Iteris

It’s been quite a while since my last post and now we are not just in the south island, but we’ve headed up into the mountains.  Before I go into that, I will try and summarise some of the stuff that has happened over the past couple of weeks.  We headed down from Sue and David’s house and cycled our way towards Kaikoura, a town whose prosperity relies almost solely on the whale watching in that area.  I can certainly say that the whale watching was fantastic.  Due to the deep waters around Kaikoura they have a resident family of Giant Sperm whales and so you’re pretty much guaranteed a sighting.  By chance the conditions were perfect when we decided to go and we were treated to number of them.  Watching them dive and realising that they stay down there for such long periods as well as the incredible depths they dive to, was quite awe inspiring.  I’ve posted up some photos on Flickr, but, as I’m sure you can appreciate, snapping a good shot is hard on a rocking boat with a moving whale, no matter how big the target.

Before Kaikoura we stopped in at a restaurant known as “The Store” which is run by David’s nephew Clive.  He was a very gracious host and the food was excellent.  He explained to us that the restaurant had once been a petrol station, but had fallen into disrepair and when the land was bought the government refused to allow it to continue as a station, as storing petrol so close to water could obviously have extremely detrimental effects on the environment.  So they decided to open a restaurant.  It is an ideal location commanding excellent views over a large stretch of unspoiled coastline.

Arriving in Christchurch was great; I always enjoy hitting a city after, what seems like, long stretches camping.  So when Jimmy and Amelia told me that they wanted to go rent a car and camp on the Akora Peninsula I went to the Tourist information and booked myself into a five star hotel with all the forbearance I could muster.  Perhaps I was over awed by finally being in a hotel after such a long time, the bed was huge, the shower was great and the Sauna made my taught muscles melt with pleasure.  I had a fantastic meal and after retired to the bar where I took my book and sat reading in a comfy chair while I was brought drinks.  Only once during the night did I contemplate the other two sleeping rough on the side of a hill.  When it came to checking out I believe I would have left nail gouges in the marble had I not got the iron will that I possess.  The Cathedral Square seemed to be the heart of Christchurch and put us in mind of Covent Garden in London.  We spent most of our relaxing day just sitting in a café, drinking, eating and reading.  I can’t think of a better way of spending my time than watching the world go by.

We are now in the mountains staying alongside Lake Tekapo.  It is a stunningly beautiful lake the like of which I have never seen.  It appears to shift between green, blue and turquoise.  Its colour is apparently due to something called rock flour.  The lake sits snuggly in-between encircling mountains, at a height of seven hundred metres.  We climbed up to nine hundred metres into a headwind to get here.  It was a very very long day and we didn’t arrive at the camp site till well after dark.  We were shattered, but I was determined to rinse the grime off of me before I went to bed.  I could have slept in the shower it felt so good to have warm water pouring down me.  Hopefully we’re going to be able to arrange a Helicopter flight around Mount Cook and landing on one of the Glaciers.  I’ll keep you posted on that as well as putting up some photos when we have them.  There is an amazing church here in the town, apparently a very famous church, called the church of the Good Shepherd and I can honestly say it is one that I wouldn’t mind going to Mass in. 

After Lake Tekpo we are heading down to Twizle, Queenstown, Invercargill and then Bluff.  We’ve estimated that we have another nine days of cycling ahead of us, one of which includes a one thousand metre climb, ouch.  Along the way to Twizle we are going to visit a salmon farm.  Perhaps we’ll buy one and stick it in the trailer.  How much can a fish smell huh?

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Well the north island is complete and the south awaits invitingly. As we disembarked the ferry at Picton and began to cycle the difference in the two islands was almost immediately evident, perhaps not quantifiable but I felt a distinct difference between the two as we cycled. Of course, the south island is the main wine producing region of New Zealand, not a fact that I was ignorant of I can tell you. We’ve been staying with some friends who’ve been fantastic to have us and great fun to be with and were good enough to take us on a couple of wine tastings, there have been some hard places to leave, but to leave a wine region seems to go against the grain, still I am assured that there will be more wines to come, always a good reason to keep cycling.

Since arriving at Sue and David’s house we have had a wonderful cruise to a gorgeously secluded bay where we met some wonderfully friendly people and drank some wine. We’ve been wine tasting, strawberry picking and chocolate tasting. We have also been up in a helicopter, my first one in fact, and while I was nervous at the thought, the experience was indescribable, a fantastic way to fly.

Tomorrow however we are setting off and back on the road. We are heading south of course, to do some Whale watching and in around six or seven days we will hit Christchurch, following that we will wend our way towards Mt Cook and further down to Queenstown. We’ve increased the time we’re spending in New Zealand so we can take in Stewart Island, which we are informed is worth a stop. We’d love to do the west coast of the south island which we’ve also been told is fabulous, but it might be something we have to save for another time.

