Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Cycling Day Three
We had debated getting the bus for this next stage but decided to not be idle and cycle it. We had studied our Pedallars Paradise book and had decided to go for the quieter route to Fairlie, this meant the distance today would be 71km instead of 48 but it was worth it. The whole morning was spent on nice, not too hilly, back roads, no wind, sun out, lovely. We got to a place called Pleasant Point in time for dinner and sat down in the Legends Cafe for what turned out to be quite a time. The food was tasty (they do good cafes here) but what made it nice was chatting to a couple from Timaru down the road, the chap was into his cycling and gave us loads of advice on good routes and stuff that we were to use in the coming days. About 2.30pm we left with an open invite to stay in Timaru if we were passing. It was a long road to Fairlie after that, the clouds were lowering and it had got much colder with the wind off the mountains that now had a dusting of snow that hadn't been there two days before. Fairlie itself is a small alpine town, geared up really for skiing in the winter. We met an elderly Japanese gentleman there who proper put our efforts to shame. He'd cycled from the very top of the North Island, he'd done about 110km that day. He was very nice and we shared a lamb chop tea with him!
I'm a lumber jack..........
Well our proposed lazy day off in Geraldine worked out for the best, it lashed it down all day, proper miserable. We wandered into town mid morning to look for the farmers market, never found it, but we did find a wood chopping competition which turned out to be really entertaining. We never really figured out the rules, there seemed to be a lot of competitors working in heats, we had missed the first part of the climbing the tree section (and it was too wet for them to continue it anyway) so the point seemed to be to create foot holds on these big logs and then in a handicap sort of system chop through them as quickly as poss. The HSE would have a fit over here, no goggles, PPE, they were wearing pumps for the most part! It was fab though, one guy told us it was all really serious, the axes cost about $900 and are kept all polished and in special wooden boxes, real prize possessions. It was a shame about the weather as the competition was being held next to a pub garden so beers and a sit out would have been a proper afternoon out. This was on a Saturday afternoon, there is nothing else to do as all the shops close at dinner on a Saturday, well different from home. Back at the campsite we got chatting to a nice couple from the Midlands, (Joan and John) in the internet room, they invited us back to their camper van for coffee as the rain was still coming down hard. Must admit I got camper van envy, TV, heating, roof over your head, made our soggy tent look a very poor choice. This was especially the case as the tent was now surrounded by a moat and we had to spend the night cramped in with all our bags and nothing touching the side in case of leaks, oh well!
Monday, 14 March 2011
Cycling Day Two
We are having a new approach to this blog, short and to the point rather than boring and long, hope it works!
Another late start as Gary had lost the screw off one of his cleats so needed a replacement (this will only make sense to cyclists) and I had frozen the milk for breakfast and the milkshakes for mid morning by accident! It was 80km to our bed for the night at Geraldine, about 10km less than the previous day but no wind so much better going. It was a very hot day again, we stopped about 15km from Methven on one of the straight roads to the state highway for our now milkshake slushy. Then down the road to Staveley, similar size to the one in the Lakes but even more in the back of nowhere. We have discovered NZ cafes and can't pass them by, a cake and ginger beer later and we were back on the road. The views to our right (west) were amazing mountain views of the beginnings of the Southern Alps, we passed various turn offs for ski fields along the way. We arrived at Geraldine at about 5pm with tired legs and sore backsides but in a much more positive frame of mind than the previous day. We got set up at the campsite and started looking for the sunglasses that Gary had lost in the 80 yards between the reception and our tent! Didn't find them. Tea that night was from the local fishmonger that became a chippy at night, had to wait for about 30 minutes but it was worth it, I had Blue Cod and Gary had Butter Fish and they were the best we'd had since Manganui. These were washed down with a couple of bottles of Monteith's Radlers Ale - beer with lemon in so they taste like 5% shandy (apparently radler means cycle in German but I wouldn't have a clue about that).
