Wellington Waterfront (5)

Yesterday, an early appointment fell through, so we headed into town for a ride along the Wellington Waterfront. We’ve done this ride a few times now, and I thought that this time there wouldn’t be much that was new, worth taking photos of. But luckily I was wrong. There is always something interesting going on.

We parked, as usual, at the far end of Oriental Parade, and rode towards the city. Along the front of Frank Kitts Park, a lady was playing “Pōkarekare Ana” on the community piano. I don’t know what the idea of all the teddy bears was, but I noticed that since last time we saw this piano being played, a donation box has been added, to help fund getting the piano tuned.

The lady was playing "Pōkarekare Ana" (photo by John)

Along the front of Shed 6, there is a set of information panels illustrating the development of the Wellington Waterfront. I think there are a dozen panels, and one day I must take time to read them all. I took photos of the first two, here is one of them.

The Wellington waterfront has undergone a lot of improvements since 1990

Shed 6 has had many uses over the years, but last year it had a big refurbishment, and it now a versatile function venue. While I was dawdling in front of the panels, John carried on to the Queen’s Wharf “Outer T”, from where he took a photo looking back.

Shed 6, with the information panels along the wall (photo by John)

At the other end of the ”Outer T” was the mooring of “Guru”, a catamaran owned by the NZ Diving and Salvage Ltd. Earlier this month it was in the news because this ship, having been built in land-locked Palmerston North, was trucked to Foxton, where it was launched and floated down the Manawatu River. It must be in Wellington just temporarily, as it is due to go to Darwin, from where it will be operating in the future.

The catamaran “Guru” was temporarily moored off Queen’s Wharf (photo by John)

From here we pedalled without stopping till we got to the Stadium Concourse. I like the design of the main entrance to the Stadium. It represents Mt Taranaki in the background, and the white feathers “Te Raukura” are a “symbol of peace and a reminder of the importance of maintaining a spirit of friendship and unity in the face of competition”.

The main entrance to the Stadium

Of course, this was the venue of the Wellington Sevens which were held last weekend. At the entrance to the Stadium, there was a ticket booth which still had the sign on it saying “R18 Wristband Booth”. Presumably young people had to present ID to prove they were over 18, so they would be able to buy alcohol at the venue. And further along over the gates, there were notices announcing “Have you got your wristband? No wristband, No alcohol”.

Is this discouraging or encouraging the consumption of alcohol?

I commented in my last blog on how drunken behaviour by fans had given the Sevens a bad name. Efforts appear to have been made to restrict the consumption of alcohol – by minors, at least – but it obviously was not terribly effective. Of course, sales of alcohol inside the venue don’t help …

We did a loop of the concourse, and I noticed in quite a few places, little bits of colourful feathers stuck to the tarmac – from some of the fancy costumes that would have been parading along here, I suppose.

Back along the wharves to the Karaka Café, for coffee and a scone. A family with a young child at another table made the fatal mistake of feeding tidbits to some pigeons. Initially there were just two pigeons, and one seagull. We were amused to see one of the pigeons getting very territorial and chasing the seagull off. Of course the gull kept coming back, and before long a whole flock of squabbling seagulls was crowding around the table.

Hopeful seagulls crowding around a café table

The Boatshed and the Star Boating Club by the Frank Kitts Lagoon (photo by John)

There is a boardwalk, below the level of the wharf, between Te Papa and the marina, from where you have a different perspective of things. It is intriguing to realise that what looks like solid roadway from above, is actually a wharf, sitting above the water.

The wharf along the front of Te Papa (photo by John)

Looking the other way, beyond the marina, is the nearly completed Clyde Quay Wharf Apartments development. Its completion is scheduled for April-July 2014. While trying to find out more about this development, I found this mind-boggling video, showing the construction of the complex’s underground – or rather underwater – carpark.

Apparently most of the 76 luxury apartments were sold off the plans long before the project was actually underway. The few apartments that are still available for sale range between 1.4 and 3 million dollars!

The Clyde Quay Wharf development is nearing completion (photo by John)

Waitangi Park, behind the Chaffers Dock (the old Herd Street Post Office Building), and the carpark by Te Papa were covered in big marquees, and lots of preparatory activites were going on. I asked a parking warden what was happening, and he told me that they were getting ready for the Homegrown Music Festival, which starts at 1pm on Saturday, and continues till 11pm. There will be eight stages and dozens of acts.

