Queen Elizabeth and the Wild Wellington 12 Hour Mountain Bike Relay

Queen Elizabeth rolling into Wellington early Saturday

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4679639/Royal-ship-arrives-in-Wellington

The day started with a beautiful entrance of the grand cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth.  This is the view from our porch!

Pre-Race...The Officer Dangle Squad read to roll!

Zeph and I were fortunate enough to have some good friends talk us into doing a fun event that is held here on Mount Victoria every year. It consists of a 12 hour mountain bike relay race where costumes are almost mandatory.  Zeph was joined by 4 of his good mountain bike friends and they spent a good amount of time preparing for the race the week prior. By preparing, I mean sewing and organizing their costumes! They were the police officers from Reno 911 or Supertroopers...with short shorts!  Those who could, grew mustaches to finish out the uniforms!

This is again pre-race...and what happens if you give some officers on duty some fair trade bananas!

 I was fortunate enough to be on a team of very fast girls and our uniforms were in the form of girl scouts...it mostly came from the idea we all love to bake, so we were technically girl scouts with homemade goodies...otherwise known as Team Dirt Scout.

This was our sash of honor...a couple of the girls actually sewed all these badges...the girl symbol, the red cross for safety, a flower for "pretty" an "r" because we were all members of a girls mountain bike club here in town called the Revolve girls.

This is right after one of my riding sessions...visiting Zeph's teammates...who were off duty! Again, enjoying the fair trade bananas! Dan, in the middle, happens to work for the Department of Corrections (not ever having to wear any uniform of this type) and Kashi on the far left, is our good friend from Dunedin and a retired 3 time Olympian for New Zealand's mountain biking team.  He still goes very fast looking quite effortless!

This is my group...I am on the far left, then Marjolien, Leigh, Rachel, and Ashley. A very fun group of girls who happen to ride their mountain bikes very fast with BIG smiles on their faces and great bakers.  Very choice uniform that a couple of the girls made for us!

One of the girls seemed to think our sign was the girl scout sign so w all went along with it...all day...even 12 hours later picking up our first place award...just a bit more tired at the end of a long day!  

 The girls won, completing 35 laps in 12 hours...only 4 laps behind the guys, which is pretty good! We won our category by 5 laps...which is pretty amazing!

This is Juno, our very supportive Team Dog for the event.  Made sure everyone was happy for the day!

Here I am with Leigh, in between our riding sessions, staying in the shade!  Aside from just finishing up a tour around the country on her bike, Leigh baked heaps of baked goodies and made our costumes as well...talk about a dream teammate!

 Zeph and officer Kha, discussing something important, waiting for their turn to ride...The Officer Dangle squad finished up 2nd place, after having to race all the way until the end at 10p and beating out 3rd place by only a minute!  That is a very long day indeed!

This is our Dirt Scout camp, ie the Revolve site and where we hung out all day waiting for our round to go as fast as we could for a couple laps, then, wait some more, than a few more laps...all the way until 10p!

This is Zeph this morning...right before he went and shaved off the last part of his uniform, I mean costume...Happy and delirious at the same time!

Not your typical journey.

This was our idea of fun. And, adventure.  A nice, point to point hike from Makara Beach to Red Rocks. Looked like a nice, 30km jaunt along a coastal trail/4 wheel drive track that ended up being a bit of a cliff hanging (thank goodness for tussock), character building adventure.  It ended up being 40km with over 3,000metres (10,000ft) of vertical ascent.  One might ask how this is possible, traveling next to the ocean as it might be a logical question.  Turns out the mountains that turn to hills turn to cliffs before diving into the ocean.  At these points of transition, there existed jagged rocks that could not be climbed around (in the ocean).  Thus, it left us going over the cliffs of rocks, tussock, and into the territory of mountain goats (literally).  I cannot tell you how many of these cliffs we went over and it might not have been such a feat had we not had our overnight accessories with us such as sleeping bags, tents, weights (for diving), and the like.  Character building was what our friend, Dan, who went with us, and quite literally helped us stick to the slick cliffs, called it.  I think we don't need much character building for a while.  The second day consisted of more cliff hanging, followed by a 20km hike along rocky coast, with non-stop pelting rain and 100km winds.  Thus, I leave you with the pictures that tell the rest of the story.  We didn't take pictures of the challenging parts.  Such is life, when we realized we usually don't take pictures of the trying times!  We didn't take pictures of the stinky, grumpy seals we had to hike around on the slippery rocks in the rain.  We did discover quite possibly the worst smell to mankind- seals!  Stinky buggers.  Anyhow, happy to be home, happy to be alive, happy to feel this life in these amazing, healthy bodies we have.  And, begging them for forgiveness in the form of an occasional massage. And baths. And tea. (not in that order).

 Zeph toward the end of Day 1. In a windy section!

Sarah on the same windy spot!

The next Shackelton? Perhaps! AKA our good friend Dan.

The lovely cove where we camped, ate paua (abalone) and a wonderful fish Sarah managed to successfully catch via the Poke Pole technique (thanks dad).

A delicious fish. Fresh, with butter and it hit the spot!

Zeph in the middle of bbq-ing and warming his shoes and prepping the paua.

The guys going to do their hunter-gatherer-ness.

The guys going out to do their post-hunter-gatherer cleaning (thank you for cleaning my fish).

A good BBQ of paua, fish, fresh corn, and zucchini- Hit the spot!

Hiking along on Day 1. This was the "flat" part. Lots of rocks, goats, seals and Dan day-dreaming about hunting the goats to feed himself and Juno.

