Full Show Podcast: 02 February 2025

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks dB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's Sunday. You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's the Sunday Session with Whitkles for the Best Election
of Great Breeds, US Talks EDB.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Gooday, New Zealand. Welcome along to the Sunday Session. I'm
Roman Travis in for Francesca Rudkin. The Sunday, the second
of February a jam pack show for you. After eleven,
I'll be speaking to a brand new author that he's
a KeyWe he's called Jeff Parts. In his book is
called When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole. It's
a ripper. I'm halfway through it. I'm loving it. The
panel after eleven too, is with Damien Venuto and Chris Henry.

(00:51):
After ten, oh boy, am I excited. I'll be chatting
with Miriam Margoli's. She is a hoot. She's a bit naughty,
but I love that she's been traveling New Zealand. I'll
talk to her more about what she saw and what
she loved. And in this south we'll find out a
brand new about a brand new key. We create an
app called Road Ninjit, that's fascinating and we'll be talking

(01:11):
mining with a couple of professionals Josie Verdell and Katherine
Dala Hunty. All that and more and your feedback on
nine two nine two. Welcome. It's the Sunday session. It's
eight past nine.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
This Sunday session.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Productivity is at an all time low in New Zealand.
Possibly not the most uplifting thing you've heard this morning,
but sadly it's true. In the year ending March twenty
twenty three, New Zealand saw a drop in labor productivity
by zero point nine percent, marking one of the biggest
falls in recent years. As a nation, we've struggled for
decades to improve our productivity levels, despite politicians of all

(01:46):
shapes and colors promising solutions. One of our leading economists,
doctor Eric Crampton, describes productivity nicely. He says, the economy
is a bit like a commercial kitchen. If you take
the same set of workers, equipment and ingredients and reconfigure
the kitchen so that everything runs more smoothly and more
patrons can be served, that's a productivity increase. Coming up

(02:08):
with new and tastier recipes using the same amount of
ingredients and effort. That's also a productivity increase for economists.
Productivity isn't about making everyone work harder. It's instead about
finding better ways of doing things, better processes, and discovering
new products and services that provide more value for the
same amount of time, effort and materials. So, because we

(02:33):
appear to be consistently useless in the productivity kitchen, once again,
we're talking about get rich schemes for New Zealand, and
that the cold face of all that is desperation to
do better, to make more money and get to New
New Zealand back into the black. It's mining, right, So
what's mining worth to New Zealand? Mining makes a significant

(02:54):
contribution to the New Zealand economy, particularly in the regional
areas where mining takes place. Seven thousand people, give or take,
are employed in the extractive sector and the economic contribution
is two point six one billion dollars to GDP annually.
It's fair to say that mining products make a major
contribution to New Zealand and its economy, But how does

(03:14):
that compare to tourism. Mining is all about taking exploiting
the land and digging your way to the bottom of
a very limited commodity. Before COVID nineteen, tourism was New
Zealand's biggest export industry and delivered forty point nine billion
dollars to the country forty point nine compared to mining
with two point sixty one. Tourism made a significant positive

(03:37):
impact on many of our regional economies, supporting unemployment by
directly employing eight point four percent of New Zealand's workforce
mining employees about seven thousand. It's pretty obvious that those
numbers could well and truly be increased for mining if
we completely lost our collective marbles and allowed more of
the massive overseas owned companies to come here and dig

(04:00):
baby dig, or drill baby drill, or to expand what
they're already doing. What's more obvious to me, though, is
the yet to be realized ability to increase tourism numbers
to get more people interested in coming to New Zealand
with their strong currencies, deep pockets, and the desire to
buy what we have to offer. We have to remember

(04:20):
that one of the key reasons why tourists want to
come here is that we haven't completely destroyed the ecological
aspects that make this great nation so unique and desirable.
News travels fast, and if we expand upon the very
business that has left parts of the world looking like
a post apocalyptic movie set, then we effectively kill the
keiw that consistently lays the very large golden eggs. Do

(04:44):
we want to be compared to the Pilborough region of
Western Australia. It's time we thought about the longevity of
tourism and the very limited life span of mining, so
that we can collectively orchestrate the best path forward economically
for all New Zealanders, not just those who scratch the
backs of politicians with questionable expectations that follow. Tourism is

(05:05):
the closest will we ever get to make in New
Zealand rich with the take nothing but photos, leave nothing
but footprints ethos, There's no way the same can be
said about mining. No matter how the industry tries to
dress up the concept, stick it in high heels, give
it a coat of makeup, or a design address, it's
still ugly. Any increase in mining is quite literally a

(05:27):
race to.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
The bottom for the Sunday session.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
So what do you reckon? Do we dig baby? Did
drill baby? Drill? Let me know you can text me
text me flat out on nine two nine two up.
Next we'll hear what our experts have to think. I'll
be joined by Catherine della Hunty and Joseph Viddell on
the Sunday session used talks THEREB twelve past nine.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Sunday with Style.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
The Sunday Session with Winkles for the best selection of
great greens.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Here's TALKSB fourt past nine. Well. On Friday, the government
unveiled its future plan for mining with the release of
the Mineral Strategy and Critical Minerals List. The aim to
double the country the mining exports to three billion dollars
by twenty thirty five. The announcement has been well received
within the industry, but has left the environmental groups concerned.

(06:15):
To discuss the pros and cons of our future mining plan.
I'm joined by the chairperson of the Corimandal watchdog, Catherine
Delahunty and CEO of Minerals Industry Organization strat Terra, Josie Videll.
A very good morning to both of you.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Do you want a good morning everyone?

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Morning? Let's start with you, Josie. You said from your
industry perspective, it was a good day on Friday with
that announcement. From your point of view, what does this
announcement mean not only for your industry but for New Zealand.

Speaker 5 (06:45):
Yeah, it's an acknowledgment of the value mining brings to
the economy and that's a good thing. And I guess
why we need it. You know, we're asked for some
time for a critical mineralsalist and a strategy is it
matters to the outside is looking in. You know, mining
is a very expensive business and the people who are

(07:06):
to invest in that want to see and enabling environments
across policy and law. And that doesn't mean there are
no environmental standards. In fact, in New Zealands highly regarded
to the high environmental standards and the high employment standards
we have here, So it sends positive signals too. You know,
we're part of a global supply chain of the world

(07:28):
that needs minerals for the life we all lead now,
which relies heavily on electricity and technology.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
It's a fair point, Catherine. You were there protesting on Friday.
What was the reaction from you and the others protesting
to this announcement? Is what you were expecting?

Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah, we submitted on the draft in it and it
didn't change much. What's depressing about this is it I
can understand why Striterra like it. It could have been
written by them. It's basically promoting one industry without even
mentioning the fact that we live in a climate change constrained,
environmentally struggling world, and also that the economic reality is,

(08:09):
and I have lived and worked in this issue and
run my area for plast forty five years, is that
the benefits go off shore. So investors, sure, they come,
they take, and the gold goes off shore as processed
off sure on, and the profits go offshore. And so
our communities are far from convinced by the mineral strategy,
but the government and others have admitted is really just

(08:30):
about coal, which is a greenhouse gas that's foluting the
world and we have to transition out of it. And
also about gold button which is a metal of which
there is many many tons above the ground, most of
it in banks or in jewelry, and about six percent
in tech. And we actually can reuse all of that
for all our techniques. So you know, the contribution to

(08:51):
our economy is minor now and doubling it will still
be minor.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Oh I love the use of minder there the fast track.
Isn't that a bigger concern for us? All the fast tracking, Catherine,
is that a concern for you? Because it's basically blocked
any ability to quit anything or alter the plan, hasn't it.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
That's what's lifted the lift or level of anger and
anxiety in many communities across the country as we no
longer have a voice. It was always difficult to go
to court, but if you take the y he situation
we were about, we've been preparing for a number of
years finding people to help the expert witnesses to go
to court and ask hard questions about the proposed mind

(09:30):
under the forested Fuddy Kidaponger. All of that's gone because
Oceania are one of the groups on the fast track list.
So I don't think people quite realize, and I hope
your listeners are interested that this bill is taking away
not whatever you think about the issue. It's taking away
the right to be heard by the ordinary citizens. It's
limiting marty rights to be heard. It's absolutely saying that

(09:54):
a very narrow group of government appointed expert panelists and
the Crown will decide what happens. And that's not the
way we've ever done it, and it's a huge step backward.
They're gutting their RMA and they've created the fast Track
to prevent us from being heard, which is one of
the main reasons we were standing there on on Friday one,
hundreds of us protesting against the mineral strategy because that's

(10:15):
the context in which it is being imposed upon the country.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
Okay, Joseph Vide will bring you in here too, the
fast tracking. You'd be loving the fast track. Could we
have a slower process so where more people get to
have their say. Why do we move so quickly on
things that are so critically important to everyone and the
ecology of the country.

Speaker 5 (10:35):
So I think there's a lot of misinformation about the
Fast Track Act. For a start, there is still built
in there some stakeholder confrontation, and we do need to
move faster because of our economic situation. And by faster,
it takes ten years to get a mine up and running,
so it's not like where there's going to be a

(10:56):
mine on every corner. This is just what it's doing
is actually creating a better process because at the moment,
to have your mind, you have to knock on about
fifteen different doors of government departments that cover different acts.
You get a different answer, you get different skill levels
of people who understand the act that they're implementing. And

(11:17):
what this creates is what's called a one stop shop
where you can go along and these companies spend millions
of dollars on science backs and evidence, present that to
one group, not a whole bunch of different people, and
get an answer. So it's streamlining a process, which is
not a bad thing in twenty twenty five. I don't

(11:37):
think yes, right, I.

Speaker 4 (11:38):
Think it's outrageous Josie, that you would talk about it
as if the Act doesn't prevent public participation. That's not
how it's done in this country. It's perfectly true that
it's a complex process. It's just as complex and expensive
for community. We have put our large and our money
on the line many times, been through many court processes

(11:58):
would have frustrated us. But actually speeding up the process
to benefit just one group, which are the developers industry
needs to be scrutinized. It needs to be robusty challenged.
It needs to be in the context of our ability
to say what happens in our own communities, and that's
been stripped away. There is no process now. And believe me,

(12:21):
I have read the bill and the Act, and so
the thousands of us nearly forty thousand who submitted on
this issue because of that consumed.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
Look, Catherine, you can see economically, you can see that
New Zealand is bus right. We're broken. We need the
money in the coffers quickly. From an economic point of view,
you can see that this is a good announcement, can't you.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
No, And I don't accept that we've completely broken. I
think that's actually the what the coalition government wants us
to believe. We're a comparatively wealthy country that needs to
make good, sustainable, long term decisions. There are many things
we can do to work with for an economic prosperity
that doesn't involve creating the vast toxic waste dumps we

(13:01):
see at Ye, which I hope, I hope you remember
and I'm sure you do, Roman the River and Orange
from a tiny still from a historic mind. We don't
need to create that kind of cost and legacy for
our children. We need to look at industries that are
actually going to be sustainable. One of them, in relations
to minerals, is the reuse of minerals. And the one

(13:21):
good thing in the mineral strategy was the one single
sentence where they talked about how you can reuse metals
and you can you can strip out of e waste
a lot of metals and I would be delighted to
see that happen, and it creates jobs as well. We
need to be a modern country. It's not the nineteenth century.
You don't just extract things out of the earth. Around

(13:44):
the world, clean tech is getting away from the idea
that you need a dirty mind to create clean tech. So,
for example, lithium is being replaced. They're working on a
way to replace lithium in clean tech with actually salt
rather than this in which is because lithium is often
extracted toxically. Our own people are working on this the
and coming out of geo thermal waste. We are smarter this.

Speaker 6 (14:09):
Three billion dollars.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, look, well that's a good point, right, Well, you know,
is it nothing? That's the point, Josie. Do you think
we could hit that three billion dollar target?

Speaker 5 (14:18):
Absolutely? And I think, you know, Catherine makes some very
good points and a recycling is definitely something to look at.
The one company that this gives up here trying to
recycle minerals went to Australia because they had a better
environment and they were given some money to set up there.
So there are some things that need to happen for

(14:38):
us to go down that route. And I reject that
they're dirty minds, and I reject that we can be
held responsible for legacy minds that were hundreds of years
or you know, one hundred years ago. We're using techniques
that are no longer used today. There's very strict environmental standards.
Mines pay a bond so they can't walk away and

(14:58):
leave a mess. They have to clean up afterwards. So
there's a lot of misinformation about that this is not
dirty mining. And what what the point that everybody seems
to be missing is there's a global supply chain where
two countries hold a lot of power. And what everybody
else who's got some minerals in the ground is thinking, well,

(15:21):
maybe we just need to sort of share the power
there so that we're not having to pay price a
price we can't affward for the things we need, and
we need energy and we can't. Renewable energy is never
going to be one hundred percent. It's always going to
have to have some backup of coral gas because there

(15:43):
are times, you know, we've seen that happen last winter.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
We're talking mining with Catherine de la Hunty and Joseph
verdel Catherine. If we did hit that three billion dollars,
that sounds like a lot of money that would make
mining worthwhile, wouldn't it.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
Well, three billion dollars is what the government just gave
to the land ords as a sweetener, and so that
is not a lot of money. And also I'm not
sure it's achievable actually become tree is eighty percent coal
and gold, and we you know it is not going
to produce wealth for the country because the gold itself
is all of the big minds are owned by foreign companies.

