It’s been a theme of our recent overnight trips, we’ve got home and gone “WOW, isn’t it amazing how much you can achieve in 24 (or so) hours!!” Well………..it’s happened again, except this time we’ve developed a mantra out of it 🙂
It always seems so easy to do nothing…..and by nothing we mean doing things, but often just the same old things in the same old routine and the same old environment. It is also particularly easy in this day and age to sit on your bum and do something while you’re literally doing nothing at all.
Did you know that Harvard did some research showing that your brain is actually more switched off when you are watching TV than when you are sleeping? Don’t get me wrong, we’re not saying that this is a bad thing…..sometimes…..but doesn’t it just seem easier to mooch on the couch and let your brain switch off while watching TV than getting out there and doing something……and by something, in this case, I literally mean sitting on our bums (while racing around the countryside). 😉
So our new mantra is: “Isn’t it easy to achieve something in just 24 hours!”. This goes alongside our previous mantras – “don’t waste a day” and “get out there and just do it”!!!
It almost sounds like we’re turning into a motivation type blog, and why not!! If this gives you just that hint of motivation to get down and dirty with an adventure or two, then full credit to you. Get amongst it, enjoy the journey and love it. 🙂
Anyways, enough motivation and mantra chat – on with the adventure. We’ve rolled out of winter into a surprisingly mild spring and the hills, mountains and wide open spaces have been calling us. We’ve got a few nice little adventures planned in the coming months but really wanted to get out there for a quick and dirty adventure somewhere. The problem was that the more options we spied the more we realised our options were limited – a lot of gravel and dirt roads are closed through winter this far south and thus not opening until October at the earliest.
So we scanned the maps and found something that looked doable – we just needed Black Forest Station to be open, and we thought this was a pretty big hope this early in the season. But after a phone call to Black Forest the morning of the trip (because you know us, we’re so good with our planning and preparation!!), we were very pleasantly surprised to find we’d timed it just right. They were open for this weekend, but then closed for the following month for lambing season, we love a bit of good timing!!
So Friday afternoon came quickly and as per usual we got away a bit later than planned, but with a spring in our step. We were on the road again and loving it, and aiming to make it into the south end of Black Forest by nightfall, which was a fairly good little jaunt with only a few hours of daylight left. So in our infinite wisdom, as we were headed up from Mosgiel through Middlemarch, we decided we might as well head over Dansey’s Pass to get to the Waitaki Valley, Lake Benmore and the access to the station. More gravel, less tarmac equals good choices.
It was a stunning afternoon off the back of a cold southerly, clear blue skies with snow on the tops just made for spectacular scenery, we were just hoping to not be hampered too much by the snow at the top of Dansey’s.
We cruised through the Maniototo and fell straight into the riding groove, even though we hadn’t been out in months. We were in riding meditation heaven, the level of zen was intense – it’s funny, we’ve had this before after not being on the road for a while; when we start a new trip the first hour or so seems to be so zen and mesmerising. It’s like a craving that we need to have satisfied – “the need for riding meditation.” In fact, that could be a mantra too! 🙂
So we were headed to Dansey’s Pass and the snow, or so we thought. As we neared the mountains we became sure we’d be up in the snow, but as we rose up to just under 1000m altitude, the snow just kept looking a bit higher, but close enough to make it decidedly chilly. We reached the top glad to not be hampered and headed on.
We raced on down the north side of Dansey’s and out to the Waitaki in the setting sun, and as soon as that sun disappeared it went from decidedly chilly to downright nippy. I led us into Kurow for a fuel stop with my teeth chattering, and my bladder so constricted I think it ceased to exist!! After a fuel and toilet stop we wrapped up in everything we had and raced on into the dusk, reaching Otematata and Benmore Dam with very minimal light left, just enough to make out the gate and the rough gravel track leading off into the wilderness. The adventure had really begun, we were frozen, riding in the low light and not quite sure how far we had to go – all in a days work at Grit and Sprit!!!
We did actually have a goal, as Steve had been through here before, he just wasn’t quite sure how far to the potential camping site right by Lake Benmore. As it turned out 20 minutes of rough gravel riding, with one wondrous gravel river bed crossing and an encounter with a wallaby (bloody ‘Straya, infesting us at every turn – sorry Dad!!), we arrived at said potential camping spot and quickly realised we’d arrived in camping heaven.
By the light of the bikes we saw the ground open out to a small lakefront beach, the sun sending it’s final glowing rays just above the silhouetted mountains beyond the still and shining lake. What a spot, including a ready made fire pit, and we love a good fire!! So we relaxed the evening away by a roaring fire, beside a calm and stunning lake drinking surprisingly excellent whisky (hint: it you’re not scared, try an Ileach, have a dram, hate it and then let it sit for a month – surprisingly surprising – it’s a mystery distillery whisky, some say it may be from Lagavulin with it’s smooth peaty goodness!!)
Day 2 dawned to a rather frigid morning as that leftover cold air gave us one final slap before departing for a spectacular McKenzie Country day, and we had adventure business to attend to. We packed up and admired the outrageous spot one final time before hitting the rough gravel track again, and before our engines had even thought about getting warm we were headed up, and it was not a gentle incline. Before we knew it we were up near the ridgeline with just stunning views back down to the blue blue lake, set against the brown brown hills, topped by the white white snow on the tops in the distance and the blue blue sky framing it all – wow, what a way to start the day!!
