Ah, if this was Summer, what a welcome sight this sign would be. Beach Access! The way to the beach! Quick, get your togs, towels and sand buckets ...
Except ... maybe not. I spotted the sign today while going past in a bus (hence the blurred result). The late autumn setting for the Beach Access sign is Constitution Hill, beside Alten Road ...
... and if you take a look at Google Maps, you'll see its a fair way to the beach from Constitution Hill (marked by the "A"). I think they meant to say on the sign "Beach RD Access", as Beach Road winds its way past the bottom of the hill. If you want to find the beach, the nearest was Mechanics Bay. The original version.
You'd be about 100 years too late.
Update 12 August 2011: This week, I picked up an info card on "Learning Quarter Micro Sites" -- and this Beach Access sign is one of a set of three artworks by Asumi Mizuo. The others are signs reading "No Swimming" and "Lookout", all pointing toward the old coastline of Mechanics Bay, pre-reclamation. So -- the sign is quite deliberate. It certainly caught my eye!
Update 12 August 2011: This week, I picked up an info card on "Learning Quarter Micro Sites" -- and this Beach Access sign is one of a set of three artworks by Asumi Mizuo. The others are signs reading "No Swimming" and "Lookout", all pointing toward the old coastline of Mechanics Bay, pre-reclamation. So -- the sign is quite deliberate. It certainly caught my eye!
It is funny how well I know Auckland from maps and yet I am sure if I was there, nothing would match my mental image.
ReplyDeleteI was born here, and I still get that happening to me in places. Maps are great, but they don't convey Auckland completely, with all the nuances and just out-and-out wird things you can find while walking the streets.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the mysterious Joan Stumbles Avenue in Blockhouse Bay. Today it is a wide beach access walkway but it is listed on maps as a road and the fence alongside it implies there were once properties adjacent to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing up Joan Stumbles Ave -- I've done a bit of looking into it, and found a bit of a story behind it. I'll do a "Street Stories" post a little later. Cheers!
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