Postcard from Gisborne

It was a glorious morning in Gisborne when I went for a wander around the streets and found a really great cafe for breakfast. Next to a secondhand bookshop, Cafe Ruba is fantastic - great coffee and an excellent bagel served with smoked salmon scrambled eggs.

A small vase of fragrant flowers (possibly jasmine; I'm not very good with my flora) and a bottle of water appeared on the table as if by magic.

Folk greet the morning here, discussing the world on the chairs outside. Boys in school uniform sit at a large table well-stocked with glossy magazines and sip coffee with a nonchalance that belies their years.

Baking tempts from behind the glass cabinets. The service is friendly, smiling, welcoming, prompt and adroit. I was impressed.

Gisborne is home to one of the largest carved meeting houses in New Zealand. Te Poho-O-Rawiri Marae is a beautiful building.

It is surrounded by beautiful green hills, bush and countryside. The red and white wooden embellishments to the building stand out in a powerful manner. The marae has hosted many people and many matters have been discussed here. Another great place for a meeting.

Close to the marae sits a Presbyterian church - at least I assume it is Presyterian due to the blue and white colouring. I don't know how long either of these buildings have been here or how well they coexist, but I like to think of them sitting side by side with the guardians or gods of each watching over their people and welcoming in all those who wish to enter.

Capturing Captain Cook

It wasn't exactly a pilgrimmage, but when I was in Gisborne, I found myself drawn to the Captain Cook monuments. The landing monument is quite understated and in the midst of the industrial docks. It seems oddly fitting.

I felt quite melancholy as I went for a drive and came across a second Cook monument on top of Kaiti Hill with the harbour laid out behind him.

Dusk was falling so the light was interesting and I played with the camera settings to get some spooky photographs.

The one on the right is my version of 'The World

Turned Upside Down'

The next day I went for a run along the beach and saw the statue in honour of Young Nick who first spotted land from Cook's ship. His hand is outstretched in a yearning manner and the sun lit him up as he reached out to land.

It began to rain but it was warm and still, and there was a rainbow. I saw the prism of filtered rays ignite Young Nick's Head and I felt a long way from Dover. A small fish was glistening above high tide, so I shunted him back to the sea and watched him shimmy away in the waves.

Captain Cook is again standing sentinel on the waterfront, again looking inland while Young Nick looks out to sea. This seems the wrong way round to me.

I took the photo on the left with the shadow of a telegraph pole because I thought it resembled a cross or a ship's mast and I liked the composition as it nestled between the statue and the tree.

I know that some people consider him persona non grata and blame him for all the evils of colonialism, but his navigational feats are indubitably magnificent and I do think he is a hero, albeit from a bygone era.

Books read in August

The following are short reviews of the books that I read in August. The marks I have given them in the brackets are out of five.

Landings – Jenny Pattrick (3.3)
Having written so successfully about the West Coast mining settlements, Jenny Pattrick turns her hand to the folk up the Whanganui River at the turn of the twentieth century.

She begins by describing the people who live there; the Maori families and farmers; the Chinese market gardener trying to eek a living from the soil; the people trying to make a profit from the timber industry; the former convicts escaping their past life; the nuns who run their peaceful convent; the hoteliers at Pipiriki and the day trippers in search of refined serenity. There are good folk and there are hell-raisers and their stories proceed to interconnect like the tributaries of the mighty river.

Each chapter begins with an advertisement or an article from the paper, extolling the virtues of the land available to buy, the houseboat, the homestead and the river itself, described as New Zealand’s Rhine. There are also admonishments against the evils of drink and the infiltration of the Chinese. These are swiftly followed by the author’s own descriptive prose which brings the river of a hundred years ago to life. One of the big issues is the dichotomy between progress and preserving the rights of the people who have lived on this land for all their lives.

Jenny Pattrick gives each character a voice, and writes their passages in different tones and tenses. She makes the issues personal, fleshing out the dry bones of history and writing a novel with characters it is easy to care about.

My Name is Will – Jess Winfield (4)
Jess Winfield is one of the founding members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, so he knows his stuff. Quotes and allusions scattered throughout the novel will have Shakespearean fans acknowledging them with a wry smile, while there is nothing to trouble the serious scholar. The subtitle is ‘A novel of sex, drugs, and Shakespeare’, and this is one book you most certainly can judge by the cover.

