March 19th – March 25th – The Riders of Rohan!
Greg says.....
Mon 19th – The weather changed, and we got beautiful clear skies, and sunshine. However the wind was strong again with gusts up to 90 km's in a westerly direction (from the west). We were cycling West so felt the wind! Alistair and I took the first cycle today, and we let Ranfurly knowing that we had a distance of 25 km to over. The first bit was straight, but with the wind and a slight incline it was quite tough. We knew that we only had to cycle about 5 k’s until we reached the highest point. It took us about half an hour to get to the top at Ida Burn, which is 618 meters above sea level. We were both relived at this point because it was all downhill now. After posing for pictures by the monument stating this was the top, and the other one stating that we were positioned at 45 degrees south, we started our downhill section. Surprisingly this was very easy! Even with the wind against us we could cycle with no difficulty, as now the incline was going down.
The scenery here is lovely; there are mountains in the distance and farmland in between. It is a dry environment, and you can see the scorched grass in front of you creating the yellowy brown colour of the landscape. It really is a wilderness as there is nothing man made on the horizon except for the boundaries around the fields. I really fell in love with this part of central Otago, and look forward to returning.
Every now and then you pass small hills on each side of the trail, which have large rocks strewn across them. This was the Backdrop for Rohan and the Lord of the Rings, and many scenes were shot here.
Alistair’s stint finished at Oturehua, and Rowena and I then cycled on for another 9-10k’s until we got to the Ida Valley. Rowena is not the willing cyclist that Alistair is! She was glad to reach her destination! Although the scenery is more or less the same, you cannot get bored with it. The mountains appeared to be getting bigger as the track inclined downwards.
Alistair and Lucy took over at Ida Valley and rode to Lauder, where we met them briefly for a cup of tea and encouragement. Rowena and I went to Omakau to sort out the Campsite, and they joined us there later.
That evening Alistair, Rowena and I played some rugby on the pitch there, and witnessed the most amazing sunset. The clouds were the loveliest clouds you can imagine, and were coloured red, and then purple by the setting sun, however I didn’t have much time to admire, as I was in a middle of a Rugger game (as I was constantly reminded by my two Rugby stars!)
We took note of our achievements that day, and by far the star of the show was Alistair who not only had ridden about 48 ks, and then took part in a game of Rugby!! Well done Boy!
Tues 20th – After a short night sleep (well it seemed short) Rowena and I set off from Omakau to ride the short way to Chatto Creek. Now this really was easy, it was another cloudless sunny day, and the wind had dropped. The ride was downhill, and the scenery was just awesome! We rode across wooden bridges which cut across deep valley’s and on tracks which cut through the hills and turned at 90 degrees left or right.
We stopped at Poolburn, which is around the place where a scene of the LOTR was shot, the bit where Morwen sent her children off to safety before the Orcs attacked her village by the lake. Then we continued our quest to finish our stage with an invigorating ride down to Chatto Creek. It really was a lovely ride; the temperature and weather were perfect. When we got to Chatto Creek we realised that Rowena ad only ridden 46k’s in total, so we decided to ride another 4 around where the van was parked. This seemed to take forever especially with a child who was not keen on doing this! Still we managed it!
We swapped riders, and left Alistair and Lucy to ride onwards through Rohan and Middle Earth!
We met again in Alexandra, which is a lovely little village/town, which has a clock positioned on a mountain in a similar way to the Hollywood sign in LA. Rowena and I found a great Butchers shop, where we bought some homemade Pork Pies and some bread. The owner used to have a shop in Kensington, and moved back to NZ some 9 years ago. He was also Tom Willis’ uncle (Chiefs Hooker and potential All Black).
Meeting the riders in the car park near the river, we handed out the pies. These were the best pork pies I have ever had, yes even better than Melton Mowbray. They were made with fresh Organic pork, and still warm from the oven….my mouth is watering as I type!
Lucy and Alistair rode onto Clyde using the difficult rue by the river, and we met them at Clyde campsite, next to the rugby club.
After a beer and some wine we totted up the total distances ridden by each of us….
Alistair = 123k’s, Lucy = 85 k’s, Greg = 80 k’s, and Rowena 50 k’s.
Alistair did particularly well, and did the most distance. However we were all winners, as we all enjoyed every minute of the experience.
