View from the hill

This is a good view of the harbour and the city from the path leading to the Turbine. You are looking north towards the Hutt Valley.
From up here you can see just how much of the city is green. This is partly due to the Geography. Wellington is built in the valleys, on the slopes and on the ridges which radiate out from the harbour. But many of the slopes are just too darn steep for easy construction.
But the greenery is also Thanks to the Founders. In the 19th Century the “City Fathers” and no doubt their respective wives (first women on the planet to get the vote, sister! So they must have done their fair share of lobbying on the sidelines) had the foresight to “zone” large areas of “Town Belt” which have been protected from “development” and reserved as open spaces for the recreation of the citizens. Many of these areas would undoubtedly be prime building land. Most wonderful of these is the Botanic Gardens – which is a world class gem, five minutes walk from the parliament building.
Also Otari-Wilton Bush, which is Wellington’s second botanical garden. To say that this is an area of native bush, just on the city’s edge, sounds unremarkable. However vast areas of forest (for that is what “bush” means in this context) around the outskirts were clear cut to provide the timber to build the city. These hillsides are now slowly regenerating. But a native hardwood tree such as the Rata takes a thousand years, or two, to reach it’s full glory. So areas such as this, so near to the city, are treasures indeed.

Windy Welly

The one thing Wellington is know for, throughout New Zealand is its Wind. I presume this is why the airport is known as “Wild at Heart”. A curious branding decision but not incongruous when you land into a Northerly with the Lyall Bay surfers bobbing about right next to the runway.
I took this photo of the harbour yesterday afternoon with a Northerly blowing. Not many Wellingtonians were choosing the seafront as a route home from work. Bear in mind it is an extremely “sheltered” harbour – the choppy waves in the picture were whipped up solely by the efforts of the Northerly across the few miles between the bottom of the Hutt Valley and the City Centre.
It is a warm wind and you need to learn to love it to come to terms with Wellington. Think of it like a length of silk whipping across your skin. Think of it as a kind of massage provided by the atmosphere. Don’t frown. Don’t tense up your shoulders. Embrace it and work with it like a sailor. Be glad it is not a Southerly.

Shopping in Petone

The centre of Wellington is not really a shopping destination. There are lots of shops, it’s true. But somehow you would be very unlikely to say to a friend, “Let’s go to the city centre for a bit of retail therapy.” High shopping points are:

Lots of bookshops, both new and second hand (excellent Arty Bees)
Moore Wilson’s fresh food/deli
Small designer clothes shops (run I assume by local Fashion graduates)
Outdoor clothing shops

But the centre of the city is really about servicing the office workers and students in the day with an astonishing number of cafes. And entertaining the populace at night with theatres, cinemas, restaurants, bars and clubs.
For the first time today I visited Jackson St, which is the shopping street of Petone, fifteen minutes drive around the harbour. A much more pleasant destination for a little light gift shopping and nosy browsing. It is a typical NZ main street, built about a century ago, lined with small shops, including gift shops, interior design supplies, a nice toy shop, a great army surplus store (anyone for a new hat?) and, as they say, Much More. And of course there are a few cafes. How much coffee can a nation consume? Is there no limit?
I bought a jig saw for a one year old – it really is a better toy shop than Wellington can muster – and an enamel pie dish from a nice old-fashioned ironmonger.
Oh and an hour’s free on-street parking is an added bonus.

Nothing but blue skies

During this fine weather I am making a point of admiring the sky. It is a deep, rich, forget-me-not blue. An unfamiliar colour, I reflect. Looking west towards the Cook Strait, where the Air New Zealand jets are routed, I can see a few wisps of high cloud. Man made cloud.
Overhead and in all other directions, an intense blue.
In Europe there is always a whitish haze these days. Jets dashing hither and thither filling the stratosphere with water vapour. So much that "sky blue" is a pale and washed out hue.
Despite what seems like a lot of internal flights, the skies here are almost empty. You never look up and see a mile high plane, winging it's way, maybe from Prague to Boston, as you would in the UK. NZ is not en route from anywhere to anywhere other than the Antartic - not, mercifully, known for its international airports.
And that, I conclude, is the reason for the blueness of the heavens.

