Eric left for Christchurch last night to pick up Miss Sophie.  He is really excited to say the least.  I’m pretty psyched too.  It will be nice to have another friend around.  Because it was a surprise for Sophie, I couldn’t let anyone know until now….Eric bought a sweet red van.  It is really cool.  Huge red van with a bed in the back and a licence plate cover that says “Women love me, Fish fear Me.”  It is pretty rad to say the least.

New Zealand is still treating us great.  We’ve met heaps of people and have really enjoyed the climbing.  With less than a month left, we are excited about South Africa, but will definitely really miss it here.  Hopefully we’ll get most our projects done before we leave….if not, I’ll just have to come back….

Now that Eric is back from Wanaka, we’ll get some pics online soon so you can see how amazing it is here. 

By the way, apparently we got our days of travel extremely confused….we somehow left out a whole month….this is why the huge skip to 320.  We’re on the right mark now.  Two months until our 1 year anneversary.

Taker Easy,

-Matt

We were hoping to be graced with Matt’s presence for the shoot, but alas it seemed like everything that could conspire against him this past weekend did, hence he wasn’t able to make it down. He was however our Christchurch team representative and he told me in an email this morning that our short did pretty well in the first heat. YAY! I got a little worried when he didn’t show up, but it turned out he was fine … he just had a flat tire and no computer access for the weekend. Glad he’s alright. I’ll be working on the vineyard non-stop until the 11th of June when my girlfriend arrives :)!!! Can’t wait to see ya Soph! Then we’ll head either to Castle Hill to do some serious chill’n with Matt (and climbing with him a whole bunch) or, depending on the weather, we might head to Paynes Ford to throw down on the sharp end of some climbing tether! I’m so excited!!!

‘Til next time,

Eric

New Zealand is still as amazing as it was when we first arrived.  Saddly to say, Eric and I are no longer traveling together at the moment.  It looks like we won’t be back together for about another month:(  About two weeks ago Eric left with Kirilee to get work in Wanaka.  It’s about 5hrs from here.  I got lucky and scored a job here which is the only reason I stayed.  I believe he is working at a Vineyard, but not sure on that.  He does have a job though.  Now that we both have jobs, living should be a little better with some money in our pockets.  A little extra cash goes a long way in South Africa and India.

Besides the amazing job, which includes room and board, I was given a car last week!!  How amazing is that?  Our friends we met climbing here, from Utah, couldn’t sell their car before they left, so they just gave it to me.  (Thank you soooo much Jake and Ashley…..and don’t forget about SA)   It’s a Subaru Legacy Wagon  pimped out with a bed and storage action in the back.  It’s grey, so in honor of New Zealand/Lord of the Rings I’m calling it Gandalf the Grey.  It is perfect for traveling here.  I couldn’t be anymore blessed.  I am going to try and go on my first road trip in it this weekend.  If all goes as planned, I’m gonna head down to Wanaka to see Eric and help him in this really cool Film Competition.  Apparently you have 24hrs to shoot and edit a film.  It is going on all over New Zealand and there are some pretty good prizes.  It should be good. 

Other than that, no new exciting news…..just working and climbing. 

For those that enjoy the pictures, Eric has the computer so I can’t upload any photos…..sorry.  But I will try this weekend or ASAP.  We’ll also try and get some good footage and put together some good Castle/Flock hill videos as soon as Eric gets back.  By then I should have all the problems wired:)

Eric, you should probably write a post too, so everyone, including me, knows what you’re up to. 

Hope all is well across the world.

-Matt

Since then, we have been camping at the free camp ground.  It has been pretty cold but we are definitely making it.  We haven’t had any problems with the devil birds that destroy everything in their path, and we have met a slew of amazing people already.  The bouldering is going great too.  The rumors of Castle Hill and Flock Hill are all true.  They are world class, they are slopey, they are slimy, and the mantles are tuff.  Thankfully we had a few months in Horse Pens 40 to train those muscles.  It’s great, you feel like you are climbing in Narnia or Middle Earth.  Eric has had a great start.  He’s crushed a couple of the problems I had picked out before we came.  I’m struggling a little but it will all come together…I sure of it:)

Besides the climbing, we are trying to find some work.  I ended up scoring this amazing job at the Flock Hill Lodge.  The people are amazing and the work is good.  Hopefully they will be able to keep me around for the remainder of my time here.  I’ve only been working for a week….let’s just say “It’s wild here.”  Eric is still looking but I’m sure he’ll find something.  As soon as all that is worked out, we’ll probably buy a car and continue our climbing and traveling through New Zealand.

No other great stories but we’ll keep ya up to date. 

I just want to close by saying a huge congrats to Josh and Brandi on the Twins!!!….and secondly on sending Five-0.  By the way, what is wrong with you…..waiting until it is death hot to do a really hard sloper problem??  That’s the Gecko for ya.  I gave you a shout out in our latest video….hope you enjoy.

