Category Archives: NZ

bikes, engineering, family, friends, MTB, NZ, snow, travel

NZ Visit – Southern Week

1 Comment

Continuing the multitude of too-brief visits, I said my goodbyes to Elizabeth & Cara at Wellington airport & flew south to Timaru where Dad & Adele were waiting for me.  With not having seen Dad in the three-plus years I’ve been away (two and a half years for Adele), it was great to see them again.  It’s a relatively short drive down to Oamaru and amongst poring (& laughing) over family photo albums we headed out to the Brydone (was there another choice?) for a meal.

The fleeting visit to Oamaru over (it’s never been home for me), we headed down to Dunedin to pick Mum from university (only eight months since I last saw Mum in London, but of course great to see her too).  It was an afternoon’s worth of leisurely driving through Central Otago to get to Adele’s place in Wanaka.

Adele gave me heaps for taking this photo through the windscreen, so I should share it

We stopped in St Bathan’s for a quick look at the old mining town (bypassed by the highway, so it’s pretty quiet) and a pint in the pub.

This passes for an old building in NZ, nice pub it was too

We were about a day out with the timing for the skiing, missing the biggest dump (60 cm) of the season just.  Still there was plenty of spring snow to play in for Wednesday afternoon.  High winds dictated that we go to Treble Cone – alas only half of their chairs were running.  When I say half, I mean one – a little smaller than the skifields I’m used to over this side of the world.

Still, with the setting above the lake, the snow-capped mountains surrounding and the high country not covered in snow – Treble Cone is one of the more beautiful ski areas I’ve skied at.  As this was my first ski since the shoulder operation, I was keen to just test the shoulder out gently for the afternoon.  (Bizarrely, the guy that hired me the skis comes from the same village that I live in here in the UK.)  Being mid-week & partially closed, the ski area was pretty empty and Adele & I had a good time on & off piste and I was well pleased with my shoulder.

Wednesday was set aside for tiki-touring.  As we got close to Lake Hawea, we could see a big storm rolling in from the west across the mountains.  We quickly did an about turn and headed south for a very pleasant day exploring old Cromwell (the town was flooded when the Clyde dam was built) and old hydraulic mining sites around Bannockburn.  There was a good hour-long stroll around the old mine workings – the gold was in the sedimentary rock & extracted by what was basically washing the side of the hill away with deluges of water.  This involved rather ingenious & large systems for storing and then directing the water to where it was needed.  The landscape was strangely reminiscent of the badlands of both Alberta & South Dakota in some ways.

Part of the mining area – original height would have been slightly higher that that on the right of picture

One of the bigger reservoirs & not a very interesting photo

That storm really did roll in that night as we were going out for dinner & the rain was still pelting down early in the morning.  The time that I was awake that night was pretty much spent thinking that I wouldn’t get to go for a mountain-bike ride with Adele (who thankfully has finally discovered while I’ve been away that MTBing is pretty cool) that morning before we headed back to Dunedin.  But peaking out the curtains at seven o’clock the sky was strangely clear.  I hustled off to rent a bike – I wanted a bog-standard hardtail but the shop was so disorganised that I ended up with a softtail 29er for the price of a hardtail, score.

Riding from home, we were quickly climbing up the Sticky Forest.  My leg work at the gym while shoulder was recovering seems to have paid off, the hills weren’t much of a problem – although that may have been those big wheels turning.  The trails had drained pretty quickly & we stayed relatively mud-free. We skirted around the edge of the lake to Albert Town before crossing the Clutha River.

The object of the crossing the river was to get Deans Bank Track – a recent DOC project.

Wonderful get-up borrowed from Adele – my old Dobies shorts & a commuter jacket

A few switchbacks to get up on to the plateau before north-west

Pretty spectacular spring morning ride

It’s a well thought out loop & I imagine a very fast loop if it’s properly dry – we had a good time checking it out.  Once again I was pleased with how my shoulder stood up to its longest ride in a long time.

Heading back to Albert Town, you can just make out the new trail down there

So that was a great ride out, about four hours and interrupted only by Adele somehow managing to gouge her big chainring in to the top of her calf – still don’t know how she was able to do that while riding uphill.  Back to Dunedin that afternoon, coincidentally good friends the Careys (where I had one of my 30th celebrations) were down visiting (youngest daughter) Fiona – so that was a good excuse to have another meal out, not too mention seeing James & Becca (I lay the blame of me moving to Canada for a year firmly at their feet – not that I’m complaining about that).

