Wellington today, June 28: Covid-19 alert level 2 extended, heavy swell warning for south coast, Te Papa to reopen after deep clean.

STUFF

Wellington will remain at level 2 for another two days as Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins reveals the partner of the Sydney visitor has tested positive for Covid-19.

Kia ora Wellington, Bill Hickman here with your latest news around Wellington this Monday. Remember to keep scanning!

1.45pm: The show must go on at BATS

BATS Theatre will have two shows running with reduced numbers this week, so you can still get your live comedy fix at level 2.

Stevie Greeks of Bats theatre said their two productions for this week How to Win @ Life and When Booty Calls will go ahead with reduced numbers. Another show Whadarya is scheduled to start on Friday and will run even if Wellington stays at level 2.

12.45pm: Update: Ferry cancellations and confusion as heavy swell set to impact Wellington’s south coast.

MetService has issued a heavy-swell warning for the south coast that starts at 6am on Tuesday and ends 41 hours later, at 11pm on Wednesday.

South coast communities – including Ōwhiro Bay, badly damaged by waves in April last year – would face the worst of the swells. Some coastal areas in Wellington Harbour, such as Eastbourne and Petone, would also see big waves.

Tuesday’s waves are forecast to be bigger than those in April 2020, which required evacuations in some coast suburbs.

KEVIN STENT/Stuff

The Bluebridge ferry struggles out of the harbour entrance last April. Tomorrow’s waves are forecast to be bigger. (file photo)

Interislander executive general manager Walter Rushbrook​ said all Cook Strait sailings were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday may also have cancellations. “We will not resume sailing until we are confident we can do so safely,” he said.

Bluebridge spokesman Will Dady said passengers were being warned there may be some disruption.

Read the full story by Tom Hunt here.

10.45am: Tree felling to close Middleton Rd between Tawa and Churton Park

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency advises that Middleton Rd between Tawa and Churton Park will be closed between 9am to 2.30pm from Monday until Friday.

The road will be closed for tree felling along the route. Motorists will be required to detour via SH1 and the Tawa and Churton park on/off ramps.

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Tree felling will close Middleton road between Churton Park and Tawa from 9am to 2.30pm Monday until Friday this week.

10.15am: Te Papa to reopen after deep clean

The country’s national museum will reopen tomorrow with strict health and safety measures after the Sydney Covid-19 case forced it into the spotlight.

In a statement, the museum said it would reopen on Tuesday at 10am after it closed last Wednesday.

Most exhibitions and spaces would be open, with a small number of high-touch interactive displays shut off.

The Surrealist Art exhibition would be open with a maximum 78 people at a time, to enable distancing between people.

Te Papa was introducing level 2 restrictions, with further extra measures also put in place to July 3 or day 14 since the museum became a location of interest. The extra measures will be reviewed on that day and may change.

Read the full story by Andre Chumko here.

Ross Giblin/Stuff

Te Papa will reopen tomorrow. Pictured, a testing site set up at the museum.

8.30am: Teenage jazz band prepared to take over the world

Wellington jazz ensemble “Mel Stevenson” has grown from a duo busking at Wellington’s Harbourside Markets to a seven-piece band with designs on the WOMAD stage.

Laura Wiltshire spoke with members Louis Holland and Nico Buhne about the groups mysterious name, their origins and new-found confidence after taking out multiple awards at the 43rd National Youth Jazz Competition in Tauranga.

“The nervousness is gone, and all we have to work on is having fun for the audience. Our theme is to have as much fun as possible,” Buhne said.

Read the full story here.

ROSA WOODS

High schoolers Nico Buhne, Max Ware, Miro Holland, Jack Harris, Louis Holland, Harry Lentell, and Theo Thompson make up Mel Stevenson.

7.45am: Construction materials caused sewage to spill on Golden Mile

Timber and shingle in the wastewater system are being blamed for causing a stink in the capital after raw sewage was sent spilling onto Lambton Quay last week.

Wellington Water investigations following the incident on Friday concluded the unusual material which caused the blockage had likely come from a construction site.

Last week a surge of sewage pushed a manhole cover open on Woodward St about 4pm and a steady stream of yellow-coloured liquid ran down to Lambton Quay.

The water services provider is working to try to confirm where the materials has come from.

