Chapter Two: Meeting the Mulligory
It could not be denied. It was an absolutely stunning view. The beach out from St. Andrews was nothing short of beauty personified. The deep blue waves of the Pacific Ocean were steadily rolling in, and almost sluggishly breaking onto the crystal white sands of the beach. The mighty ocean was in a lazy mood, unhurriedly taking its time with its ebbs and flows.
‘Hey, that was a good spot!’ yelled Sandy, looking backwards.
‘Sorry, mate, I was too busy admiring the beautiful blue water of the sea. I think I was bit a mesmerised. Let’s head back.’
Matt slowed the van and looked for an incline by the side of the road. At a suitable spot he abruptly turned off the road, and ran up a slightly grassy embankment, then he put the van in neutral, and gently guided it down backwards, spinning the steering wheel to get the van facing the opposite direction. With the manoeuvre completed, he engaged second gear and proceeded to return along the road from where they had come.
‘My God!’ laughed Sandy ecstatically. ‘You really have turned that into an art form. I must admit to having had some doubts about the possibility of getting around the South Island in a van with no reverse gear. No more. Those doubts have been formerly expelled. You have enlightened me.’
Matt laughed, he was really starting to enjoy laughing. It seemed like he hadn’t felt so free in a long time. All burdens and weights had been lifted from him.
‘Yeah, actually I’m starting to wonder if vehicles really do need reverse gear. Maybe it should be available only as an option? Plus, New Zealand is anything but a flat country, so there is always somewhere to drive up, and roll back down. This is the country that has made reverse gear redundant. Hey, I see the place you mean. Good spot, man.’
Matt pulled into the off-road parking bay, complete with picnic tables. The two of them got out of the van.
‘So, what’s for lunch. I’m starving.’
‘You’re gonna love this. Mulligory stew, my friend. The vegetarian version of an old Irish recipe. Handed down from generation to generation. Enhanced and refined by each bearer of its delicate composition.’
‘I like it already. What can I do to help?’
Matt carried a box of vegetables he had taken from the back of the van, and placed it on the picnic table.
‘OK, chop up an onion to start with, while I get a fire going. Then you can peel a couple of spuds, and two carrots. Then cut them up into little pieces.’
Sandy got busy with the task at hand while Matt searched for some dry twigs, and some rocks, to set up a cooking pit. He made a small circle with the rocks, scrunched up a piece of newspaper, which he then covered with the twigs. He lit the paper, and as the twigs started to burn, he place a metal grill across the rocks. Sandy looked on in admiration.
‘Bit of a boy scout are we?’
‘You, young man, don’t know how lucky you are.’
‘I think I’m about to find out.’ laughed Sandy.
When the twigs were burning well, Matt placed a billycan, the size of a small pot, onto the grill. He tipped in a small quantity of cooking oil, and threw in the cut onion. Within seconds the onion was frying up well. Matt added a little salt, some ground black pepper, and a generous quantity of curry powder. He mixed it all together with the frying onion pieces. While the two of them were busy working away at their various tasks Sandy sneaked a few glances at his friend. Matt’s hair was a bit shorter, but still longish, and pretty untamed. The beard of old had been replaced with the new unshaven look, but there was something intriguingly new about Matt, apart from those minor changes. His captivating blue eyes were as piercing as ever, but there was something Sandy couldn’t really put his finger on. Then it came to him. There had been a growth in his self-assurance, something akin to more maturity, even though barely a couple of years had past since they had last met. Matt hadn’t lost his youthful playfulness or his great sense of humour, and he certainly hadn’t lost his love of being outside of society’s bounds, but he had bloomed a lot. Even though, in reality he was still only in his early twenties. Sandy liked the way Matt had broken out, it looked good on him.
‘Ready with the spuds?’
‘Yeah, and just about got the carrots ready, too.’
‘Nice one, me old china. Here,’ Matt handed a small cabbage to Sandy, ‘get this fella chopped up. Small pieces.’
Matt tipped in the potatoes, and carrots, and let it all fry with the onions for a couple of minutes. Then he added some water, just enough to barely cover half the contents of the pot. As soon as the cabbage was chopped up he threw it into the pot, and then put the lid on.
