Adventures in Horticulture

I managed to find a backpack for $4 at the second hand store the other day so I’m finally prepared to attempt the abel-tasman track. Only problem with it is it doesn’t have a waist belt on it so all the weight will rest firmly on my shoulders, should be an interesting 2 day walk for my shoulders at the very least. I’ll leave for that tomorrow and be back out of the woods on Monday evening if all goes according to plan. Tomorrows hike is gonna be at full blast as the ferry pulls into shore at 11:30 and the sun sets at 5:30ish.

I got an email from the Belgian cyclist, Matthew, I toured with that long day into Greymouth the other day. He has pushed on into the north island through some nasty weather. He told me that the weather has been absolutely foul for the past week and couldn’t camp because everything was soaking wet. He got to the point of asking random people to sleep in sheds and other covered spaces. I know i’d be whining about it as well had I been in the rain that much. Fortunately for me I still reside in the sunshine capital of New Zealand and it’s holding up to it’s name quite nicely. Out of the last 2.5 weeks that I’ve been here we’ve seen just about 3 days of rain.

The wwoofing here, as always, has turned out to be a neat experience. I’ve been learning a lot about trees this time, mostly the fruiting type and how to take care of them, aka pruning and transplanting. I’ve also done my part in planting native bush in a Queen Elizabeth II reserve area. I also got wrangled into being a house painter for Ann and Bob as well which usually means I end the day a lot more red than when I started.

The days continue to get shorter by 2 minutes every day which amounts to 14 minutes a week less daylight I have for cycling which makes me think when I get to Wellington it might be best to find another wwoofing gig and wait for the shortest day to pass me by and start gaining daylight once again (June 21 is the shortest day I believe.) I’ve also got the gang I met on the Milford track in Wellington who I’ll get to hang out with for a few days and hopefully get in a long walk over on that side.

Feijoas & Figs

Current Location:Mapua, Aotearoa

While riding with Matthew that one day into Greymouth I asked him after a particularly long stretch of hill how did he feel? His response was something I’ll not forget for a while, it was simply “alive.” It struck me at first as perhaps the language was getting in the way of what he wanted to say but on further thought it was the best answer to give. I have expressed here for a while that I feel particuarly free while riding and the sentiment of alive while riding simplifies it even further, I like it even more.

I like leaving wwoofing gigs up to fate as much as I can. I typically leave a post on the wwoof message board when I’ll be in an area about a week before I think I’ll make it there and let the hosts contact me if they have stuff for me to do. So far this has been a winning recipefor me. I’m currently staying with Ann and Bob Phillips, a couple of wood turners (they make bowls and plates and circular things out of wood) who have a few acres of trees and garden type things that need a little care now that the peak season is past. Figs and Feijoas are in season at the moment and I have my fair share of those every day. Feijoas remind me of guavas from home (the skin especially) and figs are something I’ve never really had except for in Fig Newtons. We also get to have peaches and pears for pudding every night which they had already canned for the year (I really like the pears jar’ed with lemon peels in them.) I am not sure why British people get tagged as eating bland food (at least that’s the stereotype I learned from somewhere) but that really hasn’t been the case with the Brits I’ve stayed with. This couple has brought with them the Pakistani influence that has come to Britain and like their food spicy as did Max and Jane which is delightful for me as it sure beats pb&j every day.

Last stop for me on the south island is Takaka in the Golden Bay region. Alex told me it wasn’t to be missed and Max and Jane also built up the area so I’ll make the trek out there after I’ve finished wwoofing and the Abel-Tasman walk sometime in the next week or so. That tramp will be a lot easier and should b able to manage it in 2 days of walking and 1 night camping in the area. The lady at the info center says that buses aren’t running to the end of the track any more as the season is over so my other option is to get a water taxi to the end of the track and walk my way back to the beginning which is probably how I’ll manage it.

It’s funny how I manage to find the tiny breweries around when wwoofing. It turns out there’sa brewery about 15 minutes walk from where I am staying now, called Golden Bear Brewerie, and even stranger still the guy who started it is from California. It’s a good beer again and even better is he brought with him a California menu, filled with burritos, tacos, and enchiladas. Even managed to run into another Doug from Minnesota while I was drinking there one afternoon. So if anyone needs to find me, i’ll be at the bar enjoying a black boy peach brew.

