Life + Style - 26 February 2021

˜° August, ˜˛°˝

life+style The Weekend Sun °

THE WEEKEND

Fifteen Shades of Climate with John Maunder - Page 2

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life+style The Weekend Sun ˜°26 ˜˛°˝2021 ˜˙August, February, ˜˛˜°

An eye for the weather Captivated for more than 70 years

Photos: John Borren

A lifelong fascination with the weather has led John Maunder around the world, and he’s spent 70 years researching the effects of our climate.

At age eight John noticed the empty lot next to the BNZ bank in Takaka, where his family lived, would flood when it rained.

His curious mind wanted to know why it rained and what the consequences of the rain were.

A trip to the Cawthron Institute science organisation solidified his interest, so he bought a thermometer and made a rain gauge out of an Edmonds baking tin.

John completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Otago University after high school then went to work for the New Zealand Meteorological Service as a trainee weather forecaster.

Always wanting to know more, he did his master’s degree while at the MetService, on diurnal rainfall variations because he had been told it rains more at night in Hokitika so he set out to prove it one way or another. He discovered about 60 per cent of Hokititka’s rain falls at night.

A need to see the world led him to Canada, but not before travelling around the United States. John’s return to New Zealand saw him teach at Otago University where he also earned his PhD. Another stint in Canada and frustration with a lack of books about the effects of weather led him to write his first book – ‘The Value of the Weather’, a text book for university students.

The scientist has gone on to write four more books, he has just released his fifth: ‘Fifteen Shades of Climate - The fall of the weather dice and the butterfly effect’.

The book aims to correct the over simplification of the climate change story.

A climate realist, John believes the world needs to stop polluting the air but is unsure if it would result in changing the earth’s temperature “We’ve been polluting things but my feeling is that decreasing carbon oxide going into the atmosphere will improve our visibility and make it much healthier, but not necessarily change the climate.”

He says there have been times in history when average temperatures were higher than normal but with no heavy industry, carbon dioxide and methane emissions were minimal.

When it comes to climate, nature is the most important factor, says John.

The 88-year-old was president of the Commission for Climatology of the World Meteorological Organisation from 1989 to 1997. His work has taken him to Australia, Canada, USA, Ireland, Switzerland and England.

John and his late wife Melva retired to Tauranga and the city’s weather played a role on their decision to settle here.

The choice was between here and Nelson due to the similar climates.

“The weather definitely came into effect there.”

John continues to enjoy analysing weather data which he writes about in a weekly blog Alisha Evans for SunLive.

˜˙ February, ˜˛˜°

The practice of ethical fashion She’s been shown at fashion weeks both domestically and internationally, and her designs have been worn by big names such as Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama and our very own Lorde.

And later this year, Karen Walker will be spending some time here in the Bay of Plenty to talk about her business.

The Kiwi household name will be attending the upcoming Business Women’s Network Speaker Series on Thursday, May 27, at an event hosted by Tauranga Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Craigs Investment Partners and Cooney Lees Morgan.

The theme – The Changing Face of Business – is something that suits the Karen Walker brand down to the ground. With a huge focus on social responsibility, ethical production and diversity, her brand is a frontrunner in ethical business practices.

“Our core values are responsibility, uniqueness, quality and connection,” says Karen.

“Responsibility is about engaging with every stage of our product creation. Uniqueness is about creative authenticity. Quality is about our make, right through to our retail experience and back of house operations. Connection is about strong, open, honest connections with our entire community: customers, staff, brand partners, manufacturing partners and the public.”

Karen says there’s a focus on staying current and adapting her business to suit the everchanging landscape.

“Our business adapts every day and every day we ask ourselves how we should do things differently

in the new landscape we’re gifted with and all the many changes we create or have thrust upon us. Agility has always been core for us, and it’s certainly worked for us in the past 12 months.”

Karen Walker fashion is designed to last, rather than the ‘trendy fast fashion’ made to get shoppers through one season, and that’s something Karen herself thinks consumers are changing their minds on.

“Fast fashion’s moment has definitely passed, and I don’t think many people are in that place any more. Most people understand that the real cost of any item, clothing or otherwise, is greater than what’s on its price tag and, with regard to very cheap items, there’s potentially a different cost behind that that’s not desirable.

“With regard to any purchase, the most sustainable version is the one you already have in your wardrobe or cupboard, and I think that people have a very clear understanding of that concept now. If people are choosing to buy something, they know the ways in which they can do that well.”

Karen says she’s looking forward to taking to the soapbox to share some of her passions with interested women.

“I do look forward to sharing with all those who want to join me. There will be plenty of information around my motivations and passions as well as what I find works versus doesn’t work in life and business.

