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Well well well!

The last couple of weeks have just been one last minute plan after another. The biggest change: well, I’m no longer going to Australia! I’ve changed my flight ticket, and instead of going to Cairns on the 10th of December, leaving Brisbane on the 23rd, getting to London on the 26th via Hong Kong (quite an elaborate journey you might agree), I am now flying straight from Auckland to London on the 25th of December (well, via Sydney: I suppose I will go to Australia, but for 3 hours instead of 12 days). I figured, I didn’t have quite enough time for New Zealand, and I’m here, with my bike and all my kit: I might as well keep on pedalling, right : ) And Australia in mid-December is just going to be boiling hot, not to mention the mosquitoes or spiders. I’ll confess though: the thing that tipped the scale was that I was going to have to organise my stay in Australia, pretty much about now. I’d have to book train tickets, liveaboards, and all the rest I was trying to do (a cruise on the Whitsundays). I however cannot be bothered with organising right now: I like riding into a town wondering which campsite/backpackers I’ll choose! So, I’ll just go to Australia another time, and the barrier reef better not bleach to death in the meantime, dammit.

So, this gives me time to finish my little tour here : ) I will now cycle until the 12th of December at the latest (it shouldn’t take that long to get back to Christchurch), and then rent a car up on the north island. So that’s the latest news! But, I hear you crying, what about the older news?? Here it goes, and here are about half of the photos…

flickr photos

Day 33 – nov 19 – Wanaka to Queenstown – 117.56km

Cromwell sounded boring, so I wanted to push on and get to Queenstown in one day, even though it was going to be a long day. Well, little did I know, exactly how bad that day would be! Leaving Cromwell, about half way through, I turned west, straight into a strong headwind. I had 60km of that wind, along with moronic car and camper van drivers crowding the road, driving far too fast, far too close (obviously, lifting that lazy fat foot off that pedal, adding a grand 5 seconds to their HOLIDAY, is just too much to ask…). It made me… very… very… angry… destroy something… soon… gotta hit something… anyway, I restrained, mostly because I just really wanted to get there. My sister asked me, but how big a difference does the wind make? Well, the last 30km were gently undulating terrain, so I should have been doing a leisurely 20 km/h, but instead, thanks to the goddamn wind, I was struggling along at 10 km/h. What should take 1h30 takes 3h… So, a big difference!

To top it off, 10km short of Queenstown, there was some spillage on the road. It was only a small patch, it looked like innocent, recent tarmac, which is ok to ride on, but it was some sort of oily tar, and the minute my bike got on it, the back flipped sideways and landed me on the road on my right side. Of course, moronic drivers being morons, no one stopped to check if I was ok, did they? (hey, I can actually put myself back in that state of mind quite easily… I should remember that trick when someone pisses me off and I don’t defend myself well enough…) Anyway, I wasn’t going fast, so I only got bruises, but my clothes got covered in that tar mixture, which added to the upset.

I pulled into Queenstown quite late, and after showering and putting the tent up, there was no time nor energy left for shopping, so I went to a restaurant instead, to enjoy my first NZ lamb shank, along with a glass of Pinot Gris, and a kahlua cheesecake. Things were looking up : ) I also chatted with a friendly Dutch family until about 130am, crazy kidz hey. Still, all in all, that was my suckiest day so far. It was pretty harrowing. Someone friendly tried to talk to me right as I pulled into Queenstown, I just warned him I was in a foul mood today and rode away…

Day 34 – nov 20 – Rest day in Queenstown

In Queenstown, there are many “must-dos”. One of them is skydiving, but I ticked that off in Wanaka. The other is bungy jumping, but my back hurts just thinking about it, not to mention not being particularly interested in jumping off bridges (planes are way cooler). Another must-do, is jet boating. Jet boats are boats that do not have propellers, but instead suck the water into an internal propeller in the hull of the boat. This means that they can go on waters as shallow as four inches, and makes them nervous little creatures (don’t ask me why…). So the thing to do is to go jet boating down a canyon, where the boat does 360 turns, and whizzes past cliffs at high speed. I wasn’t particularly interested in an expensive whizzing ride though, so I opted for a scenic jet boat ride, up the Dart River. This tour goes from the town of Glenorchy, which is 50km north west of Queenstown, and is in absolutely gorgeous settings: if only I could live in Glenorchy… definitely one of the best villages I’ve seen so far. I saw a cyclist riding along the road to Glenorchy, I felt slightly envious, despite the road being narrow ups and downs the whole way : )

In the evening, I had sushi, for the first time since I left Christchurch: it felt goo-oo-ood!

