QE2, QM2 (Day 14) Part 2

I think Taronga Zoo was the biggest disappointment of our time in Australia. I thought that maybe our time in Tropical Cairns had made us over expectant and that if we were only visiting Sydney the zoo would have been more appealing. This assumption was dashed when we visited the Featherdale Wildlife Park on Day 15, and were blown away by the place. But again more on that another day. You get a ferry over to the zoo and then a cable car to the top of the mountain where the zoo is situated. The best thing about the zoo, in my opinion, is the view looking back towards Sydney harbour from the top.


When we were walking around Sydney Harbour we noticed something unusual on the skyline.


In the words of one famous Australian " can you see what it is yet?"

If not take a look at the following pics we took, from the detour our ferry took, on it's trip to Manly Beach you might see a few clues.




We happened to arrive in Sydney at a very significant time. The time when the biggest ocean liner in the world, the Queen Mary 2, would be docked in it's harbour. We were in for a few more treats that day as it would turn out, as the second biggest ocean liner in the world, was due into the harbour that evening, the Queen Elizabeth 2 , or QE 2 as she is commonly known.

In order to get to Manly beach you have to pass through it's village first. Here's a pic of the main street in Manly and a couple of the beach.




There are loads of restaurants along the beach front and we decided to eat here as opposed to trying to find somewhere in Sydney. Every now and again you pick a restaurant with little or no expectations as to the quality of food you will be receiving, especially if it doesn't get a mention in the Lonely Planet. The Rouge Mediterranean Restaurant in Manly was one such place, but after we sat down and perused the menu we got a good vibe. It was one of the best food experiences of our time in Australia without doubt! If you click here you'll see we are not alone in our admiration. It was the first of two restaurants that were real finds, but again more on that later.

We headed back to the ferry terminal to catch a ferry back to Sydney and were a little taken back by the throng of people queueing. As it would turn out all the boat owner's in Sydney had set sail and turned out to welcome the historic event of the QE 2 arriving into the same port as the QM2, a very rare occurrence. If one of the liners would, by it's very stature and history bring a degree of excitement, then two brought a frenzy. What resulted was something of a rarity, harbour gridlock!

The ferries just couldn't get through the harbour without many detours and delays causing chaos at the terminal. The fact that everybody in Manly was heading into Sydney harbour to see the spectacle, and the last treat of the day,the fireworks, only compounded the problem. Here's a pic of the queue and one of the QE 2.

We arrived back later than planned, dusted ourselves off in our hotel, and set out again for the darkness of the local park to view the fire works that were organised to celebrate the coming together of the two ships. All the boats stayed out for the display and sounded their horns at the end, it was a really great and unexpected treat. Who would have thought that you would get to see a fire works display in Sydney harbour in late February!

A perfect way to end, our second day in Sydney.

Cathal

Sydney Opera House (Day 14) Part 1

If the "Australia balloon" pic in a previous post epitomised our travels up North, then perhaps the following pic, with the Australia flag billowing in the foreground of the Sydney Opera House, sums up our time in the state of New South Wales.

We decided to start our second day with a tour of the Opera House. They recommend that you go on one of the earlier tours as later on in the day rehearsals can make parts of the tour off limits. We had been thinking about going to see a concert but the evening shows were booked out and our days were already full. They have a show every night in the Opera House which make it one of the busiest Opera Houses in the world. The name is a bit of a misnoma in that all types of plays, musicals, classical concerts and operas are held in the venue. Here's a few more pics from the tour of the interior.

While we were on our tour the main theatre was being used for a rehearsal of Brahms Symphonies 1 & 3, the concert we had hoped to catch one evening. Luckily the tour was allowed into the theatre and we listened to the conductor asking a section of the orchestra to repeat a piece of music over and over again until he was satisfied with the outcome. Only then would he move on. It whet our appetite to the point, that once the tour was finished, we went and bought two tickets to an afternoon showing.

