HELEN’S LIFE IS IN THE PINK

David Ellis

“Just call me Helen,” says the lady in the fuchsia pink outfit under the voluminous fuchsia pink hat off-setting the camellia pink of the silk-covered walls of her shop.

A Lodge Affair

Envied for their premium cachet and set amid dramatic, blockbuster locations, New Zealand's ultra exclusive 'Super Lodges' continue to earn the praise of luxury travellers and hard-nosed critics alike. In this special report, HM explores 'the brand of the long white cloud'.

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Wild Women of the Sepik

They twirled and gyrated like demented dervishes, their tattered grass skirts flailing to the throbbing beat of the coarse wood and skin drums beaten methodically by apparently captive men at the centre of their circle. Barely concealed by shreds of river grass and rough shell necklaces, their long-exhausted, pendulous breasts swung in full rotations as they yelped and threw their arms ecstatically in the air. Was it some macabre celebration or perhaps a sacrificial ritual? We had no idea, but like dumbstruck voyeurs, we stood riveted as the rowdy spectacle unfolded.

Beyond mere five-star, there exists a level of property that transcends any rating system. A rarefied stratosphere where the experience is valued and remembered long after the account is settled. Roderick Eime rose briefly above his station for a glimpse of life at the very top.