Old man disease

              

Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans.

~John Lennon

A Riddle

What do you get when you cross a ten kilometer trail run, followed by 100 meter sprints the next day, followed by consecutive days of hiking 20 miles up and down steep mountains with a heavy pack?

a. A nasty case of bursitis in your knee.

b. A month of completely frustrating rest to no avail. 

c. A really grumpy asshole of a husband who is largely difficult to be stuck traveling with.

d. Intermittent episodes of depression and rage.

e. All of the above.

Not all is well here at at Front Door Adventures as of late, which will explain the long absence of my rhetoric from the interwebs.  It has been exceedingly difficult for me to find inspiration, and furthermore I suspect that my readers, aside from my mother, may find little interest in stories of sitting behind the wheel of my overheating and gutless van seeking out the flattest walks in New Zealand.  

First World Problems

The conversations in my head often sound something like this:

So let's get this right Matt.  You are on a year long vacation, you recently rode your bike in the company of your amazing wife across the United States, you incurred an overuse injury (not the first time in your life), and now you are feeling sorry for yourself and the predicament that you are in?  Hmmm, you really need to sack up and quit being such a fucking baby.  So things aren't turning out like you planned eh?  

Your family wasn't on a flight that disappeared out of the sky this week, foreign tanks are not rolling through the streets of your home as political turmoil and social unrest threaten to spiral into civil violence, you have food in your belly and a few dollars in your bank account.

So you got yourself a sore knee eh mate; get over it and recognize how fortunate you really are!

Signs

The cosmos is an interesting place and sometimes I can't wonder who is really running the big show.  Jenny and I are working out in the city park in Palmerston North.  A steady diet of boxing, burpees and pull-ups has helped me keep a grip on my sanity as of late.  It's mid-day and the huge park is empty save Jenny,me and the fellows smoking a lunchtime joint behind the toilets.

My knee is sore and not improving at the rate that I have arbitrarily set in my head; I am in a foul mood.   

Only two people wander through the field of sun-baked brown grass while Jen I trade turns punching the focus mitts.  One is a young Asian man on crutches with his leg amputated high above his knee.  The other, a young Kiwi walking his dog;  the leash wrapped around his forearm absent of a hand.

Get over yourself redhead!

The Family Tour

In 1943 my Grandfather Ross Hoagland embarked New Zealand for a respite from fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific theater.   During his stay, he met my Grandmother, Joan Henderson and wooed her with cigarettes, rides in his Army issued Jeep and a wallet flush of American dollars.    In 1945, after the wars end, Grandma packed two suitcases, boarded a steamship and floated the Pacific to marry and start a new life in America.  In less than a year, my mother was born.

On the other side of the ocean, Grandma's siblings Cicely, Alan, and Una grew large families of their own and have left me with a gaggle of cousins spread across this great country.  As Jen and I head North and call on distant kin, I am reminded of what a brave woman my grandmother was.  To leave family, friends and the familiarity of home required an optimism and intrepid spirt that I like to think runs through my veins today.  

I am forever thankful for her courage.  

Kloshe konaway

Kloshe nanitch

Matt

End of the great walking for Jen and me.  The stunning Kepler Track.

Cliff Mass would be proud.   Something wicked this way comes…over a foot of rain in the next 24 hours.   

Halloween is celebrated in the month of February in New Zealand.  Jenny is a rubber ducky.

Milford Sound and Mitre Peak in the background.  

Summer in Dunedin lasts 48 hours and provides really spectacular sunrises.

If wearing hair nets & face masks, screaming children and obese Australian tourists are your type of thing, I highly recommend the tour of the Cadbury Factory in Dunedin.  

Fish n' Chips in the van with the Schonthal Family.  Ben, Paula, Oliver and Henry.

Phocarctos hookeri (male)

Phocarctos hookeri (female)

Where the Wild things Are!

 Megadytes antipodes

Mount Ruapehu, Tongariro National Park.

 World famous Bluff Oysters.

 The best part of the Tauranga is Aunt Barb!