A continued break in the routine

Day five of our road trip had a frustrating start with news that the road through the Haast Pass, our route to Wanaka, had been closed by a slip after the heavy rain that had started the previous day and continued through the night. The only way to get to Wanaka was over Arthur’s Pass which meant back-tracking pretty much all of the previous day’s drive, turning a five and a half hour’s drive into nine hour drive. So we headed off at 8:00 AM. Below you can see the angry sky at Franz Josef, with a glimpse of the Southern Alps through the storm clouds.

The rain had gone and our trip north was speedy, but just north of Hokitika, after we turned off towards Arthur’s Pass the rains returned, nothing sustained, but quite strong squalls nonetheless. Between the squalls we got some stunning mountain views. Then as we reached the summit we had snow - well sleet really and nothing too heavy - that cleared quickly as we descended into sunny but cold weather on the eastern side of the Alps.

We raced across the Canterbury Plains for an hour or so before entering the Mackenzie country. Again I had never visited this ruggedly beautiful part of the country, with vast areas of dramatic tussock covered hills, lakes and broad rivers.

Below is a gloomy looking Lake Tekapo (although it was nowhere near as gloomy as the shot shows), followed by a shot of the stone church beside the lake.

By 4:00 we had reached Lindis Pass (below is a shot back down the pass from the summit) that carried us though to our destination, Wanaka, arriving there a little after 5:30. 

The place was abuzz with skiers returning from the nearby slopes and we soon found a great Indian restaurant with views over the lake. We are dinner watching the sun set over the surrounding hills that had a fresh dusting of snow that very day. It had been a long, tiring drive, but the scenery enroute made it well worth it. An early night was called for.

Wanaka has an impressive reputation for beauty and this shot from our hotel room at 7:00 AM reinforces that reputation. 

There was a strong wind blowing off the lake that chopped up the water, but views were breathtaking.

We visited the Warbirds museum, a collection of vintage cars and aircraft before checking out a lavender farm (that was surprisingly enjoyable) and returning to the town for lunch.

An afternoon of shopping, followed by a glass or two of Otago Pinot Noir on the hotel deck before another great dinner in town.

Late that night the wind picked up and in the early hours of Thursday a thunderstorm hit. I had visions of being trapped by snow on the passes - oh what a tragedy to be trapped in such a lovely place - but with the dawn the rain  gone and there was no snow, but the winds were still strong. Our next stop was Akaroa, southeast of Christchurch and a six hour drive from Wanaka back through the Mackenzie country and Canterbury. We arrived there, very tired, at around 4:00 PM and went for a walk.

A harbour town with a French influence (French settlers landed here in August 1840) Akaroa has a mix of hotels, gift shops, restaurants and a strange cannon (that looks like a six pounder with an arsenal stamp of 1808, but the loop on the breach of the gun indicates that it was originally a naval piece).

Overnight the wind picked up and the rain fell. The temperature must have dropped too because a dusting of snow could be seen on the hill tops, but the day was sunny and warm, making the harbour picture perfect.

An afternoon “see the dolphins” cruise caught the drama of the swell on the southeast edge of the peninsula, outside the harbour entrance, driven by last night’s strong winds, but failed to find any dolphins.

While within the harbour the azure blue water stood out against the rugged shoreline.

 Then, as we sat down for dinner, we watched the sun dip below the western hills to close out a perfect day.

Tomorrow we head into Christchurch and back home after a well earned break from the stresses and hassles of daily life.

A break in the routine

Before we plunged back into lockdown we had planned a road trip to the west coast of the South Island to escape the winter blues. The return to lockdown threatened that plan,  but the easing of regional travel restrictions meant that we could continue our plan and ease the depression of the lockdown. The night before we left we attended a play in the city and after it finished, in the cold still night, I snapped this shot of the Auckland Skytower reflected in the water of the Viaduct Harbour.

So on Friday we caught our socially distanced flight to Nelson where we picked up a rental car and headed into the city. Stunning weather meant that we could get about and see a part of the country I hadn’t visited since the early 1970s, an her indoors had never visited. For two days we checked out local restaurants, bars and specialty shops and generally forgot about the stresses of work.