“I always set myself the brief that anyone attending will learn something they couldn’t just by getting on Google.”

For more information on the upcoming Business Women’s Network Speaker Series, visit: www. tauranga.org.nz/bwn/bwn-speaker-series-2021

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life+style The Weekend Sun ˆ Karen Walker.

˜˙August, February, ˜˛˜° life+style The Weekend Sun ˜°26 ˜˛°˝2021 Yoshiko Tsuruta.

Principal percussionist The life of a marimba musician For a petite, demure woman, Yoshiko Tsuruta has chosen a large sonorous instrument in the marimba.

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Yoshiko began learning the piano from the age of three, but her teacher also played marimba and after seeing her play she thought the percussion instrument would be more fun.

The budding musician had to wait until she was big enough to play. She made her debut aged nine, but standing on a custom made box was required to reach the instrument’s wooden bars.

She still has to wear high heels when performing to ensure she can reach all of her marimba.

Yoshiko’s mum let her switch instruments after attending music teacher Yukiko Sano’s recital. It was the first time she had heard the marimba.

Her mum described the sound as amazing and told Yoshiko if she hadn’t heard it she wouldn’t have let her change.

The marimba consists of a set of wooden bars that are struck with yarn or rubber mallets to produce music. Pipes are suspended underneath to amplify the sound.

Yoshiko has been playing for close to 30 years and she is one of only a few dedicated marimbists in the country.

As a 20-year-old, she bravely moved to New

Yoshiko’s custom made marimba is the largest in Aotearoa.

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Zealand from Japan in 2004, with very basic English having never been here before.

Knowing she wanted to live in an Englishspeaking country, Yoshi chose Aotearoa in quite a flippant way.

“I looked at the map and thought: ‘look at this little island - I’ll go there’.”

At first she lived in Auckland. She then studied at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington before settling in Tauranga after completing her master’s degree at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversitat in Austria.

She has never regretted the move and loves the atmosphere, the Kiwi culture and Tauranga’s weather, despite her allergy to the sun.

One thing that really surprised her is that nobody knew about the marimba in New Zealand, whereas everyone in her home country has heard of it.

“I was quite shocked at the beginning,” she says, “because even non-musicians know marimba in Japan.”

When explaining her instrument of choice, people mistakenly thought she played the maracas or the xylophone.

“I didn’t know it was so uncommon outside of Japan.”

The 37-year-old didn’t move with the plan of becoming a musician - she wanted to leave Japan because she felt like she didn’t fit in.

˜˙ February, 26 ˜˛˜° ˜° August,2021 ˜˛°˝

life+style The Weekend Sun ˝

“Yoshiko has been playing for close to 30 years and she is one of only a few dedicated marimbists in the country”

centimetres at the other.

Transporting the mammoth instrument for concerts is a challenge, and if Yoshiko is touring in the South Island the marimba has to take a trip on the ferry.

Yoshiko has had a piece of music written for her by composer Gareth Farr.

She asked him to include the extra notes when writing ‘Marimba Concerto’.

She will be performing it at Made for Opus: Composer Encounters at 5pm, Sunday, March 7, at Baycourt Community and Art Centre.

Made for Opus: Composer Encounters is a one-hour concert that gives audience members the chance to interact with some of New Zealand’s most respected composers - Gareth Farr, Ross Harris and Martin Lodge – as well as the musicians of Opus Orchestra.

Opus Orchestra is also performing Mahy Magic; a show made up of poems and stories by the beloved New Zealand writer, set to music by award-winning composer and author Philip Norman.

“My percussion during the show is nonstop,” says Yoshiko. “Myself and the other percussionist almost need to be octopuses to play all of the instruments.”

Mahy Magic is also at Baycourt Community and Art Centre on Sunday, March 7, at the earlier time of 1pm.

Photo: John Borren

Initially Yoshiko was concerned there wouldn’t be a market for marimba, especially seeing as it was so unknown.

However, despite those concerns, she has made a career out of her love for percussion, is the principal timpanist of Opus Orchestra and teaches percussion to students in Hamilton once a week.

Yoshiko loves the freedom and challenges of marimba because it’s still very much a developing instrument.

One of the challenges is the marimba can’t hold a note, so musicians need to find another way to express that when playing.

“There’s a lot of stuff you discover or develop both technically and musically,” she says.

When Yoshiko isn’t playing or teaching marimba and percussion, she sews.

She creates outfits for her performances because they need to allow her to move freely, but also be sophisticated for an evening with the orchestra.

Yoshiko’s marimba is custom-made in Japan to give her a bigger range of octaves.

A standard concert marimba has five octaves, whereas hers has five and three quarters, adding extra high and low notes.

