Surfing NZ

Today I went over to Muriwai beach in west Auckland for a surfing lesson. I got the bus over and paid extra for a pick up from the bus stop to the beach.

After a heavily unsuccessful surf clas where I was relegated to the baby board and couldn't stand up for shit I arranged my ride back to the bus stop for 3:30 for the last bus.

After the class I joined a couple of air New Zealand pilots for a sandwich and a beer before returning to the beach for a little hike and a visit to a huge blue gannet colony. One of the bastards managed to shit inside my book!

I then returned to the surf shop where the owner ignored me then went on the phone until ten minuets before my bus left. He then came out with a stream of crap excuses why he couldn't take me. His noble solution was to make me a sign and let me hitchhike back to the city.

Luckily I approached some other surfers who had rented from his shop and they kindly gave me a ride to a shopping complex where I could get another bus into town.

I got back just in time to pick up some fish from the harbour market for dinner.

On the road again

So Liv dropped me on highway six. I didn't have to wait too long before a nice family picked me up and took me to Blenhiem. From there I hitched another ride to the port town of Picton.

I dropped off my bags and went for my last trail run in the Marlborough sounds, and in New Zealand. It was a good run. Pretty steep and challenging in places, with some great views too.

That night I realised I have become the weird guy in the hostel. I was knackered so I went to bed pretty early. I was woken in the middle of the night by my dorm mates. It transpired, however, that I had been woken in rem sleep. I was completely paralysed. They could see my eyes open when they turned on the light. But I physically couldn't move! They kept talking to me and I wanted to join in. Eventually I managed to get out a long pained groan. They stopped talking to me after that. I'm not sure why. 

The next day I hiked over to the ferry and got my ship over to Wellington. I met a nice lady on the ferry off to visit her son in London.

As soon as I got to Wellington I joined up with a young girl also toteing a large backpack and we got the bus to the airport. She was a Canadian, studying in oz and was back off over the Tasman. I flew up to auckland. After a long bus journey I arrived at my friend from uni Chris' place where I was to stay for four nights. 

We went to a pub quiz on Tuesday and I cooked us a fish supper on Wednesday. Apart from that I spent most of my time getting free trials at Auckland gyms doing exercise classes.

Last week in Nelson

On Saturday we had our works Christmas party. 

Simon, Milly and I drove out to upper Moutre to meet everyone else; Jo, Margreet, Andrew, Candace, Alan and their children Zack and Ben.

We exchanged the car for a ride in the tralor into their farm.

We went Clay pidgeon shooting!

It was really good fun. I came third. Behind Simon and Phil, who are seasoned shooters. It was very funny as Margreet kept forgetting to point the gun down when she wasn't shooting. Scaring the crap out of Simon, who she kept pointing the gun at!

We also got to have a run about in their dune buggy. I took Zack, Alan and Candace's eldest son out. He's not much into danger and speed, so he didn't ask to go out with me again!

After the fun we had a nice BBQ. Jo and Candace had a go on the Guitar and we had a bit of a sing song.

On Monday we had a Physio only do. We ordered take away Indian and got a box of beers in. We turned the gym and a Physio bed into a buffet hall and ate sooooo much!

On Tuesday Tim and Suze went out wind surfing with me. It turns out wind surfing is not like riding a bike. 

I hopped on the board and straight away sailed across the harbour, no worries. Then it was time to tack. SPLOSH! No chance. Could I go the other direction? Could I balls. I spent twenty minuets getting up and then falling in. Eventually the time pulled me around the boulder bank and dragged me out to sea. So the life guard had to come out in the boat and rescue me.

Tim drove out after another twenty minuets of falling in and gave me some tips. Finally I was wishing around on the water!

Liv and I went out for Thai on the Wednesday.

Thursday was my final Judo session. I have always struggled with stand up fighting. However on this, my final session after seven months it clicked into place and I fought pretty well.

Friday was my leaving do. It was absoloutly perfect, I had a great time. All my favourite people came to the local craft beer pub and everyone mixed in and got on really well. We had a great laugh. At about 11 we were all heading home. When I was collared by Jeremy; my best friend in Nelson. "Gary, I've got two young kids. Alyssia has given me a free night tonight to send you off. I've not been out at night with the boys for three years. We're sure as hell not going home now!" How can you turn that down!

Unfortunately, Jeremy was a very excitable drinker... We had three pints and two shots in aroun twenty minuets. 

We then headed to the local nightclub, which being Nelson had five people in it, and dropped the dance moves!

Saturday was a hangover day for me. I just cycled over to Livs house and had some lunch. Then we both went to Simons and met Milly and drove down to Cable Bay. My favourite spot in Nelson. We had a BBQ with the fish simon had caught that day.

On the drive home we had an impromptu accapella sing song to build me up buttercup and some John Legond. It was a really fun evening, we followed up with a couple of beers at Simons.

And that brings us to Sunday! My final day.

