Monday, December 18, 2006
PUANGIRUA PINNACLES AND A GUY NAMED KENT
so it's the 15th of december, a friday and work has decided to let us go a few hours early today to have a little celebratory BBQ. so what do i do instead? flee in the opposite direction to go camping as fast as i can of course. so fast that i forget to pack any real food. packed somewhere amongst the supplies are a kilo of chocolate covered coffee beans, three power bars and 2 liters of water.
destination...the pinnacles. a location i first visited a few years back with mark and mona lia. one of the scenes in the LOTR flicks was filmed out here and it's easy to see why because the formations here are scream middle earth. i have been anxiously awaiting the moment when i could escape the monotony of city life and put to use the tent which my parents were kind enough to haul through their recent travels.
after a friday evening arrival, i set up camp and settle in with a little reading by head lamp in the tent. shortly after, i'm asleep. i had set the alarm clock to wake me at 5am because i wanted to hike back up into the pinnacles to catch the sunrise. amazingly, at what i come to know as 4:30am, i'm awakened by what i first imagine to be a video game being played on a cell phone. after hearing this for minutes on end without it ceasing, it dawns on me that perhaps that is a bird call that i'm not familiar with. i glance at the clock, sigh a giant relief then turn off the alarm and begin my day a half an hour earlier than planned.
after a grueling day hiking around the pinnacles patiently waiting for time lapse shots to do their thing while casually snacking on a breakfast of chocolate covered coffee beans i find myself back at camp by noon contemplating whether i'll survive the weekend on three powerbars and these coffee beans.
the decision that i needed other sustenance was finally made, so i packed up the things i didn't want stolen then headed back to the little Four Square store in Pirinoa which was roughly 15k back through the winding countryside. upon the return from the corner store, i stopped along the roadside just outside the entrance to the campground where i sat on the retaining wall staring out at the turquoise waters as i ate a bowl of muesli for lunch. this getaway was just what i needed.
the picture above is taken enroute to cape palliser which is further along from the pinnacles campground. the last shot in this sequence is what caught my eye and made me stop. does that not look like some of the imagery from KONG?
on the way out to cape palliser, i spotted a dead goat by the side of the road complete with little horns and all. (mental note: stop and film that on the way back)
by the time i got back from my road trip out to cape palliser, it was around 5pm. i did a little reading, took off the boots to let the little blood sucking insects have a taste and then started in on the preparation of this nasty creamy pasta in a bag. would have been better if i didn't misinterpret the directions and put in the butter instead of the 2 teaspoons of salt like i did. it went down all the same.
it was during this time that i noticed an influx of cars to the campground - four or five all told. one of the cars, parked up beyond me and contained a lone guy and his dog. this guy went about his business in crafting a HUGE fire and about 20 minutes after his arrival proceeded to walk over to my site to introduce himself. his name was kent, a quiet, soft spoken, dark skinned local kiwi with a mustache straight outta the village people era. i got stoopid chills instantly. after a small chat that went nowhere fast, he sidestepped his way into offering me an invite over to his fire later on whereby i quickly mentioned that i was a fair bit exhausted from the day's adventure which began at 4:30am and would most likely eat and crash - which i promptly did.
a few hours later - now 9pm (kiwi kent is nowhere to be found), the winds had kicked up substantially ... so much so that the tent was taking a beating and creating such a ruckus that i couldn't get any further rest. i decided it was time to pack up and call it a weekend a little early. upon packing up the tent, i noticed it did in fact take a serious beating from the wind. the straight aluminum sticks that snap together to form the crossbeams that hold the tent up were extremely bent. kind of bummed to see the bent pieces, but kind of happy to see the tent withstood those intense blasts - all is not lost.
as i fled the campground and watched the sun duck behind the horizon on this day, i couldn't help but reflect on what a bizarre little getaway it has been. guys named kent, dead goats, crazy sounding birds, lack of preparation...oh, and don't let me forget the other animal troubles to round out this whole scenario of whackiness.
first there were the sheep...a giant flock of sheep which were being herded into another paddock - which just happened to be across the street. as i was driving down this little two lane country road, i noticed this movement to my right. when i focused on the activity, i realized it was the beginning of a mass exodus pushing through an open gate only 20 or 30 feet from my car as i sped past at easily 80kph. mere seconds later, due to the hundreds of sheep, the road was an impasse. that could have been extremely ugly had i been 10 seconds slower on my arrival.
i wasn't so lucky on my departure as it turns out. driving back down what i would guess to be that very same patch of road later the next night, some kind of critter (could have been lamb, could have been rabbit, could have been oppossum...if i had to guess, i'd say rabbit...a big rabbit) bounded out from the side of the road far too fast and far too close to my vehicle for me to do much to avoid the impending bone crunching outcome. yes, i ran over something rather seriously at easily 60kph. it was an ugly thing to live through and no i didn't stop. i felt kind of nauseas for a few minutes after the incident as i carefully considered what had just transpired. i had always wondered who was responsible for the various roadkill i always see everywhere; now i'm one of those responsible.
on the lighter and happier side of things, i've had three separate people/couples get in touch from couchsurfing.com to request the surfing of my couch over the next month. should be cool...keep ya posted. host a surfer, it's fun!
