ANZAC Day

Saturday 25 April

Our alarm went off at 5.30am and we silently got up & dressed into MANY layers and snuck off to Clyde for the ANZAC Dawn Ceremony.

The mist lay low over the river and the dam, then lifted slowly and settled over the surrounding hilltops. A lone piper stood between two soldiers standing to, playing haunting renditions of Amazing Grace and the Skye Boat Song. The ceremony was short and emotional - a prayer, a tribute, the Last Post, a minute’s silence, the Reveille and three cannon shots which echoed up and down the valley. Lest we forget 💔

Driving back up McArthur Ridge to the Websters we were treated to a glorious sunrise - pinks, golds, oranges and reds streaking the sky - before Louis fell back into bed and I got on with some laundry chores. Jonny & Debs had gone off to spend the day with their daughter Phoebe who has just started a new job with a Hoiho (yellow eyed penguin) charity in Dunedin so we had the house (and their Netflix login) to ourselves. Louis binged “Stranger Things” for a few hours as Netflix is one of the streamers we dropped; then mid afternoon we decided we’d lazed around enough so drove over to the Waikerikeri Valley. The Waikerikeri Valley school bus-stop is a few KMs beyond Tree Range Farm and features a mocked up tiger tank build for Warbirds over Wānaka a few years ago and purchased by a local & set up here!!! Such a funny sight on an Otago back road!

We had decided to tackle the bottom half of the Lilico Spur Track in the shadow of Leaning Rock. As Jonny had warned, it was a fairly easy track except it climbed relentlessly uphill for about 5kms! Sadly we missed the turning up the hill just a couple of hundred metres after the stile from the carpark so followed the main farm track until some locked gates and had to double back to find the actual track - which to be fair was not super clearly marked!

We walked about 45mins up, stopping for breath and views regularly along the way, then turned and shuffled back down. Looking out from the various vantage points along the way we were able to identify the Websters' property and even spot Banjo.

Jonny & Debs were still in Dunedin & due back late so we cooked ourselves a roast dinner and watched the Blues beat the Reds then fell into bed exhausted! 😴