Long weekend cycle tour

This was a test to see how light we could travel mountain bike touring. We just had back packs with water proofs, food, water and bike tools and spares, then we had a change of clothes in our new under-seat bags. We had booked backpacker accommodation and were just going buy food along the way as we needed it.

All our stuff at the start of the trip in front of the garage

Day 1

We set off from the house at 6:30am to catch the ferry over to the South Island at 8am. It is about 30 minute ride to the ferry terminal - which is in the middle of town. The crossing was a little rough, so Aaron took some sea sick drugs and passed out. Personally being back on a big ship got me quite excited about my research voyage in April.

Aaron passed out on the ferry

Once we got in to the Marlborough Sounds it calmed down and Aaron was fine again. But the rain clouds were looming and it started to shower just as we approached the ferry terminal at Picton.

After a quick stop at the Picton Bakery and the latest shower had passed we head out of Picton to the east, up and over the hill in to Port Underwood.

On the road heading north out of Picton

The Port Underwood road is very hilly, twisty, and with several sections of gravel. You really feel like you are off the beaten path with about 5 cars passing us all day. While there is a lot of forestry in this area there are a few nice little bays along the way which we stopped in for short breaks to eat some snacks along the way and to recover from the last hill.

Robin Hood Bay

Three large granny gear hills later, we could finally see the Wairau River plain where we were heading for the night. While it was a relief to be riding on the flat, with the wind behind us, it was rather boring after the scenery along the east coast.

Wairau River plain

First day - 72 km in 4 hours 50 minutes. A well earned shower and greasy pub meal.

Day 2

Unfortunately when we woke on day two it was pouring with rain. We headed off in the hope that it might ease, but if only got heavier. So we bailed from our original plan of heading over the Waikakaho-Cullen Track (also known as the Linkwater Longcut) as the hills were in the cloud and the idea of pushing our bikes through mud for 5-6 hours was really not appealing. Instead we rode around the mountain range on the main highway from Renwick to Havelock. After 2 and a half hours of riding in the pouring rain we got to Havelock and headed to the nearest bakery for a coffee and cake to raise our spirits and dry off/warm up again.

We finally dragged ourselves out of the warm cafe and continued on to Anakiwa at the end of Queen Charlotte Sound. Day two was 64 km in 3 hours.

We arrived at the backpackers had a shower and hung up our wet clothes to dry and spent the afternoon and evening hanging out, chatting to a couple travelling around NZ from Belgium, playing scrabble, cards, and a pathetic game of pool - fortunately the other couple were as bad as we were!

Day 3

Finally it stopped raining and we head out on Monday morning to ride the last part of the Queen Charlotte Track. It was a little slippy after all the rain, but mostly rideable. After an hour or so we turned around and headed back down to Anakiwa and took the picturesque Queen Charlotte Drive back to Picton to catch our afternoon ferry.

Just before starting the Queen Charlotte Track

Queen Charlotte Sound with part of the Richmond Range in the background

The trip back to Wellington on the ferry was slightly rougher than on the way over and Aaron decided that this time he would fight the sea sickness by eating. So he demolished all our left over food and then moved on to a revolting looking hotdog!

Aaron about to demolish a hotdog to counter the sea sickenss!!!

After that he started to feel sick - hard to tell if it was sea sickness or the effects of eating all that food topped off with the hotdog!

We got home at 6pm after riding back from the ferry terminal. A total of 50 km in 3 hours 30 minutes for Day three. So not a huge total distance, but lots of hills. It took both of us a couple of days to recover. I'm not convinced it is the healthiest weekend, even though we were exercising we were also eating lots of bakery cakes/scones/pies and lots of lollies and other junk food.... I'm not convinced the calories in = calories out! However, we did prove that we can travel very light.

Landscaping

We spent the weekend landscaping. Starting with removing all the garden debris that mum and dad and we have removed from our previously overgrown garden. We also had to remove lots of weeds which had grown back on the bank in front of the new fence. Then we started planting some native plants - flax, hebes, Marlborough daisies, Chatham Island Forget-me-nots and some native ground cover. Hopefully the plants will grow quickly and help to stabilise the bank.

Purple flax, ground cover and Chatham Island forget-me-nots - imagine me in 2-5 years time!!

Chatham Island forget-me-not

Featherston Bike Epic

After spending most of our Christmas break painting, organising, spring cleaning the house we have decided that we need to get out of Wellington over the long weekend at the end of January. We are planning a bike tour in the north of the South Island. So to practise and get some fitness and endurance for the bike tour we have been doing a few longer rides around Wellington. On Saturday we took the train over to the Wairarapa and rode back via the Rimutaka Rail Trail and the Hutt River Trail. Neither of these trails are technical, so this was just to build up our endurance. The whole ride was just over 100km and took us six hours of riding and a couple of stops. Unfortunately it was a southerly so we were riding in to the wind most of the way down the Hutt Valley.

