Make it Count

Did you do something special for Earth Day? I did. To celebrate the occasion on April 22 I decided to go canyoning in the Waitakere Ranges, just outside of Auckland. It seemed fitting to completely immerse myself into nature for the day, to get out of the city. Canyoning was an activity I had wanted to do in the South Island, particularly in the Glenorchy region, but it never transpired. I figured it was now or never. Armed with my bathing suit and shorts, I met my companions-to-be at the Sky Tower in Central Auckland - two guys and our driver, Connie. After driving 45 minutes out of town, we stopped at a barn-slash-garage for all of the other gear we would require : a flannel shirt, wetsuit, footwear, helmet, and a harness - all the components necessary to make for quite a stunning outfit, if I may say so myself. Carrying most of it in packs on our backs, we jumped back into the van for another quick 5 minute drive up the road then alighted, ready for our day of adventure. It turned out to be a fun experience involving a few personal challenges for me. We began by tramping through a basic trail into the wilderness. With the added weight of the pack on my back, the uphill stretches were quite difficult. I felt like my chest was both heaving and constricting at the same time! We finally broke through to a low riverbed, which we followed for a bit, stepping carefully through the water to avoid deep holes and slippery rocks. We eventually reached a spot where the natural pools appeared to begin. We stopped to put on our gear and were given the how-to's of canyoning. We were almost ready to begin but there was one more thing to do. Since the water was so cold (winter is approaching, after all), we had to submerge ourselves into one of the pools. Apparently, the shock of jumping into cold water can cause damage to eardrums, so it was a necessary precaution to prep the body! Ooh, it felt cold! From there, making our way through the gorge was basically all about traversing down the rock, most often using the water to assist us. We jumped off several rock cliffs into natural pools, abseiled (rappelled) down rock faces (often through waterfalls!), and slid down a couple of rock slides - in the surprising position of being on our backs, arms crossed over our chests, head first. We broke for lunch at one point, settling in at the base of one of the rock cliffs at the bottom of a waterfall. In the pool to my right, a friendly, well-known eel was making itself known, raising its head well out of the water, mouth open, in search of hand-outs. I'm happy to report that the wetsuit I was wearing did its job and basically kept me warm, but my poor exposed fingers quickly lost all strength and dexterity. I was able to unwrap my sandwich but, in line with my caving experience, I needed help getting the wrapper off my chocolate bar! As we sat there, it occurred to me (and not for the first time) just how beautiful the area was. There had been no signs of commercialism at all throughout the experience. Looking out over the sunny area, it pleasingly felt as though we were literally in the middle of nowhere. Outside of our immediate area of rock and water, trees filled my line of sight in every direction. We could have been anywhere. Deep in the heart of a New Zealand wilderness, we were simply following
the path of water down through a gorge. We set off again after lunch and jumped, abseiled, slid, and tramped our way back to the original low riverbed, from where we traipsed back to the van. It was a wonderful experience. The only regret I may possess about it is that I should have done it sooner. I think that if I had done it earlier in my trip, it would have blown me away. As it was, although I enjoyed it, the spark was missing. I think I'm just weary of this nomadic lifestyle, and feeling a bit desensitized and over-saturated. Nevertheless, I'm still very glad I did it!

The following weekend, Rebecca and I caught a ferry over to Waiheke Island. We had high hopes for a great weekend at the beach but it was not to be. It rained. And rained. And then rained some more. So after two nights, we trudged back to the hostel in Auckland and met up with Tomas and George again. On Monday, the four of us went out for dinner with Scott, who was in town (I met Scott at the same time as T & G, over Christmas in Queenstown). On Tuesday, again with my Czech boys, I tramped from the hostel to the top of Mt. Eden - and that evening they left to catch a flight home. It was sad to see them go. More friends thrown to various corners of the world. Wednesday I met Trish's sister-in-law for lunch to learn about the world of magazine sub-editing. Yes, I'm still occasionally trying to gather information that may help me in choosing a new career path! Strangely, I have a completely new idea to research as well...teaching. It's an idea that has occurred to me before and has actually been suggested to me twice here now, initially by Kirsty in Wellington who believes a person should look back to their childhood for inspiration, at what they wanted to be when they grew up. So - we'll see! What the heck does my future hold?

Anyway, back to the present, I have one day left in Kiwi-land. One day! Can you believe it? It hasn't quite sunk in yet. I leave early Saturday morning. I'll have to think of some way to mark the occasion and make tomorrow count!