25,500Kms And Home Sweet Home
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2007
1
55
Trip End
Dec 20, 2008
Warkworth, North Island, New Zealand
Monday, March 30, 2009
Karen drops me off at Brisbane International and i check my luggage in. I'm flying Pacific Blue, a relatively new supposedly 'budget' airline, although their fare is only $10 cheaper than Air NZ's. I couldn't find any info on their website regarding International flight baggage allowance, only domestic, which is 23kg. I assume that if people are traveling international, they are traveling further, therefore need to take more stuff, so the allowance will be even higher. Not so in Virgin Blue's books. "20kg is the limit, look, it should be on your itinerary here somewhere" says the check-in lady as she fumbles through the 3 pages I've printed out. It wasn't. "Nor could i find it anywhere on your website" i say as i load the conveyor up with about 28kgs worth of gear and start calculating what I'm gonna be paying in excess baggage charges. "Oh that bicycle's oversize so it just gets counted as 5Kgs" she says. Uh? 'Throw all logic out the window here Virgin Blue'! Well thats a relief.... until i get on the plane and find out you gotta pay for all drinks and meals on board. It needn't have mattered anyway cause i didn't get offered any of the food, twice the trolley seemed to dither around 3 rows ahead of me (while everyone pisses around sorting out money and change), then slingshots 3 rows behind me. Fack! When the isle is finally clear of trolleys, I head down the back for a piss. I have to join a short que because only one toilet's in operation because the trolley thats been blocking the isle for the last 45 mins is now blocking one of the shitter doors. Fack they're useless. I'm pretty thirsty by now and my piss has just made room for more water so I cleverly decide to combine the piss trip with a water request. The dude looks flustered and say's "We're just setting the trolley up now for drinks so will be up there soon". Facking liar, another half hour passes and for the first time i get asked if I want anything? "A drink of water please". He hands me a little 300ml bottle - "Thats $2.50 thanks". Fack these cants! I pull my virgin Virgin Velocity points card out of my wallet and snap it in half as I know I wont by flying with these clowns again. Quite a rational decision I thought considering I was starving when I got on the 3hr flight, and an empty stomach makes for a grumpy boy. These budget airline pricks are really cashing in on the new 'no carrying fluids onto the plane' rule.
All that frustration was taken away when we flew over the Southern Alps. The view was breathtaking, whispy white clouds floated by while rivers got busy winding their way down out of the mountains and out towards the coastline. I'm assuming it was Greymouth we were looking down on. And the white capped mountains ranged south as far as I could see. Beautiful. Hello New Zealand.
Quite a quiet airport made it easy to re-assemble my bike, after customs cleaned my tent pegs and gave the tent a good ol' shaking out on the floor in front of me. Apparently, that dirt that fell off is dangerous to the country.
I followed the signs to the city centre, the grid system making it real easy to find Charlie B's backpackers which would be home for the next 5 nights.
It really hurt handing $36 over to Vodafone for a new sim card tonight as they're even bigger wankers than Virgin Blue. Apparently they're the only company that does pre-pay in NZ, so I got told, so talk about a monopoly on the market - this I'm not looking forward to.
I cruised up and down the main street that night, there were so many bars and pubs there i couldn't decide which one to go into so i just went back to the Backpackers and went to bed.
The next few days I spent with Tanja, a German friend I'd met in London, she came down out of the hills from Arthurs Pass in a tiny little camper-van. She drove me out to Akaroa Harbour on the Banks Peninsular. Pretty scenic out that way, but what really buzzed me out was an old windsurfer board on the beach - made in the '80s in Warkworth at the small-scale factory mum used to laminate fiberglass at, chances are it was a bit of her meticulous work.
On the way back, Tanja started feeling quite ill, an allergy to something. So as she laid down in the back, i became ambulance driver and got her to a medical clinic with plenty of time to spare.
02-12-08 118 Kms to Chevoit.
I got the bike loaded up by 7:30 and headed out of town on a rather overcast morning. As soon as i was out of the city, the camera came out blazing. Wow. So much beautiful scenery. I think I've taken more photos today than i did in the whole of Australia's outback.
Some low lying cloud gave things a misty, cool effect there for a while but as soon as i thought about taking a photo of it, I punched through into beautiful sunlight.
I met 3 people riding the other way today, a German, a Canadian (traveling together) and later on, a 60 year old Polish - Canadian dude struggling up a hill into a strong headwind. But going my own way, I crossed paths with Jackson, a Palmerston North boy riding from Stuart Island to 'The Cape'. Either has was fast, or I was slow, or both, as he kept speeding ahead, and I caught up with him a couple of times later, the third time at a camping ground in Chevoit. He's gonna get an article done on himself in New Zealand's Adventure Magazine if he completes his course.
