Picton to Ashburton |
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"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." said Mark Twain back in 1904. "Roads were made for journeys not destinations." said Confucious - back... when ever he said that. The monastic practice of tudong is a very specific form of travel. Wandering with no money, not being able to store food and other such limitations creates an interesting context.
The ship awaits calmly as we sit waiting with a nice coffee.
We took the ferry to Picton and enjoyed an incredibly smooth passage through Queen Charlotte Sound... passing by the Bay of Many Coves, Lochmara Bay and many other superbly beautiful coastal indentations in the folded countryside. On arrival I was pleasantly surprised to find that we were met by a monk from the Thai Wat in Blenheim and after some discussion, we drove to that city. And - more suprise - arriving at the train station, we met the monk from the monastery in Invercargill. As tempting as it was to accept their hospitality we declined and walked into the town generally just drifting around the streets and scoping out possible places for pindapat tomorrow morning. And where were we to spend the night? A city of 30k covers a fairly large area and finding a nice piece of (private :) forest almost always means walking out of town; which is what we did. A Grove of young oak trees next to a circular pond festooned with ducks offered enough flat ground for two tents. A home for the homeless. After a cup of tea we sat in meditation for a couple of hours. Around dusk the fire brigade arrived fully suited pulling hoses into the grass under the trees; a (surreal) training exercise. They were there - and then they weren't. The breath arises and then it falls. The future is very much uncertain. And to help extinguish the fire that never was - it rained. We felt blessed - and rather wet.
The non-fire doesn't rage as the fire drill makes sure it doesn't.
Tuesday the 18th saw the non-fire still being rained on. We packed up and began the walk to town. A corner store along the way seemed a good possibility for collecting alms. We waited, as monks do, waiting for the unexpected. It came in the form of a Mr Hemi in his van asking us where we were going... "So jump on in." he declares. I explained our situation as regards food and he is quite clear that he knows the place for us to be. John's Kitchen. It turns out to be a charity food distribution centre. We were very warmly welcomed in and shown to a table where food was distributed - to us. Yum. And then some more. And some coffee and some cookies. A few people joined our table and over nearly the next hour we had a very nice dhamma discussion. We left with hearty invitations to return for dinner and an additional packet of six bread rolls. It wasn't long before we were offered a ride by Tory who took us some 50km down the road to Ward Beach a wild and windy desolate stretch of coast. The stark beauty was inspiring and we decided to spend the rest of the day and the night there. The wind was pretty strong so we set up camp in the lee of a large rock pushing piles of loose gravel to form a level platform. Securing tent pegs in shifting stones was an engineering challenge. An ocean bath, a good walk, some meditation, a cup of tea and a good night's sleep.
On Ward Beach seeking shelter from the wind behind rocks.
Wednesday morning saw a brilliant predawn sky with a clear bright sunrise. We were basking in its glory... and then it rained. We quickly packed up all our gear, and then it stopped :) There were a few camper vans parked at the base of the hill above the beach so we walked there and generally hung about - waiting. David wandered by and we got talking and he was leaving later in the morning. We walked on and eventually David and Christine picked us up and took us to the main highway giving us an apple and a banana each as a parting gift. After a long wait hitching Joel picked us up and drove us to Kaikoura offering us two brownies each along the way. You do the gastric meal maths. He was visiting the seal colony on the point so we tagged along. He was actually driving quite a long way further south but we got him to drop us just south of town by a river next to the golf course... thinking of the journey - not the destination. We set up camp, took a bath and did some laundry which we spread on the warm rocks by the river. Part way through a cup of tea a helicopter buzzed the river incredibly low. It was there and then it wasn't. Needless to say the downdraft scattered our laundry hither and yon; not lost but gone beyond. The Blenhiem fire brigade all over again.
A few meters from our campsite beside the Ashley River. The sun is setting.
The next day was clear and bright, and a ten minute walk saw us on the main road with Veronica, from Czech, soon stopping to give us a lift back into Kaikoura. She lived locally and knew of a bakery that was open early and dropped us there. We were in the car park getting ready for pindapat and a French lady approached us on leaving the bakery. We chatted for a while, and she walked on. A couple of minutes later she was back keen to share with us the generosity which she had experienced during her travel in New Zealand. I explained that this is how we live our life. "Oh..." she said... "So I can give you this loaf of bread?" Indeed! Add two tuna sandwiches and a nice apple slice each and we had our meal which we ate in the little park on the edge of town. The highway exited town through a long, narrow gully so it was quite a walk to get to a straight stretch of road. Standing hitching for 40 minutes resulted in Greg stopping to give us a lift. He was going to Rangiora so we stopped just before there by the Ashley River which flowed down to Waikuku Beach. Tucked in under the trees with a grand view of the river we had a pleasant afternoon's abiding.
We had made angements with Murray and Luckana to pick us up about eight next day so we were organised a bit earlier in the morning. With coffee tucked away and our packing about to begin - it rained - just enough to increase the efficiency of our departure. M&L arrived as expected and we went to the Rangiora bakery, renowned for its pies, for breakfast. We took the scenic route to Ashburton but it was very overcast so the mountain scenery was hidden from view. Our meal was offered in a Thai restaurant - yum. M&L have a very comfortable kuti in their back yard so our tents were able to take a rest. We made plans for the morrow and had a superb nights sleep.