Doin' the Wave(s)

Another busy weekend.......Friday night, after 3 days of student interviews, we decided a beer was in order so we met our equally as happy they were over friends from work out for happy hour. The student interviews are part of the application process to get into Physio school. Craig was an interviewer and got to ask lots of very nervous students questions, one at a time with a fellow interviewer. I acted as a "runner" and showed the students to and from their respective interview rooms and delivered coffee, paperwork, and snacks to the interviewers. Part escort, part waitress. It actually was a nice change of pace from sitting at our desks, and it was fun to talk to the students. It was also tiring though, hence the happily drunk brew on Friday afternoon.
After our happy hour, we went to another cultural event, a presentation called William Yang's China. It was a slideshow/movie with live music and narration about a few of the narrator's trips to China to investigate his heritage. Pretty interesting, the pictures were amazing and the chinese music was nice.
Saturday morning we were thrilled to receive a call from Katie, who was kicking off the annual Octoberfest weekend in Ellicottville with the rest of the crew. We had sent a box of NZ snacks for them to open at the cabin, and they called while tasting the various chips (flavors included lamb & mint, chicken, and burger rings, yuck). Nobody sounded too impressed with the snacks but we were excited to talk to everyone there. Hope you guys had fun!
Saturday afternoon, we decided that since it was a nice day, we would drive the 2 hours back down to Cathedral Caves for a second try. If you remember, we took a trip there previously and were greeted with a sign stating "access closed" due to high seas. After that time though, our friends assured us that they too had been met with that sign but they went in anyway and it was accessible and really cool. So, when we arrived this time, the following sign did not deter us.



We walked up the road 2 km to the parking area. From there, we hiked about 20 minutes through a green, rainforesty, wooded area, down to the beach. Once on the beach, we walked about another 10 minutes to where the caves are and, go figure, the sign had actually told the truth. The sea was high and the waves were gushing into the caves. We climbed on some rocks but were still unable to get in. So, once again, Cathedral Caves elude us for another day. The beach and hike to it were really pretty though.



Sunday morning, we got to talk to our friend Dan in the UK. Dan and his wife, Natalie moved there a couple of weeks before we moved to NZ. We hadn't talked to them since then so it was great to hear that they're doing fine and having a good time.
After that, we decided to brave the chilly seas and go surfing for the first time since we've been here! We picked up Lexi, rented boards and wetsuits from the University gym, and headed to the beach. First I have to back up a minute to tell you how absolutely hilarious it was trying on the wetsuits. Lexi and I had no idea what size we needed because sizes here aren't the same as in the US. Apparently, they're 1-2 sizes bigger here. So, we guessed and took some wetsuits to the changing room to try on. After about 5 minutes, Lexi was jumping up and down, trying to pull hers up, and I had discovered I was trying to put my leg in the arm hole. After about 15 minutes, Lexi had finally squeezed into her suit and I had given up and gone to get a size larger. Thankfully, the second try was much easier (actually, a bit big but I was not about to try squeezing into the smaller one again) and we were off to the beach.
Upon arrival at "one of the best surf beaches in NZ," we saw frighteningly humongous waves and not one single surfer. We wandered around, contemplating our options: We could attempt to surf anyway, not knowing why nobody else was and hoping it was not because of an increased danger of some sort. Or, we could take the gear back to the gym and try to get our money back. We decided on option #3, drive to the nearest sporting goods store and ask for information. The people at the store informed us that nobody was surfing because there was a big swell and it was too dangerous. Also that there was only one beach that would be safe for beginners and it was about 45 minutes up the coast. We decided to go for it, drove up, and spent another 20 minutes trying to don our wetsuits for the second time that day.



Once we were geared up, we hit the water, which still had some pretty large waves, for some fun! I can't really call it surfing because we all spent the majority of our time either lying or kneeling on our boards, or being pommeled by the waves. Craig stood up once or twice and I had a few moments of one-legged goofy style stance but I can't call it success. We both loved it anyway though and are now searching for used boards to buy. As for the temps, my concern was being freezing cold the whole time since the air was about 50 degrees and the water never gets warm here. But, to my surprise, the wetsuits were quite effective and we never even got chilly. When we got tired, we packed up, returned the gear, and headed home where we made some YUMMY pizza and then walked a couple blocks for some yes, YUMMY ice cream. It was a great weekend and we can't wait to surf again!

A Few Pix