 One more thing, to any who email us, moreover, me…..sorry for the late reply or no reply yet.  Internet is hard to come by and is usually timed and costly.  So don’t feel unloved:)  Hope this finds everyone from everywhere smiling.  Much love from your traveling friend/family,

-Matt

A lot has happened since our last post from Tassie.  Riding the high from the Tote, we said farewell to Carl and headed to the Grampians.  We took the train/bus combo to Horsham where we were going to try and hitch in to the Grampians.  To our pleasant surprise, our friend Andy (who we met earlier at the Arapiles) had recieved a message I sent him and was there to pick us up.  He took us to the Arapiles where we hung out for a day or two.  We ended up trading him a rope bag for a ride to the Grampians.  After loading up on enough food for two weeks, we finally made it to the Grampians.  The major bouldering area at the Grampians is located at Mt. Stapylton.  The campsite for Mt. Stapylton is located about 10k from the bouldering.  This seemed to be a huge problem considering we had no car.  Being true adventurists, Andy helped us find this amazing cave right near all the best bouldering areas.  It was an epic hike up to the cave with all our gear, filming equipment, food, and water, but thanks to Andy’s help we made it in almost 1 trip. 

 For the next two weeks, we lived straight “caveman” style.  We even had a couple school groups come through our cave on guided tours.  They thought we were either crazy or amazing….i’m still not sure.  Funny thing is, one group actually got a group photo with “the cavemen.”  The cave living was only half the fun.  We were only short walks away from some of the best bouldering in Australia.  Just around the corner from us was the Hollow Mountain Cave, which is the home of the thought to be “hardest boulder problem in the world”…The wheel of Life V16??  But that is just the full link up of the cave.  There were tons of moderates and hard problems that we could have spent the rest of our lives doing.  We spent a little time at most the areas to get a good overall view of Mt. Stapylton and managed to do some cool problems in the process.  We had an amazing time at the Grampians and also met some amazing people.  Just want to take this time to thank Jay and Claire again for all the help the last couple of days.  You guys were too generous.  I hope our paths will cross again soon.  We’ll be expecting you for a tour of the SouthEast Sandstone in the future.  To James, Pete, and Al: good luck on all the projects!

We’re gonna catch a train tonight that will take us from Melbourne into Sydney and then onto a plane to Christchurch, NZ!  We’re sad to leave but excited to be arriving at another dream destination.  We have tons of people we’re wanting to see again in New Zealand.  And to Gordie and Christina: we’ll be looking out for ya at Castle Hill!!

 We should have some pics and a short video project up in the next few days from the Grampians, so keep checkin’ in on us.  Hope all is well with all our friends and families.  We miss ya’ll tons and are sending you much love.  Until then, Taker’ Easy. 

-Matt

Since climbing the Totem Pole we have been relaxing at our friends, Glen and Gina’s, home (we met them in Squamish!). They have been so generous and hospitable and they have such an amazing house here … the house is so efficient! It comes with its own wood heated water, chickens (for eggs), low watt lights, solar panels, composter, and grey water recycling method!!! And it seems that every part of this house has a special touch of beautifully finished wood. If I ever own a house I sure want it to be something like this one. You can check out some pictures in our pictures section.

All said I am excited, but exhausted. We’ve been cranking hard for the past three weeks. We trained well, sent the Tote, and made an okay film. Now Matt and I are savoring the last bits of Carlito Flare before he heads for the US in a couple days … I’m gonna miss him a whole bunch. Then it’s off to the Grampians for Matt and I for some great Bouldering and more adventurizing. ‘Til then … Ciao, Eric

The weather has become perfect and the climbing is also going better.  We’ve done tons of classic lines and a bunch of boulder problems.  Eric and Carl are really tearing it up.  Mt. Arapiles is definitely a place any climber could fall in love with.  It is so beautiful here and camping scene is great too.  We’ve met loads of amazing people.  We’ve managed to get in good with the “local legend” Kirilee and her friend Andrew.  We also randomly ran into Craig, Silvia, and their cute little daugher….we met them in Squamish!!  Small world….speaking of small world, Liz and Carl ran into a couple they just worked with in Antartica….who happened to have worked with this other couple, we just met from Utah, years ago.  Basically a huge reunion of traveler/workers.  anyways, there is also this group from New Zealand.  They are awesome, and they have a guitar….good people, box wine, and good music always makes for good times in The Pines. 

