Visit from the Family

I'll keep this brief. The visit with my parents and Brittany was amazing. I was so glad to see them and had a lot of fun showing them my world.

They flew into Sydney and tried to see the city in the pouring rain. They caught the aquarium and a quick nap before flying into Christchurch.

After the airline lost their luggage, I picked them up and showed them a bit of Christchurch: University of Canterbury and my old flat at Ilam. Then we drove to Dunedin. On the way we saw:


Mazfield, NZ

Aviemore Dam

Elephant Rocks

Omarau Penguins

Moeraki Boulders

They met the flat and spent a few days in Dunedin. I had lab to go to so they saw Baldwin Street (steepest street in the world), the Botanical Gardens, and around campus. We went to St. Claire beach, and out to the Otago Peninsula. There we saw the Royal Albatross colony (where we actually saw an Albatross!) and Highcliff road.

The next day we took off down south for the Catlins with my friend Alex where get got to see the cool stuff Leener wanted to see:

Waterfalls

Caves

Coastlines

and other cool stuff

and we got back just in time for Taco Tuesday with the crew!

Britt came out with us to see the town (fail). Monday and Tuesday nights are totally dead. We ended up at a Karaoke bar both nights. Empty orchestra is the correct translation for our performance...

The next day we went to Queenstown, checking out the cool scenery on the way. We rode the gondola to the top to see the town at night, then ate at Fergburger and crashed in the hostel. The next day we took a coach bus to Milford Sound where we got on a scenic cruise of the fjord:

We drove to Aoraki late that night and stayed in a hostel. The next morning we went on a few short hikes to check out the glaciers and the mountains. Overcast say so we couldn't see Mt. Cook, but Tasmin glacier looked great:

We then drove to Tekapo to get food and saw the Church of the Good Shepherd and Lake Tekapo:

Then proceeded back to Christchurch Friday night. Britt wanted to get tattoos together, but with not a lot of planning time ended up bailing. I got the southern cross on my calf and my fern touched up.

We had dinner at the motel, and the next morning they took off.

The visit seemed so short, but we got A LOT in! I'm sure if you ask Kev he'll say we drove every inch of NZ.

I wish I could have shown them Mt. Cook in good weather, took my mom bungy jumping, and showed them the north end of the island, but it was so great to get what we got!

God rocks for giving them the opportunity to get out here. I'm so thankful.

Wake Park NZ

On my way up to Christchurch to pick up my parents I stopped by Wake Park for a session. It was rubbish out; rain, cold, wind...but I rode anyway.

Wake Park is a small set up: System 2.0, two kickers, and a PVC shotgun up rail. There isn't much traffic, so the brother of the owner met me there and gave me a solo session, VIP for sure haha.

Started off fun. Got my legs back, threw some grabs and 3's off the kicker, got the GoPro out, and was feeling good. Then I washed out off the kicker and when I had dragged getting back up, it ripped the GoPro off my wrist. Down to the bottom it went.

The rest of the day was devoted to diving in the freezing cold water trying to find it, with no avail. Hopefully the guys there stumble upon it or I get a chance to go back up soon to look again (not a bad excuse to ride either...).

Sucky ending but I still got to ride, so i'm happy. I'll be buying Alex a new GoPro soon, but fortunately he has some pro-form prices so it won't put a huge dent in my bank account.

Rave in the Cave

Tonight was EPIC.

My friend Jono dropped almost $400 on lights, sound equipment, and a generator and threw a party in a cave on a beach...WHAAAAAAT

This cave is set back in a cove on Long Beach about 25 minutes from our flat. It is a 10 meter high opening that opens up even more into a big room.

The journey there was pretty intense; rain, extremely heavy fog (as in can't see for more than 5-10 meters), windy roads, screaming kids..

We got there and the dubstep was pumping, there was a killer bonfire, and everyone was having a great time dancing on the sand in the cave, totally protected from the rain and the real world.

Props to Jono for making this happen. How many people can say they had a rave in a remote cave? So legit.

Anyway, I had a great time dancing my ass off to some dubstep all night.

On the way home, we had 8 people in our car that seats 5. I was pulled over right near our house, but no ticket. NZ is awesome.

Pictures to come soon...

World’s First Switch Backside Triple Cork 1440 By Pat Burgener In Switzerland

World’s First Switch Backside Triple Cork 1440 By Pat Burgener In Switzerland Video | TransWorld SNOWboarding

Too bad it wasn't our boy Justin with the first, but sweet as none the less. \mn/ for progression.

Rugged As Man's Retreat

Camping, hunting, fellowship, fires, animals... as Lonnie from I Love You Man would say, "This is awesome!"

This weekend was "Man-camp" with Grace Fellowship. Twenty some odd "blokes" (NZ slang for men) went to a farm in Morrisons where Paul, a solo farmer and shepherd of 6,400 (yes, 6,400) acres of land let us stay. We were all to bring 2 veggies, and rely on our kills to provide for the rest of the weekend. Somehow, it all worked out wonderfully.

Day 1:
We hopped in the vans and drove a little over an hour to Morrisons, unloaded our gear into an old abandoned farm house, then went to the fire.

We met Paul, split up into 3 groups: 1 went walking for wild pigs, and two geared up with some 22s, and got into the back of his pickups around 10pm. We took off and drove all around the fields until about 1 spotting for rabbits and hares. Not only was Paul's rugged as driving awesome, but the terrain was nuts. 60 degree pitch ups and down, jumping off drop offs, all with 7 dudes and some guns in the back on the truck.

