The Hobson - October 2014

october 2014

cross country champs • king’s new principal • spooky tales • local news, views & informed opinions

“Feels like being on holiday - 365 days a year” Establish yourself in Orewa’s Kensington Park and you’ll be forgiven for thinking you’re always on vacation.

With a long standing heritage, Kensington Park is now presenting new residences to its established community. Inspired by Florida’s seaside architecture, Kensington Park offers lifestyle and location, right on the doorstep of the beautiful Hibiscus Coast.

Set on immaculate park-like grounds, residents at Kensington Park could be forgiven for thinking they live in a resort.

Discover Kensington Park today, call 0800 57 67 392 or visit www.kensingtonpark.co.nz

Jerry Clayton BMW

Takapuna

VERSATILITY HAS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD.

THE NEW BMW X3 IS FULLY LOADED AND READY TO GO.

The highly specified new BMW X3 delivers on both style and practicality. It can tackle the toughest New Zealand conditions with ease thanks to xDrive, BMW’s intelligent all-wheel drive system. And with the most spacious interior in its class, it’s well equipped to effortlessly handle any of life’s possibilities.

Additionally it now comes standard with exclusive BMW ConnectedDrive technology, an integrated online infotainment package that allows you to stay connected whenever you’re on the road. This gives you instant access to a multitude of innovative features so you can travel smarter.

Come experience the superior intelligence and luxury of this Ultimate Driving Machine today – it delivers best in class value for money, and is ready to take on anything you can throw at it.

From

94,400

$

*

drive-away

399

or just $

^ per week

STANDARD SPECIFICATION INCLUDES: • 8 SPEED AUTO TRANSMISSION

• LEATHER/ELECTRIC SEATS

• 18” LIGHT ALLOY WHEELS

• 40/20/40 THROUGH LOADING

• AUTOMATIC TAILGATE

• BI-XENON HEADLIGHTS

• CONNECTED DRIVE PACKAGE

• ON-BOARD NAVIGATION

• REAR VIEW CAMERA

• INTELLIGENT ALL-WHEEL DRIVE

5 YEAR WARRANTY

PLUS 3 YEAR NO-COST SERVICING 5 YEAR ROADSIDE ASSIST

All new BMWs now come with an unbeatable 5 year warranty, for the ultimate peace of mind package. Visit Jerry Clayton BMW today and find out why BMW is the best selling premium vehicle in New Zealand and around the world.

BMD0030_JCY_X3_TH

Jerry Clayton BMW. 445 Lake Road, Takapuna.

09 488 2000. www.jcbmw.co.nz Marina Joseph. Sales Executive.

09 488 2058. marina.joseph@jcbmw.co.nz * Drive-Away Price is the BMW recommended retail price for the purchase of a brand new unregistered BMW X3 20d, It includes GST, first full tank of fuel, 12-month registration, and all other costs required for final delivery of the vehicle. ^For finance offer and full details visit www.bmw.co.nz or your authorised BMW dealer.

Be inspired by some of the world’s most beautiful bathroomware introducing the new Metrix Collection brochure that inlcudes the latest Duravit range DuraStyle. Representing the best in quality and innovative design, the Duravit, Paini, Kaldewei, Inda and Marblo ranges of taps and bathroomware have everything you need to create your personal sanctuary.

Choose your dream bathroom fittings from the Metrix Collection or the Metrix Design Collection brochures out now - call into the showroom in Parnell today for your free copy.

www.metrix.co.nz 155 The Strand, Parnell, Auckland T: 09 379 7399 E: info@metrix.co.nz

Metrix is part of the NZPM Cooperative

ADRIENNE WINKELMANN SUMMER 2014/15 SHOP 26, THE CHANCERY, AUCKLAND (09) 379 0140 ADRIENNEWINKELMANN.COM

The October Issue

11

the village Parnell’s rail rolls to a standstill, housing zones, teen enterprise and more

30

the district diary What’s going on around here

14

32

15

34

the resident Richard Moore’s racing towards fame the opinion Paul Goldsmith’s east coast soujourn

16

the haunting The Hobson goes ghost-busting for Halloween

18

the answers 10 important answers from Andrew Cox

23

the board Orākei Local Board chair Desley Simpson on local matters

the principal The Hobson meets Michael Leach, the new head of King’s College the sporting life Our annual round up of local schools’ cross country results

38

the heritage Charles Heaphy was at home in Parnell

47

the bookmark Five new novels to devour

48

the arts Memorable moments of the Melbourne Art Fair

49

the sound Tears on my pillow — why songs to make you blue are rare gems

50

41

52

the psyche It’s all about me: the teen ego the second act Lessening the burden of clutter

42

25

45

the plan & the suburbanist Hamish Firth on missed opportunities and Tommy Honey on the FOMO factor

the cinema The picks of the month

40

24

the investment Warren Couillault weighs up tax cuts

46

the pretty New cosmetics and treats for spring the wellbeing Use your brain to harness your potency, says Lee Parore

WIN!

the living Buon gusto! We go to Non Solo Pizza the pause The exit list PLUS: Don’t miss “Pamper Parnell”, which starts on page 19 with beauty and health discounts — and a chance to win a hamper of treats!

This month we are giving you the chance to own a stunning designer mirror courtesy of our friends at Sarsfield Brooke, one of Parnell’s leading design showrooms, and exclusive NZ agents for F.A.L Italy. F.A.L produce exquisite mirrors and frames from their workshop in Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany. Valued at $2000 each, you could win your choice of one of these mirrors (measuring on average 130cm diameter).

To win, email SARSFIELD BROOKE in the subject line to: business@thehobson.co.nz by 5pm Friday October 24.

One winner will be selected at random. Visit Sarsfield Brooke at Level 2, 155 The Strand, Parnell (opposite Milly’s).

the hobson 6

issue 12, october 2014 Editor & Publisher Kirsty Cameron editor@thehobson.co.nz Art Direction & Production Stephen Penny design@thehobson.co.nz Advertising Inquiries business@thehobson.co.nz Writers This Issue Kirsty Cameron, Josie Desmond, Zac Fleming, Iain Sharp, Melissa Williams-King Proofreader Fiona Wilson Intern Josie Desmond Columnists & Contributors This Issue Sandy Burgham (The Second Act), Peter Bromhead, Warren Couillault (The Investment), Andrew Dickens (The Sound), Paul Goldsmith (The Opinion), Hamish Firth (The Plan), Tommy Honey (The Suburbanist), Lee Parore (The Wellbeing), Caitlin McKenna (The Cinema), Leigh Melville (The Arts), Desley Simpson (The Boards), Melissa Williams-King (The Pretty), Gail Woodward (The Bookmark)

A

magazine is a collaborative process. Our regular columnists are very much part of this assemblage each issue with their ideas and content, and each edition also brings in contributions from other people. For example, this month we have an article about Charles Heaphy’s time in Parnell (The Heritage, page 38). It is an extract from the new Parnell Heritage Journal and for that we thank both the author, Heaphy biographer Iain Sharp, and also Parnell Heritage’s indefatigable Rendell Macintosh, who’s a great advocate for both Parnell and The Hobson. It also gave us the opportunity to publish a hand-drawn map by Heaphy which came to us separately via a reader who’d had it stored away, and thought it was the kind of thing The Hobson would like to know about (we did). There’s always a wealth of information in the Journal, so look for it on sale this month at Paper Plus Parnell and the White Heron Dairy — buying a copy supports the work of Parnell Heritage.

And if you have an idea for a story or just want to pass something along to us, please do — we’re insatiably curious about what’s going on around here, our community and its people. Speaking of, The Hobson needs people who are a bit sporty. In our reader research many of you said you’d like to see more local sports covered in the magazine.

We would too, so come on, who’s up for a reporting gig? I think partisan probably works well here — if you’re involved with a local sports body and like the idea of writing about what’s going on at your club, please get in touch —editor@thehobson. co.nz Have a good October,

Kirsty Cameron, Editor

Photographers Vanita Andrews, Jessie Chester, Stephen Penny, Simon Watts Cover King’s School pupils on the cross country course. Photo by Simon Watts, courtesy of King’s School

Keep in contact via editor@thehobson.co.nz or our Facebook page: TheHobsonMagazine. This month’s question: should we have a Letters to the Editor section?

The Hobson is published 10 times a year by The Hobson Limited, PO Box 37490 Parnell, Auckland 1151. www.thehobson.co.nz F: TheHobsonMagazine T: @thehobson Ideas, suggestions, advertising enquiries welcome. editor@thehobson.co.nz Or via Facebook: www.facebook.com/ TheHobsonMagazine The content of The Hobson is copyright. Our words, our pictures. Don’t steal, and don’t borrow without checking with us first. We aim for accuracy but cannot be held liable for any inaccuracies that do occur. The views of our contributors are their own and not necessarily those of The Hobson. We don’t favour unsolicited contributions but do welcome you getting in touch via editor@thehobson.co.nz to discuss ideas.

The Hobson is Remuera and Parnell’s community magazine. We deliver into letterboxes in these neighbourhoods and copies are also at local libraries, cafes, and at businesses including Vicky Ave and White Heron dairies, and Paper Plus Parnell.

For more about us, visit www.thehobson.co.nz or TheHobsonMagazine on Facebook.

Distribution by

This publication uses vegetable based inks and environmentally responsible papers.

andrew cox D E S IG N E D I NTE R IO RS

KITCHENS • BATHROOMS SOFT FURNISHINGS

andrewcoxinteriors.com andrew@andrewcoxinteriors.com M: 021 132 4881 T: 09 308 9859

Exclusive agents for furniture manufacturers from Italy, Spain and Ecuador.

Showroom open for public viewing. Purchasing facilitated through design professionals only.

Level 2, 155 -165 The Strand, Parnell Ph. (09) 377 1502 www.sarsfieldbrooke.co.nz

The Columnists

Left to right from top row:

The Hobson’s cartoonist, Peter Bromhead MNZM also writes for the New Zealand Herald. A long-time Parnell resident, his Gladstone Rd-based business, Bromhead Design, retails contemporary furniture.

Sandy Burgham (The Second Act) is a brand strategist and an executive coach with a special interest in midlife change and transformational behaviours. She runs a central Auckland practice. www.sandyburgham.com Remuera resident Warren Couillault (The Investment) is a partner in and director of Richmond Investment Management, the manager of a boutique fund of hedge funds. He is a shareholder in and director of Generate Investment Management Ltd; manager of a registered Kiwisaver scheme and an adviser to S.AG Private. www.richmond.co.nz Andrew Dickens (The Sound) is the host of Andrew Dickens’ Sunday Cafe on Sunday morning, from 9am, on Newstalk ZB. He is also the music reviewer on Jack Tame’s Saturday morning show on Newstalk ZB. He grew up in Remuera.

Hamish Firth (The Plan) lives and works in Parnell. He is principal of the Mt Hobson Group, a specialist urban planning consultancy. mthobsonproperties.co.nz Urban design critic Tommy Honey (The Suburbanist) of Remuera is a former architect, now Dean of College at Parnell’s Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design.

Dr Amrit Kaur (The Psyche) lives in Meadowbank and is a NZ-registered clinical psychologist specialising in helping children, families and young adults. She is part of the multidisciplinary KidzTherapy practice.

Leigh Melville (The Arts) is the art department manager at ART + OBJECT auction house. She has worked for several Auckland galleries and is currently co-chair of the Patrons of the Venice Biennale.

Lee Parore (The Wellbeing) is an expert in executive health. A qualified naturopath and a personal trainer to elite athletes and executives, he works with both men and women at his wellness clinic in Newmarket. www.leeparorehealthlab.com One of New Zealand’s leading beauty and lifestyle editors, Remuera’s Melissa Williams-King (The Pretty) is a former editor of Fashion Quarterly.

Gail Woodward (The Bookmark) is the senior book buyer for Paper Plus Newmarket. A “forgiving reader” across genres, she belongs, and advises on selections, to book clubs. the hobson 10

the village

Town & Around

No movement at the station: the fate of the Parnell train station and the diesel sheds remains in limbo. Photo: Stephen Penny

Parnell’s Station Off Track The planned development of the rail station to serve Parnell, the museum, domain, Auckland University and AUT is likely to be mothballed as part of sweeping budgetary cuts by Auckland Council. The Hobson understands a formal decision will be made at the end of the month, but the station is unlikely to go ahead within the next two years. Construction was to have started this year, with completion due in March 2015.

Proposed and costed at $15 million, the Parnell Rail Station was to have been sited over the rail line in the Waipapa Valley, between Parnell Rd and the Domain. Auckland Mayor Len Brown cut the idea when he unveiled the first draft of the supercity’s 10 year budget last month.

Brown said he had to slash running costs to keep his election promise of holding overall rates increases at 2.5 per cent this term.

As a result it’s understood Auckland Transport, as a council controlled organisation, offered the Parnell Rail Station to be cut amongst other projects.

“Under current funding arrangements what we can afford involves foregoing a significant amount of transport investment,” the mayor said in his budget.

Auckland Transport says no decisions have yet been made on specific projects, including the Parnell Rail Station.

Cheryl Adamson, general manager of Parnell Inc, which represents the businesses of Parnell Rd, says it would be “very disappointing” for the station to be deferred.

“The connectivity it would provide is necessary to stimulate business as well as potential tourism, over and above providing a much needed commuter facility,” says Adamson.

The Parnell Community Committee has called for further consideration if the station has been deferred.

“In 2011 the reported cost of the station was $15.1 million vs the June 2014 lowest cost option of $18.9 million,” says Luke Niue, chair of the PCC. “We believe Auckland Transport are not helping the situation by over spending on this project, which in turn is driving a number of key people within the council to question the need versus cost for this station.

“Alternatively, a lower cost and staged approach to the building of the station could well be the way to go.”

Currently occupying the former diesel sheds on the site is the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust, an organisation devoted to the restoration and operation of historic steam trains.

To make room for the planned station, the trust was being assisted by KiwiRail, who own the land, to move to another site in Auckland.

KiwiRail previously told The Hobson a site would be confirmed for that move by February, but Mainline Steam is still in the diesel sheds. A KiwiRail spokesperson says they are unaware of any changes and “discussions in regard to timing and relocation [of Mainline Steam] are still on-going.”

The mayor has announced that the Consensus Building Group will present to Council at the end of the month a “definitive list of the projects that make up the basic investment programme, and those that require additional funding to deliver”.