(16:18):
Roman The money doesn't stay here, and we know that
from living in the community alongside a community that's had
mining since the nineteen nineties and the wealth is just nowhere.
You know, you can't see it. It's just a really
it's a really sad argument to keep pushing that the
minds are clean. We know that I'm not blaming Oceania,

(16:39):
Golden and the modern so called modern mining companies for
what happened one hundred years ago. The technology is different.
In some ways, it's worse because now we have vast quantities,
we can access far more minerals, and some of the minerals,
like gold, have hugely negative toxic side effects you can't avoid,
so they end up in a huge waste dump. And

(17:01):
that's what we've got behind way here google it. Sometimes
it's just massive, free, massive waste dump. If there is
ever in the long term, which is the history of
tailing dams in the twenty first century, if there is
ever an earthquake under that place, or high levels of
climate impacts, we're all in huge trouble and that is
not the legacy we need. We can do better.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
We can We certainly can't do better. Josie, I reckon, Josi,
just before you go on, I just want to say,
I think we're a bunch of hypocrites because we all
use stuff we've got. I should be opening the studio
window and throwing my cell phone out. Everything we use
these days has some component from mining. So do you
think essentially those who are knocking mining are just a

(17:43):
bunch of hypocrites.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
No, because people have held views and whatever. But I
do want to speak a little bit to the economics
and that money goes off. Sure that's not true. So
in New Zealand we don't have the fly and fly
out miners. They live in the community. And I drive
to Ye for the announcement on Friday, and it's interesting
different perspectives. I thought I had great to live and
work hereautiful spots. There's nowhere really like this. And in

(18:10):
Haieraki mining contributes nineteen point three percent to GDP, In
Bulla where there's mining, it's twenty percent to GDP, and
in Whitaki the Otago area at twenty six point point
one percent to GDP. So that's highly paid workers living
in communities, paying rates, taxes, buying all this stuff there,

(18:30):
seney Kiss, the schools, supporting local clubs. The money does
stay in New Zealand.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
The amount of money that we've seen pass through why
he is in the millions. And there is no beautiful
youth center, amazing amazing sports ground that we don't see
the wealth and way here we see people having to
go to food banks Roman and so that's the idea
that you can pull up. I mean, the problem with
economics is we just end up debating figures that are

(19:00):
developed by people's own agendas what we really need to do.
And having lived here for a long time, my great
grandfather was a minor, you know, you see the perspectives
on the ground for people in communities, and that's what
really counts in our regions. As hard as to live here,
I work when I was an MP helping families desperate
to get out of yhe because blasting under your house

(19:21):
is not a pleasant experience in that town. The company
has to buy uphouses and pay reparations to people, give
them free weekends and motels because of the impact. It's
quite bizarre that a lovely one like way he underneath
it that're blasting. They're now talking about expanding right underneath
the whole town which had a hold time of that.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, exactly. Look it's a real hot kermita this one,
isn't it? The text machine that's blowing up on nine
two nine two? And I thank you both for your time.
Katherine dellah hunty see as the chairperson of the Corimandal
Watchdog and the CEO of Minerals Industry Organization Straterra Joseph Videll,
thank you both for your time. So let me know
what you think you've heard the arguments there. You might
have a deep seated opinion on this. You can text

(20:03):
me on nine two nine two up. Next, we're talking
politics with our New Zealand politics reporter Jamie Ensall here
on the Sunday Session twenty nine past nine.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudgin on News Talks
a B.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
Twenty eight to ten. Roman travers in for Francesca. Just
a reminder after ten I'm joined by Miriam Marghlie. It's
going to be an absolute hoot. You won't want to
miss that. Politics can be a bit of a Hoo's
not always though. Yeah. The New Zealand Political New Zealand
Hero political reporter Jamie Ensall joins us this morning today.

Speaker 7 (20:37):
Jamie, good morning.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
Let's talk about the sale of assets and privatization. It's
never too far away from some politicians' lips. Can you
explain what went on this week in that regard?

Speaker 7 (20:48):
Yeah, so it all blew up last week when actually
the David Seymour gave it give a bit of a
speech suggesting that any assets not making a return for
the government should be sold off, and that put the
Prime Minister in a bit of a pickle. He came
back from the summer break wanting to talk about just
one thing, and that was economic growth and now things
to his coalition partner, he's been forced to spend much

(21:09):
of the first week back at Parliament explaining his position
on selling off assets. He's previously promised not to do
that this term, but under pressure this week he did
float the idea that National could campaign on asset sales
at the next election. Interestingly, at the same time, Trusury's
been doing a bit of a review of assets, looking
at whether they are delivering to their purpose and how

(21:31):
they could be better managed. So while the Government's described
that as a type of responsible, sensible exercise to undertake
so they have some idea of how assets are performing,
Labour's characterized it more as a catalog for a firesale,
a list of assets that could be flogged off in
the future. Finance Minister Nichola Willis has rejected that, but

(21:52):
it will be interesting to see what Treasury comes up
with when they report back on that review. And as
you said, privatization is a bit of a controversial topic
and so we're going to see how the government handles that.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Yeah, indeed, we will look. Shane Jones, he's well known
for opening his mouth just to change feat sometimes, but
Winston Peters is often better than that. But this Mexican
stand off this week wasn't that terrible?

Speaker 7 (22:15):
Yeah? The Prime Minister really couldn't catch a break. You know,
he had David Seymour catching for privatization on one hand,
and then you have Winston Peters and Shane Jones making
comments in the House this week that some have labeled
themophobic and racist, especially towards Mexican people. Now, the comments
were targeted at the Green Party, who then raised concerns
they may inbold in other people in the public to

(22:37):
lash out towards migrant communities. Winston Peters and Shane Jones,
you know, they responded by essentially just doubling down, and
they didn't apologize. I as worked the Prime Minister at
the time, and I asked some several questions about you know,
would you reprimand your ministers for making these comments? Well,
you speak to them. How is it appropriate for there
to be no consequences when one of your ministers makes

(22:59):
those types of remarks? He said they weren't comments that
head make, but he also tried to repeatedly witch the
conversation from one about his minister's remarks to one about
all MP's rhetoric, saying, you know, he had heard unhelpful
comments from politicians from all parties and I think that
just shows how difficult a position this puts Christopher Luxon

(23:21):
in with regards to his type of coalition management. He's
having to dance on the tip of a pin to
not explicitly criticize when St Peters or Shane Jones, but
he also wants to distance himself from their comments. And
eventually the Mexican embassy got involved raising their concerns about
the comments, and that prompted a new statement from Winston Peters,

(23:42):
who is, of course our Foreign Affairs minister. He said
he'd catch up with the Mexican ambassador at Whiting the
events this coming week and discuss the matter. Then he
also says that in the heat of the moment, sometimes
MPs say things when they provoked that on reflection could
be expressed differently. Now that's been described by some as

(24:03):
a sort of back down from Peters, but what the
statement is missing is any recognition of personal fault by
the Deputy Prime Minister. It's a very Winston way of
trying to move the conversation on without actually acknowledging he
did something wrong.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, maybe him and the ambassador will have a couple
of tequilas and get over. So White Tangy Days coming up,
give us a preview. Who's going to be talking What
are the main talking points for White Tangy Day.

Speaker 7 (24:29):
Yeah, so there's a few notable events to look out for.
So Tomorrow, which is Monday, we'll see the return of
Green Party co leader Modiva Davidson. She'll make her first
public political appearance in more than six months, after of
course last year being diagnosed with breast cancer. We're expecting
to hear from her later in the afternoon. Then on Tuesday,
members of the Kenny Tanga will be welcomed alongside to

(24:52):
party Malti. There will also be the first time that
the Malti Queen has gone up to White Tangy for
these celebrations since the death of her father Kenny Tuhitia
last year. Following Day, all other political parties, so the
likes of the National Party Actions New Zealand First will
be welcomed on together. That's notable as in previous years

(25:13):
opposition parties and government parties have come us separately on
different occasions, but they're all becoming together this time. The
Greens will also be there with Madame and attendance. Of course,
one person who won't be there will be the Prime Minister.
He's leaving things up to his senior cabinet colleagues like
Winston Peters and David Seymour, and you can expect David

(25:35):
Seymour's Treaty Principals Bill to be the center of discussion.
It's currently going through Selects Committee process and then to
wrap it all up, there will be the usual dawn
service on Whiting Your Day, which is the thurs Day.
We're still also waiting for official confirmation of where the
Prime Minister will be. He said that he wants to
meet to have other EWE around the country and we're
expecting that take place somewhere in the South Island.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
Good on you, Jamie Well summed up there at the
New Zealand hera political reporter, Jamie ensall, Well, what is
road Ninja. It's a brand new app. What can that
do for you? Well, let's find out soon. I'll be
speaking with the creator, Body Vetti very soon here on
the Sunday Session twenty two to ten.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Sunday with Style The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and
Wiggles for the best selection of great reeds.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
News Talk Sey get.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Their feedback coming in on nine two nine two. There's
a lot of good stuff coming in there regarding White
Tonguey Day and the mining as well. Heated. It's going
on because a Kiwi app. A Kiwi has created, an
app described as the love child of Uber and Tinder,
is looking to get Kiwi's work in Australia. It was
launched here last year road Ninja. It's a transport employment

(26:46):
platform connecting businesses to ready to work skilled drivers. The
aim is to address the critical labor shortages. The app
went operational in Australia this week and will allow kiwis
to seek work in Australia on a fly and flyout basis.
And the CEO and founder of road Ninja, Body Vetti,
joins me, Now get a body.

Speaker 8 (27:06):
How are you mate?

Speaker 3 (27:07):
Yeah? Pretty good, thank you. You've You've launched in New
Zealand last June, so around six months ago. How has
the app been received here?

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (27:15):
Yeah, fantastic.

Speaker 10 (27:16):
We launched nationwide, probably just over six months ago here
in New Zealand. So we've got about over three thousand
drivers on our database now and about fifteen hundred on
the road Ninja platform that are all fully vetted. So
you were looking to utilize that, Paul, not just here
in New Zealand but further afield as well.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
All right, So for those who haven't used the app yet,
who have no idea what it does, how does it work?

Speaker 10 (27:43):
Basically, if you're a driver, commercial driver, and you're looking
to be able to dictate your own rates and pick
what types of driving that you've got experience, and you
can download our app free from the app store on
iOS or Android and create your profile. And then once
you've created your profile, you select all the different types
of driving that you've got experience in or even interested in,

(28:05):
and then you dictate your rate that you want to
receive for that work. And then when companies need drivers,
they basically go on our platform, put in their filters
what they're looking for, area, location, type of driving, class
of license, et cetera, and then our platform filters and
presents the available drivers and then they can jump on
and make a booking.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Sounds really good of course, we don't want anyone going
to Australia. We want to close those doors. So what
industry specifically are you working with here and who is
actually using that platform.

Speaker 10 (28:38):
Well, we've actually got quite a very like a massive
variety of different sort of transport operators here in New Zealand.
For Australia, we're actually going to be a bit more
specific on who we target first because we're really just
looking at the fly and fly out roles that are
over there at the moment, and there's about twenty six

(28:58):
thousand drivers short over there, so you know, big opportunity.
And obviously Keyweed's are well received every in the world,
and yeah, in particular in Australia for the driving jobs. Yeah,
there's obviously a big gap and they in the transition
for the licenses is also very easy too. So I

(29:18):
think creating those pathways is going to be really exciting
for the pool here, but you know, I'd be really
interested to see what it can do in return as well,
because as we open up the pool in Australia, I
think having those pathways coming in this direction as well
would be nice to So it's.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
A good point. So why did you move the whole
thing to Australia. Had no one else been doing anything
like this over there.

Speaker 10 (29:41):
Well, we've just had every customer we have on the
platform has really really enjoyed it. In fact, from a
cost perspective, they've pretty much every single one of them
has got a return on their investment within the first
one to three months, and so we've been experienced quite
a lot of growth here with the companies and.

Speaker 9 (30:03):
Just the business model.

Speaker 10 (30:04):
It's different to anything us as well, which we kind
of used to be a labor high model back in
the day, where we would charge a percentage on top,
and what I didn't like about that was that it
still made the price of the drivers in the eyes
of the transport company a little bit more expensive. So
we had some companies that were doing quite a lot

(30:26):
with us in that model and asked if we could
do something for volume based pricing. So went away had
to think about it and came back and flipped it
on its head and said, oh, let's just do a
subscription model. Once we've got your subscription, you've got unlimited
access to the pool of drivers on the platform. So
from a cost perspective, you're only paying a set fee
each month. And you've got unlimited access to drivers. And

(30:49):
then we thought, let's even go one step further and say,
if you want to recruit those drivers as well, no
recruitment fits all included in the subscription cost, and so
I don't think anyone had really done that before, and
so it was it's been really really well received and
companies get to not just find contractors on our platform,
which is what it was originally designed for, but now

(31:09):
they can also get full time employment employees off it
as well, so it's really quite diversified in that way.
And it's just been received so well that we thought
let's expand this over to Australia because we had some
interest from some of our clients here in New Zealand
which actually have Australian operations as well. So yeah, it's

(31:31):
exciting times.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
It really is. Road Ninja is the name of the
app of you're a truck driver looking that up at
the moment, Is it easy for key Wes just to
whip across the ditch and start driving over there? Sort
of what sort of.

