The alternative hobbies of some Kiwis
So your New Years resolution is to shake things up a bit - but youre not sure how. How about a spot of jousting, or a weekend game of spaceships and aliens? Felicity Monk goes in pursuit of some lesser known pastimes.
Youre going to get skinny, hes going to get fit, shes planning to be nicer, I want to perfect lasagne. Boooor-ing. How about making a resolution to be more interesting? A fine and noble idea. How, you ask. Let me count the ways. Heres 12 for starters. I took it upon myself to research some of our nations more colourful clubs, groups, societies and organisations. I wanted to know: what do they do? How do they do it? Why? And can you do it too? From jousters and rock hounds to skeptics and hen fanciers, theres something here for everyone. Your dinner party conversations will never be the same again.
Carnivorous Plant Society
Brian Quinn, secretary of the Carnivorous Plant Society (CPS), was 13 when he got his first carnivorous plant. It was a Venus Fly Trap and I killed it. Probably poked and prodded it too much. A lot of people have joined the society from killing a Venus Fly Trap. They contact us, we coax them along to a meeting, and they find out we are not a bunch of weirdos.
CPS formed in 1982, and has around 100 members. The youngest is 12 years old and, until very recently, the oldest member was 100. They meet six times a year at Aucklands Horticulture Centre in Western Springs. Members bring in their plants, talk about cultivation, issues around pest control and conservation. Sometimes theyll have a raffle. CPS also hosts a spring show, a summer show and a field trip. Not many people know this, but New Zealand has two sorts of native carnivorous plants: sundews and bladderworts. All in all, Quinn says, theres well over 300 species in the country.
Is there an Herbivorous Plant Society, I delicately enquire. Not that Quinn knows of. Id like to think we get on with all plant societies. Different fads come and go. The Cactus and Succulents Society was really huge in the late 80s and early 90s and the Bromeliad Society has been really popular in the last five years. Our biggest competition is probably internal. We might all have the same plant so it is who can get it the biggest or the best.
Membership fee: $45 per year includes the quarterly CPS journal and access to the seed bank and library. Joining criteria: An interest in carnivorous plants. Vegetarians are welcome. Uniform: A badge with the clubs logo. Refreshments: Milk and cookies, cake or biscuits. Objective: To provide an exchange of information of carnivorous plants, in particular in relation to New Zealands conditions. Occupational hazards: Once you succeed in growing them, you tend to multiply them. What started out on the windowsill has made its way out the back door and is taking over the back garden. Now I have 1000 sq m of glasshouse. http://homepages.woosh.co.nz/brianquinn/index.html
Pirate City Rollers League
Dead Wreckoning roll out of the locker rooms snarling as they skate. They are mean-looking and fierce and fixin to bout. Pieces of Hate (aka Stacey Roper) is chomping at the bit to get in the rink; shes ready to smash people. But Im not allowed to say smash, it puts people off playing. Its a Saturday evening at Skateland in Aucklands Mt Wellington and the place is packed for Storm in a D Cup, the final game of the Pirate City Rollers League (PCR) season. Its Dead Wreckoning, in a fetching ensemble of black fishnets, very brief skirts, and tight singlets with a white skeleton print, vs. Blackheart Bruisers, who are rocking a retro boxer look (cute but it doesnt scream killer) for the title bout.
St Johns medics hover nearby. Death metal blasts from the speakers and the caf%26eacute; is selling hot chips and cans of Speights and Lion Red. The game has three rounds of 20 minutes each. With each round the girls get nastier. The crowd loves it. Roller derby is as much about theatrics as sport. Dead Wreckoning wins: 76 points to 60.
Blackheart Bruisers growl and hiss for effect, and with that the season is over.
Roper captains Dead Wreckoning, is on the coaching committee and looks after the PR for the PCR. Monday to Friday she works in an advertising agency. The PCR formed in February 2006, and now has 80 members made up of refs, officials, players and new members still in training. There are three teams of 10 players and four extra in player pool who play across the three teams when needed. Which is usually quite frequently. Last week, says Roper, we had one broken collarbone and I think a hyper-extended knee - it looks like snapped ligaments. It didnt look good. That person wont be playing again. We try to spread out games so they are a couple of weeks apart. It takes a while to heal.
