Black and White Hotel

I'm one of those people who gets a bit excited by old architecture around New Zealand. This old pub/building/hotel is located on the main street of Westport on the West Coast. Judging by the look of it I'd say it was built around the early 1920s. I'm not really sure how it got it's name, perhaps the building was originally black and white. It seems to have some bad reviews from about 5 years ago on Trip Advisor but recently there are alot of positive comments.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

The Wedge - Rawene

Last time we were up in Rawene I took a photo of this unusual building on the corner of 2 streets while I admired the different bright colours.  Apparently it was built in the late 1940s to be used as a 2 storey joinery workshop and it's known as "the wedge" because of it's triangular design.

A few business have occupied different parts over the years including Prime Minister David Lange back when he was a young lawyer early in his career but nowadays it has a real estate at one end and a puzzle shop at the other.

But with a view like this why wouldn't you want to be in there?

Speaking of colour I've been out in the garden here again, I had ordered some little plants online which ended up being way less expensive than I would buy in a nursery. Because we have mostly native plants here I stuck with the theme and ordered some Hebes, some Cuphea and some Brachycome which are mostly low growing but will fill up some bare spots. When I'm out walking sometimes I pick some cuttings out of public gardens to taken home and root so when it rains I will put those out too.

We did get the go ahead from our landlord to remove a noxious plants that had self seeded everywhere, one of which is called Bear's Breeches which can grow up to 2 metres wide and high in the right places and with our garden being quite small it was taking over our lemon tree and flaxes. After digging half a dozen out there were 2 left that were stuck in corners I couldn't get to so I will wait for the other half to help when he has time.

Linking up with My Corner of the World and Wordless Wednesday.

Vulcan Lane - then and now

In the heart of Auckland city lies this Vulcan Lane which you can enter into from Queen Street as it snakes up to High Street and beyond. This is what it normally looks like with people wandering through looking at the speciality shops and sitting outside cafes with their coffee. We watch the news most nights and a few days ago we saw footage of how quiet and silent the city is, not one bit of the usual hustle and bustle you would expect to see. I took this photo in 2019.

Photo taken by Auckland City Council - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-16046 - 1 March 1968

Back in the 1880s this is what it use to look like and according to this blog I found it says that it was originally called "Victoria Lane" but was nicknamed "Vulcan Lane" which stuck.  Photo from Sir George Grey Special Collections.

 Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 7-A4199, 22nd January 1968

After a fire destroyed much of the area in the 1850s then two hotels which are still open today were built namely the Queen's Ferry Hotel in the 1860s and the Occidental hotel in the 1870s. By the 1890s the land was becoming overcrowded so in 1923 it was changed to be a one way street then in 1964 it became a pedestrian walk through lane which is much better and more suited.

Can you see the car on the right? My grandad had one of those. Many of the buildings I can see in this photo are still there today.

In other news, I was saddened to read this morning that one of my favourite actors/comedians Tim Brooke Taylor had passed away. I remember him well in The Goodies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory plus Me and my girl. Our rate of new cases as of yesterday was down to 28 which is positive but I think our lockdown should be increased to an extra 2 weeks just in case.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday and My Corner of the World.

All's quiet in Auckland City

About 7 years ago I took this photo of the Sky Tower in Auckland City. Up until a week or so ago it has always been a hive of activity - now it is closed until further notice.

This building has been standing high for the last 20 years at 328 metres. It has panoramic views up to 80ks in all directions, 3 restaurants, cafes, gift shop and people can even skydive from the top.

So many businesses are feeling huge financial losses since the country has been in lockdown. Unless you're an essential service like a supermarket, doctor's, chemist etc then you can't open and thankfully the govt has been giving help to those who still have workers to pay.

I read this morning that one of our supermarkets has banned reusable bags being bought in, in the hope that people will be in and out of there more quickly. When I did our shopping 2 days ago I was allowed to repack everything into a new trolley after it all being scanned through. It doesn't bother me because bags I guess can be quite dirty anyway. I managed to buy some butternut, butterkin and pumpkin so yesterday I put a big pot of vegetable soup in our slower cooker which we enjoyed last night for dinner - so good as we are going into Autumn here with cooler temperates.

