A Wee Tiki Tour - 2014

Friday      

   Early March 2014 saw Andrew and I packing for a much anticipated Mountain Biking Adventure in New Zealand organised by the one and only Kiwi Julie. Julie had us well organised with packing lists and a full itinerary, which was to be carried at all times! Andew spent along time deciding how to transport our bikes and decided on cardboard bike boxes picked up from our local bike shops, from my point of view they are awkward, unwieldy things but our bikes arrived in perfect condition, much to Andrews relief.

Saturday

     At the airport Jane, Andrew and I were met by Kees and we headed back to Julie and Kees' place to assemble the bikes, after which we headed off to Julians' place for a BBQ. Upon arrival Julie summarily fired Kees from the position of of assistant tour manager as he had forgotten to pickup Jan. I was designated driver for the night and happily drove the HiLux home, it drives very nicely in third gear and Kees was too polite to tell me I should give 4th or 5th a go, in my defense the roads around Christchurch are not exactly smooth with lumps and bumps everywhere as a result of the earthquake.

A map to give you an idea of where on the south Island we were, a part of New Zealand Andrew and I have not been before and are now looking forward to going back to explore more of one day

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Head for the Hills

Sunday

   Sunday saw Kees, Andrew, Sue, John, Jane, Julian, Jan and I head out for some riding in the Port Hills ( Julie was working and doing the last bit of shopping for the tour )

Port Hills - 37km

We enjoyed a ride through some of Christchurchs' beautiful gardens.

Time to get some hill climbing practice in.

All present and accounted for at the top of the climb

 Lots of bikes on the track today, it was a beautiful Sunday after all

Time to sit and take in the scenery. Not many pictures taken for the next couple of hours because the riding was too good with the highlight being "The Flying Nun"

Andrew checking out a jump track in a backyard at the base of the Port Hills

Containers have many uses.

Sunday Afternoon

    Our afternoon was spent having a 'Captain Hook' around Christchurch city centre. It was confronting to see the devastation and listen to a recording of the sounds of the earthquake but also heartening to see the rebuild starting. We began our tour at the restart, a shopping precinct made entirely out of containers. If you are wondering why there's a shortage of containers look no further, they are here storing peoples worldly possessions, housing shops and providing protection against falling rocks and buildings.

Andrew snapped this lovely shot of Sue, looks like a photo shoot for Mountain Bikes of Paris

Definitely a bike friendly town - Kees takes the opportunity to do some maintenance on Andrew bike. It's going to take a bit more work to get the bikes below going.

Still alot of demolition underway.

Memorial to those who lost their lives in the earthquake.

Time for a musical interlude, Jane proved to be the most musical of the group

The fate of this church is yet to be determined

Dinner at the local sushi resturant

Every Mountain Bikers Dream - Coffee and Cake in the Wilderness

Monday    

     We awoke to a bleak and rainy day in Christchurch with the rain just letting up long enough for us to pack up the Hilux. Unbeknownst to us the rainy day turned into once in a century storms that caused wide spread flooding throughout the city made worse by the earthquake having caused many suburbs to sink by up to half a metre.

     The weather got progressively nicer as we headed north and by the time we reached Havelock it was a beautiful day. After some confusion over the water taxi that had been organised to transport of our gear we left our bags and a wad of cash with the very helpful Rick at the Havelock marina and headed out to Shag Point to drop the cars and begin the bike into Nydia Bay

Havelock to Nydia Bay - 27km

Getting ready to ride, Sue and Julie elected to hike into Nydia Bay. The weather began to close in, fortunately all we got was a a few spots of rain - our luck was holding. 

Juilian gave us a bit of a fright by tumbling about 5m off the side of the very steep trail, he was a bit battered and bruised but felt well enough to get back on his bike and continue with the ride.

Kees directing traffic and telling relived riders that this is the end of the 1st uphill section.

Phil and Alice joined the group at Havelock

The ride into Nydia Bay was along a beautiful if somewhat narrow walking track cut into the side of very steep terrain and involved a fair amount of the well known sport of hike-a-bike

Down on the flat on the last leg into Nydia Bay

On The Track Lodge was a welcome sight at the end of a long day of travel

Apparently this is good for our bikes ( something to do with seals and oil I think ), if nothing else it was a neat way to park our bikes.

Upon arrival we were greeted by our hosts Duncan, Tom and Norma and were treated to a lovely afternoon tea of cake and coffee in the sunshine. 

 Fe the lovely door bell at On The Track

We celebrated Alices birthday in style

Sue was awarded the Sacred Tiki for acts of great kindness - Julie tells us Sue cleared much of the track of dangerous branches and rocks on the walk into Nydia Bay

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