Last Days In New Zealand

Caution: lots of pictures of me (doesn't happen too often so bear with me).

Finally got some photos from Tantiana's camera. Here's a couple shots of me nabbing the onsight of 1080 [23/5.11b]. The first is the amazing no hands body jam in a hole in the cliff. The second is the brutal process of cleaning the route on the lower (cleaning was at least a grade harder than the actual climb).

Credit: Tantiana 

Credit: Tantiana 

This here is the most proper way to clean yourself on a budget. 

Credit: Tantiana 

Motivation to hike to a crag and climb routes was low, so why not work on some power and wrestle some boulders near the parking lot. 

Credit: Tantiana 

Another shot from Tantiana of me on a beautiful 22 called Falcon Steep. A super fun and technical route on slightly overhung schist. 

Credit: Tantiana 

Another wonderful route in Wanaka.

Credit: Tantiana 

Credit: Tantiana 

Last sunset in Wanaka proved to be mind blowing! Mike performed at an open mic night and we had a jolly good time. 

Needed to leave Wanaka and head to Christchurch in order to catch my flight to Melbourne. The 5.5 hour bus ride costs $260! No way José. I decided to risk it a little bit and attempt to hitchhike there the day before my flight. Made a little sign to make it easier for drivers to know where I needed to go. Because of this, 2 different people picked me up in order to get me a little ways down the road to better locations for finding cars heading to Christchurch. The people of NZ are seriously friendly and generous. Once I was in a good spot, I waited almost 10 minutes before I was picked up by a kid heading directly to Christchurch. I've either been getting lucky or people really are that generous here. My new friend is from LA and also studied computer science in college. He's here on working holiday. We passed the time with great conversation and made it to Christchurch without any issues. I bought him dinner and a beer as a thank you and parted ways. 

Found an awesome English style pub with 31 beers on tap. It was my first time drinking a sour in a long while!

I found an awesome little hostel in town that is basically a house converted into a hostel. The old owner was very friendly and the place was void of young Europeans looking to get drunk abroad. The only other people in my dorm were a girl from Austria and a girl from France. Today we passed the time walking around the city and taking in the sights and sounds. The park was really nice. 

Check out how huge this tree is!

I'm now in the airport waiting for my flight to Melbourne. I'm excited for a new chapter! New Zealand was a blast and I'm so grateful to have met so many amazing people and seen so many breathtaking places. Will definitely be coming back here in the future for hopefully a longer period of time. 

 Tonight I shall attempt to sleep in a conservation area next to the Melbourne airport and head into the city in the morning.