Well the first week has been great! But the first weekend was even better! Everyone I have met has been very friendly and the Porters and been very kind and more than accommodating, particularly Amy (David's daughter) who has been generous enough to give me a ride to work every morning last week. As it turned out the first weekend I was to spend in NZ was a long weekend, (Auckland's Provincial Anniversary) Perfect! I was fortunate to have not one, not two but three weekend options! First the Parachute Festival, the largest Christian music festival in NZ was scheduled for this weekend, I was also invited to head into the northland to enjoy some tennis and a great beach, or head south for some solitude and Climbing! So most of you could probably guess what I chose.
Friday after work I was picked up by my new friend Bryony, who I had met via an email introduction by Leah Woods (Thanks Leah!). She was with her cousin Alethea, and together the 3 of us headed south to the Adventure Bible School lodge just outside of Cambridge about 2 hours south of Auckland. We Arrived at the lodge At about 9:30 and met some more of Bryony ABS friends who were staying at the lodge for a few days. After some ice-cream and conversation we hit the hay to prepare for a day of climbing on Saturday.
Saturday did not disappoint, we had a couple of location options but we decided to go to the closest and free-est local known only as Froggarts. Froggarts is a small collection of small crags none more than 25m with a difficulty range of 14-29 (North American ratings of about 5.7 to hard 5.12). The Day went great until the sun poked it blazing face over the cliff face immediately shooting the temperature at the wall to about 30 deg. So it was at that time that we decided to call it a day and head back to the Lodge.
After a lovely dinner of veggies and meat pie (quite a staple in NZ) we suited up in wetsuits and lifejackets and headed out to float down the nearby river and see the glowworm colony on the cliffs alongside. That I must say was quite an experience, not only were the glowworms out in full force but the sky was magnificent. Now I'm no astronomer but it's amazing how different the sky looks, familiar constellations are no longer there replaced by a totally new arrangement; it's really quite something to think that I had never seen that portion of space before. That night I decided to give my Hennessey Hammock tent a try and it worked great, I'm looking forward to really using it in my future travels. (Thanks Crystal and Allison!).
Sunday was more of the same but because of me it started a little later . . . I was really tired! We headed back out Froggarts and this time the blazing heat was subsided by a sporadic cloud cover but it was still pretty warm. Later in the day another couple of Bryony's friends met us at the climbing area and climbed with us till about 8:00. After picking up some food we headed back to the lodge for dinner and another night comfy in my hammock.
Monday was another sleep in followed by a quick clean up and ride home . . . oh and I can't forget the ice cream . . . apparently kiwi's eat the most ice cream per capita in the world . . . and after being here for a week I'm not surprised.
So all in all I couldn't have asked for a better first weekend in NZ. I'm really enjoying my time here so far and the future looks great. But I do miss you all and super appreciate all your little notes via email and facebook (it's good for something). Much love and I'll try and get some more updates up soon, and more pictures!
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