More Gisborne

The next day we took ourselves off to Toihoukura, School of Māori Art and Design, which is just up the road. We arrived by 10:00 and had a look at the art in the gallery – the second year students’ end-of-year exhibition – before taking a seat and having a talk given by the principal lecturer, Derek Lardelli. He explained the principles of the school, why it is important, and how It is attracting people from all around New Zealand to study and practice modern Māori art. Some of it is using traditional methods and materials, but there is also a lot pieces using more modern techniques and ideas, including digital technology. Some of the students were also present so were able to talk to us about their particular artworks and inspiration. We bought a piece that was a combination of traditional and modern.

Afterwards, we had lunch in a café in Gisborne before walking to our next point of interest, the Tairāwhiti Museum. There we explored the exhibitions and were led on a guided tour, which included the next-door ‘C’Company Memorial House. This is a memorial to the members of ‘C’ Company of the ANZAC, the Māori Battalion, in two world wars, as well as continued service in Malaya, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. This section of the tour was delivered by a former officer who was able to bring to life the stories of the Māori in Gallipoli and also in WW2, particularly the exploits of Haane Manahi. We then switched guides and went with one of the curators of the museum, who gave us some insights into the current collection and efforts to repatriate taonga Māori currently held by overseas museums, particularly in the UK and Germany; she also took us underground to the archives to show us some artworks and other objects not currently on display.

Our next port of call was a visit to a Jack Richards’ house, gallery and garden in Okitu. The gardens are extensive and we explored them for about an hour before returning to the house and admiring the artwork on display. We’d already seen some of it at Tairāwhiti Museum where it is on loan at the moment.

Our return journey included a visit to the lookout up the top of Titirangi Hill, where Captain Cook first came ashore in New Zealand. We took pictures of Young Nick’s Head, the headland opposite named after the Endeavour’s surgeon’s loblolly boy, Nick Young…who was young (12) at the time. He was in the crow’s nest and first to sight land which turned out to be New Zealand.

In the evening we went for dinner at the Marina Restaurant, on the banks of the Waimatā river. After starting with shared platters of Gisborne produce (meats, avocados, asparagus etc.) there were two options for main - beef fillet or snapper, not dissimilar to last night’s. As we were a large group of 40+, they’d come up with a novel arrangement to serve it: alternating meat and fish, and you had to negotiate with your partner or neighbour about who got what! The same applied to the dessert – a kiwifruit & coconut concoction or chocolate panna cotta. A bit odd. Nevertheless, it was all quite well-cooked and tasty.

The Terrace

With the help of Nicola's dad and uncle Bruce, we've made a start on our "let's terrace the garden" project. So far, we've cleared most of the garden of weeds (although further applications of spray are needed) and uprooted a number of troublesome plants. Last weekend we levelled the area outside the cellar (some say "dungeon") door, and laid some weed matting, sand and paving stones. The result looks pretty good:

We're waiting for a good deluge of rain, so that the ground can settle and we can see whether we need to re-lay some of the paving, as I suspect there may be a bit of a dip...

After that, we are looking at the rest of the garden and thinking about putting in some retaining walls to terrace that as well.

Steps

Whilst Julian and Bruce have been staying with us, they've undertaken a  project in our garden. When we moved in, the garden was clearly in need of some serious remedial work, having been neglected, so far as we could make out, since the house was built. It had originally contained some nice plants (as we discovered) but had been left to run wild.

One of the first things to be done was to dismantle a structure beside the house, which we believe was a fort for the previous owner's kids to play in. It was stoutly built of fence posts and decking planks, so it took a bit of effort with a long spike and sledge hammer to take it apart. We tried to do it as gently as possible in order to keep the timber.

I conquer the castle

We sprayed all the weed areas, and then began the process of grubbing out the larger unwanted plants. These include aloes and a large flax, which was eventually removed.

Along the way we found a second citrus tree (we'd found one already, almost throttled by the undergrowth), an olive tree and a hebe. These we're trying to retain, so will keep the weeds away from them and hopefully they'll have a chance to grow and, one day, fruit.

Julian and Bruce then built a set of steps to go down the steep part of the garden:

All their own work!

The next stage is to level the piece at the top of the steps and pave it, as this leads to our dungeon. After that, there's more levelling to be done lower down, and we need some more steps up by the top of the garden.

I Beg Your Pardon

I never promised you a rose garden

Gosh, how long since I last blogged! What can I say? we've been boring homebodies for the last couple of weeks.

Last weekend we headed out to the garden centre in Miramar to begin our first foray into the world of gardening – we bought a planter and some herbs. Hopefully these will survive on the mixture of wind, rain and jet fuel fumes available on our balcony! I look forward to them providing sufficient foliage to provide us with good cooking. I’ve only planted what I hope are the hardier types of herbs – I don’t think basil or coriander will survive the outdoor conditions, unfortunately. I’m considering the option of a miniature greenhouse, though…maybe grow some salad fruits as well.

Next week, exciting news about some sporting competition that's going on around here or hereabouts...you may have heard about it on the wireless?