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accident at Bunny Bucket 9-Jan-2009 At 7:22:28 PM Loz and Tim

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Nick's been a climbing buddy of ours for a few years now- somewhere around 04 when the local Hunter Valley guide came out. He always seemed to be this jokative, big cuddly bear we’d bump into at a local crag around Port Stephens, Central Coast, Buladelah or on a trip to the Bluies or Nowra. One thing I appreciated about Nick was that he didn’t care how hard u climbed or who u were, if u could belay and climb rocks, he would call u a friend. His phone calls were often out of the blue and straight to the point about our next shared climbing location, while he saved the chit chat for a beer at the pub after the day’s climbing together. I only spoke to him about our plans for climbing a few days before the accident...I’m glad we had a nice chat that day and that I forced some more talk from him....he made me smile with his "so honest" style of responses, he wasn’t afraid to say it how it is.

I remember our Australia day party in 07. He wore his trademark “blue truckies bonds singlet” which he would often wear to the crag. He had just started his new job in Sydney and we joked about his toenails painted red- we soon met this new boy from the big city while we knew the blue bonds singlet as Nick, the easy-going, fun lov'n country boy from Maitland.

He wasn’t afraid to try a variety of new places, crags, or styles of climbing. He preferred to steer clear of the overseas adventures, but enjoyed exploring what unique Aussie climbing experiences had to offer. Tim went with Nick and a few other guys on one of the first houseboat trips to explore the deep water soloing (DWS) opportunities on the Hawkesbury River. It wasn’t long after this trip that Nick and Chris discovered a small pocket of “DWS”ing at Fishermans Bay, Port Stephens.

Despite enjoying the Sydney life, he still loved to return to his local areas like Buladelah with old buddies to do some bolting and climbing. He soon appeared in Crux mag at Buladelah with those colourful 80's style tights....he made us laugh that day! I remember he always admired and looked up to the older classic guys of climbing like Mike Law and local Newcastle climber, Johnny Wilde. He once said to me that he envisaged himself one day as this "old fat dude who climbed trad". Nick, I hope u enjoy the same variety of climbs in heaven as u have on earth. I hope u reach ur dreams and climb some golden trad routes at your new undiscovered destination. Spy out some new lines and destinations for us up there. We will all catch up to you some day, share a climb and remember the old times with u when we arrive. We will miss you while we wait for that day, but remember the good times we shared together mate.

Our thoughts and condolences to Nick's sweet girlfriend, Kate and to his family whom he loved very much.

Lauren and Tim (some of the Newcastle Crew)