Scotts Ferry and the Bess Memorial

 After our lunch at Mint, we took a little Tiki Tour.  Starting off at Scott's Ferry, which transported horses, cattle, sheep, produce and people across the Rangitikei River from 1850 to 1908.  The ferry (barge) was then purchased and  worked on the Whanganui River from 1908 to 1975, and after laying derelict for some years, was salvaged, restored and returned to the area where it first started operating all those years ago, to honour all the early pioneers.   In the early  days the coastline and rivers were the roads of the day.  

Scott's Ferry  transported goods across the river

Scott's Ferry Weather Station raised a smile

From here we went in search of the Bess Memorial.  Thousands of horses were purchased and sent overseas in WW1.  Bess was bred in the Wairarapa and was selected by Col Charles Guy Powles, an officer in the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade.  Bess served in Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, France and Germany, before heading to England and finally returning home in 1920.  She was one of only four horses who returned home after war service.

Bess enjoyed 14 peaceful years on the farm, and she was buried where she collapsed and died in 1934.  Col Powles had a memorial constructed in white marble to honour the life of his special horse.  This spot was one of the many Anzac Services held around the region on Anzac Day.

The Bess Memorial

Along the fenceline are two special young trees, Gallipoli Pines grown from seeds brought back as pine cones after WW1.  The trees were felled and used for reinforcing the trenches.  There are two pines, either side of the gate to the Bess Memorial.

Gallipoli Pines

Over the Remutaka Hill

 Another rally weekend had rolled around, this time we were going to stay at Kahutara School in South Wairarapa.  Living where we do, it's always a bit of a mission to get to the Wairarapa.  We can travel either north or south, crossing over a mountain range to get there, and either trip takes us two hours.  This time we headed south, through Upper Hutt and Kaitoke and over the Remutaka Hill.  There was a traffic hold up in Kaitoke, and we were interested to see what was going on.  Obviously a large slip had happened a while ago and now the land had been sealed over.  We noticed men hanging off ropes on the steep slope - checking for something it seemed.

Land slip on Kaitoke Hill

Then it was up, up, up the Remutaka Hill, towing the caravan  behind us.  We stopped at the top so I could get a photo of the memorial at the top commemorating the Rimutaka Crossing.  Unveiled in September 2015, this art work was created to remember the thousands of infantry men who marched over the Rimutaka Hill prior to their departure to the Western Front in World War One.

Lest we Forget

The eagle eyed amongst you would have noticed the two different spellings I have written for this hill road, built in the 1870s.  Following a treaty settlement Rimutaka has been changed to Remutaka by the NZ Geographic Board.  The previous name Rimutaka had no meaning in te reo Marori, while Remutaka means "sitting down to rest".  So named by a chief as he sat down to rest while pursuing his run away wife across the ranges to Wairarapa.  And the Remutaka Hill Road has had it's named changed to Remutaka Pass, but that doesnt seem to be in common usage yet.

The rally venue wasn't available till 4.00pm so we arranged to meet Owen and Helen for lunch at Lake Domain Reserve.  The lake was calm, with black swans quietly feeding, so we picked a place to stop, got our chairs out, and sat admiring the peaceful surroundings.

First to arrive for lunch

Owen and Helen weren't too far behind us, parked up and we enjoyed a picnic lunch together.  There was quite a bit of honking from geese over the other side of the lake, and we wondered what kept disturbing them.  the noise would quiet down, then away the went again, honking loudly once again. This is a freedom camping area, and on a hot. sunny, wind free Wairarapa day, it was delightful.  So nice in fact, that we decided it should be put on the next rally schedule for a summer rally.

Then there were two

After lunch, Owen decided he wanted to explore, so we hopped in his shiny black car and set off to see what we could find.  Sadly, the road didn't go all around the lake, so it was quite a short drive indeed.   

  

We stood on the small foot bridge at the end of the road and watched as two dogs had the time of their lives retrieving sticks thrown into the stream for them.  Of course, they both wanted to grab the same one, and had to be encouraged to swim after the second stick being carried down the stream.  It was certainly good exercise for them.

