Tent City

Central City Camping Park here in Invercargill, is a very popular camp ground especially with cycling tourists & in particular German cycling tourists. Every day brings a new wave of  people watching & entertainment for us as some depart & others arrive to find a spot to put up their tent. Our van is right beside the tent area and when there's too many for one side the overflow moves to our other side in the spot that we had when we first arrived.

We have felt very sorry for some of the tents & their occupants especially when the weather has been lousy, which has been more often than not for the last three weeks. The rain has been torrential some nights and the wind horizontal but still they arrive some looking like drowned rats. I guess they have no other options when they're working to an itinerary. It certainly isn't my idea of fun, lying on a very thin foam mattress inside a very small tent where you have to bend double to move about or in fact in some, only able to crawl. And then having to contend with the constant rain & wind and the occasional single digit overnight temperature. If it was me I'd blow the budget & stop in one of the cabins overnight.

 

The late afternoon sunshine dries out tents & people

The couple below decided to have a lay in while their fly-tent (the outer case) dried out, the two guys in the green tent at the back were here for quite a few days, one of them had very bad toothache and had to wait for a dentist to open after the holiday break. There could be nothing worse than being ill, living in a tent through a wet & miserable few days. They had their fly tent stretched to it's maximum to keep the rain out.

 

"Please- no naughty business outside our front door!"

Along with young couples, groups of two or three young guys & a few older couples on cycles there have been a few single middle aged men on motorbikes & in cars holidaying in tents too, these two enjoyed a few drinks on the table near our window.

The couple in the yellow & grey tent above had a few problems with the airbed their first night. It was unceremoniously hauled out of the tent in the morning and dumped in the rubbish. Later that day they arrived back to camp with a large box & a new air bed which was pumped up by foot pump outside the tent.....wrong move, they couldn't then fit it through the tent flap, it was so large. Some air was let out and it was squashed inside and re-pumped up again. This time it took up all the floor space & more, the lower sides of the tent disappeared underneath the mattress and it looked like an overblown odd shaped balloon when they picked up the whole thing to position it. Still, going by the squeals of delight emanating from the tent that night they were obviously pleased with their purchase!

Two French couples arrived in this car with so much gear which they then proceeded to spread far & wide while they discussed where they were going to set up camp. This spot looks great but it's right underneath the trees and when it rains the drops are huge! I think they were in for a sleepless night.

 

And rather than spread more of their gear out in the kitchen & dinning area they decided to take over the one table which they shifted close to their tents & our slide out. I don't think they quite realised how much we can see through our dark tinted windows.

 

 

This young German couple, and by young they looked in their late teens although I'm sure they were not, it's just us getting older, set up their tent and then knocked on our door to see if David had any tools. They had a broken fan belt, I wondered why I had earlier seen him carting engine facia and surrounds into their tent. They had actually slid off the road and hit a bank earlier in the day. Once again (Mt Maunganui was another time) David was able to help out with repairs, we've also had people asking for help with tent pegs, change for the laundry and we offered storage for hiking packs underneath our van when the rain has been torrential.

I felt the sorriest for this couple, they had the smallest tent of any I've seen. Virtually an oversized sleeping bag with strings attached. And they were here when the rain was at it's hardest and for a few days. They had no fly tent so their single layer was a sodden mess, they had a bit of plastic at one stage but that kept getting blown off & then they purchased a tarpaulin which stayed on a little longer but wasn't ideal. While they were away during the day, David kept having to weight it down with blocks of wood to keep it in place.

This is how you emerge from a tent without getting your socks wet......

And then you sit on a plastic bag to keep from getting your bum wet while you text home...."get me out of this God forsaken wet & miserable place!" This is the couple who had their packs under our van (they were on foot), initially they had them in the tent & then found out there was no room for themselves!

The sun was shining on this morning (but not for long) when these two couples loaded up their two tents, bedding, groceries, two large suitcases and themselves into this tiny wee shopping basket of a car and drove off. I wonder if they realised how winding & steep some of the roads are in NZ when they bought the car, probably sight unseen, from some unscrupulous person who just might have said "Sure, no problems, it goes like a dream" (around town). I bet they had to double their driving time after a day or two.

So as you can see we've had our fair share of entertainment while we've been sitting out the bad weather, plenty to keep us amused as we watch the daily highs & lows of camp life. Then there are the camp regulars but that's a whole nother story......

Anderson Park- Georgian Homestead

Finally the weather eased up a little; it’s been very windy with passing rain showers on & off for over a week now, I’m sure summer will arrive soon, but in the meantime we have still been able to do a few outings with the family. After initially having a quick drive through Anderson Park on the whistle stop tour of Invercargill when we first arrived, we returned to have a wander through the grounds of the park. This was also where the beautiful house that I mentioned at the end of the Heritage Building post is located.