Wow, plenty of pain all day for me today. A few training rides would have done me the world of good in the couple of weeks prior to leaving Oz, but it's so hard having become a beer swilling pie scoffing cant. My legs were in pain all day, simply not used to the pedaling, while my butt could definately feel the extra 9kgs of gravity prone blubber trying to ram the seat up my arsehole. When i rolled into Chevoit at 4:30 (about half an hour behind Jackson, I thought about doing a few more hours in the saddle (it don't get dark here until about 9) but the pain i was in soon told me to cut the hard line attitude right out.
I sat in the spa pool for a good hour sipping a bundy, chatting to Jackson hoping it would be therapeutic enough to allow me a painless nights sleep and fresh legs again tomorrow morning. We'll see...
03-12-08 73 Kms to Kaikoura.
Cocka-doodle-fackin-doo! It was to be expected as there were plenty of chickens and roosters roaming around the campsite, just not expected at 3:15am. They crowed away at regular half hourly intervals all the way through to 7:30. I ignored my 5:30 alarm to try and make up for some of that missing sleep.
Jackson left camp 10 mins before me. I assumed he was miles ahead but he later on, caught me jumping a gate and running into the bushes for a good ol' arse piss of diarrhea. He'd gone and headed under one of the long bridges crossing the white stony riverbeds for some close-ups of the light turquoise coloured water flowing steadily downstream, while I'd ridden straight over the top of him unbeknown at the time.
Again i had the camera blazing, shooting in all directions, so yesterday wasn't just a one-off, this country really is incredibly scenic.
There were some beauty big hills though, just south of Kaikoura. I could see up ahead in the distance on the other side of the road a ute pulled over to the side, and some men diddling around it. I got up closer and saw they were wearing cycle clothes and unloading bikes off the back of the ute. 'You lazy bastards' i thought. I stopped to have them up about it and they fully admitted to being shite, joked about it and all. They told me there was about another dozen cyclists coming up the other side soon, a tour from Blenheim to Christcuurch in one day! Raising money for child cancer, the very cause of my London flat bedroom predecessor's tour of southern America. A great effort to the half dozen that were doing the whole run, but jesus I'd love someone to give me a lift up all the hills like the other half dozen pie scoffers! I sensed their pride took a small dive when they asked me how far I'd come. I looked down at my trip computer which had just clocked over 24,400 kms. Their jaws dropped. "Yeah London last July" i went on...
I rode another 200m to the crest of the hill and set myself up on the roadside for a sandwich - fresh eggs (which I'd hard boiled the night before) given to me by the campground manager (probably in compensation for the forthcoming rooster noises) - so i could cheer on the tour. And what a grand tour it was. Police escort, sponsored support vehicles, an ambulance, flashing lights galore, a second patrol car thrown in for the spectacle of it all and of course the riders, going pretty fast considering they'd just conquered the last of a series of serious rises. I applauded them for their fund-raising efforts "Well done boys (& girl)", "It's all down hill now"!
At the top of about the third fairly sizable hill, there was a sign 'welcome to Kaikoura district' with a glimpse of the ocean off in the distance. Finally down hill for me, and when i hit the coastline, more scenes of utter beauty. A calm day had smooth ice blue water stretching between the rocks at either end of the bay and reaching out to meet the sky on the horizon. The mountainous hills behind me leave little land for a road between the cliff-face and the sea, requiring a few short n' sweet tunnels along the way. A beautiful coastal road all the way to Kaikoura just soliciting itself like a cheap whore for photographic opportunities galore. Oh- and the seals, frolicking in the water with their flippers in the air and closer in, pup seals playing in the shallow waters among the rocks. Cute as hell but not as cute as me when i was their age.
04-12-08 107 Kms to Seddon.
All too easy today, or so it started out. Getting away at 7:30, i felt like i was one of the early birds. Again the ocean had a cool calm about it and i rode with ease, stopping frequently to admire and photograph the lazy seals and the snow capped peaks up behind me.
Later...
The sea got choppy and the headwind i was expecting turned up. Bit of a downer, but jesus did things get worse. When i started heading inland, slightly away from the coastline, the headwind soon became worse than any of those i encountered each day in Australia. It became almost impossible to ride. Along the flat i was struggling to do 7Km/hr (walking speed is 6km/hr) so it would have been almost faster to get off and push. Certainly safer. The wind absolutely streaming at me at what i guess to be well over 100km/hr. The danger level was definitely up there. Quite a few times i was blown into the ditch or out onto the road, luckily nothing coming. I think the motorists could see the difficulty i was having and were nearly all giving me a wide birth. Yes definitely dangerous. The sensible thing to do would have been to pitch me tent somewhere secluded for the afternoon but i could see the wind gusts on the grass howling over every square inch of otherwise beautiful countryside. So a little scary too but i think it was the element of danger, the challenge, that kept me going at about 8km/hr. I think my ears will be ringing tonight from the constant thunderous noise of that wind in them all afternoon. Great caution had to be taken in the direction of pissing today, self-golden showers were expected for the unwary.