Wed 21sth – We left Clyde and made our way back to our favourite place in NZ…..Wanaka. On the way we dropped in to a nice café in Tarras, and had nice cup of coffee (the standard of coffee here is good, but differs from place to place. Tarras was good). After a trip to the Airport and a meeting with Peter Hendriks we went off to Glendhu Bay.
Just so it’s noted, we have extended our visa here till August, and will be saying in Wanaka. I (Greg) am doing a Private Pilots Licence, and Lucy and the children (and me some of the time) will be doing some skiing. Peter, who is the instructor from Classic Flights, has a Tiger Moth and I hope to get a flight in this as well as the training plane.
Thurs 22nd–Not much to report today, we strolled around Wanaka, and booked into a new campsite in town, the Kiwi camp. We arranged to see a couple of houses for rental, all of which are nice but two couldn’t do the timeframe we wanted and were more expensive.
Fri 23rd – Another day of strolling around Wanaka, catching up on lessons, and visiting the library. Alistair and I watched the Blues against the Waratahs in the Speights pub I Town. Stayed at the Kiwi Camp.
Sat 24th– We made our decision today to stay at a house in Abertown. The address is 17 Bernard Road, Albertown, RD2, Wanaka.
We drove down towards central Otago, and on the way down to Clyde we stopped and had a cold swim in Lake Dunstan. Alistair did a little fishing, but didn’t catch anything. The Kiwi’s use this lake for all kinds of water sports; we saw divers, water-skiers, jet boaters etc etc… It is a man made lake which flooded valley including the train track which used to run along side the road, and any buildings. The Clutha River runs into one end of the lake, and at the other, just before you get to Clyde, there is a large Hydro Electric Dam. We continued through Alexandra, and found a Tavern at Chatto Creek which allowed free camping in the car park. Perfect for me, because I could have a pint, watch the rugby, and then stay for free in the car park only a few meters away!
Sun 25th – We left our parking spot at around 9 am, and made our way along State Highway 85. On the way we thought we would stop and do the children’s lessons at the ‘Blue Pool’ at St.Bathans. This is a lake which was formed from a quarry. It didn’t look that blue, but it was a nice spot all the same! The village of St, Bathans is a quaint old village dating back to the late 1800’s, and we had a nice cup of coffee in the ‘Vulcan Hotel’, which was similar to going into an old country pub. It seemed that this was the place to go on a Sunday, as there were lot’s of Kiwi’s with their Motor Biked, and Bicycles turning up for lunch and a drink, as we were leaving. It was a bit like going to Pamp Hill near Wimborne, for a Sunday lunchtime drink!
We went back to SH 85, and drove to Hyde for Lunch, where I had a great idea, why didn’t Alistair and I cycle from Hyde to Middlemarch (about 30k’s). I thought I would get a derisory response, but he was most enthusiastic! Oh well it was my idea I suppose!
Alistair and I departed on our bikes after lunch. Lucy and Rowena, relieved that they weren’t cycling departed in the van soon afterwards.
Our first stop was 8k down the track, where in 1943 there was a bad rail crash. One of the locals( his brother was killed in the crash at the age of 19!) told us that the drivers and guards had been drinking, and probably fell asleep, so they approached a bend at 120 km’s, when they should have been going 60km’s, therefore the train left the tracks at the bend and crashed. This chap who was telling us the story was tending the memorial garden, and as he told us about the crash and his brother, you could see that he was upset and annoyed that it happened, even though it was 63 years later.
Alistair and I arrived in Middlemarch after a ride of about 2 hours, and popped into the local pub for a well deserved pint (he had a coke!). It was Country and Western night, and it seemed that the whole village had turned out. The streets were empty, no traffic, no people, but when we went inside the pub it was full of people. There was lot’s of noise and drinking, Country and Western music blaring out, and lots of people dancing. It was like being in the centre of Bournemouth on a Friday night!
We got the campsite where we met the girls. A school from Glenorchy had turned up, who were due to ride the rail on Monday. There were 2 teachers (Mrs Grant, and Miss Reid), 2 parents, 4 girls, and 1 boy. The whole school only had 16 pupils! Anyway we played Softball with them, and then retired to our van for tea and Movie Night. We all look forward to Movie Night, and tonight we had ‘James Bond’ again! I never get bored with 007!
The nights are now beginning to draw in, and it’s getting dark at 6.30pm. It can still be hot in the day, but it gets cold at night. We are still managing to wear our shorts but are not sure for how much longer.
