Sunday, July 12, 2009

What's be Happen

I had a blog going for a little while called "What's be Happen". It was named after the Herbs first album, an experimental anti-apartheid manifesto. I decided in the end that I couldn't be bothered separating life and thoughts, so I reverted to the single blog for our adventures.

But "What's be Happen"? Well I've been working a little, for money, for a change (as opposed to working for change for spare change). The Kennet Brothers, principally Jonathon, now Simon has succumbed to the lure of the bureaucracy, have been giving me a couple of days a week work making mountain bike trails, and I couldn't be happier. It is rewarding work, spinning yarns and making sweet switchbacks.

The skyline track traverses the ridges high above Wellington linking the south coast with Mt Kaukau and beyond

Jonathon is a bit of a legend in my regard. Him and his brothers were pioneers of mountain biking in New Zealand. They started the Karapoti race, the wrote and continue to write the Classic New Zealand Mountain Bike guide book. Jonathon with others also wrote "Classic New Zealand Adventures" which I have long admired for its fun loving promotion of getting out there on tubes, foot, bike and many other vectors of movement to enjoy the NZ outdoors. Most importantly though they have pioneered a movement which I am going to seek to promote and contribute to called "mountain biking ecology"....they have taken regenerating areas of scrub, and not only built mountain bike tracks on them, but also planted trees and controlled predators. In doing so they have laid the path for mountain biking to follow in New Zealand. Down this path mountain bikers are, and will continue to be, accepted by other more established outdoor users and exist sustainably in our landscapes.

Otherwise What's be happen? Well we had a nice run on the edges of the Tararuas, which I will report from when I get the photos off Caspar, and I am trying to make progress on a variety of projects, most prominently at the moment the rock wren conservation project in Arthurs Pass and the Evans Bay Coast Care group that I have started...and then there is the job hunting...

1 comment:

Neil K said...

Nice job. Good for the soul that.