I packed up my things, said my goodbye to Ben, my housemate, then off to Simons to say goodbye to the guys. After an hour or so Liv dropped me on the road out of town and I stuck my thumb out and waited for a ride to the next chapter of my life.

A weekend at sea

This weekend I turned nautical.

I rose early on Saturday morning to go to the boat house with Ben to pick up a couple of sea kayaks. We had a bit of a pulava with getting them out of the shed and into the borrowed estate car we had borrowed from Bens friend. This was because someone had moved a load of furniture infront of the door. Also because one of the kayaks was full of water from its last outing.

Anyway we got the kayaks and picked up some bait -frozen squid I sat on whilst driving to defrost the squid and frost bite my gentlemans quatres- and arrived to meet Simon at Glenduan.

We set off kayak fishing.

It was a beautiful setting in the ever calm Tasman sea, ringed in by mountains. 

I caught sod all.

Simon caught a sand shark and tossed it to me, still alive, to fillet for fresh bait.

I tried to kill the small shark humanely. I placed the tip of my blade at the base of its skull and hit the butt of the knife with the heel of my hand. Still the shark flapped and squirmed. I flipped him over and did the same on the other site. This time through his thought rather than spinal cord. With another thump and a 5 minuet wait he was still flapping around in frenzy. So I proceeded to continue my hole and cut half his head off. 

Still he twisted and flapped.

I gutted him and removed one fillet from his rugged back, I was able to easily control him now. The trashing had stopped so I took a good look at this sand paper covered mini shark. What sharp teeth he had. I wonder what they feel like...

The shark with no internal organs, head half removed, and stripped on one side, who's blood filled my kayak; bit me!

This was not the only fun we had. After I had jutted the shark and used him for fresh bait we spotted a pod of killer whales around 200 meters away, then 50 meters away, then 10 Meyers away from Simons kayak. He shit himself. But they didn't come any closer.

We returned to shore after nearly four hours at sea with nothing more than the flesh of a zombie sand shark.

Ben and I are greeted by a spindley thin man with a clipboard and binoculars; Simon decided to stay out fishing for an hour more. The man worked for the department of conservation. Someone had called him saying we had been fishing in the marine reserve, which we hadn't. Before I could try and chat our way out of it Ben kicked off. Shouting and swearing. It didn't get us anywhere, obviously. Eventually I gave him a couple of fake names and addresses and we went on our way.

After dropping off the kayaks at the boat house and having a shower I met up with Simon again and we went and picked up Olivia, another friend from work and we went to play frisbee golf. I had instructed Liv to buy the cheapest frisbees. They were beyond shite... The smaller one needed no technique, just pretend your hurling a wet paper plate and you've got the technique. Simon had bought a fancy one so we rotated between us, whoever won got to use the good disc on the next hole. It was really good fun and surprisingly compettative. With the last hole deciding who buys the ice creams, I enjoyed a lovley banana-choc on Simon. Moral of the story, never share your kit.

We then went down to the beach and played mini golf. I won again with a hole in one on the final hole!

We had a cider in a craft beer pub near by before heading home.

The next day, Sunday I started off at 6am watching the England v All Blacks game. What a tight one, I lost the money I had bet on England to win by three points!

As soon as the final whistle blew I shot off to the port just in time for Waka paddling. I went out with a novice crew paddling on Maori outrigger canoes. It was really good fun I was the 'engine room' at third seat and really enjoyed being chosen to call the 'hup' every 13 strokes when we needed to change sides.

After a good hour of paddling we got back to the port. Just in time for me to run down the waterfront to jetty B where Suze, a fellow Physio from work, had roped me in to help sail a yaught with her. By help I mean make tea and act as a ballast for any tight cornering we had to do. 

It was great fun on the open sea. Suze, Judith, Geoff and I ended coming in fourth after handicap in the 5 hour race which we were delighted with. We had a lot of fun listening to Van Morrison and at one point I got very confused as Judith -although I later found out was talking to Geoff- looked straight at me with her Sunneys on and asked me to lift her up. I was perplexed. She then added, "yes could you just lift me up and switch the gas?" I thought why doesn't she just lift her own bum cheek the lazy cow? I asked her how I should lift her and we all laughed for quite some time. My other colleagues also got a laugh when Suze told everyone on Monday morning!

After a quick BBQ back at the yaught club I gave my car a quick wash to help it sell and retired home for a well earned rest after a very busy weekend!

Nelson lakes

My first weekend of freedom for two months! 

The makos U19 season has finished so I was super keen to make the most of the sunny weekend and get outdoors! 

My car wasn't so keen!

My battery, I later found out, had a charge of 70 rather than 300 like it is supposed to! But dammit I wanted a weekend away! So we set off anyway -in total I had 7 jump starts from strangers this weekend-.

I woke up early on Saturday morning and picked up Stephanie to go to Lake Chalace, in the mount Richmond national park. We got ourselves and bikes into the car and after a short consultation with the map decided to go in completely the opposite direction and go to Lake Rotoiti instead!