The Longest Ride

Current Location: Motueka, Aotearoa

I left Franz Joseph under blue skies, a portent that it was time to move on. The previous day I got to walk on the glacier as part of a tour, a good idea to go with a tour since they outfit you with everything you need, the most important thing being crampons. The plan for me leaving Franz Joseph was to make it to Hokitika which would have made it something like a 130km ride which is my sweet spot for riding distances plus with the much shorter days I need to leave earlier to hit further distances. As it happens I met another cyclist on Mt. Hercules, don’t let the name fool you as it was more of a hill, and he was going the same way as I was. We got to talking after we finished the hill and it turns out my flag recognition isn’t the greatest as I greeted him with a gutentag and he’s from Belgium, Matthew is his name, (in my defense I just looked at the two flags and they are very similar.) So after I got over that gaffe I asked him where he was heading sure that he was going to Hokitika as well but it turns out he was shooting for Greymouth which is another 40km past Hokitika. I thought if he was going that far there was no reason I couldn’t go that far as well so we rode together for the remainder of the day taking turns pulling each other the last 50km into Greymouth. We arrived just as the last vestige of light dissapeared in the sky, total distance for the day for me was 176km which works out to 110miles.

Homer and I used to bemoan the amount of food we could eat decreased as time marched on for both of us. But I think I’ve found the solution to that problem. After the 110 mile ride I was famished as all I had that day was a bowl of porridge and a pb&j sandwich. Upon getting into Greymouth I found a pizza joint and sat down ordering a large pizza and a loaf of garlic bread, Matthew had a pint of beer and had to leave shortly after I ordered. I managed to inhale that food with no problems, I think it was somewhere around 15 minutes to finish it all but I felt miles better after that. The following day I found an all you can eat bbq of sausage, toast, and potato salad all for 6$. I found a table with some other kiwi’s on vacation from the north island. They were aghast as I went up for fourths of everything but I got to telling them the previous days journey and they kinda understood. On the upside they offered to put me up when I get up past Auckland again which is super cool.

The pancake rocks were a nice enough distraction for the day and the rest of the west coast was as amazing as it was built up to be. The traffic was relatively light with me going entire km without seeing cars at times and at other times having to jostle around with logging trucks once again. I was warned about the logging trucks in the peddlers paradise so I was ready for them.

I’ve started looking for some wwoofing in this area as this is the sunshine capital of New Zealand. I passed tons of apple and kiwi orchards on the way into town today, strangely enough they don’t make cider from what I can tell. I’m only one day from the end of the south island if I were to head to Picton at this moment but the plan is still to spend some time down here enjoying the south island a bit more.
Updated the pictures
Windy as

The Wet Coast

Current Location:Franz Joseph, Aotearoa

One note on Wanaka, if anyone goes there you absolutely much check out the Cinema Paradisio it’s a charming little theater that I think has one screen. It doesn’t have normal theater seating but couches instead and a car so you can pretend to be in a drive in movie theater. They also have an intermission in each movie where you can go and grab another beer or fresh baked cookies! This was absolutely brilliant.

I tried to wait out the weather in Wanaka since the forecast for the day I planned to leave was rain in the morning then clearing up in the afternoon. I waited until about 9 to leave (I typically leave at with the sky looking just as grey as it had been all morning but I was anxious to get a move on. It turned out to be a somewhat poor decision as the thunder and lightning kept me on my peddles figuring if I put my feet down the cleats at the bottom of my shoes would make a perfect conductor. The wind and the rain was something fierce as well, the wind got so bad I actually had to dismount the bike and crouch against the wind otherwise I’d be blown over and the rain fell down like little shards of glass. The only upside to it all was the sign that said the road to Haast was still open (as I left Wanaka) so I figured I’d give it a go anyway. I made it as far as Makaroa where there is another sign that says if the road is open or close, this time the sign had changed to closed. I didn’t quite believe it and kept on going anyway as if I was going to make it to Haast there was no time to dawdle. I made it about another 3k before I ran into some workers who weren’t too keen on me disregarding the signs in the middle of the road that said the road was closed and they told me to go back to Makaroa, which I did. Found a backpackers place there where a few other people joined me who were in the same boat (the road ended up being closed for the whole night.)

