Author: HuttNZ

Avalon: Two criminals caught in the act (Humour)

Taking a bit of a liberty here, but this just in from one of the readers, and I see it as a brilliant piece of camera phone work by a concerned citizen, excluding the fact of the issues that Kieran mentions the expression on Mr Dogs face is priceless, along with his accomplice Mr Cat. This must go down as been caught red pawed. Such a heinous crime.

Saw this funniest thing on my way to work this morning. I was driving along High Street in Avalon, just before the Wingate turn off.  On the side of the road by a bus shelter. A cat was sitting on top of a rubbish bin reaching in & the dog was standing on his back legs also reaching into the bin, both pulling bits out. Well I just have to ask. Is it the stray animals that are the problem, or is the council not emptying the rubbish bins enough ?

Master Criminals at work

Master Criminals at work 2

Eastbourne: Butterfly Creek walk

I’m a real Hutt Valley Chick, so I’m more comfortable walking through Westfield Queensgate than native New Zealand bush.  Sure, I’m not an ‘outdoorsy’ type, but I was inspired to get out into the great outdoors this weekend.  Maybe the miserable Spring weather we’ve had so far has driven me to it.  We decided to give Butterfly Creek in Eastbourne a go.  We checked out the Greater Wellington website for the route – and discovered there are actually four different tracks.  One from MacKenzie Street, one from Muritai Road, one from Kowhai Street, and one from the Bus Barn near Burdans Gate.

We decided to take (what GW described as) ‘the easy option’ – Kowhai Street.  We set off just before 1pm on Saturday afternoon.  It was overcast, so ideal weather for walking.  Luckily it fined up beautifully as the afternoon progressed, so we got some stunning views of the harbour looking back at the city. 

Kowhai Street may be the shortest route, but it’s a pretty steep start!  It took us about 20 minutes to get to the ridge and then we meandered down to Butterfly Creek – which took a further 25 or so minutes.  So 45 minutes all up.  I wouldn’t recommend doing the Kowhai route on a wet day … the steep start would be very slippery and dangerous on the clay track. 

Butterfly Creek is a great weekend activity.  Especially when you’ve got a longing for lovely scenery and bird life.  It’s a great escape from the city.  Next time we’ll do the MacKenzie Road route or maybe the Bus Barn route .  They’re called ‘tramping routes’ … I’m hoping that means they’re slightly longer and less steep!   Will probably go next weekend (weather dependent) as then the walk will count towards my 10,000 steps!  The programme starts at work tomorrow.  It worries me a bit as I walked my dog today – our usual 40 minute loop – and that was only 4,500 steps!!

Upper Hutt Farmers Market

Well I was late, told myself I would have to be early but didn’ t time my arrival till about 11.30.

Seems I missed all the activity which occurred after 9am, so ably I’m handing the review over to TheInquiringMind, who did arrive early and posted a comprehensive review on his blog.

I did have the opportunity to catch up with Chris who is responsible for the web presence of the market and Helen part of Upper Hutt Experience. They were extremely pleased with the inaugural result and received a lot of encouraging feedback from both suppliers and visitors, so I am sure that this will develop into a great asset for the city.

Enjoy the photos courtesy of Chris and if you are up that way early Sunday enjoy!

Check them out at Upper Hutt Farmers Market Website and Twitter account

Pomare: Farmer Cres the never ending story

Well I had my walk around Farmer Crescent as I said I would, and my opinion is the same as I had before I went, a pocket of forgotten people. But now todays headline shows the continuance of the story around the HNZ eviction which by now in my opinion has reached the point of a legal never ending story, how long can this saga go on             (via Stuff)

Gang-linked families in Lower Hutt’s Farmer Cres will get to stay in their homes for a few more days, as another round of legal wrangles begins.

For three months Housing New Zealand has battled to evict three women residents and their 13 children through the Tenancy Tribunal, district court and the High Court – costing the government department tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

The residents’ lawyers were now trying to go to the Court of Appeal, and there was the possibility they could go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Though the women – who have partners in the Mongrel Mob – were ordered to leave their homes by midnight yesterday, the evictions were put on hold for a hearing in the High Court at Wellington on Wednesday.

