Brooks, shared the same vision for their south west enterprises - to create memorable hospitality experiences for locals and visitors alike.

“We all love the region and we’re really proud of it. We express that love and pride in what we do at all our venues,” Anthony said.

“Creating a sustainable business is one thing, but it’s not the only thing.

“We’re committed to contributing positively to the region by providing our staff with career opportunities and a great place to work, by giving locals and visitors great venues that they feel at home at, and by showcasing the amazing produce of the region.”

Tony, who boasts many awards, said that the region’s produce was a key factor in his primolife.com.au

IMAGES ELEMENTS OF MARGARET RIVER

decision to settle in Margaret River some 20 years ago.

“I first came to down south to help a mate out for a couple of weeks in the kitchen at Brookland Estate -­20 years later and I’m still here and loving it. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

“I’m honoured to have been asked to cater for the MRBTA launch ­- it’s such an important occasion for our region and a terrific move for the future of tourism.”

Tony’s no stranger to catering for tourism royalty ­- he’s cooked for superstars including Heston Blumenthal, Alex Atala and musician Sting.

“I’m excited about the menu we put together and the unbelievable produce we served - ocean-grown abalone from Augusta, pork and lamb from McHenry Hohnen, Leeuwin grass-fed beef, prawns from 34 Degrees Blue, fresh ricotta from Organic Creameries, and Temper Temper chocolate,” Tony said.

Gelato Buonissimo served scoops of gelato from an ice cream cart at the event that drew over 250 locals and media guests to beautiful Willy Bay Resort's lakeside reception centre In addition, MRHG also announced a new venue - The Common, located in the Margarets Beach Resort complex in Gnarabup, on the coast of the Margaret River region.

Locally-brewed craft beer and great food with a seafood slant will feature at The Common.

Anthony, who owned Gnarabar on the same site three years ago, said that he’s been working on The Common’s new $300,000 fit-out, making much of the furniture himself from local timbers.

“We’ve built a new al fresco deck that has ocean views and an awning made from recycled timber, a private function room, put in a new ceiling, new lighting, new American oak floorboards and created another outdoor area - it looks fantastic,” Anthony said.

“The Common will have a craft beer focus – the heroes being the local brews in our beer fonts, and we’ll also offer other Australian and international beer. We’ll also have a small but interesting list of wines by the glass and bottle," he said.

“The Common is ultimately a place for locals to eat, drink and hang out, that welcomes families and visitors alike." PL

Fast facts -

MRHG

Margaret River Hospitality Group owns and operates Morries, Gnarabar (under refurbishment launching as The Common), White Elephant Beach Café, Barefoot Beach Weddings and has a new venue in development in Dunsborough.

Partners of the Margaret River Hospitality Group are entrepreneur Anthony Janssen, hospitality expert Alex Brooks and award-winning chef Tony Howell.

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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anna's adventures

by ANNA HARTLEY

This month Anna Hartley tests out her funny bone in the strange, terrifying world of stand-up comedy.

“YOU’D BE SURPRISED at how many people can’t tell the difference between an Australian and an English accent. I’ll give you demonstration: an English person sounds like this “Hi, hello, how are you”.

With Australians, it’s a bit different. “Get #&*d you #@~*&!”.

Yep. Within ten seconds I’ve used two of the foulest swear words in the English language. It gets a laugh, and I get to stay on stage for a bit longer, which is a huge relief because if there is one thing more awful that realising that you aren’t funny, it’s realising that you aren’t funny in front of a live audience.

After hours watching friends and my significant other get up on stage in tiny, dark comedy dens, braving the harsh glare of the spotlight and the even harsher sound

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

of silence from an unamused crowd, I’ve decided to try my luck at an open mic night.

Sebastian Marx, a New York-born comedian who has been living in Paris for 10 years runs the ‘Melting Pot’ comedy night at the So Gymnase theatre. Its fancy address in the lively Bonne Nouvelle neighbourhood is a testament to his determination to carve out an English speaking niche in the French capital.

It’s exciting to be performing on a street packed with bars, show fliers and busy theatres.

The club is cosy and welcoming, with thick curtains, comfy seats and a low stage, adorned by a lone microphone on a stand.

Having arrived early, I stand at the bar and watch nervously as the room fills up.

Friends come to say hello and wish me luck as they find their way to their seats. My

discomfort grows, and my stomach, heart and skeleton seem to be trying to leave me for a better life elsewhere.

When the room is well and truly buzzing, Sebastian bounds onto the stage and begins breaking in the crowd. This comedy night isn’t called the Melting Pot for nothing: the audience is a mix of internationals, locals and tourists, speaking a range of languages and bringing with them a range of attitudes to comedy.

A local man reluctantly answers Sebastian’s questions, while his Brazilian date giggles at his discomfort. The Americans in the crowd woooo enthusiastically while the English chuckle and re-cross their legs. I smile wryly as I remember that I’m not the only one on the hot seat tonight: most live comedy primolife.com.au

walks a very fine line between hilarity and agonising awkwardness, in which there is no protective fourth wall, and the audience is never totally safe.

It’s time.

The comics scheduled for the night begin to approach the mic, one after another. Between sets, Sebastian lobs out his own well-polished jokes, keeping the pace upbeat, and helping to dissolve tension between unsuccessful comics. Half an hour has passed, and I begin to truly freak out, as I’m up next.

My carefully prepared set vanishes from my mind and my mouth goes dry, but it’s too late, I’m already onstage and lifting the microphone to my mouth.

The stage lights are much brighter than I expected, but I can just make out the encouraging faces of my friends in the dim.

I take a deep breath and go. The first part, you know. So how was the rest?

Some jokes hit the mark, some fail completely and I commit the cardinal sin of giggling nervously at my own material.Yet, I get warmer and warmer, from the friendly energy in the room and the adrenaline running through me.

Occasionally I can make out the distinctive laughs of my boyfriend and close mates in the crowd, and each one is like a friendly slap on the back, keeping me going.

It takes me a while to see the ‘time’s up’ light, from the back of the room, but when my last joke is done, I have a big grin on my face and an even bigger sense of relief.

I’m not sure what I’ve learned from this experience, except that in order to win over a crowd, all you need to do is to swear at them by way of greeting. I’ll try to remember

that for my next job interview. PL Anna made a spectacle of herself at the SoGymnase theatre, Paris under the supportive gaze of Sebastian Marx. He is a real stand up guy - sebastianmarx.com.Think you can do better? Lazy Susan’s Comedy Den, upstairs at The Brisbane Hotel, 292 Beaufort Street, Highgate hosts regular Open Mic comedy nights and performances by local and out-of-town comedians. Check out their website lazysusans. com.au for more information.

MAKE EM' LAUGH Anna took the plunge and performed live at a stand-up comedy show - and survived the experience still smiling.

On tourists:

“I learned a shocking statistic recently: for every one one American family that rides the metro... no one else enjoys their day”

On Mad Max: Fury Road:

“I was surprised to learn that George Miller filmed the entire thing at my old high school”.

On my shaved head:

“The less hair I have up here... the more I have everywhere else...I had imagined myself as a bit of a jungle warrior, Earth Mother type character, but it’s like I skipped the jungle warrior part and just went jungle”.

“Everyone wants to touch it, people are just non-stop rubbing my head... but I never get that reaction when I shave my legs”.

“When other people make style decisions I don’t agree with, I just keep it to myself... “Why the orange tan? Why the skirt that doesn’t suit you at all?”.

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Drisana's diary

with DRISANA LEVITZKE-GRAY, YOUNG AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR

A VIP trip to northern WA, an art festival and plenty of social media events added up to a busy month.

I WAS ASKED by the people at Propel Youth Arts WA to be a part of the KickstART Festival, which was taking place in Perth from April 7-27. The festival was in its fifth year and delivered an enriching program of arts workshops, discussion forums, performances, live music, special events and activities. They wanted to add Auslan, Australian Sign Language, into the program and that’s where I came in to volunteer to give two workshops during the festival on Saturday the 18th. My workshops were ‘Make Your Mark’ and ‘Get Signing’.

In ‘Make your Mark’ I shared shared my journey to becoming the Young Australian of the Year and tried to inspire the audience to make a mark on society and influence social change. ‘Get Signing’ was focused on Auslan as a language and I provided an insight into the Deaf Community and its language and the culture before explaining the alphabet and some basic signs. It was a great opportunity to be involved with KickstART festival, especially the fact it was for the Perth Community.

FACEBOOK AND APRIL THE National Australia Day Council worked together to organise a live Facebook Q&A Session with me during National Youth Week. This was such a great opportunity to be able to connect with people not only in WA but also nationally in Australia. I was typing from my laptop in my little makeshift office at home to the APRIL

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questions that were asked online. One of the questions I would like to share is: “Question from Nip: Hey Drisana! Congratulations the work you do is incredible and you’re such a wonderful role model for young people. As a young leader, how do you deal with the demands and pressure of all your work? Do you have any advice for young leaders out there trying to balance dreams, career, family and life in general?”

I answered: “Hi Nip! Thanks for your congratulations. That’s a great question, I am currently juggling work, studying as well as being the Young Australian of the Year which has its own set of commitments that come with it.

My advice would be to make sure that you enjoy what you’re doing, when you are able to enjoy the work/study/ commitments that you do as well as being able to be organised with your upcoming responsibilities (such as assignment due dates, work report etc) you don’t feel overwhelmed.

Most importantly, have fun and enjoy life! We are only young once!”

AS WELL AS being Young Australian of the Year, I am also the Western Australian Young Australian of the Year and with that title and honour the four WA Australians of the Year go on a Tour of Honour together in Western Australia to meet people from remote communities and to share our stories and journeys. Our Tour of Honour started in Karratha where we visited Baynton Primary School and launched the Aussie of the Month program there. We then went to Woodside’s Karratha Gas Plant and had a cultural rock art tour, MAY

4 Tour of honour

which was incredibly fascinating, and we ended the day with a Public Forum at the City of Karratha Public Library. The next day we visited Karratha High School and quickly stopped by an after-school mentoring program run by Aboriginal Students (Polly Farmer Foundation Initiative) before making our way to Broome. The next day we visited Cable Beach Primary School where there were two Deaf students. I visited their class and we had a fun Auslan session together! Then I had a radio interview at the Spirit 102.9 Studio before dropping in at a Commonwealth Bank branch to meet the staff. Up next was the Public Forum for Broome, which was well attended. There is still one more part of our Tour of Honour to come - the Public Forum in Perth on August 26 at UWA which is open to the public. Stay tuned!

I WAS INVITED by Twitter and Women’s Agenda to be one of 10 women presenting at the #PositionOfStrength Soapbox event in Sydney to give a pitch about something that I’m passionate about in 140 seconds. The aim of this event is to help women on Twitter share their expertise, amplify their voice and create a smarter digital presence.

Our pitches were shared across @TwitterAU and @WomensAgenda’s channels in order to inspire others to find their voice and help raise further awareness on issues of empowerment, personal and social interest. It was such a great night and an honour to meet other wonderful and powerful women such as Tara Moss who is the UNICEF Ambassador for Child Survival and Rosie and Lucy Thomas, founders and CEO of Project Rockit.

It has been such an amazing journey so far and I am looking forward to all the opportunities that 2015 has to offer for me.

I also made it on Women’s Agenda’s list of Australian women to follow on Twitter, you can see me at womensagenda. com.au/talking-about/top-stories/23australian-women-to-follow-ontwitter/201505125733#.VYOH4eezAbI. MAY

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You can link to Drisana's 140-second Soapbox pitch about Auslan as a human right for Deaf Children to access from birth at youtube.com/ watch?v=0Qw3bnby23, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @drisanalg PL primolife.com.au

ROBBIE williams

LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU TOUR 2015 9 & 10 OCTOBER PERTH ARENA TICKETS ON SALE NOW! winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PRIMOpeople

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

For the past 117 years, Perth Zoo has welcomed thousands of visitors, encouraging them to learn about and respect the animals within its walls.

Gabi Mills meets two of the zoo’s current keepers, working now, as then, to safeguard endangered wildlife for future generations. Images by CRIB CREATIVE.

IT’S MONDAY OCTOBER 17, 1898, and it’s raining. Nevertheless there’s a buzz around a special 41-acre site south of Perth because this is the day the city’s zoo throws open its doors, at 3pm sharp.

It’s taken two years of planning to get to this stage after an invitation was issued to Colonel Albert Le Souef, the director of Melbourne Zoo, to select a site for Perth’s very own zoological garden. During those two years the Colonel and head gardener Henry Steedman have worked tirelessly improving and planning the gardens with trees and plants from every corner of the British empire filling the flower beds.

In the first year, several animal exhibits were constructed, including two bear caves, a monkey house, a mammal house and, most endearingly, a model castle for guinea pigs. The first animal residents to move in to

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their new home were “an ourang-outang”, two monkeys, four ostriches, a pair of lions and a tiger.

No mention, curiously, of guinea pigs to inhabit that castle.

On that rainy Monday the then Governor of WA, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Gerard Smith, performed the honours, opening the gates for the first time.

The committee’s vision of providing an attraction for locals and visitors alike was not misplaced. In the first nine months alone, the zoo attracted 53,000 visitors, all paying the entrance fee of 6d for adults, and 3d for kids.

We’re told that Colonel Le Souef, a father of ten, particularly enjoyed the “big picnic days when the children visited the zoo in droves for pony rides”.

During his 35 years at Perth Zoo, kindly

Le Souef was an early innovator in terms of recognising the value of giving families a good value day out.

“He loved people and wanted to provide them with a cheap outing,” writes Mildred, one of his daughters. “Free rides, hot mineral baths, tennis courts and always heaps of cool shade in the blazing summer days, where they could picnic on green shady lawns.”

Elephant rides were a feature of the zoo’s offering until 1961 as well as beautiful baby competitions, concerts, a zoo train and a carousel, installed in 1947 and still in use to this day.

He also founded a museum at the zoo so students could learn practical anatomy and physiology, and free veterinary classes were available to farmers.

That same spirit of community and fun primolife.com.au

wrapped around a greater message of animal conservation endures today at Perth Zoo. Visitor numbers now top 620,000 per year and, with advances in understanding about animal behaviour, the way the animals are housed reflects the zoo’s aim of presenting wild beasts in as close to their natural habitats as possible.

There are 1,500 animals from 178 different species, all looked after by a staff of about 200. Gone are the cement and wire enclosures of 100 years ago, replaced with naturalistic exhibits designed to enhance not only the visitor experience, but also the animals on display.

The African Savannah is the most extensive and dramatic construction project and would certainly strike the Colonel as a marvel. Planned to be an ‘immersion experience’, it’s designed to make visitors feel as if they are part of an African landscape where they’ll spot zebra, rhino, giraffe, hyenas and meerkats as they follow a pathway which simulates a parched riverbed.

The zoo’s award-winning native species breeding program is perhaps one of its most important projects, with over 3,200 native animals bred at Perth Zoo already released

into the wild. Threatened species include WA’s fauna emblem - the numbat - and Australia’s most critically endangered reptile, the western swamp tortoise.

Tammy Goad, one of Perth Zoo’s young keepers, is particularly involved with this important work to save WA’s creatures from extinction. She’s been working for the past six years on a breeding program with two little critters you may never have heard of - the white-bellied frog and its cousin, the orange-bellied brog.

“White-bellied frogs are almost extinct, with numbers declining by about 30 per cent over the past ten years,” says Tammy. “They live in Margaret River and many creek lines in the area have fallen silent, with only one or two males left calling for a mate.”

The orange-bellied frogs aren’t doing much better, with such a narrow area of

habitat that a single fire event could wipe the entire population out all together.

It’s clear these frogs needed a helping hand to restock their numbers, which is where Tammy and her team at Perth Zoo stepped in.

“Every October and November we go down to Margaret River to collect egg

Since 2010, the program has seen the collection and release program gradually bringing the call of those male frogs back into the wild.

“Last year was the first time we found egg clutches in the wild, which was so rewarding,” Tammy says. “I love working in the field, seeing the frogs in their natural habitat and hearing the calls by the males.”

These little frogs are by no means in the clear. They’re under threat from natural predators, pollution from the winemaking industry, which affects the creeks they call home, and livestock and feral pigs running through their waterways.

“With the Department of Environment and Conservation, we try to educate local landowners to protect their habitat as much as we can by keeping fences in good

WILDLIFE CUSTODIANS Above, Tammy Goad working in the field to preserve the endangered white-bellied and orange-bellied frogs of Margaret River. Left, zookeeper Brendan McGill with one of his reptilian charges.

clutches which we bring back to the zoo to raise until the following September when we then release frogs back into the wild,” Tammy explains.

This year the program has produced 113 white-bellied frogs and 116 orangebellied frogs which Tammy will be releasing back into their habitats down south in September.

condition and stock out of creeks,” says Tammy.

“I’ll be back down there in October, to find the boys who dig a little hole to bury the eggs, and collect more for next year’s release.”

Like Tammy, who has had a passion for animals - and amphibians in particular - since she was a child, Brendan McGill, winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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people

Win

one of two family passes to Perth Zoo! Visit PRIMOLife’s Facebook page or primolife.com.au to enter.

Good luck!

Fast facts - Perth Zoo • Perth Zoo has bred 29 orang-

utans since 1970 as part of an Australasian breeding program.

It was the first zoo to release a zoo-born orang-utan into the wild.

Perth Zoo has never closed a full day since it opened on October 17 1898.

Perth Zoo’s volunteers, known as Docents, have been an essential part of the zoo’s make-up for more than 30 years. Three original Docents still volunteer at Perth Zoo - Jeanette Robertson, Eveline Read and Bob Wainwright.

Over the past 33 years around 1,100 people have graduated as Docents.

The leader of Australasia’s largest orang-utan colony, Hsing Hsing, celebrated his 40th birthday at Perth Zoo in June. The alphamale, recognised by his dreadlocks and impressive vocal call that rings out across South Perth was given birthday treats by his dedicated keepers in recognition of this momentous day.

