Man Down

Posted on 17 September 2012 by SJPONeill

Some of Bruce’s boys…Signals Platoon Christmas Function, Coes Ford, 1986…

It is with great sadness this morning that I note the passing last night of Bruce Rosser, RNZIR. The word had only gone round the old boys net last week that Bruce was pretty crook with cancer and I was planning on writing to him or shooting over to New Plymouth to see him. Some of the lads did go round to see him at home yesterday morning…I can only agree with what others posted after the visit

” …now that’s what the NZ Army is all about. I can tell looking at all the body language you guys would have had him laughing ……. good on you all. You guys make me proud!!!”

“… I hope I have friends like this when its my time. Can’t believe there is nearly 150 years of military history in the room. (good and BAD history that is)…”

People have commented over the years on how unusual it is that we can not see someone for decades and then carry on the last conversation we had way back then. It’s not that unusual really, just a sign of a community with a highly transient population that is constantly shifting around between postings, courses and deployments.

It was long, only a few hours later that two new messages were posted…

“…Guys, only just got back from Brucies place, he past on at 1815hrs tonight. As his “boss” Susie said to me, he just said” I’ve had enough”, and signed out a short time later. So glad the local boys spent time with him this morning, all our aroha to Susie and the children at this time. Will keep all updated on this means…”

“…MAN DOWN: NEWS has just com through from the Rosser family that bruce passed away approximately 30 mins ago. God bless you our brother. Deepest thoughts to susie and the family…”

Bruce was our platoon sergeant when I was posted to the 2/1 RNZIR Signals Platoon in 1986, on graduation from Corps Training and after a brief foray into the Mortar Platoon (too much maths for me). He came across as gruff and grumpy as sergeants generally do but was firm but fair as the good ones are and in the same vein fiercely looked out for his troops and went to bat for us on a regular basis. Sometimes that was because soldierly enthusiasm had gone astray (Burnham weekends revolved around the Baggies, the Melly, and ‘town’ – all fine upstanding institutions) but equally as often to right some wrong or get something working.

I think of Bruce on an almost daily basis…every time that I cut a corner on the road, I think of Bruce admonishing me to “…use the whole of the road…” on one of the many trips that members of 2/1 would make through the Lewis Pass. On this particular trip, I was driving ‘the Sarge’ in a V8 Landrover (sounds cool but not one of the Army’s bigger success stories) and he was getting frustrated that I was one of those ‘crank it on the straights, brake it on the corner’ drivers – possibly because my cornering kept waking him up! So for the new few hours, I got some very pointed one-on-one driving instruction that has stuck with me for the last quarter century – all about making the best use of the road available to you…

I think that trip was either going to or returning from the Women’s National Golf Tournament where the sigs provided comms and progress reports from the greens back to the club house. It was a bit of a break for us and a welcome change from Lake Brunner in winter where we did a lot of our training. Through the power of sergeants (like the power of Greyskull or Green Lantern but better and bigger), Bruce had arranged for us to stay in a cheap motel in Nelson for the duration and that our time was our own out of working hours so long as…we avoided certain pubs…everyone was good to go each morning…Bruce didn’t get any calls from the Police or the boss…big boys rules. It was a great week and while my memories of it have faded, my memories of that driving lesson from ‘the Sarge’ is as vivid today as it was back then…I can still see Bruce, in his DPM smock squinting across the Landrover at me “…boy, are you sure you’ve got a licence to drive?…”

I don’t recall ever having a platoon or company photo while I was in 2/1 and so when I searched through the archives at home for some images from those days, the cupboard was rather bare – certainly there are no official photos that I have and no personal one with Bruce in them. The photo above is from our platoon function at the end of 1986 and shows a few of us that Bruce looked after so well…

These two reprobates weren’t in the Signals Platoon although, like everyone else, they wanted to be…but this pic from Ex LOTHLORIEN 1986 shows the bikes and V8 Rovers that Bruce tirelessly made sure we looked after and kept all our paperwork and maintenance up to speed. This would be a part of battalion headquarters and one of our bikes being stolen in this pic – aside from the Sigs who held it all together, battalion headquarters was full of dodgy sorts…

I don’t think that I ever saw Bruce after he was posted from the platoon – I think that he went to a cadre role in one of the TF units – and that’s why I was quite looking forward to seeing him again when we heard that he was ill last week…

Peace be with you, Sarge…no more pain where you are…

ONWARD

Weekly Photo Challenge: Everyday Life

Posted on 16 September 2012 by SJPONeill

My take on everyday life…just random shots I dragged out of Picasa… …heading back into Washington after Josh and I did a day visit to Quantico…

…monsoon season in Kota Bahru…the great Thailand-Singapore Bike Ride…

…tight little English streets in Salisbury during the inaugural ABCA CLAW…

…and a summer’s day in Turangi…

2012 ESRI International User Conference

Posted on 11 September 2012 by SJPONeill

This just popped into my inbox while I was on a break…who would have though that a couple of years ago, Hawkeye was two guys in an tiny back office between an accountant and a dentist?

