Gerry O' Ponsonby

Brown Street Ponsonby Knocking Shop

2012-01-30T19:12:00.000-08:00

The decision to allow the Brown Street Ponsonby brothel to continue to operate without a resource consent iswrong.

This decision by council offices is akinto putting the cart before the horse. This is the formula thatcouncil planners work by . The brothel is not the issue and it is not theonly business to be given this favour .Boutique accommodation has alsobeen allowed to operate in this way . Well run and legitimate businesses arelike good and considerate drivers, they obey the rules .

If the council allows any business to operate withoutresource consent why would business owners go to the effort and cost todo things properly and safely?

For Brown Street residents the issue is not the brothel. Theissue is with people working in a business that offers thirty minute toan hour service so the resulting traffic movements in a narrowresidential street is simply not manageable .There will be issues such asnoise and sometimes lost and inebriated men will disturb neighbours atunreasonable times.

Businesses can create problems in neighbourhoods that’s whyit is essential to have resource consent to ensure the public interest isserved .

Paget Street: Community Board should have final say

2012-01-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

This was published an abridged form in the Weekend Edition of the New Zealand Herald 28 January 2012

The decision to allow the demolition of 18 Paget St iswrong. A city council report states ‘it was also possible that a differentconclusion could have been reached which would have been equally defensible’.So why demolish this house ? The purchaser knew the rules so did councilofficers who flatly refused to enforce them . In any other job this would be asacking offense.

Mr McKay realises ‘our community in Auckland is definitelymoving to more protection and more care and concern for our builtheritage.’

Aucklanders voted overwhelmingly for councillors to doexactly that . The breakdown has been with the council employees whodon’t believe in heritage and pay lip service to the electorate.

There is some hope that the council has finally learnt andthat community boards and senior management be briefed, but is this enough?Will senior management back their elected community boards or will they buckleas they have at Paget and Turua Street? How often have we heard the mantra “itwill not happen again”?

The local community boards should always have thefinal word to address public concern.

Soho hole in Ponsonby transformed into art

2012-01-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

All photos by Jane Gilkison

The Colours Of Our Community is a project directed by Mark Castle of The French Art Shop

and sponsored by Resene paints and Progressive Enterprises.

.The walls are being painted by leading Auckland artists .Otis Frizzell,Karl Maughan , Askew O'Donnell ,Dan Tippet ,Adrian Jackman and Darryl Thompson.

This is a substantial contribution to the public art of Auckland and when all four hundred meters of panels are completed may be one of the largest contemporary murals in the universe.

. The murals depict the built and social heritage of Ponsonby ,A celebration our multiracial complexion and our colouful fauna and flora.

The first two completed panels

Otis Frizzell, Dan Tippett, Adrian Jackman and Karl Maughanhave been invited to work with The Colour of Our Community.

This is a community-drivenbeautification project with support from Progressive Enterprises, the AucklandCouncil, Artstation, and the Ponsonby Business Association.

This is a continuing story of the Spirt of Ponsonby where community and art walk hand and hand.

Each artist has been asked to design and paint a12-metre mural which reflects the “colours of our community”, as well asbecoming mentors to various local community groups who will be completing othersections of the hoardings currently surrounding the Ponsonby site known as SohoSquare

Viv Rosenberg, Gerry Hill, Hemi and the artists children

Resene is the project sponsor and will underwrite most ofthe materials needed to complete the murals. The murals, which will stretchapproximately 400m in total, will be on display during the construction phaseof the development and will then be auctioned off at a charitable event.

if you are interested in this project it worth taking the Link bus from the city and watching the work in progress,Cafes and interesting shops including The French Art Shop .

If you want to stay a few days the best place to stay is The Great Ponsonby Art hotel

Not a rogues gallery but some of the most talented New Zealanders The .artists

Residential One Heritage Housing Protectoin

2012-01-15T14:15:00.001-08:00

Published in the New Zealand Herald,Tuesday 17 January , 2012 As a business woman, Wynnis Armour, would have been well aware of the Residential One qualification. She would have known house when she bought her Paget Street property, she could not demolish it. Ian Smallburn, the Resource Consents Manager is ingenious with his claim that the case was too complex for the council planner .Mr Smallburn should resign. He, like Ms Armour, knows the Residential One rule and is well aware, as a council employee he is employed to enforce the council rules and implement their policies. By removing the council consultant planner Mr Jonathan Blackmore and selecting Mr Brooke Dales at the eleventh hour he failed in his duties. Decisions he has made may now be questioned. I take heritage walks through Ponsonby on a regular basis and along Paget Street the mix of the 20 century buildings is appealing and important . Among the gems are Queens Hall, built by a wealthy man for his daughter and a more modest house which was the first Auckland residence of Michael Joseph Savage. When we tamper in Residential One housing, we risk damaging our heritage and losing our history.Councillor Lee and Waitemata Community Board chairman, Shale Chambers are to be congratulated for standing up for this important economic and social issue of heritage.

Soho Quarter a reply to comments by Phil O Reilly

2011-12-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

Letter published in the New Zealand Herald 30 December 2011 Phil been a long term Ponsonby resident and I salute his contribution to Ponsonby and Auckland.Ponsonby would be poorer without him. However, his outlandish comments about Soho Quarter cannot go unanswered. Not all Ponsonby residents were shown plans. There were so many plan changes. Every time the developer was granted consent he tried to push the envelope. This developer also refused to take into account the effect his plans would have on local residents concerned about traffic flow into their streets. They held genuine concerns about their health and safety. The development plans were not the Chancery by any means . At first there were going to be theatres ,then there were apartments, but at the end it was a huge block of retail shops and offices right on a residential street. The only thing we were told was that there were also going to be flying saucers. Phil is ungenerous or out of touch with his Ponsonby neighbours with his statement that it was never going to, prevail because of affronted and old core of Ponsonby fossils. On the contrary, a contemporary development would have worked for all and would have been applauded People are not stupid, when they are being sold rubbish they know it.

New Zealand General Election November 2011

2011-11-13T22:03:00.000-08:00

This letter was published in an abridged form in the New Zealand Herald November 14 2011.
There are issues that sit under the election radar which have not attracted the media attention they should. They relate to bio security and the management of three recent major disasters; the Christchurch Earthquake, the Pyke River Mining Tragedy and The shipwrecked Rena. These issues have all been raised at election meetings and forums with little reporting. Politicians have largely avoided questions regarding to these issues by referencing commissions of inquiry or refusing to comment.

How well prepared are we to respond to another emergency? This is a legitimate public concern.

The management of our recent disasters indicates a loss of institutional knowledge and infrastructure. Does this mean that our major export industries, agriculture, aquaculture and tourism, are also vulnerable? Daily we get news of a worsening global economic situation. Do we still control what we can by maintaining our existing knowledge and improving our reduced infrastructure? Our valuable exports are all at risk if we don’t have the capacity to respond quickly if another disaster were to strike. All people want to know is what steps being taken to rebuild capacity and are things getting better.

Piece of mind is a wonderful thing.

Live Aid .When harvey met Bob

2011-10-31T19:22:00.001-07:00

Last evening I watched and enjoyed the film Live Aid – When Harvey Met Bob. The same footage that moved Bob moved me. I was hosting friends to dinner that night and with the food that I had prepared and was in the process of cooking suddenly became obscene because of the misery we were seeing on TV about the Horn of Africa. We talked about it over dinner and I was challenged to think of something we could we do.

I was a ship steward and I came up with the idea to get a ship with an unpaid volunteer crew to take emergency aid and development products to Africa. The maritime unions backed my proposal. Through Sonja Davis I met Mary Sinclair who was working with Corso. We connected with Chris Laidlaw who was working as African advisor for David Lange. Together we took the union proposal to Lange who gave us government support. A national steering committee was formed and Ian Johnstone from TV NZ became the front man. We formed Operation Hope using the Union Company freighter MV Ngahere. People throughout New Zealand were inspired to support us. Operation Hope raised millions of dollars and Corso raised a couple of million too.
The bankers association through Max Bradford made all their branches available for donations and promoted the project children gave their pocket money and pensioners gave too.

Last night friends rang me to let me know that Live Aid – When Harvey Met Bob was on TV. This morning my then girlfriend rang and she recalled all the nightmares and challenges that we had to in organizing that voyage and mission. We had one month to get it going. This was before fax machines and few people had credit cards.

I tell you this so that a Chapter in New Zealand history can be remembered here as it is on the Horn of Africa. In New Zealand the Live Aid Concert and Operation Hope were quickly forgotten because of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. Incidentally shortly after Jackson Browne, Neil Young and others came to Auckland and at Mt Smart stadium held a benefit concert for Greenpeace. People do do selfless and wonderful things.

Heaps more could have been about the Rena disaster

2011-10-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

Published in an abridged form in the Weekend Herald 15 October ,2011
Maritime New Zealand’s management of this event has been appalling. Part of the issue is that they are now money managers as opposed to maritime experts. The paltry fines and penalty for wrong doing are a disgrace as is the failure to take up Mr Winstone’s offer of two barges which may have prevented beaches and fisheries being polluted and the awful deaths of sea animals and birds.
They could have arranged for Wellington’s floating crane, the Hikitia to get to Tauranga which is capable of lifting the empty containers off.
Instead they waited days before making any move to contain the imminent disaster or to communicate with the public .
For the Prime-minster to say it has been handled well, is just wrong.He should have declared a state of emergency and Minster Joyce should have flown to Tauronga and called a public meeting. A committee including mayors , iwi, unions, churches, business leaders and others to coordinate the response could have been formed. He could have found out what resources and marine know how were available locally and things would have turned out better. At least Nero fiddled while Rome burnt.Our Government leadership did nothing

The public are in wonderment about why the tax payers should pick up the tab for any of the cost.
Fishermen are concerned about when they will make a living again as are tourist operators. Some will go broke losing a lifetimes investment .Locals have no idea when they will swim or enjoy their beaches. Exporters whose product is now lost many of them will be worried about their markets and some of them may lose contracts and have penalties imposed .
Perhaps they the hapless crew is guilty of negligence . Are not the shipping company and owners also guilty?

Rugby World Cup Quater Finals Auckland New Zealand

2011-10-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday night quarter rugby finals provided some stunning rugby for spectators everywhere.

The Irish /Wales game provided the best possible crowd behaviour and respect for this great game.

When a penalty of a conversion was being attempted by the goal kickers you could have heard a pin drop .

The booing and jeering when goal kickers are attempting to kick in the Anzac nation is a disgrace. Sadly the English supporters at Eden park last night also caught a dose of this Anzac disease. May it not become something that plagues the Anglo-Saxon world.

One way to curb this behaviour would be for the IRB to advise the referees to blow a the whistle when the bad behaviour starts and they stand the goal kicker down until the spectators refrain from their shocking behaviour.

If the IRB can fine a player and fine $ 10,000 for wearing a non regulation mouth guard then surely they must be able to end this appalling and disrespectful behaviour. New Zealanders are passionate about rugby and it would be better if the New Zealand Rugby Union took hold of this issue and sorted it out once and for all.

Others Peoples War

2011-09-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Fran O Sullivan is correct bluster won’t bury Hager’s revelations on military. The questions that Hager has raised are worthy of serious consideration if not an inquiry.
Since her column Hager's book has sold extremely well in many of the most thinking areas of New Zealand .The chattering classes to quote from the' Ponsonby Look 'have bought it widely in Ponsonby in fact it sold out with in a day.
Increasing numbers of people are concerned and are disappointed that the 4 Estate has failed in their duty in regard to the reservations contained with in this book .
The primeminster who has not read Hager book Other Peoples War cannot just dismiss it. The content is serious and the questions that it raises deserve proper answers.
O Sullivan is also correct to raise Jon Stephenson’s, Metro article “Eyes Wide Shut which also ask questions about our involvement in Afghanistan. A war that every day is more pointless and in which there is no taste within New Zealand for further engagement .The loss of good and courageous men there is even more reason for proper answers.
I have met both Hager and Stephenson these men are earnest investigative journalists of the highest calibre and are courageous.
The Primeminster is like Muldoon as he chooses to play the men and not the issues.
More surprising is Phil Goff’s decision to support John key is weird too. The allegations that our top military and foreign affairs officials actually worked to undermine New Zealand position and seed authority to the British and Americans when Helen Clark had put our people United Nations command is scandalous.

The Haka

2011-09-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

This letter was published in the New Zealand Herald in an abridged form Wednesday 14 September, 2011.

Jan Pearson is out of touch with her ideas about the haka .New Zealand to most foreigners means our clean and green environment Lord of the Rings and the haka.
We were in a restaurant in Buenos Aries last month and the staff immediately gave us their version of the haka. Elderly Italian and German visitors were impressed by the Maori battalion and their haka no doubt helped Jan’s grandfather as it terrified the Germans.
Flash mob hakas at the moment are going over the internet and thousands of people send them on. On Friday night at Eden Park tens of thousands loved both the haka and Tongan reply.I was surrounded by French and Argentinian supporters who were passionate in their love of the haka
When Sarah Ulmer won gold at the 2004 Olympics all the kiwi fans leapt to their feet and did a haka as she biked past. Most of them were Pakeha. I was trearful watching on television.
On the walk along the waterfront hakas were performed by school boys as the waka party passed. Unlike Jan, I loved it as did everyone around me. She will have to get over it as there are many more Pacific Island teams yet to play and they will all reply to the haka. What has really made this World Cup is the Polynesian flavour.

Waitamata Local Board Plan

2011-08-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

I presented this submission on Thursday 26 August 2011

I agree that we need to protect our built heritage and character both in our town-centres and our residential houses. Individual heritage and character buildings that are commercial also need protecting and I support the plan to protect them.
• I support the Board in developing projects that promote, identify and celebrate our heritage. I favour the immediate undergrounding of electric power cables and the extension of Victorian lights from Grafton bridge along Karangahape and Ponsonby Rds to the West and Grafton to Khyber Pass Rd, along Broadway and down Parnell Rd. Ideally the whole link bus route should be uniform .[I realise The Heart of the City may have other considerations ].
An exception that I favour is the strip along Park Rd out side the Starship children's hospital the lights be in the shape of space craft. For children hospital can be a traumatic experience so lets create a little fun for them. In principal the older historic neighbourhoods should have paving, lighting and verandas which indicate to locals and tourist that they are somewhere special. St Marys Bay Rd from Ponsonby Rd to Dublin Street should immediately have the undergrounding of electricity and street lights replaced to indicate the importance of this small strip of important heritage buildings.
• I support quality and creativity in new developments but they should be built to the District Plan rules. I support planning for growth with housing that meets the needs of residents however it should not come at the expense of destroying our heritage.
• I support a more sustainable approach to new and old buildings. To protect heritage buildings I favour more provision for mixed use of buildings ,rate relief in to compensate owners who retain their buildings who could demolish and build higher buildings
• I support attractive higher density housing in places like the old Lion Breweries site but we must should ensure that there is ‘social housing’ for lower income Aucklanders, and apartments for families.
• Because we are inner city and city fringe dwellers I support ways to make cycling and walking safer for those who choose to make this transport choice. I support improved cycle infrastructure with dedicated and connected cycleways and improved bike parking in shopping areas.
• I support an audit of intersections that can be improved for pedestrian safety and increasing the number of low speed zones.
• I support a cycleway and walkway over the Harbour Bridge, and the third harbour crossing needs to be a tunnel.
• The City Centre rail link is the most essential public transport asset for the super city and has my support. I support a heritage rail station in Parnell, and the new trams from the Wynyard Quarter to Britomart and up Queen street .
• I support a greater network of bus lanes to improve the efficiency of buses, and the visual signal that it is a ‘bus, motorbike and cycle only’ lane needs to be emphasized to motorists with increased green marking of the lane.
• I support a re-prioritizing land use away from the provision of parking so that the public are encouraged to use public transport on longer journeys into the city.
• I support more events for our local communities and events which cater for our youth. The music in the parks programme should be extended to provide opportunities for youth and consideration given to a summer arts programme targeted at youth .This would need to be worked in conjunction with government agencies . It is beneficial for all to have our youth involved in activities rather than hanging out all summer with their skateboards. however to engage with youth we could have a skateboarding competition.Whatever is done youth must have a say and their involvement will be to crucial to a successful out come.
• We need both the St James and the Mercury theatre in Council hands and refurbished to become flourishing arts venues.
• I support community gardens and fruit trees in public places to teach our children where food comes from, and be part of the glue that holds our communities together.
• I support as accessible Auckland that enables all of those in our community to enjoy and participate in what Auckland has to offer.
• I support the upgrade of Myers Park for our inner city apartment dwellers and developing the Waitemata coastal walkway so both visitors and local can enjoy it.
• The site at 254 Ponsonby Road will make an excellent village square and be a focal point for the centre of the ‘Ponsonby mile’.
• Many of our Park management plans need to be updated to protect the parks from ‘exclusive’ commercial activities that prevent locals and local clubs using them.
• With thousands of new residents due to be housed in the Wynyard Quarter the facilities such as parks and community facilities needs to be assessed and I support the Board in conducting a needs assessment.
• Public spaces are critical to residents and workers alike in the city centre and we need improved signage of the dozens of ‘through site links’ that Council negotiated for us from developers. I support the Board in ‘bringing back’ public spaces through improved signage.
• I support developing a localised plan to cut carbon emissions so that residents and workers can have clean air to breathe.
• Waste minimisation and resource recovery are key components in establishing sustainable communities and local initiatives are the best way to make us all aware of the rubbish we produce. I support your plans to help us locally find a solution.
• I support a holistic approach to caring for our streams which involve the local community being involved. Coxes Bay is a shining example of the Council and community working together over many years and this needs to occur in more areas in Waitemata.

Symomnd Street Billboard Decision IS Appalling

2011-08-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Published in the New Zealand Herald Tuesday 16 August 2011

Shale Chambers is right to protect the interests of our community as local boards do need more say in resource consents.
The decision of the Independent Planning Commissioner, Karyn Sinclair to override council officers decisions was appalling in these circumstances. She allowed an inappropriate billboard on a building which will impact on residents directly and from a tourist and commercial point of view will impact on the Symonds Street local business community.
The terms of reference of these independent planning commissioners should be reviewed. They may be planners but do they understand local communities?
Do they understand tourism?
With Symonds Street being on the official rugby world cup walk, this can be only the worst possible decision to highlight the best of Auckland. This decision needs to be reviewed urgently.
The council should empower our local community boards with the right to stand up for their residents and local businesses and have more say . They should have the right to question short sited decisions such as this .
Community Boards should also take into account the importance of Tourism and Heritage to the life and economic contribution to Auckland.

Gerard Hill

Mr Joyce Please Explain

2011-08-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

Mr Joyce and the National Government should explain with more detail why the rail link will not work .It is an Auckland decision however, with his decision to rip $14million out of the public funding for Auckland public transport it makes everything a little harder for our council to deliver.
There are government decisions involving billions of dollars which they made with competitively little discussion or no discussion .For instance the tax cuts , labour law changes and direct subsidies for the Hobbit movie. In economic terms do they stack up? The bailing out of South Canterbury Finance was that justified or in the national interest?
The decision to relax gambling legislation in favour of sky city was done over dinner. Once upon a time this would have gone to a parliamentary select committee What changed?
With tax cuts and increase in GST the jury is still out. Did these decisions get put through the ringer to the ninth degree like is happening to the inner city rail loop ? The northern motorway extension is being pushed through regardless of any economic benefit.
In short, the government subsidies have gone to the South Island wealthy who made foolish or greedy decisions, to Sir Peter Jackson, Warner Brothers and a subsidy on Wellington jobs, Sky City shareholders.
None of these proposals were named by Dame Judith Mayhew from the City of London when she came here in April. This respected kiwi who has run the City of London made two recommendation to get the Auckland and hence national economy moving .One was a broadband net work and the other was the inner city rail link .With respect to Mr Joyce, Dame Judith does know how to make international cities work .Her opinions and suggestions should be treated with respect and not lightly dismissed.

Hungry Kiwi Children

2011-07-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

Published in the New Zealand Herald Friday 29 July 2011
Bryan Rudman and writer Hamish Keith are correct .44,000 children going without breakfast is wrong it is an indictment our on our society. In 1937 Newton Central School was the first to have the benefits of free school milk along with other programs and social changes led by the local MP Michael Joseph Savage helped poverty to disappear .
Poverty we now criminalise . We starve children and wonder why they end up in the criminal justice system . Is that so surprising?

Lets continue to fund breakfast into decile one schools and extend it to other schools too.

If we add more support for all children perhaps we can break the cycle that takes these kids on to adult poverty and intergenerational problems. The reintroduction of school milk should not be ruled out . In 1967 when it was abolished New Zealand was more equal society and almost everybody ate breakfast.

If we can bail the foolish rich who invested in South Canterbury Finance then we must have the money to invest in these children .

The Child Poverty group and their perseverance should be congratulated . They are more than our conscience . They keep this appalling situation alive.

