Kiwiblog

I never thought I would be thanking US entertainment IP lawyers, but hopefully they have managed to kill off the Wellywood sign planned by Wellington Airport.

The airport claims it thinks it has the legal rights, but really why on Earth would they spend their monopoly income on fighting a legal battle to erect a sign that is hated by the local population.

The anti-Wellywood sign facebook group is already over 13,000.

Danyl noted a few days ago:

Not only has everyone I’ve spoken to objected to the sign, every guy I’ve spoken to has speculated about destroying it personally. I don’t think it’s a keeper.

This has incidentally also been my experience. I was at a bbq on Sunday, and the discussion turned to how to destroy the sign, if it goes ahead.  Some of the ideas were:

1. A small group going in at 2 am with axes.
2. A one person assault squad with petrol and matches. Some concern over nearby bush though.
3. Just announce on the Facebook group a date and time to demolish it, and see how many thousand people turn up. The Police won’t be able to arrest 4,000 people, and can you imagine the pressure it would put on to have the sign removed, if say 500 Police had to hold off 4,000 locals trying to destroy the sign.
4. Get people to register for a flash mob, and then one day tell people to meet up at the sign in 45 minutes. It could spread very quickly virally.
5. Some sort of aerial assault – maybe a hook and grapple tied to a helicopter and just pull the thing out of the ground, and dump it in the ocean.
6. Pour acid over the foundations to weaken it, and see how many days it takes to collapse. Could possibly even get an iPredict market going to predict the day.

The best alternative suggestion I have heard, is to have a massive giant weta on the hills. Not only are Wetas endemic to New Zealand, it would be a more appropriate way of celebrating the film industry that has built up around Weta Workshop etc.

Lots of tourists would ask about the giant weta they saw flying in, and one could tell them about they can visit the Weta Cave, and how scores of the major Hollywood films have their special effects and more done here.

Frankly though, anything would be better than an imitation Hollywood sign.

Someone has done a Downfall parody showing displeasure at the Wellywood sign.

Mt favourite parts were Hitler saying “How about Weta make a statue of Elijah Wood sticking his little hobbit dick in the bucket fountain” and that “a giant statue of blanket man would be better”

Hat Tip: Dim-Post

Words can’t describe how cringeworthy this plan is. It will make Wellington look cheap and tacky, and trying to be something we are not.

Yes Wellywood is fine as an occassional nickname, when referring to the wonderful growth of the film industry here. When we use it, we do so with pride for what has been accomplished.

But please please Wellington Airport, do not stick that sign up on our hills. It is tacky and awful. Mosgiel can do that as a joke, but not Wellington.

I’m not a big fan of civil disobedience which damages property, but if that monstrosity goes up, I’ll be half tempted to call for volunteers to pay it a visit at midnight. A few axes and problem solved.

If it said Wellington only, it would be a bit less tacky. But even then, it doesn’t work. Hollywood is Hollywood. Wellington doesn’t need to copy their sign. We have a great city, with so much going for it. A sign like that just makes us look like we have some sort of city penis envy.

A mate had to suddenly head off to Palmie North for a few hours yesterday and as his wife was working, I got a call to see if I could look after Master Ten and Miss Six.

Normally looking after demon spawn is not high on my list of things to do on a Friday and I was resigned to several hours of losing at pick up sticks. However the kids asked if they could go to the beach, and as my instructions said nothing about avoiding drowning, off we went.

Wellington is not actually renowned for great beaches, but have to say Oriental Bay was great.  The kids swam, played on the playground and built sandcastles, while I made conversations with the many Mums there, pretending they were mine.

The best thing of them not being your own kids are that when they say “Can we have ice creams” you don’t have to pause to say yes. And then “Can we have a double scoop” the answer is still yes and “Can we have a triple scoop” also gets a yes. After all I don’t have to look after them when the sugar high hits

I grew up in Island Bay. Katie Chapman at the Dom Post profiles the suburb:

The sun beats down on Island Bay, the water lapping gently on the shore as fishing boats bob in the harbour.

The water is central to Island Bay life, says local fixture Carlo Muollo, 68.

He should know. His family has been fishing the local waters since 1902, and sitting in the kitchen of the house he’s lived in for the past 44 years, he rattles off tales of family fishing life.

