Exploring New Zealand's South Island

Little lambies in NZ!

My friend Olivier is visiting from France! We spend a glorious 10 days cruising around New Zealand in a rented campervan, covered in flowers and butterflies, and called "The Hippie Camper." And hippies we sure felt like! We slept overnight parked in forgotten fields, bathed in freezing cold glacier-fed rivers and sniffed out the cheapest eats (actually that's not true--we ate quite a lot of Ferg Burgers. Go to Queenstown and you'll understand why)

Our hippie campervan was simply delightful

From Christchurch, we bypassed the city and headed straight for Mount Cook in the center of the South Island. The landscape is gorgeous, with the Southern Alps in the distance and rolling hills covered in yellowish green grass. We stopped overnight at Lake Tekapo, a crystal clear lake with the outline of Mount Cook in the distance. In front of Mt Cook is yet another arrestingly blue lake (if there's one thing this tiny country has, it's fresh water! And sheep.) fed by a glacier. Steep, jagged mountains, green hills and the lake that is bleu pétant, water the color of the Caribbean!

We hiked around, a beautiful route that takes you over a few cable bridges over a pumping river. All around the valley you can see the destruction of the glacier as it tore away, leaving massive amounts of rocks, morènes and steep rockface. The wind was unbelievable strong, as was the sun! NZ's sun is underestimated how strong it is, within 2 hrs we were both sunburnt.
Next stop was Queenstown, and the drive from Mt Cook to Qt was a highlight of the trip. We were just in awe the whole time of how magnificient the landscape was, how untouched and unsettled. One thing I appreciate most about NZ is their biosecurity laws, and doing their best to keep the country clean. I noticed significantly less rubbish, even though there were very few bins around. Another aspect that I loved (as would my mom) is that there are public toilets everywhere, and I mean clean public loos practically every 10km on the road! I'm convinced that this aids significantly to keep the landscape clean because you don't have human waste everywhere, nor people leaving their loo paper in the grass.

Elles sont où les chiottes!?!?!

NZ's vigilance when it comes to the environment is apparent everywhere, and discourages you even further to litter. We were extra vigilant not to leave any waste, and try and find a public loo since they were much more accessible (as compared to China for instance!) This led to our constant giggle fits, and one of the few phrases Oli has perfected in the English language: "Where is the shitter??!!?" The joke stems from his plans to show up here in Australia, kicking down my door and using this incredibly useful phrase. It became our favourite inside joke all over NZ, with a photo op wherever we could of me kicking down the door.

In Queenstown, we stayed with our gracious host, the lively Perg, who Claire and I climbed with in Yangshuo, China last December. It was great to see him, have some laughs (Pergie has one of the most epics laughs I've ever heard, especially great when he loses it over his own joke!!)
We had one day of cold rain, but by Monday it cleared up and we even climbed a bit at a local crag in Qt. At the crag, I met a guy who lives in the Blueys and we have a mutual friend! Small world. We grabbed some locally brewed Speight's beer with some guys we met at the crag, and then hit the road for Wanaka. We climbed all day the following day with Perg and his two friends Amanda and Jocelyn, with perfect weather. Wanaka is renowned for its climbing scene, and known to generally be graded harder than other regions. I'm not the biggest fan of schist, I prefer limestone or sandstone in the Blueys, but it was a fabulous day regardless. I was still recovering from a sprained finger from a canyoning accident two weeks ago, so unfortunately I wasn't climbing my best!

Pergie!

