Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Our book reviewer Catherine Raynes has been reading Dave Grohl's memoir, The Storyteller. Jack Reacher is also in Better Off Dead by Lee Child and his younger brother, Andrew Child. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steven Dromgool speaks to Jack Tame about how you can help a partner who has an addiction. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our wine expert Bob Campbell has been sipping on a 2019 Piqueras Black Label from Spain - a perfect accompaniment to your summer BBQ dishes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Yardley has some travel tips for the best little seaside town of Kaikoura.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scolypopa australis is quite a charming name for an Aussie bugger in the garden. This hopper is extremely common in the northern warmer parts of the North Island but has been known to be a problem as far south as Nelson and Marlborough. The overwintered eggs hatch in spring (October-November) as tiny little "fluffybums", a name which describes exactly what they look like: small, frog-like bug nymphs with an ornate tuft of "nylon" tail fibres, implanted in their bottom. If you look at them under the microscope, you'll suddenly see that these fluffybums have a somewhat melancholic look on their faces; the inherent sadness of an Australian, out-of-place, in a foreign country. As soon as the little nymphs hatch they will suck plant material through their tubular mouth parts. The phloem is where it's all at: sweet nutritious sap that courses through the veins of the host plant. Of course the excreta of the fluffybums is that sweet sticky honeydew, an unmistakable diagnostic symptom of so many sap-sucking insects. From late January onwards the nymphs go through their final moult and turn into adult insects (passionvine hoppers), complete with wings. You can find these adults well into May. The adult hoppers are a wee bit more mobile than in their larval stages: not only can they still jump, but they now also have the power of sustained flight, albeit feebly. The damage caused by both the fluffybums and the adult hoppers can be substantial. Distorted growth of the plants they attack is merely one result of their mainlining activities, the deposit of honeydew and secondary sooty mould causes severe headaches to growers of export produce. It is unclear as to whether the bugs transmit virus diseases from plant to plant, but the possibility can as yet not be ruled out. When they feed on the poisonous sap of the native tutu (Coriaria arborea), they literally pass on the toxic substances and add it to the honeydew. Bees that may forage on this honeydew incorporate it in the honey stored at the hive, and although the tutu sap is not toxic to either passionvine hoppers or bees, it is pretty dangerous to humans! CONTROL/PREVENTION It’s almost impossible to “spray” the passionvine hopper in summer – they simply avoid the spray by “flicking and flying” away. But in the early weeks of development the nymphs are so small, that no-one really notices them, yet this is the time when chemical or even organic control would work the best. A simple misty spray with Pyrethrum or even synthetic pyrethroids would control the majority of the very small, and still susceptible nymphs. When you try to spray them at a later, larger stage, you'll notice that they try to escape the toxic clouds by simply jumping away from the danger zone. So, have a look at your plants that are usually covered with passionvine hoppers and see if they need treatment; Now is the time to do it! LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Google is getting NYC ready for self-driving cars Their autonomous vehicle company Waymo is sending a fleet of cars to the big apple equipped with high tech sensors and cameras to start capturing detailed street information. NYC is a concrete jungle full of construction, double parked delivery trucks, terribly maintained roads, heavy rain, snow and poor signage - so it's going to be a challenge. These cars will be driven by humans to prepare for driverless services in the future. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here are Tara Ward's three picks for the week: Bloodlands: James Nesbitt stars as Northern Irish police officer DCI Tom Brannick, who connects a kidnapping with an infamous cold case with enormous personal significance (TVNZ OnDemand, from 7 November). Chapelwaite: In the gothic-horror starring Adrien Brody, Captain Charles Boone relocates his family to their rundown ancestral home in Maine, where he must fight a darkness that has plagued the Boones for generations. Based on Stephen King's short story Jerusalem's Lot (TVNZ OnDemand) The Long Call: Detective Inspector Matthew Venn returns to his small hometown in North Devon to lead a shocking murder investigation that casts a shadow of doubt over the whole community. Based on the novel by Ann Cleeves (TVNZ OnDemand). LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Iconic Kiwi artist Dick Frizzell has created some of New Zealand’s most recognisable artwork over the years and there’s no slowing down for the 78-year-old just yet. Jack Tame catches up with Dick to hear how he's getting on in lockdown and what he's been working on lately. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been eyeing up some movies included in this year's New Zealand International Film Festival. She speaks to Jack Tame about Night Raiders, the documentary The Return: Life After ISIS, and Sisters with Transistors. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time (actually we’re a bit late this year) to make the Christmas cake. We’re going gluten free because why not?Here’s other ways to serve Christmas cake:· Warmed with custard· Fried in butter and served with fresh blueberries and yoghurt· Alongside decent aged cheddar (like Eccles cakes)· Crumbled and stirred through softened vanilla ice creamOvernight soak:1 ½ kg mixed fruit½ cup sherry or brandy or whatever1 apple, grated1 tbsp honey or golden syrup1 cup firmly packed brown sugarCake:1 ¾ cup gluten free flour1 tsp baking powder1 tsp mixed spice½ cup orange juice4 medium-sized eggs, beaten lightly250g melted butterAlmonds for decorating1. Set the oven at 130 C. Line base and sides of a 20-23cm square cake tin, first with a few layers of newspaper then two layers of baking paper.2. Soak fruit, liquid, honey/syrup and apple in a large bowl over overnight.3. Add sifted flour, baking powder and mixed spice to soaked fruit and mix well. Stir in eggs and orange juice. Lastly, add in the melted butter and mix to combine. After mixing, let it sit for 5 minutes and should the mixture be a little stiff add a bit more orange juice. You’re aiming for a sloppy batter as gluten free flour absorbs more liquid than regular. Scrape into the prepared tin. Decorate top with almonds.4. Place cake in oven on a magazine (it won’t burn at this temperature) and bake for 3 ½ hours with a piece of baking paper loosely covering it to stop it burning on the top but uncovering it for the last 30 minutes.5. Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before removing to cool fully on a cake rack.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a milestone in the Milne household this weekend - Kevin Milne tells Jack Tame his wife becomes a pensioner this Sunday. "The issue I'm grappling with is what is it going to be like sharing the bed with a pensioner?""I'm not sure I'm psychologically up for it."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is it with comebacks?What does it say about us as audiences? What does it say about the authors and musicians, the creators and artists we love, when after a decade or four in solitude, they decide to triumphantly come back and try to nurse cold embers into a blazing fire?Most of the time it’s for money. And most of the time, it’s a flop.My Dad is a huge fan of the band, Cream. Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker. We grew up with their music blasting around the house. Apparently I’m named after Jack Bruce!But Cream broke up in 1968. Dad never saw them live. So when the band announced a reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005, we all assumed Dad would do anything to go.‘Go on!’ We said. ‘We’ll remortgage the house, if that’s what it takes.’But Dad decided not to go. And whether or not this is true, he gave me a really interesting reason.‘I don’t want to spoil the image I have of my favourite band.’I think about Harper Lee. She published To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most loved and influential novels of the 20th Century. And then she went quiet. For the best part of 55 years she said she wouldn’t publish another book. That was, at least, until 2015, when her publisher announced to fanfare that it would soon release Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman.’To be fair, this wasn’t a pure comeback as such. The official line was that the book was a previously undiscovered manuscript, although that seemed a bit cute. Some people reckoned Harper Lee had been manipulated or taken advantage of. Either way, Go Set a Watchman was no Mockingbird. It seemed a shame.Why am I telling you this? Well, I’ve just endured ABBA’s new album. Their first in forty years. And although I’m very much of the opinion that any one person’s music tastes are as legitimate as anyone else, ABBA’s Voyage is... awful. Just awful. You’re free to make up your own mind but I really cannot foresee even the most die-hard fans truly preferring ‘When You Danced With Me’ to ‘Dancing Queen,’ or preferring ‘I Can Be That Woman’ to ‘Man After Midnight.’This is the problem with comebacks. They give you a rush of nostalgia when they’re first announced, but they almost never recreate the magic, the je ne sais quoi of the past. I can only think of one recent example of a production that’s turned out better than the original. Funnier, smarter, more authentic.Bravo, Celebrity Treasure Island.It might be the best reality television New Zealand has ever made.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

House borer has been with us humans from the day we made our dwellings from dead timber. Before that time, the insects concerned themselves solely with tunnelling into (and recycling) fallen logs in the forests. A very useful occupation, I’d say.Untreated timbers are still perceived by pregnant adult borer beetles as a very suitable fodder for the larvae, especially when there is a wee bit of moisture and yeast around to aid in the digestion of all that cellulose.She will lay her eggs in old nail holes, exit holes, or cracks in the wood, and particularly loves the end grain of a piece of timber. The larvae emerge and bore straight into the wood; their entrance holes are too small to be noticed by a mortal human being.Inside they subsist on a very boring diet for at least two years (if the timber is very suitable) – in some cases they’ll take four years to complete their life cycle. It probably pays to stress the fact that bone-dry and yeast-free (or fungus-free) timbers are not great food sources for these destructive beetles. Relatively wet timbers on the south side of the house or in the vicinity of bathrooms are a different story!When they are ready to pupate, usually in autumn time, they tend to tunnel towards the surface of the timber, so that their exit in spring can be swift and effortless. In November the adult beetles (small dark brown, about 4 - 5 mm long beetles) start chewing their way out, leaving the characteristic, small but visible borer holes behind. Emergence can take place from November until well into summer.Although the beetles do not feed, they may live for four weeks, in which they find a partner and ensure that preparations are well under way to create a new Generation of domestic borer larvae. Often you can find the beetles in large numbers, dead on a windowsill after they have forcefully tried to exit through a closed window.Control is tricky. Injection of borer fluids into the exit holes is absolutely useless: the borers have already left and only few exit holes will be used as oviposition sites by the gravid females.The idea is to cover at risk timber (untreated, non-tanalised timber) with a residual material that kills either the emerging beetles and egg laying females, or the hatching first instar grubs of the borer. But since DDT went out of fashion, this is not easily achieved.Perhaps a good soaking with diesel is exactly the lethal barrier you might be looking for, although the stench will wear anybody down, after a while.If you can be bothered, a “borer bomb” could cover most surfaces with a residue, but you’ll need to use a number of them for your average house size to get a good deposit. These days those borer bombs are basically aerosol cans that self-discharge after triggering.A permethrin aerosol can, used to residually treat airplanes will work quite well too (contact Safeworx); aim at the exposed timber and spray the surfaceRemember to start your first treatment on 31 October, so that the first emerging borer will literally hit the ground running (or flying) on the 1st of November. Often a second deposit may be necessary in early December to cover the total emergence period.The idea here is to let the emerging beetles come in contact with this lethal substance, be it permethrin or the active ingredient of the bomb.Of course, you can always call in the professional pest control operator, but you now know to book them at the right time.