Saturday January 25, 2014

The long and winding, road. This is not the start of a Beatle song it is also not a description of today’s ride.  It was long, it was flat and it was incredibly boring.  We were on State Highway 1, the shoulder was wide, the traffic was fast but on the whole no close calls.  Even when the dog is driving the truck.

I think I said to Ralf three times – this is the most boring road we have been on.  No curves, no hills, no scenery, nothing noteworthy to take photos of.  It was windy and it took us the same amount of time to ride the 77.68 ks today as it did to cycle the 90.79 ks yesterday.

We did come across a garage that repaired and sold classic cars.  Ralf could have spent half the afternoon in the garage chatting to the owner.  Fortunately for me he only spent about 15 minutes taking a few photos.

In England you only need a motorbike license to drive one of these 3-wheeler cars.

This car had passed it\’s WOF (Warranty of Fitness) test and was selling for $2,850.

Some New Zealanders apparently like bad (30 year old) country and western music.  This is not the country music we listen today – but “my dog is dead, my wife has left me and I am in prison” kind of old country and western music.  Why am I mentioning this  – well we were tortured by it until 2:30 am.  Well Ralf was, I had ear plugs in and slept like a log, a couple of beers helped as well!.

We have decided to get to Christchurch tomorrow and see about taking the bus to Picton on Monday morning which connects with the afternoon ferry to Wellington.  This is not cheating – we are calling it our “Fast Forward” – Amazing Race fans.  We have already cycled this route on the way down the South Island and it took us 5 days.  I really need to be back on the North Island.