Mt. Maunganui Races

(11.14.08 The Café. Rarotonga. 1pm)
The next morning (11.8.08) we woke up at 6:45am ate breakfast and hit the road to follow Lance to Mt Maunganui for the races. When we arrived he introduced me to his brother Paul, who was letting me use his Fuze OC1 for the race. After registering, getting my boat inspected I was ready to go. While having my boat inspected Nicole Spalding came over to say aloha. I heard she had just arrived in NZ and when I called her she told me she would be at the race. I couldn’t figure out if I had met her before or if she just looked familiar because how much she looked like Lauren. The whole time people kept coming up and talking to her as if she was Lauren. It’s even funnier because people always say I look like Kai, Laurens husband and we were standing there together. When the OC1 race started I shot out in front, as I tend to do, but after the second or third change I started fading back. Tyrin, Troy, Paul, Lance, one other surf ski and a couple more OC1’s passed me and formed the lead pack. I battled with two others as the leader the second pack. There was a slight wind blowing us out of the harbor but as soon as we turned down the shore we were paddling straight into the wind. Its times like those that I question why I paddle?! It was a hard upwind paddle and two in the second pack overtook me. But as we neared the island which was our turn point I overtook one guy and overtook the other on the turn. Heading back downwind I felt at home; hammer hammer hammer and suuuuuuuurf! I relaxed a little bit as I realized I had put a little gap between myself and the others. I heard that the current would be pulling us back into the harbor so I took a wide course out in the open ocean to take advantage of the surf and headed up the middle of the channel back into the harbor. The others took a line closer to the shore and made a sharp turn, hugging the channel walls. I could see that they weren’t being affected by the wind as much which was blowing straight out to sea, so tucked in behind them and hammered to catch up. I passed one guy fairly easy but battled to overcome the other. Once I did pass him he relentlessly stuck to my tail. It was a hard fought battle all the way to the end but I ended up finishing first in the second pack. When I stood up I nearly fell over in pain. The canoe had been rigged in a way that I was leaning on the ama the whole time and now had a massive cramp in my left cheek running down my quad. I tried to walk it out but the pain was too much and I dropped to the ground and massaged it. There was supposed to be a couple hour break til our next 6man race but they didn’t have the turn out they expected so they decided to run it early. That meant we had to rig our boat and get ready to go. I was paddling with Team Goodyear: Troy, Tyrin, Paul, Nick, Myself and Lance. We got the boat rigged and headed over for the race briefing. The race directed said the wind had picked up which would be great for the way back. We loaded up into our boat and the boys said to just wait and let everyone else leave on the start and we’d wait about 5minutes or so then go. There were no other crews to compete with our crew so we were trying to avoid a cluster around the turn heading out of the harbor. We passed several crews on our way out of the channel and overtook the leader right before the island. The 6man race was 18K so we had to paddle another 4K past island. While paddling I turned back to Lance and asked “you guys really paddle in this crap!” We were paddling straight into swell and wind. Luckily we weren’t really competing with anyone so we were able to just cruise and not paddle so hard. At the turn buoy we stopped to bail our boat and second crew passed us but as soon as we started getting on the bumps we passed them and stayed ahead. It was funny cause we would just be cruising and then as soon as the boat with the film crew came around we stepped it up to race pace and go hard. As they pulled away we’d settle back down. After the race we un-rigged the boat and had some lunch. Steph and I sat down at Starbucks and waited for the awards ceremony to start. After they handed out awards for their season we headed back to Paul’s house took a shower, ate dinner and relaxed before the concert. We were all going see Tane Tiki, a NZ superstar who had been topping the NZ charts. He started his set with about 5 acoustic songs but then went into a techno music which I was over pretty quick. We headed back to his house around 2am and finally got to bed.