Submission on the Auckland Spatial Plan June 2011

2011-07-05T02:38:00.000-07:00

Firstly I would like to congratulate the Auckland Council for developing such a
comprehensive and forward thinking plan for our city.
1. Transport and Infrastructure
Invest heavily in improving our rail, bus and ferry systems and reduce our investment in
motorways. In this option the Council would prioritize completing the CBD rail loop, a rail
loop to the airport, and a rail link to the North Shore within 15 years.
A road connecting route 20 and the motorway should be expedited to ensure the
efficient and profitable operation of the Ports of Auckland. A rail line from the Port to
Albany should also expedited. This will reduce a considerable number of truck
movements and could be used at off-peak times, which would allow for passenger
services through the north shore.
I believe this is the best option because it will give Aucklanders more transport choices
and make our city more resilient to increasing oil prices. However, I am concerned that
even in this third option the Council is not being ambitious enough.
Given the challenges of climate change, rising oil prices, air pollution and congestion I
believe the Council should also consider:
• changing our land use patterns to enable Aucklanders to make better transport
choices (for example, providing for more local employment, mixed-use zoning,
and removing harmful planning regulations such as minimum parking
requirements that result in huge areas of wasted land and reduce housing
affordability);
• improving the bus network to make it more efficient (for example, by developing a
radial grid of bus services and allowing free transfers from one service to
another);
• making cycling and walking safer and more enjoyable and investing in Travel
Demand Management Programmes to achieve a significant shift to walking and
cycling (e.g., 50% of trips by foot and cycle by 2040).
2. Environment
I support strongly the Council ensuring that Auckland become an eco city and also a fairtrade
city. I am also in favour of the Council's aim to create a network of wildlife
corridors across the city, enhance our parks and open spaces, protect streams and
harbours from further pollution, and reduce our waste to landfill by 40% through gaining
more control over the waste stream The Manukau Harbour should become a marine
park.
I also encourage the Council to consider the benefit to the city environment of
encouraging more local food production (e.g., through community gardens, school
gardens, protecting rural land for environmentally responsible farming, etc.). In rural
areas one effective way for the Council to protect water quality would be to encourage
more nutrient budgeting (to avoid over-fertilizing) and more riparian planting.
3. Climate Change
The Council has set an aspirational target of reducing Auckland's greenhouse gas
emissions by 40% by 2025. I support this and also encourage the Council to set a longterm
target of reducing our emissions by 90% by 2050.
I would also like to see the Council provide in their spatial plan a clear and detailed
outline of how they would implement both targets. To achieve this, the Council should
consider major investment in sustainable transport infrastructure and the use of more
renewables to meet energy demand.
I believe the spatial plan should provide more detail on what the likely impacts of
unchecked climate change will be over the next 30 years in terms of sea-level rise,
flooding, and extreme weather events, and how the Council plans to adapt to these.
I would urge the Council to set plans in place for short and long term goals for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and outline clearly how they will achieve both.
4. Housing
Auckland's housing is already under huge pressure and migration will increase this
problem. The Government has suggested that the best way to reduce house prices in
Auckland is to allow the city to sprawl outwards. However, low density, sprawling
development requires people to travel long distances, which is costly in many ways, and
requires expensive infrastructure such as roads, waste, water and electricity. It doesn't
stack up economically or environmentally.
The Council has a strong focus in their discussion document on maintaining a compact
urban form for Auckland. They also aim to improve housing affordability through
measures such as making it easier for developers to build more medium intensity
housing (e.g., terraced houses, duplexes, units) and working with the Government to
redevelop Council housing more intensively.
I believe that some key other ways the Council could act to improve housing affordability
are:
• change their parking regulations so that, rather than requiring new developments
to provide a certain minimum number of parks (as regulations currently do), allow
parking to be shared between a number of buildings and uses, and encourage
direct pricing of parking when demand is high. This will lead to much less land
being wasted on unproductive uses and encourage sustainable travel;
• work to involve more third sector (e.g., not for profit) organizations in building
affordable housing, providing long-term rental housing and in developing
alternative ownership and funding models to facilitate security of tenure for both
owners and renters;
• ensure that when they do identify land outside the city boundary for redevelopment
that these developments are centred on major public transport links
(e.g., the Western rail line, the Southern rail line, the Northern Express busway)
and that the public transport is provided before the development is occupied by
residents. Massey and Favona are lessons to lean about how not do things;
• lobby the Government to build more intensive state housing in Auckland,
redevelop current state housing sites more intensively and to introduce a capital
gains tax on properties (excluding the family home);
• provide incentives for brownfield redevelopments rather than greenfield, to
balance out the higher economic risk profile for developers involved in the
former;
• take action to prevent inappropriate developments occurring on the fringes of the
Auckland region that will occupy valuable rural land and encourage individuals to
commute long distances to work. A good example of this is the proposed
Stevenson's Business Park development in Drury which the Council should
oppose;
• I support the Council plan to maintain the compact urban plan.
5. Urban Design
The Council has placed a strong emphasis in their spatial plan on improving the built
environment of Auckland and ensuring good urban design. I believe this is a positive
step forward. I support the Council's proposals to:
• protect the heritage buildings along our main streets . Ponsonby and Parnell
Roads are examples of streets that should be protected . Not only do residents
enjoy them but thousands of tourists walk these streets to look at and photograph
these buildings and streetscapes;
• residential one protections should be maintained throughout our heritage suburbs
and communities.
I have worked in excess of 35 years of my life in hospitality and tourism. My experiences
have also been international and taken me through Western Europe, the United
Kingdom, Asia, some of the United States, Argentina Uruguay and Chile. I spend
considerable time within New Zealand and Australia and I holiday in the Pacific Islands.
In all of these localities and countries I have taken part in cultural and heritage activities.
Since I established the first quality boutique inn within Auckland at Ponsonby in 1994
and also have guided historical walks in Auckland, I am well qualified to speak of the
economic value that heritage and culture, including neighbourhoods communities and
individual buildings, add to the visitor experience and their contribution to the local and
national economy.
To take a broad brush approach that allows a holus bolus approach to our housing stock
within the proposed changes will destroy the fabric of Auckland. The laissez-faire
approach that allows billboards to cover over and obstruct heritage buildings devalues
the not only the building but the street appeal. This is already devaluing the visitor
experience in to Auckland. Since we are unable to achieve agreement on something as
basic as this, how if we liberalise the zoning changes as sought by our three lawyers will
we resolve the bastardization of our individual buildings and neighbourhoods?
The high spending interactive tourists that Tourism New Zealand targets have a strong
interest in culture and heritage including buildings. How long they choose to stay and
consequently spend in a town will depend on what they see and can do. This is no
secret. All over the world communities protect these assets because they know the
intrinsic economic value of keeping them intact.
I refer now to some examples in New Zealand. Oamaru has used their buildings and
colourful social history to promote their region’s economic activity and employment.
Mayor Foon in Gisborne is using a natural disaster to reinstate Victorian buildings.
Hawera knocked down the home of Ronald Hugh Morrison and have suffered .These
few examples, but not limited to them, show that New Zealanders know the value of
buildings and visit places to soak up the culture.
Many New Zealanders visit the Surrey Hills and the Rocks in Sidney on their first O.E.
Perhaps later on they will visit the old town In Stockholm or listed towns as diverse as
Bath in England and Plockton in Scotland.
Thousands of towns and cities throughout the world can be listed where they have
strong heritage and town planning laws.
A major reason why they have decided to do this purely economic. They know how
much their existence is dependent on the experience the visitor has in their community,
and, again, heritage buildings are crucial.
One of the best examples I can offer, as it close by, is Tasmania. Launceston in the
north of the state in the 1960s allowed a permissive rule change and the town lost much
of its heritage building stock and the visitors stopped coming.
Hobart, the capital in the south, maintained tight planning and building rules and
flourished. When they woke up in 1985, Launceston had a change of heart and brought
building and town planning regulations back in. The consensus is that it was too late to
amend the rules and the damage done.
Auckland can avoid the mistakes and learn from this positive leadership in cities around
the globe.
To pay for our infrastructure needs, not to mention the jobs that are dependent on
tourism, we need every decent attraction we have. Our housing and neighbourhoods
and what we do with them will have a direct impact on our future.
Below are some suggestions that I support which can be done to ensure that we get the
best outcomes for our neighbourhoods:
• identify a hierarchy of town centres which will help to guide appropriate levels of
development in each area, recognising that one approach does not “fit all”;
• remove barriers to the redevelopment and rejuvenation of local “mainstreet”
centres, so that local residents can have their needs met within walkabale
distances;
• discourage the development of new “megamalls”, or the expansion of existing
malls, as they undermine local shops;
• introduce minimum sustainability criteria for new buildings;
• ensure that major buildings and developments are reviewed by an Urban Design
Panel;
• require resource consents to include a design sheet outlining minimum standards
for sustainable design criteria;
• make streets into public spaces that are used for recreation, rather than just for
transit, through good design, public art, more use of shared space, and speed
reductions and other traffic calming measures;
• incentivise the development of grid street and pathway networks to make travel
by foot and cycle more attractive;
• increase access for disabled persons;
• preserve our built heritage, cultural landscapes and archaeological sites through
creating a well-integrated Heritage Plan, and giving it appropriate status to
ensure a high level of protection;
• introduce "redevelopment" authorities which would mean that major sites could
be developed to a very high standard of urban design.
6. Caring for People and Building Strong Communities
The Council plan places a strong priority on improving the well-being of children,
reducing inequality and building strong, inclusive communities that value ethnic diversity
and are accessible to the disabled.
I support these, and particularly commend the Council's goals around reducing
inequality. Auckland has greater disparities between the poor and wealthy than any
other city in New Zealand. International research shows that income inequality leads to
other poor social outcomes that affect everyone - such as increased rates of child abuse,
obesity, mental illness and crime. By taking measures to reduce inequality the Council
may well also improve the well-being of children living in Auckland. While many
measures to reduce inequality are not the responsibility of local government, one
important way the Council can help to reduce inequality is by increasing the supply of
high quality, affordable housing. This will reduce over-crowding, facilitate better long
term engagement with education and health services, and make it easier for low-income
Aucklanders to live with dignity.

Auckland Unleashed; Published in the New Zealand Herald Wednesday May 11

2011-05-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

It is good that all representatives of our communities, both citizens and corporate are putting ideas forward to the Auckland Unleashed discussion.

Mike Bayley of Bayleys Real Estate has not thought this through as he does not incorporate heritage housing in his proposals for Auckland .

Protection of heritage housing in residential one has no place in his world. What is Auckland without our villas?

There is a real economic value in maintaining our heritage areas and streetscapes. Tourism being one.

The public realm needs to be expanded to accommodate the 50-60 000 extra residents he thinks will live in Auckland in the next 20 years . His estimation on these numbers may be underestimated .

If we are going to lose our back yards and live in apartments and terraces we need more public spaces for recreation. The city and city fringe parks are well utilised. At certain times of the day they are at near peak public use .

We will need not only more of them but also a mix of parks.

A place for energetic children will not work for elderly citizens. Footpaths will need to accommodate walkers , shoppers , strollers, mobility scooters and dogs.

Gerard Hill

Kiwisaver

2011-05-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Real incomes will never catch up with Australia if the government contribution to Kiwisaver is slashed .

The superfund that Australians enjoy is a major part of every citizens income. The exodus of New Zealanders to Australian will only continue to increase if the benefits of Kiwisaver are reduced.
The Australian funds provide a major contribution to Australia sovereign funds and investment within Australia including industry, infrastructure and jobs We may be nuclear free but true independence is only achieved if your country is economically independent.

Kiwisaver, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Kiwibank are essential for our long term security and development .

The lack of development funds in New Zealand is detrimental to our national interest. The Kiwisaver funds which are invested by private fund managers provide not only retirement funds for every member but also have benefits for the local capital markets. The government also gets some income from this market.
If governments inter fare with this scheme than people will want to get out of it. This may affect over time the viability of the scheme and our new saving culture.
As employers we have encouraged all our staff to join Kiwisaver. They are not highly paid, have had no benefits from tax cuts but Kiwisaver provided a foundation for their aspirations . Cutting the government contribution for them will be another bitter pill.

2011-05-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Joe Stalin looks at Don Brash with Admiration

2011-05-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Harold Wilson said that a week is a long time in politics.

Last week has certainly been that. ACT, an independent, sovereign political party was high jacked. A new political party Mana has appeared. Their one MP decided to resign from parliament and force a by election on us, months out from a general election.

What happened with ACT possibly happened in an Italian democracy before.

Two people who were members of another political party met with ACT leader and told him that his time had passed, he was toxic and could not do as well as they could. The leader, who holds elected positions as an electorate MP, is a Parliamentary leader and also a cabinet minister in the governing coalition walks. Amazing.

Stalin stirs in his grave. A smile of admiration rolls over his embalmed face.

The former leader who now is not toxic assures the Prime Minster that his party support to the government remains. His loyal deputy is currently on his knees assuring the assassin that he will be as loyal to him as he was to the previous leader and pleads to keep his cabinet positions.

The coup d'etat rolls on with the new leader meeting the Prime Minster and even siting in the actual parliament.

Wilson never imagined a week like that.

Annual Plan Submisson herad at Auckalnd City Thursday 28 April 2010

2011-04-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

The Auckland region

Submission:
AUCKLAND COUNCIL – GOVERNING BODY
RE Public Notification of Planning and Resource Consent Issues
- Bring back City Scene-type publication. Use funds allocated to the new Council publication “Our Auckland”, which is of entertainment value only and does not inform citizens about serious issues.
- Set up the ability for individuals to sign up for email alerts for notification of all resource consent applications and proposed plan changes in one or many local board areas.

RE Heritage Festival
- This festival belongs under the governing body’s umbrella, not ATEED’s., - This is an event to foster well-being of Aucklanders which needs to be funded by the governing body.
The Auckland Heritage Festival has grown over a few short years into a very well respected and successful local event. This festival’s success is due to it being local, natural and organic.
Each year new groups representing different parts of our society participate reflecting the diversity that makes Auckland the colourful city that we enjoy
I would be not only be inappropriate but a huge mistake, to prostitute this festival .The festival works because it is non commercial and also appeals to visitors to the region because they see the festival as genuine and special to Auckland .
It will each year become more important to Auckland and will produce economic benefits but this should be a secondary consideration. I am in favour of more publicity and using distribution channels which may attract people to specific events.
I have organised a number of events though many years and have promoted events though other channels as well as the council’s good offices. This marketing can be done through the community boards involving the services and connections available within the ward.
The primary purpose should always be about sharing our history, our social history and the beauty of all aspects of our physical history. This also builds connectivity within the city as citizens learn about our city and increases local pride and social benefits at local levels. These things cannot be imposed but will occur naturally.
ATEED will have agenda and priorities which will not fit comfortably with the ingredients that build this festival and may well hinder the values that are essential to this festival to succeed.

To commercialise the festival would not only be culturally inappropriate but may exclude some of the events which are intrinsic to the festivals success. We do not need to make an Auckland Disneyland.

Its format and organisation needs to have input from local boards and heritage organisations, not just determined internally by Council staff.

RE Built Heritage
- A full review of heritage protection policies and practices needs to be undertaken, to establish a new, truly transparent built heritage assessment system that applies throughout the whole Auckland Council area.
- A comprehensive assessment of Auckland’s built heritage, commencing with the central city area, needs to be undertaken for all buildings built more than 40 years ago.
- A package of genuine incentives should be developed for building owners to encourage and reward them for their protection, retention and enhancement of historic buildings.
The council should also fund independent expert witness to contest the experts of those who wish to remove the heritage protection or destroy the streetscape of a particular street or neighbourhood.

Slavery At Sea

2011-04-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

Published the Sunday Star-Times Sunday 10 April,2011.

Michael Fields story Slavery At Sea is a sad indictment of things that should not be happening anywhere in the world let alone in Aotearoa .

The New Zealand regulatory authorities who turn a blind eye and the Iwi owned companies who choose to exploit third world people are both culpable .They also threaten the viability of the domestic companies and the employment of New Zealanders.

Fishing is a major industry in New Zealand and one that should employ more people . The quota system was designed to manage fish stocks but was also intended to sustain employment .

Our deep sea fishing fleet is in trouble if there is no investment is ships or plant . That Talley’s ships are now over twenty years old is a real concern for the local industry, and threatens the regional economy of ports like Nelson .The competition that is affecting the viability of the local industry is from locally owned Iwi companies.

These Iwi owned companies do have choices they do not have to operate as they do.

Maori have a strong fishing tradition and culture in fact many work for Talley’s.

These Iwi owned companies have the possibility of being responsible players in the industry and be known for a high quality operation. They could own their own ships and processing plants . To employ and provide a real career path for their Iwi members in all the seafaring skills in engineering , deck and master mariner tickets as well as catering would achieve for them the mana that Ngai Tahu have achieved in Tourism.

With these tickets and the opportunities there are many who would choose to work internationally in well regarded maritime companies or in their shore based manufacturing plants where there would be management positions for them too.

Perhaps the first step is to have an industry conference to develop a future for the industry and in the first instance to clean up the untenable problems that exist in the industry.

Minster Heatley this is called leadership.

Christchurch does not need a $500,000 Czar Tthe Minsrty of Works would have done the job.

2011-04-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Columnist Deborah Coddington Sunday 27 March whose Sunday Herald column that the government is not the solution ,they are the problem is out of touch with our New Zealand experience, In Christchurch they miss the Ministry of Works .

In Napier after the earthquake or in Samoa when cyclone Ofa ravaged this island paradise the ministry of works provided the many services the community needed , provided to government reliable and contestable reports on what needed to be done . They had the engineers and the bull dozers .

The engineers not only designed and built bridges, roads, buildings, and hydro dams they also new how to cost. .Many a private company executives checked their figures twice or more when the ministry officers were in the room.

This honest broker who the right liked to attack served New Zealand well . The worst criticism ever said about the Ministry of Works was that they over engineered.

Cabinet in governments of all political shades respected their ability and the capacity to get things done . They would also relied on their officials to hold private companies honest.

Columnist Fran O Sullivan writing in the Weekend herald 26 March describing John Keys year as annus horribilus was referring to Pike River, the international situation and the Christchurch earthquake .

His year would been better , Christchurch would be in a better space temporary Bailey bridges across the Avon for a start and a well costed budget all care of the MOW would have given all confidence .

Auckland Fringe Festival 2011 WWW.Aucklandfringe.co.nz

2011-02-27T21:22:00.001-08:00

This bianual festival kicked kicked off on the 25 February through to the 13 March.

Saturday the 26 February was a festival taster with all the acts performing .

The highlight for those who recall Ben Hur ansd other 1960s epics perhaps was the Paper box Wars ears which invloved kids of all ages and a cast of 100s.

Auckland is not a cultural desert and the Fringe Festival is a fun event . the programme is extensive.

With luck and some spare time we will get to many show as we can

Tueday First March to the 5th March Opera Risque is on. Sally and I will be attending on Tuesday.

Saturday was a fun day check out the photos below.

Food for Thought

2011-02-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

With the Greens continuous rise in the polls do you think this would this have anything to do with the Labour party long public sleep on sustainability?

I read Rod Orum and agreed with almost everything he said in his page in the Star Times today . He also hammered the importance of sustainability.

Because of Labour previous championing of sustainability we were awarded the 2009 International Award for Sustainable Tourism.
This award is of considerable importance to New Zealand both economically and for increasing our already strong environmental reputation. This relates solely to the Labour Governments efforts and also to the many Tourism Business who work hard to maintain New Zealand good name.

When I spoke at a number of events in 2009 and 2010 on sustainability and talked about Norm Kirk and the saving of Lake Manapouri in each of these presentations young people asked me what party did he lead .

Labour has done much on the environment to be proud off . why do they not shout this from the rafters?

Labour in Australia this year gave the Greens a huge number of votes .

Do you think the National Party offering to Maggie Barry a list position is to pick up a number of those votes that Sue Kedgley used to deliver to the Greens?. I have blogged on Sue contribution.

I would have thought that Labour would have chased a number of those votes . In my meetings in Auckland with heritage and urban design people Sandra Coney’s and Sue Kedgley name are often bought by women.

Chinatown

2011-02-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

The epistle below was published in the New Zealand Herald Monday 7 February 2011as the Headline letter entitled NOT RIGHT TIME FOR CHINATOWN>

The suggestion for part of Auckland to become a Chinatown should be delayed until we have sufficient capital to make it work .
Wellington continue to embarrass itself with Wellywood. May our leaders spare Auckland the same derision.

Chinese Community representative Kai Luey is realistic with his comment that it would take a lot of investment and dedication to make it happen .

To pay a civic respect to the Chinese people who have both contributed much to Auckland and New Zealand and who have also been the victims of a past terrible discrimination a more fitting memorial would be more respected .

Councillor Lee and Waitemata Community board Chairman Chambers are correct that Ponsonby and Parnell should also be in plans to make Auckland a vibrant thriving city centre.

These suburbs contribute to the Auckland economy. Aucklanders come to dine and drink others including thousands of interactive tourists spend time and money in this Auckland’s heritage heartland. The council should investigate the many options to inshore that this is protected and enhanced. To have some progress in time for the Rugby Worlds Cup would be to Auckland’s advantage .

Ponsonby Rd and High Street Auckland Defeats Starbucks.

2011-01-26T23:11:00.000-08:00

This letter was published in an abbreviated form in the New Zealand Herald 27 January 2011.
I responded to a feature by Nathan Field. Nathan is senior equity analyst at Gareth Morgan Investments.
Nathan tells only part of the story about why Starbucks will not be the dominant player in the New Zealand coffee market . We don’t all prefer coffee carts or seek edgy places. Starbucks have retreated from Ponsonby Rd and High Street . Both these streets are the home to high quality, well established, independent coffee roasters.
I know these establishment well . Yes some of the crew can be tattooed and occasionally you may be served by a surly actress . The reality is something different .
The lounges are comfortable all have clean toilets and Auckland City A grade hygiene certificates. Their friendly, knowledgeable staff make great coffee and know their product .
All these small businesses actually lead the way in service and quality . Starbucks is a different experience and their crew seem to be scripted . It is great that staff are on message . Better still when they actually believe it . This is another difference you get from the enthusiastic staff in their Ponsonby Rd and High street coffee lounges, they take seriously what they do.
Despite Nathan’s purple prose, Starbucks know that not being on Ponsonby Rd or Primrose Hill in London they can only be another chain of which there are many. Auckland is home to well travelled kiwis and increasing numbers of European and South Americans.
It is patronising for anyone to state that we are not true coffee aficionados .

Queenstown Jazz and Blues Festival Labour Weekend 2010

2011-01-25T18:32:00.000-08:00

Queenstown is known for its outdoor activities and it is the home of the bungee jump. It is not known for culture and music. Dunedin, the provincial capital of Otago, is the home of music and culture there. However, the Queenstown Jazz Festival is now a mature 30 years old. From small beginnings in smoky local pubs (weren’t they great?) it is now a festival of over 50 events performed at outside venues, pubs in Queenstown, and Arrowtown. The Memorial Hall was decked out to resemble a Harlem or Chicago club. It worked well.
I caught two acts there on Friday. Erna Ferry, backed by band leader Roger Fox and the NZ School of Music. In tribute to Peggy Lee, the woman and her music, Erna gave a tight and at times passionate rendition of Peg’s hits. She also gave a narration of Peggy’s life and loves.

Saturday I saw a Queenstown singer Kiri Winders who paid tribute to the 1940’s. YES! Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Louis Armstrong, and Frank Sinatra. Life did seem more interesting before TV! Winder is more than a competent jazz singer or diva. She was part of the famous Dunedin sound in bands Valve and My Deviant Daughters.

I concede I’m a sucker for big bands and jazz. Perhaps having a father who jumped ship in San Francisco to see Dinah Washington, Bing Crosby and Duke Ellington and his band at the Coconut Grove instilled some passion in my veins.

Kiri Winders and her 1940’s Jazz Club. Her show radiated energy from the first minute as she slipped the faux mink off her shoulder. As it slid down her body the influence of Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Munroe felt real. She carried it well all night long. Her jazz club were all veteran players and never missed a note. Even the festival organizer Simon had a part in the show. After the third costume change he was definitely part of the show ‘Hey Big Spender’, 'New York, New York' and ‘Its Amore’. He was hot! I am a fan of cabaret and am a sucker for a show. Tonight was a great night for Jazz. Ronnie Scott would have been happy if this was his club. Ardie Shaw, Ella Fitzgerald, and Duke Ellington would have been happy to have this Jazz Club as their band. Actually Roger Fox would be happy too. I met my old doctor Denise and her husband, we spent the evening together all of us totally captured by the show.

Jeff Bradley and the Delta Swing were my personal highlights. They opened for Kiri and from the first notes from Jeff's clarinet the audience knew they were in for something special. These men, like all the musicians I watched over the weekend, had a real love for their music. Jeff and his band lifted the quality of most and equaled the other big bands. Yes they too would be at home at Ronnie Scotts – A truly world class band!

