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.
