Today we got a bit lost. Well no - the trail got lost. We're using a wee book of local walks by someone who reputedly has lived here for 30 years, but we have a sneaking suspicion that he is now living out his twilight years in a rest home far away and has concocted the walks from memory. (He does say in his intro "the publisher and author hold no responsibility for any accident or misfortune that may occur during [the book's] use".)
Ok - we didn't have an accident or even a misfortune. The trail simply vanished in a sea of dust where apparently the local yoof go to wreck their (or someone else's) old cars. But we did see some lovely sights along the way - not the least this old rail bridge, now the start of a rail trail for walkers and cyclists. There was another wonderful bridge over the Manuherikia River - made me feel a bit Harrison Fordish as I swayed my way over it. We crossed a bit of open ground called "Linger and Die" - apparently and aborted deep lead mining venture which filled with water at a depth of 10 metres. We never made it up to the clock on the hill above Alexandra, but took some pix of the town as we staggered back to the car.
Actually it was in Alex that we suddenly felt very far from home. It's about 33k from Cromwell, where we now feel quite settled. But this silent town under the bright sun .. the signs were creaking in the breeze like a Western, so that we expected some gunslinger to step out into the street at any moment. You'll see the pix on Flickr, and I may post some more tomorrow.
Today was a day of startling brilliance. The sky had barely a cloud throughout and the sun was fierce. Any movement along the trail raised a puff of dust. I find it hard to thing that in just over a week we'll be in the green-ness of home.
To say nothing of the rain.....
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