— Zac Fleming p For more on the loss of the Parnell Rail Station, see contributor Hamish Firth’s “The Plan” column, page 25.

the hobson 11

the village

Designed to Win The team at Parnell property and design consultancy RCG is celebrating after picking up four RED Awards, which recognize design and commercial excellence in the retail sector. RCG won the premier award for its AMI concept store in Takanini — a new direction for the insurer — and closer to home, won the Shop Front Award for its distinctive street frontage for the Ziera store in Newmarket (below). RCG associate director, designer Andy Florkowski said like AMI, Ziera has seen an upturn in business with its flagship store. “Alongside extremely positive customer feedback, the store results are exceeding business goals”. RCG also won the Signage and Graphics and Colour Awards for the AMI store. Both Ziera and AMI are finalists in the Best Design Awards, which will be announced this month. Established in 1989, RCG specializes in property consulting, development, architecture and design and is a leader in creating innovative retail environments. p

“It’s too soon to confirm what type or design of any new housing could be built and when construction will start,” says Bryony Hilless, Housing NZ’s general manager of communications, marketing and stakeholder engagement. Housing NZ called for expressions of interest from developers last year. Hilless would not comment on suggestions a developer has been chosen, or if plans are underway for 160 units to be built over six storeys. The half-hectare site is now home to 68 state flats. Council’s website says the site “could be redeveloped to potentially contain up to 200 dwellings”. Hilless says tenants of the flats will be kept “fully informed”.

Auckland Council documents refer to the site as Bedford St, while all Housing NZ documents refer to it as Cracroft St. It’s unclear why Auckland Council has chosen to name it differently.

In Remuera, part of St Marks Rd, Robert Hall Ave and MacMurray Rd has also been defined as an SHA, with the intention that “some of this area be developed into approximately 63 new sections and dwellings,” according to council information found online. — Zac Fleming p

Shore Road: A Love Story Introducing the four babies of Dotti, one of the stars of “The Shore Road Social Club” in our July-August issue. Dotti, three-quarters border collie, quarter huntaway, caught the eye of another Shore Rd regular, the handsome Tui, a full border collie. Their three sons and a daughter (who has spots just like her mum) were born last month and will soon be looking for good homes. Contact Amanda, am.ferrier@yahoo.com.au p Building Up A new multi-storey housing development on Parnell Rise, as reported in The Hobson’s May issue, could be expedited after Auckland Council has approved the site — which borders Cracroft and Bedford Streets — as a “Special Housing Area” (SHA), which means the fast-track development of affordable housing can take place. SHAs across the city are part of Council’s response to the Auckland housing crisis.

New in Town The Dove Shop has opended at 336 Remuera Rd. Profits from the glam op shop go to support Dove House, the eastern bays hospice.

Across the road, Kismet Foodstore has opened beside Design Quarter. And around the corner in Clonbern Rd, 4&20 is open, with owners Deborah Chait (who started Zarbo) and Andy Tse selling artisan sourdough breads and pastries baked on the premises. p

the hobson 12

Young Entrepreneurs

Two groups of St Cuthbert’s College senior school students have come up with innovative ideas as part of the nationwide schools business program administered by the Young Enterprise Trust.

NUDE Water makes “staying hydrated fun, healthy and delicious,” says the team behind that one, by offering BPA-free bottles with a built-in infuser and Fresh As natural fruit flavourings. Check out their site to order, www.nudewater.net. Another Young Enterprise

339 Remuera Road T 09 524 9663

www.designquarter.co.nz DQSpring_Hobson130x87.indd 1

29-Aug-14 1:17:19 PM

World Premiere “If you can taste history, duty and family pride in a glass, its there in the Kumeu River Chardonnays… now producing some of New Zealand’s greatest Chardonnays, not to mention the world’s”

project at the school has a give-back element. For every three pairs of cute-as pyjama shorts sold, Luna & Co donates a pair to Women’s Refuge, after discovering that many children arrive at refuges with little but the clothes on their backs. “Coming from an all-girls school, we felt it was important to start a business that was about empowering women but also helping those in need,” says Luna & Co CEO McKenzie Collins, 16. Visit lunaandco.com.

Young Enterprise requires students to organize a business plan, be financially literate and each member of the team must have a defined responsibility. p From Taumarunui With Love The Print Shop, 387 Remuera Rd, is selling “Dusky Maiden” ceramics and cushions made by artists in Huia and Taumarunui to support boys from that area boarding in Epsom as part of the Inzone project to attend Grammar. Funds raised go towards the boys' uniforms, stationery, and bus fares to and from Taumarunui. p

Lisa Perotti-Brown, MW Robert Parkers’s The Wine Advocate.

The Brajkovich Family are proudly shipping the entire range of their 2012 Vintage to discerning destinations around the world.

Buy yours from October 1.

www.kumeuriver.co.nz

the resident

Lapping it Up M

otorsport in New Zealand isn’t considered a professional sport and so receives zero funding from the government.

The drivers aren’t considered professionals either.

Sitting down with one I cannot understand why.

Parnell’s Richard Moore works hard — he currently has the third most podium finishes in V8 SuperTourer history and finished third in the most recent championship.

And it’s very much a game of thirds for the 22-year-old: he drives for M3 Racing, named after the three M’s who co-own it – Manuell, Murphy and Moore.

Moore grew up in Parnell and Remuera, mostly. He was born on Awatea Rd just behind Parnell School, but his parents are property developers so they moved around a lot.

A “lot” is perhaps an understatement. Nineteen different houses in 22 years: Seaview Rd, Arney Rd, Arney Crescent; St Heliers, Te Atatu.

And through them all Moore was driving and racing, every weekend.

He stumbled into racing at just seven years old, originally trying his hand at sailing but “fell in love” with karts the first time he hopped in one.

A successful karting career followed until he made the step up to racing cars, including Porsches, while a student at King’s College.

After that was a marketing and strategy degree in Christchurch, where he had a break from racing to “be a student”.

His second year in Christchurch was the devastating earthquake. He says that “definitely made me appreciate the ground that doesn’t move”.

After graduating Moore went to work for Skinny Mobile, which turned into a racing sponsorship deal that still remains today.

He’s currently back living in Parnell with his parents to save money, as most of what he earns is pumped back into his racing.

“There’s not enough money in it to do it as a full-time job, at least in New Zealand,” he says.

So Moore works on top of his driving, which he says is a

struggle. He just finished up a job at Repco because it wasn’t allowing him enough time to spend on “racing stuff”.

“You’re competing against people who don’t have anything else. They’ve got a lot more time to focus on the driving.

“So you can’t really compete with them. I mean I tried, but I pretty much worked myself into exhaustion.”

Moore’s instead going to try his hand at the family interest in property — his real estate agent mother Karen recently purchased the Mike Pero franchise on Parnell Rd. It’s tough but not all bad for the young driver, he says he’s “lucky enough” to be on the same team as Greg Murphy and tries to learn as much as he can.

Murphy, who has won the championship for the last two years in a row and holds the record for race wins, says Moore is “the clear most-improved driver in the series”.

“Considering his limited experience, what he has achieved is outstanding,” says Murphy.

The beauty of the V8 SuperTourers Moore says, as opposed to the V8 Supercars, is that by simply learning off Murphy he can catapult up the rankings.

“They [the cars] have a one make chassis, so the chassis in the Ford and the Holden is the same.

The only difference is the panels on the outside. The suspension, the engine, everything is the same.

“It means the only thing that’s different is the guy driving the car and the team in the pits, so it puts the focus firmly on those two things.”

When it comes to race time that means Moore’s leanly-funded M3 Racing has just as much chance to take pole as a team sponsored by a billionaire, and that’s what he says makes SuperTourer races better to watch.

While he admits it is hard work, made harder by the fact motorsport gets no funding, there isn’t even a hint of getting a “normal job”.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything else,” he says. — Zac Fleming

Above, Richard Moore with his M3 Racing V8 SuperTourers racecar. Photo courtesy of Richard Moore.

the hobson 14

the opinion

A Journey to Ruatoria

P

arekura Horomia was the Labour MP for Ikaroa-Rawhiti from 1999 until his death in April last year. He was much loved in the remote areas of the East Coast. The idea was conceived for the Parliamentary rugby team, for which Parekura had made a few appearances over the years, to play a match in his honour against a Ngāti Porou invitational side. Members of his extended family donated a cup.

The match was set down for August 30 at Ruatoria, highly inconvenient as it turned out, so close to the election. But a few of us committed to go. Damien O’Connor and Kris Faafoi from Labour, Te Ururoa Flavell from the Maori Party, myself and Mark Mitchell from National. The rugby side provides one of the few opportunities for parliamentarians from all sides to do something social together. Our presence meant a lot to Parekura’s people.

It was, of course, a foolish proposition for a 43-year-old of smallto-medium build from Remuera, whose main exercise consists of light runs up Mt Hobson, and knocking on doors. We narrowly won the game, thanks largely to the efforts of a couple of ring-ins (former Blues halfback Junior Tonu’u and Billy Weepu, former prop for the Manly Sea Eagles), but I was glad to get off the field alive. My opposing winger, Harry, who thumped me in a brutal tackle around five seconds after I’d passed the ball, spends his days hunting pigs.

We shared a beer together after the game (pictured here).

It’s trite to say it is a different world up there. Most of provincial New Zealand is doing quite well economically (Taranaki and Southland, for example, are booming); the East Coast continues to lag. Why so many of the locals are ardently opposed to any mining or minerals exploration is beyond me. But there continues to be a huge effort to educate and enthuse the next generation. I had visited a large group with the Prime Minister on the Friday before at EIT, the local polytech, which works hard to engage Year 12 and Year 13 school kids and channel them into trades training.

My family, meantime, have deep roots on the coast. The original Goldsmith in New Zealand, Charles George Goldsmith, settled there in the 1840s. He was the typical big-hearted pioneer; a trader.

He had four wives, two Ngāti Porou, two Pakeha, and 16 children.

That was the sort of spirit that built this country.

But he had a difficult life. Two of his children, Maria aged 15, and Albert, who was just four, were executed on the orders of Te Kooti during the Matawhero massacre of November 1868. I visited the monument to them at a cemetery at Makaraka, just west of Gisborne. Since those days, we’ve lived mercifully in peace. Just one of the many unexpected and good outcomes in this rich and diverse land we share. — Paul Goldsmith Paul Goldsmith is the National Party list MP for Epsom

the haunting

Ghosts, Busted It’s Halloween at the end of the month. And what better place to find spooky tales of other-world happenings than around Auckland’s oldest suburb, Parnell, reports Zac Fleming.

I

f you’re looking for paranormal activity, Parnell’s Ayr Street is a good place to start. Apparently for unexplained happenings, it rates highly. It hosts two homes with alleged paranormal pasts: Ewelme Cottage and Kinder House.

The stories are so compelling that the city’s better-known spectre spotters, Haunted Auckland, have done a thorough investigation of Ewelme, and have applied for permission to monitor activity at Kinder House. But “too much red tape” stymied investigation at that address, says Haunted Auckland founder Mark Wallbank.

Hauntings, explains Wallbank, fall into a few different categories.There are ones where the homeowners say they can feel a presence, and subsequent “communication sessions” show “people that seem to be alert, but seem to be somewhere else, and seem to be alive.

“They’re communicating with us and answering questions very coherently,” he says.

However the hauntings in Parnell are more likely a different kind, says Wallbank. This type is more “like a snapshot of history”.

“It’s possible for a building to just record a moment in time and it plays back like a loop.”

Ewelme Cottage fits that mold, where people claim to have seen or heard the same thing.

While Wallbank and his colleagues (who have day jobs) try to make investigations as systematic and scientific as possible, he acknowledges some people will never be convinced.

“You can’t capture a ghost. So until you see one with your own eyes you’re not going to believe.

“It doesn’t matter how good our evidence is, there’ll always be

people that’ll put it down and find other explanations.”

Despite the lack of hard evidence, Wallbank and the other members of Haunted Auckland say they are certain ghosts exist.

The group started in 2010 and now investigates one or two houses a week, sometimes even having to pass jobs onto other groups because of the workload.

It’s mostly done in the weekends, as a hobby, and they don’t charge.

“It’s an expensive hobby,” says Wallbank. “First we try and look for natural causes. We look at the actual house first, look at its history, location, makeup, structure, how it’s made, the wiring, the plumbing, we try and do as much as we can.

“We climb under it, over it, into the basement and the attic.”

Wallbank says it’s quite addictive, he’s been doing it for around 30 years now.

“I know that ghosts exist. But I don’t know what they are. That’s my next step in life,” he says.

While The Hobson can’t help you sight a ghost with your own eyes, we’ve done the digging for you, with the help of Haunted Auckland (see www.hauntedauckland.com), so you can decide whether there’s something unexplained, or not.

EWELME COTTAGE Designed and built by the Reverend Vicesimus Lush in 1863, sightings and stories of ghosts here go back more than 100 years.

The cottage’s curator, John Webster, thinks it’s haunted, and has seen figures walking up the stairs.

When the Church of England minister moved to New Zealand with his wife, Blanche, three of their four children developed

Ayr of mystery? Ayr St’s Ewelme Cottage, above and right, Kinder House. Photos: Stephen Penny the hobson 16

scarlet fever and died, all within nine days of each other.

Webster, who lived in Ewelme for some years, believes one of those girls still inhabits the house today. He’s previously said people have seen “a young girl with her hair in ringlets wearing a white dress” upstairs.

When TVNZ’s Ghost Hunt investigated, they claimed to have recorded a little girl saying: “Please go away.”

Others too claim to have seen a young girl, also in a white dress, leaning on an oak tree in the garden.

“She looks about 14,” says John Webster.

The cottage was lived in by descendants of the Lush family until 1968, and remains largely unaltered since, adding to its eeriness.

Preserved as a museum by Heritage New Zealand (formerly the Historic Places Trust), it boasts around 2000 books, hundreds of pages of sheet music and original artworks.

In 2012 Haunted Auckland investigated paranormal activity at the house in detail, using infra-red video cameras, electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors and various recording devices.

Mark Wallbank says they held a couple of sessions, and found the most activity upstairs, in a child’s room — the same room where people claim to have seen the girl with ringlets, and where Ghost Hunt recorded a girl talking.

Haunted Auckland set up toys and dolls in the room and tried to “communicate” with the girl, and also took several photographs with unexplainable shadows.

But was it enough to prove a ghostly presence?

“I can’t come out and definitely say it’s haunted because we don’t have the proof,” Wallbank says.

KINDER HOUSE Kinder House was built just before Ewelme in 1857, and it too has a religious background.

The house, built of quarried Mt Eden basalt, was commissioned

by Bishop Selwyn as the home of the Reverend Dr John Kinder, first headmaster of the Church of England Grammar School, known as the Parnell Grammar School, which was open until 1893 (its

endowments led to the funding of King’s College in Remuera).

Demolished in 1924, it occupied the site directly opposite.

John Kinder and his wife Celia lived in the house with his mother and sister. The Kinders also looked after Kinder’s brother’s two children.

Less is known about the house than Ewelme, but the story goes that Kinder’s brother Henry was having an affair, and was poisoned and shot when it was discovered. His ghost is said to haunt the house to this day, although he did die in Sydney.

Like Ewelme, the house also featured in an episode of Ghost Hunt. The show’s cast claimed to have taken a photograph late at night that shows a figure hunched over, underneath the house.

