Blue Canyon- Auckland

Fun, Thrilling, Awesome and Adrenaline pumping... I had first adventure tour yesterday where I joined Canyoning at Auckland. The Blue Canyon is located in the Waitakere Ranges, which is 40 minutes drive from Auckland City. Though it is NZ175, but I felt that it was definitely worth the experience. Somemore we booked at ACB Base (the place that we stayed) there are free photos available and so we don't have to fork out additional money to our already depleting fund.

Normally, you will have to trek the trail and see how beautiful the waterfall is, however for this trip you get to abseil/rappel the waterfalls, jump into the pools, and get lower or shoot down polished rock chutes. Cool right?

Initially we had to carry our gear that is the wet suit and safety harness and walked about one hour before you reach the Canyon. However, my wet suit velcro was not sticking, so I had a hard time carrying the wet suit and walking the slippery road. It kind of remind me of the time that I climb the Kota Tinggi at Malaysia, only this time it wasn’t that cold and we had very good gear to help us. Oh, putting on the wet suit is kind of challenging, you got to squeeze into those tight outfit and we pull and jump until our fingers run out of energy.

Well, I suck at abseils. The first abseil I wasn't leaning back enough so I kept hitting the rocks, luckily I never smashed my face in. And Jas told me that the instructor said that "Again, again and again... Is she drunk?" So you can imagine how lousy I was... But my second abseil, I was more confident and better so I sort of only smash into the rock once, and it was due to one of the instructor that kept rushing me saying I can go faster. Hello, I am an amateur lo, you rush me, I gan chiong, so I smash into the rock. Argh.... Lucky that there are only 2 abseils that we had to do but we managed and survived.

Jumping into the pools is so much fun. But it can be a little scary, cos you need to jump far enough so that you don't hit the rocks at the bottom and some pools where the height is high enough, you can do some free style jumps. Well, I am a bit clumsy, so my photos look a bit funny. But one bad thing about wearing contact lenses are that every time I joined in, I got to close my eyes before I hit the waters. I am afraid that my contact lenses will drop out... And some jumps are quite high, so I kind of get a bit scared. There is a jump where 5 or 7 of us got to jump together and everyone reaction time is different. Then I was a bit slow, so during this jump I am like being drag down into the pools. But it was FUN, FUN and FUN… hahaha…

The part I like best about the Canyoning is the area where you got to go backwards, meaning head down first, cross your arms and wiggle down polished rock. It wasn’t as scary as it seems, cos you are unable to see what lies ahead. It is very safe and I was laughing or smiling all my way down. However, my photo only shown that I was already in the water. Too bad… Another part I like is that you sit on the rock and one of the instructors will “push” you into the water by the safety harness and you can choose the level of thrill like fast or slow. Guess what I choose, I told her I want middle, but it seems a bit fast and it was so much fun… hahaha…

One funny thing to share is that Jas and me are in almost every photos for some parts, because we are the first few to do the activities, so we stayed at the bottom and watch the others jump or abseil, etc, so almost all photos have us at the bottom looking at the people doing their stunts... Hahaha....

At the end of the jump, abseils, etc is another trek back to the vehicle to drive us back to the site. We had to climb this never ending stairs and carry our wet suits. After all the adventure, it was tiring and a mean feat to do and sometimes, the road get very slippery and you got to go very slow and careful. Well at the end of it, I really enjoyed this and I am really glad that I did it… YEAH…

Injury report: Cut on left hand and sprained my left hand - must be due to my lousy abseil, scratch on right leg and a bruise on right leg. What a coincidence that it's all on left hand and right leg and it diagonal...

Oh, I found out that I got one of the best apples picking job. I heard that the others (roommates, those doing the canyoning) that they are being paid are lower than mine and they still got to pay for the accommodation. And the Orchard we are staying are very organized in the sense that the manager will check how many bins you have collected in that week. So we are real lucky that we met very good employer and people in the Orchard, makes me kind of miss them. Well good things always come to an end, cross our fingers that we had more luck for the rest of our trip and we need to find a job fast….

Today is a day of job hunting…