The Storm Coast and Pencarrow Station: Part 1

First of all, please accept my thanks for your wonderful response to my 730th blip yesterday. I really do appreciate your lovely comments, and your generosity in leaving hearts. 

Today it’s Wellington, arriving after a rather bumpy crossing of the Cook Strait. Once more, we’re leaving the city itself until our return visit, opting instead for an excursion along The Storm Coast  - this being an area of many shipwrecks. It’s probably not the best trip to undertake while on a cruise …..

Our driver, Big John, insists on providing a non-stop commentary - not just on the city and the area we’re travelling through, but also on himself, his family and his opinions. He obviously considers himself a bit of a comedian, and is for the most part amusing, but I certainly wouldn’t want to spend a great deal of time in his company! 

This is basically a 75 minute drive along the coast to a sheep station, followed by the same 75 minute drive back. I’m sitting on the landward side for the outward journey so can see little on the scenery let alone photograph it - and it’s this I’m really interested in, so I’m left feeling somewhat frustrated. 

Much of the drive is along a private unsurfaced road, and eventually we come to the steep uphill turning that will lead us to Pencarrow station. Big John hurls the bus up the incline which soon turns sharply to the right. It’s already a bit of a white knuckle ride, but when the sharp turn is accompanied by the sound of scraping spinning wheels, it feels as if the rear of the coach has failed to make the turn with one wheel slipping off the rocky edges. Big John manages  to inch the vehicle forward, leaps out  and discovers that one of the rear tyres is completely shredded. However, he succeeds in driving it up the remainder of the hill where we gratefully exit into the lodge for ’morning tea’ - a delightful, but totally unnecessary array of sweet and savoury snacks. 

The lodge is beautifully situated, though we’ve lost the blue skies and sunshine of previous days, and we can see across the hazy surrounding hills and the grey wind-whipped waters of Wellington Bay. But we’re here to see a sheepdog demonstration - and I’ve already been wandering about taking photos of the beautiful Romney sheep grazing on these coastal pastures.Much of the drive is along a private unsurfaced road, and eventually we rear of the coach has failed to make the turn with one wheel slipping off the rocky edges. Big John manages  to inch the vehicle forward, leaps out  and discovers that one of the rear tyres is completely shredded. However, he succeeds in driving it up the remainder of the hill where we gratefully exit into the lodge for ’morning tea’ - a delightful, but totally unnecessary array of sweet and savoury snacks. 

Now we’re from Wales, so sheep and sheepdogs are hardly a rarity, but what follows is surprisingly fascinating. Don MacReady, the new owner of Pencarrow, drives up in his farm buggy, two of his sheepdogs riding on the back. Immediately, it’s clear these two are very different; one clearly a restless extrovert, the other far quieter - calm and considered. We learn from Don that they are two different breeds with two different roles in herding the sheep. First, there’s Speed - the quieter of the two, who stays calmly with her master. She’s a New Zealand Heading Dog, originally bred from border collies. The colouring is similar, though the coat shorter, with characteristic stealth and intelligence. Then there’s the brash confidence of Brass, muscular and vocal - a New Zealand Hunterway who wanders amongst our group inquisitive and seeking attention. 

We watch them at work. Speed lives up to her name, running quickly through the long grass, and equally quickly bringing the sheep back up the hill towards the pen. Brass, on the other hand, runs barking loudly, chasing the sheep in one direction. Both of them respond, of course, to Don’s commands, and it’s fascinating to watch the skills of the team all working together. 

Finally, Don demonstrates the hold needed when shearing sheep, taking hold of one of the ewes so that she immediately relaxes and allows him to manipulate her as he would in performing a complete shear. He has a lovely gentle manner and genuinely engages with our questions. It’s a far more interesting experience than I had expected and we’ve learned a lot. 

Meanwhile, Big John has called HQ and a recovery truck arrives allowing us the fascinating sight of watching the seemingly impossible task of jacking up a coach and seeing the massive tyre changed - all very efficient in fairness. 

And so it’s back on the coach for the return trip to Wellington - though this time I’m sitting on the correct side, so I can actually see the Storm Coast! For reasons that will become clear, I’ll continue with this in tomorrow’s journal ….