Art Deco Town & ‘Thomsons Barnyard’

We left St Bathans Domain on a very bleak and overcast morning with rain threatening. David was less keen to leave, he’d cleaned the vehicles and if it did rain while we were on the road all his hard work would be undone. We took the long route back to the main road to avoid the muddy gravel road just past St Bathans settlement. It didn’t help our case, the rain started before we reached the turnoff and we drove through to Ranfurly in a steady downpour.

Needless to say I didn’t take these photos of the iconic Webberburn Goods Shed on our way past, we drove back there on a fine day. Once again the 1975 Graham Sydney painting “July on the Maniototo”, made this goods shed famous.

After the closure of the Otago Central Railway line, the goods shed was moved 5km away to an open cast coal mine at the head of the Ida Valley. It eventually became home to feral pigeons. When the Rail Trail began the community was keen to see the old building put back in its original place. In 2002 it was returned on the back of a truck and restored to its original green colour (it had been painted red). It is now an icon of the Trail and the Maniototo – and it is still home to the pigeons.

The original small Wedderburn Station, built in 1900, was also recovered and restored to its original home (a curling club had moved it 300m to the west). This is the last remaining Vogel Class 5 Station and ticket office in New Zealand, with a simple lean-to design.

Just up the road from the goods shed is the historic Wedderburn Tavern, built in 1885. Once the a stop-over for coaches and wagons, it is now a favourite destination and half way point for cyclists on the Rail Trail.

Our next camping site was at the Ranfurly Holiday Park, it was time to plug back into the grid and give the generator a bit of a break. We are very power hungry couple (well David will say it’s just me) but the truth is we both use a lot of power in various forms and while we do quite adequately cope with our solar panels and generator it’s just nice to sometimes plug in and not worry about turning off the extra lights, watching TV a little later, leaving the computer running between jobs or using the toaster & the microwave (both out of bounds when off the grid). Then there are the long hot showers we can have, although they're usually outweighed by the bitter cold run across to the ablution block. We also had laundry to do, and there aren’t too many freedom camping spots in the area.

Ranfurly is known as the rural Art Deco town and is the smaller (much smaller) Art Deco sister to my home town Napier, the Art Deco Capital of the world (that link will take you to my blog on the Art Deco Weekend in Napier, there are more Art Deco posts out in the menu on the right). Ranfurly also has a popular art deco festival that attracts people from far and wide and I was looking forward to comparing notes.

Following a series of disastrous and suspicious fires in the 1930′s that destroyed many of Ranfurly’s buildings, including the town hall and the hotel, the fashionable, inexpensive and simplistic Art Deco style was introduced to Ranfurly to replace many of the towns buildings.

The Centennial Milk Bar is the iconic art deco building in Ranfurly. It is located beside the I-Site (once the Railway Station) in the main street and in its heyday it was a bustling place serving hungry passengers from the trains and afternoon teas and icecreams to the locals. By the mid 1970’s the trains had stopped running, the town’s already small population had dwindled and the milk bar was abandoned & rundown. The only interest in the prominent but derelict art deco building on the main street was from the local fire brigade who were looking for something to burn down for a practice exercise.

After the economic decline of the 1990′s, the local community was thinking of ways to attract people to Ranfurly and came up with the idea of reviving the forty-odd art deco buildings located throughout the town to create an ‘Art Deco’ theme for Ranfurly. In 2000 the Central Otago District Council purchased the Centennial Milk Bar and leased it to the town’s Art Deco Society who set it up as an Art Deco Gallery. Local families have lent or donated their treasures and the displays, set up as rooms; bring to life the glamour and glitz of the era- it was closed while we were in town.

Street art and murals reflecting the Art Deco era are attached or painted on a number of the buildings along the main street, some are subtly placed so that unless you’re specifically looking for them, they can easily be missed.

The former Railway Station and now the i-Site (information centre) taken before and after the snow fall we had while we were in Ranfurly.

To be fair, we did visit Ranfurly in the middle of winter, but some days when I went walkabout it felt like I was the only person in an abandoned town, a few tumbleweeds rolling down the main street would have completed the picture.