Saelyn Guyton Quartet is a much understated name for an exciting band. Saclyn is a recent winner of the’ world famous in Gore’ Gold Guitar. This is no mean feat. She performed in the warm afternoon sun at the Village Green. A great venue and a good time to play. Many of the young people who work in the local hospitality scene are South American and European and before they started work, they hung out. So the crowd was young, well travelled, and hip. What an audience to play to! Jaclyn and her band were a little like Mike Frost and The Icemen, with Mojo Webb who also played in this slot really hit the spot with the audience. It might be a very nice outdoor spot, not the house of the rising sun, but this green lived on as the sun moved over the southern sky.

It seems impossible not to include in a jazz festival performers from Auckland. I caught up with, and shared a glass with Nigel Gaven, Richard Adams, and Caitlin Smith. We were all going to catch the blues acts, Nigel lamenting that 20 years ago Auckland was full of blues bands. We talked of great Kiwi Bluesmen Hammond Gamble, and Midge Marsden. We caught up with King Leo of Dunedin, a native of Virginia. He has been in New Zealand for six years and has developed a justified following in the south.

The imported stars were Mike Frost and the Icemen, with Mojo Webb from Queensland. Their bassist couldn’t make it so local, hip young, blonde, Shelly Osland fitted in with the band of hard nosed Chicago influenced bluesmen. I caught them twice on Friday, at the Village Green, and down by the lake at Earnslaw Park.

An emerging talent, was Sacha Vee, I tried to catch at Pog Moghones Irish Bar but the venue was unsatisfactory. Better suited to a singer/song writer rather than a rocking band such as Sacha Vee's. I also caught another Auckland singer Josephine Costain, like Nigel, a regular at Ponsonby 121 Café. She performed in the afternoon singing some very reflective songs in a 100-minute set.

I caught for half an hour the James Annesty Quartet, a Melbourne based quartet playing contemporary jazz with palatable influences of folk and rock. This made for an inclusive sound that invited the audience to enjoy, almost like a conversation.

Gerrard's Southern Scenic Route Travels

2011-01-25T18:29:00.001-08:00

Tuesday October 26th
Picked up by Mikey, a friendly Green Cab taxi driver (www.greencabs.com), also a rock and roll dancer, with a Zephyr 6 modified to a convertible.

Cost won the argument in my choice of airline. It was Jetstar. I arrived 80 minutes before departure and just as well, Jetstar has a Stalinist booking system which demands you check in on-line and print your boarding pass out. My boarding pass would not scan. In fear I approached the check-in desk where Marie, a smiling, genuinely friendly clerk, checked in my baggage – thankfully I was well under weight. Marie offered me a lounge pass for $15.00, which was probably good value – I declined. I spent $11.50 on a coffee and croissant at the café. Auckland Airport has free broadband computers available and they were being thrashed by appreciative travelers.

My Jetstar flight was comfortable and the route was below the clouds. Jetstar is one of the newcomers to aviation with a growing operation and new routes.

My rental car from Ace Cars (www.acerentals.co.nz) was a Subaru Legacy with 6 change C-D player ideal for this trip. I don’t need an international company and prefer to support local business and Ace rentals are great value. We do need to save forex.

I dined at a French Café the Solera. Me, the ‘lone kiwi’, the other customers from around the globe. Larry and Jean hailed from Missouri. We enjoyed Ray Charles playing on the sound system, good food and wine. For me, a salmon salad and Peregrine Chardonnay. We talked of Jessie and Frank Jones, mythical bank robbers. Also Senator Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern's choice as his running mate in the 1972 American Presidential election. It transpired that Larry and Jean were personal friends of the Eagleton's.

It was damp and misty as I drove out of Queenstown, past Lake Hayes and onto the Crown Range. I played the Rolling Stone's CD, 'Exile on Main Street'. The shambolic album of 1972 having been re-mastered and one which brings back pleasant memories of my youth. Secret Virginia, perhaps the CD’s finest track played as I climbed toward the peak. Snowflakes were dropping lightly, and with thoughts of romance in my head, I rang partner Sally and invited her to join me. She declined. I arrived in Wanaka around 5pm to a warm welcome from my in- laws Mike and Gill. Like a true Southern man, Mike placed a bottle of Speight’s in my hand before my suitcase hit the floor

Wednesday
I awoke after seven hours, an eternity to me in recent years, and felt rested.
I drove to Alexandra to meet Peter, Sally’s father. Having just enjoyed his 97th birthday, he was in fine form. We talked about the amazing mine rescue in Chile. Peter funded his way through university as a miner. He was a member of a Wobbly West Coast Miners Union at Waiuta. He graduated as a mining engineer, and in the Second World War rose to the rank of Major, serving with distinction in the North African campaign.

We also talked of Syria, a place Sally might visit next year. His memories of Damascus are not only biblical but of a fine sophisticated Middle Eastern city. He recalled the inland intelligence trip where he surveyed every bridge in an internal valley from the Turkish border to the sea. One of the bridges was rusting away as a contractor had mixed the cement with seawater. If the bridge was blown up they would have been doing him a favour, as there would be hell to pay. As Rommel did not choose this wrath, the bridges were saved and all except a very rusted one is in use today. No points for guessing which one we enjoyed KFC for lunch. He chose mashed potatoes and gravy; I had French fries to accompany colonel Sanders fourteen secret Herb& Spices

I drove the old Earnscleugh road, past orchards and vineyards onto Clyde, a very attractive, 19th century mining town. It was 3pm and talkative children in uniforms cycled through the historic streets, mingling with others, of all ages, from around the globe, enjoying the Otago Rail Trail. Arguably one of the world’s most picturesque rides.

I was surprised at the buzz in this town. Construction humming, but quite obviously a plan to retain the village charm. The reproduction street lights blended well with the original 19th century streets. I chose the Old Bank Cafe over the well recommended Old Post Office Café. The Old Bank had a number of cycles outside, the riders tucking into tasty looking home baked pies and salads. I chose a fruit loaf, generously filled. I was not disappointed.

Out of Clyde, I stopped at a couple of look-outs and the 15 minute gut-buster to the old reservoir was a worthy trek. The reward, a wonderful panorama of Cromwell, old mining areas, and cherry blossoms painting the valley spring.

I drove towards on Tarras, a small town on the other side of the lake, which is also the southern entry to the Lindis Pass As Merino sheep clung to the hillsides, signs informed that this was the home of Ice Breaker (Ice breaker is a local company which has developed an international market for its fine Merino products). The large and well established, 1910, Bendigo Station runs beef cattle and sheep, and among its attraction is the Pelagrine vineyard that dominates the area for miles. On the CD, Al Green’s, Take Me to the River, played as I made my way back to Wanaka

Thursday
Mike, Gill, Finn and I wandered up the Clutha River walkway to Albert town. It was a cool clear morning. As well as the half dozen or so walkers, we are passed by two silver-haired mountain bikers whose blond partners could be their daughters. They live in Waipu Cove, just south of Whangarei, in Northland, and take spring and autumn holidays in the South Island every year. Attracted by colors and lack of crowds, they have campervans and know the back roads well.

Gill wandered back to get the car while Mike and I continued for another hour, on tracks which skirted emerging sub-divisions, past Mt Iron, one of Wanaka’s more gut busting walks, continuing out to the main road.

Wanaka is a summer and winter playground originally for the Otago/Canterbury wealthy, now catering to visitors from throughout the world. As well as skiing and fishing, mountaineering in Mt Aspiring National Park also a number of local walks. On previous visits I have walked up to the Rob Roy Glacier – a very attractive and demanding walk. This visit I intended to undertake some less demanding walks -perhaps a ‘ramble’ is a better description.

It turned into a warm sparkling day. New Zealand enjoys a reputation as a pretty, green, sustainable place. Every community has its local tip, where each week dads' would take their rubbish. They are now called Recycling Centres, and Wanaka’s is a real goldmine. It also employs a number of people. Skiers dump their gear and at times you can get a real bargain. A pair of Swiss [insert name] skis for $10.00, a real find! Yes they were. Mike checked out that if they were in good shape.

That evening we dined at Relish, perhaps Wanaka’s top restaurant. It was a lovely warm, wooden building. Our waitresses Amy and Sarah were knowable about the food on offer and great fun. I had an entrée of hare pate, really good. Goat for the main course, served rare, on a salad with roast potatoes, delicious.

Mike and I checked out the Wanaka Toy Museum, amazing. However, boys and girls of all ages would need a day there, so much to see. Also a microbrewery – Wanaka Beer Works. The tastings were finished for the day so we bought a mixed six-pack.

We continued onto Luggate, 10km from Wanaka, for a pint. The pub caters for skiers during the season and on that warm spring afternoon; a group of self-opinionated farmers were expounding their thoughts on a number of issues. Surprisingly, they were drinking Coronas rather than the quality local brew ‘Speight’s’. Our barmaid was a highland Scot who hooked up with a local lad a half dozen years back. The skiing was her first attraction. She poured a good pint. Her long jet-black hair with its red tips, kept well away from the taps.

Friday
We ambled along the Glendu Bay walkway. The poplars, which grow prolifically along the shoreline, are rotting and have been culled for safety. A beautiful tree, but for a woodsman, a waste of space. They burn fast and produce little heat. Wanaka winters need better wood than that. There were only a couple of other walkers - a well dressed athletic woman with her pointer and a slow moving old fellow with the physique of a rugby prop. Perhaps his slow movement was the result of too many tough games.

We stopped at the Edgewater Resort for coffee. Our waitress, a vivacious blonde with great sense of humour, told us things were quieter than she wished. A rangy Dutch woman sipped her coffee and shared the wonderful time she had walking around Wanaka. Next day she would travel to Dunedin to see a rugby game. The local team, ‘The Highlanders’ were at the bottom of the national league. Most likely to be a dull game, I felt, but I didn’t say, that if she wished to have local culture she would be better off watching the game in a local pub.

Saying goodbye to Gill, Mike, and Finn (their Jack Russell), I headed back over the Crown Range. The snow had melted and I stopped to enjoy the vista. Sealed in 2000 it is now the main route between Wanaka and Queenstown. It is also our highest road at almost 1100 meters. From the summit there are great views, only surpassed by the ski fields and the top of Aspiring National Park.

I decided to walk the one hour Mt Pisa walk. It is a gut buster and I was definitely not as fit as I was a year ago. However, my efforts were rewarded with amazing views.

I lunched in Arrowtown, finding a fresh fish shop with a special of whitebait fritters. That’s a no-brainer. $13.50 had me 60 grams of whitebait. I added 100 grams of pan-fried bluenose and chips. The local bottle shop sold me a Wanaka Brewski Lager, it partnered well. I shared my table with a retired couple from Timaru, who had been tramping at Glenorchy. They enjoy this paradise; it gets them away from the problems at their local polytechnic which has had a funding cut. They will not be voting for Mr. Key. The other couple were young English lawyers enjoying a gap year. We all enjoyed the spring sun and chatted easily.

I visited the St Patrick’s Catholic Church and pay my respects to Australia first Saint – Sister Mary MacKillop. They have the signs up outside her cottage. She was a resident here for a while, establishing the order known as the Brown Joes. It is already a tourist attraction. A couple from Melbourne have made the connection and travelled over from Queenstown on the strength of this. Not bad since she has only been a saint for a week. (Don't get this?) She was canonized the week before.

I checked into Queenstown Apartment Motel (www.queenstownapartmentmotel). Vanessa gave me a warm and helpful welcome, and lots of advice. She wrote on a map about restaurants, bars, and the venues for the Jazz Fest. I had not intended to stay in Queenstown; however Jazz and Blues do touch my soul. The great thing about a road trip is freedom – that is why I’m here.

Queenstown from a media perspective is well served with print media. The local weekly Mountain Scene is supplemented by the Queenstown News and also served by two provincial dailies ‘The Southland Times’ and ‘Otago Daily Times’, and from Auckland, ‘The New Zealand Herald’. I bought and read the Southland Times. The Friday editorial, lamenting the state of the venerable old steam train the Kingston Flyer, which has falling into disrepair through the financial situation of its owners. It lamented how it is now out of action for the second tourist season and described it not only as a financial and venerable asset to the south, but as a cultural one too. I agree it is. Southland has already lost the Fluety Paua shell house a couple of years ago, stolen in the middle of the night like the Elgin marbles. Now the Fluety house is an award winner at the Canterbury Museum. A double dose if you like, of Rough Justice!

I found the Halo Café situated beside St Peters Anglican Church, an excellent spot for breakfast and the Sural Café and Bar in Rees Street another excellent place for an aperitif and a meal.

The Saturday editorial in the Times was about the Hobbit movie, calling the actor’s antics to get a deal clumsy and silly, but it noted the cost of the claims would not be a significant impact on the budget. I find it incredible that the movie shoot would be moved to Ireland or England where costs would be much higher. The editorial concluded it will be the $$$ of government subsidy required and noted that Sir Peter Jackson in his own submission about the film industry calls for more subsidy. This has been the most reasoned statement on a dispute in what is a very important industry to New Zealand.

Sadly the debate has been more emotional and the language inflammatory. Perhaps this is the way in an industry which all the players are passionate about and love. The only way through this mess would be the government to call an industry conference to discuss and work out a plan. The government is a major funder through the NZ Film Commission and as a generous provider of subsidy has a legitimate interest. It would be in their interests to facilitate the industry to sort this out. It is called leadership.

S

I walked down the hill back to Halo for breakfast. St Peters Anglican Church was having a jazz service and attracted quite a flock.

On the way to Arrowtown; the road a mixture of cyclists in bright coloured latex outfits, campervans and an occasional jogger. There is still the odd paddock with sheep. Lake Hayes reserve was a mini gymkhana and the young girls on their beautiful mounts would have made a wonderful calendar shot.

I arrived with plenty of time at the Buckingham Green to soak up the Prescott Calder Quartet from Dunedin. Veteran players who injected a little humor in their performance which worked well with the late brunching crowd

Buckingham Green is in the centre of the village. The stage was above the green and music drifted down to fill the park, which had filled to a hundred or so people. Families picnicked and tourists, without the benefit of a blanket or fold- out chairs, sat at the cafes. I took a walk around the old Chinese settlement, which tells the stories including discrimination, hardship, and opium.

Back to Deep South ice cream parlor for another serve of their tasty product and I made my way to the information centre to use their computer facilities. $5.00 got me an hour of broadband in comfortable surroundings.

On my way to the ’Tap Room” to catch Jeff Brady and the Delta Swing again, I caught up with Kate and her daughter Ruby. Kate had worked in the Tourism NZ Media Group, taken a job with Tourism South Island and ended up married to a farmer. She was in fine form and we had a decent yarn

Jeff Bradley and the Delta Swing took well in the mid-afternoon sun. The band comprised Roger White on Piano, Mike Cain on bass, and drummer Bob Bair. In spite of a few sound issues we were treated to a warm and tight performance. A really solid set for jazz purist’s including, 'St James Infirmary', 'The Basic Street Blues', Aker Bilk's, 'Stranger on the Shore', 'Petit Fleur', 'Sunset', Benny Goodman, 'If I had you' and 'My baby just cares for me'. This band would be at home on a good night at Ronnie Scott.

They were my personal highlights. I watched many bands over the weekend; all of them had a real love for their music. Jeff and his band lifted the quality of most and equaled the other big bands. Yes they too would be at home at Ronnie Scotts – A truly world class band!

I headed down to Willows Bar to catch blues band King Leo. I was sprung again. Willow's is owned by former B&B owner, Sis Walker, a natural host. The food was generously proportioned and well presented. It tasted fine too. The beer was cold and a warm-hearted banter went on between Sis, her crew and the guests.

Queenstown is no cultural desert at least around Labour weekend. The diversity of its population is its savior in many ways, including a weekly mass in Portuguese at St Patrick’s in Arrowtown. The congregation can look like they have come in from Rio's Coco Cabana beach.

Sunday
Back to Halo for another great breakfast. Surprise surprise! Musicians and singers Nigel Gaven and Catlin Smith appeared, then Ponsonby Road Grand Central bar owner Jeremy. We talked about the festival. Jeremy referred to Queenstown as the dark side but he had a good time too. He lives in Wanaka for much of the year.

I visited at their Arthur's Point home, Andy and CJ, regular guests of ours, who have just had a baby Angerana-Eve. The Arthur Point pub, a landmark built in 1862, looked derelict and trashed. Andy said there are possibilities of it being moved to the other side of the road, on the riverside. I hope so. I have such fond memories of a few sessions there a time or so back

On to Te Anau, stopping at Kingston. The train no longer runs, the engine rusts and the carriages gather cobwebs. Yes, another victim of a finance company’s collapse. The café on the corner of the main road is run by a short rotund Southern man (he rolls his ‘r’s’) and his Vietnamese wife. The coffee was insipid, and the toasted sandwich overpriced. The Australian ice cream was good.

On through Garston, Athol and Five Rivers all with more promising eating and drinking options.

The sun was high, all was beautiful. Traffic cops swarmed like bees. Te Anau was blessed by sun, the lake reflecting the green of the forest. Just minutes before I had been in the sweep of red tussock land.

At Te Anau Lodge (www.teaunaulodge.com), this brick, former convent looked impressive, like a baronial mansion. Sitting on 6 acres of land, mainly lawn, with a water feature. A small wooden church from Clydedvale a Southland village and also the original homestead from nearby Mararoa Station is now situated on the property. Both these heritage buildings will be renovated into quality accommodation. Yes, every room in every building at Te Anau Lodge can tell a story. The interior with hard wood floors, stained glass, and high ceilings, contains 8 rooms of varying sizes. All are comfortable and well decorated. Welcomed by Margaret and George and before I can get a request out of my mouth I am offered a choice of refreshments or a tour. George took me for an extensive viewing of the house and grounds. Te Anau Lodge has more than a few stories to tell. Built as a residence for the teaching nuns at St Josephs Convent in the Southland mining town of Nightcaps, in 1936, and shifted in 2000 to Te Anau it is really something special. George and Margaret are not only generous hosts but knowledgeable guides.

We all dined at a local pub/restaurant, ‘The Ranch”. For me a venison steak, washed down with an Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir.

Breakfast was a great cold buffet with a choice of freshly cooked options to choose from.

Next, Doubtful Sound. Laurence, the Real Journey bus driver arrived on time at 8:45 to pick me up. A retired couple from Tokoroa were already on board. We stop to pick up a couple of Spanish honeymooners from the City Inn and also a retired English couple from around the town.

Laurence has lived around Te Anau for a generation, and like all the other Real Journey drivers, is a Southlander with a warm matter of fact way to tell stories of the region and its development.

Peter Wadd, our bus driver and nature guide, also added the historical dimension of the Manapouri Power Station. This history is colorful. The cost of the road over the Wilmont Pass was embargoed for thirty years and has only recently been disclosed. Yes, a 21-kilometre road, which in 1964 cost over $2,000,000 making it one of the most expensive roads anywhere.

The Wanganella, a Trans-Tasman liner of the Huddart Parker line was decommissioned and became the accommodation house for several hundred single men. Peter Duncan, my partner Sally's ex, had the soft job – the only soft job in the whole project as the projectionist on the ships cinema. Peter helped consume some of the 1,000,000 beer cans that slipped under the Wanganella and now sit in the depths of Doubtful Sound.

The initial laborers on the project were Italians and Yugoslav tunnellers who pushed through the mountain. The water that has produced the power Comalco Te Wai Point aluminum smelters and contributes 15% of the Hydro electric power in New Zealand. Also among the workers is one of New Zealand’s most colorful sons – Tim Shadbolt. In the 1990’s when Southland Capital and New Zealand’s most southern city wished to shake off its conservative image, a few of Tim’s old work mates persuaded him to run for mayor. He has just been re-elected mayor for the 6th consecutive term. Tim’s 1972 biography ‘Bullshit and Jellybeans is highly collective. I own a battered copy

Captain Cook, on his second voyage, in 1773, named the Sound, Doubtful. The Fiordland coast is rugged and many a small boat has been lost.

In the 1970’s I had a job on the Wairua – the then Bluff to Stewart Island ferryboat. Part of the ship's work was to provide services and tending to the lighthouses. At the southern end of the Fiordland, World Heritage Park is Puysegur Point. On the 24-hour trip from Bluff, it was the only case of seasickness I have had in my life. When I returned to Bluff and felt terra firma I was still shaking three days later.

Lake Manapouri is one of the world’s most beautiful areas. This was my third trip here in over 40 years. Those trips have been some of the highlights of my life. On this trip I was disappointed, well only slightly, because the sun was shining and Doubtful Sound is at its finest when wet. On those days waterfalls magically appear. Previously I have experienced dolphins playing in the mist and birds flying low under the clouds. The area receives 7 metres of rain a year. Today the sun is shining and the vista is wild beauty. A little cumulus but the sky was mostly electric blue.

I travelled on Real Journey’s Patea Express. It is a purpose built vessel. Our crew Peter, Eugenice (Portuguese, I never found out how she got here) and Russell the Skipper were all professional and obliging. Based on my experience today, these folk comfortably qualify as amateur naturalists, botanists, and historians. Their knowledge is the difference of why you should travel with Real Journeys. The wildness and beauty speaks for itself. The birdsong is a tribute to DOC’s efforts but it is the knowledge and warmth of this crew that made the trip, for the 79 passengers, a great experience.

We were unlucky the dolphins and penguins chose to take a break, but the Southern Fur seals in the inlets were a first rate consolation prize. Young seal pups play and slid down the rocks. Oh la la, great to see kids having fun. Then there was the green attraction of sphagnum moss which among its benefits also helps the bush and the trees.

The proposal to raise the level of Lake Manapouri which would have killed much of this became a battleground for the green movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. When Norman Kirk and Labour won the 1972 election, Kirk committed not to raise the level of the lake. 250,000 New Zealanders signed petitions and Kirk’s landslide victory gave him the mandate to honour his words and credit New Zealand with the greatest environmental victory on our planet.

Fiordland National Park has been rich in resources. Hard men slaughtered thousands of seals in the 19th century. Fishermen today hunt Crayfish (lobster) – some at times risk their life for Blue Cod.

In the 1960’s deer stalkers, who received a bounty from the crown for each deer they shot, discovered another El Dorado using helicopters. Unfortunately many lives were lost and the only area to lose more life in these tragic figures, Russell our guide told us, was in Vietnam.

Today tourism sustains the local economy, creating real jobs, many with career prospects and returning tens of millions of dollars to New Zealand.

Real Journeys’ take the environment seriously and promote sustainable practices throughout the operation. The Patea Express was a great way to explore Doubtful Sound.

Say a prayer for Wilmont Pass, without it we could not visit.
There would be a few deerstalkers, fishermen, a cruise boat watched by kiwi, kaka and a few other birds and from time to time a visiting cruise boat. Perhaps in time we will get another man with a broken heart like Richard Henry (the ruins remain of his house) who battled from 1904 to 1908 to save endangered native birds from introduced stoats and rats.

Raise a glass for the Wilmot Pass and say another prayer and enjoy another glass

Within minutes of arriving in Manapouri, the penny drops that you are somewhere special. No, not Disneyland – but the Fiordland National Park. It is New Zealand’s first World Heritage site. The Te Wahipounamu World Heritage area comprises Fiordland National Park, Mt Aspiring National Park, some of South Westland, and Arokai, Mt Cook.