so it's the 15th of december, a friday and work has decided to let us go a few hours early today to have a little celebratory BBQ. so what do i do instead? flee in the opposite direction to go camping as fast as i can of course. so fast that i forget to pack any real food. packed somewhere amongst the supplies are a kilo of chocolate covered coffee beans, three power bars and 2 liters of water.
destination...the pinnacles. a location i first visited a few years back with mark and mona lia. one of the scenes in the LOTR flicks was filmed out here and it's easy to see why because the formations here are scream middle earth. i have been anxiously awaiting the moment when i could escape the monotony of city life and put to use the tent which my parents were kind enough to haul through their recent travels.
after a friday evening arrival, i set up camp and settle in with a little reading by head lamp in the tent. shortly after, i'm asleep. i had set the alarm clock to wake me at 5am because i wanted to hike back up into the pinnacles to catch the sunrise. amazingly, at what i come to know as 4:30am, i'm awakened by what i first imagine to be a video game being played on a cell phone. after hearing this for minutes on end without it ceasing, it dawns on me that perhaps that is a bird call that i'm not familiar with. i glance at the clock, sigh a giant relief then turn off the alarm and begin my day a half an hour earlier than planned.
after a grueling day hiking around the pinnacles patiently waiting for time lapse shots to do their thing while casually snacking on a breakfast of chocolate covered coffee beans i find myself back at camp by noon contemplating whether i'll survive the weekend on three powerbars and these coffee beans.
the decision that i needed other sustenance was finally made, so i packed up the things i didn't want stolen then headed back to the little Four Square store in Pirinoa which was roughly 15k back through the winding countryside. upon the return from the corner store, i stopped along the roadside just outside the entrance to the campground where i sat on the retaining wall staring out at the turquoise waters as i ate a bowl of muesli for lunch. this getaway was just what i needed.
the picture above is taken enroute to cape palliser which is further along from the pinnacles campground. the last shot in this sequence is what caught my eye and made me stop. does that not look like some of the imagery from KONG?
on the way out to cape palliser, i spotted a dead goat by the side of the road complete with little horns and all. (mental note: stop and film that on the way back)
by the time i got back from my road trip out to cape palliser, it was around 5pm. i did a little reading, took off the boots to let the little blood sucking insects have a taste and then started in on the preparation of this nasty creamy pasta in a bag. would have been better if i didn't misinterpret the directions and put in the butter instead of the 2 teaspoons of salt like i did. it went down all the same.
it was during this time that i noticed an influx of cars to the campground - four or five all told. one of the cars, parked up beyond me and contained a lone guy and his dog. this guy went about his business in crafting a HUGE fire and about 20 minutes after his arrival proceeded to walk over to my site to introduce himself. his name was kent, a quiet, soft spoken, dark skinned local kiwi with a mustache straight outta the village people era. i got stoopid chills instantly. after a small chat that went nowhere fast, he sidestepped his way into offering me an invite over to his fire later on whereby i quickly mentioned that i was a fair bit exhausted from the day's adventure which began at 4:30am and would most likely eat and crash - which i promptly did.
a few hours later - now 9pm (kiwi kent is nowhere to be found), the winds had kicked up substantially ... so much so that the tent was taking a beating and creating such a ruckus that i couldn't get any further rest. i decided it was time to pack up and call it a weekend a little early. upon packing up the tent, i noticed it did in fact take a serious beating from the wind. the straight aluminum sticks that snap together to form the crossbeams that hold the tent up were extremely bent. kind of bummed to see the bent pieces, but kind of happy to see the tent withstood those intense blasts - all is not lost.
as i fled the campground and watched the sun duck behind the horizon on this day, i couldn't help but reflect on what a bizarre little getaway it has been. guys named kent, dead goats, crazy sounding birds, lack of preparation...oh, and don't let me forget the other animal troubles to round out this whole scenario of whackiness.
first there were the sheep...a giant flock of sheep which were being herded into another paddock - which just happened to be across the street. as i was driving down this little two lane country road, i noticed this movement to my right. when i focused on the activity, i realized it was the beginning of a mass exodus pushing through an open gate only 20 or 30 feet from my car as i sped past at easily 80kph. mere seconds later, due to the hundreds of sheep, the road was an impasse. that could have been extremely ugly had i been 10 seconds slower on my arrival.
i wasn't so lucky on my departure as it turns out. driving back down what i would guess to be that very same patch of road later the next night, some kind of critter (could have been lamb, could have been rabbit, could have been oppossum...if i had to guess, i'd say rabbit...a big rabbit) bounded out from the side of the road far too fast and far too close to my vehicle for me to do much to avoid the impending bone crunching outcome. yes, i ran over something rather seriously at easily 60kph. it was an ugly thing to live through and no i didn't stop. i felt kind of nauseas for a few minutes after the incident as i carefully considered what had just transpired. i had always wondered who was responsible for the various roadkill i always see everywhere; now i'm one of those responsible.
on the lighter and happier side of things, i've had three separate people/couples get in touch from couchsurfing.com to request the surfing of my couch over the next month. should be cool...keep ya posted. host a surfer, it's fun!