The Hunter
The lake was perfectly still. Mist hovered above the calm
water in great flocks of grey and the morning sky hid the
budding sun from view.
Our Track
Not much more than an hour had passed until we
realised how stupid our decision was to continue
travelling down the coastline. When we realised how
much trouble we had gotten ourselves into. The idea of
The trees stood staunchly, silent sentinels watching the
turning back had been suggested several times, only
lake intently. Suddenly a rasping chugging could be
to be quickly turned down by Jim, as he claimed that
heard from the water. A boat slowly emerged from the
only one more corner separated us from our arrival.
cloak of mist with great effort, as if it were a laden
Unknowingly we marched on, unaware of the fact that
packhorse trying to swim. The motor was the heart,
14 kilometers of coastline lay between Pourerere beach
beating heavily, powering and urging the great hulk to
and us. We were forced to carry our bikes over the rocky
complete the final stretch.
shore, as the sea swallowed the sand. Our track. Blind,
exhausted, scared - we soldiered on, in hope of being
The first thing about the boat that a few keen eyed
close. Then, without realising it, Dad, Marco and I were
fishermen on the shore noticed were the dogs. Great
left behind the other two as they carried on in front of us.
grizzled beasts that seemed closer to Hyenas than
We were beginning to struggle as we made our first
household pets and stared at the fishermen as if they were mistake. Not staying together.
no less prey than the deer and wild boar they had been
tracking for days. Their owner was no different.
Several hours passed until the three of us found
Camouflage covered his unsmiling face and highlighted ourselves on a hill looking over the South Pacific Ocean.
the ugly, deep fissures left by previous prey. With a heavy No food, no water and its effect was starting to show. It
thud the boat landed on the ramp.
was then that we realised where we would sleep may
be very different to what had been planned. However, it
The man nodded curtly to the fishermen as he guided his wasn’t all bad. We watched the moon rise and change
dogs back to the old ute he used for these trips. As the
from a blood red to its usual yellow, and saw a shooting
hunter loaded the dogs into the back of the vehicle the
star that lit up the eerie night sky. After gathering ourselves
corners of his mouth dropped, he knew what was
and a brief discussion, we continued down the coast
going to happen when he returned back home. As the ute towards our destination. Hoping.
coughed and spluttered itself into life the man thought over
why he had come here. These trips were his escape, a
Two iPhone torches and the moon led the way as we
chance to evade cruel reality and he knew that this lake, trekked along the hilltops, searching for any sign that we
this was his true home. He had always felt much more
were close. My feet were numb, I was running on empty
comfortable with his dogs amongst the trees than he ever and I was a footstep away from giving up when I saw it.
had in town with other people, where he had to deal with A glimpse of light. I ran to my right to get a better view, to
constant stress.
see if it was real. What I saw was indeed real, it was a
houselight surrounded by plenty more like itself. A
As the worn truck inched it’s way up the steep, unsealed houselight belonging to Pourerere.
road the hunter contemplated what awaited him in the real
world. Memories flashed in his mind like wild gunfire. The An hour later we made it, and met our families who had
shouting matches he had had with his coldly apathetic
called the police and organised for search and rescue
boss, his wife’s face was a salty waterfall the day she had to attempt to find us the next morning. Floods of tears ran
discovered he had lost his job yet again that day. The
down my Mum’s face as she hugged Dad and I,
hunter gazed back at the lake. The sun had come out of making me realise that what I’d just been through was
hiding now and the azure water twinkled in the bright
in a way life threatening. Later that evening I went into
daylight. The hunter, his eyes filled with tears let go of the shock and started shaking involuntarily, and if that had
wheel in order to take one last longing glance at the
happened on the hill we sat on looking over the sea, the
captivating, enticing body of water. He knew this was
night would have ended very differently. I learnt a lot as
his home now, he wanted to stay here forever. As the ute a result of that experience, but most of all I learnt that life
plummeted off the road the hunter felt nothing. As the dust is precious and can change in an instant. I learnt that
settled only the indifferent whistling of tui could be heard.
I need to make the most of what I have now, because
The lake was perfectly still and the hunter had become the anything can happen.
prey.
William Wallace
Jack Roberts