City to Sea Bridge ... #40

The eye-catching city to sea bridge is, as the name suggests, the link between the heart of the Civic Square and the nearby waterfront of Lambton Harbour. Architecturally designed, the construction tells stories about the creation of Whanganui–ā–Tara (Wellington harbour) and Māui with many of the figures (wonderfully crafted with Maori carving and artwork) on the bridge relating to Māori stories about the sea, arrival and navigation. Large timber sculptures by Maori artist Para Matchitt evoke ideas and stories of the sea, the land, navigation and arrival. On the north side of the bridge, two huge timber whales lie tail to tail to form an unusual safety barrier. Carved timber birds perform a similar duty on the south side.
Two Writer's Walk sculptures are on the walk towards the bridge; one on the grassy knoll to the left the other on the concrete face before climbing up to the bridge. Another sculpture lies at the top of the steps.
The area provides a nice view of the harbour and hills,and is a good place to go to eat lunch and watch the sea. The bridge links the city to the sea both literally and figuratively

Leper Island ... #39

Leper Island.. the small island to the left of Matiu (Soames) Island ... and just to the right of the top of the "Hurry-Crane". This photo was taken from my office building looking towards the hills behaind Petone and Eastbourne ... again the limited palette of colours and the moody sky gives a different perspective on the Harbour

HISTORY
In the late 1800s thousands of Chinese came to New Zealand. Each had to pay a tax of 100 on arrival (1896) which was a lot of money in those days. In 1903, Chinese immigrant Kim Lee, who ran a fruit shop in Newtown, was diagnosed with leprosy. Since NZ did not have a leper colony, Lee was sent to Soames Island, a quarantine station in the middle of Wellington Harbour. However the other residents there objected to his presence and lee was transferred to the tiny island of Mokopuna at the northern tip of Soames Island where he lived in a cave. The lighthouse keeper brought him food by rowboat and when the sea was too rough it was sent across by flying fox.

Lee died in 1904 from kidney failure, not leprosy. The island is colloquially known as leper Island and a century later a memorial service for Kim Lee was held on Matui.

SkyBlues ... #38

This is one of the City's sculptures which creates a smooth blue glow at night. The small photo shows the Post Office shop to the left with the Waterfront Apartments in the background. This building at the entrance to Queens Wharf, is also the home for the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

The Sculpture itself

Dimensions: 7 poles, each 11m high; 5m site width
Location: Post Office Square, Jervois Quay
Materials: Stainless steel, neon
Date of installation: March 06

Presented to the city in 2006. The principal funder was TOWER Group, with major donations from Creative New Zealand and the Wellington City Council. Numerous private individuals and trusts, mainly from Wellington, contributed the balance of funds.

The artist Bill Culbert is internationally famous for his work in neon and other light forms. He has written of SkyBlues:
“In daylight the neons are against a blue sky, fragile glass blue lines with fine steel supporting structures. Night time will make the artwork vibrate in a different way with the strong vertical movement of electric light at full power. The writing hand moves vertically up and down in space always changing to the moving viewer. Dawn and dusk the blue neon will be ever changing as with rain, winds and clouds. SkyBlues is light energy, the verticals and drawn lines that move, shimmer, swirl blue in cityscape.”

Post Office Square
The site was once the location of the imposing Chief Post Office building designed by Thomas Turnbull, originally erected in 1884, burnt down in 1887 and rebuilt. The building was next to the waterfront before reclamation took place in the area. It was demolished in 1974. Photographs of the Post Office and others relating to the vicinity are displayed at Clarrie’s a private museum and shop in the Square which was once a tram drivers resthouse. Note the British telephone box and post-box nearby. The Huddart Parker Building on the south side remains as a striking example of an earlier streetscape. Built in 1925 it was the largest reinforced concrete building in New Zealand. The architects were Crichton, McKay and Haughton.

