April 21, 2025 • 38 mins
Clarissa Dunn is a Radio New Zealand Concert presenter, a marriage celebrant, an event MC, a soprano, and an ocean swimmer. She swims to connect with her family and with nature, and it also provides a mental break from her busy life.
For her episode, Clarissa had the brilliant idea of making an 'ocean music' playlist on Spotify. I'm still embedded in the '90s hard rock era, so this has opened my mind and I can hear the breaking waves and darting fish in the various pieces of music – you can listen to it here: Clarissa's Ocean Playlist.
As a radio presenter and classical music aficionado, Clarissa has a beautiful way of describing the light and sounds of the sea.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to the Swim Chat podcast.
I'm Shona Riddell, a writer, former journalist and ocean
swimmer from Wellington, Altiro and New Zealand.
For each episode, I'll feature adifferent guest from our swim
community. They'll be dippers, adventure
swimmers, coaches and conservationists with one thing
in common. They all love being in the sea,
(00:24):
so whether you're a swimmer yourself or just interested in
stories about the ocean and people expanding their comfort
zones, I hope you enjoy these swim chats.
Please hit, follow or subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Clarissa Dunn is a Radio New Zealand concert presenter and
event MCA marriage celebrant, A soprano singer and an ocean
(00:48):
swimmer. Clarissa, welcome to Swim Chats.
Oh Kyota Shona, so lovely to chat to you.
I'm. Kyota, I must admit I'm feeling
a little bit of imposter syndrome this morning
interviewing A seasoned presenter.
Come on, you've got plenty of things in your amazing CV.
(01:08):
I've seen it. This is not swim related, but
since we're talking about presenting, I wondered if you
had any just quick tips on on presenting.
I know a lot of people get very nervous about it and I know you
do a lot of live presenting, like how do you how do you sort
of get in the zone for it for? Me knowing that I've done as
(01:33):
much as I can up to that point, and then just doing it lots and
lots and lots and lots till you get over it.
And then you know that you can trust yourself.
You, you know, the situations you're going into are going to
be more or less the same, with some hiccups along the way.
But yeah, preparation will get you through a lot of anxieties
(01:53):
about performing or presenting. Yeah, that's a good tip.
Thank you. And I was Googling you earlier
just to, you know, as research for our chat.
And I saw that you began your life on a dairy farm in the
white Cuttle. And so for listeners who aren't
from New Zealand, the Waikato district is in the North Island
(02:15):
and sort of between Wellington and Auckland, closer to
Auckland. So there probably weren't many
opportunities for swimming there.
Like when did you did you swim much as a child or did it come
to you more as an adult? No, you know, not really in the
sea. My parents were share milking
(02:36):
until I was about 7. So after that point, we moved to
Auckland and that's, yeah, that's where we had much more
contact with the sea and we're, yeah, began to love being able
to access all of the wonderful beaches that Auckland offers,
which is something special aboutliving in that city.
(02:58):
And I saw that, you know, as, asyou trained as an opera singer,
you started travelling in Europeand performing there, which
would have been amazing. And you spent some time in
Berlin, which is something we have in common because I lived
there for a few years as well. And I wasn't really a swimmer
when I lived there, but in the summers definitely enjoyed
(03:19):
swimming in the lakes. Was that something you got to do
while you were there? Yeah, a little bit.
I didn't swim very much in the lakes, to be honest.
Yeah, I guess swimming was not really a big part of my life.
And Berlin, not even in sort of public pools, isn't that
interesting. I mean, being a landlocked city,
(03:40):
you have to take advantage of the lakes or that's it.
No, I certainly enjoyed a lot ofcycling and I would cycle around
a lot of those lakes around the Grunavut area.
It was that was pretty inspiring.
A little bit of I mean, it's a bit of it kind of can be a
little overwhelmed by the fire corps book couture.
The you turn a corner on your bike like in the CUDA bargain,
(04:07):
there's all the naked people. You're like, oh.
It's a very different. Yeah, that's a good point.
It's a very different swimming culture there.
Yeah. There's a lot more nudity and
just all ages and stages, right?Yeah, and that's wonderful, you
know, that not to have that hangup about it and not to be sort
(04:28):
of a hostage to the body beautiful.
You know that that feeling that you can't expose yourself and
unless you look a certain way, which I guess is fairly common
amongst people these days. Yeah, exactly.
And so when did you move to Wellington and become part of
(04:48):
the swimming community here? I moved to Wellington 2009 to
take up the job with RNZ concertand I yeah, I just swam around
Wellington. I love the South Coast.
It's one of my most favorite places to be.
Cycling around the South Coast, swimming on the South Coast,
walking on the South Coast. We're a bit spoiled in
(05:12):
Wellington to have access to so many nooks and crannies and
little beaches and coves and various kinds of coastline.
But I didn't start swimming withBarb's group, which is where I
met you, Shona, until after my father died a couple of years
ago. It was a way of me connecting
(05:36):
more with my brother Peter on a weekly basis.
He, he had found Barb's group before me and he's done a lot of
ocean swimming clinics and he's had a lot of experience swimming
distances in the ocean. And I thought, you know, why
don't I just give this a go withhim, go once a week and he can
(05:58):
pick me up on his way there. And we can just do this together
as a way of supporting each other and connecting on a weekly
basis. And me challenging myself a
little bit because I had had lessons as a, as a child in the
swimming pool and I learned, youknow, most of the strokes, but
(06:20):
it never really stuck with me. It never really became something
that I was extremely comfortablewith from swimming freestyle at
least, you know, I can bend agesin the ocean just bobbing around
and swimming breaststroke and looking at everything.
But I thought how it'd be more efficient, easier to get to A
from A to B and have more adventures in the ocean if I can
(06:44):
probably challenge myself a little bit more to swim,
freestyle better. And so that's been a little
challenge, personal challenge every Sunday is just to try
stretch my limits a bit more andwork on a little element of
technique and talk to other people about how they swim
(07:06):
better and what they do and try that out.
So every Sunday morning is a real adventure in the sea with
some fantastic people. Yeah, it's awesome, isn't it?
I love how everyone can just go at their own pace and sort of
expand their own, you know, their own in their own time, You
(07:30):
know, you can just do what you want basically, you know,
there's no set distance or speed.
Everyone is just sort of workingon their own thing.
And then after we've had our swim, we all come together for
coffee and and food. And then we sort of talk about
what we've done and what we're working on.
And he gets so inspired. I was going to say I'm, I'm
sorry for the loss of your dad. I've noticed that it's a real
(07:54):
recurring theme in some of theseepisodes that people start
getting in the sea when they've experienced some sort of loss or
life change. And connecting with the sea
seems to really help. And I really love how you swim
with your family because you swim with your brother, as you
mentioned, and your your mum as well.
(08:14):
Yeah. So it's sort of this multi
generational thing where you swim together and I think that's
really cool. Yeah, my mum loves, loves, loves
the sea. She loves being in it and by it.
She grew up in Todonga and her father had a deep sea fishing
boat. He took charters and caught game
(08:37):
fish. So she's had this long
relationship with it from childhood.
And so she adores that weekly jaunt, Freiburg Beach to come
swimming. She's she's not going out big
distances, but she does enjoy, you know, getting in and sort of
staying on the shore side of that first draft.
