Outward Bound - Part 2 (unfinished)
We made the top of the ridge after stopping countless times for people to get their breath. It was heavy going on an untracked hill with full backpacks and the weaker among us couldn't keep pace. A fantail followed us from the lower foothills all the way up, enjoying the insects that we disturbed and set flying as we passed. Naia got stung by a bee and we saw wasps as we walked down the ridge to the trig. The track was clearly blazed from here on and we made good time. But coming down the hill was very slippery and I couldn't stop laughing at Naia and Ashley as we all slipped and slid down the hill. The main body of the party was grumpy with us for moving at our own pace as we had to be together as a group for our own safety. Back at Anakiwa, Mike told us to change into our PT gear. Oh no! My knee was seriously hurting after the stress placed on it descending from the ridge above Anakiwa. I’d flared up the old injury from tramping up the Rakaia river in January, the same one that was strained when I had to lift Willie during the Top Town competition at the April camp for DEAFinitely Youth Group. We were all pretty shattered, but we had to do it. Emma, Naia and myself were too sore to run so Mike got a baggage trolley out for us to ride on, but eventually it was just Emma that had to be pushed, with me hop-skipping and Naia limping along for the two mile run and dip. We had to do a water exercise, where we sat on each other’s lap in a circle. After changing into dry clothes we scrubbed down our tents and hung up our bags and had a debrief meeting. It was only Saturday afternoon, just over twenty four hours after we had arrived. Dinner was served and we had the evening free. Daniel was the first up and woke us all again for 6.15 PT in the Sunday morning dark. My knee was very sore and I couldn’t even start on the two mile so I had the dip and cold shower instead and was first up for breakfast kitchen duty. After breakfast w Sunday afternoon – the rope – over and under, etc the bomb/hat thing.
Monday morning – rock climbing - afternoon Solo
Tuesday morning – solo – afternoon – practice rowing sailing, swim to the wharf.
Wednesday – rowed and sailed boat to bay on other side of Tory Channel. We made ready to go sailing, all the spare clothes packed into a boat bag, and our food packed into the other boat bag. We hopped on the cutter [Name?] and rowed out into the middle of the Sound. We looked and looked for wind, but to our dismay the pennant tied to one of the mainstays barely fluttered and the wind-arrow kept shifting. The nature of the hills around Queen Charlotte Sound meant that wind swirls and gusts in little eddies all across the sunken valley where we were. We had no choice but to row. And row. Bevan told us that it was not unusual for people on Outward Bound to do nothing but row all the way to where they were going. It looked like we had to do that too. There were eight of us on the oars, Beryl & Lynx and Bevan & Mike on board. We rowed right up the Sound and lunched after three hours steady rowing, where we could see Picton. The wake of the Interislander rocked us as it went past. We saw penguins swimming about 500m away, then seals flipping and Dusky dolphins torpedoed beneath us. I caught a glimpse of a large adult when I looked beneath us as we rowed. We kept having to change around to give each other a rest, and soon ended up with all the guys taking the heavy oars and the women taking the lighter, newer oars. I took my striped thermal top off and fashioned a turban with it as the sun was quite harsh and I could feel my skin burning. It was like a summer day, rather remarkable for the middle of winter! Finally, as we went past Tory Channel, the wind picked up and we were able to sail the rest of the way to the bay where we would spend the night. We lowered sails and splashed oars and rowed to where Sir Roy was moored. Before we could eat, we were given a choice of three people swimming to shore and all of us camping for the night, with people keeping watch on the boat as it floated on a long line, or half of us swimming and camping for the night on the shore with half swimming back in the morning to the boat on a mooring, or everyone going for a swim and sleeping on the boat. It was getting dark by the time we decided. I would have preferred to have half all swimming and camping on shore, but Marian said she really didn’t want to go for a swim. Mike told her that was completely the wrong thing to tell him. So, of course, we all went for a swim. After the initial shock, I went back and dived in two more times from the roof of Sir Roy’s cabin. Christian discovered that I had his towel – as I am colourblind I had no idea. He didn’t have togs so he jumped into the water buck naked twice! We had a pail for a toilet or else it was over the side for the waterworks, which was a tough test of our privacy. I put up the two cooking flies over the boat, tying one end to the hull and the other end to Sir Roy to create a tent over our cutter. We cooked on the gas burner and the triangas on the back hatch of Sir Roy. Daniel was the main cook, cooking two lots of meat and boiled vege dishes. Emma and I had a vegetarian dish made up of mushroom rice risotto and noodles with a few select vegetables. After that I made my bed up by the mast beneath the bleachers, next to the water bottle. I sat in meditation for a few minutes, but was interrupted by Ashley for what must be the third or fourth time. “Are you ok?” But finally I slipped away and slept soundly until Daniel woke up first and stood on my foot. I eventually got up, and it was about 6am, still dark with the brighter stars still clearly seen. After eating a few fried hashbrowns, I unfolded half the fly and Christian took pictures from the roof of people sleeping in the boat to try and wake them up. We were told that we would have to swim before we could leave. It was so cold that when I got out of the water, the skin had contracted around my toenails and gotten cut by the edges of my toes. I showed Bevan: “Look at what you did!” and he just laughed. Eventually we were all ready to go, all our packs and gear stowed away on Sir Roy, and we rowed out to try and look for some wind. We rowed across to the western side of the Sound and found a small amount of wind. We raised the flag and called the instructors and interpreters on board. Val was taking care of Sir Roy. We raised sails and spent the next 40 minutes tacking across the sound, eventually ending up roughly 30m away from where we started. I was skippering the boat at this point, so I told everyone we would have to row. We were given three options: row and maybe sail, or row and be towed back to Anakiwa and do some high wire climbing, or row all the way. We quickly chose the tow option! We kicked off the instructors and interpreters to lighten the boat and make it easier for us, and while they had hot chocolate and coffee, we rowed and rowed to the beacon opposite Tory Channel. From there on, we were towed back and Mike facilitated a group session where we said what we thought was best about each other, and then pointed out one characteristic that we thought needed improving in ourselves. I can’t remember everyone else’s, but I remember a couple of comments – working hard, not complaining, keeping calm and enjoying myself. Once we were within a short row’s reach of Anakiwa, we rowed back in, snacked outside the McKenzie briefing room, then started cleaning all our gear to be ready to leave on Friday morning.
Thursday – swam around boat – rowed – towed – high wire & cleaning after dinner.
Friday – cleaning, goodbye and leaving.
Monday morning – rock climbing - afternoon Solo
Tuesday morning – solo – afternoon – practice rowing sailing, swim to the wharf.
Wednesday – rowed and sailed boat to bay on other side of Tory Channel. We made ready to go sailing, all the spare clothes packed into a boat bag, and our food packed into the other boat bag. We hopped on the cutter [Name?] and rowed out into the middle of the Sound. We looked and looked for wind, but to our dismay the pennant tied to one of the mainstays barely fluttered and the wind-arrow kept shifting. The nature of the hills around Queen Charlotte Sound meant that wind swirls and gusts in little eddies all across the sunken valley where we were. We had no choice but to row. And row. Bevan told us that it was not unusual for people on Outward Bound to do nothing but row all the way to where they were going. It looked like we had to do that too. There were eight of us on the oars, Beryl & Lynx and Bevan & Mike on board. We rowed right up the Sound and lunched after three hours steady rowing, where we could see Picton. The wake of the Interislander rocked us as it went past. We saw penguins swimming about 500m away, then seals flipping and Dusky dolphins torpedoed beneath us. I caught a glimpse of a large adult when I looked beneath us as we rowed. We kept having to change around to give each other a rest, and soon ended up with all the guys taking the heavy oars and the women taking the lighter, newer oars. I took my striped thermal top off and fashioned a turban with it as the sun was quite harsh and I could feel my skin burning. It was like a summer day, rather remarkable for the middle of winter! Finally, as we went past Tory Channel, the wind picked up and we were able to sail the rest of the way to the bay where we would spend the night. We lowered sails and splashed oars and rowed to where Sir Roy was moored. Before we could eat, we were given a choice of three people swimming to shore and all of us camping for the night, with people keeping watch on the boat as it floated on a long line, or half of us swimming and camping for the night on the shore with half swimming back in the morning to the boat on a mooring, or everyone going for a swim and sleeping on the boat. It was getting dark by the time we decided. I would have preferred to have half all swimming and camping on shore, but Marian said she really didn’t want to go for a swim. Mike told her that was completely the wrong thing to tell him. So, of course, we all went for a swim. After the initial shock, I went back and dived in two more times from the roof of Sir Roy’s cabin. Christian discovered that I had his towel – as I am colourblind I had no idea. He didn’t have togs so he jumped into the water buck naked twice! We had a pail for a toilet or else it was over the side for the waterworks, which was a tough test of our privacy. I put up the two cooking flies over the boat, tying one end to the hull and the other end to Sir Roy to create a tent over our cutter. We cooked on the gas burner and the triangas on the back hatch of Sir Roy. Daniel was the main cook, cooking two lots of meat and boiled vege dishes. Emma and I had a vegetarian dish made up of mushroom rice risotto and noodles with a few select vegetables. After that I made my bed up by the mast beneath the bleachers, next to the water bottle. I sat in meditation for a few minutes, but was interrupted by Ashley for what must be the third or fourth time. “Are you ok?” But finally I slipped away and slept soundly until Daniel woke up first and stood on my foot. I eventually got up, and it was about 6am, still dark with the brighter stars still clearly seen. After eating a few fried hashbrowns, I unfolded half the fly and Christian took pictures from the roof of people sleeping in the boat to try and wake them up. We were told that we would have to swim before we could leave. It was so cold that when I got out of the water, the skin had contracted around my toenails and gotten cut by the edges of my toes. I showed Bevan: “Look at what you did!” and he just laughed. Eventually we were all ready to go, all our packs and gear stowed away on Sir Roy, and we rowed out to try and look for some wind. We rowed across to the western side of the Sound and found a small amount of wind. We raised the flag and called the instructors and interpreters on board. Val was taking care of Sir Roy. We raised sails and spent the next 40 minutes tacking across the sound, eventually ending up roughly 30m away from where we started. I was skippering the boat at this point, so I told everyone we would have to row. We were given three options: row and maybe sail, or row and be towed back to Anakiwa and do some high wire climbing, or row all the way. We quickly chose the tow option! We kicked off the instructors and interpreters to lighten the boat and make it easier for us, and while they had hot chocolate and coffee, we rowed and rowed to the beacon opposite Tory Channel. From there on, we were towed back and Mike facilitated a group session where we said what we thought was best about each other, and then pointed out one characteristic that we thought needed improving in ourselves. I can’t remember everyone else’s, but I remember a couple of comments – working hard, not complaining, keeping calm and enjoying myself. Once we were within a short row’s reach of Anakiwa, we rowed back in, snacked outside the McKenzie briefing room, then started cleaning all our gear to be ready to leave on Friday morning.
Thursday – swam around boat – rowed – towed – high wire & cleaning after dinner.
Friday – cleaning, goodbye and leaving.
posted by oga at
2:44 PM
