February 1, 2025 • 16 mins
Famed British-Australian actress Miriam Margolyes has been spending the last few months in New Zealand to prepare for her latest film role - but she took the time to explore the nation as well.
To learn more about the Kiwi way of life, she embarked on a road trip across New Zealand's North and South Islands, with a camera crew following her along the way.
Miriam Margolyes in New Zealand is set to be available for Kiwi fans on Neon and Sky Open this week - but she felt the need to talk about the highlights from the trip ahead of February 9.
"If I'd come to New Zealand first, I would have definitely settled here - definitely. I've gone off Australia, and that's the truth."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Look.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
I'm not sure if you're aware, but legendary British Australian
actress Miriam Marghlis has spent quite a bit of time
in our country. Over the past twelve months. The Harry
Potter actress has done a stage tour, voice work and
filmed a new movie, Holy Days. But despite living in
only three hours away in Sydney, Miriam didn't know a
whole lot about our country. So while here she got
(00:34):
a camper van at a film group and set off exploring.
And you know what, I think we've won her over.
The result of her travels is a new show screening
on Sky Open this week. It's called Miriam Marghli's in
New Zealand. The delightful Miriam Marghliese joins me from Italy.
I assume, Miriam from your country home in Tuscany, A
very good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you very much, and that is correct.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I was surprised that you've never filmed here before, and
even more surprised that you didn't know an awful lot
about New Zealand when you only lived three hours away.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Sometimes, How was this possible?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
No, I have been many times to New Zealand because
I've got family in remo Era, but I didn't know
about the country. I've never sort of examined it and
certainly never tried to compare it to Australia. But this
time I was professionally interested. I wanted to see, you know,
(01:28):
what gifts in New Zealand, what happens, what makes it different?
And so yes, I came with a with an object
in view, and it was. It was a fascinating experience.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
It really was.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And can I say I've watched the episodes. I was
lucky enough to be traded to a couple of episodes
and I really enjoyed it. So you actually did film
quite a bit here last year, the film That's traveled
tour and you also tour at a stage show and
you voiced bad Jelly from here. Also, I believe, so
are we winning you? Are we winning you over? Can
you see yourself buying a home somewhere in New Zealand
(02:05):
at some point?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, look, I'm eighty three and I don't think that
I'm going to start buying property anywhere. But if i'd
come to New Zealand. First, I would definitely have settled here.
I mean in New Zealand definitely. I've gone off of Australia.
That's the truth.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Really was it the people or the food or a combination.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I think the main reason was because of the result
of the referendum vote. That shook me. And I just
think that somehow there is a sweetness and a surprise
about New Zealand. It's unusual and it's not Americanized, and
(02:53):
Australia is very Americanized, and that I don't like.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, and I think you hit the nail on the head.
The culture of New Zealand does seem to be quite
I guess it's more British and the Australians seem to
be more American than their outlook. But what is it
Once you finished the tour here, once you finished your
work here last year, what did you see is the
key fundamental differences between Australians and New Zealanders.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I think the New Zealand has become very proud of
their Maori people and the traditions, and that they are
welcoming the language much more than you know than Australians
do with their first nation people, and I think there
is an extraordinary wild beauty in the country that took
(03:42):
me by surprise. I saw things, you know, I hadn't
been on a tourist tour and I was dazzled by
New Zealand. I thought it was remarkable.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
How did you find our roads? Marine?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Because I noticed in the series that you're actually doing
a lot of driving of the biggest camp van in
the world. How was it for you not trying to
look at the views and look at the road signs
and be a good driver.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Well, I'm not a good driver and it's bloody difficult
driving actually, especially when you've got cameras looking at you
as you're as you're talking. And I find I do
find that really awful because what I like is talking
to people. That's the thing that gives me the thrill.
I love talking to people and asking questions. That's the
(04:32):
bit that pleases me. That's the bit of the documentary
that I enjoy. The driving is something I have to
do and it has to be a big van because
I must have a loo and must have a toilet
with me, you know, And that's why. And I tell
you if if the if the loo was a bit bigger,
(04:53):
and the car was a bit smaller. I'd be very happy.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
So how long will you in the van each day?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Oh? Well, I mean I only I only did the driving.
