so thursday night ross (the guy in charge of the trip) emailed us all a list with all the car assignments and phone numbers, and i was riding with someone called campbell and at least one other person. i arrived at the meeting place with my backpack and bag of food around 6, and saw large groups of people, so i went up to one of the aucc members i semi-know and asked where to find campbell's car and he was like oh this is campbell, who took me over to his van where there was a kiwi guy named paul, an asian girl named yawen, and a girl from canada named rachel who i had randomly met at the international student orientation. the "party buses" were leaving around the same time and they were all decked out in the pirate theme of the weekend.
we first stopped at yawen's house in the suburbs to get her stuff, because she had randomly decided to come at the last minute. there, her mom gave us a bunch of little mandarin oranges and then we stopped so everyone else could get groceries, which were a lot cheaper at the grocery store out in the suburbs than downtown. campbell bought eggs and stuff and said he would make omelets for us on his camp stove. he also told us girls we could sleep in his tent and he would sleep in the van, because none of us had one.
the drive was 3.5 or 4 hours, and we were blasting paul simon as we left auckland which was a lot of fun. the cd player skipped every time we went over a bump, which became progressively more often the further we got from the city, but i continued to giggle every time. campbell told us how he worked for 10 years as a stunt man in movies, until he broke his femur really bad. now he's going back to school to be a director. he was in a bunch of famous movies including all 3 lord of the rings movies, where he was an orc, and a soldier, and a horseman and stuff. he said in one scene he's the orc firing a cannon, and through cgi, is also 2 of the soldiers being shot at.
we stopped at a pub where the party busses were but didn't stay long because we wanted to arrive before it got super late. after that all us girls in the back fell asleep, and i guess campbell basically got to hear paul's life story for 2+ hours. i think campbell kept trying to turn the music up so he would stop talking, only i kept waking up to hear paul yelling over the music ha ha. when we stopped campbell told us girls that someone else was going to have to sit in the front on the way home.
when we finally got to the campground it was 11 or later, so it was dark, but keri (the president of the club) and some others met us at the gate waving a pirate flag directed us in. we parked between where the portapotties and where the marquee (party tent and bar) was going to be. fabulous location right?
so when we get out of the car, we discovered paul was stumbling drunk, or as they say here, "pissed". we hadn't really been paying attention, but i guess he had been drinking the whole time in the car (that's allowed here, as long as the driver is sober). he also had lost his phone during one of the many times he had to get out to pee, but campbell said he thought it was close to the campsite and he would look in the morning. paul was looking for his friend nick, who is actually in the club but rode on the party bus (paul just came long for the trip, as did a lot of people. i would say less than half the people there were auckland uni students).
so campbell helped us set up his tent, and then paul was laying on the ground giggling so we set his up for him too. we also found adrienne, a girl who lives in IH and knows rachel too, and natasha, the friend i made last week, and some of them made ramen with adrienne's little camp stove (i had had dinner at IH before leaving so i was ok). adrienne decided to join us in our tent since she didn't have one either, which was a pretty tight fit, but it was freezing there so we figured the more bodies the better.
we just kinda hung out for awhile, and a guy came up to us and asked where campbell was and we weren't sure and he said he was looking for a guy named paul and we were like ooooh you're nick and we directed him into paul's tent and the two of them proceeded to stumble around drunk together while we laughed at them. we also welcomed the party busses when they arrived with 'arrrg' pirate cheers (and a large group mooning, which i did not participate in). speaking of the moon, there are SO many more stars visible here, it's amazing. campbell showed us the southern cross, and we found orion's belt, but no one here seems to know any other constellations besides that.
we went to bed pretty early, probably a little after midnight, and i was wearing my sweat pants, thermal top, sweatshirt, northface, and my sleeping bag which is fairly warm, and i was still pretty cold all night. the no pillow issue did not help the sleeping situation either.