Visual Chaos ... #37

Driving around Point Jerningham as you enter the CBD via Oriental Parade .. we find an eclectic collection or warning and information signs. Some would say that our cities have too many signs to protect us from ourselves. here we have "turning only for buses"; "Give Way" (well if the bus was turning I certainly would !!): "pedestrian crossing" .. as if you can't see pedestrians ! ; sign showing merging roads which is pretty obvious really without the sign; "Parking Coupon Zone"; "Cyclists Lane" .... and if all this gets a bit much the bus stop has an advert for coffee ... so you can think about where your going to go and get back to normal with a nice calming cappuccino.

Mt Victoria Tunnel ... #36

The Mount Victoria Tunnel in Wellington is well known in Wellington as being the location of "the beeping game", in which motorists sound their horns as they go through the tunnel, often in response to the tooting of other drivers. This is particularly popular after 5pm on Friday nights. The white building above the tunnel is Wellington East Girls’ College..

The tunnel is 623 metres (slightly more than a third of a mile) long and 5 metres (16.4 ft) in height, connecting Hataitai to the centre of Wellington and the suburb of Mount Victoria, under the mount of the same name. It is part of State Highway 1.

The tunnel was built in 15 months by the Hansford and Mills Construction Company. The project cost around £132,000 and greatly reduced travel time between the Eastern Suburbs and the central business district of Wellington. Construction employed a standard tunnel-excavation technique in which two teams of diggers begin on either side of the obstacle to be tunnelled through, eventually meeting in the centre.

The initial breakthrough, when the two separate teams of diggers met, occurred at 2.30pm on 31 May 1930, and the first people to pass through the breakthrough were tunnellers Philip Gilbert and Alfred Graham. The tunnel was opened officially by the mayor of Wellington, Thomas Charles Hislop, on 12 October 1931.

Although the tunnel has been eclipsed in terms of features and amenities by more recent tunnels around the country, such as the Terrace Motorway Tunnel, the Mount Victoria Tunnel was the first road tunnel in New Zealand to be mechanically ventilated. Around 32,000 vehicles pass through it each day. The tunnel also accommodates pedestrians and cyclists, who use an elevated ramp on the north side of the roadway. In the late 1970s, a number of crime incidents resulted in an alarm system being installed based on buttons spaced along the length of the pedestrian ramp - the system was removed several years later, as it proved ineffective. Recent additions include new lighting, CCTV cameras, brighter cleanable side panels and pollution control. These have significantly improved safety in the tunnel.

There has been a long standing designation for a second parallel tunnel to the north, in order to relieve peak period congestion resulting from lane merges at both ends of the tunnel. A pilot tunnel was bored through in 1974 to investigate the technical feasibility and still exists, although the eastern end has been bricked up and the western end lies on private property. Plans to build the second tunnel paralleled the original plan to complete the Wellington Urban Motorway to the tunnel to provide a motorway bypass of the whole of central Wellington. The second tunnel component was shelved indefinitely in 1981 when budget cuts meant that a scaled-down motorway extension was proposed that would terminate at the existing tunnel.

The tunnel currently is a traffic bottleneck in the morning peak from around 7.30 to 9.00am on the Hataitai side with traffic sometimes backing up over 1 km and in the afternoon peak between 5 and 6pm on the city side with queuing back around 0.5 km. Buses to the eastern suburbs bypass this congestion by using the much older single-lane Hataitai bus tunnel.

Some interesting stuff
During World War II, the government planned to use the tunnel as an air raid shelter if Wellington were attacked. However, the plan was scrapped as the tunnel was thought to be too vulnerable to assault from either side by hostile troops.

A murder occurred during the construction of the tunnel. A young woman named Phylis Simons was murdered by her lover, who buried her in the fill from the tunnel. Police ordered workers to excavate the fill in order to find the victim's body.

Hurry-Cranes .... #35

Well here is a photo of the Liebherr Container Cranes at the Port of Wellington. You can clearly see the "Hurry-Cranes" logos on the machine houses in keeping with a Wellington tradition. Given the increased rate of handling containers, these machines live up to the name..

Above the more distant crane you will note the communications mast on the top of Mt Victoria. The photo was taken on Sunday 24 June ... supposedly mid-winter.

This weekend the AllBlacks beat the Springbocks in Durbin South Africa, 26 - 21 and the Hurricanes players in The ABs performed very well .. so its fitting that today's photo has a rugby connection.

