Schist Outcrops: Dansey Pass

Most of the romance has been removed from the roads of New Zealand so that tourism may be more comfortable, easier. Roads that were once serpentine and shingle-surfaced are now straighter and macadamized; the traffic travels faster, the roadside histories are passed by, the grandeur is now seen in broad sweeps with detail left unconsidered.

But Dansey Pass, once a miners’ route from north Otago into the gold fields of the Maniototo and Central Otago, remains narrow, winding, rough and romantic. It runs from the Kyeburn Diggings to the south bank of the Waikato River and if you care to stop at one of the few off-road refuges and switch off the engine and then listen to the sweet nothings that come on the air from the stream below and whispering tussock grasses your eyes will start to distinguish slow moving sheep who, like the remains of miner’s stone huts, are the same colour as the landscape: sometimes, grey, perhaps pink, often amber.

The rock is mainly schist; speckled pancakes perfect for building huts and fences where one layer may be snuggled above another without mortar – like giant flaky pastry. In an otherwise hostile surround the rock was often home and shelter to the miners.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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Country Churches of NZ 125. St. George's, Naseby, Central Otago

I wrote and illustrated Country Churches of New Zealand. It was published in 2002 by New Holland, Publishers and is still on sale in bookshops. The publishers have kindly agreed to me re-publishing some of the book’s images and descriptions in this blog.

ST. GEORGE’S, NASEBY

I haven't seen anything else like this on my travels: a quaint, semi-detached porch with its own steep pyramidal roof which is more interesting in shape than the church itself. It gives access to St George's, Naseby, built in 1875.

While plain and simple, the church, like its porch, is most unusual. Its construction is neither of stone nor timber but a unique mud brick called 'Jacob's Mixture', which is more clay than cement. It was dreamed up by Mr W. Jacob who not only built the church - for £761 - but also made its furniture.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.