Friday, February 29, 2008

Military Intelligence ... #275

Outside the Ministry of Defence working out how to remove the security bollards ... 3 males, a supervisor and one pole!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Queens Wharf & Beyond... #274

Queens Wharf as viewed through a slightly dirty window... Level 10 of the HP Building in Featherston Street.

In the foreground are the Wharf Apartments with the NZ Academy of Fine Arts on the ground floor .. on the right hand side of the wharf gates is the Museum of Wellington - City to Sea with the TSB Bank Arena behind and to the right of the three large shade sails.

On the wharf behind the two cranes is where the red Helipro helicopters live and across the harbour running left to right is Point Jerningham, Oriental Bay, Mt Victoria, the Overseas terminal, and the yacht marina

Thanks to HP for access to the building

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Where are you? ... #273


Father and daughter at the playground at Frank Kitts Park on the waterfront ... harbour and the hills behind Eastbourne in the background

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Home Time ... #272


Waiting at Wellington Railway Station for the train home from work. The clock says about 5:05pm and you can see the train coming into the station ... upper right hand side of photo

Monday, February 25, 2008

At the end of the day... #271


At the end of the day ... Dragon Boats away. Its not all adrenlin pumping action .. you still ahve to put your dragon boat back in the shed when you have finished for the day. The boats are stored under Frank Kitts park. This is a pre-event tournament ( due to algae bloom on Lake Henley in the Wairarapa) for the Dragon Boat Festival on Wellington Harbour.

Teams from Secondary Schools enter in the Dragon Boat Festival and provide everyone with an enjoyable spectacle on the water. There is some fierce competition in here.
Schools from all around the Wellington and Wairarapa regions enter in the following divisions:

Girls Only Competition: Wellington East Grils College, Samuel Marsden Collegiate, Wellington Girls College, St Orans, Wairarapa College, St Matthews Collegiate, Sacred Heart Girls College, Chanel College, Chilton St James College, Queen Margaret College, St Catherine's College, St Mary's College, Wainuiomata College

Boys Only Competition: Scots College, Rongotai College, St Patrick's College, Wellington College, Hutt International Boys School, St Patrick's College Silverstream

Mixed Competition: Wairarapa College, Wellington High School, Onslow College, Hutt Valley High School, Solway/Makoura College's, Aotea College, Paraparaumu College, Upper Hutt College, Heretaunga College, Kuranui College, Naenae College, Taita College, Tawa College, Wainuiomata College

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Cool & Appealing ... #270

Two tourists with hot and tired feet ... having a welcome cooling experience in the pools in front of the Court of Appeal in Molesworth Street ... the faithfull jandels (flip flops) discarded unceremoniously on the pavement !!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Harbour Cubes ... #269


Another perspective of the Meridian Building on the wharf. Refer also to the earlier post The shutters shown in that post can be seen at the right hand side of the photo at the rear of the building.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Queen Victoria ... #267

An alternative view of an iconic cruise ship merging with the cargo sheds at the Port of Wellington.

The Wellington sun came out after a grey drizzly welcome for the Queen Victoria, the newest cruise liner to visit New Zealand. View video: Aboard the Queen Victoria . The 294m long cruise ship is half way through its inaugural world tour, and sailed into Wellington with only two empty cabins, the rest filled with about 2000 guests. Unfortunately the combination of public events and the arrival of the liner had buses of passengers stuck in traffic as Aotea Quay backed up with the main waterfront roads closed. As Cunard’s newest cruise liner, the $676 million Queen Victoria was launched last month in Southampton, England and is touted as harking back to the golden age of cruising. It has more than $2 million dollars of art on board, including original sketches done by Queen Victoria and her husband Albert, and sports the first floating theatre with private boxes in the tradition of London’s West End. The ship is on a global circumnavigation from its base in Southampton and has visited Auckland and Napier since Friday. Thanks to theDomPost news for the background information.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Constructive Construction ... #266

The Fletcher Construction site office at the Wellington Hospital building site. The new Regional Hospital at the southern end of the city in Newtown is at present a noisey dusty building site with all the usual heavy machinery, trucks and cranes. Somewhat unusual but delightful and eye catching for a site office ... this one is decorated with pot plants, couches and many other homely features both inside and out.

