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Showing posts from 2012

2012 - What A Year

One of those years that, now I look back on, has been full of wonder, tears, change and love. One that's taken me from 'a' to 'b' and has moved me to a different place. It has also been one of amazing strength and incredible passion. Really, this is a red letter year for me and I am so glad. ... more: http://goo.gl/fRcu6

Skylight Exclusive Fundraiser JRR Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’, Autographed by the ‘Cast of the Movie’

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Click on the following link to bid: http://trade.me/SkylightTrust Find out more here: http://goo.gl/ZAkxH

Mt Crawford Prison (Miramar) Seen Off

Nice video over on Stuff.co.nz's "Thousands see old jail off" page ...

Wales And NZ Connect Again

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What do te reo Māori and Welsh languages have in common

1 Guess - What Connects These Wellington Locations?

Leave your guess as a comment ... View What connects these places? in a larger map

I. Had. A. Holiday

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Off we went ... . A trip up to the very top of the South Island and Cape Farewell On the way down we went into The Musell Inn ... ... and Rosy Glow's Chocolate Shop Yes, we did have a rainy day or two ... On the way to Te Anaroa Caves we saw an amazing rainbow ... ... and the caves were spectacular, one of the highlights of the holiday Another highlight was definitely salmon fishing, so darned easy :-) There was, of course, playing on the beach ... And a meal at The Blue Penguin Cafe hit the spot for us all (go!) Between Takaka and Pohara is the (free) Labyrinth Rocks Park which was fun And then it was all over and homeward bound we travelled ...

Sunday 28th Oct - Worser Bay School Fair

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See You There ! Also, check out the Silent Auction now to see a large range of items from restaurants, travel, accommodation, speciality tours, artwork, photography, professional services, sport, music, art and educational tuition, entertainment, cafes and fashion available to bid on now. This year we have 52 lots and there is something for everyone!!!!!

Going Forward

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To all those that know how I hate this phrase ....

Finally! You Can Get The T-Shirts In The Finest Miramar Shops

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You'll see these around the finest of Miramarian shops meaning you can now just buy it right there and then! (you can still send an email to sarahwells@vodafone.co.nz to order one)

Home = Beautiful

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This is my home, Wellington

Lest We Forget - TVNZ 7

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From a (self confessed) lengthy email that I believe deserves more air than it will get sitting in my InBox. If you’re feeling frustrated or missing TVNZ 7 we urge you to email John Key right now and ask him “What’s on tonight, John? Dear Mike At midnight on Saturday, TVNZ 7 was switched off. The channel ended with the Goodnight Kiwi (a subtle nod to the Save TVNZ 7 campaign?) before being consigned to history. Earlier that evening Save TVNZ 7 held a large and passionate funeral procession through central Auckland. We marched past TVNZ where mourners lay flowers and candles on the doorstep of the ‘national broadcaster’. In St Matthews, Father Bomber lead a moving service with speeches from Peter Bell of the Screen Directors Guild, Karen Soich from SPADA, Labour’s Clare Curran, Julie Anne Genter from the Greens and David Beatson who brought a message of hope. It was a fitting tribute to one of New Zealand's best TV channels. For the first time Save TVNZ 7 made the 6 o’clo

Simply The Best Product Demo Ever

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This was done live earlier today - amazing

Solving The BIG Problems Of The World

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Whatever your view on software companies is, wherever your 'loyalty' lies, however you buy your gadgets I believe we can all recognise that stepping up and trying to solve the BIG problems of the world takes us above the pettiness, away from the lawyers and into a realm of humanity. Introducing the Endangered Languages Project - because it is what makes you YOU, the THEM and me ME. ( originally shared by glyn moody on Google+)

Love This Monmouth Photo

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Gingerbread - Originally uploaded by darkcell (and yes, it's on Flickr, *sigh*)

Spectacular Footage: Train Plowing Through Deep Snow At Arthurs Pass

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Simply awesome ... and LOADS of fun! Kiwirail attempting to plow a route through to Christchurch today from Arthurs Pass made for some spectacular images. 07 June 2012

Welcome To Miramar Hobbit Fans

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An excellent behind the scenes at Stone Street Studios (Miramar, obviously)

United Breaks Guitars

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From Adam's JokesList: A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines. United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) during a flight. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for youtube exposing their lack of cooperation. The Manager responded: "Good luck with that one, pal." So he posted a retaliatory video on youtube. The video has since received over 6 12 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: "Good luck with that one, pal." Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has led to a sharp increase in orders.

Message From The Wellington Police

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The police are investigating a local incident and are seeking help from the public. CLICK FOR FULL PDF

Genius, Both The Subject And The Presentation

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From Oatmeal - Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek that ever lived

The Gig Was Awesome But Now What?

