Friday January 10, 2014

Another late night chatting to Biffy.  She is a really interesting person and has travelled extensively.  She advised us to take a different route than the one we had planned.  Going inland to the lake districts of Tekapo and then down to Queenstown.  I wanted to go to Dunedin and see the penguins in Omaru.  We don’t actually have to decide on the route until tomorrow night when we have to go further inland or back out to the coast.  Other people we have spoken to say we should go inland.  I think we will be going inland.

Today’s ride was a very flat ride out of Christchurch, the wind was behind us most of the way.  Rather an uneventful ride, very quiet back country road (The Old West Coast Road).

At one point all we could see down the road was very tall cedar hedgerows.

We occasionally got a glimpse of the mountains – which are snow-topped.

For all of those Canadians who are emailing us about the amount of snow you have, there is snow here too 🙂

A very noisy and social camp-site tonight.  We spoke to Dana who was making a wonderful pumpkin and kumara, spinach, feta, sun-dried tomato and spinach salad.  How do we know it had all those wonderful ingredients because as we sat down to eat our pasta supper she bought us a bowl of it, yum lovely.

This site had a lot of Kiwis on holiday with lots of kids running around.  When we arrived Ralf said what a great site for kids, they have to use their imagination and play, as there was no games room, no TV and no pay as you go internet.  Of course at 9:00 when we were ready for bed the kids were still “using their imagination” and building forts and dens not far from our tent.  Everything quieted down around 10:15.  Ralf commented he might be featured on the news tomorrow “Missing Kiwi Children at Campsite”.

Thursday January 9, 2014

We had an excellent evening with our warm-showers host last night.  Biffy arrived home at about 6:00 p.m. and proceeded to make us a wonderful salmon “quiche”  it had potatoes as the base and was lovely.

We chatted with Biffy until 11:00, we knew we were going to have lie-in which we did until 8:00 a.m.  We had a relaxing breakfast and decided to catch the bus into Christchurch.  It was a very interesting and somewhat sombre day.

The devastation that the February 2011 earthquake caused is awful.  There has been some rebuilding, but the area that we walked around there was still a lot of buildings that need to be torn down. Part of the problem with the recovery project is the discovery of asbestos in some of the buildings, built pre-1970.

It was so very sad seeing the Cathedral in such a state.  We also went to the Botanical gardens, which was absolutely beautiful.

 The range of emotions that Ralf and I felt as we went from the peace and serenity of the Botanical Gardens to see the old architectural buildings that are literally falling down or have been taken down.

We also went in to the Re-Start Mall.  This is an area of Christchurch where the buildings have been torn down and replaced with sea containers as boutique shops.  They have great ideas and designs in place to rebuild the area, but it will take a long time.

As Ralf said the heart of the City may have been torn out, but the spirit lives on.

The Botanical gardens, it was a little chilly in Christchurch.

Wednesday January 8, 2014

I was able to skype Joy, my sister today from the library in Amberley, she has been diagnosed with cancer.  What crappy news. She will have more news for me when she sees the oncologist etc on January 21, 2014. We may change our plans, and do the UK and Europe next.  We will decide when we get more news from Joy.

We started our ride later than usual at 10:00. The wind changes again!!  Today started warm and sunny.  The later start wasn’t a problem as our warm-showers host would not be available until 6:00pm and we only had 45 ks to cycle, an easy day or so we thought.  We had a gale force head wind all the way into Christchurch.  It was an horrendous ride.  We had to come away from State Highway 1 at Woodend as it turned into a motorway.  I wonder what the difference is from 2-lane road driving at 100 kph to motorway driving at 100 kph.  We rejoined Main Road North which seemed suicidal to me at the time.  Four-lane road (dual-carriageway) with speeds in excess of 100 kph (England think the A52, Canada think Highway 11).  It did have a wider shoulder but the cars didn’t give us an inch.  We were on that section for about 4 ks.

We stopped at Woodend for a sandwich and a cup of tea.  We had a great, cheap lunch even cheaper as my tea was free.  There wasn’t a button on the cash register for tea so I got it for free.  Paula, the lady that served us invited us on her boat in Picton (we can go fishing) if she is up there at the same time as we are when we go back to Wellington.

We came across a New Town just outside of Christchurch.