We even remembered to have a family photo, I’m sure I’m not that much taller – must be the cowboy boots

Goodbyes were said Saturday morning (best I don’t dwell on that too much) & I was back up to Auckland for a final pack, check progress of Andrew & Shelley’s kitchen and then fly back to London via LA.  After years of people saying how much of a hassle security is at LAX when in transit, it turns out that is all false – we didn’t even have to go through security again, unlike at Hong Kong.  Home Sunday, back to work the next day to find that I was being sent to Italy the following week for work.  That was a real shame.

bikes, city, family, food, friends, MTB, NZ, travel

NZ Visit – Northern Week

Leave a comment

Ben & Gina’s upcoming wedding finally provided me with the motivation to spend considerable money & annual leave to return home to New Zealand for a brief visit. I was a little concerned that a wedding at the end of winter would mean that I would have a rather cold & gloomy visit home.  I need not have worried, it was a generally stunning & warm fortnight – especially after all the prior rain I was told about.

I had planned for my inbound flight to arrive on my birthday – much better than the other option of missing one’s thirtieth through time zone changes – & was very pleased that favourite sister, Adele, made it all the way up for the night’s celebrations.  After picking up the rental car & navigating new roads, we made it to Mt Eden.  Andrew & Shelley’s house (they have returned to NZ after many years in London – the latter few during which I spent a fair bit of time with them) was in a fair state of disarray as the kitchen area was gutted for next week’s new kitchen.  It was a gorgeous & warm day to head up Mt Eden with a good old steak & mushroom pie to catch some views of Auckland.

We decided a local B&B was a much better option for sleep than a rather crowded lounge next to a (de)construction site – so after a jet-lag induced nap, it was time to wander up the road to Mt Eden Village & the bar where I’d organised a small gathering to see a lot of people at once.  I recommend having a birthday when visiting home – it’s a good excuse to get everyone together.  A most enjoyable night catching up with many old friends – a little odd for me being the only one that knew everyone else & therefore having to actually mingle & talk to everyone, imagine that!  Was my usual slack self at taking pictures of people, but pretty pleased with this one.

Another clear morning was enough excuse to wander around Mission Bay with Adele in the sun, before having lunch with cousin David & dropping Adele at the airport.  Straight down to Waihi Beach & the farm, where strangely Rosemary & the children were missing (gone to Te Puke).  While Dave continued milking the cows, I had another big nap before a bit of a boys night eating well too much down in the village before returning to watch the All Blacks.

Sunday Brunch with catching up with Tori & Greg down at the Mount before strolling along Main Beach reminiscing (my first school is not too far away).

Up in to the hills behind Tauranga to check out Bruce & Sue’s new property (they’ve recently moved from Pukekohe) before taking the back roads in to Te Puke for another gathering/birthday celebration. It seems plenty of kids have arrived since I left, there were almost as many children running around as there were adults (not running around) that evening.  Penny excelled in the cake department, yet again, & there was the general abundance of food that comes from a good Te Puke shared dinner.

I’ve just realised that the rest of the week continued in the same way – I drove a fair bit & saw scores of close friends & family.  I’m still tired from the return flights & going straight back to work, so it’s to the highlights we go.

I was thrilled that my first bike ride post-shoulder operation was in the Redwoods & on my singlespeed that I haven’t ridden for over three years (I brought it back with me, it’s now assembled & awaiting Thursday’s after work ride).  A relatively easy ride which the shoulder & legs handled admirably.

More Auckland outings with Shelley & Amelie in the sun, plenty of good food too.  By the end of the week, I’d seen that Auckland is actually quite a nice city – if you can get down to the water.

From Devonport

Auckland City from Devonport

Rangitoto from Devonport

Other good visits included a return to Ironmaking at NZ Steel; Pukekohe visits to my old flat; and a coal dinner.  The wedding was down south of Hamilton on a vineyard (who knew there were such things in the Waikato?) halfway through my visit.  It was just warm enough for the service to be outside (but that’s easy to say when you wore a jacket & weren’t one of the ones with bare shoulders). It was a super sweet service & most excellent to see two close friends clearly so happy; the food & cake wasn’t bad either.

