Hangi

Yesterday Tim Wraight had his 50th birthday Hangi at his place. Hangi is the Pacific underground oven, where you heat up big rocks on fire, at the same time dig a hole in the ground, at the same time prepare meats veggies, wrap them in leaves or tin foils and arrange them in metal baskets.

When the rocks are burning hot, you put those in the bottom of the hole, then some leaves, (banana leaves if you have them because they have antiseptic, I think, qualities) then your basket of food, then layers or leaves or cloths, then cover with earth again, and wait for a few hours. Then they remove the top soil very gently carefully and the baskets out.

I'm not sure how they know when the food is cooked, but when we arrived, they were unearthing the hangi. We've only ever been to tourist hangi where things are done "correctly", but this being a private hangi, not everything was done textbook, but don't worry Tim and mates would have made sure they were absolutely clean and safe. Food tasted wonderful, they always do, and unexpectedly I had my Thanksgiving stuffing fix! (No gravy but plenty of potatoes, too.)

Instead of playing the stereo loudly, a new band Silverbeat, of which both Tim and Kath are members, played inside Sealevel Studio presumably all night long. Great ending to a wonderful day.

Tim Wraight on NDP previously: here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Tim and partner Claudia are going to Switzerland early next year for Tim to work on a big commission on a Swiss farm.

Kath Bee's Second CD World Premiere

There were so many cars in the parking lot we had to park down the road. It's a great success, and such a joyous occasion, and the end of one phase of a long journey for her. We're heading back to the party now, but there will be more pictures later in the weekend.

Kath's details can be found here.

Tahunanui

Looking down from a walkway towards a residential and an industrial area of Tahunanui.

Washington Valley

There are many new building project around Nelson. This is from Princes Drive, looking towards Washington Valley.

Rear Window

Rain

It's raining outside. (This shot was taken yesterday evening.) Usually, I can see the western mountain range that I often take a sunset photo like this. Nothing, absolutely nothing today. I can just see a hint of tree behind the airport.

Speaking of Mapua

The most toxic site in New Zealand is becoming a park; last weekend mustard was in bloom and some people were inspecting the site. Not us.

Meanwhile, yesterday we had our driveway party - there are ten houses down a long winding driveway and yesterday was our fifth annual Christmas party. We usually dread going to these because our house is so badly kept whereas others fall somewhere between so-lovely to clinically-immaculate, but we end up having a great time. So much so that at the end of last night I volunteered to do it at our place next year. So... like we have 12 months and maybe a week or two to weed and chop and plant and tidy and wash and paint and generally get our act together. Ben hasn't told me how he feels about it. But it's a good goal. And if we fail miserably, I'll beg someone to take over.

Tea?

Last Saturday, DWS~11 suggested we drive out to Mapua if we hadn't in a while. We didn't think it had been that long since we were last there but the village had a totally different feel, with lots of new excruciatingly feminine shops. Among them is Mapua Trading Company, a beautiful garden accessory shop, (at least that's what they had here), and I especially liked these tea-cups-on-legs bird feeders. The only reason I didn't come home with one is I just couldn't choose one. I was told the company started as a mail order company, but the owner's home became too small so they opened up this lovely shop.

By the way, Kris, DWS didn't think Vespers served brekkie, so probably not Eggs Benedict, but we'll check the next time we're there for ya.

Open Till...

Zippy's on Hardy Street looks nice; they have organic food,but I've never eaten there. It has those bar stools that you'd have to be 7'10" to sit comfortably in and enjoy. (Or is it 7"10'? I never figured out...)

We're off to buy a bottle of bubblie; it's our 12th anniversary of NZ residency.

Sand

Hinged

A "hinge" on a rubbish bin/skip outside a food place in Mapua. Or is it Big Brother watching who's nice and who's naughty about rubbish?

Beach Cafe, Tahunanui Beach

Yesterday, I had bad lunch with Kath; we should both have had salads and skipped the cake. But the scenery was wonderful. Ten more sleeps before her second CD is out!!

Welcome

Vespers

We met up with DWS~11 at Vespers Cafe and B&B on Saturday; she's a real person, not just a log on name!! We'd never been to Vespers; it' has a beautiful garden/outdoor dining area, and great character of a converted old church. (And that there is a camera in her hands, of course.)

Cooler in the Shade

The Origin of Stars at the Top of Christmas Trees

Who would have thought it originated in Nelson! Hee hee.

Don't Let...

Pet Sheep in a Motel

Tuesday around 5.07PM, at an inner city motel, (nearly next door to our Information Centre). Someone must be traveling with his/her pet; this sheep was tied to the tree, decimating the plants.

"WHAT?!"

RadioWorks

Behind Jens Hansen's shop is this house that houses ... a lot of radio stations. On the sign, behind the bush, was also B-Sports or some such. I didn't notice the sculpture until this morning, but it appears to be by the same artist as the one in front of WOW museum, (gee, we've never posted WOW museum on NDP???), and behind is the Rutherford Hotel, which is a not-particularly attractive concrete thing as seen on the linked shot.

