Monday 4 March 2024

Waiheke Island Sculpture Trail 2024

 Any excuse to go to Waiheke Island is a good excuse and none more so than spending a glorious summer's day walking the bi-annual sculpture trail, Sculptures on the Gulf. This year it is titled Anything Could Happen.  With my friend, Pat, I set off on the enjoyable 35 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland to the island, looking forward to what the exhibition had to offer.  The trail is 2 and a half kilometres long and winds around the Matiatia headland providing magnificent views along with thought provoking art installations.  This year there are 21 pieces,  fewer than in previous years but no less interesting. Here are some of them.




Cognitive Reorientation

This recalls  a scene from the Nordic-Noir television series, The Killing, where a car is lifted from water by a crane to reveal the body of a missing woman. Time is suspended here as water pours non stop from the car.  It Makes a macabre, dystopian water feature.

Artist: Eddie Clemens






Hard Graft

Cape Reinga lighthouse, at the very top of New Zealand, is reimagined here.  Further along the shore line from the light house  is a pohutukawa tree marking the entry to the underworld in maori legend.  The artist has combined the roots of the tree with the lighthouse as a homage to a very special place.

Artist: Oliver Stretton-Pow






No Tomorrow

I have to admit that when we first saw this installation we were bemused but when we read the notes on it it made sense.  Last year there were some terrible floods on Auckland's west coast. In places it is still possible to see the damage caused with debris hanging from distorted fence posts. This work echoes that but is also intended to show the grief and fatigue experienced when we are confronted by disaster.

Artist: Isabella Loudon






Lucken's Wing

This was designed as a tribute to backyard tinkerers, at a time when men would spend endless hours in their garages making weird and wonderful contraptions from bits and pieces. The resulting vehicles were a common sight around Waiheke back in the day.  As the sign on the side says these vehicles operated on a Wing and a Prayer

Artist: Denis O'Connor 




Fountain in Transit

This artist works with stainless steel tubing combining everyday objects into one big maze. The idea behind this piece is to draw our attention to things which help us, organise us and stop us without our giving them another thought.  This sculpture combines a shower, bus handles, a drain, a lamp and a clock.  It pulls the viewer in to imagine how these could possible all come together.

Artist: Yona Lee



These are just a few of the 21 pieces on display.  All installations are thought provoking and excellent conversation starters.  I highly recommend a trip to Waiheke to walk the trail, enjoy the views and see sculptures you are unlikely to see anywhere else.



Walkers on the trail.  The tower in the background is Wakefield Dreaming
by Brett Graham

Below: View of Matiatia and the ferry terminal from the sculpture trail



As always I thoroughly enjoyed the day, more so for the weather, the walk and the views than the art which was not as good as it had been previous years. The exhibition is manned by enthusiastic volunteers and there is a shuttle bus which drops visitors at the start of the trail which winds through bush and around the headland before arriving back at Matiatia and the ferry terminal.  In previous years there had been a marquee on the foreshore where you could buy food and drink.  There is no marquee this year so my friend and I took the short bus trip up to the village of Oneroa and had lunch looking out across the beautiful bay.  All in all we had a fantastic day and had lots to talk about on the ferry back to Auckland.

The exhibition runs from 24 February to 24 March.  Entry and shuttle $20

www.sotg.nz




Sunday 18 February 2024

Fashion. Art. Fantasy. A must see exhibition of the works of Guo Pei

  To be honest I had never heard of the internationally acclaimed Chinese fashion designer, coutourier and artist, Guo Pei before her exhibition, Guo Pei: Fashion. Art. Fantasy. opened at Auckland Art Gallery.  I went to see it yesterday on the recommendation of a friend.  All I can say is that I was completely blown away by the astonishing beauty and inventiveness of her creations. The garments on show are taken from eight of her couture collections and lead visitors through dream lands, magical gardens, gothic tales, cosmic and ancient Chinese myths and legends. 



The luxurious silk fabrics dripping with beading, crystals and exquisite embroidery and unusual materials combine to make extraordinary works of art. Guo Pei employs over 500 people in her workshop many of whom are embroiderers.  She has made it her mission to bring back the ancient skill of Chinese embroidery, something which was lost during the Mao period. Although she does design more prosaic garments for wealthy Chinese the garments on display here are from her Couture as Art designs.


"The culture of China is just like the blood that runs through my veins, it's my life. China has more than 5000 years of history....that has greatly enriched my designs and is essentially a foundation of my work"  Guo Pei

The most famous and notable garment on display is the yellow dress Rhianna wore at the 2015 Met Gala in New York. In China yellow symbolises power and status and was worn only by the emperor. Named Imperial Yellow it weighs 25 kg and took two years to complete including 50,000 hours of embroidery.  It was this garment that gained Guo Pei international recognition, she was already well known in China. She was invited to become a member of the Chambre Syndicate de la Haute Couture in Paris and has works now held in art museums in America, Europe and China. 

