Geoff Spearpoint 0:00

was very capable, accomplished, and just as a human being, if the planet was made of Sean Barnett's, the world would be a wonderful place.

Peter 0:08

So

Jonty 0:15

Kiro and welcome to the Tramping Life, a podcast about hiking in outro New Zealand, or as we call it here, tramping. I'm jt, and in each episode I chat with people who share passion for exploring this incredible country. We'll hear about the tracks they love, the huts they return to, the lessons they've learned, and what keeps them heading back into the bush. This is a special episode of the Tramping Life, dedicated to Sean Barnett on a New Zealand's most respected tramping authors, photographers, editors, and advocates for the backcountry. many people listening, Sean will be a familiar name from Bookshelves magazine covers and hot books. For others, it was personal, a Trump and companion, a mentor or a friend. In June, 2024, Sean died at the age of 55. About a year after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. His death was felt deeply, not only because of what he contributed, but 'cause of how he lived and how he treated people. His accomplishments were many included being editor and then roving editor of Wilderness Magazine for a quarter of a century. Editor for a decade of FMCs, backcountry and authoring or co-authoring seminal books, including classic Tramping in New Zealand leading the way, a hundred years of the Tero Tramping Club, sheltered from the storm, a bunk for the night, and Tramping and New Zealand history. Alongside this, he quietly gave back through conservation work, mentoring, and advocacy. Sean's work was meticulously researched, deeply informed by history, and written with genuine feeling. His knowledge of New Zealand's backcountry, its landscapes, its tracks, and huts, and the people who shaped them was extraordinary, perhaps unmatched. This episode brings together memories shared by people who knew Sean. These stories paint a picture of a life well lived and of a man who did so much to help shape the tramping life in. Historian Jock Phillips,

Jock 1:53

My overwhelming, impression when I went tramping with Sean was that for me, and for most people who go into the bush, it's a period of relaxation. It is away from work. It's a leisure activity. And I was always struck by the fact that for Sean, it was both work and pleasure. And that, the whole time that he was in the hills, he was thinking about how that could be used in other forms, and pieces in wilderness magazines or in his book. And every night he would sit down. Writing little notes about the day. And it would include things like, the nature of the track, the nature of the vegetation, the birds that he'd seen. If there was a marker that was missing he would note that. He also had what I particularly appreciated, of course, a great sense of history, both in terms of. The history of that track, when it had been forged and the people who'd gone across it and anyone who'd written about it, his knowledge of literature about the outdoors and about the history of tramping was legion. So I didn't have any doubts at all that when we came to write, the history of tramping. For the, for Tiara, Sean was the one, and he always wrote so beautifully. A natural journalist and he also spoke so beautifully. On radio suggesting places where family groups might go or older people might go. Had a great sense of the range of people who might go into the outdoors and finding different routes that would be suitable for people at different levels. he was a fine human being. He really was, round. A fire after a good night's. Trae was a, he was a great conversationalist. always amusing and engaged and very empathetic to where you were from. So I've got great fondness for him and for my memories of tramping with Sean.

