Hysteria – the movie

Our hero, Mortimer Granville (played by Hugh Dancy) flirts across the table with his boss’s daughter, Emily Dalrymple, prettily played by Felicity Jones.

My favourite character, Charlotte Dalrymple, feistily played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

 

On the plus side:

–       luscious costumes on gorgeous looking people

–       some great laughs

–       an eye-opener in terms of how slow the world (or perhaps British culture) was to understand female sexuality

–       an eye-opener about how dismissive medical diagnoses were when they labelled women’s health issues as “hysteria” – a diagnosis still supported until relatively recent times.

On the minus side:

–       Was the movie trying to have a quid both ways by, on the one hand, casting joke characters as the women who sought relief and, on the other hand, defending women whose situation in the Victorian era was intolerable? Men have sought sexual relief since time immemorial. Those who do so are seen as studs, not contemptuous. There was something slightly sick about the movie.

In balance:

–       So glad I went! It’s worth sitting through the credits at the end to see the development of the Victorian development of the vibrator into modern sex toys. That’s where we really did laugh!

I had not previously realised that the ticklish topic of the vibrator was so well rooted in gender politics.

 

 

 

Art Nexus at Sandz Gallery

 Art Nexus artists offered a richly varied exhibition at Sandz Gallery in Kent Street, Hamilton. The art works were displayed to great effect by Pam Watson. Art Nexus artists generally sell their work online.

Pam Watson with one of her landscapes. This time, Pam set herself the challenge of working without using black paint (just some Indian ink). Traditionally, Pam’s work has a dark side. This vibrant use of colour is a new direction for Pam.

Ongaroto Road, State Highway 43, near Whakamaru

When Iggy starts suggesting new routes for our journey home, I draw a deep breath. We have driven on some spectacularly long and windy roads in the name of a new route. This time, Iggy got it right in a big way.

We parked at the foot of a flight of over 100 steps.

Near the top, we could look back at the dam.

This was how it looked from on top of the world. Can you spot the wee car on the roadway below? Awesome!

Huka Falls

The Huka Falls, just five minutes drive  north of Taupo, is the most visited natural tourist attraction in New Zealand.

It’s mesmerising to watch the waters of the Waikato River, usually about 1oo metres wide, being compressed into a 20 metre wide gorge and fall over a 20 metre drop.

Within a short distance of the surging foam (the word “huka” is Maori for foam) the waters level off and become calm once more.

There is a viewing platform beside the road. Travel a little further and head down towards the large, free car park and you can walk across a bridge to get up close and personal with the waterfall.

Volcanic activity – Taupo’s Craters of the Moon

I had heard about Craters of the Moon, but on all our visits to Taupo, we hadn’t made a visit. For me, who is not madly into jet boating, skydiving or trout fishing (all of which involve getting scared, cold or wet) Craters of the Moon rates as one of Taupo’s top tourist attractions.

First up was watching a group of school boys on a field trip, measuring the temperature of the soil adjacent to the board walk. Their readings of the temperature only 10-15cm under the surface were between 90 and 100 degrees centigrade.

I was intrigued by the raw beauty of the place. For the scientists – the signage tells me the brightly coloured clay comes from the action of condensed steam and gas (which is acidic) chemically altering the pumice soil.

One of the types of thermal activity at Craters of the Moon is mud pools. The signage tells me “These occur when steam condenses into water near the soil surface. The resulting acidic soup eats away at the surrounding rock, turning it into a soft mud that bubbles and splutters as more gas tries to escape.”

A second thermal feature is craters. “These may form when a steam vent is temporarily blocked. When it clears, the fall in pressure causes the underlying water to boil vigorously. Steam then erupts into the vent. The eruption throws pumice into the air and the surrounding soil collapses, forming the hole of the crater.”

I guess these must be fumaroles – a third geothermal feature. A fumarole is an opening from which steam and volcanic gases escape.

The volcanic plant life also caught my eye.

Our walk took about an hour. We worked up our own head of steam walking up to the top (though it looked effortless for the field trip boys). Look at this image to see how well-priced this activity is! Beautifully maintained board walks and look out points and informative signage make this outing an easy one. You go at your own pace, without intrusive guides – though do heed the warnings about sticking to the path. A big thumbs up to the awesome volunteers who keep this outing affordable.

Cinnamon Restaurant, Taupo

Part of any week away from home must be a dining-out experience. I had read in the local paper of parties to celebrate the launching Cinnamon under its new name. It all looked pretty exciting, so we dropped by in the afternoon to book.

Our booking was taken by this friendly and outgoing Indian prince!

During the day, you have a great view of the Lake.

The elaborately decorated furniture was imported from India for the restaurant. What an air of luxury it added.

Did the food measure up? You bet it did. We started with bhaji paneer, being served here.

I was impressed that we were not asked if we wanted our food to be mild, medium or hot. Instead, the chilli rating (a bit of a smile here – it was spelt “chilly” on the menu) was indicated with little drawings of chillis  on the menu. I like the integrity of Cinnamon – remaining true to the heat of a dish, and suggesting the restaurant guest choose accordingly. Wonderfully generous quantities of meat in the dishes we chose and most flavoursome. I would recommend the Cinnamon experience to those who, like us, enjoy good Indian food.

Downtown Taupo

First up was breakfast at Lavarock Cafe. It was busy there while others were pretty empty – a good advertisement for a start. As you can see, Iggy was in a hurry for me to take this photo so he could start on his pancakes and cooked banana.

Now this may look to you like – an omelette. This was not just any old omelette. It was an omelette cooked to tender perfection, not dry, not oily, filled with succulent vegetables. Also,  notice the high quality bread, warm and toasty.

