Chasing dreams perfect therapy

Answers to John Bougen's question: "If one of your dreams could come true, what would it be?" often surprised him. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

When Auckland property developer John Bougen was jet-lagged in Uruguay's Montevideo, the main question on his mind was what children dreamed about.

Answers can surprise.

"What is the point of dreaming?" asked the poor Daniel Soltero, 13, perched on top of a pile of cardboard on the back of a cart drawn by a small horse.

"Boy and horse could have done with a good feed," Bougen recalls.

The sparkly-eyed, white-shirt, yellow-tie, excitable extrovert, whose office is handily diagonally opposite Gault on George ("yes, isn't the degustation menu great"), Bougen is a world away from that South American journey, which began with an 11-hour flight from Auckland to Chile's Santiago.

When Bougen set out on his All Nations Quest in August 2002, he had two dreams: with the help of Save the Children he would ask children about their hopes and dreams, putting the question: "If one of your dreams could come true, what would it be?"

The second dream he had was to set a world record by visiting 191 countries in 150 days. Bougen has just embarked on a $16 million expansion of the Dress-Smart retail chain which his Prime Retail Management founded and now manages. He spends most of his time fine-tuning plans for an extra 42 shops in Onehunga and a new 30-shop store at Papamoa.

All this is a world away from what he now recalls was "a mid-life crisis" when he and Australian cousin James Irving set out to smash a world adventuring record.

Forty visas, a letter of introduction from Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff, and facing an initial flight of 9647km to South America, Bougen recalls the trip as so exciting that he would do it again in a flash.

The smiling Soltero, swamped by his shabby green hand-me-down coat on that chilly Sunday in Montevideo, appears in Bougen's book My Dream - Listen to the Children (Penguin, 2003), a mainly photographic record of the travel adventure.

Many of the children had a more simple vision.

"I want my Daddy back," said Marlon Mapp, of Kingston in St Vincent, absorbed with tracking a rat in a drain as Bougen twirled his telephoto. "Not to go to jail," said Elias Jose of Guatemala. "To go to America," replied Resida of Uzbekistan. "Where's that drink that you promised me?" replied Hosia Mviriasgi of Botswana, reminding the cameraman of a pre-negotiated payment.

At the back of the book, Bougen discloses his own dream: "If to dream is to conceive a destination, then may the path that leads every child be signposted and free of lurking dragons. If only this could be so."

The trip spawned a second book - An Absolutely Outrageous Adventure (Penguin), written by award-winning author Jill Malcolm with Bougen as co-author.

Not satisfied with two books to his name, the property developer took off again earlier this year, teaming up with food writer Julie Le Clerc to produce the sumptuous Made in Morocco (Penguin $49.95), a tempting tapestry of culinary inducements.

He took the non-food pictures, specialising in portraying the people, art, buildings, animals and landscape of the North African nation. Julie Le Clerc is credited with writing all the text, but in discussing the book, Bougen confesses to having written a moving piece, The Humble Donkey. There, he explains Moroccan donkeys wear muzzles "not to stop them biting, spitting or giving you a quick lick, but merely to prevent them from nicking fruit" from the market stalls.

"And do you think I took one picture of a donkey wearing a muzzle?" asks Bougen in mock-deprecatory fashion from his Auckland desk.

A full-page photograph of a low-eared, doe-eyed, saddled donkey with a sign above "petits taxis" engendered so much comment from friends that Bougen is printing copies as gifts. The colour-blind Bougen shot 10,000 photographs on the trip and enlisted Auckland photographer Brendan O'Hagan to whittle that back to 600 shots, then the best 180 and eventually just those for publication.

But Bougen's travel, photography and charity work is not limited to exotic places.

The East Cape and Far North have also beckoned lately. Bougen shelved his business interests to take to the road for charity, this time working as "just a role model" for the Books in Homes programme, assisted by long-time friend Alison Smith, the former Property Council events and sponsorship chief.

These trips have, unsurprisingly, produced a series of stunning photographs which Bougen hopes to release soon, having started his own publishing venture, REDiT Books.

"The kids think you're a hero because you've got a camera and you flick off the first few shots with them posing, then keep shooting until they forget you're there when the real beauties arrive."

Bougen is still a long way from fulfilling all his dreams.

 

JOHN BOUGEN

* Born: Timaru

* Age: 47

* Education: Selwyn College, Kohimarama.

CAREER:

* Land surveyors' assistant.

* Vacation Hotels trainee manager.

* Worked at listed developer Argus Questar, which went into receivership after the 1987 sharemarket crash.

* Retail leasing agent at Challenge Properties, part of the former Fletcher Challenge.

* Leased Queenstown and Auckland shopping centres.

* Joined the former Colliers Jardine as a retail leasing specialist.

* A founder of Prime Retail which started the $63 million Dress-Smart discount chain stores.

* A founder of shopping consultancy, manager, broker and leasing agency Retail Solutions.

* Part-owner and founder of the Auckland Memorial Park private cemetery in Silverdale.

* Entered the Guinness Book of Records for the most nations visited - 191 countries in 167 days - with cousin James Irving.

* International adventurer and photographer.

* Charities: Save the Children and Books in Homes.

www.dressmart.co.nz

www.mydream.co.nz