Kayking SDL crooked

Activity: Kayaking
Location : Crooked river
Duration : 1 day
Difficulty : challenging
Weather:  Cloudy
Injuries:  None

Has been a while since river kayaking so was pretty wobbly for the grade 2+ river. After going sea kayaking the kayaks feel much more manouverable than remembered.

Have started playing on decent waves but had to wet exit when i bailed. would have help to have done some practise rolls before hand to adjust to the freezing water

DOC week

Activity: Working on bushwalk

Location : Waiuta lodge
Duration : 4 days
Difficulty : Cruisy
Group:  22 students
Weather:  Cloudy

Injuries: none

This week we were volunteering for Doc. Our jobs were to work on the track by digging up drains for the water to run down instead of messing up the track. Got to use a power carrier to which was alot of fun although took alot to get used to

Kayaking SDL 2

Activity: Kayaking

Location : Arnold River

Duration : 1 day

Difficulty : Easy but new challenge

Group:  Brent, Jono and Jarred

Weather:  Drizzle
Injuries: none

Went paddling down the arnold to work on my skills needed to pass for the course. worked on my figure 8 and forward paddle

Bouldering

Activity: bouldering
Location : Castle hill
Duration : 1 day
Difficulty : struggle
Weather:  sunny
Injuries:  none

We went out castle hill to practise our boldering. I found it more difficult than rockclimbing but i was more willing to try the difficult stuff as we wernt that high off the ground

SDL - Kayaking

Activity: Kayaking
Location : moana river
Duration : 1 day
Difficulty : cruizy
Weather:  cloudy
Injuries:  none

Just out on the lake practising my rolls and other flat water maneouvers

Marae, Bruce Bay

Activity: Stay at marae
Duration : 3 days
Difficulty : relaxing
Weather:  cloudy and freezing
Injuries:  bruised ankle from a game of held

Was a fun experience and good to get out of town for a while. i have a new appreciation for the moari's and there passion for their culture and family ties. It has inspired me to do a little research into my own and ancestory to find out who i am and where i came from

Was really pushed out of my comfort zone which was good as we learned how to do a haka and then performed it infront of the marae going full bull and shirtless, A good way to let out our anger.

Goals Term 2

To be able to run the point elizabeth within 26mins

To complete a full figure 8 and to sharpen up my deep water rescues for kayaking

To pass the rest of my rockclimbing assesment: top rope rescue and set up an emergancy safety harness

Goals revisited term 1

I can now feiry glide both forward and reverse to the other side of the river.

I managed to set up a rockclimb within the alloted time

My fitness has gone up as my point elizabeth time of 34mins has decreased to 28mins

Goals term 1

Here is a list of goals for term one:

Kayaking - To be able to hold a fairy glide indefinitely across a rough rapid

Rockclimbing - To be able to set up my own climb and reach the top when trying it out

Fitness - To greatly improve my uphill running/tramping durability

Tramp - Lewis Pass

Activity: Tramping
Location : Lewis pass
Duration : 4 days
Difficulty : exhausting
Weather:  Sunny
Injuries:  Sharp pain under knee again

Comments:  learnt how to use a portable cooker although burnt thumb in the process, set up a
radio to contact other trampers and how to use a compass and was able to put it to practicle use so over all this was a very productive tramp but i still have alot to learn

Kayaking

Activity: River kayaking
Location : Local pools, Grey & arahua river
Duration : all week
Difficulty : pushing my limits
Weather:  fine/cloudy
Injuries:  none


First we started to learn the basics of kayaking down at lake brunner, it was such a different feeling being upside down in the water well still attatched to the kayak.

Then i had my first time ever kayking in a river, unfortunetly we started off in the Greyriver well it was flooded and so didnt turn out too well as i ended up rolling 30 seconds in and as i hadnt learnt to roll yet i freaked out and evacuated the kayak with a huge struggle to get to shore as the rescuers were just learning how to kayak aswell.

Over the next two days we spent our time in the Hokitika and Greymouth pools learning how to roll so we would be able to attempt some of the harder stuff well being self reliant to perform a self rescue. Although my roll was half assed and needed much more work i was able to get myself up and celebrate.

For our second river trip we attempted the lower half of the aharua? river. i still bailed alot but was able to get myself back up with an eskimo roll but was still very wary of the rocky rapids as they could prove disastrous when trying to get back up as the face is vulnruable to the jagged rocks.

we then unintentionally attempted what seemed like a much rougher rapid than grade 2 so we end up combining our boats for extra stability but failed as chris's boat came ramming into ours at full speed and toppling himself over well nearly bring us down with him. as this was my second river trip i was extremely freaked out.

this concludes our first week of kayaking and really cant wait for our second as i am really enjoying this part of the course

Early term training

Due to a knee injury i recieved a couple a weeks ago on the 3-day tramp i have been unable to go for any runs to keep my fitness up, but lately my knee has started to recover and can go for light runs so looking forward to beeing able to train hard and keep up with the class.

Rock climbing at charleston

Activity: Rock Climbing
Location : Charleston tent stay
Duration : 3 day camp
Difficulty : Both easy and impossible climbs
Group:  15-16 students
Weather:  Sunny and warm
Injuries: none




By far the funnest thing we have done yet, started with very little knowledge but have come away with heaps, we learnt how to set up our own rock climb which was pretty sweet but also very freaky having to trust your own inexperience but lucky the tutors helped heaps and so i felt very safe-ish hanging 30metres from a rocky grave.