The only good thing about stopping was I got to dry out my shoes, protip – stuff your soggy shoes with balled up newspapers and by morning they will be dry as can be (change newspapers before going to sleep for even dryer shoes.) And the people that were stuck with me were awesome. Met a couple of aussies and a dutch girl and we all ended up playing cards so it ceartainly wasn’t a bad night.

The next day was better in the sense that the road was at least open but I ended up getting just as wet that day as I did the day before. But on the upside it was forward progress which I’ll take at any time. Not much to say about Haast as I was indoors hiding from the rain and there isn’t much to the place that I could see.

I’d let you guess what the weather was today for the ride to the glaciers but there wouldn’t be much guessing. It was another soggy day in the saddle and I’m kinda worried my saddle is unhappy with all this rain but I’m not sure there’s much I can do about it. The ride was supposed to be amazing with the views of the glaciers in the distance but all I really got was glimpses of them as I was going along due to them being covered in clouds, hopefully it clears up tomorrow but I’ll not hold my breath. I talked to another guy the other day and he mentioned it had been raining at the glaciers for the last 7 days, I would hope that it would have to end sometime.

On a seperate note I got sent this link by a few of the trampers I did the Milford Track with. This happened only 1 week after I was on the track so I’ll consider it lucky I got to finish it when I did.

A Few Loose Screws

Current Location: Wanaka, Aotearoa

The parallels to the Pacific Coast at this moment in time is frightening. I feel somewhat like Icarus, each time I try to go to the highest point of my ride the wheels give out on me. I started the hill with a rebel yell, I was really looking forward to conquering the hill and it was shaping up to be a great day of riding. It was to make up for missing Leggett hill on the Pacific Coast and I thought it would make for an interesting challenge. I made it up the first two-thirds of the hill with about 2k left in the climb, then it started when I would peddle the rear wheel would just spin around the axle. My first thought was uh-oh not my axle. I then looked at the road and there was frost on it so I quickly attributed it to that since I was still in the shade and I thought the wheel was just slipping on the road. I got off the bike and walked it to a sunny part of the road and let the tyres warm up in the air. I get on the bike again and start peddling with the same result, only this time I look down at the rear wheel and the spokes are in the middle of the axle, not on the outside of the axle like the should be and I am now wobbling around like crazy on the rear wheel. As I get off the bike I realize that I somehow unscrewed where the spokes connect to the axle and there is no chance of me walking the bike to the top of the hill just so I can ride it downhill (most of the remainder of the days ride was downhill.) So out popped the thumb, I waited about 15 minutes before getting a ride. I disassembled the bike and stuck it in the trunk and made it to Wanaka yesterday. The bike shop can only find a 36 spoke replacement since they can’t find any axles of the 40 spoke variety which leaves me worried, hopefully the weight I’ve lost can lead to an easier time on the axle. I’m now stuck here until Sunday when they expect to get the part to me (they can’t get it to me Saturday as there is a huge mountain bike race going on here.) I guess my biggest concern is that Wanaka is the last town with a bicycle shop for the next 500km (approx) So if the wheel does fail me then it will either lead to me backtracking to Wanaka or having to hitch to Greytown which I really don’t want to have to do.

As people have been telling me there are worse places than Wanaka to get stuck which I sort-of agree with, I’d much rather be cycling rather than having to have my bike fixed though. Other than that Wanaka is another Queenstown, just half the size of it which fits me much better than Queenstown. I stopped by Arrowtown on the way to Wanaka yesterday and it was the definition of quaint, it’s an old mining town and they are in the midst of their autumn festival, the hot chocolate there was excellent.

Getting stuck here gave me a good excuse to upload some pictures.