(08:59):
It's just lovely, lovely thing to do together.
And we all, no matter what mood we're in coming into it, we all
feel much better coming out of the ocean.
And it's just, it's like a weekly reset for all of us.
And but, you know, for me, I feel like it just, it dissolves
any sticky thinking, also helps to ease any of those little
(09:21):
niggles you might have in your body accumulated over the week.
It's like a reset, computer reset.
Yeah. That's a really good way of
describing it. And you enjoy swimming year
round, don't you? So not just the summer swimming
you like all the season. Yeah, because Peter was keen and
(09:41):
then you know, that that your dad died.
I thought, well here's somethingwe can just commit to weekly and
see how it goes. And wasn't too worried about the
cold water. You do ease into it as the
temperatures drop off as they are now in autumn in Wellington.
But yeah, I've found over the course of doing that for two
(10:02):
years now that I don't notice that difference in temperature
as much as that first year. And it doesn't take me as long
to warm up across the day. You do feel like that, that core
of your body can take all day towarm up sometimes.
That's quite an intriguing feeling.
(10:25):
But yes, I've found that I've adjusted to that, that
temperature range and actually walking around in everyday life,
I'm not as worried by the temperature as I might have
been. They don't find what most people
find cold cold anymore. Is interesting how your body can
(10:46):
adjust its parameters. That's right, Your body and your
mind, right? Yeah.
As you, you sort of find things acceptable.
But a few years ago, you might not have considered doing.
Yeah, that's cool. And I know you travel a lot for
your RNZ job and also because you work as a marriage
celebrant, you're travelling around the country, especially
(11:07):
at this time of year, you know, being part of weddings and, and
I know you try and fit in dips wherever you go.
Do you want to talk about some of the recent beautiful places
that you've been swimming? Because I've seen them on your.
Instagram yeah, I'm lucky. I get to sort of explore a lot
(11:28):
of interesting places and returnto some of my favorite spots.
One in Auckland, which I always go to is Cheltenham Beach in
Devonport, which is a beautiful,a little little Bay there that
looks out to Rangitoto Island and it's a good depth.
The sand is lovely and golden and gritty and you can have
(11:51):
beautiful swims. Particularly high tide.
It's reasonably tidal, so if youextract it at high tide it's
sheltered, beautiful for swimming that there's a raft
there. Putokawa lining the beach, North
Head at one end, which is a lovely backdrop to yeah to swim
(12:13):
against. And I've had some very enjoyable
swims there. And yes, sung at friends
weddings looking out on that beach and across to.
And so there's lots of special memories there.
And most recently had a lovely swim where it was flat calm and
you can really explore your technique and go good distances
and adventure around, you know, look around North Head.
(12:36):
Yeah. And I just sort of suddenly had
this wave of emotion and took mylittle goggles off and, and had
a bit of a cry out there in the sea, just remembering Dad and,
yeah, feeling like he was sitting on the beach there
watching me, as he always used to do when we kids just
watching, make sure we come backagain.
Yeah. But yeah, just that's a special
(13:01):
spot to me. But other beautiful beaches I've
tried recently was Martin's Bay,sort of near Snell's Beach,
north of Auckland, and one is part of Auckland, I think, but
on that northern route there. And that was a gorgeous Bay for
swimming, was sheltered. And they were very, very big
(13:21):
boys. You know how sometimes these
ocean boys can be a little invisible in the slightest
swell, But these ones were big. They were stripy that kind of
the barbers poles in the ocean and very easy to swim around.
That was a a joy to sort of explore a new space.
Scott's Landing just around the corner from that is a very sort
(13:43):
of gentle, sweet Bay with a beautiful view and has a sort of
historic home behind it and big established trees that says
that's an interesting spot. I tried to bring my togs
everywhere I go just in case I encounter some we need to swim.
And like Rotomar when I was visiting friends coming down the
country. So this is just a handful of of
(14:05):
places I've been swimming. They all sound so idyllic and I
love the way you describe them. I can really picture them in my
mind like like swimming postcards.
It's a great Yeah, well, that's right.
Radio like they, they call it theatre of the mind, don't they?
So the more the more inspirationI.
(14:27):
Hadn't heard that expression, but yeah, I love the theatre of
the mind. Yeah, you must be so used to
describing things. That's right.
Yeah, it's good fun. I'm always playing with words in
my mind, you know, trying to find words for scenes and
scenarios and to describe peopleand music.
And yeah, it's a fun, fun game of mine.
(14:49):
So do you hear music when you swim?
Because obviously music's a hugepart of your life.
Like while you're swimming, are you hearing pieces of music in
your head? Are you thinking about music?
Oh, Shona, I'm thinking about all kinds of things until I get
cold enough and then their brainswitches off.
It's funny, you sometimes a bit like if you were doing a a run
(15:11):
and you get into a sort of rhythm.
Then I find that it's repeat thesame parts of the piece of
music. It's like this repetition over
and over again. Not the whole thing, just the
same part. I've heard runners talk like
that too, that they kind of get into a repetitive mode in their
head with a phrase or a tune. So now I don't tend to kind of
(15:31):
dissect music while I'm out there.
Often I'm trying to switch off my brain as much as possible and
just try to concentrate on the feeling of swimming and maybe
focus on one or two things that I'm trying to change in my
technique that swim. I in my honestly, my ears are
(15:54):
full of the sound of what's underwater.
It's not really peaceful and quiet.
I'm there especially in Wellington Harbour and you can
closer you get to the fountain, the more you hear the mechanics
of that. You can hear the kind of grind
of big ships and ferries leavingthe harbour.
If there are waves, you can hearthe the tickling of whatever is
(16:17):
on the seabed. You know, there's there's so
much sound underwater, it would be probably deafen my musical
imagination. That's right.
Yeah. I love the way you describe that
because one of the advantages wehave as swimmers, as you know,
we're on the surface of the water.
So we're sort of part part out of the water, part underwater,
(16:40):
right? And you sort of get to hear both
at the same time as you're swimming along.
That's kind of this sort of dividing line between land and
sea. Yeah.
That's one of the things I love about it.
We exist between those two. Yeah, yeah, it's.
Between those two, it's a lovelyvantage point, isn't it?
Because you roll over onto your back and you've got the expense
of the sea and the seascape, a sky and the skyscape, all the
(17:04):
clouds which are constantly changing over Wellington Harbour
and all the hills. And you roll back over and
you've got, you know, if it's a clear day, you can see down, see
the shafts of light coming through the waves of the surface
of the water or the I was busy following the bubbles of my
brother's kicking the other day and they were all illuminated
(17:24):
because it was extremely bright sun.
And that's beautiful. It can distract you from any
thought of sharks or poor swimming technique.
Distractions are good, yes, and we're so lucky.
An Oriental Bay, how we can swimaround the saltwater fountain.
And when the sun's out, you can see the the rainbows and you get
(17:48):
to actually swim under the rainbow.
And it feels, I don't know, I always feel a kind of childlike
delight. And I yeah, I always mean to
take my camera out and photograph that because it's
something not many people get todo.
So we're really lucky, aren't we?
