WildTomato June 2018

Nelson Tasman and Marlborough’s magazine /

ISSUE 143 / JUNE 2018 / $8.95

Kiwi director and artist

Vincent Ward

shines a light  on Nelson

Light Nelson Our History

+ The Boathouse + Local Connections + + Young Entrepreneurs + Dine Out Awards

We love our Community.

Community wellness and the health of all New Zealanders are very important to us and we are proud supporters of the Heart Foundation amongst other initiatives.

A heartfelt thank you.

Don’t miss a beat.

Jennian Homes Nelson Bays would like to thank all those who supported our annual Mother’s Day Fun Run/Walk held on Mother’s Day.

We are proud to be leading a campaign to purchase and implement more AEDs (automated external defibrillators) into our local communities. To date, we have successfully assisted with 61 new AEDs into the community.

Thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors and prize contributors who helped to make the day extra special.

We’ve gained a loyal and growing following for the event, often with three generations of women returning to participate and many familiar faces return each year.

The Jennian Homes Mother’s Day Fun Run is a nationwide event that supports the Heart Foundation’s ‘For Women’ campaign, which aims to improve the heart health of New Zealand women. There’s a reason we run this event every year. Heart disease is the single biggest killer of Kiwi women, claiming the lives of over 3,000 women each year.

Jennian Homes is committed to working with the Heart Foundation to reduce this alarming statistic.

Once again, thank you from the bottom of our ‘hearts’. We hope to see you again next year.

Jennian Homes Nelson Bays 8 Champion Road, Richmond, Nelson P 03 544 4390 E nelson@jennian.co.nz jennian.co.nz

Every three days someone in our community dies before getting to hospital from a heart attack. Many of those deaths may have been prevented if an automated external defibrillator was available nearby.

Join our campaign to make our community heart safe and help us get as many defibrillators as we can into our community today. If you, your company or organisation can help in anyway, we would love to hear from you. To help or find out more contact Jennian Homes Nelson Bays.

Visit us at our Display Homes: 2 Malone Crescent, Richmond and 408 Hill Street, Richmond Open: Monday - Sunday, 1pm-4pm

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Nelson Tasman and Marlborough’s magazine

Features Issue 143 / June 2018

26 Listen to the music The new Nelson Centre of Musical Arts hits a high note with Britt Coker

32 Rocks Rd What’s happening with Rocks Rd? Helen Murdoch asks

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38 Young Nelsonians Home is where the heart is for a small group of Nelson Tasman young professionals, writes Britt Coker

42 The Boathouse Reclaiming Nelson’s beloved Boathouse back from the ravages of the sea is a labour of love, says Jacquetta Bell

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INTERVIEWS

12 My Big Idea Artist Vicki Smith blends her creative side with her love of nature in a conservation project

20 The Interview Movie maestro Vincent Ward talks to John Cohen-Du Four about the artistic forces at work deep within himself

24 Local Connection The annual Marlborough Book Festival next month has attracted a wide range of writers. Maike van der Heide explains the appeal

98 My Education Caitlin Westgate tells Stuart Bathan how the successful completion of her NMIT course helped her return to full-time learning 4

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ree Way

Stoke 1 Appletree Way

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From its 1.8 metre-wide pivot glass and cedar front door to its two-way polished, textured plaster fire place, it’s a beautiful home with a unique flavour that makes it stand out from the crowd.

Located in the widest part of beautiful Marsden Valley with its rolling hillsides, this is a show home in every sense, and now ready for its first owners. Number one Appletree Way occupies the premier position in this street and will immediately take your attention when it comes into view. It’s the best expression of the talents of acclaimed Nelson builders, Contemporary Homes, a multiple winner of House of the Year awards.

The three bedroom house sits low on its 839m2 section, a vision of crisp, uncluttered lines; black on white toning and glass with cedar timber accents. Its masterful detailing is evident everywhere you look but, above all, this is an inviting home for easy, comfortable living.

from the crowd

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home will bemaster-crafted a delight, with the promise drinks the l of living with thisComing exquisitely detailed, home bathedofinsunset sunshine andon with ‘PM’ patio.and In with the morning, it’s grassy time for coffee and croissants with the Elevated for the panorama an adjoining council reserve like a section rising sun on the2eastern terrace. beauty will satisfy the most fastidious owners. Located ean architecturally-inspired 254m eautiful Marsden Valley this is a show home in every sense, and now ready for its first droom, two bathroom home sits low on the 839m2 section - a vision of crisp, uncluttered www.bayleys.co.nz/4001953 oning and glass with cedar timber accents.

Asking Price $1,250,000 View by appointment Rob Wallace 021 343 903 rob.wallace@bayleys.co.nz

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If you have a ‘significant’ home or property requirement in Nelson or Tasman check our website first www.nelsonpremiumproperty.co.nz 5

Columns Issue 143 / June 2018

FASHION

49 Hitting a fashionable high note The new Nelson Centre of Musical Arts was the inspiration for this month’s fashion shoot, styled by Sonya Leusink Sladen. Photography

by Ishna Jacobs

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55 Shoe of the Month Floral embroidery on footwear is a good example of something different for this autumn/winter season LIFE

58 My Home A 1980s home on the banks of the Maitai undergoes a complete architectural renovation, writes Brenda Webb

64 Interiors Rebecca O’Fee explains how to work natural textures and objects into home decor

66 My Garden From a ‘rumpty paddock’ to an inspirational garden; Sophie Preece discovers an amazing transformation

68 Wellbeing Nutritionist Emily Hope explains how to create a healthy and sustainable relationship with food and your body

69 Our History Nelson’s official motto has heroic origins, writes Britt Coker

72 My Kitchen A warming winter broth from Madame Lu’s kitchen

73 Dine Out Marlborough’s Rock Ferry Cellar Door & Café tantalises the taste buds of reviewer Hugo Sampson

76 Wine Greywacke winemaker Kevin Judd tells Sophie Preece that these days his wines are ‘pretty full-on’

77 Boutique Brews Cider rules, writes Mark Preece after meeting ‘the world’s only ciderologist’ 6

ACTIVE

85 Books Some of the latest book releases, compiled by Renée Lang

78 Travel Frank Nelson visits one of Barcelona’s best-kept secrets, an astonishing art nouveau centre at Hospital de Sant Pau

86 Arts Community Arts manager Lloyd Harwood expands on his role in fostering local community arts. By John Cohen Du-Four

81 Sports Several hundred people are expected to line up for the Monaco Mid-Winter Marathon and Relays on June 24, writes Phil Barnes

88 Music Pete Rainey finds a supermarket owner with a penchant for music

82 Motoring The Toyota Camry is reason aplenty to consider a sedan instead of an SUV, and especially in hybrid mode, motoring reviewer Geoff Moffett says

89 Film Reviewer Michael Bortnick takes a road trip down memory lane with Kodachrome

83 Adventure Marlborough’s Sophie Stevens and Pete Oswald’s cycle trip up Mt Tapuae-O-Uenuku is highly memorable, writes Brenda Webb CULTURE

84 Author Renée Lang follows the progress of Nelson Tasman author Karen Stade

REGULARS

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Editor’s letter & contributors 10 Noticeboard 12 Snapped 87 Gallery Must-Haves 92 Events

6-10 JULY 2018 NIGHTLY 5.30-9.30 A free celebration of community, creativity and the wonder of light at Queens Gardens, Albion Square & NMIT Campus #lightnelsonevent

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Editor's letter

Editor

Lynda Papesch lynda@wildtomato.co.nz

Manager

Laura Loghry 027 378 0008 laura@wildtomato.co.nz

Design & art direction

Paperminx Collective design@wildtomato.co.nz

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haos and calamity often bring out the best in people and that’s certainly the case where Nelson’s beloved Boathouse is concerned. Slowly but surely a dedicated group is resurrecting the iconic music and events venue which was devastated during a raging storm and king tide earlier this year.

The new Boathouse promises to be better than ever yet still retain the ambience and character that has made it so well-loved and utilised. Well done to all those involved in this ongoing project.

Congratulations also to those behind the vision that shaped the new Nelson Centre of Musical Arts. Already a hit with performers and spectators, the centre boasts improved acoustics in the revamped School of Music Auditorium, in addition to purpose-built teaching and performing areas. Now it’s good to go for the next century at the very least.

All around Nelson old buildings are either being renovated and earthquakeproofed or sadly in some cases reduced to rubble. Reality is that often it costs more to renovate than to tear down and build anew, which means that all too often, links to the past disappear.

Personally I’m a heritage buff and I’d save them all if I could. That said, I am also a realist and accept that only a small percentage will survive. Let’s make the most of, and continue to support, those that do, such as the Boathouse and the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts.

Our heritage is important whether it is architecture, family history or wider heritage and gradually more people are beginning to take that on board, as evidenced by April’s Nelson Heritage Festival. This year more than 40 individual events spanned three weeks, highlighting the museum, heritage homes, councilowned heritage facilities and many intrinsic aspects. To quote: “You know not your future until you know your past.”

LY N D A PA P E S C H

Love local Love being a local

W

e can all think of reasons why we love being a local and now the NRDA wants you to tell everyone your reasons. Our Nelson Tasman Story is the NRDA’s website page for individuals, groups and businesses that call Nelson Tasman home to let others know what is extraordinary and unique to the region.

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If you’re from one of our local businesses or call Nelson Tasman home, if you’re someone who wants to tell a story about our region, such as a member of the media or a blogger, if you want to visit, live, or do business here and want to know more about this place – there’s something for all of you here.

Contributors

Phil Barnes, Doug Barry-Martin, Stuart Bathan, Jessica Bay, Jacquetta Bell, Michael Bortnick, Peter Burge, Chelsea Chang, Elora Chang, John Cohen-Du Four, Britt Coker, Ana Galloway, Rebecca Hayter, Maike van der Heide, Emily Hope, Ishna Jacobs, Renée Lang, Sonya Leusink Sladen, Geoff Moffett, Helen Murdoch, Frank Nelson, Rebecca O’Fee, Hayley Ottman, Sophie Preece, Mark Preece, Pete Rainey, Ray Salisbury, Hugo Sampson, Vicki Smith, Jim Tannock, Ngaire Warner, Brenda Webb, Susie Williams.

Sales executive

Chrissie Sanders 027 540 2237 chrissie@wildtomato.co.nz

Lead ad designer

Patrick Connor production@wildtomato.co.nz

Subscriptions

$75 for 12 issues wildtomato.co.nz/subscribe

Publisher

Jack Martin WildTomato Media Ltd 258 Hardy Street Nelson 7010 PO Box 1901 Nelson 7040 info@wildtomato.co.nz wildtomato.co.nz Find us on: WildTomato/ @wildtomatomagazine @_WildTomato Read online at issuu.com/wildtomato

www.nelsontasman.nz/our-story/

Cover photo by Adrian Malloch

Contributor spotlight I S H N A JA C O B S Photography

(fashion & features) Photography has always been my thing; like some people with a good movie and Tim Tams on a Wednesday night, that’s me and photography. Possibly not the best analogy, but I’m racing deadline, my two teens are hormonally unhelpful and it’s 11:28pm … too late for Tim Tams. I started photographing in Christchurch 22 years ago, then for WildTomato about six years ago while studying for my degree in art and design, meeting and photographing many interesting people, and fashion, every month. For me this is a forever ride; when I’m not photographing commercially I’m photographing artistically; it’s quite simply just who I am.

The acclaimed best seller.

Selling your home?

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A true page turner with its standout gloss colours and ease to read, it’s no wonder Property Press is New Zealand’s favourite property magazine.

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Ask your Real Estate agent about Property Press.

JA C Q U E T TA B E L L Boathouse feature (page 42)

‘Crossing to the dark side’ (from journalism to PR) is now a wellworn path, but in 1994 when I left the newsroom at Fifeshire FM to set up a media agency, it was a first for Nelson. Clients have included Port Nelson, Nelson City Council, Nelson Arts Festival, Adam Festival and Light Nelson. I’ve kept on my favourites, Nelson Pine Industries and Smokefreerockquest, but I’m trying to spend more time with my gorgeous grandchildren. I’ve had many happy times on The Boathouse deck (or leaping off it) and I learnt a lot from writing up their rebuild story for WildTomato.

JOHN COHEN-DU FOUR Interview (page 20),

Arts (page 86) I was born in France, grew up in the USA, and came to NZ in my teens. From my youngest years I’ve had an enduring fascination and love for the creative arts. I believe they exhibit humankind at its very best; where we witness the world around us, sense it within us and apply our curiosity, intelligence, and most of all, feelings, to produce endless expressions of all we are and all we might be. For me personally this has led to a career as an advertising designer/writer/creative director and all manner of other creative outpourings, including artist, fiction writer, musician, short film maker, potter, actor, puppeteer, even choreographer. It’s what gets me out of bed every morning.

Also available online at www.propertypress.co.nz

*Statistics from Horizon Research’s February 2017 survey, 2066 respondents aged 18+, weighted to represent the New Zealand national adult population. The survey has a maximum margin of error at a 95% confidence level of +2.2% overall.

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NOTICEBOARD

Extraordinary Nelson Tasman

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Community fundraiser plantings sessions

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eekend planting sessions are helping to restore native landscape, raise money for a great local cause and showcase a new local reserve and clifftop walkway.

Residents and nature enthusiasts are invited to the Tasman Bay Estates site off Aporo Road, where planting sessions are being run in partnership with the Tasman Area Community Association and the Tasman Environmental Trust.

Tasman Bay Estates will donate $1 for every tree and shrub planted to the new Tasman Community Pool at Tasman School.

Experienced tree planters will be on hand Sunday 10th June and Sunday 24th June from 10am to 3pm to guide the planting process.

Participants are asked to register by phoning 021 222 5066 or emailing chair@tasmancommunity.org.nz

he NRDA’s video competition showing what people think is extraordinary about Nelson Tasman has been won by Pest Subli, with Leroy Bull and Josh Barry in second and third place respectively. To view the winning videos visit https://www.nelsontasman.nz/visitnelson-tasman/get-to-extraordinary/ share-your-extraordinary/view-entries/.

WINNERS

Rising young artist

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he latest exhibition at Nelson’s Red Gallery features Nelson artist Georgina Hoby Scutt and is titled Mezcla. The series of works will be on show at the gallery until 10th June.

Where do you read yours?

Visiting from Portland, Oregon, Kateland Carr catches up with reading WildTomato at Mahana.

Send your image to editor@wildtomato.co.nz ONLY JPG FILES ACCEPTED, MIN 1MB

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hanks to all those who told us what they enjoy about Golden Bay. The two winners of the latest Wholemeal Café cookbook are Susan Edwards from Nelson South who loves the ‘quiet, beautiful beach at Parapara’, and Carmen Niccol of Atawhai who enjoys the peacefulness and solitude; “A wonderful clarity in the space between the mountains and the sea.” Your books are in the mail.

First class surgical experience

We are proud to announce the opening of our stage one renovations Manuka Street Hospital is the Nelson Tasman region’s only private specialist surgical hospital.

Manuka Street Hospital is a joint venture partnership between a local Nelson trust, Manuka Street Charitable Trust, and Southern Cross Hospitals Limited. This combination of expertise, local knowledge and history, ensures the people of the

Nelson Tasman region are provided with a first class surgical hospital.

We endeavour to provide our skilled surgeons with modern, state-of-the-art theatres and equipment so that Nelson Tasman residents can have access to the very best in surgical procedures.

During your stay at Manuka Street Hospital, we aim to provide you with excellent quality

surgical care supported by exceptional nursing care and hospitality services.

Throughout your stay, our staff will strive to make your visit pleasant and comfortable.

The hospital offers a relaxing environment, which blends modern facilities with traditional personal attention. Manuka Street Hospital is certified by the Ministry of Health.

manukastreet.org.nz 36 Manuka Street, Nelson Telephone: 03 548 8566

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MY BIG IDEA

Vicki Smith and Mel McColgan

Creative community tree-tagging project P H O T O B Y R AY S A L I S B U R Y

Local artist Vicki Smith is using creativity to increase awareness of the need for environmental care. She explains …

What is your big idea?

For me creativity is a powerful medium for encouraging positive ways of being.

This story starts with Jo Martin from Nelson City Council, who invited me to create a project to engage the community around Te Wairepo/York Stream, as part of Project Maitai/Mahitahi. In the last 18 months many people have been involved, including school and tertiary students and community members. Local organisations have also contributed money and materials. Together we have created three large public artworks, been involved in a series of community events, held workshops, tackled rubbish and weeds around the waterway and held a walking symposium along Te Wairepo/ York Stream.

Our current art project visualises the efforts of our youth in the care and protection of their environment by literally tagging themselves to trees as kaitiaki.

What/who does it involve?

Students from each of the four schools near the waterway – Auckland Point, Victory Primary, Nelson Intermediate and 12

Nelson College for Girls Bronte House – have developed their understanding of water ecology and taken that learning into the creative process of stencil art.

They have visited local waterways with Mel McColgan to find and identify freshwater invertebrates that are indicators of water health. Back in the classroom the students have incorporated their understanding of the needs of healthy waterways and developed stencil characters that are their expressions of kaitiaki, guided by designer Lisa Noble. These stencils will be applied to biodegradable tree protectors designed by local company Future Ecology, used to protect trees planted by the students and members of the community. The process of application will be incorporated into making lanterns celebrating Matariki, which marks the end of this project and beginning of the next stage of care and protection of Te Wairepo.

What are the benefits?

Te Wairepo/York Stream is a tributary of the Maitai/Mahitahi River, beginning above Bishopdale and running through South Nelson both above and below ground. This waterway has a place in the memories of many Nelsonians, being once a place where they could play and even fish. Understanding the dynamic nature of the stream, from the creatures within to how actions around it can impact in both positive and negative ways, will hopefully lead to greater care.

“I hope to increase community awareness and to bring a sense of connection and value to local environmental care.”

In undertaking this project I hope to increase community awareness and to bring a sense of connection and value to local environmental care. We are collectively responsible for the state of our environment; by joining our efforts with others we not only achieve more but can learn and have fun along the way.

How can others help?

Team Up to Clean Up ~ preparing the ground is on Saturday June 16 from 1-4pm.

Beginning at Victory Community Centre (2 Totara Street) we will do some work, meet some friends, have some food and you might even win a prize!

Our project is supported by Nelson City Council. It encourages the understanding of how actions impact urban streams and wider freshwater and marine systems, and offers ideas toward improvement. http://nelson.govt.nz/environment/ water-3/projectmaitai/te-wairepoyorkstream-focus

Nelson and Marlborough’s magazine

Subscribe to WildTomato magazine now Subscribe, save and eat or shop on us!

Save 30% off the cover price of WildTomato and receive your magazine delivered straight to your door every month.

SHOPPING & DINING PRECINCT

www.morrisonsquare.co.nz

The first 20 subscribers this month will receive a $50 voucher for Morrison Square.

The very best food, fashion and retail stores are located in the heart of Nelson City at 244 Hardy Street. Open seven days a week.

