Nelson

Fairfield house

Me on the balcony at Fairfield

Catherine and Cindy

Between Cable Bay and Bishop rock

Cindy was a delightful host in Nelson and I really like her abstract photographic images printed directly on to brushed aluminium. Like me she studied art later in life and is also interested in finding new ways to think about and present her work.
In Nelson Connie stayed with the Atkinsons at a house called Fairfield. This house has been conserved by a group of community supporters and is now a Community house being further restored entirely by its supporters. It hosts all manner of events. Because I was with Cindy who the custodian Catherine knows, I was invited to 'take tea' in exactly the place where Connie had done on the balcony. We re-created the old photographs
We sat and read from Connie's diaries about the sweet peaches and plums that came from the orchard on the bank behind the house and Catherine told us how this is right now in the process of being restored into an Open Orchard one of a series being funded by Health and Welfare as a community asset, a place which the community can care for and then walk to and pick the fruit for their own use. I feel that would have been so much in line with the arts and crafts movement of Connie and her friends. And while Catherine has done an amazing job with organising the re-planting of the garden as another co-incidence it was Cindy's late husband Ron, a landscape gardner, who marked the notable trees in the garden as part of his project to recognise and mark beautiful large 'notable' trees.
I was also entertained by Maggie Atkinson who took me from her house which is completely enclosed by a beautiful tree rimmed garden, to see the Bishops rock and Cable bay area that Connie had painted. We sped there in 15 minute or so but we felt that in Connie's day this would have been a popular days outing by horse and trap and her hosts -the unrelated Atkinsons- would have taken her there as a special treat. It was a beautiful day for our visit and I was regalled by all of Maggie's deep knowledge of the science and history of the area. I realise that it isn't what you see that matters most it is who you see it with. Cindy and Maggie a deep thank you.
With the weather forecast looking really good I decided to set of for Kaiteriteri to make a boat trip up the Nelson coast to try and revisit the bays and island Connie recorded with such obvious love.

Wellington

I am afraid I am falling behind with my blogs. That's partly because the long distances to be travelled leave me with little time, but also it does take such a long time to do. Writing involves the awful decisions about what has to be left out, then all the images have to be uploaded from the cameras, then selected , re-sized etc, then I have to find an internet cafe with facility for using a memory stick to transfer the information then of course I am subject to the usual slow speed and sticky software of these places. It can take an hour to upload one blog. Anyway tonight I have set aside an evening to catch up so here goes.

I arrived in Wellington in torrential rain and it didn't improve. However my main purpose was to visit the Turnbull archive where I found interesting letters written by Margaret Shaen, Connie's companion, to the Richmond family in New Zealand . Margaret just features in the diaries as M with only glimpses of her personality, so it was good to get a feel of her character and interests . The staff there were most friendly and helpful unlike some national libraries I have been in.
I also visited Te Papa the National Museum of New Zealand . On a previous visit I went there after it was first opened and wasn't too impressed, however now I take that back. It is a great place. they have a different t way of presenting material and artifacts from the usual, and use a lot of interactive and media presentation ,which was all working - again unlike some places I have been to.There were two cruise ships in town , it was tipping with rain and the information bureau was sending everyone to the museum because all the tour busses were full , but the spacious museum coped brilliantly, I didn't feel crowded at all. Again the staff went out of their way to be pleasant and helpful.`this si something I am really picking up on as I travel - tourists matter here and I am feeling welcome.
I was really indebted to Maureen for setting up a meeting with Awhina Tamarapa the curator of Maori artifacts at Te Papa - although she told me that hey don't like that word since all the `Maori objects still have living importance within Maori culture. Indeed after we visited the store room of all these precious treasures I was taken to the water fountain to wash my hands and sprinkle myself with water as a purifications process. They don't just house and record the Maori culture but they keep it alive through respect. I had brought photographs of the Maori artifacts we still have which Connie collected in 1988. Her diaries make this clear. And as a woodcarver she was choosy when it came to quality. I had always assuemed these were standard tourist fare but Arwhenea thinks not so I am to send her more detailed images and sizes to see what more can be fount out. We certainly didn't d]see anything that matched them in the store. Awhina has been to Perth to ostudy the Maori items in their collection some of which have alreday been re-patriated.

My departure from Wellington on the car ferry to Picton in many ways mirrored Connies. It was grey and wet with a crisp wind. It was also totally overcrowded. While for her night time journey she requested another cabin, this journey was capacity with all seating full and young people sleeping on the floors wherever they could find a suitable space.
The entry through the sounds to Picton is specatcular whatever the weather and the torqouise colour of the water just magical. On land I headed for Nelson where I was to be hosted by artist Cindy Flook.

