My brother-in-law Rob Crawford and I were like kids in a candy store when we entered E Hayes and Son Hardware Store (www.nzcom.co.nz) in downtown Invercargill, South New Zealand’s southernmost city, a stop-off point for Antarctica expeditions. It was a late Sunday afternoon in February, 2023. We had checked out of Paddock 186 (FACEBOOK: Paddock 186), exited west and leisurely driven to Te Waewae Bay overlooking the southernmost lands of Fiordland National Park, made an about face and headed east to Invercargill.

E Hayes and Son is not your ordinary hardware store. They do have regular hardware items, a gift store, coffee shop, clothing and outdoor sundries, and a Motorworks Collection Store. The latter makes it an extraordinary hardware store as this is where The World’s Fastest Indian Burt Munro’s collection rests.

THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN - BURT MUNRO

Munro, born in nearby Edendale in 1899, went on to set a World Speed Record, Class SA-1000cc, of 184.087 MPH on America’s Bonneville Salt Flat, August 26, 1967. Mind you, he was 68 years old. The record will forever stand as that class distinction was later retired. The 2005 movie ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ starring Anthony Hopkins, depicts this amazing feat and Munro’s remarkable life. Munro’s good friends, Norman Hayes and his son Neville Hayes, purchased his collection—including his record-setting original 1920 Munro Special—of motorcycles, engines, trailer, and motorcycle parts which he had made. Munro’s singular ‘sell’ condition was that his collection stay in his beloved Southland. As a result, all of these items can be seen in this hardware store, dispersed amongst available hardware goods for sale. Also to be seen are classic, vintage and modern motorcycles, automobiles, and memorabilia.

Rob and I marveled at the collection and left just as the store closed. Before leaving, we made our first tourist-purchase gifts for loved-ones back home. Rob asked for a restaurant recommendation from a clerk inside the store who suggested The Cabbage Tree in nearby Otatara. After dinner there, we aimed our rental car north to Gore, traveling Highway 1, and passed through Munro’s hometown. We arrived in Gore with the last light of the day.

GORE: BROWN TROUT CAPITAL of the WORLD

The fecund agriculture countryside on Highway 1 to Gore was most satisfying, mindful of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Crops were ripe, and many were already harvested. Gore is known for its dairy farms. The clean streets of Gore were filled with summer flower plantings. Attractive commercial buildings lined both sides of Main Street. Signs proclaimed Gore as the Brown Trout Capital of the World, and the Country and Western Music Capital of New Zealand.

At our sunset hour, we were not looking for brown trout nor music. The Riverlea Motel was in our sites for a three-night stay. We found its retro neon sign at twilight and pulled in for brand new and comfortable accomodations, with an epic high-pressure shower-head to loosen up travel muscles. The new room was interesting with no art on the walls, and every electrical receptacle with a switch - a first for me. And, by the way, when traveling to NZ, bring along a couple of electrical plug-in adapters, as you will need them where ever you go. A lovely touch was a French coffee press amenity. Also, don’t expect to find half-and-half cream in NZ. They only have real crème, and, my oh my, is it fine - a perfect addition to your hot coffee.

One of New Zealand’s most famous rivers, the Mataura, flows through Gore. Some have touted it to be the best fly fishing in the world. I’m always suspect of that notation. Rob did well enough; I not so much. One of the places that we went to fish was barely accessible by hiking, and for me with a bum knee, it was even more challenging. The Mataura is known for its consistent, daily mayfly hatches. Dry fly fishing is the way to go with Adams patterns as good as anything. A pheasant tail is good for below the surface fishing. When in Gore, it is best to stop at one of the fly fishing shops for recommendations.

