So this post is likely to be all over the place. Bout time too.

We’ll start off with a picture.. of the Olympics – that beacon of hope, peace etc. etc.

Bit sad really isn’t it? And is seems pretty damn ridiculous to me to bring the torch up to the top of Everest. I mean really. Isn’t it supposed to stay lit? How are they going to manage that with so little oxygen about? And I wonder how many people will die to complete the stunt. Not that the Chinese are likely to let us find out as the entire thing seems to be shrouded in mystery.

Sigh.

What else…. Work is going well.. playing about with some fun technologies and learning a bit – which is all to the good. Looking forward to the new ski season – and getting www.snowpool.org.nz up and running again. Need to spend a little time on that over the next week or two.

So yes, the other random thing – does anyone out there ever actually catch themselves and think damn this is weird. I mean… life… it’s very odd really. Where it comes from, what it means etc. My friend Marcel said some (clever) mathematician has postulated that on balance of probability that this is all just a simulation anyway. Like the Matrix.

I’m not sure I want to die and then have the equivalent of a game over screen flashing Game Over, you scored 10,213,998 points. But I mean it is remotely possible that we are all on a starship passing between the galaxies at sub-light speeds and using this pretty damn cool game as a way of passing the time.

I mean I’m not saying it is like this… but who knows? Can’t prove it either way! That’s the beauty of it.

I was reading on Wikipedia about Dyson Spheres and how were there to be extra terrestrials they would most likely be building these things (basically a shell around the sun taking all the energy)… and we can’t see them.. So maybe we are at the start of the whole thing (and not already travelling the stars). Then again… in this simulation we may have just taken the most exciting part of human existence to play again and again.

Anyway, I’m waffling and the silent watchers are out there and might come after me ;) hehehe.

Had a really great dinner and evening with Graham & Myra – except that Myra won the first (And her first ever) game of Tantrix. Great game… Also Autumn is here – and with it is far colder weather – but some lovely sights.

I don’t like complaining about New Zealand, in the hope that it may eventually attract many of my friends from Ireland to come and live over here, and the friends I have made here and who have left, to come back. However!, Kiwi building standards are utterly contemptible. Really are. A Kiwi’s face will go completely blank when confronted with words like “Insulation” and “Double Glazing” let alone “Central Heating”… and as for the drivers…

So it was ANZAC day here so the red poppy was bought and I drove up in my friend Paul & Chloe’s car to Nelson Lakes where we picked up a very entertaining guy – Nick – before heading on the next morning to Paynes.

Nick I think, must have Irish blood in him somewhere. When Dad & I were kayaking we we met an Irish guy called Martin… there was nothing but constant slagging for 2 days. Fantastic. It’s something I really miss about Ireland actually – a really great and slightly different sense of humour. Nick was pretty good – but like so many Kiwis of his age (a couple of years younger than me) is off to Europe to seek his fortune for a year or two.

Anyway coffee was drunk – and funny signs seen…

The climbing was good – but I am so out of shape it’s ridiculous. Climbing is one of those sports.. if you don’t keep it up you loose it so quickly.

Off to Pu Pu (Te Waikoropupu) Springs… the cleanest fresh water springs in the world.

And yes.. it has been measured. So there. Unfortunately you’re not allowed to go near it any more ‘cos DOC is worried that Didimo (invasive algae introduced accidentally a few years ago :( will spread into the waters. It’s a real shame.. really.

Beer was drunk at early hours of the day – and the riverside cafe (what a place) was visited and cards were played. All in all a great weekend.

ive just realised that yr off to navigate thorugh prime matagouri country

Prophetic words from my wonderful friend Aroha. She was half right – it was matagouri (think gorse but with longer spikes) country.. but I left the navigation up to Clare as I wanted to get round the course within the time limit – rather than 3 weeks late. Great to see Graham&Myra along too :)

So the Mountain Marathon started off as a UK event – but basically it’s just an orienteering event set in the hills (carrying all your gear). I was woken up at 3am ish by hailstones battering down on my roof, and I pulled my duvet a little closer and wished 06:30 would just pass me by.

It didn’t. Thankfully. I suppose ;) So off to the square where we met everyone and got our funky tags for the event…

These are quite sneaky things really.. the checkpoints have a weird pen like device (no pic sorry) that you hold your magnety thing up to .. it then encodes onto it that you’ve passed that point.. so at the end of the race you can immediately see how many points you’ve got – how quick you were etc..

Anyway.. it was a pretty long day on the Sat. Must scan in the map sometime. No team (and there were some fit ones) finished on time. We were an hour and a half over time.. which wasn’t too bad really – and actually put us in second place (out of 10)..

We did at least have lovely clear skies. Mind you, clear skies at night tend to lead to cold too. In fact my shoes were *kinda* frozen in the morning.. The billy didn’t really work that well..

Clare’s feet were a little smaller than mine and she kindly put hers in and warmed them up to the point I could get mine in (still cold though!). Warmed up pretty quickly once we got moving though :)

Sunday was a lot shorter.. and hardly anyone did the optional extra checkpoints… Everyone was pretty much knackered after Saturdays effort.

So yes, good fun all told. There are a few more events coming up TWALK which I will probably miss this year – and another called the Heights of Winter.. which I will try to get on.

And now – a reward for reading this far… Some Donald Rumsfeld quotes on the
BBC Site. Well well worth a listen to :)

So I’ve always wanted to get to Mueller Hut. It’s a pretty old (well, the first one was built a long time ago – it’s now the 5th Mueller hut) alpine hut situated high above the valley floor with excellent views of Mt. Cook.

The weather was supposed to be pretty dodgy this weekend so initially it was called off – but Warrick had a second look and thought things looked good – so we headed off on Friday evening. Stopping for obligatory fish & chips in Geraldine. Cool chipper.. I even got to write on the walls.

Camped by the shores of Lake Tekapo on Friday night.. and enjoyed a nice bottle of white down by the shore. See tramping doesn’t have to be awful ;)

–Saturday–

Slightly cloudy start to the day – which was perfect really as it’s quite a steep hike up the hill – and you’d fry if the sun was out. Beautiful views out over towards cook and over the Hooker Glacier

Warrick found some time to go swimming in the Sealy Tarns (1300m).. and to admire the view..

Once we got to the hut – we left our bags there and continued up to Mt. Oliver which was Ed Hillarys first major climb. Mind you, we had steps quite a bit of the way and no snow whatsoever, so we may have had an easier time of it. Maybe.

I think one of the things I really love about NZ – and especially about getting out into the hills – is seeing the stars at night. I could be wrong (happens occasionally) but in the Southern Hemisphere we look *into* the plane of the Milky Way – whereas on the Northern Hemisphere (losers ;) you look *out* of it. So we get to see lots more stars and you don’t. So there. Yet another good reason to move down here.

Postcard for the first person to correctly identify the pointers, southern cross and where the south celestial pole is in the picture above)

So yes – thanks to Warrick & Hannah for a really great weekend.

So I’ve really enjoyed this years rogaine series with Steve & Michelle (guest starring, Anna, Amy, Thor and Mike) – really looking forward to next years now… but will definitely make a huge bright head torch first!!