i'm alive

so....i kind of gave up on blogging once i left nz. i didn't feel the need to keep ppl updated on my life. but i am alive. isn't that wonderful? i think it's wonderful. i love being alive.
well - i was sure to keep myself busy with a quite full on schedule. i left nz in early april and it pained me so that i cried. that is big for me. it took everything i had to not run from the runway back into the airport and ask john kapa to take me back to heather's house and stay there forever, but alas, i flew to sydney. which was exciting and fun and rainy. i somehow ended up in king's cross by myself (that's the redlight district ps) but i was never scared or worried, the flying foxes and giant spiders did a much better job of that. but i think the highlight of the trip was the 1st day we were there adn were lugging ALL our luggage down the street and up the hill to a member's house where we were stowing it. we looked ridiculous...we found a shopping cart that was broken and that just made things worse but no worries....we prevailed.
then it twas off to fiji. tropical paradise. scuba diving and private white sandy clear water beaches. everything ws cheap, we'd catch toads adn gekos in the resort hostel thingy. delicious food and cake for $1. we were livin the life....
then home again home again. sure enough i called it....my family had signs at the airport and my mom cried. (2nd time in my life i've seen that.) they gave me cafe rio and had yellow ribbons all over the house....they are so funny.
4 days later - to their dismay it was back to moab. my one true love....otehr than nz of course. they are pretty much tied.
it was my 2nd yr working as a guide for world wide river expeditions. i am now a white water captain (aka guide 1). i feel pretty cool. this meant i was always in cahrge and we had some pretty crazy stuff go on. dislocated jaw, finger cut straight through, missing duckies, multiple rescues due to high water. it was a high water yr and we were loving it. we could do over 15 miles of water in nearly 2 hrs without paddling or rowing....the daily was actually fun. westwater was unrunnable because the rapids were flushed out and all it was was nasty eddies. cataract.....73,000 cfs (imagin 73,000 basketballs passing 1 spot in 1 second....that's how much water there was.) 40 ft waves. 25 ft and below were considered the small ones. oh man! thsi was the year for guiding.
i love moab so much!
i actually got a real commercial trip. yes! off the daily. i tl'ed a deso trip. 5 days. i was training christa. i've only done deso twice, both training, this meant i've never rowed the entire thing before, never done a real commercial trip - i swamped cat once last yr. - don't know where to camp on deso - which is a MUST KNOW - and....i'm tl??? nicki said i'd be ok. i had a map. and all the food and gear....so i gave my dear sister - lisa - my free trip and she helped me out. trip of a lifetime. lisa, christa, and i! oh my dear goodness it was FANFREAKINTASTIC! i LOVED IT! and our passengers were AWESOME!!! we made t shirts, and ran around naked on the beach, and had a talent show, and had great food, and played in cow swim, and had great camp spots, and danced, and got attacked by mosquitos the 1st night....yuck....but it was fantastic and above all.....GREAT weatehr and NO wind. oh yeah, in the canyon where god invented wind there was none.....beauty.
anyway....i also had a wee moab flingy-spell. his name was derek and he was from FL - i don't do long distance, so it ended when i left for home. but it was fun while it lasted. he's a great kid. good friend. twas a fun adventure.

ummm....now i'm back at byu. working hard, or pretending to do so. and really hating school and provo. if anyone needs an adventure call me. cuz i always do!

