Over the last few days I have not been up to much which explains the lack in updates to the blog. I appologise to all my adoring fans (mum) and will start to get things updated more often. Today however has been a bit of a different beast. This morning I decided to hire a mountain bike and go for a little ride by myself in the surrounding area to check out what was going on and what else Wanaka has to offer and I was seriously impressed.
When I got to the bike shop I had no idea where to go or what to do but talking to the guy behind the counter really helped and I was soon convinced to go and take a look at a place called sticky forest which is one of the local bike trails here. Originally I just wanted to rent a hardtail bike, however after talking to him about the forest I was quickly advised to get a 
full suspension bike and I am really glad that I took them up on that offer.
With bike in hand (or on foot?) I headed out on my ride to the tracks that start the forest. This is where I make my first little mistake. In my eagerness to get where I needed to be on the main roads I peddled away like a pro, zooming down the road…. straight past the turn off that I needed. I road down that same road for another 2km quite happy with myself before thinking “I’m sure I should have turned off by now” and consulting a map. On a positive note though at least that was my only major mistake for the day and it isn’t really too bad in the big scheme of thing. A mins later I was back on track and headed into the forest.
Sticky forest is made up of 2 parts, both completely different rides and features yet they compliment each other really well. The first section is made up of more of a cross country style of single track, weaving through the trees and branches with very low visibility due to the dense forest around you. It is quite a technical track with lots of twists and turns but no jumps or big air to scare you senseless. Since it is sort of an 
unofficial track (even though it should be!) there are no signposts explaining where to go. At other places I have been too the routes are clearly signposted to help people navigate and, more importantly, stop people crashing. The issue with no clear signs is that you cannot be sure that as you climb up a steep hill section there is not someone coming the other way on a sweet downhill run. For this reason the music had to be put on low and sunglasses taken off to help me try and see a little better. Luckily I made it up (and back down) without incident and really enjoyed the run as it threw me out onto one of the paths going around the perimeter of the forest.
As I was catching my breath I came across another rider heading further down the same path who enquired if I had seen the other part of the forest yet. Once I was finally able to breath again I headed further down the path and up the steep climb to find out what she was referring to. The second part of the forest is downhill paradise. The moment I got in there the first thing I said to myself was “Phil would love this!”. This section of the forest was made up of different types of trees that were much taller forcing the canopy higher into the air. This meant that the visibility in this part of the forest was huge and from the centre you were able to see everything that was going on. I quickly came across a pure BMX / Dirt jump section that looked far too scary for my to get close too 
before heading further up to the top of the hill. When I got there and looked down I could see that some serious effort had been put into building the runs there. the first thing I noticed when standing at the top was a big jump that looked to be constructed out of old road signs. At first glance it looked a little unstable, however on further investigation I could see that it had been well put together with screws, bolts and metal reinforcement to ensure it wasn’t going anywhere. From the top there looked to be about 4 different start points with tracks that crossed each other and then merged and split again leaving many options for for the skilled and experienced rider elite (of which I am certainly not a member).
I spent a good few hours messing about and going down all the runs while avoiding the massive jumps and drops as much as possible, all the while thinking about how jealous I know some friends at home would be if they could see it.
Here in Wanaka days seem to always take on very random twists that usually work out quite well. Most of the town seems to be people who have been travelling with working visa’s that are working in the 
hospitality industry meaning that they get strange days off. This means that you end up with the scenario that weekends both don’t exist, yet exist every day at the same time. On my way back from dropping the bike off and chilling with Chris, Audrey and Cindy for a bit I bumped into a group of people that I met my first day here playing volleyball. They said to come and join them for a drink and suddenly that was the rest of my night gone!
I really love that fact about being here. It doesn’t matter if you know a few 
people or a lot of people, even if you have only said Hi to someone in passing on the street before you can still get invited to sit down with a group of people you don’t know and are welcomed in like you have been with them for months. I guess it is because everyone is in the same boat and know what it is like not to know people. Some of these guys have been friends for months or years, yet others are just passing through for a few weeks yet everyone is treated the same and just like an old friend. It is a brilliant way to live and I think the world would be a little bit of a better place if more people took on that idea and lived life like that.
Who knows, maybe the world we live in will improve, maybe it wont. For now though I am going to enjoy my little life here as much as possible 🙂