Theres plenty of Freshmeat coming through the ranks though. Roper reckons between 30 and 40 girls are on their way to becoming members. Its not like most sports where you rock up and play. You have to learn how to roller skate first and then you have to learn how to fall on your arse, without hurting yourself or anyone around you. Tits over toes is a frequent instruction called out at practice.
Guys like it because the girls are in short skirts and they beat each other up. And girls like it because they are beating each other up and are kind of empowered by it. Theres a huge element of skill involved because you are doing this on roller skates so you cant be any old flunky out there. Roper says Wellington and Christchurch are in the process of setting up roller derby leagues and she has had enquiries from Nelson, Wanganui, Whangarei, Hamilton, Palmerston North and Rotorua.
Membership fee: $10 to join, $25 each month for rink rental. Joining criteria: Must be over 18. Our oldest player is in her mid-40s. There are positions for all shapes and sizes. You must be willing to get fit and prepared to put in some time outside of the sport. You have to be able to roller skate and then pass a skills test before playing derby. Uniform: Roller skates, helmets and pads and the rest is up to you and your team-mates. Themed outfits are good. Refreshments: If we have meetings at night, well take a plate and some of the girls will bring a few beers. We used to be worse. We used to go to the pub and meet there, even before practice, but now everyone has got a little bit more competitive. Objective: Its an alternative sport that allows you to be physical and strong but feminine at the same time. It allows you to take on a persona thats not normally you and it allows you to be really aggressive. There are not many physical sports that women can play that kind of have it all in one. Occupational hazards: Injuries - fishnet burn, stitches, scratches, bruises, cracked ribs. www.piratecityrollers.com
Parrot Society of New Zealand
Ill just put this bird away, says president of the Parrot Society of New Zealand (PSNZ) Jim Trevitt as he answers the telephone. Theres squawking and flapping and carrying on in the background. The PSNZ began 18 years ago and there are now more than 130 members nationwide and 18 members overseas. Its an international club, Trevitt explains.
Its not necessary to own a parrot, he says, but there would be little point in joining otherwise. If you have an interest, we wouldnt exclude you. We do have members with one parrot; they tend to be pet people, obviously. Theres two ladies on the committee who only have three parrots. Theres some very big collections around the country. Youd be astounded. Trevitt has 60 or more parrots himself and just recently his collection grew. Had to go down to Kihikihi yesterday- a chap passed away very suddenly and his wife wanted the birds gone; she wasnt a bird person, she didnt know how to feed them. I bought 18 birds up; that was only a corner of the collection. It was a lovely collection of birds. It was a crying shame.
Parrots cost anywhere from $100 to $10,000 for something exotic, like a macaw.
PSNZ does a lot of relocating and re-homing parrots and regularly dispenses general advice on parrot upkeep. There are quarterly committee meetings but contact is primarily through the monthly newsletter, an annual aviary field trip and a Christmas function.
Membership fee: $50 per person and $55 for couples per year. For this you will receive the clubs quarterly magazine Parrot. Joining criteria: Anyone can join, but we reserve the right to withhold [membership from] undesirables. Uniform: A club T-shirt. Refreshments: Seeds. Objective: Husbandry and welfare of parrots. Occupational hazards: If youre not careful you can get a lot of leaks in your hands, where the birds tend to get a bit over-vigorous when youre handling them. Its very easy to have blood running down your hand. Its the only way a parrot can communicate with you really; a dog licks you, a cat rubs against your leg, a bird grabs your finger. www.parrot.co.nz
New Zealand Association of Scrabble Players
Wheezing - a triple-triple through the centre and right triple at the bottom of the board. A whopping 337 points. This is the New Zealand Association of Scrabble Players (NZASP) highest recorded word at club level. Neil Talbot from the Wellington Club is the record-holder. We have a way with words. In India last November, Nigel Richards was crowned New Zealands first world Scrabble champion; equinias was the game clincher, a tidy 86 points. NZASP President Lynn Wood says the association, which formed 25 years ago, has about 400 members in its 28 clubs around the country. If anything, [membership numbers] have dropped a bit because people get older and die and we havent got nearly as many younger people coming on as we would like.
