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Away From Home

Snowball Fight

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Last weekend, we went over the hill (to the other side of the mountains) to visit friends. On the way home, we stopped near the top of the pass to play in the snow. There wasn’t a lot, but enough pockets of it here and there among the grass and bushes that we could have a rousing snowball fight. What fun! I hadn’t done that in probably 20 or 25 years. I’m a very poor aim!

This was the first time Miss Joy had ever been close to snow, and she enjoyed her experience!

Esther took several video clips with her phone, and I put them together here. The last bit was when Mr. Sweetie threw a snowball at her, and she dropped her phone. The screen protector cracked, but the phone itself was uninjured.

We were right beside this beautiful little lake. We often stop here as we go over the mountains, and enjoy the scenery for a few minutes.

We had to stop in Reefton, because Miss Joy was feeling sick. After she walked both directions over this swing bridge, she was fine and we could drive the last half hour home.

Cone Creek

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A few weeks ago, all five of our boys, as well as two friends of theirs, went on a tramp. That Friday was a holiday, so they took off fairly early in the morning and headed up into the mountains. Their destination was a hut the older boys had been to, coming in from the opposite direction, a couple of years ago. Some friends of ours tried to go to the hut last year and couldn’t find it, so the boys wanted to be sure to arrive in the vicinity with plenty of daylight–and Elijah also downloaded an app onto his phone with topographical maps of the entire country. They found the hut with no trouble, and spent a few hours chopping firewood to replenish what they used.

On the way up the river, the boys spotted this wild sheep, off by itself.

They also spotted a pair of blue ducks.

A view up the misty valley!

When the boys reached the hut, they found snow on the ground.

Inside the hut. They said that the open fire didn’t heat the hut very well, but they were out of the weather and comfortable.

The front of Cone Creek Hut.

Elijah was trying to focus on the river here, but I liked the horizontal tree in the middle.

I’ve never seen a bright blue mushroom like this before! (This picture is for you, Mom.)

A stop for lunch on the way back down on the Saturday.

The boys loved their tramp and want to go again!

Big River 4WD Trip Part 2

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After we ate our picnic lunch, we decided to cross the river and walk up to the restored winding house, then on up the mountain to the old poppet head. Some of us had worn shoes rather than boots, so one man kindly let us ride across the river. Here we are loading up–several people clung to the running boards to get across!

We walked up the track on the other side to the old winding house, through dense bush. One place opened out into this little meadow cut through with several narrow creeks. I’ve never seen anything quite like this!

This is inside the winding house. This steam engine used to power a huge winch that pulled a cable which ran up the hill to the poppet head. From there, the cable dropped down underground in the the mine shaft. I think it went down about 600 meters–that’s around a quarter of a mile. The original winding house was vandalized after the mine was abandoned, but then rebuilt recently and the machinery restored to its present condition.

Next, we walked up another track to get to the poppet head. This is the foot of the pile of tailings that cascades down from the top. We walked around to the left on a foot path.

Along the way, we passed a drilling platform. A gold mining company based in Reefton is exploring for gold. They set up a drilling platform at likely locations and drill multiple holes for core samples, at all angles from this platform. The platform and all equipment was brought in and placed by helicopter, and it is resupplied by helicopter, as well. The men live in a hut down the mountain a little ways; they are able to drive to it and up to the base of the pile of tailings with a 4WD, and then walk to and from the platform. One man in our group works for that mining company, and on this particular Saturday he had to visit this platform to check on their core sample, so he was able to drive his family up to Big River with a company vehicle. He took off within a few minutes of arriving at the car park to do his job, and Simon went with him. Simon got to spend a couple of hours, before we got there, talking to the men doing the drilling and learning all about it. He happened to know the man in charge, so that was pretty exciting for him. Our friend snapped this photo on the drilling platform with his phone.

