NZ Day 21 - Rest Day 2 (HA!)

Saturday, 22 April 2017

After another lovely morning run around the lake (this time with Harald and Linda who slept through the last session), some of us we headed into town to go mountain biking.  While Jon, Andy, Alexa, Clare, Jo, Leo, Annabelle and I rode, Zali, Lyra and Jett went off to do historical and cultural learning with Paul and Tracy’s family.   

I’d been looking forward to riding for ages, but I sort of forgot how tough steep pinches and uphill riding is when you haven’t ridden for months - even if you are fairly fit otherwise! Jon and I rode together with one map between us - which Jon held on to as he could actually read the small writing - I just followed along.  Our plan was to ride mostly outwards and upwards for around 90 minutes, then turn around and take advantage of the mostly downhill riding on the way back.  The Redwoods area in Rotorua is made up of heaps of shortish trails (1-5kms) linked by forestry roads, so it takes a fair bit of map reading to get yourself around - also to add to the complications, most of the trails can only be ridden in one direction.  I should also mention that Jon didn’t have his mobile with him but we were planning to ride together so it wasn’t worth him driving 30 minutes to go and get it.

You can probably see where I”m going with this :)  Everything was fine for the first 90 minutes - I was starting to get pretty tired so we stopped for a break.  

 

When we got going again we just had few more trails to do before we hit our turnaround point.  Just as we started down the 2nd last one, I noticed it was marked as an advanced trail - and since I had struggled a little with some of the harder intermediate stuff, I immediately bailed out and told Jon I’d meet him at the end of the trail where it popped out into the road - less than a kilometre away. We hastily agreed that to do this I’d just continue down the road we’d just left. Easy.  

So I pedalled down the road but the scenery didn’t make sense with what I’d seen on the map the last time I had looked over Jon’s shoulder.  After a few minutes I stopped and decided to ride back up the road to the last map board I’d seen just to check. Sure enough I needed to take a different road to meet Jon. I wasn’t sure if Jon would realise that, so I high tailed it out to where the track actually would come out. But he wasn’t there.  I waited around for a while, and called out his name but then I started to worry that as it had taken me a while to get to the right spot, that he’d maybe waited for me, then gone on ahead to wait at the end of the 2nd trail. So I took the 2nd trail and popped out 5 minutes later at a big forestry intersection in what felt like the middle of no-where. And there was no Jon either. Dang! I waited there for 15 or so minutes.  At this stage I had two problems - firstly, I couldn’t call him as he didn’t have his phone - I realised there was a chance he had noticed that I had gone down the wrong road and followed me down, or, he hadn’t noticed and had ridden on and I’d missed him. He could be anywhere. My other major problem was that I didn’t have a map, and I couldn’t find one online from my phone as they sell copies to raise funds for trail maintenance and keep them off the web.  There were also no signboards where I was. So I was lost. Double dang. After waiting for a long time I called Clare and she consulted her copy of the map and directed me onto a trail that would head partway towards home. About five minutes later she rang me to report that she’d found Jon, and that he HAD realised our first mistake (actually our first mistake was splitting up, our second mistake was sending me down the wrong road), and he’d gone off to look for me, but I’d realised the mistake earlier and fixed it so we missed each other. The upshot was that he was now back at the start of the trails, and I was miles away, without a map.  I followed a few trails that I knew would go vaguely in the right direction, then I accidentally took a longish detour through a submerged and muddy track and emerged onto a road with absolutely no idea of which way to go and pretty exhausted and fed up wiht the whole experience. Luckily I still had my life-line, so after another call to Clare, I was on track again and finally heading back to the bike hire place, where Jon and Andy had been waiting a while. Uff.   Always take a phone kids.  And a map. 

Once we were home and recovered we headed back down to the lake for a lovely BBQ dinner with everyone who has been staying here. It’s been a fantastic week and it will be sad to leave. Luckily there’s heaps more of this trip to look forward to.

 

 


