 I’ve yet to see a bull in a china shop. But I have met two Miniature Schnauzers in a ‘bed, bath and living’ shop. And with their silky, silver coats freshly groomed at one of Wellington’s upmarket doggy salons, Max and Ellie look positively at home among the toiles, silks and sprigged linens.
Changes are (ahem) afoot at Masterton’s Saunders Shoe store, with a change of ownership. Owner Gary Sims is moving on after 32 years.
Sara Orsborn is making it her business to inspire Wairarapa women. As the driving force behind the newly created Bubbles ‘n Inspiration Evenings, the vivacious 28-year-old head of sales and marketing company Scoop Enterprises, is on a mission.
 For decades, the Wellington commuter Train has been a way of life for countless workers, allowing them to have their cake and eat it, too.
“What’s that?” asks a passenger, pointing to something outside the window. “That’s sunshine, mate,” says the guard, “Wairarapa sunshine.” We’re gliding out of Woodside Station on the 6.50am train from Masterton.
 Need rejuvenating? Consider the delights of the Tora coast. 45 minutes’ drive from Martinborough village, past the Hau Nui windfarm and the scenic Tuturumuri valley, lies the beautiful and unspoilt coastal area of Tora / Te Awaiti.
“I grew up with typical Kiwi beers like Lion Brown and then went overseas – six months turned into 18 years - and things changed, my palate changed,” says Rhys of Peak Brewery, which was established at East Taratahi in 2006.
 Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Wings Over Wairarapa brand, owned and managed by the Masterton based New Zealand Sport & Vintage Aviation Society, is now firmly established as a must-see biennial event on the Australasian aviation event calendar.
 Now in its third year the Wairarapa Wines Harvest Festival is fast becoming recognis-ed as a high quality, annual event showcasing sensational wines and food from throughout the Wairarapa region.
The 2009 Wairarapa Wines Harvest Festival in association with Nissan NZ will celebrate the beginning of the grape harvest season between 11.00am and 6.00pm on Saturday March 21. It will be held at ‘The Cliffs’, the spectacular riverside setting on the banks of the Ruamahunga River in the popular wine growing area of Gladstone’s Dakins Road, in the heart of rural Wairarapa.
 That’s the aim of Martinborough chef Jo Crabb, who is starting a small cooking school at Palliser Estate.
Jo Crabb is reticent about using the term ‘cooking school’. That’s understandable given Martinborough’s recent loss of the much heralded Cordon Bleu International School of Cuisine. She senses a gap in the market for professionally run cooking classes in a town famous for its wine and beloved by Wellington’s dinner party set. “It’s not a school, just classes and they’re going to be a little bit quirky,” she says.
 Bottles of wine are like books - nice to be surrounded by, says Palliser Estate Managing Director Richard Riddiford. It’s that library atmosphere which Palliser is hoping to create in its newly completed underground cellar. Reached by a steep flight of concrete steps, the dimly lit space with a huge solid wood tasting table as its centerpiece can store up to 10,000 bottles.
Boutique olive producer LOT EIGHT has again been recognised for consistent high standards this season, winning another ‘Best in Class’ award for its Artemesia (Red Label) Extra Virgin Olive Oil at the 2008 Olives NZ awards.
If you love to take time over superb wine matched with just the right food, then this is for you! In the middle of January, when days are long and warm and the grapes ripening on the vine, a group of family-owned boutique Martinborough Vineyards - Coney, Croft, Julicher and Te Hera, will once again get together to stage a wine and food experience that is out of this world. Catch a bus in the square, and over the course of the day, you’ll visit all four Vineyards. You’ll meet the owners, walk among the vines and taste a selection of wines. Choose a glass of your favourite, sit down and leisurely enjoy a delicious entrée-sized portion of food especially prepared to match the wine selection. The day begins at 10.30am and you will be delivered back to the square at 5pm. Tickets are $135 and can be purchased from the Information Centre Martinborough, Wine Seeker in Wellington and Coney or Croft’s Cellar Door. There are a limited number of seats available by bus from Wellington, $25.
 Who needs the glitz and razzmatazz of a Hollywood set to look and feel glamorous, when right here in the Wairarapa two talented women are creating beautiful imagery that would make anyone go ‘wow’! The idea of creating stylish photographs for women of all shapes, sizes and ages was something that award-winning photographer Esther Bunning had been thinking about for some time.
Organic, natural, NZ-made, locally produced, recycled and recyclable. Rebecca and Graham Matthews are aiming to tick as many boxes as possible with the homewares they sell at their new shop, Karm, on Featherston’s main street. It’s part of their dream to give people an option to fit out their entire homes at one shop, and feel good about everything they buy for one reason or another, Rebecca says.