Cafes and restaurants are open for breakfast, lunch or dinner until late. If you are looking to rent retail or office space please contact our centre manager on 03 548 9191.

To receive a year’s worth of issues for $75 (retail price $107) head to wildtomato.co.nz/subscribe Terms and conditions: Subscriptions are $75 (including gst and postage) for 12 issues delivered in New Zealand only and are non-refundable.

Please allow 28 days for your first issue to arrive. Other conditions apply and are available on request.

This promotion is not in conjunction with any other WildTomato subscription offer and expires 31 May 2018. The $50 voucher is available to the first 20 subscribers.

13 The product offer in this promotion is non-transferable for cash or other items.

Snapped WildTomato goes out on the town‌

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Nelson Heritage Festival Various Venues, Nelson PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM CUFF

1. Gillian Bayley 2. Debbie Daniell-Smith 3. David Kemp & Cllr Gaile Noonan 4. Tony and Daphne Hunter & Colin Simmons

5. Jane Bayley, Noeline Curtis & Reg Nicholson 6. Heather Thomas & Debbie Daniell-Smith 7. Glennis Brown & Jeannie Woodhouse 8. Grant Ellis

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17 Collingwood Street, The Wood, Nelson 03 548 0998 www.lovedayclinic.co.nz | Dr Adam Mokhtar and Dr Chelsey Liew

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8 restoring balance, empowering health, make a change to chiropractic care today

SNAPPED

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2 Extraordinary Nelson Tasman Evening Trafalgar Centre, Nelson P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y A N A G A L L O WAY

1. Renee Bennett-Shields, David Pons & Dorothy Riley 2. Denis Bush-King, Jo Rainey & Mike Ward

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3. Paul Dalzell, Rob Evans & Grant Kerr 4. Sandrine Marrassé & Jacquie Walters

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5. Laura Loghry, Lynda Papesch & Chrissie Sanders 6. Rachel Reese 7. Kerensa Johnston & Anna Crosbie 8. Sharon McGuire

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Find out more at www.nelsontasman.nz/our-story/ 15

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Feast Marlborough Market Square, Blenheim PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUSIE WILLIAMS

1. Libby David, Katie Gibbons & Carolyn Gibbons

5. Hamish Macfarlane, John O’Brien & Claire Glenister

2. Murray & Jenny Eyles

6. Dean Monk & Nikki Page

3. Liz & Anthony King

7. Hilary Nyberg & Sheryl Halford

4. Al Brown

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145 Bridge Street, Nelson Wednesday to Sunday 5pm to late Fully heated for winter.

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SNAPPED

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2 Ideas Festival Sponsor Evening NMIT, Nelson P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y R AY S A L I S B U R Y

1. Emily Wang, Jacob Barrow & Tristan Riley

5. Cassa Grant & Jen Lund

2. Joshua, Alex & Leanne Pressman

7. Kaitlyn Martin & Amadeo Ballestero

3. Greg Dyer & Kate Neame

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4. Virginia Watson, Carole Crawford & Raewyn Laurenson (NMIT)

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6. Meg Spriggs & Chris Clay

8. Leanne & Hannah Pressman

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I said yes!

It’s a Jens Hansen.

Have your ring hand-crafted by Nelson’s only internationally acclaimed artisan jewellery workshop.

www.jenshansen.co.nz

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Shine Elk Event Shine, Nelson P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y A N A G A L L O WAY

1. Anne Karschunke, Benoit Gourgues & Jo Menary

5. Sian Holden & Delyth Logan

2. Coral Barker & Susa Guhl

7. Leigh MacSmith

3. Fiona Milne, Maureen Hodgson & Denise Fowler

6. Tessa Jaine 8. Connie Taylor

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4. Jan McPherson & Jacinda Stevenson

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Don’t miss a thing and subscribe to WildTomato Receive 30% off retail prices and have each issue posted to your door. For more info and to subscribe visit wildtomato.co.nz

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SNAPPED

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2 Annabel Langbein Essentials Tour Convention Centre, Marlborough PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUSIE WILLIAMS

1. Doreen Hester, Donna Booth & Debbie Hawkey

5. Robyn Katting & Jackie Searle

2. Emma Kennedy & Rosie Chandra

7. Dennis & Melissa Daly

3. Jaimie Wright, Jo Spooner & Sarah Tavave

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EVENING EVENTS 7:30pm Nelson Jazz Club Big Band, Nelson Jazz Quartet, Dan Moon, Tessa Quayle Fri 1 June Ceol Aneas, Irish Music Festival Concert Sun 3 June Rising Stars of Chamber Music Sat 16 June Nelson City Brass: Polished Brass Fri 22 June Fiona Pears Sat 23 June Acoustic + featuring Gael Force, Mosaic, Polly & the Minstrel, & Django Schmango Sun 24 June Nadia Reid and Her Band Fri 29 June Nelson Symphony Orchestra Sat 30 June Jekyll & Hyde Tue 3 July

Sat 9 June 7:30pm Sun 10 June 2:00pm HERITAGE TALKS WITH ARCHITECTS Sat 9 June 2:00pm Sun 10 June 12:00pm Principal Sponsor

For more information and to buy tickets, visit ncma.nz

8. Annabel Langbein & Juliet MacKinnon

4. Tasha Knox & Annabel Langbein

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Opening Gala Concert

6. Ali Millar & Fiona Higgins

LUNCHTIME EVENTS 12:30pm Goya Ensemble Schubert Quintet in A “The Trout” Duo Jackson Alan K. Gray at the Cawthron Organ Songs for Tomorrow: young songwriters perform original music

Thu 7 June Thu 14 June Thu 21 June Thu 28 June Thu 5 July

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INTERVIEW

Film-maker paints with light Movie maestro Vincent Ward is bringing two visual art mind-blowers to Nelson. He talks to John Cohen-Du Four.

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ight Nelson and the Suter Art Gallery play host in June and July to the latest artistic output from one of this country’s most unique cinematic voices.

Vincent Ward is open-hearted, intelligent and reflective when discussing with WildTomato the artistic forces at work deep within himself. And he is refreshingly down to earth, given the director’s string of national and international successes with films such as Vigil (1984), The Navigator (1988), Map of the Human Heart (1993), What Dreams May Come (1998) and Rain of the Children (2008).

“I just have my particular experiences as I’ve lived them, and I try to find expressions for them,” he says. “And that set of experiences has to do with, initially, growing up on an isolated Wairarapa farm, then living and working in many different countries for a long period of time, and having a German Jewish mother and a Catholic father. One of the things that interests me is how cultures collide. I’ve lived among many different cultures and tried to capture those different interactions.”

Vincent is bringing to the Suter’s Memorial Gallery, from June 3–July 29, his show Palimpsest/Landscapes, derived from his exhibition of the same name staged in Auckland in 2016. It will feature three wall-covering video projections, plus two other projected videos.

At the same time he has devised for Light Nelson, from July 6–10, three projections onto the Suter building’s exterior, one seen from Bridge St and the others glimpsed from within Queens Gardens.

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Landscapes that breathe

With the gallery experience, “Viewers walk into the dark space – a bit like a cavern – and windows of light emerge out of the darkness, a bit like vast stained-glass landscapes,” says Vincent.

“At first they might think they are looking at real landscapes; they might see earthquakes, landslides, deserts, caverns or coral reefs.

Or perhaps it’s even an inter-planetary landscape, with duststorms. But then there is the realisation that these landscapes are breathing.

“The term ’palimpsest’ basically means when something is reused, altered or transformed but still bears visible traces of its earlier form,” he says. “I’m reworking human bodies, turning them into landscapes – painted human landscapes. It’s not a new idea, but I’ve made it my own by offering a fresh take on it.”

Ward has often described himself as an embattled painter who accidentally ended up making films. “I’ve always had this sense of being a frustrated painter, and my films have always been painterly. One of my first, A State of Siege, was actually about a failed painter. And my 1998 film What Dreams May Come won an academy award for the new technology we devised – which I called ‘motion painting’ – that allowed us to create onscreen a vivid sense of moving, visceral paint. Before then there hadn’t been many films that successfully bridged the gap between film and painting techniques.

“Over the past decade I’ve been moved to re-purpose bits of footage from material I created originally as a film maker. I scavenge, if you like, looking to capture moments of essence.

These fragments, this debris, I expand to create new works— videos, photographic stills, paintings. They’re what I call ‘artefacts’. I hope that doesn’t sound too pretentious, but it’s

“One of the things that interests me is how cultures collide.”

“I’ve always had this sense of being a frustrated painter, and my films have always been painterly.”

Oppostie page: Vincent painting Top: Kin / Kaitieke Above: Palimpsest / Landform 7

from these new, different manifestations that I decide what will ultimately form a show. I’m very open to how it will be.”

Suter walls ablaze

The Suter building itself becomes the external canvas for Vincent’s work during Light Nelson. Event project manager Sophie Kelly says the festival is always on the lookout to use New Zealand’s leading artists. “Ann Rush, who’s on our selection committee, happened to be in Auckland talking with Trish Clark [gallery owner] when Trish suggested works from Palimpsest/ Landscapes might present possibilities. Vincent liked the concept and the vision grew from there. We discussed the idea with the Suter and everyone realised it was an exciting opportunity for the festival and art gallery to collaborate to bring something very special to the city.”

One of Vincent’s Light Nelson projections is designed to fill the Suter’s glass cube facing onto Bridge Street. “I call it ‘Kaitiaki’ or Kin,” he says. “It’s of an animal – a horse – and a man on a smalltown street at night. I shot it originally for my 2008 film Rain of the Children. It’s based on a real event from that area where a naked man, horribly injured in a fight, was found lying in a street, and a horse came up to him. I grew up on a farm, surrounded by animals, so I’m always fascinated by our connection with them.

“The thing is when we staged the shot we actually ended up using a wild stallion. I thought I was getting a tame one but when the guy turned up with it he just said, ‘Sorry, bro’. These are animals capable of incredible violence, yet this horse met with the actor on the street and somehow comforted him. The scene creates a beautiful sense of a kaitiaki, or spiritual guardian – a belief still found in the Ureweras, where the film was made.”

Vincent explains his other Light Nelson work: “It’s a dual projection onto two Suter wings that face the Queens Gardens pond and bushwalk. It really suits the setting: a mysterious bird that looks like it’s trapped – you get glimpses of this white creature flying up and spiralling around out of the darkness and trees, reflected across the water, with the sound of its wings fluttering frantically. It should be quite striking.”

Sound is critical to these works, says Suter curator Sarah McClintock. “Being the film-maker he is, Vincent deeply understands the power and dimension sound brings to the visual.

With both the gallery exhibition and the outside projections his carefully-crafted soundscapes add immeasurably to the immersive nature of the experience.”

21

Photo Adrian Malloch

Above: Vincent Ward and dancer Georgie Goater Left: Palimpsest / Landform 2

doubt, Puhi Tatu, the 82-year-old woman I spent so much time with for the making of two of my films. She was the central figure in my 1981 short film In Spring One Plants Alone, and then again, 27 years later, when I shot my feature film Rain of the Children.

These interactions, my love for that old lady, the world she took me into, almost an ancient world – I would never otherwise have had the chance for such a deep experience.

“She was someone who walked with the dead,” says Vincent.

“It was an ancient way of seeing things. People like these have extraordinary lives that go unseen, beneath the radar, yet they have incredible voices that are never given voice.”

Youthful connections with Nelson China proves inspiring

In a long and celebrated career, Vincent is quick to single out two highlights he considers major turning points in his life’s work.

The first was being a participant in the 2012 Shanghai Biennale.

“I was given an entire consecrated cathedral to myself to exhibit in, right on the Bund in the city’s main tourism area. It was a big thing in my relationship to China,” he says. “Now, I find I keep going back to China because I love the experience that comes from the fusion of traditions I find there.

“I was recently a judge at the Shanghai International Film Festival’s Asian New Talent Award, so I go back for that. I held a guest professorship at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, and residencies at Shanghai University, so I return for that too, running new media workshops at Shanghai University. I love these interfaces with different countries; the way people try to express themselves. It shakes up how you see the world.”

As for Vincent’s other pivotal experience, “It is, without a 22

Vincent has two abiding memories of times spent in Nelson. One is from his youth when he remembers holidaying in Golden Bay. “My father was a World War 2 veteran who suffered terrible burns to his body when the truck he was driving in Syria exploded. After the war he bought a piece of land, and he struggled to tame and farm it. His body mapped all these incredible hardships. I have this picture from my youth of us holidaying in Golden Bay, seeing him just lying there relaxed, all burnt and flabby.”

The other memory is of himself dangling within the enormous expanse of Harwoods Hole on Takaka Hill. “I was location-hunting for my film The Navigator and just hanging there awestruck on a rope in that huge cavern. Then suddenly I realised I’d have to somehow get back up. I’ve got really, really bad knees – it just hadn’t dawned on me, the predicament I was in, until that exact moment.”

He laughs and adds quickly, “But hey, I love Nelson. I’m really looking forward to bringing my work there. I’ve never participated in a light festival before. It’s a first; an adventure.”

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LOCAL CONNECTION

Doing it the write way The annual Marlborough Book Festival in July has attracted a wide range of writers.

Maike van der Heide explains the appeal.

P H O T O S B Y J I M TA N N O C K

T

he Awatere Valley is a microcosm of rural change, writes journalist and raconteur Harry Broad in his new book, Awatere, Portrait of a Marlborough Valley.

He spent three years talking to locals in the picture-postcard valley, learning how the changes of our times have impacted on them.

“The impact [of change] can be devastating and random. It can demolish communities and create others, and that’s what I’m really interested in,” says Harry.

He discovered that the valley operates on two levels. On one level a lot of good people are doing their best for their community, albeit in a low-key manner with typical country humour.

On another level, people are dealing with sweeping changes: From pastoral farming to viticulture; from old-school technology to a digital world; from a settled population to a much more transient one. And of course there are changes wrought by earthquakes – sudden and shocking, but bringing the community even closer together.

Harry’s book, with photographs by Jim Tannock and Rob Suisted and published by Potton & Burton, is due for release in September, but he will share Awatere stories at the Marlborough Book Festival in July.

A good yarn-spinner

Audiences loved Harry’s hard-case approach to telling a good yarn when he spoke about his Molesworth book at the first festival five years ago, so the organisers are delighted have him back.

He’s part of a lively and varied programme of literary encounters from Friday July 6 to Sunday July 8 at the Boathouse Theatre in Blenheim and other venues.

Harry is joined by scribes Selina Tusitala Marsh, Tina Makereti, Vincent O’Sullivan, Jenny Pattrick, Glenn Colquhoun, Diana Wichtel, Tom Scott, Tusiata Avia, Nicola Galloway, Atholl Anderson and Alan Carter.

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“The impact [of change] can be devastating and random. It can demolish communities and create others ...”

H A R RY B R OA D , AU T H O R

“It’s not about the written word, but encompassing a life into words, putting their own imaginative spin on it.”

T E S S A N I C H O L S O N , I N T E RV I EW E R

The other venues are wineries just out of town: Hunter’s Wines, Spy Valley cellar door, The Treehouse at Cloudy Bay wines, Dog Point Vineyard’s Bell Tower, and Marlborough Tour Company’s MV Odyssea in Queen Charlotte Sound.

Marlborough journalist Tessa Nicholson will interview Harry.

She’ll have prepared pages of in-depth notes and questions, but will probably ignore them once in the chair, as she says a single question leads naturally into fascinating conversation.

“What I wasn’t aware of five years ago is that while it may be the first time for me [speaking to the author], it’s not their first time. They’re well-versed and that was something so pleasurable to realise.”

An avid reader, Tessa says the festival is the highlight of her year, but adds that even those who ‘aren’t intimately involved with books’ would enjoy it. Her husband finally attended last year and, to his surprise, loved it.

“You have to be interested in hearing people’s stories, which is what it is. It’s not about the written word, but encompassing a life into words, putting their own imaginative spin on it.”

The festival’s success stems from its beginnings as a small community project that has retained its boutique atmosphere for both audience and authors, says Tessa.

“Marlborough does these things really well and we’re a very giving community.”

Good vibes for the scribes

Committee members Kat Pickford says the authors are treated to Marlborough hospitality and stay at luxurious vineyard accommodation at two of the sponsoring wine companies, Cloudy Bay and Dog Point Vineyards.

“We hope they have a wonderful relaxing time and get a chance to kick back and talk to other authors while they are here.

We hope it’s a creative break for them in a beautiful setting.”

The 2015-2017 New Zealand Poet Laureate, CK Stead, enjoyed his stay at The Bell Tower so much he dedicated a poem, At Dog Point, to the festival. He commented on his final Poet Laureate blog that he woke up jet-lagged at 4am (having returned from Britain a few days earlier) and was so moved by a star-filled sky over the Richmond Range on a frosty morning that he wrote the poem.

Dog Point co-owner Margaret Sutherland agrees The Bell Tower is ‘something very special’ and says accommodating visiting authors is a ‘real pleasure’.

“We like to give them a real taste of Marlborough,” says Margaret, who has hosted since the festival’s beginnings.

“We just enjoy the fact that they have such a marvellous time getting together, sharing their stories and their experiences over a meal and a wine.”

She adds that the festival is fantastic for the region. “We really take our hats off to the organisers. They have done a brilliant job and every year gets better.”

At Cloudy Bay, authors stay at award-winning guest accommodation The Shack, with its open fire and sweeping views of the Richmond Range and the winery.

Wine communications manager Kat Wiggan considers it a

treat to host the writers, and adds the festival draws people to a ‘flourishing community’ that may otherwise be overlooked in winter.

Staying small and intimate

Providing a cultural treat in winter was one of the reasons the festival started five years ago, and Kat Pickford says people’s enthusiastic response has “kept us looking for even more exciting ways to deliver the programme”.

But at the same time, keeping sessions small and intimate, which audiences love, is a big part of that success, she adds.

“So we’re always doing a balancing act to innovate and grow, while staying true to the boutique style that makes the book festival so special for people.”

The festival won the Supreme Award at the 2017 Marlborough TrustPower Community Awards.

Marlborough mayor John Leggett, who represented the festival at the national awards ceremony in Queenstown this April with festival founders Sonia O’Regan and Sophie Preece, says the event enriches the community, and Marlborough District Council has been ‘delighted to be part of the plot’.

“It’s got economic benefits, but what I really love is the relationships it builds within our community, the conversations it fosters and the people it reaches.”

Gascoigne Wicks Partner Paul Gibson helped the festival founders set up the charitable trust to run the event and the firm have been sponsors since the beginning. Paul says the festival is a valuable addition to Marlborough’s social calendar and provides many benefits for the community. “Beyond being entertaining and educational, it brings people together and fosters conversations.

It’s a good thing for us to support.”

Tickets at www.marlboroughbookfest.co.nz and Blenheim’s Paper Plus. Follow the festival on Facebook @MarlboroughBookFestival and Twitter @MarlBookFest.

25

Music centre

Sweet sound reborn Nelson’s beloved School of Music is back in business after earthquake strengthening. Britt Coker samples the refurbishment.