I don't I you know, I do travel with a team, obviously,
it's not just me. It's one of the things that
really irritates me about television is that they don't acknowledge
that there is a camera man and suddenly with a
zoom and a sound person. You know, I'm not traveling
all alone. That would be impossible. And I don't sleep
(05:22):
in the van. I sleep in fairly inexpensive hotels. I'm
too old to be climbing upstairs and throwing myself on
divan beds over the cabin. And that's not going to
work for me. But now I suppose, you know, two
or three hours a day, I would drive. But when
(05:43):
you're when you're setting up a conversation with people, you can't.
You can't be exhausted driving. And you know, I'm an
old lady and I'm a cripple. I can hardly walk.
And it was a bloody good thought thing that I
could actually reach the pedals of that thing. That was
the thing that really worried me. That I wasn't going
(06:04):
to be able to drive it because my legs is short,
but I managed.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I did notice in one scene there you've pulled up
in Wellington. You're in a camping area on the waterfront,
and there you are sitting in your lovely little camping
deck chair thing, and you're reading the fabulous Michael kingbook,
A Penguin History of New Zealand, and you've inspired me.
I'm now reading that now for the second time and
episode two though your references to New Zealand history come
from an iPad. Did you actually finish reading the Michael
(06:31):
King book.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
No, I haven't finished it. I've still got it. I've
got it with me. It's a long, huge book and
it would have taken me, you know, weeks and weeks
to finish it. But I read all the chapters. I
just didn't read all of the chapters.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yeah, gotcha. It is a big book.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
And even for the second time round, I'm learning stuff
that I thought i'd taken in the first time but
clearly hadn't. Now you did go to Hobiton, but you
did say that you're not a fan of fantasy and
that you haven't seen the films, But did Hobiton.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
The visit.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Did that soften your dance on fantasy a little bit?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
It didn't soften my stance on fantasy. I don't like fantasy,
and I think we're all far too involved with that
nonsense of Game of Thrones and you know, rubbish like that.
I can't stand all that. But I really would have
liked to have moved into one of the Hobbit houses.
(07:29):
They're just right for me. And I thought the whole
thing was delightful. I really enjoyed being there. I think
it's a great day out, and because it fits so
perfectly in the landscape so that it's real, it didn't
feel fantasy. It felt real, and that's what I liked.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Throughout the series, I noticed you mentioned a few things
it really stuck out for me.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
One of them was saying that you, as a young schoolgirl,
you actually met Tolkien. How significant was that mating for you.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I don't think it was particularly significant because he was
just the father one of the girls at school. It
was the Oxford High School. He was an Oxford professor,
and he came to talk to us about about the world,
the Anglo Saxon world, from which he invented he culled
the bits that he could use in his fiction. He was,
(08:26):
you know, a very typical professor with a jacket with
leather elbows. I thought he was, you know, a nuns
chat but you don't really relate to people's fathers, so
I didn't think of it as terribly important. But it was,
I do remember, and we were all thrilled by I'm
(08:46):
not going to pretend to you. I never pretend about things.
I'll just tell you as it was.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
So one of the reasons that you were here, of course,
was to film the movie Holy Days, the movie based
on Dame Joy Cowley's novel. Tell us about the filming
of that movie and playing the role of a nun.
It sounds hilarious. You were playing in New Zealand. How
did you find?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I was not playing a New Zealand A very early
on that there was no point in my attempting a
New Zealand accent. It's far too difficult. I wouldn't dream
of it. So I was Scottish accent. I know well,
and I can do I can do accurately because my
father was Scottish, so I was Scottish. Judy Davis was
(09:32):
Irish and Jackie was Australian, so it was a nice
little trio of old nuns. I was by far the
oldest and the dottiest.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I love it because I've got all these questions about
a New Zealand XCA and we can just scrubble their cowboy,
can you?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I would scrub that if I were you, all.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Right, I'm going to put you on the spot here.
You can feel free to say no, of course, But
if I was to ask you.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
To say, I'm going to say no right away, don't
even ask me to attempt it, okay, because it would
be absurd. It would be absurd. I would need a
long time to get near a New Zealand accent. And
I'm not going to make fun of it. And I'm
not going to make fun of myself.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
No, I understand that too much respect for.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
The accent to make a mess of it.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
That's actually quite lovely, Mariam, because I've heard several actors
on various movies and TV shows trying to do in
New Zealand accent and it just sounds what the heck
are you doing to our You know, we love our accent.
