Tag: New Zealand

Posted on

Riding High

Current Location:Lake Tekapo, Aotearoa

I’d certainly call this a week of highs and lows. Rather the week started pretty low and things are starting to look a lot better now. It started with my trip to Akaroa on Sunday which was going particularly well (so I thought) until I realized my wallet had somehow fallen out of my zipped up pocket somewhere in the last 20km of the ride into Akaroa. In a semi-panic mode at that point I hitched a ride back to where I took a nap on the side of the road thinking it had fallen out there (probably about 10km back) and walked back to my bike to no avail. I think at the time my funds were left to $9 in coins that I had in my pocket which meant getting a campground or a hostel was out of the question for the night. So freecamping was my only option at that point, I asked what I believed to be the priest of a church if it was okay to sleep behind the church that night and at first he was hesitant but in the end let me sleep the night back there, he also offered me some money which I refused. Anyway I cycled back to Christchurch and Thornton Grange the following morning and got mom and dad to wire me some money (thanks) so that I could continue to cycle. To make a long story shorter the police ended up with my wallet and somehow found mom and dad’s phone number and let them know that they have it. I found this fact out 2 days ago, which is another hooray New Zealand moment for me because the police say that all the money is still there and my cards are still intact. Honestly, I sorta half expected it to be returned just from the experiences I’ve had with the kiwi people but it’s nice to have that confirmed in such a huge way.

On to the cycling of leaving Christchurch I find the last 3 days I’ve been riding against a Southerly wind that just won’t give up. I saw on the news the other day that gusts are up to 120km/hr (egads!) Sometimes on flat ground I’ll be in my granny gear chugging along at a measly 10km/hr because the wind just won’t give up. At the same time the road out of Christchurch has nary a bend, bob, or bump so it’s fairly uninteresting terrain to cover add to that the southerly wind which is bitingly cold. And lets not forget the hail that rained down not 30 minutes after getting into camp one night, that wouldn’t have been pleasant to ride through. How different a month makes when I rode into the Canterbury plains it was 40 degrees on the way out it was 9. Yesterdays ride was completely different except for the wind which was unceasing all day long. The terrain was much different as I was heading for the mountains which meant hills plus wind, but I was fairly determined to make it to Lake Tekapo and in the end did make it, the highest I got was 709m which to me was a huge triumph because that was a mountain pass where the wind just howled and beat me back. After that it was a fairly chill ride into Lake Tekapo and camped just outside of town on the side of the road. I’m finding that wild camping is pretty easy, just have to make sure I have enough water.

The plan for today is to ride to Mt. Cook which should hopefully be easier, the southerly wind is supposed to be done by today and they weather forecast is supposed to be nice for the weekend, even if it doesn’t I’ll still cycle. Because if 120km winds won’t stop me I’m not sure what will.

Posted on

When Pigs Fly

I think I should stop predicting when I’ll be leaving Christchurch as I’m still here. I got my wheel back again yesterday, this time it’s as true as it’s going to get I think. The last thing I have to do to the bike is to put on the new brakes and it’s ready to roll. I am starting to get worried about the weather, to the point where I don’t think I’ll stop in Dunedin and just roll on through there to try and make it up part of the west coast before having to meet mom and dad. I’m not sure if many people would appreciate that one of my wheels is now chromed, bling for my bike as they might say.

I added a few pictures from around town with Anne (I do have to apologize, her name is not Anna, but Anne) We spent far too much time at a place called the Twisted Hop which is a brew pub here in town. Bryan and Franziska both recommended it to me when we were talking about beer one day and I’ve been there enough to know the owner and all of the wait staff, definitely too much time spent there. I’ve also taken Alex there and he enjoyed it as well, it’s really a hidden gem because it’s tucked away in the back of an alley and you mostly just find locals there.

I guess I should write down stuff about the crazy German I’ve been working with for the last week and a half. The day I met her was the day after my fall so I wasn’t feeling 100% up to snuff but we mucked out a paddock as our first job. In that hour she managed to call me a girl and a wuss, I got zero sympathy from her. Which is what I think I needed at the time, because feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to fix anything. It’s been great ever since then. Shes here to work on her English which is fun for me because I get to laugh at her mistakes and she teaches me some German, which I’m hopeless at. The two things I’ve learned from her are doodlesack and a phrase that I think means I eat rabbits. Both of which I’m sure I’ll find wildly useful if I make it to Germany. Anyway her two months in New Zealand are up and she is heading back to Australia for more backpacking adventures. I wish her luck and happiness while there.