We sure are as having a conversation with one of Bob's
group the other day and she was saying she was ecstatic having
(18:10):
just had a a night swim recentlywhere they went out round the
fountain, all illuminated themselves with their Night
Lights and head torches and things.
And once they got to the fountain at a certain time, on
came the Night Lights on the fountain, all neon colours lit
up and she she said it was just such a beautiful time to be out
(18:31):
in the water with friends. Yeah, swimming at at night is
another completely different experience, isn't it?
I don't know if you've done it much.
I I tend to stick pretty close to shore in the dark.
But yeah, with the with the lights and the tow floats and
they, they almost look like sortof glowing lanterns.
And yeah, it's, it's really beautiful.
(18:53):
And we were talking about music before and I'm very excited
about this. You said that you've created a,
a Spotify playlist of the ocean,ocean music or music inspired by
the ocean. Yeah.
I I love the idea of, you know, combining the ocean with other
(19:13):
modes of creativity, I guess. And yeah, I can't wait to hear
it. We can link to it in the show
notes. And do you want to talk about
that a little bit, how you chosethe songs and.
Or the. Yeah, absolutely.
Oh, look, the ocean is such a big source of inspiration for
all sorts of people and especially for artists across
(19:38):
the centuries. And that's, that'll be reflected
a bit in the playlist with things, you know, from 19th
century, you know, very descriptive, trying to capture
the sound of the sea or a sea crossing.
You know, having to travel by the ocean was a very real thing
for most people. And that came with inherent
(19:58):
dangers. So the, the, the power of the
sea was a real force. That was a thing of great worry
for a lot of people migrating orjust travelling.
But yeah, the the way way of. Expressing the movement of the
sea, the power of the sea, the joy of it, the the light on it
(20:22):
is I guess just an endless inspiration for musicians and
composers. So this playlist has it's mostly
classical music. This is enough things to choose
from just to make one full of classical music.
But one of the first pieces I put in there is a piece called
Become Ocean, Becoming Ocean, which is a work by John Luther
(20:47):
Adams. He's an American composer whose
music is often inspired by a lotof environmental concerns.
And Becoming Ocean is or become Ocean.
I keep getting the mixed up. Become Ocean is an extraordinary
thing to hear live if you ever get the chance, and I did.
(21:08):
The year that Dad died, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
programmed it and I went along having heard it, a recording of
it before, and I played some on the radio.
But to be there in the Michael Fallow Centre, which is the big
cavernous concert hall, and to hear this music, which is
(21:30):
designed to make you feel like you're right in the middle of
the orchestra, which in itself is an experience that's full of
waves of sound. And he wanted you to feel the
depth and the, the waves and thespray of the sea.
You, you feel like you are surrounded by so much water in
(21:53):
that concert hall. And it's an immersive experience
where you are listening to the, the rhythm of the, of the ocean,
the, the pulse of it, the light.You can hear the light coming
through the, the depths. You can feel the spray, these
(22:16):
big surges. There's like 3 big crescendos
and all the instruments kind of coalesce at that point.
It's such a clever piece of music.
And it's over 40 minutes long. So it's like there's almost like
a deep meditation on the sea where you are placed right in
the middle of it. It's tremendous.
(22:38):
So that's in there. What else is in there?
Some beautiful music from opera things that we that are used in
operas that are set on the coastto change scenes and reflect the
different sort of sea escapes. The times of day across the
scene that not only literally reflect the coastline at that
(23:02):
time of the day, but also the internal state of the
characters. It can kind of give you a sense
of where the music where the story is going emotionally.
This beautiful trio from Cosi Van Tute, which is sung on the
shore as these two women farewell their lovers as they
cross the sea. There there's there's some
(23:25):
beautiful music by Maisie Rica, a New Zealand Maori singer, and
that's all about Tangaroa, God of the sea.
I've put all kinds of things in there.
I can't wait for I. Can't wait to hear it.
Oh come on. What's the name of the playlist?
Does it have a name? Oh yes, I don't.
It's just like Clarissa's Ocean playlist.
(23:46):
But I'll, I'll give it to you. I'll.
I might rename it. I'll give it to you when I'm
finished. I've just stopped myself from
adding things to it. Awesome.
Oh my goodness. Yeah.
I must admit I'm, I do tend to be a bit stuck in my 90's rock
era when I listen to music like Metallica and some kind of and I
(24:08):
always think of classical music as being very smart and
sophisticated. Yeah.
And I was going to ask, is there, is there a good sort of
entry point for people who mightbe curious about classical
music, but they might not have had much exposure to it?
Do you have a recommendation sort of for how people, how
(24:28):
people can get started with listening to classical, if that
makes sense or is that? Yeah, well, I mean, everyone's
so different, it's hard to know what people will connect with
first. But you know, movie soundtracks
are an obvious start point for most people.
Gaming soundtracks, often those are orchestrally scored, so you
(24:48):
get the sound of the orchestra there, which is engaged with the
emotion or the scene setting of whatever movie or film you're
watching. So that's a neat way in.
You can just look up the soundtracks and kind of get used
to. I put a little bit of music from
the piano in this playlist too. You know that film set in
(25:08):
Katakati Beach that might be familiar to your listeners?
Yeah, I would say start with thethings that you encounter in
your daily life, like television, movies, gaming,
soundtracks, sometimes finding pieces that are solo
instruments. They may be orchestral
(25:29):
instruments. They may be piano.
And then, yeah, going from there, building up, just dip
your toe in the water and then swim out into the great ocean
that is orchestral music. Nice metaphor and good
connection with today's topic. So we talked about how you're a
(25:55):
marriage celebrant and you you travel around a lot helping
people to get married. Have you ever married anybody in
the sea? I imagine side weddings, but
does anyone literally get married in the water?
Because I think I would marryingagain.
I have seen, I've seen videos ofpeople you know having having
(26:18):
ceremonies at sea or being in the water.
I've never done it personally. I don't know where the brides be
too keen on ruining their dresses.
They simply have taken a lot of weddings on beaches.
They seem to be places of great significance for many people and
they're such stunning locations post their own challenges.
(26:41):
I took my auntie's wedding whitetongue and there was an onshore
breeze. I always struggle with my hair
and ceremonies because you do a lot of weddings outside and
before you know it, the winds blown everything across your
face. You can't see what you're
reading. You'd start chewing on your own
(27:03):
hair. OK, I thought, this time I'm
going to gel it back. And then there's no way this
hair is going to get in my in mymouth, in my eyes.
And it was famous last word. So this onshore breeze came
along and literally flapped the whole gel flap over my face like
(27:23):
a comb over gone wrong. So you deal with the elements
and you have to work with what you get.
Yeah, especially in Wellington, I imagine the logistics of windy
days must be challenging for. You'd have to, yeah.
Yeah, it's a land. Yeah, the wind will blow all the
chairs over. Blom, blom, blom, blom, blom,
blom. And one gust, you put them all
(27:44):
back up and does it again until people are sitting on them.
I nearly lost the marriage registry documents once as they
sort of hurtled towards the the little lake up there.
Yeah, yeah. It's the elements for you.
It's no end of adventure in them.
I guess you just have to roll with it and just laugh.
(28:05):
All very fast on your feet. I know that you're a keen
gardener as well, so this is another way you have, you know,
connecting with nature I suppose, and you have a plot in
a community garden, is that right?
