Saw this article today in the local newspaper (online) however people still read real newspapers here. Check this out. Not only about NZ but Marlboorough.

Even astronauts want to be here

Yesterday we went to the mountains for the day. Now for me a day in the mountains is always a good day, and to make it even better Robin & I were together and then to top it off we were with family. It was one of those days where one gets to check all the boxes.

Mtns… Check
Robin… Check
Family… Check
Cora… Check
Do some slightly adventurous stuff… Check

The day started with a short drive to Cave Stream where there is a simple but still fun 45min caving experience through some limestone caves. In water and very cold. It got about waist deep in places. What was cool was that some of my nieces and nephew and brother-in-law and sister came too. We left Cora in the car, probably the best thing to do as she would have struggled in these caves. But her adventure came later in the day.

We then drove to Arthur’s Pass NP. Which is you may recall there was a framed photo above my closest door in my old office. It was from this NP. These mountains are really important to me and have spent many adventures and mis-adventures in this mtns over the years and while i love being in the mountains these mountains are as they say a “thin place” for me.

We had lunch in the park. Robin and the family went on a short walk to a waterfall, while Cora & I hung out by the river in the sun as she had been in the car a lot up until then. After that in the late afternoon we jumped in the car, got ice cream and divided up for the drive home as i had successfully convinced Robin and our only nephew David to come on a “short & easy hike/climb”. hmmmmm. i had read about this is a NZ Wilderness Magazine and wanted to go check it out. Of course Robin was skeptical about a short…. and David is most of the time up to an adventure with his uncle & aunt, having been on a few with us. So we drove up the Mt Cheeseman ski-field road as far as we could to a locked gate (but above the tree-line) and started walking/climbing, with Cora of course. Our plan was to make it to the ridge-line and some promised amazing views.

We slogged up through the tussock and scree to finally make it to the summit around 630pm and partly cloudy but fantastic weather. It was almost perfectly calm with no wind, which for this area at this time of the day is incredible. The views were amazing seeing deep in to the NZ’s Southern Alps and a few our our big braided river catchment areas. At this time of the peaks around us don’t have snow but come winter they are covered.

There were lots of +’s about our time up high. Sharing this with Robin and David, then Cora coming with us . Of which she was a little reluctant as it got steeper and the rocks a little rougher. Also, lets say Cora wasn’t the only reluctant participant near the end. But with some gentle encouragement we made it, and were well rewarded. Sometimes the reward takes a little extra effort, but is well worth it. Poor Cora comes of many of these adventures and had no idea what she is getting into. At times giving me a few dirty looks. She is celebrating her achievement by sleeping all day.

There are several cats in our neighborhood and of course these look like delicious treats to Cora. So much so that even when we close the curtains at night she remains steadfast in her commitment to wanting to get these cats. And o course they torment her.

Its Christmas morning here in NZ. Today the temp will get to 84oF…. hows that for Christmas Day, very different. We went to a late Christmas Eve service last night, which was wonderful, however it was strange rolling up in t-shirt and shorts.

Merry Christmas!!!

Today Robin and i both had a day off on the same day. Woo-Hoo, and after much debate and discussion we decided to go to lunch. Now not just any lunch. Being that we are the center of wine production in NZ there are A LOT of wineries. Many of them have a Cellar Door (snobby way to say buy wine cheap) and restaurant. We went to the Brancott Estate. check them out at…

This is one of the oldest and most established wineries in NZ and their restaurant is amazing and the views and awesome, all you can see in every direction is mountain, vineyards, or the ocean. Check out these pix

The second part of our day was separate. Robin in a non subtle way going to buy Christmas presents and me training. As previously mentioned i have started training for Godzone a big multiday (about 6 days) adventure race here in March next year. www.godzoneadvenure.com

Race HQ is only about 90mins from here, so doing it was a no-brainer. My old team mates from the US are coming out and we are excited to be racing together again. I will post more details as we get closer. However one thing we have started as part of a sponsorship deal with a local bike shop is to post tweets. This will be updated more regularly than a this blog and will have photos and entries from training trips. So if you care, and if not thats fine, check it out at @cpzeroGODZONE

The photos below are from a big bike ride i did today. most of these shots are in the hills above our house. Thankfully there are lots of hills around here because GodZone will have A LOT of elevation.

Then finally in a ‘get on my soap box’ moment. Why is it that most, i won’t say all, but the majority or churches in NZ have a service on Christmas morning…. REALLY, come on the last place i want to be on that morning is in church, i want to be with my family.

Started training for GodZone Adventure race this week (more on that later) but very much aware I have zero mental toughness right now so had a great day training of paddling and mtb biking and banked some mental toughness for march during the race but of course with a sweet view.

Fooled you. You thought it was another story of me biking somewhere. Well not this time. Robin has joined the dark side and got a bike.

Thursday was her birthday and yes I know Thanksgiving and yes I know the beginning of Hanukkah. However in my world it was Robins birthday and that’s all I need to know. Anyways… I surprised her with a new bike. She totally fell for my prank and set her up really well to give it to her. I have been working on this “project” for several months with my local bike shop. And the day of I went in early to decorate with balloons, and tasty food in the cool basket on the front. The wonderful Avanti staff helped me. I then spun her some story about how I needed her to drop off some random wheel to be trued. She never suspected anything. Of course in hindsight she does.

I figured out when she was going, I had to be really tricky not to ask too many questions as she would know. But narrowed it down to a 15minute window and ran down there and hid in the changing room. She walked in with the wheel to “just drop it off” and Chanelle was totally in on it of course and knows Robin. She replies with “we have something for you…” Robin all confused now, walks around the corner and boom there’s her new bike and I’m hiding out videoing the whole thing. It was awesome.

There is nothing stopping her now with her cutesy new old school bike. ha-ha gotcha Robin. Happy Birthday, I love you.