Swans on the lake

By the time we arrived back to our vans, Helen and Stuart, the rally family for the weekend  had arrived.  So there was nothing for it but to sit under the shady awning again for afternoon tea and while away some time until we could get on our way.  We were due at Kahutara School from 4.00pm, giving the pupils and teachers time to finish for the day.

Ted’s Bottle and Waimate

I was looking forward to our next stop after Dunedin -  Waimate, which was 159km up SH1. The first glimpse that we were getting closer was the yellow shed on the main road featuring a wallaby and  encouraging us to “Hop in for a Visit".   Wallabies? You may well ask, this is New Zealand, not Australia. Wallabies were released for hunting purposes near Waimate in 1874. Fifty years later, they were recognised as a pest, responsible for destroying pasture, native regeneration, damaging fences and displacing stock. Although tens of thousands have been shot, unfortunately it has  made little dent in the population.  They may be cute and furry, but they are an introduced species and are not welcome.

Hop in for a Visit

We stayed overnight at the Waimate NZMCA Park, a lovely camp which we had visited before.  It was nice to park up on grass, and water and rubbish facilities were available.

Waimate NZMCA Park

The reason I was so keen to stop at Waimate was to visit one of the pubs in my “Great Kiwi Pub Crawl” book, and check out the sad story of Ted’s Bottle at the Waihao Forks Hotel. 

Ted d’Auvergne was having a farewell drink or two with his mates at the pub, waiting for the train to take him to Burnham Military Camp for training before heading off to war.  Ted heard the train coming, and left an unopened bottle of beer on the bar, calling to the publican to “save it until I get back”.  Ted served for two years in the Middle East, was transferred to Greece, and was killed in May 1941 in the Battle of Crete.  The publican saved Ted’s bottle of Ballins XXXX beer, and it is now stored in a case above the bar, engraved with Ted’s battalion insignia.  Each April on Anzac Day, another poppy is placed inside the case, and the locals drink to Ted and all his fallen comrades.  There is a statue of Ted outside the pub, showing him waiting with his kit bag at the station.

At the Waihao Forks Hotel

We stopped to admire the Silo Art back in town.  Waimate artist Bill Scott painted murals on grain silos at Transport Waimate’s Queen Street yard.  The silos were built by hand in 1920 nd were the first of their kind in the country.  Hometown hero  WW11 soldier Eric Batchelor was twice awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous bravery when he served in Italy.  Beside him is Margaret Cruikshank, the first registered woman doctor in New Zealand.  She practiced in Waimate from 1897 until she fell victim to the 1918 influenza pandemic while treating patients. The artist then recreated a scene between New Zealand's 29th Prime Minister, Waimate born  Norman Kirk together with a child at Waitangi.

Silo art in Waimate

There is yet another thing Waimate is well known for and that is the White Horse monument high up on the hill at Centrewood Park overlooking the town and farmlands.  Retired farmer Norman Hayman returned home from an European holiday inspired by a Friesian Cow statue in Holland and decided the hard working Clydesdale horse deserved a tribute too.  It took Norman and his wife Betty three months to prepare the ground and lay 1220 concrete slabs, with a huge 2.5 ton precast head.  For a small town, Waimate certainly has a lot to offer visitors. 

Seen high on the hill from the camp

Donuts, Pies and The Willows

There wasn't too much rush to leave Bealey Hotel, our next stop was a 73km away, and most of the difficult driving was behind us.  We still had Porter’s Pass to drive over, and plenty of small hills and valleys to negotiate, but it seemed that we were over the worst on this road.

We drove down yet another steep hill to see the Waimakariri River, one of the braided rivers found in this part of the country.

Waimakariri River

The land was opening up, but the mountains hadn't quite given up on us yet, there were still plenty of interesting views as we drove along.

More mountain views

Our plan was to spend the night at Kowai Pass Domain Campground, Springfield, a “new to us camp”, very reasonably priced at $22.00 a night for a powered site on the Camper Saver Scheme.  The friendly caretaker lives in a large bus on site, warmly welcomed us when we arrived, guided Robin into place, turned the power box on for us, and we were soon set up in time for lunch.  He mentioned how good the NZMCA was to the business during lockdown, helping stranded travelers find somewhere to stay, including his camp ground, when travel restrictions were in place.