P HO T O G R A P H Y BY I S H NA JAC OB S

26

B

uildings designed to optimise soundwaves should never remain silent for long, but it’s four-and-a-half years since the Nelson School of Music closed due to earthquake risk, and the silence has only just ended. The name too has gone – it’s now called the Nelson Centre for Musical Arts (NCMA) – so the forced hiatus has not just created a new look, but a new life as well.

The auditorium and Beatrice Kidson building have both undergone substantial refurbishment. In the spaces between and behind (The Rainey Wing), there is a new entrance foyer and bar, as well as a modern recital theatre, green rooms and studios.

A lot of thought has gone into making the new performance rooms multi-purpose and pitch-perfect. Everything in the facility seems designed to either enhance sound or minimise it. In the recital theatre, architectural features like zigzagging soffits and non-parallel walls minimise sound bounce. Another room can be adapted into a recording studio to broadcast performances live on Concert FM. The Steinway grand piano even has its own humiditycontrolled chamber. Built to lengthen its life, minimise warping of the wood and reduce the need for tuning, the Steinway still has to be tweaked each time it is moved into the auditorium for performances but its air-conditioned private facilities will ensure many more auditorium sojourns for years to come.

Accolades all round

Such attention to detail and optimum functionality doesn’t come about by accident. James Donaldson, NCMA Director, doffs his cap to Bob Bickerton, centre trustee, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and talented musician and sound engineer.

“Bob’s the man who sat here with an architecture app on his iPhone looking at the site and thinking, ‘What do we need?’. He’s a very unassuming, humble man and there is no way he would

“We’re just absolutely over the moon as far as the design is concerned...”

C H A I R M A N R O G E R TAY L O R

tell you he’s the vision behind this.” But he is, says James.

Chairman Roger Taylor extends the accolades to the architect, project management team and Coman Construction.

“We accepted the concept from the first design [by Jeremy Smith, Irving Smith Architects]. Obviously there has been a lot of work that has gone on with the detail – far more than we probably expected at the outset – and that’s all been done superbly well. We’re just absolutely over the moon as far as the design is concerned and I think the people of Nelson will see it as a great design.

“The quality of the work by Coman Construction and the contractors, you couldn’t fault them in terms of the way they have worked … this has taken a huge amount of on-site decisionmaking by all the people concerned and they’ve all been really good.” One tradesman even told Roger he was ‘living the dream’.

“During the period when we were having to work out how we were going to raise the money, it gives you a real comfort to know that you’ve got good people working on the site doing the best for you, and that you’re seeing something unique to New Zealand that is of the best quality.”

Not every room is new but everything that has been left seems to have history attached to it. There’s the oddly-shaped ‘Harry Potter room’ that looks much the same as it did 100 years ago. Perhaps that’s where its magic lies. It’s a quirky music library, aesthetically at odds with the 21st-century foyer and studios but in good company with the Victorian auditorium.

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“He’s a very unassuming, humble man and there is no way that he would tell you he’s the vision behind this.”

D I R E C TO R JA M E S D O N A L D S O N H A S E N O R M O U S R E S P E C T F O R S O U N D - W I Z A R D B O B B I C K E RTO N

In the Nelson School of Music Auditorium (the one space in the facility to keep its old name) the only noticeable items not in keeping with the original are an improvement for the sake of comfort, says Roger Taylor.

“If someone from 1901 would come to look at it, they would say, ‘Oh look at those chairs’. As a hall, in its original design we think it would have held 450-460 seats. They had the old, wooden bentwood chairs. Now we’ve got more comfortable chairs, like the ones at the Theatre Royal. The hall at the back has also been raised up a bit so people get a better view of the stage.”

If we’re going to be picky, the auditorium paint colour isn’t exactly the same either, but light-reflective colour decisions made in 1901 were influenced by the limits of gaslight. The interior is a heritage shade of beige now, not likely to distract much attention from the performers, especially when you take the much-lauded acoustics into account.

28

A shoebox with class

As for those acoustics, Bob Bickerton remains impressed: “This is so typical of a Victorian concert hall, like a shoebox but with a wooden skin on the inside and this barrelled ceiling almost like the hull of an upturned boat. They must have known what they were doing because it’s superb.” Performers, audiences and sound engineers tend to agree with him.

Bob is unaware of any similar shoebox in New Zealand.

He tells the story of a visitor from Boston who chaired the Audio Engineers Society, an international body with more than 14,000 members worldwide.

“We brought him in to give us some advice on our sound system as it was then, and he said this is one of the most amazing halls he’s heard. He said, ‘There isn’t a city in the States that wouldn’t be happy to have a place like this’.”

Although the bowed sides of the matai and rimu ceiling were formed for acoustic perfection, those curves are reassuring too.

They seem to cocoon the humans inside the space and soften the cavernous beige gap between floor and ceiling in the process.

As with any rebuild of this scale, there were head-in-hands moments. This one includes the small matter of a budget blowout (from $8 million to $9.3m), of repairs that no-one saw coming, and the mandatory, annoyed ratepayers. Roger says the repairs decision was made for them.

“The ground was fully tested to make sure the design would in fact do what it was supposed to do,” but when the building was opened up “there weren’t enough steel rods in the beams, so we put in brand new beams instead. If you ever saw an old beam and a new beam you’d be very happy with the new beam.” Those beams contributed heavily to the overspend.

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29

The Cawthron Organ

Community support humbling

James Donaldson says the protests were far outweighed by the support. All 300 seats in the auditorium are sponsored. Plaques on the back salute individuals, businesses and local groups who will have the chance to savour their generosity – they should be able to book their sponsored seat.

“We’ve been so lucky. When we say the community built this facility I’m not exaggerating at all. It’s been a huge project by a huge number of people through the community. We couldn’t have done it without local support – at all.

“That’s the power of the music; the power of community; the love for this building. It’s been really evident in the way the contractors have approached this project as well. There’s been a real passion and pleasure that I’ve seen on people’s faces as they’ve been working. They’ve been so respectful of the history that’s here. It’s amazing.”

The four teaching studios have hummed for several months now, performances have been held in the auditorium since late April and the trust’s 2018 target for community hire has already been reached. They are also in talks with other local collaborators that share obvious synergies, such as the NMIT and the Nelson Regional Development Agency, but if you want to book a room for

“When we say that the community built this facility I’m not exaggerating at all.”

JA M E S D O N A L D S O N

30

The auditorium is a hive of activity and a veritable display room of tradies’ equipment on the day I visit, yet the omnipotent dynamo in the room belongs to a sound.

A man in a high-viz vest sits at the recently refurbished pipe organ. He is here to tune, not move me to tears, but almost does both. His technique is to place a finger on a key and not take it off for what appears to be 30 minutes – but is probably only 20. Air is pushed constantly through the mechanics of a pipe organ, which is why a single note doesn’t fade as it would with a piano key.

The tradies’ safety gear should include earmuffs all round. Some notes are so piercing I think I hear dogs howl.

The organ, a gift commissioned in 1913 by Thomas Cawthron, has been in the safekeeping of the South Island Organ Company in Timaru during the renovations. Whilst there, it underwent a transformation of its own, improving both form and function.

Much like the Wizard of Oz, the electronic brain housed inside the organ is slight compared with the gleaming pipes and native timber façade that dominate the rear of the auditorium stage. Most of the smaller pipes are just for show – it’s the biggest ones that create the sound. Originally, the wind was pushed through the Cawthron Organ by water-power, but modern-day electrics now give the giant life. It has already had its first public performance, playing a major role in the Messiah last month.

The organ has wowed Nelsonians from day one. In 1913 the Nelson Evening Mail reported on the opening recital: ‘The enthusiasm of the audience became intense, and seldom in the history of Nelson has there been such an outburst of public feeling. The clapping and stamping continued for a considerable time and could not have failed to impress Mr Cawthron as an expression of the appreciation of his great gift to the city.’

a private function or conference, then that will be okay too. The official gala opening is this month (June 9-10). Beyond that, James says he is keen to “go as far outside the box as we can.

“We want the diversity; we want something for everybody.

We certainly don’t want to alienate those people who have been coming here for a long time to watch traditional concerts.

Hopefully there will be something here for everybody. Putting on a concert that wouldn’t happen otherwise gives us a chance to be educators beyond the classroom.”

Also on the cards are collaborations with local artists who create interactive musical installations that give visitors the chance to be music-makers.

“You don’t have to be good enough to get up on stage – that takes years of practice. To be able to make music though, to enjoy music, to enjoy creation, playing with sound, that’s something for absolutely everybody. Whether you think you’re musical or not, come in and give something a go, because that’s what this place has always been about. It’s an open door, not a closed door.”

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Rocks Rd

Between

Rocks Rd and a hard place The debate about the seaside state highway has been a long, long, long and winding road. Helen Murdoch hears of hope ahead.

P HO T O G R A P H Y BY I S H NA JAC OB S

32

L

ogging truck driver Richard Jackson’s greatest concern on Rocks Rd is the safety of cyclists. “Racing cyclists often pull in behind the trailer and draft.”

Riding the slipstream allows cyclists to maintain their speed with minimum effort – but the driver can’t see them.

“They’ll be less than half a metre from the rear wheel. If I stop suddenly they will be underneath.”

Richard has driven log trucks since the 1990s. He’s been with Waimea Contract Carriers for the past eight years.

Export demand for logs sees three of his four truck-andtrailer loads a day go to Port Nelson, via Rocks Rd. Tourists driving slowly, creating queues of traffic behind, are a bugbear, he says.

But while they add to the congestion, such traffic does not change the road’s physical safety.

Richard would like to see a cantilevered cycleway on the seaward side of the pedestrian pathway to take riders off the road and into a safer zone. The roadside cycleways are narrow, he says.

“When cyclists ride two abreast one rider can sometimes be in the traffic lane. You try to fit a loaded 54-tonne, five-axle truck-and-trailer around them without crossing the centreline.”

Cashing in on congestion Sharon Knight doesn’t mind the traffic.

The more vehicles that pass, the more drivers see Raglan Roast Coffee at the Tahunanui lights where she works.

The popular hole-in-the-wall coffee and gelato shop shares premises with Kite Surf Nelson in The Sands complex.

Sharon says most weekday customers drive to the shop, while walkers and beachgoers make up the bulk of those seeking a caffeine hit at the weekends.

She would like to see a bypass developed and the state highway designation lifted from Rocks Rd to allow for more flexible development.

“Over the last four years the road has become very busy, and particularly in the last year,” Sharon says.

“It may be because of the Kaikoura earthquake, but there’s definitely more trucks now.”

Although The Sands offers undercover car parking for business customers, Sharon would like to see the bus parks outside the complex reduced.

“If they created five-minute parks people could come and get their coffee or fish-and-chips without getting a fine.”

Customers do not generally complain about Rocks Rd, “but it would be nice if it was more user-friendly and there was a bypass for the heavy traffic.”

“You try to fit a loaded 54-tonne, five-axle truck-and-trailer around them without crossing the centreline.”

R I C H A R D JA C KS O N , T R U C K D R I V E R , I S H O R R I F I E D B Y C YC L I S T S R I D I N G TWO ABREAST

Bold solution urged Cyclist Claire Pendlebury believes Nelson needs to think outside the box for transport solutions for future generations.

The City Council and NZ Transport Agency must make a bold, realistic and progressive stand on Rocks Rd’s future.

Claire bikes from Stoke to her city workplace most days, using Rocks Rd. On days when the weather changes she leaves her bike at work and takes the bus home.

But cycling Rocks Rd is ‘not for the faint-hearted’. Claire doubts that any minor upgrades will provide long-term solutions – and major upgrades will only shift bottlenecks to other points of commuters’ journeys.

She says a Southern Link bypass will destroy Victory community, which provides scarce affordable housing in the city.

“There is no perfect solution for Rocks Rd.” Claire advocates a total change in transport thinking to cater for growth and future generations – and the solution might not be building more roads to carry more traffic.

She supports encouraging commuters to cycle and extending public transport services, as they do in Europe, where cycling is the norm.

“For cycling to be a valid form of transport requires a change in mindset.”

Residents under siege When Paul and Doreen Lundberg moved into their Wakefield Quay home in 1989 they had to wait up to a minute to cross the road.

“Now it’s more like four minutes,” says Paul, as traffic rumbles past their double-glazed bay windows.

The sparkling sea may only be a few steps away but getting to the city can be trickier.

“If we want to go to Richmond or Tahunanui we can creep

33

“Nelson has waited long enough.

We need an answer.”

R A C H E L R E E S E , M AYO R

Claire Pendlebury

“For cycling to be a valid form of transport requires a change in mindset.”

C L A I R E P E N D L E B U RY, C YC L I S T

along with the rest of the traffic.

“But if we want to go into town it’s often quite difficult because of the constant traffic one way or another.”

Paul cycles regularly, but Doreen stopped riding because the road is too busy, too scary, ‘and the vehicles are travelling too fast’.

He would like to see the Southern Link developed for heavy vehicles and peak-hour commuter traffic, and Rocks Rd dedicated to slower-moving, tourist-style traffic, cyclists and walkers.

Cyclists and walkers also need to be separated because they travel at different speeds, he says.

“As far as the Southern Link is concerned, we need something for bigger trucks. They have an enormous impact on the road. I would be happy to see a sensible bypass going through.”

Design funding sought Mayor Rachel Reese believes Nelson has waited long enough for Rocks Rd transport solutions.

For her the future is simple: Investigate and design the walking and cycling project around Rocks Rd and a possible alternative freight route, make the decisions and get work underway.

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The key is securing the $21m investigation and detailed design funding from the NZ Transport Agency, whose board will decide on the application later this year.

Nelson is ripe for extending its walking and cycling connection for tourism and the Great Taste Trail, and to allow the development of restaurants and public places along the waterfront route, Rachel says.

The challenge, however, is that Rocks Rd is a state highway, and if it’s not going to be used for heavy freight, where will the new route be?

Rachel says NZTA is the critical funder and has a say in the city’s planning, “but not a complete say. They must work in partnership with the council as we are the city’s representative and have a view on what we like.

“That’s one of the things I like about the new government’s policy statement. It acknowledges there is a partnership between local government and the agency, and that liveable cities are really important.”

Rachel believes walking and cycling help to create a liveable city and bring tourism benefits.

However, the long discussions on Nelson’s transport options changed with the 2007/08 Global Financial Crisis and the realisation that any solution was never going to be a $5 million fix-it job.

Now it’s about finding the areas of agreement and being aspirational, says Rachel.

She believes Rocks Rd’s prime, scenic and valuable coastal land must be treated with respect.

“Coastal land belongs to the public and you privatise it at your peril.”

Political point-scoring is one of the biggest barriers to agreeing on transport solutions, Rachel adds. “People have used this as an exercise to try to get into the round-house in Wellington, and that has not served our community.

“What we have to do is work together to find areas of agreement and create a liveable city.”

Any transport solution will involve big money, she says.

NZTA must also consider all options, including creating walking and cycling links and moving the state highway.

“That’s why they had to initiate the Nelson Cycling Investigation.”

Money now has to be committed to move the process along.

Sharon Knight

“I would be happy to see a sensible bypass going through.”

PAU L LU N D B E R G , R E S I D E N T

Paul Lundberg

“We have the Rocks Rd walking and cycling project and the freight route and the Southern Link investigation. We now need the money to come into this plan.

“Nelson has waited long enough.

“We need an answer. We need certainty and clear direction for investment certainty and direction, not this flip-flopping exercise.”

Rachel acknowledges that the work NZTA has to do on the project is complicated, “and I respect that”. She says the $21m investigation and detailed design funding is included in the plan that will go before the NZTA board in a few months.

“I am hoping the money will stay there. I will be extremely disappointed if the money is stripped out and sent to Wellington.

I will feel really short-changed.”

Rachel can see the Rocks Rd walking and cycling design process including factors such as protection from storm surge.

“And I’m not even sure the state highway needs to move, but what drives people nuts is being in this beautiful environment and being centimetres away from very heavy freight.

“If we do move freight off, wherever it goes it has to be properly designed so it does not move the problems to another community.”

Government changes direction The funding climate for projects like Rocks Rd and the Southern Link turned a major corner under the new government.

Labour’s draft Government Policy Statement on Transport shifted the emphasis from state highways to sustainability, safety, walking and cycling, rail, public transport and value for money.

Walking, cycling and public transport will now get a lot more money, while planned motorway projects will see a lot less.

This is a U-turn from the previous government’s focus on state highway and motorway development under its Roads of National Significance.

New priorities around resilience, improved access to opportunities, better environmental outcomes and best value for money will fundamentally change the way projects are now considered.

Jim Harland, NZ Transport Agency Regional Director Relationships, says the agency has released its draft Transport

Richard Jackson

Agency Investment Proposal (TAIP), which sets out the investment approach and proposed activities across all modes of transport for the next 10 years.

He says it signals a new direction for land transport investment in New Zealand.

However, Jim sheds little light on the future of Rocks Rd, other than it will ‘continue to be developed’.

In a nutshell, the draft TAIP takes a whole-of-system view across all modes of transport, including the government statement’s new classes of rapid transit and transitional rail – both of which will be 100 percent funded from the National Land Transport Fund.

The statement, which needs to be adopted by the government by the end of June, moves toward investing in public transport, regional improvements, local road improvements, road safety and traffic management, and supporting safe, active transport.

Supporters have hailed the statement as a route to taking more trucks off the road while increasing public, rail and sea transport along with walking and cycling.

But critics question the transport benefits to regional New Zealand and say proposed national fuel tax increases will add to the burden of those on low incomes, particularly in areas where people have no transport choices.

There remains hope for a Rocks Rd solution, however.

The statement signals a 96 percent increase in spending (over three years), and supports regional projects that improve safety, resilience and access for people and goods. Part of that involves a 248 percent increase in walking and cycling initiatives.

Fingers crossed for NZTA’s decision on the $21m investigation and design funding and the chance to be aspirational.

35

Leading the way

Fizzing on youthful energy Each year hundreds of young Nelsonians leave home for further education and adventure – and because they can. Others choose to stay and bring new impetus to the region. Britt Coker found four who are happy to call Nelson home.

P HO T O G R A P H Y BY I S H NA JAC OB S

Benjamin Black and Amber Watts 36

Adam Mokhtar, 28, chiropractor

A

s a teenager, Adam Mokhtar was always in the wars. His passion for sport – “You name it, I was out there doing it” – meant injuries were par for the course. He had a lot – shoulder and knee problems mostly – that necessitated regular trips to the chiropractor. Adam started to see such treatment not just as a way to heal his body, but as a potential career path where he could help other people as he had been helped. Decision made, and he has never looked back.

Qualifying meant six years’ training in Auckland. “It was harder than I thought it was going to be.” Adam returned and immediately sent his CV to all the chiropractors in Nelson, aiming to build up more practical experience over the summer months. Only one responded but it proved to be a life-changer.

John Loveday initially needed a locum while he went on holiday. Adam filled in for him and then several months later, to his great surprise, was given first dibs at buying the business.

