#973 ... Race Day

Saturday was an awesome day as well ... not so today ... rain and cooler ... but the weather Gods shone delightfully on the Wellington Cup Day at Trentham ... alot of sore feet, sore heads, sore wallets and sunburn !!!

These young ladies were getting sorted to catch the train to Trentham ... about a 40 minute ride ... so no problems with drink/driving.
The dark blue blonde would have made a horse strapper proud with shoes like that ... although the red and the electric blue took the sensible approach and wore their shoes on their hands or handbag !!!. This photo taken at the Wellington Railway Station.

#972 ... Working!!

Well Wellington produced a day to die for ... two cruise ships in port ... passengers; mostly Australians flooded the city and those that I talked to, were enjoying every moment.

I was forced to meet some colleagues at Dockside for a cool refreshing beer ... YEAH RIGHT.

This group were making the most of the day ... note the courtesy black straw hats.

#971 ... 2 CRUZ OR NOT 2 CRUZ

The harbour this morning from the top of the Wadestown Hill ... again no wind .. and the misty fog rolled in .. disrupting air travel. One cruise ship had berthed and the second one was just nudging into the wharf. The capital is buzzing at present ...AC/DC concert last night, another on Saturday night, Wellington Cup Racing carnival this weekend, Seven's Rugby next weekend, Festival of the Arts next month ... I love this place !!!

#970 ... What's your horse?

Obviously discussing the form of the horses ... Midland park promo for the Wellington Cup Day on Saturday at Trentham Racecourse ... Wellington's annual big day at the horse races ... here's hoping for the best weatherman being on duty!!!

#969 ... Calm & Serene

The Lagoon and NO WIND ... magic ... and as a bonus we get some reflection ... visual & mental !!

#968 ... Morning Missed !!!

Morning fog on the Harbour ... looking from Post Office Square towards Queens Wharf across the otherside of Jervois Quay

#967 ... walkin' on water

The latest attraction at the Lagoon next to Frank Kitts Park ... put yourself in a bubble of plastic ... blow it up ... and seal ... then walk or roll yourself across the lagoon ... this young girl couldn't stand up ... but was having a lot of fun anyway

#966 ... Street Music

The neat thing about buskers ... young and old ... love 'em or hate 'em ... they do add a lot of aural colour to the city.

#965 ... The Civic 'un' Square

The Civic Square in Wellington ... City Art Gallery to the right ... the building with the spots, next is the Library, then the suspened fern ball, with the Majestic Centre behind, then the pink & cream City Council Administrative building ... all on a very calm sunny summers day ... YES we do get some of these.

#964 ... A Hard Task

Every city has them ... usually young backpackers looking to make some money and help a very good cause at the same time ... this young lady raising funds and awareness for the work of the Red cross ... very timely given the earthquake disaster in Haiti ... something Wellingtons have some identity with given that we live on an earthquake fault line.

#963 ... Harbouring kayaks

Kayaks on the harbour ... note the flat calm water !!.
Te Papa in the background on the left ... the Hikitia, the floating crane, then Mac's Brewery (brick building), then the V masts on the bridge across the entrance to the Lagoon

#962 ... "That Way"

Inline roller bladers in the Queens Wharf precinct, making the most of a real proper summers day ... the harbour was sparkling and everyone was out and about ... including the "suits" like me ... but without a tie ... YeeHa!

#961 ... "Will" give a kiss

One hopeful lady in the crowd waiting to see Prince William ... here being interviewed by the TV One reporter.
"Kia ora William, How about a kiss & a photo??"

#960 ... A Princely Wait

The press photographers and TV camera "persons" waiting for Prince William outside the new Supreme Court in Wellington ... more digital cameras than cafes in Wellington !!!

#959 ... Grey Day

A grey wet summers day in Wellington !!. View from Oriental Bay looking across to the cruise liner and the bath tub that brings all the cars into New Zealand from Japan ... container cranes to the left.

#958 ... Chat

Weekend catch up for a chat ... Plum Cafe, Cuba Mall

#957 ... Concreting Wellington

Concreting Wellington ... one driveway at a time ... Mike ..."Mr Smoother" and his concrete team had an early start on this job at 6am when the ready mixed cement truck arrived ... the finished job was just looking right for me to do my Hollywood action and leave my hand print ... YEAH RIGHT!!

