mach

And so the long trip home begins. I doubt there'll be many (if any) interesting posts from now on given I'll be in cities until I land back in London on January 1st. A flight on the 28th will get me to Auckland in enough time for a flight to Bangkok where four nights of a big, big city experience (and no doubt some humidity) await. Having seen in the new year there, a flight on January 1st will get me back to dear ol' Heathrow. Before all that, today's trip took me away from South Island and across to little Wellington city. A short flight across the water and a sunny landing in windy welly. A quick trip to the lookout on Mt Victoria to allow views of the harbour and city and to scout ... read more

Slow start given none of us could get to sleep last night - minds too busy. Bobby is still in bed but I spend a couple more hours with Shelley over breakfast - the subject hasn't changed. I pack up and head out a bit after ten, already a bit sad to leave these two behind. Three hour (hot, drenched) hike out and then the long drive to Motueka. Find my motel, wash everything, re-supply with tramping foods, and then out for a meal with Lance. I might pop back there for breakfast and see if he's still around - I quite like his company. Tomorrow brings a drive out to Flora road-end, a hike into the Leslie valley to Salisbury Lodge, then a day up and over the summit of Mt Arthur to Arthur hut, ... read more

Slow and lazy awakening despite the early night. Perhaps I was tired. A light drizzle is creating rainbows over the bay so I sit outside the cabin with a short series of cup of coffee watching water move through the air. The Tuis and ducks are providing entertainment. Then Lester appears and we talk about life. Before we know it, we've been talking for more than three hours (subjects far too varied to recount here but Lester descends from John Bull (one of the first pioneers here, creating a deep sense of background guilt) and is an engineer and boat designer whose boats appear all over these islands so discussing the world with him is a bit like walking through some of Pirsig's deeper chapters). A neighbour's tractor maintenance issue (snapped rim) drags Lester away. It's ... read more

And somehow I've reached Thursday and I'm driving back over Takaka Hill without a detailed plan. The one realisation I've come to though is that, despite landing on South Island nine days ago and, in theory, having at least two rest days scheduled in those nine, yesterday was the seventh day in a row in which I've finished the day with my legs singing a mournful tune in complaint at what I've been asking them to do for me. Add in the complaints from the shoulder muscles, the lower back, and the hip and the chorus is getting louder. Yet, still, even with this realisation in mind, I catch my mind looking at the weather forecast (heavy rain) and spotting a gap this afternoon during which we could make it up to, or across to, or ... read more

Last night, taking into account that there are likely to be about 30 hours available before some rather heavy rain arrives, the mind decided the wanderer was heading in to Fenella hut (4-5 hours), up Waingaro peak, overnight in the hut, then out tomorrow morning hoping to beat the worst of the arriving rain. So the long, long drive in to Cobb Dam begins. This road (Cobb Dam Rd) is rather infamous around here. It's variously described as one of "great fun", "an eye-opener", "ah, it's alright", "scary as hell", "the narrowest road in NZ", "sheer hell" etc etc. I'll hold off the hyperbole and just say that is starts narrow and sealed, the seal soon runs out to leave loose gravel and dirt, and the road continues to narrow until the point where some of ... read more