The road through Te Akatarawa Station and then Black Forest Station has been cut to service the main power lines that head through carrying electricity to all those North Islanders. And it has been cut through some spectacular country, we were loving the scenery, big mountains with snow alongside Lake Benmore, but our eyes kept scanning all these side tracks that looked totally epic. Tracks leading down to the lake and up to ridgeline caught our eye, and led to us actually writing a “tracks to do” list – the problem is it already seems out of control with options – a terrible problem to have!!!
We stopped for a break and a snack and Steve spotted a couple of old tyres, and being an ideas man came up with a tyre race on this fantastic terrain. What a racket, up in the mountains, racing tyres, we had a great laugh. Check out our efforts!!
From this point we dropped down and rode out the valley to the station house to pay our contribution to keeping the road open. We ran into the station owner and their kids at the gate and were able to express our gratitude at the opportunity to get into such outstanding back-country terrain. Well and truly worth it, and we’ll be back – maybe to incorporate a side track or two 😉
The plan from here was to try and find a track over to the Hakataramea Valley, without having to ride the flat dry gravel roads out in the open valley. The station owner was not forthcoming with any other options and try as we might we could not find anything else that was possible. Some options even locked down with multiple padlocks, clearly not wanting us through this way!! So flat dry gravel roads it was, and due to that we decided we might as well head out to Tekapo for lunch before hitting the journey home again.
Although we did have a little episode along the way. The flat dry gravel roads were recently re-gravelled, which makes it pretty non-fun for motorbikes as you feel like you’re riding on marbles and could come off at any second, it’s uncomfortable riding! So we decided it’d be much better to ride along the grassy verge, which was wide with short grass – a nice compromise, except when a drainage ditch comes flying up at you, crossing the verge at right angles to the direction of travel. Steve failed to see one of these ditches, hit it way too fast and got given a rather big bounce, but managed to stay upright. He did get a pretty good fright though!
We stopped at The Greedy Cow Cafe, it was looking pretty popular and once we got our lunch it was clear why. A fantastic feed, followed up by bakery treats made on site, just the fuel needed to get us through a pumping afternoon of riding. As much as we just wanted to chill in the sun by the lake, we had riding to do and a fair amount of it, as Steve had a curfew – he had a party to get to!
Back to the Hakataramea Valley, but via the MacKenzie Pass Road and a bit of farm paddock riding. We wanted to see if there was a road connecting the two, as it turns out there isn’t and we certainly didn’t want to head back down the dry dusty gravel. So we followed our noses and had a little bit of fun bouncing along through the muddy paddocks. We narrowly avoided riding over some loose barbwire, which was a lucky break, before finding we had a little river to cross to get onto Hakataramea Valley Road.
I was listening to an adventure riding podcast recently about river crossings, after our recent adventures which have seen us have to master rivers crossings and undrowning bikes!! Anyway, the key lesson I learnt in this podcast is “when you get to a river crossing, if at all possible, let your mate go first!!” So, we arrived at this small river, I was leading and slowed down looking into the river to see what it looked like, and perfectly timed, Steve raced through and out the other side. Goal achieved, Steve tested the river for me and I followed his line without mishap. Ha, thanks Steve 🙂
Back in the Haka, we raced up to the pass, again spying a few more side tracks we’ve added to our notes for future reference. Reaching the top of the pass at 965m, almost the same as Dansey’s although Haka doesn’t feel nearly as high, we had a fantastic view back up to Mount Cook set against the wondrous high country colours. What a day it’d been to date, but it felt like this was the crowning glory and now we had to grind our way home. So we headed off down the pass with the goal of making it home on time, because we’re always so good at doing that!!
A long open cruise down the valley back to Kurow and we hit the tarmac again. Fuel and food in Kurow set us up for the main roads home. Steve said he knew bit of shortcut to cut off the corner and not have to go through Oamaru, sounds like a good idea. We headed back up the road to Dansey’s and then Steve led us through a myriad of back roads, that VERY VERY surprisingly meandered in the perfect way through the foothills and the curves just seemed made for bikes. We rode almost perfectly in sync through terrain that was, out of the blue, just smacking me in the face. I was prepared for mundane and I got ecstasy! We arrived in Maheno and Steve pulled over, took his helmet off with a huge grin on his face, not only had he just had a little bit of tarmac heaven, he’d completely pulled the wool over my eyes about the potential for this bit of road, and he was loving it. Well played!!
We raced home on State Highway 1, Steve arriving 15 mins before curfew, and thus was allowed to head to his party. What a way to wrap up the 24 hours away.
So, by not wasting a day, we’ve done it again – we’ve made 24 hours seem like a lifetime – we got out there and just did it, had another fantastic little adventure and arrived home buzzing. It’s great that 24 hours away can rejuvenate and re-energise you so much, a whole lot more so than just sitting on your bum at home. WOW, isn’t it easy to achieve something in just 24 hours!!!
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