Friday, August 3, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Auckland to Thames 31st July 2007
I’m typing this up back home, in bed. Our amazing holiday is over.
Mind you, today wasn’t that exciting.
I probably turned the light out at
We had breakfast at the X-Base café. Continental breakfast of Weetbix, fruit, yoghurt, toast and honey.
Checked out of the X-Base and D.C. complained again about the blood on the duvet that she had complained about when we last stayed (in the same room).
Helped an Asian man use the lockers. The problem was he was working in some foreign language/text and I was trying to remember and explain in English. We got there though. He caught the same bus we did at
It was a good trip home. Waved to Lea Rhind and Mark Christinsen as we went past CTP but they weren’t looking.
D.C. had her daypack, two trundler cases and a Kumfs bag with her coat in it, so I took the Kumfs bag to work to take home tomorrow. Turned off the computer, the printer, shut the doors and put up the “Warning! Protected by Signature Security” sign. Then I was just leaving when Barrie Russek turned up in the office. I said “Hello. Goodbye.” And left.
D.C. and I started walking home, when Diane Connors came out from the Information Centre in her car. She offered to give us a ride home, which was great.
Querie was very happy to see us. His tail was quivering in ecstasy. We gave him something to eat and he bogged in. Once I was sorting out things in the dining room and I heard this plaintive meow. I went outside and he was sitting up on his feeding station. I gave him a pat and he began eating again. He’s happy now and spent the evening on D.C.’s knee.
We went down the road and bought some bread and our usual weekly ice cream and saw the Dohertys. Then we got the mail. All our parcels from New Plymouth have arrived.
Home and tried to unpack my bags and sort everything out. My problem is now, where do I put my suitcases?
Bridgecorp was in the news. Looks like I’ll be getting between 25 and 74 cents in the dollar… probably in dribs and drabs in about six months time.
Downloaded the full 675 photos I’d taken over the ten days.
Uploaded yesterday’s blog, but will do today’s tomorrow.
We had a fantastic holiday, if slightly bemusing. We’d expected to be in the background. The Govett-Brewster show was Ann’s triumph, not ours; we didn’t deserve any of the limelight. And, while we owned the quilts at Puke Ariki, we didn’t make them. But the fuss that was made of us made this into a truly unique holiday and one we’ll never forget.
The time is
This is my last blog entry for a while.
And we still believe that Mount Taranaki is a myth.Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Still to come...
We got home at about 3.00pm today and I'll upload today's blog tomorrow, after I've written it.
New Plymouth 30th July
30 July 2007
This morning seems so long ago that it’s hard to remember what we did. I paid the Bella Vista Motel bill - $1054.40… and then the motelier came running up the stairs with my $10 Internet cable bond.
Having packed, stripped the beds and done everything we had to do (D.C.’s ended up carrying her thick jacket in her Kumfs bag) we, managing to avoid the rain, walked down to Puke Ariki. There, we met with Diana Gibbons and said that if the offer to take us to the airport was still there, we’d accept. She said that she’d realised that she could take us after her “white gloves” talk and that it wasn’t a problem. (The only problem is that I’ve given her my cold… either that or her sister has.) We left our bags at Puke Ariki and went and posted my Thunderbirds jumper and some other items and then, before it started raining, fed the ducks our remaining crust of bread. Then we had a look around the “City Centre” mall, managed to avoid buying anything though we did see some bargains, and had lunch – hotcakes with lots of fresh fruit (orange, banana, apple, grapes, kiwifruit), wild berry sauce and yogurt - $12.50 and apple juice $3.20 each. Very nice.
Then we went back to Puke Ariki and sat in on Diana’s white gloves talk. That was interesting. It was a showing off of items in the museum’s archives and of course the archivists used white gloves to touch the items. Diana showed off maps of New Plymouth and showed how they changed over the years and the same with tourist brochures. Andrew (I think) showed some crockery that had been buried by a family during the land wars so that they could retrieve it after the hostilities were over. The problem was that landmarks had changed when they went back to get them, and so the priceless china lay undisturbed from the 1860s until the 1920s when a farmer, the new owner of the land, happened to plough them up. They are in good condition.
One lady present for the talk had been to Ann’s opening and was asking us questions about Uncle Fred.
