From Makarora to Clyde and home...

Frank's grave with wild flowers and chocolate fish.

On Sunday afternoon Bill Henderson picked me up from Rhondda's and we had a good drive down to his place in Clyde. We stopped into Wanaka on the way to visit Frank's grave. Frank loved wild flowers and he loved chocolate. Cadbury's Nut & Raisin to be precise, and apparently chocolate fish. So, I stopped at a dairy and bought him some chocolate fish and I'd gathered a bunch of spring bulbs from the old Makarora Forestry Hut surrounds before leaving Rhondda's.  His headstone looks very tidy and the plot well kept. Whoever's doing this, thanks.

Gerald Goodger and Bill Henderson.

Bill was a culler the same time as Frank, a few years younger Bill looked up to him like an older brother and Frank showed him the ropes when he started out. Bill has some great stories about Frank from these days, especially at the season's end, when they hit the pubs and let their hair down. I like the one about Frank picking the lock on the White Star Hotel's kitchen door late at night to make cold meat sandwiches.
Bill arranged for a visit up to Gerald Goodger's just north of Tarras. Gerald hunted the Wilberforce with Frank's brother George and recounted with wonderful detail several hunting trips with George and some insightful observant reflections on Frank. Gerald is a great storyteller and we could have sat there for many hours talking and him telling stories of his hunting days. He has a delightful laugh and smiles easily, would have been a bit of a lad in his day I reckon. He's a keen mountaineer he still climbs the mountains and has climbed Mt Cook twice, once not long ago he told me.

Wild thyme Central Otago

I stayed with Bill and Annette Henderson for two nights; they were the most generous of hosts. This is where I feasted on venison Bill shot in the Haast earlier this year and whitebait patties from the Haast River.
I spent Monday morning driving round with Bill as he did his daily rounds checking the water meters and waterways on nearby orchards and vineyards. The region is charming and historic Clyde town with its stone walls and neatly preserved buildings along with fruit trees in every front yard, all adds to a quaint picture; easy to imagine a horse and cart coming up the main road.

All this made me feel as though I was in the centre of Mother Earth's fruit bowl. The cherry orchards had me standing in awe, I love cherries and these orchards are huge and pretty with their shingle roads lined with Poplars and waterways and small ponds for irrigation,. The wild thyme that covers the hills and roadside was out, the air was permeated with the aroma and only added to the atmosphere of the place.
 It was a lovely end to a great trip. Annette drove me through to Queenstown on Tuesday morning and I headed home flying out over Lake Wakatipu and the multi million dollar real estate - hell give me a dry rock, a box of matches and a billy any day.

Stock of Frank's old .222 Frank always decorated his stocks with deer carvings.