however when we woke up in the morning, the sun was beating down on the tent and it was back to the usual high 70's daytime temps. we gradually got dressed in our togs (bathing suits) and campbell made us omlettes which were delicious. the people in charge had a microphone, and they called a group meeting at 10ish and everyone just kinda gathered. they told us there would be 2 runs of the river (which is called waikato, i just looked it up) for the day, and since there were so many beginners we'd have to split and whoever didn't get to kayak could go rafting. we all crammed on the buses and rode a ways down the dirt road to further upriver where we launched. our campsite was right by the last and largest rapid of the run (fulljames), and we were warned when we arrived not to go past the yellow caution tape they had put up because there was a cliff someone had fallen off and died from in the past.
anyway, when we had all assembled i did not end up with a kayak, so i was happy rafting first, which the kayakers describe as boring, so i figured it would be less scary for the first time anyway. first they said to go on the water everyone had to have a life jacket and a helmet, but there weren't enough helmets so they said the rafters didn't need one after all. i went in the largest raft, which was supposed to have 8 people but we ended up with like 17. our raft guide was a guy named isaac, who ironically looked like he should belong to hanson. he said he was certified for grade 2 (this river) and he definitely knew what he was doing. there weren't enough paddles for everyone so i just sat in the middle. our raft was "self-bailing" meaning it had holes on the bottom to let excess water out (in our case, it let a lot in as well). isaac would yell things like 'paddle forward' 'left side paddle' 'paddle backward' and 'attack the kayakers' (only the instructors, we were nice to the beginners). there was lots of splashing both with the kayakers and the other rafts, and all the rafts were trying to steal peopel from each other and other pirate-type fun. the water wasn't too cold, and most of us had polypro thermal tops, which is nice bc it doesn't suck the heat out while wet like cotton does, and it dries really fast.
we stopped at this rusty old bridge along the river and all jumped off it, which was fun, and there were all these hot pools, where the rocks are hot from geothermal activity, and make the water at the edges of the river like a hot tub. some of them were actually boiling, which we avoided. the rapids were really not very intense at all, probably less exciting than the grizzly run ride at darien lake, until the last one, which was a bit rougher and really fun. there were more hot rocks where we landed, and we had to carry the raft all the way back up the hill to the campsite (everyone lifts it up and we carry it on our heads, which is how we got it down to the water at the beginning too. that was painful because we were barefoot and there were blackberry bushes which made most of our feet bleed. on the way back up all the rocks were sharp, and some of them were really hot, so our feet were pretty abused by the time we got back to camp.
after lunch everyone loaded all the gear back on the trailer and we all got in the van to go back up river. this time i got a kayak (although some people still didn't, including yawen and natasha, who just rafted again). the spray skirt i got did not have good elastic in the waist, so i just tied a knot in the cord, because it fit my boat right which is the important part. i also got a bright pink helmet, and for the rest of the day the instructors called me pink because they couldn't remember my name (i told them that was fine as long as they rescued me quickly when i tipped over).
we dragged the kayaks down to the water (more feet pain) and i was informed by the experts that the boat i had is really heavy and hard to steer, but if i could paddle it i could paddle anything. i was just glad to have one at all. once in the water we just split into little groups with 2 instructors and a few beginners each. i was going to go with colm, the guy who was teaching me at roll training in the pool, but then another group was leaving first and they wanted me with them, so i enquired who would be the fastest to get to me when i flipped over, and was told that toni, one of the instructors of the second group was the second fastest kayaker under 21 in the country. ha ha so i told colm i was sorry but he could teach me at the pool again but i was going with toni and nick.
there were 4 of us with the 2 instructors, but 2 of the guys sort of knew what they were doing (one of them was isaac from the raft, who can roll and everything. he nearly gave nick a heart attack because he was practicing rolling and nick didn't know he could so he like flew over to help him and then didn't need to). so that left 2 of us real beginners, me and a guy named brenden who was even worse than me. we first practiced eddying in and out, which means getting out of the current to the still water on the sides. to do that you have to lift your upstream knee, and aim upriver of where you want to go. while practicing that i flipped once, but toni lived up to her rep and got to me really fast and just flipped me back, i didn't even have to t-rescue.