Then we talked to Diana about leaving the quilts at Puke Ariki on long term loan, until we decide it they can have them permanently. She was trying to be delicate and tip-toe around issues until I said that we were in two minds. On one had we’re very aware that the quilts should be kept together and that we can’t care for them properly, while on the other ‘pragmatic’ side of things, we don’t have a lot of money. She said that she thought that was the case and that, with no guarantees, she’d see if an offer couldn’t be made. We know that it wouldn’t be as much as if some rich Americans bought them individually, but the collection is of “international importance” and shouldn’t be broken up. And, really, they should remain in Taranaki.
Then Diana took us to the airport, made sure we were okay and said goodbye. We gave her our heartfelt thanks.
I asked about taking photos during lift off and landing and the gentleman who booked us in said that he’d only learnt that recently too, and that he wasn’t sure why.
2.00pm and we made our way to gate three, which appeared to be exactly the same as gates one to four, and probably wasn’t a lot different to gates five upwards. We walked across the tarmac to Thunderbird Seven and were first into the plane. We were in row 12 A & B and the only row behind us were two seats in our aisle.
I think the pilots (one was a lady) on this flight were better than the ones from
We got to
After a trip up to Skycity to see if their lockers were working, we went to Tony’s “Lord Nelson” for dinner. I had lemon crumbed chicken schnitzel ($26.50) and D.C. had scallops $13.50 and a side order of veges $6.00 and we each had an apple juice $4.00 each. This is coming out of the money that Ann gave us.
Had a look around Whitcoulls. There are a lot of DVDs, books and games that we’d like to get but they cost money and we would have to carry them.
Back to the X-Base and we went to bed at 7.00pm. I’m typing my diary, before proofing Ursula White again, and D.C.’s reading.
And we still haven’t seen
Sunday, July 29, 2007
New Plymouth 29th July
Downloaded all our photos to Google’s web album. They haven’t been sorted, captioned or culled, but at least we have a backup.
1.05pm: I don’t think Mount Taranaki’s going to make an appearance today, either. It’s raining. It’s been raining all morning.
We decided that we had to complete the coastal walkway, so we got dressed in our sandshoes – easy to dry(?), yesterday’s socks, waterproof over-trousers, raincoat, and waterproof bag covers and headed out. It was quite nice, walking along the foreshore, listening to the surf pounding onto the rocks, the rain onto our hoods, the sloshing footsteps of the other idiots… um, sorry, walkers and joggers out enjoying the walkway.
We made it to the finish of the walkway, at the port, but didn’t get a photo by the finishing post as that would have meant getting our cameras out to get wet. Instead we found shelter under the verandah of the coastguard’s building and took photos there. I would have liked to have got more photos, but didn’t want to risk the camera.
Then we walked back again.
We walked as far as the wind wand so that we can say conclusively that we have done the full six kilometres both ways. There is one little bit that we’d missed and that was because they were repairing the tornado damage, but we’d probably walked a longer distance skirting it.
It was 11.30 by then, so we decided to have lunch. Chicken satay roll ($6.00 – lots of peanuts! *yum*), hot chocolate $4.00 (not looking forward to get back on those scales. We’ve probably undone all the good work we’d done with the walking.) We also bought a couple of muffin sized carrot cakes ($4.00) for later.
Then, having left puddles of water on the floor of the food court in the Centre City mall (we did tell the cleaners) we sloshed back to the unit. Presently the towel rail and heater are both on trying to dry our shoes, socks, coats and bags. We had a go at using the hair dryer too.
Tried to pack my bag, but I’m stuck until my shoes dry off and I can pack them.
We’re heading off to Govett-Brewster again, just before 2.00pm, for Rhana Davenport’s talk on Ann’s work and then to Puke Ariki to hear Diana Gibbons talk about Uncle Fred’s quilts. I hope it stops raining for the walk.
Now I’m going to go do some proofing of my latest story. I’ve brought it halfway across the country and this is the first opportunity I’ve had to look at it! And we’re starting the trip home tomorrow. *sniff* To see Querie the cat. *yay*
1.19pm: I’d just turned the computer off and then remembered something I was going to say.
D.C. just looked in the wardrobe and I asked her what I had in there to pack: polar fleece vest, pink jumper, pink blouse… *groan* I’m going to post some things home tomorrow, so I don’t have to carry them, but not everything.