Imperial Yellow - worn by Rhianna at the Met Gala 2015

"Clothing..is like architecture for the human body. In both fashion and architecture are many works that express the transcendent spiritual realm, a pursuit of the soul, of the spiritscape" Guo Pei

Inspired by a painting by Goya




Guo Pei's take on traditional blue and white china.  



This surreal dress is shaped like the inverted hull of a boat, gliding to an imagined realm.


Inspired by a visit to a Swiss
cathedral
Her shoes are as inventive as her dresses


I am in awe of Guo Pei's inventiveness and creativity, her garments truly are works of art.  This is a sublime exhibition and I would encourage anyone who can to make a point of visiting it.  I thoroughly enjoyed  every moment and happily lingered for a very long time.  

Note: These photos are a tiny snapshot, there are 60 garments in all.
          The exhibition runs until 5 May 2024

   Below Right: Close up of some of the exquisite embroidery




Monday 22 January 2024

Olea Kouzinaki - A fine restaurant in a magical setting - Kefalonia, Greece

On a family holiday to Greece to celebrate my special birthday I was lucky enough to be treated by the family to dinner at this truly lovely restaurant.  Olea Kouzinaki is located in a quiet garden on a hillside overlooking the town of Argostoli. It is a bit out of the way and not easy to find but well worth the effort.


Family meal under the olives

As we are a family of nine a special table had been set up for us under the olive trees.  It was perfect since we had three children under 12 and they had plenty of room to get up and move around without disturbing other diners. After a warm welcome and being shown to our table we had time to take in the lovely views over the harbour and the Ionian Sea. It was quite magical to see the day turn to dusk and then nightfall during our meal with the lights in the trees, the harbour and the  town below twinkling against an ink black sky.



From daylight to night

Olea prides itself  on using seasonal and local produce and the food reflects this, it is fresh and sublime. All nine of us had delicious meals and were happy with our choices, that's saying something with a couple of fussy 9 year olds as part of our party. My main of beef checks was melt in the mouth perfect. Some of the food combinations are novel but they work beautifully, for example, a starter of beans, grapes, pineapple, oil and cheese or eggplant stuffed with feta mousse, pickled onion, charred pineapple and garlic oil. The restaurant grows all its own herbs and many of the fruit and vegetables on the menu.





My beef cheeks, (top) and my son's prawns

Olea is not inexpensive but you certainly get what you pay for.  It is a most romantic and magical place to celebrate a special occasion, like mine, or just to go to for a superb meal. I can't think of anywhere better to have celebrated my birthday so a big thank you goes to my sons and daughters in law for treating me to this most wonderful evening.

Note: Olea is an outdoor restaurant so it closes for the winter months


Sunday 24 December 2023

Happiest of Christmases everybody

 I have been very quiet on my blog lately, mainly because I have other projects on the go. I do intend to make more regular posts, it's just a case of finding time! Anyway, I couldn't let Christmas go by without wishing everyone peace and blessings for Christmas and all things wonderful in 2024. It is the afternoon of Christmas Day here in New Zealand and soon my family will arrive for Christmas dinner.  I am looking forward to it. 


This beautiful tree is a Pohutukawa, known as the New Zealand Christmas tree because they always bloom at Christmas time. This year they are particularly magnificent which usually signals a long hot summer.  Let's hope!



Tree decorated, table set, food in the oven.  Family times are the best of times.


Wherever you are and whatever your religion the Christmas message is a universal one, it is a message of peace, love and hope.  I sincerely hope these all are part of your life in the coming year.

Saturday 2 December 2023

Kefalonia, Greece (Part 2) - A day trip around the island

 Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian islands at 780 square kilometres, it is also sparsely populated with only 34,000 residents. We were keen to have a tour of the island and see some of its treasures so as a family of nine without cars the best thing to do was to hire a van and driver to take us. Our van was spacious and air conditioned and since we had it to ourselves everyone had a window seat. It was perfect for sightseeing and our driver was polite and friendly albeit with very limited English. Fair enough, though, we had worse than limited Greek.