What a fantastic idea that was. What a wonderful part of the world we had traveled to. A glassy, clear glacial lake surrounded by lush green woodland backed by distant snow peaked mountains. The stuff dreams are made of.

This was Stephanie's first experiance hiking, or apparently being even close to a tree. So it took some time to repack her bag. Taking out the hair dryer and six clothing options for the next day that she wanted me to carry for 10km each day.

So we were off! 

After ten minuets or so we were trapped between the lake and the dense undergrowth as I had tried to find us a more scenic route lakeside. After finding a rugged wooded corridor to traverse to return us to the track I was absorbed by a sour marsh. I put my foot in to a bog patch nearly up to my knee and was no where near the bottom. Somehow I managed to stop the sink and not plummet in face first but relieve my foot from the peutrid mud. After a quick dip in the lake I resigned to slop on with a sopping wet shoe for the rest of the day.

After an hour or so's ramble through the tranquil lakeside trees, traversing the occasional stream, we stopped for a lunch break on a small secluded pebble beach.

As a relief from the sand fly bites we took a dip to protect our legs! 

Glacier lakes are very, very cold...

Just before sunset we arrived at lake end hut. A delightful little wooden cabin where we would be spending the night.

I did the manly thing and built and tended to the fire. Even if one of the other hikers did join in right at the end to steal all of my manly glory!

I stocked the fire well just before we went to sleep. A little too well as in an hours time it was so swelteringly hot in the little hut I had to shed my sleeping bag and shirt!

We hiked back, enjoying the sunshine, the next day after a leasurely wake up. 

Feeling a bit sweaty and grotty when we arrived back to the car park so I took a full dunk in the lake. I couldn't tempt Stephanie in this time though! 

When we arrived back the car battery was flat again... I went off chasing cars to eventually come back with a very pleasant old couple who gave us a jump.

We then drove over to Blenheim to watch the rugby after a short chill by the river. Stephanie didn't fancy the game so I went on my own.

It was a good game but unfortunately the Tasman Makos ended up loosing so we drove back just in time to bid farewell to Anja, our friend from the hostel, at her leaving party.

Fins up for the Makos!

The last two months have been pretty dominated by work as it's the ITM Cup season. Or the NZ premiership. I've been working with the Tasman Makos under 19s team which has been a lot of fun.

We spent six weeks playing friendlies and pool games, traveling all over the south island to play. My favourite was playing against the Canterbury Maori in Kaikora. They did an awesome Haka to start the game off. And we won, which is always pretty nice.

The season culminated in a week long trip to Taupo, on the north island. We played three games and managed to lose one, playing into 60kmph winds in the second half. We won one against a South Auckland team and then drew with Auckland B team.

We had a lot of fun on the trip, I went on a couple of runs, watched some good, fast, running rugby and made a lot of friends who I hope make it into super XV jerseys in the future.

Mount Arthur

What a fantastic adventure!

I got up at 6am on Sunday morning to drive to the base of Mount Arthur; 1786m of mountain. I drove for an hour and a half into the rugged and untouched Kahurangi national park. My drive was made more enjoyable as around each corner I could see the pinks, purples, reds and blues of a spectacular sunrise bro help me start my adventure.

Off out of the car I went and with M people greatest hits in my headphones off I went on my snowy winter land walk. The first hour and a half was through snow clad trees, knitting together above me creating a Narnia environment. I got caught in the moment and tried to make friends with a snow duck (probably not its real name) and it bit my finger!

Then I got to the Hut before the real hike started and sat down for a nice sandwich.

Then off I went with two doctors from the hospital I had met at the hut. I felt more than a little underprepared, hiking through the knee deep snow in trainers with nothing but a bottle of fanta. They had ice axes, fancy boots, crampons the works! 

At one point I dropped hip deep in the snow like the vicar of dibbley. I also slipped on the ice a couple of times rather comically.

The views were out of this world. I can't begin to do them justice with descriptions. The pictures below are ace, but do not give anywhere near an accurate representation of how amazing it was. Snow capped peaks around me giving way to lush dense mountainous hillsides with the turquoise blue Tasman sea nestled in the arms of the golden bay. The distant city of Nelson just visible sitting between the farther, distant mountains and the calm sea.

As I looked up the vivid blue of the sky changes, it deapens. It's not a darkness you associate with bat weather but more like a denser blue. Like a small bit of midnight sky trying to breakthrough to the day.

The final 300 meters were pretty intense. Scrambling along steep hill sides, kicking into the deep snow making foot holds to stop me slipping 20-30 foot down the snow bank. Approaching the summit was a 20 meter sheer climb in the arctic conditions. Kicking and punching into the snow I lead the boys up the snowy cliff. Heaving myself up onto the ledge we had a short walk to the cloudy peak where we enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate for our efforts.

That evening I spent 3 hours in the hot tub trying to nurse my tired legs. The beers were important also...