Garage Sale Saturday...

It's Saturday... I'm parked in the Whangarei Town Basin.
I've been having a clean out, in my bus
and in my storage facility...

So what better thing to do with the stuff I don't want
than have a garage sale...

So it's all outside in the sun... The sign is displayed...
And I have met lots of people.

I'm selling stuff... And chatting... It's a great day

Whangarei... Parked In The Town Basin

Since leaving Christchurch and returning to Northland I spent a
few days with my friends in Russell then came to Whangarei.
I am parked in the Town Basin... A developing and trendy area
on the Hatea River which as it flows east goes out to sea
at the Whangarei Heads. It's a place where a lot of yachts
moor to replenish, take shelter from the weather
or to spend some time before they move to to their
next destination when the weather is favourable



Since I was last here the local council has been busy
cutting down the Mangroves and cleaning up the river.
It's looking wonderful and opens up the river a lot.
This is where I am parked... At the end of a big council
car park that is very friendly to buses and motor homes
parking for a few days

This is now the view from my bus windows...
Looking west towards the city...

And looking east... Into the sunrise.

It was a perfect clear early morning...
Chilly but the sun is just emerging. It was damp
and still. I went for a walk with my camera...

There is a new pathway round the river... Not very far so
I hope there are plans for extending it.

This is a new bridge that has recently been completed...
Now the 2nd bridge across the Hatea River. It's built to
look like a Waka... Maori canoe

Further round is an industrial area...
The reflections are amazing...

And there is nobody else around

To disturb the peacefulness

Towards the end of the path are these stone creations...

The stone waka symbolises the culture of Aotearoa (Land of the Long
White Cloud - New Zealand). The wave symbolises the way
that culture has been engulfed by waves of settlement and
colonisation. Even so the waka remains intact and the
way its prow emerges from the waves shows how our culture
has survived the waves of change....
All according to an information board nearby.

On my way back...

This newly developed reserve area is a very popular place
especially at weekends

There's my bus... Breakfast next...

As I enjoy this wonderful morning.

Sales And Shopping... It's Such A Temptaion

When I'm in 'Christchurch with such easy access
to the shops and malls, it's so easy to find
lovely things that I don't really need.
Ballantynes was having their fabulous annual sale...
So we joined the hordes of bargain hunters.
I found this lovely little bag...
It's an 'Olga Berg' made in Australia
I think green is my new 'In' colour.
It just fits my glasses, wallet, phone and lippy

Another day I went to a small shopping centre...
The supermarket was my destination. But on the way
I was attracted into a shop bursting with
fashions, some winter sales... Other
new seasons. I wandered in for a look and instantly
saw this 'Loobies Story' jacket. Just what I didn't need, but I had to have it.
It looks stunning, people stop me in the street...
I already have a buyer when I get tired of it and
want to sell it!



I didn't know either of these labels but it was
great to find something different.
Just as well I'm back in the north away from the
shops. Other 'bus' things to spend my money on now.

More Marimekko...

While I was in 'Bolt of Cloth' looking at fabrics, cushions and
china I found this little Marimekko bag. I adore the colour and decided
it could be my new make up bag. So!

I keep my make up bits and pieces in a basket in my wardrobe.
Each day I take it out and choose what I am going to use today...
What colour eye liner and shadow and lipstick...
Other things are mostly the same every day

So... Here is todays selection...
And just for the girls who want to know...
Living Nature Moisturiser/Foundation, Dawn Light...
And lip pencil, Morning  Sun...
Mac eye pencil, Permaplum... A very cheap 'Mode' black mascara...
Mac eyebrow pencil, Lingering... Mac eye shadow, Shale...
Two lipsticks the I use together, Mode, Dark Orchid and
Living Nature, Flame.
So that's me today... For better or worse...
 

Into my gorgeous little bag it goes...

And sits on the end of my tiny dressing table.
In case you want to know what the other bottles and
bits and pieces are... I use organic skin care/cleansers/shampoo
 from Viola Organics...
Made in Whangarei in New Zealand...
And most, not all, some is Mac, of my make-up is from
Living Nature... Made in Kerikeri in New Zealand.
The biggest bottle is Aesop... Body Balm.
It was given to me for my birthday when I was in Sydney.
It's wonderful stuff... But the price!
I'll go back to making my own.

I've Discovered Marimekko...

While I was in Christchurch I went with my
friend who makes the teddy bears you have seen on my blog
and who also creates and makes beautiful patchwork...
To 'Bolt of Cloth'.  It's a beautiful shop that has re-opened in
'The Colombo' after loosing their previous premises in the earthquakes.
 They stock Marimekko...
I had never heard of it but now I've fallen in love.



Marimekko is a Finnish textile and clothing design house
renown for its original prints and colours.
They produce their designs on fabric, tableware, bags
clothing... Do have a look at both the links...
I'm sure you will love them
And if you are in Christchurch visit 'The Colombo'
apart from this marvellous shop there is excellent
coffee and food.