And I’ve forgotten what I was going to say. I’ll shut this laptop down, remember, and have to make a note.
7.08pm: I think it was that one of my black Commando M sandshoes was turning grey in parts, as we walked through the rain. I eventually realised that it was air bubbles being squashed out of my shoe.
Ann Shelton’s photographs/Fred Butler’s quilts display: As with everything that we’ve been involved with this week, we’d anticipated turning up to the (for want of a better word) lecture (maybe explanation? Talk?) about Ann’s photos and Uncle Fred’s quilts, and just kind of standing around in the background. Instead we were put on display ourselves. D.C. had been asked to give a quick talk about Uncle Fred for Ann’s show at the Govett-Brewster and it ended up that Rhana Davenport, D.C., Ann and Diana Gibbons were all sitting up in front of everyone and Rhana was expecting me to be there too. My plan was to video for our records and to give a copy to Ann. A man I’d been talking to earlier offered to video for me, so I accepted his offer and took the final chair.
Rhana spoke for a time, off the cuff. The she handed the microphone to D.C. – who was very good. :-) Then Ann spoke and finally Diana. I’m thinking, “What am I going to say if they hand me the microphone?” Everyone was wearing black (D.C. did have a pale blue polo-neck skivvy on), except for me with my pink skivvy and jacket (admittedly my slacks and shoes are black) and when Rhana asked me if I wanted to say anything I said, “No, I’m just here to provide some colour,” and got a laugh.
Four people from the floor got up and spoke about knowing Fred. All remembered him as being very brown (tanned), like a bird (flitting about everywhere), and being very enthusiastic about his collection and willing to show it off. Afterwards we had a good chat with Christine Hellier’s sister.
Then we all hiked down to Puke Ariki (it had finally stopped raining) where Diana spoke about the quilts and some of the conservation that went into them. People were most impressed and asking us questions about them. The Puke Ariki education officer was asking me questions and making notes for her ‘classes’.
Then we came back to the unit, got changed and decided to go get something to eat. Still wary about the weather we thought we might get takeaways and bring them back and have the carrot cake for dessert. Our original plan had been to go to a restaurant that had formerly been called ‘Burtons’ and have a meal there, and by the time we’d hiked along Devon Street, we’d reached the restaurant (now a ‘Breakers’) so we stopped for a meal.
Me: Hawaiian chicken (chicken, salsa, pineapple, cheese, rice, salad) $15. BIG apple juice $4.50
D.C.: Kumara pie (kumara, pumpkin, spinach and cottage cheese) $13. BIG apple juice $4.50
Then we came back to the unit (took us about 10 minutes walking) and had a cup of green tea and the carrot cake. Then tried to dry our clothes some more.
This will be my last blog until we get home. We're staying at the X-base in Auckland tomorrow night and won't have an Internet connection. I'm not expecting anything exciting to happen anyway... not unless Mount Taranki shows himself. And if he does, and we're on the plane, I'm taking photos!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Photo Album
Most of photos taken this holiday:
Warning! There are literally hundreds of photos. None of them are captioned, some aren't any good and since both D.C. and I were taking photos many are similar. But still, you'll be able to scroll through as fast as you like and won't have to pretend to be interested when you look at them. It's also a backup for us.
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| Our New Plymouth trip |
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| Our New Plymouth trip |
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| New Plymouth - 28 July |
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| New Plymouth 29 July |
Warning! There are literally hundreds of photos. None of them are captioned, some aren't any good and since both D.C. and I were taking photos many are similar. But still, you'll be able to scroll through as fast as you like and won't have to pretend to be interested when you look at them. It's also a backup for us.
Two drowned rats
We're not stupid enough to pose out in the rain getting our cameras wet and us even more saturated!
New Plymouth 28th July 2007
28 July 2007
We’re in the paper! Our picture, holding Uncle Fred’s quilts in by the banner and a full page article on Uncle Fred on page 13.
Couldn’t stop coughing when I went to bed last night. Just a nagging tickle. At 12.30am I eventually got up and got a Fisherman’s Friend and sucked on that. No problems after that.
Went into town this morning. D.C. bought a postcard and a stamp for Aunty Isabel and we bought some souvenirs for ourselves and as gifts from Puke Ariki.
