The Whanganui River

Well another year has almost past and we have started some more adventures. This year we did the Whanganui river on kayaks with a guided tour company called Canoe Safaris (www.canoesafaris.co.nz) It was awesome. Here is a bit of a insight into our adventure.

We are off next week for our second adventure. The Hillary walk (four day tramp). Watch this space.

The Waikato River trail " How to lose a kilo in 3 days"

Wendy and I set out with the aide of a friend. They drove us to the starting point at Atiumuri on the Ongaroto Road about 100 metres off the highway. Wendy checked out the information board which told us that due to logging trucks the first 8km had to be done on the road and turn off at Tram road on the left. After getting back onto the track, which we had to go under a bridge and could have missed it if we crossed the bridge, we continued along the river.

 We past Whakamaru camp where I have taken school classes a number of times over the years.

This was stage 5 of the trail as we had decided to do it this way as on paper there appeared to be less inclines. Boy were we in for a surprise!

In the end I think it didn't matter which way you did it.

This stage is 25 kms and took us longer than the time allocated in the cycle trail book (Classic New Zealand Cycle Trails) but we were in no rush and stopped a number of times for photos, drink and food.

 We met a awesome couple at the Whakamaru reserve who have camped there for the last 15 years with family. They filled up our drink bottles with ice cold water and we were back on our way. We discovered that you need a permit to camp at some of the reserves like this one. You can acquire a season camping permit for $25 which allows you to camp on any of the reserves during the season. Something to think about for future trips.

The second part of the day was Stage 4 - Whakamaru Dam to Mangakino Lakefront Reserve. (13 km) This would be our resting place for the night. The track ends up meandering around the golf course. Just before you head into a grove which takes you to the Mangakino reserve there is a turn off that takes you right up to the lake/river where camping is but no toilets. we decided to camp there the night, although in hindsight maybe we should have pushed on 1 km to the reserve, which we ended up getting to the next morning for a coffee stop at the Bus stop cafe. Wendy says they make good coffee.

Day Two:  Part One

A good night sleep and back on the road at around 8am. Coffee and we were now starting Stage 3 Mangakino reserve to Waipapa. (20 km)

This is really where the fun started. Lots of steep inclines. It was hard work with 20kg of gear in my panniers and Wendy carrying about 10kg. There was times when we had to push the bikes up hill. We were rewarded with some downhill stretches. This is where the line I made up " I don't want anymore inclines only declines as I am declining."

At the beginning it meanders through some pine forest ending up at the Maraetai dam with some old relics of previous industry.

An old depositry used to load gravel onto the trains for transport

An obstacle that tried to stop us from carrying on. We managed to get around it.

Lunch near the Waipapa Dam

 Just before finishing this stage we came across the first other cyclist. She (Marilyn)  was riding along the road and asked me if she should take the trail to Mangakino reserve. She had more gear then we did and was riding and tour bike rather than a MTB. She concluded from my response that the road would be a safer alternative. It was great to share experiences and chat. She was from Canada doing a 3 months bike tour of NZ. We were able to give her some hints and ideas of things to do and see on her way. After a few more chit chats we went our separate ways. Ka kite ano Marilyn.

Once we stopped for lunch we realised that there was no place to set up camp and it was quite early. The area has a long drop but no water facilities and a sign telling you not to drink the water  due to gardia. We decided to push on but were aware that our water was low. I cycled back a km to ask some workers who were at the dam if they knew where we could get some water. They were not very helpful. So make sure you bring plenty of water. We had had two 1.5 litres bottles and 3 drinking bottles. This ended up not being enough as will be discovered in part tow of day 2.

Day two part two - Stage 2 - which finishes at Arapuni. 

Our goal was to get to Jim Barnett Reserve approximately 15 km from Arapuni. The whole stage is 34 kms. This was the worst part and the hardest and most gruelling. Not only were we running out of water but they decided to put 6 flights of stairs that we needed to get our bikes up. After which we did get some relief with a few down hill rides. Wendy was getting more confident on her bike during these times. Still we were far behind schedule. After a quick dip in the river and Wendy putting water over her head from the river, we set off for yet another unexpected climb. 37 switch backs that climb up to Waotu Road next to a quarry and in between there somewhere a very long high swing bridge. Afraid of heights?  Then don't look down. Beautiful scenery all along this part. 

We arrived at the top of Waotu Road at around 9pm. It was going to rain, no water to be seen and it was getting dark. We decided to pitch the tent on the side of the road instead of pushing on the few kms to Jim Barnett reserve. Lucky we did as it started to rain soon after we got the tent up and organised. A late dinner, bottles put out to collect some well needed water and off to bed.

