When I was at college (high school) we went on school camp. Four nights away a Totoranui, which is in the Abel Tasman National Park (look it up, its beautiful).
One exercise we did on camp was a night walk. Every few hundred meters one person would be left, in the dense bush, with no lights or means of communication (kids didn't have cell phones then anyway). There they would wait, in the dark, with all the crawly critters of the night, until the group returned to pick them up again.
The first ones to be dropped off had the longest wait (a few hours) but they were closest to base camp, and the last to get dropped off only had to wait about 10 or 20 minutes, but were a long way from anywhere. I wanted to be out there alone for as long as I could, but not close enough to base camp be able to hear anything. I think I was third to be left...
I found a dry spot under an earth bank above the track, and lay back. I could just make out a handful of stars through a small hole in the bush canopy, but it seemed none of their light could reach my little burrow. I remember distinctly the earthy smell of it all, the dense richness of the decaying leave litter on the ground, and the full-bodied soil underneath it.
I started dozing, but with my eyes open; it was so dark it didn't matter. After an indiscernible amount of time, I woke. A Weka (flightless native bird about the size of a chicken) was investigating the sole of my boot. I could barely make out his shape but he was pecking my foot, presumably to see if it was edible, or contained any insects that might be. He was unaware or unconcerned that the boot was attached to a human. He pecked along the side of my boot, checked the laces, and gave the bottom of my trouser leg a couples of good prods. I just stayed still, and he soon tired of it. The Weka carried on his way, stalking slowly through the undergrowth with almost no sound.
When the group came back to pick me up I could hear their gaggle for a long time before I saw their lights. I hoped they would just pass me by... but they didn't. The torch light hitting me almost hurt.
3:24:11 PM 
|