‘Are you going to mix it all together?’ asked Sandy, looking on with interest.
‘Yup, but first I’m gonna let the steam slowly cook everything through. I’ve just got to keep the fire going at the right rate of knots, not too hot, it’s all about maintaining the perfect temperature. Pay close attention, you may learn something. Hey, listen, I’ve only got water to drink, sorry man, we’ll get organised with some cold beers later on.’
‘Well, after last night’s bash water is just what the doctor ordered. I definitely drank far too much wine last night. It was nice, though. A white wine from Marlborough, they said, but I don’t really remember where they said that is.’
‘Right up the top of the island. That’s the area around where the ferry from Wellington docks.’
‘Far out! I’ve heard it’s really nice there.’
‘Yeah, the ferry trip across the Cook Straight is a must do. It weaves its way around a lot of small islands, before docking in Picton.’
‘Is that on the list?
‘The list? To be honest, there isn’t really much of anything planned, except for heading down to Dunedin first. Hey, it’s officially on the list.’
Matt lifted the lid off the pot, and stirred together all the ingredients.
‘OK, get the plates ready, she’s a goer.’
Sandy grabbed two metal plates which he held out while Matt spooned the veggie stew onto them, trying to give equal portions. On the table Sandy had already prepared two metal mugs full of water. Matt bowed, and swung his arm in an arc like the maitre d’ of a fine dining establishment.
‘At your service, Monsieur. Get stuck in, man. Mulligory stew.’
Without further ado the two of them tucked into the fine fare.
Sandy, after sampling the vegetarian dish, nodded his head.
‘Really nice, Matt. Everything is cooked well, and the curry gives it a nice tingle.’
‘I don’t cook much, but what I do, I do it well.’
They both laughed.
‘So why is Dunedin on the newly formed list?’
‘I’ve got a good friend down there, Felicity. She’s sort of an on-again off-again girlfriend. I met up with her over in Aus, actually up in Kuranda, on one of my various excursions there. She stopped off and stayed with me for a few days when I was up in Nelson last year. Anyway, she’s living in Dunedin now, so while we are on our trip I would love to take the opportunity to look her up. Plus, Dunedin is a really nice town. Really interesting architecture. That was where the Scottish immigrants settled, so the buildings are all sort of colonial Scottish, instead of the usual New Zealand style of colonial English. You’ll love it.’
‘Will she mind you bringing me along?’
‘Naah! No problems.’
Sandy looked at his friend slightly sceptically. He didn’t really like being placed in the role of the unannounced guest. Still, if there were bad vibes he could always find a cheap guest house to stay in.
‘Good lunch, Matt. I loved it.’
‘Well, I’m glad to hear that. Get used to it. It’s gonna be a regular event.’
‘Fine by me.’ replied Sandy, not realising just how regular a meal it was in reality going to turn out to be.
‘Listen, I’ve got a couple of ten-litre water containers in the van. We can use them for drinking, cooking, and washing up. We’ve got to remember to fill them up, whenever we see some fresh water, OK?’
‘I’m on it. That will be my job.’
‘Good lad. I was hoping you’d volunteer. Let’s clean this lot up, and go and have a better look at that beach.’
‘Now you’re talking.’
After quickly completing all washing up operations the two friends crossed the road, and walked up the low grassy sand dune to get to the beach. From the top of the dune both of them stopped, and took in the outstanding view in front of them. Before them lay a long dark blue ocean, quietly lapping onto a totally empty beach.
‘Well, my son, welcome to New Zealand.’
‘Thank you, kind fellow, it’s a pleasure to be here.’
They both sat down to better take in the wondrous panorama.
‘Hey Sandy, how is your sister? We had a nice time at her place, back whenever it was. She was really nice.’
‘She’s fine, another baby on the way. She’s really happy with her life.’
‘Nice house she’s got. What’s that place called? Newtown Gully?’
‘Newtown Gully? Where the hell did you get that from? It’s just called Newtown.’
‘Really? Well, there was sort of a gully there. Maybe they should divide the suburb into Newtown Heights, and Newtown Gully? You know, the high end of town, and the slums, where the poor folks live.’
‘Listen, Matt. Leave that with me, and I will run it by the mayor of Sydney the next time I bump into him.’