Boulcott St, Wellington CBD

#956 ... Pit Stop

Even the "littlest" members of the family require liquid refreshments when having a big day out in the city .. and if you can find a place in the cool shade ... even better.

This is Plimmers Lane ... just off Lambton Quay ... you can see the Plimmer statue with his dog ... centre photo.

John Plimmer
1812 – 1905) has been called the Father of Wellington.

He was a member of the Wellington Provincial Council from 1856 to 1857, the first Wellington Town Board (1863) and was on the Wellington City Council from 1870 to 1871.

His principal public service was the organization of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company between 1880 and 1886. The township (now a suburb) of Plimmerton on the main railway north was named after him.

He arrived in Wellington from Shropshire, England on the ship Gertrude in 1841.

There is a statue of him at the bottom of Plimmer Steps off Lambton Quay, Wellington.

#955 ... Pack it away

The christmas tree in Midland Park comes down from the bottom up ... here are the last pieces at the top being de-constructed for packing way till next December.

#954 ... Spotted

Two young tourists ... colour matched to the dots on the Wellington City gallery ... maybe they could fill the time by "joining the dots"

#953 ... Tubular Fashion

You have probably heard of the music "Tubular Bells" ... well here is a Wellington take on the theme with some tubular fashion ... this family had obviously picked up these cardboard drums and were taking them back to their van .. and daughter decided to have some fun ... and smiles !!!

#952 ... Wind blown sand & dirt

Remains of the day ... the day of beach volleyball at Oriental Bay ... Saturday was good but today the Wellington wind came home!!

#951 ... A Classic

A classic Porsche parked opposite Moore Wilsons ... some classics still survive!!

#950 ... Suspended animation

A great moment in time ... that unfortunately didn't end so well ... but no bones were broken.

BACKGROUND
The world unicycle craze has hit Wellington over the past 10 days, and thousands have turned out to watch the world championships. Event organiser Lynne Klap said unicycling was so popular overseas it was part of the physical education programme in some schools.

"Unicycling is massive in Europe and Japan. A lot of schools there have class sets of unicycles and take part in national competitions. There are people in Denmark who use unicycles to commute to work."

While unicycling is big overseas, Klap said the sport's fringe reputation in New Zealand made organising the event – which ran from December 27 till January 7 – a challenge.

Bringing unicycling to Wellington paid off, with the largest-ever contingent of Australian and New Zealand riders attending the event. New Zealand even had a taste of success – Christian Huriwai took out gold in the street competition, New Zealand's second gold medal at a unicycling world championship. Lynne Klap was pleased but not surprised by the thousands of people who turned up to watch the many free events.

"We always knew once people saw the unicyclists around town everyone would want to have a look," she said. "We wanted the people of Wellington to have some fun."

#949 ... 2010 Dreams

The start of the year is a good time to reignite those dreams ... maybe a new or different car. Edmund ... thinks this could be an option at least for the summer!!!

#948 ... Jump into the New Year

This inspiration for this montage was started by Rumi who sent me the photo his daughter Sharlene had taken of his jump on 90 Mile Beach at New Year. I sent back my images taken 5 years ago at the Moeraki Boulders in the South Island ... so maybe this is what some of us do to celebrate the leap into the new year !!!

#947 ... Last Post '09

A tad late to say farewell to 2009 ... however the image taken by my son Josh ... seems appropriate ... and there was no Photoshop involved . This image was part of Josh's "rubbish" series and this instrument was lying there covered in dust and debris ... ready to be blown away for the NEW YEAR!!!

#946 ... The Colonel's Recipe

All those secret 11 herbs & spices are satisfying when you're travelling & hungry ... YEAH RIGHT

This is the last of the Queenstown images ... got back to Wellington today ... so normal transmission will resume tomorrow!!

#945... You've got mail

All mail systems aligned ... Queenstown, NZ

#944 ... The Red Preservers

Queenstown means a whole lot of things to a whole lot of people ... but if you say "jet boats" ... most people will say Queenstown. Here are all the life jackets lined up ready for the next group to go jet boating.

#943 ... NY party at Queenstown

Earlier in the evening before the park was packed with new year party goers ...twas a great night. Contrast with the next image taken a few hours later !!!