Good on ya mate!

Well, I had a lot of info to post and my connection timed out here at the Starbucks in Queenstown. FRUSTRATING! So…. Now I type up my blogs in Word and copy paste arghhh! Anyway...

The race was fantastic. The weather was perfect. Seagate has spared no expense to make this event the incredible experience it is. It felt like a world-class event, really. Incredible. Helicopters buzzing around with everything filmed in high def, photographers and videographers everywhere. We started in 34th position and finished 24th. One of our team members lost our Kiwi (I’ll explain more later) and it cost us 15 tokens to get it back. We would have started in 7th position. It was a little frustrating but we worked through it. Everybody worked really hard and I’m really proud of all my team members. I think it would be safe to say that for some it may have been one of the most strenuous things they’ve ever done. Once I get more time I’ll collect my thoughts on each day and try to put together a journal of the highlights memories and pictures from each day.

Earlier today I did Nevis bungee jump. It’s the second highest in the world. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t really scared walking to the edge of the platform on the cable car suspended 450 feet over the canyon floor and jumping out into thin air. What a rush though when I realized that I didn’t die : ) 8.5 seconds of free fall. Everybody who did it said it was scarier than jumping out of a plane. Does that mean I can check sky diving off my list? Hope so…

Tomorrow I’m off to Auckland for some sun and ocean. Should be a nice change of pace. I’ll miss Queenstown. Walking out and seeing the mountains has a way of firing you up each morning. Brendan Moore took me on a 3 hr bike up to Dispute lake and around Moke lake. The views were incredible. It was VERY steep and I know I was pushed past my limits. I was dragging. It was a great ride and accomplishment. The ride down was a blast on the twisty road into Queenstown. Then it was off to river surfing. That was a blast as well but really tiring since my legs were already wiped out from the ride earlier. It’s you, a wet suit, fins, helmet, life vest, boogie board and class 2, 3, 4 rapids. Great time. I think my extreme sports are over down here for now. Maybe some sea kayaking in Auckland?

I know some family is reading from the U.P. so I wanted to hi to Grandma Hyrkas and all the rellies. I love you Gram and I hope you’re feeling better! Hi Mike and Rob and anybody else up there! It kind of feels a Lac Labellish here. Pine trees and mountains and a big lake at the bottom.

I also want to say hi to everybody back at Seagate that may be reading this. Our team spent a lot of time partnered up with Dave Wickersham, Brodie Keast, and Mike Crump’s team. It was really cool seeing those guys in this environment. All of them (actually every executive I met was really nice and was buying into the whole experience.) I have some great pics of Dave flashing the "W" for Weka sign that I taught everybody. He kept sneaking the sign in on pictures that people would take with him. He's a fun guy. Weka baby! (I'll explain more later) Joan Motzinger was great in being the person to get all of us extroverted engineers cheering, chanting etc. I think she realized if she didn’t do it nobody would. There was some great tribal rivalry.

All right, back to the hotel to pack and relax. Brendan and I got a room at the Blue Peaks. I head out to Sebel Suites in Auckland tomorrow right on the water. Should be nice. That’s all for now. I’ll update some more soon with the complete journal hopefully shortly after I get back. Take care!

Rob