In the Footsteps of Pioneers

It was a grey, drizzly day on Four Peaks Station in South Canterbury on February 22, 2011 and I was huddled by the fire in Sutherland's Hut [above], (on the Fairlie side of the property), drinking tea and munching on lunchtime sandwiches with four others, when the massive 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch at 12.51pm. None of us felt a thing. Sutherland's Hut was built in 1866, by James Radford from Timaru, a stonemason, who had come out from England. It is believed to be the oldest surviving early stone shepherd's hut in New Zealand and when you're there, you may as well be a million miles from anywhere. The hut sits on a low ridge just above a pretty stream and is surrounded on all sides by the huge, rolling green hills that characterise much of the South Island's remote high country. Four Peaks itself is owned by Steve and Jo McAtamney, who have spent a great deal of time and energy restoring the shepherds' huts on their 15,000 acre property, so they can be used as comfortable retreats for those who do the 3-day Four Peaks High Country Track. Walkers do a 40km circuit across spectacular landscapes, following the route of the pioneer fencers and musterers used in the 1850s (mountainbikers can do 60km); or if you're short on time, as we were, you can do the The Pack Run, which takes you the same route (in 4-6 hours) by 4WD vehicle.

Jo McAtamney prepares lunch in Sutherland's Hut

However you make your way across the Four Peaks Range, there are astonishing views of Burke's Pass to the southwest and right down to Moeraki and the eastern coastline. Fiery Pass at 1,284m is the highest point on the Pack Run and Walk. On the Geraldine side of the station, the farm gets 40-60 inches of rain annually; on the Fairlie side it gets 28 inches.

I have huge admiration, not only for the early settlers who tamed this temperamental land as best they could, but also for the modern-day farmers like Steve and Jo, who devote their lives to continuing the back-breaking tradition. It requires a certain sort of determination, passion and commitment to make a go of farming this sort of rugged country. And I love the generosity that sees them sharing these remarkable landscapes with others.

They've made the three huts on the walk - Pleasant Gully, Sutherlands and Devil's Creek - warm, cosy and comfortable, with bunks, fireplaces, flushing toilets, showers and even a miniature shop at Sutherland's, where you can pick up a bottle of wine for $25.

Pleasant Gully Hut (above, with the toilet and shower block in the upper photo), was built around 1900. It's the classic little corrugated iron shepherd's hut and was used as the musterers' base hut in the early days of the station. It's been repiled and lined with beautiful Oregon timber - and as tiny as it seems, it comfortably sleeps four. It's the spot where the 4-5 day sheep muster would usually begin and end. Because the high country track is steep in parts, the Pack Run by 4WD is very much weather dependent. The track is open to walkers and mountain bikers from November through April. It costs around NZ$275 per person to bike, NZ$295 per person to walk and the pack Run costs NZ$325 per person. Money well spent if you ask me.

And, as it turned out, it was a pretty safe place to be during a Christchurch earthquake!

www.walkfourpeaks.co.nz

A Church in the Country

It was a murky, gray, drizzly day when I recently visited The Church of the Holy Innocents at South Canterbury's Mount Peel Station. It wasn't my first visit - and not the first time I had enjoyed the beauty of this little architectural gem.

The church sits across a stream from the stunning Mount Peel Homestead, which belongsd to the Acland family - one of the early settling families of the South Canterbury region. The church was built in 1868 and its dedication to the Holy Innocents of St Matthew's Gospel is especially appropriate, as four young children who had died in infancy between 1864 and 1869, are buried on the hillside where the church now stands.

Anyone reading this blog regularly, will know that I have a particular interest in photographing church architecture - not for any particularly religious reasons but rather more for the fact that I find church architecture inspiring; and the interior of churches say so much about their communities from a sociological point of view. And it's the details that draw me in. I am of course in awe of big grand churches and the cavernous, beautifully detailed interiors that many of them present (many of those appear on this blog) but there's something about the small, humble, New Zealand country church, often tucked away down dusty side roads, that touches me more.

This particular churchyard is also famous for the fact that it is the burial place of internationally-regarded, New Zealand born crime writer and theatre director, Dame Ngaio March (1895-1982), who published 32 detective novels between 1934 and 1982 and was regarded as one of the world's 'Queens of Crime Writing.'

The stained glass window (above), above the church altar, is a memorial to J.B.A. Acland (1823-1904) and his wife, Emily, who first established the Mount Peel property.

The church was constructed from stone gathered in the local river and limestone brought from Mount Somers by bullock wagon. And like most of these small country churches, it is richly embellished with interior timbers from nearby native forests.

