​It's kind of ironic that settling into a place became the death sentence of my blog. But I have a feeling Wanaka does that. Then winter arrived, and with work, skiing and everything in between, sitting down to post something has barely crossed my mind. Although the snow gods delivered the goods again in the week and spring is definitely here, a little too much "fomo" trampolining a few days ago has left led to me spending the last 3 days fairly incapable of doing much, let alone making the most of some prime spring skiing. So, day 4 and I've finally out procrastinated myself into a state that leaves trying to revive this page the only thing left to do.

So what have I been doing? The Pioneer finished in Queenstown and after the best part of a month doing odd jobs, staying with various people and on various sofas I upgraded to "The Cupboard" Kings Drive, Wanaka. Unfortunately the hunt for the type of design and making work I found up north wasn't making any ground. Caleb who I had met in Morzine and whose cupboard I was living in put me in touch with a local builder, Perry. I've been working with Perry since. Almost exclusively on his own place just out side town. We'll be putting the finishing touches together over the next couple of weeks, and after my initial internal struggle over not really finding what I'd set out for I'm starting to realise how much I've learnt over the last couple of months. Not only that but how lucky I am to have found such an easy going guy to work for. 

Perry has been a stand out and we've squeezed in the odd powder day when the snow has been on point.  I'm stoked to have been part of their project and to have seen a whole build take place while living in an insanely beautiful part of the world.

It's not all been sunshine and rainbows there's been a couple of hiccups, both physical and mental but all in all, life is good in the southern hemisphere.

Weekends at the end of summer were spent exploring, from hut missions with strangers to catching up with increasingly old friends. Since the snow arrived I've done my best to make the most, weekend warrior style....

So I thought I'd share a few pictures, kinda miscellaneous adventures of the last few months in Wanaka. Over the next couple of weeks I might even go into some more detail on the bigger ones. Chronocologicallishly.

Meg Hut- "Strangers have the best candy"

Hooker Lake, Mount Cook - Snap, Caleb Riding

Roys Peak - Birthday Suits

Mace town - Autumn

Gillespie Pass

Milford Sound - Turning 24

Dunedin surf trip

Meg Hut, Winter - More strangers, more candy

She popped over

....

Wanaka

As with most of the volunteers for me the Pioneer came around purely by chance, Martin, who I had been staying with, mentioned he was involved in this huge MTB race on the South Island. I checked out the website, it looked right up my street and I hadn't found anything to keep me in Auckland. 7 days volunteering for free food and travel was by far a more exciting prospect than continuing the job hunt up North. I got in touch and snagged a last minute spot.

This sort of event attracts a variety of people and for various different reasons. Riders raced in pairs through some of the most beautiful and brutally rugged terrain in the world, on a course designed to drive individuals, friendships, marriages to their absolute limit. Once they were there, it asked a little bit more. Aside from the elite teams who came to win, or train for the season ahead, the majority of the field came to finish. We were treated to various inspirational stories after dinner each night and early on the respect that the competitors held for one and other was apparent. This spirit of personal endeavour combined with a total appreciation for being part of something very special while sharing in the agony endured to achieve a goal, summed up The Pioneer for me.
​
​I've been pretty slack recently so since entries have now opened for next year's race I figured it was about time I shared some snaps...oh and a cheeky little video.

Basically I spent a week putting up a serious amount of tents, between us, roughly 400 a day. When I wasn't I was seeing parts of the country that very few people get to see, way out in the ranges. And the whole time was spent with a wicked group of people. A wee cog, and part of something great.

Do ex-volunteers get discounted entry for next year?

Click this for more info on the event and a whole TV episode in which I don't feature once! Gutted.

The week before I was due to leave Auckland Rupert called me reminding me that his exhibition was opening on Waiheke over the weekend. We arranged to meet at the ferry on the Friday and head over. Martin and Jane have a place on the island and very kindly said I was more than welcome to stay there, Martin even gave me a couple of days' work on their new place on the Monday. 

The exhibition was awesome, a collection of Auckland newest talent, through such a range of media. Rupert's Kauri dining table was in a prime spot in the main exhibition and I hadn't seen it finished, someone has to buy it, it's incredible. It was pretty cool to see the side table I worked on in there too, and to see peoples interest in it! The night got slightly less genteel pretty quickly after a few cocktails at dinner... So good to catch up with Laura and Dai, who I had crashed with before Christmas and Jo and Dom, who was completely unsuspecting of his big birthday surprise the next day. Dai nearly gave the game away somewhere into his third "sex on the beach" 

I spent the weekend catching up with family Kinnear, exploring the coastline, fishing, and being part of a family I spent so much of my childhood with. Its amazing to see people from home so far from it. DK and TC thanks so much for having me.