Jonty 3:44

Wilderness Magazine, publisher and editor, Alistair Hall,

Alistair 3:47

sean was with Wilderness for as long as I can remember. So I joined Wilderness Magazine in 2003 and Sean was already, working there as our, roving editor. He was a rock, I would say he was the foundation almost, that wilderness was built upon because he, knew everything. He had been everywhere. And he had such a great knowledge, not just of tramping or tracks and places to go, but of the natural world. He knew about the birds, he knew about the plants. We would call on Sean a lot to, help us plan, issues of wilderness, to share his knowledge and stories to, multi-author, features that we ran. On a professional level. I mean just such a reliable, person always have something he could contribute to the Mac but on a personal level, I just think he was an absolutely magnificent person, the nicest and perhaps gentlest person I've ever met. He was very thoughtful every time we would meet, he would give a gift my daughter. It's just lovely. I remember once I don't know how I must have been talking to Sean and I told him that I get this reticence, prior to a trip. I get this like a nervousness that, do I really wanna do this kind of thing? And I thought, I do remember feeling a little bit of nervousness that I was telling this because I'm here. I'm the editor of Wilderness Magazine and I'm admitting that I get these feelings to probably the greatest t in New Zealand and without a doubt the greatest, t in New Zealand to my mind. but he understood and he had a lot of empathy and he sent me a card, a few days later, a card arrived in the post and there was a poem. And it wasn't written by him. It was written by Michelle Irving. And it just, it summed it up. He understood what I had been going through Any comforted me I dunno what the poem's called. it didn't have a title, but it goes, I check over my gear boots pack Parker tent, and go over the details of the trip. That's reassuring. But by this stage, there's a real lump of something cold and clammy in the pit of my stomach. Eventually I get into the car and set off while driving. The apprehension eases a little, but niggling fears persist. But eventually I arrive at the starting point of the journey. Put on my. Suddenly, and it happens every time. The apprehension, the niggling, fears vanish just like that. I discover what confronts me as walking. I'm a big boy. I know how to walk. he understood me. And I just love that about Sean. He really cared about people like genuinely cared. And it's not just because we worked with each other. He would've sent that card to my daughter. He would've sent that card to a person he had met at a hut that's the kind of guy he was.

Jonty 6:50

publisher Robbie Burton,

Robbie Burton 6:52

The thing about Sean that I think was hugely impressive is that he was a very, if you met him, modest, unassuming guy, but hidden beneath that was actually a really. Determined and dedicated individual, and he's the only person I know of. who managed to make a career, out of writing and photographing about the outdoors. And he did that, over many years. and he was, just a delight to work with. He kept his word, if he was gonna do something, he would do it. he was really organized and, motivated. And then the other major thing about Sean is that he got. better and better and better at his craft over the years. So he became, a much better photographer over time and certainly worked away at the craft of writing. I think that's really impressive people that actually stick at it and do that. So he was a absolute delight to work with because, we'd do something and he would always deliver what he said he would do, and he was thoughtful and, Grateful for anything that you did for I really respected him and, really missed that about him because there were still, hopefully lots of other things we were gonna do. Which didn't get done by his very sad and early death. I did some trips with him and that was just great. I really liked tramping with photographers 'cause they stop and muck around and, I really liked that approach. They see something nice And then out comes to tribe and you think, oh, okay, I'm good for half an hour and can lie around and actually, admire what he was doing. 'cause I'm not a photographer, of course. I've very deliberately kept away from that 'cause it gives me, a whole nother perspective as a photo editor. Tramping with Sean was great 'cause he is such a nice guy and full of stories. I used to love that I could get him talking if I was tired and he just had a raft of endless stories that he could tell 'cause he, kept up his tramping in a way that was just amazing to me. And he was again, very, determined and dogged about making sure that happened and, was great at doing that. So yeah, he was impressive really in that sense. Do you have any favorite books that you published of his or the process of publishing? Favorite books? I think his guidebooks while not being, because they're guidebooks, they're not especially lyrical pieces of writing nonetheless, were books I've loved having in print because we've kept them in print for years and they were really really rewarding sort of process, the book that he co-authored with Chris McClain the History of Tramping. It was a book that was extremely difficult for them to write, but was a wonderful surprise to me. cause privately I thought this might be as boring as hell. And was a bit worried really about what it would actually be like. And it wasn't an easy book in the sense the manuscript they first delivered I thought Was way too heavy on the early colonial history of tramping before it was tramping. And that was actually feedback they got from other people and they had kind of spine turnaround and rewrite the book in a way, which I think was much more balanced. But that was incredibly satisfying because they actually turned out a really good book and one that which of course sold really well and became the kind of classic on the case. And so that was perfect, Sean, really, in terms of his, incredibly deep knowledge of the history of tramping and his ability to write and to deliver both him and Chris the same. So that was very rewarding. I really loved that process actually. And this last book that, I did was published after he died, which was a tribute to his photography called Wildlife. sadly I didn't get to publish that before he died, but I did get to take him a complete set of proofs, which I flew across, a few weeks before he died. And that was fantastic to be able to show that really. And I was really grateful to be able to show what a fine photographer he was and how committed he was to culture with his photographs.

