Sometimes it takes the eyes of a visitor to shed a new light on the ordinary.

Fernando Ramierez is a Chilean photographer who’s been spending a bit of time travelling around Wellington buses using the Daytripper ticket.

He started noticing the other passengers on the bus, and began talking to them and photographing them. This lead to his Daytripper photo essay series.

[I] soon realized that Wellington is a beautiful city not just because of the great architecture. It’s a beautiful city because of its people. Really kind, they let a complete stranger approach, take photos, learn about their lives and hope for the best.

Scoop has some photos online and also the photo essay available as a PDF. And there’s also Fernando’s Flickr group with the photos.

f you’re going to the Montana World of WearableArt and you want to make sure that you eat first, WellingtonNZ have put together a handy list of nearby-ish restaurants that offer express menus to make sure you get to the show on time. We’re particularly fond of Trade Kitchen. Naturally, even if you’re not going to the show, you can still indulge yourself with these dinners…

While the Hook of Maui has been scrapped due to cost overruns and problems with the frickin’ laser, the Wellington City Council is still keen on the idea of a gateway sculpture, and indeed the competition will be re-run later his year. The proposal had some mixed responses, but now there’s a chance for a rethink.

So, what do you think? What (if anything) would make a suitable marker for the northern entrance to Wellington?

You’d have to have been living under a rock (by which I mean "not been in Civic Square for the last couple of weeks") not to have noticed the outbreak of spots all over the City Gallery. It’s an installation by Yayoi Kusama to publicise her Mirrored Years exhibition, which is a showpiece for the newly revamped and extended gallery.

After nearly a year of closure, the gallery is celebrating its relaunch with the Gallery-a-Go-Go event in Civic Square this Sunday. While many will be most excited by the return of Nikau café (which reopened a week or so ago) and its famous kedgeree, there are a whole lot of new gallery spaces to explore after the expansion. There’s the brand new Roderick and Gillian Deane Gallery of M?ori and Pacific Art, which will host Ngaahina Hohaia’s Parihaka-themed work; a new Adam Auditorium; and a much larger Michael Hirschfeld Gallery. The opening exhibition there will be the huge installation Make Way by Regan Gentry, a Wellington artist best known for his large-scale public sculptures exploring public space and urban change.

[more after the jump]

Wellington is blessed with many and splendiferous forms of avifauna. Between the Sanctuary; the council’s efforts in keeping pest numbers low; and the natural attractions of our location, Wellington is party central for birds.

And so it is only fitting that the Wellingtonista takes at least a passing interest in Forest & Bird’s Bird of the Year Poll, given that some of our favourite residents are top candidates!

In truth though we’ve had some difficulty deciding if we should endorse one particular bird over another. One person wanted the Robin; another the Tomtit; and another suggested a non-resident left-field contender, the now extinct and totally not eponymous of any Wellingtonista alive or dead Chatham Island Whaktard (which is only a half-decent FaceBook campaign away from being the poll winner that cannot be admitted to).

It turns out though, that the person that writes the blog posting gets to decide, and thus I would urge you all to vote for the Kārearea (New Zealand Falcon).

Why? After the jump.

For the last couple of weeks, Wellington has been teased with the sight of grim reapers going about their business around the city. These hooded folk were promoting the new play "Good Night – The End", which has recently opened at Downstage.  Written by the multi-talented Jo Randerson, the play looks at a group of three grim reapers (and their zesty Italian administrator), just spending time in their break room between reaping.

And like most people, the stuff that gets discussed on breaks is often nothing to do with their work. So instead it’s arguments about doing the dishes, using all the Milo, and Cheezels, pies, pizzas and hash browns, coming across as an unruly mix of between The Office, passiveaggressivenotes.com, Big Brother and a bit of the Mighty Boosh thrown in for good measure.