Road trip

Last wednesday to saturday we headed out from the valley for a bit of recreation.  First thing was a day of rock climbing at Whakapapa South.  It felt so good to get back on rock and climb!  There were loads of small climbing areas and since it is winter here, we had the entire place to ourselves.  And winter here is like a cool spring day back in NY, so really not cold at all.  All the routes there are bolted which is awesome for me as I was the only one comfortable enough to lead and I got to set up all the ropes.  Nico, Jon and I all have some experience, but Cat, Mel and Bexie are all new to climbing.  We started out on a couple easy climbs and taught belaying and got everyone on the rock.

Me leading and setting up Ninja, while Cat climbs Teenage Mutant

Then I set up a slightly harder one for Nico and Jon and myself.  After lunch we headed over to a different part of rock and I got to lead a beautiful route called "terror incognita".  It was actually quite difficult as it was about 80 feet and sustained difficult the whole way through.  It was good that I got to do something that really got the adrenaline pumping.  That's me going through the crux of it on the left.

Then another thing that this trip was about was going to Field Days.  This is a huge agricultural expo sort of thing.  It is a huge fairgrounds and there are all sorts of stands set up trying to sell you agricultural stuff, everything from wood mills to tractors to hats and food.  I spent a lot of time finding the free samples of food and whiskey, and just wandering around.  They also have this "Good Keen Bachelor" contest where a bunch of dudes compete in things like making breakfast, chainsawing, and the part that I saw - herding mama and baby llamas into pens. The best part though by far was a show by this dog trainer and seeing all the cool stuff she made the dogs do, like hopping on their hind legs in circles around her and then jumping up and off her back.

Then the last day we spent a bit of time in Rotorua and went to a Kiwi house.  There are so many conservation efforts for the kiwi, cause they are cute and dying off and important to the ecosystem and of course, they are Kiwis!  So this place will get kiwi eggs from all over the place and raise the chicks until they are big enough to fend for themselves.  In the wild only about 1% of kiwi eggs make it to older than 1 year.  There are so many mammalian predators that are not supposed to be here that they all go after baby kiwis.  It is now almost impossible to see a kiwi in the wild unless you are on a special island reserve.  So anyway, this place is trying to help prevent the kiwi disappear to extinction.  Unfortunately I have no live pictures of them cause they dont let cameras in, but here's a stuffed one from the lobby: