Life + Style 30 September 2016 x

21 August, 2015

life+style The Weekend Sun 1

A hidden gem Page 2 THE WEEKEND

Featuring

Business | Little treasures | Fashion | Sweet success...

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life+style The Weekend Sun 21 2015 2016 30August, September,

Cruise on in!

From street to sanctuary Venture into Downtown Mount Maunganui and you’re greeted with the energy and excitement of a bustling main street.

The smell of fresh roasted coffee and delicious food aromas from restaurants and cafés drift through the air, and shopping bags are filling. It’s a prime shopping and dining hub for the Bay’s shoppers.

But among the vibrant strip of shops and eateries is a hidden gem in the heart of it all. Just a step off the main street, at 169 Maunganui Rd, is The Cruise Deck.

A warm and inviting sanctuary of boutique shops and cafés tucked away from the hustle and bustle.

“Our customers love it,” says En Jay hair salon owner and manager Nicky Robertson. “We’re downtown the Mount in the main shopping hub, but we’re privately situated. My clients like that they can come and have their hair done and be able to relax away from the main street.”

En Jay hair salon has been on The Cruise Deck for nine years.

Clients can step out onto The Cruise Deck in style after enjoying a free, eye-toeye consultation from a stylist who listens to your lifestyle needs before cutting your hair and a stress-relieving aromatherapy scalp massage at no cost.

“Our motto is, ‘The experience of hair’,” says Nicky. A motto with two meanings.

“I’ve been hairdressing for about 20 years, so I bring a lot of experience. And it’s about the experience the clients receive from the moment they walk in the door, to the moment they leave. We try to make more of a luxury experience.”

And to compliment a good haircut is a great outfit. Lemonade Fashion on the Deck has been on The Cruise Deck since March, and they’re getting ready for their busiest season. The warmer seasons call for a new outfit or two – and Cathy

Powell of Lemonade Fashion on the Deck recommends peach, pinks and patterns.

“Be bold and mix and match patterns and plains. You can wear stripes with checks as long as it’s matched with a plain top or bottom.”

The perfect outfit for soaking up the sun while enjoying morning or afternoon tea on The Cruise Deck is a trendy little number: “White three-quarter pants with a flowy blue chiffon top”.

Of course, the fashion store has plenty more outfits to choose from for women aged 30-plus.

“We have corporate outfits, smart-casual wear, as well as shoes, jewellery and bags.

“We have a new range of sandals and jandals arriving too.”

And if you’re not sure what looks best, customer service is their number one priority.

From beauty and fashion to works of art, The Cruise Deck is also home to Creating Waves, which sells New Zealand art created by Kiwis to supply exclusive artwork to the Bay. Michael and Kathy Sass make a large percentage of the shop’s art and craft.

Michael is a realism painter, who sells art prints of his work on canvas as well as framed and ready-to-hang originals.

Kathy makes crystal jewellery with

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“A warm and inviting sanctuary of boutique shops and cafés tucked away from the hustle and bustle”

Swarovski elements, designer greenstone necklaces, paua jewellery – using only New Zealand paua – and steampunk jewellery.

The majority of the other art and craft is created

by Bay of Plenty artists, while a small percentage comes from further afield in New Zealand.

The couple started Creating Waves on The Cruise Deck in September 2015 and business has exceeded all expectations.

Also on The Cruise Deck are the cruise specialists – House of Travel Mount Maunganui.

Manager Shelley Rich says House of Travel Mount Maunganui is fast becoming the preferred agency for Mount travellers having recently celebrated their fifth birthday on The Cruise Deck.

“The location of House of Travel is very appropriate given the team is known for their specialist knowledge and expertise of worldwide cruising. They’re constantly updating their skills and knowledge to provide you with the best holiday experience.”

This year the team, alongside House of Travel Papamoa, was awarded the top cruise outlet at the 2016 annual House of Travel awards.

They also specialise in UK and Europe holidays, so if this is on your travel list for 2017, Shelley says now’s the time to take action and start booking so you can make the most of early bird savings.

“Some of the airfares out this year are the best I’ve seen in more than 20 years in travel.”

They’re the experts in holiday cruises, while Blur Eyecare are specialists in unique, comprehensive,

expressive and innovative eyewear.

“We have a unique range of glasses from all around the world which we have personally selected for their style, function and quality,” says Stuart Laing of Blur Eyecare.

“We remain staunchly independent to bring our client base an offer that is totally different and unique.” Stuart says the team enjoy their location tucked away from the main street.

In their opinion, Central Business Districts and main streets must morph into a mix of high-end boutiques and high-quality eateries like The Cruise Deck to provide the public with a reason and a value proposition to visit.

“Our cities are changing and our boutiques should band together and centralise.

“The Cruise Deck provides great potential going forward to emulate the feel of some great city laneways.”

Cruise Deals for 2017 out now!

October is Cruise Sale Month.

Best Cruise offers with Added Bonuses Exciting Cruise Itineraries New Experiences Book early &

SAVE NOW

FOR YOUR UP COMING CRUISE HOLIDAY.

DON’T MI S S OUT ON OU R WORLD TR AVE L EXPO ON 29TH OCTOBE R 2016 – REG I STE R WITH THE TEAM TODAY!

The best holidays are created together.

House of Travel Mt Maunganui

169 MAU NGAN U I RD I 07 572 80 0 0 I MTMAU NGAN U I@HOT.CO. N Z

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30August, September, life+style The Weekend Sun 21 20152016

Treasures at the city limits Whether you’re doing your Christmas shopping ahead of the festive season, browsing for a birthday gift or looking for something for yourself, think beyond the CBD. There’s little treasures to find in Te Puna, Bethlehem and Papamoa too!

Treasure your health and wellbeing at Bethlehem Health and Tea Shop.

There’s plenty of garden treasures to find at Living Trends in Te Puna.

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Take the road to Pacifica Home and Garden Centre for more treasures outside the city.

Explore the health benefits at Bethlehem Health and Tea Shop.

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September, life+style The Weekend Sun 2130August, 2015 2016

Legally sweet The law firm and the humble honeybee

Photos: Bruce Barnard

Alan Tate talks about honeybees and their sweet nectar with a sparkle in his eye and an infectious enthusiasm in his voice; the former lawyer’s personality goes against the legal profession stereotype of big egos and monetary motivations.

So how does an unusual bond between the Harris Tate Lawyers founder and the humble honeybee blossom and, in the process, help the Tauranga firm carve out a unique, environmentally-friendly trait?

“In a past life I was a Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchardist, and brought bees into the orchard for pollination,” explains Alan, who formed Harris Tate Lawyers alongside Ross Harris in 1995.

“Bees are fascinating creatures. A beehive isn’t just a cluster of individual bees; it is a colony where every bee has a function, and those functions change over time – whether a worker, drone or the queen, the hive has a collective mind of its own.”

After hanging up his suit and tie at Harris Tate four years ago, the 69-year-old turned his passion into a small profession, running a ‘one-man-band’ business.

Alan supplies hives around the city, and procures honey from his own hives to share with the clients.

Four hives currently sit at his former offices at 29 Brown St, kept in an enclosed courtyard, and

EXCELLENCE IN DERMATOLOGY

dear to his heart due to their distinct location amid flourishing flora and fauna – particularly the rows of magnificent pohutukawa.

Each year, without fail, these towering trees flower prolifically from mid-November to late December, adding a splash of vibrant red to the scenery at a time when few other flowers are in bloom.

It’s a match made in heaven for the bees, according to Alan.

“It always seemed a waste to see them flower magnificently and all that wonderful nectar go to waste, when it could become a honey that has a wonderful flavour.”

This synergy between hives and Harris Tate has help bolster the firm’s long-standing commitment to the environment, headlined by the development of a new, environmentally sustainable building in 2007.

Though completed before the Green Star Certification system was in place, it was Tauranga’s first privately-owned building that would achieve five-star status under the certification criteria.

Substituting natural light and airflow, in place of the more ubiquitous florescent tubes and air conditioning, is just the beginning of the building’s innovation.

Harris Tate director Grant Harris says they are proud of their unique focus on reducing the firm’s impact on the environment, which includes Alan

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“When clients can see him tending to the bees, usually from the boardroom, it certainly turns heads and the first question staff get asked is, ‘What is the story behind the beehives?’ ”

and his bees. “The ‘LLB’ associated with a law degree has more than one meaning for us, since we properly branded Alan’s honey to be called L.L.Bee, which also ties in with the name of Alan’s bee operation, Al’s Bees.

“When clients can see him tending to the bees, usually from the boardroom, it certainly turns heads and the first question staff get asked is, ‘What is the story behind the beehives?’.”

While cliché, Harris Tate is a hive of activity; busy not only with helping clients through various legal issues, but with its 160,000-strong bees, producing up to 50 kg of honey per year for Harris Tate, which is split into 250g jars.

“I’m struggling to keep up with demand! What I supplied last year was twice as much the year before. So they [Harris Tate] will have to ration it a bit until the pohutukawa flower later this year,” quips Alan.

Sweet success aside, Alan says we all need to think about the honeybee and its important role in our biodiversity and economy.

“Bees are under threat, not just from the longterm effects of the varroa mite, but various environment challenges.

“They are a long-standing part of the environment and without them we would be a lot poorer for it.

“Just think, even as far as people in their gardens with fruit trees and tomato plants needing to be pollinated, they would struggle.”

His solution? More businesses taking a leaf out of Harris Tate’s book and considering hives or gardens on their premises, to ensure bees continue to flourish and contribute invaluably to the urban landscape.

“Tauranga is a very bee-friendly place, with the flax under the Chapel Street overbridge, fruit trees, and garden flowers all fantastic sources of nectar.

Plus, these bees do particularly well in town given the year-round warmer climate, where even in winter they can feed and bring honey in.

“So I urge our city to consider what it can do, because every bit counts.”

A N T H E A

C R A W F O R D

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life+style The Weekend Sun 21 August, 2015