Everyone knows the Muollos – or at least some of them. I went to school with a few of them.

The suburb’s name itself is one of the more straightforward around Wellington – simply reflecting Taputeranga Island that sits in the middle of the bay, while nearby Houghton Bay is named for Robert Houghton, the first signalman at the station above Newtown. …

A group of us once spent the night on Taputeranga Island. In hindsight not that fun

In 1908, Island Bay became home to one of New Zealand’s most revered women, when the Home of Compassion for the terminally ill was founded by Mother Mary Joseph Aubert. The hospital remained open until 2002.

I know the Home of Compassion well. My father worked there (not exclusively) for around 35 years, and since I was a infant we would go up there for Christmas Day. We still know several of the nuns, and have a coupel come around for Christmas every year.

The spire of St Francis de Sales Church was built to resemble the prow of a ship, in acknowledgement of the history of Island Bay as a safe harbour for fishermen and their families.

Heh I’ve climbed the spire and rung the bell. It is very loud when you are up inside it!

Erskine College was called The Convent of the Sacred Heart until the late 1960s when it was renamed in honour of former Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, Mother Janet Erskine Stuart. The school closed in 1985 and today the building is privately owned.

I twice got chased off the property or Erskine late at night, when I was ahem visiting a friend

The managing director of iconic Wellington store Kirks, writes in the Dom Post:

Kirkcaldie & Stains is one of Wellington’s longer-established stores.

As its managing director, I was delighted to read the views of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce on proposals to make the Golden Mile a mall and I  empathise with Sir Bob Jones’ vision for  the city.

But I also fear that without much  more work being done, we risk badly damaging New Zealand’s best urban centre. …

Ease of access is vital for our company. Most customers are happy to walk some distance to visit us, others take public transport. But a significant number of customers like being able to park their cars nearby during the week and particularly at weekends.

If access becomes too difficult, customers will cease visiting the CBD and will do all their shopping in the city’s suburban malls.

I agree. And what may have to be looked at is more parking buildings, so people can still park easily next to Lambton Quay.

We need to be sure that we have sufficient population numbers and visitors to sustain a mall of the size that is being proposed. And central to the issue of ease of access for private transport is the matter of access to affordable and convenient car- parking.

I am a little unsure what Sir Bob is proposing with regard to this important matter, and I am also unsure what the Wellington city and regional councils can deliver on car parking now that the car parks are essentially out of their direct control.

I am not saying that any of the concerns or questions raised are reasons why we should not run with Sir Bob’s vision.

But I agree fully with the Chamber of Commerce that we need to give the idea very careful study.

Study yes – but a study that goes somewhere. Not a study to justify doing nothing. I want a study on what would be the best way to achieve Sir Bob’s vision, and how practical it is.

The Dom Post reports:

A five-star Hilton Hotel looks increasingly certain to be built on the capital’s waterfront.

Wellington Waterfront chief executive Ian Pike said the project had been on hold until after a Wellington City Council vote on a district plan change.

The council voted to accept Variation 11 on Wednesday night, in effect clearing the way for three new buildings to go up on the city’s shoreline at Kumutoto Wharf.

The luxury hotel chain has been in negotiations with the council about building on so-called site 10, where the all-clear has been given for a 30-metre-high building.

Yay. We badly need a five star hotel in Wellington, It is a pity the original site next to Dockside was turned down, as the existing sports building is an absolute eyesore.

A neat little website that allows you to plan walking and cycling journeys in Wellington.

I’ve tested it out and it actually knows stuff like going up the stairs at Grass Street to get to Roseneath, rather than along the road. It also estimates calories burnt off on a trip.

A very useful site.

A good editorial from the Wellingtonian:

We have good news for the principals of the Save the Basin trust.

The Basin Reserve, one of Wellington’s premier sports venues, does not need saving. It is as safe as houses.

So why is there a save the basin campaign?

Therefore, it raises the question of the real agenda of the Save the Basin trustees.

The news section of their website deals only marginally with the Basin Reserve.

However, there are mentions of “a huge concrete flyover”, “the roar of trucks and the howl of boy racers from the flyover”, “clouds of pollution and car exhaust”.

It seems possible that the reason for the formation of the Save the Basin trust has more to do with preventing the building of the flyover than protecting “New Zealand’s oldest dedicated cricket pitch”, as the website describes the Basin.