More Ranfurly buildings…

The restored Fenton Library (1926) building houses Ranfurly’s own home grown community trust radio station ‘Burn 729am’. I was searching for a radio station in the early hours of our first morning in Ranfurly and came up with just one station loud and clear. Music was playing for awhile and then the most softly spoken boring monotonous voice I have ever heard came on, he prattled on for ages before playing the next track. I thought to myself, it must be hard to get decent announcers in Central Otago and they’ve given him the grave-yard shift so he doesn’t scare the punters away.

It wasn’t until I went for a walk in the morning that I realised I was listening to Burn 729 out of this building just a few steps away from where I was trying to go to sleep. You can see the campground in the background. I just know the guy sitting outside & nodding off in the sun, with a fag in one hand & a coffee in the other, was my man.

I loved the simplicity of the butchers shop just a little further down the road, right down to the huge home-kill cattle carcass they were man-handling out of the small truck and into the shop. You’d never see that in the city, someone would report them for animal cruelty.  No fancy meats here either; eggs, sausages & steak (where are the chips), hearty meals for the hard working rural folk.

And I bet you’ve been wondering when I was going to mention, ‘Thomson’s Barnyard’. On the corner of the main street opposite the Centennial Milk Bar stands the figure of a man looking through a theodolite. This is the memorial to John Turnbull Thomson, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1856 and worked as Chief Surveyor of the Otago Province, surveying and exploring large sections of the interior. One man on a mission, he virtually shaped Central and North Otago. He later became Surveyor-General of New Zealand.

Many names in the area can be attributed to Thomson's Northumbrian background and are often in the form of a Northumbrian dialectic name for an animal including Ranfurly which he originally named Eweburn.  Names such as Horseburn, Mareburn, Fillyburn, Hogburn, Houndburn, Sowburn and Swinburn were given to streams in the area. Then there’s the Horse Range & the Pigroot. The Kyeburn (cow), Gimmerburn (hogget), Stotburn (steer), and Wedderburn (wether) settlements were all named by Thomson, hence the reason that occasionally the area is referred to as “Thomson’s Barnyard”. Perhaps he'd have been better having the name McDonald.

He certainly wandered far and wide, maybe the fact that he had nine daughters had something to do with having to get out of the house. Once he was appointed Surveyor-General he covered most of New Zealand introducing his more accurate method of triangulation survey, using true bearings rather than compass bearings to survey the country.

And finally, to book-end the post with another Rail Trail Goods Shed, the Ranfurly Goods Shed after the snow fall.

Arthurs Pass- Heart of the Southern Alps

We had a fabulous time at Lake Brunner and were lucky to have a couple of fine days before the rain set in once again. We left Lake Brunner during a break in the rain, heading for Jacksons where we were going to wait until the weather cleared before crossing Arthurs Pass. You'll remember this post from earlier, well now I can tell you more about our drive over the Pass.

Arthurs Pass is one of three passes that link the east and west coasts of the South Island. The Pass climbs to more than 900 metres through Arthurs Pass National Park and is the highest and most spectacular pass across the Southern Alps.

It took three days before we awoke to blue sky and a view out over the Taramakau River valley.

Perhaps we should have stayed another day, the Jacksons Retreat Holiday Park had a number of walks, a waterfall, two lovely tumbling streams (which were gushing torrents by the time we left), lots of birds and glow-worms. But we were keen to cross the Pass while it was such a lovely day. On our way out we stopped at probably the prettiest dump station we’ve visited on our travels. The only problem being that the van was facing downhill and the tanks didn’t empty fully. But then that happens at other sites too, you’d be surprised how many aren’t level.

Just up the road is the historic Jacksons Hotel. The first Jacksons Hotel was built in 1868 and served as a stage coach post. It was rebuilt in 1872 on a higher site after it was washed away by the Taramakau River. The second building went up in smoke & was replaced by this one in 1910.

Our next stop is at the settlement of Otira which was once a bustling village of 600 people but now has a population of just ten or so people. The Otira Hotel was built in the 1860s and was also a stage coach post. After the Otira tunnel opened in 1923 the village became a busy railway settlement.

