The Star: October 25, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday October 25 2018 11
Local
News
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Fire rages, homes at risk
Reality stars in town for birthday
• By Ashleigh Monk
WHAT BETTER way to celebrate
your 50th birthday than with
your favourite reality television
stars?
KB’s Bakery chain owner Kim
Buckley will fly Storage Wars
stars Sally and Laurence Martin
to New Zealand for his partner
Mandy Rooney’s birthday in
November.
The Martin’s make their living
buying and selling items at auction,
and along with Storage Wars
they have also starred in spin-off
show Baggage Battles.
Mr Buckley said he and Ms
Rooney, who live Papanui, met
the couple in 2014 at their Los
Angeles, California antiques store
Studio Antiques.
“We met them after I had a
heart attack over in America. It
was only a wee one, but shortly
after I’d gotten out of hospital we
went to visit their shop,” he said.
“I said to Mandy on the way
to LA airport ‘why don’t we call
in and see the Baggage Battles
people and see if they are at there
shop in El Segoda?’ It was right
by the airport, so we called in .
. . we all clicked straight away,
Laurence thought I was his long
lost brother.”
Mr Buckley said he and Ms
Rooney were not only fans of the
Martin’s, but also good friends.
“Every time we go to the US we
go and see them, we’ve got to be
quite good mates,” he said.
He said he and Ms Rooney
were not antique collectors.
“We are more into bar memorabilia.
But we like them for
them, and that’s likewise, and just
love their whole attitude. They are
lovely people. Laurence is a bit eccentric,
and Sally is just a lovely,
happy-go-lucky lady.”
He said the Martin’s had never
been to New Zealand, but were
looking forward to visiting.
Mr Buckley said he and Ms
Rooney met seven years ago
through friends.
“We didn’t actually like each
other at first, but through lots of
talking and getting to know each
other things blossomed.”
He said Laurence and Sally
FAST FRIENDS: Baggage Battle stars
Laurence and Sally Martin (left) befriended
fans Kim Buckley and Mandy Rooney
after the Christchurch couple visited their
antiques shop, pictured above.
Martin would be among
the estimated 170 people to
attend Ms Rooney’s birthday
celebrations.
The Martin’s would arrive
in Christchurch on November
22 for Ms Rooney’s birthday
on November 24 and stay until
December 10.
Dolphins, pile driving spark questions
• By Matt Salmons
THE BANKS Peninsula
Community Board will ask the
Lyttelton Port Company about
its plan to manage the impact
of pile driving on Hector’s
dolphins.
The board decided to question
LPC after a presentation from
Māui and Hector’s Dolphin
Defenders committee member
Genevieve Robinson last week.
She said she wanted to see
LPC’s cruise berth design and
marine mammal management
plans made publicly available.
She had questioned LPC on
its plans and said most of her
questions remained unanswered.
Community board member
Felix Dawson says the board
wants to assist Ms Robinson in
getting the answers she seeks
as other will
be concerned
about the
dolphins’
protection.
“We wanted
to help get
the answers
she wanted
because it’s
Genevieve
Robinson ​
important if
she’s correct.
If there’s some
doubt about
the correct approach being taken
. . . then we wanted to assist her.”
The board’s questions will
be combined with others from
QUESTIONS: The Banks Peninsula Community Board is seeking information on LPC’s plan
to minimise the impact of pile driving on dolphins.
the city council. They will be
sent this week through the
city council’s investment arm,
Christchurch City Holdings Ltd,
which owns the port, said a city
council spokeswoman.
The spokeswoman would
not say what the city council’s
additional questions will be.
Ms Robinson said she did not
believe LPC was doing enough
to prevent the negative effects of
pile driving.
“When they do pile driving,
it makes a noise into the water.
That is what concerns us
regarding the dolphins’ hearing,”
she said.
LPC chief executive Peter
Davie said the welfare of Hector’s
dolphins was a priority during
construction of the new berth.
Marine pile driving is expected
to start next month, while some
land-based piling started earlier
this year. Mr Davie said work
needed to begin soon in the
water to have the berth ready for
the 2020/21 cruise season.
Most piles will be installed
between March and December
next year.
He said the size of the piles
for the berth was smaller than
initially planned to mitigate the
effects of the noise on dolphins.
“Modelling . . . shows
underwater sound energy per
pile will be 100 times less,” Mr
Davie said.
However, Ms Robinson did
not agree, saying the modelling
would not provide an accurate
measure of the sound generated.
Mr Davie said LPC had
undertaken recent noise
measurements, but the data was
“still being processed.”
Mrs Robinson said using screw
piling would generate “barely
any noise” if it was used instead.
Mr Davie said screw piling
would not be strong enough to
“create a seismically resilient
wharf” which could berth the
large cruise liners.
Otago University marine
science department head,
professor Stephen Dawson,
had conducted a study of earlier
pile-driving operations in
Lyttelton Harbour between 2014
and 2015.Prof Dawson’s team
positioned instruments around
the harbour which were attuned
to the frequency of the Hector’s
dolphins’ echolocation.
He said the instruments
recorded fewer dolphins during
pile driving. “It definitely denies
habitat. That is a fact.”
He said the underwater sound
of those piles being driven in was
at a similar level to a gunshot.
That could cause deafness
and change the behaviour of the
dolphins. Prof Dawson said pile
driving could see a substantial
decrease in dolphin numbers in
the harbour, a key habitat for the
species.