The Mercury 250th Anniversary Trust commissioned the writing of a number of stories representing 18th century Te Whanganui o Hei/Mercury Bay as part of this year’s commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the arrival of Captain James Cook in Mercury Bay in 1769.
From Friday 8 March to Sunday 10 March (this coming weekend), the much-anticipated motorcycle event, “The Gathering,” will be returning to Whitianga.
The Mercury Bay Art Escape’s Tuia 250 Whitianga Street Art Festival is underway in the Whitianga CBD. The festival will continue until Friday this week (8 March).
During the past few weeks, a team of Royal New Zealand Navy hydrographers from HMNZS Matataua, the Navy’s littoral warfare unit, were in Whitianga to undergo a series of training exercises.
A mini-roundabout with a traffic island is to be installed at the intersection of Campbell Street and Albert Street in the Whitianga CBD.
Following the Whitianga town centre upgrade last year, road safety concerns were raised by members of the public about the risks around the layout, sight lines for traffic and traffic not giving way.
"We've listened to these concerns and also had an independent traffic report done, which included collecting traffic numbers and movements at the intersection over the busy summer month," says Andrew Boden, the Thames-Coromandel District Council's project manager for the Whitianga town centre upgrade. "The traffic report highlighted that the majority of traffic flow entering and exiting the town centre is through Campbell Street west.
"The best solution to mitigate any risk is to put in a mini-roundabout, which will provide clear priority control and be easily understood by drivers," says Mr Boden.
A mini-roundabout was not in the design parameters of the original town centre upgrade.
"But we've taken on board public feedback and with input from traffic advisors, will now work at installing the roundabout," says Mr Boden.
The central island roundabout will need to be raised and made of different material to define it while still allowing larger vehicles to over-run it.
"We appreciate everyone's patience in recent months," says Mr Boden.
A detailed design is now being completed with the aim to have the construction finished within the next three months.
The old water tank of the Mercury Bay Dairy factory (the building that is now the Mercury Bay Museum) is home to a substantial collection of historical maps, records, books containing financial transactions and novels - many more than a century old.
A shopping trolley doesn’t look quite complete these days without a couple of bottles of wine added to it. Enjoying a glass or two of one’s favourite wine before, during, or after a meal has become a firmly accepted part of daily life in New Zealand.
Two years ago, Kuaotunu artist Roimata Taimana was ecstatic to be gifted a bag filled with moa bones found on a Coromandel beach by a friend and the friend’s daughter.
It is thought that the moa, endemic to New Zealand, was driven to extinction in 1445.
The Mercury Bay Informer is a highly popular community newspaper, based in Whitianga. The paper is distributed throughout the Coromandel Peninsula, coast to coast from Thames to north of Colville.
