Midweek Fantasy Costume Night! Slick Music! Half Price Entry! $5 Drinks!

I'm sorry, no picture, this is a family site.

So I'm striding purposefully along Lambton Quay, minding my own business, head down...

Suddenly I am forced to pause for a moment by the unexpected obstruction of what can best be described as somewhat generous cleavage.

I look up into the eyes of an absurdly young woman & she thrusts a little piece of paper into my hand. Then she & a few others veer off past me.

I peer (without my specs) at the paper & it says:

Midweek Fantasy
Wednesday Costume Nights
Slick Music
Half Price Entry
$5 Drink Specials
Bar tab for the best dressed.

The words "Fantasy" and "Music" jump out at me, and I think: "Do I look like the type of guy who goes to a Midweek Fantasy Party? I don't think so."

Then I get back to the Wellingtonista Towers & look again, with specs, this time the words "Santa Fe Strip Club" jump out. And I resignedly think to myself "OK, I probably do look like the type of guy..."

So anyway, if you're THAT type of guy, or girl, it's tonight. Doesn't say what time, presumably would pay not to turn up too early though. Unfortunately I can't make it myself.

Bronze for SunnyO

Congratulations to The Wellingtonista's Llew (of SunnyO), who's picked up third place in this year's NZ and Australian section of the Weblog Awards.

Tim Blair, the Australian reigning champ, was always going to be tough to top, so it was really a battle between the three chasing kiwi blogs for second place, with Silent Running just keeping a gap between himself and Llew as the finish line drew near.

A strong surge from the Sir Humphrey's crew wasn't enough for them to avoid the ignominy of a non-podium finish, as Llew's large and admiring cohort of readers continued to cast their votes for his own little lifestyle block of cyberspace.

So, congrats to Llew, and also to Silent Running and the Sir Humphrey's team for making it a good kiwi showing this year.

And now, for a competition in which a kiwi blog will have to win, we have the NetGuide Awards...

Links for Monday, 19 December 2005

• Earthquake weather? Wild Land takes a quick look at the relatively tenuous links between hot still days and the increased chance of a decent shake. (And some analysis of that big shake we had last week from the same source, here).
  
• Nearly counting as a force of nature within the Wellington urban environment, the Stagecoach bus company has been causing Jimmy Jangles to gnash his teeth recently.
  
• A Wellingtonista links page wouldn't be complete without us pointing you at WellUrban - here's an oldie but a goodie - I Can See My House From Here Pt. 3 - a look at all the various wi-fi hotspots around Wellington City. (Previous posts in that series are also worth checking out, Satellite Imagery and Aerial Photographs of Wellington, and Topographical and Street Maps of Wellington.
• WellUrban also puts an appearance in on the Capital Times letters page in yet another round of the ongoing waterfront development 'debate'.
  

Links for Thursday, 15 December 2005

• Hot enough for ya? WellUrban has some excellent tips on keeping cool....
• So there's been a 'tip-off' that someone might want to steal the Henry Moore sculpture in the Botanic Gardens. That would be the 1.6 ton, 5m high scuplture that's situated down a long sloping grassy hillside, in full view of hundreds of Thorndon and Kelburn households, and the MetService building (in which forecasters are on duty 24/7). One suspects the 'tip-off' might have come from someone who had drunk one too many Tuis in the sun. Sir Humphrey's have a discussion on what would be the potential art-heist of the century, and the story has been picked up by the International press.
• Flickr photos of yesterday's King Kong Red Carpet event.
• Stephen at Drinks After Work is on the hunt for Wellington's best tatoo parlour. Suggestions here.
  
• And back to WellUrban for Mystery Bar #12.
  

Cast your vote for SunnyO!

There's only a couple of days left in the voting for the Annual Weblog Awards, and Wellingtonista's resident lifestyle block expert - Llew of SunnyO - is currently in Bronze Medal position with a healthy 200 or so votes. This already surpasses the effort of our Publisher-in-Chief - Natalie Biz - who notched up a lacklustre 12th placing in last year's awards, and a solid push over the next 48 hours might get our man up into 2nd place (and make it the top NZ blog in the competition).

Go on then, cast your vote here, and then head back in 24 hours and cast it again.

Red Carpet Webcam

If you can't make it down to the King Kong Red Carpet extravaganza this afternoon, keep in mind that the Courtenay Place traffic webcam has an excellent view of the happenings.

(Note: requires a plug-in, IE seems to auto-install it, Firefox doesn't).

UPDATE: More streaming video options here.

The Dockside Christmas Menu

This particular Wellingtonista was lucky enough to be invited to an associate's Christmas lunch at the Dockside. It'd been a while since we'd been there, and last time it was a wintry evening & we huddled somewhere upstairs.

Yesterday however, was as tropical as it comes & we were delighted to discover that our table was outside on the covered deck, looking over the water towards the Loaded Hog & Shed 5. It was very nice indeed.

We hadn't realised, but we were to be treated to the special Christmas menu. In fact, until that moment, we didn't realise there was a Christmas menu.

