Scottish Country Dancing – Johnsonville’s 50 Golden Years

Apart from a couple of short rides down to our local café, we have not done any cycling for a month. Various reasons – John’s knee has been bothering him (partly as a result of biking up Ngauranga Gorge at the end of a long ride); we are having major work done on our house – re-roofing, exterior painting and dealing with other issues as they are being discovered; and there’s a lot of Scottish Country dancing to be done at this time of the year.

On the subject of Scottish Country dancing, one of the SCD clubs that we belong to, Johnsonville, celebrated 50 Golden Years last Saturday. It was a great event, with lots of extra activities that don’t normally come into an “annual dance”.

Tawa to Plimmerton

Riding to the Gear Homestead Café has become a bit of a destination for us on a fine day. It’s about 9 km from the start of Te Ara Tawa, which makes it a nice there-and-back ride.

Lunch at the Gear Homestead Café (photo by John)

Folding Goldies Ride to Pencarrow

On Wednesday 20 July, John went on a major escapade – a Folding Goldies ride to Pencarrow, and though the plan had been to take the train back from Petone, he ended up biking back all the way back to Churton Park, up the Ngauranga Gorge – on his (non-electric) Giant. I was unable to go on this ride, as we had our grandchildren staying with us during the school holidays, or I might have tried to dissuade him from doing that!

John took the train into town and met up with the others for the 10 am sailing of the East by West Harbour Ferry. Alastair had arranged with the ferry crew to be able to use a ramp to wheel the bikes onto the top deck at the Wellington end. Because of the difference in height of the individual wharves, passengers normally board the ferry on the lower deck in Wellington, but disembark from the top deck at Days Bay. The stairs between the two levels are rather steep, which presents a bit of a problem when you have to carry your bike up. Not too bad in the case of a regular bike, but rather harder with an e-bike, which is much heavier. And Alastair and Sue were riding e-bikes, though John wasn’t this time.

On the Harbour Ferry wharf - from left: Sue, Alastair, Gottfried, Frank, Daryl (photo by John)

Churton Park to Gear Homestead

It’s a month since I last posted anything on this blog. It’s not that we haven’t been biking, but it’s mostly been little short rides that have not been blog-worthy. I have also been busy with other things.

On Thursday 7 July, while I was otherwise occupied, John took a ride on his own, partly to bike along Middleton Road, which is a place where I am reluctant to cycle, and partly because he wanted to hit the 4,000 km milestone on his e-bike.

With his camera fixed on his handlebar, and set on a three-minute automatic time-lapse, he took the route we usually take to get to the local café (Café Thyme), but then continued on Middleton Road towards Tawa.

Folding Goldies ride – Te Ara Tawa and Whitby

On Wednesday 15 June, a few days after we returned from our travels to the Waikato, we went on a Folding Goldies ride. 

The plan was to meet at Takapu Road station in Tawa, ride to Porirua on Te Ara Tawa, through Whitby to Pauatahanui, stop for lunch, bike to Mana via Ara Piko and the Camborne Walkway, and train home from Mana.

Alastair, the organiser, kindly provided a map of the ride, which is here. John and I parked near Takapu Road Station, as did Sue, our neighbour. We waited at the station for the other members of the group to arrive on the train from Wellington. We ended up with seven people for this ride.

A pre-departure photo. From left: Alastair, Gottfried, Carole, Désirée, Sue, Frank (photo by John)

Hamilton Gardens

On Wednesday 8 June, after having biked the Hamilton to Horotiu section of Te Awa River Ride, we visited the themed gardens of the Hamilton Gardens. 

It’s hard to believe that in the 1960s, the site was the local rubbish tip. Now it is a 54-hectare garden park, which won the Garden of the Year award at the International Garden Tourism Awards in France in 2014. The gardens are open to everyone, there is no entry charge.

We were particularly interested in visiting some of the themed gardens. On the website it states “Hamilton Gardens is not a botanical garden. Instead, its concept acknowledges there is a story to tell about gardens, their development over time and across cultures, and their use. […] The concept has also been compared to a museum, where each garden collection has historic integrity and provides a window into the story of civilisations, their arts, beliefs and lifestyles.”

Te Awa River Ride – Hamilton to Horotiu

After Queen’s Birthday Weekend, during which I attended a Scottish Country Dancing weekend school in Cambridge, John and I biked a couple of sections of the Te Awa River Ride. 

On the Tuesday, we biked the section from Cambridge to Karapiro, which you can read about here. 

The next day, Wednesday 8 June, we biked the other easy section of this track – from central Hamilton to Horotiu. I understand that the planned extension of the track to Ngaruawahia is expected to be completed later in 2016.

We drove into Hamilton, expecting to park in Bader Street, as indicated on a leaflet we picked up at the i-Site. However, it was a very isolated spot, and there were no other cars parked there, so we opted to park in the nearby Hamilton Gardens carpark instead.

This was on the opposite side of the Waikato River from where we wanted to be, so we first had to cross on the Cobham Drive Bridge.

