Christchurch, Ashburton and inland.

Still in Christchurch, I managed to see some of the Buskers Festival in and near the square.

These two buskers at Scotts Monument had only met 30 minutes before, and were playing some amazing music. The bearded guy had made his own bank of amplified thumb piano's and the sax player (also ewi player) using a lot of pedals and loopers, was an Australian living in Bristol, UK.
Really impressive guys!

I was lucky to see one of my favourite buskers, Fraser Hooper, a modern day mime clown who works with kids, pulled out of the audience. Very funny and the kids love it too!

I spoke to Fraser after his show, he was very approachable and chatty.

The main trunk railway line runs right through the town and this bridge Christine remembers from her school days in Ashburton.

Once in Ashburton we parked up at a POP by the name of Donegal Downs only few kms out of town. Darryl and Jo were terrific hosts, would stay here again. It was an easy bike ride into the Ashburton Museum and Art Gallery.  Below we start off with the Museum... 

... Upstairs is the Art Gallery, I was struck and surprised as I walked up the stairs 

these fabulous drawings had been done straight on the gallery walls. 

These are by David Elliot

 I knew of David Elliot before, but this was a home town artist of international and national fame displaying his award winning work in the gallery.

His book was heavily based upon "The Hunting of The Snark" by Lewis Carroll.

 This exhibition also had some of his notes, research and early drawings, which finally became finished drawings. The photo below of David was taken from a documentary about his work running in the gallery.

His book is below.

His inspiration is from.....

 ...the original poem and book, below from 1876
Written by Lewis Carroll and illustrated by Henry Holiday.
It is not hard to see how it would inspire people!

superb drawings with added watercolour.

While other paintings and drawings caught my eye in the Gallery.

These are from Auckland artist Clive Humphreys.

Large watercolour drawings  in black and white, 

and large charcoal drawings on canvas.

 I made a visit to the MenZ Shed this in Ashburton, a very well established shed with some large wood working machines and a very well equipped engineering shed. Jim helped me sort another method of holding the bikes away from the bus with wooden sticks.

These worked really well.

The Ashburton Shed has this massive old Wadkin sawbench.

The engineering shop.

The wood shop.

We headed inland towards Fairlie and stopped for the night at the Valley Brewery and had a quiet sampling of their product..... then I went outside and did some yoga... this is an example of beer going to ones head!

I was in the horse paddock, but they were far to busy to come visit!

However the horse below did and was grazing on the roof of the bus!

Fairlie is fairly famous for its bakery & pies and for the notorious James MacKenzie

 who as legend has it, on the 4th March 1855 he and his famous dog smuggled 1,000 sheep at night from the richest sheep farmer in the area.

He was caught, sentenced for 5 years hard labour, 

and escaped several times before finally escaping to Australia in 1856

He ended up having very beautiful part of NZ named after him... "The MacKenzie Country".

We parked for free up behind the Gladstone Hotel,

and a big storm was coming across the South Island with a few spots

 of rain as I took off on a mountain bike track.

The rain developed into quite a steady downpour 

and I was glad to get back to the bus for a change of clothes.

Onward towards Timaru we drove through Pleasant Point, past a sign to the Richard Pearse Monument, so we doubled back and called into the little info centre. The Pleasant Point Railway tour was about to go so we instantly joined it...and very glad we did!

Leon the driver, conductor, and tour guide all rolled into one, was very informative, we had a couple of real railway buffs on our tour which added to the variety and knowledge of the questions and answers. 

Built about 25 years ago as a replica rail car with a Model T engine, I really felt as though I had stepped back in time. The little wire brushes in front of the wheels were to sweep the rails of stones and other debris, as these railcars are were easily de-railed.

Here is Leon using the turntable at the end of the line to get us turned and back to the Station.

Once inside the train museum and workshop, we got up close with two Steam Engines which are regularly in use and frequently travel to other parts of New Zealand, taking the joys of steam nation-wide.

I can now see how people get very passionate about steam trains,

 as they are quite amazing huge pieces of steel that have a character and charm all of their own.

Here is the fire box, in this case they use wood.

The workshop with some huge machine and very large tools.