A very nice (and quite hot) waitperson asked us if we'd like water & a bottle of wine to start. I said "make it 2 bottles of wine" and that set the tone for the afternoon. We settled on the Grove Mill Chardonnay & Lake Chalice Sauvignon Blanc.

Fresh bread rolls, with olive oil & balsamic dip were supplied.

After a few minutes of perusing the menu, and making smalltalk, we ordered.

I had the Prawn Laksa to start, which was much hotter than any laksa I'd make myself, but it was yummy, and given that I am suffering from a bit of a cold at the moment, it cleared my sinuses nicely for the next few hours. Most of the party chose either the laksa or the Salmon Gravadlax, which also looked very nice.

After entrees, we ordered more wine & explored the world of Secret Santa. I got a Fridge Racer, which is quite neat.

The mains were sizeable & everyone agreed, fantastic. I chose the Angus Beef, which was cooked to perfection, several others had the Groper, and one hearty soul had the pork loin. She only just restrained herself from picking up the bone & gnawing at it. If it had been me I wouldn't have been so polite.

After ordering more wine, our desserts were delivered. I'm not usually a dessert person, and while the dishes were all very generous, no-one felt completely stuffed, so everyone indulged. I can report the Christmas Pud passes muster, and the Fresh Berries looked succulent.

Replete, we settled back to people & waitperson (who I should add, are people too, not just sex objects!) watch, and finish the wine. That sorted, we ordered a round of Strawberry Daiquiries, followed by a bottle of Deutz.

By now, the light was fading & they were clearly gearing up for the dinner crowd. The outdoor heaters were being lit, we watched less fortunate people walking home from work along the waterfront.

We sloped home, too full for dinner, and waited another few hours before we deemed it a decent break from drinking more wine.

I don't know if you have to book, or how they're placed over the next week or so. But the Wellingtonista recommends the Dockside Christmas menu.

Dockside Restaurant and Bar Wellington Waterfront New Zealand

King Kong Premiere Red Carpet Screening looms

Well, the weather forecast doesn't look too flash - "Often cloudy, odd shower. Humid with light winds" - but we suspect that won't stop thousands of people heading down to Courtenay Place tomorrow afternoon (Wed 14 Dec) for the official NZ premiere red carpet screening of King Kong.

A few roads in the vicinity are going to be closed to most traffic from late tonight, 'til early Thursday morning. The affected bits are...

• Courtenay Place (Tory Street to Cambridge Terrace)
• Cambridge Terrace (Tennyson Street to Wakefield Street)
• Kent Terrace (Wakefield Street to Elizabeth Street).

Allen and Blair Streets will remain open to vehicles until 3.00pm Wednesday 14 December after which portions of those streets will close for red carpet preparations.

There will be a single lane on Kent Terrace which will allow for a left-turn on Majoribanks Street from 11.00pm Tuesday 13 December until noon Wednesday 14 December. At noon on Wednesday 14 December, Kent Terrace and Majoribanks Street will be closed to traffic.

(All the above info from the excellent WCC webpage, by the way, where you can find more details about the day if required.)

Apparently the buses are being re-routed and temporary bus-stops being put in place to cater for the changes. Let's go over to the swanky new MetLink website to find out what info they've got on the impact of the event on their services. Oh, nothing. Quelle surprise.

[UPDATE: Actually, this MetLink page turned up via the Search Wellington RSS feed we use to run our news bar on the right hand side of the homepage. All very well if you read that RSS feed, but I can't figure out how to navigate to it from the MetLink homepage. Meh.]

What is this Tunnel for?

Ben over at ben.run is intrigued by the above tunnel, located in the Ngaio gorge valley...

It looks old, however there is a pipe in it that appears to be still connected. If there is a pipe in the tunnel, then it must have another end, rather than just a borough in the hill. So what is it for? When was it built? What is it used for now? And most importantly, where is the other end??

If you've got any ideas, head over to ben.run and leave a comment.

So, how about that Cricket?

So, it's lightly drizzling up here at Wellingtonista Towers at present, which is just a short walk from the Stadium, where today's One Day International (or Oh Dee Eye as they seem to have taken to calling this form of the game on the telly) between the NZ Black Caps and the Australian, er, Baggy Greens is to take place.

The forecast from MetService is for "Becoming fine this morning. Southerlies tend northerly." If someone can tell us exactly what "Southerlies tend northerly" actually means, we'd be most appreciative. Unfortunately the rain radar is down for repairs at present, so there's no way of telling if there's any more rain on the way, but, looking South over the green hills of Kelburn and Karori, it does seem to be lightening up that way, so it seems as if there will be a chance for some play today.

But, boy, it's still humid. Doesn't humidity assist the bowlers? Don't the Australians have Brett Lee? Where's the rain when you need it?

Live ball-by-ball internet coverage from 2pm over at Cricinfo.

UPDATE: Not a cloud in the sky to the South, and just a few clouds hovering around the ranges to the North and East, so should be good for a full game by the looks of it. Hot and humid, lovely.

And MetService have updated their forecast to: "Fine weather. Tending northerly."