One last stop before the South Island was necessary in Wellington to see Elizabeth, Nigel & recent-addition Cara. I’ve not been more thrilled on hearing a friend was expecting a first child as I was when Elizabeth told me she was pregnant, so there was much delight in catching up with this expanding family. In what seems to be a common thread of these visits, the food was once again scrumptious.

around home, family, NZ

Oh – the pressure

Leave a comment

All this time I thought it was just Mum that read my ramblings here & they served no other purpose than recording for posterity how I pass some of my time. After being told more often than usual over the last fortnight that my blog would be read, there is a little pressure to come up with some interesting tales. Alas, you will be disappointed – I’ve just checked iPhoto & I haven’t taken any photos since the Queen Charlotte; therefore I can’t have done too much in the last seven weeks! Since that wonderful Easter weekend I also haven’t done a single twelve-hour shift, which has greatly improved my sleeping habits (& if I’m lucky, stopped my forehead growing up).

Of note, was Luke & Naomi’s wedding in Rotorua on a very gloomy ANZAC day. Also, ventured out in the afternoon with Roger & Andrew to watch the singlespeed nationals. It hardly rained at all & had Roger & I wishing that we were more organised & had actually entered. Near the end of the race, we ventured out to check out the course – Yellow Brick Road, gravel road, Pondy New, Rollercoaster tail & most of Old Chevy was a very nice ride. Of course it would have been hard work for me after three laps on a singlespeed, but the trails were in very nice condition. As was to be expected there were some great costumes – my favourite was a guy riding with an ODT satchel on his handlebars, a supersoaker, blood stained trousers, a colourful knitted jersey who protested his innocence when you called out to him. Possibly very bad taste, but I thought it was pretty funny. The shortcut was also amusing as to be allowed through it, the competitors had to skull a can of the sponsor’s product (The Pride of the South) or eat a dry Weet-Bix. One wasn’t allowed to opt for four cans of beer, as that would make it rather hazardous riding (don’t drink & ride). Coincidentally, met up with a couple of QC riders from two weeks before.

Strangely for me, I managed a couple of great rides at Woodhill (strange for the number, not the quality & enjoyment of the rides) – one was in the dry when the sand was slow, but fun for the unpredictability; the other the day after heavy rain – always good to have the sand stuck together. The other notable ride was the 24 hour Moonride again in the Redwoods. This was the third in year in a row I had done the 24 (nothing compared to most of my team mates) – & the second year in a row that it rained heavily for fair chunks of the Friday. Thankfully, it stopped raining by the time we put the tent & set up camp. For the first time in three years, I didn’t ride first & missed the extra kilometre or two of tarseal. Unfortunately, the track was the same as last year, but with a lot less water & mud. I found the track pretty boring and it didn’t have any decent hills (up or down). After running out of fuel on the second lap of my first double (we did doubles for about the first twelve hours), I made sure I ate heaps – we were well catered for, thanks Libby. To break the boredom up, I did a double on the Peace – it was pretty cruisy, unfortunately it was geared too high, so I was spinning on the gravel roads. Caught up with plenty more Hawkes Bay mates from the QC, did another lap on my singlespeed & then managed to break a small, simple, but important suspension linkage (the dogbone) on the i-Drive. Annoyingly, it happened right at the start of my lap – but pleasingly, I could still ride my bike – albeit with the bottom bracket now free to float around & crash in to the swingarm when I went over a bump. I had the pleasure & pressure of riding the last lap for our team. I rode on Michael’s Santa Cruz – much more XC oriented than my bike. I took it pretty easy & managed not to become closely acquainted with the Rotorua dirt (c.f. last year where I lost count of how many times I fell in to the mud) & crossed the timing mat for the last time with ten or so minutes to spare.

The reason I haven’t been doing too much riding or travelling around is that I’ve spent the last few weeks packing up my NZ life & saying goodbye to many & trying to organise bits of a holiday in the States & then living in Britain. Last week I resigned from NZ Steel & next week I leave these fair shores. The basic plan is two months in the States staying with friends (one month in San Diego & one month in Philadelphia) & taking small trips around bits of what is a rather large country. I plan a road trip up to the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas & maybe riding in Moab and also five to seven days in each of New York City & Washington DC. I arrive in London at the start of August & hope to get up to Edinburgh for the festival during the latter half of August. After that, I will probably be almost broke & will start the (likely to be difficult) job of finding gainful employment. Needless to say I’m getting pretty excited.