Speaker 10 (31:42):
Heard the licenses over there? Actually, they've got a license
system that is across Australia in terms of this kind
of the class of licenses actually.

Speaker 9 (31:56):
All are the same.

Speaker 10 (31:57):
The difference between New Zealand licenses and Australia is that
you've got your Class one, which is a car license
class too, which is a rigid, Class four which is
a big rigid.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Three is a.

Speaker 10 (32:08):
Small combination, but most people go to the Class five
for the combination vehicles because after Class four is your
sort of you know, your big heavy truck and trailers,
and so we go up to Class five here in
New Zealand. But in Australia they've got like this additional
class called a multi combination, which is your big road trains.
If anyone's seen out back truckers or anything like that,

(32:28):
there's just these yeah, monster big.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Trains of trailers behind the truck.

Speaker 10 (32:36):
And that's that's the only really additional class that doesn't
completely transition when you go from your New Zealand license
to Australian license, But you can get it converted in
about a day over there. I mean, obviously if you're there,
you can drive on a holiday without having to change
your license, but it transition it over to using it commercially.

(32:57):
You can do abo about a day course and get
that transition, so it's fairly simple. And because of that,
you know, there's some pretty good pathways to get between
New Zealand and Australia for all the additional work that's
over there, and especially if it's fly and fly out,
you know you under a couple of weeks and then
come home.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Well done, look well done. It sounds like an exciting
opportunity that you've tapped into.

Speaker 9 (33:20):
There.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
Thank you, body Vetti there with road Ninja. For those
coming through on the text machine. What's the name of
the app Roman, It's road Ninja. But just don't go
to Australia please, If you just don't, thank you. I'll
get to your feedback soon. And did you know what
else is coming up very soon? Here on the Sunday
session thirteen to ten on News Talk SEDB, putting.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
The tough questions to the newspakers the mic asking breakfast.

Speaker 11 (33:44):
Turns out the United States now our second biggest export market.
Were once Australia was everything. Now it's third, so China,
the US and now Australian trade mins to top mcloys.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Well, there's look, I think.

Speaker 12 (33:51):
There's softness in the Australian market. So that's helped us
through to sort of our trade, but it's still very
very important to us about what's happened in America. As
they are consuming more and as their economy is growing quickly,
they're looking towards many countries in the world and New Zealand. Incidentally,
although this isn't to do with President Trump. When he
became president last time, our trade with the US grew
very very quickly, and although there's a bit of uncertainty

(34:12):
about what he might or might not do around tariffs,
my prediction is New Zealand x waders will do very
very well in the US market.

Speaker 11 (34:19):
Back tomorrow at six am The Mike Hosking Breakfast with
the rain Drover of Bela News talks edby Keep It's.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Simple, It's Sunday, The Sunday Session with Winkles for the
best selection of Greg Reeds used talks edby.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Nine to ten. It's the Sunday Session. Roman Travis in
for Francesca, who's having a well deserved break man. The
text machine that's gone absolutely bonkers with all of your
feedback predominantly around the mining thing, a lot of people
putting a lot of thought into that. Let's get to
some of those texts. Dirty mining how about dirty tourism,
Roman Queenstown pumping sewage into the river Lake Harware. They're

(35:04):
trucking the sewage out of new subdivisions there, traffic, congestion,
accommodation problems. No thanks, A couple of holes in the bush.
So greenies can use their cell phones and solar panels.
Go for it, employ the regions and bug of these
whiners on pushbikes. You've ready covered everything with this one,
haven't you. You've got your money's worth on nine two

(35:25):
ninety two. Why do all these greens always sound so hysterical?
I thought it was a very calm conversation. I think
it's you on the text that sounds a little bit deranged,
Barry says Roman and co. From where do you imagine
raw minerals come from? No mining at all, No raw
minerals to build things carefully done? Mining is appropriate and necessary,

(35:47):
chairs sees Barry. Good on your bazzer, Roman. I live
in an area where mining is due to accelerate and
tourism is extensive. I work in social services and the
most significant problem I see from clients is non affordable
housing and living costs. Tourism pays to the minimum wage
and people are not confirmed full time hours of work.

(36:11):
I guess that is a problem for those and tourism
isn't it Roman bonkers? Okay, we need to mind to
get this country out of the stook. You're stuck in
the past with your ideology that mining is bad. Modern
practices restore the land back to better conditions. How can
it be better? Don't be stupid. It restores the land

(36:32):
back to better conditions than prior to mining. Oh, you've
read too many mining brochures. If you want first world
hospitals and infrastructure, tourism will not do it. You have
you forgot about the nasty cold floating around a few
years ago? What tourism was it? Much help? Then? I
have cattle mustard on six stations in the pilbor near

(36:53):
a Port Headland, and the land was vast and beautiful,
and we even had iron ore and copper mines on
some of the stations. That was not a blike to
the landscape, says Mike. She once again, you seem to
have covered everything with that one too, gid A Raman
Catherine de la Hunty for Prime Minister. Wow, really the

(37:14):
points If the okay is given now, it wouldn't be
for ten years till we saw returns to us. It's
a big one, cheers, says Charlie, opposed to the mining.
Sort of like fifty to fifty on this one, isn't
it really? I think some people haven't put a lot
of thought into it. The thought that it can be
better after mining, that seems mental. Keep your feedback coming
in on nine two nine two.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Keep It's simple.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
It's Sunday, the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutgotter and Wiggles
for the best selection of great Reads News Talk senv.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
It's the Sunday Session. Roman travers with you and after
I'm very excited. I can hardly control myself. I've actually
watched both episodes of a brand new series that Miriam
Margoli's film that she drove around New Zealand, and it
is epic. I'm going to be speaking with Miriam Margolige
just after the news. She met all sorts of amazing people.
She met farmers, she met gang members, she nuns. Yes,

(38:07):
she met some nuns, and that's because she's also practicing
for the role of being a nun in an upcoming movie.
So Miriam Margolis after the News at ten and also,
of course we've got the Emmy's coming up and or
the Grammys. Actually Steve Newell will talk about that, all
sorts of nominations there that you'll be interested in all
that and more and more of your feedback. But look,

(38:27):
don't go anywhere because Miriam Margali's she's really naughty and
a heap of fun. As you'll be speaking with me
next here on the Sunday session News Talks here below.

Speaker 13 (38:39):
Now come take it to the phone now and down,
as I cannot do with you.

Speaker 9 (38:54):
A shot.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
Welcome this Sunday session with Witkles for the best selection
of great reads US talk set.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Be welcome back to Roman Travers on the Sunday session
in for Francesca Rudkin this week. Look, I'm not sure
if you're aware, but legendary British Australian actress Miriam Margolis
has spent quite a bit of time in our country
over the past twelve months. The Harry Potter actress has
done a stage tour, voice work and filmed a new movie,

(39:33):
Holy Days. But despite living in only three hours away
in Sydney, Miriam didn't know a whole lot about our country.
So while here she got a camper van at a
film group and set off exploring. And you know what,
I think we've won her over. The result of her
travels is a new show screening on Sky Open this week.
It's called Miriam Marghli's in New Zealand. The Delightful Miriam

(39:54):
Marghliese joins me from Italy. I assume, Miriam from your
country home in Tuscany, A very good morning to you.

Speaker 14 (40:02):
Thank you very much, and that is correct.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
I was surprised that you've never filmed here before, and
even more surprised that you didn't know an awful lot
about New Zealand when you only lived three hours away. Sometimes,
how was this possible?

Speaker 14 (40:14):
No, I have been many times to New Zealand because
I've got family in remo Era, but I didn't know
about the country. I've never sort of examined it and
certainly never tried to compare it to Australia. But this
time I was professionally interested. I wanted to see, you know,

(40:35):
what gives in New Zealand, what happens, what makes it different?
And so yes, I came with an object in view,
and it was. It was a fascinating experience.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
It really was, and can I say, I've watched the episodes.
I was lucky enough to be treated to a couple
of episodes and I really enjoyed it. So you actually
did film quite a bit here last year, the film
That's Traveled tour and you also tour at a stage
show and you voiced bad Jelly from here also believe
So are we winning you? Are we winning you over?
Can you see yourself buying a home somewhere in New

(41:12):
Zealand at some point?

Speaker 14 (41:13):
Well, look, I'm eighty three and I don't think that
I'm going to start buying property anywhere. But if I'd
come to New Zealand first, I would definitely have settled here.
I mean in New Zealand, definitely. I've gone off of Australia.
That's the truth.

Speaker 9 (41:33):
Really. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
Was it the people or the food or a combination.

Speaker 14 (41:38):
I think the main reason was because of the result
of the referendum vote. That shook me. And I just
think that somehow there is a sweetness and a surprise
about New Zealand. It's unusual and it's not Americanized, and

(42:01):
Australia is very Americanized, and that I don't like.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
No, And I think if the nail on the head.
The culture of New Zealand does seem to be quite
I guess it's more British and the Australians tend to
be more American than their outlook. But what is it
Once you finished the tour here, once you finished your
work here last year, what did you see is the
key fundamental differences between Australians and New Zealanders.

Speaker 14 (42:23):
I think the New Zealand has become very proud of
their Maori people and the traditions, and that they are
welcoming the language much more than, you know, than Australians
do with their first nation people. And I think there
is an extraordinary wild beauty in the country that took

(42:49):
me by surprise. I saw things, you know, I hadn't
been on a tourist tour and I was dazzled by
New Zealand. I thought it was remarkable.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
How did you find our Rhodes Marine? Because I noticed
in the series that you're actually doing a lot of
driving of the biggest camp van in the world. How
is it for you not trying to look at the
views and look at the road signs and be a
good driver.

Speaker 14 (43:15):
Well, I'm not a good driver, and it's bloody difficult driving, actually,
especially when you've got cameras looking at you as you're talking.
And I find I do find that really awful because
what I like is talking to people. That's the thing
that gives me the thrill. I love talking to people

(43:36):
and asking questions. That's the bit that pleases me. That's
the bit of the documentary that I enjoy. The driving
is something I have to do, and it has to
be a big van because I must have a loo
and must have a toilet with me, you know, And
that's why. And I tell you if if if the

(43:58):
loo was a bit bigger and the car was a
bit smaller, I'd be very happy.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
So how long were you in the each day?

Speaker 14 (44:07):
Oh? Well, I mean I only I only did the driving.
I don't you know. I do travel with a team, obviously,
it's not just me. It's one of the things that
really irritates me about television is that they don't acknowledge
that there is a camera man and somebody with a
zoom and a sound person.

Speaker 9 (44:25):
You know.

Speaker 14 (44:25):
I'm not traveling all alone. That would be impossible. And
I don't sleep in the van. I sleep in fairly
inexpensive hotels. I'm too old to be climbing upstairs and
throwing myself on divan beds over the cabin. And that's
not going to work for me. But now I suppose,

(44:46):
you know, two or three hours a day I would drive,
But when you're when you're setting up a conversation with people,
you can't. You can't be exhausted driving. And you know,
I'm an old lady and I'm a cripple. I can
hardly walk. And it was a bloody good thought thing
that I could. She reached the pedals about them. That

(45:08):
was the thing that really worried me, that I wasn't
going to be able to drive it because my legs
are so short, but I managed.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
I did notice in one scene there you've pulled up
in Wellington. You're in a camping area on the waterfront,
and there you are sitting in your lovely little camping
deck chair thing and you're reading the fabulous Michael kingbook,
A Penguin History of New Zealand, and you've inspired me.
I'm now reading that now for the second time an
episode two. Though your references to New Zealand history come
from an iPad, did you actually finish reading the Michael

(45:38):
King book?

Speaker 14 (45:39):
No, I haven't finished it. I've still got it. I've
got it with me. It's a long, huge book, and
it would have taken me weeks and weeks to finish it.
But I read all the chapters. I just didn't read
all of the chapters.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
Yeah, gotcha. It is a big book. And even for
the second time round, I'm learning stuff that I thought
i'd taken in the first time but clearly hadn't. Now,
you did go to Hobbiton, but you decide that you're
not a fan of fantasy and that you haven't seen
the films. But did Hobbiton the visit? Did that soften
your stance on fantasy a little bit?

Speaker 14 (46:16):
It didn't soften my stance on fantasy. I don't like fantasy,
and I think we're all far too involved with that
nonsense of Game of Thrones and you know, rubbish like that.
I can't stand all that. But I really would have
liked to have moved into one of the Hobbiton houses.

(46:36):
They're just right for me, and I thought the whole
thing was delightful. I really enjoyed being there. I think
it's a great day out, and because it fits so
perfectly in the landscape so that it's real. It didn't
feel fantasy. It felt real, and that's what I liked.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
Yeah, throughout the series, I noticed you mentioned a few things.
It really stuck out for me.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Now.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
One of them was saying that you, as a young schoolgirl,
you actually met Tolkien. How significant was that mating for you.

