So yesterday was both a happy and a sad day. Sigh. Two of my bestest friends over here are leaving me. Well, ok they’re leaving NZ and I happen to be caught up in that. I’m sure it’s not particularly personal. So yes, first I met up with Jana at our usual haunt in the University.

She has been a complete rock this year and we have had lots of chai lattes together and talk about pretty much anything and everything. So I will really miss her a lot. She is off to Germany with her wonderful boyfriend Julian (another great loss to NZ there!) where she is going to do a PhD – so won’t be back for at least 4 years. Sigh. Anyway, I wish them all the best (in a GodDamn you’re leaving kinda way!).

And then there’s my other bestest mate Dave – who has also been completely wonderful and is just a source of boundless energy and enthusiasm… Some of my favourite trips have been with Dave – I mean who else would pop themselves in a dinghy in the middle of the Foveaux Straight (the water between the South Island and Stewart Island)

And amongst numerous kayaking, mountain biking, skiing – in fact just about everything except tramping ;) – he did take my friend Mhairi and I up Humanality in tonsai which would have to go down as one of my favourite climbs. So yes, Dave will be missed greatly. He is off to kayak the grand canyon (takes 3 weeks!), and then is moving to Vancouver – well, he’s arriving into Vancouver – whether he will stay there is anyone’s guess – though it is a lovely city with plenty to occupy someone like Dave!

So yes, I will really miss Dave and Jana.. but I’m perfectly sure that I will see them both again for more adventures!

So I had been looking forward to getting out on a decent tramp for a while… and with Maaike back for the weekend it was time to show this Dutch hiker what NZ Tramps are really made from. Her last couple of tramps had been the Routeburn and the Kepler. Both decent enough tramps – but also both Great Walks. Now the great walks are a cunning trick of DOCs (Department of Conservation) to lure large amounts of unsuspecting tourists onto the same tracks – leaving the rest of the country nice and free for the rest of us to enjoy.

Ok, that’s not strictly true, the great walks are beautiful – but it’s not quite the same experience as Mt. Fyffe was to turn out to be.

It’s a bit of a slog for the first 4 hours – up a track which takes you from 200m to 1602m at the summit of Mt. Fyffe.

This was my third time doing the tramp. Once with Mhairi and Marcel a few years ago we got turned back by snow. And then a couple of years ago I did it with the tramping club. That turned out to be a little more interesting than I had anticipated as we were a little late starting and ended up having to do the last 3kms down the river by torchlight. Lots of fun.

For Maaike and I though, we had perfect weather. Almost too perfect for me though as I got reasonably sunburned and probably a little dehydrated (though I had drunk about 4L of water!). Once on the top of Mt. Fyffe the route heads North around some lovely aretes and then drops down a scree slope to Kowhai Saddle.

After that it’s a boulder hop down the river. Not your manicured tracks on the great walks… Maaike seemed to enjoy herself though. Being in daylight definitely helped!

I pretty much flaked out after arriving at the hut (9 hours). Completely wussed out on going for a swim to clean off in the pretty freezing river outside. Dave Aubrey would have been in there in a shot! Definitely going to miss him when he leaves NZ (end of Dec).

The next day it was a pleasant walk out along the river. There were lots of river crossings but seeing as it hadn’t rained in a while it was all very manageable.

Maaike has now left to Marlborough Sounds where she’s working in a hostel. Sounds pretty good though – mountain biking, water skiing, mussels on Fridays.. One wonders what the transition to South America will be like. Still, I suppose there are worse trials in life to overcome.

Finally Movember came to a close. And with it my friend Olivia from work jetted off to Melbourne. She will definitely leave a hole behind her. It’s lovely to meet wonderfully positive and fun people – it always rubs off and leaves everyone feeling happier. It was impossible not to get caught up in her excitement of leaving NZ and travelling about. Why I remember what it was like to leave Ireland all those years ago!. It did give me distinctly itchy feet I must admit. I love travelling and seeing new places (and not working!! :) hehe, ehem… oh to be independently wealthy. There should be a course on that!. Or to be patronised like back in the Renaissance. So if any wealthy benefactors are reading this and want to sponsor me to just really enjoy myself … I am open to offers.

