Viva Italia!!!

Initially I was bummed out about leaving Wales and coming to Italy... but that idea has completley changed now!!!!!

The sunset over Assisi and Rocca Maggiore (castle we rapell the juniors off)

Assisi is absolutely gorgeous and so is all of Umbria (surrouding Province), the crew are wicked and work is sweet. 40 degrees days, presenting 20 minute seminars to over 120 students some days (which I'm lovin!!!), abseil guiding the other days, drinking plenty of great coffee and wine, getting free gelato everyday, climbing and travelling round Italy on days off... to me that equals a sweet deal - so I think getting deported aint all that bad!!!

Climbing at 'Pale' ("par-lay")

Still pastie-white but lovin the Mediterrean beaches

Check out the Italian BBQ!!! One huge cattle beast on the spit, puts our NZ bbqs to shame

Toga party... welcom to the gun show

Scuxing it up at our cocktail party with Jess and Kees

Getting deported from the UK

London… it’s an interesting place. I had such a wicked week there with Elliecat (Aussie mate I met in Canada) in late May this year. Pretty much I attempted the tourist buzz during the day but just ended up sleeping in parks the whole day and drinking cider with Ellez at night – 2 very good ways to get over a 32 hour long journey from NZ and jetlag!!!!!

Highlights were Canmore Markets, Aussie Rules in the park, making friends with random homeless people and laughing at the stupidness of ‘the changing of the guards’ outside the Royal Palace and jumping up on that Lion infront of hundreds of people looking quite strangely at me. Classic

Me and Bex laughing at the interesting toilet positioning in Wales

Then I headed off to stay with Rach (English mate from Tech) and went to Wales together to start our jobs for an NZ company called Full On. Upon arrival however I was informed off some serious issues concerning work visas etc and that I probably would not be able to work in Wales anymore because I didn’t have a visa/UK passport.

Phenryn Castle in Wales where the Full On abseil site is

Now I have a question for all of yol…. Has anyone ever been deported from a country? Well neither have I but if I use those terms then it will make this story sound extreme!!!!

So after a few days of stressing (by my boss actually, as I was very naïve and in denial about the whole situation!!) she told me that I could not work for them in Wales at all…and that I was getting DEPORTED to Italy!! Turns out that EU customs people don’t have problems with people working in their country without visas (go figure) so a few days later I was on a flight to Rome with the goal of reaching Assisi and working on the Italian Full On site a couple weeks later. I was bummed out at first but now have grown to love the idea!!!!

Many many many missions to come ...

My last week in NZ was spent with one of my fav girls Miss Sofaloafa laterial (Sophie Hoskins). We loaded the car with all the outdoor gear you could possibly imagine and set off around the Central North Island for a jam packed week of adventures and classic times.

We hung out in the Kaweka Ranges, met weird hunters and ‘horticulturalists’, went hot pooling, attempted to climb Mt Ngarahuai but unfortunately retreated due to terrible weather, cooked soooooo much dahl on the fire every night, drank far too much wine then called friends and Sophs boyfriend and left embarrassing messages on their phones only to regret/laugh about it later, had a crazy day on the Luge in Rotorua (“slingshot…engage!!!!!”), drove 100’s of km’s and ended in Hamilton for one last wild night on the booze together for at least a year.

It was one of the funniest and most classic weeks of my life!!!! Soph… “You’re my best friend forever”. We succeeded in having classic times but didn’t even take the boats off the roof or got out our climbing gear once!!! Hehehe good times

Aoraki Bound

Aoraki Bound is an OutwardBound course based on Ngai Tahu values, beiefs and ideals, with the purpose of reuniting our community and teaching more kiwis about Ngai Tahu and Maoridom in NZ.

Pounamu fever at Mika Mason's house in Hoki

The course started in Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds and finished at the base of Aoraki 20 days later!!

Beautiful Aoraki in the distance

It was a fantastic mission which included tramping in snow storms and flash floods, paddling waka-ama 30km across Lake Pukaki, learning heaps of Teo Reo Maori, an agonizing 25km running race, meeting 11 other amazing people and being filmed for Maori TV!! In a word...Classic!!

The Arahura River in MASSIFF flood

Crystal clear day paddling over Lake Pukaki with Aoraki looming ahead

I would highly recommend it to every NZer as it opened my eyes and my heart to a language and culture that I previously didn't know enough about.

Kelz, Me and Megz after just reaching Hokitika, home of Pounamu

Margot

On the 25th of February 2007 my beautiful and absolutely inspirational auntie Margot Clayton unfortunately lost her long battle with cancer. The funeral was in Auckland a few days later and was absolutely beautiful. She looked gorgeous in her woven casket, overlooking the pool she swam in every morning up until her death. Her 3 children Anna, Jessie and Freddie would have made her so proud how strong and mature they were that day. 60 people were estimated to attend the funeral and over 200 arrived. I will always remember from that day is that ‘the last thing we know about ourselves is our effect”. I hope so much that Margot knew how her constant positive attitude affected all those lucky enough to be around her. She won the hearts of everyone that met her instantly and she loved those around her so much that you couldn’t help but smile every time she was around. She is still greatly missed, but her memory will be treasured forever. RIP Miss Margot

Kiwi summer in Murch

After returning to back home to beautiful NZ, having a wee welcome home partai, an awesome New Years at Sophs bach, and hanging out with Hua alot, I got fairly bored of home and decide to pack up shop and move to Murchison with my tent and kayak as I hadn’t been boating in over a year. Hitched down, got a job at the local pub, sent up my (massiff) tent and I was away laughing.

Home sweet home for 3 months

There were still plenty of people around to go boating with and so the summer was filled with kayaking during the day, working in the restaurant after that and usually drinking with Ben and Jenny and Murch crew after wards.

Trying not to crack up and look at the camera while paddling EQ

This was where my obsession with Telladaga Nights began!! Massiff shout outs to the rest of the Telladaga fan club...you know who you are...shake n bake!!!!

After 3 months in the campground I moved in with Ben, Jenny and Polly and gave up my tent and boating to having a house and being able to sleep in. Heres some shots of the fantastic ‘cultural’ dress up party we had – BRILLIANT!!!!!

Can anyone guess who the black guy is????

Then along came Bullerfest - a 3 day kayaking competition which consists of an xtreme race, kayak and raft Slalom, and a big air comp. Ben, Jenny, Joe, Corey, Joelie B and me represented as team Shake 'n Bake in the raft race - it was AWESOME!!! Wicked to have the whole crew down here so we could party hard and have some great times at night as well as during the day... because at Bullerfest theres always plenty of time for shanonagins at the pub and after party!!

Team shake'n bake!!

Hua after he 'rocked the buller' party

Thai stylez

Trip #1
Had 2 weeks in Thailand after Cambodia which I spent 2 days in crusty but fun Bangkok, and 2 weeks travelling through 3 islands on the Southern East Coast called Koh Samui (huge and commercial), Koh Phangan (home of the full moon parties)and Koh Tao (one of the best diving spots in the world.


Beautiful places and met some really amazing people on my travels. I turned up at Koh Phangan by myself and within 2 hours I had a crew of 22 people and having the time of my life!!!


I stayed in Koh Tao for a week with Fran and Flo (girls I work with in Malaysia) and did my Advanced dive cert by day (which was so awesome) and drunk alot of Thai booze buckets by night!!! The diving was unreal, 30m deep dives with sharks, the most amazing coral and tropical fish in the world and weather that couldn't be failted!!!

Trip #2
I finished work with WC and headed off to Ton Sai, a small bay on the mainland just below Phuket which is a climbing Mecca and an absolutely fantastic place!!!



I was supposed to stay there for 3 days then go back to Koh Tao to party with Gav, Ross, Fran and Flo again but it was just way too good in Ton Sai that I couldn’t leave and I stayed there for the rest of my trip in South East Asia.


