Table mountain - acrylic on canvas

This acrylic on canvas painting of Table Mountain is a commission for another ex-South African living here in Wanganui.

I am thinking about having a few prints made before I hand it over, since there has been some interest shown by other folks too. Apparently, if you have a high resolution photograph, it can be copied and printed onto canvas!

South Island water

Wellington harbour at the start of our trip down to the South Island - our ferry backing in to the 'parking spot'.

About an hour out of Nelson there is a tiny little holiday spot - plenty of fishing boats and leisure launches - all of which need to be towed out to the sea! By a tractor no less! First time we've ever seen anything like it!

The inland lakes and fjords of the South Island are spectacular - not just for the surrounding mountains and countryside, but for the incredible colour of the water.

On a grey day, mist wafts over the bay while the surf washes in relentlessly.

These just demanded to be placed in the folder titled "photographs for painting"!

The beach at Timaru has white (well almost white) sand! Being on the other side of the island, the sand is not black, volcanic sand like in our part of the world.

From the mountain pass road, this 'extension of the sea' is really pretty.

It really does all look so idyllic.

This photograph was taken just before we were refused entry to the road to Nelson from Linkwater because the roads in the area had been closed overnight due to extremely heavy rain, resulting in 'slips' (landslides - usually down the mountainside and onto the road) and flooding. There were also a couple of huge trees down, making the road impassable. We travelled the road on the return trip and they were still busy with the clearing up operations.

If you scroll down on this blog, you will eventually come to a photograph of one of my paintings - a seascape of mountains and surf near Kaikoura.

This photograph is of that same beach
but taken from a different angle.

I really wanted to see if we could find that beach and so was delighted when we did, since it's not really signposted at all, being somewhat off the beaten track for beachgoers!

Dis al!

Grandma's joy!

Ain't technology just marvellous!

For a few minutes we had a teeny corner of Vancouver in our home in Wanganui New Zealand - well almost!

This little poppet was fast asleep this morning while her Daddy and I had a chat on Skype - cute, cuter, cutest!

(en pragtig en die mooiste ou dingetjie was nog nooit lelik nie! - Ouma se hart se punt!)

Sacred Architecture

It seems that the architecture around church buildings in the South Island of New Zealand is extremely diverse. We have found the buildings generally to be of interest, but thought you would like to see a sort of thematic group - so here are just a few of the churches we happened to see on the South Island.

This one - The church of the Good Shepherd - is in huge demand for weddings - set beside a spectacular lake, it is remote, peaceful and intimate - and of course, limits the number of guests you can invite since it is really small. A little windswept on the day we visited, but even so, still breathtaking views of the mountains and lake.

The Anglican Cathedral, up on the hill in Nelson is fascinating in that it was designed, originally to have the whole soaring spires and buttresses number, however, the money ran out on completion of the first floor and so the resulting 'solution' was what you see here. The design was

most definitely something 'different' but we were glad to have got inside to see it - and play the beautiful pipe organ which arrived by ship from 'the continent' at enormous expense.

The main focus of Cathedral Square in Christchurch - this beautiful old building has miraculously sidestepped major damage with the recent earthquakes that have hit other, similarly aged buildings in the city. Some of those others have their spires 'taped up' or 'shored up' with scaffolding and the like and are somewhat depressed and frantic looking - this one, still to all intents and purposes, perfect for the tourist photographs which are constantly being taken. The square was the venue for the New Year celebrations this year and is a hub of the city with the i-site for us happy wanderers, the tram 'base stop', a good few souvenir shops, plenty of talented buskers and a Starbucks cafe with tables on the square for watching the world go by while enjoying a coffee over a map or two.

We had to wait a little while to get this 'lonely' looking photograph - the place was literally overrun by camera-clutching tourists - mostly of the asian persuasion and in groups of never less than it seemed like fifty!

We spied this Catholic church sort of through the sidestreets and round the back of tiny Hokitika - it was a bit of a trudge to get there, but there it stood in all it's splendour - in spite of New Zealand being very 'un-religious', these dramatic church buildings are dotted about all over the place.

Now this one was a little harder to find - we had heard about a really old German settlement outside Nelson and followed the Neudorf road to find it - after getting our lady-in-a-box totally confused (who by the way, speaks fluent Afrikaans and doesn't mind the motorcycle in the least) since the roads have changed since the maps were set up! Eventually came across the Lutheran church set in a really tiny town amidst rolling farmland and sheep dotted pastures. All very pretty and pastoral.

The founders village in Nelson (where we sampled the beer and found Castle beer listed in the International Beer Bible) has a 'functioning' church too - used for weddings - especially the kind with horse drawn carriages and sepia like photography with bridesmaids issued with pretty parasols and groomsmen in top hats and tails - you get the picture.

Queenstown - so named apparently, because it's beautiful enough to entertain Her Majesty - has this little church tucked away right in the middle of the 'city' - also just a little 'round the back'. Since it was raining and really miserable and the town was filled to more-than-capacity with extremely well heeled folks spending obscene amounts of money in the outrageously expensive, designer boutiques - we didn't hang about for too long. Very glad to have visited the town - will definitely go there again, but off season and mostly to see the spectacular lakes and mountains. We agreed that you can keep the shopping!