This stunning & elegant house is of neo-Georgian style and was built during 1924-25 at a cost of £15,000 for a prominent Invercargill businessman Sir Robert Anderson (knighted in 1934 for his generous contributions to society & business)

 

 

Sir Robert & Lady Anderson bought a neglected 300 acre block of land in 1910 that included 50 acres of native bush, they were keen gardeners & and established  extensive flower gardens & lawns around the homestead.

 

 

It was their wish that  after their deaths, the house & gardens, including a block of native bush, be gifted to the city to be used as a public park. The house is now an Art Gallery displaying a wide selection of New Zealand art and a pavillion & children’s playground have since been added in the grounds.

 

 

Located behind the house is a Maori wharepuni (meeting house) which was completed in 1920, well before the main residence. Sir Robert had an interest in Maori artefacts & commissioned Tene Waitere, a famous Rotorua carver, to carve suitable pieces for the whare. It was also built with a sprung dance floor for social occasions & Sir Robert’s youngest daughter’s wedding was held there in 1932- it is actually bigger inside than it looks.

 

 

Walking through the interior (where photos weren't allowed) it wasn't hard to imagine that not too long ago the house would have been alive with formal dinner parties & other high society gatherings. Anderson Park is another wonderful asset to the residents of Invercargill city.

The Riviera of the South

With a break in the weather yesterday; it’s been on & off wind, rain & sun for a few days now, we took a trip with the family over to Western Southland to visit what is known as the Riviera of South, a rather grand name for Riverton. It really is a misnomer though because even though it’s a great little seaside town straddling a large estuary & river I don’t think it can quite compare with the real thing. I think it’s said by Southerners with tongue firmly planted in their cheek.

I’ll come back to Riverton though because we drove on through the town & on past Colac Bay heading for a special beach further along the coast, the wild & windswept Orepuki Beach better known by its more common name, Gemstone Beach.

It’s here at low tide that people come to beachcomb for semi-precious gemstones. The beach goes through a constant change from sand to stones with the storms & tides and gems such as garnet, jasper, quartz & nephrite can often be found exposed on the tide line. But not today, there were quite a number of people out looking but it was mostly sand and the tide was on its way in sending white foaming waves far up the beach.

A fast flowing tannin stained stream cut our walk off, we were worried it would be hard to cross back once the tide came in.

We found this “man cave/blokes shed/treehouse” fascinating, it had a large carved out hole as a window overlooking the beach  with quite an elaborately built roof, cobblestone floor, walls & glass windows on the inside underneath a huge windswept tree. Someone had spent quite a bit of time designing & building it, maybe a “get away from it all” fishing bachelor pad out in the middle of nowhere.

With no gemstones on offer & the wind picking up we headed back to Colac Bay to have lunch on the foreshore. Colac Bay is famous for its surfing & and just to make certain you know this, there’s a huge concrete surfer at the entrance to the bay. I didn’t get a chance to shoot it from the front so you only get to see him from this angle!

After lunch the kids explored the rocks and along the beach. This photo is thanks to Cameron who has the same phone as me, he reminded me of the panoramic mode which I used here taking a 180 degree shot of Colac Bay.

We then headed back to Riverton leaving via the far end of the bay. And this end is obviously where the surf break happens, there were a couple dozen surfers catching waves and dozens of cars parked & people watching from the beach including an older couple who were very comfy, settled in their bean bags.

We drove around the edge of the Jacobs River Estuary, past the rickety old wharfs and the Coastguard building which was located in an unusual but obviously ideal spot, to the beach.

The river outlet was deep & swift and I’d probably say the bar at the entrance is dangerous in the wrong winds hence the need for the coastguard to be so close.

The kids had a play at the playground just before the beach and overlooking the holiday settlement.

Whale Riders

We then drove around to the Riverton Rocks which are located in a large scenic reserve at Taramea Point. On our way back, I stopped to take some shots of the Spotted Shags (Parekareka) that were battling the elements on their favourite rock (I know it was favourite by how much poop was on it!)

Turn the other cheek

"I'm outta here"

Next, the kids had a swim back at the beach & we got an icecream from what must have been the busiest dairy in the town! And no wonder it was popular, the icecreams were huge!

Across the road from the dairy was the Riverton Soundshell looking very forlorn & forgotten. What a shame, not too long ago this place would have been alive with concerts & activities, the centre of many people’s summer holidays. An old blackboard covering one of the side buildings advertised “sausages $1”

Just out of town is the very colourful Riverton Racecourse, the locals obviously have a passion for horse racing going by how large, well maintained & colourful the four grandstands & course are.

