first of all...i attended the wedding of a couple i was working for on the sheep farm. they've been together for 18 years with their son david who is now 13 and they decided to get hitched this year! the wedding was out on a sea bluff of their farm. here are some highlights...
Let’s see, i’ve been crocheting some hats, i believe i’m up to 5 now, and i’ve infected the whole town of kaikoura with a the knitting/crocheting bug. Yes! It’s quite an epidemic, actually, but a good one especially for the quiet winter months. My mother insisted that i get photos of all the hats, but alas i have only one of my new housemate, Jana, and her new favorite hat. :)
Actually i have two. Though this wee one i knitted. First hat ever! For baby jamie.
Jana is from the Czech Republic and she is such a jovial and vonderful darling! I love living with her. Anyway, not much was happening for quite a while...i was just surfing, crocheting, and working at the hostel and Hislops Cafe serving organic coffee, food, and wine...quite nice or “posh“ as nicola would say. I think the most exciting thing that had occurred in a good while was surfing with pete one day as two seals swam by very near to us. Of course i let out a yell that probably sounded quite similar to the noise my brother would have made in excitement (those of you who know him well know exactly what i mean!), and maybe some explatives on the side. I.was.stoked to say the least. It was just slightly incredible.
Additionally, i was just surfing the other day and two hector’s dolphins streamed past quite close...if you get the chance you should definitely look them up because they’re like dwarf dolphins with rounded fins. That was a first, not to mention that as i was surfing i was gazing up at the snow covered mountains just in front of me. I’d be lying if i said it didn’t enhance the entire experience. it’s something special to live somewhere that keeps you in constant awe of your surroundings. I’m extremely lucky! though i still get cut off by my friends here...it's no different really...
Some of you may be wondering what the weather has been like lately...i know my grandmother will anyway...but as the winter season closes in the days have been much shorter and of course the air is getting a bit chillier, although, even on the cold days if the sun is shining it can still feel warm and sometimes hot especially when there’s little or no wind. It’s amazing how strong the sun is here! Due to the dropping temps, my european friends (and a few extras) and i decided that it was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas everywhere we went...
Back in february we had indeed discussed the possibility of having Christmas in April and hope for snow on the mountains...well on April 30th we scheduled a night of Christmas celebrations, and though the past 3 days had been bloody hot, that afternoon the wind switched and we had a big southerly blow through that put loads of snow on the Kaikoura Mnts a couple days later. And Christmas was a blast! We ate heaps of delicious foods including chicken salad, mash (...ed potatos), veg, crisps (chips), potato salad, pigs in blankets, mince pies, japanese pan cakes, garlic bread, apple struedel, pumpkin pie, and peanutbutter cookies. I think that just about covers it all. We had ornaments and decorations all around and a hanging spider plant served as our Christmas tree. There were even gifts for all and santa showed up unannounced...it was madness! I played my mandolin and we all sang carols which included the 12 Days of Christmas in Kaikoura (see the bottom if you care to know what my true love sent to me in Kaikoura). It truly was a lovely evening with much joy and many laughs.
Sometimes when my grandmother writes to me via email, she titles her message “all the news that’s fit to print.“ Well, this next bit that i’ll share was in actuality “fit to print“ and was printed in the local newspaper (Kaikoura Star) a week after it happened...
There’s a small mountain nearby called Mt. Fyffe and it’s about 1600 meters high. It’s one of the lowest of the kaikoura ranges but still a pretty good hike. My friend Pete had been up the mountain twice using the normal route, and he and i had been waiting for a clear day that we both had off of work to take an alternative track and reach the summit. Well, that was back in january that we had discussed doing it and it happened in April that there was a dusting of snow, his friend Steve was visiting from England, and none of us had to work, apart from cleaning the hostel that morning. So five of us foolhardy tourists (me, Pete, Steve, Masako, and Sonoe (two lovely japanese girls also cleaning and living at the Sunrise Lodge) agreed to try and conquer the mountain. It was a Monday, april 21...pete had previously discussed this alternative route with our boss from Hislops cafe. We started walking at about 1:30 in the afternoon, pete, steve, and i in shorts, 3 of us with rain coats, and enough food to have a late lunch at the top. We began on a well established trail and after crossing over a small stream we followed a small, vague track that branched off from the main one. It wasn’t long before we realized we weren’t following much of a trail anymore, but we figured we’d continue on up the ridge and we’d evetually reach the summit anyway. It was a warm day, not a cloud in the sky and a full moon that night, so we couldn’t have picked a more ideal day for the hike. We reached some fairly steep sections where we were climbing up and through thick trees and holding on the tree roots and small shrubs to get up and it was all good fun.
