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Monday, December 15, 2008

Madcap Hike To Camp Bay

After work, we piled into Andrew's convertible and headed off to home at Diamond Harbour. The sudden sunshine allowed us to put the top down, and we raced off through the windy, hedge-bound country lanes towards the hills of the harbour.

Diamond Harbour sits on the flank of the Banks Peninsula, an eroded, extinct volcano on the coastline bearing many steep and dramatic inlets and bays. Diamond Harbour is gorgeous, kind of reminding me of the Marin coastline. Across the Harbour is Lyttelton, where Scott and Shackleton were both based for their Antarctic adventures.

Spontaneously, Andrew suggested a hike, and we scrambled along a track on the steep coastline and alarming a few sheep. We paused at a commemorative grove of pines honoring the dead for those years when Camp Bay served as a quarantine camp for those entering New Zealand. We pressed on a bit further, and saw many dramatic landscapes.

On the way back, I slipped on the slippery grass, but instead of pitching off the cliff into the seaside rocks, I just fell on my face (could have been worse...)





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