I Will Rock You

This was an incredible week for me. Monday morning we drove 4 hours with our class instructors to a place called Wanaka. We had a camp site right on a beautiful lake. In the evenings it would get really windy and the lake would form mini waves to make it look like the ocean. At night the sky was so clear we could see millions of stars. The Milky Way Galaxy was vibrant as well as some other galaxy clusters. We could see Orion’s Belt except it’s upside down here. The second night I slept outside beneath the stars and had the most peaceful sleep.

During the day we went out rock climbing. On Day 2 it kept switching back and forth between rain and sunshine literally every ½ an hour or so. Since New Zealand is a long skinny island surrounded by water the weather changes quickly. It would start to rain so I put all my warm rain gear on and about 5 minutes later the sun would be out and I'd take my gear off just to put it on after another 15 mintues. It was funny.

Day 3 we were out climbing as the sun was rising. It was miraculous. I really enjoy rock climbing and the scenery provided made it even better. I climbed this giant cliff called Tombstone. Once I made it to the top I clipped into a safety line and off of my belayer to just sit there until the next climber came up. It was such a peaceful feeling to be on top of a 50 foot cliff that I had just climbed.

I guess Utah has some of the best climbing and I have never taken advantage of it. Luckily I made some friends here who have gear back home so as long as we stay friends I've got the hook ups. It can be a pretty expensive hobby. I will say that the most essential of climbing gear equipment is a good pair of climbing shoes. I guess a rope, harness and a belayer would be good too, but man those climbing shoes make a huge difference.