Jonty 10:32

Author chris McClain

Chris Maclean 10:34

He had a tremendous gift for friendship he literally corresponded with people from all walks of life and often about walking or tramping or climbing and stuff like that. And often organized trips so that he would include, a different group of friends. He really created himself as a photographer and as a writer. Most of his life, he was self-employed. And that's an amazing achievement to be a writer in New Zealand for, 20, 30 years and bring up a family and all the rest of it. And he succeeded in doing that. And for a long time it was on the back of his photography and his ability to write articles for Wilderness Magazine and things like that, plus the guidebooks that he did. and those Wilderness Magazine articles he could toss one off standing on his head, but they're always good, he knew exactly what he needed to do. But going back to his photography, he was very self-taught, very determined, and very dedicated. You might be in a hut somewhere. It'd be half past five in the morning and it'd be cold. And you'd hear him getting up and he'd be going out before dawn with his camera and tripod. Then he'd come back an hour and a half later and he'd put on a brew and, he would have some good shots. And then that evening again, when everyone else just sitting around enjoying the warmth and, not going out, not going anywhere, he'd put on all the gear and he'd go out and he'd take, sun shit shots and so on. And so not only was he prepared to do the hard yards, but he was also really interested in improving his photography all the time. And he just got better and better as you would do in a thing that you put that kind of time and effort into. But the key thing about his photography is that, He was an exceptional annotator. So it's quite possible to be a good photographer, but be hopelessly disorganized in terms of, describing the image, where it was taken, when it was taken, who's in it, what are we looking at, and then giving it a number and, putting it into a sequence. And he did that with his slides. And then when he made the transition over into digital photography, he scanned all of his slides as digital images carrying over all the annotations as well. So there's a complete suite of all of his photography. And he is or was like, Liz Adkin and John Pasco in the sense that both of those people were really good at annotating their photographs. And for that reason, those two people have become the real stalwarts of the intellectual side of tramping. You can go into their photograph albums and you can see exactly where it was and what it is and when it was taken. And that degree of detail is absolutely crucial. The third thing about Sean is that he always wanted to be a writer, but he didn't just want to be a tramping writer. So while he made his bread and butter out of. Guide books, about tramping in New Zealand and articles for wilderness and books like Tramping in New Zealand history and the TTC one and so on. He was interested in other forms of writing as well. he was, having a crack at fantasy. he was interested in young adult, fiction and, when he was dying, he had just completed a young adult novel called Keepers of the Broken Coast, which is a post apocalyptic novel set on Wellington, south Coast. he was quite stubborn in his final year. Robbie said, look, we can organize for this to be published. he said, no, I want it to be picked up on its own merits or not at all. I don't want to be a ya author who's actually helped into the saddle. Fortunately one of our editors Louise Belcher of Nelson didn't take much notice of that, and she got hold of a copy of it and she cleaned up the text a bit and then she got it set and her and Robbie organized to cover. And they published 50 copies of it as a limited run. And Jte, he was so happy, when he had that book in his hand. I've got copy number eight and various friends and family got, a copy it's a terrific read and interestingly. Because it's in a situation where there's been this massive earthquake and, civilization as we know, has disappeared and we're back to a much more basic kind of thing. And Wellington's a walled city and pirates, prevail over Cook Strait, and there's anarchy out in the provinces and all this kind of stuff. But books make a return and books, they become the new gold really. He was able to weave his passion about books into the story. And he also wove in a lot of stuff about his interest in fantasy writing, which he really. Did read a lot of, more since he died, that bookkeeper of the broken coast won this award, which leads to publication with Ashton Scholastic. finally, all of this was glued together by a really generous and wonderful personality. the reason why he was able to, communicate with so many people and be friends with so many diverse individuals was that he was genuinely interested in other people. I met him at the, Montana Book Awards in, 2000 when his classic tramping had just won a prize and I got a prize for, my capi. And he came up to me and introduced himself. From that time onwards, we have been very good friends. I'd have to say that It was a great sadness to me when he died, and I still miss him, very much. He has helped me to come to understand that when somebody dies, you don't get over it. You just learn to live with it, but they're still there and the hole in your life is still there. And I see him everywhere.