Day 35 – nov 21 – Queenstown to Mavora Lakes – 56.93km

That morning I went to pick up my tar-covered clothes from the dry cleaners. They’d argued that my attempts at hand-washing the tar just sank it deeper into the fabric, and that they wouldn’t be able to remove it at all, that the color on my clothes would be all died out. They basically didn’t want to try, and I was very upset, because it was my favourite cycling trousers and top, and I had meant to bring them back home and keep on riding with them, and think of New Zealand everytime I’d put them on! I insisted they try though, and when I picked them up, they’d gotten almost all the tar off, and the colors were still there!! Bloody lazy people, I’m so glad I insisted!! It sort of lightened my memory of my very very sucky day. (although bruises were purpling away happily and hurting a bit…)

My bible recommended one particular road to go from Queenstown to Te Anau: via Mavora Lakes. Now, you have to take a vintage steam boat across the lake to Walter Peak Station, and then ride on a gravel track to the Mavora Lakes, where you can camp for the night at a DoC campsite (tables, toilets, and views), and then continue on gravel the next day. I was pretty nervous about going this way: I’d never ridden on a gravel track for very long, and my bike isn’t quite up to the task. I’d also never ridden on some random dead-end road with no traffic to speak of for 2 days. Also, I just couldn’t get any current information on the state of the track: I didn’t want to find myself having to ride some mud bed or something, especially since I was going to have to ascend about 500m in the day (that’s a pretty big uphill). The alternative however was some boring, busy road – it just didn’t appeal at all.

So, I decided to go for the back road. I was very very glad to find another bike already loaded on the vintage boat! It belonged to Heike, the cyclist I’d seen riding to Glenorchy the day before! She’s from Germany, and has toured New Zealand already 9 years ago, as well as having toured lots of other places. On her first tour, she’d been just like me: pretty nervous about taking the Mavora Lakes road. She reassured me it wasn’t all that bad though. We chatted, exchanged touring experiences, but she soon took off ahead of me once we were riding. The road was pretty bad to start with, but it got smoother quickly, so that it was good enough to ride on. It was going up a valley side, along a gorgeous little river – very scenic, very barren and desolate, and no one in sight: heaven : )

The extra catch with the back road, was that there were two rivers to cross. Erm, without bridges. Erm, ok. So I packed everything carefully so it’s all fully waterproof, and tried to ride through the river. Pff, I didn’t even get to the bank, I fell over in a puddle just before the river!! I figured I’d never manage to ride through, and I’d already gotten one wet foot from falling, so I decided to just walk my bike across, and get the other foot wet… lazy huh. It was warm, it would dry : )

On top of that big hill, I experienced a strong tail-wind, one of the first! It was almost too much though: I was riding at 30 km/h without even trying, and that was a bit too fast for me on gravel! But what can you do? ; ) When I got to the DoC campsite, I saw Heike’s bike, and she waved. She’d picked a spot where we would be able to fit two tents – how nice of her! She’d also checked with a couple of sheep-shearers that drove past during the day, that they had also seen me and that I was ok – very considerate! It was actually really nice to be camping out in the middle of nowhere, on the side of a lake, with snowy mountains in the distance – at that point I wished I’d done DoC campsites earlier.

Day 36 – nov 22 – Mavora Lakes to Te Anau – 68.06km

I had another 38km of gravel that day, and still a strong tail wind – I was quite glad to reach the tarmac by the end of it, because the wind was pushing me too fast and I had to keep focused on the road ahead in order not to drive myself into the ditch, and that meant I couldn’t enjoy the scenery as much as I would have liked to. That said, once I reached tarmac, I turned around and got the goddamn wind in my face… and you know what happens when I have a head-wind… that’s right, like a bloody gremlin that’s had water after midnight I am!!

