What a whopper! Just up the road from where we are camping in Richmond is the biggest tree stump we have ever seen. Francis Otterson arrived in New Zealand aboard the Lord Auckland in 1842, and planted a line of Tasmanian Blue Gums on his property “Rostrevor” in 1847. Sadly, he drowned in 1854 while on his way to take over a newly purchased property, leaving behind his wife Jane and young family. This last remaining tree grew and prospered for 158 years, before being felled for safety reasons when major structural problems were found.
Our camp is just a short walk to the main shopping street of Richmond, and this town seems a very lively and prosperous place. There were plenty of trendy cafes in town, many fast food outlets, and a very busy shopping mall. Dot and Derek were busy checking out new shoes, so we took ourselves off to do a little exploring. Wonder who this cute little “Baby Austin” parked in the main street belongs to?
Sited on a rise and looking down over the town is the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a traditional English style timber church consecrated in 1872. Sunlight was filtering through the several lovely stained glass windows. The church was open to visitors and a sign invites people to make use of the church grounds to sit and enjoy.
Memorial windows in the church
Back at camp we went to visit the two Birman male cats who travel with their owners in a big bus. These cats are not kept on leads and allowed to run free. There they were, peacefully snoozing outside on a bed of fallen oak leaves in one of the stable buildings behind a wire gate.
We are enjoying our time in Richmond (named after Richmond-on-Thames in England) so much that we have decided to extend our stay here till the end of the week. Of course, the deal of “stay seven nights and get one free” really helped us to make up our minds.
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