Weekend at Waiheke

Had a pleasant weekend over on the island. Walked up to the Community Art Gallery and took in the Gwen Rutter exhibition. Her new paintings combine native flowers and plants and her stunning landscapes, now in very bright colours. I have a couple of earlier paintings I bought at the Surfdale Christmas market 2 years running.

A beautiful Friday evening. Unfortunately my leg is playing up and is quite sore. Was running for the bus this morning so that didn't help. Got the bus though and got to work on time. Most important. Very hot here and we are off to Waiheke tomorrow. The water level is very low and I am keeping my fingers crossed that there is enough for us and our last guests - going in from 3-13 March.We are off up north in a week or 10 days with the Silverdale Historical Society for 3 days. Should be fun. Sold an old bath last week on Trademe which had been languishing outside as a herb garden for about 20 years. A friend is going to renovate our bathroom and has sourced a new smaller one so didn't need to hang on to this grand old Doulton one which had seen better days. However they are keenly sought after and it was only listed for a few hours, as was a bentwood chair a few days later, both snapped up.

Vaka Moana Exhibition at the Museum

Spent 2 or 3 hours at the museum at this Pacific waka exhibition which is on in one of the new galleries in the new atrium also very stunning. Saw a similar exhibition in Tahiti 3 years ago or so and it was interesting to view this one which dealt with the Polynesian migrations originally from South East Asia, through the Pacific. Not too many boats but one big double canoe, one outrigger of the traditional kind and a contemporary fibreglass and stainless steel(?) one too, and a single canoe from the Solomon Islands inlaid with mother of pearl decoration. There was a very beautiful book covering all aspects of waka, the migrations and navigation which I am going to borrow from the library.

Had lunch in the atrium at the Museum cafe and listened to a Pacific Island choir performing outside the exhibition. Made another foray into the exhibition and watched several of the videos on recent vaka and their voyages and looked at the other exhibits of tapa cloth, info on plants eg mulberry came from South East Asia too , and the taro came from Indonesia and kumara from South America to Polynesia to Aotearoa.

Finished off our afternoon by lounging on the lawn listening to jazz being played in the Rotunda. One of our rare weekends at home as I am nursing a bad cold which necessitated a couple of days home in bed.

Waiheke yet again

Hadn't been over for about a month and this was our last opportunity to go on the Sculpture Walk and go to the Mike Morgan exhibition at Artworks. The first photo is of the Jeff Thompson sculpture - about 15 water tanks with bits of sculptured iron floating on platforms on top of the water. They were priced at $9000 each I heard somebody say. I saw the maquettes for these at the Sculpture on a Plinth exhibition also at Artworks and they were baked beans tins and the like. The other three took my fancy too.

The last picture is of my own Mike Morgan picture which I bought in 1997.

The house is in Cowan St he told me recently when I met the artist out and about one day on Waiheke. He was living opposite and painted it from the place he was staying at. He is still painting these villas, often incorporating them into his other paintings. He does a lot of surreal Waiheke beach scenes which I also like, as do a lot of other people who had bought all but one of the 22 paintings when I looked at them. If you ever have cause to visit the Oneroa Police Station , as I did to report my lost watch , there is a delightful one featuring many policemen which they commisioned for the new station.

Waitangi Day

Had the kind of nice Waitangi Day I like. In the absence of any tv programmes on the Treaty or celebrations , I listened to 2 or 3 hours of interesting radio on the Treaty and what it means to be a New Zealander and how New Zealand was or was not taught in schools and universities in the past. The various histories of New Zealand were reviewed and I resolved to read some of them this year.

After all that had my usual couple of scrabble games for the day, one loss followed by a win and listed a few books on Trademe. Sold an old office chair last week - it used to be in our National Park bach and came from the Ohakune railway station I believe. It had languished under the house for a number of years and now has an enthusiastic new young owner whose father is going to restore it for him ie remove the Sid Vicious graffiti off it that embellished it after a certain person's punk rock phase. Also sold a book on Stewart Island for Dieter which he was pleased about.

Went for a swim down at Sentinel Road Beach in Herne Bay. The water was a little cool but lovely to be swimming in such nice surroundings with the Harbour Bridge in the distance.

Out to the Food Hall for a meal of Laotian red chicken noodles - in a spicy coconut cream sauce. Listening to more Treaty issues on the radio and preparing myself mentally for the workaday world tomorrow.

Waitemata Harbour and Tamaki River

Went on a trip with the Silverdale Historical Society around the harbour and as far as Mt Wellington up the Tamaki River yesterday. The rest of the group came down from the Hibiscus Coast that morning and we joined them at the Abalone Cruises boat at Pier Z at Westhaven. We went down the evening before to locate the pier as it is like another suburb down there and. We cruised round the Viaduct basin, see the Americas Cup yacht Oracle preparing to leave the harbour for their day's racing, all the new appartments, the super yachts, the good old Ferry Building , Maritime Museum before heading over near Devonport, back around the bays - Mechanics, Kohi, Bastion Point, Mission Bay round to the more unfamiliar territory - Te Karaka , Glen Innes, Panmure, under a couple of bridges. That was on our side of Auckland. There were all the eastern bays like Bucklands Beach, a marina , the red Waiheke vehicular ferries plying back and forth. It was idyllic really. Back the same way but a little faster and without the commentary.