Wind, water and the Cook Strait

New Zealand undoubtedly produces more Geography than can be consumed locally. Anyone contemplating a field trip on which they will see everything from volcanoes to glaciers and fiords, with plenty of tectonic entertainment in between, would do well to wend their way to these isolated isles. And Wellington has its fair share. Balanced precariously on a the intersection of two major tectonic plates, it is proud possessor of a magnificent, sheltered, deep water harbour, shaped like a curly number nine. And sister! does it need that shelter – ay?

The harbour mouth opens into the Cook Strait – called after Captain James who sailed here not just once, but three times. Cook, evidently, was a cautious captain (go figure…) – Doubtful Sound was so dubbed because he was, quite rightly, doubtful that he would ever get a wind behind the sails to blow him out of the fiord. And he took the same low risk approach when it came to Wellington harbour. He would not have had to linger long to get taste of what wind and water can come up with in this part of the world.

But he gave his name (or maybe someone else gave his name) to the turbulent strait between the two main islands - where the tidal flow from the Pacific is battling with the opposing flow of the mighty Tasman. In the picture above you can see a line offshore where the two bodies of water are pushing in opposite directions and trying to elbow the other one out of the way. If you fly over the Strait this is something to look out for. (click on the pic to see it bigger)

And the weather, too, seems to make Wellington as a battle field. When there is a southerly breeze, you can feel that Antarctic chill – a taste of winter it seemed in the middle of last week. Then the warmer northerlies gain control and Wellingtonians put the fleeces away, pop their shorts back on - and in some cases walk past the upmarket shops on Lambton Quay with bare feet. But a lull like we are having does not last long. We appreciate the good days because we know that next week, or the week after, there will be a howling gale coming from either north or south. Possibly, but not necessarily, bearing rain. We look out at a deep valley here and one day, a few weeks ago, there seemed to be horizontal sheets of rain blasting from the north all morning and then from the south all afternoon. And the most unfamiliar weather of all, is when we get a gale – and bright sub tropical sunshine.

But the last couple of days the sun is shining, the wind turbine is revolving lazily, and everyone is appreciative.

The city centre meets the sea

One of the reasons Wellington is a gem of a capital city is its city centre sea front.
Many formerly proud maritime cities have “developed” their waterfronts in the years since container ports rendered their local docks redundant. “Developed” in this context has meant replacing rusting cranes with apartment blocks, hotels and marinas for yuppies and bankers and “retail outlets” with fast food restaurants for the rest of us. These buildings tend to be crammed as near to the water as possible, leaving little or no space for actually enjoying the sea front . We can all think of a list of examples. A classic use of “brown field sites” you might argue. And it has no doubt been highly profitable for investors and developers.
But Wellington has done it differently. As you walk around the harbour, notice how much car- free public space there is. Yes, there are a few restaurants and a marina. And of course there are cafes (you’re in Wellington - you are never very far from a cafe!) but there are also playgrounds, seating areas, a public swimming pool, a bridge that is also a work of art, leading into the city square and gallery, wind sculptures, poems about the wind (what else?) and plenty of space for walkers, joggers, buggy pushers and skate boarders to coexist. And just open space. Enough to hold large outdoor events. You can hire a kayak, a helicopter, a pedalo or one of those four seater cycles. You can jump in the water and go swimming, if you dare, and nobody will tell you off. Or you can just linger with your lunchtime sandwich and enjoy the view - with possible sightings of sting rays, seals or gannets. And of course there is also the huge Te Papa (Our Place) National Museum – with a sheltering arm of native trees and shrubs wrapped around it – taking pride of place.
I particularly like this park (see pic). I know not everyone does – but I am a fan. It is a series of geometrically shaped areas in which native plants such as flaxes, sedges and tussock grasses are planted in blocks. At the harbour end it is an artificial wetland – complete with a sloping beach – a favourite resting place for mallard and gulls – which allows the high tide to flow into the park, and a small way into the city, providing a welcome break between the high wharf edges on both sides.
Well done Wellington is what I say, your sea front should be the envy of the world.

Art Attack

Went to see the Monet exhibition in Te Papa. http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/exhibitions/monet/TheExhibition.aspx

You can see all the works on this website – what a long way the Internet has come dear reader.
And it is really great that NZ is able to see these works without trekking to Boston.
Much appreciated by the locals methinks.

However we were both slightly underwhelmed though and wondered why.
Was it the dim lighting maybe? Monet painted outdoors of course and the works would have been hung in 19th century rooms with dim but natural light. The wonderful quality of the painting and presumably the paint itself, means that many of the paintings positively glowed in the dim and very artificial light of the gallery. Almost psychedelic some of them – e.g. the haystack at sunset. But with all that wonderful harbour-reflected sunshine outside, shown off to good effect by the windows of the main museum, the gallery had more the atmosphere of a mausoleum with pilgrims trudging past the holy relics. (yes I know, I know, any photons at all are probably bad for the paintings… but hey, in the Courtauld collection in London for instance they have a very similar Antibes Monet I seem to recall, in a naturally lit, high ceilinged room.)
Or was it the fact that there was too much of a good thing? Would we have preferred just to see the Monets without the influences and so on?. Not that the influences are not very fine. Lovely little Corot for instance. But there was a slightly didactic air maybe. Or even pedagogic. Felt like an Art Attack – thou shalt understand the context or else Class 5!
I once saw a single DaVinci Madonna, in Arezzo I think, in Tuscany. A one-painting exhibition, and we had her all to ourselves. Perhaps a better way to enjoy paintings than seeing them en masse.
What I enjoyed most were the coastal scenes and the two snowy villages – both of which made me shiver. And we both loved the late work Morning on the Seine – still, misty, and willow banked. Reminded us both of the River Nore, just north of Bennettsbridge, Kilkenny (a view now sadly lost to us as it has recently been spanned by the new motorway – the final extravagant roar of the Celtic Tiger).
So my perfect Monet exhibition would be that single painting, in a room lit indirectly by Irish spring sunshine filtering through leaves, with the sounds of water birds in the background. Voila.

Public toilets

Also near Island Bay I spotted an abandoned gents toilet, disappearing under a sand dune. Public toilets in NZ are surely the best in the world (any other contenders out there?). They are normally clean, free and unvandalised. Interesting to see that they had bitten the bullet and abandoned this one. There is probably a large, new, luxurious one with showers and changing facilities, just around the corner.

I have a suspicion that the public toilet thing has its roots in the social welfare aims of the Plunket Society. The PS was started by Truby King in 1907 and it still exists today as a large charity aimed at improving child health.
In small towns you find these loos which were built originally as the Women’s Rest and funded by the PS. So I’m guessing that the women needed to “rest” not just to have a pee (modestly) but to breastfeed. And the Plunket nurse would have an office there. You can still see a classic example of this in the tiny town of Hunterville. Dear little building. Beautiful newly refurbished loos inside. And the Plunket nurse’s office where she still runs a baby clinic (similar to a Health Visitor’s clinic) several times a week. (This is, incidentally) the best pit stop spot between Wellington and Taupo – and you can buy a smoothie across the road.) So my current theory is that the lavish (oh a pun!) provision of loos had it’s roots in this interesting movement.

Wellington Coast pics

Here are a few pics. Click to see bigger images. I have not really cracked this putting more than one pic in a post yet...

Pau shell (abalone to the rest of the world). They are often white on this coast rather than the more usual kingfisher tones. Much prized eating in NZ and the orient. Every so often there is a Paua (pronounced powa) poaching scandal. If you put Pawa poaching into Google you will see what a big deal it can be with major busts involving the Mongrel Mob - NZ's most famous criminal gang.

Kelpy sea at low tide. It’s a giant member of the algae family. I love to see the heavy coffee coloured tangles glistening in the sun in a gentle swell.
A bride and groom spotted at the Island Bay jetty. They looked rather like they were already having regrets and were about to leap off.

Early morning fruit and veg

One of the shopping high points in Wellington is to go to a fruit and veg market at the weekend, preferably early in the morning. (especially a sunny morning, as in the pic) The markets are open all morning but there is a sense of virtue in getting there early. On Saturday there is a huge one in Lower Hutt. Or on Sunday there are two in Wellington City Centre (lower Hutt split over 2 sites). We prefer the one on the seafront, next to Te Papa, the national museum (which you can see in the background of the pic). The markets are run by a group of families from the Levin area, all of Chinese origin. And the market certainly has a Chinese flavour, with Chinese vegetables and herbs on many stalls. But for most people the markets are a great source of cheap fruit and veg, most of it NZ seasonal produce. And with their mild climate they certainly produce fruit and veg. Prices are great compared to the supermarket and the quality better than UK markets – although with some produce you need to select carefully. And if you are on the look out for a bargain you can find one. Particularly in the Hutt – some stalls seem to run a “loss leader” e.g. a kilo of plums for a dollar!

Early morning arts

I went to see the Jubilation Gospel Choir this morning. Part of the Wellington Jazz Festival. http://www.jubilation.co.nz/.
Slightly surreal going into the town hall into a dimly lit Jazz club atmosphere at 10.30 in the morning.
And slightly surreal to see an African-American Gospel choir without, I think, an African gene between them. And certainly if you closed your eyes you would know for sure that they were neither African-American nor West Indian.
Also they all had microphones. Which I didn’t really expect.
Having said all that they were a really great choir. About half of them performed at least one solo – and the soloists were strong. Despite the individually strong and distinctive voices they managed to blend their voices brilliantly when singing chorally. It is always impressive when a choir reaches such a high professional standard.

A walk from Kingston

This is a great walk on the edge of the city. Dogs think it a great walk as there are rabbits to hunt. Takes about an hour with an option on a side trip to Owhiro Bay. It starts 5 minutes from the end of the Number 7 bus route.

Start at the end of Quebec Street, Kingston and go straight up the hill onto the track. There is a Maori monument on the right which you can visit at the start or end of the walk. But to walk, take the left hand ridge path which gives you a great view of Island Bay and the Cook Strait. At the extreme right of the horizon you may see South Island mountains on a clear day. (see the 2 pics below) Below you is a flat area – one of Wellington’s newest parks. It used to be a landfill area and has been recently planted with flaxes etc. Looking over your shoulder you can see Newtown, the hospital, Mt Victoria, the harbour and so on. It’s a great view. You are 170 metres above sea level here.
Continue along the ridge, down the steps, until you reach the water tank. Up to this point you have been on the City to Sea walk – but now you are going to veer off it, taking a sharp right, and doubling back. The path is going to take you around the side of the valley, eventually coming down to the flat park at the opposite side.
The track starts to undulate through gorse and native shrubs. All of this area has been clear cut of native forest and is beginning to regenerate. When you reach the further, more sheltered side, the shrubs are replaced by smallish evergreen trees with contorted trunks and branches – tall enough to create thick, dark shade. It would have made a good spooky location for the Hobbits to travel through, looking over their shoulders for Ring Wraiths.
There is a population of very vocal Tuis here plus many other birds both native and introduced. Is that possibly a Saddleback call? Or is it a Tui imitating a Saddleback? They sound like they might be good mimics. We are only a few minutes flying time from Karori Sanctuary here, and of course while the fence keeps the pests out (I imagine that at night the cats, rats and possums line up outside the Karori fence with drool dripping from their fangs) the birds are allowed out to play – or indeed they can choose to leave home if they wish. So you never know. I think I might have seen a Fern Bird once on this walk – though a “not confirmed” sighting. http://www.sanctuary.org.nz/

A good range of native plants can been seen, including small ferns (rather than tree ferns) – until you reach an area of closely planted pines. A stark demonstration of the way pine needles mulch the ground and discourage anything else from growing. Who needs weedkiller when you have pine needles.
When you reach level ground you will see the local conservation nursery, and realise that many of the native plants you have passed have planted as a result of their voluntary work. They are doing a great job.
Your path back up the hill is directly opposite you, to the left of the Rest Home which you can see on the edge of the houses. So you can amble around on the flat park, with its newly laid out paths, keeping a look out for birds, or head straight across to start climbing.
A detour at this point is possible to Owhiro Bay, if you bear right and follow your nose downhill for about 15 minutes. There is a shop there. The bay is always full of gulls resting or having a much needed drink and bath in the stream - after picking over the current landfill area further up the valley. The stream on the beach is also a nice bathing spot for dogs.
But if the coast doesn’t tempt you, the climb back up to Brooklyn is a short cardio workout for those of us aspire to be averagely fit. It’s just over 100 metres climb. (Which doesn’t sound very much – but it’s similar to climbing up all the stairs in a fairly tall building I guess.) The first bit of the track is a little rough – but I saw someone coming down it with a baby buggy today. At the top of this section, turn left onto the vehicle track and you will soon be back at the water tank. And it just keeps on going up. Including the steps – over 100 of them - which you descended earlier.
If you can keep going and enjoying the view, without stopping, retching or taking on oxygen, I pronounce you officially “reasonably fit”. Those people who run up or carry their mountain bikes up count as “very fit” in my book.