Tuesday January 7, 2014

Another great day of cycling.  The morning started off cold and slight rain showers.  We got the tent down before it started to rain and we had a few rain showers for the first 20kms.  We also had a few small ‘bumps’ to get up and over after Amberley, then we had the tail-wind from heaven.  We came over the last little hill and cruised down the other side it was awesome, I didn’t pedal for about 2 kilometres.  I was laughing so hard it was tremendous.  I had to touch my brakes as we went over a railway track, then I pedaled a couple of times and again just cruising at 29+ kph how good does that feel?  Amazing.  My new Garmin tells me when I have completed a personal best – Fastest 40 kms today.  Not that this is a race, but it did feel good to be doing my usual 29+kph on my touring bike.  We got in to Amberley just after 12:30 had something to eat and decided that we would stay here overnight. It is a lovely little Town and we had time to have a nice wander around.

We could have easily got into Christchurch as we were both feeling good, but we have a warm-showers arranged for tomorrow night and the next night.  An extra rest day this week, because we wanted to spend an extra day in Christchurch.  I hope to get the blog updated.

We met a lovely older gentleman in the camp kitchen today.  He lives here permanently and has a little vege garden.  He cut some swiss chard for us so we will have a stir fry tomorrow.  We also met a lovely Austrian girl (Verenna) who is travelling around New Zealand doing some climbing and touring.  She has just qualified as a teacher and will look for a job when she gets home at the end of February. She invited us to stay with her when we go through Austria, she lives south of Vienna.

We see lots of old cars along the road.  Ralf spotted this one in Amberley.

Monday January 6, 2014

How do I explain to non-cyclists what a perfect day today was for cycling.  We had three hills to climb and at the top of them we still had energy and our legs felt good and strong. The down hills were not terrifying.  The sun was out, but it wasn’t too hot.  The wind was more of a side wind than a head-on which kept us from over-heating.

The road after the hills was undulating enough to keep it interesting and the scenery was incredible. Every corner we came around the scenery changed and seemed to be more stunning.

The only thing that would have made it absolutely perfect was there to be no cars or transports on the road, but I can’t have everything.

The hedges are for protection.

We found a lovely little campsite in Cheviot, that has everything we need; hot showers, laundry, fully equipped kitchen and even a set of boules that we played while waiting for the laundry to finish. It has peacocks, peahens that has babies, ducks, chooks, horses and of course sheep in the next field.  The price was good as well.  We walked to the pub for a well deserved beer and decided to eat as the prices were good and they had a vege burger on the menu.  It was good and so was the beer.  Perfect day.

Saturday January 4, 2013

Today should have been an easy run into Kaikoura.  However, the cold that I have been fighting off since Christmas Day finally caught up with me.  It was an horrendous day of cycling for me.  We didn’t have a tail-wind nor much of a head wind but I struggled almost the whole of the 77.78 kms.  My legs felt really strong, I was just having a problem breathing and that equates to a problem when trying to cycle!!!

It was a beautiful winding and slightly undulating road, enough bumps (hills) in the road so that you didn’t get bored.  The Pacific Ocean was on one-side of us and mountains along the other, it was beautiful.  The temperature was perfect for cycling, although at one point we did stop to put on our windbreakers, the wind was a little chilly off the ocean.  Actually when we stopped to put on our windbreakers a lady came out of her camper van and offered us a cup of tea.  We gratefully accepted and chatted with her for almost an hour.  The kindness of New Zealander’s should be marketed and sent around the world – it would be a much better place.

Unfortunately due to my cold, I didn’t enjoy the ride.  The cars and trucks seemed to come too close, the shoulder at times seemed non-existent, I was just stressed.

Ralf however, said it was a beautiful stretch of road.

The Ohau Point seal colony along this coast is huge, we took photos, but I think it will be a hide and seek venture as you could hardly spot the grey seals against the rocks.  There is an area along this stretch that has a stream that comes from a waterfall, when the seal pups are a few months old they go up the stream and play in the waterfall.  The lady in the camper said we were probably a couple of weeks too late to see the seals playing in the waterfall.

Although the ride seemed long to me we were cycling for 4.5 hours an average of 17 kph however, we were on the road for 6.25 hours, the hour long stop with the lady camper made up for some of that time.

When we arrived in Kaikoura we cycled to the iSite and then back to the Top 10 Holiday Camp, it was 2:45 and almost full.  They had room for one more tent……. then another, then another.  When the reserved numbered sites were full they added tents to almost every spare piece of grass they had.  It is a very full site tonight. Beautiful sunset.

We took a rest day here, a paddle in the Pacific Ocean and chatted to neighbours.  Some campers bring everything, even a queen size bed, fridge and ‘chest of drawers’.

We were going to go whale watching but we couldn’t do it today and we need to get going tomorrow, now I am feeling better.