Willie Shakespeare Greenberg, an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz attempts to write a thesis about Shakespeare and the fact that he was a Catholic. The only problem is that he hasn’t done any research, and when his father threatens to cut him off, he becomes a drug runner to earn some funds, delivering an enormous magic mushroom to a mysterious buyer. Meanwhile William Shakespeare, playwright extraordinaire, is struggling to avoid religious persecution while holding down his job as a schoolteacher in Stratford-upon-Avon.

As Willie begins to investigate the religious persecution of the times, it is clear that this was a deadly serious matter. The Shakespearean sections are an intriguing interpretation, including Shakespeare hiding in a priest hole, attending a secret Catholic mass with his parents, and being tortured on the rack. There are some macabre descriptions of priests being hanged, drawn and quartered, which prevent the novel from being all beer and skittles.

In one chapter, the hero becomes them both, drifting in and out of a drug-induced hallucination. Never mind that this is a bad plot ploy – like stepping out of a shower and waking from a Dallas dream – it has taken Willie nearly all novel to work out the parallels that were blatant to us from the beginning. The ‘drugs equals forbidden religion’ line has many flaws, namely that the fear of being discovered as a practicing Catholic can hardly equate to using drugs, although this is the author’s premise.

Eventually Willie decides that he is most impressed by “the timelessness of the characters. The diversity. They’re so recognisable, even to a modern reader. It’s almost as if he was the very first writer to think like a human being.” This becomes the premises of his thesis, although it is far from a new idea. If he is to be forgiven for his unoriginality, it is because he puns in sixteenth century English better than anyone since the great man himself.

On the whole this is a fun romp through Shakespearean England and 1980s undergraduate California that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Voss – Patrick White (4)
This is a wonderfully colourful novel about the death of one era and the dawning of another; when men set off to explore and adventure and women stayed behind to await the triumphant homecoming. Voss leads a troop of disparate men with assorted aims on an expedition across the centre of Australia. Laura Trevelyan is forced to remain behind in Sydney and endure, but Patrick White has brought a strength and dignity to Laura that raises the novel to new heights. She scares men by being intelligent and telling them exactly what she is thinking when they ask.

The men are forced to work together to attempt to survive against the cruelty of nature. The class divisions fall away and the new nation is built on money and beauty. In this land, there is a chance for equality as everything is distilled to its essence in the crucible of the Australian outback. The aborigines are silent spectators of their attempts to conquer rather than co-exist.

The language is beautiful with descriptions that seem reminiscent of George Eliot or Jane Austen; both imperious and sly. Told with wit and humour, it brings humanity to a barren landscape with an ever-present reminder that we are merely passing through.

Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4.5)

The half a yellow sun of the title refers to the Biafran flag, established to represent the new country of Black Africa, a splinter group of Nigeria. The deadly struggle that ensues has repurcussions for the protaganists of this novel.

There is Olanna, a young woman married to Odenigbo, a revolutionary and intellectual. Her twin sister, Kainene, is bitter and cynical and living with a white man, Richard. There are tensions between the sisters, exaccerbated by their partners, but their differences fade into insignificance against the background of history.

Some beautifully poetic passages clash with gruesome depictions of massacres and the politics of idealism contrast with the horrors of civil war. The spectre of colonialism hangs over the novel and the reader is forced to take a stand only to be told that their opinion does not matter unless they are personally involved.

Sibling rivalry, female liberation and coming of age - through Odenigbo's houseboy - are crammed into this novel which strives to tell a story. It is not until the end that we know who's story it is and who is telling it. It is character-driven enough that we do not feel as though we are being preached at, or given a history lecture.

Not all change is good and not all war is civil. There are so many unanswered questions in this complete but oddly unfinished story, that it feels as though the next chapter is still being written.

The Pohutukawa Tree

Last week I went to see The Pohutukawa Tree by Bruce Mason. I had heard of this play as a Kiwi classic, but had never seen it and didn't know the story. It is always hard to see plays that were written 50 years ago and try to understand what people must have felt about them at the time.

Much drama that was considered groundbreaking half a century ago now seems rather mundane. Despite this, I still found this to be a well-written and thought provoking play. The production was very good too. I'm glad that I have now seen it and can agree that it deserves its iconic status. I reviewed it for the Lumiere website.

Automatic road trip

Last month I had occasion to drive from Hastings to Gisborne. The journey was wonderful – I love a good road trip – but I have a problem with the car. It was a rental and an automatic, although I had specifically asked for a manual. Why do rental companies insist on doing this?