I staggered into Seddon, got some supplies from the shop, and headed to the campground. There was Jackson just rolling into town about 20mins behind me. He'd left 1.5 - 2 hrs after me this morning so had closed the gap. He's definatley a speedster this guy, shaming my somewhat 'amature' speeds. He got a text from his mum stating that there were gale-force wind warnings for Marlborough & the Cook Straight today. That explained things but didn't help a lot.
05-12-08 31 Kms to Blenhiem.
I'd asked the check-out girl that served me in the supermarket the night before about the hills between Seddon and Blenheim. She said there was only one big one, then it was flat all the way. Sounded easy. She was right too. So quite an easy ride, less than two hours in glorious sunshine. Tanja had asked me if i wanted to spend the weekend with her. I was in two minds about pushing on to Picton and catching the ferry to Wellington with Jackson today. I couldn't make up my mind so i rang her and let her make the decision. "Ok, I'll be there in about 5 hours".
I said good-bye to Jackson who would later be in Wellington that day and went and found a park to lay down in to help kill the hours. A game of cricket between the locals and a visiting Taranaki side helped pass the time between small naps but after 5 hours i couldn't watch another single ball of the most boring game on earth. I headed into the local 'The Warehouse' to get myself a bargain - a pair of Raindeer antlers and a Rudolf Red Nose. I mounted them on my bike outside and went cruising around the streets much to the amusement of the local yocals, but couldn't help going inside quite an appealing looking bar. A few pints helped kill another few hours until Tanja finally arrived in her slow little van. She inquired at the bar about a place to camp for free and got directions out to it. We parked up by the beach and had a couple of beers until the sun went down on the last few people fishing here for the day.
6-12-08 Whites Bay.
It was cozy sleeping in the back of Tanja's van. When we woke up in the morning she slid the van door open so we could look out at the water. Beachfront living! The air had a bit of a cold snap to it and the water was even worse. I walked down to the water and waded in. It was so cold, my feet hurt. I managed to talk myself into diving under brrrr. Freezing! So I did it again, this time as I'm diving under, feeling the pain of the almost ice-cold water against my still flabby body, i immediately thought of all the people that lost their lives on the Titanic that fateful night. What a way to go, freezing to death in ice water. It certainly woke me up for the day but i had to jump back under the covers to warm myself up a bit.
After we ate sandwiches for breakfast, and Tanja had made a hot tea each, we drove around the coastline towards Picton, and discovered a hidden away little beach called Whites Bay. It had received the first communications cable from the North Island in 18something and still had the original dwelling there. Camping was allowed via an honesty box and the last few campers were walking off the beach with their sleeping bags from the night before. This was a little slice of heaven and was gonna be the place to stay tonight.
We headed back into the city for supplies, and thought 'what's being in Marlborough, New Zealand's greatest wine making region, without a bottle of wine'? Nothing. So off to a couple of cellar doors for a bottle each, I ended up with Saint Claires Pinot Gris or some shite . I arrived at this choice purely by taste testing because all the sales jargon bullshite from the shop assistant was going straight over my un-wined little brain. -"Attractive straw green, bouquet with lime characters, lifted and aromatic, underlying tropical intensity leaving a lasting impression on the palate, wall-nut blend crisp acidity nicely balanced residual sweetness ideal accompaniment to fresh fruit, antipasti, creamy sauses...... fack off!
Over the windy hilly narrow road with a sheer drop on one side, back to the beach. Rug out, we sat against a massive driftwood log and watched others play frisbee, swim (for longer than two minutes), and play beach cricket while we sipped our wine from tea cups. It must be noted that i have seen two people collide before, while trying to catch the one, high cricket ball, but this.... as three young blokes came sprinting in from three different directions, eyes to the sky, full commitment to the catch, a full bodied crunching sound came out leaving one limping away as the other two roll around in a bit of agony on the wet sand of excess rainwater running across the beach. Entertainment second to none!
The shadow of the pine trees on the hill to the western end of the beach grow longer and longer until they engulf the whole beach.
7-12-08 Cook Straight Ferry Crossing.
Tanja dropped me off at a junction back on SH1, chopping about 5 to 10 kms off my ride to Picton (Just a little cheat this time). It gave me plenty of time to wait around for the 1:15pm Inter-Islander crossing.
