Old buildings

There are some very old buildings across from the hotel I stay in when I'm in Wellington, the stories within those houses always intrigue me.

Archives New Zealand

Today I was lucky enough to go on a tour of Archives NZ. I actually stood in front of the original Treaty of Waitangi, all nine sheets! It was amazing to think of the stories each of these objects held, the lives they had touched, the lives they could still touch. There are a wealth of resources that could be used in the classroom, and the best thing is that they are rights free as they are public domain. Here are a few links where you can access some of the items:

http://www.youtube.com/user/archivesnz

http://www.flickr.com/photos/archivesnz/

http://www.ecasttv.co.nz/

http://www.etv.org.nz/education/login.php

http://archives.govt.nz/

Infinite possibilities

The waterside in Wellington is just beautiful. Every inch begs for a different type of photo. What I love about this photo is it makes me imagine. I can imagine the different types of people who might sit on these seats and gaze out to sea. The young man in turmoil trying to work out his life, the old woman who remembers, the couples in love ... me.

Wellington Fan Zone

With the rugby world cup in NZ there are fan zones all over the place. The Dunedin one is quite fun (if very quiet). This is a stage in the fan zone in Wellington.

Wellington blue sky

I had a meeting at the MInistry of Education building today in Wellington. It was a beautiful blue sky day. This is the view from a fifth floor window.

To capture the moon

On my flight into Wellington this morning there was a glorious full moon.

Wellington blue sky

A friend of mine is always marveling at the blue skies around Wellington, so I had to try to capture one.

The Portland Hotel

When I go to Wellington for work I stay at the Portland Hotel (It's actually a Kingsgate hotel but I think it used to be called the Portland). Anyway, they have the same piece of artwork on the wall in every single room.

Wellington, Rotorua, and an earthquake

I have had a very full week, I have taken photos but not had the time to put them up, so I have decided to make this post a week's digest.

To start the week on Sunday I had a lovely day wandering around art galleries in Wellington with Esmay. This orb hangs in the sky outside the Wellington Art Gallery.



The day was beautiful, the sun was shining and as I sat in Mac's restaurant I looked across and saw the day framed. It seemed the perfect image for my girls' weekend away - the perfect day framed.



From Wellington I traveled to Rotorua for our annual Learning@School conference. This is a conference that I always look forward to. 1000 enthusiastic teachers sharing their practice with each other around technology, pedagogy, curriculum, and everything else. We had two days to set up for the conference but tragically in the middle of setting up on the Tuesday the news came through about the earthquake in Christchurch. CORE Education, who I work for, are based in Christchurch and about half of our staff at the conference had family there. Everyone was on their phones to find loved ones and then we found a way for them all to go home. Fortunately all were safe, but very, very shaken.



The conference went on with the remainder of the staff stepping up to fill in for the Christchurch staff who went home. Everything ran smoothly and the delegates would not have noticed how frantically everyone was working. My last image of Evelyn trying out one of the electric bikes at the conference summed up the experience for me. The conference went by in a blur of activity.

Petone Markets

We went for a walk through the Petone street markets and these enterprising young boys were showing off their artistic talents and selling pieces of their artwork.

Lower Hutt Farmers Market

I'm in Wellington staying with a friend for the weekend. She took me to the early morning markets where she buys all her fruit and veg and I only had my iphone to capture images, but I loved the colours.

Portland Hotel, Wellington

Our 'home away from home' in Wellington is the Portland Kingsgate Hotel. The back room has often served as the unofficial CORE office, which is handy for when the day finishes and it is time for night time refreshments.

Breakfast

This place in Wellington does really nice cheese scones for breakfast.

Wellington

Today I flew over these

On the way to here

Well, around the corner from here actually.

Just hanging around

After a long day at the Ministry today I was walking down the main street in Wellington and noticed this guy hanging off a building with a high powered water blaster. What a cool job.

Driving to Wellington

I had a mad dash back from Palmerston North to Wellington to catch my plane. Which was frustrating because as I was driving I could see so much I wanted to stop and photograph. Luckily (even though I was in a hurry) I was stopped at some road works, so whipped out the camera and took an image out the window. I loved the vibrant colours produced from the dull greyness of the day.

Wellington buses

I'm in Wellington for a day of meetings. I love how the buses are so happy and yellow. Had a funny experience walking into a meeting and there was @jo9ty who I had been interacting with on Twitter but had never met face to face. It is good when people have their image as their avatar so you can have these surreal experiences of meeting people for the first time who you think you 'know' but have never actually met.

Balls - 365/63

Another Wellington shot today. These balls are all around the edge of the water front in Wellington and are quite comfortable to sit on and enjoy the sun and the action all around as people go about their day to day activities.

I couldn't resist this second shot, 'a Wellingtonian in repose' however it reminded me of an Australianism 'flat out like a lizard drinking'. Nice to still be enjoying the sun at this time of year, who says it's cold in NZ?

Suspended - 365/62

Spent today in Wellington and it was a beautiful clear day. Went for a walk down near the water and had so many things to take photos of, it was hard to choose one. I've always liked the way this globe is suspended in the air.

Flying to Wellington - 365/48

I'm in Wellington for two days of meetings and got to watch the sunrise on my 6:50am flight from Dunedin. The colours were stunning.