I find automatics take all of the fun out of driving – without gears to change, the journey can get really boring. I also think you don’t have the same control if you’re not in charge of the speed and power, which can be really dangerous, especially if you’re on unfamiliar roads, which are more often than not steep and twisty.

Add to that the fact that it creeps relentlessly forward unless you have your foot pressed firmly on the break (an unpleasant surprise for manual drivers), and you’ve got an accident waiting to happen. Surely it is nothing but irresponsible for rental companies to hire automatics out to people who specifically request manuals?

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and the scenery was lovely which, combined with the coffee stop at Wairoa, helped prevent me from nodding off. The photos are from the trip. I kept pulling over (safely I might add) to the side of the road to hop out of the car and try and capture the scenery – as I said, I thought it was stunning.

Beervana: Tasting notes (Part 2)

One of my favourite beers of the night was the Yeastie Boys’ Pot Kettle Black. This is an American style porter and very dark. With a bit of an interactive theme, punters were asked to state whether they preferred the handpull or the pressurised tap version.

Not just to be awkward, I preferred the smoother texture of the hand-pull, but I felt the chocolate and hop flavours came through better from the pressurised tap. Him outdoors stuck his nose in the tasting glass, took a swig, smacked his lips and muttered something about ‘orange and pine’.

I confused the boys at Croucher Brewing Company by waffling on about Peter Crouch. As you do. They were very kind and they also serve a damn fine drop of pale ale. This beer looks good, smells good and tastes good. It is good, and it has a hoppy, fruity, grassy feel that lingers – I would definitely try this again. It comes from a boutique brewery in Rotorua and is available in several outlets in Wellington (the website above has a full list of locations). I shall be looking out for it!

To my mind, Monteith’s is one of the best mass-produced beers in the country. I recently had a heated debate about whether or not it was a boutique beer. I said not. If you are owned by DB Breweries you are not, by definition, a boutique. They do, however, have a great advertising campaign which is neither sexist, ageist, or insulting to the intelligence, so that’s a refreshing change. They won the packaging award – I’m not sure whether this has anything to do with the adverts, but it’s all part of the same marketing department.

We tried a beer which I think (and I’m struggling to read my handwriting at this stage) was called 140W. It is a West Coast Pale Ale Reproduction and I’m pretty sure I liked it, but I would have to try it again to be sure.

I would also like another pop at the Emerson’s Old 95 . This was billed as an old English ale – how could I go wrong? The combination of hops and fruit is very well balanced and the nuance of toffee is not too sweet. Him outdoors sampled the Piny Stout (aged in pinot barrels, 5% stout), new for the festival apparently, and was again heard to mutter something about oranges – I think this may be his new obsession. On the other hand, it did win a silver medal in the ‘fruit, spiced and herb flavoured beers’ category, so perhaps he knew what he was talking about after all.

We paid a visit to the Dux de Lux brewery which again brought back memories of our time in Christchurch, although we never really took to the one in Queenstown. The lady at the stall said people had been coming up to her all night saying they had fond memories of the beer from when they were at Canterbury University . Weren’t they supposed to be studying, dear me, these students, tsk, tsk.

I tried the Sou’wester because I don’t remember having it before. I’m afraid I still don’t remember having it. I’m not sure whether this says more about the state of the ale or the state of me at this stage. Maybe I should have had the Ginger Tom, which always wakes me up!

Green Man Strong is exactly what it says on the tin (6.5%). When it was first released it sold out in 11 days, and it picked up a bronze medal here. It’s a Doppelbock aged in whisky barrels for 3 months, and then blended with best bitter. It’s quite sweet, as you would expect from this combination, but dangerously drinkable. It cost double beer tokens and I’m glad I only discovered it at the end of the night, or things could have got quite messy!

Incidentally, the Green Man brewery also won the accolade of Best in Class for their Enrico’s Cure. At 14.5%, this is a barley wine beer brewed without sugar by a German brewmaster. Scarred by memories of Carlsberg Elephant and other nasties in golden tins drunk by people in supermarket car parks, I avoided this particular brew, although I heard others say it was very nice. I think it’s odd that the class it won, is titled, ‘Experimental and non or low alcoholic beers’. Isn’t that a massive difference?

I finished up with a beer from the Twisted Hop, and although I don’t know which one, this seems in keeping with my usual experiences there. The whole thing has a sort of magical mystical quality to me. I know the bar is tucked down a side street in Christchurch, and I have had a couple of very good nights there. But I can never remember how to get there when I’m sober. It’s like Diagon Alley. Anyway, I know from previous experience that the Challenger is exceptional – well, I’m always up for it! Oo-er missus.