Views from the ridge

Just another pic of Island Bay - showing the actual island this time with South Island peeping out behind.

Island Bay comment

After a trying day I set off in search of calm. And somewhere cooler than the house which has the thermal qualities of a greenhouse.
There can be few better spots to take your bag of kumara fries (that’s sweet potato to the uninitiated - huge improvement on the “potato” kind, as they are sweetish, slightly caramelised and full of beta carotene ) than Island Bay at sunset.
South Island in clear view again – see photo. And it was all rather photogenic. Hard to choose which shot to share with you.
Island Bay is part of the Wellington Coast Marine Reserve – a new reserve which was negotiated at huge length (years and years) with the local Iwi (Maori Tribes) who traditionally have rights to harvest sea food. We had an interesting perspective on this while visiting Mt Manganui (further north) where you can see enormous middens of clam shells cast aside by generations long gone.
To get the reservedness of it in perspective – our mate M. saw a whole pod of Orca in the bay, yes actually between the Island and the beach, last year. On a much smaller scale this evening the tide was low, the water was wine clear and I could see teeming sea life: tiny fish, anemones and small starfish (think Finding Nemo and you’ll get the idea). Curiously the kind of creatures I have not seen in coastal pools over here are the shrimps and prawns that were such a common feature of my childhood on the South Wales coast. Although there are Crayfish – and a very fine one we had on Saturday courtesy of Uncle Dave from Wanganui.

View of South Island - from Island Bay

caution at the opera

Wellington Opera House - beware the gallery my friend...

In a city blessed with venues the Opera House has a great big stage, ideal for dance events.
But the seating in the gallery my dear! It seems to have been originally designed as a series of steeply tiered wooden steps, upon which one sits. Perfect for the keen but poor opera fans of the past. However at some point they have added the seat parts from plastic stacking chairs. Which leaves those of us who are of average height or less, perched, with feet dangling several inches off the ground.
Stupid thing was, I had been there before - but obviously failed to learn.
Thankfully I was at the end of a row and was able to adopt a kind of yoga twist position for the Royal NZ Ballet's first piece. Which was pretty good I thought. At the interval I leapt up to stand for 15 minutes. Amazed that quite a lot of audience stayed seated. Kiwi backsides obviously made of sterner stuff than mine.
Transferred myself to the step next to me - which was a big improvement. But after that great first piece the Ballet got more and more classical in style (again - I should have know - "Tutus on Tour" and not an inspirational South African cleric in sight). Let's face it - a theatrical performance of any kind needs to be enthralling to overcome seating problems. And contemporary dance is more my thing.
So after 3 pieces I dived for the Exit. Deja Vue! This was the exit that K and I had dived for after an hour or so of comedy acts. These were those stairs. Leading down to a fire exit and and the most well-tagged back alley to be found within spitting distance of Courtney Place.
The usherette, bless her, pursued me to see if I was alright and to warn me that once through the fire doors there was not return. Full marks to her.
And full marks to the Boysenberry Sorbet from Cafe Eis - which was the high point of the evening.

The Head of Security

Here he is. My walking companion, escort and creator of extra housework. All bark and balls and absolutely no bite whatsoever, despite the impressive musculature. Suspect he was a failed experiment in the attempt to create a pig hunting dog, somewhere in the hills behind Whanganui. Apparently the first and only time he went pig hunting he fell down a ravine and had to be rescued. Pretty good at catching cicadas though - he eats the tail and spits out the more crunchy bits - much as I would deal with a prawn.

It's still summer

It is still summer here in Wellington, after a wet Saturday and a windy Sunday. The coast near Island Bay was pulling out all the stops this morning. Warm sun. Moderate breeze. A fine view of South Island - a rare thing indeed. You could, I think, see the entrance to one of the Sounds.
And the coast itself, with an impausibly blue sea, was dazzling anyone who was able to be there. Lovely nuclear family of Oystercatchers - mum, dad and 2 juveniles. The juveniles having a strangely hunched and elderly demeanour.
I have the house to myself for the first time - the troops are off doing their thing in Auckland. So just the Head of Security to feed and water and the tropical fish to tend to.