Hopefully we’ll get some more pics and video up soon.  Internet is a little hard to come by and a little dodgy, but we’ll do our best.  Our friend Mark is coming up tonight so it looks like our last weekend at the Arapiles should be brilliant!  We’re heading out on Monday and flying into Tasmania on Tuesday!  More updates to come.  Taker Easy

-Matt  

With temperatures soaring to around 40 degrees Celsius in the Grampians and Arapiles, Mark decided to take us to another climbing place that would be a little cooler called Mt. Buffalo.  It has a lot of Trad routes, some sport, and amazing huge free-standing Granite boulders everywhere…..only to my disappointment, they were very undeveloped and even more unfeatured.  Most of the boulders were boarderline unclimbable:(  at least for only having 3 days.  Mt. Buffalo was extremely beautiful never the less.  Eric and Mark did a handful of routes while I looked for boulders and hiked around.  My expeditions usually ended in me getting lost, stuck on some mountain, or in the middle of the bush, with no boulders being found.  We had a blast though. 

I’m not 100% sure of this, but the data suggests that my feet attract Foxes.  Yes, there is a story behind this.  Our first night at Mt. Buffalo,  Eric and I decided not to set up a tent.  I crashed out in some grass so I could check out the stars while Eric was close to all the other campers by the tents….I was alone, the key point.  In the middle of the night, a flipping fox snuck up and bit my foot!!!  Crazy, I know.  I was scared the rest of the night and actually put on my shoes inside my sleeping bag for the rest of the night.  Didn’t get too much sleep that night.   No one really believed me until there were multiple fox sighting the next day, including a sighting by me and Nick (campmate), apparently as the fox was coming for another nibble off my foot.  I thought I may have run-ins with crazy snakes, spiders, or even kangaroos but never a Fox….Andrea, he was “crazy like a fox”

Anyways, we camped with a few of Mark’s friends (Nick, Kate, and Rich).  Luckily they shared their site with us, because the entire camp was booked up.  They were really nice and fun to hang out with.  They didn’t do any climbing with us, but they did give us a couple beers and teach Mark this intense game (Mark actually crushed them at).  Owned.  The other highlight of Mt. Buffalo was this group of Family/Friends that apparently camp there every year at the same time.  They were beyond generous.  They gave us all kinds of food.  Sausage our first night, bacon and eggs in the morning, random Ausie snacks, and most importantly Coffee everyday!  It was great to meet such giving and friendly people.  You can check out pics of everyone that we’ve met so far in the Friends Picture Gallary and there should be some other Oz pics, as well…..just as soon as we upload them:)

Eric and I have been learning all kinds of Aussie phrases and words that, until this week, would have totally confused us.  Example:  “Hey Mate, could you get me the billy out of the boot, and also grab a few beers from the esky?”  “No worries, Mate.”  Hopefully this new understanding will help us as we travel this week to meet Eric’s Brother, Carl, in Arapiles for some bouldering and route training for our assalt of the Totem Pole.

I guess that does it for now.  More posts to come.  And as always, Taker’ Easy

-Matt

A quick synopsis of the past couple months’ highlights are as follows: I got Giardia and it made me quite sick for the holidays … it has since been cured with powerful medication (and a life saving 5 liters of IV fluid -thanks Nicole!) Matt climbed with Josh multiple times a week at HP40 sending many sweet climbs including The Thief, Grab Me, Chattanooga Plow, Great White, and many more. I took a fabulous side trip to upstate NY to help Brett set up and host the 2nd annual Colgate ABS Bouldering Competition, visit my sisters Kirsten and Nicole, and go ice climbing! Which, by-the-mention-of-Brett, thanks to him we’ve made some changes to our web page. You can look at any of the older posts now, and there are some other slight “touch ups.” I hope ya’ll enjoy the changes and thank you so much for your help Brett! Matt sent two V8’s in a day at a private area down south!!! I got to visit Matt and his family down in ‘Bama for most of February (thank you soooo much for having me Karen, Clark, and Granny!). We got a nice visit from Jen and Gina down in ‘Bama. Matt and I had a blast visiting Chris, Bonnie, and Mike up in Chattanooga and seeing Zoso. I had a super time visiting me mum in Baltimore, as well as briefly seeing Mario and Ben! And I had an absolutely fantastic time visiting Sophie C. this past week! Oh, and Matt won the men’s advanced division at the Sloperfest competition at HP40 last weekend -nice work Matt!!!

There are too many more highlights from these past couple months to mention, but suffice it to say that all of the highlights include and are centered around spending time with fantastic friends and family. To all we thank you for such encouragement and support along the way. I’ll end this transmission here with promises of more to come from the land down under Take care everyone, and be well … our thoughts are with you all. Ciao, Eric

PS. Our Canadian friends Matt P. and Isa had made a wonderful gift for us. You can check it out as we recently added their video to our webpage. Not only did they do an exceptional job in the video, but it deeply touched both Matt and myself. Thank you so much Matthieu and Isa for your friendship and your words. ‘Til we see you again, much love … CIAO!!!

PPS. We just added a San Fransisco to Sydney film vignette montage thing … enjoy!!!