Maggots anyone?

These last three days were spent rockclimbing in Castlerock, a quilted, hilly, landscape of farmland that is rumored to be the best place for rockclimbing in all of new zealand. Driving up the winding roads to Castlerock with cows and sheep on either side,one finds themselves caught completely offguard when out of nowhere interesting volcanic rock formations appear out of the otherwise what can only be described as typical English farmland scenery--although a bit hillier from what I hear. Upon arrival our "lodging" for the night was temporarily unavailable...why you might ask? Well, two words alrighty make that four words--shearing of the sheep. So, the posh place we would be staying for the night was nothing more than a barn...nothing says 4 star accomodations like maggots and random bits of wool. Now, personally the only climbing I have done was in 7th grade at Acadia National Park and even then it was only chimney climbing and nothing "serious." So, to say I was a bit out of my league with the climbing we encountered here would be an understatement--the "easy" climbs of the day were on the American scale 5'10s which are hard moderate to easy difficult--and I have the bloodied blistered hands to prove that they more than lived up to their grades. On the second day of climbing I opted out a little early to go for a walk to Lake Atamaturi and by walk I mean a 30 km stroll. Unlike the rest of my group, something about being in this country makes me never want to sit still--I just constantly want to be on teh go exploring every inch I can by foot--I don't want to just drive by the scenery--I want to know what the grass feels like between my toes, the smellof the fresh wildflowers blowing in the wind, or what it feels like to look eye to eye with a herd of cows and try my best to reclaim the road from them with my fierce intimidation skills. It's funny everytime I asked for directions along my walk I was constantly bombarded with the are you hitchiking question...as outdoorsy of a place New Zealand is I guess walking is unheard of. With the sweltering heat of the summer sun beating down my neck and now overly freckled face taking a swim in the lake was beyond refreshing. Swimming in that lake, without a soul in sight was indescribable. Between finding myself swimming through heaps of seaweed,almost quicksand like dirt lining the lake bottom and the distant sounds of cows in heat echoing off the mountainside I felt completely at peace. Today was spent climbing and further exploring the countryside. It's funny what a couple of days can do for changing one's perspective--if you had asked me to describe the other volunteers I would have probably said it's like living in a bad brady bunch episode where everyone is so overly optimistic and wholesome you might just want to shoot yourself--but then again a climbing trip and being holed up in a barn can make for some interesting stories and people's real personalities start to surface. I've probably bonded the most with this 18 year old girl named Pippa...not to be confused with pepper...which I had made the mistake of calling her for the first week or so. She is taking a year off before Uni and is pretty damn passionate about nature and politics--but not in that free-love, dreadlocks, armpit hair kind of way. Tonight we will be spending a couple of hours in Hamilton to get some real grub and than back to the valley where farmlife resumes...till then all the best!