The new generation cranes have the capability to lift two 20ft containers off vessels at the same time. Specially commissioned and manufactured by Liebherr Container Cranes Limited in Killarney, Ireland, these heavy-weights of the crane world each took 30,000 man hours to construct from over 650 tonnes of steel and required 8,000 litres of paint. The crane operators played a central role in developing the interior of the cabs. In the design phase, they had substantial input into determining the optimal position for the controls. The team has also spent time in Tauranga training and learning how to use the new cranes. Standing 63 metres at full height and weighing 770 tonnes, some kiwi ingenuity was required to move the machines into position on the wharf. Special teflon and stainless steel rollers were developed to slip the cranes into place on the quay.

Climbing Everest in Wellington .... #34

The location is The Terrace Wellington outside the James Cook Hotel. The man is Mark Inglis .. and for those that don't know him ... he is the double amputee, New Zealander, who climbed Mt Everest last year.

Here I was walking up The Terrace in the early evening on Saturday night to get my old Rover 3500 from the carpark when this cyclist when past ... I thought ... he has two artificial legs .. that would make a great photo .. that must be Mark Inglis .. no ... it can't be because he lives in the Christchurch (actually Hanmer) ... anyway I ran up the hill after him and luckily he had stopped outside the James Cook where he was staying .. and sure enough it was Mark on a visit to the Capital ... hence the photograph of a unique meeting .. apologies Mark for the "soft" focus ... limited light ... but the blurred image is quite appropriate as you are a man who always seems to be on the move. Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you. Go well.

The Lagoon ... #33

This is a view from the City to Sea Bridge which links the Civic Square to the Waterfront. The direction is north north east looking towards the Hutt Valley and the Tararua Ranges (centre on the horizon). On the left is the southern corner of Frank Kitts Park and in the middle distance wou can see the container cranes .. a bit like the threelegged machines from "War of the Worlds". As a piece of well thought out corporate humour, these container cranes although coded A, B and C are also painted with "Hurri-crane" logos in the style of our beloved Hurricanes Rugby Team !! .. maybe a future daily photo. Perhaps the image would be complete with the cranes called Tana, Jerry and Rodney !!!

The clouds in this picture are not a common site in Wellington ... as usually the wind creates a more streaky outcome. This photo was taken on Friday mid-day following a stormy night, heavy rain, thunder and lightening, cold southerly winds coming up from the South Island where ther have been snow storms and winter chaos. Even the Winter Festival in Queenstown had to be postponed because the weather was so BAD !!!

Tom the Commissionaire @ K&S ... #32

This is Tom the delightful commissionaire, at Kirkcaldie & Stains store on a cold and wet day in Wellington. Tom and Neville share the role and have been doing this for about eight years now and have become icons of the Wellingtion retail scene. As I understand it this is the only retail store in New Zealand with such "uniform" welcoming people.

SOME HISTORY
Kirkcaldie & Stains Limited
was established in 1863 by John Kirkcaldie, a Scotsman who had served his apprenticeship as a draper, and Robert Stains, an Englishman who had worked in the retail trade in London.The two enterprising young men had met in Sydney and had come to the settlement of Wellington, which seemed to offer the best prospects for business. Each had a capital of £350, which they pooled, and they opened their first store on Lambton Quay on a site which is now occupied by the historic Bank of New Zealand building. Their small store was built from the timbers of a wrecked ship. The business thrived having been founded on the principles of selling quality merchandise at a price that gave good value and service.
As the business grew a new store was built in the same location and Kirkcaldie & Stains opened in Waterloo House, a two-storied building, in 1864. The flourishing business again outgrew its home and in 1868 larger premises were built on reclaimed land at the corner of Lambton Quay and Brandon Street, part of the present location of the store.
A branch of the company was operated from premises at the corner of Ghuznee and Cuba Streets from 1871 until 1876, and Kirkcaldies also had a branch in Napier from 1897 until 1917. Since then the company has been a single store operation based on Lambton Quay. Further adjoining premises were acquired and the store was expanded with new stores built on the existing site in 1897 and then again in 1908. The 1908 building was surrounded by the facade, which is still the hallmark of the company today. Robert Stains had returned to England in 1886 and the partnership was dissolved. The Kirkcaldie family ran the company until the great depression of the 1930's. In 1931 a controlling interest in Kirkcaldie & Stains was acquired by British Overseas Stores, a London based organisation that owned retailers throughout the world.

com·mis·sion·aire [ kə mìshə nér ] (n) uniformed worker: in the United Kingdom, a uniformed attendant or usher at a hotel or theater

Adam & Eve Seat ... #30

Real park bench ... Unreal background ... even in the inner city there are many ways to create your piece of "green".

