In my 9 month absence Dunedin has changed. There are so many empty shops for one thing and the council has installed costly parking meters in the main shopping precinct so you can no longer stop for a leisurely coffee or spot of shopping. I imagine these are linked issues. I asked a waitress at my favorite coffee shop if they have noticed a change and she said it was huge, the shop is on the market and she is moving to Melbourne.
The reason for the meters? The new and expensive Rugby Stadium that is being built to replace the irreplaceable
House of Pain.
The citizens, particularly the senior rate-payers, have been very vocal in their opposition to funding the rugby stadium through rates. I had checked the Otago Daily Times for news about the stadium while I was away but there has been very little online so I thought perhaps people had stopped complaining. During my visit last week I realised that opponents are just as vocal as ever but the ODT has edited out their voices from its online pages.
Opponents had warned they would withhold that part of their rates that was going to pay for the stadium. Last week the council was threatening to send debt collectors after these folk. However did charming Dunedin get a council such as this, one that bullies its citizens into acquiescence?
The Stadium is being built near the university right on the shores of Otago Harbour in an area that would have been a wonderful spot for a suitable shoreline tourist development; the wonderful tree lined Anzac Avenue will be closed to traffic; a uni student told me in 2007 that he and his mates prefer to watch rugby on telly anyway; the local population is divided and aggrieved.
I am very sad that the city could not resolve the issues without dividing the population and alienating the citizens from the central hub of the town. One of my options had been to move back to Dunedin for good ... I love it there despite the cold - a beautiful and unspoilt part of the world where you can hear good music and drink great coffee. However, I became so disenchanted while I was there last week that I have now all but deleted Dunedin from my list of options. It makes you weep.
The sand banks disappear and re-appear with the tide and you can sit around ... 
Merry Christmas everyone and I hope we all have a healthy, happy and hopeful New Year.
Sulphur crested Cockatoos are playful creatures and do all manner of tricks to catch your attention. This group was sitting on a powerline on the NSW Central Coast, waiting to be fed.
When I am in Sydney I am always drawn to the opera house. Drawn to draw the opera house.
Two nine year olds were trying it on their three year old brother and finding that his legs were too short. But they told me it was good ... so I tried it, and they were right.
Last week I hung some of my etchings and paintings at Gino's. The waitress Andrea (pic below), bright faced and twenty years old, tells me she works a 6 day week and is 'always at the cafe'. But it feels like a family and she seems to enjoy it. Gino is friendly and supportive and has a loyal clientele who drop in at all hours. 
There are now three artists with their work on Gino's walls so he could really change the name of the cafe to Gino's Gallery Cafe.
Leaves are starting to turn, 
and bright berries are everywhere. 
Most leaves are still green in Hamburg but the days are noticeably shorter (2 minutes shorter each day) and it wont be long until everything is yellow ... then bare.
Under the railway at Hackischer Markt.
On the river almost opposite Parliament House.
Restaurant in Oranienstrasse.
Gendarmenmarkt Cafe.
In the arty Auguststrasse.
and in the unrenovated part of East Berlin. At this cafe your sausage, potatoes and sauerkraut costs Euro 4.95. Just along the street in the touristy Nicholaikirche area the same sausage costs you Euro 16.95. It pays to get lost in the East sometimes.
