After a great summer South Island road trip it was back to Christchurch for the final week of the summer holiday and some fun local adventures at all the usual places. Plenty of time spent in the water as summer doesn’t seem to want to go away, the temperature remains firmly in the upper 20s and low 30s and the hills are starting to look dry and yellow again. Christchurch really maximises it’s rain shadow from the Southern Alps and we are actually missing the wet stuff for a bit of variety! Also we used to only mountain bike when it rained in Scotland but you’d never get any done in New Zealand if you followed that philosophy! I scored a couple of daddy day offs on the hottest two days of the summer and foolishly went for a hilly 110km road bike ride the first day along summit road and over the passes to the remote Purau Bay past Diamond Harbour and back, but I at least broke it up well with lunch at Diamond Harbour and tasty pies at Lyttleton on the way back. The next day was even hotter so I went for the double watersports option, surfing more excellent waves at Magnet Bay (and still getting slammed on the rocks getting out, one day I’ll manage it less painfully!) and swimming at a very busy Corsair Bay on the way home as was too hot even driving!
The final day of the holiday was exciting – heavy rain forecast so you’ve guessed it we went mountain biking! Despite full waterproofs at Mcleans Island we beat the weather and had a very fun afternoon showing Em all the cool things at the nearby Antarctic Centre.
The return to work turned out to be not so painful, much easier than this time last year as we actually have a nice house to live in this year rather than a campsite and knowing all the staff, lots of the students and the intricacies of the NZ curriculum also eases the burden. I’ve also scored some very nice classes this year with small, motivated classes in Year 12 and 13 and the top set Year 11 (compared to two bottom sets last year) – I think they want to keep me here longer! After a very quick first week involving a whole school sports day we reached Waitangi Weekend, seemed rude to have a three day weekend already but not complaining! We headed out west again with dinner at the excellent Bealey Hotel near Arthur’s Pass and set up camp in the fading light at Punakaiki campsite, which is right on the beach in a temperate rainforest so all in all pretty scenic. Heather, Duncan and family had gone for the more civilised apartment option but Em is too Scottish for that so cheap camping was our option and luckily the weather forecast was pretty good. The plan for the weekend was taking turns cycling the new Paparoa Great Walk trail, NZ’s tenth and most recent great walk and at 57km a full value hilly day ride. Heather and Em set out the next morning on the bus shuttle after much deliberation on who was going first and Duncan and I set out with our tribe of small children to explore the local sights. First stop was the excellent Punakaiki Caverns complete with “dinosuar eggs” and plenty of mud. This was followed by the classic Punakaiki Rocks clifftop walk which the kids raced round and had to be pulled back from the massive drops occasionally. After a quick lunch break we worked off some more energy biking round camp and splashing in the nearby lagoon (more of a tidal river estuary but much safer swimming spot than the sea). Team mummy got back just in time for dinner with smiles on their faces and more importantly just in time for tired children meltdowns! A great first day and next day Duncan and I set off for our turn on the Paparoa. First five kilometres was a lot of fun, plenty of good chat, nice trails in the woods and suspension bridges to cross but then disaster struck as a rock bounced up and snapped my rear mech hanger clean in half. Duncan did a great job at turning it into a single speed but without the rear derailleur it was in a very high gear, not ideal for steep uphills, not to be denied I cranked it out working up quite a sweat powering up the hill, and then the high torque was too much for the poor bike and the chain sheared the front sprocket off as well meaning I now had a bike with no transmission aka a run ride suitable for a toddler. I don’t normally swear very much but the sky turned blue for a couple of minutes as I marched angrily up the hill to the first hut on the route – Ces Clarke Hut which is above the bush line and has a cracking view of Mount Rolleston and the Southern Alps. Time to eat some lunch and weigh up my options – option 1) freewheel 7km back to the start and hitch all the way home with a broken bike or 2) Continue for the next 50km walking the uphills, coasting the flats and enjoying the downhills? The weather was so perfect and the views so stunning that it didn’t take me long to go for option 2) and it was honestly better than you might think, the uphills were a little frustrating but I seemed to be keeping pace with all the mountain bikers (actually faster than some!) and the downhills were as fun as they would be with a working bike. The trail is very well designed and follows a narrow ridge line, very reminiscent of the Old Ghost Road but a bit more friendly difficulty wise being more like Blue/Red standard than the Black sections on OGR. I followed the slightly shorter walkers path on the final section which had a fun through route through a cave and lots of steps but none of the walkers I met seemed to mind too much and I pointed out my bike was missing a few key parts anyway! Not quite the day out I’d planned but a fun one anyway and a nice swim in the river to finish. Duncan (who’d had an impressive hour long hot lunch break at the second hut) arrived back to base shortly after me and this time it was our turn to time it well for a slap up dinner. We broke the drive home the next day at Arthur’s Pass and enjoyed the super scenic Devil’s Punchbowl Falls walk, including some fun scrambling up the river bed to get closer to the falls. A great long weekend all in all showcasing some of New Zealand’s best scenery.