Great to see this team getting into the big leagues…my comments in red (doctrine writers can’t resist red pens in any form…)…

Hawkeye UAV was fortunate enough to be invited to exhibit at this year’s ESRI GIS User Conference in San Diego. With a sponsored booth in a prime position in Hall D we could only say “Yes, thank you!” So in late July, Rowland and myself made our way across from New Zealand. Rowland left the week prior to the UC in order to attend the preconference seminars, conduct some meetings and make our technology accessible to the Survey community. Along with the two of us, and providing their expertise on the photogrammetry processing were Luke, Hayden and Sheryl from Areo.

The first big coup was ESRI’s invitation to have our display bird on the main stage for the duration of the weekend and Plenary sessions at the start of the Conference. To put all this in perspective, the “main stage” is in front of a room in the region of 200m long, and is backed by three HUGE screens. The room hosted 16,000 people at one time, so a lot of GIS professionals saw our UAV onstage and some of our data as part of the plenary presentations.

An ESRI speaker talks about the AreoHawk onstage during the conference opening plenary

In fact many folks mentioned to us at the booth that they’d seen the AreoHawk onstage and asked about the content in the keynote presentation. It was both humbling an exciting to have our technology out there in front of the world.

Supporting us this year at our first time attending the ESRI UC were Hawkeye UAV Americas (HUA) – our North American partners from Tactical Systems Engineering. They were represented by Drew Gwyer, Dave Molthen and Ermie, and were brilliant in helping man the booth, collecting information and assisting people with their inquiries. Their local knowledge of San Diego was of great benefit also!

Check out these guys’ website some very cool and innovative kit there – I really want to get my mitts on WINGMAN and DACTYL to have a play with – possibly why they’re part of HUA (is that a take off ‘Hoo-aahh!’?)….

Special mention must also be made of Mark Deuter, Director of Aerometrex our distributor in Australia. He zoomed in from Australia to lend his vast expertise of all things aerial photography and provide a bit of Aussie contrast to the strong Kiwi flavour on the booth.

Monday before the conference start was our day to set up the booth before the Exhibitor Expo got underway Tuesday. Tuesday started with a hiss and a roar – when we were allowed into the exhibition hall at 8am to do our final setup and start the demos rolling, we only just got in before the influx of people started. It was soon apparent that we hadn’t printed nearly enough flyers to keep up with demand! If you were one of those who missed out, I’m very sorry. But we did get some more done to see us out until the end of the UC. The candy ran out before the end of day one too!

Hawkeye UAV booth in the middle of “UAS Central” at the ESRI UC 2012

The UAV seen here in the flesh (and in the top pic) and on the screen is the Hawkeye UAV home-grown aerial vehicle, AreoHawk – for its size, it has some pretty impressive performance specs and it is interesting to note, just how short its gestation period from first thought to first flight…

The conference has been a huge success for us. We have literally been hand-launched (rather than catapulted) onto the World’s stage. Interest from all over the globe and the United States has been tremendous and very encouraging. HUA/TSE share our ethos and vision for leading the precision survey Unmanned Aerial System market. It is also apparent to us that we not only have a world class system that’s been developed here in New Zealand, but the AreoGraph process is second to none.

We now expect our tempo to rise, and our global footprint to reach wider and further than before. A large number of confirmed sales and survey jobs have already come from the ESRI UC and we expect more to follow as soon as demonstrations and follow ups can be arranged.

Rules and Regulations:

Simply put, to fly UAS’s in the United States today you must either be a Government, Federal or State agency or a ‘not for profit’ organisation, such as a University. Federal Aviation Administration regulations currently require these parties to obtain a Certificate of Authorization (COA) before flight. In conjunction with HUA/TSE we are actively working with FAA representatives to achieve an accreditation for the licensed commercial flight of the AreoHawk system within the United States. We currently hold such accreditation in New Zealand with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and are also underway with CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) registration for Australia. We strongly believe our unblemished record will stand us in good stead in this regard.