‘Tell you what. Feel free to pass it off as your idea.’
They both laughed.
‘Oh, I will do that alright, don’t you worry.’
Matt looked out at the enticing flow of the lazy waves rolling in.
‘You know, I’m actually pretty tempted to get in that water. It looks somewhat irresistible.’
Matt loved swimming. Sandy was rather less tempted.
‘Good luck on that one. This morning when I got up I think it was around 4 degrees.’
‘Yeah, but it’s probably up near 12 to 14 now, so that could be doable. Obviously not for a soft Aussie, of course.’
‘You can put big money on that one.’
Matt wasn’t to be deterred.
‘I’ll see you in there.’
Matt raced back to the van and grabbed a towel. To warm himself up a bit he ran back over the road, over the dune, and down onto the beach. In a flash he had divested himself of his clothes, and ran naked into the icy cold water of the deep southern Pacific Ocean. From the beach Sandy could hear all sorts of wild screams. It wasn’t immediately apparent whether they were screams of joy, or pain. Probably a bit of both, he thought to himself. Within the shortest of times Matt was back on the beach, wrapped up in his towel, shivering, and laughing. Sandy wandered down to join him.
‘I think I’ve just witnessed the shortest swim in the history of mankind.’
Sandy was laughing at the sight of Matt’s obviously distressed state.
‘Short, but effective, my friend. That was absolutely fantastic! You’ve no idea how invigorating it was.’
‘And I never will. Normal people don’t go swimming when it’s not even ten degrees.’
‘Hey I like that, man, coming from you. You exited out of the category of ‘normal people’ quite some time ago.’
Sandy laughed.
‘True enough Matt. I should have said sensible people.’
Matt laughed, as he finished drying himself.
‘I’ve never been accused of being particularly sensible, so I will take that as a compliment.’
Matt let the towel fall to the sand, raised his face, and arms, to the warming sun.
‘Apollo, let your rays of kindness flow through me!’
Sandy laughed.
‘Something tells me this is gonna be a good trip.’
‘Come on, man, let’s get back on the road.’
Matt got dressed, and wandered back to the van, with Sandy lingering behind, taking one last look at the spectacular view, before he too walked back across the road to the van.
Sandy eagerly checked out the back of the van.
‘I didn’t really look too closely when you picked me up, I think I was still a bit drunk from last night, but you’ve really decked the van out well. I’m impressed. How did you manage to get two mattresses in there? I can’t believe it.’
‘Well, this is actually what they call the ‘long wheel base version’, or something like that, so it’s quite spacious inside. I found this short mattress to lay sideways across the front, and then a normal sized mattress going lengthways behind it. All the other stuff we just put on the front seats when it’s time to sleep. Hey, guess who gets the short mattress?’
Sandy smiled coyly.
‘I don’t know. Toss a coin for it?’
Matt slapped him on the shoulder.
‘Perfect! Good idea. Actually that’s what I thought too, so I tossed that coin, just the other day. Guess what? You lost. Anyway, you’re shorter than me.’
‘Yeah, by about half an inch, or so.’
‘Yup, bummer that half an inch, eh?’
Matt looked up at the sky.
‘You know, it’s gonna be sunset in a couple of hours. I think on this trip we will be pretty much living by the light of day. I have some candles, but essentially I think we should follow the sun’s cycle.’
‘Sounds good to me.’
‘Although, that said, I would really like to find a pub, and down a couple of cold ones, before hitting the sack.’
‘I am definitely in on that, Matt. Lead the way.’
‘Let’s shoot off down the road, and see what we find. By the way, no farting in the van, please. Snoring I can handle, but I have my limits.’
‘Actually snoring is well over my limit.’
‘Oops…’
‘Matt! You’re kidding me right? You haven’t become a bloody snorer, have you?’
Matt assumed the most innocent looking face he could muster up.
‘Of course not.’
The two of them laughed wildly.
‘Maybe I will sleep out under the stars.’
‘Your option, man. What did you say the temperature was this morning?’
The laughter was contagious.
‘I am stuffed. How did I ever let you talk me into this trip?’
‘Actually, Sandy, I thought you talked me into it.’