This makes her marimba the biggest in Aotearoa and the only one with the larger range of notes. It is three metres long, 1.8 metres wide at the low end of the scale and 50

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˜˙ February, 2021 life+style The Weekend Sun ˜°26 August, ˜˛°˝˜˛˜°

Street food life “What’s a churro?” I ask while visiting the C4 street food truck at Tauranga’s Village Night Market.

“Is it like a sausage?”

The couple inside the small food caravan with the black and white striped awning grin at me.

Gently, they push a hot churro towards me.

Oh, glorious heavenly sweet deliciousness!

It was like the best of the best hot crumpets, camp dampers, griddle scones, doughnuts and choux pastry all covered in sugar.

I think I lost my vision for a moment.

“We’re called C4,” says Dion Stewart, while his wife Paige smiles at my dazed expression. “It stands for coffee, chicken, chips and churros.”

A churro is like the panda bear of food.

You wonder what it is for, and then realise its whole purpose is to bring delight. I needed to know how and why the Stewarts had broken into my existence.

“Last Waitangi Day I broke my knee while we were tramping,” says Paige, “and then Covid happened. It pushed us out of what we were doing in our daily lives and forced us to think about what we wanted to do.”

Paige and Dion had been tramping in the Pinnacles, out the back of Thames.

The Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter was sent in to airlift her out.

“New Zealand services are amazing,” says Paige.

“And then Covid kicked in,” says Dion.

“Paige got laid off, so we thought: ‘why not do this?’”

Paige had been working as a barista at Alimento Café on Tauranga’s First Avenue.

“I loved that,” says Paige. “Alimento is a fantastic café but it’s so big and getting around is too much for me.”

“She can only stand by herself for about an hour,” explains Dion.

Dion had also worked at Alimento for a little while in the kitchen, as well as being front of house manager and organising shows at Baycourt Theatre.

They had always wanted to run a food truck enterprise and it seemed unfortunate events had presented them with an opportunity.

“We thought we may as well do it all for ourselves, as we’ve done it long enough for everyone else,” says Dion.

“The stars aligned I guess,” admits Paige.

Paige has had three surgeries over the last year to fix her knee. “It wasn’t just a broken knee, it was quite extensive,” says Dion. The pair have been together 12 years and married for two.

“For our honeymoon, just before Covid, we managed to get over to Europe and stayed with Paige’s best friend’s parents in Spain. H “ence the Spanish dish. Churros is our little piece from overseas.”

Dion had been involved with the markets before starting their own enterprise and they have friends who are also involved.

˜˙ February, 26 ˜˛˜° ˜° August,2021 ˜˛°˝

life+style The Weekend Sun ˘

Co˜ ee chicken chips churros

“We’ve helped them out with their markets. “Once Paige lost her job, we thought: ‘let’s do this’.”

They’ve been running their C4 food truck business since November, with a customised trailer all the way from Christchurch.

“It’s called ‘The Money Maker’. It was shipped up here and we installed the coffee machines, deep fryers and a rangehood.”

Fergusson Park is their usual daily spot during the week, pumping out the coffees. I told them I had wandered over because I’d spotted their chilli plant in a pot under an awning that made me think of France. The true warmth though was the two of them,and their care of each other.

“I help Paige, but still work at Baycourt,” says Dion. “Our shows are just starting up. With Covid it’s still part-time and I do a lot of admin there during the week. Paige can’t stand for too long. Until she’s completely back on her feet, I’m helping run this and doing the shows until they pick up.

“Our main mission at the moment is for Paige to recover from her surgeries. We’re keeping busy.”

On Thursday nights they head to Papamoa’s Dinner in the Domain; Sunday night they are in Matua at Dinner in the Park; and every Friday night they serve up deliciousness at the Tauranga Village Night Market at the Historic Village.

The Friday Village Night Market had its first season last summer, but was cut short because of Covid and the lockdown. This season it started on October 23, but was interrupted by festivals at the Historic Village, beginning again in the second week of November. Like any outdoor market it is

weather dependent and sometimes has been called off around 2pm only for the sun to come back in the late afternoon.

Rachel Small, who organises the Tauranga Village Night Market, also runs the Sunday Village market along the village street.

“Now that school is back, the Friday nights at the village are picking up again,” says Rachel, who hires the village green, books the live music and liaises with stall holders and food truckers.

It was while I had been sitting with a stallholder enjoying the music that I’d noticed Paige and Dion’s trailer and sign.

“Our C4 logo is also an explosive,” says Dion.

“We have our own chicken recipe so there’s a bit of spice in there.”

I decide next week to return and have dinner.

And a churro. Can anything beat a churro?

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