Yeah, I, I assume. Everyone knows what a community
(28:25):
garden is, but just in case theydon't, do you want to describe
what you do there? Yeah, look, community gardens
are many and varied and I think,yeah, they depend on who's
looking after it, what the groupis around it.
I found this one in Lower Hutch,where I live these days, and it
(28:48):
has sort of been abandoned. I could tell that things had
been growing successfully there,but things hadn't been tended to
for a while. And there was a week note on one
of the compost bins asking for interested people to get in
touch with the council contact person.
And I made-up with them and theysaid well to start small and off
(29:10):
you go. So I did.
I started in a corner of this garden and slowly I bumped into
neighbors of the garden and theycame and got their fingers dirty
again. And now we've got a little group
with, we've sort of expanded, not terribly much.
(29:31):
It's really probably A4 handful of about four or five people who
maintain this garden space. And we have lovely conversations
with people coming to use the basketball courts or kids and
families playing the school. Little old ladies with their
dogs come down to pick a few bits of leaves of spinach or
(29:52):
some beans. Young children who are
interested in what's growing andlittle girl last night who said
she wants to come along and helpon a Sunday.
And so it's a nice way to meet people in your community.
Otherwise, I mean, I live on my own.
I can be quite isolated here if I don't go out and, you know,
(30:13):
find people, find reasons to talk to people.
So that's been lovely. And we're just learning as we
grow. And yeah, it's beautiful.
We've formed a network of growers across the Hut Valley
now. So we have thanks to the
community liaison person, the council community liaison,
(30:36):
Grace. She's been great and
instrumental at getting us together so that there's a bit
of support among the growers. So we'll host the next one at
the Waterloo Community Gardens coming up in May.
So looking forward to meeting even more people who are trying
to do the same or similar sorts of things across the valley.
That's awesome. I've heard that seaweed is an
(30:57):
excellent fertilizer as well, I don't know if you've tried.
That I haven't yet, but that's the sort of next step, I think
for the garden is we've sort of wrangled the shape of it in the
last nine months or so and draw on some things to see how
they'll go. And next is, yeah, building
compost, getting worm farm sorted.
(31:20):
And yeah, looking at ways of fertilizing the garden that yes,
I believe seaweed is a fantastic, fantastic way of
fertilizing a garden. My dad was an amazing grower.
He was obviously grew grass as afarmer, but everything he turned
his hand to just grew incrediblywell.
(31:44):
It is a gift for it and a lot ofit's in the power of
observation. You know, you watch and you
learn and you try. And one thing he taught me was
to not give up too early on things, which is was an
interesting lesson. You know, things like, oh, well,
that's done, you know, give up on that, never mind, check it
out. And he would insist.
And, you know, sure enough, withthe change of conditions or just
(32:07):
a little bit of patience, thingswould come back.
So, yeah, there's a lot of lessons to be learned in the
garden and in the sea about lifeand how to manage yourself.
And yeah, it's a pretty special thing to be involved in both
those things. Yeah, that's awesome.
And do you have any? Goals with your swimming, but in
(32:27):
particular? Or is it more just learning as
you go and continuing to connectwith the ocean?
Yeah, well, definitely that. I mean, I, I'm person with
limited time, so I have to kind of carve out the opportunities.
I seize them when I when they'rein front of me and I've got the
time. But it would be nice.
I would like to just keep pushing my distances.
(32:50):
I think technique will allow youto do more and go further and
feel more relaxed and more capable and confident.
Peter and I had signed up for the Goat Island Swim.
You spoke to the woman who who organises it in one of your
earlier episodes. And yeah, we went all the way up
(33:12):
to Snells Beach and we're prepared to do that round the
island swim, which would have been about 1 1/2 KS.
But there was a big tornado and a big storm, so that got
cancelled. And so we went snorkelling
around God Island instead, whichis a beautiful way to spend the
time. We booked up there together.
(33:34):
Yeah, just seeing everything. But no, my, my main goal would
be able to swim increasingly longer distances and feel
comfortable and confident about that was even just a a major
hurdle to to feel like I've got my breathing a bit more under
control and breathing out underwater through my nose was a
(33:58):
big a big aid. I've yeah, that's really helped
me in the first instance to to put my head under a water and go
for longer. I was breathing out through her
mouth and expelling too much airin one go and just just makes
you breathless and a bit panicky.
So with through the nose it was easier to control my breath and
(34:22):
and to try to relax easy more easily underwater.
Yeah, that and that can be a huge breakthrough because that
whole air exchange process is a massive thing to learn, as, you
know, land mammals spending timein the water and learning to
breathe efficiently so we can relax and swim longer.
(34:43):
Another tip I learned is that humming underwater can be quite
a good way to relax and also, you know, to let out a bit of
air through your nose because you can't hold your breath and
hum at the same time. Yeah.
So that's something I do sometimes.
That's another kind of audio experience as well, listening to
(35:08):
yourself hum underwater, so thatI don't know if you've ever
tried that. No I haven't, but humming's a
big part of warming up for singing so I will give that a
try. Just going to ask, if you still
perform as a soprano, you still get live concerts?
Yes, yeah. The next thing will be in the
(35:30):
chorus for New Zealand operas Labouim Puccini Opera.
That's coming up in June I think.
So here we'll start rehearsals and then in the in the next few
while I've got to let's start looking at my music again.
Well, that's exciting. And that, yeah, that will
include Wellington. Obviously I will have to put
some concert. Data.
(35:51):
It's just in Wellington. It's just in Wellington.
Yeah, I'll, I'll. Well, I mean, it's national, but
Wellington has its own chorus. Yeah, I'll include include the
link to your upcoming performance on the show notes
and where else can people. Find you.
Oh, if they're listening to RNZ concert, I'm often doing the
(36:14):
live broadcasts from the MichaelFeller Centre with the New
Zealand Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles.
I'm on Instagram if you want to follow me there.
What else? Yeah, mostly that.
Oh, and. The most important question of
all, we we haven't talked about the porridge yet.
It's not really a question. It's for a statement about how
(36:36):
much we both enjoy the porridge at Graham's kiosk at Friedberg
Beach after our swims. I don't know if you want to talk
about the porridge. Oh I do, yes.
That porridge feels like a real trick because I don't like
eating before I go swimming, so afterwards I'm really ready to
chow down on that delicious porridge.
(36:57):
I had some on Sunday and it was beautiful.
It's creamy and warm and it had a topping of spiced poached
plums and toasted coconut. It's very bougie, but it's so
(37:19):
delicious. It's really, yeah, it's
delicious and it's really good for warming the core
temperature. So I I feel like we're doing our
bodies of service as well by by eating it, especially in the
colder months. Absolutely, it's such a treat
and it's just nice to hang out with everybody and debrief on
the swim afterwards and talk about we're off to next on your
(37:41):
swim adventures. I always love hearing shown her
about your latest swim travel plans.
You're always off here and thereto improve your swimming and to
adventure in different locations, and isn't that a joy?
I'm so lucky and it's a whole new lifestyle for me.
I just, I'm continuously inspired by the people around me
(38:03):
learning about all these different swim options and ways
of learning about swimming and opportunities.
