Clarence River Expedition!

Date: Mon' 24th- Fri 28th October
Location: Clarence River
Weather: Fine and sunny on the first day, Cloudy for the rest.
Duration: 5days
Grade: 2+
Flow: Medium
Group Members: Orec group 1 and 2

Had an amaaazing time on the Clarence river rafting and kayaking for 5days. Every day was such a good day and each night had sweet meals cooked. Had a roast on the last night cooked with the dutch ovens which was really good. We had to treat the tutors like they were clients so they could just lay back and enjoy us being the guides. The whole trip ran really smoothly and we all had an awesome time!

Raft-Personal

Date: Tuesday 11th October
Location: Milltown Gorge
Weather: Rain, windy
Duration: 3hrs
Group members: Me, Sara, Adrian, Kieran, Luke, Greg, Rata, Phil, Jacob, Martijn, Astrea
Flow: Med-high
Grade: 2+
Incidents: Martijn swam once but no biggie.

Sweet day Rafting and kayaking. Had a big group of us head down Milltown. Half kayaking and the rest Rafting. Me, Sara, Kieran, Martijn, Astrea and Adrain were rafting and the others kayaking. Flow was pritty high today so it made the waves and holes a bit bigger and more fun. Tried surfing the raft in a fun play wave but never really pulled it off. The others in the kayaks were playing in it for a while so we stopped there for a bit and had a break. The rest of the paddle is pritty much a loong run out so we cruized down the rest of the river. Goood Day.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Saturday 8th October
Location: Arnold
Weather: Cloudy
Duration: 2.5hrs
Group members: Me, Kristie and Luke

Had another cruizy paddle down the Arnie. No incidents etc, just a fun day on the arnbeeezie.

Raft-Tech'

Date: Tuesday 4th -Fri' 7th October
Location: Murchison. (Mangles, Lower Matakitaki, O'Sullivans-Earthquake)
Weather: Drizzle on the first day then fine
Duration: 4 days
Group Members: Orec Group 2, Tutors- Koryn Gould, Southy, Philly J.
Grade: 2-3/3+
Key learning: River rescue skills, Guiding, flipping the raft.
Incidents: Robbie wrapping our raft on the Lower Matakitaki.

Headed up to Murch for the week and stayed at the campsite for two nights. 1st day we set up camp and then went to the Mangles River to do rescue scenario's. Pracised V lower (tethered swimmer), live bait, strong swimmer rescues then headed back to camp. We had dinner, debriefed and then went to bed. Next morning we woke up and headed to the Lower Matakitaki River. I was TL for the day so i organised raft crews etc then headed out on the river. Robbie was up first as guide in our raft and he managed to wrap the raft on the 1st main rapid and had to get the other crew to help us pull it off. Carried on down the river and practised tethering the raft and soon after practised the stabilization line. Got to the last knarly rapid which looked like a grade 3+ so we were all quite nervous about running it. There was a high possibility of screwing up but no-one did which was a relief so all went well. Got off the river, headed back to camp, debrifed my TL and the day then went to bed. Next morning we left to get to the put-in at O'Sullivans. I guided down our self guided misile raft and also Ariki rapid and Gunslinger the next day. It was good to guide down higher grade rapids. The rest of the trip was sweeet! We camped out just before the Earthquake section and the next day had a pritty cruizy paddle out. Awesome week! had a real good time.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Saturday 1st October
Location: Arnold
Duration: 2-2.5 hrs
Weather: Cloud and drizzle
Group members: Jimmy, Kristie and Raymi

Hadn't been paddling for about three months since this Arnie trip so it felt good to get back in a kayak after a while off. Seemed like my skills had got better rather than worse which was good. Just your usual fun river river trip down the Arnie so Sweet day.

Raft-Tech'

Date: Friday 30th September
Location: Arnold
Weather: Partly cloudy but mainly fine.
Duration: 1 day
Group Members: Orec Group 2
Key Learning: Throw bagging, general guiding skills-catching eddies etc, Safety and paddle briefings in the morning.

Headed to the Arnie again for the last day of the week. In the morning i gave a safety briefing to my group which all went well then Keiran took over and gave the paddle talk. Everyone had a go at guiding. My strokes were getting alot better but didn't have too much problem catching most of the eddies. Stopped at lunch spot and we did throw bagging. My first attempt was shocking because i rushed it and didn't think about my stance etc but my 2nd throw was on the dot. Although more practise will make perfect. headed on down the river to the take-out. Good day.

Raft-Tech'

Date: Thursday 29th Sept'
Location: Grey River
Weather: Fine and Sunny
Duration: 1 day
Grade: 2-3
Flow: Medium
Group Members: Orec group 2
Key Learning: Putting our skills we learnt on the Arnie to a different river at a higher grade, Signals, Scouting lines.