We ended up chatting to a bloke from the Channel Islands called Chris who had cycled from the UK, he was in theory now on his way home. His bike had way more stuff on it than ours, you couldn't lift it, made us feel a bit guilty about our proposed day off the following day.
Another late start as Gary had lost the screw off one of his cleats so needed a replacement (this will only make sense to cyclists) and I had frozen the milk for breakfast and the milkshakes for mid morning by accident! It was 80km to our bed for the night at Geraldine, about 10km less than the previous day but no wind so much better going. It was a very hot day again, we stopped about 15km from Methven on one of the straight roads to the state highway for our now milkshake slushy. Then down the road to Staveley, similar size to the one in the Lakes but even more in the back of nowhere. We have discovered NZ cafes and can't pass them by, a cake and ginger beer later and we were back on the road. The views to our right (west) were amazing mountain views of the beginnings of the Southern Alps, we passed various turn offs for ski fields along the way. We arrived at Geraldine at about 5pm with tired legs and sore backsides but in a much more positive frame of mind than the previous day. We got set up at the campsite and started looking for the sunglasses that Gary had lost in the 80 yards between the reception and our tent! Didn't find them. Tea that night was from the local fishmonger that became a chippy at night, had to wait for about 30 minutes but it was worth it, I had Blue Cod and Gary had Butter Fish and they were the best we'd had since Manganui. These were washed down with a couple of bottles of Monteith's Radlers Ale - beer with lemon in so they taste like 5% shandy (apparently radler means cycle in German but I wouldn't have a clue about that).
We ended up chatting to a bloke from the Channel Islands called Chris who had cycled from the UK, he was in theory now on his way home. His bike had way more stuff on it than ours, you couldn't lift it, made us feel a bit guilty about our proposed day off the following day.
Christchurch and Cycling Day One
Well it's been a while, we've been away from technology. We left Kaikoura for Christchurch with a bit of trepidation as to what we would find, the bus actually stopped to watch a pod of dolphins along the way, it doesn't happen on the way into town! We got to Christchurch, it was a hot day with the apparently notorious wind blowing into the city from the mountains and it was hellish. The bus could not get to it's replacement stop as the street had been closed while an unstable building was demolished so we arrived on a street next to the cordon for the closed CBD with the wind blowing dust from the demolition site right into us. Outside the city you wouldn't have known anything had happened, apart from a few bits of liquifaction the buildings all looked OK, as you got nearer there were chimneys down and the road was having more repairs and then actually in the centre (or as near as you get) it was like some scenes from a war zone.
We made our way eventually to the Antarctic Centre near the airport to be collected by Andy from Natural High, this seemed a fab place where all the various countries set out to do their research expeditions in the Antarctic, all sorts of weird vehicles to see and stuff. We were very kindly put up by Andy and Kay from the bike hire company at their family home in Lincoln about 15km outside of the city (the house was like something off Grand Designs and there was bedding and towels and everything!).
After a late start we set off on the bikes the next day with a bit of a wobble, it's been a while since we rode bikes with panniers, all seemed to be going grand until we turned into the winds which we had encountered the previous day. The roads on the Canterbury Plains are unbelievably long and straight, many kilometres in just one direction; with the wind basically blowing you backwards and the soon obsessional counting of telegraph poles it was a long day. About 3pm we eventually arrived at the first sign of civilisation since 11 that morning, Hororata and it's very welcome cafe. After a refreshing break we set off again on the hideous straight roads until we reached the campsite st Rakaia Gorge, we would have stayed here for the night, shower or not, but we had no food having no opportunity to shop anywhere, on again therefore to Methven. This could have been the end of our cycle adventure as there was a long uphill to endure but the mission was saved by an 11km freewheel into town and pizza for tea.
Only one photo as the whole day was so depressing and long!
We made our way eventually to the Antarctic Centre near the airport to be collected by Andy from Natural High, this seemed a fab place where all the various countries set out to do their research expeditions in the Antarctic, all sorts of weird vehicles to see and stuff. We were very kindly put up by Andy and Kay from the bike hire company at their family home in Lincoln about 15km outside of the city (the house was like something off Grand Designs and there was bedding and towels and everything!).
