Word of the day

Bascule – a type of bridge with a section which can be raised and lowered using counterweights; a movable section of road forming part of a bascule bridge; an apparatus or structure (such as a drawbridge) in which one end is counterbalanced by the other on the principle of the seesaw.

Thatcher thinks

Labour remains socialist, socialism is a creed which, by its very nature, is central control over the lives of people. Less freedom for people to use their own talents and abilities and make their own decisions, more power by government over people. pic.twitter.com/41X6uCuL4N

— Margaret Thatcher (@MrsMThatcher) June 8, 2023

Alps to Ocean cycleway

The Alps 2 Ocean (A2O) cycleway goes through two of our farms and like a lot of locals we’d biked bits of it.

But it took an email thread with former flat mates and friends from university during lockdown to turn thoughts of one day doing the whole 301 kilometre journey from Mount Cook to the Pacific Ocean into action.

One of our party had only learned to cycle as an adult and wasn’t confident about some of the rougher stretches and all of us thought the idea of a van on call should the weather be inclement, anyone suffer an accident or just need a break, was a good idea.

We used Lakeland Explorer and I have no hesitation in recommending them.  We couldn’t have asked for more from Jill who organised our accommodation, meals, hot pools in Omarama, wine tasting in Kurow, bike hire and a few running repairs; provided tips on safe cycling and lots of information on points of interest, and couldn’t have done more to make the trip both enjoyable and safe.

Jill met us in Oamaru on Monday with a trailer with bikes for the seven of us who were hiring them and room for the bikes of the other three who had their own.

Nine of us opted for e-bikes, one chose pedal power.

The weather at Mount Cook was threatening rain so Jill suggested we bike from Sailors Cutting to Omarama so the bulk of us who weren’t used to e-bikes could familiarise ourselves with them.

We spent the night at The Hermitage, woke to an almost cloudless day and after breakfast Jill took us to the start of the trail.

 

The first few kilometres were an easy ride to the airport where we, and our bikes, were helicoptered across the river.

The next 11 kilometre stage was pretty bumpy, crossing land that is often flooded.

The best views were behind us.

The last stretch to Braemar Station where we were to spend the night was an fairly easy ride down an unsealed road.

Our hosts provided steak, salmon and salad ingredients for dinner and left us to cook.

They also provided a selection of food for breakfast and a packed lunch the next day.

We had chosen to shorten our trip by biking the 80 kilometres from Braemar Station to Ohau in a single day rather than stopping at Twizel for the night. Jill told us the first 20 kilometres was a continuation of the unsealed road we’d finished the previous day’s stage on and offered to drive us to the Tekapo B power station. We decided 60 kilometres was enough for the day and accepted.

Again the best views were behind us.

A well groomed trail led us from Lake Pukaki behind us to Twizel for lunch.

The next stretch took us along a road beside the the hydro canal before getting back onto the trail that led to Lake Ohau.

Accommodation that night was Lake Ohau Lodge.

The fire which destroyed many of the homes in the village was only a couple of weeks before our trip and there had been doubts about whether we’d be able to  ride up the hill behind the lodge.

However, the trail opened that day.

I hadn’t been looking forward to the climb but while the going was rough in parts, the incline was reasonably gentle.

The fire damage was sobering.

Advice from more experienced riders to use more power helped and I was pleasantly surprised to reach the summit with relative ease.

The track down from the summit was steep in parts and so bumpy that had we been cocktails we’d have been both shaken and stirred.

Our lunch stop was at the historic Qailburn woolshed.

 

 

The final stretch for the day was flat and the only challenge was dodging dive-bombing magpies.

We spent the night in Omarama where we had the option of relaxing in the hot tubs.

The first stretch next morning was an easy ride on the trail to Sailors Cutting. The trail now continues around Lake Benmore but that stretch wasn’t open when we were there in 2020 and we had to ride over the Otematata Saddle and up the road to the Benmore Dam.

 

The next stretch was on the road on the north of Lake Aviemore and over the Aviemore Dam then back on the trail to Kurow where we enjoyed wine tasting at the Vintner’s Drop before dinner.

The next day was the shortest, and we stoped for a long morning coffee break at River T before taking the trail along the Waitaki River, largely obscured by willows, to Duntroon.

 

Jill suggested we make the final day easier by carrying on to Elephant Rocks and that’s where we had lunch before returning to Duntroon for the night.

The last day had a couple of climbs and again I was grateful that I was on an e-bike.

Part of the trail goes where a railway line used to be and takes cyclists through Raki’s tunnel.

A short distance after that the trail skirts along our runoff block before it gets to Windsor.

The trail then passes through farm land, past the historic Elderslie stables.

Again some of the best views are behind and its worth stopping to look back.

