Kiwiblog

Stellin

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This walk is not one I am going to recommend, unless you are masochistic. At the very end of the Northern Walkway I had noted a track going up to the Stellin Memorial Park. Now I have been there before (via road from Northland) and on the map it didn’t look far up.

Most of the upwards tracks on Te Ahumairangi Hill are of moderate difficulty. They zig zag up for several hundred metres. This track basically just goes straight up the hill, with only a bit of sideways action.

On the way up I passed a couple heading down, and said I was looking forward to the downhill part. I was wrong. I did eventually get up to the lovely grass area with a great view. Rather exhausted, I have to say. Then I started back down.

The track was muddy, narrow and steep. A bad combination. Despite being as careful as I can, I managed to fall onto my backside no less than four times. My buttocks now look like an over-enthusiastic Dominatrix got let loose on them. I almost slid down the bank also.

This is not a track I would recommend unless you are a lot fitter and nimbler than me – and more masochistic.

After I got back down, I then crossed the road and did a short circuit of part of the Botanical Gardens. Went right to the southern end, which I had not been to before. Plan to do more jogs through there.

Eastern Walkway

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Ever since DC Girl moved to Seatoun, have been keen to do the Eastern Walkway as so close to her place. We started at the Pass of Branda and it is a steep climb up the hill.

Once you get to the top, there are some excellent views of the harbour and hills.

Moving along coastline, you might think it is all flat once you are at the top. But actually you go up and down several more times, until you reach the Ataturk memorial at Tarakena Bay. A very nice grassed area with great views.

The walk is just under 5 kms, but the number of climbs means that it does take around 90 minutes to do the return trip, so you feel like it has been a longer trek.

A popular walk, with heaps of joggers and dog walkers. Rugby came along also, and did his best to trip me up while going down the steps.

There’s a number of side-routes one can do also, so plan to explore them at some stage.

Lane Nichols at the Dom Post reports:

Frustrated Wellington rail commuters will benefit from a massive Government investment in public transport designed to reduce congestion and delays.

The announcement of nearly $900million for national public transport projects will buoy proponents of Wellington’s costly proposed light-rail system.

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown immediately called for urgent work to establish a central city light-rail or tram system.

The Government has in fact spent a huge amount on public transport, and rail. I’d be quite keen to see costings of a tram system in Wellington, but we should make decisions based on the benefits and costs.

I’m a very regular user of Wellington buses in the CBD and Thorndon areas, and generally they work very well. Would trams be more efficient?

Sanctuary to Sea

EveryTrail – Find hiking trails in California and beyond

I had wanted to do the Sanctuary to Sea walk for a while, but as it is not a loop needs two cars. As I roped in Stats Girl, Mr Stats Girls and DC Girl, along with their three dogs, we did it on Saturday leaving one car at Zealandia, and drove to Trellisick Park. Despite the name of the walk you finish, not start, at the sanctuary.

Trellisick Park I have done several times, and was as always a pleasant walk next to the stream. I must be getting fitter as the steep climb section seemed less strenuous.

Once you reach Wightwick’s Field, you carry on and eventually emerge on Waikowhai Street. Then you turn left and carry on the main road until you reach the entrance to Wilton Otari Bush. You enter the reserve and just folow the main track until you get to the picnic area. Then follow the blue track uphill, and after a bit of a climb you suddenly have some graves about you.

You then have a walk past hundreds of graves in a part of Karori Cemetery I didn’t even know existed. I liked the area so much that I even said this could be a good backup location for my future grave, if I can’t get into the Bolton Cemetery (which will need some sort of law change).

You then exit the cemetery and then walk down to the park, and back to Zealandia.

Around 7.5 kms, and took just under two hours. A really nice walk, and I was amazed one could spend so much of that distance amongst bush. We are lucky in Wellington.

Tawatawa Reserve

EveryTrail – Find hiking trails in Californiaand beyond

The first time I have done the Tawatawa Reserve loop track, and enjoyed it greatly. Some great southern views, with its location in Owhiro Bay.

It is a very diverse track. You start off on the flat in open plains. You then go up the hill, mainly on open tracks. However once you get up the hill, you end up walking through bush a fair bit.

A nice walk over to a reservoir, with some good views on the way. Then from the reservoir you join the City to Sea walkway for a bit and have a climb up no less than 145 steps! Nice views of Berhampore Golf Course and surrounds.