A small band of volunteers do the various jobs around the railway Museum and keep the trains in working order and the various buildings in good condition. I bet that grinder takes while to slow down.

  Now we're on the way back .... tour finished, I would recommend this tour to anyone.

We finally did get out to see the Richard Pearse Monument. For those who don't know....it is reputed that he flew before the Wright brothers flew at Kittyhawk in America, he certainly was an amazing man.

I read that he cut manuka scrub on his farm by day and at night played the cello.

The monument is set up where his first flight and subsequent crash happened, inland from Temuka.

A lot seems to happen to us as we travel around, most of which is rich blog making material (I think).

Next to fly off my computer will be the Timaru Menz Shed visit, and invite to park up in a farmer's paddock with a fabulous sunset, then onwards towards Oamaru.

That's all folks...stay safe and free. Joy and love is an inside job!

Cheers

Jimu & Christine.

Christchurch on the Up and Up.

We spent the night in Kaiapoi just down the road from the New World Supermarket in the derelict earthquake area which is soon to become a 2 hectare dog walking area beside the river.

I went looking to get a cover made for the unicycle to keep the harsh Central Otago sun off the tyre, however businesses in town are very busy, saying next week we can do it... so I found this solution  

..which is closed cell foam door protector purchased from Para Rubber.

This is the Halswell Menz Shed. A most impressive place, just to mention the drive in, through lovely gardens out at the St John of God in Aidanfield.

Chatting to the guys at smoko I found they were only open because they had been out demolishing a kitchen somewhere, so they can reinstall it at the shed for their kitchen. These guys are enterprising,,, they did up a motorhome which they rent out to fellow sheddies. They recently sold it and are going to buy another. They also have a ladies night where the ladies pay $5 per night. 

Most of their machinery is donated and or passed onto other sheds. I spoke to Des and Malcolm among others, and managed to do a few more jobs on the bus despite excessive chatting.

A very tidy shed with signage around on various machines stating the main points to be aware of for safety and proper use.

 I some how bent the bracket on the leg on the bike rack at the back, which attracted quite bit of banter from the guys. But that was soon flattened and brought back to shape in the engineering shed

 We parked up in North New Brighton near the Bottle Creek mountain bike park which also attracts a lot of dog walkers

A nice day ... and my thoughts turn to riding my unicycle.

It's amazing how delicate the balance is to get on it...if I don't ride it for a week or so, it'll take me 3-4 attempts just to get on it and stay on it.....

 However it's great entertainment for the watchers...

waiting for disasters.

Safety first....between the flags.

Trips into the city reveal how Chch is coming back into its own, below is the new bus depot

 Outside a new skyline is emerging in the central city. 

 Strange visitors from the north invade the sidewalks!

The tourist side of Chch is definitely moving back to happier times, 

with the trams getting good tourist patronage. 

All the way from Invercargill???

 The day we viewed the cathedral they were starting to remove the iron girders which held up and supported the entrance of the cathedral, which has looked a sad and sorry state for such long time with the workmen going up to assess the damage and start to plan its rebuilding.

This shot is taken from the new Christchurch City Library which borders the north side of the Square.

It is ultra modern, with many (for a library) great services and features. 

 Four floors of books, computers, magazines, newspapers common to libraries, but this one has a Creative Hub on the 4th floor featuring music recording studios, art programmes, 3D printers and fabric printing, also sewing machines available. All with back up help in the form of free videos and how to and regular classes on such subjects as below.

Teenagers dancing along to the big screen fitness exercise programme, have all come along way from the studious, be quiet librarys of my childhood (and even adulthood)

 The creative hub is a super place to learn and play and to be creative... wish I was young again!

A  3D printer .... if only I knew how to work it!

My niece lives in Christchurch and has three children, two of which have gone or are going to a preschool school for 2-5 year olds. I asked if I could perform for them and below are the results.

This was my first unpacking of my travelling show, so it took some time with an attentive audience of under 5's at first in complete silence, but that soon opened up when I started chatting to them!

All in all a very successful and satisfying first showing, 

with many learnings to integrate into future shows.

With Christchurch under our belt we headed south towards Ashburton...and found...

You'll have to wait till the next blog.

Till then...have fun...be joyous and stay safe.

Cheers

Jimu & Christine