Dannevirke Brothel

Dannevirke, as I have explained, is a town through which the main State Highway 50 passes. This is it:

One of the most imposing buildings in many New Zealand towns is the Public Trust office and above the colonnade of many such buildings are the words 'Public Trust'.

Public Trust is New Zealand's largest trustee organisation. It provides a wide range of legal, financial, investments, trusts, home loans, conveyancing, estate management and estate protection services. Its role is to help people to protect and manage their family interests and assets during their lifetime… and after they are gone.

I'm not sure how many of the original buildings are still Public Trust offices but certainly many of the buildings are still standing. However I think that I can say with a fair degree of confidence that this is almost certainly the only one that is now a brothel.

According to the press the competition for positions at Dannevirke's new brothel has been stiff, with applications coming from far and wide. Promiscuous Girlz madam Teresa McGregor said a month or so ago "The bordello is set to open on Friday - and applications have been streaming in from all over the country. 'Oh man, we have just had heaps of response. It's been much easier than I thought'." Applications had been appearing from "everywhere - everywhere but Dannevirke" she said. "People seem to be quite keen to come here, so I am quite surprised."

Last month, the Manawatu Standard revealed Ms McGregor's planned to open a brothel in the Public Trust building, in the town's main street. Since then, public and national media interest has been high. Opponents within the town have held protest meetings, arranged an 800 signature petition, and argued against the brothel's resource consent. But on July 24 the bordello got the final green light from the Tararua District Council, and since then Ms McGregor has been kept busy hiring staff and ensuring the building is up to code. And not only were staff numbers up, but expectant patrons had been pre-booking in anticipation of the weekend's grand opening.

Ms McGregor said. "I have got a few bookings, so things are looking good. A few's better than none I tell myself, so fingers crossed." She hadn't noticed any ill-feeling or negativity directed towards her lately within the town. "Not that I am aware of, I never was aware of it - I hardly read the newspapers or watch TV. "I have been told the knitting lady [brothel opponent Gillian Allardice] has backed off. She's not going to be knitting outside any more." Ms McGregor denied reports there would be themed rooms in the bordello. "No, they're just rooms."

Dannevirke

At the moment I'm away at a croquet tournament (The Veteran's or Vet's about which I shall blog separately) at Dannevirke (Danish: "Danish creation" or "Danes' work"), which is a rural service town in the Manawatu-Wanganui area of New Zealand about 90 minutes drive South of Napier. The surrounding area has developed into dairy and sheep farming, which now provides the major income for the town's population of 6,000.

The town was founded on 15 October 1872 by Danish, Norwegian and Swedish settlers, who arrived at the port of Napier and moved inland. The settlers, who arrived under the Public Works Act, built their initial settlement in a clearing of the Seventy Mile Bush. The Dannevirke for which the town was named is an extensive Viking-age fortification line which had a strong emotive symbolic role for 19th Century Danes, especially after the site had fallen into German hands in the German-Danish War of 1864 - a recent and very painful event for these settlers.

The settlement quickly earned the nickname of "sleeper town", as the town's purpose was to provide totara sleepers for the Napier - Wellington railway line. At one stage the area had 50 operating sawmills. After the native bush was cleared, the land was turned into pasture for grazing animals. (Information from Wikepedia - is there anything Wikepedia doesn't tell you?)

It is on the main State Highway 50 South from Hawkes Bay to Wellington and is usually just somewhere one pase through and perhaps has coffee and a comfort stop. It has always seemed very run down to me with half the main street (the SH 50) being taken up with second-hand shops. At the moment there are lots of public works being undertaken to spruce it up.

The Motel in Dannevirke where we are staying. Appropriately named the Viking Motel it was, until fairly recently, the only motel in the town.

Yet another example of wall art.

A modern use for an older building

The Bank of New Zealand branch in Dannevirke

The old Court House, now a museum

The café where Steve and I eventually found a coffee when we toured New Zealand a few years ago

Bizarre or what?

Formerly a hotel now a café

Guess what Danevirke is known for?

The Town Hall and a splendid modern set of electronically controlled toilets. As this is set on the A50 main trunk route they are very popular indeed. I still have some difficulty trusting them though.

The Sunken Garden

In between Marine Parade and the sea in the centre of Napier is situated The Sunken Garden. I blogged about the rock wall in the garden in my last blog. It is always a blaze of colour and full of interesting features. I will do another posting about it soon.

The Countryside Is Noisy

The weather has been very hot so a few nights ago I decided to sleep with my bedroom door with it's newly fitted flyscreen in place open onto the deck. The Cottage is built to modern standards of insulation and, very unusually for New Zealand, it has double glazing throughout as well. So as a general rule I can hear very little at night. I don't sleep with windows open either as a rule because of the many and varied flying creatures which, though harmless, are nevertheless unpleasant as bedfellows.

For the first time the sounds of the night, from which my insulated environment shield me, became loud and real. The call of the Morepork (so called because of its call of the same sound) which roosts in a nearby tree and, like many owls, is not faint-hearted in its announcements to the world; the crickets which surround (and occupy) The Cottage; the wind which rustles the huge trees nearby; the Pukeko screeching in the orchard below (and that really can make your blood curdle); the birds singing their hearts out at 0400; the rustling and snorting of the hedgehogs and possums and countless other creatures of the night all conspired to make constant sleep hard. And once I was awake I could hear the oddly verbose fridge and the excessively loud tick of the kitchen clock. So the perfect sleep to which I am accustomed eluded me.

Last night the door remained closed as it will again tonight. I think it will have to be exceptionally hot before I next bask in the closeness to nature which robs me of my slumbers.

Dance Express

Catriona and Fraser go to hip hop dancing at the dance studio featured in the last posting (Wall Paintings). Until now I, like Wendy when they said that's what they wanted to do, have rather dismissed hip hop. I suppose because of its association with the New York of the 1970s and the rap movement hip hop had negative connotations in my mind. Having seen the recital on Sunday my view has completely changed. And with it, as a result of a little bit of research to satisfy my curiosity, my sub-conscious prejudices.

Hip hop is far more multi-faceted and complex than the dancing we saw and yet that which we saw was exciting and, on the whole, more entertaining than the other dancing that day.

The Recital (an annual event to case show the efforts of the school and its pupils) comprised 35 dance routines performed by somewhere over a hundred participants - mostly young children - but ranging from about 5 to 35. The organisation alone was very impressive.

Wall Paintings

There are quite a few wall paintings around Napier and Hastings and I showed some in my Blog last visit. Here are two from a liquor store and the dance studio where Fraser and Catriona learn. In New Zealand spirits can olnly be purchased in liquor stores (or public houses and hotels for consumption on the premises) although wine is sold in supermarkets, shops, liquor stores and wineries.

Flowers

One of the things that strikes visitors to Napier is the flowers. There are flowers everywhere around the City centre. These are in the gardens on Marine Parade. I don't know what they are and I don't have a book of New Zealand Flowers although these may not necessarily be indigenous anyway.

Recipe For A Melted Heart

Ingredients:

1 honorary Uncle Graham
1 seven year old Catriona

Look at hon Uncle and say "When you were away I really missed you".

Don't Lose Your Passengers

I am told that when the cruise liner Volendam (Roterdam) was berthed in Napier a few days ago one of the passengers was so naxious to get a photograph of all the old cars paraded for them on the pier that he took one step too far back and fell 15 feet (or was it metres) into the harbour. Fortunately he was rescued very quickly and suffered no ill effects. I'm not sure about the camera! This is one for Kate to take not of.

You Know You've Arrived

when you start getting unsolicited junk mail.  How did that happen?