Headed to the Grey River on a fine sunny day. Had heaps of fun rafting down something different. Had a go at guiding the higher grade rapids that were about grade 3. Paddle strokes needed working on but other than that not too bad. Koryn made us catch a hole and surf it which was pritty sketchy, deffinately didn't want to be falling out of the raft into the hole but everything ran smoothly. The rest of the day was just a cruizy paddle out to the take-out. Sweet Day.

Raft-Tech'

Date: Wed' 28th September
Location: Arnold
Weather: Few showers in the morning then fine
Duration: 6hrs
Group members: TPP Orec group 2 (In my raft- Todd, Scott, Tui & Phily J)
Grade: 2
Flow: Medium
Key learning: Catching eddies, guiding, flipping the raft in moving water and getting back in, Swimming down the rapids, how to give a good safety and paddle talk.
Incidents: None

Pritty much the same as Tuesday but it ran more smoothly as we'd had practise the day before and we were all more comfortable in the guide seat. Learnt how to catch an eddie by backwards ferrying into it. That was my main key learning for the day. We headed on down the river and had lunch at the famous lunch spot and after that we all had a go at r2'ing. Got down to the seal launch bank and had to jump off it and float/swim down the river, past Pyramid rock and swim to the side. That was good fun as well. Then we flipped the raft after getting back into it to learn how to get back on it when it's turned upside down and re-flipped it. Pritty much the end of the day. Just carried on rafting down the river till we got to the take-out.

Raft-Tech'

Date: Tues 27th September
Location: Lake Brunnuer, Arnold
Weather: Few showers then mainly fine
Group members: Orec Group 2
Duration: 6hrs
Grade: 2
Flow: medium
Key learning: Paddle strokes, flipping a raft and getting back onto it and guiding on grade 2 water.
Incidents: None

Went to Lake Brunner for the morning, split up into three groups and learnt the basic paddle strokes. Sweep stroke, front & back paddle, draw, pry and J stroke. We were there for about an hour and then we left for the Arnold. We put our strokes into practise and had a few goes at guiding the raft then finished for the day. It was sweet learning something new. Never been in the guide seat before so was a good learning experience.

Mountain-Tech'

Date: Tues' 20th September
Location: Avalanche Peak
Weather: Fine and sunny
Duration: 1 day
Group Members: Orec group 2
Key Learning: Walking safely and efficiently up a mountain, Avalanche's

Had a fun day walking up Avalanche Peak for the day learning how to walk safely up a mountain, avalanche terrain, where to and where not to walk. We made it to the top of Avalanche Peak, sat on top and looked at the views then walked back down again. Sweet day.

Tramp-Tech'

Date: Tues' 13th-Fri 16th Sept

Location: Matiri lodge
Duration: 4 days
Weather: Cloud, rain, snow and cold
Group members: Half of group 2- Me, Sara, Kristie, Chris H, Jacob, + Jimmy
Key Learning: Navigation

Headed up Murch way to the start of our tramp around the Mataki area not far out of Murchision. Got all geared up and ready to go. I started out as leader for the day and led us off for a 5hr walk that day. We travelled along a riverbed for most of the way until hitting the marked track and snow. It was about 5.30pm when we reached Mole Hut. We decided to stay there for the night. Next day we headed into the bush in knee deep snow and our navigation was put to the test. We followed a ridge throughout the bush until we reached our next campsite in the dark after about 10hrs bush bashing and walking through the snow. We turned on the mountain radio that night to get the weather forecast. We also heard from the other half of our group that they wern't carrying on to our end of the track where we started so they were returning to their vans, walking out the way they came so we had to do the same. The next day was a pritty hard day. Alot of walking up hill till we reached Mole Hut again to stay the night there again. The walk out he next day was easy. Downhill and flat the whole way reaching the vans at 11.30am to finish off our trip. Overall i thought it was pritty fun. First tramp in tech time that we've had bad weather with rain and snow so it was good to experience the difference. :)

Sea Kayak-Tech

Date: Mon' 15th-Wed' 24th August
Location: Abel Tasman and Malborough Sounds
Duration: 10days
Weather: AMAZING! fine and sunny
Group Members: Orec group 2, TPP
Key Learning: Leadership, Catering, Rescue skills

