Rotary and 4X4 Driving

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Thursday was our second appearance at quiz night at the local pub. Astrid got called out to an accident and did not show up until late into the game. This was no doubt the explanation for our pathetically poor showing - dropping from first place last month, to last place this month. The upside is that the worst team gets Moro bars to go with their humiliation (Cadbury's best selling Kiwi bar has a whipped nougat and caramel centre and is covered in chocolate).

Friday night we were back at the Youth Centa. I spent most of the night with two young girls who had been bullying one of our kids a few weeks ago. I thought about throttling them, but I gather that this would be inconsistent with the role of adult volunteers at the Centa. Instead, I engaged them in a name calling contest. I think I won, but the truth is I could tell what they were saying half the time with their young Kiwi accents.

On Saturday I headed out on a 4X4 expedition sponsored by the local Rotary Club. It was organized by Paul the owner of the Broadway Tea Rooms (my primary source of flat whites) and led by a local tour operator (Malcolm). There were about 8 vehicles, some more flash than others. I was a passenger in the 1985 Land Cruiser driven by Len, the manager of the local saw mill. We started out in Ahaura (about 30 minutes southwest from Reefton) and headed up a local mining track to Napoleon Hill. There was once a small town here, but it was burnt out in a forest fire and all that is left is the faint remnants of a graveyard. From here the track deteriorated dramatically and 4 wheel drive was an absolute necessity. The scenery was fantastic as the "trail" wandered through steep valleys and at two points, through tunnels originally hand dug by the miners. Of course we stopped for tea a couple of times and sure enough, folks broke out their portable stoves and brewed tea. I felt inadequately prepared with my bottled water.

The highlight of the week for the kids was the broadcast of What Now - New Zealand's biggest and longest-running children's show. Reefton was featured on the two hour show. The show did some filming around town earlier in the week (including blowing up a piano at the Oceana Gold mine) and included a live segment on the banks of the Inangahua River on Sunday morning. Avery had a brief "on-camera" appearance.

Later, Josh and I were invited to visit the Garveys Creek opencast mine. A group of us had a tour of the facility led by one of the mine managers. The mining site contains millions of tonnes of coal of extremely high purity. Some of the coal is so pure that is exported for use in kidney dialysis machines. I just wish my neighbors wouldn't burn it in their stoves.

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Photos

Len's Land Cruiser
The 4X4 excursion involved some interesting terrain. I got out of the truck for this part.

Comments

[junior]

4x4 pic
The reason you got out of the truck was because.... you wanted to take pictures, or were you kiwi?