Recovering at Paul Caffyn's house

Paul Caffyn, myself, Paul's trip partner for Greenland,Conrad, and Greg Stamer on Paul's lecture in Reijkjavik/Iceland, one day before Greg and I finished our Iceland circumnavigation

My shoulder and therefore the spirit to get going is getting better day by day, but the weather isn't quite following up...last night Paul's house was shaking in a gale to the ground, and down in the South of the Island houses roofs were flying off.

The view of the surf through Paul's window got quite impressive, but you don't want to be out there at the West Coast right now...at least it was somehow modest the first two hours of my arrival :-), but the next front arrived quickly.

I spent my time looking with Paul at maps, contctas, gear and books, and he gave me lots of good ideas what to do in which corner of the island.

I decided to give it an early start as soon as possible anyway (maybe Thursday looks reasonable for some days...), as once I'm recovered I just don't want to be sittin' there and waiting for better and best times...then I shouldn't have flewn in that early. But I took my available time window and my chance...

This means I probably won't put in an impressive overall time around the island, not to speak about a great daily average km, as sometimes you might only be able to paddle for a few hours a day and then have to take a break again for days...patience is required.

But as that wasn't the goal of this trip, who cares. Last Icelandic summer conditions are far away...this here won't be a picnic anyway, earlier or later. So let's just take it in small bites and just start swallowing early :-))

Btw., Justine Curgenven and Barry Shaw, who will give it a go around the South Island, too, starting next January, have put up a professional website about the trip, talking about recent and upcoming expeditions as well as about what kind of conditions probably to expect. Please have a look at http://www.cackletv.com/new-zealand.html