Saturday 5/7/99
Winter Mountain
Biking at Naseby Saturday 5/7/99 Up at 7am, just in time to see the
planet Jupiter slowly disappear as the sun came up over the horizon,
changing the early morning sky from inky black to gold. A light frost
was underfoot (Dunedin's first for the year) as I packed the car and
added the key ingredient, a mountain bike.
I picked up Mark
and then met up with Lynda and Richard. We took SH87 to Naseby and
stopped at Middlemarch for some refreshments. I couldn't believe it
when the lady at the shop told me to handle my liquorice with care,
the cold had mode the liquorice snap and shatter into bits when touched!
All the cabins at Naseby were booked out for the long Brass Monkey
weekend so we had to tent. Many people couldn't believe their eyes
when they saw a tent in the camping ground - fortunately in the only
area not covered in snow. Later in the day we had offers from other
Dunedinites in Naseby, to throw buckets of hot water over us in the
morning as a wake up call. Richard's saying of *Hot, damn hot!' at
Cromwell while water skiing has now been replaced by *Cold, damn f#*^!
COLD!!!.
Lynda and Richard
have a lovely huge family tent so the four of us had heaps of room.
We managed to get changed and onto the bikes by 2pm and enjoyed a
few hours of biking in the sunny snow covered forest, smashing icy
puddles around the tailrace and flying down steep forest tracks. Boy
did we enjoy a hot shower at the camping ground when we got back!
*Ohhhhh, ahhhhh that feels good!" were constant comments, which had
Lynda (in the ladies' shower beside us) wondering what exactly us
boys were doing!
A hot tea cooked
by Lynda and Richard was great, but the beans caused problems later
on in the night {Farting in the tent does NOT warm it up, Richard!)
I loved the night hours we had in front of the huge open larchwood
fire enjoying Mark's wine and some snacks as the frost formed outside.
The chimney was interesting from the outside as hot red sparks flew
out the top into a clear frosty starry sky.
Sunday 6/6/99
We woke to a hard
frost on Sunday morning and I enjoyed an hour walk into the forest
before breakfast to take some photos of the snow/ frost formations
and icy lakes as the sun rose over the Kakanui Mountains. After breakfast
we met up with Jenny, Chris and two of their friends and enjoyed a
full day of mountain biking split into two halves by lunch. We slowly
got muddier as the day went on - it got to the stage where we sought
out large ice covered puddles to ride through rather than avoid them
and ride around.
It's best to let
Chris ride in front of you rather than full-on up your rear, so to
speak. Chris's brainwave, of not using the brakes to save wear on
the tyre rims did not quite work when he couldn't stop in time. Actually,
I had a good laugh as Chris landed beside me (without his bike, which
was free running down a side gully) on his knees, his hands in a super
man stance, and his head then hit a small tree. (I knew there was
a reason he wore red longjohns) Later in the day I managed to fall
off twice, hitting some trees and failing in the mud as Chris and
Jenny roared past. Richard showed great adventurous initiative, pushing
bikes for 15 mins up a steep forested muddy hill with some slippery
drops, to get only a 2 min downhill run and end up where we started!
We enjoyed a telling off from a farmer (my adventurous leading), the
'Big Dipper'; 45 km/hr forest downhills: and hitting tree roots/rocks
with no avoidance possible even if you could see them with watery
eyes and getting some 'air'. I have not been as muddy as this in my
whole life, and at the same time had so much fun.
Brakes often get
clogged by mud and its sometimes hard to get the stopping power you
need. It doesn't help when people stop their bike in the only gap
you have to avoid hitting either a tree or a gate! It's amazing how
little room you need to slot in two bikes when one is stationary and
one still doing 20 km/hr or so.
All of us had tea
out on Sunday night and retired to the lovely fire again to enjoy
a good laugh watching 'Mrs Doubtfire'. Jenny provided wine and a laugh
(look at the book, get her to say that and you will see what I mean.
Seriously though, she has a lovely Scottish accent). Another cool
but cosy night in the tent in warm sleeping bags, and another frost.
Some of the strange night sounds you hear are amazing, some simply
alarming - like shooting in the forest virtually right beside the
tent. Fortunately I slept through the gun shots while Richard stood
guard in his lovely white tights with a tent pole in his hand. Lucky
no one attempted to get into the tent, ehl!
Monday 716/99
Monday morning,
time for some light tramping to Hoffman Dam without packs to enjoy
the remaining snow and ice. Then back home again, travelling in a
third day of fine sunny weather, one great thing about frosts.
A big thanks to
Richard and Lynda for organising the trip and providing the huge tent,
and to everyone else who came along for a much needed trip away.
Paul Van Kampen
for Richard and Lynda Barber, Mark Borrie, Chris Wells and Jenny Lowe.
Back
to 1999 Trip Report Archive - Back
to OTMC Bulletin Archive