It was a pretty windy day so the water didn't have that smooth green look to it that I'd managed to capture on prior ferry crossings through the Marlborough Sounds but none the less, i stayed out of the bar long enough to get the best pictures i could muster from the viewing deck.
3 other South Island cycle tourists were getting off the ferry at the end with me so I got directions into town, avoiding the motorways, they were experts on the matter which made things easy. From there it was a nice glide through a fairly traffic free city (being late Sunday afternoon) up to the Government Building grounds to my mate Pete and his wife, 'the mighty Quinns'.
I stayed with Pete and Trish for three nights, waiting for a decent weather forecast to head out again on but in the meantime, i got a fair amount of sightseeing done, including one helluva ride up to the top of Mt Victoria, kinda easy without the panniers clipped on but still, they don't call it a mountain for nothing.
I also visited the Te Papa museum (coz it woz free aye) and checked out the John Britton Motorcycle, the product of a Kiwi backyard-engineer who made and raced this bike at Daytona back in the 90's. It just toyed with the Ducatti's in the race before taking the checkered flag at the twist of a throttle - Kiwi Legend that late John Britton. The Classic HQ Holden made of corrugated iron was still there much to my pleasure, but the most important exhibition there was all about the Treaty Of Waitangi, the history of it and the facts behind the disputes that continue between the Maori and the Crown today. After reading the whole display, it makes it really hard to listen to an un-informed opinion from the average bloke on the street who seems to think they have the solution to the whole mess summarised in one sentence. The literature contained on the tables of that exhibition should definitely be taught in NZ schools AND put into pamphlet form and distributed to every mailbox in the country.
10-12-08 157 Kms to Palmerston North.
After saying bye to Pete & Trish, & little Jack, I weaved my way through the early-bird city traffic. It was a little tricky trying to avoid the motorway, the oncoming cyclists gave me enough clues, that and the roadsigns went well although I was a little unsure about things dropping down into a narrow, quiet gorge, but i popped out in Tawa, indicating things were ok. Past a big lagoon near Johnsonville then over a massive hill and down to the Kapiti coast.
Things were going fairly well until i stopped at Paekakariki (pronounced pie-cock a reeky) for a pie & ice coffee. There was a Kapati coast cycle route signs which i started to follow, was nice for a few Kms until it took me into Queen Elizabeth park where there were no more signs. It just dumped me there and left me going round and round in circles. With almost 160kms to chew through today i was in no mood for this shite. Raging, I had to head all the way back to the shop where I bought my pie just to get back on the main rd. Dunno what I was thinking, its my philosophy to stick to main roads to cover ground anyway.
The gentle cross-breeze and nice smooth roads made it easy riding, i quite often found myself doing an easy 25 - 30+kms /hr. Which allowed me to roll into 'Palmy' shortly after 4. I'm now sitting outside a bar sipping on a Tui (beer), waiting for Jackie Chan to turn up.
Got the fright of my life today when a big furry bumble-bee tried flying into my mouth. I blew him off my lips before he got his sting into me. Fackstick bumble bee. I could see where he was going though, across the road into a paddock fully laiden with yellow flowers. The pollenfest was in full bloom.
Jackie turned up and after a couple more beers we threw my bike on the back of his ute and headed home to his little pad just a few streets over. Scrubbed up and headed out to the new Speights Steak & Ale House with Jen, his saucy blond bit of fantasy on legs. This place was flash and the price reflected it so. The menu was on the amusing side of things, I never knew there was an art or science to matching a certain dish with one of the many different types of beer on offer. It all seemed very pretentious to me, bordering on the line of what the average Kiwi bloke would intricately describe as 'billshite' - leave that kind of crap to the toffs and la-de-da's of the wine industry & top-end restaurants thanks Speights!
11-12-08 146 Kms to Waiouru. When i left Jack & Jens, I headed slowly up SH 3. Jack had looked up the weather forecast on the internet that morning and advised me of North Westerly winds. Thats why i was going slowly, usually maxing out at 12km/hr. Totally frustrating when i was considering pushing on to Waiouru instead of Taihape. The noise of the cars rushing past me was starting to get on my tits a little too but this was nothing compared to the hills. They were massive both north & south of Taihape. Waiouru is at 782M above sea level so thats just the max i reached, not the total of all the up hill gradients.
Out of Palmerston, the scenery was pretty much what i expected the North island to be; farmland, so the camera got a bit of a rest this morning but some of the views from altitude were well worth a quick snap.
I think I've caught a cold today. The air was pretty chilly, i found myself sweating at the top of each hill, and really feeling the cold on the way down the other side.
