TRAVERSE 124
deep , fast flowing river that needed to be forded . No ! I ’ d be beaten by a manmade creation meant to permit ease for the local population and to severely hamper the adventurous rider .
It was time to let it go , to move on , to ride north . The Grampian Mountains with the passes Hakataramea and Mackenzie brought some ease and some of the best flowing riding we ’ d encountered . Country roads that led to amazing cafés with fares that only come from a kitchen that cares , delicious pies and warming coffees . The gremlin had shrunk , the roar was now again a rattle . The evil grey gravel was slipping from my mind .
Lees Valley Station and its mountain roads . Wow ! The riding was getting better , the gravel was of no concern , it was loose and scattered yet offered no distraction . The riding was too good to worry , the imagery that played out in front was other worldly . The mountain roads made for riders and threaded through a rich , dense carpet of green forests , before opening onto vistas unique to New Zealand . Flat bottomed valleys , bordered by peaks , crossed by rivers , and grazed by sheep .
As this last dirt track dropped us deeper into the valley , the realisation came rushing back that this stunning beauty was hiding the evil . There it was , stretched out in front of us , a long thin ribbon of grey , a perfectly good track covered , nay , buried in grey stoney gravel . The horror rose and to my amazement my riding companions agreed , “ this was not welcomed as a final goodbye ”.
And as we came out amongst farmhouses there it stood , a yellow beast , hell bent on making a riders life a misery . A giant excavator working an even more gigantic mound of the grey evil , and it all became apparent . New Zealand is a land of moving mountains , regular
TRAVERSE 124