15.09 New Zealand: E noho rā! Aotearoa: Farewell!

 Agave americana on Bluff Hill, Napier

The Agave americana or century plant, as it's called in the USA, isn't native to New Zealand. It was brought here from North America and has 'gone native', if you will. Jean and I haven't gone native in New Zealand, but then the cultural and linguistic shifts required of Americans coming to New Zealand are relatively minor. Moreover, we've not put down deep roots. But Aoteora New Zealand and her people won't be forgotten. Even as we return to our native shores, Kiwi memories will abide. These posts will serve to enliven those memories. And I hope these posts have served and will serve to enliven New Zealand -- at least somewhat -- for web viewers and readers around the world.

Inevitably to see, to really see a place, one must learn stories to frame the seeing. This is no less true of New Zealand than any other place. Stories are captured and shared in histories, biographies, correspondence, fiction, poetry, song, and even abstractly in sport and dance. These posts have more often alluded to New Zealand's stories than related them. Whatever I may have shared is little; whatever more I could have learned is much, a great much. But Aotearoa New Zealand has taken hold and we, Jean and I, are thankful for that, for the people we've met and the places we've seen.

May God grant that New Zealand and her people flourish. May her songs abide and grow in His grace.

Warm regards,

Tim (& Jean)

15.08 Hawke's Bay: Just Visiting & Soon Away

8.A Pohutakawa in Bloom, December 2014 / January 2015, Ahuriri, Napier

The high season of pohutakawa blooming has now passed. And so, too, is our season of living in New Zealand. Jean and I are thankful for our time here and thankful that our two daughters were able to visit with us last week. 

Inevitably, others—be they family, friends, or strangers—bring different perspectives. With different perspectives at least there are opportunities for new insights or novel ventures. A case in point is the wine tour the four of us took last week. Despite the country's extensive winemaking—Wikipedia lists ten major New Zealand winemaking regions—Jean and I had never paid a visit to a Kiwi vineyard. Our daughters' visit caused us to correct that omission, an omission easily corrected in the Hawke's Bay Region. 

Hawke's Bay has the oldest winery in New Zealand, Mission Estate Winery, founded in 1851. The region embraces the second largest New Zealand winemaking area, with over 70 wineries. Numerous wine tours, self-guided, by van or bus, and even by bike are available directly or through Napier's i-Site (and presumedly other i-Sites). 

I was confronted with so many wine tour choices that I sought and received guidance from one of my daughters on what tour to take. She in turn relied on Trip Advisor, which identified Grape Escape Ltd as a good choice. Grape Escape we did. We weren't disappointed.

In our afternoon tour along with an Australian couple we were taken to four winemakers: Sileni, Ngatarawa, Trinity Hill, and Ash Ridge, all of them near Bridge Pa, west of Hastings. At other times and in other seasons we may have been taken to other wineries. In any event at each winery we were afforded a sampling of whites and reds and sweet and dry wines. I pretty much stuck to the whites. As little as I sampled (I could have sampled all), I was thankful not to be driving. Thankful, too, that I would never have to stand an examination on viniculture or winemaking. It seems there's an endless number of factors that underlie the making of a good wine, no matter the variety. Apparently Bridge Pa's gravel soils (of glacial origin) are important to the grapes selected for winemaking in the Bridge Pa district.

Greg, our Grape Escape guide, provided cheese and crackers for an afternoon 'break' at Ngatarawa. Here are some photos from that winery, which apparently was hosting a confab of local winemakers the day of our visit.

8.B Former Horse Stable, Ngatarawa Wine Estate

8.C Another View (More artsy, yes?)

8.D Lily Pads at Ngatarawa Wine Estate

7.E Reflecting Pool and Picnic Table Meeting, Ngatarawa Wine Estate

8.F Trinity Hill Wine Showroom

8.G Trinity Hill Barrel Room

While we were heading into the Trinity Hill showroom a downpour began. The rain was and is much needed. It isn't unusual for certain areas of New Zealand to experience summer droughts, especially areas east of the mountains on both the North and South islands. Those mountains act as rain shields because rain-bearing storms tend to bear down on New Zealand from the west, especially the southwest. It should come as no surprise that Hawke's Bay has a Mediterranean climate, comparatively dry and sunny, and, hence, favoring the cultivation of stone fruits (peaches, apricots, nectarines, etc.) as well as certain varieties of grapes.

