Chapter Four: A Place of Welcome
Barely had the last houses of the outer suburbs of Dunedin fallen from view when Matt unexpectedly pulled the van over onto the hard shoulder of the road. Sandy looked over at him inquisitively.
‘Do you want to go back to Dunedin already?’
Matt laughed, and nodded his head.
‘Yeah, I just feel that I should give that dish-washing gig a better shot. I absolutely refuse to be beaten by a lamb chop.’
‘Actually, I think you were beaten by it. Wiped out, brother. The 90% vegetarian was taken down hard.’
‘Yeah, OK OK. Look here, let me show you why I stopped.’
Matt opened up the road map, and held it across so that they could both look at it. Matt pointed ahead along the road.
‘You see that junction? Basically we can go two possible ways.’
He then drew his finger along the map.
‘Either we head down, and then up across the Otago hinterland, or we can go up, and then circle back down. In any case both the roads end up at the town Alexandra, where the two of them join together, and become the only road across to the other side. The distance looks about the same to me. What do you think? Any preference?’
Sandy took the map to have a better look.
‘I see what you mean. Hey, look! If we take the route south we will pass this lake. Might be a good spot for lunch.’ his tone of voice then turned more than a little mischievous. ‘Plus, you can have a swim. Maybe a longer, more relaxing one this time?’
Matt smiled at him.
‘Very funny young man. A swim in the freezing water of a lake down here in the deep south might be pushing even my limits, but it definitely would be a good spot for lunch. Have no fear, I have stocked up on the Mulligory prerequisites.’
Sandy’s irony had no bounds.
‘I should have tried to convince Felicity to come along.’
‘I think you will find that at the end of the day, my friend, I can outcook her any time.’
They both broke out laughing at that one. Matt engaged second gear, and pulled the van back out onto the highway.
‘Further south it is then. To be honest I had wanted to hit the road a bit earlier, but with everything, time has just slipped away a bit.’
Sandy looked at him slightly sardonically.
‘Well, ‘everything’ I assume includes saying goodbye to Felicity? Something I hope you did adequately. Plus anyway, what’s the hurry? Let’s take a timeless journey across the Otago plains.’
‘Don’t be a smartass. You know what I mean, it gets dark early in this season, that’s all. You should have come with us for breakfast. We found a really nice place.’
In reply Sandy looked over at him, and was on the point of saying something when he spotted a glimpse of water.
‘There’s the lake coming into view now. Looks good.’
‘Yes, it bloody does look nice. Actually along the way we should bump into a few lakes, here and there.’
‘The whole scenery is just incredible. The colours are so intense, they almost seem painted on, it’s almost like… Hey, pull over there!’
Sandy pointed to a car park
‘Well spotted, young man.’
Matt pulled into the car park of Lake Waihola. The rest area came complete with picnic tables and an incredible view of the lake, the farmlands beyond it, and the densely forested hills behind them.
‘Well, nice one, Matt. What a beautiful lake! What a fantastic view. Look at how calm and serene the water looks.’
‘Plenty more where this one came from, my friend. We will be passing some good ones up in the highlands in a few days. Grab the food box, get peeling and chopping, and I’ll get a fire going. You know the ropes. The usual story.’
Without much time having been lost, the veggie stew was cooking away in the billy can. The two of them had their system down to a fine art, not that the process was particularly complicated. In short order Matt was spooning his fine cuisine onto their plates. Sandy availed himself of the piping hot fare.
‘Actually, I have to admit, it’s not too bad at all. I had almost missed it.’
‘You see? You were ruined by all those bloody pies you were scoffing down on a daily basis. It’s time for the two of us to rediscover our vegetarian roots.’
‘Yeah, and no lamb chops.’
Matt roared with laughter.
‘Man, can you believe that? Sacked over a bloody lamb chop.’
‘Well, you and your lamb chops, me and my meat pies, and here we are eating veggie stew. And loving it. I’m sure there’s a lesson to be learnt in there somewhere.’
‘When you work out that conundrum make sure you let me know. I’m sure it will be life changing.’
After they finished their banquet, Matt collected all the dirty plates, and whatnot, and headed down to the lakeside to wash them. In the middle of the process he called back to Sandy, who was still sitting at the table, seemingly mesmerised by the beauty of the spot.
