Dunedin
Jan. 5, 2009
CRISIS! last night. I was getting out of my car to go to a movie, and I dropped my keys outside my car -- and with a clink-clink and a sickening splashing sound, they slid through a drainage cover and into the sewer.
Well, this was one time I was thankful for all the rain that comes through here, b/c the water in the storm drain was not too nasty. I used my tent poles to scour the bottom, which was about 4 feet down through water, with a layer of soft muck. By putting my ear against the tent pole, I could actually hear the clink of metal when the rod touched the keys.
The keys were attached to a swiss army knife with a sizeable carabiner, so I figured my odds of fishing it out were fair. I constructed a "hook" of sorts by attaching vise grips to my tent poles. not a great system.
After about 10 min. of trying this, the theater nearby emptied out and three super-nice kiwis saw my plight and, without any hesitation, jumped into the challenge. Such nice people. Anyway, they found a bungee cord in the back of their car, and we improved the hook system to be a multi-pronged keychain nabber.
The kiwis were also calling the police department, city council and the fire department, and a crowd was gathering. I'm telling you: this was a CRISIS~!
At some point, one of the kiwis was talking to the guys in the Chinese restaurant there, and within a few minutes, the Chinese guys came out with the crux piece of equipment: a straight metal rod with a tiny nubby at 90 degrees at the bottom.
One of the kiwis -- this stolid, sunburnt fisherman -- had basically taken over the process from me, carefully sweeping the hook and lifting it to see what prizes from the deep he would come up with. The guy was determined and, once armed with the new hook, he made one connection where he pulled up a plastic bag and the Chinese guy said he saw the keys and knife ! -- but they dropped off the hook! at that point, tho, knowing roughly where they were, it was only 3 or 4 attempts before the keys came up -- to wild applause from the big crowd that had gathered to watch the whole operation.
Anyway, it was a near-miss for sure. A near miss with a happy ending.
Add sewer grates to my NZ shit-list (keas, sandflies, rain and sometimes food).
Been surfing in Dunedin and exploring the Otago Peninsula. It's a truly beautiful, Pt. Reyes-esque setting (more fields than forests, drier, no sandflies) and the only "problem" is that Dunedin central is pretty dreary visually. It does, however, have some interesting pockets, some punk rockers, and a great taqueria with Cholula hot sauce. (That makes FIVE different Mexican restaurants I've been to here that were all good. Amazing.)
Had a 5-foot swell yesterday, and the sun was out: the perfect storm, as it were. Surfed great waves at Blackhead, aka Quarries. The water was 58 degrees and so beautifully clear that you could see the sandy bottom, and the kelp-covered rocks that I got a little too up close and personal with on one wave that pitched me into the rock garden.
Jan. 5, 2009
CRISIS! last night. I was getting out of my car to go to a movie, and I dropped my keys outside my car -- and with a clink-clink and a sickening splashing sound, they slid through a drainage cover and into the sewer.
Well, this was one time I was thankful for all the rain that comes through here, b/c the water in the storm drain was not too nasty. I used my tent poles to scour the bottom, which was about 4 feet down through water, with a layer of soft muck. By putting my ear against the tent pole, I could actually hear the clink of metal when the rod touched the keys.
The keys were attached to a swiss army knife with a sizeable carabiner, so I figured my odds of fishing it out were fair. I constructed a "hook" of sorts by attaching vise grips to my tent poles. not a great system.
After about 10 min. of trying this, the theater nearby emptied out and three super-nice kiwis saw my plight and, without any hesitation, jumped into the challenge. Such nice people. Anyway, they found a bungee cord in the back of their car, and we improved the hook system to be a multi-pronged keychain nabber.
The kiwis were also calling the police department, city council and the fire department, and a crowd was gathering. I'm telling you: this was a CRISIS~!
At some point, one of the kiwis was talking to the guys in the Chinese restaurant there, and within a few minutes, the Chinese guys came out with the crux piece of equipment: a straight metal rod with a tiny nubby at 90 degrees at the bottom.
One of the kiwis -- this stolid, sunburnt fisherman -- had basically taken over the process from me, carefully sweeping the hook and lifting it to see what prizes from the deep he would come up with. The guy was determined and, once armed with the new hook, he made one connection where he pulled up a plastic bag and the Chinese guy said he saw the keys and knife ! -- but they dropped off the hook! at that point, tho, knowing roughly where they were, it was only 3 or 4 attempts before the keys came up -- to wild applause from the big crowd that had gathered to watch the whole operation.
Anyway, it was a near-miss for sure. A near miss with a happy ending.
Add sewer grates to my NZ shit-list (keas, sandflies, rain and sometimes food).
Been surfing in Dunedin and exploring the Otago Peninsula. It's a truly beautiful, Pt. Reyes-esque setting (more fields than forests, drier, no sandflies) and the only "problem" is that Dunedin central is pretty dreary visually. It does, however, have some interesting pockets, some punk rockers, and a great taqueria with Cholula hot sauce. (That makes FIVE different Mexican restaurants I've been to here that were all good. Amazing.)
Had a 5-foot swell yesterday, and the sun was out: the perfect storm, as it were. Surfed great waves at Blackhead, aka Quarries. The water was 58 degrees and so beautifully clear that you could see the sandy bottom, and the kelp-covered rocks that I got a little too up close and personal with on one wave that pitched me into the rock garden.
Can't believe it's already Jan. 5...time is now officially out of control.
2 comments:
Kiwis capture keys--a good short story in the making
Actually, if it was in the paper here, they'd say, "Kiwis Save American From Major Inconvenience"....seriously, i can imagine that as a headline here!
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