So yeah, it's a great community.And Clarissa, thank you so much
for your time today and persevering with the technology
challenges that we had. Thanks for listening to this
(38:24):
episode of Swim Chats. Please remember to follow or
subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode and if you
enjoyed it, you can leave a fivestar rating and review which
helps other people find it too. Enjoy the water and we'll see
you next time.
Welcome to the Swim Chat podcast.
I'm Shona Riddell, a writer, former journalist and ocean
swimmer from Wellington, Altiro and New Zealand.
For each episode, I'll feature adifferent guest from our swim
community. They'll be dippers, adventure
swimmers, coaches and conservationists with one thing
in common. They all love being in the sea,
(00:24):
so whether you're a swimmer yourself or just interested in
stories about the ocean and people expanding their comfort
zones, I hope you enjoy these swim chats.
Please hit, follow or subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Clarissa Dunn is a Radio New Zealand concert presenter and
event MCA marriage celebrant, A soprano singer and an ocean
(00:48):
swimmer. Clarissa, welcome to Swim Chats.
Oh Kyota Shona, so lovely to chat to you.
I'm. Kyota, I must admit I'm feeling
a little bit of imposter syndrome this morning
interviewing A seasoned presenter.
Come on, you've got plenty of things in your amazing CV.
(01:08):
I've seen it. This is not swim related, but
since we're talking about presenting, I wondered if you
had any just quick tips on on presenting.
I know a lot of people get very nervous about it and I know you
do a lot of live presenting, like how do you how do you sort
of get in the zone for it for? Me knowing that I've done as
(01:33):
much as I can up to that point, and then just doing it lots and
lots and lots and lots till you get over it.
And then you know that you can trust yourself.
You, you know, the situations you're going into are going to
be more or less the same, with some hiccups along the way.
But yeah, preparation will get you through a lot of anxieties
(01:53):
about performing or presenting. Yeah, that's a good tip.
Thank you. And I was Googling you earlier
just to, you know, as research for our chat.
And I saw that you began your life on a dairy farm in the
white Cuttle. And so for listeners who aren't
from New Zealand, the Waikato district is in the North Island
(02:15):
and sort of between Wellington and Auckland, closer to
Auckland. So there probably weren't many
opportunities for swimming there.
Like when did you did you swim much as a child or did it come
to you more as an adult? No, you know, not really in the
sea. My parents were share milking
(02:36):
until I was about 7. So after that point, we moved to
Auckland and that's, yeah, that's where we had much more
contact with the sea and we're, yeah, began to love being able
to access all of the wonderful beaches that Auckland offers,
which is something special aboutliving in that city.
(02:58):
And I saw that, you know, as, asyou trained as an opera singer,
you started travelling in Europeand performing there, which
would have been amazing. And you spent some time in
Berlin, which is something we have in common because I lived
there for a few years as well. And I wasn't really a swimmer
when I lived there, but in the summers definitely enjoyed
(03:19):
swimming in the lakes. Was that something you got to do
while you were there? Yeah, a little bit.
I didn't swim very much in the lakes, to be honest.
Yeah, I guess swimming was not really a big part of my life.
And Berlin, not even in sort of public pools, isn't that
interesting. I mean, being a landlocked city,
(03:40):
you have to take advantage of the lakes or that's it.
No, I certainly enjoyed a lot ofcycling and I would cycle around
a lot of those lakes around the Grunavut area.
It was that was pretty inspiring.
A little bit of I mean, it's a bit of it kind of can be a
little overwhelmed by the fire corps book couture.
The you turn a corner on your bike like in the CUDA bargain,
(04:07):
there's all the naked people. You're like, oh.
It's a very different. Yeah, that's a good point.
It's a very different swimming culture there.
Yeah. There's a lot more nudity and
just all ages and stages, right?Yeah, and that's wonderful, you
know, that not to have that hangup about it and not to be sort
(04:28):
of a hostage to the body beautiful.
You know that that feeling that you can't expose yourself and
unless you look a certain way, which I guess is fairly common
amongst people these days. Yeah, exactly.
And so when did you move to Wellington and become part of
(04:48):
the swimming community here? I moved to Wellington 2009 to
take up the job with RNZ concertand I yeah, I just swam around
Wellington. I love the South Coast.
It's one of my most favorite places to be.
Cycling around the South Coast, swimming on the South Coast,
walking on the South Coast. We're a bit spoiled in
(05:12):
Wellington to have access to so many nooks and crannies and
little beaches and coves and various kinds of coastline.
But I didn't start swimming withBarb's group, which is where I
met you, Shona, until after my father died a couple of years
ago. It was a way of me connecting
(05:36):
more with my brother Peter on a weekly basis.
He, he had found Barb's group before me and he's done a lot of
ocean swimming clinics and he's had a lot of experience swimming
distances in the ocean. And I thought, you know, why
don't I just give this a go withhim, go once a week and he can
(05:58):
pick me up on his way there. And we can just do this together
as a way of supporting each other and connecting on a weekly
basis. And me challenging myself a
little bit because I had had lessons as a, as a child in the
swimming pool and I learned, youknow, most of the strokes, but
(06:20):
it never really stuck with me. It never really became something
that I was extremely comfortablewith from swimming freestyle at
least, you know, I can bend agesin the ocean just bobbing around
and swimming breaststroke and looking at everything.
But I thought how it'd be more efficient, easier to get to A
from A to B and have more adventures in the ocean if I can
(06:44):
probably challenge myself a little bit more to swim,
freestyle better. And so that's been a little
challenge, personal challenge every Sunday is just to try
stretch my limits a bit more andwork on a little element of
technique and talk to other people about how they swim
(07:06):
better and what they do and try that out.
So every Sunday morning is a real adventure in the sea with
some fantastic people. Yeah, it's awesome, isn't it?
I love how everyone can just go at their own pace and sort of
expand their own, you know, their own in their own time, You
(07:30):
know, you can just do what you want basically, you know,
there's no set distance or speed.
Everyone is just sort of workingon their own thing.
And then after we've had our swim, we all come together for
coffee and and food. And then we sort of talk about
what we've done and what we're working on.
And he gets so inspired. I was going to say I'm, I'm
sorry for the loss of your dad. I've noticed that it's a real
(07:54):
recurring theme in some of theseepisodes that people start
getting in the sea when they've experienced some sort of loss or
life change. And connecting with the sea
seems to really help. And I really love how you swim
with your family because you swim with your brother, as you
mentioned, and your your mum as well.
(08:14):
Yeah. So it's sort of this multi
generational thing where you swim together and I think that's
really cool. Yeah, my mum loves, loves, loves
the sea. She loves being in it and by it.
She grew up in Todonga and her father had a deep sea fishing
boat. He took charters and caught game
(08:37):
fish. So she's had this long
relationship with it from childhood.
And so she adores that weekly jaunt, Freiburg Beach to come
swimming. She's she's not going out big
distances, but she does enjoy, you know, getting in and sort of
staying on the shore side of that first draft.
(08:59):
It's just lovely, lovely thing to do together.
And we all, no matter what mood we're in coming into it, we all
feel much better coming out of the ocean.
And it's just, it's like a weekly reset for all of us.
