Georgia Merton
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Contagion magic
Travels with Rocinante. It was the end of autumn. I was sitting on my bedroom floor, staring at the bones of a bike. Metal debris littered the carpet. My phone stood propped against the cardboard bike box as YouTube explained how to screw pedals on. I had no idea what the hell I was doing. …
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The wheels of history
How the quest for a nicely fitting knicker suit changed the world. IN MAY OF 1894, THE NEW ZEALAND RATIONAL DRESS ASSOCIATION (NZRDA) LAUNCHED IN CHRISTCHURCH. The aim was to “bring about that change in women’s dress which her wider life and increased activity seem to demand”. Basically, it was about the right to wear…
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Ode to Port Emo
Fringe dwellers, story tellers, and a used-to-be-bar that somehow still is. At the bottom of a small staircase, in a low-ceilinged basement, the darkened space is lit by candles and the flickering of an open fire. People in coats swarm the bar. There’s a microphone stand in the corner. It feels intimate, familial even. The…
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The Cabin
The unlikely journeys of an Antarctic hut. The fawn-coloured, three-by-four hut perched atop Godley Head is neat and unassuming. It sits quietly, overlooking the Pacific and the Kaikoura Ranges, but if walls could talk, these ones might just chew your ears off. This cabin has been to Antarctica and back, weathering relocations, heartbreak and more…
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How to dance on a liquid spaceship
At the bottom of the world. AOTEAROA IS FULL OF TOWNS WITH QUIRK, AND THOSE WHICH HAVE SPROUTED UP NEXT TO THE GREAT SURF SPOTS HAVE THEIR OWN PARTICULAR CHARACTER. WELL-SUNNED LOCALS WITH ONE EYE ON THE WEATHER, THE SCENT OF WET WETSUITS AND WAX, A GENEROUS RATIO OF ARTISANS TO OTHERS: THEY DOT THE…
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The tortoise and the bare
Sprinting starkers for charity in the shadow of the Darran Mountains. WILLIAM BLAKE ONCE WROTE THAT ART CAN NEVER EXIST WITHOUT NAKED BEAUTY DISPLAYED. IN FIORDLAND, THEY’RE ON THE SAME PAGE, AND THERE’S PERHAPS NO GREATER EVIDENCE OF THIS THAN THE SIGHT OF A CROWD OF LOCALS DASHING NAKED THROUGH A DARK, COLD TUNNEL EVERY…
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When the white gold’s running
Little fish, little fish, swimming in the water. It’s dawn on a small stream near Haast. The stream can’t be named, the river it leads us to can’t be named. It’s all very mysterious, for reasons that may soon become slightly less murky. A highlighter-yellow kayak, nose jammed into the muddy shore, tail bobbing softly…
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A cranking good time
Hokitika socks it to the world. Lurking among the innumerable Facegroups, alongside Genuinely Stoked Goats and the Comic Sans Appreciation Society, there is a 5.5K-member sock knitting community. Not just regular sock knitters. These are Circular Sock Machine knitters, also known as crankers. Conversation centres around yarn tension and brass cylinders, and images show an…
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In gigs we trust
Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of New Zealand, but thanks to the scene at one community hotel, it’s turning into a live music capital too. PERCHED HALFWAY ALONG FRANKTON ROAD, HIGH ENOUGH ABOVE LAKE WAKATIPU TO SEE THE RIDGELINES OF THE REMARKABLES, SHERWOOD HOTEL IS A SPACE WITH SPUNK. THERE ARE RED VELVET…