bivys and new zealand spainiards

have you ever heard of a bivy?? it is short for bavawack. have you ever slept under a bivy? cuz i sure have. i thought i knew a lot about tramping. that was until we started going survival style...kinda. aka, no tents. the 1st night we built our bivy, pretty good for amateurs. i stayed nice 'n roasty toasty. in fact, i was sweating. could be the fact i was nicely nestled between jakapo and tony (dont tell byu, but it twas for my survival here.) but anyway, NZ is not like Utah where you can almost always plan on no rain, and if it does rain, you can throw a tarp over you and be fine. it rains, a lot. needless to say, it rained. and our bivy proved true. a few people on the edges got a wee bit wet, but that was it. night 2 we were all dry. and covered in frost in the morning (the outside).
to go alongside my survival tramping trip we had no trails. bushwacking thru the NZ bush with only a map, a compass, and the knowledge we have gained to guide us. no help from the instructors. it was fun! and that is that. we tramped through the bush, (the BLM would be furious at what we did) i have to say we fell through trees, broke trees, etc. but worst of all was the spainiards. these evil plants that look like flax and you think would be nice. but oh no, no sir. they draw blood. evil......evil.....
but having said that. the trip was great! i couldn't have done it without the aid of group B, a map, 1 tube brace, 1 ankle brace, and a dang good pair of hiking boots!