Day 6: something something Cobb Valley

Cobb Reservoir, in Cobb Valley, fed by the Cobb River and impound by the Cobb Dam.

By Thomas

As the weather on our sixth day was warm and sunny and therefore good to go to lay on the beach and go for a swim we decided to reschedule and instead of going to the beach, to go for a hike. After one of the buses went into the wrong direction and had to be chased down by the other bus on a wild hunt up a mountainside, we drove up the Takaka River and after a short stop on the Cobb Power Station. We started our hike up to an old Asbestos mine where Chrysotile, Amosite and Crocidolite were mined from the 1890s till the 1950s. There also is a old mining cottage where we stopped and celebrated Helen’s birthday with two awesome cakes.

Remains of the asbestos mine.

Alex spending time collecting samples for some unknown future work.

After exploring the surrounding area we headed back to the buses to travel on to the Cobb Reservoir. Driving alongside the reservoir Alex put one of the buses to the test by driving off road with half of the car in the ditch. Against all odds, all of us arrived safe at the last stop for the day at the end of Cobb Reservoir, where we were expecting to find some Trilobite rock. Unfortunately the Trilobites weren’t aware of that and therefore hiding where-ever Trilobites hide when not out in the open to amaze people. After that we headed back to the hut where we celebrated Bergfest, Helen’s birthday and the 5th of November in general by playing Flunki-Ball and trying to blow up the yard by piling up fireworks and burn them in the most unprofessional way imaginable. For everyone who doesn’t know what Flunki-Ball is: Imagine Viking Chess with less rules and more beer. If you don’t know what Viking Chess is – well, I can not explain everything.

Search for the elusive trilobites.

Bergfest wasn’t all just fun and games. Heat diffusion of pies was a hot topic of discussion.