Auckland & Greater Region - New Zealand

[tomdapom 79]

^^ You from Timaru? If so, my uncle lives in Pleasant Point, about 15mins away. I'm still waiting for an update . Keep up the good work Craig!

[scotty222 549]

Tomdapoms right show us spaghetti junction in downtown

its the worst piece of road ive ever been on

its even difficult to get onto the motorway from downtown at 2am

[MsD 0]

Wonderful updates my friend. Your islands rock.

You are doing a great job working with the terrain. I am impressed.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

OK you asked for it.... Spaghetti Junction .... Crikey mate ... this is gonna hurt.... prepare for some pain and destruction....

*Flexes the "B" key and left button on the mouse....

Edit:

THIS MONSTROSITY  is what they want me to try and recreate.... Multiple flyovers, underpasses, elevated sections, and convulutions of well spaghetti.... It aint flat and it aint straight... GADS!

Do you reckon I am up too it?

View from 4km - CBD is to the top and the right, the Ports of Auckland can just be seen in the corner.  The Auckland Domain is the large green area to the right of Auckland City Hospital.  The War Memorial Mueseum is the "U" shaped building within the park.  The Auckland domain is .... you guessed it ...  another volcano!

View at 1.77 km.  Auckland City Hospital is in the right lower corner.

The motorway to the north heads to the Auckland Harbour Bridge and the North Shore, the Western Motorway heads .... well west ... and the eastern section that runs to the left of the hospital finishes downtown at the Ports of Auckland.  

20km to the south lies ABCVSville...

And just so you know... I only laid my first section of SC highway 2 weeks ago ... *winces*  this could get messy.... very messy.

[in fact the mess in Granto's CJ will most likely be a mere smudge by comparison...]

Goes to crank up SC... 

OK this is where I have to stick this thing...

At the moment in my version of Auckland the motorway finishes near the foot of Mt Eden.  Some how I have to get it inbetween the mountain and the Hospital.  In RL there is a massive curving viaduct to cross a valley that contains, Newmarket beneath.

Yep this is going to hurt.  Breathe Craig breathe.  The motorway will also have to cut across the northern slopes of Mt Eden and out to the west.

... and connect it to the approach of the Harbour Bridge at the corner of the tile.

OK that should be fairly straight forward...

*cracks knuckles*

[Cockatoo 2,257]

Haha! Cuz.E.Bro! That's a Maori name for sure!

Anyway, looking good although you are building on some crazy slopes and as a result you're getting those huge walls behind the buildings, which can look a little un-realistic at times. I'd love to see you building on the flat or if not you could use some custom walls. Another way to get around the wall thing is to flatten a small area of the terrain on the hill before you zone and zone there, that's what I do.

I like the volcanoes too, very much like Auckland, keep it up!

[jacqulina 162]

hiya craig,well i say give it a try,anything is possible if you take your time,wonderfull pics,excellent update looking great so far my friend,your doing well.excellent work and pics

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Replies

Jacky: Yep I will certainly shout out if I get stuck with anything - I am learning new stuff in SC all the time.  I am glad you like the water areas ...  Auckland is known as the "City of Sails".

Grant: Google Earth rocks my socks!  I am so glad Frig is in the North Atlantic...  my CJ is much to pristine for any crappy nonsense...

Jacky: You win the prize for best encourager... again.

Tom:  Spaghetti Junction is on its way, by popular request ...  Yep Rainbow's End (Amusement Park) is just around the corner from where we are.... I live in Papatoetoe.

Schulmanator:  The Auckland Harbour is a great place for boating - you can catch snapper and other fish with out having to go too far, the Rangitoto Channel is a favourite spot, but I tend to get sicksick as the currents and tide can sometimes make the water pretty rock and roll.   Auckland is one of the few large cities in the world where you can still swim at the inner city harbour beaches.  It is safe to swim at both Mission Bay and at Devonport on the other side.

Ian:  Hey thanks for stopping by!  Does this mean you are going to become a regular?  If you would like to participate in Auckland annual mid winter swim I am sure speedos would be acceptable - I shall avert my eyes however.  15° C in Auckland today.

Wackojak:  Auckland City Hospital is huge..  it is like a small town in its own right.  Just between you and me... I actually like my hilly terrain, retaining walls and all!  Thanks for the seawall tip..  I will give it a go ...  I might be reclaiming some shoreline to join the motorway to the harbour bridge...  seawalls will be useful.

Tom: Patience my friend...  update coming after I finish these replies... so in the meantime please take these and have a stroll down New Brighton Pier...

But please wrap up warm - it will be a bit breezy.

Scotty: Got your AMP tower to build ... just got to work out where it goes...   You often up at 2 am then my lad?  ... But you are right - Auckland steet signs are hopeless....   too bad if you don't know where you are going!