When Wellington Hospital faced its own major reconstructive surgery to transform it into a state-of-the-art-hospital, it was important to minimise the impact on surrounding residents and businesses.

The new quarter-billion dollar building is one of the largest construction projects ever seen in Wellington. Concerns about the effects of the work on surrounding residents and businesses resulted in 9000 cubic metres of concrete rubble being crushed up onsite for use as backfill in the new building’s foundations.

Reusing Materials
One building was dismantled entirely by hand to maximise the reusability of materials, and the original decorative fascias and archways of the main entrance have been preserved. Besides the concrete, more than 80 kilometres of native matai and rimu timber have been salvaged for use in joinery and furniture and several hundred tonnes of steel recovered. The material recycling efforts were achieved by Mainzeal and Nikau Contractors.

These efforts avoid more than 1000 trips by large trucks, limiting the impact on local traffic and reducing noise and dust – all part of Capital & Coast District Health Board’s (CCDHB) aim to reduce the project’s impact on the local environment and the health of people whether in the hospital or not.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

A Bum Perspective ... #265

Window dressing "under construction" at Pearl!!! ... a cheeky little number in Victoria Street

Monday, February 18, 2008

Artistic Maintenance... #264

Even the sculptures that grace our city need a touch up from time to time .. here is Jeff adding some 2008 touches to his work yesterday. Refer to earlier post on this work and for even more info go to Jeff Thomson ... and for a review on the current exhibition at Bowen Galleries, Wellington.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Pacifika ... #262


Frank Kitts Park transformed into a celebration of island life. Here we have some local learning to play the Island drums. You can also sample the tastes, sounds and sights of the Pacific with market and food stalls and entertainment.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Tui ... #261

The world’s biggest tui made its first and only flight in March 2007 – on to the roof of Forest & Bird’s national office.

The four-metre giant tui was sculpted for Forest & Bird by Wellington prop-makers Izzat Design from polystyrene, steel and resin, and was lifted by crane on to its perch on the rooftop. The tui (nicknamed Izzy), about to feed on a kowhai flower, represents Forest & Bird’s tui and kowhai logo, and is sure to become an unmissable icon in central Wellington. Images donated by some of New Zealand’s leading wildlife photographers form the backdrop to Izzy’s new home.

Forest & Bird Communications Officer Laura Richards says that when Forest & Bird moved offices last year, the organisation wanted to make its presence known in a way that was at least as eye-catching as its much-loved conservation-themed mural that covered its previous office in Taranaki Street.

“In collaboration with Izzat Design we came up with the idea of a giant tui, and from there it was a major mission to find out exactly how you go about creating a larger-than-life bird. Izzat have made that idea a reality.”

Laura Richards says Izzy won’t be lonely in Wellington as the central city is enjoying a comeback of his ordinary-sized cousins, thanks largely to pest control and planting of native species in the Karori Wildlife Reserve.

Izzat sculptor and director Jake Yocum says he has never had to create a massive tui before – the closest he had got was creating some large moa for a Te Papa exhibition, but even they came nowhere near the size of Izzy. The job was even more challenging because Izzy had to be strong enough to withstand Wellington’s notorious weather.

“We are Wellingtonians, so our first concern is obviously the wind – the last thing we want it to do is take off. We were meticulous in making sure Izzy can withstand hurricane conditions.” He says sculpting Izzy was a labour of love for the whole Izzat team. “It was amazing to see the bird take shape and it will be even more of a thrill to see him up there on the building for years to come.”

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Abbey Road?... #260

A Wellington take on the Beatles' Abbey Road .. a family on holiday crossing Molesworth Street in front the the National Library of NZ. An entirely random image ... no staging or rehearsing undertaken !!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Another style... #259

Some different fashion at the Parliament end of Wellington ... adding some alternatives to the grey suits on the political landscape !

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Does not compute ... #258

A PC PC graveyard? Old computers, monitors etc waiting to be recycled ... over the road from the Westpac Stadium .. which incidentally is about to come to life again for the Super 14 Rugby season.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Back to school ... #257

YES ... school is back ... and these girls on their walk up Molesworth St, attend St Mary's School in Thorndon

A Brief History
The present College is on the site of St Mary’s School for Girls, opened and blessed by Bishop Viard in 1850. It was built on land which was the gift of the Honourable Henry Petre. The early school was attended by children of all denominations and when boarding accommodation was added, in 1852, students came from as far away as Otago.