After breakfast we took a stroll through the shopping centre. This promotion for Taupo adventure activities caught my eye. While we were on the main street, we spent ages in Prices Bookshop. Wonderfully selected stock  – real delve between the covers bookclub-type books. Support this book shop treasure before the mass market swallows it whole. If you are going past Taupo, skip the bypass, park in the mainstreet outside Prices and have a bookshop indulgence.

We spent some time gazing at the kinetic sculpture by the Lake’s edge. As the breeze goes over the red paddles, each paddle rocks or turns in a different direction. It made me think of having a quiet kayak on the Lake. Or perhaps poppy petals?

 

 

 

Lakeside Villas, Lake Taupo

When you park your car outside your unit at Lakeside Villas, Lake Taupo, and this is the view that you see, you can be sure you have arrived at a beautiful destination for your week’s holiday.

The lake can be seen from the bedrooms upstairs …

…and from the window seat downstairs.

Downstairs is an attractive living area – and a huge spa pool right outside the ranch sliders.

It was a bit chilly to use the bikes and kayaks while we were there. In the warmer months it would be so good to simply cross the road and have a paddle on the lake.

In fact, while we were there, a fresh layer of snow landed overnight on the volcanoes across the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope Springs

Advertised as a comedy, Hope Springs seemed like the ideal choice for a night out at the movies while we were away on holiday. With a previous three-decade and two-decade marriage between us, we found the movie light on laughs and big on raw, poignant moments. The movie is more correctly labelled a “relationship drama” said one reviewer. If you go to the movie with this in mind, you can be prepared for those moments of raw recognition, that peel back the memory of pain like sunburn. And this offers the comfort of “You mean I’m not the only one to go through that?”

Interestingly, friends who are well on the way to a five-decade marriage – and a lovely marriage it seems to be, says me from the sidelines – tell us whether your marriage survives or ends, anyone with a long marriage is going to have moments of personal recognition when they see Hope Springs. We sure enjoyed digging down deep into the marriage relationship when we all talked about the film together – and I like the kind of film that keeps you thinking and discussing for about as long as it took to see the film!

On that basis – top marks to Hope Springs’ scriptwriter and, as always, top marks to Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones for, with the subtlest of acting, conveying the most complex and conflicting emotions.

If you’ve ever been in a relationship long enough to wonder what it was you ever saw in the person, this is your movie. You are not alone!

I don’t want to spoil the ending for you, but have to say I thought it was sickly and lacking the substance of the rest of the movie. Anything to send American movie g0ers home smiling, I suppose.

 

 

Hatupatu’s Rock

Every time we drive to Taupo, Iggy says “There’s Hatupatu’s rock.” So this time we stopped to take a photo of it and I looked up the Maori legend on the internet.

Hatupatu must have been quite slight to have concealed himself in here.

Here is a carving of the Hatupatu legend. It was done by Iggy’s godmother as a gift to him. Can you identify the different characters from the story below?

The Legend of Hatupatu and the Birdwoman

A summarized version of the Maori legend as it is told on the National Library of New Zealand website.

Hatupatu was hunting for birds in the forest one day. He met a woman who was spearing birds for herself. The woman had wings on her arms, and claws instead of fingers. Her lips were long and hard and pointed, like a bird’s beak, and she was using them as a spear.

Just as the woman speared a bird with her lips, Hatupatu threw his spear at the bird. The spear  stuck in the woman’s lips instead. Terrified, Hatupatu ran away, but the bird-woman soon caught him. As she had wings she could travel faster than Hatupatu.

Then the woman, whose name was Kurangaituku, took Hatupatu home to her cave, and kept him prisoner there. Kurangiatuku gave Hatupatu only raw birds to eat. He pretended to eat them, but hid them instead. When Kurangaituku left each day at dawn to spear birds, Hatupatu stayed back and roasted the birds. He also admired all the treasures in the woman’s cave – pet birds, lizards, a taiaha, and piles of precious cloaks made of flax, dogs’ fur or red feathers. Hatupatu wished he could escape and take the treasures with him.

One morning Hatupatu suggested to Kurangaituku that she should travel over a thousand hills to do her hunting. Kurungaituku agreed to this and off she went. When Hatupatu thought that she was far enough away, he began to gather up the treasures. He killed the lizards and all the pet birds except one. That little bird escaped, and flew away to fetch back Kurangaituku. And as the little bird flew along he sang, ‘Kurangaituku, our home is ruined, our things are all destroyed’; he kept singing this and flew on and on.

At last Kurangaituku heard him, and said, ‘By whom is all this done?’

And the little bird answered. ‘By Hatupatu—everything is gone.’

Kurangaituku hurried back to her home. The little bird showed her where Hatupatu had gone, and she ran on, calling out, “Hatupatu, you are not far from me now.”

Hatupatu heard her behind him, and he thought, ‘I’m done for now.’ So he repeated a magic charm he knew; ‘O rock, open for me, open.’

Then the rock opened, and he hid inside it.

Kurangaituku came running past the rock, but she could not see him, and she ran on, still calling out, “Hatupatu, you are not far from me now.”

After her voice had died away in the distance, Hatupatu came out of the rock and ran on again. When he came to Rotorua, Kurangaituku saw him once more and pursued him, throwing stones at him as she went. But then Hatupatu came to the boiling springs at Whakarewarewa. He jumped over the springs, but Kurungaituku tried to wade through them, and so she was burnt to death.

Then Hatupatu came to the shores of Lake Rotorua. His home was on Mokoia Island in the middle of the lake. He dived in and swam under the water to the island, and there he was united with his parents, who had thought for a long time that he was dead.