Over the last few weeks we have been gearing up to losing our first born to the big wide world. D Day is almost upon us and I fear I have not really got my head around the idea that tomorrow we will be at Auckland airport waving Lachlan goodbye. People keep saying to me how hard it is and how I must be feeling empty at the thought of him going. I am feeling a little bewildered that I am not feeling those things! Maybe I have just been so busy to have time to think, or maybe I have not been allowing myself to think as a self-preservation/defence mechanism? Maybe it will hit me like a great big slam-dunk tomorrow when the actual parting happens, or a week or two down the track when the hole he leaves becomes more apparent? (will I miss the trail of detritus he leaves in his wake…the wet towels in the bathroom, the kitchen cupboard doors left open following a hungry boy’s search for food, the lights left on at night, the empty beer bottles and coke cans, the chocolate wrappers and the week old mouldy cups of half drunk tea in his bedroom?!)
I will miss his sense of humour, the small gestures of care and love that an embarassed 18 yr old tries to hide,(like when he bought me a little elephant back from a trip to Raglan with his mates) the snatched moments of real conversation and closeness that sadly haven’t happened as much as any of us would like given the demands of work, study and sporting commitments, and Kate, his girlfriend! I seem to remember at a similar age preferring to spend time with the love of my life rather then with my parents! But, I ask you, who at that age wouldn’t?
We have just had a lovely evening all together along with Kate out at Raglan. A splash in the ocean – once he decided it wasn’t too “uncool” to let himself go and have a swim, followed by fish and chips at the wharf. The slightly incongruous bonus of a live band at a fish and chip shop added to the experience.
We think that he is ready to break out of the coccoon of home and it is time for him to find his place in the world? I think, I know, that he is perfectly capable of fending for himself. Yes, he is young, only eighteen, but he can cook, wash his clothes, he knows his way around airports, bus stations, booking into hostels and he communicates well with people (other than his parents who are the recipients of grunts and mumbles!). He is also fairly sensible on the whole given his age and experience and has a healthy respect for danger; he has an open outlook on life and is up for a challenge.
We do worry about outside influences that may lead him into doing stuff that may be risky or dangerous, we worry that in a desire to fit in he might do something against his better judgement, we worry that without the structure of home he may fall prey to a lifestyle that is not “good”. However, we also know that we have to let him go and find out all those things for himself.
We have never (I hope) been over-protective parents; we have provided opportunities for risk-taking, challenge, exploration, opportunities for our boys to test themselves, their skills and their courage. But we have always been close at hand to catch them when /if they fall. Canada is a long way away – who will be there to catch my baby if he falls? But he won’t. We have faith in him, in his capability to look after himself, to do what is right for him.
Our baby is ready to fly the nest. He is all growed up.
A windy day at Raglan wharf feeding the fish! Good fun though and fish and chips for lunch were great. We didn’t catch very much except each others’ lines, some weed, shells and rope! Plenty of nibbles and we used up all the fish scraps kindly donated to us by the fishmonger amd more. Gus took the honours with the only catch of the day that was actually a fish!
Well, the boy has a drum kit! He has spent the last 18 months pestering and we have resisted big time. However, he has been doing his junk mail delivery round for a year now and has his own money. He saw an offer in the local music shop on a starter drum kit before Christmas so he decided he would spend his own money on it. Have to say that we had hoped that being away over the holiday period would serve as enough of a hiatus for him to forget again! Not a chance! The first – well not quite the first, but one of the things he said when he was sitting in a cold stream freezing his proverbials off when he got scalded on Christmas Day was; “Do you think I could get that drum kit now? You know, because I have been really brave?”. Well, what can you say? So, we found the same chain music shop in Nelson (the offer was only until the end of December) and arranged to have a set couriered to Hamilton. Picked it up today, assembled it and he is now ensconced in the garage, Youtube tutorials on the laptop, tapping away! If I close the garage door and the kitchen door, put the radio on and keep busy, I can shut the noise out!
