Countdown to my departure from Gore. Thoughts on a small town in Southland, New Zealand.

another busy day in Gore - Broughton Street

Only 5 days left before I leave Gore and I am getting sentimental about the impending departure.

The image above is of Broughton Street on a Friday mid morning. Hill fog clinging over the town on an autumn day.

There is no litter in this town.

And no dog poo anywhere to be seen. New Zealand is not a great place to be a dog unless you live on a farm. Dogs are rarely allowed off the lead, and there are many places where they are not allowed in order to protect the birds, penguins and other wildlife.

As I walked down the hill a random stranger in her seventies or eighties stopped and offered me a lift into town. I thanked her, and politely declined, for I was out to walk the streets for almost the last time.

a plot of land in Gore

As I strolled I came across a plot of land for sale. I am sure Janine would be pleased if I bought it, but it has no view of the hills, so is a non starter.

I came across a big hedge; one of my favourite subjects for street photography, thinking about the psychology of personal space and boundaries.

Hedges are massive in the countryside here, mainly to act as windbreaks.

the pylon problem; typical farm hedge

But the purpose of this in the middle of town was less clear.

Privacy Please

This one (above) seems a little over the top. A secret garden perhaps?


And these ones (below) appear purely decorative.

Symmetry rules

neat and tidy

A modern home demands a modern garden. I certainly prefer these free flowing native flaxes to the tightly clipped box hedges.

Flax plants ( otherwise known as Phormium)

I am not sure about the colour of this home (below), but you can see their wood pile. Everyone seems to be chopping or stacking or collecting trailer-loads of wood this weekend, ready for the winter. No smokeless zone here.

I prefer orange for my house if it has to be a bright colour. No clipped hedges here.

My kind of garden. Loose and free.

orange

Corrugated metal roofs are almost universal. Some with matching fence. This one will look best on 25th December.

waiting for Christmas

But the best thing about this place is that if you drive for 3 minutes in any direction you are out of town, on a country road, heading nowhere very particular at all.

Unless you are visiting a farmer.

And there are plenty of them around here.


I don't think I was meant to live where I do………  (the depths of suburbia)


I see changes afoot.