Peter Dunne's thunder thighs and other gossip goodies

9:40AM Monday December 1, 2008

I've just returned from a luxurious weekend away in Queenstown, the details of which I'll share with you tomorrow. I flew Air New Zealand and the service couldn't have been better. The circumstances of late are incredibly tragic, but the staff onboard NZ648 last night were full of warmth and enthusiasm, and you know as a company they will pull through this tragedy. The Indian honeymooners next to me said it felt good to be flying Air New Zealand, to be supporting our national carrier at this time. And they're right.

I'm flying Emirates to Europe in a couple of weeks, mainly because the airfare was considerably cheaper and I'm a lowly paid gossip columnist. But to be fair, I've flown Emirates for years. I love the multi-cultural aspect of their flights. Onboard you can find airline crew that speak languages as diverse as Zulu, Farsi, Bengali, Tamil to Malay. Not that that's any good to me. English, school-girl French and a few naughty words in Croatian is about my level of expertise when it comes to languages.

I'll tell you what I don't love - Singapore Airlines! After a shocking experience with a PR woman at the company, I vowed I would never fly with that airline, and I tell everyone about it. Why would I splurge my hard-earned dollars on a company where staff members are so rude?

Love off Shortland St

While I was in Queenstown, I got a very early text message on Saturday morning from Shortland St import Adam Rickitt. It said: "Heads up for u. Not sure if too late 4 tomorrow but peter and sally got engaged last night! Celebrated at cibo with friends and an emerald the size of vector arena! Love adam."

Peter and Sally, for those of you not invited to Cibo on Friday night for a celebratory glass of champers, is fellow Shorty St star Peter Mochrie (also an import) and his gorgeous long-time girlfriend Sally Lowry (pictured above). They're regular features in Spy. We wish them well.

Barry Soper does possession ring

Another set of love birds due to get married soon are veteran political correspondent Barry Soper and his much-younger beloved Heather Du Plessis-Allan from One News.

Here's a piccie of the pair at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards in Wellington a couple of weeks ago hobnobbing with the Reserve Bank Governor. Soper is sporting a knuckleduster on his ring finger. No, not a wedding ring - the couple are yet to tie the knot.

It's by all accounts a possession ring of the kind I've been banging on about for the last few months. Who would have thought Soper would be right on trend? Man trend, that is. Fuggedabout Ugg boots and grizzly facial growth, Bazza is joining the fad that Martin Crowe has signed up to: wearing a possession ring. It's all the rage - in committed girlfriend land. An inside friend of the pair, who wanted to remain anonymous, confided: "Heather gave that to Barry in the early days of their relationship".

Why Peter Dunne should never wear shorts

Another political face getting snapped recently is the Hon Peter Dunne wearing grubby sneakers, a toothy grin and pasty white thighs that look like they haven't seen sunlight since Helen Clark got in to Parliament.

This photo of the United Future leader cross-armed and wearing what we can only presume is a rugby outfit, sans the sprigs, was discovered on Facebook. The take-no-prisoners woman next to him in the judo outfit is his lovely wife Jennifer. The couple are apparently photographed at a fancy dress party. We only hope, now with the start of sunny BBQ season, Peter will get the chance to get some rays.

Deborah Coddington does Earth Grandmother

Former Act politician and award-winning journalist and favourite Herald on Sunday columnist (you should see the fan mail she gets!), Deborah Coddington, is making quite the splash in the publishing arena. I hear there's keen interest amongst the publishing houses for the 4th NZ Whole Earth Catalogue she's editing. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs describes the Whole Earth Catalogues as "Google in paperback 30 years before Google."

It's all come full circle, really. Thirty years ago as Deborah McCormack, she edited the 3rd NZ Whole Earth Catalogue. Today, as Deborah Coddington, she is putting together the 4th edition to be published early 2010. She told me, "we feel its time has returned - self-sufficiency is mainstream, untrammelled capitalism is discredited, community is enjoying a renaissance."

As it happens, serendipitously, Deborah is again living on the land in rural Martinborough, about 3 kilometres from where she lived when she did the 3rd edition. She describes herself as an earth grandmother these days, as opposed to an earth mother.

Coddington is an old hippie from way back. She once lived at Jerusalem at JK Baxter's commune. She reckons Dick Griffin always threatens to publish a photo Peter Bush once took of her at the height of her hippie days in Martinborough during the late 70s where she was wandering around in her birthday suit early one morning with hair down to her waist and a nipper on the hip (baby Briar). Coddington didn't think anyone else was around, "but Bushy caught me, apparently."

Lucy joins the Conchords

Gorgeous Lucy Lawless jetted in last week for a whirlwind trip to support her beloved Starship Foundation. Lawless, who brought her children with her for a quick break, joined husband Rob Tapert who is filming down here at the moment. But then it was back home on Saturday, well, back to New York City, actually. Lawless told me she's joining the cast of The Flight of the Conchords where she will be shooting an episode in the Big Apple.

"I play a tourism angel," Lawless said. "It's just a loser Kiwi. Everyone on that show plays a loser. To be on it is such a great thing. It really is the hippest show on television in America. Those guys [Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement] have such a great work ethic," she said.

Lawless was present at a Starship auction on Thursday night where celebrity portraits went under the hammer to raise money for the children's hospital. Lawless' portrait was the prize draw and her painting quickly escalated to $10,000 in a bidding war. But Lawless raised the stakes and bought it herself for $11,000. She knows she can put it up for sale on one of her fan websites and raise thousands more for Starship. Mike Hosking's portrait, by contrast, sold for $2600; Suzanne Paul's went for $1500 and little-seen Iain Stables saw his portrait go for a surprising $2800. Click here for photos from the event.

Following her role on Flight of the Conchords, Lucy and her family will be heading to Utah for a white Christmas.

Rachel Glucina

Pictured above: Peter Mochrie and Sally Lowry at The Women in Film and Television awards at SkyCity, Auckland, in August. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

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