h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Spanner Grrl,
Thanks for your note 3 days ago. Very entertaining page you have, you seem rather adept at the web-page stuff. I'm flattered that you consider me worth linking to. I certainly don't have any problem with Aucklanders. To be honest, I first said hello to the world up there. And in my humble opinion, the Auckland Blues will romp away with this years Super 12 title. My e-mail address is [email protected], if you wish to contact me directly. Keep on keeping on. J.B.

will add you soon as - i'm not very adept at all i'm afraid, just persistent, and got lots of help from other h2g2ers - i'm not a big blues supporter, i prefer to support the highlanders in the super 12, but am a staunch harbour supporter, when the npc rolls around - pity you missed the extensive rugby world cup discussions we had on here

what's christchurch like this time of year? what do you get up to when you're not hanging off mountains?

seeya round
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Christchurch finally getting a summer, looks like being a long and dry one. It was a wet spring, but at least that will stop the farmers moaning about droughts. To answer your question, I spend most of my free time in the hills one way or another. Presently getting the most fun out of my mountain bike. Not much else to do without Super 12 to watch, but that's not long to wait for. My ambition in life - to become an old climber. Another ambition - to get a sponsorship from Speights Breweries Ltd.

we never used to be able to get speights up here - now it's everywhere - i really liked their anti-millenium ads - "millenium? mmate i've got two thousand sheep to shear by lunchtime"

how did you get into climbing in the first place?

auckland is wet hot and humid as ever. grrrrrrr. bygones

i'm supposed to have a season ticket to harbour stadium, bu it hasn't arrived yet (was a xmas pressie yay!)

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Climbing is a kind of pet topic of mine, I could type for hours. But to sum things up, climbing or mountaineering can be anything you want it to be, from a day tramp up Rangitoto or a visit to the indoor climbing wall, to a 2-week expedition to a remote wilderness area in Fiordland or a climb of a kilometre high vertical wall of ice (and that's just what's on offer here in NZ!)
It's easy to get into. It usually happens to people by accident. They meet climbers, who encourage and teach them on trips in the mountains. I'm a member of the NZ Alpine Club here in Christchurch. Most climbers are really keen to help people get into the sport. I go on club-orgainsed instruction courses, sometimes as an instructor and sometimes a pupil, depending on the topic.
If you're in Auckland, you could ask people at the Auckland Section of the NZAC, or perhaps the Auckland University Tramping Club (AUTC), both of which I have belonged to in the past. You could initially try the NZAC website, www.nzalpine.org.nz/
Not that I want to pressure you or anything!

P.S. Speights is pretty good, but actually the best beer in NZ is Tui (East India Pale Ale). This is from Mangatainoka in the Southern North Island. The only bottle store in Auckland I know that stocks it is Henty's, at the top of Mt Eden Road.
That's if Mt Eden/Kingsland hasn't been recently levelled to make way for carparks and motorways. I'm sure I could go back up there now after 5 years and not recognise a thing, the way Auckland keeps on knocking itself down.

gosh i hope they don't level mt eden/kingsland or i'll have no where to live

a friend of mine is the clubs and activities officer at the auckland university students' association - i think she's in the tramping club, she's certainly very involved in the canoe club (she never has any free weekends)

i'm afraid i'm deathly scared of heights, so climbing is probably not a goer for me (well, beyond the day trip up rangitoto)

why the move down south? i mean i can understand the yearning to leave auckland, but most people have additional reason

span the nosey

Lived in Palmerston North after Auckland. Then went overseas, backpacking around. Coming back to NZ in Dec 98, decided I could live where I wanted. Christchurch seemed to offer the best outdoor lifestyle, but there are lots of other nice places to live. Nelson and Napier were a couple of options. Hamilton would be OK. Warmer but foggier than Chch. I'm sure Tauranga is nice too. However, the South Island is the best for the outdoors. You can get over to the West Coast for a weekend. Blows away the city cobwebs.
JB the obliging.

afraid i've never been to the south island (shame on me) except once to picton on the ferry when i was a wee baby was supposed to go over summer, but it didn't pan out *sigh* one day *looks wistful*

how do you avoid getting hit by falling beech trees out on the West Coast

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If you are in Central or Southern Westland, there is no chance of being hit by a falling beech tree. There are no beech trees there, it's all podocarp forest. And magnificent forest it is too. The beeches are mainly in North Westland. Also around Haast, and further South.
You don't have to go to Westland to see podocarp forest. Although most of this national taonga was tragically logged in our grandparents and great-grands days, there is still some stunning forest in the North Island. Some of the best is at Whirinaki, near Murupara. Really worth the trip from Auckland.

you definitely make it sound like it is - i used to do a fair bit of camping, but it was always near large bodies of water so there wasn't so much bush (we were really there for the sailing not the camping) althogh i've been thinking lately that i really ought to go visit the waitakeres once the chidlies go back to school - seems a shame not to

have you heard about John-the-gardener's Tibetan Greenhouse Dugout? you should have a look and consider writing something - Looneytunes wrote this great piece about NZ summer - i'm going to try to put a link to it on my page, but probably won't mangae for a few days, but he's put up a link to it in the two-finger activated greeting post in my discussion forums (sorry if that didn't make sense, i'm fiding it difficult to describe exactly where)


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