from The Ladybird Book of Red Tape

“Due to project works in Otaki, road users should expect intermittent traffic management and lowered speed limits. Take care and adhere to the speed limit at all times.” –NZTA announcement from yesterday.

Returning from Napier yesterday involved three “intermittent traffic management” sections, the first upon reaching the Manawatu Gorge, where a completely new route is being planned (see here) and it’s still a case of taking the high road detour — that will probably continue for years; the second was the one quoted above, which for us began between Ohau and Manakau — it took about an hour to get from there to Otaki, where the infamous roundabout was extra busy with traffic going to and from the kite festival.  By late next year that should thankfully be over when the ‘Ewy’ extension opens to just north of the bridge over the railway.

Lastly, not involving much delay because there isn’t a lot of traffic, was the old SH1 between the Peka Peka offramp and Waikanae town centre, where work continues to install the unnecessary cycle lanes and that will probably last  several more weeks.

Cyclists with no cycle lanes! The Citroen 2CV is from 1989, but the model was introduced in 1948.

A line-up of Indian motorbikes, which all fired up at the same time!

Comparative British and American car sizes: a 1937 Austin 10 and a 1938 Buick Straight 8 outside the Clive Square.

An Art Deco fashion show.

Sunny Hawke’s Bay is great in summer with mostly fine weather and temperatures in the 26-30ºC range almost every day.

Each year in mid-February the city celebrates its architectural heritage from the 1932-1934 period when, due to the 3 February 1931 earthquake which demolished most of what stood then, the majority of replacement buildings were in the Art Deco style (quite a few were also in the Californian Spanish Mission style).

The result must be the world’s most concentrated collection of Art Deco buildings — the only other contender is Miami South Beach.

Every time we go, more work seems to have been done on smartening up facades and it’s a delightful experience just to walk around the streets.  But when combined with a festival which relives the fashions, music and dance, and of course the cars of the era, it’s superlative!

Hundreds of vintage and classic cars line and roll through the streets, nearly all of them lovingly restored and groomed.  The Art Deco era is considered as having ended in 1947 so cars more recent than that are frowned on, but a few exceptions are made to that restriction.

As  well as the free street and foreshore events, there are dozens of shows in the evenings to attend such as: Bootleggers on the Beach, Great Gatsby Party, Gangsters and Flappers (“Deco dress essential, machine guns optional”) and Indigo Speakeasy Whiskey Club.

Apart from a few buildings on Elizabeth Street, Waikanae Town Centre architecture is mostly from the 1970s and uninteresting,  But there are other possibilities for events out of the ordinary!

Luxury driving that’s almost a century old — a 1920 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.

A Rolls with a difference —  the engine is a Cadillac 506 cubic inch Big Block, transmission is a Cadillac turbo 400, suspension is from a Jaguar XJ6, and as a finishing touch there are 50 caliber machine guns each side of the engine which were loaded! — ideal for a KCDC boss. 🙂

We saw this on the side of a school building in Hawaii; it looks to be made of pieces of baked ceramics.

Not Waikanae, but about 300 km further north. In June 2017 we posted a pic by Karl Webber of an apparent ‘eruption’ of Kapiti Island.   Of course, Kapiti Island isn’t a volcano, but in this pic taken at Taupo there are three active volcanoes in the distance — Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu.  In fact, Lake Taupo is also an old volcanic caldera, the formation of which must have been dramatic events; the last eruption happened about 1,800 years ago — info

from left to right: Sandra Forsyth, committee member of the Kapiti and Waikanae Health Advocacy Groups, Adrian Gregory, Consumer Engagement Consultant to the CCDHB, Iride McCloy chairperson of the Waikanae Health Advocacy Group and Dr Herman Van Kradenburg of the Waikanae Health Centre.   Ellenor Mayo and Margaret Stevenson Wright were two committee members also in attendance.

by Iride McCloy

A very successful meeting was had on Monday and the feedback was tremendous. Considering the short time-frame that WHAG had to present to Adrian Gregory the needs of the Waikanae residents, it was very rewarding that so many people attended.

The theme of the meeting was “Urgent and After Hours Care”.   The audience  were very vocal in particular when it came to “reducing the burden of travel for avoidable hospital care for the people of Waikanae!”

Some of the main points that were highlighted were the remaining gaps for Mental Health and Addictions, and care for people with disabilities.

Details of Kapiti Coast users of Urgent and After Hours services as presented to us by Adrian:-

Of the total Kāpiti population, estimated as 52,000 at present, 27% are over 65; the 45-64 age group represents 28%.

17 Kāpiti residents attend the Emergency Department each day = circa 6,200 per year and 47% are over 65.

Transportation used:- ambulance 55%, other forms 44%.

Admission / non-admission:- 55 / 44%

10.00 am to 11.00 pm is the busiest period with Monday the busiest day.

GP consultation:- circa 25,000 present themselves initially to GPs per annum, 40% in normal hours, 60% after hours

Impact of Home Health Care – The reduction of 30% as a result of GP triage “(“the process of quickly examining sick or injured people, for example after an accident, so that those who are in the most serious condition can be treated first”), and Health Care Home was provided by the DHB and suggests that GP triage significantly reduces visits to A&M or the Emergency Department.

This is just the beginning for Waikanae residents to have a voice in regard to Health Care Needs and the WHAG will have their next meeting for the public to attend on:

Tuesday, 19 March 7 pm at the Waikanae Support Hub.

Contact 04 2938890 or Sandra Forsyth on 021 024 765 95

With Eva at the entrance to a Waikanae River walkway access.