Skip to main content

cycling, hiking and beer

We had a repeat of last week’s cycle again this past Saturday except that Brendan came along this time. He is still getting over his sickness, but I think the cycle was much needed fresh air and exercise. Despite the forecast, we had a mostly beautiful morning for the ride. We did end up getting a little wet towards the end, but not nearly the deluge that was predicted. Beautiful ride again. I spent a little less time thinking about how much pain my legs were in and a little more time thinking about which of the amazing houses with the amazing windows and porches overlooking the valley we should buy. Part of the ride is along Ridge Rd, which very much reminds me of Skyline Blvd in the Bay area, except that it is easier to get to (only a 20-minute climb on a bike at a much shallower grade). One of the houses up there has a big, gaudy sign out front that says “dotcom mansion,” which always makes me giggle.

After the cycle, there was some lounging and some eating and then there was beer brewing! We finally did it – we procured the equipment and the materials and actually had a go at brewing beer. The result is currently sitting in our apartment fermenting away. I am not super excited about this first batch of beer other than the fact that I am anxious to see if we did it right. We made the beer that came with our starter kit, which was a Lion Draught. We figured what better batch to mess up than the free one. As the beer is fermenting though, I am starting to realize just how much beer 23 Litres of beer is. 23 Litres! Of Draught! That’s a lot of draught. Anyone who wants to visit in, oh say 6 weeks, better bring their drinking shoes.

Sunday was another hike, this time in the Hanua Ranges, or close to. Beautiful weather, a few nice vistas - I can’t complain. You can also mountain bike on the trails we were hiking on. All I can say about that is: no way! There were only a few sections that looked even the least bit fun. The rest of the time would be spent sliding on the ridiculously slick clay. Going up, don’t even think about stopping because you will not get re-started. Going down, don’t even think about stopping because you won’t be able to!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rotorua

We headed to Rotorua Friday night for a weekend of mountain biking. The good news is we got one excellent day of riding in amongst the rainfall. The bad news is that the weather and our car thwarted a second ride. Whakarewarewa Forest is still one of my all time favorite places to ride, so definitely still worth the trip. In the past years, this park (and Rotorua itself) has grown up quite a bit. New signage, more trails, hot showers at the trailhead... We heard a hotel and spa are on the way as well. Not sure I'm too keen on there being a hotel right there, but am a bit stoked about there being future post-ride spa options. Unfortunately, we are not as fit as we were the last time we rode these trails, but still had a ball! Speaking of ball, we watched our friends roll down some hills in one (aka, downhill ball rolling, aka, zorbing). After our car fun, we did go for a quick stroll around Kauai Park. And then our house welcomed our home with this!

Lighthouse success

Manukau heads lighthouse was easier to get to than Puoto Point. :) ANZAC day landed on a Wednesday this year. It made Tuesday feel like Friday (which was nice). But then it made Thursday feel like a second Monday in the week (not so nice). Maybe it will make Friday feel like double plus Friday? We shall see tomorrow. For ANZAC day, I went to the lighthouse at Manukau Heads, followed by some beach lounging time and a short walk at Awhitu Regional Park. It was another gorgeous day! My (real) phone is near, so pardon the quality of the photos just a little bit longer. I cannot tell if that is graffiti in the side of the wall or bird houses? Or both? I was promised an island, but the tide was too far out. Picture frame! And some dark artwork in the lighthouse. 

AKL to WLG to road trip!

We flew from Auckland to Wellington early Saturday morning to relocate a car back to Auckland. The early morning Uber ride was ... terrifying. Along with the typical driving skills of a Prius driver, our driver was also falling asleep at the wheel. Thankfully we made it unscathed and our pilot was not as sleepy as our driver. :) It was a fantastic drive full of lovely countryside, grazing sheep, cows in the road, the world's longest place name. Why drive straight when there are so many cool things to see?! And, on our flight down, I found what some of our next adventures are going to be!