Then we kind of wandered around town. D.C. wanted to buy a cheap black satchel and we were just checking out other souvenirs. D.C. found a satchel at the Warehouse, that was supposed to be $9.92, but was only $1.95 when she went through the checkout.
We’re weren’t sure what to do next, so went back to Pukekura Park and had a wander through in the opposite direction to the way we went last time. Tried to take photos of a fantail. May have got a couple. Had lunch at The Tea House again. $43 – for two stuffed chicken breasts (we liked that last time so thought we’d have it again), two hot chocolates, and we shared a kiwifruit cheesecake. Just as well we’re walking everywhere – the public transport service is supposed to be useless and I’ve only seen buses parked under the ‘air-bridge’ between the two buildings of Puke Ariki and driving along that street.
1.21pm: We’ve come back to the unit for a short time to have a cup of tea and wait until a walk starts from Puke Ariki at 2.00pm.
The pedestrian crossings in New Plymouth are different to what we’re used to. A lot of them are only a car length from intersections and so you get cars turning out of intersections and stopping so you can cross. Quite unnerving at times. Especially since some of the pedestrian crossings have signs saying “Pedestrians Give Way” which seem to be directed at pedestrians, not cars.
5.26pm: Sitting here waiting to go over the road to the Govett-Brewster to the opening of Ann Shelton’s exhibition.
We went to Puke Ariki to go on the guided tour at 1.30pm, only to discover that it started at 1.00pm. So we did it by ourselves using the book we’d bought the other day. But first we went up to check on Uncle Fred’s quilts. There had been a box added that contained Govett-Brewster invitations for tonight, and a potted biography of Uncle Fred (incorrect. It said he was born in 1904 when it was 1903 – correct on the other side of the wall. It also had phot0grapher.) Some people were admiring them and seemed quite taken by the quilts. We tried a bit of eavesdropping but couldn’t hear anything. One elderly couple were spending a long time there so I asked if they’d seen where Puke Ariki had done a bit of conservation work. They hadn’t so I pointed it out to them. Turns out he’d been to Uncle Fred’s place at Sentry Hill. We didn’t let on that we were related to Fred or that the quilts belonged to us, just said that we’d known him.
Then we went on our walk. We skipped the first few points of interest because we’d seen them earlier in the week. Then we started the Tiki Tour, having a good look around St Mary’s Pro Cathedral. What the heck is a PRO Cathedral? The mind boggles. Perhaps the oldest stone church in New Zealand, it was impressive to look around. It had a stained glass window of a Boy Scout, complete with Boy Scout Pocket knife… and God’s hands pointing at him as if miming shooting a gun. I’m sure there must be some other relevance to that.
Then we went up Marslands Hill and saw the Carillion (haven’t heard it properly yet, just in the distance) and tried to see Mount Taranaki. He’s still not co-operating. We could see his knees, but nothing else. Only a couple more days available to us, so I hope he co-operates.
Then we followed the rest of the walk, ending up back at the motel. I ironed my blouse and we got ready for Ann’s opening tonight. It’s 5.36pm so I’d better start packing up. More soon.
10.51pm: Well we are certainly doing things we’d never done before. We went to the opening of Ann’s show, which went off very well. We were treated like royalty and were introduced to numerous people (most of whom we’ve forgotten) as if we were important dignitaries, even though Ann was the star tonight. One was Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins (I think. *blush*). Ann introduced us to some of her friends as well (so she had plenty of support, which was good).
Betty and Martin Smyth came too, so we showed them about and told them about Uncle Fred. In some respects it was nice to have some nice, non-arty people with us. Not that any of the ‘arty’ ones made us feel unwelcome, it just that it’s a whole different world to what we’re used to.
The ‘powers-that-be’ kept on making sure that we were happy, had enough to drink (pineapple juice), and were happy with the way that Uncle Fred was being portrayed. We were expecting to, and would have been happy to, turn up to the opening, blend into the background (videoing it for Ann’s records, which I did anyway) and then go back to the unit again.
I videoed the opening speech (given by Rhana Davenport – the director of the gallery. Must check on these names) and she pointed out Fred’s relatives Frances and Sereena Burton. I think I must have gone as pink as my blouse and D.C. started coughing.
