Oha-what e?
Aaaaaalright so I'm sorry but there is no time for anecdotes at the moment. . . maybe soon. I am on the north island of New Zealand. A company called Canoe Safaris hired me to paddle 'Canadian Canoes' down the Whanganui river. The Whanganui is NZ's longest navigable river. The scenery is awesome, but the river is the tamest I've EVER seen. Also I am the only one on it out of the 
five or so guiding companies that knows what the actual j stroke is. The rest of the guides love to throw the phrase around but I've yet to see more than a goon stroke out of any of them. Now this was a source of endless frustration, watching these bastards sit and switch sides while they paddled the *slightly* less experienced clients and campers down the river, but I got over it. Now it's just funny. They don't even notice when someone is a better paddler than they are, because they don't know what to look for. I am in a small town called Ohakune (Oh-hah-KEW-nee) Don't fuck it up or NO ONE in New Zealand will know what you're trying to say. Ohakune is next to Tongariro national park, home of New Zealand's highest peak: Ruapehu. It's a volcano, one of the most active, and it's huge. Covered in snow and about 2700 m high, it makes a nice backdrop on my walk to work every morning. I live at a YHA hostel here, but at a discounted since I actually live and work in town. Tomorrow I get to move into the back lodge where all the other guides from other companies are staying at. Sort of looking forward to it, but paddling has to stay off the list of conversation topics because I can't talk about trips at home, since what we do in Ontario is actual canoeing, and not flailing around laughing through rapids with no safety pretending you're awesome at paddling cause no one's died on your trips yet. Barefoot, no helmets (who needs them when you've got slang and tilly hats?) and no regard for safety. Lesson one: New Zealand is not Canada, don't try to make it Canada.
Alright I won't, I'm over it.
but they switch sides in rapids
okay I'm over it.
I like Ohakune, but tomorrow I've got an interview with a Y camp here called Kaitoke. We'll see how it goes. the Y might be a nice option since room and board would be covered. Their work starts jan./feb, and that's when things die down here apparently. Also they finish april, and for those who are paying attention/give a shit that's when I'm leaving NZ. got an answer from a school in vietnam also about teaching english. That's where I want to go next.
So sorry about the fact dense update, but that information should set the scene for subsequent entries on life in NZ. The weather here is hot and cold. The air is never 'hot' though it is comfortably warm a lot of the time. Having said that it can get cold. The sun however (tere's a hole in the ozone layer above me) is hot. I mean scorching man. The locals have light tans highlighted by dark burns. . .those of British descent anyway. I'm wearing sunscreen so I'm doing alright so far. Crisping up at a medium pace. I've been leading trips 3-4 days in length. Just had a group of witty highschool kids that had me in stitches for days and i miss 'em already. tomorrow is a day of rest (read running around like a chicken with my head cut off) before a 5 day trip. I'm busy but I'm getting paid and having fun, which is good. Now I have to go to bed because I am boring.
Next time though. . . I'm going to knock your socks off.
Some info on the pics:
the little spires are mud formations in a mud cave I was in today. They're like 5 inches high.
the shot with the snowy volcano is ruapehu in the background on the drive back to Ohakune from the river. . .
the rest is self explanatory.
Or it would be if these fucking pictures would upload. Will have to try to fix this when it's not 12:00 AM here. There are facebook pics up to compensate for this. . .
five or so guiding companies that knows what the actual j stroke is. The rest of the guides love to throw the phrase around but I've yet to see more than a goon stroke out of any of them. Now this was a source of endless frustration, watching these bastards sit and switch sides while they paddled the *slightly* less experienced clients and campers down the river, but I got over it. Now it's just funny. They don't even notice when someone is a better paddler than they are, because they don't know what to look for. I am in a small town called Ohakune (Oh-hah-KEW-nee) Don't fuck it up or NO ONE in New Zealand will know what you're trying to say. Ohakune is next to Tongariro national park, home of New Zealand's highest peak: Ruapehu. It's a volcano, one of the most active, and it's huge. Covered in snow and about 2700 m high, it makes a nice backdrop on my walk to work every morning. I live at a YHA hostel here, but at a discounted since I actually live and work in town. Tomorrow I get to move into the back lodge where all the other guides from other companies are staying at. Sort of looking forward to it, but paddling has to stay off the list of conversation topics because I can't talk about trips at home, since what we do in Ontario is actual canoeing, and not flailing around laughing through rapids with no safety pretending you're awesome at paddling cause no one's died on your trips yet. Barefoot, no helmets (who needs them when you've got slang and tilly hats?) and no regard for safety. Lesson one: New Zealand is not Canada, don't try to make it Canada.Alright I won't, I'm over it.
but they switch sides in rapids
okay I'm over it.
I like Ohakune, but tomorrow I've got an interview with a Y camp here called Kaitoke. We'll see how it goes. the Y might be a nice option since room and board would be covered. Their work starts jan./feb, and that's when things die down here apparently. Also they finish april, and for those who are paying attention/give a shit that's when I'm leaving NZ. got an answer from a school in vietnam also about teaching english. That's where I want to go next.
So sorry about the fact dense update, but that information should set the scene for subsequent entries on life in NZ. The weather here is hot and cold. The air is never 'hot' though it is comfortably warm a lot of the time. Having said that it can get cold. The sun however (tere's a hole in the ozone layer above me) is hot. I mean scorching man. The locals have light tans highlighted by dark burns. . .those of British descent anyway. I'm wearing sunscreen so I'm doing alright so far. Crisping up at a medium pace. I've been leading trips 3-4 days in length. Just had a group of witty highschool kids that had me in stitches for days and i miss 'em already. tomorrow is a day of rest (read running around like a chicken with my head cut off) before a 5 day trip. I'm busy but I'm getting paid and having fun, which is good. Now I have to go to bed because I am boring.
Next time though. . . I'm going to knock your socks off.
Some info on the pics:
the little spires are mud formations in a mud cave I was in today. They're like 5 inches high.
the shot with the snowy volcano is ruapehu in the background on the drive back to Ohakune from the river. . .
the rest is self explanatory.
Or it would be if these fucking pictures would upload. Will have to try to fix this when it's not 12:00 AM here. There are facebook pics up to compensate for this. . .
posted by Marcus at 5:06 AM
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