I'm writing again about my grandparents and their adventures on the water. My Pop, Grant, who was known as Jack, owned a boat which he took out fishing etc. My Grandma Doreen was a keen fisherwoman also. The photo from this weeks Sepia Saturday of a couple crossing a river, reminded me of one I have taken on Lake Forsyth on what appears to be a leisure trip in about the 1960s.
The hill behind the clinching couple on the Sepia Saturday website, looks a bit like the hill in the following photo. But that is where the likeness ends. Most of us Kiwi women get our feet wet. Out of necessity and the willingness to get dirty and try anything. My Grandma obviously had to get out and push the boat as well. Many hands make light work. NZ women are not scared of a bit of dirty cold water. She is in a lovely dress that she would have sewn herself (Grandma was a dressmaker). And she has a scarf on her head. It looks fairly windy as her dress is blowing against her legs.
This lake sits between Birdlings Flat, a stark and wonderful stoney beach with wild waves and extreme weather conditions, and Little River, a very small town which sometimes turns in to a river during flooding events. It is a great wee community and a lot of artists and alternative lifestyle people live there.
Lake Forsyth these days is quite full of algal blooms and general disgustingness due to it being often land locked and the effluent from surrounding cow farms flowing into it. Too much nitrogen, perfect for algae to grow! My Grandma said that in the past they used to open up the sea entrance to the lake to let the fresh seawater in, but this is not always done these days. I wasn't sure why, but have just read on wikipedia that these attempts at opening up the lake didn't improve the water quality very much. I went sailing on this lake once and was warned not to fall in as I would end up with some sort of gastro bug or poisoning from algae.
Anyway back to the fishing couple. Here is another photo of that day but with more people in the boat and a small boy onshore.
I don't know who the extra people are in the boat and can't really recognise them. The boy on shore could have been my Uncle Bill, but I can't see enough of him.
I have taken photos of this lake with amazing reflections and have also painted this scene, so know every crack and line well. It is a fascinating, yet very polluted lake.
At least the pollution isn't obvious from your photos, which make it look perfectly fine.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the perfect spot. Thanks for sharing the photos. Barbara
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if they were having a great time. It may have been windy but the sun was shining!
ReplyDeleteI'm familiar with polluted waters looking otherwise having lived & traveled near the eastern side of San Francisco Bay when I was young. We'd come down University Ave. in Berkeley & as we neared the highway running alongside the Bay, the water looked lovely, but the effluvial odor was terrible. We'd all hold our noses going "Ewww!" By the time I was commuting regularly alongside the Bay to work, the water had been cleaned up, but I never quite trusted the claims that it had been so successfully cleaned up that one could make use of the beach there & go swimming. Too many memories otherwise.
ReplyDeleteLike the others, I'm surprised by your vivid descriptions of all that is wrong about this lake as it looks so blue and beautiful. I hope your grandmother didn't have to go much further or deeper -- she was close to getting that pretty dress wet.
ReplyDeleteWhat sweet memories to share! They are the picture of true boaters!
ReplyDeleteIt isn't clear whether there was something wrong with the boat or whether that was the normal way to land it.
ReplyDeleteLooks as if they were trying to bring a boat against the wind (which shows so well in your grandmother's skirt)...and the man pushing the boat (your grandfather?) was the one probably much wetter in that view.
ReplyDeleteOh to the hearty women of our past...she was not afraid to jump right in, I find it almost comical tht she has a scarf on while fishing and boat hauling...great memories
ReplyDeleteYou should have shared some of your photos or paintings!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they were enjoying their day out on the lake.
Lovely photographs - the blue of the lake seemed so inviting. Memories always tend to enrich tones, don't they?
ReplyDeleteI prefer to keep my feet on the ground and in that depth of water I would be alright, you could even persuade me to use the boat on that lovely lake.
ReplyDeleteWell these are quite fun and make me sad our summer is over. It would be nice to be out on a lake as long as nothing is floating in it. Sad what we do to water these days. Out of sight, out of mind.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the water was not so polluted back in the day when the photo was taken. It's sad to read that it is not in bad shape.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the whole "we aren't afraid of a bit of cold/dirty water" or getting our feet wet generally. Suspect I'd have got more than my feet wet getting into the boat there though.
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