Happy New Year – 2012 is going to be an amazing year, full of positive things for Marlborough. How do I know? Well because just about everyone I meet here has some fantastic talent, inspirational vision or creative venture, and loves the place they live in, so it can only be good, hey.

So with that in mind, it brings me great pleasure to let you know about a seminar tomorrow evening, Friday 13th January 2012 7-8pm.

The awesome Dolphin Watch & Nature Tours team (some of the cool folk mentioned above) are presenting a seminar on native Falcons with guest speakers from the Marlborough Conservation Trust at their office on the corners of Wellington Street and London Quay.

It will be an informative talk and slideshow about these stunningly beautiful birds and how we can preserve them for the future. There will be a donation entry with all proceeds going directly to the Marlborough Conservation Trust. www.nzfalcons.org.

Bring a friend or four and make an evening of it, I am certain, it will be worth while…. I hope to keep you all in the loop about future seminars too, and in the meantime, if you are a facebook follower, like the Dolphin Watch page and you will have your finger on the pulse of Picton wildlife happenings.

Any questions re the event, please phone 0800 WILDLIFE or 03 573 8040

K – have a good night,

Tika

This stunning image is by photographer Andy Trowbridge, who I hope won’t mind if I borrow it until I find a local image for the cause of preserving these birds. Any volunteers for an alternate? Will at ? Driftwoodecotours?

It was perfect weather, sunshine with a warm breeze for the most of the walk, and only raining slightly as we dropped down to The Portage Resort Hotel, where we dined at the Retro Bar, indulged in the spa and spent a very pleasant comfortable night in the Kowhai Rooms. Many thanks once again, Alison & staff at The Portage Resort Hotel. We had our rucksack ferried to Portage by Cougar Line to save our backs, and enjoyed their boat ride home  to Picton in the morning, ready for work, refreshed.

Check out other Queen Charlotte Track options with Marlborough Sounds Adventure Company, their office is just down by the foreshore.  Enjoy!

Tika

I will see you again here in 2011 to bring you the best of Picton and the Marlborough Sounds.

In the meantime have fun and take care,

Tika

We are back to the delights of Picton after our awesome roadtrip. Good to be home though and the new foreshore development is looking great with fewer fences and getting nearer to completion, it’ll be great to walk through from home to Le Cafe along the new funky wooden pathways through new trees.

So Thursday night 21st October 2010 starting at 7pm for $15 a musical marathon is on offer at Le Cafe, so come on down and enjoy. Boogie and Blues, Alt Country and Mojo Mama-Bullfrog Rata-Laura Collins-Beyondsemble will be playing. Book a table on 03 573 5588 and make sure you are close to the action.

Another night for your diaries on the 27th October Extreme Entertainment from Australia Coolgrass the fun way! $10 on the door.

Check out more events on our events page

Okay the courgette plants are crying out to be transplanted and the soup needs stirring……..

See you there…

Tika

Just to  let you know that you can hear your 8 candidates and 2 Mayoral Candidates speak (5 minutes each) at Picton Primary School

Tuesday  14th September 2010 7.30-9.30pm

For further information, please contact either

Hilary Colquhoun 03 573 6157 hjcpicton@yahoo.co.nz

or Chris Davies 03 573 8131 chrisdavies92003@yahoo.com.au

Looking forward to seeing you there,

Tika

Just wanted to bring your attention to NZTradeNetwork, an online marketing site for small businesses. If you are a small business or someone wanting to find a company to do a job for you, this is the site for you.

Check out the Marlborough Express article today 19th August 2010:

Playing field levelled

Network brings buying power to small businesses

By Michael Berry – The Marlborough Express

“It’s hard out there for the little guy, so it’s time for small businesses to unite and save rather than divide and fall, says a Blenheim entrepreneur.

James Hedley launched NZtradenetwork.co.nz last week to create a network for small businesses to band together for the good of them all.

It was free to join and had about 300 members already, he said.

“It’s growing fast and it’s something that’s been needed in New Zealand for a long time.”

Running a small asphalt driveway company in Blenheim showed him first-hand how difficult it was for small businesses to be competitive and profitable in the face of large nationalised companies, he said.

That struggle sowed the idea in his mind of levelling the playing field.

“There are expenses that most businesses have in common … we negotiate deals with suppliers fortified by our collective strength, then we hand those deals down to the individual businesses giving them huge buying power that no one business could ever achieve.”