The Te Anau, Manapouri region offers much. Ideally you should allow a minimum of three days, and at least one of those days should be with an activity such as visiting Milford or Doubtful Sound.

There are also a variety of walks from an hour or two days, the choice is dependent on your wishes. It can be easy or more challenging. I chose a middle way. Yes, today you could call me Mr. In-between.

Beware of sand flies, although I fortunately didn’t meet any this time. They are a painful nuisance – get lotion, and lots of it!

The Doubtful Sound trip involves a launch ride over Lake Manapouri. The wow factor is automatic. A coach trip over the Wilmont Pass and then three hours on Doubtful Sound itself, more wow and wow. A visit to Manapouri Power Station at West Arm, and then back across the Lake. The sun was high, the green of the forest making the lake verdant. The snow had receded to the mountaintops and heaven is here on Lake Manapouri.

I didn't have time to consider walking the Milford Track, but had some choices for a few hours. There are a number of walks 2 to 3 hours drive from Te Anau on the Milford road.

The three I list here I have walked on previous visits.

• The Lake Gunn nature walk is 3km - allow 45 minutes easy walking. The mosquitoes resembled the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on a previous visit.

• The Divide to Key Summit is a 400 metre climb about 5 km return and offers fantastic views - allow 2 to 3 hours.

• Lake Marian is also about 5km and around two and a half hour return. Perhaps this is my favorite short walk anywhere. It offers great views walking up to a wonderful alpine lake - it is also a 400-metre climb.

All these walks are around 75 to 85 kms on the Milford road from Te Anau.

I made my way to a waterfront watering hole ‘The Moose’. I was in luck, a happy hour. My pint a bargain and slipped down easily. I dined at the Toscana restaurant, choosing a fungi and prosciutto pizza and salad. – A good choice.

Wednesday October 3rd

George suggested a three-hour walk from the base of the Kepler to the dam. It is a great walk and suitable for all. No gut busting hills. Within minutes you enter a thickening and the birdsong replaces the sound of the Upper Clutha river flow. Little fantails created a din chasing moths. They would not co-operate with my photography. I have stacks of photos to develop. The walking track is well formed and the sound of the river is almost constant. The greenery, the moss, ferns, and trees make a wonderful walk. There are small clearings where you can throw a rug down and pull out the thermos.

At 3pm I said my farewell to Margaret and George and head off on the Southern Scenic route. My destination Riverton/ Aparima. I had intended to walk a little of the Humpback Track and explore Tuatapere. Unfortunately time was short so I just passed through. I stopped at Clifden Bridge for a photo. Entering Riverton from the north, the late spring sun cast a warm shadow and with the remnants of the once great fishing fleet, it appears a very picturesque village. This area should be protected. It currently fits wharf sheds quay and period housing. Should some shortsighted development happen, Riverton would lose most of its appeal to the visitor.

For a bed I only had one choice, ‘The Globe Hotel’. $30.00 got me a nice room with a queen bed and washstand. The bathroom, a long walk in the middle of the night. It's not ' The Great Ponsonby ' but it was clean and friendly. My host, Tia, recommended that I go to the other pub the Aparima and have the Blue Cod. The bar had a half dozen regulars talking Chevy engines and Kim the barmaid was a good sort. She works in a number of pubs and confides that she has occasionally forgotten where she is.

Tia and her husband Leon joined me. They had been there a year and previously lived in Melbourne for many years, returning to have a family was their intention. He is a photographer and works in Invercargill. Conversation was about the late spring snow that wiped out 90,000 Southland lambs. It will take some years for Southland to recover. Also many farmers are selling to other farmers who are doing dairy conversions. There is a possibility of another freezing works closure as well as shortened season in the works. All this definitely impacts economically on this region

I slept well and rose to a damp day. I kicked myself for not taking photos the day before and headed off to photograph some buildings. Riverton has a number of attractive buildings along Palmerston Street and also a very impressive giant Paua shell which has also featured on a New Zealand Post stamp. This is the high street and other streets are named after Indian places like Lucknow and Delhi. In Bath Street I went to the Fiordland Souvenirs factory shop where Nicola, a cheery sales woman, sold me a number of Paua shells. This is a busy workshop and gallery. The selection included good quality jewellery. At Mrs. Clarke Café, est. 1891, I feasted on smoked salmon and poached eggs. My orange juice freshly squeezed. Made with premium Havana coffee, from Wellington, my flat white is the best I have enjoyed in the South. The café is quite chic and busy – truck drivers, policemen, retired folk and firm bodied young mothers. Some of the conversation is about whether the dairying will work out when Fonterra establishes its huge farms in South America and China.

The previous night Leon had said there was nothing to hold young people and you could think he is correct looking at Mrs. Clarke’s punters. However the front page of the Southland Times yesterday was about the Riverton swimming pool and how the community raised $3,000,000 to resurface it. They also have a skateboarding park. There is also continuous fundraising for the Riverton sound shell.

In the 1960’s Riverton was Southland's Riviera. No Bridget Bardot, but Southland talent and the sound shell ran everything from talent quests to concerts with national stars performing to thousands of people. Colac Bay and its surf is still the talk of legend and young men still dream of joining them

Mrs. Clarke has a great menu and is open for breakfast, and morning and afternoon teas. Run by Patrick and Cazna Gilder who bake lots of the goodies and also make cheese rolls, (South Island sushi). This café is a must and is at 108 Palmerston Street. The local council has developed a Main Street plan, work is ongoing and Mrs. Clark is fortunate in having a bricked footpath and also lamps.
I visited the information centre and museum, Te Hikoi, The Southern Journey. My guide was a retired school teacher who provided me with an informative tour.

The museum is a tribute to all the races who have settled in the area and the industries and some of the folk lore that accompanies this history. It is a substantial investment in Western Southland which will provide another anchor for visitors and more importantly build on the already strong regional pride of these people.

On the highway outside of Riverton there is an overbridge of a long dead railway line. At Otautau I connected with a railway line that goes through to Mataura, the industrial town of Southland, with a freezing works and until a few years ago a paper mill. It was the only blue collar community of any size in this rich farming region.

Driving up through the middle of Western Southland, into the small hamlets, there is even a building owned by a pipe band club. Yes, from the Highlands of Scotland there is influence. Pipe bands and Scottish dancing clubs still flourish, along with the inflections of their language.

Southlanders roll their ‘r’s’ and speak in terms of wee, lass, lassie. (oh rubbish!) Their holiday homes are called cribs and solid brick Presbyterian Churches and yellow gorse are testament to their heritage. The Scottish highland town of Plocton where the TV series ‘Hamish McBeth’ was shot is a connection to Southland. The poor crofters were cleared off their land three times and on every occasion some emigrated to Southland.

These hardy people built settlements in some of the hardest land anywhere. I refer to the Catlin coast, which I write about later.

The trip took me to the isolated mining towns of Nightcaps and Ohai, then back through the farming towns of Winton and Dipton. They will never appear on a tourist map. Invercargill bound with Greg Johnson drifting in and out of my head

Nightcaps is alive and well with the open cast mine owned by Eastern of Australia and has a couple of schools, grocers, and a pub. The Nightcaps rugby team is still a force in Southland rugby. The town of Ohai has an open cast mine run by the State's Solid Energy. It appeared very dead. There are no shops, the pub is a house, and even the police station appeared unmanned. There were tidy brick units where retired miners live. Some of the larger houses are still occupied, but many are on the market.

Driving into the Solid Energy mine, all was quiet. A red ute drove by, stopping to enquire, as I took photos. He questioned me closely and after a few minutes Gary accepted it was for personal reasons. He rang the Eastern mine and spoke with the manager who seemed to be shocked that there would be a tourist up there but he welcomed me. I did. The manager, Mark, was also inquisitive about my reasons but opened up. He offered to take me around and asked if I knew anyone else who might be interested. Unfortunately it was raining heavily and I did not have the opportunity.

Mark's office was not grand. It was pre-fabricated unit and you would be forgiven for thinking this was a permanent feature. Mark is absolutely confident about the future of mining in Southland. The most interesting thing in his office was two picks which he believed may be close to 100 years old, and a map of all the underground shafts.

I then made my way to the Railway Hotel, which is absolutely flourishing. The Takatimu mine employs a number of contractors from out of town and the pub is where a lot of them reside. The public bar was warm, a fire is blazing, with a bucket of coal beside the wood burner – I think more for appearance than use. I buy a pint and chat with the publican. Brian is 40 something and has had pubs on the West Coast as well as Southland. He is affable and believes that Ohai may come alive soon as natural gas has been discovered. I told him that I am surprised that unlike the West Coast there are no monuments to miners, their history or culture, or even to record the lives lost in the dangerous underground industry. He is really unconcerned and told me there are some private museums. I expressed surprise, as I thought tourism would be helpful for his pub and for the community of Nightcaps.

Within weeks the nation is shocked by the loss of 29 miners at the Pyke River mine on the West Coast. There is something about mining, with its inherent dangers, and a respect for the people who work in this industry which touches the psyche of people everywhere. I bought a BBQ pork roll, before heading off into the rich farming district of Southland.

I wonder if that future generation will know of the hardships and the national Labour’ disputes that these Southland miners were involved in and how with their backs and some with their lives help build our nation. Once they had a strong identity and sense of community. They would have needed all that and some special qualities to have survived in such an isolated community.

Through Dipton, I think of Caza’s comments that at least around Nightcaps I would see some real farms. She was referring to sheep farms. She is not happy about dairy farms, the smell and the way they affect the waterways. She spoke of an uncle who had suffered significant losses of lambs and that he might have to take an offer from someone who wishes to convert to a dairy farm.

Sheep certainly are still the most prevalent animals around here. The land is lush and open. I reached Dipton to find there is little there. An engineering workshop, a dairy, a gift and fashion shop, and a Memorial Hall. There was no gas station or pub. Dipton is so dull it makes Bill English look interesting.

Winton, the Matamata of the south. It is rich and has some substantial buildings, however it was damp and I wanted to visit a few things in Invercargill. The Invercargill Information Centre is at the Southern Museum, which is set in the beautiful Queens Gardens. The museum has wonderful exhibits on nature and human settlement, with a current exhibition on Nga Tahu, the original settlers, now a powerful force in the South Island economy.

I made my way to the famous “Gerrards Hotel’, now back to its original name ‘The Victorian Railway Hotel”. It is owned and operated by Trudy and Eoin Read. They took it over in 2006 and closed it down to renovate and restore. They have done an amazing job and have won an award from the Invercargill City Council for this. It is also listed by the Historic Places Trust.

Trudy and Eoin are warm hosts who go out of their way to welcome you. It is a guest and host experience similar to what The Great Ponsonby offers. This is not a faceless hotel with plastic smiles, it is not a brand. It is quirky, interesting, and friendly. They offer a restaurant and have a bar for guests; however I wandered the streets to get a feel for our most southern city. I considered dining at Louis Café and Tapas bar but it was a cold evening and I needed the warmth of comfort food.

I found a bar/ restaurant, ‘The Kiln”. It was welcomingly warm and had a good crowd. I sat at the bar enjoying a pint, and dined on crumbed sweetbreads, a delicacy I had not eaten in 20 years, and oven baked blue cod. Both were exceptional. After dinner I wandered around, taking some photographs. Thankfully Invercargill has not done much 'development' damage and a number of fine buildings remain. I photographed a few, including the recently restored Opera House and of course the Victoria Railway House.

Returning to the hotel I met some guests including two couples, one English, the other Australian, in the house bar. We talked of Nightcaps and Trudy piped up that when she qualified as a teacher she headed off to Nightcaps in her old Morris 1100. She told of a wonderful community and how when the mines were corporatized, shops closed, and the heart was ripped out of these communities. All of us were interested in her story and surprised there was no monument to the miners and their industry in these coalfields.

I headed to Hayes Hardware shop to see the motorcycle collection which included Burt Munro's motorcycles. Another good reason to spend a couple of days in Invercargill. A credit to the city, are the public gardens. The populace also takes pride in their home gardens. Whether it be a doctor’s residence or worker’s cottage the gardens are well maintained and add to civic pride.

Next, a lunch date at Julie and Chris' farm near Clinton, a three-horse town on highway 93. Townie that I am, I shot past their gate and had to ring. Julie suggested she cycle down to meet me at the mailbox. Italy can even reach Clinton as she waits in style on her Italian Abici pushbike. It appears they're not all plebs in the south. It's a comfortable home with garden to match.

Julie's Mediterranean salad with roasted pepper, asparagus, and their own Limousine fillet beef cooked rare and beautifully marbled. It is a real treat. They run 4,500 sheep and smaller beef operation. Marketed by Hereford Prime, if you have the pleasure of eating this beef, you will most likely be dining at one of our top-end restaurants. Steve, Chris’s brother who farms nearby had unfortunately had an accident. Helicoptered from his farm to Dunedin Hospital in less than one and a half hours. Remarkable. Cell phones, helicopters, and ACC have certainly made farm life less isolated, comfortable, and safer.

Chris left to attend to Steve's farm. Meanwhile Julie produced a banana box of her grandfather's personal papers. Born in Armagh, County Down, Northern Ireland and a plumber by trade before arriving in NZ where he worked for the, once great, but no longer, firm called A & T Burt. He worked for the Union Steamship Co and during the war, from 1916 to 1917, served on the SS Maheno. Poignant letters and historic postcards record this experience and reveal a tender hearted man with a deep love for his family. This is interesting stuff and Julie has a few projects to work on. The stuff may well fit into Te Ari, the on-line encyclopedia of New Zealand.

Next, down the Owaka Valley. The sun was out, not a cloud and the land shines. Sheep graze and beef cattle look supreme. This was my first ever visit to the Catlins and I was in luck for three days. Yes, the Catlins are renowned for wind and rain, but the Sun Gods worked overtime for me.

Owaka is a small town with too many empty shops, a pub, restaurant, hairdresser, general store, grocer, a church or two. A great museum, I spent time there, but not enough. There were a number of books on the Catlins and of the shipwrecks on this wild coast. I took a double sided Catlins map, a heritage guide, and bought a book of highlights of the Catlins, as well a tea towel showing the ships that were lost. I also picked up a heritage trail brochure, which I used as my guide. The museum staff advised me that there are limited food and accommodation options in the Catlins.

I bought an ice cream at the grocer and mulled over whether I should buy some provisions too. I decided to chance it and drove to Fortrose, the southernmost point of the Catlins.

It was a wonderful drive and I went to all the viewpoints and beaches including Curio Bay. I didn’t find any sea lions, seals, porpoises, or penguins, but I did see a lot of kelp.

At Waipapa Point I visited the lighthouse built after the loss of the SS Tararua in 1881. This is our second major maritime tragedy in human terms. 131 of the passengers and crew lost their lives, including the captain, who was found accountable by a court of enquiry for navigational errors and not posting a proper lookout.

The lighthouse was manned with a lighthouse keeper and his family for 100 years. With the automation of the lighthouse in 1980, the cottages and other buildings were sold off. Tourism was not a major industry then and the cottages would have made a fine Catlins maritime museum. There has been over 650 years of maritime adventure on this coast. Maori certainly paddled their wakas and fished here.

As I drove to Tokanui, I waved to the backpackers eating dinner beside their vans, envious of their situation. On to Waikawa. Not much happening there but at Niagara Falls Cafe the gate was open. This was a great find. The restaurant busy. The maitre d and husband of the chef welcomed me with enthusiasm. I was surprised by the menu and with aromas wafting down from the galley, Johnny Cash playing in the background; I felt I had hit gold. These two are applying for New Zealand residency. I hope for them and the Catlin’s that they get it. Food of this quality and the warmth of the hosts are relatively few and far in this part of the world. It is in our national interest for them to stay.

I asked them to find me a bed. They did. I enjoyed seafood chowder made from local kai moana, and a main of blue cod. To drink, pale ale from an Invercargill brewery. Grace was; ‘thank the heavens that I found such a place.’

I made my way back to Waikawa towards the penguins. If I had waited to see penguins I could have driven back to Curio Bay to see them, but decide to see what my bed at the backpacker is like instead.

In the backpacker kitchen, two young couples (one French, one English) shared a meal. I paid the $50 after checking out my bed. Later we shared a bottle of red and I learnt they were staying a week to attend a surf school. They must have been hardier than they looked!

My bedroom was the cottage's main bedroom and had a queen bed. Fine for my basic needs. No doubt many romantic backpacking couples had been there before me, and were perfectly happy. My purpose, sleep. I managed to get some but in a bed that didn’t seem primarily designed for it.

Saturday
I took photos around Waikawa, including the Sea View accommodation, which would be my first choice. However with only two rooms, I could see it was full.

I visited the local cemetery overlooking the sea and was surprised by the infant mortality. If you could survive six months, you make it to your eighties. A harsh land and hard people.

Back at the Niagara Falls Café I enjoyed French toast, banana and bacon for breakfast. I met some of the other guests who also had dined there the night before. ‘The Catlin’s are a dream. ‘Everyone in Germany knows of the Catlins, Dirk, a banker from Colene told me. He said 97% of New Zealand has cell phone capacity, the Catlins doesn’t and he was having three days away from the phone. 'This is paradise’ he informed me.

Heading north, the road is tar sealed but remains beautiful. My first stop, McClean Falls. It is an easy walk and as soon as you start you hear the sound of water. The morning sun filtered by the bush provided a soft diffused light. At 22m tall, they are arresting the track was built by DOC, parents and students of Kings High School in Dunedin, and the New Zealand Employment Service. Kings High school is well established and perhaps more than 130 years old. Its zone is the wealthy St Clair and working class South Dunedin. I know two of its pupils, and they reflect much of the quality of this school, the suburbs they grew up in, and their families too.

One is Chris Laidlaw who currently hosts National Radio's Sunday morning radio show. Chris is a former parliamentarian, diplomat, and All Black. The other is Gary Parsloe, a seafarer unionist, who holds national office in the maritime union, and the international labour movement. He was also a good rugby halfback. Both men are respected and made considerable contributions nationally and internationally. One might accept a knighthood, one would not. One is republican, the other not, but both in a way are representative of Kings High School, this track, and how it could happen.

As you turn off to this walk, there is a good quality café and accommodation option. I enjoyed coffee and giant scones with fresh cream and homemade jam at The Whistling Frog www.whistlingfrogcafe.com, owned and operated by a Kiwi and San Francisco couple. Paul and Lynn are obliging and provide useful information to get the most from your time in the Catlin’s. They thoughtfully have built a complex that doesn’t detract from its situation and has many accommodation options.

Cathedral Caves is another natural wonder. However, to visit them depends on the tide. The tide was in and my luck was out.

Forestry and sawmilling were major activities in the Catlins to the 1950’s. The Lenz reserve 550 ha contains some walks in the forest and also a display quite close to the road of a bush railway and machinery. It is worth a look, and the quality of the walks available would need at least a day or so.

My next stop was Lake Wilkie, an easy walk with a boardwalk only a short distance from the road. It is surrounded by regenerating forest.

I stopped again to walk for an hour up the estuary, at Papatowai. A score of Oystercatcher calls accompanied my walk.

I took the back road to the Purakannui falls. A short walk in and the discovery of a Salvation Army couple exchanging marriage vows. Bridesmaids in high heels teetering on the uneven pathway, while hymns sung out to an accompaniment of roaring water- fall. A dramatic event.

Time running out. I missed Jack's Bay and Blow Hole, and headed onto the Lumberjack Café in Owaka. A group of middle-aged motorcyclists were tucking into steak. For lunch, I chose battered blue cod and chips, washed down with a pint of Speights.

At the Nugget's, and Kaka Point, the sea was crashing. A fleet of campervans were on the metal road to Nugget Point. Climbing the narrow track to the lighthouse I could feel the force as the sea broke through the rocks. Kaka Point was larger than I thought. For a decade or more, it was the home of one of our greatest poets, Hone Tuwhare. Part of the mystery was why did this sociable man with a thousand friends choose to spend his last years at Kaka Point, where nature is far from kind?

Balclutha with its beautiful bridge. A most attractive architectural feature.
They seem bent on destroying any building of merit in this town. It is possibly the Bogan capital of Aotearoa. Yes ACDC rules here.

Up the river to the former mining town of Kaitangata on its banks. This is where the mighty Clutha River meets the sea. The aroma of the Finegand Freezing Works, that greets you as you enter Balclutha.

Kaitangata, the home of black gold, has a pub and it's clean and tidy. Up on a hill its residents enjoy good sun and have bountiful gardens. The town may not be rich but the household gardens have a value which is great to see - the homes are simple but their gardens provide a natural beauty.

There is no visible tribute to the industry that built the town, only a small coal wagon. One of our recent All Blacks, Tony Brown, hails from here.

Another ice cream at the dairy/takeaway bar, as boys sipped cokes and watched the girls opposite walk by. I drove slowly as I headed north, contemplating the trip and how I would write it all up

Dunedin and to the Brothers Boutique Hotel. Rod, the owner greeted me like a long lost friend. My travel of the Southern Scenic Trail all wound up.

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Buenos Aries to Rasairo by Train

2011-01-23T22:34:00.000-08:00

Argentina

Friday May 7, 2010

I rise with the birds and I take a taxi to Retiro station. The sun is shining, through the diffuse light. The autumn leaves add an orange tint to the green parks and plazas. Even the sleeping drunks and homeless at San Martin look good in the morning light
Ritiro station look as grand as the original railway barons 100 years ago instructed their architects to create.
The station is a hub of activity with doughnut bakers and newsagents selling their products. Workers hurry to the buses and taxis others walk off to go to their work clutching their bags in case pickpockets are lurking nearby.

-Retiro Station

I make my way to platform 8 which is full of families and merchants with bags full of wears to take up to Tucuman which is eighteen hours away (I am happy that my trip to Rosario is a mere six hours). The families loaded up with Hessian bags and cartons are heading to tourist class. Young children smiling and laughing who perhaps should be at school drag huge bags across the concourse. Humongous looking men pushing barrels who look as if they could kill hustle for trade and they are getting plenty of custom. A smiling girl is carrying a 20L container of fresh food, obviously for their family lunch.

Today is the 91 birthday of Evita
Celebrations are taking place all over Argentina. In Retiro women are holding their rosary beads bent over in corners praying for her soul. They know the tangible and phyiscologal benefits that Evita bought to their families

Today at the Recoletata cemetery hundreds will come to lay flowers on her tomb and pay their respects
\

-Train to Tucuman (There were more than 30plus carriages).