Perth Zoo will be the hottest place to visit these school holidays as the temperatures rise to keep the animals warm all year round. The warmest spot in the zoo – for those brave enough to venture there – is the night-quarters of the prehistoric-looking Komodo dragon, Raja. Raja basks under a bank of UV heat lamps pumping out a whopping 45°C.

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senior keeper of reptiles, has realised a longheld dream by working for Perth Zoo. “I was a volunteer at Australia Zoo in Queensland before I landed a job there for 15 years,” he says. “I kind of fell into reptiles - I’ve always loved all animals, but maybe leant to love the more dangerous ones.”

Part of the appeal must also be the unpredictable nature of the job - this is no 9-to-5 role.

“I check in on the animals at around 7am, clean all the display exhibits before going through the feeding routine, do a keeper talk to guests and a snake presentation,” says Brendan.

With around 100 reptiles currently under his care, including Simmo, the superstar freshwater crocodile who’s now round about 70 years old, Brendan’s certainly got his hands full.

“You need patience, common sense and

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a passion for what you do,” he says. “I enjoy the conservation and education element in particular.”

With school holidays in full swing, it’s more than likely you’ll see Brendan in action if a visit to Perth Zoo is on the cards, doing his best to answer the questions he’s posed by young would-be zoologists.

“If I’m asked what reptile would be a good option for kids, I’d say a blue tongue lizard or Stimson’s python. Generally they’re the easiest to keep, but I always remind parents that they’re not toys; they have to be carefully looked after and have specific requirements.”

It’s a line of work that’s constantly informing and evolving; for instance, a new monitor lizard - the Dampier Peninsula monitor - was only discovered last year on the remote outpost of WA. “It’s only 16cm and is the smallest in the world,” says Brendan. “It’s still in quarantine at the moment and is the only one in captivity anywhere in the world. We’re doing surveys up north as it’s an area which is down to be developed for mining. I’d like to be involved in a breeding program.”

It’s this variety which makes Brendan’s role so rewarding, he says.

“Working with so many species has been wonderful - not even just reptiles - and getting involved in field conservation like up in Windjana in the Kimberley surveying freshwater crocs or sending Cuddles the reticulated python off to Murdoch Uni for a CT scan. It's never the same day twice.” PL

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Visit perthzoo.wa.gov.au. Perth Zoo is open every day of the year from 9am to 5pm. Admission costs are $29 (adult), $14 (child), $22 (concession/ student), under-fours get in for free.

primolife.com.au

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MY FAVOURITE THINGS ...

Kirby Burgess Ten years after its world premiere in Sydney, Dirty Dancing has returned to Australia and will be arriving at Crown Theatre on August 2.

In her first lead role, homegrown dancer and actress Kirby Burgess takes to the stage in the iconic role of Baby, which sees her dancing the choreographies and speaking the lines of one of her favourite films growing up.

While on tour, Kirby takes a whole host of things which remind her of home, things that are special to her, and for that all important opening night as Baby.

Images by KRISTOFFER PAULSEN.

TEAPOT So this is actually on loan from my sister. I only recently got into drinking tea and she said, ‘if you’re going to drink tea, you have to have fun with it’. And she’s right - making it in this teapot does make it a lot more fun. I’m really into liquorice tea at the moment.

PHOTOS These photos are with my grandparents who I am really close to. My grandfather passed away two years ago and I still really miss him and I don’t get to see my grandmother that often, so it’s just nice to have them with me. In one of the pictures, there’s my sister too which is lovely.

One of the last things my grandfather said to me was that he wanted me so much to fulfil my dreams of playing a lead. He never saw me as Baby of course so this show means a lot.

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STILETTOS These are the Tony Blanco heels I wore on the opening night in Melbourne but I am crazy about my heels in general. Again, it’s like the teddies and needing to have them all around you. At home I have probably near-on 40 pairs of heels and I take about 15 on tour with me and wear them all. I walk to work in them, wear them out in the evenings - you’ll never see me in a pair of flats unless I’m playing Baby.

FIVE TOP PERFUMES I have a bit of a perfume addiction. I can’t just have one - I guess it’s like a kid with their teddies; I need to have them all with me. I put on my outfit, look in the mirror and then choose the perfume which matches it best. Scent is just such a natural form of expression and such a strong trigger. I love it when people say they know I’m in the room because they can smell my scent. CK Beauty is the perfume I wear as Baby.

COCONUT OIL It’s sort of become a fad now but I’ve been using coconut oil for years; I can’t really remember how I first came across it. I use it in so many ways and have to have it on tour with me. I take my makeup off with it, I cook with it, use it for moisturiser and hair treatments.

FINALE DRESS The finale of Dirty Dancing is one of the most famous and recognisable numbers and I think most people who haven’t seen the movie would still recognise that scene - and this is the dress. I love walking on stage and feeling the anticipation because people know what’s coming.

It’s such a beautiful dress and it’s been worn by a lot of Babys around the world. And it fits like a glove, even though it is the only dress I wear in the show which wasn’t made for me. If I could take anything away with me from the show, it’d be this dress - but they’d never let me.

JEWELLERY Each piece of jewellery here was given to me by someone special in my life. There’s my opening night jewellery from the first night I played Baby - which is my first lead role. The rose gold pendant is from my parents and actually holds perfume balls in the centre of the pendant, so it carries a scent too. The silver bangle is from Tiffany and absolutely beautiful - it’s from Ben, my partner, for the opening night. Then there’s the rose gold ring from my best friend, Chloe. The rose gold necklace is a birthday present from Ben. It’s a sort-of third eye - like someone’s looking out for you on tour. The skulls ring is also from Ben. I love day-of-the-dead sort-of skulls.

We’d only been dating two weeks and he got this for me. It was pretty amazing

TRILBY There’s no glamorous story to this hat. I wear a wig in the show and unfortunately I’m not gifted with the type of hair that bounces into natural ringlets when I take the wig off. I look more like I’ve just put my finger in an electrical socket, so the hat covers up my hair until it has time to settle down after the show.

CANDLES I have these in my dressing rooms and hotel rooms when I’m on tour.

It’s like bringing pieces of home along with me. Sometimes for publicity we might be staying in three different apartments in one week and it can get a bit lonely sometimes, so it’s nice to bring the familiar scent along. A friend gave me the ‘Nobody puts Baby in the Corner’ one when I got this part.

UGG BOOTS You know that saying “home is where the heart is”? Well, as an actress and dancer on tour I’m often not in the same town as my partner Ben, so I prefer to say “home is where my Ugg boots are”. I’ve had this particular pair since I was 15 years old [I’m now 25] and winter, spring, summer or autumn, my Ugg boots are always on tour with me.

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PRIMOfashion

THESE BOOTS WERE

made for wearing Winter boots are one of the undisputed pleasures of the colder months. Vicky Sofield shares her favourite styles to keep the chill from your tootsies this season.

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AS I SIT at my desk writing this I’m wearing a pair of the world’s warmest and most comfortable shoes - my trusty Wittner Laken Chelsea boots (left) for just $219.95. They’re warm and the perfect attire for this chilly winter’s day.

Oh, and for your information, I am also clutching at my hot coffee cup in between body warming sips to try to warm up from said cup’s exterior before turning on the heater. And no, my desk is not located next to an ice rink. My office is just south facing and doesn’t get any direct sunlight.

This may sound slightly kooky to you, especially if you live for summer - let’s face it, that’s 99% of the Australian population, right?

Well, I’m going to confess that, being in the fashion industry, I’ve come to realise that some people actually wait all year for these chillier months.

They genuinely look forward to the crisp transition of winter just so that they can pull out their winter accessories.

And by ‘some people’, I also happen to mean me, myself and I. I personally love the winter seasonal transition and admittedly as I grow older, I have a new-found appreciation for winter boots and the varying styles that each new year brings with it.

Boots to me are the one and only accessory guaranteed to keep me warm from the ground up. In fact my winter motto is now: you’ll never go cold with a good pair of stylish boots.

I always looked on and adored the trend from afar, sticking to my stilettos, wedges and/or flats as I didn’t think that they could offer me such variety – but that’s all changed.

If you’re currently not so fond of the boot, let alone fond of actually wearing boots in the office, and you’re wondering how you could incorporate a number of them into your shoe wardrobe this winter, then I’m going to show you how to do so

in style.

So let’s start with one of my personal favourites: the riding boot.

These beauties were originally made for horse riding, so each pair generally rise up the leg high enough to sit just below the knee or just on it plus they will likely have a small 2cm heel which was originally intended to keep the foot firmly in place inside the stirrup.

Nowadays they’re great for running errands in and equally as stylish over a pair of jeans or leggings teamed with threequarter length leather gloves and a poncho, wrap or oversized overcoat.

Everyone needs a great pair of riding boots; like the Dakota boot from Betts or a lovely pair with a stretch panel at the back like the Tony Bianco Panache boot and the Betts Riding Girl boot.

Also I can’t go past Wittner’s Bridletop Narrow boots with their side top buckle.

The riding boot is actually my shoe of choice for international travel too, as they fit like a glove and if the weather is wet at the other end, then they’re perfect for skipping through puddles.

The next pair of must-haves that I’d advise for your growing boot collection has to be a pair of trendy Chelsea boots.

Chelsea boots are my favourites this season as they too will likely have an elastic panel that features at the side - although some of the newer Chelsea styles don’t incorporate the it these days.

These stylish boots will only come up to ankle height and will more than likely have a loop or tag at the back for easy maneuvering.

The styles that I already have (and some that I can’t wait to wrap my feet in) are the Susan Croc embossed leather Chelsea boots – these are just delightful.

I also love the Temper boot from Airflex, the Jonte boot from Wittner and the Chelsea Chain Flat boot from Louboutin – which are also a great choice if you’re primolife.com.au

WIN

two vouchers for a pair of shoes to the value of $150 from Betts. Visit PrimoLife's Facebook or primolife.com.au for details.

5

Good luck!

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4 9 9 lucky enough to have the budget to stretch that little bit further.

Next on the list is the moto boot.

Otherwise known as the motorcycle boot, these easily recognisable boots have a more masculine and edgy style.

We saw lots of moto boots last year and they’re obviously here to stay once again this season with their bold little features characterised by laces, buckles, zips and one main common denominator: bold hardware.

Varying in length, the moto boot can stop at the ankle or caress the calf and I can’t recommend Sambag’s Liverpool moto boots more.

Equally so, the Betts Carnage, Snow and Shorty boots are bold, grungy and a musttry for this trend too.

Furthermore, if you’re after a style to ease into this somewhat masculine boot wardrobe, then my recommendation is to opt for a pair of pretty feminine boots.

These beauties are completely at the opposite end of the moto boot spectrum with the name obviously stating it all - chic, pretty and feminine to say the least.

I could recommend and list many in this style as they’re my preferred boot with a heel – yes, think stiletto or block and as high or low as you’d prefer to go with Wittner’s Buckley and Brietta boots making my top picks plus Airflex’s Appeal boot, Zu’s Daily and Fenton boots and Charlotte Olympia’s Alice Calf-hair ankle boots from MatchesFashion.com all being a definite must-have for every shoe closet connoisseur.

Landing at the top of my boot style

picks, the feminine boot is a definite for you to explore if you like your footwear more beautiful than butch, so choose this style if you’re new to boots you’d like to stay within your shoewear comfort zone.

If you’re more adventurous however, but you still like your footwear feminine, then the peep toe boot is my next best recommendation.

Stating the obvious, the peep toe boot has an opening across the toes and is generally for those warmer, tran-seasonal days but they’re also for those who dare to be different.

Peep toe shoes date back to the 1940s when pin-up girls pushed the conventional boundaries and dared to show their toe cleavage – oh how risque!

The peep toe boot was a relative newcomer on the shoe scene in more recent years as the notably popular variation often elongates the legs with many peep toe boots also featuring a hidden platform for added impact.

I’m a huge fan of this trend with most of my peep toe boots featuring cut-outs and ankle details like my foolproof Kardashian Kollection Selena peep toe boots.

Styles such as Gianvito Rossi from MatchesFashion.com and Tony Bianco’s Mixa boot will definitely make a striking statement to any outfit and can be worn with a stylish shift dress or mixed with casual attire to suit.

So there you have it. Five boot styles that have stood the test of time.

Happy shopping - and put your best foot forward. PL

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1. Wittner's Buckley boot; 2. Charlotte Olympia Alice, calf hair ankle boot, $515, MatchesFashion.com; 3. Selena boots from the Kardashian Kollection, $129.99, Betts; 4. Witner Brietta boot; 5. Carnage boots, $99.99, Betts; 6. Snow boots, $89.99, Betts; 7. Wittner Bridletop boot, $269.95; 8. Dakota boot, $99.99, Betts; 9. Christian Louboutin Chelsea Chain boot, $$2,400, MatchesFashion. com; 10. Sambag Susan Croc Embossed boots, $238; 11. Zu Daily boots, $150; 12. Airflex Appeal boots, $119.99; 13. Zu Fenton boots, $150.

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PRIMObeauty traffic to work was just a joke and instead of radiating natural beauty I look like a raddled old sailor who’s been on the sauce.

Fortunately Megan has had an equally dysfunctional morning, dropping her mobile phone into the loo just before our conversation. It’s a relief to hear that even this inspirational businesswoman who for many has become a leader in her field can do dumb stuff just like the rest of us.

So we conduct our interview via the speaker on her phone and it finally feels like my morning is becoming a little more ‘sodashi’.

The Sodashi story is something else.

If you’ve found yourself in a Bodhi J spa, luxuriating at a Four Seasons Resort or even checked into the newly opened Alex Hotel in Northbridge, chances are you’ll have stumbled across the Sodashi skincare products in the shower, bathroom or on the fingers of the therapist who pummelled you into submission.

It's no small feat for a company which still has its HQ in Fremantle to have stocked some of the most desirable resorts and addresses all over the world. And it's thanks to the vision and perseverance of one

INTELLIGENT

beauty Megan Larsen, the founder of Sodashi, has created a Freo-based skincare brand that is adored around the world thanks to its dedication to harnessing the power of plant essences, properties of regeneration and strong ethos of purity.

By GABI MILLS. Bodhi J images by CRIB CREATIVE

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

WHOLENESS. PURITY. RADIANCE. That’s what Sodashi means in Sanskrit and when I catch up with the founder of the skincare company that’s on speeddial of It girls (and their mums) around the world, I couldn’t feel further away from those three adjectives.

I’ve had a feral morning with the kids, the

woman and her dedicated team.

How then did it all start, I wondered, keen to find out how I could emulate this world-conquering business formula. Today PRIMOLife Perth, I imagine, ambitiously.

Tomorrow, Peru?

“I had a passion for aromatherapy and working with essential oils,” says Megan, primolife.com.au

ROLE MODEL Megan Larsen, founder of Sodashi and some of the brand's coveted products.

WIN

one of three Sodashi Crystalus Body Oils, a beautiful blend of Australian essential oils to relieve tension and harmonise the body and mind Visit PrimoLife's Facebook or primolife. com.au for details.

Good luck!

now based in Sydney, who ran her own practice in natural healthcare over 20 years ago in WA. “I’d become very disillusioned by the products the market offered to alternative therapists like me and wanted to create something I could use on myself. I wanted what I put on my skin to be every bit as good as what I put in my body.”

She describes the experience of researching so-called ‘natural’ skincare products akin to 'going down the rabbit hole’, discovering the wholesale use of scary hormone interrupters and ingredients in many products, which cause instead of happiness.

“So I created products initially for myself but when people came to me for treatment they’d say, 'What do you use? Your skin looks fabulous!'”

And so Sodashi was born thanks to a face moisturiser in a plain amber jar, which, says Megan, was so popular with one particular early customer that she drove 50km to get hold of her facial fix.

“Seeing the first label on that first product was a very proud moment,” says Megan.

Thanks to her knowledge of aromatherapy and early, experimental days working in biochemistry and pharmacy, Megan applied a unique approach to creating her sought-after products.

“It’s a little like cooking in many ways.

You have to have a creative ability as well as a scientific knowledge to create a product that works.”

As the reputation of Sodashi grew, and Megan began to meet the challenges of

fulfilling orders from an increasingly broad customer base, she was determined to never compromise in terms of the products’ authenticity.

“We believe that even the tiniest amount of man-made chemicals can be harmful in skincare products,” she says. “So there are no hidden ingredients in Sodashi products, everything’s listed on the label as it should be.”

It’s no mean feat to make the Sodashi range and still retain that element of quality control, especially when you consider that many elements of the range are hand-made.

In addition, a holistic approach to the business as a whole sees the entire Sodashi team and Megan meditating at the same time every day - including the Freo-based Sodashi manufacturing team.

Anti-ageing products, including the incredibly effective (and best-selling) Samadara Ultimate Age-Defying Elixir, have been a central part of the company’s success too, delivering visible results to those in the know from LA to Lancelin.

Glamorous hotel spas have also been quick to recognise the potential of aligning their own brands with Sodashi’s unique approach to making the world’s most

beautiful people even more glowing.

However, Megan’s the first to admit that what seems to be a natural path to success wasn’t so clear-cut in the early days.

“Did I have a clear vision?” she laughs.

“No, not at all. I didn’t have any idea how this would develop. I did however have the vision that I wanted to provide very natural skincare products as well as anti-ageing solutions. Nobody wants to show the signs of ageing so I wanted to give people a really good reason to use our products: they had to show real results.”

With the products successfully launched, in 2002 Megan took the Sodashi brand into resorts and in 2004 got her big break: supplying Sodashi to the high-end hotel brands Six Senses and Four Seasons.

“I’m one of those people who sees the job that needs to be done, and does the job,” she says of this increase in workload that fell to her and the team.

“I have done a tremendous amount of hustling over the years and particularly enjoy the customer relationship, sales and marketing side of the business.”

An important element to Sodashi’s success is the involvement of the Sodashi therapists who practice in the world’s most exclusive spas in 20 countries around the world.

