Bouldering at Castle Hill

8th August 2009. I went bouldering at Castle Hill with Hamish, a guy from work who was living at Vera's until at little while ago. His partner Paddy and their three year old son Oscar came along, and had many adventures amongst the boulders, being secret agents and hunting dragons! It was a beautiful day, blue sky, and really warm. Castle hill is a hillside littered with boulders so its a really great place to chill for the day, with the snow covered Southern Alps as a back drop. The rock is like nothing I've climbed on before, rounded and smooth, with very little friction. Fun? Surely not then? But it was briliant! Never one to shy away from a challenge I tackled a few problems, while Hamish waited patiently for me to get it together, man up, and make the moves! I had a few trademark moments of "this is scary, get me out of here!" (bit silly really, was only a couple of meters up!), and I didn't quite manage to hide the fear in my voice through a particularly smooth, exposed top out, but it was great fun, and I managed a few good problems. Loss of control in what was supposed to be a climb down, but ended up as a sack-of-potatoes-being-thrown-off-the-top-of-a-boulder type move has left me with a sore bum and Hamish with the lesson learned that Angela is never really in control, so expect the unexpected! It was a fantastic day. Hamish is a great climber, and made everything look so graceful and easy, so I was appreciative of his instruction, he did some great problems, that I wouldn't even try. But hey, he does have a few years more experience than me, I live in hope! That night I went out with James, Vera's son, and we met up with his brother, his brothers' girlfriend and some of their mates, my first night out in Christchurch! It was great, but I was in bed by one as had to be at work for 06.30 the next morning! Boo!