The Falls

The Fivehundredth

Yes well Merry Christmas and all that stuff. As a special present to you all I present my five hundredth post. Truly I have almost no life.

As you, my regular readers anyway, were all so forthcoming with your praise for this post, I thought I would do a follow up and 'release' a Christmas single (and unlike the Mint Chicks mine will be available for more than just one day).

I give you 17 October 1996, which, strangely, was the date I wrote the song. It's one of those songs which has stayed with me. There's a resonance in there somewhere. It was verging on the autobiographical then, and it still is somewhat - autobiographical in an 'if only' sense, rather than a literal sense.

And in the grand tradition of b-sides I give you Tasman Instrumental No.3, which I wrote around the same time and which happens to be the third instrumental piece I wrote while living in Tasman Street. In the grand tradition of b-sides, I've called it a demo, even though it's no more or less demo than any other track I've put up. What it is though, is a testament to my laziness, and my lack of guitar playing ability (i.e. clumsy fingers). Hence it is incomplete, broken if you will, cos I was too lazy to try and do a decent take all the way through.

Enjoy this special gift from me to you.

The Bushy

The Leaking

The Metaphorical

The Roadtrip

The Hut

When you're doing long treks, sometimes it's nice to know there's a hut nearby.

However, as it was a reasonable day, and we were only on a day walk we didn't need to use the hut, irregardless of the fact that it was "closed for refurbishment" (or words to that effect).

But it was a nice hut, no doubt prone to the odd flood.

And here's me doing a Pardington (Neil).

The Lost

There's a cool opening happening tomorrow. Come along. Bring your friends. It's at Suite.

I'll be there. I'll also be there on Saturday if you can't make the opening and think you may want to discuss the work with the artist.

And I suspect many people will want to discuss the work with the artist for one reason or another. Which they will discover upon seeing the work. Or maybe reading about it.

The Kids

There's a cool opening happening on Friday. Come along. Bring your friends. It's at Suite.

The Walk

Sadly we didn't knock the bastard off. But we did get to the foot of the bastard - the Wharepapa River.

After climbing over two ridges and dropping into two river valleys we figured it would be better to hang out in the second river valley and head back with plenty of time to spare rather than to attempt the peak and risk losing light (and energy) on the way back.

I figured it'd be a 4-5 hour trek to the top, and I wasn't far wrong. What I was wrong about was the physical exertion needed to get to the foot of the bastard.

Still, it was a great day; as any day out amongst the birds and the trees and the rivers and the stinging nettles is.

This was shot from a saddle overlooking where we were headed. However having forgotten to bring the map, we didn't actually know that at the time.

This is the bed of the Wharepapa River, not far from the Wharepapa Hut. Not the nicest river I've seen, but its propensity for violent flooding was readily apparent.

And looking the other way.

What sometimes happens if you stay in one place for long enough is that the low cloud you didn't really want burns off and you start being able to see more.

What sometimes happens if you stay in one place for long enough is that the low cloud you didn't really want burns off and you can actually see where you intended going. However having forgotten to bring the map, we couldn't actually confirm that at the time.

And finally a shot of Papatahi from the ridge above the Wharepapa Hut.

Nice. One day we'll maybe actually knock that bastard off. However it's more likely to be a two dayer. Maybe even a three dayer.