Mural on a wall Brougham Street, Mt. Victoria on the way to Wellington East Girls College

Wellington Green ! ... #29

This is a picture of my backyard in Ngaio ... nothing spectacular but it does demonstrate the "green-ness" of Wellington. We do not have a great number of trees that loose their leaves in winter ... so our natural surroundings tend to be green all year round.

Here we see an example of the punga and the cabbage tree.

Stormy Sky ... #28

Looking from Point Jerningham across to Eastbourne ... north east view .. love the the monchrome palette of colours

Soames Island on the right hand side is situated in the middle of Wellington's harbour (Port Nicholson) and gives good views all around. To get there, you have to use the East-to-West ferry (a nice little catamaran) which usually travels straight between Wellington and Day's Bay on the other side of the harbour but stops at the island if needed. Remember to be on the jetty in plenty of time for the return journey! The island has had a varied history. Originally a Maori pa (fortified village), it became a farm on the arrival of European settlers and had a short stint as a prisoner of war camp during the Second World War before continuing the theme as an animal quarantine station. The island passed to Department of Conservation control in 1995 and they now manage it.

Through the Looking Glass ... #27

It maybe cold and wet outside but we still seem to need our beauty treatments .. this is someone taking the experience at Farmers store in Lambton Quay

One of the country's foremost department stores, Farmers Trading Company - or Farmers, as they are more commonly known - have been outfitting New Zealand women, their families and their homes for nearly 100 years.

First established by Robert Laidlaw as a catalogue mail order company in 1909, Farmers is now a thriving, modern department store and New Zealand's leading fashion and home retailer - combining quality and value with an ever-increasing selection of the best local and international brands.
Proudly New Zealand owned, Farmers operates over 55 modern department stores in both rural and city locations around the country, and employs over 3600 people.

Farmers is a true New Zealand icon and part of Kiwi culture.

Nga Korerorero ... #26

Nga Korerorero Silvia Salgado’s sculpture in the Midland Park, Wellington. Nga Korerorero (maori)means "Ongoing Talk". The sculptured fountain is bronze, steel, concrete on slate tiles.
It was placed in Wellington’s Midland Park, Lambton Quay in 1996. Silvia Salgado is a Colombian artist who came to New Zealand in 1992 to lecture in design at Wellington Polytechnic. Her sculpture represents communication and relationships among friends and families.
It is now June and a cool day (11 deg C) so there are not so many people sitting in the park having lunch. During the summer months you can't move in this popular inner city spot during the lunch hour.

The Cable Car ... #25

The Cable Car is another of a series of sculptures crowning sculptural signs in the city. All the signs feature Wellington street maps and show the way to nearby attractions.

The Cable Car provides a unique form of transport to the city to the suburb of Kelburn and the top of the Botanic Garden. We are situated at the end of the Cable Car Lane off Lambton Quay in the heart of Wellington's Central Business District.

There are three intermediate stops. Clifton, leading to the Terrace and the Student Accommodation at Everton Hall. Talavera, the mid point of the track, where the cars pass each other. Salamanca, linking to the Victoria University and more student accommodation at Weir House.

The Wellington Cable Car Museum is located just a few metres from the cable car's upper terminus and from a lookout with spectacular views over Wellington, this museum tells the story of the country's only remaining public cable car system.

Visit us to catch up on the service's colourful history, marvel at the machinery in the old winding room or climb aboard one of the old grip cars.

The museum shop stocks a great selection of Wellington and New Zealand gifts and souvenirs as well as a range of specialist transport books, DVDs and models.