In 1998 Otira became famous in NZ when the whole township was sold for $73,000. The sale included the hotel, hall, fire station and 14 rentable houses on 20 hectares of leasehold land. Last year, after 4 years on the market, the pub was sold to a Motueka man.who plans to buy the rest of the settlement in a few years.

Although we didn’t meet the latest owner (he was away on a break) I get the distinct impression that he is slightly eccentric. As you can see, both inside and outside the pub, there is an eclectic collection of hundreds of items from a by-gone era. There doesn’t seem to be rhyme nor reason for some of the items, perhaps generous people have passed on their collections. I know I wouldn’t like to be the one dusting in there.

I got a bit of a fright when I opened one of the lounge room doors to see an old lady sitting across the room (left middle photo above). She didn’t have me fooled for too long though, I’ve seen the likes of her before. Paper mache ‘old people’ were regular visitors to Mum’s craft shop in Hawkes Bay. A lovely lady in Matata in the Bay of Plenty used to make them to sell and they’d sit in deck chairs outside the shop welcoming shoppers in- oh look, I just happened to have a couple of 'old people' photos! That's Mum in the centre on the right, in case you are thinking 'that one looks very realistic'- the photo appeared in the local paper.

Our next stop was at the Death’s Corner Lookout which overlooks the engineering masterpiece that is the Otira Viaduct. Opened in 1999, the 440 metre four span viaduct carries the road over a stretch of unstable land and replaced a narrow winding, dangerous section of the road that was prone to avalanches, slips and closures. As magnificent as the viaduct is I was more impressed with the artificial waterfall that was created to divert water over the two lane highway, to plummet hundreds of metres into the Otira River below.

One final stop at the summit of the Pass to check out the memorial to Arthur Dudley Dobson, pioneer, explorer, surveyor and civil engineer who discovered the pass in 1864 (although Maori did use it earlier). Arthur Dobson was born in London in 1841 and died in Christchuch in 1934 at the ripe old age of 93 - the fresh air obviously agreed with him.

We stopped in Arthurs Pass Village for a late lunch and then decided we’d stay in the village for a couple of days instead of heading further east to one of the numerous DOC camps along the way.

This DOC campground was a little different than most, it was just across the road from the DOC headquarters for Arthurs Pass National Park, just along the way from the railway station and backing onto the railway line and sidings including a historic turntable. The bank I’m standing on taking the photo is a flood bank for Avalanche Creek which runs through the centre of the village.

Avalanche Creek arrives in the village via three vertical waterfalls that cascade down the mountainside across the road from the camp. This small section is the waterfall at the bottom of the falls, the middle section can be viewed from a platform just above these and there’s a very steep track up to the top section. The water, as you can see is crystal clear, it pools just over the bank from our camp and disappears into the gravel underneath the rail bridge before emerging into the Bealey River on the other side. The gravel must be very porous because it’s hard to imagine that amount of water not forcing the flow all the way to the river.

The middle waterfall forms a beautiful backdrop to Arthurs Pass Chapel’s main window. Like a number of churches around the country nature does a great job at providing a moving living stained glass window.

Arthurs Pass Village began its life as a road construction camp and then grew to provide services for travellers on the road providing, amongst other things, fresh horses for the weary travellers on the 2-3 day journey. Between 1907 and 1923 the village became a worker’s camp during the construction of the Otira railway tunnel. Many of the holiday cottages tucked into the bush around the village are former worker’s huts. The post office was one of the more unusual post offices we’ve seen on our travels. It looked more like a bus shelter and I bet it would be very cold collecting your mail in the middle of winter!

There are numerous walks around the village and along the Pass but other than a short walk to Bealey Chasm we didn’t do any of the popular walks.  We did spend an afternoon hiking up the Otira Valley in search of the elusive Rock Wren- I’ll do a separate post on that- but with the sun not reaching into the valley until late morning and it being bitterly cold outside until then, we stayed in the van tucked up in the warmth.

Historic Jacks Hut, a restored roadman’s cottage, sits across the road from the Chasm carpark.

Some of the most prominent features of the village are the railway yards, buildings and railway stations (old & new). Not so visible is the entry to the 8.5km long Otira tunnel, in part because it’s hidden in the shade all day long. The entrance is the dark hole at the end of the bridge in the top left photo.

