a road trip & books

Last week hubby and I had a quick road trip down the West Coast and back to collect some meat from my brother's farm. We are lucky enough to know exactly where our meat comes from but not have to deal with any of the gory bits.

We left at 6.30 and were back by 3.00, which meant it was a quick trip with only an hours rest at the farm. As we travelled south the dawn greeted us and we drove past hills dusted in frost so thick it looked like snow. 

 Once on the West Coast it was a lovely sunny winter's day. I took all of these photos out of the car window, which is a bit hit and miss, but can give some nice surprises, as long as you ignore the crooked horizons.

 It was nice to spend some time together to talk and enjoy the amazing scenery.

My husband is a hard man to buy presents for - a task I dread almost as much as he dreads buying for me. So with his birthday looming I was clueless what to get him until I walked into a shop and saw Maddie. If you haven't come across Maddie the Coonhound before do go and check her out here or here. Theron takes the most amazing photos of his dog Maddie on a road trip across America. They are sure to bring a smile to even the most dedicated cat person.

A couple of days after his birthday I did find a book in an op shop that he really was pleased about. He'd told me years ago that there was a book on Wellington which had a photo of his dad in it, but didn't know what the title of the book was.

When I picked up this book by Ans Westra, I did go through it looking for my father-in-law, but couldn't see him. Still I brought the book as it was full of fantastic photos and was only $2. When I told hubby I'd found a book on Wellington, he said the photo was taken in front of a movie theatre, and straight away I knew I might have the right one. When I turned to the following page, there he was on the right looking straight at the camera.

When hubby had a look he was amazed to find his mum, aunty, uncle and grandma also. He'd never remembered that they were in the photo, as he'd only seen the photo once many years ago. His grandma is right on the edge of the photo next to his dad. And somewhere in the throng there would have been three very excited boys about to see a James Bond movie on a Saturday afternoon with their extended family, similar to the three hamming it up in the middle of the photo.

Ans Westra is a very well respected NZ photographer, there's a great interview with her here. This book on Wellington was published in 1976 and while I don't recognise all of the places, I do remember the times (just!). Here are a few of my favourite photos.

Meat workers picketing the offices of the company, with a bit of light reading to pass the time.

Two chaps enjoying a bit of a bogey.

Mowing lawns on steep sections in the city is still hard going, this guy has a rope to stop the lawnmower getting away. He was also working on his tan, something you don't see so often now with the Slip, Slop, Slap campaign against skin cancer.

Two girls with ice creams sharing a pair of wooden Japanese jandals, hence why they need walking sticks?

Love the kid wearing gumboots a few sizes too big, and the writing on the footpath.

A typical pub scene, I didn't started frequenting such fine establishments until the late 1980s.

These guys were getting ready for Friday night. The council was a bit lax on repairing the footpath in this street, or is it a construction site? That might explain the helmets too.

A typical backyard scene, rotary clothes line, wheelbarrow, trike. It could have been me on the left playing in the dirt.

Business men enjoying a beautiful lunchtime on the waterfront, one has taken his shoes off for extra sensory delight.

 

Sorry about the long post, I really should have done two, but hey I didn't - so hopefully you made it to here.