Somewhere around 6pm, when the sun was setting, we realized that it was taking much longer than we had anticipated and we were unsure how far from the summit we were. Well, we knew there was a hut near the top so if need be we could sleep there and hike back down in the morning before we had to clean at the hostel. So we continued on in the clear night and we were able to see the tower at the peak, but unable to decifer how far away it really was. The ridge we were on was quite deceiving and had many dips, so as the crow flies it didn’t seem very far, but as humans walk, it was still a good distance. About 7:30pm, we were in the dark, except for the beautiful moon, and suddenly we came into some very very dense bush.
I think it took us about an hour and half to navigate through maybe 100 meters (if even that) of dark forest and litterally push through stiff branches and shrubs, all the while getting scratches up and down our legs, arms, hands, and faces. That bit was miserable. We weren’t even sure if we were making any progress toward the summit because we couldn’t really tell which direction we were going. Occasionally we came across some VERY large deer tracks (in some snow, mind you!) and were able to follow them through some of the clearings. It was such a relief to finally make it past the trees, and every shrub we trudged through thereafter felt like someone whipping our legs with a stick of fire! Maybe that’s an exagerration, but it’s not far off! We were in some pain and the skin on our legs was completely raw with scrathes and alpine shrubs are not forgiving...they’re all sharp and scratchy and itchy!
Anyway, we continued up and up and up. Now we were walking along the ridge through a little bit of snow and among loose rocks and some shrubs and could once again see the top, though we were still unsure of the distance. At the time we reckoned we were still about 2 hours from the summit. We had now been hiking for about 7.5 hours and pete explained to us that if we reached the top, to go back down the marked route would only take about 2 hours. Joy! We just wanted to get to the top and it felt so close. However, to our extreme dismay, the ridge continue to narrow, and eventually became so narrow that a small rabbit would have risked its life to cross a stretch of it. It was dark except for the moon, and pete began to crawl forward on hands and knees over this “razorback“ ridge. He put one hand forward and immediately rocks tumbled down, down, down, either side and fell for ages. I felt ill after seeing that and we decided it wasn’t worth the risk. DANG IT. We could no longer reach the top safely.
So, it was then 9pm, and we had the choice of attempting to hike back down in the dark through the trees again, back down some very steep slopes in the forest and hope that we could find our way back to the original path, or we could sleep in the forest and attempt to get back down in the morning and not show up for work at the hostel, OR we could cut down the side of the ridge, down some very steep, loose, scree and into a valley and follow the stream there hoping to find where it crossed the path at the beginning of our hike. Down the scree looked like a very quick way, so we made a democratic decision (i think) to slide down it and hopefully make it back to our car very quickly. So, we went surfing down the gravel on the side of the ridge having loads of fun, getting lots of bruises, filling our shoes with rocks, and ripping a giant hole in my shorts that i didn’t discover until later. Eventually the valley became less steep and the rocks became larger and it was a slower hike down, but still very feasible. We were all exhausted, but having a good time, and still in high spirits about making it back in a couple of hours. Though the moon was full and lighting our path, we could only see a limited distance ahead of us. I was in the front at this point with pete close behind and the others filing in slowly after. I could see before me that the valley dropped down very quickly and couldn’t yet see what the path was like to get there. Ultimately i reached the edge of a bluff and the drop was about 25 ft down with a little bit of water trickling over the edge. My first and last thought was “oh shit“ and it came out of my mouth as quickly as it entered my mind. So pete and i scooted up to the edge and looked down and we could see no safe way to get down. The five of us then scrambled up a side of the valley in hopes of finding a more gradual drop but it only became more dangerous the higher we went.