He knew it was an extraordinary opportunity but he hesitated at first. Could he do it? The pair agreed on an 18-month transition with John mentoring Adam along the way, giving Adam a chance to learn how to run a practice and get to know all of John’s patients. By the end, the master was working for the student, and then finally John retired – the tidy conclusion to a long career as another’s was just beginning.

Adam finds patients here are ‘more laidback’ than in Auckland.

“The people in Nelson are really grateful for any kind of care and not in a rush. We yarn about all kinds of random stuff to do with their lives. I enjoy meeting new people and I enjoy helping people. That’s why I’m a chiropractor.”

He has joined Nelson’s Young Professionals, and says group members bond over a love for the region’s adventure activities, which helps to offset the pressure of professional careers.

“A lot of people I’m friends with are quite outdoorsy, and Nelson is perfect for that. It’s a change of pace, with more time to do what you want rather than time spent travelling [to get there].”

With plans to expand the business, Adam has no desire to relocate for the foreseeable future.

“It’s going better than I planned. After one year back here, I had a practice. In the second year my partner and I bought a house. I feel incredibly lucky to be in this position I am now.

Nelson is a great place to live.”

Laura Duquemin, 23, domestic marketing & content coordinator, NRDA

I

f you are a young person starting a new career, you don’t have to leave Nelson to do it, says Laura Duquemin, the newest recruit at the Nelson Regional Development Agency.

The trick, she says, is to make connections while you’re studying.

“We do have big employers here, and I think a lot of local businesses want to help students. They don’t want students to leave so they are more than willing to give you an opportunity.

You just have to be proactive – you can’t just expect it to fall into your lap.”

In Laura’s case, while a full-time student at NMIT she

“The people in Nelson are really grateful for any kind of care and not in a rush.”

A DA M M O K H TA R , C H I R O P R A C TO R

attended networking events and also managed to squeeze in some paid and unpaid internships with several businesses in town, using her evenings to study.

“You’ve got to build those connections before you graduate otherwise you’re not going to realise that there are other opportunities there. Then when you go for your interviews you don’t say, ‘I’ve written an assignment about this’. You say, ‘I’ve actually done this’. It definitely makes a huge difference.”

Laura’s assignments were for a Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in marketing and management), which she completed last year. She then applied for her current position and to say she is enjoying it is an understatement. “It’s my dream job. I wanted to work in tourism, marketing and events and I’ve got all three rolled into one. I love it.”

Part of Laura’s work involves social media contact and in March she helped to organise an ‘insta-meet’ where last year’s TV3 bachelorettes descended on Nelson to visit some of our well-known sights. An ‘insta-meet’ is exactly what it sounds like: two or more well-known people hook up and share their experiences with all their Instagram followers. And who 37

“There’s so much to do here and so many opportunities.”

L AU R A D U Q U E M I N , M A R K E T E R

“Starting your own business is never easy, but it’s about getting yourself out there and being motivated. We [Benjamin and his partner and creative director, Amy Cunningham] were lucky to have an awesome business coach right from the beginning. But if you want something bad enough, you make it happen. So we made it happen.”

For this goldsmith, the freedom to express his own creative style is shared with the client. Together they transform precious metal into precious jewellery. “It’s pretty fulfilling working with someone to create a piece; weaving in what means something to them.”

exactly is following last year’s bachelorettes on Instagram?

About 200,000 fans.

Laura is clearly an opportunity-maker, so why has she chosen to stay here when she could make things happen for herself anywhere?

“People have a common misconception that Nelson is a tiny town, and it’s not. There’s so much to do here and so many opportunities. You don’t have the constraints of a big city – the traffic problems, the high living costs. You’ve got the outdoors up close and all around you.

“Nelson is a great place for young people to live. It’s not a challenge to live here.”

Benjamin Clark, 28, jeweller

B

enjamin left school at 16, not really knowing what he wanted to do, but his dad was a watchmaker so he ‘almost fell into it a little bit’. ‘It’ being a career as a jeweller. Benjamin had always liked being creative and ‘building things’ so when the chance of a jeweller’s apprenticeship came up, he took it. Thousands of hours of hands-on work, coupled with four years of theory through Open Polytechnic, and he was a qualified jeweller.

No regrets. Three years on, Benjamin’s hankering to design his own range could not be denied. He decided to take the scary next step of setting out on his own.

38

“Nelson blends a solid professional approach with an authentic small-town feel.”

B E N JA M I N C L A R K , J EW E L L E R

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39

in bespoke pieces by Benjamin Black Goldsmiths remains strong, there is always the notoriously quiet winter months in Nelson when people stop going out lest they get frostbite.

Rather than taking time off, Black Matter has given Benjamin a chance to extend his range of styles. Well-known New Zealanders now wear his creations, but he could be a jeweller in any town.

Nelson appeals because “there are so many innovative and creative people living here. I personally feel there is a great network of businesses and a lot of successful people who are willing to impart their knowledge to help others when asked. I also think a lot of young people love the sense of community here. Nelson blends a solid professional approach with an authentic small-town feel. Twentysomethings want that just as much as everyone else.”

Amber Watts, 24, graphic designer

T

“It’s flexible – you get to be whatever you want to be.”

A M B E R WAT T S , G R A P H I C D E S I G N E R

Benjamin thinks young Nelsonians have a lot to offer.

Nothing beats fresh-faced enthusiasm and a willingness to learn, but he wonders how many of them actually have that zest. The disappointing stories he’s heard do not square with the saga of his own apprentice, Joel, who he observes brimming with enthusiasm and loving the job. “He’s got an amazing work ethic. He’s brought a whole lot of energy, creativity and design to the workshop. I was really fortunate to find him.”

Unemployed qualified jewellers are scarce in Nelson, as it turns out, so a keen, young apprentice is worth his or her weight in gold carats.

“We’re ready to get another jeweller but it’s so difficult to find the right people for the job in Nelson. A lot of jewellers need jewellers.”

Meanwhile, Benjamin is busy expanding a sister brand called Black Matter throughout the country. While the interest 40

riplets are commonly thought to go through life inseparable, their hands permanently linked together, facing the world as one. Not so for Amber Watts, who waved farewell to her siblings, now living in big cities up north. Amber stayed, seeing opportunities here that she is now making the most of.

A young woman with a love of both science and art, Amber believes she has inadvertently tapped into both fields with her chosen career. She completed a Bachelor of Arts & Media at NMIT, and by the end of the first year, knew that graphic design was her path. “I felt like art kind of combined with the science as well – the way of thinking and experimenting with things.”

Three years ago, with her degree completed, Amber started her own business called Vobo Design. Her clients include the Suter Art Gallery, where an opportunity to design print material for Sally Burton’s exhibition last year was a highlight. “It’s a really cool experience being with an artist and being able to see how they think and getting to put it into a visual form for them as well.”

Amber’s face lights up as she talks about graphic design, seeing it as an area of unlimited potential and infinite learning.

“You can look at a design and you get to challenge how you think about it; how it fits into a space; to imagine everywhere it’s going to be. Then you get to be creative and come up with an expression or logo that really encapsulates the spirit of what they [the clients] do, and that’s really the fun part.”

Amber also thinks there are opportunities out there for other creative 20-somethings if they look. Work spaces that are starting to pop up around town are already attracting young people, she says, referring to the formation of The Bridge St Collective and The Hollow. The Boiler Room in Hardy St is another. These are 21st century interpretations of the quintessential entrepreneurial spirit where people are willing to take risks in the pursuit of creativity; to congregate and perhaps collaborate in hubs, working for Nelson as they try to make Nelson work for them.

“It’s a town for growth. There are a lot of established businesses around, but I also think there are a lot of people thinking it’s a small town with good connections and there is an opportunity to do something of your own that you are passionate about. It’s flexible – you get to be whatever you want to be.”

Discover

When a disability makes even everyday activities a struggle imagine what it must feel like out here .

! s L A free F O R L O C n *

sma a T d n a n o f r o m Ne l s

For people with disabilities, sailing provides a unique sense of freedom and movement – life’s daily frustrations are forgotten. Sailing pushes comfort zones and there are new risks to overcome. The sheer joy of sailing is immense for someone with a disability.

Sailability Nelson is one of ten active clubs across New Zealand, all of whom are part of a worldwide movement.

From the Nelson Yacht Club we sail two person Hansa yachts set up for any disability and any age. Each yacht has an experienced sailor helper and each sail is for around 30 minutes.

Our sailing season commences in October and we will sail every second Sunday until mid-March.

Please join us on a Sunday sail day and see what a difference we’re making. You are welcome to support us by becoming a volunteer, helper sailor, sponsor, or donor.

To discuss how you would like to help please contact John MacDuff: 0274 245 112. macduff@tasman.net

Join us to help disabled Nelsonians experience the freedom and joy of sailing. sailabilitynelson.org.nz

playground, artisan gifts, pre-loved books Open 10am – 4.30pm every day (except Good Friday & Christmas Day) 87 Atawhai Drive, The Wood, Nelson 03 548 2649 www.founderspark.co.nz * Except during public events

41

The Boathouse has been a second home to generations of Nelsonians. That rock-solid support is driving the rebuild after storm damage, Jacquetta Bell finds.

42

Photo Sam McIlroy

Flooded but unbowed

Photo by Doug Barry-Martin

Rebuilding the Boathouse

Photo Doug Barry-Martin

A

storm was brewing when Amie-Jo Trayes turned up for work at Nelson’s Boathouse on February 1, but she got down to business as usual – even when water started coming through the office floorboards.

“I didn’t think anything of it,” she says. “We quite often get our feet a bit damp in a very high tide.”

Just how destructive the combination of king tide and the tail-end of Cyclone Fehi would be, no-one had foreseen – not the police, not the harbour master, not the chefs busily getting lunch ready at the community-owned Boathouse, or its neighbour, The Boatshed Cafe on Wakefield Quay. Both were about to be hammered.

“We had a huge day with the Buskers Festival that night – a bit after nine we started lifting computers and sound gear for the buskers out of the way,” Amie-Jo recalls. “We then just watched things happening slowly and majestically over the period around midday. The deck went, and then the boat-ramp and the shed for small craft.”

By noon, staff had been joined by committee members who turned up to help, and it wasn’t long before Amie-Jo’s phone started ringing with people asking what would happen to their wedding bookings. Cancelled – The Boathouse was out of action.

All staff have now taken leave or found other temporary jobs, and Amie-Jo will take over the manager’s role from longserver Ali Howard when repairs are completed and the venue reopens next spring.

The place to be

Local civil engineer John Higginbotham is a very social guy. He reckons The Boathouse is the ‘nicest piece of real estate in town’, and he loves live music. This made joining The Boathouse co-op a no-brainer for John when he moved to Nelson from California 18

Photo You Build

Photo You Build

0PPOSITE PAGE Top: The Boathouse viewed from Nelson Haven Below left: The busy bar under the iconic chandelier at a Tiki Taane concert Below right: Lunch on the deck from the popular Boathouse Cafe

THIS PAGE Above left: Storm damage to the main hall Above right: The boat storage shed and launching ramp were ripped off by the tidal surge Left: The front deck sustained severe damage

“We focused on making sure people were safe...”

J O HN HIG G IN B OTHAM, E N G IN E E R AND B OAT H O U S E M E M B E R

years ago. Boathouse members became his second family, and he recalls taking his three-week-old daughter there one Friday night: “She was passed around for cuddles – which gave my partner and I a breather to have a drink.”

John’s been providing advice on maintaining the venue’s demanding site for some time. In 2014 he led the replacement of several of the hardwood piles and braces that hold the 112-yearold building up – a strengthening that may have saved her during the storm.

He was on-site a few hours after the tidal peak to advise on what should be demolished, under emergency guidelines. He says that while it was an emotional time for others, his focus was on the job.

“I was on ground zero in Christchurch [after the February 2011 quake] and to me it is just business,” he says. “We focused on making sure people were safe, calling in help from the You Build team, saving what we could and securing the building for the next high tide at midnight.”

John is now contracted by the insurers to advise on the rebuild. He says many of the old floorboards came up because the nails were corroded. The rebuild includes re-fixing the joists with z-nails and making the whole building more robust – opening the possibility of raising it higher in the future.

43

Photo Ishna Jacobs

“… I had to talk another 24 people into stumping up $1000 each to cover the purchase price.”

NICK MOORE, SOCIETY CO-FOUNDER.

Past chairman Thorkild Hansen lives just up the hill in Poynters Crescent, so was one of the first on the scene on February 1. He’s also part of the rebuild team, bringing his respect for the building’s heritage, his knowledge of wood – as a tutor at the Nelson Fine Woodworking School – and a love for The Boathouse that spans three generations of his family.

“I was always impressed that Dad [jeweller Jens Hansen] and those other ‘good old blokes’ saved the building from demolition and got it going as a clubhouse,” he says. “When I married Miriam in 2006 she was already a shareholder and we bought another share so our three kids will have a share each.”

For Thorkild and Miriam, Friday members’ nights were a great opportunity to socialise with their children, away from ‘pub culture’. Miriam says this gave the kids a sense of belonging as they made their own Boathouse mates.

“We were married there. We’ve been to our friends’ funerals and a whole lot of birthdays there,” Thorkild says. “The Boathouse is a haven and a responsibility.”

His connections in the timber sector led to a very satisfying solution to the floor replacement, where one storm is helping another.

“We used hard New Zealand beech from an associate of mine, Justin Wells, for the deck handrail a few years ago and were really impressed with it,” Thorkild says. “The matai they used 112 years ago is not around anymore so I went back to Justin… I knew he’d had a permit to mill the fallen trees from a storm that hit Karamea in 2014. He’s enthusiastic about milling this timber for The Boathouse floor and we all like the idea of using something nature felled to repair the damage.”

Meantime Thorkild has his eye on the old matai floorboards. “We’ll be able to use some of it in the rebuild, but I’ve got a plan to use the rest to make furniture for The Boathouse. I grew up with working bees and I’m looking forward to getting a bunch of people together to make some decent tables.”

44

Left: Nelson Jazz Club Big Band on stage.

Above: Ready for the wedding guests - The Boathouse will be open for weddings once again come the spring.

In on the ground floor

Nick Moore is another past chairman, the present treasurer and also on the rebuild team. As co-founder of The Boathouse, his commitment is unquestionable. Back in 1985 Nick ‘gained early intelligence’ that the Iron Duke Sea Scouts were looking for a buyer for their building.

“I could see this was a unique opportunity so I made a personal offer for purchase, which was accepted,” he says. “After a public tender process to secure the long-term lease, I had to talk another 24 people into stumping up $1000 each to cover the purchase price.”

With the help of fellow lawyer Bill Rainey, a registered society was set up to hold the property. Nick says the conservation and community-based values that drove the purchase are still at the heart of the operation today.

“We were a group of people who had left Nelson to study or travel. We were looking for somewhere to socialise, and we were very keen to see the building saved.”

Nick says that when you consider the location, it was great news that The Boathouse had a replacement insurance policy: “This pays out on storm damage, but not necessarily on decay, such as replacing piles, or on the opportunities the rebuild gives us to improve the kitchen and other facilities.”

D E S I G N • B U I L D • R E N O V AT E

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info@rtjoinery.co.nz 45

Left: Sea Scouts, Nelson.

Nelson Provincial Museum, Kingsford Collection: 163300.

A large crowd on Boathouse slipway with the Sea Scouts.

Below: At the Port, Nelson.

Nelson Provincial Museum, F N Jones Collection: 321410.

View from top of smokestack of Power House, looking south along Wakefield Quay and Rocks Rd towards Tahunanui.

The remains of the saltwater baths are in the foreground.

A century of recreational use

Alec Woods is another stalwart of the Boathouse. As an early member, a lifetime Nelsonian and a historian, he’s driving the heritage considerations on the rebuild team. Alec was right behind the idea of taking over the building from the Rowing Club and Sea Scouts; and he loves the way The Boathouse represents more than a century of use for waterfront recreation.

Alec has plenty of stories of the building in its ‘golden years’ when the Sea Scouts kept their clinker-built cutters in the main room and the Rowing Club slung their skiffs in the roof space.

(Incidentally, a storm early in the 1900s floated those clinkers as the water rose around them.) Back then the scouts and rowers raised money by selling fish and firewood, plus hosting Saturday dances with bands and crayfish suppers. The dances were so popular hundreds of people would pack into the venue.

Alec has his own theories about the appeal of Boathouse membership: “A lot of people appreciate heritage buildings but don’t actually live in one; a lot of people like the idea of enjoying the sunset from the waterfront – but they don’t live there; and a lot of people – especially those who are new to Nelson – just like the sense of community. Joining The Boathouse is a very cheap way to achieve all of these ends.”

Live music is still a big drawcard at The Boathouse, and for members there are Friday night gatherings, open use every Sunday, a key for entry at other times, use of club-owned dinghies and paddle-boards, and a big discount on event hire.

When The Boathouse reopens in spring, she will be significantly better than before. Chair Annie Henry says that as well as the kitchen upgrade, improvements include more capacity to the beer-lines, reconfiguring the office and storage area, and reverting to the old-style ‘gangway’ entrances, which are more stormproof than a deck.

The focus is to get the building open, to give members access and to get the business going, Anne says. The side ramp with its boat storage shed can come later.

For more information on The Boathouse, becoming a member or donating towards the rebuild, check out theboathousenelson.co.nz or follow on Facebook.

46

Timeline 1876:

Nelson Rowing Club formed.

1906:

Current building erected by Nelson Rowing Club.

1924:

NZ Scout Association buys the building and Iron Duke Sea Scouts move in.

1920s:

Sea Scouts and Rowing Club flourish with The Boathouse as their base.

1940s-60s: Golden years of Saturday

night dances.

1985:

Sea Scouts sell to what became The Boathouse Society Ltd.

1997:

First staff member employed.

2002:

Café opens to the public.

Loaded up and ready to deliver

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Hitting a fashionable high note P HO T O G R A P H E R , I S H NA JAC OB S S T Y L I S T , S O N YA L E U S I N K S L A D E N MODEL, BREE ROBERTSON HAIR, CARDELLS HAIR DESIGN M A K E - U P, I N D I E W E L S H , O F P R I C E S P H A R M A C Y VENUE, NELSON CENTRE OF MUSICAL ARTS

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Jumpsuit and earrings, Trouble & Fox Faux fur, Hartleys Shoes, Taylors…we love shoes Necklace, bracelet and ring, Jens Hansen

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Clothing and jewellery, Shine 51

Pants and top, Trouble & Fox Shoes, Taylors…we love shoes Jewellery, Jens Hansen Glasses, Kuske

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54

SHOE OF THE MONTH

Something different

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ithout a doubt, for such a small country, New Zealand is spoilt for choice in fashion. We receive the benefit of beautiful work from designers from around the world who are constantly trying to create something that is different and will catch the attention of the fashion seeker.

Floral embroidery on footwear is a good example of something different for this autumn/ winter season. This double-gusseted ankle boot features the embroidery over black nubuck leather and is stunning.

DJANGO and JULIETTE ‘Bending’, $279.90.