Cobham Drive Bridge – not the most attractive of bridges (photo by John)

Te Awa River Ride – Cambridge to Karapiro

After Queen’s Birthday Weekend, during which I attended a Scottish Country Dancing weekend school in Cambridge, John and I biked a couple of sections of the Te Awa River Ride.

On the Tuesday, 7 June, we rode from our accommodation off Kaipaki Road, just outside Cambridge, towards Lake Karapiro. Officially, this section of Te Awa River Ride starts at the Avantidrome, goes through Cambridge, and eventually joins the cycle track alongside Maungatautari Road. However, we didn’t ride through Cambridge, but joined Maungatautari Road from Lamb Street, having come from Kaipaki Road.

It was a chilly day, so we didn’t set out until late morning. Only 4 km from our cottage, we stopped at the Lilypad Café for coffee and a muffin. Next to this café is the Garden Art Studio, which features a garden full of quirky and colourful ceramic garden decorations – birds, flowers, toadstools, totem poles, and the like.

The Lilypad Café and Garden Art Studio’s display garden (photo by John)

Cycling in the Waikato

I have a bit of catching up to do. No blogs for four weeks. But that doesn’t mean we have been idle. Not completely, anyway.

A few weekends ago, on Queen’s Birthday Weekend, 3 to 6 June, we travelled to Cambridge for a "dancing-cum-biking" holiday. While I attended a Scottish Country Dancing weekend school, John did some biking around the area. After the weekend school, we stayed a few more days so that we could both bike some sections of the Te Awa River Ride, alongside the Waikato River. I'll write up this trip in several separate posts.

It was a beautiful day when we drove up to Cambridge, and from the Desert Road the views of Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe were fabulous, as there had been recent snowfalls.

Mount Ruapehu

An Exhibition of Ceramics and Photographs

Last night was the opening of my sister Aimée McLeod’s ceramic exhibition, entitled “The Dinner Party”. It features ceramic tableware, which is beautiful and varied. Her statement for the exhibition is:

“Fast food, take away coffees out of paper cups and plastic containers, eating on the run or in front of TV, hurry, stress … part of the daily routine for many these days. Consider instead sitting down with friends at a table with plates and dishes that are worthy of the food and enhance the pleasure of eating.”

The exhibition is at the Thistle Hall, on the corner of Cuba Street and Karo Drive, and will be on until next Sunday (5 June 2016).

Aimée’s exhibition invitation

As part of the exhibition, Aimée invited John and another photographer, Roland Idaczyk, to display their photos on the blank walls of the gallery.

Two short rides – Pauatahanui and Gear Homestead

As I am writing this it is raining hard out there, and getting colder, but we managed to get in a bike ride this morning (Sunday, 22 May), before the rain set in.

After a wonderful, long, hot summer, and a very pleasantly warm Indian summer in what ought to have been autumn, we are finally getting to the nitty-gritty of autumn. It looks like the party is over. We’ve been having rain, wind and cold for the last few weeks now. No more bike rides in short-sleeved T-shirts for the next few months.

We managed to go for a couple of shortish rides in the past week, though. Last Thursday, 19 May, we biked from Mana, where we parked the car in the Ngatitoa Domain, to Pauatahanui and back. Just 15 km, but at least we were outside enjoying some sunshine and fresh air.

On Te Ara Piko, alongside Grays Road (photo by John)

Tawa to Plimmerton

On Saturday, I had to deliver something to an address in Tawa, so we combined it with a bike ride. We biked from Takapu Road – the start of Te Ara Tawa – to Tawa Station, where we crossed the station overbridge to get to the main road, and then up the hill to make our delivery.

Across the Tawa station overbridge … (photo by John)

Hutt River Trail – Upper Hutt to Petone

A week ago, Sunday 1 May, we arranged to go for a bike ride with our friend Pat. We let the weather decide where we would go. Kapiti was due to have rain that day, so we decided to take the train to Upper Hutt instead, and ride down the Hutt River Trail.

Instead of taking the train from Petone, as we have done in the past, we left the car at home this time and biked to Johnsonville to take the train into town, and then another train out to Upper Hutt. Pat lives near the Johnsonville line, so we arranged to meet on the train.

At Wellington station, the train to Upper Hutt was waiting, but it would be another 15 minutes before it was to leave. We got on board and secured our bikes. Soon after, a young Asian couple with bikes arrived and also wanted to take them on the train. Since it was the weekend, there was only one carriage, with room for just three bikes. We were ready to fold down our bikes, to make room for theirs, but the guard wasn’t having any of that. She told the young couple in no uncertain terms they could not get their bikes on, and they complied. What a pity. With few other passengers, there was plenty of room to park our folded bikes in the pushchair area. A bit of flexibility would have worked fine for all.
From Upper Hutt Station we rode through the streets towards the riverside track by a different route – down Whakatiti Street which took us to a track running alongside the motorway for some distance. Eventually we were able to join the river trail at Moonshine Park.

