Yes you Cannes!

Angels hanging from ropes from the sky, throwing jewels from the heavens; 45,000€ bottles of champagne; Martha Stewart and Robert Redford; fireworks over the Mediterranean; countless cocktails, three course meals and 30 degree+ heat… Just a glimpse into my life in Cannes for the past 11 days at the Cannes Lions Festival. For 11 days I lived this ridiculously glamorous, but simply exhausting life, experiencing things I never even imagined I would, whilst taking them for granted within hours. If I ever see another glass of Rosé or olives, it will be far too soon.



You’re probably thinking I sound like a right Pratt, and you’re right – I do, but it really is amazing how quickly you grow tired of glamour and delicious food, and long for an early night with Marian Keyes and some peanut M&Ms. I loved the festival and Cannes of course, but as I write this I am still feeling absolutely shattered, so much so that I’m too tired to chew the delicious sugar jam donut sitting across from me as I type! My precious whanau, I think this conveys how truly tired I really am.




So where to begin? Perhaps the day that seems so long ago – 16 June, 2011…

Alison and I flew into Nice and were met with the most stunning views of the Mediterranean sea. You hear how beautiful the Cote d’Azur is, but it really does blow your mind well and truly! After being dropped at our hotel where we were upgraded to suites (!) that were ‘inspired by the Moulin Rouge’, we spent a good half hour squealing and taking countless photos, before heading to the Majestic Hotel beach, where we spent the rest of the evening sipping cocktails on a sun lounger, before heading to a rooftop bar for a few more, followed by a beautiful dinner. Not a bad start, but Alison was quick to assure me that this wouldn’t be my life for the next 11 days, rather we were savouring the precious few hours of calm before the storm that is Cannes arrived. She was very right, but it was lovely to have a day or so to get my bearings, relax and soak up some sun, before being thrust into madness.





Friday night we headed to Baoli, which is this amazing club and celebrity central during the Film Festival, where 45,000€ bottles of champagne were bandied about like nobody’s business. Sadly our budget didn’t extend to this, but we had a wonderful time nonetheless, which included bars lit up on fire, staff that seemed to come straight out of a Miss World pageant with the politeness and good service the French are renowned for (irony intended), as well as oil billionaires practically bathing in jewels and hair gel. A great night and such a cool experience!




Saturday the games began! A particular highlight was working with the Young Lions Competition, which saw the top two creatives from each country across the world come together to compete. They were given 24 hours to work on a brief provided by the charity, and the work that came out was just outstanding. My favourite part? When Australia were announced as the winners, and it turned out they were both Kiwis! Even better, was the fact that it turned out we had mutual friends – blimmen New Zealand, isn’t that always the way!? They were lovely and it was so nice to be able to share in their excitement a little – I had to stop myself from choking back tears of joy and ripping into a haka right on the spot!

The pattern continued all week, with a full day of work, followed by a full night of eating, partying and networking. Sounds amazing and believe me it was, but as you had to be so on form 24 hours a day, it was truly exhausting. You didn’t have a spare moment to yourself, but as everyone was on the same page you just got on with it and loved each moment. That’s not to say Brad didn’t get some stressed out phone calls, but bless him – he played the moral support part so well, it was like I had my own personal cheerleader right beside me the entire time.

Every night was a different party, most of which were on the beach – from bare-footed raves, to angels hanging from beams throwing glitter and jewels down on party-goers… It was beyond amazing, but I must admit the glitter got a little old quite quickly. I noticed an older guy trying to work his way through the crowds to get off the dance floor and he was absolutely covered head to toe in gold glitter. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing and when he saw me, he simply said ‘Oh f*** it – it’s worse than I thought isn’t it?!’



Picture the most extravagant beach wedding you can, right on the Mediterranean coast, times this by ten, and then you will have an idea of the opening and closing galas. Fireworks, champagne, gourmet food, seafood galore, world-class DJs – let’s just say I know have very high expectations for my 30th birthday!





It was the most amazing career experience and even when I was just metres away from Robert Redford and Martha Stewart, I still couldn’t believe I was there. I did feel rather close to Brad Pitt however, as I walked the same red carpet he did just days before, and drunk Rosé from his very own vineyard. It was so inspiring, particularly my main man Robbie Redford, but let’s save that for a Skype conversation!



I’m making it sound like it was all play and no work, which believe me isn’t the case, but the two were mutually exclusive and the 11 days just sort of merged into one whole sleep-deprived, crazy experience, where you were operating at 110 per cent the entire time. Now I just need a few weeks to come back down to zero and thankfully July seems to be the month this will happen – the sun is shining in London (finally) and so far we have had two days of sun… Although, the forecast is for an electric storm tonight with monsoon rain, so it seems the pilot was right in his prediction when we touched down in London: “Summer is finally here, so make sure you make the most of it as it’s only going to last two days!” Ah feck it – back to reality!



