I miss the sessions

More than anything I miss the sessions.

I miss going to the crater on Wednesdays and coming late.

I miss seeing the dedicated crew who longs all week for wednesday.

I miss the greetings I get when I climb the stairs.

I miss seeing Clint finishing off a smoke and taking a swig of water out of an old milk jug.

I miss watching Marley run around the bowl as Ron skates it smoother than anyone in history.

I miss the occasional presence of Mike Scibetta telling me about obscure punk as he gets pumped up.  

I miss watching Andy destroy the oververt as only the owner can do.

I miss Fatneck's double double on the tall pockets.

I miss Capron's frontsides through the corner in a sweaty V-neck.

I miss Don telling me he doesn't skate anymore.

I miss sticking Pink Crack stickers at 5.9 ramp and blaming them on Ross.

I miss the friendly rivalry between the two ramps.

I miss the Friday night sessions at the pink crack ramp.

I miss Ross getting so mad he punches himself in the face only to land a sweeper the next run.  

I miss Staci's frontside carves through the door.

I miss Boot's ridiculous frontside airs from the new ramp to the old.

I miss getting wiffs of Adams stench as he does a front side grab grind in my face.

I miss watching Talba doing the most creative non-stop skating I have ever witnessed.

I miss EJ yelling at me with support every time I get stacked. FACE!

I miss RIch putting everyones style to shame with his moves from another time.

I miss Jeremy's endless smiles as he does some of he best carve grinds around.

I never thought I would, But I miss Ducky showing up in full pads and smoking a cigar.

I miss Tamra showing up with her hellion Sage and seeing the trouble he tries to get into.

I miss watching Jimmy get stacked his first time to the ramp. 

I miss Womble showing up and giving me a pair of old shoes.

I miss Hanuesacks Laid back approach to the ramp.

I miss Medford's gnarly leaps of the railing.

I miss cleaning up the carnage of beer bottles and cigarette butts the next day.

I miss going to the city park and seeing Stubby guide the park rats in the right direction.

I miss meeting Steve Hart there on bikes and having a blast just goofing around.

I miss taunting the kids who push mongo.

I miss watching the kids get better everytime I go.

I miss getting vibed at Eastern.

I miss the family that has grown through blood and sweat.  No tears.

I miss my friends

I miss my skateboard.

Most of all I miss the sessions.

Some old pictures

Well first off all I might as well tell you what I've been doing.  Actually I really dont feel like tying that much right now so I will just pleasure you with some photos!

Oh Yeah,

I shaved my head yesterday...   I feel like a new woman!

Absolutely wonderful day!

Today has been the best day of the trip so far.  We woke to yet more rain in Greymouth.  We had booked another night at the Duke Backpackers the night before and had made plans to go rock climbing today.  There is an indoor wall at the civic center nearby the place we are staying.  A couple of Israelis went with us to the rock gym.  We have been hanging out with them the past couple of days and were glad to have them along.  The gym is open only two days a week and was packed.  There was almost thirty people there. Everyone was friendly and super helpful with ascents.  We stayed from open until close and had an absolute blast.  I had a lot of fun.  I have climbed before but only minimal and it had been almost eight years.  I surprised myself and did really well.  Not to toot my own horn or anything.  I really look forward to going climbing again.  

Right before we left to climb a guy came into to work at the hostel.  Would you believe that he was from wilmington!!!!!  small world.  Super nice guy by the name of Frankie.  We talked for a while about home before we went climbing.  Rather weird talking about Wilmington half away across the world.  Anyway we left him and went climbing.  We ran into the owner of the backpackers at the gym.  apparently her son is getting into climbing and because of him she has as well. Really nice lady.  Both her and her husband are super kind.  So back to the story that you are unaware that I'm telling; The backpackers works on a WWOOF'rs operation.  WOOF is Willing Workers On Organic Farms.  It a system set up that provides a place to stay and sometimes food in trade for work.  In addition to farms many backpackers and other similar types of places are included in the system.   Sarah and I have been saying every ten minutes about how much we like it here at the backpackers and how much we don't want to leave.  I approached Dorrey about the possibilities of us working here for a bit.  He said that they would be more than happy to have us stay here for a while.  They keep four staff on at a time and a couple who is currently working here are leaving in a day or two.  Couldn't be more perfect.  There is a two week minimum stay, and no pay.  The work load is about four hours a day and is mostly cleaning the rooms after people leave.  Included is free stay in a private flat with its own bathroom.  We also get free internet and a free drink every night.  I think a failed to mention that there is a bar in the backpackers.  In addition to all that we also get the ammenaties provided to the guest such as the free toast and jam in the morning, and the free soup every night.  There is also free coffee and tea all day long. We are going to take up the offer and stay here for at least two weeks.  As I have said before the atmosphere here is super friendly and have met heaps of new people every day.   I am really looking forward to staying here for a while.  Greymouth itself is a rad little town and I have even spotted a small mini ramp behind a skate-shop just down the road.  Seeing as that I'm going to be here a while I just might have to make some more friends.