At club meetings, usually once a week, members play Scrabble against one another - a minimum of three games in a night. Each year the NZASP hosts a national tournament and anyone is eligible to play as long as theyre a member. Wood says online Scrabble may be a factor in declining membership. But there is something about sitting opposite another person and getting the tiles out of the bag and tromping them around your rack that, to me, is far better than sitting at a computer playing. Its such a wonderful game and it is so underrated.
Membership fee: $5 per year, including the quarterly Forwords magazine and the right to participate in tournaments. Joining criteria: Open to anyone. Uniform: International tournament players are supplied with a T-shirt with the NZASP logo. Refreshments: Cup of tea and a biscuit. Objective: We foster the game of Scrabble, we run national tournaments and encourage people to continue to play. Occupational hazards: Suffering a mind block or having the odd senior moment mid-game. www.scrabble.co.nz
New Zealand Vintage Tool Collectors Club
Trevor McConchies favourite tool is a Stanley No. 77. Its a gigantic mincer; you feed it bits of round dowel and square wood comes out. All up, hes got 1000 vintage tools in his collection. But thats nothing. Some guy down in Canterbury has 4000 in his. McConchie, New Zealand Vintage Tool Collectors Clubs (NZVTCC) magazine editor, says the club formed in 1987 after three tool-collecting men met by chance at an auction on a Dairy Flats farm. There are now 147 members, including five overseas. The oldest member, says McConchie, is 93 and still works 30 hours a week. His name is Bob Lynn QSM. Let me tell you, he is a retired joiner and lives in Ashburton. He is a life member of the club and in the 60s did all the joinery on the Beehive. The guys an icon. He wrote a book: Woodwork: My first 70 Years. Lynn is reputed to have the best vintage tool museum in the world.
Members meet on the last Thursday of every month at Aucklands Lynfield College. They discuss latest acquisitions - We get %26lsquo;em all on the table, and sometimes theyre not much and other times they are absolutely sparkling - have guest speakers, and hold a what is it? competition where people have to guess what a newly discovered vintage tool does.
NZVTCC also hosts tool displays where members demonstrate the use of their tools. We spread the news, %26lsquo;Dont dump them, come to us and you can make money. We either auction them at our auctions or we make you an offer. The highest price ever paid for an antique tool was in the US where an ebony and ivory plough plane sold for $US235,000 ($311,000) at auction.
Membership fee: $40 a year if you live in the Auckland area, $30 for the rest of the country. Membership includes access to a library and six copies of The Collector yearly. Its got a glossy, colour centrefold; you wont get a pinup girl on it - you get a guys tool collection. Joining criteria: Anyone can join, just as long as they dont have a criminal record. An interest in vintage tools helps. Uniform: Aprons, caps, mugs and polo shirts with the NZVTCC monogram. Refreshments: Everybody brings a plate and we have quite a little binge-up afterwards. We have one member who always bakes a batch of pikelets with raspberry jam on. Objective: To promote the collection and presentation of vintage and antique tools in New Zealand. Occupational hazards: Never drop your tool. They are made of cast iron and they will break; they can be decimated. Ive seen people cry over it.www.nzvtcc.org.nz
Mineral Club of Hutt Valley and Wellington
Have you ever stopped and picked up a rock or a pebble just because you liked the look of it? Popped it in your pocket and taken it home to rest on the mantelpiece for all to see? If you have then you have already been bitten by an interesting and inexpensive hobby - you are a rock hound!
