Ten Years in Pōneke: Part Five – Somes Speedrunning
Or, hey I was supposed to finish all of these articles in 2025 but then life happened so I guess we’re doing little quests in 2026 as well. [Warning: This piece talks about disease, war and death.] Matiu / Somes Island is the ever-present spectre looming in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, one of three islands that the harbour […]
A Concrete Legacy
Many of you will know that most of the Karori Teachers’ College campus, designed by the late Bill Toomath, is threatened with demolition by its new owners, Ryman Healthcare. I don’t know enough about the previous VUW/WCC ownership shenanigans to comment on that side, and the practicality of maintaining its role as a community asset are […]
Shape of the Suburbs
Last weekend a friend asked on Twitter whether anyone had made a New Zealand equivalent of this poster of London boroughs, which took the outlines of the boroughs out of context by arranging them alphabetically while keeping them to the same scale. This revealed both the weirdness of some of the shapes, and the striking […]
What to do in Wellington with a motorhome
This post is sponsored by Wilderness Motorhomes We love telling people what to do. Especially telling people what to do in Wellington. That’s why we exist. So when we were offered this sponsored post we were happy to take up the challenge of what to do in Wellington if you’re an out-of-towner visiting in a […]
Escarpment
Abandoned railway stations. Precarious swingbridges over precipitous chasms. Hidden valleys full of lush forest. Remnants of ancient kāinga. Those might not be what you’d expect from the recently-opened Paekakariki Escarpment track. I certainly expected rugged landscapes and magnificent views, and you get those in abundance, but there’s much more here to be discovered than you might imagine […]
Notional Significance: Yellow Earth
[See all Notional Significance posts] Wind-hurried raindrops pelt against the Shadehouse roof, which provides but meagre shelter as I wait out the passing shower. Cold droplets descend through green air into the expectant foliage, maintaining a humid atmosphere to feed a pteridomaniac’s wet dream. In a fern-fevered nation this is an orgy of patriotic symbols, […]
Notional Significance: Lagoons
[Alf’s back after a long absence! You can catch up on his previous post in this series, or read all Notional Significance posts.] The path skirts the six-lane highway, compressed between traffic and hillside, passing beneath stolid, galvanised totems that awaken onrushing commuters to an imminent decision. Soon the curve of the carriageway straightens, but the scrubby […]
Are you Super? Will you Submit
The local government commission has proposed a reorganisation of the Wellington region, which you can read more about over on the local government commission site. The regional council is split over the proposal. Perhaps more importantly, according to Stuff, only 26% of Wellingtonians are in favour of the proposal. We’re not taking a side here […]
La Boca Loca makes Wellington better by paying living wage
A couple of months ago, we went along to a dinner put on by the Sustainable Business Network, which was a very interesting night but I found myself unable to write about it without seething with rage remembering the man I’d been seated next to. He owns a franchise chain, believes that the only reason […]
Zig-zag Texts
Bridget Williams Books publishes a series called BWB Texts, “short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers”, and two new ones will be launched next Thursday at Unity Books. Martin Edmond’s Barefoot Years recounts childhood memories of life near Ohakune, while Thorndon: Wellington and Home, My Katherine Mansfield Project by Kirsty Gunn (Rain, The Big Music) will be of […]