We can understand ourselves you can clearly understand me.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
So yeah, thank you. It's very respectful.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
No, of course, I do respect it, and I'm not
going and I respect myself and I'm not going to
attempt something that I know I will fail at. Yes,
that is not going to work for me.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Brilliant.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
All right, Let's move on to you being a nun.
I can see you being a nun. You visited a
monastery and you did actually meet with some nuns. Now,
you met with Sister Miriam Joseph. What are the odds
of meeting a nun with the same name. You didn't
hide the fact that you're an atheist. How did you
feel being in that situation, and what kind of experience.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Was that for you? Having? Can I say no faith?
I don't want to presume you have no faith.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
No, I have no faith.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I come from a Jewish background, and I do observe
some of the Jewish traditions, but I don't believe in God,
and I find the whole contemplative life puzzling and perhaps
a waste of time. I just don't agree with it particularly,
But I couldn't fault the character of the people that
(11:36):
I met. I thought that the nuns that I met
were remarkable women. They were intelligent, forceful, and they deeply
believed in what they were doing. And it was a
beautiful place, one of the most beautiful places I saw
in Australia. And I would go there again and have
(12:00):
a retreat so that I didn't have to talk to anybody.
I would just go and be silent and think. But
I don't really believe that being a nun is a
sensible thing to be.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
So what did you take from the visit? Because Sister
Miriam Joseph, she wasn't like a battle ex but she
was certainly quite the straight shooter, wasn't she.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Oh, she was wonderful. Yeah, she was a great character,
very forceful and very convinced of her position. And I'm
not going to try to shake someone's faith. Well I couldn't,
it would be impossible. But I just don't think that
religion is sensible. I just can't get my head round it. So,
(12:45):
I mean, what can I tell you. I had to
act to none and I had to believe and pretend
to believe, but I honestly think it's a load of
nonsense and that's the truth.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah, Well, you and I have lived long enough to
know that too often, and I know that you know
what I'm talking about here. Too often religion has used
as an excuse to be totally barbaric. But that's another
topic for another day. How did you find your Yeah,
how did you find your travel around New Zealand? I
noticed that you were using a walker and your head
walking sticks at times. Was it a hard graft for
(13:20):
you for the whole trip?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It was bloody hard. You know. I'm eighty three and
I'm I've got spinal stenosis and osteoporosis and I can
barely walk. But I'm curious. I don't want to stop.
I want to go on. I want to talk to people.
I want to learn things. I want to find out
what's happening. And New Zealand is a country that's on
the move. It's not a static place. It's a place
(13:45):
where things are happening, where people are discovering their traditions
and reinforcing them. And it's also a place where people
are not greedy. I didn't I didn't have the sense
as I do in Australia that everything they want to
tear down everything and build flats and development. I felt
(14:07):
that there was a caring for the planet there, even
with the farmers, who I really enjoyed meeting them, because
of course I disagree profoundly with what they the way
they see the world, but I just love talking to them.
I do feel that it's a place of movement. It's
(14:32):
not sitting back on itself. It's it's it's interested in
itself New Zealand and it's watching itself. It's it's quite
They like talking about New Zealand. People are proud of it,
not just the sports, which of course is terribly important,
but the way the country itself is evolving into the
(14:56):
modern world, and there are so many different people coming
into the country, and I think it's where I would
like to end up. I thought I would have ended
up in Australia. I'm not going to end up in Australia.
That's not going to happen. I'll probably end up in Italy,
(15:17):
but if I could mind ending up in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
One thing you do say at the conclusion is it's
what you do in a community that makes it special.
So how different does that to where you live, whether
it's Italy, Britain or Australia. How different is that?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I think where are the people that I put myself
with feel like that we want to be part of
a community wherever I am, and I think New Zealand
feels that more than Australia. It's there are, there are,
It's not overwhelmed by well by America. I feel the
(15:54):
American influence has been dreadful around the world, so that
may not be what people particularly want to hear, but
New zealand And is forging its own way and that's
what I like.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Nicely said Miriam, It's been an absolute pleasure meeting you
and talking with you and all the very best with
wherever you decide to settle.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Thank you, Thank you for that. I haven't settled yet.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Oh what a delight that was the actress Miriam Margolies.
