Tuesday 31 January 2012

Wind & Waves

There's been a lot of riding in the last week - today and yesterday are much needed rest days, although there's been some cycling to get around, including up a very steep hill just outside where I'm staying now, in Christchurch.  Some of you will recognise the name of the city from the news - there has been a series of bad earthquakes here over the last year or so.  I spent some time in Christchurch when I came to New Zealand ten years ago - I think it will be a shock to see the difference in the city centre later today.  Even on the short ride from the station yesterday evening there was evidence of damaged buildings.  More on this later on when I've done some exploring.
Meanwhile, a journey update:

26/01 Nelson was beautifully sunny.  As soon as we got out of the city it was unbelievably windy. Progress was slow being battered by a very strong headwind.  It is never enjoyable when you have to pedal downhill.  At least the hills don't seem that much different to the flats.  Only 61km of the intended 80 or so - just too demoralising to keep going by about 5pm!

27/01 More of the same.  There had been one very big climb the day before, and an even bigger one today.  You know the wind's bad when it feels like a relief to go to a long drop toilet, just to be out of it, rather than in and out of the long drop as fast as possible! The view at the top of the climb was pretty good, lots of mountains around, no surprise that the lowest pass (Hope Saddle) was over 2000ft, highest altitude on the bike so far, some of the surrounding peaks were over 5000ft.  There was absolutely nothing in the way of shops on this route, and supplies being a little depleted for lunch items the meal was raisin bread (2 slices), chocolate (8 small squares) and shortbread (3 biscuits).  Not ideal! Plenty of rice and porridge in the bags but it's just not practical to stop to cook during the day - takes too long.  Good job there was a shop in Murchison and a lovely campsite by the Buller River - 71km ridden.

28/01 102km to Westport - biggest day of riding, luckily without luggage (see photos).  Followed the Buller River nearly all the way - pretty scenery, rocky gorges and clear water.  The road would tightly along the edge of the river.  The wind had dropped a little, and without the bags on the back the bikes were a little more aerodynamic.  My cycling buddy and I tried to help each other out by riding close behind each other - taking it in turns to be at the front and take the wind, pretending we were in the Tour de France.  Even on our non-flashy bikes (they are not as racing like as the one I ride to school with the curly handlebars) it made a real difference to be the person in behind - you could have a break from pedalling and not work so hard to go up the hills.  Also an amazing pie shop about halfway through was a big help!

29/01 57km to Punakaiki - some big climbs, but also the fastest downhills so far at over 61km/h! The road followed the coast for much of the day - rugged coastline with huge crashing waves to the right, lush, green rainforest to the left. Still a headwind but not so much as the last few days which was a relief.  The campsite was right next to an awesome beach - loads of rolling surf and spray.  The first clear night in ages (cold, brrr!) meant an amazing display of stars - the best since Western Australia, with the Milky Way and a very bright moon.

30/01 Probably the best day's cycling so far, 54km to Greymouth almost all along the coast, not a cloud in sight!  Great views and rocky scenery, including the cool pancake rocks just south of Punakaiki.  Reward for 9 days with no rest day was fish and chips on a driftwood covered beach by the Grey River mouth.  Really pretty, and the best fish and chips so far in NZ.  They even came wrapped in actual newspaper.

31/01 (6km) The only pedalling today was to the train station!  Greymouth to Christchurch is a great train trip through the northern part of New Zealand's mountain range - the Southern Alps.  It is spectacular mountains, rivers, viaducts and tunnels.  When I get the video working on here i'll put some up.  The best bit is that on the train there's an outdoor viewing carriage - it has a roof but open sides, so you can see loads and feel how fast the train is - and get a little chilly!  I'd wanted to do the train ride since I was last here, so was very excited.  Using the rest day to travel from the West Coast to the East means that the next section of riding will be along the Canterbury Plains next to the Southern Alps, visiting some lovely lakes and Mt Cook village to do some hiking in the mountains. Fortunately...

01/02 ... That doesn't start until tomorrow! Rest day 2 today - (another vaccination) and a chance to explore Christchurch.  Also it is a relief not to be sitting on the bike seat!  Legs are not too tired, it's more general aching from the discomfort of riding - especially hands, neck and shoulders.  Happily, my lips have now recovered from some severe wind damage - for a few days last week I looked like a frostbitten Antarctic explorer! On the downside, the tan lines are now verging on the ridiculous.  Whilst mentioning Antarctica, I met a lady the other day who works for NASA who had just spent a few weeks in Antarctica on a space balloon project, testing equipment that will later be used on space missions.  Sounded awesome, and a fantastic place to visit.  Probably a bit cold there though. (I think this is the project http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice.htm) 

That brings you up to date.  Going to try and do mapmyride on the routes, then you can see the hills etc if you a mapmyride user.  It's a good site, you can map walks/runs you do as well to see how far you went and what hills you climbed etc, well worth signing up to if you have a few minutes spare.  Anyway, thanks for reading, night night to you, good morning to me, time for me to stop eating cereal and get on with the day!  Take care, Miss Butler.