Sticking to my usual pattern I will end with a completely random thought.  I have been reading like crazy since I have been here.  I bought a book just yesterday and by last night had read over 450 pages of it.  I am going to try and finish it tonight and return it tomorrow for a different book.  Hopefully it will work.  It is "The Navigator" by Clive Cussler.  It is his third book by him Ive read since Ive been here.  Another set of books that I have been reading is the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.  They are sci-fi thrillers about a wonderful land full of magic witch;s and wizards.  Each book is huge (almost a 1000 pages each).  They are quite nerdy and I love it.  I had actually read the first two when I was 12 or 13 and had left it off until now.  Quite glad I picked them back up.  So you should go and pick up any book by either of those authors.  Defiantly worth the money.  

On another side note,  everyone needs to get Skype.  Skype is a free video chat service that uses a computer webcam.  Sarah and I have been chatting with my parents regularly and it awesome.  Anyone that has friends in far places should look into it.  Free is way cheaper than any phone call.  And you can't see each other during phone calls.  SKYPE WEBSITE.  click that for more info and a the free download.  It would be awesome to start seeing some friends!!!!!!!

Made it to Greymouth

Well I don't know if you were checking the weather, but it rained today.....ALOT.   We left westport yesterday and made it to Paunakaikei.  It was by far the gnaliest bike ride I had ever been on.  Huge climbs and subsequent drops all day.  At lunch we ran into a slew of other bikers.  It was so awesome.  There was another couple from indiana, a guy from switzerland, and a couple from the UK.  We all sat and talked for a while sharing stories of our tour.  Later on in the day Sarah and I ran into yet another couple from Taiwan.  On that note, we have been meeting tons and tons of people from all over the world.  So far we've met people from , switzerland, tons from Israel, a couple Germans, heaps from the UK, Scotland, Aussies, several Americans, Taiwan, Several from France, and even some Canadians.  We've also met numerous hospitable Kiwis.  They are super nice here.  Its a lot like southern hospitality minus the redneck.  TOnight were are staying in the Duke Backpackers in Greymouth.  We were referred to them by a traveling Israeli we met in St Arnaud.  It is run my an Israeli couple who have been in New Zealand for several years.  They are too nice and more than happy to answer anything we ask.  We told them that the Israeli had told us about them.  The owner told us that when you check out they give you a card with the backpackers info on it.  You are instructed not to keep it, but to pass it on to a traveller that you meet.  The only requirement is that they must be nice and friendly.  This is the card that Maton gave us.  Awesome.  Needless to say because of this the place is filled with super nice people from all over the world.  Everyone starts up conversations and everyone is smiling.  Very peaceful place. 

So After we checked in today we went to the Grocery to get some material for dinner.  We couldn't resist and filled a bag with some gummy worms.  You know the ones you fill yourself and weigh at the end.  Well if anyone knows Sarah you'll know that she couldn't wait until we checked out to eat some.  So we are walking around the store and Sarah is stuffing gummy worms in her mouth and the manager comes up to us and says something along the lines of "you can not be eating those. You have to wait until they are weighed and then you pay.  It is considered theft to eat them in the store.  I am going to charge you ten dollars.  Either that or I will call the police!"   WHAT A PRICK!!   When we got to the register, he tried to have us charged fifteen dollars.  This guy was out to get us.  he was a total nerd and hated his job.  Walking home we felt better by telling ourselves that we were on vacation and he was at work.  (Sarah would have my head if I made her out to be the bad guy.  I was totally eating gummy worms but he caught her with one in her mouth!) and she wasn't stuffing them in her mouth she was gingerly placing them on her tongue and slowly chewing as to savour the forbidden treat!