Speaker 14 (47:09):
I didn't think it was particularly significant because he was
just the father of one of the girls at school.
It was the Oxford High School. He was an Oxford professor,
and he came to talk to us about about the world,
the Anglo Saxon world, from which he invented he culled
the bits that he could use in his fiction. He was,

(47:33):
you know, a very typical professor with a jacket with
leather elbows. I thought he was, you know, a nuns
chat but you don't really relate to people's fathers, So
I didn't think of it as terribly important. But it was,
I do remember, and we were all thrilled by it.

(47:53):
I'm not going to pretend to you. I never pretend
about things. I'll just tell you as it was.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
So.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
One of the reasons that you were here, of course,
was to film the movie Holy Days, the movie based
on Dame Joy Cowley's novel tell Us about the filming
of that movie and playing the role of a nun,
it sounds hilarious. You were playing in New Zealander? How
did you find?

Speaker 14 (48:15):
I was not playing a New Zealander? Very early on
that there was no point in my attempting a New Zealand.
It's far too difficult. I wouldn't dream of it. So
I was Scottish, as I know well, and I can do.
I can do accurately because my father was Scottish, so

(48:37):
I was Scottish. Judy Davis was Irish, and Jackie was Australian.
So it was a nice little trio of old nuns.
I was by far the oldest and the dottiest.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
I love it. I love it because I've got all
these questions about a New Zealand accident, and we can
just scrub all that, cowboy, can you?

Speaker 14 (48:56):
I would scrub that if I were you, all right.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
I'm going to put you on the spot here. You
can feel free to say no, of course, but if
I was to ask you to say.

Speaker 14 (49:02):
I'm going to say no right away. Don't even ask
me to attempt it, okay, because it would be absurd.
It would absurd. I would need a long time to
get near a New Zealand accent. And I'm not going
to make fun of it. And I'm not going to
make fun of myself.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
No, I understand that too much respect.

Speaker 14 (49:21):
For the for the accent to make a mess of it.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
That's actually quite lovely, Mariam, because I've heard several actors
on various movies and TV shows trying to do a
New Zealand accent and it just sounds what the hicck
are you doing to our You know, we love our accent.
We can understand ourselves. You can clearly understand me, so
you know, thank you. It's very respectful.

Speaker 14 (49:42):
No, of course I do respect it, and I'm not
going to and I respect myself and I'm not going
to attempt something that I know I will fail at. Yes,
that is not going to work for me.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
Brilliant. All right, Let's move on to you being a nun.
I can see you being a nun. You visited a
monastery and you did actually meet with some nuns. Now
you meet with Sister Miriam Joseph. What are the odds
of meeting a nun with the same name you didn't
hide the fact that you're an atheist. How did you
feel being in that situation and what kind of experience
was that for you having Can I say no faith?

(50:16):
I don't want to presume you have no faith.

Speaker 14 (50:18):
No, I have no faith.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
Oh.

Speaker 14 (50:21):
I come from a Jewish background, and I do observe
some of the Jewish traditions, but I don't believe in God,
and I find the whole contemplative life puzzling and perhaps
a waste of time. I just don't agree with it particularly,
But I couldn't fault the character of the people that

(50:44):
I met. I thought that the nuns that I met
were remarkable women. They were intelligent, forceful, and they deeply
believed in what they were doing. And it was a
beautiful place, one of the most beautiful places I saw
in Australia. And I would go there again and have

(51:07):
a retreat so that I didn't have to talk to anybody.
I would just go and be silent and think. But
I don't really believe that being a nun is a
sensible thing to be.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
So what did you take from the visit? Because Sister
Mariam Joseph, she wasn't like a battle ex but she
was certainly quite the straight shooter, wasn't she.

Speaker 14 (51:27):
Oh she was wonderful. Yeah, she was a great character,
very forceful and very convinced of her position. And I'm
not going to try to shake someone's faith. Well I couldn't,
it would be impossible. But I just don't think that
religion is sensible. I just can't get my head round it. So,

(51:52):
I mean, what can I tell you. I had to
act to none, and I had to believe and pretend
to believe, but I honestly think it's a load of
nonsense and that's the truth.

Speaker 9 (52:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Well, you and I have lived long and have to
know that. Too often, and I know that you know
what I'm talking about here. Too often religion as used
as an excuse to be totally barbaric. But that's another
topic for another day. How did you find your Yeah,
how did you find your travel around New Zealand? I
noticed that you were using a walker and your head
walking sticks at times. Was it a hard graft for

(52:27):
you for the whole trip?

Speaker 14 (52:28):
It was bloody hard. You know, I'm eighty three and
I'm I've got spinal stenosis and osteoporosis and I can
barely walk. But I'm curious. I don't want to stop.
I want to go on. I want to talk to people,
I want to learn things. I want to I want
to find out what's happening. And New Zealand is a
country that's on the move. It's not a static place.

(52:51):
It's a place where things are happening, where people are
discovering their traditions and reinforcing them. And it's also a
place where people are not greedy. I didn't I didn't
have the senses I do in our Australia that everything
they want to tear down everything and build flats and
and development. I felt that there was a caring for

(53:16):
the for the planet there, even with the farmers, who
who I really enjoyed meeting them, because of course I
disagree profoundly with what they the way they see the world,
but I just love talking to them. I do feel
that it's a place of movement. It's not sitting back

(53:40):
on itself. It's it's it's interested in itself New Zealand,
and it's watching itself. It's it's quite They like talking
about New Zealand. People are proud of it, not just
the sports, which of course is terribly important, but the
way the country itself is evolving into the modern world,

(54:05):
and there are so many different people coming into the country,
and I think it's where I would like to end up.
I thought I would have ended up in Australia. I'm
not going to end up in Australia. That's not going
to happen. I'll probably end up in Italy, but if
I could mind ending up in New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
One thing you do say at the conclusion, it is
what you do in a community that makes it special.
So how different does that to where you live, whether
it's Italy, Britain or Australia. How different is that?

Speaker 14 (54:38):
I think? Where are the people that I put myself
with feel like that we want to be part of
a community wherever I am, and I think New Zealand
feels that more than Australia. It's there, are there. It's
not overwhelmed by well by America. I feel the American

(55:02):
influence has been dreadful around the world, so that may
not be what people particularly want to hear, but New
Zealand is forging its own way and that's what I.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
Like nicely said Miriam, It's been an absolute pleasure meeting
you and talking with you and all the very best
with wherever you decide to settle.

Speaker 14 (55:26):
Thank you, thank you for that. I haven't settled yet.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
Oh what a delight that was The actress Miriam Marghlies.
Her new travel show Miriam Marghli's in New Zealand is
on Sky Open from the ninth of this month, February,
from half past seven in the evening. Ah, what a delight.
Remember after eleven, We've got a brand new author to
introduce to you, Jeff Parks. He's lived a very interesting
life as well, from working in abattoirs and sharing sheep

(55:54):
to working as an executive in a fortune five hundred company.
He's now turned his hand to fiction writing Rural Noir.
And I can tell you all about his book because
I've read most of it. It is fabulous. I'll be
speaking him after eleven. We've also got some of his
books to give away, but that's not till after eleven.
Up next at Steve Nule Talking Entertainment. There's a lot
to get through as well, at the Sundance Film Festival,

(56:18):
the Grammys, all that to come, and we're here on
the Sunday session twenty four past ten Us Talks edb.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Relax, it's still the weekend.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
It's the Sunday Session with Wickles for the best selection
of great reads used Talks edb.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
Twenty seven past ten. So there are two things often
top of many people's minds, finding a great summer book
to read and getting ready for the kids to go
back to school. That's why Whitkeles have produced a catalog
which helps with both of those things. There's a great
selection of some ofer favorite books showcasing the very best
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with everything for back to school the stationary students need.

(56:56):
It's all there, all the fantastic prices there too, which
help with getting your kids set up for the new year,
and we'll save you lots of money too. You can
see the catalog online or one up at the store,
and you can order your school stationary online by click
and collect or by visiting a whit Calls store where
their friendly staff will be happy to help you. Whit
Calls the home of back to School.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
The Sunday Session.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
Twenty eight past ten. Time to talk entertainment with Steve Newll.
Morning to you, Steve good Monic. Big news, Big news
from the Sundance Film Festival.

Speaker 15 (57:46):
That's right. So this year's festival is drawing to a
close with the announcement of all of the awards from
Sundance obviously are still kind of the most prestigious indie
film festival in the world. The Grand Jury prize went
to a drama called a Tropia about a relationship romantic
relationship that derails a training exercise. But the big news

(58:07):
for New Zealand listeners is that documentary Prime Minister, described
as a view inside the life of former New Zealand
Prime Minister Jasinda Adurn, capturing her through five tumultuous years
in power and beyond as she redefined leadership on the
world stage, has won the Audience Award for Best Documentary
at the festival. This film covers Dame de Cinder's time

(58:28):
as leader for five years and it features home video
a lot of home video shop by Clark Gayford and
also unheard audio clips recorded by the Alexander Turnbull Library's
Political Diaries project. Yes, looks she's been on the charm
offensive in Sundance. Look forward to seeing this doco later
this year. Sort of has New Zealand International Film Festival

(58:51):
written all over it.

Speaker 12 (58:51):
Hope it does.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
It'll be a smash it here in New Zealand. People
will be queuing up for that one.

Speaker 15 (58:55):
I mean one way or the other.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
Yeah, yeah, they will. Oh the Grammys there on the
way to what there's so much, there's so many awards
on at the moment. How do you keep up with
little wool and what's happening at the Grammys exactly?

Speaker 15 (59:08):
And it is a bit tricky to keep up because
they're not all televised or at useful helpful times of
the day. So in the case of the Grammys, this
kicks off at two pm tomorrow, so it's a Monday
afternoon show for New Zealanders who it's probably not the
ideal time to watch a bunch of musicians receive awards,
make speeches and have the odd performance. But this year
Beyonce leads to the nominations. This year, she has eleven names,

(59:30):
including Record Album of the Year and Best Country Album,
following closely Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Charlie x ex and
Post Malone with seven nominations each. Charlie XX, of course
headlining this week's Laneway Festival in Tamackimikodo. This is happening
on Waitangi Day this Thursday. Incredible time to have a

(59:51):
festival headlined by currently one of the biggest acts in
the pop world, but also on the laneway. Bill be
remissed to not mention Claro, who is also up for
a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album for Charm. Grammy's
not streaming available, but I'm sure get to see some
highlight clips from the event. Performing at the event are

(01:00:13):
Billie Eilish Chapel Roane, a very strong nominee this year,
alongside Charlie XCX, Shakira, Sabrina Carpenter and Teddy Swan. So
I think probably just stay tuned to YouTube or other
ways of finding little excerpts of that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
Yeah, because I work on news talks thereb I don't know.
I think I knew about three of those names you
just mentioned. The Beatles put out a new track, of course,
I love that new Beatles song.

Speaker 15 (01:00:37):
Yeah, it does seem that that's probably a shechwan, because
who wouldn't in the Recording Academy vote for the Beatles.
But is the Beatles and AI the Beatles.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
Or Yeah, it's a fair question, I guess.

Speaker 15 (01:00:48):
I mean, I think it's like it's a as an exercise,
it's a great exercise. But I'd feel for the artists
that are nominated and up against the Beatles in any
category in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
What about you, with your preferences, with your taste in music,
Who are you hoping does well at this year's Grammys.

Speaker 15 (01:01:05):
I think that Beyonce as a deserving winner in a
number of categories. Charlie XCX's bratt album defined pop music
last year. I think that that she will have a strong,
hopefully a strong show at the Grammys, but maybe the
brit Awards is maybe where she's more likely to pick
up a bunch of awards for that album. But also

(01:01:25):
it's been a huge year for Sabrina Carpenter in twenty
four kind of just really has one song under her belt,
but that's a song that goes a long way Espresso
and Chapel Rohan. I think we're seeing the dawning of
a pretty significant artist for the medium term as well. Also,
one thing on note is obviously news Stork zb is
the home of rap battles and hip hop fans. But

(01:01:47):
Kendrick Lamar's feud with Drake last year really I think
pushed him to some of his most incisive and impulsive songs.
He's up for a couple of awards at the Grammys.
He is a strong candidate to win those. Drake is
touring in Australasia, so he's nowhere near all right, So from.

Speaker 3 (01:02:12):
Your point of view, who should be there? That isn't
there this time round?

Speaker 15 (01:02:16):
Hey, that's a hard one. The Grammys is always tricky
because it definitely reflects an orthodox view of the music industry.
You know, you kind of keep seeing every time Metallica
put it put a record out, Metallica is nominated, you know,
as a metal act. It reflects heritage. But I think
as far as outliers go, he only got to make

(01:02:36):
this album because he was in the outcast. But Andre
three thousand's Flute album, which is a great listen. It's
a huge left turn in a career. It's meditative and buzzy.
There really shouldn't be any way that this is up
for a bunch of big awards. It is, and I'm
really happy about it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
So were now. The Grammy's again started.

