To Ikawai - cars 2

Georgina was born in Methven, in November 1942. The family (Betty, Ian, and Roderick ) had completed a first post-college teaching position in which Father was a sole teacher at Mungamoana, North of Kaikoura. Father's next wartime posting was as sole teacher at  Ikawai,  South Canterbury, on the banks of the Waitaki river. This was to be for nearly 3 years.

Ian and George, saving fuel on a hinting trip

But first the family had to get there, from Methven.  Fortunately we had a sturdy car - a 1932 Baby Austin. Its credentials had been proven on deer hunting trips when Ian and his brother-in-law George Smith (Uncle Seoras as we knew him - gaelic for George)  escaped in to the mountains around Hutt, Mayfield, and the Upper Rakaia.  As you can see from the image, a baby Austin is not quite a Hummer, but never-the-less got the job done.

Baby Austins are not the biggest household transporters. And McKay seniors, were not the smallest of people, even in those days.  But at the beginning of 1943 the family of 4 headed South with family belongings packed in and tied on. The back seat was removed, luggage piled almost to the roof, leaving only a small space for new baby Georgina to fit, trunks were on the back, and the load on top was itself kept in place by a lashed on baby's cot. Fortunately the drive down coincided with good weather.  Just goes to prove that you don't really need whoozie trappings as ABS, auto gears, parking aids. Of course with all the luggage air bags were not necessary.

By all accounts, the arrival of the southern safari in Ikawai occasioned much fascinated interest i local circles. This dramatic entrance augured well - the time at Ikawai was one of great pleasure for Ian and Betty, and cemented in many life-long friendships

Before loading - Jessie, Nana McKay, Roderick, Betty at Dalmore

Transport - cars 1

My first car was a train. Following a trip into Methven in the engine cab of a coal fired train, in about 1944, I was rewarded with a train of my own, or rather with a train engine.  Not quite the same as the one that plied the Rakaia -  Methven run (long since closed), mine was made out of a wooden nail box, with the round bits (wheels and smoke stack) cut from an old mangle roller. It was about 2 feet long and plied lines through long grass behind the Ikawai School house.

Artists representation. Imagine the smoke steam and noise!

The family moved to Ikawai in c. 1944 where Father was posted on a temporary wartime placement as school teacher.  Ikawai was successful posting, with Betty and Ian slotting in seamlessly to a very supportive rural community.

I thought that one organising principle could be around the various vehicles in the family, and the times they were in. This is the first in the 'cars' series. The next will look at the trip down to Ikawai from Christchurch.

1987 CHCH, and Dalmore, as they were

In the summer of 1987 Margo and I went on a motorbike trip around Christchurch highlights - most of which have now gone in the 2010-12 earthquakes - through Methven.  The result was a video tape (originally titled McKay to McKay) which I have now digitised.  Originally recorded on mini VHS, it it was  transferred to standard VHS, and now has been converted to a digital format (m4v) - so the quality of the original handheld version as gained a few idiosyncrasies along the way.

Not the bike on the tape  

Places  are:

• 111 Chapter St
• 'New' Girls High.
• Victoria Square and thereabouts 
• CHCH BHS
• University of Canterbury
• Design ideas for the yet to be built house on Longhurst Tce
• Rakaia Gorge and jetboats
• The Dalmore homestead 
• Lane St, Ashburton.  

People along the  way:

• Rod and Margo, Alistair, Catriona, Duncan
• Aunty Jessie (McKay) Shaw, (at Dalmore homestead)
• John Mackenzie and (cousin) Leslie (MacDonald) Mackenzie (at Dalmore)
• Alec Mackenzie (visiting Dalmore)
• Bill and Marjory Hart (at Lane Street)
• Don and Nancy Smith (visiting Lane Street) 

The bike in the image is not my bike at the time (a Honda Silverwing, v-twin w/cooled) but it gives an idea: it's Duncan about to take off on a road trip in March, 2014. 

The digital file of the Road Trip  can be downloaded from this post. The programme runs for about 54 minutes. 

WARNING: The following link is to a large file - about 1.2 gigabytes. It will take a few minutes on a fast (30 MB) internet connection and forever on a slow one. 

OOPS!! My Dropbox has been (temporally)  banned due to too much traffic. Since I am of Scots extraction I am using the free version. So attempts to down load will now fail until it resets itself.  So I have changed the way to access - CLICK HERE will let you send me an email to request the access,  allowing me to monitor access. 

CLICK HERE to request a download of file of McKay to McKay, in m4v digital format.  This should be playable on most computers.

Start somewhere.

Where to start?  I wouldn't be typing this if I hadn't been born, so lets begin there.
On the 22 July, 1939, my father Colin Ian McKay was out in the front paddock at Dalmore, the home farm, in Methven, feeding stooked oats from a haystack into a traction engine driven steel mill. This provided grain to feed the farms draft horses (and chaff from the straw).

 

img: folksong.org.nz - Ballad of the Coleridge Run

Unlike in the photo there was fresh snow on the ground.

At about 9 am my Aunt Jessie ran out to tell Ian that I had been born in the Methven Cottage Hospital.

That was the end of thrashing for the day for Father.

I appeared to be a bit on the undernourished side, so I spent the next three months in a Plunket run Karatane Hospital wrapped in cotton wool and eating through a nose dropper.  I have no recollection of this! (Karate Hospitals were through out NZ by mid-tewentieth century.  I don't know which one I was in - may have been Christchurch, or Timaru.)