Climbing = awesome in Wanaka

Bacon n eggs n sandflies

We said our goodbyes to Pergalicous and the girls, and hit the Haast Pass towards the South Island's West Coast. Rugged coastline, lots of forests and lakes and streams everywhere, more stunning scenery every kilometre we drove. The only downside was the pesky sandflies! These things must be little minions of the devil himself, because I have never experienced such a pernicious, indefatigable bug! Perg did well to tell us not to kill the sandfly but simply brush him off (which, obviously, he'll come back for more) If you smack them, they give off pheromones that only attract more sandflies to annoy you! They also refused to die-- we were wave them out the window, where they would only stick to the window despite the wind, with a determination surpassing anything I've ever seen. Needless to say, this created our own special hell in the van for most of the West Coast. By the time we reached Golden Bay, we were used to the little minions devishly biting away at our ankles and eyeballs. Poor Oli was absolutely covered in bites from these little suckers.
We stopped at the Fox Glacier, which flows down from the west side of the Mount Cook, towards the sea. We walked about 2km to the front of the Fox Glacier, and got within 100m of the serac. It was magnifient! We climbed up on the rocks and walked out about 10m on the glacier (to Oli's excitement, and my dismay) My first time on a glacier! Got me excited about the Mont Blanc in September.

Oli doing some real work, upside down on Rawhide Roof

Then a longggg drive to Golden Bay, the very tip of the South Island, where we headed since I had a climbing guide book lent by a friend. It was certainly my favourite part of the trip, since we had 3 days to relax at Takaka, right near the ocean. We had three perfect days of rockclimbing, on fun, slabby yet slopey limestone (more like dolomite). I accomplished a few lead climbs, and successfully did my first 6a climb. There were two main crags: Payne's Ford in Takaka, a long stretch of rock hidden behind a jungly forest. The birds there were fantastic, it sounded like we were in the rainforest as we climbed. There was a river nearby, where we did fun jumps and lay out on the rocks. We also spent a day in Pohara, right on the bay. It was idyllic with the waves gently lapping the rocks, and climbing at Cathedral Wall. There was a beautiful arête that we were looking forward to climbing, but for some reason wasn't equipped. Tant pis.

Paynes' Ford Crag, Golden Bay

Hangdog is the local camp for climbers, run by the friendly Butler family, and filled with chilled out climbers and friendly folk. We recognized a few people from the crag, and stopped by the camp to have a shower. But our favourite scene by far was in Takaka, at the burger shack and then next door to Roots Bar for a glass of pinot noir by the fire.

We tried our best to make our holiday last as long as possible, including stopping for a swim in a river halfway back to Christchurch. I'm already thinking of returning to NZ, this time to drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound and check out the fjordland national park.

Surf Camp 2.0

Back at Seven Mile Beach!

Back to Surf Camp! This month has been packed with activities, from my trip with BU to the Australian capital, Canberra, to canyoning in the Blue Mountains, and Surf Camp down the South Coast. After a long week at work (I'm now working 3 days a week at BU and 2 days a week at an osteo clinic), I was ready to get out of Sydney and head south! The Surf Camp bus picked up Friday night--between our 20 BU students and another 40 other people, we had a very international group. We had a lot of Scandinavians, a few Mexicans, some from the Netherlands and France, and one Australian. Saturday the weather was gorgeous, bright blue skies and a strong sun. With all the time we spent in the water, we all got a lot of sun. I tried desperately to re-apply every chance I got, but that much sun is too much to handle. By Saturday night, my cheeks and nose were bright pink and puffy. Saturday we had a morning lesson, going through the basics, and a Saturday arvo lesson with our instructor, Jordie, from South Africa. The girls in my group did great, by the afternoon they were all catching waves and looking like pros!
The arvo session the waves were quite flat, only a few baby waves every 10 min, so Jordie suggested we play the "ladder game" and hook all our surfboard together, and saw who could walk to the end and back without falling! The results were hillllllarious, especially when a wave would hit and send us flying!

Check out the footage about 1.5 minutes into this video!

After surfing all day Saturday, we packed it in and walked up the world's biggest hill to the Fisherman's Club, also known as The World's Greatest Pub. Well, the view, not the company. Barbecue on Saturday and early bed for me since I was truly exhausted after spending all day in the sun and on a surfboard!

