Sumner Beach

20/02/07

A 40 min bus ride can get you to the coast. This is one of the two popular beaches that all the cool kids have been hanging out at. Word on the street is that New Brighton is better, but Sumner did just fine for a relaxing day after hanging out in the city the day before.

looking up into the hills.

Meg & I taking a stroll.

check out that beach stud! his name is dante!!!

the Pacific, like I've never seen it before.

Just Arriving

13/02/07 - 15/02/07
Pre-Flight

Thanks to Josie I arrived safely at LAX where I ran met up with Dante and Megan. We also ran into Mira which turned our 747 into a mini Skidmore campus.

Dante, Meg, & I shortly before boarding our flight. possibly the 3 most excited Americans on the flight...in part due to the complimentary beverages.


a view of the Pacific between Auckland & Christchurch.

16/02/07 - 17/02/07
IES Orientation: Day 1

After a quaint party hosted by the Ilam Village RAs upon arrival, all the IES students stumbled back to their rooms in an attempt to reclaim the loss of time. The next morning we got on our bus with tour driver, Jeff, who took us on our 2 day adventure. We headed towards Springfield and stayed at Smiley's Hostel which was luckily in crawling distance of Bona's (the town's pub). On the way we stopped in Darfield to view a sheep auction. The locals told us how to decipher who had the best wool while we meticulously cleaned the sheep poop off our sandals. Then we headed to a sheep farm where they fed us an intense meat-filled lunch: steak, sausage, and lamb.... so much food and so good. Then we went off-roading, jet-boating, sheared sheep, and got to feed and pet some alpacas, goats, and merino sheep. That night we ate an amazing dinner and headed off to the pub.

we stopped by a sheep auction on our way towards Springfield. lots of sheep + small square footage = sheep jumping over each other.


there was even a spotting of the North American Narva.



after a short jaunt in a the 'unimog' (massive off-roading vehicle) we end up a 1000 ft or so up on the ridge. Dante pensively captures the scenery.

there are up to 9 meters of loose fertile soil laying on top of bedrock and glacial deposits across the country.

this is one of the nimble jet boats we rode in which are designed for high speeds in extremely shallow water.

action shot...shred the gnar!

the water source would be the snow melt from the southern alps, so clean you can drink from it.

360 spin time!!!

alpaca anyone?

this would be the stud of the herd...and i just kissed him.

our guides giving us a demonstration of the amazing control he has over his dog to herd sheep.

typical tourist shot, but hey, it's New Zealand (sheep out number humans about 14:1).


Traci's birthday @ Bonas with the IES kids... and Bones

18/02/07

IES Orientation: Day 2

Everyone fortunately made it to breakfast the next morning after spending a long evening celebrating Traci's birthday and mingling with the locals, especially Bones (the self-elected mayor of Springfield...). Our first stop was Castle Hills which is a beautiful scenic area littered with hundreds of limestone boulders left by the glaciers. There are over 3,500 boulder problems marked in guidebooks... and that doesn't even cover all of them which have yet to be logged and/or discovered. You could say I felt more or less somewhere between a deer in headlights and a kid in a candy shop. Then we ate lunch in Arthur's Pass where we watched some cyclists ride from coast to coast raising money for cancer. The Pass is extremely windy, narrow, and not cyclist friendly. One of New Zealand's major fault lines runs directly through the continental crust of Arthur's Pass and has been active in the past several decades. Our last stop was further into the Southern Alps where we got to spend a little bit walking through the trails checking out the rainforest and got a nice view of some snowy peaks.

castle hills... Jeff, our bus driver, only gave Mira & I two hours to play... clearly not enough time.

the first boulder (i couldn't resist)

the final scene from the chronic-WHAT-cles of narnia was filmed just around the corner.

happy narva -:)

speechless...

there is a fence encircling the area behind me which the DOC (department of conservation) protects. i am sitting in an area which is private property but used publically and well-respected.

a local told me i was working a v9 with a v4/v5 standing start variation... i'll have to come back to this one.

still trying to work it. perhaps next time i'll bring my shoes.

a fun little ditty.

nice view from the top.

a satisfied dante.

a very elated narva.

a bit of the rainforest in Arthur's Pass.

the Devil's Punch Bowl.

California

09/02/07 - 13/02/07

After my first stop in Dallas to see Mom, Dad, Izzy, and of course Leanne, I headed off to San Bernadino, CA to visit my girls at Camp Highland, an outdoor science center for middle school students. Unfortunately for them they will be shut down for about a year...there goes my post-college back up plan. After an intense game of dodgeball on the tennis courts we rested up for the USA Sevens Rugby Tournament in San Diego. Forty-eight matches and nine and a half hours later I still had trouble figuring out what calls the referee was making. Nevertheless it was awesome to watch USA's #1 pile drive a foreigner and the Fijians dominate the field (ps. go All Blacks!!!). We stayed overnight at Alex's apartment (friend of Casey & Josie) where we were fortunate enough to learn the "card game," and compete in old time favorites such as Operation and Battle of the Sexes. Did someone just say tampons? The next day we also walked along the beach (which translates to me running through the Pacific with my jeans rolled up but still managing to soak myself). Then we drove up Mount Soledad which has an enormous lower-case "t" on top. It was a beautiful view of the mountains and the ocean (insert Anchorman joke here). To top off the visit we stopped over for dinner at the In-N-Out...animal style. Monday I convinced Josie and Casey to break in the new BlueWater rope. We were the only people climbing in all of New Jack City! Only got in four climbs but just enough to make me want to come back for more. That evening we had a nice dinner together at Macaroni Grill thanks to the good graces by Mom and Dad. Thanks girls and everyone from Highland for a great visit. See you ladies and Steve (and yes you Jeremy) this summer.

here are my girls (Josie belaying Casey)

Josie belaying Casey...again but on Welcome to New Jack City (5.10a)


look Mom, a helmet!

i finally climb in CA

me about to finish Welcome to New Jack City, a three star classic

the long straight highways that is California (good thing I had plenty of beef and bean burrito leftover for the ride home)