‘Fire up the van, young man, take me to exotic new places.’
Matt engaged second gear.
‘Your wish is my command.’
The chatter continued as the battered old white Commer van churned out the kilometres. When they were in sight of the ocean the water was of the darkest, most intense shade of blue, with the late winter sun reflecting sharply off the lazily moving waves. When the road took them away from the coast, the surrounding bush, and farmland, was of the most vivid green. Sandy, more used to the brownish hues of his homeland was completely blown away.
‘My God! The colours here are incredible. I think I’m going to take up painting. There is just such an intensity to it all, merely taking photos wouldn’t do it justice.’
‘Yeah, you know, New Zealand really has a shade of green that you can only find here. I guess it’s all a bit new for you, coming from the sunburnt country.’
‘Man, you can say that again.’ Sandy pointed further down the road. ‘Hey look, there’s a pub, and it actually looks pretty packed.’
Matt looked at the two story wooden structure, surrounded by tall trees on one side, and a full car park on the other.
‘I wonder what’s going on. It’s pretty early for people to be on the booze. Well, us excluded, of course. I meant normal people.’
As Matt slowed down, and searched for a place where the van wouldn’t get blocked in, the sounds of rock music wafted out over the car park. Sandy was instantly enthused.
‘What a classic, Matt, there’s a band playing. How did you manage that? This is some tour you’ve planned.’
‘I phoned ahead yesterday. I told them my Aussie mate was on the prowl, and to see what they could organise. Tomorrow the mayor of Dunedin will be expecting us, to give you the keys to the city. We know how to look after tourists here, boy!’
The two of them were laughing as they got out of the van.
‘That’s exactly the treatment I was expecting. Keep up the good work.’
As they entered the pub, the noise level went through the roof. There were no spare tables, and little room even for standing. They both pushed their way across the room to the bar. Having to virtually yell at the barman, they ordered a couple of beers. With their drinks in hand, they navigated their way through the throngs of noisy partygoers around to the back of the room, looking for an empty spot.
‘Here, this will do us.’ yelled Sandy.
They both leaned up against the back wall of the room, and took in the scene. Obviously the event was well under way, as a lot of the customers looked like they had already consumed more than their fair share of alcohol. Conversation was limited by the loud strains of the hard rock being played more than efficiently by the band on the stage over to the left side of the bar. The two of them limited themselves to facial expressions, and the occasional yelled comment, usually lost to the recipient. As the beer flowed, the music just seemed to get better and better. In turns they fought their way to the bar to replenish their drinks. Sandy, on one of his beer runs, somehow managed to get talking to a rather pretty girl, with long dark hair, who was also waiting her turn to be served at the bar. Matt couldn’t fathom how they could manage to chat, the noise level was so high, but manage it they did. Shortly thereafter Sandy returned with just one beer in hand, which he promptly handed to Matt, yelled something completely unintelligible, and then disappeared into the crowd dancing in front of the band. Matt assumed that there was also a long-haired girl somewhere in there as well. Matt had never understood how he did it, but Sandy seemed to have a sort of magnetism about him which drew women, and usually good looking ones, to him. Even if the possibility arose, Matt couldn’t be bothered with having to go through the yelling things backwards and forwards scenario of a possible conversation, things that would be almost certainly lost in the thundering racket of the music. It all seemed like far too much work. He was content to just kick back, sup on his beer, and listen to the rather pleasant music. He felt totally unshackled. It felt good to be in a situation with no plans, no commitments, no schedule to follow. There would be no rules to govern his day. The road would be their guide.
By the time Sandy eventually reappeared Matt had already made a couple more booze runs. Sandy pointed to his wrist, where his watch would have been, if he had had one, and gestured with his head to leave. Matt nodded in agreement, finished his beer, and they both headed for the door. They exited into the dark of night, a coldness in the air had set in.
‘They certainly know how to live down south.’ said Sandy.
‘It looks like you do, too. You seem to have adapted pretty well. How did you get on with that bird?’
Sandy laughed.
‘I’ve got her phone number, or anyway, someone’s phone number. There was a bit of a story attached to just whose number it actually was, but I couldn’t really hear all the details. Not that it matters anyway, we will be long gone tomorrow, so…’
‘So at least one of our pure Kiwi girls will be spared from being defiled by an insatiable Aussie predator.’