Camp sign and caretakers bus

The camp is nicely maintained, with good amenities, and a laundry.  On went another load, which was hung up on an old fashioned line with a centre pole.   As the camp is part of the Domain, there is a tennis court, children’s playground, and we noticed that the council trucks use part of the grounds to park up at night.

Two of us, later joined by several other vans

Springfield is famous for a large pink donut, but where did it come from?   The Simpsons cartoon has been around for more than 30 years, and on July 27, 2007, The Simpsons Movie premiered across the globe.  The  movie studio 20th Century Fox presented a giant pink donut to the town of Springfield, New Zealand,  in 2007  to promote the premiere of The Simpsons Movie.  We are not really Simpson fans, but even we know that Homer Simpson loves donuts. And no, we couldn’t find him anywhere.

The famous Springfield donut

Springfield has a famous son, and the  Rewi  Alley Memorial honours his life and work for 60 years in China.

The story boards inside tell of his birth in Springfield, his childhood and early years, and his many years in China helping the ordinary Chinese people to improve their lives.  We also found a plaque honouring his mother, Clara Alley.  She was one of the leaders of the Women's Suffrage Movement.

Rewi Alley Memorial

It was just one night here in Springfield and we were on the road again.  Just 10km down the road was Sheffield, home of the world famous Sheffield Pies.  The number of cars, trucks and motor homes parked outside the shop was unbelievable, on both sides of the road – seems the rumour was true, the pies certainly must be famous indeed!  Robin had to drive around the block to find room to park our rig. Just look at all those people munching away on their Sheffield pies on the veranda, and there were plenty more customers inside.

 

Happy customers

There were plenty of choices in the hot cabinet and we each chose a hot pie for lunch, plus I ordered two cold bacon and egg pies for a future meal.  A coke for Robin and a coffee for me – could this be a more quintessential Kiwi lunch?

I’ll try some of that

Another 30km or so, turning off the main road and heading towards the Waimakariri River took us to The Willows NZMCA Park, another new to us stop on our trip.  There is plenty of gravel areas to park in, more than enough room for just the three vans on site, but no facilities available here. 

The Willows NZMCA park

We had only just arrived, wound the legs down, when the rain came down.  This looks like a good place to while the afternoon away and enjoy some R&R. 

Hokitika Gorge and Lake Kaniere

It was going to be another very hot day here in Hokitika, we could tell even before we set off for another day of exploring.  But first we needed to pack a picnic lunch to take, bacon and egg croisaants, a couple  of Christmas mince pies, a juicy peach each and a thermos of hot coffee.  The sun-screen and insect repellant came along too.  Now we were ready and drove 30km to Hokitika Gorge - never been there before.  The car park was very full, and we grabbed our stick each and headed along the path.  Most of the West Coast was  covered by vast moving glaciers 500,000 years ago, we read on the interpretation boards, and these shaped the landscape as they moved slowly along. 

At the start of the track

A short 10 minute walk though the bush led us to the Hokitika Swing Bridge.  It may have been short for most people, but took us a lot longer than the 10 mins stated, quite hard going for Robin and his knee problems.   The beautiful turquoise blue water caused when rocks are ground into a fine powder by the movement of glaciers.   We arrived at the look out point for our first glimpse of the very blue river and saw the swing bridge below us. 

Our first glimpse of the river and the bridge

Several more twists and turns on the track and we finally arrived at the bridge.  This had a limit of 6 people at a time so we had to wait our turn.  Here comes Robin over the bridge, and taking a photo from the middle of the slightly bouncing bridge was necessary, but a little unnerving.  And where would we be without friendly fellow sightseers  happy to take a photo for us?

 

Hokitika Gorge Swing Bridge

Robin really struggled with walking back up the track and in the end he did much better using my stick as well, he really needed two sticks for extra balance and a feeling of security, I think.  Resting in the car, and having a nice cold drink of water revived us both, and we went on our way again, this time to Lake Kaniere.  We came across the parking area for Dorothy Falls just before reaching the lake.  Luckily for us, the falls were just across the road, no trouble at all to reach them, and as a bonus, a nice wooden seat was provided. Dorothy Falls are not at all big, just a trickle really, but still nice to see and say that we had been there.