Her new travel show Miriam Margoli's in New Zealand is
on Sky Open from the ninth of this month, February,
from half past seven in the evening.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Ah what a delight.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Look.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
I'm not sure if you're aware, but legendary British Australian
actress Miriam Marghlis has spent quite a bit of time
in our country. Over the past twelve months. The Harry
Potter actress has done a stage tour, voice work and
filmed a new movie, Holy Days. But despite living in
only three hours away in Sydney, Miriam didn't know a
whole lot about our country. So while here she got
(00:34):
a camper van at a film group and set off exploring.
And you know what, I think we've won her over.
The result of her travels is a new show screening
on Sky Open this week. It's called Miriam Marghli's in
New Zealand. The delightful Miriam Marghliese joins me from Italy.
I assume, Miriam from your country home in Tuscany, A
very good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you very much, and that is correct.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I was surprised that you've never filmed here before, and
even more surprised that you didn't know an awful lot
about New Zealand when you only lived three hours away.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Sometimes, How was this possible?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
No, I have been many times to New Zealand because
I've got family in remo Era, but I didn't know
about the country. I've never sort of examined it and
certainly never tried to compare it to Australia. But this
time I was professionally interested. I wanted to see, you know,
(01:28):
what gifts in New Zealand, what happens, what makes it different?
And so yes, I came with a with an object
in view, and it was. It was a fascinating experience.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
It really was.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And can I say I've watched the episodes. I was
lucky enough to be traded to a couple of episodes
and I really enjoyed it. So you actually did film
quite a bit here last year, the film That's traveled
tour and you also tour at a stage show and
you voiced bad Jelly from here. Also, I believe, so
are we winning you? Are we winning you over? Can
you see yourself buying a home somewhere in New Zealand
(02:05):
at some point?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, look, I'm eighty three and I don't think that
I'm going to start buying property anywhere. But if i'd
come to New Zealand. First, I would definitely have settled here.
I mean in New Zealand definitely. I've gone off of Australia.
That's the truth.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Really was it the people or the food or a combination.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I think the main reason was because of the result
of the referendum vote. That shook me. And I just
think that somehow there is a sweetness and a surprise
about New Zealand. It's unusual and it's not Americanized, and
(02:53):
Australia is very Americanized, and that I don't like.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, and I think you hit the nail on the head.
The culture of New Zealand does seem to be quite
I guess it's more British and the Australians seem to
be more American than their outlook. But what is it
Once you finished the tour here, once you finished your
work here last year, what did you see is the
key fundamental differences between Australians and New Zealanders.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I think the New Zealand has become very proud of
their Maori people and the traditions, and that they are
welcoming the language much more than you know than Australians
do with their first nation people, and I think there
is an extraordinary wild beauty in the country that took
(03:42):
me by surprise. I saw things, you know, I hadn't
been on a tourist tour and I was dazzled by
New Zealand. I thought it was remarkable.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
How did you find our roads? Marine?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Because I noticed in the series that you're actually doing
a lot of driving of the biggest camp van in
the world. How was it for you not trying to
look at the views and look at the road signs
and be a good driver.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Well, I'm not a good driver and it's bloody difficult
driving actually, especially when you've got cameras looking at you
as you're as you're talking. And I find I do
find that really awful because what I like is talking
to people. That's the thing that gives me the thrill.
I love talking to people and asking questions. That's the
(04:32):
bit that pleases me. That's the bit of the documentary
that I enjoy. The driving is something I have to
do and it has to be a big van because
I must have a loo and must have a toilet
with me, you know, And that's why. And I tell
you if if the if the loo was a bit bigger,
(04:53):
and the car was a bit smaller. I'd be very happy.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
So how long will you in the van each day?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Oh? Well, I mean I only I only did the driving.
I don't I you know, I do travel with a team, obviously,
it's not just me. It's one of the things that
really irritates me about television is that they don't acknowledge
that there is a camera man and suddenly with a
zoom and a sound person. You know, I'm not traveling
all alone. That would be impossible. And I don't sleep
(05:22):
in the van. I sleep in fairly inexpensive hotels. I'm
too old to be climbing upstairs and throwing myself on
divan beds over the cabin. And that's not going to
work for me. But now I suppose, you know, two
or three hours a day, I would drive. But when
(05:43):
you're when you're setting up a conversation with people, you can't.
