If this were the Aucklandista site, this’d surely be about Millie. But it’s not. Besides, we’d never heard of her until yesterday. Millie Elder? Millie Holmes?
Anyway… that’s just alluding to celebrity gossip to lure you in. And to trap the googlers… yoohoo!!
Here in the Capital city, when we talk about stars we talk about the really big ones! Real stars.
Matariki.
In May or June each year, just before dawn (yeah right!) look toward the North Eastern horizon & you should see the Matariki constellation. The Greeks called it Pleiades (although they view it upside down to us) or the Seven Sisters, the Japanese called it… Subaru!
To Maori, it marks the New Year, and is associated with the Winter Solstice. The name itself literally refers to the Eyes of God.
This month till the 1st of July, Te Papa are hosting a Matariki Festival, click through for further details.
Further information on Matariki itself, can be found here, here & here.
This weekend sees the Annual Rose Pruning Demonstration at the Lady Norwood Rose Garden in the Botanic Gardens.
Want to bone up on proper garden maintenance? This is your chance! The Wellington City Council has laid on the roses, and the experts. There will be tips on both pruning AND growing your roses. Dancing with the Stars contestants may or may not be there. The same goes for the surviving Beatles & Nastassja Kinski, but I remain hopeful.
I usually make wise with the Rose puns at this point, but she emailed this year & asked me to kindly stop.
There are two sessions:
1.30 – 2.30pm: pruning modern roses in the Lady Norwood Rose Garden. Meet at the Begonia House.
2.30 – 3.30pm: pruning rambling and heritage roses at the Bolton Street Memorial Park. Meet at the Seddon Memorial.
Grab your blades & go to it!
Addendum – Glow Worms:
While I’m on the subject of the Gardens, I happened upon an official person taking a bunch of schoolkids on a glow worm tour last week & feel I should pass on the intelligence I gleaned on my way past them. The poor lady was stretched thin by 10 or so bored & restless boys. It didn’t help that there were no worms glowing at all.
I’d wondered for a while, from personal experience, but as the lady snapped at the boys she confirmed my theory that glow worms put on their best display after rain or a heavy dew (I do not know why this is).
So should you be planning a visit, do so soon after rain & while the worms can be found in most places in the Gardens, the easiest to find & arguably best are on the main track between Glen Road & the Duckpond.
(sorry, that title is naff)
In a nutshell, if you go to Newtown on the bus (Go Wellington or Stagecoach) between now and June 30th you pay half price for entrance to the Zoo on that day.
Remember to ask the driver for the Zoo voucher.
Usual Zoo admission charges are:
Buses to Newtown include #1 (Island Bay), #3 (Lyall Bay), #10 (Newtown), #11 (Seatoun) … spoilt for choice.
And then it’s a walk up from Newtown shops to the Zoo [map]
The Wellingtonista would like to know why so many goddamn black-legged jellyfish decided to hang out at Lyall Bay over the weekend. Sure, it was hot, and swimming was a great idea, but for me, not for you creepy wobbly things! And it didn’t make a difference how calm it was on Saturday and how wavey it was on Sunday – you were still there! Bastards. It ‘s not like you were put on Earth first or anything, and yet you act like you own the place…
Dear Wellingtonians,
I’ve become so sick of you whinging all the time that tonight I made this for you:
Sunset at Lyall Bay
We all know and love Wellington’s Pohutukawa trees. Especially at this time of year when they come into their own, their fiery blossom earning them the title of “New Zealand’s Christmas Tree”.
What’s less well known is that they can’t really be considered the “Christmas Tree” of any area of New Zealand outside the top half of the North Island, their native range.
Instead, we should consider the Rata, Northern and Southern, for this role. Between them, they grow over all of the North Island and most lowland areas of the South Island.
Once whole forests of Rata blossomed in Wellington at Christmas. But no longer: the settlers’ fires, and latterly, the Possum, have caused an almost total decline in their population. Still, here and there remnants are to be found within the bounds of Wellington itself.
A particularly fine specimen is at this moment flowering in the Otari-Wilton’s Bush. Usually it can’t be distinguished from any other tree at a distance, but right now its splendour decorates the bushy hillside, contrasting strongly with the quiet greens of the surrounding trees.
Planting any more Pohutukawa here is not a good idea, as the Wellington Botanical Society will tell you. (One must presume there were good reasons why the Council chose Pohutukawa over Rata for their Greening the Quays project.)
Well… around them anyway, if you don’t want the gardeners getting medieval on you…
What:
Spring Festival, Sept 23 to Oct 8.
Where:
Botanic Gardens & Otari Wilton’s Bush
The Botanic Garden and Otari Wilton’s Bush will host two weeks of family orientated events.
Activities include:
Brochures outlining the events will be available from both gardens and all Feeling Great stands from 1 September. PDF files here:
Spring Festival Brochure
Stamp Your Name on the Stump
Spring Festival Photo Contest
The Pelorus Trust Fireshow kicks of at Petone Wharf at 7.30pm, Saturday July 1st.
I suggest locating yourself close to the western end of the Esplanade for the best view.
It is a great event to take children to, since it is so early, and all over and finished by 7.45pm.
Warming beverages recommended. In fact I can specifically recommend a thermos of mulled wine. Mmm, toasty.
Dear fellow Wellingtonistas and the good people of Wellington in general, If the weather is as gorgeous tomorrow as it is today, you must do what I did at lunchtime today – get golden crisp fish’n chips from Thorndon Fish’n Chips (don’t let the name fool you, it’s next to A-Mart and across the road […]
If you’ve become all festivalled out recently, or, like this Wellingtonista seem to find the whole thing sliding by you without seeming to make any impact despite best intentions otherwise, then take heart: life does continue elsewhere. For example, this weekend, the suburban environmentalist can get their car’s emissions checked at: […] the Westpac Stadium […]