The website of the Mineral Club of Hutt Valley and Wellington (MCHVW) has these simple questions on its homepage to help you work out whether you fit the bill. President Ian Godfrey says people join for all sorts of reasons. There are those interested in fossils, those who fancy crystals and those who delight in lapidary (making jewellery from stone, mineral, gemstones). Tumbling rocks is my thing, says Godfrey.
The MCHVW was formed in 2000 when Wellingtons New Zealand Mineral Club merged with the Hutt Valley Mineral Club. Both clubs had been running since the early 60s. With 65 members (the youngest is just six), the MCHVW is one of 35 similar mineral clubs in the country. The National Association, to which all clubs belong, is now based in Christchurch but will soon be moving to Taranaki.
MCHVW has up to five meetings a month, including a general interest meeting, a meeting with a guest speaker, a field trip, a junior group, and every third Wednesday a workshop meeting. Rock hound factoid: there is a volcanic rock called spherulitic (incidentally Godfreys rock of choice) which appears in only two places in the world, and Tairua in the Coromandel is one of them.
Membership fee: $20 for adults, $7 for juniors, $10 for country members (those outside of the Wellington region or overseas) per year. Membership includes the monthly newsletter Magma. Joining criteria: As long as you are interested in rocks, we dont turn anybody away. People come along and go: %26lsquo;Wow. Thats it, theyre hooked. Uniform: Club badge. Refreshments: We have a supper roster; a cup of tea or coffee and usually a piece of cake or a biscuit. Objective: To foster an interest between people and their environment in terms of geology. Occupational hazards: We had one guy trip over the tow bar of somebodys car on the way into a meeting but, fortunately, aside from that we havent had any physical incidents whatsoever. We hold training sessions in the workshop so people can learn about the equipment before they are actually allowed to use it. www.mineralclub.wellington.net.nz
NZLARPS
Craig Neilson has a spaceship in an upstairs room in his house. One weekend last February, it comfortably accommodated 12 Shikadi aliens. Neilson is the NZLARPS (New Zealand Live Action Role Playing Society) project officer and author/creator of Nibelungen, a science fiction LARP following the lives of a group of aliens who crash-land on earth. His LARP included missions in a specially fitted spaceship venue with a space travel simulator. It started on a Friday night and went through to midday Sunday: A good 40 hours at least. The 12 main players (someone flew in from Australia for it) stayed in character the entire time. A further 20 people were involved as temporary characters. Neilson plans to play it again, probably in March. In the meantime the spaceship is getting plenty of use, which is good since he had to upgrade the circuitry of the entire house when building it. Its a great place for me to play Nintendo and watch movies and maybe one day Ill get a girl in there, if Im lucky.
Neilson is very excited about a new LARP hes working on. Its a live version of a full-size PacMan. Hes found an abandoned meatworks where it will take place and hes got all his props: nightlights, a stack of batteries, and sound grenades. Now he just needs LARPers.
Neilson says last year there were more than 50 LARPS happening across the country (in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin).
Membership fee: $20 a year (students pay $10). This includes the quarterly magazine Immersion, discounts on LARPS (each LARP has a fee, the weekend-long Nibelungen cost $120, which included food and accommodation), Medieval Shop merchandise and Paddywhack LARP weapons. You can also apply to the society for funding for your own LARP. Joining criteria: Anyone can join. People under 16 are taken on a case-by-case basis. We have a little bit of a code which is that good role playing is when you make everyone else look good, and if you turn up and dont, then no one is going to play with you. Uniform: Depends on the LARP. Refreshments: Depends on the LARP - the Shikadi aliens got to eat Burger Fuel. Objective: We believe in the importance of play and we think there are a lot of things that prevent people from being able to play and express themselves, or for that matter to try out other personalities. If you wanted to go to work one day as a different person, you couldnt. But if you want to come and hang out with us and pretend you are from the 14th century, then fine. Occupational hazards: Theres the odd physical injury. The hardier among us use the two-week rule. If it still hurts two weeks after the injury, the blow was too hard. www.nzlarps.org
NZ Skeptics Society
Heres an interesting statistic, says Vicki Hyde, chairperson of NZ Skeptics Society (New Zealand Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal): A one in a million coincidence should happen to you about once every two years. For Hyde and her fellow skeptics, statistics is their currency, science their language.
