Ok, ok.... I'm still alive! A few of the mates back home have apparently been concerned that the blog has not been updated in a bit, but I have been no where near technology for quite some time now (sweet as!). The trip is over. I have spent my first night in a while in my own bed after taking a HOT shower in my own apartment and getting to sit on my own FLUSH toilet!!!!!(perhaps to graphic but DEFINITELEY a treat after all of the outdoor travel I've been doing). I have laughed and cried, climbed to great heights, fallen onto sketchy gear, seen great things and met coutless cool people. Not too shabby.
So, as I said last post..... the day after New years day was a rest day. I got a massage from one of the NZ Team Iron Man sports therapist. I was officially Jello for the entire afternoon... he found (and fixed) a wealth of knots and tweeks that I didn't even know I had!
After our day of rest, Claydon and I headed down to Whanganui Bay, which in my opinion is the most scenic and diverse climbing area on the North Island. The cliffs are located either directly on, or with in a few minutes walk from the lake and offer climbing on almost every medium rock climbing has to offer. Although one can show up with just a rack of quick draws there (for leading climbs on pre-placed bolts as protection) and experiance the full range of blank slabs, pocketed walls, overhangs, chimneys and cracks..... for those who want the more natural experiance, there are also heaps of climbs which cater to hand placed (traditional) protection.
While at the bay this go, (we have another stab at it later) we met up with Malcom (who brought me up there on my first trip up), a team of canadian climbers (eeh?) and some Dutch climbers. The scope of the climbing community is more and more staggering to me, but I love making all the connections and international friendships as well. After 3 days of really pushing ourselves, the gods decided to give us a day of rest (it rained) and as that we were planning to head down to Wellington the next day anyways, we opted to head out and spend a night in good ol' Palmerston North.
After a good hot shower and an even better hot meal (that someone else cooked!) we hit the hay and next day, met up with both Johanna again for the trip down to Wellington. Our first night there we camped at Fly Rock, which was a single (but very large) boulder on a beach just outside of the city. There was an access road down to the boulder, so we actually were able to put the headlights on a portion of the rock for night bouldering!
Although the bouldering at Turakarai is awesome, it seemed slightly less intense after seeing so many other cool spots around the country. We spent the night at the boulders, camped out in the "bronx cave" which is a HUGE overhung block big enough to set a tent up underneith! The climbing was awesome, although the wind was VERY strong the entire time we were down there.... which made for some interesting spotting of climbs. We actually needed to put rocks ON TOP of the bouldering mats to keep them from blowing away while we were climbing!
Cristin met up with us on our second day down there, and it was like the good old days of bouldering back home. It was a bit akward at first, as that Johanna and I have been showing each other a bit of interest.... but Cris was very cool and really just opened up to her as a fellow climber and friend..... good on her.
Monday was spent back in Palmy sorting out gear and preparing for the final leg of the trip... another 3 days up at Whanganui Bay with Cristin, Claydon, my mate Andy and his wife Danielle. I conquered a few of the climbs I had previously fell on or just thought were out of my league at the time. We explored a 20 meter deep cave at the base of one of the climbs and saw some cool cave life (glow worms, whetas, and BIG creepy spiders), had bonefires every night and generally had a great time knowing that we all had to return to reality at the end of the week. I must say, with out sounding like I am boasting, there was no denying that I have been climbing hard for the past few weeks on this last trip...... I was/ am climbing So strong, SO confident.... so much better than when this trip started 3 weeks ago. I am now on-site leading climbs on hand placed gear in the 5.10 range and leading sport climbs (with a few exiting falls) in the 5.11 range!
Everyone but Cristin had to take off on Thursday night, so Cris and I planned to spend the next day just goofing off on a few easy climbs before heading back...... then we got her car a wee bit stuck. This led to a mini epic involving sheep farmers, 4 x 4 trucks, rock climbing mechanics and another day of climbing to sort it all out. Hey..... what is an adventure with out a bit of drama! All said and done, we sorted out the car, got back to Palmy safe and sound, and as I said when I started all this.... I am clean and well rested again. Bring on the work week!