“We rely on our therapists who we train ourselves to perform an amazing spa treatment,” says Megan of the army of ambassadors; spreading the Sodashi word via every facial, manicure and massage they deliver.

She’s also proud of being the first skincare brand to make use of a very special component in the packaging of her creams and potions - violet glass.

“I went to a factory in Switzerland that had shown me a sample of olive oil kept in normal glass and one in violet glass,” she says. The normal glass’s oil was rancid, but the oil in the violet glass was as fresh as the day it was pressed. Something clicked in Megan’s mind, and she decided to bottle all her products in this beautiful glass, a decision that proved to be ahead of its time.

“Now 200 other skincare brands have followed suit because they see that the glass helps keep products fresh.”

A Kiwi who lived ‘very happily’ in WA for 28 years, Megan returns to Perth every month to keep connected to the Freo side of the business, as well as visiting countries all round the globe, spreading the gospel according to Sodashi.

“We’re always investigating new ingredients and I love listening to ideas. I speak to lots of spas in particular and am a voracious reader. I like to spot new trends and follow how they develop - for instance; the word detox has to winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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beauty I’d become very disillusioned by the products on the market offered to alternative therapists like me and wanted to create something I could use on myself. I wanted what I put on my skin to be every bit as good as what I put in my body. ~ MEGAN LARSEN, Creator of Sodashi.

WIN

The Sodashi Thermal Infusing Facial at Bodhi J. Visit PrimoLife's Facebook or primolife.com.au for details.

Good luck! go. I’m sure it will in due course.”

Sourcing unique ingredients from ‘where they grow best’ means that Sodashi’s products are as exotic as some of the locations where you’ll experience their wonderful effects: rose quartz, vanilla, sandalwood and chamomile.

I ask Megan what advice she would offer somebody keen to emulate her success and her reply is a fair reflection of my morning so far.

“Be prepared to journey down a bumpy road, dig deep and find the strength within you,” she says. “There can be failures but they only help make your successes all the sweeter.”

Watch out, Peru. PRIMOLife’s coming for you.

Visit sodashi.com for the full range and locations of Sodashi spas around the world.

Bodhi J - the perfect retreat On Pier Street, you might be surprised to learn that there’s a doorway through to another world. The newly opened Bodhi J spa is as far away from the hustle and bustle of Perth’s daytime rhythm as you can imagine - a perfect little oasis of calm just across the road from the nib stadium. Water tinkles over far eastern-inspired fountains and there’s a courtyard which wouldn’t be

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out of place in a Balinese sanctuary.

I’d arranged to have a Sodashi thermal infusing face mask facial treatment and, after changing into a robe, found myself under the care of Sodashi therapist Kirsty. I put all thoughts of deadlines from my mind - well, for 90 minutes at least - and succumbed to the experience gratefully.

Lying on a sumptuously comfortable heated treatment bed, covered in layers of fluffy towels, it was no effort at all to close my eyes and allow Kirsty to start her magic. The idea of the thermal mask is that your skin will receive an intensive boost

of the vitamins and minerals contained in the volcanic clay applied to your face.

First though Kirsty thoroughly cleansed, mositurised and generally gave my poor old scone some much-neeeded TLC. Sodashi’s signature hot compresses were applied to my feet and the first of three different aromatic inhalations were introduced to my nostrils. So far, so blissful.

My face, neck and decolletage were cleaned twice with a calming chamomile and then a clay cleanser with lavender cream. My thirsty, dry skin already felt incredible but the best was yet to come. primolife.com.au

A traditional butcher shop with a difference Now it was time for exfoliation followed by a rejuvenating serum to soothe and tone my now sparklingly-clean, buff skin.

Another inhalation cleansed and purified the atmosphere, taking me to another level of calm and relaxation. A small snore or two may have escaped my lips.

A twenty-minute facial massage was unforgettably relaxing Kirsty’s fingers worked nimbly and fluidly, and time seemed to pause as she smoothed, massaged and applied pressure gently to my face.

My skin was now ready to receive the thermal mask which completely encases the face, and sets making speech impossible.

Not that you’ll want to speak.You’ll be too blissed out. The temperature gently increases as the mask does its work - it reaches 37 degrees while your hands, arms and feet are massaged with your chosen level of firmness by Kirsty.

After 25 minutes, the mask is lifted off in one piece and a calming rose face mist, eye and lip smoother and moisturiser is applied to make the most of your brand new, revitalised skin. A final inhalation wafts past my nose and I’m done, reluctantly rising to return to reality.

A day later, my skin has never looked better - and I’m wondering if I should put Bohdi J spa on spee-dial. PL Bodhi J Wellness Spa, 317-319 Pier Street.Visit bodhij.com.au or call 08 9466 8260.

a traditional butcher shop A tradi tmeat ional butcher Our with exceptional is sourced from a difference shop wi t h a difference local smallholder WA farmers, passionate about the welfare of their animals, raising them in a completely free range manner.

Fast facts -

Sodashi's special ingredients Ylang Ylang Sodashi’s supplier of Ylang Ylang essential oil has worked with a group of local farmers in a remote region of Madegascar to build a local distillery where they process the essential oil, providing a sustainable way of living to the local farmers and an exceptionally high quality end product.

Lavender Sodashi sources wildcrafted certified organic lavender from a single grower in Haute Provence region of France.

There, the organic lavender is grown in optimal climatic conditions ensuring the highest quality therapeutic grade essential oil with highly regenerative properties.

Damask Rose Megan personally visited the local rose growers and distillery in the Isparta Valley in Turkey from where Sodashi sources its Damask Rose essential oil, to verify the high quality and therapeutic properties of the ingredient.

Other Examples: Centella Oil from India Everlasting Oil from France Rosehip Oil from South Africa Rose Quartz Crystal from Madagascar – a deep pink colour, it has a higher trace mineral content than other Rose Quartz Crystals giving it a stronger vibrational quality and a greater calming effect on the body. Rose Quartz is used in Sodashi Samadara Facial Treatments and Rose Quartz Crystal Water is an ingredient in Samadara Crème and Eye Crème

· · · ·

Our exceptional meat is sourced from local smallholder WA farmers, passionate about the welfare of their animals, raising them in a completely free manner.

Our exceptional meatrange is sourced from local smallholder WA farmers, passionate about the welfare of their animals, raising them in a completely free range manner.

Hampshire on Eighth 88 Eighth Avenue Maylands T: 9200 1892 F: 9200 3958 E: 1892 info@hampshire-group.com.au T 9200 F 9200 3958 E info@hampshire-group.com.au Hampshire on Eighth 88 Eighth Avenue Maylands www.hampshirebutcheries.com.au www.hampshirebutcheries.com.au T: 9200 1892 F: 9200 3958 E: info@hampshire-group.com.au www.hampshirebutcheries.com.au

• OPEN 7 2015 DAYS • | PRIMOLIFE winter

88 Eighth Avenue Maylands

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PRIMOhealth

Fashioned for success

Internationally coveted brand Liquido Active has launched an exclusive new line of stylish, socially conscious and inspirational fitness wear: the ‘I Wear’ collection.

YOU MAY NOT have heard of Liquido Active before, but once you pull on one of the range’s tanks or pair of leggings, you’ll never want to be bend or stretch in anything else.

With 14 printed tank tops and seven patterned leggings, the brand’s new I Wear collection aims to transcend how we look in exercise clothing and, so the marketing spiel says, become more aware of how the clothing we wear makes us feel.

The collection, which is made in Brazil and now available here in Australia, features messaging to remind us that physical appearance does not define us. It aims to showcase inspired and energised women around the world who are proud of who they are and their unique qualities.

“As women, our emotions are one of our greatest assets, which is what inspired us to create this line,”says Liquido’s Renata Facchini.

“We want women to feel bold, empowered and beautiful and the I Wear collection does just that. Now women can share their powerful and important emotions to positively impact and change the lives of others around us.”

This limited edition collection was conceptualised and designed by Renata and the Liquido team in response to a growing demand for robust and functional fitness wear that highlights the confidence of women everywhere.

Each tank top is made of the highest quality Peruvian Pima cotton and is available in black or white and feature on of the following prints: I Wear Adventure, I Wear Gratitude, I Wear Kindness, I Wear Love, I Wear Grace, I Wear Strength or I Wear Light.

Vividly patterned leggings are made with Active Lycra fibre technology that’s buttery soft, offers the perfect stretch and provides 50+ UVA/UVB protection. Leggings are available in beautiful designs with names like Float Like A Butterfly, Fiji, Watercolour Feathers,Venice, and Peacock Lyrics.

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

“We want women to celebrate their boldness and explore the world through love, adventure and movement, while effortlessly transitioning throughout the different phases of their day,” she says.

The Liquido I Wear collection:Tanks: $48 and leggings $91.Visit liquidoactive.com.

The Low Down LIQUIDO’S RENATA FACCHINI • What did you do before you launched Liquido?

I managed and taught at a yoga studio in Australia called Power Living.

• What is your background in terms of health, fitness, yoga?

I’ve always been really active and sporty.

My family were, and still are, super healthy so I grew up that way. I discovered yoga in 2007 and two years later decided to become certified to teach. I loved the transformation yoga brought to my life, and I wanted to share that with others.

• When/why did you first decide to launch Liquido and what was the inspiration behind it?

I loved being a yoga teacher but it became monotonous. Every day I wore black pants and a solid coloured top. I missed choosing a different outfit each day that would represent how I felt. I frequently visited Brazil and was inspired by the bright colours of Brazilian active wear. So, I started to bring back fun, colourful yoga gear.

• The brand is marketed as sweatshop-free - can you explain that in further detail in terms of the practices employed in designing and making the clothes?

From fabric to manufacturing, everything is done in Brazil. Brazil has a very strict labour policy, meaning the legal age to work is 18, minimum wage is fair, and everyone receives 30 days vacation. Every worker receives an extra month’s pay. Liquido follows this policy as well as providing our employees with discounts, health insurance, and higher wages than the minimum.

WIN one of two sets of Liquido leggings and tops (size medium). Go to PRIMOLife’s Facebook page or visit primolife.com.au to enter.

Good luck!

• How did you choose the words you wanted to represent and why was this an important move for you and Liquido in general?

In general, I want the clothes to go past being fabric on your body. How do they make you feel? How do they empower you to do the things you love? The I WEAR collection has a personal connection for me - I identify with the words. I’m strong, and adventurous. I try to weave in grace and kindness into everything I do and be a source of light to those around me.

• How has the brand been received here since launching in 2009?

It’s been great! It’s been a crazy ride. People love it - they love the exclusivity and limited edition style. They also love the fabric and colours. Try on the pants - they are addictive! I think of Liquido as my baby.

Right now, it’s in its toddler stages, starting to walk. Soon it will run and take off. It will be amazing to see as many people as possible wearing and feeling empowered by our clothes. PL

primolife.com.au

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When booking mention PRIMOLife to secure our best available rates.

Friday & Saturday from $160/night Sunday to Thursday from $203/night

BEST WESTERN PLUS Ascot Apartments 308 - 318 Great Eastern Highway ASCOT WA 6104 Ph 08 9478 7700 e reservations@bestwestern.com.au w www.bestwestern.com.au winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PRIMOeats

ART

imitating LIFE

Rachel Khoo leaves the comfort of her Little French Kitchen and talks to Trish Gallagher about her colourful career and her quest to delve into our cultural cool.

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

HAVING SPENT MANY an hour in weekend-track attire and Ugg boots, covered from head to toe in flour and egg detritus and sweating from the steam that whistles from my clapped-out oven, I’m well aware of the clarion call of the baking profession.

When I met Rachel Khoo, the world’s hottest new cooking superstar, it was like looking in a negative-mirror. The petite Londoner is just as pristine in real life as she is on our television sets, yet her work ethic is that of a raging bull and her drive to share her knowledge with all of us is inspirationally tireless.

At the time of our interview, Rachel is filming for her television series, to be aired here on SBS, and this time she’s in Melbourne. In essence, the premise is Rachel and her crew travelling to different corners of the globe, visiting producers and enthusiasts and for us, unlocking the mystery of what makes Australian food and food culture so globally popular.

Born to Austrian and Malaysian parents, Rachel grew up in South London and from an early age followed a career path in design

and fashion. She successfully studied art and design at Central St Martins College in London and dabbled in the fashion industry before scratching the itch that was her other passion - patisserie.

Rachel packed her bags and set off for Paris where she studied at the world famous cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu. After gaining a degree in patisserie (a degree!) she started baking classes at the tiny Parisian book store, La Cocette.

It was here she penned her first two cookbooks (written in French – the lady’s talent abounds) Barres de Cereales and Je fais mes Pates a Tartiner. From here she went on to write The Little Paris Kitchen which was snapped up by UK producers and turned into a gorgeous, bijou television series. Rachel has gone on to write more books, translate her original two French books, and then climb the ladder of food broadcast domination with Kitchen Notebook London, Malaysia and Cosmopolitan Cook.

Sitting opposite Rachel in her ink and gold spot '50s-inspired dress, wishing I had primolife.com.au

selected a crisp white shirt (or at least an ironed one), we chatted about the success of her whirlwind career.

“I worked in fashion PR when I left Central St Martins so I have always had a passion for design, colour and creativity. It was here that I honed my skills in sketching and drawing and wherever I go, I carry a sketch book with me that is filled with drawings, photos, and odds and ends from my travels.”

As I’m gazing down at Rachel’s tiny watercolours of mussels and eggplant and broccoli - any of which could be torn from the book and hung in a gallery - I quickly

Although Rachel loves her career and working with publishing companies and television crews, she says she really lets loose on her own mediums – her blog and her YouTube channel. “There is a cameraman and myself for my YouTube channel – things go wrong all the time, I fluff lines or dishes don’t turn out precisely perfect. It’s me, warts and all.”

Also the case with her blog, and she is a great advocate of the food blogger.

“I love traditional journalistic mediums but equally love the freedom of writing your own work – bloggers just need to remember to credit recipes or photographs QUEEN OF PUDDINGS TV chef Rachel Khoo is not only a talented cook but also a gifted artist and writer.

if they are using other peoples work – super important”.

“I am much more recognised in Australia than anywhere else; in Paris, I only get recognised by expats and in London, I keep a fairly low profile. People seem to have this idea that I hang out with Nigella and Jamie and that we all live in a big house; Nigella cooking, Jamie puts the rubbish out and Gordon fixes the shower – that is simply not the case!

“People in Australia will come up to me and tell me that they’ve made one of my recipes with great success – there’s no better feeling of validation than that”.

Rachel has a very pragmatic approach to reality TV, something that here in Australia we’ve grabbed by the horns and charged the gate with. For her it’s simply a form of entertainment and people enjoy it.

It’s just a shame that most won’t see how much work goes into each and every show

shove my attempts at art, mostly stickmen in precarious positions, back into my bag.

Rachel’s sketches form the premise for dishes that will feature in her books and television shows, these are shown to her trusted and very close-friend home economist and from here, dishes are brought to life.

On her journey to Australia she says: “This is my third visit here. The first time I managed a pop-up design restaurant and I’ve since returned to do research for this project that we are currently working on, it was important to me to find people for the show who I truly connected with. I adore the commitment and passion that Australians have for food and I’m moved by so many young people getting involved in the food scene, complimented by older people passing down their traditional methods and ways of life.”

It was here that Rachel waxed lyrical about the full-time pharmacist who decided to change careers and become an artisanal cheese-maker, or the mussel grower who cooks guests mussels on the deck of his boat, pulled fresh from the salty water. winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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eats

Rachel Khoo’s eight part series ‘Kitchen Notebook – Melbourne’ will air on SBS on July 23.

Orange marmalade tartlets Serves 6 Preparation time 1 hour Cooking time 3 hours 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS 2 oranges (organic/non treated)

180g water

For the sugar syrup:

150g Greek yoghurt

300g sugar

200g all-butter puff pastry

METHOD Place one of the oranges into a pan of cold water, cover and bring to the boil. In the meantime, with the second orange, top and tail and score the outside of the skin in quarters. Peel off the skin and cut into 3mm strips. Wrap the remaining orange in cling film.

Place the strips of pith in the water with the whole orange. Bring them to the boil. Drain and rinse them well under cold water to cool them down.

Then thinly slice the whole orange into 3mm slices. Place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and boil for 5 minutes before adding all the orange slices and strips. Shake the pan so that the orange slices are fully submerged.

rectangles. Do not spread marmalade on the top layer. Wrap in cling film and freeze for up to 1 hour.

Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, before removing the 6 best looking orange slices. Leave the others to simmer for a further 45 minutes. Lay the best looking orange slices (you’ll need at least 6) on a rack on top of a baking tray lined with baking paper.

WIN one of two copies of Rachel Koo's Kitchen Notebook. Visit PrimoLife's Facebook or primolife.com.au for details.

Good luck!

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

Place in an oven at 100c for 60 minutes or until the slices are no longer sticky (they will dry more once removed from the oven and cooled on rack). Blitz the remaining orange slices in a food processor with the leftover orange syrup until you have a chunky marmalade. Roll out the puff into an A4 rectangle. Cut into 8 equal sized rectangles. Spread a layer of marmalade onto one square, stack another on top and repeat so that you have a sandwich stack of pastry

150g whipping cream

Remove the orange slices from the oven and turn the oven up to 180c (fan). Line a baking tray with paper.

Unwrap the puff pastry and slice into 3mm slices (the longest way, ie to make rectangles).

Lay slices on baking tray and spread a teaspoon of marmalade on top. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from tray and leave to cool.

Slice the pith off the remaining orange and remove the segments between the membranes with a small sharp knife.

Whip the cream to soft peaks in a large clean bowl. Beat the yoghurt before folding into the cream. Place into piping bag (optional). Pipe a small line of blobs of cream on to the pastry rectangle from the short end, place an orange segment next to it, followed by a second line of cream and a second segment. Finish with a third line of cream. Wedge half a candied orange between the orange segment and cream to garnish. Serve immediately.

