Geology

As members of the Friends of Te Papa, we are often invited to participate in talks or other events arranged by FoTP as part of their fundraising efforts. Occasionally, we even accept! 

This tour was to explore the geology of Wellington city, and was led by Hamish Campbell, formerly of GNS. We were advised to bring outdoor and waterproof clothing as we would be going outside on what turned out to be a cold, windy, somewhat drizzly day.

We arrived at Te Papa to board our coach at 9:45, and set off around Wellington’s coast – i.e. the route we usually drive to and from Wellington! – with commentary from Hamish. He distributed maps of the city, oriented such that the edge of the map was parallel with the Wellington Fault and the whole of the harbour could be included. There was lots of stuff about faults, and subduction, and plates. The rock in the Wellington region is uniformly greywacke base rock, a type of sandstone.  Our route took us around the bays and along Shelly Bay road – the first time we’d been up that way since the fire in June this year. All those lovely heritage buildings destroyed. So sad.

Our first stop was at the Wahine Memorial in Seatoun. The memorial itself is built from greywacke of various different colours – fifty shades of greywacke! The different colours reflect the fine-ness of the particles that made up the original sedimentary layer, and also the amount of carbon included – the more carbon, the darker it appears. Hamish also asked us to consider where the pebbles on the beach had come from – not the sea, as it happens, but almost exclusively delivered by man.

From here we drove along the south coast towards Red Rocks. The tarmac road runs out after passing Owhiro Bay, so from there we went on foot to admire some of the rock formations in what used to be a quarry. The fault lines are clearly visible in the rock, and the shift between the layers of strata show the subduction and bending of the rock under extremely high temperatures deep underground, which have now been brought up to the surface. 

This is all your fault

We ate our packed lunches on the coach at this point, it being generally too cold, windy and rainy to eat outside. From there we drove up to Karori, with the intention of getting up to Wright’s Hill to see the whole of the Wellington fault from the vantage point. But the weather was against us by this time, and we scratched the idea after a cup of coffee, as there would have been nothing to see under these conditions. We therefore drove on to the final stop on the tour – a church built in the 1960s, the Futuna Chapel. This is included because it contains three unusual types of stone: an altar made of red South African granite, serpentinite in the floor, and the marble used for altars around the rest of the chapel. Hamish told us about serpentinite and the difference between it and pounamu (greenstone or jade); and also about his adventures in finding pounamu, and the research which eventually led to a unique way of identifying pounamu using radio isotope dating, which is the only reliable way to positively say where a piece of stone has originated; strontium/lead decay is the method used.

That about concluded our tour, and we drove back to the city centre. They asked us where wanted to be dropped off (as the route was going past some people’s homes), so I hopefully raised my hand and said Miramar, but they weren’t going for that, and we alit at the bus station to complete our journey on the No. 24 bus.

Tim Finn

Tim Finn, brother of Neil and integral part of Split Enz and later joining Crowded House, is back playing gigs around New Zealand. We’ve seen Neil on a number of occasions over the last decade or so, but this is the first time that Tim’s broken cover, so of course we went!

First, as always, the obligatory dinner. Recently we’ve been frequenting much the same haunts, principally due to their proximity to Michael Fowler Centre, or wherever we’re due that evening. But tonight we cast the net a little wider, to revisit a place we’ve not been to, I think, since pre-pandemic times: Pravda. This has morphed into a specialist steak restaurant these days, but they do also have other options. They’re also doing a pre-WOW set menu, but we decided to forgo that in favour of a steak. Unfortunately when I asked the waiter about oysters he told me they’d sold out, but we ploughed on regardless. I had baby octopus and hurunui fillet, Nicola had burrata and squid. Still a class restaurant, I’m happy to report.

A short walk took us back to Mickey Fowl’s and this time we were seated in the upper section, at the back – best seats in the house! The support band, Flip Grater, came on and gave us a short set of seven songs which all sounded the same. 

Then time for the main act. The house lights go down, the stage lights go up, and the musicians all take their places; on comes Tim, to a tremendous roar! He trips up, and the whole place goes dark and quiet. What’s happened? The lights return, and “Oops!” says Tim. “That was my mistake”…and they immediately rip into My Mistake. I see what you did there!