Actually, I am quite impressed with how in time he is but think we will have to get some of the mats you can put over the drums to dampen the sound down….
Oh, and Gus bought Nigel a ukelele for Christmas – not sure which is the worse noise…?!
From a tent in the beautiful Golden Bay. Unfortunately it is raining so I will write instead! It is almost the last day of 2012 so I thought I should finally put pen to paper and record what has happened to the Robertson Family this year. This is the second Christmas in a row that we are not all together. Last year Lachlan and I were lucky enough to spend the festive season in Cambodia and Vietnam which left Nigel and Aonghas to travel to Greytown to stay with the Aunties. This year Lachlan, at 18 and with school finished, exams over and a gap year in Canada planned for 2013, has a job at Rebel Sports (a chain of sports shops in NZ) and since Christmas is the busiest time of year in the retail calendar he has stayed at home to earn some dollars. However, he is flying down to meet us in Nelson on New Year’s Day to spend the last few days all together.
So what of 2012?
Aonghas’ last year at Intermediate school saw him head off on his school camp to Aongatete; it started with an eight hour walk in and then they had great fun river walking, orienteering, kayaking and playing fun games outside at night! In November he went to Noumea in New Caledonia on a school trip and encountered blue and black striped sea snakes, colourful coral and fish, and spent thousands of francs!
Sea Snake – Tricot Raye
He has had a successful season of hockey; his team won the Intermediate Premier Grade Cup for the first time in over 20 years and he was selected for the Waikato Development Rep team again for his age group and they were semifinalists in the North Island competition. Next year, as a Secondary School student, competition for a place in a rep team will be much fiercer but he is determined to give it a go.
Scoring a goal for Waikato
Lachlan has finished school, still awaiting his exam results but not holding our breath as he has struggled to maintain any
After “The Goat!”
focus or motivation! He has no idea what he wants to do in the future so a Gap year working in an outdoor centre in Canada and gaining some valuable life skills is probably just what he needs. As usual he has been fully involved in sports this year and his efforts were recognised when he was nominated for All-round Sportsman of the Year at the school Sports Awards and also for the Top Sportsman. Unfortunately he was pipped to the award by one of his friends! He has continued to mountain bike, play football, squash, canoe polo and lawn bowls. At the end of last year he was selected to play Lawn Bowls for Waikato and has competed in a few inter-regional competitions. It is strange to see such an active boy playing such a sedate and measured game but he enjoys it – must get the bowling genes from his paternal grandmother who also played.
Nigel and I have continued to have very busy work lives and have struggled to do much else for ourselves once our second jobs as taxi drivers are done! However we have managed to travel with our work; Nigel has been to conferences in Australia a couple of times this year and I went to Fiji on a trip with school which was very interesting. The boys and I had a flying visit to the mountains to ski in the winter and Gus went a few times with his friends too.
Ruapehu
Healthwise we are all well – the operation I was due to have on my shoulder has been postponed as it seems to have improved and Nigel had his other ear taken off and cleaned out and now has sparkly new, modern hearing aids which are a great improvement on the last old and tired ones. Other than the aches and pains of middle age, the results of overuse and misuse on joints and muscles from misspent but not-to be-missed youth and the inevitable effects of too much good food and wine, we are as fit and healthy as can be expected!
Just enjoying the sun now in the garden and trying to motivate myself to do some school work! Next year our focus for Professional Development at school is Blended Learning and I have to lead some of the sessions so have plenty to do. I also have a Spanish examination class for the first time so need to write my Scheme of Work and I have two school outdoor camps to organise in the first term – all a bit daunting so I guess I should get on with it!
When?: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the day after!
After talking to the man in the DoC office in Nelson about the logistics of parking our car, water taxis and available camping sites we decided to park at Totaranui, walk with our gear to Anapai Bay, set up camp then walk unladen up towards Wainui, veer off over Gibb’s Hill and back to Anapai. A good circular walk because I hate retracing my steps and where there is an option for a circle, I will take it! Not sure what that says about me….?!
