This is the 2002 Junket on the South Island. Bunny hop to: Intro, Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Click any image for the full-size view.

JUNKET 2002
DAY 4 

Queen Charlotte Track

Furneaux to Te Mahia 

Today was a longer ride from about km 10 to km 53 on the above map. It was rolling terrain from Furneaux to Punga Cove with some great techical single track. From Punga it was a very steep climb  up to Kenepuru Saddle. From this point on it was a variety of long steep climbs, mostly on wider tracks, to wickedly fast descents. There were some very exposed places, which meant we had great views. 

Once we reached number 5 on the map, Bay of Many Coves, we mainly followed the ridge line. It meant lots of ups and downs but we had awesome views into both the Kenepuru Sound and the Queen Charlotte Sound. This was by far the most spectacular day when it came to views. A must do ride.

The boys having a pre-breaky before Jane cooked up a feed of bacon and eggs. Gimme giga-cals for the day!

Our lovely lounge in the Croft

Was there a day that Mag's didn't do dishes?

The bikes all securely locked

 Ready to go

Enjoying the sunshine
 

 

After crossing the suspension bridge the trail to Punga Cove was a blast. It was all single track, windy, rocky, big drops, obstacles, the whole gamet. It was a great trail. I think it was this section that Jane bailed over the edge of the track and was close to landing in the drink. Thank god for bushes to grab onto.

Arrival at Punga Cove

Good sales on ice cream

Nice of them to put chairs out for us to relax 
 

 

If you've ever wondered if your brakes can wear right through your rim, the answer is yes. 

Roy rode his bike with the rim blown out and the tube bulging for about 45 min over some pretty tricky terrain. How it held together, I don't know. Inattentive bugger.

 

Roy sadly gives us a smile and wave goodbye.

 We bid Roy fairwell at Punga Cove (sniff sniff) and continued on the Queen Charlotte track. After waiting for about 3 hours Roy caught a water taxi to another port in hopes of hiring a rear wheel. That didn't pan out so he just managed to phone the bike store in Blenheim before they closed and ordered a new rim. They  promised to have it delivered to our lodge by 10am the next morning. I think Roy was a little nervous about it arriving in time, but the story had a happy ending.

 

Everyone takes 5 while Roy susses out what he's going to do.

  

 

This is the view after climbing only a short distance from Punga Cove. We still had a big climb ahead of us.

From here we can see the ridge line along the left of the sound where we are heading 

This shot looks back to the head of the valley and the place where we were standing in the previous picture.
You may remember I mentioned the steep climbs and wickedly fast descents on this trail. Well both Di and Jane were smoking down the trail but unfortunately for Di, Jane didn't have disc brakes and kept gaining on Di. Jane tried to take the outside track but they clipped handle bars and well,  the rest is history.

The scene of the accident. A few of the guys had already climbed the next hill when they heard a blood curtling screech....

.....they made a quick about face and shot back to see what had happened. Here they are assessing the damage. Lucky for all of us there were no broken bones, but some great visuals.

Truly deserved nicknames: Di Hard or Bad Ass. And a swolen ankle too.

Bay of Many Coves

Topping up with water

 

You just can't beat the views we had this day. In some places the trail was really quite exposed, but we were too busy riding (or concentrating) to stop for pictures.

Picton in the far distance               ^

Rex having a gander at where we had riden from.
After a long hard day we were sure happy to arrive at Te Mahia. The accomodation was beautiful and we had the whole bottom of this building to ourselves. After the saggy bunks at Furneaux, 3 kitchens, private rooms, nice lounges and great showers were a real treat. 
Skoda, Roy and Paul did the honors on the BBQ in the dark, under headlamps, while everyone else chipped in with the rest of the meal. Skoda also gets high praise for his amazing homemade bread. And of course hat's of to Di who directed the whole production from the chef's throne. Do we dare mention how proficient Gordie was in the kitchen both cooking and cleaning? Word may get out and he'll be expected to perform on a regular basis.
After a fabulous meal and great wine we were ready for our deluxe beds.   END OF DAY 4.

Bunny hop to: Intro, Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

For other subjects, go back to Carol and Roy's personal pages and look around.