From there you then carry on uphill a bit more until you get to a lovely flat field at the top. Great views of Cook Strait from here. You are close to the area where the Wellington landfill used to be, before it swapped to the other side of Happy Valley Road. I can recall coming to this old landfill a few times as a kid with my Dad. Pleased to say now all grass area and no smell!

Also here is a pouwhenua placed there by the Tapu-te-Ranga Marae.

From here it is all downhill. On the way down you go through a pine forest, which adds to the diversity of experience from open plains, to hillside tracks, to bush trails, to steps, to flat fields and then the pine forest.

We got back to the car park in just under an hour. The official guide says 90 minutes. Only 3 kms in length, but the terrain is steep in places, which is good for burning up energy.

Definitely one I’m keen to do again. There are also some other walks in that area you can do.

The Dom Post reports:

A man has been taken to hospital with hypothermia after taking an early morning skinny dip in Wellington Harbour.

Acting police inspector Bruce Mackay said police were called to Oriental Bay, after receiving reports of a naked man swimming near Freyberg pool.

“Police were called to talk to the man, to see why he was naked and swimming in the harbour. He was taken to hospital in a hypothermic condition, but obviously we’re also concerned for his mental wellbeing.”

I’d say anyone who goes swimming in Wellington waters in April is definitionally insane

Te Ahumairangi Hill

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Started on Wadestown Road at the dog exercise area, as there is parking there.

It’s a pretty steep climb up the hill. You climb around 120 metres over a 500 meter walk, so that is a pretty tiring climb. As you go up you’ll see four or five intersections, but ignore them as they will just take you back down. Keep going until you hit the actual Northern Walkway.

Once you are up there, then fairly easy going along the Northern Walkway. Just before the end there is a steep path down and then you pass behind Premier House before you can come down either on St Marys Road or Grant Road.

Once down on the road, then a small hike back up Wadestown Road to where the car is!

A nice scenic sub-hour walk for a lunch break.

Trelissick Park

EveryTrail – Find hiking trails in Californiaand beyond

A lovely hidden walk in the Ngaio Gorge. You enter Trelissick Park from Kaiwharawhara Road, and most of the time you are walking a path next to the stream.

Korokoro Dam

EveryTrail – Find hiking trails in Californiaand beyond

A commenter suggested I download Tracks for my iPhone and seems to work great. Maps your walk and you can add details and photos to it.

Just 10 minutes drive north of Wellington you find Cornish Street in Petone, which is at the corner of Belmont Regional Park.

Even though I go up Te Ahumairangi Hill (was Tinakori Hill) a lot, I was actually blissfully unaware that in 2010 an official lookout was opened. I tend to be around the Thorndon end, more than the Northland end.

This is the lookout itself. You can get to it from Orangi Kaupapa Road. Either a steep but short walk up from the road, or if really lazy you can drive up to it. Alternatively you can walk along the Ridgeline track and then head down to it. And you can climb up to it from Tinakori Road or Glenmore Street.

A nice view of the city from over the bush.

This is from Stellin Memorial Park, which is a bit below and to the south of the lookout. A nice grass area for a picnic, and a great view.

A close up of the city and harbour.

As I was in Northland, I drove over the back route to Brooklyn and checked out the war memorial which I had been meaning to look at for ages.

Not too bad a view from Brooklyn either.

A couple of weekends ago did one of my favourite walks from the wind turbine to the Hawkins Hill radar station, along with a couple of friends, a baby and a dog! It was a brilliant day weather wise, which I have to say has been pretty good the last few weeks.

A friendly Emu following us along the fence line.

Posing for a photo with said baby and dog. Was very funny as at one point a person passing by commented what a fit family we were. This caused us much merriment as we were not sure what sort of family he thought we were with two women, one man and a baby. We concluded that he probably thought the two girls were lesbian lovers and I was their “donor”.

The views of the south coast and suburbs are just stunning.

The Wellington Castle, from above. Had a brief exchange of pleasantries with the owner as he was driving out his front gate. I didn’t tell him that I wanted to purchase the castle one day as a headquarters for the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

And the radar station itself. Next o the radar station are some foundations from a destroyed building. Anyone know what it used to be?

One of the little secrets in Wellington is there is a very nice walking path on the east side of the motorway. While you do get the noise from the motorway (less of an issue with an iPod), for a lot of it you get to walk through some parks and bush.

I normally start at the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Park and walk south along the path, crossing under and over all the Thorndon roads that cross the motorway. You then pass down behind Parliament and cross into the Bolton Street Memorial Park. Eventually the path ends at Aurora Terrace, which is where I normally turn around and head back.

