the wellingtonista - a blog about wellington, new zealand

snapped?

Alan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:28:14 +0800

So maybe it's been easy to escape, but next week the new Snapper cards come into circulation.

Anyone who travels on a Wellington Bus cannot have failed to notice the newly installed orange and black fish logo-ed teardrops at the front and side doors. These are the readers for the cards. Just wave the card over the reader, and value is debited from them to fund your bus trip. You can recharge them over the 'net (but only if you have a Windows PC and a masochistic willingness to subject yourself to Internet Explorer) and at any of the supporting cafés and former 10-trip ticket sellers.

It all sounds pretty good really: no more being stuck for the right change; never a click short on your 10-trip; and never even having to think about how much extra is stop past your usual. And then there's the possibility (as some of us, trialling Snapper, are doing now) of putting the first coffee of the morning on it as well.

And it's cool. We like the logo; the different form factors; and just the sheer techno-geekery at play.

Others have been positive, too; Poneke has had a reasonable time with their card. So here at Wellingtonista we're all really looking forward to it.

We do have a few questions though:

Will retailers really go for the 1% transaction fee that Snapper charge for every transaction put through it? Even when Snapper are busy collecting interest on the float taken from customers? The Retailers Association are not so sure. If retailers don't, does this mean that Snapper is still sustainable on the buses alone, given the comments by the Snapper CEO that New Zealand's low use of public transport meant that "our strategy has been to view this at the very beginning as a broader small value payments scheme"?

Malls, and Lack Thereof

Robyn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:20:05 +0800

The NZ Herald reports that a company named RCG, who are "retail experts" have given ratings to the malls of Aotearoa because, "We thought it timely."

So I thought it was timely to take a look at what they thought of the malls of the greater Wellington area. Do any of them equal Auckland's mighty four-star Westfield Albany?

The article is skewed towards Auckland Malls, but it does mention poor North City in Porirua, which is only worth two stars as it is "struggling to achieve good sales". The article also says that Lower Hutt's Queensgate "made a big statement" (What, "I'm a mall in Lower Hutt!!!"?), but doesn't say what the rating is.

But most interestingly, the article notes that the researchers found that "Wellington was bereft of malls", like that's a bad thing.

Perhaps it's because Wellington's inner city street shopping works so well it hasn't created a demand for giant malls lurking out in the suburbs.

We have Cuba Mall, and I reckon that's worth more stars than any dirty ol' suburban mall out there.

Photo courtesy of Solid State.

48 Hours with Reuters

Hadyn — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:21:25 +0800

On Stuff this morning there is an article from Reuters in which they tell you how to "get the most from a short stay in the perfectly formed capital of New Zealand". Awww, that's nice of them, but I suppose it is perfect.

Here are some of the more interesting parts:

Calculate the wind speed over a local brew at one of the city's renowned boutique breweries, Mac's Brewery
If the weather is fine then a day trip across Cook Strait to Picton at the top of the South Island is a treat. But equally tempting is a tour of the Wairarapa wine district
...have a cool restoring drink at The General Practioner, a modern interpretation of a traditional pub
Cuba Street has its own selection of late night watering holes, a favorite is the Matterhorn in the Cuba Mall near the eccentric bucket fountain.
A visit to the national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, is a must. It sits on the waterfront in an ugly, bunker-style building
Lunch at one of Te Papa's eateries or nip a couple of blocks to SYN bar in Bond Street where Hell Pizzas will tempt you with dishes called Lust, Gluttony and Envy.

I have to say the itinerary does include a lot of drinking (which we also endorse) but it all seems to be in pubs (except the Matterhorn of course).

Naturally I've only selected bits of the article, but tell us what you think you'd tell people to do if they had 48hours to spend in Wellington (oh and no car, the Reuters story often mentions the bus, yay!)

Cellar-Vate Nga Waka Dinner Menu July 9

Joanna — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:15:27 +0800

We mentioned it before (and reviewed a previous dinner), but if you need further convincing, here's the menu for the Cellar-Vate Nga Waka dinner on July 9

Nga Waka Three Paddles Sauvignon Blanc ‘07
Corn, capsicum and parsley risotto with goats cheese

Nga Waka Riesling ‘03
Skin-on Terakihi, watermelon, red onion and dill salsa

Nga Waka Martinborough Chardonnay ‘07
Ginger, soy and chilli chicken pieces

Nga Waka Home Block Chardonnay ‘04
Sliced pork ribeye with Dijon, cream and white wine sauce

Nga Waka Pinot Noir ‘06
Rabbit pie, mash and jus

Nga Waka Late Harvest Riesling ‘04
Coconut panna cotta

You don't get huge portions of anything, but you do get lots of tastebud parties in your mouth, and stimulating conversation. There are still some tickets available for this tasting. Bookings can be made by e-mailing Rebecca - becs[a]cellar-vate.co.nz. The event costs $40.00 a head and starts at 6pm in the Cabinet Room (function suite above the Backbencher).

Green Land

Hadyn — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:47:21 +0800

Maybe it's my name that predisposes me to "green" businesses, I couldn't say. But I can tell you that the lovely folk at Green Land cafe (on Kate Sheppard Place, near the big truck convoy) is having some kind of give-away competition today.

Foxton Fizz was mentioned but the exact prize was not determined as of yesterday. So get in and try your luck.