 I also read that our health minister was spotted out and about not just travelling a distance to go biking but on a separate occasion was found out to have driven over 20ks to a beach with his children. Considering the rest of us are doing our utmost to stay in our homes I feel these were not well thought out decisions - he should be setting an example.

After watching an update on the telly yesterday I learned we are now over 1000 affected people but the rate of infected people daily seems to have dropped slightly. I can only feel grateful that it isn't any higher and that our prime minister and chief health executive have been thorough and quite onto it.

Stay safe out there. Linking up with Our World Tuesday and My Corner of the World.

Hotel de Brett's Spotty History

One of my photography passions is photographing some of our country's old buildings, this is one is packed with history. Hotel de Brett's is located on the corner of Shortland Street and High Street, it's listed as category 2 under the Historic Places Trust.

These days it's a boutique hotel but it first opened in 1841 known as "The Old Commercial" being Auckland's first hotel.  It operated for 118 years until a fire burned most of it down, Dominion Breweries refurbished it in 1959 and renamed it what it is today.

In the 1980s I worked in Auckland city for about 1 years and remember this old icon well as it has hosted many kiwi bands such as Th'Dudes and Hello Sailor.  In the late 1980s it became a backpackers hostel then in 2006 four hoteliers returned it to it's former glory.

The interior is a mixture of NZ art and design with retro 1950's chairs and couches - I'm pleased it's still being used personally.  As for the spots on the road I've since found out that Auckland City Council had them painted due to this particular place being being a high pedestrian used road. They are meant to draw awareness from all road users to be sensitive to other road users - it's a good idea and should be used in other places too I think.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday.

123 Grafton Road

See that lovely old villa on the left? Located at 123 Grafton Road in Auckland City it was once derelict, falling apart with rotting windows and joinery. Now it is being used by the Falling Apple Charitable Trust who purchased it in 2013 with the intent of promoting culture, art, music, education, health, sustainability and well-being in the community.

The restoration includes help from 250 volunteers both local and from abroad and according to my research the villa was built around 1882. It was owned by a George William Basley and his wife Frances - it is mostly made of Kauri. Originally governor William Hobson purchased the land in 1841 with local chiefs Kawau, Tinana and Reweti Tamaki signing the deed of sale.

Over the years the property was passed between different owners until in 1976 it was sold to Housing NZ where it was used as a boarding house, a drug rehab center and privately rented. In 2011 it was placed in Auckland City Council's heritage list and is now being tastefully restored.

I don't know if you've heard about the fires sweeping through Australia at the moment but apparently 1 of them was started by a 12 year old boy and the rest (over 50 of them) are the result of long dry weather with no rain, please if you can say a prayer for them.

Linking up with My Corner of the World and Skywatch Friday.

The old Grafton Bridge

How did your Halloween go this week? It came and went for us, we had a few groups of children knocking on our door and we already had a bowl of sweets ready to give out but apart from that it was pretty quiet.

Anyway earlier this week we traveled to Auckland to pick up the other half's step daughter from the airport. On the way we explored parts of the city - now I grew up in Auckland and worked in the central city for many years so sometimes I miss it.

This iconic structure named the Grafton Bridge is on the outer fringe and opened in 1910. It links up Grafton Gully to Karangahape Road, Auckland Hospital and the Auckland Domain. At the time it was built it was the largest concrete bridge arch in the world. Originally the first bridge built was made of wood at 360 feet long and 85 feet high - this one was built in 1885 but as population grew people voiced their opinions about the safety of the structure.

In 1907 the Auckland City Council took tenders to build the new concrete bridge (still there today) which measures 296 metres long with a central span of 320 feet, rising 84 feet  with a height of 142 feet off the valley floor.

In recent years the wave shaped like cover was put over both sides to prevent people jumping over onto the busy motorway below. Underneath the bridge exists the Symonds Street cemetery, one of the oldest places in NZ which houses the remains of mostly early settlers in the 1800s.

(photo from Heritage.org.nz)

These days this part of the city houses mostly University students and only a handful of the old colonial properties still exist.