Castle Hill - The Energy Center of the Universe (or one of them).

Today is our tenth day in the Castle Hill area...and I'm struggling to remember everything worth writing!  Here's my best effort:

1. Christchurch: We got a small taste of Castle Hill before having to head to Christchurch to sell our car (thank goodness we did then because as I'm writing, it's about 3 hours after the massive earthquake hit).  Day 1: In Christchurch, we printed and posted flyers in every hostel we could find.  Within hours, a Scottish couple - Ryan and Vary - called us up interested in Aquarius.  We chugged over to their hostel, where they took her for a test drive.  Aquarius was on her best behavior, so their interest extended to a morning trip to get her fully inspected.  Day 2: We took Aquarius to a AA inspection place where we discovered she had more problems than we'd imagined.  Ryan and Vary seemed hesitant, and Nolan and I left in silence worried that we weren't going to get another fish to bite the bait.  In angst, I texted them wondering what they'd learned about cost of fixing the van...they texted that they were still keen on buying but given the cost of fixing it could only afford to pay $2,500.  So in the end, we swapped the car for the price at which we bought it and leaving it in better hands!  Car sold, we spent the night eating pizza and sleeping in a BED before renting a car and heading back to Castle Hill the following day.  
2. Cragieburn Campground: Our base for Castle Hill climbing consists of a small stream flowing through beech forest, which accounts for the swarms of wasps around the campgrounds, a three-walled shelter with two tables for cooking, a tank that collects rain water, and a loo that qualifies as the worst and smelliest one we have seen in NZ.  Our first few days we shared the grounds with two Aussie couples that are in their mid to late fifties.  They camped out for three nights and cooked gourmet meals, including freshly caught trout by one of the gentlemen, which they kindly shared with us one night because it was too big to eat!  The rest of the week we shared the grounds with fellow climbers, including Italians, a Czech, Hungarian, Kiwis, and Germans and somehow managed to fill ourselves up with lots of pasta and couscous meals on our one-person pot and stove.  
3. The Swedes: On Day 3 of climbing, we met a lovely Swedish couple, Janna (pronounced Jenna) and Tobias.  We climbed with them for the rest of the week, working on problems, loving the extra spotters and the two crash pads.  They are traveling for about 5 months through NZ, India, Greece, and France before heading back home to reassess what they want to do with their lives.  They might as well have been our Swedish counterparts!  Since they were renting a house in Castle Hill Village (clearly the Swedish currency is on their side), we went over to dinner one night and made tacos with a mix of Swedish and America traditions.  The Swedes put chopped apples in their (delicious!) and we cooked some of our veggies when they just throw them in their raw.  With full bellies, we headed back to camp in the drizzle.  
4. Flock Hill: In the Castle Hill area, there are several boulder-covered hills in which to climb.  The "cream of Castle Hill" is supposedly Flock Hill.  To get here, you need a permission slip so that the "farmer won't shoot you," as quoted by the bartender at Flock Hill Lodge.  With slip safely secured, you walk up a very step hill that is dotted with thorn bushes.  Flock Hill is different for a few reasons: (a) it is less climbed, therefore the limestone hasn't been polished as it has on the problems in Castle Hill, (b) there is no guide book, so it's up to you to find something fun and try it taking away the distractions of trying to read the map and worry about grades, (c) there are no tourists roaming the fields, so it's beautiful quiet, (d) there are less bees and flies and more crickets and lizards, and (e) there are more holds and less jumping to a mantle or "meat and potato" problems as Nolan calls them.
5. Flat Tire: We seem to always be at the epicenter of Murphy's Law - if something can go wrong, it will..i.e. nonstop rain and washed out bridges in Costa Rica, a snowstorm that shuts down JFk, an earthquake that shuts down the Christchurch airport, or the odd flat tire causing by the air valve popping off at a very inappropriate time when everything in tiny Springfield is already shut.  If we haven't mentioned Springfield yet, it's the town closest to Castle Hill.  It consists of a three cafes, two hotels (one is our beloved Smylie's), and a gas station.  We were forced to change the tire, drive over Porter's Pass on our spare to the campground, and back again in the morning to get the tire fixed.  Eesh!
6. The Vortex: The day of the full moon, I took a rest day and did work in town while Nolan went climbing.  On his way in, he met a fellow with a "Gentle Bear Healing" sticker on his van, a fedora with giant feather on hat, walking stick covered in gem stones in hand, and tattoos all over his body.  He mentioned to Nolan that tonight was a full moon and the moon was lining up with Uranus.  Because of this, a vortex would open in Castle Hill, it being an energy center, and a new dimension would open.  In celebration (or something like it), there would be a Shaman and many others in Castle Hill reigning in this new..."era?"  At 9:30pm, we set out to see and experience this unusual gathering.  On the way up Porter's Pass (the steep mountain road), our gas gauge sank down to empty, and given our luck with flat tires and all, we decided to turn around and experience the new dimension from the comfort of our once-a-week bed.  Days later, we came across a circle of stones that must have been the remnants of the full moon festival.
7. Supernatural! On my rest day (Dimity speaking), Nolan came home saying he'd flashed a V5 and he thought I could do it too because it was technical.  The following day, feeling well rested, I went to try it and got it!!  My hardest problem yet!! Woohoo!
8. Peanut Butter: I'm not sure why I never realized this, but peanut butter seems to be exclusively an American thing.  The Swedes had never had it, and I gave a German girl her first taste ever.  By the look on her face, I think she felt reborn.
9. Friends: Being in one place for a long period of time leads you to meet lots of interesting people.  In addition to the Swedes, we met two Italians from Lake Garda (who had been parked right next to us at Hangdog, but we didn't realize it!) who taught me to play Briscola an Italian card game I used to play when I was little, a Czech guy, a fellow American, and a German man all of whom were excellent climbing buddies and sources of entertainment.

Now I'm off to do laundry and enjoy the luxury of a long, hot shower...

Ciao!

Dimity

See Castle Hill pictures here.