Edit: The prize is a $50 bartab for The Thistle. Nice! Jo

Goodbye Illicit, Hello Illicit

Hadyn — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:19:37 +0800

The Cuba St version of the Illicit stores is closing its doors soon. And it will be replaced by...an Illicit store: Miss Illicit.

Illicit boutique will be closing to make way for our new MISS ILLICIT BOUTIQUE!

Sale starts July 3rd and ends on July 20th. Miss Illicit will open in the same spot on July 23rd...see you all there!

The CAPS are theirs. And yeah it started yesterday, but I didn't get the email until last night, sorry about that.

Too Many Mothertruckers, Truckin' with Our Commute

Hadyn — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:54:07 +0800

This post is ground zero for the Wellingtonista "live" blog of the attack of the truckers. Wellingtonistas will update as the drama progresses:

Hadyn - Wandering into my dairy this morning I hear an update on the impending menace. They've left their starting points but have yet to to join forces into the rolling maul of traffic delays.

The dairy owner blames the government and says "they have to go", I'm still half asleep and don't argue.

I get on my usual 7.15 bus to find it packed to the gunwales. The roads are fairly busy too, but not dramatically so. Who knew it would take truckers gunking up the roads to fill up public transport?

Despite all the people I still manage to get to work fairly smartly. Hadyn 1, Truckers 0.

Hadyn - Holy Shit! They're here! They're HERE! (sorry, don't have a camera, oh I know, check the webcam)

Tom - arrived at work at 8:30, and everyone was raving about how easy the commute was. Strangely, I noticed a couple of buses coming down Willis St that weren't packed out (a strange occurence) - maybe it's just a nice day for a walk?

James - #4 from Island Bay to CBD, route was probably quieter and quicker than average. Travelling time was 8:20 - 8:40am. Bus no more overcrowded than usual. Got to the Courtenay/Taranaki intersection where I suspected some grid-lock might be occuring (with Taranaki being on the truckers' route), but, nope, looked pretty deserted in both directions.

Llew - completely uneventful stroll down the hill from Kelburn. As usual. Most disappointed. My spies tell me that plumbers are revolting too - in their toyota vans. Not sure what that means.

From the Citylink webcam:

Kowhai - Dear lord the incessant honking on Moleswork is going to drive me to violence! My inner 4 year old boy is delighted but my outer Public Servant needs quiet to analyse some damn data.

Robyn - I went to the Everton Terrace overbridge and caught the arrival of the convoy. There were a lot of convoy supporters watching from there, including one excited woman who remarked of the trucks, "They're not even honking. That's just so polite of them." Only to have the convoy erupt in a cacophony of honking as they came closer.

Given that my morning commute involves walking and catching a train, I wasn't at all inconvenienced. If anything, the reduced traffic on the streets made things easier. And my inner 5-year-old boy secretly enjoyed all the trucks.

More of my photos from convoy morning.

Oh, and now you should watch the "I've Got a Big Truck" song from classic Australian comedy show Fast Forward. Honk! Honk!

stephen - I took advantage of the situation to sleep in 'til 10.30. Traffic was fine when I came in to work from Newtown at about midday.

Team Puppy Guts fingers their way to the top of 48Hours film comp

Robyn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:54:40 +0800

Congratulations to team Puppy Guts who have only just gone and won the grand final of the 2008 48Hours film competition with their dance short F*DANCE, making them the first Wellington team to do so.

F*DANCE is the tale of a bad-ass finger dancer (you know, when you make dance moves with your fingers) who loses his mojo and must learn the hard way how to finger his way back to the top.

The film impressed the judges enough to make it to the Wellington finals, and was a Peter Jackson wildcard pick (oo-ooh!) for selection in the national finals.

So what impressed the international judges? Was it the humour? The finger dancing? The special effects? Or was it the splendid montage training scene that featured a gruelling finger-run up the Civic Square steps?

Well, whatever it us, team Puppy Guts have done us proud.

Cut for Winter

mitch — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:16:40 +0800

As the killer Wellington wind stalks the Wellingtonista towers by day we've been seeking solace in beautiful music, as you do. And since a copy of Cassette's brand new EP Cancer landed in my cold little hands I've been able to listen to very little else - other than the howling wind, natch. As their press release says, "If you like eagles, there's 3 on the cover". And if you like Cassette, you can catch them at Bodega next week to launch those very same eagles.

Details after the leap

Random acts of kindness

noizyboy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:28:27 +0800

This particular Wellingtonista was sitting at the bus-stop last night, when a lad on a motorbike scooted up, and asked me if I wanted to make use of his now unneeded daytripper pass. Of course I did! $2.80 saved (the cost of a click on my 3-zone ten-trip)! Score!

This led to some discussion on the Wellingtonista list as to other acts of kindness/generosity you can perform for your fellow citizens without any great opportunity cost of your own.

The other obvious one is parking coupons. Got half an hour left when you go to leave? Just roll the ticket up and pop it in the coin slot of the vending machine. Next person to come along will (hopefully) realise they've got a freebie, and everyone wins (except the council revenue department, I suppose).

Might I also remind our readers that while the library doesn't send out overdue reminder notices until after your books/cds/dvds/whatever are overdue (and thus already accumulating late charges), you can use the Library Elf service to send you reminders before the due date. This has saved my family literally hundreds of dollars over the last few years.

Any other suggestions for ways to save people money or, indeed, just to make their lives more pleasant, with a minimal amount of effort on your own behalf? Pop 'em in the comments.