I totally forgot to tell you about today; It rained today and we got wet.  Really wet.  It rained all last night, but this morning it looked as though it might clear so we decided to push it to Greymouth.  Not long after we left it started to rain.  There were times when it let up but it pretty much rained all day.  Match that up with some gnarly hill climbs (six total climbs) equals  an awesome day.  I was as wet as I could be singing at the top of my lungs riding my bike in the middle of nowhere and having a blast.  I stopped and looked back to see Sarah not enjoying my angelic voice.  I hummed the rest of the way to Greymouth.

P.S. on a completely side note I would like to quote my friend Aaron; "Men + Time = Beards"  more info HERE  wise words from a man with an awesome beard

A little one two punch

New Zealand's largest swing bridge. DONT LOOK DOWN!!!!

They had to cut the road out of the rock!! Dynamite beats rock!

The view for morning tea

This is the Cafe near our cabin at Murchison. Told you it was an awesome place

Well now for the good stuff. Well the pictures are probably the good stuff, but I feel more confident in my writing. Anyone can take a picture in a place like this, but it takes a true genius to tell stories that invoke the pure emotion that mine do. I think I might give myself to much credit. But alas I continue:

I shall produce this blog entry in order. I shall try to anyway. Well a couple of days ago I left off with our thoughts about going whitewater rafting. We did. and it was fun as hell. We went with a company call Ultimate Descents because we were told that they had really good guides. My personal belief is that when doing something like that guides are just as important as what you are doing. I feel its their job to make it as fun as it is exciting. We weren't let down. The river was somewhat low but still a blast. mostly class three rapids but maybe a four in there. We were in a really small raft so that made it that much more exciting. In the raft was Sarah, Matt from germany, our guide Simon and I. Small group and we were roughly all the same age. We shared lots of laughs as we went through the rapids. Simon let us swim through quite a bit of the rapids and even took us to some sweet cliff jumps. I jumped but sarah said she was too cold. Overall we both had a really good time and thought it was worth the money. Seeing to ourselves that we earned it, we ate our best meal of the trip so far. Chicken, rice, onions, garlic, and some veggies. It was awesome. The next morning we woke somewhat early. actually we didn't wake up early at all. We never do, were on vacation. So as I was saying we woke up when our eyes opened and got ready for the day. The plan was to make it 65 Kms to a small place called Berlins. That was the closest backpackers from Murchison. We made it about 55 km to a place called Inangahau. Weird name but awesome place. I asked about Berlins and they informed me that the backpackers there was full. They did tell me that they did have a campsite though. It was unadvertised and only cost 10 bucks for the both of us. It was complete with a bathroom and kitchen. The people at the store were a breath of fresh air. It was nice to meet some other people that are heavily tattooed. The lady who ran the shop was about as nice as anyone can be and made some of the best food ever had. The three of us talked for awhile about all sorts of stuff, I found most interesting her vies on judgment of tattoos. In New Zealand it is a tradition of the native people (maori) to be heavily tattooed and is a rite of passage to be a face tattoo. She said that it was rather racist to judge someone because of what they have on their skin. I've never thought about it like that.

In the morning we went back to the shop and had some delicious savory muffins. We left Inangahua and started towards Westport. After a really hot and sunny day with the wind blowing in our face, we made it. It was another absolutely beautiful ride. I'm really not sure as what else to say. Ive pretty much brought you up to speed. Its still a whole lot of fun here. oooh ooooh I totally forgot to tell you that I fixed the tent again. At one of the lot that we camped in at Inangahua there was a heap of junk cars and stuff. I was able to pillage some thick fencing wire and with the combination of the binding wire that already had I got it fixed pretty good. The only downside is that I had to permanently attach two section to make it solid. Now the poles wont fit back into the tent sack and I currently have them sticking out of my pannier like a radio antenna. I look like a radio bike from WWII.

Hope everyone finds my wonderful words in good spirits.

A little bit of both!

First off some pictures for those who wish to be visually appeased....

We took a rather nice and long hike up to parachute rocks that over look Lake Rotoiti. It was Sarah's first hike ever and she did awesome. It was a pretty hard hike and I am super proud of her.

Part way into the hike!

Sarah crawling her way to the top of the rocks. Amazing view in the background.

She got really nervous on top of the rocks. She actually threw half of her sandwich on the ground trying to wave away some bees. It was quite hilarious.

So. Now that we have secured some free internet, I can afford to be lengthy with my explanation of what we have been doing and what we plan to do. Thats not to say I will indeed write a 20 page expose of our trip but I could if I wanted. I know you have better things to do than read my boring blog, but I don't have anything better to do than to tell myself that people have nothing better to do than to read my blog. So I will undertake this entry as if your life depends on it being grand.

