Shane Batchelor

After a lovely few days stay at Woolston Club, enjoying riding the MTB’s through Bottle Lake MTB tracks and going to the pink Floyd Eclipse at the Christchurch Town Hall. We have just spent a couple of nights at Godley Heads DOC Camp. We have been here before and it is still one of the loveliest places to stay. Yesterday Jude and I enjoyed riding our MTB’s from Codley Heads to the bottom of Evans Pass Road, a 8.3km ride climbing a total of 121 vertical meters from our campsite before descending 236 vertical meters to catch up with dear friends Rosie and Giles. TheRead More →

We’ve been holed for a while longer as we had to wait to get our Green CSC card. Long story but we are pleased to be off… both of us were getting itchy feet. We tried to head away last Friday but we had to turn back at Lumsden when we received an email from NZMCA saying we had to wait for our card to arrive if we could possibly end up with a $600 fine. They had sent a certificate that had all the details we needed but that wasn’t good enough… not sure what the purpose is of a paper certificate if itRead More →

Left Te Anau early enough with the intent of staying at Brunel Peaks Cafe located at the turnoff to Lake Monowai, nothing much doing when we arrived and so had brunch and moved to plan “B” Monkey Island. Beautiful day when we arrived lots of people camping and lucky for us still a couple of parking spots free big enough for our Moho. Once parked watched a lone Orca which had driven a couple of hector dolphin close to the beach… awesome, grabbed the chairs and sat on the beach in the beautiful heat of the day. Suddenly Jude took down the beach with herRead More →

Five Fantastic days in Te Anau to see in 2025. Did a few walks, met a few new people, met regular roadies we see in other locations and made new friends. Te Anau at this time of the year is a busy little place and the Lake is a hotspot for Xmas and New Year holidays…. It was packed which is good for Te Anau. We did a drive up Ramparts Road to the lookout via Mount York Road and as expected the view was lovely. Caught up with Stu Burnby in the morning and then a good to catchup with Peter and Diana earlyRead More →

Fantastic New Years eve in Te Anau and and were treated by a 10 minute Fireworks display at Midnight when 2024 became 2025. Jude and I wish you all the very best for this coming year as we start the next circuit around the sun. May the world find peace and harmony amongst the chaos that the last four years have thrown at us.Read More →

Nice lazy morning, just chilling out before going to the Te Anau Rodeo… well that was the original plan until we couldn’t be bothered. Decided to have brunch at home (which has been the Te Anau NZMCA Park for the past two nights) before going for a walk to catch up with friends of our Stu and Teri. Unfortunately Stu was at work but enjoyed the afternoon chatting with Teri. A cup of tea , piece of carrot cake and a chocolate brownie later and it was time to head home. Started walking and the skies to the south were dark and ominous looking… theRead More →