On my way to Sydney

Hey,

Today is my last day in New Zealand. I'm in Christchurch right now after a week of camping and climbing in Castle Hill waiting to head to the airport for my 6:45 flight to Sydney.

Castle Hill was a pretty good way to end my time here. I met some friendly people at the campsite that turned out to be climbers and we hung out for the week. Michal and Elias, from Israel and Austria, respectively, made my time at the campsite and climbing areas much more comfortable and enjoyable than they would have been otherwise. With two cool climbing partners, we went out to the boulders every day from Sunday to Thursday. I didn't climb particularly hard while I was there, in part because it took me until Thursday to get the feel of how to climb in the area and also because the rocks were so barren of holds that it seemed like everything was either a V1 (easy) or V8 (very hard). No complaints though. I worked on improving my mental state while climbing and pushed myself in different ways. The scenery there was top notch. Apparently, part of The Chronicles of Narnia was filmed at Flock Hill, which was one of the bouldering areas.

In Sydney, I have about a week before my Oz Experience bus pass starts so I think I'll try to get out to the Blue Mountains for a few days for some sight seeing and climbing. My plan for after that is to head up the east coast to Cairns, stopping along the way. It sounds like Byron Bay, Frasier Island, the Whitsundays, maybe Magnetic Island, and Cairns are the main places to check out. After that, I'll head to Alice Springs for a few days to see that place and then Uluru, or Ayers Rock, which is the big rock in the middle of Australia, before flying to Sydney and then home to SFO.

Leaving NZ feels like my trip is about over, but I still have over a month to go. Looking forward to the rest of my trip and also to seeing everybody when I get back.

Talk to you soon,

Andy