You can't be exhausted driving. And you know, I'm an
old lady and I'm a cripple. I can hardly walk.
And it was a bloody good thought thing that I
could actually reach the pedals of that thing. That was
the thing that really worried me. That I wasn't going
(06:04):
to be able to drive it because my legs is short,
but I managed.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I did notice in one scene there you've pulled up
in Wellington. You're in a camping area on the waterfront,
and there you are sitting in your lovely little camping
deck chair thing, and you're reading the fabulous Michael kingbook,
A Penguin History of New Zealand, and you've inspired me.
I'm now reading that now for the second time and
episode two though your references to New Zealand history come
from an iPad. Did you actually finish reading the Michael
(06:31):
King book.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
No, I haven't finished it. I've still got it. I've
got it with me. It's a long, huge book and
it would have taken me, you know, weeks and weeks
to finish it. But I read all the chapters. I
just didn't read all of the chapters.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yeah, gotcha. It is a big book.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
And even for the second time round, I'm learning stuff
that I thought i'd taken in the first time but
clearly hadn't. Now you did go to Hobiton, but you
did say that you're not a fan of fantasy and
that you haven't seen the films, But did Hobiton.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
The visit.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Did that soften your dance on fantasy a little bit?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
It didn't soften my stance on fantasy. I don't like fantasy,
and I think we're all far too involved with that
nonsense of Game of Thrones and you know, rubbish like that.
I can't stand all that. But I really would have
liked to have moved into one of the Hobbit houses.
(07:29):
They're just right for me. And I thought the whole
thing was delightful. I really enjoyed being there. I think
it's a great day out, and because it fits so
perfectly in the landscape so that it's real, it didn't
feel fantasy. It felt real, and that's what I liked.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Throughout the series, I noticed you mentioned a few things
it really stuck out for me.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
One of them was saying that you, as a young schoolgirl,
you actually met Tolkien. How significant was that mating for you.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I don't think it was particularly significant because he was
just the father one of the girls at school. It
was the Oxford High School. He was an Oxford professor,
and he came to talk to us about about the world,
the Anglo Saxon world, from which he invented he culled
the bits that he could use in his fiction. He was,
(08:26):
you know, a very typical professor with a jacket with
leather elbows. I thought he was, you know, a nuns
chat but you don't really relate to people's fathers, so
I didn't think of it as terribly important. But it was,
I do remember, and we were all thrilled by I'm
(08:46):
not going to pretend to you. I never pretend about things.
I'll just tell you as it was.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
So one of the reasons that you were here, of course,
was to film the movie Holy Days, the movie based
on Dame Joy Cowley's novel. Tell us about the filming
of that movie and playing the role of a nun.
It sounds hilarious. You were playing in New Zealand. How
did you find?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I was not playing a New Zealand A very early
on that there was no point in my attempting a
New Zealand accent. It's far too difficult. I wouldn't dream
of it. So I was Scottish accent. I know well,
and I can do I can do accurately because my
father was Scottish, so I was Scottish. Judy Davis was
(09:32):
Irish and Jackie was Australian, so it was a nice
little trio of old nuns. I was by far the
oldest and the dottiest.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I love it because I've got all these questions about
a New Zealand XCA and we can just scrubble their cowboy,
can you?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I would scrub that if I were you, all.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Right, I'm going to put you on the spot here.
You can feel free to say no, of course, But
if I was to ask you.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
To say, I'm going to say no right away, don't
even ask me to attempt it, okay, because it would
be absurd. It would be absurd. I would need a
long time to get near a New Zealand accent. And
I'm not going to make fun of it. And I'm
not going to make fun of myself.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
No, I understand that too much respect for.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
The accent to make a mess of it.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
That's actually quite lovely, Mariam, because I've heard several actors
on various movies and TV shows trying to do in
New Zealand accent and it just sounds what the heck
are you doing to our You know, we love our accent.
We can understand ourselves you can clearly understand me.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
So yeah, thank you. It's very respectful.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
No, of course, I do respect it, and I'm not
going and I respect myself and I'm not going to
attempt something that I know I will fail at. Yes,
that is not going to work for me.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Brilliant.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
All right, Let's move on to you being a nun.
I can see you being a nun. You visited a
monastery and you did actually meet with some nuns. Now,
you met with Sister Miriam Joseph. What are the odds
of meeting a nun with the same name. You didn't
hide the fact that you're an atheist. How did you
feel being in that situation, and what kind of experience.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Was that for you? Having? Can I say no faith?
I don't want to presume you have no faith.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
No, I have no faith.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I come from a Jewish background, and I do observe
some of the Jewish traditions, but I don't believe in God,
and I find the whole contemplative life puzzling and perhaps
a waste of time. I just don't agree with it particularly,
But I couldn't fault the character of the people that
(11:36):
I met. I thought that the nuns that I met
were remarkable women. They were intelligent, forceful, and they deeply
believed in what they were doing. And it was a
beautiful place, one of the most beautiful places I saw
in Australia. And I would go there again and have
(12:00):
a retreat so that I didn't have to talk to anybody.
I would just go and be silent and think. But
I don't really believe that being a nun is a
sensible thing to be.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
So what did you take from the visit? Because Sister
Miriam Joseph, she wasn't like a battle ex but she
was certainly quite the straight shooter, wasn't she.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Oh, she was wonderful. Yeah, she was a great character,
very forceful and very convinced of her position. And I'm
not going to try to shake someone's faith. Well I couldn't,
it would be impossible. But I just don't think that
religion is sensible. I just can't get my head round it. So,
(12:45):
I mean, what can I tell you. I had to
act to none and I had to believe and pretend
to believe, but I honestly think it's a load of
nonsense and that's the truth.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah, Well, you and I have lived long enough to
know that too often, and I know that you know
what I'm talking about here. Too often religion has used
as an excuse to be totally barbaric. But that's another
topic for another day. How did you find your Yeah,
how did you find your travel around New Zealand? I
noticed that you were using a walker and your head
walking sticks at times. Was it a hard graft for
(13:20):
you for the whole trip?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It was bloody hard. You know. I'm eighty three and
I'm I've got spinal stenosis and osteoporosis and I can
barely walk. But I'm curious. I don't want to stop.
I want to go on. I want to talk to people.
I want to learn things. I want to find out
what's happening. And New Zealand is a country that's on
the move. It's not a static place. It's a place
(13:45):
where things are happening, where people are discovering their traditions
and reinforcing them. And it's also a place where people
are not greedy. I didn't I didn't have the sense
as I do in Australia that everything they want to
tear down everything and build flats and development. I felt
(14:07):
that there was a caring for the planet there, even
with the farmers, who I really enjoyed meeting them, because
of course I disagree profoundly with what they the way
they see the world, but I just love talking to them.
I do feel that it's a place of movement. It's
(14:32):
not sitting back on itself. It's it's it's interested in
itself New Zealand and it's watching itself. It's it's quite
They like talking about New Zealand. People are proud of it,
not just the sports, which of course is terribly important,
but the way the country itself is evolving into the
(14:56):
modern world, and there are so many different people coming
into the country, and I think it's where I would
like to end up. I thought I would have ended
up in Australia. I'm not going to end up in Australia.
That's not going to happen. I'll probably end up in Italy,
(15:17):
but if I could mind ending up in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
One thing you do say at the conclusion is it's
what you do in a community that makes it special.
So how different does that to where you live, whether
it's Italy, Britain or Australia. How different is that?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I think where are the people that I put myself
with feel like that we want to be part of
a community wherever I am, and I think New Zealand
feels that more than Australia. It's there are, there are,
It's not overwhelmed by well by America. I feel the
(15:54):
American influence has been dreadful around the world, so that
may not be what people particularly want to hear, but
New zealand And is forging its own way and that's
what I like.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Nicely said Miriam, It's been an absolute pleasure meeting you
and talking with you and all the very best with
wherever you decide to settle.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Thank you, Thank you for that. I haven't settled yet.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Oh what a delight that was the actress Miriam Margolies.
Her new travel show Miriam Margoli's in New Zealand is
on Sky Open from the ninth of this month, February,
from half past seven in the evening.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Ah what a delight.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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