2 Weeks Running

Well I guess I we everyone a large update considering it has been two weeks since my last one. As I mentioned before I left, I went down to Mt. Ruepahu to snowboard on in Mordor for a week and a half. I will try to be somewhat brief so I don't write a 30 page post.


Leigh, Yannik and I left on thursday morning for the mountain. We drove down without incident and arrived at a comfortable time at the house down there. Leigh and I decided we had a goal for Friday. That would be to get Yannik riding the Palma by himself. As he was, we were putting him on the Palma and then someone would hold on to him and be dragged up directly behind him. So on Friday Leigh and I tackled the mountain with ambition, and low and behold after several hours of running up and down the mountain alongside a Palma, we got Yannik riding it without anyone around him. It was pretty cool to think he got to like "the next level" with my help. On Saturday the Mountain was closed due to strong winds and snow, so we went to a set of hot springs. I should say that there are hot springs everywhere in this country. We decided to get a private pool for ourselves, which meant we got a pool that was 40 degrees Celsius which is something like 104 F. Unfortunately we could not convince Yannik to get into the water. After much pushing and prodding we decided it would just be best to take him to the public hot pool which was slightly cooler but still probably high 90's so its hard to complain. That evening Christoph joined us. However the next day on Sunday, again the mountain was closed due to high winds and snow. On Monday and Tuesday however, the mountain was practically empty since everyone returned to school on that same Monday, and we had two days of fresh snow. So I went out early and was first in line for the lifts when they opened both mornings which meant I was laying fresh tracks on the glacier which is this huge beautiful bowl which you only have to hike about 5 minutes to get to. If you want a sweet video of the bowl I was snowboarding in getting dominated by a sweet avalanche check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdfRAqPzMQk&feature=fvw The guy in the helicopter is the mountain guide that is friends with my family from a previous post. I think I mentioned him. (I think he was let go as an avalanche tester after he set this one off) (Oops). At any rate, I boarded in the mornings till about 12:30 and then I would take Yannik in the afternoons. I should mention one story that happened the first day I went riding on Monday. Leigh and Christoph were going to meet me at the car at 12:30 do swap Yannik off and so they could ski. Well I had had a lovely day with fresh snow and great runs. Well when 12 came around I thought I would take a nice long little ride all the way down to the base. I figured I would do a quick hike out towards the Organ Pipes, (which is the opposite hike as the Glacier). Well I had done this hike once before with Leigh and Christoph and their mountain guide friend. I figured this is nice, and few people will have been out this way. So I pass the out of bounds sign and keep going passing 1 or 2 people. Finally I get to the drop in point and turn in to find a nice crusty top layer that is quite wavy greeting me. Not an ideal run. But I thought so be it, and I went a little farther out to get some nicer snow. I make my way down the mountain. Now I distinctly remember when I did this the first time that we went down and then popped over a valley or two (I had to keep my speed up and walk maybe like once), and then we were pretty much at the parking lot. This time I found that I was going down and the terrain just wasn't looking very familiar. I realized that with a whole month having passed a lot of the snow that had been there previously was no longer there. I suddenly found myself in a deadend valley with no more snow to travel on and cliffs in all directions around me. Not only that but I realized that I was pretty much riding on top of what was water running beneath me (more commonly called a stream). So it was now 12:20 and I decide I would have to take off my board and hike it. Now I should try to describe the type of terrain I'm dealing with here. Must I again remind you that this is where they filmed Mordor, and that really wasn't much CG. This is a desolate volcano boulders, rocks, and cliffs strewn everywhere. Not only this but it is built with deep valley's and then high ridges. So in order to hike out I have to climb up a steep rock face with a snowboard. Then upon arriving at the top I must descend down to a valley again and then climb up the other side. Repeat. Added to this is fresh snow that while not in some places, the places it is in is because the wind blew it there so it is piled up to like 4 feet depth. You know I hadn't thought much about it till then, and you hear of deaths happening at Mt. Raupehu every year (Sorry mom you might not want to read this), and you don't really see how it happens every single year. You would think people would learn. But had I broken my leg, and not been able to walk, I would have been in serious trouble. At any rate, never fear, I didn't do that. I did however have to hike roughly 6 to 7 of these ravines. Until what I pictured looking like a scene from the movies as a man stumbles out of the desert to a place of sanctuary, I stumbled over a rock hill, and with the sun blazing down on me and my board slung on my back, my jacket hanging from my waist, my gloves sticking awkwardly from my pockets, and my helmet dangling from my board I stumbled to my sanctuary of a parking lot nearly collapsing. I felt like people must have seen this figure emerging, the shape shimmering in the heat being reflected from the black stones and snow. With a look of what one can only describe as beyond exhaustion that is matched by a stumbling walk and the silent movement of lips as if he is talking to himself.

