#1311 ... Good Night 2010

The sunsets on 2010 across Lake Taupo ... delightfully serene & thoughtful

#1310 ... Ceramic Gardens

We are in Taupo for a few days ... and if you're passing through, go checkout L'Arte at 255 Mapara Road, Acacia Bay ... great tiled art, good cafe ... a place that makes you SMILE.

#1309 ... Ski Cemetry

The "Treasure Shop" at the Wellington City Council refuse station (the tip!) ... installation art maybe ?

#1308 ... Hold On

A grey murky day at Wellington Airport ... everything is working BUT bumpy rides expected!

#1307 ... City Road Textures

The textures of the street ... Featherston St, CBD ... note the detail on the cast drain access cover "DRAINS TO THE SEA" ... how many of us take notice ?

#1306 ... The Day After

YES the day after Christmas Day ... and all the catchup jobs still need to be done ... like mowing the lawns at our place... downunder and not a snow flake in sight !!

#1305 ... Our Place - Christmas Day

Anna, Teagan and Caleb examining the contents of Christmas crackers ... not much really !!

#1304 ... A Classic Alternative

This is Nikita & Leon ... Two very fine musicians performing at the entrance to James Cook Arcade. These two talented musicians also have a CD titled "Pandasira"

#1303 ... Alternative Carols

Father and daughter serenading the lunch time passersby with alternative Christmas carols ... and in Maori ... delightful ... love the pink ukelele. WOODWARD ST

#1302 ... Look Both Ways

part of the fall out from the new Manners Mall bus lane... we all need to be told AGAIN ... to look both ways when we cross the road ... Hmmmmm "Nanny State" ... these two students were taking a break from walking the streets with their promo boards. CUBA MALL

#1301 ... Another Christmas Queue

Ready for the lunchtime onslaught of mothers and children ... all to visit Santa in his sleigh ... Harbour City Centre, Lambton Quay

#1300 ... Must be Christmas

The Post Office around the corner from work ... 9:30am in the morning and already queues to the door !! ... MUST BE CHRISTMAS

#1299 ... Food Carols

Singing Christmas carols for the shoppers at Moore Wilson's Fresh ... no snow ... but still christmas downunder in the Southern hemisphere

#1298 ... Lace Ups

A pair of stylish lace-ups on Courtenay Place ... the rest of the body was about to enjoy a salad lunch at Kapai ... try it sometime.

#1297 ... Birthday Dress Up

So this is what you do for a birthday ... it was Cassie's (2nd right) 15th birthday and all her friends were doing the dress-up thing ... they were all ready to enjoy themselves and have a party. WELLINGTON RAILWAY STATION

#1296 ... Swinging it

This image was a result of my day in Hamilton ... taken from the office window ... some people have interesting jobs !!!

THANKS TO HAMILTON for providing a quirky image for a Wellingtonian !!

#1295 ... Arrival & Departure

I spent the day in Hamilton ... so really not in Wellington to take photos ... however on the way to the Airport in the morning I snapped this cruise ship entering the Harbour in the mist ... and just by chance managed to capture it again as it was leaving port when I flew in at 6:30pm. Not great images but quirky in terms of timing. SMILE

#1294 ... Full Size Advent Calendar

This home in Karori did the Advent Calendar thing fullsize ... counting down from 25 to show the number days left before Christmas Day ... delightful !!

#1293 ... Waiting

8AM ... School students waiting for the train at Awarua Station ... on the Johnsonville line

#1292 ... Multi-coloured Model

A superb artistic take on a mannequin ... "Absolutely Fabulous" by Sue Lund, NZD$2,900 at Ora, Allen Street.

#1291 ... Walking Words

Sometimes the wisdom is beneath our feet ... Victoria St footpath

#1290 ... Green tree - white car

Victoria Street ... turning over a new leaf for summer.

#1289 ... City Colour

Love the eclectic colour that cityscapes provide ... street signs, red trucks, black cars, flowers, parking ticket machines .. and the man with the measuring wheel. Victoria Street, Wellington

#1288 ... Mr Lifter

Now it is not everyday that one sees a Christmas decorated forklift stationary in a vehicle carpark on the side of a main street in the city ... so this caught my eye ... and what a delightful story.

This is TOM O'CONNOR who runs and owns this fork truck ... his second ... and his business THOMPSON BROS. LTD. drives this fork truck around the CBD and close suburbs to do spot lifting jobs ... unloading stock, moving money machines, loading delivery trucks ... as required. Clients ring up Tom and off he goes to the next job around town. A delightful engaging character to chat to ... and obviously fulfilling a much needed service for businesses around town. Thanks Tom ... and the only thing that is missing is the Santa hat !!!

#1287 ... Humans + buses

The new Manners Mall bus route ... operational ... BUT this shows the current issue ... human + bus ... on the same piece of geography ... some near fatal accidents have occurred with impacts between the two entities ... me thinks the humans need to take some responsibility with their own care & safety !! ... however we are now having "in depth" consultants reviewing the whole new transport route to come up with recommendations ... may be feather soft buses!

#1286 ... Traffic Stopper

A nice piece of fashion on Featherston Street ... just to show that we are having some delightful summer weather ... apologies to the Europe followers !!!

#1285 ... The Kiwi Christmas Tree

I did not take this photo ... it was captured by Simon Gianoutsos (a fellow tweeter) from Auckland, New Zealand ... it shows the magnificent pohutukawa flower in all its glory for Christmas ... thanks Simon.

POHUTUKAWA

Christmas tree (Metrosideros excelsa).
This is the best known of New Zealand coastal trees because of its attractive wide-spreading habit and the profusion of red flowers it bears about Christmas time. Although confined naturally to the Three Kings, the North Island coast down to Poverty Bay and Urenui, and the shores of lakes on the volcanic plateau, the tree is widely planted even well south of these limits.

It grows to 60 ft high and the trunk, which divides early, is some 6 ft through at the base. Masses of small fibrous roots sometimes hang down from the lower branches. The leaves are 1–3 in. long, elliptic, and covered below with a tight mat of hairs. Flowers are borne in terminal cymes. The buds are whitish before they break and the numerous stamens, which give the flower its colour, are shades of crimson and red. The capsules contain numerous tiny seeds which germinate on damp clay or in rock crevices.

The genus Metrosideros contains other outstanding native trees, in particular the northern and southern ratas, M. robusta and M. umbellata. It belongs to the myrtle family containing eucalypts which are the main natural foods of the Australian opossum. In New Zealand this animal feeds on pohutukawas and destroys some.

#1284 ... Cuba Action Men

Intensive Care in Upper Cuba Street has started selling an eclectic mix of Action Men and other crazy action figures. $5 for a naked Action Man ... already for you to dress up ... haha

#1283 ... unhand me ... Sir !!!

Man-handling the model on Lambton Quay ... and with a smile and some laughter !!!

#1282 ... Maria's Blue Shoes

These amazing electric blue shoes caught my eye as I walked down Featherston Street ... and the proud owner/wearer ... Maria ... was more than happy to have them showcased on the WDP. Thanks Maria

#1281 ... hey ho ... it's off to work we go

Now this great team of workers took a bit of convincing to let me take their photo ... but I'm really pleased they did .. as this makes a pretty unique photo ... note the way they are performing like a machine ... the no.1 guy at the right hand end has the can of hot tar, no.2 has the roller, no.3 has the sand, no.4 the broom and the last man is there to control any cars wanting to enter or exit the carpark at the Ngaio Railway Station. Thanks to a great team from Angus Ashphalt.