In 1861 the Sisters of Mercy from Auckland took over the school and some years later Sisters from Melbourne, England and Ireland augmented the staff. A new school, with accommodation for boarders, was erected in 1878 in order to meet the requirements of a growing population. For fifty years this school was the centre of education in Wellington.

St Mary’s Convent School was registered as a College in 1926 and in 1931 the red brick building was opened and blessed by Archbishop Redwood. The College was placed on the first list of schools empowered to accredit entrants to the University of New Zealand.

In 1977 the Administration Block was blessed and opened, followed by the McAuley Block in 1979. On 2 March 1983 the college was integrated into the State education system. The demolition of the classrooms of the old brick building was carried out between December 1983 and February 1984, and the second teaching block, Carlow, came into use in February 1984. Cardinal Williams officially blessing it on 2 December of that year.

In 1995 the first lay Principal was appointed, with the Sisters of Mercy remaining as the Proprietors of the College.

In 1998 further building development took place. The Teresa Walsh Technology Block, a weights room addition to the gymnasium and a senior physics laboratory were blessed and opened by Bishop John Dew. These facilities enhanced the existing ones, to ensure that all aspects of the curriculum can be taught in an excellent working environment.

With the turn of the Milennium, St Mary's College celebrated one hundred and fifty of education on its site.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Off your trolley ... #256

... all regimented and ready for the shoppers at the supermarket ... Thorndon New World, Molesworth street

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Friday, February 8, 2008

Glover Park ... #254

Wellington City Council revamped Glover Park to make it more attractive and more accessible to all members of the public. The park was originally established following a bequest to the city in the 1960s by former trade union secretary Lewis Glover.

"Intentionally or not, in recent times this public park has been in effect 'privatised' by a number of people whose anti-social behaviour stops other people from enjoying this public space.

"We want to redesign the park to make it more open, and less able to be 'captured' by large groups, and to make it more attractive and more accessible to individual members of the public, couples or people in small groups," Mayor Prendergast said.

City Council Urban Designer Peter Kundycki proposed that the park be 'opened out' and made more visible from both Ghuznee and Garrett Streets. He says the park, opened in 1971, is "inwardly-focussed, dated and has an almost sombre feel about it". The Council worked with neighbouring building owners on proposals to increase activity in the park, says Mr Kundycki. "Some of the neighbours would like their buildings to more obviously link with the park - to give the area more buzz."

Also have a look at Tom Beard's excellent Commentary on his WellUrban site. Find it on the map

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Waitangi Day ... #252

Some see today as a national holiday, a day of celebration, a day of protest, a personal holiday ... or maybe just a day to catch up with some sleep

6 February 1840 The Treaty of Waitangi is signed

Waitangi Day ... Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In that year, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Maori chiefs signed what is New Zealand’s founding document. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934, and it has been a public holiday since 1974.
For some people, Waitangi Day is a holiday; for many, and especially for Maori, it is the occasion for reflecting on the Treaty. Since the 1970s the style and mood of the commemorations on Waitangi Day have been influenced by the increasingly heated debate surrounding the place of the Treaty in modern New Zealand.
Waitangi Day is recognised as New Zealand's national day, but the long-standing tensions associated with it are always likely to surface in one form or another. The date is an important marker in the country's history. Recognition of the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi as the nation's founding document will continue to encourage leaders, communities and individuals to mark the day in new ways.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

The great wall of orange (2) ... #251

The northern end of Lambton Quay has had its facelift and is completed ... now its the southern end of the "Golden Mile" that is getting its make-over ... and the Orange Guardians of the City are out in force again

Monday, February 4, 2008

Urban Forest ... #250

Following on from this months theme day ... here is another sculpture along Cobham Drive on the way to the Airport .. aluminium cubes that rotate in the wind .. again a neat metaphor on Wellington.

