The Days of Men

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Brian Gonci had plans to visit us in NZ before we even arrived. One night while we were packing boxes in NH, he called excited about his purchase of a ticket in February. At the time February seemed a world away. We thought there would be time for us to settle into our meagre accommodations, but little did we know how quickly time would pass.

Brian arrived on Monday the 19th of February. This day marked just one week into Bryan’s new job, and the beginning of five days of “holiday” leave. It was a well deserved (but not earned) break after a long work week. Our ambitions over the next weeks were to attain surfing legend status, become aspiring photographers of nature, and climb and cycle great distances over mountains. All we needed was a plan to get us started …

Windsurfing in Christchurch is amazingly consistent and beginner friendly. Summer winds at the estuary average between 15 and 18 kph and blow inland. Our Maori instructor taught us proper stance, board terms, and sail controls. He jibed that we would become very familiar with up-hauling the sail, and he was right. We kept to the windsurf boards for the rest of the afternoon and made good progress, but no sooner did we put our suits on the rack then we were gazing at some of the shops other novelties: kite surfing and blocarts. While the blocarts bragged an impressive high speed beach record of 97 kph, the kite surfing looked even more intense. Alas, legend status would have to wait - we were too exhausted for anything else.

Instead we cruised back to town. Veggies from the Funky Pumpkin and meat from the Mad Butcher filled our carts … then our bellies. Every aspiring athlete needs a nutritious meal, right? We were wasted on the couch when Mindy came home from a hard day’s work. None of us felt like cooking, so instead we packed a picnic dinner and the three of us cycled to the Botanical Gardens. The boys photographed everything in sight, while Mindy sniffed flowers and watched birds.

The weather was brilliant the next morning. After Mindy pedalled away to work, the two decided to pedal the streets of Christchurch. The city dedicates lanes for cyclists, which makes riding amongst city traffic a breeze. After purchasing a couple of spare tubes, we spun up Dyers Pass, toured the ridgeline Summit Road around Coopers Knob, and then down to the Diamond Harbour coastline via Gebbies Pass Road. Our legs held out as we looped back over the Port Hills towards Christchurch. Although the Port Hills weren’t exactly mountains, we felt that we were well on our way towards our goal.

After the arduous ride on Wednesday, we relaxed to enjoy some of Christchurch’s finer arts on Thursday. Familiarizing himself with city driving rules, Brian commandeered the Civic to our bone carving appointment with “The Bone Dude”. Our mentor offered a wonderfully inspirational and insightful class on the art of bone carving and traditional Maori symbolism. Bryan carved a fish hook pendant that represents good luck and safe travels, while Brian designed his own symbol that represents … whatever he wants it to.

Immediately following the class we returned to base camp on 5 Angus. We bustled through the flat preparing camping gear for our trip to pick Mindy up from work and then onward to Queenstown and the West Coast. We anticipated further opportunities to trek through mountains, photograph vast landscapes, and match our athletic potential … all we needed was a plan to get us started.

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Photos

Photographers of Nature
Bryan and Brian snapped photos of everything in sight.

Brian bikin'
Brian and his hot rod.

Bone necklace
With a little Bone Dude magic, Bryan crafted this necklace for Mindy

Summit Road
Overlooking Littleton Harbor and the South Pacific

Surfing
After putting the titanic beginner boards to rest, we soon envisaged ourselves as kite surfers.