Right now we are sitting in a beautiful riverside cafe called "Rock Snot Cafe" it is right outside of Murchison and is next to our cabin area. Its open to the outside and sits right on the river. Murchison is a kayak mecca and every so often a group of kayakers will move past us on the river. Quite an epic spot. We are waiting until 1:30 (its 11:34 a.m.) to go white water rafting with Ultimate Descents. THe river is a 3/4+ so it should be a lot of fun. The weather couldn't get any better. Beautiful sunny cloudless day. This will mark Sarah's first white water rafting experience. I can't wait to see the look on her face when we go over the first big rapid.....

I hate to backtrack but my mind doesn't always work on a strict time frame. Yesterday was by far the most beautiful bike ride either of us have ever been on. We rode about 60 km from St Arnaud to just outside of Murchison. The views just never stopped. There was quite a lot of motorcycle traffic on the road due to the quick hills and sharp curves. Every time one went by I couldn't help but think about how much fun it would have been to ride that road on a motorcycle.

The day before yesterday are what the above pictures are about. We took an amazing hike up to Parachute Rocks in the St Arnaud range. It was a rather long and somewhat steep hike but the view at the top was worth it. Like I said above, it was Sarah's first hike. I was confident that she had the ability to do the hike, but was nervous about whether or not she would enjoy it. She put my fears to rest and had a blast. Its hard to complain when your at the top of the mountain and have the best view you've ever had in your life. There were a couple of bees at the top that got a little to close for comfort. Sarah was trying to swat one of them away and ended up throwing half her soundwhich (<------I misspelled that on accident but it was such a beautiful accident that I left it. I'm spelling with an accent!) Not much more to say here. Tomorrow we are getting back on the road and heading towards Westport. I hope all is well in the states....It's amazing here!

Gotta be quick

Well our interent time is about to run out so I have to be quick.  We are in Murchison for the night.  Its awesome. Its sunny here and we had a really good and long ride today.  we are talking about going white water rafting but I'll tell you more later.....LOVE YOU ALL

three

MESSY CAMP

Rained Out!

Well on the way to St Arnaud from Blenhiem, We encountered a little bit of rain.  When I say a little bit, I really mean a lot.  It rained all damn day.  We made it about 30 miles before we decided to pull over and set up camp.  It was one of those rains that everything got wet.  No matter what.  It was rain within a thick fog.  We were like two wet rats.  Looking back on it it is quite funny.  So we get to a DOC camp site and set up out tent and get inside.  Mind you, its only like 3 O,Clock in the afternoon.  We get the tent set up and crawl inside for a bit of dryness and warmth.  We both fall asleep and awake to one of the poles of the tent snapping.  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!     The tent was still standing but badly disfigured.  I'm not sure if I have told you before about this; this is the third time we have had a tent pole break.  I have repaired it each time but it has subsequently weakened the overall structure.  The first two were the same section of pole, but the third was an entirely different section.  With the tent so mortally wounded we, and everything in the tent got wet.  We are going to try and make it to Westport by staying in backpackers the whole way.  There are two between here and there and are evenly spaced out, 65 Km the first day and 60 Km the next.  Westport is a decently sized town and I can only hope they have an outdoor shop with some sort of nice tent.  

Today Sarah and I are going to hike up to the mountain the overlooks lake rotoiti.  hopefully the weather will hold out and we will get some nice views.  

Swallow your pride!

Well today we went and found a kayak operator and rented a sea kayak for three days.  We also rented tickets to camp sites for two nights as part of our journey.  We loaded the kayak with a bunch of food and all of our camping equipment and set off.  The first camp was supposed to be only about three hours paddle.  Two and a half hours later we were only about a tenth of the way there.  Once out of the harbor we came straight into a 15-20 knot headwind.  We were basically going nowhere and a couple of hours of that we decided to turn around.  It hurt my pride quite a bit but it was the smart thing to do.  There was no sense in beating our selves to death for the next three days only to get right back on our bikes and ride as soon as we got back.  I could go on for ever telling gruesome details about how much it sucked but thats not why you have arrived at my blog.  You simply want to hear the good stuff.  The simple fact is that we like to ride bikes.  We found out the hard way that we don't like to sea kayak.  At least not in rough windy conditions.  The rental company happily refunded our money and said a front had come in a lot earlier than expected.  We decided to stay in Picton yet another night before heading to blenhim tomorrow.  We have three days worth of heavy food that we are not trying to carry around on our bikes up some hills.  Tonight we will eat well and set off in the morning.  

