waiting at the airport...,

Well, it's finally happening, right now I should be jetting my way to sunny hong kong, but instead, the aircraft is suffering from the technical difficulty. and we're waiting for an update... 5 minutes ago.

Reg is currently back in nz getting his working visa sorted so he can return to the uk.., so last weekend, We went climbing..., saturday saw us joining a bunch of auracians (or was that Americans??) at froggat, was a nice chilling time, followed by a good night of camping at jones' landing. Patrick finally grunted his way up lunar lepoard, Ed climbed a tricky route in da cave, and I dogged my way

now the plane is delayed due to the engineering problem...

up a sweet route on the corner of da cave.

Before I ran away, I felt the need to visit both waipapa and mangaokewa... this would be my last chance. Reg and I kindnapped ed and headed down on Sunday morning, leaving the others climbing at froggat. what can I say?? although we had hardley any time there.., and didn't start climbing until the afternoon, waipapa is beautiful.. slabby, slippery and great fun. I started the day by taking a whipper on the first bolt of a 16.., it had a pretty tricky start, covered in slimy mould, ed followed up on lead and got it clean, while reg chased up the rear on top rope. following the 16, we threw a rope across to a 22 which I did a filthy job of top roping, and ed did an even filthier job of leading. next came la piece de restance at waipapa.. “The Arches” a slabby 17 starting with some frictionless laybacking off a thin crack, transferring to ever enlarging pockets up the slab and terminating with a long traverse to a ledge at the far right of the slab.

Monday saw reg and me relocating to mangaokewa, touted as “north island's payne's ford”, we had been warned that it has plenty of loose blocks, and is a little chilly, but apart from those small concerns, it didn't dissappoint. luxurious toilets, camping by a quiet little river, and climbing that variety of rounded cracks, offset flakes, stacks of pancakes, and that trademark “corrogated iron on it's side” sloper slab stuff.

heaps of development is happening right now, and there's plenty of room for more. I can't wait to return when I'm back in the country.

anyway, now I'm off to collect my free food voucher...because the flight has been delayed until 10:40.., when it should have left at 7:30...

mmmm.. food!