Urban Forest

The three nine-meter high stacks of bright spinning cubes named Wellington Urban Forest are the creation of a two-year collaboration between former Wellington sculptor Leon van den Eijkel and Hutt Valley engineer Allan Brown of Metallion Ltd.
The work was commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust to extend the Meridian Energy Wind Sculpture Walk along the head of Evans Bay. Six wind sculptures in all are scheduled to be installed with a completion expected around mid 2008.

Trust Chairman Neil Plimmer says that Wellington Urban Forest is an intriguing play on urban values in a very exposed and natural area – each stack of five cubes represents an urban tree, and the three trees make the forest.

"The ability of the cubes to respond to the wind also conveys the strong need for our urban societies to adopt renewable energy such as wind power. The bright colours of the blocks and their movement will make a positive response to Wellington's reputation for windiness" he said.

The Council additionally is developing the boardwalk and pathway along the strip between Evans Bay and Cobham Drive which will link the sculptures and provide seating and interpretation. “The six sculptures will all be of a size that makes them clearly visible from the road, which is the main route between the airport and the city, but the sculpture walk will also be a wonderful extra attraction for Wellington,” he said.

The Dutch-born artist arrived in Wellington in 1986 from The Hague growing up in wartime Holland. Leon van den Eijkel recounts that until the age of five he never saw a tree. “All the trees in my city had been cut down for heating so we children didn't know what a tree was. We had only black and white images of them. So we made urban trees from all sorts of wood, strips of cloth, broken pieces of glass and iron we found on the street.”

The artist has had a number of major commissions and is represented in major museums in Holland, the United States and New Zealand, including Te Papa. He was represented in the 2002 Changing Spaces exhibition in Wellington by The Cloud, placed on the Waterfront.

Leon van den Eijkel in collaboration with Allan Brown
Urban Forest Dimensions: 3 poles, each 9m high; 5m site width.
Sculptor: Leon van den Eijkel & Allan Brown
Location: Cobham Drive
Materials: Aluminium cubes, steel mounting post, reinforced concrete base
Date of installation: 10 May 2006

Sunday, February 3, 2008

And on the second day ... #249

more images from the Wellington Sevens ... pink romans, cowgirls, the military in one form or another, Snow White and the 7 dwarfs, the Tui girls, hostess, gangster girls, the mimes and Mr Lego.

NZ won !!! in a very close final against Samoa.

Here is what stuff.co.nz said about the final

"New Zealand sevens rugby – no, make that New Zealand rugby – has a new star as Wellington youngster Victor Vito produced a match-winning display reminiscent of Jonah Lomu to lead his side to a third straight IRB Sevens title in the capital.
Vito scored two tries, including the match-winner in the final minute, as New Zealand won a thrilling final 22-17 over Samoa who gave the hot favourites the match of their lives before they finally prevailed to make it three wins from three in the new IRB series for 2007-08.
It was a fine team effort from the New Zealanders and Zar Lawrence, skipper DJ Forbes and Lote Raikabula all weighed in with influential displays, but there was no doubting who the star of the show was on a night when Westpac Stadium entered full celebration mode after a long weekend of partying.
Vito, the emerging Wellington flanker, had been picked as a possible game-breaker out wide, and he repaid Tietjens' selection in spades during this tournament. His performance in the final had Jonah Lomu written all over it, especially his first-half effort that left Samoans trailing in his wake."

Saturday, February 2, 2008

7th Heaven .. #248

Staged at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium over two days and nights, the NZI Sevens rugby event involves 16 international teams competing for points that go towards the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens series. Eight tournaments make up the IRB series.

BUT rugby is only part of the event !!! ... it isd a carnival of amazing costumes, dress up and full on party. The whole city buzzes. This montage is of some of the opening parade, the costumes and in the centre of the images a delightful family from Fielding (about 2 hrs driving north) who come to the Sevens event every year .. enjoy the weekend.

Some serious stuff
The tournament is played under the laws of the game of rugby with some Sevens variations which are framed by the IRB.
The 16 teams are split into 4 pools. Play on the first day of the tournament consists of pool matches on a round robin basis. Points are awarded for wins, losses and draws and go towards each team's final points tabulation.
Following completion of all the pool matches in day one, the first and second placed teams in each pool progress to the Cup Championship. The third and fourth placed teams of each pool progress to the Bowl Championship. These games are played on day two and all teams are moved into a knockout phase. The winners of each game move into semi finals and then finals. The winner of the Tournament is the team that has moved through all their games on day two with no losses.