It was successful though. We got 2 rabbits and 2 hares, including one that I shot. We all gathered back up at camp and put our kills together, adding up to around 16 total. We all skinned and gutted them bare handed, put them away for the next day, then went to bed.

Day 2:
We got up early, had porridge for breakfast, and had a bible study around the fire.

Then loaded into the vehicles and headed up the hill onto the larger portion of the land. We made a quick range and fired the guns.

Then, drove up to the top of the road, hiked to the highest point where there was a great view, then had some quiet time in the snow grass.

When we were done we were dropped off, man vs. wild style, and told to head down an untracked gully and meet the leaders down at the vehicles.

We hiked down a very steep gully through thick bush, cliffs, and slippery ground. We made it down to a river, and it was the only way down from there. We waded down a canyon for a few kilometers until we came out. It was so much fun and super intense. We eventually made it to the road and back home just after it got dark.

We hiked into the gully on the left

Back home, we cut up the meat and cooked up dinner. Rabbit stew, boiled veggies, rabbit steaks, deep fried rabbit nuggets and dipping sauce. It was so good.

After dinner, we had another study then went to bed.

Day 3:

We got up, had breakfast, and went home in time for church. We were all fried, but it was such a nice day, so we went surfing. Waves were great and the sun was out.

The weekend was a whole new NZ experience. Raw, rugged, and awesome!

God kicks butt.

Best of a bummer situation

Today my friend Alex and I went to the beach to go surfing. Alex is another fellow ski bum and believer; he's a pretty rad dude.

Alex is studying at Otago for the semester then heading up to Mt. Hutt near Christchurch with a group of guys called Snowboarders for Christ. They bum around the ski resort riding and witnessing. Not a bad gig in my opinion.

Anyway, the beach was INSANELY windy. Too windy to surf, borderline too windy to stand without getting blown over. So we didn't surf, but found a sweet hand rail with a wind drift right under it. So we did some flips and played around on the beach.

Heading out to Palmerston tonight for men's retreat to shoot some stuff! Hopefully I get a pig or some rabbits. It would be pretty cool to be able to say I had a successful first hunt in NZ. More than I can saw about my hunting experience back in the states..


Cheers,
Mitch

Legen...wait for it...dary!

I have never been around so many TV show and Movie references in my life. Our house collectively has seen every TV show and Movie in the past 10 years, plus a pile of classics.

Our day to day runs on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Will Ferrell movie quotes. I love it.

"Sing him a song Rob Thomas...shut up!"

Kiwi Culture

Rat tails, mullets, short shorts, tank tops, mini shirts, barefoot, and awesome. Everyone out here does their own thing, and dresses in their own style.

The rugby culture seems to rock mullets and rat tails with short shorts and tank tops. Yes, that is what I said. Mullets. It's like being around Jon Caraco and Tupper Lake every day of my life. I've seen grungy mullets, faux hawks with rat tails, shaved head with a rat tail coming off one side of the back, 3 foot rat tail, corn row rat tail, dread rat tail, curly mullet, straight mullet, shall I continue? They also wear what looks like an all black low top Chuck Tayler with high black socks. Everyone does this, it's so weird. Here are just some from a 5 minute photo shoot of my section at the rugby game:

Then there is the bro culture; jandals (flip flops), tanks, and jorts (jean shorts). They all rock tight-ish faded jeans that they cut just above the calf, and rolled up a few times to below their knees. It's pretty legit. Long boards and skate boards are everywhere. It is extremely common to see people with no shoes and no shirts on the bus or in restaurants. It's pretty cool. Back in Christchurch I made it a whole day of going to lectures, riding the bus to and from downtown, going to dinner, and playing ultimate without wearing shoes once. Score.

Girls on the other hand, slightly disappointing. They wear awkward skirts, shorts, and skorts that are hiked up to almost their chest. Then flowy shirts and the same black shoes that the guys wear, or ankle high leather boots with high black socks. Super weird and awkward, but whatever! I'll stick to my American chicks for now.

[No homo]

Church

Church out here has been great. Back in Christchurch I went to this AWESOME church. Great live music, passionate believers, and a young, modern crowd highly involved in the community.

In Dunedin, I have been attending Grace Fellowship. It is a small church with a bunch of friends from Otago who also attend. I also go to a Bible study on Thursday evenings called Engage with the same group. It is great. Good fellowship, good food, and a lot of fun.

This weekend we are going on a "Men's Retreat" to Palmerston. It is about an hour north of Dunedin where we are going camping and hunting. Should be a lot of fun and great fellowship!

Aoraki (Mt. Cook)

Most amazing weekend of my life. Mt. Cook was the most beautiful, awesome, breath taking place I have ever been to. Mt. Cook is the tallest mountain in NZ, surrounded by glaciers and rugged mountains. This is me at the top of Mt. Olliver (1933m). Mt. Olliver is Sir. Edmond Hillary's, the first man to reach the summit of Everest, traverse. It was a beautiful day.

We hiked the Mueller track to Mt. Olliver, seeing Hooker and Mueller Glacier's, as well as many others on Mt. Sefton. All with Mt. Cook in the back drop.

The sky at night was unreal. The darkest sky with the brightest and most stars I have ever seen. It was indescribable.

I can't wait to take my parents there.

401 bros, this is the region that most of the backcountry filming from That's It, That's All occurred. Fer Cher.

Travis Rice was right, New Zealand is epic.