As usual we managed a “crack of noon” start and as a result we walked in the heat of the day – how does the saying go… “mad dogs and Englishmen…”? As usual (again) Gus spent the first couple of hours moaning but, after 15 km and five and a half hours walking, when we were on our knees, he found a new burst of energy and RAN the last 1.5 km back to the camp site! His reward; diving into the clear blue ocean at Anapai Bay.
Despite the fact that we had underestimated the distance and the height we had to gain and lose it was a spectacular walk. It certainly gave us a taste of what was to come; steep climbs up and over headlands to drop back down to sea level to golden, sandy beaches and crystal clear, blue water. Rock archways and sea birds gracefully swooping and gliding over the water, deliciously cool bush providing welcome shade after the remorseless heat and glare as we trudged across the soft sand of the bay, our feet sinking in and taking one step backwards for every one forwards, and camp sites nestled in the bush behind the beaches which provided the perfect places to stay the night. Sitting on the beach on Christmas Eve looking up at the stars and listening to the ocean lap gently onto the beach brought us the peace and serenity we have missed in our hectic daily lives this year.
Christmas day
We anticipated rain the next day, so made the most of the good weather on Christmas Eve and made sure everything was packed up and out of the rain. However, we woke with surprise on Christmas morning to glorious sunshine. I don’t think there is anything better than waking with the sunrise, the birds singing and the sound of the ocean. Breakfast of pancakes with sugar and lemon for breakfast, cooked on the beach with just a little frustration due to the pesky (that’s being very polite!) sand flies and the fact that non-non-stick campingcooking pots are not the ideal things to cook pancakes in! Nevertheless they were delicious and Gus, who’s idea it had been because pancakes are his all-time favourite food, was very happy! Aonghas excitedly unwrapped the one present we had carried for him – a frisbee thing and bouncy ball from Lachlan and Nigel gave me a beautiful pair of ear rings in the shape of Tuis. I just had a card for Nigel as his present was too big to bring! Aonghas, of course wanted to play with his frisbee – we found out too late that it did not float! I ran into the sea fully clothed to rescue his Christmas present! Fortunately the sun was hot and my clothes soon dried (although I suffered from the effects of damp underwear combined with salt later in the day!).
Crossing the Awaroa Estuary
We were soon packed up and on our way again. The path, well-made, single track, was easy under foot but took us up some quite steep, windy hills over the headlands and back down to the beautiful bays. We had to get to Awaroa for around 1.30pm where we could cross the estuary at low tide. We thought we had plenty of time but a new path from Totaranui to Goat Bay to replace the one that was wiped out by landslides caused by the torrential rains last year slowed us down somewhat. The old path went around the base of the hill and was mainly flat; the new one winds its way up the headland to get above the slopes that could potentially slide onto a lower path and it is steep! It is a deal longer to complete than the 30 minutes suggested by the DOC signs and it is steep up and steep down – not good for my knees especially when carrying a heavy pack. (I have reluctantly decided that I may have to succumb to buying some walking poles!) After yesterday our legs were sore and today we had heavy packs to carry. Gus, surprisingly, didn’t complain much at all but we made slow progress in the heat – steady away, but steady was slow! Nevertheless we arrived at Awaroa almost on schedule where we crossed the estuary. We watched as other walkers came across, some in bare feet and some in their walking boots; some, like us, had brought sandals, and we were glad we had . We were probably crossing at the optimum lowtide time but we still had to wade through ankle to knee deep water and as the sharp shells crunched under foot and the crabs scuttled away into their holes, we wondered how the bare footers had fared. We stopped for lunch at the Awaroa Hut, found a shady spot under the trees that we shared with the Californian Quail that strutted and pecked their way around us and hungrily ate our Christmas lunch; the more we ate the less we had to carry!