Mon 19th – The weather changed, and we got beautiful clear skies, and sunshine. However the wind was strong again with gusts up to 90 km's in a westerly direction (from the west). We were cycling West so felt the wind! Alistair and I took the first cycle today, and we let Ranfurly knowing that we had a distance of 25 km to over. The first bit was straight, but with the wind and a slight incline it was quite tough. We knew that we only had to cycle about 5 k’s until we reached the highest point. It took us about half an hour to get to the top at Ida Burn, which is 618 meters above sea level. We were both relived at this point because it was all downhill now. After posing for pictures by the monument stating this was the top, and the other one stating that we were positioned at 45 degrees south, we started our downhill section. Surprisingly this was very easy! Even with the wind against us we could cycle with no difficulty, as now the incline was going down.
The scenery here is lovely; there are mountains in the distance and farmland in between. It is a dry environment, and you can see the scorched grass in front of you creating the yellowy brown colour of the landscape. It really is a wilderness as there is nothing man made on the horizon except for the boundaries around the fields. I really fell in love with this part of central Otago, and look forward to returning.
Every now and then you pass small hills on each side of the trail, which have large rocks strewn across them. This was the Backdrop for Rohan and the Lord of the Rings, and many scenes were shot here.
Alistair’s stint finished at Oturehua, and Rowena and I then cycled on for another 9-10k’s until we got to the Ida Valley. Rowena is not the willing cyclist that Alistair is! She was glad to reach her destination! Although the scenery is more or less the same, you cannot get bored with it. The mountains appeared to be getting bigger as the track inclined downwards.
Alistair and Lucy took over at Ida Valley and rode to Lauder, where we met them briefly for a cup of tea and encouragement. Rowena and I went to Omakau to sort out the Campsite, and they joined us there later.
That evening Alistair, Rowena and I played some rugby on the pitch there, and witnessed the most amazing sunset. The clouds were the loveliest clouds you can imagine, and were coloured red, and then purple by the setting sun, however I didn’t have much time to admire, as I was in a middle of a Rugger game (as I was constantly reminded by my two Rugby stars!)
We took note of our achievements that day, and by far the star of the show was Alistair who not only had ridden about 48 ks, and then took part in a game of Rugby!! Well done Boy!
Tues 20th – After a short night sleep (well it seemed short) Rowena and I set off from Omakau to ride the short way to Chatto Creek. Now this really was easy, it was another cloudless sunny day, and the wind had dropped. The ride was downhill, and the scenery was just awesome! We rode across wooden bridges which cut across deep valley’s and on tracks which cut through the hills and turned at 90 degrees left or right.
We stopped at Poolburn, which is around the place where a scene of the LOTR was shot, the bit where Morwen sent her children off to safety before the Orcs attacked her village by the lake. Then we continued our quest to finish our stage with an invigorating ride down to Chatto Creek. It really was a lovely ride; the temperature and weather were perfect. When we got to Chatto Creek we realised that Rowena ad only ridden 46k’s in total, so we decided to ride another 4 around where the van was parked. This seemed to take forever especially with a child who was not keen on doing this! Still we managed it!
We swapped riders, and left Alistair and Lucy to ride onwards through Rohan and Middle Earth!
We met again in Alexandra, which is a lovely little village/town, which has a clock positioned on a mountain in a similar way to the Hollywood sign in LA. Rowena and I found a great Butchers shop, where we bought some homemade Pork Pies and some bread. The owner used to have a shop in Kensington, and moved back to NZ some 9 years ago. He was also Tom Willis’ uncle (Chiefs Hooker and potential All Black).
Meeting the riders in the car park near the river, we handed out the pies. These were the best pork pies I have ever had, yes even better than Melton Mowbray. They were made with fresh Organic pork, and still warm from the oven….my mouth is watering as I type!
Lucy and Alistair rode onto Clyde using the difficult rue by the river, and we met them at Clyde campsite, next to the rugby club.
After a beer and some wine we totted up the total distances ridden by each of us….
Alistair = 123k’s, Lucy = 85 k’s, Greg = 80 k’s, and Rowena 50 k’s.
Alistair did particularly well, and did the most distance. However we were all winners, as we all enjoyed every minute of the experience.
