EPISODE 1 -- Eric Robinson wanted to hike the world’s greatest trails. He was happiest when spending weeks in the wild, and he often went out alone. Eric’s wife, Marilyn Koolstra, supported him in this goal. But the situation changed when Eric went missing on a solo trek to the Cascade Saddle in New Zealand. This episode traces the origins of Eric Robinson’s passion for trekking, the past traumas he tried to soothe in nature, and the midlife romance that brought Marilyn into his life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What happened to Eric Robinson during his trek?
Physically, we were sort of of a similar height, you know, and fit.
Both were a bit shorter than average. Marilyn was 41 years old and just dipping her toe back into the dating pool after separating from her first husband a few years earlier. She wore her hair in a pixie cut. Eric was 47. He had a broad smile and deep-set blue eyes. He was balding on top and going gray, giving him a bit of a Jean-Luc Picard look. Marilyn found him attractive.
But the conversations that we had were the attraction to, you know, experiences, travel, reading books, enjoyment of theater and film.
Eric's face lit up when Marilyn said she enjoyed hiking. Eric loved to hike. At the end of that first date, Eric asked Marilyn if he could take her out again.
And I said, well, I'm on school camp. I'll call you when I get back.
School camps are a part of Australian culture. They allow kids to build skills and experience in the outdoors under the supervision of their teachers. Marilyn was teaching sixth grade at the time and was going to be unavailable while with her students at camp.
And so dutifully, maybe three weeks or so later, I called him and he said, oh, well, how about we go and see a movie? And I said, oh, yeah, I'd like to see that movie for weddings and a funeral. You know, I hear it's pretty good. And he goes, without hesitation, yes, that'd be great. And we arranged to go on a Sunday night. And so we met at the Rivoli Theatre.
It turned out that it was the third time that weekend that he'd seen that same movie. Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night with me.
Eric had hedged his bets while Marilyn was at camp, lining up three dates with three women on three consecutive nights.
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Chapter 2: Why did Eric Robinson enjoy hiking alone?
You've already heard him showing off the garden in this home video recorded by Marilyn.
The billiards are still flowering. As you can see, this one's just about ready to break out.
The strategy is to have shrubs and trees flowering, as well as seeding all through the year to encourage birds, Eric wrote.
Eastern spine building with grevillea. It's here. Got nothing to fear. Cute, isn't he?
Marilyn had bought her own house in East Bentley, about 40 minutes away from where Eric lived in Heathmont, a year into their relationship.
I felt very independent and proud about that, and it was close to where I worked.
So they lived separate lives during the work week.
We each maintained our own households.
Life had taught Marilyn not to surrender her hard-fought independence.
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Chapter 3: What was Marilyn's response to Eric going missing?
Hopefully they're just going on a sightseeing tour and not looking for me.
They didn't swoop low like they were searching, so I figured the satellite call must not have gone through. The false alarm meant I was free to continue on without worry. I originally planned this walk to be four nights, five days. I came prepared to spend all of that time alone, but hiking's a popular pastime in New Zealand, so I did run into people along the way.
Hello.
How you doing?
Good, how are you?
Great. Here I had paused to take a picture of a sign that read, danger, multiple fatalities have occurred on this route.
Nice camera.
Oh, thank you.
What are you shooting?
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