This is a really sad church - you can see by the condition of the spire that it's no longer in use as a church - like so many of the churches around New Zealand, it has been 'converted' - this one is now a funeral home. Not quite as sacrilegious as so many others that have been re-designed in upmarket paint jobs and are either coffee shoppes or top end craft shops. This particular one was built about a hundred years ago by the Methodists to serve their growing flock after the missionaries did such a sterling job of converting the 'heathens' they found here!

Timaru has some really magnificent churches - for a coastal, holiday town which hosts a Christmas carnaval on the beach every year - this year being the Centenary Christmas Carnaval - the town appears to be only a little larger than Wanganui - but lo and behold, there are these huge churches - Methodist, Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian - most all the major denominations are represented and have dramatic buildings to prove it!

Here is the Sacred Heart Basilica in Timaru - there was a service in progress on the morning that we took the photograph so we didn't go in, but judging by the sounds emanating from the building, there is a large pipe organ in use and a fair few congregants with 'oh my goodness, listen to ME' voices!

Also in Timaru - one could be excused for thinking that this was the hub of all things sacred in the South - a church round every bend!




And our little congregation hires a first floor conference room in the centre of Wanganui for the moment - still think it would be better to hire out the churches than to sell them and convert them into commercial premises - but that's probably just a personal opinion.

Dis al!

Welcome Matilda Amelia!

Here she is folks! Matilda Amelia van der Spuy, born 12th January 2011 - weighing in at 7lbs 11oz, beautiful daughter to Andrew and Claire of Vancouver, Canada.
Thrilled grandmother will continue to post photographs and snippets of interesting information for evermore!
Huge CONGRATULATIONS Andrew and Claire - we are absolutely over the moon for you!

A taste of the South

We have just returned from a fabulous trip to the South Island on the motorcycle - 3,000 kms in ten days! There are about three hundred photographs and a couple of video clips to sort through and put up for you to see, but we thought you would like a little sample so here is a small taste of the South. And, Happy New Year to you all! Our 'New Year's News' will follow in the not too distant future!

The 'interislander' ferry is not the only one that gets folks safely across the Cook Straights back and forth from the North and South Islands of New Zealand. We discovered the Blue Bridge ferry does exactly the same job for a whole lot cheaper - they don't seem to advertise - we found them by chance and saved a pretty penny!

Known as 'high viz' - the yellow and orange fashion statement over the biker jacket does flap about quite a bit and gets irritating sometimes, but makes sure that we are seen from behind. The headlamp on the front of the bike hopefully makes sure we are seen from the front too!

Sometimes you ride on by and other times you get up off your tail and take in the magnificent scenery - photograph taking also a good excuse for a bit of a stretch of the old bones!

We wanted to see a particular bay near to Kaikoura - one of the scenes which I have painted, and en-route, came across this little rocky bay full of seals basking on the rocks and lolling about in the shallows. They seemed totally unconcerned with all the fuss made by tourists, campervans and cameras.

The sign inside the viola case says - saving for airfare to the USA to audition for the Julliard School of music! We made as much of a contribution as we could - she was doing such a fine job, we hope she gets there!

Cathedral Square in Christchurch has of course, a magnificent cathedral, but also the tourist information site and loads of shops selling all sorts of things that are light or ludicrous or fit into an envelope. The starbucks cafe was particularly welcome and we lolled about outside under leafy trees sipping iced coffees! Bliss!

Chose this particular picture of the tram in Christchurch which does a circuit around the historical points in the city, and which we rode on when our bones got weary of trudging around the town, because in the background you can see the scaffolding and suchlike in front of one of the older cathedrals which has been declared unsafe after the devastating earthquake in September and the subsequent 'aftershocks' which number in the thousands now. We just missed one by a day or two which had folks scurrying for cover again!

After settling on a motel, we would head off to a pub or similar eating establishment to tackle the 'where are we now' and 'what's there to see' and have a bite to eat. This picture was taken at a charming pub in the suburbs of Christchurch and from where we were sitting, we could see an advertising board for Nando's chicken - the first we have seen in New Zealand. Apparently, they are springing up all over the show!

Spectacular South Island scenery! We were continually amazed by the clarity and particularly the colour of the water in the lakes and streams - some serious blue, others so turquoise that you are tempted to keep checking if your sunglasses are not perhaps squiffing the colours!

There is a 'founders' village just outside of Nelson which has it's very own brewery - who knew there were so many different beer 'flavours'! The immense claim to fame there, is the fact that this little family run brewery has made it into the International 'Bible' of brew masters and has won numerous awards for it's beers

Be that as it may - we were much more interested in discovering if there were any South African beers listed in the prestigious book - and lo and behold - there we found Castle lager and Castle Stout! We were somewhat surprised that there was no mention of Black label or Windhoek or any other SA beer for that matter. Interesting.

Sometimes, if you are extremely lucky and happen to be in the right place at the right time, you can get to play

a big old cathedral organ and fill the place with sound!

The top of the high street in Nelson with the dramatic Anglican Cathedral up on the hill.

Dis al vir nou!