Wildlife

This is really a page for Eddie and Angus. Hi boys, I am sorry to say that I havn't seen a single New Zealand mammal or reptile yet but I have seen a few birds.
The Kiwi's are more plentiful in the North Island than I had imagined. Of course being nocturnal I havn't seen any, but even the researchers counting their number do so by recording their calls rather than by sightings. I did see some road signs telling drivers to be careful for Kiwis on the road though.
i heard a Morpork at night which is a small owl whose call is just as its name suggests - More Pork More Pork More Pork!
At the hot springs at Rotorua there were a pair of pied stilts working the edge of the hot thermal pools. I cannot think what they found to eat as I am sure no fish could survive in such hot water. I also saw some black swans but they are more common than white ones here.
On the road south from Ruapehue I saw an eagle but am not sure what kind and also two groups of Pukeko's which are large black birds with big red beaks. The Australian Magpie is also around in large numbers, its exactly like our crow but has black and white patches like a magpie.
I was in Te Papa the National Museum of New Zealand, you would REALLY like that place it has some amazing displays. Best of all you would like the Giant Squid. It is 4,2 metres long and weighs about a ton. It was caught by New Zealand Fisherman who brought it back specially for the museum. They had a video camera on board and filmed it being caught. I have bought the DVD and will send it to you by post whenever I can get to a post office. Tomorrow morning I set off early on the ferry to the South Island. It should be a fabulous journey with a chance of seeing dolphins etc, but right now the weather is dreadful so I don't know if I will see anything at all it might be very rough which I wont like at all.
Anyway keep watching my Blog and you will find out in due course.

Pipiriki and Wanganui river

Well apart from a few well timed moments, the rain didn't ease. It just came down in buckets. I got to Pipiriki, a few deserted houses and a lone lost Frenchwoman whose story I still havn't fathomed, was all I saw there. The country to get there was pretty but strange, huge clay cliffs and peaks that must have been the softest rock imaginable.

From Pipiriki the road went through a large bush area following the Wanganui river. Huge tree ferns, tall trees dripping with rain and cloud. The good tar sealed road gave way rather unexpectedly to a very rough gravel road with the worst corrugations imaginable - going in all directions at once. On flat land the best way of dealing with corrugations is speed - just hit the tops and dont go into the troughs, but here with wet clay and gravel on the surface, a water and clay filled ditch on one side, a ravine on the other and the narrow road twisting up and down steep hillsides that clearly wasn't the right option. The few local vehicles I passed were all going at a similar slow speed and they were all chunky 4x4's. Clearly a rented Toyota Corolla with automatic gear shift is not the vehicle of choice in these parts!

Driving for hours through such untouched bush one inevitably fixes on the human anomalies. A sign giving a temporary speed restriction of 30k in a place where more than 10 would be impossible anyway, and an open road limit of 100 km where more than 20 would have been suicidal, and the only cleared paddock in an hour of driving with a hand painted sign declaring No trespassers and Dogs will be shot. In one place lower in the valley and after regaining tarred road a washout was being fixed in the torrential rain . The workmen said I would have to wait about 15 minutes but they had to wake me up 50 minutes later when it was finally passable.

Connie spoke about all the Maori villages and canoes on the river but now there is just one Maori Paa, very friendly inviting visitors in, with just one large old canoe bow on display. It seems the only way of experiencing the river today is on a jet boat offering 30 min to 2 hour 30 min rides. The area will be far less populated now than then. Only the road signs in the softer lower parts of the valley indicating that some kind of settlement exists, I passed Athens, London and Jerusalem!

What this trip did remind me of is how many wild and remote places still exist in New Zealand within quite short distances of towns and major through roads. It is probably just this lack of adequate road networks that keeps them that way. I will happily suffer the bad roads.

As the weather got even worse I decided to head directly to Wellington, stopping at Levin on the way to visit my fathers grave for only the second time. The rain stopped while I was there and resumed again as I left.

Mt Ruapehu

Mt Ngauruhoe

Cabbage tree fern

Smoke ring cloud over the active Mt Ruapehu

Looking out from Mt Ruepehue ski ground

Chalets on volcanic rock ski fields

Travelling down the side of Lake Taupo we stopped, as Connie had done, to collect pumice and other rock samples. At least the pumice is light enough to make it home. We also found a track beside Pumice cliffs to experience the white dust of the road and reflect that she would have travelled this on the box seat of a horse drawn carriage through streams over rocky outcrops and in the full blaze of the sun. We just blessed our air conditioned car.

