there really is a place called asbestos cottage. it’s in the cobb valley, in the kahurangi national park, near golden bay, and its interesting history includes a pair of rather unusual hermits. there’s even a book about them.
this quirky little hut, nestled up in the hills, is about ninety minutes’ walk from the nearest road, and we made it our goal for a sunday hike. upon arriving and parking the car, however, we weren’t sure whether we’d actually make it, or whether we would have to abort and carry out a rescue mission instead – an elderly woman arrived alone as we were getting ready to go, changed into hiking boots but kept her flowered muumuu, and wandered off into the bush. after some quiet consternation, we agreed to note her license plate number and the time we’d seen her, and check again when we returned.
the walk up took us along a surprisingly broad shady avenue,
thick with leaf-litter but well maintained; over small babbling streams and on
a steep, rooty detour; and ultimately across several narrow paths and ridges,
with lovely views back down the valley, but baking in the direct sun.
after about an hour we reached the frontier of asbestos country.
the mine itself was a curiosity, a kind of giant open weal
of greenish-grey crumbly, surprisingly soft rock (that we were careful not to
disturb much, for obvious reasons). rusted
and decaying tubs and hunks of machinery lay sparsely scattered around the
area, and we didn’t linger.
the cottage itself perches in a little grassy clearing about a half hour further on. its main room has been maintained in its nearly original configuration, while the back room has been converted to a four-bunk cubby where trampers can sleep. (we'd like to return overnight sometime.) the surrounding tall grass hides the remains of some garden plants gone to seed, a small brook trickles merrily within earshot, there are views back down the valley, and the air hums with lazy afternoon insect songs. it is a beautiful spot, and while forty years of complete seclusion seems a little extreme, we all agreed there would be worse spots for a hermitage.
on saturday we dived the mokohinau islands. it was a gorgeous day in spite of the choppy ride out and chilly 16 degree water, and we saw many good things!
i went for the first dive of the summer yesterday - finishing a rescue diving course, we did some open-water rescue scenarios at tawharanui. and afterward there was time for a little underwater sightseeing. :)
these rascals (and one more) were born at the local zoo earlier this year. in the absence of time for proper written postings, they shall be my ambassadors for today.
i don't seem to be very good at this lately. perhaps i should offer a spider drawing in lieu of the long-absent posts. it may have something to do with the wedding, honeymoon, new job and now deciding to move house - paradoxically all these things are exciting and bear many interesting anecdotes in their wake, yet leave so very little time for actually documenting. woe, woe is me.
to be continued. soon, i hope. in the meantime, here's some south island romance... awwww yeah.
(a polar bear walks into a bar… )
hi.
things have been a little quiet here recently. for the past six weeks, to be precise. i apologize. rarely do momentous life events transpire so densely as they have in the time since i last posted. first there was this...
and then, nine days later, this...
to say nothing of the out-of-town (and overseas) visitors who attended both events, the additional wedding in nelson two weeks earlier, and the fifth annual hallowe’en party. i confess that i’ve been a little distracted. but now (or perhaps soon, post-honeymoon) life is returning to normal, and we can pick up where we left off. there’s still the rest of the US-canada trip to post, plus the pebbles gave me a fabulous new camera, particularly adept at the creepy-crawly shots i like so much. so please bear with me for just a few more days. :)
so far, in the inkspot's 19-month existence, i have mostly managed not to do the list-of-external-links thing. today i can't help it. there are more vacation stories to tell, plus the defense, but now i'm scrambling to get my final thesis version to the publishers and i must accept that others are far more entertaining right now. and send you in their direction.
the facebook version of hamlet.
oktapodi. [link updated - works again now!)]
(is two a list? yes, technically, yes. the smallest list possible.)
i'll get on with the travel recap shortly, i promise. just been distracted for the last couple weeks - my oral defense takes place in four hours and after that i anticipate something of a return to normalcy. at least the buck lake pictures are calming. if you'll excuse me, i'm off to stare at them for a while...
on the concordia language villages’ main site, about an hour north of the cabin, is a small lake called buck lake. it’s an odd shape, but just right for hiking around in about 45 minutes.
when i first started going to skogfjorden, 19 years ago, we would have vespers at the fire circle there on sunday nights. later in my clv career, the knights-in-training of the märchenwald program would go on a morning’s ‘journey’ to and around buck lake as part of their ordeal. during the year that i lived at clv i also went for frequent walks there, and i have seen mist rising from its flat surface by the first light of morning, and the black silhouettes of trees lit only from the snowshine on the ground. if you have been around this site for a while, you may even have heard loons crying there yourself. it is a magical spot.
the pebbles and i went for a sunset walk around buck lake one evening before attending the märchenwald play. the light was golden, the lake was calm and a crescent moon rose while we walked. the woods were nearly silent, and the only other animal we encountered was one of the large beavers who live in the lake, whom we startled from a distance of about 20 feet. he rocketed into the lake and propelled himself out of our sight using his massive tail. then it was just us and a few sleepy songbirds.