Speaker 15 (01:02:56):
This is on Monday at two pm. There's some red
carpet and pre performance coverage starting from like eleven or
twelve tomorrow. I believe that's going to be on YouTube.
You're the main ceremony itself, unfortunately will not at the stage.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
Very exciting, very exciting, especially that just sinda a durn doc. Oh,
that's going to really be a blockbuster. Here Steve Newell,
the editor of flis dot code ont is here, thanks
for your time this one you too. Doctor Michelle Dickinson's
just about to come into the studio. We're going to
be talking polar bears. Why. We'll find out soon. Twenty
seven to eleven. It's the Sunday session used Talks EDB.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks EDB.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
Twenty three to eleven. Roman travers in for Francesca Rudkin
and doctor Michelle Dickinson joins me in the studio. I
can't believe we're talking about one of my favorite beers,
Polar Bears.

Speaker 16 (01:03:48):
Polar Bears, Roman, good morning. I have a question for you. Yes,
you probably haven't cuddled a polar bear, but everybody at home,
if you're listening, if you were to cuddle a friendly
polar bear, think about how it might feel. What do
you think it's fur would feel like. Ask your kids
how it would feel and they'd probably say soft and fluffy.

Speaker 9 (01:04:04):
Yes.

Speaker 16 (01:04:05):
So search out this week in the journal Science Advances,
and it is an open source journal, so you can
go and look at it for free. If you once
got some lovely pictures of polar bethera and it has
found that they're not soft and fluffy at all. If
you were to cuddle a polar bear, it is really greasy.
And I hadn't thought about this, but this is the
first time it's been discovered, and they're greasy for a

(01:04:27):
really specific reason. So think about where polar bears live.
It's one of the harsher environments in the world. They're
a mammal. They need to stay warm. And we knew
that polar bears do this because they have the thick
fur and they have a lot of fat and that
fat keeps them warm. But what people hadn't thought about
is they're they're the only mammal that dive into the
water to fish and then come back out. And so

(01:04:49):
if we were to do that, not only would be
cold when we came back out, our hair would freeze
because the water on a hair would freeze and somebody
noticed that polar bears fur doesn't freeze, and they're like,
hold on, wait, has neverden thought about this? So somebody
took six different samples of wild polar bear skin that
were donated to science and ran some really simple experiments

(01:05:09):
on them. The experiments were one was an ice adhesion test,
how well does ice stick to it? Number two is
how hydrophobic it is, so how well does water run
off or pull up? Hoop hoozzle? And third was is
there a freezing time delay? So how long if you
get out of the water does it take for your
hair or your fur to freeze. And what they found
is polar bears are amazing. They have basically further ice

(01:05:33):
slides off and ice can't form one wow. And they
found that once they washed the polar bears fur, it
had the same properties as human hair. It's rubbish. So
there's something in the polar bez first, so they were like, well,
what could it be? And they did this chemical analysis
and basically it's grease. It's called sea bumb We produce it.
How your hair gets greasy, They produce it, and they

(01:05:53):
chemically analyze the seed burn and found that it's exactly
the same as ours. Apart from so our hair has
got cholesterol in it, fatty acids, glyceols, there's one chemical
that's missing, and it's called squalene. Now, squalene is a
fatty substance that's found in our hair. It's found in
most aquatic mammals seotters, for example. It was not there

(01:06:15):
and they think the lack of squaling is what makes
this amazing grease that coats the polar bears, which stops
them number one having ice stick to it, but number
two makes them slide really well on ice. And they
need to do this because the way that polar bears
eat is they do something called still hunting, where they
sit really patiently next to the breathing hole of a seal,

(01:06:36):
waiting for the breathing hole to be filled with the seal,
and then they can slide really quickly but silently because
of this grease into the hole and get their seal
for their dinner.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
Oh and please don't tell me they stink as well?
Do they stink?

Speaker 16 (01:06:50):
So this grease is quite stinky because everything sticks to it.
Imagine yourself with really greasy hair, having not washed it
for two weeks. You don't smell great. Yeah, that's your
polar bear. Pretty fishy, pretty stinky, not as soft and
fluffy as you might imagine.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
Disappointing, but you know that's the world and television. You know,
you don't get the feel or the smell on television.
Of course, you grow up thinking polar beer is a
lovely and cuddley and so we can people read about this.

Speaker 16 (01:07:13):
It's a journal Science Advance as it came out this week.
There's some lovely little pictures of like ice cubes that
they're trying to stick the fur too, and some of
the different fur types. But yeah, it's a lovely open
source journal. And yeah, next time you look at a
polar bearon a docco, just take a closer look at it,
sir and understand that it's super greasy and stinks.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Yeah, that's fascinating good stuff. Thank you so much, doctor
Michelle Dickinson. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Thank you.
What do you do with eggplants? All begins? We used
to call them eggplants? Now well, Mike vander Elsen has
a great recipe next here on the Sunday Session twenty
to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
There's no better way to start your Sunday it's the
Sunday Session with Francesca Rutkin and Wiggles for the best
selection of Greg reads US talks.

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
It'd be time to talk food. I love my food
and Mike vander Elsen has websites it's good food from scratch,
dot co, dot n z. Now, Mike, I didn't realize,
I know all my night shades. I thought tomatoes potatoes,
but the orbergine is in that family too, it is.

Speaker 6 (01:08:12):
It is a twitter like.

Speaker 7 (01:08:13):
I'm doing a bit of research on it yesterday.

Speaker 6 (01:08:16):
And whilst that's termed as a vegetable, technically it's also
a berry.

Speaker 3 (01:08:22):
Get out of here.

Speaker 6 (01:08:23):
Don't ask me why. It's something to do with the
seeds and saw of them. I'm sure there's someone else
out there that would know better than what I would.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
Wow, that's weird, isn't it. What would you do with
an orbergine these days?

Speaker 6 (01:08:35):
Well, I was going to I was going to quiz
you romance, but you jump the gun on naming the vegetable,
so I was going to go. It's most commonly purple
with a spongy texture. It's used globally in very different
culinary creations. The Greeks bacon and their mousaka. The French
included in their classic latatui and the Turks use it

(01:08:56):
and probably one of my favorite dishes. And I was
tossing it whether to do this this today or this
one that's coming right now. It's called in the am.
It is the less shack yum spiced curried eggplant Yum?

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
Is it really tricky and fancy pants? Will it just
take me days and days?

Speaker 9 (01:09:15):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:09:15):
Okay, maybe I'll do it next week. What do you
reckon if we're if we're still on eggplant trails, I'll
do in the next week.

Speaker 3 (01:09:23):
Okay, all right?

Speaker 9 (01:09:24):
So what else?

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
What are we doing today with the with the auberginea eggplant?
Why do we change the name from allbergine to eggplant?

Speaker 7 (01:09:31):
Well?

Speaker 6 (01:09:32):
I think aubergine is the French culinary term for it.
The eggplant is probably the English slash American coulory term
for it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:38):
Okay, all right, So what are we doing this?

Speaker 6 (01:09:40):
The corset and the zucchini very nice?

Speaker 3 (01:09:45):
Yeah, that's true. I love those two.

Speaker 9 (01:09:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:09:48):
Okay, So smoky marinated eggplant with a yoga dressing. Does
that sounds jolly delicious on a Sunday afternoon. Take two
egg can't cut in length ways one centimeter sick. I
just take the board, doesn't matter. Just get some some
flower or brush it on there. Heat up your barb
cure and will fire really hot. And then put your

(01:10:09):
sliced eggplants onto them and then color them up until
they wow colored and tend to take them off setting
into a side and then into a blender. You want
to put a cup of fresh oregano leaves. They're around
plentiful at the moment, two cups of coriander leaves, half
a teaspoon of smoke puppreg and that's the smoky element.
We're adding in three closes of garlic, the juice of
one ready juicy lemon, some bleaky salt and chili that's

(01:10:33):
been de seated, three tablespoons of olive oil. Chuck that
into a blend that blitz it all up, and then
rub that all over your chargrelled egg clant and allow
that to marinate for at least thirty minutes. The dressing
super simple. Take one hundred and fifty grands of playing yogurt,
add two teaspoons of tahini taste, two closes of garlic
that's been crushed up, and then westkin two tablespoons of

(01:10:55):
olive oil and maybe a pinch of salt. Once the
airclants be marinated, you're good to go. So use that
sorrunpuck on the side of the road and all these
cars suddenly decided use it to as in a compliment
to maybe some grilled fish, maybe some tuna, maybe some salmon,
maybe some chicken, or even just some grilled halloomi, or

(01:11:17):
use it as a salad by its olf stand alone.
It is honestly, try this romance and come back to
me with what you think, because I think it's just sensation.

Speaker 3 (01:11:26):
It does sound absolutely delicious. I think a lot of
people are making this up. But I think a lot
of people walk into the supermarket and they stare at
the aubergines and then they walk along and they grab broccoli.
And to have a good, simple recipe like this that
you can actually make and really enjoy, this might inspire
people to get back into the love of the aubergine.
What do you reckon?

Speaker 6 (01:11:45):
Yeah, I think so, and go on to the days
where you know, we need to soak our aubergines like
sliced aubergines and salt to draw out the bits. Because
they've grown the business out of the ubergine, so that
steps no longer required, So don't be afraid of.

Speaker 3 (01:11:58):
The aubergine exactly. I love this and I actually am
genuinely going to try this because I'm a big fan
of the aubergine. I love the my Bubba ganush and
stuff like that. Now, Mike, is this available on your website?

Speaker 6 (01:12:09):
Yeah? Good, some stats or it'll be on new some todays.

Speaker 3 (01:12:11):
Oh yeah, brilliant. Good on you, Mike van Dervelsen. There,
Vanda Elisen, what a beautiful recipe. If you don't like allbuurgeini,
if you never try to try doing something like this
and go to good from scratch dot co dot nz
to grab that right. So Erin O'Hara, she's an absolute
wellness guru and she's joining me next and she's going
to talk about the social media experts. Are they experts?

Speaker 9 (01:12:31):
Are they?

Speaker 3 (01:12:32):
Let's find out very soon here on the Sunday Session
eight two eleven.

Speaker 2 (01:12:37):
There's no better way to start your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
It's the Sunday Session with Wiggles for the best selection
of Greg reves'se talks'd be.

Speaker 3 (01:12:46):
Welcome back to the Sunday Session. Roman Travis in for
Francesca Rudkin erin O'Hara, morning to you.

Speaker 9 (01:12:52):
Good money.

Speaker 3 (01:12:52):
Now, for those that don't know you're a natural path.
You hold a Bachelor of Science and Physiology and a
Bachelor of Natural Medicine. You're pretty qualified. And I love
this because often we turn to he says, feeling quite
guilty social media and all these things popping up and
telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing. How
many people do you reckon are falling for the health

(01:13:13):
food crazes and supplements that are advertised on social media.

Speaker 17 (01:13:17):
I think there's a lot of the younger generation in particular,
where they get all their information for living in health
on social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok, And it has
a lot of concern because a lot of the people
that are posting on the social media channels, they don't
always have credentials that actually give them that good credential

(01:13:39):
to actually promote health products or supplements or diets. However,
they're doing it anyway, and there's a lot of social
influence on that.

Speaker 3 (01:13:47):
But how are you supposed to know when someone's wearing
the latest beautiful exercise gear and they're a supermodel and
they look like they know what they're talking about. They
tell you they've got a PhD in something, How are
you supposed to know?

Speaker 17 (01:13:58):
Well, that's the thing, like if you're looking at something,
whether it's a new health craze or a diet, instead
of just taking whatever they're sharing on their social media,
instead actually looking at it and going is that actually
the right thing for me? And actually working out maybe
doing your own research, whether you do a little Google
search or one of my favorite places for doing research

(01:14:21):
is PubMed, which is where you'll find like all the
medical research and nutrition studies and all sorts of things
on there. But it's good to actually do your own
research rather than using social media as your research platform,
because it's not.

Speaker 3 (01:14:35):
Is it a bit dangerous though you say do your
own research. Most of us don't have PhDs and anything,
so how are you supposed to know? And there's not
a lot of scientific evidence for a lot of vitamins,
for example, is there they say things like this may help,
It might be good for don't they?

Speaker 17 (01:14:50):
Yeah, there is a little bit of that, And I
think that's where you're like getting some advice, whether it's
going to a nutrition's dietitian, natural path or even discuss
with ther Adoctor before implementing any new health plans, because
the thing is with all this online sort of marketing
is there's that perception of like there's the visually engaging

(01:15:11):
content as well as that social pressure of everybody's taking
this product. So I'm going to take it to also
that sort of what they call echo chambers where everything
you're looking at because there's the algorithms also online is
that you'll get more of that content, so not actually
using it in that way, but also there's a lack
of readily available scientific evidence as you say, you know,

(01:15:35):
and they may contradict each other as well, like for instance,
looking at the burberine and you know, there's the TikTok
influences crazy about berberine being the natural zimpic, which you
may have heard of that one, but actually when as
a herbalist, which it is, a herb is barbary is
berberine and there's not research around that as it been

(01:15:58):
a for years for weight loss, and I personally wouldn't
use it for weight loss. So that's where actually getting
some advice before you just go down to sort of
chemist warehouse or somewhere a pharmacy and buy some products instead,
be like, Okay, is it actually used for that or
are we just sort of following whatever someone's telling us
on social media and it's actually used for something a
little bit different, because, for instance, berberine is mainly used

(01:16:21):
for like insulin regulation, but it wouldn't actually help with
weight loss, and that's not something I personally would prescribe
for weight loss.

