Football, vegies and sculpture

It’s been a busy weekend. First up, I built (technically it was only an assembly but the base needed some carpentry) a box for growing more veggies.
The plot round the side of the house was replanted after Christmas. The weather hasn’t been the most conducive for growing but we have started harvesting leaves off the lettuce. There are beans, spinach, broccoli, beetroot, spring onions and five varieties of lettuce.
Here is the nursery. Several karaka and flax which I grew from seed, and rocket and mizuna before transplanting into the box.
Wellington has a variety of sculptures around the city and particularly the waterfront. I keep meaning to do a blog post just on these. Meanwhile here are two new additions. In the space between Te Papa and Circa these lovely wobbly blobly creations have appeared.
Max Patte (who produced Solace in the Wind) has another work by Frank Kitts Park.
The International Arts Festival is about to kick off. This art work is linked to Readers and Writers’ Week.
And finally the soccer. It was a great match. A New Zealand record attendance for a club game
watched a very absorbing game with some good football although tempered by some understandable nerves. It was 1 all at full time, there were no further goals in extra time so it was down to a penalty shoot out.

Our goalie proved superior (4-2) so the Nix are through to the next round. This will also be at home, against Newcastle (which is the one in New South Wales, not the north of England), in a fortnight. The winner of that game plays the winner of the first and second playoffs between Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne (at home) won their first encounter).

Here is Andy who doesn’t normally follow soccer. We may have converted him.
Jenny and I may have to get some more Phoenix gear if they keep winning.

Phoenix make the finals!

Hot off the presses - news that our local football team have secured a home semi final in the A-League playoffs. All four of us went last night and after a few nerve wracking moments early in the second half it was a great result.

This is the first time a New Zealand team has made it to the playoffs so we are very proud of the lads and all their Yellow Fever supporters.

The semi-final is next Sunday at the Cake Tin. We will be there.

Birthdays

It’s been a busy weekend with two birthdays and the Sevens.First up was Noreen’s. We went round to Dave and Jane’s for a barbecue. They have friends from Canada and family from the UK visiting so together with us and other locals it was large gathering.
Luckily the weather was wonderful so we could all sit out on their newly concreted pad.

Sam helped serve the pudding

and Noreen wore the birthday hat.

The Rugby Sevens World Series is a tournament played around the world. The Wellington leg was the same weekend and town was full of people dressed up in all manner of costume. Sam and his mates joined the after-match party as Scrabble pieces.

We had a couple of Aucklanders staying with us and they were pretty tired on Sunday morning when Noreen inspected them.

Christchurch Trams

This is a wrap up of the trip to Christchurch. On the Friday Noreen and I had a leisurely day in the city, visiting the art gallery and taking afternoon tea in the arts centre.
The city has rebuilt a circular tram line that operates restored trams as a tourist attraction.

There are also punting trips on the Avon.

The centre of Christchurch contains several examples of old architecture interspersed amongst the modern high rises.

This sculpture is in the Square.

Christchurch has been an important staging post for travel to Antarctica for over a hundred years. Robert Falcon Scott made two trips from Lyttelton. There is a statue to him that was designed by his wife. While I was taking this photo a seagull alighted on the head!

Diamond Harbour and Port Levy

These are two settlements on Banks Peninsula.
Diamond Harbour is accessible by sealed road from Christchurch or passenger ferry from Lyttleton. This is the view from the Port Hills overlooking the head of Lyttleton Harbour with Diamond Harbour in the top left.
We had coffee at the hotel and sat in the garden opposite cruise ships docked in Lyttleton.

Here is the wharf

and view back out to Godley Head.

Port Levy is reached by a narrow road. It is an old Maori settlement where the first European church in Canterbury was built in the 1840s.

There was some evidence of a recent whale stranding in which several pilot whales died.

We took the unsealed road over the Port Levy Saddle where we had lunch.

We had hoped to get to the top of Mount Herbert, at 919 m the highest point on the peninsula, but it proved to be further away than we had time for. We did climb up this hill

and got to the top.

On the way back to Christchurch we explored Montgomery Park which contains this magnificent totara.

Godley Head

Low cloud was shrouding the Port Hills as we left Christchurch.
Godley Head is the headland at the north of the entrance to Lyttelton Harbour.

There is a walk that goes along the top with views of the passageway with traffic

and wildlife (we saw seals and a Hector’s dolphin but alas no photos).

One of the unusual features is a 120 metre tunnel

that was used to provide access to World War 2 gun emplacements.

On the way back we had a view down through the mist to Taylor’s Mistake, supposedly so called after a 19th century sea captain who thought he was entering Lyttelton Harbour but ran aground here.