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.

Friday January 24, 2014

What a day – our longest distance to date.  We had planned to get to St. Andrew’s at 75 ks.  The wind was with us, the temperature was perfect, we left Oamaru at 8:00 am and we got to Timaru at 1:30 –  90 kms in 4.5 hours.  We motored.  We stopped for a light snack at the Nosh Cafe – this is what Ralf looked like before he had his coffee!

The road was flat, and not much to look at.  The only thing of note is that we crossed the 45th parallel (half-way between the south pole and the equator).  We had passed it going to Queenston but we were on the bus,  the disadvantage of bus/car travel you cannot get photos like this.

We found a camp site where a few classic cars were also staying overnight.  Ralf is really enjoying seeing all these cars.

We are running out of time on the South Island and we really want to be back on the North Island.

The South Island has been stunningly beautiful, but now that we have decided not to cycle the west coast we have more time to cycle up the west coast of the North Island and stop at Waitomo Caves to do the blackwater rafting or some other crazy underground water sport!!

The other reason I want to be on the North Island is if I need to fly to England in an emergency it will be easier to get a flight.  Joy is in hospital, and is fighting an infection as well as other medical problems.  She cannot start chemo until she is fitter.

Thursday January 23, 2014

On a rest day I try to update the Blog, clean the bikes and plan all sorts of other \’housekeeping\’ things, but more often than not, that doesn’t happen. As was the case today, but going downtown and walking around the historic district of Oamaru was well worth it.

We had a lovely breakfast and then headed to downtown Oamaru to view the historic Victorian downtown.

I picked up a walking tour pamphlet that showed where all the old buildings were and a brief description of them and off we went – cameras in hand.  What a lovely downtown and historic district.

We spent 5.5 hours looking at the architecture and wandering in and out of little shops that had been created from large warehouses.

We also stopped at a working wool grading warehouse and chatted to a couple of guys that were grading the wool.  The wool is graded, baled and each bales weigh about 500 kgs.  Nothing goes to waste, even the scrappy bits get sold.  The average sheep produces wool for about 5-6 years and then it gets slaughtered.  I commented that you wouldn’t be eating that meat.  The fella said “No, you guys (England, Canada etc) get the good stuff, the Chinese buy the mutton”.

There was also a stone carver who produced some lovely work.  Unfortunately we couldn’t carry anything on our bikes, although to ship it back to Canada wasn’t too expensive.

I am glad I am not using this bike to ride around the world, although it does have a Brooks saddle.

We had a great BBQ with Bethy and Lynda.  I made Portobello Mushroom with pesto, roasted red peppers and feta.  Lynda made bacon-wrapped asparagus and we had salad.  Lynda asked me for my recipe for pesto, I have made it so many times, it was easy to remember.  I also gave her the recipe for citrus bean salad.  She said she would  like to write a recipe book and my recipes may feature in it.

Wednesday January 22, 2014

After a good nights sleep, we left Palmerston at a good time, (7:45 am). The weather was good, a little overcast but the wind had dropped a little. When I spoke to the lady at the motel last night she had mentioned that you can sometimes see penguins at Shag Point and we should stop in at the Moeraki Village and at the boulders.  As we came up to Shag Point turn off – Ralf asked if we should go down to see the point.  I agreed we should if only because of the name.

It was 2.5 ks down to the point and we spent about half an hour walking around, the wind had picked up again, but it was so peaceful and we were the only ones there, other than the seals and the sea birds.  No penguins.

Ralf got within 12 feet of a large seal that was dozing near the boat ramp.  It kept one eye open and barked at Ralf once, but didn’t move from it’s comfy position.

At the turn-off for the Moeraki Village, which is a nice traditional fishing village we decided to carry on to view the boulders instead.  We couldn’t buy any fresh fish to take with us and it was way too early to have fish for lunch.

We stopped at the Moeraki boulders and were amazed at them.  Of course, there are Maori legend for the boulders, – The Kai (food) hinaki (baskets) were washed ashore from the canoe Arai-te-uru, which was wrecked a few miles along the coast on a voyage south in search of the precious stone of Pounamu (Greenstone or Jade).

Then there is the scientific account – The stones consist mainly of carbonate of lime, silica, alumina and peroxide of iron, formed around a central core of lime crystals.  It takes around 4 million years to form a boulder.  In the Miocene period the land rose above sea level and with erosion from the sea and air the boulders were exposed.

Then there is my explanation for how they got there.  I believe they were dropped down by aliens and each boulder contains an alien – they are amongst us now, as some of the pods have broke open – lol.