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Music reviewer Estelle Clifford gives Ed Sheeran's new album '=' a rating. She says it sounds like Ed is more "settled" in this album. "In this one, he's in love, he's a dad and he's lost some people - it's all here. It's a love album to his wife."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Facebook is now MetaFacebook, the company, is now going to be known as Meta Platforms Inc or Meta for short. Why? Because it's now thinking of itself as a 'metaverse first' company, building immersive social platforms. Zuck says it has nothing to do with the bad news in the press or his intentions to step away from the 'big blue' app. The 'family of apps' including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Oculus will now be brands under Meta. Reality Labs will be the name for the 'future' focused segment of business. What I took away from interviews was that Facebook is seen now as the old person's app. They want to be doing things that are innovative, with users who are open to change and new experiences - which are 18-25's. Their expectations about what to expect on the internet are very different. This move better positions Meta to be a company offering a range of 'social' solutions for the internet.What is the metaverse? It's a virtual reality and or augmented reality space where there's a digital version of you. You can hang your digital art in your digital living room, interact with friends, visit new worlds, do business. Facebook is building the foundations for this new experience - the software and the headsets, motion sensors and more.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine Raynes has been reading The Judge's List by John Grisham and Billy Connolly's autobiography, Windswept and Interesting. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travel expert Mike Yardley has been in Kaikōura and shares his tips to get the best out of the seaside town with Jack Tame. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the climate summit beginning this weekend, eco-man Malcolm Rands goes over the most important changes you can make to help our planet.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s Movember – that is Men’s Health Month in November, so our resident doctor Bryan Betty is talking about the prostate. Bryan Betty is a GP and medical director for the College of GPs. He’s also on the Covid-19 advisory committee. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Larkins: Bradley Walsh (The Chase) stars in this reboot of The Darling Buds of May, about a working class English family living in Kent in the 1950s, led by Pop Larkin and his wife Ma (TVNZ 1, begins Sunday) The Unusual Suspects: An Australian drama about the theft of a multi-million-dollar necklace and the women from different walks of life who come together to ensure that justice is served (Rialto, from Friday). Woodstock 99: A fascinating HBO documentary that looks back on Woodstock 99, the infamous three day music festival that was marred by intense heat, overpricing, violence, sexual assault, looting, vandalism, and fires (Neon). LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember 42 Below Vodka? It was one of New Zealand’s most successful alcohol brands that was sold to global giant Bacardi in 2006 for hundreds of millions. It’s founders, Geoff and Justine Ross, have since grown powerhouse brands such as Ecoya and Trilogy. But their latest venture is perhaps the most challenging yet. The pair swapped the boardroom for gumboots and bought Lake Hawea Station near Wanaka in 2018. The pair speak to Jack Tame about life on the farm.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New season strawberries have hit the shelves and they’re at last priced sensibly. Make this gorgeous slice and serve it warm with vanilla ice cream for a dessert that tastes of summer. Makes 12-16 squares 1 cup whole almonds 415g (about 3 ¼ cups) plain flour Decent pinch salt 250g cold butter 3-5 tablespoons cold water ¾ cup raw sugar 500g fresh strawberries (or use 250g each strawbs and chopped rhubarb) Grease and line a Swiss roll tin (23x33cm), leaving some of the baking paper hanging over the long sides. Rub/grate chilled butter into the flour and salt (or do it in a food processor). Toss the butter in the flour. Divide this mixture equally into two bowls. Into one, pour 3-5 tablespoons ofice coldwater, stirring first with a knife to a scraggy mess then add a bit more water before turning out to knead briefly so it comes together. Flatten to a disc, wrap and chill for 20 minutes. Blitz almonds in a food processor until it’s a coarse crumb. Add this crumb and the sugar to the other half of the flour/butter and mix to combine to a crumble. Roll chilled dough on a well-floured bench to fit your tin, big enough to come up the sides, and carefully transfer to your tin. Press into the corners and up the sides. Cover with chopped berries then spoon over crumble topping. Bake at 180 C fan bake for 50 minutes or until browned on top and juice from the fruit has started to bubble through. Cool in the tin until just warm then slice. Eat with scoops of ice cream. YUM!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been watching The Green Knight, Juniper and I'm Your Man. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Honestly, I did not expect Nanaia Mahuta to pull the trigger.Opposition to the Three Waters reforms has exploded in the last few months. That bit isn’t a major surprise. Anything that involves the future of water assets and the belief in some circles that Māori are getting a special deal is always going to stir people up. Upon reflection, the Government’s multimillion-dollar TV advertising campaign might have done more to galvanise opposition than to offset it.Facing widespread scorn and criticism, and pushback from mayors around Aotearoa (including those of Christchurch and Auckland, who just happen to be former Labour Ministers), I thought it most likely Nanaia Mahuta would gently back down from pursuing her agenda.But she didn’t. The Minister is planning to mandate. Can you think of any other time in the last four years that Jacinda Ardern’s Government has forged ahead with such an unpopular policy?At the end of the last term, the Government was criticised by its supporters as not having pursued a bold agenda. The Prime Minister talked a big game but wasn’t prepared to spend political capital. Polling ruled the policy.Three Waters is different. It’s one of several big reforms the Government’s handling at once and it’s comfortably the least popular. The plan to shift the management of water out of the hands of local councils will fundamentally alter the future management of our most precious resource.You can hate the policy all you like but you can’t say it isn’t bold.I’m open-minded about what ownership and governance structures will ultimately solve our water infrastructure problems. I can see some merit with Three Waters. I can see some potential issues. I’m yet to see detail behind credible alternatives.Above all though, I think much of the public debate so far has minimised the scale of the crisis. We have pipes bursting and sewage in the streets of our capital city. Every time there’s a storm in Auckland, beaches in the city’s fanciest suburbs are contaminated with sewage overflow. In Havelock North people died!And this is risky, but for all of those who say the Three Waters reforms are anti-democratic, it’s worth remembering it’s democracy that got us in this pickle in the first place. We elect our councils. For decades, many councils around New Zealand haven’t properly invested in water infrastructure because voters whinge and moan over the subsequent rates increases, even as homeowners watch their properties balloon in value. Do we elect politicians to make bold, difficult decisions? Or do we want them to be dictated to by the short-term whim of the polls?You don’t have to support Three Waters, but you can’t argue New Zealand doesn’t face a looming crisis. And if our leaders aren’t prepared to make some tough calls, one way or the other, soon enough we’ll all be in the shit.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne speaks to Jack Tame about how lucky we are to be born in a country with so much land and open spaces but it might not be long before we have to share it.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to Elton John's new album - The Lockdown Sessions.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our book reviewer Catherine Raynes has been reading Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (author of All The Light We Cannot See) and The Lincoln Towers by Amor Towles. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our resident relationship expert Steven Dromgool speaks to Jack Tame about strategies to deal with the vaccine sceptic in your life. He says to approach the vaccine-sceptics in your life with an open mind. "You don't have to lose your relationship with them."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just looking at how nature operates, we can find quite a few ‘do-s’ and ‘don’ts' when it comes to designing a garden or operating such a space. Here are my top tips – some of which are also reflecting my personal loves and hates: Go with the Flow - curved lines in landscapes! In nature there are very few straight lines (if any!). The old French and Dutch Gardens (17th century etc) look spectacular but remember, they were designed to show off the wealth of the landowners, especially those that were driving the economy…economists have never been able to work with nature. Minimise the amount of hard surfaces on the ground. Water that falls from the sky habitually has a tendency to soak into the soil where it benefits invertebrates, fungi, plants, trees and shrubs, as well as algae, bacteria and soil critters. The moment you create hard surfaces, you’ll create flooding down the line somewhere...which is why I think we need to de-seal our roads in suburbs where we can. Create wildflower areas. I have never understood the use of lawns. Monocultural deserts of green nothingness and with very little biodiversity. Petrol-driven lawnmowers are noisy and time consuming. In a wild-flower meadow all you may need to do, from time-to-time, is cut some ‘pathways’ in between the meadow full of flowers. Besides, how cool would it be for the All Blacks to play their matches in a wildflower field? Practice pest control with organic technology. Life-friendly chemistry is a heck of a lot healthier for the applicator, the garden and the planet. Allow predators, parasites and pathogens to do the balancing job for you! You’ll never eradicate a problem critter or fungus – nature often operates on a control system, whereby balances are restored naturally. Be nice to your birds, insects and fungi. Not every bug you find is automatically a pest. In fact, most of them are very useful indeed. Biodiversity is not just a few species that linger in your garden – it’s a massive number of organisms that form a complex ecosystem. That system grows your plants, it cleans the air and the water, nurtures the soil and feeds you through the vegetables you grow. Look after your soil. It’s what grows everything! Use compost to add organic matter - don’t use PEAT! That stuff will make clay a lot more friable and better draining. It also allows sand soils to hold water more efficiently. That black organic matter also gives nutrients for the plants a place to ‘sit on’, so they can be released slowly. Avoid plastic if you can…pots, tags, plant ties and tray. Plastic has slowly become the material that will never go away from our natural areas. As it erodes it becomes smaller and smaller and smaller and those particles finally become molecular in size – invisible, but still present. There are stories of molecular plastic in the oceans, eaten by fish – and eaten by us. The