I stopped for an ice-cream in Taihape, as i can remember eating one there when i was 4 years old on my way from Wellington to Warkworth with dad. Keep the tradition going i reckoned.
The last 30 kms into Waiouru were amongst the hardest Kms of the whole trip. I was exhausted and sore from a rash developing on my ass.
Asked the security if it was ok to put my tent up behind the Army Museum. It was "sweet".
I crawled in and put some Dettol cream on my ass.
12-12-08 123 Kms to Taupo.
No rain overnight which was f'n sweet cause it was forecast. It had its turns at being sunny/cloudy/sunny all day, right from when i got up at 6am for a piss. Handy as hell having the public shitter straight across the road, went over there and left a massive deposit before loading up on 12 inches worth of subway for breaky.
Pretty much a firm crosswind from my left today which sometimes hindered and sometimes aided me, sometimes it disappeared altogether when I was down in massively deep gullys.
The starting altitude of 782M or whatever must have got slightly higher as I crept slowly upwards across that desert road, taking multiple pictures of snow capped Ruapehu and Tongariro. Narahoe was hiding in behind the clouds somewhere.
The grass transited from it's lush green colour to the dry brown tussocky grass of the desert. The wind was a tad on the chilly side today so i pulled off the road and laid down in a sheltered depression to eat the second 6 inches of my subway and i noticed a camper van parked in an area on the other side of the road. They mustn't have seen me cause the old boy walks around the back for a piss, fully facing me. I gave him a wave but he pretended not to see me. Surely he'd have been better off pissin in front of the van where his ol' biddy girl could have seen what she's been seeing all her life.
It was cool coming down off the plateau towards Lake Taupo, a long straight slightly downhill, until something fully smacked me in the helmet. I should have panicked but the flash of a few black feathers overhanging the tip my helmet at the moment of impact pretty much gave it away - another magpie attack. It came in for another dive-bomb before I could locate it in the sky. I looked around, it was up high but dived, picking up speed. I had to concentrate on the road riding along at 35k's so just guessed at the impact moment and swung my fist around, picturing myself getting cut on it's solid beak, but not caring. It must have pulled another attacking maneuver because when I looked around this time it was coming low but gaining on me, fully cinematic, fully freaky. Out pacing it was NOT an option. Again i judged the moment of impact, swung my fist and yelled. It worked. I couldn't pick it up on the radar after that, it must have decided I was far enough out of it's zone and disappeared behind the first row of pines. Seconds later two old boy's drive past in a Toyota ute grinning their faces off. Yeah, cheap entertainment boys, they must have watched the whole attack from the safety of their glass windscreen.
No Subway in Turangi. I'd earlier decided to go for a diet of subway to try and get the small but very present fat rolls off my tum. So a pie and pizza bread from New World it was. There was a bin of mixed xmas attire which caught my eye, Santa hats were on sale at a low low price of $4. Had to have one to add to the Rudolf antlers and flashing red nose. I parked up at a picnic table and tied it onto the top of my cycle helmet with some of the many spare cable ties i still have after 25,000kms. Yep i cracked that milestone today. But whats more amusing is the reaction i got from my mobile audience. The 'beep their horn' rate shot up 10 fold. I haven't had this much attention since I was in Asia.
All good when I got into Taupo and got whisper of a free campsite. I got all excited until i found out it was 5kms out of town. I feel I deserve a few beers tonight for cracking the 25,000 kilometerstone, as I don't think the 26 is ever gonna happen (at this point).
Ended up in a fairly lively backpackers. Jees the shower felt good after missing out on one last night . Got washing done & gonna head out soon...
13-12-08 Rest Day In Taupo.
I started to head out on foot to snap some photos of this picturesque settlement on the lakeside. I fired one off at the old DC3 that is part of the McDonalds dining area there. It was the last photo that camera ever took. Number 5 on tour. How the fack can 3 brand new cameras fack out with less than 1000 shots on them? In case you cant tell, I'm disappointed.
Depressed, i got hold of another old mate, Timmy Tungaloha. He cheered me up tenfold with a 'Tiki tour' of some of Taupo's beauty spots, including the Huka falls, where Peter Plumney Walker met his fate back in the late 80's as a dominatrix session went horribly wrong for the old handlebar moustache bearing cricket umpire. Next he bought a dozen beers and drove me round to his house and whipped up a good ol' Kiwi BBQ. Good times.
14-12-08 95 Kms to Rotorua.
