Pah humbug

This morning I was heading past Pah Homestead* and decided to stop off for an explore.  Dr. Semple's orders were to get some exercise to see if that helped aid my recovery.  I'm not sure that an amble through the art gallery inside the house and the park quite counts, but it's all I felt up to.  WARNING: contains nudity and this time it's not Reuben!Pah Homestead was built for a wealthy businessman in 1879 so it's completely ancient by NZ standards.  I was struck by these two women appraising a painting on display by Richard McWhannell.  So why was the chap standing around in his diaphanous robe and cowboy boots and his bushman's hat?  Some lengthy study was required.

Coming to a conclusion

The house has a lovely grand staircase in the front hall with some bannisters I would have loved to slide down, but the uncarpeted back stairs in the servants' quarters with the worn treads made more of an impression on me.

Stairway to heaven

Outside, there's a collection of statuary in the gardens.  This one is cleverly placed with a view of One Tree Hill behind it.  No, that's not a tree on the hill in the background, it's an obelisk and the reason why there isn't a tree on One Tree Hill is long and convoluted and you can read about it here if so inclined.

Hole in the head

In the park below the house I found some extremely long seedpods that had fallen from one of the trees.  They were a bit like pinecones in design but nearly 1m in length.  No idea what species of tree they were from but that didn't stop me being creative.

Love in the grass

The park felt a bit like a National Trust property with the mature 'exotic' trees (i.e. oak, sycamore etc!) scattered around, but then I'd spot a palm tree or some such to remind me that I wasn't actually in Surrey.

Natives and non-natives

*on my way back from taking Dave's new bike to be serviced.  It's the one whose purchase was justified on the basis that "I'll be able to shave minutes off my time when I'm racing".  No challenge there then!