Well, I did muck this up somewhat, and have only just learnt how (thanks Piper...!).
I have been here in Arrowtown for 3 weeks working the Cooper’s Terrace site. The first 10 days were mega-tough going as I was forced to lift my fitness level back to where I was 5-10 years ago.... not a bad thing. In fact now I am feeling great. I have about a 2-4km walk a day from the house I’m staying in and back. And there is further walking up river starting to happen.....retracing the heady holiday adventures of my youth. I’ve had 3 volunteer so far, but not for long as they all have jobs. Fit young men, they got a helluva lot of work done in the odd day here and there they have given me. I had help to set up the camp, which was a great start. There has been a burst of weed-eating done around the already exposed ruins, and lots of clearing back vegetation in the search of further huts. Recently there was an afternoon of chain-sawing to clear the way for heavy machinery to get in to fell a group of poplars. Except the Fire brigade haven’t made it up there to do the deed yet. They are all so busy, as everyone seems to be. I wonder if I will get many more volunteers even. But I have the Archaeological Authority to clear vegetation here for 3 more years after this, so we can wait. Murray, the Fire chief is doing his best to get up there. Meantime, I have been up there most days working my loppers ad secaturs. Except for a good chunk of time when I had no internet connection on site and that was frustrating, needing to update my notes while I was there. Then an extraordinary thing happened. One of the volunteers contacted a business mate of his and next thing I was being driven in to 5 Mile to get fitted up for a new iPhone and iPad. My first ‘corporate funder’. Diligencewealth. Much appreciated.
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Jan MorrisonProject Manager of an archeological dig of a 1800s European mining settlement near Arrowtown, Central Otago. Archives
April 2021
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