NZ Skeptics formed in 1984. It came about as part of a worldwide concern over a lot of publicity given to the likes of Uri Geller, who claimed to be able to bend spoons with his mind. Since then the society has looked at the claims of many people in the various paranormal industries as well as pseudo-sciences such as alternative medicine.
NZ Skeptics has 500 subscribing members nationwide and 2000 on its email alert list.
There is an annual conference for members which Hyde says is always great fun. It includes two days of lectures and we always open with something slightly unusual; one year everyone had their auras photographed. But sometimes, being a skeptic can be hard.
People assume because we say that theres no evidence for alien abduction that we are close-minded to the possibility of aliens existing at all. We cheerfully say: %26lsquo;Its a big universe, there could well be aliens out there but we just dont think the evidence is good enough to prove that they would come here. But the moment one lands on the lawn outside the Beehive and talks to John Campbell, wed be there like a shot - itd be brilliant.
Membership fee: $40 waged; $20 unwaged per year. This includes the quarterly New Zealand Skeptic journal, access to the full online archives, video and book lending libraries and an invitation to the annual conference. Joining criteria: Open to anyone. Uniform: Wear your critical thinking hat.
Refreshments: Coffee, tea and biscuits and a birthday cake for Mr Darwin on Darwin Day (February 12, an international day celebrating science and humanity). Objective: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Occupational hazards: The hardest thing to deal with is the assumption that anybody who is a member of the Skeptics must be a humourless, dogmatic bigot. And also: Trying to explain the complexity of the universe in a five-second soundbite. www.skeptics.org.nz
Ulysses Club of New Zealand
Grow Old Disgracefully is The Ulysses Club of New Zealands motto, said to reflect the general attitude of its members. The name of the club is taken from Alfred Lord Tennysons eponymous poem which tells how the great Greek hero Ulysses, now middle-aged and securely in charge of his kingdom of Ithaca, becomes bored and longs to go adventuring with his shipmates of old. That about sums it up. Theyre a sassy lot, these ageing, boisterous motorcycle bandits. Membership is restricted to people aged 40 and above. The oldest member is 88. The younger members, who dont graduate from junior status until they hit 50, are expected to help the older ones with dicky hips and gammy knees dismount from their bikes.
Etiquette instructions prior to a group ride include arriving for the ride with an empty bladder and wearing a name badge. Remember we all have Alzheimers - wear your name badge so we can remember your name.
The Ulysses Club originated in Australia in 1983, and once there were sufficient numbers in New Zealand, a club was formed here. This year it is celebrating its 20th anniversary, with 3000 members in 30 branches nationwide. Jayne Mansell is the branch president of Auckland, which has 630 members. When shes not on her bike shes an accounts clerk at Turners Car Auction. She says each regional branch is responsible for arranging its own meetings, rallies, outings and social events. There is usually a branch meeting and a number of group rides each month and all members are invited to attend the AGM, which is held in a different location each year.
Membership fee: $30 to join plus $25 for one year or $60 for three years. Membership includes the quarterly club magazine Ulyssian, a name badge and rule book, and discounts for bike gear and cheap ferry crossings. Joining criteria: Members must be over 40 and hold a current motorcycle riders licence or be able to demonstrate a prior longstanding interest and/or involvement in motorcycling. Prospective members are required to attend two official Ulysses runs or club gatherings over a two-month period. Must have a good sense of humour. Uniform: Badges, braces, buckles, T-shirts, polo shirts, denim shirts and sweatshirts, all with the Ulysses logo. Helmet when riding. Refreshments: When we are doing a ride we often suck on lollies. Objective: To grow old disgracefully but not disrespectfully. Occupational hazards: Injuries from motorcycle crashes. People have lost limbs. Weve had a few killed. Ive been to a lot of Ulysses funerals. www.ulysses.org.nz
Happy Hens Club
If youre happy and you know it clap your hens, quips one jolly customer from Hong Kong on the Happy Hens website. Hatched in 1984 by Yvonne Sutherland of Portobello on the Otago Peninsula, Happy Hens was the result of Sutherlands study of colonial New Zealand history, in which she learned that early pioneer women chose their hens as much for their decorative qualities as for their egg production. Her grandmother kept big Black Orpingtons and as a small fry she enjoyed collecting the big, brown eggs.