We were invited to the after opening dinner at PaNKaWalla (I’m not sure if I’ve got the right number of capitals there) and had our meal and drinks paid for. It’s an Indian Restaurant and everyone was served the banquet meal – entrée dishes, pompadoms, main (narn bread, rice, butter chicken, a lamb dish and a vegetarian dish – all nice and not too hot. The only thing that was too hot was the butter chicken and that was in a ‘straight from the saucepan to burn the mouth’ type of way.) Dessert was mango ice cream. I sat next to Ann, across the table from Duncan Munro and D.C. was next to me with Helen Telfor (assistant director of Govett-Brewster) opposite and Ann’s friend, Debby, who’d helped her with going through Uncle Fred’s books at our place.
We left at about 10.30pm and came home. I had a kiwifruit (not much in the way of veges in Indian cooking) and had a cup of green tea. The time is presently 11.16pm.
By the way: Uploading the photos in 'small' format makes them postage stamp sized in the blog (on my computer) instead of playing card sized, and made no difference to the size of the clicked on photo. Sorry about that folks.
We’re in the paper! Our picture, holding Uncle Fred’s quilts in by the banner and a full page article on Uncle Fred on page 13.
Couldn’t stop coughing when I went to bed last night. Just a nagging tickle. At 12.30am I eventually got up and got a Fisherman’s Friend and sucked on that. No problems after that.
Went into town this morning. D.C. bought a postcard and a stamp for Aunty Isabel and we bought some souvenirs for ourselves and as gifts from Puke Ariki.
Then we kind of wandered around town. D.C. wanted to buy a cheap black satchel and we were just checking out other souvenirs. D.C. found a satchel at the Warehouse, that was supposed to be $9.92, but was only $1.95 when she went through the checkout.
We’re weren’t sure what to do next, so went back to Pukekura Park and had a wander through in the opposite direction to the way we went last time. Tried to take photos of a fantail. May have got a couple. Had lunch at The Tea House again. $43 – for two stuffed chicken breasts (we liked that last time so thought we’d have it again), two hot chocolates, and we shared a kiwifruit cheesecake. Just as well we’re walking everywhere – the public transport service is supposed to be useless and I’ve only seen buses parked under the ‘air-bridge’ between the two buildings of Puke Ariki and driving along that street.
1.21pm: We’ve come back to the unit for a short time to have a cup of tea and wait until a walk starts from Puke Ariki at 2.00pm.
The pedestrian crossings in New Plymouth are different to what we’re used to. A lot of them are only a car length from intersections and so you get cars turning out of intersections and stopping so you can cross. Quite unnerving at times. Especially since some of the pedestrian crossings have signs saying “Pedestrians Give Way” which seem to be directed at pedestrians, not cars.
5.26pm: Sitting here waiting to go over the road to the Govett-Brewster to the opening of Ann Shelton’s exhibition.
We went to Puke Ariki to go on the guided tour at 1.30pm, only to discover that it started at 1.00pm. So we did it by ourselves using the book we’d bought the other day. But first we went up to check on Uncle Fred’s quilts. There had been a box added that contained Govett-Brewster invitations for tonight, and a potted biography of Uncle Fred (incorrect. It said he was born in 1904 when it was 1903 – correct on the other side of the wall. It also had phot0grapher.) Some people were admiring them and seemed quite taken by the quilts. We tried a bit of eavesdropping but couldn’t hear anything. One elderly couple were spending a long time there so I asked if they’d seen where Puke Ariki had done a bit of conservation work. They hadn’t so I pointed it out to them. Turns out he’d been to Uncle Fred’s place at Sentry Hill. We didn’t let on that we were related to Fred or that the quilts belonged to us, just said that we’d known him.
Then we went on our walk. We skipped the first few points of interest because we’d seen them earlier in the week. Then we started the Tiki Tour, having a good look around St Mary’s Pro Cathedral. What the heck is a PRO Cathedral? The mind boggles. Perhaps the oldest stone church in New Zealand, it was impressive to look around. It had a stained glass window of a Boy Scout, complete with Boy Scout Pocket knife… and God’s hands pointing at him as if miming shooting a gun. I’m sure there must be some other relevance to that.
Then we went up Marslands Hill and saw the Carillion (haven’t heard it properly yet, just in the distance) and tried to see Mount Taranaki. He’s still not co-operating. We could see his knees, but nothing else. Only a couple more days available to us, so I hope he co-operates.