The rest of the set followed a roughly chronological order, with the first half made up of Split Enz songs, before heading off to solo material and three songs from Crowded House’s Woodface (Tim wasn’t a founding member of CH and only joined for their third album). At the end, they came on for an encore of two more Split Enz songs and another solo number, Staring At The Embers, from his debut solo album. The title of the tour, The Times And Lives of Tim Finn, seemed to imply a retrospective of his entire oeuvre; what we got was nearly all from the early part of his output, and nothing since 1991’s Woodface. Whilst the prospect of “heritage acts” using the dreaded N-word (for “New Material”) can strike terror into the hearts of audiences, I wouldn’t have minded hearing some of his more recent work as well as the classics. But he gave a good set over 1¾ hours, and definitely had a good time!

 

I Want To Be Happy

Nicola is pulling a double duty ushering at Circa Theatre tonight – Verbatim at 6 o’clock and I Want To Be Happy at 8 o’clock. I didn’t much fancy the first one, so went along later to see catch the second show.

As we didn’t have much time between shows, we decided to dine in-house at Circa’s restaurant. Their choice is somewhat limited, but they do do a tasty plate of spicy dumplings, so that’s usually our default option…but wait! What’s this? It’s all changed, and they have a new caterer, with a new menu. Looks like dumplings are off the menu, boys! Also off the menu is tap beer, as they’ve removed the pump. Ah well…we had salmon mousse and fish’n’chips instead. It wasn’t brilliant.

The play has two central characters, a scientist and a guinea pig. Both can speak, but neither can understand each other. They try to communicate, but largely fail. They are both trapped, but in different ways, and are trying to break free. Paul, the scientist, is undergoing a divorce, and the play becomes a metaphor for his marriage. Binka, the guinea pig, is trapped in her cage. During the course of the play she has two mates, and some children, as she is part of the breeding programme. Without giving too much away, she is ultimately left alone. As is Paul, whose wife leaves him. He tells Binka this in various monologues, but Binka can’t really understand. All she wants is to find love, and to escape into the open air and see the mountains once more. On one of her escapes she encounters a fearsome cat, so learning that freedom isn’t necessarily a universally good thing.

Whilst the subject matter is serious and thought-provoking, there are moments of hilarity – mostly provoked by the guinea pig costumes and the animatronics used to show the escape and flight scenes, which lightened the mood somewhat. Definitely worth watching if you get the chance!

Mocha Me Verry Happy

Our final foray into the world of Burger Wellington was a local establishment, Double Vision Brewery. They’ve been gracing the Wellington craft beer scene for a while now, and have a tasting room/restaurant attached to the brewery. Even though they’re a local Miramar brand, and I’ve drunk their beer many a time, we haven’t previously set foot inside. We went on a Saturday, and it turns out that it’s their last-Saturday-of-the-month quiz lunch. All the table were reserved, but we promised we’d be out by one o’clock so we were able to get their burger. 

It's called Mocha Me Verry Happy, and it’s described on the WOAP site like this: People's Coffee-rubbed beef patty, with Wellington Chocolate Factory chocolate bacon and savoury whip, on a Dough bakery doughnut bun, with a side of chips and housemade tomato sauce. Interesting! A savoury/sweet combination burger.

It looks like this: 

The Garage Project beer match is Cereal Milk Stout. I decided against that and went for a DVB Double Denim IPA instead.

And how does it taste? The doughnut and the chocolate bacon whip make the experience quite sweet, but the burger with the coffee rub counters that. The coffee flavour was definitely in there without being overpowering, and is a combination that works well. I personally wouldn’t have made it quite so sweet – maybe a brioche bun instead of a doughnut? Being a doughnut it was quite squishy, so cutlery was again required. The chips were plentiful, chunky, and tasty. The combinations worked, it was a tasty burger, and I scored it 8/10.

As Burger Wellington is now over, the judging begins. My favourite was Brioche ‘n’ Gravy from Pickle & Pie. None of the ones we tasted made it onto the shortlist for the overall competition. The winner will be announced next week so there may be a further opportunity for a burger before the event closes for 2023.