New Zealand Weekly Update #4

Last updated on November 21, 2022

13th of November until 20th of November 2022

Approximate reading time: 8 minutes

Roys Peak – demanding, amazing, high

Monday, 14th of November. Day off, no tours. As i recognized that I need some time alone, I decided to head up for a hike. Close to Wanaka, about 5 minutes by car, you can find the famous Roys Peak Hike. Prior the hike I got some information about the hike in general. Approach. Time. Difficulty level. And everywhere it was mentioned that this hike is a demanding one. And takes up to 6 hours in total. As I am quite experienced in hiking (see my Blog information regarding Camino Frances), I was pretty sure this one is not that hard. Epic fail.
As I arrived at the parking lot, there have been already many people and many cars. So I took my bag (with some water, sunscreen, some food and a lightweight jacket) and headed up to the way. Before you start, you are asked to pay 2$ (about 1,20€) to pass the area. And afterwards the way is straight up. Partly steep, some sheep might pass your way and there are hardly any straight sections. As the sun started to unleash its full power, I took of my jacket and my sweatshirt. But it was still a warm and demanding hike with some breaks, some water and some breathing. I recognized that this hike is not used to be for an easy going day. But the view is worth it. You can see Wanaka in total and you come aware of how big Lake Wanaka is in total. I recommend to hike this one early in the morning to avoid midday sun. Get some sunscreen. Hiking boots. Hiking sticks. And some food and water. And if you reach the peak, enjoy the view, the landscape and the silence. After 2.5hrs and 1200m altitude, I reached the top and the view around the area was just stunning. Absolutley recommended – some friends and I plan to hike this one again early in the morning to enjoy the sunrise and a small breakfast 🙂

Wildwater Course in Queenstown – go wet and nuts!

Tuesday, no tours, no customers. But still some work. We went to Niger Stream to prepare some ropes for Friday (as some lumberjacks will get rid of a dead tree which might fall sown soon) and to remove branches and trees out of some pools. Niger Stream is really a nice and adventurous canyon, but still needs some maintenance to unleash its full potential 🙂
Clean pools = slides and jumps = fun, action and a happy day for customers and guides 🙂
The next three days were ment to be training days for Thomas and me. The plan was to join a wildwater course in Queenstown to become more comfortable in high water situations, to learn more about first aid and to expand our rope techniques as well. Start in Wanaka on Wednesday was 6.45 am.
As we arrived in Queenstown at the RealNZ Rafting Base, we just recognized that we will be the only Canyoning Guides. The rest of the 30 participants have been rafting guides (most of them really experienced). And we recognized that our equipment is not meant to be used in rafting situations (e.g. our floating devices, we just got normal life jackets whereas rafting guides have special floating devices and throwbags). Nevertheless, the party must go on.
At the beginning of Day #1, there have been several workshops in the morning. First aid (and the training of CPR = Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 30-2, just think about the song „Staying Alive“), several knot techniques, anchor preparation and necessary equipment for the course. The instructors operated really straight forward but still at eye level – so Thomas and I felt included.

The afternoon was meant to be to train in the wildwater. After we’ve got changed at the van, we headed back to base (50meters) – base closed, no participants, no instructors. Did we miss something? We walked around, nobody anywhere. After almost 1 hour one of the participants arrived and took us to the river. They simply forgot about us and recognized that two particpants have been missing (fortunately not in the wildwater haha).
At the river, we trained several things. Swimming in wildwater (which was really uncommon for me and a little bit scary at the beginning), throwbag throwing techniques, rescue techniques for the rafting boat and for stucked people and so on.
After I did my first wildwater experience and jumped into the river (and you jump like superman and try to protect your head with your arm in case you hit a rock), I swallowed a lot of water – but I am still alive haha.
Thuersday, same procedure. First aid in the morning, with some specific concepts. When you try to help a customer (after an incident), there are some helpful procedures you can follow. ABC = Airways, Breathing, Circulation. Check these all the time to make sure the patient is still alive. Another procedure you can follow is the so called SAMPLE = Syptoms, Allergies, Medication, Past History, Last intake / last output, Events leading up to injury. Just follow these procedures and you get a lot of information and might be able to save a life. After first aid, again to the river, workshops, trainings, wildwater swimming, groupwork. And this day I hit my butt hardly on a rock in the water, still a little sore, but I am much more comfortable in the wildwater now.

