Alexanders, Gore

Saturday 31st March Gore

Such a cold morning - fog hung around until lunchtime. We took our breakfast things over to the kitchen/dining room so that we could have the heater on and warm up a bit. I did some washing, then we set out to explore Gore township. The winter gear came out: swandri, woolly hat for Doug; scarf and warmest jacket for me. The shops were warm.

Later we went to find Coutts Rd where the Alexanders had owned a small holding after Great-grandad retired from his blacksmith business.

I have no idea where their house would have been - the street is all houses now.



After lunch we found the cemetery where the family are buried. A very plain headstone! The Alexanders were not ostentatious people! My great grandparents David Alexander and Martha (nee Robertson) and their two unmarried daughters Elizabeth and Josephine are buried here. My grandfather, Matthew died in Napier; William Andrew was mortally wounded at Gallipoli and buried at Crete.



Doug had another go at fishing once the fog cleared. Usual result.

After a cuppa by the river, we visited the Gore Museum. Much of it was devoted to the Hokanui (moonshine) produced by some of the first Scottish settlers; but there was other historic stuff as well. We missed going to the library as it shut at 2:00pm, but we did get to see the art collections at the Art Gallery. Quite a neat little town.

The sun was beaming down on my washing when we returned to the tent - jerseys are off; expecting 3 degrees tonight!

Friday Invercargill

Friday 30th March

Invercargill

The weather continued to be brilliant. Cold nights, but lovely warm, sunny days. It's quite dark in the mornings so we are tending to sleep in a bit.

Today we set out for Invercargill after breakfast - about 61 kms away. The plan was to visit the museum at Southland Boys' High School, then find Mitchell St. where Dad was born. We were pleased to find a city map on the outskirts of the city, as we had no address for the school.



We were made to feel welcome at the school. The office lady gave us the key to the museum and pointed us in the right direction.

This museum is well worth a visit. It had booths with various themes: staff, sports' teams, historic buildings, roll of honour, dux board, scholarship board etc etc. There were old photographs,old documents and artifacs.



We found my grandfather's name on the dux and scholarship boards. (Matthew Alexander) His younger brother William featured too, on the scholarship board. Both were also involved in cricket, rugby and soccer.



Having just travelled 61 kms from Gore where the family lived, we realised that Matt and William must have lived away from home to attend highschool. (1903 - 1908)


We found this info and painting about a boarding facility that was built about that time. Maybe they lived there.

After an hour or so of looking around we drove to Queen's Park to have lunch.

The next place to find was the street where Dad was born. (After marrying, Matt returned to Southland to teach; first of all at Gore High School as 'Commercial Master' 1914-1916, then as a science and mathematics master 1916-1923.)
Kath, Dorothy and Dad were all born while they lived at Mitchell St. (1916, 1917, and 1920 respectively.)

There were quite a few old houses in Mitchell St so we took photos, of possibilities hoping to identify it at a later date.

Omarama to Gore

Thursday 29th March

I didn't write anything yesterday - the internet was so slow, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Doug tried fishing in the canal near a salmon farm; usual story. It was very cold in the evening - a cold wind blowing.


After a chilly night went packed up up the tent and loaded up the Land Rover.



Heading via the Lindis Pass it looked like being a foggy trip with no scenery, but after a hill or two the fog cleared to some lovely vistas.



We had to visit Bendigo en-route for Kristina and our grandkids in the Aussie town of the same name. It was named after the Australian one, and had a township on the spot from 1880 to 1914. The old cottage and bakery date from those days, but not much else is left.



We passed Lake Dunstan and took this panoramic picture of the reflections. It is actually a lake formed by the Clyde Dam.

After Cromwell, we drove down the Roxburgh Valley, and found a nice supply of cheap Black Doris plums.

Another day of beautiful colours and scenery. Neither Doug or I had been through the Lindis Pass before.

The Gore Motor camp is pretty empty. The owner has told Doug where to fish. Her nine year old always catches at least one fish when he goes!

