When the cows were “out”, Bob often flew with Bert Mercer down to Okuru to do carpentry work for local residents. The small aircraft used to swoop over the landing area near the Nolan farm at Whataroa to scare off the animals before landing. In these years a builder in isolated communities drew up the plans, ordered the supplies, dug the foundations, built the house including the making of joinery, installed the plumbing and drains and water tanks, lined and wallpapered the interior, and then hoped he’d get paid, which, in South Westland, he was. The gradual development of a road down to Okuru and the eventual opening of the Haast Highway in 1965 then lay in a future dream-time.
Bob and Margaret Clarke moved to Christchurch in 1943/4 where they acquired a dairy farm in Grimsey’s Road at the back of St Bede’s College. A huge snow storm shortly afterwards influenced Bob to return to building for a living. In his latter years he was employed by the Addington Racecourse as a general fix-it man, but he returned to the Coast to live when his wife died.
Following service as a fitter and turner with the occupational air force in Japan at the end of World War II, and later marriage, Bob’s son, Emmett, borrowed money from his uncle, Lawn Williams, to finance the purchase of a bulldozer for contract work on the Haast Pass road project. This work enabled him to build a house and garage at Franz Josef Glacier and eventually buy a farm there in what had originally been land owned by the Paganini family adjacent to the school. The original Paganini stately 2-storey house a few kilometres north of the township is now a bed and breakfast establishment. Like one or two other South Westlanders, Emmett piloted his own small Cessna aircraft for several decades, finding it quicker and cheaper than running a car. Training with the RNZAF as a fitter and turner and later service overseas with the occupation forces in Japan enabled him to do his own aircraft maintenance. In retirement Emmett lived mainly on a small acreage near Greymouth. His brother, Jim, qualified as a motor mechanic, and lives in Christchurch. Mary and her husband were share-milkers in
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