We spent about an hour wandering around on the beach.

The extra side trips made the day a little longer but well worth it.  Up until this point we had been on Highway 1, it was a busy road and not much of a shoulder, but it hadn’t been too windy.  After leaving Moeraki the wind picked up again.  I hate cycling on really busy roads where the speed limit is 100 ks, and no shoulder and it is windy to boot.

We found an alternate route which of course was very scenic, still windy and about 10 ks longer!

I think I am following in my Mum’s footsteps, she always liked to take the scenic route and hated busy roads especially motorways.  The scenic routes are always longer, but you do sometimes get to see things you would not on the main routes, like these rare spoonbills.

We got into Oamaru at about 3:30 pm. We had been waiting for confirmation on a warm showers and fortunately we were able to stay with Bethy and Lynda.  They would not be home until 5:30, so we had a few hours to kill.  So we went shopping.  We were able to replace our mirrors.  As we came out of the bicycle shop, Lynda spotted us and told us she would be home in 20 minutes so we could make our way up to her house.  Ironically, she lived off of the road we had come in to Town on.  Back up a hill.

They had invited us to have dinner with them and then Bethy took us to see the Yellow-eyed penguins come in from the ocean.  The penguins nest in this area and when the babies are a couple of months old both parents go out to get food and come back at dusk and feed the babies.  If you are lucky you can see them come in.  We were lucky, we saw 3 little penguins.  So cute.

Bethy also took us to some great look-out points to view the Town, and a quick drive downtown to show us the historic area.

When we told them that we had planned on spending 2 nights in Oamaru, they invited us to stay the second night with them.  Lynda is a really good cook and has been encouraged to get involved with warm showers by Bethy, who actually is her tenant.  I really hope she continues being a host after Bethy leaves for Cambodia in April.  We are hoping to meet up with Bethy again in Cambodia, when we get there.

Tuesday January 21, 2014

We were up and away at a good time, I knew today was going to be hilly and I wanted to get started early in case the weather changed against us.  It was a cool day, I even wore my liner gloves to start of with, we wore our wind breakers for most of the day.  The hills started about 10ks outside of Ranfurly, gradual climbs and rewarding downhills.

We knew there would be few services between Ranfurly and Palmerston and had packed a picnic lunch.  However, there were few picnic sites, so Ralf picked this little pull-in as a place to stop!!

There is a lot of this 1080 poison being used throughout New Zealand!  Primarily to control the possum population.

At about the 60 k mark the wind picked up and we were battling the wind and the hills.  I remember on GOBA last year a young man asking me hills or headwinds – always hills at least you can see the end of them.  Or may be not, it was a day of constant up and down, most of the time we managed to get half way up the other side of a hill before having to peddle but sometimes we had to work at it.

It started to get cool and the last 10 ks of the ride were tiring.

When we arrived in Palmerston there was no official iSite and even worse no camp site, so we had to break the piggy bank and stay in a motel.  It was great, it had a little kitchenette with a stove and oven, and all the equipment included.  We did a bit of shopping and created a lovely meal with a bottle of wine to wash it down.

Typical Palmerston building.  There was a also a church with a cement steeple, I have never seen a steeple on a church made out of cement before.

Monday January 20, 2014

This morning was very foggy and 4.5 degrees.  A very chilly and damp morning, but I could see that the sun would burn the fog off and we would be in for a good day of sunshine.  This is summer in New Zealand in an area that records the highest and coldest temperatures throughout the year.

We had decided last night to make the side trip to Ophir to check out this small historic village.  Like so many towns and villages in New Zealand in the 1800’s the villages relied on the rail way being built and going through their Town or Village.  If the railway didn’t go through the village, then more often than not the village died.  Not this one, it is still going strong with a post office, small village school, church, a tavern and a café and a small butcher shop.

We asked the camp site manager for directions as we knew there were two entrances to the village and we needed to return to the rail trail.  He directed us about 2 ks outside of the village so that we could see the historic bridge, which we didn’t know about.

The bridge was well worth the extra two kms.  This route would then bring us back in a circle to Omakau and the rail trail.

We started the rail trail with more cyclists than we have seen on this trip in one single day.  There was a family of 6, (Mom, Dad 2 kids and grand parents).  There was another family of 4 mom, dad and 2 teenage daughters.   The first part of the trail was crushed gravel, similar to yesterday, and had some great bridges and interesting features to look at.

By the time we got to our lunchtime stop, which had an historic general store, it was getting a little boring, – straight, flat so we decided to come off the trail and take the road.  The road was a little hillier but at least we got the reward of the down-hills as well.

