27th Jan 2011 - Mending, Washing and Swimming in the River
The photo is a typical bit of local landscape - rocky, dry and once a way below the sea (a few million years ago). Today was a mending day in which we tried to:Fix Guy's back wheel (splitting at the rim)Get both of us new tyres - especially since my back tyre is splitting and allowing inner tube to poke out. I also needed a new inner tube (the old spare got used after an impressively explosive puncture in the hills yesterday). Buy new bungees for me - kiwi bungees seem to have a short lifespan but I need them to bungee stuff onto the back of the bike now that I've no front bag (it failed ages ago). Buy new brake blocks. Wash all the dirty clothing. Most of this was achieved in the morning - tho' the bike wheel is on order to arrive for tomorrow morning. Then we visited the museum which explained the odd schizt landscape around here - tors of eroded rock and rising waves of hills. Then we headed back to swim in the river at the bottom of the campsite. The river is surprisingly warm and is very enjoyable to swim in since the current is gentle and you can walk or energetically swim up the river and then float downstream to where you started - this is the Manuherikia River not the much bigger Clutha which also flows through Alexandra.
The photo is a typical bit of local landscape - rocky, dry and once a way below the sea (a few million years ago). Today was a mending day in which we tried to:Fix Guy's back wheel (splitting at the rim)Get both of us new tyres - especially since my back tyre is splitting and allowing inner tube to poke out. I also needed a new inner tube (the old spare got used after an impressively explosive puncture in the hills yesterday). Buy new bungees for me - kiwi bungees seem to have a short lifespan but I need them to bungee stuff onto the back of the bike now that I've no front bag (it failed ages ago). Buy new brake blocks. Wash all the dirty clothing. Most of this was achieved in the morning - tho' the bike wheel is on order to arrive for tomorrow morning. Then we visited the museum which explained the odd schizt landscape around here - tors of eroded rock and rising waves of hills. Then we headed back to swim in the river at the bottom of the campsite. The river is surprisingly warm and is very enjoyable to swim in since the current is gentle and you can walk or energetically swim up the river and then float downstream to where you started - this is the Manuherikia River not the much bigger Clutha which also flows through Alexandra.