Meet the People - 48

Another in the Series Meet the People - Ordinary and Extraordinary New Zealanders Doing Interesting Things - Penny How knows all about the benefits of life in the country. She and her husband, Bert, set up and run Peel Forest Lodge on the edge of Peel Forest, in South Canterbury. It's the sort of peaceful, unhurried setting that city-dwellers would pay millions for - not that the How's lifestyle is 'unhurried' exactly, because in addition to running the lodge, they also farm deer and run a horse-trekking business from their home-property, just down the road from the lodge.

Peel Forest Lodge is the ultimate 'secret hideaway' - a large, beautifully-made, 3-bedroomed log cabin (with sleep-out), completely surrounded by a thick stand of native bush that guarantees privacy. No one would ever know you were there. Giant totara and kahikatea tres dot the front lawn and lodge views encompass grazing deer herds and the bush-clad mountains beyond.

Bert built the lodge himself, from giant Douglas fir trees milled on the neighbouring property; and inside he's paid particular attention to creating a comfortable, restful mood that encourages guests to forget about their 'real lives.' The lodge is there for anyone - from large wedding parties to holidaying New Zealanders looking for time out - but Bert and Penny's main business is international hunting parties.

From March through July in fact, it's Hunters Only.

"We pick them up from Christchurch Airport, provide them with a hunting guide and they head off into the Southern Alps," says Penny. Penny prepares all meals for guests in the lodge's smart timber kitchen (unless they opt for self-catering) and wet, weary hunters come home from the bush to find home-cooked salmon, venison and rack of lamb dinners. For those not interested in hunting, the lodge is the perfect 'secret' base for a South Canterbury holiday (August through February), and it's close to white-water rafting, kayaking, horse-riding and plenty of great walks and picnic spots - and to Geraldine. It is in fact, just another 'unsung hero' in the rural New Zealand hospitality stakes. www.peelforestlodge.co.nz

Meet the People - 47

Another in the Series Meet the People - Ordinary and Extraordinary New Zealanders Doing Interesting Things - Keith Tyler-Smith and Jane McKenzie have turned their backs on national trends and have exchanged the rush of the city (Christchurch) for a quiet, unhurried lifestyle in the tiny village of Woodbury, near the equally unhurried town of Geraldine, in South Canterbury. It's a return home for Jane. She was born there, christened there, married there; and it's her passion for the region that has sparked the couple's latest venture, South Canterbury Tours.

St Thomas's, Woodbury It's taken five years of intensive research and planning for Keith and Jane to come up with their final tour concept - broadly speaking a two-pronged approach that includes Heritage & Culture and Food & Wine, though both can be specifically tailored to individual visitor needs. It goes without saying that Jane has a love for and a pride in the region she grew up in and she and Keith are great believers in local and regional tourism - showing off the best of the often-forgotten corners of New Zealand that reveal the true heart of the country.

Jane with local organic food producers

Old lime kilns at Kakahu, South Canterbury And like most of rural New Zealand, South Canterbury harbours a wealth of interest - innovative food and wine producers, quaint, historic, rural churches, landmark buildings, old limestone kilns, working farms, salmon farming, Maori rock art - and the soon-to-be-opened Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Trust Centre in Timaru. South Canterbury tours are small, local and focussed. They tell it like it is and they make sure visitors go away with an in-depth impression of small-town New Zealand and the ordinary, hospitable people who inhabit it.

Maori Rock Art Drawings, South Canterbury At the same time, this enterprising couple maintain assorted aspects of their previous careers. Keith, brought up in the UK, Zambia and Canada, is an educator, former film and television director/producer and is currently involved in developing e-Learning courses for a group of New Zealand polytechnics. Jane, a former journalist, university journalism tutor and editor, is also a qualified ESOL teacher, and another arm of their new tourism business - EnglishPlusAoraki - is aimed at attracting young, international travellers for combined language and adventure experiences. In short, it's all happening in Woodbury, as Keith and Jane, fresh from building their own new home, carve out an exciting, rural-based lifestyle for themselves. Proof that the best of New Zealand isn't always found in the cities. www.southcanterburytours.co.nz

A Country Church

There's a simplicity to life in much of rural New Zealand that appeals to me. I was brought up in the country (in rural Waikato) and while that appalled me as a child and then as a teenager, eager to experience faster, more exciting things, I now see the value in 'a quiet life.'

