If you haven’t visited Newmarket lately, you’re in for a big surprise. First there’s a whole new fashionista street behind the Rialto. Osborne Street (off Teed Street) has been made-over and now bursts with designer labels, new footpaths and trees. Then over on Broadway the new flagship Glassons has opened in the old Hallensteins building with a fancy Blowdry-Bar called Pony Express.

Opened by award-winning stylists Mana Dave and Kelly Latu from Blaze Hair – just up the road – this is the place to drop in for a quick follicular makeover for $35 – $45 (depending on whether you get it washed or not). They have a “menu” of 8 styles for up-dos and other tress-taming techniques. Or you can pop in and just have a wash and dry before work – or the posh drinkies you’re off to with friends after 5.

A quick hair do then a shop

Modelled on Top Shop in London, the blow-dry bar is sure to take off, especially as school ball season rolls in. Or those of us who fancy a little lift of an afternoon.

Bookings are recommended, but you can drop in and try your luck.

Pony Xpress Pony Xpress 237 Broadway, Newmarket.

Open Monday-Thursday, 8.30am-6pm; Friday, until 7pm; Saturday 9am-6pm; Sunday 10am-5pm. Phone 09 520 5086 for bookings.

I’ve just come back from a weekend in Kuaotunu. Where, you ask? I know, it’s a mission to find if you’re not from the ‘Mandel.

Many a satisfied customer has sat on this veranda, icecream melting down arm

Basically you head to the Kopu Bridge at Thames and turn right to get there via Tairua and Whitianga or left via Coromandel town. About an hour and a half later you arrive at a tiny seaside village with a hall, a fire station (which sounded its alarm for the volunteers to come running in the middle of the night), and the store, famous for its ice creams.

They seriously cannot be making any money out of these monstrous ice creams! One scoop is $2, but you can have two flavours in your one scoop cone (as I did). The Kauatunu Killer is a five-scoop ice cream in a double cone that costs $5 and is bigger than your head. Truly.

Proof of the ridiculously cheap cones

We had come back from the Whitianga Scallop Festival on this sunny afternoon and decided it was ice cream time. But the Killer is so big The Bloke was beaten by his three-scoops, although I’m told they sell at least one Killer a day. Definitely worth a stop – or even driving an hour out of your way. Oh and you can walk along the beach to burn it off which nullifies the transgression.

I’m as excited as a kid in a candy store for the upcoming Whitianga Scallop Festival! In fact I reckon even a kid would take a freshly sauteed scallop over a gummy bear any day.

The famous festival started in August 2005 and about 2500 people came that first year to sample the locally harvested scallops and enjoy the festivities. Today numbers are capped at 6,300 tickets to the public to ensure the queues aren’t too horrendous - especially for the porta loos!

The main day to get amongst the molluscs is Saturday August 28th where 100,000 fresh scallops are expected to be consumed, but the festival officially kicks off tonight with a four-course Monteith’s scallop and beer-match dinner at Salt Restaurant (tickets $70).

If you like golf with your scallops then take Friday off to play in the Mercury Bay Scallop Festival Open (tickets $40) which includes a seafood lunch and spot prizes.

The ‘miscellaneous’ free activities all kick off on Friday too with Shamus - the ultimate danger show in the afternoon, and the Blacksmith Lane Street party that night, followed by Scallop Idol at Smitty’s Bar at 8pm.

But Saturday is the big day. You can see, smell and taste from 70 scallop stalls selling and sampling Neptune’s hors d’oeuvres from a marquee village in the centre of town that sprawls to the waterfront and all the way to Taylors Mistake Park.

You’ll also find art and craft stalls, live music and entertainment and the surrounding cafes and restaurants are all in on the extravaganza. I’m going and I can’t wait.

For more info and to get your tickets (adults $50, children 13-17 years $10, 5-12 years $5) for the Whitianga Scallop Festival click here.

We’ve all seen the 1950s pouty red-head blowing kisses from the side of Jucy Rental vans and cars roaring up and down the countryside in their lime green and purple kit. Well now Jucy Lucy is all set to kiss you goodnight in her very own budget hotel.

Lucy says: Don't play hard to get be hard to forget

You’ll find the brand new Jucy Hotel, right in the heart of Auckland’s CBD, with her trademark lime green and purple screaming out from the blandness of Emily Place. This is a budget hotel (read backpackers) with 60 rooms sleeping from 1 to 4 people, with and without ensuites.

