A new taonga for Ngā Taonga
The 2014 amalgamation of our Film, Television and Sound Archives into Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision saw its nomenclature justified this week with the unveiling of an aural taonga for the ages. On the 35th anniversary of Wellington Access Radio’s arrival on air, broadcast material dating back throughout the station’s lively history has been added […]
Review: The moa show
The Junction Hotel is pub in rural Thames. It’s fairly typical– a bar, a dart board, a smoking area, the regulars. There’s Henry Hikoi from Ngati Pukeko, Brian Tritt who’s in every day, and Carmichael. When the three of them start drinking together and talking about the moa in the hills they wake up in […]
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 […]
Snapshots of Mount Victoria
A few photos I took as I walked the dog in the Mount Victoria town belt, and of the unveiling of a new living sculpture at the Innermost Gardens. “A Living Sculpture” On April 3rd, Grant Lyon’s sculpture “Yeah, Nah” was unveiled by Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown at the Innermost Gardens in Mount Victoria, at […]
Beggars belief
You may have seen yesterday’s DomPost story on begging, which trumpeted that the Council was “considering banning begging or fining good samaritans.” This generated much justified outrage, even though deeper into the article it became clearer that this was just one extreme option among a wide range of measures that had been considered after complaints from the public, […]
Review: The Sevens Sons of Supparath
The State of Supparath has been at war with the demon lord Krunk for ninety years. Finally they have captured him (it?). The seven states sit in judgement and sentence Krunk to a terrible punishment. In order to enact their decree they send the Seven Sons of Supparath across the seven sections of the state to […]
The most Wellington of Wellington meals
This post is sponsored by Cuisine magazine. Thanks! Go buy a subscription. We’re often full of advice about places to go for a feed, because as Madonna said, everyone should experience eating out, but sometimes some of us do like to stay at home and cook. So, harking back to the time when we challenged y’all […]
Review: The ACB with Honora Lee
Perry is the only child of two loving and hard-working parents. She’s inquisitive, enthusiastic and overwhelmed with after-school activities. When an opportunity comes up for her to spend more time in the home with her Gran (instead of tennis) she jumps at it. Over the year as Perry gets to know her Gran and the […]
A journey around the Billiards Room (and tables)
Last week, Wellingtonista’s ace literary team was lucky enough to get invited along to the pre-launch Writers’ Week Welcome, held within the Museum Art Hotel‘s very swanky Billiards Room. Following on from last year’s sale of the Courtenay-district landmark (let’s not go busting out the dreaded “iconic” just yet) to Sydney-based EVT (Event, Hospitality and […]
Awful Orpheus
[Content note for misogynist, racist and homophobic language] It’s not often that I’ll go out of my way to write bad things about a hospitality business, unless it’s a paid reviewing gig and the place is hopelessly dreadful. But I’ll make an exception when the experience is actively repugnant and based upon a fundamentally flawed concept. […]