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Otago Daily Times
18 hours ago
- Climate
- Otago Daily Times
Bringing light to darkest nights
A glowing dragon exhales a smoke cloud over visitors eagerly waiting to be let into the Dunedin Midwinter Carnival at First Church last night. PHOTOS: GERARD O'BRIEN A fire-breathing dragon, a playful moa and giant butterflies were just some of the glowing creatures on display at the Dunedin Midwinter Carnival last night. Carnival event manager Xanthe Naylor said the festival was expecting about 4000 people yesterday evening and another 4000 people tonight at First Church despite the poor weather. "I think Dunedin can battle a little drizzle, we're pretty used to it." Miguel Weaver in a moa costume plays with Lucas Pearce, 4, while his mother Lauren watches. The festival was held in middle of winter to "bring light into the darkest time of the year". "It's cold and wet and raining and you just need something to go out and inspire you. "It brings the community together and brings warmth and magic into the centre of the city." The event included lots of roaming performers and glowing displays of mystical creatures handmade by local artists. First Church transformed into the "fluttering meadows" as visitors watch a performance. The lanterns were designed to withstand the rain. The crowd could either huddle around a brazier or walk through the church where there were performances at the altar and a butterfly house display called the "fluttering meadows". Dunedin resident Lauren Pearce brought her son Lucas to the carnival and said it was very exciting. It was her family's first time at the event and they were looking forward to exploring all of the displays and trying some of the food on offer.
Otago Daily Times
19 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Applause as direct transtasman flight takes off
The motley crew assembled in the departure lounge are the usual suspects of any airport. A man buried in his book of crosswords, a boy with Spider-Man headphones pressed up against the window, a woman with a pre-emptive fake tan. Holiday-goers, opportunists, children dragged along for the ride — the usual impatience is in the air. But as bums fill seats in the terminal, anticipation begins to swell. John Denver's Leaving, On a Jet Plane and other air travel balladry set the tone. Suit trousers wait next to sweatpants. Two women sip bubbles from wine glasses, one swinging her leg back and forth. Others are in less of a celebratory mood — one passenger slumps cross-armed in her seat, eyes shut tight and mouth agape in a snore. Two aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicles creating a water arch — an aviation tradition — draws eyes away from the smartphones and towards the terminal windows. Gazing out the window at the tarmac in a Jetstar-branded cap is retired Dunedin school teacher Peter Humphrey. "I didn't realise until today it was actually the first flight," he tells me. "I'd bought my tickets months ago. I had no idea." He only gets across the Ditch, where he has family, about every seven or eight years and is grateful the route has returned. "It'll mean that if I win the lottery I can go over much more... it's a connection to my family which is very, very important." The inaugural flight is but one first for Ben Calder and Ruby Walton. It is their first big trip together as a couple. "Originally we were just going to do a road trip across New Zealand, but then we saw that it was cheap as to go to Gold Coast, and we were like why not?," Ben says. As the call for boarding is made, a passenger wearing a beanie with a pom-pom seems to have not cottoned-on to the weather awaiting her on the other side. A bloke in shorts has the right idea — or perhaps that is just the southern man's regular winter attire. Sitting towards the front of the packed aircraft is Dunedin teenager Benjamin Paterson, who is congratulated by the captain over the intercom for his 25,000-signature petition to get international flights back. Those aboard this first international voyage applaud the teen's efforts. One wait is over, and another begins. "Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight."
