Wakeboarding in Wanaka...

I spent the rest of that day (27th) making the most of the fact that I've got a whole dorm to myself and just worked on a couple of songs, both which are now nearly finished, they're called 'folded' and 'emptying my pockets'. I felt pretty stuck in Dundedin, the more I've been here in NZ and seen all this great landscape the less I can stand cities now. I was just itching to see some nature but none seemed within walking distance and I felt rather caged, hence I just played guitar looking forward to getting out the next day!

On the 28th it was time to make my way to Wanaka to meet Alex who I met in Raglan as he was returning to his rented house that day. I set off early and had a bit of trouble hitching out of Dunedin as the only way out was a motorway which is technically illegal to hitch on. I tried to get round this by hitching from just round the corner from where the motorway started hoping people would get the idea of where I was headed. Some Kiwi said I should move onto the start of the motorway and I'd be fine. This turned out to be very successful as within a few minutes a couple of girls pulled over. They looked a bit 'girl racery' but I was just delighted to be able to get off this bleeding motorway so I accepted. They were very nice and actually drove pretty damn safely, if slightly too fast. They dropped me off in the middle of nowhere after a town called Milton where within 30 minutes I got a lift off a lovely lady called Sue. I was in the car with her for a good 2 hours and she talked about her husband's death by cancer and how she coped. It was a touching story and it seemed to make her feel good being able to share it with me. She talked about it in a happy way however, saying that's what Malcolm (her husband) would have wanted. She took me all the way to Cromwell which is only 1 hour away from Wanaka! I was starving by this point so I grabbed some food before getting my next lift with a girl from Wanaka. She tooke the backroads because she had 'no driving license' which was slightly worrying but again her driving was good enough to eliminate the worry after a few minutes. She was a very quiet girl and this was one of the rare occassions where I was the one doing most of the talking (this is rarely the case, I'm definitely a listener!).

Once I arrived in Wanaka I rang Alex and he directed me to his house where I was greeted with open arms! It was great to see Alex again, who's beard had grown significantly since I last saw him. I was immediately asked to entertain his housemates with some of my music and so I sat down, weary from a day of travelling and sang away, all was good! Having seen the speed-boat outside Alex's house I was pretty excited about the possibility of going on it! It turned out that the plan was to go Wakeboarding tomorrow morning which sounded like an awesome idea. We spent afternoon chilling out and in town I met Fredrick again (my friend who I met in Punakaiki) and we invited him round later in the evening. He came round and we spent the evening with Alex's housemates and Fredrick. I played through my repertoire and then me and Fredi did a couple of duets (he played guitar and I sang) and it was a great night!

The next morning (29th Oct) I was woken by people entering the kitchen and making breakfast, my mattress is pretty much in the kitchen which is good as it means I get woken up early! I was really looking forward to today's wakeboarding session and before long Alex had attached the sppedboat to the back of his car and we were off! Me, Alex, his sister Becky and their mother Liz were on todays Wakeboarding trip! ALex and Becky have lived here for a while, Liz was just down visiting them for a few weeks. The speedboat water entrance was slightly sketchy as due to some miscommunication the speedboat was released too early and the bag of it hit the concrete entrance ramp with a large scratchy noise. There was a moment's panic but when Alex got in the boat and drove it around it was clear that it was still working fine. We all hopped in put our lifejackets on and got ready to roll. Becky was first, she put the wakeboard on and as the speedboat (driven by Alex) tugged her she stood up with ease, it looked amazing. Becky was cutting from one side of the boat to the other across the wake left behind the boat, she was doing jumps an all sorts and only fell in a couple of times. Eventually she stopped due to being too cold, apparently the water was freezing! Next up was Alex and he was jumping fearlessly all over the place doing some impressive 180s and stuff. He made it all look very easy!

Now it was my turn, I was given some simple instructions on how to get up on the board once the speedboat started to move. I put on Alex's wetsuit and jumped into the water and it was indeed very cold! My core was fine thanks to the wetsuit but my feet and hands were very cold! I put on the board in the water with some trouble and grabbed the handle of the line attached to the boat. 'Keep board parrallel with back of boat, bend knees, back straight, then pop up when you feel biting point I thought' to myself, mentally rehearsing like atrue sports scientist! 'Ready?' came the shout from Alex behind the wheel, 'yep, born ready!' came the rather sarcastic reply. Within seconds the boat was moving and there was a massive force on my legs i tried to keep them bent with moderate success. The boat sped up as I attempted to stand and smack I got thrown head first into the lake! The second attempt was slightly better as I nearly got up before faceplanting the sea yet again. Then came the third attempt, Alex drove the boat round to bring the line back to me (it's practically impossible to swim with the board on) I grabbed it and I was ready. This time I felt more in control as the boat started moving and I stood up slowly as I could feel the line pulling hard at my arms, just as I thought I was going to fall over I was up! It was amazing but pretty terrifying going at this speed over the water on nothing but a small board! I cut out to the left a couple of times but mainly I just went in a straight line enjoying the thrill of the wind crashing against me and ridiculously awesome views around Lake Wanaka! It was amazing. Before long Alex drove me over some slightly bumpy waves and I was doing pretty well and then 'whack!' I fell into the water. I got up again on the next attempt and kept riding for ages before falling in again. After a while we headed back home and I relaxed with Alex and his housemates for the evening, it was all good! In the evening everyone but Me, Alex and Lisa (a new member of the house) had gone to sleep. We stayed up for ages talking, mainly nonsense but it was fun. I showed them my famous 'shakra' position, those who lived with me at uni will know what I mean. For the rest of you it's lying on your back on the bed with your legs straight up against the wall, I find it relaxing and apparently Lisa and ALex did too, so there we were all lying in this ridiculous position on my mattress just talking away. Then it got cold so we all got under the duvet fully clothed and before long we were all asleep.

