ZEPH & LISE-ANNE
It’s just over 2 weeks until Barry and I fly to New Zealand to start kayayaking around the South island. Not everything is sorted yet but things are coming together! Barry is busy printing out our maps for the journey and visiting Chris Reed to collect his paddling kit for the expedition (I gather Chris put Barry to work cutting material for some dry bags!! As long as Chris did the waterproofing then that’s fine! ).

I’m taking a slightly different tack for my preparation – something along the lines of getting physically fit and getting a head start on adjusting time zones. I’ve been in Whistler in Canada for 5 days now skiing with some of my family, and I’m here for another 10 days! I’m 8 hours behind the UK here and New Zealand is 13 hours ahead, so there’s actually only 3 hours time difference between here and NZ ( although NZ are in reality almost a day ahead, well 21 hous to be exact!). So I’ll be raring to go when we get to Christchurch! OK so no-one believes I’m here for any training but it’s a good excuse for a skiing holiday and I couldn’t turn down the chance of joining my dad and sister in Whistler. I’m really enjoying some of the best skiing conditions of the year – 124cm of snow so far this week and lots of fresh powder tracks to be had. Zeph and I have been lucky enough to ski with Lise-Anne, a local and the wife of Bryan Smith – the creators of the ‘Pacific Horizons’ DVD. She’s been showing us some of the best spots for fresh tracks, but I’m not allowed to tell you where they are!

Meanwhile I am doing my bit to prepare for NZ, organising things on my laptop in the evenings! We have a few new sponsors for the expedition, including ICOM New Zealand who are providing us with 2 VHF radios, and Native eyewear who are providing cool shades which can be strapped securely around our head while paddling. I’ll write a blog update about the expedition in the next week but right now, I’m heading for the hot tub!

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