When we arrived, our friend (the man in the orange camo shirt) explained the entire process and brought up a box of core samples to show us. This hole had just passed 300 meters, so it was time to pull the drill out of it and start a new one.

The core samples are brought up three meters at a time, and laid out carefully in these boxes so that they can be reconstructed in the shed later. Our friend analyzes them to see what type of rock is present, looking for signs that gold might be present. The blue numbers on the samples represent the levels of arsenic–more arsenic means more likelihood of gold. The white streaks are quartz or fools gold, both of which indicate gold may be present.

Our next stop was at the top of the mountain, where the poppet head still stands over the old mine shaft. This tower used to be covered with boards to protect against the weather. The cable from the winding house came up here to a huge pulley, and then down into the shaft to pull men and rocks up, and lower supplies and men down.

The view from the top is incredible!

Our friend the geologist handed out cloth sample bags to the children and challenged them to find a rock with gold in it. They were each to find a likely-looking rock and give it to him, and he would analyze the rocks to see who was closest. The tailings contain a lot of gold-bearing rocks, since the technology at the time that this mine was in operation couldn’t recover nearly as much gold as we can today.

The children scrambled all over the mountain of tailings on their way down, searching for the perfect rock!

The rest of us carefully picked our way down this very steep slope, holding on to trees most of the way to keep our balance.

After we got off the mountain, we loaded up again and headed out the track, trying to get out before it got fully dark. We made it–just! Then, all except one family gathered at the home of the family who live in Reefton, and enjoyed fish and chips before going home. It was a great day!

Here is a short video I put together from several clips that Esther recorded. The parts of driving on the track were on the tamest stretches. If she had been recording on the worst parts, it would make you carsick to watch!

Big River 4WD Trip Part 1

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Several young men from across the island came to spend a weekend with a good friend of theirs here, who is attending our church now and is a good friend of our boys. They were discussing what to do with these young men when they came, and Simon came up with the idea of a four wheel drive trip. It was decided to go up to Big River, which had a thriving gold mine around 1900. Today it is a ghost town, with the old “poppet head” standing guard at the top of a mountain with tailings from the mine flowing down the slope below it. There is still gold in the mountain, and the company that our friend over here works for is exploring for the seams of gold to decide if they can justify mining for it. Anyway, by the time the day came, we had 41 people and 7 vehicles on the expedition. We met up at the beginning of the four wheel drive track that goes to the mine site. From that point, it is only 15 kilometers (not quite 10 miles), but it takes at least an hour and a half to drive it! Only a 4WD vehicle, preferably one that is jacked up a bit, can navigate that track, although one man in our party drove a ute, and made it through.

I really enjoyed watching the mist rising from the valleys between hills on our way to Reefton to start the drive. I rarely get away from home, and especially not so early in the morning. It was a perfect day to be out, the first clear day after a week or two of rain, and I thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the morning.

This was on the way up the road to the start of the track. Simon was driving a friend’s Land Rover in front of us. I was in Simon’s Pajero, with Elijah driving.

We regrouped at the start of the track, when everyone had arrived. Two boys rode motorbikes up, although one of the bikes didn’t do very well and rode back on a ute. As you can see, it was quite frosty at this point–brr!

On the track!

We stopped briefly at this creek. There was a sign pointing to a historic mine, and a number of the boys explored a few tunnels. I walked on ahead, because I didn’t have gumboots and didn’t want to go through the mud.

We stopped again here, briefly, to fix a motorbike. Again, I walked on ahead until Elijah caught up. The closest truck here is the Pajero, with Elijah in the driver’s seat. Simon is standing next to it, in the blue coat, and Mr. Imagination to the far left in the photo.

Because we were the lead vehicles, we arrived at the end of the track first and waited for everyone else. They stopped to explore another mine, but we were just far enough ahead that we didn’t see them stop, so it took another 10 minutes or so before the other vehicles arrived. We enjoyed the sunshine and the scenery from the carpark halfway up the mountain, overlooking the former township of Big River. In this picture, Simon is sitting on the bonnet of the Land Rover.

