Sky at home
Our little family moved to Taranaki in mid-2020 after the first lot of Covid-related upheavals, and generally we’ve landed on our feet. The view is fine, if the stuff of suburban cliché. Think a very old but still functional glass house; plum tree with branches weighed down with their bounty; and an overgrown chicken run left (now unused) by the previous owners. That said, I love the view from our deck. Also that we have a deck and, being ex-Wellingtonians, now have the weather to use said deck more than a couple of days a year. My favourite part of the view is the little glimpse of my favourite Taranaki landmark. It’s not the mountain, or the sea or wind wand, but the 198-metre monolithic brick chimney that rises from a now-decommissioned power plant at the city’s port. It was the tallest structure in New Zealand from 1972 to 1997, when it was surpassed by Auckland’s Sky Tower. While the Sky Tower combines form and function, the chimney is purely functional, which in large part informs my love of it. It is efficient, imposing but also strangely comforting. It makes me feel at home.
Sky at work
For the most part, the view at Known Unknown, our urban winery that we moved from Wellington last year, is even less inspiring. One of Ngāmotu New Plymouth’s quirks is that the main industrial area runs between the city and the sea and should in fact be some of its hottest real estate. An obsession with the mountain, which admittedly is extremely striking and holds significant cultural value, means most of the city looks inward, rather than out to the Tasman Sea. For the most part, the view from the roller door is of a sprawling car yard. While we’re rarely open at night, the view in the evenings when we host events or dinners is a stark contrast to the mundane surrounds and is truly rewarding, with layered hues of red, orange and gold on the horizon, fading to blue and black in the sky above. Like the view of the chimney from my deck, it is comforting and rewarding, especially so on those late nights during vintage when we arrive back from the long drive across the island from Hawke’s Bay or the Wairarapa with a truck full of fruit that needs processing.
Known Unknown Wine
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