Paddle in Hastings

(11.14.08 the Café. Rarotonga. Noon)
Next morning (11.6.08) I woke up at 9:30 am and quickly ate breakfast on my way out the door. I was gonna try to get to Wai-o-taupo to see the Geyser go off at 10:15am. There is geo thermal activity all around the North Island but Rotorua is one of the best known areas and thus there are several parks where you pay to see the bubbly mud and go in the hot springs. On the flip side you can also just find bubbly mud and hot springs for free if you just know where to look. So I decided I would only pay to go to one of these places if I could also see a geyser go off. At Wai-o-taupo the geyser goes off at exactly 10:15 every morning and at another park it randomly goes off about once an hour. So my mission was to make it to see the geyser. I remember passing Wai-o-taupo on the way to Johanna’s house the day before and thought it was just out of Turangi, but the further I drove I began to wonder if I had remembered wrong. Eventually I made it to Taupo and it was already 10:15am I figured out that it must have been just outside of Rotorua not Turangi. I stopped in the snowboard shop to see how the conditions looked for the Friday and they said it would probably be Saturday before they opened the lift. On my way back to Turangi I saw a man walking towards Taupo carrying a gas can so I spun the car around to see if wanted a ride. He jumped in and I took him to get some gas. He was a Maori man and his name was Clint. He said they run the TV off the car and they had fallen asleep with the car running the night before. On the way back to his house we talked about Hunting, Fishing and Maori culture. When we arrived back where I picked him up he opened a gate and we drove through a maze of campers, trailers and make shift homes til we reach his home. The entire area we had driven through was Maori land with several Maori families scattered throughout. He said his mother had given him a piece of land and he built on it. There were a few posts with some corrugated steal on a few sides and tarps on the others. He had 6 boar hunting dogs which rushed the car when we pulled up, he told me to just keep driving and they’d move. He also had a horse, well 6 horses but only one was there, he said the rest had escaped and were off in “the bush”. He invited me in for a “cuppa”, cup of tea or coffee, and I met his wife and son while having my tea. He showed me a boars’ jaw that he had caught a week prior but had also killed his main dog. After our tea we went outside to jump his car and I was on my way. I got back to Johanna’s house, sat by the wood burning stove and typed away on my blog. Steph and I went to rent a movie and three of us watch it before bed. Next morning (11.7.08) we woke up and had breakfast with Johanna before she headed to work. We planned on going to Hastings so I could paddle with Mike at 5pm and Steph could go on a wine tour from 1-5ish. We were gonna come back and spend one more night at Johanna’s and leave early in the morning for my races in Mt. Maunganui. A 2 ½ hour drive later we arrived in Hastings and dropped Steph off at a vineyard to begin her tour. I ran errands in town to kill some time: printing postcards, checking emails, sending references for CS. I arrived at Mike’s house right as he was finishing up with a tattoo appointment and had a lil time to talk story with his wife. He took me to the river where their juniors practice and we went out for a paddle on a two man canoe for about an hour. After our paddle he invited me in for a cuppa before I had to hit the road. I met Steph at Breakers where we grabbed dinner and headed back to Turangi. We decided we’d just pick our stuff up at Johanna’s and head to Rotorua for the night so that we’d do the extra driving that night rather than having to wake up at 5am to hit the road. We almost ran out of gas but finally made it to Taupo just in time. Leaving the gas station I got a speed ticket for going 70 kmh in 50 zone for $120. The cop asked me if I’d been drinking and gave me a breath-a-liser test. It was kinda weird though, cause rather than blowing into it you just talk and it reads your level. After grabbing our bags at Johanna’s and saying goodbye we had a two hour drive to Lance’s house where we arrived at 1am for the night.

Whitewater Rafting!

(11.12.08 1:30pm Garths House, Rarotonga)
Next morning (11.4.08) we woke up at 6am and headed out to have breakfast and figure out what we wanted to do for the day. At breakfast we looked through tourist magazines to get some ideas and both of decided that we would like to go white water rafting. We drove around the historical area of Rotorua and visited Ohinemutu, an ancient Maori village. However do my disappointment the only thing that remained in the village was a church and meeting house. A few days earlier I put out an email to www.wakaama.co.nz an outrigger website in NZ to see if I could find clubs on the North Island to train with while traveling around. Troy, from Rotorua had had responded saying he could take me out for a paddle so I decided to give him a call and see what his schedule looked like. He told me that there was a race that night and he would be able to get me a boat and that there was a big race on Saturday if I wanted to paddle with his crew. He also gave me two numbers: Lances who was he was a white water rafting guide that paddled with his crew and Mike who he said would take me for a paddle if I went down to Hastings. He mentioned that if I gave Lance a call he’d probably take us on a rafting tour. I called Lance who he said he was keen to take us out and told us to come over Okere Falls Restaurant to meet him. We followed him back to his house where we got geared up and loaded the Raft. He drove us to the starting place and explained a little about the route we were about to take right before