2025/09/18 Chess on the beach

I took this photo at the end of my 13 years in Auckland, and it is one of the most memorable images from my New Zealand times. I was walking along the beach at Mission Bay and I loved the way that that these two men exemplified a kind of simple lifestyle that we could all learn from.

“Slow down and enjoy the moment”

Mission Bay, Taranaki Drive, Auckland New Zealand. April 2009.

A welcome visitor returns!

“He’s back!” comes the cry from the back garden and we all know what it’s about. Larry the Lounge Lizard* has been spotted and we are all filled with joy. (*Actually he is a Blue Tongue skink and this may be his offspring).

We are pretty sure there are two pf them, a larger and a smaller.

The larger one, above, hiding in the shade.

Camouflaged on the gravel, the smaller one, below.

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Fun facts:

  1. These are not that uncommon but fairly reticent
  2. They can live up to 20 years
  3. They may grow up to 400mm (15 1/2 inches)
  4. They produce anything up to 19 offspring in a litter, each measuring 100 to 130 mm (around 6 inches)
  5. The young disperse straight after birth and can look after themselves
  6. They have strong jaws and can crush the shell of a snail

So we have our eyes peeled whenever we venture out.

I wish he knew what a stir he creates. The most photographed object in the garden!

Some doorways for Thursday

On the way to the station this week.

I kept my eye out for a good door or two when I went shopping for some tech this week, I was needing to back up my unruly photo folders. It seems like there has been a price drop in the 512 GB USB Flash Drives so I cycled down to the station to hop on the train to UMart where they had some at $A60.00 and even less.

At the local rail station, these storage pods. Are they for people who own more expensive Bikes? Also, where do you obtain a key? After 13 years of living here I guess I need to find out… Anyway, they have doors. I just chain mine to the fence. Unlikely to attract. Only the e-bikes and scooters get stolen.

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Yay! Another door. Community book-sharing mini libraries are becoming more numerous around the city suburbs. We have a small one in our street and this large one is in Auchenflower.

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Finally, a handy looking local near the Auchenflower Station. Next time, I’ll stop for a coffee and I’ll bet they do a good pastry too.

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Thanks to Dan for hosting Thurdsay Doors

Wellington, New Zealand v2

I have only visited Wellington twice, maybe three times. I have dug up this old post because the city has been on my mind, maybe because we in Brisbane have felt a minor earthquake recently. Wellington seems to have its fair share of them.

Also, I don’t believe a single soul read my post the first time around and I put a lot of time into it, dammit!

The most striking thing about Wellington is the air. Maybe its all in my mind, but it seems to have the freshest, crispest air you could imagine. Perched on the southern tip of New Zealand’s north island, you can draw a straight line in a roughly southerly direction, straight down to the Arctic Circle just 3000 km away. This is a city of clear, icy air and interesting weather.

“IT’S TRUE YOU CAN’T LIVE HERE BY CHANCE. YOU HAVE TO LIVE AND BE , NOT SIMPLY WATCH OR EVEN DESCRIBE. THIS IS THE CITY OF ACTION, THE WORLD HEADQUARTERS OF THE VERB”

The way Wellingtonians feel about their city is expressed on these stone tablets, apparently carelessly scattered on the harborside.

On this subject it is true that a lot of energy and creativity exists in Wellington. The suburb of Miramar is the home of Weta Workshops and Peter Jackson who wrote, produced and directed Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy along with many other productions.

Wellington, where the weather is often not conducive to lazing around. These clouds you see below tell you that this is a place exposed to meteorological and geological surprises. Put simply, they do not call it “windy Wellington” for nothing.

Earthquakes and high winds are part of the action-filled lineup. My son lived here for several years in a house high on the slopes and he knew what it was like to be shaken awake in the night by gale winds or earth tremors. Much of the housing is built on the exposed mountainside slopes.

Below: Wellington is the administrative capital of New Zealand. The parliament building (below) is known as “The Beehive”, for obvious reasons.

The original government building (below) is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world, second only to a wooden building in Japan. From it’s first opening in 1876, smoking was not allowed in the building due to concerns about fire. This made it the first building in the world to have a smoke free policy.

Te Papa Museum of New Zealand (below) is famous for having its underpinnings on rubber mountings to absorb the shock of earth tremors.

Above: One of The Interislander ferries seen here in Wellington Harbor. They ply the cruel waters of the Cook Strait to Picton on the Northern tip of the South Island (below).

Below: Unexpected shapes and objects to be found in the city’s squares and public areas

Wellington is also a city of trams. While I was there, some had a habit of coming unhooked from their overhead cables.

Well I broke the rule and I came to Wellington to observe. To describe it though is difficult. But here’s a taste: On the day I was here, neatly folded dark business suits, ties and shoes were waiting in neat piles at the edge of the water while their owners took a lunchtime swim across the harbour. The world headquarters of the verb indeed.

Cosy in a corner of the bay
Seemingly snug and secure
But it’s another white knuckle landing into Wellington City
And Air New Zealand looks forward to seeing you next time you travel
The air tastes brand new, unused, and freshly imported from the south
in copious volumes
The waterfront  is a succession of gentle surprises.
Utility meets art
Corrugated iron, wood, stone and water combine
with the pale light.
This is the place for doing
rather than just observing or parading
The home of the verb
So say the words, chiseled on the stone
at the water’s edge
Borne out by the suited office workers
who fold their pinstripes on the wharf in a neat pile
And calmly enter the water to train during their lunchtime break
This is the place of the verb indeed

A GANNET COLONY IN NEW ZEALAND

West Coast, North island. A place called Muriwai.

These were taken with a Kodak Maverick digital camera. Anyone remember them? It had an onboard floppy disk drive (sometimes called a stiffy drive). The image numbers were prefixed MVC and these pics were date stamped 2 January 2001. Each pic was 60 to 100 KB.

Now about the gannets: About 1200 pairs of gannets nest here between August and March. Once they have grown big enough, the young prepare themselves for takeoff. Each grows to about 2.5 kg (About 5 and a half pounds) and has a wingspan of 2 metres (6.5 feet). Once airborne, they fly across the Tasman sea to Australia. A few years later the surviving birds fly back to this same colony to breed.

There is a second nesting place just below the lookout platform which explains how I managed to get some fairly close up looking images. As I remember the Maverick had no optical zoom, only digital.

It’s a dramatic piece of coastline and Muriwai Beach extends 60 kilometres (37 Miles). A surfing spot, popular on this day (below) but only for the experienced I would guess.