Tripping Again...

With winter sliding slowly away towards spring we have decided to get away for a few days to Nelson at the top of the South Island. The last time we visited Nelson was March 2021, but the deciding factor for visiting was not only the length of time between visits, but also that my last long service recognition trip (from my airline service) expires in December so it needed to be used and Nelson being a single sector destination so it is easy to get to.

An 8:00AM arrival combined with a 3:00PM motel check-in meant that we needed to fill some time. So we drove to Blenhiem, some 65 km to the east. A visit to a store for her indoors was followed by a pub lunch then a visit to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. This place has superb displays of WWI and WWII aircraft. The WWI section is hugely influenced by Peter Jackson who has a passion for the era and contributed heavily.

Clearing the Red Baron's crash

A difficult landing...

 

The WWII section has a smaller number of aircraft, but is just as impressive.

We had been here before, some five years ago, but it was well worth a return visit.

Memories...

The other week a friend and I were waxing on about our wargames beginnings. He said his earliest memories were fighting battles with his brothers using green army men. I have discussed my own wargaming genesis here a number of times - 54mm Britains, obsessions with the American West and the Civil War, etc, but what this discussion reminded me was that in support of my Western obsession my dad made me a model fort. My memory is pretty hazy about it, but it might have been a birthday or Christmas present. It would have measured 3 feet by 2 feet, maybe bigger, and was made of 6mm plywood. 

Now my dad was a scientist and not a craftsman, but he had grown up on a farm so was handy on the tools and he had made a beautiful job of it, all made by hand tools. It had walls that stood maybe four inches high, with firing platforms, a couple of sentry towers, gates that were hinged and had a locking bar on the inside. I filled it with buildings made from the cardboard of cereal packets (my God, I was making model buildings even back then - at the age of 10) and had hours and hours of fun with it. I have no idea what happened to this model. I guess it was disposed of eventually.

Jump forward some 20 years to the late 1980s, when we our Military Miniatures shop was in Parnell and we carried a small stock of 54mm figures, because one of our partners was himself a 54mm collector. Among that selection were a number of beautifully designed figures from the Phoenix Follies range. These bawdy figures were perhaps the most admired, but probably the slowest sellers, in the shop.

I remember that the first couple of these figures were sold to a rather quiet, well dressed man, with what sounded like a northern European accent. He came in a couple more times and bought a few more figures, enough for us to decide to import a few more, then I didn't see him for the better part of a year. On his return we got talking and it turned out that the reason I hadn't seen him for so long was because he had been in Sweden. He had business interests both there and in New Zealand. He would spend around six months in each country, a sort of never ending summer.

As we talked more he told me that he had a significant collection in Sweden and how his father had indulged his hobby by building a scaled fortress in the backyard. He described how it wasn't just a small thing, but an actual replica of a Vauban fortress with walls, bastions, ravelins, etc, all crafted in concrete measuring something like twenty feet square.

He went on say that the model had deteriorated badly because over successive winters water had frozen in the concrete and caused it to crack and split. Over that last northern summer he and his sister had decided to restore it and he had spent a lot of time repairing it. He has even gone so far as to build a structure around the model to protect it from the elements. He said the had photographs and would show me. I never saw him after that and never got to see that model.

Until that casual discussion last week the parallel of fathers half a world apart supporting their child's hobbies in a similar way hadn't occurred to me. 

Half-Year Wrap Up and a New Book

Well it is that time again, time to look back on the year and review what has been achieved.

It has been a busy six months for me. Using the Analog Painting Challenge method of allocating points for each piece completed (5 for a foot figure, 10 for a mounted figure or piece of equipment and then adding my own factor of 10 for every hour spent scratch building) my points count for the six months stands at 10,700, my fifth biggest year since I started keeping records in 2014 - and the year is only half finished.

The lion's share of the work has been in scratch building where a total of 78 pieces have been completed - some small, some large, some very large. Three other projects have been undertaken - Austrian and Duchy of Warsaw Napoleonics, and the French Franco-Prussian War cavalry and generals. Two projects are waiting to be started - the Bavarian Franco-Prussian artillery (on order) and cavalry, and the French Revolutionary War plastic infantry that are waiting release form the Perrys.  

The weight that the scratch building component has on the statistics can be clearly seen below.

The game count is a little down on last year, largely because we haven't been able to make our weekday games work too well this year and I haven't been able to make any time for solo gaming either. The frequency of games is something to be corrected in the next six months.