Fun in the water
On our way again in the heat of the afternoon sun and we were soon sweltering as we walked alongside the half-keeled boats stranded on the sand as the tide went out. We had been told that Awaroa lodge was open and serving beer -the thought of a cold beer on Christmas Day in the wilderness was very enticing and the way via the lodge to Tonga Quarry was shorter than the DOC track! Decision made! We followed the sunflowers across the airstrip to Awaroa Lodge – an oasis in the desert – an upmarket, high-end tourist spot but happy to take the passing trade of weary and worn, thirsty Abel Tasman walkers! It was surprising to find such a place (just off) the AT track but a welcome break for our sore feet, welcome shade and welcome fluid for our parched throats! (I exaggerate in the interests of prose – we weren’t that parched as we had plenty of water but the chilled amber nectar was so much more thirst quenching!) Cold beer on Christmas Day in Paradise! Unfortunately we still had a way to go so we reluctantly shouldered our packs and headed uphill once more.
Tonga Quarry is, as it’s name suggests. an old granite quarry and there are still remnants of the activity that took place there; a few large blocks of granite and the cutting area is still visible. Otherwise it is a beautiful, steeply shelving beach, golden sand and crystal clear water which Gus and I dived straight into before the sun disappeared behind the rock face that was the backdrop to the cove. We had a good half hour playing with the floatingbouncy ball in the water; Nigel with his feet in the water and Gus and I racing to catch the ball that Nigel threw!
Camp Site Tonga Quarry
A clear, freshwater stream flowed from the bush out into the ocean and there were some beautiful sand flutes in amongst the rocks formed as the waters of the stream met the sea. We pitched our tents in sandy recesses in the sparse bush in front of the denser bushed area and the rock face. We were unsure whether the pegs would really hold in the sand if the wind got up so we used some rocks to weight them down and tied some guys to the trees. No sign of Chris and Ross who were hoping to sail into the bay to meet us for Christmas Day so we guessed that maybe the wind was the wrong for them. Never mind we would see them the next day in Watering Cove.
As we made dinner we discussed tomorrow’s walk – it was going to be a long one! With very tired legs and sore backs and a few blisters forming, the 18+km to Watering Cove was a daunting thought! An early start was on the cards. We were heartened by the optimistic hope that we had done the hardest, highest climbs already and although there were still lots of ups and downs to come we knew we could crack them!
Christmas Dinner was Cheeses and crackers to start, Back Country Pasta for main course with chocolate for dessert. A veritable feast!
View from the headland
However, our plans and worries about the long walk the next day were unfounded – a much greater challenge interrupted our walk. As Nigel boiled water for the next day and made Gus a drink of Raro he slopped some boiling water on his arm, reacted and knocked the whole cup off the table and into Gus’ lap. I heard the screams from the beach where I was taking photos of the sunset and ran back to find Gus trying to get his polypros off . We rushed him to the standpipe where we doused his legs with cold water for 15 minutes or so. The skin rapidly sloughed off his left thigh and we could see that his private bits and his right leg were also scalded. He valiantly held onto the upright post as we supported him under his arms and tried to splash as much of his legs as we could. Gus, the boy who screams at the smallest pain, was incredibly brave and responded well to being calmed. His sense of humour came to the fore – maybe it is that same macabre humour we have witnessed on rescues that somehow helps to distract us from the real horror that we are seeing? Nevertheless, it was unsustainable to hold him there for long and we moved him to the stream where we found a spot deep enough to sit and cover his thighs where the water was flowing. We had already realised that these were burns that we couldn’t treat ourselves in a remote campsite in the Abel Tasman, and he certainly wouldn’t be able to walk out tomorrow so managed to get cell phone reception at the edge of the beach and called 111.
Gus was getting cold; we had already put three merinos on his top half and a hat but he was chilled through with sitting in the stream. We brought a sleeping back down for him to lie in next to the stream and he lay in that until the pain got too much then he went back in the stream. Switching between the stream and the sleeping bag helped maintain some warmth whilst also cooling the scalds.
