Farewell to winter

We don’t exactly have long winters here in the North of New Zealand but even a few months can seem to drag by at a snails pace.  However, this year we have received a bonus and winter started to depart well before its scheduled end-date. We have been enjoying summer like (well kind of) temperatures for the last 10 days and are again walking in t-shirts and shorts, even managing to work up some perspiration. What summer garden we had planned (we will be away for most it) is planted and growing like crazy and Cliff is starting to get multiple bike rides during the week. Let’s hope we have not had a ‘false dawn’.

The cooler months did not mean hibernation, in fact they still felt warmer than most of the time we spent in the South Island of New Zealand over summer. Cliff has been busy with the projects along the Wairoa Stream and the Islands out in the Bay.

The wetter weather and foot traffic, along the section of river track opened back in April, highlighted some deficiencies in our track building efforts. Slopes that were easily negotiated in the dry summer conditions suddenly became mud slides for the unsuspecting and, other areas of track became swamp like. Our track construction skills needed upgrading and we have now added step and boardwalk building  to our growing repertoire.

We are now starting to seriously think of camping/walking/cycling expeditions for the months prior to Christmas and, I have even heard Ruth mutter something about doing a few SHORT bike rides in order to get back into the swing of things. Since the Horeke ride she suffered another bout of ‘I-am-over-cycling’ and has been limiting her travel readiness to our daily walks and some aquatic exercise. While she has been busying herself with indoor hobbies and her garden  I have been looking into a Plan B for winter 2019 that may make the Plan A (Nairobi – Da es Salaam by bike) look more appealing. Plan C is to go nowhere, Ruth’s current favourite.