Otago was our main stay for the summer and autumn but it was Southland (or as I call it Safeland)once again drew us back for family catchups and others things. Our last port of call was Manapouri for a couple of days before heading back to Lowburn for a few days… the weather was well and truly changing to the cooler weather patterns and it was not long before we moved off to Twizel or as our friends Sally and Adrian would say There we enjoyed a 30km bike ride around the canals past Lake Rautaniwha to the main highway Salmon Farms returning to Twizel. We stayed at the Combined Services Club in Twizel finding the hospitality really good. An amazing clear evening sky was welcomed to Judes delight, and star gazing was on the cards… well for Jude and not me… there was much excitement when she spotted an aurora pulsating to the south and off she went to get a better view away from the light pollution. Onto Lake Tekapo via Lake Pukaki where we stayed at the NZMCA park. Once again a lovely location however at this time of the year it can get really cold… especially in the early mornings when the warming rays of the sun are hindered by the tall pines. Biking up over Gowen Hill track gave an awesome view of the surrounding area… a worthwhile ride. The next day was a ride along the canals from Lake Tekapo to Lake Pukaki a return trip of 60km. We got some stunning views of the Southern Alps especially some fantastic views of Mount Aoraki (Mt Cook)… even with someone forgetting about the size of their carbon foot print and filling the sky with a blueish haze of smoke. Jude and I didn’t realize that there was a giant salmon farm along that canal and it was a hive of industry as we went past. On the way back we dropped off the main track down to Patterson Ponds… this is really an amazing place to visit and worth the effort on the bikes climbing back out. Patterson Ponds at this time of the year is absolutely beautiful with the golden colours of autumn enhanced by the brightness of the now lower sun at it crosses more to the north at this time of the year. With our stay at Lake Tekapo at its end we moved further up country via the middle track, stopping for a bite at the Museum Cafe at Fairlie before moving on visiting a little Lake called Opuha. It was a beautiful day, the lake was as flat as a pancake, with amazing reflections of the hills reflecting off the lake, the colourful golden leaves of autumn making for a great photo. Rather than following the main road, we decided to stick slightly more inland closer to the hills travelling along many gravel roads arriving at Waihi Gorge DOC camp ground… now this place was a real surprise as we pull down the hill into the camp the first thing you see are beautifully kept grounds and being a good day it was bathed in sunlight… a well laid out sight and highly recommend it. Jude and I were determined to get to a ANZAC Memorial Service so with Geraldine only 15KM down the road we decided to stay at Waihi Gorge for the night and drive into Geraldine as the ANZAC Service was at 0900hrs. We arrived in Geraldine on time, the weather was sunny but cool with a very light breeze, there were a lot of the community at the service and there was a subdued respectful hum of controlled chatter going on. ANZAC Services are reasonably similar no matter where you go but there were a couple of things that I’ll remember about this one… the first being a lone Tiger Moth airplane gently flying around above the town dipping its wings side to side, in aviation this is a wave to those on the ground… secondly at that moment as services and the public moved quietly to lay their reef or poppies on the war memorial statue, the breeze increased ever so slightly causing autumn leaves to fall from the trees over the monument and those laying their respects… it seemed eerily appropriate as it was only in that one place the leaves seemed to fall. Our next visit was to Orari Gorge where there is a very good 3.5km bush walk, steep in some places but overall not too bad. One thing that is very noticeable is the bird life, this was amazing and it has been a while since I’ve heard so much bird song. After an enjoyable walk it was off to Peel Forest further up the Rangitata River. Lovely day when we arrived however being late in the afternoon Shane (me) wasn’t to keen for a walk and god bless her cotton socks Jude let me away with that one but what she had installed for tomorrow was to return to Peel Forest and climb Little Mount Peel. OK that gives me a night to get over the fact that there is not going to be anyway I’ll get out of this one (the song by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas- “Nowhere to run baby, nowhere to hide” comes to mind) and we headed to the NZMCA Park at Ealing for the night. Morning came soon enough… in fact from my point of view too soon lol. A good hearty