Love to all and looking forward to some catch up Skype sessions. Ring my PA to book an appointment!

J’taime! x

Newquay on the Block

With summer upon us, we decided it was time to hit the beach England style, so we loaded up our little Audi and headed to Newquay, Cornwall on the south west coast of England. As usual we filled the car with a support team, with Kalem, Ryan and Philly making the grade this time, and we began the casual five hour drive down to the coast.

The drive down flew by as we were not held up with the usual ferry break and instead of the usual three lane motorway we were on a nice country road, reminiscent of State Highway 1 in NZ, with just a few more sights such as Stonehenge on the way. With a token McDonald’s dinner stop, we arrived in Newquay in no time at all.

Our hostel was right in the thick of it and straight away what we saw set the scene for the weekend... We literally had to slow down to 5 miles per hour as the roads were covered with drunken revellers consisting of hens crews, bachelor parties, and some token surfers all staggering about, falling over themselves, with the occasional spot of fisticuffs! We felt right at home. When we finally found our hostel it was situated above one of the larger bars, and we were blessed with great views overlooking the sandy beaches and cliffs of Cornwall. To top it all off the hostel owner seemed stoned out of his head, with dreads down to his backside.



After a few drinks and a quick stroll around the streets to check out the nightlife, we headed back to our hostel for a group chit chat before being kept awake all night by drunken party-goers. We didn’t mind at all though as you can’t help but be swept away in the Newquay atmosphere!

The next morning, after stuffing ourselves on free toast and cereal, we set off on foot for some exploring. We headed down to the beach, where one end had been separated off with concrete walls to make a small harbour, which is where all of the fishing and crabbing boats are based. Here, after hearing an old local chap chattering away about it, we saw our first seal – a sight that would become very familiar over the course of the weekend. It turns out that each day seals come into the little harbour and eat the small bait fish from the boats, and off the sea floor they love a free lunch as much as much as we do. We all rather enjoyed watching the little guy collecting fish from the bottom and bringing them up to the surface to tear apart, whilst being bombarded by a crazed flock of gulls that also seemed to know the ritual. Who needs Auckland Zoo when you get this wildlife show for free? We all stood there riveted for a good hour, before strolling off to investigate the rock pools, pushing the little British kids out of the way to get a glimpse of the crabs. We also saw an ominous looking Bikie gang whooping and cheering as they splashed around in the tide in their leathers. A very funny site!







The boys picked up a cheap rugby ball and caused havoc by throwing it around the streets, while the girls explored the shops. After a quick lunch we split up as the boys decided we would go for a two hour fishing trip, whilst the girls tucked into a traditional Cornish afternoon tea, complete with clotted Cornish cream scones and an ice-cream sundae the size of Kylie’s head. But when we (the boys) got back down to the harbour we realised it was low tide and thus there was no fishing trips until a lot later in the day. Instead we hit the beach with our Frisbee and rugby ball and spent the day playing on the beach and swimming in the rather fresh ocean. At one stage we were even visited by our little seal friend, slightly creepy but fun looking back at it. The ladies enjoyed there Cornish tea, but unfortunately we forgot to tell them we didn’t go out fishing so they spent a good hour waiting for us back at the harbour. They kept themselves entertained by watching the seals come in, flock around the fishing boats like greedy little beggars. When we cottoned on and headed back to the harbour to meet them, we found them staring at the fishing boats, watching them come back in with countless spider and rock crabs, as well as the biggest black lobsters you’ve ever seen. It was really interesting watching how it all happens and we were amused when an old man told us the crabs were going straight to France, as they weren’t good enough for the British, but the French eat anything. After our experiences in France, we wholeheartedly agree!





That night we hit the Cornish cider and hit the town, Newquay style. Great fun.

We made an early start to our Sunday and headed around the coast to Padstow, home of famed chef Rick Stein, who seemed to own half of the town with a fish and chip restaurant, a cooking school, some more restaurants and apparently four places to stay. It was a lovely little seaside village with cobbled streets and Cornish pasties as far as the eye could see. So we all soaked up the night before with different types of pasties, whilst watching the local children catch crabs and release them, only to keep repeating the process.



On our way home we pre-planned a detour to Axminster, where we went to the River Cottage restaurant, which I was personally looking forward to since my days of sitting in front of the heater with Mum and Dad, watching Hugh live off the land in his little cottage. It wasn’t as great as we had hoped but it was still very nice and we will definitely head to the closer Bath restaurant in a different season to see what is on offer.





All in all, Cornwall more than lived up to the hype. It’s a great place and with so much to see, we’ll definitely be back again at least another few times!