20/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 35 - Arrhhhgggg SANDFLIES!!!!

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Distance cycled: 82km from Rai Valley to Wakefield, South Island, NZ
Average speed: 18.9km/h
Moving Time: 4h21m
Elevation Ascended: 926m
Total Distance on Current trip: 2,384km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,023km
Money spent: $25

Waking up to sandflies sucking your blood leaving you itchy and irritated is shitty but having to deal with them in the evening too is even worse.
I have had my run ins with Sandflies before in the past and whatever measures I made to prevent them from biting me has failed, they always find a way... The little bastards.
Last night it rained somewhat and I didn't sleep all that well because of it having to get up and fit my tarp over my now spacious tent ( no longer having Marlieke with me). It's a little sad not having her with me but I'll be seeing her soon enough somewhere on the west coast.
The super French family (Spencer's name for them) of touring cyclists who we camped beside have spent the last few months traveling New Zealand but have a year of traveling Australasia together were amazing, they would show so many that traveling on bicycles around the world with kids is possible and they all seemed so happy together. It was amazing to see and meet them.
There were some decent climbs today but the downhill descent from the 500 meter climb to Nelson was the best I had experienced in New Zealand so far, both Spencer and I just gunned it down and were so pumped after it was over.
Making it into Nelson we didn't see anything that interested us in terms of touristy things so after a small stint in the library we headed off out of the city to find a free camping spot outside of Wakefield.
It was relatively full and the majority of people there were from Germany (no surprise as most travelers are from Germany). There were a noisy bunch camping beside us but as I sleep with heavy metal music it was not a problem.... Until they started playing the fucking bongos.

19/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 34 - Have a new cycling partner.

 

Distance cycled: 67km from Picton to Rai Valley, South Island, New Zealand
Average speed: 19.8km/h
Moving Time: 3h22m
Elevation Ascended: 816m
Total Distance on Current trip: 2,302km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,105km
Money spent: $20

As we were camping in our tents at the hostel the checkout time of 10am did not apply to us, so we all took advantage of the wifi, showers, included breakfast, coffee and the sheer comfort of this hostel.
It wasn't until 1:30pm when we left.
Spencer, the American we met on the ferry yesterday who was also cycle touring and I decided to ride together for a while as we all got along very well; however Marlieke will be traveling around the South Island on a bus, but there will be opportunities that we get to meet up along the way.
I think it's a good thing as I get to cover more distance towards my goal of cycling the distance of the circumference of earth and she doesn't have to climb and difficult hills.
So, cycling the South Island.
So far it is amazing, just a beautiful backdrop of dramatic mountains with turquoise waters and friendly people.
The hills that Spencer and I tacked today were steep but nothing we couldn't handle. Although I made the mistake of leaving my helmet at the hostel having climbed the first hill out of Picton up the scenic Queen Charlotte road, but of course I turned around and picked it up.
I also received my 9th puncture, even though I changed out the better tires from Marlieke's bike to mine I still managed to annoyingly get one, however it was more valve related... Please no more!
Spencer and I ended up the day in a rest area on the side of the road where we ran into the French family who we met not only on the ferry crossing the Tasman but also in Picton yesterday.
It is unbelievable to see a family of 6 touring the world for a year, and to see them do it as cheap as they are it is great to see. Kudos to them. It's amazing.

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.