A nice end to a trek A Nice ending to a long trek

A Great Walk

Current Location:Queenstown, Aotearoa

I can’t help but compare the Milford Track to the Pacific Coast cycle ride I did, just on a much smaller scale. It provided amazing vistas and somewhat challenging terrain, much like the Pacific Coast. But I think the greatest echo of the Pacific Coast tour I did was the fact that every day you walk on your own (or with a group) and at night you camp together with the same folks which makes for an awesome environment. We played tons of card games each night after the walk, I amazed yet another group of people with my card shuffling skills. The highlight of the walk was on the 3rd day when we got to what I called “holy-shit falls” because that’s all I could think as I was walking up to it. It’s actual name is Sutherland falls and it stands at a towering 580m (1,904ft.) It sounds like a jet engine going at full tilt and that’s what first caught my attention because I thought a plane was going overhead only to find it peek out of the trees shortly after to which I exclaimed “oh-shit.” It’s pretty neat after you get over the fact that there is this torrential amount of water falling down not more than 30ft in front of you (it was the only shower I got on the entire 4 days) and they actually encourage you to go stand behind the waterfall (I passed since I had my camera with me.)

Pictures really can’t do the place justice and I don’t find myself disappointed after doing it. I think it adds to the allure the fact that you have to catch a boat to and from the track which is how they really regulate how many people a day get onto the track. I thought that they had found a nice balance between commercialization and allowing access to the track, any more people and it would have been crowded but there were times throughout every day when I could walk for hours without seeing another soul.

When we finally made it to Milford I had a few hours to blow as did a lot of other trampers as our bus wasn’t due until 5 o’clock. So a bunch of us did a scenic cruise through the Milford Sound (the difference between and sound and fiord? A fiord is created by glaciers while a sound is created by rivers) So technically it’s Milford Fiord since it was created by a glacier. The captain was quite nice and drove us under a waterfall which more than made up for me missing standing underneath Sutherland falls and we got to see some dolphins playing around in the water. It ended with a rainbow under Mitre Peak (most photographed peak in New Zealand they say) Quite a nice end to a long trek.

The cast of characters was pretty broad. Though meeting 4 people from Montana was somewhat strange (2 separate groups of 2 from Montana) a pair of touring cyclists from Nebraska and a smattering of internationals made for an interesting group of people. I met a couple of girls from Wellington who have promised me some curry when I get up back around that way which should be good.

Being back on the road is definitely a nice feeling, although I come back to the road quite frigid. My toes normally don’t warm up until around noon and I must look quite silly wearing almost half the clothes I own. I sure hope the coast is more temperate than it is up the center here. Tomorrow I plan on hitting the highest paved road in New Zealand on the way to Wanaka.

In Stasis

Current Location: Te Anau, Aotearoa

After riding the bus one last time (I’ve vowed that it be the last time while in New Zealand) is that the seats are more uncomfortable than my bike seat. I can literally sit in my bike seat for 4 straight hours without any uncomfortable while I can’t sit in a bus seat for longer than 2 hours without getting uncomfortable. One of the many things I don’t care for on the bus. The view from behind the glass also loses some of the charm that a bike affords, the hills seem so inconsequential as compared to a bike and distances seem so small, but it’s infinitely more gratifying to do it by bike.

I find that I’m truly more comfortable when moving forward or just moving, as long as it’s not backwards. I’ve found myself in Te Anau for the past 3 days now waiting to get onto the Milford track. I did a 100 mile ride yesterday sorta by accident. I meant to ride to Milford Sound which should have been a 120km (~80miles) to Milford Sound, but in between here and there is a 1.2km tunnel that is unlit, something I was none to keen to try. So what ended up happening was me riding to the Divide, turning around and making my way back. I find that my body takes care of itself while riding and my mind is free to wander, it’s peaceful.

I’m disappointed to an extent with how expensive this hike is becoming, I guess also because I haven’t moved forward in the last few weeks since I’m back where I was a few weeks ago, a touch discouraging as the days keep getting shorter and the I know the cold is coming. Which isn’t to say that I’m not excited to do the Milford, I just hope the experience will outweigh the cost.

As for how wwoofing affects my theory of being happy when moving forward I think it gives me a purpose which I think I need from time to time. When I’m riding my bike that is my purpose and when I’m wwoofing it becomes my purpose but when I’m waiting for something I’m purposeless which makes me restless.

New muscles hurt after switching over to clipless peddles, I imagine I’ll be used to it after a week or so. I fell for the first time yesterday, fortunately it was into the dirt and not the gravel. I was more interested in using the bathroom than getting out of the peddles. I tried to step out like I’m used to and thought “uh-oh, I’m trapped”, Thump. Fortunately nobody else was around.