In Te Anau I signed myself up for a dive in Milford sound the next day, but I was the only one interested, so it’d probably be cancelled… Milford Sound is a fjord about 2 hours drive from Te Anau, that is very scenic, and very famous. One of those “must-dos”. In the evening I headed for a cave tour, including glow-worms – it was really nice, sitting in a barge, floating on water in the dark, everyone quiet (you gotta love that silence) (hey look who’s talking, haha), and dozens of dots of blue lights on the ceiling above us.

Day 37 – nov 23 – Rest day in Te Anau

The dive in Milford Sound got cancelled, so I hopped on a bus-and-cruise tour instead. It was still pretty cool, sailing into the rough seas all the way out to the Tasman Sea, and then heading back again into the fjord, just like the early explorers did (YES! EXACTLY like they did, ok??). We got to see some keas up close too, nice. And lots of waterfalls on the cliffs, it looked like the glaciers were crying – how poetic ; )

The dive shop had space left on a Stewart Island 2-day cruise – they made a space for me even though the boat was supposedly fully booked out for a German tv crew. Stewart Island is all the way south, and meant to be very beautiful and rugged; the visibility is supposed to be very good there. It all sounded interesting and fun but I didn’t quite have enough time – I decided I should start looking into flight changes. I didn’t think they’d have anything – so close to December, and wanting a flight around Christmas day – but they could change me around to pretty much a direct flight at very little cost, so I decided to go for that, and have more time for cycling around!

Day 38 – nov 24 – Rest day in Te Anau

In the evening, the dive operation was going to give me and my bike a lift from Te Anau to Bluff, where the Stewart Island cruise started – I decided to fill the day by going hiking on the Kepler track. It’s a 2-3 days track, but you can walk small sections of it for a day, mostly climbing up very high and having good views of lake Te Anau and lake Manapouri.

In Bluff, I went to the only hostel: friendly owners, but man this place could do with some renovating! I was pretty glad to only stay one night.

Day 39 – nov 25 – Rest day in Bluff

Well, I was meant to board the Stewart Island cruise at 930am, but the weather was against me. My good-weather-on-rest-day lucky star left me, boohoo! I ended up stuck in Bluff for the whole day, and if you’ve been to Bluff, you know that’s no enviable position. There’s absolutely nothing to do in Bluff, and even less when it rains! On the bright side, we would cruise out to Stewart Island in the evening, and delay the cruise by one day, so that I got one extra night for free! That said, I was basically sleeping in an horizontal cupboard – talk about tight spaces. At least I was on my own: this thing was supposed to be a dorm for 5, insane!

I was joined on the cruise by a Dutch couple, who opted for the “Pacific Suite” – wise choice. Note to self: on cruise boats, accommodation standards drop a notch or two…

Day 40 – nov 26 – Cruise in Stewart Island

The German tv crew that booked the cruise was actually only joining us for one day – and wasn’t even diving. How boring, I’d looked forward to seeing the ins and outs of filming an underwater documentary! We did two dives that day, man this is COLD! 12 degrees water, and despite 2-pieces 7mm suit, I was freezing my ass off! The second dive included seals though, which was cool. And the german tv crew interviewed me for the show : ) although it’s going to be probably a year before it airs, and it’ll only be on German tv, so I’ll never get to see my talking-rubbish live! (I don’t deal very well with having the attention on me…)

When we dropped the tv crew off on the island, we got to have a little wander. I knew Heike was headed for the island right about now, so when I saw a campsite, I pocked around: soon enough, I saw her bike! I called out for her near her tent, she was like “Who knows me??”. It was good to catch up, she loved Stewart Island.

In the evening we went fishing for blue cods: it’s so so easy. You basically let a line drop to the sea bed, and soon enough you can feel the cods biting to your various hooks. A strong pull, and you have probably hooked one in, so reel up, and here comes dinner : ) although a lot of them were too small for consumption, but we still got plenty. BBQs on a catamaran boat by the side of a gorgeous, wild island is the life!

