Yes I know a lot of my NZ photos didn’t upload. However, the WordPress mobile app is a POS when it comes to uploading photos. If you can’t upload them right then and right there, there’s no option to retry.
So I’ll probably not fix those photos, because it’s too much of a PITA. Sorry.
Today Sean and I took a lesson from an instructor on how to do multipitch climbs.
We started out working in the ground, practicing our knots and how to transition from belayer to climber.
We also learned some subtle things, like how some quick draws have a rope side and a bolt side.
We learned how to belay from an anchor, we learned (well relearned cause we were taught once before) a clove hitch, which is incredibly useful.
I had never belayed from above, so that was surprising for me.
After that, we lead a multipitch inside a cave. I don’t really have any pictures of that as I was paying attention. We rappelled down that one which was a lot of fun.
We then ate lunch and did our second multipitch. The service to get to the crag is great; they give you a ride there and back, as well as a lunch, for 450 bhat(about $13).
The whole time during the day the instructor kept teasing Sean for messing up things(forgetting to lock carabeaners, not putting a stopper knot in the rapell, ect). I thought it was funny(him being teased, not him forgetting vital things). Sorry Sean :p
The second pitch was really cool. It was outdoors, and we got to climb above the treetops. I led the second pitch, which was a 6a+, or a 5.10a. This is the highest I had led. It was pretty hard cause I was a bit nervous being so high up. Apparently I cut up both my knees, and I didn’t realize until I had anchored in. There was a bit of blood dripping down them. Guess I was concentrating too hard to notice :p
Here are some pics from the top of the second pitch.
During the evening we went to a night market we saw on our way into town and ate their. It was great and delicious. I got pad Thai for the 1000x time.
And now here we sit in our hotel, drinking beers and planning our next outing tomorrow.
Today Sean almost died. He was setting up a rapell for a climb, and instead of putting his sling THROUGH the belay loop, he put it around. He had put his whole weight on the sling too. He called it the “pinch hitch”.
I just happened to notice it, and said “uh is that sling right?” We quickly realized it wasn’t, and I grabbed a sling, girth hitched it around his belay loop, and locked a carabeaner into a bolt.
Here’s where we were. He was attached like I was, with his whole weight on a sling, and no rope.
Thing of putting a rubber band around a finger, and only the friction of the rubber band on the finger keeping you alive.
Anyways he didn’t die. But that’s the closet I’ve ever been to someone dying. For some reason I wasn’t that scared, and as soon as I saw the problem I clipped him in with a sling.
I learned 3 things from this:
1) Always put your slings through both leg loops, rather than a belay loop. This makes it redundant and harder to fuck up.
2) Always anchor yourself into your anchor system with 2 loops rather than one. This may seem excessive, but it’s all about redundency. You can use a sling or PAC or rope with a clove hitch. Use any combination of the two.
3) Buddy check when possible.
Anyways, besides that incident, the day was really fun. We did some lead climbs in a cave(see the pictures), I did a rapell down a 60m cave on my own(2 pitches), and ate a bunch of food. I’ve got GoPro footage of the rapell which I’ll put up later.
We also went to the hotel bar where we were staying, and were the first customers for the new bar! The manager took a picture of us and posted it to his fb tagging us, which was kinda funny.
I drove down from the hostel
el, and on my way to Queenstown this is what I saw. Pretty beautiful tbh.
Im currently on my way to the Nevis bungy jump and swing. Im a bit nervous, and I’m hoping I don’t throw upy breakfast(which consisted of 2 sausage egg McMuffins, a hash brown, and some fries).
I just downloaded the WordPress app which should make it easier to write and upload blog posts. We’ll see how it works. More to come later.
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Just finished the jump. I did both the bunje jump and the swing. the bungee jump was a lot scarier than I thought it’d be! Jumping off a platform is hard to do when all your senses are telling you not too. Pics to come later. Here’s some photos to hold you over in the meantime:
Now it’s time to go back to Queenstown and get some ice cream. Maybe do some laundry as well.
This was a travel day. I love NZ airports; there’s NO security. Just walk on through.
I finished the last 3 miles of my trek, then took a bus to Nelson. It was pouring rain right as I finished, luckily for me. Here’s some pics of the last few miles:
Then, I rented a fucking car. Crazy. And I drove it, in the rain, in the dark, on a twisted mountain road, on the wrong(left) side of the road for an hour to my hostel. I made a mistake and booked a hostel that was 20 min away when I thought it was an hour away.
Stupid fucking weka ate my dinner. It was my fault for leaving it under my tent enclosure, what did I think was gonna happen.
One of the meals is completely gone, the other has a beak sized hole pluked into it. I could probably eat it, but who knows what weird animal disease I’d get. Plus it’s hard to cook it now that it has that hole.