So it is the usual “we like congestion” campaigners.

A Save the Basin protest gathering last week drew about a dozen protesters.

Their banners were focused almost exclusively on preventing the flyover being built. It was hard to find a mention of the Basin.

If Kent Duston, Iona Pannett and company don’t want the proposed flyover, it’s their right to try to stop it being built. If they want to ban cars, get rid of roads and return us to the horse-and-carriage age, it’s their prerogative to so campaign.

Pannett is of course a Green Party City Councillor. Duston was (he was a list candidate for the Green Party last election.

But the way things stand now, some people might feel they are being dishonest about their intentions, tugging at the emotions with their Save the Basin title, while actually running a separate campaign far removed from either the Basin or cricket.

Perhaps Ban the Flyover would not have quite the appeal of Save the Basin.

But at least it might more accurately reflect the trustees’ ambitions.

Indeed. I remember the decade plus campaign of protests against the motorway extension. And now it has happened, you would never go back. I find traffic down that end of town much faster moving now

The Dom Post reports:

Ratepayers in the Wellington region will be asked whether there should be a single council after Auckland was transformed into a super-city of 1.4 million people.

Wellington mayors say it is now inevitable that local government in the region will have to change, but are promising to consult widely before deciding whether to take the same route as Auckland.

I am very much in favour of Wellington going down a similar path. Five Councils on this side of the Rimutakas, three on the other side plus a Regional Council is far too much.

Like Auckland we have failed to make progress on issues like Transmission Gully because the nine Mayors could never agree.

I also think it would be great to get a range of local boards, smaller than the current Councils. An inner city local board that would include the CBD, Thorndon and Mt Victoria would, for example, be much more in tune with our issues.

Fears have been raised that the Wellington region which has a combined population of about 450,000 spread across eight local authorities and other centres will be swamped by Auckland and left behind.

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast said governance changes in the Wellington region were now inevitable, though they would develop more slowly than in Auckland.

“We would rather have the consultation with our community and then take a proposal to the prime minister and say, `This is what our community wants, would you enact legislation and make it happen?”‘

Any changes could take effect at the 2013 local body elections, she said.

It will probably be an issue for Mayoral candidates at the next election. Could be worth setting up a ticket across the region of people who will push for amalgamation.

Despite living in Wellington for 40 years, I had never been to Matiu/Soames Island before this weekend. It has around 15,000 visitors a year.

I went there on Saturday to help with a treasure hunt for 20 five and six year olds for my niece’s birthday. It was a beautifully sunny day and I spent some of it wondering why I had never come out here before. It is definitely being added to my list of places to take out of town or country visitors.

The island from the East by West Ferry as it approaches.

The kids had to find seven treasures on the island (think 20 necklaces, 20 rings, 20 bracelets etc from $2 shop) at different places on the island, and once they had them all they could go to the finish for a picnic lunch. We split them into five groups of four and two of us adults went with each group.

You can see what a great place it would be for a lunch with a view.

The sea was wonderfully blue, with Wellington in the background.

Next to the lighthouse is an old tram track.

The Southern Lookout, with a view of the harbour entrance.

At the top of the island are the old WWII gun emplacements. The view from here is remarkable.

It is of course just common sense, but Somes Island gives you the best harbour views of all of Wellington – even better than Roseneath. You can see the harbour entrance, Wellington, Petone, Days Bay – the lot – as you are in the middle of it.

The kids at the picnic at the end.

The ferry returning for the pick up. I felt a bit sorry for the other passengers on board who suddenly had 20 noisy kids to cope with.

And who knew it, they can actually line up in single file!

As I said it was a fun day. The concept of a treasure hunt for the kids was brilliant, and they had a great day. I also enjoyed getting to enjoy some magnificent views on a sunny day. Definitely aim to go back there with some friends for a picnic lunch over summer.

Two amusing things from the DOC briefing in the hut after you disembark. They close everyone in the hut, and you have to search your bags in case any mice (or rats) may have smuggled aboard. The signs on the wall proclaimed that if a mouse is found the doors must be kept closed until it has been killed. I had a wry smile at the thought of trying to kill a mouse in front of 20 five year olds. I suspect they may have formed a human defence barrier!