With flat roads promised by Timmy Tungaloha and only 90kms to cover, i went for a nice relaxed late start, checking out of the Urban Retreat by 10, stuffing myself with Subway, and hitting the road at 11. Timo had suggested that I might meet other cyclists on the flat rural road out towards Broadlands and only 20km or so out there were two Euro girls heading the other way. I pulled over on their side of the road for a yarn and the first one road straight past, oh well I'll have chat with her husband I thought. The second one turned out to be a girl who also rode past but stopped about 5m past me. They must have thought I had bad intentions for them or something. All I got out of them was that they had started riding in Rotorua, which was unusual, and that they had limited time to travel. "Enjoy our country" I said twisting around awkwardly facing backwards. No story exchange there. Fucm, they missed out cause my story's standing up pretty well now, now that I'm almost there, about 50% listen with amazement, 20% know someone thats done a similar thing, 20% think I'm talking about a motorbike, and about 10% think I'm talking shite, having them on.
I pull under a tree in a tidy little settlement called Reporoa to eat another six inches of Subway and find a dead sparrow under the tree, two dead little chicks, and one thats still alive. It's eyes were still closed and a lot of its pink skin hadn't produced any feathers yet. It was barely hobbling around blind and helpless. I'm guessing a stoat or some other Rodent must have raided the nest. What could i do? When i was 10, Mr Agnew, my best teacher ever, taught us how to rare baby chicks from hatching them from the eggs in an incubator, feeding them minced meat and worms and dropping water into their little beaks with an eye drop. Then finally letting them go into the wild - free birds. All i could think to do was ask around if anyone had kids that were interested in adopting it but instead i just said "good luck little buddy" as i rode off and left it.
Quite a massive hill just before Rotorua allowing a nice coast down and across the last few kms into town.
Went to the TIC for a map of all the backpackers hostels and met a yank outside there that was riding the other way. He'd had a great night camping somewhere in the Karangahake gorge, really recommend a walkway there and something about riding through an old railway tunnel. I can remember walking into the end of one when we did a cycle tour with the Boy's Brigade at age 13.
The first couple of backpackers i visited wanted $27 for the night. The local campground was $16. Bleak. I cruised around and found one in the city center for $21, use your own sleeping bag. Sweet as bro!
I had a feed and a beer then showered. Pretty tired, i had a little sleep at 7pm with the intent of heading out for a few more beers later on. I just got comfortable....
15-12-08 Camera shopping in Rotorua.
A local Kodak store, Noel Leemings, Harvey Normans, Dick Smiths, Cash converters, Bond & Bond, Farmers. Hard work this shopping business. Harvey Normans matched Bond & Bonds discount price for this Fuji pocket job which has a waterproof case, carry case and memory card. Nothing astounding in the specifications dept but i'm picturing getting some snaps of my mates surfing over on the Goldie, or perhaps fish photography at the Goat Island Marine Reserve.
It really stung, having to fork out $200 for yet another camera that had facked out. 'If only they advertised them as disposable cameras' i thought. Maybe 200 photos out of the Olympus's and about 500 out of the Pentax. Sure they're probably under warranty but how the hell does someone who's mobile get them posted back to them? Again i noticed the Olympus's were by far the best value for money but they don't deserve my cash after their classic double fack-out act. Interestingly enough, I mentioned this to one shop assistant who says "Yeah, we get a lot of Olympus products come back under warranty".
So I head home (backpackers) and charge up the battery while I nip into the Irish pub underneath for lunch and a couple of quick pints. By the time I get back and go through the settings on it and jump on my bike for some serious Rotorua sightseeing, its raining. Not heavy, just light. I make myself a rear mudgard out of a bit of cardboard that i scab out of a recycling bin across the road and start to head out of town. The wind comes up and I feel the temperature of the rain. It aint warm. I abort the $250 day.
16-12-08 69 Kms to Tauranga.
The forecast was for showers but when I woke up it was sunny outside so I saddled up, had hot cakes from Maccas, and headed out.
My new camera came into commission within minutes. Steam was rising up out of the ground down near the lake front. Eerie. Geothermal activity. In the medieval days, before this could be explained, it would have been put down to the gods. There was a wooden walkway through the middle of this steaming pond. I stopped and put my hand into the clear hot water. It was bearable, would probably burn the doodle off if i were to sit in it. Oh and the sulphuric smell...
A little sad to leave this place without really exploring the plethora of sights and activities here, but, thats the way it was.
I was trying to remember Timmys recommendations on which road to take to Tauranga but couldn't. Took the shortest route and pretty quickly decided that he must have said no, not this one. Fack it was hilly. Went up for ages and ages but my velo-meditation skills reminded me that what ever goes up... When i did come back down, it was through this incredibly windy, steep road, one that had the edge on anything I'd cycled before, including the descent of St Gotthards Pass in Switzerland. Across a tiny little one lane bridge at the bottom, then a lot straighter up the other side. This one was so steep i pictured Elke trying to ride up it. She'd commented on a hill in Java that she'd scaled - ("My front wheel wouldn't stay on the road"). It was so steep i understood why there was FA trucks coming through that way, i reckon a lot of them wouldn't have made it.
