Thanksgiving in Murchison

Yesterday was thanksgiving in America and Joe the partner of Jess, one of the kayak school instructor is american. So 16 people were invited round for a massive roast turkey feast (there was plenty of veg for me too), we watched american footy and had a great time. Unfortunately I had to leave early to go to the pub for work...

The Gondala

On Saturday we all pretty much recovered from drinking the night before. Having used Ailsa's raft guide silver card that gives you a discount on drinks :-) . As the rivers were all still flooded out we went on the gondala up the hill that gives great views over Queenstown. The pictures show some of the views and Kirstin, me, Claire and Erin in our gondala. The rain had even stopped as well as an added bonus... We went "luging" as well, which is like a downhill go-kart with no engine, at the top of the hill that the gondala goes up. The other girls decided to head down to Stewart island since there wasn't too much boating to be had. I came back to Murchison on Monday - 10 hour drive went well and I arrived in time for the rafters/ kayak school "friday night" drinking session (on monday). Since then I've just been chilling in Murchison boating and working as per usual.

Rivers are in FLOOD!

It hasn't stopped raining in NZ for the last week and everything is in flood! Our little plans for queenstown are kind of out of the window as the rivers are way too high at the minute to be boating! SO kirstin's raft guiding mate works at queenstown rafting. The rivers were too high so all the client trips got cancelled, BUT we got to go on the staff training trip! Free trip and awesome river. The lower Shotover - 2 rapids are grade 4/5. With an all girl team and 3 out of 5 being raft guides it was all good. We got better lines than the boys every time. My first rafting experience and it was super fun! Scary but i trust Aisla the guide and Kirstin was right in front of me too so no fear! In the evening we danced the night away at the world bar where all the guides go because they get cheap drinks (which we also took advantage of). The next day was written off because we're all hung over and the rivers are still way too high to kayak (for us mere mortals).

my beanie is finished!

me modelling my beanie with kirstin and claire

Work and Life in Murchison

I am sorry for the delay in posting (to anyone who is reading this, its probably just my mum anyway). I also can't believe i'm putting such a horrific photo of me onto a public forum but wat can you do... Claire and I decided to do a course at the NZ kayak school and got Mick as our instructor. He is an amazing teacher and really really inspiring as well. By the end of the two days we were pretty much dead - Mick is 58 and certainly fitter than me by far!! We learnt so much - going back to basics, and starting with rolling then moving on to slalom drills. So much stuff to practice for my time over here.The end of the course saw the brits start on the drinking games - which was pretty messy. I also managed to get back to my favourite place..........behind the bar of the local pub. My official job title is bar manager so i've moved up in the world. I also moved in so I am living at the pub now!! I worked every night in the last week except Sunday hence the lack of updates here. Now got a week off so me and claire have headed down to Queenstown to meet up with kirstin and do some boating/partying. Managed to bump into some boys from the kayak course down here as well last night and do some drinking. More updates on the Queenstown nightlife to follow :-)

Lord of the Rings

The day after the floods we paddled the Mangles (usually 2+), which was still super high and had become fairly interesting. Sandy went to Hokatika for a few days so the dream team was down to three but we boated with Gwyn and Tim, some local raft guides. Managing to fit 4 boats on the roof with a bit of imagination! In the afternoon we paddled the lower Matakitaki (3+) which was also super high and all the holes had washed out to form massive wave trains with no eddies! The day after that we set off to paddle the Glenroy, the hardest river around after the Matakitaki at a 4+!! The famous Mick Hopkins of NZ kayak school accompanied us as well which was great as he showed us the lines saving loads of inspection time. Gywn and Rusty (raft guides) came along as well as me claire and kirstin. Claire and I were shitting bricks and claire swam at the bottom of the first major rapid, managing to bump her head!! Its VERY close to the second, and harder major rapid and it was a close call. I portaged the second rapid but nearly had a heart attack as I had to ferry to the other side JUST above it which was super scary. We were definitely at the edge of our comfort zone and wont be back there for a while!! Since then we've mostly been doing some walks and training on the lower matakitaki- which has come down to very low now. On Saturday 4th we climbed up Mount Haast, dream team plus french Ben. It was a pretty steep climb that took us about 6.5 hours all together. The views from the top looked like Lord of the Rings Country. In the evening there were fireworks for Guy Fawkes at our campsite, which made me feel a little homesick, followed by a BBQ at NZ Ben and Cheese's. Today we did the Matakitaki then headed up to do another walk near Murchison.