Something OldWAIUKU - a small county town, situated an easy 20 minutes from the Drury off-ramp of Auckland's southern Motorway (S.H.1) visitors will delight in this friendly, inviting “heritage" town. The towns focal point is the Kentish Hotel (on the right in the photo) built in the 1850's by Edward Constable from Kent in England and of the first Europeans to settle at Waiuku. With its ornate verandahs and backdrop to Waiuku's history the “Kentish”, as it is known locally, is New Zealand's oldest licenced hotel and just “oozes” character. The Kentish continues to be a much photographed place aswell as one for civic and social occasions and an ever popular place for locals and visitors to eat and drink and spin a yarn or two!
A stroll around Waiuku will reveal much more including it's waterfront Tamakqe Reserve, home to a fascinating Waiuku Museum crammed full of everything from old sailing boats and historic photographs to the earliest mobile phones the size of shoe boxes – a real treasure trove for all ages and a bargain at $2 to enter! The Reserve also has a small historic “village” with several restored buildings including Hartmann House, dating back to 1886, now fully restored and operating as a local craft studio, Pollock Cottage (1890), Waiuku Jail (1865) and The Creamery (1890's). A Heritage Trail around town (free information leaflet from the Waiuku Information Centre will point out further sites of historic interest in Waiuku including Wesley Methodist Church (1883) from where visitors to the town can get a panoramic view across Waiuku and the waterfront reserve.Visitors of all ages aswell as locals to town can combine a relaxed and enjoyable weekend with all the benefits often associated with bigger towns…..except here its hassle free, low key, the parking's free and the welcome's genuine!!Several excellent cafes and restaurants are now open at the weekends attracting visitors from out of the city to relax, indulge and enjoy brunch, lunch or dinner as part of a family day out in Waiuku and it's numerous neighbouring attractions, including the stunning West cost blacksand beach of Karioitahi and the Glenbrook Vintage Railway both just 10 minutes away.An increasing number of Waiuku shops are opening longer on Saturdays and many on Sundays too offering a relaxed informal and friendly shopping experience with a wide range from boutique fashion stores to antique and artifact stores, a traditional Butcher/Fishmonger, hardware store, handmade solid furniture store and even a macadamia “chocolatier and ice-cream” maker.A “veggie and craft” market runs on the first and 3rd Saturday of each month (9-2) and access to fuel, digital and film processing, two supermarkets, public conveniences, pharmacy needs and ATM machines are all readily available. For those of you who want to come back on a more permanent basis and enjoy the enviable lifestyle that Franklin region offers the major real estate agencies are also represented in town listing a vast range of properties, including many lifestyle properties.
#391 Something New
I am not one to look a gift in the mouth so to speak, so when someone offers me a gift I usually reach out with both hands. In this case, I did need both hands because I received not one, but two - 250 gram bars of Cadbury Milk Chocolate both of which are new flavours. One is - "Desserts - Banoffee Pie", which has a toffee & banana flavoured centre; the other is a "Triple Decker", which is 3 layers combined of milk chocolate, white chocolate & raspberry. When I purchase chocolate myself, I usually go for either the plain dairy milk chocolate; Crunch - which has pieces of honeycomb in the chocolate, or Fruit & Nut, but when someone "gives" me chocolate, I don't care what sort it is - it all goes down the same way and comes out the same way - but it does make it that much sweeter when it's free !!! Looking at the labels, it will be interesting to see if there is any difference in the taste because "Banoffee Pie", says made in NZ, while "Triple Decker" says made in Australia. I know a few people in Oz and I have always said that our choclate tastes better than their chocolate.
#392. Somthing Borrowed When I was searching the world blog, I came across "this blog" with some great photos & paintings.
This was one of them......several times on my blogs, I have mentioned the stairway to Heaven. This in my mind is what it is like !!!
#393. Something Blue
Its not really blue, more of a purple label on the two bars of chocolate I received, but what is "blue" is the language of a very lady-like friend who see's me munching away on a 250 gram bar of chocolate, by myself !!! I would be lying on the sofa, book in hand reading & munching !!! She always says it's not fair - there's me skinny as a rake, munching out on chocolate and I never seem to put on any weight, but as soon as she so much as puts chocolate in her mouth, it ends up on her hips !!! (hehe) Just to give you some idea - on the label it says, a 50 gram serving has the following.......Energy 1105kj / Protein 3.9g / Fat - Total 15.8g, Saturated 9.7g / Carbohydrate - 28.1, Sugars 27.6 / Sodium 43g. Times that by 5, because I eat the whole 250 gram bar in one sitting - that's a lot of chocolate & a lot of energy !!! I am always the gentleman though - I offer her some, but..............more for me !!!