This recipe is from Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook Melbourne. Starts Thursday July 23 on SBS ONE. View recipes from Rachel Khoo past shows at lifestylefood.com.au

primolife.com.au

Photography by Shelley Hepworth. Styling by Frankie Unsworth. Food preparation by Frankie Unsworth.

and how interesting the production of such a show is. I recently appeared on the Dutch MasterChef and it is a constant loop of shooting, cooking, pressure – I have a deep empathy for the contestants.”

With her seemingly perfect career, Rachel says that it’s no easy street. More often than not she will be in the make-up artist's chair at 6am then cook, interview and film right into the dark night. Far from being ungrateful, her favourite part of the whole process is meeting all manner of characters along the way. She also notes that this hard work is preferable to owning a restaurant at this stage.

“Owning a restaurant is so, so tough.

There is such a fine line between cost and profit. It’s back breaking work but wildly rewarding.”

Having spent many a week testing recipes myself and watching the scales creep up and my belt buckle burgeoning, I was keen to know Rachel’s secret to her dainty physique and peaches and cream complexion, given she spends her entire life producing delectable pastries, cakes and all things calorific.

“I give away a lot of my creations and, as my dad always says, it’s just common sense - if you eat loads of high calorie foods, you are going to put on weight. Simple.”

Simple indeed, as is the simple fact that Rachel Khoo is a walking billboard for a happy foodie who follows the beat of her own sugar-coated drum. PL

PRIMO

What's brewing?

ADVERTISING FEATURE

What’s Porter?

Well it’s a dark style of beer developed in London from well-hopped, brown malt beers and traditionally it was drunk by the “porters” who worked in the markets during the 19th century. Our NBC Porter uses the Japanese Sorachi Ace hop which was originally developed in Hokkaido, Japan for Sapporo Breweries in the late 1970s.

This little dual-purpose hop saw increased usage in 2008 after hop shortages in the Western world. Unusually it imparts a lemon or ‘bubblegum’ flavour and even a slight hint of dill pickle.

Pouring now Limited Edition Porter using Japanese Sorachi Ace Hops and look out for our Trappist Beer-Club event coming up in July.

Love the gee gees? Then don’t forget to book your Melbourne Cup event at NBC. For details of our upcoming events, email info@northbridgebrewingco.com.au or visit northbridgebrewingco.au

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winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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meet the brewer

RELIGIOUS ORDERS

The Monk is Freo’s only small-batch craft brewery - and an award-winning one at that - under the expert eye of head brewer, Craig Eulenstein.

PRIMOLife When, where, and how did you become a brewer?

Craig Eulenstein I had recently returned from living over seas, was unemployed and looking for whatever work I could find.

I had moved into a house where one of the fellas was working for Little Creatures in Freo. He rang me up one morning and asked if I wanted a day’s work, so I ended up putting empty beer bottles on a conveyer belt for about 16 hours. Mind-numbing work but at least it was money in my pocket. After a few shifts I started to get a real taste for craft beer and with some hard work I gradually worked my way up the ladder to packaging shift leader and then into the cellar. Around 2007 I moved over to Melbourne and got a brewing gig at Mountain Goat Beer, where I continued to work hard and became Senior Brewer. I got the gig as Head Brewer here at The Monk in late 2013.

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PRIMOLIFE | winter 2015

PL What’s the difference between brewing in a boutique brewery compared to a major brewery?

CE Small breweries have a much heavier emphasis on ownership of product - you can really make a small brewery your own and craft the beers to your own taste.

Coming up with a recipe is simple and only one small part of making great beer. I really love being able to change small elements within the recipe or beer-making process

and see the effects taking place as the beer progresses through the system. It’s really rewarding to see a positive response to what may have only been a small change but has had a big effect on the overall impact of the beer. I think you lose that in bigger breweries.

PL What are the most significant changes to the beer industry in WA in recent years in your opinion?

CE I’m noticing a lot more craft beerfocused venues popping up since I last lived this side of the country. This means that there is a growing demand for our product.

People’s drinking habits are changing and they’re becoming more interested in drinking less and drinking better. Locally brewed beer is fresher, and therefore better tasting.You can go into some venues now and instead of seeing eight taps of different Australian lagers, which are mostly all made by the same big brewery, you can see eight taps of eight different beer styles from eight different breweries from all over the world, and that’s exciting!

PL What’s the best beer you have brewed?

CE Haha - I never like this question! I couldn’t say which beer is the best I’ve primolife.com.au

brewed, but I would say that I love brewing up a nice, clean and sessional pale ale. I love the delicate nature of a gentle malt bill and light hopping regime. To make a big malty, hoppy IPA is one thing, but to get the balance right on lighter flavoured beer takes attention to detail and a bigger emphasis on water chemistry, which I love.

PL What is your personal favourite style and therefore what do you always have in your fridge at home?

CE Well, sessional pale ales for sure, but I think my favourite style of beer would probably have to be an American-style red ale. The balance of caramel malts and citrusy hops is just something I never get sick of.

PL Name your favourite six-pack that’s available to the public.

CE This depends on the time of day, and time of year. Is it hot or cold? Am I heading to a dinner party or the beach? Whatever is local and fresh is what I’ll buy, maybe something rich and malty if it's cold and dark outside.

PL What is the best beer and food match you have experienced

worked really hard over the last couple of years to really drive up the quality of the beers here.

It’s an international competition with very challenging judging panels, so I’m really stoked to see the overall reponse was so good.

PL What’s coming up at The Monk in the near future?

CE The Monk is under going some

exciting times. We will be having a ‘Festival of Monk’ launch party on the weekend of July 10 to 12, with beer and food matching events, Open Brew days, DJs and firebreathers, Brewers Shouts and more over the weekend, so don’t miss out. PL Visit themonk.com.au for opening hours, a full wmenu and list of beers available.

HABIT FORMING The Monk's head brewer Craig Eulenstein is taking the Freo drinking spot to new, awardwinning heights with his collection of small-batch beers and ales.

CE I can’t bring anything to mind that I have had recently, but I thoroughly enjoyed a Feral Hop Hog matched to a Bushmills 10yr whiskey the other night - wow!

PL Tell us about your recent success at AIBA this year.

CE We picked up a couple of gold medals and were runner-up Champion Small Brewery.

Both myself and my assistant Dan have

massive changes at the moment; we have stripped out the guts of the venue and have refurnished a lot of it, including a dividing wall of French oak barrels, so this’ll be something of interest to the Sour Beer lovers out there. We are also rehashing our entire beer range, with a focus of simplifying our core range which will allow us to release more specialty beers, so winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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MASTER OF THE

GRAPE James Halliday’s name has become synoymous with wine - thanks in large part to his expert judgement passed on the over 8,000 bottles he tastes to compile his annual Wine Companion, pubished on August 1.

PRIMOLife Where does your knowledge and passion for wine stem from?

James Halliday My introduction to wine began in the years immediately following the Second World War. My father John was a physician. After my elder brother and sister were born but before I was born, the family had moved to England while my father obtained his FRCP (Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians) postgraduate degree. While there, my parents were exposed to good French wine. Upon their

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return to Australia, my parents made several alterations to the house they purchased – one was to create a stone-walled, walk-in wine cellar. After returning from England, my father became a valued private trade customer of Lindeman's.

PL Tell me the story behind your co-founding of both Brokenwood winery and Coldstream Hills.

How hands-on was the experience?

JH My reason for the plan behind Brokenwood was simple, big city corporate law practice could easily suffocate all life

and activity outside the law office. So, along with Tony Albert and John Beeston, a vineyard and winery were the ultimate compulsion. And yes, 40 years have done nothing to dim the agony I felt at the end of the first day’s planting.

PL How did you first make the move into wine writing and wine judging?

JH Even before we had planted the first vines at Brokenwood, I had embarked on an entirely different odyssey, learning about the great wines of France. I read all the books I could find. This proved only background knowledge to the tutored wine tastings every Monday at Len Evans’s Bulletin Place. Looking back at the 1960s and 1970s, I feel I was swept up in a series of seemingly disconnected events that ultimately formed a pattern. I began writing columns on imported wines in the 1970s - I was literally learning on the job. There was no predetermined chronology in these events, but they had something in common: accepting the wines for what they were, and simply seeking to evaluate their quality.

PL Has there been a particular publication and/ or wine show which has become especially close to your heart over the years?

JH The Canberra National Wine Show.

It has never hesitated to implement recommendations from the Chair of Judges, and was the first show to introduce Riedel glasses. It has always regarded the quality of the results to be more important than the number of entries. It has been proactive in keeping the size of the classes under control, even though this has resulted in a loss of potential revenue.

PL I’ve heard that the predominant flavours that come through in a wine are very much reliant on its taster, is this true?

JH It’s not true. Individuals can respond differently to the active flavour compounds in a given wine, yet have identical views of its quality.

PL Specifically onto the James Halliday Wine Companion – how has it evolved since the early days until now?

JH By progressively making greater use of the database with the “best of the best” lists and awards by keeping in touch with domestic and international scoring systems, giving more space in the Companion for the full tasting notes of the best wines of each winery, then scores etc for the next tranche of each winery, and taking 100% of the tasting notes to the Companion website on the launch date of the book.

PL How is the shortlist developed of which wines are to be tasted and which not?

JH All wines sent to me are tasted however due to space constraints do not all appear in the book, but they do appear on the website primolife.com.au

- winecompanion.com.au PL With 8,863 bottles of wine tasted for the 2016 edition, even with spit buckets, surely you are a little tipsy by the end of a tasting day?

JH It is an ironclad rule that I never ever swallow any of the wine, no matter how good during the tasting. Occasionally I will take a particular wine up to my house and drink some of it with the evening meal, perhaps 20 or so a year.

PL How many wines can you taste in one day before your taste buds are affected, do you think?

How can you avoid that happening?

JH I have progressively reduced the number from 150 to 80 a day. It’s a reflection of the dreaded march of time.

PL Obviously you won’t let the cat out of the bag as to the winners of the 2016 edition*, but can you give us any insight into any surprise stars or wine regions which particularly caught your eye this year?

JH The quality of the pinot noirs made in a vintage that by rights should have been too warm. There’s no climate catastrophe when warmer conditions keep in step with increased CO2 - or so it seems.

PL What of the Western Australian wine industry specifically – how have you seen it develop over the years and any particular grapes or vineyards which continue to impress?

JH Margaret River continues with its charmed life of perfect growing seasons year after year thanks to its air conditioning provided by the Indian Ocean until the Southern Ocean at its southern end. It is this which provides the cooler climate of the five sub-regions of the Great Southern region. These two major regions cover all the top varieties in distinctly different styles, all of first rate quality. PL

Fast facts - the Halliday Wine Companion 2016 8,863 The number of wines tasted for this edition of the Halliday Wine Companion.

398,835 The approximate mls of wine tasted (based on an average pour of 45-50ml per wine) .

630 The approximate number of hours spent tasting.

157 The approximate number of spit buckets emptied 10 The approximate number Riedel glasses broken 1800 The number of Riedel glasses used at last year’s awards night $117,000 The total retail cost of the wine to be served at this year’s Wine Companion Awards. $4,000 The retail cost for a bottle of each of the wines to be served at this year’s Wine Companion Awards.

3,859 Number of full tasting notes. *The Qantas epiQure Halliday Australian Wine Companion Awards will be held in Melbourne on July 28 – the night before the 2016 Halliday Wine Companion hits bookshops around the nation. The Awards are an annual highlight, as Wine Companion’s founder and author James Halliday AM announces the winners of six major awards. Guests will enjoy a selection of the year’s best wines matched to a five-course degustation menu, showcasing produce from Qantas’ First Class suppliers.

WIN one of three copies of the 2016 James Halliday Wine Companion. Visit PrimoLife's Facebook or primolife.com. au for details.

Good luck!

The six major awards are: • Wine of the Year (sponsored by Qantas epiQure) • Winery of the Year (sponsored by Tourism Australia) • Winemaker of the Year (sponsored by Infiniti Cars) • Best Value Winery of the Year (sponsored by Kennard’s Wine Storage) • Best New Winery (sponsored by Subzero Wolf) • Dark Horse Winery of the Year In addition, 12 coveted varietal awards will also be announced on the night.

For all details about the awards, visit winecompanion.com.au/awards and Halliday Wine Companion 2016 by James Halliday, available August 1, $39.95.

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Safe harbour

Are you in need of an eastern seaboard injection and thinking of heading to Sydney for a weekend soon? If history, location and unique heritage places to stay are your sort of thing, then head to historic Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour says Alex Speed.

ACCESSIBLE ONLY BY ferry, and with a history almost as old as the First Fleet, Cockatoo Island, a former penal outcrop, is one of those places many Sydneysiders travel pass every day on their commute to work yet never visit.

You might even say that it’s Sydney’s Rottnest - and certainly shares a similarly chequered cultural place in the nation’s history - such is it ubiquity to those who live nearby.

So when me and my family were offered the chance to visit and stay on Cockatoo Island for a unique family city getaway, we jumped at the opportunity. We were to put through its paces the newly refurbished garden apartment accommodation which opened in February.

We packed lightly and took the twohour train trip from our home in country New South Wales’s Southern Highlands to our weekend outing, via Sydney’s main ferry hub at the iconic Circular Quay.

En route, hordes of other visitors and tourists joined our train at Sydney international and domestic airport terminals,

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all probably heading to Circular Quay to start their Sydney weekend.

And why not? Public transport is a stress-free way to navigate Sydney’s nightmare traffic, and if you have never arrived in Sydney by train, I urge you to add it to your bucket list.

Looking out from Circular Quay across to the international passenger terminal, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House is one of the best vantage points to drink in the beauty of Sydney’s beating heart.

From Circular Quay we effortlessly caught a Sydney Ferry to Cockatoo Island. Ferries

run regularly - every 30 minutes on weekdays and weekends - and Transport NSW offers lots of great family ticket deals that include ferries, buses and trains so it pays to do your homework before you leave home.

The 10-minute ferry trip took us past some of Sydney’s most famous landmarks, such as Harry Seidler’s controversial Blues Point Tower, and exclusive waterfront suburbs McMahons Point and Birchgrove, with multi-million dollar views and price tags to match.

At 17 hectares in size, and built on a huge sandstone plateau, Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO world heritage site, and a major venue for Sydney’s bi-annual art biennale.

It sits at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cover rivers. In 1839 it was opened as a penal prison for the most hardened convict re-offenders. It later morphed into an industrial school and reformatory for wayward and orphaned girls, and was also the site of a sailing ship, the Vernon, converted for use as a school training ship for troublesome teenage boys. primolife.com.au

to privatise the land. An artefact of industrial naval and convict history, public pressure won the day. In 2010 the island’s convict remnants received World Heritage listing, safeguarding history forever. It is free to visit and is open to the public daily.

Arriving at our mini-break destination by water lent the occasion a special frisson, and sense of occasion. For kids like ours from the country, it was a rare treat. They were rapt. It also provided a great snapshot of an island that definitely looked worth investigating, and by the time we were off the ferry gangplank, the kids were champing at the bit to explore the intriguing looking tunnels and huge warehouses all around.

With small crowds and only a few other people looking around, there was plenty of wide open space to rush about in. From the ferry wharf, it was a short walk to the visitors centre office, where we were greeted by a friendly volunteer, who

As early as 1845 the island was identified as the best place in the new colony for the construction of a dry dock for ship building, and like much of Australia’s early infrastructure, Cockatoo Island was built by the sweat and tears of convict labour. By 1853 1.5 million cubic feet of sandstone had been excavated from the island by gunpowder and force of will.

Approached by ferry, Cockatoo Island’s long and industrious history of ship building is evident. The island only ceased working life as a dockyard in 1991. Huge industrial cranes and warehouses line the waterfront and rise out of the water on towering sandstone. Cockatoo Island is owned by the Federal Government and manned by an army of dedicated volunteers, who fought pressure from developers in the early 1990s

PERFECT ESCAPE Cockatoo Island is one of the best places to watch Sydney's New Year's Eve celebrations, thanks to its proximity to the Harour Bridge. NYE pricing for houses and ppartments ranges from $2,500 to $7,500 for up to four people (apartments) and up to 10 people (houses). Visit www.cockatooisland.gov. au for further updates and the full NYE pricing information.

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Fast Facts Nearby attractions Taronga Zoo: No trip to Sydney, especially when staying on the harbour as we did, would be complete without a daytrip to Taronga Zoo. We visit on our second day in Sydney leaving our borrowed island in the morning and catching a ferry back to Circular Quay and then another onto the zoo. The seal and bird show are highlights and if your kids are little monkeys, book them in to climb Taranga’s sky-high obstacles course, Wild Ropes. Admission queues can be long, so make sure to book online before you visit to save money and time.

Taronga Zoo, Bradley’s Head Road, Mosman.Visit taronga.org.au Sydney Heritage Fleet: For naval nuts, this place is hard to beat. Home to 10 historical vessels, it’s one of the largest such collection in Australia.

Sydney Heritage Fleet, 58 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. Visit shf.org.au.

COMFORTABLE DIGS Cockatoo Island's accommodation is the perfect base to explore one of Sydney's leastexplored treasures.

efficiently checked us into our weekend accommodation, and delivered us, and our luggage up the steep road by golf buggy.

The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, which manages Cockatoo Island, has recently undertaken a program of accommodation upgrade to allow more guests like us to stay overnight on Cockatoo Island. Dotted along the island’s foreshore, and among convict ruins are a selection of accommodation options to suit all budgets and tastes, whether backpacker or executive. There is glamping in smart tents on the foreshore with beds and bedding provided, and self-contained four-bedroom houses and two-bedroom apartments, with glittering harbour view apartments.

We stayed in the island’s newly refurbished two-bedroom, semi-detached garden apartment. Formerly home to the dockland’s medical officer assistant and the police, and built in the Federation-era, this spacious self-contained apartment is tastefully renovated and sleeps up to four people.