Luckily tonight is my last night, and I’m catching a bus at 11:20 tomorrow. And the walk tomorrow is only 3ish miles. Then it’s a 4 hr bus ride to Nelson, but hopefully there’ll be a stop before then for food.
I’ll probably be running somewhat of a caloric deficient, but I’m not gonna starve. It’ll just be kinda shitry tonight.
Until then, I get to enjoy a new food invention — gummy trail mix! It consists of gummy worms and trail mix. Here’s a pic:
Also today, while I was climbing over rocks and exploring the beach side, I came across a sleeping seal! I was singing and humming to myself when I stumbled upon him and he didn’t hear, so he must have been passed the fuck out. I took a couple pics with him. Here they are:
Then I decided itd be a bright idea to wake him up and see what would happen. So I “clapped” and his eyes opened, and he looked at me with that groggy “i just woke up” look, before he realized I was a scary human. Then he flopped away from me in a hurry to a respectable distance, before deciding it wasn’t worth sticking around and went back into the ocean. Hopefully I didn’t scare him from ever sleeping on those rocks again 🙁
I guess the weka eating my food is karmatic payback for waking up the seal.
Anyways, at the beginning of the day I did a river crossing. Here it is:
Also during this day I visited “separation point”. They put fake fiberglass birds there along with a speaker maling bird sounds in am attempt to get a certain species of bird to settle there. Here’s info and some pics:
..as well as some bonus photos.
I burnt the ever living shit out of my scalp and face. That’ll teach me to go kayaking without applying sunscreen.
(It’s very burnt)
I went kayaking from onotenopiat to bark bay. It was really fun. We went around an island thhat had a bunch of seals on it. We even saw some dolphins, which the tour guide said was lucky.
They didn’t allow single kayakers, so I was in a double with an older gentleman from Montreal. He was nice.
Because of the logistics, I ended up not hiking a 4 mile part of the trails today, and 3 of the 6 miles I did home were without my giant backpack. That’s because I basically took a water taxi to onotenoia, kayaked to bark bay, and then walked back to onotenoia. Because of that I got to leave my backpack at onotenoia. Those few miles without a backpack were bliss.
Today we walked through a bunch of sandy areas. It’s outrageous how much the tide changes here. There’s literally boats just stranded in the middle of the sand. The tide can rise as much as 14 meters. That’s 42 ft!!! For the places I’m hiking it looks like it’s dropped 4-5 meters throughout the day.
Again. My face and scalp hurt like hell. I’ll be putting in sunscreen religiously for the rest of the trek and wearing a hat. I think I’ll start wearing a hat more in my day to day anyways.
There’s lots more thoughts I’d love to share, but it’s such a pain in the ass to type them out. Maybe I’ll be more in the mood tomorrow.
There’s a river crossing I have to do tomorrow. Low tide is at 8:21 am. I’ll probably leave around 8ish as I have 10 miles to do tomorrow. At a dencently slow pace of 2 miles an hour and a 1 hour brunch break, I should be in by 2. Don’t know what I’ll do with the rest of my day but we’ll see.
I had a dream that I woke up in an apartment in some city I didn’t recognize. I looked out the window and saw the night city skyline, which I also didn’t recognize. I called Molly and asked her where I was, and she didn’t know. Then some voluptuous girl walked in and told me we had a great night, and I worried I might have knocked her up.
It was a very real dream.
The day started out in Nelson. I rode a bus to Marsha(sp?). Then I did the first day of the hike. It was super beautiful. Here’s some pics:
That last picture is the boat I ended up staying on.
They may through the trees is a backpackers only campsite. There were some kayakers that sea kayaked to that bay, and then camped there for the night. I would really love to kayak to a destination and stay there for the night. Hopefully I can do that some weekend when I get back to San Francisco.
I listened to the waves tonight on the boat. It was very very beautiful.
I stayed in a backpacking boat tonight. It was great. The food was awesome, all home made. And we talked with the other backpackers for hours.
I also left my towel which was sad. I’ll probably buy a new one in Queenstown.
I flew into Nelson today. Here was the view out of the window. 
It’s the day before I start the Abel Tasman trek, and I flew in around noon, so I lolligaged most of the day. I checked into my hostel and then took a day hike to “the center of new Zealand”. Heres the center:
It was a giant needle looking thing. Sorry for the shitty photo, I didn’t want to look like I was creeping on that couple too hard.
The more interesting photo is the view on the way up:
And the friends I made in the way.
I tried to walk round downtown to explore, but most shops were closed due to “crate day”. Crate being that you buy you and your buddies a crate of beer, and get drunk and barbeque on the “Barbie”. Its not an offical holiday, but most shops closed early because of it.
Anyways, I have to wake up early tomorrow for my trek. I probably won’t post for a few days as I’ll be out backpacking, but I’ll be writing and post it once I’m back in civilization.
