Driving Creek Railway & Potteries

 

While touring the Coromandel Penisula near Auckland, NZ we visited the DCR and even met the 76 year old designer/owner Barry Brickell. It took him 32 years to get to this stage and it is amazing. After buying this 60 acre hilly scrub-covered land in 1973, he built major viaducts, 3 short tunnels, 2 spirals and 5 reversing points to elevate the railway up to the top at the Eyefull Tower (and has 3 trains).

 

In 1961 Barry became New Zealand's first Kiwi-born fulltime handcraft potter. All along the wooded train track he has placed pottery and glass art work, and recently had one of he workers (or train engineer) design and build a wooden waterwheel just because he wanted one! Barry is bent on reestablishing native trees and plants that have been destroyed by the foresting that has been done in the whole ares, so we saw new kauri trees of various sizes along the track. Initially they grow about a foot a  year from limb to limb, amazing and beautiful.

 

The DCR is a wonderful attraction of art, conservation and engineering

 

Maori welcome

Oct 9, 2012 Dan and I attended the celebration of Ryan Bolger's book The Gospel after Christendom, to honor the life work of Eddie Gibbs. The guest speaker was Phyllis Tickle ( author of Emergent Christianity). It was a fantastic, fun, time as the shot of Bill Pannell and Myrlin Call demonstrates. Photo in top left is of Ryan Bolger presenting the process he took to produce the book: he asked 138 people 4 questions and came up with 273 issues which he reduced to 6 cultural issues . . .  great book!

Time with grandkids in Chiang Mai

Elephant Camp near Chiang Mai

Anza-Borrego 2012

Interesting couple of weeks to end January and begin February 2012
The cohort Dan and Dudley worked with for the past 4 years defended their dissertations and will graduate in June. We all met for a meal at Roberta and Dudley's home to celebrate.
back from left: Georgia, Velda, Roberta, Gail, Sarah, Moon and Cherry
front from left: Dudley, Larry, Dan and Magdy..

Then this week the second cohort Dan and Dudley are working with were here for their third module with Todd Elefson, so we had them at our home for dinner last night.

from left: Baet, Allen, Todd and Melody, John, Craig, Andres, Jonathan, Dan, Roberta and Dudley



These shots give you an idea of how colorful and delightful the Samo are when they dress up!



This gives an idea of the journey the books and equipment took from Los Angeles to Honinabi. We did have to pay for 2 of the 6 large cases we took, but that was still more cost effective than mailing them.

We caught the very moment the light went on in the office of the new double classroom at Honinabi in Western Province, Papua New Guinea. What a day of celebration for the Samo students and the solar panels and needed equipment was provided by funds raised by the students at Pasadena Christian School. CRMF in Goroka, PNG provided the labor and David to get everything working right.