‘Hey, you wouldn’t believe how cold the water is Sandy.’
That made Sandy laugh.
‘No, actually I would.’
With Matt trying to pick up the pace, in no time at all they were back on the road. Barely ten kilometres further down the road they came to a junction. Matt turned right.
‘Well, that’s the end of State Highway 1 for us. We are officially heading up into the Otago back country. The journey across this rugged island officially begins now.’
‘I guess the road is going to be all uphill from now, then?’
‘Yeah,’ replied Matt, ‘although at first it’s a pretty gentle rise. The steep stuff comes later on.’
‘Are we sure the van will make it over, in just second gear?’
‘Hey, no one said this a trip for the faint-hearted. Have faith, my son, all will be fine.’
‘That sounds like the sort of thing people say just before a complete disaster strikes.’
‘Hey, chill out, man. Sit back, and enjoy the view. Hey, look, there are some sheep!’
Sandy threw back his head and laughed.
‘Yeah, not many of them around in New Zealand.’
‘Actually we are lucky that they aren’t aggressive animals. They outnumber us by about 30 to 1. Hopefully there isn’t a secret movement in the sheep community to take over the country.’
‘From what I can see, they already have. They are absolutely everywhere. I have to say, though, it really is nice around here. Hilly, but not too much so. Beautiful rolling green hills. I’ve never seen such an intense shade of green before. I really like it through here.’
The two fell into a contented silence, as the kilometres passed. It was slow going in the van, following the rise and fall of the never flat road. By the time a couple of hours had passed the light was already starting to fade.
‘It’s going to be cold sleeping in the van up here, Matt. Don’t you think?’
‘Yeah, with just one and a half millimetres of British steel between us and minus God-only-knows how much. We’ll have to get bundled up.’
Sandy pointed ahead along the road, excitedly.
‘Slow down! Look at that house. It’s obviously deserted. What about having a look inside?’
Matt pulled the van over, in front of the house. He looked carefully at the house.
‘Yeah, it really does look abandoned. Why don’t we knock on the door. If anyone answers we’ll just pretend we are looking for directions, or something.’
The two jumped out of the van, and walked up to the front door. After first knocking with no reply, they decided to try the door handle. It was open. Cautiously they entered the house to find it empty. It was completely bare of furniture. It was, as had been suspected, abandoned.
‘Sandy, I think we may have scored somewhere a bit warmer for the night. Or maybe, somewhere a bit less cold would be a more appropriate way to put it.’
‘Hey Matt, look in this room. Is this weird, or what?’
Matt followed the sound of Sandy’s voice into what looked like the former dinning room. In the middle of the room there was a single wooden chair. Sandy sat on it.
‘The whole place is absolutely devoid of everything, except for this one chair. How strange is that?’
‘I guess the removal truck just didn’t have enough room for that last piece, what do I know? Actually, what do I care? Come on, lets get our sleeping bags in before the light fades totally.’
In the fading light of day’s end, they returned to the van to get all that which was necessary for a good night’s sleep. The house was empty, and unheated, but it afforded more protection from the bitter cold than the van would have. They laid out their sleeping bags on the stark wooden floor.
‘Shit, Matt, I forgot to bring my alarm clock. How will we know what time is breakie time?’
The two of them shared a chuckle.
‘Look to the sun, my friend. The only clock we’ll be needing.’
‘I think tonight I’ll be dreaming of the sun back home.’
‘However much it aggrieves me, I’ll pass on the easy opening you left me to poke fun at the soft Aussie, but only because, to be completely honest, I wouldn’t mind a bit of that sun myself.’
Sandy put his hands behind his head.
‘Felicity is really getting somewhere, don’t you think?’
‘She’s always been like that. She’s fun-loving, and adventurous, but she has always had an eye on her future for as long as I’ve known her.’
‘I wonder if I should be a bit more like that?’
‘You? You, my friend will be an eternal bodger.’
Sandy laughed.
‘So you don’t have any faith in me, then?’