Jonty 16:29

Photographer Craig Putin,

Craig Potton 16:31

I would, be very much in Concord with so many New Zealanders that just found that both the books of Sean's, both photographs and writing, were done with a degree of modesty and understanding that he had for nature and modesty of his own ability against what he was looking at. that. Might sound funny, but it's a wonderful attribute that he bought to New Zealand. Nature writing was not trying to, flower it up too much, not trying to, Make his trip, the sort of ego statement or anything else. and that's what he was like. Every time I met him, he was with someone else or he was, and he'd introduced him and I was thinking what's happening here? Sean? was just a very open dude. he was lovely like that. and here is the rub too. He actually knew what he was doing, which I thought was wonderful 'cause I'm not always sure what I'm doing. But, I'd give my camera and say, you've got a camera. Similar, Sean and this is digital, when I was moving towards digital and I wanted the forest green to be the same as the film that I was using because I'd lost my film. They stopped making it. Here I wanted to remain analog as the world moved digital by getting the digital to, ape the analog. And he's just started playing with the back of the camera. And then he got his phone out and checked. With these ways, you can check it all and you set the camera up and you look at my greens and photographs I've taken, in my gallery and Nelson and that, and they almost should have a little line under them saying, Technical thanks to Sean Barnett. His brain worked linearly, I think. Which mine doesn't. It just flips from here to there. Which is why you could write so well about tramping because it is linear. You walk from a, you get to B, and then that's where the hut should be. and you could do that and it wasn't boring, but it wasn't. Flowery prose that after a while makes you feel a bit ill? It was actually just the right balance of his sort of feeling about and caring about and love for things without getting schmaltzy. We lost a great person too young. And, it's a sadness there. Can say he had a life well lived, and yes, that's very true and he touched many people, and yes, that's very true. But how much better if he was still alive now?

Jonty 18:35

Writer Jeff Spearpoint,

Geoff Spearpoint 18:38

Sean was a wonderful guy. I didn't actually do that many trips with Sean. There's been a few over the years and I did do a very cool trip through the Harper Pass one winter, where we met other friends, Tony Gates and co around Lake Sumner area. And, that was very cool to spend, the time traveling through there with Sean. Sean was very capable, accomplished, and just as a human being, if the planet was made of Sean Barnett's, the world would be a wonderful place. he just had that easy nature, accommodating, supportive, inclusive,

Jonty 19:13

Kimmy of artist Duo Kimmy and Nico,

Kimi & Nico 19:17

We love Sean. We first met him when we did that first public art project in Wellington and he came along to the book launch, and wrote that article for Wildness Magazine. It was our first ever article, and he really got the ethos of what we were doing right from the start. His whole thing was about getting people out into the bush. encouraging, everyone to just give it a go. And that's totally our ethos as well. We engaged with him a few times over our different projects. and obviously when we found out he was sick, we were completely devastated. We sent him a mini hut and he, sent us his book and that was really nice to have a bit of an interaction with him again before he passed. And then we've been, working on, we've built Kia Hut because we really love the Hot Bagger website. And you can see obviously he's on the letter board still of the Top Huts bag. and I saw that the last hut he went to was Kia Hut. and so we made a model of Kia Hut, in honor of him and gave one to Robbie Burton who organized that trip with him.

Jonty 20:20

Photographer and author, Peter Laurenson, writer

Peter 20:22

I was very privileged to form a friendship with Sean that lasted seven years until sadly. He left us with the inoperable brain tumor and. During those seven years I spent a lot of time with them. We went on more than 20 trips and a lot of those trips involved camping on tops shearing a tent and shooting the breeze. Talking about all sorts of stuff. Sean was a very intelligent, thoughtful guy with an incredible, almost encyclopedic knowledge of our back country. We'd get to the top of a ridge or onto a high point and he'd just start pointing out valleys and other ridges and other high points that he had been to in the past. He could still identify where they were or where he still wanted to go. It was just a sort of a stream of consciousness that he had. So he was a very stimulating guy to be within in the hills. And particularly as we both love photography, we were kindred spirits in that sense. Sean was incredibly thoughtful really selfless. His ego hardly featured at all. He's the sort of guy that would be, walking along the trail and he'd be tidying the track as he found things in the way, or when he got so hot, he'd be the first one to race out and start chopping wood

Jonty 21:40

one of Sean's oldest friends and long-term tramping companion Darren Pegram.