2016summary
Kangaroo Island - Day 4 Friday, 29 December 2017
Kangaroo Island - Day 3 Friday, 29 December 2017
Intermission Wednesday, 27 December 2017
Kangaroo Island - Day 1 Wednesday, 27 December 2017
Kangaroo Island - Day 2 Wednesday, 27 December 2017
School Lunches Friday, 22 December 2017
Lovely Jett Friday, 22 December 2017
Meanwhile.. Sunday, 10 December 2017
The best laid plans.. Sunday, 10 December 2017
Show Photos Saturday, 18 November 2017
Zali & Jett's cake Saturday, 18 November 2017
Show Cakes Friday, 17 November 2017
Gingerbread Men Thursday, 16 November 2017
Gingerbread Brewery Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Spring Flowers Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Derby River Derby Monday, 30 October 2017
Search Party Sunday, 22 October 2017
Fortescue Loop Take 3 Friday, 20 October 2017
Lime Bay Friday, 20 October 2017
Ikea makes everything better Tuesday, 3 October 2017
Back in Sydney.. Tuesday, 3 October 2017
Australian Champs - Day ? + 2 Saturday, 30 September 2017
Rest Day Schmest Day Friday, 29 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day ? Friday, 29 September 2017
Supertourists Wednesday, 27 September 2017
Way out west.. Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Long Nights Monday, 25 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day 4 Monday, 25 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day 3 Monday, 25 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day 2 Monday, 25 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day 1 Monday, 25 September 2017
Class Play Friday, 15 September 2017
Queens Domain Friday, 15 September 2017
The Great Koala Rescue of '93 Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Bird Rescue! Wednesday, 13 September 2017
It's getting better Wednesday, 6 September 2017
Before and After #43 - Kitchen Update Saturday, 2 September 2017
East Cloudy Head Thursday, 31 August 2017
It's hard to relocate when.. Monday, 14 August 2017
Bonus Weeks Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Small Adventures Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Thursday Bowling Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Before and After #42 - Tool Storage Tuesday, 1 August 2017
Goodbye tas-oak veneer kitchen Tuesday, 1 August 2017
Freycinet Winter Hike - Day 3 Wednesday, 26 July 2017
Freycinet Winter Hike - Day 2 Wednesday, 26 July 2017
Freycinet Winter Hike - Day 1 Wednesday, 26 July 2017
More Kingborourgh Trails Friday, 21 July 2017
Seagulls and Clifftops Monday, 10 July 2017
Vanilla Slice & Vanilla Slush Sunday, 9 July 2017
Garden Projects - Part 2 Saturday, 8 July 2017
Garden Projects - Part 1 Saturday, 8 July 2017
Motivation Saturday, 8 July 2017
Worst. Night. Ever. Wednesday, 28 June 2017
Arm End Reserve Monday, 26 June 2017
If it has to be fruit cake... Sunday, 25 June 2017
Nice Places Thursday, 22 June 2017
Other Milestones Thursday, 22 June 2017
Milestones Thursday, 22 June 2017
Launceston Sprint Orienteering Weekend Tuesday, 13 June 2017
Before and After #41 - Offcut Pathway Thursday, 8 June 2017
Cathedral Rock & Montague Thumbs Loop Thursday, 8 June 2017
Mount Fortescue Loop Saturday, 3 June 2017
Bruny Island Day Out Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Sewing Projects Friday, 19 May 2017
Melbourne Weekend Thursday, 18 May 2017
Before and After #40 - Be afraid.. Be very afraid.. Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Flags Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Cool things Wednesday, 3 May 2017
NZ Day 30 - Long Distance Final Sunday, 30 April 2017
NZ Day 28 - Rest Day 3 (HA!) Friday, 28 April 2017
NZ Day 27 - Long Qualifying 2 Friday, 28 April 2017
NZ Day 26 - Long Qualifying 1 Wednesday, 26 April 2017
NZ Day 25 - Rangitoto Island Tuesday, 25 April 2017
NZ Day 24 - Unexpected Outcomes Tuesday, 25 April 2017
NZ Day 23 - Sprint Qualifying Sunday, 23 April 2017
NZ Day 22 - Goodbye Rotorua, Hello Auckland Sunday, 23 April 2017
NZ Day 21 - Rest Day 2 (HA!) Saturday, 22 April 2017
NZ Day 20 - Rotorua Orienteering & Adrenaline Forest Thursday, 20 April 2017
NZ Day 19 - Rotorua Orienteering Thursday, 20 April 2017
NZ Day 18 - Rest Day (HA!) Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 17 - Oceania Middle & Rotorua Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 16 - Goodbye South Island Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 15 - Milford Sound Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 4 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 3 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 2 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 1 Saturday, 15 April 2017
NZ Day 9 - Pastries and Packing Saturday, 15 April 2017
NZ Day 8 - Pools and Puzzles Sunday, 9 April 2017
NZ Day 7 - More Glaciers & Amazing Views Sunday, 9 April 2017
NZ Day 6 - Gorges and Glaciers Friday, 7 April 2017
NZ Day 5 - Seals & Rocks Friday, 7 April 2017
NZ Day 4 - Old Ghost Road Wednesday, 5 April 2017
NZ Day 3 - Abel Tasman National Park Tuesday, 4 April 2017
NZ Day 2 - Hot Springs and Long Drives Monday, 3 April 2017
NZ Day 0 & NZ Day 1 Sunday, 2 April 2017
NZ (Planned) Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Pinto Tuesday, 28 March 2017
Before and After #39 - Ikea Stools Tuesday, 28 March 2017
Small Cakes Tuesday, 28 March 2017
Finally. Thursday, 23 March 2017
Shooting Up Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Mt Wellington Hike Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Mt Fortescue and Cape Pillar Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Crescent Bay and Mt Brown Friday, 17 March 2017
Southport Lagoon Thursday, 16 March 2017
Before and After #37 - Sliding Wardrobe Sunday, 5 March 2017
Maria Island Mini Trip Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Phone found! Race Photos! Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Done! Saturday, 4 February 2017
Waiting.. Waiting.. Saturday, 4 February 2017
Back into the wilderness Saturday, 4 February 2017
60 Walks Challenge - Walk #36 Saturday, 4 February 2017
More Frenchman's Photos Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Frenchmans Cap - Days 3 & 4 Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Frenchman's Cap - Day 2 Monday, 30 January 2017
Frenchman's Cap - Day 1 Monday, 30 January 2017
Frenchman's Cap - Prologue Sunday, 29 January 2017
Collins Bonnet Take 2 Saturday, 21 January 2017
Hartz Moutains again! Thursday, 19 January 2017
Bouddi Coastal Walk Sunday, 15 January 2017
Last Day! Sunday, 15 January 2017
Hot Hot Hot.. Saturday, 14 January 2017
More Summer Fun Thursday, 12 January 2017
Quiet Morning Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Sydney Day 9,10,, - Changing Gears Monday, 9 January 2017
Sydney Day 3 - Zali's Birthday Sunday, 8 January 2017
Sydney Day 9 - Spit Bridge to Manly Sunday, 8 January 2017
Sydney Day 8 - Why Sydney Aquarium Sucks Saturday, 7 January 2017
Sydney Day 1 - Bondi and Uber! Tuesday, 3 January 2017
Sydney Day 4 - Canyoning! Tuesday, 3 January 2017