Because Nelson Hasn't Got Enough Cafes...

Well, not really. But it appears the Provincial Museum is remodeling their lovely quiet gift shop and opening up the Trafalgar Street side to create yet another cafe. I'm not complaining. Even with the many we have already, summer from midday onwards between this time of the year to about Easter they get pretty full; I'd just like to see some personality by way of interesting cakes and desserts rather than more of the same-old-same-old... Oh, and small cakes, please, for those of us under-tall people. (That term was coined by Rita of Dallas just for moi!)

A few more Museum pics: this and this are the Hardy St side, so the new cafe is around the corner; this would be above the cafe entrance; and this, sans the car, would be approximately the view from your seat.

Alcohol Free Zone

I found this in at the parking space in CBD. There is another one at the Mitai River Walkway.

Oyster Catcher

It was a beautiful day at the Tahunanui beach. (another very smiler but different shot)

Swing

Last weekend, again. I turned around from the boardwalk shot and to my trepidation, a container was swinging in the air in the strong wind. I watched until it was set on the ground, twice, after 15 minutes. From the sounds of it the box was empty, but still scary.

It's election day today, all over New Zealand.

Boardwalk and Apartments

Construction of the new boardwalk on the waterfront started about a month ago. I can't remember how long the finished walk is supposed to be, but I hope longer than the concrete foundations indicated last weekend. I love boardwalks.

Across the street development for waterfront apartments started about a decade ago, and the black building, a popular used-house-parts store (fire places, stained glass windows, French doors and brass parts, among others) was the biggest casualty. But the apartments proved too expensive, even before the world crisis, and many are rented out on short terms as holiday accommodations. Big gaps remain like scars left by greed and scheming minds. I just had to put that in; these apartments are one of the symbols of the changing faces of Nelson in the last decade or so. Definitely less charming.

Heavy

Flax flowers of any kind and any size are sculptural and dramatic when they bloom, but I'd never seen one as fabulous as this before. Ben said it's so heavy there's a string attached to it so it doesn't bow further and fall over. Found near the bottom of the Cathedral Steps.

We have a general election in New Zealand on Saturday; I keep having to remind myself, as it feels like it's already finished.

Baby Brother Amaryllis

I bought this bulb in a bargain bin two years ago. The first year, we only had three flowers; the fourth shriveled up and died while the others were still flowering. Last year I forgot all bout the bulb so I think it spent the spring/summer in the garage. This year, the Baby Brother (4th bud) was a few days behind the rest, and is a little bit smaller, but it's blooming. Woohoo! Good Boy!

This amaryllis start almost white with hints of orange, then get darker over a few days. This was taken first thing yesterday morning.

(Ben, put away your oilskin coat wax if you're finished with it, please!!)

Beach and Water

Beach, Footpath, State Highway 6

A nice surprise by Lachezar at Auckland Daily Photo was bestowed upon our wee blog last week; we were given the "Blogging Friends Forever" Award.

According to the rules we must now give this award to five other bloggers following these rules.
1. Award five blogs.
2. Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog.
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.

So our choices are:

1. Babooshka at Ramsey Daily Photo: thank you for your interest in NDP and for our comments. We like her photos, and her texts are informative and fun.
2. Photowannabe at (and did you ever read her url?) www.allredmop.blogspot.com: even though hers is not a DP, she is consistent with her posts, and on- and off-line has also offered great friendship in the last couple of years. Thanks, Sue.
3. Baruch's A Walk Through Auckland: we got used to seeing Auckland through Lachezar's eyes, the slick, modern, supercity. Then Baruch came along and there's a lot of what we remember from our two years in that city. We love both of their pics. Keep it up, boys!
4. Faye at Faye's Photos; though again outside the DP circle, she been encouraging and supporting to NDP from early on, and some of her stuff is pretty astounding. Love the Spanish Moss, Faye. (Meg thought it was a Halloween practical joke gone bad/executted superbly.)
5. The relatively new one from far away: he's not exactly new, but he's recently renturned, and because of how we came to discover DP, it would have to be... Beirut Daily Photo. We are looking forward to your posts, mate.

So that was that, but we're going to break the rules and make a special mention. DWS~11, who leave comments using the annonymous option, and whose real name we still don't know, nevertheless has photos on the Internet. They are on Flickr under DWS~11's Photos!

Cheers, everyone.

Tahunanui Beach

And the beach.

November 2008 Theme Day: Books

This is our small library by the Tahunanui Beach. The sign also says "free internet and email access". You can see the part of this library on yesterday's picture (far right side).

A special note: you may already know, but at long last Beirut Daily Photo resumes posting today. Do please join us in welcoming Abdallah Ali back after two years.

And... well, it's been a really short series; by 8AM yesterday, all three were in full bloom; the little guy is still very green, but it might just have a wee flower later on. Fingers crossed.


Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

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