Mountain (bike) Madness

I made use of the last day of my school holidays (still a weekend to go fortunately!) to have a good thrash around the mountains around Nelson with a friend.

I'm sure I've repeatedly stated this fact, but we are so lucky to have sea, rivers, flat land, sand dunes, rivers, lakes, islands and mountains all within a few hundred metres of our house! My mate and I spent 2 and-a-half hours ragging it aound the hills pictured below:
And we could have gone on for hours more if it were not for our labouring legs! The sun was shining, the air cool and the options of various tracks and paths endless:

I got home and did the aiport loop run, returning home at lunch time absolutely knackered... oh well, only 40 hours until the first duathlon race of the season!

A perfect Kiwi day...

The title might suggest incorrectly, that I enjoy hunting the endangered species, although this reminds me of the time when I saw a burger promotion at a McDonald's which made me go in and demand an explanation as to how they can get away with slaying thousands of their rare national bird to put in their "Kiwiburger"! The joke was obviously lost on those that I spoke to and I promptly left sans burger!

Anyway, this post is designed to allow me to show friends and family what I get up to on a day when poor Bernie is rushing around the office and I am on holiday...

6:55 Wake up and snuggle up together because the nights are now much colder, the house is cardboard thin and we have forgotten to replace the Summer duvet with the nice thick winter duvet.

7:05 Bernie gets up and brings me tea in bed (in my pint-sized West Ham mug from Mum!), I know it should be the other way round but I've got a big day ahead of me!

7:15 Get on t'internet and check West Ham news, watch Premiership highlights, check e-mails, check that the 5-day forecast has five suns for Nelson (pretty much always!) and check the tide times - As we are by an estuary you have to wade through 2 foot of mud if you aren't within 2 hours of high tide!

8:00 Get on mountain bike and despite living on the coast, within 10 minutes I'm heading up into the hills above Nelson. It is a really hard slog for the last few K's (what are miles - I've forgotten?!) but you are rewarded with this spectacular view upon reaching the summit:
I have labelled our house, where I fish and the school on the following picture - its a bit hard to see the writing though...

I then have an exhilarating scream down the hill back towards home. It really feels like you're flying... people use the hill (the Barnicote) to take-off when paragliding, the area produces strong thermals all year round so you can take-off, fly around for half an hour and then land back at the top of the hill, rest then do it again! Needless to say I've spoken to a guy about lessons, another thing to add to the growing list!

9:30 Upon cycling home, I have to pretend I'm in race transition and head straight off into a run. The triathlon season may have finished due to colder seas, but the duathlon season really picks up speed in its absence. On Sunday we have the first of a series of races where you score points each race and there is a league table based on points accrued. I now head off from home on a 10km circuit around the airport which flanks the coast:

There are coastal breezes to put up with, but this view helps to keep my mind off the growing pain in my legs:

10:10 Drink, sweat, stretch and sit back in front of the computer to check if anything has happened at West Ham (despite it being late evening in the UK!)...

11:00 After a shower, eat a huge bowl of pasta, pesto, veggies and cheese.

11:30 Plant seeds in our veggie garden - plenty of sun = fast growing veggies but also weeds too...

12:30 Head into town for food etc. Go to Adrian the Artist - my hairdresser and get a shock at the 20% price-hike. Have a discussion with Adrian who has been running his shop for 18 years and never increased the price! The flat-cost was $10 (£3.30) per cut when he took over and he's finally decide to put up with giving change in order to make a bit more money - $12 (£4).

13:15 Head to the bank to change $100 notes into dollar coins for Adrian! I cannot imagine being trusted like that in London!

13:30 Pop into the pawn shop next door to ogle at at still. It is legal to distill booze here and for $350 (£130) I could be in business. 1lt of spirit costs about $3 (£1.10) to make after initial set-up costs! Worried for the health of my liver though! Leave without the still...

14:00 Go to butchers to buy meat, including some Jamie Oliver sausages - you can get away from it all in NZ... except getting away from the ubiquitous cockney chef that is!

14:30 Go to petrol station to fill up mini with fuel. Cost = $16 (£5.50!)

15:00 Go to school, have coffee and chat with office ladies (including Bernie) who have to be in school whilst us teachers get to mince around in mini's!

16:00 Take Bernie home and hurry Bernie into getting back out the door as high tide approaches...

16:10 Get into kayak, armed with a spool of string, a lump of plastic and a hook and head out into the sea in search for a meal or two. Snapper is a Cod-like white fish (to eat) prized by Kiwi's (the people not the birds!) but they have left for the winter and that leaves Kahawai as the prey for the evening. They are called Australian Salmon by... Australians due to their similar features and ferocious fighting efforts when caught. Dragging the aforementioned lure behind the kayak, the hand line is suddenly ripped out of its hold on the kayak as a Kahawai tears off with the hook in its mouth. The next few minutes are spent heading in the direction the Kahawai wants to go as I reel in the lure under great duress.

