18 May 2012

Insider's Guide

1/02/2012 10:21:00 a.m.

0 Comments

TEACHER and school guidance counsellor Esmee Elias-Tito has been co-coordinating ARTACTION! – the kids’ section of Porirua’s Festival of the Elements - for the past two years. This year the festival is set to be New Zealand’s biggest Waitangi Day event with more than 33,000 visitors expected.
“It is immensely rewarding to plan something on such a big scale and see it come off successfully, enjoyed by the whole community,” says Esmee. We asked for her top tips for the Porirua area…
Best place for breakfast… Kaizen at Pataka Museum. They do a great mixed grill and yummy fruit with yoghurt.
Best place for lunch… Café Vella does a delicious fish with lemon caper sauce.
Best beach… Titahi Bay, of course!  Have hours of fun surfing, making sand castles and scrounging in rock pools.
Favourite place for coffee… A flat white at The Peppermill Deli is our favorite.
Best value meal, approx $25… Curry Village under the canopies is a cosy night out with good service and great curries, just face yourself away from the sports TV!
Best buy for under $50… The kaimoana stall at the Saturday morning market sells scallops, paua and mussels.  At the market there’s also plenty of fruit and produce, music and interesting nic nacs.  
Insider’s tip… Look out for the Pataka Craft Market for handmade treasures, held about four times during the year.
Favourite walk in Porirua… Oh, there’s so many. Colonial Knob for an uphill workout with stunning views, Onepoto/Whitirea loop for a good hour and a half walk with the dog, and behind the Cambourne boatsheds for a leisurely amble with the family.
Fun place to explore… We have water holes at Battle Hill, several beaut’ beaches, great hills to climb, run and mountain bike on, inlets to canoe and paddle in, and the beautiful Mana Island.
Must-buy local gift… My paintings!
Special fact about Porirua… The ‘Welcome to Porirua’ sign coming from Tawa on the moterway contains a wonderful photo of my niece Maggie and her crazy brother Jesse.
Best wet weather activity… Te Rauparaha Arena’s swimming pool and the library.
Something all visitors should know about Porirua… It is one of the friendliest, most welcoming places to live and you don’t have to pay for parking – plus no traffic jams.  It’s a great place to bring up a family.
Top tip for the Festival of the Elements… Get in quick to get a good park and stay for the day. Then just relax and enjoy the entertainment.
Why Waitangi Day is important to me… The Festival of the Elements allows Porirua to show off what it’s got… great people, culture and a warm atmosphere of diversity and inclusiveness.  Waitangi Day links us all together.
Email This Print

0 Comments

Don't worry, we wont make this public

No comments.

Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Briefs

  • A question of nutrition

    Controversial Washington-based nutritionist Sally Fallon-Morell is to speak in Wellington on March 29.
    Fallon-Morell is the co-founder of the American food lobby group the Weston A. Price Foundation and the author of Nourishing Traditions. She advocates for the consumption of nutritionally dense foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, stocks and broths, and whole raw dairy products.
    Fallon-Morell will speak at St Patrick’s College Hall on March 29.

  • Relay for cancer

    Organisers say Sunday’s Relay for Life is full to capacity with hundreds of Wellingtonians registered for the event.
    A total of 88 teams, made up of 10 to 500 members, plan to take part with a further 25 teams on the waiting list.
    The 24 hour relay, the Cancer Society’s biggest fundraising event of the year, takes place at Frank Kitts Park from 4pm on March 31.

  • Osteoarthritis awareness

    Arthritis New Zealand has launched a nationwide campaign raise awareness about osteoarthritis. 
    Arthritis is New Zealand’s leading cause of disability, affecting 305,000 adults, and osteoarthritis is its most common form.
    The campaign features television commercials and an interactive website.


  • Wild walk

    Take part in the Big Walk at Zealandia on March 31.
    Walkers can choose a two, five or 10 kilometre walk catering to all fitness levels.
    Money raised will go to the Foundation for Youth Development.

  • School pool

    The opening of the new Khandallah School pool this week means hundreds of children will be able to continue their swimming lessons.
    The pool was the first to receive a grant from Wellington City Council’s Schools Pools Partnership Fund, a fund set up in 2010 to help schools improve their pool facilities.
    Grants from the fund have also been made for pools at Wellington East Girls’ College, Barhampore School and Tawa School.

  • Easter bikers

    Motorcyclists are invited to get on their bikes and collect Easter eggs for families support from the Wellington City Mission.
    The charity run on April 1 is organised by motorcycle lobby group BONZ.
    Eggs can be donated at Red Baron Motorcylces in Alicetown. The registration fee for bikers is $10, plus the cost of Easter eggs.

  • Crafty

    Made on Marion opens on the site of the former Golding Handicrafts site in Marion St, from April 1.  They will continue to supply craft materials.

  • Ze upgrade

    Taranaki Street fuel users will notice that the Z Energy’s former Shell Service Station is closed.  Z are doing a “total revamp”.
    The job will take four weeks.

  • Newlands Moves

    Developer Ayal Aharoni has agreed to build only 90 instead of 220 houses on his six and a half hectares above Ngauranga Gorge in Newlands.  Only low density occupation will be allowed on the remaining 8.4 hectares.


  • Baring Head

    There's a new  draft plan out for what should happen at Baring Head.  It outlines how the Greater Wellington Regional council would like to manage the newest addition to its regional parks network. Grazing animals will go, motorised vehicles will be prohibited, predators will be controlled, and the lighthouse will be preserved. Submissions are invited.


  • It’s a wonder

    A new childcare centre in Newtown says it is dedicated to helping kids grow up healthy in mind, body and spirit. Little Wonders Childcare on Rintoul Street is an independent early childhood education and learning centre, the sixth centre to be opened by its Auckland-based owner. It caters to 100 children aged between three months and five years old and has been open for a little more than seven weeks.

  • Festival treats

    CHILDREN have not been forgotten by organisers of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.
    For a perfect first theatrical experience White tells the story of friends Cotton and Winkle who live in a world where there is no colour and everything is startlingly white. That is until a brightly coloured egg tumbles out of the sky and changes their world for ever.
    White plays at Capital E from March 7-11.
    The tale of Peter and the World also promises to be a magical night for all ages. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic children’s tale is told through film and live music from the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre on March 9.
    March 11 is Young Writers and Readers Day and readings from children’s writers and illustrators Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop.

Reader's Poll

Should TVNZ7 be saved as non-commercial?