This Christmas - New Year holiday period was the first time
I worked straight through without a break. I did it because I
love tramping and had booked myself a trip to Tasmania with the
Federated Mountain Club (FMC) of New Zealand. FMC runs a travel
club that specialises in adventure holidays, such as tramping
in national parks around the world, at an incredibly cheap cost,
as it’s a non-profit-making organisation.
The main event was the Overland track, which is considered
Australia’s
equivalent to New Zealand’s Milford track or the nation’s
most famous walk. The track is just less than 100klm long and
can be walked in 4 days; however, some idiots have run it in
9 or 10 hours. Our party took 7 days, as there are many side
and one-day trips along the way. Besides, we went to enjoy the
scenery, not to break tramping records.
I had heard that Tasmania was similar to New Zealand but nothing
could be further from the truth. The only thing similar is the
weather but when I was there in February, Tasmania enjoyed wall-to-wall
sunshine while New Zealand was being flooded. The Tasmanian National
Parks are World Heritage wilderness areas and very different
to New Zealand. If you enjoy getting away from the cities, enjoy
walking, then I suggest you just do it. The scenery on the Overland
track is simply breath taking - wow, wow, wow. The track is easy
to walk with probably a third formed boardwalks; this is used
to protect the delicate under-foot environment. I was one of
the youngest in our party, most were in their fifties and sixties
with one couple in their mid-seventies, so the track is not difficult.
Walking was not the only thing on my mind in Tasmania, or Van
Diemans Land as it used to be known. There are two other things
Tasmania is famous for and they are: 1) The old penal institutes,
and 2) beautiful architecture built between 1860 and 1920.
The Port Arthur prison near Hobart was Australia’s maximum-security
prison between 1830 and 1880. Port Arthur was hell on earth for
those unfortunate enough to be sent there. Many of the crimes
committed by criminals there were only petty as the main reason
was to justify cheap labour to help build a new nation. Prisoners
were often treated harsh and inhumanely and early last century
Port Arthur was seen as an embarrassment to Australia because
of this. A proposal was tabled to pull the buildings down to
help erase the memories and guilt, however at about the same
time it was becoming a curiosity and a tourist attraction. The
fact is Port Arthur is part of Australian history and whether
we like it or not, it serves as a reminder and helps us to avoid
past mistakes, a bit like German concentration camps.
The real treat for me in Tasmania was the architecture and
buildings. The two main centres are Hobart and Launceston. They
are full
of beautiful old well-preserved buildings, homes and homesteads.
The skills of not just the architects but also the builders were
simply amazing. I suppose similar architecture is another thing
that Tasmania and New Zealand do have common, with the main difference
being that New Zealand buildings are wooden while in Tasmania
building are sandstone and brick. Two reasons for this: the availability
of raw material in each country and New Zealand lies on a fault-line.
Of course as I have this passion for the design of 100 year-old
homes and homesteads it was a great opportunity to get some more
ideas to hand to our clients. Two external features that were
particularly noticeable were 1) the number of brick chimneys
above the roofline and 2) striped verandas.
Chimneys, of course, are the vents for wood or coal fires and
the only source of heating. Our new showhome has just one chimney
for the flue of the gas fire but it could do with more. We may
only have one gas fire, in the house but other flues could be
erected to conceal other roof exhausts that are required, such
as steam extractors.
When Mark Jerling, Moss Brothers in-house architectural designer
first suggested that the new showhome have a striped veranda
I suggested he go and lie down until the thought faded. But,
thankfully he persisted. Many people have commented about the
striped veranda as being distasteful but I think it’s because
they have not seen it before and believe it’s out of keeping
with the style. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
In Tasmania, where they go out of their way to protect and preserve
their old buildings they way they used to be, striped verandas
are commonplace.
Mark is currently working on a restoration project of an old
Masterton homestead. He was fishing around in the Masterton
district archives and found a very old photo of this house as
it was many
years ago. And guess what? The veranda was striped. We have
put a striped veranda on our showhome for two reasons, 1) striped
verandas were the fashion on houses 100 years ago and 2) to
attract
attention and get people talking, and it works.
More and more inquires and sales are from beyond the toll free
area of our office. Because of this, for your convenience we have
a 0800 free-help phone line to our office. So if you have any questions
or queries you can contact me on 0800-66-77-27. Also our new usual
phone number has changed to 06-370-2058