Darryn 21:44

I first met Sean in 1987 when we university and. Occurring a court, one of the halls there, and we had these ground floor rooms with these big windows across the courtyard from each other. And we'd often just hang out together, usually using the windows as a entry point more than the doors. But he was passionate about tramping and I hadn't done much tramping at that point in my life. I was from Norton. But he'd spent his formative years, in the car workers with a couple of his mates. And it had some great adventures and I guess got a real taste for the freedom of the hills. So when he came to Massey, we both joined the Massey Alpine Club. I was studying, trying to get into the veterinary degree at that time. So I was doing a reasonable amount of study. He compressed his study into very short, intense bursts, and he was out tramping every weekend. I think nine out of 10 weekends in the first term, he was out tramping. And yet he still did remarkably well in his degree. he, when he studied, he really studied. Very disciplined like that. and I think that's probably a characteristic, that he carried through, life. He worked incredibly hard when he was working and he played incredibly hard when he was playing. Sean was very passionate about the Alpine Club and Tramping when we were there, he became the president of the Alpine Club. And, I remember in our third year, he put on, the slideshow, which, was very high tech at the time. we had, two dueling, projectors and slides fading in and out and loud music as we would try and, drum up interest in the Alpine Club from the first years who'd just arrived It was an extraordinary event actually. It always made the sort of hair stand up on the back of your neck and it was quite powerful. During, I think it would be our second year, we had, holiday in May. And we spent those two weeks in the south island. We caught a, a little band or anti plane out of Palmerston North, which was pretty exciting for us and landed in Nelson. and we had one week in the, Richmond range and then a second week we almost walked from, st through to Lewis Paths. and there'd been a really heavy dump of snow just before we did both these trips. So they were a lot more miserable than we'd planned. As we got over the second of the passes, we, a couple of days from coming out at Lewis Pass, we left Bob's hut. And walked for an hour in the wrong direction, before realizing that the hut was actually marked in the wrong place on the map and we needed to recalibrate where we were. So we walked for another hour back to the hut and then set off in the right direction. So that wasn't a great start to the day, and this is often how these things all begin. we then went over an unmarked pass. I think it's called Three Ton Pass, and ended up late in the day in deep snow trying to descend into a valley and probably quite keen to take the shortest route down given that, daylight was fading. But the shortest route down wasn't the best route by any stretch. and so we are trying to find our way, through these bluffs. And until one guy actually took a little flight over a bluff and landed at the bottom and had dislocated his hip, which was a bit disconcerting for the rest of us 'cause we didn't know what had happened other than he, he'd gone flying But we we managed to get down, find a way around the bluffs create a little stretcher out of several of our packs and managed to get 'em down the hill a little bit before having to settle in for the night that proved a. Quite an adventure and certainly a formative experience for us both. This is long before pbs. People knew where we were, but we weren't due out for several days and no one was coming to get us. there was six in our party, Sean. And another of the party walked out early the next morning. And in fact the prompt for them to walk out was it had started raining. Now we were still up in the snow and all we had was one little fly and not a 10 shaped fly, just a flat piece of fabric. And we'd had that up against the cliff. And as it started to rain, the water had started coming down the cliff and creeping into our sleeping bags and trickling down them to our feet, which was not the most, pleasant experience, to wake up to about four in the morning. So at that point, Sean and Darren decided they were gonna start walking out. And they did but there was heavy rain coming down on top of a very heavy snowfall. and the combination of those two things meant all the rivers came up. and they had quite an epic just getting across the river Towards Lewis passed there and found in the end that some of the tributaries were completely unpassable. So they spent, the next night unable to get out. I think staying in Ada hut, While we were wondering what on earth they were doing, 'cause we were quite keen to be rescued, but as it turned out, it wasn't until quite late, the next day that they were able to pull us out. and we'd had our own little adventures, while we were staying there. Certainly it wasn't a. Passive environment. the snow was melting. the rivers came