Having been stuck in a traffic jam due to snow on the first day we thought the next 9days were going to be freezing cold and miserable. The next day we woke up to a cold frost; but knowing it was going to be a nice day we wern't so pesimistic. From Kaiteriteri we left to the start of our Abel Tasman trip got the kayaks of the trailer and got geared up ready to go. We got to see heaps of seals swimming all around our kayaks, sea cliff rock climbing and awesome meals catered by the rest of the group. Once we'd finished our Abel Tasman experience we packed up and headed for Nelson. We stopped there and re-stocked on food and had some dinner to head off to the Malborough Sounds. Once we arrived at Momorangi Bay we put up our tents and had a nice, warm shower to top off the night then went to bed. Got up in the morning and left that day at about 10.30-11am. We did a big 34km paddle to Blumine Island. On the way we saw dolphins and seals which was really exciting to see. We didn't arrive at Blumine Island till dark. We slept in a big concrete cave in the bush, had muscles and then nachos for dinner. Awesome day! the rest of the days consisted of more amazing weather, fishing, eating more muscles, paua and fresh fish caught by the tutors and jacob. Lying on a bay with the sun beaming down on us eating the fish and muscles that were caught was the highlight of the trip. After all of this the last day rolled around pritty quick so we headed back to Momorangi Bay where we saw more dolphins and seals. It was an awesome trip. Couldn't of asked for better.

Mountain-Tech

Date: Mon' 8th August- Fri' 12th August
Location: Temple Basin
Weather: Fine and sunny
Group members: Orec Group 2 TPP
Key Learning: Avalanche safety, Building anchors, Multi pitch climbing, Self arresting, Snow caving.

Awesome 5days on the Mountain at Temple Basin Learning how to self arrest followed by building anchors, Multi pitching and snow caving. Stayed at the lodge for the first few nights then on the last night built snow caves and slept in them. The afternoon before snow caving consisted of more self arresting which was heaps of fun and then we went on to learning how to set up anchors then climbed off them up the mountain multi-pitching. Reached the top of the mountain to see an amazing view of the Southern Alps. The last day we packed up but before leaving we worked on transeivers and probing then headed back down the mountain. Had a really good time and couldn't have asked for better weather.

Rock-Personal

Date: Sat' 30th July
Location: Charlston
Weather: fine and sunny
Group members: Keiran, Jimmy, Sara, West Coast Alpine Club members
Key Learning: Rescue skills (Assisted Hoist), Practising trad on lead up an easy grade 10. :)

Went to Charlston for the day as we'd heard from Alex and Jack at climbing that an NZOIA rock 2 instructor is coming up to teach a few things. We went along to basically just listen and learn about a few things at a higher level. It was really interesting. We got shown how to escape the system and do an assisted hoist and then practised doing the assisted hoist afterwards. Me, Keiran, Sara and Jimmy decided to practise trad climbing, placing gear and leading but it was only on a grade 10 climb. You can pritty much walk up it but it was still sweet. So overall a pritty relaxed, fun day at Charlston as always!

Kayak-Personal

Date: Fri 1st- Sun' 3rd'
Location: Murchison, Granity
Weather: Cold, foggy/partly cloudy
Duration: 3days, 3hrs kayaking
Grade: 3
Group members: Jimmy, Martijn, Kristie, Kelly, Chris H, Scott, Kallam, Gretchen, Jesse
Incidents: I got tipped over and rolled back up just at the end of the main rapid before the very last hole, swim from Kristie and Chris, rescues from me and Martijn put us in the shit and i got stuck in a hole.
Key Learning: Set up safety right at the very end of the rapid so when people swim there are no more obsticles or sketchy incidents that can happen.

Headed up to Murch on Friday night with a whole bunch of us. Set up camp at the Granity take-out once we'd arrived at about 11.30ish then went to bed. Woke up the next morning at about 8ish and got ready to paddle Granity. The morning was freezing and foggy and the day never warmed up. We got to the actual Granity rapid and scouted it from the right hand side up the bank so people could portage it if they wanted to. Gretchen and Kelly deciced they didn't want to do it. The rest of us ferried across to the other side and scouted it from there aswel. First group to paddle down was Jimmy, Jesse, Martijn and me. I clipped the side of a wave and got tipped and pushed into the buffer wave on river left, still hanging on until half way down the rapid then i managed to roll back up. Then drifted down over a hole got tipped again but rolled back up. All sweet. Then Jimmy walked back up and took the rest of the guys down. He couldn't talk them out of doing it and then all shit went down. Kristie and Chris swam and me and Martijn were on safety in the eddy on river right but not below the last hole. I went to rescue Chris and he panicked and jumped onto my kayak which tipped me in the hole at the bottom. Swam and got worked in the hole. Scariest thing ever. Thought i was going to drown. Was in quite a bit of shock at the end of the day.

3 days, 1 river. Poor effort haha.. but way too cold!

