Dad and Anjas Adventure Week 2015

After last years Otago Rail Trail Trip Anja and I set our eyes on heading to Abel Tasman National Park to go sea kayaking but some silly old git goes and breaks his leg and turns that plan on it's head. So an alternative plan was decided upon about three weeks out waiting to see how strong my leg would be and what limits that would impose.

We had five days up our sleeve and great weather forecast for both sides of the South Island. We talked about doing an overnight hike ... Anja had done a few good day trips but never an over-nighter.

It wasn't hard to chose a couple of trips as a couple of my favourite wee hikes are over in the Paparoa Range and are great introductory trips. 

Anja also wanted to visit the newly open Tree Tops Walk just south of Hokitika over looking the stunning Lake Mahinepua, this man made walk way takes you around the trees at between 20 and 47 metres of the ground.

Fully mature Rimu trees about 400 years old with Anja standing at the bottom

Anja holding a Rimu sapling probably the same age as herself!

Part of the walk way and look out tower

The afternoon was spent looking around this walkway enjoying being upclose with the birds and looking at what grows in the tops of the trees.








The West Coast is a beautiful part of the world and you can't beat having a meal down the beach, so a pizza from Fat Pippis ...

In the morning it was time to load our packs and head to the start, This was to be Anja's first overnight trip where she needed to carry her own gear. We stopped at the Formly The Blackball Hilton for one last meal then drove up to the car park ... with this being Anja's first overnight camp and into wilderness back country ... there were a few nerves! So we talked about other challenges she has faced and how it may have some tough moments but the rewards were huge that feeling of satisfaction cannot be replaced.

Right Dad ... Let's go!

Snack time!

Snack time again!

Wow we are getting up there!

We here!

No internet here ... can't beat reading a book with that view!

Just over four hours up the hill to Ces Clarke hut, we chilled out taking in the view over the Gray Valley and Lake Brunner, Watching the sun set it was time for dinner ... You did bring dinner ... didn't you Dad? Whoops forgot to pack the main course! Bad parenting there haha! Fortunately we still had alot of cracker cheese and salami so we just filled ourselves on that ... I don't think I will live that one down for a while!

South Island Robin

 With a good nights sleep we packed up and headed back down the hill, three hours later, lots of chatting and we were back at the car.

Pancake Rocks

Lunch was back in Greymouth we drove up the coast to Punakaiki, where we enjoyed a nice dinner some chill out time and got to watch a west coast sunset, these are pretty special as the sun dips below the horizon line.

Anja at Punakaiki

Sunset at Punakaiki

This drive must be one of the most spectacular drives in the world ... I never tire of it!

West Coast

The next day saw us continue our road trip further north up to Tauranga Bay for some lunch and a walk out to the seal colony, before heading up the Buller Gorge then onto Reefton.

West Coast

Only in New Zealand ... Watch out for Penguins!

Walk at Charleston

Lunch at The Bay House Cafe Tauranga Bay

NZ Fur Seals at Cape Foulwind

Buller Gorge

Reefton is a quirky little town where you can get huge ice creams, great coffees and fresh goods from the bakery! The locals are friendly and let us in on where the local swimming hole was ... 31 degrees at 4 pm ... it was welcomed!

Swimming hole in Reefton very hot day very nice swim!

Our last day was to drive from Reefton back to Christchurch via Arthurs Pass on the way we stopped off at Waiuta, this is a ghost town, once a thriving gold town, with it's own hospital and two churches, it is slowly being overgrowing by native bush!

Old mining town at Waiuta

Brunner Mine Bridge

Another week of adventures was ticked off ... but more importantly a week of Dad and Daughter one on one time ... PRICELESS!!!

Six and half months on … Six months ahead

Happy New Year!

So what has been happening during the last seven weeks … well it has had it’s ups and downs!

Progress continued at a slow rate for a few weeks, a little despondent waiting to visit the Consultant mid-December. While being a little nervous waiting to talk to the Consultant as the last conversation was quite frank around rate of the bone was healing and the consequences of it not doing it’s thing properly.

But this conversation had a totally different tone about it! It ended with … “You are properly the wrong person to tell you this … but you can and go and do whatever you want … your strength and endurance will limit you so I am quite safe in saying that!” Just what I wanted to hear … straight off to the Physio c’mon Ryan we have work to do!

Sure enough … Ryan change my rehab program to some serious core workout oh how it hurt!

With two weeks off over Christmas and New Year, we spent it at home catching up on gardening, building my rides up, enjoying the odd glass of wine sitting in the sun! Longest ride 45 kms. Progress is being made and in a really positive way.

