ZLO Trip down Memory Lane – Jasper Robertson

I had a Coastguard boat transfer from Tauranga to Kapiti this week. Never thought I would take a boat to Waiouru but life does funny things sometimes.
In general if you add 30 or 40 years of tree growth, some roadworks and a giant reduction in Defence Force personnel to the pictures you have in your head you are up to date.  All of the old farmers have passed on but the farms are still run by the same families.
Driving
This was an opportunity to reflect on times past and in particular the influence being at Irirangi had on our driving habits.  Many of us brought our first car or motorbike while there and wandered all over the North Island when we were off watch. The distances we travelled for our recreational substances and interface with the opposite sex (I presume) must have been incredible.  Our watch once drove to Auckland just to buy an ice-cream.  That could make a book on its own….
The Desert Road was at its summer best with a clear blue sky and all the heather in full bloom. The road is better but the corners all retain the same character. I spent many hours tramping and hunting up here and love it.  My return trip next was done in low cloud and everything grey and mysterious.
Waiouru
Just add a couple more garages, a Thai takeaway. For the OBJ time has stood still. I was told OBJ stands for Oh Be Jesus, the strangled cry when first tasting the Standard brand beer which did not travel well.  Many of the houses have been removed from the Army camp.  The railway crossing on the way to Irirangi has been replaced with a bridge. A least one person (AB Alan Tew) might still be alive had they done that earlier.
The camp, later….
Taihape
Seemed to be a lot further away than I remember. On arrival there found little change really. The New Taihape has been painted dark brown with Guiness signs and probably cucumber sarnies on the menu.  The Friday ‘shopping’ and stories about Taihape would also make a book on its own.  All of the roads have been upgraded in particular the Mangaweka Gorge. The narrow twisting road we drove like rally champions is now an almost straight and flat three lane highway with just the odd glimpse of a piece of old road hanging on the side of a cliff.
The Old Camp.
I have often wondered what happened to Irirangi post navy. The Google Earth rendition used to be covered with cloud and it was only on going back for this ditty that I found the new version is very clear. On the journey down I could see changes in the old camp but I was reluctant to take a 3 tonne tandem trailered boat up the road and I was on a tight schedule.
So it was early in the morning on the return trip that I pulled up to the gate. Could not raise anybody but just before I was about to leave (having spent the last hour passing stock trucks I was not keen to do it all again) a young woman in her jarmies came out.  Transpired that she is Stu Sinclair s granddaughter. We had a quick conversation before I had to move on to clear the road for yet another stock truck.
The Sinclairs took the land back in accordance with the original agreement. The Sinclair son still farms the land and a lot of the old camp is a depot for Balance Phosphate.
Gone was the orderly and ship-shape main gate. I will leave the photographs to tell that story.

The whole place seems so tiny and it is hard to believe that about 90 of us called this home.
Park Lane. The houses have long gone. In the picture is the pavilion and gear store of old. Fond memories of landing a six on its roof in the final of the Intership Cricket against Tamaki. We lost probably because we took the opposition to the Razzer to soften them up the night before and they were more crafty than we gave them credit for.
Thorne Field. Once one of the best prepared rugby grounds in NZ. Played some great sport here but now the sheep have it. I was told that it is not that long ago that they took the goal posts down.
Captains House. The house has been shifted across the road. I suppose it was part of a separate land deal anyway. FEJ Mason (one time CO) told me the Ministry of Works got the house plan wrong. In keeping with protocol the lounge was built facing the road. The kitchen and bathrooms therefore faced the mountain and the million dollar view.
The Main Gate. The old Quartermasters office and what was later the Sports Club still there. Many of us spent our first night at Irirangi in that building. You were picked up off the ‘rattler’ in a draughty Land Rover and given a bed with cardboard sheets and one blanket in an unheated room. Of course on subsequent drafts you probably arrived in your own car during office hours.
Old Admin Block. Long gone… looking across to where it once stood you can see the Balance Phosphate store.
One other ex Navy building has only recently been removed. My guess is that it was the old Armoury which would have been very suitable for farm use.
Quite a nostalgic visit for me. I was here four times and loved the place.
My father served here when the Camp was being built. He had been injured on HMNZS Moa during the stoush with the Japanese landing craft and was sent here to recuperate. A fact that was picked up on at divisions by RADM Peter Phipps (Moas skipper) on his farewell visit.
Dad came to visit me during my first posting and commented that apart from it being a lot easier to get into ‘The Wrenery” nothing much else had changed.
And on a more personal note…. In 1944 on the 2nd of Feb my mother travelled from Waiouru to Auckland where I was born on the 5th Feb.
On the 2nd of Feb 2013 I too am travelling from Waiouru to Auckland. Had history been different I could have stopped here to celebrate my 69th birthday in the place I was born.
Yours aye
David Jasper Robertson
Thanks Jasper for the contribution.  Click on images to enlarge –  Frank