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. Kia Ora and hullo ... from the South Island, as far down as Arrowtown, in Central Otago, nestled in the hills near picturesque Lake Hayes, which in turn is a bit north of the freezing cold deep-bottomed Lake Whakatipu. Yes, the Cooper’s Terrace Project has begun in earnest. I am here in Arrowtown, staying on a lovely property curtesy of one of the generous locals who believes in this cause I have started. - to save and hopefully restore to their former glory, the ruins of a forgotten early European gold-mining settlement beside the Arrow river, on a terrace of land named after Samuel Cooper, one of its founders. I have been here 2 weeks now and have lots to report. And I will tomorrow. This is just to warm my feet, to get familiar with the blogging thing, to check that I can add photos without mucking it up. (a real possibility). So I can then start sharing my progress from this beautiful part of the world, giving anyone interested enough to read this out there a little taste of what it is like to go on a true adventure, be an explorer, battle nature and uncover history and its stories at the same time. Hang on for a fun ride . . . . . . . . edit. |
Jan MorrisonProject Manager of an archeological dig of a 1800s European mining settlement near Arrowtown, Central Otago. Archives
April 2021
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