I’ve added a few pictures

mirror lake Name this lake!

Skinny Tyres

Current Location: Oturehua, Aotearoa

Find that on a map, let alone try and pronounce it. Took me a few times to get it right after stumbling around with it a few times. I think the population of this town is right around 20 so you can imagine it’s pretty quiet around here at night. How did I end up here you may ask? I was doing the Otago Central Rail Trail this week thinking it would take me max of 3 days, and that’s taking it super easy doing only 50km/day. Well after I started it I couldn’t just stop at 50k so I just kept on going (I even started later thinking I would force myself to stop earlier.) So I ended up doing more around 90k on the trail instead and ended up at a place called the Crows Nest, a backpackers where they have tent sites available. Anyway I got to talking to the owner (Annette) and after telling her that I do the wwoofing thing she offered to put me up and work around the place for a few days. Well that few days turned into 5 days with me doing side trips to little towns around the place just to keep riding.

One cool thing that happened is I met a girl at the crows nest that works for DOC (Department of Conservation) and of all the places she could work at she happens to work at the Milford Track, the hardest track to get booked on and she invited me to check out the last two days of the hike which I most likely will if I can fit it into a schedule (I get to stay at the staff hut which has hot showers, yippie) I’m still kinda hoping I can get booked onto the full tramp but I’ll have to see when I get nearer to Queenstown again.

I finally figured out whats broken on my bike. I thought it had been the bottom bracket after just having it replaced but it turns out it was the peddle. So that means I get to replace that now which leaves me with the only thing on the bike I haven’t replaced yet is the cranks (which I should replace), the frame, and the handle bars. This might be my opportunity to put in clipless peddles which I’ll have to consider for a few days as I’ve always been a bit hesitant to put them on because it means the next time I fall I go down with the bike since I won’t have my escape option I do now. Notice I say when and not if, it’s only a matter of time before I take another spill, I just hope i’m not doing 40km/hr this time.

I’ll cycle the remainder of the trail tomorrow and head to Pukarangi to catch the Taieri Gorge Train back into Dunedin, supposed to be a nice ride but I’ll have to be hasty to make it to the train by 4:30p otherwise I’ll have to find someplace around there to camp for the night.

I think I’m done with gravel roads for a while, my skinny tyres have held up admirably but I feel like I’m pushing my luck every day I ride on this rough roads. I blew one lady away today as I did a survey on the trail, she couldn’t believe how much my bike weighed and how many miles I’ve done, super funny lady because all the questions were about how much I spend and most of it was zero dollars since I free camp and ride my bike around, but she took it pretty well.

Mom and dad are gonna be here in a few days so i’ll have to figure out how to get to Christchurch to hang out with them for the day and then how to make it back to Queenstown, but i’ll worry about that in a week or so.

I’ll post pictures when I get to Dunedin.

Train Station in the Middle of Nowhere Train station in the middle of nowhere

edit: Pictures uploaded

Due North

Current Location: Queenstown, Aotearoa

I honestly wasn’t too impressed with Dunedin, perhaps it was because I rolled in there on the day that St. Patrick’s day was going on so I rolled into frat boys sitting on their roofs drinking beers and throwing taunts left and right. Add to that the fact that the weather was miserable and I ended up leaving in a headwind (which lasted for 3 days.) Suffice to say my impression of the place wasn’t the fondest. But I’ve decided to give it another go now that I’ve hit Queenstown I’ll continue on and do the central Otago Rail Trail which will put me smack dab back into Dunedin when I’ve finished it. The other thing I really wanted to do while in Dunedin was go on the Speights brewery tour (I skipped it due to lack of funds,) thats something I’ve been looking forward to ever since trying their dark beer (in my mind it rivals Newcastle.)