After a late start we set off on the bikes the next day with a bit of a wobble, it's been a while since we rode bikes with panniers, all seemed to be going grand until we turned into the winds which we had encountered the previous day. The roads on the Canterbury Plains are unbelievably long and straight, many kilometres in just one direction; with the wind basically blowing you backwards and the soon obsessional counting of telegraph poles it was a long day. About 3pm we eventually arrived at the first sign of civilisation since 11 that morning, Hororata and it's very welcome cafe. After a refreshing break we set off again on the hideous straight roads until we reached the campsite st Rakaia Gorge, we would have stayed here for the night, shower or not, but we had no food having no opportunity to shop anywhere, on again therefore to Methven. This could have been the end of our cycle adventure as there was a long uphill to endure but the mission was saved by an 11km freewheel into town and pizza for tea.
Only one photo as the whole day was so depressing and long!
Friday, 4 March 2011
Wine, whales and loads of people from St Helens
Well we've made our way down to Kaikoura, a bit of a nice coastal town on the way to Christchurch, the sea looks a stunning blue and the mountains behind the town are amazing, if this is just the start of the South Island hills I can't wait to see the rest.
An update from before anyway, we quickly got sorted at Motueka that the bike hire was still on and that we had to make our way to Christchurch for 2/3 March, this meant we had a day free before we had to start travelling, we decided to do a wine tour of the vineyards around Motueka, this was a grand afternoon. A minibus took us and two other couples to three vineyards, the first a tiny boutique one run by a lady from Wales, we tasted four wines and bought a very nice bottle of Pinot Gris. Next was a slightly larger place owned by a German couple, here we again tasted four very nice wines (didn't buy, but wish we had) and had a lovely anti pasti lunch in their grounds. Last was a commercial winery where we could chose four glasses from a choice of eight bottles, working in teams meant you could taste them all, we were a bit disappointed with these ones but this was probably due to wine overload rather than any problems with the drinks themselves! We rallied by the time we reached the Moutere Arms, New Zealands oldest pub (1850), and managed a pint of cask beer brewed in Wellington, it was very lemony and hoppy (a bit like a shandy actually) but it made a nice change from the lager that seems to be all that's available here. A good afternoon followed by a nap in the sun.
A lovely 5.15am start was needed the next day to get us on our bus trip to Kaikoura, this meant three buses and three hours wait in various places. We would have loved to have travelled on the TranzCoastal train from Picton to Kaikoura but the trains are still off following the earthquake. We arrived and got pitched on quite a busy site, a lot of people from Christchurch are staying in holiday parks etc. in the South Island as they can't go home yet. A walk into town brought us to a nice chip shop for tea, a bit of luck that really! We later had a drink in a bar and got chatting to a bloke who works in a local cafe and is from Blackbrook, Chain Lane to be precise. We thought it was a bit of a small world and the following day proved it.
Today we decided on a 30 minute flight to see whales, the shuttle bus that picked us up was driven by a chap from Skipton who had lived in St Helens (Windle Island area) for a time and was matey with Tom Van Vollenhoven and his family, sorry if I've spelt this wrong. The flight was short but excellent, a tiny little plane that flew at 1000 feet but was allowed down to 500 when a whale was spotted. Thankfully the pilot knew what he was looking for as we wouldn't have seen anything by ourselves. As it was we saw four male juvenile sperm whales, we got really good views though it meant twirling around in a plane in a slightly sickening way. On the way back to land we saw a pod of about 300 dusky dolphins all playing and jumping and backflipping, quite excellent. Without the dolphins it would have been difficult to get an idea of the size of the whales but they were a good reference point to how huge they actually are. The afternoon was spent walking around the Kaikoura Peninsula getting sunburnt again, the scenery and cows were very like Croyde in Devon, all we needed was a cream tea at the end.