Farmer Cres resident Patria Tamaka, whose sister Huia Tamaka was one of the women facing eviction, said they were expecting police or the army to turn up any time to remove them. But they had not started packing.

“We’ll keep going and going until we get to the Supreme Court. The girls all know that. [Housing NZ] are not backing down and we don’t want to leave.”

I think most people are well over this story and I was aghast at the cost for this saga  put at $250,000 before they went to the High Court, now it will reach epic proportions. It shows again, the tolerance of our legal system or the incompetence. Other NZers are more deserving of this legal aid, after all, when all said and done its about moving house. Go figure!  

 

Hutt Valley: Fish and Chip Fridays where is the Best?

New Zealands best top chip shop has been annonced it was won by Oceanz in Silverdale, located 35km north of Auckland, in this year’s best chip shop competition. Chip shops were judged on the freshness and colour of their chips, shop cleanliness and customer service. Regional finalists were decided through public text voting, mystery judging and chip fat analysis across New Zealand before the six regional winners and the overall winner were then chosen by a panel of judges. Not every F & C shop entered but it gives a pretty clear indication of quality.

But how did the Hutt Valley fair, and where is your local?

The regional finalist for Wellington was from the Hutt Valley and was So Fine Seafood at 2 Tennyson Avenue, Avalon, Lower Hutt.

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic

I have freqented here and must say while not highly visible to the public being off High Street it certainly draws the crowds come Friday. Disappointingly they dont have EFTPOS which I always find annoying, and has caused me to travel further afield on occasion.

As for the rest of the Valley, finalists were:

Moby Dick’s Fish & Chip 51 Witako Street, Lower Hutt

Samo’s Seafood 52 Holdsworth Ave, Upper Hutt

Waterloo Fisheries 1 Hardy Street, Lower Hutt

Blue Island Seafood 131 Randwick Road, Lower Hutt

All competitions aren’t created equal and remember it was for the best chip not the fish, but great result for the Valley.

Whats your favourite?

My winner would be Ocean Blue Seafoods, the most cleanest, polite, prompt service I have had in the Valley. They are at 812 High Street corner of High Street and Park Road.

Naenae: An artists work, and the chance to contribute yourself

Dan Mills has literally painted Naenae. Naenae has an interesting history and Dan includes elements of this history and character in his work. Dans murals have graced the Naenae Boxing Academy, the subway tunnel, the Naenae Dentist, Naenae Primary School, Rata Street School, Naenae Basketball Court, the Olympic sized Swimming Pool and the Pacific Health Centre all in Naenae.

His work was further seen at the live art installation at the Petone Winter Carnival. Here he is explaining the depiction illustrated in his 48 metre wall mural The Legend of Te Whanganui a Tara on the Petone foreshore.

Following on from this, different type of painting but contributing is that the Naenae shopping centre is preparing for the second Big Splash Naenae Paintathon on Saturday 7 November when locals will pick up their brushes to add more shine to the Cambridge Terrace side of the Naenae shopping centre.

Local personality Billy Graham says last year’s Big Splash was an incredible success and the atmosphere was fantastic. “Everyone was buzzing for days afterwards and the shopping centre looks great.”

Hutt City Council’s retail coordinator Joanna van Walraven has coordinated this year’s effort and is encouraged by the amount of support shown already.

“Everyone is really keen to pitch in and see the shopping centre come alive for everyone to enjoy.”

Painting will begin at 8am and volunteers are asked to wear old clothes and bring a hat, sunscreen and a water bottle.

Resene local paint manufacturer has generously supplied paint and Brian Ross will supply painting equipment. Food and drink aplenty will keep volunteers humming.

“We’re asking anyone who’s keen to register by Wednesday 4 November so we can make sure we’ve got enough gear for everyone.”

