Hutt Oddities

Listening to: Showbiz Kids, The Steely Dan Story 1972-1980 - Steely Dan (2000). I bought this compilation years ago on the back of liking a few of their more well known songs. I haven't listened to it for years, to the point of not remembering any of it particularly well, so am trying to figure out if I like any of it. It certainly evokes the era well if nothing else.

Couple of odd sights around the Hutt at the moment.

A pine tree has acquired some unusual decoration:

One of the local papers was all 'How in the world did they do that?', but c'mon, its a Norfolk Pine for goodness' sake. Its about the easiest tree in the world to climb (spoken from the experience of having one about this size in my backyard as a kid). Here is a full height shot of the specimen in question:

It isn't even a very big Norfolk Pine; I've been to Norfolk Island and seen these things in their place of origin and they get a lot bigger. Climbing this one traffic cone in hand wouldn't have been a problem. I'm impressed it has stayed up there as long as it has, although the rope visible in the close-up suggests it might be more secured than it looks.

That explains the traffic cone*, but this on a wall in Petone is a lot less clear:

I haven't figured this one out yet, or indeed just what there is to figure out.

*It reminds me of a similar tree that was uprooted in a flood about ten years ago up the river from here. It was swept down the river and into the harbour, but caught on the seabed and effectively planted itself near a marina, in water shallow enough for the top couple of meters to emerge above the water. The pine tree in the middle of the water was visible for several days before finally disappearing, long enough for the harbour master to jokingly ponder putting christmas lights on it as it was that time of year.