Farewell Bishop

Last day's bouldering behind us; tomorrow we're driving to LA and catching a flight to Fiji. Bruno and Jen headed off yesterday. They're spending another six weeks or so in the states, and they managed to get given a car (!) by a Scottish guy who's been here for a year, and was just about to head back to work in Glasgow. The bouldering's been fabulous, but Fiji's looking like an attractive option; tips are trashed, arms sore, feet smelly. Sarah finished on a high today, sending The Rising (V4), a formidable achievement. I was pleased yesterday to finally get Golden Boy (V4) which previously had seemed utterly impossible. That left me with 24 out of the 26 denoted classics off the guide successfully ticked. The remaining two will have to wait until next time, as I'm sure we'll be back. Many people we've met here are heading off to Hueco Tanks, in Texas. Hueco is potentially the best bouldering area in the states, but has been dogged by access issues as the rocks have been viewed as sacred by long gone Indian tribes, and cave paintings abound.

We're left with packing up and gorging ourselves with one last slap-up meal at Whiskey Creak--if only we'd known about the half-price happy hour earlier.. oh, and tomorrow before leaving, we'll have to wash our hire car. It's seen some remarkable abuse, and although we have a zero excess contract, a few dollars spent on some shine might give us less grief, at least. American cars have the road handling of a water bed.

Depending on the internet facilities in Fiji, there may well be a longish outage while we disappear under the radar until the beginning of December when we'll resurface in Auckland.