Rescue!
Nigel spoke to the paramedics and soon a helicopter was on its way. There was no possibility of it landing so the plan was to winch a paramedic down to assess the burns and decide whether to evacuate Gus by air or send a boat round later – possibly the next day.
We watched the helicopter coming in; with its search beam and auxiliary lights it was like some sort of space ship descending from the sky. As requested we flashed torches to give them an idea of where we were. I sheltered Gus in the sleeping bag from the sand that was whipped up as the helicopter hovered and winched Gary, the paramedic, down to us.
Gary quickly assessed the situation, decided that Gus needed to be in hospital, inserted a line and administered some more powerful drugs than the Panadol we had been able to provide, and Gus was soon wrapped in his sleeping bag to cushion the harness and was being hoisted away. He had initially been quite apprehensive about going in the helicopter but after some reassurance from us, a cuddle and the happy drugs, he was fine. He admitted to being quite alarmed when once he had been winched clear of the beach, he ceased to go up and the helicopter started moving away. He said that he thought they were going to fly all the way to Nelson with him hanging 20 metres below the helicopter! However, they just needed to get clear of the cliffs and the trees before hovering to winch him in the rest of the way. I watched as first Nigel, and then Gary were winched away and I was left, my skin whipped with by the sand and my hair full of it, alone on a beach strewn with our belongings! Well, not quite, Nigel had done a pretty good job of putting the clothing that had been hanging to air in the trees in our packs but I did find quite a few bits and pieces buried in the sand the next morning!
I still find it strange to have Spring at the end of the calendar year and can’t quite yet associate October with Spring and May with Autumn. 45 years of conditioning in the Northern hemisphere is hard to shed!
Nevertheless, it is Spring and now that the clocks have sprung forwards the nights are lighter and, at the moment at least, the sun is shining. There is still a nip in the air but the clarity of Spring light is uplifting.
Unfortunately, it is the end of the school holidays and the forecast for the last weekend is not good. Let’s hope they get it wrong. I have spent the last three days of this glorious weather cloistered indoors at Ulearn12 learning. It has been two and a half days of inspiring speakers, and interesting workshops but my head is now spinning and I am suffering a little from information overload! I have so many ideas spinning round my head and feel that I need to organise them before they sink to the depths only to re-surface as frustrating fragments at some time in the future!
We have had a pretty awesome Autumn here in the Waikato. Lots of blue sky days and the light has been beautiful so I have really noticed the changing colours of the Autumn leaves. We have just had the last couple of apples off our little apple tree – they are delicious – crisp and with a sweet tartness; perfect! The lemons are on their way and for the first time we have a little tree full of Clementines – so excited! A couple of weekends ago we cleared the veggie beds of the old Brassicas and pulled up the tomato plants. Unfortunately the wetness of Summer put paid to a lot of our harvest – it was warm and wet so the caulis, broccoli and cabbage grew quickly but rotted easily. As usual we planted too many at once and they were all ready at the same time and we couldn’t eat them fast enough. The tomatoes took a while to ripen due to the lack of sun but we were hit with what we thought was blight but may turn out to have been some other disease. There were plenty of them but most of them were inedible! We did have one plant that was on its own that produced – a little late because it was not in an ideal sunny position, but the tomatoes were huge and when I pulled it up there were a few pounds of green tomatoes. I discovered that Fried Green Tomatoes are delicious! The Feijoa harvest was better than last year and once again we could not eat them or cook them fast enough – really must discover a better way to use them as there is so much wastage. The Camellia bushes are all coming into bloom so there is a splash of colour in the garden, the odd rose still keeps coming out too – bizarre! The real success of this summer has been the chillis; we have two plants and they are laden and still flowering! I have dried a jarful so we will be able to use them during the winter but it is probably time to pick the rest and do something with them ans we have had a couple of hard morning frosts in the last week or so. I am still amazed at how fast things grow here, especially the weeds! We took a carload of cuttings to the tip a couple of weeks ago as we have simply run out of composting space! We seriously need to do some work on the small trees we planted a couple of years ago as they are either outgrowing their pots (Olive and Lime) or suffering from the wind and are now leaning and need staking again (Feijoa). That particular Feijoa had huge Feijoas on it too – twice as big as the other tree but very tasty!
