Colorado

A nice hot day in California greeted my weary soul on Tuesday. There was no plan for today just settling into LA - learning that biscuits come in a can; being introduced to places of wonder like Yogurt-land; discovering that corn bread isn't very nice (imho); talking to a homeless man, and even meeting a republican! I don't like that alcohol from New Zealand is cheaper here than at home! 42 below is like $15 a liter, unfair! And a decent amount of juice won't break the bank here either. Does everything have to come with peanuts though?

A quick down-packing into one bag from two - ice axe still present but I decided not to bother with the crampons and all my cold weather kit... Colorado isn't cold or anything is it???
So with mostly adequate gear Kim and I flew onwards to Colorado. Had some nice fast food of Chinese - Panda Express, also discovered that prices don't include tax over here. Anyhow we had a quick stop in Las Vegas - saw that pyramid that is in every single movie set there. Got some nice views of sunset over the North American Rockies! 6 mini bags of peanuts later we got to Denver International Airport.

It was our friend AJ's last day of exams so it was awesome to be able to go out and celebrate with him. The very first place we went - The Mountain Sun. Well my supervisor had the right idea I think - they had some fantastic home brewed beers - Swan Son was one I liked a lot; the nitrogen foamed Pale Ale was a very interesting beer too, nice and creamy, almost buttery. Very nice burgers and grilled sandwiches too - Goony Bird was delicioumo!

The only thing I wrote for the next day is "I want to live in Boulder". AJ took us to a very warm yoga session - which was good cause there was snow on the ground. We had some Jamba juice and AJ cooked an amazing crock-pot of goodness. Books it turns out, are affordable in the states - we went to a book shop and somethings were reasonable - its amazing! New Zealand could learn from this! I paid money for a novel because it wasn't a rip off...
Visiting Neptune, an outdoor shop in Boulder, we asked about local "hikes" and were told about Lake Brainard. As it turns out Kim had been there before by a different route! We hired snow-shoes (well I bought a pair for my Mum's Tramping Gear Hire shop).

We got an early start, picking up Kim's friend Lesley on the way and saw sunrise as we got into the mountains. Snowshoes were pretty much required for this path, it would have been up to our wastes for hours without them. The snow is so dry compared to that in New Zealand though, doesn't make the toes anywhere near as cold! The wind on the other hand - that was just a light breeze but felt quite gnarly.

We came across a few large clearings like this, photos don't really do them justice.

Kim made a berry flavored slushy in the snow for everyone, here is AJ having a drink.

The bridge out at Brainard Lake.

The crew having lunch on the way back from a enjoyable outing! After returning the hired snowshoes, (and having a nap!) we went to AJ's Mum's house - wow could she cook! What a fantastic spread she had done! The next day was packing and moving up day for Kim and I; AJ was working early so we took our time and caught a bus from Boulder to Denver. Then we waited for my friend Dani to pick us up from our hideout in the "Tattered Cover" - a really amazing bookstore by the way. I couldn't resist a cheap physics book on additional dimensions in the universe, kept me quiet for the next few days anyhow! Also in Denver Kim introduced me to my new favorite fast food - Chipotle, a healthy mexican grill.

The next day Dani dropped us into the Natural History and Science Museum in Denver. Here Kim is trying to escape from the fourth floor... We went to a Genghis Khan exhibit that was really good, but I think museums shouldn't be visited too early in the morning. Sadly Dani had to work the whole time we were in Denver; we really had to monopolize her evening time!
While in town an ATM stole Kims check and we ate lots of pasta with spicy croutons. I swear Denver smells a bit off sometimes, it really stunk when we got out of the museum anyhow. The rest of that day seemed to consist of walking down to the frozen lake to see the millions of geese, then back to town via a bus, or the museum. Later that evening round at Dani's friend Brooke's house, I got properly introduced to s'moores; I believe the states might have one upped our old chocolate thins and marshmallows at the campfire to be honest.
Near Dani's house is Washington park, so the next day after a welcome lie in we wandered down and around that. Then Dani took us to the original Chipotle which was really close to her school, a couple of movies later and it was our last day in Colorado.

For some reason even though it was really freezing we had been told of some famous home made ice cream... so one Peanut and Chocolate waffle cone and two amazing fillings later I was ready for the warmer climate of Los Angeles! Kim's mother picked us up from the ridiculously busy LAX and then stuffed us full of fresh fruit, chicken salad and sesame chicken - no complaints from me!
Now I'm going to pretend today didn't happen; I didn't get slightly lost in LA by myself, twice. Nope, it has just gone and suddenly skipped a day to Christmas Eve.