Once again I think the plan is to head to Akaroa, I can’t have cycled that far last time and not made it there to give up now, spend the day wandering around town and then head South. Slope point here I come, for real this time.

Bikes going uphill. Bikes going uphill 
Posted on

Aftermath of a Fall

Not round anymore Does not roll well. 
a tear in the tyre The puncture that I think caused the disaster. 

Here are the pictures I promised to post, I was having a lot of trouble getting my camera to connect to the computer but I think it was a computer issue instead of a camera issue, thankfully. As you can see it doesn’t look pretty. I’m feeling a lot better but still sore in my chest and a little on the top of my shoulder (that bone you have sticking out of the top of your shoulder hurts like nobody’s business.) But at least I can get myself out of bed again, the day after the accident I rolled myself out of bed and managed to climb back up.

As for the wheel the news is so-so. I took it into town to the one place that wanted to help me out (once again no one is really interested in touching a 27inch wheel) and they managed to find me a steel rim which they say will be heavier (which I don’t care about too much) and that slowing down will be a little harder (which should make life interesting.) The other option was to wait 4 weeks while they shipped in a new rim from Australia, which wasn’t an option for me. Which means that my tyre (NZ way of spelling it) should be ready to roll on Monday which then puts me on the road on Tuesday, whoohoo.

On a completely different note I’m getting to work with another wwoofer again which is turning out to be super fun. This time it’s a girl from Germany by the name of Anna. I just call her the crazy German. I have to say that it’s a lot more fun working with someone, sure makes the days go by quicker. I’m really thankful that Bryan and Franziska let me stay another week, especially since they had another wwoofer coming. One thing I said after the accident was that I was sorry to crash in on them again unexpected to which they responded “that’s what friends are for” which was pretty neat for me to hear. Hopefully this time I can make it on the road successfully.

Posted on

Catastrophic Failure

I’m not sure where to start this post today. I left Chirstchurch under a gray sky and a light drizzle coming down. I considered not leaving today and just posting that I had been delayed once again, perhaps that would have been a better route to have taken. I set out against better judgment thinking to myself W.W.S.D. and W.W.S.S. (What Would Shaun Do, he would tell me to man up and punch me telling me not to be a wuss,) (What Would Superman Say, he would say that not every day can be a sunny day so take what you can get) so taking these imagined words of wisdom to heart I decided to set out anyway. I made it as far as Hilltop which is right before Akaroa, probably about 10km from the town, I could actually see it from the cafe I stopped at. As soon as I left hilltop (aptly named since it rests at the top of a 475m hill) I got about 300m before my wheel spontaneously exploded (rear wheel of course.) I tried to save the fall and gently come to a stop, the only problem being I was already going 40km/hr so I managed to ditch the bike and take a sharp blow to my shoulder and chest which i’m sure tomorrow will sport a most manly black bruise. The wheel on the other hand is a parabola now, not round by any stretch of the imagination, sigh.

Now for the bright side of things. I crossed the road and stuck out a thumb to get back into Christchurch since the chances of me getting the bicycle fixed in Akaroa was nil. The first person that drove by stopped! That is incredible, Bryant and I had a nice chat while he took me back to Thornton Grange (where I’m wwoofing) and dropped me off there. They are sorta okay with having me back for a little while but they have another wwoofer coming in a few days. So I’ll probably get my stuff back to Christchurch and hang out in a hostel for a few days while i get things sorted out. I think of that as another silver lining, the fact that this happened so close to Christchurch. Anywhere else and I would have been up a creek with no way to get this properly fixed. I’m also glad that I have the panniers as I think they saved the bike from further damage (along with myself to some extent I believe.) I managed to walk away with just about no scratches which is also a bonus as the last time I took a spill like this it required 9 stitches to fix.

I took a few pictures of the tyre but my camera is acting up (I hope it wasn’t injured in the fall.) But i’ll try and post them tomorrow. It sucks to get so close to a goal and have to turn around, oh well… once I get this tyre sorted I’ll make another attempt.