Watching the other vehicles arrive.

Here they come! The second vehicle is what everyone calls the “Troopie.” It has bench seats facing each other in the back, troop carrier style. Simon’s boss owns it.

We all parked in the small parking area, and ate our picnic lunches in the sunshine.

Miss Joy and one of her friends found the mud!

This is the only house left in Big River. Apparently, an elderly lady lived in it until recently–although I don’t know how recently! People brought food in to her every week until she died.

Part of the view from a little higher up the hill from the carpark. There is a DOC hut up at the top, and the views are astounding!

I’ll post more pictures of the rest of our day, and a short video, another day. I have a lot to sort through!

Roofing Simon’s House

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A week ago, Saturday’s project was reroofing Simon’s house. Simon had ordered the roofing iron, and it was delivered on the Monday before that day. Simon was hoping to get half the house finished in one day, and he had a lot of people who offered to help him. When Esther and I arrived over there with a pot of soup for lunch, this is what we saw–both sides of the roof ripped off!

Several of the younger helpers were scooping birds’ nests out of the roof cavity. It was apparently quite full!

Elijah and a friend were measuring the metal.

Poor Simon was supposed to be in charge!

They laid netting down over the purlins (after they replaced them all, as well as adding new timber to the sides of the rafters to extend and level the roof), and then put building paper over that before putting the new roof on.

They were still working after dark. The job was finished about 7:30. While we were eating lunch, it had started to rain, and looked like it might keep on all day. I was praying, as I drove home, that the rain would stop and they would be able to finish the job without the house getting soaked. As you can see from some of these pictures, the sun came out again! We were thankful. We’re pretty happy that the roof got finished before the new ceilings got damaged from rain. This weekend, the boys got the chimney installed, so now there is heat in the house.

Up in the Air!

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James has spent several days in the last few weeks helping to reroof a house about a block from our house. It is positioned such that we can see it from a few of our windows! It’s fun to be able to see what he’s up to. One afternoon we walked over to have a better look. They had hired a cherry picker to get up to the roof, since it’s so high and steep–the house used to be a church. James’ boss offered that James could take the younger children up in it. Three of them were delighted to have a ride up over the roof and the power lines! James was delighted to take them, too. He had been operating that machine all day, and his boss said that James never stopped smiling all morning!

They went all the way up, but I didn’t get a photo of them at the top. I could hardly stand watching–there’s no way I would want to go up like that! They loved it, though; when Miss Joy got down, she said, “Dat was fun!”

Update on Simon’s House

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Ever since New Year’s Day, the boys have been working hard on renovating Simon’s house. His tenants hope to move in in a week, so the pressure is on! The main living area is finished, and we’re working hard to finish the laundry and toilet. The bathroom is finished except for wall linings, which are not coming in–they were ordered over a month ago. I painted the main living area two weeks ago, and spent the last couple of days painting the laundry and toilet. I hope to finish that within the next two days.

Here are a couple of pictures of the living area soon after Simon bought it. First is the kitchen, second is the living room.

This was the first color Simon chose for the trim. It was supposed to be brown! We asked him to buy a darker shade. This worked for the first coat, and then we painted over it with the darker paint. Simon saw it and fell in love with it, and decided on the spot what the outside of the house will be painted: cream with red trim.

The finished walls: first, kitchen; second, living room.

After we got the painting done, Elijah laid the carpet and vinyl, and then the lights were installed and connected.

Soon I’ll post a few pictures of the other rooms we’re finishing. I don’t have any here right now. It’s a lot of work, but the end result is rewarding. There is still a long way to go to finish the house. Simon ordered the roofing iron yesterday, so that will be the next step, and when he does that he’ll insulate the attic space. The cladding needs redone all around, and the bedrooms need to be gutted and redone. He’ll end up with a new house, one piece at a time!

