Coming Up Close

  Greymouth Street Races is normally an annual event in town that happens every October over Labour Weekend, which has just gone by. I watched the road crew on Saturday evening when I was at work setting up barriers and signs up along the main streets. These are video footage I found online of the event which were uploaded by a spectator and go kart racer. We were going to watch it but B and I had had a very busy week and we decided a day of rest and hibernating was much more needed than going out in the rain.  Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  Tom's Signs .

  While driving through Whataroa recently I spotted this old house in the middle of a paddock just out of town. If you're travelling throughout the country you're going to see lots of these dotted about the landscapes, abandoned and unloved. Some are being used for sheep shearing, some for old farm sheds and others just empty. Linking up with  Tuesday Treasures ,  Happy Tuesdays  and  Wordless Wednesday .

  This is the second church in the small town of Okaihau in the far north. In early 1874 a Captain Burleigh applied to the Anglican Church Missionary Society in England to provide funds to build the first church in Okaihau. The land was donated by the owner of the general store and Totara tree timbers were used and donated. The St Catherine's church is still being used today by the local community. Linking up with Mosaic Monday .

  Photo taken in the middle of Winter on a cold morning down one of the little side streets in town. There is apparently a good Asian restaurant down here on the right that we keep meaning to try and where the bicycles are is a bike shop. I'm actually surprised that there are still public phone boxes as most people have cellphones. We have had the most wild weather I think I've seen in literally years. Much of the South Island of New Zealand has been wopped with a bad storm to the point where everyone's electricity went off for a few hours, trees were down, there were road slips and roads into different areas were closed. We are all good now but it's been a wild event. The town had no water supply for a day due to a bolt of lightning hitting one of the reservoir pumps but thankfully many people like myself have tank water (ours is 36,000 ltrs) and the council and some local businesses were offering temporary water supply from other sources. As usual the locals were goin...

  This is Greymouth's local town square. To the left is an art gallery, a cafe, a gift shop and several other businesses.  I've had a few comments about "where are the people". The local population is just over 2000 but there are a lot of surrounding tiny settlements too so it's not just pooled all in one place. Most of the jobs in the West Coast region consist of farmers, retail workers, miners and train workers just to name a few so you won't see large numbers of people out and about all the time except at maybe community events. New Zealanders are also well known for keeping to themselves and most don't like having photos taken of them by someone they don't know. Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs .

  A couple of weeks ago B and I attended a local event named "Greymouth Cars and Coffee" - which is something that local people from around the region go to to show off their classic cars and there was also a coffee van there selling drinks hence the name. Apparently the event was so successful that this will be a monthly event. So enjoy the photos that I took :-) btw I guess you've all noticed this blog has a new layout, I'm still playing around with it so not sure if I will keep it or not. Linking up with Tuesday Treasures , Happy Tuesdays and Wordless Wednesday .

  I was going through some old photos earlier this week and found some from a small town in the north island named Waihi (pronounced Why hee). This would've been taken when I stopped here on the way to meet B for the first time just over 10 years ago on our first date and as I was driving down from where I lived, I saw lines of classic cars driving along the main state highway and in this town.  Shortly after this I discovered that one of my ancestors on my father's side had worked at the mine nearby as a mercury miner and unsurprisingly he died at the age of 50. Waihi is one of my favourite historical places. Linking up with  Mosaic Monday  and Shadow Shot Sunday .

This one from a visit to Kaikohe when we lived in the far north about 4 years ago - this is a cute town with friendly people who live there. Another one this week for   Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup . 

  While driving through town last week I noticed this green machine outside one of the local restaurants, I'm thinking they were cleaning the windows? Greymouth has had quite a bit of Spring rain, some of the parts past where I live got excess rain but my property and the areas near town were ok. I remember last year at this time it pretty much rained every day. I'm predicting another long hot summer with another drought. My daughter and I were in our local "Warehouse" store the other day, strange to see they already have the Christmas products out and it's not even Halloween yet. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  Tom's Signs .

  St Patrick's Church in Okaihau - has a very strange energy about it whenever I've visited it over the years. Most likely the land itself and around the church was the site of battles during the New Zealand wars in the 1800s. Linking up with  Tuesday Treasures ,  Happy Tuesdays  and   Wordless Wednesday .

  I spotted this little tiny car outside the entrance and drive through of our local McDonalds. I think an elderly man drives it around. Apparently the local KFC was closed for a few months and opened yesterday so pretty much everyone was going there and waiting in line then complaining about it, funny how people act when a fast food place suddenly opens after being closed. Linking up with  Mosaic Monday .

  Photo taken while sitting at a table waiting for friends at our local McDonalds. Last week I posted a story about how a local elderly man was killed. The update on that is that a local 16 year old was arrested for it.  Crazy! A very sad situation all round. We've had alot of rain this week - typical for Spring on the west coast. Most of it come down from the north of the country so alot of humidity, doesn't help with hot flashes from menopause. With the wet weather we've had quite a few Pukeko coming into the backyard looking for treats, usually they hang out at the neighbour's property across the road.  Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  I spotted this sign at one of our local beaches where there was a coffee caravan among the campers and caravans that were parked there. A bacon and egg sandwich sounds great to me. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  Tom's Signs .

  There are a few blossoms blooming around town - this is one of the busy roads through Greymouth. Just on the side of the road is this little park with a bench seat looking out over the river behind it. And looking in the opposite direction is the fire station, retirement home, one of the 2 local high schools, one of the 2 supermarkets in town and a barber shop. This plaque nearby is a memorial to those who were killed in the Pike River Mine explosion which sadlly occurred on the 19th November 2010. There is a movie about to come out about this event featuring New Zealanders Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcolm. Linking up with  Tuesday Treasures ,  Happy Tuesdays  and   Wordless Wednesday .

  One of my favourite places in Northland is the tiny town of Matakohe and next to the Kauri Settler's Museum is this church which was dedicated after a local politician/farmer named Joseph Gordon Coates (Coates is still a well known surname around this region with descendants living locally) who is also buried in the cemetery here. He was first elected as MP in 1911 and took a leave of absence from parliament in 1916 to serve in the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces rising to the rank of major. He was wounded and decorated twice then became leader of the Reform Party and Prime Minister in 1925. He served as a very effective minister from 1931 to 1935 and in a wartime cabinet from 1940 to 1943. He died suddenly on 27th May 1943. After discussing it with the Coates family, the government decided to build this church as a national memorial designed by architect Horace Lovell Massey and was then opened on 27th May 1950 by Prime Minster Sidney Holland.

  Always good to see happy people with their friends having a good chat over coffee and lunch. Seen at the local Mitre 10 coffee shop. There was a sad bit of local news that's sent this town buzzing lately. Next to our local McDonalds building is there is a vacant building that was until recently home to a number of people living inside in separate apartments. The health department deemed it unsanitary to live in  and closed it down but since then there have been local squatters living in it, one of which was found sadly dead outside the building on the ground earlier this week. I had a feeling who it was and I was correct. It has now turned into a homicide investigation with the victim being an elderly man who use to come into my work now and again who was homeless and living in the building. I had heard from someone else that they had helped him go to the local council who then gave him a granny flat to live in but, as with alot of homeless people, he preferred it seems to l...

  Over Spring there hasn't been many tourists around Greymouth, mind you the weather hasn't been that great. We put our clocks forward last Sunday in preparation for daylight savings so hopefully Summer isn't too far away. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  Tom's Signs .