Kayak-Personal

Date: Fri' 24th June
Location: Crooked
Duration: 2.5hrs approx
Grade: 2-3+
Group Members: Kristie, Martijn, Chris H, Tui
Key Learning: "If in doubt..Scout"
Incidents: Two Swims from Kristie,

Walked up to the grade 3-3+ put in again but this time without any 2nd years just with the others. Paddled that section with Martijn going first followed by me then Kristie then Chris. I eddied out and was on safety for Kristie. She tipped at the end and i went in for the T-rescue so no problems on that rapid. Tui was on safety on the rocks with a throw bag incase of any problems. Carried on down and had a swim from Kristie as she's gotten stuck upside down and got slightly pinned on a rock. Rest of the section went algood. Portaged the lower grade 3 rapid at the original put in because it was too low. Carried on down the rest of the river playing in the usual waves. Came up to the boulder garden and i got tipped and knocked by a few rocks but rolled back up, Kristie had a swim ad tui tipped but T-rescued. Carnage on that rapid haha. But overall a really good day!

Kayak-Personal

Date: Wed' 22nd June
Location: Arnold
Weather: Cloudy and Drizzle
Group members: Jacob, Ben, Sara
Duration: 1.5hrs approx
Incidents: None

Pritty sweet run on the Arnold after tech. Thought it was gunna be too low having put in at the bridge and every rock was out of the water. Turns out it was algood and the surf waves/holes were awesome to play in. Probably one of the funnest runs on the Arnie so far. Good day!

Survival-Polytech

Date: Tues' 14th-Thurs' 16th June
Location: Arahura Valley
Duration: 3 days
Weather: Drizzle, Cloud
Group Members: TPP Group 2
Key learning: Shelter building, fire lighting, Surviving! :)

Pritty sweet 3 days on survival with little food and cold, miserable weather from day 1 in the evening till day 2 at night. Built an amazing 14man shelter that kept us dry and relitively warm with a 14 man spoon chain going on. haha. 2nd day we went out and built our own shelter. Some people were tough enough to sleep in their's but not me.. along with 6 others. Felt pritty dissapointed the next morning having seen and heard the other's stories and how hard and cold their night was. My shelter was pritty good and dry but at the time of building it i was cold, wet and hungry so unfortunately gave up. that night was relitively warm. kept the fire going for the whole time. Next morning woke up and went to check out everyone elses shelters. after that we kicked them down then pritty much left after a few people swam in the river. Drove back to Hokitika and got shouted fish and chips! then left back to Greymouth.

Ice Climbing-Polytech

Date: Wed 1st-Fri 3rd  June

Location: Franz Josef Glacier

Weather: Fine and Sunny

Duration: 3days

Group members: TPP Group 2

Key learning: How to set up an anchor and V-threads, climbing top-rope on ice.

Headed to Franz on Wednesday morning and Arrived around lunch time. walked to the glacier and spent the rest of the day just getting used to crampons and walking on ice. Awesome sunny weather.

Next day learnt how to set up anchors with ice screws then set them up to climb off. Had a good few goes at it. Pritty sweet and deffinatly differnt to rock climbing.

Last day learnt how to do a V-thread which is just a differnt type of a stronger anchor. Set one of them up to also climb off. weather was still pritty sweet. Really great new experience.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Mon' 6th June
Location: Milltown Gorge
Weather: fine then drizzle.
Duration: whole day was an overall 11hrs!!
Group members: Robbie, Chris H, Chris E, Jacob, Martijn, Todd
Flow: Medium
Incidents: Two swims from Eckies, one swim from Harvey and a loong 4hr wait at the take out with 5 worried kayakers waiting for Todd and Martijn to come back from the shuttle "run"
Key Learning: Take a map so we know where to run the shuttle..

Wellll.. The day started at 10am having left Greymouth at that time to get to Milltown at about 11ish. We got into hokitika and turned down the road that we thought would lead us to the put in. Turns out we did a complete loop that took us back to red shed. We then found our way after that. Got to the put in at around 11.30ish, on the river at around 11.45. Got out and scouted one of the first bigger rapids with Robbie leading running the rapid fine, boofing a rock to the centre of it. I was next and i took to the right more of the rock, got flipped but rolled back up. Everybody else came down after that and had a swim from both the Chris's'. Carried on down stopping at a fuun hole to surf. It was a decent size but had no problems. The rest of the river was okay but then we hit the long 5km approx run out. Passed the red shed and carried on down to the end of the Arahura. By that time, Martijn and todd had gone ahead to run the shuttle through a forestry track that we thought would be pritty straight forward but turns out they got lost. Me, robbie, Jacob and both Chris's' had been waiting at the take out cold for atleast 2.5hrs and started to get worried because it was getting dark. Had no reception so jogged down the road to text people the situation. Texted Dan and told him to come and get us. By this time it was pitch black and about 3 or more hrs had gone by. Todd and Martijn only just turned up as soon as Dan and Jimmy did which was lucky as we were just about to call the cops for a search. Waited for another hour for the shuttle to be driven as todd and martijn never made it to the vans. VERY LONG DAY! but glad no one got lost or hurt. Returned home at 9pm.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Sun' 5th June
Location: Arnold
Weather: Partly cloudy
Duration: 1.5hrs
Flow: Medium
Group members: Chris E, Dan, Todd, Jacob, Robbie.