The heatwave continued for the next few weekends so more beach trips and slip and slides in the garden were called for and it was also Chinese New Years so we enjoyed the procession through the centre of town with some cool dancing dragons. Sara and Em went on a mummy and daughter adventure and spent the night in a hut on Quail Island which was very exciting and Ethan and Iona and I went back to Corsair Bay, which continues to be the perfect venue for the kids to practice their SUP skills. Even Iona is getting pretty good at paddling in a straight line. After picking the girls up from Lyttleton harbour we headed to the Banks Peninsula music festival at Orton Bradley which was a fun way to spend a hot Saturday afternoon with lots of tasty food, freshly squeezed lemonade and plenty of fun live music to dance to. It was pretty quiet though, a few more people on the dance floor might have made it more fun! Think it was lost on the little people though who in typical fashion seemed to prefer the playpark to anything else. Sumner beach also continues to impress with great waves for surfing and warm late summer water for swimming, amazing to have this only ten minutes from home, especially as you can bike home over the hills too if keen…
Ethan had been very, very keen to stay in a mountain hut too especially as Sara had beaten him to it the weekend before so we set out from Gebbie’s Pass the next Friday night for a two day, two night adventure in the hills, following Te Ara Pataka or the Crater Rim walkway over the biggest hills in the Banks Peninsula Mount Herbert (919m) and Mount Bradley. Em came up with a great plan for dinner and we all enjoyed the view from Gebbie’s Pass and had a picnic together in the evening sunshine. Then we set off climbing up to the well situated Packhorse Hut (450m) stopping briefly for a quick boulder en-route. Ethan is great company for hiking as he chats away merrily and is interested by all the hills, sights, wildlife, rocks and people we encountered. As luck would have it the only other people in Packhorse (sleeps 9 people) were a couple of friendly girls and another family of five and one girl is in Ethan’s class so the kids had a great time exploring round the hut, playing Uno and enjoying mountain life. The roaring log burning stove was a nice touch even though it was arguably far too hot to have it running! The one negative is the long drop toilet which is smelly and swarming with big black flies but other than that a great first hut experience for an eight year old. Thanks to good old kiwi bedtime we were all asleep by about 9.30pm and recharged ready for a big day ahead.
The others all headed back to Gebbie’s Pass but Ethan and I wandered up into the dense cloud and set off up Mount Bradley and I had a good feeling about the weather improving. Sure enough we popped out above the clouds near the summit and got some great views above the cloud inversion, what we thought was the Port Hills was actually the Southern Alps, the air clarity was that good! The route skirts Mount Bradley and winds it’s way up Mount Herbert which was the high point for the day and the perfect place for a lunchbreak. Having seen no-one all day we bumped into about ten people up here who’d all done a day trip from Diamond Harbour. It’s a bit of a flat, broad summit but does have some great 360 degree views in all directions being the highest point and this was my third time up here and definitely the best of the bunch.
