Cloud hangs like mist over the trees, fingers of it drifting across the hillside. The forest is dim but glows with the low light, a myriad of greens, wet and shining. Moisture is everywhere, sitting on leaves, running down dark trunks, wallowing in muddy puddles on the path. It’s no surprise, so much water pouring […]
Tag: New Zealand
In Dreams
Last night I dreamed I went to Yorkshire.* In my mind I travelled past Fox House, down alongside the stream to Toad Rock, left around the corner and up towards Surprise View. Mist hung low over the hills, flattening their tops, hiding Cark Wark, the ancient fort, and suffusing all with a muted light. The […]
Seasonal
Bright greens have become the warmth of orange and yellow with a scattering of red, and bronze glows in the light of a low sun. Autumn is upon us, the land transforming as the leaves change colour and then fall. A stiff wind brings a chill, tearing leaves from their flimsy anchors, swirling them into […]
Otago Rail Trail: Part Four
Ranfurly to Hyde: 32km. Hyde to Middlemarch: 27km, plus 20km round trip to Sutton Salt Lakes. We leave Naseby on an early shuttle in a complete whiteout, visibility so poor I’m glad I’m not trying to see my way on a bike. The driver tells us the mists have been bad this year, a consequence […]
Otago Rail Trail: Part Three
Oturehua to Ranfurly/Naseby: 25km. (Plus 15km for Neil!) Oturehua is a lovely little town, if not much more than a hotel/pub, a few houses, many offering accommodation, and Gilchrist’s Store. One of the oldest in New Zealand, the store has been open since 1902 and in the same family for almost the first hundred years. […]
Central Otago Rail Trail: Part Two
Omakau to Oturehua: 29km, plus 5km to Ophir. Before we continue the trail we detour to Ophir, the area’s largest town until the rail line was built through Omakau instead (would love to have been in on that conversation – Wha-a-a-t?!) It holds the record for the greatest temperature range in New Zealand, something we’re […]
Central Otago Rail Trail: Part One
Clyde to Omakau: 37km The Otago Rail Trail was opened over two decades ago, not long before Neil and I made New Zealand our home. With a couple of friends we’ve done a lot of talking about riding it but never quite managed to get ourselves organised. Last year we decided that 2021 would be […]
Cruising the Sound
It’s eighteen years since we last visited Milford Sound, a visit tinged with sadness when we thought we would be unable to stay in New Zealand. It was before the tourist boom hit the country and only a couple of boats offered trips out into the Sound. Now half a dozen of them line the […]
Milford Track Day 4
Quintin Lodge to Sandfly Point: 21km (13.5 miles) Another day on the Milford; another 7.30am start. We don’t set off as a group today and, for the first few km, Neil and I are alone. Travelling as part of a large group I’d worried that we might spend a lot of time in a queue […]
Milford Track Day 3
Pompolona Lodge to Quintin Lodge: 15km (9 miles). Plus 90 minutes (5km) return to Sutherland Falls. Today is the biggest challenge of the Milford Track: crossing the Mackinnon Pass, a day of ascent and descent, very little actual putting one foot in front of the other without lifting or dropping it. I don’t mind the […]