Dorothy Falls

Lake Kaniere was not too far away, another first for us, so off we went.  When we eventually arrived, after driving along a stretch of unsealed road, we found an attractive lake with a DOC Camp close by.  We sat in the car by the  lake side,  ate our picnic lunch, and watched as the day trippers were jumping off the jetty, paddling in the lake, and sunbathing on the grass.  The depression that formed the lake was carved out by a glacier during the ice age, the rock wall created at the end of the glacier forming a natural dam through which the Kaniere River flows.

Lake Kaniere

We passed by a large rock memorial on the side of the road, not a war memorial to fallen local soldiers as we presumed, but something quite different, and known as the Koiterangi Incident.  The Memorial, created using a boulder from Diedrichs Creek nearby and designed by Barry Thomson of Glenavy, was unveiled in 2004, to honour the memory of the seven victims, including four policemen shot by dairy farmer Eric Stanley George Graham. The murders took place in what is now commonly known as Kowhitirangi on the West Coast in New Zealand in October 1941.  One of New Zealand’s largest manhunts ended when Graham was shot on the evening of 20 October. He died of his wounds the following day.

The Koiterangi Incident

It  was quite sobering to read about this happening in such a quiet farming community and was not something I knew about.  It is always quite interesting what you discover on the side of the road as you travel along.

Blackball and Brunner

The most famous building in Blackball is undoubtedly the pub called Formerly the Blackball Hilton.  Built in 1910 it was named The Dominion.  In the 1970s the owners changed the name to The Blackball Hilton, as the main street is called Hilton after one of the early mine managers.  However, a threat of legal action from the overseas Hilton Hotel chain caused the name to be changed by adding “Formerly” to the title.

Formerly the Blackball Hilton

The town evolved around mining and rose to fame in 1908 when the miners went on strike for three months to extend the allocated lunch break from 15 mins to 30 mins.  The miners were taken to court and fined, and from this strike New Zealand's Labour Party was formed inside the hotel.  The West Coast weather brought the strike to an end.  In May the early winter rain flooded two other mines which were used to replace the lost production of Blackball and the pumps couldn't cope.  Several days later the Company agreed to all the strikers demands and work resumed again. 

Museum alongside the hotel, telling the story of the 1908 strike

Midmorning we packed a picnic lunch and set off to find Lake Brunner – somewhere we hadn't been before.  The rain as coming down, but it is the West Coast, after all.  Strangely enough, the locals had told us that there hadn't been any rain for weeks, so they certainly welcomed it. 

Arriving at  Iveagh Bay  we parked up at sightseers and day trippers car parks.   That was handy, we had a lovely lake view.   A group of youngsters were having a fine old time frollicking in the lake, and one of the Mums told me that the lake temperature that day was 21C, and it can sometimes rise to 25C!  . 

Water babies

The rain came down again and we ate our picnic lunch in the car, watching as a group of boys had a friendly water fight pushing each other off the surf ski.  There was much hilarity going on as one after the other were pushed off and climbed back on again.  There is a Freedom Camping Area across from the car park, with room for about a dozen vans, with a two night maximum stay. 

Another lake view

On the way back we took a detour to the Brunner Mine Memorial.  Early morning of 26th March 1896, mine workers tried to coax the team of pit ponies into the mine.  The horses reared and kicked and ran back to the stables, and would only enter the mine when they were blind folded and led in backwards.  At 9.30am there was a loud explosion  deep within the mine, flames and smoke billowed out, and 65 men lost their lives, including the reluctant pit ponies.  Because the company owned their homes, many families faced eviction.  Across the country, New Zealanders were moved by this tragedy and raised 32,000 pounds to help the families.

Some of the old mine buildings are still standing are across the river, with the bridge connecting both sides still in use.  Robin zeroed in on the statue of the miner across the river bank.  Last time we were down this way we explored the buildings still standing on the opposite side of the river.

Old Brunner Mine

Everyone who knows Robin knows he likes to have a good supply of caps to wear.  He had seen a West Coast one in the Blackball Inn so I went to get one for him while he was having a little snooze in the afternoon.  That should keep him happy.

His new cap