less than 24 hours until george w is on his way back to a retirement filled with brush clearing, so i’m taking this last chance to blame him for an troubling miscarriage of justice.

in our previous visits to new zealand we had spent almost all of our time on the south island – the greener, wilder and more action packed half of nz – and when we were planning to move here we always assumed we would live on the south island.

then we ended up in wellington and have been keeping ourselves busy on the north island for the last 18 months. but our first trip to the south island was on the books for march. and it was a big one – the milford track.

the milford track is viewed by many as the finest walk in the world. the track is limited to 90 walkers a day and reservations open up each july 1st for the following year. last july i jumped on the booking system the minute it opened to secure our reservation for this march. even better jackie’s brother from chicago was able to join us for the tramp.

but unfortunately it is no longer in the cards for me – and i’m confident that somehow this is w’s fault.

my recovery from my fracture is progressing along – but not fast enough to allow me to go on the tramp.

damn.

adding a super sized dose of salt to the wound – the NY Times featured the Milford Track in this weekend’s Sunday edition.

A Walk Through New Zealand’s Watery Wild