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Looking out across Woolwich with wonderful views, the apartment is open plan with wooden floorboards and a fully equipped kitchen leading onto a large entertaining balcony with a barbeque and table setting. There are two bedrooms one with a queen, the other with a king that can be split into two singles. All linen and towels are provided. The apartment has a fabulously finished and spacious bathroom with a terrific bath and shower, and thoughtful extras such as Australian organic Appelles complimentary toiletries. Washing powder was provided in the washing machine/dryer laundry space which was much appreciated by visiting parents with grubby kids’ clothes to wash. That little extra detail meant we could pack light when planning our trip.

BBQ packs and delicious breakfast packs are available when booking. These included muesli, milk, sausages, eggs, bacon and bread and ours were devoured by our hungry mob. On the island there is a pizzeria and a few little cafes dotted about but it's BYO alcohol – we bought wine at Circular Quay - although the visitors’ centre/reception does sell small incidentals like milk and matches.

For dinner one night we caught the ferry over to the Woolwich Pier Pub, which

Botanic Gardens: If you need to give the wallet a rest after doing touristy things, the Botanic Gardens next to the Opera House are beautiful and free.

Visit with a picnic or simply take the kids and let them run wild for a while while you take a breather and admire the beautiful view across to Kirribilli House, official residence of our Prime Minister when in Sydney.

Royal Botanic Garden, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney. Visit rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

we could see from our vantage point on the apartment’s balcony. A very pleasant 10-minute walk from the ferry stop to the pub saw us all excellently fed and watered.

The kids were delighted with their fish and chips, ice-cream and pink lemonade. Then with great excitement, it was back to our island home by ferry in the darkness and a short stroll back up masses of winding climbing stairs to our home for the weekend.

The sense of history here, and passed lives lived is palpable, just like Rottnest in many ways. Cockatoo Island, with its wonderful tunnels and paths, gives rich insight into naval shipbuilding of more than a century. The Dog Leg tunnel which goes right through the island’s sandstone core and hid ammunition stocks during WWII, is a sight to behold and walk through. But there is no doubting that life and accommodation primolife.com.au

was worlds away from our stylish pad for the hundreds of convicts that lived, and lost their lives, on Cockatoo Island.

The sleeping quarters and solitary confinement cells, open to the public, give a grim insight into life for some, only 150 years ago. In a book detailing the island’s history in our apartment, we read of the only man ever believed to have successfully escaped from Cockatoo Island.

Sentenced to life for cattle stealing, Frederick Wordsworth Ward, also known as

bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, reportedly swam from Cockatoo Island in heavy fog on September 11, 1863. He escaped and continued his bushranger ways, before he was reportedly killed seven years later in a shoot-out with police at Kentucky Creek.

Such is the colourful history of Cockatoo Island. A fascinating, unique place to stay for a weekend, in the heart of Sydney, a stone’s throw from the city’s CBD. PL To find out more, visit cockatooisland.gov.au and to plan you trip, visit transport.nsw.gov.au.

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JURASSIC PERKS It’s the paradise island that’s provided the backdrop to some of the most famous movies of recent times, but for Gill Pringle and family, Kauai will always be the place where she saw whales swim past, from the comfort of her beachfront luxury resort.

MANY OF US have already visited the Hawaiian islands - even if we don’t realise it.

More specifically the tiny island of Kauai is where we’ve swung through its jungles with Indiana Jones and fled from both Jurassic Park and Jurassic World dinosaurs in the verdant Kahili valley. We’ve taken a dip with George Clooney in Hanelei for The Descendants, laughed at Tropic Thunder’s fake troops and flirted with Johnny Depp in magical costal caves in Pirates of the Caribbean.

No wonder Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown fell in love filming The Thorn Birds

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here more than 30 years ago or that King Kong should be so angry when hunters stole him away from his natural jungle habitat.

Known as the “garden island” Kauai is the oldest and northernmost of the Hawaiian island chain which includes the larger, more developed islands of Oahu and Maui which dominate the local tourism scene.

Conversely, its Kauai’s very lack of commercial development which makes it such a gem.

Its distinctive coastal mountains of Na Pali can be reached only by sea, foot or helicopter, and a single road circles the primolife.com.au

Visiting Kauai with my husband James, teenage daughter Ruby and her best friend Jolie, I’m happy to report we encountered just the one brief afternoon shower, a perfect excuse to take shelter at the nearest ice shave store.

We stayed at the luxe Ko’a Kea resort at Poipu Beach on the southernmost tip of the island. Forming a two-storey U-shape around a large lounger-dotted lawn and a pool fringed by lava rock, this beachfront resort offers a spectacular view across the ocean.

Without even moving from the bed of our ground floor suite, we tracked two whales making their way across the Pacific - which has to be the laziest way ever to go whale-watching.

While many beachfront hotels hold back on the luxury, knowing their guests will walk in sand and puddles of salty ocean water, no luxury is spared at Ko’a Kea with its cream wool carpeting feeling soft on

remaining coastline, fringed by pristine beaches.

The tropical island centre remains untouched by time, tangled with rainforest and dotted by waterfalls, available only to the most intrepid hikers, making this a top destination for hikers.

If Captain Cook was the first reported European to visit Kauai in 1778, then it was New Zealand’s Robinson family who capitalised on the island’s staggering natural beauty and resources, purchasing 51,000 acres from King Kamehameha IV in 1864 and establishing ranches and sugar plantations.

While descendants of the family still own the land, they have been praised for their conservation, the majority of their land remaining untouched for generations.

Cloaking much of the island is dense, rainforest hosting some of the earth’s rarest plants and birds while the 900m deep Waimea Canyon is often referred to as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”.

With over 3,000cm of annual rainfall, Mount Wai’ale’ale is cited in literature as the wettest place on earth, although locals argue the wet forecast is offset by the less than 50cm of annual rain on the beaches.

LUXURIOUS RETREAT Gill and family enjoyed a blissful stay on Kauai, the playground of the rich and famous, staying at Ko'a Kea on Poipu Beach,

bare feet, and bathrooms stocked with fluffy towels and L’Occitane products.

Lulled to sleep each night on plush pillow-top beds and fine linens - while the girls slept on a pull-out couch in the living room - there are few better places to wake than here.

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travel sleepily pulled on robes, walking a few yards to the hotel lobby where complimentary coffee brewed all morning, inhaling the sea-salted promise of a new day over an awakening ocean.

Surrounded by coral reef, Poipu boasts some of the best snorkeling on Kauai and while the beaches are never too populous, we found early mornings the most tranquil time to snorkel, swimming alongside perfect tiny seahorses while many-colored eels peered from beneath rocks.

With an abundant green sea turtle population (honu), after a few days the novelty even begins to wear off, forcing us to remind ourselves of how exhilarating it is to swim with these ancient creatures.

A top destination for surfers, some of the beaches can be treacherous, not to be

recommended to even the most expert surfers. It’s no surprise then that some of the best waves in the world can be found on the North Shore or off the Na Pali coast.

Strolling along the calm family-friendly Poipu shore, James and I would share a coconut, its top hacked off by machete, a straw inserted for easy slurping, while the girls combined flavours at the popular shaved ice stands.

If the entire island has a distinctly chill vibe - flip-flops, board shorts and Hawaiian shirts - then we enjoyed dressing up to dine at Ko’a Kea’s elegant Red Salt restaurant.

Surrounded by well-heeled natives we shared appetisers of Kauai Prawns with Lilikoi butter sauce and beet-cured ono with lotus crisps and mango, the grownups thoroughly enjoying Acai-blueberry

martinis. Warm breads were served up with the restaurant’s signature spicy red salt.

With an eclectic menu featuring fresh-caught Ahi, Mahi and Ono as well as Lobster Ravioli and Seafood Paella, fish was served seared, baked or as sashimi - most creatively as an Ahi Sashimi Pizza.

Utilising local ingredients like sweet maui onions, macadamia nuts, infused local honey, pineapple relish and Hamakua mushrooms, every dish had a distinct Kauai nuance.

Slipping back to our room along a tikilit pathway, the sound of the surf is like a lullaby. Mahalo Kauai. PL For current room-rates, check out koakea. com. Gill and family travelled with gratitude to Kauai Visitors Bureau - visit kauaidiscovery.com.

The tropical island centre remains untouched by time, tangled with rainforest and dotted by waterfalls, available only to the most intrepid hikers, making this a top destination for hikers.

Getting to Kauai Located on the eastern end of the island, Lihue airport receives many direct flights from Los Angeles and other mainland US cities. For more options, consider flying to Honolulu and taking a 30-minute connecting flight to Kauai. For Aussie-specific family tips and deals on surf lessons, kayaking, epic hiking trails and ziplining visitgohawaii.com/au

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primolife.com.au

Fast facts – what's to do in Kauai?

The St Regis Princeville Given the limitations posed by mountain ranges and jungle, the only way to see all of Kauai is by helicopter. I took Safari Helicopters’ Deluxe Waterfall Safari - an hour-long tour over the most dramatic and lush terrain on earth. Hovering over bright green mountain ridges, every turn offered a new waterfall, glittering with picture-perfect rainbows. Headphones spun a soundtrack of Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park themes and, of course, Israel K’s ukulele version of Wonderful World. Sharing the ride with just five other passengers, our pilot Brian circled deep into cavernous valleys, pointing out abandoned cliff face dwellings occupied by native Hawaiians centuries ago. Making turns over the oceans, we saw distant whale spouts before soaring into another valley where more rainbows awaited.

Visit safarihelicopters.com.

A visit to Kauai is as much about the ocean as it is the land, thus we rose at dawn to take a cruise with Capt. Andy’s Sailing Adventure. Joining some 50 fellow passengers for the Star BBQ Cruise, we departed from Port Allen harbour at Ele’ele, sailing along the stunning uninhabited Na Pali coastline, the second largest sea cliffs in the world. But the three greatest aha moments for me were when our catamaran was surrounded by about 100 Spinner dolphins, leaping out of the ocean as if providing the comic relief. And then when a humpback whale swum right beneath us, and a crew member plunged

a microphone beneath the water, everyone holding their breath as we heard its song. Apparently the whales all sing the same song each year, the next year making one small tweak to a verse, reinventing the song every year so that no song is ever completely repeated. Later, we would see a baby humpback breach the water alongside its mother. Helmed by Captain Anthony, a handsome young man with a bun, the girls blushed whenever they bumped into him, thus providing their own highlight to our six hour cruise.

Visit napali.com.

Who lives in Kauai? Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg paid US$100 million last year for the 357acre Kahu’aina sugar plantation on the North Shore. AOL founder Steve Case has been buying up land here for the past 14 years and today owns more than 40,000 acres of land while Apple’s iPhone inventor Jony Ives owns more than US$20 million in property. All of which proves that only the dot.com crowd can afford to live here.

Soak in the most perfect sunset on the Makana Terrace at Kauai’s ritzy hotel, The St Regis Princeville. George Clooney checked in here for two months while filming The Descendants, beach-goers daily treated to views of his then girlfriend Italian beauty Elisabetta Canalis while George toiled on the movie set. As the sun dips into the ocean overlooking beautiful Hanalei Bay, toast with the hotel’s signature Aloha Mary, its own sunset homage to the bloody mary. Feast on hand-crafted sushi or creamy lobster mash, gently serenaded by a ukulele player. The St Regis boasts two championship golfcourses and a world-class spa in one of the most perfect locations on earth.

Visit stregisprinceville.com.

Hawaii’s official State bird is the nene (Hawaiian goose) but Kauaians joke their official bird should be the wild rooster.

These farm birds run wild on the island thanks to the many roof-lifting hurricanes that have slammed the island over the years. At first it’s amusing, but it's no fun when the rooster outside your window decides it's dawn at 3am.

G U R RU M U L THE GOSPEL SONGS TOUR “HIS MUSIC IS AS APPROACHABLE AS IT IS OT H E RW O R L D LY ” - THE NEW YORK TIMES, APRIL 2015

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BAC GIANG PROVINCE HANOI

Only connect Sandra Harris Ramini took the trip of a lifetime to meet the child she had sponsored for years in Vietnam and found it as unforgettable as she’d hoped.

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primolife.com.au

IT WAS ALL triggered by the birth of my daughter 32 years ago. She was what we used to call ‘a surprise’; appearing seven years after our two boys and like so many serendipities of life, transforming our lives.

Just the fact of her pricked me out of my complacency about the hundreds of thousands of children who weren’t lucky enough to be born into the largesse of the west. I could no longer just put a cheque in an envelope and send it off to do some worthwhile but anonymous good somewhere in the world. It had to be more.

Like everyone else, I wanted to ‘make a difference’, to ‘do something’, but the line between salving my wobbly conscience and actually making some sort of dent in child poverty became blurred to the point of non-existence.

The very fact that whatever sum I paid made little difference to my own life but a huge difference to others, seemed to make the fact of the poverty so much worse.

Especially as it was anonymous.

I had heard of child sponsorship but the charities I looked at appeared to have a bit too much Christian zeal for my liking and I was starting to lose my nerve. Then, through a chance remark on the radio, I heard about Plan International. The discussion was about the horror of the Spanish civil war in the 1930s.

A British war correspondent, John Langdon-Davies, came across a small child wandering alone in the wreckage of what was once his village. The child clutched a pencilled note in his hand which read: ‘This

is José. I am his father. When Santander falls I shall be killed. Whoever finds my son I beg him to take care of him for my sake."

Personal, human, appealing to one person on behalf of another, it was my sort of charity with my sort of approach and so I joined Plan and, Maya, a seven-year-old from Nepal came into my life.

Her picture showed a determined little face half hidden by a fringe of black hair.

She was gazing unwaveringly at the camera and I remember wondering what word they use in Nepal to get a child to smile for a photograph.

Whatever it was, it hadn’t worked.

I don’t recall how much I paid each month towards Maya’s education, her family’s needs and projects within her community, but it was embarrassingly little.

In exchange I received regular letters and photographs of a little girl growing up in both years and confidence.

I sent letters back about my own family in London and spoke of my daughter, Kami,

who was just a toddler but would maybe meet her one day. I sent pictures of us in England and postcards of kangaroos and koalas from my native Australia. They were all received with much enthusiasm.

When Maya was 15, she and her parents moved from the village and that was that.

Maybe she had been promised in marriage to a man in another area. Maybe the family had new opportunities elsewhere.

I felt strangely abandoned but was told reprovingly that this is part of the deal.

Sponsoring a child doesn’t give us sponsors any family status.Yes, we can and often do touch the lives of our sponsored families in a warm and personal way, but a large slice of what my sponsorship, letters and pictures had provided for Maya was the confidence to move on and get on with her life.

“They’re like any other children,” one of the Plan aid workers told me. “They grow up and have their own ideas. All we provide are stepping stones.”

CLOSE RELATIONSHIP Sandra embarked on the trip of a lifetime to meet Vien, a child she has sponsored in Vietnam for the past eight years.

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travel Plan but organising a trip like this is not just a simple visa exercise. There are rigid child protection laws with their accompanying forms and legal documents that have to be signed, witnessed, sent and returned.

My Plan file, which used to be filled with pretty pictures and charming letters started to bulge with bureaucracy and red tape and we hadn’t even started on the logistics of how to get there.

Meanwhile, the people at Plan were reassuring. For a start they smile the entire time, totally confident that once you’ve made your visit you’ll be the same. Gifts, they tell me, shouldn’t total more than US$75 to US$100. The level of poverty is such that largesse, no matter how normal it might seem to us in the West, can be

I sponsored another two children after that, Ganesh and Nanu in Nepal and when they and their families either moved out of the area where Plan was working or the charity had achieved its objective and moved into another village, I turned my focus elsewhere.

Vietnam.

I’m a baby boomer. The Vietnam War still resonates with me. The ugliness of it, the pointlessness of it and the appalling, grotesque numbers of those killed, literally millions, many of whom were children, bring it closer to the Spanish origins of Plan and the small José whose fate in the midst of war was left to the kindness of strangers.

So I was introduced by letter and by a photo to Vien. She was five years old, living with her family in a village about 150km out of Hanoi. She too was a serious little girl, clutching at her mother’s skirts, not entirely sure of what was going on. More pictures followed, each a little more relaxed than the one before, as Vien got older and understood more clearly who we were and why we wanted to know her better.

Over the years we learned more about her sisters (no brothers), about her primary school and her secret dreams of maybe being a teacher herself one day. On the day she moved up to secondary school, Kami, my daughter, was leaving university.

I wondered if Vien would ever have such an opportunity.

Eight years on and Kami was in her thirties and living on the other side of the world from me in my hometown of Perth, now a mother herself. She and I talked about my first sponsored little girl, Maya, who at around 35 could possibly be a grandmother by now.

Vien in Vietnam was now a teenager.

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Perth is hardly next door to Hanoi but we keep telling ourselves we’re part of South East Asia and should see it for ourselves, so why not? I would go to Vietnam en route to visiting Kami and her new family in Perth. It was a fait accompli.

Well almost. Such visits are encouraged by

divisive and inappropriate. I started thinking of colouring pens and pencils and T-shirts and got warm approval all round.

I explained how I’m a tactile person, inclined to hug at the slightest opportunity.

Probably fine, they said, but maybe let them do it first.

It seemed to be frivolous and shallow in the extreme, but I did wonder what I should wear. I was assured it’s a good question because normally the three-anda-half hour trip to Bac Giang Province is fine in a minivan, but if it’s been raining we sponsors do the last bit of the journey on the back of motorbikes. The mud makes it just too slippery for anything else. Easy-fit jeans and trainers then, I say sagely. They agree.

As it turned out it didn’t rain.

The journey, broken down into two reasonable chunks was a pleasant trip through roadside villages and passed paddy fields and groves of lychee trees.

My new friend, Mai, who was acting as my interpreter told me that in Vietnam you primolife.com.au

are poor if you have US$20 per person a month, but not poor if you have US$21. That US$1 a month makes all the difference.