Tomorrow we head to Christchurch
An update from before anyway, we quickly got sorted at Motueka that the bike hire was still on and that we had to make our way to Christchurch for 2/3 March, this meant we had a day free before we had to start travelling, we decided to do a wine tour of the vineyards around Motueka, this was a grand afternoon. A minibus took us and two other couples to three vineyards, the first a tiny boutique one run by a lady from Wales, we tasted four wines and bought a very nice bottle of Pinot Gris. Next was a slightly larger place owned by a German couple, here we again tasted four very nice wines (didn't buy, but wish we had) and had a lovely anti pasti lunch in their grounds. Last was a commercial winery where we could chose four glasses from a choice of eight bottles, working in teams meant you could taste them all, we were a bit disappointed with these ones but this was probably due to wine overload rather than any problems with the drinks themselves! We rallied by the time we reached the Moutere Arms, New Zealands oldest pub (1850), and managed a pint of cask beer brewed in Wellington, it was very lemony and hoppy (a bit like a shandy actually) but it made a nice change from the lager that seems to be all that's available here. A good afternoon followed by a nap in the sun.
A lovely 5.15am start was needed the next day to get us on our bus trip to Kaikoura, this meant three buses and three hours wait in various places. We would have loved to have travelled on the TranzCoastal train from Picton to Kaikoura but the trains are still off following the earthquake. We arrived and got pitched on quite a busy site, a lot of people from Christchurch are staying in holiday parks etc. in the South Island as they can't go home yet. A walk into town brought us to a nice chip shop for tea, a bit of luck that really! We later had a drink in a bar and got chatting to a bloke who works in a local cafe and is from Blackbrook, Chain Lane to be precise. We thought it was a bit of a small world and the following day proved it.
Today we decided on a 30 minute flight to see whales, the shuttle bus that picked us up was driven by a chap from Skipton who had lived in St Helens (Windle Island area) for a time and was matey with Tom Van Vollenhoven and his family, sorry if I've spelt this wrong. The flight was short but excellent, a tiny little plane that flew at 1000 feet but was allowed down to 500 when a whale was spotted. Thankfully the pilot knew what he was looking for as we wouldn't have seen anything by ourselves. As it was we saw four male juvenile sperm whales, we got really good views though it meant twirling around in a plane in a slightly sickening way. On the way back to land we saw a pod of about 300 dusky dolphins all playing and jumping and backflipping, quite excellent. Without the dolphins it would have been difficult to get an idea of the size of the whales but they were a good reference point to how huge they actually are. The afternoon was spent walking around the Kaikoura Peninsula getting sunburnt again, the scenery and cows were very like Croyde in Devon, all we needed was a cream tea at the end.
Tomorrow we head to Christchurch
Wellington, hobbits,kayaks
This post is a bit awkward because of what's happened in Christchurch so I'll try and summarize our activities with a little compassion.We had another full day available for outings in Wellington before we left for the South island via the ferry. The day started with a Lord of the Rings tour in the morning which was pretty good followed by an afternoon at the Weta Cave and dining in the city at Sweet Mothers Kitchen again and then an evening tour in a wildlife sanctuary just 15mins outside the city at a place called Zealandia. I've attached a few photo's of the Lord of the Rings tour. Just to give you a flavour of the tour it started with lots of hobbit/ lord of the rings language which only Ruth could interpret and had loads of visits to film location sites around Wellington which needed a bit of imagination to visualise as the sets had been there at least 10 years prior. We both enjoyed the tour and followed it up with a short trip to Miramar, 20mins bus ride from central Wellington which is home to Peter Jackson (director of LOTR) and the Weta workshop (creators of all the special effects and visuals for the LOTR films). The Weta Cave studio tour was smart that's all I can say anyone who watches the films if they have a chance visit this place there are some seriously artistic and talented people working there, unfortunately no sign of new Hobbit film props yet! although you were able to buy a set of latex hobbit ears small or large struck from the same mould as the originals but at $52.00 we gave them a miss. Away back to the city we dined again in the now famous Sweet Mothers Kitchen, the food was quality again, all the veggies have taste here, all locally grown. In the evening we were picked up for our night tour at Zealandia, we were once again the only ones so after a quick bag check to make sure we weren't sneaking any rats in by mistake we set off. The first things we saw were some little green geckos, then in a large enclosure there was a lot of rustling and we saw several Tuatara - these are ancient reptiles that look a bit like small Iguana. We then went off in search of the elusive Kiwi, we could hear them around us but no sign, the stars were fab though and we went via some amazing glowworm banks. We went right around the sanctuary with no sightings at all, back at the Tuatara enclosure we saw Weta (nasty, big grasshopper things) and a stick insect, giving up for the night we headed back to the visitor centre and there by the path was a Kiwi just grubbing about for its tea quite happily. Kiwis have a strong sense of smell and as soon as Ruth got to near it legged it, not sure what that means!
