We spent a couple of hours today looking at the kites — maybe 200 of them — which ranged from traditional diamond shapes to fish, crocodiles, sharks, bears, dragons, and others.

The weather was ideal with clear sky and a brisk northerly wind.  There were several stalls, the food ones doing well as they always do, and a sound stage where there was a local band, Hottie, which unusually plays all originals.

In late December we said not to let your garden dry out this summer, but this Silver Fern in ours clearly succumbed to a lack of water.  In fact this happened over the few days when we were away at Napier Art Deco and revival attempts haven’t worked.  Of course, ferns are very sensitive and don’t like heat and dryness.

We couldn’t help thinking this might be symbolic of the campaign to replace the Union Jack with the Silver Fern on the flag, going from the most recent polls.  The opposition parties in Parliament could have chosen to stay neutral, but decided not to, which wasn’t good for the process. Nevertheless, whatever the result, the present flag has been degraded and the issue will probably be raised again in a decade or so.

Both days at the beach, and there is a free bus from Waikanae station

More info

from the transport for Wellington website

As part of its summer roadworks programme, the NZ Transport Agency is doing major repairs and maintenance through Waikanae in March. 

What’s happening and when?

We are removing the old drainage channel that runs along the southbound shoulder of the highway, near the railway station car park entrance. Once removed, we will construct a new channel and lay new drains below the ground.

Why are we doing the work?

The existing channel is cracked in many places and is not doing its job. Because of the cracks in the channel, we think that water is getting under the road, and if we don’t do something to fix the drainage, we will have to rebuild the whole road.

When will the work be done?

We plan to start on Wednesday 8 March and be finished by Friday 18 March. The work itself will be done during the day, but the site will have to be closed off for the whole duration for safety reasons. Although the work can be done in most weather conditions, very heavy rain would stop us and mean it takes a bit longer than we anticipate.

What effect will the work have?

To do the work safely we need to close the southbound shoulder along the whole length of the site, which means parking in this area will not be available. We will need to make sure that the site is free of parked cars on the morning of 9 March so the shoulder will be closed overnight on the 8th. As the concrete in the new channel needs time to harden properly, the shoulder will remain closed for a couple of days after construction has finished.