Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Enjoying a school visit to the Warrior (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

A busy day on the good ship RW yesterday. First a visit by the children of Nova Montessori school – about 30 of them filled the bridge deck with chat and little hands straining for the sky with questions. Campaigner Susannah was in charge. She had, at one point, been talking about cows burping and farting and how this contributes to greenhouse gas pollution. She then started talking about things we can do in our own lives to reduce emissions. There were the usual suggestions like get out of your car, switch off the lights, and then this one kid put his hand up and said “Don’t eat baked beans”!”Brilliant!” replied Susannah, and noted it down for our next factsheet. Read more »

A Lyttelton vista (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

Following ongoing negotiations with the Lyttelton port authorities, there has been a small but significant improvement in plans for our public open days.

The key change is that there is now no need to RSVP. All those planning a visit, read on: Read more »

The Esperanza and the Rainbow Warrior (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

Ahh Lyttelton, town of seething port, rolling hills and the heady Wunderbar. And temporary home to two Greenpeace ships. It doesn’t happen often, and it’s quite a sight to behold in little old New Zealand. The Esperanza (which was down in the Southern Ocean over the summer chasing the Japanese whalers) and the Rainbow Warrior are now stern-to-bow at Jetty 3, Port Lyttleton. There are many other big ships in here too and i have to say the Rainbow Warrior looks a little like a bath toy in comparison. The Esperanza has been here for a few weeks in dry dock and is due to leave for oceans work in the Pacific on Thursday.

Read more »

Open boat talks (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

I take it all back! Gisborne is a meteorological chocolate box. I woke at 4:30am to pouring rain, an open cabin hatch and a developing puddle on the floor. And the rain pretty much didn’t stop.

Over breakfast we all cursed the weather gods and crossed our fingers that the Gisborne community would still brave our open day.

Luckily a team of volunteers had come down from Auckland to help set up for it. In howling wind we erected tarpaulins and ploughed on. Also, it was unseasonably cold. Hats off to our open boat coordinator Sheena, who was a picture of determination throughout (even when the awnings almost blew off into the Harbour). But the people came! Read more »

On the bridge (C) GRENPEACE / Sharomov

A key part of our ship tour are the open days, when anyone can come on board, have a free tour, talk to the campaigners and meet the crew.

During these tours, someone from the Greenpeace NZ campaign team is responsible for giving 10-minute talks to groups about why we’re getting on a ship for six weeks and going around the country (in other words, what’s that got to do with climate change?) And so it was, I found myself, with a little slip of paper scarred with hastily-jotted notes and sunblock, in front of groups of about 15 people (predominantly tourists and young children I must say) talking about the campaign. Read more »

Unfortunately the powers that be in Tauranga have said that they will not allow a public open day in the Port of Tauranga. They said that the physical layout of the Port does not allow the separation of the Rainbow Warrior from the operational areas.

We suspect it may also have something to do with our campaigning activities there in the past … [ 1 2 3 ]

This is disappointing for us and for the people who planned on visiting the Rainbow Warrior in Tauranga. If you want to let the Port know that you are disappointed that there is no facility to allow the public to visit the Rainbow Warrior then give them a call on 07 572 8899 or send them an email.

We are now looking at other options so watch this space for plan B!

The Rainbow Warrior is coming to a town near you!

The Warrior is visiting New Zealand to further Greenpeace’s international work to prevent dangerous levels of climate change, by highlighting the issues and promoting solutions.

There will be FREE public open days with tours on board the Rainbow Warrior during March and April.

Read more »