We started by helping each other one bike at a time.

I carried Wendy's the last two flights as a rest was needed.

Time for a dip using water from the river next to a sign that says water supply. We took this to mean for other uses other than drinking because of previous warnings.

A brave girl who is afraid of heights. Don't look down.

Camping on the side of the road. It was actually darker than the picture shows.

Day 3 Part one - Get to Jim Barnett reserve and hope that there is water and toilets then push on to Arapuni and the Rhubarb Cafe. MMMM!

We probably needed to do another 20 kms to get to Arapuni. Jim Barnett Reserve is really nice. We arrived at the top end of it really early around 7.45am as we had started the morning at 6.50am. And we found water and toilets. Chatted with a grandmother who was taking her grandkids on a bit of an adventure. A gentle 1.5 kms through a native bush took us back onto the road for the remaining time to Jones Landing. We stopped here for breakfast and met a neat family, who shared similar interests as we do. They filled up our drink bottles as we would not say no this time and off we went back onto the road for the final push to Arapuni. As we turned off onto Darby road for the final few kms I realised that we had just hit 100kms on my cycle computer. Stopped for a photo. You can take the trail from Jones landing to Arapuni but it is only for expert Mountain bikers and you don't want to have panniers etc. We decided against it. If you do take the road option follow the road until you get to Darby Road. Don't miss it otherwise you will have trouble continuing on the trail.

We reached Arapuni at about 11.30. Early lunch to be had at the famous Rhubarb Cafe. A nice couple who run it Bryan and Louise Samuel. The food was awesome. I decided to liquify myself with a Chai Latte, a Blueberry smoothie, and to finish with a strawberry thickshake as well as some solid good homemade food.

Well needed water. 

The bike trail gates. Difficult to get the bike over with panniers. If you were on your own you may need to take them off.

Mat and Ness with their kids Chloe, Skyla and Jae. Thanks for the chat and the water. Keep up the ball skills Skyla and enjoy high school Chloe and Jae, keep being you.

100 KM

Rhubarb cafe and food.

So the last part starts near the Arapuni swingbridge. You don't actually go over it as the trail stays on the same side of the river. This was the last 13 kms of our trip. We had done this part before but thought we would do it all in one go.

Almost at the beginning of this leg I got a puncture and had to stop for about 20 minutes to replace the inner tube, which one should always carry at least two and remember to replace your stock as soon as you get home.

Our son picked us up at around 3.15pm from The Pokaiwhenua bridge car park and we can proudly say that we have done and dusted the Waikato river trail.



Over all summary

Beautiful scenery, tough in places and we had to walk our bikes in a number of places. Bring plenty of water and pack as light as you can. Do not underestimate the stage 2 part. It is advanced and be prepared for flights of steps whichever way you take it.

When we got home we were exhausted but very proud of ourselves. I asked Wendy what I should call this and she said "How to lose a kilo in 3 days." I finish with a  video of the trip.  Thanks to all the people who made this happen or the people we met along the way. We really felt part of nature and free.

A millenium of babies?

Found this blog post. An interesting read although they say not to excuse the french. You may want to do some self editing. I did that. But the points raised are very interesting. See it all the time and Governments are buying into it, so are schools.

https://theoxytocinchronicle.wordpress.com/2015/12/02/generation-cry-baby-why-millennials-are-a-fking-joke/

Modern Learning environemnts

Our school is going through a transformation. We are considering what our physical layout of classrooms will look like. How will teachers teach and students learn?

What is our pedagogy around this.

I stumbled across this document which makes for interesting reading when considering MLE

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/09/introverts-at-school-overlook/407467/

South Island Tour Day 4 4th January 2015

The majority of today was spent looking around Nelson knocking off things in Wendy's book.

The museum had some interesting exhibits especially the World War 1 exhibit, which reminded me of the history of how the war actually began. My daughter would be able to give me a good account of it too.

The majority of the museum was on how Nelson played its part in the formation of New Zealand as a country. The museum was not free. I think it was a $5 entry fee.











We had a look at the South Street houses, which have been lovingly restored and are still lived in or used for accommodation. Walked up to the cathedral and looked inside. We then went for a stroll along Tahunanui beach. At the time they were setting up for a national volleyball competition. We spoke to this man who seemed to be involved with it and new his stuff. He gave us the low down on how their local team always does well and that Waikato has some pretty good teams too.