Kefalonia's coastline
Our tour took us out from Agostoli and around a spectacular coastline, sometimes climbing high above the sea on a narrow winding road, much to the consternation of a couple of our family who have a fear of heights.  I don't though and loved it.  The island is mountainous, barren and mostly devoid of people and the views of the coastline and sea are just everything you imagine a Greek island to be.
Myrtos Beach
Our first stop was at the absolutely glorious Myrtos Beach with its white sand and improbably turquoise water. It is said to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We spent a few minutes taking photos and admiring the view before driving across the island to the astonishing Melissani Cave, also known as the cave of the nymphs. Entrance to the cave is down a dark corridor hewn from the stone and at the end of it an incredible sight awaits.  We had never seen anything like it and were entranced.  It is easy to see why the cave is the subject of myths and legends.  It is said that the God Pan was indifferent to Melissanthi's love and with a broken heart she threw herself in the lake, hence the cave's name.
The magical Melissani Cave

Visitors board a small boat and are rowed around the two chambers of the cave.  The first chamber has an opening to the sky due to an earthquake several centuries ago.  The sunlight shafts through onto water that has to be seen to be believed, sometimes blue, sometimes azure, sometimes turquoise.  The sunlight on the water gives the cave a magical quality making it iridescent at times.  We could not stop oohing and aahing.  We are all well travelled but agreed we had never seen anything like it.  The second chamber of the cave is dark and contains stalactites, moss and algae. We were rowed around both chambers.  It was a wonderful experience.

Enjoying a wine tasting at Robola Winery

Robola vineyard with a view to the Church of St Gerasimos
Too soon it was time to leave so back into the van, through the pretty village of Sami and on to a wine tasting at Robola Winery.  Robola Wines are the wines of Kefalonia and the vineyard is set in a fertile valley dotted with villages, farms, orchards and vineyards. Our wine tasting was generous with an offering of eight different wines accompanied by a platter of cheese, bread and the tastiest of tomatoes. It was  relaxing and pleasant sitting in the shade sipping wine, (soft drinks for the children), and  talking about the beauty we had seen so far.  


St Gerasimos with the tomb of the saint on the right
The winery is adjacent to a Greek Orthodox convent, which was our next stop.  It is a site of pilgrimage for Greeks as it houses the remains of  St Gerasimos the patron saint of Kefalonia. We were keen to visit and were all respectably dressed but I have to say we were not made to feel welcome with some of the nuns actually very rude, literally pushing people aside.  It was puzzling, they have a souvenir shop at the entrance with a nun behind the counter so they clearly like the money tourists bring in but I got the feeling they accept visitors only in a "needs must" kind of way.  Despite that the church is worth a look, it is rich with iconography  an enormous silver chandelier and a silver casket holding the remains of the saint, so we enjoyed looking and left fairly quickly. Interestingly I went and looked at Trip Advisor reviews of the convent and it appears other people have had the same unpleasant experience we did.

That was our final stop on our tour so it was back to our hotel all absolutely delighted with our day and so pleased to have seen some of the treasures of Kefalonia.

Saturday 11 November 2023

Kefalonia, Greece (Part one)

 After a couple of weeks sightseeing in London our family was off to Kefalonia to enjoy sun, relaxation and some family bonding.  Since the two halves of our family live on opposite sides of the world time spent together is precious and it was a good opportunity for my four grandchildren to get to know each other well. I chose Kefalonia for two reasons, firstly you can get direct flights to the island from Gatwick and, secondly, it is not as over run with tourists as some of the other islands.

We had an interesting start to the holiday when our flight's take off was delayed for four hours with everyone already boarded.  The delay was due to the aircraft missing it's allotted slot for take off but I have to say that Easy Jet went out of their way to make the long wait as pleasant as possible, including handing out free snacks and drinks and inviting passengers to view the flight deck, a rare treat these days.

The delay meant that instead of arriving late afternoon we arrived at our accommodation in the dark and quite late.  The trip from the airport through the small town of Lassi was exciting, though, as all the restaurants and shops were lit up and buzzing, we were looking forward to exploring them.

Our first view of Oskars

Our accommodation was at Oskars, a small family run hotel about two kilometres down the hill from Lassi.  The owners were aware of our delayed flights and were ready to greet us with refreshing lemon drinks and a chef ready to cook us a meal.  By the time we had eaten it was mid night and the children, well to be honest all of us, were exhausted so off to bed feeling excited for the week ahead.

The view from my room in the morning

It is always a bit of a thrill to wake up the next morning after arriving in the dark.  For the first time you can get to see your view and your surroundings and we were very happy with what we saw.  My room was on the third floor of a small hotel block with spectacular views out over the sea, my sons and their families had large, adjoining apartments with a shady outdoor terrace at ground level and, of course the children couldn't wait to get into the swimming pool. 

Our first view of Argostoli on our walk to the supermarket
You can see the world's longest stone bridge 

But first things first, we needed supplies, our accommodation had kitchen facilities and we needed to buy food.  The largest town on the island is Argostoli and our guide book said it was an easy walk up over the hill behind the hotel. Um, yes, maybe easy if it wasn't so steep and the sun wasn't so hot! Anyway several of us adults set off while one stayed behind to mind the children. Despite the heat we enjoyed the walk, taking in the views, the scent of the trees and flowers, the sound of the birds etc and finally found the supermarket we were looking for.  Piled high with supplies we took a taxi back to Oskars happy to be organised and looking forward to relaxing and enjoying our holiday.

