Crushing on cranes

A DigitalNZ Story by Courtney Johnston

I love the cranes on the waterfront. With a passion. Looking at them always makes me happy. I like to imagine them one day shaking off their casings and striding off over the sea like steel giraffes, lanky and purposeful. I love their clean functional nature and their strength and their angularity. I love the way they cut hard lines against the sky. I love the way they make their work look both effortful and effortless. And I love the leftover, isolated old fashioned crane outside Ferg's Kayaks most of all. Please, crane - don't ever change.

Image: Cranes on a Wellington wharf

Cranes on a Wellington wharf

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: Glasgow Wharf, Wellington, with cranes

Glasgow Wharf, Wellington, with cranes

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: Crane on a Wellington wharf

Crane on a Wellington wharf

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: Wharf, Wellington

Wharf, Wellington

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: Wharf, Wellington

Wharf, Wellington

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: Crane and girders on wharf, Wellington

Crane and girders on wharf, Wellington

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: Harbour crane

Harbour crane

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: [Wharf scene]

[Wharf scene]

Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira