Summer Camping at Martinborough

27 December 2015 - 02 January 2016
Team: Mark, Spike, Me
Martinborough Top 10 and greater Wairarapa area

We ummed and ahhed for a really long time about this camping trip last year. Did we go? Where should we go? We originally planned Rotorua, but the campground we wanted was booked out by the time we made a decision. So we thought more laterally, and wound up at Martinborough Top 10 – nice and close to home, but still far enough away to make it an adventure.

We chose the Top 10 because we wanted facilities – hot showers, cookers provided, powered sites, playground equipment – rather than seeing about joining other friends at their annual site up the road which was a farmers back paddock. And the Martinborough one didn’t disappoint (we had been there as a couple for a wedding, so we knew what we were looking at).

The weather was stunning when we arrived, and tent pitching didn’t take too long at all. Our site had morning sun and afternoon shade. While we wished we had bought the blackout blinds to darken things a bit more for better sleep, it was nice that the tent stopped heating up not long after lunchtime, so was a comfortable temperature for sleeping in at night. Tenting with a toddler, we anticipated later nights and early mornings, but they largely weren’t too bad, and we even managed a couple of nights to get some time to ourselves to enjoy wine and cheese at the picnic table adjacent to our site.

We spent a lot of time just chilling out at the campground as a family and with Rebekah (a friend from playgroup) and her family. It was bliss. Between the campground, the nearby school playground, bike rides around town and the pool next door, our days were reasonably full.

We only had two outing days while we were there. The first was to Mt Bruce, inspired by our quest to capture all the “Wild Things” that were around the region. It was a lovely, quiet spot. Not as good as Zealandia, although its biggest advantage was how friendly the kaka were – you had to actively stop them from stealing your food if sitting outside at the café, which was a very neat experience.

Our other outing was New Years Day, when we took the car out to Cape Palliser and the Putangirua Pinnacles. It was HOT and both walks were challenging in our slightly-tired state. I wound up with Spike on my back climbing the 200-something stairs up to the lighthouse at Cape Palliser, which was a workout and a half. We stopped for ice-creams on the way back at Ngawi and they were MASSIVE and awesome.

Late evening on New Years Day it started drizzling. Our first rain of the trip. And it just got heavier overnight. New Years Day Holiday dawned overcast and wet, and we somewhat regretted the fact we hadn’t opted to head home the evening before while our tent was still dry. Several more wet weather days followed while we tried to get the tent dry and laundry sorted, which was probably the biggest challenge of the entire experience!

All told, we learnt some good lessons about camping as a family, and will take those in to this summers camping trip. Here’s hoping we can make it a regular experience for most summer holidays!

A Full Crossing

November 13, 2011

Rimutaka Rail Trail - Kaitoke to Cross Creek

Team - Mark, David, Snaiet, David, Myself

We hit the ultimate in weather - enough sunshine to be lovely, and enough cloud to not overheat. Seriously, how did we pull this off when we set the date so many weeks in advance?

A good crew of 5 arrived within 5 minutes of the allotted time at the Kaitoke carpark, and we were off pretty quickly. We cruised our way up the hill, with the odd complaint of the ride feeling like hard work, and a few slightly sore bums (mainly mine). Mark and I had done this half of the ride before, when we had been really keen to get across to Cross Creek, but hadn't arranged transport back (and weren't keen on riding back up to Summit from the other side).



We arrived at Summit just nicely at lunchtime, where we chilled out for half an hour or so, watching other walkers and cyclists go past. Many went through the tunnel and straight back (which Mark and I hadn't done last time as we had no torch). Riding through, even with a torch, was an interesting experience as it was a LOOOOOOOOONG tunnel.



The ride down into Siberia Gully was... interesting. A bit technically challenging if you were to ride it, and difficult to keep your footing and hold of your bike if you walked (which I did). Very steep! And then the ride from there down to Cross Creek was markedly steeper than the ride up to Summit, enough to make me a bit uncomfortable at times - I spent a lot of time on the brakes. (yes, I'm a scaredy cat!)



A quick detour to the old rail yards near the end and we all made it, with only a small fall or two going into Siberia, and had a good half an hour to spare before our shuttle collected us to return to Kaitoke. A good day, and one I'm somewhat surprised to have not gotten around to repeating (although, that said, it was probably more interesting on the Wellington side than the other)