'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

Go here to find out more.

Monday 27 February 2012

Fairlight


Yorkshire Pudding has recently done the predicable post about funny English place-names.*
It got me thinking about New Zealand place-names, and how most of them are a plethora of English transpositions, or from the Maori.
However, just off State Highway 6 between Queenstown and Invercargill is a tiny rural district called Fairlight. It's right in the centre of the Google Earth image below, in the valley, and surrounded by mountains. When we were passing through last, I snapped the image of the old railway station building.
Very shortly afterwards as we travelled a little further, the clouds parted for a minute and the view of the hills revealed why the area was so named.



* Despite the initial 'titilation', this is as usual a thoughtful and interesting post.

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