It was 1987. I was in my first year at Massey University in Palmerston North, and U2’s album The Joshua Tree was taking the world by storm. I loved the black-and-white cover photo, and the music filled our hostel. Echoing through the corridors between the rooms.
‘With or Without You’ was the big hit, but others perhaps resonated more with me. ‘One Tree Hill’ spoke of my Auckland childhood, and ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ probably reflected what many of us new students felt, away from home for the first time.
Pretty soon I did find what I was looking for. Immediately after arriving to study zoology, I joined the Massey University Alpine Club (MUAC), and there met a group of like-minded people, many of whom became fellow adventurers. Some became enduring friends.
Somehow I managed to do MUAC trips nine weekends out of 10 in that first term, five out of 10 in the second term, and even three in the last term, and still found time to study and pass my exams. We went rock climbing at Baring Head and Tītahi Bay, we learned snowcraft at Ruapehu, and I discovered the joys and vicissitudes of the Tararua Range. On one trip I was impressed to find that – unlike anywhere I had ever tramped – it could actually
