Cycling, Jamies latest thing

I've been getting into cycling a bit, as in the road racing variety, have done 4-5 races in the last month or so and am really enjoying it and doing quite well. I feel that I get better reward for my aerobic fitness in cycling than I do in running where my size and biomechanical inefficiences slow me down a bit...and its something new and fun. Don't have any cycling pics but this mtb pic is from the recent Motu challenge race which I did in a team with some friends, we finished about 4th or something, good times.

Arowhana

Well have a bit to catch up on, first is a walk we did last weekend up one of the highest local mountains Arowhana. This rugged peak is on the Eastern edge of the Raukumara Forest Park and provides awesome views of the vast hinterland of Gisborne. It is somewhat of an epic drive to get there, accessed from inland Poverty Bay via the Mangatu Forest, one giant hill climbs from 200 metres above sea level to 900m a pretty big hill by New Zealand standards. Once the carpark was attained things probably got easier. The hill was steep but the "track" was open and reasonably straight forward, great to see the typical sub-alpine vegetation associations which we miss in our regular travels in this region. After about an hour we had reached the summit and lazed around looking at the view for a bit. Penny was feeling adventurous and made us go down a different more exploratory way via some thick leatherwood and steep forest, good times though in a very seldom travelled part of the country. On the way back we visited the famous Tarndale Slip, one of NZ's most eroded places, was pretty amazing/devastated landscape. And helps you understand why the rivers around here are so silted up. One of the biggest hazards in the Gisborne area is the threat of locallly sourced Tsunamis from undersea landslides just offshore from all the silt that has been pumped out by the rivers.....a tragic legacy of short sighted farming practices combined with cyclone bola.

Aussie O Trip

Well better get posting before things back up too much. We went over to Aussie for a week at the start of the month to compete at the Oceania Orienteering Champs in Canberra. A nice week, although Canberra is not really where I would choose to have my holidays. Most of the terrain was pretty interesting and the team was fun. Didn't take heaps of photos, but have uploaded a few. On one of the rest days we took a trip to the coast, Batemans bay, and checked out a couple of national parks, including Deua National Park where we saw a Deua (a big lizard) and lots of Wombat holes. Our best results in the orienteering were 4th in the classic (Penny) and 5th in the sprint (me).

A Sample of the Orienteering Maps

The Start of my long distance course, my route in purple.

Auckland Champs

Last weekend, PK and I cruised up to Akld for the Auckland Orienteering Champs held in Woodhill forest. Stayed with Brent on the way in Rotorua. There was a middle distance first up in which Penny and I both finished 2nd which was a good result. After this we cruised up to Rob Gardens place on South Head and played tennis, went kayaking etc. Good times. Sunday was a long distance event on some real awesome terrain, firstly native bush previously used for NZ's only World Cup in 1994 and then some real nice tricky Woodhill sanddunes...reminded me what I like about orienteering!! Unfortunately we had a bad day, Penny mispunched and I tired towards the end..then the long journey home

Taupo Squad Weekend

Hey, this weekend just being I was down in Taupo running an orienteering squad weekend. Good to get people together. We did some good runs around the local tracks. Taupo is one of those visionary areas that has really developed its local track network to cater for runners/mtbers and other users. Its fantastic, and you always end up running past Huka falls at some stage. Photo is of me and Bryn Davies and Piret Klade at the Craters of the Moon volcanic site. Penny spent the weekend in Gizzy partying with the Doctors, hopefully she might have some stories to tell.

Jamies week in Vegas

Not as exciting as it sounds...Penny went away tramping for the week down south so I popped over to Rotovegas to do some event organising. Supported Rachel Smith at the Coromandel Classic multisport race first up and caught up with a few people I hadn't seen for a while which was good, then headed down to Rotorua, checked out some areas, spoke to lots of landowners and generally made a nuisance of myself. Highlight was probably a bit of wood falling off a rimu tree and hitting me in the head as a I walked along...ended up getting a few stitches in Taupo medical centre. Also went for a nice drive with Simon Addison to the West Coast of the North Island, Kawhia, Taharoa (where they sand mine) and back via Waitomo. Taharoa was our main destination as we had spotted a likely looking orienteering area. Unfirtunately it was indeed fantastic but was in the process of being felled (this is a horrible experience for an orienteer). I will convince Penny to post a report of her expedition which will be much more interesting!