Speaker 3 (01:16:29):
Here we go, all good stuff. Erin O'Hara, thank you
so much. Erin O'Hara, our naturopath. Here on the Sunday
session six to eleven.

Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
Grab a cover.

Speaker 1 (01:16:38):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and wid calls
for the best selection of great readings US talks.

Speaker 3 (01:16:44):
It'd be four to eleven and after eleven, boy are
Oh my lord, I'm so excited. I'm actually really genuinely
excited because the bloke I'm going to is going to
be speaking to. His name is Jeff Parks. He's written
a brand new book. It's called When the Deep Dark
Bush Swallows You Whole, and you won't want to miss this.
I'm halfway through it and I'm genuinely terrified. He writes

(01:17:05):
a really good book. To very first book so we'll
find out what's what made him write It's and what
made him center on the King Country. That's after eleven
along with the panel, and this week it's Damian Venuto
and Chris Henry with us on the Sunday Session News
Talks edvy.

Speaker 13 (01:17:22):
A please catch my guest moments, break.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
Me down like golly, it's Sunday. You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
It's the Sunday Session. We whitkles for the best election
of great Breeds.

Speaker 2 (01:18:09):
US Talk sat be.

Speaker 3 (01:18:12):
Seven past eleven. Welcome along Roman Travers in for Francesca
Rudkin this week in this hour lots to look forward to,
or got the panel with Damien Bernuto and Chris Henry.
That's always a bit contentious, a bit of a laugh sometimes.
Chris Wood's incredible seeds and continues more with Jason Pine
this hour too. Meghan Sangleton has some tips making your
travel itinery simple. Who doesn't love that? And Joe McKenzie

(01:18:35):
with the best new books to read from Wick calls
this week as well. Seven past eleven the Sunday Session.
Right now, I want to introduce you to a new
Kiwi fiction author who cv might just be one of
the most diverse I've ever seen. Jeff Parks has worked
in abattoirs and wool sheds here in New Zealand. He's
been a hay contractor, he sold insurance, and he's been

(01:18:58):
an executive of a fortune five hundred company in the
medical industry. He's also a rugby writer and now to
add another string to his he's written a novel set
in rural New Zealand. His new book, When the Deep
Dark Bush Swallows You Hole. It's coming along very highly rated,
and I'll tell you why it's highly rated, because I've

(01:19:18):
read it. Well, i'm reading and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
And to tell me more about this very very talented
author is himself Jeff Parks. He joins me live from Melbourne, GA.

Speaker 18 (01:19:28):
There, Jeff, good morning, run and thank you for that introduction.
And look, it's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
Oh, it's great to have you along. My very first
question is, after reading a lot of this book already,
how did you come up with the setting in New
Zealand a town called Nashville, Because it feels like me
when I'm reading the book, it feels almost certainly that
it's Tiawa Mutu or Ortohonga. Am I right?

Speaker 18 (01:19:55):
Well, no, you're on the right track, but not quite right.
I grew up in Tolminou and then lived there after.
I've university for a few years as well, and you know,
I'm rooted in that area, worked there in my university

(01:20:17):
holidays as a wall presser, and you know, as my
life changed, I moved to Australia thirty five years ago
and have lived here, but I've still stayed very connected
to my home region. My family is still there, and
I always felt that there was a book in there

(01:20:37):
about the district and about you know, drawing on some
of my experiences from the time there. So that's really
where the idea came from to set a book in
the king Country and have that landscape feature very strongly,
almost like a character, if you like. And then from

(01:20:59):
there it was just a matter of deciding what kind
of book it would be. I've always been interested in crime,
so those two things sort of blended together and a
plot sort of developed over a period of time, and
then that's all results in what you're reading at the moment.

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
I actually am genuinely really enjoying the book, and I
think I'm enjoying it because I have read quite a
lot of that Scandinavian dark kind of crime stuff, and
the fact that it's written about a town that I
think I know pretty well here in New Zealand makes
it very special. There are some parallels between you, I'm
picking and the main character Ryan, I was interested in
the Deer Club. Is there any factual basis on this

(01:21:40):
deer Club? Ryan and his friends challenge each other to
do some hilarious dares. Is that based on your childhood?

Speaker 12 (01:21:48):
No, it's not.

Speaker 18 (01:21:50):
Yeah, Look, it's a question of getting a fair bit
you know about how autobiographical is the book, And I
think the best thing to say is that, you know,
there's certainly elements of my experience, you know, people, events,
you know, even little snatches of dialogue, things like that.

(01:22:12):
They're dotted in the book. But you know, there's a
lot of the things. By far the majority of it
is fictional. It's just made up. And that's really the
process that was enjoyable, you know, to sit down and say, right, well,
I've got an idea because I remember this happening or
that was a funny thing or an unusual thing that

(01:22:34):
I can use for the book. But then just use
that as a base for then going off on tangents
and adding all the fictional elements. So yeah, look, there's
no question that you know, I did work a couple
of seasons and a sharing gang as a wall presser.
The main character Ryan, that is exactly the scenario for him.

(01:22:55):
But beyond that, that's really where it sort of starts
and finishes.

Speaker 3 (01:23:00):
Well, you write it in such a way that really
pulls me and and I'm sure other people will find
the same way. It falls into that category of rural noir.
Why is a rural setting so popular and I guess
so good for a crime novel.

Speaker 18 (01:23:13):
Yeah, it's it's a really good question, and I'm not
sure I had the answer. It's it's been popular for
a while now. It's extremely popular here in Australia and
authors like Jane Harper, she's really taken it to another level.
And there's quite you know a strong group of writers

(01:23:33):
in Australia and also in New Zealand that have have
tapped into that, not in any cynical way, but just
because you know, that's something they enjoy writing about and
people clearly enjoy reading about it. So you know, one thing,
when my agent submitted this book to publishers Penguin Random House.

(01:23:55):
When they took this up. That was one thing my
publishing editor said. She said that the rural no genre
is still very strong and still very popular, but this
book stood out to her because it had that point
of difference in the New Zealand landscape and all of
the authenticity that resides around that.

Speaker 3 (01:24:17):
As I mentioned in the introduction, you've had a really
varied career, which we'll touch on soon, but one of
those roles was as a wall presser, which is not
a job for the Shai, a job that you bring
to life very well in the book, and I read
two or three pages of you describing this guy pressing
the bail and the process going through it in the
shenanigans at the other shares play on him. What was

(01:24:38):
it like working in an old school wallshare back in
the eighties.

Speaker 18 (01:24:43):
Well, yeah, it was a lot of fun. I remember that.
It was also a lot of hard work. You know,
these were long days, five am starts in the shed
till five pm. You know, sometimes depending on where we
were staying in quarters, you know, there might be a
forty minute mini bus ride, so you're getting up at

(01:25:04):
four am, working twelve hours five to five, driving back
to the quarters, have a shower, have been a you know,
two beers maybe three beers and you're crashed by eight
thirty something like that. And you're doing it every day.
You know, covered sheds had just come in then, so

(01:25:24):
it was very rare to get a day off for
rain or anything like that. So yeah, look, it was
great for fitness, it was great team environment, and you
know it was a good money eun know for a student.
But it was really hard work.

Speaker 3 (01:25:43):
Did you love working in the wallshed? Do we tend
to romanticize hard work, don't we? We look back and go,
I love that work, and actual fact, it was hellish.
You had grease balls under your skin and sharers know
what grease balls are. They can be painful, can they?

Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 18 (01:25:55):
No, absolutely, Yeah, I think that's a good point about
romanticizing it, you know, in the bigger picture, yeah, it
was great, but you know, day to day again, those
long hours. You know, when you're pinning up out the
back and you're coven and sheep shit and you're under
pressure because you know you've got a bit behind you know,

(01:26:18):
you can't leave empty pens for the shearers. They don't
want to be walking in and trying to catch sheep.
They just want to grab one, and all of that's
your fault if their lives made more difficult. So you know,
there was a lot of pressure, and you know there
were times when you know that came to the surface
and the gang, but mostly you know, it was pretty good.

Speaker 3 (01:26:40):
So was the eighties wallshit experience the inspiration behind setting
the book in the eighties rather than setting it now.

Speaker 18 (01:26:47):
Yes, because around the time I finished, sort of in
the mid eighties, things were starting to change. And now
the shearing shit, it's still hard work and it's still
very similar in a lot of respects, but electric presses
were coming in and that's we made the job, the
physical side of the job a lot easier for the presses,

(01:27:11):
and the ours was shortened as well, So you know,
there were five runs during a day. Now there's four,
and they're not twelve hour days anymore. So yeah, I
was keen to sort of to show that sort of
physical side. It's an important part of the book, the
tiredness that develops over the summer, and that wouldn't have

(01:27:33):
been the case above set the book in the nineties
or in this century.

Speaker 3 (01:27:39):
One thing you describe beautifully and I've worked in woolsheads.
I've got to level two with the New Zealand will
Board in terms of sharing, so I know what you're
talking about. There's that real stark contrast between the quietness
of an empty wallshed the smell is still there, and
then when you go in, when the radio is going,
the sharers are going, the rouses are chatting away. The
difference between those two is quite special and quite different.

(01:28:01):
There's something aerie about an empty quite woolshed, isn't there. Yeah?

Speaker 18 (01:28:06):
Absolutely, and yeah, and I'm glad you've picked up on
that because that was you know, it's quite a contrast
in the book, you know, in the days when they're
working in the shed and the various events that are
going on, and then the shed also features outside of that,
you know, in the night where it's a totally different

(01:28:26):
environment and as you say, a little bit of an
eerie factor comes into it. So you know, without giving
any of the plot away, that's absolutely right, and it's
an important part of the book.

Speaker 3 (01:28:37):
Yes, everyone's a suspect. I'm only halfway through, so don't
spoil it for me. The book is when the deep
dark bush swallows you whole. And I'm speaking with the author,
Jeff Parks. Your career incredibly diverse. You've been an avatar worker,
a contractor, insurance salesman, executive manager for a fortune five
hundred company, as we mentioned, a wool presser, rugby writer,

(01:28:58):
and now a fiction writer. What's behind such diversity for you?
What's the driving force for all this change?

Speaker 18 (01:29:06):
I'm not really sure. I've just sort of fallen into
different things. Originally, when I went to university, you know,
I was looking to, you know, probably take the easiest path.
You know. My favorite subject at school was a sport
and for zed and so that seemed like an obvious

(01:29:27):
thing to do at university, which I really enjoyed. You know.
It was a great four years down in Otago, and
I think the same things happened, you know. Ever since,
I've sort of found it hard to settle into one career,
you know, for a lifetime. I've been happy to sort
of go from one thing to the other and experience

(01:29:50):
a lot of different things. And you know, and I
enjoy working at all sorts of levels, you know, in
a sharing gang, on the avatar floor or whatever. It's
all great fun and you get a lot out of
whatever you're doing. And and you know, I fell into
jobs with big American corporations in the medical industry and

(01:30:15):
got through to a pretty senior level. Less Since then,
I've gone into consultancy and dental practice ownership and all
sorts of different things. And to me, that felt like
natural progressions, not necessarily jumping around, just something that builds
on whatever was there before. And I don't even think

(01:30:35):
I'm finished yet. I'm involved with a new startup business
in artificial intelligence for dentistry, working with a lot of
younger guys or younger people in that business, and I'm
finding that very stimulating and exciting and something that I
can contribute to. So yeah, I think as long as

(01:30:58):
you know, my dad was someone that never retired or
anything like that. He just kept working and doing what
he found interesting until he couldn't. And I feel the same.

Speaker 12 (01:31:10):
You know, I'll just.

Speaker 18 (01:31:13):
Just keep going on as long as it's interesting and
I'm adding some value, then, you know, that's all I
can ask for.

Speaker 3 (01:31:20):
Look, you've done a great job. You've been a writer.
Writing's not new for you. You've been writing for twelve years.
You've been writing rugby stuff for the raw, and you've
written in a couple of books, both nonfiction. How did
you find the switch to fiction and was it something
you actually planned to do or you thought I'll have
a crack at this. I've done everything else.

Speaker 18 (01:31:38):
Yeah, I think it was sort of planned. It's always
been in the back of my mind as we talked
about earlier to write about the king Country or my region,
and so it was planned in that sense. But being
a rugby writer and doing that on a weekly basis,

(01:32:00):
have a weekly column every Monday, writing a couple of
books on that was always going to jump into fiction
at some stage. In terms of the process, I must
say it's been very enjoyable. You know, writing a nonfiction.

Speaker 2 (01:32:16):
Book is difficult.

Speaker 18 (01:32:17):
You know, there's a lot of work that goes into
fact checking, transcribing interviews, making sure that everything is one
hundred percent correct, because you know you're putting yourself out
there as an authority on the topic. But when it
comes to fiction, if you feel like you're getting stuck
or wighed down, you know, it's just different. You can

(01:32:40):
just make something up, you can just go off on
a different tangent, let a character take you where they
want to go. And I found it really liberating, you know,
and it was very, very enjoyable compared to the almost
the grind of writing a nonfiction book.

Speaker 3 (01:32:56):
Yeah, I think you've done it very well, Jeff, and
I'm genuinely really enjoying your first fiction book, When the
Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole. And Jeff Parks on
the blower there from a great read. I highly recommend it.
Thank you so much for your time. The panel's next
with Damian Venuto and Chris Henry here on the Sunday
session us Talk ZB twenty two past eleven.