the men in my life

i know that BYU has a strict policy of no dating on study abroads, but that doesn't mean i have no men in my life.
have you calmed yourself? i know you are probably all jumping for joy at the thought of me having a man in my life further more two.
Well i'm sorry to burst your bubble but Clarence and Elroy aren't human. sorry.
I'll start with how i first met Clarence, for it was he that lead me to Elroy.
It was a fine Tuesday Morning (not the shop) i got up, ran 9 miles, then Katie Jo and I biked out to Anderson Park to go hedge jumping.
-they have this incredibly thick hedge that you run and jump into and you bounce off.
i had been before and we discovered we could crawl inside and then up the trunks and
branches of the hedge and get on top. we call it hedging. -
Anyway, we arrived and there he was. about 10-12 feet high, green, strong, pokey and covered in BYU students. (Clarence is the name of the hedge. He is Steve and Wayne's 2nd cousin, twice removed)
when we arrived people were already there and on top but this time, i decided to be "hard core" as kids call it these days and climb up Clarence's face. I was about 8 or so feet off the ground when i got stuck in a hole. so i side climbed to get out and i began my ascent when my hands slipped from Clarence's grasping branches and fell. down down down i went and i landed. BOOM! at first i thought i was fine. then i collapsed in instant pain!
i rolled my ankle bad. the pain ceased not after too long. so i RICEd. and it brusied and swelled up real nice. it didn't even look like a foot. so i named it Elroy.

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!

The Routeburn Track! this is me and Jakapo on a bridge admiring the beauty all around us. isn't it incredible??? this is before it started raining....











Routeburn. It started raining shortly after we began...but that just added extra beauty, and funny memories, but unfortunately, less pictures

So it rained, and rained, and rained. Did i mention it rained. ps: i was keeping my feet warm next to the stove.

The end. It was still raining ps. we were daring and went out for a pic in our dry clothes....

Climbing in Wanaka. This was probably the BEST thing i've done in NZ thus far. 3 days devoted to climbing! it was SO GREAT!
Climbing Tombstone in Wanaka.

The view from the top of pitch 1 Me ascending pitch 2

70 m abseil from the multi-pitch....ps this is ramsay, not me...sorry.

Logan teaching me the ways of the shears...yes, i sheared a sheep. and it was great!

Well, i'm LOVIN NZ and having the time of my life! i hope that everyone else is having a swell time back home doing whatever you are doing. let me know how you all are!

EXTRA EXTRA!!!!

so i kinda forgot that i had a blog.....sorry all. i promise pictures soon ok.
so i went on routeburn. it was amazing. absolutely beautiful. unfortunately i don't have a lot of pictures because it rained....the ENTIRE TIME! no joke. it prolly started drizzling 10-15ish minutes into the hike, we got to the hut and it started pouring. it poured all night, all the next day (which we spent in tents) and all the next day. literally 72 hrs of rain. anybody ever experience that on a tramp? it is great. glad thing i had all my handydandy rain gear. quite honestly my feet were the driest things on me. go gortex boots! but since it was consistant rain i just plumb forgot it was raining. and then there were waterfalls EVERYWHERE! absolutley stunning. i wish i had one of the undersater digital cameras likey dougie and skyler. too bad. but the trail was simply a river/waterfalls. i actually did scale a waterfall. i don't think i'll ever feel wet again. not even when i'm in the ocean.
i also had the greatest experience of my life! we went on a 3 day climbing trip in wanaka! it was SO FUN! i learned to lead climb and i can lead like a 5.7 or 5.8ish. more like a 5.7. it's not too hard but still. i was proud. especially cuz i haven't really climbed since like oh i'd say october...i've done a little indoor stuff here and there and a few days of indoor here but that's it. so i was proud. and my instructor, john kapa, let me and 2 other boys and 1 other girl do a climb on tombstone called the classic. anyway, it's a MASSIVE crack! and it was SO FUN! i felt special! cuz i was 1 of 2 girls allowed to place gear while leading. the 1st to lead. (others got to learn to lead on gear i placed). oh man, i sound so cocky. but it was just a REALLY big deal to me! and to make matters bettter john kapa invited me and 2other boys on a multi-pitch climb for the last day in wanaka! it was SO AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL! i LOVED it! seriously. that 3 day trip has been the best part of my new zealand experience. no joke.
and to tack on a few other cool things. i sheared a sheep yesterday! it is hard. they are huge! and funny looking! and heavy! and strong! and you have to pin them between your legs. it was fun, but difficult. hard hard work. and let me see. oh yeah, i made some poi balls at enrichment last night. i'll teach you when i get home. and for enrichment katie jo and i made homemade chips and guacamole. i don't think i've seen anything disappear quicker except that time we went to denny's at 2:30 am for ally rick's birthday and alarie elyssa and i split that apple crumbly thing.
anyway, gotta split! bye!

