Mauri ora,

Peak # 13 was an awesome peak for many reasons;
Not least because of my awesome adventure team,
It was also my first peak on a Monday,
The perfect way to spend Labour Day it would seem!
By my side (or sometimes a wee bit ahead) was Rids a long term adventure pal, and my friend who initially got me into riding,
And Ken, father of my best friend and he is my friend too,
It was his unbeatable Bach in Hawea at which we were residing.
Watch out to those in Godzone, because Ken is sure in training;
He would pause to close the gate whilst we rode on,
And once he remounted, despite the gradient, on us he was gaining!
Then there was a new adventure pal Andy from Dunedin,
Ofcourse once I knew where he lived, his participation was a ‘shoo-in’.
Unfortunately our original target was off limits due to lambing,
These lambing months have definitely put a spanner in my planning!
The beauty of having a local along and one that is a great navigator too, (watch out godzoners)
Is that he could quickly find an alternate route, which also led to a remarkable view.
Up we climbed from Lake Hawea near the Timaru Creek Track,
With such a steep gradient and loose rocks
One is quickly reminded of which skills and fitness aspects they lack!
After some strong worded grumbles at the beginning I remembered to scooch forward and weight my front wheel,
It wasn’t so much my leg muscles, but my heart muscle in my chest that I could feel.
As evidenced in the pictures the view was a stunner,
And the loose rocks on the downhill meant the descent couldn’t have been funner (read terrifying).

Til next week,

Reta

Mauri ora,

Peak #14 was Mt Dobson.

It is fair to say that prior to commencing this mission I neglected to fully acknowledge the ‘Mt’ preceding ‘Dobson’.

I acknowledged it somewhat by consuming a large Custard Square at the Fairlie Bakehouse (no pie consumed) followed by a Kumara tart followed by a coffee however I was not psychologically prepared for the 15km climb nor the raging magpies en route. I also neglected to google map the distance from Fairlie to the beginning of the Mt Dobson ski field road. Fortunately, I packed my raincoat.

At 3pm on Sunday November 6th I pedalled out of Fairlie expecting to see the Mt Dobson turn off within minutes…instead I saw magpies cm above my head, viscously dive-bombing me,  and then met Steve, a friendly cycle tourist from Yorkshire and then eventually the Mt Dobson turn off.

Upon coming across a farmer not long after I changed down into granny gear and lifted my bike over three gates, I smiled meekly hoping he would not send me back to Fairlie. Cheers to him, he welcomes Mountain bikers to his farm and also let me know the road was 15km. “15km I thought, that is only 2x the sign of the kiwi, that will be fine”……’2 x the distance but 4.3 x the elevation’ did not enter my head.

I estimate that the first corner where I thought ‘this must nearly be the top’ was not even half way, thank goodness for the rainbow that brightened my cloudy mood.

Many, many, many corners, penguin banana stops and additional clothing stops later, I got to the ski field car park at 1725m. Fun fact: this is the highest car park in NZ. Apparently Tawhirimatea wanted to teach me a lesson for grizzling whilst riding up a mountain and blew in clouds and rain in time to completely block my view at the top.

The usual snacks photo is missing from this Peak communique as all snacks were demolished before the top. Also note Puke the Pukeko is lying down, this best expressed my emotions at the time.

The highly anticipated, hard earned downhill was tempered by the chilling wind and moisture now following me down the mountain. I tried to apply my technical pointers for descending on gravel, however as I could no longer feel my knees, my top tip ‘bend you knees’ was made difficult!

I think Steve the friendly cycle tourist distracted many of the magpies on my route to Mt Dobson for on the road back to Fairlie I spent the entire time yelling “ROAR” at the top of my lungs in a bid to scare the now multiplying magpies off.

Alas, I reached Fairlie and the warmth and apparent safety of my car at 7pm.

Peak #14, I will remember you.

Mauri ora,

16 is the number of this Peak,

It was Mt Bradley on Banks Peninsula, of which the summit I did seek.

A MTB/walk combo for transportation,

Scott’s date loaf, homemade froozeballs and bananas for a snack,

A beautiful view and friendly Giles from Bath, England

I did meet at the hut of the Horse-pack (read Pack-horse).

I started out hanging on the wheel of some roadies with my fat tyres,

It was all very well until the bottom of Gebbies Pass where my ability to hold their wheel expired!

Mt Bradley was a long awaited exploration;

I’d been turned away last month by the lambing sheep,

A red-roofed, stone hut overlooking Lyttelton Harbour and Quail Island,

This hut was sure worth a peep!

My MTB rested, leaning on the gorgeous hut,

Whilst my new found friend Giles and I continued 400 more meters straight up.

Several bodies of water were outstanding from the summit,

Lyttelton harbour, Lake Ellesmere and the Pacific Ocean,

A swim would have been quite nice I must admit.

The challenge of the Peak of the week took me to another undiscovered, local gem

It encouraged me not just to ride but to move on my feet-

Peak of the week strikes again!

Til next week,

Reta

P.S. I momentarily forgot how truly awesome was the mountain bike back,

It had more ‘no pedaling time’ than expected

And farmland, forest and pine needles provided a varied, interesting and challenging     track!

Mauri ora,

Peak 17 was a local Mount,

The fun rides I have had up this one total too many to count.

Yet this peak of the week adventure had a different twist,

For it was the route up a gravel road on a road bike with which we did persist.

It wasn’t entirely pleasant as my tyres spun round-

But I did not seem to gain any ground!

Pleasant was my company (Scott) and of course the view,

And the sense of satisfaction of taking a route that was new.