The other thing that amused me (doesn’t take much) was the DOC ranger who told the kids not to pet the lambs. She went on to say how one lamp is super cute and may even come close to you. However she told the five year olds than if you pat her, then her mother will probably abandon her, and then she will die, and then I (the ranger) will have to dig a hole and bury her. That seemed to do the trick and the lambs were left alone!

Newswire report on a nice wee initiative:

RESIDENTS have pooled their knowledge of public fruit trees and wild foods from Aro Valley to Island Bay and pinpointed the locations on Google Maps.

The map directs to 22 locations of apples, plums, edible mushrooms, wild parsley, blackberries, and more.

Lisa Johnston, 27, a member of environmental group 42 Collective, started the project earlier in the year, and her page has now attracted more than 5000 views.

“If we’re not actually spending some time looking at what we’ve already got and using what we already have, then we’re kind of being neglectful and wasteful,” she says.

It is a work in progress and the idea is that people not only use it to find free food but add pointers to trees and herbs they know about.

Jacob Butler, 22, a student, says his dad told him about the map and he has already used it to gather rosemary and kawakawa that was growing around Newtown.

“I think it’s great, absolutely great, and the more people who get involved, it’s just going to get bigger and the web will grow. There will be more fruit sources and things like that.”

Jacob says there is enough food that students will not pillage the spots but says his one fear is that people might go too far and add pointers to plants like cabbage trees and Nikau palms.

“The problem with harvesting these is that you have to kill the plant.”

Each marker includes a note about what time of year the food is ripe and, if it’s on private land, whether the owner must be asked first before gathering.

Urban hunters and gatherers can type “Edible Wellington – A Gatherer’s Guide” into maps.google.com to find free food and share their own spots.

Jacob Butler collecting rosemary growing in Newtown

The map points to 22 locations of apples, plums, edible mushrooms, wild parsley, blackberries, and more.

Lisa Johnston, 27, a member of environmental group 42 Collective, started the project earlier in the year, and her page has now attracted more than 5000 views. …

Each marker includes a note about what time of year the food is ripe and, if it’s on private land, whether the owner must be asked first before gathering.

Urban hunters and gatherers can type “Edible Wellington – A Gatherer’s Guide” into maps.google.com to find free food and share their own spots.

I’ ve tried it out, and it works well. There is so much great info one can add to Google Maps.

Hat Tip: Roar Prawn

Wellington is not all urban markets and fine dining though it is certainly heading in the right direction.  There are number of natural hazards here including the umbrella-shredding wind, a saturation of Wishbone stores and constant protest marches.  I bumped into one of the latter today. 

It wasn’t a big protest – maybe fifty people – and was led by a man I had thoroughly believed would be in Parliament by now, Mr Andrew Little.   Judging by the placards and the chanting, some EPMU members were very unhappy with Telecom and were loudly comparing the company to a number of bodily waste products.

The protest may have been small but Mr Andrew Little’s considerable organisational skills were certainly in evidence.  There were a number of professionally designed EPMU banners being waved and most of the protesters had hand-written signs – albeit all in the same handwriting. 

More media (1) were visible than Police (0).  When the solitary photographer got ahead of the pack to take some front-on snaps, the marchers made sure to form two solid lines eight abreast at the front so that their group would appear much larger in any pictures.  Once past those bristling front rows, the protestors walked more casually in twos or threes, many discussing the weekend’s sports results.  It resembled some form of snake with a giant, puffed up head obscuring a thin, frail body.

It’s a political cliché to say that protests in New Zealand are not what they used to be but that does not mean its not true.  I still recall the marches on Parliament in the 1990s by 1,000 Police and then 1,000 fire fighters thanks to the unique Ministerial skills of Jack Elder.  These were hugely impressive protests though in retrospect I wonder who, if anyone, was policing them.

Conversely, a few weeks after the Police and Fire Service protests, students from Victoria University marched through town.  From a pub, we generously estimated perhaps three hundred souls, several of whom have now beaten Mr Andrew Little into Parliament.  The local newspaper optimistically reported 500.  Encouraged, the Victoria student association immediately claimed there had been 1,000.  Not to be outdone, the national student association put out a press release stating there were 2,000 students on the march. 

