Can't Believe its December...

.... and only 18 days till Christmas. My time back in Ireland seems to be flying by. I am still not sure what to make of being back home - happy, sad or indifferent. Its certainly taking some getting used to.

Presently, I am working with SFI (Science Foundation Ireland) sources potential reviewers for various research grants in the Maths/Computational field. Its certainly filling my time and paying my bills and quite interesting. It has given me a little insight into what the Foundation does and how it works. Its a really nice work atmosphere.

I couldn't believe the Irish Times on Monday when I saw this photogragh. Is this an effect of global warming or a once off? None-the-less - a wave you might expect off the coast of Hawaii - but Ireland? At least they are shark infested waters :)


Photograph: Mickey Smith
South African Duncan Scott catching a wave that was estimated to tower eight times his height off Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, on Saturday morning

Eco-Dublin?

Is Dublin turning eco? Since arriving back in Dublin I've noticed the mass of new eco-taxis cycling around. I think its great.

Back in Ireland

I can't believe it, I have been back in Ireland now for 3 weeks. Time has flown. Somethings have changed, some stayed the same. The M50 / Red Cow / N7 eternal mess. Crazy Dublin traffic. Lots of people braking lights. New Buildings, old friends :)

Its good to be back - I've missed friends and family - but I won't deny it - its strange and unsettling. What is the way forward from here? Nothing feels quite right but then again I don't know what is right... the eternal battle that goes on in Carole's mind.

Onto more interesting things, I managed to get out to Glendo for a days bouldering last weekend and a trip out West this weekend, for a quick surf. The surf, however, really can't be actually constituted as surf. More swimmming with board in ripples. But so what, its November, its Ireland and we're were in the sea. Smiles all round.







Julie-ann was over from the UK and well seeing as we were over on the West - we had to take here to visit Ailladie - and what a treat, a glorius sunset.

Goodbye Wanaka, Goodbye New Zealand

I went to New Zealand expecting a magical place and I certainly got that. However it was not in the way I anticipated. I expected Europe (great accessible snow and sport climbing) what I got was a remoteness, small ski fields and un-travelled climbs.

With a population of about a million (roughly) on the south island, an island much the same size as Ireland, it is soon evident how sparsely populated the island is and how remote you can get. While snowboarding in Europe, if you don't actually live underneath the lift station, then you make use of the (generally) free shuttle bus to the lift, which is maybe a 20 min drive. Whereas here in New Zealand, no one lives close to the lift. Everyday, we drove the 40km trip to get to Cardrona or Treble Cone our closest two ski resorts, half of which was on an unsealed road, the edges of which were barely marked with posts, twisting and turning its way up a mountain.

Will I miss Wanaka? Yes!! Will I come back to Wanaka and New Zealand? Definitely! But my reasons for returning wouldn't be solely for climbing and snowboarding as they were on this trip. I would come for the remoteness, the sense of adventure, the scenery, the mountains not for the fresh tracks or a new grade.

48 hours

5am - Up, breakfast, drive to airport
6am - Check in
7am - Fly to Auckland
820am - Arrive in Auckland Airport
9am - Bus into Auckland City
1030am - Sort out Passport with General consulate of Ireland.
12noon - Meet a friend for Lunch
330pm - Bus back to airport
5pm - Check in
7pm - Fly to LA - Grrr no proper movies, the system was very dodgy, you settle back into a film only to get about 30 seconds in and it would start skipping and blacking out, this continued throughout the film and every subsequent film on the journey, it was very frustrating and made for a very long journey.
1030am (630am nztime) - Arrive in LA
1130noon (730am nztime) - Queueing in Customs
1230pm (830am nztime) - Still in Customs
130pm (930am nztime) - Queueing at Check in
2pm (10am nztime) - Queueing at Departures
3pm (11am nztime) - Queueing at the Gate
330pm (1130 nztime) - Fly to Heathrow - and the worst turbulance I have ever experienced.
9am (9pm nztime) - Getting close to Heathrow
930am (930pm nztime) - Circling Heathrow
930am (930pm nztime) - Still Circling Heathrow
1015am (1015pm nztime) - Landed Bump, Now Run, got a flight to catch and well its Heathrow.
1045am (1045pm nztime) - Queueing at Passport Control
1050am (1050pm nztime) - at check in - too late for flight - booked on to next one.
12 noon (12 nztime) - sitting waiting for flight
1pm (1am nztime) - still waiting
140pm (140am nztime) - finally boarding
250pm (250am nztime) - touch down in Ireland
3pm (3am nztime) - why won't they let us out of the plane
310pm (310am nztime) - ah the pilot came on to let us know - that (how typical) the walkway is a metre short of the plane and they can't work out what to do
315pm (315am nztime) - finally they decide to let us off the back of the plane - the old fashioned way using a staircase :) who'd have thought???
4pm (4am nztime) met my parents at arrivals:)
6pm (6am nztime) drove in the gate to Stoneacre (home sweet home)

