The night at the Hunter's cabin

29th May 2014 

Once upon a time in a country far far away, a boy named Rob and a girl called Sian decided to go on an adventure.  They travelled through town and villages, volcanoes and rivers and one day decided to explore a place called Rimutaku Forest Park.  

So off they drove, down the windey country lanes stopping off at various view points along the way.    As darkness fell and they approached the forest, they regretted not setting off sooner.  With the short winter nights, it was going to be a case of cooking in the dark especially as the mobile phone charger had blown the fuse to the leisure battery, so they didn't even have any evening entertainment or lighting.  They continued to drive deeper and deeper in to the forest, the turns got tighter, the hills steeper and the fuel gauge on the campervan was getting lower.  

Then all of a sudden as Rob had to change down a gear to make another sharp turn, the gear wouldn't go in to place.  "the gear's broken" exclaimed Rob " I can't get it in to gear".  They pulled in to re-read the ambiguous directions to the campsite and realised that they had likely driven too far, not only that but the gates to the forest park where the campsite was located shut at 6pm.  It was currently 5.55pm.  In a frantic panic to get to their destination, they ground the gears and sped off and made it at last, but it was 6.05pm and the gates were locked.   

Rob and Sian just looked at each other, they were now in the middle of no where, with no fuse to offer any light, low on fuel and some worrying grinding and clunking from their steed.  It was too risky and late to drive any further, so they decided to accept the fate they were to camping in a turning circle a place more suitable for getting kidnapped, taken hostage and never to be seen ever again.  

At that point, a suspicious vehicle appeared from the forest, the barrier raised and he drove on.  "the barrier's up, the barrier's up" exclaimed Sian, "if he comes back, then we can follow him in to the forest and get to the campsite".  The vehicle then stopped, reversed and rolled down the window.  Sian's stomach dropped, "this is it" she said, "he's going to pull a gun out and throw us in the back of the truck".  Clearly, Sian has watched far too many horror stories, for it was just the Park Ranger in his truck asking us if we wanted to stay at the campsite.  "Hi Buddy" said Rob, "we were hoping to stay at the campsite, I don't know if you can help us?".  "Sure, follow me" said the Ranger and they followed the Ranger out of the forest park and down another windey road.  The Ranger indicated for Rob to pull over and he got out of the car.   He introduced himself as Darrell and told them not to worry about staying in the campsite that evening, for he had a spare hunter's cabin they could stay in as it was going to be a cold night. 

He gave Rob the key, showed them the plentiful supply of logs to get the burner going and told them he was quite handy with vehicles, so he could probably fix whatever the problem was, if not, he knew a man that could, nearby. 

Rob and Sian couldn't believe their luck.  What was moments before a near disaster, had turned in to a little miracle, with the thanks of Darrel the Park Ranger and his Hunter's cabin.  That night, they sat beside the fire, drank wine and reflected on what would be a story to tell their friends and family when they returned home!

The End.