Perfect day for surfing

Sunday morning early rise again at 6am, and in our wetties by 8am. This time the weather wasn't nearly as gorgeous but at least it wasn't raining! Surf in the morning, and our lesson in the afternoon about waves, rips and the best places to surf around Sydney.

Tropfest

On Sunday, I accompanied our group of students to the airport for their 4-day fieldtrip to Melbourne. Peace at last! I enjoyed having the building all to myself, the peace and quiet, while all the staff & students were in Melbourne. Sunday morning I had brunch at sunny Cafe Giulia, where they make a mean soy flatwhite and even better waffles. I biked to Newtown to feed the kitty cats, and then met up with my new friends Kaye and Claire to go to Camp Cove in Vaucluse. What a GORGEOUS drive to get there-- you're up high, looking out on the entire harbour and Sydney. It's stunning. We lounged on this quiet beach all day, my first time at a harbour beach! Since there are no waves, the water is calm and warm, perfect for swimming and a cool-down. We had famous Doyle's fish n' chips on the pier, and then hitched it to TROPFEST! This is the world's largest short film festival, started here in Sydney 20 years. The founder wanted to screen a friend's short film in Tropicana Cafe in Darlinghurst, and every year the crowd grew a little more until it finally became the world's largest festival in short film. They screen them out in the Domain, attached to the Royal Botanic Gardens, with the palm trees and Opera House as a backdrop. We got great seats despite showing up so late, right in front of the 4-sided screen. Claire bought a few cases of beers, and it felt like the perfect summer moment. Cold beers after a sunny beach day, good friends and free short films in the park.
I loved the first one, with this old couple who play practical jokes on each other about the other one dying. For example, the husband fakes a heart attack to make his wife laugh, and in turn, she pretends to fall down the stairs to get him to chuckle. You'll have to find out how it ends.... Very sweet.

There were 16 in all, and the festival had quite the star-studded panel: Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Geoffrey Rush, Toni Colette and others. Sammy and Az even got VIP tickets to sit just behind the celebs!
About halfway through the screening, clouds rolled in and we got a drizzle, then rain and then a DOWNPOUR, absolute deluge of rain. The girls left fairly early, I stayed to watch as many films as I could but high-tailed it outta there when thunder and lightning started to crack overhead. But with the lightning as a backdrop to "Min Min", a suspense film set in the Blue Mts...it was unreal.
"Lemonade Stand" ended up winning 1st place, a sweet, heart-warming, quirky film about a grandfather/grandson relationship....and the neighborhood bully.
Check it out online!

A Good Start to 2012

Rocky Creek Canyon

Has it really been 3 months since my last blog entry? Oops. Well, between rockclimbing in Yangshuo, China and sunbathing in Bali for a month, and the start of a busy semester here in Sydney, let's just say it hasn't exactly made the priority list! But I'm determined to blog and keep in touch about my recent activities, especially as the new year kicks off (Shhh, I know it's nearly March 1...)

Endless fun. You can climb up the right side and jump off as many ways as you'd like!

I had a great start to the New Year with a day-trip to two beautiful canyons in the Blue Mountains, with my new friends Glenn and Nathan (I met Glenn thanks to my sister Claire, they met in China at the Roctrip). I met up with Glenn for a day in the Blueys to get out and climb--to my dismay, I was absolutely rotten. I was already pumped during my first climb, and wasn't used to the rough edges of sandstone. Believe me, I was spoiled for choice over in Yangshuo with all that limestone goodness, and my fingers simply weren't ready for the cutting edge of sandstone. Still, I managed to claw my way to top, while Glenn looked on with a look of half pity, half revulsion -- not unlike seeing a parent throw up from drinking too much booze.

Water slide!

I was cuit as I like to say in French, or "cooked" by 2 climbs (pathetic, I know) but I was captivated by Glenn's climbing. He was trying to finish an incredibly hard climb, I could barely keep up with him on the belay end. It was like watching a monkey climb up a steep rock face! I've never seen anyone climb like that, and believe me it was inspiring.

The picturesque Rocky Creek canyon

I was back in the mountains that weekend, for a fun day of canyoning before Glenn kicked off to Thailand/China for 5 months (lucky bastard...) I met his friend Nathan, who also happens to be a guide for High n' Wild (the company BU uses to take our students canyoning every semester). His friend Amy was along for the ride, so we all hopped in and drove about an hour into the middle of the bush. The Blue Mts have the 2nd highest concentration of canyoning (after the Grand Canyon region in the US), and there are over 400 in the region. Luckily, canyoning is Nathan's passion and he has explored over 200 of them. Our day was pure fun and adventure-- we didn't need harnesses since there were no abseils, only wetsuits and LOTS of jumps. I love the jumps! In Twister canyon, we found a slide that you could climb back up, so you could do it as many times, to your heart's delight. There was also a very high jump, probably the highest I've ever jumped from...Maybe 10 ft? 12? No idea. Well it was high but I loved it.

My biggest jump yet!

Glenn thought it was a bright to climb into the tree high above and jump from there...Bright idea!
We bushwalked for another half hr to Rocky Creek, the second canyon for the day. It's a beautiful, picturesque canyon, but I found it wasn't as much fun as Twister. Not as many jumps!

In early Feb, I organized a BU trip to the Blue Mts to do Empress Falls. I must have talked it up because 40 students signed up! It was quite popular this semester. We had four groups, three of which did Empress Falls and another group who did Grand Canyon. The morning was beautiful weather for the lesson on how to abseil-- the sun was out, which meant all the eucalyptus were hazy blue in the distance. Luckily both Jimmy and Nathan were our guides, so we got to hang out all day.
A little rain and wind during lunch, but before we knew it, the rain had cleared and blue sky again! Weather in the Blueys can be quite temperamental..
This was by far the most fun I've had doing Empress (now my 3rd time). With all the rain, there was SO much water in the canyon, which made for better jumps and a more intense abseil at the end with the water pumping out of the 30m-high waterfall. Nathan showed me and the boys a little trip to climb back up through a rock (you have to crawl through a tiny hole, thru which all that water is gushing) to redo the jump. It added a new dimension and lot more intensity to the canyon.
Our students did a fantastic job with the abseil, they rocked it! It's amazing to see that only that morning they'd learnt how to abseil, and now they were doing down a 30m waterfall!

abseiling down the depths of Zorro Canyon

I stayed over Sat night and crashed on Jimmy & Nath's couch, up early with Nathan and Glenn's bro Neil to do another canyoning. The time it was my first "dry" canyon, which means there's little water in the canyon. There were a few abseils and lots of adventures traipsing around the bush trying to find this mythic canyon. But thanks to Nathan and Neil's orienteering skillz  using a map and compass (I was profoundly useless...sorry Girl Scouts) we found Zorro Canyon. As usual there was a surprise around every bend, and an hour later we abseiled our way out of the canyon and back into the bush. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to do Sunnyside canyon, only one for the day. The road back was over an hour, and thankfully we were in a 4-wheel drive Land Rover because the terrain was rough. I've never been so tossed and turned in a car before, felt like we were on safari.

City2Sea

Once again, a big thank you to everyone who helped me raised $500 for charity to the Cambodian Kids Foundation and Melbourne's City2Sea race! The race was early Sunday morning, and conveniently just around the corner from the apartment where I was staying with John and Jenny. There was music playing and so much good energy in the air! The race felt surprisingly long, for only 14k (about 9 miles), every kilometer felt so much longer than usual! And my knees started to give out at about 5k, which meant that it was a fairly painful run, but still fun. The course ended at St. Kilda's, at Port Philip Bay, right on the beach. I had a great finish and sprinted the last 500 meters, one of my favorite things to do since XC back in high school! I spent the rest of the morning recovering, getting free stuff and hanging out in the Movember tent, having a few beers and food. I was with four guys, my coworker Cal and his mates, all of whom are fundraising for Movember, and raising awareness by growing moustaches! The night before the five of us got a fabulous dinner at Trunk in Melbourne's CBD.