On a side note, it is our fifth night in a tent and me and sarah are still madly in love and still the best of friends.  Future looks bright for us......

Back on the South Island

Wow, where to begin..........   Well Sarah made it here safe and sound and to say I am excited would be an understatement.  My parents left me a rental car and Sarah and I drove from auckland down to the capital city, wellington.  We made a quick stop in Rotorua to go Zorbing.  It was an absolute blast.  Nothing like rolling down a hill in a huge ball filled with air and water with the person you love.  You should be really jealous.  After we went zorbing we went swooping which is a giant swing thing.  You free-fall for a bit and then swing out going like 160 kilometers per hour.  It was scary as hell.  

There was a huge reggae festival in rotorua that night so all the camp grounds and backpackers were full so we were forced to continue driving south.  We made it to lake taupo and camped on the lake at a holiday park.  It was a really gorgeous place to camp.  The next day we drove further south towards wellington.  We stopped and did a short hike to a lookout over a geothermal area.  Ridiculously blue lake below a giant bright red cliff.  It was something out of a bob ross painting.  We made it to wellington only to find that there was some sort of rugby tournament going on that night.  Once again all the backpackers were full.  It was quite a sight.  For some reason everyone wears costumes during this one day tournament/party.  Not only were they in costume but they were dressed up in groups.  It was weird as shit.  We saw a group of twenty dominos, a bunch of umpalumpas, and tons of other strange looking groups of people.  They really put a lot of time and money into their costumes.  Easily one of the strangest things I've ever seen.  Anyway we were once again forced to leave the city and drive back from whence we came.  We found an awesome camp site backed up to a mountain where we spent the night.  Today, we finally dropped of the car and caught the ferry to Picton.  We made it safely to the south island and have set up camp near town.  Tomorrow we are going to rent sea kayaks and go on a 3 or four day sea kayaking trip in the marlborough sounds.  Should be a whole lot of fun.  The sounds are filled with bays.  I was told if you spent a day in each bay, it would take like twenty years to see them all.  Needless to say I wont be on the internet for a few days.    Take care and I hope to be back soon.  Not to soon though,  I am going to soak this up.  

Go HERE for some sweet pictures

some reflection

Well for the past week or so, I have been staying at a hotel in Auckland New Zealand. It is a huge city (2 mil). I have been riding my bike all around usually into the town center. I have never ridden my bike in a city nor have I ridden much in mountainous areas. The city has lots of traffic and lots of hills. To add to the equation they drive on the left here. And to top it off it is compulsory (law) that you wear a helmet. Needless to say the first time out I was very nervous and felt very out of place. It is amazing how big a difference it is from riding around Wilmington. I have since gotten used to all of the differences and have had a blast riding around the city. I have found a really cool bike shop that let me tinker with my bike. Super nice guys that let me have some old used parts and let me use their tools and work stand. (Much thanks to Ian). In case you were wondering what I had to to my bike; I took off my big chain ring and replaced it with my middle chain ring and then put a smaller chain ring in the middle. Its actually not much smaller and looks funny as hell but it works. I had put a 22 tooth chain ring on the smallest of my triple. this caused my big chain ring (52 tooth bio pace) to rub my derailleur. Just too much of a range. So now much to my delight I have no rubbing and a most absurd crank setup. A 42 tooth bio pace, a 39 tooth and a 22 tooth. Its so awesome. But it gets me up the hills and I am in no race anytime soon.
Yesterday I went out and gathered some goodies for the trip. Some fingerless gloves (ruby chewed mine up), gas for my stove, and some climbing shoes. The climbing shoes were a bit random but it leads me to my next topic. I want to have no regrets on the trip. New Zealand is place where there are lots of different things to do. Tons and tons of outdoor activities. I want to try as many things as possible. I want to experience as many new things as possible. I have done a lot of different things in my life and have loved some and have not been interested in some. Its a trip to step outside of my box. To do things I would never have done before. I want to rock climb, to go white water rafting, to skydive, to bungy jump, to zorb, to go canyoning, to go sledging, do some more amazing hikes etc. I want to do as much as I possibly can. Who knows I might not like any of these things, but I want to be able to say I tried them out. I want to experience as many firsts as I can. I am far beyond my normal comfort zone and it feels awesome.