So the last few weeks have been full of packing, giving things away, persuading people to store things, changing addresses, cancelling accounts & other necessary but tedious tasks. On the bright side, it has been a wonderful excuse to catch up with a lot of people & share some fantastic meals. However, I realised today that it was almost three weeks since I’d done any riding & all that food intake was catching up with me (the days of dreaming of reaching 50 kg are well over) – I dragged my first mountain bike of my parents’ garage (I am now down in Oamaru & Timaru spending my last days in NZ with Mum, Dad & Adele) & went for a short ride in the bitter cold. How I ever managed with a rigid frame that was too big for me is a mystery – also the skinny knobblies, cantilever brakes & cheap grip-shift were a reminder of how much I enjoy my softtail (even the singlespeed is nicer to ride!).

Wednesday night was the first night that I spent in the house that Adele & I bought together at the end of February. Although the bed wasn’t conducive to the best night’s sleep, it was good to finally stay there – even if I did get all sorts of landlord-esque jobs. Below are a few photos (thanks Adele) as I’m sure all this text is getting rather tedious. Wonderfully, as I found out in the foggy winter, the house has new carpet in the living areas, new double glazing, a heat pump & underfloor heating in the bathroom (that is now turned on). Adele loves it & I won’t spend all my savings overseas.

One can almost see the sea-view in this view from the living area

bikes, friends, MTB, NZ

Killers & one of the best NZ rides I’ve done

Leave a comment

A chance to sit down & think for the first time in a week. My nice week with no shift work was rudely interrupted by a call from my boss last Tuesday, one of the other supervisors had fallen ill & could I work that night? Home for a few hours for a quick nap & it was back for a very quiet (thankfully) night shift. Enough time for a sleep & to pack my bike up for the upcoming weekend’s adventure & it was off up town for The Killers concert at Vector. It didn’t take too much persuading for Stephen (Te Puke friend) to get me to fork out the money some months ago & I had been looking forward to the night since then. If Stephen’s excitement was anything to go by it was going to be a great night – and it certainly was! I can’t speak from much experience (it must be over two years since I went to a concert – & that was nice & mellow in a vineyard), but what a fantastic concert – a large crowd particularly excited to see a good band, with an accomplished showman up front. Most of the old & new favourites were included in the set & with the live performance, some songs became new favourites & stuck in my head for the next two or three days. Unfortunately, it was straight back to work at midnight following the concert – not too bad, another quiet shift. Worked a bit later in to the morning (due to starting late) & it was rather difficult to get to sleep with sun higher than usual after a night shift – the ringing ears probably didn’t help all that much either.

Well rested, Thursday afternoon was spent packing for riding the Queen Charlotte Track over Easter. Thankfully, all our gear was being water-taxied between overnight stops – so packing didn’t require too much thought, just throw as many warm clothes & riding clothes in that I could find. A pleasant enough flight to Wellington (no aerobatics on landing, which was a bit of a disappointment) & then it was outside to wait for a bus to Elizabeth Gray’s. A sudden southerly blast quickly had me hunting out my down jacket & it didn’t take much persuading from some old guy running a shuttle for me to jump at a $20 ride to Karori & be dropped at the door (much better than lugging a bike bag from the bus stop) – plus I figured he was out late at night trying to earn some money, so he may as well have mine. It turned out to a bit of a marathon shuttle ride considering there were only three others to drop off in the central city & me. Unfortunately, one of the others was not sure where she wanted to go – Cuba St or a little way towards the Aro Valley; of course when we got to the house up the Aro on a tight windy street, no one was home & we trekked back to Cuba. Normally this wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but the driver never strayed above forty in very light traffic. I was pleased to finally get to Elizabeth & Nigel’s – where they were celebrating the completion Elizabeth’s book, well done Elizabeth! It was just as well that the celebrations were winding down when I got there as someone had to get up early the next morning to drop me at the ferry.

