Features

Mad about all things equine, a Hunterville family travels the country in a custom-built vehicle with all mod cons – and horses – on board. Words: Sue Hoffart; Photos: Jane Ussher. Words: Ann Warnock; Photos: Nicola Edmonds

It’s taken three decades to orchestrate a seasonal symphony in an Arrowtown garden and the result is a horticultural masterpiece. Words Gordon Collier; Photos Paul McCredie.

JANET BLAIR HAS BEEN WAITING 35 years for the architect to fix her house. “Meanwhile,” she says, “I made a garden.” The architect in question is John Blair, Queenstown’s first, to whom she is married – as she says “for better, for worse but not for lunch!”

The unfixed house in question was built in 1864 for a farming family, the McEntyrs, and subsequently inhabited by three generations of that family until the Blairs arrived in the 1980s. The garden in question lies in an open valley not far from Lake Hayes, a picturesque stretch of water left eons ago by a retreating glacier. Look south to the Remarkable Mountains standing jagged against the sky. Look north to Coronet Peak, perhaps New Zealand’s busiest ski field. The views in every direction are spectacular.

In keeping with the Blairs’ low-key approach to life, the entrance way to this much-acclaimed garden is not imposing and could easily be passed by. “I had a sense of what I wanted,” Janet says. “I wanted to make a garden embodied with a certain spirit. We came to a harsh environment. The house stood isolated amid paddocks containing generations of dock and thistle of gigantic proportions. There were no trees, no shade and no birdsong. I used the natural colours of green – the coolness of green in the heat of our summers is invaluable.”

He used to exist on the dole and carve angry faces on surfboards. Now Aaron Kereopa has learned to value the life he leads and one of his artworks can fetch $15,000. Words: Sue Hoffart; Photos: Jane Ussher.

AARON KEREOPA did not name his first-born child lightly. The Raglan artist is determined that four-year-old son Kaitawhiti – meaning traveller – will journey more smoothly through life than he did. The older Kereopa expects the moniker will inspire his child to venture beyond their small west-coast Waikato town, hopefully avoiding the fury and failure that dogged his own youth.

These days, buyers pay up to $15,000 for one of the intricately carved and painted surfboard inners he sends to a Queenstown gallery. Fifteen years ago his annual income was $5700 on the dole. Back then he was living with his unemployed mates, angry, unhappy, a failed student, an undiagnosed dyslexic who drank too much and took life-threatening risks as a surfer.

Now aged 39, the gently spoken artist is a picture of contentment, paintbrush poised over the magnificently carved board resting on his knees while a te reo Maori radio station croons in the background. Partner and “Raglan-hood sweetheart” Jasmin Radford chats with him, their one-year-old daughter Mikahinewai on her hip. “What’s my dream?” Aaron asks. “This is it; I’m in it. Making a living doing my art, being able to sustain this lifestyle and a family.”

Peter Karena is a gifted horseman whose gentleness and respect for his animals are implicit in his approach to his family and the land on which he lives. Words Ann Warnock; Photos: Tessa Chrisp.

To many it might seem hard and lonely and often downright dangerous but life at sea is everything this adventurous fisherwoman wants. Words: Brenda Webb; Photos: Tessa Chrisp.

THE TANG OF DIESEL hangs in the air as an old kauri fishing boat strains on its salt-encrusted mooring lines in Picton Harbour. Circling seagulls screech in anticipation as a lovely, fresh-faced woman clad in torn jeans and blood-splattered gumboots fillets fish, a red and green parrot perched on her shoulder. Thirty-two-year-old Caroline Anderson laughs easily and swaps friendly banter with her customers who are here to buy fish, freshly hooked and netted from the sparkling waters of the Marlborough Sounds.

The gutsy fisherwoman, with a degree in aquaculture and a background of working in remote areas which include Antarctic waters, is trying to make a living selling fish direct from her 60-year-old fishing boat Wairoa. She looks totally at ease in this nautical environment. That’s not surprising as the boat she so casually moves around doubles as her home.
 

A good idea plus the challenge of constantly improving the product are what keep a multi-million-dollar company afloat. Words Sam Davison; Photos Miz Watanabe.

Joshua Kauta and his whanau train dogs and hunt pigs on their remote Bay of Plenty farm. Joshua is also a specialist bookbinder with a love of fragile heirlooms – a perfect example of that old adage. Words Sue Hoffart; Photos Simon Young.

New Zealanders are well used to wearing merino sportswear and outdoor clothing but it is one young designer’s mission to dress many more of us in high-fashion New Zealand merino. Words: Kate Coughlan; Photos: Tessa Chrisp.

Memories of happy childhood holidays built into a bach at Piha create a sense of security on Auckland’s boisterous west-coast beach. Words Claire McCall; Photos: Tessa Chrisp.

Even in John Perriam’s wildest dreams 30 years ago he would never have contemplated that the vast semi-arid Bendigo Station could offer so many diverse opportunities as it does today. Words: Kate Coughlan. Photos: Stephen Jaquiery & Guy Frederick.