Ahhhhh, arms of jello.... must have been another good climbing weekend! This Saturday a mate (Claydon) and I had plans to head to Turakirae Head, which is a point jutting out into the ocean just east of Wellington. Turakirae is THE bouldering destination for the North island although it has only really been developed within the past 2 years. It is a stretch of rocky beach simply LITTERED with massive boulders as far as the eye can see. There is SO MUCH rock there that there is heaps of potential for establishing new routes. I am already organising a group next week to go and do some more exploration.
For the non-climbers, boulders can offer a wealth of very short but intense climbing experiances. As with any new area however, the rock often needs to be cleaned to make it easier/ safer to climb. This usually involves scrubbing of dirt, sand, lichens, pieces of loose rock.... anything that may make the climb less safe. This is particularly important for boulder climbing as that the only real protection you often have is a foam pad to land on or a set of hands to catch you! So as it goes... you see a good line, you clean it, you figure out the moves and be the first one to MAKE all the moves.... you get to name the problem and go down in climbing history!
Anyways, to get on with the story.... the weather report looked like poop on Friday evening when I called Claydon to see if we were still going. As he put it, "the two hour drive to Wellington sucks, especially if the climbing mission is thwarted due to inclimate weather... but it still beats sitting around Palmy, besides..... the rocks MAY be dry!!! Spoken like a true climber. So Saturday morning we packed the car and drove for 2 hours through the nastiest rain I have seen since my arrival to NZ. I'm not sure if it was because of our relentless determination or pity, but the climbing gods and the weather goods smiled on us, and it appeared that JUST the sky over the strip of beach with all the boulders was blue. The beach was sunny and dry ALL DAY.
We met up with a few other determined souls who were locals and showed us some of the "always dry" climbing spots (overhangs and a small cave), in case we were not so fortunate with the weather the next time. They also gave us a really good tour of the area, although they were MUCH stronger than either Claydon or myself, so we mostly watched in awe at some of the lines they were working on. Needless to say we climbed until our fingers were so burnt out we could no longer even tie our shoe laces. We sat and watched fur seals basking on the rocks for a bit, then went into town for the obligitory post climbing beer and a bite to eat. All in all... not to shabby a day to be in New Zealand!