Friday, February 24, 2006

Roaring Meg


Roaring Meg
Originally uploaded by goforchris.
According to legend, Roaring Meg was named after a red-haired barmaid who kept a hotel on the creek at this point, but it's more likely just the turbulent water flow which inspired the name of this torrent in the Kawarau River. We climbed up into the hills on the right of the gorge today - if you live in Dunoon, think Holy Trinity drive for almost two hours. This took us to a height of about 3,000', through forest and then above the treeline among thorn bushes and tiny briar roses, which were apparently introduced by the miners for a bit of colour and then spread wildly, rather like the rabbits they brought in for cheap food!

There are more pix of the dramatic road on Flickr, but what we couldn't reproduce was the wonderful birdsong we heard as we approached the upper limit of the trees. Friends later identified what we described as the Bell bird. Whatever it was, it had a glorious alto voice and sang a sixth, a third and then a perfect fourth - a bit Mahlerian, we thought. It was accompanied by a chorus of more ordinary, higher birdsong, and was sheer joy. We stood listening for ages till growing hunger pushed us on to find a good place to sit.

We finished the day welcomed once more into a New Zealand home for a meal and wide-ranging conversation with two local Cursillistas. It makes the difference between being a tourist and being a visitor, and we love it.

4 comments:

  1. Congrats! You have just inspired me for a composition due on monday. Wish I was there ;-)

    As for the frozen blog... I keep posting but it doesn't want to update until a few days later. Still learning. Hopefully all will become easier when I blog from a mac.

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  2. Ps - I have just figured out that if you type in the address then you will not get the updated version. However, if you go back to your posts in feb and hit the *Duffy* link, then the updated version should appear.

    What a fuss!

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  3. I take it we're talking music here, duffy? I shall expect a cut of the royalties, you know!

    Sunny and hot again, you'll all be glad to hear ....

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  4. indeed. When I'm rich and no longer a student, we can talk royalties!

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