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Over the summer my husband was driving down the Maitai Valley road in search of a new swimming hole as a fierce and ferocious eel had been biting kids at our local swimming hole.
Winding along the dry and dusty gravel road he came across a bush beaten, old man holding out his thumb for a ride. The man was from Blenheim and came to meet his brother, in three days he walked through the bush, over Mt Fishtail down a ridge, to the Pelorus River, to Captain Creek Hut. From there over the Bryant Range and to the Dew Lakes, and finally down into the Maitai. It was slow going and there was lots of windfall were his comments as he requested a drop off at the Sprig & Fern to quench his thirst.
I remembered this story over the weekend as I stood on Dun Mountain and took in the vast expanse of land laid out at the base of Mt Fishtail, Mt Fell and Mt Richmond. There is always so much yet to explore in our "backyards" and I hope I’m still out and about in my later years…
Also I visited the Dun Shelter nestled against a bank on a tussocky plateau. It was very quaint from the outside, but I wouldn’t recommend picking it as a place to stay. A bit drafty, no mattress and suspicious holes in the floor and wall that I suspect were homes to rodents.
This painting is quite special, as it progresses it takes me back to the three-day, two-night summer adventure into the Mole Tops with the kids.
Our trip took us in via Watson Creek, heading into the Mole Tops before...
You may have recently heard of the wilding pine problems around the country. Unfortunately the Molesworth has a fair dosing of this problem, there's a few dotted around the flatlands but once you get into the highcountry it becomes more apparent in areas. Some of these infections are from past windbreaks, some are from the neighbouring Leatham and some are seeding from...
