Christmas Dinner

Now Christmas is over I can face the thought of posting pictures of food. Here I am basting the turkey and preparing the potatoes for roasting.
Sam serenaded us on the guitar

before helping Noreen with dessert.

And Jenny was mixing up something exciting.
We had real champagne and two good French wines.
As the weather was fine we were able to eat outside.

Jenny looking sultry

and a mellow Noreen relaxing in the sun.

Andy came round later to help out eating the Christmas pudding.

Happy Christmas

A quick post to wish you all the best of Christmases before I go off to cook lunch (which we aim to eat about 4).

The children woke us up about half past seven for the traditional opening of presents over breakfast.

This is typical Jen, eating, reading and wearing her new funky hat.

I gave them Phoenix scarves so they are now true supporters.
Lastly, especially for my German readers, Sam went to a Beer Festival party so dressed up with some Munich memorabilia he had. Apologies if this offends any sensibilities but he is a very silly boy.

May you all have a happy and peaceful Christmas and best wishes for the new year.

Wellington Waterfront Part 2

Well, today is grey, cold, wet and windy, so here as promised is the remainder of last week’s post.

One of the interesting boats in the Chaffers Marina is this steam vessel. I can’t find any information about it but I believe it is a scale modern replica of a late 19th century boat.
This is the genuine article. Hikitia is a steam powered heavy lift floating crane built in Glasgow in 1926. It sailed to New Zealand and has lived in Wellington Harbour ever since. It is still operational although has to be propelled by another vessel. It gets used once or twice a year as there is nothing else as powerful around.
The link span control building was used for roll on-roll off transport when the Taranaki Street Wharf was operational in the 70s and 80s. It has just been reused as the city base for the Wellington Free Ambulance.

It is just across from the original Free Ambulance building which is now a bar. (The current headquarters are in Davis Street.)

Between Te Papa and Circa there are some interesting wire sculptures that Andy is very fond of. They look especially good when lit up at night.

Another recent addition to the waterfront is this sculpture by Max Patte.

A place of pilgrimage for devotees of fine ale – the Wellington Brewing Company (known simply as The Brewery)is next door to Circa Theatre which started life as the offices of the Westport Coal Company.

One of the best ways to see the waterfront is to hire one of these 4 wheel conveyances (and get someone else to pedal!).

This piece of sculpture is called the Albatross

and looks over the lagoon at Frank Kitts Park.

A bridge over the lagoon entrance connects the park to the Taranaki Street Wharf

where this statue group holds court.

From the above link -

The imposing bronze Kupe Group Statue, occupying pride of place on Taranaki Street Wharf, was originally designed in 1939 by Christchurch sculptor William Trethewey for the 1940 New Zealand Centennial Exhibition held at Rongotai, Wellington.
It was originally created in plaster and finished with bronze paint. Following the exhibition, the statue sat for 40 years at the Wellington Railway Station and then at the Wellington Show and Sports Centre before being stored at the Te Papa, the national museum in 1997, as a national treasure. Subsequently, the Kupe Group Trust successfully fundraised to have the statue cast in bronze and given a permanent location on the waterfront in 2000.
The sculpture features Kupe Raiatea, the great Maori explorer and discoverer of Wellington harbour, his wife Te Aparangi and tohunga Pekahourangi.

Wellington Waterfront Part 1

This is part one because I have enough photos left over for another post!

When we arrived 30 odd years ago Wellington’s waterfront was a working port. It was an industrial area and not accessible to the general public. The container port was built on reclaimed land in the 70s and this, together with the replacement of sea travel by planes, led to a large part of the wharf area being surplus to Harbour Board requirements. In a far sighted move a local body organisation was set up to manage a significant chunk of land for the public good. Wellingtonians are proud of the waterfront and the access they have to it.

This is one of the old Bond Stores. They have been converted into art galleries, museums, restaurants and apartments (not sure what this one is).
Today was a glorious summer’s day and the pohutakawa trees are coming into blossom. It’s quite early so this indicates a long, hot summer (yippee!!)

There are several modern office buildings on the fringe of the CBD that back onto the waterfront. This is Maritime House and the older building behind the Dominion Farmers Building.

In days gone by there were several ferries serving outlying areas of the harbour. This is the building that they departed from. Today the ferry service to Eastbourne is popular and every so often attempts are made to establish routes to Petone or Seatoun but these haven’t been as successful.

Looking across the harbour you can see the planes landing (into a southerly) or taking off (if the wind is from the north. Here is a Qantas plane looking as though it is trying to land on Mount Victoria but it made it to the runway.

There are several memorials dotted around Frank Kitts Park. This is the mast from the Wahine which foundered in Wellington Harbour in 1967 with the loss of over 50 lives.

The building in the centre (Guardian Trust) contains my office. It’s roughly half way up on the left and I get a good view over the waterfront and harbour.

Te Papa sits with a great brooding presence.

Lastly, some portraits. Jenny has just about got a job but it’s proving a bit difficult to get a starting date organised. Here she is looking very corporate and efficient.

It’s the time of year for parties and work functions. Noreen and I dressed up to go to the gathering of midwives which was a surprisingly debauched affair (no, I won’t go into details).

Butterfly Creek

One of our favourite (relatively) short walks is Butterfly Creek. It starts in Eastbourne and after a fairly steep climb descends into the catchment that drains into the creek.
Both children are home for the summer so it was a rare walk for the four of us.

Of course we had afternoon tea when we got to the picnic area!

These shots give you an idea of the scenery at the creek.

Earlier in the week Sam's mate Rob Tucker stayed for a couple of nights. He is an up-and-coming artist and was down for an exhibition of his work.

Victorian Weekend in Oamaru

Oamaru is a town on the east coast of the South Island, in North Otago. Every year they have a Victorian weekend. Noreen was down there a couple of weekends ago so I thought I’d post a few of her photos.

Historically the town was important and grew to be one of the largest in the country by the end of the 19th century when Otago was the power house of the economy. Since then development has been minimal so the grand buildings (often constructed from Oamaru stone) seem out of place in such a small settlement.
There was a penny-farthing race.
Our friend Mr. Hart dressed up as a rozzer (I never realised the derivation of this term is so hard to track down - see here for some answers)

before performing with his mate John Jones (another ex-Morris Dancer) as Fat Boy and Slim.

Mrs. Hart blew her own trumpet (actually a trombone) in the brass band.

The local Queen presided over events and handed out certificates to worthy entrants.

The character in the self powered tricycle is the Wizard of Christchurch preceded by some members of Alf's Imperial Army.

The grand parade of worthy citizens

followed by some ladies of dubious virtue

and more matronly individuals.

Lastly, some more self-powered conveyances.