Fences around one of the marquees in Waitangi Park

We had noticed as we were driving along Jervois quay, on our way to Oriental Parade, that there were marquees on the lawns at Frank Kitts Park too, and we wondered then what it was about. It seems that the whole of the waterfront will be occupied by this event.

It looks like a huge logistical exercise – tents, stages, seating, portaloos, rubbish bins, fences, lighting and sound equipment, flooring in some of the marquees, food and drink, signage – all need to be delivered and set up. And taken down again, of course, after the event.  

I noticed too, that the wetland gardens around the Waitangi Stream had been fenced off – presumably to protect them from the actions of over-boozed music fans …

As we rode around Waitangi Park, John took some pictures of the Museum Hotel. This hotel has an interesting story. It used to be located where Te Papa now stands. In 1993, the whole concrete building was moved – lock, stock and barrel – along for 180 metres and across the road. For some years it was called “Museum Hotel de Wheels”.

It is now a luxury boutique hotel, which prides itself on its impressive art collection. I have never been inside it, but having looked at its website, I wonder if “ordinary mortals” – i.e. not resident guests – would be able to go and look at the art on display. I suppose one could always go in and have dinner in its (very expensive) restaurant “Hippopotamus”.

The Museum Hotel was moved to its present location from where Te Papa now stands
(photo by John)

We made our way back to the car on Oriental Parade. Opposite where we had parked, I saw a notice on one of the last few remaining character houses, which said: “Ten Large Luxury Apartments over Three Sites – Selling now!”.

I was horrified, because one of the three sites mentioned is the most beautiful house on Oriental Parade. I can’t believe they are going to pull down this beautifully maintained, pristine white house with its little turret – absolutely one of my favourite buildings in Wellington. And they’re going to put up another big apartment monstrosity! Aargh!

They are going to pull down this beautiful white house with its turret,
and replace it with a ten-apartment monstrosity!

On Sunday 16 February, we hope to take part in the “Miramar Ciclovia”. From 1-5pm, part of the road around the Miramar Peninsula – from Shelley Bay to Scorching Bay – will be closed to cars, so that walkers and cyclists can enjoy the route without the dangers of traffic. I’m looking forward to it, and so far, the weather forecast for that day looks promising. You will read all about it here, of course, but better still, come along and join in!


 

Wellington Waterfront (4) and a milestone for John

Well, Christmas is done and dusted for another year. We had our daughter, son-in-law, and their children with us for a few days. It was great to re-acquaint ourselves with our grandchildren. It’s such a pity they live so far away.

Oliver and Ariana on Oma’s garden seat (photo by John)

On the last day of the year, we finally had a brilliant summer’s day, so it was time for a bike ride. John had been riding his other bike around our (hilly!) suburb to build up his mileage, as he was nudging the 2,000 km milestone for the year, and today was the day the big number would be reached. He only needed another 11 kms.

We rode our favourite Wellington Waterfront ride, starting as usual at the Roseneath end of Oriental Parade. There were a lot of people about, strolling or biking, kids riding scooters, a few skateboarders, tourists riding Crocodile bikes, and of course lots of people enjoying the beach.

We biked without stopping until we got to the cruise ship terminal, near the Westpac Stadium. Tied up at the wharf was the Celebrity Solstice, a simply gi-normous ship. Apparently it takes over 2,800 passengers and 1,250 crew! Fabulous for an “intimate” experience of a holiday with a few of your closest friends? (Warning: Sarcasm …!)

The cruise ship Celebrity Solstice (photo by John)

At the end of the covered way, the gate, which is usually locked, was now open for the passengers to be able to walk into town, if they chose to. Their alternative was to travel on one of the many shuttle buses that were plying back and forth between the ship and the city.

The gate was manned by a guard, so we couldn’t just wander in for a closer look at the cruise ship, but John asked him if he could just go up to the barrier to take a photograph (above).

The guard and the barrier beyond which John couldn't go

I was amused to see, among this vast array of balcony after balcony, a lonely pair of red shorts hanging up to dry!

Spot the red shorts!

Near the gate was an information board with a map of the city, a list of places of interest, and a listing of how long it takes to walk to Te Papa, Civic Square and the Cable Car. I guess that people would take a picture of it on their smartphones, to guide them through town. It didn’t have a QR Code though (that’s one of those squiggly squares that allows you to link to a website via your smartphone).

