Coming Up Close

  Another scene from near Karangahape Road in Auckland City. This one caught my eye because in this part of town there seems to be nearly every building that has posters glued to it advertising promotions. Whenever we have travelled we have never had to use travel agents, in fact I've been reading news stories lately about how they've mucked up peoples tickets or itineraries. I don't know if they really do - have you ever used a travel agent? I think it's just as easy to book your own tickets, in fact we are about to book ours for another trip to Auckland in November as my oldest son and his partner are getting married. Edited to add: I've just discovered in my blogger spam folder hundreds of unpublished comments, my apologies for that, no idea why they were in there but it's been sorted now. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .

  photo a bit blurred as we were driving past at the time. I've posted a few times now of different band rotundas I've seen around New Zealand. I love the old fashioned architecture especially of this one I saw in the Auckland Museum Domain last November.  This one was established in 1882 after architect Henry Edmonds submitted plans for it to the Recreation Ground Board (as it was called back then). The band rotunda was a gift from a prominent Auckland biscuit manufacturer J.M. Mennie and recently it was being restored to it's original colours. Now back then Auckland was busy being colonised so this photo above shows how many people would spend the day here, it's still a beautiful spot in the middle of the city, one of my favourites. I'm guessing brass music was popular back then and with no televisions this was probably a great day out for families. News from me: the last week has been very very busy. I've been learning all sorts of new bits and pieces of tech...

Last time I visited Westport I spotted this small mural on the side of one of the smaller buildings. The Womens Institute branch here has been an important part of New Zealand for decades. So apparently it started in Canada, before making it's way to Great Britain. In 1919 a New Zealand woman Anna Jerome Spencer attended a craft exhibition in London. She was so impressed and investigated it with a thought of establishing it in New Zealand too. Before the 2nd world war Anna and her friend Amy were based in Havelock North and the first meeting was held at Amy's home in January 1921 with Anna elected as president. The first annual report of the institute provided a model for programmes until the 1990s. The movement slowly spread at first and by 1925 there were 6 institutes based in the Hawkes Bay region. Over the years women in this organization have worked together to generate huge amounts of goods, services and funds for various causes both local and national. These days Womens ...

In between Greymouth and Hokitika, in fact it's nearer to the latter is this little hall located in Stafford. It looks like a type of historical building that's in a very country like area with only a few houses around. I did manage to ask a lady walking past what the building was used for and she said it use to be the local community hall. I don't know if it is still used but as you can see on both photos it looks like wood and iron contribute to it's construction.  his is the side of it. Now the tiny town of Stafford is one of those places that was part of the gold rush era of the 1800s. In 1870 the township contained 37 hotels and 17 stores with most of the population of people being Scandinavians but these days it's a shadow of it's former self as most of the properties there are houses and small farms. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  I have to say I adore Auckland. Having been born and raised there for 25 years before moving north I don't think I would ever live there permanently again but I do like going back once in a while to see how things have changed. I worked in the central city for quite a few years and it's interesting to see how old things have been updated. This is along Karangahape Road just out of the main street of shops. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .

  There are plenty of old historical buildings around the West Coast. This one in Reefton is on the corner of an intersection was constructed in 1872 as a gathering place for people in the community. If you don't know much about the Oddfellows organization, from the information I've looked up it seems they are similar to the masons with their lodges. So originally the Oddfellows here in New Zealand had the purpose of providing workers and their families with financial and other assistance before government departments were invented. The first lodge was formed in 1862 with members being people such as politicians and leaders in society who had the power to develop the country. When social legislation came about here such as welfare grants etc, there was a decline in the membership. Apparently the organization still continues to quietly help not just families but also charities and hospices. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the wor...

I've been trying to find the artist of this mural on a utility box down one of the little side roads near Karangahape Road in Auckland City without luck but it shows a colourful forest scene with shades of green, red, yellow and brown, not something you would see in these parts. Linking up with  Monday Murals .

  Love it when I see old cars in town - this one I spotted outside my old work last week when we picked up our food shopping. We usually buy groceries through the click and collect service - we order everything online through their website then pick it up the next day and it means we save money by not going into the store and buying unnecessary things. Photo taken just before I walked through someone's cloud of cigarette smoking causing me to cough - ewwww. btw guess who got a letter calling for jury service? Nights are starting to cool down here a bit, Autumn will be here in March. We don't watch alot of tv, most of it is rubbish but I do have a few favourite channels on youtube that I follow: The mindful narrowboat Nicole White mudlark Sergio and Rhoda in Israel. I think I would rather learn than watch mindless entertainment. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  Another photo from Hokitika taken last time we were there. Note the sign on the left with the colours of South Africa of which there are big populations here of people from there. This particular shop stocks lots of products such as biltong and apparently they make fry bread. Now if you haven't tried it you should as it's very very easy to make. I've been told that you make a basic bread dough and then cook it in balls in a deep fryer filled with oil - it's delicious! Days are still warm here but the nights are getting cooler, it feels like Autumn is on it's way. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .

  The Blue Baths is in Rotorua and was opened in 1933 with the aim for the building to promote the town for it's geothermal qualities. When the town was founded in the 1880s the goal became to show people how tourism could grow. The building above shows it's affinity with the art deco era with it's curves and rounded windows.  The pools inside offered mixed men and women bathing together facilities which would've been scandalous back then. When we were there a few years ago it was closed sadly as I would've liked to have taken photos of the interior. The water in the pools is apparently taken directly from the geothermal piping in Rotorua so I could imagine it being quite hot. Tea rooms above the blue baths February 1965, G. Riethmaier, National Publicity Studios Photo from 1936, Auckland Weekly News, Kura Heritage Collections Online. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world ,  All Seasons  and  Wordless Wed...

  Quite often around the country we sometimes see tourist vans or campavans that have been decorated by artists. I spotted this one in Hokitika recently featuring clouds and sun setting behind mountains - a typical New Zealand scene. Linking up with  Monday Murals .

  Taken in November 2023 at Christchurch Airport - this is one section people walk through that links half of the domestic terminal to the food court and the other half of the domestic terminal. Speaking of flowers, Summer will be fading into early Autumn here in a few weeks. It started quite late here as we were having some cool rainy days right up until mid December. I'm looking forward to seeing some more colour on the trees in March. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  I've been wanting to check out this memorial ever since we moved to Greymouth so last week I finally got a chance. It's located on the side of the road on a slight hill on the way out to Runanga (a suburb here) and I was expecting it to be something to do with the 1st and 2nd world wars but it looks like I learned something new. When I read the words a bit closer I was surprised to see it was dedicated to a robbery that happened in this spot on 9th November 1917. The plaque reads: "A car carrying the state mine payroll of 3,600 pounds (that's about $7000 nzd in today's world) was held up and robbed by Frederick William Eggers alias William Eggers McMahon. The 2 officers William Hall and John Coulthard were shot and killed but the 3rd officer Isaac James was wounded so he escaped. Eggers was caught, tried and convicted in Christchurch. Executed at Lyttleton Goal on March 5th 1918 he was the last person hanged in the South Island." Linking up with  Skywatch Fr...

  Every year in Hokitika a driftwood sculpture festival is held for 4 days. This year we didn't manage to get there to check it out until afterwards but there was still a great deal to see. Hokitika beach is one of those places that is covered constantly with driftwood. So have a look at these words of art and see what you think. btw the camera was my favourite. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world , All Seasons  and  Wordless Wednesday .

  Another utility box seen on the outskirts of central Greymouth. Most New Zealanders and Australians will recognize this one. The iconic "buzzy bee" is a wooden toy with wheels that babies and toddlers grow up with and makes a clicking noise when it's pulled along. Painted by Mark Haldane aka Raja the toy was originally created by Maurice Schlesinger around 1939/1940. This is the same toy that Prince William was filmed playing with during the royal tour to New Zealand in 1983. More about the lightning strike we had the other night. Apparently our neighbour across the road had one of the power poles outside her house blow up due to being struck so it ended up damaging some of the internal wire. Being not far away from her we were lucky not to end up in the same boat. Linking up with  Monday Murals .

  Yesterday I was driving around with my daughter and I spotted this empty derelict house on the outskirts of town. Looks like a typical 1930s property and I'm not sure if it had a fire or whether it's just empty and neglected.  Speaking of fire, we were woken up at 6am this morning by the loudest crack of thunder I've ever heard in my life, we thought something had exploded out in the street. Turned out we'd had a couple of lightning strikes that had struck something, we weren't sure what but as it happened one of the buildings in town had been hit and was on fire. Our neighbour across the road had called the fire department who turned up for about half an hour so no idea what happened there.   Linking up with  Weekend Reflections , All Seasons   and the  Weekend Roundup .

We've been driving to Hokitika a few times lately and it's been very very hot lately. We were walking around looking at the op shops looking through the racks of clothes and having lunch in our favourite cafe. Welcome to Summer - at last. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .