The weekend with a new bike and the trap line

 Hi,

Friday was choice. I picked Mike up from work and we went to visit Well-Hung Joinery in the depths of Ngauranga gorge. Hahah. But they do not do just doors. So we had a spontaneous lunch at Press Hall before my haircut. And a lovely iced latte at Sweet Release with coconut milk. Mmmm.

Spontaneous post-lunch coffee at Sweet Release

I dropped Mike at work and went to Evo Cycles to collect my new bike. So, so nice. Ta Peter and Matt for sorting me out. The suspension is set up for me now. Took it home and immediately jumped on for a ride. Rode around Izard park for a while to get used to how it shifts. And then did a bigger loop around the roads. It eats up hills. I love it.

My new bike

Evidence of Moxley coming off second best?

After work, Mike ran to 40 for tea and I drove out. I spotted him on the motorway so waited at the Esplanade to say hello. He looked so relaxed - and this was easily about 11km into his run. Wow.

Mike running to 40

Had dinner with Sally and Andrew. Home to finish bread and get ready for a decent sleep ahead of the trap line day.

I made sourdough

How to ripen your avocados

Planning the trap line route

October rolls around like a sneaky month. One minute you're in September. Then boom. It's Dad's birthday. Ange's birthday. World of Wearable Art is on in Wellington. And this month? It's trap line month. Time to get out in the bush behind Wainuiomata and see if we've caught lots of critters that usually terrorise our native species.

Despite Dunedin copping a deluge, we're remarkably dry up here. So we decided Saturday the 5th would be a good day for the trap line. The three of us - Angela, Mike and Andrew - were all available and Callan wanted to join us again. We were all on. 9.30 at Sally and Andrew's place was the plan.

Mike and I woke up early but lazed around a little. I made scrambled eggs for brekkie and hung out the washing. Then we packed and headed to the Hutt a tad early.

Andrew was ready so we chilled out until Callan got there. Stacey dropped him and headed off to take photos for her photography assignment. We got in the Subaru and headed over the hill to Wainuiomata. Stopped off at Melody's house to get the eggs and new cereal bait. Way less smelly than Erayz. We were heading off from the car up the hill around 10.25am.

Checking first trap on SG - SG8. 

A cleared drain

We got to the sign at the bottom in about 12 minutes. That's a good pace - it is often more like 15 mins. Then Mike and I did the Sunny Grove traps and grubbed out drains on the way up. Andrew and Callan pushed on to do the longer route of KAT 4 to 9 and UTS 5 to 11. As I grubbed out a really hard drain,  Mike said he'd go to the next trap and clear that and wait.  After I finished the really badly clogged drain, I took 5 steps and found the next trap.  No Mike.  Next one after that.  No Mike.

Another trap done

Found him at the next one.  Turns out he missed the two below.  We'd get them on the way back.

Almost at the top

Up to the top and it took us about 1 hour 15. Not too bad.  Dropped the grubber at the sign and continued to the top of KAT. It's about 800m from the sign and well-marked.

View from the top

Top of KAT

We started down into the bush to KAT1. Lovely clear track at the top.  No critters in these.  KAT2 is where we found a stoat ages back.  So I was pleased it was empty.

Bush is looking lush

We got to KAT3 and could hear Andrew and Callan in the bush across the stream.  We got to the flat bit and discovered they had just arrived after finding the tricky KAT5. They also put up pink ribbon to make it easier to find next time.

We had lunch together as it was about 12.30 by this stage. I had made wraps for me and Mike.  And also picked up a delicious fresh cream donut from the Waiwhetu bakery. So good to tuck into that after my wrap.   

I had a play with Callan's thermal scope.  So interesting.  I walked away from everyone and looked back at them through it.  Totally imagined myself as the Predator, hunting Arnie. Mike had a play with it too.  Callan is off with his hunting buddies next week so I hope they get to use it.

Under the trees the temperature was a bit cooler.  Sitting around having lunch, I started to cool down in my T shirt.  But once we started off again, it was perfect temps again.

Callan and Andrew headed downstream to do UTS 7 to 11 with a long walk out.  We headed upstream to do UTS 6 to 1.

When we did the last trap at UTS1, we'd been walking for 3.5 hours. We bush bashed up on the wrong side of the tiny stream and ended up about 150m back along the Whakanui track.  Didn't take long to get back to the grubber at the top of Sunny Grove track.

Grubbing more drains

We picked that up and started back down.  Cleared out all the drains.  Mike checked the two traps he missed.  Big fat rat in SG4. Callan and Andrew caught us around SG7. We cleared some drains together as we walked out

And out the bottom to the car

Back to the car.  Got into slightly less terrible footwear.  Mike backed the car into the driveway behind us and Andrew spotted Mike's water bottle sitting on the footpath. Lucky.  It is a fave bottle of mine from Shiretoko in Japan.

Dropped Andrew home and headed into town.  Dropped Callan at the Bluebridge terminal - a convenient place to meet Stacey.  We went to work for Mike's bag and got stuck in WoW traffic for a bit. But home in great time after a fantastic day.

Another loaf

Made another loaf Saturday night. And off to bed. The rain started down too. Up Sunday for pancakes for brekkie - ta Mike.

Harakeke needs a trim

Did a workout in the garage while Mike demolished the laundry. We are so ready for the new cupboards. It's only been 10 years.

First job - clear all the junk! We definitely need some shelving.

Ready for the demolition work

After

And done.
Mike was nervous about taking out that post, even though it is definitely not holding anything up

We also chatted to Toby in the evening - after our tea. Booked flights to Sydney for him and Tessa. They are now going there for 2 weeks around mid/end of November.

Chatting to Toby - he played with his hair!

And the weekend was done. So good. Loved the trap line. Great to have an excuse to get out into the bush. And help save the native birds at the same time.

Hope your weekend was as fun as ours. Enjoy your week ahead.

Love,
Angela