(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Ok, it’s official, this must be the funniest section of road in New Zealand.
I didn’t have to start gushing excitedly into Himself’s ear for our next roadside stop because everyone in our car was going “Wow, look at that!“, “Whoa, that’s really funny!”,
“Hey! Look at all those shoes!“, “Mama, look you have to blog about this!”
It’s hard to miss… somewhere on the north side of Foxton you will find this: a Jandal fence.
Yet another U-turn later we are parked on the side of the road and I’m taking photos of this unlikely sight.
The Jandals are all colours, in extreme conditions of age and wear (many look totally new), and appear to come from different countries too (at least I saw one pair with “Australia” printed onto it.) Is it Art? … or just fun? … a rural tourist attraction? … or do the inhabitants of the next farm have a ridiculously mega-enormous family and this is their equivalent of “shoes by the back door?”
Who knows, but it’s there and it manages to stop passing visitors like us and added to the smiles we have already collected in our travels today.
As a New Zealand icon and part of my “Kiwiana” series I’ve already made a post featuring Jandals: http://kiwidutch.wordpress.com/?s=jandals , but as iconic as they are, it’s safe to say that I never expected to see a rural fence full of them!
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
You can’t drive past something like this and NOT notice. There are a few themed fences like this in New Zealand. Between Warkworth and Wellsford north of Auckland there’s a fence that’s covered in car hubcaps. It must be on a bend in the road somewhere..LOL. I also heard about a fence somewhere down south that’s covered in women’s bras, it made it onto the news — very colourful.
So, don’t leave anything hanging on your front fence in case people think you’re starting an exhibition.
Comment by Dave — August 20, 2012 @ 10:45 pm |
Dave, you are right about the Bra’s … somewhere close to Berkes Pass somewhere if I remember correctly.
the Hubcap one is a new one on me, a bit dazzling in a hot day possibly? certainly a really quick way to get people’s attention. I’ll all for a wierd attraction LOL!
Of course some of them, like the “Padlock Bridge” by Notre Dame in Paris are world famous, so there is hope for these smaller Kiwi rivals
Comment by kiwidutch — August 24, 2012 @ 7:18 am |
Cool! Have you also been to the stretch where the fence is decorated with undies? Yes, undies
I can’t remember where it is off the top of my head but drove past it several times over the years. It’s always as eye catching as ever!
Comment by Imported Kiwi — August 21, 2012 @ 1:05 am |
No, I’ve never seenthe Undies one, but it does sound very interesting. Can you remember where it was? (or is)?
Comment by kiwidutch — August 24, 2012 @ 7:03 am |
Oh found it! It’s near Queenstown! http://www.slrobertson.com/galleries/new-zealand/south-island/queenstown/underwear-fence-3.htm
Comment by Imported Kiwi — August 21, 2012 @ 1:09 am |
Busy week Imported,
but I finially got to the link… err, I’m not sure about this one. It looks a bit ragged and untidy compared to the others. I’m really sure I remember there being a Bra Fence somewhere between Fairlie and Tekapo agoes ago… it looked brilliant! or maybe it’s gone becuase I think my Aunt said they removed everything a while back? The undies one would be better if someone tided it up to look a but more like a washing line… or is that just me?
Comment by kiwidutch — August 24, 2012 @ 7:02 am |
We had a phenomena like this in the states many years ago. People, mostly kids, would throw sneakers (a pair tied together by their shoelaces) over telephone wires. Nobody knew how it got started! Strange!
Comment by Marcella Rousseau — August 25, 2012 @ 12:29 am |
Welcome to my blog Marcella,
Whoa, I’d be really worried that the combined weight would eventually bring the wires down? (and I bet their parents weren’t too thrilled if the sneakers still were ok to be worn LOL)
Still, it WOULD be an amazing sight to see, I wonder if anyone has photos of it in their family albums ?
Comment by kiwidutch — August 25, 2012 @ 9:03 am |
Me oh my! I stand corrected! Apparently, this is still going on and has been going on for decades, since I was a kid. Here is a photo taken in 2011. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/04/shoes-over-telephone-wires-probably-doesnt-explain-it/1669/
Comment by Marcella Rousseau — August 31, 2012 @ 11:49 pm
Cool photo Marcella,
It seems that for the USA version there are many different theories ranging from marking of drug gang territory to bulling or boredom… who knows? maybe a mixture of it all?
Comment by kiwidutch — September 5, 2012 @ 4:50 pm
I have no idea. When it was done in my neighborhood when I was a kid, it was done for fun. It must mean something. Look at all the pairs of shoes that some women own. Even I own too many pairs of shoes. (Although I don’t hang them on telephone lines.) Shoes – what does it all mean? Lol.
Comment by Marcella Rousseau — September 5, 2012 @ 8:44 pm