Beaumont

Another beautiful Kiwi weekend...this time with the kayak club - I am officially addicted to the club and so sad that this may have been my last weekend with them. We went to Beaumont, which is only an hour and a half away from Dunedin. It's a very small town but absolutely beautiful as it is hidden amongst the rolling green hills of the Otago region. Both mornings we woke up around 9 and drove down to the river and it was early enough that the fog was still settled in the valley, yet slowly rising as we made our way down the river. The sun broke through the fog and its rays slowly warmed our chilled bodies secured in our kayaks. This river was much more challenging than the last time. The rapids were stronger and there were many boils and a giant whirlpool nicknamed "Big Whirlie." We arrived around dinner time on friday, set up our tents, and spent the night playing games and getting to know the new members. Saturday we did the course bright and early and it was pretty rough. I flipped twice. One time when I exiting an eddy and second time Big Whirlie got me. Today was a lot smoother. I didn't flip once and my group finished the difficult part of the course early so we spent some time cooling off jumping into the water from a rope swing. When the other two groups caught up we rafted - we all make line with our kayaks, holding onto the kayaks on either side of ours as we go down the river and took turns climbing out of our kayaks and running down the line of them on the noses then jumping off the ends of them if we actually made it that far. Great fun, exciting weekend.
It's the most gratifying feeling for me - dominating nature. It is a balance of embracing it and domination at the same time. I want to own the river and fly down it in my kayak, yet at the same time I need to hold a level of respect for the river because its water can flip me and claim me as its victim at any moment. It's a huge rush, unlike anything I've experienced before.
This week consists of yoga tomorrow night, Backstage tuesday night - open mic there every tuesday. There is a fireplace and we bring sticks and marshmallows and roast them while listening to good music. Rolling wednesday morning and prom night thursday! My classes are going well. I have a big test in my Pacific Societies class on thursday. I have to memorize capitals, population, head of government and state, and dates of independence for all the countries in the south pacific. I'm a little frightened, but I've studying so I should be ok. My Theories of Social Power class is incredible. We have class discussions outside in the sun and just ask questions about how much power the state has and how it uses and abuses power.
Time for study. It's been an adventure-packed weekend, but now I need to work.

Dunedin, New Zealand