When the massive humanity has moved off the platform I make my way down to check out my seat. I have booked a recliner seat and my carriage is clean. In fact it reminds me of the trains we used to travel on in the 1960’s. My seat is comfortable. The other passengers have a real interest in me as gringos do not travel by train.
[In fact middle class Argentineans and tourists travel by long distance buses. I had previously taken a bus from Salta to Mendoza and in a first class sleeper. And if unadventurous, it was certainly comfortable]
. One of the passengers takes me and shows me the restrooms and the restaurant which are all clean and the smell of the coffee percolates into the neighbouring carriages.
The train leaves on time at 9.55am and slowly makes its way through the marshalling yards. At the last minute a slim woman with long curly hair, long leather boots, looking quite hip sits herself down beside me. Her name is Monica and she is from Tucaman. We do not share a common tongue but my language guide provides a happy medium. I discover quickly that she has adult children and has a boutique in Tucaman and like the rest of them, she has been down to Buenos Aires to buy stock and also some perfume. In fact, my language book turns out to be quite a hit. She also has discovered the page about commerce and how to buy things including discounts. She writes the English translation down to the Spanish words. Other passengers are intrigued by her activity. She explains what it is. And my translation book disappears out of my sight for about an hour as all the other merchants in the train write down these commercial terms. In fact later on in the trip I gave a small lesson on pronunciation of these terms. I rock off to sleep and get a good hour kip. The train is making good speed and the whole line is double tracked. In every carriage there is a water cooler and polystyrene cups and keep the carriage and toilets clean.
There is a constant stream of people with their thermos flasks going down to the cafeteria to refill them to keep their beloved matte continuously flowing. The view out the window is a picturesque little towns occasionally dotted between large cattle farms and also some alfalfa and soy bean. Some of the towns we passed through have very attractive semi detached houses not unlike we have at home. Then from out of the blue from what seems nowhere a shanty town appears.

Beautiful brick railway stations fly by, a few look sad but most are maintained and look as strong and impressive as a locomotive. My ticket for a very comfortable recliner seat was only 29.5 pesos or approximately US$8. Economics were not the driver for my trip but purely adventure. And I would do this trip again. In fact the final destination Tucaman is worth a visit for some days and also the next stop at the town of Salta where I stayed 9 days.

Actually you could do a trip from Buenos Aires, stopping in Rosario for some days, get back on the train and travel another 6 hours to Salta and more days there and then on to Tucaman. This would be a great trip for those who are into trains and prefer adventure as opposed to a boring if comfortable bus.

Rosario

Rosario is world famous for being the birth place of Che Guevara. In fact Che, 30 years on, has sparked a tourist boom. People used to come and look at the building where he was born in, which is now a bank and the traffic became so much they have made a memorial at the Plaza de la Cooperacion.

-Che Guevara Memorial

There is now a Che Guevara hostel that you can stay in opposite his old home. And stone the crows there is a five star hotel opposite his memorial. There is a news agent there with a successful business selling the international herald tribune and other international publications and off course postcards, magnets and other paraphernalia of Che

. I arrived in Rosario booked into my wonderful Bed and Breakfast. Lungomare Trieste (www.lungomarebb.com). This is one of Rosario’s best kept secrets and a great home from home experience. The house is Catalan in style and the five bedrooms are brightly coloured and all have private bathrooms. A discovery on the roof terrace is a plunge pool. It is ideally suited for discovering Pichincha.
Pichincha is also where the railway station is sited and is now the cities hippest barrio. Once it was a nefarious like the old Montmartre of Paris.

I was met by the cheerful Alejandra who welcomed me like a long lost friend. After a welcome drink I hyped off with my map and went for a walk down to the Macro which is a modern art gallery situation in old grain silos painted in pastel colours.

-Macro Modern Art Gallery

I head off along the river bank soaking in the fresh air and the river views. I take a left turn where families and happy children are queuing up for a circus and opposite them was what looked like a pretty tough neighbourhood. I took a turn away from there and in chanced to meet a woman outside a shop who gave me directions back to my B&B and some bars and cafes. Flor and her friend Vanessa a firm bodied 34 year old architect invited me in for a drink.

Saturday morning I rise and go to the café boulevard Organ for toast and coffee. This is a deli café which serves continuous meals all day, boxes of food, tins of olives, crates of wine sit beneath the well stocked shelves and in front of a chillier of freshly prepared interesting and healthy looking food. The owner and host is colourful and smiling. His chef is jovial, good natured and can cook. I was to return later that night to have my evening meal where the food was warm and hearty and the clientele is local.

Herman and Daniela are a couple from Rosario who I had met a folk club in Salta.
I meet after lunch Herman and two of his friend’s brothers Javier and Sebastian. Sebastian lived and worked in New Zealand in 2009. New Zealand could not have a better ambassador than this young man. They are my hosts for the afternoon. We drive around the extensive river bank of river Parana which has got beautiful waterfront buildings which are in the process of restoration and the oldest used railway stations have been restored and are used as public amenities. The Parana River is the second largest in the Americas and flows from Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean. In Rosario it forms a huge Delta with lots of small islands and waterways. We also visit the Plaza de 25 and Mayo. There is a massive monument The Monumento Nacional a la Bandera. This is a monument to their national flag. It extends a block and is entirely made of concrete. It has a large viewing tower where there are 360degree views it also has an amphitheatre with wide steps as seating. A band is setting up for a concert as we wandered by. Argentine families including young children are wearing ribbon in blue and white which are the national colours and some young children have even bought their own flag. A continuous gas flame to the Unknown Soldier has a number of women dressed in black who are praying to the unknown soldiers who have lost their lives. Near the river is a monument for those who lost their lives in the Malians. This has again become a conversation topic and is an issue which is destined never to go away.

-Monumento Nacional a la Bandera

British oil companies have struck oil and the Argentine President Kircher has asked Hilary Clinton to mediate between Argentina and Great Britain to see a satisfactory settlement can be achieved over this disputed land. This land is known to the British and the Falkland islands where a war was fought in 1983. The Argentinean generals and dictators gave Margaret Thatcher the tools to win a landslide victory in 1983. This enabled her to entrench Thatcherism into the British economy and vocabulary.

Local’s camp, kayak, sail and fish in this natural maritime wonderland. There is a fish market with several fish mongers selling the fish which the river yields. This is near the stunning Puente Rosario-Victoria Bridge completed in 2006 which links the Rosario and Victoria provinces. Redundant river boats sit at piers and a modern day Che would take this bridge rather then a river boat and miss the adventures of some of his youth. This bridge along with the Macro gallery of contemporary arts set in a former serious of silos boldly painted in green, violet, blue and magenta give a 21st century look to Rosario. Rosario is a surprising find with hip café’s, bars and beautiful renaissance buildings. Cycling kayaking and walking options enable you to get a real feel for the city. As I have said before the creative use the wharf warehouses and old railway stations. As public amenities help give this a real 21st century feel. They still have a considerable stock of empty warehouses but the well respected socialist local government which has been elected now for three continuous terms has an ongoing renovation project and some of them are being used as stadiums for their volleyball and basketball teams.

Football is a religion and is present in most conversations .The coming world cup and the qualities of the various Argentine players are a known quality .Their concern is that will Maradonna be able to weld a world cup winning team .
They sympathise with me when I explain that this is the second time that New Zealand has made the draw and that we are against Brazil .

There is talk of improving railway services to fast modern trains, although this will certainly bring economic benefits to the region I would hate for it to kill off the old slow express.
Train travel will never appeal to some but to others is addictive and trains like this are a pleasure

-Puente Rosario-Victoria Bridge

The boulevard Orona is a beautiful street that stretches for 30 blocks. It has a central promenade which is beautifully sculptured public seats during the day grandparents watch their grandchildren play hop scotch and the old men play chess sipping their matte. During the night it is well illuminated as people promenaded. This is no boulevard of broken dreams.

Rarotonga November 2010 - A South Seas Paradise

2011-01-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

Sally and I talked about a holiday in the wonderful Pacific again, regular travelers, we have been to many places, but the Pacific is on our doorstep. We love the weather; we love the friendliness of the Polynesian people and Melanesians. It is a great place to go and relax. We grabbed from Air New Zealand a “Grab-a-Holiday”. Let’s Go!

RAROTONGA

When we saw a wonderful deal from Air New Zealand, Sally and I decided to go to Rarotonga. We left in late November on an afternoon flight. Before we left, we called a taxi, and Joe our smiling driver lifted our suitcases with ease into the boot of his LPG powered Falcon. Yes he was a big man and he generously

exploded into a grin when we mentioned our destination was the Cook Islands. He said ‘those beautiful Islands, named after the great explorer’. He had never been there, but knew them by reputation. This is high praise coming from a Samoan. That country is also a stable Polynesian paradise.

We arrived at the airport and Joe helpfully got a trolley for us and lifted our bags out of the back of his car and we made our way in. As we were flying on a Works Deluxe Package with Air New Zealand we were able to go to the premium check-in. There we met Karen, a friend who has a retail shop on Jervois Road. She also has a French Bulldog Foxy, who is a good friend of our dog Hemi. Karin, who works in the rag trade, in a very niche market company she works for, Yvonne Bennetti we caught up in the Koru Lounge, she, like all, told us to have a wonderful time. She herself has been to Rarotonga and had great fun. She particularly liked the wind whistling through her hair as she road a motorcycle. She also mentioned that what you spend in the Pacific Islands stays in the Pacific Islands, benefiting the local economy, it’s not exported. I thought that was pretty wonderful.

Sally and I had missed lunch, so we tucked into a lentil and kidney soup, and a portion of shepherds pie. Karen is surprised that we eat this, but I explain that the menu on the Island flights is a little lighter these days than the Trans-Pacific, and that we had missed lunch. We all bemoaned that there are no nibbles or nuts to have with the drinks. Karen has a Pinot Noir and Sally a Chardonnay, while I sip on a Sauvignon Blanc made by Tony Visitich who is a winemaker from Westbrook, which is so good I have another glass.

Our new Air New Zealand Airbus 320 was filled and we were lucky enough to be in the old business class seats. Sally and I made a comment to the purser where is the Qualmark Enviro Gold sign given the plane. Air New Zealand is more than a great airline; it is also a profitable one. A rare thing these days, it also takes the environment seriously and has been a major global player on sustainability. It is also positively proud of its Qualmark gold award. At The Great Ponsonby, not only Sally and I but also the whole crew, are also very proud of our Qualmark Enviro Gold award.

When we get into our seats Sally is very happy. They are large, leather, and quite plush. But she is going mad with her new cell phone, and it is driving her crazy. Karen had suggested a new I-phone to connect to her I-pad and Mac computer. They are both Apple advocates and addicts.

Our flight crew is very friendly and the work on this route is pretty high-pressured, they are running around non-stop. But the atmosphere is set up with the innovative and humorous Air New Zealand safety video using the All Blacks, their coaches children dressed in provincial colours and a mature women as a streaker. It is fun, effective, and holds your attention. However something happened and the streaker and the camp kiss have gone

The crew is quickly off the mark getting the servings happening. We fly regularly, and although Air New Zealand is our airline of chose, sometimes they are not flying the routes we are, or we have been spontaneous and have not been able to get a seat. Air New Zealand flight crews are very good. This particular crew on flight ANZ48 stepped up to the mark and beyond. They are real ambassadors for Air New Zealand. There was no difficulty in getting a second scotch and soda and they really looked after us. In fact anything we wanted they seemed to do in a jiff. We were ahead of schedule and it was a really good flight.

Air New Zealand is fighting hard to keep their position as the Pacific’s leading airline. They do know the Pacific, they fly the Pacific regularly. Business class may soon be a distant memory on any Pacific flights. Air New Zealand is being innovative as it launches Pacific and Tasman flights with four fare structures on board. You have a basic seat and bag option, and other options are a full service deluxe package that we are flying with. I would really recommend it.

We are first through customs when we arrived in Rarotonga avoiding the queues at the duty free shop, which may have been a mistake considering the Pacific’s cheapest tobacco and there are hardened tobacco addicts getting their supplies.

As soon as we arrive through customs they put a lei around our neck and give us a bottle of water each, which is pretty amazing. Our transfer to the Edgewater Hotel – we were first on the bus at reception, however two misfortunes happened simultaneously. One our booking at the hotel is a day forward, and the second an anal retentive receptionist who wanted to complete an FBI enquiry into our booking. Other guests behind us were getting frustrated after a long flight and wandering what the hell was going on. In fact I would describe them as bewildered. The Edgewater do have spare rooms, and after what seems like an eternity the receptionist agrees to give us a room and sort it out later.

Our rooms are comfortable and three star. We crash for the night and sleep well. Breakfast by the pool is wonderful. It is pleasant and children are splashing in the pool as we eat our fruit platters.

We check out without any fuss thankfully. The Budget Car Rental offices are open, so we get a car, which is fun. I get a temporary license, which allows me to drive to the police station to register it. We have a small Nissan convertible, which is like a Noddy car, which in the heat is wonderful. Rarotonga, as everyone knows, is beautiful, and the road follows the coast. Motorcycles are popular and with a maximum speed limit of 50km per hour you are able to get a really safe ride and take risks here more than you would be prepared to at home.

We visit the Saturday market, which is a bright and colorful affair. Families sell their produce, tropical fruits, eggplants, and other vegetables. There is also a fishmonger and people selling handcrafts and brightly coloured straw hats, fruit bands, and sarongs. It really is wonderful. Black pearls are a high value product, and the dealers range from families who are selling what they have dived for to pay the university fees for their children in New Zealand, and professional dealers who know the world price and supply a very good product.

We drive out to the Rarotongan Resort. We are warmly welcomed and within minute’s a flute of punch in our hands. Bill, our receptionist, is professional and helpful. There is also a mistake in our booking, which affects all our plans. I wait while Bill the front office manger offers Sally a range of different room options and I am happy to just go with the flow. I am on holiday. We will spend our first two nights in a luxury honeymoon suite; this has a spa bath and internal hot tub, as well as steam room and sauna. Seems crazy in Rarotonga, but they do get a mild winter, so German and Scandinavian honeymooners will be well catered for with these options.

We lunch by the pool, Sally chooses a chicken salad and I have a grilled fish burger. Both excellent choices, we enjoy a litre of Sangria a good choice anywhere on a hot day. We wander around the resort, which is spread along the best beach in Rarotonga. It comprises two resorts; The Sanctuary, which is a childfree resort and The Rarotongan, which is very child friendly. Both are great options, and both have high quality kitchens.

I look for the sports section of Saturdays Herald. Sally has dumped it without consultation, World War 3 erupts. We have an hour’s kip, or try to as I stew. That evening drive to Little Polynesia, which is Lonely Planet’s top choice for accommodation.

We are the dinner guests of two of our guests Peter and Elizabeth Angel. Peter is in Corporate Law in Oxford, and we talk and speak of Rugby and league. Peter also looks after some of the interests of that venerable institution founded in 1215, Oxford University. John Hood, the New Zealander who got the top job there, is not so respected he tells us, and has managed to get off side with many of the people, including his friends. John’s friend or some would say girlfriend Judy, had got on well with people and been really successful.

Little Polynesia boasts a great kitchen. Sally and I both had scallops poached in white wine and herbs. Our main was a local fish called Miamia, which was beautifully cooked, pan-fried with grilled eggplant on the plate. I settled on the local lager, Matutui, which is yeasty and well rounded. Peter, Elizabeth and Sally shared a bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. We said goodnight after a really wonderful meal in which we enjoyed their company, and promised to drop back tomorrow Dick Scott’s Years of the Pooh Bah, The History of the Cook Islands Trading Company, and The Cook Islands to Independence of 1967.

We spent Sunday morning around the pool at The Sanctuary after a great tropical breakfast and copious cups of moderately strong coffee. I enjoyed reading The Rough Guide, to The Rolling Stones. We met a New Zealand double Olympian in rowing Eric Murray and his wife, who are on honeymoon after a four-year delay. She is a horsewoman, which is major employment industry in their hometown of Cambridge. They were chilling out as Eric had won the National Champs at Lake Karapiro the previous week.

Main highway in Rarotonga

Sally and I drive out to Little Polynesia to give Peter and Elizabeth The Year of the Pooh Bah. It has gone 2pm and most of the cafes have closed. We find Delicious an Internet café with really good coffee, sandwiches, and Maitai larger. When we get to Little Polynesia we stop to talk to Peter and Elizabeth. Their suite is a real stunner, external bath and shower, and views of the water from the king bed.

We circumnavigate, stopping at a church and are back at The Rarotongan within an hour. Some hard case ladies we discover are actually rednecks from Mosgiel are in fine form singing the praises of the waterfront bar called the Whatever where they had partied the night before. By all accounts a pale imitation of the Banana Court of colonial times. This couple was plumbers and they were large employers in Mosgiel, a former Mill town in Otago. They came to Auckland to see the Rolling Stones on their last Auckland visit, and by chance socialized in the house bar with Mick Jagger and the other Stones. A Lovely couple from Murrays Bay is also hanging out at the pool. He is a customs agent and she is a nurse. She has given more pricks than we have had hot dinners. The pool scene also includes a couple of Australian women who are in their seventies. They quaff white wine with a good patter and are very amusing. Yes very Kath and Kim.

Sally and I dine in the Tipina restaurant at the resort, enjoying a set piece Japanese banquet. It is a really fine meal, which we partner with a Hawke’s Bay Gewurztraminer. The Poolside, drinkers have shifted nearer to the bar and have a great head of steam on. Their racist redneck views provide us with the excuse to head to our room.

Monday morning we change rooms, a downgrade which actually works better for us. No spa, and a smaller room, but upstairs there are sea views and a small deck. It is wonderful. I wrote my notes from here, drinking beers and sipping some coffees.

Back at the pool in the morning we meet a young New Zealand couple from the Mount. The husband is a wandering minstrel who teaches music at a number of Bay of Plenty High schools. He is heavily tattooed, she less. They are on their honeymoon too and a really interesting and fun couple. She is a photographer who develops much of her own black and white film.

In the pool a couple of thirtyish mothers who have escaped from their children for the morning. One is Australian and the other French. They are both sharing non-alcoholic cocktails. They know what they want, and would rather be here than San Tropez. I agree. It is a really warm day and Sally and I are content to spend much time in the pool. Eventually we pry our way from it, jump into the convertible and drive to The Salt Water Café for lunch. Sally chose poached eggs on toast, I had a fish burger which is yellow fin tuna and tastes great. We speculate about the domestic arrangements of the couple that run the restaurant. He is a German, thirtyish, and holds the lease. A Thai woman, who works the front, cooks the menus, and a Rarotongan woman washes the dishes. With a large personality is part of the show too. Her body language indicates it is not necessarily a German/Thai coupling.

We drive off towards Avarua stopping at a duty free gallery. This is a real find, pearls, paintings, and painted waka. Even a Tavavae is on display. This is the first one we have actually seen since we have been here.

Tavavae is a traditional village craft, the woman would all work on the same piece for weeks, sometimes even months. Modern life now takes preference. Perhaps if we were to go to some of the outer islands we may strike it lucky and find some.

We drive into Avarua to explore the shops. Sadly nothing takes our fancy. There isn’t a large selection, and also better quality can be found in Auckland, Apia, and Suva. We check out the watering holes. Sadly the Banana Court is now reduced to about 20% of its original size, and is a very tame coffee bar. They have also converted some of it into Shops and a takeaway bar. It has lost its charm and some of the infamous stories of yesteryear will now only live as legends in the memories of older people. Whatever bar is an upstairs bar, which is essentially a large deck which benefits from a cool breeze. It is happy hour, and my DB Export is only $3.00. Sally has a Tui Blonde, and we share a small bowl of nachos and salsa from Master foods for $15.00. The proprietor is a thirty-year-old Cook Island Maori; he is friendly and has two firm young blonds as crew who are ready for action. Sixties soul music plays through the sound system. Obviously this is a place for fun.

Our next stop is a venue called Trader Jacks where Beaver, the singer, had a residency for quite a time. Sadly Beaver is no longer with us, having passed away a little time back. Trader Jacks is a very nice spot on the waterfront and favoured by the local business elite and government officials. It also has good food and is a pretty hip place to hang out. We enjoy a beer on the pier as Iron men and Iron Women head off for a 16km paddle. There is also a large waka with a lot of crew hanging around it. There are going to be Vaka Elva event starting this following week, it will attract over 2000 people and return millions of much needed dollars to the Raratongan economy as well as installing much pride in the populace . It is the Waka event in the pacific.

We go to the post office to do some basic things. Back at the hotel we have a swim in the sea then retire to our deck for a beer. We dine at the Tipani Restaurant. Sally has Nasi Goreng, and I settle for a butter chicken. The other guests in the restaurant in a thin blonde American Rasta who sits cross legged at the bar eating noodles. A family is enjoying a banquet of really fine food.

And of course more Australian honeymooners nibbling their food while concentrating on each others eyes.

William, our kiwi raised bar tender is in fine form maintaining a repartee whilst mixing and serving cocktails. Pretty tough job! The plumbers who have ridden in the motorcycle convoy have just had their last drinks and steaks at the Whatever Bar, and are back to pay the bill and have a final drink before they fly. Personally I can’t say I will miss them, the resort may though, they were really good value at the bar, and good spenders.

A lone Australian who is swigging his second Carlton Crown joins us for a conversation about the Rarotongan general election which is taking place tomorrow. Tim works for an international organization, NGO, and spends half the year in the Pacific. He hopes that one party will get a majority, but fears another coalition government. The individual constituents are very small and it is possible that one family can win a seat. He also hopes they can choose a Prime Minister with a national and regional vision. The staff at the resort we talked with are voting for the old democratic party.

Tuesday is Election Day. We woke up to a wet day, and on my stroll to breakfast I meet the old birds from Queensland – the Kath and Kim’s. They ask me how I am doing and how do I feel, when I answer ‘fine and dandy’ their response is fast and classic ‘self praise is no recommendation’.

The breakfast area is virtually empty; I take a seat near the beach, but make a retreat when the wind whips a little rain in. Kath and Kim arrive and pass humored comments like that it is a nice little breeze. Nothing will stop them from having a good time. They are part of group of 50+ from Queensland, and all I can see are fit tanned 70 plus widows. Everyday for them is an adventure, it is wonderful to see.

The damp day quickly dries out around midday but the sky remains grey. The sun is allowed to break through from time to time.

We had lunch at Le Bon Vivant, a French Café/deli. Jamie, our young kiwi waitress, is friendly, chatty, and has a great sense of humour. She also makes the best coffee we have had so far. Sally has a fish pie which is excellent; my brie and ham sandwich is equal to anything on Ponsonby Road.

We discover The Art studio at Aorangi owned by Kay and Ian George who have one of the Pacific’s finest galleries. Kay designs a range of fabrics and items of clothing, wall hangings, table placemats, curtains, cushion covers, which evokes the Pacific and its region. Paintings are by Ian and are uniquely striking. Visitors to Rarotonga who are interested in art should make this their first port of call. Ian is a well known art curator through the high schools around the Cook Islands. Previous to that he lived in Rotorua where he also been Head of Art at the local high school. Kay has a degree in art from AUT.