A spokesperson for the Kinder House Society pours cold water on this though, saying there’s “no truth in the stories” and they’ve never seen or heard anything spooky in the house themselves.

Today the house has Kinder’s art on display (he was an accomplished painter and photographer who recorded early Auckland and NZ) and can be hired be for private or professional use.

Do you have haunted tales of Remuera, Parnell or Newmarket?

Get in touch with Zac via editor@thehobson.co.nz

the answers

Ten Answers

Our new feature, The Answers, this month spotlights Andrew Cox. A Kiwi-Englishman who recently relocated from Wellington to Auckland with his design business, Andrew Cox Interiors, he works on both commercial and residential projects. He lives in Parnell with his seven-year-old son, Ishka.

How has the New Zealand interior design market evolved over the 20 years you’ve been here?

New Zealand now has an incredible pool of talent, especially with younger designers coming through; this is evident in the commercial, cafes and retail market, where creativity has more opportunity to shine than residential projects. Individualism in design is rarer in the residential market where there is more restraint for personal expression, a tendency to sameness or safeness. However I think this is evolving along with food and fashion where good design, and taste, is appreciated.

In the UK you worked with Christopher Smallwood and Nicky Haslam. What sort of projects did you do with them?

I learnt a lot with both these design practices; Christopher Smallwood is a traditional architect, restrained, with classical detail sensibilities, ‘considered’ would be a good expression. I designed the restaurant, foyer and bar of the Shellbourne Hotel in Dublin, and a company house for Seagram Distillers in Cadogan Square, London, a full refurbishment and decoration, big responsible projects. Nicky Haslam was something else, a bit of a whirling Dervish when it came to design. His style is hard to pin down, however a mix of traditional with opulence would suffice. He is constantly in the society pages, I met quite a few distinguished people whilst I worked there, and one of our clients was Bryan and Lucy Ferry, who had a large house in London. The design here reflected Bryan Ferry himself, ‘cool’, classical and established, they had a great art collection. My rather hackneyed story is the time he made tea — not often you get served drinks by a rock star!

What is the Andrew Cox design handwriting?

Interiors need to reflect my clients’ taste and aspirations, kitchens and bathrooms in particular. I enjoy building a narrative for my clients, using some of their existing furniture and adding new contemporary furniture, antiques, art, decorative pieces, creating personable spaces. However I think it’s art that eventually pulls a room together successfully. I avoid trends as they tire so quickly, I like to see my interiors endure timewise, considered and classical no matter how they end up looking from a creative angle.

As you prefer not to follow trends, what are you liking of what’s “in style” for interiors at the moment?

I’m not sure if it’s in style at the moment, however I have some design friends in Wellington who use bold wallpapers in some of their projects, that’s brave and works well with good lighting.

What are examples of perfect design?

Levi 501s, the Citroen 2CV, the Eiffel Tower, the Chanel logo, anything created by Picasso, Concorde, my handmade boots from New York, and my Lennon leather sofa from Belle Interiors in Christchurch.

Who are your design heroes?

The interior designer David Hicks, French designers Jacques Grange and Christian Liaigre, Terence Conran, and a whole raft of artists and sculptors, 20th century icons who created the groundwork for designers and artists today.

A room is not complete until ...

The client can take ownership, in saying this I mean that they are confident, comfortable and enthused by the results.

What’s the most unusual request you’ve ever had?

A client had a thing for Hummers, the American army Jeep, and wanted to have this expressed in his family kitchen. I ended up using a metal grille for some of the door panels — he appreciated that. His wife wasn’t so sure, however the completed result was stunning.

Complete the sentence, Austrian blinds should only… have been used during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Your Auckland base is Parnell. Where do you go for coffee, dinner and walking?

Rosie on Gladstone Rd for coffee, I’m not a regular but Cibo is my restaurant find. And walking, my son and I do a circular route, down St Stephens, around the Parnell Baths, and up through the trees towards the Rose Garden. There is this wonderful organic, climbing tree, its branches spreading all over the place. It’s a great place for hide and seek, or catch, if I’m feeling energetic enough.

Andrew Cox photographed at his Parnell home. Photo: Stephen Penny the hobson 18

the hobson suggests: pamper parnell

Unique Parnell has some of the most exclusive health and beauty retailers in Auckland, and this September and October they want to make you feel especially pampered and cared for.

Pamper Parnell is your hub of Parnell’s finest beauty salons, clinics and therapists bringing you the best, most indulgent and therapeutic offers with which to pamper yourself, or as a gift to someone special. And this September and October, there are seven luxurious Pamper Parnell coupons available for you to redeem; PLUS a stunning Pamper Parnell Voucher Hamper for a lucky reader to WIN! Turn the page to see these great offers and to learn about what other exciting events are coming up in Parnell.

There is no better way to welcome spring and prepare for summer than with Pamper Parnell.

pamper parnell

Parnell welcomes Pink Star walkers An average of seven women in New Zealand are diagnosed with breast cancer every day, and in the forefront of the fight against the disease is the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation. A non-profit organisation, its main function is to raise money to support breast cancer initiatives in the form of research, awareness and education.

One such initiative is the Estée Lauder Companies Pink Star Walk, which takes place this October in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Walkers can choose a 5km or 10km route in Auckland on October 11. The event starts at 6pm in the Auckland Domain, and 10km walkers will then loop up Parnell Road, making it a most memorable and vibrant journey under the stars.

Though the Pink Star Walk has become carnival-themed, with participants donning extraordinary pink fashion (feather boas, sparkling angel wings and tutus are not unusual, sometimes all at once) the NZBCF goal is a serious one: to raise money for an important cause.

The NZBCF invites everyone to sign up, create their “pinkest outfit” and be part of the cause.

Offer description Get your post winter skin glowing

AND ULTRA HYDRATED FORetc SUMMERTIME! Other information, services, Other information, services, OtherParis information, Other Indulge inetc a ‘Matis’ one hourservices, Hydratingetc Facial and information, services, etc and Other information, services, leave us completely fresh renewed. etc Other information, services, etc USUALLY $169 OFFER DETAILS SPECIAL $89 Contact Phone (09) 366 0138 Phone

Email Website Quote “Pamper Parnell” when booking to redeem voucher.

Conditions apply. Please enquire for more information.

Unwind with a complimentary

HEAVENLY 20 MINUTE HOT STONE BACK MASSAGE with your 1 hour facial.

Not valid with any other offer or vouchers.

Phone to book (09) 377 9274 www.formespa.co.nz/parnell/

Quote “Pamper Parnell” to redeem offer. Valid September and October 2014 .

Conditions apply. Please enquire for more information.

Acupuncture

Pain, Depression, Stress, Anxiety, Headaches, Insomnia, Constipation, Men’s or Women’s problems, Morning sickness, Sports performances or enhancement.

ACC PATIENT: FREE. 1 SESSION: $50 Phone (09) 309 8002 jaykimacu@gmail.com www.jayacupuncture.com 252 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland

Quote “Pamper Parnell” when booking to redeem offer. Valid September & October 2014.

Conditions apply. Please enquire for more information.

To register for the Estée Lauder Companies Pink Star Walk please visit www.pinkstarwalk.co.nz/register Artweek Auckland Running from October 10 - 19, Artweek Auckland is embarking on its fifth year of bringing together the city-wide art community under one umbrella. Collectively, each community involved offers a selection of art events, exhibitions, openings, tours and more. The likes of Parnell,

Free Gift with Purchase

Spend $65.00 and receive our FREE full size bottle of Miraculous Facial Oil, worth $64.99!

The Linden Leaves Miraculous Facial Oil is NATRUE certified and is the ultimate indulgent skin facial, every day!

Available at our Parnell store, 317 Parnell Rd Tel. 309 0015 www.lindenleaves.com

Conditions apply. Please enquire for more information.

Please redeem your voucher with purchase. Valid in September-October while stocks last.

Hot Stone Manicure Pedicure Combo Summer is nearly upon us... Let us revive your body and soul with a blissful hot stone manicure and pedicure...

Indulge yourself with a 90-minute Hot Stone Manicure and Pedicure for just $69 (usually $125). Bookings essential.

Additional $20 per service (hands or feet) for Gel Polish.

Phone (09) 307 6771 6/327 Parnell Road sales@nailsofparnell.co.nz www.nailsofparnell.co.nz

Quote “Pamper Parnell” when booking to redeem offer. Valid until 30 November 2014.

Conditions apply. Please enquire for more information.

Microdermabrasion Offer description

WITH VITAMIN INFUSION

Our most popular treatment in the salon. Microdermabrasion Other information,are services, etc Other information, and sonophoresis our two superstar treatments.services, These etc Other information, services, etc Other treatments combined work on treating the information, deeper layers of services, etc Other information, services, etc Other your skin leaving it feeling plump, hydrated and smooth with information, services, etc all the anti aging benefits.

DETAILS •OFFER Eye brow shape • AHA / BHA mask • Microdermabrasion •Contact Pressure point massage • Sonophoresis / Infusion Phone Total Value $230 ALL FOR $130 Save $100 / Course of 6 $640 Email Phone (09) 366 1662 Website www.roccoandrouge.co.nz

Conditions apply. Please enquire for more information.

Devonport, Ponsonby, the CBD, Newmarket, Newton and Eden Terrace are all on the Artweek map, and each have a nominated day for their special Artweek events.

One of the most significant art gallery precincts in Auckland, Parnell’s Artweek Day is Saturday October 11 and there will be an exciting array of art-action to see and explore. The theme of the day urges people to take the opportunity to gain a rare insight into the world of the artist and visit many of the extraordinary galleries that will be open to everyone.

Noteworthy events running in Parnell include: Jonathan Grant Galleries hosting a talk by Zarahn Southon on his latest show “Tempust”; a gathered selection of early Elam artists at Geneva Gibson Fine Arts; the Summer Salon Exhibition at International Art Centre; Ingrid Boot working on one of her paintings at Parnell Gallery; and performances, attending artists and tenth anniversary celebrations at Pierre Peeters Gallery.

Quote “Pamper Parnell” when booking to redeem voucher. Valid September & October 2014.

Skin Firming Mini treatment

Artweek Auckland: Parnell Day, October 11 http://artweekauckland.co.nz/events

Free 30 minute consultation and galvanic body spa treatment to change the appearance of loose skin and cellulite on thighs, buttocks, abdomen or arms.

Phone 0800 337 873 252 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland www.vivaspa.co.nz

PARNELL MARKET DAY

Quote “Pamper Parnell” when booking to redeem voucher. Valid September & October 2014.

Conditions apply. Please enquire for more information.

! Parnell Voucher Hamper WtheinPamper An exclusive hamper of Health & Beauty goodies from:

The Exercise Room 10 Visit Concession Card, plus 2 Personal Training Sessions, valued at $290.

Nails of Parnell Manicure Voucher, worth $42.

Linden Leaves bring a friend when you shop and get a FREE ITEM for your friend for every item you buy.

Rocco & Rouge One hour Luxury Facial, worth $99.

Enter via email to info@parnell.net.nz by October 31, 2014.

Quote PAMPER PARNELL and include your name and contact number.

For terms and conditions please visit

http://parnell.net.nz/news/competition-pamper-parnell-voucher-hamper.html

Mark your diaries for Saturday November 1, which is Parnell Market Day. In an exciting new move, Parnell retailers are joining forces with Holy Trinity Cathedral to create one collective vibrant, retail and community Market Day that is second to none. Holy Trinity Cathedral will be the venue for the day. A majestic and commanding structure, it already has much to offer in terms of atmosphere and presence. Visitors can expect the Cathedral forecourt to be abuzz with a lively atmosphere, sausage sizzles and market stalls offering wares from both the community and Parnell retailers such as Linden Leaves, Elizapesi and Loco Pizza. And that’s just a small sample! 4

pamper parnell

Parnell Market Day wants to bring a carnival atmosphere with their new format for an important annual event. As the Parnell Market Day will include the Cathedral and the retail precinct, the event itself will in turn offer something for everyone such as food, gifts, trinkets, relaxation and a venue which is a visual treat in itself.

Parnell and Holy Trinity Cathedral invites everyone to come along to this community event where you can enjoy the very best of Parnell, all in one convenient location, with an atmosphere fit for summer and the of the festive Artweekbeginning Auckland 2014 Ad season.

Publication: Parnell Inc Parnell Market Day Size: 132Date: x 58mm November 1. Time: 10am.

Colour: CMYK Location: Holy Trinity Cathedral

21 NOV 2014 – 22 MAR 2015 FREE WITH MUSEUM ENTRY

forecourt, Parnell, Auckland http://parnell.net.nz/whats-on/marketday-2014.html CHRISTMAS IN PARNELL Christmas is coming and sleigh bells are ringing in Parnell! Mark your calendars for “Christmas In Parnell 2014” on Saturday December 6, when Parnell is going to bring you an afternoon of lively festive cheer up and down Parnell Road and in Heard Park. Come and see the sparkling Christmas tree in Heard Park, hear the carollers sing and delight in the array of Christmassy activities on offer. You can get your Christmas shopping sorted at Parnell’s boutique stores, enjoy the restaurants and cafés, picnic in Heard Park and all the while soaking up the festival atmosphere.

Save the date and keep watch for more details for “Christmas in Parnell 2014”, when Parnell Road and Heard Park will be abuzz. See http://parnell. net.nz/news/christmas-parnell-2014. html Christmas In Parnell 2014 Date: Saturday December 6 Time: 2pm. Location: Parnell Road and Heard Park (corner Parnell Road and Ruskin Street)

Win an iPad!

Visit www.vemo.co.nz/ipad_giveway for your chance to win from the team at VEMO IT, providers of World Class support and advice on business computer systems.

the board

Around the Ward

Orākei Local Board chair Desley Simpson’s regular update on local business

Are you a great ideas person?

Parnell Community Committee Inc – or PCC as most people call us – is one of Auckland’s oldest volunteer advocacy groups, started 27 years ago by locals concerned about the negative impact of civic and private development on our community.

We also work hard to harness great community led ideas for the future of Parnell and present them to the key movers and shakers within inner Auckland.

I

t is rewarding to see that so many in our community took the time to respond to our draft Local Board Plan. We received almost 4,000 submissions – more than any other local board area and equal to about half the Auckland-wide board submissions. A total of 94 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that our draft plan is on the right track. We are now busy looking at what you’ve told us, and will have our final plan ready for adoption before the end of October.

This strong response should give us the mandate to request funding from the Mayor and governing body to deliver local projects.

Regional investment in Orākei appears to have little reflection on the high rates take received from our area, and we will continue to push for a fairer return for our ward. The Mayor’s proposed Long-Term Plan (LTP) also causes me concern. At our recent plan hearings, transport was the most common topic of concern from those who asked to be heard. To tie up our regional budget (84 per cent of it to be exact) into rail is of no help to the Orākei ward, when less than five per cent of our residents live within 500 metres of a train station. Advocacy for Auckland Transport to allocate funding for an additional station in the Purewa Valley is being ignored by the Mayor in favour of the City Rail Link (CRL) and his favoured projects in South Auckland.

