Off up to Auckland for Sun->Tues. Nice flight up past taranaki (I can’t get enough shots of this mountain! I love it!!)

We had our biannual work conference on the island of Waiheke. I asked – and was allowed – to fly up a day early which meant I managed to get to see Cirque du Soleil perform their Varekai production. I’m not even going to try to describe it except to say if you make the effort to see these people perform then you won’t be disappointed at all!. This is the second of their productions that I have seen – this time last year Alegria in the Royal Albert Hall which was also simply brilliant (thanks to Mhairi’s parents for that one).

After that it was off to the island for the conference. Really was a beautiful island – incredible to see a sky full of stars and yet only be 30 mins from a town the size of Dublin.. Did manage to get to try wake-boarding. I was really happy getting up on my third attempt and not stopping until my arms could take no more. Lots of crossover with snowboarding.. (pics to follow hopefully)

As chance would have it an old engineering friend Brian flew into Auckland on the 18th – and he came out to the Island and joined us for the work BBQ that evening – I think he quite enjoyed himself. Whether it helped with sorting out his jetlag I have no idea!

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..