Day 41 – nov 27 – Cruise on Stewart Island

On the first dive, we got dropped into a current. It was meant to be a gentle current, but it was actually running pretty strong. We also landed on a sand bed, when we were meant to be on something interesting (rocks or kelp, not sure). So the divemaster started to make us fin against the current, god knows where to. The Dutch girl’s mask kept flooding, and she was struggling to follow, so she panicked, and headed for the surface. Her boyfriend went with her, but his BCD broke and wouldn’t keep air in, so he couldn’t go up. He ditched his weight belt and followed her. I stayed with the dive master, and he spotted the Dutch guy’s weightbelt, so he went to pick it up. Personally, I was thinking, who cares about blocks of lead, we should really try and find the other couple soon, I mean we’d lost sight of them and couldn’t be sure they’d reached the surface. But he tried to lift the weight belt, and I could hear his BCD complaining as he was trying to get more air in to manage and go up. I decided to help him, since he was so goddamn stubborn for a stupid weight belt, so we ascended together, hanging on to all that weight. Not to mention the fact that none of us had computers, not even the divemaster, and that the sea was pretty rough… All in all, a very crap dive. When we reached the surface, we managed to pass on the weight belt – yay, that stuff is worth its weight in gold… not. The couple had reached the surface safely though which was good, but she was pretty shaken up. So, that was the end of my dive. Pretty crap, I actually felt a bit peeved because, well, I’m paying for 4 dives, and it’s not cheap… but oh well. On the plus side, I didn’t get cold at all, with all the hard work necessary to lift the weight belt…

The second dive was meant to be a very good dive, but the Dutch girl passed. Her boyfriend went diving though (with a new BCD…). We dropped at 10m, and increased our depth throughout the dive to 23m, about the worse profile you could do. I wasn’t too pleased being at 23m when I didn’t have a dive computer, or even a D-timer, and my depth gage was faulty, it wasn’t holding the maximum depth correctly… It was indeed a good dive, but nothing spectacular to be honest. We didn’t see anything too out-of-worldly. All in all, I had fun on the cruise, and I like being on boats, so I don’t regret doing it, but the diving wasn’t all that special, and I certainly didn’t feel too safe kit-wise! It’s a good thing I’m pretty calm underwater… (or above water for that matter, unless I’ve got a head wind…) The Dutch couple gave me a lift from Bluff to Invercargill after the cruise, so I’d be spared the grotty hostel, yay! I went cycling around Queens park in the evening, it’s lovely out there.

Day 42 – nov 28 – Invercargill to Slope Point – 76.94km

I took off really late that day! For starters, my bike computer wasn’t picking up the sensor anymore, and my sense of practicality being what it is, I had to go into a bike shop so the guy could… move the sensor a little to the left. Damn, wish I’d thought of that! I then wasted more time visiting the museum in Invercargill, and cycling around Queens park, which I fell in love with – I could live in Invercargill, it seemed like a really nice little town.

On the way to Slope Point, I bumped into a guy I’d met in Christchurch – he’d sold me a Macpac day bag. He remembered me, and I felt terrible because he had to remind me where I’d met him – my memory sucks, I never know people’s names, and they’re all like, “Hey I know you!” “You do?? Crap…”. That said, a girl cycling round the country is kinda memorable, there aren’t actually too many of us, whereas couples driving around in campervans are plethora… (oooo fancy word!) He was fairly jealous of my touring, as he’d wanted to do that himself but hadn’t found the courage (essentially – I think he said he didn’t feel fit enough – bullshit, like I was fit enough!!). He was very impressed that I’d managed to come all that way, and to be honest I was pretty chuffed too : )

