Well, I’m off to Africa in a little under 3 weeks – to see my cousins in South Africa and then four weeks with my parents in Uganda.

As you know they have been there for just over 3 years doing aid work. Dad has set up a university – the Mountians Of The Moon University and mum is trying to set up an IV fluid production plant so that people who contract malaria can get the fluids they need to stay alive.

Pretty cool eh?!. Anyway, I’ve left it far too late to organise a fundraiser.. so this is my stab at it. At the bottom of this post is a donate button. Please donate if you feel the urge. YES it will go to me, and you’ll just have to trust (and I am trustworthy I promise!) that any monies donated will be brought out and given to my parents.

What they use the money for is a sort of slush-fund for helping the locals start mini businesses and any other things that come along. I quote from Dad..

We use the slush fund to give boosts to our projects if things are getting
difficult, though we try not to use it that way. We also use it for school fees for orphans,and have bought mosquito nets for a school. I am using some to help with training of staff to Masters and PhD level, for their fees and accommodation

We have used it to build houses and get land to give people security, helped people set up businesses and not importantly to get drugs and hospital treatment to cure people of malaria which would otherwise kill them, especially children.

Feel free to tell any family & friends who might want to donate too ;)

Thanks!

note! when you click the above link you will be taken through to a paypal screen.. you do *not* (I think) need to open an account – just put fat wadges of cash in the number box and click the continue button at the bottom…

Finally there are two documents here and here if you want to read more about what the uni is up to

It has been far too long since I was last out tramping. Even longer since I was out tramping with Marcel. He Mhairi and I had many many trips together this time 2 years ago. Lots of fun. He has admitted that NZ really is the best place to be, unfortunately his PhD keeps him closeted away in Graz. When he gets round to updating his blog I will let you know, as his pictures are always superb.

So the weekend got off to an excellent start. I’d been rabbiting on all day about how I wasn’t going to worry so much any more, and that if my van didn’t start (for example) that I would just cross that bridge when I came to it.

I came to that particular bridge immediately as the battery was quite dead. Fortunately about 2 minutes later Don one of the great ppl in 39 Fendalton had jump started my car. I think the radio had been left on. Still, something to look into.

Anyways, drove Northwards up through Lewis pass, camping in the van for the first time ever just north of Maruia Springs.

Then on to Nelson Lakes. It’s an area I’ve not really explored very much, and Lake Angelus was a trip I’ve been wanting to do for a while as it was one that Mhairi’s parents had suggested to her, and that she had quite enjoyed. And I figured if it’s good enough for them it couldn’t be completely awful ;)

It’s a stunning area. Glaciated valleys & tarns left right and centre. At least I think that’s the formation anyway. There’s a picture above of the old Mt. Robert ski-field. Sadly no longer used… a taste of what’s happening in Europe this winter?!

We were lucky enough to grab the last two bunks in the overfull DOC hut. It’s not usually that bad – but this being one of the more popular great (but not Great) walks.. it’s understandable. Sharing our biccies and cheese & blocks of chocolate soon won us friends. Bribery really is a wonderful thing.

We paid tribute to our missing comrade by drinking the minestrone soup (one of the two packets) I had been sent for Christmas. Then an early enough sleep for me (after playing some weird dice game called 10,000 for those who know it).

The next morning dawned bright and sunny. I wish. Oh no, this area is not renowned for it’s sunny days. It did dawn though, and it didn’t rain, and it did clear up. Marcel not to be put off by mere clouds dragged me kicking and screaming (he’s bigger than I am) off to try to find the mythical Lake Rotoroa. I think he just wanted to explore clouds from the inside.

Unfortunately the several hundred meters of cloud didn’t lift straight away for us, so it was time to call it a day and start heading down the cascade track towards Coldwater hut & the van (parked on a hill facing towards the exit just in case…)

Cascade track really is aptly named, and the beech forest afterwards really is beautiful.

Cold-water hut really isn’t all that cold.. at least I was roasting by the time I got there so a quick dip was called for. Marcel contented himself with paddling his feet. The ducks no doubt thought it was feeding time, but once they got a whiff of his socks cleared out pretty fast. At least I think it was that that made them run away…

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful really, some lovely pohutukawa trees. They’re called the Christmas Tree tree over here. And you can see why.

