Mike Lazarz Trip Report #3

I didn’t have too many friends for the first week or so, just the 1st XV players that I had met early that week. But everyone was really friendly. The housemaster asked to make sure that they make me feel welcome and they have. I made friends pretty easy after that first week.

The guys are friendly and will just come up to you and introduce themselves. I’ve made friends with pretty much the whole house. On the weekends the guys and I go into town or the mall and hang around, watch movies and have good times.

The boarding experience is quite different than what I thought I would be. It’s regimented, but a good structure and you get to know each other. We learn everything about each other. They really become your family. There are surfers, squash players, table tennis players, academics, rugby, soccer players, musicians, and more. From all walks of life and they all have a different story to tell and when we don’t have too much to do, we sit around and talk to each other and tell each other about ourselves.

The boys have a phrase that has become a common word among us, kinda like siblings we say “hey bro” or “what’s up sis”. We’re a tight bunch of guys. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with each other. This happens when you share a room, and the next one is only separated by a thin wall that doesn't go to the ceiling and that you shower right next to everyone. Being with these guys just builds camaraderie.

As for the rugby boys: The 1st XV has some players that are very arrogant, others very humble. Like my roommate who made the NZ U-17 national side as a hooker but plays no. 7 for the school. However, the 2nd XV boys are all friendly, and all try hard. Some I find really friendly and would consider good mates, others friendly but maybe not mates, and others that are just weird, but I like them nonetheless, because they all have different stories and all of them are interesting.

It’s hard to explain how the folks here are. They all seem laid back, and less stressed with things compared to us.

A normal day is 7.00am wakeup, shower, breakfast, brush teeth, house meeting, chapel/assembly, then classes till 10.55, interval till 11.15 or so, then classes, and then lunch at 1pm, to 1.55pm, and then classes to 3.30pm. If it’s Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday you have rugby training, then shower, change to number ones for dinner, then prep, and then house roll call, and then bed time 10.30.

I don’t know that I like the uniform, it saves you time from picking out what you would want to wear. But for dinner you have to be in number 1s, dress shirt, tie, slacks, and dress shoes, and it just seems pointless. You’re at dinner for maybe 10 minutes and it takes you a good 20 minutes total to change.

We stopped at Taupo township to get lunch and our last "real meal" before 3 days of tramping in the New Zealand bush (aka "the jungle"). As we drove towards Tihoi, the anticipation grew. I started feeling myself getting pumped for the trip.

I didn’t know what it would hold but I was sure it would be unforgettable. We were arranged into our groups of 3, and then into larger groups of about 12-13, and issued our Trangia cooker, gas, tent, first aid kit, and mountain radio. I was in charge of carrying the Trangia, and mountain radio.

After strapping into our packs (which mine felt like a good 30+ kilos) we started our trek. We climbed out through some farm-land, with fellow students as guides. We made it to the top, and I thought “well, that was steep but the bush wasn’t that bad”. Of course - it got worse.

As we made the final ascent to the top of the hill, I saw that the so called bush was more like the Amazon. It looked like a prehistoric island. With ferns, moss covered trees, vines, and little grasses covering the ground.

We tramped for good time, and after getting cut by blackberry (which has huge thorns and is very flexible), and hit many times by various branches and other things we finally made it to a clearing. We hopped over a deer fence, and then followed the road through turnip fields.

We also had a bit of a turnip throwing competition, which our teacher won, but was fun. We also picked up the biggest turnip we could find.

We climbed up to the top of a hill where a (cattle herd decided to stampede but they managed to avoid us) and hopped over yet another fence, this one being a bit higher and less stable. After that it was down into a valley, where the bush turned to jungle once more.

I led the way down, and after falling repeatedly, we made it to the creek at the bottom, however that was just a resting point. We had to climb a near vertical cliff, which would seem easy, if you didn’t have a 30 kilo pack on and the ground wasn’t mud and loose dirt. So, the climb up was probably the most challenging, but once on top you felt an immediate relief and satisfaction.

We decided to camp near there the first night, so made a fire and cooked burgers, and they never tasted so good.

Remember that real big turnip I told you about? After dinner, we carved it into a life-like human skull. The detail was really good, and that became our mascot, which we would carry the next 30+ km.

The next morning it was bacon & eggs for breakfast. Our course was to be a long 15km tramp to the Waihaha Hut, then out to the road. When starting out the hard part was finding the road through bush so thick, that you didn’t know where you were going.

But we made it, and along the way found a pot farm (but it was deserted). We found a road, filled up water bottles and then started off again. Once the road ran out it turned back into ‘medium’ bush (not quite open, but not quite the BUSH).

After a few hours we made it down to our next water stop, a good sized stream or small river. Our teacher was precariously perched filling up bottles and almost toppled into the freezing water.

Some of the guys decided to keep going when we had stopped at the stream and our teacher gave 'em an ear-full. And then they had to carry extra gear for the group.

When we started our hike to the Hut I was leading and hoping that I wouldn’t get us lost, luckily I didn’t. There was another group going the opposite direction from us, and we had a scout ahead, give a call when he saw them coming. We heard the call, and dashed into the ferns, and waited. As they came round the trail, we jumped out and gave them a huge scare!

We soon found out from them that we had a huge undertaking ahead of us. We had to rappel down a vertical cliff to a river basin, then scale our way up a vertical cliff face to the top before we would start our descent to the Hut.

The rappelling would have been great, if someone in our group hadn’t snapped the rope, and make everyone else gingerly climb down a good 50m+ rock face.

Then it was the river crossing and this river was moving pretty good. I tried to not get my boots wet but that failed miserably, so I’d have to hike the next hour or so in wet socks and boots.

When I saw the hut, it was a huge relief. We had hiked 15km that day and I was exhausted. We made camp, made food (beef stir-fry, with rice). Easily one of the most delicious things I’ve had, or it could've been I was starving and anything tasted good.

Then the next morning it was a 9km hike out the road. Not too much happened except rain and a huge hill climb that I don’t remember that well, and the fact I then carried the turnip weighing about a kilo or so for 7km.

Then to the road where we were picked up (the most relaxing part of the trip). At base camp we dried everything, cleaned everything, and then waited for the bus.

On the way back through Tokoroa where we stopped for food, I ate the most I’ve ever eaten in one sitting- 2 triple cheeseburgers, 2 large fries, a large drink, and a large sundae.

When got back to school I just slept, after a good hour shower.

Mike Lazarz