Day 43 – nov 29 – Slope Point to Papatowai – 69.21km

Slope Point is the southermost point on the South Island – not Bluff as people usually think. So I headed over for the compulsory picture with the signpost indicating how far the South Pole and the Equator are. I then headed off on the gravel roads: it was pretty hard work, the roads on the Catlins are quite hilly! I stopped in Curio bay, where there is a fossilized forest: basically a forest that got buried under lava 180 million years ago, which preserved it, and erosion has now revealed it. It’s quite an impressive sight, looking at 180 million years old tree trunks. The other thing in Curio bay, is yellow eyed penguins. They’re the rarest in the world, and I got to see a couple hopping along – they’re so cute! One came pretty close too, a crowd of people gathered behind me to try and get a sight of him ; ) On the other side of Curio Bay, is Porpoise bay, so named because dolphins can often be spotted there. I indeed saw a few, but they weren’t doing anything too acrobatic so I didn’t see anything other than their dorsal fins. I did get to see a huge sea lion lazying about on the beach though. I took quite a few photos, and then it decided it didn’t like me there anymore, even though I was a fair distance away, and not between him and water – I know they find that very threatening. Anyway, it started to run/hop towards me, relatively fast considering the big fat beasts they are! I kept moving back and he kept coming after me, while everyone else was doing just like I was – taking lots of photos : ) I think the sea lion then got bored, cos it just collapsed there in one spot and seemed to not care anymore about chasing people (rather than seeming exhausted, which I would have felt bad about!)

All this wildlife watching meant I was taking ages to get anywhere, and then just as I turned east, and the westerly wind that had been blowing all morning would push me, the sky pretty much fell on me and it just rained and rained for hours – with no wind. Damn, I’d been looking forward to the push, especially since there were a couple of mean hills. I was pretty glad to reach Papatowai, and find that there was a hostel there – it was late and wet and I didn’t fancy wild camping! The hostel was called “Hilltop” though – didn’t like the sound of that!! What about the “Valley Floor” hostel, or perhaps the “Beachfront” hostel??

Day 44 – nov 30 – Papatowai to Kaka Point – 38.77km

That morning, I decided I would stop by the Parakaunui Falls. The hostel manager told me however, that the best way to get to them, is via a big, steep, gravel hill. We could actually see the hill from the hostel, far in the distance – it didn’t look too good! But I knew the falls were the stuff that postcards are made of – gotta see that ; ) I soldiered on up the gravel; at least there was no traffic, awesome! I actually had quite good spirits the whole way. Unfortunately, I reached the top to find a ridiculously strong wind blowing, straight in my face. I continued up and down hills, still in the wind, not going very far at all, but finally reached the falls. They were worth it – I took loads of photos, and had a couple of snacks in front of them. Cycling to somewhere makes it all the better getting there: I tend to appreciate sights far more than motorists, who just whizz by – even though they’ve got way more time really, considering how fast they’re moving!

The wind got worse and worse throughout the day – at times I had to stop riding and wait for the gust to go past me. Gravel kept being blown into my eyes as well, making me have to stop and give it a good cry! I wasn’t going anywhere either – but I wasn’t in a bad mood, funnily enough. I think it’s the combination of strong headwinds AND stupid drivers, that sets me off! I rode all day, but at 5pm, I’d only done 38km, when a car stopped by. In it was a girl I’d met at the supermarket earlier, she seemed to think it was really cool to ride around the country. Her and her boyfriend were now driving on the same gravel road I was, and offered a lift. I was only 6km short of Kaka Point, but I was sick of the wind, and they were very nice, so I accepted! My first lift : )

I passed the 2000km mark that day, but I didn’t realise until I was at 2001km, so I didn’t take a photo. I did consider taking one at 2008, but couldn’t be too bothered – I had enough to deal with!

Day 45 – dec 1 – Kaka Point to Balclutha – 40.35km

In the morning, I decided to go to Nugget Point, but on my unloaded bike: I’d drop by Kaka Point again on my way north. Nugget Point is a collection of rocks on the sea, that look like nuggets of gold, especially at sunrise. I got there at about 11am : ) I got to see more yellow eyed penguins, although from a distance. They’re still so so cute, hopping about on the beach! The wind was still bad, but not quite as bad as the day before – I didn’t have a choice anyway.

I only rode as far as Balclutha: I didn’t want to ride all the way into Dunedin because I knew it was a big hill with lots of traffic… so I took a bus instead! I “cheated”, as some dude said in a restaurant – he’s welcome to brave the traffic and hills for me : )

Day 46 – dec 2 – Rest day in Dunedin

That morning, I brought Surly into a bike shop for a little servicing. It’d been 600km since the last service, and he was squeaking a bit. The guy in the shop looked at my chain, used a little tool on it, then said “cycled much on this bike?” – “erm, 2000km?”. As it turned out, I had worn my chain out, and it needed replacing! Which might have explained the squeaking, the fact that it came off a couple of times recently, and the fact that it hung there like some flappy old skin ; ) I never thought I’d use a bike so much that some of its parts would need replacing through wear and tear!