Speaker 9 (01:33:17):
Grab a cover.

Speaker 1 (01:33:18):
It's the Sunday session with Wikles for the best selection
of great breathings used Talk zed.

Speaker 3 (01:33:24):
B twenty five past eleven. Yeah, Jeff Parks, it's a
great book. I highly recommend When the Deep Dark Bush
Swallows You Whole, and you can actually win a copy.
I've got two copies to give away. That's how generous
I am. You've got to answer a question, though you
text your answer to nine two ninety two with your name,
your full name, and your address. Don't forget that stuff.
Text through to nine two nine and two. The question

(01:33:46):
for you is here. It is what is the name
of the fictional town in Jeff Parks's new book, The
Town where the book is based nine two nine two
or z b ZB for that twenty five past eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:33:59):
All the highs and lows talking the big issues of
the week. The panel on the Sunday session.

Speaker 3 (01:34:06):
Good to have you along to the panel. This is
always good. Damian Venuto and Chris Henry with me. Yeah.
The managing director of eight one eight is Chris Henry
and a senior PR consultant at one plus one Communications.
Damian Venuto and Chris Henry. Morning to you both.

Speaker 9 (01:34:22):
Oh, Kyoto, how are you?

Speaker 3 (01:34:23):
Oh look, I'm really good. There's a lot of texts
coming in about mining. We had Katherine Della Hunty and
Joseph Videll from Straterra on earlier on in the program
talking about the pros and cons of mining. Do we
dig baby dig, Danian? Do we dig baby dig? And
drill baby drill? Oh it's muted? Is it all right?

Speaker 9 (01:34:43):
Chris?

Speaker 3 (01:34:43):
What about you?

Speaker 12 (01:34:43):
What do you think? Oh?

Speaker 8 (01:34:45):
Look, I'm all up for fast tracking and part but
when it comes to the environment, that's probably the part
that makes me a bit nervous. You know, once we
dig up and go into these areas. It's pretty hard
to go back from that. So I'm down with fast
tracking in part, but it just makes me a bit
nervous when it comes to the environmental stuff, especially around mining.

Speaker 9 (01:35:03):
Yeah, Roman, Yes, so Ruman.

Speaker 19 (01:35:06):
Thing worth fast tracking is we need to question whether
the benefits of that mining are going to stick in
New Zealand in the same way that they do in Norway,
or is it going to be that classic mining story
where all the profits kind of go abroad to these
multinationals that have come in to do the mining, and
the only benefits to New Zealand are these short term
will paying jobs to a community who's then rattled the

(01:35:29):
next time mining is canceled or these big mining companies
pull out. I think that fast tracking has to take
into consideration whether the profits are staying in New Zealand
and we're going to benefit, we're going to benefit longer term,
or whether those profits are just going abroad.

Speaker 3 (01:35:43):
Yeah, this is the problem, isn't it, Chris, and I
could hear that trepidation in your answer. I'm a little
bit the same too. I kind of think you can't
fix nature very easily. Once you break it, you can't
just put a whole lot of hard akiki flax is
over a whole of you know, mind waste stuff and
hope that no one notices. It's a long time broken, isn't.

Speaker 9 (01:36:00):
It very much?

Speaker 8 (01:36:01):
And I think that Damien's bought is also extremely valid,
you know, does seem to be And I'll witness, I'll say,
I'm no expert on.

Speaker 9 (01:36:09):
This on this matter, but if the profits are.

Speaker 8 (01:36:12):
Going out of the country and we're just sort of
giving up our natural flora and fauna, that doesn't seem
quite the right style for me, if I'm honest.

Speaker 3 (01:36:21):
Yeah, so so Damien. We all we hear in the
news all the time. We'd love a bigger hospital for Daned,
and we'd love to have flash of roads without potholes.
New Zealand is relatively broke. This could make billions. Is
it a case of you know what, it was nice
to have the bush in the mountains, but let's just
get on with drilling and mining. What do you reckon, Damian?

Speaker 19 (01:36:38):
The thing is, we only have one shot, right, so
once we extract those minerals, it's done. So it might
be a short term benefit of a few billion dollars,
but then what happens longer term.

Speaker 9 (01:36:48):
What are we going to extract next?

Speaker 19 (01:36:50):
I think that those are questions and we also have
to you have to take a longer term view of
these things. You can't just base it on Okay, we
have a short term need here, Where can we extract
something that we can only extract once and then benefit
short terms? So I think these are really complex issues that.

Speaker 9 (01:37:06):
We need answers to before we proceed with anything like this.

Speaker 3 (01:37:10):
Yeah, so the whole thing with tourism, Chris generally speaking,
I know it's not perfect, but it's basically take nothing
but photos, leave nothing but footprints, not something mining could
ever say. Are we better to focus on our big
hot potatoes like tourism Chris Well, I think absolutely.

Speaker 8 (01:37:26):
You know, it's one of the most beautiful parts of
our country and one of the things that people who
come from overseas are the most excited about being part
of our beautiful nature. And yeah, I don't think people
are being traveling from far and wide to come to
a giant mining pitch.

Speaker 3 (01:37:42):
Actually, Damien, That's the point I made in my editorial
is the fact that we have to remember why people
want to come to New Zealand, because they think it's
not true, but they think it's clean and green. It
couldn't be further from the truth, but it looks good
in a photo for Instagram.

Speaker 19 (01:37:55):
Do you know what the great irony of all this
is the stuff that we're talking about extracting. When it
comes to gold and silver, these natural resources are often
used in sustainable technology. There is also that argument which
makes it an incredibly complex idea. So these natural resources
have to be extracted from somewhere in order to have
the sustainable technology that we need, whether it's batteries, whether

(01:38:18):
it's electronic goods. And the question is do we want
to play a part in extracting those minerals to use
in the sustainable technology as they're going to help progress
sustainable technology. And that's a whole other issue that we
probably need to think about too.

Speaker 3 (01:38:33):
Yeah, look, this is so much there's so much hypocrisy.
People hate mining and they jump on a plane fly
to Scotland to tell the world how much they hate
using mining star and they jump on their cell phone
full of minerals to make the calls back home. Yeah, look,
there's a Well, we've got a long way to go yet.
Fuzzy drinks do you both drink fizzy drinks.

Speaker 9 (01:38:51):
Chris, Yeah, I'm a big fan of a fuzzy drink.

Speaker 8 (01:38:54):
To be fair, I often go the diet the diet
in the diet way, but yeah, a big fan of
a cokel now.

Speaker 3 (01:39:01):
Yeah, really okay, all right then, so how are the teeth?
I don't really want to know this, but that's a
bit nosy. In an effort to promote healthier choices, Palmesston
North Council they're proposing a fizzy drink ban at their venues,
including major sports stadiums and things like that. Danien, is
this a bit nanny state or is this just a
move we should have done a long time ago.

Speaker 19 (01:39:21):
It's one of those things where if you as a
decision maker, if you get the timing wrong, the public's
going to there's going to be an outcry and people
are going to reject it.

Speaker 9 (01:39:30):
Some people.

Speaker 19 (01:39:31):
So much of life is dependent on us doing things
that we know aren't good for us. So I've one
enjoy a glass of wine when we're having Argentinian barbecue.

Speaker 9 (01:39:40):
I know it's not good for me. I don't know.

Speaker 19 (01:39:42):
I know the red meat's not good for me. I
know that the wine's not good for me, But those
are choices that I make because I kind of enjoy them.
So if you remove the fizzy drinks from these places,
you're kind of removing the choice.

Speaker 9 (01:39:53):
And I'm not a happy to.

Speaker 19 (01:39:54):
Ensure I feel about that, because I do feel like
there is a lot of fun in being able to
make some bad decisions from time to time, as long
as it's in moderation.

Speaker 3 (01:40:03):
Yeah, so christ to storon there, do you think anyone's
really missing out if they don't get a fizzy drink?
You're not going to a sporting event at a Parmeston
North Stadium. You're not going, Oh I can't wait for
half time to have a can of coke? Are you?

Speaker 9 (01:40:16):
Some people are.

Speaker 8 (01:40:18):
Sport But also it doesn't account to the fact that, yes,
there might be sugar in fizzy drinks, but I've got
no doubt that they're serving beers and wines and all
full of sugar in the air.

Speaker 9 (01:40:30):
To quote a boomeras and it's it's peacy got mess.

Speaker 3 (01:40:33):
Yeah, there is a lot of hypocrisy, not just in mining,
it's in the fizzy drinks too.

Speaker 9 (01:40:38):
Yeah, totally.

Speaker 19 (01:40:40):
You guys have chosen some really contidentious issues today.

Speaker 12 (01:40:43):
The lists.

Speaker 9 (01:40:45):
Giving a weigh in on some tough things.

Speaker 2 (01:40:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:40:47):
Well, to be honest, you can't get a can of
fizzy drink without the can being aluminium. So we're covering everything,
are we really? Who's at the beach? I can hear
a cicada chirping? Is that you, Damien?

Speaker 9 (01:41:00):
That's just the garden in the background.

Speaker 3 (01:41:02):
It sounds that you're out of beach. I tell you what,
there's a new story in the Herald about the best
beach in New Zealand. Before I tell you which is
the best? Speech, Chris, which is the best beach in
New Zealand in your opinion?

Speaker 9 (01:41:14):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (01:41:14):
Well, do you know what, I'll be controversial. My best
beach in New Zealand is actually on a lake. It's
the beach at Kinlock on Lake topor it is. The
water is cool, refreshing and delicious, and you pop out
and you're lovely and clean and dry, lovely and clean.
It's definitely my favorite.

Speaker 3 (01:41:30):
Excuse me, I need to stop you there. You said cool,
It's not cool. It's frigid. It's sub zero Scotland.

Speaker 9 (01:41:40):
Refreshing is how I would describe it.

Speaker 3 (01:41:42):
Yeah, okay, well, you must work in a tourism job.
I know you're in pr of course you'd say that, Dan,
what about you?

Speaker 19 (01:41:49):
I do a lot of surfing and so the west
coast of Auckland. I spent a lot of time there.
And Kadakat would be right, Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:41:59):
He just dropped off. Are you there still? Carry? Carry?
Would be what?

Speaker 9 (01:42:05):
Sorry?

Speaker 3 (01:42:06):
Oh he's gone. He's definitely gone. Oh well, Chris, Oh
he meets himself again. Damien, you were saying that Carrie
Carrey would be what.

Speaker 19 (01:42:14):
Calla Kelly would definitely be my favorite beach, just based
on the expanse of it. It's so beautiful and it's
not a surprise that so many forms have been shot
there just because the moment you walk onto that beach,
there's almost like a spirituality to it. And the wave
is not as good as peeh, I know that, but
there's just something about that beach that I absolutely love.

Speaker 9 (01:42:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:42:32):
See, for me, it would have been Anoda Bay or
Tope or Bay or Cheltenham Beach when the tides in
and there's sewerage bobbing around.

Speaker 18 (01:42:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:42:42):
Well see, I hope he beach often wins and does
very well. But this year's winner, apparently it's Wypoo Cove
thoughts on that.

Speaker 9 (01:42:48):
Chris, I was thinking about this. I read this article
this morning.

Speaker 8 (01:42:52):
I'm actually not sure whether I've been to waypou Cove,
which is an embarrassing indictment on myself, and so I'll
have to addit to the list.

Speaker 9 (01:42:57):
But I did love that.

Speaker 8 (01:42:59):
Further down list, it be hidden gym Whale Bay and
Matapudi in Northland. I spent some time there with my
fino over summer, and ah, that is just a most
incredible spot with lucking out of a beautiful young niece
who's able to summon the water there without causing too
much worry.

Speaker 9 (01:43:14):
It's just a real gem of this country.

Speaker 3 (01:43:16):
Thank you so much. Both you has been tremendous. Chris
Henry and Damian Venuto on the panel. Jason Pine's got
a lot of sport to cover and there's some good
news in the sport lots to look forward to here
on the Sunday Cafe News Talks there b twenty five,
two twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:43:33):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks at.

Speaker 3 (01:43:37):
B twenty four to twelve. We've got travel coming up
in books with Joe McKenzie. But gee, Jason Pine there's
some sport on this weekend, isn't there?

Speaker 20 (01:43:45):
Absolutely Roman, Yeah, great to be involved in sport, particularly football.
Chris Wood overnight. I don't think it's a surprise anymore.
We wake up and find out that Chris Wood has
scored another goal or goals plurals case may be hat
trick overnight for him. He's just operating in rarefied here
and now. The Premier League is, by most metrics, the
best football competition in the world. He is leading the

(01:44:07):
line for a team that's up in third place. He's
third in the Golden Boot race. And this is a
sort of a this is the twilight of his career,
but man, it is it is burning bright at the
back end of Chris Wood's career.

Speaker 3 (01:44:19):
When you say it's at the twilight, how old is he?

Speaker 20 (01:44:22):
He's thirty four.

Speaker 3 (01:44:23):
Oh, he's just a young bucket.