such is life

well, i'm into the routine, or shall i say "ritual" of life now. nz is great and i love invercargill. nothing too special has really happened.
basically this is my life.
i naturally wake up between 630 and 7 and i go on a run for 30-60ish minutes
then i read
then i get ready for school (which = put on swimsuit/stinky clothes), i make lunch and eat breakfast
then i ride my bike 15 min to school
then i either go kayaking or surfing. i just had my kayaking test, so we're done kayaking now. i can go through grade 1 rapids. go me. i LOVE surfing! it is my new passion in life! for real. i've now been 3 times. the biggest wave i've hit is probably 5-7 ft. the first time i dropped down a face i wrecked, but not hard. it was really windy and rainy, and my board smacked me in the face when i was carrying it to shore. i couldn't hear out of my right ear for about 15 minutes. oh well. it was so fun! haeree (my friend) and i dropped down 2 or 3 good faces. but mostly we were getting MASACRED by the giant powerful waves. i took my first wipeout. it wasn't hard to fine the surface cuz it was pretty shallow and there were no rocks or reef so no ouchies, but i was discombobulated when i got up. i was like whoa, where are the waves. oh there they are and i paddled right back out and kept going. oh and one time i rode all the way to shore so i jumped off and went to jump on my board and all the sudden CLUNK! the wind had picked it up and smacked my noggin w it in the 2 seconds i was off it. goose egg. hehe.....
isn't my schooling ruff???
we started our rockclmibing unit yesterday. we were just at a ropes course. i did a nice overhang climb. (lisa you would have been proud) it was prolly a 5.10 i think. they have a diff rating system here they said it was like a 14 or 15 and they said that's like a 5.10 i dunno. but i did it! yay! it was fun! i can't wait to get back into climbing again.
anyway. that is school monday-wednesday. on thursdays my morning routine is the same but i have family recreation for 3 hours. i have to sit in a classroom for 3 hours! life is ruff! oh adn on tuesdays i have the history of the church in nz. it is so good! evening class. my sunday school teacher/branch pres' wife, jenni ngahooroo, teaches it. and we learn a lot of maori culture and how that all sets into our church coming and being successful here. (my branch pres is maori so we learn WAY cool stuff! jenni is pakeha (not maori).)
on top of all that i have to get 70 hrs of service for my internship. i have 32.5 hrs. we've been chopping wood to sell for orpahn's aid, a great organization, if you want info on how to contribute to orphan's aid let me know. i'm in charge of all the projects we do with them. and we put together a party for the branch. that was REALLY fun! there are some pics of that on facebook under pics of me (i didn't take em. haeree did) and we're painting that playground, cleaning up a cemetary, working w the ymca, just lots of stuff. it is really fun.
then of course i have church, going out of town and playing!
speaking of going out of town, i'm going on the routeburn track tomorrow. 3 day backpacking trip. it's kinda posh. they have toilets and huts and water. i'm stoked cuz i don't have to pack a waterfilter or pack out my toilet paper. so that will be loverly.
but yeah, all is well. i love nz. if i think of any other funny stories.....well, perhaps i'll just let you read my journal when i get back. i'm much better at writing in that than on this.

Brief Overview of the Trip

Ready for Blackwater Rafting! - Waitomo and i think this beach is in Greymouth...

Waiting for the ferry at Wellington.....and look at the size of our kiwis!

ps mom: these two are a bit of the beauty that is found in Queen's Park, Invercargill

This is part of the playground that we are working on. It is almost done. it looks SO MUCH better now! seriously, the tagging was wretched! it hurt my soul to see primary kids reading and writing these types of things.

Lake Alta, the Remarkables - Queenstown

happy birthday to me! bungy jumping 134 m (440 ft) in queenstown! next, to make my birthday BETTER we went river boardingand finally...my new passion in life....surfing!