Wed 21sth – We left Clyde and made our way back to our favourite place in NZ…..Wanaka. On the way we dropped in to a nice café in Tarras, and had nice cup of coffee (the standard of coffee here is good, but differs from place to place. Tarras was good). After a trip to the Airport and a meeting with Peter Hendriks we went off to Glendhu Bay.
Just so it’s noted, we have extended our visa here till August, and will be saying in Wanaka. I (Greg) am doing a Private Pilots Licence, and Lucy and the children (and me some of the time) will be doing some skiing. Peter, who is the instructor from Classic Flights, has a Tiger Moth and I hope to get a flight in this as well as the training plane.
Thurs 22nd–Not much to report today, we strolled around Wanaka, and booked into a new campsite in town, the Kiwi camp. We arranged to see a couple of houses for rental, all of which are nice but two couldn’t do the timeframe we wanted and were more expensive.
Fri 23rd – Another day of strolling around Wanaka, catching up on lessons, and visiting the library. Alistair and I watched the Blues against the Waratahs in the Speights pub I Town. Stayed at the Kiwi Camp.
Sat 24th– We made our decision today to stay at a house in Abertown. The address is 17 Bernard Road, Albertown, RD2, Wanaka.
We drove down towards central Otago, and on the way down to Clyde we stopped and had a cold swim in Lake Dunstan. Alistair did a little fishing, but didn’t catch anything. The Kiwi’s use this lake for all kinds of water sports; we saw divers, water-skiers, jet boaters etc etc… It is a man made lake which flooded valley including the train track which used to run along side the road, and any buildings. The Clutha River runs into one end of the lake, and at the other, just before you get to Clyde, there is a large Hydro Electric Dam. We continued through Alexandra, and found a Tavern at Chatto Creek which allowed free camping in the car park. Perfect for me, because I could have a pint, watch the rugby, and then stay for free in the car park only a few meters away!
Sun 25th – We left our parking spot at around 9 am, and made our way along State Highway 85. On the way we thought we would stop and do the children’s lessons at the ‘Blue Pool’ at St.Bathans. This is a lake which was formed from a quarry. It didn’t look that blue, but it was a nice spot all the same! The village of St, Bathans is a quaint old village dating back to the late 1800’s, and we had a nice cup of coffee in the ‘Vulcan Hotel’, which was similar to going into an old country pub. It seemed that this was the place to go on a Sunday, as there were lot’s of Kiwi’s with their Motor Biked, and Bicycles turning up for lunch and a drink, as we were leaving. It was a bit like going to Pamp Hill near Wimborne, for a Sunday lunchtime drink!
We went back to SH 85, and drove to Hyde for Lunch, where I had a great idea, why didn’t Alistair and I cycle from Hyde to Middlemarch (about 30k’s). I thought I would get a derisory response, but he was most enthusiastic! Oh well it was my idea I suppose!
Alistair and I departed on our bikes after lunch. Lucy and Rowena, relieved that they weren’t cycling departed in the van soon afterwards.
Our first stop was 8k down the track, where in 1943 there was a bad rail crash. One of the locals( his brother was killed in the crash at the age of 19!) told us that the drivers and guards had been drinking, and probably fell asleep, so they approached a bend at 120 km’s, when they should have been going 60km’s, therefore the train left the tracks at the bend and crashed. This chap who was telling us the story was tending the memorial garden, and as he told us about the crash and his brother, you could see that he was upset and annoyed that it happened, even though it was 63 years later.
Alistair and I arrived in Middlemarch after a ride of about 2 hours, and popped into the local pub for a well deserved pint (he had a coke!). It was Country and Western night, and it seemed that the whole village had turned out. The streets were empty, no traffic, no people, but when we went inside the pub it was full of people. There was lot’s of noise and drinking, Country and Western music blaring out, and lots of people dancing. It was like being in the centre of Bournemouth on a Friday night!
We got the campsite where we met the girls. A school from Glenorchy had turned up, who were due to ride the rail on Monday. There were 2 teachers (Mrs Grant, and Miss Reid), 2 parents, 4 girls, and 1 boy. The whole school only had 16 pupils! Anyway we played Softball with them, and then retired to our van for tea and Movie Night. We all look forward to Movie Night, and tonight we had ‘James Bond’ again! I never get bored with 007!
The nights are now beginning to draw in, and it’s getting dark at 6.30pm. It can still be hot in the day, but it gets cold at night. We are still managing to wear our shorts but are not sure for how much longer.
posted by greg and lucy | 4:08 PM
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