A group of small businesses could get the good insurance premiums, the cheaper pricing for materials and other benefits usually the domain of large businesses, he said.

And the larger the network’s membership, the more bargaining power.

click to enlarge for article

“Our main aim is to provide all the advantages to small businesses that big businesses have … buying power, marketing exposure, support, opportunity and networking.”

The network would also be a forum for more business, with members able to support other people in a similar position and post requests for products and services, he said. Members could then bid on doing the job. “As a small guy, you can be the best in your field, but if people don’t know you exist it doesn’t matter.”

Any Kiwi-owned business with a turnover less than $30 million could join the network, he said.

The website would make money from advertising once enough traffic went through it, he said.”

There was also an article in The Sun yesterday

So if you are a small business or a customer, join up! Keep abreast of the latest with NZTradeNetwork Facebook. Of course if you are in Picton or the Marlborough Sounds you should also be on here Picton Marlborough Directory, Picton Juice.

If you are thinking of a new roof in either asphalt or shingle shakes, Marlborough Shingle and Shake Roofing Ltd is the company for you.

Owner Tim Newsham is the only Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau Certified Installer of cedar roofing products in New Zealand, and he enjoys and encourages working with the owners and architects right from the concept plans. This gives the owners all the options to achieve the look they want and it can save significant time and costs by getting the drawings and consent applications correct the first time.

For all house building projects, it makes financial and practical sense to do it right the first time. Therefore, all the team at Marlborough Shingle and Shake Roofing Ltd are required to address every detail of the entire roof system to ensure absolute water tightness for the entire length of the roofing product.

Whether it be a roof penetration like a chimney, or a gutter detail, they go to extreme lengths to ensure that there will never be a chance of leaks.

Marlborough Shingle and Shake Roofing will also issue you with a Producer Statement guaranteeing its workmanship and have developed systems to ensure perfection of application, and our fine finishing detail ensures the best possible look for the materials.

Just a quick post to bring this to your attention, as I just had an email from Picton Resource and thought it was something that people might like to be involved in.

Department of Conservation is looking for volunteers to participate in the restoration of the theatre at Perano Whaling Station along with external framing and metal work.  There will be a hard core team of builders and space for up to 3 volunteers per week.  Work starts form September 13^th and runs for approx 10 weeks

Travel, food and accommodation are supplied all you need to supply is a “can do attitude”  be reasonably fit and own a set of steel capped boots, sound like you follow it up with a phone call to Mark Nelson the programme manager at DoC  5200 3002.

Lend a hand make a big job a lot lighter for all and be proud to assist in preserving Marlborough’s history.

Ok…next blog will be Marlborough Shingle and Shake Roofing

Cruises leave from Picton Town Wharf for Ship’s Cove at 10.15am on Monday’s for the two night Backpackers Cruise.This cruise is available from 4 October 2010.

The vessel M.V. Flightless is an ex Navy Inshore Patrol boat, originally named Moa, which has been converted for your enjoyment.

Alternatively you can charter the entire vessel for a bare boat day rate private boat charter with skipper and one crew member provided or a tailored exclusive boat charter cruise. Catered or non catered, it’s up to you.

Just contact Backpackers Afloat – Picton Charters for more details.

In addition they will be offering Rugby World Cup cruising & accommodation options for central city Viaduct Harbour Auckland so book with them quickly and secure your holiday accommodation now.

Okay I’d best away and do some work… I might have to make do with a walk to Bob’s Bay to get my Marlborough Sounds hit for the day……bon voyage….tika

Sit back and relax on the Sounds Delivery Cruise, enjoy 80km of beautiful coast line in 3 hours, seeing coves and hidden bays, not seen from the Interisland ferries, whilst Cougarline deliver walkers to the Queen Charlotte Track and freight and fresh supplies to the remote homes and resorts along the Queen Charlotte Sound. Enjoy the skippers commentary on the natural environment and local history.

For more details and information please contact the Cougar Line office:
enquiries@cougarlinecruises.co.nz
+64 3 573 7925 (NZ free calling 0800 50 40 90)

Book now

Thank you for their watertaxi sponsorship of Indigo, Grace and Cloe on their fundraising run on 10th April 2010 for African kids with HIV.

See Mission Facebook

See previous blogpost on this event