Posted on

Held Up

Things seem to happen in weird ways sometimes. Sunday I went for a ride with Carlos on a single track that he calls the Alligator run that’s around the quarry. It’s honestly the first time I’ve tried doing a single track and now I know why I’ve never done it with my bike and why if I want to do them in the future I should really get a mountain bike. The wheels, brakes, and center of gravity was wrong. It was a difficult run but i managed to get through it. What happened though was my chain started giving me issues during the run and I knew it was time to get that replaced. It turns out that my rear freewheel needed to be replaced as well so I got a new freewheel that has 4 more teeth than my last one which means going uphill will be something like 16% easier. At the same time they told me my bottom bracket needed to be replaced as well (I knew this from when I was leaving LA as the mechanic there told me the same thing) so I figured while I had it in the shop I might as well get that fixed. Only problem with all of these repairs is once again my bicycle is too old for the parts they have in stock so they have had to order parts which means I’m here until at least Friday while I wait for parts to get in. I must say I’m glad this came to a head while I was in a large city rather than anywhere else in the south island as it’ll get harder and and harder to get things fixed elsewhere.

I think I’ll be kinda sad to leave this place, it’s been a fun time here. I’ve learned to play Zug um Zug, a German board game. It’s easy to impress a 13 year old as my card shuffling skills always amaze along with my typing speed. The food has been good and lots of laughing every day. Suffice to say it was easy to postpone leaving here another week to get my bike fixed. But I have to remind myself that February is almost over which means winter is fast approaching. The weather has been wonky the last few weeks with the temperature dropping to 9 degrees Celsius one night (48 degrees for reference.) Mostly due to the winds whipping out of the south pole. In that vein I’m planning to leave Monday once again, hopefully successfully this time.

On a seperate note I was going through some old pictures of mine as I was tryng to burn them to DVD and found one of me before I started cycling and decided to make a comparison picture, startling to say the least.

Posted on

Spitting Llamas

For the record, llamas do spit. I have firsthand knowledge on this after trying to herd them back into their block. It certainly caught me off guard so I stopped doing that and let them wander around in their new pen.

I neglected to add last post that I find myself living with a family that has four teenagers living under the same roof, although I only really see 3 of them as the eldest recently graduated high school and has taken to being out most of the time. I find dinners to be highly amusing as most of the conversations sound wildly familiar to me, I think I may have had at some point in my life. More and more I have my face buried in my hands silently laughing at the arguments and comments that circle the table, oh the innocence of youth. I certainly find myself looking forward to dinners especially for the youngest member of the family, Carlos 13, is the king of overreaction adds a spiciness to the dinner that no food can replace.

Most days I cycle into town and wander around because it is so close that there really is no excuse not to go. I finally found myself wandering through the botanical gardens the other day and was amazed at how huge the place is, the sheer cost of maintaining a place like that is staggering. But like I said Christchurch is the garden city and is aptly named. I’ve also been through the art museums, sorry to say to the Summercamp house I still need Janice or Fatty to explain modern art to me, and had amusing times in them as well.

I meant to post a few days ago on the 3 month anniversary of me being in New Zealand as that means I’m a quarter into my year of kiwi-ness, also a good reminder that I have to start cycling again. As I mentioned in the last post i’m heading out to Akaroa this coming Monday for the day to check out the one French outpost here in New Zealand and then I’m going to start heading for Lake Pukaki and Mt. Cook. It’s as close as I can come to crossing the south island without actually crossing it. I’ll get within stones throw distance to the Fox Glacier but that will have to wait until I go up highway 6. I’m aiming to stop in Dunedin or Invercargill for a few weeks to wwoof again and as I’ve finally gotten the book I can peruse the listing of hosts without the internet and found some interesting hosts, hopefully they have space available.

I did get to see the second half of the superbowl including the halftime performance. I think that was the most Americans I’ve seen since landing here in New Zealand. I sat in front of a kiwi who was getting coached through how the game works from a guy from New York. I need to find a kiwi to explain cricket to me like that as well, though I’m not sure there’s any hope to truly learning that game. It was a good game, definitely missed the portugese sausages and the backyard bbq though.

I added a few pictures from around town.

Your browser may not support display of this image.