I finally hit slope point yesterday, it was a great feeling to be there finally but i’m not sure I can fully explain why. It was a great ride through the Caitlins with lots of little stops here and there for short walks. Curio bay was kinda neat but I kinda wish I hadn’t stuck around for the 1.5hrs to see 1 little penguin make an appearance 100yards off. Other than that the days were filled with lots of gravel roads and wind again. Hopefully now that i’m heading north the wind will be in my favor but I am not counting on it. I think my total milage has rolled over somewhere in the neighborhood of 3400km (a little over 2000 miles)

I ran into 3 british cyclists who were just finishing their ride up in Invercargill (actually they were going to ride to Bluff the day I was leaving and then come back to Invercargill.) I wished them well as I left in the morning and felt a bit jealous that they were done, but I reminded myself that soon enough I’ll get to say I’m done as well. We traded books and I got a Lance Armstrong book which I then devoured that night in camp since it ended up being an easy ride. They also told me about a pizza place in Queenstown which I must try since I’ve been craving pizza for a solid 2 weeks.

I wrote the above 2 paragraphs while I was in Invercargill 3 days ago but couldn’t finish the post due to money constraints. It’s funny when I got down to my last $100 I went into a money save mode where the only thing I could spend money on was food and one night at a hostel because I really needed to take a shower. But I managed to make it to Queenstown in one piece and with a spare jar of peanut butter in tow.

The ride into Queenstown was amazing and something that most people don’t do when they come to New Zealand. The road was a 80km gravel road that dead ends into a lake which is where having a bike comes in handy because I could take the SS Earstlaw Steamer across the lake into Queenstown. A nice treat after a long day on gravel. Although the other benefit to it was I saw a total of 5 cars all day long until arriving into Queenstown so it was a very peaceful ride.

I’ve been seeing a lot of lakes for the past few days which I think will basically continue for the next few weeks, I apologize in advance for the amount of ’scenery’ pictures that will soon take up space in the gallery but some of them defy taking pictures of because I can’t fully capture what it looks like to be here riding with giants on either side of me.

Pictures tomorrow as I’ve forgotten the memory card today.

Slope Point Slope Point 

Edit: Pictures Added

Land of the Long White Cloud

Current Location: Dunedin, Aotearoa

Ever since I left Mt. Cook it has been cloudy every day. I wake up usually around 7am to try and get an early start on the day but it’s harder to get up when everything around you is a misty white. In case you’re wondering the translation for Aotearoa is today’s title, if the maori landed on the southern part of the islands I can see why they would have named it as such. The clouds do finally disappear at around 6p in time for the stars to make an appearance.

The trip to Mt. Cook was great although I may or may not have broken my bottom bracket, I won’t be able to take it into the shop as my credit cards are still blocked at the moment. For the moment I can still turn the pedals and it doesn’t feel harder to push them but from time to time I hear a metal on metal sound which doesn’t sit well with me. Other than that it was a perfectly peaceful trip through the mountains. I took roads that had signs that say road closed but I pay them no mind and just walk my bike around the barriers. Camping in that area was a snap, just about anywhere was an option to camp and I’m getting used to camping on my own now, I just have to have a book or my iPod charged.

I also realize I forgot to post anything about Akaroa, I guess I did this due to it being such a traumatic day for me. But honestly the architecture was about the only thing that struck me. Reminded me a lot of Mackinac Island and I struggled to find anything French about it besides the street names and the names of some of the buildings. I’m not sure what I was looking for but something more than just a French facade. It was certainly a nice place to visit.

I also managed to spend an extra day in Temuka waiting for the police station to open (I got back there from Mt. Cook on a Sunday) which was good so I could rest up. I think the current plan is to get out of Dunedin in a day or two and hit up slope point among a few other things down that way. Then off to Invercargill. After that I’m not sure exactly how it’ll play out but I may end up trying to go to Queenstown and then to the Central Otago Rail Trail and then take a train back to Dunedin where I can meet mom and dad in Christchurch (I promised the folks at Thornton Grange i’d visit them again). The other option being blasting my way through the west coast, I figure it would take me 6 days to make it back to Picton once I’ve left Invercargill. At this point I don’t want to predict one way or the other which way i’ll go, time will tell.

Todays ride was a lot of fun. I started at Full Day Bay where I had the whole beach to myself last night. The ride was punctuated with two large hills which made for a fun ride into Dunedin. The last hill was 8km up and 7km down, for whatever reason I hummed the Indiana Jones theme the whole way down the hill. I think some of my confidence is returning after the fall as more days go by the more I open up the brakes on downhill segments.

I added pictures a few days ago.

Monument to Richard Pearce Monument to Richard Pearce