up. We essentially were not far above a waterfall. and avalanches were cascading down the mountains all over the place. and very close to us. we were camped just beneath a little bluff. and that. Pared, I think the avalanches, just above us. But, by some luck, they didn't come straight over the bluff. They came each side and close enough to us that they were going over the side of fly. That was reasonably spectacular. And we certainly had, very hard discussions about whether we should, walk out ourselves and save ourselves or whether we'd be staying there with Gavin, So that was one of those formative experiences and I think you get to know people and trust people when you've been through a few of those things. Sean began as a photographer, and when we started tramping, we would generally go places that he needed to go in order to take photographs. So we'd go some, the most beautiful places, the Milford or the Root Burn and cover off the Great Walks. as photography became commoditized, started writing stories and then you would need to go places where. there's some interest in the story. And so I generally would tag along to wherever he needed to go. He was working, that was his job, and I would, be compliant with that and just grateful to have the time in the hills with him. he generally organized the trips, sometimes he organized the food, In fact, he used to take some pleasure in making a point that he'd organized the food and done the work of that, by making sure that I ended up carrying, what was a little symbol for him, of, the fact that he was in charge of what was happening here. And that was a generally a very large and misshapen ra, which you'd given me at the start of the trip and point out that it was for the last meal. off the trip, and so I was, had to carry it around the hills. which, was the equivalent of putting a rock on your pack, but one you weren't able to throw out. I think one of the great legacies of Sean's life is he pulled people together, introduced us many of us are still tramping today, or at least staying in touch with each other. as a consequence of that. he was a very genuine guy. he lived his life according to his values, and that made him a great companion, a great friend. And certainly he had, more friends than anyone else I can think of. It's probably also worth touching on the fact that he was always probably the strongest guy in the party, when I first met him at Massey, he was almost. Strange looking. He had these massive thighs and he walked in a slightly strange way. It was a little bit bouncy. There was almost a bit too much energy there compared to the rest of us. and you might tease him about that until he was miles ahead of you going up some, ridge with a big pack on his back. He did lose the massive thighs, but he never lost that strength or that fitness he would always carry a heavier pack than pretty much anyone else. Generally, it was heavier by at least a tripod, because he was carrying that extra gear. And he'd generally be out in front. it wasn't often that, you were having to look after him. He was generally looking after you. What that also meant was on a trend, he was always keen to do the extra miles. I would get to mite and be very keen to, throw the pack off and start cooking dinner. he'd generally be, keen to go and have a look at a hut that was, around the corner and several hundred meters away, vertical meters, and would put in that effort to do it. And of course, he was partly motivated by his hotbagging. Which was, a bit of a running joke between the two of us. he, was very keen to add to his total and sometimes he would drag me along on trips, which were primarily hut bagging trips. And, he knew that I objected to that. I liked to think that there were more redeeming features to a trip would go on than just seeing a hotty hadn't, ticked off yet. but that was a bit of a blood sport with him. Sean was incredibly humble and he didn't have any appreciation for the, impact he had on people. So, I was very amused. One, day when we arrived at Upper Travis Hutton, Nelson Lakes, and we arrived to a full hut after a long day. And it was Sean's turn to cook dinner. So I was looking forward to. Kicking back and relaxing while he did so. but he'd actually signed the Hut book as we arrived, which was something he always did. And everyone in their heart actually realized that they were in the presence of greatness and started mobbing him. Which was we're talking 10, 15 years ago here. And Sean's incredibly humble and and was hugely embarrassed by that. Of course, he tried not to be, but I knew him well enough to know that he was embarrassed by all these people who just wanted a little piece of him and they wanted his advice on their next trip or suggestions about where to go or what to do. And Sean being Sean, couldn't give them any less than his full attention. Which meant dinner got completely neglected. I ended up cooking dinner and chuckling to myself the whole time, at his intense discomfort. And it's something I didn't let him forget. Of course.

