Loosing track of time…. We are slowly starting to decompress, and finally get into the groove of our daily ventures. It will be full steam ahead when we leave Kuri Bush, no more mucking around with these luxury 5 night stays in one spot until we reach Auckland!
So we have figured out that over any hill, through any corner there could be….a dirt road, gravel, men at work (not the group..bummer), cows, sheep, a foreign driver in a camper home driving on the wrong side, a water hazard…(woo hoo watch out for these), and the totally unexpected! Watching for all the above while riding, listening to Navi, your tunes, and trying to brain bank this amazing countryside…is information overload!!!…
All's good, just gotta take it nice and slow!
When we were the Dunedin City Centre trying to get some sort of WiFi connection, we met a young German fella (Nick) that was into riding. He wanted to buy us a coffee and hear about our plans, adventures and worldly travels! So cool!!…He postponed going into work… bought us a cuppaccino and shared stories with us!!…Wonderful!…He told us about the Old Dunston Trail! (Thanks Nick!)
Today we rode from our simple cottae at Kuri Bush to the Old Dunston Trail! We had so much fun! En route we stopped at a road side pub for some tucker (food)…I know, corny, but I'm eager hey? A lonesome old fella was running this pub in the boonies… Im sure that he was pleased to see us pull up! He was bartender, cook, tour guide, and entertainment…I'm glad we stopped! Kev ordered a chicken schnitzel lunch, and I had scallops and fish…both were tasty. We washed it down with a Speights…pronounced Sss…Pee…eights… NOT …Spites, which I guess he heard and poured me a Sprite!…Ha ha ha, we had a good laugh.
So, on the trail. This was challenging for me, I don't know about Kev, he looked like he was in total control…looks can be deceiving though??!! All I can say is there was a lot of loose gravel, many tight banked corners…with gravel, and unpredictable kinda angry looking cows every now and again! After about 30 minutes into the trail I radioed Kev…"All righty then! Have you had enough?" He had and we turned around. What a challenging venture…I was pretty stoked that we rode it!
On the way back we saw this somewhat shallow river…I knew what Kev was thinking!!!…I've gotta cross this… AND… I have to video myself crossing this!!! We set up the camcorder, and I positioned myself with my GoPro cam on my bike…and off he went! He made it, and, actually it was pretty cool!! I wanted to try but my bike rides lower, and I was afraid that I would get swept away in the current…ha ha ha, not really, but it makes a good story!!
We decided to make our way back home…Navi took us in and out, around and about…really…she is pretty cool! (She is a SHE right??) She keeps changing her mind, so I'm figuring…FEMALE!
I have to tell you about one more exciting snippet though! So I mentioned that we need to look out for "Water Hazards"! It is an actual posted sign in fact! Riding along I did see this sign and my brain said…"Ahh probably a dried up creek?"…AHH… NO MATE…over a steep crest we went and right down into the drink. Splash! My brain was thinking…
can I do this?…SHIFT, SHIFT, SHIFT..milli seconds later…
I made it, Kev made it…Woo Hoo…We stopped and looked at each other…Pretty Gnarley…WOO HOO…WHAT A RIDE!!!