Vien’s family grows lychees and has 120 trees, which in a good year could bring in around US$3000. They also participate in the village rice paddies, which can add another US$200 to their yearly income and apart from that they have two water buffalo, one of which they try to sell every two years for a possible US$200.

Of course, they’ve then got to buy another water buffalo but they might make a profit, so it’s worth it. Hopefully.

All in all, a family of seven stretching to 15, depending on how you count the extensions, share a yearly income of around US$3,200 to US$3,400.

As we got closer I became unaccountably nervous. I fiddled with my hair and wondered about my lipstick. We turned a corner and there they were.

Everyone had turned up, grannies on both sides, uncles, aunties, nieces, cousins, about 15 people were waiting just to say hello and to welcome me. I forgot about my hair and sticking on a bit more lipstick, I just couldn’t wait to meet them.

Grins from ear to ear on every face, tears

s

when granny on Vien’s father’s side, who is the same age as me but lost her sight when she was in her fifties, took my face in her hands and told me she knew me.

As for hugging. We were all at it. Instantly.

Constantly.

Me, grannies,Vien’s lovely mother and Vien herself and her sister, shy but so warm and so happy. And then there was the feast.

This family, with a shared monthly income of under US$300, produced plates of pork, buffalo, chicken, goose, rice, vegetables of all descriptions and several bottles of beer. The whole village must have contributed to showing hospitality to the visitor from Europe.

It was eye opening, heart stopping, life enhancing and very, very humbling.

We exchanged presents, two bottles filled with pure liquid honey from bees who sip lychee nectar for me, and from me, cooking oil, sugar and rice and lots of London stuff, T-shirts, colouring pens and pencils, painting books, bracelets and a photo album of our family for Vien to fill up with pictures of the visit and her own family.

Vien is now 13 years old. She’s a lovely, healthy young lady, working hard at school hoping to make a life for herself. I was so

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proud of her and her sisters and so happy to meet such a strongly knit, happy family.

They have very little in terms of ‘stuff ’ but they have a warmth and solidarity that is often missing from the rest of us. It was an extraordinary day and I loved every moment.

POST SCRIPT: I have just left Perth for the UK. I have just received my latest letter from Vien. She loved the family photo album, the presents and the visit as much as I did.

“I love you so much,” she wrote. “ I feel very happy to see you during your visit. Next year or whenever, please come to visit us again, we always welcome you warmly! You have visited my country, what do you think? Do you find my country beautiful and romantic?

“My family is a very big and lovely one.

We live in excitement and cheerfulness all the time, don’t we? I wish you and all your family always good health and happiness. Lots of love, Vien.”

Did this visit salve my middle class conscience? Did it make me feel a bit more genuine? Have I made a difference?

Yes, to all of the above. PL If you would like to make a difference to a child like Vien’s life, visit plan.org.au.

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Level 24/77 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA 6000

PRIMOcitystay

CITY SLICKER Perth’s Pan Pacific hotel has rejuvenated its Premier Rooms on the top floors of the hotel Gabi Mills finds her stay practically perfect in every way.

AT THE PART of the Terrace which becomes Adelaide, the Pan Pacific hotel has proudly sat with its familiar logo high up on the building acting like a beacon for discerning visitors from all over the world.

I’d visited the hotel in the past but had never checked in as a guest, so when the opportunity came my way to put the new Premier Rooms offering through its paces, I was keen as mustard.

The hotel has only just completed the first stage of its multi-million dollar guest room refurbishment and I was looking forward to experiencing “a new level of premium sophistication” in their freshly rejuvenated Premier Rooms.

Located on the top five floors of the hotel, the new rooms are all about the hotel’s proximity to the Swan River. My room’s view over our iconic waterway reminded me how lucky we are to live

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betwixt land and water, and made for a calming view as the sun began to set.

The decor in the rooms is sophisticated - silvers and greys predominate. It’s a pretty grown-up affair from the huge and wonderfully comfortable king-sized bed to the modern chaise longe. The bathroom - with a bath and shower - is elegant too, with plenty of toiletries to make ablutions luxurious.

The Pan Pacific not only has the Swan River in its sights but also all of the city’s coolest venues, many within walking distance. It’s just a ten-minute stroll to Barrack Street jetty, while the Perth Mint is two minutes away. I was meeting a friend at the Swallow Bar in Maylands, and even that was just a ten-minute Uber saloon drive away (remember to use your special code for Uber - PRIMOLIFEUBER - and if it’s your first ride, you’ll get $25 towards your trip).

First though there was afternoon tea to be enjoyed at the hotel’s Origins Restaurant - a traditional treat where three-tiered cake holders are brought out for your delectation, little jewels of savoury and sweet deliciousness the perfect antidote to everyday routine.

The menu is almost impossible to resist primolife.com.au

cake then you’re in luck - for the whole of July you can enjoy a decadent High Tea and sip on free-flowing Moët and Chandon, organic loose leaf tea and espresso coffee in a winter special from $99 per person. For bookings just email dining.ppper@ panpacific.com.

If it had been several degrees warmer - OK, more than several - I would most certainly have taken a dip in the hotel’s outdoor pool. As it was I retreated back to my room for a long, languid bath before heading out for a night on the tiles.

A few hours later I was back in the cocoon of my Premier room’s bed - to be honest, I curtailed my night out because

snakes its way towards the sea, as it’s always done, with Sunday morning cyclists, jogging mums with strollers and briskly walking octogenarians all enjoying the sunshine in our beautiful city.

I had an appointment with a breakfast buffet - the hotel’s Montereys restaurant is a jolly spot to enjoy a wide choice of hot, freshly cooked traditional brekkie fare.

I ordered poached eggs to go with my freshly sliced soda bread toast, bacon and mushrooms, but I could equally have had pancakes and syrup, pastries galore, smoothies, fresh fruit, and tasty Asian options. Who am I kidding? I had all those as well. It’s no surprise then to learn that Montereys

Win

a night for two in Pan Pacific’s Premier room with breakfast for two at Monterey’s restaurant. Visit PRIMOLife’s Facebook page or primolife.com.au to enter.

Good luck!

CITY STYLE The Pan Pacific's new Premier Rooms offer a high standard of luxury in the heart of Perth. Above, the new reception area planned for later this year.

- choose from spiced crab cakes, pulled pork with cinnamon spiced pear jam on baby brioche and chocolate meringue tart. Sittings are from 11.30am to 2pm and 2.30 to 5pm every day and it costs $65 per person. Why not be a devil like me and have a glass or two of bubbles with your feast?

If this sounds like your cup of tea and

I couldn’t wait to snuggle down in that giant space, not because I’m getting old and can no longer paint the town red, you understand. No. The pull of a pristine set of sheets all to oneself was irresistible.

Up with the lark, and throwing the curtains open on another perfect Perth winter’s morning, the silver Swan River

scooped the Best Buffet Dining Award in the 2012 Gold Plate Awards.

The hotel has always been popular with families as well as visiting business folk, and this Sunday’s mix of breakfasters was no exception. It’s a friendly spot with staff who seem to really care that their guests are looked after - a rare thing in this age of service without a smile.

The next stage of refurbishments is on the cards for the hotel - leading international design firm Hassell are behind plans to modernise the lobby area, making the arrival and departure experience as faultless as the rest of the Pan Pacific vibe.

I have no doubt this next era for one of Perth’s favourite hotels will make Pan’s people some of the happiest around. PL To book you stay at the Pan Pacific Perth, visit panpacific.com/en/hotels-resorts/australia/ perth.html winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PRIMOdrive

GAME CHANGER The BMW i3 will revolutionise what you think an electric car should be – and once driven, says Matthew Mills, forever smitten.

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AS FAR AS journalism goes, it’s hard to find a better gig than that of motoring writer.

Yes, it doesn’t come with the kudos of reporting from a war zone or the professional acclaim of breaking your own personal Watergate, but if you’ve got to the point in your life when chasing ambulances doesn’t have quite the appeal it used to, it’s

tough to beat reviewing cars.

The perks, you see, are amazing - and go a long way to addressing the fact that the profession itself no longer boasts the earning power it once did.

When I first bagged a car hack guernsey, way back in the last millennium, I worked for a daily newspaper that needed at least one review a week. As such, I blagged a primolife.com.au

INNOVATION IN MOTION The BMW i3 has won an impressive collection of awards, including World Car of the Year.

brand new car with a full gas tank every seven days for two years.

Nowadays, my editor’s not quite as demanding, but I still get to play with a new motor once a month - and, as PRIMOLife tends to look to the high end of the market, I’m guaranteed a marque brand. No more 1998 Skoda Felicias for this wannabe Hamster, I can tell you.

So, yes, covering cars is the top end of journalism, perk-wise, only matched by those other grade-one blaggers who write about travel, food, international sport or theatre.

But there is a downside. As time passes, keeping the 900-word end result fresh and, hopefully, entertaining as well as informative, becomes more and more difficult. And if you don’t keep things fresh, entertaining and informative, you can bet there’s some bright young thing with his hair in a silly topknot just waiting to bat their eyelashes at the boss and steal your gig.

At a rough guess, I would say that I’ve written about somewhere in the region of 300 cars in my time so finding a new way in every time has become more and more problematic. Even with the magnificent vehicles PRIMOLife lines up for me, it’s hard to avoid the formulaic approach, a vexation that once pushed me to base my review of a particularly butch ute on how it would fare in a zombie apocalypse.

No, in truth as much as the spectrum of today’s motoring industry is wonderfully broad, strip a car down to its basic parts and they’re all a similar beast, so writing about them is always going to go down a similar route.

Or so I thought.

This week, everything changed when I got behind the wheel of the future of motoring, of an evolution in car design, technology and thinking that will change how the world thinks about personal transport, let alone change how people like me are going to write about cars in the future.

Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the BMW i3.

You’ve probably heard of it.This miracle of modern motoring has been around, in Europe anyway, since 2013 and has already clocked up a bucketful of awards including a couple of World Car of the Year awards and, here in Australia, the prestigious Wheels Magazine Car of the Year title, but they’re still a rare sight on the roads this side of the planet.

The reason the i3 has made such waves however is that it is, the industry tends to agree, the next generation of electric car and is likely to change forever the way this ultimately sensible but still controversial power source is viewed.

Electric cars have been around for a while, of course, but commercially it has been the hybrids that have led the way, a combination of electric generator and petrol engine powering the new generation of green transport.

But the i3 is different.

The i3, you see, is a purely electric car – and it delivers up to 200km before it needs a recharge. Admittedly, a nervous public

- especially over in the land of the free where anything that doesn’t drink four-star like a fish is frowned upon - has prompted the optional addition of a petrol range extender in the shape of a 650cc lump with a nine-litre gas tank but the raison d’etre of the i3 is that it is all-electric, the gas backup designed purely as that, a back-up for extreme situations that, for the urban driver, should never come up.

What we have then is a purely electric car with a range that makes it a viable commodity on the world’s roads – but is that enough to make it an absolute gamechanger? Well, once you’ve had one for a couple of days you’ll realise that the answer to that question is a categoric yes.

From a distance, the i3 looks like a standard compact car, but up close you realise that it is a very different beast. It’s as though the designers have competed with the engineers to see who can radically rework traditional thinking the most. Bones would probably mutter ‘it’s a car Jim, but not as we know it’.

Its angles are almost indescribably different, the curves and folds not quite going where you expect them to be, but somehow aligning to produce a shape which is simply how it should be.

And then you open the doors. The ones at the front are normal enough, but, hey, look what happens at the rear – they open the wrong way, hinged to the rear of the car not the front. Surprising, quirky, clever and practical all in one.

The i3 the good people at Auto Classic lent me had a two-tone black and white paintjob that only added to its stand-out appeal, but one would imagine going down, say, the metallic orange finish may well blow some minds.

But that’s the i3’s appeal - a car that may save the world with its green credentials, but is also fun and stylish, a fact that was driven home further once I got inside.

The interior of this remarkable little car is like something from a 1970s sci-fi film – and I mean that in a very, very good way.

It’s all curves and bubbles, ovals and swirls, a mixture of materials blended together in such a way it’s almost impossible not to think Barbarella or Logan’s Run. And then you learn that it looks so natural because it is so natural. The whole of its interior is made from planet-friendly staples – fibres from the kenaf plant and open-pored eucalyptus wood harvested from 100 per cent certified responsible forestry on the dash, and tanned leather trim from south-German cattle hide on the seats.

But then of course it’s all wonderfully green – these things are built in a factory in

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drive entertainment

The most striking thing about the i3 is that it is absolutely silent. No noise at all. Nothing.

Germany that’s powered by windmills and is carbon neutral, for crying out loud. This may be the greenest machine ever created!

Right, deep breath and calm down – I know I’m getting carried away here, but this is new territory for an old man and it’s so exciting that I’ve pushed PRIMOLife’s editor for another page. After all, I haven’t even started it up yet.

And when I do, things change again.

I’ve had a driver’s licence for the best part of 30 years now and had got to the point where I believed that, while cars may thrill me, they’d never surprise me. Basically, stripped down, driving a car is driving a car.

Not anymore. BMW have rewritten that rulebook too.

The first half an hour or so behind the wheel of an i3 makes you rethink everything you thought you knew about driving, such is the boldness of the innovation.

To put this miracle technology simply, the i3 charges itself not while driving, but while braking. When the car slows down the dash indicator shows the battery level is going up. To get maximum efficiency from this, the car helps you slow down.

The end result is that whenever you ease off the accelerator, it is like an intense version of the feeling you get when you change down through the gears to slow up a stick-shift petrol car. Basically, the car brakes for you – and it’s a strange, but once accepted, wonderful feeling.

And yet this isn’t the only way the

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driving experience has been redefined. The most striking thing about the i3 is that it is absolutely silent. No noise at all. Nothing.

Three times during my trial, strangers approached me in car parks to marvel at the machine that had just glided past them. And three times I stood and chatted about the i3 for a good quarter of an hour. It’s not just a head-turner, it’s a converstion-starter, a show-stopper.

And yet despite all this fantastic evolution, despite all the absolute newness of the i3, BMW have remembered that at the end of the day, motorists still want a car.

As such, it drives like you would expect a BMW to drive. To say it’s not slow is an understatement – the i3 is surprisingly quick. It holds the road beautifully and the ride is comfortable and smooth. For a compact car, it is roomy and, thanks to those wrong-way-round doors, easy to get in and out of. In fact it fulfills all the standard demands of a day-to-day car fantastically well.

So well, in fact, you could forget that you are driving a little motoring miracle.

What will remind you, though, is probably your hip pocket – as an urban motor, the i3 is going to obliterate your running costs. Basically, no more buying fuel.

On my city beat, I’d say I average 150km a day, which means that my i3 would never need to visit a bowser. Charging is simple – when you get home at night you literally just plug it in at the mains.

The charger, which is stowed under the bonnet, works on standard mains current and is very efficient. I deliberately let the battery whittle away to nothing and left it charging overnight and was greeted by 100 per cent the next morning.

If I owned one, however, I’d probably invest in the BMW iWallbox, a fast charger that you mount in your garage and gets your i3 back to full strength in less than three hours. Brilliantly efficient, and, in keeping with everything else, very cool to look at, it's a slinky piece of tech that has a touch of the Battleship Gallactica about it.

But, of course, every now and then I want to stray further than the CBD, which left me wondering if the i3 would be a sensible choice for a jaunt down south. I put my concern to Josh Curtis, the BMW Genius at Auto Classic, who quickly put my mind at rest.

“With the RAC Electric Highway recently getting the ‘green light’ – travelling to Busselton (and beyond) will soon be possible with an electric vehicle,” he said.

“Starting in Perth, your first charge stop would be Mandurah then Bunbury, finishing at Busselton. Each charge (having only used half to three quarters of the battery will take approximately 25 minutes to get you back to 80 per cent.

“This gives you enough time to grab a coffee or take a look around. The electric highway finishes in Augusta, with charge points also set for Harvey, Margaret River, Nannup and Bridgetown.”

All in all then, the i3 is undoubtedly the future of motoring, managing as it does to solve the green problem while keeping alive the passion and excitement that has fuelled the industy since the first internal combustion combusted.

It will change the face of motoring - which, for me at least, comes with the added benefit of changing the face of motoring journalism. PL

BMW i3....................................................from $72,654 (from $78,990 with range extender).

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PRIMOride

KING OF THE

ROAD The BMW S 1000 XR is perfect for Australian roads – fast, powerful and very, very tough.

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IMAGINE A WORLD where motorbikes evolved naturally, a world where twowheelers adapted to conquer, and grew into their environment.

In that world, here in Australia the BMW S 1000 XR would be king of the beasts.

It shares its DNA with its four cousins, the beautiful S 1000 RR and HP4 superbikes and the S 1000 R roadster – three incredible machines that have put the Bavarian motor geniuses’ bike division, BMW Motorrad, firmly at the forefront of the motorcycle word.

Each of its ancestors has taken the industry by storm. The S 1000 RR was designed specifically to compete in the Superbike World Championship - and it took the historic race by storm with a onetwo in the UK in 2012 before taking the superbike title at the Isle of Man TT. The HP4, meanwhile, garnered rave reviews worldwide and the S 1000 R recently won the heart of movie icon Orlando Bloom - he was pictured putting the superb roadster through its paces at the Concours d’Elegance event in Lake Como,

Italy, in May. Now, though, BMW Motorrad has unveiled the fourth member of its line-up of high-power motorcycles with inline four-cylinder engines - and it’s almost as though this machine was designed and built just for Australia.

It has, of course, the intrinsic sporty bias that is at the heart of this magnificent quartet, but the clever Germans have built on the tantalising and unique mix of innovative technology, performance and safety already inherent to the existing models to produce this brand-new creature that they have dubbed “adventure sport”.

Put simply, it still stands tall on the pristine bitumen of the race track, but there’s more comfort, making it perfect for long distance touring, and there’s more than a sniff of the trail bikes that have long roamed over our big red land in there, making it perfect for tackling bush trails.

All in all, then, this may well be the perfect bike for Australia.