Onward to new territory and after a nice mini summit of Little Mount Herbert we followed the ridge past some atmospheric trees and on towards Port Levy Saddle and a meeting with the girls. Ethan likes to run all the downhills which was hard work keeping up with a large rucksack, but did mean we kept a good pace all day! In fact once he saw the girls on top of a hill in the distance he started running uphills too to get to them! A short walk over Waipuna Saddle and we dropped down to our second hut for the weekend, Rod Donald Hut which is another great place to stay, not as scenic a position as Packhorse but the toilet is far superior and the hut is smaller and cosier too. Yet again we had friends to play with as the only other occupants this time were a family of four. Not quite as much sleep but lots of fun and great conversations with the adults.
Time to go home sadly as Ethan and I by this point were long overdue a shower, after 25km of hot, hilly walking. Em set off running to retrace our steps and get a nice 22km run back to Gebbie’s Pass and the rest of us walked out slowly back to the car at Port Levy Saddle. A quick game of hide and seek in the atmospheric trees at Waipuna Saddle and then a long windy drive back via Port-Levy and Purau to meet up with mummy again. We stopped at the well-positioned Lion Rock near Purau Bay and the Monument and did a spot of highball bouldering but were too slow to beat the speed demon that is mummy who beat us to Gebbie’s pass with minutes to play with. Amazing that she can run in a couple of hours what took Ethan and I the best part of two days walking! A very satisfying family expedition to the hills and definitely whetted our appetite for more nights in mountain huts in New Zealand, the huts here are to such a high standard compared to the ramshackle (and loveable) Scottish bothies we are used to!
After all the time in the hills we’d missed the watersports so were back to local beaches the following weekend – more fun waves at Sumner and New Brighton and I had a go at the new big thing – wing surfing. Basically similar to windsurfing but you hold a giant inflatable wing and use it to pull you across the water. I was a fairly quick learner and it was quite fun but also frustrating at times as I could only go downwind. Apparently it’s easier when the wind is stronger and once you attach a foil underneath and rise up out of the water you go a lot faster. Will give it one or two more goes before I decide if I’ve got yet another hobby to add to the collection!
Warning – mega activity weekend – warning! Em was super keen to get a decent run in the hills before the winter weather arrived and fancied the Torlesse Traverse that Zack and I did in the summer holidays. She got a great forecast the next weekend and so we spent Friday night at Smylie’s excellent accommodation in Springfield at the foot of the hills. The next morning Em set off armed with plenty of food, water and beta from me about the scary bits. The kids and I had a great morning’s bouldering at Castle Hill which is always fun for all ages and their particular favourite was the swiss cheese rock where they could practice their dynamic approach to climbing….
Once our fingers had had enough climbing, caving and hide and seek we headed over to Castle Hill village for lunch and many laps on the fun slip and slide there, then we jumped on the bikes for a quick loop of some of the Hogs Back Trail and the excellent pump track. Em had texted to say she had one more peak to go on the traverse so we drove down the valley to look for her. Em tried to go off-piste at the end to meet us nearer to the village rather than the simple path to Porter’s Pass and this took her about an hour longer than planned but we were all relieved to see her safely down and we whizzed down the valley to the tasty treats of dinner at the Sheffield Hotel.
