Road Trippin' no2.

Heh every one, hope all is well, just another update to make everyone even more jealous, this trip just gets better.......
So we left you last in Wanaka now about to leave for the 2 week road trip, with our hostages in hand we made a move. We started off with driving to the Fiordlands which is home to the mighty impressive Milford Sound, this place is just out of this world. To get there is a long drive next to a lake through random places such as 'knob's flat' then through Homer tunnel and BAM Milford hits you. Imense winding roads through cut through cliffs with lush water falls pouring out of every crack and crevice. Then you get to the sleepy village of Milford with just breath taking tranquility surrounding you. Unfortunatly we could not do the famous milford track (a really sweet 3-4 day trek) because the prices were just through the roof, and the weather wasnt great but thats why they call it the wet lands i guess.
So we decided to cruise on through to the Catlins. So many people have told us how amazing this place is and nothing anyone said even came close to justifying the beauty of this forest wonderland, i was blown away, totally out-there!!! But of course things go wrong and we couldnt find a decent place to camp, it was getting dark, and the rain was in full force. We all got tiried of driving and took our first stop we could find. That night we all crambed into Arja's van and ate a simple but awsome (as usual) meal.The next day we woke up to a sign saying 'Scrub huts corner' -quite fitting we thought.
We then invaded the coast line, first stop was Waipapa point. We got out of the vans and had a strool around. As i was walking around i nearly tripped over 2 pretty big sea lions!!!!! wow man!!!! we were so close to these awsome creatures and they were just chillin out not really bothered by our presence we took some snaps and strolled along the beach, -what a start. We were all so happy, it was an amazing feeling being that close to wildlife in there natual habitat. Slope point came on next a small walk above the cliffs to the most southernly point in NZ.
We cruised around for a few days just checking out various points on the maps that seemed interesting We had a really good night at 'Tautuku Bay' where I kind of turned into nature boy and spent a few hours in the forest collecting fire wood then tie-ing them up with vines to make bundles to carry to camp, unfortunatly the majority of wood was really damp and the fire was abismal but heh still a cool little jungle adventure for us.....
We really wanted to do a tramp in thr Catlins but what a surprise the weather was having none of it!!!! It started raining at a moderate rate then got harder and harder (at this point were trying to cook our 3 breakfasts) then it started hailing- morale was low so we decided to get out of this weather a.s.a.p. and so we had a night in Dunedin, not much to report about Dunedin its just another city, but not as bad as Queenstown!!! DO NOT GO THERE!!!
Any way nic and mans decided to get out of the city and explored the peninsula whilst myself and arja went on a tattoo and piercing mission which leaded us to Mosgiel, a town just outside of Dunedin. We got everything we wanted done and met some truly amazing people in the process (cheers guys).
We then went to catch up with the guys but checked out a couple of places in between that were recomended along the way. One of which was 'Shag point'. We wasnt expecting much but were almost knocked over when we saw all the fur seals, there were loads, it was amazing. There was this one dude who almost stood to attention when i pulled the camera out, when i walked away from him he kept on almost shouting at me so i went back to him and he stoped as i took more photos- i went through alot of film to keep him happy!!!! But it was an unforgettable experience it was so humbling just to be in there presence.
We also checked out these ancient boulders called 'Moeraki Boulders' which is lots of what looks like huge cannon balls just littering a beach front. The whole place a spooky kinda atmosphere all these things looked like crashed U.F.O 's.
Back with the lads now, we caught up with them at Elephant boulders. A place where apparently 'The lion the witch.......etc' was filmed, or so some Japanese tourists told us. However we didnt care for that much the climbing was too good. Arja then decided to head off as she had work back at Wanaka, so we decided to do some detours throgh the middle of Otago (the region we are in). We took on some really hairy roads and put Charlotte to the limit, but she came out on top form (good ol girl). Our last night we camped in literally the middle of nowhere just a huge hilly open space with a border line of 2 differant mountain ranges, there was no civilisation for miles it was so sureal. To finish off the trip we decided to try and walk up one of the mountains that surrounded us, all was going well steadily getting higher and higher, and the snow was becoming deeper and deeper, and then the wind starts showing us whos boss, it was so windy we were all being blown over. Walking became increasingly difficult so we decided to bail it was just getting to dangerous so we backed off. Mother nature seriously can give you a kick up the arse when she wants to.But man did we have some fun up there.
So back to Wanaka but the mission was still not over, we all thought it was time to abuse our livers and get excesivly drunk. The night went exactly as planned. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! what a trip.... check out the pics below, they are in no paticular order. until the next time, tom