And while the Arthurs Pass is mostly a peaceful alpine environment, there is the frequent rumble of passing trains, day and night.

Most of the trains were hauling coal wagons back and forth from the West Coast coal mines, it was interesting to note that 5 engines were needed to pull the wagons up to Arthurs Pass from Greymouth. And only two were required to take the empty wagons back to the Coast; on occasion the 3 spare engines were hooked onto the back of the passenger train.

Twice a day the Trans Alpine Passenger Train pulled into the station, the train transports visitors on, what some say, is one of the worlds great train rides through some stunning scenery. Personally I think the road journey is more spectacular- we have done the train, 17 years ago, but I have little recall of it other than the tunnel which went on and on. Odd when it’s the scenery that I should have remembered. Although I do remember stopping at the old A frame railway station and hoping for a kea to make an appearance (they didn’t). The old station has now been replaced with a long low profile concrete and stone building- you can see it in the background of the photo of our van back near the top of the post.

Near the underpass to the station is this information board with the rock and the carved logo beside it. It’s a pity that lichen is overtaking the emblem.

Still to come from Arthurs Pass-

Cheeky, Curious & Charismatic Kea
Stunning Otira Valley

Loving Lake Brunner

We had a very wet night at the Top 10 campground in Greymouth but the next day dawned fine and clear and we were keen to get on the road and head to our next destination, Lake Brunner, which is about 30kms inland from Greymouth.

On the way we stopped at the historic site of the Brunner Coal Mine which straddles the Grey River not too far out of town in an area known as ‘Coal Gorge’. All that remains of the Brunner Mine on the surface, are the remains of the old coke ovens and a large memorial of a miner with plaques listing the names of the men killed at Brunner, along with other mining disasters on the West Coast including the most recent, with the loss of 29 men at Pike River in November, 2010.

The chimney on the south bank (where the carpark is located) was actually part of the Tyneside Mine which was located on that side of the river.

In March 1896 an explosion deep inside the Brunner mine killed all 65 miners inside and remains New Zealand’s worst mining disaster. The moving stories of some of the miners, and their families left behind, are told on story boards in the mine information shelter across the suspension bridge.

There’s also a memorial plaque at Brunner for the men killed in the Strongman Mine. The centre photo is of a large memorial rock for the Strongman Mine disaster which happened in 1967, the rock was on the main coast highway near the Moutkiekie Rock Stacks. With so many mine disasters, along with Cave Creek, it would seem that the West Coast has had far too many tragedies with multiple lives lost; far too many in comparison with other NZ provinces.

Looking back across the Grey River, and tucked up unseen in the bush above the road, I spied an old belfry tower. The remains of the busy mining settlement that used to be situated along either side of this section of the river.

Our next stop was Moana, Lake Brunner’s holiday settlement, where we stopped for lunch at the Stationhouse Cafe which overlooks the historic Moana goods shed, railway station and footbridge. Everyday the trans-alpine railcar passes through the settlement around mid-day and stops for a brief few minutes for passengers to stretch their legs and take photos. I wanted to shoot it as it pulled in or out of the station but even though I saw the railcar everyday, I was either driving, too far away or out on the lake. I need to plan that shoot a little better next time.

To reach our camping site at Iveagh Bay we passed under the main east-west, Christchurch-Greymouth railway and even though we know we won’t hit, it always feels like we might just. So I get out to check and we’re, as we already knew, a ‘mile’ clear. Better to be safe than sorry though….and it gives me a chance to grab another photo!

Iveagh Bay is a quiet sheltered bay on the north side of the Lake Brunner about 5kms further east of Moana. The freedom camping area is tucked in at the end of a large reserve with a number of lovely holiday homes as a back-drop, most un-occupied and shut up for the winter.

We have the place to ourselves as we set up in what must be a prime site; backed up to a small stream and just a few steps from the lakes edge. It’s not that often that I feel at home so quickly but this was one of those places. I said to David, I could stay here for a few weeks and I’d be very happy. It’s a pity that we can only stay for 3 nights; Lake Brunner’s freedom camping regulations come under Greymouth Districts banner. I’m wondering if my ‘ancient man’ on his trike comes by at 5:30am.