Then we followed the rest of the walk, ending up back at the motel. I ironed my blouse and we got ready for Ann’s opening tonight. It’s 5.36pm so I’d better start packing up. More soon.
10.51pm: Well we are certainly doing things we’d never done before. We went to the opening of Ann’s show, which went off very well. We were treated like royalty and were introduced to numerous people (most of whom we’ve forgotten) as if we were important dignitaries, even though Ann was the star tonight. One was Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins (I think. *blush*). Ann introduced us to some of her friends as well (so she had plenty of support, which was good).
Betty and Martin Smyth came too, so we showed them about and told them about Uncle Fred. In some respects it was nice to have some nice, non-arty people with us. Not that any of the ‘arty’ ones made us feel unwelcome, it just that it’s a whole different world to what we’re used to.
The ‘powers-that-be’ kept on making sure that we were happy, had enough to drink (pineapple juice), and were happy with the way that Uncle Fred was being portrayed. We were expecting to, and would have been happy to, turn up to the opening, blend into the background (videoing it for Ann’s records, which I did anyway) and then go back to the unit again.
I videoed the opening speech (given by Rhana Davenport – the director of the gallery. Must check on these names) and she pointed out Fred’s relatives Frances and Sereena Burton. I think I must have gone as pink as my blouse and D.C. started coughing.
We were invited to the after opening dinner at PaNKaWalla (I’m not sure if I’ve got the right number of capitals there) and had our meal and drinks paid for. It’s an Indian Restaurant and everyone was served the banquet meal – entrée dishes, pompadoms, main (narn bread, rice, butter chicken, a lamb dish and a vegetarian dish – all nice and not too hot. The only thing that was too hot was the butter chicken and that was in a ‘straight from the saucepan to burn the mouth’ type of way.) Dessert was mango ice cream. I sat next to Ann, across the table from Duncan Munro and D.C. was next to me with Helen Telfor (assistant director of Govett-Brewster) opposite and Ann’s friend, Debby, who’d helped her with going through Uncle Fred’s books at our place.
We left at about 10.30pm and came home. I had a kiwifruit (not much in the way of veges in Indian cooking) and had a cup of green tea. The time is presently 11.16pm.
By the way: Uploading the photos in 'small' format makes them postage stamp sized in the blog (on my computer) instead of playing card sized, and made no difference to the size of the clicked on photo. Sorry about that folks.
Friday, July 27, 2007
The rag
Taranaki Daily News
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dailynews/4143438a6551.html
But they don't have all the photos, including the ones of us (me in my Thunderbirds jumper ;-) - the seam of which is coming unstitched, I'll have to fix that when I get home.)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dailynews/4143438a6551.html
But they don't have all the photos, including the ones of us (me in my Thunderbirds jumper ;-) - the seam of which is coming unstitched, I'll have to fix that when I get home.)
Sorry
Was I the only person who didn't realise that if you click on the photographs in my blog then you see an enlargement of the photograph?
I'm using Picasa 2 to upload my photographs because it's so easy. You select the photo you want to blog and then you push a button saying "Blog this". But then it asks you if you want the photo "small, medium or large". I've always chosen medium, thinking that it would be a good size to show on the blog, but never noticed any difference in size between the three options. Now that I know the difference (thanks, Doug) I'll upload as 'small' and hope that the photos are easier to see.
By the way. We're in the paper! Page 13 of the Taranaki Daily News and, apparently, the article's going to be in the Sydney Morning Herald!
Fame at last
I'm using Picasa 2 to upload my photographs because it's so easy. You select the photo you want to blog and then you push a button saying "Blog this". But then it asks you if you want the photo "small, medium or large". I've always chosen medium, thinking that it would be a good size to show on the blog, but never noticed any difference in size between the three options. Now that I know the difference (thanks, Doug) I'll upload as 'small' and hope that the photos are easier to see.
By the way. We're in the paper! Page 13 of the Taranaki Daily News and, apparently, the article's going to be in the Sydney Morning Herald!
Fame at last
27 July 2007 New Plymouth
27th July 2007Discovered this morning that the Lantern Parade was on last night along the walkway, which would have been why the searchlight was in the sky. We would have rather seen that than the show, but if we hadn't seen the show we would have been with the Smyths anyway. And that was certainly an enjoyable evening.