During the construction of the Opera House there was a change in government and the original architect Jorn Utzon eventually resigned the commission in frustration. Utzon was never to return to the Opera House and has therefore never seen it completed first hand. The interior was therefore finished by another architect. It was a real pity that this happened and now, many years later Utzon, at 80 years of age, is back working on the Opera House, his son carrying out his father's instruction's on site. Utzon senior still determined not to set foot in the place.

In college we didn't study this building or the likes of the Taj Mahal. In Architectural circles they seem to have less significance. Perhaps they are too obvious, I don't actually know why. I liked the building but cannot say that it meant any more to me than that, I wasn't bowled over, or reduced to silence. (Again Sharon has reminded me that that would be a feat in itself!) Perhaps I'll return to it on a later date but for now the answers are not forthcoming. Needless to say it is a remarkable achievement nonetheless and one which quite rightly won him the Pritzker Prize.

That was our morning on Day 14, after lunch we headed off to the Zoo, but more on that later. The following pics are of one of the few rooms that Utzon has completed the interior of since being recommissioned.

The mural on the wall above is an original work by him and the pic below is of his signature. I thought it more appropriate that he might sign off this post.

Building of the Week No. 2

Ok strictly speaking this is not a building as such but an area. I felt that in a previous post, showing typical images of Welly, the more traditional timber buildings were not fairly represented. There is a side to Welly that I didn't capture and I hope to even things up in this post.

While I was out jogging, yes that's right jogging, New Years resolution number one can be ticked off! I came accross a suburb of Wellington called Te Aro. It is a narrow strip that runs between the city centre and further outlining areas such as Karori. That won't mean a whole lot to ye so we'll move on. If I had collapsed and later come to, which was a strong possibility as I was nearing the end of my jog, I would have been forgiven for thinking that I had awoken in some part of Nantucket. OK maybe Hyannis Port to be fairer to Nantucket. Te Aro is a fantastic little village with a bakery, veg/ florist shop, cafes etc. and has a wonderful feel about it so I decided to make it my "building" of the week. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great but here are some damp pics in any event.



The timber buildings are common over here as there was plenty of the building material available and it made logical sense to use it. Just in case any body is interested in an actual building of the week the following picture is of a little deli in the heart of the village. People, quite rightly, go on about good proportions all the time in design and I think this building is an example of that.


When we were walking around Welly generaly we came across the following signs. It appeared on the surface of things that dogs are not the most popular animals in the city, at least not during working hours. See pic below.



If you are a dog lover however perhaps Te Aro is the place for you, along with the cafes etc. that cater for all your needs, it appears to be a more canine loving place as the poster in the local park shows.




I just hope that all my jogs are as rewarding!

Cathal

Building of the Week No. 1

Well there was one New Year’s resolution I decided not to put into my previous post as it was really a blog resolution and I wasn’t sure whether that should count or not.

In order to bore all ye to tears, if I haven’t already done so, I have decided to post about a different building every week. If it’s any consolation none of the architects, if any, (Ian are you out there?) reading this blog will find these posts any more interesting than you will!

The motive for doing this is slightly selfish. In college we were thought to sketch a detail or building we found interesting as the simple act of drawing demands greater attention to the subject matter. The alternative is to point and click the camera. When you do that your camera takes the place of your eye, the aperture is your iris, the shutter your eyelid if you get my drift.

In many respects doing a blog is similar, in the sense that it helps you to “sketch” the places you visit. It forces you not to become complacent as you always have your blog content in mind.

Anyway in an effort not to be taken too seriously I have decided that my first building of the week is an electrical sub station. If the relationship of beauty to ugliness could be expressed as a circle then there’s always the odd thing that is so ugly it touches beauty. There are some buildings which are deliberating designed with this in mind but I think this one was not so contrived. Here’s a taste of what I am talking about.

This building is tucked into an alleyway between a building and a retaining wall and in many respects it deserves and would have been far better to be free standing. The reason I think this is because its symmetry suggests that it is “double fronted” when in reality it is not and cannot be with the retaining wall so close to the rear.

I really like the doors because they were oversized and almost monumental, the material looked like natural or un- patinated copper which also gave them a sense of grandeur which suited the fact that they were oversized. I can only presume that the cross rib detail on the doors is due to their size and helps to keep them rigid when they are being removed for access. Form following function and all that.