Ahuriri Valley Omarama

Tuesday 27th March

It was quite cold last night. I'll dig out a few more blankets for tonight. It was difficult to gather enthusiasm for that trek to the ablution blocks, but once I was dressed in warm clothes, life looked good - we were heading for another beautiful, sunny day.

I had my first encounter with a washing machine after breakfast; we put up a line behind the tent. No technical difficulties to report.

Doug had a trip planned for today, up the Ahuriri Valley. The first part was two-wheel-drive, and further on, four-wheel-drive on a track maintained by DOC. The track followed the Ahuriri River north, deep into ruggedly beautiful country between Lake Ohau to the east and Lake Hawera to the west. The source of the Ahuriri River is the 2499m Mt Huxley that rears up at the head of the valley just as you get past Shamrock Hut.



We enjoyed the lovely scenery as we travelled over numerous shingle fords. The track was pretty good. There was one hairy moment (for me anyway) when we got behind a grader and he didn't show any inclination to pull over.We eventually found a verge wide enough to go around him.



We stopped at Shamrock Hut briefy and chatted to a young man who had spent the night there. He said that the mice were so bad that he hadn't been able to sleep!



The Ahiriri River wound its way through the valley near the road. so on our return jouney we stopped so Doug could have another go at finding his fish.




The clouds began to move in and the wind got up. Time to head home. On the way we met the tramper we had spoken to earlier and gave him a ride to his car.

On our return to our tent we were met with happy neighbours. They caught two salmon today! We questioned them closely. Tomorrow is going to be the day!!

Omarama

Monday 26th March



Time to move on again. We awoke to a beautiful clear, chilly morning. Once we were packed, we said our good-byes to Norman and Fay and set off for Twizel. We took the scenic route along Highway 72 towards Geraldine. At one point along the way we noticed a nice flowing stream, so decided it was morning tea time and time for a quick fish - who knows what might be hiding under those droopy willows?



We stopped a number of times to enjoy the spectacular views. It was such a beautiful day. The mountains had a small amount of snow. Lake Tekapo was another compulsory stop, with the much-photographed Church of the Good Shepherd and his Collie dog.



Driving on around Lake Pukaki, we had to stop again and take in the lovely view across to Mt Cook.



We got to Twizel and found the camping ground. No room for us! There were intersecondary school rowing competitions on.



We drove on to Omarama and found a camping ground that we had stayed in before.

Ashburton Sunday

Sunday 25th March

Doug set off early to try to catch that elusive salmon, but was soon back. The river was too muddy to fish. Hoping to cheer him up I made canned salmon sandwiches before we set off to explore the Ashburton River. We had given up on the possibility of catching a salmon, so went out to the river mouth to see if there were any kahawai longing to be hooked and smoked.



It was a lovely day again so we enjoyed the expedition despite the lack of success. Large rain drops began to fall so we decided to check out the Ashburton Aircraft Museum. It was interesting looking at the old photographs. Doug enjoyed seeing this Harrier Jump Jet (The only one in the Southern Hemisphere; it was in the Falklands' War.) The other one was NZ's first jet - a Gloster Meteor.

After a stroll around Ashburton we returned home to find that Norman and Fay had just returned from Wellington

It was lovely catching up with them. They insisted that we have dinner with them and set to, cooking up a yummy barbeque.

Rakaia

Saturday 24th March

We had the best sleep; lovely comfortable beds and such a quiet spot. It was cloudy when we awoke, even a little bit cool. Straight after breakfast Doug took off with his fishing line, eager to explore the Rakaia River. I puddled around, repacking bags,and did some washing the old fashioned way, in a bucket with the help the garden hose. It was jolly hard work!



Doug thoroughly enjoyed himself driving on the tracks on the riverbed to various fishing spots including fording shallow rapids looking for a good salmon-filled pool - no fish unfortunately - we will have to go and buy some food!