I am back at work now trying to find that balance between work and fun … so here are my goals for the next six months

March 28^th – the Graperide         101 kilometres road ride – goal to finish

Late June early July to join a couple of Australian friends in a wee jaunt from Cairns to Karumba 708 kilometre’s over seven days.

Otago Rail Trail December 2013

The Ball Room - Fox River - Punakaiki

With that in the back of my mind … it is that time of year where it is Dad and Daughter Adventure Week. Anja and I are heading to the West Coast for five days with a couple of small goals of heading into the hills for Anja’s introductory overnight hikes, which is a bit of a change from what we had planned after last year’s trip, but life would be boring if everything went to plan.

Half Way! 20 of 40!

Wow 20 weeks!

It has been six weeks since I wrote anything, for the most of the time it has been good and positive! With the occasional bit of down time.

Progress has slowed a bit but that was expected ... big gains early then tapering off.

The mobility is nearly the same as my good leg, the strength is way less!

The couple of times were I felt down about it, has been when I have been with a group and they have headed out to do something i.e. a run or ride which I would normally be on. This has been balanced out by remembering that twenty weeks ago I needed two other people to help me out of bed or looking back at my rehab log and seeing the progress!

We went for a x-ray at 18 weeks

You can see the pin which goes down the centre of the femur and the two top screws which hold it in place pointing into the ball of the hip. The green line in the top picture is the line of the break. The bone is slowly knitting together and on the 11th December we will go for another x-ray so should see some progress.

So what have I been up to?

I got back into my kayak! for 30 minutes
I have been for my first road ride! 19 kms 1 hour
I have walked for an hour at a time
I did my first race ... the swim leg of a Half Ironman Triathlon in a team
I have been hunting Giraffes

In between all that I have been back at work full time setting up a new team as we enter the final stage of the EQR Residential Rebuild in Christchurch, which also means I am looking for a new job come 30 April as the Project finishes.

It has been twelve months since we did the second part of the trilogy of rides which make up the Southern Alps Tour. The third part, finished last part completing the 2400 kilometres of riding throughout the South Island.

Heading up Takaka Hill

Riding into The Portage in the Marlborough Sounds

Well done guys!
It was a pleasure to look after you.

14 of 40 ... a busy month! Some ups and some downs.

Yes! it has been a whole month since I last posted anything and a busy one it has been too!

Chris has been home to Edinburgh and returned, so had left me to my own devices for three weeks, fortunately being down to one crutch has made it easier to get around. With a bit of help from Anja when she came for her weekend visits, I was able to get most tasks completed!

In the middle of the month I had a return visit to the Consultant, after twelve weeks, I was pretty pleased with the progress, with one exception, with one particular movement I was getting an impingement in the hip, it was a little bit unusual as it was in the middle of the movement and not at the extremes.

The Registrar and the Consultant spent some time discussing the x-rays ... always worrying when this happens ...  so the outcome was that they had expected the bone to have fused together more than it had but this was quickly followed by the comment it is a long break so will take longer to fully fuse. It did leave me on a downer the next day, which I have few off, I suppose I had been basing the successful progress of the success we had been having with the mobility of the leg, which is around about 80 % of my good leg, the lack of pain and the ability to weight bearing to some degree.

They did answer some questions but you always think of other questions to ask after you leave.

So yes, the pin will be permanent the only time they remove it is if an infection occurs. Yes, it will set off the alarms in the airport. No, they did not know what was causing the impingement, but suggested to the Physio to cap my riding on the wind trainer to a max of 30 minutes a day and to do less work on mobilising the hip.

The other good outcome was I am allowed back to work ... it has been a while, since the 12th of June! So I have one full week back, although not a very big workload it was definitely tiring. Being back is good for me mentally as the social aspect of work is great, I have pretty much been spending the dya by myself and no doubt when have meet up with someone during the day have talked their ears off!
Secondly it will allow my brain to be engaged and to focus on something different.

Even though I am back at work, my rehab is the most important task, I still have a long way to go!

So how do I stay motivated? I want to get back riding my bikes, paddling my kayaks, walking in the hills, competing in events, basically to be active ... simple really!

Sure it is hard, especially sunny days and people are heading out for a ride or run.

What I have realised and have known for a while is it is the interaction with people, sharing adventures which makes these activities fun. Certainly there is a (and sometimes HUGE) sense of achievement with completing some of these activities!

I can still enjoy the after ride coffee with my friends!

We are lucky to have our garage set up to make it easy to train on the wind trainer and stretch, with carpet and underlay on the floor, a tv hook up to the sky recorder, maps on the walls for inspiration and I added two white boards ... one with the weeks recovery plan on and the second with my major goal of the Length of Aotearoa brevet in 2016 including other missons!

Also just like any training programme I have kept a record of my rehab sessions, to remind me of where I have come from. I just need to think during week one it took two people to help get out of and into my bed!