Today I carried on up the Terrace a bit and then went into the Clifton Terrace Car Park. I had noticed what appeared to be a path around the Terrace tunnel that I wanted to explore.  From the car park a path follows along next to the motorway and then just before the tunnel there is a steep climbing path up to a little park on top of the tunnel. Quite a nice view from there.

Then you can move onto the west side of the motorway by a little bush track that takes you up to the Vic Netball Courts. Wasn’t quite sure the best way to get back from here so went exploring through Kelburn Park and a walkway down to Talavera Terrace. From there a walkway down to San Sebastian Road, connecting to Clifton terrace. From there you go along Tokyo Lane (a walkway) to Bolton Street, and then enter the Bolton Street Memorial Park again, going to the Seddon Memorial. From there cut pass Anderson Park to Tinakori Road, and along Tinakori Road back to where I started.

In total a 9 km walk, and some really nice scenery along the way. A few hills, but nothing tough. I might try doing it in reverse next time.

The Dom Post editorial:

“Turkeys,” Richard Prebble once observed, “don’t vote for an early Christmas.” The former Labour Cabinet minister and ACT leader was commenting on the improbability of politicians voting to reduce the size of Parliament, but his words hold just as true for local body politicians contemplating a potential shakeup of local government.

Why would the plethora of mayors and councillors in the Wellington region act to do themselves out of jobs? The answer is they won’t.

Just as many Mayors in Auckland were against the Auckland reforms.

If the region is to follow Auckland’s example and amalgamate its nine councils into a single body, it will be in spite of local government politicians not because of them. With a handful of notable exceptions, Greater Wellington regional council chairwoman Fran Wilde prominent among them, the region’s local body politicians have determinedly stonewalled all attempts to initiate change.

The issue goes beyond Wellington also. I am gravitating to the view that two levels of local government is too much for a country our size.  I think unitary authorities are the way of the future, so you don’t have millions wasted in lawsuits, liaison and consultations between regional councils and territorial authorities.

Whether the region would be better served by a single council covering the whole region, or whether it would be better served by two or three unitary councils, is an open question. So is the balance of responsibilities between regionally elected councillors and local community representatives. However, the need for reform is not.

The debate should be about the nature of reform. The status quo is simply ridiculous.

Katie Chapman at Stuff reports:

Major routes in and out of New Zealand’s capital city could be blocked by rubble from more than 400 buildings with unstable masonry in the event of a big earthquake.

A new council report into Wellington’s resilience has found the city’s economy would take a $37 billion hit if it experienced an event like the Christchurch earthquake, with many core businesses and services – including the Government – likely to leave the city permanently.

Among concerns highlighted in the report are the 435 buildings in Wellington with unreinforced masonry, 166 of which are heritage buildings.

The location of many earthquake-prone buildings along important strategic roads means routes needed by emergency services in the event of a big earthquake could end up blocked by fallen masonry.

The short version is if a big quake hits Wellington, we’re all fucked.

Transmission Gully will at least provide an alternate route out in the future , but even getting to the start of that will probably prove highly difficult.

Still it could be worse than being left to rot in a quake destroyed Wellington. The Government will probably relocate to Palmerston North – a fate worse than death!

The Nelson Mail reports:

    The Local Government Commission has approved the draft reorganisation scheme for Nelson and Tasman, paving the way for the two local authorities to merge by the end of the year.

    The new council, to be called Nelson Tasman District Council, would have a mayor and 16 members. All staff of both councils, apart from the chief executives, would transfer to the new council, to be headquartered in Richmond.

It’s good to see local authorities in Nelson and Tasman being pro-active about how to improve local government in their area. I wish our politicians in Wellington would do the same.

The Dom Post reports from earlier this week:

    Wellington’s smaller cities could “wither away and die” if councils in the region are not restructured.

    The warning comes from a group who have launched a website encouraging debate on local government amalgamation in the Wellington region.

    The Shape the Future website was launched in response to a lack of action by politicians.

    The aim of the campaign was to encourage ratepayers to voice their views on the future of local government in the region.

    The website’s founding sponsors are Bob Francis, the former mayor of Masterton and current chairman of the Wairarapa District Health Board, Porirua city councillor Ken Douglas, Wellington accountant John Shewan, community sector representative and Owhiro Bay resident Vivien Maidaborn and Paraparaumu company director Norrey Simmons.

    Mr Douglas, who has been a councillor in Porirua since 1998, said the current debate on whether councils in the region should be consumed by a super-city had missed the point.

    Instead, discussion should be about purpose not structure.

