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Published: March 31st 2009
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When our planned stint with the owners of the earth house didn't work out, we called another location in the area, the Vat-T-Can, and the owner Christine agreed that we could come.
First, we explored Oamaru a little. There’s lots of history in Oamaru. We were very close to the 45th parallel, the same latitude as the part of Vermont that we had been living in before the NZ trip. There was time for pictures outside the café/tavern opposite the railway station.
Behind the 1901 railway station was a section of ground where there were piles of rusty wheels and bits of boiler where once rail wagons were marshaled in number. Some old these retired wagons and engines had been used as parts of the sea wall that protected the railway yard.
Lunch was had in the old part of town, in a restored hotel that stood on a corner of a street of mostly old stone buildings. Next door was old warehousing that had found new life as an arts and crafts studio, and display space.
New Zealand has so many talented artists of every kind: sculptors, painters, quilters, knitters, weavers, wood carvers, that we see
art everywhere. Oamaru was full of it.
Graci and Paua talked for a while to the lovely ladies Eunice and Vi who worked here, both of them dressed in period costume. They showed us the weaving room upstairs. Old looms are being lovingly brought back into working order here, and cloth is being made just as it was 150 years ago.
Christine’s place was at Milburn, a gallery in a converted church. We arrived in late afternoon, and she seemed surprised, as though not expecting us. Christine explained later that they had had a number of helpers call and say they were coming, and then not show up.
She took us through the house and gallery, to meet her husband out by the chicken coop, where he was extending it. There was obviously a lot of building jobs to be done.
They put us to work immediately (it was around 4pm) and we worked for 3 hours until dinner. Graci and Paua were set up to paint on glassware.
Glass art was Christine's passion, and the entire nave of the former church was filled with it, all different kinds of glasses, bowls, vases and bottles
painted with many flowers, animals, wedding couples or insects. And we were told that there was a lot more in storage at another location. Paua, though an artist, proved not too skilled at the technique, and offered to paint a few pictures for her to sell.
For the next few days we all worked long hours, more than 8-9 most days. Anthony built another compost bin, this one for Christine, and helped Bernard with odd tasks, in between stints of cutting and stacking firewood. The girls painted and painted, and Paua also waited on a few customers that came to the gallery.
Christine had four birds, a cockatoo and a rainbow lorikeet among them. The cockatoo's name was Billy and he would periodically grumble, "Hello Billy", in the voice of an old man who had been a lifelong smoker.
Christine had trained this bird to poop on command, a trick which she proceeded to try to demonstrate while we were at the dinner table - much to our amazement. The parrot did not perform. She repeated the effort for a couple of customers a day later, and this time, Billy complied. The customers were nonplussed. We later
had a great giggle about this. None of us had ever seen parrot potty-training…
Christine seemed enthusiastic about gold panning, which she mentioned a number of times, trying to interest us in panning in a local river - none of us was really too keen to stand about in the heat of the day, or in the insect-laden dusk, ankle deep in cold water.
Graci and Anthony did agree to go after work, for a few hours. No one got rich, but it was an interesting experience. The stoney stream was clear and cold. According to Christine, this was the area where gold was first discovered in Otago, in 1860.
Well, there may well have still been some gold specks in the shingle of the stream, but a couple of amateurs on their first outing never found any of it. The experience was fun, however. We could imagine the first wave of exited prospectors with their horses and crude tents, trying their luck in the same water a hundred years before.
On the way to the stream of riches we couldn't find, we saw a sign that demanded a photo - A "No Exit" sign to
The Dead End
No way out from this cemetery! a cemetery.
Graci decided that if anyone asks why we would come all this way just to see beautiful scenery, or why would take such a long time out of life’s responsibilities, she will think of this road sign. For her, this trip to NZ has been about doing things she has only dreamed about. Here there are opportunities to do new things while she is young enough to really experience them and old enough to have the wisdom to put what she discovers to good use.
This sign was a reminder to do things on purpose and to get the most out of each of our experiences each day.
And our next experience was to be of the Caitlins, that rugged section of southeastern coast the marks the bottom of mainland New Zealand.
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