Good point, well made…regardless of the size or whether you picked it up at Toyworld or Foreign Military Sales’R’Us, UAS of all sized need to operated in a controlled manner, with rules that are clear, understood and complied with by all involved. Nowhere is this more vital that in this category of AVs below 6kg where the common popular (mis)perception is that they are too small to matter so you can do what you like with them…well, you ain’t in Iraq anymore, Toto: if something bigger and faster takes your battery down an intake or through a window, well…let’s just say that we hope you’ve keep your liability insurance payments current. This being the case, it is good to see a commercial operator expounding these principles…

It has always been our intention, especially as aviators ourselves, to comply with and exceed the expectations of the governing body where these matters are concerned. Hence our emphasis on safety, failsafe systems, compliance and training.

Improved Areo Process:

We have found now that with the new and vastly improved AreoHawk processing software that we can re-process old jobs and archived imagery with great success. Second time around the quality of the orthos and the density of the point clouds are an amazing contrast.

This Areo process is damn exciting to anyone with any interest in the shape of the ground and/or object on it – with the new processes and the upgraded sensors on Areohawk – what you are seeing here is not a simple 2D image of the area but a 3D manipulatable (if that’s not a word it should be, meaning able to be manipulated) model of the surveyed area [makes note to nag Hawkeye guys about a Flash-based user steerable demo model] so, if you’re say, a miner, it’ll let you calculate how much spoil you taken from your mine; if you’re a shooter, it’ll let you work out to a high degree of accuracy lines of sight from shooters to shootees…

Semi-urban data resampled under the new Areo process. Point cloud data only is currently being displayed

More pictures from San Diego:

With the big guy! Drew, Simon, Jack Dangermond (ESRI CEO) and Rowland at the close of this year’s User Conference

Hawkeye UAV Ltd booth at this year’s ESRI International User Conference

US Navy A4 on the deck of the museum aircraft carrier, USS Midway

Can’t pass up a visit to any handy museums while in loc – although an A4 is a piece of paper: an A-4 is a lot cooler and faster –

Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

Posted on 8 September 2012 by SJPONeill

WordPress’ take on ‘near and far’ is meant to be about mechanical perspective but perspective is relative…

In 1985, I was also a (very) junior member of the local Territorial Force (TF) company, Alpha Company of the 4th (Otago Southland) Battalion. The larger proportion of our soldiers were all freezing workers from one of the major freezing working around Invercargill and they all had difficulty getting to the TF annual training Camp in January (to align with scarfie school holidays) as that was the peak of the works season. On one of his vists to the deepest South, it was put to Chief of General Staff MAJGEN John Mace that shifting the annual camp to the works offpeak season would be a great enabler for local recruiting. He took up the challenge and stated that if A Coy could put a full company on the ground In October, he’d be good for a company deployment to Singapore…

So A Coy put a company ++ on the ground in Tekapo, meeting its side of the deal….lots and lots of adventures that fortnight, I can tell you…

I was also in the last year of my lineman apprenticeship with Telecom and in this phase of my training, I was spending some time with the rigging section that maintain the radio towers scattered around the Southland Plains. Fifty feet is quite near, until you are fifty feet up a tower on a breezy day…then it snowed which was the end of tower-climbing for the day…

This was the day before we staged through Dunedin and flew out to Singapore – 4000 hours (or so it seemed) on a Herc across the red dust of Australia for a one night stopover in Darwin to the sweltering humidity of South East Asia to our home for the next six weeks…Dieppe Barracks, Singapore…

Not that we spent much time there…shake out on the ground and almost immediately off across the Causeway to hit the jungle for Ex PEMBURA RUSA…helicopters…rain…snakes…rain…hornets…rain…more rain…and almost as much fun as there was rain…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Free Spirit

Posted on 5 September 2012 by SJPONeill

Tommy

The theme here was ‘free spirit‘.

This is Carmen’s big brother, Tommy, and no words describe him better than those for he truly was the free-est of spirits.

Tommy passed away the week before last.

Tommy loved colours. If you saw a canary yellow coffin whizzing around Auckland a couple of weekends ago on the back of a Nissan ute, that was Tommy’s.