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Rivera by Silent D dark navy rain, also available in soft light tan leather $279.90

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55

FA S H I O N S H OWC A S E

Putting on the glitz B Y S O N YA L E U S I N K S L A D E N

As

a mother of young children, going out to a ball or glamorous evening event is something I fantasise about. You might say I’m out of practice.

That said, I’m often asked for advice on how to go about dressing up for special occasions. The following tips are some of the more fundamental principles that I talk through with clients before helping them to choose and accessorise a look.

Choose something that suits you This might seem self-evident, but so many of us are bamboozled by glamorous gowns in the changing room, over-zealous sales assistants and pressure to get something at short notice. We often forget the first principle of style, which is to choose something that suits your figure and is in a colour that complements your features and skin tone. Finding a flattering dress is more important than any label, price tag or brand, and it is certainly more important than wearing a dress style that is ‘hot right now’.

‘The perfect dress is the spin-doctor of fashion. It twists and contorts reality into what everyone wants to see.’ – from Things A Woman Should Know About Style, by Karen Homer.

Make sure it fits you well Your dress should fit you perfectly.

Again, this might seem self-evident but sometimes we can forget that a garment bought off the rack was not designed to fit your body. It was made to fit a generalised female form in the dimensions of your approximated size ratios.

You are unlikely to fit those proportions perfectly, so choose the size that fits the biggest part of your body and find a good seamstress who will take the garment in at all the right places for the perfect fit.

56

Choose the size that fits the biggest part of your body and find a good seamstress who will take the garment in at all the right places.

Invest in the best foundation Starting with the perfect bra or bust support, finding the right undergarments is supremely important. Even the most beautiful gown that fits you to perfection will be spoiled with unsightly straps, panty-lines and bulges. I am small, but will still wear a body stocking under my prettiest dresses to help me achieve a seamless, bulge-free line. It also helps me to feel psychologically prepared and ready to take on the event with maximum confidence.

‘Even the fittest and most beautiful of Hollywood celebrities will wear shape-wear undergarments. They give support, help smooth the body and most

of all provide that extra bit of red-carpet confidence.’ – Rachel Zoe, celebrity stylist.

Practise confidence and poise I’m not a big-event, let’s-get-dressed-up kind of girl. I feel rather awkward and shy around large groups of people I don’t know well, but I remind myself that confidence, or the appearance of it, is a key component to fabulous style. So I practise my walk, my facial expression and channel my inner actress to portray the appearance of confidence. I even play a little upbeat theme song in my head to energise my stride and give me a physical swagger that reaches beyond how I am feeling on the inside.

Breast Augmentation Breast Lift or Reduction

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We see patients preoperatively to discuss the procedure in detail.

Surgery is carried out as a day case under light general anaesthesia and takes less than two hours. An overnight stay in our local Manuka St Hospital is also an option if preferred.

Many people are able to return to work within a day or two.

We provide 24/7 post-op on call, and post-operative care indefinitely to ensure you’re well looked after.

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57

MM Y YHHOOM MEE

A very pretty home

BY BRENDA WEBB P H O T O G R A P H Y A N A G A L L O WAY

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MY HOME

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L

eaving their hilltop home with panoramic views over Tasman Bay wasn’t an easy decision for Christine and Pat Pretty.

However, they knew the time was coming when they would want to be closer to the city and able to walk, rather than drive, to nearby cafés, restaurants and the supermarket.

It had to be a special property that would make the move from The Cliffs into Nelson city less of a wrench.

“The Cliffs was fantastic, but you don’t sit and look at the views all day and we’ve ended up exchanging one view for another – this time we are right beside the Maitai River,” says Christine.

While the Prettys loved living on the hill they didn’t enjoy having to drive everywhere.

House-hunting, they found the perfect location on the edge of the central city right on the Maitai River, but the 1980s house was crying out for renovation.

1. The Prettys’ newly clad and re-roofed home on the Maitai River 2. Hardwood decking is a feature of the outdoor areas 3. Industrial style tread gives a modern look to the spiral staircase 4. A pair of cooing doves brightens up the courtyard 5. The striking external spiral staircase to the studio 6. Pops of colour are achieved through bright art in the sitting room 7. The black and white colour scheme carries through into the dining room from the kitchen 59

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“We wanted a family home, not a show home.”

CHRISTINE PRETTY

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“It was very, very original – original kitchen, original carpet – it needed a total renovation for our needs,” says Christine.

Undeterred they bought it and set about extensive renovations employing David Jerram from JTB Architects and Jason Gardiner Builders to turn their ideas into reality.

The main reason for buying the property was its quiet location and views.

The challenge was renovating it into a home they could live in and love. “We wanted a family home, not a show home,” says Christine.

It was a complete renovation – reroofing, recladding, relining and installing new double-glazed windows, a new kitchen and bathroom and new furnishings throughout.

The process took nine months, but Christine and Pat had moved in so were on site every day moving from room to room as the renovations dictated.

At their Cliffs house, Christine had a sewing/quilting room so that was a requirement at the new house. A studio with a bathroom was designed over the garage and that doubles as her quilting room and separate guest accommodation.

8. A glossy black oven with shiny splashback is an eye-catching feature in the kitchen 9. Blue and white crockery on the countertop 10. Textured cupboards create interest in the contemporary kitchen 60

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Proud to have worked on Pat & Christine Pretty’s Riverside renovation.

Proud to have worked alongside Lawrie and Rachel Saunders in building their new home.

Phone us on 027 246 0870

www.jasongardinerbuilders.co.nz

E R T SG EXP A N SF O RM IN

FOR SMART RESIDENTIAL &

KITCHEN

IN TR

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DESIGN / BUILD

Kitchen • Bathroom • Laundries Stairs • Wardrobes • Furniture

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Proud to have worked with Pat and Christine Pretty’s Riverside Home.

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www.thesellersroom.co.nz 61

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It is accessed by a striking spiral external staircase or from their bedroom.

Christine went for a neutral colour scheme of pale greys using Seafog as her main colour and having fun with bright colour pops through art and cushions.

The eye-catching new kitchen runs a black and white theme with a shiny black oven the centrepiece. The black continues with a black ceiling, black tile splashback, dark Caesarstone bench and a mix of dark and light cabinetry.

“I chose the colours but had help and support from the people at Resene to make sure it was going to work,” she says. “I used a lot of test pots.”

Floor tiles are used throughout most of the house and underfloor heating was installed in sections, meaning it can be used in specific areas when needed.

It’s not the first house the Prettys have renovated and Christine says she’d be happy to do another one, preferring renovating than building new.

“I don’t like the idea of starting with a blank canvas. With renovating you have something to start with and you can also live in it while the work is happening,” she says.

11. Christine Pretty in her sewing studio 12. A beautiful handmade quilt is the focal point in the bedroom 13. Christine’s colourful quilting/sewing room in the light and airy studio 14. Christine’s crisp dark and white colour scheme continues in the bathroom and laundry 15. The perfect spot to sit and enjoy the beautifully renovated home 62

15

STYLING

PROUD TO supply and lay tiles to the

YOUR

RIVERSIDE

S PA C E

HOME

NELSON TILE & SLATE CENTRE 40 Vanguard Street, Nelson neltile@xtra.co.nz www.nelsontileandslate.co.nz

Ph: 03 548 7733 OPEN - MON to FRI - 8am to 5pm SATURDAY from 10am to 2pm

2 hours’ FREE parking

Sharland Engineering are pleased to be associated with Jason Gardiner Builders Specialists in Structural Steelwork & Architectural Metalwork

theelectriccompany.co.nz 03 546 5029 . 027 206 2672

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63

INTERIOR

Nature’s the word

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BY REBECCA O’FEE

Bringing natural textures and objects into our home has a calming, grounding and welcoming effect on the space. Linen sheets, leather couches, woollen rugs and timber furniture pieces are just a few objects you can use towards creating a nature-inspired interior.

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Bringing wood into your home creates instant warmth and is one of the easiest natural materials to use. Coming in a variety of finishes from flooring to ceiling beams, wood can also be reclaimed and refurbished from older buildings to create unique furniture pieces.

3

Natural light is an important aspect of bringing nature into your home so open those windows and let the sun in. Use sheer curtains and mirrors to reflect the light by hanging them adjacent to or opposite a window.

Wallpapers and decals have come a long way in the past few years and are on trend big time. Choose a woodland- or timber-look wallpaper to further create the feeling of nature within your home.

4

Woollen rugs are a great investment as they have a natural ability to regulate the humidity of an interior. The rug will breathe and absorb moisture when the atmosphere is damp and releases it when the atmosphere is dry. It will also act as another form of thermal insulation and is one of the safest carpet fibres because it’s fire resistant.

Invest in quality natural material items for your home and enjoy the benefits of creating a calming and inviting environment for your family.

6 5

1. Kiwi pendant from The Lighthouse Nelson: $3,520.00 2. ‘Just Like It’ from Guthrie Bowron Motueka, the

Aspiring Walls collection: $98.99 per 10m roll

3. Cane basket from Moxini: $99.00 4. Cushions from Moxini: From $89.00 each 5. Woven leather chair from Moxini: $929.00 6. Mulberi blanket from Moxini: $72.00 & Curtain

tiebacks from Moxini: $48.00 each

7. Buffet from Moxini: $2559.00

7 64

Anything

Ordinary

Locally made blown glass and jewellery by artists Ola & Marie Höglund and their family.

Makers of Nelson art glass since 1982.

VISITORS WELCOME – OPEN DAILY 10 TO 5

12 John Wesley Lane, Richmond

HÖGLUND GLASSBLOWING STUDIO

(off Queen St, behind Avanti Plus)

52 Lansdowne Road, Appleby, Richmond Ph 03 544 6500

Phone: 03 544 1515

www.moxini.co.nz

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65

MY GARDEN

Healing powers in a garden

BY SOPHIE PREECE PHOTOS GRANT STIRLING

W

hen Margaret Neylon fell ill late last year, one of her first thoughts was, “Oh, we’ll have to move to town.” That was swiftly followed by, “No, we’ll have to take out the fence,” – expanding, not leaving, her beautiful Marlborough garden.

Opting for an audacious planting plan in lieu of a tidy townhouse is typical of Margaret and husband John, who have spent 30 years transforming a 15-hectare paddock into a beautiful park-like garden, resplendent in a hundred autumnal shades.

“This is our own piece of heaven,” says Margaret, from a leaf-strewn path beneath oaks, maples and liquid amber, where renga renga lilies line the edge of a cold and crystal-clear creek. “I was absolutely exhausted and I could hardly walk across to the garden, but this is how I have made myself well.

“I needed something to really push myself, and moving the fence out has been a really good thing,” she says. “My garden

Top left: The scarecrow Margaret and a granddaughter made for the school fair.

Top right: The 2016 earthquake collapsed parts of the creek edge and created a series of new springs within it.

Above: John and Margaret’s three granddaughters adore the garden and creek.

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is magic for me.”

The Springs is named for the water that bubbles up into the garden’s creek, emerging via mesmerising whirlpools. The phenomenon also inspired the name of Rapaura Springs, the wine company established by the Neylons and the Wiffin family in 2005.

Last month Rapaura Springs became the naming sponsor of Garden Marlborough, an event Margaret has volunteered for over the past 25 years, helping to take tours of the region’s top gardens, picking up inspiration – and plants – along the way. Becoming the primary supporter was an easy decision, she says. “We’re familyowned, we’re based in Marlborough, and we all love gardening.”

Putting down roots Margaret and John bought their O’Dwyers Rd section in 1985, wanting to put down roots after a life on the move, including coal mining, shearing and building houses in Southland, mussel farming in the Marlborough Sounds, and running an engineering business in Spring Creek.

John told her to buy an acre in the country and she found a 15ha ‘rumpty paddock’ and ‘weedy creek’ with three small weeping willows. The expanse

was a daunting proposition to Margaret, who had little gardening experience, but John instantly formed a plan for a house at the edge of the water.

“She spotted this place and dragged me out to look at it,” he says. “I said, ‘Well Margy, this is us. You can set up and build your garden because we are here until we move out in a box.’ I could see the potential of what we could do over time.”

They built their home from Alexandra schist, loved for its autumn shades, and set about the laborious task of transforming the landscape. Margaret began with pockets of flower gardens, hemmed in by a fence, with thick native plantings beyond, imagining a home in the bush. She soon found the dense green backdrop too imposing and unchanging, so removed fences and trees to start again, this time using deciduous trees that delight in every season.

Flowers now come in the guise of draping wisteria, bright rhododendrons and camellia, along with agapanthus, renga renga and hellebores, each blooming at different times, just as the trees transform each season. “I love change,” says Margaret.

It’s been a long journey with, happily, no finish in sight. The couple survey the paddock they’re about to tackle. “We’ve got big projects,” Margaret says with a smile. “There’s never enough hours in the day.”

“This is our own piece of heaven.”

M A R G A R E T N EY L O N

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WE HAVE ALL OF YOUR NEEDS COVERED when it comes to interior and exterior decorating and design. It’s our total package of colour, texture and range on offer that makes us the only place to consider for your next building or home renovating project. From curtains and blinds to wallpaper and paint we can help you achieve your home decorating goals!

WE STOCK AN EXTENSIVE RANGE of top quality brands to ensure your home decorating project is a huge success – Luxaflex Gallery Store, James Dunlop, Warwick, Textilla, Charles Parsons, Ken Bimler, Hoad, Unique, Nettex, Maurice Kain, Hemptech, fabrics, blinds and a wide selection of premium paint and decorating accessories are available.

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WELLBEING

It’s important to allow yourself the joy of ALL foods – if and when you feel like them.

Creating a healthy and sustainable relationship with food and your body B Y E M I LY H O P E

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or a long time food has been viewed as ‘calories in’ and exercise as ‘calories out’, writes nutritionist Emily Hope. Her aim, along with many other health professionals following a non-diet approach to nutrition and health, is to help others view food and movement as so much more than this. Read on to find out how you can create some long-lasting healthy practices.

Learn to listen to your body Can you tell when your body is telling you it’s hungry? Does your stomach grumble or do you feel light-headed? When you learn to listen to your body and you can tell that you are hungry, the important thing is TO EAT appropriately! If you are absolutely ravenous, then perhaps a single piece of fruit wouldn’t satisfy that particular hunger. Maybe a comforting soup would suffice, or perhaps you feel like something a little heartier in the depths of winter? However, if you are only slightly hungry, then something small may offer exactly what you need at that time.

The same idea applies to listening to your body when it is trying to tell you 68

it is satisfied. Did you crave a piece of chocolate cake but after a few bites feel as if you have had enough? If your body is telling you that, then respect it and stop. As soon as food doesn’t taste or feel pleasurable, it’s a good sign you may have had enough for now.

Embrace all foods Yes, you read correctly. It’s important to allow yourself the joy of ALL foods – if and when you feel like them. Food can generally be placed into two categories; those containing nutrients and those that don’t. Of course, foods that contain valuable nutrients are extremely beneficial for health as they contain vital macronutrients, vitamins and minerals that we need every day for our bodies to function optimally. It is for this very reason that we benefit immensely from eating nutrient-dense foods every day.

However, on this note, it is also important to embrace all foods that you enjoy and that still allow you to feel great after eating them.

The important thing to remember is that ‘it’s what you do most of the time

that impacts on your health, not what you do sometimes’. If you are enjoying nourishing wholefoods most of the time, then a few soul foods that you absolutely love are not going to negatively impact on your health. Viewing foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and therefore creating feelings of anxiousness and guilt when you eat something that you don’t perceive to be ‘good for you’ is more likely to negatively affect your health and long-term relationship with your body. So aim to remove any food categorisation you may have.

Be kind to your body Do you take part in movement you enjoy and love doing because it makes you feel great? Or do you force yourself to get out of bed and pound the pavement because you’ve read that running burns the most calories even though you hate every minute of it? A very important part of creating a sustainable relationship with a healthy body is learning to embrace movement that you enjoy, rather than doing something to simply burn off calories. There are hundreds of benefits of movement – it helps us to feel fit and healthy. It builds strong muscles that enable us to live our days with vitality. It creates a strong heart and helps clear the mind. All of these factors are so much more important than burning calories. By viewing movement in this way, it won’t be perceived as something you ’have to do’ but rather something you ENJOY doing.

OUR HISTORY

Stealing victory from Victory Britt Coker takes a cheeky look at the story behind Nelson’s motto.

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y R AY S A L I S B U R Y

I

f you are a winner, everyone should know about it – quite a brash suggestion to make, yet it’s Nelson’s official motto.

The choice is especially strange for any New Zealand city considering we’re not notorious for our boasting. The thing we most consistently brag about in Nelson is our high sunshine hours, but it seems like we spend more time arguing over who deserves the title (Blenheim? Whakatane?) than we do bragging about it.

So why do we espouse victory as the be-all and end-all? It’s all based on a tenuous link that is based on another tenuous link. You might know this next bit.

A British admiral named Horatio Nelson’s greatest triumph was to defeat a FrancoSpanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Personally, I think the true measure of success is to remain alive at the end of a cannonball argy-bargy, which he did not.

However, Lord Nelson was retrospectively glorified across the entire British Empire, as it was then. In his honour, Arthur Wakefield suggested Nelson to be our

… if you are lucky enough to live in Nelson you’re a winner. End of story.

Written on the gate

English name. Wakefield had worked with Thomas Hardy, who had also worked with Lord Nelson. Hardy may have harped on a bit about the battle to Wakefield. Whatever the reason, Nelson was the name the settlement became.

Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar was HMS Victory. He had a posthumous rebrand after Trafalgar, which included the bestowing of an old Latin slogan upon his family crest: Palmam qui meruit fera, or loosely translated, ‘Let the symbol of victory go to him who has deserved it’. By all accounts, Lord Nelson deserved it, but when his name became our name, his motto became our motto – not because we actually deserved it.

The reason I know this (now) is that I’m a big fan of the iron gates at the two main entrances to Queens Gardens. Head to the southern entrance on Hardy St and you’ll spot our old city crest, the HMS Victory, bordered by our ironic motto. Since our port is disappointingly bereft of old warships, this sightsee seems special in its peculiarity.

In 1858, Nelson became a city. A hundred years later, as part of anniversary celebrations, a coat of arms was introduced (see photo). This is how Nelson City Council describes it to new citizens: ‘First of all the sun between the paws of the lion refers to the city’s sunshine record. The battlement means that Nelson is a city and the mitre indicates that it is a cathedral city. The wavy blue and white bands on the shield indicate that Nelson is alongside the sea and the black cross is taken from the Arms of Lord Nelson. The huia was the royal bird of the Maoris and the white heron is another distinctive New Zealand bird.’

We dropped the HMS Victory crest but not the victorious motto. Admittedly, our coat of arms does include a lion holding the sun in reference to our (occasional title-earning) sunshine hours.

But surely the real truth is, if you are lucky enough to live in Nelson you’re a winner.

End of story.

