Iteris

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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.

When it came time to leave Auckland after some well deserved rest, Sue very kindly agreed to drive us and all our stuff to Clevedon, just south of Auckland. There are those that might think it cheating we didn’t cycle through Auckland, but really they are comments I am happy to deal with as the roads around there were too dangerous to cycle and I would rather skip a section and still make it down to Bluff then insist on riding such routes. From Clevedon we cycled along a gorgeously sweeping coastline that glittered alluringly throughout the day. At lunch we gave in temporarily and ate beside the sea at Kawakawa Bay. It was a forty mile day, hard but pleasant none the less and possibly one of the most enjoyable rides so far. We eventually arrived, tired and ready for some food at a five star camp site in Miranda Springs, where, as the name suggests, were thermal pools we were able to bathe in. It is true, the smell of bad eggs was pervasive and though we shot each other some suspicious looks, we were fairly sure it must have been the spring.

The following day we once again packed the kit and set off. I must admit to my arse grumbling at me after such a long day of being on the bike the day before. Still, the road was flat as we cycled through the plains and there was no headwind, so the cycle was fairly easy. It was as we were leaving Piroa after lunch that we encountered a problem. Suffice it to say we found ourselves once more standing in a bike shop. It turned out that a bearing in Jimmy’s bike had broken and there was no replacement to be found. Feeling a little demoralised at having another equipment failure we looked for accommodation. As it turned out there were no camp sites around Piroa that allowed tents and there was a clay pigeon shoot that weekend so most of the accommodation was taken. However, we found a motel, I do use the term loosely and must admit it was one of the first times on the trip that I longed for my tent and my sleeping bag. The proprietor appeared to be a fan of what I have now learned are called stubbies, a throwback from the seventies, a very short type of shorts. I can tell you they are not a pretty sight. All that aside he was very kind and gave us an extra room free of charge, into which we were able to dump all of our kit, and we did sleep well that night.

In the morning we phoned around and managed to find someone who would be able to get us the bearing that we needed, but it would have to be ordered and because of the long weekend wouldn’t arrive till the next week. This left us with the problem of how we’d get to out of Piroa and where we’d stay. Our prayers were answered by Jane and Richard Coon, who appeared in their truck to whisk us and our gear to their house beside lake Ohakuri, half an hour outside of Rotorua. I can honestly say, with a heart felt certainty I cannot convey in words alone, that if I had to be stuck anywhere, here is where I’d want it to be. We are currently staying on a private, eighty acre estate, which includes the lake we overlook, and leaving is going to be made all the more difficult because of Jane and Richard’s great hospitality.

While we’ve been here we’ve pottered around Rotorua town and seen the famous lake. Even at its busiest Rotorua has the pace of perhaps an English town on Sunday. We also visited the Lady Nox Geyser and the thermal springs which were pretty fascinating and we were told that around Rotorua is the most active volcanic area in the world. We then spent an evening at Tamaki village, a Maori experience allegedly. I must admit to being under-whelemd. Although the night started off well with the choreographed dance it quickly seemed to lose cohesion and though it might have pleased some people off of a boat or coach trip, we’ve been meeting New Zealand’s people throughout our trip and learned a great deal more from them than we did from that night.

Although I started this as a record of my thoughts and feelings of this trip I have to say that I think I’m doing a poor job of conveying the spectacular beauty of New Zealand and now that I’ve reached Ohakuri I find my vocabulary inadequate to describe how incredulously outstanding this place is and more than that, how being here seems to effect people. There are a great number of gaps that I will try to fill at a later date.

The next morning we packed up all our kit, loaded up the trailer and panniers, and pulled the fully laden bike onto the road. pessimist that I am, I sat astride the stretch tandem with growing foreboding and waited to be scraped along the road. Surprisingly when we started peddling we..wobbled and stopped. Twice more we tried to the same effect, eventually a very kind gentlemen gave us a push and we were off down the hill, crazily gaining speed. As Amelia and I hurtled down the rode, the tandem trembling under the strain of stuff and howling wind, we were getting ever closer to a corner. This would not have been quite so alarming had the corner not had a barrier on it, over which gaped a seemingly bottomless drop. There was only one sensible option open to us, so we panicked, then we managed to skid a tandem before jumping clear and watching it slowly collapse on the side of the road. Hearts pounding we stared dumbstruck at the gear we were supposedly meant to pull all the way to Bluf. We wheeled the bike back up the hill and left it at the site while we went down and fetched the trailer. It was so heavy that we had to flag down a passing mini bus and got it hitched up the hill. Sitting down in the shade we had a discussion and were lucky enough to get our kit shifted half the distance to the next campsite and so we set off on our cycle, with no trailer or panniers, it was great.
Meeting up with our stuff again, we were again faced with the problem of how to shift it to the camp site. For the second time that day we were lucky and managed to find someone to take it all the way to the camp site we had planned to stay at.
During that day we stopped to ask directions at someone’s house and we were greeted with a friendliness I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. They insisted we come in for a drink. I have to be honest and say that what struck me most was the amazing beard the man had managed to grow as well as his black vest and very small black boxer briefs which is all he appeared to be wearing, perfectly decent in themselves but together it appeared as though he were wearing a one piece outfit.
That evening was a very sombre one. We had realised that we weren’t able to carry the gear and I can honestly say that I was thinking the whole trip would have to be abandoned

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.