Tommy was always aware of what was happening around him. His brother-in-law, Chris, tells how he tried to teach Tommy about traffic lights…red means stop, green means go, over and over as Tommy got the idea. Chris, then, went for the next stage “OK, Tommy, we’re coming up to an orange…what do you this we should do?” Without an instant’s hesitation, Tommy roared “PUT YOUR BLOODY FOOT DOWN!!” Yep. he knew what has going on…

Tommy loved jigsaws – I’d seen him tackle some pretty complex ones getting onto a thousand pieces – he never looked at the box-art though – just assembled the shapes in his mind and chipped away at it away til he finished.

Tommy loved the water. Regardless of circumstance or temperature, he would launch himself into it, always in the flattest of belly flops – and some of those impacts must have hurt – but he’d leap out of the water and launch himself again and again.

Tommy contracted meningitis as a baby and never recovered from the damage it wrought so got to spend his life as a four year old – there are far worse ways to go through life, I reckon…

RIP

Tommy Grey

Free Spirit

Surf Nazis Alive And Well In NZ

Posted on 26 August 2012 by SJPONeill

The most fitting accompanying image I could find…

Oh…my God, it’s not often anything stops me in my tracks but this did…there are real live Nazi apologists in New Zealand!! Holy Heck, Batman!!

This blot on the tapestry of reality came to light when a small (very small) smattering of socalled anti-war (like anyone is pro-war) advocates set up their soapboxes in the FB Sumner Burstyn give back your NZ passport! page….The prattle about oil in Afghanistan was amusing but this revelation just took the cake:

Her: I dont support the way Sumner expressed herself at all. I mourn a lost life regardless of who they are. I do my homework every day and I dont wave placards or go to protests, I try to address the causes and not the symptoms, thats all. The intentions of NZ soldiers are no doubt honorable, all I am saying is I dont believe the actions or intentions of those requesting your assistance are. I didnt come here to be a punching bag for those wanting to vent against anyone who disagrees. Facts speak the loudest, it is a fact that the enemy you are fighting was deliberately created to collapse the soviet union. Why are we cleaning up the mess of failed US poilcy. They mass murder people on a regular basis and we dont want to be tarred by that brush. They are hated so much and rightly so.

Another Poster: Small question. Without soldiers who would have stopped Hitler?

Her: Hitler did not start the war contrary to the propaganda we have been fed. He invaded Poland in retaliation for the murder of 58,000 innocent germans in the danzig corridor. Examine his every speech and his works and you can clearly see he did not start the war.. The germans were starving as a result of the sanctions, they did all they could to avoid the war. General patton was assassinated because he saw that a mistake had been made, that germans were lovely compared to the way russians were treating people. They killed him because he did not agree with the treatment of german POW’s. 1million germans died of starvation without shelter, food or water at the hands of the americans. A cruel way to die. They havent stopped this cruelty and we ougt not to support their immoral actions..

Another Poster: Are you actually defending Hitler? [name removed to protect the stupid] you are deluded.

Her: you need to study his speeches and look at the provocations…i alwsy thought that too. We have been lied to all our lives…

Apparently, the answers are all in Patton’s diaries…Indiana Jones, where you when we need the Patton Diaries…?

In an attempt to establish her credibility, this individual stated that she’d been an Army wife – disclaimer not to be associated with real Army wives who are indeed a force to be reckoned with, lest anyone be subjected to the Death of a 1000 Chick Flicks – but, sheesh, woman!! Do you think that’ll really help your case when you’re pleading a case of self-defence for Nazi Germany…? Of course, the bigger question might simply be, ‘do you think?’…

While the creators and members of the page have been happy for those with alternate views to contribute to the page, it is disappointing that all they can do is attempt to use it as a platform for their views on the wrongs of involvement in Afghanistan, relations with the US, etc instead of avoiding the real issue that the page was established for, i.e.. to raise and share concerns arising from the unnecessary comments made by disowned Kiwi Barbara Sumner Burstyn (the Canadians probably wouldn’t mind disowning her now too) about fallen Kiwi soldier, Lance-Corporal Jacinda Baker. Although most members of the group manage to express themselves clearly and rationally, in some cases eloquently, the anti-war fringe consistently come across as poorly-informed and quite ignorant, with quick recourse to personal attacks against those that do not agree. I note that they are all very quick to rant away online but less keen to set up their soap boxes outside the RSA or anywhere in mainstream New Zealand…

Here’s another muppet: why is it that they all assume that any and all service people are mindless brainless machines capable only of following orders…perhaps it’s a super-clear that they have not taken the time or made the effort to actually get to know their ‘enemy’ – of course, this might mean that their preconceptions might be ever so shattered when they find that service people are actually smart, articulate well-educated people and, if the truth be known, always have been…one need look no further than the vast bulk of the comments posted on the Burstyn protest page…

Have to go now…I feel so bad the we picked the wrong side in WW2 and need to atone in my own small way…maybe a dose of Inglorious Bastards…?

