Random from the Wairarapa and King Country

Strangely, for me at least, I didn't take many photos while I was in the Wairarapa recently.  My camera stopped charging on the second day.  The battery is quite expensive so I didn't have a spare and even if I had owned one, I probably wouldn't have thought to have it with me.  I take crap photos with my phone so don't have many to share.  The first thing I did when I got home was order a new battery which is now in the camera and life is back to normal.

I wish I had taken more shots when we stopped for a closer look at a fresh farm milk supply cabin up a side road not far from Carterton.  The milk comes from a local farm, and is supplied to customers, untreated, through a vending machine.  It is dispensed into glass bottles for $3 a litre.  Customers can supply their own bottles if they wish.  

Suppliers say nothing is added, nothing is taken away. There are as many arguments for raw fresh milk as there are against it. 

Regulations for raw drinking milk were passed late last year and farmers who sell raw milk to consumers must be registered with the Ministry for Primary Industries.  

There doesn't always have to be a reason for a photo, does there?  Some just take themselves, especially on a phone.  And then sometimes I like the result.  It took me a while to remember this wall and chairs were in the visitors centre at Stonehenge Aotearoa.

This one took itself at Cobblestone Museum.

On the way back home we went cross country to Te Kuiti to see the recently unveiled statue of Sir Colin Meads. 

 A little admirer touching the shoelaces of the great man.  Sir Colin himself was impressed with the detail that the sculptor had got right as even his laces were done up as he used to lace them.  

Sir Colin is now 81 and very ill with pancreatic cancer.  You can't live in New Zealand and not know he is regarded by many as New Zealand’s greatest ever rugby player.  He has the reputation of being a good, honest, hardworking bloke.

His statue is truly impressive.  2.9 metres bronze, the man appears to be in full flight, the rugby ball dwarfed by his legendary huge hands. The likeness to the man is remarkable.

Another visitor agreed to stand in front of the statue, to give an idea of the scale.  We agreed that it was about 1.5 times real life size.

  

My one criticism is about where it is located.  It has pride of place, right on the middle of town but the railway building behind just doesn't look like the right backdrop.   

In a cafe on the other side of the road the female staff were sporting new tshirts celebrating the life of Sir Colin and the new statue.  They really like them and one of the girls took off her apron to appear in my photo.  Thanks, girls.