The day following the winery tour, Jean and I took our daughters to Clifton on Hawke Bay, where they boarded the Gannet Beach Adventures (GBA) outing of the day. That day the departure was scheduled for 10 AM. The GBA outings are dependent on the times of low tide, because the outings traverse the beach to Cape Kidnappers. Because Jean and I had previously taken an overland outing to Cape Kidnappers (See Blogpost 14.04), we elected to linger at the Clifton Cafe, during the four-hour duration of the cape expedition. Except for an extended walk along the beach toward Cape Kidnappers, Jean and I spent our time reading and sipping beverages at the cafe under shade trees.  Apparently the cape visitors had a delightful time, at least our daughters did. 

The following day we departed for Wellington, as reported in the preceding blogpost. Before closing, I want to offer up three closing remarks, remarks in part provoked by Clifton and its likes. The remarks seem apt as Jean and I wrap up our time in New Zealand and as I begin to wrap up publishing this blog.

Remark No. 1.: Clifton, set on a narrow strip between cliffs and shore, suffers from beach erosion. The erosion is caused by storm waves and high tides. Clifton is a very small community, hence it has limited resources to address the erosion. One wonders what will happen to the community. There's a master story unfolding here, as there is for every other community. It's just that in Clifton's case the master story is pretty obvious: it's man versus nature. I wouldn't want to bet on the outcome.

Remark No. 2.: There's also a story to be told about the tractors used by the Gannet Beach Adventures. I suppose I could have discovered and could still discover why the owning family has elected to import vintage Minneapolis Moline tractors, long out of production, to be used in the Gannet Beach Adventures. By comparison to Clifton's beach erosion challenge, the owning family's tractor preference is trivial. For that reason alone, perhaps, the story behind the preference isn't worth pursuing. But I've chosen not to uncover the story because GBA's curious 'tractor' practice is emblematic of everyday enigmas that at home leave us unprovoked but that away—as in travel—awaken a measure of wonder, wonder even in the trivial. When we as travelers or foreigners encounter strange or enigmatic practices, customs, tastes, etc., both high and low, we are called, sometimes forced, to cultivate the ability to 'read' what we see. That's part of the challenge and beauty of travel. A picture (or view) may be worth a thousand words, but bereft of a story, what does it say, if anything? What are we 'seeing' when we 'see'? It depends... on stories. And so we are beckoned to venture... and perhaps discover.

Remark No. 3.: As I've said before, seeing things or places or people for what they really are takes a measure of love, sometimes lots of love. And that implies engagement. In travel we engage and disengage at our own will, but never entirely. Like it or not, for example, we need to know the correct departure time of our flight, how much we can bring aboard, what we can bring aboard, etc. Yet, apart from certain unavoidable demands that life puts on us, we can become disengaged or, rather, primarily self-engaged. The danger of self-willed (or should I say 'self-centered'?) engagement is that we become enmeshed in preconceptions, misconceptions, and habitual desires. So enmeshed, we're unable to get 'beyond the bar'; we are at best blind and at worst enslaved.  If our travel here 'beyond the edge'—in New Zealand—has awakened us to the other, to some measure of the truth, to life, then we have been blessed. And for that I give thanks. But enough is the feast and enough these remarks... and back to the so-called 'mundane'.

Below is a photo of a GBA tractor driver delivering a safety talk—giving 'sight' to the otherwise blind, if you will—before the departure to Cape Kidnappers. There's also a closer shot of one of those Minneapolis Moline tractors.

8.H Driver/Guide Getting Tourists Ready to Go,
Gannett Beach Adventures

8.I A Vintage Minneapolis Moline Tractor

8.J A Cape Kidnappers Beach

For now and until my next, last post...

