The
weather was again glorious and we planned a ride with Simon, Cara
and Aria. The area west of Mapua is our favourite place to ride
these days. The scenery is magnificent and the roads are relatively
quiet. We met in Mapua and headed over to the inland highway. We
had noticed lots of interesting looking roads off inland highway
before, and had seen mention of fords on the map. Given the amount
of rain of late, we figured the fords might be deep and best avoided,
but as we passed Wills Road, we spotted a bridge, and decided we
should have a look. A closer look at the map revealed a bridge over
the first stream, but a ford later on. |
We
convinced Simon and Cara to go have a look anyway. We headed down
a lovely quiet road and as we rounded a corner and headed down
a hill, we spotted a sign that suggested the crossing might not
be great for cars, and suggested a bridge on Edward's Street.
We were just trying to decide whether to get our feet wet when
Cara said she wanted to take the bridge.
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Of
course we all thought she meant going back out to the main road
and up to Edward's, but then she pointed out the little footbridge
overhead that we had all failed to notice! I'm curious if the
other roads also have these bridges!
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We
road back up the little hill and were all amazed that we'd missed
the very obvious path and bridge!
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It
was a great swing bridge and we caught some good oscillations
as we crossed, I thought John was fooling around weaving, but
thankfully didn't realise it was the swing bridge til we were
off! Aria loved the swinging!
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One
of the great things about riding in this area is the views of
the mountains, and today they were slightly snow capped, making
for really lovely views.
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We
had all packed sandwiches and sweets, which we finally learned
today are what kiwis refer to as lollies. Wanna lolly is
kiwi for would you like a sweet. I've also seen it used
to refer to a cushy fun job. It was another one of those days
where it's too easy to just sit and enjoy the sunshine. We did
this several times along the way.
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We
stopped a second time at the Old Hop Kiln tea room in Neudorf.
The Devon Tea is a real treat there. A Devonshire tea comes with
a scone, cream and jam, and in this case a to die for view!
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The
next day, we awoke to crystal clear skies for the mid Winter Solstice.
Our friends, Ross and Marion called and suggested an easy walk
up Mt. Duppa. Ross now has joined the ranks of those I refuse
to trust when referring to anything as easy. The walk was
lovely, but it started out straight up and continued that way!
Marion drove us out to the trail head, and I had begun to wonder
if we'd have to do any climbing at all, as we gained quite a bit
of elevation in the car. But I need not have worried about a lack
of exercise as we climbed 2000 feet to our lunch stop on top!
The climb up was all through native bush with an occasional clear
spot where we could see out. But once on top, 360 degree views
left me even more breathless.
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Ross
brought along croissants and made us wonderful sandwiches. They
brought a French Press coffee pot and made fresh coffee. We had
filled our vacuum bottles with latte, so we had a wonderful coffee
stop on top.
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In
an amazing coincidence, Ross had pointed out a lovely property
on the way out where friends of theirs were hoping to build a
house soon. So here in the middle of the wilderness, who should
we bump into but these same friends climbing the same trail! The
six of us had a grand time chatting over lunch coming back down
together.
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