Well, the weather was looking decidedly dodgy this weekend but headed off into the wilds of the Lewis Pass with some members of the CUTC. Mayer who led the trip was someone I had tramped with before and really enjoy getting out and about with. His navigation is excellent… I really need to improve mine and then actually get out there and start leading my own tramps..

So the tramp in on the Saturday went fine. The rivers were up a bit but not too bad.

It was a nice enough hut – should have taken some pictures of the inside.. it’s also a free hut to stay in – no hut tickets required. With the stove going and the wine flowing it was a fun night for all. Except for the possums.. Mayer did his bit to keep the population down.

That night we had thunder and lightning which is something of a rarity – at least for me. I don’t think I’ve been in more than a couple of storms during my whole time here.. and frankly it’s something I really miss – I love a good lightning storm.

However, with the lightning came a fair amount of rain which didn’t let up too much. We decided to attempt to get out. Using good river crossing technique (needed) of linking up we forded the main river – and after that we only had smaller tributaries (though difficult enough too) to cross. All in all a good tramp – great to be out again.

Now, as for Maths – well today I went into Burnside school and sat at the back of a few classes and heckled the teachers mercilessly until I was put in detention. Just like old times. Ok, not quite.. but I did head along and see what it was all like. Burnside is a pretty good school so I think the classes were probably pretty well behaved on the whole. I dunno where the idea of teaching got into my head… I mean frankly it does fill me with terror – the thought of standing in front of a group of 30 kids who basically want to make you lose it. And then laugh at you. Sigh.

Who knows – it looks like there might be some more IT projects coming my way in work so I might do that for a wee while and maybe try get my skills back up in the meantime… I’m not really in any rush.

And as for the MRI.. well I’m going in for one tomorrow for my lower back.. so hopefully will work out what’s been going on!

Had a slight fiasco with getting my Irish Passport renewed. I sent it away with all the documentation etc. and after waiting a week mailed them just to make sure they had received my passport. They said they had and to wait a further 6 weeks.

So I waited. And waited… and then mailed them on Wednesday saying ‘any chance of getting my passport back’. They said ‘What Passport?’. I got nervous.

About an hour later courier post rang me and said “We’ve been trying to get in touch with you for weeks… we have a package for you”. I was surprised as there was no message on anything.

Anyway, now that I have my flash new 10 year passport I headed into the department of immigration to renew my visa… and they gave it to me. So I now have an indefinite returning residents visa. So, if I want to – I can leave New Zealand for 20 years and still come back in as a resident. I’ve been wanting that for a while. It’s quite likely if I do end up as a teacher that I might travel with it a bit.. perhaps do a year in Ireland at some point. We’ll see..

So for about 2 years now I have been having lower back pain from a squash match I played just before going travelling (and thus didn’t have time to get fixed). Unfortunately it’s still bothering me 2 years later.

I took myself off to a good physio who came up with a New Plan of Action. So I was given new exercises to do – but they’ve not really had the results we’d hoped for. So I’m being referred to a Doctor, and then probably to a specialist. Hopefully it’s all covered by ACC.. otherwise I’m going to be impoverished..

What else.. pretty lazy weekend so sorry no pictures to show. Went to a few movies, did a little maths study, and played some cards with friends. I got slightly roped into a croquet competition which is kinda scary as I’ve not played a turn in months and months – also it takes up most of my free weekends which is *really* annoying as it’s prime tramping and kayaking weather. Still, hopefully will be able to get out for a few of the upcoming weekends.

Two Finally’s really. Firstly in this guardian article it talks about the shock revelation from Alan Greenspan that the war in Iraq was mostly about the oil. Note the heavy sarcasm! However, goes on to say (and link to) stories from insiders that Bush & co intend to do into Iran – for much the same reason.

I’ve been reading for a while about Peak Oil etc. and one of the things it talks about are resource wars… and it looks to me like that is exactly what is going on in Iraq and soon to be Iran at the moment. Sad really. Mind you, as oil hits $82 a barrel and our world ever increasingly dependant on the stuff it makes perfect sense to protect your supplies.

It’s interesting (in a scary way) our current civilisation is completely dependant on oil. And oil is a finite resource. And we’re taking about 82 million barrels of oil out per day. Every day. If the peak oil boys are right then world production will peak in and around 2010 (if it hasn’t peaked already). Once that happens there will be a series of price shocks etc. It’s also interesting that the Iranian Oil Bourse has come on stream which must be diverting millions of dollars worth of trade out of the dollar and into other currancies.

I mean hopefully new technologies will come on stream – electric cars etc.. but I do feel that not enough is being done to fix the problem in the relatively short amount of time we have left before prices start shooting up.

We’ll see, hopefully I’m wrong.. :) I mean I hope things do get sorted out ‘cos it might make the bi-yearly trip back to Europe a bit less likely..

The other finally – is that I finally got in touch with a local school and will be going in to do shadowing on October the 9th.. so quite excited about that. I do hope I find I enjoy the environment and feel that it could be the thing for me.

Ok, so while I am enjoying going back through old maths text books to bring my skills up to speed (should I ever actually go through with my current intention of becoming a maths teacher).. I do find some of the questions a tad challenging. Like the one listed below. Personally I reckon it’s impossible – but am keen to be proved wrong. Well.. keenish ;)

So if you feel like a challenge (at least I hope you’ll find it challenging) have a look at the following problem..