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70

W T + J O H N S T O N A S S O C I AT E S S O U T H

From left: Kelvin Scoble, Katrina Scorrar, and Mark Davies

Peace of mind

BY R E N É E L A NG | P HO T O I S H NA JAC OB S

T

he thing about running a successful business, whether it’s a small operation or a large company employing many people, is that you want to be able to get on with running it. After all, you’ve got it that far – so why not stick with what you’re good at and call on experts to guide you through the issues with which you are less familiar.

This is where having access to Johnston Associates South tax consultants can really deliver peace of mind. Between them Katrina Scorrar, Kelvin Scoble and Mark Davies offer over 50 years of experience in tax law, having worked in organisations ranging from Inland Revenue to the Big Four tax practices and strong local firms such as Johnston Associates.

Mark says this breadth of experience is invaluable when it comes to their core business of advising small to medium enterprise owners in the Top of the South. “When I was with a Big Four firm I thought the tax issues we dealt with were pretty complex. Unfortunately, things can be just as complicated for the family-owned businesses we work closely with, and as they usually don’t have the specialist skills to deal with issues themselves that’s where we add value.”

Trusts are another important part of their business, and Katrina in particular specialises in advising people with an international dimension to their lives, especially those who have moved or are considering moving between countries.

Over recent years Katrina has noticed a big upsurge in the number of Kiwis moving back to New Zealand, as they are attracted by the climate and lifestyle on offer. Like migrants, ‘repats’ are often unaware of the tax implications attached to their offshore assets and investments, so it pays for them to seek expert advice well in advance.

It’s never too soon to discuss your tax-related issues.

While he also enjoys working in the international arena, Kelvin’s special interest lies in the way land transactions are taxed – or not as the case may be.

His clients include all kinds of property investors and people with holiday homes, or other kinds of property. “If you buy a residential property now, but sell within five years, chances are you’ll

pay tax on any gain,” says Kelvin. “That catches a lot of people unawares.” He’s finding a number of lawyers are now coming to him with complex problems around how the ‘bright-line’ rule operates, which once again emphasises the importance of seeking professional advice ahead of any transactions.

Kelvin and Mark also work extensively in managing disputes with the IRD. “The IRD has some of the most extensive regulatory powers that exist under New Zealand laws,” Mark explains.

“Tax disputes are intrusive and can test a client’s rights, sometimes in quite fundamental ways. This can be extremely stressful and sometimes traumatic, even if people have done everything correctly.

While we prefer to work constructively with IRD, because they have an important job to do, ultimately we need to ensure our clients are adequately protected.”

It’s never too soon to discuss your tax-related issues.

Contact jacalsouthisland.nz Phone: 03 548 7437

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MY KITCHEN

Warming winter broth Nothing beats curling up with a warm, steamy bowl of this broth on a cold winter’s night. It’s full of medicinal spices and herbs, as well as omega-3 to chase away the winter chills.

BY MADAME LU’S

Jungle broth of poached salmon | Serves 2 Paste 1/2 tsp white peppercorns 4 large green chillies, finely chopped 2 green bird’s eye chillies finely chopped 4 coriander roots, finely chopped Zest of 1 lime 2 cm ginger, finely chopped 1 golden shallot, finely chopped 8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 2 cm galangal, finely chopped (find at an Asian grocer) 2 large lemongrass stalks, white part finely chopped Grind the peppercorns together in a mortar and pestle then add remaining ingredients and pound to form a paste.

Broth 1 tbsp coconut oil 3 tbsp jungle paste 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce 200g piece of salmon, finely sliced Handful of beans, cut in half 500ml of chicken stock 1 tsp coconut sugar 1 tsp green peppercorns 2 kafir lime leaves Fresh basil or coriander to garnish 72

Method:

1. In a medium-sized pot, heat the oil

and then add the paste and fry until aromatic. Add the stock, beans and fish sauce and bring to the boil.

Reduce to a simmer and cook for a few minutes to allow the flavours to develop.

2. Add the sugar, salmon and

peppercorns and continue to simmer until the salmon is cooked through.

Serve in warmed bowls and garnish with basil or coriander.

madamelus.co.nz

DINE OUT

A great lunch destination

BY HUGO SAMPSON

T

here is no mistaking the relaxed, welcoming vibe as you approach Rock Ferry Cellar Door & Café. The venue is instantly appealing set amongst vineyards, with lovely lush gardens where you can dine alfresco, or if you prefer, head inside to the quirky, bustling dining areas with glossy polished concrete floors.

There is a spacious tasting room with wood-burning stove for chilly days, where you can spread out and relax, while you discover the fifteen styles of Rock Ferry’s organic and bio-dynamically grown wines.

But we were there to eat so once settled in the comfortable, sunny dining room, we got to work. It’s a small menu of seasonal dishes made mostly with organically-grown produce.

Two simple platters, one of warm artisan breads, the other a selection of cheeses and breads, can get you started, but we headed straight for the mains.

All five were well thought out, caféstyle dishes, each thoughtfully matched with two wine options from the vineyard’s extensive range of wines.

I chose a satisfying vegan dish of spiced, grilled tofu served with sticky rice, Asian slaw, and edamame beans with a miso glaze. My matched wine was a deliciously-crisp glass of Corners Gruner Vetliner, a great combo with the spicy tofu and miso glaze.

My dining companion was seduced by the tasty free-range Waitoa chicken, served on a creamy, full-flavoured leek, bacon and Parmesan risotto, topped with a roasted red pepper almond sauce, and fresh green salad. His chosen wine, the Trig Hill Tempranillo, was rich and spicy

… well-crafted food big on flavour, friendly, accommodating wait staff, and approachable wines … but light enough to show off the chicken.

Both dishes were generously portioned, which left almost enough room for dessert, obviously a strong suit with this address. With four desserts temptingly listed on a large blackboard in the reception area, dessert lovers can start salivating straight away.

The lemon tart with cream was a must-try, although deeper and more robust than its classic cousin. And the raspberry mousse cake with raspberry compote and berry ice cream was all velvet textures and agreeably, not too sweet. We shared a glass of 2015 Rock Ferry Marlborough Botrytised Riesling, richly textured with notes of passionfruit, ginger and

white blossoms, to complement our indulgences.

Rock Ferry is a great lunch address, with well-crafted food big on flavour, friendly, accommodating wait staff, and approachable wines, set in an unpretentious stylish setting. Definitely worth a visit.

Cost: $106.50 for two mains with matched wines, and two desserts with one matched dessert wine.

Rock Ferry Cellar Door & Café 130 Hammerichs Road, Rapara, Blenheim. Ph: 03 579 6430 Lunch only from 11.30 – 3pm, seven days.

Prego & Comida - two of Nelson’s finest ingredients in one location. Buxton Square, Nelson

Winter? That's risotto season!

Prego banner – locked spot

Need an idea for dinner? How about a hearty, creamy

'porcini mushroom and Gorgonzola risotto' ... quick, easy and very tasty.

Ask Lynda for a recipe pack.

Nelson’s Mediterranean Pantry In the giant seal & squid building, Buxton Square, Nelson

73

2018

Vote for your favourite cafĂŠ, bar or restaurant today wildtomato.co.nz/dineout voting ends 20 July 2018

74

DINE OUT NELSON

RIVER KITCHEN

EDDYLINE BREWERY & PIZZERIA

CHILES MEXICAN TAQUERIA

S

ddyline is a fun and family-friendly pub, the perfect place to slow down, meet friends and family, and share a tasty meal. It has a wide range of pizzas and sandwiches cooked in their wood-fired oven, tasty fresh-made desserts and coffees and a wide range of award-winning ales and lagers with a rotating seasonal selection brewed on-site.

E

N

8 Champion Road, Richmond 03 544 7474 eddylinebrewery.nz

3/7 Morrison St, Nelson 03 548 4447

JELLYFISH RESTAURANT

T.O.A.D HALL STORE & CAFÉ

THOMAS & SONS

S

W

F

ituated in Nelson city centre but away from the hustle and bustle, on the banks of the Maitai River. Relax on the terrace or find a cosy seat inside. Open every day for breakfast, lunch and freshly baked treats with local wines, beers and locally roasted Sublime coffee.

81 Trafalgar Street, Nelson Find us behind the Information Centre next to the river 03 548 1180 riverkitchennelson.co.nz

pectacular waterfront dining for all occasions, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Jellyfish Restaurant and Bar is located on the wharf in Mapua, with the finest seasonal food from land and sea, providing a selection of fantastic wines and outstanding customer service. Don’t hesitate, come on in and enjoy our stunning location in paradise.

Shed 1, Mapua Wharf, Mapua 03 540 2028 jellyfishmapua.co.nz

here the food is genuinely paddock to plate. Fresh literally means picked this morning by their gardeners and chefs. Keep an eye out for seasonal menu specials and chef-inspired cabinet delights. Open every day for breakfast and lunch treats, great coffee and craft beers and ciders from the on-site Townshend brewery. Contact them for weddings, private parties and function details.

502 High St, Motueka 03 528 6456 toadhallmotueka.co.nz

estled away in bustling Morrison Square, you will find a fiery little Mexican restaurant called Chiles Mexican Taqueria. From quesadillas to nachos, the menu offers delicious, fresh and fun cuisine that caters for all the family.

El delicioso!

Eat in or takeaway. Licensed bar.

Open 7 days 11am until 7pm

resh food and great coffee! Choose from inspired seasonal menus or the selection of delicious food in the counter cabinet. They have gluten-free and dairy-free options and snacks for the kids. Indoor and outdoor dining available. Open Mon-Sat from 8am for breakfast, lunch and everything in between.

54 Market Street, Blenheim 03 578 6369 office@thomass.co.nz thomass.co.nz

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WINE

“… Marlborough can and does make extraordinarily good chardonnay.”

KEVIN JUDD

A walk on the wild side

BY SOPHIE PREECE

A

26-year-old Kevin Judd mightn’t have thought much of the Greywacke wines he’s making 30 years on. “I would probably have written a number off as too feral,” says the winemaker who helped to found Cloudy Bay in 1985 and launched Greywacke in 2009.

“The way I make wine now is very, very different. When I first came to Marlborough I was a modern, Australian-trained technical winemaker who strived for cleanliness and fruitiness and purity and correctness.”

These days his focus is on wines with personality and individuality. “We don’t make shy wine. They are all pretty full-on,” he says. “We are working with good fruit, using a lot of wild yeast and a lot of handsoff winemaking … they are not squeaky clean ‘new world’ wines.”

That change is largely thanks to his ‘corruption’ by winemaker James Healy (now of Dog Point), who arrived at Cloudy Bay in 1991 and soon talked Kevin into using wild yeast in chardonnay. “That was a turning point in my winemaking. It’s been gradual since then, learning about what not to worry about, really.”

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Putting the gumboots on Kevin had to shelve worry a decade ago too when he established Greywacke with wife Kimberley in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis. It was an opportunity to put the gumboots back on “and for the first time in my life, be in charge of my own destiny”. It also meant taking the gumboots off to step up to the commercial side of the wine industry, with budgets and distributors and sales.

That was new territory, but having lamented leaving Cloudy Bay without a shareholding – “walking away from 25 vintages with nothing but experience” – he realised the goodwill he had earned through the iconic brand was invaluable for Greywacke. He had wines in barrel, but not in bottle, and the distributors who took Greywacke on did so thanks to Kevin’s reputation.

Goodwill got his foot in the door but the wines kept it there – in 40 markets. Kevin now sells 30,000 cases annually. Market research company MiBD recently released an analysis

of online retailers, tracking the top white-wine brands at £15-£30 in the UK market by presence. Cloudy Bay was No.1 but Greywacke came in at No.3.“I like to think we are making all our varieties to style,” says Kevin, of the success. “We don’t have a certain way of making wine, we have a certain way of making wine for each variety.”

One to try: Greywacke Chardonnay – “I love chardonnay and I think Marlborough can and does make extraordinarily good chardonnay,” says Kevin. Despite that, Marlborough chardonnay is a hard sell, with Greywacke’s 150 cases into North America dwarfed by the 10,000 cases of sauvignon blanc sold. “The world just doesn’t know how good it can be.”

Kevin compares chardonnay and oak with using tomato and basil when cooking. You shouldn’t put too much basil in, and you shouldn’t use too much oak. “But some really nice oak, some hands-off winemaking, some good vineyards and the right clones, and you make such good wines,” he says. It does well with time in the bottle, so he recommends tracking down a 2010 or 2011.

BOUTIQUE BREWS

Cider with Gabe is rosy Mark Preece meets the world’s only ‘ciderologist’.

I

n a hectic nine months since Gabe Cooke established himself as the world’s only full-time ‘ciderologist’ he’s been called on to share his expertise in judging panels in Britain, the United States and New Zealand. He’s done collaborative consulting for a new Nelson venture, Capital Cider Company, has co-led a tour of US cider makers keen to glean inspiration from New Zealand’s maturing industry, and he’s established training programmes and won awards for his advocacy.

Gabe was born and bred in west England – the heartland of cider. He grew up surrounded by the golden brew and worked on a cider farm as a youngster.

“I enjoyed the drink, the process of making the cider – the integration of science and art – and the cultural elements, the stories, the heritage and tradition,” he says. “It became very much the landscape of my culture and heritage.”

Gabe moved within the industry for a number of years, occupying cidermaking and communications roles, before spending three years living in Nelson and Wellington.

He soon saw a gap in the market for a ciderologist. “While beer and wine have lots of sommeliers, writers and incredibly knowledgeable and nerdy consumers, there’s nothing for cider,” he says. “Poor old cider has been left by the wayside.” Despite being a lone voice, people respond to Gabe and he says, “The drinks trade wants to know about cider so they can educate the consumer.”His expertise brought him to New Zealand to co-judge the New World Beer and Cider Awards. “There’s a definite movement in New Zealand in terms of the number of producers and the quality of the cider,” Gabe says. “I can see and taste that from when I judged at the New World Beer and Cider Awards this year compared with a couple of years ago.”He likes a cider to reflect its style. “If it says it’s light, clean and crisp, then it should be that, not bold and tannic,” he says.

Gabe also likes to see balance between sweetness, fruit, acidity and the

“It became very much the landscape of my culture and heritage.”

GABE COOKE

tannin elements. “I want ciders to exude high-value perception, and ultimately I want a cider that I’d like to drink and appreciate again.”

Try New Zealand’s top ciders for yourself, judged at the Beer and Cider Awards.

Cider Champions, apple and pear cider category:

Zeffer Crisp Apple Cider, 5.0% ABV. They say: ’You can’t go wrong with a classic, straight-up, crisp green apple cider. A bit like a Ford Cortina or timeless white shirt, our Crisp Apple is enduring and authentic.’

And from Nelson: Gold-medal winners, apple and pear cider category: Harvest Crisp Apple Cider and Good George Extra Dry Apple Cider were the other winners in this category.

The gold-medal winners of the fruit-flavoured cider category were Good George’s Scarlett Peach Cider and Orchard Thieves’ Red Berry Cider.

For more information on the world’s only ciderologist, see www.ciderologist.com

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T R AV E L

Barcelona’s second jewel Frank Nelson spotlights a lesser-known treasure where spectacular art and medicine once merged.

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THIS PAGE: Top: The beautiful buildings at Sant Pau — each one a little different but equally ornate.

Above: The entrance to the old hospital was designed to make the sick feel better before they even went inside.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Top: A view through one of the magnificent stained glass windows; a typically decorative ceiling.

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bout a 20-minute walk north from the centre of Barcelona there’s a nondescript five-storey apartment block where, as with so many other similar buildings across the city, residents have access to the roof.

A few use the space for sunbathing; a few others, like our son and his fiancée, find the rooftop an ideal spot for yoga and meditation. But for most of the residents the roof is simply the place to dry washing under the crisp Catalan sun.

For visitors like me, however, the roof provides a fantastic platform from which to survey the surrounding neighbourhood.

And what a neighbourhood it is.

Looking left gives a spectacular view of the Catholic Basilica La Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s explosion of creativity that remains unfinished 92 years after the architect was struck and killed by a tram.

Today, surrounded by a coterie of attentive cranes, the building work goes on, though some locals complain that the city has taken over the architectural role as well as the construction, creating a fantastical structure even the visionary Gaudi might be hard-pressed to recognise.

Still, La Sagrada Familia remains a huge tourist magnet. In a country that draws more than 80 million visitors annually, this

The poor cousin here is the Hospital de Sant Pau, an astonishing art nouveau complex built between 1902 and 1930.

Even functional red-brick walls, stonework and clay roof tiles may be embellished with dazzling ceramics or mosaics, carved wood and iron, or marble and glass.

is Spain’s second most popular destination after the Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex in Granada.

Gaudi’s masterpiece alone attracts about four million domestic and overseas tourists each year – slightly more than the record numbers now flooding into the whole of New Zealand annually.

Splendid cousins Looking to the right from my rooftop perch I can see another phenomenal building that remarkably few of the Sagrada Familia visitors are aware of, even though the two landmarks are less than a kilometre apart and each can be glimpsed from the other.

The poor cousin here is the Hospital de Sant Pau, an astonishing art nouveau complex built between 1902 and 1930.

“In 2016 we had 300,000 visitors and we think the 2017 numbers will be a little higher,” says Elisenda Ariza Serrat, from the press and media office of the foundation now running the centre.

Sant Pau was declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 1997, throwing a protective blanket over a dozen of the original buildings, a kilometre of underground tunnels linking those buildings, and a range of gardens and outside areas, including a small orange orchard that has been here for more than 100 years.

Yet almost unbelievably, those original 12 pavilion buildings, crowning the largest art nouveau site in Europe, continued to

house a fully-functioning hospital for more than another decade after the World Heritage status, until a new, modern hospital was opened nearby in 2009.

The massive Sant Pau complex sprawls across almost 35,000 square metres and is dominated by a 62m clock tower atop the main administration building. Public access is via two curved, sweeping flights of stone stairs that frame an exterior courtyard in a design apparently intended to represent the welcoming arms and warm, healing embrace of Our Lady of Mercy.

While decades of sick hospital patients might have found that comforting, today’s more healthy visitors are likely to feel almost overwhelmed by the profusion of art nouveau architecture, stained glass, ironwork, decorative stonework, mosaics, artworks, sculptures, ceramics and other cultural treasures and religious touchstones.

Elisenda says most tours begin below ground in the network of tiled tunnels that are similar to the passageways connecting platforms at some London Underground stations. These bright, broad galleries enabled staff, patients and equipment to move easily and quickly between consulting rooms, a pharmacy, operating theatres and recovery wards.

Visitors can also wander through two exhibitions, one tracing the history of this site back to the early 14th century. The other looks at the remarkable architect behind this complex, 79

Lluís Domènech i Montaner, a lesser-known contemporary of Gaudi, who worked on the project until his death in 1923, at which time his son took over.

The hospital was built on a grandiose and extravagant scale partly to lift the spirits of the patients, many of whom were from poor neighbourhoods. The layout and design also relied heavily on bringing nature indoors with lots of natural light and colourful images of flowers, trees, birds and animals.

The beautiful gardens feature medicinal and aromatic herbs such as lavender, sage, lemon verbena, rosemary and camomile, while other fruit trees besides oranges include plum, pear, cherry, loquat and apple.

