Week 29: In search of colour

It's a fairly grim day when I go for a walk over Seatoun Heights to Miramar - the way is lined with trees and brooding churches.



I have to find colour where I can.

I spy some birds picking blossom from the trees. The wax-eyes are very tasty, according to a previous cat.


Tuis are too big.

The views can be pretty stunning too from either side of the tunnel towards Miramar and Seatoun.

Week 7: Playing around

The play for which I am rehearsing (Necessary Targets by Eve Ensler) is set in a Bosnian refugee camp. Our director has made this charming (not-to-scale) model which we all love. Of course she has imagined the little details, finding swatches of fabric and cutting out fragments of lace for tablecloths and curtains. Secretly I think we all like to play make-believe in our miniature dolls' house.

After the Sevens, the box in the hallway is full of leftover bits of costume and rejected clothing. As you can see from the poster advertising the Cuba Street Carnival, Wellington has already moved on.

There are things to see and do in Wellington. The Fringe Festival is on, there is a beer festival this weekend, the Impressionists are at Te Papa, and the Summer in the City programme is in full swing. There's almost not enough room for all the posters.

Chilling out in the morning over coffee and the newspapers is the perfect way to recharge the cultural batteries.

While out for a walk at the weekend, we stumbled upon a film set under construction on the Miramar peninsular. I'm not sure what it's for but there are faux-stone castle walls, classic pillars and very neat piles of timber!

The real aim of the walk was to visit the Massey Memorial, which commemorates William Ferguson Massey who was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1912-1925. It's a huge structure made of Coromandel granite covered with Kairuru marble. It looks like a cenotaph and it is fitting that Massey led New Zealand through the First World War.