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You pay your money for the ticket, you get along early and rark each other up, the gig was awesome and then ... then ... it's all over. BUT, you're still on a high because the gig was AWESOME! Youu want to shout it from the rooftops, people need to know just how amazing they were and they MUST go next time they come to town. Sound familiar? Certainly is for me - evidence #1 , #2 , #3 and #4 And that was just one band. Imagine all those gigs, all those excited people wanting to do the same. Now you can, with the recently launched Fantale : You're a fan right? So are we. Fantale is a place for fans to chart their gig history and share experiences. We created Fantale out of a desire to help fans connect and share with each other around live events. Every fan has a story to tell. Maybe it's about an amazing three encore set by your favourite band, or a chance encounter with the bassist at the merch table. You probably have a photo to prove it, or a signed set l

Miramar Town Centre Improvements

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Get involved! Miramar Peninsula Enterprise says (I have tidied it up a bit): HELP ENTERPRISE MIRAMAR PENINSULA SUPPORT MIRAMAR Dear Miramarians - Wellington City Council wants to can Miramar’s $900,000 town centre upgrade. The Council’s new Annual Plan proposes concentrating money on the central city because that’s where “the Wellington economy is based and everyone goes….”. Enterprise Miramar Peninsula believes this decision is wrong. HELP US PUT OUR BEST FACE FORWARD BY UPGRADING MIRAMAR’S TOWN CENTRE AND CONTINUING TO ATTRACT NEW BUSINESSES AND VISITORS. STEP 1. See what the upgrade would look like: http://www.wellington.govt.nz/projects/new/pdfs/miramar-concept2.pdf Background to the upgrade: http://www.wellington.govt.nz/projects/new/miramar.html STEP 2. Make a submission supporting the Miramar Town Centre upgrade by 5pm, Friday 18 May 2012 . Your submission can be as short or as detailed as you like. You can make a submission: Online: www.wellington.govt.nz/h

Australian Politicians Make You Proud You're Not From There

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Poi E - Patea Maori Club

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Voice of Poi-E dies

"Good For Nothing", Perfect For The Roxy

As their Twitter (@kiwiwestern) says: Instead of buying a house we decided to make New Zealand's first Western. We are just about to release the movie! It's released all over NZ / Australia on 3rd May, check out their site for NZ theatre details . They had a special showing at the Lighthouse in Petone last Monday and the Cinematica Podcast team were there and have put up a podcast extra of the cast/crew Q&A, enjoy (I am a little chuffed it happened )

2 To Pop Into Your Diary

Worser Bay School Quiz Night - Tuesday 22nd May, 7:30pm at Gasworks I. Challenge. You! Tickets are on sale now - ‘first in - best dressed’ and we only have 100 tickets on sale! So, get your team of six quizzers together ......if you don't have a team already, don't worry. We will sort you into a team. It will be loads of fun, a chance to meet other parents and enjoy some time away from the children! Make a night of it - book a babysitter, it's close and you won't be too late home ...on a 'school night'! Buy a ticket by either from the school office or by internet (Worser Bay Home & School - 06 0513 0304691 00 - Ref: Quiz) Worser Bay School Fair 201 2 - Sunday 28th October You know it's always sunny, fun and full of goodies - photos of 2009 | 2010 | 2011

Wellington: Absolutely Positively Everything Is Great

Nice work WellingtonNZ ...

Old Taranaki Street

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Old Taranaki Street - Originally uploaded by National Library of New Zealand Wicked stuff Via Flickr: Courtenay Place, Wellington, ca 1920, Gordon Burt negatives, Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference: 1/2-037197 Published in the Capital Times, 28 March 2012 Here is a panorama of the Courtenay Place/Taranaki intersection, around about 1918. The photographer was about where Molly Malones is now. Manners and Dixon Streets stretch out to the right. Left of centre Taranaki Street disappears off into the distance. Taranaki Street was much narrower then. All the buildings on the right hand side were demolished in the 1920s when the street was widened. Hardly any of the the other buildings in the photograph have survived either, although the Ford building on the left is still there, hidden behind a modern block. As the Ford sign suggests the automobile age was coming. But it was not quite there yet. There were not many cars, no traffic lights, and still lots of horses. On the o

Celebrate The Roxy Cinema's First Birthday On Sunday

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We are inviting you, your friends and your family to come and celebrate with us this Sunday 1st April. ‘The Roxy Fair’ is a whole day of events at The Roxy: from 9am with food stalls, children’s entertainment, vintage cars, movie star look-a-likes, live jazz music, wine tastings and more throughout the day. Our full event program for the day is in our website from Thursday www.roxycinema.co.nz and from Tonight in our Facebook Page . Thanks to the support of our fabulous suppliers who are just as excited about our birthday as we are, we have many specials like reduced prices on coffee, wine , special birthday cocktails and even an old fashioned ice cream cart . There is something for all ages at The Roxy Fair, so put your party hats on and join in on the fun!! TOP BIRTHDAY SECRET - We appreciate your support over the past year and to show our appreciation, The Roxy is offering super special prices on movie screenings on SUNDAY 1st April ONLY!! $10 Adults & $6 Children .

