Capital Questions with Lauren Mann

Lauren Mann has been apart of the Lyall Bay Surf Club for most of her life, as an act­ive com­pet­i­tion goer, patroller and now seni­or com­mit­tee mem­ber. Away from the beach, she has also writ­ten a children’s book and took home the title of Miss Wel­ling­ton in 2012. Fish­Head caught up with her to get some swim-safe tips and to find out her favour­ite spots in the capital.

If it’s been a hard week at work and I’m in need of a drink I’ll be at… St John’s. I love sit­ting out­side on the bean­bags, and all my friends go there so there will always be someone I know.

Then the next day if I need a slap-up feed and a cup of Wellington’s finest cof­fee I’ll be at… Sweet Mother’s Kit­chen. I love the break­fast burri­tos – they’re incred­ibly good. Scopa is the place for the best hot chocol­ates; even in the sum­mer it’s good there.

I always find if you need some cul­ture you can’t go past… what’s good about Wel­ling­ton is that there’s so much. I enjoy going around the water­front to see all the sculp­tures, and walk­ing down Cuba Street to the water­front by Te Papa.

My favour­ite Wel­ling­ton land­mark has to be… the sta­di­um. I love going to events there like the rugby and to the Wel­ling­ton Sev­ens dur­ing the sum­mer. When I was little, my grand­dad always called it the cheese grater – it used to crack me up, so I’ve always loved it.

The Wel­ling­to­ni­an I would take to a pub quiz is… my cous­in Nic­ola Prov­ost, because she’d make friends with every­one sit­ting at all the oth­er tables and per­suade them to give us their answers.

I am most ashamed nev­er to have vis­ited… I have nev­er been to East­bourne, NEVER! Every­one always tells me to go. Whenev­er I tell people they always say, “I’ll take you”, but they nev­er do. I’ve always wanted to catch the Day’s Bay ferry.

I know I shouldn’t, but Wellington’s best-kept secret is… fish and chips from Seav­iew Takeaways in Lyall Bay. The are always best eaten some­where sheltered along the south coast.

The advice I would give to Wellington’s beach-goers to stay safe this sum­mer is… always swim between the flags. Also, always check the surf con­di­tions before you go out, always swim with a friend, and don’t go swim­ming drunk!

I pre­dict the most pop­u­lar style of swim­suit this sum­mer will be… togs made out of wet­suit mater­i­al from Bil­la­bong – really old-school 1970s themed. They have them in bikinis and one-pieces. I want one!

I’ve been surf life sav­ing for years now, but what keeps me com­ing back each sum­mer is… that my surf club is my fam­ily; I have been there my whole life. My Mum star­ted when she was four­teen, so I grew up at the beach and it’s just the people that make me come back every year… and the cool trips away to sunny beaches.