Arriving at the ferry terminal half an hour before our departure on Good Friday morning (also the first day of the school holidays) wasn’t the best idea – it was chaotic! Somehow I managed to find the group – or rather they found me in the bedlam; I was the only clown wandering around with a bike bag, so maybe I wasn’t too hard to spot. I only really knew one of the thirteen others, so quick introductions all around (I somehow became “Brendan from Pukekohe” – not a way I had previously chosen to define myself, but I suppose there is an element of truth to it), checked our baggage in & pushed our bikes on to the ferry to stow them with the trucks & so forth.

The ferry was at capacity (1650 apparently) so seats were scarce, spent a lot of the voyage outside looking at the view (I hadn’t been on the Interislander for over eight years), bumped in to Sarah & Andrew who I had met at Elizabeth’s wedding two months before, got to know some of the riding crew, enjoyed the nice swells & not being able to walk in a straight line as we entered Cook Strait & generally tried to pass three and a half hours (why did I leave my book behind?). The ferry was a little late getting in to Picton & it took an eternity just to fight through the hoards to get anywhere near a visual on the baggage carousel & another age for all our bags to appear.

Those delays gave me little time to assemble my bike, get changed, have some lunch – but that was all achieved (didn’t manage to get any water for my Camelbak) with a minute or two before we set off on the water taxi for Ship’s Cove & the start of the track. On the way we spotted & then circled a large & very playful pod of dolphins – most excellent to watch. We unloaded off the water taxi along with another group of four mountain bikers & a few trampers. Thankfully (I was later to find out just how much so) I managed fill my Camelbak with water & the group set off in dribs & drabs. The track certainly does not lull you in to a false sense of security at the start – it was immediately up a very steep hill & before I was walking parts of the climb & struggling to keep the front wheel on the track for some of the parts I was riding. With that rude awakening, it was good to see every one at the viewing platform at the top & the enthusiastic Dutch guy from the other group of cyclists kindly snapped our only group photos of the trip.

Of course now, we had a sweet downhill in front of us & another smaller climb. I was impressed to pass a family that had two primary aged children out riding the track – we didn’t see them after the next rest stop, I wonder how they got on. At the next rest stop we regrouped, admired the view through the clearing down to the Sounds, & learnt not to feed wekas wearing short fingered gloves – fingers are much tastier looking than muesli bars. By now it was cooling down quite a bit & we moved on to more good down hill.

As the QCT is a popular tramping track, it is well benched, mostly pretty smooth & had small bridges over most of the small creeks (which of course would be larger when it’s not autumn) – these bridges were quite fun, as typically you would go back along the side of the hill towards the stream, there would be a nice bermed corner & then the bridge would be about a metre inside end of the berm – this often caught me unawares, but somehow I never when front wheel first in to stream and over the bars. Down at water level we emerged on to a stony beach & it was great to watch each rider walk in to the clearing from the track with a broad grin plastered on their face – such was the quality & enjoyment of the preceding downhill. From here it was a gentle ride around the sound’s edge to Ferneaux Lodge (most of the group carried on to Miners’ Camp) – where we stayed in the backpackers’ accommodation for the night (& the guys had the pleasure of cold showers). It was a chilly night, but that didn’t stop us cooking our barbecue & eating it outside. When it was proper dark, a short stroll back the way we came to a small collection of glow worms; on returning, we found the campers had started arriving as Ferneaux had a bar & kitchen & pool table and the campsite didn’t – or maybe they enjoyed our company!

Bags packed & ready for the water taxi at 0900 & on the bikes – just a short ride around to Miner’s Camp, but it did have a challenging swing bridge to try & ride across with out hitting the rather narrow side wires & netting. Craig managed it quite well, I got half way across & then got wonderfully tied up. As most of the campers were still decamping, four of us took the opportunity to do a side trail up the valley to some old mines. Really we just rode & walked up a steep old road for half an hour, wandered down an old mine shaft, deliberated on whether to go any further & then rode back down the steep hill.

I managed to get stuck in my pedals crossing a stream on the way back down going too fast & ended up going for a swim – thankfully my camera didn’t get wet, although it was pretty close. Also, I was glad that the day was shaping up to be pretty warm as my left side was soaked. By the time we got back, some of the group had started off & we tootled off with the remains. We had soon climbed enough to be rewarded with yet more spectacular views up Endeavour Inlet – we also managed to find a much better camp site (note for next time) than Miner’s. Mostly a pretty gentle part of the track, some through private land & then quite a bit of freshly benched & cleared track (apparently this bit had been closed recently).