I spent the rest of the day exploring Melbourne on my own, walking (or more like hobbling) around Chapel St, which is one of the best shopping districts in the country. Little boutiques with fabulous but affordable shopping on Chapel St, which extends from the Yarra River down to Prahran. Melbourne is easily one of my favourite cities. With the wide boulevards, the comprehensible tram system, endless shops and quirky neighborhoods, it has been such a pleasure to be back in this lovely city. I wouldn't mind living here one day. Beats the chaotic frenzy in Sydney!

Adventures in the Blue Mountains

The Three Sisters

Incrrrrrredible day up in the Blue Mountains last Saturday, canyoning and abseiling with the High n' Wild guide company (check out the Summer Canyoning video on their website!) The Blue Mountains, less than 3 hrs from Sydney, are a World Heritage Site for its diversity of eucalyptus species and the biodiversity around this tree's adaptability in such a climate. 
Cal organized a group of about 24 students (all girls, except for Cal and Julian) and since this was big enough for two groups, my trip was comped (so awesome). Getting out to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains is actually not bad, considering the expensive train fares within the city. A return trip to Katoomba, a 2.5 hr trip, is only $11. Which means...I'm officially going to the mountains a lot more often!

Our guides Roberta and Evan taught us the basics of abseiling (rappelling). For the first time, I felt like I actually knew what I was doing! It was no longer Olivier teaching me how to do things like rappel or anchor for the first time... I felt comfortable doing it, even if my last serious climb was back in May.

While the novices practiced abseiling on a rockface, Cal and I enjoyed making faces with sticks and taking funny pictures on Julian's camera (oops). Our first cliff was a 15m drop, I absolutely LOVED the heights and the adrenaline rush you get from standing over a cliff! Our next feat was double that height, standing 30m over a a cliff where your feet are only on the rock for about 5m before you hit a giant overhang. Without a rockface to plant your feet as you descend, you just kind of dangle in mid-air, twirl around and enjoy the view.
The view from up there is absolutely stunning-- the Blue Mountains are so named because of the abundance of eucalyptus trees, which give off a chemical that appears blue to the human eye. In the distance, the mountains (which look more like plateaus here and there) have this glowing, blue haze to them. The combination with the blue sky, green trees and the sandstone cliffs is breathtaking.
Quick stop for lunch before we hit the canyon. It was quite difficult to manage the hundreds of steps down to the canyon and Empress Falls with what felt like a food baby in my belly. The farther down we climbed, the trees and leaves went from hard and brittle to a lush rainforest that smelled of tea tree oil and fresh dirt. We spotted a lyrebird, a bird that been around for millions of years and is known for digging up dirt and causing the steep hillsides of the forest (a lyrebird can move up to 62 tons of dirt a year!)
We got on our wetsuits, which was probably the most difficult thing I did all day...not an easy task. My wettie was wayyyy too small on me, Roberta was lifting me up entirely as she was trying to pull it up over my knees. Ha! What a disaster. We filled our helmets up with water and dumped them on our heads to increase our overall body temp (also makes it easier to get in the water if your head is wet).

Empress Falls, our last 30m rappel

Our first pool we had to jump backwards off a rock, that is stand on this rock facing away from the water, jump out and try and land on our backs. So much fun! I went first. We jumped from one pool to another, it was SO much fun, although the water was so frigid that it felt like the air was getting knocked out of you. Before the 30m drop, there were two more pools that were fun for jumping and swimming. The best part was the end, where in order to get out of the canyon, you had to abseil down Empress Falls, a 30m drop into a pool below. Amazing! I was the first one in my group to get it started, since I need to get these things over with rather than be standing over a cliff in anticipation and fear. Also, I was just really cold. But I didn't want it to end! It was so much fun, with the water splashing down. At the end, you could do a big jump off the waterfall-- Roberta would let go simultaneously as you from your rope and you'll drop into the water.
Just as rewarding was watching our fellow canyoneers coming down the abseil, some of them struggled more than others! We had a good laugh..
Then for the lonnng hike back up alllll. those. stairs. This time I had the pleasure of carrying the 100m wet, heavy rope up on my back. But we were soon rewarded with a stunning view (what you'll see at the end of the video, when I'm drinking my water bottle). Cal, Julian and I went to a little Indian restaurant that was in the middle of nowhere and in an old house, weird, but the food was UNREAL. I haven't had such good Indian food since I was in India!
We booked it to the train station after finding out that we had only one train left to get back to the city.