The Wellington Cable Car Museum has Qualmark endorsed visitor activity status and was the 2006 Tourism Industry award winner for visitor activities and attractions: culture and heritage tourism.

Buzzy Bee #24

Buzzy Bee is one of a series of sculptures crowning sculptural signs in the city. All the signs feature Wellington street maps and show the way to nearby attractions. In this caser it points the way to the The Beehive …
"Buzzy Bee is a New Zealand icon and it is fitting a tribute is paid to it. The sign's wings will whirr in the wind and power the turning of the wheels, a sight that will cheer the hearts of Wellingtonians of all ages on even the greyest day. It reflects Wellington's status as a cultural capital and also as a city where people can find enjoyment and entertainment everywhere."
Sculptural signs have been installed at:
Wellington's Railway Station – model of a "Wellington" Double Fairlie Locomotive
Woodward Street –stylised raupo, eels and eel traps. It is placed where the Kumototo Stream originally entered the harbour and reflects its importance as a food-gathering site for Maori
Cable Car Lane – model of a early cable car
Grey Street – Walk to the Water, a stylised waka topped by an aluminium bird that pivots into the breeze
Plimmer Steps – Stylised dolphins
Cuba/Manners Street – Exploding Box syndrome, a graffiti-based explosion in aluminium. I will post images and dialogue on these over the next few weeks

Better Red .. than cold feet #23

An interesting & bold shoe shop display .. Ultra Shoes, Manners Street, Wellington CBD

Cuba Mall .... #22

Discover the diverse wonders and delights of Wellington's Cuba Street, one of Wellington's oldest thoroughfares, and running from the Michael Fowler Centre in Wakefield Street in the north through to Webb Street on the boundaries of Mount Cook in the south.
Wellington's Cuba Street is pedestrian-only from Manners Mall to Ghuznee Street, where it is called Cuba Mall.

Mt KauKau ... #21

Lesser known to Wellington visitors but favoured by locals, Mt Kaukau rewards those who take the time to conquer its steep slopes, with stunning 360 degree panoramic views of the Wellington harbour basin and Cook Strait beyond ... Kapiti Island, the South Island, Cook Strait, the Rimutaka Range and the Hutt Valley. If ever you are likely to see the South Island, it will be from here. In the clearest weather you may even see the snow clad top of Mt Tapaeoenuku in the Inland Kaikoura Range in the South Island. The summit is 445 metres above sea level and is the most visible high point in the Wellington landscape further accentuated by Wellington's main television transmitter tower the BCL TV transmitter mast. There is also a compass pedestal placed at the top.

Rugby Test ... #20

Wellington hosted the second Test between France and the NZ rugby team, the "All Blacks" on a wonderful cool crisp yet calm evening in the capital. It was a full house at the Westpac Stadium ... 36,000 plus and the win means that most will enjoy a great night on the town after the game ... especially in Courtney Place

Rampant All Blacks forward power and superior attacking skills in the backs ran France ragged in a nine try feast to win by a record 61-10. The All Blacks were dominant throughout playing with much greater cohesion and employing some deft individual touches spread right across the team. There were moments of looseness which allowed the French to snare ball, as when they scored their 15th minute try in the second half, but the opportunities were generally few and far between and well contained. Such was the All Blacks dominance that any French success was immediately countered with yet another try.

Autumn Sunshine #19

Its the weekend again and although the temperatures are cooler, the amazing patch of autumn weather continues. Lots of people were out and about this morning enjoying the sunshine .. and like here taking time out to read and eat.
Waitangi Park, Wellington

Esmeralda ... #18

Warm welcome ... Chile's Esmeralda sailed into Wellington Harbour last week. It is one of the world's largest sailing ships, drawing attention whenever it comes into port. The pride of the Chilean Navy, the Esmeralda might be a magnificent example of marine architecture, but it has skeletons in its closet.

To thousands of Chileans, the ship is a symbol of the country's brutal past. In the weeks after General Augusto Pinochet's bloody coup in 1973, the Esmeralda was used as a floating prison and torture chamber.For thousands who sympathised with the ousted socialist president, Salvador Allende, the ship was a place of beatings, sexual assault, electric shock, and water torture.

