River of Blood by John Breen

Author:John Breen [John Breen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781775530718
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand
Published: 2012-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Sitting at Ferny Flat in the middle of a disused airstrip and the native fern after which the flat is named (prickly shield fern — Polystichum vestitum), is a forlorn and abandoned-looking something which is your ‘hunting accommodation’. It is known euphemistically to the natives who put it there as the ‘Ferny Flat Railway Station’, the name in honour of the ‘borrowed’ tarpaulin that kept the weather out. In reality the ‘building’ is Doug Jones’s abandoned meat-safe from the Axius strip that, with some logs under it serving as skids, got towed along behind the dozer wherever the track-makers went. Normally an Eggeling/Peart ‘hunting lodge’, it got commandeered to serve as a ‘staff hostel’ during the track-making between the Axius and the Drake flat. Since reverted to its hunting ‘lodge’ status, it belies its looks, being dry, warm, and comfortable enough.

Dave Rossiter and John Kennedy hunted professionally from Ferny Flat for a time in 1971–72. John built the ‘strip’. It was never a Cessna 180 strip, being no more than just wide enough for Piper Cub wheels.

An Upper Waiatoto story that takes the cake is one that concerns Dave Rossiter. He and Kennedy had ferried their carcasses and stuff

to the big strip opposite Axius so as to build up a decent load for the trip to Mussel Point. The pilot (Mark McLeod) asked me if I wanted a cheap ride or a dear one, so I climbed into the struts of the Piper Cub. John Menzies put his arm out the window and held on to me. We had our packs and six or seven deer on board plus the pilot and we flew out and landed at Mussel Point. The bumps where the Waiatoto comes out of the mountains weren’t funny … and I never asked for the cheap ride again.

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