Malcolm's Blog
This thing is the brainchild of Tama Easton. What you do is ride from sunrise to sunset on the longest day of the year, because it is fun and to raise money for Arthritis New Zealand. Riding for 15 hours gives plenty of options. You could cruise all day between cafes and hang out places, or you could take on a do-or-die epic that could have you a sorry wreck, out of energy and out of enthusiasm a long way from home as the sun sets. Somewhere between these extremes is an honest ride with only a small risk of geographical humiliation. Living in Wellington, Andrew and I opted for a circumnavigation of Wellington Harbour, anticlockwise from Miramar and taking in all sorts of hills along the way - providing, as they say, views to die for. I tried to put off committing myself to the plan for as long as possible until a perfect weather forecast stripped away all the excuses I had conjoured up in my mind. I signed up for sponsorship and set about persuading my work colleagues that rather then just goofing off for a day's mountain biking, my day of pain had far more worthy merit. As the pledges came in, my resolve to make a decent fist of this ride grew. People seemed to think I was up to it, so there was no backing out. Gabrielle and Pip decided to get in on the fun, and they devised their own plan, mixing road biking up with mountainbiking, and we made loose plans to meet up for sunset at the top of Makara Peak.
I'm delighted to report that this re-kindled tramping lark is becoming something of a habit. While not that frequent, at least there is an element of regularity about our getting into the hills, with this latest foray being the fifth time Rex and I have convened the 'old firm' in recent months. This time we visited the northeastern Tararuas, specifically Herepai and Ruapai on the tops with overnight stops at Putara field station (Friday night) and Herepai Hut (Saturday night). Alan Ross was in town having just completed his season in Queensland as a field geologist, so he was along and the other member of the group was Rex's 'lad' Pete who brought a youthful element to this ageing cohort of trampers.