2026 | ⅓ gone
Already the fifth month!
What has been achieved to date?
I scooted around a few huts to add to my hutbagger tally, which now stands at 677. I’m in the top 20 on the list of over 5000 people who bother to record such things. Only a few more to pass number 15, but after that, it will be hard to catch too many more. And some youngsters are busier and faster at getting to their destinations.
It gets harder to visit new huts as the easy ones have been achieved, and I have to get to ones that are no longer in clumps. Unless I head back to the North Island and battle my way around the leatherwood and 700 m climbs of the Ruahines. That’s all hard to work in comparison to the eight huts I clocked up in the Eyre Mountains in eight days at Easter this year.
And there’s competition for locations. I’m tempted to return to some loved and familiar places, which does nothing for my ego.
The other main issue I’ve been dealing with is the consequences of spending time in the sun. My skin day surgery has removed two potentially nasty spots, and I’ve had the all-clear. This has been surprisingly time-consuming and knocked me around somewhat.
There are no big home improvement tasks on the agenda, although the garden looks particularly unkempt, as I’ve been keeping out of the sun for the most part.
The inside is tidy, although the garage is stacked willy-nilly with stuff I should organise. Similarly, my wardrobe. I should spend some time thinning that and be as ruthless as I am with my writing.
The priority is to publish zzOz by the end of the year, which will clear the decks for a new book project. And allow space to renovate my tramping.net.nz website.
Always plenty to do.