Saturday 4 November 2023

My favourite way to travel

As an enthusiastic lifelong traveler I have travelled in many different ways; by air, by sea, through the Canterbury skies in a glider, piloted by my brother, in a hot air balloon over the spectacular Turkish landscape of Cappadocia and in numerous cable cars but my favourite way to travel has always been by train.

 Flying I find a bit of an ordeal, it is simply a means to an end and is the fastest way of getting where I want to go. It’s no joy to be cramped in a steel tube for endless hours, however until someone can come up with something better it is still the quickest and most efficient way to cross the world.


You can get some fantastic views from a plane like this one of
New Zealand's Southern Alps but I still think the best thing about flying is arriving and getting off.

Travelling by sea is fun although it is more about the actual cruising and life on board ship than the reaching of destinations. It is a holiday in itself and ports of call along the way are usually only brief stops. Although I love the sea, and am always happy to spend time gazing at it, that is generally all you see from a ship. Having said that, ferries, such as New Zealand’s Inter Islander or the Waiheke Island ferry, can be extremely scenic and I enjoy them too.

You get to see some amazing sunrises and sunsets at sea


Gliding, ballooning and cable cars are not really ways to travel, more like exciting activities.  They are great, though and I am very pleased to have experienced them
Left: On the Cable Car near Cairns, Australia

But trains, I love them, not in a crazy train spotter kind of way, simply because they are a great way to travel. I have travelled around several countries in Europe and all over Great Britain and Japan on trains and never tire of them. Just buy a ticket, enjoy the space and comfort, maybe walk around, buy some snacks, a coffee or a glass of wine and use the bathrooms but best of all get to enjoy the passing scenery. You really do get to see a country from a train. I have so many great memories of sights I’ve seen from trains, like Mt Fuji in Japan, quaint villages in England, the magnificent Swiss Alps and the romantic Italian Lakes not to mention amazing scenery in both New Zealand and Australia.

Mt Fuji from Japan's Shinkansen train

When my late husband and I were in Switzerland we took the Golden Pass Train right up into the Swiss Alps, an all day trip which took us from Berne to Montreux and back. It was absolutely spectacular and we felt we got to see a lot; cows with bells on, villages and farm houses, steep snow clad mountains and lush alpine meadows, a sublime close up look at the country. A happy memory of that trip is my husband fizzing with delight, he’d always wanted to go to Switzerland. On that same tour of Europe we caught trains everywhere, across Italy, across France, it was so easy.

Swiss village from the Golden Pass train

I enjoyed the trip from Dunedin to Middlemarch on the Taieri Gorge Train, a trip through tranquil and isolated parts of Otago, New Zealand and the wonderful Kuranda Scenic Railway in Queensland, albeit I found the return trip by cable car over crocodile infested rivers rather nerve wracking!

The Taieri Gorge train crossing a viaduct in Otago, New Zealand

I achieved a long held dream in 2015 to travel on Australia’s Ghan train which goes from Darwin right through the centre of Australia to Adelaide. It certainly was a dream worth waiting for, I loved every minute. The four day trip travels through the outback which is vast and pretty featureless, nevertheless with its own magic. The thing about the Ghan is the high quality of the food and wine provided inclusive in your fare, the fascinating destinations you visit and the social life you enjoy in the train’s lounge. Lying in a comfortable bed and looking out at a sky crammed full of glittering stars and watching brilliant sunrises and sunsets over the dessert are joys beyond compare.
 ( I wrote a series of blogs about the Ghan trip in June 2015.  
Type The Ghan into the search box to find them)

The Ghan - a dream worth waiting for




In China in 2018 I travelled on the world’s fastest train. 
It reaches speeds of 431 kms 
per hour and can cover 30 ks in 
7 minutes 20 seconds It was a thrilling if short experience.

Right:  The world's fastest train as at 2018

Every chance I get I like to travel by train. Recently I took the Trans Alpine in the South Island of New Zealand from Christchurch to Greymouth and back. It was everything I hoped it would be, firstly travelling across the Canterbury plains and then through the magnificent snow clad Southern Alps and finally through bush and over rivers. On the return journey the mountains were bathed in a pink glow from the setting sun, I felt so grateful to live in such a beautiful country.

New Zealand's Southern Alps from the Trans Alpine train

Early in 2024 I am booked to travel by train from Perth to Sydney, meaning I will have travelled from the top to the bottom and the West to the East of Australia. I am so looking forward to it. There are plenty of other train trips I hope to do before I die, although I don’t think my finances will stretch to the Orient Express, but that doesn’t matter I am content to know I can enjoy many train trips in the years to come. In my mind anyway it is the best, and my favourite way to travel.