I was shocked to hear of the serious illness and then passing of a good friend – Vanessa Haverd on 19 January 2021. She died far too young – at the age of 43 after a battle with cancer. She leaves a daughter, Erica, and her husband Matthew Hole.
I did a lot of bushwalking with Vanessa in the period – 1996 to 2000, when we were both very active in Sydney University Bushwalkers. Vanessa was a great walking companion – capable of doing long hard walks with ease and never complaining of conditions. She was fit and strong.
Some of the highlights of the walking and other club activities undertaken with Vanessa included two Three Peaks walks (also with Rob Hynes), a 12 day South West Tasmania Walk where we traversed the Eastern and Western Arthur Ranges and summited Federation Peak, multi-day trips into the remote parts of The Blue Breaks (part of the Southern Blue Mountains) and canyon exploration trips in the Coorongooba Labyrinth of Wollemi National Park. She was also on ski touring and cycling trips.
In 1998, Vanessa, served a term as President of Sydney University Bushwalkers. It was around that time that she met her future husband, Matthew, who happened to be the then President of the Sydney University Speleological Society.
Vanessa, with Rob Hynes and David Noble on the summit of Federation Peak, South West Tasmania. January 1997.
Vanessa also had a brilliant mind. She left school with a HSC ranking of 100 (the top mark) and also topped two subjects – French and German. Despite this ability in languages, she studied Chemistry at Sydney University, and received first class honours and the University Medal. Next was a D. Phil at Oxford University. Returning to Australia in 2003, she worked at the University of Wollongong and then worked on climate modelling at the CSIRO in Canberra. In this field, she was a world class researcher and highly regarded for including a lot of the biosphere into climate models. Last year she was the author of 27 scientific papers.
Also, after returning to Australia, she started mountain running and had a stellar career. Many of the events she competed in she won – including winning the Six Foot Track Marathon in 2008 and 2009, The Oxfam Trail Walker in 2007, the Kepler Challenge in NZ in 2009. She not only won the Crackenback Challenge in 2010, but set a new record. She represented Australia at international mountain running events including a 7th place in the 2009 World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships. These are only a fraction of her successes in this field.
Her running also continued after she received her cancer diagnosis in 2018. She completed the Canberra half marathon and the Tasmanian Overland Track run in 2019 while on chemotherapy. Amazing achievements that demonstrate the strength and determination she had.
She kept her illness largely private and many of her old friends where unaware of her condition. Vanessa was a lovely person – strong and resilient but also very humble. I never knew of her HSC successes until her funeral. The only word of German I heard her say was “Schnauzer” – the breed of her beloved dog. I can only remember her being upset on two occasions. One was on the Southern Traverse near Federation Peak in Tasmania, where we were carrying packs with ten days food and equipment in a very exposed place, and the other time was when she lost her flute on a train trip in Sydney. That flute meant a lot to her – not its cost, but its emotional value – it was something very dear to her and playing it brought great pleasure. Fortunately the flute turned up at the Lost Property Office at Central Station. It was much more common for Vanessa was to be incredibly joyful – like when she found an amazing campsite, right on the edge of the cliff, on part of Axehead Mountain in the Blue Breaks.
The light burned very bright in Vanessa. It is a great tragedy that she died at the height of her scientific career. It was a privilege to call her a friend and to have spent time with her. She will be greatly missed. Condolences to Matthew and Erica.