So, how have they done it? Well, the S 1000 XR’s engine is basically derived from primolife.com.au

the S 1000 R roadster. It has an output of 118kW (160 hp) at 11,000rpm and generates maximum torque of 112 Nm (83 lb-ft) at 9,250 rpm.

That means torque in abundance, making it ideal for providing the punchy response at low and medium revs that riders seek when powering along country roads or carrying a passenger. The inline fourcylinder unit also combines tremendous pulling power and exhilarating acceleration with a high peak output, while offering the rider a usable rev range that spans over 10,000rpm. This makes it just as adept at highly pleasurable touring as it is at sporty rides down winding country roads or holiday trips complete with passenger and luggage.

Adaptability is key in the S 1000 XR – it offers two riding modes and Automatic Stability Control (ASC) as standard as well as the option of adding pro-riding modes to your taste.

To make sure your ride is perfect in whatever road conditions you face, the S 1000 XR comes with the “Rain” and “Road” riding modes as standard. The ASC ensures a high standard of riding safety by optimising traction. The optional upgrades include the additional riding modes “Dynamic” and “Dynamic Pro” along with Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) and ABS Pro. The chassis of the new S 1000 XR

And if you decide to fit the optional electronically controlled suspension system BMW Motorrad Dynamic ESA (Electronic Suspension Adjustment), you’ll find that the S 1000 XR takes riding safety, performance and comfort to even greater heights, while also promising adventure sport at its very finest.

Safety, of course, is paramount to anyone

the brakes are applied sharply. This reduces abrupt changes in steering force, especially in response to panic braking, and thereby limits any undesirable righting of the bike.

The “adventure sport” tag is clearly very important to BMW Motorrad, with every detail of this machine’s clever design tweaked to make taking it off road both comfortable and safe – flawless ergonomics,

is every bit as impressive as the ferocious power delivery of its four-in-line engine.

Based on its three prestigious predecessors' existing design, it employs an alloy perimeter frame in which the engine forms part of the load-bearing structure.

Suspension at the front and rear is handled by an adjustable upside-down fork and a double-sided swing arm with adjustable central spring strut respectively.

But the chassis geometry has been completely redefined in order to cater to the specific requirements of the XR.

who wants to travel the road on two wheels – and BMW naturally takes this area very seriously.

Whereas the standard ABS systems from BMW Motorrad to date have ensured an excellent standard of safety when braking while moving in a straight line, the optionally available ABS Pro feature now goes a step further to make braking while cornering safer as well by enabling ABSassisted braking in a banked position.

In such situations, ABS Pro prevents the wheels from locking up even when

ingenious wind and weather protection as well as the 20–30mm increase in spring travel and greater ground clearance make an impressive statement. Whether it’s mountain passes, a tour of the countryside, motorway riding or even rough sections of road – the new S 1000 XR handles it all with ease.

But, of course, the key to a great bike is, at the end of the day, what it looks like.

And let’s not mince words here, the S 1000 XR is a beauty. Tall, graceful, powerful, it’s adapted perfectly for our tough, beautiful land. PL

BMW S 1000 XR from $22,190.

Auto Classic BMW Motorrad Centre, 48 Burswood Road, Victoria Park, Perth WA. Tel: (08) 9311 7533.

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PRIMOsport

A PRIZE WELL URNED Australia head to the UK this month intent on holding on to the Ashes – but a resurgent England have a different plan in mind.

Adam Collins looks forward to a cricketing treat. Images ICC/GETTY IMAGES

IN 2010, AN American teenager started getting bombarded with tweets about a thing she’d never heard of: cricket. Her handle, @theashes, was mistakenly included by thousands of Twitter-using fans of the game – and her delightfully confused response earned her notoriety and ultimately a flight to Australia and tickets to a game.

This neat little vignette illustrated just how much this Ashes caper matters to us, and just how little it does to those outside the cricket world.

For our part, there isn’t a sporting contest quite like it. Entire careers are judged on the basis of what is achieved when playing in contests between cricket’s oldest rivals, England and Australia. Captaincies live and die by the results, eras are defined.

When the series is held in England, Australia stays up all night through the middle of winter tuned in to the last, bleary eyes at work or school not only forgiven but embraced as a sign of commitment to the cause.

Even if it felt like only yesterday that we were last doing it, this month, they’re at it again.

England and Australia played their first Test match in 1877, but the Ashes came a bit later. 1882 in fact, when, so goes the yarn, England’s Sporting Times responded to Australia’s first victory on English soil by

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publishing a cheeky obituary proclaiming that English cricket had died and “the body will be cremated and ashes taken to Australia”.

On England’s next voyage to Australia they set out to “regain those ashes” and the rest is history. An urn was filled with the burnt remains of a wooden bail and presented to the successful English upon victory and they promptly returned it home.

That small trophy itself remains in England under lock and key at the spiritual home of cricket, Lord’s. But the symbolism associated with winning it far outweighs the physical prize, or the crystal replica the teams are given (principally to drink out of when celebrating) these days.

In the 68 series between England and Australia, the results have been remarkably even. If England claim the Ashes over the next two months the series tally will sit at 32 apiece.

Australia went through a period of dominance at the end of the last century, England not winning a series after 1986-87.

But the Poms broke their drought in 2005, a series widely regarded as one of the best of all time, the result unclear until well into the final day. Since then, despite dominant performances from both sides on occasion, the Ashes have bounced back and forth.

Last time they met, the Australian

summer of 201314, brought a decimation the degree to which has only been seen two other times in the history of the contest. It was actually a ten-Test epic all told, with the unique situation of the Ashes being contested back-to-back owing to a scheduling quirk related to the World Cup the following summer.

England had won on their turf, but there was a quiet confidence in Australian ranks that this scoreline flattered to deceive.

Despite Australian cricket plumbing depths as deep as any in modern memory just months before in India when trounced 4-0, they had a cheeky feeling they might have their measure.

The reintroduction of discarded Mitchell Johnson proved visionary. The left-arm talisman had risen to the top of world game, and then back again just as quickly. But by the time the caravan arrived in Brisbane primolife.com.au

for the First Test, he was the most potent bowler on the planet.

He joined with Brad Haddin, another discard, who resumed in the gloveman position with added responsibilities as Michael Clarke’s vice captain after the India debacle, and on five consecutive occasions he saved Australia from modest first innings.

For Johnson and Haddin, teammates in Australia’s first defeat by England on home soil in a quarter of a century in 2011, it was the quintessential story of redemption.

Momentum sapped, it was England’s tour from hell. Their 5-0 loss prompted a coach resignation and the sacking of one of their all-time greatest in Kevin Pietersen.

From top of the world in 2012 to basket case in just 18 months.

Since then, there’s been much for Australia to celebrate. Defeating South Africa away in the immediate aftermath, they briefly held the mantle as the world’s best team.

But then came a disastrous visit to the United Arab Emirates, a timely reminder in defeat against Pakistan that they had plenty of colouring in to do before legitimately claiming top-dog status.

And then last summer Australian cricket was turned on its head with the death of 25-year-old batsman Phillip Hughes. It sucked the life out of the game, and from the teammates to whom he was so close.

However, the resilient professionals that they are, they promised to continue and they did.

Against the touring Indians, they clocked a 2-nil victory over four Tests, three of which were under the tutelage of Steve Smith who was promoted to replace captain Michael Clarke after the re-emergence of a hamstring injury.

Smith went on to make more runs than even Bradman had in a tour against the Indians, rattling off centuries in four consecutive Tests to reiterate his standing as Australia’s best and most important player.

They arrive in England fresh from a 2-nil defeat of the West Indies that says little, such is the weakness of Caribbean cricket right now, with a squad that has been dubbed ‘Dad’s Army' - a reference to the vast bulk of first-choice players well over the age of 30. Chris Rogers has already signaled that this tour will be his last before leaving international cricket, and Haddin is a virtual shoo-in to do likewise if Australia can get the job done.

Adam Voges is the most recent debutant to the side at 35, scoring a century in his first time at the crease, and Clarke himself is now 34, the age all-rounder Shane Watson is nearing, too.

Darren Lehmann, coach and selector, likes all-rounders. That is to say, he likes

having one at number six, who can bowl seam up, to insure against the risk of a fast bowler breaking down. The real shake-up since the start of this tour for this prized position, has been the emergence of youngster Mitchell Marsh. In Australia’s first tour game he slayed a faultless century with Watson standing up the other end watching on. It’ll take some prising of the incumbent from the Cardiff XI, but the younger Marsh could be a wildcard if the selectors put their faith in his all-round abilities.

With the ball, Ryan Harris at 35 is the oldest of the fast-bowling quartet; a foursome to die for. Johnson (33) we’ve already discussed. They are complemented by a pair of young quicks in Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc who have bashed their way to the front of the queue over the last six months.

Nathan Lyon arrives in England the irrefutable first-choice spin option. Last time around, his confidence was at rock bottom, left out of the XI for the first Test for a 19-year-old. Now, two years on, he’s Australia’s most prolific off-spinner in history.

England, meanwhile, know what to expect in Cardiff. In their most recent series against New Zealand they got gentle, polite cricket – and that, according to spearhead Jimmy Anderson, is what they and can be absolutely sure of not getting against Australia.

It was a series they drew, 1-1; as they did against the West Indies months before. All the same, the series against the Kiwis was heralded a success coming as it did after their World Cup debacle.

Alistair Cook’s side is part-way through a transition. On one hand, they retain some of the bulk firepower so responsible for

dismantling Australia in Ashes series’ past – Cook himself (now England’s highest all time run scorer), Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ian Bell.

But their lot relies far more now on a newer generation. Can Joe Root convert his exemplary recent form into match-winning Ashes tons? Can Moeen Ali survive as the sole-spinner? Does Adam Lyth’s single Test count as sufficient preparation for Australian brutality at the top of the order? Is Mark Wood as good as he is eccentric?

Now, in fairness, this is a team that accounted for India at home in their previous English summer. Despite India, as a rule, travelling worse than any number of communicable diseases, this isn’t for nothing.

They’ve also added to their off-field stocks through the appointment of an Australian, Trevor Bayliss, who has forgotten more about the inner workings of this touring team than most know after his various stints coaching the players he’ll now vie against.

So, who would I bet on this time around?

Well, this is an Australian side that hasn’t won in England for 14 years, and they know about it. Despite being the away side, the pressure is heaped on them. But with a picture-perfect preparation, and a tailor-made squad, they’ve every reason to be upbeat.

England aren’t as accomplished or heavily weaponised, but that may be an advantage. They can fight hard from the get go, as they did in 2005, with a view to knocking Australia from their comfort zone.

If they can achieve that, then who knows.

But this wouldn’t be an Ashes preview without a prediction. So here goes: Australia to do win it, but a bigger contest than the spreadsheet columns would suggest; 3-1. PL

winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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TOTALLY TATUM

The stars who made wearing a thong and gyrating in front of screaming women the coolest job description ever are back - and this time Channing Tatum and friends have gone XXL. By GILL PRINGLE.

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“I’VE NEVER FELT more like Adam Levine in my whole life!” quips Channing Tatum, re-living a key scene from Magic Mike XXL where he gets his kit off in front of 3,000 screaming women.

“That was a real rock star moment.”

And, for the record, it ain’t bad being Channing Tatum either.

In the space of ten years, he’s gone from primolife.com.au

If he has any complaints, it’s that women can’t get enough of his sexy moves.

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being a male stripper to an award-winning movie star and highly-respected film producer.

But it was those smooth moves that first showcased his potential, with Hollywood power-brokers casting him in dance movie Step Up and its sequel, his stripping days later inspiring him to make Magic Mike which became an unexpected hit three years ago, prompting its XXL sequel today.

“We made the first one for no money because we didn’t know if anybody was ever going to want to see this salacious world or even admit that they wanted to see it.

I think it's a guilty pleasure and it was a weird movie simply because it’s a low-brow subject,” says Tatum, 35, who has also coproduced both movies.

“But then along comes 50 Shades of Grey and, whatever you thought about that movie, it was great to see women get excited about something and tell the people that make the movies what they want.”

If he has any complaints, it’s that women can’t get enough of his sexy moves. “‘Take your shirt off!’ and ‘Come to my bachelorette party!’ That happens almost every time I walk out of the house. And it can get old. I’m not a monkey! I don’t dance all the time!” he says as we chat in a suite in a West Hollywood hotel.

As if on cue, we are joined by his Magic Mike XXL co-star Joe Manganiello, who has just been hassled in the hotel lobby.

“I actually was asked to duck into two

baby showers that were downstairs here at the hotel today - and it’s still only the morning. They’ll be more offers,” he grins, throwing himself across a couch.

With his rigid torso and bulging pecs, it’s not hard to imagine why the True Blood star would be a welcome addition at any baby shower. Certainly his fiance Sofia Vergara recognised a good thing when she saw one.

“And look, I’m really happy that that option is there for us because if the career starts going south, you never know,” says Tatum who admits to giving his wife, actress Jenna Dewan, a few private dances.

“I’ve danced for Jenna, yes,” he says coyly.

“She’s not going to have a stripper for a husband and not actually benefit from it.”

Dewan has been at her husband’s side fo r his entire remarkable ride to success, the couple falling in love on the set of Step Up. Wed six years, they are now proud parents to two-year-old daughter, Everly.

Manganiello, 38, has no complaints about his eye candy status.

“Coming off True Blood, probably gave me some experience in that department,” he says.

“It’s interesting that female stripping has been around as long as it has but male stripping only started in the late 70s and it’s interesting that it’s taken us from the late 70s to now for us to start exploring this or for voices to be heard, so bring it on! We’re here to give them what they want.”

With their relationship still in first bloom,Vergara apparently was wary of her beau stripping off in front of throngs of baying women.

“Sofia was skeptical at the beginning because there is a cultural difference in Latin America in a way that I think there was more shame before; women felt ashamed that they were watching what they were watching which I think still exists a bit towards this subject material.

“But once she came to the set and saw what the routines were about and understood the sense of humour and how funny it was and how it was really about a group of goofy guys, she now laughs hysterically,” he says, going into a hilarious spot-on impression of his fiance’s unmistakable Latin accent.

Reflecting on his own days circling the pole before he became a male model posing for Abercrombie & Fitch and Aeropostale, Tatum says: “I heard an ad on the radio for dance auditions, and thought ‘I can dance!’

I already had three other jobs and this was going to be at night. I was 19 and the whole motivation was: it's money, women and a good time. It was fun because you’re walking on a razor's edge - there’s a lot of moments where you think, ‘I hope this doesn’t go bad’ where you just barely skinny out of some situations; those are the best stories that you have in your life,” he says almost wistfully.

“I had no idea I wanted to act then.

I went looking for crazy. I didn’t know what I wanted. All I knew was I wanted to experience madness. But at some point you go, ‘OK I’ve had my fill of this and now where’s the rest of my life going to go?’” says the actor whose own dilemmas are reflected in Magic Mike’s journey.

“For me personally, I can’t really tell you that I was having big dreams. I knew I wasn’t going to college and getting a degree.

I was just trying to figure out something to do and that was it.”

As proud as the guys are of their physical perfections, both felt degraded parading about in thongs for the movie.

“Right before I have to get in a thong I ask myself:Why did I want to do this movie again?

It doesn’t matter how cool you are on stage as soon as you get into a thong, it knocks the cool right out of you. I’d hoped we wouldn’t do thongs this time round because most of the actual male revues use boxer briefs or tightie whities,” complains Tatum.

But he met with some serious resistance at home. “My wife completely freaked out.

She was like ‘You cannot not do thongs’.”

Three cheers for Mrs Mike. PL Magic Mike XXL is out now. winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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entertainment

IT’S ALL ABOUT AMY You might not be familiar with her yet, but when Trainwreck hits the screens, you’ll find it hard to forget its star, Amy Schumer. By GILL PRINGLE.

COUNT EMMA STONE, Steve Carell, Lena Dunham, Seth Rogen and Ben Stiller among the many A-list comedy stars who thank director Judd Apatow for giving them early career breaks.

And now add to that illustrious list one Amy Schumer.

Largely unknown outside the US except on the stand-up comedy circuit - thanks to Apatow, Schumer is about to reach the biggest audience of her career, starring in Trainwreck, a movie she also wrote.

No overnight success, Schumer, 34, has

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been honing her comedy for 11 long years which means she’s already very, very funny.

“I’d done some amateur plays and then one day I was walking past a comedy club in New York and it said, ‘If you can bring four people you can perform,’ and I’m from New York so I could get those four people and I just tried it and liked it and kept doing it,” she recalls.

It was a long, slow journey.

“Everybody sucks at first at stand-up.

You’re bad for like five years. Imagine doing something every night that you’re bad at?” she laughs. “I continued because I wanted

to get better.”

Watching me scribble my notes, she expands on her thoughts.

“It’s just like writing. Don’t you feel like that you could read something that you wrote ten years ago and you would just cringe? It’s something you get better at with practice.”

Having paid her dues, she’s more than realistic about the chances of major success for an actress who doesn’t exactly look like a supermodel. “I wrote the film but never imagined they’d actually let me star in it too,” she says, who, while very pretty, primolife.com.au

Win

one of five double in season passes to see Trainwreck.

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acknowledges the distance between her and, say, Cameron Diaz or Kate Hudson.

Even as we meet in an office on the back-lot of Universal Studios in Hollywood, she’s poking fun at her pale belly protruding from the designer two-piece a stylist has put her in, incorrectly assuming Schumer to be of stick-figure dimensions.

Schumer is a girl’s girl. The kind of girl who stays up all night drinking with her pals discussing bad dates, embarrassing bodily functions and painful childhood memories.

That’s not to say she doesn’t like men because she does.Very much, apparently. For without great research into the opposite sex and the awfulness of the one-night-stand, Trainwreck would never have been born.

Some of the funniest comedies ever made are about sex and our craving to be loved. Who can forget that scene from When Harry Met Sally?

