first camping trip

So last friday Kallan recruited me to go to a tramping club party with her. Since the tramping club hasn't officially started it was mainly returning members/regulars so we were going in without really knowing anyone and everyone pretty much knew everyone there. It was out in a suburby type place at one of the kid's houses. Kallan went early to catch a free ride but I wanted to stay and have a few drinks with people on campus before heading out to the boonies and being trapped for the night. I caught a cab and made my way out there and proceeded to make friends. Met a girl named jess who rode for a dutch woman here outside wellington who apparently has some nice horses and knows her stuff. I got the contact information for that but since its a good 30 min-1 hr drive i'm not sure how practical it will be.
Next morning we all woke up (most of us in rough shape from the merriment of the night before) and met in a parking lot on campus to go camping for the weekend (i was recruited to join Kallan on the trip while at the party...not much prep time!). We all split into a couple cars (roughly 11 of us total) and took off, stopped and picked up food from the supermarket and then headed for the mountain pass. It was quite the windy pass and kiwis tend to drive quickly so it was a little nerve wrecking and not great for the already queasy stomachs. I was in a different car than Kallan and feeling quite shy and awkward so spent most of the trip listening to the three other boys in the car talking about cars, motorbikes, and other things that i really can't contribute to. We arrived 45 min before Kallan's car (they all stopped for lunch) so I was pretty awk standing around uselessly until she arrived to be my friend. Once she got there things were much better. Craig took me on a motorbike ride, he started really slow and all like catiously cause he wasn't sure what I was up for so I just told him to go fast and off we went! it was super fun and afterwards he taught me how to drive it. It was really easy but I struggled with the gear shift since it was quite old and sticky, getting into/outta of third was difficult for me. Kallan and I went for a bit of an exploration and Mike showed us some seals and we walked along the ocean for a bit before going back and getting dinner going. Well actually we didn't cook, but others did and it was good food. The drinking started up again in full force during dinner but I took it easy so as to not be hung over the next day. The night was quite amusing and most of us slept under the stars since it was too nice to need the fly sheets that had been set up. Kallan woke up at liek 4 am terrified of possums (hilarious) and then she got up to watch the sunrise with some peeps at like 5 30. I did not. I like sleep. I woke up for like 15 minutes, oohed and awed the sunrise from my sleeping bag and then rolled over and slept again until about 8.
Kallan and I then went down to the canyon/waterfalls for a swim. You have to climb a rope up to the deep swimming pool and it was quite slick once you get up there. Kallan convinced me to jump in the freezing water and once in the pool I realized there wasnt really a way out that i could easily find. The pool emptied into another waterfall that was all rocks and shallow water below so I wasn't too keen on going near that in case I couldn't grab onto anything to stop me from going over. Reagan and Jason (jason= president of club) had wandered down at some point during our climb up and Reagan joined us by the pool edge while jason lounged on the rocks below. Well Reagan didn't know how I was supposed to get out either so Jason had to come up and jump into the pool and save me by showing me that I do indeed go to the top of the next waterfall and then just climb out. Embarassing to say the least. But humorous at the same time:D
Kallan finally worked up the nerve to jump into the water and then we all just lounged in the sun like skinny white seals and got warm. The rest of the day was spent in pretty much the same fashion with lots of sun bathing and beach walking. I nearly stepped on a seal that I thought was a rock and it jumped up and started 'arfing' at me which scared the shit out of me. I ran away and jason (who i was walking with) just laughed. terrifying. nalumon and I saw seals in kaikora but they were used to people...not these ones..he was scary. Plus they are a lot bigger when they are standing up and arfing at you.
By the end of the day we packed up and took off for home again. I was disappointed to leave, the area was beautiful. Big rocky hills with waterfalls ending in a short flat area before the beach started. No houses in sight along the entire coast and basically no other people around. pretty phenom.
Back to the grind today and for the rest of the week. The official tramping club meeting is tomorrow night and then the first official trip is this weekend. Its apparently a massive trip with like 60 peeps and is quite the party. After that the trips go down to more managable sizes and there are a bunch of trips that are 'non' official that members plan on their own. I'll see how it all goes before making any decisions of how much to do...I love camping and hiking, but hiking with a pack is not my fave thing in the world.
Alright off to do some research for a mock trial of Hugo Chavez...I'm on the prosecuting side (he's being charged for being a dictatorship) and I completely forgot about it until tonight! so lots of fun research tonight and tomorrow. woot woot.
xoxo