Invercargill's Heritage Buildings & More

The light was just right later in the afternoon of New Years Day, bright with no sun to cast deep shadows, so I took the opportunity of clicking a few photos of the beautiful heritage buildings located around Invercargill city. And an added bonus was that there was virtually nobody about & hardly any vehicles to clutter my photos, the only negative being Christmas decorations that still adorned some buildings & streets. With Invercargill being a very small city I only had to move a block or two & then a street or two before stopping for the next photo, I would estimate that all these buildings are located within a 3km square. And they are pretty impressive for an often maligned southern provincial city. 

 

St Mary's Basilica- opened in 1905 & once described as Australasia’s “prettiest church” the neo-Classical architectural style Basilica is a dominant Invercargill landmark with it’s copper clad dome.

 

The Basilica is located across the rail line from the Otepuni Gardens where a lovely meandering path winds its way down the side of the creek & through the formal gardens.

 

 

Fleming & Company Flour Mills- opened in 1886 on the site of a wooden flour mill that was destroyed by fire, it remained operational until 2006 & is on the NZ Historic Places register. The mill is just a street away from our camp ground & just along the road from the Basilica.

 

 

Civic Theatre- The Civic Theatre is one of the most significant historical buildings in Southland & is designed in the Edwardian Baroque style. It was built in 1906 as municipal offices & has undergone a $15.8million upgrade to turn the rather tired “grand old lady” into a beautiful performing arts & events centre.

 

 

 

St Johns Anglican Church is next door to the Civic Theatre & designed in the Gothic Style by the same architect.

 

And just a block further down the road is the First Presbyterian Church which was designed in the Italian Romanesque style. The First Church contains over one million bricks, it was opened in 1915 at a cost of £18,181. This is one of the premier examples of church architecture in NZ, the bell tower rises 32 metres above the street & draws attention to the elaborate patterns of brickwork. Imagine following that while you're laying bricks metres off the ground. You would only have to get one wrong for it to stand out like a sore thumb.

 

Railway Hotel- Built in 1896 this beautiful building incorporates elements of Victorian, Edwardian & Baroque revival architectural styles. The hotel is one of the last remaining in NZ still being used for it’s original purpose.

Bank Corner & Trooper’s Memorial- the memorial  was erected to remember those that served in the African Boer War.

 

The former Bank of New South Wales stands on the site where Invercargill’s  commercial activity began in 1856. 

 

 

On one corner is a feature wall which has been constructed  to represent the Maori & Celtic roots of the city.

 

 

Historic buildings & facades of Invercargill City- there are many styles of heritage buildings within the inner city precinct from Arts & Craft & Nouveau/Deco to Victorian.

 

More bright & colourful city buildings including the Grand Hotel which certainly looks grand on the outside but a bit dubious on the inside!

 

 

 

I suppose we should be grateful that they don't demolish these old buildings but I can't for the life of me understand why the powers-that-be allow such garish paint jobs & advertising on such a lovely building. It'll be that all important dollar that does it.

 

WEA Building- The three storyed WEA building was built in 1912 as a Coffee & Spice Mill for David Strang & built in front of the original (& recently rediscovered) 1885 mill. Strang invented & patented soluble coffee powder.

The impressive Invercargill Cenotaph, c1986. This city doesn't do things in small.

 

Water Tower- This is a much better photo of the Water Tower than the one I posted a few days ago. The busy main road that runs along the front of the tower is closed to traffic at the moment (major road works) but I was able to pretend I was a resident & park there while I took photos.

 

The foundation stone for the tower was laid in 1888, the cupola was removed in 1934 & replaced in 1988 with the assistance of NZ Aluminium Smelters. The tower contains 200,000 common bricks, 80,000 red pressed bricks, 15,000 yellow pressed bricks & 4,000 pressed black bricks.

 

Southland Masonic Centre- The Masonic temple was opened in 1926 at a cost of £14,116 and is in the Graeco-Doric Style with a red brick & smooth plastered portico, supported by 6 fluted columns. The Lodge is regarded as one of the most impressive lodges in the Southern Hemisphere  & received a silver medal in 1934 from the NZ Institute of Architects.

 

And the final photo is one of the abandoned church that we can see over the back fence of the camping ground. I haven't managed to find out any history on this yet although there is someone living in there as I've seen a light on in the middle of the night. The windows are boarded up and the grass needs to be mown.

There is one more grand neo-Georgian style building I need to shoot but that will have to wait until we visit the park with the family. In the meantime I hope you enjoyed your virtual tour around lovely Invercargill City.