Finally!

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Warning: If you have problems with hunting or eating meat, stop right here! There are details you may not want to read or see.

When Simon was about seven, and James was about three (maybe eight and four–I’m not sure), the two of them and a cousin who was in between their ages, who lived on our property, disappeared one afternoon in November. This was in Michigan, and in Michigan, the last two weeks of November are Deer Season. (Maybe that should be in all-caps; it is that important to a lot of people, and the first day is nearly a state holiday!) People who are not hunting stay out of the woods and near buildings during that time, lest there might be stray shots. It can be dangerous to be walking around in the woods or fields during that time. Anyway, these three children disappeared. When someone realized they were missing, both families started searching. By the time we had been looking for 45 minutes, my sister-in-law was about ready to call the police–and then they showed up. They had been out hunting deer behind the woods at the back corner of our 40 acres, over a quarter of a mile from the houses! They were armed with a baseball bat and a stick, and Simon apparently fully expected to bring down a deer. They were totally unafraid, with no idea of the danger that the adults knew about!

Ever since that time, Simon has dreamed of killing a deer. He would love to live off the land, with a hunter-gatherer type of lifestyle. He has gone on hunts with friends half a dozen times since we moved over here, and never saw a deer when anyone in the group had a gun that could bring one down. This week, he went hunting twice with a friend who moved to the area a few months ago and who, importantly, possesses a gun license and a deer rifle. They went out in the middle of the afternoon the second time and searched for likely places to see a deer. After several hours, an hour or so after dark, they gave up and started out, and finally got a possum for their pains. Then they continued on down the road–and saw a deer in the middle of the road! It took a couple of minutes for Simon’s friend to get his gun loaded again, and Simon kept the spotlight on the deer. The first shot only wounded it (they hadn’t realized the gun wasn’t sighted in properly), so Simon took off up the river, following it. He soon caught up and delivered the killing shot. Then, he got to pack it out of there to the car (probably a good thing he had so much adrenalin in his system–it was heavy!) Finally, his dream of bagging a deer came true.

Mr. Imagination was along, since I had gone to town that day, leaving him with Simon, and no one was home to keep track of him. He was over the moon to be a part of this experience.

I love the grin on Simon’s face! The second picture is the Daihatsu–the gutless car that is often scoffed at, but which can go almost anywhere.

Simon brought the deer home and hung it in our carport. The next evening, Little Miss helped him skin it, and then he and Gayle brought it into the kitchen where we boned it out. The friend he went with, and his wife, stopped in while we were working, and he was excited to see that part of the process. The next day, they came back, after we had minced all the meat, and helped turn some into sausage and package it all. We got 34 kg of mince and 5 kg of backstrap from that deer! (That’s about 86 pounds.) It was a young stag, so quite tender and tasty. We had venison sausage patties with breakfast, venison hamburger patties for lunch, and backstrap for dinner. The boys were delighted to get to eat all that meat! Now, Simon wants to go hunting even more.


Half of the bones are cooking in a big pot right now, to make bone broth, and the other half are in the freezer waiting. There was very little waste from this animal, something that makes me feel good about them killing it.

So Far in March….

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We have not taken many pictures this month! I’ll have to be more intentional about taking some if I want to keep blogging. This was a potato someone found in the garden. It weighed an entire kilogram (over two pounds!).

We got our year’s supply of salve started. Packed into those jars is comfrey, plantain, lavender, calendula petals, and a bit of self-heal. We filled the jars with olive oil, and it is currently soaking for six weeks.

Miss Joy was delighted to figure out one day that she could tuck her doll inside her dress. That was her baby carrier!

James signed his apprenticeship papers, and to celebrate, his boss took him to the store and bought a bunch of tools.

Elijah took Mr. Sweetie on a trip to Dunedin to visit friends. They spent a day in Timaru with a friend, who took these two pictures of Mr. Sweetie using a giant slingshot at the beach.