Helen emerging from one of the several tunnels on the Rimutaka Rail Trail

Heading towards Siberia Gully

Aaron crossing the ford

Hutt River Trail

Fitness was not so much of a problem - the biggest problem was the sore bum's - after about 70km it was hard to find a comfortable position to sit on the saddle. Anyway we made it and rewarded ourselves with Fish and Chips and a beer, sitting on our deck in the sun! Needless to say we spent most of Sunday holding down our new couch recovering... need to do some more training to cope with three days of riding!

New couch and bookshelves

When we got home from the Epic our new couch had been delivered. We ordered it a month ago and were able to to choose the style, colour and even had the arms widened slightly. It is incredibly comfortable and I look forward to actually having some time to enjoy it.

New couch

The last couple days I have been painting the bookshelves I made in my last round of woodworking classes. I decided to paint them because we have lots of wooden things in the house and we needed a bit of colour. It really like the colour we chose. It reminds me of eucalyptus leaves, which goes with the eucalyptus floorboards.

New bookshelves

Mifi helping put stuff on the new bookshelves

The house is starting to feel rather homey or homely depending which version of English you speak.

The Wellington Epic

Riding in Rotorua and Taupo

Last weekend Dave Osmond flew over from Australia for a week of mountain biking and hanging out in New Zealand. He arrived late on Saturday and we left Wellington early on Sunday morning to drive up to Rotorua to collect Dan Mackay who was arriving in the afternoon.

After collecting Dan from the airport we went back to our palatial accommodation at the Rotorua Thermal Resort. This place was super close to the Redwoods and was really cheap. It was good, but we might splash out for a fancier cabin next time.

Dan assembled his bike and we headed out to stretch our legs and get acquainted with Rotorua mountain biking. The riding there is quite different from Wellington or Canberra. The volcanic soil makes for much smoother trails that have infinite amounts of grip. We spent about two hours riding some of the inner trails before deciding it was time for some ice cream. After ice creams and showers we headed into town for dinner.

Monday we decided to head out to the "outback" trails. There we found the wonders that were Split Enz, Pondy New and Corners. Corners seemed to defy physics in that it felt like it took longer to ride down that it did to ride the fire trail to the top. After about 5-6 hours of riding, including riding some trails three times, I finally managed to coax Dave out of the forest with the suggestion of more ice cream. This time we followed ice cream with a dip in the hot springs that give the Rotorua Thermal Resort its name.

After the hot pools and showers we headed into town to find dinner. I had seen in a brochure that there was a Latin American restaurant in town. Dave was given the map to navigate and he led us straight to...a kebab shop. We just assumed that the brouchure was out of date and ended up with Indian food.

Tuesday was pretty much the same with Dan and Dave taking a slightly more difficult route to the top of Split Enz this time allowing me to save a bit of energy. The only difference was we managed to find the Latin American restaurant this time, because I got a little lost trying to find a place to park and ended up stoping right in front of it.

Wednesday we left Rotorua and began the journey back to Wellington. We stopped in Taupo to have a spin around the Craters of the Moon. It always amazes me how quickly time disappears in this forest. By the time we got back to the car it was nearly 2PM. We went down to the lake to eat lunch and go for a quick swim to wash off all the sweat and dust.

From Taupo it was about a five hour drive back to Wellington. We passed the time with Car-aoke and a kebab in Bulls. We arrived home safe and sound to a very wet Wellington.

To be continued...

Dan and Dave at the end of the Dipper

Dave and Aaron on "the fun track"

House warming and Thanksgiving

This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving by having a housewarming. The house isn't finished - but it will probably be another 6 months before it is completely done and after a successful Thanksgiving last year I braved cooking another turkey (although it isn't the easiest thing to get hold of in New Zealand at this time of year). So we had turkey and stuffing, but it is the middle of summer so we mixed it with a range of salads. For desert we had traditional pumpkin and pecan pie and of course pavlova!! A real mix of American and New Zealand cultures.

The star of the day

The weather was perfect to show off the house. It was the perfect day, sunny, warm, with a very light breeze. We completely opened up the house and set up the hammock out the back so that the kids could play. Aaron also very graciously allowed them to play with his lego... but he is now rather traumatised as they mixed arctic lego with space lego - outrageous!

Aaron and Mifi testing the hammock

It was a great day with far too much food..... in the true spirit of Thanksgiving. Thank you everyone who came to share it with us.

The day after we even managed to get out for a bike ride to help burn off all the yummy food.