Hello everyone,
Recently I injured my back and had to take five weeks off work, so in order to prevent my wife and I going spare, we went on short day trips around our local area, during which I found out some really interesting stuff that I was previously unaware of. Here are a few images of our wee trips about the place.
Firstly, this is where we live. It's not really a "place" as such, more a community of farm houses on the side of a country road. Apart from a school and a volunteer fire station there is no settlement here; the nearest convenience store takes about 30 minutes to drive to.
This is the view from our front room. We live in what's known as the Misty Valley. It's quite special here, but being so isolated has its disadvantages. Our petrol bill is horrendous; I drive for 45 minutes along 100 kph roads to get to work.
This is our most prominent landmark; it's called Crusader. I have to aim our satellite dish just to the right of it to get a decent picture, but so far I think the dish is aimed at the mountain since the picture is terrible.
This is my daughter having a little fun. The water pistol's handy for chasing the neighbour's chickens away that constantly escape and scrounge for food off us.
This is a very rural South Island scene; sheep grazing the plains against a backdrop of snowy mountains.
These pictures were taken the day after Remembrance Day; I had a physio appointment, so stopped at the local war memorial, which is perched on the side of a hill.
Whilst there I was surprised to find out that the first New Zealand casualty of the Great War was from our local area.
One day we went for a drive up into the Kahurangi National Park, but the weather quickly closed in on us. This picture was taken at about 2,500 feet above sea level.
This used to be a local train station at a small town a half hour's drive from us.
There's really not much to do in these small towns, which leads some folk to the depths of desperation...
Off the nearest town to us is the wreck of a vessel, of which I knew very little about until we went out to take a closer look. This is the Janie Seddon, or what's left of it.
What I was interested to find out was that the Janie Seddon was a purpose built naval vessel in service with the government of the Dominion. Named after the daughter of the Prime Minister, "King Dick", Janie Seddon was built in Paisley, Scotland in 1901 and was commissioned as a submarine mining vessel based in Wellington. During both world wars it was used as an examination vessel; its only armament during WW2 was a single Bren Gun. Post war it was sold to a fishing company, where it was based in the port town of Motueka. Motueka port no longer exists and the Janie Seddon was just abandoned off the Mot foreshore.
This is a picture of the Janie Seddon at the time of its sea trials off the coast of Scotland.
Finally, I'm back to work now, working reduced hours on the orders of my lovely young English physiotherapist to ease the load on my back. it's good to get back into a routine again...
I hope you've enjoyed my photos of my local area.
Recently I injured my back and had to take five weeks off work, so in order to prevent my wife and I going spare, we went on short day trips around our local area, during which I found out some really interesting stuff that I was previously unaware of. Here are a few images of our wee trips about the place.
Firstly, this is where we live. It's not really a "place" as such, more a community of farm houses on the side of a country road. Apart from a school and a volunteer fire station there is no settlement here; the nearest convenience store takes about 30 minutes to drive to.
This is the view from our front room. We live in what's known as the Misty Valley. It's quite special here, but being so isolated has its disadvantages. Our petrol bill is horrendous; I drive for 45 minutes along 100 kph roads to get to work.
This is our most prominent landmark; it's called Crusader. I have to aim our satellite dish just to the right of it to get a decent picture, but so far I think the dish is aimed at the mountain since the picture is terrible.
This is my daughter having a little fun. The water pistol's handy for chasing the neighbour's chickens away that constantly escape and scrounge for food off us.
This is a very rural South Island scene; sheep grazing the plains against a backdrop of snowy mountains.
These pictures were taken the day after Remembrance Day; I had a physio appointment, so stopped at the local war memorial, which is perched on the side of a hill.
Whilst there I was surprised to find out that the first New Zealand casualty of the Great War was from our local area.
One day we went for a drive up into the Kahurangi National Park, but the weather quickly closed in on us. This picture was taken at about 2,500 feet above sea level.
This used to be a local train station at a small town a half hour's drive from us.
There's really not much to do in these small towns, which leads some folk to the depths of desperation...
Off the nearest town to us is the wreck of a vessel, of which I knew very little about until we went out to take a closer look. This is the Janie Seddon, or what's left of it.
What I was interested to find out was that the Janie Seddon was a purpose built naval vessel in service with the government of the Dominion. Named after the daughter of the Prime Minister, "King Dick", Janie Seddon was built in Paisley, Scotland in 1901 and was commissioned as a submarine mining vessel based in Wellington. During both world wars it was used as an examination vessel; its only armament during WW2 was a single Bren Gun. Post war it was sold to a fishing company, where it was based in the port town of Motueka. Motueka port no longer exists and the Janie Seddon was just abandoned off the Mot foreshore.
This is a picture of the Janie Seddon at the time of its sea trials off the coast of Scotland.
Finally, I'm back to work now, working reduced hours on the orders of my lovely young English physiotherapist to ease the load on my back. it's good to get back into a routine again...
I hope you've enjoyed my photos of my local area.
Eric.
WOW!