Passengers choosing to walk into town would have seen the wonderful shadows cast by the etched glass canopy of the walkway, while those riding on the buses would have had a good view of the stacks of logs waiting to be shipped.

Shadows under the canopied walkway (photo by John)

Logs waiting to be exported

We rode up the ramp onto the Stadium concourse. As we got to the top, we heard a “ting, ting, ting”, which turned out to be the warning bells for a goods train about to cross the road on its way from the railway yards behind the stadium to the wharf opposite.

A goods train crossing Aotea Quay

Cruise ship, logs, canopied walkway, and cars waiting at the railway crossing – seen from the stadium concourse

We rode a few laps around that wonderful vast expanse of smooth concrete that is the stadium concourse, to build up our mileage. I took note of my bike computer readings, and found that by sticking close to the perimeter, one lap was 1.3 km!

We considered going down the spiral ramp on the Thorndon Quay side, and taking a look at the pohutukawas in Parliament grounds. I want to take a photo of them in full bloom, which is a magnificent sight, but this was apparently not the right time, so we flagged that idea.

Next, back along the wharves. There were so many people walking along the front of the Shed 5 restaurant, we decided to ride round the back of it, not a terribly attractive area. A bit further along, outside Ferg’s Kayaks, a rack of colourful kayaks caught my eye. By the way, Ferg is Ian Ferguson, NZ’s most successful Olympian, who competed in five Olympic Games, and won four gold medals and one silver.

Ferg’s kayaks ready for hiring out

We saw quite a few people going for a paddle in some of Ferg’s kayaks. From the opposite wharf, the Helipro chopper seemed to be doing great business too, making lots of trips to take tourists for a bird’s eye view over Wellington. Wow, that must be pretty amazing on a lovely day like this. Wellington’s harbour must be a spectacular sight from above.

Two tourists’ modes of transport

As we were getting close to the Karaka Café, our favourite place for coffee or lunch on our waterfront rides, John detoured for a bit, riding around the Star Boating Club. Then, stop! “I’ve reached my 2,000 kms!” So of course, I took a photo to record the milestone.

John’s milestone of 2,000 kms since January 2013! A two and a zero, twenty centuries!

So, off to lunch. One of my dancing friends, whom my blog had apparently inspired to want to go cycling to lose some weight, replied to my comment that I hadn’t lost any weight by cycling: “Yes, but you undo all the good by always having coffee or lunch afterwards!”. She does have a point, and she’s probably quite right. But the coffees or lunches are all part of the enjoyment of getting out and about!

What's not to like about having lunch with a great view like this!

John carefully lined up the roof of the Wharewaka with the crane of the Hikitea (photo by John)

Along the front of Te Papa, I felt rather annoyed at the sight of a teenage boy climbing on the statue “Solace in the Wind”, while his Mum was taking a picture of him. When I rode past, I called out to him “That’s a piece of art, it’s not for climbing on!”. He jumped down pretty quickly. I felt annoyed with the mother too, what an example to set your son!

Back along Oriental Parade, the two beaches were full of sun seekers and children playing. At the main beach, the local Surf Life Saving Club volunteers were keeping an eye on people in the water.

Freyberg Beach

The beach patrol tower and the volunteers in their yellow T-shirts

It was a shortish ride, only 14 kms, but as it was New Year’s Eve, we were planning on going to the Scottish Country Dancing Hogmanay dance in the evening. Do check out the Hogmanay story and photos in my next blog post.

Happy New Year!

Wellington Waterfront (3)

I learnt a new expression today: “renaissance riders”. It’s probably been used by the cycling fraternity for ages, but it was new to me. In a book we bought yesterday, renaissance riders are defined as cyclists “shedding years as they jump on a bike for the first time in decades”. It describes me to a T.

The book is “The New Zealand Cycle Trails Nga Haerenga – A Guide to New Zealand’s 23 great Rides”, which is hot off the press. Most of the rides in the book are way beyond my capabilities (I only qualify for levels 1 and 2), but it gives us something to aspire to.

Now to our latest ride – a mini-ride, really. Labour weekend was quite nice in Wellington, and we should have gone for a ride on the Monday, but we didn’t. So we went on Tuesday. That’s one of the advantages of being retired – you can choose to go and do things on weekdays.

Tuesday 29 October was fine and slightly breezy. I had been to a gym class in the morning, and I didn’t want to ride too far afield or do anything too energetic. So we rode along the Wellington Waterfront – again.