Debs: So nice to see you here again...  Auckland's Islands are well part of what makes it Auckland.  Rangitoto is a much loved natural landmark.  Hard to imagine that it did not exist 500 years ago....

Co ckatoo: Yep South Auckland / Manukau is pretty Cuz E. Bro alright.  Now that I have discovered that you can have the God mode tools back (alt+ctrl+shift)  my building sites are much easier to sort out...  

BTW folks sorry to be bullish ... but I keep on having to say this ... 

Auckland is not a flat city!  

It rolls up and down all over the place.  The motorway does actually cut through a major lava flow from Mt Eden in RL and the CBD is actually built on quite a steep hillside.

Jacky:  Yep anything is possible with the old "B" and click technique...  Actually it was not quite as bad as I thought it might be!  They were mostly Maxis houses that I demolished anyway...

[granto93 4]

nice update craig! your skyline is starting to take form, almost as good as your evil plans keep it up my friend. ill take some spaghetti to go by the way

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Spaghetti Junction - Stage One

Extention of the Southern Motorway to Link with the North Western Motorway.

Downtown link commenced - link to Harbour Bridge planned.

Preliminary demolision on the Mt Eden foot hills.  Care is taken to preserve the Hospital from major disruption or (accidential demolision..)

Preliminary route completed - severe disruption to the CBD as many roads are severed.  Much discontent from the general public as north / south movement in the CBD is limited to just one road crossing.  

(Emergency talks take place, and the council agrees under urgency to replace the ground highway with an elevated version.... a costly mistake.)

More disruption to local roads - local talk-back radio runs hot.

Construction of the main Spaghetti Piece.

Urgent discussions take place with the Civil Engineers as to how to connect the southern link.

Major earth works and terraforming required.  More houses and business needed to be demolished than originally planned, causing further cost blow outs, and budget overuns.

The "ends" finally meet and traffic starts to flow.  The cross town elevated section is now well serviced with on and off ramp access, and the north / south roads have now been reconnected.  Traffic flows begin to return to normal.

Stage one by night.

The new motorway provides a vital aterial link and the pain and cost of construction is soon forgotten.

After 4 Sim years of intense construction, phase one of  Project Spaghetti is now complete.  The western link carries on to St Lukes, the next tile earmarked for construction.

[Schulmanator 5,799]

Wow! That's a lot of spaghetti! Someone, pass the marinara sauce!

For those of us who are fromt he hilly areas, we know all too well how difficult itis to build much of anything easily in that terrain. But, I have gotta hope that the lava flow the road cuts through in NZ is from a dormant volcano!

[granto93 4]

lol, nice update craig. you and your hospitals......you're gonna have lots of patients because........HERE COMES THE CRAP CLOUD!!!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Actually that looks more like Christchurch! They must have been lighting all their home wood fires again....

[WackoJak 0]

Oh dang, I take a two day break from the forums, and I miss all this??? Fantastamazinglystupendous, Craig!

@tomdapom: Yes I am a Timaruvian. and Pleasant Point, well just like the sign you see upon entrance to the city, 'The name says it all!'. Except my soccer/football team always owns them up...

[tomdapom 79]

Craig: Lol, too true, too true. Especially where I live, after a subzero morning the smog just sits there. You lucky Aucklander, all you have to deal with is driving rain, wind and thunderstorms .

Wacko: Ah, many a time I have spent at Caroline Bay, I love it there.

Well anyway, great update! I can see your SC skills improve each update! Good attempt at the spaghetti junction, not much more you can do with the limited resources. But have you noticed how so many Kiwis post here? IMO we should have a thread where we can talk about mince pies, rugby and stubbies . Look at me go on, anyway keep up the good work.

[scotty222 549]

yay looks good

im not always up at 2 just that one time and one other time

mmm mince pies

[WackoJak 0]

Tom: don't forget L&P, Mullets, Kiwis, Gumboots, Hamilton Jet, the Skytower, Milford Sounds,  Keas, Kakapos, and Kowhai Trees!!!

[jacqulina 162]

hiya craig coming on well there my friend,great transport system you have built.great work and pics

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Very quick reply... that's OK Kiwi guys I don't mind if you make this CJ a bit more Kiwi!

[tomdapom 79]

Grouse! Glad you didn't rattle my dags there mate!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

KIWI'S LOVE...

   

Hot pools, rugby balls...

    

Snapper, world peace...

Woolly sheep...

 

Chilly bins...

Cricket...

 

Whakapapa skiing, golf tees...

  

Kauri trees...

Kiwi flags...

All Blacks...

Thermal daks..

Walking tracks...

 

Paua shells, gumboots...

  

Fern shoots...

Floppy hats...

Kiwi fruit...

  

Cabbage trees, kakapos...

Kia Ora!

       

Jandals, sandals...

     

    

Watties sauce, Swandris...

Hokey Pokey...

Ice Cream...

Maori Haka!

