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Travels in New Zealand: Swimming holes and sudden hailstorms

Today I ran out on a quick errand to the local dairy (like a corner store) and got caught in a hailstorm.

As far as hail goes, the stones were pretty un-impressive, the size of small puy lentils, but the shower lasted a good five minutes, and left the road covered in a reasonable drift of white, and me covered in a reasonable amount of wet, cold and shivering.  Luckily home wasn’t far away, because our dairy really is just on the corner of our street!

The experience reminded me of another hailstorm, which I briefly mentioned here on the blog when talking about my West Coast road trip, but never went into in great detail.

Heading back into the mountains from the West Coast, we asked the garrulous proprietress of the cafe we had breakfast at if there was anything we should see on coastal route  from Greymouth to Arthur’s Pass.  We’d already seen the historic miniature bungalow on our way down the inland route, so were hoping for new excitement on our way back.

The lady at the cafe said to look out for the ‘old bathing pools’ at Kumara, but couldn’t explain more as to what it was.  So we drove, and in an otherwise unprepossessing bit of forested roadside just outside of the little town of Kumara we saw a sign for ‘Historic Swimming Baths’ which pointed to a trail leading into the forest.

Fascinating…

It had been raining on and off, but the Chef and I decided we would risk it, and put on our jackets and set off.  After a short walk, the forest opened up to reveal this:

The historic swimming baths at Kumara

 

Hmmm.  A big hole in the ground with stone walls.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I’m pretty sure I was hoping for the tumbled-down ruin of some colonnaded classical inspired Bath-esque baths in the middle of the NZ woods. (and yes, there is a big part of me that desperately wants Forgotten Silver to be real!).

So the actually baths were really just a swimming hole.  There was a nice sign with their history and some old photographs of the ‘baths’ in their prime:

The historic swimming baths at Kumara

 

The baths were a depression-era work project, but not a government sponsored one.  Instead, a local man noticed that kids were enjoying the pool formed by a flood, and got the local men to volunteer to build a much better pool.  The stones used in the bath were all ‘tailings’ left behind from mining in the area, and the wood was provided by a local mill.  The Woman’s Institute raised money for changing rooms for women.  It really was a community project, to raise spirits in the area and provide a focus for the community.

The historic swimming baths at Kumara

 

Sadly, the baths only lasted a few years, until the huge metal pipes which provided water for them began to rust, and the water was diverted for other uses.

After reading about the history of the baths, the Chef and I decided to walk around them (they are Olympic sized), heading in opposite directions.

The historic swimming baths at Kumara

She was halfway around the pool, when we heard the most unexpected sound: a train, rumbling through the forest.  I was surprised, as I was pretty sure the train lines were all miles away.  Then, as the first pellets hit me, I realised that it wasn’t a train: the thundering rumble was the sound of an approaching hailstorm, as the pebbles bounced off the forest.

I spotted a little shelter formed by overhanging trees a few metres ahead along the pool, and raced for it, the Chef doing the same from the other direction.

We huddled under the trees, watching hailstones bounce in all directions.  We reached out to collect some of the biggest ones: large cold grapes of ice.

Hailstones, Kumara, West Coast

 

Then the stones became bigger, and one broke through the tree cover and bounced off my head, provoking a loud “Oww!” and the realisation that we needed real shelter – and fast.

We darted back around the pools and onto the path through the woods, grateful for the slight shelter of the trees as the stones became even bigger.  Emerging on to the road, we found company: four other cars had taken advantage of our pull off and were waiting out the storm.

The historic swimming baths at Kumara

Soaking wet, cold, slightly bruised, and laughing hysterically, we piled back into the car and turned the heater on to full blast.

Hailstones, Kumara, West Coast

The Chef rummaged around for towels, and we waited out the storm, and then headed up into the mountains, driving slowly and carefully among the drifts of ice.

 

The baths themselves may not have been the most exciting thing, but the event was!

Rate the Dress: 1910s suits

What an avalanche of 10s last week’s striped ’40s frock was!  Of the 47 votes, only 13 votes were any number other than a perfect 10!  The only complaint that people could make about the frock was that the fabric was slightly reminiscent of tie fabric, or schoolgirl uniforms.  That association ruined it for one or two of you, but most of you thought it was stylish perfection incarnate (and I couldn’t agree more!), so it came in at a fantastic 9.5 out of 10.  

This week let’s stay in the 20th century, and look at a suit from the 1910s – an era where simple lines met quirky details.  This suit of checked  wool features interesting layering and details in brown wool.  The tailoring of the suit is contrasted with  a very soft, frilly feminine collar.

The collar apparently features a pastoral scene with shepherd holding a lamb, leaning against a tree, but I can’t quite make it out.

What do you think of the suit, with its muted  colour scheme, layered-look jacket, crisp contrast detailing, and ridiculously romantic collar?  Just the right balance of restraint and whimsy?  Or ridiculous and weird?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

Corsets, crinolines & kitty cats

How to tell if you have awesome friends:

If they stop by your house on the weekend for a cup of tea and you say “Oh, I was just about to climb into a chemise and corset, any chance you’d be willing to take some photos of me?” and they spend over an hour helping to lace you into a corset and directing poses  and snapping photos:

1880s corset & chemise thedreamstress.com

The resulting photos are  evidence of how truly fabulous  Emily of Ever So Scrumptious is!  I hope she had as much fun as I did helping me document me wearing  my 1860s chemise (finally!) and new stockings and drawers, and red elliptical crinoline (even more finally!), and paisley petticoat (also finally).

We got some lovely atmospheric, romantic period stuff:

1880s corset & chemise thedreamstress.com

And some adorable stuff with Felicity (because how could you possibly pass up the chance to pose with Felicity?):

1860s elliptical crinoline thedreamstress.com

And some fun stuff with me being silly (this is me immediately after saying “I don’t know what to do with my hands!  I feel they should be doing something!  Should I just throw them out?):

1860s elliptical crinoline thedreamstress.com

Or just showing off all views of the garment (note to self – I need to add one more band of wire to this hoopskirt, and re-arrange the wires so they form a  smoother bell:

1860s elliptical crinoline thedreamstress.com

Felicity objected to posing (she only likes to be gorgeous on her own terms, thank you very much), so I got her involved by playing button soccer with her on the bureau chest:

1860s paisley petticoat thedreamstress.com

 

We had to end that game when she decided to ‘win’ by trying to eat the ball.  I guess that’s better than trying to eat the other players, but still not ideal!

1860s paisley petticoat thedreamstress.com

 

I was so distraught and overwhelmed at the thought of sports cannibalism that I had to swoon:

1860s paisley petticoat thedreamstress.com

 

Most gracefully and elegantly of course 😉

1860s paisley petticoat thedreamstress.com

I soon recovered, and found a much more effective and satisfying (and safe!) way to tempt Felicity to be part of the photoshoot.

1860s paisley petticoat thedreamstress.com

 

String!

1860s paisley petticoat (& Felicity the cat) thedreamstress.com

 

Many, many thanks Emily!

(and on the subject of awesome friends, Joie de Vivre has written the sweetest post about all of us,: D’awww!)