Not the famous (some would say infamous) nightclub in New York, but the name that sculptor Graeme Hitchcock has given to his property at 54 Kotare Street, purchased in 2012.  This was one of the gardens on the Lions Super Trail today, and is on the separate Summer Arts Studio Trail next weekend (see earlier). From the street the three sculptured bronze figures, ‘The Flying Ties’ in the third pic are visible.

We spent about 5 hours today visiting the 12 gardens (plus the Waikanae Bowling Club) included in this year’s Super Garden Trail.  They ranged from small to extensive and all should have had features that visitors were able to get inspiration from.

Without wanting to seem parochial, we thought the two best gardens were in our immediate neighbourhood at 15 Hurunui Street and 39 Manu Grove.  In fact the latter is definitely as good as some city Botanic Gardens that we have seen.

When we visited the last garden in our itinerary at about 3 pm we were told that we were their visitors 670+671.  Assuming the weekend saw 1,000 tickets sold, then over $20,000 will have been raised for the Free Ambulance Service and Arthritis NZ.

6 Alexander Street.  This contained a few trees rarely seen in NZ such as cork, fig and macadamia nut. It has a stream containing whitebait and eels flowing through it with two footbridges. There are several copper ornaments featured (an example in the second pic) made by an artist in Lower Hutt.

15 Hurunui Street.  This has a rare stand of Kohekohe trees and a lot of mature native bush.

35 Kohekohe Road

39 Manu Grove – very impressive.

42 Ngarara Road

43 Tui Crescent

248 Te Moana Road

364 Te Moana Road.  This covers a big area with a lot of big mature trees, which of course are a feature of the eastern half of Te Moana Road and add status and value to properties in it. The jacaranda tree with the mauve flowers is iconic of Los Angeles and they line many streets there.

Those who drive down the Akatawara valley from the hill summit behind Waikanae will likely notice Bill Tito’s signs, one of which says “Slow Down, you Bastards!”

We visited him recently in his very attractively situated studio on a hillside.   Despite being 70 he is still active in repairing valuable old books that are falling apart, and despite the fact that his fees are far from cheap, he gets plenty of business — in fact he must be one of the few people who makes a good income from books in NZ now.

As his business card above indicates, he is a bit of a character and his studio walls have photos of him with like-minded personalities such as Bob Jones and Tim Shadbolt.

website

Two photos presumably taken by the same people, but obviously at different times, which show the development that occurred at the south end of the beach by the river mouth in the late 1960s.

The first photo has Eruini Street as the nearest east-west street that has been put in place, with Tutere Street ending a little south of it, ditto for Queens Road.

The second photo shows Tutere Street extended to about where it ends now, and the lagoons, and an excavation plus formation work for a pier, apparently for a marina development that didn’t proceed. This was reformed into part of the estuary.

Both are long-time interests for us — here is a Waikanae property that was on the market recently, and shows what can be done with a little imagination and a bit of space. Views looking each way.

Posted on YouTube last September.

Kia ora tâtou

Well, here we are at the beginning of a new year so we thought it would be a
good idea to remind you that the Waikanae Beach Community futures work is
ongoing and to let you know what the next few months look like for this work.

Firstly, we will have a presence at the Waitangi Day event at Whakarongotai
Marae on 6 February. Some of us will be there to talk about the issues the
community has raised and to gather further feedback. We are at the beginning of a process of engagement with Te Âtiawa ki Whakarongotai – many of you will know that there are a number of sites of significance for tângata whenua in the Waikanae Beach area.

At this stage we are planning to hold a community get-together in some shape or form in early March. We would welcome your ideas about what you think the next steps for the project should be and any thoughts you have on possible formats for the March get-together. We need to start developing options for responding to the issues raised over the last few months of last year so ideas on how to go about stimulating suggestions from the community would be very welcome.

Best wishes for 2016 from the council’s Waikanae Beach community futures team.

Alison Lash

Senior Advisor
Kaitohutohu Matua

Tel 04 296 4786
Mobile 027 452 7425

In the Upper Cuba Street area — an example of what could be done in Waikanae, too, don’t you think WCB members?

While not nearly as big as the Maypole company precincts (whom we are still waiting to hear from their nominated representative), the Waikanae North precincts nevertheless still occupy a substantial chunk of land on the east side of the forthcoming Expressway, and long term will add a lot of households as well as a lot of traffic along Sylvan, Belvedere and Park Avenues.

By Evelyn Page, now in the collection of Te Papa.  The setting looks to be in the hills a few km north of the town, perhaps with Peka Peka Road in the right foreground.