we jumped in the boat and head down river. It was just the three of us and he pulled off to the side before our first white water section to explain what we would be doing. He said he would try to steer us straight into falls and we’d have to paddle hard until he said to get down, after that “it’s all up to the river” he said. He told us that the lower we were the safer we were, so when he says to get down we should tuck our paddles and sit on the floor with knee’s tucked into our chest, holding the ropes of the raft. He had us practice the procedure a few times and then we were off. The first two falls were minor but again he pulled the raft over right before the third fall. He explained that it was an 8 meter (26foot) drop and reminded us to paddle hard until he says get down. He also let us know what to do if the raft flips or we are washed out of the raft. In just a flash we were down the falls and looking back at what we had just overtaken. As we came around the corner we noticed a group of people on the side of the river bank and as we got closer we could see that they were doing CPR on someone. We pulled our raft up and went to see if we could assist. There were three guides already performing CPR and they had it under control. Apparently he felt short of breath after going down the big fall and as they came towards the end of the course he fell over in his seat out cold. He had a heart attack. They continued CPR for 22 minutes until the ambulance showed up at which point they shocked him a few times but still weren’t able to revive him. They loaded him up and took him to the ER but after the ambulance left the doctor said he wouldn’t make it. This was the first death ever on a rafting tour. After unloading the gear at Lance’s house we went back to the Okere Falls Café for lunch. After lunch we spent an hour and half walking around Rotorua killing time til our host came back home. I dropped Steph off so she could take our host to dinner while I went to meet Troy at the race. There were about 20 or so people in the 8K sprint race. At the start I shot out in front of everyone but soon was over taken by Tyrin, 3 time NZ national champ, Troy and one other person. The first 4K’s was straight upwind into a cold breeze. The air was so dry I had to scoop up some lake water to wet my throat. I ended holding my place through end the race and finished in 4th place. After the race we talked story and ate sausage sizzles. Afterwards I met Lacie-Ann, a fellow Mauian who was also traveling around NZ. Steph and I had intended on visiting some cave to see the glow warms but after dessert with Lacie-Ann it was already 930pm so we decided to call it a night. Next morning (11.5.08) we again woke up with our host at 630 and hit the road. We headed to Taupo where Steph had breakfast and walked around the town while I took a nap in the van. I finally woke back up at 10am, had breakfast and made my way into snowboard shop to check on the conditions on the mountain. I found out that the lifts were closed due to a new storm that had just arrived and already dumped close to a foot of powder. I was told that the mountain would be closed again the following day but hopefully be open by Friday. Steph and I met back up and headed to Johanna’s, our CS host, house in Turangi. When we arrived she fed us some soup and made us some tea. She was a 64 year old lady who had lived in NZ for over 30 years, 8 of which in her current home. She moved there with her last boyfriend, Gary, who was a Maori man and as a result of her relationship with him she had a gained a bit of understanding about Maori culture and language. I enjoyed exchanging Hawaiian words with her for Maori words and seeing the similarities and differences. For instance: Wahine in both languages means women, however Man in Hawaiian is “Kane”, while it’s “Tane” in Maori. Steph went for a hike and I remained at home to chat with Johanna and catch up on my blog. For dinner Johanna cooked an awesome vegetarian dinner and amazing dessert for us.

Let the journey begin!

(11.11.08 2pm Garths House, Rarotonga)
Next morning (11.1.08) I woke up at 5:30am so Kingi could pick me up for Canoe practice with the boys. When we got there I met Mark and Kerry while we waited for the other two. Originally there were 9 guys from Marks club but over time they had all dropped off except Mark and Kerry. That’s when they started recruiting guys like Kingi from other clubs for the crew. They had 5 at the time and I would make number six, enough to race iron (iron: same six do the entire race) but the race is a relay and you’re meant to have a 9man crew so you can do changes. We found out the other boys weren’t gonna make it to practice so we went out with four. We paddled for close to two hours and headed back in. They guys decided I could paddle with them at Vaka Eiva so I paid my $250 registration fee so it would all be official. Kingi dropped me off at the Wicked’s shop where Steph had just showed up. Our van came complete with storage, bed, sink, two lawn chairs, gas stove and cookware. We were able to get my name as a driver since I had my drivers license number, even though I didn’t physically have my license. Took our van and headed back to the café to figure out our game plan. Steph let me know that she was willing to let me plan out the itinerary and go where I wanted since I only had 11 days and she would be doing it all over again for the next 8 months. At the time we had couch offers for several different places all over the island. We decided to head north and then make our way back down. Our first stop would be in Whangarei with Stu and Matt. It was 190 kilometers and took us about 2 hours to get there. We saw a sign for Free Range eggs so we stopped and grabbed some on the way. When we arrived in Whangarei I called Stu to let him know were made it. He