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.