Think I've Just Lost Another Blogging Friend

I have the distinct impression that I've just read the final post from JonnyB's Private Secret Diary blog, "Epiloque" This makes me incredibly sad ... Private Secret Diary: 'You have been watching...' privatesecretdiary.com — JonnyB (@JonnyB) March 27, 2012 There are only a few blogs that I have ever read with gusto, a handful of bloggers that I always looked forward to, a tiny tiny number of those writing on the medium I adore (the web) that had the talent to make me smile / cry / think / pass it on. Seems that the number is so small now-a-days that this blogging thing might be something of a fad that has passed on by, to be subsumed by the overwhelming tide of those that paste a link into a status update box in the belief they are adding to the quality of life. I miss the best a little more every day.

Copyright Math(s)

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Humour to completely denounce the very small number of large media organisations and their announcements on copyright math(s)

Meet the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra!

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I am proud to say, I LOVE THEM!

Space Nazis Prepare To Attack Earth In 2018

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Iron Sky could turn out to be the film of the decade if they manage to get the "vibe" just so ... but one slip and it'll be tacky, second rate or just plain boring. Let's hope they walk that line well. Here's the first 4 minutes of the film for you, tell me what you think:

Oooh oooh eeyyaaaa ....

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Tigers, Surely They Won't Really All Die, Will They?

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A few weeks ago the family and I popped up to Wellington Zoo and, through it's ever changing exhibits (come on, they are, don't get fooled into thinking they are somehow over and above boxes with animals in for us humans to look at). Anyway, we were lucky enough to be there when the tigers were being fed - aren't they simply the most amazing, beautiful and incredible beasts on this earth? I am always astounded by tigers, how big they are, how enormous their teeth are, how powerful they look as they strut (!) around. And then ... Vital petition to save last 3,200 (so few!) wild tigers needs 10k sigs to reach 100k target by 13th Mar - Do sign & RT bantigertrade.com — Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) March 5, 2012 So - sign the petition to SAVE THE TIGERS: http://www.bantigertrade.com/ Here's a little of what the Riverdale's were privileged to see:

MMP Review, Have Your Say

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Before you get mown down by someone on 5th March pop over to the MMP Review and have your say : The Electoral Commission welcomes and invites any person or group to make a submission on the MMP voting system. There is no particular form that you need to use and there are a number of ways you can do this. You can make a submission online, by email or in written form. You can also present your submission at a public hearing. You do not have to respond to all the issues under review. There might be other things you would like to comment on about how the MMP voting system works. Please include these in your submission. (thanks to an advert on Public News for the heads-up - great article as well, It's In the Kete! )

Goodbye Bush House, A Beautiful Video

Leaving Bush House from Owain Rich on Vimeo . (thanks to Jamillah Knowles for sharing )

Budding Children's Authors, This Is For You

I'm looking for children's book authors (for 2-5 yr olds) to talk to. Know any? Got plans to write a book? Get in touch :) — Brenda (@brenda09) February 29, 2012

Kiwi Drivers: Two Of The Give Way Rules Are Changing

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5am, Sunday 25th March, 2012 There are videos, write-ups, presentations, posters, online quizzes and diagrams - there's even stuff for blind drivers! BLIND drivers, I know!?! So be prepared and prove the government officials and fellow Kiwis that you're not all complete fuck knuckles and she'll be alright. Downloadable resources: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/around-nz/give-way-resources.html

Arcane - Amazing French Acrobatics

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The New Zealand International Festival of Arts have Arcane , a French acrobatic duo, that for the 25 minutes they perform (for free), are quite mesmerising: Performing perfect flips, spins and somersaults on a nice steady platform would be difficult enough for most of us. Make that platform a moving, rolling structure and you add an entirely new level of complexity and skill. Here's what a hint at what we saw yesterday at Waitangi Park