Jonty 30:07

Kathy Omba,

Kathy 30:08

Sean to me, he was a very close friend, he was a colleague. Our writing, he was a tramping mate, I think Saint Sean, he could be called because of all the wonderful things people have said since he's gone, he didn't have to die to be recognized as such. Sure he did for our back country. For the writing he did about it for encouraging so many people to go tramping, preserving our history for support and mentoring. He was just so dedicated. He loved New Zealand back country. He understood it, he knew the bush, he knew the history of the mountains. He knew the huts like nobody else. He would get incredibly frustrated with people's comments when they'd say, you're so lucky, you just go tramping all the time and it's your job. Because he struggled, it was hard to make a living. Doing what he wanted to do, writing and photography about the mountains. He was also the main carer for his three school kids. And how he juggled all that, I just don't know. But I know it was hard. It wasn't easy. He was so busy, but he. Packed so much stuff in. So even though he had deadlines about crew, he is looking after his kids. He still kept up things like his d type of trust trap line. A day out every two months. And often he'd taped me along, which was a treasured day out. We'd spend four or five hours doing the trap line and chatting, making stories, making plans for stories, making plans for trips. For me, it was delightful. it was safe. With him it was great and his knowledge, his history in a heart or a camp, we'd often get a little history lesson about who had been there before and what they'd done. And his joy of being in the mountains that he would share, that would rub off on everybody there. It didn't have to be an epic trip. Overnights and couple of Newi hut just locally here in the Tara Rangers, sunrise Hut, Blythe Hut on Tongareero, just short trips. I also remember that the tougher one, the Neil Winchcombe Bridge, where I was struggling up towards Alpha hu up to bull clearing from the river. And he was away ahead of me. He carried my pack part of the way. And so I staggered onto the Clearing, which is quite a stunning place. And there he is bouncing with excitement, pointing and saying, look, that's where we're going tomorrow. It's new ground. And I just always remember that joy. And getting to the end of that, sitting on it Cone Trig after we'd been up and around the tops and down the Neil Win Comridge. It was incredibly satisfying sitting there, having lunch. Sean was satisfied 'cause it was a new route that he had done. I was just happy that I'd made it. Sean decided to take on a south coast walking trip here in Wellington. A few of us were going to do this trip and he'd write about it. And so we went down to the south coast one winter weekend. We'd been trying to do this trip for a long time, but it didn't suit people or there was laming. And so finally it was on, we were doing this trip and it was July and it was very cold. Nobody mentioned the forecast because we knew that at that point Sean wasn't too well. and we had to do it. And we walked for a day around that coast. Fishermen and other people looked at us and our big packs and said, what are you doing? And we told them, we just gonna camp around the coast. So have you seen the forecast? Yep. Yep. We're fine. So we camped around on this huge cook, straight gale, in torrential rain. In our tents by about six o'clock at night. It was a long night. Miraculously our tents survived, and the next day we walked back out and I'm so glad we did that because that was probably the last really big adventure with Sean. And he wrote one of his fantastic stories about it. he went on the New Zealand Geographic board and he took it very seriously, like he took everything very seriously and did the job properly. And what he loved most, I think, was learning from the Iwi representatives on the board Iwi place names for places, the stories behind them, the deep meaningful stuff where so many of our peaks are named after the first white man explorer. And I know Regan from the old days, and I was talking to him one day mentioning how Sean was really enjoying his time on the Geographic board. and Tipi has been on the geographic board for more than 28 years. he's the guru. And his comment was, yes. It's good to have Sean. Now. We're all working together for the first time. So I think that was really kudos for Sean. towards the end, he invited me over for brunch. And we had a nice little visit chatted, and I had a lot on that day and I knew that he got tired very easily, and so I didn't want to stay long and wasn't expecting to stay long. And then he said, should we go for a walk? And I thought, oh, I don't really have time, but Sean wants to go for a walk. So yes, of course we've got time to go for a walk. It turned out to be our last walk. we just went down around the waterfront near where he lives and he was talking about the give a little fund that had been set up to help him towards the end. He just said, there's so many people, I don't even know them. And they've donated to me and they've said they want to donate because I've inspired them with my tramping books. And he said, I just can't believe it. I feel so humble. And so I think that just sums up who he was. Or part of who he was. Yeah. I miss him.

Peter 35:09

So

Speaker 35:12

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