Reaching a junction we could either head to Punga Cove & then up to Keneperu Saddle (partly on road) or up to Keneperu Saddle on walking track.

Three of us headed up the walking track & it took less than fifteen minutes & was a much gentler climb than the other way – middle ring the whole way. A brief break at the top & we met Brent riding up the road – he was convinced that everyone else was in front of him, so we let him carry on while we went back down the walking track (most enjoyable)

& rolled on around to Punga Cove where we found most of the others finishing their lattes! Getting back up to the saddle was a bit more a slog & the climbing continued in the brilliant sunshine up some more steepness & then in was in to some pretty flat downhill to a beautiful lunch spot overlooking the Sounds & where we had gone on the water-taxi the previous day. By the time we got there, Brent & Shaun had worked out no-one else was in front of them & had been waiting patiently for over an hour in the sun.

Following a pleasant lunch it was pretty much riding along the ridge for the rest of the afternoon. This consisted of a bit more pushing up hills that were too difficult for me too ride, regrouping at various shelters, a lot of sweet downhill & more struggling to keep an eye on the trail as the views were so spectacular they often pried one’s eyes away from what was about to roll under the Kenda up front.

Gradually our view changed from across to Tory Channel to looking across Queen Charlotte Sound to Picton – this must have been the only part of the track which was immediately above a very large drop, interspersed only with a lot of friendly looking gorse.

The downhills kept getting better – on one such one we whizzed past another group congregated on the side of the track. We were to learn later that the Dutch photographer from the day before (not the old man from Scene 24) had had an off on a straight piece of trail, sounded seriously concussed & was choppered off to hospital – thankfully he was OK after a night in hospital. By now we were on the other side of the ridge looking across to Keneperu Sound – somewhere along here I had to stop as (other) Brent had managed to get his derailleur twisted over backwards & in amongst the spokes (snapping one). A few trackside tricks from Craig had the derailleur back in the proper orientation & the hanger bent back in to approximately the correct position – it didn’t look good for making it the rest of the trip. Another long downhill to the top of the road in to Portage – it’s always good fun giving a better rider a head start & then trying to chase them down, it must have taken me a good ten minutes to catch – the last twenty metres always proved elusive. All of a sudden we were spat out on the road (the track carried on the opposite side – we would have to ride back up to rejoin it tomorrow) & it was a quick cruise (for most of us) down to Portage. Shaun wasn’t happy with the cruise down, passed Nikki on the outside of a big left-hander & then quickly found it wasn’t nearly as big as it looked! He managed to get the back wheel all the way around, bring it back in, almost save & then end up lying on his back in a ditch laughing a lot. A pity I missed the action, but it was still pretty funny when I got there a few seconds later.

The backpacker accommodation at Portage Resort was much more salubrious than the previous night – not that that is much of an indication – & the showers were hot. Some braved the rather chilly swimming pool & some braved the jellyfish & chilly sea – I was quite happy to be showered & clean. Dinner was a mixture of various packet pastas, risottos, MREs – Anna helpfully showed us why you shouldn’t put foil packets in the microwave. Eventually we vacated the dining room for some of the other guests & moved down to the bar. After the two side trips, falling in the stream & the day’s ride (especially the hills) it was an early night for me.

After a much warmer & quiet night’s sleep, it was get up, make porridge, pack up, & wait for some to have countless cups of tea & then the slog up the road again to rejoin the track. The road was just the warm up for the climb up the highest point on the whole track. It started off manageable & then got steeper & steeper – I was pleased at how far I got, but once I was off & walking, the walking became intermittent & more frequent. For not the first time, I was extra pleased that it was autumn & not the middle of summer. More great views of course & a small stop to explain the intricacies of SRAM missing links we were finally at the top (turned out to be a top), we regrouped & polished off the marshmallows. After all the climbing the downhill turned in to a big series of switchbacks (with some decent plunges over the size) that had nice ruts going in to them that turned pleasantly in to berms. It certainly kept one on one’s toes; the last part of that downhill was a big wide open grassy chute that was extremely bumpy that shook me to pieces – I’m just glad I was on a soft-tail.