sitting ducks, at Elephant Rocks

Dirty Shakers of Joy all round

The crew, at one of the awsome parties we had at the house in Wanaka

Sunset at one of our camps in Duntroon

Twilight, Tautuku Bay

This is what its all about

Nic on lead, Mans on drums, Tom on bass, man we rock

yup thats Milford

Some poor dude who lost his way

Sea lions at Waipapa Point

Road Trippin' no2. pics

Heres the seal who wouldnt let me leave, he is so cool
Purakauni falls
nearly there
magical boulders
and more
the fiendish Donald duck mantle
oh yeah thats the wind
(enter x-files theme tune)
slack lining on a pilon, as you do

We were so close

Ravages of Time

Hello all, just thought we would continue to make you all jealous with more stories and stunning pics of what we have been upto!

Lets start with Ravages of Time a beautiful climb that is well over 200m high. Unfortunatly Tom decided not to join on me on this adventure as he hates early starts and trad climbing (trad meaning - placing your own protection as you climb) so i had to climb it with a german guy called 'Simon'.

It was a 6am wake up and a good 1hr and a half walk in to the base of the climb the climb was split up in 8 pitches so me and Simon took in turns to lead each pitch and well what can i say but a truly stunning line that took us all over this huge cliff face. In some places it felt real airy and exposed and yes in some places i was a bit scared but it was amazing to be up there and to share it with a good friend was all part of the experience. It was graded at a 20 (6a - 6a+). In total it took us 10 1/2 hrs to get to the top and absail back down to the floor, the situation got real interesting as i decided to leave my head torch at the base of the climb and as we were coming down in picth black darkness it made life a little interesting to say the least.

Once we reached the ground we still had to walk out, all we had to do was follow the orange tags tied to the trees but to make it harder we decided to lose the orange tags and get tottally lost in the forest in the dark. Feeling disorientated we honestly did not know which way to turn so instead of walking in circles all night we decided to bivy out in the forest under a boulder. We lit a fire to keep warm, we had one slice of bread each and one carrot each for dinner and a few nuts and not much water it was one of the longest nights of my life we got no sleep!!!! An emeregency survival blanket was in my rucksack so that helped us keep warm and lots of cigarettes to keep the boredom at bay. When first light came we tried to find the track again and to our amazement it was only 20m to the left of where we camped for the night, typical!! We walked out as quick as we could and cooked up a huge breakfast when we got back to the van. In total we were up for 42 hours i dont think i will forget that one in a hurry!

Me and Tom have done penty of climbing here in Wanaka and feel that we have only scratched the surface. The other day we met some of the old school local boys who had been climbing here for over 20 years and got taken to this real cool location which was right beside a waterfall called 'Wishbone Falls' Again another stunning location i honestly believe that if you are not a climber you are really missing out on natures true beauty. This place held a certain magic to it and it will remain very close to my heart , climbing right next to a waterfall is almost sacred!!

I think our time is at an end in Wanaka we are heading down south (its gonna get real cold) but we are kidnapping some friends to join us 'Monz' a swedish viking and a german chick who we met up north but i dont know how to spell her name so we are well looking forward to it. More laughs and adventures await us so as usual we will fill you as we go. Take care all nic and tom....

Views of Wanaka on a crystal clear day.

One of the Climbing areas in Wanaka we climbed just to the right of the waterfall, truly atmospheric!!

Pitch 5 on Ravages of Time, a bit airy to say the least. 130m-ish high.

On the drive in to Glenorchy to tackel the multi pitch.

The view half way up Ravages of Time.

Tied in well!

Soaking up the atmosphere.