A too familiar sight for 8 hours on Day 2. Pelting rain, high winds, a wild/angry ocean, and lots of slippery rocks!

Dan and Zeph almost to the finish line. (The only reason I was ahead was because after 8 hours of rain, their already heavy packs had collected enough water to way the equivalent of a good-sized seal (no joke).  Well, maybe a little exaggeration but if you saw the welts on our shoulders and felt the burning of our legs, you would agree!

The guys very happy to know the car was parked right around the corner. Then, a hot shower, Then, Burger Fuel. Then, counting the blisters and begging our bodies for forgiveness!  A worthy journey we don't need to repeat!  Character building? Without a question.

A weekend getaway to Castlepoint

This weekend was no doubt one of the most relaxing weekends we have had here thus far. It consisted of a weekend getaway to Castlepoint, just a two hour drive northeast of Wellington. We took our new good friend, Dan, and his lovely four legged friend, Juno (black lab), and met our friend/landlords Shaun and Lauraine for a deluxe car camping adventure. Told that Castlepoint is rugged and exposed, we were expecting the worst I suppose, however it ended up being unbelievably calm, warm and wonderful.  A couple hours after the 3 (plus Juno) of us arrived and set up camp, Shaun and Lauraine arrived with the crayfish buckets. There was no denying we were there just to camp as we were on a paua (abalone) and crayfish (spiny lobster) hunting spree. While we were daydreaming on the days prior of a seafood only feast for the weekend, we were proven it takes more skill than we had...still fun anyone, and leaves us with an even larger craving! The three of us (plus Juno) running toward the cray pot after leaving it out overnight was a bit reflective of a good Christmas morning!

On our way to the cray pots...on the other side of the lighthouse!

 A very happy Juno looking for a restroom spot...

 This reminds us of how Avila Beach must have looked 50 years ago.

 The big daddy of tractor/trailer that pulled some big boats out of the water...this was the only one that had a built in cab!

 The boats surfed their way right into the back of the trailer...

 Boat surfing...?

 A pristine morning at Castlepoint

 Looking North with the lighthouse on the tip...

 Not a UFO in the picture...perhaps some friendly sand that didn't want to get out of the camera lens...

 A very fun, happy group!

 The sunset was breathtaking...

Very pretty view... 

 This was what the entire rock was made out of that consists of Castlepoint...a whole lot of compressed ocean floor (I am sure there is a more elaborate word for this)...

 Couldn't be more relaxed...

 A very excited Juno!

 Sunset. Waiting for the crays to bite...

 We don't think this was trash, but we don't really know how it made its way beyond where the tides reached...

 Someone obviously got a hold of the camera to document a much needed morning nap I was enjoying!

 For some reason this mossy rock captivated...

 Dan and Shaun carrying an empty cray pot... reluctantly!

 A very large cray boat coming in after a long day of catching some big ones (we were a bit envious of the latter part of that statement)...

A very happy Zeph and new friend Dan...and a tuckered Juno...Believe it or not, the wine bottle wasn't theirs (or mine for that matter)...it was all about the smores!

Sally Lives!

A while ago, Sarah and I decided to have a weekend out by doing a little car camping. Little did we know what the trip would lead to. We loaded up the car, fueled up, and headed north to the only camping spot I found that would allow campfires, which we have missed during all our camp-outs so far.

Just as we got to the start of the hills, about 45 minutes into our drive, we started up a small rise. Suddenly, Sally (our car) shifted, lost power, and shut off. We coasted to the side of the road to assess the problem. As we stopped, brownish smoke started pouring from under the hood. Sarah and I jumped out and while I dropped to look under the car for flames, Sarah grabbed our jug of water just in case....


With no flames, and the smoke becoming pure white, we opened the hood. Steam was pouring out of the radiator, which had blown the cap off. We let the steam subside a bit and started, slowly, adding water to the radiator to help cool everything back down. Every time we did this, the heat would create another geyser from the radiator. We decided to turn the engine over, very briefly, just to help circulate the water through the system. After about 30 minutes and 3 gallons of water, we got everything cooled down. With the radiator cap reinstalled, we tried starting Sally again.


I say tried, because after a couple attempts, she started, but ran extremely rough. not a good sign, but at least the engine hadn't seized completely. We called a tow truck and had it taken to a diesel shop for a diagnosis. It wasn't good.


If you look closely, you can see the scoring on the walls of the 2 and 3 cylinders. Unfortunately, this meant the engine would need a rebuild. Even more unfortunate, the quote to get this done was between $6,000 and $7,000 dollars, more than we paid for Sally in February. Common advice was to scrap the car and buy a replacement.

Not an option. So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. After doing some research, I found that I could get the parts I needed for less than 1/3 the price of the quote. I also was lucky enough to have a few tools handy, and was able to borrow some I didn't have. The following are a few pictures of the process.

Surveying the damage, and the upcoming project

Loosening the engine, notice the fire extinguisher on the front seat, just in case

Ready to lift

With a little persuasion, and some extra hands, Sally's engine is out

Beginning the rest of the tear down, and cleaning.

The new cylinder sleeves installed in the cleaned block

New pistons and rings being installed

Reinstalling the engine

The head, valve cover, and intake manifold reinstalled

The home-made hot side EGR block off.

Cool side block-off.

I also want to give huge thanks to my friends and family for their help, support, and advice during this unintended project. Huge and many special thanks to Graeme for loaning us a car for work, Shaun for his garage and tools, and Sarah for keeping me fed.

More good updates coming soon!