The media look after their own

Posted on 26 August 2012 by SJPONeill

Oh, woe is me…the combination of Kiwi, stick and snake apparently works for leftos as well

There is a story in the Herald on Sunday on the Sumner Burstyn issue. Unfortunately it’s not a very good one and really only serves as a platform for Ms Burstyn to plead ‘oh, woe is me…why are people angry with me?” We wondered last night if the media lack of response to the issues were a case of them looking after their own and based on THIS article that would seem to be the case…

The author, Joanne Carroll, does not appear to have made any attempt to interview or seek comment from the creators of the page and seems happy enough to simply regurgitate what she has been told by Summy Bear, coupled with some lightweight comment from the defence Force which does not seem to have any opinion on whether it is OK or not for people to slag off fallen soldiers before their final journey is complete. And that is the real issue here, folks, NOT the hows or whyfores of New Zealand’s involvement in Afghanistan…

There is an email link at the end of the article and I would suggest that anyone with concerns about the standard of NZ media reporting on this and other issues, use it. Pick your 1200 characters carefully and, as always, keep it seemly and remember that soldiers are discplined but mobs and rabbles are not…

Dear Joanne

Thank you for making the effort to cover the erupting Summer Burstyn issue however I don’t believe that you have provided a balanced perspective at all and have simply latched onto the issue for some cheap ratings. You have made no effort to portray fairly the feelings of those who have expressed their outrage at her comments on Facebook and elsewhere online but have just focussed on the minority whose comments are aggressive. Is not the fact (if the Herald still deals in such?) that over 20,000 people have joined the FB page in less than two days an indicator of where public feeling lies on this issue? The NZ media was very quick to climb aboard when similar outrage was expressed occurred over the Kahui twins.

There was a belief expressed yesterday that the NZ media’s lack of response to this issue was a case of the media covering up for its own. Your article has done nothing the assuage that belief and merely provides a forum for more of Burstyn’s self-righteous self-pity.

I hope that the Herald and the rest of the NZ media community will get it together and offer a balanced view of what the issues are.

Here’s a view from the FB page that I think presents the balance absent from the article:

Sumner Burstyn: post an antiwar comment and get 120 death threats – funny how that works.

Barbara, the thing is, your comments were not antiwar comments (I greatly respect anyone’s right to make those). Instead they were a personal attack on a young dead female soldier just after her body was returned to New Zealand for burial.
While I am sorry that the responses from 20,000 of her closest friends and collegues became personal and in some instances threatening, surely you can see that they mirrored the language and feeling of YOUR original post.

While I respect your opinion, your target, tone and timing were highly inappropriate in any civilised society. Despite your apology we continue to see similar messages from you, including personal attacks on dead service personnel in your earlier posts. As a NZ Herald columnist I would have expected a more considered approach to posting such views. I guess that’s now a matter for your employer and tomorrow’s talk back radio callers to consider.

More words from activist filmaker Sumner Burstyn

Posted on 25 August 2012 by SJPONeill

More words from activist filmaker Sumner Burstyn.

This makes great reading. It derives from a comment made about Lance-Corporal Jacinda Baker, one of the three Kiwi soldiers killed by an IED in Afghanistan last weekend:

After the first pushback from the community the comment was removed however as the exchange with a soldier on the link above shows, that wasn’t through any sense of remorse. It is really interesting to note, when reading this transcript that the socalled journalist very quickly descends into abuse while the infantry soldier continues to put his case in clear and articulate terms…

The issue is not whether or not we should or should not be in Afghanistan, or the whys or why nots of having a defence force; the issue is simply that someone has stooped to a vicious personal attack on a young woman who is no longer able to speak for herself – but there are, at the time of typing this, 13752 people prepared to speak on Jacinda Baker’s behalf.

