Life + Style 22 December 2017

21 August, 2015

life+style The Weekend Sun 1

Bloom kids Page 2

THE WEEKEND

Smart App

Fruits of time

Spectacular circus

New strength at 62

House-sitting USA

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life+style The Weekend Sun 21 20152017 22August, December,

Setting a new standard of childcare Loving and nurturing Bay kids

It’s every parent’s dream for their children to thrive from an early age and bloom into well-rounded, eagerto-learn, happy people – gorgeous both inside and out. “Confident, calm and happy kids make for pleased-as-punch parents,” says Bloom’s Keri Maunder.

With the aim of setting a new benchmark of care for Bay kids, Bloom Early Learning and Play in Papamoa is the newest Early Childhood Centre on the block.

It is custom designed and built to cater to the busy families of an ever-expanding Papamoa and the perfect place for little ones to learn, play and flourish.

Children learn and absorb so much information from a very young age, which is why early childhood education is so important. Early Childhood Education expands on learning and development from home and helps to create confident and curious children.

Bloom is made up of five spaces which cater to different age groups from birth to five-years. This ensures Bloom babies get the rest and quiet time they need, while the older children gain the right amount of stimulation. Large indoor and outdoor play areas provide plenty of opportunities

for children to explore and be creative, while the pirate ship play area is sure to be a big hit!

The Bloom kitchen is in the heart of the centre, with meals for the children lovingly created to ensure that the best nutrition is going into their small bellies for development and energy. Wholesome morning and afternoon teas are provided for children, as well as a filling and nutritious lunch.

Bloom’s qualified and talented staff are on hand to make children feel like the centre is a home away from home.

Founders Daryl and Heidi Scott are parents to four children as well as the creators of Bloom.

With a vision to create a space of stability, fun, learning and play for children, as well as a pressure-free, stress-free environment for parents, they formed Bloom.

“As parents, we wanted a centre that provided the level of care that we would expect for our own children,” says Heidi. “Bloom is the beginning of a new generation of child care, so watch this space.”

No expense has been spared, with meaning behind every detail from the tiny crowns that adorn their logo to the water hand pumps in the playground.

“We’ve gone a little overboard in order

to provide the best environment,” laughs Daryl, “but we really wanted it to be the start of a new approach to childcare with more stability and calm and an emphasis on quality care. We will turn over every stone to make it right for our wee ones, because put simply, we really do care.”

The centre is open from 7.30am-6.00pm, so you can go to work knowing your children are well cared for. Bloom offer children aged three-to-six years old up to 20 hours free early childhood education each week as well.

Located at 193 Parton Rd, Papamoa, Bloom is everything you would want from an early learning centre. Opening January 15, they are taking enrolments for 2018 now.

Bloom welcome all enquiries and would love to hear from the local community. For more information, or to arrange a visit, contact Keri on: 07 542 2866, email: hello@bloomkids.co.nz or visit: www.bloomkids.co.nz

22 December, 2017

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Stay on track with trails app A smart app for mountains and rivers When Junji Kumano and Takayuki Ban visited Tauranga on their recent travel research trip, they tried out the newlylaunched Arataki Cultural Walking Trail app developed by local entrepreneurs.

Takayuki, a freelance journalist for Japanese travel and outdoor magazines, and photographer Junji, received a positive response to their 2016 South Island ‘Traveling NZ with camping car’. As their readers are mature drivers who love outdoor activities, the pair decided to write about the North Island.

“Tourism BOP and Tourism NZ requested that we be a part of our Japanese visitors’ travel itinerary,” says Arataki’s CEO Lee Timutimu.

The Japanese pair met three of the four partners of the Arataki Cultural Walking Trail app at the base of Mauao, before setting off on a guided tour.

“We have installed beacons at each of our culturally significant sites,” says Lee. “Your smart device uses its Bluetooth connection to connect to the beacons. When you’re within physical range of it, you can unlock cultural information specific to that site.”

The idea of listening to mountains, rivers and landmarks while seamlessly receiving information about sites of cultural significance is strongly appealing.

