An office on wheels
BEN BAYLY IS EXECUTIVE CHEF AT THE GROVE, BADUZZI, AND OWNER OF THE GROUNDS EATERY
Picture / Ted Baghurst my emails and texts. I catch up on my phone calling in the car so I can leave the phone on silent when I am in the kitchen. What else do you have in your garage? My brother Nic and I have a Harley- Davidson each. Weare crazy mad for Harleys and this drives our wives round the bend. Your dream car? McLaren 540C coupe. Bruce McLaren was a fantastic New Zealander. How often do you clean your car? The car is an office and I have three young kids and a dog . . . so you can imagine. But I love the Air New Zealand valet at Auckland Airport; I have been lucky enough to travel heaps, so the car gets a birthday every time I fly. Can you imagine yourself in a driverless car? Yes for sure. Anything to reduce congestion on our roads gets my vote. So much time is wasted on busy Auckland roads, with singleperson vehicles driving to work. Most memorable road trip? When I was a 14- year old at Te Awamutu College, I was in the athletic team. Weflew to the Nationals Secondary Schools champs in Invercargill. After the competition, for fun, our coach, Rex Smith, drove the team all the way home, up the West Coast of the South Island to Nelson. It was my first time in the South Island and it took a week to get home, staying in campgrounds with my mates. It was an amazing experience. Favourite movie car scene? I loved every car scene in the movie as a kid. I watched it 20 times, “back in the days” when Tom Cruise was cool. Great day trip out of Auckland? I love taking visitors to Arataki visitor centre on Scenic Drive, on to Huia and then the gravel road to Whatipu for a walk on the wildest beach. One road rule you would change? When I was a young chef, I lived in Las Vegas for two years, and the road rules were different. My favourite was if the light was red, it was ok to do a sneaky right- hand turn if nobody was coming. What annoys you about other drivers? Way too many drivers just drive in their own “bubble”. And Auckland’s traffic? Auckland is a small city becoming a big fast. Weneed better public transport but not buses please.