    “I’m supporting this approach about the need for rationalisation because if we don’t then places like Porirua will essentially just wither away and die.”

I’m with Ken Douglas on this issue. In fact I’ve gone to the Shape The Future website and signed up as a supporter. I note other supporters include the Mayor of Porirua Nick Leggett, former Labour Minister Steve Maharey, NZer of the Year Sir Paul Callaghan so it is a diverse group of supporters politically. I encourage readers who support change, signing up as supporters and engaging on what that change should be.

Ken Douglas is right to say we should focus on purpose or functions, not structure. The structure should follow.

My thinking is:

• We should define what functions are best provided regionally – water, tourism, transport etc are obvious inclusions but there are more. Let’s debate them.
• Then we should state that all other functions should be decided or provided at a local level (not necessairly the same boundaries as current) – community facilities
• After we have worked out functions, then you look at structure issues such as whether the regional body and the local bodies should be seperate entities as at present, or part of one overall Council (as in Auckland). I think people would be keen to get details about how much money is spent on our nine current Councils communicating and liasing with each other, plus enforcing rules and even prosecuting each other.
• Then we would also look at where boundaries should be at the local level. If for example we decided that we should have one entity with a regional council and several community councils, then you might have three community councils covering the area of the current Wellington City. One for the CBD and neighbouring suburbs. One for the South-Eastern suburbs and one for the North-Western suburbs.

Many of the Mayors and current Councillors (not all) see any change as a threat to their tenure. That is why we should not leave the debate to them. That’s why I’m supporting the debate.

Bronwyn Torrie at Stuff reports:

Wellington’s most loathed car will be reined in and reviewed after public outrage.

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown has ordered a review of the Parkwise spy car after growing pressure for it to be scrapped. It follows a flurry of complaints about unreasonable parking fines and overzealous operators.

The car will be limited to monitoring school zones – its original purpose – while the review is done.

Hopefully it will stay focused on school zones rather than revenue maximisation.

Went to Otari-Wilton Bush for what was meant to be a one hour walk along the purple and red trails. I took a wrong turn though and ended up doing the yellow trail also. Two hours later I get back to the car!

Still some very nice scenery on a sunny afternoon. Had rained this morning though, so the tracks were steep and slippery.

Went for a walk along the ridgeline of Tinakori Hill today. Magnificent views, and very enjoyable on a hot sunny day like today.

Everytime I go up there and I look at the above structure and wonder what the hell was it meant to be, and why is it up there. Sometimes I think it looks like a basketball scoreboard. At other times I think it is the back of a hoarding. Others, maybe it could be a screen for a drive-in movie.

However it is on top of a hill with no vehicle access and stuff all passer-bys. Why would you have it there?

Someone out there I reckon knows what it is, and the history of it. If you do, please leave a comment.

Oh yes, and could the owner please clean the graffiti off it.

UPDATE: Thanks to some smart readers, the mystery has been solved. It is a passive microwave repeater. I would have never guessed that due to the lack of electronics or electricity to it, but of course it doesn’t need any.

The Dom Post reports:

Will Wellingtonians be blown away by the winning alternative to Wellywood?

The public vote has been counted and the sign dubbed Wellington – Blown Away is the clear winner of the first stage of voting with a whopping 46 per cent of the votes.

Designed by a team from advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, the sign dIt is aepicts the word “Wellington”, with the last few letters appearing to be whipped off the hill by the wind.

Second with 21 per cent of the votes was The Eye of the Taniwha, which shows the giant eye of the mythical beast gazing across the harbour.

These two designs will now go head-to-head with the Wellywood concept in a final vote that opens on Wednesday, and closes on November 17, with voting via dompost.co.nz.

As I blogged previously, putting two alternatives against Wellywood may be an attempt to skew the result. There is a risk that say 65% don’t want Wellywood, but if the vote is 35% Wellywood, 33% Wellington – Blown Away and 32% Eye of the Taniwha, then Wellywood wins. It is a shame they do not allow us to rank the three alternatives.

Because of the nature of the vote, I urge all those who do not want Wellywood to vote for “Wellington – Blown Away”, to avoid splitting the vote and letting Wellywood win. It got twice as many votes as Eye of the Taniwha in the first vote, so is the most likely to beat Wellywood.

Voting starts tomorrow and both Wellingtonians and non-Wellingtonians can vote. Please vote for “Wellington – Blown Away” to finally kill off the Wellywood sign once and for all.