The Rimutaka Incline is an iconic piece if kiwi engineering which winds its way up and then down the valley linking Wellington with the Wairarapa. The track from the Featherstone end had to rise up a one in fifteen gradient and usually needed two or three engines working together to get the train up the hill. The track was specially designed with a central rail and horizontal wheels to help with grip up the hill. The Wellington side from Kaitoke was a much gentler gradient and ordinary engines were used. At the summit station the engines swapped over. The line has now been replaced with a more direct line through a tunnel and has been developed as an 18km (one way) walking and cycling track. Classified as a family friendly grade 1 to 2 track we decided it would be a good chance to get Nigel out on his bike!
We spent all week in the Wairarapa working out how we could manage to cycle over without having to drive over the Rimutakas twice as well and decided in the end that we couldn’t! We could, of course have ridden there and back but felt that 36km might be too much (at least for Gus and Nigel!!) Having done the trip over the hill 3 days out of the four we had already been there and were planning on doing it again on the last day we were keen not to have to negotiate the windy road up and over the Rimutakas again if we could help it. So we decided that we would go from the Featherstone end, see how far we got and then ride back.
We had clearly waited for the end of the good weather before we decided to attack it – after 4 days of beautiful sunshine we awoke to a cloudy, mizzly sort of a day. However, it wasn’t forecast to rain until late afternoon and the next day was destined for heavy rain so we went for it! The first part of the ride rises steadily along a gravelled track with a hillside on your left and the valley on your right. We rode through some open bush, crossed streams until we came to Cross Creek. This was the village which marked the end of the steep section and where the Fell engines would be swapped for ordinary engines. We stood and tried to imagine how the place would have looked with trains spewing their steam, and chugging through the station, the noise and the hubbub of coalmen shovelling coal into the engines, guards blowing whistles, passengers climbing on and off trains, the children playing and the inhabitants of Cross Creek going about their normal daily business. Once a bustling village that had a school, a swimming pool, tennis courts and bars, it is now overgrown with bush and there is little evidence of habitation. We did spot the concrete area that had been the tennis courts and there are also remnants of the engine sidings and the turntable. A small station shelter marks the place that was once a hub of activity and now that all that has gone, nature is reclaiming and it is calm and peaceful.
We turn left up the valley and the real climb begins; there are information boards along the way that afford some respite from the unrelenting incline and we gladly stopped to read them. There was just enough information – bite-sized chunks that were easy to read and told you what you wanted to know! Lachlan left us in his wake as he sped up the hill but he waited at each marker. It was a good family ride in as much as we could all ride at our own pace but there was no togetherness about it! On that sort of gradient you just need to find your rhythm and go with it. The track wound up and following the valley gradually crossing the contours of the hill. When your eyes are fixed on the bit of ground in front of you as you push the pedals round, glancing occasionally at the next milestone ahead of you willing it to get closer, you don’t feel like you are making much progress. However, looking back down the valley at each marker made us realise just how far we had come. We soon came to the first tunnel and cycled in to the dark with a little trepidation. We had forgotten to bring any lights but the documentation we had read about the route said that you didn’t really need any! Fortunately a few yards in you can see around the bend and the tunnel is short enough that the light from each mouth is enough to make out the ground once your eyes get used to the darkness. Nevertheless it was a bit eerie! When we came out the other side we read that the tunnel was named Price’s Tunnel after a manager on the rail contract and that two workers had been killed when the roof caved in during construction of the tunnel. Life in the 1800s was tough and it brought to mind the number of workers who had died during the construction of the Ribblehead Viaduct on the famous Settle-Carlisle railway that spans the valley in a beautiful curve. Many people maintained that it was impossible to build a viaduct on a curve; it was achieved but not without the loss of around a hundred navvies who worked on it.
