Please email for the password if I haven’t already given it to you. The reason it’s protected is simply so that information about Outward Bound isn’t too easily accessible as it’d spoil the fun if people who were going to go on the course could get info on it toooo easily!

So.. I was listening to a podcast (This American Life – excellent).. and it was on gossip. During the podcast they played a snippet of music which I loved.

So.. downloaded Songza – which is an app which can discover what music you are listening to.. found out that it was “I heard, by the mills brothers”.

Put that into youtube.. and here’s the result.

It is quite ridiculous what you can do with computers these days. Really quite incredible. I remember ZX Spectrums and very slow modems (128bps?). Crazy. Really crazy

A few pictures from last weekend, walking about in the hills above our house.

It’s great – a 40 minute walk from front door brings you up here… One of the challenging things post-quake has been finding outlets for energy.. a lot of the tracks are dangerous with rock-fall hazards etc. ChCh is getting back on its feet though – which is great… but it is slow work.

This weekend just gone, Maaike and I flew up to Wellington to see Glynn & Jayne, and also the Irish comedian Dylan Moran. He was definitely funny – though I had less gut-wrenching laughs than I have had with others. I think this might have been down to the acoustics of the theatre (he talks very quickly), and I was also expecting more topical / political humour. Still, an excellent excellent evening. In a parallel dimension, I would love to be a standup comedian. I think.

Oh, Maaike and I also went for a walk above Wellington. I love that you can be right up with a good view in literally minutes walk from the city centre. Wellington really is a nice city, even if she is sitting on a time-bomb (big overdue quake!).

It was lovely seeing Glynn & Jayne. Their daughter Isla isn’t getting any smaller, or quieter. Which is all right and proper for a 1 1/2 year old. Does bring it home the sacrifices one makes from *not* being in Ireland. That said, I read the Irish papers daily, and while I’m sure it’s not as bad as the papers make out, I’m still quite happy to be in New Zealand, and not in a country which must be going through such a harsh transition. I think I’d take earthquakes over mountains of debt any day.

Still, we do have houses like this all over the place. Which is less than ideal.

So.. from September 3rd -> 23rd I will be off at Outward Bound. It’s basically a personal development course run through the outdoors. It involves things like getting up at 6am and going for a 3km run and then jumping in the sea (which is cold). And that is just for starters.

I’m excited and quite nervous.. but definitely more excited than nervous. Thing that’ll happen:

• Teach you how to sail, then put you and your 12 mates in a boat for 4 (more?!) days… on your own… in the sea.
• Teach you how to navigate – then off on a hike/tramp for 4/5 days
• ditto kayaking (I think)

So yeah, lots to do.

Now – we are allowed (in fact, encouraged) to send & receive postcards / letters. These can *totally* include things like:

1. Stuff you have learned in life and that you think I’d like to learn too….
2. Fig Rolls (you can’t get these in NZ – and I miss them like you wouldn’t believe on hikes!)
3. Chocolate
4. Letters containing deep thoughts about life, the universe, and everything
5. Letters containing jokes, frivolaty, and no deep thoughts
6. Pictures from your latest holiday
7. Pictures from another holiday / your new house / family members / scuba diving, kayaking, extreme planking… whatever it is

These letters, postcards and packages should be sent to :

Patrick Davey
M561
Outward Bound School
Private Bag 403
Picton 7250

It would be absolutely lovely to get them. Anyone who does write will get at least one postcard in response within the next year :)