‘Actually I meant it in the best of ways. You just take life as it comes, and enjoy whatever is on your plate at the moment. Not a bad way to live. We are all different. Each of us has to find his way. Eventually the right course will just pop up before you, and you will find your path. Your way of life is to live an eternal present.’
‘Hah! An eternal present? I like that. I’m warming to the idea.’
Matt shivered loudly.
‘This sleeping bag is crap. I don’t know how I let you talk me into this trip.’
The last sound which reverberated around the empty house was that of their combined laughter.
The next morning was cold, bitterly cold. Matt, with his unzipped sleeping bag wrapped around his shivering body, surveyed the surrounding area from the vantage point of the front door. He liked what he saw. The thick vegetation all around the house, and along the side of the road was of an intense green, highlighted by the dew that had formed on it during the cold of night. Spider webs sparkled as the early morning sun reflected off the dampness that had formed on them. Behind him he heard the sound of approaching footsteps reverberating through the empty house. He turned to look at Sandy.
‘You know, this is a really nice spot. I didn’t really get a good look at it last evening. I suppose because it was getting late, and I was pretty intent on finding a spot to sleep the night. I wonder why you would abandon such a nice house in such a lovely spot? I would love to live here.’
Sandy shrugged.
‘Lots of reasons. The kids had gone off to varsity in Dunedin, and the parents wanted to be closer to them. Maybe one of the owners died and the remaining partner didn’t want to live out here alone, or perhaps…’
Matt interrupted him gruffly.
‘OK, OK, I get it. Lots of reasons, right? Man, you are a real downer this morning. What’s up? Need a coffee?’
Sandy shrugged his shoulders.
‘Well, I wouldn’t mind.’
‘Good luck on that one. Anyway, we do have some tea with us. Listen, let’s pack up the whole circus, and head off down the road a bit. We’ll find somewhere to brew up a billy of tea, and eat some biscuits. What do you say?’
‘Yeah, OK. Sounds good to me. Let’s do it.’
The two of them returned inside, put on their boots and jackets, rolled up their sleeping bags, and headed out to the van. Matt was loading up his gear when he saw Sandy at the doorway, complete with the only object they had found in the house gripped tightly in his hands. He laughed at the sight.
‘So, what’s this? Are we liberating the chair from its life of loneliness, and desolation?’
‘The way it was just sitting there in the middle of the room. I don’t know. It was pleading with me. It was a sign.’
They both laughed in unison.
‘Plus, you like the idea of having breakfast sitting up all prim and proper, right?’
In reply Sandy gave him the finger, and said;
‘Remember, my chair.’
‘OK, throw it in.’
With the van all packed up, they drove further along the road, looking for a suitable place to stop, and get their breakfast tea brewing. In short order such a place was found, and Matt pulled off the road into what could be described as a modest parking bay. With the great alacrity learnt from previous experience, it wasn’t long until the two of them were sipping on piping hot cups of tea, and chewing on some cereal biscuits. Matt was sitting on a flat rock, with Sandy towering over him, sitting on his newly liberated throne. Matt threw some small stones in his direction.
‘You’re loving your new bloody chair, I see. I feel like we have now become divided along socio-economic lines. The landed gentry with their wealth and prestige, and the rest of us poor buggers with nothing to sit on but rocks.’
Sandy crossed his legs, and looked at Matt pensively.
‘Well, it was inevitable, poor fellow. I’m surprised it took you so long to figure it all out.’
Matt threw some more small stones in his direction.
‘You even have your own personal driver. Do you require me to wear a chauffeurs hat?’
Sandy struck a thoughtful demeanour, as he thought of his answer.
‘Well, it obviously would be more fitting, but, all in all, I really am quite a benevolent person, so I won’t demand it. On the other hand, if you feel that it would be more decorous, I certainly wouldn’t deny you your place.’
‘My lord and master.’
Sandy’s tone of voice turned slightly serious, as much as seriousness was a possibility between the two of them.
‘Hey, you know, that house was a godsend. It would have been bloody freezing in the van. The higher up we get, the colder the nights will be getting. What say we look for places to sleep, just while we are crossing the Otago hinterland?’
Matt nodded.
