1st day
of the winter officially. Fine and freezing day again. However, it was lucky to
have fine days in the rainy Southland region.
Started 8:00, but turned back to
Charlie's place after 10 minutes as having left food in the fridge. When getting out
from the farm to the State Highway, saw Charlie's father moving flock of sheep. Walked
down State Highway 10km to the south in the morning and took a short cut on an unsealed
road that Charlie told me on a half way.
Walked further 10km and arrived at
Nightcaps at 12:30. After lunch and shopping, walked the same State Highway 16km, and
arrived at Birchwood Station at 16:00 via Ohai. Paid $20 and settled down at a
hut of the farm.
Two hunters Simon and Arnold were staying with me. Simon the
son works as a forestry manager of Otago and Southland regions including
Takitimu mountains, and Arnold the father works for DOC in Kerikeri as a
Biodiversity ranger. They were here for wild pig hunting on Arnold's time off
from work. They gave me 8 x wild pig sausages and went out to a local pub for
dinner. Had half of sausages for dinner, and left rest for lunch next day. Had
a chat with them when they came back and went to bed at 23:00. Walked 36km,
8 hours.
ついに暦の上でも冬に入った。今日もまた快晴で、朝の冷え込みが厳しい。しかし雨の多いサウスランド地方で晴天が続くのは、幸運と言わねばならないだろう。
8:00に出発するも、10分後に、冷蔵庫に入れた食料を残してきてしまったことに気づき慌てて戻る。牧場から国道へ出る際、チャーリーの父親が羊の群れを移動させているのに遭遇した。午前中は昨日に引き続き国道を10km南下。途中からはチャーリーに教えられた未舗装の近道を通る。
さらに10km歩いてナイトキャップスに12:30着。買い物と昼食後、再び国道を16km歩き、オハイ経由で宿泊地のバーチウッド高原牧場に16:00頃到着した。$20払い牧場所有の小屋に荷を下ろす。
2人の猟師が同宿で、息子のサイモンはタキティム山脈を始め、オタゴ・サウスランド地方の植林の管理責任者、父親のアーノルドはケリケリのDOCの害獣駆除の責任者で、父親の休暇に野豚狩りに来ているらしい。2人は夕食時に近郊のパブへ出かけてしまったが、野豚の肉で作ったソーセージを8本ももらってしまい、夕食で食べきれないので半分は明日の昼食に回した。2人が戻った後しばらく雑談し23:00就寝。本日の歩行8時間、36km。
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