The track beside River Road, SH2 (photo by John)

Hutt River Trail and Point Howard

Today was Anzac Day – a pretty important day in New Zealand, as the country remembers the Gallipoli campaign. The day commemorates all New Zealanders killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women.

And this year, 25 April was on a Monday, which meant a long weekend. Being retired, a long weekend is not much different for us from an ordinary weekend, except for there being more people on the cycle paths on the extra day. There were lots of people out and about on the Hutt River trail. Good to see families with Mum, Dad and the kids all on bikes.

Paekakariki, Paraparaumu and Pukerua

On Wednesday 20 April, it was another lovely day (Wellington has been so lucky with the weather this summer and autumn). We decided on a nice easy ride: train up to Paekakariki, ride the Ara Whareroa track to Paraparaumu, and take the train back. We invited my sister along, but she was not able to go. So since it was just the two of us, on e-bikes, we ended up doing a much longer ride of 51 km.

We started off quite late in the morning, so it was midday when we got off the train at Paekakariki. Time for coffee, at the Beach Road Deli.

Coffee at the Beach Road Deli (photo by John)

Miramar Peninsula and Island Bay Cycleway

Last Friday, 15 April, it was a cloudless and calm day – or so we thought – and it seemed like a perfect day for a bike ride. We thought we would bike around the whole of the Miramar Peninsula. So I skipped my Zumba class and we headed into town to park near Greta Point.

It turned out we had misjudged the weather slightly. Driving into town, we could see there were clouds hovering over the city and Miramar, and when we got our bikes out of the car, we found there was a brisk southerly. It is a bit deceptive – living, as we do, in the lee of a hill that shelters us from the southerly, we weren’t aware that there was any wind at all. Not to worry, we came prepared – our soft shell windproof jackets kept the wind out, and our bodies warm.

The saga of John’s back-facing camera (iPhone) continues. He bought a “selfie stick” – amazingly, those things are available at the supermarket these days! Not because he wanted to indulge in taking selfies, but because he wanted the phone-holding bracket on the end of the stick, and the blue-tooth remote control gadget that came with it. So he’s now attached the bracket under his saddle – facing the back, of course – and the remote control device on his handlebar, so he’s able to take single rear-facing photos when we are riding in an interesting place. He uses his rear-view mirror to see what he will be snapping. 

John mounted his iPhone below his saddle. It can be charged from the bike's battery (photo by John)

Te Ara Tawa – Kenepuru to Porirua

A week ago, on Thursday 7 April, the final section of the cycling track Te Ara Tawa between Kenepuru and Porirua was finally officially opened. We didn’t go to the opening – we don’t enjoy crowds, we’d much rather have the place to ourselves – but we did bike there the very next day.

John took lots of photos along the way, as he was still experimenting with his backward-facing camera.

We started at the Takapu Road Station end. Between there and Tawa Station, the track runs alongside the railway line.

Between Redwood and Tawa Stations (photo by John)

Waikanae to Peka Peka

On Wednesday 6 April, we had an early-ish start and took the train up to Waikanae. The plan was to bike to Peka Peka to have lunch at Harrisons, then bike back.

Before heading towards the Waikanae River track, we stopped briefly by the shopping centre for John to adjust the latest version of his backward-facing camera. He had made a new bracket so he could mount his iPhone at the back of his saddle. He wanted to be able to control switching it on or off while riding, which he achieved by using a remote-control cable. But the cable was a bit reluctant to stay put. It worked for some of the time, and then it didn’t. But he still got some useful photos from it.

John adjusts the latest version of his backward-facing camera

Third anniversary – Three years of biking and blogging fun

On 12 March, it was three years since we started this biking adventure, when we bought my first folding bike – a Giant Expressway (John had bought his a few weeks earlier). By this time last year, I had ridden nearly 2,500 km on it. But since then, we have used our e-bikes more, so the Giant’s mileage has increased by only about 200 km.

On the other hand, our SmartMotion folding e-bikes, which we bought in November 2014, have had a lot of use, and I have just reached my 3,000 km milestone at the end of March. They have been wonderful, and have allowed us to do some great rides, without having to worry about hills or headwinds.

Wairarapa again – Martinborough to Gladstone

The week before Easter, we went for a short ride from Mana to Pauatahanui and back (14 km). I was still not feeling quite right (abscessed tooth). But once started on antibiotics, I was starting to feel a bit better. During Easter, we went for two short rides – one on Sunday, 10 km on Te Ara Tawa, to see if the new section from Kenepuru to Porirua was open yet (it wasn’t); and the other on Monday, from Seaview to Janus Bakkerij and back (12 km).

By Wednesday 30 March, having finished my course of antibiotics, I was finally feeling like my old self again, and so we decided on a much longer effort, and repeat the ride we did a month ago in the Wairarapa – from Martinborough to Gladstone and back. At that time, we thought we should do the ride again some time, but return on the same, lovely and quiet, Longbush Road, instead of going on the much busier Ponatahi Road.

Quiet Longbush Road (photo by John)