They seemed to have run out of budget when it came to the roof or someone got happy with the wrong coloured paint. I can only imagine that the person who went to the bother of detailing the roof so cleverly including the natural ventilation would have wanted it to be made in the same material as the doors. The concrete ring beam above the doors is a bit clumsy also and deserves the finer detailing of the remainder of the building. Perhaps they ran out of money. Here’s a close up of the doors. You can see the supports on the corners for lifting the doors off.

A lot of people mind find this building simply ugly, but it caught my eye from across the street and I was drawn to it immediately. Yes there are “grander” and “prettier” buildings in Wellington, but I really was taken with this one. People might find the shape of the roof slightly unusual but it reminded me of an abstracted version of a more traditional roof that most people would be familiar with. The pictures below show a traditional house in Wellington.



Did I mention that you might have to use your imagination!

Cathal

A curious type of engagement

I have decided to return to Hamilton, not literally though.

Something has been bugging me about Hamilton since we left about a week ago and I have to get it off my chest. It is curious how we can sometimes have something deeply ingrained into our thought process that pre-empts what a place is going to be like before we visit it.

I had what I thought was a very simply and logical thought process. When I heard that Hamilton was the largest inland town I knew it would be adjacent to a large river. Why because of the need for transport and communication, two basic needs for any town to survive. It was no surprise to me that all the major cities and towns i.e. the four biggest were on the coasts as these would have the extra benefit of foreign trading etc.

When I reviewed the map of Hamilton I saw there was quite a large river called the Waikato River running through it. Aha! I thought to myself, “elementary my Dear Watson” I muttered to myself. Once my first predictions were correct I ventured a few more. But first let me return to my home town of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford for a moment.

Enniscorthy, although considerably smaller than Hamilton, is an inland town on a river so logically the town grew up and was largely dependent upon the river Slaney for a long part of its history. The town is therefore like most Irish inland towns. There is a river and quays at the centre, adjacent to which are the roads followed by usually commercial building which have a direct relationship with the river. Additionally there were grain stores and market places. This relation was symmetrical to both sides of the river unless topographically this was not possible. Bored yet?

Anyway back to Hamilton. So there we were on the way into Hamilton in the car, our destination Victoria Street, one of the main commercial streets in Hamilton which is full of cafes, restaurants and the like. I fancied a nice coffee near the waters edge basking in the UV rays, but when we turned the corner onto the street there was no river. I checked the map and the signage and we were definitely on the correct street so where was it? We parked the car and began to explore what was a typical main street of any town, as the photo below will prove, but it didn’t relate to the river.

I found this fact to be most curious and although we didn’t spend a great length of time in Hamilton it would seem that the urban design evolved differently. On my return to our base I got out my Lonely Planet New Zealand guide book and read a brief history of the town hoping it would provide a clue and it did and I quote “European settlement began in 1864 but the Waikato River was Hamilton’s only transport and communication link with other towns until the railway arrived in 1878.” So there it was the difference between Hamilton and Enniscorthy is a direct result of its history, or on Hamilton’s part, its lack of it relatively speaking. The river was never as important to Hamilton as it was to Enniscorthy and perhaps this explains the different urban evolutions of the towns.

We eventually found the river although it was not entirely obvious at any stage on our walk down Victoria Street that the river was close by. We had to walk down small pedestrian paths to find the river and walkway. Here is a photo of a view along the river and you can see that there is no sign of Hamilton.

Perhaps further down towards the botanical gardens the river shares a better relationship with the town but for me there was a curious lack of engagement with the river apart from the walkway and perhaps therefore a lost opportunity?

Or perhaps if we had walked a few steps further the whole city centre would have opened up to engage the river. Worth another visit I think.

Cathal

Southern Exposure

When I was younger I used to really enjoy a series based, I think in Alaska, named Northern Exposure. I also spent a summer on a J1 in Hyannis Port in Cape Cod in America.

How is this relevant to Auckland you might ask? Well there’s something about the timber frame houses, the wide commercial streets with overhanging awnings, the mail boxes on the edge of drives and the lack of fences that remind me of America and in turn Northern Exposure for that matter.

Don’t get me wrong I am not saying New Zealand is like America, it’s just that it is more like America than any other part of the world that I know. Or maybe to its credit America is more like New Zealand than anywhere else in the world, although I doubt it. I suspect it is also very like Canada although I have never been so I’ll take someone else’s opinion on that one. Perhaps it’s just the amount of space and therefore the density of development that is similar.

We went around an area called Ponsonby just outside the centre of Auckland and although I do not have any pictures of the area it was very like small town America. I took some photos of Devonport and although it is not quite as “American” as Ponsonby I think you can get quite a good impression of what I am writing about.

Speaking of southern exposure the South winds in NZ are the equivalent of the North Easterly’s in Ireland but given our proximity to the Antarctic it makes the North Easterly winds feel tame by comparison. Especially here in Wellington which is known for the winds that blow through the Cook Strait.

If I find a moose I'll let you know!

Cathal

Oasis of Calm

If you are looking for a convenient respite from the maddness of the city centre I suggest you look no further that the IFC Shopping Centre roof top garden. Where else in Hong Kong can you have a fantastic meal in a great setting for less that €5!

Located four floors up on the roof of the IFC, the garden is an unexpected treat and a fantastic place to grab a bite to eat. The first thing that strikes you about the space is the quietness and the unexpected sound of birds singing.

Hong Kong has a small chain of gourmet supermarkets called City'super which can be found in most shopping malls. The one in the IFC offers hot take out meals like Thai Green Chicken Curry for about €5. We made our purchases and made our way to the rooftop to enjoy some really good food with beautiful scenery and views over the harbour. There are restaurants proper on the rooftop but they are a bit pricey for a bit of lunch.

Hope the following photos give you a good idea of what was an oasis of calm in a very hectic city.

Cathal

Chester it ain't

Some years ago I was in Chester in England and found the idea of the Chester “Rows” or “Galleries” to be very interesting. Click here Virtual Chester to see details. These are colonnades on the first floor level of the town centre buildings dating back to Roman times which interconnect to form a street on the first floor. They create a town centre which commercially has a double stratum of high footfall catchment making the first floor rental capacity almost as high as the ground floor. A concept that has not been lost on the developers of Hong Kong even if the benefits of the elevator/ walkways seem to have created a similar scenario albeit as a by product of a greater problem.

The elevator/ walkway system in Hong Kong is fascinating not only for its original concept but also for the benefits it has had to the city in other respects. Built originally as a practical way of reducing the demand on the transport infrastructure by creating a serious of walkways and elevators that bring the local denizens from the low lying central area to the mid levels, the project when announced originally was believed by many to be an “April Fools” joke. In reality is has been a major success despite going 500% over budget. Now 50,000 people make the twenty minute journey every day.

Apart from the original concept, the by products of this elevated pedestrian system has had a fascinating impact on the shopping behaviour of the local people. Hong Kong central is almost an inverted city with cars and public transport on the ground level and the pedestrian “footpaths” elevated onto the first floor. The developers and retail providers have not forgotten about the 50,000 potential shoppers that use these walkways every day either, creating a fascinating serious of both purpose built and redeveloped shopping malls which have a direct relation with the walkways. In the central area there are numerous shopping malls/ hotels etc. which all interconnect directly via walkways and pedestrian bridges. One can walk for hours through endless shopping malls without ever touching “terra firma”. It would seem that for the first time in my life I have experienced a city where the “first floor” is commercially more viable in retail terms than the ground floor a concept that most modern retail developers would scarcely believe.

The yellow line on the map below shows the pedestrian walkways. The red coloured blocks are the shopping malls etc.

Origami

During my many visits to the IFC shopping centre I was intrigued by the lengths the various shops would go to make the experience more memorable. I was fascinated in particular with elaborate paper installations throughout the shopping mall only to find out that there were 4 art installations by a show piece designer named Zoe Bradley.

What follows are pictures of some of the installations but the pictures don’t really do them justice.

Cathal.