This proximity technology allows a user to connect with the beacons to access data, by using connectivity methods such as Bluetooth, NFC,

GPS & geofencing.

The beacons are small Bluetooth radio transmitters. Similar to a lighthouse, they repeatedly transmit a single signal that other devices can see. Instead of emitting visible light though, they broadcast a radio signal that is made up of a combination of letters and numbers transmitted on a regular interval of approximately 1/10th of a second. A Bluetooth-equipped device like a smartphone can ‘see’ a beacon once it’s in range, much like sailors looking for a lighthouse.

Once the app has been downloaded to a mobile device, users can select from a variety of virtual guides, with each guide representing a selection of sites. Apart from the initial app download, internet access is not required. The app will be useful for sites that are in poor cellular coverage areas or remote locations.

“There are many culturally significant sites or waahi located around NZ,” say the team, “with each having its own unique story or history.”

The information provided through the app covers Maori place names, landmarks, stories, proverbs, history and songs.

Lee points out that they never share cultural content that has not first been vetted and approved by Iwi and Hapu.

Joe Harawira, who is a founding member of Te Reo Wainene o Tua, a storytelling initiative, is the narrator on the app which officially launched on September 1.

The app is available on Google Play store or the App Store.

Rosalie Liddle Crawford

'Tis The Season

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from the team at

Denym Harawira (CIO) and Lee Timutimu (CEO) from Arakati Cultural Walking Trails; Mr Junji Kumano and Mr Takayuki Ban from Japan; and Clayton Low (CTO) from Arakati Cultural Walking Trails.

(Absent from the photo is Anaru Timutimu (COO) from Arataki Cultural Walking Trails)

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22August, December, life+style The Weekend Sun 21 20152017

Community garden grows The fruits of time, vision and labour The idea for creating the Mount Community Garden was conceived in 2011 by members of the Mount Maunganui Lions Club. A steering committee was appointed and enthusiastically set about the task.

Left to right: Anne Ball(president), Brenda Bentham, Arthur Ball(treasurer), Heather Adair, Rex Bentham, Lawrie Gibbons, Cathy Donnelly, Bill Pettigrew, Laurie Mayo, Leigh Pettigrew(secretary)

Leigh Pettigrew is an original member who has seen the project through to its completion, and remains on the Mount Community Garden committee as the club’s appointed member.

“We’ve just planted a row of fruit trees outside the garden,” says Leigh. “The Council paid for the trees, we’ve planted a pear tree, orange, three varieties of apples and peaches. We’ve carefully chosen a variety of trees.”

Initially, the team had a lot of work to do. First they had to select a site, then set about the task of securing the lease of one-third of the May Street Reserve, a green space they felt was being under-utilised.

They canvased the neighbours and organised public meetings, in order to gauge and gather support from the neighbouring properties and the wider community, whose amenity they hoped to put to better use.

Next came an important meeting with Tauranga City Council. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of their project, and it was all systems go.

Within weeks, they had secured salvaged timber from the Rena, sourced piles of donated soil and had elected their first committee.

The gardens were mainly established in two months, thanks to a large turn-out of enthusiastic volunteers including two builders, who constructed 41 raised garden beds in a day.

All the beds were filled with a mixture of pea straw, topsoil, coffee grounds and compost. Although the Lions allocated $6000 for the project, almost all of the materials were eventually donated by the community.

The purpose of the garden is to encourage organic, non-chemical growing techniques to provide healthy and organic food within healthy soil, and provide a place for community members of all ages to grow fresh food for families, friends and strengthen community bonds.

Gardeners are encouraged to give back to the community by sharing their garden produce, knowledge and dedication.

“We mow the lawns ourselves,” says Leigh. “So we save a lot of money.” Working bees are held during the year.

Visitors are encouraged to wander through the gardens and sit and enjoy the peaceful space in the midst of Mount townhouses, apartments and homes.

Generally, one garden is allotted per household and the plots are rented on an annual basis. There’s a waiting list of 11 at the moment, and preference is given to those who do not have gardens at home.

