Lofalitsidwa: 02.03.2018
Sometimes I can't believe how lucky I can be!
During my day trip to Hokitika Gorge, Dorothy Falls, I also made a stop at Lake Kaniere and enjoyed the peace and quiet.
As luck would have it, the sun came out, so I had to put on my sunglasses. In the process, I placed my regular glasses with the street map in front of me on the dashboard.
When I got out to look at an information board about the lake, I heard the map being blown away by the wind from the car. So I went after it. I caught it, packed it, got back in the car, and drove back to Hokitika.
When I arrived in Hokitika, I wanted to put on my regular glasses again, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Damn, they must have fallen out of the car along with the street map.
So I drove the 12 km back to Lake Kaniere, hoping that no other car would arrive early and possibly run over my glasses in the parking lot.
When I arrived, a scene of terror greeted me! The entire parking lot was full of trucks and locals launching their sports boats.
A quick look at the spot where I was standing was disappointing. No glasses, but also nothing run over.
I also circled around a few trucks, but couldn't find anything. A search in the surrounding area also turned up nothing. So I went to the locals and asked if they had found any glasses. No luck.
Two boys followed me to the spot where I might have lost them and wanted to help me search. But they didn't find anything either.
Just at that moment, as I was about to get back in my car, I noticed something lying on a dried patch of seagrass out of the corner of my eye.
Unbelievable! The glasses were lying there undamaged, about 1m from the tires between two trucks. They were difficult to spot because of the seagrass.
I don't know who was more excited, me for finding them or Moe, the owner of the truck on the left, for the incredible coincidence that he didn't run them over or crush them when getting out.
They immediately called everyone else over to see my stroke of luck.
So for that day, I became the Lucky Guy of Lake Kaniere!