Relaxed, chill paddle down the Arnold. Put in at the power station at the bridge and had an audience of old people amazed that we were kayaking. haa. had one swim from Chris because Robbie got sucked in a whirly hole so Eckies came to the rescue and ended up tipping over himelf. Jacob was there for the H-rescue but was too late. Other than that no other problems. Was a fun run. Hadn't paddled the Arnie in a while.

Kayak-personal

Date: Saturday 4th june
Location: Crooked river
Duration: 2hrs
Weather: cloudy
Group Members: Chris H, Chris E, Dan, Jacob
River Flow: Medium

Me, Chris H and Jacob ran the first grade 3 rapid. I went down it first because i'd done it before and knew the line. ran it smoothly then eddied out to spot Harvey and Jacob. Minimal problems, no swims or accidents which was good. Kept paddling playing in all the waves that we usually surf. Always a good day on the Crooked.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Saturday 28th May
Location: Arnold
Weather: Partly cloudy with a bit of sun and drizzle
Group Members: Jimmy, Martijn, Adam, Greg, Anthony, Jesse, Zach, Gretchen
Duration: 1hr-1hr 30mins
Flow: High

Had a fun paddle down the Arnie. Hadn't paddled in a while so was a good day! Caught some decent waves but it was a pritty fast run because it was so high. No incidents/swims.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Sunday 8th May

Location: Crooked

Weather: Cloudy, light drizzle

Duration: 2.5hrs
Grade: 3
Group members: Jimmy Jarvie, Martijn, Nick Bishop, Greg lee, Gretchen.

Flow: medium

Incidents: few swims from gretchen. 

Walked up the track to the grade 3 put in. Me, Martijn and Gretchen left our kayaks down the track and walked up to check out the rapid to see if we wanted to paddle it or not. Me and Martijn  decided to do it. We put in behind Greg and Jimmy. Martijn followed down after Greg and i paddled down after jimmy. My line turned out to be one of the best which was a relief. Although the consequences after the rapid is minimal if you roll. Heaps of room to roll back up. Carried on down the river. Ended up rolling twice in one rapid after the big rapid tipping one after another because of hitting into a rock. No Problems though. Headed on down to the gorge and jumped off the high jump again. Met Jimmy at the take out because he'd forgotton his deck so only paddled the top rapid then got out to run the shuttle for us.

Overall it was a successful day.

Kayak- Personal

Date: Sunday 1st May
Location: Murchison- Granity
Weather: Fine and sunny
Duration: 1.5hrs-2hrs
Group members: Jimmy Jarvie, Tom Slee
Grade: 3
Flow: Medium
Incidents: none

Decided to headed up to Murch on Saturday night. Got there at about 9ish and we set up our tents at the granity take out. Lit up a fire and chilled around that till about 1am. Woke up at 9.30am approx and got ready to go paddling. Paddled the Granity rapid with no problems except for a few nerves but followed down Jimmy's line so everything went smoothly. Hadn't paddled anything as big as that before so i was happy as. Paddled on down and played in a few surf waves and holes and got out the river at about 12pm.
Wicked day! stoked i paddled that rapid.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Sat' 30th April
Location: The Crooked
Weather: Fine and sunny
Flow: Low
Grade:  2+
Group Members: Jimmy Jarvie, Kelly Donnolly, Martijn Van Den broeke, Kristie Amadio, Tom Slee, Sam.
Incidents:  one swim from Kelly.

Another sweet day on the Crooked. Took my brother down and he had a real good time. No swims for him. Had fun surfing waves and managed to surf the big wave off the buffer for the first time. Headed into the gorge and jumped off the 12-13m jump! hadn't done that before either. Heaps of fun! Had an awesome day.

Rock-Personal

Date: Thurs' 21st April

Location: Charlston

Weather: fine, warm & sunny

Duration: 4hrs

Members: Me and Jimmy, Simon Barber, Rebecca Ewan.