Renting a garden provides the new gardener with a raised garden bed all ready to plant. Fertilizer (blood and bone, sheep pellets and garden mix fertiliser), plus topsoil, is also provided. The committee and

22 December, 2017 21 August, 2015

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“The purpose of the garden is to encourage organic, non-chemical growing techniques to provide healthy

previous tenants have planted a range of fruiting trees, berries and grapes as well as herbs for communal use which all tenants are welcome to enjoy.

There is a shared produce shed in the centre, a worm farm and all composting is carried out by an expert, using egg shells, coffee grounds, egg cartons, and newspaper.

During the last five years, successive committees have developed and beautified the gardens to the point where they can now say the project is completed. The last two years have probably been the most intense, where the committee set itself an ambitious programme of planting and beautification.

There’s clever signage designed by a graphic designer on the committee, wine barrels, a swing, a central garden feature made from railway sleepers, a pergola for grapes to grow over with a barbecue table beneath on pavers.

There’s also an ambitious tree planting programme combined with a general revamp and refurbishment of the community herb, flower and vegetable shared areas.

A weed infested embankment was completely planted out in native plants that will provide food for the birds in the winter, and generally enhance the area.

Outside the community garden area, on the reserve, the committee was successful in persuading the council to let them plant fruit trees along the boundary. This has created another shared area.

Within the confines of the gardens there are large

Photos: Bruce Barnard

and organic food within healthy soil”

shared areas too, where herbs and vegetables are grown.

The last project to complete is the decoration of an old croquet shed, which the Lions have restored.

This was originally on the site, as the reserve used to be the old Mount Croquet Green. Contact has been made with ex-members, and a lot of memorabilia sourced such as croquet mallets, balls and photographs. These will be attached to the shed walls.

In March 2018, the club plans a celebration to mark the completion of the project, which they feel has been very successful and a fine example of a Lions Club working together with the community. The garden is increasingly being appreciated as a tranquil place of beauty, where members of the public and visitors alike can enjoy the peaceful surroundings – the fruits of their time, vision and labour.

“An old friend of mine, now 87 and a past Lions Club Member, remarked ‘this is the best thing that our club has ever done’” says Leigh. “I’m not sure if everyone would agree, but its right up there.”

Rosalie Liddle Crawford

EXCELLENCE IN DERMATOLOGY

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December, life+style The Weekend Sun 2122August, 2015 2017

Tauranga’s spectacular circus community Jason Butler is a second generation circus performer and juggler. He also calls himself a dyslexic clown. I find that hard to believe, particularly when he glides past me, adeptly juggling three balls whilst riding a unicycle.

Rowan Ford Dawson, on the other hand, was upside-down on one hand when I first met him. Linking his ‘Circus in a Flash’ with Jason’s ‘Butlers Circus Warehouse’, the two have joined forces and are making circus spectacular in Tauranga.

“My father was working for Whirling Brother, Ridgeway’s and other circus companies,” says Jason. “After he had a family, he’d go and see his old mates when they came to town and we’d get free tickets to the circus, so I was immersed in that culture from an early age.

“I started training when I was 16, doing juggling, street performance, unicycle and rola bola balance board. I failed miserably through school, but in terms of being funny I was the class clown.”

Rowan’s circus career, however, started

after he broke his collarbone riding a bicycle.

“I was 23,” says Rowan.

On recovering, he headed down to Wellington to see some friends.

“There was a guy who unicycled along with my friends, and I realised I wanted to learn how to do that,” says Rowan.

“There were no handle bars to fall over.

I met the local unicycle gang. They’d jump over bollards, do grinds, jumps, balance tricks and flips. I’d ride three days a week with them.”

His new friends took him to a juggling festival where he was immediately wowed.

“I spent the next year getting fit and in shape so I could audition for Circus School in Christchurch.”

He completed the two-year diploma, simultaneously working as a presenter on ‘What Now’.

Jason, meanwhile, had also been supporting himself while honing his skills.

