Lambies
23 January 2008
Little Fairlight had another unique experience. We had never been greeted by sheep that run ecstatically towards us, baaing loudly. But there they were, five of them in a small field behind the station.
It turned out that some of the staff in the gift shop in the station building regularly treated these sheep with sheep nuts and lettuce. The cry of 'lambies' confirmed their interest, but wasn't really needed. The generous Mags gave us a few sheep nuts. Their bristly lips, sharp pointed and so unlike the broad, flat face of a horse, picked them greedily off our hands, in a strict pecking order which left one elderly, thin lass at the back. We threw her some nuts, and she managed to snatch a few.
Bidding Fairlight a fond farewell, we sped through Kingston. Pip has fond memories of swimming there, in Lake Wanaka, when she was a child. But it was a cold day and we didn't bring the wetsuits.
We visited Arrowton, now a theme village to the gold rush. The shop fronts are all done up in a late 19th century style, to sell the latest in merino/possum wool, jade and paua carvings and lots of caf� latte. The museum, though, was excellent. It had some great displays about the history of the valleys, including the Maori presence before the Europeans arrived. There were lots of memories (diaries, possessions, oral histories retold) of the miners and farmers, from musical instruments to opium pipes.
Pip bought a gold pan; one step on the way to a long-laid plan to find her own alluvial gold in the rivers of Westland.