#394. Money Does Grow On Trees
A classic tale of rags/paper to riches for Chinese recycling tycoon Zhang Yin, founder of Nine Dragon's Paper which buys scrap paper from the USA to recycle & use in China. She has gone from been 36th on China's rich list to been the richest woman in China with a fortune of just over 5 billion dollars. The eldest of 8 children in a military family in northeastern Heilongjiang province, she moved to Hong Kong in 1985 and set up her business with just $650. She then moved to the USA in 1990 with the dream of becoming an "empress of waste paper". In 1996, she returned to China and set up factories in Dongguan, in the Guangdong province recycling waste paper into containerboard. In March Zhang listed shares in her company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the rest as they say is history.You will no doubt read about it one day.........on recycled paper.
#395. Re-cycling The Other Waste
While paper is been recycled in China, a man in NZ has been making devices to recycle "real muck" into water !!! Russell Kelly has developed a variety of water purification devices that can operate without electricty for use in remote areas with badly polluted water supplies. The Kenyan Government has already shown interest in supplying the devices to its nomadic Masai tribes. The devices he has developed range from a gravity-fed bag that can filter 12 litres of waste water an hour; a bicycle powered unit that can produce 6 to 8 litres per minute, right up to a 260kg unit powered by a generator that can produce 40 litres a minute. Ceramic and carbon filters are used to purify the water, but needing something more to ensure the water was completely safe, he approached a company which created a substance for NASA which they use for recycling waste in its space vehicles. NASA has allowed him to use the iodine technology in his devices as it believes the devices will have a beneficial impact on mankind. He said many people had offered financial backing on the basis that they could see where their money was going. Mr Kelly is forming a chartiable trust to help distribute the technology he has developed to aid agencies. Anyone interested in futher details can email - rhk@worldwidewater.biz
#396. Where In The World Is It ???
I could not understand the language, but that didn't stop me having a look at this blog when it popped up, during my search of the blog world. There are some great photos - also have a look in the archives. It could be in NZ !!!
Oooppp'sss - we seem to have lost the link to the blog, where this photo was. You know who you are - leave a comment so I can get the link back up. I blame those two little monkeys !!!
#397. Dog Gone It !!!
It seems that some dogs have all the fun & the toys as well as their own blogs, with a little bit of human help of course. One dog, even has his own red car, but I think he is just a little bit..........!!! Talking about the blog world going to the pack and now monkeys as well, want to get in on the act !!!
#398. From The Archives !!!
#709. More Ice & Snow !!!
From ice, snow & penguins we go to more ice & snow in the deep south, at Maniototo, a small farming community, with a population of 1800. Maniototo is the home of "curling"in NZ. It is "curlers as in winter sports, not "hair curlers", although our team may end up scratching their head, if things don't go as planned in the game. They will be giving it, all they have got, so watch out Italy, our "curlers" will be out to win in the winter olympic games been held in Torin in February. Our curling team finished eighth at the world championships held in Canada in April to qualify for the winter olympics.
Footnote: Nothing to do with the "curlers" - sport, but to do with "curlers" - hair. I have seen a ladies hair salon in Auckland, called - "Curl Up & Dye" !!! I wonder if anyone has really.......... while they were getting their hair done.
#399. From The Archives
#710. Reaching For The Skies !!!
How high will they go ??? Plans are underway to build a skyscraper in the "city of silk" - Kuwait. It won't be just "another skyscraper"!!! It will be one that will be reaching high in the sky, at more than a kilometre high. The 250 stories, 1001 metres high skyscraper, will form the centrepiece of the Madinat al Hareer or "City of Silk", and will house 700,000 people. Constructing the city and its infrastructure will cost US$150 billion and take 25 years to build. It will become the manifeststation of 2000 years of Abrabic heritage. Other plans been mooted for the city include a wildlife sanctuary that would function as a stop-off for birds migrating across the region. There will also be an international centre for studying chronic diseases.
I'll be back..........
