Monday 8 February 2010

Venture will be sunk Tuesday 8th

Today was going to be the final day on the surface for the King Kong vessel The Venture, but due tothe weather conditions, it looks like it's had a stay of execution by one extra day. According to the Harbour Master, on Tuesday morning at 7:00am, the tug will arrive at the dock, and will tow The Venture out to sea for its final voyage.

I'm working on a tour tomorrow but I'll do my best to get there before work starts, hopefully I'll be able to take a few last pictures of it as it leaves.


Here is a great shot of the venture a little while ago, taken by one of my readers, Tim Prebble. Tim, great shot by the way! It was obviously taken before last week, when it still had both masts! I love the fog behind it! (For those unfamiliar with the area - behind it should be the hills of Miramar, and behind that, the hills of the Hutt Valley)...

(photo by Tim Prebble)


As a side issue, I was interviewed by Radio NZ's Tim Graham last week about it, and although I tried to keep things as positive as possible, they managed to turn my 5 minute interview into three pretty negative sounding soundbites, which is, I suppose, the power of the old media at work. At least he pronounced my name correctly. On the whole though, the piece is well balanced, although it sounded like Peter Jackson was somehow to blame for not covering the cost of the operation...? It hasn't been his ship for what, 4 years or so?

For those who'd like a listen to the podcast, it's available on the Radio NZ website. The link searches on all things "King Kong" so there may be other choice items there (currently there's still an interview from Philippa Boyens there as well). You can also subscribe to the Radio NZ podcasts through iTunes.

  - Jack

2 comments:

  1. they are going to town on this now, more or less saying its peters fault its costing 30k to sink. LOL the guy brough billions of dollars to New Zealand and they are trying to hang him out for it. someone has serious envy for his success. thats the media i suppose, they can spin any story to sound the complete opposite, and people read only what they need to make the story sound negative.

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  2. Yeah, it's all pretty crooked. I've been reading the comments on stuff.co.nz's various versions of the story, and responding to them where I thought necessary.

    One guy called King Kong a "monumental flop"... hmmm... us$350 million at the box office isn't much of a flop, I would have thought...

    Still, it sold the papers, I guess.

    Glad I didn't buy one.

    - Jack

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