These gardens, like the pavilions, were designed for therapeutic effect. Creating attractive, healthy surroundings inside and outside was recognised as an important factor in promoting wellbeing and helping patients recover faster and with better long-term results.

“The garden is like a little oasis in the middle of the city,” says Elisenda. In the 1920s and ’30s, nuns used to make marmalade from the oranges growing at Sant Pau. Last year that tradition was revived, meaning visitors can now buy little jars of

Above clockwise: The main building at Sant Pau with its distinctive clock tower; visitors can glimpse La Sagrada Familia in the distance 80

“In 2016 we had 300,000 visitors and we think the 2017 numbers will be a little higher.”

E L I S E N DA A R I Z A S E R R AT, H O S P I TA L D E S A N T PAU

marmalade to take home.

Visitors also get to enjoy the intricate artwork, craftmanship and thoughtful design of the complex, where even functional red-brick walls, stonework and clay roof tiles may be embellished with dazzling ceramics or mosaics, carved wood and iron, or marble and glass, transforming the whole into an amazing art installation.

Sant Pau’s modest flow of visitors provides a good slice of the foundation’s budget, with further income generated from renting office space within the complex, and hosting social functions, concerts, talks, meetings and other events.

All the profits are being ploughed back into making this attraction even more unmissable. “We’ve done a lot of restoration,” says Elisenda, noting that major changes were made over the years as the hospital tried to keep pace with the growing demand for its services. “And there is still a lot to do to return all the buildings to their original state.”

SPORTS

A marathon effort Several hundred people are expected to line up for the Monaco Mid-Winter Marathon and Relays on June 24, writes Phil Barnes.

Race organiser Stu Cottam

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he only marathon held in the Nelson area, the Monaco Mid-Winter Marathon and Relays takes place on an off-road course that follows the Great Taste Cycle Trail between Monaco and Rabbit Island. It has been attracting increasing numbers since it was first held in 2014.

Organiser Stu Cottam says he got the idea for the event nearly five years ago as there had been no marathons held in the Nelson-Tasman area since the 1980s and the newly-constructed cycleway between Tahunanui and Rabbit Island was ‘begging to have a race on it’.

“It was originally going to be a beach to beach race but that involved some of the race needing to be on the roads, so we eventually adjusted the course to start from Monaco.”

He says this creates a stunning waterfront course around the Monaco peninsula, the Waimea Inlet and passing farms and orchards before turning round by the beach front at Rabbit Island.

Stu approached local running clubs with the idea but nobody seemed to be in a rush to do anything.

“So I realised if anything was going to happen I was going to have to organise it myself.”

Now in its fifth year, the race has attracted increasing numbers, partially due to its quirky nature.

The event is effectively free. Instead of paying an entry fee competitors make a voluntary donation, ($20 the suggested amount), to one of the event’s two nominated charities – the Mental Health Foundation or the trust for the Great Taste Cycle Trail, About the Heart of Biking.

Entrants are also asked to donate a spot prize. These are added to a pool of spot prizes to be handed out to competitors as they finish the event.

“Our aim is that no one goes home empty-handed.

“So I realised if anything was going to happen, I was going to have to organise it myself.”

S T U C OT TA M

Essentially the event is low key, low cost and high fun.

“It’s not the Olympics so the emphasis is on rewarding participation rather than winners. However, winners will be acknowledged and rewarded in a small way and everyone who completes the solo marathon will receive a commemorative certificate. First time marathoners are particularly welcome.”

Stu says many people do not have the time to put in the long hours of training required to run or walk a 42km marathon.

Therefore people were initially given the option of forming twoperson teams with one person running the first leg to Rabbit Island and the other person the return leg to Monaco.

However, from the third year onwards competitors have also had the choice of taking part in the event as part of a six-person relay team.

While this option has proved popular and significantly boosted the numbers taking part, Stu says the number of individuals running the marathon has also increased each year.

“Last year there were 78 individual finishers and more than 20 of those were first-timers.”

Stu says it was important to him when he first organised the race to hold an event that encouraged new participants and therefore it needed to be on a flat course so was not too daunting.

“It’s informal, essentially free and meant to be fun, with a bunch of like-minded people on a winter Sunday.”

For more information visit monacomarathon.co.nz.

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MOTORING

Impressive Camry goes green

BY GEOFF MOFFETT

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he avalanche of SUV sales has all but buried the family sedan, regrettably, but a few, like the new Toyota Camry Hybrid, are making a last-ditch stand to wave the flag for the traditional four-door saloon.

What did a buyer used to look for in a family car? Roomy comfort for four or five (with three kids in the back), a huge boot to swallow all the summer holiday luggage, good performance – and some road presence to impress the neighbours.

The 2018 Camry Hybrid is all that and a lot more – especially the ‘hybrid’ bit, which might sway buyers to take a closer look at this eighth generation of the marque. There’s now a hint of Lexus about the Camry with its muscular body lines and lower stance, a far cry from the bland models of not long ago.

The Camry has long been a favourite of New Zealand taxi-drivers for its roominess and mechanicals that are as bulletproof as you can find. And no doubt the cabbies will be lining up for the new one too, especially when they see the

The Camry is reason aplenty to consider a sedan instead of an SUV, and especially in hybrid mode.

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sheer space. This is a genuinely large car, using the latest Toyota ‘new generation architecture’ platform. It’s more than 4.9 metres long in the Hybrid and 1840mm wide with a 2825mm wheelbase. That’s near-Holden Commodore dimensions, and if you opt for the V6 engine you’ll also have 224kw of power on tap.

But cabbies and many of us may opt for the four cylinder-plus hybrid power.

The 2.5-litre engine with the electric motor produces 160kw, more than enough for most drivers, and in gentle town motoring, there’s the uncanny silence of electric power. The V6 is a storming performer by all accounts, although my ride was the four-cylinder hybrid ZR and I was impressed with the package, including a European-style cabin.

overtaker. The ride is impressively supple, with loads of grip for reassuring handling.

As part of the new platform, the batteries have been shifted further forward to beneath the back seat, adding to the car’s better balance on the road.

The Camry is reason aplenty to consider a sedan instead of an SUV, and especially in hybrid mode. With Co2 emissions and fuel use around half that of the standard engine, you’re doing something for the environment as well as enjoying a fine car.

Tech spec Price:

Camry GL 2.5ltr, fourcylinder with CVT transmission $35,990; Hybrid GX $41,990; Hybrid SX $42,990; Hybrid ZR $49,490; V6 3.5ltr, $47,990

Power:

GL, 133kw @ 6000rpm, 231Nm @ 4100rpm; Hybrid 2.5 models, 160kw; 3.5ltr V6, 224kw @ 6600rpm, 362Nm @ 4700rpm

Safety features galore All new Camrys are well-equipped, and especially in the safety department with autonomous emergency braking, adaptive radar cruise control, lane-departure alert with steering assist, and a vehicle sway warning. But the ZR comes with a sports body kit, leather, power memory seats, two rear USB charging sockets and a smartphone auto-charger in front, an eight-inch colour touch screen and a colour head-up display. With sports mode and the use of paddle shifters or the gear lever, you can shift the CVT transmission yourself, making the Camry a brisk

Fuel economy: GL non-hybrid, 7.8l/100km; GX/SX hybrids, 4.2l/100km; ZR, 4.5l/100km; V6, 8.9l/100km Vehicle courtesy of Bowater Toyota, Nelson

Set new goals. Enhance performance.

Redefine your life with a bold statement. Take control of power.

Make executive choices without the need for any sacrifice.

There are advances. And then there are giant leaps forward. The Camry has redefined its design and engineering prowess with its latest iteration.

Thanks to no less than three powertrain options, the reimagined 8th generation Camry incorporates plenty of on-road character, and is designed to appeal to the weekend explorer as much as the workday entrepreneur. The new Camry Hybrid model is the first to adopt Toyota’s New Global Architecture design, which is responsible for up to a 19% reduction in fuel consumption compared with the previous Camry Hybrid. The 2018 Camry has evolved into a model that effortlessly incorporates the best characteristics of both the elegant tourer and the sporty performance car. Suffice to say, across its broad specification base, there is a Camry that will appeal to everyone. Come into Bowater Toyota and find the match that compliments your personality.

2018 Toyota Camry from

BOWATER TOYOTA

$ 35990 TDP*

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3 Stores across the region Sales / Parts / Service / Finance

*TDP - Our Toyota Driveaway Price. Our Toyota Driveaway Price means just that, it's the total cost you will pay to drive away in your new Toyota.

Toyota New Zealand Limited sets the price of the vehicle to include GST, pre-delivery costs, WoF/COF, registration, number plate, tank of fuel, floormats and Toyota Care Service Advantage.

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ADVENTURE

Love knows no limits Marlborough’s Sophie Stevens and Pete Oswald have climbed a few mountains, but their summiting of Mt Tapuae-O-Uenuku, after cycling from Blenheim, will be their most memorable, writes Brenda Webb.

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fter the gruelling hike to the summit of Mt Tapuae-OUenuku, Pete Oswald dropped on one knee – to propose to long-time girlfriend Sophie Stevens.

“It would have been a very awkward walk down if she’d said no,” says the professional skier and media producer.

Sophie and Pete’s decision to bike 66km there and back from their Blenheim home was to emulate Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1944 feat. It almost didn’t happen when Pete’s front fork broke as they turned into Awatere Valley Rd, but undeterred, they returned home to repair it and set off again.

Sophie and Pete spend much of their lives in remote locations, preferably in the mountains carving out a niche lifestyle based around their joint love of skiing. The thrill-seekers have had plenty of adventures in their eight years together, including biking round Sri Lanka, ski-touring in Iceland and Norway, and planting trees in Madagascar – the latter for their blossoming business Little Difference (www.littledifference.org).

Pete, a former competitive free-skier, did the first ski descent off the south face of Queenstown’s 2245m Mt Aurum, has climbed and skied off 3033m Mt Aspiring and climbed Italy’s 4061m

Above: The elated couple on the summit of Mt Tapuae-O-Uenuku.

Left: Pete grew up on the family farm in the Awatere.

OPPOSITE PAGE: 1. On the road – the adventure couple on their bikes 2. Sophie on the tough climb up 3. Sophie makes her way down carefully in the dark 4. Pete Oswald and Sophie Stevens with Mt Tapuae-O-Uenuku in the background 5. Relaxing back at their Fairhall home after the epic climb 84

ADVENTURE

1

2

3

4

“It would have been a very awkward walk down if she’d said no.”

P E T E O S WA L D

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Gran Paradiso. Together he and Sophie have climbed 4167m Mt Toubkal in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, the highest peak in North Africa; Monte Cinto, at 2706m the highest mountain in Corsica; and many others.

The desire to climb ‘Tappy’ had ‘always been there’, says Pete, who grew up on the Awatere Valley family farm at Mt Carmel in the shadow of the mountain. His dad John Oswald had climbed it at age 17.

“We loosely chatted about climbing it last summer but it didn’t happen. Then Sophie woke up on Monday [before Anzac Day] and said the weather window looked good so it was all on.”

After leaving their bikes, the pair tramped two-and-a-half hours to the burned-out site of the old Shin Hut. They camped for the night before leaving at 4.45am for the top, via the Shin Spur route.

“It was pretty steep,” says Sophie. “You go from 600m to 2885m so there is a lot of vertical in one day – it was pretty hard.”

The pair summited at 1.45pm, whereupon Pete fumbled in his pocket for his grandmother’s diamond-and-sapphire ring, then popped the question. The walk down was euphoric until it got dark and fatigue kicked in. “I was so tired I couldn’t talk,” says Pete.

Once back home they re-read Sir Ed’s autobiography and comforted themselves that the similar expedition ‘nearly killed’ Ed, who didn’t make it to the top on that occasion. “I don’t think I ever spent a harder weekend,” he wrote in Nothing Venture, Nothing Win. The couple’s adventure lifestyle is based around filming missions worldwide, mostly for sponsors such as Icebreaker and Torpedo 7. Pete has been hooked on skiing since he started at Rainbow as a child.

He and Sophie now fund their lifestyle through filming their activities and running Little Difference, producing and selling cards, calendars, notebooks and posters drawn by Sophie. For each product sold they plant a tree in Madagascar.

Their life philosophy is to be part of the solution, not the problem, and to leave everything better than they found it.

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AUTHOR PROFILE

Preserving the past Writing about the past for future generations to enjoy is a rewarding business for a local author, explains Renée Lang.

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hrough her work as a journalist Karen Stade knew she enjoyed putting a story together but longed to write at much greater length.

Then, with Nelson Central School’s 125th anniversary looming, as a member of the reunion committee she found herself volunteering to update Maurice Gee’s school history book.

“I’d never written a book before,” Karen recalls, “but I thought ‘How difficult can it be? It’d be like a long feature.’ And it gave me a taster of what I could do.”

She soon received commissions to write the history of other local schools, including Richmond Primary School, Tahunanui School and, more recently, Nayland College. “From there it kind of snowballed and once my name was known people started coming to me.”

By this point Karen was already doing some work with the Nelson Provincial Museum, particularly relating to exhibitions, so it’s not surprising that her next book was linked to an exhibition based on New Zealand’s first naturalised Chinese immigrant.

This was followed by a commission to write a detailed family history that ran to three substantial volumes.

“It’s all about the people, not dry old stuff.”

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“That was fabulous because I’ve always been into family history.” Then came the centenary of the Church Steps at the top of Trafalgar St, which provided a great opportunity for a social history. Meet You at the Church Steps, published in 2013, is packed full of historic images showing that the steps – the original wooden ones and the subsequent granite replacements – have long been a major focus for the local community.

Celebrating Italian connections As a resident of The Wood, Karen is well aware of Nelson’s strong Italian connections, and after a tentative approach from a member of the Italian community to record their story, she and colleague Karen Price decided it was a much bigger story than the initiator had envisioned. Five years in the making, Pasta, Prayer and Promise: The Story of Nelson’s Italian Community, a substantial and very

handsome hardback, was published in 2015 and quickly became a bestseller.

Interest came from all over New Zealand, especially Wellington and Christchurch, and even from Australia.

When asked about the current surge of interest in New Zealand history, Karen speculates that more and more people are becoming aware of the amazing stories in their own family and community. As far as she’s concerned, “It’s all about the people, not dry old stuff.”

So what is she working on now?

“My latest book project will trace the history of a man who was born in Colombia in 1825.” As it happens, the subject of the book does end up with strong links to this part of the world, but we’ll just have to wait to find out the connection.

Last year Karen’s multi-faceted voluntary historical research was recognised when she was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal.

BOOKS

What to read in June COMPILED BY RENÉE LANG

Olive Oil the New Zealand Way

Kiwi Speak Justin Brown

David Walshaw

Available now, $22.00 Penguin Random House

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ike it or not, we all speak a version of what author Justin Brown calls ‘Nu Zilland’ with its wealth of entertaining phrases and expressions. Many of these have been passed down through the generations, although your nana or granddad might do more than raise their eyebrows at some of them, especially in the Street Speak chapter. So go on, shout yourself a treat – you’ll be happy as Larry as you work your way through your favourites in this hilarious (and choice!) collection of New Zealandisms that can be found in our everyday lives, wherever we might live and work.

Available now, $39.99 Mary Egan Publishing

A

lthough neither David Walshaw, an ex-financial adviser, nor his wife Helen had any previous horticultural experience, both were keen to try lifestyle farming at Te Horo on the Kapiti Coast. Fourteen years later Kapiti Olive Oil is flourishing and they are now producing award-winning olive oil on a commercial scale, and truly living their dream on all levels. This part-inspirational memoir, part-case study, illustrated in colour and told with candour and humour, is a great read for anyone interested in learning about transitioning from city to land and what it involved for David and his wife.

Take Heart

Many a Muddy Morning

My Journey with Cardiomyopathy & Heart Failure

Mark Warren

Adrienne Frater

Available now, $36.99 HarperCollins

Available now, $30 Mary Egan Publishing

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relatively common disorder, Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy (HOCM) can affect men and women equally. However, when normally active Adrienne Frater discovered she suffered from this often-inherited heart disease, which causes the heart muscle to thicken and stiffen, making it difficult for oxygen to be pumped around the body, she knew virtually nothing about it. An award-winning writer, she soon made it her business to find out exactly what was involved so that her resulting book covers all the big medical questions along with plenty of practical advice, thus providing a valuable resource to help people get through this chronic condition.

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ack in the 1980s, just as the removal of subsidies changed the face of farming forever, Mark Warren found himself managing a muddy Hawke’s Bay farm.

Fortunately, his enthusiasm for the land, along with an obsession with Land Rovers, council tip trucks, bulldozers, tractors or, for that matter, anything with four wheels, kept him on the farm so that 35 years later he’s still happiest when out on a muddy morning adventure of some kind.

He also truly understands our rural heartland and this funny but affecting memoir celebrates a way of life that will be familiar to many readers.

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Photo Cameron Murray

ARTS

Fuelling the fire

BY JOHN COHEN-DU FOUR

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rts Council Nelson’s mission statement succinctly sums up its aims ‘to promote, initiate and support projects ​and activities that stimulate and strengthen the​artistic and cultural life of our communities’.

Talking with Community Arts manager Lloyd Harwood quickly underlines that this is a vibrant administrative resource always looking to foster and enrich local community arts.

“Our overriding role is to encourage creative participation by communities, support our practising artists, and promote arts in Nelson – providing project funding where available.”

Lloyd points out that Arts Council Nelson is well-supported by Nelson City Council. “We have a shared interest in making things happen, and good on NCC for recognising this,” he says. “They see the benefit not only to community wellbeing, but to the local economy – the arts have a long history of bringing visitors to Nelson.

“We also administer Creative New Zealand’s funding scheme, Creative Communities, which goes to every local authority, but we’re the only one in NZ run by a third party on behalf of the city council.

“This is unique and good; we have a solid, long-established relationship with community groups and artists, we are efficient and effective, and we’re full-time and accessible. This enables us to offer real support in getting a variety of projects off the ground.”

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Broad representation The current Executive Committee “consists of creative members across most art forms, including education, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience,” says Lloyd.

In addition to providing governance, members are actively involved in subcommittees supporting a variety of community arts’ needs, including The Refinery ArtSpace, regional musicians and youth and public art activities.

“We’re always open to hearing any expressions of interest from the community. It’s not about setting our own agenda. It’s about welcoming new ideas and suggestions, and overcoming obstructions to them.” These suggestions don’t have to come from artists themselves – “anyone can pitch an idea.”

Examples of this successful approach abound. The recent RAW exhibition at the Refinery showcased work by totally self-taught artists; while the Let’s Face It project received more than 300 images submitted by the public after the Arts Council challenged them to discover ‘faces’ in natural and everyday objects.

Last year’s Blind Date was an exhibition devoted to the blind and partially- sighted, which not only displayed artwork they’d created but featured a black room with artworks designed to be touched. And in summer 2017 the community were welcomed into the Tahunanui campground when it became a unique temporary sculpture park.

