“I really wanted to bring the show back to where it all started for me,” Knowles said. “This is the place that I first started learning about the Maori myths, particularly the myth of creation which the show is based around.” When Knowles was a student at Bohally, mum Lindy ran a specialised drama and music department, and was instrumental in the production of a biennial show at the school. When she left the school 14 years ago, the shows came to an end. She returned to the school last year. “I just see the benefits to the children as huge, so I’m very passionate about it,” Lindy said. “Some kids live for sports, and some kids live for the arts, and they need that platform.”
Welcome to Golden Bay: a hidden slice of the tropics in the South Island.
I feel like I could be tucked away in a secluded bay in Fiji. Turquoise waters lap at my feet, and the only footprints on the beach are my own. The sun is trying its best to age me prematurely but, thankfully, I fall asleep under a tree to the hypnotic crash of the waves – one of life s great pleasures. I m glad nobody is around, because I wake up drooling like a labrador. Occasionally, you come across a slice of New Zealand that’s so good you almost don t want to write about it. I said almost because there s no real threat that this place will be overrun with tourists.