Today, being basically a ‘free day’ we decided to do the Te Henui Walkway along the waterfront. (It was free too.) At 9.30am we decided to pop into the Govett-Brewster to see Ann Shelton, but it was shut – until 10.00am by one sign and 10.30am by the one next to it! Go figure.
We went to Puke Ariki at 10.00am and met Suzette Goldsmith who is keen to write a biography about Uncle Fred, if she can get a grant to do so. We are more than happy to let her since he got no recognition when he was alive, and he was a remarkable man. It’s only been 25 years since his death before Taranaki has started to realise what an asset to recollecting his history he was. She gave us a couple of her books “A Potted History of Tea” and one other (which D.C. has packed away to read later) so that we can check that we approve of her work.
Then we started on our walk at Len Lye’s wind wand (a better bit of art than his films). The full walkway is about six kilometres long, but we started about a third of the way into it so didn’t do the full track. We missed out one bit because they were doing repairs after the tornado two weeks ago. We saw the Placemakers that had lost its roof when the tornado hit. They had these huge machines repairing the rockwall by the walkway. The guys who operate them are craftsmen.
We called into Placemakers because D.C. wanted some glue to fix up her shoe. A brand new shoe, (not one of the boots) and she’d caught it in one of the New Plymouth District Council footpaths and separated the toe from the sole (they are ‘Commando M’ sandshoes – very comfortable). So we got some ‘elephant glue’ and stuck it together again – along with our fingers.
D.C. was pleased because she finally got to see and touch a bit of beach. Being on the west coast of the North Island it is iron sand.
Yes - that is my pink bag.
We can’t complain about the weather. I brought all these warm clothes – scarf, woollen socks, leg warmers, thermal spencer and leggings, polar fleece vest – and the only thing from that list that I’ve warn is my ‘vest’, and I’ve abandoned that over the last few days. I haven’t really needed to wear my waterproof over-trousers and used my raincoat more for warmth than dryness.
When we’d got to the end of the walkway there was a slight shower, but not enough to really bother putting raincoats on, so we didn’t bother. We sat on a seat on the way back (I wrote a couple of postcards) and got wetter from the seat than we did the weather. We stood and watched some ducks and let the seat of our slacks dry.
It was about 2.00pm when we’d got back, so we undid all our good work and had lunch. Apricot and chicken in pastry parcels with a nice salad. D.C. had a hot chocolate and I had an apple and fejoia juice. We shared a chocolate fudge brownie. *yum!*
Then we went to Puke Ariki to find out where the post boxes were and the newspaper. While we were there we had a look at where Uncle Fred’s quilt exhibition is going to be held. There were only two things to do so they let us look around. Diana Gibbons came down and had a chat and let me take photos. We are thinking about letting them keep them, either as a long term loan or a gift.
Then I posted the postcards. The $1.50 stamp is of Mount Taranaki. That’s the only time that we saw it today.
Then up to the Govett-Brewster. Ann’s happier now because it’s coming together. Debbie had arrived so we were happy to see her again, as well as Ann’s boyfriend, Duncan Monro. Ann let us take photos and video of the setting up, so it’s been interesting to see behind the scenes of both exhibitions. This hasn’t been a touristy holiday, but it has certainly been interesting, exciting and different.
Because we’d had lunch so late we weren’t hungry, so we thought we’d get a small hamburger or pie. I’d discovered a couple of potential places in the yellow pages so we started working.
Let me say here and now that if you ever only want to have something to eat to keep you going through the night, then a Burgerfuel burger is NOT the thing to have. They are huge! Imagine a bread and butter plate sized bun and beef patty (1/3 pound). I’d only heard about them on the news when they were going to sell shares to their customers, and since it’s a New Zealand company I was keen to try one. They are good! So is the ice cream. We are very full now. D.C.’s already sleeping it off.
We stopped off at New World on the way home and I bought some milk for my breakfast.
I had thought it would be a really early night, but it’s 9.50pm and I haven’t sent this to the blog yet. Better go do it now.
Today, being basically a ‘free day’ we decided to do the Te Henui Walkway along the waterfront. (It was free too.) At 9.30am we decided to pop into the Govett-Brewster to see Ann Shelton, but it was shut – until 10.00am by one sign and 10.30am by the one next to it! Go figure.