We were stuck. We could not go further and the path was too steep and loose to get back the way we came. At 11:30 pm, the night was still clear, but getting a bit chilly, and i fortunately had my mobile phone with me and had signal. Thus, i called 111...the police. After speaking with several people, the search and rescue folks informed us that it was too dark to send a search party or helicopter so we would have to wait out the night. Maybe not the worst news ever, but not too exciting to hear all the same time. Thanks to pete and his lighter (that he only has because he’s a chef, :) ) we were able to scavenge for some wood and build a small fire.
All was good, but getting colder and around 1am a cloud moved in. We were wet. We were also hungry, cold, and without sleep for the next 14 hours! The cloud never left that night and all of kaikoura remained in a thick fog until 2pm the next afternoon. the boys were restless and ready to attempt to get down the waterfall, but we made the corporate decision to remain where we were knowing that there were people searching for us. We continued to gather wood that was now soaking wet from the cloud and keep the fire going for 13 hours...with our small fire we dried the wood and then threw it in to burn and continued to dry more wood to burn. And at 2pm, we were on our last piece of wood, and the fog began to lift. It was such a joy as you cannot imagine to see the sun again and then we heard a helicopter. They had located us. Hallelujah! Our final branch was burning and very shortly after we were spotted, some search and rescue people were dropped out of the chopper to us with water proof jackets and long pants. They led us up the valley a ways to a more level area where the helicopter was able to hover over the ground as we stepped in to it. Incredible! We were saved! If the fog hadn’t lifted, we would have had to stay the night again and it was supposed to freeze over. We could have been in some serious danger! But verily, we were blessed. And we got a free (well, sort of) helicopter ride down the mountain right to pete’s car.
We were home by 3 that afternoon and around 3:45pm a reporter from the Kaikoura Star showed up the interview us. We all avoided him. After coming to the hostel and going to hislops to search for me, he finally found me a couple days later and i wasn’t to keen on sharing any details with him. I only wanted to be warm and sleep forever and ever, amen.
however, they did indeed print a quite humiliating story about us on the front page of the newspaper...if you wish to see it, go here
http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx
and at the top find the date of April 30th 2008.
Now, i suppose you could say this was all slightly traumatic...and on top of it all, the following morning i was told by the hostel owners that they no longer needed my services. Wow. I don’t want to share too much, because it really sucked and hurt a bit on a more personal level...but the next day i moved in to the house of Jana, where i have my own room with a double bed and i’ve lived here for the past 3 weeks. I didn’t have to move out of the hostel, but it was too expensive to stay there any longer. That was the first break of the family...and it was a slightly emotional time for some of us. I think the combination of circumstances was just unfortunate and a little overwhelming.
BUT, all is good now. I’m happy where i am, very happy, and recovered from the trauma. Christmas helped a lot with that. also, i have since climbed the mountain again and made it to the top and back down safely all in the same day.
and in a few days i will meet up with my brother and sister-in-law in sidney. Yippee!
So that’s my tale, and it’s taken quite a while to get it all out, but it’s good now to have a record of all that went down...also for all of you who may be wondering if i’m actually still alive. I apologize again for taking so long to update this. I can’t promise to be more consistant because who knows what will happen next. But please leave a comment if you wish, so i know that you’ve read it and also feel free to update me about your lives! I love and miss you all...truly i do...and i’m so thankful that i got off of that mountain and have hope to see you all again at some point!
All you need is love,
Danielle
Twelve days of christmas in Kaikoura...
Twelve meals of crayfish (In Maori, Kaikoura means “meal of crayfish“)
Eleven games of pool
Ten thieving seagulls
Nine ladies knitting
Eight sheep shaggers
Seven dolphins swimming
Six staff free sandwiches (at Hislops we get free meals on our breaks. Staff free...sandwich, soup, or salad. It’s always exciting to discover which everyone will choose each day)
FIVE IDIOTS STRANDED ON MT. FYFFE!!!
Four stinking seals
Three paua patties
Two spermy whales
And a guinness at the Strawberry Tree (strawberry tree is a local pub.)
2 comments:
haha.looks like you are having a great time. you should have let me come with you. -j. walston
i reeeeeead and that was quite a story
glad you live to tell the tale
barclay
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