“Being a full time circus entertainer in NZ is rare,” says Jason. “For the first five-to-six years of my career I had a part time job, but we’ve got to the point now where this is our income and this is what we do.”

He has toured NZ for over 20 years, covering a range of work from street

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22 December, 2017 21 August, 2015

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“Separate circus companies but working together - it’s a team enterprise. Both are big on mentoring and both believe in investing in the next generation of performers”

performance up to corporate events.

He has also secured a contract with a promotion company that manages charity work up and down the country.

“We do 25 locations nationwide, four times per year.”

Jason and his wife Shan have three children and a granddaughter and decided to start up a space in Tauranga for training the next generation of circus performers.

Meanwhile Rowan met his wife Tessa while busking in Christchurch, discovering they lived in the same apartment building.

When her business moved to Auckland, they moved too, establishing and building up their ‘Circus in a Flash’ circus company over the next five years and employing others.

“We wanted to buy a house and realised we just couldn’t do that and have the lifestyle we wanted in Auckland,” says Rowan. “We moved to Tauranga and have a great house and garden.”

Living in Tauranga over the last two years, the couple continued to grow their circus company while travelling between centres.

“It’s a journey back and forth. I got here last night from Auckland, then I take off again straight after this for Auckland, and return for my son’s birthday. Then I’ll do the Bethlehem Baptist volunteers dinner, back up to Auckland on Tuesday, then

back here to do three different jobs on Wednesday.”

Rowan was a clown doctor at Starship Childrens Hospital for about six years, and has worked with both children and adults with disabilities.

“I love what I do, I love making people happy.”

Joining forces with Jason was a natural step forward.

“Circus in a Flash came into the picture, and we subcontract to each other quite frequently,” says Jason. “Rowan was doing the network business meetings. I book him for events and he books me for events.

“I’ve been working with Jason for the last five years on and off,” says Rowan. “He’s been juggler clown man and I’ve come with the acrobatics.”

Jason secured a commercial building in Windermere.

“It’s a great venue to run classes, and is also available for drumming workshops and fitness people,” says Jason.

“We’ll have hoop classes, an introduction to unicycle, juggling, acrobatics and mixed circus skills. The parkour boys come in and practise their somersaults in a safe environment.

“Companies can also come in and do a team building exercise. Learning to juggle is about setting small achievable goals and then adding in the next step,

just like in business.”

Tessa creates costumes, with the performers often sought after for events. The faces are familiar - Batman, Superman, a Christmas elf, Christmas fairies, Captain America, a circus strong man and many more. Often a performer can be two or more characters in a single day or event.

“We have about 40 performers,” says Tessa.

“But they’re all over. They might be away three years studying circus, so when they come back we support them with work as much as we can.

Circus people move around a lot. We’ll wait while they train, and hire them out on weekends.”

Separate circus companies but working together - it’s a team enterprise. Both are big on mentoring and both believe in investing in the next generation of performers. Rosalie Liddle Crawford

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December, life+style The Weekend Sun 2122August, 2015 2017

New strength at 62 Body building the natural way Wayne McCready reckons he once knew all the best pie and doughnut shops between here and Auckland.

“I ended up getting very big while driving trucks,” says Wayne. “I felt really unwell. I got a few pains, and then started getting allergic to diesel. It was so bad I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

So he headed back to the gym.

Wayne had started weight training when he was 16, thanks to his father’s encouragement.

“As a kid I was quite chubby, and he gave me a basic programme to follow. His philosophy was that you needed to be strong and fit in life.”

In his 30s, returning from overseas, he joined a Rotorua gym.

“My training partner said ‘how about we do body building?’” says Wayne. “I thought ‘no way, that’s not me’. Weight training gives you a good physique, but body building is a hard lifestyle. You’ve got to be really focussed and driven to do it, and I could never imagine myself getting up on stage in those little trunks.”

Despite his initial misgivings, he entered his first competition 30 years ago in 1988, before winning the NABBA Mr NZ title in 1990. He also came sixth in his class in the Mr World competition held in Australia.

After moving to Tauranga and getting into truck driving, he eventually began to feel unwell.