molecular plastic often has positive and negative ions that link up with viruses and other disease-like organisms – imagine: plastics being the carriers of our pathogens! LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Google's Pixel 6 will debut the Google made chipJust like Apple, Google's flagship phone will now have a chip made to blend the software and hardware in a full Google experience. They say it's designed to be 80% faster than the Google Pixel 5, offers more accurate speech to text, and better image processing. They've got a three camera array on the back of the device in a horizontal strip, offering a 4x optical zoom.But to me, the coolest thing about the release is their features for calling customer service lines.They'll be able to tell you how long a call to the bank, or an airline is going to take before you even dial. They're using data from others users, like on Google Maps, to help provide these insights. Didn't quite catch what option you're meant to press for a new account? They'll display the options on your screen.Facebook to change its nameThe corporate company will be named something different to Facebook, which will still be the name of the 'big blue' app. Google did something similar when they created a parent organization called Alphabet.Apple's Macbook Pro will now have a notchJust like the iPhone, the laptop's will now have a camera that drops down into the screen. Apple did that on the phone to offer FaceID, but that won't be on the laptops - which is kind of confusing. TouchID will remain, even though the touch bar is (finally) being ditched. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here are Tara Ward's picks for the week:RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service: The beloved Australian drama from the 1980s is back for 2021. Based on remarkable real-life stories, RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service is a gripping new Australian action-drama that portrays the modern-day heroes of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, starring Stephen Peacocke (Home and Away) (TVNZ1 and TVNZ OnDemand, from Monday). Invasion: Earth is visited by an alien species that threatens humanity's existence. Events unfold in real time through the eyes of five ordinary people across the globe as they struggle to make sense of the chaos around them. (Apple TV+) Good with Wood: It’s like the Great British Bake Off, but for…woodworkers? Sure, why not. (TVNZ1 Fridays, and OnDemand). LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been watching Icelandic film Lamb and the documentary A Glitch in the Matrix. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne recently won a competition for the Dominion Post to be delivered to the door for a month. He speaks to Jack Tame about how it's reminded him and his wife of the joys of a daily newspaper. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is providing up to $940 million per fortnight to support businesses through the challenging Delta outbreak, particularly those in Auckland.Enable Me's Hannah McQueen told Jack Tame the Government's announcement yesterday was a dogs breakfast."There is a misunderstanding around what small businesses need at the moment."She said the business support package is "too little too late".Hannah McQueen is available at www.enable.me LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Dawson is the definition of an adrenaline junkie. Not only is he a former Olympian and New Zealand's best in the canoe slalom, he's also an extreme kayaker.He speaks to Jack Tame about his award-winning documentary of his treacherous trip down Africa's Kwanza River - facing crocodiles, landmines and stand-offs with police. Watch Mike’s award winning documentary Kwanza - The Drowning Diamond of Angola.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the long weekend and you feel like pizza but you really can’t be bothered with the whole rise the dough phase or making a tomato base sauce. No problem – this easy mushroom pizza is an absolute doddle to whip up in under 30 minutes. Get to it! Makes one large pizza Base dough 150g self-raising flour 80mls water ½ teaspoon sea salt Topping 2 cups sliced mushrooms 1 tablespoon butter or oil 1 tablespoon each fresh thyme & rosemary ½ cup creme fraiche ¼ cup grated parmesan Pinch salt and decent grind black pepper Heat oven to 240 C fan bake. Mix all the dough ingredients together in a bowl until it forms a soft dough ball. Turn out and knead for 2 minutes only, then leave it to relax. Fry the mushrooms butter or oil and herbs for 5 minutes or so. Mix creme fraiche, cheese, salt and pepper together. Roll dough out to about 20-25cm circle and transfer to a lightly oiled tray. Spoon over creme fraiche mixture and spread evenly. Tumble over mushrooms. Drizzle over some oil. Place on the very bottom of your oven and bake for 10 minutes or until crispy and golden.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vaccine certificates are about to become a big part of our lives. In much the same way we use the Covid-19 Tracer App to scan-in at different premises, we’ll be scanning the QR codes on our vaccine certificates almost everywhere we go. Under the government’s new traffic light plan, hospitality and retail businesses have massive incentives to demand proof of vaccination from all of their customers. Personally, the certificates make a lot of sense. They’ll make it safer for people to gather in groups and they’ll incentivise some vaccine hesitant people to go and get the jab. But when will they actually be ready? A month ago, when Grant Robertson first confirmed the government was planning to use certificates, he said they’d aim to introduce them at the start of November. Two weeks later, Dr Ashley Bloomfield had a different date in mind. The vaccine certificates, he said, should be ready in ‘late November.’ Yesterday, the timeline appeared to change again. ‘From mid-December, everyone in New Zealand should be able to access a digital vaccination certificate,’ said the official Covid-19 website. After the discrepancy in dates was questioned, the wording on the Covid-19 website was promptly changed. ‘From later this year, everyone in New Zealand should be able to access a digital vaccination certificate,’ it said. Then, late last night the website changed again, this time to ‘the end of November.’ So, is it mid-November, late-November, or mid-December that vaccine certificates in New Zealand will be downloadable and fully-functional, where an individual’s QR code can be scanned and cross-checked against a national database while protecting their private medical information? I might be accused of splitting hairs except for a couple of reasons. If we take the latest of those different dates and vaccine certificates aren’t fully functional until mid-December, there’s a chance Auckland’s DHBs will reach the golden 90% vaccination threshold before the certificates are ready to go. But fundamentally, if you think I shouldn’t be quibbling over four or six weeks, you’re right! It’s astonishing New Zealand doesn’t have a fully-functional vaccine passport system already developed and tested. Almost every developed country has a system in place. Israel launched its vaccine passport system in February. New York introduced vaccine passports in March. As National’s Chris Bishop pointed out yesterday, Cuba has a vaccine passport system. Burkina Faso has a vaccine passport system! But as recently as the start of August, in an interview with The Herald’s Claire Trevett, Jacinda Ardern ruled out using vaccine passports in New Zealand. This was at a time when New South Wales was already recording hundreds of new infections a day. Naivety or hubris? Why wouldn’t New Zealand need vaccine passports when everyone else did? What makes us so special? At the very least, the delay points to complacency. The development of a domestic vaccine passport system should have been a priority from the moment we placed our order with Pfizer, even if it later proved New Zealand never needed to use it. That vaccine certificates aren’t already functional tells us officials did not sufficiently prepare for a scenario in which New Zealand couldn’t eliminate the virus. We’ve been caught flat-footed with vaccine certificates because we thought we were different to everyone else. We thought we were better. We were wrong. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tara Ward joins Jack Tame to discuss the latest in television and streaming series'.Here are her picks for this week:Succession: At last, season three of the award-winning drama about an American global-media family comes to Neon. The Roy children rich, they’re powerful and they’re powerfully dysfunctional, and they’re all fighting for control of their father’s media empire amid his declining health (Neon, from 18 October). Angela Black: Joanne Froggatt stars in this dark British thriller about a woman - who on the outside appears to have it all - but is hiding a life of domestic abuse and decides to fight back (TVNZ OnDemand). Bad Sport: True crime and sports intersect in this Netflix docu-series that examines global sporting controversies and scandals with firsthand accounts from those involved.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to rocker's Shihad and their new album.She joins Jack Tame to discuss the Kiwi band's latest work.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin speaks to Jack Tame about a pair of films, one in the cinemas in The Alpinist, and one available on streaming services in The Donut King.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the prospect of international travel remaining a hopeful but still distant aspiration, and much of the country straight-jacketed by Covid-19 alert travel restrictions, satisfying your wanderlust can feel rather problematic at present. But whether you’re itching for some great escapism in prose, or staking out some travel-related Christmas gift ideas, here’s a round-up of some excellent new release books that will satisfy and stimulate your travel cravings.Gone Bush is Paul Kilgour’s first-hand account of life in the New Zealand backcountry and beyond. It’s the inspiring story of a wanderer, long-distance tramper and hut-bagging legend. Paul Kilgour was bitten by the tramping bug early. He began going on epic trips as a young boy, beyond the North West Auckland farm and out along the coast.During these wanderings, he met old folk living simply in tiny huts out the back of farms and on clifftops, and swaggers walking in remote and beautiful locations. Even at that early age, deep inside Paul stirred the spirit of adventure and a longing to go further. And further he went.Gone Bush is about a lifetime of walking the backcountry – Paul has clocked up 50 years of it. He tells stories of the eccentric characters he met along the way, some of the 1200 huts he’s visited and his most unforgettable journeys. In 2007 and 2008, Kilgour walked the length of the South Island – his long walk home – an epic 1550-kilometre tramp from Fiordland to Golden Bay via backcountry huts and off-track routes. Gone Bush is a charming, meandering read – like setting off on a serene tramp in the mountains, a heavy frost underfoot and the sun on your back.The Wild Twins is the real-life story of Amber and Serena Shine on strength, survival and a lifetime seeking adventure. From their first steps, the twins set out from their family farm in rural Waiuku with the bush and mountains in sight. Together they've run the world's highest marathon on Mount Everest, walked jaguars in the Amazon, sailed treacherous seas from Hawai'i to San Francisco, navigated ice falls while climbing Mount Cook, raced 322 kilometres on a dogsled, and survived naked in the African wilderness for twenty-one days on the hit Discovery show Naked and Afraid.In The Wild Twins, Amber and Serena share their most extreme achievements, the secrets behind their strength and endurance, and advice on living life to its fullest. With go-getter attitudes, perseverance and fearlessness, these inspiring sisters are all about getting outdoors and reaching your potential - returning home covered in mud and with a story to tell.Amber and Serena Shine were born and raised in a small rural town in the North Island of New Zealand. Together and apart, they have lived, explored and adventured abroad while juggling careers, from the New Zealand Army to Australian mining, Alaskan dog sledding and much more. Their love of the outdoors keeps them constantly adventuring – they have taken on mountains, sailed across the Pacific and survived in the wilderness, to name a few. They are passionate about inspiring others through their experiences, adventures and life philosophies. This is their first book.The Spirit of Cardrona is a stirring business story about a young woman who pursued her unlikely dream of setting up a world-class distillery in Cardrona. It is the story of Desiree Reid-Whitaker’s upbringing, of her persistence and resilience, of overcoming life’s trials, tribulations and natural shyness, to succeed on a path-less-travelled. Desiree spent two and half years visiting the world’s greatest whisky distilleries and learning from some of the world’s great masters before risking all she had to make her dream a reality. Her quest to produce a single-malt whisky that would compete with the best whiskies in the world is a classic story of Kiwi persistence, self-sacrifice and dedication to excellence.The Spirit of Cardrona. (Photo / Harper...