So, to sum up, I drank lots of beer, I like hops and I had a great night. My top three, entirely unscientifically based upon the way I was feeling at the time are Epic Pale Ale, Yeastie Boys' Pot Kettle Black, and Croucher Brewing Company Pale Ale. Anyone else?

Beervana: Tasting notes (Part 1)

Well, my head has almost recovered after a night of hedonistic beery pleasure, and this morning’s run along the Eastern walkway with occasional glimpses of the inland Kaikouras (they were just there!) has cleared the mental decks so that I can write up some rather illegible tasting notes from this weekend’s Beervana.

Him outdoors was like a boy in a sweetshop, or indeed, a bloke in a beer shop, and was barely restrained from leaping about trying everything at once. Methodically enough, we began at the beginning, handing over our first beer tokens in exchange for some Mike’s Mild from White Cliffs Organic Brewery. You don’t often get a good (or actually, any at all) mild in New Zealand, but this is excellent. I’ve had it before and enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it again tonight – a great start to the evening.

We moved on down, or up depending on your viewpoint, to the Renaissance stand where I sampled the Perfection Pale Ale, which is a great name for a beer. Again, I have had this before and liked it – most notably after the Grape Ride where I collapsed after cycling 101km around the Queen Charlotte Sound and the vineyards of Marlborough. Re-hydrating with plenty of water and some very tasty wine from Forrest Estate , I also refreshed myself with some of the local ale and I have been a convert ever since.

I really like the balance of the bitter hops and the creamy toffee notes. At the risk of sounding incredibly girly, I also really like the label. I think the design and the shape of the bottle makes this one of the best looking beers on the market.

Next stop was Peak Brewery from Taratahi, and I tried their Monkey Point India Pale Ale. Apparently Monkey Point is the name of the first brewery in India. The chocolate notes rang out loud and clear but it was slightly too sweet for my taste. I am always impressed with breweries in the middle of wine regions and I wish Mr. Morgan well with his range of German and British style ales from his relatively new (three years old) brewery. He sells them at the Farmers’ Market in Masterton and also has a hectare of sauvignon and pinot noir vines planted on his property. I think that might just be greedy!

We couldn’t pass the Epic stall without having a taste of their Pale Ale – just to check it is as good as we remember – it is. This is my tipple of choice at The Malthouse . I believe it won gold and best in class at the awards. The trophies depicting a mash tun are very cool and those who had won them were proudly displaying them on their stalls.

We first had Epic Pale Ale two years ago when there was a beer festival beneath the Old Bank on a Saturday afternoon. We emerged blinking into the pale sunlight with a feeling we had just tasted the best beer we’d had in New Zealand since we arrived ten years previously. I loved the Armageddon Ale that Epic released recently, but sadly that wasn’t on offer, or not that I could see anyway. Does this mean it’s all gone? Bring it back please – I love it! I love hops, which may explain it. In the meantime, I will happily drink the Pale Ale.

And now for something completely different – Waituna Brewing Company from Rewa are promoting their TaaKawa Ale as New Zealand’s first indigenous beverage. Apparently it incorporates the Kawakawa herb and spring water into a beer, which sounds very clever. The marketing people have just sold a line into Tesco’s in the UK and are hoping to ‘place TaaKawa competitively at the top of the National and the International market’. It’s clean and crisp, refreshing the palate.

For old time’s sake we sampled some of the ales from Brew Moon . We used to live in Christchurch and a trip home was always completed with a stop off at the brewery in Amberley. We were asked if we wanted the hoppy or the very hoppy and subsequently I tried the Hophead IPA while Him Outdoors had the Amberley Pale Ale. A delicious drop!

One of the great things about beer festivals is the opportunity to talk to the artisans who make the stuff, and Mr Bennett himself was manning his stall of Bennett’s Fine Beer and Ale . He is a man of boundless enthusiasm, and when he is not brewing beer or running supermarkets, he makes artwork out of toast – yep, that’s right, toast, but they’re actually really good!

We tried his Belgium Strong, which was interesting and different. As the name suggests, it is made to taste like a Belgian golden ale (Leffe Blonde springs to mind) with a taste that is slightly sweet and fruity. It is also strong (7%), but you don’t really notice the kick until later. Mr Bennett claims that he wanted to make this style of beer because ‘this is what the beer gods favour.’ He could well be onto something…

To be continued...