
Secret beaches of New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula
When I read Robinson Crusoe as an Australian child, I had no idea that New Zealand was a place harbouring secret beaches where real life castaways could hide from civilization beneath the shade of cool ferns and caves, on beaches overlooking mysterious islands out at sea. The main difference between Coromandel Peninsula’s New Chums beach and the shipwrecked settings depicted in Defoe’s novel is that the only things running riot here are the crimson blossoms of the native Pohutukawa trees. Instead of toothless mutineers, there are placid dotterel birds nesting beneath the sand.
Part of Wainuiototo Bay, New Chums is accessible by clambering over the wet rocks (remember your balance from gym class?), north-west of Whangapoua Beach. You ascend a dirt track through rainforest to a pale bandage of sand that I thought was reserved for epic novels, or at least South America.
Tagged: beaches, New Zealand
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Jewelry by New Zealand designer KatRelish
World traveler KatRelish designs handmade one-of-a kind jewelry using simple elements such as wood and glass beads, wire, and fimo (a cooked clay). Color combinations and shapes pay subtle tribute to her native New Zealand. Earrings, necklaces, rings and broaches form part of a growing list of pieces. Though inspired by fellow industrial and jewelry designer and future collaborator, Cecilia Lico, inspiration mostly comes from the materials she uses and how they feel in her hands. Read more
The Dims: Bombs Over Berhampore
Wellington band The Dims have released two EPs in the past six months, with the latest installment entitled No Chemical Ills. Drawing inspiration from cult Kiwi acts like The Gordons and The Dead C, the trio condense their sound into distorted songs best described as ‘noise-punk’, and lasting only a couple of minutes.

Horse Riding at New Zealand’s Rangihau Ranch
There’s no finer way to experience the pristine New Zealand countryside than riding horses at Rangihau Ranch, in the Coromandel. While the Lost At E Minor team were in New Zealand recently, we enjoyed a morning riding the horses at Rangihau. Read more
Also by ANNA SUTTON

I get a lot of junk sent to me by email, but every once in a while I get a real beauty, something that makes me laugh out loud at how funny and absurd life can be. The phenomenon of creative canine grooming shows has its home in, you guessed it, the USA. Poodle owners dye, shave, clip and accessorise their pets so they resemble chickens, fairies, underwater sea themes, even American football players. As photographer Ren Netherland has discovered, the extremities of canine grooming have attained cult-like status. Read more

All you photographers out there, a word up on one of the most prodigious emerging photographers in Australia. And if you’re nursing an inadequacy complex, seeing Nirrimi Hakanson’s folio might propel you to briefly flee your aspirations and think about getting a job at the local supermarket. Hopefully, it will inspire you. The self-taught sixteen-year-old Hakanson has been taking photos on a digital SLR since the age of thirteen, after starting out on a disposable camera. Her distinctive style is ethereal and reminiscent of photo albums filled with enchanted childhood memories. Read more

Piet Parra at Milan’s Galleria Patricia Armocida
Piet Parra’s vividly coloured and voluptuous lemming-people get down to Italo Disco in the Amsterdam-based artist’s latest exhibition in Milan. Parra’s new works feature sensual and surreal figures busting raunchy poses to soundscapes from the electronic dance music movement that began in Italy and Europe in the late 1970s. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (3)
Piotr said | 2 November, 2009
Hey, it would be really nice if you could attribute the top picture correctly.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/piotrzurek/1340184862/
David said | 2 November, 2009
The beach land has been sold and is due to be developed. Very sad and makes me feel sick that it will be ruined for the sake of a few stupid houses. If you want to enjoy it in it’s untouched state you’d better hurry.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Emily Nachison’s huge installations and sculptures are like the material world erupting into revolt against human will. Read more
We’ve been featuring some interesting guest contributors on Lost At E Minor over the past six months. Included among them are Angus Andrews, from The Liars, Ben Lee (who wrote about his festish for vintage Rolexes, amongst other things), Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene, designer Deanne Cheuk, artist Sam Weber, singer-songwriter Laura Veirs (who brought Juana Molina to our attention), and Tegan from Tegan and Sara.
If animated wall drawings of severed heads and insect men ejecting their brains from their craniums is what people produce when they have too much time on their hands, then we should do their laundry for them and cook them dinner so they’ll have even more time on their hands.
Mozzarella is the new sushi in New York since the opening of Obikà (pronounced Oh-bee-KA), Manhattan’s first mozzarella bar, at 590 Madison Avenue. Read more
Dating or married musician duos are always interesting beasts. Their intertwining affections and chemical reactions make for a potent alchemy of musical magic. Along the same vein of O-era Damien Rice and Lisa Hennigan, Glen Hansard (frontman of The Frames) and Marketa Irglova are the latest lovey-dovey couple with longings expressed in fingerpicked guitars and mourning cellos. Read more
If on a picture perfect summer’s day, you find yourself wishing for a blizzard, something is wrong. Very wrong. But don’t panic, this weather preference has nothing to do with hatin’ on sunshine, and everything to do with an infamous leather bomber jacket from Claude Maus. It’ll have you hooked with its luxurious soft leather, stitched front paneling, Italian wool lining and the very necessary detachable hood. If you’re somewhere cold, then chances are you’re nowhere near this Australian-based label. So if you’re looking for a push in the purchase direction, it’ll be pleasing to know that the Aussie dollar ain’t doing too good. Gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘investment piece’, doesn’t it? Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST

A little infectious lollipop rock anyone? Feel free to embarrass yourself singing along at the stoplight. If the other drivers give you that look, roll down the windows and spread the love.
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The return of the Brionvega rr226
Italian brand Brionvega has resurrected the classy Radiofonografio piece first created in 1965. The updated version is just like the original turntable/radio unit, but also has a CD/DVD player.

Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more

It’s refreshing to see artists like Joe Kievitt who are contented to explore the beauty in simple forms and asymmetrical patterns. Read more

Baltimore Mural by Josh Van Horne
My friend Josh Van Horne, a local Baltimore artist, did this amazing mural in our neighborhood that depicts the history of this warehouse-laden area.
This pendant by Portland designer Stephanie Stimek hangs from an eighteen inch 14 carat gold chain. Made from a Japanese quail egg, the entire shell has been coated in plastic for strength and is available for purchase through the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
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francis said | 4 February, 2009
mmmm, coromandel, one of my favourite places on earth…