How sad...

I'm incredibly sorry for taking so long to write this post!

I've been both busy, and lazy, resulting in the ever so well known unproductive me.

What's the juicy news? I love my course! It's everything that I expected it to be, and more!

I'm three weeks in, and it feels like 3 months. and I mean that in a good way, of course. It reminds me a bit of when I was in the army, actually. How you hang out with the same group of people, and are doing so many things together.

First two weeks were full of theory, preparing us mentally for what could go wrong by learning first-aid, which knots to use, along with the main do's and don'ts when climbing in the tree. One main thing, is don't fall. Pretty obvious, and the main way of not falling is by always being roped in by at least one point.

This past week has pretty much only been physically intensive, since this is when we were learning how to climb up the tree. With this though, I've torn up my hands a bit. Maybe not torn, but I have some nice rope burns on both my hands. Wear gloves Chris! Yeah, that is a bit of terrible idea. The gloves get stuck in the knots I use, and with other knots, it can leave it "open" and then if something happens, I'll have a beautiful free fall to the ever so reliant, and solid ground. So, I'd prefer to use my bare hands. That's not to say I haven't tried using gloves, only to see them be destroyed in three days after buying them. So it almost feels pointless to buy any, maybe I just need to find a more durable pair.

To add to my injuries, it seems like I've developed some tennis elbow in my left arm from doing intense thrusting in the movements I need to use to climb up the tree. Have figure out a way to minimise using that specific climbing technique, to a less strain-full one. Lucky for me there are several ways to climb a tree, only problem with those techniques is that money is involved for the equipment required. Which leads me to another aspect I enjoy about the course: the whole technical aspect of getting up the tree. The fun tools and toys that there are out there. Primarily the knots though.

Since the start of the course, I haven't learned too many knots that I didn't know from before, but the one I have learned, which is called knut, I love it! It's a very smart friction hitch, which instantly bites when pulled, and opens once pushed. This is a knot used to ascend and descend the tree, and makes the process a lot more graceful and not as exhausting.

It's not all fun and games climbing up the trees though, we also need to remember 5 new trees every week. And by that, I mean I have to remember their botanical name, common name, which family they belong to, and of course, what they look like.

Remembering the names isn't too hard, but it's remembering them in the long run that I'm more concerned about. Coming to a work site, and finding the right tree to cut down. Yes, I know, it's only the third week, but nonetheless, it's something I'm concerned about. I just need to practice more.

Aside from school, not a whole lot is happening. I've been registered with a recruitment firm, which will offer me part-time work during the weekends.

Next weekend though, hopefully I'll make it all the way to Hokitika, for the wild food festival. Not sure how I'm going to go about it yet, since I don't have a car. I'm thinking hitchhiking, but I would be cutting it pretty close for when I try to make my way back for Monday. We'll see what I can do.

Ok, it's late for me on this side of the world. I'm going to go now.

I'll try and get better at posting more!