Father, mapper, top orienteer, ski buddy and Big Foot friend Rob Plowright passed away on 19th April, 2022.
Rob worked on several maps for Big Foot, but beyond that was a good friend to anyone in the club who got to know him before and after that time. Once Rob moved to Japan to live with Masumi we saw less of him, but the rise of social media and internet based communications meant that Rob was always around online. He was a thoughtful commentator on numerous online orienteering forums over the years, making new friends when his straight talking didn't scare them off.
Masumi and Rob hosted quite a few of us in Japan. Rob would have fun ordering us the most disgusting sushi available and providing his insights on living in Japan as a non-native.
For some reason stuff would always happen around Rob, funny stuff, serious stuff, just plenty of stuff - here's Cathy McComb's retelling of the great koala incident.
Cathy's description captures the hilarity of the situation - Rob at the bottom of a mine-shaft with an angry koala, while we peer down, kicking down more stones and make useless suggestions whilst both the koala and Rob curse us.
Rob said (years later):
As I recall, my decision to volunteer to go down the mine shaft was mostly bravado - I was just trying to impress my friends. Once down there the koala was clearly not at all happy to see me, and it had big sharp claws. At that point I thought perhaps this wasn't such a good idea - I had visions of being mauled with no escape route. That's why I requested something to wrap it up with. I was thinking along the lines of a large thick blanket. The towel that was provided was woefully inadequate. I was just about to chicken out and request extraction from the mine-shaft when the koala must have decided he had had enough of me and climbed up the branch.