And struggling to do 5km/hr was no way to outrun this big black boo-boo cloud that was hovering above me too. I could look out to the horizon in places and see blue sky with white whispy clouds but i had the dropper. A few heavy showers had me soaked through. The cycle shorts became uncomfortable, and the wet shoes were the worst. While trying to bustle off the side of the road to get some shelter from the weather I must have run over a dead gorse frond - enough to give me my first puncture in NZ fack it.
After eating lunch in Tauranga, i was unsure weather to stay or push on, finally riding half a k northwards before turning back and settling into the most expensive backpackers in town. While checking in, the girl behind reception, who had been in London at the same time I first got there, had told me i'd taken the right road as the other one was indeed v busy with trucks. She also gave me a $10 discount for fixing a flat tyre on her own bike. Luckily she'd reminded me that i had one of my own to fix so it worked out very lucratively for me.
People are still loving the whole Santa image I've got happening, if they're not yelling out merry xmas, they're tooting their horn and giving me the thumbs up or a wave. Apart from the couple of young boys from the land who demand a present. When i ignore them i get a "Well you might as well fack off back to the north pole then"( in a heavy Maori accent)!
17-12-08 141 Kms to Miranda.
By the time I'd stuffed my face with Subway for breaky and was ready to 'blow the joint', along came a light shower to give me something to think about. It was like that most of the day - raincoat on, raincoat off. Not enough to seriously soak me unlike the downpours of yesterday. I sat one out though, leaning up against a power pole. The showers were cold, mainly due to them being thrown at me by wind almost as strong as the ride inland from the east coast on the south Island.
Yesterday when I'd fixed my flattie, I'd noticed how thin my rear tyre had gotten. No wonder the gorse went through it. Today, 5 Kms before Katikati; BANG! Popped it. Managed to patch it up with the old plastic water bottle walls to get me into town where I tracked down an old boy with a lawnmower shop, the only dude in town that sold bike tyres so was more than happy to fork out the $25 for yet another cheapo Asian job. But jesus, like my camera facking out, it shitted me in that respect, only 2 and a half days to go. Ol' mate had compressed air there for me so that saved a whole heap of energy. He was on for a yarn and kept blabbing on about some 80 year old local lady that's cycled here there and everywhere.
I got to Waihi for lunch and hitting highway 25, I remembered it wasn't the first time I'd cycled this road. I'd done it on a boy's brigade cycle tour when i was almost 1/3 my age now, back in '85 that was. I reminisced as i rode through the Karangahake Gorge, where my old 10 speed broke and i had to ride the Company's spare old fashioned 3 speed piece of shite, riding over every bit of glass i could find to try and give it a flattie so i could ride Ryan Macaress's spare BMX. And also as we rode across the long boring Hauraki plains two young local boys in a paddock beside us tried to show off how good they could wheel-stand their motorcycle and flipped it over backwards. We all laughed as loud as we could to inflict maximum embarrassment on them.
The Karangahape gorge, beautiful and as scenic as it was (the road follows a river all the way through the gorge), was a little on the danger side of things in places, about a foot high concrete nib was all that was there to stop traffic going off the side and dropping down into the river below.
I was getting the bog standard photos of my bike parked beside the big L&P bottle at Paeroa when 2 German girls also wearing xmas hats saw me so came over for a photograph of, and with, me.
Ngatia high school, more reminiscing there. Our college used to do an inter-school sporting event against these guy's. In 1987 when i was in the first 11 boys soccer team, we went down here and got our asses kicked something like 8-0.
Tired as hell from fighting this really strong wind all day, I rolled into the Miranda Hot Springs and Holiday resort, the asking price for a tent site was $20. I cant just go paying people whatever figure they dream up in their head, to me it has to be 'worth it'. This appeared not to be. So I cycled on around the estuary on the Firth of Thames and found a little rest area off to the side of the road. Its great, when it got dark I could look across the inlet and see the distant lights of Thames about 25kms away. With no-one around, and my last night before going in to the big bad city, I thought I'd do a little naturism and went for a walk (about 10m) away from my tent in the nude. Very peaceful here apart from all the bird calls broken up occasionally by my farts.
18-12-08 105 Kms to Auckland.
Nice and flat to start with, and great views around the water, until the road cut inland, cutting across towards Kawakawa Bay. Then it got so incredibly hilly. I met another dude from South Korea just leaving Kawakawa. Crossing paths, i bore him the bad news. "Ohh wess, this countwy vweawy hiwwy"
He'd ridden down from 'The Cape'. Anyways, I quit my crying and tackled these monsters of hills, being motivated by my relevant position to the 'finishing post'. I get to the top of one such hill and there it was....the City of sails. The sky tower was like a tiny little toothpick away off in the distance, obviously a few hours away just yet.