Kiwifruit (Chinese Gooseberry)

Posted on

Hanging with Llamas

I’m still in Christchurch for the time being, I’m loving this city. It has a great bicycle culture (bike lanes everywhere and tons of people riding.) It shouldn’t be a great surprise as everything is so flat around here so it’s an accessible way to get around. I’ve found a wwoofing job about 10k outside of town working on a garden, weeding. It’s a pretty easy gigand the people are nice. I get into town just about every day to wander around and check out the town. I think a major reason I like this place is it still maintains a soul even though it’s a metropolitan type of area. There are still a lot of original buildings and lots and lots of parks and open spaces. I guess thats why it’s given the nickname of the garden city. It’s nice to see a city embrace open spaces instead of grubbing for money.

As for when I start cycling again (probably in about a week or so) I’ll swing out to Akaroa (the one and only French town in New Zealand) as it’s supposed to be a tourist attraction, I’ll go mid-week to try lessen the amount of traffic I’ll have to fight. After that I’ve made an executive decision to make the cycling harder, so in that respect I’ve decided to give up the coast route and start crisscrossing the south island a few times as I’ve always said that one of the reasons I do this trip is to challenge myself physically and recently the cycling is just a matter of getting on the cycle and going. Also to make things more difficult I’ve decided to start wild camping or world camping. I’m tired of staying in ‘holiday parks’ here. These parks basically amount to KOA Kampgrounds in the states and I was none too impressed with that experience. Any campground that has internet is not camping, yet most of the campgrounds i’ve been while here have had that luxury. I’m not sure if i’m just no good at finding DOC (Department of Conservation) campgrounds or they just aren’t signed well but I think wild camping will allow me to use my stove once again (instead of the kitchen that seems to be in every campground.) And the third way that I plan to make it more difficult is to get off the main roads, the south island has a few more options when it comes to roads (at times) and more often I’ll try and get off the main roads. Hopefully this will become more challenging.

I spent a lot of time at the Buskers Festival and I think I saw about 95% of the acts here. Hands down best performer I thought was Fraser Hooper He has the best expressions and mostly works amazingly well with kids in the audience, his timing is impeccable and his routine is hilarious. I think I saw his act 3 times and it never gets old, mostly because you can never tell what the kids are going to do when they come up to stage. All around it was a terrific festival and I think it’s a great venue for the show to go down and great way to showcase the city. I added a few more pictures from the festival and I promise that’s all I’ll show from there.

Oh yeah, the other thing on the farm is llamas! Still haven’t figured out if they spit but i’m not one to piss of a llama, they have vicious looking feet.

Posted on

A Third Complete

Current Location:Christchurch, Aotearoa

After finishing up a 40k ride this morning with a headwind that just wouldn’t quit it’s nice to be what I consider a third of the ride done. I’m not sure how I get to the conclusion that it’s a third done, but it seems to fit.

I’ve met a few more tourers now that I’ve started the south island in earnest. I cycled with a couple of girls from the UK but they ended up taking a break day in Akaroa while I’ve been pushing on to get to Christchurch. Another fellow from New Zealand was just starting his first ever cycle tour and he reminded me of me when I was starting my first cycle tour back in Seattle. There wasn’t much I could say to him but to keep it up, it’ll start paying off for him in a weeks time I’m sure.

It’s fitting that i’ve been reading Dune again as I entered the Canterburry area it got hot, one day it hit 40 degrees (the day we got into Akaroa) I was planning on taking a cycle trip out to the peninsula but decided against it and took shelter at a pub and had a few beers instead, a much more reasonable decision in my opinion. I’ve also been thinking I could use a stillsuit that they wear in dune, that way I wouldn’t have to carry as much water with me. Anyway the riding got pretty easy yesterday as things got either really flat or downhill most of the afternoon yesterday which had me piling on the kilometers.

I really enjoyed the Peddlers Rest though I do realize I missed the Saw Cut Gorge which was a 4hr hike up the road from there (I didn’t realize it existed until after I left) so I may detour on my way back north and head back down there for another night and do that hike. After talking to the UK girls for a while we came to the conclusion that there are so many amazing things to do in New Zealand that you really have to pick exactly which ones you want to do.

The reason I’ve been pushing for Christchurch is so I can go and see the International Buskers Festival which looks downright amazing. Max up in Pongaroa put me on to it so it has been a target of mine since then. Alex had some doubt that I could hit the mark but I was fairly certain that I could make it in time. So i’ll run off and catch some of that today and try and line up another wwoofing gig to hang out in Christchurch for a while.

I’m still looking for a computer that can work with my pictures, i’ve been getting stuck with Vista machines as of late and I can’t tell you how frustrating it is getting one of those to work on when it comes to pictures.

