Welcome to Auckland’s original ‘Municipal Destructor’. Everyone, like me, know it as Victoria Park Market – a super popular open air market through the 80's to 2000's – a great place to buy your crystals and tie-dies etc! I've always known that it was originally the city rubbish dump – when the city was waaaay smaller). There is more to the story, of course. It was originally created in reaction to a bubonic plague scare in Sydney. For sanitary reasons it was built to burn Auckland’s rubbish and waste while using the heat generated to provide electricity to power the city. Sounds pretty clever eh, and I guess we were plague free. However, we must have been breathing some seriously toxic smoke fumes! That 38 metre tall chimney must have helped a little but don't forget all the horse manure and night carts, they were definitely smellier times. The municipal destructor is now a gentrified place that's home to restaurants and businesses, like the superb Milenta restau...
Sometimes drawing is a great stress relief. I had just come out of a meeting and was feeling the pressure of all the looming deadlines, so decided to get the little sketchbook out instead of heading straight back to the office.
I sketched what must be Auckland's steepest street, Liverpool Street, just off the main Queen Street. I've cycled up and down here on the bike many times over the years and believe me it is very exhilarating! (coming up is not much fun though).
I'd like to try to sketch (and ride) the steepest street in the world sometime, Baldwin Street, Dunedin in the South Island with a gradient of 35%, I suspect the granny gear would be needed, take a look at this...
(image credit: Bjarte Sorensen/Wikipedia)
Comments
Love your Auckland sketches. Im going to New Zealand this april, on a working holiday permit. Hope to portrait New Zealand as well as you do =)
Thanks for share it!