Maruia Falls

This week hasn't been too unusal, I got on the Glenroy twice and have been doing a few playruns. These are the local waterfalls (10 metres). I went along with some guys I had been paddling with - one of them ran the falls - unfortunately I was videoing for that so I didn't get a piccie...

West Coast road trip!

Last week saw a trip to the mighty west coast rivers of NZ !! Unfortunately I have no peli case so no exciting boating photos. But you can see here that Ben Leeann and I headed over. We met up with Diego, Silvia and Mary. We paddled the lower kakapotahi (sp?), and the totara. Both low volume technical rivers... Great fun especially with ben teaching us how to boof! We got home to find a welcoming party waiting for us in the pub - so didn't even get home before we started drinking - the night ended up with an impromptu party at ben/cheese/zack 's place... Since then I've been practicing my boofs on the lower matakitaki and glenroy rivers over here and scheming for my next trip to the coast!

Merry Christmas

Christmas was the coldest in Melbourne for 70 years! Jamie still braved the weather to put prawns, sausages etc on the barbie... Got loads of nice presents and had a boozy relaxed day. On Thursday Tessa and I went with Jamie and Matthew to the Ashes. We were sitting between the barmy army and the boony army... Loads of fun.

A week in Melbourne

In the last week in Melbourne, we've managed to do plenty of touristy things. We went up the Rialto tower and looked out over the city. We went for lunch on the tramcar restraurant, which travels all round the city while you're having lunch. We went to an animal sanctuary and we went to some wineries!! We even had one day where the weather was hot (which is what you'd really expect it to be like in Oz), and went to the beach... We've also been to food markets and got the supplies in ready for Chrimbo, and done lots of relaxing. Anyways, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The Great Ocean Road

Sisters reunited!! Me my two sisters, jamie (anna's boyfriend) and my mum set off on a road trip on the great ocean road... We saw koalas and stayed in a lovely beach house with a jacuzzi!!! Bit of luxury courtesy of my mother. On the first day we went to see the 12 apostles (the cliffy things in the sea). The next day we went for a skytop walk on a special track built over the rainforest up to 47 metres, and another one going at ground level to see a waterfall. In the afternoon we went to a wine tasting at a winery nearby. In the evening we went for a delicious meal in a restaurant overlooking a bay. The last day we just hung out at the beach before heading home.

The Mighty Clarence!

Two medics a lawyer and a mathematician set off on an epic adventure!! Putting on wet kayaking gear in the snow at the put in is not really how I imagined NZ but it was worth it! Rob Don and Toby had all only been paddling for 10 days before we set off, so my challenge was going to be to pick up the pieces and offer advice! The clarence is a class 2/3 river. 240kms took us 6 days with 4 swims from Don/ Rob. All the kit in the boats made the boats really heavy, filled with tents and food etc. Every evening we would pull up on the bank and set up our tents and Toby's hammock and make a campfire. It was my first self supported multiday and a real experience you can't get at home, being so completely away from it all. I thought they being fit guys would mean I was dragging behind but it turns out that my paddling fitness was up to scratch. By the end of it the boys were charging!