Good Morning, Good Morning: The weekend with spring challenge

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

The weekend with spring challenge

Hi,

Thursday saw Michelle and Tim hanging out with Toby and Tessa in Chc. They took them to Poms as you should. So nice to see pics from that.

Michelle and Toby

Mike dropped me at the airport and we had a quick tea before my flight on Sounds Air to Blenheim. Smoothest flight in ages - and no cloud.

Iona picked me up and we chilled at her place sorting out gear before bed. Up to get ready and Col took Twigg to the kennels. Then off on our roadie. Until the local bakery. Then I switched to Nic and Tony's car for the rest of the trip. They took the inland route from just south of Kaikōura - first time on that road for me.

Road trip

Iced latte in Kaikōura

Registration

Got to Hanmer Springs at about 2.30pm. Registered just before it officially opened. Met Iona and Col and went to our lovely accommodation. 7 Mt Charon Rd. Super nice place. Bathroom for everyone.

My room

Our route

We had tea while we planned our route. 6am start for the rafting. Nic was hopeful for a good time looking at the route. I just wanted to finish.

Col and Nathan

Brekkie of champions

Up at 4.15am. Dressed into wetsuit and bib. Brekkie. Then away at 5am. 3 of us in the backseat. Col and Tony in the front. Seamless transition to the start line. Short walk - but through a freezing stream immediately. Then transponder on and a wait to 6am.

Lewis Road for the win

Team getting ready

Wetsuit and bib on

Woot!

And off. A 1.25km run to the rafts - all slightly downhill and not too rough. Into a raft with Mutton something team. And Zoe our raft guide steering the raft superbly.

An hour of paddling and we were coming into the beach to get out. Not too rough, not too bad a raft. I did jump into the front to try and get some timing. But goodness knows if that worked or not. Made me feel better.

Walk to TA1 and the support crew found us and helped us transition to bikes easily. Fueled up our bodies then off.

6 or 7km along a flat gravel road before some checkpoints and then into forestry. This was hard work for me. Any incline made it very hard work. And my bottom was not happy.

Rafting done and now on MTB part

Downhill was good fun

I did enjoy the route Nic and Iona planned. A lot of downhill to have fun on. I got quite mucky.

Not as dirty as last year

TA2

TA2 was after our compulsory gear check. Warm hat, jacket and first aid kit. Tick. Then into change to hiking mode. Lots of food taken onboard.

The weather was superb. Wind hadn't got too bad at all. A little rain on the MTB section but not much.

Hiking section

Walking, walking

Almost done

About 15km of route finding - another excellent navigation section from Iona and Nic.

Old trig checkpoint

And back down from Conical Hill into town and we got back before 3pm. We did it in 8 hours and 39 mins. So well done.

And finished

Off home after some cake and a welcome shower. Then an excellent tea - venison burgers. Yum. Ta Tony.

I was asleep nice and early. But up at 3am (daylight savings kicked in so my alarm was set for 1:55am for the 3am start) to watch the Black Ferns v England in Twickenham. What a game. I am happy with the team even though they lost right at the end.

Brekkie, pack up and then prizegiving. In the pouring rain. The tent worked great. We were all glad it was not the weather the day before.