“Well, in your own sex life, don’t funny things happen?”Amy suddenly asks. “Don’t ridiculous, horrible things happen that we just don’t talk about very much? But if you talk about them out loud, they’re really funny?”

Hands up anyone?

Apatow’s 40-Year-old Virgin brought audiences to tears of laughter and Amy hopes the director has created the same magic with Trainwreck.

“I don’t think Judd and I use sex as a device so much as it’s more our honest experience that that’s when the worst stuff happens. I’ve had sex with probably two dozen people and maybe with five of LOVEABLE STAR Amy Schumer stars in one of the funniest movies of 2015, Trainwreck.

those people it was good and nice but with everyone else, there was something very weird going on.”

Thus Trainwreck stars Schumer as a slutty but loveable woman whose greatest fear is falling in love.

“I would say 70 per cent of the real me is portrayed in this movie and then there’s a good 30 per cent that’s not. I don’t drink as much as her unfortunately; I don’t have nearly as much sex and I’d say it’s a version of me ten years ago.

“But my sister is married and we’re really close and my dad really does have MS,” says the comedienne who leans heavily on her own family for inspiration both in Trainwreck and also with her own critically-acclaimed TV series, Inside Amy Schumer, now in its third season.

Her parents divorced when she was nine leaving the three Schumer siblings to together endure the family fall-out, their father’s MS diagnosis and subsequent admission into an assisted living facility.

“We all have screwed-up families and tragedy in our lives and my family deals with it through comedy. We laugh. We laugh at how horrible things can get and that was our coping mechanism. In admitting your own insecurities in trauma it makes people feel less alone,” says Schumer whose sister, Kim serves as her manager, co-writer and general shoulder-to-cry-on.

She was just five years old when she first discovered her funny bone.

“I played Gretel in a school play of The Sound of Music and every time I walked on stage everybody would laugh and I would get upset, like I felt they were laughing at me but it was explained to me, ‘it's good that they’re laughing at you. They love you, you’re funny, it makes people happy’, and ever since then I’ve embraced it. I think with some people, you just see them, they walk in and you kind of start laughing and I was just one of those people.”

A huge fan of Apatow’s other protegee Lena Dunham, she’s already guest-starred on a few episodes of Girls.

“She’s a genius. She’s unapologetic and unafraid and she inspires me.”

Like Dunham, she is unfailingly human and honest; a fresh voice for the everywoman.

“I’m always trying to humanise myself and other people. Look we’re all disgusting and nobody’s any better than anybody else.

We all need to learn to like ourselves a little more.”

You heard it here first - a new star is born. PL Trainwreck is released on July 30. winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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entertainment

CHISELED FEATURES Cold Chisel’s ever humble guitarist Ian Moss says the band work hard to prove themselves at every show and that’s why their songs have stood the test of time. By ARA JANSEN.

THIS YEAR, COLD Chisel guitarist Ian “Mossy” Moss turned 60 and, rather than thinking how he might retire, he’s making sure his band can still kick our asses and take names when they get on stage to storm through a catalogue of classics.

Even though Cold Chisel have been playing together for decades, Ian says it’s not simply case of just turning up 15 minutes before the show, ambling on stage and banging out a few tunes. The band rehearse hard and it’s never just a case of putting on those comfortable old shoes again.

“It would be easy to just play the songs over and over without thought,” says Ian. “We want every show to count. We might spend six hours in a day rehearsing the set over and over to get it tight enough.

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“We have to call each other out and we’re pretty good at it. Jim (Jimmy Barnes) and Don (Walker) are good task masters.

They’ll pick up on things and push and keep pushing.

“We want to make every show great so no one can ever say we’re past it or over the hill. We’re only as good as our last gig and that’s our challenge every night.”

It has been three years since Cold Chisel toured Australia and this year they’re back on the road for the One Night Stand Tour and we can get into bed with them in November.

A series of one night stands is how the band created their fearsome live reputation, playing hundreds of gigs in pubs all over Australia since forming in the early 1970s.

Fronted by the loud and indefatigable Jimmy Barnes and joined by bandmates Don (piano/keyboards), Phil Small (bass) and drummer Charley Drayton (who replaced the late Steve Prestwich in 2011), guitarist Moss rounds out the band.

Born in Alice Springs, Barnes once described Mossy as “a boy from the bush who didn’t wear shoes but played fantastic”.

Make no mistake, he’s the guy who makes every song wail.

The ARIA-winning Moss has also had a successful career of his own outside Cold Chisel, which has kept him touring since his late 80s hits Tucker’s Daughter and Telephone Booth. He also wrote Bow River.

Formed in Adelaide in 1973 and with a primolife.com.au

Win a double pass to see Cold Chisel at Perth Arena on November 14.

Visit PRIMOLife's Facebook page or primolife.com.au for details.

Good luck! history that spans 40 years and a reputation forged through blistering live shows and a catalogue of much-loved songs and albums, Cold Chisel are part of the Australian psyche. The band’s story is colourful, volatile, proud and mandatory listening for any Aussie.

Cold Chisel boast seven million in album sales almost exclusively on home turf and a long list of classics which like any selfrespecting Aussie you’ve no doubt learned

via osmosis even if you’ve never owned an album.

Songs like Cheap Wine, Choirgirl, When the War is Over, Flame Trees, Bow River, Saturday Night and Khe Sanh are evergreen staples of radio playlists, pubs, jukeboxes, concert halls and karaoke bars from the capital cities to every two-bit pub from Albany to Townsville.

They’re going to be adding to that collection too as the band have finished a new (and as yet untitled) eighth album which is due out before the tour starts in early October.

But while new songs have found their way into the live set as newer albums have been released, the band still lives and dies by those anthems and classics like You Got

Nothing I Want, Cheap Wine or Choirgirl.

Moss says while they’ve written a great bunch of songs, one of the beauties of them is somehow they also built room to move within them. While Barnsey is firmly the band’s frontman a live show always showcases Moss or other band members singing and showing off the songs they have written.

“I love trying to improve my guitar solos or my choice of notes, licks, motifs or ideas,” says Moss.

“And I’m always trying to get better guitar sounds. In the 70s and 80s we were guilty of what a lot of bands were doing, which was playing too fast and forgetting the groove. If you want power you have to get the groove right. Ultimately, we’re a rockin’ blues band with a lot of groove.”

So why do Cold Chisel’s songs stand up?

How have they stood the time and how do we still love to honky honk through a 35-year-old song like Rising Sun? You can blame Don Walker for being an incredibly fussy songwriter, says Moss - his wonderful attention to detail and insistence all those years ago that if you wanted a song to last, it had to be just right. Walker’s Chisel writing credits include Cheap Wine, Breakfast at Sweethearts, Choirgirl and Four Walls.

“Don has written some great songs that have sat there for six months waiting for the right last word. Other people would say it’s done and good enough but Don would hold it until he got it right. And that’s paid off. These songs haven’t really aged. It has been 40 years in some cases and they are still killers.”

Barnsey’s longstanding bromance with The Living End and singer Chris Cheney – which has caused him to call them one of the best rock’n’roll bands to come out of Australia in the last two decades – has deservedly gotten them the opening slot on most of the Chisel dates, including Perth.

Don’t think there won’t be some competition between the two bands to out-do each other every night. Consider it a little friendly musical warfare between rock’n’roll parents and their sons.

Moss agrees they are the right band for the job thanks to their blues-based rock and rockabilly roots and just because “they’re bloody good”.

“Apart from making a great double bill, they push the hell out of us and keep us on our toes. They are going to try and blow us off the stage and we’re going to work really hard to make sure they don’t.” PL Cold Chisel and The Living End play Perth Arena on November 14.Tickets from Ticketek. winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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entertainment

BIG ON HEROICS Marvel’s newest hero may be small in size, but Ant-Man sure packs a big punch.

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FIRST THERE WAS A Bug’s Life which made Flik the clumsy ant a hero to his community. Then there was Honey, I Shrunk the Kids which saw a bunch of regular rugrats zapped down to the size of a speck of dust, battling the garden’s wildlife.

Now there’s a combination of both ideas - ants plus a pint-sized human and voila, say hello to Ant-Man. It’s the next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe bringing a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats.

Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will, yes of course, save the world.

Marvel’s Ant-Man stars Paul Rudd as Lang aka Ant-Man, Lost’s Evangeline Lilly

as Hope Van Dyne, Corey Stoll as Darren Cross aka Yellowjacket, Bobby Cannavale as Paxton, Michael Peña as Luis, Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris as Dave, Wood Harris as Gale, Judy Greer as Maggie, David Dastmalchian as Kurt, and superstar Hollywood legend Michael Douglas as Dr Pym. On Ant-Man, director Peyton Reed said: “He’s not used to being a hero. He’s more like George Clooney’s character Danny Ocean in Ocean’s Eleven.

“He’s a guy trying to create a new life for himself and find redemption.”

To get in shape for the role, Rudd worked with trainers and cut alcohol, fried foods and carbohydrates out of his diet.

News is that he’s signed a multi-film contract with Marvel, which makes you think this is one film that will make a mountain out of an ant hill. PL Ant-Man is out on July 16. primolife.com.au

next big thing

Oh Mercy’s Alexander Gow has much to be proud of - not least the band’s well-received new album, When We Talk About Love.

MERCY ME WRITTEN ACROSS THREE American cities and then home, Alex has described Oh Mercy's album as his most personal to date.

“Its genetics are the sum of my musical loves. Bacharach, Cohen, The Triffids.

Grand, proud and not self-conscious. I accessed all that I’ve learnt, all that I know, or think I know, and importantly, all that I love, to create this record.”

Having recently sold out their Sydney and Melbourne shows, their up-coming national tour will be the first for Oh Mercy since Alex returned home to Australia to record the album.

The When We Talk About Love tour visits Perth, Fremantle and other national cities or the first time since 2012 and it’s also the first tour for the new bandmates Oh Mercy now features keys, viola, drums, bass and occasional second guitarist.

PRIMOLife Tell us who you are and what you do.

Alexander Gow I’m cold. Overcaffeinated. I play the guitar and do a great job of making my life difficult.

PL What do you sing in the shower?

AG Dusty Springfield - Just A Little Lovin’ (Early In The Morning).

PL Who are your musical heroes?

AG David McComb and Leonard Cohen.

PL What’s on your Spotify/iPod playlist at the moment?

AG John Cale’s Paris 1919.

PL Who would be your dream musical mentor or collaborator?

AG Burt Bacharach.

PL Tell us about your new album.

AG It’s the kind of album you can play your mum.

PL What do you love about Perth/WA? AG The Triffids. The Blackeyed Susans.

Tame Impala. Dave Faulkner. Kim Salmon.

Pond. The Growl. Simon Okely.

PL What are you looking forward to most.

AG Living with a woman who resembles

11Rachel Ward in Fortress.

PL How would you sum up your fashion style?

AG The best. PL When We Talk About Love is out now.

Book tickets to Oh Mercy’s shows at Mojos, Fremantle on September 18 (mojosbar.com.au) and the Rosemount in Perth on September 19 (rosemounthoteloztix.com.au) winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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PRIMOparties BMW 1 SERIES LAUNCH WILD GOOSE CHASE Images by Crib Creative.

The next generation of Aussie super-spies were spotted at BMW Auto Classic. The funpacked event was a chance for the dealership to show off the latest 1 Series. Guests took the classy little motor on a spin finishing up at Ascot Racecourse where they took on Bond-style secret agent challenges. Top notch catering and luxurious goody-bags added to the luxury feel on a sunny winter afternoon – and there was even a bevy of Bond girls as some of WA’s Miss World hopefuls dropped by to join the party.

Swetlana Fleddermann & Sam McNutt

SUNNY SOTA Images by Matt Jelonek.

Aaron Hollywood & Craig Wilson

Nicholas Meyer & Alexandra Alguazil

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Alex Paioff & Ella Kriszyk

Kate Abbott & Shelley Wally

State of The Art festival was even bigger this year with the addition of over 35 WA artists performing across two free stages.

The PICA Stage and the Wetlands Stage boasted an incredible line-up of WA talent for all to enjoy, encouraging families and music enthusiasts all over Perth to sit back, relax and enjoy free performances on a sunny Saturday.

Headline act Birds of Tokyo finished off the fourth - and free - music festival.

Michael Franz & Nikki Deeney

primolife.com.au

Mark Reid, Aly May & Angelo Di Labio Erin Cerinich & Grant Menner

Patima Tantiprasut & Teresa Watts

Nic & Caz MacCormac

Angus Arshad & Sam Winter

STYLEAID PUTS ON THE RITZ Mel & Adam Gilchrist

Images by Matt Jelonek.

StyleAid 2015 VIPs were treated to a special taste of the GoGo Themed event at Burswood Crown’s La Vie Champagne bar, with fashionistas and bloggers looking forward to the main event kicking off at the end of July.

Andrea Goh & Alvin Fernandez

Richard Bona Ben Mettan & Nicole Armstrong

Kate Gilbey & Claire Tuder

WA DAY JAZZ FESTIVAL Images by Matt Jelonek.

Angonella Cumming & Gino Premici

Andy Malcolm, Tracey Cooke, Nicole & Paul Lulic

The Perth International Jazz Festival made its much-anticipated return to the city for its third year over the WA Day long weekend. Presented by Brookfield, over 52 incredible jazz performances took place across 17 exceptional venues throughout Perth.

The three-day festival featured a blend of ticketed and free community events by a host of celebrated local, national and international jazz artists. winter 2015 | PRIMOLIFE

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home truths

by MATTHEW MILLS

GROUND HOG DAY My life follows a set path every morning thanks to the shackles of the school run routine. And that’s just the way I like it.

AS A YOUNGER man, I prided myself on my spontaneity.

Yes, I was shackled to the yoke of employment and new-found adulthood – a startling world that, it turned out, involved paying your own bills and having no one to blame if the fridge was bare but yourself – but these millstones aside, I was confident that I used my freedom and independence well.

Any day I wasn’t at work would be an unwritten book, a chance to go anywhere or do anything. I’d wake up of a morning and feel a 400k road trip was essential. Or perhaps seeking out a new restaurant, a dawn to dusk session in a waterfront bar or a long, long walk in the great outdoors was the go. Even, maybe, all that was needed was half the contents of Blockbuster Video, a barrow-load of popcorn and a willing duvet partner, but, whatever my mood was, I reveled in the freedom to pick and choose.

The buzz was that I didn’t know what was coming next. I was out in the big wide world shouting ‘come at me, bro’ and eating up whatever twists and turns were ahead of me. Deadlines and demanding editors aside - and in truth journalism boasts more spontaneity than most other vocations so earning a crust wasn’t exactly humdrum either - I had no routine.

Nowadays, I have just realised, that is not the case.

This lightning bolt of comprehension hit about ten minutes ago as I pulled the car into the drive after dropping the kids off at school. It’s Wednesday, so it’s the third

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time I’ve done the school run this week, probably about the 17th or 18th this month.

This year then I’m around the 80 mark and, as a father of five whose eldest started kindy in 2001, I reckon my career stats are around 2,500 not out. That’s a lot of school runs – and not a lot of spontaneity.

School runs, you see, are one of the parental duties that most clearly illustrate the concept of routine. They have to be, you can’t be messing with them.

In our house, they’ve just about always been my domain. My wife and I have always managed to stagger our working days so she’s at work at the crack of dawn and I’m at my desk afternoons and evenings, meaning the school run and day care is my job, tea, homework and baths is hers.

So a decade and a half of getting the kids to school has seen me hone my skills to the point that I now run them with a military precision, perfect timing – and absolutely not one iota of spontaneity.

Here’s how they go.

My phone alarm goes off at 6.35. I hit snooze. Nine minutes later - 6.44 - the alarm goes off again. I hit snooze again. Nine minutes later - 6.53 - it goes again. Snooze again. 7.02 it goes again. Time to get up.

Into the kitchen, I flick on the kettle, then do the wake-ups. Daisy first, I open her blinds, kiss her on the head, tell her it’s morning. Oli next. He likes a glass of milk and his TV turned on. Then Sam. Light on for him and standing at the end of the bed till I hear a grunt of recognition.

Our eldest two, now both working, are no longer part of the school run but sometimes I wish that they were. They, like their mother, were larks and would rise quite easily, the other three however are, like me, owls and loathe any time pre-9am.

As such, then, my remaining tasks are punctuated with revisiting bedrooms to make sure that my youngest three are up

and about, occasionally walking on eggshells if one of them is particularly not into the AM. Onward though and the next task is delivering Sam and Daisy’s uniforms to their rooms and putting Oli’s on the heater if it’s a chilly morning.

I cut fruit and put it into pots for Oli and Daisy and add chips and chocolate to their lunchboxes for recess, then stick cereal in bowls for breakfast. Fill the waterbottles, check backpacks for library bags and order two lunches from the online dinner ladies that have replaced brown paper bags - Sam has cash for the canteen.

Now, I change out of PJs into jeans and hoody then manoeuver Oli out of bed and onto the sofa. He’s six and is most of the way to getting dressed on his own, but still needs a hand some days.

Then inventory check. Permission slips, laptop, correct coloured socks, Smartriders for the older two, news bag as necessary for the youngest. Then it’s into the car, defuse the ‘who’s in the front’ argument then it’s the drive to school - a process that sees me in the exact same road position every day in order to hit the perfect park at the perfect time.

Kisses for Sam and Daisy at the gates and I walk Oli in. Backpack in locker, lunchbox in pigeon hole, waterbottle in his hand. Kiss on the head at the door, maybe a quick convo with some of the mums and then I’m away, back in my car and back home.

Which is where you found me ten minutes ago, pondering on the rise of routine in my life and whether I miss the days when anything could happen.

And then I see a piece of sugar paper that has fallen out of Oli’s backpack, an alien figure holding what might be a pencil but may also be a laser gun scrawled on it below the words ‘my favrit thing is school’ - and, hey, I realise everything’s OK. I’ll get back to spontaneity when they’re all at uni. primolife.com.au

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