Questions remain still around how ratepayers will fund the CRL, and what the nine per cent budget cut in libraries, parks and community development will actually mean for Orākei and the city.

You probably won’t hear the gunshots, but Council’s volcanic cones team are planning to shoot the high number of rabbits on Mt Hobson rather than laying traps or poison to minimise the risk to domestic animals. This controlled shoot will be done between midnight and 4am Monday to Thursday and all residents in close proximity will be notified via leaflet drop.

In Remuera town centre, work on the Clonbern Service Lane upgrade is planned to start mid-month. The lane will be closed to vehicles for up to four weeks. For more information, contact Laura Carr at the RBA on 523 3261.

On Saturday November 8, local celebrities will turn out in Remuera for a Christmas shopping event. I will be there starting my Christmas shopping and supporting local businesses.

Orākei ward has one of the highest numbers of home-based businesses in the city. We will be holding networking sessions where home-based business owners can tell us what would assist them, and where attendees can network with other owners. If you operate a home-based business, or if you know someone who does, we’d like to hear from you. Please register your interest by contacting us on orakeilocalboard@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz or 521 7023.

If you would like to join us we meet the last Tuesday of each month at 7.30pm in the Jubilee Building on Parnell Rd. Or, to join our ever-growing member database please email us at: parnellpcc@gmail.com

Nothing but water and fruit ... and nothing short of delicious Naturally flavoured water in BPA-free infuser bottles.

Order now at nudewater.net

the investment

I

Taxing Issues

’m writing this article three weeks out from the general election, the outcome of which we now know – unless something strange has happened, like National having to negotiate with some of the smaller parties in order to form a coalition government. Anyway, something which popped up during the election campaign, albeit briefly and somewhat quietly, was the vexed issue of tax cuts.

Personally I am in favour, as I think any and all governments and councils (and in fact any body with legislated authority to levy taxes and rates) should have a duty to minimise what they take from people – after all they’re taking your and my money and there’s not much we can do about it. So, the pros and cons of tax cuts …

A tax cut is a reduction in taxes, usually personal or income taxes, and sometimes corporate taxes. Tax reductions allow taxpayers to keep more of the money they earn, giving them more disposable income for consumption, saving or investment. It’s your hard-earned money, you should be able to do with it what you will. The more taxes people pay, the more they benefit from tax cuts. Therefore, many tax cuts benefit higher earning taxpayers, who pay more taxes and higher rates. This is why some (usually left of centre) politicians don’t like them as they may appear to favour higher earners. Interestingly, did you know that the top 10 per cent of salary and wage earners in NZ pay about 70 per cent of all income tax?

Depending on the original tax rate, tax cuts may provide individuals and corporations with an incentive to make investments, which stimulates economic activity. Many (typically right of centre) politicians argue that tax cuts pay for themselves by stimulating economic growth, and that the resulting expansion generates sufficient additional tax revenue to offset the revenue lost through lower tax rates. So why not cut taxes then? However, there are also studies that conclude that tax cuts do not lead to

substantial increases in economic growth and do not offset lost government revenues. So the jury appears to be out. The overall impact of a tax cut on the economy depends on a series of factors, including how taxpayers use the additional money they have from the lower taxes, and whether the government reduces spending to offset lower revenue.

For sure, the immediate effects of a tax cut are a decrease in government revenue and an increase in the income of those whose tax rate has been lowered. Also for sure, is that in the longer term, the loss of government tax revenue may be offset, depending on the response of taxpayers.

Probably the best-known tax cuts were those signed in to US law by President Reagan in 1980. Some economists laud these tax cuts and attribute them to the doubling in federal tax revenues (from five hundred billion to one trillion dollars) in the following ten years to 1990. However his detractors will also point out that during this period federal government spending rose even faster than the abovementioned increases in tax revenue, and the resulting annual deficits caused US national debt to more than triple from $908 billion in 1980 to $3.2 trillion in 1990. (As an aside, under President Obama’s reign, US national debt has increased to now exceed 16 trillion dollars – that’s 16,000 billion!)

So it would appear, at least on economic grounds, that there are no hard facts here – like most economic issues. Lower taxes may or may not benefit the overall economy in terms of government revenue and consequently social programs the government can then fund.

My view though, is to leave people with as much as possible of the income they actually work hard to earn and to match “lower” government revenue with lower spending. Let’s see what the newly elected government delivers in this regard over the next few years. — Warren Couillault

Proudly supporting the Hobson Bay community

• Professional security officers • Fast effective response • Technology solutions

w ww. ma trix sec u r ity.c o .n z P h o n e 0 9 579 1567

the hobson 24

the plan

R

the suburbanist

Derailed

ates. They take. We pay. Oddly we seem to take very little interest in Council’s expenditure. Auckland has a staggeringly high debt, far in excess of most of the other local authorities on a per capita basis. Not a concern per se, but potentially so if you add in the proposed Central Rail Tunnel.

There are fundamental reasons to support the Super City model.

And we are seeing the benefits where Auckland now has one voice, and not a series of little Aucklands in a bigger region. Consistency of message and regulation and the sheer size means the Auckland Council is an organisation with clout.

You would expect then that the calibre of those people running the show, both elected and the officials, would then improve, as being the CEO of a billion dollar enterprise would excite those inclined to such a disposition.

However, I am having my doubts on this. We are over-exposed with random statistics detailing the number of events, liveability, quality of urban design and suchlike trivia. All gold-plated.

But now we are told that many of the previous projects for The Hobson’s area and the greater Auckland region — that will only add to the city’s vibrancy and liveability — affordable only last year after consultation, costings and review — are now not only unaffordable, but largesse in the extreme.

The Waitematā and Orākei Local Board areas, like others, are having projects and upgrades removed, deleted or cancelled to help keep costs in line. Perhaps the people who move the numbers of the abacus should have pointed out that all of our wish lists were not affordable before engaging with us in consultation.

The Hobson’s readership pay a higher proportion of rates due to the relative capital values so we expect bang for our buck.

The on-again, off-again Parnell Railway station is a case in point.

It is now postponed for the foreseeable future as it is unaffordable.

Really? Against what criteria? To the contrary: it has been researched and reported to back-up the proposal in the first place by the very Council who now wish to cancel it. It will be a central hub for students accessing AUT and Auckland University, and an access point for the cruise ship tourists who bring economic benefit to the area. And it will improve Parnell’s ability to access the CBD and greater Auckland by means other than a car.

Over a year ago, then-Local Government Minister Nick Smith announced an intention to legislate restraint on local government debt levels, which have swollen massively over the past decade.

The minister had the wrong target. Debt is desirable so long as it’s applied to intelligent investment. It’s only bad when it’s misspent or poorly managed.

Perhaps the answer is strict prescription for local government expenditure. There are just too many incidents of wastage — the Auckland Transport private shuttle and the constant relocation of Councillors’ chairs and tables are prime examples. Both outlays constitute abuse of public money.

Rates need to serve a sensible purpose while improving and maintaining the services we expect. Do not waste our time and money if we cannot afford it. Or at least start to think of services that don’t start out as gold-plated, but meet basic needs. A simple railway station at Parnell that can be added to over time, and as budgets allow, would be better than no station at all. — Hamish Firth

A

To Do, or To Have?

lain de Botton, in his 2002 book, The Art of Travel, documented how the anticipation of a holiday was almost always better than the holiday itself; planning, researching, booking kept us in the land of the possible. Being there risks becoming an exercise in disappointment that we may not be having the best time — the contemplation of which ensures that we don’t. The current generation refers to this as FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out. American psychologists Leaf Van Boven and Thomas Gilovich concluded in 2003 that doing things makes people happier than having things. “To Do or To Have? That Is the Question” was the title of their study, and many have followed in their wake, exploring the idea that we prefer to spend money on experiences, not things.

A new paper, also co-authored by Gilovich, hones in on another difference between experiential and material purchases: how people feel before they make these purchases, when they’re simply entertaining thoughts of booking flights to the Caribbean or going to the movies, or thinking about shopping for clothing or jewellery.

Like de Botton, they determined that the anticipation of a new experience is the best part, and where he was hypothesising (or musing?), the new data in this latest study shows that de Botton was on the button.

Gilovich and his colleagues asked subjects to think about either an experiential or material purchase they were planning on making very soon, evaluate whether their anticipation made them feel excited or impatient, and rate the overall pleasantness of the anticipation.

The researchers also conducted a separate study in which they polled 2,226 adults on their iPhones at random times, to ask whether the individuals were, in that moment, contemplating any future purchases (and if so, whether the purchase would be experiential or material, and whether they associated the thoughts with markedly pleasant, exciting, or impatient anticipatory feelings).

Another element of the research involved asking subjects to remember how they felt while standing in lines waiting to make purchases. The researchers also scoured newspaper archives for stories mentioning people waiting in lines to make purchases.

All of the studies indicated that anticipation of an experience is more exciting and pleasant than the anticipation of a material purchase — regardless of the price of the purchase. In the case of crowds queuing up to make purchases, those in line for an experience (such as a play or admission to a theme park) generally are in better moods and on better behaviour than those in line to buy material goods.

Gilovich said one reason the research is important to society is that it “suggests that overall well-being can be advanced by providing an infrastructure that affords experiences — such as parks, trails, beaches — as much as it does material consumption.”

At this stage, the jury is still out on where voting falls in this analysis. The act performed at the ballot box is an experience; the “thing” we end up with is a government.

But is it a material good or is it, as some would say, immaterial?

While we’re not actually making a purchase, voting always comes with a cost: government, for better or worse.

So as you stood in line on September 20, waiting to do your civic duty, what were you thinking about? — Tommy Honey

the hobson 25

Simply Matching Pe

www.remuerareale

Selling More of Remuera’s Nicest Homes

A selection

Serious about selling your home NOW? - for the best possible price - in the shortest possible time - with the least disruption to your life

... then you must talk to The Kings of Real Estate Terry King 021 484 332 terry.king@remueraregister.co.nz

Telephone: 0

Remuera Real Estate Register

Re New qu P ire rop d U er eople with Property rg ties en New Register Buyer Requirements tly !

estateregister.co.nz

To $4 million

City end. Family home with at least four bedrooms, all day sun, flat land with good indoor/outdoor flow. Pool or room for one. Period or modern. Land 1000m²+.

To $3.5 million

Renovate/redecorate. North/west facing. Valley or city views. Four to five bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, open-plan possibilities plus separate living. Pool or ‘obvious’ place for one.

To $2 million

Client downsizing from large family home. Ideally a townhouse or smaller home on its own freehold land. Solid construction, 3 to 4 bedrooms, double garage plus storage. Easy maintenance.

To $6 million

Large, flat land and court or room for one. Private, sunny aspect. Five to six bedrooms, guest accommodation. Victoria Ave to Bassett Road.

To $3 million

Family home in an elevated, sunny position. Four to five bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, formal living plus open-plan casual. Flat play space plus pool. Must be ‘dog safe’.

To $1.1 million

‘Lockup and leave’ on northern side. Quiet sunny position. Two to three bedrooms, double garage plus small garden.

To $2.5 million

Central Remuera with open-plan living plus good outdoor/indoor flow to flat land/play space and pool. Four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, rumpus or media room, double garaging and off-street parking.

To $1.8 million

Small home with charm, garden and privacy. Sun and garaging. Happy to complete redecoration plus service upgrading.

We may already have the ‘right’ buyer for your home, on our Register, RIGHT NOW! Diana King 021 613 884 diana.king@remueraregister.co.nz

09 520 6624

Limited licensed REAA 2008

the hobson suggests: jerry clayton bmw

You Go, Girl

Given the new BMW X3 30d to drive for a week, interiors stylist Justine Williams finds it more than lives up to expectations text: justine williams photography: vanita andrews

T

akapuna is a pretty spot to start a journey and off-peak, only a short hop from the east on to the motorway, and across the bridge. The Hobson editor and I didn’t get anywhere near completing our weekly catch-up before we arrived at the Jerry Clayton BMW showroom in Lake Rd, Takapuna. The briefness of that trip was a pleasant surprise.

The second surprise of my week was that this motoring princess — ok, total petrolhead who likes size and power — loved the size and performance of the BMW X3.

First came the tour of my model, the 3-litre diesel in very chic goeswith-everything black. Jerry Clayton sales executive Marina Joseph took me through the car point by point.

There was much to take in. Naturally I’ll start with aesthetics.

The X Line package (primarily comprising of aluminium and stainless steel trims) and the recent tweaks to the nose and rear make for quite the head-turning ride – but it’s still not super flashy in a ‘show-off’ sort of a way. It’s chic, and just a bit sporty. Then there are the bells and whistles. The electric boot is super helpful, but then there also is the keyless entry and ignition system, otherwise known as ‘not needing to stand in the rain or with your hands full of shopping to dig in your bag to find the keys’. This is without a doubt the best innovation since central locking. All your other useful gadgetry is controlled from a central dial positioned on the centre console, which enables you

to control the navigation, radio, phone and contacts and, if you’re parked, you can even search the internet (piggybacking off your smartphone).

The rear-view camera is exceptional, with cameras positioned all around the vehicle giving you not only a panoramic view of what’s behind you, but an aerial view of your car’s position when parking.

Parking the X3 is a dream.

The generous legroom in the back was another pleasant surprise, with backseat leg room all too often calling for an airplane knee defender for anyone over the age of 12. Not here – the X3 very comfortably seats five adults.

Over the course of a week, I put the X3 firmly through its paces — a run up to the beach house with the family of four and all the associated diving luggage that comes with us was effortless. I carried enough furniture, flowers and bags of tools to style my regular interiors shoot for New Zealand House and Garden. I zipped all over the city on important working mummy business (with a little bit of shopping). I ferried the girls from soccer to school to netball and everywhere in between, and this perfectly sized little honey served us very well indeed.

The BMW X3 is a delight. It’s powerful, but light on its feet, easy to park, big enough to transport precious cargo from children to furniture, handles really well, U-turns like a pro, and it’s loaded with all the useful extras that make for a very happy driver.

Jerry Clayton BMW sales executive Marina Joseph introduces Justine Williams to the BMW X3 30d in the Jerry Clayton showroom

Justine’s week driving the BMW X3 30d included taking daughters Louella, left, and Augustine, to netball practice; loading the boot for a regular interiors photographic shoot; and doing the sort of urban errands that require a car that’s easy to park, load and make any journey enjoyable

the bmw x3 The X3 is available in two diesel models: the two litre (driveaway price $94,400) and the three litre as pictured here (driveaway $116,400).

Jerry Clayton BMW offers a five year warranty on all its new BMWs, three years of no-cost servicing, and a five year roadside assistance program.

Servicing is designed to be convenient for eastern suburbs’ residents: courtesy vehicles are available, as is collecting and returning your car from your workplace or home. If you prefer to wait, complimentary coffee is available at The Commons cafe nearby.