I guess the other 1,700 or so must have either popped into the pub before ours or joined the march by car at the very last minute.  Don’t laugh – that is exactly what happened on the Hikoi…

My name, for the purposes of this guest blogging stint at least, is Peter Gibbons.  I have known Mr David P Farrar for a considerable period of time, have been a regular reader of this blog since about Day 7 but have never actually had a blog of my own.  Over the next week or so I will be posting some thoughts about the issues that really matter – sports, food, media and pop culture – leaving the hard politics to my co-bloggers who, I’m presuming, are far more knowledgeable than I.

It is Sunday morning in Wellington and these days that means just one thing for any self-respecting or even aspiring foodie – time to hit the markets.  In the central city, the first stop should be the City Market in the Atrium of the Chaffers Building.  City Market was set up just two months ago by top chef Martin Bosley and Rachel Taulelei from Yellow Brick Road and, despite the often appalling Wellington weather, is increasingly popular with eager, yet spatially unaware, shoppers.  It is only open from 8:30am to 12:30pm on a Sunday.

The stalls showcase the best of local food and drink with bread, pate, sausages, fresh fish, Turkish delight, flowers, mineral water, wine, fruit juice, beer, produce, oysters, books, ever-changing hot dishes, bacon, crepes, sauces, oils, dips, mustards and much more battling for the shopper’s attention. 

One of the best aspects of the City Market is that the person behind the stall has to be involved in the production of whatever they are selling.  As a result, you tend to end up buying Martin Bosley’s inexplicably addictive almonds from… Martin Bosley himself. 

By my calculations, Pudding Lane will be at the market today.  I believe they make the best proper pork pies in the land and have every intention of “de-stocking” them of a couple. 

Virtually right door in the Te Papa car park is the more established Harbourside Market.  This market, which also only operates on Sunday, has a range of cheap vegetable and fruit stalls along with specialty stores and a number of places selling ready to eat food from pizza to dumplings. 

Over the Moon Cheeses are available there and their Goat’s Camembert is probably the best cheese I’ve had all year – and I try a lot of cheese.  It’s creamy, runny, unctuous and – for want of a better descriptor – deliciously goaty.  It certainly won’t be mistaken for a chunky, generic supermarket camembert anytime soon.

Time to end this first guest blog because even writing this has made hungry.

Peter Gibbons

Had a great Easter Sunday. In the morning decided to do another walk up to Hawkins Hill. Did it a couple of months ago, but that day it was foggy and windy. Today was neither so figured worth redoing.

A friendly local. There are around four of them, as far as I can tell.

A view from Hawkins Hill.

The airport radar at the summit.

The path actually goes on from here over to Karori or Makara. At some stage, I’m keen to carry on and walk all the way over. Just need to do it with a group that has two cars.

The Castle and the radar station behind it. All four dogs were out in full force trying to eat passerbys. Luckily they were behind the fence. The owner was out doing some painting. I tried to talk to him and tell him I’d put a bid in for the castle if he wanted to sell it, but I don’t think he could hear me over the dogs.

Afterwards went to Otari Wilton’s Bush for a couple of hours. We stayed until we lost the sun. Had a relaxing picnic lunch, and just generally relaxed.

All up, was a very relaxing day.

Sad to read in the Dom post that after 18 years, Expressoholic is closing.

Many fond memories of Expressoholic – often after movies. A very good venue for dates also, due to its location. Meeting for coffee at Astoria means you want to talk business with someone. not date them. Meeting for coffee at Expressoholic means that if it goes well, one can go down the street for some non-caffeine drinks afterwards!

It won’t be the same without it!

A group of us did the City to Sea Walkway yesterday.  It was (for me anyway) the hardest of the walks, and I thought it would be one of the easiest.

It goes from Bowen Street to Island Bay and is only 12 km long. Having done the 16 km Northern Walkway, with three large hills in it, I thought this one would be easier.

It wasn’t. Partly because the sun was scorching and the water supply limited. But mainly because the walkway goes up every slope it can find. 20 small slopes is harder than three big ones.

Having said all that, it was great to discover some hidden walkways, and again get some great views.

The start of the walkway by Bowen Street. You head through the historic Bolton Cemetery.

The marks the grave of Harry Holland, the first Leader of the Labour Party. I don’t know why they chose a naked man to go on it!

This is one of the lookout points in the Botanical Gardens. One can spend years going there, and not realise how many paths there are.

The well known view from the top of the Cable Car. You then walk down to Kelburn Parade from there.

