So the final escapade was on Saturday. Decided to do another ‘easy’ biking trip – this time the “Twizel River Track”. The picture in the guide has serene pictures of parents with young children biking along.

Perfect.

Or so we thought ;)

Much of the track had been damaged by water – as you can see in the above picture, we tried to break some more (unsuccessfully)..

So dum de dum, biking along, singing our happy biking song.. and then the track stopped and this began:

So the river had completely flooded. Not dangerously (at least, not that day) but enough to completely submerge the track for a few kilometres. We sidled along cutting through bush for a while, and then waded back through flooded fields to rejoin the track again.

It wasn’t at all dangerous (at least, I don’t think so) but it did make a flat easy relatively cruisey cycle – into a much more fun one.

Anyway… here’s a video showing the re-entry of (some) of the flood..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYrrt0KFQFg]

And here is a picture of the heroic fence which tried to hold back the waters… and did… creating its own little lake.

Then a puncture on the way back. Fortunately I had a spare tube, levers and pump.

Then the lever broke. Ah well..

And thanks to Maaike for taking some of these lovely pictures – and for a great holiday. Hopefully not so long before the next!

Friday was our last day boarding at Ohau – and the weather more than made up for it!

At the top of the chair lift there are steps cut up onto the ridge. So you can walk up, hike along – and then pick a line down. Lots of fun (if a little on the scary side)

On the drive back that afternoon, I (at slightly too short short notice) asked Maaike to pull over to take some pictures of the lakes and reflections. The first one is lake Ohau – the other is just the canal?!?! at Twizel. Stunning.

So – a lovely day. Then, I was looking up and saw blue sky (for the first evening that week).. and it didn’t take too much cajoling to get Maaike to agree to cut dinner short and drive to Lake Tekapo to go to the Mount John Observatory. Had a really interesting and – wondrous evening looking at Jupiter, Globula (they’re cool) the Jewel Box, Nebulae and other interesting stellar objects. Perfect way to end the day.

Finally, a slightly silly video – narrated by Maaike… probably not worth watching ;)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnN48H_HhDw]

For me this was the worst day of boarding, for Maaike, the best (I think). I was still pretty tired from the bike ride… and my waterproofs.. weren’t. So I had a lovely couple of hours off (after getting soaked and cold in the first hour!) and read the New Scientist (thanks again mum and dad) and joined Maaike after lunch for some more boarding. No pictures from today!

Thursday really was a rest day at last!

Tuesday – the weather wasn’t looking great for boarding, so Maaike and I decided to have a lazyish day – and do a cruisey 26km round trip bike ride. Suggested by Graham.

Now, it would be fair to say that it wasn’t a technical ride and that, in summer, it would have been easy. However – with months of wet weather – it was quite like biking through heavy wet sand/mud for – 20 of the 26kms.

It was pretty much farmland for most of the way

…with the odd river crossing throw in for good measure (quite nippy on the toes)

Some bleedin’ rest day – we were both completely knackered by the end of it!

Monday morning – up early (7:15 – great time to start your holiday) and off to Ohau for the day. It’s a great field – probably my favourite (and completely coloured – as I had a wonderful day – and my first ever powder day – the first time I was there). These two pics of the field, and Maaike coming downhill.

Anyways.. Not the greatest video ever – but here is one of Maaike…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJzKB_tIe1Y]

She made amazing progress this week – and is definitely ready to get onto the nut-crackers at the club fields before this season is out.

Delicious roast dinner (from lamb that Maaike got through the polytec – good system that!) excellent start to the week.