Today was spent being active. A bunch of us drove out to New Brighton to get some surfing in before the afternoon rush to catch the larger waves courtesy of the incoming tide. After $20 kiwi to hire a wetsuit and board we hit the surf for a few hours. The surfing was great! 3 foot swells and a decent day as far as the weather was concerned. For me being from the mid-Atlantic...this is pretty impressive. Considering that we all just got back from Antarctica, we weren't in the best swimming shape. By the time we were done, our eye, ears, stomach, and lungs were full of seawater. We could barely walk or carry our boards but we were all smiles. I dropped two of my friends, Jack and Justin, off so they could get ready for a trip in the South Island backcountry. This was good-bye for us after nearly 5 months of living and working together. I dropped my friend Kelly off at her hotel and preceded with my friend Adam to
Lyttelton.
Lyttelton was a big surprise to us as neither of us had been there or heard about it before. Lyttelton is a harbor town where a lot of container ships come and get loaded up for their various global journeys and destinations.
While in Lyttelton, Adam and I realized our proximity to some pretty decent and easy cliffs so we decided to head to the hills above Lyttelton and try to get some climbing in before the sun set. Our drive took us on a windy two lane road littered with bikers hell bent for the bottom of the mountain. One bike came so close to us I ended up in a ditch as I swerved not to hit him. Unfortunately this left me with one flat tire and ideas as to what I'm going to tell the rental company how I lost a hub cap down a 400 foot cliff. As we fixed our tire, Adam and I took this time to take in the view and the serenity of the country side.
It was nice not to be stuck in the metropolis that is Christchurch...even if our time is spent changing a spare. 15 minutes later we were back on the road with a little bit more diligence towards the kamikaze bikers careening down from where ever they come from. We made it to a place called Castle Rock (yes, there's one in New Zealand as well) and started hiking to the base of it. We climbed a small chimney and rappelled down in order to beat the sunset. Throughout the entire climb we would stop and absorb the view of the Christchurch metro area below us.
We got back into Lyttelton later that night to enjoy pizza and a few beers. After completely destroying our bodies throughout the day, we slept well...and probably for the first time before 11 PM...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment