Travel on the Gravel

Way back at end of March I left off blogging images from the spring expedition to New Zealand. Now I resume--having crossed the North Island by rail. In Wellington we boarded the Interislander ferry, the Aratere, to cross Cook's Strait. The passage on this fast ferry seemed to take no time at all, and we arrived in Picton. This was a pleasant place to eat fish & chips and unwind for a while, including a snooze in the waterfront park. We caught the train out of Picton and rode as far as Kaikoura, where it would have been nice to linger, but we had to get on to Hanmer Springs, where we were promised a place with the field day of the High Country Federated Farmers--offering the opportunity to visit the famous Molesworth Station. From Kaikoura we took a rental car to Hanmer, there meeting a convivial dinner party organized by our old friend Kevin O'Connor. This was a great reunion with both friends from the high country and academics interested in pastoral life. Next day we piled into a 4WD with Rod Patterson, who proved a deermined driver and genial host for the field day. The field day organized with a rendezvous at the old cob Acheron Accommodation House. Hundreds of high country folk there gathered for tea around what seemed like the world's largest billy. A program of speakers at this site included Don Brash, leader of the opposition, who arrived by chopper and was rather warmly received by the assembled crowd (although it seemed to me he was talking mainly to the TV cameras, not to them). Later in the day, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jim Sutton was less enthusiastically received during a session at the old Tarndale homestead. Next morning we took the waters before leaving Hanmer and continuing the journey south.