Flounder Bay

It was still dark, but dawn was not far away. Jack was just waking up, and sleepily looked at his watch. It was 5am. Another 5 minutes he thought. "Nooo!I if I do that I will drop off, sleep in, and there will be no point in going." He tumbled out of his sleeping bag, dressed and put on his swani and boots. Turned on the gas cooker and, while the water, boiled checked his backpack, adding a couple of oranges. Fifteen minutes later after drinking a mug of hot coffee he picked up his rifle and walked along the beach which was still in darkness.

It was very still, no wind, not even the lapping of a wave. At the end of the beach he stood for a while. No sign of life so he headed up river with the dawn breaking behind him. The bush on the river's edge was close and scrubby, not conducive to quiet stalking so he decided to climb up onto the ridge. Here it was open.

He continued on at a leisurely pace, listening, watching. At one point he sat on a log where he had a good view but nothing was seen or made a noise. Except a kiwi came past and walked right up to him. Maybe the lanolin dressing on his boots attracted him. After a brief sniff he trundled off without even looking up. Jack decided to move on, with no success. He stopped a while later beside a beech tree where the oranges came out. After consuming them his watch said 7 o'clock, time to backtrack to camp. Jack left.

Sometime later he thought the bay would be coming into view. However minutes later, instead of the bay he come across a familiar looking tree. It looked just like the one where he had eaten his oranges. He looked down and there were the remnants of his orange peel. Jack had travelled full circle! In utter disbelief, he stared at the peel for a long moment, took the backpack off, pulled out his map and spread it on the ground then orientated it. Bloody hell!!!he said to himself, this is showing everything lying in the wrong direction. He checked again making sure the map and compass were orientated correctly. Yes they were. After a few more moments of contemplation he put the map away, hung the compass around his neck and hesitantly followed the indicated direction. He checked every now and again to make sure he was traveling southeast. At last the inlet and bay come into view. Up until this point there was a lingering doubt that the compass was wrong but it was obviously right.

Ten minutes later he was back at camp.



Grant Ward