Seas, Ships and Sails

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Across the Tasman Sea, Ships and Sails...





The Pamir



My father ran away to sea
at the age of sixteen

The Pamir,
a Finnish sailing ship
of the Gustaf Erikson company,
was seized in Wellington in 1941
by the New Zealand government
as a prize of war

My father
had a job in an office in Wellington
New Zealand's capital,
running requisition orders
between various government buildings.










on one of my Father's sorties
he bumped into a couple of his brother's mates
standing on a windy Wellington street corner
and they told him
they had just signed up to sail on the Pamir
The ship needed more hands
who weren't afraid of heights
and why didn't he apply...



He sailed on the Pamir
nicknamed 'Grease pot Jock'
for his task
of greasing and tarring the masts



At San Francisco
he jumped ship
and with some new American friends
joined the American Merchant Navy
When asked for his home address
he replied Massachusetts
but didn't know how to spell the state
on the application form

He spent the remainder of the war years
delivering supplies to troops
all over the globe


and eventually returned
to New Zealand
sporting a Pamir tattoo
and met my mother
at a dance hall in Sumner
just around the Port Hills
from Lyttelton

Flying out of Brisbane at sunset



A few days ago
my daughter,
who is visiting from Japan
and I took a short trip
across the Tasman Sea
to New Zealand
to visit my parents
her grandparents

My father
only recently moved
to a nursing home
after a series of minor strokes
has left his brain a little addled
and his mind wandering,
was asked where he would like to go
for a drive
and because of his love
for seas, ships and sails
and he chose Lyttelton
the port of Christchurch
my hometown

It was brisk and misty
with low hung fog
but the trip to the coast
and through the Tunnel
under the Port Hills
perked up his spirits
and he became talkative

a few brave and hardy cyclists
braved the drizzle and cold
to bike around the peninsula
to Sumner









The small town of Lyttelton
is perched on the steep hills
overlooking a drowned extinct volcano

The town grew on wool and wheat exports
from New Zealand.
It has many buildings of historic value
The Star Light theatre
built in the California style
with art nouveau details
was the early movie theatre









Lyttelton was put on the world map
as the staging post for Antarctic exploration
in the early 1900s
when many ships would anchor there
while ponies from Manchuria
and huskies from Siberia
were quarantined and trained
on nearby Quail Island

Lyttelton town 1866



In 1851 the First Four Ships
sailed into Lyttelton
from the United Kingdom
full of settlers ready for a new life






Pilgrims walking the Bridle Path




After months at sea
they were itching to see the promised land
and only one thing stood in the way
of their views of the Canterbury Plains

and that was the Port Hills



The immigration planning committee
had run out of funds to complete the road
around the peninsula to Sumner
and so a steep and winding path
was made up and over
the top of the hills






The Bridle Path leading from Lyttelton to Ferrymead





An energetic walk
that today would take three hours
could take two days
for delicate Victorian women
unused to exercise and
with restrictive corsets and crinolines

Lyttelton Docks 1900





A rail tunnel was dug through the hills
and opened in 1867
and almost 100 years later
a road tunnel was completed


My family
along with the majority
of the citizens of Christchurch
excitedly took the trip
through the tunnel
on opening day
with car horns blaring

After lunch at the nursing home
my daughter and I
drove into the city
and spied our first cherry blossom

At the outdoor Arts Centre markets
Daughter selected some jade -
'Greenstone' pendants
to take back to Japan

and chilled to the bone

we called into a warm and welcoming
Starbucks
for hot chocolates
and Hokey Pokey Cheesecake...

These pictures are especially for Julie
at Moments of Perfect Clarity
who collects Starbucks mugs
from around the world
I'm sorry Julocka that it is a mere photo
and not the real thing...

But Happy days





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