gave me directions to his house and told me where his spare key was. He told us to make ourselves at home, that he was just getting off a boat from catching crayfish and he’d be home in about an hour. He said not to worry about dinner since they had caught plenty of crayfish. I was thinking about crawfish, those little shrimp like things you catch in rivers and boil up. When he showed up I found out that he was actually talking about rock lobsters, they had 18 HUGE ones. His friend saw my Hawaiian Canoe Club shirt and told me that he had a friend, Bobby Thompson that paddles Waka Ama (outrigger canoe) as well. He called him up and told him to come over for the “Barbie”. I went to the store and bought groceries so I could make a Bacon Wrapped lobster tail with smoked gouda cheese sauce and balsamic reduction. I only made one tail and we cut it into small sections! They absolutely loved it! They used the rest of the sauce with the other tails which they either boiled or cooked on the Barbie. I got a chance to talk with Bobby who was also going to Vaka Eiva to paddle with a Masters crew from Auckland. Besides the Crayfish we also had Deer and Duck sausages, pasta salad, salad, coleslaw and potatoes. We watched the Hauka at the beginning of the All Blacks vs. Australia rugby game and then called it a night. Next morning (11.2.08) the alarm went off at 7am, I stayed in bed while Steph made omelet’s for Stu, Matt and I. Once breaky was ready I climbed out of bed. It was a rainy cold day so we weren’t in a rush to get anywhere. Our destination was Cape Reinga at the northern most point of the north island. We planned to stop at beaches along the way and a small town called Russels in the Bay of Plenty to do some Kayaking. The rain eventually stopped but it remained cloudy, windy and cold while we were in Russells so kayaking was no longer an option. We met a CS’er there who told me his friend Shelly was going to Vaka Eiva. We went to Shelly’s work to say hi but she was off that day. Her co worker called her for me and we made plans to meet her for a cup of coffee. After coffee we drove up to a look out and headed out of town. Back on the road the weather cleared so we pulled over to have a picnic in a grassy area overlooking rolling hills and pastures. Back on the road we pulled over at two beaches to stretch out and take pictures. We finally arrived at the beginning of the 90 mile beach and decided to take a detour to see what the beach was about. When we got to the beach we saw several vans and cars driving right on the beach so we decided to join them. The sand was hard packed and easy to drive on. We asked some locals how far you could drive on the beach and they let us know we could head towards Cape Reinga on the beach for about 10 k then cut back up and get back on the motorway. I got the van up to 120k/h on the beach at one point and we stopped several times for photo opts, once with a shark that had washed up on shore. Another hour drive and we found ourselves at Cape Reinga were we parked and hiked out to the lighthouse. It’s believed in Maori culture that our spirits depart from this physical plane after death through the spirit tree which is perched on the cliffs just beyond the light house. This is also the point where the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea come crashing together in a violent collision. You can actually see a difference in the color of the water and movement of the oceans before they join. We had hoped to make it back down to the Waipoua Forrest to see the largest Kauri Tree: Tane Mahuta, before dark but we that no longer looked possible as sunset was only about an hour away. We decided to drive til we found somewhere to sleep and start with the forest in the morning. We finally settled in for the night in a small town called Okaihau where we found a picnic table under a tree, just like the lil blue sign by the road which we thought meant there would be a park. Next morning (11.3.08) we woke up and had breakfast then headed to Ngawha Springs (hot springs) for our morning shower. It was a 5$ fee but it was a great way to start the day. The hot springs are sulfuric but I had heard that it’s best not to rinse the water off and let it soak in the skin for a few hours. Actually the only other option was to rinse off with freezing cold water so we decided to smell like sulfur for the rest of the day. It was a rainy cold day and when we pulled up to see Tane Mahuta the sky opened up and it began to down poor. We had learned already that the weather in NZ is pretty fickle and if it’s raining now it might be sunny in 10 minutes so we decided to wait it out. With in a few minutes the rain let up. A quick 5 minute walk brought us to the Tane Mahuta where we took pictures and got back on the road. We decided we’d go to a café in Auckland and figure out where we’d head next. One the way we saw an internet café and decided to stop for lunch. After checking my emails I decided we’d go to Hamilton. I called our host there and let him know we were on our way but got his voicemail. So I left a message for him to call me back because we were on our way. When we arrived in Hamilton we still hadn’t heard from him so I called him one more time but still didn’t reach him. We decided as a last ditch effort we’d call our host in Rotorua, which was about 1 ½ hours away, to see if she could take us in. She said it wouldn’t be a problem. We stopped for dinner at a Thai restaurant so Steph could have her first experience with Thai food. The food was ok, but kinda expensive and that didn’t serve Thai Ice Tea or Thai Ice Coffee. We finally showed up at about 9pm to our hosts house. We chatted with her for a little bit but she had to get to sleep since she had work in the morning. She told us she left for work at 645am and we would have to leave at that time too.