Warm regards,

Tim (& Jean)

PS. Below are more pohutakawa photos. They were taken in Ahuriri during the height of the blooming of New Zealand's 'Christmas tree'. The coast-loving pohutakawa are beautiful trees in any season but they're surely so when they blossom, whatever the shortcomings of these photos.

15.07 Wellington: Hello Again

7.A Wellington's CBD as Viewed from Kelburn Station,
at the Top of the Incline of the Wellington Cable Car Ltd

Last week Jean, our two daughters, and I visited Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. Jean and I had previously visited Wellington (Blogpost 13.21) in early winter 2013, at least meteorologically speaking. Speaking in plain weather terms, our arrival in Wellington on 4 February 2015 was accompanied by chill winds that made it seem as if it were winter again in Welly. The wind gusts in the city's narrow streets may have reached 40+ mph (64+ kph). In any event we were blown to our lodging on Manners Street, quite near the city's popular restaurant-and-bar district along Cuba Street.

Shortly after checking in, we headed toward the Wellington Cable Car Ltd station on Lambton Quay in Wellington's CBD (Central Business District). Wellington's red cable cars serve as icons of the city. The photo above fails to show a red car. But you should be able to see between the rails the funicular cable, which does the work but gets no fame for its efforts. The photos below show a car and the new top station (Kelburn Station), which was under construction during our previous visit. The new station building hasn't obliterated the cable car museum, which remains adjacent to Kelburn Station.

7.B Overview of Kelburn Station, Wellington Cable Car Ltd

7.C Interior & Exterior Views of Kelburn Station

7.D A View of Wellington from Kelburn Station
 with Victoria University Playing Field in the Near Distance

Often tourists who ride to the top of the Wellington Cable Car come to visit Carter Observatory, the former national observatory, whose planetarium happened to be closed during our visit. Learning that, we walked downhill into the grounds of the Wellington Botanic Garden. The ducks had gotten to the grounds first. The grounds are attractive, but I still believe the Hamilton Gardens (Blogpost 13.02) are leagues ahead of what I saw in Wellington or what I've seen, for that matter, almost anywhere else.

7.E Viewers and the Viewed in the Wellington Botanic Garden

7.F Fronds and Waterfall in the Wellington Botanic Garden

In the evening we dined at an excellent and relatively inexpensive Italian restaurant, Scopa. On a subsequent evening we ate at another Italian place, also on Cuba Street and also excellent, Ombra. I can't help but mention these two places because all our prior experience in Kiwi Italian restaurants had been unsatisfactory. Generally, visitors should not expect well-made Italian or Mexican fare in New Zealand, but obviously we've now identified two exceptions to that rule. In every other ethnic cuisine, especially Asian, the traveler will almost always come away well satisfied. In that vein we had an excellent Malaysian dinner at the plain but hearty Aunty Mena Vegetarian restaurant, also on Cuba Street.

The day following our arrival was relatively calm and quite bright, a delightful day for a visit to Zealandia, an eco-island sanctuary, nestled in metro Wellington. During our previous stay in New Zealand Jean and I had twice visited the country's largest eco-island, Maungatautari (Blogpost 13.08). Whereas Maungatautari occupies a mountaintop region, Zealandia occupies a valley once reserved for two water reservoirs, reservoirs serving Wellington. Before the reservoirs were built, the surrounding hillsides had been stripped of their native, climax vegetation. 

Removed from water service and placed within an Xcluder fence, the sanctuary operates under a 500-year plan to restore the pre-human ecology of this part of New Zealand. Nearly extinct bird species have been placed in Zealandia as part of that plan. Anyone briefly visiting New Zealand who wants an introduction to its ancient, unique ecology and to its avian life should visit Zealandia (considered one of Wellington's top five attractions). We spent a good afternoon exploring the grounds and the museum, having the benefit of a friendly, informative tour guide for part of our visit.

7.G   An Aged Takahe in Zealandia

7.H New Zealand Kaka at Sweetwater and Pellet Feeders

7.I New Zealand Kaka in Zealandia

7.J  Suspension Bridge and Walkway over the Upper Dam in Zealandia

7.K View over the 'Bush' in Zealandia

7.L  Upper Reservoir in Zealandia

7.M View over the Zealandia 'Bush' towards Wellington's CBD

Besides visiting Zealandia during our first full day in Wellington, we also walked about the waterfront, as the photos below can testify. With the development of containerization (See Blogpost 15.01) much of Wellington's waterfront has been freed up for the likes of museums, outdoor art, restaurants, and pedestrian-friendly walkways and plazas.