The climbing as outstanding, the beaches were beautiful, the people were so laid back and friendly and of course the weather was perfect. I only had 10 days there but it would be an easy place to stay for months!!!

Cambodia

Immediately after I left the Puteri Mahsuri I went on a much needed holiday to the outstanding country of Cambodia, it was excellent especially after being cooped up onboard the ship where I could only walk 50 meters at a time in one direction.




Cambodia is absolutely incredible, I would recommend it to anyone and everyone!! The people are absolutely gorgeous especially considering their dark and extremely recent history, the Siem Reap temples and ruins are absolutely breath taking, the countryside can be explored by boat, bus or tuk tuk which is an experience in itself, and the vibe the cities have are phenomenal!!



2 weeks there was perfect but I would still go back there in a second if given the opportunity.

The mighty Puteri Mahsuri

5 days after leaving Canada, I arrived on Langkawi Island, 30km from the boarder of Thailand and Malaysia. This Island is surrounded by 98 Islands in high tide and 103 in low tide. It is absolutely breath taking and the weather was a vast contrast to what I was used to in Canada.

I went there to work for the Malaysian Wilderness centre taking groups of Malaysian teenagers on 5 day OE coursess, but immediately got transferred to work / live onboard the ‘Puteri Mahsuri’ (a 70m long square rig tall sailing ship) for a month to teach the Royal Malaysian Navy and Ministry of Education Officials how to sail the ship on 5 and 10 day long courses.
















I was excited about the idea until I got onboard I realized a few things…
1) There were no other women onboard
2) There were 60 other dudes onboard
3) I was the only English speaking native
4) Everyone else were Muslim men; who are brought up to just socialize with the men and then eventually just marry the women – not actually be friends with them in the middle!!
5) Communication between me and the others would be virtually non existent.
6) This was a massive sailing ship which had 11 sails and 98 ropes, no winches and no modern equipment to help sail it.
7) I needed to learn everything about how to sail this monstrosity in 3 days before I would instruct my first group.
8) The person who taught me how to sail it could not speak much English and I definitely could not speak much Malay.
9) My students most likely would not speak much English either.
10) It was a Muslim ship so no alcohol was allowed onboard.
11) And the only time I could leave the ship was when the guys went to the Mosk for Friday prayers… if there was enough room for me on the support boat.















First month was hell – To sum it up I was super lonely, home sick, stranded and bored for an entire month - but I asked to stay on for another month so that I could attempt to make the most of it… the next month I made a huge effort to learn the language, become mates with the crew and students onboard, and learn as much as I could about sailing and Malay life.





It was one of the best months of my life. I absolutely loved it. I did not hold back for a second and made sure I was learning and speaking the language at every moment possible and talking to the guys constantly. Some of the crew felt like second brothers to me, I fell in love with the ship and couldn’t imagine going back to living on land.



Hey I even got a few marriage proposals!!!!






I lived onboard for a total of 103 day. It was the craziest, weirdest and most liberating experience of my life!!!

Winter Goodness in BC, Canada

For 5 months in the Northern Hemisphere 06/07 winter I got to ride the most beautiful powder in the world at Silver Star Mountain, Vernon, BC, Canada. It was an absolute winter wonderland and I loved every single minute of it. My days consisted of about 8-12 hours working, 2-10 hours skiing or boarding, 4-6 hours drinking at Long Johns Pub and a few hours sleeping. It was a fantastic way to work, live and play at the same time. My days off were even better.



I met so many amazing people and would love to go back again. I now am a complete snow snob and can not imagine skiing on man made snow… or anything less than a 2m base and 30cm of powdery goodness.




I lived in beautiful 444 Monashee Rd with 4 Canadian dudes and 2 Aussie dudes… we could drop off our back door through 2 feet of powder onto the cat track on the way down to the lift…just to get first tracks through knee deep powder on the daily basis!!! Mmm beautiful, I still dream about that snow.