Goodbyes and looking for work

So I had to say goodbye to Rachael, she had her trip to finish and I had completely run out of money so had to find work. We said a tearfull good bye at the airport and both wait for the day when we can meet again, hopefully to do the last bit of travelling together in Aisa. I've been going for interviews for computer work but finally decided against it, its the last thing in the world I wan't to do and I've not come half way round the world to start again. I've seen some improvement in my arms and I don't want to undo the slow, months of recovery only to find myself back exactly where I as before. I waiting to hear for the result of an interview fo a position as a Geotechnician and if there is no joy there then I'm off south again to prune grape vines. Its been a fairly tough week faced with the reality of every one leaving (Franks passed through and gone on to Hong Kong) and having no money in a foreign country the other side of the world from home. I have done one fun thing and that was head down to Raglan for the weekend (New Zealands most famous surfing area with a series of left-hand point breaks). I was blessed with a 3m swell so had some doulble overhead waves - supurb.

The South Island in three weeks

Frank and I spent three weeks traveling with Rachael and her friends in a whistle stop tour of the south island. We had such a great time, Frank and I cruising in our beast and the girls racing around in their modern, automatic hire car. We cruised up throught the Nelson lakes area and then down the West coast. We stopped briefly for a look at the bizare pankake rocks and stayed in Hokitika where the pub was shut up before eleven on a satarday night! Our first major highlight was Franz Joseph glacier. We took a day tour of the glacier which was cool, no in fact it was freezing by the end. Great fun squeezing through crevaces but far to much standing around for me, I was cold and grupmy by the end. I also had a go at ice climbing on an indoor ice wall which was great. I beasted all they had to offer, overhangs and all. Its a lot easier than climbing and I picked up the technique straight away. I even managed the seven point wall - climbing with one ice axe and one free hand, counting one point for each swing of the axe (regardless of wether it stays in or not). I did it in seven first time which I'm told was fairly impressive first go (apparently some guy has managed to do it in 2). Next we raced on to Queenstown since Emma had serious tooth ache and need a dentist badly. Queenstown is a fun, tourist town and the adrenaline activity capital of New Zealand. We got drunk, as you do. We wanted to do the Routburn track (a famous walk through fjiordland) but it was all booked up, camping and all! So we went on down for a boat cruise in the Milford sound (actually a fjiord not a sound). This was awsome whith 2km high mountains towering straight out of the water. The next day we went for a day walk since we couldn't do the Routeburn. We were attempting to reach a saddle with great views of the Milford but as we got higher and higher, the way got steeper and steeper and the terrain turned into bare rock which was slippy as we were basically walking in a cloud. We reached a lake after climbing the last bit pulling on fixed wires. The next section was really steep smooth rock you had to haul yourself up with wires. Jen and Emms turned back as this was turning out to be way more serious then we thought and had almost become mountaineering. Rach, Frank and I carried on up the wires (where a fall would have killed us) and we too eventually turned back as visability got poorer and poorer. As we made our way down we saw that Jen and Emms had got lost and were on completely the wrong side of the river. After a bit of a river crossing we all made it back safely. So rather than an easy day hike for the girls who had not done any walking in New Zealand yet, Frank and I had taken them on the most serious walk we'd done! We left Milford for Te Anue where we were intending to go horse riding but ended up tandem cycling. Next was back to Queenstown for all the crazy activities they offer: bungy jumping, skydiving, canyon swinging. I did Nevis, the biggest bungy in New Zealand at 134m. With a cable car ride out to the platform suspended by wires over a massive canyon, this was pretty intense. Rach and Emms did a tandem bungy and their video was hilarious with Rachael clearly terrified and Emma looking vacant as she simply mentally removed her self from what was going on. There was no jumping invloved, they both just rolled off the platform! Next we passed through Wanaka where I took Rachael to a climbing wall, first bit I'd done for probably over a year, unfortunately I still don't think is a good idea for my body :-( Next stop was Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. We were so luck with the weather and our hike gave us great views and loads of photo opportunities (so you end up with fifty where one or two would have done). Next Christchurch - big city, boring, don't go there. We said goodbye to Frank who was off to travel with another friend and headed on up to Kaikoura. Kaikoura is the whale watching capital of New Zealand, so the girls went whale watching, but I passed on that having seen them before. Kaikoura is an amazing place, a big flat peninsula which great surf all over and a back drop of stunning snow capped mountains. Then we raced up for our final activity which was a day walking and kyaking On the Able Tasman coast, all great fun. So that was an account of our tour of the south island. Everyone was off to do different things now and Rachael andI planned to do three weeks kiwi picking before she left to finish here trip, so we headed back up north.