Leaving on a Jetplane

Well I planned to write some stuff down about what I get up to this summer, so here is part one... getting to America!
Monday the 14th of December 2009 is when my holiday started. It is also the longest day I have ever had. First task was cleaning up and clearing out my room, this long drawn out process was spread over the preceding two days as well.

My room had certainly looked better, but I managed to find enough banana boxes to pack away all my belongings that weren't to come with me to the states.

A farewell dinner with the flat was a brilliant prelude to a long play of rock-band with the girls + Oliver. We were playing at HitLab - the amazing place that I call home at university, it was all fun and games until an agitated security guard decided we were clearly not supposed to be smiling on campus - he took our names and very kindly passed mine onto the university proctor for letting unauthorized people into a secure building.

Well after telling our lab manager about that hopefully minor issue I went on to meet with people about next year. Two of those meetings were in the computer science department. Firstly, I had submitted a paper for a conference next year and the department has agreed to send me, plane tickets are already booked; seems strange as it hasn't been accepted (or rejected) yet. Secondly, hopefully I'll be tutoring python to first years at the old University of Canterbury next year.
A quick meeting with my supervisor for my summer work who strongly recommended visiting The Mountain Sun while I was in Boulder, Colorado. Lots more vacuuming and cleaning of windows and I was out. Thanks must go to my wonderful flatmate Jo, for dropping me out to the airport with all my tramping and nerd equipment. Ice-axe and crampons were stowed out of site inside my pack and laptop case full to the brim!
My mother very generously lent me her digital SLR camera for my trip, so I have no excuses for crap or nonexistent photos! That said my wee laptop struggles with the high res images a bit, I can't use the normally swish OSX cover flow for previewing images...

Waiting at Christchurch airport for the small flight to Auckland before the big flight to the states. I was really lucky with the timing because I saw the most amazing sunset over the alps in the south island on route to Auckland. Everyone else was too busy sleeping to notice, but the view was magnificent; I didn't have the camera with me though, and didn't want to climb over people to get it; I won't make that mistake again. For some reason we were not allowed to take anything from duty free in Christchurch through the international terminal in Auckland - and no we were not warned this would happen. Luckily I hadn't purchased anything but I felt sorry for those that had! I was made to finish my water bottle twice though - I thought that after passing through security in Christchurch I could refill it, but then I had to drain it or drink it in Auckland as well. Shame because I then forgot to refill it for the proper long flight and I had to go to the toilet while all the flight briefing bollocks was happening. When I got onto the massive 747 and found my seat I was very worried - I had no TV and everyone else seemed to! Disaster?! No, luckily I was put at ease as the Air New Zealand stewardess pointed out that mine was under my seat on a stand... All good! Fast forward 12 sleepless hours.... One meal of fish later.. 

Honestly I know I watched 3 movies, but don't know what the were. I also saw at least 5 episodes but don't know what ones... Read a bit of two books and listened to music. Something quite cool happened after a few hours, when most others were asleep; it got light outside - the blinds had all been put down but I was awake to see us flying back to the Monday that had tried to leave us behind! Anyhow coming up to Los Angeles was a treat - obviously I was stunned by the size of it. Then the plane turned and I saw at least 5 times more in the other direction - we flew over the city until we couldn't see the sea on the horizon anymore... I really can't quite believe how massive this sprawled city is.

Once I collected my bags the damn phone machine stole $3 while I tried to make a single local call - not off to a great start but eventually I got through to Kim who came and picked me up from LAX!
Dropping off my bags, picking up her flatmates we made way to the Cheesecake Factory for a delicious welcome to America meal! Bring on sunset number two as we got back to her flat and from the window I spy the Hollywood sign up on the hill.

Kepler Challenge Weekend 2009

I went down to Te Anau for a quick visit and to drop of a few items (including my car). I also wanted to catch up the family before I head to the states next week. After a sweet road trip down, some ice cream and ferg in Queenstown I happened to arrive in town mid-way through the Fiordland College prize-giving, that was good to go and catch up with my old teachers and many other students I knew.

The following day was just spent catching up with people and then it was the day of the annual 60Km Kepler Challenge mountain run. My mum Bev was doing it for her 20th (and final) time! I dropped her out at the start line at 5:30am.

And the 400 odd runners are off! Some will take more than 11 hours to finish, most between 7 and 9 hours, and exactly one person has taken less than 5 hours (the last 3 years in a row).

I then went down to the lake to play with Mums camera - a nice cannon DSLR, I took a few shots that I later merged into these panoramas:

Some 10 hours later, Mum was finished - she looks every so slightly happy with herself! Sadly I didn't take this picture, I was some 40 minutes behind her! I had an elaborate plan to run the last section with her and according to the progress board she hadn't yet passed the checkpoint at Rainbow Reach - where you can drive to. Unfortunately by the time I started running she had apparently finished!

