Leaving a Small Island

Three months. Poof. (suprise!)
New scars on my knees. New friends in my notebook.

I spent the last week staying with Rachael and the Mabins in the Christchurch suburb of Beckenham (healthy/fun). Living with kids - Amelia, Henry & Juliet- for a week was so cool, they have so much energy, go to bed at 9pm and love my "blow up muscle" routine. The fun/relax/sleep combo is just the sort of thing you want to do when you've been racing around an island trying to get everything out of it for months.

But Michael Hall cannot sit still so with a few days left to go I made a mission down to Mt. Cook in Rachael's Nissan Centra (that's a right hand drive standard!) where I camped in the alpine with stellar views of Mt. Cook and Mt. Sefton and explored some badass glaciers (pretty). I then raced across the island to smalltown Duntroon to climb with a french-canadian GP named Eric at the Hulk Hogan boulders (enjoyable).

Then back to Christchurch and a week or so of saying goodbyes. I saw Rachael off to the airport this morning, (sadness) we'll see each other again in a few weeks in Thailand (happiness).

Leaving on a plane to Singapore tomorrow, then to Thailand on thursday. I will make my way to Bangkok, try to procure an Indian visa and hope to be drinking 2 rupee chai on a train somewhere within a week.