18/02/2015 - all hands on deck! Crossing the Tasman.

 

From Wellington to Picton the blue bridge ferry company took us. It was easy to organize even with my bicycle and as the skies were clear the views from the boat were incredible.

An American cycle tourist named Spencer joined Marlieke and I for chit chat and was planning his trip around the South Island, he initially wanted to cycle the east coast but the advice I received was to first cycle the west coast. We will see if he will head the same way as me for some company and laughs.

Before the boat trip I swapped out my tires for Marlieke's as she had sold it to the couple who we were staying with, I needed the much more reliable Schwalbe set for the shitty puncture prone Bontrager (French) I had. Advice for anyone making the decision on which tire to buy, go for the more expensive but much more durable and reliable German Schwalbe tires. This advice should be adopted for not only tires but most products, The word 'German' has the byword for quality.

Coming into Picton with stunning mountain views on both sides of the ship we disembarked from the ship and went in search for a hostel. Many hostels, for whatever reason, were booked but the place we stayed at, Tombstone Hostel, beside the graveyard and the port offered a small patch of grass to pitch our tents.

A really nice hostel that was quaint and friendly, the owners always had smiles on their faces and if I were to ever own a hostel I would love it to be as perfect as they had set it up.

It was a fun evening with great food and beer with plenty of laughs.

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

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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

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.

Looking out over Wellington

15/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 32 - Flat, Flat and more Flat.

Distance cycled: 58 km from Bulls to Levin, North island, New Zealand
Average speed: 18.2km/h
Moving Time: 3h11m
Elevation Ascended: 202m
Total Distance on Current trip: 2,094km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,313km
Money spent: $27

 

We had been told that cycling this area of the South Island would be flat and boring but what was worse was much like yesterday, bad head wind and another flat tire.
There was a brief 20 minutes of tailwind until I was graciously treated to yet another flat tire and whilst I fixed the issue the wind direction had shifted.
We ended the day at the folks of a guy Marlieke had met in Bali last year. Zim (marliekes friend) wasn't at his parents place where we had arrived but he invited us there anyway. Roy and Cheryl were happy to have visitors come and stay in their beautiful home in the town of Levin.
Originally farmers from Zimbabwe, Africa they had to leave for political reasons and their family were at risk.
Their story was absolutely unbelievable but have now spent over two decades here in New Zealand living happy lives.
Marlieke and I were treated to a lovely meal and surreal stories of Roy and Cheryl's previous home.

14/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 31 - Valentine's Day.

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Pano of Whanganui

Distance cycled: 45km from Whanganui to Bulls, North island, New Zealand.
Average speed: 14.7km/h
Moving Time: 3h03m
Elevation Ascended: 343m
Total Distance on Current trip: 2,036km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,371km

Leaving the Hird's family home in whanganui we set off down highway 3 towards Levin where we had a place to stay with one of Marlieke's travel friends from Indonesia. The road wasn't in any way interesting with plenty of traffic and parts of it with no shoulder whatsoever and with dreary overcast weather and a consistent head wind we decided to spend the night in an interesting town called "Bulls". Bulls had an unusual appeal but an appeal to stop passing by tourists to stop for an ice cream of photograph some of the ridiculous slogans for the town eg. Bulls, a town like no udder or its unbelieva'bull', things like this and the multitude of murals on the sides of buildings that were bull related.
Anyway, Marlieke and I wanted to spend a night in a room together as it was Valentine's Day and we were somewhat fed up with cycling in the conditions of the day so we had a motel for a very reasonable $70 for the evening.
With a few bottles of wine, some nibbles and several episodes of our favorite television show (Modern Family) we stayed indoors.

These pics were taken the previous day

12/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 30 - mountains to Sea cycle route.

 

Distance cycled: 59km from Kauika camping site to Whanganui, North island, New Zealand.
Average speed: 15.1km/h
Moving Time: 3h57m
Elevation Ascended: 947m
Total Distance on Current trip: 1,975km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,432km
Money spent: $10

Following alongside the Whanganui River the terrain was a consistent up down, up down, up down.  Unsurprisingly it became rather repetitive but we knew at the end of the day that we would be resting for a night, but maybe two at a warm-showers host I had organized a few days before.
Sarah and Grant with their three young children graciously hosted us for the evening and allowed us to spend another night with them.
William, the youngest of the children is as hypo active as they come with near limitless energy and burdened with loud high pitched noises that would deafen bats or Dolphins.
But none the less a good kid.
We slept on the floor of their lounge room after a tasty meal.

11/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 29 - Down she goes.

Distance cycled: 80.4km from National Park to Ranana, North island, New Zealand.
Average speed: 17.5km/h
Moving Time: 4h35m
Elevation Ascended: 861m
Total Distance on Current trip: 1,915km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,492km
Money spent: $42.50

Long pleasant downhill stretches from the mountains towards Whanganui river were fantastic, even an icecream for breakfast to start off the day under the warmth of the sun that stuck with us for the whole day made it a day to throughly enjoy.
Having being told that 15km of the westerly road from Raetihi was recently surfaced and is now completely tar sealed was a bonus to the day and with little traffic as we descended from the mountains and with magnificent views... I'm just going to simply say that today was awesome with nothing not to enjoy about it - the pictures below illustrate how good today was.

A gigantic Kiwi

10/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 28 - Bad day for Marlieke.

Distance cycled: 54km from Turangi to National Park, north island, New Zealand.
Average speed: 12.9km/h
Moving Time: 4h10m
Elevation Ascended: 1281m
Total Distance on Current trip: 1835km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6572km
Money spent: $34

After that day of rest yesterday I assumed we were all good to tackle the mountains to the south of lake Taupo.
Marlieke was still in pain from hiking the Tongariro crossing but it was time to move on.
It was a steep climb out of Turangi offering beautiful views of lake Taupo and mount Tongariro standing strong in the opposite direction but it was grueling for Marlieke.
Suffering from both leg and knee pain she wasn't in the best of moods and despite some strong language being shared with not only me but anything in the surrounding vicinity she pushed on.
Eventually we made it to the small town of National Park were we immediately met a young local working for the department of conservation who offered us his yard to pitch our tent.
Ed, lived alone in this tiny village just around the corner from where we met him, it is a very small town and his past time included hunting. Although he had only just met us he was keen to get his hunting gear out to see what he could find in the nearby forest with his pup. Oddly, despite showing us his hunting rifle within just 30 minutes of meeting him we did not feel intimidated by him. He was a very friendly character who often helped people out with a place to stay using couch-surfing.
He returned an hour or two later unfortunately not having shot anything but we chatted away till it was time to go to bed.. At 10:15.
It was an exhausting day in many ways.