Golden Bay to Castle Hill and Back Again! UGH

Happy days we are on the south island and what a place we got the ferry on the 28th of feb which was a bit of a bumpy ride but i (nic) wasnt sick so finnally i might be getting over my sea sicness.

We knew exactly where we were heading and that was Golden Bay to Paynes Ford for some yes you geussed it more climbing, my shoulder has seemed to have healed up and i especially was very keen to see how i would get on. And thankfully it seems to be ok as we have both really pushed our abilities here. We are staying at a campsite called 'Hang Dog Camp', which only cost $5 a night with outside showers and sinks, a very run down looking shack for a cookhouse and a very energetic fire place witch is situated within a wooden circle of benches which brings the whole campsite together when there is a fire blazing away. We have made many great friends here and there is always laughs and jokes going around which makes a great atmosphere that we are finding it very hard to leave. Plus there is the swimming where i find myself every morning in the river having a wash and on sunny afternoons everyone comes down there for a splash and to watch people throw themselves off the high cliffs on the rope swing, we have finnaly found paradise.
We have also had a friend from back home come and join us for 3 weeks so we did have to leave Golden Bay for a little while to go and pick Rob up from Christchurch. But to his surprise we brought a load of friends with us to go and tackle the world famous boulders of Castle Hill. Castle Hill is situated in a valley surrounded by huge mountains and home to well over 2000 climbs of all grades from easy to bloody hard to dam right scary we spent 5 days here getting spat off some really hard climbing with a style that is very unique and bloody awkward, pulling on holds that barely exsist with nasty top outs where you find yourself mantleing over an edge on horrible sloping holds with a finish that relates to a beached whale!! But i have to say it was the best bouldering trips i have ever done with fantasic climbing, great friends to share the experience with and a really sweet lodge to stay in at night which came fully loaded with bunkbeds, kitchen and a woodburner oh and plenty of drinking!
And so with no finger tips left and sore shoulders we made our way back to Golden Bay to see how stong we had got from Casstle Hill. Again loads of climbing and loads of swimming we do plan to leave soon as we have to take Rob back but we still have time to persuade him to stay!!
For now thats it check out the pics wont be so long next time take care all!

Golden Bay to Castle Hill and Back Again! pics

The waterhole where great swimming and rope jumps are the flavour!

Nic swinging for air

Tom trying to hang on the traverse.

Beach life, another rest day chillen with friends.

Hanna, doing her thing with the devil sticks.

Nic on his project titled 'Send a Gorilla' a very pumpy route 6c+ yee ha

Bouldering at castle hill, where the holds barely exsist and you have to be shown where they are, hence the toothbrush.

Stunning views in the morning!

Chris, climbing hard.

A trek to a waterfall in Arthur Pass and yes the water was very cold!!!

Tom showing us how it should be done, V6 bloody hard!!

The place where we stayed whilst bouldering a bit of luxury never hurts!!!

Road Trippin'

O.K. sorry guys for not keeping you up to date, we could come up with some kind of elaborate excuse but the truth is we are just lazy!! So after Taupo we had a choice either go to the west coast and check out mt Egmont where the weather is not great or we cruise down the east coast where the sunshine lies, what a tough decission that was!!!! well, 2000km of vast endless road with truly breathtaking scenery, camping up anywhere we could find and meeting some really cool people along the way,and then finally ending up at Bearing head for some far out windy bouldering by the beach which was awsome. By the end of the road trip we were nacked, too much driving really takes it out of ya!!! So thats the end of north island, only been out for under a month and already some unforgetable memories, SWEEEET!!...

the longest place name in the world, take a deep breath and try and say that one!!!

the first sun rise iv ever seen (tom) im not gonna lye to ya, early mornings aint my bag baby

the first group of random travellers we stumbled across

whoooa, stuffed peppers by the beach

Bearing head bouldering, nic on the split apple boulder

how far can i get my legs out???

the best thing to come out of Napier, my guitar. Nic just ripping out some Stevie Ray there

Bearing head once again