Once again it was time to leave the actual coast and venture up into the hills for work. It was time to visit the ghost town gold mining town of Waiuta. The temperature has plummeted since the last time I was in Waiuta, and all those pictures of kids frolicking in snow that seemed so ridiculous now seemed somewhat plausible.
At the bottom of the gravel road into town, we found thick coverings of frost that looked like they had built up over the past week or so – it looked so much like snow I had to jump out and check. The frost was beautiful though, with nature creating tiny formations of ice on leaves, sticks, grass, and so inevitably I began the photography rampage. It takes a little inspiration to get my camera out at the moment, I guess I’m now comfortable in my niche out here on the west coast – I have visited most sites I work in 3 or 4 times at least, and so it takes something different to make me want to photograph the same areas once again.
The frosty winter-y scenes that greeted us in Waiuta brought that change that excited me. With frost and ice on the ground and in the trees, a whole new angle of the old town suddenly appeared. The remnant machinery became interesting again, and whilst we haven’t been greeted by the same stunning sunrises and sunsets as in past visits, the winter sun has been much kinder for photographing close up and abstract elements of both man made objects and mother nature’s finest. I hope you enjoy the resulting photos.
Link to Facebook Album.
And so it is that I find myself on a Thursday afternoon, with time on my hands as we finished up the historic restoration works in record time; 2 fairly major sites that had been inundated by blackberry, gorse and other nasties, now opened up for the public. I just hope that our work shall be followed up and maintained.
Tomorrow we shall be heading through Lewis Pass back to Christchurch to drop off our two volunteers – Dave & Jun – who will go their separate ways. I shall be driving straight past Hanmer Springs and not able to pop in for a soak sadly, a tight time line with flights denotes this.
But, the weekend has promise in store already. It shall be nice to catch up with the gals whilst I’m there, and we have a few plans; Friday brings a night at the movies to laugh at another American remake of classic cartoons – Transformers 2. Some say the first version was pretty trashy, but d’ya know what? I quite liked it, not because it was a masterful remake, but it had a bit of action, some decent special effects, and of course – Optimus Prime. Awesome.
We’re then trying to work out how the rest of the weekend will pan out, but essentially we’re looking at skiing Mount Hutt either Saturday or Sunday. My first time out on the kiwi slopes, and I’m very excited. I haven’t skied in about 3 years now, but I managed to pick up boots, pants, jacket, goggles & gloves all pretty cheaply in the pre-season sales, so I’m raring to go!
It shall be quite the weekend of firsts as I also have tickets to an All Blacks rugby game in Christchurch. They’re playing a test against the Italians, and off the back of a hard fought victory against the French, this could be quite a good one to watch. I think I’ll just stay in my ski gear for this one – it could be cold out in the evening if Waiuta is anything to go by. So all in all, I’m trying to make the most of a little of the winter before I have a break from it. In only 2 weeks I shall be boarding a plane in Christchurch. Christchurch to Auckland… Auckland to Brunei… Brunei to Kota Kinabalu!
Yes! It’s time for the adventures in Borneo to begin once more!! This time I’m limited to 2 weeks of fun & games with my ol’ buddy ol’ pal Chris, the legend that is Hannah, and the terribly bad influences of Yo and Noodle, let alone “Danger” Robinson. Raleigh reunites back in Borneo, with our plans centring around the wedding of Mia and Will (or Noodle and Danger as they’re known to some) in the capital.
Final plans are being fleshed out still, but an Adventure Phase (pre-wedding rafting, trekking or diving) shall be followed by a Community Phase (wedding frivolities, possible reception in kampung-style with dancing, rice wine, and generally silliness), and then finished off with our very own Environmental Phase (post-wedding road trip taking in the seminally important Batu Puteh site as well as a trip back into Danum Valley conservation area to see my bridge and walk across it… so excited!). I expect we shall avoid the ‘greasy dregs’, the ‘bone curry’, and the luncheon meat – possibly upgrading our diet to Roti, Laksa & Mee goreng mamak. I’m excited to see each and every one of these folks, individually and as a group. I can’t think of a better group of people to be seeing in 2 weeks – of course there are a few faces missing from the crowd – but we shall be thinking of them and shall recount our adventures to them at a later date.
Until I reach Borneo’s tropical climbs, I shall keep the coal fire burning, don my beanie & gloves in the morning, and warm my tootsies by the radiator, to stave off the NZ winter freeze. Be good & be happy people, and keep life interesting.