For further information, please contact Jerry Clayton BMW sales executive Marina Joseph, (09) 488 2058 or marina.joseph@jcbmw.co.nz

the district diary - october

monday

tuesday

wednesday

1

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Auckland Heritage Festival Until October 12

thursday

2

Adult’s Book Group 10 - 11am Parnell Community Library, 545 Parnell Rd, Parnell

School’s out: first week of holidays

6

13

Term Four Begins The Pacific Sound 6pm - 9pm Auckland War Memorial Museum Events Center, The Auckland Domain Visit www.aucklandmuseum.com

20

7

Mozzarella Evening Demystifying the Mozzarella making process 6pm, Non Solo Pizza, 259 Parnell Rd Phone 0800 289 849

14

8

15

9

16

Remuera Lions Business Meeting 6.30pm, St Marks Church Hall.

95 Remuera Rd, Remuera

U3A Monthly Meeting 9.30 - 11.30am Parnell Community Centre 545 Parnell Rd, Parnell

Braveheart Art Exhibition Gala preview, 6.30 - 9pm tickets@braveheart.org.nz Exhibition runs Friday to Sunday, Pavilion 6, ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane, and is a fundraiser for Braveheart Youth Trust’s programs for young people at risk of offending

21

22

23

28

29

30

Children’s Book Club 3.30 - 4.30pm Parnell Community Library, 545 Parnell Rd, Parnell

King’s College Campus tour today, 9.30am or call 0508 462546 for information

Parnell Heritage Society Executive Committee Meeting 7.15pm, Kinder House, 2 Ayr St, Parnell

27

Labour Day Public Holiday

Remuera Lions Social Dinner Meeting 6.30pm, St Marks Church Hall, 95 Remuera Rd, Remuera

Got an entry for The District Diary?

Community groups, schools, special events welcome.

Email details to thehobsondiary@gmail.com

the hobson 30

friday

3

Live Music at the Commerce Club 7pm every Friday The Commerce Club, 27 33 Ohinerau St Remuera Phone 09 524 4094

10

Artweek Commences across Auckland

saturday

sunday

4

Parnell Farmers’ Market 8am - 12 noon every Saturday Jubilee Building car park, 545 Parnell Rd La Cigale French Market Every Saturday 8am - 1pm, La Cigale, St Georges Bay Rd

11

Artweek - Events in Parnell Visit www.artweekauckland.co.nz Pink Star Walk 6pm, Auckland Domain pinkstarwalk.co.nz to register

5

A Joyful Noise Viva Voce are performing at 5pm St Michael’s Parish, 6 Beatrice Rd, Remuera Email info@vivavoce.org.nz

12

Auckland Heritage Festival Parnell remembers WWI Returned Services Club Inc. 139 Parnell Road, Phone 027 4987084

Diwali Festival Queen Street

17

18

Parnell Farmers’ Market 8am - 12 noon every Saturday Jubilee Building car park, 545 Parnell Rd

‘Have a Go Day’ at Remuera Bowling Club All Welcome 1 - 4pm, Remuera Bowling Club, 6 Market Rd, Phone 09 520 2335

24

25

26

Auckland Grammar Study Leave For Cambridge exams

19

Parnell Farmers’ Market 8am - 12 noon every Saturday Jubilee Building car park, 545 Parnell Rd

31 Halloween Auckland Grammar Study Leave For NCEA exams

Parnell’s beauty and pampering experts are offering great deals all month on a range of services and treatments. See our special “Pamper Parnell” section, starting on page 19.

the hobson 31

notes

the principal

The King’s Man This month Michael Leach will start as headmaster of King’s College. He spoke to Kirsty Cameron about what he’ll bring to the role, what he’s encountered so far, and if a senior ball will be back on the calendar.

W

hen Term 4 starts this month, Michael Leach will have the opportunity to put into daily use what he has influenced at the highest levels. “I was sitting on the Ministerial Reference Group for Boys’ Education for four or five years,” he says, his appointment to that body due to his raising boys’ achievement levels at Otara’s Tangaroa College.

“Getting a grounding from that group and working with some of the key boys’ educationalists in Australia and New Zealand was a real privilege. And I get a chance now to use some of that knowledge and information to try and make education a better place for the boys that start here.”

“Here” is King’s College, founded in Remuera in 1896 and since 1922, sited in Otahuhu where its red brick buildings currently host 952 pupils, many of who make the daily commute from Remuera by train.

Established as a boys’ school, since 1980 girls have been accepted into Years 12 and 13.

“As the students grow up, as the girls come into the school,” Leach continues, “I’m sure it only benefits the learning culture in the college.”

Boys, girls, there’s not much a teacher of 30 years hasn’t experienced, but as he notes wryly, “you can’t fix every adolescent’s problem. But there’s not many I haven’t come across these days.”

His appointment to King’s, taking over from Bradley Fenner’s five-year tenure, is his third in the headmaster’s chair.

After six years as principal at Tangaroa, he was appointed to the almost-new Botany Downs Secondary College, which has since built its roll from 600 to 1900, representing 60 different ethnicities. Botany Downs is, like King’s, a decile 10 school, but Leach believes that at any school, regardless of its decile ranking, the relationship with the parent community is intrinsically linked with achievement. He made parental involvement a priority at decile one Tangaroa, and again at BDSC. “At Botany three or four years ago, we were performing as good as any decile 10 co-ed school in the country. But we improved our data, we shared that data more readily with parents, provided a parent portal so parents had ready access to all their kids information, there was constant online reporting to those parents — and we jumped our achievement levels by 10 or 12 per cent up to over 92 per cent in all three NCEA levels.

We did a number of things, we had the Microsoft stuff [BDSC is one of 30 “Microsoft Schools” worldwide with best-practice ICT use in the classroom] but we really believed that as soon as parents get more involved in their kids learning, the better it is for everybody”.

Education consultant Ron Scott has known Leach since the latter was deputy principal at Papakura High. A former regional manager for the Ministry of Education, Scott mentors, appraises and coaches principals, and cites with deep knowledge three key qualities Mike Leach will bring to King’s. “Firstly, he has a passion for education. He’s strongly focused on achievement and on meeting the needs of all students as individuals, not just as a cohort,” says Scott. “He’s also a wonderful leader — he leads by example. He’s kind, has a real wisdom about him and is highly respected by his staff.

The third thing is that he’s well grounded in education practice and research. He reads widely, listens to advice. And overarching all of this is a deep sense of humanity.”

Since his appointment was announced, Leach has spent Fridays meeting and observing at the college, and over the holidays will move with wife Jenny, principal of Ferguson Intermediate School in Otara, into the headmaster’s on-campus house. “That will be interesting — we’ve lived in the country, Karaka, for about 20 years. There’s no noise. There’ll be a few things to get used to!”

The Leach’s have two adult daughters: Michelle teaches English at Onehunga High School (in his classroom days, Leach taught economics), and Natalie is a key account manager for grocery distributors James Crisp.

In a statement announcing his appointment, King’s board of governor’s chair Ross Green said Leach was chosen for his “extensive educational leadership skills, his passion for sport and his philosophy of education”.

“Mike brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in leading high-performing schools, but more than that, he understands the changing face of education, the need to consider the hightech vision for the future of education and the traditional areas King’s excels in, like sport and academic achievement. As a New Zealander, Mike understands our cultural needs and his tremendous experience with students from all backgrounds will serve the school well.”

“I think most of the kids at Botany would say they’ve had a conversation with me. I can’t necessarily remember all the names — there are 1900 on the roll and 60 differnt cultures.” - Mike Leach

the hobson 32

From what he has observed on his visits so far, Leach was impressed, and moved, by the behaviour he witnessed.

“I was here the other day for the [boys’] cross country and it really showed me a real strength of character about King’s.

They had worked so hard that many of them of were ill. For every 10 kids who came in, one of them would be absolutely on their knees, they’d pushed themselves beyond their limits. And the other kids around them didn’t laugh — the other kids around

that’s unlikely to shift, and that’s the college’s staunch zerotolerance for drugs (and alcohol) policy.

“I certainly believe that drugs just can’t be tolerated in a school, and it’s where you draw a strong line in students’ behaviour.

Alongside that goes a really important education process around drug and alcohol use, and the impact of that. Schools must be safe, and as soon as someone’s using drugs and substances, then it makes school unsafe for other people.”

them picked them up, consoled them, helped them, stood them up, waited for them to recover and walked with them.

“That message gave to me that here you had a whole group of young men who have some great moral courage, in that they’re prepared to push themselves beyond what would normally be expected, and then when they find they’ve really pushed themselves, they’ve got friends and colleagues who are caring and compassionate”.

His respect for sports endurance isn’t just from the sidelines.

A Steeler, Leach was an open-side flanker for Counties in his playing days — his alma mater was Manurewa’s James Cook High — he also played rugby in the UK and is now on the Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union board. He also chairs the Auckland Secondary School Heads’ Association, which governs College Sport.

While it’s unreasonable to expect an incoming principal to expound on what he may change about King’s, there is one thing

One thing that may be up for discussion is the restoration of the senior ball — with due consultation. King’s has not held a ball since the tragic death of an intoxicated student after the event in 2011.

“I think on all changes and processes there needs to be a review done of what’s happening at the moment, and where the school sits on that,” says Leach. “Consulting with your kids, consulting with your parents, talking to your teachers, building a picture about where we want to go to is really important.”

He doesn’t doubt the student leaders will articulate their opinions. “One of the things that’s really impressed me in the short time I’ve spent at King’s is the quality of leadership amongst the kids. Listening to those young men and women talk about their values, and their philosophies, and their way of doing things is really inspiring.”

Values, philosophies, actions — the admiration may well be reciprocal. p

King’s incoming principal Mike Leach meets Year 10 technology students, from left, Finn Potter, Milan Urlich and Jayden Weston.

Photo: Jessie Chester

the hobson 33

the sporting life

Winning!

Local schools step up for the annual cross country races all photographs and information courtesy of the contributing schools

I

t’s been cross country time for primary and intermediate pupils — the Shore Road playing fields saw some fierce competition as many of the local schools took it in turn to hoist house flags and finishing lines. The Hobson invited schools to share the good news with their first, second and third place-getters. Congratulations to the winners and big ups to all participants who challenged themselves in taking to the turf.

Above: Saint Kentigern Preschool four-year-old boys’ winners: from left, Ben Cleaver, Oliver Goodfellow and Freddy Abeysekera

the hobson 34

Above: King’s School boys — and a helper — ran at Shore Rd fields in their house colours. Photos by Simon Watts

BARADENE COLLEGE Year 7 Chelsea Oliver Lucy Burrell Petra Buyck Year 8 Natalya Carter Olivia Hyland Sophie McHugh DIOCESAN SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Year 7 Lucy Bannatyne Cara Bradding Zoe Mercer Year 8 Anna Bannatyne Alice Segedin Bianca Traplin KING’S SCHOOL Early Learning Keaton Lay Aaron Xu

Jack Moutter Transition Toby Martin Julian Leota Mitchell McKenzie Year 1 Quinn Winwood Daniel Yu William Boucher Year 2 Henry Laing Vinnie Wallwork Varnan Pasupati Year 3 Dylan Hawkesby Harrison Martin Ruben Partigliani Year 4 Dion Wallwork Louie Ballan Denis Wood Year 5 Fletcher Hawkesby Hugo Batchelor Nicholas Poppelwell Year 6 Sam Finnegan Chicago Doyle

William Lusk Year 7 Alex McNaught James Robertson Tim Matthews Year 8 Oliver Rogers Henry Reynolds Oliver Schnauer PARNELL DISTRICT SCHOOL Year 1 Girls Saffron Moaveni Eliza Jordan Ludivine Jordan Year 1 Boys Tommy Lowe Tristan Walker Oscar Clarke Year 2 Girls Jacqui Nasrabadi Ruby Grant Erika Peebles Year 2 Boys Guy Lawrence Sam Hawkins

the hobson 35

Aston Ingram Year 3 Girls Ella Reid Chloe Luo Lily Double Year 3 Boys Harrison Lloyd Tuscan Oguz Jared Manning, George Gavrilov Year 4 Girls Juliet Nasrabadi Kate Bruce Natalie Salmon Year 4 Boys Hugo Tierney Peter Bowen Jamie Mora Year 5 Girls Mia Reed Eva Barry Sophie Ryan Year 5 Boys Alex Beuvink Archie Nightingale Ben Haskell

Year 6 Girls Penelope Salmon Katie Ryan Cal Macredie Year 6 Boys Charlie BrownhillGriggs Liam Quinn Dominic Hawkins Year 7 Girls Alayna Kamuhemu Rachael Willison Mina Liu, Ana Oafini Fernandes Year 7 Boys Tama Morris Ambrus Temme Cato Dobbs Year 8 Girls Kate Gammie-Baglini Sophia Morcom Seoyeon Lee Year 8 Boys Freddy Hatton Campbell Jackson-Mee Tom Eason

the sporting life

Left, Victoria Avenue School pupils, who ran in wind and rain on their race day.

Above, St Cuthbert’s middle school girls.