The downhill on the gravel was where the pleasantries stopped,

And I was thankful neither of us had a tyre that popped!

It should also be mentioned that last weeks Mt Bradley made up a great deal of our view from Mt Pleasant, (as highlighted by Puke in the photo)

It was exciting to stand there and reflect on where many hours last Sunday were spent!

Til next week,

Reta

Mauri ora,

Peak #18 was the Cragieburn Range,

And what glorious weather Ranginui did arrange,

For after pedalling up the road to the ski field,

Not even a glimmer of a mountain outlook this effort did yield!

Alas, after climbing up to 1368 metres,

The thrill of a single track down hill could not be defeated.

Happy thrill morphed to nervous thrill during the Scree slope sidling,

But the roots and the rocks and the trees soon had me back smiling.

It was super to be in the company of Richard, Alistair and Jake,

Chat on the uphill and entertainment on the downhill (thanks Jake),

An interesting adventure this company did make.

A point of significance is the start time of this journey

4.40am (that is not a typo)…..never before have I risen to ride my bike this early!

Apparently this is the way of life once you have kids,

I packed extra fruit cake to uplift my eyelids!

My post peak sandwich is also worthy of a mention,

-so gloriously satisfying, not even the renowned Sheffield Pie shop could grab my attention.

Homemade Italian herb bread, lined with Scott’s homemade tomato relish,

Chamois salami (thanks to my brother) and home-grown lettuce,

The group concurred this Sammy was delish!

Til next week,

Reta

Mauri ora,

I will name Peak #19 Treasure Peak 360.

The road up Okuiti Valley from Little River isn’t actually on my topomap puzzle.

Yes, despite having 3 topo maps I decided to ride in the area of which I did not have a map for and thus I do not know what the peak is called.

It is definitely a real peak though- it had a trig AND a treasure box!

And I had to high jump over a barbed wire fence and navigate Gorse bushes to summit this one- it was tapping on the doors of extreme!

So extreme in fact that Puke decided to take a recovery day after his early morning peak last weekend and left it up to Hoiho the penguin to keep me company.

I loved the 360 views from this peak, so many green hills and bodies of water! I could see Port Levy saddle from yesterdays adventure, and Te Oka Bay and Magnet Bay of which I had just ridden alllllllllllll the way down to.

This part of the Banks peninsula has been largely unexplored by myself and now I am filled to the brim with excitement to venture to more of these apparently secret bays.

Since a rather tough 5hour ride at the Huka Challenge two weeks ago I haven’t exactly been fizzing on my bike but these liberating downhills, and the lure of the natural beauty around each corner had me making ‘yippeeeee’ ‘yahooooo’ sounds all the way down (I was a little quieter on the way up!).

This peak of the week adventure brought my fizz back- it was Treasure Peak indeed!

Til next week,

Reta

Mauri ora,

Located in Dunedin, Peak #20 was a ‘stiff little walk’,

But with the inspirer of the challenge himself (Joel Davies),

We managed to keep up the talk!

Given my days of living in Dunedin were largely spent riding a bike,

It was with great pleasure to be led up Mt Kettle on this unbeknown little hike.

This was a particularly special peak because it looked out to my favourite cycling routes,

The Otago Peninsula High Road and Karitane loop are two of the best places in the world to road bike-

Many locals would support this notion- I have no doubts!

I would like to thank the kind individual who it seemed marked out the route with the shirt off his back,

This kept our conversation filled climb to the summit on the right track.

Twas fine company with Kat and Joel and Ingrid, energetic pup Charlie and Scott,

It’s a shame we didn’t take up a cooker and our own kettle to enjoy a cuppa at the top.

Til next week,

Reta

Tena koutou,

Mt Montgomery -Peak #21

A Christmas Eve adventure- oh what spectacular fun!

For those that have not heard the three words; Old Ghost Road

This is a magical trail through Aotearoa’s West Coast bush- access to this area is a true gift we have been bestowed.

Mountain biking 18km up the encouraging gradient to the Saddle of Lyell,

Enshrouded by gorgeous green bush- one could not help but smile.

And then came the lookout from the magnificently situated Lyell Hut,

And then the wee surprise of a less gentle climb up!

As we climbed out of the bush and begun the traverse

“We are so lucky to be born in NZ”, “holy moly”, “WOW” were the words we did converse.

The outlook was so stunning it made us stop and stare,

We felt so very grateful to be fit and healthy enough to spend Christmas here.

Mt Montgomery was a slight hike detour off the MTB track,

To add to the enjoyment of the view we enjoyed a Marshmallow Santa snack.

Looking out along a narrow ridge to the next part of the track,

We deeply inhaled in amazement- how did people build that!?

We waved goodbye to our outlook; 1332m above the sea,

Skipped back down to our MTBs,

Then tackled that grand trail we did see….YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Til later this week when I get up to date with my peaks,

Reta

Tena koutou,

Peak #22 – the last one of the year,

Located in Devonport- North Head boasts both a natural and man made vista

Rangitoto Island and Auckland city- can both be seen here.

The outlook up north is so different to the peaks in the south,

Pōhutakawa trees abundant around the Hauraki Harbour mouth.

Twas a leisurely stroll with the Thomas family out in the late, afternoon sun,

After we descended from the great heights of North Head, at Narrowneck Beach we swum.

Amazingly this peak/beach combo is just five minutes walk from their front door,

A view to a volcanic island on one side- and on the other skyscrapers galore.

Til later this week,

Reta

With it drawing closer, I thought I would pen some thoughts about The Pioneer which some people new to the event may find interesting, and what other people can add to.