We made it back to the North Island safe and sound. Wellington was fun... I got to catch up with a few old friends and do a bit of climbing at the local gym. I also spent a good day wandering around the capitol city and just seeing the sights. After 2 days there... I headed up to good old palmerston North, my first home here in NZ. Wow, it's really boring here!
Over the past weekend (before I got up here), there was a terrible accident at "Freshers." This is the Massey University Alpine Clubs "getting to know you" event, held out in the Manawatu Gorge. The day usually involves a BBQ, music, rock climbing, a bit of paddling/ swimming and the highlight.. the bridge swing. This is run by a long time supporter of the club who owns the local climbing gym as well as running various outdoor oriented activities. he has thrown well over 10,000 people off this bridge. Sadly, this weekend was his (and the club's) worst nightmare come to fruition... something went wrong and a young girl fell to her death.
as a friend, I've stuck around a bit longer to try and help where ever I can. Alister, the man in charge, is devistated and although he has seen a HUGE outpour of support from the community... I wanted to do my bit as well as that I consider him to be a true friend. After a long sit down together, he seems to be doing ok... but I suppose in the light of what happened, ok is actually really good. I am meeting up with a huge group of club members tonite (both old and new) to catch up and have a bit of a bonding session with everyone.
Besides that bit of bad news... all is well. I'm off to taupo tomorrow to meet up with the old crew up there and do a bit more climbing and developing. I can't beleive I've only got 2 weeks left here! Although I knew 3 months wasn't really that long... it flew by WAY faster than I could have imagined. i do, however, look foreward to heading home and starting the next chapter of my life. I'm building a house in gloucester. I hope to buy Cape Ann Tree Service. It seems, it is time to grow up a bit and embrace responsibility. rest assured... I'm still Matt Natti. The adventures will never stop, they'll just have to slow down for a bit. There is always time for a quick boulder problem or a short walk in the woods. Life is too short to not savor it when ever possible.

Luvs you all for continuing to read this hippy rubbish! Keep living the dream.

From the Darrans, it was off to Queenstown. This is, by far, New Zealand's adventure tourism capital. There were SO MANY "extreem" adventure shops... it was a bit silly really. There were bungi jumps, bridge swings, skydives, parasailing, rafting, kiaking, flying foxes (zip lines), cave tours, guided rock climbs, even a place you could drive an actual "Monster Truck!!!!"
The town is set up for tourists. There are more hotels and backpackers than actual houses! Thankfully, Tomasz and I were able to avoid the temptations and managed to have a very cheap stay there. We got in a few days of great climbing at Wye creek (shist, very similar to Wanaka and Rumney) which had plenty of fun sport routes in a beautiful setting. The "Jardines" was a cool roadside bouldering destination which, after only a few hours of climbing, left us totally beat up! The highlight was heading out to "Chinamen's Bluff" near the base of Mt Aspiring. We went to do 1 climb... "Ravages of Time." This was our second BIG climb of the trip and although it was no where near as commiting as the Boen-Allen corner at the Darrans, we still ended up doing the final few abseils to the base of the climb with our headlamps. Thankfully, the track out was well marked and after the first 10 minutes or so, it joined a fire road for the 40 minute hike back to the car. Dinner was served at 11:30 PM... and DAMM did it taste good!
The next stop was Dunedin, which is a historic little city with a Scottish flair to it. The stay there was fun. We stayed at a mate's house and managed to get in a bit of beachside climbing at "Long Beach" (between intermittent rain showers). We did, however, manage to have one "good" adventure...... We arrived in the morning. We needed to replace the tires on the car and get an aleignment (general ware and tear), so we went to a garage and then to a cafe to have breakfast while we waited the 1 1/2 hour for the car to be finished. And so the story begins!
I ordered a "Big Breakfast," which consists of eggs, hashbrowns, toast and a grilled tomato. I also got a (very expensive) squeezed orange juice. Tomasz wasn't hungry yet, so he started to read a book. Afetr about 15 minutes one of the male owner/ manager came over to the table and put down a reserved sign on the table and told us it was reserved in 15 minutes. No worries. Tomasz was now hungry and so he went up and ordered a breakie as well... then sat down at the counter to allow the table to be free. I joined him and started to read my book. This was not what the owner had in mind.
The female owner/ manager came over to the table with a scowl on her face. "You are going to have to leave. This is not a library! I am sick of you backpackers stealing my mid-day business.... get out or I'll call the police!" Tomasz and I looked at each other in confussion. I pointed out that both of us had paid (quite a bit) for food, that the cafe was far from full and that Tomasz hadn't even finished his meal. She looked at her watch and told us we had been there almost 40 minutes and that our time was up. I politely (with a bit of a spiteful tone) offered her $20 for the privilage of staying in her cafe while I read and Tomasz finished his meal. She stormed off.
A few minutes later, the guy came back and said he wasn't messing around anymore... if we didn't leave he would call the cops. Tomasz and I said "ok, call them." He didn't like that. She came running over and started screaming at us to leave. Then, the guy actually grabbed me and yanked me out of my seat! Being a good karate guy... I quickly escaped his grasp and cocked back a fist. Tomasz said no one needed to get phyical.... we were not going to leave now until they actually got the police down there. Tomasz actually called the police himself to tell them we had been assualted- physically and verbally.
The cops showed up. They talked to us, they talked to them. They were very polite and sympathetic to us... but said we were going to have to leave. No worries. To be honest we just wanted to make the cafe owners do a bit of work and have to actually deal with the "Law." We didn't actually enjoy the last bit of hanging out.... we just wanted to perform a bit of civil disobediance for being treated so rudely. After that I wrote a good acticle about the event and hope to have it published in the Dunedin local paper. Justice served!
Besides that, the rest of the trip has been quite tame. We are currently in Chareleston, doing some climbing on some amazing seaside cliffs. Tomorrow we head to the top of the South Island and by Monday we'll be back in Wellington. I wonder what adventures the North Island will bring?!?

Loves to the lot of ya... I'll be back home by April. Keep living the dream.