I somehow managed to convince her that she doesn't really need her DSLR for the next two months, and since I'm visiting the likes of Colorado and Banff in Canada that my need was greater. Not sure how she fell for that, but I now have a temporary loan of one sweet camera! Thanks Mum!

I went out with my littlest brother Douglas for a run up to Key Summit on the Routeburn track to take photos - he is a bit of a photographer so I thought I go along.  Mostly crappy ones from up there and I left them all on his computer in Te Anau but I did take one nice one of him being a photographer.

Some very nice people from the race (one of whom lived 200m from me) offered to take me back north to Chch, now I just have 6 days to pack up and clean out my room, clean the flat, organize my gear for this trip and then I fly away!

In theory I'll begin updating this blog thing a bit more once I start to travel - no promises though!

Kayak Safety Course in Murch

The kayak safety course in Murchison with the NZKS was fantastic. We had amazing weather and amazing instructors. Big ups to the New Zealand Kayak School.

We covered so much in two days. From how to tie all sorts of handy knots, to swimming out and saving people in the middle of rapids. Brilliant weekend.

One part I really liked was getting a throw bag clipping in my life jacket to one end, handing the other end to 3 people on the bank saying hang on! Then jumping off a rock into a rapid, swimming out to the victim, grabbing them, forcing there head out of the water, and swimming down the rapid. By this stage the rope has gone tight, the three people on the bank are knocked off their feet due to the crazy amount of power the river has, and we get swung in to the shore pendulum styles.... I sure felt cool!

Other helpful things were the mechanical advantage systems, useful for both horizontal stuff - eg getting a pinned boat off a rock; and for vertical stuff like getting someone up out of a gorge.

I really think it should be an annual thing for the instructors, maybe even a small amount of Combos money should be ear marked for subsidies just to ensure the standard stays high...

Obviously any weekend up in Murchison is fantastic, there were some good times at the camp ground too!

Fiordland Trip

The Crew 

Brian, B-rain, Simon, Andrew, Dylan, Dale, Rachel, Daniel, Monique, Kerri, 

Marc, Laura, John, Neville, Ellen, David, Douglas 

Day 1 - The Long Drive South 

On the first day we drove the long drive from Christchurch to Te Anau. Cookie 

Time, Lake Tekapo, Ferg and Cheese Factory all getting visits along the way. 

After tasting some wine and cheese we stopped in at Nevis Bluff for a look 

and got suitably scared off kayaking! My car, known to many as Big Brown, 

unfortunatly started “Playing Up” on this last stretch. I lost my speedometer, 

my odometer and all but fourth gear. Anyhow a bit more driving and we finally 

made it to Te Anau. After a few beers we wandered down to the Lake for a star 

gaze.

Day 2 - Mavora 

As fog greets us on Monday morning we were a little worried as it was supposed 

to be the best day weather wise. We need not have worried however as we left 

Te Anau and the blue skies opened up for us. We took everyone out to the lake 

for a quick session then set off down the easy grade 2 river between the North 

and South Mavora lakes. We had a nice run, everyone finding their water legs 

and getting used to being back in a boat. 

After running back up for the cars and drying off, we set off down to the 

bottom of the South Mavora Lake. At this point the beginners went for a flat 

water paddle practising paddling strokes and T-Rescues while the others went 

for a paddle down the Gorge section of the Mararoa river. This section was 

mostely grade 2 but had a few nice grade 3 drops that made everyone grin. And 

a wee swim that turned into cutting a throw bag that had got wedged under a 

sieve during boat retrieval. After the gorge, there was a bit of a bony scrape 

down to the Kiwi Burn swingbridge where we met up with the others. Cue the 

lying in the sun! Life sure is hard! 

Day 3 - Falls Creek 

This was our play tourist day, we drove into Milford Sound. Somehow we were 

destined to lose another car, as Andrews broke down not far out of Te Anau. 