My first accident of the trip – Usually when I come up to a cattle grid I clip out and scoot across, well I negotiated a cattle grid successfully without un-clipping and thought this is easy, so when I came across another grid I thought no problem, well I miscalculated and my front right pannier rubbed against the side of the gate and down I went or actually not down more stuck in the cattle grid/gate.  What an idiot, I managed to un-clip and get out from the cattle gate and wiped my bloody leg and scraped arm.  No major harm done but hurt pride.

We got to Ranfurly and found another nice little camp site, with a fully equipped kitchen, very clean place and not too far from the downtown.  After dinner we went for a little wander around the town and stopped in the local hotel for a glass of wine.

Ranfurly is the second Town in New Zealand with an Art Deco history.

This is the guy we can blame for the zig-zag roads, we have been following.  Roads as crooked as a dogs hind-leg.  He was the fella that surveyed these lands in the 1800\’s.

We met a lovely Danish couple with 2 little girls.  They had cycled New Zealand pre-children and looked on a little wistfully as we discussed our route and talked about the Grand Adventure.  Lise said it is different travelling with children, you have to get used to stopping and visiting every playground in New Zealand.

Sunday January 19, 2014

The sun was out when we got up, it had been a relatively warm evening and it looked as if it was going to be a good day.  The forecast was for rain or showers and then sunny in the afternoon.  The forecast was correct for a change.

We had a great ride from Cromwell to Clyde, the start of the Central Otaga rail trail.  From Cromwell to Clyde we followed Lake Dunstan and the Clutha River.  We were in the valley for the most part and it was ruggedly beautiful.

We did have some minor climbs but with the wind at our backs I managed to do most of them in my big gear and only dropped down to my middle gear once.

We decided to follow the Central Otaga Rail Trail today, just to change it up a bit.  We have been on roads for a while now and knowing that this trail has a good base to cycle on we thought it might make a change.  There is usually plenty of information boards as you cycle along to keep it interesting.

This bridge was called Muttontown because a local farmer would sell his sheep to goldminers in the area.

You always know what the time it is in Alexandra, there is a giant clock in the hillside.  We had a lovely lunch in this Town.

A kiss in Galloway.  The hut was a waiting room for ladies at the Galloway station.

We managed to keep a steady pace of about 17 kph for the first 17 kms on the trail and then once again the wind picked up and was blowing us all over the trail.  At least on the trail there were no cars to be blown into.

This Irish Blessing was on a bench where you could look over the stunning scenery in the photo above.

We got into Omakau at about 2:30 and found a nice domain camp site with cheap cabins, so tonight we are staying in a cabin – they are basic rooms with 2 sets of bunk beds.  We still use the communal kitchen and communal showers, but it keeps us out of the wind for a night and it is actually cheaper than the campsite at Queenstown.

We walked to the village to get some supplies and decided to have dinner in the local eatery.  A wonderful pumpkin lasagna with salad for $15.00 each, great price. Lovely dinner.

Tomorrow we are heading for Ranfurly, again on the rail trail and then on to Palmerston.

Saturday January 18, 2014

The day started cold (4.9 degrees), but not windy, the sun was out and we anticipated it to get warmer as the day progressed – it didn’t!

We had travelled by bus from Cromwell to Queenstown and knew the road was hilly and in parts narrow.  We also knew that there were going to be areas where we would want to stop and take photos and possibly do a bungy jump at the original site of bungy at Kawarau gorge.  We were late starting 9:15 and started by walking up a 1:15 incline out of Queenstown.  We were soon on the bikes and going, the wind such as it was, was behind us. The hills that I remembered on the bus trip were now mostly in our favour and it seemed as if the whole day was downhill with only a few smaller climbs.  I only went into my granny gear once.  The area around Queenstown has alot of small vineyards, it is a lovely area.

The Kawarau gorge where the bungy is beautiful, even without the added excitement of the bungy site.

At the bungy site, Ralf took photos and decided he was going to do it.  I decided not to, I am not sure why – I wasn’t afraid, just not really interested in doing it.  Ralf on the other hand was really excited about doing it.

Over to Ralf: Up until the time I stepped onto the platform, everything seemed perfectly normal then they ask you to put your toes over the edge, you have a few seconds to look down into the fast flowing river, when you are told “give us a big jump 3, 2, 1 jump” it is at that moment when you can feel a spike in your heart-rate.  Then of course you jump – flying through the air at the 32 feet per second feels absolutely awesome.  But 43 metres is a short distance and it is over relatively quickly and you are left with nothing but a huge grin and an adrenaline rush. \”Fear inducing. Gravity defying, awesome\”.