Tokaanu, a simple spa with free bush walk was indeed the wonder that Connie described. Our walkway protected us from the deep clear boiling water pools just feet away, and the ominous plopping sounds from tiny mud pools completely hidden in the roots of the vegetation. To have ventured in here without well marked paths would have been nightmare stuff. Indeed one of Connie's fellow travellers did put a foot through the fragile crust.

On 'M's' very good advice we booked into the Skotel on the slopes Mt Ruepehu. this is dual purpose tiny resort, skiing in winter walking in summer. sandwiched between the perfectly formed Mt Ngauruhoe and the still active Mt Ruepehu which we watched putting up smoke signals yesterday. Last night a full moon over Ngauruhoe was an inspiring sight, tonight the heavens opened and we have nil visibility. Nothing by halves here.

(Actually writing this a day later, Maureen has just made contact from Auckland and wonders if the strange red night haze to the west on the night of the full moon was actually caused by the dreadful Melbourne fires which we now know had broken out that day. Even more strangely, writing in 1887 Connie tells of the dark skies over New Zealand caused by smoke from Australian bush fires)

Before 'M' left on the bus back to Auckland we managed an early morning 2 hour walk to Silica falls up through the bush and back over the high hillside where the plant life was unbelievably diverse. Scotland has something to answer for here though as some enterprising fellow introduced both Ling heather and game to these parts last century. The game failed to survive but the heather is actively spreading over all the hills. Thankfully the mountain daisies are still surviving in abundance and a type of white moss in large clumps that 'M" referred to as vegetable sheep.

With my background in textile and dye research I much appreciated "M's' knowledge about the useful plants we passed on the subtropical bush of the lower slopes. For example the sculptural Cabbage tree leaves were used for weaving a Maori warrior's cloak then dyed black for night time camouflage . Some trees wore broad metal bands to stop the possums from reaching the rare mountain mistletoe. We drove up the Bruce Road to the skiing resort set in and on the jagged boulder fields of volcanic outpouring. In this season it is hard to imagine the depth of snow that must fall to make this into safe ski-ing. Its like an imaginary moonscape in summer.

As a postscript, if anyone is coming this way, do make a point of stopping at the National Parks Station cafe which we discovered this lunchtime . Why Oh Why can't we have simple cafes for travelers with this level of food and friendly service.

The next stage of my journey takes me to Wanganui via the Wanganui river gorge which Connie went up by boat as far as Pipiriki . Lets hope the rain eases.

Geothermals

Connie said how difficult she found it to put some experiences into words, and I agree. So I will let the pictures show some of the visual impact of the geothermal region. But they cannot let you smell the pungent sulphur fumes or feel the heat or imagine the horror of even the thought of falling through the shaky crusts.

Nature comes packaged for tourists here, but we have seen it at different levels. There is the full on paid-for experience of the 'geyser blow' with the land around shaped into terraces to seat about 600 tourists at a time. The manipulated 'blow' comes promptly at 10.15 every day, rather than the unpredictable natural occurance every 36 hours or so - they throw in a soap like substance to break the surface tension of the water below and make the geyser erupt on cue - together with a 'geezer' with amplification adding his own witty introduction to the 'show'.

While the major geothermal attractions are highly organised , each feature with its own scary name, other smaller ones with less beautiful or dramatic attractions are more laid back but still have their cafes and shops and add on carving or weaving experiences, then there are the free spaces with safety walkways but no hype. No prizes for guessing which we appreciated most.

The 'cultural experience' is everywhere, supposedly giving the tourists what they want. As a lecturer of traditional Maori culture, 'M' is constantly horrified and frustrated at the incorrect information being churned out as 'authentic'. Frankly it is no worse than any other country - Scotland for a start- and it had started even in Connie's day. She spent many days buying Maori carving clearly on sale for tourists although it would have been genuine and traditional work , not 'made in Thailand' as apparently is some of the awful stuff we saw on sale today. In her diary Connie remarks ' We are in great hopes that a Maori dance will be got up tomorrow night for the benefit of the tourists.' She wouldn't have to look far for such an event tonight.

But looking beyond its packaging, the geothermal activity in this area is really beyond belief and can certainly give you nightmares if you care to dwell on what is beneath our feet