‘Well that’s a bit of a harsh interpretation of what is merely considered to be the dating game.’
‘I sincerely hope that I haven’t insulted your good reputation, my dear fellow.’
Sandy pulled the grumpiest face he was capable of, as they jumped into the van.
‘Let’s have no more talk like that, my jealous friend.’
‘Uh-huh.’
They both looked at each other, smiling heartily.
‘There was a ‘Happy Birthday’ banner sellotaped to the side of the bar. Did you see it? Apparently she is a friend of whoever’s birthday it is.’
‘Yeah, I did. That’s always a good excuse for a party. And for a couple of gate-crashers like us. Well, let’s look for a place to park up for the night. Do we need to find something to eat, as well?’
‘Not for me, Matt, I’m not really that hungry. After that exquisite lunch, and a few beers, I could easily do with just hitting the sack. I’m worn out.’
‘To be honest, I’m pretty right myself. Let’s just find a good spot, and in the morning we will look for a place for a good fry-up.’
Sandy laughed.
‘A fry-up? Are you kidding me?’
‘Well, then, we’ll look for a place that does bacon and eggs for me, and muesli and fruit salad for you. Deal?’
Sandy’s only reply was to laugh. His evening’s success had left him in a good mood.
‘There are plenty of roads going down to the beach,’ said Matt, ‘Let’s just go down one of them, and park up in a beach car park.’
‘Drive on, my man.’
Matt turned down a narrow road with a sign saying merely, but rather succinctly, ‘To Beach’, and continued on to the car park. As he reached the rather small car park he swung the van wide, and then turned sharply, spinning the wheels in the sand, to get the van facing back towards the entranceway. Once he was in the right position, he braked sharply, bringing the van to a standstill.
‘Whoa! Hey, thanks for the warning!’
Sandy had almost been thrown from his seat by the sharp manoeuvre.
‘Dude, you will be thanking me in the morning. Pushing this van backwards through sand is definitely the worst gig going.’
‘I think I’m getting an idea of what this trip is going to be like.’
‘Hey listen, Mulligory stew, stunning beaches, a live band with a long-haired beauty thrown in for good measure, and this is just day one. What have you got to moan about?’
‘Yeah, when you put it that way, you’re right. No complaints here.’ said Sandy, smiling contentedly.
‘OK, let’s put as much of this shit as we can on the front seats, and get as much free space as possible for sleeping.’
The two of them got down to work, and transferred all their various backpacks, cartons of food, water containers etc. onto the front seats, and got out their sleeping bags, which they each laid out on their respective mattresses.
‘Have you got enough legroom Sandy?’
‘Actually I have, if I lay sideways across the mattress. What about you?’
‘Like a bloody king.’
‘I’m still pretty tired from last night, so I’m good and ready to crash.’
‘Well, you certainly need to get as much beauty sleep as possible, that’s for sure.’
The last sounds of the day in the van were those of the two of them chuckling.
The first light of the new day glared into the inner recesses of the van, having been reborn as a camper. However, that rebirth had really only involved little more than the throwing in of a couple of mattresses, so the lack of curtains meant that sleeping in much after the arrival of the first rays of the sun would be arduous, if not indeed impossible. First up was Sandy, who slid open the sliding side door, and, wrapped in his unzipped sleeping bag, stepped out into the early morning glare. Shortly after him came Matt, who had put on a jumper, and was zipping up his jacket.
‘A bit colder than Sydney in the morning, huh?’
‘A bit? You’re fucking kidding! It’s freezing.’
‘Actually I was debating whether to have an early morning swim or not.’
Sandy laughed.
‘I assume it was a pretty short debate?’
Matt also laughed.
‘Yeah, in truth it was little more than a fleeting thought. I might wait for the afternoon sun for that.’
The two of them stood looking along the totally deserted beach.
‘Nice place, this country of yours Matt.’
‘You haven’t seen anything yet.’
‘Well, what I have seen, I like. What’s for breakfast. I’m starving.’
‘Yeah, me too. First place we come across will do, what do you say?’
‘I say get the van fired up.’
