Orientation Trip to Springfield

During orientation, we took an overnight trip to Springfield.  When we got there, we checked in  at a hostel called Smylies and dropped off our things.  The hostel gave us sandwiches for lunch and then we all headed out for our adventures.  First stop, we went to a kayaking triathlon type competition.  I’m not sure exactly what it was, but we went down to the river to watch the kayakers come in and get on their bicycles. It was really cool.  After that, we headed over to Castle Hill for some bouldering and walking around.  Castle Hill was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I went off with a small group and we climbed up tons of rocks and took lots of pictures.  There were some rocks that we struggled to get up, and then struggled more getting down.  The most exciting part of the adventure was when Sam, the bus driver, showed us a place you can climb up to get to an amazing view.  You basically had to wiggle into a crack between two rocks, put your leg around the outside of the rock into a foothold and hoist yourself up.  One of the boys helped pull me up because I wasn’t quite tall enough to reach all the hand holds.  It was slightly terrifying, but also exhilarating.  The view from up there was amazing. After Castle Hill, we went to a cave stream where there were some amazing views as well.  The trip was really wonderful and I definitely enjoyed it.

One of the kayakers approaching the finish line

Part of Castle Hill

More of Castle Hill

The amazing view from when we were close to the top

The crack we climbed up to get to an amazing view

Looking back down on what we climbed up

Me with the beautiful view behind me

The view from the cave stream

I’m having an amazing time here so far! I’m excited for classes to start and to meet some more Kiwis so I can get more integrated in the culture here.  So far, it is quite similar to the US in many ways, but very different in others.  I’m excited to see how different classes are too!