Grades: 16-21

Key Learning: Building anchors, top rope

Went to Charlston and headed over to climb Racing the Streets first. Me and Jimmy both climbed it then i belayed Jimmy by an Italian Hitch for the first time. Then we went over to Sunset Rib where i set up an anchor to climb off the 19 and 21. Hadn't climbed the grade 21 climb before so was pritty stoked. After that we just had a play round Bouldering for a while then left. Sweeeet Day.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Tues' 19th April
Location: Mikonui
Weather: Fine and sunny
Group members: Jimmy Jarvie, Chris Harvey, Ben Searle
Duration: 3.5hrs
Flow: Low
Grade: 2+3
Incidents: none

Long run down the Mohikinui at a low flow so quite a few of the rapids were boney. Ran a sweet Grade 3 rapid and a few rapids required manoevering around alot of rocks so it was good for my stroke technique. would probably do it another time at a higher flow but was still a good trip.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Sun 17th April

Location: Crooked

Weather: Cloudy but mainly fine.

Grade: 2+

Group Members: Jimmy Jarvie, Chris Harvey, Ben Searle

Duration: 2.5hrs
Incidents: none

Another good run on the Crooked. Flow was a bit lower than the day before so i decided not to run the first grade 3 rapid. Rest of the run was fun tho. surfing on a few waves and having a play around on the buffer wave. Sweet day.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Sat' 16th April
Loaction:  Crooked
Weather: Drizzle, cloudy
Group members: Chris Harvey, Jimmy Jarvie
Duration: 2hrs
Grade: 2+-3
Incidents: I tipped over in a rapid, hitting my head on a rock on the way down and swam.

Went to the Crooked with Jimmy and Chris. Ran the first Grade 3 rapid, following jimmy down the correct line. It was good to paddle a slightly harder rapid and the rest of the run went really good but quite quick as we didn't play around on the Buffer wave etc for long. But still a sweet day.

Bush-Polytech

Date: Tues 22nd March-Fri 25th March

Location: Lewis Pass-Palmer Flat

Weather:  Very windy 1st night & rain then fine for the rest of the tramp.

Group Members: Outdoor Rec, Group 2.

Duration: 4 days

Incidents: Wasp stings but no one who was allergic got stung.

Key Learning: Navigational skills.

Quite a short walk on the 1st day from Lewis Pass to our chosen camp destination. Ended up being a really exposed spot so got hit by some strong wind and rain that night. got up at 7.30am to another cold, windy morning but it became fine in the afternoon. I took over leading that day after ben and lead us to Brass Monkey Bivouac where we stopped and had lunch. We thought that was going to be our camp spot but we got there at bout 2ish so thought we could get more walking out of the day so walked for another 2hrs. set up camp down near a river, cooked tea and made a fire. Woke up to a big frost that morning, had breakfast then Chris Harvey took over leading that day. Did some nav work throughout the day, stopped at a river/swimming hole that Zak jumped into and it was freezing. Carried on till we hit Lake Cristabel hut. Had lunch there, Rata took over leading and made our way round the lake, had a swim then hit our next camp spot for the night at the edge of the lake. Awesome spot with the view of the lake infront of us. Last day we walked for about 3 and a half hours approx to the vans. Really good tramp and great weather.

Rock- Polytech

Date: Tues 29 March-Fri 1st April.
Location: Castle Hill, Charlston, Punakaiki.
Weather: Fine all week-Sunny, warm.
Group members: Outdoor Rec, Group 2
Duration:  1 day
Grades: 17-19
Incidents: none
Key Learning: Bouldering, spotting, building anchors, top rope rescue, lead climbing.

Awesome day at Castle hill, amazing weather, solving good boulder problems and getting taught how to spot correctly. Had about 2 and a half hours climbing there then left. Climbing at Charlston on Wednesday and Thursday working on anchors, setting them up then climbing off them. Climbed the 19 i'd done before, few 18+'s. Also got shown by Rob how to Top rope rescue then practised that aswell as setting up anchors on Thursday. Friday we went to Punakaiki to do lead climbs and practise abseling and the change over to be belayed down. Lead a 18 at the end of the day to strip the climb then left. sweet week overall and really lucky with the good weather we got for it.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Sat' 26th March
Location: Crooked River
Weather: Cloudy, foggy/misty through the gorge but  fine
Group members: Sara Dwyer, Robbie Williams, Jimmy Jarvie, Greg Lee, Anthony Hobern, Mikey Perry, Andy Hall, Nick Bishop & Todd Murray.
Duration: 3hrs

Incidents: Nick surfing a hole, got tipped over and when rolling hit his head on a rock but no major injury.

Key Learning: More technical rapids-running the correct line.

