old bear celebrates ^^

ok - I took my son for a drive up-country and as is typical we came across a stau - NZ style. The local farmer was transferring his flock and that caused some traffic jams. Once all gone - it was plain sailing!!

In the hurly burly of scouting and camping and other things - we went out for a meal - I did forget one most important tradition. Ah well - this was rectified this evening.

This bears family has always bought one bottle of wine in the year the offspring was created and buried it about a foot deep (the bottle - not the offspring!!). To be sure - some have moved and forgotten the bottle - but not us - we have stayed here since ever - and today - today was the day. In near darkness I went outside and broke a shovel and continued with bear hands - much to the delight of our Beagle!!! One rescued bottle of genuine Austrian (Oggau to be precise) Pinot Blanco later.....

See, it is tradition to drink the a vintage bottle from your birth-year when you turn 21 - or as some do it, when you get married!! Anywooo - it was still lovely and we ended up skype-ing with Oma who enjoyed the video call!!

hmmmmmm yep this is a bit of a drop - maybe just past its best by use day - but still very enjoyable.















The birthday boy - seems this is the only time I am allowed to publish a photo of him!!









He only had half a glass - honest . . . ^^












Prost Son - on your happy 21 b-day and many returns!!

Annual Westcoast Camp - Denniston Incline part five

We had some time to kill - so decided to throw in a pioneering challenge. Using proper scout lashings and knots the youth had to build 3 pioneering projects using nothing more then ordinary thin garden twine and bamboo chopsticks. It is actually a lot harder then you would think - especially when you factor in my butterfingers . . . . ^^ auhuuuuuu - one tripod done - now what??



This was meant to be a bridge and it was a complicated project - early stages here!!








We walked round cape Foulwind, and enjoyed the local scenery as well as wild life. There is a reason why it is called foul wind - one could see the waves been driven in 3 different directions!!







After about 20 min of walking the boys needed a rest and so we just sat and chatted when this local decided to ask some hard questions. I think he had his eye on the blond strings and nesting . . . .







This friendly and inquisitive local decided to help himself to the free offered food!! Not quite a soup kitchen - more like a sushi bar (rice cracker) still it must have been good as he came back for some more and more . . . .






yes well - what can I say - ok so I owned up to having a birthday - 21 years old with 28 years of experience - while being on camp!! So the scheming lot decided to bake a cake - well - I could smell it before it even hit the oven ^^ (my trusty nose still got it - trade secret how I do this). Pretty good for a first time decor by some of the boys, naturally it had to be a bear ^^
(well next year they are out of luck my b-day falls on Tuesday - the day after)








Hmmmm pass the parcel - say NO MORE,
except this poor chap had to pretend that he was a monkey - and well you know what they do ^^
I am told it was a pretty good impersonation!!






Eventually you can stall only so long - and the cake had to be cut, I know - this feels sooooooooo wrong - but hey - it tasted good.

This was pretty much the end of the camp - next day we had a scouts own and some short games - and after checking with the locals and AA we decided to cut our losses and head back the same way we came, via Lewis Pass. Seems there was too much snow further down south on the Alpine passes. So a clean up and quick lunch and packed and headed back home. Till next year
knife making ^^

Annual Westcoast Camp - Denniston Incline part four

When we go over to the west coast camping, we always try and tie in some sort of craft activity, which is actually the real reason we travel over. Next year we will be making a knife - check out the link at the top of the page. Anywoooo - this year we invited local coal sculpture artist Kevin Strong to show the boys what is possible with coal. Here they can be seen selecting the molds - various animals and things. His biggest mold was a coal truck being loaded with coal from a digger - and he needed to use a Tonka truck as his model to make the mold . . . ^^ Sadly some 20 years back a guy called Mullholland??? died - and he had the knack of carving coal - just like today's people do with our treasured greenstone. Examples of his work are on display at the Coaltown museum. I would give an arm and a leg for his expertise to have been passed on to another generation . . . .

