Condolences go to the family of Pat Morris who passed away on the 11th February, from all GNZTrekkers. Pat was our shower man from Cape Reinga. Fly high, Pat.

So I can now reveal Pat’s greatest theatrical debut in 2008, while heading down the Coromandel. It all started with a newbie called Brent. He had befriended the real schemers, biker Pippa Brown and tramper Dee Taylor. They can vouch for this story as they planned it.

On 31 May 2008, Brent, feeling sore and tired from pushing his bike, decided he needed a massage. It wasn’t the massage that attracted him as much as the delightful young fit staff, if you get my meaning. Brent was still dreaming about the massage he had the day before and was returning for more punishment. Since he was sharing my tent, we had to devise a way to calm him down.

So we had a word with the newly appointed Masseuse, Pat. We all waited until the massage was reaching its climax, when Brent was exhausted by his vivid imagination, when Pat quietly moved in and took over the job.

By this time, a team of “in the know” trekkers assembled outside the tent, and the flap was quietly raised so everyone had a view of the carnage. Finally, Brent raised his head to discover that his dainty masseuse was Pat.

We could not have choreographed it better.

Thank you, Pat, for a never-to-be-forgotten moment, one of many on the Great NZ Trek.