Edit: Pictures added, finally

Posted on

A Three Hour Tour

Current Location: Blenheim, Aotearoa

I couldn’t have asked for a nicer ride between the two islands today. It was as calm as riding through Mille Lacs Lake except for a few big bumps in between. Other than that it was a perfectly normal ride, i’m guessing when I do the return trip in 5 months it will be a very different story as it should be winter by then. Should be fun! The ride through the fjords? into Picton was spectacular, a great way to herald the beginning of the south island.

A big thanks goes out to Alex for giving me a ride into Plimmerton where I spent the night before catching the train into town this morning and getting ready for the ferry. I decided I didn’t need to spend any time down there right now as i’ll be going through Wellington on my return and I can do all the hobbit tours then =D. I’ll also cycle my way out of Wellington instead of taking the train up to Paraparaumu as I found a few cycling maps of the greater Wellington area that will make my life way easier on the return.

The ride from Picton to Blenheim was great. With the tailwind I think I was averaging 27-30km an hour, fortunately or not Blenheim was only 26k out of Picton so it was only an hours ride. I met a couple of Dutch tourers yesterday who just finished up the south island and gave me a few pointers. One of which was to carry a lot more water at all times. They said that their map would often tell them a town was coming up and when they got there it ended up being only a crossroads with nothing to demark it as a town. And with distances between towns getting up into the hundreds of kilometers it can be a while before finding water. Which would then put me back to getting water from streams (I’ve only done it once so far. =D)

Getting into Blenheim camping ends up being more expensive than a hostel… I can’t believe it really but I guess it happens. But at the same time all, literally all, of the hostel beds are taken for the night so it ends up I’m camping the night away anyway. Tomorrow I’m just shooting for the Peddlers Rest, it’s a bicyclers only hostel… I’m quite excited.

Posted on

Back in the Hammock

Current Location: Martinborough, Aotearoa

Great day for a ride yesterday. The ride was basically downhill the whole way. I think I started at an elevation of 1000 ft and ended the day at about 400 ft so it was a breezy day for the most part. Wings over Wairapa was going on in Masterton which is a big air show held here. I caught a couple of old planes whizzing over me as I was riding but other than that I didn’t catch any other planes. Fortunately for me once I passed Masterton all the traffic was going the other way so it was overall a pleasant ride. I cut over after Carterton to the back roads to avoid any unnecessary traffic and found that an astronomical society here has built Stonehenge Aotearoa which I thought I could just walk around and take a few pics but they ended up bilking me outta $15. I’ve found that if I go outta my way to see something I am somewhat of a captive audience as if I’ve already gone that distance I might as well see what I went there for, anyway I got a few pictures but it did cost me some time so I got in a bit later than expected.

Met up with Alex today and helped out on the vineyard today for a while. As we both have talked about the first days are always pretty interesting since were learning new things. Our job today was to tuck in the vines into the wires surrounding them. I think at some point well go through and thin the leaves out so that the grapes can get some sunlight. I tried some of the not-yet- full-grown grapes… not so tasty yet. I managed to score a homemade pizza lunch out of Simon and his wife for helping out today (stellar pizza.) We did some wine tasting around town and had a time talking to the proprietors of some of the places. Everything in this town revolves around wine, I think every cafe, store, theater, etc… can serve wine and it seems every sign has something to do with wine, quite the wine culture here.

It was nice to be back in the hammock after a full month and a half lazing about in beds but my argument still stands that it doesn’t make all that much sense for me to camp when it is just as expensive to camp as it is to get a hostel (usually $2 or $3 difference,) though I must say that most cycling tourers camp so the possibilities of meeting other tourers is greater when I camp, so I guess for that reason i’ll keep camping.

A slight change to my itinerary as monday is Wellington day (each province? has their own holiday) and it happens to be Wellingtons on monday so I figure that might be the worst time to try get into town as the train only runs twice that day, once early in the morning and then again late in the afternoon which means I would be navigating in the dark to a hostel, so I’ll put it off an extra day and just head in Tuesday. That means South Island on Wednesday!

I see on newspapers that there is an outbreak of salmonella in peanut butter, oh cruel fate what am I to do now for sustenance? Maybe I’ll switch to Nuetella and bananas, that sounds delicious.

I’ll post more pics when I get to a real computer.