Saturday, 24 March 2012

Gore–The Country Music and Brown Trout Capital

Off early today to get out of the way of preparations for the trotting at Ascot Racecourse in Invercargill so we arrived quite early at our next stop at Gore A & P grounds.    The allowing of caravans and motorhomes to stay on the grounds brings in a little bit of income for these A & P Societies and Racecourses at times when they are standing unused and additionally provides them with security.   Most provide power and toilets and as for tonight showers as well.

 IMG_1144

The Famous Gore Brown Trout

We stopped in at the Gore museum which has a good range of displays from this area and also includes as a separate display area the Hokonui Moonshine Museum.

Making moonshine or Hokonui was an activity carried out by the early scot immigrants who practiced the art back in Scotland.   The pioneers used to make “the wash” and then await the arrival of the shared still which was transported from family to family to complete the distilling process.

IMG_1138IMG_1142

The museum has setup a couple of dioramas to show distilling in the bush setting to avoid raids by police and customs.

IMG_1141IMG_1143

          The Still in the Bush                        Bottling the Product

Gore is well known as the Country Music Capital of NZ and hosts the annual Golden Guitar awards.   This monument has been erected in honour of the previous winners of the award with handprints set in concrete.

IMG_1147IMG_1148

The Tamworth Gardens Monument  and “Hands of Fame”

Leaving there we hurried back to the caravan as the heavens had opened up and we had left the top vent of the caravan wide open.   Oh well the floor got a good washing!

No comments:

Post a Comment