Aotearoa (New Zealand)

(11.11.08 On board Flight 163 Auckland to Rarotonga 8pm)
Next morning (10.29.08) Jamie woke me up at about 8am and asked me if I wanted to catch a ride into the city with him. I was a little confused since I never mentioned that I wanted to get into the city. I told him I’d probably just hang out for a little bit and check emails then make my way to the city. He then let me know that CSer’s aren’t supposed to be left home alone. I got up and quickly got dressed; he was leaving in 15minutes for a meeting. We drove near the city then parked and walked the rest of the way. Jaime headed to his meeting and I found a café where I used the internet for a few hours. My friend Alessa that I paddle with at Hawaiian Canoe Club sent me an email telling me that her sister, Hina, was in Auckland because her boyfriend, Kingi, lived there and they were both paddlers as well. She gave me their numbers and told me to hook up with them. I called Kingi and he told me to stop by his work for a cup of coffee. When I arrived he was pretty busy trying to finish a project so I jumped online again til he finished up. We went to a café next to his work and joined his mother for a cup of hot cocoa. Kingi offered to let me join them for a training session on Saturday morning with his crew that was going to Rarotonga. They were also 4 paddlers short for their 9 man crew so this would be an opportunity for me to meet the other boys to see if I could join their crew. After our cocoa I took a cab back to Jaime’s house. I found a post on Couchsurfing.com from a girl that was looking to rent a car and explore the north island so I called her up. When I got her on the phone she told me she just booked a bus tour an hour before I called her! She said she could get a 50% refund if she cancelled and might be willing to do so if it seemed right. She let me know she was meeting some CSer’s for dinner later that night and I could join if I wanted and we could feel each other out. I talked to Jaime and Ben, another CS’er staying at Jaime’s house, about dinner and they decided to join. Jaime’s girlfriend Charmaine also came. At dinner we met a few other CSer’s that were staying in Auckland and I had a few minutes to talk toDaphine about possibly exploring the island together. She seemed nice, however she was French, and something about her just didn’t seem right to me. I sensed she was a lil too strong willed and maybe it would be a bad idea to travel with her for 10 days. So ultimately I told her it would probably be best if she took her bus in the morning. We returned to Jaime’s and went to sleep. Next morning (10.30.08) I slept in til around 10:30. Jaime was the only one home and we had an opportunity to hang around the house together. He was really “keen”, that’s what Kiwi and Aussies say, to get into something but I just wanted to figure out how I was gonna get out of Auckland. I had left my drivers license in Nha Trang Viet Nam, but Travis mailed it to Kingi’s house for me. I was torn on whether I should wait for it to show up or take a bus tour. I had also just booked a ticket for Rarotonga on the 11th. I figured even if I didn’t get in with Kingi’s crew I’d be able to find a crew to jump in with once I got to Raro. I spent the majority of the day on the internet searching for couches on Couchsurfing.com all over the North Island. I also borrowed Jaime’s bike and went to a meeting. Later that night there was a Couch Surfing Gathering at the Wine Cellar and Ben and I decided to check it out. When we arrived there were only about 8 people from CS there and it looked pretty lame. I sat for about 15 minutes then dug out to get some food. When I returned the bar had filled up and there were about 20 CSer’s there. I made my way around the crowd and spoke to people from Germany, Canada, NZ and Oz. I ended up meeting Steph from Canada, who had just arrived to NZ a week earlier for beginning a year long vacay. She was eager to get out and explore as was I. My only probably was I didn’t have a driver’s license. We discussed the idea of renting a car together and driving around the North Island and next thing you know we were making plans to meet the following morning to check our options for a car. Next morning (10.31.08) I woke and rode a bike to a meeting and then into town to meet Steph. When I got to her hostel I couldn’t remember her name so I had to talk someone in the internet café into letting me use their account to check an email from her so I could get her name. Once I got her name I went to the front desk but they wouldn’t give me her room number. Instead they left a note on her door for. In the note I told her I’d meet her at 2pm back at the hostel. In the meantime I rode my bike to the Police Station to pick up my passport which I had accidentally left in a cab the night before. Back at the hostel Steph rented a bike and we took off to check on Sleeper Vans. We checked 4 different places and decided to rent a “Wicked” Van for 55$ a day. I was able to talk her down to 50$ a day and give us our first day for half price. We made our reservation starting on the following day and headed to the Auckland Museum. The Auckland Museum was really well put together. They had a very large cultural exhibit representing most of the Pacific Islander cultures. There was another section devoted exclusively Maori Culture. Upstairs they had a couple war exhibits, and exhibit on volcanoes and one on Dinosaurs. We spent the remainder of the day there until they closed at 530pm. We rode back to the hostel and I went to the café to sort out couches for trip. On my bike ride to Jaime’s I saw several groups of trick or treaters walking the streets so I stopped to take my Halloween pics with them. Once back home I found that Jaime and Ben had already left for the Halloween party so I stayed home and watch a movie with his other two roommates.

Last day in Oz

(11.5.08 CS house in Turangi, NZ 10pm)
(10. 27.08) I woke up at 10am. Sarah made us omelets and we hit the road. We were suppose to climbing in the Blue Mountains but instead went to the beach to go kayak surfing. We picked up a friend of hers on the way. The kayaks were short sit inside kind and you use a skirt to keep the water out. It was my first time in a skirted kayak. Sarah told me if I flipped over and could get upright to just kick out of the skirt. I paddled out to the surf break on the outside where the surf was breaking about 6-8 foot while Sarah and her friend stayed on the inside and played in the white wash. There were only about 6 surfers out and one other surf kayaker, but he had a sit on top kayak with foot straps. I caught a few good waves but wasn’t able to steer to well once on the waves. A big set came and I barely paddle over the first one and as tried to punch thru the second I got flipped over end over end. I sat upside down for a second waiting for the surf stop pushing the kayak before I tried to flip back over. I had remained calm but as soon as I tried to flip upright and the kayak didn’t respond at all….. I FREAKED OUT!! I began kicking on the bottom of the kayak trying to get out of the skirting. When the skirting only got tighter around my hips as I kicked I really freaked! I was now in full panic. I grabbed for the side of kayak to try to pull my head around for some air but was unsuccessful and only got a sip of air and mouthful of water. I was gasping, kicking and thinking to myself that I was going to die. I grabbed again for the side and was able pull out far enough for just a second to get a breath. The problem was I was hysterical at this point and my breathing was erratic and hyper. I tried for another breathe but couldn’t get one. Each time I had to release the side of the kayak before lunging and pulling to the side again for another attempt. The waves were calm now and it became easier to sneak breaths. I started trying to call for help. But wasn’t very successful in the half second that I had to get air and try screaming at the same time. Finally a surfer and the other guy on a kayak came and flipped my kayak over. I was still full inside the skirt. They asked if I were ok and why I didn’t try asking for help. I explained I was trying but I couldn’t exactly breathe and that was higher on my priority list. I thanked them again and again and I paddled back in the shore. I was completely freaked out and nervous as hell that I was gonna flip again on way in through the white wash. When I got to close enough to shore I tried to pull the skirting off the kayak and even then I still struggled. I finally got it and hurried up to the beach. Sarah and her friend missed the entire episode but after I explained what happened she asked why I didn’t kick out. I told her it tried and explained how. “Oh, she said, you’re suppose to pull the tab at the front of the skirt and then kick out of the kayak with the skirt still on you” she explained. I had been trying to kick myself out of the skirt, which would have never happened. I had actually tucked the tab in when I put the skirt on, which is why I had such a hard time getting it off when I came in. I was done in the water for the day so I sat on the beach while they swam. I skipped out on the lunch she had packed due to the fact that my stomach was full of saltwater and we loaded the kayaks and took them home. After dropping the kayaks off we picked another of Sarah’s friends up and went to the indoor rock climbing gym. They climb every Monday there together because Monday is ladies night and girls climb free. It was my first time in a rock climbing gym and I had a good time. I climbed a couple of 14-19 routes and then I noticed two guys trying to complete a dyno. A dyno (short for dynamic) is when you have to launch upwards to grab a hold. They finally completed it and I told Sarah I wanted to give it a go. She said I was nuts but she belayed me anyways. The two guys saw me struggling so they came over and told me where my feet and hand should be. I tried about 6 or 8 times and even touched the hold two times but finally decided to take break so my body could rest. I belayed Sarah on another route and tried the dyno again. It was my mission to get it. This time her friend belayed me so Sarah could take some pics. She never belayed anyone on a dyno and she let me drop completely to the ground, catching the line at the last second to break my fall. A guy at the gym stepped in to belay me after that. I had formed blisters on three fingers and my arms and legs were starting to shake so I gave it another rest. After belaying the girls Sarah talked me into trying another climb and giving the dyno a rest. I climbed a pretty hard climb with an over hang that really gave me some trouble. When I came down I decided to give the dyno a final go. My arms were worn out from the last climb but I actually grabbed the hold twice! Both times my hand slipped off and couldn’t keep the hold. Realizing my muscles were gone I put my ego aside and gave up on it. I did however find a new challenge: Jacobs Ladder. Jacobs Ladder was a two wires running down from the ceiling with 6 logs spaced out further and further apart as you go