You know it was something like that.
Anyways, I returned and was too tired to say what had happened (Leigh and Christoph had now been waiting an hour and a half) So I took Yannik and that night told them what had happened. So that was my big adventure for the week. On Wednesday the upper mountain was closed, so I met Leigh and Christoph and we skied with Yannik in the beginners area. Leigh put my board on and I gave her a snowboard lesson which I always find fun to do. (Except I had to wear her ski boots which were a touch small for me) Thursday the mountain was completely closed due to 60k and up winds (described as strong to gale-like winds). So the Yannik and his folks went to Napier to check out a facility there that Leigh and Christoph have considered for Yannik when he gets older. (Its wierd to think they certainly cant care for him forever, but at the same time he will never really be able to care for himself so every family has to figure out what that means for them.) I however stayed in Ohakune and explored the town and such. On Friday I left in the evening to drive about a half hour north of Lake Taupo (which is the largest lake in NZ)

In Taupo I was meeting up with 11 other people. It was a similar crowd to the ones that went to Whananaki with me. Here we had a Bach (also known as a beach house) right on a massive lake or really a river I guess (but may as well have been a lake for its size). The bach could only really sleep 6 but we squeezed in 12. It was cozy to say the least. On Saturday a group went into Taupo and went Skydiving and Jetboating along with hitting hot pools. .... I was not in this group. .... The rest of us stayed at the bach and relaxed. The four guys went down to the water and went for a quick dip. By quick I mean we jumped in and then immediately removed out bodies from the water as quick as humanly possible. (The water was a tad chilly). We hung out and in general just enjoyed our day and the scenery around us. That evening was quite a time that started early and then continued late once a cord hooking up my laptop to the stereo was discovered (causing an instant dance party of course).

On Sunday we woke up and cleaned. Then Bird (one of the other guys) and I made a massive breakfast. I mean like 30 eggs 40 pieces of bacon and 25 pieces of toast. It was pretty awesome. After breakfast one car left early as they were doing Rotorua, and another (mine) stayed behind till the laundry was done. We then went into Taupo and hit up the hot springs. Again a different set then the other 3 I have been to so far in this country. These were really cool because they were much more like what I expected. They were located in City of Taupo Park essentially. Really just picture your average town park, only there was a major river that ran through it on its way to Lake Taupo. Along the river was just little springs the bubbled up and fed into the river. However these pools springs contained people and about 105 degree water. It was really awesome. Because there were waterfalls of this water that was a beautiful hot shower temperature. We wasted a lot of time there. Afterwards we headed home.

I had a lovely vacation, but I must admit it was really nice to be back in the city and on a normal schedule again. That night however that "normalcy" was thrown out the window, as I suppose should be expected with Yannik. On Sunday night we discovered Yannik was allergic to something in his room and his face kept swelling up like a watermelon. So he slept on the couch that night. For the following week his room was on quarantine, and 4 out of 5 nights we were up at 4 in the morning because he was as well. But so be it. Outside of that its been a lovely week. On Monday I had improv. I was a little off that night, but you know when it comes to improv sometimes you are just off. Its something you have to learn to accept. So be it. On tuesday Yannik pulled on the oven when walking by and there was a quick burst of flame and the oven no longer works. So that is having to get replaced. Oh and we had to buy a new bed for Yannik because we thought that might be what was causing the allergy. On Wed. Chris's family left for Fiji giving him a week off before he leaves for a week to join them in Fiji. So I went over there for the afternoon before we hit up Couchsurfers. On Friday, Chris, Bird, and I all went out KareKare for the day which was Mindbogglingly fun. Karekare is one of the beaches on the West Side about 45 minutes away. Its black sand and no one is ever there. It is also absolutely beautiful with crazy surf. The waves were probably 8 feet on the main side of the beach and have about 20 break points on the other side of a point though that we climbed out on and got completely drenched. (I mean drenched because the spray from waves was more impressive than a busch gardens water ride, and so drenched there was a camera casualty (not mine luckily)) We climbe out to this point and then got a little higher so we weren't getting soaked and suddenly Chris yelled "Holy crap, that's a seal!" Low and Behold, just around a rock was a huge seal sunbathing itself. When it saw us though it dove off the rock. Something I had trouble believing after running to the edge and seeing that it was a 20 drop that ended not in water, but in more rocks. However the Seal seemed to be fine and continued to scoot into the water. Needless to say I have never seen a seal in the wild and it was a major highlight for me. All in all it was a spectacular day at the beach.

On Saturday I spent the day with Leigh's family celebrating her sister's her mother's and her combined birthday's bbq. It was a lovely day with the whole family. And while there I got invited to go windsurfing on Monday. So I am definitely doing that tomorrow. SWEET!!! Anyways the prawns and salmon were delicious. Following the bbq I met up with Chris, Bird, and some other couchsurfers for a hippy drum circle at Mt. Eden. ONLY IT WAS SICK!! It was a 350 event which is a global environmental organization and they had 4500 events in over 178 countries around the world. For the one I was at though, they brought in about 400 (literally 400) African drums and we all grabbed one and had a massive drum session. It was guided by Rythm Interactive and really sweet. I unfortunately had to leave early though so I could go into town and go on a date with the 36 year old I had mentioned previously. The scottish woman and some of her friends were going to the Classic Comedy Club to see 10 Comedians for 10 bucks. So I joined them and had a lovely evening. Some standups were way better than others, but thats always the case. Afterwards though I had to immediately take off since its like I have a curfew considering the last bus to Onehunga from downtown leaves at 11:15

Well, now I have filled you in on 2 and a half weeks. Sorry it took so long. And sorry its such a long post that I am not even going to proofread it before posting it. Hope you can deal. There are a bunch of new photos of me on facebook, but I will post some more on this blog as soon as I get them off the internet. Love you all, thank you all for reading and I hope your having a great day.

Wes.