Martin and Jane  a belated thank you for everything, your generosity made those first couple of weeks so much more manageable. Hopefully I'll see you all soon!  ​​

Thank you Vaness for slapping me with a dose of Piha, waves, sunset and fire dancers. It sorted me right out.
​
As we started driving back Rupe called her, Lou had given birth to Lily. Perfectly timed news. 

It's a long time since Christmas but I thought I would share a few photos while I sort though a heap from the last couple of weeks. 

Having worked for Rupert for a few days it dawned on me that I hadn't got any plans for Christmas, and I hadn't really given myself the best chance to meet anyone to spend it with. Even though that changed by the end of my time with Rupe and Lou I was desperate to go back to Aus (having been semi invited) so I booked a flight for Christmas Eve.... I just neglected to tell Beth.

George's original plans had fallen through so he ended up being another stray taken in by the Wakelings, which Linda loved I'm sure. My first southern hemisphere Christmas turned out to be one of the best I've had, despite being so far from home, soz fam.

A couple more weeks of pottering around the sunshine coast followed until I flew back to Auckland a week or so into the new year.  

Happy belated New Year! I will probably be playing catch up over the next few days so keep an eye.

On my second day, Rupert chucked me straight onto one of his designs for the exhibition, the second in hopefully a series of hall tables made out of repurposed balustrades. I am so thankful for him trusting a complete random bloke with long hair to produce one of his designs (under his watchful eye), When I thanked him for taking a punt on me he just said "If you had f$%k%d it up I would've just had to make it again". Workshop life is pretty perfect with good music and good company. I'm pretty chuffed with how the table turned out.

​I wrote a short kinda statement for Rupert and his work which really sums up my time with them and a lot of it is based around a mutual attitude to design.

Thanks for having me guys it's been the perfect start to my time in NZ. Catch you soon.

Check out more of Rupert's work at http://www.thecleverdesignstore.com/designers/rupert-herring.html

George was easily swayed into switching up his plans and joining us for our final leg of the trip. Our last night was just over an hour inland of Byron Bay just below Mount Warning. We pitched our best camp to date at the bottom of a steep valley after an incredible drive from the coast. The bloke that 'greeted' us at the camp site had been having a pretty chilled day, his eyes were pretty far gone by the time we got there, around 4:23pm. He seemed chuffed we had prepaid and couldn't be arsed to charge for George, or checking the number of people on the booking. 

We went all out on camp dinner, fresh mint and rosemary that Beth had found were put to good use, all in preparation for climbing Mount warning in time for sunrise. The 3am start was well worth it. 

Beth asked me a couple of days before if I preferred sunrises or sunsets, I said I didn't know but I had seen a lot more sunsets. Looking back I think it's pretty obvious, the start of the day is way more exciting than the end.

I left Aus a couple of weeks ago, thanks to everyone I met for making it so special, the Wakeling family for making me feel so at home and Beth, for sharing Mcventures.   

I'm working through a back log of pics and bits and bobs. I've been in NZ for about 5 days and will having plenty to show for it soon, in the mean time, the second leg of our road trip.

Beth had a last minute interview the day after leaving Moreton so we drove back up the Sunshine coast for the night, before a slog south to Yamba, and a campsite just south at Redcliff. The weather was turning after two weeks of blue skies. We jumped out of Krudler, pretty stoked on the stormy outlook and had a blustery walk along the cliffs. We set up camp for the next couple of days of kangaroos, emus, back burning, and insane mid storm moonlit swims. Fairly Aussie.     

The storm hit pretty heavily on our last morning, leaving us to take shelter and have a solid run of O and Xs in Krudler. The tent took a beating. Once it calmed enough to pack up we followed the storm towards Byron Bay and coincidently George, a mate from Uni. The weather peaked at some point that evening and we found ourselves in the middle of a 360° light show up at Byron lighthouse.

After a chilled first week exploring some awesome local spots we packed up Krudler (a 27 year old, diesel chugging Land Cruiser, with nearly 500,000km under the hood and loves long walks on the beach) and drove to Moreton Island. The ferry from Brisbane takes just over an hour, we engaged 4x4, let some air out of Krudlers tyres and drove straight onto sand for 3 days of Island living.