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.