It is great science to get the mix just right. You take 3 spoons of this - add that - stir 5 times clockwise - then 2 times anti-clockwise, followed by 2 subtle up and under's - then 7 times clockwise, then add the crushed (not cut) black stuff . . . . . . .
Hmmmm sounds like I have been watching to many HP movies and / or been detained by Professor Snape to much. Love the concentration on the faces - this is serious stuff here . . .











Having passed the potions test, it is now time to pour our elixir into the prepped molds. A bit tricky as you do not want air bubbles inside the rubber, so there were comical efforts on how to extract these from the rubber mold. Just as well giggles was not present or the effort would have been derailed with comical laughter and comments ^^













ok - pouring has finished - so we now wait for them to set. Again a watched kettle never boils so we had to divert the attention with a couple a games - the scissor game became a great hit.
This particular game is a mental challenge and tests their power of observations. Funny how they struggle with a basic Kim's game - but this one could keep them occupied for hours . . . . .
Eventually after some frustrations and hearty laughter everyone got "it" and the game died - but I can report that the youth introduced this game to the rest of the troop at the following Scout troop night with great success.

Voila - the almost finished product, just needs a coal paint job to make it really coal color black.
Isn't it looking way cool or what????? I still have mine from 4 years back and it has not lost any of it's luster - so I can recommend that you give this fun activity a serious go.







Michelangelo never worked so hard as this bloke - a rare masterpiece. All sculptures came out really well, and everyone was really proud and happy with their chosen molds. One even made a clucking brooding chicken for his wife - nice touch Sir G.H.!! Hope she enjoyed her gift ^^














The final installment will come tomorrow - and somehow I have to archive the 1 gig lot of pictures. Just as well that my family finally pooled their resources and bought me a 1 TB external HD for my Birthday!! ahuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Hmmm speaking of birthdays - oh wait - that's for tomorrows blog ^^

Annual Westcoast Camp - Denniston Incline part three

They say a watched kettle never boils - but I dunno - this one did its job just nicely and as a result we had a nice hot cuppa (Milo for me and Tea/coffee for the other gents)
See the steam rising??? Oddly enough (can't think why) the boys where not overly impressed when we suggested to them, to use the hot water to wash their dishes ^^








LUNCH - a time honored tradition - lunch on the run - while we could have eaten inside the "Friends of the Hill" Museum - it was an unusually sunny day for Denniston and we decided to make the most of what little sun we saw - ergo cooking and eating outside.
Lunch must have been good as this is/was the only time the boys stopped chattering . . . .










The endless Rope Road - from Coalbrookdale mine via Burnetts Face to the Binns on top of the Denniston Incline. One can walk along it now peacefully - but in it's heyday there was a wagon every minute or so and with the houses being literally only meters away from the rope way - it was a tricky business living there. Many a small kid got killed due to a moments carelessness. The only danger to ourselves was for tall people - and one of us collected a scar when he failed to stoop down low enough . . . . Must have something to do with being a Sir . . . (working in the lofty heights of his own peers:P ?? )







Gathering the driftwood for our Campfire. One of the many pleasures on our trip is that we still can have these scouting traditions on the westcoast. Here in Canterbury we suffer from Fire restrictions almost year round. Given the amount of rain overnight and the storm we had - I checked next day the place and the sea had washed it nice and clean - not a single trace of a Campfire ever having taken place!! The funny thing was - we had just lit the fire and we heard the siren going for the local fire fighting crew!!! We were having kittens that they would show up here and urm - well - give us a hard time urm - and present us with a rather large call out fee to be paid!! Thankfully the call out was for another area (maybe a flooded house??)

Annual Westcoast Camp - Denniston Incline part two

urm - ok - so this is where we are going - up on the hill?? Yeah - up there. We had a lucky break in the weather and could see the incline from the graveyard as clear as!! Binoculars helped, but of course you could see it with the naked eye!





Before we drove up the the Denniston Incline itself, we stopped at Conns creek and had a look from there. The bush has grown a bit since I was there last - however the track itself is still as current as can be and yes one can walk up so far the Incline - until you get to the river and the broken bridge. Looking sideways one can spot the odd rusty steel - eg - wagons who had left the rails during an accident and were just left there to rot!!