breakfast over we headed back to Peel Forest, daypack on the back and the walking poles measured to the correct length it was off and up Little Mount Peel… now who ever named that peak “Little Mount Peel” needs their bloody head read .. talk about sweat like a buggered pig… yep that was me. About 5 minutes into the walk with Jude setting a good pace I shuddered when I thought back to the sign at the start that said 3 hours to the summit… holy shit I’m dead, I’ll never do this! We seemed to climb forever and every now and then I would catch a glimpse of the summit through the top of the trees praying Jude would tire and say thats enough for today… deep down I knew there would be no such luck. now remember all you expert couch climbing critics I am no hill climbing fan and really haven’t done much of this at all, however by the time we broke the treeline on the open spurs I was quite surprised at how well I was holding up… and although he last 1.5km climb was probably the steepest, I actually thought wow I can do this even though it was still a vertical 200mtr to the summit. Well even with a short stop on the way up for a bite and drink we did the 5km climb with a 1100 meter vertical climb in 2hrs 20min. For me it was a massive sense of achievement and I actually felt proud of what I had just done and I’m sure Jude was the same. The views were outstanding and worth the effort. Lunch at the little hut at the summit, signed the visitors book and it was time for the trip down, for me it was the easier half of the tramp, but for my little mountain goat Jude… well she did alright but downhill is not her strongest part of tramping… sloooowwww lol. Arriving back at our Moho we hi 5’ed each other as we knocked this one off up and down in 4.5 hours. Evening was falling upon us as we headed to Methven to stay at the Blue Pub where NZMCA members can park over night, which also mean a pub meal was on the cards… I enjoyed a lambshank with mash peas and gravy and it hardly touched the side.. I felt like I earnt this one. The next morning after a fantastic sleep and doing the laundry we left Methven for Christchurch. Not long into this leg of the journey we both noticed a unusual light knocking noise which I thought was coming from inside the lower part of the dash, but Jude was sure it was coming from below the floor under the truck, we listen intently to where it could possibly be coming from and as we were not far from Darfield where we had planned to stop for a coffee, I’ll check it there. Unfortunately this light knocking became more frequent which was possibly an indication things need to be checked now so we pulled over to the side of the road at Glentunnel, lifted the bonnet and thoroughly checked everywhere under the hood and then under the chassis. A good 10 minutes later we found nothing, no loose object found, no warning dash lamps illuminated we hopped back in the Moho and thought we’ll just have to keep an eye and ear on any further changes. Hopped back into the Moho, picked up the GPS off the floor and noticed a continual line of e’s on the search line… hmmmmmm oh well clear that by pushing the back button, thats funny when I pushed the button it sounded identical to that light knocking noise… Jude and I burst out laughing as we realise that the GPS was on the floor and was just far enough under the dash to pressure the keys on the GPS on each little bump which is the noise we kept hearing. Now for that coffee at Darfield and on to Christchurch via the small towns of Glentunnel, Colgate, Darfield, Kirwee, Aylesbury, and West Melton arriving at the Woolston Club. It is amazing who you bump into, as we parked in the same place as last time we stayed there, we noticed that John and Corolyn were parked back the Woolston Club as well… lovely people. I also bumped into a special friend Suzanne from 40+ years ago back in the old Ohai days… but thats another story. We are now at our house-sitting job in Sumner and the weather is fantastic and Jude and I have enjoyed doing a lot of kms on our bicycles. Jude has headed back to Manapouri to spend time with her dad for the next 10 days and I have got a few dear friends to catch up with. Today I knocked of a short but hard climb up Evans Pass Road and Summit road to Mount Pleasant returning to Sumner via Mount Pleasant Road and pleased to have done it without using the power assist… and yes I did feel every gram of the 25kg of my ebike and the reward was a exhilarating downhill rush down Mount Pleasant Road.. Ka korero Ano.