Most people would then go on to have a lazy Sunday after that one but we had other plans, Sunday was the Sea to Sky Triathlon which I’d been training for for a while, zero running, some cycling and lots of swimming to hopefully work my weaknesses. With no international travel allowed the race was featuring NZ’s world class Olympic triathletes so quite a strong field to say the least! The kids were also entered in the Aquathlon event and were excited about taking part. Unfortunately the sea didn’t get the message about race day and was wild with 4-6foot messy swell pounding in. The organisers figured they’d give it a go and shortened the swim from 750m to 400m and off we went. It was pretty sketchy to be honest combining the usual scrum of flailing arms and legs with large waves meaning people were actually picked up and dropped on your head. I tried to take a wide line to stay out of trouble but ended up swimming much further and found it hard to get any kind of rhythm to my strokes or breathing. Leaving the water in a disappointing 100th place and having a slow transition (socks and bike gloves a bit OTT in a race!!) but great to be out of the scary surf and back on my bike. The plus of being rubbish at swimming is psychologically you can then overtake plenty of people for the rest of the race. The course suited me too being hilly and on hills I know and love, so I whizzed up Evan’s Pass leaving many riders in my wake! Helped by a strong tailwind I overtook about fifty riders before the turn around point at the top of Mount Pleasant (directly above the house!) and then cautiously whizzed back to Evan’s Pass and onto Godley Head and the run. This was the best bit of the race by far and probably the best run of any triathlon I’ve ever done being glorious coastal running above the cliffs of Godley Head, overtaking another 25 tired triathletes with their funny running action moaning about the hilly course, along the beach at Taylor’s, over Scarborough Hill to a great finish along Sumner beach with a few high fives from the mini team just before the finish. Overall placing of 28th and 5th veteran (and only 90s off the podium) not a bad days work all in all after a terrible start! The kids did even better in their race and Sara came 3rd in the under 6 girls race and Ethan second in the age 8 and 9 race – they had to race through waist deep water past many lifeguards and run along the esplanade and back. We don’t do many races these days due to old age kicking in but this one is definitely a classic and worth seeking out if you live in this part of the world – very similar to the Croyde Ocean Triathlon round Baggy Point but even more scenic!
After such an active weekend we all longed for a quiet one the next week, but Ethan was booked on cub camp on Quail Island so this time he and I set out on the ferry from Lyttleton, Ethan was visually excited with some full body bouncing and after setting up camp we took the 9 cubs on an adventure to explore the island and find shipwrecks. It was certainly well staffed with 9 kids and 6 adults but actually at this age they really do need this many adults! We spotted each other for breaks from the noise and bickering and I enjoyed a run round the island so much I did a second lap, quite pleased to get a hilly 11km run completed in such a small place and it’s super scenic being clifftop vistas in pretty much every direction! The cubs made some impressive rope bridges and abseil lines down mud banks and we feasted on burgers and hot dogs (every meal! Not a vegetable in sight this weekend!) plus some of the lumpiest, sweetest custard I’ve ever had the misfortune to digest! Late night sparklers on the beach was a hit and after some amusing late night banter from the leaders we had a fun Sunday morning riding the biscuit (doughnut) and I even had a long overdue second go at waterskiing (at least 15 years ago!) which was thankfully easier than it looked. We finished with some awesome pier jumping and diving and got the boat back to civilisation ready for a night in a proper bed. Ethan interacts so well 1 on 1 but I honestly can’t see what he likes about cubs so much, the activities are amazing but the interactions between 8 year old boys who fall out endlessly is hard work at times! And the food would kill you if you ate it for more than two days straight!
Em was really keen to get away camping the next weekend but after pretty much the worst week we’ve had in New Zealand (if not ever) where we all felt ill, the kids decided they wouldn’t sleep at night and worst of all we heard sad news about friends diagnosed with terminal cancer and Grandad Stan passing away we needed to be kind to ourselves. A day trip to Tumbledown Bay was just the therapy we needed with small but perfect waves to bodyboard and surf on, we almost got all five of us on one wave, definitely a project to aim for! The wildlife was also amazing with dolphins swimming in the bay and endless seals all around the sides which you could get up close to on the SUP. Bottle Lake Biking on Sunday was also ideal, the pure simplicity of picking blackberries takes your mind of all your worries and the biking isn’t bad either!
