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195706 [2016/05/01 17:30] – [Seven Weeks in New Zealand Part 1V] kennettj | 195706 [2016/05/05 19:18] (current) – [The Fed. Reune and Epilogue] kennettj | ||
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The first light of dawn lit up the ragged patchwork quilt of snow thrown over the sleeping shoulders of the Remarkables. It awoke the sleeping waters of Lake Wakitipu to blue life. It crept down the hushed hillside, through the eucalyptus and native trees, into the pavillion of the Queenstown sports ground. Three sleeping bundles stirred to life: " | The first light of dawn lit up the ragged patchwork quilt of snow thrown over the sleeping shoulders of the Remarkables. It awoke the sleeping waters of Lake Wakitipu to blue life. It crept down the hushed hillside, through the eucalyptus and native trees, into the pavillion of the Queenstown sports ground. Three sleeping bundles stirred to life: " | ||
- | Old memories followed me as the bus.sped' | + | Old memories followed me as the bus sped overthe |
- | 14, | + | We got out with relief and to stretch our legs went down to the lake to have a look at the huge impressive dam construction. We had to wait for the Christchurch bus to come in with its quota of passengers for Mt. Cook, including the fourth member of our party, Whaka Newmarch, a New Zealand Alpine Club member who was obligingly devoting his annual leave to taking us Aussies in tow. At length the bus arrived and there was a great bustle of activity as passengers and luggage were off loaded. Our driver said something about moving off at 2 o' |
- | of the Mt. Cook range, its peaks a sight to catch the heart, rising | + | |
- | clear against the cold blue sky, its pure snowy beauty mirrored upside | + | About a mile from the Hermitage is situated the Alpine Club's Unwin hut. Here the boys got off, about sundown, while I went on to the Hermitage to check up on our fortnight' |
- | down in the still waters of the lake. | + | |
- | We got out with relief and to stretch our legs went down to the | + | For old time's sake I wandered through the Hermitage. It had changed beyond recognition. The homely interior has been streamlined and modernised and now has the atmosphere of a hospital clinic. All Duncan' |
- | lake to have a look at the huge impressive dam construction. We had to wait for the Christchurch bus to Come in with its quota of passengers for Mt. Cook, including the fourth member of our party, Whaka | + | |
- | Newmarch, a New Zealand Alpine Club member who was obligingly devoting | + | " |
- | his annual leave to taking us Aussies in tow. At length the bus arrived and there was a great bustle of activity as passengers and luggage | + | |
- | were off loaded. Our driver said something about moving off at 2 ofclock, that is in half an hour's time. Whaka and Snow and I were reclining under the shade of a little bush eating ice cream and fruit when the bush driver signalled that he was ready to move off, so we got in. But Goodness!, Where is George? We called, but no answer. We sought him in all the likely places - I looked in the dining room and Whaka looked in the bathroom, and Snow was despatched to investigate the Gents to see if he had got locked in - but no sign of our missing one. We shouted "Hey George | + | |
- | sped down the road and passed a startled George in a cloud of dust and | + | |
- | scattered stones with Snow and I leaning out the window and waving him goodbye. The driver at length pulled up and George came sprinting up the road like a flushed antelope and leapt aboard muttering that he hadthought | + | |
- | About a mile from the Hermitage is situated the Alpine Club's Unwin hut. Here the boys got off, about sundown, while I went on to | + | |
- | the Hermitage to check up on our fortnight' | + | |
- | with me during the war years. Duncan is an artist too, and when I was working there every wall of the Hermitage was hung with his oil paintings of the surrounding peaks. Now frail with the weight of years, | + | |
- | his wide set dreamy eyes still light up with their sudden gentle passion when he speaks of the hills and the sea. Duncan undertook to | + | |
- | track down our food. The two boxes were found all right (Chalk up a | + | |
- | good mark to dependable Donnie), also Snow's tent which we had Jaded on to Don at Glenorchy to get rid of its weight, but he had forgotton | + | |
- | the rest of the trip. Perhaps this sentence needs some elucidating. | + | |
- | donated by Marie Byles, one of which was too narrow at the toes and let | + | |
- | the water in, and the other pair though waterproof was too short. So Donnie and I had been taking it in turns at having dry feet and bent up toes, or, conversely, wet feet and pinched toes. Mad how many times have I stressed to trampers and mountaineers that their footwear is THE MOST IMPORTANT item of their gear: There is a moral in this somewhere, | + | |
- | 15, | + | |