 It’s about a relatively small number of community minded people - often the same ones - getting their hands dirty for the common good.
In recent years, Martinborough has become well-known as a Mecca for fine wine and food, indulgent weekends, stylish weddings and boutique shopping. The annual ‘Toast Martinborough’ weekend is a case in point - so too is the Martinborough Fair held in February and March each year. However, it’s not all about indulgence. Those who are lucky enough to live in the close-knit community also have a penchant for using the area’s natural (and gastronomic!) resources to ‘give back’ a little something.
Let’s think hard about our choices this Festive Season. ‘Tis the season for speeding hither and yon to buy plastic doo-dads for Junior that will be deemed ‘way uncool’ by the time we hit the carpark. A time to race back to the shops for that eighth roll of gift wrap because you forgot to wrap Auntie Grace’s foot spa and there’s never enough on those rolls anyway.
Christmas is nearly upon us. Time to buy presents, stock up the pantry and brace ourselves for a houseful of visitors. But what about the tree? While some may choose to pull ‘old faithful’ out of the cupboard each year, nothing compares with the smell and the feel of the real thing. Ask Paul and Monica Mallinson of Classic Christmas Trees in Greytown, and they’ll tell you - a real tree sets the scene.
 Kingsmeade Artisan Cheese may not quite be a household name, but that is about to change.
Nine years ago, Wairarapa cheesemakers Miles and Janet King saw the need for a cheese for people unable to tolerate cow’s milk, and began producing a ewe’s milk cheese. Today, they produce eleven different varieties, and with two Ballance Farm Environmental awards and numerous bronze and silver New Zealand Cheese Awards under their belts, they’re taking off in the wider gourmet cheese market.
 Tina Dunlop has already made one client cry since opening Shalari Boutique Lingerie in Greytown – because she was doing such a fantastic job.
 What I Really, Really Want… is an opportunity to indulge in something delicious and help save a culture at the same time. Glenys Almao and Gerald Brown, owners of Greytown’s Main Street Deli, are adding a little more spice to their lives with their newest venture, Allspice Imports.
All will be revealed at one of Wairarapa’s beautiful ‘secret gardens’ on the 14th and 15th of February 2009, when the grounds of Carrington House, Carterton, becomes the venue for ‘Sculpture in the Country’.
 “Coloured shoes will never work in New Zealand”…one bit of advice that was quickly ditched by sisters Angela and Cushla Buswell when they launched their Minx brand eight years ago. Their customers literally voted with their feet, and their designs are still bold and bright - and now available in Greytown.
 Like honeysuckle over a totara fence, history and memory are entwined in Awaiti Gardens, developed over the past 27 years by Jeanette and Allan Gates. Allan is asking me to run my fingers through a lemon verbena. It’s an unobtrusive shrub, but the smell of crushed leaves between my fingers is truly wonderful… fresh and zingy, bringing back memories of glacial lemon icing and checked tablecloths in country kitchens.
 There are some treats in store in the Wairarapa this summer for people wanting to enjoy the outdoors, and appreciate our natural and historic heritage. It’s time to get out of the deck chair and walk off some of the Christmas Pudding. (Just don’t forget the sunscreen.)
The Department of Conservation is creating a new campsite, revamping tracks and huts, and is offering a summer programme of activities, some of which will be based around the upgraded Pukaha Mount Bruce visitor centre.
 Holidays are a bit of a nightmare for Braden and Zahna, aged six and seven. Their dad, Mark Thomson, insists on stopping the car at obscure places every few kilometers in his endless quest for second-hand treasures.
“It has become obsessive…he calls it an illness!” says Melinda Kassim of her partner. Together they have opened Fuzzy – named after the ‘warm fuzzy’ you get looking at objects from bygone days – in an historic building in Carterton, and the shop is filled with the fruits of their travels.
 Ten years ago Wellington builder Marty Stevens and partner Cathryn Kerr decided the Wairarapa offered an appealing lifestyle in which to raise their young family. Like many before them, they made the move ‘over the hill,’ and developed their own business, Plum Tree Cottages.
 The Dresden figurine has rosebud cheeks, a tiny waist and a lacy, flowered skirt. It was given to Shirley Cameron on her 16th birthday, and although Shirley now has a cabinet full of Dresden ladies at Country Charm Antiques, this gift will always be special because it sparked a lifelong fascination with antiques.
 What Greytown musician Barry Saunders sees in his horoscope is a new solo album. Out now, “Zodiac” features 10 new songs from The Warratahs frontman and is his fifth solo outing since New Zealand first heard of him in 1987 with the release of the hit Warratahs’ song, Hands Of My Heart. Some of the songs on “Zodiac” were written at his home in Greytown, many have been played live at the ‘Month of Sundays’ nights at The Lounge in Carterton.
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