The morning meant a thankfully non choppy three hour ferry crossing from Wellington to Picton on the South Island, it was windy and cold on the boat but the views were great of the Marlborough Sounds. At Picton it was hot, we got the tent assembled and wandered into town, after booking onto the water taxi for the following morning we were at a bit of a loose end so ended up in an Irish pub where we spent an entertaining evening chatting to Kevin Iro's uncle. The next morning was misty with rain, we got the water taxi (a bit more reliable than Critchleys), with high hopes that the weather would clear. After about 30 minutes we landed at Motuara Island which similarly to Zealandia has eradicated all pests to allow the native birds to recover, we saw lots of nice things including more geckos, these ones black like lumps of rubber. Back to the water taxi for a 5 minute trip in the rain to Ship Cove where Capt Cook landed and the start of the Queen Charlotte Track, you have to understand the scenery here is stunning, we saw it from the ferry the day before, that was a good thing because you could see nowt now! We set off on the track about 11am, we had 15km to do before our pickup at 4pm, we got to the first top pretty quickly, though there were no views because of the bush and the mist it was still really pretty, lots of Tree Ferns and birds and really humid even though it was hammering down. Carrying on we made good time around the headlands until we got to the last high point of the day, we decided on sandwiches in the rain but the minute we sat down we were mugged by three Weka. These are small chubby brown birds, flightless and dead cheeky, we shared our bread with them and watched them fight over each bit. By the time we got towards the end of the day at Furneaux Lodge we were getting a bit fed up of the damp, everything was soaked but this all meant nothing as soon as we arrived at the lodge. Everyone there had just stopped to watch the TV as the news was just coming through about the earthquake in Christchurch, made our moans seem a bit trivial. One other thing to say though, sandflies, total nightmare.
The next stage of our journey was kayaking in Abel Tasman national park, so after a day spent on buses we found ourselves in Motueka in the north of the South Island, we had a day to prepare before the kayaking so just had a wander around in the sun trying to confirm our booking with the company (who's computer server was in Christchurch). We were picked up the following morning and taken to Marahau where we stored most of our kit and just packed what we would need in dry bags. We loaded all the stuff onto a boat getting towed by a tractor and then got on ourselves, seemed a bit odd sitting in a boat with life jackets on driving through the streets behind a tractor, but then this seems a bit of a weird country at times. We arrived at Awaroa Bay after about half an hour on the boat, got the kayaks packed and set off. The day was lovely and sunny, the views stunning and the lunch tasty which is all important. The sand on the beaches was really golden and massive granules, some New Zealand Fur Seals came up to the beach to see what we were doing, altogether a grand day on the water. The campsite that evening was at Mosquito Bay (turned out they'd been scared away by sandflies), it was everything Ruth hates, a pit toilet, no showers, huge bush spiders. We had a good evening though, nice food, beer and wine and good company, as we went to sleep the possums were coming out. The night was not so good, heavy rain and a leaky tent made for a poor nights sleep. The morning was cool and damp with millions of sandflies, the smell of the pit toilet was all over the campsite due to a change in wind direction! The sea was choppy for kayaking today, more like what we hope for with our boards in the North Sea, still we survived even if we did feel a little queasy at the end of is all. A restoring pint of beer at Marahau with the others at the end worked wonders. Back to the Top 10 campsite at Motueka for a couple of nights planning what next.
