Journey Home

On the way back from our Dunedin surf trip in milton I've always looked at  this broken down building and wondered whats inside, what it once was. Its quite large with smashed windows and grass growing out the roof. It looked like something from the 1920s.





This time as we went past we decided to pull over to explore. It was a very eerie feeling as all was silent, one place I didn't want to be a night. I half expected dogs to come out chasing us. One step further a huge sound came churning from above with steam gushing out. Another sense that we shouldn't be here.

Just round the corner we came across a brick building with a burnt out roof. A big outside light was flickering so someone was around. With that an old guy was standing at the opening.

Allan Williams 

Despite all the thoughts going through my head we were warmly greeted by a 'oily-hand' worker, Allan Williams. Entering the run down building you could see the whole thing was full of history underneath the dust and grease. He led us to this huge boiler a few stories high. He explained it was the last running one in New Zealand, its been going since the 1920s. It's the same as the ones when london was covered in smog from industrial revolution. 
Of course I couldn't resist asking a few question if somebodies ever fell inside or bodies been disposed of, he laughed "sometimes the police dispose of large amounts of weed in 'her', those days are quite interesting". He also referred to the boiler as a 'her' so it led to the question if she had a nickname. Next time I'm back I'll bring a nickname like buttercup or sugarplum hah. 
After some interesting history thats getting harder to find we were back on the road. It's not often you meet people like this. 


If your going through Milton pop in and spin a yarn to Allan, say I sent you. He's there everyday.
Enjoy Stefan Haworth