Category Archives: NZ

bikes, city, Europe, event, family, friends, history, NZ, snow, travel, UK

2012 was certainly different

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For the first time in four years, I’ve managed to live in the same place all year and to be working for the same company at each end of those twelve months.  While this has given life a bit more stability this year, it hasn’t been without plenty of variety.  The event that influenced half of the year was having surgery on my shoulder to stop it dislocating.  Six weeks in a sling and six months before being fit to mountain-bike again was quite the upheaval – but it was all worth it as my shoulder is much more stable & predictable now.

Not being able to ride my bike did have the advantage of forcing me to find other things to do with my time & money.  Consequently, it turned out to be a bit of a travel year with twelve significant trips:

First up was an excellent week of skiing in the Alps with good friends

The day after the sling was banished, I finally crossed Rome off the top of my list – it had been there some time

The Pantheon was the highlight for me, followed closely by climbing St Peter’s Basilica

A week in Turkey was mostly spent in Istanbul, where the architecture continually impressed

Hot-air ballooning early morning in Cappadocia rates near the top of all I’ve done in the last three years away from NZ

Prague – with Te Puke school friend, Levi, a long way from Fairhaven Primary

The country was gripped by the Olympics late summer, great to be around for that

I was lucky enough to take a last-minute spare ticket & made it along to watch some of the mountain-biking – quality athletes & a great course to be a spectator

The highlight trip of the year was finally heading back to New Zealand for a whirlwind two weeks of thirtieth birthday parties (mine), a wedding (not mine), and tripping all around the country & spending time with dear family & friends (not to mention meeting quite a few additions that have arrived in the intervening three years).  There was also the added bonus of the physio declaring my shoulder fit for gentle exercise – so I managed a bit of mountain-biking and a ski too.

Treble Cone, near Wanaka, is a spectacularly beautiful ski field it turns out

These photos don’t come around as often as they should – excellent to have all the family together

Shortly after NZ, a work trip to Italy sprung out of nowhere – I managed to tack Venice on the end

Gorgeous city for a day – but I found the lack of trees, grass and bikes a little disconcerting

Pleased to finally make it back briefly to Edinburgh & even see the sun

I’d waited a long time to see Sagrada Familia, after hearing Dad’s stories – it didn’t disappoint and was, in a word, incredible

Watching football with eighty-odd thousand Spaniards at Camp Nou; Barcelona crossed off the top of the list

Still managing to explore England a fair bit, mainly the south – Leeds Castle (in Kent) was one of the most enjoyable visits

Fancy that, a summary of my year & no mountain-biking pictures, that should change next year – here’s hoping.  In the last few months I have been riding a fair bit (even though my bike-commute is short, the miles add up), but it’s pretty flat & wet (for now, or perhaps always) around here so the riding isn’t too exciting.  Work will be changing a bit next year too; I managed to be a process engineer of sorts for a year but am now moving into a different role scheduling the site’s production, amongst other things.

So that’s about it for this year – thanks to all who had me to stay, travelled with me, helped while my shoulder was out of action or simply kept in touch.  I’ll have to take this opportunity to wish all a merry Christmas and the best for the New Year, as I’ll be incommunicado then – Egypt will be off the list by the end of next week.

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

NZ Visit – Southern Week

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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

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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

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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