This little hidden bushwalk is actually at the back of Kelburn Park, trailing down to Salamanca Road. No idea it was there.

You then leave Kelburn, head along the Terrace and cross into Aro Valley, entering next to the Community Hall, and then heading up Aro Street.  This shot is from Epuni Street. If you don’t know what shoes thrown on a power line means, don’t ask

From Aro Valley you go through a couple of parks and then hit Central Park, above. A bit of a climb through Central Park and you come out above the Renouf Tennis Centre. Found a good place to watch games on the cheap from.

I was too stuffed to take many photos in the latter stages. We go through a dozen parks or so including the Berhampore Golf Links, eventually ending at Shorland Park in Island Bay. This is Tapu-Te-Ranga Island, which the Bay is named for. I’ve slept on it!!

And the beach at Island Bay. Not often you get people in the water (it opens onto Cook Strait) but it was a bloody hot day.

I took a wee shortcut for the final stage as I was wilting under the heat, so am going to redo it at some stage, just so I can tick off every last hill!

Quite a bit of focus on the Mt Vic bus tunnel after a car that should not have been in there hit a pedestrian who also should not have been in there.

I must confess to having both walked and driven through it in my young and foolish days. It was almost a rite of passage. And because the tunnel has basically no lights, you flick your lights off for a split second to make the girls scream – oh the joys of being 20ish!

The bus drivers understandably get very peeved off with cars in their tunnel, and if they see a car going through it, they don’t wait for you to come out. They head on in and you then have to reverse out damn quickly.

Anyway enough about my former misdeeds. What I want to canvass is should the bus tunnel be officially changed to a tunnel for all vehicles?

Could it be used to take pressure off the main Mt Vic tunnel by swapping directions at peak traffic times. In the mornings it would only be used for traffic into the city and in the afternoons for traffic from the city?

May not be practical, but cheaper than expanding the current public tunnel.

Last weekend was the Northern Walkway. This weekend just finished was the much easier trek to Hawkins Hill. I’m hoping to do most of the major walkways around Wellington while we have summer.

Hawkins Hill is meant to be the tallest peak in Wellington. But as you start at the Wind Turbine, it is an easy six km return walk.

Sadly it was not as hot and sunny as the prior weekend. In fact we were literally in the fog and couldn’t see more than a few metres at times, and the wind at one stage almost blew me off the cliff. However it did get better on the return trip and the five humans and two dogs did enjoy it.

Around 500 metres before the end of the road is the building known as “The Castle”. It is a private residence, but I think was once intended as a conference venue. I actually think it would be a great conference retreat venue. I looked the GV up online and it is only $1.05 million for the castle and 4,000 sq metres of land. I think the owners must have got sick of people treating it as a tourist spot as it is surrounded by a barbed wire fence and the grounds are meant to have guard dogs.

This is the Hawkins Hill radar station. You scan see how foggy it was. This is the radar for Wellington Airport.

If the day had been sunny, then this would be a glorious photo of Wellington from the peak of Hawkins Hill. You’ll just have to imagine the view until I return on a finer day. Next time I’ll do the route which heads down to Red Rocks rather than the return route to the wind turbine.

On the way back the fog lifted. Much nicer.

For around a km of the walk we are next to the barrier fence for Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.

The view from close to the wind turbine.

And the wind turbine itself. The blades were not moving because ironically it was too windy!

Next weekend is the City to Sea walk – a six hour one from Bolton Street Cemetary to Island Bay!

Very happy to have completed Wellington’s Northern Walkway today.

I’ve walked various parts of it in the past, but never done the whole thing in one go. It is a 16 km trek, and with an extra walk home at the end probably did close to 20 kms all up.

The start of the Northern Walkway in Johnsonville. It’s reasonably steep getting up to Mt Kaukau.

The city view from Mt Kaukau. Almost worth the climb!

Mt Cowcow instead of Mt Kaukau

And the view towards the west coast from the trig station.

Part of the long path down from Mt Kaukau to Khandallah.

After Khandallah you walk along the road to Ngaoi, and then head through Trellissick Park, which then climbs steeply up to Wadestown.

The zoom lens captures the cruise ship docked by the stadium, from Tinakori Hill.

Thorndon and the harbour from Tinakori Hill on a very sunny day.