Along the way we stopped at the Englinton river, and falls creek for a quick 

scout. Also we stopped at the mirror lakes, the chasm and Homer hut. Once 

we got to Milford we jumped the no entry gate to the water fall track, ignored 

several warning signs and went and stood right infront of a waterfall in the 

middle of a torrential downpour. No prized for guessing that we got pretty 

soaked at this point, even with lots of waterproof gear on! After warming up at 

the cafe in Milford we headed back to the Hollyford to hit up my favorite run - 

Falls Creek! I’m not going to lie, it was a bit bigger than usual and the main 

drop just looked silly. A huge side current pushing all the river straight into an 

undercut rock. Now I knew that the rock did flush out - having been upside 

down against the rock in the past.... but I was in no hurry to demonstraight 

again so decided to portage it this time. B-Rain and Neville both did the exact 

line we talked about when looking at it - that is off the drop then disappear 

into the undercut and hope! Obviously they both came out... but still not my 

idea of a good line. The rest of the river was at an ideal flow however, and if 

it wasn’t for the cold and rain and rapidly approaching darkness we could have 

all stayed there for a lot longer. 

Day 4 - Guns Camp 

Back towards Milford - this time down to Gunns camp for a beginner run on the 

Hollyford river. A nice grade 2 run that easily kills an afternoon. We had been 

joined by Ellen and David at this point, unfortunatly we only had one spair 

boat so David got the short straw and went walking instead. The river was 

still running really high, not flowing brown but alot higher than I have seen it

before. We had a few swimmers and it was freaking cold so there was a get out 

for a couple of people halfway down. The final get out was a bit risky, as it is 

just above the Marrian Creek section a sustained grade 4+ run. Usually its fine, 

you see the bridge and amble into an eddie on the side. With the higher swifter 

flow, and the fact we had lots of people I was a touch worried so got all the 

beginers to get out upstream a bit further. This took us to late in the afternoon 

so we started tramping into Hidden Falls, the first hut on the Hollyford walk. 

Bit worried about these kayaker types - someone was wearing jeans. In fiordland 

bush, in the rain! Eek! Once we arrived and whipped up a fire the place was 

just like home. 

Day 5 - Hidden Falls 

Somehow even though walking out took less time, and was early in the morning 

noone felt like doing much on Thursday. We made scones and pizza and later 

went down to the lake for some polo. 

Day 6 - Eglington 

A mint paddle on the Eglington river. Was a long cold run from Walker Creek 

on the Milford rd all the way down to Lake Te Anau. We had to back paddle to 

let a herd of cattle cross the river in front of us twice, they seemed to be running 

away from us, mustering by kayak anyone? After getting home we watched the 

movie “The Boat that Rocked” it was brilliant! 

Day 7 - Lower Waiau 

Pancakes then Lower Waiau river. Nice wide hole at the take out was fun. I 

nearly rolled! Ahh! Simon managed to break a paddle, and then we headed 

back for a roast and then some cleaning... 

Day 8 - Falls Creek 

A return to the amazing Falls Creek was in order before the last people head back to 

Christchurch. We drove there, but it was raining sideways, avalanches had closed the 

road halfway up the run and it was freezing... so we drove home again. 

The end.

Avalanche Peak

On Saturday Adam, Dani and I went up Avalanche Peak. For some reason none of us took cameras. Well Dani did - but it was flat. I couldn't find that much info online about winter accents of Avalanche Peak. It does seem most people go up and down via Scotts track as it is slightly less exposed and steep as Avalanche Track.


View Avalanche Peak in a larger map

But after going into the DOC office, and checking the weather at http://softrock.co.nz we decided to give the round trip a go. Turns out it was absolutely fine. As we were ascending Avalanche Peak Track we saw someone going down Scotts track opposite us, and as we neared the top saw another party of two coming up Scotts track - this meant that there was a nice well formed path in the snow for the way down.

The only dodgy bit was after the first fake summit up to the real top. Whoever it was that we saw going down hadn't gone all the way. So that meant some very slow progress on the steepest section.

The weather was also due to turn quite nasty that evening, winds were forecast to reach 110km/h. As we were getting down towards the bush line the first signs of that came through in a few big gusts trying to push us off the mountain! Luckily they only lasted twenty or thirty seconds. All in all a nice winter trip, on a good day!

Design Time

So I have been playing with Scribus lately. Firstly to make Tramping Club and Kayaking Club posters for the upcoming clubs day, and secondly to make the Kayaking Clubs magazine. It has been interesting to say the least! But I think slowly I am getting the hang of it, I'm 36 pages in, and the end is in sight! I have been thinking tho, it would have been so much easier to put together articles if I had used this blog like I intended - writing up each trip after going away! If anyone is interested, become a fan of the UCCC page on facebook, the final product will be linked to from there.

Ontop of using scribus, I have dusted off my CSS cap and started working on laying out the new UCCC website, you can see the woefully incomplete alpha version here: http://imatterto.appspot.com
Kim came up with the sweet design, I'm hoping I can replicate it in CSS. The floating body and zoom is just a tad annoying for now. At the moment the layout isn't quite what it should be, but I have other priorities.