The best swan dive of the day.

If you want to check out the video of Ralf’s bungy jump email me and I will give you the website and access code.  It is stunning.

We met up with Bernard the Welshman, we had first met him in Geraldine and again in Lake Tekapo – when Ralf told him he had bungied, he said \”How old are you man? you are crazy\”

We stopped at the site of an old gold mining area.  You could pan for gold, or just buy jewellery in the shop.

Amazing rock formations in this area.

This week-end in Cromwell is a Classic Car event, which just happened to be next to the camp site we stayed at.  It was a very busy camp site.  After we had made our very simple meal of fusili and plain sauce we watched a group of Italians (who were working in the area as fruit pickers) making homemade Gnocchi.

Friday January 17, 2014

Ralf woke up at the crack of dawn this morning, even though we were supposed to be having a nice lie-in.  He got up and took photos of the camp-site.  Normally camp-sites are not very photogenic, but this one has some very quirky buildings, which makes it very interesting.

It is another windy, cool day, the sun is out and it would be lovely if the wind would die down.

After breakfast (I managed to make poached eggs without breaking them) we had a relaxing day and a little bit of retail therapy.  I treated myself to a merino wool top. It has been getting a little chilly at night but not cold enough to wear my puffy jacket, but cool enough to slip a light-weight but warm merino wool top.  Lovely.  We also treated ourselves to a couple of extra bits of camping stuff.

Tomorrow we are on the road again, we have decided to go back up the east coast.  The weather on the west coast has been awful, (rainy, windy and cold), and we want to enjoy the rest of the time on the South Island not endure it.  We may miss some spectacular scenery, but we have already seen a lot of spectacular scenery.

We may even do a bungey jump on the way.  It is expensive, but you only do it once.  We are heading out to Cromwell tomorrow and then we will pick up the Otago Rail Trail, before heading up the east coast back to Christchurch.

It has been a great relaxing day.

Thursday January 16, 2014

We knew we had a really big climb today after Omarama, (Lindis Pass).  The forecast was not good, possible rain and strong north westerly winds – again.  We got to Omarama in good time with no rain and a little bit of a side wind nothing too bad.  It was a nice route.

Did you know?  Waters from the three lakes, Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau, in the MacKenzie Basin, pass through a system of power stations and canals downt to the Waitaki power station.  All 8 power stations are operated from a control centre in Twizel, which ensures that as much electricity as possible is generated from the water flowing from the Southern Alps out to the sea.

We stopped at Lake Ruataniwha spillway and took these photos.  On the plaque on this turbine it said it was a spare turbine.  Does this mean that it is similar to when you build something from IKEA, I have a spare (nut) turbine, do you think it is important?

I lost it today.

We had decided last night that we should eat more regularly as both of us are losing weight, which means we are not eating enough for the riding we are doing.  Anyway we stopped in Omarama at 30 ks and had a sandwich.

When we came out of the cafe the wind had picked up and it was blowing a very stiff wind.  We cycled about 2 ks out of Town and I lost it.  Because I broke my mirror in Kikoura I have been in the lead all the time, we haven’t switched up because I need Ralf behind me telling me what traffic is coming, especially the transports and some of the cars with boats or trailers who often come too close.  Well I was finding it difficult to keep my bike in a straight line with the wind blowing me into the gravel.  Eventually I stopped and screamed at Ralf that this was crazy and I wasn’t going to do it.  This is supposed to be fun not suicidal.  Ralf’s response “Well what happens if it is the same tomorrow”.  We had a bit of an “animated discussion” about what to do next.  We circled back to the campsite and then Ralf suggested to see if we could hitch a ride over the Pass.  We went back to the café and found out there was a bus that would leave in about 30 minutes if it had room it could take us all the way into Queenstown or to Cromwell.

We hate to cheat, after all this is supposed to be a bike ride around the world not a bus ride.  We know we are taking the train a couple of times, but catching the bus over a hill should not be part of the trip.  However, saving ourselves from being blown into a transport truck or off the road, maybe?  We took the bus and are now sitting in the Holiday Park in Queenstown.

We were hoping to meet up with Adonica (she was on an exchange with Meridian a few years ago) but she is going to see her family in Auckland so we will miss her.

Queenstown is a sprawling mess of a Town which is very touristy, with lots of adventurous things to do in and around Town such as bungey jumping, jet boating, trips to Milford Sound etc.

We have decided we need a couple of days to regroup, replan the route and then carry on either Saturday or Sunday.