Sometimes you don’t realise what you’ve got till it's gone. While I was there last year, I knew the CUTC was an important part of my life. Here was a group of people who shared my love for the wildness of nature. Here was a place where I could give of myself. Perhaps most of all, here was my ticket to exploring the wonders of this fine country via my favourite means: tramping (a.k.a. backpacking in the states).

So now that I’m back here in the hills of southwest Virginia, I appreciate even more the people, the responsibility and the times we shared. Of course, part of the reason I got out as much as I could was the fact that as an exchange student I only had to pass with a "C". But more importantly, I knew my days in NZ were numbered. So don’t take your proximity to some many magnificent places for granted! Carpe diem!! This is one of my favourite passages written by Edward Abbey – advice I should follow more often.

One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast – a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards.

Get out while you can! I miss you all.