We go on a family outing to Roxburgh: Grandad, three sisters and the grown up Southall kids. To the uninitiated Roxburgh is in the Teviot Valley on the banks of the Clutha, 40 kilometres south of Alex. Our first stop is the hydro electric dam, begun in 1949 and opened in November 1956. Today the spill gate is open and the water is coming down so fast there's spray going in all directions. So much rain in the mountains this summer and it's swelling the mighty Clutha River. Next stop, Jimmy's Pies, world famous in the south and bursting with eager pie eaters today. We follow signs to Frog Rock Cherry Orchard and fill a bucket. The ripening season has been cooler than normal and the flavour of the cherries is less intense, but they're juicy. It's hard to find ripe raspberries, there just hasn't been enough sun.
Last stop is Mitchell's Cottage. A remarkable example of stonemason's craft, it was begun by gold miner Andrew Mitchell for his brother John in 1880, and not completed till 1904. The cottage is set into the hillside on existing rocks and is so well sited it disappears into the landscape but has a commanding view of the valley as far north as the St Bathans Range. The stone work is so neat the finished edges of the schist slabs form flat and even walls. These are thick with wide sills and the cottage's insides are snug and cosy. No building consent, no resource consent, no traffic management plans, no engineering reports, no scaffolding. Just two skilled men using what nature provided. It would have been welcome shelter from the hoar frosts and the hot, dry summers for John, his wife Jessie and their 10 children. Andrew and John were gold miners who left the Shetlands to make their fortune. They arrived in Gabriel's Gully in the 1860's and didn't strike it rich but put down roots in Fruitlands. As well as the house, Andrew planted holly, spruce and made a sundial chipped out of a solid block of schist.
Today's swim in Lake Dunstan is slightly warmer than yesterday but a freezing dip for the North Island rellies.
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| Tidy lawn- thanks Greig |
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| Overflow from Roxburgh Dam |
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| Me and nephew Lachie |
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| Mitchell's Cottage |
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| Snow on the hills |
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| Lake Dunstan |
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| Lionel's first home "in town"- Alexandra |
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