The water is cold, but look at the cyclists tan!

Friday January 3, 2014

My rest day yesterday helped me tremendously – I have had a bit of a cold since Christmas Day. Although it was a very windy night and my sleep was a little sporadic because of the 80 km wind-gusts I felt very refreshed when I got up. However the weather forecast was not good, with 80 – 120 km winds forecasted, but easing up during the day. We decided to get ready to go and see how the weather was when we were ready to leave. We were late leaving 9:30 am and it had started to drizzle but the wind had let up. As we started our first climb of the day the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked. It was horrendous. However, once we had crossed the ridge and were coming down the other side of Weld Pass and Dashwood Pass the sun came out.

We stopped in Seddon (30kms) for a cup of tea and a wonderful savoury muffin and then carried on to Ward. It was a very windy day but the wind was behind us. I was comfortably doing 18 kph up hill (lol). The road was busy but again had reasonable shoulders for most of the way.

As we turned into the gravel road to Peddlars Rest we realized how much of a tail-wind we had, I struggled to do 10 kph along the road.

Hopefully we have the same tail-wind tomorrow as we have about 80 kms to do tomorrow to Kaikoura. Peddlars Rest is a small bunkhouse with 1 (2 bunk room) and 1 (4 bunk room). It has all the facilities a weary cyclists needs including hot showers, fridge, stove and all pots, pans, crockery and cutlery and a washing machine that we can use for free. It is supposed to be for bicyclists, but the owners allow it to be used for other road users and hikers. It is a beautiful, quiet, peaceful place.

Thursday January 2, 2014

Check the photos on the last Blog – I have updated them.

A very short ride today.  It should have been Picton to Ward (approximately 85) but I needed to get some washing done.  If we had cycled to Ward with a couple of big hills to do we would not have been in Ward until late and I would not have had time to do the washing.  So we are taking a second half rest day.

Ralf is getting some minor repairs done on his bike and getting some food.  While I was doing the washing Ralf went for a little ride on his own, to the Taylor Dam.

The South Island’s communities are farther apart, so we have to make sure we have enough food for a couple of days, just in case we need to ask a farmer if we can camp on his front lawn!  Tomorrows ride will be almost 60kms.

I was chatting to a German couple (Michael and Susanne from Hamburg) who are about to leave for Seddon at 11:30 (30kms), an easy ride for them today.  They have been finding the hills in the North Island exhausting as well and are hoping the South Island is easier.

This evening at dinner we were talking to a Dutch/New Zealand couple (Annette and Jaap) were very interested in our trip and had been looking at changing their lives for something different.  May be we have influenced another couple.  They are both cyclists as well as kayakers and very much like the simple life and outdoors.  Who knows we may be reading about their Grand Adventure in a couple of years time.  Again we have been invited to stay at their house if we go past them.

A bit late adding this route and Thoughts

End of third week thoughts – What touring cyclists think about?

As you are cycling along taking in the scenery, your mind tends to wander.  You glance in the mirror and see a car approaching, you shout to your partner car back and then try and calculate in your head when it will pass you.

If you are travelling at 20 kph and the car is travelling at 100 kph and you saw it about 500 metres back how long before it will pass you? What is the formula?

If we drink every 10 minutes and we have 20 kms to go, how many times will I drink before we get to our destination?

It is very strange that my mind tends to wander onto math problems when I was never very good at math or particularly liked the subject.

Plus 3.5 hours on the InterIslander Ferry

Wednesday January 1, 2014

We had a very quiet New Years Eve.  We were in bed by 10:30 after updating the blog.  Today we were up a little later and on the road by 9:00 a.m., very late for us, we try to be on the move by 8:00 at the latest. Although we had plenty of time for Ralf to play on the bouncy pillow and play with “Legos”.

 We cycled into the ferry terminal to recce the place and find out what time we needed to check in with the bicycles.  We then cycled the 2.5 ks into Wellington.  We now know why it is referred to as windy Wellington.  We were ‘cycling’ along the Quay area – doing 13.5 kph without pedaling.  Of course when we had to head back to the ferry terminal it was hard work!

I thought we got free wi-fi on the ferry, but we didn’t.  There were 4 other cyclists waiting to board.  The bikes are on the train deck – 4 decks below the passenger seating area.

Although we have cycled today, we are counting it as a rest day and will carry on cycling tomorrow.

The ferry crossing was fairly smooth. We are staying in Picton tonight in a small campsite.  We walked to a pub for fish and chips.

 I will update with photos later (check back).