ST CUTHBERT’S COLLEGE Year 3 Sophie Robb Alexandra Fletcher Renee Zhang Year 4 Sofia Kelliher Charlotte Greenwood Olivia Greenwood Year 5 Madeline Leigh Renee Findley Poppy Hoskin Year 6 Isabella Richardson Peyton Leigh Emily Price Year 7 Georgia Milne Chloe Tattersfield Ruby Gibson Year 8 Emily Hacket Pain Isabella Gill Charlotte Holland ST KENTIGERN BOYS’ SCHOOL Year 1 Max Trankels Scott Nel Angus Paterson Year 2 James Hiddleston Oliver Hardie Lachlan Hay

Year 3 Ethan Knox Zach Freeland Reuben Thomas Year 4 Brendan Meyer Antony Gault Austin McKegg Year 5 George Beca Isaac Wong Sebastian Hardie Year 6 Vinay Chichester John Graham Charles Swain Year 7 Michael Hiddleston Isaac Chaytor Nate Gilbertson Year 8 Liam Batts Ben Anderson Tom Moloney ST KENTIGERN GIRLS’ SCHOOL Year 0 Sienna Robertshaw Brooke Rowntree Chloe Chester Year 1 Charlotte Ray Ella Taylor Claudia Stewart Year 2 Endrica Dhani

Sophia Starrenburg Jing Jing Qiao Year 3 Isabella Hughes Frances Revell-Devlin Audrey Lee Year 4 Mary Stanfield Bridget Dennis Cassandra Wood Year 5 Verity Ward Laura Lightfoot Harriet Lightfoot Year 6 Ella Grayson Olivia Connolly Rylie Cleaver Year 7 Zara Smith Ava Beca Mia Dobbe Year 8 Zoe Spencer Georgia Roberts Emerald Bendall ST KENTIGERN PRESCHOOL 3-year-old Girls Amelia Hardie Olivia Lidstone Bella Davies 3-year-old Boys Ben Roberton Sebastian Hartel Boston Chester

the hobson 36

4-year-old Girls Suri Zhong Isabelle Lynn Elise Leport Symonds 4-year-old Boys Oliver Goodfellow Ben Cleaver Freddy Abeysekera ST MICHAEL’S CATHOLIC SCHOOL Year 0 Girls Sophie-Mary Blake Stefani Sulit Olive Henderson Year 0 Boys Isaac Larkin Corban Harrison Christopher Bhatnagar Year 1 Girls Eva Houghton Aryan Thake-Hobday Zara Page Year 1 Boys Jakub Wolski Nathan Flordeliza Nevin Chan Year 2 Girls Aaliyah Dye Antonia Vlasic Samantha Munapeyi Year 2 Boys Stuart Holmes Jack Pritchard Marko Glass Year 3 Girls Caitlin Weir

Sophia Urlich Lilyana Hay Year 3 Boys James Mitchell Dominic Holmes Andrew Wright Year 4 Girls Milly Clegg Aimee Caesar Poppy Cavanagh Briggs Year 4 Boys Tom Lewis James Dew Joseph Hay Year 5 Girls Jade Holmes Katy Dew Marie Green Year 5 Boys Thomas Holmes* Samuel Clegg Liam Buyck Year 6 Girls Ella O’Brien Serenity Thake-Hobday Kaatje Ymker Year 6 Boys Xavier Coman Zachary Cabiling Andre Thornton Butler *First place, Remuera Zones

VICTORIA AVENUE SCHOOL Year 0 Girls Chloe Pratt Alexis Tree Amera Trusler Cogan Year 0 Boys Rohan De Zoysa Cooper O’Shannessey Samuel Mace Year 1 Girls Annabelle Judd Brooke Griffiths Olivia Wood Year 1 Boys Jet Chung Joshua Want Carter Horsfall Year 2 Girls Samara Riley Phoebe MacGill Nylah Blenkinsop, Nina Haydon Year 2 Boys Sam Jancys Ethan Ese Quinn Skeggs-O’Donnell Year 3 Girls Emison Styris Estella Tree Summer Prince Year 3 Boys Henry Richardson Callum Rae Richie Wood Year 4 Girls Kate Irwin Jamie Francis Grace Brazendale Year 4 Boys Somin Mohit Aston Mitchell Morgan Tapper Year 5 Girls Sophia De Magalhaes* Emma Irwin Phoebe Cotter Year 5 Boys Cole Osborne* Toby Tasker William Cotter Year 6 Girls Charlie Francis Phoebe Glynn Brietta Freeman Year 6 Boys Dan Barclay William Madgwick Joe Skeggs O’Donnell *new course records

Above, Some of the Saint Kentigern winners from top row, left to right: George Beca, Suri Zhong, Zoe Spencer, James Hiddleston, Vinay Chichester, Mary Stanfield, Oliver Goodfellow, Isabella Hughes, Ella Grayson, Brendan Meyer, Amelia Hardie, Charlotte Ray.

Saint Kentigern Preschool three year old boys placegetters: from left, Sebastian Hartel, Ben Roberton, Boston Chester the hobson 37

the heritage

The Parnell Years

Militiaman-artist-explorer Charles Heaphy had ties to Parnell in its earliest years

W

ith three distinct claims to fame, Charles Heaphy is one of the best-known of New Zealand’s nineteenthcentury settlers. He is remembered for the landscapes and Māori portraits he did between 1839 and 1841 when he was the official artist for the New Zealand Company, the journeys of exploration he made across the Nelson, Marlborough and Westland hinterland from November 1843 to August 1846, and the Victoria Cross he was awarded for aiding wounded personnel under heavy gunfire during the Waikato War of 1863-64.

Far less recognised, however, is Heaphy’s extensive association with Auckland, particularly the Parnell area.

He left the Nelson region and moved to Auckland in May 1848, when the city was still the seat of government, at the invitation of Charles Ligar, the country’s chief surveyor.

Ligar thought Heaphy’s skill as a draughtsman and fearlessness as an explorer would make a valuable addition to the surveying team at the head office. Although his responsibilities changed over the years, Heaphy remained in government service for the rest of his working life.

Early in 1850 he met and began courting Kate Churton, the eldest daughter of Reverend John Frederick Churton, vicar of Auckland’s first Anglican church, St Paul’s. They married at St Paul’s in 1851, with Kate’s father officiating.

A close-knit clan, the Churtons had lived in Auckland since 1842. The reverend built a large house in what is now Churton Street, Parnell, which he named Little Sutton after the village in Cheshire where he had once served as curate. By the early 1850s he owned several other properties nearby. It is probable that Charles and Kate Heaphy occupied one of these soon after they married, but the earliest documented proof of Heaphy

living in Parnell is the jury list published in the Southern Cross for 10 February 1857, which describes him as “St George’s Bay, esquire”.

A photograph of Heaphy’s Parnell house, taken in 1861, is now held in the Alexander Turnbull Library. It shows a tidy brick bungalow with a wooden extension on one side, an attic and an extensive garden.

According to an 1880 map of Parnell allotments the Heaphy house contained eight rooms, and was located on the west side of St George’s Bay Road, close to the intersection with present-day Farnham Street and thus just a short walk from Churton Street. In Heaphy’s time, pre-dating reclamation, Mechanics Bay was also just a short stroll from his backyard.

Heaphy was a very active member of the Parnell community.

A staunch Anglican, he was acquainted with Bishop Selwyn and served as a lay member of the Auckland Synod. He played in cricket matches at the Domain and was one of the founders of the rowing group that met at St Georges Bay. He was also one of the core group that formed the Auckland Society of Arts in 1869, and supervised the meetings of the Parnell squadron of the Auckland Rifle Volunteers. He and Kate, who loved to garden and grew prize-winning ixias, fuchsias, carnations and geraniums, were lynchpins of the Auckland Horticultural Society.

He was close to his in-laws, most of whom also lived in Parnell. Although the Heaphys had no children of their own, they raised one of Kate’s nieces, Ethel Buchanan, after Kate’s brother-in-law, the merchant John Buchanan, got into financial difficulties.

After Wellington became the capital city in July 1865, as a high-ranking civil servant (chief government surveyor by this

Charles Heaphy, circa 1867. Photo courtesy of Iain Sharp the hobson 38

time), Heaphy should probably have moved south, but he had always found Wellington’s climate uncongenial. Temporarily departing from the civil service, he capitalised on his popularity as a war hero, stood for Parliament and served as the member for the Parnell electorate from June 1867 to October 1869.

It was not until December 1872 that he and Kate reluctantly departed from Parnell. Still, he returned to Parnell quite often to visit his in-laws. The 1880 allotment map suggests that he retained the lease on his Parnell property years after the move to Wellington.

Probably he planned to retire there. Instead, as his health deteriorated, he moved to Queensland, hoping the warmer weather might help his tuberculosis. He died in Brisbane at the comparatively early age of 61. — Iain Sharp

This article was edited for The Hobson by Iain Sharp. The full story on Heaphy’s Parnell years is in the Parnell Heritage Journal, on sale this month at Paper Plus Parnell and the White Heron Dairy, Gladstone Rd. parnellheritage.org.nz Iain Sharp is a manuscript librarian at Auckland Library’s Sir George Grey Special Collections.

His 2008 illustrated biography, Heaphy (Auckland University Press), was a finalist in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

The Hobson Reports: In the early 1860s Heaphy was asked to be one of the arbitrators in a land claim between Ngāti Whātua leader Paora Tuhaere and the Crown. Tuhaere disputed the siting of the eastern boundary of the Crown’s 1840s purchase of Parnell, but eventually lost his claim in the Native Land Court. This map, which shows the area of Parnell through to modern-day Newmarket (Hobson’s Bridge is approximately where Khyber Pass meets Broadway, and Tamaki Rd is now known as Remuera Rd) was signed and dated by Heaphy on February 7 1862, as was the accompanying letter.

Map and letter reproduced courtesy of the Maurice Lennard collection, Remuera.

the hobson 39

the psyche

T

That’s So Unfair: The Teen Ego

he parent of a very anxious 13-year-old recently described to me a familiar scene. The boy had muddied his shoes, and his mum had left them to soak in the laundry tub, after dutifully giving them a scrub. The next day in the rush to get ready for school, the boy yelled, “Where are my Converse sneakers?” When his mother asked him to find some other shoes because they were still soaking wet, he looked at her as if she was from another planet, telling her unequivocally that to go to school in anything other than his Converse would be tantamount to social ostracism. He stood there, refusing to go to school until his mum put the precious sneakers in the dryer for an excruciatingly long, bumpy ride. Neither got to work or school on time that day.

The same parent subsequently also complained of the long hours her son spent in his room supposedly “doing homework”, and said that her son simply could not see past his own point of view. Time after time, her son berated his parents for being “unfair” by not buying him the latest iPhone, and for demanding that he do a few chores before he played computer games with friends who were online. He constantly felt slighted and put upon, and that everything was unfair.

While understandably frustrated, the boy’s parents were describing the extreme effects of a very normal developmental stage first dubbed

SPRING SUMMER 2015

WOMENS WEAR AND ACCESSORIES AVA I L A B L E O N L I N E N O W

H A R M A N G RU B I S A .CO M

“egocentrism” by the psychologist David Elkind. The teenager’s mind is growing rapidly at this stage, and his or her new thinking abilities have to make a leap from childhood to adulthood. That leap is a large one, and there are often many missteps along the way.

Adolescent egocentrism is such a misstep, but is a developmentally normal one, which means everyone goes through it. In other words, teens and older tweens can no more stop themselves from being egocentric than a toddler can fix his inability to stay out of the kitchen drawers.

But what is egocentrism? Egocentrism is associated with a few traits, most significantly that tweens and teens between 11 and 15 go about their lives with an “imaginary audience” in their head. They analyse everything they do from the perspective of how it must look to others. This may sound like it’s a good strategy for teens — they learn to watch their behaviour and be considerate of others’ thoughts and feelings.

But, the problem is that teens at this stage often haven’t learnt to distinguish between what they think other people are thinking, and what other people’s actual thoughts are. This is the driver behind thoughts such as “They will think I’m a freak if I show up with pimples,” when the reality is that most other teens are probably more preoccupied with their own acne than someone else’s. The teen confuses his own thoughts for those of others, and finds it difficult to think beyond his own mind The imagined audience brings self-scrutiny, criticism and even shame, so it is not surprising that teens spend vast amounts of time in their rooms — it gives them a chance to get away from the imagined limelight. They explore their newly-developed thinking abilities and end up engaging in self-conscious “self-examination’’: exploring themselves, and their thoughts and feelings.

This introspection eventually leads to knowing themselves, developing their identities, and helps them make good decisions in the long run. However, problems arise because teenagers feel every emotion strongly and have a hard time looking beyond their unique, newly-discovered thoughts and strong feelings, to the impact of their own behaviour on others.

So, being told to stop playing and help clear up can sometimes seem like a huge assault. It is also the reason why a teen finds it so difficult to understand why a parent would think the iPhone she wants so badly is anything less than a basic need, and that dishes and chores need to be done when, “I really didn’t feel like it”.

If these issues are part of the normal development of teenagers, does that mean parents have no choice but to bear them through gritted teeth? The best way to help your child through this period is to remember your own adolescence, and be as patient and empathetic as possible. Share your own experiences but avoid talking about how much more difficult it was for you. Don’t be dismissive. A large part of the work of adolescence is to develop the skills of empathy and adequate social perception, which they will learn as they interact in a growing number of intimate relationships, including through their relationship with you. Most teens will learn that what they say and do impacts others, and what they are experiencing and feeling is not unique to them, but is also experienced and felt by others.

And it’s good to know that yes, there is an end to this stage, and that they will grow out of it at around age 16. — Amrit Kaur

the hobson 40

the second act

W

Trade Me a Less Cluttered Life

hen I agreed to contribute to this publication, I said to the editor, “Ok, as long as you’re not expecting articles about how your life will improve if you clear clutter.” How we laughed — until this morning when I realised that actually that is exactly what I want to write about.

Who wrote that you spend the first half of your life accumulating “stuff,” and the second half getting rid of it? Oh, that was me in the December issue of The Hobson, reflecting on my determination to kickstart the trend of “under-indulgence” at Christmas. Let’s say this is Part Two. Because it’s spring, and that’s when I get serious about spring-cleaning my life again and start the fanatical Trade Me purge.

I would love to declare that I live some sort of minimalist lifestyle, but the truth is that I am still slowly plugging away at it. My private obsession that gives me an incredible sense of satisfaction (others sort photo albums or the junk drawer) is selling stuff on Trade Me. Friends say “why don’t you just give all that stuff away?” – and a lot of it I do – but I have found simply giving stuff away contributes to an out-of-sight-out-of-mind disposable mentality. I’m playing the long game. Going through the tedium of dealing with my consumerist past makes me more acutely aware of how I want to live now, and in the future.

A couple of years ago UCLA published a report, “Life at Home in the 21st Century”. Amongst other things, it found that 75 per cent of garages studied had no room to store a car. The garages were filled with “boxes, storage bins and other storage items”.

Recognise yourself? Interestingly, the study examined the lifestyles of an extended group of families, and there was a correlation with mothers’ stress levels and dealing with those belongings.

I have dragged my unwilling son into the Trade Me process in the hope that something will stick; there is also the incentive that the cash is converted to holidays — experiences that live on. While he is unimpressed, he does knows that once I paid for an eight day trip to Japan based on stuff I sold through Trade Me and my husband, a serial hoarder, managed a trip to Cuba the same way. I don’t know what we have been doing with our lives, but our home seems like a

Russian doll of Trade Me treasures. When we reach the satisfaction of the littlest doll, we will release ourselves of this tedium and live like an idol of mine, Graham Hill.

A sustainability architect and founder of treehugger.com and lifeedited.com, a project devoted to living well with less, Hill is a living embodiment that less is more. He encourages his followers to redesign their life to reduce their footprint and possessions, and as a result enjoy more money, health and happiness. Now in his 40s, he is a new generation leader that strikes a huge chord with a growing audience globally; those who are reassessing what is meaningful to them. These are people who reject the consumerism that the baby boomer and establishment generations have come to represent.

As we watch Auckland property prices skyrocket and fear our kids will never be able to get on the property ladder, maybe it’s time to explore another value set. Lifeedited.com champions small space living with limited possessions; not only increasingly possible in a digital age but practical and smart in the Auckland property squeeze.

But there is also something fundamentally attractive about living with less. I have come to notice in the work that I do as an executive coach that the aspirations around what people want to do with all that money they dream of accumulating, is not a lifestyle of luxury yachts and helicopters. Rather, I hear of visions involving living like a peasant in France, having the freedom to potter around and enjoy the simple life; or start a foundation to give away the money they have accumulated. I do wonder if there is a correlation between the prioritisation of money as the core goal, and a real connection to a deeper purpose. And let’s remember that while consumer activity has increased substantially since the 1950s, overall happiness has flatlined.