I spent the rest of the day on a tour of the Otago Peninsula, outside Dunedin: a haven for wildlife. There were royal albatrosses (wow! a big bird) (…), penguins (ever so cute, penguins are the best), and some seals, but I’ve seen loads of those, I’m totally jaded ; ) The peninsula itself is gorgeous, but it would have been better without the thunder… The weather here has been pretty crap in the last week and a bit: if it’s not windy, it’s raining, or thundering.

Day 47 – dec 3 – Rest day in Dunedin

Well, most of that day was spent walking around, getting Surly back out of the shop (they ripped me off, my lovely Surly stickers are coming off, and on top of that, they’ve put on a sticker of their shop – that’s coming off the first minute I get!!), and faffing with this blog and photos! I always put all my photos straight onto my ipod thanks to a tiny connector (a blessing), however my ipod crapped itself, and lost a whole batch: the Catlins coast photos, 250 of them! All the penguins, seals, rugged coastline etc! I could have cried. I installed all sorts of dodgy freeware on a public computer to try and find the files in my ipod, to no avail (I even ran chkdsk etc, the nerd in me is trying to get out!!). Eventually I used one of the file recovery software on my camera directly, and most of the photos were still there – phew. If you thought you’d be spared another 50 photos, you’re wrong, haha! (although I won’t put them online now so there’ll be a delay…)

So here I am! I will be “on the road again” tomorrow – headed back inland. I miss the mountains now ; ) Tomorrow I’m taking a vintage train line – and where the train line stops, the cycle path begins: the Otago Central Rail Trail. DoC bought the disused rail line, and adapted it for bikes – 150km of car-free, flat riding, with many viaducts, bridges, tunnels, etc, all set amidst unforgettable scenery of course. The wind isn’t looking in my favour, but I actually think I’ll be in a good mood as long as I stay away from motorists! I can’t wait in fact: I’ve been looking forward to the rail trail for weeks now, it’s partly why I moved my ticket: I just couldn’t decide between penguins and the trail, I wanted both!

I’m in pretty good spirits at the moment, and have been for a while – this cycle touring thing is growing on me, haha ; ) I’m actually pretty happy at how well my body is holding up – I should stop complaining about being put together wrongly really, because I’ve been feeling so well. My ass doesn’t hurt, my knees don’t hurt, the only bits that hurt, are the top of my back sometimes (my bike probably needs some better adjusting…), and lately, my thumbs, from breaking so hard in the steep, gravel downhill slopes, in order to avoid running into a ditch at 50km/h. I thought I was coming down with some cold of some sort at one point, but no, it went away really quickly – I’m so fortunate. Of course, there are the sandfly bites, but that’s not my body’s fault really… it’s just part of the experience! I feel sorry for tourists with no sandfly bites: they can’t have been too far into the interesting places! And it makes for some gruesome photos, which is always fun.

I really enjoyed riding out in the middle of nowhere, and doing some out-of-the-way camping – I’ve been meaning to do more of that, but either I wouldn’t manage to reach the campsite in time, or it would be chucking it down, with a backpackers next door… Hostels are so cheap here, that it’s just really hard to decide to camp instead. Here in Dunedin, camping would have cost me $18 a night, but backpacking in a historic villa close to the town centre, in a 4-bed room that is otherwise empty (yay), is $22 a night… hard to resist : ) Hopefully as the weather improves, I’ll get more chances to camp, and in the North island too.

Anyway, my belly full of sushi, I shall finally stop updating this thing, and head back to the hostel for a good night’s sleep, before my train adventures tomorrow : )

Bye!

Lis on wheels on rail trails!

PS: I suppose the whole lisroundtheworld thing is now more lisinnewzealandstoppinginfijiontheway… not to mention the huge map of australia way up there… i’m still waiting for antony’s design of my blog anyway, he said he’d redo it because he “could see some effort went into it but it didn’t really work”, haha! (at your digital pen, Mr Ribot!)