7.30am: Big waves, strong winds, cold blast coming to Wellington direct from Antarctica

Big and powerful waves are building up in Antarctica and heading across the ocean towards New Zealand, along with bitterly cold temperatures.

MetService is forecasting waves of up to six metres hitting Wellington on Tuesday before dropping to 4m by Wednesday evening.

MetService forecaster Gerard Bellam​ said the waves, strong winds, and cold temperatures were being caused by a strong polar system in Antarctica combining with a large swell “pulsing up from beneath the South Island”.

It was similar to the scenario that played out in April 2020, mid-lockdown, when homes in Ōwhiro Bay on Wellington’s south coast were evacuated and damaged by large swells of more than 5m.

Read the full story by Tom Hunt here.

GRANT ALEXANDER

An Owhiro Bay resident’s video shows the sheer force of the worst waves that hit the bay, damaging and flooding houses in April 2020.

7am: Metlink alerts and cancellations

Metlink has posted 6 bus cancellations ahead of 6.55am this morning.

Buses are replacing trains on some daytime services on the Melling and Hutt Valley lines between Monday and Thursday this week.

Buses will replace some daytime services on the Kāpiti line between Monday and Wednesday this week.

Buses continue to replace all weekday daytime services, excluding peak time, on the Wairarapa line until further notice.

Remember to wear your mask on board at the bustop and rail platforms and be patient with your fellow commuters, drivers and conductors.

Find more cancellations and alerts here.

6am: Wellington’s weather forecast today

According to MetService, Monday’s weather will have cloudy periods.

There will be a few showers, becoming confined to the north of the city from afternoon.

There would be northwesterly gales, gusting from 100 kilometres per hour in exposed places, which would later ease.

In The Dominion Post today:

Covid-19: Further alert level extension threat hangs over Wellington

As Wellington heads into two more days at alert level 2, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has urged people who visited the locations of interest and those with symptoms to get tested.

He would also not rule out the restrictions being extended beyond 11.59pm on Tuesday, as he announced on Sunday that Cabinet had elected to keep the capital in level 2 for another 48 hours to minimise the threat posed by an infected Sydney tourist’s recent visit.

KEVIN STENT/Stuff

People who visited the locations of interest and those with symptoms are being urged by Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins to get tested. (File photo)

Experts offered different views on whether another 48 hours would be enough to allow Wellington to rejoin the rest of the country at alert level 1, with University of Auckland microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles warning, “we need to be cautious”.

Despite no evidence of community transmission or virus traces being found in Wellington’s wastewater last week, Wiles said the region would not be in the clear until the beginning of July.

Read the full story by Katarina Williams here.

13 years old and on a residents’ association executive

Like many 13-year-olds, Monty Mouat​ likes riding bikes and playing video games. Unlike most, Monty is about to sit on the executive on the Greater Brooklyn Residents’ Association, which is looking to change its constitution to allow the teen in.

“I am the youngest by a decent margin,” Monty said. And of the meetings: “Sometimes there are boring, sometimes there are interesting issues being brought up.”

Ross Giblin/Stuff

Monty Mouat, 13, is about to sit on the executive on the Greater Brooklyn Residents’ Association.

Monty, then 12, was spurred into attending their first meeting by the noise of truck engine brakes they could hear from home or from their then-class at Brooklyn School.

More recently, Monty’s focus has been on the Brooklyn cycleway, which they supported and which recently opened on a trial basis.

Read the full story by Tom Hunt here.

And in the Arts…

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Richard Ollarsaba in the Marriage of Figaro, as pictured in Auckland. The Wellington run has been cancelled.

The members of the New Zealand Opera are devastated after having to cancel all three scheduled Wellington performances of its The Marriage of Figaro production to comply with alert level 2 rules, and likely having to refund the 3000 tickets already sold.

Figaro, its first main-scale production this year, was heralded as a comeback for the company, after the 2020 shows were postponed during the Covid-19 lockdown. The company also cancelled two shows of its children’s opera, RED!, which were supposed to be performed at Wellington’s Opera House on Thursday.

“It’s completely gutting,” said New Zealand Opera spokeswoman Terri Cumiskey, adding the company was trying to figure out ways to return to the capital after its Christchurch run of Figaro scheduled for mid-July.

Read the full story by Andre Chumko here.