Each team is made up of 12 players; seven on the field during the match, with a reserve bench of five. Each game runs for 2 x 7 minute halves with a 2 minute half time; the final game of the tournament is 2 x 10 minute halves.
The winner of the New Zealand leg wins the local tournament trophy. In 2006, Fiji won the tournament. New Zealand had held it for the previous three years.

Friday, February 1, 2008

The Zephyrometer ... #247

Perhaps its the fault of the English language ... or maybe the grammar ... or maybe it really is like this here!! Wellington is a coastal capital .. at the southern end of a small island somewhere in the South Pacific .. therefore it is highly probable that there will be wind. The english language loves alliteration and tongue twisters ... so I suppose it is natural to have word play with "W" .. as in Windy Wellington ... and fortunately if you like fresh air and streaky clouds, Wellington is the place for you.

"Windy Wellington" would still be the iconic phrase to describe the city. Hence the delightful "moving" interpretation of this with the Zephyrometer sculpture which measures the wind strength and direction. This photo is perhaps not typical as the Zephyrometer is only at a slight angle .. so enjoy the calm while you can.

Presented to the city in 2003, sponsored by Meridian Energy, and assisted by the Wellington City Council. This sculpture is the second kinetic work by Phil Price to be installed in Wellington. The dynamic mast-like structure graphically marks out the strength and direction of the prevailing wind with an elegant swaying motion. The shape, construction and movements of the sculpture are beautifully reflective of the site adjacent to the Evan’s Bay Marina.

"It is a giant-sized yet beautiful machine. Its gentle lurching will in its own way gauge the wind of Wellington. It is a type of free-form gauge with a considerable reliance on precision engineering, which I am enjoying because, as well as the work being a scientific concept, it is also a science to design and build. It is like any well-designed object where the beauty is derived through its need to function."

Phil Price: Zephyrometer Dimensions: H 33m, W variable
Location: Cnr Cobham Drive & Evans Bay Pde
Materials: Concrete,fibreglass, steel
Date of installation: 2003

Theme Day Contributors
Portland (OR), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Memphis (Tennessee), USA - Manila, Philippines - San Diego (CA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - New York City (NY), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - San Francisco (CA), USA - Mumbai (Maharashtra), India - Mainz, Germany - Weston (FL), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Turin, Italy - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Bicheno, Australia - Durban, South Africa - Joplin (MO), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Brussels, Belgium - Chicago (IL), USA - Montpellier, France - Seattle (WA), USA - Mazatlan, Mexico - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Sesimbra, Portugal - Toulouse, France - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Susanville (CA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - Helsinki, Finland - Pilisvörösvár, Hungary - Lisbon, Portugal - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Trujillo, Peru - Dunedin (FL), USA - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - London, UK - Baziège, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Mumbai, India - Naples (FL), USA - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Setúbal, Portugal - Stayton (OR), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Sofia, Bulgaria - Arradon, France - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Athens, Greece - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Jackson (MS), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Budapest, Hungary - Rotterdam, Netherlands - St Malo, France - Chandler (AZ), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Cleveland (OH), USA - Nottingham, UK - Kansas City (MO), USA - The Hague, Netherlands - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Wrocław, Poland - Chateaubriant, France - Cheltenham, UK - Moscow, Russia - Monrovia (CA), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Toruń, Poland - Grenoble, France - Lisbon, Portugal - New Orleans (LA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Boston (MA), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Wichita (KS), USA - Radonvilliers, France - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Christchurch, New Zealand - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Wailea (HI), USA - Aliso Viejo (CA), USA - St Francis, South Africa - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Seattle (WA), USA - Pasadena (CA), USA - Vienna, Austria - Orlando (FL), USA - Torun, Poland - Delta (CO), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Paris, France - Stavanger, Norway - Niamey, Niger - Le Guilvinec, France - Bogor, Indonesia - Saarbrücken, Germany - Auckland, New Zealand - Wellington, New Zealand