If the statue of an oversized blue-and-red bird had caught our attention in a place as scenic as Te Anau, it cannot be surprising that we would end-up visiting the huge, fiberglass fruit sculptures in the next town that we visited, Cromwell. After our delightful hike up Key Summit and delicious pies for lunch in Te Anau on Thursday (November 19th), we drove back to Queenstown to fill-up on groceries and fuel. From there we headed east, following the Kawarau River through a valley full of vineyards. Parts of the river were deep and dramatic, and hence were sites used for “Pillars of the Kings” and “River Anduin” in The Lord of the Rings movies. For the more adventurous, several bungee-jumping sites, including the 134 m (440 feet) “Nevis Highwire Bungy” were also scattered along the valley.

Sited where the Kawarau River joins the Clutha River, the small rural town of Cromwell (population 4,150) has become the center of the Otago wine region which is well-known for its excellent pinot noirs. The area had particular interest for Andrew and me because our grand-parents had moved there to establish a fruit-farm in the early 1920s. Although our father was actually born back in Great Britain, he lived in Cromwell from the ages of 6 to 18 months, at which time his parents divorced and he returned to Britain with his mother.

The farm was described as being on the floor-plain of an ancient lake 40 feet (12 m) above the existing river, and the Clutha Valley north of Cromwell certainly has several flat levels which could fit that description. However, the issue is confused by the completion of the Clyde Dam for hydropower generation in 1992, which flooded the original Cromwell village, 280 homes, 6 farms, and 17 orchards. Located south and downstream from Cromwell, the 100 m (330 feet) tall dam created Lake Dunstan and probably raised water levels around Cromwell to almost 40 feet above the original river level (at least, comparing old and new photos of the area gives this impression). Thus, if our grandparents’ orchard was not flooded by the dam, it was probably on land that is now at lake-level, and mostly likely under urban-development in the current town.

Thus, there was no specific place that we could visit with direct connections to our family but it was possible to get a sense of what the area must have been like. We did briefly visit two of the older churches in the area since these might have been places that our grandparents would have known or attended; the Anglican (Episcopal) Church from 1874 and the Catholic Church which was opened in 1909.

Prior to closing the dam, several buildings of the historic precinct of the old town were relocated to the new lake-shore level and the land under the old town was mined for gold. While some of the saved buildings have been set-up as period pieces (e.g., the stables), others now house galleries or cafes in a very attractive pedestrian area. We enjoyed taking a quick look around this historic area in sunshine late on Thursday afternoon when the place was deserted. Although the next morning was overcast and showery, I am pleased to report that this did not deter us, on our way out of town, from taking the necessary photographs of each other next to Cromwell’s oversized peach, pear, apple, and apricot.