What is next? Obviously the Bavarian FPW sinceartilkery  the order has already been placed, along with a few Duchy of Warsaw bits and six FPW lancers that are also enroute. The Revolutionary French will probably be released by year's end so they may make it into this annual count. I do have some plans for some more scratch building. While plans for these haven't quite settled yet, they are leaning strongly toward some structures suitable for the Franco-Prussian War which would be useful in a Franco-Prussian War campaign that I have an idea for. I also have a significant scenics painting project for a friend.

Will I beat my all time record of 13,060 points? Maybe, but I not making it a target, I would much rather beat my number of games played record.

Received today was the newly published 1866: At the End was the Battle of Königgrätz, Battle Tactics of the Austro-Prussian War, published by Zeughaus Verlag (available in both German and English editions).

Well researched and presented, it is a fabulous 220+ page book in a glossy A4 format, with many black & white and colour images. It is a scholarly work that covers in good detail the Army structures, the campaign, battles, battlefields, uniforms and detailed descriptions of the tactics and the way they contributed to the successes and failures of the war. The following are screenshots from the publisher.

A

It is rare to find a study on this conflict that actually considers that the Austrian defeat was not solely attributable to the Prussian use of breach loading weapons, so for anyone with an interest in this era, this book is a must have. 

Travelling Again

Another month, another birthday (mine this time...number 68) and a wedding anniversary to boot. To celebrate we headed south again.

Although the main even is not actually until the weekend, we decided to take advantage of the weekday rates. In my years in the aviation industry I used to flinch when comments were made about airlines gouging prices at holiday times, but airlines have got nothing on car rental companies and hotels! I mean, $212 for three day car rental during the week, but nearly $450 over the weekend. Hotels can be much the same. It's amazing how we just accept that. In my earlier years I used to work for a wholesale stationery company and there was a standing joke in that trade that people would complain about spending $30 on a present, but would think nothing spending another $20 on the wrapping paper and a card.

Anyway, early Tuesday afternoon we boarded our flight to Christchurch then, after picking up our rental car, drove north for an hour and a half to Hanmer Springs. 

 

Now we've been to Hanmer before, during a trip through the South Island in March 2021, but we only spent one night there - a stop-off point between places. We 'took the waters' in the hot springs and really liked the place. We fully intended to return and in fact had booked another trip until another Covid lockdown intervened and we had to cancel. So we decided that now it was time to go back,  this time for a little longer - three days in fact.

Despite the MetService predicting gale force winds and rain for our arrival, the weather was calm and dry, although a little cool. Arriving a little before 5:00 we topped up supplies at the local supermarket and settled in for the night.

MetService told us to expect stronger winds and more rain in the morning, but they didn’t get it quite right … as you can see from this image from the hotel room porch just after 9:00AM.:

Still it was a little cool, at a degree or two above freezing, not that that is a problem for us as the morning was to be spent in the hot pools. This is an excellent place and not too many visitors in the morning.

However, by noon the weather had closed in, not the stormy forecast, but a drizzly rain. A late lunch and a couple of drinks helped to pass the afternoon.

The grey skies of Wednesday cleared overnight to beautifully sunny, albeit frosty, Thursday. We returned to the pools in the morning. It was much more popular on this day, particularly amongst the grey population - so much that as we approached one fairly full pool her indoors muttered ..."my God, its's pensioner soup!", even though we had entered complex on an aged concession!

After lunch we climbed to Conical Hill, for view from north of the town.

A little retail therapy and a drink or two in a local pub followed.

Dinner at an Indian restaurant finished the day and ended our Hanmer Springs break. Tomorrow it's back to Christchurch, then home. We should be turning the key at home before the rush hour starts...Friday rush hour starts at 2:30 and ends at 6:00.

Back Home Again

Our short road trip to the east coast of the North Island is ended with our arrival home today.

While I do recall passing through Napier in the way to a wargames convention in Hastings, maybe in 1984 I don't think I had ever stopped in the place. 

The first thing that struck me was the breadth of beachfront running nearly 6 KM along the eastern edge of the city, before extending even further south towards Cape Kidnappers.  

The city council has also done excellent work in making the waterfront available for all ages, from extensive playgrounds, skate parks, gardens and the fabulous National Aquarium. 