We dined in the famous Tamarind house Restaurant. The food was tasty, involving island fruit, petals, and fish. Lamb and beef was also available. I choose a mild curried shrimp served in half a papaya, and yellow tuna served on rice with more papaya. Amazing food. It would probably, without doubt, be one of the finest restaurants in the Pacific, including New Zealand and Australia. Sally has a raw fish dish served in taro leaves, and also the tuna. We choose a 2008 Shingle Peak chardonnay as our wine. All choices work well. The restaurant is situated in the old Union Steamship Company manager’s home which was owned by a former employer of mine in the 1980’s. It was then bought by the local Solicitor General and British Consul. Sue Caruthers the current owner has developed much of it into restaurant and extended the verandahs out towards the sea. There is a huge lawn which goes right to the waters edge. The Union Steamship Company, or the Southern Octopus as it is known, has certainly used its influence to ensure they got the best position I think anywhere in the Pacific. I may have made a fine manager in this location. There are a lot of photographs around the walls of old Rarotongan ship visits by the Royal Mail line. But sadly none of the Union company fleet, the Tofua and Matua and regular callers here.

In Rarotonga today there have been so far three finds. They are the hotel where we stay, Kay Gregory’s gallery, and the Tamarind House Restaurant. New find number four is Truffle Garden Café. The garden stretches from the inland road to the sea. Seven acres of gardens developed over many years, it is the Garden of Eden. The walks are stimulating and wheel chair friendly. They also have a nursery with plants for sale. The café has many choices which cater to most tastes. Much of the produce is from the gardens, and like all of the chicken we have had so far is organically free range. Yes, you can tell the difference.

The next day we fly to Aitutaki our flight is delayed for thirty minutes. We can’t buy a Cook Island News anywhere. They are always sold out and it appears it is almost a conspiracy. However a friendly café attendant gives us a copy of Thursdays which has the Local Government election results. It is a landslide to the opposition Cooks islands Party even if Norman George and another colorful character make it back it is a real result and can only be good news for the Cook Islands.

We read the New Zealand Herald on line and discover the Pyke River tragedy where 29 miners are trapped in the mine. This is really sobering – Sally’s father and my grandfather were miners Sally’s actually on the West coast. We both recall the Strongman mine disaster of and pray that this is not a sequel.

Our café attendant is a kiwi Raratongan a bright young lass who is also doing a design course and is most confident .

We board our Air Rarotongan flight. Our plane is a Saab and is more than comfortable for our 45 minute flight.Flying into Aitutaki the island is surrounded by a turquoise sea and is strikingly beautiful.

We land and frangipani leis are placed over our heads and are offered chilled coconut juice in the shell. Two other guests, a retired English couple from Plymouth, join us on our trip to the resort. This involves a van and a small boat trip. We are welcomed by a warrior playing a clam shell flute; we were all blown away by the warmth of the welcome. Sally and I are delighted, we’ve been upgraded to a lagoon villa from a garden villa, it is a stunner, and the lagoon is just a hop skip and a jump away. We lunch at the beach front café, sharing a margarita pizza and a couple of beers. We meet and chat with the resort manager, Rob. He is originally from Birmingham and has been at the resort for over 11 years, he started as the engineer. He is very affable and an open warm soul.

We talk about hurricanes, and costs, and how challenging and fun the business is to be in. Some years are almost biblical in how long it takes to make a profit. The sky is open and we shelter at the café a while. We spend the afternoon looking at our view and listening to our music.

We dine at the resort restaurant, BBQ Mahi and vegetables. Our baked potatoes with sour cream are in tin foil. It maybe 70’s style, but they are great.

With four other guests we go out on a guided pub crawl. Our first stop is a Rainforest bar. It is a shed in the bush where they make home brew. It is a male refuge where we are treated to a concert – it is wonderful. The next watering hole is a fishing club on the waterfront, a container tacked onto an open plan cargo shed

Run by a couple of knockabout Aussies, enjoying a sea breeze and is a good spot, although the mosquitoes do wear saddlebags.

Our Aussie companions are Mark and Tina from Sydney and Nathan and Emma from Melbourne. All are great fun and we are enjoying ourselves. Our final bar, Crusher, is the local disco and perhaps the most happening scene, especially to see the young cook islanders dancing and enjoying themselves. But the consensus of all was that the highlight of the night was the Rainforest Club. The night would not have been as much fun without our host Mata and James who was our driver. They were wonderful hosts and really looked after us all.

Non-honeymooners are a rare sight on this island, it will good again to be in normal company. Just joking, we could easily stay and wish we had been here a lot longer.

Saturday: Lagoon Cruise

Bishop Cruises. The sun gods repaid with interest any who had complained about the previous grey day. The sun bit the skin and smiles delight were visible everywhere. Our boat crew of four had been our hosts and part of the choir at the Rainforest bar the night before. Additional crew was a nine year old boy from Glen Innes and a fifteen year old girl from Papatoetoe. Education does come in many shapes and sizes. As we cruise out of the lagoon sail boats are assembling into an armada. They are the local kid’s trialing to be in the Aitutaki school team for the Pacific cup competition in April next year. I wonder how many of these will become part of around the world race teams for America’s cup sailors. Sailing and navigation are well and truly part of Pacific folklore and life. Our cruise has around 50 people; at least 20 couples were honeymooners, some German pensioners and a Tongan NZ couple. The later are Southern Sting and Commonwealth Gold medal winning netballer Daneka Wipiiti and her Southland and Highland rugby player husband Joe Tuineau. After about an hour we stopped at a great swimming beach where the TV series Shipwrecked was filmed. Our next stop was for snorkeling. The coral is dead but schools of tropical fish are a wonderful delight to swim amongst. We stopped for lunch at One foot Island where you can get a stamp in your passport for $2.50. WE enjoy a BBQ with Marlin and salads and a concert care of the ship’s crew. We also explore the island and swim. We return about 4.30pm and dine at the boatshed café with a Huntly miner and his wife we shout them dinner, as we bore the bad news about the Pike River tragedy. They were very concerned as they have friends who have gone down there to work. This is not the news you want to hear on your honeymoon. Sally and I offer some moral support, sally had rung her father a - 97 year old former mining engineer - who had serious concern about the gas in the mine.

Sunday:

We go to church at the CICC church which was built in 1828 making it one of the oldest churches in the Pacific. The church is not longer filled to the rafters even with the three parishes of today from around Aitutaki. So there is plenty of room for the 20 or so tourists present. We are treated to an amazing concert. Sally and I are privileged to have a soprano behind us. Some of the hymns, including How Great We Are and Old Langsyne we recognize and are able to sing to. After the service, we are invited to a substantial morning tea from the church hall. Our driver says grace. I have a chat with David a builder from New Plymouth who is in charge of the third and fourth phase of the re-construction after Cyclone Pat ripped through Aitutaki February 2010. He tells it is progressing well and he has 95 really competent and committed cook island staff working with him. Cyclone Pat damaged 89% of the housing stock. David acknowledges the churches as an essential partner in this reconstruction. Their churches are where all gather in an emergency, they are the focus of the community. Like their NZ counterparts they have an increasing number of non- attendees at services, but when there is a need, they all come back. We lunch at the Koro café, the choice of food is typical Ponsonby Rd style and they also have handicrafts available along with WIFI. Sally and I both eat fish - I have a fish burger and Sally fish and chips. Sally checks email using the new (and sometimes frustrating) Ipad. I check the NZ Herald online to see the news about Pike River.

The Koro café is run by a Kiwi/Cook Island couple. Dad is running the kitchen with a baby in a papoose on his back. His wife runs front of house, supervising her Aunties who are her serving staff. The café also has a modern house attached to it and they have a couple of waterfront bungalows you can rent. This enterprise has been created by Mum and Dad retiring from Auckland where they owned a house of Franklin Rd. The sale of this house, which had been the family home for a generation, created this business. Not a bad result in working class terms for a life’s work. We spend the afternoon reading, swimming and listening to music.

Monday James drives up to the Needle and we climb the 120 meters to the top in the company of a Lebanese Marinite Christian couple from Sydney. They are good humoured, but also unprepared jandal wearers for this hike.

In the afternoon we frolic in the lagoon, in the evening at the resort we are lucky enough to enjoy a traditional Rarotongan concert out in the hotel. The dance of the Pacific followed by fire eating performances and a Rarotongan band. It was an absolutely great show. You can understand why Blye’s crew wanted a mutiny and why Cook had pretty strong discipline on his sailors when he sailed through there. We also eat what is possibly our best meat. I have a trilogy of pan fried tuna, marlin, wahee? Sally chooses a pork loin which is tender and tasty. We share a Trinity Hill Chardonnay.

Tuesday:

We are up early for out ten o’clock departure back to Rarotonga. James and Mark wish us farewell, we promise to get some gospel and other music to him soon.

We arrive back in Rarotonga, the bright sky that said goodbye to us is not there. We head out from our villa to go to the night market, but instead go to the local market where we pay $80NZ for a ukulele made from coconut. We sink a few more lagers and watch the swimming race, part of the Vaka Elva event. As I said before, teams are from all over the Pacific, and the competition is really on. The event actually puts $2M into the local economy, which is impressive.

Trader Jack is now getting a name as an institution. It sits in the waterfront and a breeze blows through there taking the sting out of a hot day. It is well covered and if the rain is around and it is still humid, you have that wonderful breeze to chill you out. It is a more up market bar of Rarotonga, where local government officials and private business folk dwell. It is very informal and casual, and in my Fijian Bula shirt I feel very much at home. The food is also very good. Sally and I look out at the harbor. There is a big old boiler from a sunken steam ship from over 100 years ago which now a sort of route which people swim or paddle out to and round it. Today we see ironmen and iron women rushing down to get into their boats, they are going on a 16km paddle. This is the week that people are getting really fit and training because next Monday is the start. It is a major Polynesian event which brings over 2000 people to Rarotonga, and pumps the local economy as well as getting everyone’s passion flying. There will be teams from as far north as Hawaii, and also from various parts of the pacific and New Zealand, including Tangata Whenua teams, and also teams from Australia.

One of the swimmers who we briefly chat to is an Australian lass, also a vet and a volunteer at the Esther Honey Foundation, a local trust that looks after animals. Wearing a wicked smile telltale of the fun she is having she tells us that Rarotonga is very addictive. I smile, this is very true. Esther Honey NGO which has stolen ground from the established RSPCA, I wonder what is going on.We have entrées at Trader jacks enjoying a beer or two.

We make our way to the Whatever Bar which is happening. A group of young kiwi women are hanging out for a few days and have struck a great relationship with the band and are sing the chorus. We have the famous sirloin steak and chips .The steak does live up to its reputation.

Ocean-going waka

Waitomo loos foul image for Tourists

2011-01-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

This article was published in the New Zealand Herald januray 17 2011.

A visitor found 'disgusting' public toilets at a walkway that was green, but far from clean. A set of "absolutely disgusting" toilets at the entrance to one of New Zealand's best short walks has drawn complaints that they are a blight on tourism. The Waitomo Walkway in the Waikato has featured in the Rough Guide to New Zealand and is a popular walk - but at its entrance stands a dark green toilet facility littered with bottles and what appears to be bags of faeces. "I hope it's the only one like that in New Zealand," said Gerard Hill. "It's absolutely disgusting. You'd obviously be horrified." Mr Hill warned off a mother who was about to take her children inside, then walked across the road to an i-Site to complain. There, he encountered his second disappointment when no one could put him in touch with the maintainer of the toilets. Department of Conservation area manager Ray Scrimgeour said the toilets were not DoC's, and he noted that there were clean council-run toilets across the road and ones maintained by DoC at the other end of the walk. He said he did not think the dirty toilets at the beginning of the walk sullied the walkway's reputation. "I see it as some derelict building ... I thought they were disused." DoC said the Waitomo Rugby Sports and Recreation Club had jurisdiction over the toilets. The club's Betty Holden said it maintained the domain adjacent to the toilets, but an independent sports day committee kept the toilets locked, only opening them up once a year for a sporting event. But whoever had authority over the toilets, Mr Hill said they were placed in a "strategic location" for visitors - particularly those with weak bladders - and would benefit from a spruce-up rather than being closed down. A set of eco-toilets, complete with solar panels, would boost the country's sustainable image, Mr Hill said. Waitomo Caves sports day committee chairman Kim Osdorny said the committee scrubbed the toilets for its annual event, then turned off the water at the end - the rest of the time, it was out of its hands. "It's on a piece of Maori land, and the Sports and Recreation Club is the custodian of the grounds ... We've been trying to hassle the [council] for years to maintain it, and getting absolutely nowhere," Mr Osdorny said. "It's a bit of a bloody eyesore."

It is Possible

2011-01-13T14:08:00.000-08:00

This letter was published in the New Zealand Herald Thursday January 15 titled Tourism Potential

Auckland has many jewels including natural and cultural . We can pump our local econmy by saving our Heritage buildings ansd telling our stories.
All we need to do is take a breath and make the decision .Future generations will thank us.

The reestablishment of a tram service around the a Heritage district of the Auckland waterfront is great news for our economy . Many agree with Gary Froggatt of the Tramway Union that a tram services should have been maintained. The retention of such services in San Francisco and Melbourne have been an enduring goldmine for those cities. Tram barns remain in Wellington. Their design could easily be copied

If our council can retain all the heritage buildings in the Wynyard quarter then this will provide real benefits. The veteran ferry Kestrel whose return was also funded by the former Regional Council, can also provide an income. Our city council or more specifically the Waitemata Community Board, should work with the local interests including the waterfront community to ensure that we have things happening in time for the Rugby World Cup.

If commonsense occurs and we find a suitable solution that enables the protection of the Turua Street art deco buildings this would be helpful or not only for heritage but for the economy. Imagine the Kestrel or the William Daldy with a full complement of tourists aboard, cruising to St Heliers visiting the galleries in Turua Street and attending live performance in the RSA Hall. We can only wish.

Enough is Enough

2010-12-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

The following letter was published in the New Zealand Herald Wednesday 29 December 2010 in response to a letter from Councillor Mike Lee in the New Zealand Herald Monday 27 December 2010

No one doubts the commitment of the former Auckland Regional Council, especially Mike Lee and Sandra Coney, to the heritage buildings that are crucial to the Wynyard Quarter.

However Aucklanders are concerned that despite a change in council, the people we elected have not been able to stop the destruction of important buildings.

Mike Lee in his letter sums up best that the Art Deco society will have its day in court supported by Sandra Coney and himself. There is no guarantee that the buildings listed by the Auckland Regional Council will be protected.

All sympathize with councillors Lee and Coney’s’ frustration. However what resources would The Historic Places Trust and a small group like the Art deco society have? Courts are expensive places to go.

People voted by significant margins for a change of council because they were exasperated by the time and costs involved in going to court and because they wanted a council to stand up.

Now is a time for leadership. Regardless of previous councils back room deals, we need the council to draw a line in the sand and send a message to all those who wish to destroy our city’s heritage, that their time is over .

Enough is enough.

We voted for a change

2010-12-24T23:48:00.000-08:00

The decisions of Mayor Brown and his council to allow the demolition of important buildings at Wynyard Quarter are distressing . Tens of thousands of Aucklanders voted for Mayor Brown and his team because we wanted change. It now apparent that it is business as usual as the former council officers continue as if nothing has changed. Wanting to keep heritage buildings is not just sentiment .They are important to us for many reasons; economically they can help local business to prosper as visitors look for something different. This is not rocket science . Mayor Brown must listen to the people and not be lead by his council officers. He needs to show leadership or suffer the indignity of being a one term mayor. Five hundred people in St Heliers did not give up a Sunday afternoon for the hell of it . We all want to live in Auckland and want the city to reflect our values and for it to develop in such a way that enhances what we have. Future generations also have the right to the physical beauty of our buildings and the streetscapes we enjoy .
Published in the New Zealand Herald Friday 24 December 2010

Letter of the week New Zealand Herald 4 December 2010

2010-12-05T00:39:00.000-08:00

The return of the Kestrel to Waitamata harbour is a wonderful Christmas
present for the Auckland maritime and heritage community. All great maritime
cities have a fleet of working heritage vessels. The Kestrel was one of the
jewels of the Auckland maritime scene and of the national maritime scene.
The sooner the Kestrel can be recommissioned and put back into use the
better for Auckland and our Tourism industry. It is not just the beauty of
the boat, but its social history that goes back 105 years that is important
to us all.

Many of us shed more than a few tears when the Stagecoach Company bought out
our local ferry company Fullers. One of Stagecoach's first actions was to
sell the Kestrel. At that time the Kestrel was not only well loved and
patronised by many people of Auckland (citizens and visitors alike) it was
also maintained to the highest condition at the insistence of George Hudson,
the managing director of Fullers at that time.

Let us hope that our maritime history continues to be valued for future
generations of Aucklanders.

Alan Matson Heritage campaigner

2010-11-08T15:51:00.000-08:00

The Weekend Herald of Saturday 6 November published a wonderful feature on Alan Matson and the success he has had in saving many of our buildings . Alan is not a one trick pony but is also a skilled negotiator and is passionate about Auckland .
Auckland city's population will be growing at a fast rate and we will have 200, 000 more residents with in 25 years .
How we accommodate them while maintaining our status as one of the worlds most livable cities and also protecting our important heritage will be a challenge . We will also need more recreational options including swimming p0ols, libraries, playing fields and skateboarding areas .
Alan has the skills to assist Auckland in many areas and should be contracted or employed directly by our city .
The letter below was published in today's New Zealand Herald in an abridged form.

On the strength of the support from former Auckland City counclilors and other who praise his work in protecting Auckland heritage he should receive a civic honour .
Auckland needs people like him working in our council not only on heritage but also on urban design. We need to get this right, there must be a role for him in our new city .

The immense amount of work that the spacial plan for Auckland requires is well beyond the resources of our new local boards. The five month time frame to produce this report is so tight that mistakes may be made which could well lead to litigation and delays.

Mr. Matson and some others have the skills to help minimise and also recognise issues before they develop. We will be accommodating 200,000 more people in Auckland within twenty five years. This growth will impact on all areas of our city and needs to be managed well. If we get it wrong and reduce our quality of life we this will impact in numerous ways including economically.

Alan Matson has a contribution to make and our new council should embrace him.

Leadership Standards

2010-10-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning TV 0ne Breakfast Show, the host Paul Henry in an interview with our Prime Minster insulted our governor General saying 'Is he really a New Zealander?'

For the record Sir Anand Satyanand is New Zealand born of Fijian Indian extraction .
He attended Richmond Rd school in then working class Grey Lynn, Auckland.

As governor general he has proved to be most competent and in touch with our people. I have heard him speak at a number of functions in this role. He is a warm,generous man. Sadly our Prime Minster John Key and his employer TV one both took 24 hours before they defended the governor. This is not what we expect from our leaders. They have all fallen below our national standard.
Below is a letter published today Thursday 6 October in the New Zealand in an abbreviated form.
I am first and foremost a Republican and a Democrat and my comments are not to taken as an endorsement of the British Monarchy.

The suspension of broadcaster Paul Henry is a first step. State and private broadcasters have responsibilities to our nation.

Henry is not the first broadcaster to make inflammatory statements that have the potential to simultaneously damage race relations in New Zealand and our international reputation as a country that works hard to improve on what are generally very good relations between the peoples who make up our nation.

When broadcasters like Henry, Paul Holmes [remember the Cheeky Darkies?], MP Hone Harawira make such statements, it says much about our nation. These gentlemen are not ignorant. They are intelligent , informed , educated and streetwise so are fully aware of what they say.

Their bosses are correct in reining them in, but more needs to happen. The code of practice of the networks needs to be tougher. They should have public polices of their commitment to race relations and respect for our citizens regardless of race , creed or sexual orientation . Media has a role to assist in taking our nation forward.

Henry has been allowed to let us down . His employer is also culpable.

Stucco In the Middle

2010-09-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

The Auckander weekly paper published an article in its edition of 23 September , 2010 on the loss of more Heritage housing in St Heliers.
This demolition is by the selfish and the ignorant .Yes the usual culprits who have wrecked so much damage in both culturally and economically to our city. I salute the organisations and media who strive to protect our heritage and the writers who also lift awareness of the importance our heritage.

Below is my letter to the Aucklander.

Your story about the loss of the Art Deco houses in St Heliers is timely .

Lynne Scott is right. Her concerns are shared experiences of Aucklanders right across our city.

The desecration, destruction or removal of heritage buildings is a tangible loss to many. It also can affect the economic viabilty of our whole region.

Developers and their apologists such as Wendy Casperson choose to take a very narrow view.

Citzens are often concerned by the atitudes of developers and the local business association managers rarely live in the neighborhood affected. Many of the developers also declear making little money and pay no tax. It is dificult to discern if they have any community concern.

The St Heliers Village Association is the local business association in drag . It is not an independent residents association .Do Wendy and her association actually know what they are doing? Will it make doing business better? Will it provide more income for businesses?

In Ponsonby the proponents of the SOHO developmemt and their local business allies spoke in the same language and advanced the same auguments as Wendy.

Ponsonby has a hole in the ground. It is certainluy not an asset to Ponsonby.
.
If the St Heliers Village Asociation did some reseaerch they would they would find that their ecomomic viabilty would be secured by the protection and maintenance of these buildings.

The interactive tourist who visits Auckland and spends the most money, values heritage . They spend in Ponsonby and Parnell not in Takapuna or Newmarket.. Newmarket has fought back with the Osbourne Street development which has been made a heriatge zone and is pumping and by looking after their few remainng heritage buildings.
It is not too late to stop this develpment .I hope Lynne and Keith and St Heliers residenst are able to find the funding to appeal.

However they have to change the rules around non notified consents so that communities can have some say . Sadly, the spatial plan for the new city does not proivde any protection for neighbourhoods. One of the first jobs of the new council will be to address this issue .

Green MP Sue Kedgley Retirement

2010-09-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

Sue Kedgley's decision not to return to parliament at the end of the current parliamentary term is a major loss for the Greens.

The Greens may not realise this however they could on polling day next year .
In 1999 in our first MMP parliament the Greens were the most colourful of all the political parties . Although Labour M.P Georgina Beyer also shared this distinction. The Greens were not short of talent either .

They have been unlucky in being only the bridesmaid in our parliament never quite managing to get sufficient votes to be able to get to cabinet .
This was a loss, in cabinet Rod Donald, Jeanette Fitzsimmons,Sue Bradford and Sue Kedgley would have been capable ministers and all would have served New Zealand well .Particulary as the current National Act Maori party coalition has gone to sleep on sustainability. Sustainability is important for New Zealand for many reasons not the least economically. That the current leadership of the Green party,' Yes, more muscle with Russell' is one of their campaign slogans says much about their strength and capabilities. Who can imagine that happening and the governing coalition getting away with neglecting sustainable polices if Jeanette Fitzsimmons and Rod Donald had been leading the party?
Labour MP's David Parker and Charles Chauvel have been making the running on this issue in parliament .
This can be explained in part because the Green parliamentary party has suffered much with the death of Rod Donald ,the retirement of Jeanette and the subsequent bitter fight for the co leadership between Sue Bradford and Metiria Turei.Sue Bradford resignation was also a loss for the Greens. Bradford who was well respected in the union movement and among community activists did not have the charisma of Kedgley although was well respected, however her resignation does not have the same potential to damage the Green vote as Kedgley. Sue Kedgley decision will give the Greens a further renewal opportunity . Their choice of candidate may well be crucial for how well the Greens do in the next election .

