Christine Blake has always had a love for the outdoors, and whether it is snorkelling, scuba diving, fishing or cycling, the Red Beach woman is all in.
But in 2009 Mrs Blake’s life changed when she suffered a spinal cord injury during a scuba diving accident, and she has been living with paraplegia since.
It was a difficult transition, but with her husband, Ron, and her family by her side, Mrs Blake decided to make the most of her situation.
Realising she needed to keep going about her daily life, the couple travelled to the Antarctic in 2014, and she counted herself "lucky" her husband continued to push her boundaries.
"We just started to realise that my life was moving on and you have pull yourself together and get on with it — and you do," Mrs Blake said.
After that she found a reinvigorated energy through cycling. In 2015, Mr Blake’s brother, Les, was battling prostate cancer and his final wish was to complete the Otago Central Rail Trail with his family.
Determined to join them, Mrs Blake got in contact with Brian Gilbert, of Trikes New Zealand, who had a "heart of gold", fitting people living with disabilities with trikes.
"Nothing gives him more satisfaction than to get people like me out and about."
After some "Kiwi ingenuity", including a power motor, a bluetooth button to change gears and a hand crank, Mrs Blake was away on her German Hase Kettwiesel trike.
"When you’ve got paraplegia it’s not easy, you tend to miss out on a lot of things. It was just so nice we could just get out and do it.
"That sort of opened up doors for me."
Since then, Mrs Blake, and her husband, have ridden cycle trails in Australia, Northland, Taupo, New Plymouth, West Coast, Nelson, Marlborough, Otago — and over the past few days have been busy on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail in Waitaki.
The couple loved travelling through Oamaru and Windsor, being immersed in nature — Mrs Blake was an avid bird lover — and having the opportunity to see the countryside.
"It’s just getting out there. The trees, the farms, stuff that you never get to see from a car. You probably can see it, but you won’t see it properly," she said.
"If you’re out there in it you can observe more of what’s going on around you."
After visiting Riverstone Castle, the pair went to the Moeraki Boulders, cycled to Katiki Point Lighthouse, and were scheduled to visit the Elephant Rocks over the weekend.
She was "very impressed" with the Alps 2 Ocean trails, and "enthusiastic" manager Robyn Hyde, who helped Mrs Blake navigate areas she could and could not do.
The trails had "been fabulous".
"It’s not just the ease, it’s the condition of them and the gaps between the tunnel gates and things, they’ve made them wide enough for people."
Other trails had narrow gates, forcing Mrs Blake to wait for someone to help lift her 35kg trike and help her navigate through. Footpaths and walkways could also be made a "fraction wider" to assist people who needed more room, she said.
After the school holidays, they will return to finish Alps 2 Ocean — starting at Mount Cook — at the end of October.
Mr Blake said he wanted people living with disabilities to know there was plenty of help and financial support out there.
"It’s just a mental attitude of . . . ‘my glass is half full and I can do something’," Mr Blake said.