Kahawai in their natural habitat:

18:00 Kayak, legs, clothes and arms splattered in blood, I head back to the shore with 4 beautiful fish in the hold of the boat.

18:10 Explain to Bernie why I was out after sunset on the water and why I look like a scene from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

18:30 Eat Jamie Oliver's sausages from butcher - not too confident they followed Jamie's recipe.

19:00 De-scale and fillet fish. One pair of fillets in fridge for tomorrow, 3 pairs in the freezer, fish carcasses back into the sea.

19:30 Shower (again) to get rid of blood, scales, salt and sweat.

19:45 Enjoy a movie and a beer with Bernie.

21:30 Fall into bed whilst Bernie gets ready for work tomorrow...

22:00 Apologise to Bernie for the fact she worked and cooked dinner!

Same again tomorrow?!

Alas, this is not what happens every day - sadly school commences next week. Until then - anybody fancy going fishing?!

Having said that, I finished teaching at 3:10 as usual a few weeks ago and managed to get home, changed, have a drink, get the kayak into the sea and began fishing by 3:30! I didn't catch anything that day, but I saw a seal frolicking in the distance. I powered over towards it as quickly as I could as it kept disappearing and re-appearing. I kept paddling as hard as I could in the direction of the place I last saw it. Suddenly, the large (bull?!) seal breached right in front of the kayak! A fraction of a second of elation was followed by panic - it was a metre in front of my speeding boat and I duly struck the poor beast! The seal turned, snarled dissaprovingly (but unharmed) and dived as I sat, slowing in my kayak feeling very ashamed of myself!

At the end of the day...

I know that it is my Dad's most hated cliche, but at the end of the day, we are spoilt by the amazing sunsets!

Bernie has posted a few pictures before but each day the half-an-hour or so around sunset is just stunning and ever-changing.

Nelson has been in almost perpetual sunshine for the past 5 months however, there is often cloud towards the mountains in the east - where the sun sets (do southern hemisphere muslims pray to the west?!).

As stated before, we are in a upmarket area of Nelson - Monaco, but we have cheap rent due to the fact that we have no direct beach access or view. We are less than 20 metres from the sea (as the crow flies) and a short walk takes us to views like these:

And with so much colour like this:
Fishing at this time is perfect. There are oyster catchers, herons, stilts, terns, plovers, gannets, harriers, kingfishers, gulls and spoonbills flying over-head at various times. Some alone, in pairs, or in flocks. Some dive to catch fish, others head for a place to roost, others are heading out to catch the same things I'm after.

I've almost got over the shark-phobia thing now, although Kahawai need bleeding straight after being caught in order to make the meat more palatable. This involves making fish the size of your (or my) lower arm bleed profusely into the sea right around perfect shark hunting time... I am getting pretty good (and fast!) at filleting fish though!

Easter in Elie Bay, Marlborough Sounds

On Good Friday, we headed out of Nelson to Elaine Bay where we left the car and set off in our yellow kayak to our first campsite...

And this was our view when we woke the next morning...

After a good long paddle on Saturday, we decided to camp on a random beach and pitched our tent among the reeds (no long drop here). We made a fire on the beach in the evening and enjoyed a tasty fish that Chris caught while kayaking.

Easter Sunday was like the doldrums - the Sounds were still and it was incredibly calm and quiet. We saw some penguins and sting rays, but otherwise it was like we were cruising on oil. We arrived at Ali and Malcolm's bach around lunch time - no electricity, but running water and a long drop in the trees. Very much at one with nature still, but at least with a solid roof over our heads and not having to squeeze into the tent. The main building is a bedsit (bedroom, kitchen and lounge in one) and the second building has beds and a rowing boat behind the gate (not a pony!). The third building was a garage and storage area.

Chris perfected the art of heating the bath - build a fire a good few hours before you want to use it otherwise you burn your behind! Very romantic watching the stars with a mug of wine (Chris made sure we had a few litres packed for our week away)!

We enjoyed fishing daily and collected green lipped mussels from the mussel beds in Elie Bay - export quality for free! The water is so clear that you can see the mussel chains stretching well below (visibility to about 6 metres).

We had a few walks and I was in my element with all the ferns about! Some of them are simply massive - as tall as the pine trees in the forests behind.

This is my best photo of a frond, taken in Ali and Malc's garden - simply transixing!

Elie Bay from a distance - we had magnificent weather all week until we were due to leave and had to delay our return for a day as we waited for the winds to subside. Made it back to Elaine Bay and the car in just under 4 hours (30kms or so). What a wonderful week and it didn't cost us a cent, which was a bonus! We had some good chats about our friends and family and how much we miss them. Although we are living the good life for sure, we do miss those dear (and now not so near) to us. There is a definite void in our lives...

Elvis has left the building!

