I Climbed a Mountain!

Since CB and Audrey had booked a few days off work for me coming to visit we decided to do as much as possible while they were off to try and see all of the sites. Even though we only got back to Wanaka at about 10.30pm yesterday we were still all up bring an early to meet up with some of their friends and take on the local mountain knows as Roy’s Peak. This mountain is 1258m high and is a round trip of about 15km which doesn’t sounds like crazy high numbers until you get up there and actually start walking it. I think we were only about 10 mins into the walk before most of us were feeling damaged and starting to regret the fact that we had decided to take on a 6 hour hike. CB still had damaged ribs from the mountain bike accident that he had a few days before and we struggling from the start but like a true boyo kept on powering through. Magic Mike and Cindy were off like shot and leading the way all the way up like hiking wasn’t even a think. The higher we got the better the views started to get and the more appreciation you had for the climb. After around 2 hours of tiring work the idea started to set in that this was going take us a long time and that there would be plenty more pain before we actually to the summit and back down again but still we powered through.

About 2 thirds of the way up any moral that we still had was completely shattered with the arrival (and quick departure) of Mr Motivator. The guy in question was an old man in his mid sixties who said Hi to us as he jogged passed us and onwards into the distance. At this point Myself, Chris and Audrey were taking one step at a time and hadn’t seen the others in the group for at least 45 mins so getting overtaken by a guy old enough to be our granddad was a truly shattering blow that left us regretting some of our life choices and overall fitness levels. Even with this big hit to moral we still powered on, forever telling ourselves that we only had 30 mins left while knowing full well it would take us at least 4 more hours to get to the peak and back down again.

The higher we got the cooler the temperature started to become. About 1km from the stop the the sun decided to dip behind a big grey cloud and that was the signal that it was I’m to put the hoodies back on and carry on climbing. Luckily the effort of the climb was enough to keep you warm and so we kept plodding on towards our goal, already able to see our comrades at the summit. On the final push myself and CB had an idea born out of laziness and stubbornness. There was a track that lead straight up the last bit of the mountain of a very precarious and steep track that was more of a climb than a walk. We decided to go this way as a “short cut” to avoid having to walk around and hopefully cut a projected 10 mins off of the final part of our assent. It was tough going and as soon as we started we realised that we had made a poor life choice but had come too far to admit our mistake. We powered on up that stupid climb safe in the knowledge that we would at least beat Audrey who had opted for the safer and longer route of the path that looped around the top. Tired and damaged we pushed out way over the final mound to have motivation shattered yet again when we looked forwards and saw that Audrey was in front of us on the trail. Our way may have been “shorter” however that really didn’t help when we kept having to rest all the way up.

When we finally reached the top there was celebration all around, probably because the other guys had already been there for half an hour and it was freezing. When we first started the walk the top of the mountain was actually hidden away in a cloud and we couldn’t even see it. Although this has started to clear now the temperature had really dropped to a point that it had even started to snow. It was only a few random flakes every now and again but not the sort of thing you want to hang around for when you know you have a 3 hour decent ahead of you.

Here is where the fun begins. As much difficulty as myself (with my crappy knee) and CB (with his cracked ribs) had had getting up the mountain, it turns out that going back down again was a whole different ball game. due to the way my right knee bends it means that I always keep landing really heavily on my left leg which makes descending anything seriously un-fun, especially when it is seriously steep and uneven. CB was also quick to discover that the shock from taking a step would vibrate through his body and cause him to feel like he was having a mini heart attack as the rib pain shot across his chest. Not really a good thing when you know exactly how far it is to get back down again and know there is nothing that you can do apart form man up and deal with it without complaining too much. Our decent was a slow one full of pain but as the hours went by we slowly got lower and lower and closer to our target. The depressing part was that it seemed that no matter hos long you were walking for or how far you had done down the car never seemed to get any closer as if someone was moving it a little further away each time you turned your back on it.
After we finally got down it was time for a well needed Coffee so we headed over to a little coffee shop called Kai overlooking the lake to grab some drinks and have a well needed sit down. CB and Audrey were still in the process of moving to a new place and still needed to grab the last of their stuff that night before we finally went for something to eat. While chatting Mike mentioned Frisbee golf and somehow my desire to play with a Frisbee overruled the pain I was feeling from the hike and I agreed to go along and play a few holes with him. It is such a simple concept and so easy to set up a course that I don’t know why we don’t have them back home in all of the big parks. All that you need is a start point and then a little cage to catch the disc and then you can play. I know I certainly would play it all the time if there was actually somewhere to play it near to home but it seems you have to travel really far to find anything simple and free like that back at home.

Somehow after disc golf Mike convinced me that I needed to join him to play volleyball with a group of people who meet up all the time to play. I thought that there would just be a couple of people using a makeshift net and just having a laugh and when we turned up I was right. There was just me, Mike and 3 other people there on time so it seemed like all was lost for a while. All of a sudden though people seemed to come out of the woodwork and soon we had over 20 people on multiple teams playing away on a court that they put up with a proper net and boundaries marked out properly with spray chalk. The music was playing and the drinks were flowing while a group of people I have never even met seamlessly accepted me into their little group and we just played away all day. It seems like that is the mentality over hear though, everyone is friendly and chilled out and you probably have to be a real dick to make any enemies. Unfortunately all of the fun was cut short when CB called me to let me know we needed to get ready for dinner. With all of the fun of the day it had slipped my mind that I had not really eaten all day as my body had kind of gone past the hunger.

We ended up going out for a pub dinner with a few other people and having some good conversation and with good company before heading home for an early(ish) night. even though it was St. Patrick’s day and the local Irish bar was in full swing I don’t think any of us could have handled it was we all seem to be broken people.

My plans for New Zealand have now come to an end as I didn’t really plan that much to do here and was going to make it up as I go along. It is now time for me to do some of that making up business and get an idea of what I am going to do. I have no clue but I am kind of looking forwards to it all.

The future is certainly going to be interesting.