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Sprechen Sie Schweizerdeutsch?Heaphy Hut has a mown lawn about 50 metres or so long and the same wide, leading down to the beach. Louise is in the process of mowing it with what must be the strangest looking lawnmower I have ever seem, with two great wheels on it almost 600mm across and a huge noisy engine. I somehow miss getting a picture of it. Maybe putting the kettle on was more important at the time. Right now it's being grazed by a bunch of paradise duck.
Carol and Miranda emerge from the track and we organise some lunch before heading down to the river for a looksee.
Louise was certainly right about the heavy rain a few weeks back. You can still see the difference it's made to the normal beach level.
Waves are another subject that is hard to capture. On the surface there's not a lot to differentiate this from a stormy day at Rimmers at home. until you look at the wet beach above the average water line. This is a calm day, and still it is producing the odd roller that sweeps right up the beach, long past where you'd expect it. The water is full of rips and undertows that make swimming here hazardous in the extreme. (A bit like the beach at Napier.)
Among the debris and driftwood is a dead DOC bridge plank - probably a bit worn to be from the last floods - but one thing's certain, there is no shortage of firewood.
I find a quiet spot a bit further up the river and have a splash bath - fairly icy, but welcome, nevertheless, and head back up to the hut. One of the nice things about the Heaphy hut is that there are screens on the windows. Only a few sandflies.
A bunch of Swiss have arrived and are conversing in Swiss German at a volume audible 30m away, and continue to do so despite all being in the same room and despite the fact that I lie down on my sleeping bag for a nap. There's not even a pause for a greeting or a look in my direction as I come into the room. All I can think is thank God they're not into yodelling. I wonder to myself how the Swiss have remained out of scraps for so many years. Louise drops by to check hut passes and hang out for a while.
I wander round and read some of the information posted here and there. Some of it is truly strange in this context, like this advice, for example, on what to do if one suspects 1080 poisoning: I'd be interested in something more practical. There is no nearest doctor, or hospital, there is no telephone coverage, there is no mail service.
Outside the sun is getting lower and people are gathering down at the beach to watch the sunset. Tonight is not one of the great ones, but still pretty special. Early to bed. Tomorrow is the last day and none of us wants it to end.
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