Shane Batchelor (Page 9)

Today we take the first step of completing the Kawatiri Trail of which as normal we have to do it both ways, so today’s ride is a fraction under 19km which means we ride double that distance. Leaving early enough we start with a short windy section of native forest at Cape Foulwind whichen descends down to the northern end of Tauranga Bay. Just a lovely bay with short ride to the south end. A short ride through to Nine Mile Beach, an awesome sand beach with easy access and when the sea is right it looks great for surfers… of which we never seenRead More →

After studying the short term weather patterns we decided to risk heading to Westport on the West Coast. We left Richmond a couple of days ago and the road through to Murchison had many indications of how bad the area was hit with rainfall, drenched but drained paddocks and and slips every where, fortunately the roads had been cleared of the slips that included them. We spent a night in Murchison, nothing different from the last time we were there apart from a new 4square supermarket being constructed. We enjoyed a beautiful sunny day sitting outside the tavern sipping back a nice cold Grizzly Porter.Read More →

As Stated in my previous post Pakawau is one of the loveliest places around the top of the South Island is Pakawau, a small location approximately 12km west of Collingwood, both 10km west is Puponga the last settlement in the west side of Golden Bay and the start of Farewell Spit. We are camped up at the Pakawau Motor Camp which is a lovely place to park at. A short drive or bike ride to Puponga and dealing the Wharariki Road takes you to Cape Farewell viewing platform which is an amazing view on either good or bad weather days. It rained for a coupleRead More →

It’s Monday 23rd June, a couple of days of sunshine before the big wet comes in for 3-4 days, because of the impending wet we have decided to camp up at Pakawau Beach Park Campsite which is a lovely place. We have been here before a couple of years ago and loved the place although we were then parked across the road at the old school house. Once parked up and settled down, we enjoyed our regular winter brunch of porridge with banana, buckwheat, blue Berries and hemp seeds before a walk along the beach. Today is Tuesday 24th June, woke to a beautiful sunrise…Read More →

Another day blessed with good weather and a walk was the days exercise. Jude has selected the Pupu Hydro Power Station track a 6km with about 230 meters of vertical meters to climb. We had done this track 5 years ago and it was nice to see they have done a lot of work to make it easier to walk, the last time we did it we had to climb up a very slippery slope with tree roots to negate. Once at the top of the climb the trail levels out and follows the water race for approximately 2.2km. We made the good choice ofRead More →

A cool start to the day thank god for our 4 kilowatt diesel heater as Moho was cosy warm 5min later. Jude gets the lamb shanks prepared for the slow cooker so I’m already salivating about tonight’s dinner. As you can see by the feature image it is such a lovely morning. I decided to have a Quick Look at the waters edge and I was surprised to see fish jumping out of the water in the harbour. Not sure what species of fish it was but it kept me entertained for a while. Went into Tākaka so I could get a shape and thinRead More →