Shortly after Brent’s bike completely packed a sad & the derailleur hanger snapped off – he was left to singlespeed the remainder of the track (this didn’t always go smoothly as the soft-tail kept altering the chain tension). The track going down to the Mistletoe Bay road was lovely & flowing & most enjoyable; all of a sudden it changed back in to switchbacks for the last little bit – Emma managed to miss the first one completely & just pulled up in time as she missed the turn completely. I don’t think that was what the fairies meant by spending time alone. Crossing another road, we were around Mistletoe Bay & the track gently wound its way up & around the next headland – around which we made good time. Pulling up at some sort of picnic table, there were now views to Anakiwa as well as Picton – heading out in a boat & going for a waterski looked pretty good. It was another wonderfully clear skied day, but as there was little to no wind sailing looked like a worse option than normal.

Gavin was nominated to lead off & a group of four tore off down what proved to be another fantastic flowing downhill. I found myself at the end of the back of the next group of three; about half way down we whizzed past Paul remonstrating with someone on the side of the track. By this stage of the day we had passed many more walkers & a few cyclists walking the other way (this last day was much more accessible for day-trippers than the previous days) & it was pretty easy to tell that these weren’t two friends catching up after a chance encounter in the middle of nowhere. We got the low down of the scared Australian woman’s tirade at selfish mountain bikers (with the husband & son making themselves scarce), mixed with plenty of sarcasm & reason & manners from Paul at our final lunch on a pleasant beach (except for the sandflies). Being Easter Sunday, we were disappointed to find that if we had have been a bit quicker we could have partaken in an Easter Egg hunt all around the small bay that was well thought out by some fortunate kids’ parents – as much as we helped them, they did not share the spoils. Just a short post-lunch ride & we had completed the 70-odd km Queen Charlotte Track (Shaun managed to get our first puncture of the ride about one kilometre from the end!). What a thoroughly enjoyable ride, great track, fantastic panoramas, excellent people to ride with – if you can ride a mountain bike, I recommend you do it.

Hunting around the sprawl of Anakiwa (home of Outward Bound), which turns out not to have any shops a few of us finally found a B&B that would feed us (mmmm cheese & tomato toasted sandwiches) & let us use the most impossibly large & impractical binoculars that I have ever seen. They also provided us direction to the YHA – always handy to know where you will be sleeping. The YHA turned out to be another step up in our QCT accommodation with comfy beds, big screen TV, over 300 DVDs & a multitude of board games – & best of all, a good shower. I was very well beaten at Guess Who, made a late comeback but still lost a game of Excuses, & cleaned up at Extreme Trivial Pursuit (a spontaneous variation that does away with the board & wedges). Hauling our bags off the jetty, we scrubbed up & caught a courtesy van (driven by someone who should have been sober & perhaps was) to the pub with no EFTPOS. Big old country pubs are fantastic, but eating our various fried meals (the works burger was rather impressive) did rather feel like sitting in a distant great-aunt’s living room full of old faded photos, curios & knick-knacks. The landlords were away for the long weekend so we were graced with a marvellous Liverpudlian (& apparently Wayne Rooney’s cousin) accent & barmaids wearing Easter bunny ears. Eventually we moved out to the lean-to-esque outdoor area with darts & pool table (I managed one of my much poorer efforts at pool); our hosts must have been warming to us faster than an Australian tramper, as the fire was soon lit, replacement shuttle drivers were found so we could stay later & we managed a couple of complimentary takeaway bottles of white. After persuading our shuttle driver to have a pint with us, it was off in to the night – with most of us glad that we hadn’t biked the ten or so kilometres to the pub without lights.

If the effing post had not have been broke, the bar may have been less well stocked by the end of the night

I’m glad it was autumn, or else I would probably be hooked by now

Not too much of note on Monday – pack, ride back to Picton on the road, dissemble & pack bike, ferry to Wellington, hurried goodbyes to half the group (sorry if I missed you), shuttle to airport, fly to Auckland, home by 2030. Mind you, the shuttle driver was the antithesis of the old guy I had on Thursday night – he was a third his age, drove aggressively, threw the passengers all over the back seats, swore a lot; the other passengers & I were thoroughly entertained by it all.

In an addendum of the previous update which is not nearly as exciting as the QCT, but probably more momentous – Adele & I went halves in a nice big loan from the bank, which means that we now have a house. Adele is very much loving living in it (it is in Timaru, so if I’m lucky I may get to stay there one day) & furnishing it & sharing it with a fellow junior doctor.