The estuary at Mapua, where we had a pleasant lunch

 Nelson Cathedral from a deserted Tragalgar Square 

A cloudless day on the Nelson waterfront

On Sunday morning left Nelson we headed south west, through the Buller Gorge towards the rugged West Coast. We stopped enroute at the famous Pancake rocks at at Punakaiki. One of the positive results or Covid is that there were not bus loads of tourist here - not good for the tourist operators I know, but excellent for us local tourists as we pretty much had the place to ourselves! 

Above, the Buller Gorge and below the Pancake Rocks, and still further below the rugged West Coast beaches

About halfway through our visit a light rain shower swept through that had us back to the road to our stop for the night, Greymouth. Our stop here was uneventful and the next morning we headed south to Hokitika, once the centre of gold mining on the Coast. And a pleasant town it is too.

Above, the Hokitika clocktower and the memorial to westland settlers.

We stopped here for a couple of hours before setting off again to what was to be an afternoon at the Franz Josef Glacier, but within a few kilometers we hit rain...the sort of heavy rain the Coast is known for. Pools were rapidly forming in the fields and the broad rivers were becoming raging torrents. We gave up any hope of seeing the glacier and retired to the bar where a roaring fire blazed and I am posting this. 

Tomorrow we will head off again, through the mountains and hopefully to some better weather at Wanaka.

A Couple more Paraguayan War Battalions

Completed this week are two battalions, one Paraguayan and one Argentine.

First are the Paraguayans.

Second are the Argentines again in tropical kit, but this time instead of the khaki uniforms that were “Algerian Style” surplus from the French army, these are kitted out in locally manufactured white uniforms.

Paraguayan War Farmhouse

Having completed the South American Church I moved onto the first of what will probably be three rustic dwellings. This one is intended to be a peasant farmhouse. All of the images that I have found show a very basic construction so matching this was my goal. The basic structure was set as a single room dwelling with two doors and two windows. It is 60mm on its ends, 95mm on it sides and has a height of 65mm. The whole form is cut from cardboard.

For the walls I decided that were going to be made from pretty much any material that might be to hand and this might include logs of differing thickness, off cuts of finished timber and thatch. This gave me the leeway to use a variety of materials in and around the house: matchsticks, pieces of balsa, sand, plasticard, even bark from garden offcuts. So having framed up the windows and doors I just applied things somewhat randomly. While one door was wooden the other one, and the window coverings, were to be fabric, that I made from tissue soaked in PVA.

To seal and strengthen what is a relatively fragile surface I then coated the whole model with a thinned coat of PVA glue.

The roof was made from foam board, with one of the card faces removed, and then carved into shape.

The whole of the roof was then coated with a thick coat of PVA and then a coarse sand was applied. When painted this will have the appearance of thatch.

The main structure was more or less complete and ready to be painted. 

First the model was undercoated black then over a base coat of terracotta, several coats of lighter browns we applied. The “thatch” had a brown base over which tones of yellow brown and white were applied. Then the whole model was given a dusting of white.

Looking again at some of the photographs of the dwellings, most appear to have some sort of covered area in front of the structure, usually roughly built from whatever wood was available. So I constructed a frame from twigs from the garden, but simply gluing them together wasn’t going to be robust enough, so I lashed them together with some thread which was Then coated with superglue. When dry it was really strong and painted with various tones of brown it was completed.

The model was then based. As a part of the basing texture I figured that given the combustible nature of the construction that cooking facilities would be outside so I formed a fire pit out of some gravel, placed a seat made from balsa and created a stack of firewood. A few rocks, a barrel and a log or two were scattered around. A variety of ground coverings added some texture and colour.

I needed some palm fronds or banana leaves to lay over top of my frame to provide shade. My first thought was to simply make some from paper, but then on Tuesday by the back door I noted some new growth on the lavender bush and these new leaves looked like palm fronds. I quickly picked six or eight leaves and then, in much the way that 19th century Victorian young ladies used to press flowers, I laid them between two sheets of waxed paper,  placed them under a heavy weight and kept then in a warm dry place for three days. I then sprayed them both sides with matt varnish, then matt black before drybrushing them a light brown and fixing them into place. Then I gave them a good wash with Seraphim Sepia and then two heavy coats of brush on varnish?

As a final flourish I added a few chickens pecking about...I had bought these from a model railway supplier decades ago and they have been sitting in my bits box ever since. I couldn’t think of a better place to use them.

I am really pleased with this piece...more will come.