The morning meant a thankfully non choppy three hour ferry crossing from Wellington to Picton on the South Island, it was windy and cold on the boat but the views were great of the Marlborough Sounds. At Picton it was hot, we got the tent assembled and wandered into town, after booking onto the water taxi for the following morning we were at a bit of a loose end so ended up in an Irish pub where we spent an entertaining evening chatting to Kevin Iro's uncle. The next morning was misty with rain, we got the water taxi (a bit more reliable than Critchleys), with high hopes that the weather would clear. After about 30 minutes we landed at Motuara Island which similarly to Zealandia has eradicated all pests to allow the native birds to recover, we saw lots of nice things including more geckos, these ones black like lumps of rubber. Back to the water taxi for a 5 minute trip in the rain to Ship Cove where Capt Cook landed and the start of the Queen Charlotte Track, you have to understand the scenery here is stunning, we saw it from the ferry the day before, that was a good thing because you could see nowt now! We set off on the track about 11am, we had 15km to do before our pickup at 4pm, we got to the first top pretty quickly, though there were no views because of the bush and the mist it was still really pretty, lots of Tree Ferns and birds and really humid even though it was hammering down. Carrying on we made good time around the headlands until we got to the last high point of the day, we decided on sandwiches in the rain but the minute we sat down we were mugged by three Weka. These are small chubby brown birds, flightless and dead cheeky, we shared our bread with them and watched them fight over each bit. By the time we got towards the end of the day at Furneaux Lodge we were getting a bit fed up of the damp, everything was soaked but this all meant nothing as soon as we arrived at the lodge. Everyone there had just stopped to watch the TV as the news was just coming through about the earthquake in Christchurch, made our moans seem a bit trivial. One other thing to say though, sandflies, total nightmare.
The next stage of our journey was kayaking in Abel Tasman national park, so after a day spent on buses we found ourselves in Motueka in the north of the South Island, we had a day to prepare before the kayaking so just had a wander around in the sun trying to confirm our booking with the company (who's computer server was in Christchurch). We were picked up the following morning and taken to Marahau where we stored most of our kit and just packed what we would need in dry bags. We loaded all the stuff onto a boat getting towed by a tractor and then got on ourselves, seemed a bit odd sitting in a boat with life jackets on driving through the streets behind a tractor, but then this seems a bit of a weird country at times. We arrived at Awaroa Bay after about half an hour on the boat, got the kayaks packed and set off. The day was lovely and sunny, the views stunning and the lunch tasty which is all important. The sand on the beaches was really golden and massive granules, some New Zealand Fur Seals came up to the beach to see what we were doing, altogether a grand day on the water. The campsite that evening was at Mosquito Bay (turned out they'd been scared away by sandflies), it was everything Ruth hates, a pit toilet, no showers, huge bush spiders. We had a good evening though, nice food, beer and wine and good company, as we went to sleep the possums were coming out. The night was not so good, heavy rain and a leaky tent made for a poor nights sleep. The morning was cool and damp with millions of sandflies, the smell of the pit toilet was all over the campsite due to a change in wind direction! The sea was choppy for kayaking today, more like what we hope for with our boards in the North Sea, still we survived even if we did feel a little queasy at the end of is all. A restoring pint of beer at Marahau with the others at the end worked wonders. Back to the Top 10 campsite at Motueka for a couple of nights planning what next.
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Safe and well
Hello there everyone, sorry we've been out in the bush for a few days and out of reach of the technology. We are both safe and well and have not been caught up with the sad goings on in Christchurch. We where in the Picton / Nelson are when things happened and fortunately didn't feel any earth quakes.
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