7.N A 'White Whatnot' Fountain along Wellington's Waterfront

7.O A Pedestrian Bridge along Wellington's Waterfront

7.P A Blue Bubble Taxi in the Foreground & Wellington's CBD in the Background,
Seen from Mt Victoria, First Photo Stop on the Hop On Hop Off Tour

On our second full day in Wellington we booked a Hop On Hop Off tour of the city. The Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) tour enables tourists to get off at designated tour stops (like Zealandia or Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum), catching another HOHO van an hour later (or after a longer interval, if one wishes). We had thought a foursome of tourists might pose a problem for this type of tour. What if we got off at a tour spot, then an hour later, when we wanted to board a following van, we found only two seats available? It turns out that that isn't a problem. Hop On Hop Off commits to providing sufficient seating at any point where a group of customers are expected to hop on.

With that in mind we spent time in the Miramar district at the Weta Cave, a shop and information center for those interested in Wellington's thriving film industry. 'Wellywood' (as Miramar or even Wellington is called) flourishes in no small part because of the work of Sir Peter Jackson, who brought The Lord of the Rings to movie screens, basing his film operations here. There are other film entrepreneurs in Wellywood. Among the large film-industry enterprises are Weta Digital, Weta Workshop, and Park Road Post Production. My casual impression is that Wellywood is more collegial than Hollywood, perhaps because Wellywood is younger and smaller. Whatever, may the collegiality remain.

On our HOHO touring we also visited the birthplace and childhood home of Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand's best known writer, author of numerous short stories set either in New Zealand or in the Europe to which she fled. She died of TB in her mid-thirties. Her birthplace home has been restored by a trust, but the trust can do nothing about the motorway that abuts the back of the home. Nor has it endeavored to brighten up the interior (nor should it), which Mansfield called a 'dark little cubby hole'. The home has excellent exhibits and info boards and, I believe, will satisfy almost any Mansfield aficionado. 

7.Q Katherine Mansfield Birthplace,
25 Tinakori Rd, Thorndon, Wellington

Our last hop off was at Te Papa, where we spent much of an afternoon. Te Papa is free, except for special exhibits. One could easily spend several days in the museum, which has a range of historical, ethnographic, science, and natural history exhibits, as well as an extensive art gallery. I'm probably missing aspects of the museum's cultural enterprise and, of course, that's not counting the on-premises cafes and store. In any event, Te Papa is well worth a visit or -- correct that -- several visits. If we return to Wellington, I'm sure we'll return to Te Papa. Hopefully, we won't get hacked by this guy, below.

7.R A 'Happy Camper' (Just kidding!) at Te Papa,
a Testament to the Output and Strength of Wellywood

Warm regards,

Tim (& Jean)

PS. I'll close with a happy picture of a natural emblem of New Zealand, the koru. The photo was taken during our visit to Zealandia. Koru are produced by a number of indigenous New Zealand ferns. As I recall, New Zealand reportedly hosts over 700 fern species, including ten fern tree species. The fern shown here isn't a fern tree, but it's impressive.

7.S  Koru in Zealandia

15.06 Napier: Art Deco & Deco Renaissance

6.A Memorial Cenotaph in 'Memorial Place' along Marine Parade

Napier has a good reputation and deservedly so. As I've previously said (in Blogpost 14.07), that reputation partly stems from its numerous structures built in the Art Deco era. This architectural legacy arises from the fact that Napier's Central Business District (CBD) and certain outlying areas had to be rebuilt following the great earthquake that occurred on 3 February 1931.

