Day 2 of the Hollyford Walk

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.

DSC_0080fairies made lunch, not Graeme

DSC_0081that beautifully set table was in there

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into the kamahi, were they?

DSC_0083magical

DSC_0085perilous realm

gobliny

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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

DSC_0089kidney fern socalled out of some kind of sympathetic magic jag

DSC_0090a seal sighting, see?

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the colony stank in fact

DSC_0093planking for the stank

DSC_0094local features

DSC_0095DOC airdrop

 new dishwasher for hut

(dry laugh-cough)

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view to the May Hills.

This is the channel serving Jamestown

and all the ships which were to serve a town to rival Dunedin.

DSC_0097hairy

weed

heart

DSC_0100seagrass i

DSC_0101seagrass ii

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seagrass iii

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Martins Bay inlet now, by jetboat

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on the inlet towards the Mays

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it jetted

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it misted and algaed

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it planed

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the water went like this

DSC_0113DSC_0114

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kahikatea, no?

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Laura and Andy in the obligatory welcoming clinch at Martins Bay Lodge

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Captain Dion’s mystical amulet, protecting goddess

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the lodge

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the chocolate

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one of those boats going down approaching Jamestown

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out of focus chocolate brownie with plum powder, artfully finger-swiped

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the walking crew

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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.