Off up to Palmerston North on Thursday evening. Collected at the airport by my Aunt Mary and cousin Thomas. It’s just great being with family, esp when so far from home. Had the beginnings of a catchup over a game of scrabble (and some Baileys). So it’s actually cluster munitions (not just mines – if they even exist?) that Thomas is campaining against. It’s fascinating listening to the stories of how the UN meetings that he sometimes attends work. How you make a ‘statement’ and an ‘intervention’ and what the differences are. Quite a different world really.
Did manage to loose at scrabble (though not part of Thomas and my ongoing championship as it wasn’t just the two of us). And that was even after cunningly positioning myself between Mary and Thomas in the hope that I could nick all the triple letter squares that Mary would open up.
I’m talking too much about scrabble.
Hmmm, ok, so Friday lunchtime took a bus up from Palmy to Tauronga by Lake Taupo, where I met my (wondefully / terribly? / savagely? impressively?) fit and fun friend Mhairi. I’d been trying to find a climbing guide book to Whanganui Bay for the last week, as it was supposed to be a hard place to find. Even with detailed directions from Daniel (a guy whos website had some info on the bay) we still drove past it first time.
They warn that you need a FWD to get down the road. And for once, they were totally right (they always are, aren’t they). I was *so* glad that
A) Mhairi was driving (more on driving later)
B) It wasn’t my little car attempting to get down the track – it would never have made it.
The bay itself is held in Maori hands, and they look after it well. A totally stunning spot on the western shore of Lake Taupo, very rugged, it’d be perfect in the summer with a little more heat (though we did get 3 sunny days). We found what a lovely camping spot down by the lake, and early enough to bed to get some quality climbing done the next day.
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