At one time I'd contemplated writing a blogpost highlighting my favorite Napier 'Art Deco' buildings. Such highlighting would have rested on a thorough survey of all putative Art Deco structures to be found in Napier. There is such a survey (here). But as I thumbed through that survey and as I became more familiar with Napier's heritage, it became apparent that more than a few buildings in the Art Deco survey weren't strictly speaking Art Deco. Rather, they were erected in the 1930s and '40s, when Art Deco was the prevalent style. Napier may choose to call this heritage 'Art Deco' but I choose to call it 'Deco Renaissance', a term that serves to group those buildings erected during Napier's great rebuilding, when Art Deco was prevalent. 

Call it what you will, Napier has reason to cherish, preserve, and further embellish its Deco Renaissance heritage. To speak of the rebuilding of Napier isn't to suggest the town was entirely flattened in 1931. It wasn't. Rather, the most severe devastation took place in the CBD. Even in the CBD there were survivals. 

As good a place as any to see this is what I regard as the heart of Napier, what I call Memorial Place, shown in the photo above. 'Memorial Place' is the name I've given—the natives don't seem to have one—for the small plaza that hosts memorials to Napier's war dead. It's just north of Napier's i-Site on the west side of Marine Parade. One of the survivors of the quake was the memorial cenotaph erected in memory of the fallen of World War I (which was restored after the earthquake). Here's a photo of the lion at the base of the cenotaph.

6.B Lion at Base of War Memorial Cenotaph,
Memorial Place, Napier

Napier's cultural center—MTG Hawke's Bay—faces Memorial Place. MTG stands for 'Museum Theatre Gallery'. The MTG's present facade and entrance exemplifies what I call 'jewel box' architecture, open and airy but with nary a touch of the Deco Renaissance of Napier's heritage. Walking to the west side of the MTG, one can see the previous, vault-like entrance to the cultural center, which now merely serves as an emergency exit. All things considered, the jewel box entrance was an enhancement to the MTG building and to its immediate environs.

6.C Entrance to MTG Hawke's Bay

6.D Former Entrance to MTG Hawke's Bay

Works of art are to be found in the MTG. Such works are also placed about Napier. They vary in merit and vary in the merit of their placement. The photo below shows a well placed 'pot of flowers'. It may not be a serious work of art, but not all art, even public art, must be serious. The pot is big, but it's light and festive and its 'flowers' change with the seasons.

6.E Napier CBD Streetscape, Emerson & Market Streets 

Just as not every building can or should be a stunning work of art, there's room in public art for gestures toward the beautiful, even mere jests.

6.F Jesting Art Fronting Napier i-Site (Upper) and Fronting a Parking Garage (Lower)

6.G Backside Mural on a Countdown Supermarket

The pedestrian, capricious placement of transient or jesting art can be part of their charm and beauty. Such placement, however, is unsuitable for art of arguably greater merit. Regrettably, Memorial Place may be becoming a knickknack cupboard for the meritorious. The 'Gold of the Kowhai' piece, shown below, deserves a more conspicuous spot than its recent placement at the backside of Memorial Place. It doesn't thematically fit here. To be sure, the kowhai serves unofficially as the national flower, but red poppies in New Zealand, as elsewhere, have come to be used to remember the war dead. Napier has plenty of roundabouts where the Gold of Kowhai could be better appreciated and where, indeed, it could serve as a landmark. Speaking of landmarks, the other photo below (Excuse the poor quality, please) depicts a fountain and statue erected in 1971 to honor the spirit of Napier. It is well placed in the Marine Parade beachfront 'domain' (Kiwiese for an urban park).

6.H 'The Gold of the Kowhai' Sculpture (2014) in Memorial Place (Left);
'Spirit of Napier' Fountain (1971) along Marine Parade (Right)

The Spirit of Napier Fountain raises the issue: Why don't we see in Napier more contemporary structures built in one of the Deco Renaissance styles? Some of the styles, as you'll see below, would be too expensive to replicate now. But others, like pure Art Deco, wouldn't appear to be prohibitively expensive to embrace. Whether there might ever be a revival of Art Deco (in Napier or elsewhere) is an open question. I've seen one revival attempt in greater Napier, in the Taradale district. I'll give the McDonald's franchise an 'A' for effort, but the execution of the exterior leaves much to be desired (I've not been inside).