As we’ve done this ride before, we didn’t stop for photos very often. We rode pretty much without stopping from the far end of Oriental Parade to the Westpac Stadium. We rode up the ramp onto the Stadium Concourse, for a few laps of this wonderful vast expanse of smooth concrete.

While we were up there, I noticed the two huge cranes on the harbour front, which had not been there last time we rode there. They are moveable container cranes, and I thought they looked very impressive against the blue sky.

I thought these massive cranes were quite impressive

On the way back, we detoured a little onto the wharf where the three Wellington tugs are berthed. At the end of this wharf there is also the rusting hulk of a fishing boat. An interesting contrast with the beautifully maintained tugs.

The tug Ngahue

There's a certain beauty in the textures of decay

Of course we stopped at the Karaka Café for coffee and a muffin. With the warmer weather, the café has installed some large beanbags on the grass in front of the terrace. No! we were not game to sit on them! Besides, they were already occupied by some young people lolling about on them, absorbed in their smartphones while enjoying the sunshine.
 

Karaka Café, with bean bags in the foreground (photo by John)

While it was nice and sunny, and not very cold, it didn’t strike me as suitable swimming weather yet, but as we came around to the bridge over the wharf cut-outs on the Taranaki Wharf, we saw a young man doing somersaults off the Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform into the water below. Actually, it gave me the heebie-jeebies, because the cut-out in the wharf is not that large, and a less skillful jumper or diver could easily come to grief.

The Taranaki Wharf Jump Tower (photo by John)

I hurried to get my camera ready to catch him, but I was too late. So when he climbed out of the water, I asked him if he would do it again, so I could take his picture. At first he didn’t want to do the high jump again, but instead did a running somersault off the wharf edge. Then when he saw I was prepared to wait for him to catch his breath, he climbed to the top of the tower, and did a beautiful somersault off it. I thanked him, and got a typical NZ response “No worries”.

A running somersault off the wharf edge

I reflected afterwards that this was another one of those situations which showed how friendly and relaxed NZers are. Nobody thought it strange that I should come pedalling along and ask him to repeat his jump, even though I didn’t know him. I think that if you tried that in some European countries, people would consider you very forward, and decidedly odd.

After this little interlude, we continued on without stopping back to the car. We’d done about 12 kms.

I had a disappointment this afternoon, when John updated his spreadsheet of our cycled distances. I thought my total was 724 kms, but according to his scientific (odometer) count, my total, up until now, is actually 706 kms. I have corrected the figure in my side bar (in red, on the right).


I have a further few Wellington photos to share, which we took yesterday afternoon, during a walk through town. In Civic Square a large sphere is suspended above the middle of the plaza. It is a sculpture by Neil Dawson, entitled “Ferns”, which was presented to the city in 1998.

The artist stated "When I started work on Ferns, I saw Ian Athfield's nikau palms as major markers of the Square. What I've aimed for is a sort of delicate intricacy that can float over the top of the palms so the two elements can work with each other.”

Neil Dawson’s sculpture “Ferns”

“Ferns” seems to float above Civic Square and the nikau palms

Later we saw the sculpture reflected in the windows of the curved City Council building.

The curve in the City Council building results in multiple reflections of "Ferns" in the windows
 (photo by John)

 

Wellington Waterfront - again

Yesterday (Monday 9 September) was another lovely day, but the forecast was warning us of heavy rain and galeforce winds in the next few days, so we thought we’d better get another ride in, before the weather packed up.

As northwesterlies were expected during the day, we decided on a shortish ride, along the Wellington waterfront, where we hoped the wind would not be too bad. We started out close to lunchtime, so there were quite a lot of people about – walking, jogging, cycling or just sitting, enjoying the sunshine during their lunch hour.

Again we parked at the far end of Oriental Parade, and took photos of features and places we missed on our last “Ode to the Wellington Waterfront” ride (4 August).

The tide was out at Oriental Bay Beach (photo by John)

With the tide being out, the beach looked wide and empty. Near the Freyberg Pool, we rode down the ramp down to the small wharf jutting into the water. Next to it, and protecting a smaller beach, is an arrangement of large square concrete slabs. They give a sculptural effect, but also provide places for people to sit or sunbathe in relative privacy and with some shelter from the breeze.

Ramp down to Freyberg Beach (photo by John)

The spaces between the slabs provide sheltered places for sunbathing

Today, though, the wind was fairly brisk. John tried to prop up his camera on one of the slabs, so he could set it on automatic to take a picture of us both, but it was too windy for that, so he took one of just me.