Anyway, we continued onwards and upwards, and as we rode the hills and features appeared and disappeared as the mist swirled around. Siberia Gully seemed very well named by the time we reached it; bleak and grey in the mist! Apparently it used to be known as Horseshoe Gully because of its shape but the workers soon renamed it Siberia because of the bleak wind that blew through it. There used to be a bridge spanning the gully but all that remains today is the concrete drainage tower that diverted the stream. It was the scene of the only fatal accident in the history of the railway when on “11th September 1880 a gust of wind hit a train broadside pitching three carriages over the embankment.” Four children died and several other adults were injured. Since the railway closed in the 1950s the floods have washed the retaining wall and the bridge away. It was the only place on the ride that we were forced to dismount to climb down the steep gully side into the stream and then make our way back up again. The uninviting sounding Siberia Tunnel awaited us – it is 109 metres long and with a gradient of 1:13 it is the steepest of the sections on the Incline. No problem here except that going uphill in the dark is a little unnerving, but as in the previous tunnel there was just enough light for us to see where we were going.
We were making steady progress, in fact probably faster than the trains used to do it! Apparently the engines took, on average around 45 minutes to an hour to climb the incline, slow enough for people to jump off the train pick some daisies and jump back on again as it came round the bend! Not far to go now though – we were heading for the Top of the World and then the Summit! But first we had to negotiate the Summit tunnel, all 580 metres of it. That’s more than half a kilometre in the dark! Just as well we didn’t get to see the information markers before we went in! At first glance it seemed like it would be easier because we could see the end – a dead straight tunnel despite the slight rise and then fall that the hump in the middle suggested. This was not to be the case; Lachlan hung back not wanting to lead the way, in fact we all hesitated at the entrance until I decided that one of us had to go first! The problem was that as I rode further into the tunnel the brightness of the light at the end of it effectively blinded me completely and I could see absolutely nothing in front of me or on either side. Aonghas shrieked as we went through, in fact we all made quite a lot of noises as we negotiated little dips and bumps. Only Nigel was silent at the back. I had no idea where the walls were or where the floor was which is very unbalancing, I couldn’t work out whether I was going in a straight line or whether I was going to crash into the wall of the tunnel at any moment! I concentrated on looking straight ahead and hoping that there were no holes in the floor or obstacles that could send me flying headlong. Eventually I got closer to the end and the natural light was enough to illuminate the ground and the walls, my confidence started to return and I increased my pace happy to be out the other side, the boys actually overtook me once they could see too, racing past me and abandoning Nigel in the middle of the tunnel on his own! I went back in to accompany him out and after that it was only a short ride to the Summit Station.
Nowadays the summit station has a wonderful feel about it; by the time we arrived the sun was out and we were above the mist so the place seemed peaceful and quite appealing. We spent a good half an hour wandering around looking at the rusting hulks of engines that remain, imagining the corroded pipes and fireboxes red hot with burning coal and generating steam to drive them along the railway. The hills encircle the plateau and in the late summer sun it we thought it would have been a fantastic place to live but then we looked again and thought about how it must be when the cold southerly wind is blowing, the sun is not shining and the sky is grey. In the days of the railway the once heavily vegetated hillsides were devastated by the ash and half burnt coals that the engines spewed out. Fires were frequent and the forests burned down. Pictures of the landscape in the late 1800s and early 1900s show bleak, empty hillsides, denuded of the natural flora that had existed hitherto. Over the last 70 yrs the vegetation has regenerated somewhat and scrub and low lying shrubs have invaded so it is difficult to imagine what it would have looked like when the summit station was busy with traffic and the daily comings and goings of its inhabitants.
