Review of the 2006 tour of Cromwell

firstly, would like to apologise to Chris and anyone else for not updating ya on what's been happening in Cromwell for the last 2 weeks.. the fact of the matter is that a) have been p busy and tired from work that haven't really had time to post a blog; and b) i dont have as much access to the Internet as i usually do back in Dunedin - i could have used the internet at the Mullers if i was that desperate but i wasn't.. and i dint really want to use the Muller's house too much apart from showers, water, toilet and the occassional drinking nights with Jared and Mike.. ah Canterbury Cream...

anyway the sequel to my 2005 Cromwell tour is over.. and to a certain extent symbolically my life as an Otago student may be over.. this tour made me think a lot that i reckon i've gotten all that i have ever wanted from my time at Otago and that i think i would like to move on.. u do get a lot of time to think when ya shoot-thinning or bud-rubbing on the vineyard if ya not talking to ya colleagues around ya on the rows.. anyway i've decided i think that's it for my Otago part of my life.. i'll prob look to do any further university study maybe in Auckland or the UK or USA or even in Malaysia or Singapore..

it was always going to be hard to reproduce the simply breathtaking 2005 Cromwell tour this time.. there were 3 weeks less to do all the stuff that we wanted to do, and well we did most of those things last year, e.g. Sluicings, Mt Rosa, Nevis, Queenstown, Wanaka, etc... last year it was a new experience and a new adventure.. it was a frontier waiting to be conquered and i had my close friends with me which was awesome.. which leads to another point, plenty of ppl who i knew and felt more than comfortable - delighted even - to be with were there.. there was obviously Jess, Joe, Jacqui, the Mikes, Rach, Roxy, Jared and eventually Chris and Pierre..

this year the crew was much smaller, which is not surprising considering it was only put together in two days.. i dint even expect it to materialize but when Mike and Rach agreed to come down from Christchurch, it was definitely on.. it was good to have them and Jared coz we could find a place together which we did at the Mullers.. sure it wasn't the greatest place in the world - in all honesty, i was actually quite glad to get out of the place each weekend coz it was p basic stuff, i.e. no running water, electricity via an extension cord from the house and even then it was only 4 available power points - but at least we were together and we did have some good times.. and the weekly rent was 60 dollars cheaper than the next best option at the time which was tenting at the camping ground with no room to put ya stuff.. so it was good that we found this place.. and Velda and Otto are just the most lovely ppl in the world.. don't know how many times i might have woken them up at 5.30 in the morning with my tummy "exhaust" troubles but yeah they were just great..

btw if ya were at the Mullers in 2005, no this was a different place from what u know.. that place can't have ppl anymore coz that's the place where the walnuts get cracked..

last year, got to know ppl better than i ever did in my life, i.e. Mike Willis, Joe, Jacqui, Jared, Roxy, Chris.. as a result of all our misadventures, the relationships were much closer simply coz we had such great memories together.. this year, kinda had to start from scratch with only just 4 of us but it was still such a great time esp in the first week when i started out first on Monday.. there was Emma and Kate from Cutting Edge too, but this year's group was dominated by the Gore girls... from that group i really only knew Naomi Johnstone or Nomes thanks to Jacqui and Jess.. but got to know all of them coz they always worked with us and really enjoyed them actually and i don't deny that, esp. the 2 Super K girls, Kenzie and Kristy.. they were actually p cool.. dint quite get to know Kim, Anna or Tony - the girls at Nomes place - coz they came p late or left p early..

therein lies the problem though.. i think this time around the whole group was rather segregated.. last year, i was prob the only one furthest away but still made the effort to drive to Bannockburn from Cromwell and hang out with the guys.. this year, we had three groups - well 4 if ya count Laura's bach - and dint really hang out as much as we could have.. it was p hard to organize stuff together partly coz we were actually more "polarised" - can't think of a better word to describe it but it felt more like it when we had CEers, Student.Soulers/Gore girls.. ultimately, i think the 2006 tour was probably a bit more political and i dint enjoy that bit at all esp in the last week when we just kept changing plans to meet up.. that was a great shame though..

still we all got on rather well, students with students.. short-term workers with supervisors.. got on rather well with Leanne.. don't really know why she liked me so much and i seemed to get all the "easier" jobs.. i just do what i know best which is to just keep working and be professional but anyway just seemed to get the long straw each time.. there was another supervisor there called Pip who kinda looks like Leanne from the back of their head.. dint start off well initially prob due to impressions but i reckon she is rather intelligent actually.. inexperienced but weren't we all at one stage? she'll get better with time.. she is rather cool actually..

hmm.. weather was prob not as good as last year.. definitely was much colder this time.. which was prob good for rain delays and early ends.. we actually had an entire day rained off and the 4 of us went to Queenstown to watch the Departed.. which btw is so awesome.. prob one of the best films i've seen in 2006 - there are quite a few actually i must say, i.e. V for Vendetta, possibly Casino Royale, Children of Men.. we had two afternoons rained off too and went climbing at the new Basecamp place in Wanaka.. it was p fun there but prob won't make it a hobby.. and last Friday afternoon was rained off from 3pm onwards..

which was good coz it meant i could leave for Christchurch at 4pm.. i was thinking of leaving after afternoon smoko but then thought hmm don't really want to leave a bad impression on Grant (our chief) and Leanne by just taking off like that and it is summer so it would be still alright at 10 at night.. as it turned out dint need to pull the plug and "knock off".. was a thrilling last day have to say.. doing wires and all and we were trying to get ahead of the impending rain coming from Southland.. of coz it beat us in the end..

so will i do it again? probably not.. it was a great experience but i think it's time i moved on.. it's easy money but not really intellectually stimulating and really u can only talk as far as u can when ya on the vineyard working with initial strangers.. furthermore the tours of the last 2 years represented my life as an Otago student and with that coming to an end, i think it's quite safe to say this may have been my last foray to Cromwell.. but it was definitely worth it..

i guess i may be taking cues from greats like Michael Schumacher, Roy Keane, Zinedine Zidane, Alan Shearer, Andre Agassi and Tana Umaga to pull the plug on one part of my life and move on.. i will have times when i just ponder what am i going to do with my life.. the transition, the memories and all that will live on..

p/s Damien Martyn has also pulled the plug on his cricket career.. sheesh.. everyone is retiring right left and centre... liked Damien..