There are lots of great places to dine and excellent wineries, one of the best known being the Mission Estate - the first winery established in NZ in 1851. The winery has some great colonial buildings and a great view back over the city.

Next stop on the road trip was Gisborne, two and a half hours north of Napier. It was another winding road, not as bad as the one Waiouru-Napier, but many spots of roadworks - repairs from the recent wet weather.

Again I had only previously only been here once 30+ years ago and just drove through on the way to a New Year event at Tologa Bay. My first view of Gisborne was somewhat underwhelming, but it was Saturday afternoon and most of the stores had closed. We soon found a place for a drink and something to eat. On Sunday morning we drove a little to the north to Wainui Beach, a 5 kilometer long surf beach. We walked along the beach in brilliant sunshine.

After returning to the city for lunch we went for another walk. This time past the front of our hotel towards the mouth of the river. This is a working port and a ship was busy loading with logs for export.

Behind the ship is the marker recording the spot where Captain Cook set foot on New Zealand soil on 1769. On the opposite shore, where we walked, is the statue to Cook.

A few hundred meters further on is Young Nick's statue honouring the young lad who, from the crow's nest, had first sighted land for Cook and after who the location Young Nick's Head is named.

From here, within walking distance of the city centre, Waikanae Beach stretches into the broad curve of Poverty Bay all the way to Young Nick's Head, fifteen kilometers to the south.

Monday saw us heading towards home. We had decided to break the trip - normally it would have a seven hour drive that would gave brought us back into Auckland in the middle of the afternoon rush and we didn't want the hassle...and its not like we are chained to a schedule. We decided to spend the night at Rotorua. The original plan was to drive north through the Waioweka Gorge, but that route is closed due to storm damage so we had to double back towards Napier then take the Napier-Taupo road. From Taupo it is a short hop to Rotorua. But the trip was plagued with roadworks that made the trip somewhat tedious.

An early departure from Rotorua had us home by just after 10:00 AM.

It's Time to be on the Road Again

Sunday saw another American Civil War game.

Monday morning saw us heading out of Auckland for a few days on a trip to the Hawke's Bay region. Neither of us have been that way for many years - nearly 40 years in my case.

First stop was Taupo. The drive down was pleasant enough with tolerably light traffic. The summery weather of last week had cooled with the arrival of a low pressure system, but the view across Lake Taupo towards to the mountains of the volcanic plateau was spectacular, even if Mt Ruapehu was shrouded in cloud the whole time we were there.

I hadn't spent any time in Taupo since a family holiday in 1971 (apart from an overnight stay on the way back from a wargames convention in the late 1980s), so it was like visiting for the first time. The town itself is pleasant enough with a wide range of eateries and shops. As a tourism centre there is lots to do, although most of it is adventure activities. We chose to visit the Craters of the Moon, a geothermal area. It was a pleasant walk through a gently steaming vents and a couple of bubbling mud pools, although it was cold in exposed places.

After a quick lunch stop we drove the short distance to the Huka Falls, a fifteen meter volcanic rock chute through which the turquoise water of Waikato River gushes and falls some eleven meters in two or three stages. They are not the highest or most volumous falls, but spectacular in their own way.

 

After a stop for a drink in a local pub, we headed back to our hotel and 'took the waters' at the hotel's mineral water spa for about an hour. We considered a walk along the lake shore, but a howling southerly wind kept the air temperature cool. Instead we chose to watch the waves breaking on the shore from our room with a glass or two of pinot noir. After dinner, when the wind had eased, we did get out for a walk along the waterfront with the waves still breaking as though at an ocean beach.

Day three saw us back on the road, heading for Napier, via Waiouru. Locals are probably questioning why on earth am I taking the four hour route rather than the two hour Taupo-Napier route? Simple,  I wanted to visit the National Army Museum at Waiouru.

The museum is much as I remember it from 30 years ago. It covers the full history of the NZ Army involvement in conflicts from the NZ Wars, through the Boer Wars, WWI, WWII, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam,  Afghanistan and Iraq. I couldn't help thinking that it is a shame that the magnificent model of Chunuk Bair, commissioned by Peter Jackson and populated with thousands of 54mm figures, is not housed there. Still, the life sized dioramas still have appeal.

Then it was back on the long and winding road to Napier...and it was long and winding. By 2:30 we arrived in Napier and settled into our hotel for fresh adventures tomorrow.