Good run down the Crooked, watched Jimmy, Greg, Anthony & Nick paddle one of the upper crooked rapids then walked back down the track and met them at an easier put in. further down the river we surfed a big buffer wave, did my first unexpected roll so was pritty stoked. Carried on down through some cool rapids into the gorge. Pritty sweet day. Was good to do a different river.

Kayak- Personal

Date: Sunday 20th March
Location: The Arnold
Weather: fine, sunny.
Group members: Sara Dwyer, Zach Thompson, Robbie Williams, Ben Searle, Jacob Shrama, Kristie Amadio, Andrew Hall.
Grade: 2
Key learning: Practising rolling, catching eddys.
Incidents: none.

Another good day on the Arnold. surfing the buffer wave again, and rapids, tipped over on the buffer wave and had to get H-rescued by Robbie as i couldnt roll on it. Overall sweet day.

Kayak- Personal

Date:  Saturday 19th March
Location: The Arnold
Weather: Fine, sunny
Group members:  Zach Thompson, Sara Dwyer, Robbie Williams, Jimmy Jarvie, Jessie Harcourt, Mikey Perry, Grace Flemming, Andy Hall.
Key Learning: Practising rolling and eddying in and out, ferry gliding and rescues.
Grade: 2
Incidents: None.

Had a fun run down the Arnold with the 2nd years. practising my rolling and both sides, alot of eddying in and out behind rocks etc. Had fun surfing a few waves and the buffer wave. good day.

Rock- Personal

Date: Sunday 13th march
Location: Punakaiki
Weather: Warm, fine
Group Members: Jimmy Jarvie, Callum
Key Learning: Getting Technique back and strength.
Grades: 16-18 lead.
Incidents: none

Had a climb at Punakaiki with Jimmy and Callum. Never Climbed there before so it was good to climb somewhere new. Didn't top rope, just Lead climbed a 16-18. The grade 18 was a good overhang, then just set up a top roping system to get belayed down. Wanted a bit of climb so i don't start losing strength and technique again so it was a good day.

Kayak- Personal

Date: Fri' 11th March
Location: Lake Brunner
Weather: Drizzle but warm.
Group members: Ben Searle, Chris Harvey, Kristie Amadio.
Key Learning:  Rolling
Incidents: None

Me, Chris Harvey, Kristie and Ben headed to Lake Brunner to practise rolling. I'd fogotten/misplaced my paddle so i was paddleless until i found out i could share Chris's. Got up every time but could tell my technique wasn't the best. Need to work on not leaning back when i come out of the water after the initiation and following the paddle with my eyes. Have a few things to work on for next time but the more practise the better. Was a really nice, Calm day for it and we had a paddle round to the bridge whilst practising sweep strokes etc. Me and Chris wanted to jump off it so we checked to see if it was deep enough which it was so we jumped off it. Was real fun. Then then after that did a few more rolls then headed back home.

River Crossing-Polytech

Date: Thurs' 10th March
Location: Arahura River
Weather: Sunny & warm.
Group Members: Outdoor Rec Group 2.
Key Learning: Correct ways to cross a river with a group of people and doing it safely.
Incidents: none.

Spent the day at the Arahura river learning river crossing techniques accross different flows of the river. Was really funny trying to cross with me being at the top as the rapids kept making me loose my ground. I couldn't stop laughing so it was a complete mess. :). We also crossed by linking arms, arms over each others shoulders, using a big stick with everyone holding onto it and just trying to cross individually. Then we found a few rapids that we decided to body board down but with our packs which was wicked. Also practised how to et over strainers if you ever get stuck on one. overall was a really fun day. Weather was great for it too which was a bonus. Would deffinatly do it again just for fun.

Navigation-polytech

Date:  Wed' 9th March.
Location: N/A atm
Weather:  Warm, sunny, little wind.
Group Members: Outdoor Rec Group 2.
Key Learning: Navigational Skills-Taking bearings, triangulation, distance and time taken to walk through the bush.
Incidents: none.

Left the shed at about 9.30am after splitting into four groups and reading our map to find our start destination for the day. Start position was the track for pack test hill. Headed up there and started working on navigation skills such as bearings, grid north, magnetic north and triangulation. Kept working on all those skills as we headed up and back down the hills. That introduced distance and time taken to walk that certain distance along with the bearings we took for each new location we walked to. Ended the day by walking 30mins along the road from the finish in Boddytown back to the polytech at 4.30pm.

kayak-Polytech'

Date: 1st-4th March 2011.
Location: Hokitika pool, Greymouth pool, Grey river, Arahura river, & the Arnold river.
Weather: Nice day on the Arahura, drizzle and cold on the Grey and Arnold river.
Group Members: Outdoor Rec Group 2
Grade: 2
Key Learning: Different types of strokes, T-recuing, wet exits, rolling, eddying in and out.
Incidents: none