However, the Esmeralda's captain said the crew had been made very welcome by the people of Wellington.

more photos of the Esmeralda

The Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis) #17

The cabbage tree features in many of our works of art and reminds many New Zealanders of home. The cabbage tree is a familiar sight in city, residential and rural areas. In Wellington they are all over our landscape. These photos were taken during a 20 minute walk down to the shop to get the morning paper .. and as you can see the cabbage tree is ubiquitous.
Generally in the rural context they are found in swamps or dampish places throughout New Zealand vegetation. It is also planted occasionally in gardens and parks and has been introduced into horticulture overseas. It reaches heights of 40 ft at its maximum development with diameters of 1–4 ft. The crown is made up of long, bare branches carrying bushy heads of large, grasslike leaves 2–3 ft long. Early settlers used the young leaves from the centre of these heads as a substitute for cabbage – hence the common name. At flowering time large panicles of small, white, sweet-scented flowers emerge from the centre of the heads. Good flowering seasons occur every few years only. It is said that they foretell dry summers but, from observation, they usually follow dry seasons. Small, whitish berries are formed which are readily eaten by birds. The tree is very tenacious of life, and chips of the wood or sections of the stem will readily shoot. The leaves contain a high percentage of long fibres which are occasionally extracted.
The Maoris obtained a most nutritious food, kauru, from the root of the young cabbage tree. This root is an extension of the trunk below the surface of the ground and is shaped like an enormous carrot some 2–3 ft long. An observer of the early 1840s, Edward Shortland, noted that the Maoris “prefer those grown in deep rich soil; they have learned to dig it at the season when it contains the greatest quantity of saccharine matter; that is, just before the flowering of the plant. They then bake, or rather steam it in their ovens. On cooling, the sugar is partially crystallised, and is found mixed with other matter between the fibres of the root, which are easily separated by tearing them asunder, and are then dipped in water and chewed”.
REF: Te Ara, Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington

Architectural Forms #16

Residential house in Majoribank Street, Mt Victoria .. the shape and form of this house is a particular syle favoured by Roger Walker, Ian Athfield and other leading architects. These architectural designs began appearing in the late 70s and mimic the hilly nature of the Wellington environment.

The Morning Sky #15

A dramatic morning sky ...looking north east across the Wellington harbour towards the Hutt Valley and the Tararua Ranges

Fruit & Vege Market #14

Every Saturday morning 50 metres away from Te Papa ... our national museum .. the numerous and varied fruit and vegetable sellers do business in one of the carparks. This is one of a number of Saturday morning markets around the city which are well patronised by Wellingtonians.

Guardians of the City #13

These mostly fluorescent cone heads guard our streets and work at keeping us safe .. every city has an army of these little gnomes ... they move around the place at what seems to be random frequencies often appearing back in the same place very soon after they have done a tour of duty.
Featherston Street ... looking south

Skate Boarders #12

Waitangi Park has facilities for skate boarders ... concrete half pipes, concrete benches with steel edges and other freeform tracks .. these are well used in the city environment. This is the same park as the children and families are playing in.

The young maori boy was insistent that I take his photo ... a cool dude !!

HOPE BROS. ... #11

Now this is Simon van Praag who I know, trying to look cool & sophisticated !!! ... one of the partners in Hope Bros .. he has knocked around the hospitatlity industry and has brought new life to this establishment. I can recommend the place for customer functions and events ... we have always experienced friendly and personal service from these guys .. so when in Wellington go along and enjoy some food & drink.

Hope Bros Bar and Restaurant, situated on Wellington's Dixon Street in the heart of Wellingtons entertainment district offers a comprehensive range of New Zealand’s finest Beers, a predominantly New Zealand based wine list, traditional and contemporary Cocktails and Contemporary New Zealand cuisine. Prices are very reasonable, and the food is described as a 'modern reworking of traditional fare.'The stylish interior is intimate, with leather booth seating and a mezzanine floor.
Live music on Wednesday nights with touring national and international acts, Hope Bros. has hosted some fine musicians in the first 2 years of trading. With 8 different visual screens through out Hope Bros. Sport when relevant to Wellington or the Nation provides a sophisticated option to watch major games.