Issue 20: Summer 2024-2025
Book reviews: mammals and lizards
New Zealand’s Native Mammals: When and where to see them –by Carolyn King (Upstart Press, 2024) Geckos & Skinks: The remarkable lizards of Aotearoa – by Anna Yeoman (Potton & Burton, 2024) When it comes to wildlife, Aotearoa is known primarily for its birds, which isn’t surprising, because we really do have an exceptional and…
Music review: The Dreams of Our Mothers’ Mothers!
Mousey (2024) This is the third album from the brilliant Ōtautahi-based and Silver Scroll nominated songwriter Mousey (aka Sarena Close). This time she wants it darker. A less upbeat offering than her first two releases, Lemon Law (2019) and My Friends (2022), The Dreams of Our Mothers’ Mothers! delves into themes of family estrangement, something…
Music Review: Blue Mind
Tess Liautaud (2024) A Franco-American who is sometimes based in Ōtautahi and spent a time living in and gigging around the Southern Lakes, Tess Liautaud has been bringing her brand of alt-country / Americana (the team at Flying Out called it “rootsy Canterburycana”) to our speakers and stages for a few years snow. Blue Mind…
Gear review: Rab Ultrasphere 4.5 Sleep Mat
When both warmth and low weight are crucial, the award-winning Ultrasphere 4.5 is the ultimate packable, featherlight air mat. Its groundbreaking design includes two layers of heat-reflective TILT, which reduce radiant heat loss and offset air chambers that trap heat within the construction, allowing you to recharge comfortably without the need for high-volume insulation. Combined…
Film Review: Inshallah
“We had no real plan except to head north into the mountains.” Directed by Georgia Merton and Isobel Ewing, ‘Inshallah’ is a short film (“the perfect length for a cup of tea” Georgia says) about bike packing through mountainous northern Pakistan. The two ended up cycling, and sometimes hitching with bikes lashed to the roof,…
The Great Jandal
Those shoes weren’t meant for walking. They say before you judge a person, you must walk a mile in their shoes. If that’s the case, I won’t be judging Gus Cope, because his shoes are a beaten pair of sweat-soaked jandals. Once upon a time, Gus was camping with friends at the Routeburn Flats for…
A plague on both our islands
The 1964 guide to pest control in Aotearoa. The American at the dinner table is telling us about coming across a woman, who from the sounds of it was a West Coaster, in the act of dispatching a possum. I won’t get into it, but a rock was involved. He goes a bit pale as…
Walk this way
’Twas the day of TWALK. It’s late April, just before dawn and the autumnal cold is really flexing. Its bite is downright devilish. But that hasn’t deterred a throng from amassing in the turbid light. From students to retirees to ultra-running human cannonballs, they form ranks as a free brigade of outdoor frolickers – or…
The Right to Repair
Can we fix it? Yes we can, and we should. It’s Sunday morning, and the Wānaka Community Workshop is abuzz with power drills, bobbin winders and hammers. Outside under a marquee, someone is sorting out the drivetrain on a vintage Mongoose hybrid bike. In the main workspace, a wooden chair, a planer and a toaster…