Initial Travels 2.0

The Bush.

The doctor and the blonde woman began to feel the need to learn to live in the Bush.  Preparations had been made to experience the area from home in Sioux Falls.  The idea of roaming through the bush for much of the early portion of the adventure had not occurred to them.  Living out of the Corolla was not easy.  The home in Thames was not yet ready.  The bush was there.
     Guidance to explore the region was assisted by the Thames Tramping Club, isolated recommendations by local Kiwi's and enthusiastic trampers.  The region formerly can to existence by virtue of gold.  Mines intertwine the hills and small mountains of the Coromandel Peninsula.  Merv, the Tramper, is a70-75 year old native New Zealander and former engineer, present naturalist, potential OLLI speaker, and archetypical Boy Scout leader.  He is surrounded by a band of environmentalists and retired exercise practitioners.  Everyones calves were large no matter the shape of the rest of their bodies.  All climb. Quickly.  Trying to keep up, the doctor wore his  light weight green bush pants accented with wool socks.

The gold mines were entered.  Large spider-cockroach appearing insects met us at the entrance.  Fluorescent green glow worms hung from the ceilings of the caves.  Water seeped into many parts of the mines resulting in a musty smell. We followed Merv's instructions to the detail.  By habit, the Blonde Woman looked for her car keys.  She knew they were somewhere.  Torches(flash lights) allowed them to grope down the caverns.  Gold nuggets were left behind in a large pile to bring home.  They did grab a couple chunks of quartzite to study the crystalline structure and talk euclidian geometry later that night.

Lunch usually consists of some form of Vogel's bread sandwich.  P & J in this particular instance.  The Blonde Woman somehow snuck some chocolate tidbits along.  Happiness can be as simple as finding one of those
nuggets in the bottom of the backpack.

Enquires were made to see if a cave could be rented for a short period.  We returned to Thames under the direction of Merv and the Trampers.

Two other sorties have been made into the bush,  each yielding some nugget.  Mostly beauty,  added friendships, and better toned calves.  The blonde women has joined a walk and talk group meeting Thursdays.  Merv and the Tramping group meet every other Sunday.  Activities begin to jam the schedule.  Knitting group, bicycle group,  book group have made the Blonde Woman's docket.  She gained momentum when the Public Library in Thames granted her a license to check out books.  During conversation, two outgoing
Thamian women dared to encounter her.  They both flashed social cards.
The Blonde Woman could not match the social
card, but struck a chord with them and two more
friends made.