Sue Kedgley was the Greens highest polling politician in electorate vote as their candidate in Wellington Central. Coincidentally Wellington central recorded the Greens highest polling in general votes. However this also translated to many votes for the Greens nationally . Sue's appeal is broadly the same as Helen Clarke and Hilary Clinton . Their appeal is to that generation of women who made real ground by their community activities, and campaigned for abortion rights ,who were the first generation to make careers and who felt that apartheid and the Vietnam war were morally wrong.
These women were largely white middle class.
Marsden educated Sue was of them , well articulate and shared their concerns and ambitions, Sue also was tough but possessed some charm too.
The Greens no longer have a candidate who this generation feel comfortable with. These votes are now up for grabs . Those who swing on a single issue (and their are many of them) may stay with the Greens particularity if food is an issue . Some of these food issue people are loopy but many have genuine concerns about what we eat and may stick with the Greens.
Others will return to their class base .A good example is the Gay vote. Wealthy Gays who are fiscally conservative shifted largely to Labour since homosexual law changes of the forth Labour government in the 1980's. This vote was Labours to the 2008 election then John Key danced with transvestites this vote shifted back to its class roots. After idealism has faded and since the victories have been largely achieved these vote will largely return to their class vote, this will also apply to the feminist vote too.
Will these go the Blue greens or to the Red greens ?
Party strategists in both Labour and National will be running the numbers on this.

I met Sue on many occasions over 30 years and we shared a mutual respect for and friendship with Sonja Davies a feminist who made real ground and broke frontiers for women. Sonja was a mentor, influence and inspiration to many women of Sues generation.
Sue Kedgley will leave parliament next year after serving twelve years in our parliament and having made a considerable impact. Sadly the National government caved into the flat earthers in the Act party and reneged on school tuck shops being mandated to sell healthy food . Sue's dissatisfaction with this decision is shared by 100,000s of people throughout New Zealand. Who knows, she may have the last laugh as if National is defeated in 2011 this may be one of the issues that have brought them down.
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Urugray vist April 2010 Chapter one

2010-09-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday

I leave on the 0845 Bluebus ferry to Colonia. Allow an hour for departure including customs and immigration. The terminal is modern and efficient and spacious with high ceilings. These are fast boats similar to what we have had on Cook Strait. Bluebus had a crack at establishing a service in New Zealand 10 years ago. The boat is full of Argentinians going to Colonia for a romantic weekend. They have an exchange rate advantage over the Uragurians and with the advantage of duty free shopping. They buy chocolate and perfume and the shop is go, go, and go for the whole trip. The stewardesses resemble models. My seat mates are a professional couple. He is a lawyer and she is a bio-chemist. They dream of their peso being again on a par with US$. It does not register that the US$20 billion default of their money is because of this.

The Saturday edition of the BA Herald has stories about the economy and the hope that people can get foreign loans for less than 10%. The unofficial exchange rate is 20%. The cost of living is in fact all they talk about. Neighbouring countries Uruguay and Chile can get bonds for 5%.

I read in the B.A Herald that the personable and left wing President Kirchner has supported the Grandmothers of the Disappeared in their desire to have a court case. Also an Argentinean pilot on a Dutch passport has been charged with dumping bodies in the Atlantic Ocean during the rule of the Junta in the 70’s and 80’s. My seatmates are worried that the Generals may leave the barracks. Other news is that all the Argentine football teams’ games in the World Cup will be shown live in every school classroom – They know the important things in life!

I arrive at the ferry terminal at Colonia and pass through customs. This is again a high class terminal with a tile floor so clean you could eat a meal on it .Although signs for the bus could be better. I buy a ticket to Montevideo for US$10.00. The roads are good and we skirt past the historic city of Colonia on the road north. The land is very green and flat. We pass small hamlets built for the workers who maintained the railway line which is still visible with grass growing and a donkey or two grazing on it. The houses built of concrete are very simple in design. You see cows, but it’s not the Waikato and Taranaki operation.

Around midday we make our way into Montevideo. There are a few shanties on the outskirts, but nothing as large as in Asia. The bus depot is well organised and we dock quickly and safely. Martin is there to meet me. Taller than I remembered, but there is the warmth of an old friend. He takes me on a city tour, showing me the port area and the derelict old railway station. I will come back later to take photos and check out the old railway carriages that date back to 1950. I ask about taking a train trip and Martin is really opposed to it although he does not offer a reason his manner indicates please, no way.

Montevideo has one of the finest waterfront walks anywhere. The port and the city is surrounded for miles by the Rambla; a concrete foot path maybe 3 metres wide. It is accessible from all parts of the city – even from a crack addict’s apartment building that looks so desperate. Tower Hamlets in London are up market in comparison. Perhaps they need a Harry Brown to sort it.

Opposite the docks is an old area of housing that could be Freeman's Bay Auckland 30 years ago. Rundown, but there is evidence of renovation, it definitely happening area with bars and a life.

Martin and Carmina apartment is in the middle of an old warehouse district which is in slow transition. His neighbour is a crack dealer but the neighbourhood seems safe. We pick up some beers and go visit some of Martins friends – Danny and Renee. They live on the edge of a wealthy area and they have an ancient Doberman who I make friends with and an affectionate Persian cat. We share the beers which are from a small brewery and have the taste of well-crafted ale. Dani and Martin are book editors and designers. They have made some interesting art books and also a bilingual history of the restoration of the Montevideo Racing Club. This is a fine work and one that has a real value for racing people everywhere. It also a tribute to the once great British empire when Britannia ruled the waves. They are fine folk, generous and bohemian. We talk on the history and politics of Uruguay.

Everybody in Uruguay talks politics, football, and racing. We all go for a walk around the waterfront and at a good seafood restaurant share more beers and a platter of calamari, cockles, prawns, and local mussels. We then walk back to their house through a neighbourhood which reminds me of Kelburn in Wellington except the houses are more modern. All have dogs which continually bark from behind high wrought iron fences all down the street. There are security guards at all the street corners where you enter. Martin jokes that we come in the night.

We make our way to Martin’s mother’s apartment which is in Palermo, a middle class part of town. It is one of four apartments in a converted mansion. My room has a single bed with a window that looks down the entrance and gets a nice breeze. I listen to a local radio station and have a siesta. Transistor radios are very popular here. You can hear the races and football games blaring. Uruguay is football, racing, and beer.

Clara’s apartment is a thespian dream. She has a collection of books and music which would grace a home anywhere. The leather couches are comfortable and later I recline with a generous scotch and listen to Rada fan. I give Clara the Denis Welch biography of Helen Clark. She is very happy Surprise surprise, Helen is known here too

At 2200 we go to Dani and Renee’s for dinner. Renee has gone to some effort and has marinated fish. We have home-made bread and zucchini fritters. For a main course we have pan fried fish and potatoes. We enjoy some wine from small producers who drive around town selling their produce door-to-door. The wine – a Merlot – is fine. All Uruguay wine is 12% alcohol and they seem to drink it young.

Dani and Martin are Lambretta enthusiasts. Danny has two under reconstruction. They have a status where as Vespa’s, which though not popular, are not rated. We check out on their laptop the Flight of the Concords, the Top Twins, and the Wellington International Ukulele orchestra. They are all a great hit.

Uruguayans are proud of their culture, tango, film, music, and books. They are prolific readers, and with soccer and racing, are a proud talented people, proud of their independence and their fight for democracy. They have paid a high price perhaps that is why they opinions are strongly held.

Sunday is to be one of the most moving days of my life. Martin and his new girlfriend Carmina are having a family reunion of his father Carlos’ side. Carmina is a very intelligent and well read student. Her dark intelligent eyes scrutinize everyone‘s comments, even those of the grandfather’s. He had been to New Zealand with a son and daughter-in-law and was disappointed I was not a six foot tall Maori and I that I can’t sing to save myself. However, three of his sons had joined the Tupamaru guerrillas who were then imprisoned and one was exiled. Carlos has lived in France and Switzerland.

Waterfront loss for Auckland

2010-08-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

Aucklanders are shocked by the decision to allow an oversize building on the Auckland waterfront.
Mayor john Banks could be leading a challenge with the Auckland Regional Council but remains silent .
The commissioners outrageous decision will be condemned by future citizens if it is permitted to stand.

The letter below was published in the New Zealand Herald today August 31

The decision by independent commissioners to allow Cooper and company to build towers of 55 meters on the Auckland is dumbfounding . Aucklanders have celebrated the retention of Shed 10 and increased public access to the waterfront.

Loosing part of the red fence to gain a tower 30 meters higher than existing buildings is not a victory for Auckland . It is a real loss .
The Auckland waterfront is beautiful with a mixture of public spaces, people fishing off some of the wharves and the bustle of a working commercial port. This mixture is celebrated in the leading port cities globally and is a wonderful site . Whether you walk down from Ponsonby or Parnell or come in from the north shore by vehicle or ferry, the vista is striking.

The Cooper Tower will ruin the existing building, destroy much of the pedestrian ambience and may well be the start of a new impersonal wall along Quay Street. In all our heritage precincts there are some developers who are intent on breaking the existing rules .Thousands will supporting Mike Lee and the Auckland regional council in their appeal to the Environment Court.

There is hardly a shortage of hotels and having a tower poking out of a heritage shell serves no purpose at all.

Superannuation

2010-08-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

Long overdue discussion is now taking place on superannuation. Predictable responses have come from employers and low paid employees of their inability to make a contribution. Low paid employees have yet to gain from government policy and have not received a tax cut. GST movement is a real concern.

Employers are concerned that they would be paying at the current Australian levels. This will not happen . As small employers we have encouraged all our staff to join Kiwisaver. To catch up with Australia in economic or in sovereign wealth terms, funds such as superannuation can only be an aspiration.

We lack the central labour and employer organisations that can make the commitment with their government that Australia enjoys. However, with some imagination, contributions could start at Kiwisaver levels and move progressively each year by a percentage point from each party. In economic times as these, rather than suspend payments, they could be made in half point movements .

The government should do the same with the Cullen fund and always contribute something. This will reassure the public that the government actually has a commitment to universal pensions.

The Assassins , Concent Chamber, Auckland Town Hall,14 August 2010

2010-07-26T02:43:00.000-07:00

Sally and I attended last Friday and thoroughly enjoyed the show Cabaret is not a regular event in Auckland. When living in Wellington in the mid 1970s we were spoiled by Red Mole's performances at Carmen's Balcony every Sunday night.

Wellington was not only our political capital but also our cultural centre.
New Zealand was at a time of change. A colourful transvestite,Carmen had run for the mayoralty of Wellington. Piggy Muldoon was elected Prime Minster, tens of thousands of people were in the streets. Maritime unions were leaving the nuclear warships unattended in the harbour. Hello Sailor had a hit with 'Gutter Black', the Rolling Stones were Exiling on Mainstreet and the Eagles had discovered the Hotel California. It was a time of inspired and impassioned writing.

Sadly we no longer do Cabaret about happenings in our own country and rely for our desires being filled by imported stories. This comment is not to belittle this production of "Assassins" or "The Threepenny Opera" which was also put on by this wonderful Silo company. It has been along time in between drinks and we were thirsty for cabaret. With a rich anticipation and high hopes we attended.
We were not disappointed and almost fully agree with the Herald's review below.

Janet McAllister completely omits any comment on the performance of Natalie Medlock. Medlock is a young actor who plays the role of Squeaky Fromme and also a sensuous and aloof Emma Goldman well. The inclusion of Anarchist Emma Goldman was a surprise to me, an elementary scholar of American history. It was great though, adding another layer to a rich American story.
My conclusion is that all these Assassins should have been institutionalized. They were all mad as snakes.

By Janet McAllister

Actor/assassin John Wilkes Booth might have killed Abraham Lincoln because he earned bad reviews but - spoiler alert! - our national leaders won't get shot because of what you're reading now.

Silo Theatre has once again put on a stylish, dark and enthralling musical - following up 2008's Threepenny Opera, they put the sass into Assassins.

The designers have paid attention to every detail so that the vaudeville atmosphere is all-encompassing even before the show proper begins.

Grant Winterburn and his first-rate band warm up as people enter the Concert Chamber, and an enormous shabby stars-and-stripes circus tent envelops the audience's cabaret tables. John Verryt's fabulous ratty tatty set boasts a fairground shooting gallery of presidential cut-outs (most of them recognisable).

The Stephen Sondheim show purports to explain three killers and six would-be killers of American presidents over 120-odd years - their motives range from high ideals to high hopes of gaining fame or sex appeal.
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The John Weidman book is slightly flawed - it harangues once or twice, and both the women, Sara Jane Moore and Lynette Fromme, are falsely portrayed as dizzy airheads who knew each other; in fact, as the programme acknowledges, Moore was "complex and dangerous".

But overall, the show is clever and funny, full of gunshots and sardonic quips: "Don't be scared - you won't prevail" goes the opening number. The "American" Dream of hard work guaranteeing success - prevalent in Godzone too - betrays many.

Directed by Oliver Driver, the ensemble are lively, well-paced and well-rehearsed; they make the technically complex show with inventive props look easy.

Mitchell Butel - playing Booth - was worth importing from Australia: he is impressively precise with a beautiful Southern drawl and snappy dance moves - all "fancy silks" and moustachio'd red lips. The old character hands also have a ball: Cameron Rhodes hams it up outrageously in his grimy Santa suit.

As the Balladeer, tall newcomer Gareth Williams channels Burt Bacharach in a white suit flashing white teeth before magically transforming into a convincing, stooped Lee Harvey Oswald. Bronwyn Bradley as Moore is an entertaining scatterbrain in a leisure suit and blue eyeshadow.

Commendably, adult tickets are $25-$55. These killings are a steal.

What: Assassins.

Where: Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall.

When: Until August 14.
By Janet McAllister | Email Janet

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Geri Spieler (United States)
10:38AM Monday, 26 Jul 2010
Your review is right on target. While "Assassins" is entertaining, the facts are extremely "off target." Sara Jane Moore and Lynette Squeaky Fromme never knew each other. Moore was not a Manson woman and the two only met years later when both were incarcarated at the FCI Terminal Island, San Pedro.

Moore's actions were never revealed as at the time Betty Ford was in recovery for alcoholism and Moore actually missed Ford's head by six inches, which was also never revealed until 30 years later. Fromme never had intentions of killing Ford. She was only trying to get arrested to get closer to Charles Manson.

How do I know all this? I published a book in Jan. 2009 called, "Taking Aim At The President: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Shot at Gerald Ford." Moore was working with an underground terrorist organization called Tribal Thumb and it was her second shot what was foiled. She got off a first shot and missed Ford's head by six inches as the sight was off of the gun she used.

Her aim was true, according to Judge Samuel Conti, who is still on the bench in San Francisco.

Save The St James

2010-07-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Somebody Please Reopen The St. James Theatre

Jul 26th, 2010 by Hussein Moses

The St. James Theatre which opened on July 5, 1928 is picking up more and more devotees who call themselves the St. James Saviours. 3 News ran a story on the saviours last night who are campaigning to get the theatre restored. They’re led by Bob Kerridge — who’s father Sir Robert Kerridge previously owned the theatre — and other members include Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench, Sam Neil and various historians and politicians.

A fire causing damage forced the theatre to shut its doors in 2007 and it hasn’t reopened since. The owners of the block, which goes from Lorne Street to Queen Street, were granted permission to build a 39-story apartment block in it’s space but the building has heritage protection which means that it can’t be knocked down; the only thing is that the owner of the building, Paul Doole, is under no obligation to restore it.

The report from 3 News says that the saviours are now in talks with Doole who may resort to building around the theatre. When asking mayor John Banks his opinion of the situation he said, “It looks like $80 million any day of the week. It looks very expensive, but not withstanding that it’s a great piece of history and one day we are going to need to confront it.” You can join the ‘Save The St. James Theatre’ Facebook group here and for those interested you can check out Radio New Zealand’s iexcellent nterview with Bob Kerridge here. [via 3 News]
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Tags: Auckland City, St. James Theatre

Gerry o Ponsonby thinks

If Mr Doole is a really smart developer, and lets face, it is a while since we have had one here, he would restore the St James.
What a show piece it could be and a draw for prospective tenants for his apartments. I for one, if my budget allows would relish living there.
As well as being a commercial success it would give Mr Doole considerable respect and enhance his reputation as a developer. This is a no mean feat in these times where developers names are mentioned almost in the same breath as child molesters. Auckland would also win from such a development and we would have a theater district perhaps as hip or classic as any where in the world and definitely a showpiece of the Pacific .

Sports Muesum Proposal

2010-07-22T00:37:00.000-07:00

This proposal was accepted by the Western Bays Community Board and has been referred to the Auckland City Council.

To Tam White, Head of Democracy Services Western Bay Community Board

Western Bays Community Board

09/07/2010

Dear Board Members,

Subject: Campbell Free Kindergarten Building Victoria Park, Freemans Bay

Congratulations to all involved who have secured the retention of this building. I fully support your intensions to make it a public space. I would like to purpose that all endeavours should be undertaken so that the renovation is completed well before the 2011 Rugby World Cup. I suggest the first use for the building would be as a temporary gallery or museum which pays tribute to all the sporting codes of Ponsonby and Freemans Bay. These would include the Ponsonby Ponies Ruby League Club, City Newton’s Rugby League Club, Grafton United Cricket Club, The Ponsonby United Football Club (soccer), The Ponsonby Rugby Club, and also some recognition to Auckland netball teams. It is worthy of note that the first rugby league game in New Zealand was played at Victoria Park, and 2011 is the centenary of netball in New Zealand.

I have discussed this project with Graeme Osborne the Chief Executive of Tourism Auckland, who believes this would be a wonderful addition to the Rugby World Cup. Should the Western Bays Community Board accept this proposal I would be prepared to work with you to approach the various sporting codes to ascertain their interests. I would hope that perhaps they would be prepared to have some of their teams to act as guides and ambassadors during the world cup. If there is sustained interest and we have a quality product perhaps we can further extend the museum period during the summer of 2011/2012.

I would like to appear in front of the board at your next meeting to discuss this project and answer any questions.

Gerard Hill

30 Ponsonby Terrace

Ponsonby

Auckland

New Heritage Rules a lottery

2010-06-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

I have been involved in Heritage issues for many years as it is one of my many passions. And of course there is the economic value of retaining and protecting heritage buildings and neighborhoods.
Who has not visited an old city, taken a heritage walk or been on a double decker bus somewhere and enjoyed and valued the experience?
I feel passionately that there has not been real consultation between the city council and affected residents. The proposed change has the potential to wipe out a significant area of our city heritage. The Spatial Plan for Auckland City will not offer the protection needed nor will it provide the planing needed to ensure we have a most livable city such as we enjoy now.
What has happened is this: there were large areas in Herne Bay, One Tree Hill and Mt Albert that were protected so we had blocks of beautiful houses. Then Mr Banks and his friends leaflet dropped these areas giving the residents the option of protecting their property or not. This was an exercise for individual home owners, not for the good of community at large. Some understood the issue, some did not, some were no doubt overseas and missed it completely. So now, instead of all the houses in Res 2 being protected there can be a street with ten identical houses and only one is protected. You can imagine what happens to house number ten when the other nine are demolished. The owners of house number 10 would also have to bear the huge cost of appealing any decision their neighbours made.
Only houses with a significant street appeal can be protected so if the Sistine Chapel was up a driveway it could be demolished.

Recently a house in Coronation Avenue, Epsom which the council had listed as worthy of protection was demolished because the owner appealed the decision in the Environment Court which found in his favour. All the affected neighbours have had to suffer something which would not happen in Res 1. This would not be allowed to happen in London or Jackson Hole in Wyoming.
I hope stories like this will generate a debate and a process for the development of our city.
Auckland is my adopted home and I'm proud to be an Aucklander

Please read the story below.

Heritage rules 'a lottery'

SCOTT MORGAN - Auckland City Harbour News
Last updated 05:00 30/06/2010

BEN CAMPBELL
NO TO DEMOLITION: Heritage campaigner Gerry Hill, in Herne Bay, is concerned about rule changes that will allow the demolition of some pre-1940 heritage homes in suburbs around the city.

CRITICISM is being directed at rule changes that protect some of the city's heritage houses from demolition, but not others.
Ponsonby resident Gerry Hill isn't happy with a compromise reached by the Auckland City Council and the Environment Court that proposes only some pre-1940 heritage homes in residential zone two areas would need a resource consent before demolition.
Local areas zoned residential two include Herne Bay, Mt Albert, One Tree Hill and Epsom.
He says the selection criteria that decides which homes are protected are random at best.
"It's a lottery. There's no proper principle in it. It will pit neighbour against neighbour."
Mr Hill is supportive of plan change 163, introduced by the previous council in 2005, which meant all pre-1940 heritage homeowners in residential zones one and two had to apply for resource consent before they could demolish or remove their houses.
But an appeal to the Environment Court meant the council had to compromise, subsequently identifying 2942 homes out of 6773 across the city that require a resource consent before demolition or removal can occur.
Mr Hill, who runs a boutique hotel in Ponsonby, says the decision doesn't take into account that heritage buildings are fantastic tourist attractions, along with improving the visual appeal of Auckland's older streets.
"I take tourists on heritage walks through those areas. They're all old parts of the city people are proud of. They take photos and often they're of the old buildings."
Mr Hill is also concerned not enough has been done to let affected homeowners know what's going on, despite a council letterbox drop to each house and a marketing campaign.
"I believe that they should be doing a proper survey that could be pushed through the media.
"They could have had a series of community meetings."
Mr Hill believes the issue could snowball after the supercity election, with heritage properties in other parts of Auckland likely to be affected.
But mayor John Banks says he's happy with the solution, which has taken many months to work through.
"We've come up with what is an inspired compromise. They haven't been selected by politicians, they've been selected by the very best people to do this work."
While Mr Banks is supportive of the policy, he knows the selection criteria were never going to please everybody.
"It's never an exact science. It was always going to be slightly hit and miss."
Mr Banks says the council has done its best to inform affected parties of what's going on.
The council is seeking public consultation before the Environment Court makes its final decision.
Residents and the public have until July 9 to make submissions on the maps showing affected properties, but not on the selection criteria.
Maps of zone 2 areas can be viewed at www.aucklandcity.govt.nz, at the council's civic administration building in Greys Ave and at all Auckland city libraries.
Blanket protection remains for pre-1940s homes in zone 1 areas like Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and Mt Eden, though an appeal against the decision is ongoing.
Mr Hill is doing his own survey on people's understanding of and concerns about the rules. To contact him email grrhll@gmail.com.
He is happy to meet with concerned groups to explain the rules.