Sitting on chunks of precious Auckland real estate are large tracts of faceless self-storage units. In the US, this industry is valued at $US22 billion and is one of the fastest-growing sectors in commercial real estate in the last 38 years. Let that be a lesson to us all, because I am sure one of our dying regrets will never be that “I wish I’d brought more stuff”. — Sandy Burgham

the pretty

In Bloom

Revlon ColorStay Moisture Stain, $29.50.

Revlon know their lippies and they’ve spoilt us this spring with 12 gorgeous shades in this new glossy stain formula. Think wet-look lips without the stickiness. Farmers and Life Pharmacy 277, Newmarket

Welcome in spring with pretty makeup shades and fresh new scents

Tender Love + Carry Butterfly purse collection, from $13.95. Freshen up your makeup with a new cosmetics bag perfect for spring. Life Pharmacy 277, Newmarket

Lancome La Base Pro, $79. Primers are the secret to complexion perfection – choose Hydra Glow to add luminosity or Pore Eraser to keep oily skin looking matte. Farmers, Smith & Caughey and Life Pharmacy Remuera

St Tropez Instant Tan Wash Off Face & Body Lotion, $23.95. Don’t have time for fake tan? This one gives you instant results that are both transferand water-resistant for 24 hours, so you don’t have to worry about spring showers. Spa Parnell, Beauty on the Strand, Parnell Pharmacy, Parnell; Life Pharmacy 277, Newmarket

By Terry Cheek to Cheek Water Color Blush, $78. This new-style blush is dubbed a ‘syrup’ for its juicy, sheer coverage – just shake the bottle to get more pigment or use it still for a more subtle effect.

Mecca Cosmetica, Newmarket Dr Hauschka limitededition Bronzing Powder, $59. I’m a long-time fan of this all-natural, shimmerfree and perfectly subtle bronzer – now it comes with a cute cover, and a zipped case plus brush. Remuera Pharmacy; Net Pharmacy, Parnell

Elizabeth Arden limited-edition Summer Escape collection, items from $29. This nautically themed range has me in the right frame of mind for a seaside holiday. Farmers, Smith & Caughey and Life Pharmacy Remuera

Z

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream, from $69. Light and airy with grapefruit, pear, musk and coconut water, this one smells as pretty as the bottle will look on your counter. Farmers, Newmarket

This month I’m recommending: Trilogy’s new Jua perfume oil, $24.90.

A gorgeous scent and a great gift – this handy 100 per cent natural rollerball scent was created by French ‘nose’ Yves Dombrowsky and uses sunflower oil made by fairtrade workers in Tanzania. Two dollars from every one sold goes to the So They Can charity, which helps develop self-sufficient communities in Tanzania and Kenya.

Cranwell’s Pharmacy and Life Pharmacy, Remuera; Hardy’s Healthy Living; Parnell Pharmacy the hobson 42

Diptyque skincare, from $94. From the French makers of the cult candles comes this luxurious range, designed to bring out skin’s radiance.

Mecca Cosmetica, Newmarket

the hobson suggests: lucy & the powder room

Spring Clean

Wake up your cells, detox and restore!

S

pring is the perfect time to remove winter’s layers of seasonal build-up with gentle, efficient cleansing, and to restore and nourish with essential vitamins – your skin’s allies against ageing.

This month we give your face and your hands some welldeserved attention.

For the face, dull and dehydrated cells are removed to prep the skin for a luxurious, deep-infusion of antioxidants – improving your skin’s circulation and protecting it from free radical damage. While you’re soaking that up, we’ll give your hands a reviving exfoliation to improve skin tone and texture, finishing with a light hand massage. Before you skip off, we’ll shape and polish your nails.

You’ll walk out with a spring in your step in just 60 minutes!

Lucy’s Spring Clean | 1 Hour | $110 30 minute Synergie facial Facial Micro-scrub and Antioxidant Intake Sans [ceuticals] Bio - Exfoliant hand exfoliation and Sans [ceuticals] Baobab Regenerative Cream hand massage Nail Shape and Polish

Lucy’s Spring Picks Sans [ceuticals] Bio Active Body Exfoliant, $60 Konjac Sponge, $15 Synergie Uberzinc Sunscreen, $149 Bestow Beauty Powder, $48 MitoQ Serum, $160 To book your Spring Package, please call Lucy & The Powder Room: Newmarket 09 524 6702, or Takapuna 09 488 0585.

Mention The Hobson at Lucy & The Powder Room and receive 20% off all Sans [ceuticals] products bought instore.

Package and offer available until November 30 2014.

the hobson suggests: prescription skin care

Trim for Summer W

ear the clothes you love this summer, thanks to Coolsculpting, your new secret weapon. This non-invasive method of fat reduction was launched in New Zealand last year

by Prescription Skin Care after much research internationally for a safe and effective option of reducing unwanted fat bulges without surgery, or any time needed to take off work or home life. It is suitable for men and women.

5 common concerns that Coolsculpting can fix: • • •

•

•

Back fat: when your tops pull in unflattering ways Bra bulge: not a good look in fitted tops Muffin top: annoying hip fat that bulges over your jeans Thighs: lumps and bumps seen in slim-fitting pants and the dreaded “thigh rub” Stubborn pot belly: the tummy that shows under fitted dresses

The experts at Prescription Skin Care have now performed hundreds of Coolsculpting treatments on both men and women (globally, there have been more than a million).

There are no needles, no knives and no downtime – and because the results appear gradually over a course of two to three months, it can be your little secret (you won’t have to explain an overnight change to anyone!). “Patients often think it sounds too good to be true, but soon realise this really does work with a 20 to 30 per cent permanent reduction of fat in the treated area,” says Angela Frazer, Clinical Co-ordinator at Prescription Skin Care. It’s also perfect for women who don’t want to get too slender in the face (that tricky trade-off between your face and your body once you’re over 40). With Coolsculpting it’s possible to slim down your tummy, hips and thighs, without losing so much weight that your face looks thinner and older.

Reveal the real you with CoolSculpting.

Beware of imitations ®

Coolsculpting is you’ve the discovery of doctors fromCoolSculpting: Massachusetts Show off the body always dreamed of with General Hospital in contouring Boston, a treatment teaching affiliate of and Harvard the non-surgical body that freezes University.

The most important thing about the technique naturally eliminates fat from your body. No needles, no surgeryis thatbest it only fat, not surrounding tissue.

Other copycat and of all,targets no downtime.

Developed by Harvard scientists, treatments can’t make this claim, so think twice about CoolSculpting is FDA-cleared, safe and clinically proven. them.

Coolsculpting is the only FDA-approved treatment of this kind.

We will develop a customized CoolSculpting treatment plan to address your specific areas of concern so you can say goodbye to stubborn fat!

TRANSFORM YOUR BODY

TRA Y

WITHOUT SURGERY OR DOWNTIME.

WI

The non-surgical body contouring treatment that

FREEZES AWAY STUBBORN FAT.

The non-su

Reveal the real you with CoolSculpting .

BEFORE 8 WEEKS AFTER 9 WEEKS AFTER ®

COOLSCULPTING SECOND COOLSCULPTING Show off the body FIRST you’ve always dreamed of with CoolSculpting: TREATMENT TREATMENT the non-surgical body contouring treatment(No that freezes weight change)and naturally eliminates fat from your body. No needles, no surgery and best of all, no downtime. Developed by Harvard scientists, Patients will require a 30-minute safe consultation to determine CoolSculpting is FDA-cleared, and clinically proven. if Coolsculpting is right for them and to make a customised We will develop a customized CoolSculpting treatment plan treatment plan.your specific areas of concern so you can say to address goodbyeSkin to stubborn Prescription Care isfat! led by Plastic Surgeon Stephen ®

®

What to expect Coolsculpting targets fat bulges by holding them Gilbert FRCS, FRACS (plastic). between two cooling panels – you will feel pressure and 243 Remuera Road, Remuera. Phone 529 5784 Procedure by Edward Becker, MD cold for the first 10 minutes. You will not need a local Procedure by Edward Becker, MD www.prescriptionskincare.co.nz Results and patient experience may vary. Ask us if CoolSculpting is right for you.

Results and patient experience may vary. Ask us if CoolSculpting is right for you.

In the U.S. and Taiwan, non-invasive fat reduction is cleared only flank (love handle)which and abdomen.

CoolSculpting, the anaesthetic.

During thefor the treatment, lasts about In the U.S. and Taiwan, non-invasive fat reduction is cleared only for the flank (love handle) and abdomen. CoolSculpting, the CoolSculpting logo and the Snowflake design are registered trademarks of ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc. © 2013. All rights reserved. IC1384-A CoolSculpting logo and the Snowflake design are registered trademarks of ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc. © 2013. All rights reserved. IC1384-A two and a half hours (for two cycles) you can lie down, read a book or watch a movie, and relax in your private room. Treatment costs start at $1000 per application, and packages are available for multiple areas.

BEFOR

the wellbeing

re you waking up feeling like you did when you were in your mid-20s? Or are you getting tired in the afternoons? Lost your libido? Got fat? Is your lower back giving you constant problems, your knees shot? All this, and you’re under 60?

Or, perhaps you’re missing the mark in the boardroom. Maybe you feel like you’ve lost your mojo. Has the spark in your relationship faded? Has the inner fire to get big stuff done, gone? Perhaps you’re stuck in life, living with no purpose.

The real question here is, “are you potent in the boardroom and the bedroom?” If you’re not, then there’s a good chance that you’ve let the potency of your health slip big time. For right now in your life, you have exactly today what you wanted! You created it, right?

If you answered “yes” to even a couple of these questions, the real question is “why are you not getting the results you want?”

The big problem is that people don’t know the true power of their body, why their health fails them and what they can do to restore their health, so that they can front up to what life still has to offer them. They’re selling themselves short by not taking responsibility for their own health. So what do you want to do about it?

Once you start to lose your health, you start to lose your power to choose how you’ll now play it. You start waking up, unable to play at the level that you know you should still be able to perform at. You get to that stage where your failing health has cost you your potency, be it in the boardroom or the bedroom.

The reality is that if you don’t restore your health, then there’s a good chance that you will stay stuck in the same reality.

So, what can block the potency of your health? For starters the environment you live in can. And I’m not so much referring to your external environment, which we’ll get to. I’m talking about your internal environment, your mind-set — your capacity to think for yourself clearly about what constitutes a premium health care model. The brain — being a massive energy hog — requires large amounts of specific nutrients just to function optimally as we age.

And the body requires an adequate hormonal supply to function optimally at any age.

The costs of poor health can be seen in the array of autoimmune diseases and degenerative diseases like osteoporosis, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and many forms of cancers. Then there’s the notso-talked about impotency expressions of poor health — the loss of sex drive, performance anxiety, memory failure, and even the inability to pull the trigger in certain life and work situations.

Stress from work and/or our relationships can trigger impotency both in the boardroom and the bedroom. Prolonged stress can cause the hormone cortisol to spiral out of control, and that can be kryptonite for both your libido and heart health. Not to mention the effects prolonged stress can have on your mental wellbeing.

We are designed to stay potent: strong, robust, and virile well into our senior years, provided we take adequate measures to harvest good health. If we fail to use our intellect to stay healthy, we pay the price.

So, where are you being impotent – is it in your fitness, your health, your relationships, or in your family life? Do you want to fix it, and restore the potency of your health?

If you do, then getting a comprehensive blood analysis done is an essential step, as is answering some basic questions on a health and lifestyle survey as a baseline to what sort of shape you’re really in. Why? So you can regain that potency in the boardroom and the bedroom.— Lee Parore

want to be noticed? advertise with the hobson Contact: business@thehobson.co.nz

n

A

Potent or Not?

Open 7 days from 7.30am, dinner Wednesday - Saturday Catering available for your parties, events, corporate functions.

Talk to us now about Christmas.

Phone: 520 2900 info@remueralocal.co.nz

n

the cinema

Five for Your Consideration

gone girl — director David Fincher. Starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris. Based on the best-selling novel

by Gillian Flynn, this adaptation stars Affleck (pictured above) and Pike as husband and wife Nick and Amy Dunne. Amy goes missing on the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary, leaving behind a diary that doesn’t read well for her husband. But fans of the novel beware!

Flynn has confirmed that the film deviates considerably from the novel, as the screenplay is structured for a visual medium. the judge — director David Dobkin. Starring Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga. Successful lawyer Hank (Downey) returns home for his mother’s funeral, only to find that his father Joseph (Duvall) is suspected of her murder. Having been estranged since Hank was a child, Hank and Joseph must put aside their distaste for each other as Hank fights for his father’s freedom, in a case that will test everything he thinks he knows about his dad. this is where i leave you — director Shawn Levy, Rated M. Starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll. If you liked Little Miss Sunshine, Death at a Funeral or The Royal Tenenbaums, then see This is Where I Leave You. Based on the acclaimed novel by Jonathan Tropper, the Altman family are reunited unexpectedly for the funeral of their father. Each

as dysfunctional as the next, the Altman siblings, played by Fey, Bateman, Stoll and Driver, are grounded by their eccentric mother (Fonda). A last wish from their father forces the family to collectively deal with each others problems, as only the Altman’s can. fury — director David Ayer. Starring Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Bernthal. A new mud-and-all war action adventure with an all-star cast. Set in the last months of WWII’s European battles, the highly-anticipated Fury follows US Army Sergeant Wardaddy (Pitt) as he commands the Sherman tank “Fury”, and its motley five-man crew, on a final deadly mission behind enemy lines into the heart of Nazi Germany. a most wanted man — director Anton Corbijn. Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright. Another John le Carré book-to-film and expected to be as rewardingly intricate as previous examples, like The Constant Gardener and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In one of his last completed roles — he died two weeks after promoting the film at the Sundance festival — Hoffman (pictured above) plays a German espionage agent tasked with obtaining intelligence on an active threat within the Muslim community. — Caitlin McKenna All films listed will screen at Rialto Cinemas Newmarket this month

Treat yourself to a Small Popcorn & Brancott Sparkling Pinot Gris for only $9.50*

*This voucher to be presented at time of purchase. Offer expires 27 October 2014.

A small popcorn & Brancott Sparkling Pinot Gris for $9.50 Expires 27 October 2014

Only $9.50#

the bookmark

Five Good Reads

the incorrigible optimists club — Jean-Michel Guenassia (Allen & Unwin) Set in Paris of the 50s and 60s with the Algerian War as a backdrop, this wonderful sprawling novel has a long list of characters, mostly fictional, some real.

