Why am I doing this? Only a few weeks to go before I head odd to Kiribati and I’ve been giving it a bit of thought lately about why I am doing this. Why am I leaving my life, my wife, kids, friends and comfortable existence to travel to the centre of the Pacific and live by myself for a year, in a very remote part of the world. Am I nuts? Am I having a midlife crisis? Will this work out, what the hell am I doing and why??? One of the suggestions during the VSA briefing was to write own why you are doing this, and when the going gets tough remind yourself of it, so here we go, my rather disorganized attempt to make sense of what I am about to do and why. This is going to be bloody hard! I know the year ahead is going to be the hardest, most difficult things that I have ever done but also I hope it will be one of the most rewarding. I’m not doing this for material rewards, or even or personal ones. I am, I know, being exceedingly selfish in going, in leaving my wife and kids b...

Earlier this year Julie and her Dad, "Bigsy", biked the Alps to Ocean bike trail from Tekapo to Oamaru, a distance of 310 kilometres. Bigsy had just turned 80 so it was a pretty impressive achievement. Afterwards I'd promised Julie that we would bike the West Coast Wilderness trail next March or April but s I'm now going to Kiribati that wasn't now going to happen. So we decided to do the Clutha Gold Trail in Central Otago instead. So last week we set off on our bike ride, spending a couple of nights at our bach and then heading south to Lawrence in Central Otago. We left my car at Lawrence and took  shuttle to Clyde at the far end of the trail. The driver was really accommodating showing us various sites along the way and going ou of his way to show us the motels we'd be staying at. He was a former cricketer and had lived in Temuka in the mid 80s before moving to Alexandra so we had a good chat about cricket, the various clubs in South Canterbury, and the s...

So you are heading to a very small country in the centre of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometres from anywhere. What the hell  are you going to do in your free time? The answer? Simple (I hope): surf. The atolls of South and North Tarawa are surrounded by coral reefs and as it is literally in the centre of the Pacific there should be swells rolling in from the four corners of the Pacific, at least occasionally! I intend to take a board or two with me and my mountain bike to explore the atolls. I've purchased a surfboard rack that clips on to my bike so I can bike to the local breaks and also intend to explore the atolls by bike. As the atolls are only a few hundred metres across at most I won't be very far from the ocean. I have found a local surf association, the Kiribati Surf Association . They are a bunch of kiwis, sies and locals that enjoy the local waves but as there are no surf shops within, oh 2000kms or so. They are a tad short of gear for the kids to learn o...

Well all the paper work is completed, dental check up, medical check up, medical insurance etc etc is done and have a departure date of 28th January 2018. I have quit my job, well quit before it was all confirmed. Had my last day "full week last week, though I have 1 1/2 days to do this week to finish off my last couple of classes for the year and then I'm free for  few weeks. I am now starting to crank up towards departure, sorting out what I need to take, starting to buy things I will need and getting organised early (which is not like me).  Between now and departure I've a few things to do. Spend more time with Julie. We are trying to do more stuff together leading up to my departure and have been spending more time together than usual, which I am thoroughly enjoying. We have started doing some mountain biking together as we prepare to do the Gold Rush Rail trail (see below) and spending more time at the bach. Earlier this year Julie and her dad do the 300km Alp...