up. The challenge was that you were to pull yourself up from log to log with out slipping off or grabbing one of the wires. It takes a great deal of upper body strength, balance and patience. The guy before me was only able to make it to the second log. After two attempts on the first and second log, I made it all the way to the top my third go! The girls finish with some blundering but my hands were raw so I just watched. Next morning (10.28.08) Sarah woke me up at 7am so she could go to work. I went in with her and Danielle met me there for breakfast. I packed a box of presents and extra clothes to send home so my bag would have some extra room and Danielle took me to the airport to catch my flight to Aotearao. When I went to check in I was told that my flight had been cancelled and I would have to take a 5pm flight. They gave me a 20$ food voucher and sent me on my way. This meant I had 5 hours to kill I the airport so I got online and checked emails then used the remainder of the time to catch up on my blog. I finally checked in and caught my flight. When asked on the immigration form if I’d ever been sentenced to a year or more in jail I check “No” which is kinda true since my five years was suspended. I had no problem at immigrations when I arrived to Aotearoa and I caught a bus to Jamie house, my Auckland CS host.

Paddling Oz

(11.5.08 CS house in Turangi, NZ 9:30pm)
Next morning (10.25.08) I woke up at 6am and caught a ride with one of Matt’s friends: Harvie, to the Gold Coast Relay Cup. It’s a 40K outrigger relay race on one mans, two mans and surfski’s. On the way I found out that Harvie is a well know photographer in the paddling world and has several published books of his photography. He told me he was going to Vaka Eiva in Rarotonga which is a big outrigger race series in November. When I told him I would be in Aotearoa (New Zealand) at that time he told me I’d be an idiot not to go over for it. We got to the race really early because Harvie was driving one of the officials boats, so I walked across the street and had some pancakes for breakfast. I got a text from Matt asking me if I wanted to race, because he thought he might have a 4th person and we could all four paddle his boat and register for the “short course”. 2 member team is long course, 4 members is short course. I was stoked but also concerned about the fact that I just downed a huge stack of pancakes and coffee, on top of the fact that I hadn’t really been training. The 4th guy ended up flaking but Matt and his partner just told me not to register and they’d let me jump in and paddle a few legs. The other issue was, since I didn’t think I was gonna be racing in the race I had booked a flight for Newcastle so I could paddle in a race the following day and there would be no way for me to complete the relay and get to the airport on time. The solution was that I would just paddle the first half of the relay then jump off the escort boat and swim to shore where Matt’s wife would pick me up and drive me back to Kathy’s beach house. I bought a Australian Canoe Club rash guard; they were the club putting the race on and the club Matt paddles for. Matt also gave me his shirt from the race. Matt took off on the canoe to head to the starting line and Ian and I jumped on the escort boat. As soon as we got out of the harbor I was told to put a life jacket on. I thought this was odd but followed the suggestion. I soon found out why. Coming in the harbor mouth were waves breaking at least 12 feet high, probably a lil bigger. The boat driver turned the boat around and said he was gonna wait for all the canoes to get out of the way so he didn’t run anyone over. After about five minutes we went for it again. As we neared the open ocean a huge wave jacked up in front of the boat and the driver punched it to push through. Right as we came over the top of it a jet ski on our side turned right under our boat and we came smashing down on them. There were three people on the ski, the passengers saw us last second and braced but the driver never saw us coming and took the bow of our boat to his head. We completely smashed and tore off the front cover of the ski and the drivers head was bleeding pretty bad. They swam to another ski and our driver high tailed back into the harbor. I wondered what he was doing? Why he didn’t try to help or let them on our boat. When we got back in he told me to check the front of the boat for damage. I leaned over the front rail and seeing none he headed back out. We passed the ski on the way and the two passengers were on the rescue sled of another ski while the driver was on his ski, bloody faced, driving slowly looking the water for something. I was again shocked that he didn’t even stop to talk to them? ( http://www.tweednews.