Once again, sorry for not posting more often but life in NZ has been rather busy. Since our trip back to Canada in August, I have traveled to Romania, Vienna and Perth. In November, Ted was in Gisborne for 3 weeks doing fieldwork and then went to a conference in Auckland. But, we have also managed a few adventures together; a hike in the Tararuas and a bike trip through the Marlborough Sounds. Not to mention regular working, biking, and gardening at our home; things grow really fast here!
We mountain biked the Queen Charlotte Track in November with a friend from work. The track is a 71 km trail (track in kiwi speak) that goes along a ridge in the Marlborough Sounds, just across the Cook Straight from Wellington. To get there we took a Ferry from Wellington to Picton, and then a water taxi to Resolution Bay. From Resolution Bay we biked ~ 68km to Anikiwa, where the water taxi picked us up to go back to Picton. We did the trip over two days, 45 km on the Saturday, and then a lighter day on the Sunday. And the water taxi transported all of our gear so we didn't have to ride with it, choice! We managed to pick a perfect weekend for weather and didn't get a single flat tire. Although, Ted finished the ride with only 2 of 4 bolts in his crank!
Below are some photos...
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| View of Picton in the Marlborough Sounds from the Ferry, a beautiful part of the world. |
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| It was definitely good that we had a water taxi to transport our gear, it would not have been nice to ride with that pack. |
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| Bikes on the water taxi, ready to leave Picton. |
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| We saw a pod of ~50 dolphins on the way to Resolution Bay. Our boat drove right over to them and a few of them were right beside the boat jumping away. Amazing! |
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| Resolution Bay cabins, we stayed here before starting the ride. |
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| Our lunch stop on Saturday. |
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| One of the many fantastic view points along the ridge. |
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| This is not a Kiwi, it is a Weka, a rather tame bird that appeared out of the bush whenever we stopped. These birds look pretty similar to Kiwi's, but have a much shorter beak. |
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| Another nice view. |
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| Almost done, 6 km of downhill left! |
