Speed through May..

I've really gotta step up my game on coming up with names for my blog posts.... they're getting all literal and lame. Next time. Alright. So. Let's take a (month long) step back - After I returned to Christchurch I had a (rude?) reawakening that yes, I am indeed in school. Back to classes and homework. But not to fear - I did fit in my share of weekend adventures when I wasn't too busy. Which was most of the time. Of course. The first weekend back, we attempted to go on a day hike somewhere North of Christchurch.. buuut that didn't happen. So instead, I caught up on some of the work I had disregarded during my 3-week break and had the chance to hit up the South Island's largest farmer's market! I scored myself a sweet $16 backpack after my other one broke (it may or may not have flames on it). Seriously ANYTHING you need is at that market. Its crazy. Sheepskin rugs, produce galore, homemade items of every kind, music, clothing, etc. So the weekend was not a complete bust! Another week of classes passed before I had the chance to get out of the city again. The second weekend of May, I think it was the 6-7, I participated in a 24-hour orienteering event put on by Canterbury University Tramping Club! I 'competed' on a team of 4 and we got an 'honoourable mention' for our costume and we actually did pretty well I think.. middle of the pack-ish. I say 'compete' because there were super serious people who actually competed in orienteering (or 'rogaining') and were sponsored, and as a result completed the 24-hrs in running / biking gear and for the most part jogging. They were in a league of their own! There were 5 legs for the event - the first leg was mandatory as it led us to the 'hash house', and then the others it was basically how much you can get done in the remaining time. Each leg was probably around 15-16km long, and YUP we only got to leg 3... but so did everyone else. There were only a few teams who got up to legs 4 and 5. We hiked probably around 30km I am going to guess, over about 18 hours - we slept / took breaks for the other 6 hours, including a cozy 3 hour nap at 3am with the 4 of us in a 3 person tent. OH and we collected clues from 25 checkpoints along the way. There's the orienteering part of it, along with the fact that we were armed only with a topographical map of the area, our compasses and our sense of direction (don't trust the sun in the Southern Hemisphere...). The best part about this was that it did not take place on trails whatsoever - alright sometimes we could walk down tractor trails BUT there was a fair amount of bushwhacking and we may have become extra friendly with the lovely matagouri bush - YES. There was plenty of scratches, falling into holes between the tussock, wading through streams, and dodging WASPS. On the positive side, there was awesome views, plenty of mud and a GREAT TIME. I managed to lose my amazing Costco water bottle in the bush.... NO idea when it happened but didn't notice it was gone for forever, and was not willing do go digging around searching in the prickly stuff especially when we had a time limit. But I am SAD about that. After the first leg we got to the 'hash house': essentially a home base where there was food, a live scoreboard, our overnight things and space to rest / sleep (amongst bushels of wool). Needless to say everything smelt like SHEEP afterward... and I didn't entirely realize until we were back in the city. We managed to have perfect weather - sunny days and mostly clear night with a pretty much full moon!! It was awesome and I would definitely do it again!! Sunday afternoon we drove back to Christchurch and this is the first time in a while I can say I PASSED OUT on the bus within about 10 minutes, hahaha, went to bed at about 6pm (with full intention of waking up a few hours later for dinner) and slept right through until Monday morning. Probably the best. P.s. about that rugby photo in the last post - I may have forgotten to mention that when I was in Christchurch for one day the day after Mom and Dad left (yup sorry Dad you JUST missed it!) I went to a Canterbury Crusaders game! Vs. South Africa. And the All Blacks are playing in Christchurch in a couple weeks!!! Not going to that.... the tickets sold out SUPER fast and I am obviously not that organized. You know.