And but, you know, for me, I feel like it just, it dissolves
any sticky thinking, also helps to ease any of those little
(09:21):
niggles you might have in your body accumulated over the week.
It's like a reset, computer reset.
Yeah. That's a really good way of
describing it. And you enjoy swimming year
round, don't you? So not just the summer swimming
you like all the season. Yeah, because Peter was keen and
(09:41):
then you know, that that your dad died.
I thought, well here's somethingwe can just commit to weekly and
see how it goes. And wasn't too worried about the
cold water. You do ease into it as the
temperatures drop off as they are now in autumn in Wellington.
But yeah, I've found over the course of doing that for two
(10:02):
years now that I don't notice that difference in temperature
as much as that first year. And it doesn't take me as long
to warm up across the day. You do feel like that, that core
of your body can take all day towarm up sometimes.
That's quite an intriguing feeling.
(10:25):
But yes, I've found that I've adjusted to that, that
temperature range and actually walking around in everyday life,
I'm not as worried by the temperature as I might have
been. They don't find what most people
find cold cold anymore. Is interesting how your body can
(10:46):
adjust its parameters. That's right, Your body and your
mind, right? Yeah.
As you, you sort of find things acceptable.
But a few years ago, you might not have considered doing.
Yeah, that's cool. And I know you travel a lot for
your RNZ job and also because you work as a marriage
celebrant, you're travelling around the country, especially
(11:07):
at this time of year, you know, being part of weddings and, and
I know you try and fit in dips wherever you go.
Do you want to talk about some of the recent beautiful places
that you've been swimming? Because I've seen them on your.
Instagram yeah, I'm lucky. I get to sort of explore a lot
(11:28):
of interesting places and returnto some of my favorite spots.
One in Auckland, which I always go to is Cheltenham Beach in
Devonport, which is a beautiful,a little little Bay there that
looks out to Rangitoto Island and it's a good depth.
The sand is lovely and golden and gritty and you can have
(11:51):
beautiful swims. Particularly high tide.
It's reasonably tidal, so if youextract it at high tide it's
sheltered, beautiful for swimming that there's a raft
there. Putokawa lining the beach, North
Head at one end, which is a lovely backdrop to yeah to swim
(12:13):
against. And I've had some very enjoyable
swims there. And yes, sung at friends
weddings looking out on that beach and across to.
And so there's lots of special memories there.
And most recently had a lovely swim where it was flat calm and
you can really explore your technique and go good distances
and adventure around, you know, look around North Head.
(12:36):
Yeah. And I just sort of suddenly had
this wave of emotion and took mylittle goggles off and, and had
a bit of a cry out there in the sea, just remembering Dad and,
yeah, feeling like he was sitting on the beach there
watching me, as he always used to do when we kids just
watching, make sure we come backagain.
Yeah. But yeah, just that's a special
(13:01):
spot to me. But other beautiful beaches I've
tried recently was Martin's Bay,sort of near Snell's Beach,
north of Auckland, and one is part of Auckland, I think, but
on that northern route there. And that was a gorgeous Bay for
swimming, was sheltered. And they were very, very big
(13:21):
boys. You know how sometimes these
ocean boys can be a little invisible in the slightest
swell, But these ones were big. They were stripy that kind of
the barbers poles in the ocean and very easy to swim around.
That was a a joy to sort of explore a new space.
Scott's Landing just around the corner from that is a very sort
(13:43):
of gentle, sweet Bay with a beautiful view and has a sort of
historic home behind it and big established trees that says
that's an interesting spot. I tried to bring my togs
everywhere I go just in case I encounter some we need to swim.
And like Rotomar when I was visiting friends coming down the
country. So this is just a handful of of
(14:05):
places I've been swimming. They all sound so idyllic and I
love the way you describe them. I can really picture them in my
mind like like swimming postcards.
It's a great Yeah, well, that's right.
Radio like they, they call it theatre of the mind, don't they?
So the more the more inspirationI.
(14:27):
Hadn't heard that expression, but yeah, I love the theatre of
the mind. Yeah, you must be so used to
describing things. That's right.
Yeah, it's good fun. I'm always playing with words in
my mind, you know, trying to find words for scenes and
scenarios and to describe peopleand music.
And yeah, it's a fun, fun game of mine.
(14:49):
So do you hear music when you swim?
Because obviously music's a hugepart of your life.
Like while you're swimming, are you hearing pieces of music in
your head? Are you thinking about music?
Oh, Shona, I'm thinking about all kinds of things until I get
cold enough and then their brainswitches off.
It's funny, you sometimes a bit like if you were doing a a run
(15:11):
and you get into a sort of rhythm.
Then I find that it's repeat thesame parts of the piece of
music. It's like this repetition over
and over again. Not the whole thing, just the
same part. I've heard runners talk like
that too, that they kind of get into a repetitive mode in their
head with a phrase or a tune. So now I don't tend to kind of
(15:31):
dissect music while I'm out there.
Often I'm trying to switch off my brain as much as possible and
just try to concentrate on the feeling of swimming and maybe
focus on one or two things that I'm trying to change in my
technique that swim. I in my honestly, my ears are
(15:54):
full of the sound of what's underwater.
It's not really peaceful and quiet.
I'm there especially in Wellington Harbour and you can
closer you get to the fountain, the more you hear the mechanics
of that. You can hear the kind of grind
of big ships and ferries leavingthe harbour.
If there are waves, you can hearthe the tickling of whatever is
(16:17):
on the seabed. You know, there's there's so
much sound underwater, it would be probably deafen my musical
imagination. That's right.
Yeah. I love the way you describe that
because one of the advantages wehave as swimmers, as you know,
we're on the surface of the water.
So we're sort of part part out of the water, part underwater,
(16:40):
right? And you sort of get to hear both
at the same time as you're swimming along.
That's kind of this sort of dividing line between land and
sea. Yeah.
That's one of the things I love about it.
We exist between those two. Yeah, yeah, it's.
Between those two, it's a lovelyvantage point, isn't it?
Because you roll over onto your back and you've got the expense
of the sea and the seascape, a sky and the skyscape, all the
(17:04):
clouds which are constantly changing over Wellington Harbour
and all the hills. And you roll back over and
you've got, you know, if it's a clear day, you can see down, see
the shafts of light coming through the waves of the surface
of the water or the I was busy following the bubbles of my
brother's kicking the other day and they were all illuminated
(17:24):
because it was extremely bright sun.
And that's beautiful. It can distract you from any
thought of sharks or poor swimming technique.
Distractions are good, yes, and we're so lucky.
An Oriental Bay, how we can swimaround the saltwater fountain.
And when the sun's out, you can see the the rainbows and you get
(17:48):
to actually swim under the rainbow.
And it feels, I don't know, I always feel a kind of childlike
delight. And I yeah, I always mean to
take my camera out and photograph that because it's
something not many people get todo.
So we're really lucky, aren't we?
We sure are as having a conversation with one of Bob's
group the other day and she was saying she was ecstatic having
(18:10):
just had a a night swim recentlywhere they went out round the
fountain, all illuminated themselves with their Night
Lights and head torches and things.
And once they got to the fountain at a certain time, on
came the Night Lights on the fountain, all neon colours lit
up and she she said it was just such a beautiful time to be out
(18:31):
in the water with friends. Yeah, swimming at at night is
another completely different experience, isn't it?