Monday 30 January 2012

photos



Whanganui River Trip - 80km by canoe in three days.  Lots of rainforest scenery, steep gorge sides, waterfalls, scary fast flowing bits of river and rocks.  This snack stop (one of many) is down a small side stream which had a waterfall at the end.  All the stuff needed (tent, stove, food, dry clothes etc) was packed into the dry barrels you can see in the photo below.  These were then tied to the canoe - the River was so fast and high if there had been a capsize it probably would have been a good few kilometres of floating before we caught up with the canoe!






Not the real one! Along the Whanganui River Road there's also Atene (Athens) and Ranana (London, bizarrely).  Western settlers in the area reused place names they already knew - local Maori couldn't pronounce some of the syllables, so a second local name was used for each place.



Kaiteriteri Beach, Tasman, South Island - great ice creams where fresh fruit was mixed with mr whippy type ice cream, mmmmm!



The first 100km+ day.  Spot the bike is very lightly loaded though.  At the campsite in Murchison there was a country music festival so it was busy.  One of the ladies there was driving back home to Westport - where we were heading - and she offered to put the panniers in her car for a luggage free cycle! Awesome! It is a little nerve wracking handing over everything you own to a stranger, but she seemed nice enough and gave me her address.  Sure enough, rolling into Westport, Carol's house was easy to find and she even had a cup of tea waiting! Brilliant!


West Coast riding on 30/01 - amazing blue skies, sunshine and coastal scenery all day.  Didn't even mind the hills because the views from the top were so good!








Wednesday 25 January 2012

Video?

Try the link at the top - hopefully there will be a video.  If it works will try some action video while cycling!

Bad at blogging, getting better at pedalling

It's the end of day 20 so I'm truly a rubbish blogger. Time with wifi has been hard to come by. Much of the day is taken up by cycling, putting up tent, cooking huge meals on a trangia, packing panniers, endless suncream and insect spray applications etc etc. No time for relaxing on this part of the trip. The scenery has been amazing, hopefully will get some photos up soon. Will try not to include too much lycra though. Here's a summary to bring things up to date:
12th rest day- legs tired after walk!
13th 50 km cycled, through wind, rain and my personal favourite up hills in horizontal hail. Treat of bed not tent much needed!
14th 15km cycled, preparations for canoe and cycle with no shops for five days made harder by there only being a petrol station to buy food from. Rice, tuna and jam sandwiches it is then!
15th 37km canoe-d. Weary arms, but fast high river helped. Only one near capsize!
16th 29km canoe and the first sunshine for ages. Beautifully peaceful and a lovely 6k walk to the bridge to nowhere (look it up, it really goes nowhere)
17th 21km canoe, 18km cycled. Great last day on the river, though between the rapids and the gravel roads it's surprising that there were no falls! All over tired and not much food left, no shops until Wanganui.
18th 76km cycle- longest day yet, really flagging until a shop at about 3pm- it might sound strange but it's difficult in countryside areas to find enough food some days- I'm probably using about double the usual amount of energy at least at the moment cycling with luggage on the bike. The ride was great as there was a vintage car rally - like riding through a film set as they all drove past along the river.
19th bus to Wellington, 13km ride, most up Mt Victoria in very very windy Wellington.
20th rest and tourist in NZ's little capital city
21st 17km around welly. Ate interesting food and saw Polynesian Zumba at a Pacific Islands festival, great music and banana pudding.
22nd Ferry to South Island, 66km cycled. Amazing views cycling west from picton, sad to see lots of forest areas being logged though. More sunshine is certainly helping, and that everywhere you go in NZ looks like a postcard.
23rd BIG DAY! Thought only 50ish km would be manageable as 2 very big hill climbs, but obviously beans on toast (well, bread- toast is tricky on a trangia) is the fuel of champions, as got to Nelson earlier than expected feeling fresh. Made it 96km to a beautiful beach side camp- winner!
24th left tent etc at camp so a ride without bags - lovely! That and mainly flat road along some lovely coast meant that 60km wasn't too tiring. The ice cream at Kaiteriteri beach helped too!
Today, 25th jan, 37km back to Nelson. Shame to repeat a section but needed a vaccination for South America, there's not many big enough towns round these parts for that kind of thing. Sad to say my Spanish learning is not going well. The kindle app and free Sherlock Holmes and old Australia travel books have been distracting me! Must try harder with that. Tomorrow there's two very big hills, and pretty much continual slight uphill all day. Scary thought. Fuelled up with a well-known brand of takeaway pizza this evening. At this point I will mention the importance of a balanced diet. Everything is fine in moderation though, and my mum will pleased to read that I'm doing my best with my 5 a day. Sleep time, rest before pedalling. Hope you're all well, Miss B

Thursday 12 January 2012

Just keep pedalling...

The cycle tour has begun. Bought a bike and pannier bags on trade me (New Zealand eBay), loaded tent, clothes, stove etc, hopped on the ferry and bus out of Auckland!
Here's a summary from Rotorua onwards...
8th jan Rotorua to Wairakei 72k
9th jan Wairakei to Motutere via Craters of the moon, huka falls and Taupo 49k
10th jan Motutere to Turangi 20k and rest!
11th jan Tongariro crossing alpine walk - absolutely amazing 23k - very tired now! More soon!
Miss B