- | For old time's sake I wandered through the Hermitage. It had changed beyond recognition. The homely interior has been streamlined and modernised and now has the atmosphere of a hospital clinic. All Duncan' | + | |
- | the plump little back-country waitresses who would serve you in their | + | |
- | socks like as not, and the battered tattered mountaineers who now would feel self-conscious and ashamed if projected into this well dressed throng. Ah well, I wasn't staying at the Hermitage - and I went off in search of Mick Bowie, the chief guide, for information. There he is, good old Mick with his giant frame so honestly built, his little rabbity moustache, the slyly humerous | + | |
- | " | + | |
- | with an acutely sensitive instinct for the weatherts | + | |
- | is climable." | + | |
deserved. | deserved. | ||
- | An entertaining evening was spent at the Bowie' | + | |
- | Good Night good people - one must get some sleep, and leaving the | + | An entertaining evening was spent at the Bowie' |
- | small cosy lighted dining room, in one step one was out into the velvet shadows and the night. With a rush the mountains suddenly seemed to shoot up on all sides. The sumMits | + | small cosy lighted dining room, in one step one was out into the velvet shadows and the night. With a rush the mountains suddenly seemed to shoot up on all sides. The summits |
- | Next morning bright and early we all boarded the Ball but bus, | + | |
- | quite forgetting our boxes of food, but someone pointed them out to us | + | Next morning bright and early we all boarded the Ball hut bus, quite forgetting our boxes of food, but someone pointed them out to us at the last minute, so despite our subconscious desire to leave behind the dried apricots and potato powders they came after all. |
- | at the last minute, so despite our subconscious desire to leave behind the dried apricots and potato powders they came after all. | + | |
- | This is perhaps the place to tell you about our food. I think I | + | This is perhaps the place to tell you about our food. I think I can quite safely say IT WAS ALL PETE STITT' |
- | 6 can quite safely say IT WAS ALL PETE STITTtS | + | short story long, Pete had told us that dried vegetables and fruits were practically unobtainable in N.Z. so we'd better take what we needed from Australia. Accordingly I worked |
- | how brave I am when he's not around to contradict me). To make a | + | 2 multiplied by George, Snow, Donnie and myself, multiplied by 4 weeks in Don's case and 6 weeks in ours, which came to a collossal |
- | short story long, Pete had told us that dried vegetables and fruits were practically unobtainable in N.Z. so we'd better take what we | + | went down to the local grocer' |
- | needed from Australia. Accordingly I worked | + | National Service, strongly objected to their inclusion), peaches and figs. From Paddy I bought a quantity of potato powder (I forget now how much but there was plenty - ask George), and lb. of Onion powder which smelt vile, but Snow says a stew is not a stew without onion, so we made him carry it. I packed all this tucker into a beer bottle box and as it was so heavy we decided to send it from Sydney to Auckland with Snow on the Oronsay so we other three wouldn' |
- | 2 multiplied by George, Snow, Donnie and myself, multiplied by 4 weeks in Don's case and 6 weeks in ours, which came to a collossai | + | Pete swinging along in the rear with his plaster leg and his crutches and my red handbag with the green feathers clutched in his mouth like a retriever with a mouthful of macaw, muttering muffled threats against the cop, and he had no right to stop us parking on the wharf and there he is, will we have him on, the sod: The cop was rather apologetic as we staggered past him, and whatever remarks Pete made were muffled through the red cloth of the handbag, so the peace was not disturbed and I dumped the box of food in Snow's cabin and that's where we leave it till a week or so later when we unpack it at Wellington and find that the quantity of dried apples, peaches, figs and prunes is practically |
- | 16. | + | |
- | went down to the local grocer' | + | |
- | counter that's what we wanted and let us have it in equal amounts of apricots, apples, prunes (although Donnie, after several months in | + | |
- | National Service, strongly objected to their inclusion), peaches and figs. From Paddy I bought a quantity of potato powder (I forget now how much but there was plenty - ask George), and lb. of Onion powder which smelt vile, but Snow says a stew is not a stew without onion, so we made him carry it. I packed all this tucker into a beer bottle | + | |
- | box and as it was so heavy we decided to send it from Sydney to | + | |
- | Auckland with Snow on the Oronsay so we other three wouldn' | + | |
- | pay surcharge on the plane. On the day of departure Snow and Pete and | + | |
- | I drove down to the wharf with the lugpage. The cop on duty wouldn' | + | |
