Waipari Climbing

What's up aaaaaaab? 

Even as I write about this day, I have a smile on my face and I'm just amazed at how much this sport and passion makes me happy! A dream has come true for me, as climbing in New Zealand has definitely been one of my dreams. My landlady Yvonne has a daughter named Cara and a friend named Alice, and I noticed quite early on that Alice and I share a love for climbing. We have even been together at the bouldering gym. However, Alice doesn't just boulder; she also goes climbing on rock.

One beautiful day, I'm on my way to work when Alice and parts of her family are getting ready to head to the climbing area. Yvonne is more into biking, but everyone else went climbing, and I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous because I really wanted to join. So, I invited myself a bit and asked if we could do the same thing the next day, and to my immense joy, Alice, Cara, and I went climbing together the next day in Waipari.

Once we arrived, we first explored the area and chose a few easy routes to warm up and also to see how the other person climbs and belays, and to get into the groove a bit. It was also Cara's first time climbing on the wall, and we didn't want to overwhelm her right away.

Simply a dream! Wonderful! Fantastic! I couldn't have been happier. We also picked a few other routes that weren’t particularly tough, but since it was the first time climbing after about 1.5 years, I must say it was pretty strenuous, and I once again realized that I'm quite out of shape. Oh dear. I need to get back into good form when I'm home again.

Cara also held on super long and I think she really enjoyed being on the wall with us and developed a good trust in us and in herself the longer we stayed there.

Before the last route, we treated ourselves to a little break and continued to explore the area. During this, we stumbled upon the main wall and I watched the climbers there for a good 20 minutes, just filled with happiness, even though I was just watching.

The entire area is just a wonderful patch of earth and is located in the property of a farmer who bought the whole property to ensure that after some regulatory changes in legislation in New Zealand for climbers, they could still climb here. Therefore, the routes and the entire terrain are just top-notch maintained, and the whole community truly appreciates this place. Just as I appreciate what Alice made possible for me that day - in that sense, many thanks for that. Love, love, love goes out!

I also realized that day how much I miss regular climbing and bouldering and how happy it makes me to practice this sport. Therefore, I am especially looking forward to doing it again at home!

With this realization, here’s to many more climbing sessions at home,
Yours, Britta