6.I Touted as the World's Only Art Deco McDonalds, in Taradale, Napier

Perhaps one of the more striking things in the photo above is the pavement. You'll see lots of special paving in Napier (and in other New Zealand places) on pedestrian crossings or abutting them. The mild climate permits this kind of installation. I like Napier's Art Deco pavement street signs, placed during Napier's renaissance (See Blogpost 13.03 for a photo of an Art Deco manhole cover). The few pavement signs are to be found in Napier's CBD.

6.J Napier Streetname Pavement Inlays

Marine Parade and Tennyson Street intersect in the vicinity of the Masonic Hotel. The hotel is one of my favorite structures, in part because it has so many faces. The face shown below might cause travelers to imagine they're standing on a plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

6.K Masonic Hotel Marine Parade Facade

Here below are photos of another impressive hotel, the County Hotel, occupying one of the two major CBD structures to survive the 1931 earthquake (The other was the post office building). The structure survived but the exterior was modified somewhat following the earthquake. The colour, the ornament, the rhythm of the County Hotel facades make it one of the most engaging Napier buildings.

6.L The County Hotel, 12 Browning Street

Just south of the County Hotel is 'Archies Bunker', an Art Deco backpackers' hostel. The name is amusing and clever. The design is pleasing.

4.M 'Archies Bunker', 14 Herschell St

One could walk in any of several directions from Memorial Place and come upon good design. Bear with me and we'll bear mostly west on Tennyson. I'll let the photos below set the pace.

6.N The Daily Telegraph Building, 49 Tennyson Street

6.O Daily Telegraph Building Bas Relief and Fenestration Details

6.P Munster Chambers, 59 Tennyson Street:

As if it had been dropped into Napier from Belgium or Holland.

6.Q Scinde Building, 71 Tennyson Street 

6.R Scinde Building Detail

6.S Sculpted Apron below a Scinde Building Window

6.T Former Napier Central Fire Station, 163 Tennyson Street

There's plenty more in the CBD, but I won't pretend to offer a catalogue. Before leaving the CBD, though, let's pause before the McClurg Building, with its beautiful upper story windows.

6.U Upper Fenestration on McClurg Building, 116 Hastings Street

Except for some postscript photos taken in or along the Marine Parade Beach Domain, I'll close out this post with some views of Deco Renaissance buildings in Napier's Ahuriri district. First below is a picture of a building on West Quay now serving, like so many buildings on West Quay, as a bistro and bar.

6.V NZ Shipping Co Ltd Building, 60 West Quay, Ahuriri

Next I'd like you to take a look at an Ahuriri building originally erected (but no longer occupied) by the National Tobacco Co. Ltd. The building's architect worked under the inspiration of the 'father of skyscrapers', American architect Louis Sullivan. Obviously, this Ahuriri building is no skyscraper. But it's hardly pedestrian. It has what must be one of the most magnificent doorways in New Zealand, a doorway of note in any event. The building is a destination for tour buses but I confess I've only recently gone inside. The doorway seems sufficient cause to admire what otherwise might be a largely unremarkable building.

6.W National Tobacco Company Ltd Building, Ahuriri, Napier

6.X Entrance Detail, National Tobacco Company Ltd Building

There's more to be said about Napier than could be captured in the few pictures I've shared. But I hope you get the sense that Napier's heritage of buildings and artifacts speak volumes. That they continue to do so speaks well for the efforts of Napier's citizens to maintain them.

Warm regards,
Tim (& Jean)

PS Urban parks, among other things, are a form of urban art. In consonance with so many places in New Zealand, Napier is a good practitioner and proponent of the art of park-making. New Zealand's park practices stem from the country's British heritage, I believe. In any event here below are some shots of the Beach Domain, which fronts Napier's Marine Parade.

6.Y Bandshell Green & Peristyle

6.Z Spring Flowers and a White Whatnot in the Beach Domain

6.AA Curvature and a Curator in the Beach Domain

6.AB Vista Past a Moat

6.AC Flower Borders in the Beach Domain

6.AD Looking Towards a Fountain and the Pacific at the Marine Parade/Browning Street Roundabout