Welcome to Winter!

So.... Western Australia!! This wonderfull land, seemingly hanging off the side of the world, is actually just like New Zealand but it's much warmer, has 20,000 kilometres of pristine coastline and the girls wear shorter skirts and show a lot more flesh. I think these things are related. But I digress. The real reason I was there, apart from making fashion judgments, was to eat, drink and find out what life is like being driven everywhere in a chauffeured BMW. Seriously tho, I was really in WA to write stories about said land for NZ publications and also, to perfect my WA gastronomic tour planned for 2022. WA is about the beach, surfing, having cocktails by the river, eating seafood, drinking their fantastic wine and enjoying the easy going lifestyle. They say WA stands for wait a while. I think they're probably the happiest people in Australia. They live in amazing geographical beauty and have managed to hide it from the rest of the world.

Apart from all the regular must-do visits like cute historic Fremantle; oldest wine area Swan Valley, rock n' roll Perth bar crawls, wandering around Kings Park looking for indigenous bush tucker, drinking negronis on the roof of QT hotel and dining on refined fire cooked cuisine at the Ritz Carlton hotel, I went off the tourist trails and discovered some beautiful, special things for myself. I loved Margaret River, three hours drive from Perth. It's the jewel in WA's culinary crown and I ate fabulous cuisine there, especially at Vasse Felix vineyard, Cullen vineyard and Aramia organic farm. The discovery of two cooking classes, one on a regenerative off-the-grid farm and one in beautiful home run by an angelic Azerbaijani woman. They're all mad about sourdough and natural living.

We may not be able to escape to WA just yet, but you CAN escape north for my Auckland Long weekend experience 30 July to 2 August. Staycations are the new black (we may as well take advantage of them) and my home town is where it's at for really good restaurants, cooking classes by yours truly and private fashion showings. Instead of sitting in bed watching reruns of Friends and eating chocolate, do something different, enjoy the city of sails through my eyes and make new friends. The first Auckland tour was just wonderful with gastronomads who are still exchanging recipes. It's never too late and what else are you going to do in winter anyway?

Lots of book launches all over NZ in October for my new book 'Shed Couture'.

Sunday 31 October at 12–2pm – Conversation, Canapes and Shed Couture book launch in Wellington – book here

Here's a little piece in Verve Magazine on my house in Uzès.

And finally, a little quote I love and live by... "Most important decisions are made over food. Appetite, cooking and romance are history's great motivators – they preserve and propogate the species, provoke wars and songs and help keep society together. From birth to death, food love and wellbeing go hand in hand."

Peta