Otago Daily Times
20 hours ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Council gives nod to gambling application
A new Queenstown gambling application has been approved by councillors despite a recommendation to turn it down in order to minimise harm. Aotearoa Gaming Trust Incorporated submitted an application over a month ago to run up to nine gaming machines and establish a TAB venue as part of an existing tavern in Ballarat St. The application was presented to the council on Thursday, prompting a discussion among councillors as to whether it should be turned down to reduce gambling sites in the city and minimise their negative impacts. The report presented to the council during its monthly meeting recommended that consent be declined. One of the main reasons for this recommendation was due to a district-wide policy dictating that gambling venues cannot be within 50m of each other. The policy was reviewed last year under the Gambling Act by the council which had put in place the 50m rule as a way to reduce the harm of gambling. However, it was not made clear in the policy if the 50m would be measured from the edge of the licensing area or from the store front. As part of its application, the gaming trust indicated the distance between the tavern and the SkyCity Casino is about 56m. The report presented to the council chose to measure the distance from door to door, which was about 48m. The argument made to the council was that the issue of distance was enough grounds to decline the application and in doing so, support harm minimisation. Councillor Niki Gladding defended the decision to approve the consent. She said distance alone was not enough to decline the application and left room for the applicant to challenge the council's decision through a judicial review, a process that would come at a cost to the rate payers. "I'm not a fan of gambling. It's just simply that we have to be fair," she said. "If we've got a policy and people are operating within the policy, then we can't decline this because we don't like gambling." Melissa White was one of three councillors to vote in favour of declining the consent as she hoped to uphold the intentions of the policy to reduce gambling sites. "I know that the intent of the policy was not to increase the amount of gambling, and it was to limit it," she said. ". . . it comes down to the policy not being clear how that 50m is defined. I chose to define it as in a radius from the current one, and others chose not to." With only three votes against granting the consent, the application will go through to the next stage of the consenting process.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Police accused of racial profiling over machete stop
A gardener is handcuffed after he was spotted carrying a machete in Opoho on Wednesday. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON A gardener handcuffed for carrying a machete in a leafy Dunedin suburb was a victim of racial profiling, the woman who hired him believes. On Wednesday, a Colombian refugee went to a woman's home in Windsor St, Opoho, to do some yard work, the woman told the Otago Daily Times. He was carrying a machete half covered in his bag as it did not fit, which prompted a member of the public to report the man to police. "He doesn't speak English. He's been here seven months so there are many things he doesn't know about the local culture," the woman, who is also Colombian, said. Machetes were one of the most common gardening tools in Latin America, the woman said. The man was scared, did not know what was going on and was unable to explain why he had the machete to police. Police choosing to come and ask her to translate for the man made all the difference. "It was solved just because we could talk — I could talk to him and I could talk to police. If there was nobody to translate, he would have been taken to jail." The man now had a larger bag that completely covered the machete from view. The woman said she did not believe police would have been called if it had been a well-dressed "white" person carrying a machete in a bag. "He's obviously not wealthy, he was trying to make a buck, he's dark-skinned and he's got curls, and he was dressed as a working person — there's a bias." Acting Sergeant Matt Nichols said police yesterday received a report from a member of the public about a man in Opoho Rd "carrying a machete". Police located the man — who spoke limited English — in Windsor St, found the machete along with other tools and handcuffed him. When speaking to the man, it was found he was a gardener and the machete was part of his gardening tools. He was carrying it in the open as it did not fit in his toolbox, Acting Sgt Nichols said. Once everything was cleared up, he was released and given prevention advice. "[It] looks bad, but you've got to take it to context that when we see a guy with a machete, we're always going to put him in handcuffs before we talk to him about what's going on," Acting Sgt Nichols said.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Climate
- Otago Daily Times
Rain cannot ‘dampen' festival enthusiasm
Dunedin Midwinter Carnival installation assistant Adele Cleverley takes a five-minute break as lanterns are installed at First Church in Moray Pl for today and tomorrow's carnival. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY The Dunedin Midwinter Carnival will not let the forecast wet weather "dampen" an amazing event this weekend. Today and tomorrow, First Church is set to be transformed into a glowing display of everything fantastical and winged as the Dunedin Midwinter Carnival returns. However, this weekend, a deluge of rain is forecast to hit Dunedin. There was a possibility for warning amounts of rain to accumulate in Dunedin and north Otago tomorrow. Carnival marketing manager Jess Covell said it was not going to let a little rain "dampen what [was] going to be an amazing couple of evenings". "It is still forging ahead as far as I'm aware — but it won't be the first time that it's rained, and I'm sure it won't be the last time." The first time the carnival moved to First Church, it had rained, and it just meant some displays had needed to be moved indoors or canned, but the night was just as good as always, she said. The theme of the festival this year is Wings of Wonder, which would feature New Zealand native birds, mythical creatures that soared through the sky and small critters such as the classic butterfly. "There's an incredible dragon that's been made to breathe smoke; that has taken hundreds of hours of time to do." This year, the carnival collaborated with third-year design students from the Otago Polytechnic who had created a series of exciting interactive installations. One of the installations was made to align with the Puaka Matariki Festival. People would be able to write their wishes for the new year upon a star they had hand-made, and then to post it to the corresponding Matariki star that it related to. "[The students have] done a really incredible job, and it was such a joy to work with them ... I think they got a lot out of it as well."
