New Zealand Tour

Day 24 - Franz Josef Glacier to Ross
109km

 Very cool this morning - I guess that the cold rolls down from the ice fields! But nevertheless, dry.

 Relatively flat road today, with only one big 4km hump, named Mt. Hercules - I guess it's named that because you need muscle to get up it! Otherwise, today's section of SH6 was a quiet road with a few minor hills; very light winds made for an easy ride. This highway is still very narrow though, with much evidence of frequent washouts around bridges and streams. Much of the repairs are just done with dirt and rock, which I assume is temporary until the tar and chip surface can be re-sealed. The only problem seems to be that when another heavy rainstorm happens, the temporary repair gets washed away very easily. Most of the roads that I have ridden in New Zealand have been tar and chip - but there is a huge difference in quality and smoothness - some of the roads, you would swear that you were riding on 3/4" gravel rock - albeit held together with some "stickum." Where they have used smaller chips, it is much more comfy to ride on - especially in the wheel tracks where the vehicles have pounded it down a bit - my bum can tell, you know!

 At first today, I was riding in rain forest, then the trees gave way to river deltas/floodplain that are mostly farmland - cattle farms for the most part. And still just a couple of glimpses of the ocean - there should be more tomorrow, I hope! Second breaky was at a tearoom in the small village of Whataroa - not much else there. The next dot on the map was Harihari - an abandoned sawmill there gave testament to the towns better days.

 I was going to stay in Pukekura, but there really wasn't much there apart from some cabins for rent, a restaurant and a pub, where everything on the menu contained possum meat in its various culinary configurations. With the large amount of dead (road-kill) possums that I pass every day, I wondered to myself where their supply of meat and furs came from? Hmm!

 Anyhow, I ended up in the village of Ross - two pubs here! Ross is a heritage gold mining town, with some excellent exhibits from the old days of the miners. There is a heritage centre and a trail through the old goldfields. Visitors can actually pan for gold there - apparently some people still find enough to pay for a few nice dinners. An English couple panned enough gold to make their wedding rings! - Tourist propaganda I thought, but then at the heritage centre I read an old newspaper clipping that verified the event as genuine! The Empire Hotel is an historic building adjacent to the motor camp and backpacker cabins - NZ$16.00 for a cabin - did I unpack the tent? Give your head a shake! The barman takes the money for the cabins, so it was only polite of me to order an ale too!

 Sunny and cloudy today, I hope it holds for tomorrow's ride to Greymouth - I could really do without the wet coast showing me how wet it can really be!

Day 25 - Ross to Greymouth
74km

 A grey ride to Greymouth. Half of the ride was in drizzle, but it was not a long day and it wasn't windy, so I can't grumble too much. As rain was mentioned in this morning's weather forecast, I booked ahead for a cabin here, but funnily enough the sun seems to have been strong enough to clear some of the clouds away and it is a very pleasant afternoon now - I should have camped, but who's to know with crazy New Zealand weather?

 I was going to stop in Hokitiki for a second breaky, but on arriving in the town, first impression was that a riot had occurred! There were beer cans, bottles, cups etc., strewn and broken all over the town centre. It wasn't a riot, but just their annual "Wildfoods Festival." Wildfoods? Looked to me more like a wild-people festival. Apparently, 20,000 people attended the festivities, yesterday, with live bands and dances to conclude the day. There were still hundreds of the revellers stumbling around the town this morning, some with partial drinks in their hands. So the executive decision was - to get the hell out of that place! Needless to say, my quiet west coast highway was a zoo after leaving that town. I was also very wary of the drivers, some of whom must have still been impaired. There were a good number of cops in town and on the highway, but they couldn't be everywhere. At least they had traffic control at the one lane bridges - many bridges in New Zealand are one lane - but there were still some good waits to get across, for the cars - I just snuck through on the shoulder and passed scores of them. After the junction/turnoff for Christchurch, the road was much quieter for remainder of my ride.

 So it was Greymouth for a combined second breaky/brunch/lunch thing. Well accepted, anyway!

 I must say that I am disappointed with this west coast road - although it is an easy ride, there are virtually no close views of the actual ocean. On the map, it seemed as if I would be closely adjacent to the shore for all of today, when in fact, I was always 500m to 1000m away from the shore all the time. Hence, all I could see - through this morning's grey - was a distant water mass, no breakers or beaches. Inevitably, the separating land strip was raised grazing land or covered with windswept trees and bushes.