[tomdapom 79]

Hopefully this will educate those blasted foreigners (quickly covers british background ). But you forgot to say that the large ice cream would be around $3 .

[jacqulina 162]

hiya craig,great pics my friend

[Schulmanator 5,799]

And, of course,

Rohan

The Shire

(one of my emissaries)

Rivendell

And, of course...

JEWELRY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I used to have one of those rings.... it was lost ages ago... to me, it was..... precious! I have been...

looking

for it every since!

A "reward" will be offered if found!

[scotty222 549]

one ring to rule them all

in a town called matamata about 30mins from where i live they charge 60$ to go look around the hobbit holes, big rip offf

mmm kiwiburger thats ourtucker

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Replies under construction... at work at the moment but thanks all for visiting - especially the pictorial posters .... Brilliant!

I have been extending the motorway along the waterfront and have put in another T - exchange... the motorway now connects to the harbour bridge ... but I am not really happy with it yet....   the bulldozer has been working overtime.

[Amerikaner 42]

AND THEY LOVE SEXY SMILEY FACES OUCH

[jacqulina 162]

looking forward to your update my friend

bruce great pics there

[WackoJak 0]

I went to the Lord of the rings exhibit at Te Papa(National Museum*) once, it had the wax model of Boromir they used to film him going down the waterfall when he was dead. Geez it is realistic!! Every single hair on the face was placed there as realism.

Anywho, looking foward to an update, Craig!

 I'm in a good mood coz i've just signed up with 2ch.net simplayer to be a network co-ordinator for the Nextwork alliance, so you'll see me round much more (in Sim Calcio, Tomdapom, I expect I'll see Domeston back!) in Simtropolis. See you round!

*for those poor, unkiwi peoples

[tomdapom 79]

Are you in Sim Calcio Wacko? If so, prepare to be beaten by the unstoppable locamotive that is Domeston City FC!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Replies

Grant: Ah my evil plans...  well actually they are quite random - but you never can tell what Google Image and myself will come up with next.  Meatballs with your spaghetti?

Schulmanator:  Motorway through the lava flow...  yes the volcanoes in Auckland are one shot wonders... the next one will be in a completely random new location, probably destroying a 3-4 km radius in the process, depending on the size of the lava blob that wiggles its way through the crust from 100km below.  Apparently our particular batch of lava is quite runny and foamy - goes everywhere.

Grant:  See I told you it looked like Christchurch... even the mainland boys agree.  (Mainland in NZ = South Island)

WackoJak:  No snoozing in my CJ - actually where are all you guys tonight...  oh yeah watching the rugby....  NZ vs South Africa at Jade Stadium in Christchurch...  hope all that smog has cleared.  Remember that game last year that was so foggy that you couldn't see what was going on...?  The commentary was well rather interesting .... "Well we think they have scored a try..."

Tom:  Bad weather... one of my colleuges was without power for 4 days this week - they are a bit rural so they could not even flush the loo...  no power for the water pump.

I am honoured to have so many of my fellow countrymen posting in my CJ - brilliant.

Scotty: 

im not always up at 2 just that one time and one other timequote>

 

Yeah right!  Was that a new Tui billboard they just erected in Hamilton?

WackoJak: Kiwiana - Yay!

Jacky: Nice to see you here in amongst all the chattering Kiwis.

Tom: 

Glad you didn't rattle my dags there mate!quote>

 [Note to non Kiwis ... Dags are the dried bits of poo around a sheeps bottom that "rattle" when the shepherd is mustering them.   "rattle ya dags" means "get a move on" in Kiwi.]

The icecream prices are on the blackboard behind the shopkeeper.

Jacky:  Thank you - foreigners are always welcome in this CJ.

Schulmanator:  LOTR - well if you get us Kiwis started on that you will never shut us up...

Scotty: Hobbiton is a place that you drive through on your way to Tauranga or Rotorua... but McDonalds is always a good place to stop... well the boys seem to think so!  They sure took the location location location thing seriously when they built that one!  

(McDonalds in Matamata is on the intersection of three roads each leading to Auckland, Rotorua and Tauranga... very strategic placement...)

abcvs: Will you stop waving ya flag and get on with the update - people are waiting my precious.

Luke:  Gads! I thought that smiley was a ST one for a minute....  naughty boy go your room and wait for Sister E. Nema.

Jacky: Yes I love my pictorial posters!

WackoJak:  Yep the first time I saw Boromir in his boat I did a bit of a jump - that is one realistic prop.   

Te Papa rocks BTW (in an earthquake... get it?) - not bad for a Government show...  I love going down in the basement to see the rubber foundations. 

(New buildings in Wellington are built on huge rubber foundations - so in an earthquake the building will rock but not fall down... in theory.)

Tom: Ah the happy chatter of my fellow Kiwis - maybe this can be the unofficial Kiwi ST embassy...  that actually gives me an idea for my CJ....  Does that make me the High Commisioner?