Contributors
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Hot schist
All that glitters is not gold. IT WAS GOLD THAT FIRST BROUGHT THE HOARDS TO OTAGO. PROSPECTOR GABRIEL READ FOUND SO MUCH OF IT IN THE LAWRENCE AREA IN 1861, HE SAID IT SHINED “LIKE THE STARS IN ORION ON A DARK FROSTY NIGHT”. WORD GOT OUT AND, BY CHRISTMAS OF THAT YEAR, 14,000 HOPEFULS…
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Where the poets hide
The writing is on the wall for the tiny town of Oturehua. Oturehua is a charming speck of a township. Like in many of the small communities of Aotearoa, there’s not much beyond a pub, a general store and a single main road. It’s a one-horse kind of place. You might stop for a snack…
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Second hand news
The 1964 guide to the top op shops of the south. WALK IN WARDROBE – QUEENSTOWN One of the very few upsides to living in a region where people move away all of the time is that those people often leave great clothes behind. Queenstown’s Walk in Wardrobe is like rummaging through your mate’s closet…
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Prisoners on the Milford
That one time the “finest walk in the world” was a short-lived experiment in Australian-style convict labour. THE MILFORD TRACK IS PROBABLY THE SHINIEST JEWEL IN NEW ZEALAND’S VERY BEJEWELLED TOURISM CROWN. FAMOUSLY CALLED THE “FINEST WALK IN THE WORLD” IN A 1902 ARTICLE BY THE ENGLISH-BORN POET AND ALPINIST BLANCHE BAUGHAN, IT’S WALKED BY…
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No pets, no people, no politicians
Stuffing it up with Arrowtown taxidermist David Jacobs. David Jacobs, fourth-generation taxidermist, has one firm rule: no pets, no people, no politicians. As far as David’s concerned, politicians are stuffed anyway, and if your pet dies, you probably need a psychiatrist, not a taxidermist. It’s not a new craft, but there’s currently a growing fascination…
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The Selfie Project
Photographer Simon Williams uses the selfie to take a good hard look at himself. MUCH OF MY ADULT LIFE, I HAVE FACED CHALLENGES OF MENTAL WELLBEING. I HAVE SOUGHT HELP TO OVERCOME THESE, TO DEVELOP COPING STRATEGIES, AND TO LIVE AS WELL AS POSSIBLE, BUT NOTHING PREPARES YOU FOR THE JOURNEY OF DEEP GRIEF THAT…
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Alpine soundscapes
In 1998, the Rippon festival brought New Zealand music to the mountains of Wanaka for the first time. Twenty years later, TUKI festival is taking homegrown to new heights. No one said it would be easy. A loss here, a legal tussle there, the trials of the digital age. But Wanaka’s TUKI music festival, and…
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A portrait of an artist in a small town
Wanaka-based artist Stephen Martyn Welch paints people, because people deserve to be painted. PORTRAITURE. IT GETS A BAD RAP. FOR MANY, THE WORD EVOKES POWDERY ARISTOCRATS IN RUFF COLLARS, GREY AND WHITE CEOS LINING THE WALLS OF GREY AND WHITE BOARDROOMS, AND THE QUEEN. STEPHEN MARTYN WELCH (KNOWN LOCALLY AS MARTY) IS A PORTRAIT ARTIST,…
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Blood on the track
“Death crouches ‘round every bend. They should have seen it coming.” – Richard Burgess EVERY NELSONIAN GROWS UP WITH STORIES OF THE MAUNGATAPU MURDERS; THE DEATH MASKS OF THREE OF THE KILLERS ARE ON DISPLAY AT THE NELSON PROVINCIAL MUSEUM. NOW A NEW SHORT FILM, DEATH ROUND EVERY BEND, BRINGS THE WHOLE GORY THING TO…