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3789082 ) We got to the line right as the flag dropped for the race to start. Matt had a solid start and was even leading in the beginning but he soon faded back to about 5th. He signaled for a change and Ian jumped in. After Ian I gave it a go. I felt sooo weak, as if I wasn’t even moving. I gave it all I had but with no warm up, just frozen arms from the air and water I really felt like I was going slow. My third time on the boat I finally felt like I was in a groove but as I got back on the escort boat they pulled in to let me jump off for shore. Since the waves were breaking sooo far out he couldn’t pull the boat in very close. I was already dead tired from paddling my third 15 minute piece but I jumped off the boat and began to swim. It had to be at least a quarter of mile but closer to a half mile off shore. I tried to body surf some waves but my arms were jello and I pretty much kept reverting to a side stroke or just resting on my back, kicking my feet. About this time I became really concerned about all the stories you here about how bad the sharks are in Australia!! Luckily the lifesavers (Australian lifeguards) saw me jump off the boat and attempt to swim in and they sent a zodiac out to “rescue” me. “G’Day Mate” he said. “Hey howz it” I replied “How you doing” he inquired. “I’m good, you” I answered. “Ya good, you want a ride” he finally got to business. “ya that would be great” I gave in and attempted to climb aboard. My arms were sooo dead that they I could get my weight out of the water and they had to help pull me in. Once on shore I explained the situation and headed to the road to meet Matt’s wife. She gave me a lift to Kathy’s where I took a shower and got ready to go to the airport. Kathy and Emily gave me a ride to the airport and we stopped for lunch on the way. It was a quick 1 hour flight to Newcastle but we sat on the runway for about 20 minutes before we took off. Once I got there I called Chris, my CS host and told him I just arrived and apologized for being late. To add insult to injury the baggage carousel broke half way through the passengers getting our bags and we had to wait another 20 minutes till they got it going again. Luckily Chris brought his thesis he was working on for graduation with him and had been proofing it in the car the whole time, so he didn’t mind all the delays. He gave me a quick tour of Newcastle and showed me some of the local surf breaks on the way to his house. At home he made pasta with pesto, sun dried tomatoes, olives and feta. I was sooo stoked! I went to bed early and next morning (10.26.08) I woke up at 7am so I get to the race. Chris gave me a ride to the race and took off to go “surfing” actually he’s a body boarder but he calls it surfing. They had the roads blocked off because they were having a community run for breast cancer so a lot of the paddlers weren’t able to get down to the race. The ten o’clock start was pushed back to noon. Todd at Pacific dragons had arranged a boat to be brought up from Sydney for me to use in the race. Finally the roads opened and I helped off load the canoes from the girl’s car that had brought them down. I had a white Australian made Pegasus for the race and I took it out for a quick practice run to make sure my seat and camelback where in a good position. The race consisted of three 5K sprint races. The short course was just two 5K’s I signed up for the short course, since I’m classed as a Novice A on Maui and I hadn’t been training. For the first race the short and long course were the same and I came in 4th or 5th, not knowing if they were doing short or long course however. James, who came in second, tried talking me into switching and doing the long course but the conditions were kinda crap so I decided to pass. For the second race we all took off from the same spot but at the turn buoy the short course guys headed back to the start of the first course to finish while the long course guys made a 180 and headed for a down wind section. At the turn buoy, the 4 people in front of me turned for the long course and I was the first person to head in to complete the short course. I felt kinda bad at that point, and questioned whether I should have been on the long course. I kept telling myself not to look back, but my curiosity finally got the best of me and I looked back to see where the next paddler behind me was. He was wayyyyyyyy back. I had the race by a long shot, but I didn’t feel so good. When I crossed the finish line people cheered and said congrats but I felt as if they were secretly saying “whose this guy coming over here from Hawaii and doing the short course?” I stuck around and got my certificate for first place and Chris picked me back up. I took him to lunch and then returned to his house to pack. When I looked at bus schedule online to see what time the bus left for Sydney I found that the rail was closed for maintenance. I asked Chris what that meant and he told me they would have buses running for the sections that were closed and I would just buy the same ticket at the train station. We went to the station and I had missed the bus by 2 minutes, but he said I flew to the next station I might be able to catch the bus. Chris hauled ass over there and as I was walking out from buying my ticket the last person was climbing on the bus. I had just made it! I took the bus to a train station and then the train took me the rest of the way to Epping to meet Sarah at her church, as she was just finishing up from service. We went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant with some of her friends and again the spicy tuna roll was made with cooked tuna fish. It still baffles me. I spent the night at Sarah’s house and next morning