Loch Ness monster now Down Under
A displaced Scotsman now living in Blenheim has carved out a larger-than-life leafy tribute to the Loch Ness monster on his front lawn.
Alan Hall began sculpting a flat silver germander hedge in front of his property in Witherlea into geometric shapes six years ago.
As the seasons passed, the hedge grew as Hall’s shape experiments gained definition, eventually revealing an animallike figure.
‘‘Someone said it looked like a deer,’’ he explain.
In typical Scots replied: ‘‘Maybe.’’
But the shape piqued Hall’s creative reserves.
With a bit more trimming, and nurturing of the hedge, what had resembled a ‘‘deer’’ soon became something closer to his heart – a green beast uncannily similar in fashion, he shape to the infamous Loch Ness monster.
‘‘For want of a better name it is now known as Nessie,’’ he says.
The topiary shape is definitely no ‘‘tim’rous beastie’’, although its silhouette may cause a panic in ‘‘thy breastie’’ stormy night.
Hall visited Loch Ness many times when he lived in Scotland as a young builder.
He is due to pay his respects again next month when he returns on a dark and to the Highlands.
The recreational road cyclist doesn’t necessarily believe in monsters but there is a certain credence to a creature living in the deep lake, he says.
‘‘We once met a couple of old guys who fished on the loch and they believed the monster was actually a gigantic eel.
‘‘There’s something there – possibly it’s a huge eel that just got a bit too big.’’
The legend of the Loch Ness monster dates back to the sixth century when Irish monk St Columba supposedly banished a ‘‘water beast’’ to the depths of the River Ness.
Now hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the area every year, hoping to spot the monster peeping out from the deep waters.
Four years ago a pleasure boat skipper spotted an object on sonar more than 1.5 metres wide and 20m below the surface, at a depth of 200m.