‘Yeah, I agree. My sleeping bag wasn’t made for these arctic conditions. I must admit I never realised just how much colder it is down here than Christchurch. And to be honest, that place was cold enough.’
‘Any chance of pies for lunch. Hey, don’t get me wrong, but…’
Matt laughed along with Sandy.
‘Mulligory breakdown? Is your pie addiction kicking in? Actually we should hit Alexandra in a couple of hours. We can have a look around, and grab lunch there. That’s where we turn off for the West Coast.’
Sandy stood up, poured the remaining water in the billy on the already spent twigs, and gathered together the cups to wash.
‘Come on then, Jeeves. Lets get this lot sorted, and hit the road.’
The road snaked through bush-clad valleys, surrounded by mainly modest sized hills. Although they were climbing ever higher above sea level, the change was gradual, and the road was fairly easy going on the van. Luckily really, because the van wasn’t in a fit state for any particularly steep inclines. In some areas the land flattened out, exposing good farmland which was always put to good use. There were a lot of sheep farms which mainly made use of the more difficult terrain, but the flat, more accessible land was seemingly mainly used for growing different fruit crops. Peaches and apricots seemed to dominate that market. The landscape was variable, and always extremely beautiful. At some points the road ran parallel to a river, but mainly they passed through a combination of slight hills, and brief flatlands. Within a few hours they arrived at the junction town of Alexandra. As they approached the town Matt slowed down.
‘That was actually a pretty good run for the van.’ said Matt. ‘I don’t want the bugger to heat up too much. So I think we should give it a couple of hours of rest. Anyway, by the time we have something to eat, and a bit of a look around it should be right.’
Sandy nodded in agreement.
‘The old dear’s going really well. Soooo…., pies anyone?’
They both laughed.
‘What’s the story? One day we are vegetarians, the next day meat eaters?’
‘A balanced diet, dear fellow. What could be better?’
The laughter continued unabated.
‘True, all things in moderation.’ replied Matt. ‘OK, let’s look for a bakery.’
‘There, look, on the left. Some sort of tearooms. Should be OK, I reckon.’
Matt slowed down further, half way along the main street of the town. In the sparsely populated centre Matt easily found a few free parking spots, so he managed to pull in without requiring the services of his official pusher. Something which was of no little relief to the aforementioned incumbent. The two of them jumped out of the van and stretched their arms.
‘You know it’s funny,’ said Sandy, ‘it almost seems warm after the rigid temperature last night, even though it’s probably not even in double digits.’
‘Yeah, nice sunshine alright. Just the sight of it always warms me up. Psychological warming.’
‘You are definitely an odd one, you know that, don’t you Matt?’
Matt’s only answer was to completely ignore the hypothesis, and to stay focused on the matter in hand. Hunger had set in.
‘Hey, this place does look good. Just the ticket.’
The boys entered into the tearooms, and surveyed the options. Luckily pies were never far from the menu in any decent tearoom establishment. They filled their trays from the self-service heating displays, and headed to the checkout.
‘Do you have filter coffee?’ asked Sandy.
The young girl behind the counter almost smirked in delight at the oft-asked question regularly invoked by out of towners.
‘Just instant coffee, sorry.’
‘OK, well I’ll have a cup of tea then.’
‘Make that tea for two, please.’ added Matt.
The two friends paid for their fare, and then made their way over to one of the many empty tables with their food. Business was not flourishing. Mind you, only fools like them would be travelling through such cold lands in the off season. Shortly the young girl brought their teas over.
‘Here you go.’
Matt smiled at her, and took the opportunity to get some local information from her.
‘Thanks, hey what’s there to check out in town?’
‘Well, mainly everyone stops at the gold mining museum. It’s just along the road, then turn left. You can’t miss it.’
‘Nice one. Thank you.’
The girl smiled, and returned to her counter.
Sandy’s interest was piqued.
‘Gold mining? Yeah?’
‘Yup, it was big in the late 1800s down here. A real gold rush. They came from everywhere. Actually I think some people still try their luck. Just on a small scale though. There are no big mining operations around. Shall we give it a go? Some gold to put in the petrol tank?’
‘I’ll get back to you on that one. I’m pretty sure it would involve wading around in incredibly cold rivers, and other rather inconvenient practices. I really would like to check out the museum, though.’