I had that reinforced for me a week or so ago, when I stayed with friends in the small South Canterbury town of Woodbury. They've carved out a very pleasing lifestyle for themselves - and, thanks to modern technology, they're really no further from 'the fast lane' (work-wise) than they ever were; yet they're able to tune out of the rat-race and into their small community, where pressures seem minimal and friendships fast.

All that, by way of a lateral introduction to St Stephen's Anglican Church in Peel Forest. My friend, Jane had taken me on tiki-tour of the area and, ever the church architecture fan, we stopped at the almost 'microscopic' settlement of Peel Forest to poke our noses into pretty little St Stephens - and yes, thanks to the trusting country locals, this is one little church that leaves its front door unlocked. As it turned out, we'd just missed the Palm Sunday service (advertised on a crudely written sign to encourage the locals along) and the pig ferns used to represent palm leaves, were still huddled in a corner of the church (above). Like a number of the churches in this area, St Stephen's is an all-timber gem, a place that reeks of history and exudes a serene kind of atmosphere that always sets me to thinking of things spiritual and meaningful - but not necessarily religious.

There's an honesty to these little churches that appeals to me - both architecturally and metaphorically. They somehow sum up a way of life that is all-but gone, that lingers on in tiny settlements, generally perpetuated by the older community members. Maybe I'm stirred by a sense of nostalgia - nostalgia for younger, simpler years when a small-town church was part of my family life. You rarely appreciate these things in childhood. It's only when you're older and have come to see the value of community and honesty; and the beauty of the small things in life, the satisfying daily rituals that perpetuate human history, that you think of worth, simplicity and meaning in a community.

We didn't stay long in the church, there was no need. But there was time enough to admire the stacks of red bibles on the entry shelf, the minister's robes hanging in a curtained alcove, the small-but-perfect religious icons, the stained glass windows, the woodwork and the handsome beams. I wandered off, wondering what thoughts the local people attending the morning's Palm Sunday service might have taken away with them - and whether or not they would be back the following Sunday to sit again in this peaceful, thought-provoking haven on the edge of the forest.

Head in the Clouds

From Thursday to Sunday last week, I was working down south - at both Lake Ohau, south-west of Twizel, and in South Canterbury. I had spectacular weather for the first two days and spectacular clouds patterns to go with it. The Mackenzie Country and Central Otago are all about big mountains, big landscapes and big skies. I love the area for that and no matter what time of year you visit, no matter what the weather conditions, you can be assured of some dramatic visual effects crafted by the atmospheric gods. These four images are but a tiny sample.

StreetscapeNZ - 70

Main Street, Temuka

(Temuka Library)

South Canterbury, South Island

February 2009. Ajr

The One That Almost Got Away.

Rakaia, South Canterbury. Oct. 2008. Ajr

I couldn't fight the urge to stop and snap Rakaia's giant salmon yesterday.

Besides, it looked so good against the cloud filled skies.

Like millions before me, I had to give in.

Southern Skies

South Canterbury. October 2008. Ajr

Today I headed south on State Highway 1 bound for Temuka, which is about 30 minutes south of Ashburton. It was a day of north-west winds and as always in those conditions, the Canterbury skies turned on a stunning performance. I stopped a number of times to photograph beautiful cloud patterns - and other times (as above) I didn't bother to stop at all. It's interesting to see how the South Canterbury landscape is changing in face of the dairy farming boom. Paddocks (once dedicated to grain crops) have turned brilliant green thanks to an endless stream of irrigating; and the roads are swarming with milk tankers. That's a Fonterra tanker I was following for some distance - colour co-ordinated to match the sky.

Meet the People - 14

Mark Dillon. Photos Supplied.

Another in the series Meet the People – Ordinary and Extraordinary New Zealanders Doing Interesting Things – Mark Dillon will be super busy this spring – picking elderflowers! When most of us are sitting back admiring the daffodils Mark will be shepherding his team of flower pickers in South Canterbury, gathering as many of these tiny white flowers as he can. Freshly-picked elderflowers form the core of his thriving new business, Aroha, which produces a rich elderflower cordial and a tasty range of aerated elderflower drinks in flavour-partnership with old Kiwi favourites like rhubarb, feijoa and vanilla. Based on his mother’s elderflower cordial recipe – given to her 30 years ago by some Danish visitors – the drinks are a big hit…. especially with me. They’ve also caught the eye of big players like 42 Below, one of New Zealand’s most successful drinks companies on the international market in years. Mark has had discussions with the 42 Below team about the possibility of an exciting new drink. That should be something worth waiting for. www.arohadrinks.com