it took us quite awhile to make it down the river, at least 3 hours probably more. the rapids were a little scary, but i made it through all of them unscathed. we stopped at more hot pools right before some fairly big (for me) rapids and relaxed, and then colm who was also there with his group was like ok everyone, we are going to jump in the rapids, swim across, climb that giant rock, jump off it back into the rapids, swim back to this side, then get in the kayaks and get going. i thought he was kidding. he was not. ha ha and when i did not want to go he made me (we were wearing life jackets and helmets so it was not really dangerous). it was actually really fun and made me less worried about the rapids, because even if i flipped and had to swim it was obviously fine.
by the time we made it to fulljames i was pretty tired, but i followed nick and made it safely through, and landed on the hot-rock beach area again (when i say beach i do not mean nice sand. i mean hard pointy rocks, some of them boiling hot). i got a guy to temp up with me to carry our boats up, because it's easier if there are 2 people standing between 2 boats, one holding the front and one the back.
when i finally got to the top i was ready to sleep, but my clothes and shoes were in one of the buses, which i discovered was locked. in addition i could not untie all the knots in the spray skirt, and thus was stuck in it. this guy i had talked to earlier was watching me try to get into the van so i went over and was like how do i get this off and he got his jack knife, i thought to cut it, but it had this big pokey attachment which he used to undo the knots for probably close to an hour (there had been a lot of knots in the cord before, i just somehow made a huge one all scrambled up with the rest of them, making it impossible to get off). eventually it got dark so he couldn't see anymore, so he gave up and just cut it. by that time the buses were open so i got my clothes and changed, and went back to our tent, where everyone had saved me some sausages and capsicum (bell peppers)) that campbell had made for everyone. they were delicious.
during the day people had put up the impressive tiki bar (made from old pallets) and the marquee, which was a big tent with a speaker system and lights powered by a generator. so by the time i was warm and dry and fed the party had more or less begun, and our little group (me, natasha, rachel, yawen, adrienne, and another kiwi girl named kate) hung around and chatted, and we discovered that they don't have s'mores here (or graham crackers), but natasha had marshmallows, so we roasted them over adrienne's little gas stove. they were kind of a different texture, and some were strawberry flavoured, which i guess is the typical package of marshmallows here. we were trying to describe graham crackers, and struggling, until a guy came over who said he and his american girlfriend had spent a long time trying to make s'mores here and the closest thing is digestive cookies (like the hob nobs from london, only without chocolate on them). so we decided we would have a s'mores party in auckland sometime.
the dance party in the tent consisted of a few people awkwardly dancing for awhile so we avoided that. someone had a flaming baton/torch thing they were twirling, and then campbell was doing flame blowing (by spitting kerosine out of his mouth) which was pretty cool. there was a presidental/vp strip tease in the dance tent, which i guess is a yearly tradition, and that brought loads of people in there, but it was crowded and turned into a 'everyone take off your shirt' party so we left and found a campfire, which we sat by for several hours. that was fun, we talked to a bunch of the exec/instructor/hard-core kayaking members and it was nice and warm. eventually we drifted off to bed, which was cold and not very comfortable again, but we were exhausted so it didn't matter too much.
sunday we woke up sweltering again, and we made pasta for breakfast because rachel and adrienne had brought it and we hadn't eaten it yet. i just had a sausage. there was another meeting, and they said we were doing one more run, and to pack up our stuff and clean up ALL the garbage, including bottle caps, so we did that and were ready pretty quickly so we pick up tons of beer bottles and stuff. then we all took the busses back to the launch one more time, and everyone who hadn't kayaked got first dibs, so adrienne and i just rafted again. i was excited to get a paddle in the scramble for equipment, and i forgot to get a lifejacket which was stupid because you're not allowed to do anything without a lifejacket. i was very sad and asked 3 different people where to find one and things weren't looking good until craig came back saying 'where's the sad looking girl who needs a lifejacket' and i was then very happy.