Grape picking for Montana in Blenheim

Ash Liz, Frank and I headed into the South island where we were to get work grape picking. After arranging work for Montana (check it out in supermarkets in the UK) and accomodation we had a weekend trip to Kaikoura and Chritchurch. Ash and I scored great waves at Kaikoura we all saw seals a the colony. A night in Christchurch was uneventfull - its a big stinking city. For a short stint, grape picking was good fun. I got to work in a vinyard (and I love wine), the weather was great (no work if it rains) and the money good for New Zealand. Work was on peice work, ie you got payed per the vine that you cleared the fruit from. This gave you incentive as you worked to pick faster and faster as you could count off the money as you went. It also created all sorts of tactics in josseling for position to get the bays which were quickest to clear. We earnt up to $150 in a 7 hour day which is good money for NZ. Hand picking is only done for the most expensive wines and Champagnes now, the rest is picked by machine. Soon Rachael, Jen arrived and it was off to travel again, but not after another wine tour on bikes mind.

Wellington

After our river journey we sped down to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. This was a culture shock after five days in the wilderness, I can tell you. Wellington had a fun, laid back feel to it for a city, we got drunk, as you do. I met met up with Rachael who had been travelling in South America and we got back together, which was a dream come true. We arranged to travel the South Island together after I had done a couple of weeks grape picking, so thats where I headed next.

Whanganui River Journey

We met Ash and Liz at Taumarunui for our five day, 150km river journey down the Whanganui, through its grade 2 rapids on two man canadian canoes to Papriki. We packed all our food, tents, clothing etc into waterproof barrels, strapped them into the canoes and off we went. We soon got the hang of the canoes - power at the front and steering at the rear. We were straight into rapids which were easy but great fun. Each day we travelled futher and futher from civilisation, the Whanganui gets as remote as you can in the North Island. The journey was truely amazing, we camped when we could, collected driftwood during the day and cooked on open fires at night. The river got more and more impressive as the days went by, winding its way through steep canyons. We paddled for about 6 hours a day stopping for lunch only top be chased back onto the saftey of the river by angry wasps every time. The weather was gorgeous every day. One one night a few days in we stayed at one of the DOC back country huts, but this was a mistake, having spent days seeing no-one we were suddenly confronted with loads of people, some who had canoed in and others arriving by jet boat. Needless to say the atmosphere was out of sync with our wilderness experience and after a restless night thanks to snorers we decided to camp for the rest of the trip. This ment spending 10 hours paddling the next day to reach the camp site past the hut we were supposed to stay in, but it was all worth it. The final day was made exciting by tackling the biggest rapids on the river. With our days of expereince we handled them like pros, however mine and Franks canoe almost sunk, (they are open top). Tired but thouroghly stoked at completing such a journey we finally reached the end after five days and were taken back to our cars. If you ever come to New Zealand, this is a must do.

Tongariro National Park

After Taupo Frank and I left for the Tongairio National park again, our aim: to climb the other two peaks, Ruapehu and Tongariro. First up was Mt Ruapehu, the highest peak on the North island at around 2700m. In winter Ruapehu's lower slopes form one of the north islands ski resorts but when we climbed there was very little snow, just some left in the valleys and snow at the top. This walk was slighlty more challenging than the others in the sense that it was not a marked track. It was advised you had a map, but we figured we'd be ok with the rough diagram we had. About two thirds of the way up we were walking up a snow path which was getting steeper and steeper and we didn't fell to confident, it was getting slippy! So we decided to det off as soon as posible so rather than following it all the way up we came off at the side. At this point we weren't to sure where the path went (should have followed the snow) but we could see the ridge leading to the top if we went straight up and after our experience clilmbing scree slopes on Ngarahue we figured we'd be ok, so off we set, straight up. As we got nearer and nearer the top the terrain became steeper and steeper an looser an looser. It wasn't gravel scree like on Ngauruhoe but there were large lumps of rock loose. We didn't feel very secure but made it to saftey, I think I'll stick to the route next time. We had fantastic views at the top and wandered around snow and the crater lake. Once we'd had enough we made our way down and ended up running and bolder hopping most of the way. The following day Frank and I decided to start at the other end of the Tongariro drossing and walk the other half we did't do before, climbing Mt Tongariro and Ngauruhoe and back. We'd set ourselves quiet a mamouth mission. We walked hard and enjoyed all the craters and volcanic landscape. The weather was not great and we were very exposed at the top. There was 70km hour winds and low visibilty so we got beaten back on our attempt to climb Mt Tongariro. Also Ngauruhoe was in a cloud so we didn't do that one either but we at least saw the rest of the crossing. Wicked, next stop Whanganui with Ash and Liz.