JANUARY 13th 2014
East Coast Bays - Otahuhu
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| Here I am in Otahuhu! (You can click on my pics to make them larger) |
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| Google Map showing my route from ECB to Otahuhu |
Dear Diary,
I've said goodbye to Helen and my new friends at East Coast Bays. I want to go back there to explore all of those other little bays too! Helen tells me that Takapuna Library is a 'happening' place to visit also, with a kids section on the top floor and a window seat view of the Beach to glance at (when taking a break from a good read!)
You guessed it, in my last post I was thinking about the NZ classic kids sci-fi 'Under the Mountain' by celebrated author Maurice Gee. The peculiar Wilberforces had some weird habits!
You could even read the book then watch the remake movie with props from Weta Studios Wellington. I like doing that sort of thing - where you can play book reviewer/movie critic and discuss what you liked, or didn't like about the way the director brought the storyline to the big screen. And it's even better doing this with your mates!
So I didn't find a troll under the bridge, (maybe if I was in Norway?) but I did hear rumours about a taniwha...I might have to pop into a library and check out the Waitangi Day Storytime event to learn more about this?
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| Auckland Harbour Bridge |
I've been doing some checking and asking around - Back in the seventies they had real, live, face to face, human contact at the toll booths on the Shore side of the Harbour Bridge. You had to queue to pay your fee for crossing the bridge. Originally you had to pay on both sides of the bridge, the North Shore people weren't too happy about that. Finally in 1984 the toll was stopped, having finished paying for the bridge.
No, you couldn't pay with a goat, only with New Zealand currency. At it's highest the fee was 25c.
Hey what? How did you pay the five cents? Oh right, my supervisor tells me we used to have 1c, 2c and 5c coins in NZ.
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| Auckland Harbour Bridge Under Construction National Library of New Zealand (Alexander Turnbull Library) |
Check this memorabilia out, this is the interior of a toll booth from the Bridge in 1971, no sign of digital technologies here...
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| http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz Libraries Heritage Collection |
For now though, it's time to go South to meet Hannah, the awesome children's librarian at Otahuhu.
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| Whoo hoo! Chilling in Otahuhu! |
It would have seemed fitting for me to be riding a horse into Otahuhu pretending I was a traveller from yesteryear...
Me being me, I wanted to know about why Otahuhu was special? Hannah took me on a bit of a tour and as she did I started imagining the past...
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| Otahuhu's famous WWI monument |
I might've just popped out to the shipping port at Onehunga on the Mighty Manukau to pick up some relatives off the boat...I could be taking them to the parcel of land they'd just purchased at Takanini or thereabouts...But either way I'd have to meet up with the 'Great South Road'.
Although it sounds like a good title for a Western, it was an integral link in times past connecting voyagers heading South to Bombay. (No, not the Bombay in India!) The Bombays are the last set of hills before you dip South into Franklin and the Wonderful Waikato. (Moo Loo country).
It was a road that was well travelled prior to the Southern Motorway. (Kind of like the Cars theme when Route 66 was bypassed to save time, but when the population grew the people needed a motorway!)
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| Great South Road Otahuhu W.Price 1928 |
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| Passenger Transport Company bus and driver. Price, William Archer, 1866 - 1948: Collection of post card negatives. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand natlib.govt.nz |
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| Tumeke! Look at these awesome murals you can find them around town! This is the historic Star Hotel. There is still a Star Hotel in Otahuhu but it doesn't look like it does in the mural. |
You know in the past I could have also been travelling from the Waitemata to the Manukau Harbours via the Tamaki River on my waka. Just like in my Blockhouse Bay post when I was hanging out with Rhiann - Otahuhu is on the 'waka crossing network' too! Otahuhu has a Portage Road as well!
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| Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand |
As I travelled around with Hannah I quickly learnt that Otahuhu is a really early suburb of Tamaki Makaurau with an interesting and rich history. Iron works, breweries, railway workshop apprentices... But I also learnt that Otahuhu is full of many ethnicities now, not just Pakeha and Maori - but all sorts of people!
Kind of like a great big fruit salad. You add all of the flavours and come up with something wonderful!
Did you see me with the statue above? The Governor-General Sir Charles Fergusson unveiled the Otahuhu First World War Memorial on the 25th April 1928. The bronze figure of a New Zealand Mounted Rifleman had been donated to the borough by a local businessman, Alfred Trenwith. It stood on a plinth near the Nixon Memorial at the intersection of Great South Road with Massey Road. That horse was just the right size for me!! Cool!! No doubt its story will be shared even further as we begin to commemorate the Centennial of WWI, 1914 - 2014. Do you think the horse has a name?
Kind of like a great big fruit salad. You add all of the flavours and come up with something wonderful!
Did you see me with the statue above? The Governor-General Sir Charles Fergusson unveiled the Otahuhu First World War Memorial on the 25th April 1928. The bronze figure of a New Zealand Mounted Rifleman had been donated to the borough by a local businessman, Alfred Trenwith. It stood on a plinth near the Nixon Memorial at the intersection of Great South Road with Massey Road. That horse was just the right size for me!! Cool!! No doubt its story will be shared even further as we begin to commemorate the Centennial of WWI, 1914 - 2014. Do you think the horse has a name?
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| The local playground is heaps of fun! |
We went to get active at the playground in Murphy Park. I climbed right to the top of
the net behind me. It's a great place to get a view of Otahuhu. Awesome!
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| Lange tried to bring everyone together he was a role model for cultural diversity. |
While I was here I also looked at the David Lange Memorial. David Lange was the Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 - 1989. He grew up in Otahuhu. Hannah and Irene reckon great people (and great leaders) come out of Otahuhu!
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| Otahuhu Library's awesome pyramid structure! |
Do you remember me telling you my feet were sore? Well Hannah had just the shop to fix that! She remembered that there was a shoe shop in Otahuhu for people with really big feet like mine!
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| Hooray just the place for me! |
Hannah shared an amazing story with me too! I think the story could go into one of those 'Believe or Not' type, fact books! The story is about a guy like me with super-sized feet.
Here's an excerpt from the story that Hannah shared with me from Amelia Wade's NZ Herald article:
'Shaquille Ioane has a bit of a problem - he has size 18 feet and can't find rugby boots to fit him.
"It's a bit hard playing in sneakers," he says.
Shaq, who has just turned 18, plays for Kawerau College's 1st XV. But he is hampered by his inability to find boots in his size.
He has to play in sneakers, which he gets from a specialist shop in Otahuhu.'
The shop was a great find! They had so many different styles of shoes and the staff were really helpful. That's something different about Otahuhu, it has mainstreet shopping it's different to being in a mall.
We went to look at the site of the new Otahuhu Recreation Precinct. The new Otahuhu Library and Leisure Centre will be here in 2015! Can't wait to come and swim then go and choose my books from here!
Hey thanks Irene and Hannah for showing me all about Otahuhu and especially for taking me to get those new shoes! Back to school soon...
Here's the kids in Otahuhu about 1880...Check out those aprons girls!
So my challenge questions this time:
When does your school start back?
Where can you find your stationary list?
Time is running out! What else did you really want to do these holidays?
Have you got your Dare to Explore Party invitation yet? Don't forget to check with your library and let them know you are coming!
That's me! Little Dude, out.
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| Stephen Levine. 'Political values - Enduring political values', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. TeAra.govt.nz |
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