Places+of+the+Heart(land)

= **Places of the Heart(land)-Naseby ** =

media type="custom" key="5572173" This is where Naseby is in New Zealand

media type="custom" key="5572047" This is a close up of Naseby

media type="custom" key="5586673" This is a street map of Naseby

This is my crib



=
My special place in Naseby is the war memorial gun. There are 2 seats on the gun where my sister and I eat our lollies from the shop. It sits in the middle of the tiny field like an oasis, shaded by a chestnut tree, and kept company by a picnic table.=====

=
In the summer the grey paint flakes off and sticks to your shorts and t-shirt, and the sun roasts you until you have a really sore sunburn. In autumn at 5 o’clock the shadow of the mammoth chestnut tree falls just right so it keeps the sun out of your eyes, and the chestnuts are perfect for conkers. In winter the frost freezes on the gun, and its too cold to be outside anyway. In spring the sun coaxes me and my sister outside and we sit on the gun with our lollies, our bikes lying on the green grass nearby, and watch the world go by.=====

This is the swimming dam. It is always freezing cold and in Autumn it grows scungy green stuff and heaps of tadpoles. Its at the top of a huge hill that's really hard to bike up.

[[image:http://www.odt.co.nz/files/story/2009/07/skaters_enjoy_the_free_skating_on_the_maniototo_ic_1347605935.JPG width="278" height="210"]]
This is the ice skating rink. My family and I go there heaps in winter. Sometimes, when the ice is thick enough we skate on the pond across the road.

This is the Otago Rail Trail have done over 50km on the Rail Trail (but not all at the same time) and one day I want to do all of it.

This is a map of the tracks through the forest in Naseby. My favourite track goes from the swimming dam, across wet gully road, past Hoffmans dam, to Coalpit dam and then biking back to Naseby along the Ranfurly/Naseby road.

Gold mining in Naseby

Naseby was a large gold mining town. In 1861 Gabriel Read found a huge deposit of gold near Naseby, which was really just a collection of houses then, and this was the start of gold mining in Otago. After 3 years 2 other gold mines in the area were abandoned for the Naseby mine. By 1868 most of the gold was gone and hydraulic sluicing had to be used. The government built water races to fuel them and the tracks alongside the water races are used for biking and walking along today. The gold mining is important because if it didn’t happen then Naseby would probably still be a cluster of houses in the middle of nowhere.

My Special Memory media type="file" key="Memory.mp3"