I have once again been told about the lack of photos on the Blog and so to satisfy everyone I have started a web page upon which I will dump photos and put in as many descriptions as I can, the link is below, I should put it under links, but it is late and I am feeling lazy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35710408@N06/?saved=1

Although they’ve already been mentioned I’m going to talk about them again, because I can. Sue and David have been fantastic Hosts and their daughter Hannah equally so. They are great people and it has been a privilege to have met them. I must apologise for the briefness of the post, but as I have said, I’m tired and wanted to put down the main points. Thank you everyone for your messages and comments, it is always great to hear from you all and I hope to keep you updated as much as possible. Anything I’ve missed out tonight, I will try and fit into a post later during the trip.

It could be said that our journey started properly on Friday 23rd January 2009 as that was when all the preparations we’d made came to a head. Early Friday morning the car we rented appeared along with our driver Cliff. It must have taken a good hour to lash the bikes to the roof and bags in the boot, but finally we were ready to go. It was great and really encouraging when an impromptu gathering formed around us and wished us good luck, no one had a negative comment and everyone wished us all the best. Which has been a running theme throughout the trip so far.

The drive to Cape Reinga was a long one, (of course not as long as the cycle back). Cliff was a very interesting guy and filled us in on a little of New Zealand history and culture. Driving up to Cape Reinga also afforded us the opportunity to assess some of the roads that we would be cycling and better plan our route. The drive was worth it, Cape Reinga felt like the edge of the world, with sweeping views of nothing but a vast ocean, it certainly made me feel small.

One thing that Amelia said on many occasions, which I agree with wholeheartedly is, that the photos are no more than a record, and come nowhere near close enough to capturing the moment, but since they’re the best we can do this is what I shall post up.

This is another part of Cape Reinga

Unfortunately the road from Cape Reinga to the camp site, where we were going to stay, was not sealed and so we couldn’t cycle it. We got Cliff to take us to Cape Reinga and then drive us back down to camp where we had him drop us off and said our goodbyes.

The last time I went camping was with my school, so I must confess I was slightly tentative about my situation. This was a feeling only intensified by the onset of night and the arrival of possibly every mosquito in the southern hemisphere. Like the hardy campers we were, we wolfed down our food, drowned ourselves in insect repellent and withdrew with all the dignity we could muster into our tents. The wild flailing of my head torch as I tried to find things and get ready for bed, seemed to excite the mosquitos to fever pitch and I have no doubt that they were dive bombing the tent in an attempt to get in. Finally, turning off the torch, I lay panting in the darkness after having fought with a suddenly voluminous sleeping bag and listened to the sound of the insects, which put me in mind of thrumming electricity cable.

I have been made aware that this Blog has gained quite a following and so this post is for all of you loyal fans who’ve waited so long for news of the terrific trio. This is only a brief post to let everyone know that the reason I’ve not been posting is that we decided to shed a great deal of weight after our first day, and so it was with great regret that I said goodbye to the laptop. Although I’m sure the reasons for the dramatic weigh loss are self evident I will explain more in proceeding posts which I will be catching up with over the next couple of days. Amelia and I have been taking notes of the various days events as well as photos, all of which I will post up. At the moment I’m sitting here writing this, my legs are sore and itchy from bites, but I’m smiling at the thought of all the amazing things I’ve got to post up here

There is a lot to write down, so in this post I just want to give a quick mention to Jimmy and Amelia who’ve been great to be on this trip with. We have worked well as a team and sharing these experiences with them has been a pleasure. They both have fantastic qualities which have helped to drive this trip and make it what it is, and for that I am grateful to them, but don’t let them know that.

We have wracked up a fair few air miles and by the end of this trip we will have wracked up a fair few more. Even before this trip I’ve been no stranger to flying but I have never been treated as well as when we flew with Air New Zealand, none of our requests for help were a problem for them. Once the cabin staff found out about our various disabilities and that we were going to cycle across New Zealand they became positively effusive with enthusiasm. We were brought three very nice glasses of Sparkling New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from first class, which we coudln’t believe. Not long after we were brought an entire bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and were welcomed to New Zealand. The various staff gave us contact details for family or friends who they told us we should speak to about everything from sights to see, to bike repair to even a place to stay, it was a very novel and extremely agreeable experience. I can say unreservedly that it was one of the best, if not the best flight I have ever been on and it will certainly be a fondly remembered highlight of the trip.

We arrived at four thirty in the morning, but by then our body clocks were spinning around out of control and even now I’m not sure they’ve recovered. We are staying with some friends of Jimmy’s Martin and Charlotte who very kindly agreed to allow us to crash, with all our stuff, in their home. Although with two very active and very curious young boys, I’m pretty sure they’re no strangers to chaos, but I am very grateful that they have allowed us to add our own dimension to it.
Martin took the time to take us for a drive around Auckland to see some of the sights, but I’m afraid my fifth gear syndrome hit and I only remember a few of the spots we visited. I’m almost ashamed to admit that it was my own snoaring that woke me up.

I’m still finding it hard to believe that I’m actaully in New Zealand. It’s a country that I’ve wanted to see for such a long time and I feel like an idiot to keep repeating it, but I still have to take a breath and realise that I am here. The weather here is amazing and the sun is very strong, fear not however, for I have sun cream.