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Slugs and snails are a real pest in the garden at this time of the year - moisture and new plant growth encourages them, while egg shell barriers don’t work at all. Control measures that work: Weed control will expose them to predators such as thrushes. Give your local song thrush an ‘anvil’ to smack the shells of snails on - a large flat (decorative!) rock is perfect. Using bait pellets in a pottle dug into soil. Try a take-away container with the lid on and bait inside. Cut holes in the side of the container to let slugs and snails in but prevent dogs and cats from getting at the bait. An alternative version is to use some off-cuts of plastic waste-pipe - 15-30 cm long and a diameter of 50 to 75 mm. This allows access for slugs and snails but not to birds. Put some bait in the pipes and anchor them down with a heavy brick. They also love to hide in half grapefruit skins (upside-down). Encourage Carabid Beetles (ground beetles) - they often feed on slugs, snail juveniles and eggs. (Photo / Ruud Kleinpaste)‘Hunt-and-kill evening’ with the kids (at full moon?) – always a good excursion after dinner. Grab a headlight and a bucket to collect them in…night sleuthing! Remember: these hermaphrodites can produce a few hundred eggs each! Reducing populations now makes good sense. Trapping – under cloth, planks and other artificial cover. Slugs and snails love that cover as it increases relative humidity and stops them from drying out. Around the wooden outside of raised beds place a strip of copper foil, almost all the way around, plus a sizeable six-volt battery providing power to both ends of the copper strip. This creates a nice current that they are reluctant to cross and it protects your vegies/seedlings. In France the brown garden snail (originally from North Africa) is the second-preferred species of escargot for human consumption. Collect the fattest ones and eat them! That will make you an INVASIVORE. Escargot - pourquoi pas? Cantareus aspersus is, to us, an exotic species of snail. It is commonly accepted that it was introduced to New Zealand by the French around the early 1860s. The reason for this is really simple - the brown garden snail is highly prized as escargot in the Mediterranean region. In fact, it has always been the preferred back-up for the slightly larger but closely related vineyard snail (Helix Pomatia). Recently I read that European populations of Cantareus have become depleted as a result of non-sustainable over-harvesting of wild specimens. These days the species is the subject of heliciculture, the captive rearing of these delicacies, also known as snail farming. I suppose there may be a few people out there who can set aside the horrific idea of eating invertebrates (quelle horreur!) and who would like to be part of the latest ecological craze of harvesting a truly wonderful resource that yields fat-free, cholesterol-free protein from the comfort of your own back yard. I have tried this recipe many times and demonstrated it on live television with consenting adults (Good Morning Show) and absolutely wildly enthusiastic kids (What Now?). Snail control á la Gourmet involves collecting the finest, fittest and fattest garden snails from the threatened garden areas. Put them in big jars and "starve" them for four to five days on old white bread. This ‘starving’ is an important procedure. As you will undoubtedly remember from experiments carried out at your primary school's nature table, the snails have a habit of excreting dark stringy poopy-plops. I think it's time to inform you of the fact that these dark stringy...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand author Sonya Wilson has released a teenage fiction book called Spark Hunter - an epic Kiwi adventure-fantasy and story of survival in Fiordland, one of the world’s last great wildernesses.Sonya has been speaking to Jack Tame about her first novel.(Photo / Supplied)LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne updates Jack Tame on a story he told him last year about a man with mental health issues, who had been sent to jail for seven years under the three strikes law for kissing a stranger on Cuba St, Wellington.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nici Wickes joins Jack Tame, bringing to the table her recipe for a delicious chocolate and plum ripple cake.LISTEN ABOVEA little cake for a big celebration.Layer cakes don’t have to be just for large groups of people. This small celebration cake is perfect for 2-4 people but it still screams ‘show stopper’! Serves 2-4 2/3 cups self-raising flour 2 tablespoon cocoa ¼ teaspoon baking soda Pinch salt 50mls neutral cooking oil, I use grapeseed oil 50mls natural yoghurt 1 small egg 1/3 cup white sugar 1 heaped tablespoon brown sugar 75mls strong coffee or hot water Filling 300mls cream 1 tablespoon icing sugar 4 tablespoons plum puree (I used tinned Black Doris plums, pureed) 70g white chocolate Preheat oven to 170 C fan bake. Grease and line a two 10cm springform tins. Place all the ingredients up until the coffee or hot water in a bowl beat to just combined. Add the coffee/hot water and beat for one minute. Scrape into the prepared tin. It’s quiteliquidybut don’t worry. Reduce oven temperature to 160 C and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Once cooked, allow cake to settle for 5 minutes in the tins before removing and allowing to cool completely. If the cakes have domed up (most likely) cut to a flat top and then halve each cake through the middles so you have 4 layers in total. Finely chop or use a food processor to break down the chocolate to a crumb. Whip the cream with icing sugar to stiff peak stage. Gently fold in the plum puree and 2 tablespoons of the white chocolate crumb, so it’s marbled throughout the cream. The trick to getting the swirls is not to overmix it. To assemble: Layer cake with plenty of cream and finish with a shower of chocolate crumb. Chill for an hour or longer to setLISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yotam Ottolenghi is the trailblazing Israeli-born, British chef whose name has become a cooking style of its own.He spoke to Jack Tame about his new cookbook, Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love and raiding the kitchen cupboards to cook with what's on hand. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’ll be frank.If you’re due for one of your vaccination shots and you PAY for a coffee today...well, sorry, but you’re an idiot. Because no matter where you are, in what corner of this wonderful country of ours, I can pretty much guarantee you that a vaccination centre near your place is giving away free coffees to everyone who gets the jab today.Call it double shots for double shots! I’ve gone through the plans in every single DHB in the entire country and my main takeaway for Super Saturday is that we are in for some serious caffeine crashes.If you need something to compliment your Java Jive on this most Kiwi of occasions, the good news is New Zealand has the smorgasboard to match.Cromwell Pharmacy has home baking. Life Pharmacy on Manners Street has free donuts. Newton School has Halal sausages and in Rotorua they’ve cooked up hangi. Get the pfizer, see a geyser!Actually, one of the things I enjoyed while researching all of the Super Saturday events was playing ‘match the free food to the DHB'.Guess where you’d find the vaccination centre offering a free ‘big block’ of Whittakers chocolate. And be advised, they actually go out of their way on the District Health Board website to clarify it’s definitely a big block of Whittakers. That’s in Lower Hutt.Where would you get delicious bacon and egg fry bread? Moturoa in Taranaki.What Rotary Club is putting on coffee and a slice? No word if it’s ginger or caramel or tan, but you know it’s gonna be delicious coming from the fine bakers in Whanganui.Free icecream? Greymouth, baby.Here you go... guess this one: Where can you get a vaccine and a free glass of refreshing, lightly-carbonated, gut-friendly kombucha? That’s at Wellworks Pharmacy in Wellington, of course.You get vaccinated on an Air New Zealand jet. There are competitions galore. If you’re in Hawkes Bay you can win an iPhone. If you’re in up North in Whananaki you can win a stay at a fancy resort. If you’re in Richmond you can get free tickets to the speedway. In Dunedin if you get vaccinated, you can win a wax treatment. Increased viral resistance AND a pubic spruce! Two birds with one stone.It’s easy to be facetious about all of this stuff. It’s easy to mock Super Saturday and the Vaxathon. Maybe it feels a bit silly to you. I must admit, the pragmatist in me wonders how many people who haven’t had a jab yet are going to be won over by a vaxathon. And after all, it’s the first jabs that matter most in the battle for vaccination.But today, on Day-whatever-it-is of lockdown in Auckland, I’ve made a conscious decision to be positive. Super Saturday is about more than just jabs. It’s bigger than that. It’s an occasion to unite us a bit. A common cause at an extremely stressful time.And fundamentally, I think we should do whatever it takes to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Whatever it takes. If that means a few thousand coffees and chocolate bars and Mr Whippy soft serves, good! If someone is incentivised to be vaccinated by a chance to rip some unwanted hair off their nether regions, a sack-back-crack-wax-and-vax, great! If it means watching Ashley Bloomfield get dunked in a vat of congealing gunge, fantastic!And if all of that stuff still isn’t enough to incentivise you to get vaccinated, maybe the less silly stuff will get you or someone you know over the line.In most cases, one vaccine dose will keep you alive. Two vaccine doses will keep you out of hospital. They’ll help to keep your family safe. Your friends. Little kids who can’t be vaccinated. It’s the safe thing to do. It’s the civic-minded thing to do. It’s the Kiwi thing to do. And whether we’re vaccinated or not... the virus is coming.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to US rocker Melissa Etheridge's album One Way Out.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul Stenhouse joins Jack Tame to talk about the major Facebook outage on Monday that left many unable to access the social media giant, along with Instagram and WhatsApp.Monday's Facebook outage showed just how big Facebook's footprint is Monday's outage, which disconnected Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApps's servers from the internet, showed just how reliant we are on this private service. Families couldn't text each other, news couldn't get out, businesses lost revenue, others couldn't sign into their smart TVs because they used Facebook's login system. It was pretty extensive. This outage was caused by a single engineer making an error. Frances Haugen - the Facebook whistleblower who was testifying on Capitol Hill - would say that the country had never been safer. The questions have popped up again this week... Should all these services, which are now basically digital infrastructure, be more regulated? Should they all be allowed to be supported by the same data centres? The biggest question - should Facebook be allowed to be one company? Snapchat wants to get young people running for office They've created a series of mini-apps inside Snapchat to showcase positions in local government which match your interests, such as the environment, or education. They connect you with an organisation to help you get the resources you need. The app also lets you suggest positions to friends, then when you decide to run, of course let you help engage your network to get to the polls. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Relationship expert Steven Dromgool joins Jack Tame, and has some tips on how men can build more love into their relationships.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.