Right.. back to reality. My boss and friend Andrew asked me to help out at pretty short notice on a kayak race he was helping out with (safety wise). I was to help out where the river went quite close to a submerged tree. Trees + Water + Trapped Kayaker = really bad news (often death!)… so I was there to help direct people to an alternative route. I had a throw bag.. and about 10 mins throwing practice with my friend Dave. Needless to say, me being me, I had nightmares of raging torrents of water with thousands of kayakers rushing down and impaling themselves on the trees.

In the words of one of the jet boaters (did get a 20 min jet-boat ride out of it!).. it was ‘boring’. In other words there were no deaths, no major accidents.. nothing.. not a sausage. Good job too.

Mark came back from OZ – great to have him back in the house. And my friend Steve Pawson has moved in to one of the other flats. I do sometimes wonder how much longer I will get to live in this slice of (fairly dilapidated) paradise. Still, best not to think about these things as there’s nothing one can really do about it!

So it has been a pretty sociable week all up. My van arrived back (yay!) with Maaike too.. so great to have them both back! I was super happy that the van had held up. I think it has had about 10,000km put on it in the last couple of months. Still, it’s good that it is being used.

Had another game of croquet on Saturday. This picture of Geoffrey (my partner – 82) and Maude (91!!!). It’s a great way of meeting some really lovely and interesting people, they just don’t usually turn out to be in their 20s!

Maaike and I tripped off to Akaroa for the weekend. It really is a lovely little spot. We did a couple of short walks, and rather a lot of lazing about! The picture of Maaike was taken on a small peninsula in the middle of the bay – and was the centre (apparently) of the volcano. The plug I guess. We had a slightly interesting bush-bash up the side of it.. but sure twas all good fun.

Finally a very lovely family friend from back home – Elenor and her most excellent partner Mark came by ChCh on their round the world trip. Funnily enough Maaike knew Mark from TCD but had never met Ellie – and vice versa for me. They arrived Monday evening and left this morning. Sigh. Off to do the routeburn. It does make me more than a little antsy to be travelling again. Life would be so much more fun if we didn’t have to work. Maybe I should try to find someone to sponsor me in a life of fun and adventure. So yes – really lovely to see Mark and Ellie… just a shame it wasn’t for longer. Their blog at www.ellieandmark.com is really excellent. There’s a great video of a volcano they visited!

Had a pretty relaxed (this is becoming repetitive and Something must be Done About it!) weekend. Pottered about Sat morning making orange juice, washing, tidying etc. and went for a short jog (which went well). Then in the avo headed over to Glynn and Jayne who were looking after Jayne’s sisters kids. Dave had been playing with them all day and, for once, looked tired. I was stunned. Mind you, he recovered quickly and about an hour later was trampolining away.

Sunday got up early and went over to Dave’s for breakfast. A fairly leisurely affair and he introduced me to the wonders of a juicing machine. Very cool. We then went off to the Port Hills as Dave had promised to lead me up Hangman – a very exposed and exciting 17 on the prow of Castle Rock. I really enjoyed the climb. It was steep and pretty pumpy towards the top, but great views and a wonderful location.

Then it was back to Dave’s with Michelle who had joined us for a lazy day. Ice cream was eaten, hammocks were got out and Michelle and I settled back to relax. Just as things couldn’t have become much better Dave comes running round the corner singing James Bond music with a water pistol in each hand. Things descended pretty fast from there and it was all out warfare for the next hour. After which Shelly and I went climbing in Albert Terrace before Dave and I went to Glynn and Jayne’s for an excellent dinner. All in all a great day.

So a word about Dave.. he is off to kayak the Grand Canyon in a month or so and after that will end up in Vancouver though whether he plans to stay there I don’t know. I will really miss him. He’s an exceptional human being – ridiculous amounts of energy and enthusiasm for whatever sport he propels himself into at breakneck speed, and also for his friends. He has been a real rock this year which has been greatly appreciated.

So I hope we see him back this way again.. though one imagines that the excitements and adventures of Canada might trap him for a while. There is much quality rock there, and many beautiful rivers.