i was in the big red raft again, and there were tons of people so it was pretty full of water, but remained floating. we had even more intense splashing/people stealing wars with the other rafts, and sort of left the kayakers behind. i managed to stay in the raft the whole time. there are these jet boats that do tours up and down the river, and twice they went by and sprayed us and got us completely soaking wet, but it was warm and sunny for the most part. campbell said the jet boats have like jetski engines, so they have to keep moving or they sink, and once they sunk one at the fulljames rapid and had to get a crane to fish it out.
at one point we kidnapped keri from her boat, and she told us the reason we were so full of water was because the bottom part of the raft was not inflated. she also wanted some of the girls to come back with her because i guess her boat was all guys and really boring. then we threw her overboard and made her swim back, and she looked really sad so we tried to rescue her again but her boat got to her first. there was this weird indian guy who taught us this really funny sailor sing-along song which i do not remember now, but that was fun. we were looking for hot pools, but the river was a lot higher than on saturday (there was talk that the dam had been released) so all the ones we went to before were now underwater. we eventually found some, and stayed there awhile, but the kayakers still did not catch up to us. i was kinda glad i went on the easier kayaking day, but it would have been fun to go again and not be as nervous since i knew i could make it through safely. as we were going over the giant last rapid they told us to avoid the big rock from yesterday which was now underwater, and as we went over one of the girls in the raft somehow fell out and landed right on the rock, but she was fine, other than losing her shoes.
after we got back i went back to take pictures of the kayakers coming over fulljames and just sat in the sun for awhile. natasha made it safely, and yawen went through floating, without her boat, but she had fun. campbell had taken rachel in a double kayak which would have been really fun because he knows what he's doing so if they flipped he just rolled them back. eventually when everyone was back they had a prize awarding with fun gifts for funny stories from the trip. many of them should not be repeated, but the prizes were good stuff, like polypro and umbrellas and camping supplies. ross got a whole tent for organizing the trip, and one girl got a cookbook and spatula because she cooked for a lot of people, and colm got thermal because he had given all his clothes to a beginner who was cold and wet in the river.
our van was one of the first to leave, and we took nick and adrienne back with us so it was a little crowded, but i sat in front so i was comfy. rachel really wanted to see lake taupo, which was really close, so we first stopped at the huka falls, which i think i saw when i was here with p2p, but it was really pretty. the water is moving crazy fast, and campbell said it's illegal to kayak over the falls bc it's so dangerous, but that people still do, including many members of the aucc. it was all the more impressive after being so terrified of our tiny little rapids on saturday.
then we went to lake taupo, which i think is one of the largest lakes in the southern hemisphere and is really nice resort town. we got takeaway (i got a cheese burger) and ate by the lake. we left by 7:30, and made it back to auckland by 11. we dropped everyone at home so it was midnight by the time we got to IH, where i didn't even bother to shower (keep in mind there had been no running water at the campground for the past 3 days) before falling asleep.
today in computer science they told us we have a programming lab to do next week that we have to finish within 2 hours, so i need to do the practice assignments for that, and we have to get our plans sorted out for easter break, which begins this friday. ej and sophie made tentative plans to go to the bay of islands, up north, and we're going to rent a car, which i have to do because i'm the only one who's 21. however when i called the one place they said they have none left, so it's looking like this is going to be just like planning for the south island. we'll figure it out though.
tonight there is roll training for kayaking club, which i'd liek to do, followed by a st. patty's day pub crawl, and most of my friends are going to the pub crawl (even the ones not in the club) but i feel like i should be doing some work at some point, especially if i go kite surfing tomorrow like i'm supposed to. we shall see.
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