I went with him in the afternoon. We drove 20kms right out to the river mouth. The shingle was pretty hard going for the poor old wagon it would only pull first gear in high ratio. We had the ocean one side and the river bed the other. Doug tried hard to catch us a kahawai --that would have been nice smoked - but no such luck. Looks like a Pam's Pie for dinner tonight!

The day became very hot and windy - the washing dried totally, as did the tent.

Meeting Cousins

Friday 23rd March

It was still very dark outside, when our alarm woke us at 6:00am. We were showered, breakfasted and organized by daybreak. The tent was pretty wet and muddy; there wasn't much we could do about it, so we packed it away and were on the road by 6:50am. We were aiming to be in Christchurch in time to have lunch with my cousin.

We enjoyed the trip along the coast. The road was winding and although we often found ourselves stuck behind slow camper vans, the scenery more than made up for it. After a quick coffee stop at Kaikoura we carried on and arrived in Christchurch about 12:15pm.

We had been directed to go to my cousin's daughter's house as my cousin's house was in the middle of repairs from damage caused by the earthquake. Apologies were were made about the crockery - every plate had been broken in the quake.

It was so good to meet up with my cousin, her husband, two daughters and a wee grandson. The last time that I saw Lesley and Allan was when I was a teenager and they were on their honeymoon. (Nearly 50 years ago.) We have all changed a little bit!

We had a lovely lunch and talked our heads off. I was annoyed with myself later, I completely forgot to take photos.

The plan for the afternoon was to find my great-great grandmother's grave and the grave of my great-great-great grandparents in two different city cemeteries. It was an impossible task. Every road we took was was either shut or ended in a detour which took us around in circles. We were depending on the GPS so weren't able to make alternative decisions. A city map would have been a help! Eventually we gave up and headed to Rakaia.

It was another 50kms to Rakaia so we were fairly weary after such a long day. Another cousin had given us the use of a very well set up sleepout at their place. We were very happy to 'hit the sack' and slept like tops in the lovely comfy beds.

Awatere Valley Thursday

Thursday 22nd March

Not much sleep last night - this was a very noisy camping ground - fairly frequent trains only metres away, heavy trucks, and the rain kept us awake for much of the night. At one stage Doug got up to try and empty some of the water pooling in the front part of the roof and the awning. Shrieks could be heard as he doused himself - I had to muffle my giggles - I really didn't want the job. (The memory still brings tears to my eyes!)

The rain cleared in the morning, and we were able to dry everything out. Doug had a go at fishing in the river right next to where we camping. No fish.

In the afternoon we set off to explore one of those 4 wheel drive tracks. We travelled quite a way up the Awatere valley diligently following the instructions. The scenery was magnificent; grey cliffs rose from the river bed, then there were miles of vineyards with hills, then mountains as a backdrop.



We met some other Land Rover enthusiasts at one stage. Theirs were old series 1 models. We all hopped out and chatted for a while. Together we decided that the track we were looking for no longer existed - vineyards seem to have taken over the area. Not to worry - we had enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the lovely weather.


We took a backroad home. Quite a few rivers to ford!

Wednesday crossing on the Interislander

Wednesday 21st March

Bad weather forecasts and gale windsocks on every weathermap had me a bit nervous about crossing Cook Strait. The forecast for Wellington, Wednesday was for 'gales abating in the afternoon'. Our crossing was at 2 p.m.

We left David and Ruth's just after 7a.m. and were soon speeding towards Wellington.Doug kept saying that we were going to be far too early - and we were.



Wellington was really clagged in with mist. As we approached the city I was cheered up by this lovely rainbow. It stayed in front of us for quite a while.

There were already lots of other early- birds waiting in the queue, ready to board.



Boarding the Awatere. It was very grey most of the way, but the sea wasn't too stroppy.



Disembarking.

We made the decision to put up the tent as we approached Blenheim. Everything looked very dry and it was fine and sunny. This was only the second time that we had put this tent up so it was bit of a relearning experience. Less said the better!!!!