Ride the B Lline

2010-06-27T20:13:00.001-07:00

Mike Lee has been a strong advocate for a sustainable city for many years. Mike is currently the Chairperson of the Auckland Regional council and he has achieved much including a huge expansion in our net work of Regional Parks .
Improved rail services and bus lanes he has also been largely responsible for.
His proposal for B Line along Dominion is another example of Mr Lee' walking the talk'.
This proposition will get Auckland moving and ensure the viability of out main streets shopping and commercial centers.
We may even get a song about the B-line as hip as ride the A line is.
Mike is also a city council candidate for the Waitamata ward in the coming elections

Your story Friday 25 June about the B line proposal for bus traffic along Dominion Road may be the shot in the arm needed to get Auckland moving .Many people talk, but this proposal is walking the talk. Mike Lee, NZ Bus and others responsible should be congratulated. Trams used to get to Onehunga in sixteen minutes from Queen Street.

The B line system has the potential to produce such efficiency.

The Link bus and improved and more frequent train services to Newmarket are winners and also something we are proud to celebrate and to talk about.

There are issues that continue to plague and disrupt efficient transport in Auckland. If city councillors rode our busses, trains and ferries perhaps they will grasp the importance of our transport system and may become proactive.

.If we are to be a Supercity then we need to get transport working throughout the city. A rail link to the airport should also be expedited .

Abridged and published in the New Zealand Herald Monday 28 June 2008

Below is mike original article as published in the New Zealand Herald Friday 25 June

ARC chair and Waitemata and Gulf City Vision-endorsed candidate, Mike Lee, today slammed the Auckland City plan to allow cars into the bus lanes on Dominion Rd, calling it a retrograde step.

He said encouraging bus travel required lateral thinking and thinking outside the square. Launching ARTA’s b-line fast bus initiative, Mr Lee told the gathering that if Auckland City “really has a problem with bus lanes on the side of the road, then its time we gave serious thought to putting bus lanes down the middle of the road.

“This would, in one step remove the conflicts between buses and parking vehicles and vehicles pulling out of, or into, driveways.
“The safety of passengers would actually be enhanced by having traffic lights at each ‘super-stop’, allowing them to get from the side of the road to the platform where they wait for the bus. And the buses would be able to move faster. ”

b-line, launched today at Mt Eden War Memorial Hall, halfway down Dominion Road, as the Mutton Birds song goes, celebrates ARTA’s promotion to change the perception you have to wait forever for a bus so it’s easier to drive and aims to increase bus patronage during peak times.
The yellow branding of b-line for buses in Dominion Road and Mt Eden promote the fact buses weekdays from 7am to 7pm are never more than 15 minutes apart.

NZ Bus is introducing shortly new NZ-made buses along the Mt Eden route. NZ Bus CEO Bruce Emson said that while 15 minutes was the promise, the aim was closer to 5 minute frequencies.
The b-line service will later be developed along other routes such as Sandringham, New North and Great North Rds.
But the launch happens only a few weeks after Auckland City ignored city council officers’ recommendations and decided to allow T2 lanes – meaning Dominion Road bus lanes could also be used by cars with more than one occupant.
I put up video showing how difficult Dominion Road bus travel is already at peak time – and Auckland City transport committee chairman Ken Baguley has explained why the decision was made.

Mike Lee launches b-line

Mr Lee told today’s guests, which included Mr Baguley, that it was most unfortunate that at the very moment that Dominion Road has been chosen as the “flagship route” for bus improvements in Auckland, Auckland City Council is considering removing bus lanes, and allowing cars with just one passenger into the lanes.
“The mayor (John Banks) and the council needs to be in no doubt that this will be a retrograde step and inevitably lead to significant delays for bus users.
“The reason why Dominion Road is such a popular bus route is because catching the bus here to get into town is faster and more convenient than driving. Auckland City Council needs to understand that compromising the effectiveness of the Dominion Road bus lanes is in direct conflict with the ARTA B-Line initiative.
The chair said that Dominion Road’s public transport needs to be enhanced, not undermined.

“After all, transport experts believe that in the not too distant future this route is ideal for modern light-rail: which can absorb the planned increased future demand for public transport and at the same time encourage intensification and a quality urban environment along this key corridor.
“As a step towards this longer-term goal, we need to think laterally about how public transport can be improved along this route? So that this “B-Line” idea has a real sting in its tail, and Dominion Road gets to be known as the best bus route not only in Auckland – but the best bus route in New Zealand.

“By a real sting – I mean a bus service that can really move much more people – much more quickly. Like a railway with trains on rubber tyres.
“We need to remember that people are logical in their transport choices: They will choose what is fastest, cheapest, most reliable and most convenient. If we want more people to use public transport, then that is what we need to give them: a service that makes sense to use.

“In order to do that, we must make an intensive effort to tackle problems that are delaying buses. We need to take a “whole-of-route” approach to operational improvements including traffic signal timing changes; more effective signal pre-emption – in other words when the bus comes the lights turn green straight away – just as in the leading PT cities.

“We must tackle critical customer amenity and infrastructure issues – e.g. poor lighting at stops; substandard bus shelters; and the need to site bus stops where people actually are – not just because bus stops have always been located in a particular place.

“We need to think about off-board ticketing at the most heavily used stops to speed up boarding – or even do what Sydney does and have faster pre-pay bus routes.”

b-line bus brought special guests to the launch

Mr Lee said that with the recent focus on rail, it was easy to overlook that fact that nearly 80% of Auckland public transport trips are by bus. The b-line name was based on a very successful initiative in Vancouver which has been very successful..

Vancouver was a city that Auckland can learn a lot from: both cities have broadly similar populations though Vancouver has 2.1 million people while we have 1.4 m – however we do have similar densities, Auckland at 18.9 people per hectare and Vancouver 17 people per hectare. Both cities also have a similar percentage of jobs in the CBD: Auckland at 13.5% and Vancouver at 12.6%. Yet while Vancouver’s rail system is fairly limited, it has managed to achieve a 17% public transport modeshare of trips to work, while Auckland in comparison has only 7%.

The average Vancouverite takes 135 public transport trips per year, while the average Aucklander only takes 40.
“What has made Vancouver’s B-Line system effective, and will make Auckland’s B-Line equally effective is not so much flashy marketing but rigorous attention to the fundamentals:

* the buses must be attractive
* must operate on time
* must come frequently
* they must be able to travel fast along the corridor, people must be able to board quickly
* if necessary people must be able to transfer freely and conveniently to other buses or trains

“To this end it must be said ARTA is making great progress – following on from the signing of an integrated ticketing deal late last year- we look forward to the implementation of smart-card integrated ticketing in Auckland next year.”

Mike Lee: "A bus service that moves much more people, more quickly"

Mike Lee also made passing reference to the remaining big yet-to-be approved rail projects.

“I think its fair to say with the final government approval of the electrification project rail, the battle for rail in Auckland has been fought and won, apart from major projects like the CBD rail tunnel and rail to Auckland International Airport – which will need a political push.”

More photos of the b-line marketing from today’s launch here

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Campbell Free Kindergarten

2010-06-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

I pay tribute to Western Bays City councillor, Graeme Easte who has doggedly pursued options to have this wonderful building kept in public ownership and also to find a partner who would use it the best possible way for Auckland.
Over the years a number of people including former Western Bays Community Board member and Freeman's Bay resident, Diane Percy, tattooist and Ponsonby businessman and one time mayoral candidate, Phil Mathias and his widow Sharon as well as this writer have produced ideas for retaining and using this building.
Built in 1910 and donated by John Logan Campbell it was the first kindergarten in New Zealand. For that reason alone it should have been maintained and put to community use.
Councillor Easte's successful negotiation has ensured this will happen. Future as well as current residents of Auckland will have a wonderful place to enjoy.

Below is a letter I wrote to and was published by the New Zealand Herald Tuesday June 2010

The restoration and upgrading of the Campbell Free Kindergarten is great news.

To make it a public hall is pragmatic. There is a great demand for affordable public halls in the city and being on the Link bus route and within walking distance of the city and Ponsonby will ensure its viability.

With the Rugby World Cup happening next year it could be used as a temporary Sporting museum which would be a wonderful asset to the city. It would also be good for marketing this restored gem to Aucklanders.

Long term it would be good to see some recognition to the Ponsonby Ponies Rugby League and the Grafton Cricket Clubs which have been associated with Victoria Park for many years. This building was actually their club rooms. In fact the first game of Rugby League in New Zealand was played on Victoria Park. This recognition could be accommodated in a public hall.

It would also be fitting to have some memorial to the founder of Auckland, John Logan Campbell who funded this kindergarten.

More so as we are within weeks of the birth of our super city we should honour and appreciate the people who founded the city and those who have made a contribution to Auckland

Ponsonby Divas

2010-06-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Published in Ponsonby news July 2010

Ponsonby Divas

Beverley Jean Morrison known to all as Beaver, was sadly lost to cancer on the 23rd May 2010. Beaver had been sick for some years, but like the diva she was, she soldiered on for as long as she could. A farewell was held in the Auckland Concert Chamber and her wake Sale St bar, where we celebrated her life friendship and talent.

Beaver’s musical experience started in the band Blerta in the early 1970’s and she became internationally known after performing in Ronnie Scott’s famous jazz club in London during the 1980’s. Ronnie had come to Ponsonby to check Beaver out and invited her to perform at his club. Her subsequent album was the jazz album of the year in 1988.
The re-release of Girl Talk is out and features Beaver, Lynn Lorkin Julie Mason and Candy Alderton- Conway, if you would like to have a bit of Beaver in your collection, this would be a fine choice.

Over a few beers at Beaver’s wake, many of us talked of ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PONSONBY. There was a time when rents were cheap a working wage was livable and could purchase rock n roll heaven and Ponsonby was Bohemia. It attracted writers, dancers, poets and playwrights and produced some bloody good footballers too! We also recalled many of the great musicians who both entertained us and partied with us. We talked of the long gone and much lamented Glue Pot as well as other good local watering holes and performance venues. Among the bands and singers that we talked about included Tommy Adderley, Tommy Ferguson, Dragon, Hello Sailor, DD Smash. Suburban Reptiles, Street Talk, Jive Bombers, Topp Twins, Tigerness, Supergroove and Che Fu. Talk also turned to the international acts like Lucinda Williams. Midnight Oil, Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger who dropped by to strum a guitar and sing a few songs.

Conversation came to the Divas; Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ponsonby has never been just about the blokes. Great singers who sang a diversity of musical genres such as Trudy Green, Truda Chadwick,Hattie st John, Lynn Lorkin and others who have lived the Ponsonby rock dreams.

Talk then switched to the 21st century divas who are doing the hard yards and are now enjoying commercial success. Three worthy of note are Anika Moa, Hollie Smith and Kirsten Morrell. All of them have CDs out which have been critically acclaimed

Anika Moa’s latest album is titled Love In Motion and she is on the road performing all over the country promoting her CD and drawing good reviews for her live performances
I had hoped to catch her at Galltos on Friday 4 June . However, if I didn't manage to get there , Im content in the knowledge that I have in my collection a really great album and know that come summer I will be able to catch her on tour.

Hollie Smith is a talented soul singer who has to date released four albums, the latest being Humour and the Misfortune of Others. This Diva has good musical genes with her father Paul being a well known Auckland Blues man, currently performing with his band The Gunsmiths. Hollie was unlucky enough to miss out on a Bluenote contract in America, largely because of the recession of 2008/09 which has racked havoc in the music industry. Hollie has bounced back with a great album which really highlights the soul quality of her voice. Hollie is also touring nationally and is a worthy distraction on any night of the week.

Rounding out this talented trio is Kirsten Morrell. Kirsten is a talented songwriter and singer and also a pretty good breakfast cook! The Great Ponsonby Art Hotel employed Kirsten in the mid 1990’s as a breakfast cook and have watched her musical career through her former band Goldenhorse. Her first solo album which is Ultraviolet has been well received and is selling well. Kirsten is also involved in the Fair trade movement. Recently at the Woman’s Bookshop she hosted an event in support Fair trade where she baked her own cakes and attracted support from the Ponsonby business community and the wider community .Among the speakers was Labour MP Jacinda Ardern also spoke on the fair-trade message
Kirsten is currently in the U.K. where she has among her performances one at the legendary Isle of Wight .

These three woman do more than carry a candle, they truly are the 21st century Divas of Ponsonby in their own right and have the potential to take NZ music to the world. Each have their own website, face book and You tube spaces so we can all keep up with their brilliant careers, and they are far more exciting and fresh than the Three Tenors.

Save the Orange Hall for Future Generations

2010-03-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Orange Ballroom, 143-149 Newton Road, Eden Terrace.

This building is protected and therefore cannot be demolished. I believe it should be bought by the council or perhaps some joint council-private ownership provision. It is only a question of time when the Newton hillside is redeveloped into residential accommodation. The Orange Hall would be the centre piece of this community and would also fit well with any modern urban design.
My background is Fenian and to call for the retention of this building some may find surprising. Yes it has a history however not all of it is belligerent. It has been a hall for the people and enjoyed by tens of thousands

Seventy years ago Newton was thriving residential community. Much of the infrastructure from this time is still there and would only need some renewing. Not only is it a great location for redevelopment but with all the infrastructure there it would be cheaper than a green field site. The suggested underground rail link suggests a proposed station is in Symond's St in Newton. If this was placed near the top of Newton Rd, it would help revitalize the area and provide another great reason for a well thought out plan for urban design on this hillside.

With the community facility which also backs onto Basque Park, we will have the possibility of a fantastic recreational area. Being a sunny northern slope with its proximity to Ponsonby, it is a desirable place to live. Newton Rd is also part of The Link bus route. If we look at the Orange Hall not as a stand-alone building, but as a historic community asset and if we can get the hall right, it bodes well for the resettlement of the whole Newton hillside. The Orange hall symbolises much to Auckland and will live for another 100 years where people will have good times and fond memories.
If you are interested in the history of this Auckland land mark please read below.

The Orange Hall was designed in 1922 by A. Sinclair O'Connor [1] and completed the following year. It was altered in 1937, again to O'Connor's design, with the addition of a parapet roof and redesigned top storey [2], and an extension added in 1957, to the design of another noted Auckland architect, Clinton Savage [3]. At some point, an awning was added to the front entry, which now obscures much of the original 1922 design around the front doors from the road, but most of the combined 1922/1937 exterior design features appear to still be present. The hall's corner site and position on the Newton Road slope mean it is readily visible from Symonds Street.

The interior has seen various alterations over the years, with the dance floor replaced in 1954 [4], thought to be sprung and made of tawa ("the best dance floor in Auckland") [5], and an off-street car park added when 143 was purchased in 1983 by the Auckland Orange Hall Society [6].

The Orange Lodge has been in Auckland since 1840, forming a Grand Lodge in 1867 [7]. It appears that the Lodge which had the Orange Hall built in 1923 had immediate origins to a Deed of Trust dated 1912, the trustees having among their duties "to promulgate the principles and further the practice of the Protestant Religion and to afford its members the means of Social intercourse, spiritual improvement and rational recreation." [8] The Lodge had apparently been meeting in the Protestant Hall in Karanghape Road before this, but sold that hall to construct the Newton Road one. [9]

In 1932 the property's title was placed in the name of a list of trustees of the Lodge, including past Grand Master and noted timber merchant David Goldie, and auctioneer Edward Turner [10]. In July 1954 the Auckland Orange Hall Society Incorporated was created and duly incorporated [11], and are as at the time of writing this report still the owners of the Orange Hall [12].

"We're as slick as the Orange in Auckland" wrote Peter Cape in his 1958 song Down the Hall on a Saturday Night [13]. Ballroom dancing, up until the advent of television and other forms of entertainment in the latter half of the last century, was a popular and regular social event in Auckland. The heyday of the "Orange", short for Orange Ballroom, was the 1940s with the dance hall packed and queues stretching back down Newton Road [14]. During World War II especially "the Orange opened its doors six nights a week to the crowds queuing four deep down its steep steps and along Newton Road." [15] The supper room below the dance hall area catered for the crowds and even up to the late 1980s still served sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee (no alcohol allowed on the premises by the owners.) [16] Long-running tenants and users of the dance hall included Arthur Skelton and his Dance Band and the Beau Regarde Dance Club. [17]

Arthur Wheelhouse, Skelton's partner, recalled in 1987 how dance halls, such as the Orange Ballroom, helped to start the careers of New Zealand musicians and entertainers, such as Mavis Rivers, Bill and Boyd, Howard Morrison and Kiri Te Kanawa. Tom Sharplin is said to have developed his rock and roll style at the Orange [18]. Auckland musician Bill Sevesi, who played at the Orange Ballroom for 23 years, received the Pacific Islands Artist Award in 1997 for his contribution to the development of the Pacific Islands arts in New Zealand. Musician for more than 50 years, composer of nearly 200 songs with 20 LPs to his credit, Sevesi was the first to record the Yandall Sisters and Annie Crummer when she was still an unknown. He started playing at the Orange Ballroom in 1958, his band finally ceasing in 1981.

In 1990 the ballroom underwent a colour change to its interior, repainted a cream colour by the Performing Arts School. The trademark interior orange colour is said to have originated just after World War II [19]. It is still rented out for functions, including weddings, today.

Lisa J Truttman
5 September 2006

Hottest show in May

2010-03-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ute Lemper
Sunday 16 May, 7.30pm
Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall - view seat map (PDF)

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Every inch the modern diva and star of stage and screen, cabaret artist and singing sensation Ute Lemper returns with her brand new show Angels Over Berlin – a journey that starts in Berlin with Brecht and Weill and the Berlin Cabaret songs. It continues into the poetic universe of the French chansons by Brel, Piaf, Ferre and further to the Argentinian world of Tango by Astor Piazzollla. Stories of the lost, of love, survival, passion, dreams, societies, the past and the future.

Ticketing information
Concession available for Senior Citizens (65+)
Groups (10+) price available please call 09 357 3354

Auckland Folk Festival 2010

2010-03-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Many guests from The Great Ponsonby ArtHotel www.thegreatponsonby.co.nz are interested in our culture including music. This is a fine option.

Every Auckland anniversary weekend [last weekend of January] the Kumeu show grounds hosts the annual Auckland folk festival. This event established in 1973, is now New Zealand largest and longest running Folk festival. You can visit information on www.aucklandfolkfestival.co.nz

I was unable to attend for the full three days and had to content myself to the Sunday evening concert.

Two thousand people filled the marquee. It is a good idea to bring your own chair, blanket and refreshments. This show is equal to a town hall concert in professionalism and in quality.

The show MCed by folk veteran Roger Giles, was great. A cast containing guitarist Stefan Grossman, Emily Smith from Scotland, Cool Grass from Victoria and local acts Rhonda and the Ravers, Forbidden Joe as well as duo Mary Kippenberger and Peter Charlton.

Preceding the main concert were the finalists on the RAINZ TUI Best Folk Album Award for 2009. They were: West Coast vocalist Mel Parsons, Emeralds and Greenstones from Christchurch and then Chris Prowse from Wellington.

Parsons had a fine voice and was a great performer. She sang songs from her album ‘Over my shoulder’.Personally I would have preferred some songs in her repertoire which spoke of Aotearoa as well as personnel experience.

We were the beneficiaries of a great performance from Emeralds and Greenstone who sing songs from their self titled album. Their Celtic and Maori roots flows effortlessly into their music .Their skill with traditional Maori instruments, an Irish cleat and electric key boards were captivating. Their songs clearly of Aotearoa and the Celtic lands set the standard for the evening; which I believe will go down as one of the finest ever in our folk lands.

In the sprit of Pete Seeger, Chris Prowse, a Wellington singer with two others performed song from his album ‘Trouble on the Waterfront ‘about that the 1951 waterfront disputes. Chris sympathies clearly lie with the locked out watersiders and his concerns about the suspension of human rights and censorship- This album was to win the award and also Chris Prowse were to perform in the Wellington Fringe Festival in February.

Kumeu is one of New Zealand’s finest wine regions; and because the Waitakere Ranges are nearby, this makes a great venue for further exploring the western part of our city (plus it is only a 30 minute commute from Ponsonby).

Folk followers are fortunate that there are venues throughout the city to perform or sing-along to, with the iconic ‘The Bunker’ high up on the Devonport hills.

More comfortable are Café 121 Ponsonby Road, the Dogs Bollix in Newton and the Thirsty Dog in Karangahape Road. Living in Ponsonby with these venues we are spoiled rotten. Long may this last.

Hotest show in May

2010-03-09T14:29:00.000-08:00

We saw Ute at the Auckland Festival in 2003. History and life has never been told as Ute tells it . Book now and Sally and I will have he a drink
with you there.
The Great Ponsonby www.greatpons.co.nz has a few room left for you out of towners if you are able to get seats

Electrifying star, Ute Lemper returns to New Zealand

Auckland Town Hall
One night only: Sunday 16 May

THE EDGE pre sale

Ute Lemper, the international singing sensation described as the undisputed queen of cabaret, will return to Auckland in May to perform her new show, Angels over Berlin.

Her recent appearances in Europe and North American have wowed audiences and won the admiration of critics, bowled over by the sheer presence and vocal mastery of this talented and charismatic artist at the pinnacle of her career.

Opening in the Weimar Republic, Angels over Berlin journeys through the repertoire of Brecht and Weill for which Ute Lemper is justly renowned, and then continues into the poetic universe of the French chansons of Brel, Piaf and Ferre, before heading into the sultry Argentine world of tango by Astor Piazzolla.

It's six years since Ute Lemper's dazzling performance during AK03 and finally she is returning to New Zealand for one show only.

'Lemper grabs her audience by the throat the moment she marches into the spotlight ...' – The Guardian (July 2009)

'Lemper's voice is an extraordinary instrument ... a rare and rewarding night' – Graham Reid, NZ Herald (AK03)

Book your tickets to Ute Lemper during the THE EDGE Internet pre-sale which starts now. As one of our valued online customers, you can be amongst the first to secure tickets before they go on sale to the public on Friday 26 February.

BOOK ONLINE

THE EDGE pre sale from Thursday 18 February - midnight, Thursday 25 February.
Public on sale 9.00am, Friday 26 February.

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Our View on GST Increase , Its Silly

2010-03-07T00:37:00.000-08:00

We are very concerned about a potential increase in the rate of GST.

As a tourist operator and employer in a small business we have already set our rates until Oct 2011. These rates are published overseas and cannot be changed. These are written contracts we have made with international inbound agents.

We have not lifted our rates in real terms since 2008 because of the international situation. We have also provided our staff with regular wage increases and have worn the cost of increased charges for services provided such as post, internet, phone, electricity and other utilities.

We do not see any way of increasing our prices for the FIT traveller as hotels are reducing their rates and the market is extremely competitive. It is well known in the industry that in the last twelve months many operators have left or are planning to exit the industry.

We are appreciative of the efforts the government has made in providing funding for Tourism New Zealand for international marketing but the ability of the industry to sustain an increase in gst is doubtful.

We support the position of TIANZ which has also raised concerns about raising gst. Everyone we have spoken to in the last few days also supports the TIANZ position.

We believe that if gst goes up our staff will have expectations of wage increases to cover their extra costs. We also believe the Reserve Bank will lift interest rates next year which will not only affect our bottom line but coupled with an increase in gst will be inflationary.

Yours sincerely,
Sally James & Gerard Hill