I don't know if you've done it much.
I I tend to stick pretty close to shore in the dark.
But yeah, with the with the lights and the tow floats and
they, they almost look like sortof glowing lanterns.
And yeah, it's, it's really beautiful.
(18:53):
And we were talking about music before and I'm very excited
about this. You said that you've created a,
a Spotify playlist of the ocean,ocean music or music inspired by
the ocean. Yeah.
I I love the idea of, you know, combining the ocean with other
(19:13):
modes of creativity, I guess. And yeah, I can't wait to hear
it. We can link to it in the show
notes. And do you want to talk about
that a little bit, how you chosethe songs and.
Or the. Yeah, absolutely.
Oh, look, the ocean is such a big source of inspiration for
all sorts of people and especially for artists across
(19:38):
the centuries. And that's, that'll be reflected
a bit in the playlist with things, you know, from 19th
century, you know, very descriptive, trying to capture
the sound of the sea or a sea crossing.
You know, having to travel by the ocean was a very real thing
for most people. And that came with inherent
(19:58):
dangers. So the, the, the power of the
sea was a real force. That was a thing of great worry
for a lot of people migrating orjust travelling.
But yeah, the the way way of. Expressing the movement of the
sea, the power of the sea, the joy of it, the the light on it
(20:22):
is I guess just an endless inspiration for musicians and
composers. So this playlist has it's mostly
classical music. This is enough things to choose
from just to make one full of classical music.
But one of the first pieces I put in there is a piece called
Become Ocean, Becoming Ocean, which is a work by John Luther
(20:47):
Adams. He's an American composer whose
music is often inspired by a lotof environmental concerns.
And Becoming Ocean is or become Ocean.
I keep getting the mixed up. Become Ocean is an extraordinary
thing to hear live if you ever get the chance, and I did.
(21:08):
The year that Dad died, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
programmed it and I went along having heard it, a recording of
it before, and I played some on the radio.
But to be there in the Michael Fallow Centre, which is the big
cavernous concert hall, and to hear this music, which is
(21:30):
designed to make you feel like you're right in the middle of
the orchestra, which in itself is an experience that's full of
waves of sound. And he wanted you to feel the
depth and the, the waves and thespray of the sea.
You, you feel like you are surrounded by so much water in
(21:53):
that concert hall. And it's an immersive experience
where you are listening to the, the rhythm of the, of the ocean,
the, the pulse of it, the light.You can hear the light coming
through the, the depths. You can feel the spray, these
(22:16):
big surges. There's like 3 big crescendos
and all the instruments kind of coalesce at that point.
It's such a clever piece of music.
And it's over 40 minutes long. So it's like there's almost like
a deep meditation on the sea where you are placed right in
the middle of it. It's tremendous.
(22:38):
So that's in there. What else is in there?
Some beautiful music from opera things that we that are used in
operas that are set on the coastto change scenes and reflect the
different sort of sea escapes. The times of day across the
scene that not only literally reflect the coastline at that
(23:02):
time of the day, but also the internal state of the
characters. It can kind of give you a sense
of where the music where the story is going emotionally.
This beautiful trio from Cosi Van Tute, which is sung on the
shore as these two women farewell their lovers as they
cross the sea. There there's there's some
(23:25):
beautiful music by Maisie Rica, a New Zealand Maori singer, and
that's all about Tangaroa, God of the sea.
I've put all kinds of things in there.
I can't wait for I. Can't wait to hear it.
Oh come on. What's the name of the playlist?
Does it have a name? Oh yes, I don't.
It's just like Clarissa's Ocean playlist.
(23:46):
But I'll, I'll give it to you. I'll.
I might rename it. I'll give it to you when I'm
finished. I've just stopped myself from
adding things to it. Awesome.
Oh my goodness. Yeah.
I must admit I'm, I do tend to be a bit stuck in my 90's rock
era when I listen to music like Metallica and some kind of and I
(24:08):
always think of classical music as being very smart and
sophisticated. Yeah.
And I was going to ask, is there, is there a good sort of
entry point for people who mightbe curious about classical
music, but they might not have had much exposure to it?
Do you have a recommendation sort of for how people, how
(24:28):
people can get started with listening to classical, if that
makes sense or is that? Yeah, well, I mean, everyone's
so different, it's hard to know what people will connect with
first. But you know, movie soundtracks
are an obvious start point for most people.
Gaming soundtracks, often those are orchestrally scored, so you
(24:48):
get the sound of the orchestra there, which is engaged with the
emotion or the scene setting of whatever movie or film you're
watching. So that's a neat way in.
You can just look up the soundtracks and kind of get used
to. I put a little bit of music from
the piano in this playlist too. You know that film set in
(25:08):
Katakati Beach that might be familiar to your listeners?
Yeah, I would say start with thethings that you encounter in
your daily life, like television, movies, gaming,
soundtracks, sometimes finding pieces that are solo
instruments. They may be orchestral
(25:29):
instruments. They may be piano.
And then, yeah, going from there, building up, just dip
your toe in the water and then swim out into the great ocean
that is orchestral music. Nice metaphor and good
connection with today's topic. So we talked about how you're a
(25:55):
marriage celebrant and you you travel around a lot helping
people to get married. Have you ever married anybody in
the sea? I imagine side weddings, but
does anyone literally get married in the water?
Because I think I would marryingagain.
I have seen, I've seen videos ofpeople you know having having
(26:18):
ceremonies at sea or being in the water.
I've never done it personally. I don't know where the brides be
too keen on ruining their dresses.
They simply have taken a lot of weddings on beaches.
They seem to be places of great significance for many people and
they're such stunning locations post their own challenges.
(26:41):
I took my auntie's wedding whitetongue and there was an onshore
breeze. I always struggle with my hair
and ceremonies because you do a lot of weddings outside and
before you know it, the winds blown everything across your
face. You can't see what you're
reading. You'd start chewing on your own
(27:03):
hair. OK, I thought, this time I'm
going to gel it back. And then there's no way this
hair is going to get in my in mymouth, in my eyes.
And it was famous last word. So this onshore breeze came
along and literally flapped the whole gel flap over my face like
(27:23):
a comb over gone wrong. So you deal with the elements
and you have to work with what you get.
Yeah, especially in Wellington, I imagine the logistics of windy
days must be challenging for. You'd have to, yeah.
Yeah, it's a land. Yeah, the wind will blow all the
chairs over. Blom, blom, blom, blom, blom,
blom. And one gust, you put them all
(27:44):
back up and does it again until people are sitting on them.
I nearly lost the marriage registry documents once as they
sort of hurtled towards the the little lake up there.
Yeah, yeah. It's the elements for you.
It's no end of adventure in them.
I guess you just have to roll with it and just laugh.
(28:05):
All very fast on your feet. I know that you're a keen
gardener as well, so this is another way you have, you know,
connecting with nature I suppose, and you have a plot in
a community garden, is that right?
Yeah, I, I assume. Everyone knows what a community
(28:25):
garden is, but just in case theydon't, do you want to describe
what you do there? Yeah, look, community gardens
are many and varied and I think,yeah, they depend on who's
looking after it, what the groupis around it.
