2015 Recap

So I haven't written anything on here for a long time, but after talking to my friend Peter Vander Meij who told me that he missed reading my blog (I wasn't sure before this point if anyone actually read it) I decided that I would try to start writing it again starting with a quick summary of what I've been up to in the last year. 

Celebrating life

Norway

I had another good season in Norway working for Voss Rafting Senter. I learned to ski (sort of), participated in my first Horgi Ned (a crazy race where you get dropped by helicopter on top of a mountain and ski, mountain bike, and kayak your way down to the finish line) paddled a bunch of classic runs, and hung out with good friends.

Learning to walk with skis on the feet like a Norwegian

Cruising down the river with friends

Amping up for the Horgi Ned with crazy Norwegians Nini Bondhus and Kamilla Sporsheim

Happy to have completed the mountain bike race in one piece

Spa pool party at Voss Rafting Senter

Must have been a transfixing safety talk

Racing in the Ula Extreme

Revisiting old runs

Northern Norway

Jordie and I had been interested in visiting Northern Norway for a quite a while and we finally got the opportunity this year. We had an epic adventure camping, hunting, drinking, watching the Northern lights and eating loads of elk meat

Jordie's idea of what we were hunting

Beautiful Autumn colours

Karasjok

Moose hunting dogs

Amazing sunsets

Hunting the elk

Amazing Northern Lights

Luxury camping

Reindeer galore

Croatia

Our next destination was Split, and oceanside city in Croatia. Here we checked out palaces, cathedrals, waterfalls, caves and islands.

Diocletian's palace is made from the same stone as the Whitehouse!

Really cool waterfalls, I think they would be great for paddling when in flood

On this cathedral you can still see the holes made by gunfire during the wars

To get into the cave you have to wait for the sea swell to go down then fit through this tiny gap, everybody get down!

Beautiful lighting in the blue cave

Hanging out with the love of my life

Rome

We just had a 14 hour stopover in Rome but we still got to check out the Colosseum and the Roman Forum to get a feeling of the history. 

Imagine what these stones have seen

I love the pillars

Austria

After our holidays we headed over to Oetz, Austria for the Adidas Sickline. Unfortunately I bombed out some bad lines over the very aptly named Champions's Killer and got knocked out in the first round. The consolation was that I got to spend the next day watching some very talented guys and girls having some sick lines down the Wellebruke Rapids.

Sightseeing above Oetz

Malaysia

After a few months at home Jordie and I headed to Malaysia for my cousins wedding. It was an amazing two week of eating, catching up with relatives, eating, sightseeing, eating, shopping, and yet more eating. Malaysia is an amazingly cheap place to visit, even in the most touristy places you can still feed a group of 6 people for about 15NZD. The food is a delicious mixing pot with influences from India, China, Indonesia, Thailand, as well as the local Malay cuisine.

Really cool Buddha carved into a rock on Langkawi island.

We looked after two of my cousins kids for 3 days and Jordie introduced them to snakes, elephants, monkeys, and rough and tumble...

My little sister the cow whisperer

These monkeys were hunting under rocks for crabs to eat

Chicken on a stick, YUM!

Best waffle ever

The crazy thing about Chinese weddings is the amount of times the bride changes outfit! This is outfit number 1 but I think she had about 5 costume changes by the end

Just a few of the dishes served at the wedding

They like to leave the faces on food they serve in Malaysia

After the wedding we headed down to Malacca which is listed as a UNESCO world heritage city. It is a pretty interesting place which has been ruled by the Malays, the Portuguese and the Dutch in different times through history.

A'Famosa which is an old Portuguese fortress

Cendol - a crazy traditional dessert from south east asia

World famous in Malacca chicken rice balls

They can even make great coffee, Malaysia has everything

Indian food served in buckets and eaten off leaves

Dessert

 

Souped up rickshaw in Malacca

Then I nearly didn't make it home as I hadn't realised that my passport was expiring in less than 6 months. I got stopped at the airport then had to pay a penalty at Singapore airport as I couldn't walk out then in again to get my connecting ticket. It all worked out in the end though, it generally does.