While the freedom of the internet allows someone like Sumner Burstyn to publish her slander, it also allows for that slander to be challenged and not be allowed to become the new ‘truth’ and here a community has come together again to see that wrong righted. I say ‘again’ because this is a very special community, one that spans across the world and across decades – there are names appearing here that I have not seen for years and years and that bring back such memories. We might not meet regularly or even often but we can carry on a conversation that started in a hole full of mud and bugs in South East Asia, or while shivering in the tussock of Waiouru as if that were only yesterday. And certainly we can come together again to speak on behalf of those who can no longer…

There is a lot of anger on the community page and there probably would be at any time but in this month, where we have lost five of our own, a lot of folks are venting. It isn’t an unreasonable expectation that the mollycoddled left leaning loony community couldn’t give it a rest at least til the funerals and grieving are done…

A sad day for New Zealand as Corporal Luke Tamatea, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker and Private Richard Harris arrive back home. (c) NZDF 2012

Jim Hopkins of the NZ Herald ends an article yesterday:

Yet, somehow, we still get soldiers. Who don’t hide in other people’s houses or make self-serving speeches or expect everyone else to “do the right thing”. They do it themselves, whatever the cost. On the Stuff website, beneath its report on the death of SAS Corporal Doug Grant last year, readers have posted their comments. One says this: – “Rest in Peace – We shall remember them. If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read it in English, thank a soldier.”

That’s the essence of the debt every generation owes its troops – a debt unpaid by those who hide in embassies.

Age shall not weary them

Posted on 20 August 2012 by SJPONeill

I started work this morning, only to learn that three more Kiwi soldiers have been killed in Bamiyan Province when the last vehicle in a convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device in Bamiyan, north west of Do Abe on the road to Romero about 9.20am on Sunday (Afghanistan time). The remaining personnel in the patrol secured the location and awaited additional support. A second bomb was found and defused.

Many people are sharing a quote from US Army Major John Hottell, who was killed in Vietnam…it sounded familiar and I found a Time article that concludes with that quote:

…you have five in a row from the class of ’64. One belongs to John Hottell III – a Rhodes scholar, twice a recipient of the Silver Star – who was killed in 1970. The year before, he had written his own obituary and sent it in a sealed envelope to his wife. “I deny that I died for anything – not my country, not my Army, not my fellow man,” he wrote. “I lived for these things, and the manner in which I chose to do it involved the very real chance that I would die…my love for West Point and the Army was great enough…for me to accept this possibility as a part of a price which must be paid for things of great value.

Some day I might copy the whole article in here but that’s not appropriate today…in getting my head around these losses in Bamiyan, I did come across the site from which I borrowed the image above…the author talks about memories of ANZAC Day and the simple act of placing an RSA poppy on the cenotaph, one of the many scattered across this nation, reminders of those who did not come back from the nation’s struggles…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wrong

Posted on 19 August 2012 by SJPONeill

Old Oamaru Hospital 1998

Some things are just wrong…the demise of the regional public health system…in 1998, I was home on leave…I may have been recovering from an injury as I remember doing an awful lot of walking in that period but not much, if any, running…

Oamaru is a small coastal town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand – it once was a thriving rural support centre with a railhead linking inland with main trunk rail services – we used to be able to look across the breakfast table and see the plume of smoke from the train servicing the Oamaru Stone quarry at Weston – and a small port supporting coastal shipping services – when such still existed. Both the rail and shipping are gone now: there are no passenger rail services south of Christchurch and the harbour is slowly silting up…

A view from the grounds of St Lukes, facing north-east, overlooking some of the restored Oamaru Stone Buildings

In the late 80s, Oamaru began to tidy itself up and started a programme to re-invent itself by revitalising the old Victorian port quarter – an industrial scunge hole as long as I have known it – as the new centre of town, It is now a thriving area of re-enactors, cafes and other businesses that, among other things hosts annual penny farthing races. As part of this programme, a lot of other areas in town were tidied up including restoring all the buildings in Oamaru Stone to the original blinding white of the raw stone, and developing a series of walking/running tracks all through the hills on which most of the town sits.

Oamaru’s main street, Thames Street, looking north.

In 1998, these tracks were all quite new to me and I spent the better part of a fortnight exploring them all in daily walks. One of then follows the line of Hospital Hill (so named for obvious reasons) and gives the walker the option of dropping off south towards the Gardens or heading north on a leg that runs along the hills that parallel the coast. The latter course takes one through the old hospital complex and it was here that I snapped the image above. Regardless of the rights or wrongs of the re-organisation of the public health system a couple of decades ago, I still think that abandoning the detritus of this programme to rust outside the former hospital buildings was just wrong…

The walkway from the Gardens follows the Oamaru Creek east towards the sea; the building at top right is the northern edge of the restored Victorian quarter.