Skiing at Temple Basin

If you did not know, Temple Basin is ski field in the southern alps. It is located around halfway between Otira and Arthur's pass, to get to Tempe Basin you have to walk up a steep mountain walk which is a challenge in itself, that is where we start. Honestly, I thought the walk was not going to be as steep. But I was wrong, the second we started to ascend  I realized this was not going to be easy. When we got our gear on we had to get our skis on, while I was on the mountain I reckon I learnt a lot,


 when I went in I knew nothing about skiing, when I came out I knew how to slow down, stop, and go fast. to slow down you have to make a wedge/pizza shape with your skis. You then bend your knees in slightly, to stop you do the same but you bend your knees on further. To accelerate you just point your skis down and you slowly get faster. Temple basin may be on top of a mountain, but the lodge is a really cool place, there is a ping pong table, there is a cafeteria to hang around play games,


and eat, there are bunkrooms, ski hire, and a drying room to dry all of your wet gear. Instead of a travelator or chairlift, Temple basin has a rope tow to get you to the top, the cool thing about the rope tow is you can unclip from it where ever you want on the mountain, after 3 days of extreme fun we had to leave, on the walk down I found it way easier to walk since gravity was pulling us down, if you want to get fit and you want a good time skiing I recommend going to Temple basin.







BRING IT ON!!!

Sea kayaking lake brunner

On Wednesday the sea kayakers embarked to Mitchells. When we arrived we had to pack the kayaks, (which was a real hassle as we had do pack them in the rain). Halfway through packing, the rain stops but shortly after it starts back up again. When it was time to take the kayaks down to the water most of us picked up a double kayak and it was still heavy. After all the kayaks were at the lake edge my arms felt like jelly. When we chose our kayaks I got a double kayak. I was in the front so I did not get to use the pedals that control the rudder which wad a bummer. When we launched the kayaks it took some time to co-operate with the person in the back seat. After 10 minutes we finally were able to communicate with each other properly, when we arrived at bain bay we unpack the kayaks and set up our tents. The boy's tent was so dirty the floor was wet and muddy and our stuff was everywhere. but we worried about that later. The next day we packed our things and left. It was raining quite hard but that did not put anyone off or did it bother anyone which was awesome. ThIs trip was tiring, wet, and very very fun

   Thanks to the TTP for making this trip possible

Abseiling and rock climbing

On Thursday, the group doing sea kayaking went to Charleston to do abseiling and rock climbing... I woke up with adrenaline and nervousness pumping through my veins. After the bell rang the polytech instructors came into the class to get us, they took us outside to introduce their selfs. we then embarked on our journey to Charleston. about an hour later we arrive. It was time to get the harnesses on, to be honest I hate getting things ike that on as it can be flimsy and hard to use. Once we got our harnesses some of us got given a bag of ropes to carry up the track, I was one of the chosen ones, five minutes up the track my shoulder and neck started to ache but I told myslef it was temporary pain. When we arrived at the lunch spot I looked at the cliff we will be abseiling down.


 I think to myself am I going to beable to do that. We got instructions on how to use our equipment, we then walked down a muddy track into a slipprey cave my shoes got absolutly!!! coverd in mud. at the bottom of the cave there was some blowholes and luckily the tide was high. later that day some of us did climbimg or absiling I was do absiling after the practice abseil it was time to do the real thing. and trust me my heart was racing, when it was my go I clip into the saftey rope. I then clip into the abseil rope I slowly walk back to the edge.


 I take a look down and say " I can,t do this but instructor convinced me to go over the edge. after 5 times of trying to do it I just could not do it. I uncliped from the rope and walked down the hill to grab some lunch, I then had go to the climbing. I managed to get a little bit up the rock face. I then had to do a small abseil down, the instructor that convince me to go over the edge. told me he would do it with me I went to the cliff and clipped in. I got to the edge but the same thing happend. This challenge pushed me out of my comfort zone a little bit to sum it all up yesterday was really fun.

Cave stream reflection

                                          Cave stream

When I got to school adrenaline was pumping through my veins. When we get to cave stream scenic reserve we get our gear on and have a snack. After that Mr-sw  told us about the history of cave stream. We then walked down the path to the entrance of the cave, we  started to walk into the cave. The second my shoe got covered in water it hit me. The water was freezing cold, when we got further into the cave the water got up to my waste. We were in the cave for about ten minutes and my feet started to get numb. I struggled to get up a waterfall but I managed with a help from an adult. In cave stream there are a few side caves, some of them are dead ends and some of them join back up with the main cave. I went through one of the side caves but that was it, When we got to the last chamber I saw natural light up high in front of us. I most of us waited a while to climb up ladder. When it was my turn I grabbed hold of the rung and climbed up, when I got to the top of the ladder I had to hold on to a chain and slide across, there then was a stomach crawl out of the cave. When I got out of the cave I walked up some stairs and took my shoes of. It took 5 minutes for me to feel my feet. When it was time to go back to the parking lot I put my shoes back on and walked to the parking lot. For me cave stream was my first actual cave experience. And for me it was wet, cold, and awesome. On the way home I thought to myself that I want to go again one day.