‘Yeah, sounds good. Man, you are eating that pie like they are going out of business. Take it easy. What’s wrong with you?’
Sandy laughed, almost spluttering out some of the food in his mouth. He tried to regain his composure.
‘I love these things. Plus, I know what I have to look forward to tomorrow, so I’m making the most of it.’
‘Variety, right? A balanced diet. Your words, if I remember correctly.’
‘I may have spoken in undue haste.’
‘Well, believe me, you are stuffing that pie into your gob in undue haste.’
‘Get them while they are hot, dear fellow.’
Matt shook his head in mimicked disgust.
‘Come on, hurry up and finish your tea, ya bugger, and let’s have a look at that museum. It’ll give the van a bit of a chance to cool down as well.’
After having easily found the museum in the small town, the two lads spent an hour, or so, looking at all the exhibits, mainly photos, of the gold rush days. The gold diggers looked like tough men, doing a tough job. The more they looked at the reality of gold digging, the less enthusiastic they became about trying their luck.
‘Suddenly washing dishes in a hospital doesn’t seem that bad.’ Matt said, rather philosophically.
‘Amen to that.’ replied Sandy. ‘That is not a lifestyle for me. Talk about back-breaking work. My God. I think they should have just signed up on the dole.’
Both of them laughed heartily.
‘Yes, I think we might have been born at just the right time in history, Sandy. Mind you, I must say they all look pretty happy with their lot.’
‘Obviously, you idiot. The photographer always says ‘say cheese!’. Probably, in reality, their spirits were as broken as their backs.’
‘I don’t know what went wrong in your life when you were a toddler, but you are a pretty cynical prick, you know?’
‘So I’ve been told.’
Matt shook his head.
‘One day we are going to have to explore that deeper. But only when we have a lot of time, and an endless supply of alcohol.’
Matt then looked at a clock on the wall.
‘Come on, let’s get out of here. It’ll be dark in a couple of hours. We need to find somewhere warm to kip.’
‘For sure. Another house like last night would go down well.’
The walked back along the almost deserted streets, and got into the van. Matt fired up the faithful beast, and pulled out onto the road. Their first brief stop was to fill up the ever insatiable petrol tank of their faithful war-horse. Then he set off to find the junction.
‘Well, my friend, this is where we actually get onto the road that heads across to the West Coast. We have passed the point of no return.’
‘Lead on Macduff, and I will follow you. Hey, pass me the map. How far across are we now?’
Matt grabbed the map from the dashboard, and threw it across to his companion. Sandy looked intently at how far they had travelled.
‘Looks like we are just about half way across, you know.’
‘Yeah, but the part ahead of us is more mountainous, rather than just hilly. It’s gonna take a while.’
‘Including the famous Haast Pass. Yeah, you schmuck, I’m onto your little game. Rugby terminology, right?’
They both laughed.
‘Listen Sandy, failure is not an option. We’re going over the bugger, come hell or high water.’
‘I am a man of great faith, albeit of little fortitude.’
Matt glanced at Sandy, and replied mockingly:
‘I can certainly vouch for that.’
The going was still relatively easy, even though it was always in generally an upwards direction. There were no flat patches at all, just a mixture of higher, and smaller hills. The landscape was, as ever, nothing short of spectacular. Where there were fields, they were of the most intense green, and the bush covered hills with their mixtures of different types of native trees just served to give them a grandiose backdrop.
‘Hey, slow down, man!’ yelled Sandy. ‘Look down there. Does that look like an abandoned house to you?’
Matt stopped the van in the middle of the road, and looked down where Sandy was pointing.
‘Not a house, but it may be some abandoned farm sheds, or something. There’s the entrance road up ahead. It’s definitely worth a look. It will be dark in an hour or so, better to check out places while there’s still some light.’
Matt engaged second gear, and headed further along the highway to where a dirt road lead down to the buildings. The road down to them was rutted, and in the wet would have been all but impassible for anything less than a four wheel drive. Upon reaching the buildings Matt did a wide sweeping turn on the surrounding grass, bringing the van back to face in the opposite direction. After bringing the van to a halt he had a better look at the place.
