Fox Glacier to Westport |
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The 27th of February saw us just north of Fox Glacier camping next to the Clearwater River. Taking a bath was a pretty exciting, chilly event. We spent some time looking for the hot tap but failed to find it. A nice hot cup of coffee was sufficient compensation to get the day started.
Almost the perfect camp spot just north of Fox Glacier.
We walked back into Fox as hitching was impossible from where we were with the road wildly winding. The town is very small and there was a toilet-picnic-table area on the north side so we began preparing for pindapat there. Within minutes, a lady came over to offer food. Sadhu. We chatted for a while and then walked into town. There was only one cafe open so we stood and we waited... for quite some time. Eventually a lady offered sandwiches, another offered fruit and very slowly a meal accrued. Both of us were quite happy with relatively small amounts to eat so we walked back to the table to have our meal. Within only a few minutes of sitting down a van stopped and strawberries and avocado were forthcoming - along with a lovely dhamma discussion. It is delightful to appreciate how much people enjoy the opportunity to hear dhamma. Magic.
On the side of the road at Punakaiki.
Having eaten we walked on a mere 20 metres and began hitching. The various segments of our day were coming together very smoothly and it was not long before Dieter stopped. But alas... Ajahn was in the loo... an awkward moment "Oh, by the way, there are actually two of us." But D was happy to wait and he took us as far as Hokitika. Again, the day's organiser was well on the case and we had barely farewelled Dieter when Jarrod stopped and took us on to Rapahoe. We walked down to the beach and immediately agreed that this would be a good place to camp with excellent space and views out to sea.
Tents toe-to-toe on Rapahoe beach as the sun sets.
It was slightly cold and incredibly foggy through the night, so the tents were quite wet in the morning, both inside and outside. A cup of coffee and a leisurely pack-up saw us on the road by about 9. Rapahoe is quite small and the most obvious place to begin hitching was pretty much in the middle of town. The sun was lifting the fog and it wasn't that long before Tim stopped to give us a lift to Punakaiki. Ajahn had earlier contacted Chunya so she knew how uncertain it could be to hitch the remaining distance. In a very short time Kevin had pulled up to take us to Westport. I remembered him and his wife Tan from my travels with Ajahn Sudhiro a couple of years ago. We arrived at Chunya's pizza shop and were warmly welcomed and well fed.
After the dana at Smiley's Pizza.
We headed back to their house and later in the day I spent some time in Rob's workshop initiating some tent repairs. Sleeping indooors is always a lot easier.
A new month... the 1st of March. As it was the weekend several Thai ladies came for lunch to make offerings. I had done so much of the talking during our earlier travels so it was nice for Ajahn Anuttalo to be able to share his dhamma in Thai. After the discussion Rob took us to the beach and we spent an hour or two exploring the broad sand dunes. Back 'home' I did some more work on the tent and then gave some time to writing up this journal. All in all it was a a pretty laid back sort of a day.
After breakfast on Sunday we drove out out to Cape Foulwind. Looking at the rugged windswept coastline it was not too difficult to imagine how this area got its name.
A relatively fair day at Cape Foulwind.
There were lots of (Thai) ladies for dana and again, it was nice for me to be able to sit in the background and leave the discussion to Ajahn. I spent a good part of the afternoon working on this journal and got the first five days uploaded, both text and photos. At this early stage, working exclusively on the phone, it is very frustrating finding ways to perform seemingly simple operations. I see no other way forward than a combination of experimenting and plain old patience.
Monday is our last day with Rob and Chunya and we enjoyed an extended breakfast discussing dhamma. Gratitude was a recurring theme for all of us; appreciating the many wonderful opportunities that we all have in our life. And it was also the eve of Ajahn and I going our separate ways after just over two weeks together. What an excellent two weeks it has been. So tomorrow it will be goodbye Ajahn Anuttalo and welcome venerable Javano.