Sutherland began making ceramic hand-painted Happy Hens and selling them. Over the years, she thinks she must have made well over 200,000. She started the club about five years ago after recognising there was a loyal group of supporters out there and now the 500-strong club even has members in Hungary and Lebanon. Sutherlands personal fav is the Pencilled Hamburgh hen.
Membership fee: Free! For this you receive a quarterly club newsletter and members get special discounts and priority access to new products and designs. Joining criteria: Open to anyone. Uniform: Happy Hen T-shirts made out of special Happy Hen fabric are available for sale. Refreshments: Not applicable, but Happy Hens has just introduced Happy Hen chocolate with, you guessed it, little Happy Hens on the front. Objective: If I had to say it in an eggshell, its spreading goodwill around the globe because every culture can connect with hens and chickens. It is certainly universal. Occupational hazards: Bad hen lines. Happiness is hen shaped (English customer) and Happy Hens, Happy Me! (New Zealand). www.happyhens.co.nz
Sweet Adelines New Zealand
After an auspicious start in Wairoa 20 years ago, Sweet Adelines NZ has exploded like a song bomb. Sixteen choruses stretch from Invercargill to Whangarei (incidentally Wairoa no longer has one), encompassing 900 of New Zealands finest lady warblers.
Originating in the United States 62 years ago, Sweet Adelines is now a worldwide organisation with 30,000 women singers committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop (four-part) harmony through education and performance.
Linda Thompson, the communications co-ordinator for Sweet Adelines NZ, has sung baritone with the Waikato Rivertones for the past 11 years. She says in addition to the existing members there are more than 800 young people (boys and girls) coming through the ranks in school programmes.
New Zealand does very well. Waikato Rivertones exceptionally so. In July last year they were crowned world champion mid-sized chorus at the International Harmony Classic in San Antonio, Texas. It was invitation only and they competed against nine other small-to-midsized choruses. It was the first time the trophy had left the US. There is also an annual national competition. This year it is in Hamilton in May.
Rehearsals are usually once a week and coming up to competition extra coaching is provided. Numbers in each chorus range from 20 to 120.
Membership fee: Approximately $25 to $30 a month, plus one-off affiliation fees to the international organisation. The fee covers regular music lessons from qualified teachers, the opportunity to perform with a chorus and a monthly e-zine, SingOut. The club magazine Addaline is published three times a year. Joining criteria: Just because youre ace on SingStar doesnt mean you qualify. Before joining you must attend your local chorus practices for four to six weeks. You are then put through a programme to determine whether you are lead, tenor, baritone or bass, and finally an audition. We do turn people away. It helps to be fit since, with increasing frequency, chorus front rows dance during a performance, and I dont mean sway. San Diegos front row do cartwheels while singing. Uniform: Outfits change but are often snazzy, with sequins, glitter and false eyelashes, yet designed for comfort. Refreshments: Cubes of apple during rehearsals to keep vocal chords lubricated, and a cup of tea and a biscuit at the end of practice. Objective: People say they come for the music and stay for the friendship. Good for your health, good for your soul. Winning medals and competing overseas is also nice. Occupational hazards: Falling off the rises (raised steps the singers stand on), throat infections, or the misfortune of standing near someone who has recently eaten curry or something garlicky, doused themselves in perfume, or enjoyed a stiff drink beforehand - all of which are prohibited before coming to practice. www.sweetadelines.co.nz n
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Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 6:05 pm under