Wendy had enough of having yucky feeling hair and washed it under one of the public showers used to get sand off you after a day at the beach.

We then headed up to Kaiteriteri beach. Along the way we stopped to feed some tame eels near Tasman

Kaiteriteri beach has an awesome sand colour and the water was great. We were warned that it could be pretty busy but even though it was the busy season we still managed to find a park on the waterfront and stay for about an hour and have a swim.

Earlier in the day I had txt some friends who were traveling the South Island as well and we knew they were somewhere near here. We found them in Motueka Motorcamp so we headed back there to have dinner and an evening with them before heading back to Wakefield and our camp site.

South Island Tour Day 3 3rd January 2015

It was up at 6am for this day to begin. We had a ferry to catch that was leaving at 8.30. We quietly sneaked out of and headed for the ferry terminal.

This picture was taken before we left. Their house overlooks some of Upper Hutt. Up in the hills . Beautiful.










The ferry crossing was excellent but full. For some reason we decided to stay seated in the same place instead of taking a tour of our ship. We shared some food purchased from the cafe, which was actually more reasonable then we had thought, read  and conversed. The trip was set for 3.15mins and was almost to the dot. It actually went really quickly.

Once we landed at Piction we walked along the waterfront for a while and then took the guided tour of the Edwin Fox. The Edwin Fox is the 6th oldest ship in existence today. This took me by surprise but ships like the Mary Rose or the Cutty Sark in England are two older ships but there are actually not that many left that have not been destroyed or lost. When you first see it you think, "It doesn't look much like a ship, but once you get up close and personal you get let your imagination dictate what it would have been like. The Edwin Fox is not set up as a restoration programme but rather a preservation. What I liked most about it was that you can get right inside it and walk on the actual planks, touch the beams and create. The movie in the museum part is worth watching while you wait for the tour. It describes how it came to be where it is today.

It finished its working career as a refrigeration storage for meat carcasses waiting to be shipped to England.

 It was used for many things during the course of its life. It was used to transport criminals to Australia. It was also used during the Crimean war to transport sick and wounded soldiers.
















Our next stop was Nelson. We discovered a free camping ground just South of Nelson in Wakefield called the Edward Baigent Reserve. We set up camp and took a short walk along the riverbank and had a good rest up. We decided to stay another night here so we could tour a bit of Nelson plus save some money on accommodation.

 This was our first night camping and I discovered very quickly that I was glad I packed the family tent as well as this one was way too small for my long legs. but we made do and it was used on other occasions

The south Island tour Day two 2nd January 2015

Our crossing on the ferry was for the next day at 8.30am so we had contacted Wendy's neice to see if we could stay at there place near Upper Hutt. This was all good. They said that their son would be there to look after us but that they were traveling up North. All we had to do was text when we would be close to arriving.

We started the day by saying farewell to our friends in Turangi and drove through The Desert Road. Beautiful sunshine and a clear view of mount Ruepahu. We didn't stop until we got to Taihepe and had a bite to eat at the Soul cafe. I had a raspberry and apple tart and an Iced chocolate while Wendy had herself a half strength trim latte. All rather pleasing to the palette. I recommend a stop there if it suits.

We then drove onto Foxton whereby the infamous book began to come into action. We stopped at the shop called the Dutch market. I say shop as I thought there was a dutch market on. The shop is full of dutch food and reminded me of the Christmas box we used to get from Holland when I was growing up. We scored ourselves some Pumpernickel and some cheese ready for lunch. Next we had a look around the Foxton Market that was on near the beach. Picked up myself some new sunglasses. We then headed for the beach forest near the camping ground where we had our lunch. Enter the book. Wendy read out the article about Foxton estuary and all the bird life that can sometimes be seen. So we took a walk around the estuary.

Foxton Estuary.

Once we reached Wellington we decided to take a 3 and half hour walk to Pencarrow lighthouse. These next few photos are part of this trip.

 The view from the top was quite spectacular and you could walk on further but we decided it may be time to turn around and text our next hosts that we would be arriving later than expected.

The goats were quite impressive. Big horns. The time we got back from this walk meant a quick bite a Macdonalds and then onto Wendy's neices in Upper Hutt. Got there about 10.15. A quick chat to their son and again another soft pull out couch to lay a weary bones after the long walk. Day two complete.

When you walk places you get to see a lot more and when you are not rushed you can talk a lot more in, so the two worked good together. Something I have to remind myself when I get back into the day to day life. Slow the pace down and enjoy the moment no matter what moment it is.