Coming Up Close

Another one from our visit to Reefton in early Autumn this year. Built in 1872 it was used during the gold rush to settle disputes, leases and miners rights. It was designed by William Henry Clayton who also was responsible for other court houses around New Zealand. It finally closed in 1972 and now court cases are heard in either Greymouth or Westport. It is now listed as a Historic Place Category 1 building.   Linking up with  Blue Monday  and  Mosaic Monday .

This is something very weird I spotted over Summer earlier this year. the DP1 Cafe in Greymouth has this mural on the front window which looks like a person riding on the back of a rather large snail. Strange but very cool... Linking up with  Weekend Reflections ,  Mural Monday  and the  Weekend Roundup .

In early Autumn we visited Reefton which is about an hour away from Greymouth. I loved this little town, it's very pretty, tidy and well looked after.  While we were there I spotted another band rotunda like the one I saw in Westport last year. Just about every town in the country has one of these.  This one is in the King George V Jubilee Park and looks similar in age to the others I've seen - coming from around the 1910-1916 era in time. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  All Seasons .

I don't know where these people were going but I'd say they probably had come off the Tranz Alpine from Christchurch to Greymouth. Speaking of travel, our flights and accommodation for our trip to Auckland in November have been booked. I'm looking forward to it big time. I grew up in Auckland and lived there for 25 years before moving north for another 25 years. It will be good to see family, friends and old familiar haunts especially the central city. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world  and  Wordless Wednesday .

  We seem to have found some more original art deco wallpaper in the house, this time on the floor of the old hot water linen cupboard. Funny thing is it's on top of the original rimu floor boards - not sure why anyone would want to cover these up. We are considering whether to sand and polish them or cover with the lino that's already there. Spring is nearly upon us though. By September the 1st it will be the first day of the season.  My daffodil bulbs are flowering next to the dormant roses. I stopped by the local garden centre last week and bought a Pandorea Rosea which is a type of pink flowering climber, kind of like a Jasmine for the front fence - it needs some colour. My daughter dropped off her 3 rats at the vet centre too for neutering, they are cute but boy do they smell.   Linking up with  Blue Monday  and  Mosaic Monday .

It's been yet another week of being stuck with the flu. It's like every week I'm getting sick, part of working in retail I guess - so many adults and children coming through with snotty noses and coughs that get passed along. My poor sinuses are suffering so I've decided to go back to wearing a mask each day that I work, something has to give. A colleague commented I should start buying shares in tissue companies because I buy so many boxes each week. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and All Seasons .

  About 15 minutes out of Greymouth is this historic site which once operated as the Brunner Mine and known as the country's most productive 19th century mine. It was a major producer of bricks and other clay products. Across the bridge crossing the Grey River from the carpark is where the actual bricks were made. This is one of the areas where the bricks were made. There were 5 kilns here in total and each one was able to make 2000-3000 bricks. About 12 men and boys worked in these buildings, the clay dust would've been unbearable  with the only ventilation being through open windows in the mill building. Temperatures in Winter were below freezing - no insulation at all in winter while in summer those working in the sheds with it's underfloor heating really felt the heat. No human rights conditions in those days. This is how the mining site would've looked back when it was in action - note the bridge on the other side shows this was taken from the hill which now has a ...

We are halfway through Winter now. The shortest day of the year has been and gone and soon it will be time for Spring come September. We are waiting for nicer weather so we can get started on building the outside deck, it will be good to sit out there in Summer with a cold drink or 2.   Last week we had this pup turn up on our doorstep. After driving around at different houses to check if neighbours owned her, stopping into the local Vets we ended up dropping her off at the council offices. Later on the owners picked her up, turned out she had escaped her backyard. She sure was a handful, I had forgotten what puppies are like.  Linking up with  Blue Monday  and  Mosaic Monday .

Throughout town various rubbish bins have been spruced up to show various photographic images on the sides, I guess it's to improve the look of the streets and to try and get people to put their trash in the right place - seems to be working as I hardly ever see any litter lying around. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections , All Seasons  and the  Weekend Roundup .

I took this photo one morning at the end of our driveway of mist forming over the mountains. The road into Greymouth wends it's way around the hills and is about 10 minutes away. This is why I like living semi-rural, far enough out town to be quiet and still close enough to work. There is a golf course about half way down our road and a race course at the far end past the Grey River.  Still waiting for the really cold weather though - so far it's been very mild with temperatures during the day reaching about 12 degrees and about 6 degrees celsius at night. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .

Yesterday morning I spotted some road workers setting up some cones outside the house, of course the youngest member of the family Floki was sitting on one of the 3 cat towers watching them and supawvising. Cats are so nosey aren't they? We've all unfortunately been down with some sort of horrible flu but that's what winter is about I guess.  Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world  and  Wordless Wednesday .

A nearby town to Greymouth is this one, Kumara (not the vegetable we have here and it's pronounced differently) was once a booming gold town, part of the mining era of the 1800s. These days it's a shadow of it's former self. I think from memory it has a pub, a petrol station and some streets with houses. The town got it's name from a surveyor in that area named Arthur Dobson (Dobson is also a suburb in Greymouth) after a change of Kohimara which is the Maori word for the white flowers of the bush that grow along the river. Once upon a time, in this photo from between 1870-1879 there were once 27 hotels in the main street. In 1876 gold was found in glacial gravel so hydraulic sluicing was the only feasible way to recover it. Over a 20 year period large water races and sludge tunnels were created and most of the land behind the town was sluiced into the nearby Taramakau River. The mining eventually eased off in the late 1890s but dredging carried on until the 1960s. Some ...

  It's not often we see road works down here but for the last few days we've had to wait in line for some council work to be done. It turns out they were trimming the greenery around the side of the mountain road on the way home. Rocks and trees tend to fall down onto the road in front of cars when there is a big storm.  Good to see they are keeping busy. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections  and the  Weekend Roundup .

  This seems to be a common thing these day - people constantly on their phones, it's like they can't put it down. Guess it's a sign of the times right? My cellphone is usually always on silent, I prefer texts to phone calls. We were in Hokitika earlier this week and stopped in at our favourite cafe. This is one lunch meal I never miss out on - Eggs Benedict with salmon. This is one place we always go to when we are there, it's like whoever the chef is loves their job - you know when the food you eat tastes like it's been made with love. What's your favourite lunch meal? Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .

  I was in town last week getting my hair cut and as I walked up the road I saw alot of fog coming from the mountains, usually a warning that snow will be settling on the tops soon. A good thing is that the place I work at has started a delivery/click and collect service from people wanting to order their shopping online. As part of a staff trial last week I did that and ended up saving about $100 simply from not wandering around and putting things in my trolley I don't need. We are going to continue using the service. Another good thing is that we pretty much finished the kitchen, with exception to the floors which look to be made out of native rimu wood, something that would've been popular when the house was first built. All we have left to do is put new tiles/lino on the floor but the dishwasher and sink is all connected up. It's so nice being able to have a decent kitchen with storage space. Other things we have to do is put back the boards on the side of the bottom ar...

 An old one from Kerikeri about a year and a half ago. Back when Covid hit everyone was hard done by financially The government trying to help reduced petrol prices for everyone. But now the fuel tax cut is at an end and petrol has gone up again to nearly $3 NZD per litre so people will be struggling again as inflation goes up. I'm sure we are not the only country going through this. Linking up with  Blue Monday  and  Mosaic Monday .

I was going through some of my thousands of old photos that I've taken over the last 10 years or so and I came across this one from about 5 years ago when we lived in Tauranga. There was one morning when I was working in dentistry in a job I hated for a company who made me feel unappreciated when I had to psych myself up most mornings. I remember walking down one of the side streets near the waterfront feeling the restfulness of that time of day. Now I'm lucky enough to say that I'm in a different place mentally and actually like my job and the people I work with. Time flies... Linking up with  Weekend Reflections  and the  Weekend Roundup .