Son celebrates dad at distance
Fears for missing hiker
A Blenheim man living in Scotland is heartbroken after heavy holiday air bookings prevented him from attending his father’s funeral.
Derek Macdonald, who works on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland, celebrated the life of his father Mugwi Macdonald in a hotel with friends in Scotland while the funeral was held at Wairau Pa, near Blenheim, on the other side of the world.
Mr Macdonald said telling his mother to go ahead with the funeral on Monday, before he could get back to New Zealand, had been the hardest decision he’s made.
His father died early on Friday morning, but the first available flight would have touched down in New Zealand on Boxing Day, too long to expect people to wait, he said. ‘‘Because it was such a big funeral, which took a lot of organising, there were other people to think about.
‘‘Underneath I was raging and my heart was going into meltdown,’’ he said on his Facebook invitation to friends to put on a suit and black tie to join him at a hotel in Cullen to help celebrate his father’s life.
Mr Macdonald’s family in Marlborough offered to create a Skype link to the funeral so he could watch online. ‘‘It would have been just me in a room by myself and I would have broken down,’’ he said.
‘‘I found strength in organising to be with my friends.’’
One comfort was getting to spend a month in November helping look after his father during his illness.
His employers organised a helicopter to fly him to shore after his father died.
‘‘Dad always said, ‘Be tough, be tough’ but it was hard,’’ he said.
Mr Macdonald, who is a chef on a BP oil rig, has lived in Scotland since 1985.
However, he is determined to return home for the unveiling of his father’s headstone in about a year.
Former Maori All Black, professional league player and talented golfer Haua Detoma (Mugwi) Macdonald died at Wairu Hospital on Friday morning surrounded by family members. He was a founding member of the Maori-owned Wakatu Incorporation. Police want anyone who has been in the Blue Lakes area of Nelson National Park on or since December 12 to help them track the progress of a missing tramper.
English tramper Andy Wyatt has been missing for 13 days in the area.
Senior Constable David Cogger, of Nelson, said Mr Wyatt was walking the South Island stretch of the Te Araroa trail, which starts in Marlborough.
Anyone in the Blue Lake area where Mr Wyatt was last seen, the Waiau Pass, Upper D’Urville or Spenser Mountains at that time should contact police whether or not they had anything to report, Mr Cogger said. Any information would help build a picture.
Mr Wyatt was last seen on December 15 when he left Blue Lake Hut about 6am and was expected to pick up a food package at Boyle Village in Lewis Pass on December 16.
He is 1.85 metres (6ft 1in) tall, with ginger hair and was carrying light equipment.
Search teams hoped to get into the national park today to look for him.
Bad weather on Wednesday and early yesterday thwarted searchers but it is hoped ground search teams would be able to be flown into the Blue Lake area first thing today.
Mr Wyatt arrived in New Zealand on November 21 with the intention of walking the Te Araroa Trail, which links tramping routes from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
The last known sighting was on December 15 when he left Blue Lake Hut about 6am. Mr Wyatt was classed as a ‘‘lightweight tramper’’ and would have ‘‘no backup’’ if something went wrong, police said.
The area he had planned to walk through was ‘‘probably the trickiest section of the whole trail’’ with major hazards such as bluffs and steep slopes.