If you want to be involved on the day and for further information contact
Joanna van Walraven on 577 8095 or joanna.vanwalraven@huttcity.govt.nz

Movie Review: Julie and Julia at the Lighthouse Petone

It was Labour Day Monday.  The bloke was gearing up to watch U2 live on the internet. So I did what any self-respecting Hutt Valley Chick would do.  I picked a chick flick, called ‘the old girl’ (a.k.a. my lovely mother) and headed down to The Lighthouse in Petone.

We love it there.  Great intimate theatres (we were in number 4)  … and the opportunity to have a little vino with our movie.  There are only two downsides to The Lighthouse.  Lack of parking and deaf nanas who insist on talking loudly to each other during the movie.   

Luckily Julie & Julia didn’t disappoint. 

This lovely film follows the stories of two women: TV chef Julia Child and writer Julie Powell.  Julie decides to blog about her quest to cook all the receipes in Julia’s first cookbook.  In parallel, we see Julia’s quest in the 1950s to get her recipe book published.  Highlight of the movie?  Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child.  She is such a wonderful actress.  The movie is well worth seeing, but leave the bloke at home – it’s a bit girly.  Our rating 3.5 out of 5.

We’ll be heading back to The Lighthouse for The Lovely Bones which is out soon.

Pomare: Murder sentence past against resident.

I have been following this story for some time awaiting the outcome of the Trial. Against this is the current situation occurring in Farmer Cres at present and it seems to me the presence of a mentality of those that live there, or by circumstances made to live there.

A man who battered his partner to death then stuffed her body into a wardrobe has been found guilty of murder.

The woman’s family now want an apology from her killer.

Malcolm Ngeru, 44, unemployed of Taita, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mihi Tuhoro on July 20 last year. He admitted killing her but said he did not have the intent to do so because he was so drunk, and was instead guilty of manslaughter.

A jury in the High Court at Wellington yesterday took more than 10 hours to find him guilty of murder. He has been convicted and remanded in custody to December 11 for sentence.

Ms Tuhoro’s brother, Manuel Tuhoro, who sat through every day of the 2 1/2 week trial, was overwhelmed with emotion.

“A sorry or something would be nice,” he said outside court. “Not even his family is present.”

The jury was told Ngeru and Ms Tuhoro were alcoholics who lived in Lower Hutt’s Farmer Cres in a Housing New Zealand flat.

via Stuff

From my perspective it appears that those that live there are alienated from other social norms, expectations and society in general. I am no bleeding heart liberal in fact I side with quite a bit of what the Sensible Sentencing Trust advocates.

Has the area become such a gang enclave, that without adhering to the gang’s mentality there is no alternative, or is it because they respect that value system more, because it provides individual respect,  income and the chance to get ahead.

In the case of all these indivduals both male and female is their self-esteem so low that they see no alternative to the life they lead? or conversely do our social agencies just place them back into the areas that are familiar to them, I think not in this case alternatives were provided, not accepted, as is the case with the current situation of the residents fight against Housing NZ.

I’m not here to present answers, there are many vastly more qualified than me, but when was the last time you looked at the area around Farmer Cres, Pomare?

To be polite I would call it low socio-economic area, in another term perhaps a ghetto of disenfranchised individuals. I hate the housing that was presented as a solution to low-cost accommodation in the 60s when the Hutt needed low skilled labour. I always felt that the solution with State Housing whether state or local should be spread around amongst other areas rather than high-rise towers and feel it was a British import that was not needed given the ample supply of land at the time. Brixton London, and its problems come to mind.

Where am I going with all this, I don’t know the answers (neither does any of the government agencies) but I am going to walk around Farmer Cres this weekend and see how I feel, rather than drive past without thinking about it.

Trentham: Old GM site really? (Internet Joke)

Look even before we start on this, the internet is a strange place, (and I should have saved this for April Fools Day) but …..

With roughly 74,000 people who have viewed this I suppose most of the world thinks strange things of the Hutt Valley, the capabilities of the A/H1N1 virus, and the Flu epidemic but this is just plain bullshit, scare mongering and probably make good Science Fiction or a Horror novel….but it filled a good 10 incredulous minutes of my time.

Made in 2007, updated 2008, my thats 10 minutes I’m not getting back.. what can I say.