They stopped at Moeraki Boulders, and Elijah caught a picture of Mr. Sweetie balancing this boulder on his head!

Mount Alexander

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Elijah went on a tramp with two other men over the past two days. He arrived home last night, tired and footsore, but elated to have climbed a mountain, and the tallest one in the area, at that! He wanted to show me the pictures he took on his phone, so this afternoon we connected it to my computer and I enjoyed an armchair climb up the mountain with him. He’s happy for me to share his photos here, so you can do the same thing! Someday, I want to climb a mountain–but he says not to try this one. He says I wouldn’t handle scrambling over and through and under (yes, he said that! Then he said not really under.) the rocks very well.

I asked Elijah to help me caption the pictures. From here on, all the text is his words.

Notice the waterfall in the distance there?

The mountain you can see down the valley there is Te Kinga, it is a very popular climb right next to Lake Brunner.

The little lake is called a tarn. There were several of them up and down the mountain. A tarn is a small rain fed lake. The water is pure enough to drink just straight.

I found the rock formations fascinating. As you’ve probably noticed, most of these pictures are shrouded in fog. We ascended through fog, but the decent was a lot clearer.

This was the second tarn on on our route. We ate lunch here on the way back down.

This is a glimpse into the Taramakau River Valley.


Another glimpse into the Taramakau River Valley.

Here I was trying to get a picture of something on that ridge in the cloud. That is J to the left.

There were several of these rocks spines around. It almost looks like they’re petrified wood.

This is J again. Notice how the rock has been sheered off flat in the foreground.

These sorts of rock formations were all over above the 1450 meter mark. Right under the peak they were constant.

Sorry about the fuzzy picture. These are three or four tarns in a row off on another ridge of the mountain. We did not visit them.


This is a panoramic view of both sides of the ridge we were climbing up. Off to the left half of the picture are the southern alps.

The only thing we could figure this to be was a mountain grasshopper. Underneath the back legs were bright red patches that you can only see when it hops.

The Taramakau River as seen down a boulder slope. Yes that is the Otira River off to the left.

As you can see, we were right up in the cloud layers.

The picture is a little bit too fuzzy for most people to make out, but that bright white streak at the base of the mountain of to the left section in the picture is the trans-Alpine tourist train. During the summer it generally does a trip over and back every day  I believe.

This would’ve been at around 1700 m. Once again it was of the only clear side of the mountain, the Taramakau River Valley.

This is the only patch of snow we found on the mountain that we could walk in . It was pretty solid but we still had a little bit of a snow fight. I decided I needed to get myself in at least one picture.

E decided to cool himself off a little bit while we were at it.

The final summit! We were at an elevation  of 1958 m (around 6,000 feet) here. Pictured are some old anchor points for some scientific instruments that has been taken down.

Me in front of the Taramakau Valley, and no, the mountainside isn’t as steep as it looks there.

That’s the Taramakau River valley to the left and a bit of the mountain peak to the other side of the picture.

Yes, it does get pretty steep off this section of the mountain. We were following the ridge line above that precipice, but it was plenty wide enough to make for reasonably safe walking.

These flowers are pretty hardy, being able to grow right up the top of the mountain.

J thought at first at this was something like parsley until he smelled it. Then he decided not to taste it.

Another flower growing near the top of the mountain.

You can’t see it in the picture, but these flowers actually have a slight purple tinge. Sorry about my dirty old boot in the picture.

Another view of Te Kinga (in the middle left of the picture) with Lake Brunner peaking around behind it, and the Arnold Valley to the middle of the picture.

A better view of Te Kinga, Lake Brunner, The Arnold River, and Kangaroo Lake in the right portion of the picture.

That was Te Kinga to the right of the picture this time, the mountains in the left half are right behind Lake Brunner as viewed from Moana.

All in all, this was a wonderful hike, and I would definitely do it again if I had the chance.