I get a text from Jackson who'd headed into the city earlier that day and reckons riding in Auckland city traffic 'has got knobs on it'. Yeah he was right. But I thought back to all the tretcherous cities that I'd ridden straight through the guts of, all the way from London to here and put the thought of getting squished by one of the big trucks or righteous drivers aside. After stopping and asking a few of the locals for directions to the city centre, I found myself in Queen St hunting out backpacker accommdation by about 3pm, and shortly after, gazing up and taking photos of the monstrous Sky Tower from right underneith. It was a bizzare feeling riding my bike around the city, one of those things that, if anyone had told me when i was younger that I'd be doing this, I'd have been seriously worried about myself.
19/12/08 Auckland
I hang out in Central Aucks and grab a few photos of the central city, plus sit in a couple of bars down on the waterfront. Jon & Carrol have had some sort of work function on tonight and meet me in a bar afterwards. Jon's pretty pissed up from the free booze so doesn't last long which suites me fine as i have finally got one final push to the post to ride tomorrow.
20/12/08 115kms to Warkworth.
It was a nice easy idle down the full length of Queen St to the Ferry Building to put my bike on the ferry to get across to Devonport on the North Shore. I met up with Jackson who was also heading north out of Auckland today.
A couple of really strange feelings occur as i start my ride. This is it, the last day, the last ride of my twenty five and a half thousand kilometer journey across the world. I start to think of all the people I met along the way, the brainwashed religious people, the countries I'd crossed and their customs, the scary bits, the challenging bits, the lonely bits and the bits with Elke, the scenic bits, the boring bits the hilly bits and the flat bits, the over crowded jam-packed cities buzzing with absolutely chaotic traffic, and the quiet rides down country lanes listening to the silence of pure nature. So many memories to remember, i hoped i didn't get knocked off my bike and killed today, fack no thank you very much, but that was all i could do - hope.
Again I got that unreal feeling while riding along East Coast Bays Rd, and later i joined up with State Highway One (for the first time since Taupo). I'd been blasting up & down this stretch of road since i was 4, every time in a car, & even that seemed to take forever (when you drive a Vauxhall Chevette) and here i am riding it on a bike. Nuts!
Thirsty work. So we pulled into the legendary Puhoi Pub, 20 kms from home. It's almost as much of a museum as it is a pub. Eric was there with a couple of coldies lined up waiting for us. We slurped them back and Jackson stared at the memorabilia that's been on the walls since the 19th century, while I told Amigo, the friendly local bar manager of my travels. He flicked me a free Puhoi Pub singlet. Cheers Amigo!
Out we headed again for the final push towards the post. As i imagined, climbing Schedeways Hill was almost as dangerous as any of the roads I'd crossed along the way, except for maybe a few poorly lit tunnels in Turkey, Georgia & Iran. I announced to Jackson that once we'd reached windy ridge, it was mostly all down hill now, and it was. Can you imagine what 'no more hills' feels like after riding from one side of the world to the other?
We stopped just outside Warkworth for some posey photo's with the town sign, then rolled down the hill, past my old college, a single victory lap through town & into the Bridge House where a bunch of mates, including mum & dad were waiting for me. I head inside to buy a celebratory bottle of Champers. The hot young bar-maid asking "Did you just win a race or something"? "No" I replied, "I've just been on a really long ride".
I've got to mention that this final blog seems pretty biased towards talking up New Zealand as one of my favourite countries to ride through. I feel pretty stink about bagging some of the other countries that weren't so enjoyable, but I'm calling it the way I saw it. I'm just so thankful i caught the video of that kid on the BMX riding his bike across the USA which inspired me to join New Zealand in the South Island. That country is one genuinely beuatiful land and it did seem so hard to make progress at times because of all the photo opportunities along the way. The Germans seem on to it, they're here in their droves and all for good reasons. NZ - It's fantastic, It'll grow on you.
So there it is everyone, thats how to ride a bike from one side of the world to the other. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog / dairy entries. Maybe one day I'll turn them into a book (in which case I'll let you all know so that my sales will at least get into double digits). I'm open to your opinions on this and would much appreciate you all letting me know if this whole blog bores the crap out of you as i can't really be arsed writing something for months and months if it aint worth reading.
Maybe in the near future I'll put together some kind of summary, a synopsis of each country, something with a few more statistics in it or whatever you superfans suggest. Until then, enjoy your day jobs and thank -you for letting me share this gigantic adventure of mine with you.
All the Bez