48 hours of travelling door to door - 49 hours since I got up in New Zealand with probably only 3 hours sleep - I tired yesterday. I some how managed to stay up till about 1030. Thinking I'd sleep right through, I settled down into bed exhausted, but to my disgust I woke at 430am not to return to sleep. GRRRR... Jet lag has set in.

My little travel companions

Hedgehog and Kiwi

What a final Week !

Kaikoura

Two very sleepy girls headed north from Christchurch in search o the whale watching (apparently) paradise and cray fish heaven township of Kaikoura. But after a long week in Christchurch neither of us were up to much and chilled out for the evening in the campsite. The next day we went for a very pleasant walk along the peninsula, the rain only threatenly a number of times. But eventually we succumbed to getting wet and the sun came out. What luck?



Renwick Wine Tasting

From Kaikoura, we headed north again to Bleinheim in search on vine yards and great wines. We drove through the town of Bleimheim and were bitterly disappointed at the clinically manicured streets. The town had no character. We continued. In the guidebook, we noted a little campsite/hostel about 10 km away in a the town of Renwick, we'd try there. It was fantastic. Watson's Way was run by an elderly couple. It had charming surrounds set beneath the orange and lemon trees.
They even provided breakfast for the guests. Freshly made jams and perserves, what more could one ask for. The rented bikes, so we teamed up with another irish girl (Ciara) and her canadian friend (Kyra) and cycled around the vineyards sampling some of Marlboroughs finest wines, champagnes and spirits.

We landed our our feet in the last vineyards as one of the wine makers was there and a little bored. So after tasting 5 or 6 of his wines, he decided to bring us on a tour - for the next hour we wandered through the wine making rooms, sampling from the barrels. It was a great treat. After the tour we helped him finish off the remaining opened bottles of wine and as a parting gift he let us chose a bottle of wine to bring home. Naturally one of the best bottles (second best actually- the best was limited edition and well he wasn't going to give us that) of wine was in our minds the tastiest and so that was ours to keep. What an end to a fun filled day.


Paynes Ford

From Renick we headed north again, along the coast road to Picton, through Marlborough sounds, which was spectacular. We had beautiful homemade icecream in Picton. We drove through Nelson to Moteuka (what appeared to be a fantastically neon town) and on to Takaka where we pitched camp in Hang Dog for the next few days. Our aim was to walk and climb for the next few days. So up early the next morning (not really) and ready for a few nice easy climbs. Then the rain came, so into the Abel Tasman for some walking. We found a lovely walk along the coast.
Up bright and early again the next morning, ready to attack the world - when I decided to look for my passport. I hadn't seen in it a few days. Searched the car, no where to be found. Ooo oh. I rang the campsite Watsons Way and all the places i could think of between there and here. No one had seen it. Not good.

I went into the police station to report it missing and they kindly put me in touch with the irish consulate. Who said unless I can get to Auckland by 5om this evening, there was no was I was flying on Monday. Not good. More ringing and double checking. Took the car apart. Definitely not there. This is not good. Rang qantas to find out could they change my flights. The girl was great and sorted it out for me.. but laughed and yup you can't fly on Monday.





Murchism
Since there wasn't anything more I could do about passport. We drove down to Murchism to see Patrick before I left. He was down for the long weekend with a gang of paddlers. We chilled out, went for coffee and generally relaxed as they paddled and then drove to Silvia Flats to chill out (some more) in the natural hot springs with a case of wine. What a way to end a trip !