A great view of Premier House from behind and above it. We waved to JK but alas no-one seemed to be home.

Some nice colour near the end of the walkway, just before it ends opposite the Botanic Gardens.

Over the next few weekends, I’m hoping to do all the big walkways – Southern, Skyline, City to Sea etc. It’s a great way to spend a Sunday morning. However I suspect I will be very sore on Monday.

The Dom Post reports:

Two of Wellington’s leaders are backing debate on a user-pays water system to reduce Wellingtonians’ reckless consumption – now more than twice the national average.

Wellingtonians each use 400 litres of water a day compared with Aucklanders’ 300 litres and a national average of 160 litres.

Of course water should be user pays. Food is.

International research showed charging people for the water they used could slash consumption by 20 to 40 per cent. This would ease pressure on the region’s water supply and delay the need to build a proposed $142-million dam for 20 years.

An excellent reasons to do it. This part was interesting:

• Cleaning teeth – five litres per brush.
• Shower: eight minutes under ordinary shower head – 120 litres. Eight minutes under water-efficient shower head – 80 litres.
• Bath (full) – 200 litres.
• Toilet half-flush – six litres.
• Garden hose (on full) – 250 litres every five minutes.
• Dishwasher – up to 25 litres a wash.
• Washing machine: top loading – 100-200 litres. Front loading – 70-85 litres.
• Dripping tap – 60,000 litres a year.

Danyl from Dim-Post has reminded me it has been a long long time since there have been blogger drinks in Wellington. And he is right – it has been well over a year.

Anyway the post-election period is a great time to enjoy some drinks, and put politics to one side, so am proposing drinks on Wednesday 21 26 November.

What we thought would be good was to start at 5.30 pm at the Back Bencher. Easy for people to come to straight after work. And the hard core can stay on for Back Benches at 9 pm if they are keen.

These are open to all – bloggers of all sorts – right, left, non-partisan; commenters; and lurkers/readers. Just a chance to unwind, reflect on the year, and of course talk about those who don’t turn up

Would be useful if people let me know if they are likely to attend, so I can book a table or two.

My God, new MPs are everywhere in Wellington.

A few members of the vast right-wing conspiracy (and guests) had a victory dinner last night at Arbitrageur. And not one, not two, but three MPs turn up there during the night – and all in seperate groups.

It is like some giant rodent infestation!

Gerry Brownlee has put out a PR about the space taken up by the pulic service in Wellington. This has had a massive impact on office rentals for the private sector. People like Bob Jones have made scores or hundreds of millions of dollars under Labour in Wellington, because of the massive increase. Small and medium businesses have struggled due to the cost of office space.

In the past five years Labour has overseen an increase in the amount of extra floor space leased for bureaucrats in central Wellington equivalent to almost four Te Papas, says National’s State Services spokesman, Gerry Brownlee.

“How can people have faith and trust in Labour’s stewardship of the public service when it has overseen an increase in the amount of extra floor space leased for bureaucrats in the past five years that equates to an additional 13.2 hectares?”

That is a lot of space!

“Meanwhile, Bayleys Real Estate estimates that the government sector now occupies almost 40% of the total commercial space in the Wellington CBD, and says the ‘surge’ of floor uptake involves ‘quite staggering numbers’.”

Gerry included a table of agencies and office space from 1999 to 2008. During that time the amount of office space has increased from 252,000 square metres to 446,000 – a 77% increase.

Some of the largest increases:

1. Human Rights Commission up 178%
2. Commerce Commission up 176%
3. Education Ministry up 155%
4. Social Development Ministry up 122%
5. Transport up 117%
6. Environment Ministry up 110%

In absolute terms the IRD has grown by 25,000 square metres, Education Ministry by 13,000 square metres, Labour Department by almost 7,000 square metres, ACC by 6,000 square metres, NZQA by 5,000 square metres, Justice Ministry by 5,000 square metres.

Congratulations to Treasury who reduced their office space by 2,000 square metres or 18%.

Wellington City Council has quietly dropped the bylaw requiring beach goers over the age of eight to wear togs or clothes.

They have never enfroced the bylaw, not having any “apparel enforcement officers”, and point out the Police can take action if anyone is naked and acts offensively.

I suspect Wellington’s weather will be the main factor in stopping mass nudity on the beaches!