morning view Pyke River Lodge
this too
the Lodge itself
bluing
Graeme at the memorial plaque for Davy Gunn, erected by his son, Murray
the tale continues… but which horse was Davy on? when it stumbled and trapped him
underneath it in a river he had crossed over a hundred times before
a fellow walker points to the ampersands on the plaque:
a possible Masonic plot?
Lake Alabaster,
named by Captain Alabaster
who sewed the daughters of Chief Tutoko dresses
from canvas. He ran them up, just like that! The girls were
as pleased with them as if they were all got up for a ball.
Of course, the lake already possessed a beautiful and sensible name
as the place local Maori water-tested and balanced felled totara for double-hulled
ocean-going canoes.
London Bridge
the Pyke meets the Hollyford
we are on a jetboat and this is a view from Lake McKerrow, a closed off fjord, where dolphins swim sometimes
in fresh water
Mount Tutoko looks on
there he is
a great and magnanimous chief
see
scree and shingle moving
by water
into water
looking up Lake McKerrow towards Martins Bay
a large green landscape
looking up
on landfall
before or after Jamestown (here)
story of rimu: on either side of the track, one tall and of a more
upreaching, ingathering habit;
the other less tall and fronded downhanging leaves,
outspreading branches. Which is which?
the more upreaching, ingathering, the taller is female,
its cuplike flowers held above the canopy to catch
windborne pollen;
the frondier massier is male, its outspread arms waiting
for the wind to spread pollen over the widest area. But
a link in the reproductive cycle is missing with the decline in the
kakapo population. The large flightless parrots have strong beaks to break
open the pods which will not germinate unless they have passed through the
birds’ guts; while, in turn, the seed is as good as breastmilk is to mammals for the
kakapo chicks, giving them everything they need to grow; and this requirement the adult
kakapo comprehend, gathering upwards of two hundred seeds a day for its young, in whose
droppings the seeds will be distributed and thanks to them successfully germinate. Moreover, the
breeding cycle of both rimu and kakapo are exactly synchronous, seeds and chicks alike appearing
every seven years.
fairies made lunch, not Graeme
that beautifully set table was in there
into the kamahi, were they?
magical
perilous realm
gobliny
inlet into Martins Bay
showing the sandbar, around to the left of which, from this POV, all shipping to Jamestown
was supposed to pass, many captains demurring
because of the number of wrecks
insurers would not cover them for this
kidney fern socalled out of some kind of sympathetic magic jag
a seal sighting, see?
the colony stank in fact
planking for the stank
local features
DOC airdrop
new dishwasher for hut
(dry laugh-cough)
view to the May Hills.
This is the channel serving Jamestown
and all the ships which were to serve a town to rival Dunedin.
hairy
weed
heart
seagrass i
seagrass ii
seagrass iii
Martins Bay inlet now, by jetboat
on the inlet towards the Mays
it jetted
it misted and algaed
it planed
the water went like this
kahikatea, no?
Laura and Andy in the obligatory welcoming clinch at Martins Bay Lodge
Captain Dion’s mystical amulet, protecting goddess
the lodge
the chocolate
one of those boats going down approaching Jamestown
out of focus chocolate brownie with plum powder, artfully finger-swiped
the walking crew
Graeme doing a routine.
He asked what we appreciated the most.
Laurie answered, You Graeme!
He did a sort of number with the stick and promised to use this prop
when he woke us up at 6.45am so that we could hear him coming.
We did.
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