‘Actually Sandy, there’s lots of machinery and stuff around. It looks like part of a working farm. Probably not a good option.’
The words were barely out of his mouth when the two of them saw a four wheel drive pickup truck coming down the entrance road towards them.
‘Fuck it, what a bummer. This is bound to be the owner of the farm. Listen Sandy, let’s just go with the looking-for-a-place-to-crash story. We haven’t even got out of the van yet, so it should all be an easy sell.’
Now what the boys didn’t know, but would soon find out to their great misfortune, was that thieves had broken into the farm buildings some months prior to their arrival, and ever since the farmer had been keeping a vigilant eye on the place from his house, further up the road. He stopped his truck, and jumped out, with a wildly angry expression on his tough-looking wizened face. He began waving his arms around and shouting.
‘Bloody thieves. Thought you could get one over me a second time, did ya? Well, I’ve got another think coming for you.’
Matt wound down his window, and tried to appear as friendly, and innocuous as possible.
‘Hi there. Actually we’re just looking for somewhere to sleep the night. It’s pretty cold sleeping in the van up here in Central Otago.’
‘Don’t give me any of that bullshit, ya prick. I’ve got ya now! Big mistake coming back for another go.’ yelled the enraged farmer. His face red with anger. His nostrils flaring.
He opened the driver’s door, and tried to pull Matt out of the van by grabbing onto his arm and pulling. When he realised that the seatbelt was blocking Matt in, he drew a knife from his pocket, unfolded it, and proceeded to cut away the seatbelt.
‘Hey, take it easy! We’re not thieves! Here, look, I’ll undo the seat belt.’
Matt undid the seatbelt, but at the same time pushed his legs down onto the floor of the van, and pushed his back hard against the back of the seat. The farmer kept pulling at his arm, but, even without the seatbelt holding him in place, still couldn’t dislodge him from the van. The knife was still in his hand, and was held very close to Matt’s face. Sandy, having also realised the seriousness of the situation, tried to placate the farmer.
‘We’re only looking for somewhere to sleep, we don’t have any intention of stealing anything. In fact, as soon as we saw that it wasn’t an abandoned building we decided to leave. We didn’t even get out of the van.’
‘Yeah, well that’s because I didn’t give you time to, did I? Ya bloody mongrels, I’ll sort you lot out.’
Matt continued the plea deal.
‘Hey, look at our stuff in the back of the van. Does it look like we are thieves? We’ve just got our mattresses, and clothes and stuff. We are only travelling through, on the cheap. We’ve never been here before, I promise.’
The irate farmer looked with keen interest in the back of the van. He kept a tight grip on Matt’s arm but stopped pulling at him.
‘OK then, where did you get that green rucksack?’
Sandy jumped in.
‘That’s mine. My mother bought it for me a few years ago, when I went on a trip up north from Sydney.’
‘What about that red backpack, there?’
‘That’s mine.’ replied Matt keeping the steady stream of reassuring chatter going. ‘My mate Pete gave it to me up in Auckland. He’s had a kid, so he can’t hit the road any more, and it’s no use to him any more.’
‘And those bloody sleeping bags? Where did you nick them?’
Sandy’s turn.
‘No, man. They’re ours. Usually we sleep in the van, see the mattresses? But up here it gets bloody cold at night, that’s all.’
‘And what the hell’s in that box? Nicked stuff, I’ll bet.’
Matt to the rescue.
‘Of course not. It’s full of vegetables. We don’t have a lot of money, so we cook up a veggie stew quite often for lunch, or dinner.’
The boys were keeping up a steady reassuring banter, and were sure that things were going in the right direction, until…
‘And what about that bloody chair?’
Silence
Total silence.
‘Gotcha! Ya bloody thieves!’
Matt quickly realised their mistake, and immediately sprang back into action.
‘That old bloody chair? Look at it. It’s a piece of goddamn junk. We stayed with a friend of mine in Dunedin, and she was gonna throw it out, so we thought we may as well bring it along. Who the hell would steal a rattly old chair like that? Hey, man, look carefully at our stuff. We’re just a couple of mates travelling around the South Island on the bones of our arses.’
The farmer closely scrutinised everyth