Kayak trip #1

So this weekend was the Kayak trip out to Lake Tekapo, in the shadow of Mt. Cook, which is the tallest mountain in NZ. The area is located in the province of Otago although much closer to the western coast and farther north than Dunedin. Given this, the weather was really warm and sunny, and the scenery was fantastic!

On Friday night we headed out from the "Clubs & Socs" building of campus. There were probably 20 people in total from the Kayak club on the trip- we travelled in a white van pulling the world's ghetto-est trailer containing 20 boats, paddles, helmets etc. and some assorted cars. Laura, my flatmate and I went with Mike and Phil, (pronounced Myke and Phull), two lovely Kiwi specimins! Both were tres built- Phil was ex-military, and Mike has been nationally competitive in surfing and swimming for years.

Moving on, it took us more than four hours to get to the campground and lets just say that coordination is a bit of a problem when you're this laid back. In the end we pitched our tents in the darkness, had a bit of a group chat session where the Kiwi's blamed the Americans for the world's problems (I didn't object. In hindsight, this was probably very wise) and then we collapsed to sleep on the nice soft ground (!).

Saturday morning we got up, set up some ghetto gas cookers, made some greasies, and got into gear for kayaking, which was to start at 11am. Why that arbitrary time? Well, folks, we live in a day and age where Lake Tekapo is dammed up and they open the river that leads out of it for 5-8 hours per day depending on electricity needs. So get this: at 11am they opened the river to 30 cubic meters of water/second and the river connecting the two lakes began. Rapids formed quite... rapidly, and we were off. I should also mention that like everything else including driving, kayaking in NZ is an extreme sport. Beginner means that you are OK with Grade 3 rapids, upwellings and generally being upside down in the river stuck inside your kayak, literally panicing. I love the feeling of no control so I was generally down with this- however I don't think Krystle and Laura felt the same way. On the first trip down the river I flipped a couple of times but only swam when practicing it. The best rescue so far for me is the T-rescue. If I get pushed under by a current then I reach up and bang my hands on the side of the boat so that they'll hear me. Then I begin to run my hands along the side of the boat so that another boat will come up and make a T with my boat. At this point I'm supposed to grab the bow and then pull myself up for air and flip my hips over in the correct direction. This is pretty good in practice and works very well in theory. However there was a time or two when nobody was near enough to me to flip me over in time... and after about 30 seconds of floating through rocks and rapids upside down I just bailed out and swam with the kayak.

The weather was absolutely incredible however, and there was a really nice swimming hole on the river by our campsite. We were dropped off for kayaking at the start of the river and basically went downstream until we hit the camp (this took between 2 and 4 hours) when we bailed and just went home. All in all it was pretty fantastic. On Saturday and Sunday later afternoon's little groups of us went on tramps in the area and I scaled Mt. John to have the birds-eye view of Lake Tekapo.

The weekend was really fun too because I've made a lot more Kiwi friends and they all seem pretty swayetaseuhbro! More Speight's Pride of the South! was consumed and good times were had by all. On the way back we stopped to take some photos of Mt. Cook and we also saw some really neat Maiori drawings on some rocks. By Sunday night I was in pain from the sunburn I somehow got on my back. Its not really that pretty. At all. I also have a WETSUIT tan from the kayaking. Nothing says sophisticated like a line halfway down your arms and legs... its the farmer tan to the max!

Today was good and fairly productive- learned about the lac operon. It may have to do with E. coli and catobolites or something. I think it has to do with glucose and lactose. I'm not too sure because I have never learned about the lac operon before. With the obvious exceptions I guess of every microbiologically, genetically, cellular or biochemically based class I've ever taken. In Ethics, we talked about the Environment and who/what really matters ethically, or realistically what should matter ethically and why we don't prioritize the way we should.

Tuesday, tomorrow, is my day of catch up, Microbiology Lab, and Rugby practice. Then after- at about 7pm, Krystle's parents (who have come on vacation here from N. Carolina!) are taking the flat out for dinner, which is very very nice of them. Maybe somebody could come and visit ME!? It does get a little lonely, you know. Nobody here appreciates what continental means and understands that the ocean is very very far away.