I went to the launch last week and was very impressed. For this end of the market, it’s amazing value. The place is funky and clean, the colours are startling (not sure what it’d be like waking up after a big night at nearby Vector Arena and the ensuing aftermath).

All the Jucy staff seem to look the same (or am I just getting old??). Long dark hair, doe eyes, hot bodies and luscious lip gloss (and I mean you Tim and Dan). This is also the new head office of Jucy and their open plan offices have those great big bean bag “fat boys” (in lime green of course). Their meeting rooms are designed like 1950s booths at the local diner.

All they need is girls on roller skates bearing maltshakes and fries.

The triple room

If you’re visiting Auckland and looking for a cheap and groovy hotel, check out Jucy Lucy. Prices start at $49 per night for a single to $149 for a quad room.

www.jucyhotel.com

Auckland Scene: Folk are running about in a veritable feeding frenzy in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup.  Party Central looks like it’s going to end up being more of a state of mind and less of an actual place. The All Blacks are personally testing the public transport stretch into Kingsland. Mt Eden landlords are giving their tenants notice so they can pawn off their decrepit villas off to tourists for a few thousand a week. The remaining tenants are frantically inflating their old airbeds, hoping to rent out some floor space on the quiet (and maybe a hammock to utilize that wasted airspace in the hallway.) Madness.

I can’t help but think that I would be a fool not to cash in on some of this money-making potential. I therefore offer my sturdy 70’s pad to any world cup punters who need a place to lay their weary, rugby-loving heads. You can even use the garage, as soon as I’ve cleared it of the landlord’s stuff.

I live in Point Chevalier, which is a mere, sprightly 55 minute walk from the action at Eden Park. I gotta tell you though, you couldn’t ask for a nicer walk home after the game. It’s just a straight hoon down New North Road, one of the most under-rated roads in Auckland. You’ll take an extended dog’s leg to the right and eventually end up at the Point Chev shops on Great North Road, the perfect place to grab a late-night bite (your lodgings are meals exclusive, unless you dig canned soup.)

One of the first places you’ll hit is the grand old Pt. Chev RSA – perhaps here is the place fans of the English can commiserate over a home-cooked roast, a cheap pint and some lively banter with the locals. From there, it’s a veritable smorgasbord of the nations Turkish Kebabs at 1218 (with real lamb!). Sages Indian at 1228, or Gourmet Wok at 153 Pt. Chev Road. If it’s a decent pie you’re after, and 90 percent of the time it will be, you need look no further than Angkor Bakery at 1202, or the Take 5 Lunch Bar around the corner at 35 Pt. Chev Road – home of the famous Steak and Mussel pie!

From there it’s a short womble home to my place where I may be able to guarantee something from the swappa crate, dependant on what time you arrive home. If it’s any time after 7pm, don’t hold your breath.

…and most of all, stay away from the Harlequin Bar. That’s my local. And damn it if some things are just far too sacred.

Call me.

Check out the Point Chevalier hub

- Luke Oram

Auckland Scene: In a world obsessed with counting calories, going organic and eliminating G.E, it’s nice to know that we live in a country that still celebrates tucker as a cultural icon, rather than something to be scrutinized at its molecular level.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t shudder at the fact that we’re climbing the international obesity charts like a mantis on heat, but we shouldn’t sacrifice the place that food, in all its forms, takes in our culture.

Auckland Museum’s new exhibition Kai to Pai sheds a delightful light on Auckland ‘through the lens of food’ – and it’s pretty brilliant. A great look at the part that food has played in the cultural melting pot of our fine city – from recollections of ye old Farmers Building tearooms (before my time) to the 1844 Great Maori Feast of Remuera (they didn’t eat Remuera, it was just the venue) – all the way through to a celebration of one of Auckland’s most consistent treasures, The White Lady.

The exhibition runs through to the 25^th October and is jam-packed (see what I did there) with activities for the palates of young and old. Check out World On Your Plate Saturdays – every Saturday boasts a different ethnic group showcasing their specialties, with live cooking sessions and cultural performances. And there’s tastings, by god.

Other showcases that are sure to feed your brain well are the Late Future Food sessions – lectures and performances investigating topics such as bio-technology, with representatives from the food and entertainment industries.