Stuff reports:

A group of regional councillors is promoting the establishment of a Wellington super-city, sparking accusations of underhandedness among mayors.

The group says a “super-council” could be up and running in two years and consist of just 11 members.

The plans for a new Wellington council are revealed in a discussion paper being circulated by Greater Wellington regional council chairwoman Fran Wilde and other regional councillors.

So what is proposed:

The regional council, Wellington City Council and seven district and city councils would be abolished and replaced by the super-council and local community councils. Wellington City Council currently has neither the political nor legal mandate to consider regional interests or issues beyond its boundaries, the document says.

There are currently 87 councillors, eight mayors and 13 regional councillors across the region. Under the new proposal, the 11-member council would be made up of a representative each from Wairarapa, Porirua and Kapiti. Hutt Valley would have three and Wellington four, and a leader would be elected separately.

I’m all in favour. We don’t need 100 councillors for our region.

Chris Finlayson announced:

Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson today announced the establishment of a 76 hectare reserve for the people of Wellington and New Zealand on the iconic Miramar Peninsula.

The new reserve area, known as Watts Peninsula, is a prominent Wellington landmark at the northern tip of the Miramar Peninsula and a historically significant part of New Zealand. …

The land is currently owned by the Defence Force and is home to a number of historic military gun emplacements, pa sites and former ammunition magazines.

Work is under way to develop the land as a public reserve.

Reserve status will retain the land in public ownership and also ensure the area receives full heritage protection, Mr Finlayson said.

In addition it will enable the preservation of indigenous flora and fauna, such as native orchids, skinks and little blue penguins.

This is a great decision. I am probably one of the most frequent visitors to Watts Peninsula. Used to camp next to it, and have spent many a day exploring it.

The area has a lot of historic gun and battery emplacements. Most of them are in the open, but there are some hidden ones also. In the pine forest, there is one old battery which is very hard to locate. The entrance is a fairly narrow steep hole in a bank, but then it opens up to various rooms and tunnels down below. I’ve even slept overnight in it.

This area is above and near the Massey Memorial. It provides some of the best views of Wellington Harbour. I’m really pleased to see it made into a reserve. It is one of our better hidden secrets, and it will be cool if more people over time get to enjoy it.

You can vote at the Dom Post for one of five alternatives to Wellywood. The top two options will then go into a run-off ballot against Wellywood. That final ballot should be a ranked one, otherwise it may be seen as an attempt to have Wellywood win by splitting the vote.

My order of preference is:

1. Te Capital
2. Wellington’s lost umbrellas
3. Wellington (blown away)
4. Taniwha
5. Eye of Taniwha Whataitai
6. Wellywood

Make sure you vote and have you say. We all have to live with the winning option.

In case Wellingtonians have been wondering what those lights in the sky have been, they are spotlights from three of Victoria University’s campuses who teamed up with   Fuji Xerox, Dimension Data, EMC, Mainzeal, Downer and NEC Business Solutions to light up the skies during the Rugby World Cup.

So they will show for the final time tomorrow night. After that maybe they could go to the Air Force for use as an anti-missile laser defence system

On the outside of the Academy of Fine Arts building on the Wellington waterfront, I noticed a few weeks ago a memorial to a dog, called Paddy the Wanderer. I was taken by the story, and felt it worth blogging about.

Paddy was the pet of a young girl whose father was a seaman and she would often take him to the wharves to meet her father returning. She died in 1928 of pneumonia and Paddy took to wandering the wharves, possibly looking for his mistress.

He became the adopted pet of the watersiders, the harbour board workers. the seamen and the taxi drivers. They fed him and paid his registration fees.

He got to travel around Wellington, the country and even overseas. Taxi drivers would drive him around Wellington and he travelled on boats to most ports around NZ, and even on occasion to Australia. He even got to fly in a gipsy moth.

The Wellington Harbour Board appointed Paddy Assistant Night Watchman, with responsibility for pirates, smugglers and rodents. They say he was a very intelligent dog who for example would not cross a street until the light turned green.

Paddy died in 1939 and had a fleet of black taxis with a Police escort carry his coffin, bringing Wellington to a standstill. During the dark days of the Great Depression, Paddy became loved by many Wellingtonians and many who were alive them have a story about him.

You can see a photo of him in this old Evening Post.

Just had monster hail storm in Wellington. The noise was amazing, and within minutes turned Wellington white.

The roofs and roads are all white.

This is my outdoor balcony. The hail is close to an inch thick on it.

Another view out to the left of the stadium.

And this is the roof of the indoor balcony.