CAPITAL The stories of Wellington

We’ve had a stormy start to the year. Is it a harbinger of things to come? Uneasy questions are quivering on our lips. We are watching as ferocious weather engulfs much of the North Island, and our sympathy is with everyone affected.

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ISSN 2324-4836

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In this issue we look at friends and friendship. Friends in business, friends who build houses and live together, and a group who share a work space, have fun together and have become friends. And of course, we couldn’t resist a quick look, in Tales of the City, at a few of our furry friends.

Poet Laureate Chris Tse, who so capably summed up developments in Wellington’s poetry scene in our previous issue Cap #87, takes a fresh look at an autumnal poem by Mary Ursula Bethell, published in 1929, in this issue’s Re-verse.

Our Capital writing cohort put together the regular features that enable us to provide you with a consistent read. Again Deirdre Tarrant, our Welly Angel, helps sort out family tribulations, and Melody Thomas in Wāhine reflects on 10 years of the reciprocal joys of parenting. And Haleigh Trower has compiled our crossword. I hope you find it challenging.

In other news our biennial Best of Wellington competition returns. Watch for results in subsequent issues. And our very successful Capital Photographer of the Year competition will return in 2024. The event has grown so big that we have made it a biennial event, to ensure the scale of the event will reflect its appeal.

All this and more.

Alison Franks Editor

Staff

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Alison Franks editor@capitalmag.co.nz

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John Bristed john@capitalmag.co.nz

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Shalee Fitzsimmons shalee@capitalmag.co.nz

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Rachel Salazar artd@capitalmag.co.nz

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Contributors

Melody Thomas, Janet Hughes, Anna Briggs, Sarah Lang, Deirdre Tarrant, Francesca Emms, Dan Poynton, Chris Tse, Claire Orchard, Harriet Palmer, Jess Scott, Griff Bristed, Claire O’Loughlin, Chev Hassett, Joram Adams, Sanne Van Ginkel, Rachel Helyer Donaldson, Matthew Plummer, Fairooz Samy, Adrian Vercoe, Sasha Borissenko, Courteney Moore, Josiah Nevell, Monica Winder, Craig Beardsworth, Olivia Lamb, Wilson Matete, Bruno Hart, Charlotte Barnes, Bex McGill, Charlotte Fielding, Jackie Lee Morrison, Tess Eden, Al Green, Ruby Harfield, Madeleine Boles de Boer

Submissions

We welcome freelance art, photo, and story submissions. However we cannot reply personally to unsuccessful pitches.

Featured contributors

Charlotte is a Wellington writer who lives with her teenage son and small fluffy dog. When she's not writing she is probably reading, doing DIY, crafting, listening to podcasts, or swimming. She writes a Substack newsletter about art, history, and culture, and talks about reading and writing on TikTok @charlottefieldingbooks.

Hannah is a designer and budding creative. She enjoys visiting art galleries and historic places around the world. She studied communication design, specialising in advertising, and she produces a magazine that aims to elevate second-hand goods.

Bex is a multi-disciplinary creative, working primarily in portraiture and fashion photography. She is about to start her Master of Design at Massey University, exploring sustainability in slow fashion and analogue photography, whilst continuing to freelance. Check out her work on Instagram @bex_mcgill.

From voiceovers to interviewing guests on his very own chat show @thelukefarrshow, Luke loves to get amongst it. Hawkes Bay born with a NYC mentality, he loves the hustle. Surf, skating and snow are in his veins from birth.

CPotY Snapshots

Title: Love Past

Photographer: Kate Glasson

Category: Society semi-finalist

Behind the camera: Architectural graduate Kate Glasson moved from the South Island to the capital eight years ago. She quickly became settled here with “a beautiful and elastic whānau of creative people practising across disciplines,” and these friends help to inspire her work.

Why photography? Before architecture Kate briefly studied art history. She was struck by a photograph from 1839 – Self Portrait as a Drowned Man by Hippolyte Bayard – for “its humour and its play on the notion of ghosts,” which sparked an interest in the art form. Memory and nostalgia became key elements in her work, using photography, particularly film photography, to tell a story. She says “the idea that it is a storing of the light of that moment, that the same light that touched the subject also touched your film – simply to create the image – is inherently romantic to me.”

The snap: Love Past shows just that – it is a portrait of Tom, “a past love” of the photographer. It’s taken at the “iconic Trash Palace in Porirua shortly before things between us ended,” she explains. “There’s something in there, in the image, around the paraphernalia of our lives and the memories we carry with us.” She sees the image as “a portal into that time, and a meditation on the nature of loss, value, and love.”

One Hatching a plan

Some cracking news for New Zealand’s national bird – for the first time in over a century a wild kiwi egg has been laid in Wellington. In November last year 11 North Island brown kiwi were released into the Mākara hills, as part of the Capital Kiwi Project which aims to eradicate pests and restore the region’s kiwi population. The team can track the birds using aerials, and were conducting a health check when they made the exciting discovery.

Two Stargazing ahead

Wairarapa is officially home to New Zealand’s second International Dark Sky Reserve. It’s taken five years of work by a small group of volunteers to achieve the certification from the International Dark-Sky Association, which is currently only bestowed on 20 other places worldwide. Covering 3,665 square kilometres, the reserve spans the South Wairarapa and Carterton districts and will be protected from significant light encroachment. The Wairarapa Dark-Sky Association is already hoping to expand the reserve to encompass northern Wairarapa’s Masterton district.

Three Still can’t beat it

We all know “you can’t beat Welly on a good day” but it turns out Wellington’s good days are fewer than perhaps we thought. NIWA climate data reviewed by analyst James Mulrennan showed that since 1 January 1954 only 7% (or 1,839) of Wellington days have been good weatherwise. To count as a "good day" more than 75% of its daylight hours have to be sunny, with the temperature rising above 18 degrees, less than 0.5mm of rain, and average wind speeds below 15km per hour.

It's cool to kōrero

E hoa, kua roa! Kia hui anō tāua a te wiki e tū mai nei.

Hey mate, it’s been too long! Let’s get together this coming week.

By the numbers

87,500 the number of festival tickets sold

384,000+ dishes served

New

Town

Fit for a Duke

Fancy a catch-up with your allies? Talented Chef Michele Daniele has crafted a delicious Wellingtonians Who Lunch menu for the Duke of Wellington on Waterloo Quay. Treat yourself to two courses paired with a glass of Kahurangi Estate wine. Head to their website to book for you and your pals.

Four Big shoes to fill

In February staff at Hannahs shoe store on Lambton Quay quietly removed stock and placed a sign in the window announcing the branch “officially closed.” Founder Robert Hannah opened the first Hannahs store on that same street in 1870. There are still branches in the outer suburbs, but it’s goodbye to their last store in the city where the Hannah name has figured so prominently. Their old shoe factory, now the Hannah Warehouse apartments, Hannah’s Laneway, and the recently reopened Hannah Playhouse, which was largely funded by Robert Hannah’s granddaughter Sheilah Winn, remain Wellington landmarks.

700+ Wellington venues have participated

55,500+ number of cocktails made

1,770,000+ the number of burgers consumed

1,500+ number of festival events held

Call It A Knight

There are two new knights and one new dame in the neighbourhood. In the New Year’s Honours List, former Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield received a knighthood for his public health response management during the pandemic. Markus (Mark) Dunajtschik (pictured) was knighted for services to philanthropy, having donated millions to charity over 40 years. And actor, acting coach, director and writer Miranda Harcourt was made a dame for her awardwinning services to the screen industry and theatre.

Poorly Rated

Homeowners may face an eyewatering 12.8% rates increase, when Wellington City Council votes on its 2023–2024 Annual Plan. Inflation, high insurance costs, and higher depreciation were blamed for the proposed increase. Mayor Tory Whanau has said the increased rates would fund long-term city projects, such as fixing pipes, and transforming streets and cycleways. According to the council, the increase was originally forecast at 17%.

CAN YOU DIG IT?

The controversial Shelly Bay development has officially begun. After years of discussion, protests, and a 525-day site occupation (ended May 2022), developer Ian Cassels (pictured), Wellington City Council’s Liam Hodgetts, and Taranaki Whānui leader Kara Puketapu-Dentice ceremonially broke the earth on the site, where 350 houses are to be built. Protestors also attended the ceremony, holding banners which warned “sea level rise – buyers beware.”

All Hands On Deck

The Interislander Wellington and Picton ferry terminals will receive major upgrades, including a new wharf and passenger terminal building at each site. The new wharves will accommodate larger ships, including two new diesel/battery hybrid ferries, which can carry almost twice as many passengers as the current ferries, and are rail enabled, meaning trains up to 900 metres long can drive directly onto them. The ferries are set to arrive in 2025 and 2026, so the work has to be completed by the end of 2024.