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Southerly storm hits the Valley

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Photo by @TaraMerriman From Eastbourne

Southerly Front approaching Wgtn as seen from Petone. on Twitpic

Photo by @stevebiddle Southerly from Petone

Today at 4.45pm a Southerly weather bomb hit. Heavy rain with strong winds and a temperature drop of 10 degrees occurred within half an hour.

It took about an hour for reports to filter through. Damage to roofs (St Bernards College Waterloo Road lost roof sheeting) trees and fences down, power outages, surprised many with the verocity of the front.

A tree down on the rail lines between Woburn and Waterloo railway stations caused about 2 hour delays to commuters returning from Wellington.

By 7pm the front had passed with clear skies opening up over the valley.

Other photos here from around Wellington.

Lower Hutt: Second Scrub fire in two weeks

A small fire started in the eastern hills around 5pm today in the area between Naenae and Fairfield the closest houses being around Summit Road. It started near a water reservoir about 1/2 km up the fire break.
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The small fire was quickly contained by emergency services and the fire was out by 6.30pm.

This follows the more substantial fire two weeks ago in Wingate and the large one in Titahi Bay last week.

Thanks to Steve for footage below

Petone Fair 2010

Today is the 19th annual Hutt News Rotary Fair held at Jackson Street Petone.

Over 300 stalls offering everything from delicious food to an array of merchandise was on display.

Pictures below  (slideshow here) and video

Huge crowd, great weather, bit blustery but fun for the family the photos and video are just a little insight into some of what happened.

Click through to the photos.

Petone Fair 2010

Wingate: Scrub Fire

Emergency services arrived at the blaze just after 2.30pm above Pick-A-Part Wingate.

The fire while initially small increased in size as a strong breeze picked up from the south. The Eastern Hutt Road, Peterkin Street and Cambridge Terrace were closed as the fire increased.

Wingate bridge was also closed.

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A helicopter from Helipro and eight fire appliances were at the scene fighting the blaze.

By 7.30pm the fire is still been attended to.

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No houses were being threatened by the flames.

A large crowd watched throughout the afternoon.

Thanks to Megan Leith for Photos

More comprehensive coverage here from Hutt Valley Fire Police Unit

Lower Hutt: Old Waterloo Fire Station what to do?

There has been a lot of talk lately around the disused Fire Station in Waterloo Road and the vandalism occurring.

The back story is that the Fire Station once decommissioned has not ended up in Fire Service hands but is now part of the Office of  Treaty Settlement.

This and more addressed by Dave and Camille Breakfast show yesterday on

90FM Classic Hits including the problem at the old Petone Tech as well.

Both hosts on Twitter Dave and Camille so follow them.

Audio below:

ch90fm David Ogden on Waterloo Road Fire Station

I will post some photos of the dragons round the back via Twitter soon. (lol)

Upper Hutt: Space Station photo from Pinehaven

International Space Station over Upper Hutt taken by Lance Andrewes in Pinehaven on the 30 January. Details below of photo taken on the beautiful clear night yesterday with the full moon. The original photo (link) highlights star formations eg Sth Cross. Great work!

International Space Station over Upper Hutt, 30-Jan-10 by lancea.

The ISS traces a bright trail even though the sky is quite bright due to a full moon. The exposure is 161 seconds at f/6.3, ISO 400 with a 35mm lens. Image centre is looking SE to the Southern Cross and pointers. The ISS path starts at 22:38:50 NZDT (elevation about 40 degress to the SSE) and ends to the SE when it goes behind the hill.

Hutt Radio and others

Its been a while since I updated on Hutt Radios progress. This project has developed over the last 4 months from their requests for announcers to their first public meeting and earlier developments .

But I am happy to release the latest news following their early hard work and funding issues:

Hutt Radio, the new community station now on 106.1 FM,
hopefully has most of  the inevitable teething problems solved.
The Trustees are pleased to finally have BBC World on-air,
24 hours a day. Technically, this is the “test broadcast” phase.
It won’t be too long before some live local content is inserted
on a regular basis, in partnership with the BBC World Service.

Current coverage is the whole of the Hutt Valley from the
southern end of Upper Hutt, right down the valley to Petone.
Until the Trust can afford to site the transmitter on a hilltop,
some areas in the Western Hills will be unable to pick it up.

The transmission is from a NaeNae rooftop. FM radio is a
“line of sight” signal, so houses tucked behind a bit of hillside
won’t receive it. Nor will steel-reinforced concrete buildings.
Cars with Japanese radios will need to insert an expander.
Hutt Radio should eventually cover the entire Hutt Region.

via Hutt Radio

Congratulations all around to those involved as the continuing hard work is paying dividends. I look forward with interest to their continuing development in 2010.

Network radio is the current business model but I for one would like to see Hutt Radio succeed if only to provide a conduit for local voices, that seems to have been lost in the drive for commercial success.

As a sidebar the development of this community asset piqued my interest in the history around earlier radio broadcasting in the Hutt Valley (does anyone remember KIX FM?) but also similar activities already underway.

Several other broadcasters exist in this area that I have uncovered (albeit LPFM and/or internet based) which while limited in their range and coverage show the desire of others to express themselves via broadcasting. Whilst not all about community some show interest, and with the desire to broadcast on a network basis by the bigger radio stations the role of a community station servicing only the Hutt community is novel in todays world.

Visiting the NZ LPFM website provides insight into a list of 29 stations within Wellington of which 7 are in the Hutt region. Registration is voluntary and there could be more, but does show the diversity of people wishing to pursue their avenue of broadcasting, some with local content.

My chance to plug two that I have listened to (and know they are around) and like

The Cheese
Frequency: 88.4 FM
Broadcast Area: Wellington, Wainuiomata
Description: The Cheese is commencing broadcast shortly. Covering a base of music from the 80s, 90s and Today.
Contact: Grant Thoms (Email: thecheese@paradise.net.nz)

Grant of the The Cheese is also on Twitter as http://twitter.com/zollymonsta

Upper Hutts River FM
Frequency: 88.1 FM
Broadcast Area: Wellington, Upper Hutt
Description: The station has been broadcasting since Feb 2009. It is a community station broadcasting community information and interviews as well as a wide range of music.
Phone: 0274367890
Website: http://upperhuttsriverfm@gmail.com
Contact: Craig (Email: upperhuttsriverfm@gmail.com)

These guys are also on YouTube

No doubt they have other social media addresses and I apologise if they are not your best avenues or are out of date.

Does anyone else have any favourites that are out there?

Hutt Valley: Car Chase last night ends in arrests

Well there was a lot of drama last night as noted from Twitter over Police cars moving at high speed.

It started with a police chase through the streets of Wellington and ended in the Hutt Valley with five arrests.

The chase began late last night in central Wellington, when an officer on foot patrol tried to get the driver to pull over on Tory Street, but the driver ignored him, and sped off down Aotea Quay. A police patrol gave chase, but had to abandon the pursuit because of the number of pedestrians leaving the AC/DC concert outside Westpac Stadium.

The offender drove onto the motorway, and sped towards the Hutt Valley, where he exited at the Petone off-ramp. Police say officers rejoined the pursuit at this point, and continued through the streets of Petone and Lower Hutt.

It eventually ended in Manor Park where the five male occupants of the vehicle were arrested. The driver is likely to face charges of dangerous driving, failing to stop and excess breath alcohol.