It’s a Small World

We woke up to a beautiful day and a big breakfast by Camille. Something about the way we flew around the world completely eliminated jet leg, so that’s been a happy surprise. Zach has been working at a farm nearby helping with harvest. It’s usually wet in the mornings so today they didn’t get going till 3:00 pm. That gave us just enough time to drive to Mt Hutt and enjoy open day on the ski slope. One day in the summer they run the lift for sightseers and bikers and it happened to be today. It was also a gorgeously clear day, so that was perfect.

We piled into our rental van with its bald tires and big windows and rocked our way up the mountain. Lots of vehicles were headed up, plenty with bikes hanging on their racks. Mt Hutt itself is quite barren, but you could see lush greenery deeper in the mountains with streams cascading down. Something about this place looks like a fairy garden. I haven’t seen such landscape combinations anywhere before. It’s truly exotic. The most surprising thing is hearing dozens of songbirds and not recognizing a single song. We reached the ski area and chair lift before the crowds. In fact, we followed the ambulance up. With bikes roaring down the ski slopes, I guess they need medics right on sight. I was quite hopeful we’d see a good wipeout, I mean, I wouldn’t actually wish it on anyone, but if there’s gonna be one anyway I’d just as soon be there. Awful. But no such luck. Some bikes did come ripping down at an amazing clip, but they all aced the jumps, wheelies and whatever else cool things they attempted. Some were fierce caution and just crept down the hill, looking for all the world like they hated every second of it.

We rode the chairlift to the top where we spent some time slack jawed at the vista’s spread out below us. We could see the snowy peak of Mt. Cook, the Rakaia Gorge with its brilliant blue river, the whole Canterbury Region with its neat farms and sheep, and way, way out to the vast sea beyond. Truly stunning.

After drinking in our fill, we rode the lift back down and turned the van back towards Methven. We were almost down the mountain when Heath suddenly stopped and said “I think I have a flat tire, leap out and see”. Sure enough. Flatter than a pancake and twice as stinky. It absolutely reeked like hot rubber and generally tortured wheel. As Zach and Heath are both highly capable, or maybe cause they both spent time in Africa, it only took a few minutes for them to jam rocks against the functional tires, jack up the van and put on the nearly flat donut spare. Just long enough for Camille and I to do some swift exploring in the woods and find the most beautiful red spotted mushrooms. Storybook stuff for sure! They were big and perfect and very poisonous.

As we slowly eased our way home, Heath called AutoUnion, our rental car company to ask how to do with getting a new tire. There followed a strange conversation wherein the dude from the office said that it was our responsibility to buy new tires for the van, that Heath didn’t know they had been bald cause he wasn’t “an expert” and that we were “wasting his time with this”. Totally astonishing customer service. I will insert here that this guy was obviously not a born and bred Kiwi. We have found the typical New Zealander to be incredibly friendly and polite. Naw, this was someone of a different nationality that I know and won’t name. Regardless, it was half funny, half maddening. To make a long story short, Heath got a hold of a higher up individual who was much more helpful and it should all be ok. Unfortunately it happened around noon on Saturday, and that’s about when the last of the tyre shops close for the weekend. But we still have Zach’s little golf to roar around in when he’s not at work, and we have legs too.

We got home in time for lunch and ate leftovers from meals past. The guys headed into town for I’m not even sure what while us girls napped and read. Sheer bliss. When Zach had to leave for work, the remaining party headed out on a walk that ended up being about 5 miles. Methven is a quaint little town with lots of restaurants and pubs and random little shops. It’s apparently quite a winter destination, what with the ski slope and some highly rated thermal pools. One interesting thing here is all the barefoot people strolling around. That business of no shirt, no shoes, no service simply wouldn’t work. You can totally do your grocery shopping barefoot. I can appreciate that. Our walk took us through the main part of town and then down a path along a canal. They plant gardens along quite a few of the canals here, and it’s just gorgeous. Tall pampas grasses, assorted shrubs and bushes, I don’t even know what all it is, but it looks like a well cared for perennial garden. The water was flowing quite swiftly, creating music as we walked. At home in SD, a 5 mile walk is pretty painful. Here, I thought we’d maybe gone a mile and a half, only to find out it was five. The evening was spent eating tacos and sitting by the fire in the living room. Truly a peaceful holiday. If you don’t think about luggage mixups and traitorous tyres.