And if the museum’s not your bag – at least head to their website; their blog’s got some great recipes…

Links:

Kai to Pai website

Saturday’s World on your Plate

Late Future Food

- Luke Oram

From where?! I hear you ask. Lawrence is a tiny squeak of a town in Central Otago and only known to me because I have cousins there whom I have visited only once, age 17. Well not even there – they live even more remotely on a farm in the wop cacks and I remember needing hot water bottles on Christmas Eve, such is the chilly climate. However, it does stay light until about 10pm in summer so your barbecues can go on longer of an evening…

Sunset in Lawrence

But there is more to Lawrence than long evenings, this former goldrush town is no backwater boon dock today. It is on the forefront of WiFi technology and a few 5-star hotels could take a leaf or two. The town of Lawrence provides free internet access in the main CBD (don’t laugh) and cafes for you to Skype, email, and generally tell your friends and family about the marvellous time you are having in the Clutha region. AND if you go to the Visitor Centre (Tuapeka Lawrence Community Company, 17 Ross Place) you can make FREE phone calls to 44 countries from their internet phone.

Lawrence once had twice the population of Dunedin (at 11,500) during the heady days of the gold rush. Today it has 550 people who no doubt know all there is to know about each other and to find a spouse in Lawrence must be a hard road indeed. But like every decent rural community in New Zealand, there are events to lure locals and visitors with scones and jam. One can only hope that a pint or two will be downed at the Waitahuna Tuapeka West Collie Clubs prizegiving on July 23rd, and again at the Lawrence Rugby Club Cabaret on August 21st. But I’m most excited about the Lawrence Country Fair on November 7th.

However next year Lawrence celebrates its 150th celebrations from March 18 – 21 so if you’re doing a circuit of the South Island, drop in and enjoy the razzle dazzle.

Last night I treated me and The Bloke to dinner at Auckland’s number 1 restaurant (as voted by Metro Magazine) The Grove. It was a chilly Auckland night but Thursday parking was good thanks to a sneaky spot outside The Den Adult Concepts on Wyndham Street, which leant all sorts of connotations to The Bloke’s idea of the evening as he didn’t know where exactly the restaurant was. It’s not in there! It’s on the newly rennovated St Patricks Square behind St Patricks Cathedral further up Wyndham Street.

Owner and chief sommalier (award winning actually) Michael Dearth greeted us at the door and one of his staff took our coats. The long narrow restaurant has windows over Albert Street at the far end and that was we were to sit. Their speciality is wine matching with the amazing food that chef Ben scoots out of the kitchen, so we wine matched away.

First course for me was yellow fin tuna sashimi with whipped avocado and a little ‘canelloni’ of, I think, rice paper wrapped around some avo and maybe a little cucumber (to go with the whipped cucumber froth garnish). The plate was dotted with teeny flowers which I gobbled up. It’s their signature dish, they said, and I’d recommend getting that autograph again (!) It was divine – and perfectly matched with the 09 Hans Herzog Heavenly Sevens from Marlborough. It seemed to burst in my mouth like a puff! The food that is.

The Bloke went for seared scallops on a little tasty risotto of pink potato, crab and morels (what are morels?) Tasted awesome anyway and I know this for I leaned across and tried it. His was matched with a Marisco Pinot Gris also from Marlborough.

Then out came the mains: pork belly and loin for me (I had made a bit of a deal about asking if there was crackle. Not exactly crackle said our waiter, but it is crispy. Verdict: I’d call that crackle. Just not your crazy crackle look, but definitely crunchy and just what I fancied.) It was also served with 4 slices of tender loin and presented with tiny little meals dotted around. Teeny petit pois (yes peas) and little stacks of this and that with more flowers. We ordered brussel sprouts. I know, what were we thinking! but they were delicious fried with a little bacon and onion, and the winter gratin which was cauliflour and cheese. My last bite (my best bite) was so good I didn’t want it to end. Although chewing on pork belly till morning might not be so nice. This was matched with a delicious 06 Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir.

The Bloke went for a steak. Correction: Beef fillet with smoked potato puree, blonde beer and endive marmalade. It was excellent and he declared, in few words, it to be “tender”. Sorry, that’s all I got. It was matched with an 02 Kemp Road from Hawkes Bay and lo, there was room for dessert.

I was sold on the handcrafted souffle, which last night was passionfruit (my absolute favourite flavour) and served with homemade icecream. It arrived puffing out of its ramekin still piping hot and was delicious – although I did give half away across the table. The Bloke had the Cheescake which was deemed melt-in-your-mouth. But I said mine was. We didn’t make a scene.

We had no room for coffee although a little plate of petit fours arrived which almost tipped me over the edge (a wafer thin mint sir?)

I can see why The Grove is #1 in Auckland right now and I’ll back. When I am flush with funds.

Entree, main and dessert for 2, plus 2 glasses of wine each = $260.

For the rest of Auckland’s Best Restaurants, as selected by Metro Magazine, click here.

And it’s the grooviest thing to hit Rotorua since – goodness, is there anything groovy about Rotorua? Certainly nothing like this: we’re talking rhinestone-studded rhinoeros heads above the fireplace, black chandaliers and white leather.

I just spent the weekend in Rotorua to get amongst New Zealand culture as I am tasked with revising a New Zealand country guidebook. It’s been an interesting job, mainly involving checking 200 pages of email addresses, websites, opening hours and phone numbers. But for some of it I have decided I need to go and see for myself.

Rotorua for 3 days was just the ticket and even though the weather prohibited much luge action or zorb globe riding in a giant inflatable ball, it did not prohibit soaking in the Polynesian pools followed by a mud wrap massage or eating and drinking in this chic hotel.

The newest hotel in town is also one of the oldest. The Regent of Rotorua is in the newly redesigned 1960s motel units on Pukaki Street, right in town. The old concrete brick walls have been plastered over, the rooms gutted and refitted, designer furniture and linen has been brought in and everything is white and black glamour with lime accessories.

A new building accomodates the aforementioned restaurant and bar with the rhino heads – which owner Darryn Whitehead said caused a bit of a ruckus in the customs xrays. Real rhinoceros heads are banned but plaster ones are fine. They’ve purpose built one and two-bedroom suites that have also been decorated with their signature stylish yet retro vibem, but the rest of the place is “the old girl”, as Darryn calls her.

The Regent of Rotorua already sits at number 1 of 103 Rotorua hotels reviewed on Tripadvisor and this little chic boutique hotel could just as easily fit into the Los Angeles scene I reckon.

Alas I didn’t stay – if only I’d known about it (rooms start at $179). But I did have dinner there in the restaurant that opened last Tuesday. So new it was that the indoor/outdoor gas fire was still to arrive and larger tables for 2 to dine tapas style turned up at 5pm – too late to be switched in for the night.

Black chandeliers pop against white leather seat backs, tables and walls. Glitzy sequinned crowns on the back wall and dramatic black and white feature wallpaper add a touch of over-the-top, but they make no apology for that.

The place was hopping when we went – clearly the locals have been waiting for the Regent of Rotorua with much alacrity. They small plates (tapas) menu is what we went for – 5 little dishes including salt and pepper squid, duck confit spring rolls. We had the hand cut chips and even  had room for pudding. They also do main meals.

When the weather’s nice you’ll be able to have your drinks outside in the courtyard around the geothermally heated pool, or sit under the soon-to-arrive cabana and in the communal open area. I can imagine some groovy DJ mixing tracks outside and apart from the odd waft of sulphur, you could be in West Hollywood.

We’ve got the Rugby World Cup coming to New Zealand next year and already fans are booking tickets and accommodation. But we’re hearing news of hotels and B&Bs charging like wounded All Blacks hundreds of dollars per night more than usual, so how about house-swapping or renting a house from a local?

On the kiwi side, if you’re wanting to get out of dodge during world cup fever, you can list your house on a few websites and get a nice little sum to head to Fiji with.

If you’re an overseas fan looking for a house to pivot from in say Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch, you can take over one with your mates and pay a weekly rate (in New Zealand dollars which is practically nothing!) The fear some of my friends have who are thinking about renting their houses out though is the damage they might come back to. But you wouldn’t do that would you?!

These sites list kiwi homes with photos, prices and distances from the ground. Some offer free listings, others will charge. Have a squiz below and happy house hunting!

http://www.hospitalitynz2011.co.nz/

http://gorugbyhomes.co.nz/

http://www.stay2011.com/

http://www.stayinnz.com/

http://www.rentmyspace.co.nz/

http://www.homelinkinternational.co.nz/rugby.html

http://www.kiwistay.com/

http://www.newzealandrugbyinfo.co.nz/rugbyaccommodation.php