A Message from Liam

Of course, we wondered if the distinctly British humour, might be lost on the Americans.

Images of my time in Bolivia

But I soon forgot about that. Ten days later I was high in the lonely wastes of the Bolivian Altiplano: climbing mountains, trekking along old Inca trails, sneaking photos of the locals and exploring saltpans. I use the term "wastes" in the sense that George W. Bush might, that is land with potential undeveloped by industrial power.

And as always I was thinking. Thinking about turning thirty, love, careers, and how I was not as quick to take up the Spanish as I thought I should be.

Was my brain in advanced atrophy? ....Possibly
Did I want to be ordering food, chasing up lost luggage, and putting people on the bus to the Routeburn Track in ten years time? ....No
Would I find the love of my live in Queenstown? ....NO

I decided 1999-2000 would be my last season working for Routeburn Walk. Computers were the future.

The wedding of Bridget Rampton and Oliver Buxton, January 29, 2000

In January 2000, I was best man at my mate Olly Buxton's wedding. Buxton family tradition dictated the next youngest sibling should be part of the wedding party, which is how Ol's wee sister got to go on the Stag/Bachelor night. It was here that I discovered Sarah was not so wee anymore, and she decided I was no longer one of Oliver's nerdy friends.

According to the architect of the Virgin-Austin Powers marketing campaign the British humour was not totally lost on the Americans.

At the Wu-Kiwi's
Party July 4th.

Final Routeburn Guided Walk with Mum and Dad, Easter 2000.

A nd so I found myself in Los Angeles making the transition from cyberspace to real space, and not much of it in Sarah's cramped little studio apartment.

Aaron Frank, an old Routeburn walker, offered me volunteer work designing a website for his wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in Malibu. This has given me place to practice what I have learned and a sense that I am contributing to the world.

Sarah and I went home for 16 days over Christmas. We spent a couple of restful days with her parents in the idyllic Bay of Islands, where Sarah had holidayed during her youth, before returning to Auckland where my eldest sister Mary and her partner Sara, had a "Togetherness Celebration" on Christmas Eve.

Add in two family Christmas dinners and a couple of BBQ's it was a very busy couple of days, especially for Sarah, who was really meeting the O'Hagan's en masse. We were both quite pleased to get away from it all when we started up the Routeburn Valley, on the 29th December.

Unfortunately the weather was crappy! Which was hardly conducive to showing off the track to Sarah and the group of eight of her friends we had in tow.

Still on the second day it cleared enough to afford an 80% view from the Harris Saddle. Despite of the overnight snow we embarked up Conical Hill. Those of you who have been up there will know that two thirds of the way up is a view point over Lake Harris. We stopped here. I convinced the others to go to the top, but held Sarah back.

Planning the exit of Megan and Lucy
Conical Hill

Laying my jacket in the snow, in the fashion of Sir Walter Raleigh, which on second thoughts hardly bodes well, I sat with her and explained why I felt lucky to have her. Then I asked her to marry me.

She said yes. (I knew she would all along) But I asked her a couple more times, because it felt good and I figured this was the only time I would ever get to ask that particular question. Then we shared a half bottle of bubbly and a ring, which I had craftily picked up with the help of my friends James and Sarah before leaving Christchurch.

Jenny Buxton's response to the news was VICTORY! Failing to understand how American men could fall short of her daughter's expectations, she had joked that if Sarah couldn't find a man as the sole woman on Oliver's stag night she was doomed.

This was not John Buxton's reaction to my request for his daughter's hand.
I hope.

When we got to back Queenstown I called Sarah's Dad, John, a burly former All Black, who said it was not necessary to ask his permission, but that "it was good that I had got everything off on the right foot"...

To help drag this particular tradition into the new century Sarah asked my mother for her consent.

All this prompted another round of celebrations, and more bottles of bubbly as we moved up the country. I wish I had bought some shares in Montana Wines, before doing this.

To be frank, we were more than happy to hop on Flight NZ02 to Los Angeles and a little time to ourselves.

It seems we spent the whole time in New Zealand catching up with people. Most of the time it was too brief and yet there were just as many people we missed seeing.

There is always next time. (Perhaps I am still getting used to the idea of cramming everything into a two week holiday.)

PS We are very happy