Gordon Roberts & Angus Thompson

In this 1990 New Zealand National Geographic documentary, (see link below) Gordon Roberts talks about his wildlife photography, of his working in the wilderness and backcountry of NZ as a deer hunter and then moving in to his years as a professional photographer. Alongside Gordon, his mate Angus Thompson reminisces about their deer culling days and reflects on some of those times also.

I like the comment Angus makes when asked about: how did the government shooters cope when heading into town? During the off season or for a weekend of fun. Did they feel different from the city folk. His reply included that one most harrowing things was: crossing the road in traffic - more terrifying than hanging off a bluff, he quips.

In the film Gordon obviously still very fit, trots up the steep mountainside completely in his element, you can tell he's done this for years. the young journalist is keeping up with him, but  is ungainly and struggling a little. There's a stunning sequence of footage a bit further on has Gordon careenes down the mountainside,  flying over the scree, hardly touching the ground, he looks like a human chamois, incredibly fit and agile. It really is a magnificent sequence and for me, encapsulates in one flowing carefree movement all that he puts into words.

I've interviewed both Gordon and Angus, and I'm really honoured to have had that opportunity and their content contributes to other's stories of those times in the Frank book. The book which is how in its final stages of editing and soon on its way to being published. I' ll post updates on progress with publishing here. BUT for now, enjoy this great bit of NZ history. 

NZ National Geographic: A Thing of the Past:

https://www.nzgeo.com/video/a-thing-of-the-past/ 

Angus and Dave Drangsholt's tribute to Gordon Roberts from June 2018 NZ Deer Cullers news letter. And two of Gordon's books.

Gordon recalls a conversation with Frank and Wattie Cameron. From Gordon's book Game Animals of New Zealand. 

Paradise Valley Springs Rotorua

Frank Erceg and Barry Crump feature together on this sign at Paradise Valley Springs, Rotorua

 

Love this sign. Yep they were tough buggers; clever, resilient and a breed unto their own. 

Hi all, it's been awhile, but I've been very busy!  I sent the Frank Erceg manuscript out last year to a group of fellow writers and received some great feedback from: Geoff Spearpoint, Julia Bradshaw, Kevin Whitelaw and Gary Johnson. And I thank them all for taking the time to read the draft and give their suggestions and some good feedback. It was a valuable exercise. I made a few changes and decided before going to final edit to have it professionally assessed. 

An assessment is a valuable part of the process. My assessor gave the book much praise, she also noted some areas that needed a bit more attention to clearly put Frank and his life into context. She also suggested adding extra content around family and his Croatian heritage. So now just finishing off some of this, and getting it ready for submissions to potential publishers.

What a journey this book has been, what a huge part of my life for many years. And the many people met along the way. One being Stuart Hamlett from Paradise Valley Springs and his idea to have some deer cullers history at the park. He got in touch with me and I sent him some photos.  I enjoy these encounters and the passion other people have for keeping the stories and history alive, it makes it all worthwhile. 

Take care everyone. And there's some links to Paradise Springs and for any writers out there some info on NZ manuscript assessors, this info is available on the New Zealand Society of Authors website, the NZSA also supports writers with funded mentoring and assessment programmes and advice on publishing. 

https://www.paradisev.co.nz

https://authors.org.nz