I was tempted and bought a cushion cover...
A mug and two little plates.
It was a very hard decision and took several visits to
'Bolt of Cloth' as everything is outstanding.
I finally decided on this one... It's called 'Kompotti'

Here it is in my bus...

It's so bright and lovely

Looks good on my couch and in the kitchen.
I already had the yellow cushion and the red kettle

So breakfast and coffee time...

Or tea time... I'm loving it.
I also bought this candle at the same shop.
It's Lumino the perfume Jasmine. It's New Zealand
made so you would find them lots of places.
I burn it day and night, it's divine.

Shigaru Ban... More Amazing Cardboard Structures

I was so impressed by the Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral,
how it was built and Shigaru Ban the architect who designed it
that I had to have a closer look at him and his work



Born in 1957 in Toyko Japan he studied at the Southern California
Institute of Architecture then Cooper Union's School of Architecture
where he studied under John Hejduk who was part of the New York Five.
From Hedjuk Ban gained an interest in 'architectronic poetics' or the
creation of three dimensional poetry.



Ban continued to explore basic geometric
elements which led him into creating unique structural solutions


Home for Shigaru Ban is inside an airplane. He has an apartment in
Paris where he spends two weeks each month and one,
that he designed, almost in the
middle of Tokyo inside a small forest so it's like a tree house! 
When he travels he takes a sketchbook and a novel to read...
The most useful product invented?.. Of course it's a pencil

Drawing of City Art and Cultural Center...
Odawara, Kanagawa, 2013


In a talk Ban gave at TEDxTokyo... Ban said he was disappointed
in his profession... Architecture has lost its way... 'We are working
for privileged people, for rich people, for governments and
developers. They have money and power, and those are
invisible, so they hire us to visualize their power and money by
making monuments of architecture.'


 Haesley Nine Bridges Golf Clubhouse...
Korea, 2010... and below



Ban instead has committed
himself to creating buildings that can truly be useful - whether
or not they're permanent fixtures on the horizon.

Apol Office Building, Jakata, Indonesia...
Building in progress


Primarily a Japanese architect he is also a forerunner who embraces
Western and Eastern building forms and most influential from Hejduk
the structure of architectural systems.
He is now most famous for his work with
paper and cardboard tubing as materials for building construction
which he is attracted to because it is low-cost, recyclable, low-tech
and replaceable. Ban is also influenced by humanitarianism, ecological
architecture and sustainability.



Paper and cardboard produce very little waste... His
DIY refugee shelters used in Japan after the Kobe earthquake,
in Turkey and Rwanda are very popular and effective low-cost disaster
relief housing. Ban is an 'Ecological Architect' but can also make
solid claims for being a modernist, a Japanese experimentalist
as well as a rationalist. 


Claude Bernard Footbridge, Paris 2012


He likes transparency, the spherical and the open.


 Odawara, Kanagawa City Art and Cultural Centre 2013


He sums up his philosophy and practice known as
'Paper Architecture' by saying "I don't like waste."


Camper Travelling Pavillion...
Transported with the Volvo Ocean Race 2011...
And photo below


Ban's experimental development of paper tubing structures
began in 1986. He found its structural integrity to be much better
than expected and also available all round the world, most commonly
from manufacturers providing paper tubes for textile factories.



During disaster relief reconstruction the availability and cost of materials
is a major concern. Not so with paper, not being a typical building material...
As he demonstrated in Turkey

NEW ORLEANS
 




AND RWANDA...




More than two million people became homeless
when war broke out in Rwanda
in 1994. The United Nations provided aluminum poles which the
Rwanda's immediately sold... And plastic sheeting.
Trees were then cut down for poles which caused de-forestation.
Ban's low-cast cardboard tubing was introduced... Tested...
And continues to be used

In 1994 in earthquake devastated Kobe, Japan...

 


Ban designed temporary shelters made
from paper tubing the roof of  waterproof tenting material and
foundations from donated beer crates filed with sandbags.
Community participation made these structures very cheap.


India...Rubble from destroyed buildings was used for the foundations...
Then coated with mud. Beer crates were not available.
The roof... Split bamboo covered with woven cane mats
then plastic sheeting... Most materials re-cycled and 'at hand' sustainable.

Ban's ideology is minimalistic. He uses current
technologies such as waterproofing films, polyurethane and acrylic
paints to improve existing paper materials.



The 'Paper Dome' in 1998 had to pass rigorous construction
codes... Paper tube joists were connected by laminated timber joints
themselves expensive but coupled with paper tubing...
An inexpensive comprehensive budget
 

The Japanese Pavilion constructed in Hanover, Germany for
Expo 2000 again used paper tubing, waterproofed inside and out
by a coating of polyurethane satisfying extreme weather
conditions and fire protection tests.



The paper tubes are hard to burn because of their high density.
This building was also totally recyclable...
Satisfying Ban's environmentally aware theme.


Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral... Cardboard tubing...

I have enjoyed a fascinating time researching this post.
I think Ban is an amazing architect...
I hope  you enjoy him.