[Editors Note: I was recently “on deck” for NOLS to go to New Zealand to fill an emergency staffing position and this piece is one of the many things that…
Category: New Zealand
Musings on things pertaining to Aeoteroa
“That’s not rain, it is Chuck Norris pee!” KG yells across the maelstrom to the neighboring tent. There is no pitter patter of rain, just a constant white noise, rhythmically…
Editors Note: This is a blog post I wrote back in the Autumn of 2012 during my first sojourn south to New Zealand. Though slightly dated, the concept is one…
They are the best of times, they are the worst of times, they are places of wisdom, they are places of foolishness, they are places of belief, they are places…
“I can see why people say ‘oh Gore Bay… it’s not that great’” Amy says while pulling neoprene off her wet skin. She struggles to both peel her feet out…
27 November 2013–Ambivalence mattered today. Jim and I have passed the planning torch over to the students. They are working in groups of two to plan the days. I have…
“Huh, you all did it in two days, eh?” Barbara asked us. “You got to Hari Hari yesterday and then hiked in?” she further queried for clarification. “No, we took…
26 December 2013 — It has been almost two years since Carlyle Norman perished on the south side of St. Exupery in the Patagonian Andes. Since that time she rarely…
How can something so beautiful be so, so… unforgiving, or maybe unwelcoming? The mountains of New Zealand are cruel mistresses. They tempt me with their beauty, accessibility and challenge. I…
“Why do we have to go so early? Will it be a long day?” Hannah asks. “That is a good question” I think to myself. “Well there are a couple…
“I like the sound of rain on the fly” Jim says, half prone in his red, mummy bag. “It is especially good when you know you don’t have to go…
Torrential sheets of rain fall loudly on onto the tin roof of the McCoy Hut. I have set our small cook pot outside under the eaves to collect water for…
Twenty-four hours ago we waded, almost thoughtlessly, across the calf deep McCoy Stream, climbed the stony embankment and walked to the small hut on the north side of the creek.…
October 1st 2013 1100 — “Man, sometimes the group decision making process drives me insane” Sean utters as he crawls into the vestibule. One hand holds the tent door fabric…