Last March I made my first trip to New Zealand when Jason Searle invited me over to train with him. He took me on a 3 week 'non stop' adventure sport tour of the North
and South Island and I absolutely fell in love with the place (see the
March 2013 blog link for my blog on our adventures).
This
year i'm back to train with Jason again and the fun has just continued.
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Queenstown
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I arrived at Queenstown airport to by
greeted by Jason and one of the most incredible airport views ever.
Everywhere I looked there was snow capped Alpine style mountains
cutting through the bright blue sky. Stunning. The drive from the
airport up to the Hawea waves reminded me exactly why I love this
place, natural beauty at its best. Big lakes, crisp blue rivers and
360 degrees of mountains still in their natural form. Most of which
have been untouched, no roads, cable cars, houses just mountains and
hills.
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Morning view from Jason's place
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After just over an hour of driving we were at our destination.
Kitting up quickly we jump straight onto the Hawea river and hit the
waves.
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| Loving life at the Haweas |
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| Courtney throws a huge loop |
3 hours of non stop loops, blunts,
cartwheels and mcnasty's later and we're knackered. My longest and
most productive freestyle training session in almost 3 months. The
waves are even better than I remembered and it felt so good being
able to train properly again. The next few days pass in a blur.
Boating every day we make the most of the chance to train on such
great features.
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| Claire O cartwheel in the top hole |
It's rare to get a training venue like this, where
the wave training and hole training is on an equal par and both in
the same place. We mix up each session we do switching between the
two features, which are only 100m apart, working on move after move.
Its great to be back training again and its impressive to see how
much Jason has progressed. He's been training hard all year and spent
the last 3 weeks at the waves and it really shows. The difficulty and
variety of moves he can now throw is so much higher than only a year
ago. He's training for and looking like he'll be a very strong
contender for the NZ National Championship title at the end of the
month.
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Jas cruisng check out the reflection
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The weekend quickly comes and the
number of people at the wave picks up. There's kids, adults,
beginners, pro's, body boarders, surfers, sunbathers. bikers,
photographers, mums and dads. Its great to see the river community
that has developed here. Its crazy to think that just over a year ago
this feature didn't even exist.
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| Courtney tears up the wave as I surf and take pics |
I met back up with my good friend and
NZ National Champion Courtney Kerin and the fantastic Rayner family
and we kick start the weekend with a great morning mountain biking on
some incredible single track runs before heading to the river. After
paddling we spend a night hanging out with a great group of local
paddlers in Wanaka. Where we get invited to go watch the NZ National
Rodeo championships (Cowboy style not kayaking this time), hike up
Mount Iron and paddle the local grade 2 river run.
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The Wanaka Rodeo
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Mary shows us here local MB runs
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| Top of Mount Iron |
On the Sunday I work with Courtney back
at the Hawea waves and we coach the local kayaking kids. Most of whom
I know from last year and a few who came with us and competed at the
World Championships in the States. In total we have 14 juniors train
with us over the weekend which shows the strength and development of
the freestyle here in NZ. As the weekend draws to an end we hear word
that the dam's not going to be releasing much water this week so we
stay on the water as long as we can surfing the waves. Before making
the decision to head to the coast to visit Courtney’s family and
home town.
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| Coaching young paddlers at the waves |
Courtney's from a small coastal town
called Oameru which is famous for it Penguins, farming and coastline.
So we spend a fun few days driving tractors and quad bikes around
their farm. Cruising along the countryside in Courtney's Uncle Kev's
convertible BMW sports car. Keeping fit with some stand up paddle
boarding sessions in the harbour, trampolining at the local gym and
workouts and runs along the beach. We ride penny farthings and the
steam punk train in the old town. Look visit the Marrachi boulders
and look at the white stone carvings and other local produce in the
shops.
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Driving Uncle Kev's Tractor
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Quad biking round the farm
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Driving Uncle Kev's Sports Car
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Cruising in the sports car
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Omaeru Steam Punk Train
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Flips n Tricks
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| Fun Times |
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Marakki Boulders
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Massive Marraki Boulders
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Boom
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We watch the little blue penguins, seals and a possum at the
local animal sanctuary. Then see yellow eye penguins, more seals and
a dolphin under a massive rainbow as we walk along the coast. This is
my first time to this area and, like every other part of New Zealand
I have seen so far, its stunning. Miles and miles and miles of
beautiful unspoilt beaches covered in seals and birds and a bright
blue sea stretching out into the Abyss.
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Stunning
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Lighthouse
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| Rainbow, surf and a dolphin in the distance |
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Courtney being a Yellow Eye Penguin
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Stunnning!!!
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Its just amazing view after amazing view
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New Zealand Life
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| Life is good :) |
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| Checking out from NZ until next time... |
Photos by Claire O, Jason and Jez. More epic photos by Jez coming soon.
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