Gore has a fairly lively art scene, and its culinary scene is nothing to sneeze at. The Thomas Green Public House and Dining Room (www.thethomasgreen.co.nz) was a favorite of ours. Speights beer on tap and a nice selection of Otago Pinot Noir are on the bar menu. The Kiwi beers Tuatara and the Hazy are suggestions to try on tap. Culinary delights include The Tale of the World’s Best Lamb at $42 NZ (one NZ dollar = $0.62 US, so this would be about $26 US), Kiwi Blue Cod $35 NZ, and Grass-fed Reserve NZ Beef Rib-eye $43 NZ. New Zealand is known for excellent-tasting, tender lamb and beef, resulting from mild climates, ample low-stress grazing and natural farming techniques.

The early 1900 Thomas Green building is beautiful, charming, spacious and unique. A locals’ favorite for dining, chit chat, and unwinding after a long summer day is the Howl at the Moon Restaurant Bar, right across the street from Thomas Green. It is here where I encountered my first beer stein ice chiller - one’s glass is instantly iced over before the draught is poured. Kiwis, like Americans, like their beer chilled. One of their specialties is pulled lamb shoulder with rosemary/garlic Turkish bread. However, the one that I found the most unique and tasty was the red current glazed venison salad with beetroot and feta cheese. This was my first encounter with a venison salad. Not surprising though, as NZ has a robust market in red deer. Rob, his friend Peter (a local dairyman), and I finished our meals by splitting a pinky-winky ice cream sundae. Make sure you try one while in Gore.

The day before departing Gore, we awoke early, rolled the dice, and took some backroads north. We were treated to a stunning sunrise, made even more-so as we came across a band of sheep being moved from one paddock to another. The light was soft and surreal on the sheep. A couple of border collies and the owner in a side-by-side moved them along. Obviously, we parked and bounded out of the rental with our photographic bandoleers firing.

We eventually made it to a stream on our back-country excursion.There was an old wooden bridge that was no longer used that paralleled the road—a time warp from the past to the future of the more modern bridge that we used to cross. Buggies and horses and mules had crossed on that old bridge—a whisper of history. We marveled, stopped, and took some photos. Time gone by. We took a dirt road and made our way deeper into NZ’s back-country, finally stopped, parked, and hiked to the river to fish. I thought that I was back home on my beloved Chewaucan River. Nary a soul in sight. Just the river, me, and Rob. We fished briefly. No strikes. No problem. The deep tranquil river scene did not require a fish to respond to our offerings. Just being there was complete in itself.

MANDEVILLE AIR MUSEUM

A gem of an aircraft museum lies outside Gore off Highway 94 in the little berg of Mandeville. Rob and I had a delightful visit at Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre (www.croydonaviation.co.nz), considered to be one of the finest air museums in all of NZ. Vintage airplanes that we marveled at included the Snark HA1, a 1910 Pither Monoplane, 1940 Percival Proctor Mk1, de Havilland 90 Dragonfly ZK-AYR Endeavour and a de Havilland DH89 Dominie. You can walk about and freely examine the planes at your own pace. When fly fishing the Mataura, we witnessed a few bi-planes crossing over close to the ground like a scene mindful of Robert Redford flying in the movie Out of Africa (a 1929 Gipsy Moth G-AAMY biplane). At the museum, a docent said that those planes flew out of Old Mandeville Airfield where one can charter a local flight. The airfield also has an annual fly-in, the Mandeville Fly-In and Steam Festival, and in February each year, Models Over Mandeville, where pilots show off their aerobatic skills.

The third and final New Zealand installment (Waikaia to Queenstown) will appear in Highonadventure’s Sept-Oct edition.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Larry Turner is a productive, respected regional, national and international photographer/writer. His work has appeared in countless magazines and books, including Browntrout and Avalanche Publishers' calendars and books, American Heritage, National Geographic Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Sunset and many others. He is the co-author of the book Mount Shasta Reflections, and his photographs have appeared on covers of many books and magazines.  He is an active skier, gardener, fly fisherman,  and adventurer. His greatest love is spending time with his son Steen, Chef de Cuisine of the Cafe Kandahar in Whitefish, Montana.