Brewood

First task for the day was to move Waiouru across the canal to Turner’s jetty and fill the diesel tanks.  We had read on other blogs about Turner’s when living down-under. So we deferred filling the diesel tanks until we reached Wheaton Ashton.  Turner’s Garage isn’t much to look at from the road.

Actually it looks very similar to an Aussie or Kiwi outback garage (oops… sorry Paul…. ‘Servo’!).  They only have a Red Diesel and DERV bowser.  No petrol or white diesel! On the canal side is a long hose down to the jetty.

The attendant told Jan they make a good profit selling it at the advertised price (domestic).  With slightly more for propulsion.  Even then, it’s a very good price.  Tanks filled we continued south to Brewood (pronounced Brood).  At Brewood a boat was just leaving from the 48 Hour moorings which allowed room for both Kelly-Louise and Waiouru. 

We had morning tea before taking a walk into the village.  Jan and I had a brief walk here in 2003 but we had not managed to walk around the small village square. Of course I did my usual thing and started looking at the local buildings.

It appears you can get some idea of the age of the cottages by the height of the doorways.  Two hundred years ago the average height must have been several inches shorter than today.  I asked Margaret to stand beside the door to give some idea of perspective.

Opposite were a couple of old semi detached cottages that were rather nondescript except they both had small signs on them.  The one of the left had “The Old Nick” and was a former Staffordshire Police Station whilst the other was the old police constabulary cottage.  Obviously a house went with the job and you were on call 24/7.

I rather liked the colour of the awning over the fruit and veg shop in the village square.

Our route back to the canal took us through the churchyard where a robin was perched on a birdfeeder.

There are no robins in NZ or Australia but in my youth we would see Christmas cards with robins on the cover.  They always looked fatter and had a very red front rather than orange!  It actually seems rather silly to be celebrating Christmas in NZ with winter scenes (and food) at the height of summer!

There were a number of parishioners gardening in the churchyard and we were invited to look inside the church.

Brewood Church – St Mary’s and St Chad

However before entering the church we browsed amongst the headstones noticing a number of graves where the headstone indicated the occupation was ‘Engineer’.  Something to do with construction of the canal?

The light wasn’t that good inside the church but the Canon lens still managed to take some reasonable photos.

The windows behind the alter and on one side were stained glass whilst the windows on the opposite side were clear glass.  Above the main entrance was a mezzanine floor immediately below the bell tower and it was possible to see the cords for the bells.

Jan and I had lunch on Waiouru before pulling the pins and continuing south.  Along the way we passed the boat of fellow bloggers David & Beryl (nb Sokai)

Looks like some painting might be in the wind?

Twenty-five minutes short of our moorings for the night the heavens opened and we had a good drenching.  However it was the wind that created more of an issue.  Of course the rain stopped and the sun came out just as we arrived at the 48 hour moorings. Our luck!