Buying the latest copy of Monocle the other day, as one of the few quality, intelligent, and witty magazines out there, I could not help but notice, once again, that Wellington does not feature at all in their list of the World’s Top 25 Cities for Quality of Life. Nor does it feature in the Economist magazine’s similarly titled list. Yet we know that Lonely Planet…
wellington
21 Articles
Maximus
1 Min Read
Following on from the post on Trains, and some discussion there, Wellington also needs to be discussing its buses right now. You have until 4pm on Friday – ie tomorrow! to put in a submission to Greater Wellington Regional Council – gw.govt.nz – about the future of Wellington. They’re consulting on the Wellington Public Transport plan – so that means routes, and that means what goes…
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Maximus
4 Min Read
So, them Mayans were wrong again. Ooops, don’t mention the end-of-the-world thing! Embarrassed silence all round from the end-of-the-world believers… Yep, the world is still here, the country is still here, and what is most important of all, the Eye of the Fish is still here. If you’re like me, having been tramping the wide open spaces, and swimming the seven seas over the holiday break,…
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Maximus
6 Min Read
Just what is happening with the roads and tunnels in Wellington? Does ANYONE know? As we referred to in our previous post, there’s a whole lot of roading issues going on – not just down in Christchurch, but up here in Wellington as well. We’re all aware of the swathe of land that one day is meant to be a Memorial Park, with State Highway 1…
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Maximus
3 Min Read
The bad news just never stops, does it, while you’re connected to the global media. The world grows ever smaller: I got texted from the UK for me to watch out for tsunami, before I had heard from NZ media. It was truly chilling to watch the footage from Japan, with that slow moving wave destroy all before it: an evil black slug, devouring all the…
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Maximus
2 Min Read
I’m beginning to think that the worst problem Wellington is going to face, come “the Big One”, is the sewerage system. We can learn a lot from the events in Christchurch, and I sure hope that WCC are taking notes and formulating actions. Personally, I’m not so worried if the roads north get cut off with slips – I wouldn’t want to go and live in…
Maximus
2 Min Read
So: the race for Auckland is over, and Brown has pipped Blue at the post. At the time of writing, we’re still to see if Green will pip Blue in Wellington, with Celia and Kerry running neck and neck down the home straight. But I am very happy that John Banks is not the new mayor of the new city of Auckland. The issue I have…
Maximus
2 Min Read
Venice has been in the news lately, with the highest floods recorded for 20 years. La Serenissima has always had a penchant for the wet and the melodramatic, but their recent experience is leaving them more than wet around the edges. While floods and Spring tides have always occurred, wetting the feet of the wealthy and raising the level in the tidal lagoon well above the…
Maximus
2 Min Read
The DomPost reported recently that Wellington Construction Ltd has bit the dust, owing various creditors money as it dissolved into a pile of construction rubble. We’re saddened by that, but its not completely unexpected: you run with wolves, you might just get bitten: although in this case its not really clear who is doing the biting. The saviour of Wellington football club Phoenix, our favourite spiky-haired developer Terry Serepisos has been hit…
Maximus
4 Min Read
Wellington’s apartment / property market continues on at (almost) full pace. Perhaps there is no reason for Kiwis to be so pessimistic in their outlook after all – there may be a global credit crunch, but evidently Wellington is doing just fine. OK, so we all have heard that the Auckland apartment market has tanked in a big way, but then again: if you allow hectares of…