Sunday afternoon I took the train down the Illawarra line to Woonona, to celebrate with beautiful Amanda and her friends at her bachelorette party. Here, they call it a Hens Party (and a bachelor's party is a Bucks party... don't ask me why) We were served fresh cocktails by naked butlers (well, almost naked. They wore little aprons) and played all sorts of hilarious games. My favorite was the wedding dress design, where we had to make a wedding dress with two rolls of toilet paper and some tinsel. Our model, lovely Julie the maid of honour, looked great...until Amanda pushed her in the pool!


**Pour mes amis francais: samedi j'ai fait du rappel et du canyon avec des amies dans les Montagnes Bleues, 3 hrs de Sydney. Les montagnes sont magnifiques, avec une brume bleue partout. Cette couleur est grace à les eucalypts qui donnent une couleur bleue. Le matin, on a fait des rappels de 15m et 30m pour s'améliorer à le hauteur et de maitriser un rappel. Dans l'apres-midi, on a fait un petit canyon, avec des sauts sympas, des chutes d'eau, et un grand rappel dans un cascade!!! Regardez le video pour avoir une idée du grandeur du canyon... Trop bien!!!

Melbourne Cup

Cal, Caroline and me on Melbourne Cup day!

It's the race that stops the nation! Melbourne Cup is the biggest horse race in Australia, and practically a national holiday since nearly everything stops for the afternoon to watch the glorified race.
Let me start by saying that when I first arrived here in Australia, I thought the Melbourne Cup was another name for the AFL Rugby Final (my coworkers got a good laugh outta that one. It's like mixing up Mardi Gras and the Superbowl.)
As is tradition, we closed up shop here at BU at 12:30 and headed to this fancy-schmancy Spanish tapas, Postales, right in the heart of the CBD. The ladies typically wear fancy hats made by milliners, or fascinators (like a fancy headband). Here is a photo from last year's Melbourne Cup of the models outside our venue at Martin Place. 

Mr. Best Dressed

Melbourne Cup is always the first Tuesday of November, which happened to be Nov 1st this year and the day after Halloween. We all stopped at the TAB betting shops to place our bets on which horse we thought would win. Cal set up a sweeps for our staff to take part in (when you place a $2 bet and randomly draw a horse), and I placed a $5 bet (first one!) on horse named Americain. 
Melbourne Cup, I realized, is not so much about the race but about all the event surrounding the race: fancy hats, fancy 3-course lunches, betting on a horse, winning prizes, fun venues and a general excuse just to drink. At our fancy schmancy venue, there were models showing off fancy hats, gift bags with oodles of certificates and coupons to fancy places I could never afford, and lots and lots of champagne!

The closest race in its history!

Cal won "Best Dressed Male" third year in a row and subsequently, a magnum of Veuve-Clicquot champagne. 
The race started at 3pm, and was so exciting! I don't think I've ever properly watched a horse race, but when you've actually got a bet on a horse to win, then it's so much more exciting! 
The thumping of the horses' hooves gets your heartbeat racing, and the excitement builds as the horses charge for the finish line and all bets are off. This year, a French horse Dunaden came out of nowhere to win the race. They say it was the closest race in the Cup's 150 year history, with Dunaden coming in by less than a hair. It took officials three or four agonizing minutes to decide who won the race!