I woke up in the morning (30th Nov) scrunched into my corner of the bed only to find I now had it all to myself! Alex and LIsa had already got up!

That day we were to head out wakeboarding again but this time on Lake Hawea, a lake not at all far away from Lake Wanaka. One of Becky's friends, a guy named christian in his 30s was to come out with us and he took his son Harry (4 years old too). Lisa came out as well. A girl called Roxy wakeboarded first but couldn't get up and was getting too cold. Then I went in and this time I was on form! No more of this boring going in a straight line malarky, I was cutting around, going right up to the wake right behind the boat, cutting left and right! It was awesome and apparently very good for only a second attempt, I still didn't manage any jumps and at one point got wiped out rather spectacularly as I was just merrily going along when the nose of the board must have dipped. It was so unexpected that I ddn't let go of the line and face planted the water at high speed! Lisa got some great pictures of me using her camera so I was pretty happy about that. It was great fun! After a while we headed out and had a picnic by the lake while a load of sandflies picnicked on us. The sun was shining as It had been since I'd arrived in Wanaka! We returned home and that afternoon and evening was spent just relaxing around the house. I taught Alex a few of my songs which he was very keen to learn the chords for and then we headed out to see an interesting Raggea/Death Metal band before heading to bed.

The next morning (Oct 31st) guess what? Yep we headed out for a good old Wakeboard but things were about to get pretty interesting! This trip involved Alex, Lisa, Christian and Harry, Peter and Fin (Peter's dog) and me. All was going well and Alex was ripping up the lake on his board in style and then Christian stalled the boat and it wouldn't start, ALex and Christian kept at it but it just wasn't happening. Alex rang some people for advice/help but despite various tips none of it worked. We were bobbing around in the middle of lake Wanaka with no other boat in sight. ALex managed to get hold of someone who could come out on his boat in about an hour and get us so we just sat on the boat, I played a few tunes on my guitar (yes, I took it on the boat with me) and it was as Alex said 'the most relaxing disaster ever'. The dog was ruining the relaxation a bit by constantly running around like it was on some sort of crazy drug and Harry, being only 4 years old was getting pretty worried about the situation! It was all pretty mad, but funny! Then the unthinkable happened, another speedboat appeared, Pete stood on the front of the boat and put his thumb up like a hitch-hiker and we all laughed but it actually worked. The guys came to us and towed us ashore. Alex put the boat back on the trailer and we returned home! We then headed out to for a stroll around Diamond Lake which was exceptionally beautiful, a really enjoyable walk!

This evening was Halloween and so we went out to nice pub with a massive fire and had a bit of a dance. I was completely exhausted by about 1 am and had to head off to bed for fear of fainting completely!!

November the first was to be the day that I set off for a serious tramping session out in the middle of nowhere. I'd been wanting to do this for a while but as I have no tent or sleeping bag with me it was not possible. Luckily Alex had a tent and sleeping bag I could borrow so I packed up, got enough food supplies to last me about 4 days as well as a can opener and some gas! This all took a while. Then I relaxed with Alex and Steve (one of his housemates) watching some BMX videos before it became 4pm and I'd have to set off into the wilderness. The road to Mt Aspiring Range is mainly gravel and ends after 51km, from which point there is a bit of farmland followed by wilderness, mainly untouched land with a few huts littered about for trampers to use. This sounded like the ideal spot for me to have a bit of a wild adventure and so Alex dropped me off at the hitch-hiking spot. He and Becky were taking Liz to Milford Sound for a few days. I was pushing my luck trying to get a lift to the end of the road at this time as most people heading that way would head up earlier to give them time to get plenty of walking in in the daylight or to get to one of the huts, but I still stood there hopefully with my thumb up and as if by magic a car pulled over about 30 minutes later...

To be continued... :-)

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