World Famous in New Zealand: Whangārei s Town Basin is a delightful little village stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
WHY GO? Because there’s plenty more to see here besides the native creatures. Upstairs is Whangārei Museum, where well-presented displays tell the story of the area, from 2000 year-old moa skeletons, through Māori artefacts to early settler exhibits. Outside, scattered around the 25 hectare grounds, is a picturesque selection of buildings, including a tiny octagonal chapel made from a single kauri log, and an even tinier hexagonal hut used by novelist Jane Mander as her study. There’s a school house, a smithy, a women’s jail and a railway station beside tracks still in use by one of several heritage enthusiast clubs located in the park. These also include amateur radio, steam and model railway groups, a medical museum and rockhounds, and they open to the public on special days.
Credit Victory Hall Opera
On July 24th, a French horn will solo in the Quarry Gardens of Schuyler. Also on the program, an accordion, percussion and two singers from the Metropolitan Opera who are known for their ability to project.
“We do not like to use microphones in our work,” says Brenda Patterson, co-founder of Charlottesville’s Victory Hall Opera. During the pandemic the company was confined to performances online, but now it returns with a live, outdoor show using the quarry’s rock walls to naturally amplify sound.
“We believe that the power of the live operatic voice, just acoustically produced from the singer’s body, is actually the point of opera,” Patterson explains.
Northland Emergency Services Trust (NEST) responded to 1115 callouts last year – its busiest ever. There have been 300 flights to date this year. “What are the future plans to deal with the increasing level of disturbance,” Allan Kerrisk, former New Zealand Fire Service operations manager for Northland and area commander for the Far North Kensington resident living about 750 metres from the base, said. The move will mean an up to about $8 million new location rebuild – that Northlanders could be asked to pay towards – for what’s the only rescue helicopter base north of Auckland. It comes amidst a shortage of suitable sites and increasingly vocal public demanding the set up of any new facility goes through a publicly-notified resource consent process where they get to have their say.
Northland rescue helicopter base to move after noise annoys neighbours
4 Apr, 2021 02:20 AM
6 minutes to read
Another emergency rescue helicopter flight prepares for takeoff at its Kensington base. Photo / Tania Whyte
Susan Botting is the Local Democracy Reporter for Northlandsusan.botting@northernadvocate.co.nz
Northland s emergency rescue helicopter base in Whangārei is being forced to move after growing noise complaints from neighbours. It s unbearable, a helicopter operation of this nature here in Kensington shouldn t be operating in a residential area, Roger de Bray, former Top Energy chief executive who now lives 100m from the Kensington helicopter base, said.
Whangārei mayor Sheryl Mai said she was aware of increasing noise complaints about the helicopter operation, which would be moving out of the site as a result.