When I began teaching at Haberdasher's Askes' the Principal called it time and the school entered a new era. Now at my second school, the process is being repeated - not my fault I promise!

Charles Newton who was a large force in me getting this job and indeed, Bernie and I moving out here, has enjoyed 15 years as top dog at Nayland College. He is very well liked and respected - genuinely by all staff, which seems a little rare in schools and other big companies.

He is a mad surfer and Elvis fan so we had a party to farewell him at one of Nelson's top wineries - Seifried's - for which people got dressed-up and danced!

This is us in front of the pink Caddilac in which Charles and his wife were escorted to the dance...

I'm off to staff briefing in a minute to see if the school board has appointed a successor - the candidates failed to impress the staff however...

Tramping Again!

For the last weekend of March, I rushed Bernie out of school, into the car and up just over an hour into the mountains which surround sunny Nelson. We donned our packs as we listen to the squaks of native parrots - Kea - nearby. The car park was over 900m above sea level which made for a nice, relatively flat entrance to the Kahurangi National Park, one of three National Parks which surround our home.

We walked through the mature forest, to the sound of birds and the river we followed. Within two hours we made it to Upper Gridiron Hut - a DOC hut which serves hunters and trampers year-round for a small fee. This is the quaintest and most romantic hut we have stayed in, as long as wooden shed's are not a turn-off for your nerves!

As you can see, the hut is nestled under a 45 degree cliff. It simply has 3 man-made walls and one half of a roof. Inside there are 3 beds, 2 surfaces to cook / store things on, a log buring stove and a few candles!

The sink was attached to the outside wall, water is from natural a spring and there is a long-drop (toilet in its primitive sense) a short walk away. There is also a swing chair (from which the picture below is taken) in front of a pit in which fires are made. The view is of bush, falling down into the valley through which a river gushes.

The night was cool but comfortable inside. We were dozing off just as the possums landed on our tin roof! I though the tripods had arrived from War of the Worlds, alas, these introduced marsupials were after any scraps of food we may have discarded!

We woke to the chorus of birds, ate porridge with the birds and farewelled the birds as we set off deeper into the park to Salisbury Hut. This hut is much more typical of the backcountry huts we have used before. It is above the tree-line which makes for a steep walk but great views over mount Arthur and many other peaks and valleys.

We arrived early afternoon so took the time to explore the bush sans packs. We found mushrooms, birds, potholes and spotted species of plants found in people's gardens but chose to make this place their natural home. Inside the hut we chatted and played cards with new friends, as well as bumping into a friend who swam in the Nelson sea series with us - small world!

The next day we had by far the hardest walk - over a peak called Gordon's Pyramid in strong winds. Bernie did a spot of break-dancing as we crested the peak, spraining her ankle in the process which made for a painful end to the journey. The views as we descended were amazing. We could see across the forest, down into the plains of Nelson and the mountians and coast beyond... more pics to follow!

We left the park hungry for non dehydrated food, but hungrier for more exploring of this awesome land!

Birds and the Snails!

Whils tramping (hiking) around the beautiful, lush, native bush we saw more birds than ever before on our travels. Whilst at Upper Gridiron, we ate breakfast whilst one of these delightful Weka nosed around right next to us, rustling through the ferns and undergrowth to find its own diet of choice! They have tiny wings but can run faster than Linford Christie - not that I make a habit of chasing Weka... or Linford!
The trees were alive with groups of these dainty little Riflemen, NZ's smallest bird. They are so quick and hot-footed it is nearly impossible to photograph them! They are like most NZ birds and are happy to get quite close to you - part of the reason for their demise sadly.

There are many Australian Harriers around the South Island, feeding on road kill and small mammals. They have helped to further reduce the number of native NZ Falcon's (pictured) which are alost identicle to Europe's Peregrine. We were lucky to see one - Bernie spotted it sat in a tree looking into Salisbury Hut as we made dinner. They quite often swoop at people in order to protect their territory!

NZ robin's are the friendliest birds I have ever encountered - and I used to own an aviary! Seriously though, these little beggars fly right up to you, cock their heqad to one side and wait for you to turn over leaves, stones etc with your feet in the anticipation of finding bugs to munch on! They are truly humbling to see so close - their lack of fear never ceases to amaze!

We went off the beaten track at times (not too far Liz I promise!) and found many more hidden rock formations, trees, shrubs and fungi. We also found several empty NZ snail shells - much more impressive than the non-native relatives in size, feel and colourings. They are now sat amongst our growing rock, bone, fossil (bought), and sea shell collection! Bernie is forever coming home with half her own body weight in rocks - all beautiful or sensual to hold! Even wehen we are tramping with full packs and sore backs, she still finds room for a couple of 'keepers'!!

Elvis Chris on his way to Nayland College's Principal Farewell party - and he managed to come home without wine stains on this white shirt! Good party with plenty of live music and Elvis songs. The Principal has retired and he arrived to his farewell party in a pink cadillac.