“When I got diesel poisoning, I went back to the gym.”

Completing a diploma in sport through Otago University, he got back to work as a trainer.

Persuaded by one of his students, he entered the 2016 South Pacific International Natural Body Building champs in Taupo.

“About six weeks out from the contest I decided to jump in. I won my class and decided to continue.”

Entering again in 2017, Wayne won his class, qualifying him to compete in the international universe competition. He came a close second to an American body builder who had been the top natural body builder for the last ten years.

Wayne then entered the INBA nationals, and won, becoming the NZ Champion for his age group.

This qualified him to do the Olympia, which is considered to be the top world contest, but he has decided to wait.

“They gave me a few things to work on to get closer to the guy I came second to,” he explains. “It’s been a long, hard three months, and it wouldn’t give me enough time to beat this guy, and I’d come second.

“So give me a year to work on this stuff and I’ll go next year. I’ll have to qualify again through one of the three national contests, but that’s my goal for next year. “ A big believer in doing it naturally, Wayne is planning to retire from body building after 2018.

He’s started Bay Body Builders to help train others who want to compete, and hopes to take at least six to the next South Pacific competition.

Rosalie Liddle Crawford

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22 December, 2017

life+style The Weekend Sun 9

Strawberry and vanilla custard pancake stack Ingredients

Pancake

Custard

Fresh strawberries 3 to 4 punnets

1 cup flour 1/2 tsp salt 3 beaten eggs 2-3 cups milk 1 Tbsp melted butter

500ml of full cream milk 1 decent sized vanilla pod 150g castor sugar 8 egg yolks 1 Tbsp flour Icing sugar for dusting

Method:

Place the flour and salt in bowl and make a batter by forming a well in the middle of the flour and gradually adding the beaten eggs and milk.

Add enough milk to form a thin batter, whisk well, add melted butter and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Cut the strawberries up while you’re waiting.

Cook the pancakes as thinly as you can by swirling the mix around the pan. Cook ten about the size of a spring form cake tin – which you will need to make the stack/cake.

Make the custard by heating the milk, half the sugar and the split vanilla pod. Slowly beat eggs slightly with remaining sugar and flour. When milk is nearly boiling add a little to the egg-flour mix then whisk.

Add a little more then mix all together, carefully stirring with a flat spatula on gentle heat. Lift off heat and whisk well. Put back on heat, whisk once more then remove from heat. You will either have scrambled eggs or vanilla custard. Usually if you are gentle with the heat success will ensure.

After the custard has cooled, but before it sets (about 10 minutes) assemble the stack in a spring form tin.

Lay a layer of plastic food wrap over the tin then a pancake.

Dot with custard, sprinkle with strawberries and dust with icing sugar. Continue until you have used all available strawberries or you think it’s impressive enough. Top with a pancake then wrap up with plastic wrap and weigh down with a plate and a heavy weight.

Chill for 3 to 4 hours before serving.

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December, life+style The Weekend Sun 2122August, 2015 2017 With Bob and Gidget in New Orleans.

Ear rubs for accommodation House-sitting around the USA It sounded too good to be true.

Ten nights’ free accommodation in San Francisco’s trendy and bohemian-chic ocean-side suburb of Outer Sunset.

Rags and Hugger in San Francisco.

My own large, one-bedroomed selfcontained apartment underneath the owners’ house. In return? Five nights’ house-sitting and dog-minding.

It wasn’t the only house-sitting offer that made me ask ‘what’s the catch?’

Like two weeks free accommodation in the funky Bywater of New Orleans, just a short bus ride or a half-hour stroll to the French Quarter. Or two weeks in a large Texan home, less than a year old, in the surprisingly green and quite gorgeous Austin.

And, for a different if somewhat chilly experience, two weeks in a lovely one-bedroomed apartment in Seattle while the leaves are in their peak autumn glory (or fall, as the Americans call it).

Often, when people first hear of house-sitting as a method of keeping travel accommodation costs down, they’re wary. Why would someone let a stranger live in their home and look after their fur babies while they’re

away? There are reasons. Good reasons.