10 of 40 - Wahoo! ... A quarter of the way there!

It has been ten weeks since I connected with a tree root in Rotorua, the last two weeks has been a mix of frustration and progress.

The frustration of struggling to get the basic tasks around the house completed satisfactorily, having spent eight weeks balanced on one leg and two crutches I have developed a lean, which isn't good for my back, meaning tasks that require rotation and bending (e.g. unloading the dish washer) are a pain in the back!

On the positive side, we have gone from about 100 degrees of leg flexion to 135 degrees, which means by passing the magical 120 figure I am able to get back on the bike (as it is set up on the wind trainer) this is a huge milestone! Ryan, my physio started me on two five minute session a day increasing by a minute a day.

While at the Physio we have been working on not just the leg flexion, but also the hip movement which has stiffened up over the last ten weeks, along with stretching the back out. The exercisers I have been given have started to change from simple stretches for individual muscles to include groups of muscle with some strength work. Every two weeks Ryan seems to push the limits, which does leave more sore for a day, but has the ability to push through to the next level of progress.

I like to have some goals as I find that it helps me stay focused, so I decided to form a team to enter the Rolf Lake Hood Half Ironman in November. A quick note of Facebook to find some team mates was answered within minutes, so Jo is racing bike leg and Tara is running, which means I will be leading the team on the first leg with the swim. This means I have been to the pool every second day and built up from 300 metres to 1500 metres over the last month, pretty pleased about that!

People ask how have I been fulling my days in, priority has been the Physio, massage, swimming and exercises. Certainly that doesn't full my whole day and as the Tour de France, the Commonwealth Games are finished, so it is a bit of reading, going to the movies, a wee bit of surfing the net ;-) and generally pottering around the house trying to sort out small jobs.

One of the books which I have read was Christophe Bassons biography of being the pro cyclist who spoke out against drugs in sport, a different and interesting view point, well worth the read. Makes a change from those who have been caught and are cashing in on the fame!

Oh well, better get back to watching Vuelta a Espana!

8 of 40 ... Progress

The last two weeks has been interesting, progress has been good physically with the leg.

Since seeing the Consultant I have been visiting the Physio, Ryan Clark at Optimal Performance. Ryan has not been afraid to get in and stretch the knee and hip, deep massage the knee, quads and hamstrings. Which has been great I have developed movement in the lower leg from 60 degrees to 100 degrees (from the leg being straight is zero degrees and then bending your knee down and back) the first goal is to get to 120 degrees so I can get onto a stationary bike and start pedaling.

At times it still aches or gets stiff, but that seems to be all part of the process.

In between Physio visits Ryan has prescribed and number of stretching and strengthening exercises and I have started back swimming. Which took a few trips to work out the easiest way to climb in and out of the pool.

Being able to drive now has certainly allowed a bit more freedom and eases the boredom of the four walls at home.

I have to watch how much I do each day and remember that rest is just as important as the exercises. I have tried to do a number of things around the house, but often end up just frustrated, as I can only balance on one leg for so long if I need both hands ... things which you just do each day or week just seem to take for ever or they need to be split over the day e.g. changing the bed, loading or unloading the dishwasher, hanging washing out or bringing it in (it either goes straight into the dryer or onto the clothes horse).

The weekend that Anja comes and stay are great, as she shows her maturity and is proactive in her actions to help her old man out! This last weekend, we spent time learning how she can change the tube and or tyre on her bike ... it won't be long before she is riding quicker than me (which wouldn't be hard at the moment).

Meanwhile, Chris made good use of the sunshine and got in some good training for her next Ironman in December. Priorities: when the sun shines one shall ride!

It has been interesting while being out and about, how many members of the public will actually offer help, which has been really nice!

6 of 40 ... The Start of Phase of Three

The last two weeks has had many progressive steps ... I have gained some additional movement in the leg about another 20 degrees, I have managed to get two shoes on, we have been out for dinner with friends ...

I have been overwhelmed by people and their generosity, from friends dropping in to say Hi or to do the odd job I can't do to my old high school mate Karl taking time off work to drive my car back from Rotorua (a 900 km trip).

Today, marks six weeks since taking the fall which meant it was time to visit the Orthopedic Consultant, starting with a x-ray then a chat, it was also the first time I have looked at the original x-rays. These show how serious the break is and not as simple as I thought and explains the amount of muscle trauma.

Overall we are happy where we are at and going forward over the next six weeks, I start working with my Physio, continue with the massage, I can swim and drive, I will be off work for another six weeks during that time I am to introduce touch weight bearing to my leg for four weeks then the final two weeks up to fifty percent weight bearing.

This is all steps forward and am pretty happy with progress, we are pretty much going to plan!

Cheers Brett