We stopped at Fort Enfield for lunch after which the trail goes through another of our blocks, to Weston then into Oamaru, through the gardens, across a park, along the main street for a short distance, into the historic precinct to the harbour.

A band was playing outside Scott’s Brewery giving us a musical accompaniement to the last few hudnred metres.

Seven days, 301 kilometres and lots of laughs later, we were back where we started.

The scenery had been varied, the trail well maintained and even though I hadn’t taken my training as seriously as I ought to have, thanks to the e-bike never more than I was fit for.

The one using pedal power is a machine, the rest of us were happy to have battery assistance. As one friend said, it made the difference between a good trip and a great one.

You can do the trip independently but there are several companies offering packages which can include transport from airports.

Some start and finish with accommodation in Twizel, I’d recommend ones that start and finish in Oamaru with enough time to explore the town.

Cycling Journal’s trail notes part one and part two.

Quotes of the week

Teachers are being bullied not to question trans-affirming policies when evidence shows that the actual result of the approach is to put the welfare of children at serious risk. – a teacher sacked for not using 8 year-olds trans pronouns

If we are going to feed children in NZ schools it must have three features:

• The effects need to be monitored with regards to attendance and achievement.
• The time period much be limited. We should never have go to this situation in a rich nation in 2023.
• It must be deeply understood and communicated daily to students, families and staff that “We are feeding you today – so that you can get a good education and then feed, clothe and house your own children.

Anything less than that is simply not acceptable. If I had not taken all that my parents did for me – and not found my own way – it would have been a disgrace. – Alwyn Poole

If you can’t run your own affairs properly, then how do you run your portfolio? Or the country?

I think, in that, lies the real truth. The reason this lot are so hopeless is because that’s simply what they are. They’re hopeless, in life, as in politics.

The Government are a bewildered mess that can barely get through the day. They are shabby, hence the country is shabby.

You lead – or fail from the top. – Mike Hosking

The problem for Hipkins here is he’s in a constant state of mopping up ministerial muck ups from Stuart Nash, to Kiri Allan, to Jan Tinetti and now Wood who was supposed to be one of Hipkins’ safest pairs of hands.  

The series of small scandals distracting from the bread and butter is becoming a pattern – National’s laser focussed on casting the left as a coalition of chaos.

The risk of all these – in the scheme of it relatively minor indiscretions – is the cumulative effect of them.

The Government will be worried that the sheen of shambles sticks – that is nowhere near what they want four months from election day. – Jenna Lynch

Michael Wood has:

1) lied to the PMs office saying had sold the shares
2) lied to Newsroom over the shares
3) filed multiple false returns of pecuniary interests
4) fobbed off the Cabinet Office 12 times over 30 months over the shares

What more does he need to do to be sacked?

— David Farrar (@dpfdpf) June 8, 2023

At the turn of the century there was a great deal of speculative journalism making predictions about the new century ahead. I recall my surprise when many of the forecasts picked Turkey as destined to be one of the great 21st Century growth nations, for reasons I can no longer recall.

But assuming there was validity to their prophecies, then the Erdogan disaster shows how a single dominant personality leader can stuff a country up, as we’ve witnessed throughout history and today in numerous nations. – Sir Bob Jones 

We need people. Here is the deal – New Zealand stopped replacing itself in 2016. I encourage all of you to go out there and have more babies if you wish, that would be helpful. – Christopher Luxon 

But it’s disingenuous to totally miscontextualise comments from a political leader for the sake of playing into unease over his personal values. There are MPs across the house who personally oppose abortion and none have been subjected to anything like the same treatment.

Few who saw headlines about Luxon ‘urging’ New Zealanders to have babies would have appreciated the context of his comments. Election campaigns are nasty affairs, but voters still deserve the truth. – Jack Tame

The greatest value of democracy and election years is ultimately the public is always right.

Even if you ever gave them the benefit of the doubt, that what they were trying to do had any merit or maybe even had a chance of working, that’s all up in smoke.

This is a country full of people who are afraid, afraid of crime, of violence, of being a victim.

No government survives that. – Mike Hosking

Mr Orwell couldn’t have designed a more labyrinth system that robs a population of their greatest power, the ability to express themselves, and impose bureaucratically sanctioned Newspeak as a way of expunging thought-crime (illegal thoughts) and individuality.

There’s no denying that online content causes the proliferation of harmful hate. But rather than suppressing such speech, the answer lies in more speech – the cleansing disinfectant of counter-speech.  – Janet Wilson

Femininity & masculinity are society’s interpretations not biological descriptions of the reality of either sex. For decades we’ve fought, especially women, to remove narrow restrictive stereotypes. What we are doing presently is regressive, dangerous & misogynistic

— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) June 6, 2023

 

Saturday soapbox

Saturday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Distracted from distraction by distraction. T.S. Eliot