Finally after a few weeks of not getting away Em got her wish and we reached Easter weekend which was a 4/5 day weekend and just the break we all needed. The west coast weather didn’t play ball this time so we headed to the ever reliable suntrap of the Banks Peninsula and a new campsite to stay at – Okains Bay. With bad weather everywhere we waited one more day and then drove over, picking a brave Em up en-route who’d run 15 miles of crater rim from the house – it was pouring with rain and we lasted 5 minutes out of the car before beating a hasty retreat! Next stop Akaroa and the rain continued to fall so we headed to the Giant’s House for our third visit to this quirky mosaic garden, which although fun again was damp to say the least. Akaroa museum was a better place to hide from the weather and best of all was the tasty pizza at Three Boys Brewery right on the water’s edge. Eventually the rain stopped and we headed over to Okain’s Bay to get the tent up before it got dark.
The next day was a complete contrast -perfect weather and light winds so after a leisurely breakfast we set out on one of our family boat adventures. We can still just about fit five in the inflatable canoe and this paddle didn’t disappoint – plenty of sea birds and seals to interact with, towering cliffs and pinnacles, remote beaches to land on and best of all some really interesting caves that you could paddle right into. Something special about boating less than 100m from your tent too without driving anywhere and we rounded the day off nicely with some flying fox and bike track action in the campsite.
Easter Sunday we had a visit from the Easter bunny, lots of chocolate eggs to find, and we then headed over to Hickory Bay via the scenic drive along summit road and despite quite a strong offshore wind there were some great waves to be had. Last time we came here the beach was empty, this time there were tons of cars, obviously a popular Easter weekend destination! Back to the campsite for a final swim and SUP in the sheltered rivermouth, all in all a great campsite and one we’ll definitely return to.
Em had enjoyed a run on the way here so it was my turn on the way home and despite the 29/30 degrees weather forecast and howling NW winds I opted for a ludicrously ambitious plan to bike all the way home crossing the hills at least five times. The first hill almost ended the plan before it started as the climb out of Okains Bay up to 500m is super tough especially in a strong headwind. I headed East along summit road and started to enjoy the ride a bit more with great views off both sides of the ridge. After a fast and slightly scary crosswind descent to Akaroa I headed back up to summit road and down to the remote Pigeon Bay where things got tougher as the road changed to rough gravel for the third pass over the hills to Port Levy. The heat was beating down now so I opted for a swim to revive me and then flagged down a car to beg for some water, I’d already drunk 4 litres and was parched. The next pass over to Purau was draining and half way up I had to lie down in the shade to recover, maybe it was time to call it quits? I’d arranged to meet Em and the kids at Diamond harbour at 12pm, then 2pm but was more like 3pm when I rolled into town after 40 very tough miles for a late lunch and well deserved cold drink. The others had wisely given up waiting and headed for home! The original plan from here was another 40 miles up “The Bastard” and along summit road to finish at the house but I honestly don’t think I’d have made it! I had a large salt and sugar filled meal and a long swim in the harbour instead and caught the ferry back to Lyttleton which left me with just Evan’s Pass and Mount Pleasant instead which was fine after my long lunch break and I think 60 miles and 10,000ft of hill climbing is plenty for one day! Definitely got my money’s worth and made it home in time for dinner too! What an eventful weekend!
Awoke feeling not too battered by the long day on the bike so headed to Magnet Bay again for some more point break action. Not quite as clean as last time and another freak wave getting in was a horror show, and I was thrown around on the rocks like a rag doll getting plenty of bruises and cuts for my troubles, made the whole session painful and I dreaded getting out (usually harder than getting in) but styled it this time fortunately. Such a shame such a perfect peeling wave has such a tricky entry/exit. The final weekend of term was wet so we all enjoyed the manic fun that is clip and climb and headed up the coast to Amberly beach, which had nice looking waves but very strong cross-shore currents resulting in a long walk of shame back up the shingle beach after each attempt at catching a wave. Definitely getting plenty of surfing action this summer/autumn, going to miss having so many reliable beaches on our doorstep when we return to the UK. Next stop North Island for a ten day Easter holiday break, see you there, time for a sleep now after all that exercise….
Harrison Family Adventures Down Under 