Port Taranaki

 Logging trucks arriving every five minutes - cranes galore at the Port.

Unloading a Windfarm

A ship in Port Taranaki, New Zealand, unloads parts for a windfarm. I think that the parts were made in Italy but I'm not sure.

Port Taranaki Boat Ramp

I had a sheltered spot out of the winter breeze at Port Taranaki. Exposed people were still launching boats and walking to the end of the breakwater.

Colourize Project: Tugboat

Colorized version from two years ago of a tugboat between the two breakwaters heading out from Port Taranaki.

Roulette 63824

Here's a set of three sketches of a fishing boat out of water getting some kind of work done on it. (In the August sketch, it's not the boat in front on the left.) I've done one per month so it's been there for a while now.

Colourize Project: Security Pipe

The marina off the breakwater at Port Taranaki has a weird gate that seems to be a large steel pipe with a door cut into it. Here's the colour version of a sketch from a few years ago.

Port Taranaki

The other day I was biking around the port area, looking for something to draw. I noticed a road sign that said 'Port View Crescent'. I've never been there before but with a name like that I went up the road hoping for a good view. Not much yet so I turned off a side street and had a nice open vista over Port Taranaki. Actually, between the end of a driveway and the start of an open grassy strip there was a park bench. I'm not sure who's it was but it overlooked the port and was out of the sun and under a tree. So if someone's reading this and noticed, "Hey... that's my bench", I hope you don't mind and thanks for putting it there!

Taranaki Seaside Market

The first Sunday of every month at Ngamotu Beach is the Seaside Market. Although there's lots of stuff for sale, I usually just go down for the food. Although last week, I went down for the sketch and the mild sunburn. I guess summer's coming!

2011 Dodge Challenger at Port Taranaki

Late afternoon sun on a car parked down near the breakwater at low tide. The days are starting to get longer now.

Paritutu

Paritutu is a 150 metre tall volcanic rock on the coast of New Plymouth at Port Taranaki. It's a pretty weird mix of nature and industry here. You can climb the thing and see Mount Taranaki, the Tasman Sea and the natural coastline of cliffs and black ironsand beaches. Then turn around and you get the start of the port and tank farms. The smokestack that's there is from an old gas power station and is taller at about 200 metres.

Boat Launch

It was early morning down at the port and there were non-stop boats being launched. These crusty sailors have serious skills. I was watching them back a trailer into the water, dump the boat with a pilot on board and go park... all in one motion. It was like scrambling a squadron from the deck of an aircraft carrier. I drew the dock first and then was going to draw a launching in behind it, since they were mostly going in the water on that side. When it came time to sketch the boat, I started to notice how little time I had for each one. The good news (for me) was that this one boat had engine trouble. They had to put it back on the trailer and have a look at it. Without a motor it actually took quite a while to get back on to land. When I finished the dock after that, the same guys put the boat back in the salt water and they were away. All's well that ends well.

Exocet

Here's a fishing boat that is double parked to the main launching dock. I'm not sure why since there were other places to berth to. The sailors had to climb to the larger diving ship and then to the dock to get supplies loaded. Important things like fuel and hot lunches from a nearby restaurant. About halfway through this one the ropes were untied and it sailed away. This is a bit worse than when cars do this.
The name Exocet has the same as an anti-ship missile and is French for 'flying fish'. I guess this is a good name although this doesn't seem to be a particularly fast vessel.

Port Giants

 

Luciano Fantuzzi founded the company who makes these Sky Lifters, in Reggio Emilia, Italy in 1960.  Today it is a big name worldwide in container loading forklifts.  A clutch of these monsters were parked up at Port Taranaki through the fence from the yacht club where we were sketching.

 



Binocular Sketching

Since 9/11 access to the ports has become very limited.   Whilst our view of Port Taranaki today from behind the Magogs Motor Cycle Club was scenic, it was still distant.

So this is an attempt at binocular sketching.

My only problem came near the end of the drawing when I discovered by viewing detailed sections through the binoculars, I'd missed a crane.  Through judicious squeezing and use of colour, I managed to bolt the missing No 3 crane on.

High walls on the Magog's million dollar property behind me.  A couple of large dogs hung around the gate to make sure we weren't up to no good.

The Spinnaker SW Bulk Carrier - (Panama registered) was loading logs for Lanqiao, China.  It is 176m long, gross tonnage - 20,000, built in Japan two years ago.

Sun Sea & Fish

What a cracker day in Taradise.  Deep blue sky, still and so much traffic down at the Port!  Every kid must be fishing and every overgrown kid out in their boats.  Perhaps there was a breeze as the yachts were battling it out in the distance.

The Lee Breakwater is made of tetrapods jutting out into the harbour - ideal for fishing from.  We used to joke with our son that he was named after the breakwater.

Something fishy

Is that a smile?  How big?

One of mum's