Retirement adventures

This mug came with the house and has been a running joke about me (Josh.) I'm not actually retired but its been fun pretending! Then girls did not heed the cup.... at all.

There is so much to do here that I had to really pick a couple of pastimes. I really would have liked to gotten to hunt, or fly fish in all the rivers here. It's world famous!

Since I had to pick, I went for surfing and mountain biking. I didn't even get everything checked on my list for those.

The northwest coast is pretty famous for surfing. There are endless breaks from two hours north of us to two hours south. It then gets so rugged that access is the main problem. I found myself getting picky about even going out towards the end of our trip. There is literally something surfable everyday. It may not be always good, but something to catch.

This is the most common break that I surf. It's Iminutes from our house and where I get to play with the dolphins Meghan had mentioned earlier. It really is quite ridiculous. It's a break wall for the river harbor of the town. When I got here I had looked up shark safety. The main danger points were; river outlets, dark or overcast, people fishing or by dolphins.

The first time I met the dolphins I was alone, by the river outlet, on a rainy day. I was sitting on my board when at least 20 of the little guys popped up from under me close enough I could touch multiple of them. I was in awe for a couple minutes and remembered a local I had talked to had just seen a great white off the break wall. I thought it was time to paddle in. When I did the dolphins followed me. I didn't yell at them to leave me alone but I wanted to. I went to the surf shop to ask the owner if I was in danger and he laughed and said the dolphins weren't fishing they were trying to play with you.

I never saw that many again but for the first four months, they would visit and play almost every time I surfed here. If the surf was good and clean they would surf in the wave with you. Man, God'screation is amazing.

This is Abel and I at Tauranga bay. I surf here the second most. It's a 15min drive. It's beautiful and usually has pretty big surf with pretty big rips and currents. The seal colony is just on the north part of the bay so my mind wonders to sharks here. Magda's teacher was surfing just to the north side of the colony and got bit by a shark. He said the surf was so good he got his leg sutured and wrapped it really good for the next day's session. I'm glad nothing tasted me!

This break is called Shingles. I don't know why. It is actually up the river a bit. You can see the lighthouse at the end of the break wall I mentioned earlier. It breaks more than I thought it would and reminds me of home because its mostly fresh water. It's also Lake Superior cold right now. At least late fall temperature. It's a super fun wave!

Mountain biking on the west coast is much more of an expedition and raw than back home. The trails really aren't purpose built mountain bike trails. The riding isn't nearly as fun as back home (you can find that but mostly at ski resorts) but the scenery and physical challenge is extraordinary.

The Kawatiri coastal trail is a very wide smooth dirt trail that goes southfrom our town, mostly on the ocean for a very long way. I would do training rides on this trail for the bigger rides I was working towards.

This one is just from a small local trail. I may have went over the bars and landed on my butt with my body in a V in the bushes. I was stuck for less than a minute....

I was working towards building my endurance to be able to do the Old Ghost Road Trail (85K!) in two days with just one overnight in a hut. It's suggested to do 2-3 nights but I didn't want to be away for that long with Meghan working and I would need the car. She ended up dropping me off on a Friday morning and she and the girls picked me up Saturday. It may have not been the wisest plan but I got it done just last week.

These pictures were from the top of the mountain on the first day. The day was the hardest and longest I've ever had mountain biking physically. It was almost all climbing for 5,000 vertical feet then half way back down the mountain. It took me six hours with five liters of water, three granola bars, two candy bars and three honey and peanut butter rollups. Just like the hungry little caterpillar. I got to the hut just after sunset and met two very nice fellas who had a fire going already.

This is the first set of many sets of stairs on a section on the way down. I was very tired so they were not super fun. The lumber for a project like this on a mountain is usually dropped off from a helicopter.

The next day was only four hours and much less climbing. The trail eventually dropped down to a river. It followed that for a couple hours to the end where Meg and the girls were waiting to pick me up. Thanks ladies!

(Meg here-the girls and I drove the 45 minutes to get to the end of the trail, where we were a bit early for our agreed upon meeting time. So the girls and I went up the trail (looking for blue mushrooms! this was where we counted a ton before-but alas, the season has passed) for a walk. The time Josh was going to meet us came and went. And then some more time. And there isn't any service...so we drove a few minutes to see if I could send a message through or if Josh sent any, but nada. So by then ALL the scenarios are running through my head...do I call Dept of Conservation? Emergency services? Do I wait more? Will a wait mean decreased survival? Gaaahhhh. Oh! There he is! Phewwwwwww.)