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Thursday 8 October 2015

16/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 33 - The pretentiousness of city dwellers.


Go to NZ!

Distance cycled: 113km from Levin to Wellington, North island, New Zealand.
Average speed: 17km/h
Moving Time: 6h36m
Elevation Ascended: 1069m
Total Distance on Current trip: 2,207km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,200km
Money spent: $9

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I left Cheryl and Roy's place alone as Marlieke was wanting to finish up the trip to Wellington by taking the train, I had to cycle well over 100km to get to where we were staying, it was yet another member from warm-showers that we organized this morning because staying with Zim (Cheryl and Roy's son) fell through.
I was put though some really tough terrain today but the relentless head wind would not back down, there were times I just wanted to stop and give up for the day especially watching all the other cyclists enjoying the direct tailwind on the opposite side of the road.
Entering into the suburbs of Wellington I noticed a change in the people, no longer were people waving hello to one another nor were they saying that simple hello when they passed one another - this simple two syllable word "hello" when spoken to a passerby makes a place feel inviting and friendly. Unfortunately the residents of Wellington did not have this attitude and instantaneously I felt like the city was missing something. This is often the case in many cities around the world and why I couldn't ever live in a big city.
Being fed up with the wind almost blowing me backwards and frustrated that I wasn't receiving the friendly wave back from other cyclists I stopped to help a man with his bicycle upside down, he managed to somehow jam his chain in between his sprocket set that separated it in half.
Having disassembled his chain and prying his rear fork apart I managed to make his bicycle at least rideable. He was grateful and I was happy I was able to help someone out who was in need.
I also had a run in with a police officer today, I had literally had my helmet off for less than 2 minutes whilst Very slowly coasting down a hill searching for a better spot to view the city in the mountains north of it, he shouted at me but thankfully didn't give me an on-the-spot fine.
Wellington isn't a huge city by any means but how it is squeezed on the edge of the Tasman sea and the mountains city makes it a picturesque city.
Eventually I made it to where I was staying and as Marlieke had cooked dinner and as exhausted as I was I simply ate and went to bed.

IMG_0705IMG_0707IMG_0717Well... Wellington

Looking out over Wellington

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