Wildwater Course Queenstown 16th of November – 18th of November

In the evening, we celebrated the birthday of Caylee and headed up to the town for one beer (and I already knew that this will not be the only one). We were sitting outside of a small pub called “ Kai Whakapai“ and they have some awesome ale beer selection, e.g. the Kai Time (looks like banana juice and tastes amazing). Afterwards we headed up to the sportsbar where we watched the Rugbys final. But we recognized that the pub will be closed soon, so we just asked for a tequila and moved on to the „Cork“. And this is where we really got bogged down. Conversation with a guy called Sean from Australia and some beer. And I went to bed at about 1.30 am. Hours of sleep this night: 4 🙂

Friday, olypmic challenges. I woke up at 5.30, four hours of sleep and still a lazy head due to some drinks from the previous night. Back to the game, back to Queenstown again. Last day of wildwater training.
This day the participants have been divided into teams. & different stations, 20 minutes per station. Working under pressure. Try to save an imaginary customer who is stuck in the water, flip a rafting boat back, wildwater swimming to a specific position, rescue a customer who is on the other side of the river. Teamwork, pressure, learning. After almost 2,5hours of olympic games, my body and my mind were done. But our team and all other teams have been successfull. No incidents at all at this day. And the highlight was swimming through a tunnel (the so called Oxenbridge Tunnel). This tunnel was build over 100 years ago to divert the Shotover river flow so that people can dig for gold in the riverbed. But unfortunatelly it did not work and the river continued to flow 🙂

Happy Birthday to you!

After our three-day course and the demanding olympic games, we went back to Wanaka. Happy. Tired. Some sore muscles. And some new experiences, information and techniques. And happy to join the group for a nice restaurant visit in town. Caylee (still our birthday girl) has reserved a table at „Kika“ and honestly it was really delicious. Quite expensive, but worth it. For example the Fried Chicken with tomato sugo, paprika and basil powder was just yummy! And we just recognized that the service women was originally from Germany, Bavaria.
After our delicious evening we went to a liquor store and got some wine (honestly, everybody one bottle) and went to our house. Talking. Drinking. Watching Youtube Videos (finally we got Wifi in our house!!!) . And went to bed quite late. No tours on saturday, so I took the opportunity to sleep a long time, had a short breakfast and went again to bed until 2pm. And afterwards went for a nice 15km trail run along the Lake Wanaka. Beautiful area and with an amazing view to Wanaka and the surrounding area.

What else to say?

I am still waiting for my bank account, normally it is quite easy to get this one, but New Zealand is quite busy at the moment. I also applied for a bank account at KiwiBank and try to head up on Tuesday to the office in Wanaka to finally be able to get paid. No bank account, no money, backup is getting smaller and smaller. But money comes bank, time doesn’t 🙂
Normally, the days in New Zealand are packed and a lot of stuff is going on. A lot of people around me, friends, neighbors, couples, collegues. Most of the time I just realize the amount of things going on in the evening when it’s getting quiet and silent. And I always realize something really special and important: If you have the chance to share all these experiences, all these events and moments with some special people, your partner, your friends, your family, then just do it. If you can afford the time, travel. If you can afford the money, then travel. If you feel a kind of wanderlust, don’t suppress it. Follow your gut feeling, be crazy. And if you have the chance to share all this with you partner, just do it. Because from time to time it can be quite lonely, even if you are surrounded by people all day long…

I hope you enjoy my weekly update from New Zealand, this week has been quite tough, especially with the wildwater course, which was demanding and partly exhausting. But it was worth it, a lot of new experiences and new information. I will keep you updated, happy to share all my experiences with you.

Felix