Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
It's still worth a visit though. They do an interesting tour explaining the mission history, family history and their part in early Tauranga. The house reminded me a little of the Treaty House at Waitangi, both constructed around 1834. Check out their website for some more background.
We spread out on the front lawn in the shade and sketched, enjoying the break from the sun. The garden has some impressive old specimens of both native and introduced trees. On the right of the sketch you can see an enormous Queensland Bunya Bunya tree. Looking like a super spikey Norfolk Pine (or a Chilean Monkey Puzzle tree)with enormous spikey pine cones — you wouldn't want to stand under it.
Comments