At its core is the coming of age of young Michel Marin. This book has everything: family feuds, love, war, crime, humour, a lot of drinking, chess and table-football. At 600 pages, it is surprisingly fast paced and is an extraordinary achievement for any, let alone a debut, novelist. One of the best books I have read this year. luigi’s freedom ride — Alan Murray (Harper Collins) Luigi is a boy growing up in Tuscany in the 1920s, dreaming of adventure, when a young Englishman gives him his first bicycle, sparking a lifelong passion. As WWII descends, Luigi enlists with the Italian

Army Cycling Corps, before unexpectedly fighting alongside the Partisans. Despite encountering great sorrow, Luigi’s zest for life remains undiminished and his post-war travels lead him to find a home in Australia.

An irrepressibly optimistic story but let down by an uninspiring cover! j — Howard Jacobson (Random House) Set in the future, where the past is a dangerous country, not to be talked about or visited, J is a love story of incomparable strangeness, both tender and terrifying. Two people fall in love, not yet knowing where they have come from, or where they are going. Hanging over them is a momentous catastrophe. A thoughtprovoking novel, perhaps A Brave New World for the 21st-century reader, and unlike anything Jacobson has written before.

the children act — Ian McEwan (Random House) Fiona Maye is a leading

judge, overseeing cases in the family court.

Renowned for her fierce intelligence, exactitude and sensitivity, her professional success belies her private life. Two cases are bringing pressure on Fiona — should the secular court overrule sincerely held faith?

Again McEwan brilliantly lures the reader into contemporary issues with lucid and delicate prose that is a joy to read.

the bone clocks — David Mitchell (Hachette) This novel follows the twists and turns of Holly Sykes’ life, from a scarred adolescence in Gravesend to old age on Ireland’s Atlantic coast, as Europe’s oil supply dries up. Holly is also an unwitting player in a murderous feud played out in the shadows. Metaphysical thriller, meditation on mortality and chronicle of our selfdevouring times, this is David Mitchell at his spellbinding, lyrical and memorable best. — Gail Woodward

the arts

Fairing Well

A

ugust in Melbourne was a great month for art lovers. The Melbourne Art Fair relaunched itself in a big, vibrant way at the Royal Exhibition Building. For many years Melbourne was the most significant art fair in Australasia, but recently it has come under pressure from fairs in other centres, with many galleries choosing to show at Art Basel in Hong Kong and the glamorous Sydney Contemporary. All eyes were on fair director Barry Keldoulis, to see if he could deliver a revitalised fair with great exhibitors and importantly, a lot of buyers.

The Exhibition building is a grand space and visitors to the vernissage, or opening private viewing, were treated to an enjoyable evening where the champagne and hors d’oeuvres flowed. By all accounts this put art buyers in a good mood, as galleries were reporting strong sales. Four beautiful works by New Zealander Kushana Bush were snapped up immediately from Darren Knight Gallery, and Fiona Pardington’s evocative large-scale photograph Still Life with White Roses, Photographic Beaker and Pomegranates in a Cut Crystal Bowl found numerous admirers.

But perhaps the biggest splash on vernissage night was made by artist Michael Zavros, represented by Starkwhite, Auckland. Well-known for his skilful painterly style, Zavros showed his take on the traditional still-life painting, turning it round and in the process, injecting a dose of frivolity.

The artist is no shrinking violet and his exhibition of superbly realised paintings was complemented by a gleaming red Rolls Royce Wraith, overflowing with gold-wrapped chocolate coins, branded MZ, which were later handed around

by the Australian male models-of-the-moment, the Stenmark twins. Zavros’s commentary on glamour, wealth and art as commodity left some shocked and others bemused. Like it or loathe it, the exhibition was certainly a crowd magnet and there was some great people-watching to be had as a break from all the art.

I stayed at the historic Hotel Windsor in Spring Street and, while I spent those few days feeling a bit like I was trapped in an endless game of Cluedo, I was perfectly placed for visiting Melbourne’s new fair, Spring 1883, which was at The Windsor. Billed as “an exciting new art fair presenting the best of contemporary art practice from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States”, it provided a totally different and unconventional experience from the usual white cube.

Invited galleries exhibited in hotel rooms full of Victorian décor, which gave some of the more adventurous gallerists an opportunity to show their flair. I’m told one lady nearly fainted when she came across Ronnie van Hout’s life-like sculpture, prone in the bathtub of Hamish McKay’s elegantly curated hotel bathroom.

The intimacy of walking into someone’s hotel room certainly created a friendly atmosphere and I noticed a lot more interaction between people than is often seen.

Double art fairs meant twice the champagne and even a few high teas, so it was fortunate my trip was brief. The Auckland Art Fair has just announced it will defer holding another fair until May 2016, so New Zealanders will have to keep travelling in order to participate. I’m up for it. — Leigh Melville

Above: Michael Zavros, The Octopus 2014. Acrylic on canvas, 180 x 180 cm. Photo courtesy Starkwhite Gallery the hobson 48

the sound

Play Me One Damn Song That Will Make Me Break Down and Cry A

few weeks back Rialto Channel decided to drum up some business by letting all Sky subscribers enjoy their programming for a week without the additional charges. It’s something they do every now and then, and whenever they do I jump on the remote and record every Jools Holland programme I can find.

Later with Jools Holland is the gold standard of music programmes. Great production and great sound. To be invited to play says you’re at the top of the game, or you’re pushing new boundaries. But it’s not quite enough for me to spend another $10 on my already enormous Sky bill.

So I went berserk and rustled myself up a mini music festival, which I’ve slowly been working through. And so it was the other night that the mother of my children and I sat down to watch Sinead O’Connor on Later. It was a performance from 2012, and it started off with a song I’d never heard called “4th and Vine”. Sweet song made even sweeter when we realised that the elfin back up singer, who looked just like Sinead 30 years ago, was actually her daughter, one of her four children to four fathers.

And then to her second performance. “Nothing Compares 2 U”. The amazing version of a Prince song that in 1990 stopped the world. Remember the video?

Her beautiful face singing a song of heartbreak that ends with two tears slipping down her cheek.

But this performance was something else. Sinead was now 45 and her face carried the weight of her lifetime of courage and vulnerability. Still shaven-headed, her body now has many tattoos of religious iconography.

She looked tough even though she was in a dress. But as she soared, swooped and whispered, the tenderness and regret was still so honestly there. It was gob-smacking.

And at the end there was again tears. Not from Sinead this time, but from the two people in the TV room.

Doesn’t happen often, music moving you to tears. In fact I’ve forgotten the last time, but it happened the other night to a deserving song.

To be honest, not many songs can do it. Many can fill you with ennui or some sort of gothic gloom.

“Atmosphere” by Joy Division for instance. Actually

anything by Joy Division. But do they actually irritate the tear duct?

So I asked my Facebook friends to name one damn song that makes them break down and cry.

Brian Ashby, the leading sports radio commentator, nominated “In My Life” by the Beatles. Good call, Gash.

Phil Gifford, the grizzly sports writer, suggested Roy Orbison and k.d. lang’s “Crying”. I’ve never seen Phil blubbing but I’m sure it’s quite some sight.

Interestingly three female radio personalities independently suggested Joan Armatrading’s “The Weakness in Me”. Which is interesting, as they’re all strong, independent women.

A mad Italian friend who lives in the delightfully named town of Dolce Aqua came up with “Hungry Heart” by Bruce Springsteen. Slightly weird call from the splendidly weird Marco D’Amore. And, yes, that is his real name.

And a traffic reporter by the name of Greg went for “The Living Years” by Mike and the Mechanics. That one gets me too, and I guess that we’ve both lost our dads, Greg.

Other suggestions from listeners to my radio show included “Nights in White Satin” by The Moody Blues.

Anyone who heard it used in the final Wiseguy episode as Vinnie and Sonny beat each other to a pulp will understand the emotional heft that song has.

Honourable mentions went to “Hallelujah,” “Hurt”

by Johnny Cash, “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke, “Father and Son” by Cat Stevens, “Beautiful Boy” by John Lennon,” “The West” by Annie Lennox, and “Lovesong” by The Cure.

All great songs. All tearjerkers.

But if I was to name the best, I’d have to say “Stuff and Nonsense” by Split Enz. For too many reasons to recount here. And I’m already getting sweaty eyed and I don’t want to get the keyboard wet, so I’ll leave you with one line from Sinead.

“It’s been so lonely without u here. Like a bird without a song” Genius. Sniff. — Andrew Dickens

the hobson 49

the living

Ciao bella!

T

his feels like I’m back in Italy,” an Italian patron once told Vivienne Farnell about Non Solo Pizza, the popular Parnell restaurant she runs with partner Antonio Crisci. Manager Amy Burton reports similar feedback. “Some of our customers had just spent six months in Italy and said our food is as good, if not better, than what they had over there,” she says. NSP prides itself on its authenticity, so comments like these are “the biggest compliments we can get,” says Farnell.

Everything stems from the commitment to create a little slice of Naples in Auckland. The pasta is all home-made, the kitchen has a certified pizzaiolo chef, and the menu, labelled Affaire di Cuore, is its own work of art. From Wednesday to Friday nights, NSP recreates the convivial feeling of the Italian wine bar with free aperativo, including crostini with mozzarella and tomato, and golden balls of arancini. It’s not surprising NSP is a highly favoured pit stop on the way home from the office.

“We have a very handy location and quite a few of our customers organise their last business meeting of the day here,” reports Farnell, who says that most patrons are locals and about 70 per cent are regulars. NSP has also proved a popular meeting place before the movies or concerts at Vector Arena.

Kids are welcome, and naturally the pizza is a drawcard. “We’re now seeing our customers’ grown-up children – it’s a whole generation that’s been coming here,” says Farnell.

A fixture since 1997, what’s the secret of NSP’s longevity? As well as the high standard of food and service, Farnell thinks it’s the buzzy atmosphere that appeals. “It’s always high energy, so people always want to come back,” she says.

The staff also make it easy for customers to relax. “We’re often asked to just order for the table, and people just love being taken

care of like that,” says Farnell, whose menu must-try is the seafood soup, a traditional dish of Naples (Burton recommends the ravioli, capaccio and calamari).

The eatery is a well-established part of the Parnell community, often used for celebrations ranging from wedding anniversaries to kids’ birthday parties. “Our private room is usually booked four nights a week for functions,” says Burton.

Equally, the NSP staff enjoy being part of the local scene. “We all support each other,” says Farnell of local businesses. “They buy their wine from me, so I shop on the street, too.” (Some of her favourite haunts are Orsini, Alfresco, Domo and Queen Nails.)

While the restaurant has remained a favourite, Farnell and Crisci have regularly innovated to keep things fresh. They opened the street-fronting Bar Vino in 2009, but it was the addition two

the hobson 50

the kiosk years ago of Louvretec shades over the courtyard that has made the biggest impact. “With the heaters, now we can have outdoor dining all year round,” says Farnell. And that inviting outdoor space is looking just perfect as daylight saving dawns.

— Melissa Williams-King Non Solo Pizza, 259 Parnell Rd. Open seven days, 12pm until late. Ph 379 5358 or book via nonsolopizza.co.nz

John McCabe BDS (Otago) & Associates 122 Remuera Rd Ph 524 8834 ‘Welcome back John’ Seeing new and existing patients now at One Health Dental.

Free parking, lift access and cafe.

antonio crisci’s ravioli di pollo e spinaci Serves 6 as a first course 80g butter 4 cloves garlic, sliced 1 onion, diced 2 carrots, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 600g chicken breast, diced 60ml white wine 2 bay leaves 20ml cream 200g parmesan cheese, grated, plus 50g shaved 4 eggs salt and pepper to taste 300g spinach, blanched and squeezed 500g fresh pasta sheets 50ml extra virgin olive oil 6 leaves each of sage and basil, 6 sprigs of thyme 10 Campari tomatoes, quartered Melt 60g of the butter in a pan and sauté the diced vegetables and half the garlic. Add the diced chicken – let it brown and then deglaze with the wine. Add the bay leaves and cook for another 10 minutes.

Add the cream and reduce to half; remove from the stove and let the mixture cool down. Remove the bay leaves.

Blend the grated parmesan, three of the eggs and salt and pepper. Chop the spinach and fold into the chicken mix, along with the egg and cheese mixture.

Slice the pasta sheets into triangle shapes (you should get 18 ravioli from 500g of fresh pasta sheets). Add spoonfuls of chicken mixture to each triangle and press the edges down, sealing with an egg wash (use the last egg for this).

Place the ravioli into boiling salted water and cook for three to four minutes, until they float.

Heat the olive oil and quickly fry the remaining garlic and the herbs. Add the quartered tomatoes and sauté for one minute. Add the blanched ravioli and remaining butter to combine everything and give a creamy consistency to the sauce.

Garnish with the shaved parmesan and cracked pepper.

Digital Donburi is a consultancy that’s here to help your business with your digital needs — social media strategy and management.

Get in touch for a no obligation chat.

Contact: http://digitaldonburi.com/ contact/ or call Jenna on 027 544 226

Jill Tuck Soft Furnishings Limited

Maude Wilcox Designer Cushions Soft Furnishings P: 09 520 7502 M: 021 746 002 E: maude@jilltuck.co.nz www.jilltuck.co.nz New Showroom: 63 Nuffield St Newmarket

Dr Mac McKay B.V.Sc. 534 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland 1052 Ph: (09) 303 1510 E: mac@parnellvets.co.nz

easy Advertising your business or service in The Kiosk couldn’t be easier. You supply your details, high resolution logo and/or picture file, and we put your ad together for you.*

*conditions apply

Contact: business@thehobson.co.nz

The Hobson is distributed to household letterboxes in Parnell and Remuera, and to the libraries, cafes and businesses in the wider area, including Newmarket.

Our next issue will be November, which goes out the week of October 27.

The booking deadline for that issue is Friday October 3 and material is due Friday October 10.

To receive a rate card and our monthly newsletter, please email business@thehobson.co.nz

the pause

The Hobson Bay Boatsheds to Baradene, by Andrew McAlpine of Remuera. McAlpine was the creator/director of the 1968 cult-classic documentary Children of the Sun, a paean to the New Zealand and Australian surf scene of the day (see www. nzonscreen.com). Today, McAlpine is a residential sales agent for Barfoot and Thompson Remuera, and in recent years has studied painting and drawing in a realistic style.

Painting reproduced courtesy of Andrew McAlpine

the hobson 52

ross.hawkins@sothebysrealty.com

WAIRONGA “HEALING WATERS�

This stunning masonry waterfront home on a substantial private ten hectare estate is truly spectacular.

Set just above the picturesque northfacing bay, the main house flows easily from the open plan living pavilion to a huge central courtyard framed by an expansive accommodation wing, a pool house and lap pool.

All this at just an hour and a half drive from Auckland gives a coastal property that is unequalled in this region.

MCKENZIE COVE, LANGS BEACH, WHANGAREI nzsothebysrealty.com/NZE10302

Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. Browns Real Estate Limited (licensed under the REAA 2008) MREINZ.