Touring Around New Zealand.

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Have just returned from spending late December and January in New Zealand. What a stunning place. It's really true.  Apart from taking a heap of scenery photos, I did keep an eye out for interesting scenes and artifacts for modelling inspiration and the family did allow me to stop. Traveled the North and then South Island with the family.
Nice placement of iron and timber. Good variety of rust colours and styles North Island Thames Gold mine museum.
Trestle Bridge entering Arthurs Pass South Island. Nice railway views.
There is a wealth of interesting old time places to visit,with preserved working equipment from milling to mining, and timber appears to be the building choice of most New Zealand premises. Aged timber planking and weathered paint and rust is everywhere. If you have the privilege of visiting New Zealand, I highly recommend doing it by hiring a car and booking into motels using the wotif accommodation site. So easy and the hot showers are what you need to start a good days touring. With all the twisting roads, I camper van must be a tedious way to travel. And also, if they offer you a Holden Epica, tell them you want a Camry - the Epica is gutless. Anyway....
Couple of NZ Locos at Otira Station on the Arthur's Pass line.
 
An 1870s relic of gold rush rivalry between Dunedin and Invercargill is K92 Rogers at Croydon Vintage Aircraft museum near Gore, South Island.

More Thames Gold mine shots.
Nice rusted up gears and drive shafts attached to wooden beam.
Mine buildings and boiler chimney stack.

Mining trolley at the Thames Gold mine Museum.

A boiler outside one of the sheds at the mine.


Back Yard shed. Nice timber and window weathering.



 And lastly for now.. a water driven working stamp mill at a Gold mine museum
near Cromwell (near Queenstown.) South Island.

 

NZ Loco - good examples of weathering components.


And then there is challenges like this, Found in a back lot of Timaru, Sth Island.

Cool Brick work.

 One of the Churches in Christchurch, showing the result of earthquake damage. Containers have been put to good use on a number of buildings to provide bracing.


Mosaic at Dunedin Railway Station. Very impressive mosaics all over the main foyer.

An now from the rustic - a crane in Timaru....


To the absolutely stunning. A misty chasm on the road to Arthur's Pass. A good way to end off this blog entry.

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