- | go round about half a mile and park in a back street. Then we set off in procession to the liner, Snow wearing a huge pack and carrying an overnight bag and an ice axe and a parcel of boots or some such, then myself with a 60 lb. box balanced on my head trying to pretend it was nothing and we do this every day of the week, and a rather uncomfortable | + | |
- | Pete swinging along in the rear with his plaster leg and his crutches | + | |
- | and my red handbag with the green feathers clutched in his mouth like | + | |
- | a retriever with a mouthful of macaw, muttering muffled threats against the cop, and he had no right to stop us parking on the wharf and there he is, will we have him on, the sod: The cop was rather apologetic as | + | |
- | we staggered past him, and whatever remarks Pete made were muffled through the red cloth of the handbag, so the peace was not disturbed and I dumped the box of food in Snow's cabin and that's where we leave it till a week or so later when we unpack it at Wellington and find that the quantity of dried apples, peaches, figs and prunes is pract- | + | |
- | ically | + | |
- | would make a weevil whoop with delight, and as for the potato powder, well everyone should be told now that a billyful dry is the equivalent of a bucketful wet. Whenever we would feel in our packs for some tucker and our fingers would encounter the irregular unyielding torso of an apricot-packed food bag, or a soft sandy yielding bag whose | + | |
- | contents were always and unquestionably potato powder - or even at the mere mention of these foods - George would give a hollow groan, | + | |
Donnie would be patiently philosophical, | Donnie would be patiently philosophical, | ||
+ | |||
Anyhow, there we are, together with said tucker and about 20 tourists, unloaded at Ball Hut at about 10.30 a.m. on 13th Jan. | Anyhow, there we are, together with said tucker and about 20 tourists, unloaded at Ball Hut at about 10.30 a.m. on 13th Jan. | ||
- | "The Glory of the Open Spaces. There is no life like it, this living | + | |
- | in the clear fresh air of the country. I think it was Thorean who said: ' | + | ----------------- |
+ | |||
+ | "The Glory of the Open Spaces. There is no life like it, this living in the clear fresh air of the country. I think it was Thorean who said: ' | ||
- From " | - From " | ||
Line 364: | Line 331: | ||
Always for me, at Euroka, the highlight is the early Sunday walk down the creek to the big water; and with a chosen few it was done a lovely sight was the big waters a water colour fantasy delicately rippled. The look down rock at the track' | Always for me, at Euroka, the highlight is the early Sunday walk down the creek to the big water; and with a chosen few it was done a lovely sight was the big waters a water colour fantasy delicately rippled. The look down rock at the track' | ||
- | So back to camp went we bushwalkers, | + | So back to camp went we bushwalkers, |
- | There seems a tremendous amount of day to spare in wandering from camp to camp so with the Ashdowns we ambled back and found we had 2 hours to kill for the next train. Frank and Jean made straight for the highway to deliberately hitch. I followed in the hope of getting a bus for I can think of nothing more humiliating than standing by the roadside pleading for a lift. | + | |
And then something happened: A sizeable utility going west slowed down, turned and stopped | And then something happened: A sizeable utility going west slowed down, turned and stopped | ||
alongside us. Frank seemed to think it did this for us (brave Frankie) and bold as brass piled on. I shyly asked if it included me - "of course" | alongside us. Frank seemed to think it did this for us (brave Frankie) and bold as brass piled on. I shyly asked if it included me - "of course" | ||
- | We still don't know where the magic came in - it could not have been any glamour act by Jean - her 74 inches of brake material would see to that: They dropped | + | We still don't know where the magic came in - it could not have been any glamour act by Jean - her 74 inches of brake material would see to that: They dropped |
- | + | ||
- | AND | + | |
- | they were New Aussies: Old Aussies have a lot to learn when it comes to catering for hitchers. | + | AND they were New Aussies: Old Aussies have a lot to learn when it comes to catering for hitchers. |
(As one of the 180 odd Reuners, I echo your sentiments entirely, Taro. It was a friendly and easy Fed, Reune, no doubt about it. The story of your hitching episode runs something like Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother - any chance of a loan of the magic wand sometime? - Ed.) | (As one of the 180 odd Reuners, I echo your sentiments entirely, Taro. It was a friendly and easy Fed, Reune, no doubt about it. The story of your hitching episode runs something like Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother - any chance of a loan of the magic wand sometime? - Ed.) |
195706.txt · Last modified: 2016/05/05 19:18 by kennettj