Beautiful colours this morning as we wake and look out the window of our moho. But as we know the old saying “Red sky at night shepherds delight, red sky in the morning shepherds warning”. However just pleased to wake up these days. Hopefully the weather hangs off until we finish our ride to the Coffee Float from Cromwell end this time.Read More →

Wow what a big day 19km tramp up Mt Arthur, 8.8km up, 8.8km down plus 1.4km returning because numb skull forgot to turn off the vehicle lights and had to return and turn them off. Yep it’s only 8.8 km to the summit but boy are the climbs long and steep. The first 4km to Mt Arthur Hut is not too bad as it climbs steadily to 1300mtrs. Once past the Mt Arthur Hut the wind blew over the ridges constantly lifting the cloud up and over the ridges amplifying the cool temps at altitude, the track narrows and starts getting into the long steepRead More →

The dawns warm and breezy but cloudy, today we go up to Lake Coleridge, sealed road to the village, makes a change from the gravel road and dust. The village is on the banks of the Rakaia River alongside the historic Lake Coleridge Power station, 165m below Lake Coleridge. It was built between 1911-1914. The village is surrounded by mature trees, an arboretum created by Harry Hart, the first tree planted in 1933, with more than 200 plant and tree specimens. We wander through to the cemetry amongst the old man pines once again history is told in the headstones. We leave the village andRead More →

After leaving the Waikato where we spent time with Alan and Linda, riding part of the Te Awa trail Cambridge to the Velodrome a pleasant 11 km, of course great coffee at the Bikery cafe.Onto Tamahere where we stay with Jeremy and Annie, ride from Hamilton Gardens which are fabulous “note to one self go back in the spring!” We follow the Waikato river via the Te Awa river trail a well maintained trail on the banks of the river being early winter the trees losing there leaves a beautiful starkness. It was easy ride with some undulations we rode 15 km to Pukete thenRead More →

Motueka is like a magnet to Jude and I, it has been a year since we were last here and here we are back again. We arrived at the NZMCA Park yesterday (Friday 4th) to beautiful hot weather, just as we remembered it last January. Went down the Main Street and being a Friday it was as busy as, with people everywhere, lots of traffic heading either to Kaiteriteri or over the Takaka hill to explore the Golden Bay area for the weekend or possibly they just got their Xmas leave after working the holiday period. It was a hot afternoon and the walk backRead More →

Woke to a fantastic warm morning with another day of exploring the local surroundings arranged by Jude, the first part is the Upper Matakitaki to cross over the Maruia Saddle to Burnbrae where it meets Hwy 65 where the Lewis Pass comes out exits heading west. As per the day before it was what Jude and I considered a easy road which at this time of the year can comfortably be done in a average car… give or take the odd pan strike from one of the very few small rocks that may have strayed from their historical resting place to the middle of theRead More →