David doesn’t waste any time and has the Takacat out and ready to go within an hour or so and then as the afternoon draws to a close he heads off to check out our bay.

For the next couple of days the weather is perfect, the lake is so calm, perfect for us to explore and David to fish. The entrance to Iveagh Bay is directly across the water.

Mt Te Kinga borders the east side of Iveagh Bay and does a great job at sheltering the bay. There are a number of ski lanes around the lake including one along the base of the mountain where the waters are smooth and calm.

What a perfect spot- lake edge, drowned forest, bird song and native bush….now all we need are the trout.

There were a number of drowned trees, tree stumps & unusual trunk sculptures, remnants of a kaihikatea trees,  along the lake edge which made great photo subjects.

Especially during the golden hour when the setting sun turned the wood and bush to a warm rustic golden colour. A number of passing photographers visited the lake during our stay, they arrived with their tripods and camera bags packed with many lens, only to find the lake covered in thick cloud, or the sun to high or it was overcast and drizzling.

None arrived during the golden hour or stayed for sunset, when the colours were perfect and the lake was a picture. They didn't have the luxury, like I did, of being able to see the many moods of the lake throughout the day.

I took this photo out the back window of David. I bet in a month of Sundays you’ll never guess what he is doing. I’ll help you. He is hunting for a rat trap. He is hunting along a stream overgrown with cutty grass for a rat trap that had disappeared from where he had set it. Cutty grass or not there is no way in hell you'd have found me searching in this environment, I'd be far too scared of what might jump out at me. But David was determined to find his trap.

I haven’t done a blog on our pest control programme yet, I’ve been waiting to be able to report our successes but unfortunately so far the successes have been few and far between with just a few unfortunate mice caught.

We have two special traps we're trialing; one for mice and one for rats. The animal walks inside the tube checking for the bait, triggering the trap which has been set using an expanded sheep tailing ring. The ring springs off around the head of the poor mouse instantly killing it.

It’s a pity the mice can’t read, they keep setting off the rat trap and it’s a pity weka can’t read either. One pesky weka had managed to pull the trap away from where it was pinned to the ground. It must have been the peanut butter bait. At first David was sure someone had stolen it. That was until I assured him no one in their right mind would steal a rat trap that was hidden from sight and especially when there were better trappings(no pun intended) of life on the road scattered around the van.

And sure enough, after 15 minutes or so and 101 nasty cuts he came up trumps; one rat trap retrieved still with peanut butter intact.

And here is the culprit, warming himself in early morning sun, readying himself for another day of poking his beak where it’s not wanted.

After a couple of days with the lake to ourselves, the long ANZAC weekend brought a number of families to the lake to stay. This little dog was having fun riding the bow of his Dad’s kayak until he slipped and just about fell in. He did very well to hang on for as long as it took Dad to give him a helping hand back up with the end of his paddle. 

More families arrived, hoping for a last holiday weekend in the sun, their fizz boats loaded with children, wetsuits & wake boards. Shrieks and squeals of laughter rung out across the still waters.

The Maori name for the lake is Kotuku Moana which means ‘Sea of herons’ so it was fitting that we did get to see one White Heron/Kotuku while we were there (I wonder what the Maori word for swan is- there would have been 3-4 hundred black swans on the lake). Iveagh Bay had it’s own little bay that was surrounded by kahikatea trees on one side and a drowned forest on the other, along with lots of rushes and a wetland.

There was also a rather large house boat moored in this small bay, although it looks a little neglected I see on the web that it sleeps 12, has 4 bedrooms, one bathroom, a spa pool on the deck and can be hired for $800-$1000 a night.

The rain set in once again on Sunday and didn’t let up for five days solid. At least we managed a couple of fine days at the beginning of our stay. After a torrential downpour all night and the ground around us becoming sodden and starting to flood we decided to pull out on Monday morning and shift to Jacksons to wait for the weather to clear before we crossed Arthurs Pass. The rain stopped long enough for us to hitch up and pull out, the cloud hung low over mountains, the lake like a mill pond, yet again.

Still to come from Lake Brunner- A tour of the lake, trout for dinner and a miniature bungalow.