Day 388-390: Karamea, New Zealand

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Thursday, February 18th

The day dawned wet and rainy so we didn’t venture out to the track. Instead we spent the morning working on the seats and doing a bit of sanding on the exterior of the canoe. Sean and Sala came by for a visit and to look at our canoe. We had a long chat while little Sala cavorted in the canoe. She’s so cute it must be illegal! Now Talita desperately wants a little Japanese baby.

Anyway, we were seriously contemplating where to go next week. Talita’s cousin Sally and a friend of the family, Lucy, are both in Christchurch for a couple weeks and Talita really wanted to meet up with them. We decided on a scenic route through Arthur’s Pass instead of the quick way to Christchurch.

After lunch Talita continued the sewing on the seats while Ferdi fibreglassed the seat-pillars to the hull. With that done we baked a quiche for dinner, had a shower and drove out to Paddy’s. Since our time is running out we’re trying to visit as often as we can. After dinner we watched a movie and played some harmonica while we enjoyed our last nights at Paddy’s.
😞

Today’s highlights:
1. Good progress on the canoe.
2. Another evening with Paddy.

Thought for the day:
Could we be any more lost with regards to our future?

Friday, February 19th

We had planned to climb Mt. Stormy this morning, but the weather was foul, so we decided against it. Instead we just walked the Zig Zag track, then continued working on the seats and sanding down the interior. After that we gave the interior its final coat of resin, using a foam roller and not a brush. The resin is very destructive and soon the foam was coming apart. Luckily we managed to finish the whole interior before the foam completely disintegrated.

By the time we had lunch the sun was out and the day had turned beautiful. Talita spotted a big hairy spider in the kitchen so we took it outside for a photo shoot. During lunch we sat out in the sun chatting with John and Margaret. Talita had noticed Margaret’s cute cat ear-rings and asked if she had a black pair (Marg enjoys making jewellery and sells these in the office and at the Info Centre in Westport). She said she’d have a look and soon returned with a few options. Talita chose the black and silver pair, but when we tried to pay her, Marg said it was a gift. As if they hadn’t done enough for us over the last three months!

With the resin still curing on the canoe we had no choice but to bake some sweet goodies. We made Date Squares as well as “Hertzoggies”; little jam filled tartlets. While these were baking we enjoyed a glass of wine while perving on our canoe. She’s getting prettier and prettier by the day!

With the weather looking promising for the scaling of Mt Stormy tomorrow morning we prepared for the climb, charging camera batteries, packing gear, and preparing food for the eight hour climb. We just hoped that the good weather would hold.

We had dinner and watched a movie before calling it an early night.

Today’s highlights:
1. Applying the final interior coat of resin.
2. Sweet delights.

Thought for the day:
Sometimes the lines to heaven can be torturously quiet. This is one of those times.

Saturday, February 20th

We got up at 4am, grabbed our gear, and drove out to the start of the Mt Stormy track. When we arrived it was still pitch black. We put on our packs and our headlamps and inspected the info board. When we tried to find the track we couldn’t. There’s just an arrow pointing to the mountain and that’s it. No path, no other indicators at all. After some deliberation we decided to wait until it was lighter. We got a sleeping bag and improvised some pillows, then slept till 6:30. It was somewhat lighter, but neither of us felt like the hike anymore.

We headed back to the park, crawled into bed, and slept till 9am. Back in the shed we set about stitching the canvas to the seats frames. It was hard going, because the PVC wrapped cable we were using was hard to work with. In the end we gave up, drove into town, and got a thinner and more manageable rope. This worked beautifully and the seats were finished in no time. We applied the final coat of resin on the canoe exterior and paddles, then called it a day.

Paddy arrived and we spent a few hours sitting in the afternoon sun chatting. Amongst other things we spoke of our love for Monty Python, and Paddy mentioned that he’d love to own the series, but can’t find it in Westport. We’d been thinking of a gift to get him and hadn’t been able to come up with anything. He’d given us so much and we wanted to give something back, so we quickly hopped online and before he knew it we’d ordered him the complete box-set of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

At 6pm we went over to John and Margaret’s. They’d invited us for a farewell BBQ and, as usual, went all out. There was beer, wine, chips n’ dip, steak, sausage (veggie as well as meat), garlic bread, salads, ice-cream, cheese-cake, fruit, and custard. We had a massive and delicious meal and spent a great evening with these wonderful people.

When Paddy left for home we expressed our gratitude to John and Marg, helped to clean up a little, then drove into to town for our farewell bonfire at Shona’s place. They’d waited for our arrival before lighting the fire, and it was a big one! Unfortunately not all of our friends could attend. The Guppy’s were missing, as well as Gary and Rose, Abby and Brent, and of course, Paddy. Even so we spent a great evening chatting to Rick, Shona, Sean & Naomi, Lewis, Paul and a few other visitors to Karamea. We were happy to hear from Rick that we’re very popular in the community and will be missed. It was a great evening and we ended up only going to bed at 3am.

Today’s highlights:
1. Getting the seats done.
2. Great evening with our friends (and almost family) from Karamea.

Thought for the day:
One of life’s great joys is in the many relationships we have with others.

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Comments

[Bob Carlsen]

My Dad's last message to me
My Dad passed away in 1988. I inherited his Bible. A few years later I ran across the only verse he had circled... Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Many times I have felt my plans falling apart..not knowing what I would do next...and I had to put my trust in the Lord that He would determine my steps, and He has never failed. He won't fail you either. Have a wonderful time with your cousin and family friend in Christchurch...with a name of a town like that how can you go wrong!

[deleted_49612]

This thing looks like something from one of my boyfriends computer games.