Exuses, exuses.... I know I have been lax in my posts/ e-mails/ phone calls as of late, sorry. I also am currently living in squaller and ingesting a bit more coffee than usual (in fact I'm sucking down my 2nd morning cup right now). Why? Well, perhaps laziness... but I would like to say that I have slipped a bit TOO far into my addictions. Ah, climbing! I am now, thanks to an over welmingly high vote at the MUAC AMG meeting, one of two climbing wall officers at the Massey rock wall. This means my Tuesdays and Thursday nights are completely booked, as that I get home from work around 5:30 and need to be at the wall by 6.
My responsibilities are to unlock the wall, get out all the "house" equipment such as shoes, harnesses and our 5 gallon bucket filled with chalk. I have to vaccum the in house padding (to pick up the last 5 gallons worth of chalk that the masses have sacrifiesed to the gods of sticky hands and black shirts). After the domestic stuff, I defininitely enjoy the rest of the night. I am responsible for instruction, setting new routes, belaying and catching cute young ladies as they fall off the bouldering problems!
Mondays are reserved for the MUAC meeting, from 6:30-? (usually 9ish). Wednesdays are generally not a planned day for anything.... but usually I either try to catch up on ALL my social stuff, go climb outdoors, or just come home and crash after a good dinner as that most nights I'm scarfing down moderate meals between MUAC obligations. Fridays are almost always taken by packing and driving. Perhaps there wouldn't be a problem if I just stayed home for a weekend.... but there is just SO MUCH to see and do here! For that reason, Saturdays are usually spent far away from home and Sunday night the routine is usually- get home between 10 and midnight, unload all the adventure crap from the company van, and pass out. This leaves an explosion of camp/ clim gear sprawled out across the living room floor.... and the cycle begins all over again.
I know.... poor me, I am to busy having fun.
So this past weekend was much the same. Me and Claydon headed up to the Cormandel Peninsula, 6 hours north of Palmy, to check out rumors of a nice sea cliff on a cool beach. I guess I should say hot beach as that the geothermal action there is such that you can dig a hole in the sand and the water which fills up the hole will be hot as blazes! The closer to the ocean, the cooler it gets.... so you can dig a few (if you have the patience) and jump around from hot to cool.
The cliff (actually turned out to be MANY cliffs) were stunning. The rock is comprized of black, orange and white bands of Ryolite, which is a tight grained metomorphic rock of volcanic origin. The beaches are bleach white, sing when you walk on them, and are copletely hiiden from the rest of the world by these multi colored, horizontally banded cliffs which form 60 to 250 foot cresents. The walls are dotted with tree ferns, native flowers and small bushes, and the beach is litterd with native palms and contorted, wind swept plantlife. Even if the climbing WASN'T exquisite (it was), one could loose themselves for days on end just sitting there watching the world drift by.
To break up the drive back to Palmy... we headed back early Sunday and stopped half way, in the Taupo area. We had planned to do some lead climbing at a small litte cliff in Kinloch which we have frequented before... but apon arriving noticed that every time we had gone to this particular cliff we were walking past some large green blobs. We decided to peak underneith a bit of the green and discoverd that there was some beautiful, virgin boulder problems (2 minutes from the car even)! After an hour or two of the ol' scrubby scrubby, we had cleaned off 2 of the boulders well enough to produce 4 first ascents. By then it was starting to get dark, so we headed into Taupo to do what we had planned from the get go.... soak in the free hotpool.
Needless to say it was ANOTHER late night home. I did the ol' huck and chuck of all the gear (destined to stay on the living room floor until Friday afternoon), had a quick beer to with Clay to celebrate a safe journey home, and crashed.... again. So... I am not looking for symathy (I KNOW I won't get any after THAT story), but I simply wanted to explain why I have been a bit less "in touch" as of late.
Luvs you all..... keep living life to the fullest!