The first is the fur babies themselves.

When their hoomans go away, it’s much less stressful on the animals to remain in their own home. Mommy and Daddy’s absence isn’t compounded by strange surroundings, strange dogs and that nasty little yappy chihuahua that attacks everything, including its own shadow.

Then there’s the cost of kennels.

Barbara and Larry have two big dogs who need an hour’s walk both morning and evening. The cost of the kennel down the road is $70 per night per dog (and that’s outside holiday time – holidays are $100 a night), plus $40 per hour per dog for walkies. For five nights, that’s a total of $1500 for both dogs. And that’s US dollars – which comes in at around $2200 NZ dollars.

House-sitting is a win-win. The traveller gets a nice, well-kept home to stay in for free, ears to rub, cats to smooch, all the home comforts that are missing in a hotel room and Wi-Fi that works. The home owners don’t have that huge kennel expense tacked onto the cost of their holiday, which can be twice or more the cost of the humans’ holiday.

There are a number of house-sitting

22 December, 2017

life+style The Weekend Sun 11 Austin – The Oasis Restaurant

“House-sitting is a win-win. The traveller gets a nice, well-kept home to stay in for free, ears to rub, cats to smooch, all the home comforts that are missing in a hotel room”

websites online. My preferred site is TrustedHousesitters. The site’s rating across 7200 reviews on Trustpilot shows 93 per cent five-star ‘excellent’ ratings. Combine those with the fourstar ‘great’ ratings, and you’re looking at 98 per cent positivity. As for the one per cent ‘bad’ ratings, well, we all know those sorts of people. Queue the eye roll - there’s always one!

There’s an annual membership fee, which there has to be when you’ve grown since inception seven years ago to a business with over 30 staff, featuring house-sitting opportunities in over 150 countries around the world, but it’s less than the cost of one night in a cheap hotel.

At time of writing there are 1338 listings – including 728 in the UK, 353 in the US and 307 in Australia.

For more exotic locations, how about Zambia, Iceland, Luxembourg or Slovakia?

Sits range from overnight to the more common one or two weeks, through to long-term placements such as three months in Vermont in a 3500 squarefoot modern house on 24 acres (no pets – just watch the heater, and turn the lights off at night); four months in a two-bedroom, 2-bathroom modern

flat in North London; right through to a year-long sit in Coquitlam - a 15 minute drive from Vancouver.

For shorter sits, you can usually pick up an extra couple of nights by offering to come early, to give the animals the chance to get to know you while their owners (or slaves, if they have cats) are still there. It makes the transition when they leave much easier on the animals.

Duties for house-sitters vary. Cats, of course, are generally more easycare than dogs. A tummy rub here, some food over there, and please clean that kitty litter out daily. Dog responsibilities depend on the dog and the location. If they’re big dogs in a cooler climate, you’re probably looking at two one-hour walks per day, with less than that in hotter climates.

After 20 minutes in a New Orleans August, the Australian shepherd dogs were toast. The breed might be bred for the heat, but they’re bred for hot and dry. When it’s hot and humid, long walks are off the table.

The fox terrier in Austin? Eight minutes. Walk her on the leash up to the front of the gated community, let her off the leash, and she’d run back to the house by herself.

The walks themselves are a great way

San Francisco

New Orleans

to keep fit while travelling, and to see the neighbourhood. Take a different route every day and you really get a feel for the place you’re calling home for a while.

In San Francisco, another Kiwi house-sitter who was staying two blocks away would bring her two small dogs down in the afternoon. We’d take all four dogs to the beach, let them off the leashes and they’d run and play in the Pacific Ocean together for an hour. That kind of explains why Rags slept outside my bedroom door for two weeks after I left, looking rather forlorn.

For more information on house-sitting, visit: www.trustedhousesitters.com For hints and tips on how to write a successful house-sitting application letter, visit: www.dontwait2live. com/2017/09/06/house-sitting Karolyn Timarkos

Austin house-sit

life+style The Weekend Sun 21 August, 2015

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