An old photo at the display stand shows the bottom end with the curve at Conns Creek










The Incline itself










So here we are right at the top of the Denniston Incline - looking down towards Middle Brake and Conns creek at the bottom of the valley. Pretty steep huh??!! M A Y B E one day the people might feel adventurous and rebuild the Denniston Incline and give our valued overseas tourists a thrill ride they sure will never ever forget in a hurry. Hmmmm wouldn't mind riding it myself . . . .










Near the Binns - where the coal wagons were loaded and hooked up just before they descended down the Denniston Incline








They went from there and came this way, then went down that way (urm _ I think thats what he said) either that or he impersonated a traffic officer ^^








The Navigator - he kept a certain Mr Brush company during the long drive over to the Westcoast. Brush was a teeny weeny upset when Vinnie decided to sleep in one morning and missed his duties, so we made sure he got woken up in time for his map reading skills.
The daily wakeup call started with a good old classic - "reville"!!

Annual Westcoast Camp - Denniston Incline part one

Well - it was this time of the year again were we take a small group of willing slaves - oops SCOUTS on our annual Westcoast camp. This years trip was to Denniston and based around early coal extraction and the world famous Denniston Incline. We based ourselves in a lovely warm Hall right next to Carters beach. It was very spacious and ended up quite a warm place. Here you can see the arrangement of HALF the hall. One patrol of 4 at the far end - then the dining area - and then the other patrol!
Leaders got to bunk down-wind from me (hehehe in vain hope that snoring noises would not carry . . . . )


Urm - you see - my urm - other partner - ahem, *cough* whom I have a easy going urm - well - it's listed as a complicated relationship on FB - urm - sighs - okay -- HIS wife and son came and dropped him off late - as he finished work well after we had left and as USUAL when they go camping and meet up, they share breakfast together - and best of all - it's a healthy variety - Weetbix - a good kiwi breakfast. Here Vinnie can be seeing hosting his friend!!




First stop was the Coal town museum in Westport. The kids got given a sheet with questions and had to work out the answers by going round and looking at the various models and the DVD which was continuously being played etc. Here you can see a recreation of the acute angle of the Denniston Incline. Pretty steep huh??? Imagine - for many years this was your only means of transport up or down the hill (on the Denniston Plateau) and e v e r y t h i n g came up or down that way - piano included!!
The Denniston Incline was the subject of 2 major books (the Denniston Rose & Dancing in the Wilderness) and while both are fictional - they both very aptly describe the early life up on the Hill!! A good read to be sure!





From the Museum we then carted our intrepid scouts to the Waimangaroa Cemetery. Interesting fact is that the coal miners up on the Hill could not bury their dead up there as there is no soil - just rock hard granite - so they had to cart their dead down via the Dennistion Incline and bury them down here. Sad part was, the cemetery is close to the beach and funerals could only be held during low tide or the coffins would have floated of . . . . . - not to mention the fact the almost all days Denniston was shrouded in mist - so the woman folk who stayed up on the Hill could not SEE the funeral take place.


Here is the link to the Museum

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/listing.php?listingId=60016

weird the www.coaltown.co.nz link is not working - ah well this one will give you a good idea about the museum - enjoy

Teenager is alarmed

ahuuuuu - you gotta love your children.
Seems one of my sons has real difficulty getting out of bed and be ready for a days work at Uni - and today he overslept - again!! (apparently his alarm died ^^ ) and his older brother either intentionally or sweetly innocently (thinking younger Bro had already left) set the burglar-alarm when he left for his stint at Uni. Sooo when younger sleepy bro wakes up and answers a call to nature - yep - lights flashing / noise everywhere . . . .. .

When I checked in from my cellphone there was some mutterings of severe payback consequences ^^

We'll see - I cant wait for the details of that plan however if he keeps sleeping in . . . . . it won't happen in a hurry

*grins* maybe he needs some help - I used to be good with this ^^