I found this one in Lower Hutch,where I live these days, and it
(28:48):
has sort of been abandoned. I could tell that things had
been growing successfully there,but things hadn't been tended to
for a while. And there was a week note on one
of the compost bins asking for interested people to get in
touch with the council contact person.
And I made-up with them and theysaid well to start small and off
(29:10):
you go. So I did.
I started in a corner of this garden and slowly I bumped into
neighbors of the garden and theycame and got their fingers dirty
again. And now we've got a little group
with, we've sort of expanded, not terribly much.
(29:31):
It's really probably A4 handful of about four or five people who
maintain this garden space. And we have lovely conversations
with people coming to use the basketball courts or kids and
families playing the school. Little old ladies with their
dogs come down to pick a few bits of leaves of spinach or
(29:52):
some beans. Young children who are
interested in what's growing andlittle girl last night who said
she wants to come along and helpon a Sunday.
And so it's a nice way to meet people in your community.
Otherwise, I mean, I live on my own.
I can be quite isolated here if I don't go out and, you know,
(30:13):
find people, find reasons to talk to people.
So that's been lovely. And we're just learning as we
grow. And yeah, it's beautiful.
We've formed a network of growers across the Hut Valley
now. So we have thanks to the
community liaison person, the council community liaison,
(30:36):
Grace. She's been great and
instrumental at getting us together so that there's a bit
of support among the growers. So we'll host the next one at
the Waterloo Community Gardens coming up in May.
So looking forward to meeting even more people who are trying
to do the same or similar sorts of things across the valley.
That's awesome. I've heard that seaweed is an
(30:57):
excellent fertilizer as well, I don't know if you've tried.
That I haven't yet, but that's the sort of next step, I think
for the garden is we've sort of wrangled the shape of it in the
last nine months or so and draw on some things to see how
they'll go. And next is, yeah, building
compost, getting worm farm sorted.
(31:20):
And yeah, looking at ways of fertilizing the garden that yes,
I believe seaweed is a fantastic, fantastic way of
fertilizing a garden. My dad was an amazing grower.
He was obviously grew grass as afarmer, but everything he turned
his hand to just grew incrediblywell.
(31:44):
It is a gift for it and a lot ofit's in the power of
observation. You know, you watch and you
learn and you try. And one thing he taught me was
to not give up too early on things, which is was an
interesting lesson. You know, things like, oh, well,
that's done, you know, give up on that, never mind, check it
out. And he would insist.
And, you know, sure enough, withthe change of conditions or just
(32:07):
a little bit of patience, thingswould come back.
So, yeah, there's a lot of lessons to be learned in the
garden and in the sea about lifeand how to manage yourself.
And yeah, it's a pretty special thing to be involved in both
those things. Yeah, that's awesome.
And do you have any? Goals with your swimming, but in
(32:27):
particular? Or is it more just learning as
you go and continuing to connectwith the ocean?
Yeah, well, definitely that. I mean, I, I'm person with
limited time, so I have to kind of carve out the opportunities.
I seize them when I when they'rein front of me and I've got the
time. But it would be nice.
I would like to just keep pushing my distances.
(32:50):
I think technique will allow youto do more and go further and
feel more relaxed and more capable and confident.
Peter and I had signed up for the Goat Island Swim.
You spoke to the woman who who organises it in one of your
earlier episodes. And yeah, we went all the way up
(33:12):
to Snells Beach and we're prepared to do that round the
island swim, which would have been about 1 1/2 KS.
But there was a big tornado and a big storm, so that got
cancelled. And so we went snorkelling
around God Island instead, whichis a beautiful way to spend the
time. We booked up there together.
(33:34):
Yeah, just seeing everything. But no, my, my main goal would
be able to swim increasingly longer distances and feel
comfortable and confident about that was even just a a major
hurdle to to feel like I've got my breathing a bit more under
control and breathing out underwater through my nose was a
(33:58):
big a big aid. I've yeah, that's really helped
me in the first instance to to put my head under a water and go
for longer. I was breathing out through her
mouth and expelling too much airin one go and just just makes
you breathless and a bit panicky.
So with through the nose it was easier to control my breath and
(34:22):
and to try to relax easy more easily underwater.
Yeah, that and that can be a huge breakthrough because that
whole air exchange process is a massive thing to learn, as, you
know, land mammals spending timein the water and learning to
breathe efficiently so we can relax and swim longer.
(34:43):
Another tip I learned is that humming underwater can be quite
a good way to relax and also, you know, to let out a bit of
air through your nose because you can't hold your breath and
hum at the same time. Yeah.
So that's something I do sometimes.
That's another kind of audio experience as well, listening to
(35:08):
yourself hum underwater, so thatI don't know if you've ever
tried that. No I haven't, but humming's a
big part of warming up for singing so I will give that a
try. Just going to ask, if you still
perform as a soprano, you still get live concerts?
Yes, yeah. The next thing will be in the
(35:30):
chorus for New Zealand operas Labouim Puccini Opera.
That's coming up in June I think.
So here we'll start rehearsals and then in the in the next few
while I've got to let's start looking at my music again.
Well, that's exciting. And that, yeah, that will
include Wellington. Obviously I will have to put
some concert. Data.
(35:51):
It's just in Wellington. It's just in Wellington.
Yeah, I'll, I'll. Well, I mean, it's national, but
Wellington has its own chorus. Yeah, I'll include include the
link to your upcoming performance on the show notes
and where else can people. Find you.
Oh, if they're listening to RNZ concert, I'm often doing the
(36:14):
live broadcasts from the MichaelFeller Centre with the New
Zealand Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles.
I'm on Instagram if you want to follow me there.
What else? Yeah, mostly that.
Oh, and. The most important question of
all, we we haven't talked about the porridge yet.
It's not really a question. It's for a statement about how
(36:36):
much we both enjoy the porridge at Graham's kiosk at Friedberg
Beach after our swims. I don't know if you want to talk
about the porridge. Oh I do, yes.
That porridge feels like a real trick because I don't like
eating before I go swimming, so afterwards I'm really ready to
chow down on that delicious porridge.
(36:57):
I had some on Sunday and it was beautiful.
It's creamy and warm and it had a topping of spiced poached
plums and toasted coconut. It's very bougie, but it's so
(37:19):
delicious. It's really, yeah, it's
delicious and it's really good for warming the core
temperature. So I I feel like we're doing our
bodies of service as well by by eating it, especially in the
colder months. Absolutely, it's such a treat
and it's just nice to hang out with everybody and debrief on
the swim afterwards and talk about we're off to next on your
(37:41):
swim adventures. I always love hearing shown her
about your latest swim travel plans.
You're always off here and thereto improve your swimming and to
adventure in different locations, and isn't that a joy?
I'm so lucky and it's a whole new lifestyle for me.
I just, I'm continuously inspired by the people around me
(38:03):
learning about all these different swim options and ways
of learning about swimming and opportunities.
So yeah, it's a great community.And Clarissa, thank you so much
for your time today and persevering with the technology
challenges that we had. Thanks for listening to this
(38:24):
episode of Swim Chats. Please remember to follow or
subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode and if you
enjoyed it, you can leave a fivestar rating and review which
helps other people find it too. Enjoy the water and we'll see
you next time.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.