Eventually, and maybe a little reluctantly as I think we were all rather unsure about going back into the tunnel, we set off on our return journey. The tunnel actually didn’t seem so bad on the way back although Aonghas did manage to cycle into the wall, and then the fun began. The benefit of climbing a hill is the return journey and this was a good one – 6 or 7 km of downhill which we did more or less non-stop! It was a bit rattly on the old arms and I had to keep shifting my feet and alternating which foot was at the front and which was behind as my muscles started to burn (standing on the pedals is advised unless you want a very sore bum!) but it was exhilarating and far easier than going up! Lachlan made it all the way down in about 10 minutes and we were not far behind! We were back down into the mist and the temperature had certainly dropped but that didn’t stop us exploring a little bit at Cross Creek before the final leg back to the car park.
What a great afternoon, definitely fun for all the family and I didn’t even have sore legs the next day!
A week of glorious sunshine, high winds, torrential rain and mist and lots of fun! We had the use of Nigel’s Aunty Moira’s house for the week as she was down in Christchurch visiting Pete and his family. We have been down the a few times and explored a little bit more each time we go. We had also planned to be there to spend some time with Nigel’s other Aunty and Uncle in Silverstream as Brian had been diagnosed with a brain tumour over Christmas. Sadly, he died suddenly and unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago when treatment seemed to be going well and he was feeling much better. However, being down there meant that we could spend some time with Chris once their boys had returned to their families overseas. So we spent the week shared between Wellington and the Wairarapa and got to know the windy road over the Rimutakas pretty well!
Driving down on Good Friday we were blessed with perfect weather but encountered our first real Bank Holiday traffic since arriving in NZ when it took us twice as long to get to Tirau than normal because the petrol station in Cambridge was just heaving and then for some reason there was a very long tailback out of Tirau itself! We stopped in Taupo for lunch and then in Bulls for “delecta-bull” ice-cream before crossing over The Saddle into the Wairarapa. It is amazing how some towns have the imagination and flair to play on something that marks them out from the rest. Bulls seems to be a pretty ordinary place but somebody, somewhere at sometime dreamed up the, let’s face it, corny “bull” joke and it stuck and everyone in the town got involved! We had fun going round finding them and giggling .
Going over the Saddle with the full moon lighting up the wind turbines that stand magestically on the hill, the thrum of their sails turning in the stillness of the night was quite an eerie experience. The photos that we took do not do them justice but they give an idea of the atmosphere.
Warning: Attempt to read property "comment_ID" on null in /home/easegill/public_html/wp-content/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/subscribe-to-comments.php on line 81
Warning: Attempt to read property "comment_ID" on null in /home/easegill/public_html/wp-content/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/subscribe-to-comments.php on line 81
Warning: Attempt to read property "comment_ID" on null in /home/easegill/public_html/wp-content/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/subscribe-to-comments.php on line 81
Warning: Attempt to read property "comment_ID" on null in /home/easegill/public_html/wp-content/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/subscribe-to-comments.php on line 81
Warning: Attempt to read property "comment_ID" on null in /home/easegill/public_html/wp-content/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/subscribe-to-comments.php on line 81
Over the last few weeks we have been gearing up to losing our first born to the big wide world. D Day is almost upon us and I fear I have not really got my head around the idea that tomorrow we will be at Auckland airport waving Lachlan goodbye. People keep saying to me how hard it is and how I must be feeling empty at the thought of him going. I am feeling a little bewildered that I am not feeling those things! Maybe I have just been so busy to have time to think, or maybe I have not been allowing myself to think as a self-preservation/defence mechanism? Maybe it will hit me like a great big slam-dunk tomorrow when the actual parting happens, or a week or two down the track when the hole he leaves becomes more apparent? (will I miss the trail of detritus he leaves in his wake…the wet towels in the bathroom, the kitchen cupboard doors left open following a hungry boy’s search for food, the lights left on at night, the empty beer bottles and coke cans, the chocolate wrappers and the week old mouldy cups of half drunk tea in his bedroom?!)
Recent Comments