It was too windy to prop up the camera for a photo of us both (photo by John)

On the other side of this wharf, is The Boat Café. This former tug boat is permanently moored here, and has been used as a restaurant for many years. A couple of years ago, the Parade Café, which was a popular café across the road on Oriental Parade, had to make way for yet another tall luxury apartment building. As the Tug Boat, as it was then called, was for sale, Parade Café bought it and moved in, and it is now called The Boat Café.

The Boat Café – the bar was extended to stick out over the water

Outside Bernie’s on the Bay pavement café, we said hello to Bernie, the Bernese mountain dog. He must have been thirsty, and he knew where to find water – he kept licking the dripping tap below the drinking fountain.

Bernie knows just where to have a drink! (photo by John)

John took another picture of Solace in the Wind, this time with the marina in the background. A bit later, I was amused to see a bunch of tourists leaning over to peer round the front of him, possibly trying to see whether he had “the real goods”.

Solace in the Wind (photo by John)

Next to Te Papa Museum of NZ is the striking black, white and red building of the Circa Theatre. This intimate theatre contains two performance spaces, and a café, as well as a restaurant facing the harbour. This building is intriguing because its entrance looks quite different from the rest of it. The front façade, which is on the Te Papa side, was the last remaining portion of the late 19th century Westport Chambers, which used to be across the road from its present location. The Westport Coal Company was once a big exporter in the British Empire.

Circa Theatre, with Taranaki Street gates

In several places along the wharves, there are large black spheres, which provide some lighting at night – probably just as warnings so people don’t blunder off the edge. They look rather attractive and dramatic. The ones in the photo below are close to the bridge across the lagoon entrance.

These black spheres provide feature lighting at night

From here we made our way through the throng of lunchtime walkers and joggers, and kept going until the end of the footpath, near the stadium. The former warehouse near where the cruise ships berth has an impressive black and white mural of kowhai flowers on its city-facing wall. I like the words along the top too: “Coolest Little Cruise Capital”.

The city-facing wall of the cruise ship terminal on Aotea Quay

In recent years Wellington has become a popular cruise destination. During the 2012/2013 cruise ship season, Wellington hosted 90 ships and over 172,000 passengers. Many of these passengers will have walked into town, under the attractive glass canopy opposite the stadium.

Covered walk-way for cruise ship passengers (photo by John)

We decided not to ride up onto the stadium concourse this time, as it was too windy – the wind really sweeps across the vast empty expanse in a vicious way. Instead we made our way back along the front of the new office buildings at Harbour Quays. I watched as cars, bound for the South Island, were driving onto the Bluebridge ferry.

The Bluebridge ferry, the Straitsman, bound for Picton

Everywhere along the waterfront, people were out enjoying the sunshine – making the most of a nice, though somewhat breezy, day before the weather packs up again in the coming week.

Enjoying the sunshine near the Meridian Building …

… and outside Ferg’s Kayaks. Love those bollards! (photo by John)

We had lunch at the Karaka Café, overlooking the lagoon. While waiting for our food, John was quite taken by the way the light on the water kept changing.

Sparkling sunlight on the lagoon. Tanya Ashken’s fountain Albatross is in the background, on the right (photo by John)

Back on Oriental Parade, and a photo of Tail of the Whale, a sculpture by Colin Webster-Watson, which was donated to the City of Wellington by the artist in 2005. Appropriately, opposite this artwork, a mural on the low wall between the footpath and the road depicts sea creatures of all kinds, including a chubby orca. Interestingly, pods of orcas are relatively common visitors to Wellington Harbour. They are often called killer whales, but in fact orcas belong to the dolphin family and are not true whales.

Tail of the Whale (2005) by Colin Webster-Watson (photo by John)

Orca, part of a mural on Oriental Parade (photo by John)

Finally, when we’d put the bikes away in the car, we made our way to Kaffee Eis, for one of their delicious icecream cones, which we enjoyed while sitting on a bench, looking out onto the water and the beach.

Icecream cones from Kaffee Eis (photo by John)

The Fishermans Table, a restaurant under what used to be a band rotunda (photo by John)

Postscript - As I finish writing this up, the predicted galeforce winds (more than 100km/hr) have arrived and are howling around the house. It's raining now too. I am glad we managed to get in two very enjoyable rides on Sunday and Monday before they hit.