1st day of kayak we headed to a lake to practise the different types of strokes such as the sweep stroke. Learnt how to T-rescue each other and wet exit. at the end of the day, i got told to try a roll so i gave it a shot and managed to get it, although it was pritty bad i was still stoked i got up. Packed up and left after a good 5-6hr day.
2nd day we headed to the Hokitika indoor pool and got taught how to roll. To actually come out with the correct way to roll was a really good feeling at the end of the day. Then we intended on paddling the Arahura river but it was too high from the night before so we went to the Grey river instead. There, we got taught how to paddle in and out of eddies correctly and practised rolling in the eddies aswell. Good day overall.
3rd day we went to the indoor pool in Greymouth to go over our rolls and practise them more before heading to the Arahura river which wasn't as high as the day before. Was a really nice warm day too which was sweet. Went over more eddy work and a few rolls in a small current/rapid which made me a little more confident. We headed more down the river to a slightly bigger rapid where i purposly rolled over my kayak and tried to roll back up twice but didn't get it. Tried for a T-rescue but got out of breath and had to wet exit. That made my confidence go down a bit but the river was really good to paddle. Had a fun day.
4th day we went strait to the Arnold for the whole day. At the start of the river we got told to roll just in the eddy we were in and mine went to pieces. My initiation was off  so failed the roll a couple of times. Didn't make me too happy about it because my confidence goes. More down the river we were just practising getting in and out of eddy's again and 's' turns then had a go at the buffer wave. Fun four days of kayak.

Rock-Polytech'

Date: Tues' 22nd-Fri' 25th Feb.
Location: Greymouth Civic Centre, Charlston.
Weather: Tuesday-indoors, Wednesday-Friday was fine and warm until friday when it drizzled so went back to Greymouth to Civic Centre.

Had an indoor climbing session on Tuesday for an introduction to it all. Putting on harnesses correctly, using a Gri Gri and ATC, learning techniques to climbing and how to lead and clip correctly etc. Did some climbing on top rope and lead. Managed to get to the 2nd clip on the roof on lead and climbed from grade 18-20 top rope and some lead. had a good day. Was good to get back into climbing again after a few months of not doing it.
Wednesday-Friday we headed to Charlston. Got to the camp site and set up tents then headed to the rocks. Awesome place, great scenery and a new place to climb. learnt a few knots and how to use natural protection by finding safe cracks in the rocks to place them then climbed for the rest of the day.
Next day had an overview and a quick re-cap of the day before then put the practise of placing natural pro into action. Learnt how to set up anchors and was able to climb off them which was a good feeling. Wicked day.
Friday we woke up to drizzle so decided it wasn't the best weather for climbing back at the rock. It would've been unsafe and slippery so we headed back to Grey to learn how to abseil back at the Civic Centre. Had a good few goes at doing that. Using the prusic's to learn top rope rescue, then the correct way to abseil back down from a climb. Really good, informative day then after that climbed for a bit, left at 4.30ish. Fun 3days.

bush- polytech'

Amazing sunset from our campsite on the 2nd day

with the view of the ridge we walked up on the 1st day.

Date: Tuesday 15th-Thursday 17th Feb.
Location: Paparoa Ranges (Barrytown- Moonlight track.)
Weather: sunny, hot, little wind.
1st day of the 3day tramp-4hr walk, quite alot of uphill most of the way. after two hours approx walking i took over leading the group. Had to pick an appropriate spot to set up camp and found a spot that was quite flat and close to a water supply but had alot of flax bushes. We thought the flax was going to be a slight problem but ended up being pritty good. ended up just placing our tents over the bushes. got everything unpacked and started cooking tea. Todd forgot to bring our vegetables and some other food for the trip so we had beef stirfry without the veges', onion, and satay sauce. Turned out really good. had a debrief later on then headed to sleep.
2nd day- woke up at 7.30am left camp at 9.30am. changed leaders, worked out where abouts we were headed for the day then left. took about 2hrs to get to our camp destination. set up camp there then ditched the weight in our packs except for water and first aid kit then headed off walking again. our intention was to get to Mt Anderson which took abut 3 and a half hrs-4 hours there and back. Alot of bush bashing and loss of track which is why it took so long getting there but quicker coming back. got back to camp, had mince, potato and onion for tea, another debrief later on after watching the sunset then bed.
3rd day- Woke up at 7am and left for 8-8.30am. walked down Moonlight track which took about 4hrs. really sore feet by the end of it as i didn't really have the most ideal boots for tramping in. but overall really good trip. had a good time.