Issue 04: Summer 2020/21
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Book Review: A River Runs
By Benny Sip Fishing and poetry – it’s a 1964 dream combo! Benny Sip’s spare collection A River Runs is named, presumably, for American author Norman Maclean’s classic novella A River Runs Through It, which tapped into a youth spent in Montana surrounded by family for whom there was “no clear line between religion and…
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The Rhythm Method
Scott Kennedy reflects on how Rhythm & Alps went from the Little Festival That Could to the hottest, and rarest, ticket on earth. In case you hadn’t noticed, the global live music scene is a dumpster fire. Glastonbury – grab your Hunter wellies, you’re gone. Coachella – pack up that culturally inappropriate headdress and get…
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Hide and seek
Turns out there are many ways to be cryptic, even if you’re not a crossword. Some words don’t mean what you think they mean. Cryptic is an adjective that usually refers to something having a meaning that is obscure – hence the deep and frustrating seam of hard-to-decipher puns mined by the sadists who design…
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Take a punt
It’s all river crossings and holy hops at Tuapeka Mouth. The Tuapeka Mouth Ferry is a hangover, a legacy of the days when Aotearoa’s rivers were a pain in the arse to cross and the iron needed to build bridges was expensive to import. The ferry is said to be the last of its kind…
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Recollections
Allan Uren finds a private collection of wartime memorabilia hidden in a small town basement. Dear Mummy, I hope this letter reaches you without the mark of a censor’s hand. Life here in the trenches could be worse and it’s best not to make a fuss of what you can’t control and just get on…
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How do you like them apples?
The orchards of Southland carry the fruity roots of the region. YOU CAN’T GROW FRUIT TREES IN SOUTHLAND. THAT’S THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM. MOTHER NATURE WILL BITE, SWALLOWING THEM UP LONG BEFORE THEY ARE READY TO GIVE UP THEIR FRUIT TO PATIENT AND HUNGRY LANDOWNERS. THIS MIGHT BE TRUE OF VARIETIES LIKE GALA AND PACIFIC ROSE,…
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Beginner’s luck
Mark Thomas’ first time up a mountain was bigger than most, but so was the reward. The year was 1994. Summer. I had never climbed a mountain before, though I had done a small amount of rock climbing on the outdoor wall in Moray Place, Dunedin. I knew about Aoraki Mount Cook, but not as…
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The Driven
An ode to the outboard motors of yore. INHERENT TO THE EXISTENCE OF ANY MOTOR IS A MYSTICAL COMBINATION OF HOPE, FRUSTRATION, SATISFACTION AND GLORY, WITH EQUAL PARTS UNPREDICTABILITY AND RELIABILITY IN THE MIX. I visited coastal communities to photograph these particular motors with this idea in mind: that these motors, in one way or…
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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…