Scheme The Big Things In Life

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There are any number of "to-do list" apps / sites out there all aimed at helping you get the most out of your minute-by-minute life and that's all well and good - in fact, my favourites include Top Three (iOS), Goalpost.it (web), Todo.txt (Android and iOS), Remember The Milk (everywhere). All well and good BUT what about the big stuff, the fun stuff, the aspirational stuff. Welcome to Schemer from Google . It's currently invite only but those of you following me on G+ would've seen how to get in. Come back, it's alright - click here and YOU ARE IN! Hang on though and add a dash of WTF? Why haven't I heard of this? What on earth is it ... Ever wonder what to do? Us too. Schemer can help. Whether it’s exploring a new city, checking out a friend’s movie recommendation, or just finding new activities for your weekends, Schemer lets you discover new things to do, share schemes with friends, and make the most of your day. Think you’re up

Everything You Need To Know About Sunday's Summerfest

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Right, it's time for you to buy tickets and plan to be there ! When Sunday 26th February, 3:00pm–6:00pm What (from EventFinder ) Now in its third year, Summerfest is a boutique, family-friendly food and beer festival that matches fantastic local tastes with great New Zealand beer, accompanied by the finest of local musicians. Beer raconteur and National Radio commentator Neil Miller will again be offering tasting notes while La Boca Loca chef Chris Martinez will be on hand with tips for creating mouth-watering Mexican morsels. ... Visitors will experience a BBQ extraordinaire, including local kai moana, Mexican taste sensations from Miramar’s favourite restaurant, La Boca Loca Taqueria (plus their margaritas from 5pm), and exclusive Summerfest venison sausages from the Strathmore Butcher. Summerfest is supported by Tuatara but other boutique beers will be flowing plus there’s wine, cider and Foxton Fizz. ... (from Facebook: Summerfest 2012 ) 3pm John Rae's Jazz trio

People Of New Zealand and Australia, Get Out Your Ukes

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We have the official word: From: Carmel Russell Subject: This "rinky-dink ruckus" of a show is about to hit the road! I am about to hit the road. Pretty much for the next month I will be navigating my way round our two islands plucking and crooning with 10 of the best ukulele pluckers and crooners I know and known as the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, and known this time round as the I LOVE YOU EP RELEASE NEW ZEALAND TOUR! We will be tuning up in all sorts of sweet spots around the fish (North Island) and the waka (South Island) of this nation. Whakatane, Wanganui, Greymouth and Invercargill being some of the sweetest of the 12 spots! NZ TOUR : See http://www.ukulele.co.nz/tour.html WELLINGTON : Saturday 24th March, San Francisco Bath House SYDNEY: Thursday 29th March, Oxford Art Factory MELBOURNE: Saturday 31st March 8.30pm, Sunday 1st April 2.00pm, Northcote Social Club Please do spread the word to those you know that hold a belief they may not

Help this quilt find its rightful owner!!

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Help this quilt find its rightful owner!! - Originally uploaded by tchelseat

Summerfest 2012 poster

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Summerfest 2012 poster - Originally uploaded by Mike Riversdale Print it out and let your work colleagues know ( PDF version ) The Worser Bay Summerfest show cases the best of local food and complimentary NZ beer together with commentary from the awesome Neil Miller and Al Brown. This year it's bigger than last year, more space and more music and activities. See you at the Worser Bay Boating Club on Sunday 26th February (3-6pm) Tickets: www.worserbay.school.nz/summerfest2012

FUCK YOU Ticketek New Zealand

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FUCK YOU Ticketek New Zealand - Originally uploaded by Mike Riversdale $5.25 for the privilege of printing off the ticket myself - FUCK YOU! $8 for having you print it off for me at the venue - DOUBLE FUCK YOU! This was for a Phoenix game (where my son's ticket was $5) - I will now rock on up and buy it on the day.

The Best Suburb Is, Of Course, Miramar [updated]

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And I said so in the Weekend Dominion Post, "Coastal cool: embracing the lifestyle" by @brontorrie . To be honest I think Meg is stealing the limelight in the photo :-) Here's the Miramar section of the article - I've added links as newspapers don't seem to grasp that links are good! And get your very own "Proud to be a Miramarian" t-shirt from Worser Bay School. Coastal cool: embracing the lifestyle - BRONWYN TORRIE Wellington likes to celebrate its status as the coolest little capital, but there's more to the metropolis than the hubbub of the inner-city. In a three-part series, Bronwyn Torrie finds out why Wellingtonians are proud to live in the coolest little suburbs. Part One: The South Coast . Wellington's South Coast has been dubbed the new "Nappy Valley" as young families flock to the area bringing elements of cool with them. It also helps that many celebrities call the area home. So how do the suburbs on the wi

Giving Up Smoking And I'm Gonna Need Your Help

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That's it - keep on my case, follow how I'm going and give me all the praise you can think of. I'm using a new Kiwi site called Goalpost.it to keep me on track! http://www.goalpost.it/goals/156