CK, WB, & NZ in a Man Wagon

Friday, March 26, 2010

TAKAKA!

We finally made it to what some would call little paradise - takaka: A very beautiful climbing area surrounded by great beaches and hosting the worlds best brewery and climbers campground. Just three days here cures about anything.

the orchestra of circles:
we didn't know what any of these instruments were called

sunset on takaka hill

conglomerate cavouldering

natural cave paint

hermits

yeeha!

whakariki beach

the sanddune shuffle

sand like butter

more of them beautiful trees

the new climbers diet

rainy day overhangs at hangdog

every hippy campground needs a few good firedancers

The Southern Alps

After our adventures in the deep South, we headed into the mountains where we caught some sweet... burgers, beers, and movies. Then we were back out to sea again. Enjoy these pics too...

This road was a passing nightmare, otherwise dreamy

berry picking in front of mt. Aspiring.
only after eating them from the vine
did we later find out they were covered in maggots

the open road

why didn't anyone think of this before?

will getting schooled at the cricket club

a retirement village for sandflies

river meets ocean

scoping it out

sitting on a stack of punakaiki pancakes

Southland and the Fjordland

Hey everyone, this post starts out as far south as we could go on the south island. Unfortunately, things down south began a little intensly for us. It began with Will's wallet going AWOL. Later, upon arriving at our southerly campsite we were struck to hear that a woman had fallen from a cliff edge to her death. Please keep her families in your thoughts. Afterward a very intesnse wind storm blew in from antarctica. We then found ourselves having missed a day of the week and completely fell off the correct calendar schedule for who knows how long, only to be reawoken when we found out we had missed a much anticipated kayaking trip. No worries. Things got better... The kayaking trip lived on and we caught some sweet "tramping" in a beautiful part of the country. We hope you enjoy the pics!

a rescue attempt

there are millions of them
but they are still scared shitless of us

here comes the southerly

abused for hundreds of years by antarctica

surfs up bro.

you'd better see the video we're making for y'all

i am trying to stay away from the sandflys
by using will as my decoy

tramping in the rainforest

hidden falls

hollyford track

gigantic shroom

the studies really do happen...

only to be interrupted later in the evening however by a duo of drunken hunters going night shooting at whatever eyeballs they could find

the magnificent milford sound stump

guess who did most of the paddling?

we nearly missed the boat ... literally

sea level views

fjordland!

Friday, March 5, 2010

From the Sea to the Mountains and back again

Hey everyone.... After crossing over to the South Island we got so excited we made ourselves sick. First Corissa got sick, then Will got sick, then CK said WB was being a sissy about his cold cause hers wasn't that bad... then karma got CK and ck got sick again. And so the wheel spins. Despite the diseases though, we've had a pretty great two weeks. We were immediately treated to a beautiful sunset on the beach with mountains behind us and a rabbit pizza. Then headed off into the mountains where we stayed a few nights at the Craigieburn camp ground with an excellent crew of people amongst some of the best bouldering in the world and the spiritual center of the universe (according to the Dalai Llama). Its true. We then headed further south into the 60mph winds and rain of central Otago. We were really grateful to wake up in the morning and have clear skys to be able to see the beautiful surroundings of Aoraki/Mt.Cook national park.... After a three mile hike we were spent and gorged ourselves on roast, steak and fries. Enjoy these pics... more to come from our current study local: Dunedin!