‘First I’m gonna wash my face, and brush my teeth. I’ve still got the taste of beer in my mouth.’
‘Go easy on that water. I’m in charge of filling it up, remember?’
Matt shook his head, laughing.
‘I just knew I picked the wrong man for the wrong job.’
With much yawning and stretching the two of them prepared themselves, and the van, for the coming day’s requirements. Within short order Matt had the van cruising back out towards State Highway 1, and then turned left, in the direction of Dunedin. After a brief excursion inland, out of sight of the sea, they found themselves back along the coast.
‘Shit, it’s really nice here, Matt. Not a lot of places to eat at, though.’
‘No, the South Island is pretty deserted. It really does need some more coffee shops. I guess out here, in these areas, there just aren’t enough people to justify that.’
‘Hey, turn left here!’ yelled Sandy, pointing ahead in a somewhat excited state.
Matt followed his orders, and then enquired:
‘What’s up, man?’
‘Didn’t you see the sign?’ Sandy, looking back, was beside himself with laughter.
‘No, what?’
‘This place is called ‘Shag Point’, can you believe that?’
Matt laughed.
‘Are you sure you aren’t still thinking about last night’s possibilities?’
Sandy, in reply, just gave him the middle finger.
‘OK, OK. We’ll definitely check it out. No need for such undignified behaviour, young man. That’s not how your mother brought you up.’
A few hundred metres down the road they came to the ‘Shag Point Lookout’.
‘Wow, look over there.’
‘Sorry man, parking business first. Hold onto your hats.’
The empty parking area to the right was ample, but the long wheel based van required quite a bit of turning space. Matt sharply spun the van around on the gravel covered car park, and came to a halt. Sandy had learnt to hold on tight during such proceedings.
‘OK, let’s have a look, then.’
The two of them jumped out of the van, and walked over the road, and onto the wooden lookout structure. The rocky terrain, with the wild ocean waves crashing onto it was stunning. The ocean waves were pounding violently against the jagged shoreline. A slight morning mist still hung in the air, giving it all an other world, bewitching sort of beauty. The billowing clouds floating through the sky at quite a fast pace only added to the dreamlike feel of the place. They both felt as though they had been transported to a mystical dimension. Excitedly Sandy pointed down towards the rocky coast.
‘Hey Matt, look! Are they penguins, down there?’
Matt burst out laughing.
‘You really are far from home, aren’t you? They’re seals.’
‘Really? Do you have penguins as well?’
‘Yeah, of course. We’ve got everything down here. All around the South Island there are plenty of colonies of them.’
‘Man, am I loving this.’
‘Hey, I’m starving. Let’s hit the road.’
‘Yeah, me too. Hey, stop at the turn off, I want to get a photo of the ‘Shag Point’ sign. No one will believe there’s a place called that.’
‘OK, sure, it is a bit of a laugh.’
With the van already facing the right direction, the two of them returned along the narrow road towards the main highway.
‘Hey, pull the van up near the sign. I will get you in there, too.’
Matt drove the van onto the wrong side of the road, as close as he could get to the sign. Sandy jumped out, rummaged around in the back of the van, found his camera, and walked over the road to set up the shot.
‘OK, wave your arm out the window! Yup, that’s it, got it.’ Sandy jumped back in the van. ‘What a cracker.’
‘Look, man,’ said Matt pointing across the road at another sign. ‘Palmerston is only 15 k’s down the road. There should be some good choices there for breakfast. The day has indeed started well.’
The road left the coast, and headed inland. All along the sides of the road were lush green paddocks, with many flocks of sheep.
‘No shortage of sheep down here, then Matt?’
‘Nope. Lamb meat and wool are a couple of our biggest exports. And here’s you a vegetarian.’
They both laughed.
‘Actually I thought you were, too. You know, Mulligory stew and all that? You definitely were the last time I saw you. Now you’re talking about bacon and eggs for breakfast. What happened?’
‘Yeah, well. Long story. I have surrendered to the many temptations. Although, I still do eat mainly a vegetarian diet. Regrettably I just couldn’t resist the many tasty delights we have. For one, bacon and egg pies. I just love them.’
Sandy laughed.
‘Well, since it’s confession time…’
Matt looked over at his friend incredulously.