Left: Lloyd Harwood RIGHT: Youth entries in ACN’s 2017 project, ‘PhoneArt’ Above: Sculptor Maggy Johnston with her work titled Reflections

Lloyd points out another ongoing initiative, the collation and production in print and online of Nelson’s comprehensive Monthly Arts Calendar: “Let’s just say that one’s a labour of love,” he laughs.

“And coming up, we’ve a variety of fun children’s art projects, as well as special theatrical shows for the sight-impaired where they attend the performances while simultaneously receiving live audio-descriptions of the event.

“You see, it really is about involving all the community in the arts.”

Ever the encouraging administrator, Lloyd offers a final quick reminder to one and all: the deadline for the next Creative Communities funding round is August 1.

For further information visit www.acn.org.nz.

ACN invites the community to meet the Executive Committee in a public forum at The Refinery on Thursday June 28, 7-9pm.

ARTS

In the Gallery If you’re a bit of an art collector, you’re certainly living in the right place.

The Top of the South boasts a wealth of high-quality galleries featuring creative superstars.

Check out this month’s pick of must-have artworks.

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1 | Jens Hansen, 2013 Legacy asymmetrical sterling silver pendant, Jens Hansen, Nelson, jenshansen.co.nz, $1,190 2 | Kairava Gullatz, Bird vessels, Red Gallery, Nelson, 03 548 2170, redartgallery.com, $69 large, $38 small 3 | Russel Papworth, Unity sculpture, Forest Fusion, Mapua Wharf, forestfusion.com, 03 540 2961 4 | Bill Burke, Kaiteriteri, oil on canvas, 1120mm x 930mm, Bill Burke Gallery, 03 546 6793, billburke.co.nz 5 | Marilyn Andrews, Horticulture Waikato, Acrylic on canvas, 500mm x 400mm, Marilyn Andrews Gallery, Nelson, 03 548 9400, $500

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MUSIC

Bop while you shop

BY PETE RAINEY P H O T O B Y R AY S A L I S B U R Y

M

y local supermarket is just like any other in many respects.

The fruit and veges proudly greet you at the door, enjoying their sneaky role as your first purchase, endowing you with a virtuous healthy mindset – and therefore you are perfectly justified in buying the chocolate in aisle three.

This is a supermarket ploy used worldwide.

Equally, the bread and milk are farthest from the entrance, dragging you right across the building, past copious tantalising items, in order to purchase these staples. Fair enough – it’s a business.

Where my local supermarket differs, however, is that while my shopping tendencies are being manipulated by cunning product placement, my sensory enjoyment is being fulfilled by what is possibly the most stunning in-store music selection of any business in New Zealand.

I spoke with Mark A’Court who, with wife Veronica, owns and manages Fresh Choice here in Nelson city.

To say his approach to in-store music is unique is an understatement.

It may well be that there are cafés and bars that have a similarly eclectic music mix, but I know of no other supermarkets or stores of that size presenting such an amazing mix of music.

Mark set about creating this unique approach about 15 years ago, and worked with local musician and studio guru Rhys Clarke, who converted hundreds of records from Mark’s vinyl collection to CD format.

In a brave move back then, Mark bought a Sony 100-CD player to broadcast the music collection in a random order, and subsequently when technology moved ahead again, converted all those CDs to a computer-based system.

His supermarket is part of a chain that has a licensing agreement with New Zealand’s music licensing business, OneMusic. Where Mark’s business steps outside the norm is that he plays a lot of tracks that would sit beyond that kind of license agreement because most of the music is probably out of copyright.

I know that because one moment you might be listening to an obscure opera aria, and then a great less-than-mainstream jazz track will fire up.

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“People really enjoy the fact that the music is different. It’s not the expected ‘radio’ mix.”

M A R K A’ C O U RT.

“It soon became apparent after customer surveys that people really enjoy the fact that the music is different,” says Mark. “It’s not the expected ‘radio’ mix.”

He obviously enjoys this aspect of his business and takes on the task of looking after the music himself.

“Even though I choose the tracks – of which there are now more than 14,000 – it’s a Norwegian software programme that sets the completely random order that occurs each day.

This means that it could be The Clash at seven in the morning or Pavarotti singing an aria at eight at night.

“The customers freaked out a bit at first, but now they like it. Growing this arty reputation has taken a while, and was risky.”

Clearly, taking that risk has paid off as many people comment on how the soundtrack adds to their shopping experience at his business.

Benefits to both parties OneMusic is a joint initiative between APRA (The Australasian Performing Rights Association) and Recorded Music NZ. According to their website, “OneMusic brings music and business together, offering quick and easy music licences that give you the permission you need to use music in your business.

OneMusic helps to ensure that those who make the music you and your customers love are fairly compensated, so they can continue to make music work for you.”

As they point out, music makes for positive social interactions, and staff become more productive. As Fresh Choice Nelson shows, it also makes your business stand out, and the experience for shoppers much more enjoyable.

Find out more at www.onemusicnz.com

FILM

A road trip with a reel difference

BY MICHAEL BORTNICK

Kodachrome Drama Directed by Mark Raso Starring Ed Harris, Jason Sudeikis, Elizabeth Olsen 100 minutes Rated TV-MA

“I

got a Nikon camera I love to take a photograph.”

Before there were digital cameras, we all used film, which came in small rolls. These petite tubes then had to be taken to a costly developer for a week or so. Finally, if we remembered to pick them up, we could actually see the pictures, 90 percent of which kind of sucked.

Today, we can take thousands of pics which can be edited or deleted instantly for free.

So you don’t see many bulky film cameras any more ... unless you watch a new movie called Kodachrome.

This is a road trip film that follows the recipe so closely, the audience can accurately predict the lot after the first reel.

Give it a try. Here are the ingredients ... you guess the plot: Matt (Jason Sudeikis), a record producer, has recently been made redundant. Matt collects vinyl, an antiquated yet strangely popular alternative to everything better.

This is a road trip film that follows the recipe so closely, the audience can accurately predict the plot after the first reel.

Matt’s exceedingly estranged father, Ben (Ed Harris), a world famous photographer, is dying of cancer. He has four rolls of film that need to be developed.

The only place left in the world that works on Kodachrome film is in Kansas and due to close up shop in a few days.

Ben has a ‘nurse’, Zoe, (Elizabeth Olsen) who tries to convince Matt to take a road trip.

Matt, who despises his father, absolutely refuses to go.

Mix ingredients well, add absolutely no surprises, and you will have a very mediocre film of a genre which has been done much better myriad times in the past.

Ed Harris is always very capable and he does not disappoint.

Sudeikis shows well and is certainly making his bones as a serious actor.

Olsen is there because some forgettable glue was needed to bond the characters together.

And those four rolls of film?

Anyone who doesn’t guess what’s on those as soon as they understand the dysfunctional family dynamic is wilfully ignorant or watching their first movie ever.

If you are desperate for a night out, or are addicted to movie popcorn, go see Kodachrome. It can’t hurt you but, I’ve seen better.

Here are some more interesting road trip films:

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) Before kick-starting the Cuban Revolution, Che Guevara hopped on a Norton 500 and set off on a trip with his mate Alberto. Fortunately for us, he kept a diary. Better still, we don’t have to read it thanks to this excellent film.

The Reivers (1969) It’s the early days of the motor car, and Steve McQueen is pioneering joyriding in a canary-yellow Winton Flyer. His mate Ned comes along for the ride, ostensibly to teach horses to race by feeding them sardines. You had to be there.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organise a daring new heist.

Also recommended: Thelma and Louise Easy Rider Little Miss Sunshine Rain Man

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EVENTS

NELSON TASMAN Find out more details on Nelson Tasman events at itson.co.nz

Fri 1 to Sat 30

Sat 9, Sun 10

Madhubani Art Exhibition

NCMA Gala Opening Concert

Traditional folk art that is 100 percent handcrafted and natural from the paper to the design. Proceeds from sales go to the artists who most commonly are woman and children in Rishikesh, Northern India.

A celebration of all the things that have made NCMA what it is today, the concert will feature NCMA students and local musicians alongside the New Zealand String Quartet and international pianist Matteo Napoli.

RIVERSIDE CAFÉ,

NELSON CENTRE OF MUSICAL ARTS

LOWER MOUTERE

Fri 1 to Sat 9 Robert Thompson Exhibition Nelson artist Robert Thompson showcases the results of five days at Farewell Spit as one of 12 artists selected for the Onetahua/Farewell Spit Artists’ Residency 2017 in his Words and Drawings - Drawings and Words exhibition.

ATKINS GALLERY

Sat 2 Ladi6 and Parks The queen of NZ hip hop makes a rare journey to the Nelson Tasman area as part of a nationwide tour, joined by Parks & Dylan C. Visit www.ladi6.live PLAYHOUSE THEATRE, MAPUA

Wed 13 to Sat 16 The Naked Truth A ‘brilliantly funny play about sisterhood’, Nelson Repertory’s new play is set in a pole dancing class in the local village hall, with five very different women struggling to conquer pole dancing for a charity event to raise money for breast cancer research.

THEATRE ROYAL

Sat 16 Boathouse Society Members’ Night From one grand old dame to another, Fairfield House is providing the members of The Boathouse Society with an opportunity to meet up and mingle in the setting of this prestigious historic home.

FAIRFIELD HOUSE

Ladi6 and Parks

Wed 20

Thurs 28

Wig Wednesday

Alan K Gray at the Cawthron Organ

A fundraiser for the Child Cancer Foundation, Wig Wednesday is open to schools, businesses and individuals with participants making a donation or being sponsored. Don’t mullet over!

Register for Wig Wednesday by visiting www.wigwednesday.org. nz or call 0800 424 453.

VARIOUS VENUES

Sat 23 Fiona Pears Fiona has performed and recorded internationally over the past 15 years, and this time will be performing a mix of styles including tango, Celtic, gypsy and a touch of classical with her dynamic band, featuring Ian Tilley on piano, Mike Ferrar on guitar and Peter Fleming on double bass.

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NELSON CENTRE OF MUSICAL ARTS

Fri 29 Nadia Reid and Band New Zealand-born singer/ songwriter Nadia Reid brings her rich, unique sound to Nelson Tasman for a oneoff performance, starting at 7.30pm in the Nelson School of Music Auditorium.

NELSON CENTRE OF MUSICAL ARTS

NELSON CENTRE OF MUSICAL ARTS

Sun 24

Robert Thompson Exhibition

A lunchtime concert with the first solo recital on the Cawthron Organ since its restoration to the original specification of 1913. Alan will play music by Bach, Bossi and Boëllmann together with an improvisation.

REGULAR MARKETS

The Zero Waste Approach

Every Saturday morning

Join Hannah Blumhardt and Liam Prince, the No-Waste Nomads behind The Rubbish Trip for an introduction to the practicalities and philosophy of waste reduction. Hannah and Liam will guide you through the whys and the hows of life without a rubbish bin.

The Nelson Market.

RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY

MAITAI BOULEVARD

CULTURAL CENTRE

MONTGOMERY SQUARE

Every Sunday Motueka Market 8am to 1pm.

DECKS RESERVE CARPARK

Every Wednesday Nelson Farmers’ Market.

EVENTS

MARLBOROUGH Find out more details about Marlborough events at marlborough4fun.co.nz

Sat 2

Wed 13 to Sat 17

Bryce Wastney Singer/songwriter

Cancer Society Marlborough’s Book Fair

An up-close and personal evening with one of New Zealand’s finest singer/ songwriters. Enjoy polished acoustic renditions and stories about writing the songs.

LE CAFE, PICTON

Sat 2 Winemaker’s Midwinter Degustation Exquisite food and wine, enlightened winemaker conversation and good company with a sumptuous five-course meal and wine match. Limited tickets.

BRANCOTT RESTAURANT

An annual fundraiser, the book fair is the place to find pre-loved books. Opens daily at 10am.

BIKEFIT MARLBOROUGH

Fri 15 to Sun 22 July Matariki Festival A five-week celebration in Picton, with two public events: R18 ‘KAI’ celebrating our local food and produce at a pop-up feast, and a free, family-friendly light show ‘AHO’ (to shine) on 14 July.

PICTON FORESHORE

Wed 20 Wig Wednesday

One of Australia’s greatest entertainment success stories, The Ten Tenors are celebrated for their colourful repertoire, breathtaking arrangements and powerful live performances, from Buckley to Bocelli.

A fundraiser for the Child Cancer Foundation, Wig Wednesday is open to schools, businesses and individuals with participants making a donation or being sponsored. Don’t mullet over! Register for Wig Wednesday by visiting www. wigwednesday.org.nz or call 0800 424 453.

ASB THEATRE MARLBOROUGH

VARIOUS VENUES

Sat 2 The Ten Tenors

Winemaker’s Midwinter Degustation

Sat 23

Sat 30

Havelock Lions Shortest Day Market

Latin Dance Party

A popular event with stalls in and around Havelock’s historic town hall. Plants, pre-loved clothing, children’s wear, toys, odds-and-ends, a great variety of books and the usual sausage sizzle.

HAVELOCK TOWN HALL,

Salsa Groove Marlborough invites you to dance the night away to the hot sizzling rhythms of Latin America. A fun-filled night celebrating the best in Latin dancing and music – mixed genre music with focus on kizomba!

HARLEQUINS RUGBY CLUB, BLENHEIM

HAVELOCK

Sun 24 More FM’s Midwinter Swim Take a dip at the Picton Foreshore. Registrations open at midday, with the swim at 1pm.

PICTON FORESHORE

Fri 29 Bride of the Year 2018 Held annually and run by the Beavertown Blenheim Lions to raise funds for local charitable organisations. Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit Marlborough Riding for the Disabled and Child Cancer Foundation Marlborough.

Entries close 20th June 2018.

ASB THEATRE MARLBOROUGH

Wig Wednesday

REGULAR MARKETS Every Saturday Marlborough Artisan Market.

WYNEN STREET POCKET PARK

Every Sunday Marlborough Farmers’ Market.

A&P SHOWGROUNDS

Bryce Wastney

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WT + BRASS BAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

The best of brass comes to Blenheim B Y LY N D A PA P E S C H | P H O T O B Y L A M I R A N A

I

n a first for Blenheim, the town will next month host the New Zealand Brass Band Championships.

The hills around Marlborough will resonate with the sound of brass in July as around 30 bands from throughout New Zealand contest their annual championships in Blenheim.

For five days – 11 to 15 July – the brass musicians will compete for solo, ensemble and band titles in the 2018 New Zealand Brass Band Championships, being held at the ASB Theatre Marlborough and Marlborough Convention Centre.

Local Contest Committee chairman Brian Nicholas says several events will particularly appeal to the public. These include the Invitation Slow Melody competition on Tuesday evening which features 10 consistently top brass musicians in a solos’ play-off. Also featured will be premiere performances of the winning pieces from the New Zealand Brass Composition competition.

All competing bands will parade down Seymour Street from 1pm on Friday 13th July where they will be judged on presentation, marching and music.

The spectacular culmination of the championships will be an afternoon concert at the ASB Theatre on Sunday 15th where two new bands will make 94

their inaugural public performances.

Premiere Brass: In Concert will feature Bras and Brass ‘The Pink Ladies’ which is a New Zealand representative female band formed to raise awareness of breast cancer and to raise funds for Breast Cancer Research NZ. Bandwagon ‘The All Stars’ is a new concept in banding offering an opportunity for winners and placeholders of the previous national championships to showcase their combined talents performing a programme of light entertainment music.

“… we really want to make Blenheim feel like ‘Bandsville’ …”

BRIAN NICHOLAS

Many of the events are free for the public to attend and the organisers hope that locals will make the most of the opportunity to hear some world-class brass. “The championships begin with solo and ensemble competitions which are free for the public to attend. Everyone is invited to come and listen to some of New Zealand’s best brass musicians perform,” says Brian.

“We expect at least 1500 visitors to town during the contest period and we really want to make Blenheim feel like ‘Bandsville’ for a few days so we’re hoping retailers, restaurants and bars will also come on board with ideas to maximise the benefits this opportunity provides.

“The whole event will be a real spectacle so let’s get behind it.”

Another free event will be on the Tuesday evening when the winners of the junior grades’ solo competitions compete for the Champion of Champions awards.

The senior grades’ winners will compete at a ticketed event the following evening.

Chief adjudicators this year Russell and Mareika Gray are a dynamic judging duo based in Edinburgh. As well as adjudicating solos and band events at the championships, Russell and Mareika will conduct the two NZ representative bands that will premiere at the 15th July Gala Concert. Mareika will lead the newly formed Bras and Brass women’s band which supports breast cancer awareness and research, whilst Russell will lead the all-star invitational band, Bandwagon.

Contact Tickets at ASB Theatre or from Ticketek.

9 Endeavour Street, Nelson South / Web. NEL00320

4870 Karamea Highway, Karamea, West Coast / Web. NEL00316

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M Y E D U C AT I O N

Laying solid foundations for a career Caitlin Westgate initially enrolled in the New Zealand Certificate in Study and Career Preparation at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology to strengthen her skills for the Te Hāpai Hāpori Pathway for Counselling and Social Work bridging programme. She tells Stuart Bathan how the successful completion of the certificate course helped her return to full-time learning.

P H O T O B Y A N A G A L L O WAY

troubled teen myself. However, on the first day the tutors told us that although we may already have a specific area in mind, we should be prepared for that to change many times in the next four years as we grow and learn.

What piece of advice would you give someone interested in returning to full-time study?

Definitely do the study and career preparation course first if you can. I felt so confident starting my bachelor degree with the certificate behind me.

In your view, what would help to alleviate social deprivation in Aotearoa New Zealand?

How did the New Zealand Certificate in Study and Career Preparation help you get back into studying?

I learned how to write essays academically and how to use APA referencing. Before doing the certificate I had never written an essay and had never heard of APA referencing. Now I consider myself pretty good at both.

Was it always your intention to go on to study social work when you started the preparation course, or did you discover it along the way? And, if so, what 98

appealed to you about social work?

My main reason behind choosing the counselling and social work certificate in the preparation course was to help me to decide which of the two bachelor degrees I wanted to move onto. I really enjoyed both modules but decided on social work as I believed it was a better fit for me. I felt it would allow me to have a more active role in helping to change the world.

When you graduate is there a particular area of social work you would like to focus on?

I’m not sure yet. Initially I thought I wanted to work with troubled teenagers as they were the demographic I would be able to help the most, having been a

Oh wow, so many things. I believe we seriously need to address our child poverty problem. Our children are our future and we need our future to be happy, healthy, confident and secure.

To achieve this our children need to grow up with warm clothes and shoes.

They need full bellies and warm and safe homes, regardless of their socioeconomic status. It could be said that New Zealand currently has many social challenges, but I believe that helping our children and helping their parents is a pretty good place to start.

Which living person do you admire most and why?

Is it too self-absorbed to say myself? I’m so proud of myself and how far I have come. I’ve had some troubling times in my life but I’ve made it through to the other side while doing some serious growing in the process. My life now is super-busy but chaotically wonderful, with my family and husband and kids and NMIT and everything else. I feel like I’m doing a pretty damn good job at succeeding.

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