Week 37- Wild Goose Chase at Mohaka

After the 12-hour bus ordeal I collected by bike and cycled home. No sooner had I stepped through the door I was questioned as to why I was wearing my hat at 07:00. I went to class and then had a fluids lab, where we were looking at the use of Bernoulli’s equation to calculate the force being exerted by a flow of water. After the lab I went to have tea with Mark and Clare and we caught up on each other’s lives. I was also able to try my first feijoa. It’s a fruit that only grows during a short season here and is not like anything I have ever eaten before but it was rather good! Clare sent me home with a bag of them and then Marlene, Harry, Ulysse and I cooked lasagne for dinner. We probably put too much cheese on and overfilled the pot so the tiny oven started to smoke a little. We were terrified the smoke alarm would go off so we put the oven in my room, by the window, and I fanned the oven for the rest of the cooking. Delightfully, my room smelt of oven grease that night but the meal was delicious!

I had my usual run of four straight lectures on Tuesday morning. Mid-way through one lecture I got a message from Harry asking for the post code for Blackiston, Clayton, DE. I was quite confused, but I googled it and sent it to him anyway. About two hours later, I finished up class and needed to cycle up the road to speak to another lecturer, Richard Clarke, about a research project. When I came to my bike I discovered that Harry’s bike was locked to mine. Being a little late already, I didn’t stop to think so I rang Harry and all he said was he gave me a clue and hung up. Then it hit me that the code was the zip code! I did enjoy the little riddle. I met the professor and he suggested a project to do with modelling the fluid mechanics of the Endothelial Glycocalyx Layer. Essentially, it would be modelling how white blood cells bind to wounds when this layer is broken. I thought it would be an excellent project to do but I still haven’t decided if I will stay or travel. I had lunch with Marlene and we booked tickets to see the All Blacks play France in June.

Wednesday began with a Solids test, followed by lectures and finally a solids lab where I was looking at finding the shear centre of beams of asymmetric cross section. This is the point where a load can be applied without the beam twisting. In the middle of the day I had lunch with Harry and saw his lab before I had to say goodbye as he was leaving for Vietnam that evening. I also planned what to do for our mid semester break and we are looking at going sea kayaking at Bay of Islands and then heading north to Cape Reinga. The work load was pretty heavy this week, being the last week before the break. I had an assignment to finish on Thursday morning for fluids before quickly going to the shops to buy food and packing to go to Mohaka on a kayaking trip. I had a test in control systems just before we set off but thankfully it went pretty well. The drive took about 5 hours, including breaks. For some reason, we had a pretty good run with the traffic. Once at the campsite we pitched tents and went to sleep.

Sadly, Ulysse could not join us and Harry was already gone but Marlene and I and two other friends, Alice (French) and Bridget (American) were able to form a group to enjoy the glorious weather. We were kayaking the grade 2 section, getting in at the campsite and paddling down. Our instructors were Patrick and Olly who were Welsh and English respectively so we had a rather Celtic group. I tried to get to grips with Eddying in and out (getting in and out of the main stream) but felt quite unstable. I flipped twice in doing so but I successfully managed to roll myself back up so I was delighted with myself. It does mean I am booty eligible now. This means that if I swim from now on I have to do a booty, which is downing a pint out of a wetsuit booty. Not pleasant. I did start to feel a little more confident with eddying though. About half way down we stopped to stretch our legs and our two instructors headed off on a wild goose chase, quite literally. I was walking along the grassy area when I saw a flock of geese take off from around the corner with Olly running behind with his paddle in the air. Amazingly, he managed to knock one of the geese out with this paddle before breaking its neck and decapitating it. It certainly wasn’t the most pleasant but definitely humane. Patrick managed to catch one too and they tied them onto the back of their kayaks to cook for dinner. The last rapid of the day was the biggest (the rest of the run was pretty chilled), and I managed to flip over quite near the start but I very quickly and successfully rolled myself back up and finished off the rapid. I was so delighted and was on a high from it for about three days. Some of the older members also saw and they were quick to praise my efforts.

First thing on Saturday morning we shuttled the rafts down to where we had gotten out the day before as this was the start of the grade 3 section. While we waited for the divers to get back from leaving cars at the get-out, I threw a frisbee around for a while (possibly missing the safety briefing). I was originally in one raft without my friends of choice but Marlene managed to find a raft that needed people so I jumped ship and had so much fun with Marlene, Alice, Bridget and our raft guide Obi. Obi is very funny with a wicked sense of humour and great imagination. He is also a cameraman for adventure racing so is very fit and gets to travel all over the world. The rapids weren’t massive but it was very beautiful with steep cliffs and big gorges. We got out at one of the gorges to jump into the river from about 10m! We were on the water for about five hours in the end so I was completely worn out in the evening. On account of my exhaustion, I managed to fall asleep with my tent door open and my head torch still on. I woke around three to rectify the situation!

We had a more leisurely start on Sunday morning as the instructors were going to do the grade four section and some people were going rafting again so we had to wait for that shuttle to run. I did the upper grade 2 section with the same rafting group and some seconders. We were on the water for about three hours, finishing up at the campsite. It was a much more relaxed affair and I was able to practice some more of my skills and even had a go at picking some lines. I kept my head dry for the whole time so I was pretty warm at the end and went from a swim to cool off. It was so refreshing!

With the kayaking done we went to visit Napier. It was quite a pretty town, with much of it being rebuilt in the 1950s so it has a distinctive style of architecture. It was nice to see the sea before we went back to camp to eat dinner and pack up. The same rafting group all went back together with Fitree at about 20:00. On the way, we stopped at the hot stream in Taupo, the one I have visited many times before, but we were amazed by how low the water level was. We stripped off and enjoyed the warm water by moonlight. Fitree is a very good singer and we were lucky enough to be serenaded by the light of the moon. There was a period where I really struggled to stay awake but I had to for Fitree’s sake. We got home around 02:00 and fell into bed.