Misty cloud hung around the southern Ruahine today, hiding the tops, lingering in the lower gullies, suffusing the land with mystery and possibility. Even as low down as my place, intermittent drizzly rain kept everything sodden, and I knew a walk up the No. 1 Line track would mean a long, slippery climb in the rain. I hadn't been up there for a fortnight, though, and that felt like an age. I prepared for rain and drove to the carpark.
The bottom two thirds of the track had been cleared since I'd last walked it. A professional job—DOC contractors, probably. They might have been there yesterday and might be back to finish the job on Monday. I had mixed feelings about the new highway but had to concede it made the walking easier.
At the top I sheltered on the track behind the seat, out of the worst of the gale. Down in the valley the wind hadn't even been noticeable. I decided not to brew tea and instead ate the walnut-and-raisin roll and scribbled a few notes, trying to shelter the little notebook from the drizzle, then packed up and picked my way back down the slithery track to the car. Not the best of days, weatherwise, but a satisfying walk. By the time I started down the road, evening had arrived. I stopped partway down the road, wound down the passenger wind and photographed this. It's a fair impression of the weather.
All content © 2015 Pete McGregor
An image that absolutely captures this late-winter weekend - the light, the soft rain, and bleak, bare stalks. I did smile, though, at your description of DOC's clearing of the track as a 'highway' - which conjured up in my mind a four lane motorway and trucks whizzing up and down the line.
ReplyDeleteStay warm and dry, my friend.
Opened this and all I could think was
ReplyDelete"oh"
That's all. That's everything.
Lisa, nothing was whizzing up or down that highway, least of all me ;-) Earlier today the weather here wasn't too bad and I thought about returning and maybe brewing some tea up there this time, but by the time I'd begun to think about getting ready the showers had set in again. I stayed here, warm and dry :-)
ReplyDeleteZhoen, it's nice to think a photograph can have such an impact. The next one, shortly afterwards, has a very different feel, and if it, too, elicits an 'oh', I suspect it'll be a very different kind of 'oh'. (It's scheduled for tomorrow evening.)