-------- Original Message --------
Subject: maps in coffee shops
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 17:51:28 +1100
From: [log in to unmask]


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There used to be a coffeshop/bar in central Auckland, New Zeland, (High
St I believe, opposite Freyberg Place) called "Rakino", after one of the
islands in the Hauraki Gulf. All their tables were cut out of steel
plate, in the shape of the various islands in the Gulf:
Rangitoto, Motutapu, Motuhui, Browns, Waiheke, Ponui, Kawau, Great
Barrier, Little Barrier... (not all  to the same scale).
This meant some were 'pointy' and somewhat impractically shaped (you had
to be careful when you put your drink down, that you didn't drop it in a
Bay, especially Motuihe!), but made for interesting discussion, and a
desire to initiate conversation with people at other tables to find out
which island they were sitting at.

Dr Brendan Whyte,
School of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies,
University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA
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