Speaker 20 (01:44:24):
Well, there, I'll be compared to you and I. But
then he we're not running around, you know, being chased
by twenty one year old defenders in the Premier League.
But no, I mean he isn't the back end, but
he has just he is just so in touch with
his game and he's found a team in Nottingham Forest,
who just played to his strengths. They know that he's
not going to be the kind of guy who's going
to beat three defenders and put it in the top corner.

(01:44:44):
But if they put it in the box, he will
make the run. He will score the goals seventeen this season,
eighty six all together in the Premier League. Man, most
people don't even get the chance to score one eighty six.
He's yeah, he's a top, top performer. You know, doing
this proud in the Premier League.

Speaker 3 (01:45:00):
Isn't that brilliant? And Auckland FC doing us proud as well.

Speaker 20 (01:45:03):
Yeah, closer to home, but no less impressed of this team.
This juggna just keeps rolling on. They won again yesterday.
Go media, another fantastic day. Man, it was humid yesterday.
Goodness me, it was warm. It was hard enough sitting
watching it about playing. But they did it again late
the Auckland f C side. Not as late as they
have been. They've been kind of beyond the ninety minutes.
They got the winner in the eightieth minutes yesterday, but

(01:45:24):
a two one win, top of the league by five points. Look,
I think a lot of people after they have red
hot start, were thinking to themselves, Okay, when's this going
to end? When's this gonna when's this team gonna fall over?
Doesn't look like they're going to fall over. They have
got a very special team culture. There, a good bunch
of players, good coaches, fantastic support. So who knows what
they might achieve in their first season.

Speaker 3 (01:45:43):
It's great, isn't it. We had the Phoenix for a
long time and just the Phoenix and now Auckland FC.
It's really good news.

Speaker 20 (01:45:48):
Football is on fire, absolutely right. Yeah, no, it's great
to watch, great to watch.

Speaker 3 (01:45:52):
Jason Pine with Weekend Sport between twelve and three, looking
forward to have a great show.

Speaker 6 (01:45:56):
Thanks for man.

Speaker 9 (01:45:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:45:57):
So travel if you want to make things simple with
an itinerary, stick around because Megan Singleton will have some
great advice for you.

Speaker 2 (01:46:03):
Just on that.

Speaker 3 (01:46:03):
And books with Joe McKenzie not too far away either.
Twenty to twelve. The Sunday Session used Talks EDB.

Speaker 1 (01:46:11):
Sunday with Style The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudgin and
Windles for the best selection of great reads us Talks
EDB Travel with Wendy Woo Tours Where the World Is Yours.

Speaker 3 (01:46:23):
Book Now seventeen to twelve The Greatest Books in the
World with Joe McKenzie before twelve. But before you start traveling,
you really need to think about your itinery. And the
best person to talked about that is Megan Singleton blog
at large dot com.

Speaker 13 (01:46:37):
Morning to you, Good morning Roman.

Speaker 3 (01:46:39):
This terrifies me because if all the time zones and things, oh,
if you get it wrong, you really muck things up,
don't you.

Speaker 21 (01:46:46):
Yes, yes, And look I saw I've got a cheeky,
sneaky quick tip today for how to plan your own itineries.
And even if it's that you don't do your own bookings,
but maybe you've just gone ahead and done your own
research and then you can take it to your travel
agent who can put all those you know, wheels on
the thing for you so that you don't miss flights

(01:47:07):
and stuff. And there actually there's a whole nother conversation
about making sure that you've got the one through ticket
so that if there's delays you are kind of be
covered by insurance and instead of single sector bookings. But
today's secret travel tip is basically to go and research
other people's tour itineries. And I host a lot of

(01:47:27):
different tours So I've got a bunch that I've just
listed that people can just pilfer go through. Right, look
at what we've set up, and I've worked with travel agents.
We've gone line by line, day by day through various
itineries from the Pacific Coast Highway across Mexico and Europe, Italy,
whatever you'd like, have a look there.

Speaker 14 (01:47:47):
And I've also.

Speaker 21 (01:47:49):
Listed a bunch of other big tour companies in New
Zealand that you can just look at their itineraries and go, Okay,
what I want to do is an Irish road trip?

Speaker 14 (01:47:57):
How on earth do I begin?

Speaker 21 (01:47:59):
And then you just get so much gold out of
what other people have already put together.

Speaker 14 (01:48:04):
No reinventing the wheel, just have look, cut.

Speaker 21 (01:48:06):
Out what you don't like, you know, realize, okay, this
is going to need two or three days because it's
actually you know, a massive area. Like let's say my
China tour, I want three days in Beijing because I.

Speaker 14 (01:48:17):
Want to see the Great Wall.

Speaker 21 (01:48:19):
Then where am I going to go next?

Speaker 14 (01:48:21):
And so yeah, that's just a cheeky little travel tip.

Speaker 3 (01:48:24):
That's a great idea. It's absolutely freaky that you said
Irish road trip. That's exactly what I was talking about yesterday.
I'd love to do an off Peace kind of lane
ways tour of Ireland. Wouldn't that be beautiful?

Speaker 9 (01:48:35):
It is beautiful.

Speaker 14 (01:48:36):
I've done it.

Speaker 21 (01:48:37):
We did it in four days around southern Ireland from
Dublin round to Galway.

Speaker 9 (01:48:41):
It is so good.

Speaker 21 (01:48:43):
I want to do it again. I want to do
the whole country next time.

Speaker 14 (01:48:45):
It's so little.

Speaker 21 (01:48:46):
You could actually travel from Dublin to Galway in about
two and a half hours, but you could take four
days and go right around. It's so fiddle d d Roman.

Speaker 9 (01:48:54):
You'll love it.

Speaker 14 (01:48:54):
There's music, there's cute villages. It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:48:58):
Yeah, great pubs, great people. Did you get to County Clear.

Speaker 12 (01:49:03):
No, we didn't.

Speaker 9 (01:49:04):
We got over to Oh gosh, now you put me
on the that's right, the.

Speaker 21 (01:49:09):
Dingle Peninsula, the Cliffs of more Limerick, Galway. Amazing.

Speaker 9 (01:49:14):
And that's all on the blog as well.

Speaker 21 (01:49:16):
Actually, I've got a link on the latest post I've
put up, so steal that itinery make it your.

Speaker 14 (01:49:20):
Own and happy days.

Speaker 3 (01:49:22):
No, I like what you're saying here, So you get
that from blogger at large dot com. So you go
on there you look at the tour. Oh I like
that old. Go and have a look at what Baryon
Shirley wrote about it, and you get a feeling if
they're just like nightclubbing alcoholics as opposed to someone who
wants to take in history. You get that sense, and
then you design your own itinerary from yeah, yeah.

Speaker 14 (01:49:41):
Look, there's so many.

Speaker 21 (01:49:42):
I mean even our sponsor, Wendy Woo tours have got
tons and they're day by day by day touring through
Japan or whatever.

Speaker 14 (01:49:48):
Have a little look, go and see what suits you.

Speaker 21 (01:49:50):
Now, you might still choose to go on a tour
because that you can't be bothered organizing it all yourself.

Speaker 14 (01:49:56):
But if not, they are just a gold mine of information.

Speaker 3 (01:50:00):
Yes, absolutely brilliant. It sounds so simple, but that's often
what works right, the simplicity. Thank you so much, Megan Megan,
single blogger at large dot com. Go there, get all
those itinerary tips and look at all those places you'd
love to go and see, and then read the stuff
that's written by other people and do your own itinery brilliance.
Why haven't I thought about that? You probably read about

(01:50:20):
it in the book and books is what we're doing
next with Joe McKenzie from Whitkels here on the Sunday
Session thirteen to twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:50:28):
Books with Witkeles for the best Election of Greg Reads.

Speaker 3 (01:50:34):
Every single day is a good day to buy a
book and to sit down and find somewhere quiet and
read it. And the best books you'll get are at Whitkels.
And Joe McKenzie is Whitkels book Manager.

Speaker 9 (01:50:42):
Morning Joan, good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:50:44):
Look, it's a hard thing. I know you've got hundreds
and hundreds of books to recommend, but you've got a
couple here which sound absolutely fabulous. Which is the first one.

Speaker 22 (01:50:52):
The first one is a novel called The Peacock and
the Sparrow by a woman named I s. Berry. I
think her first name might be Elana, and listeners may
recall it. Some time ago I spoke about a book
called Moscow Xy and also called David McCloskey, whose books
I just love. And I think that this author and
David McClosky could be twins because they both worked with

(01:51:15):
the CIA, and they both know the workings of that
organization inside out, and it comes through in spades in
their books. So in this new one, which is her
first book, The Peacock and Desparrow, it's certain Beirut during
the Arab Spring, and the lead character is a guy
called Shane Collins who's a CIA operative based in Bahrain.

(01:51:35):
And he's old and he's tired, he's jaded, he's getting
their retirement age, and he has no illusion at all
about his own shortcomings. But his job in Bahrain is
to feed intel back to the Americans about the possible
Iranian involvement in an Arab Spring type uprising. But his
superiors are concerned that his best informant might be a

(01:51:57):
double agent. And Shane goes on to meet a woman,
she's a local artist, and she completely bewitches him, just
at the time that he's realizing that his hierarchy might
not be squeaky clean in their dealings with Bahrain, and
they're certainly not squeaky clean, and they're dealings with him.

Speaker 9 (01:52:17):
I loved it.

Speaker 22 (01:52:18):
It's a very murky world where everybody is indispensable and
you can't believe anything that you're told, and nothing is
quite as it seems. And when towards the end of
the book she throws in the implosion of Bahrain back
in twenty eleven, it's just like dynamite. It's really extraordinary.

Speaker 3 (01:52:35):
It does sound really good in the fact that they've
worked in that area. That gives it a bit more
meat and potatoes. If you like your Jason Bourn Bond
type stuff that sounds like it wrong, that's right, good
stuff that sounds like an absolute ripper. This next one,
the titles like a contradiction in terms. Isn't it Jackie
Public Private? What does that mean?

Speaker 22 (01:52:54):
Jackie public? Private? Secret?

Speaker 9 (01:52:56):
Now?

Speaker 22 (01:52:56):
This is a book about Jackie Kennedy written by a
guy called Randy Taraborelli who's done a number of profiles
of famous people, including a number of the Kennedy women.
For this book, he spent thirty years talking to people
who knew Jackie, her friends, her family, her colleagues, her staff,
all sorts of people, and he mined the archives of

(01:53:18):
the JFK Library and he's put together a book about
what her life was really like from her point of view.
She told one of her lovers, and she did have
a few, that there were three sides to her if
you like that. There was the public side, the private side,
and the secret side, which is where the title comes from.
And you know, I read this and I thought, for

(01:53:39):
a woman who had such grace and poise. The amount
of trauma she had to deal with is absolutely extraordinary.
JFK was a serial philanderer. After they're married, she lost
several babies. He was assassinated. Of course, she married Onassas.
She appeared not to be able to live at all
in the real world, and her financial advisors were just

(01:54:00):
appalled at the way that she was spending her money.
But then money and power became terribly important to her,
which helps explain why she married Onassis. But then Omassas's
children betrayed her by selling photo nude photos of her
to the paparazzi, which surfaced in nineteen seventy two. So
she had an awful lot to deal with during her life.
And I read this book and I thought, you know,

(01:54:21):
probably she had PTSD. I just don't know how she
managed to portray herself as being so serene with all
of the stuff going on in the background. And the
author in this book goes some way towards explaining it all.
It's absolutely fascinating.

Speaker 3 (01:54:36):
Yeah, all that money, all that power, all that prestige,
and probably not that happy after all.

Speaker 9 (01:54:40):
So the first book was The Peacock and the Sparrow
by I S.

Speaker 22 (01:54:45):
Sperry and the second one Jackie Public Private Secret by
Randy Tarabirelli.

Speaker 3 (01:54:52):
All right, I'm going to put you on the spot.
I've only got money for one. Which one would you recommend?

Speaker 22 (01:54:56):
Oh well, I'd recommend both, of course, but if you
like good spy story, goes with the first one.

Speaker 3 (01:55:00):
Joan McKenzie, the book manager from Wickles, thank you so
much for your time this morning.

Speaker 2 (01:55:04):
Sleep it's silvil.

Speaker 1 (01:55:05):
It's so Sunday Session with Francesca Rudgater and Wiggles for
the best selection of Gregory's News Talk sendv.

Speaker 3 (01:55:13):
It's the Sunday Session. Roman Travis signing off. Has been
a great child, really enjoyed it. Oh, by the way,
we've got two winners for the fabulous book When the
Deep Dark Bush Swallows You whole. If the title sounds terrifying,
well it's because it is. It's a great book. It's
an absolute ripper. It's by Jeff Parks. At our two
winners getting a copy each, Deborah and Dean. Congratulation sounds

(01:55:33):
like a band, Deborah and Dean, but it's not. Oh look,
Francesca Rudkin will be back. She'll be rejuvenated and refreshed,
should be joined by a journalist and author Lotter Dan
on her investigation into diet culture that left her angry
but empowered, and the Danish actor Clays Bang on his
brand new film William Twell, That's all next week with

(01:55:53):
Francesca Rudkin on the Sunday Session. Up next stick Around
Polish up your rugby boots Jason Pine with Weekend Sport.

Speaker 1 (01:57:00):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to US Talks it B from nine am Sunday.
Follow the podcast on iHeartRadio

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