Then Marcel almost taking a real shower

before it was time to head back to ChCh. We stopped off at Sylvia flats on the way home to give the sandflies a little snack… all in all an excellent excellent weekend. I do miss having Marcel and his boundless energy and enthusiasm around for tramping trips!

Finally.. Marcel is almost a tee-totaler, and I did my best by mixing him a really quite nice G&T; (Bombay Sapphire Gin no-less). He did try it (which was a start), and even drank about 1cm before leaving the glass down and asking to be driven home. Sigh. At least I tried!

Blogger has just ‘upgraded’ their account… and now it’s really not working too well for me (as I have stubbornly refused to upgrade until they forced me to)..

I’m sure google is trying to be good (one hopes).. but it’s really quite irritating when it tries to force you to use their servers.

We’ll see.. I’m not even sure how many times I will have to try to publish before this one does. If anyone out there has any alternatives (easy, free) to blogger then I might well consider it..

Pretty lazy weekend for a long one (Tuesday is Waitangi Day). Though did manage to get out climbing with my friend Mark Hooker (shortly heading to Edinburgh! – quite a few ppl seem to be migrating that direction).

Anyway.. as for the title of this blog (yes, there was a point! ;) While we were up climbing there were some kids playing with a Spud Gun. Basically a gun with which you fire potatoes many hundreds of metres. Lots of fun.

Until the police get called that is. Someone obviously thought there was a real gun being fired. They put on flak jackets, took out their rifles, and were obviously pretty relieved when it turned out it was just kids having fun.

In all fairness they did take the gun to a pretty unpopulated area and only fire it off into an area where they could see where the potato would end up.

Still, I think they probably got let off with a caution.. and the police even gave them back their spud-gun :)

So.. I wondered about posting this… but.. seeing as it’s family & friends (and complete randoms).. I thought I would..

As you know, or those who have read more than just this post.. after Christmas I went on a 10 day Vipassana Meditation course. This is not an undertaking to be undertaken lightly!

It was, actually, too hard for me. Too hard for my little brain to cope with. And, well, it broke me. Or, at least it shook me up a bit. Quite a bit.

I don’t think, ultimately, it was bad for me. Indeed I think it opened my eyes to a whole world that I didn’t believe in. The Eastern Philosophy of ‘Energy’ and things like that always seemed like utter rubbish to me. I come from a very scientific background. We always had a copy of the new scientist to read.. and it was good. There is a whole lot of good in the Western scientific world.

However, I now think it was wrong of me to think things like acupuncture etc. are rubbish. Which I did. I mean it works for some people – and just ‘cos I don’t understand it doesn’t mean it makes no sense. And people who say they have experienced energy flowing around them … well.. now I can’t rubbish them any more. Because that is what I experienced on the course.

Believe it or not. I don’t really care – it is my reality. And I say I experienced it!! So there :)

However, I went too far. Far too far – and crossed a line and did actually end up in a hostpital! suffering from Mania. It’s a very odd time. Very odd indeed. But, again, I believe for me that it won’t have been a bad thing. Though it was odd being brought into a closed psychiatric ward. My thanks to my loving family & friends who rallied round and sent so many good wishes (and cookies!). It made *all* the difference.

So… I may say more about this at some future date. The reason I put this up is because I think it is important to share the bad things as well as the good things. Life isn’t just ups.. it has it’s downs too… The course took me to a place I do not understand.. but I think on the whole it will have been a good thing.

I am going to put some thoughts up on post vipassana thoughts from time to time. Yes, a third blog. This really is getting ridiculous. I don’t want to clutter this one up with ramblings of an x-lunatic ;)

But that’s the thing… it was an illness which passed. Nothing to be embarrassed about really :) And, hopefully you will see in my actions & thoughts that the course will ultimately have been good for me – no matter where I ended up after it. Let time pass and then judge.

Finally – my thanks to Jo who very very kindly made the logo for http://www.sharetothere.org.nz. I might possibly get to natter about it on the radio.. and I will probably get round to implementing it for the UK & Ireland (if anyone thinks it would be worthwhile!).

p.s… Mania is the exact opposite of depression… so it actually really honestly wasn’t all that bad :) I mean I had free food & accommodation with en-suite ;) There are definitely worse things in life. Monty Python had it right in their ‘always look on the bright side of life’ :)