We went to Puke Ariki at 10.00am and met Suzette Goldsmith who is keen to write a biography about Uncle Fred, if she can get a grant to do so. We are more than happy to let her since he got no recognition when he was alive, and he was a remarkable man. It’s only been 25 years since his death before Taranaki has started to realise what an asset to recollecting his history he was. She gave us a couple of her books “A Potted History of Tea” and one other (which D.C. has packed away to read later) so that we can check that we approve of her work.
Then we started on our walk at Len Lye’s wind wand (a better bit of art than his films). The full walkway is about six kilometres long, but we started about a third of the way into it so didn’t do the full track. We missed out one bit because they were doing repairs after the tornado two weeks ago. We saw the Placemakers that had lost its roof when the tornado hit. They had these huge machines repairing the rockwall by the walkway. The guys who operate them are craftsmen.
We called into Placemakers because D.C. wanted some glue to fix up her shoe. A brand new shoe, (not one of the boots) and she’d caught it in one of the New Plymouth District Council footpaths and separated the toe from the sole (they are ‘Commando M’ sandshoes – very comfortable). So we got some ‘elephant glue’ and stuck it together again – along with our fingers.
D.C. was pleased because she finally got to see and touch a bit of beach. Being on the west coast of the North Island it is iron sand.
Yes - that is my pink bag.
We can’t complain about the weather. I brought all these warm clothes – scarf, woollen socks, leg warmers, thermal spencer and leggings, polar fleece vest – and the only thing from that list that I’ve warn is my ‘vest’, and I’ve abandoned that over the last few days. I haven’t really needed to wear my waterproof over-trousers and used my raincoat more for warmth than dryness.
When we’d got to the end of the walkway there was a slight shower, but not enough to really bother putting raincoats on, so we didn’t bother. We sat on a seat on the way back (I wrote a couple of postcards) and got wetter from the seat than we did the weather. We stood and watched some ducks and let the seat of our slacks dry.
It was about 2.00pm when we’d got back, so we undid all our good work and had lunch. Apricot and chicken in pastry parcels with a nice salad. D.C. had a hot chocolate and I had an apple and fejoia juice. We shared a chocolate fudge brownie. *yum!*
Then we went to Puke Ariki to find out where the post boxes were and the newspaper. While we were there we had a look at where Uncle Fred’s quilt exhibition is going to be held. There were only two things to do so they let us look around. Diana Gibbons came down and had a chat and let me take photos. We are thinking about letting them keep them, either as a long term loan or a gift.
Then I posted the postcards. The $1.50 stamp is of Mount Taranaki. That’s the only time that we saw it today.
Then up to the Govett-Brewster. Ann’s happier now because it’s coming together. Debbie had arrived so we were happy to see her again, as well as Ann’s boyfriend, Duncan Monro. Ann let us take photos and video of the setting up, so it’s been interesting to see behind the scenes of both exhibitions. This hasn’t been a touristy holiday, but it has certainly been interesting, exciting and different.
Because we’d had lunch so late we weren’t hungry, so we thought we’d get a small hamburger or pie. I’d discovered a couple of potential places in the yellow pages so we started working.
Let me say here and now that if you ever only want to have something to eat to keep you going through the night, then a Burgerfuel burger is NOT the thing to have. They are huge! Imagine a bread and butter plate sized bun and beef patty (1/3 pound). I’d only heard about them on the news when they were going to sell shares to their customers, and since it’s a New Zealand company I was keen to try one. They are good! So is the ice cream. We are very full now. D.C.’s already sleeping it off.
We stopped off at New World on the way home and I bought some milk for my breakfast.
I had thought it would be a really early night, but it’s 9.50pm and I haven’t sent this to the blog yet. Better go do it now.
The other reason why we are in NP - 27 July 2007
The scrapbooks are actually novels, which he had turned upsidedown, removed every second page, and covered in wallpaper. Each scrapbook has a different theme: Taranaki, crime, the weather, humour, births and deaths, etc...
Don't worry, they'd fixed it before we'd left today.
The reason why we're in New Plymouth - 27 July 2007
The walkway 1 27 July 2007
We'd walked from the bit about level with D.C.'s glasses to the red spot at the top and back. Took us about two hours, and then we undid our good work by having lunch at 2.00pm.
Tornado repair 27 July 2007
Placemakers vs the weather
Wind Wand July 27th
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