 However, after doing some shopping in Greymouth, I arrived at the motor camp here to find that is situated on the beachfront, at last I can dip my feet in the Tasman Sea! - once again, a very nice camp with modern facilities - and a pub across the street! I know, I'm getting spoilt! Tomorrow I head inland and up into the Southern Alps for the last time - I hope that the rain holds off, but mountain climate is very unpredictable, especially here!

 By the way, I've discovered sand flies - or should I say, they've discovered me! I've been amazed at the lack of bugs here, just that one night on the North Island that I had some mozzies chewing on me. But ever since the bus trip from Queenstown - we stopped at a rest area on the west coast, where I was immediately bitten - and then every day since then! Sand flies are very much like black flies, maybe a little smaller - but just as voracious (check the photo out for that didn't get away!!!). The bites don't seem like much, but a day or two later, you're in the itch asylum! Nasty little buggers!

Day 26 - Greymouth to Arthur's Pass
105km

 I awoke to grey skies that produced drizzle very soon after leaving Greymouth. My route would first take me northeast on SH7 and then on a rural road southeast following the trans alpine train route through some very rural settlements and village for about 60km of today's ride until I had to join the busier SH73 for the rest of the day. Second breaky was in Moana on the shores of Lake Brunner, where I also said hello to some relatives of an acquaintance of mine - they run the motor camp in Moana which is 40km east of Greymouth.

 The road progressed gradually uphill all day which made for a tiring ride, and the drizzle would turn to heavy rain every half hour or so, which also made it tough. I stopped in Otira at the cafe there trying to garner some energy for the ride ahead with a pie and milk shake. Regardless, once I left the village of Otira, I wished that I had taken the train! The road to the Otira Viaduct, which crosses the Otira Gorge, was an impossible grade in some places. I rode the whole thing apart from two left hand hairpin bends that I had to push the bike for about one hundred metres around each one! The camber on those corners increased the grade from barely doable to not doable - at least if I didn't want my kneecaps blowing out! Even with the rain, I have to admit that the route was a very thrilling ride and a real testament to the engineers and road builders who virtually stuck a road onto the side of a mountain in places. There were 6km of really tough riding on some very steep hills with very little shoulder to ride on - and with rain bouncing down at times too. Of course, as soon as I reached the summit at 920m, the rain increased even more, so my3km ride downhill to Arthur's Pass Village was somewhat a non-event due to wet roads - and brakes! Oh well, a bit of a downhill in the morning and then up again to Porter's Pass - Oh joy!

 I'm certainly glad that I booked ahead for the hostel here, even it is only a dorm bed for the night - it's pissing down outside, so tenting would have been a real pain today - and there's no motor camp here, so it would have been "rustic" camping! And the rain is so much colder at this elevation too, it was sure nice to get into a hot shower when I got here. Very small YHA here, on older place, but clean, tidy and cozy with a nice log fire in the lounge area.

 I met another cyclist here, Marcus, a younger fellow from Germany - where else eh? I ribbed him that if all the German tourists around the world returned to Germany, there wouldn't be enough room for all of them! He had a good laugh about that! Anyhow he rode from Moana today and pushed his bike a lot further than I did on that bit of vertical hell, so I didn't feel too bad, especially as how I had ridden 40km further too. We both agreed though, that riding those tough grades at the end of a day's ride is definitely harder than tackling them first thing - regardless, that's our story, and we're sticking to it! Funnily enough, Marcus stayed at the motor camp in Moana that I mentioned earlier, where I stopped for a visit this morning.

 Arthur's Pass is named after Arthur Dobson - I'll have to see if I can find out who the hell he is?

 Some good scenery today, mostly in the gorge area, otherwise the rest of the ride was through acres and acres of farmland - didn't even get to see the train today, unless I missed it when I was either wiping sweat or rain off my eyes!

 Last night...

 That bloody Basil disappeared! - I looked all over for him, then I went down to the beach, and there he was all covered in sand flies, watching the setting sun. Being on the west coast, we were hoping for a nice sunset, and it was for a while, then the clouds got in way for the finale. Oh well, we enjoyed what we saw.

 Well I hope that Porter's Pass is kinder to me than today's knee-wrenching experience. And that the bloody rain stops - I'm not surprised that everything's green here, there's a one inch layer of damp moss on everything!

 More from Atlantis tomorrow...

Day 27 - Arthur's Pass to Springfield
84km

 It poured rain all night into this morning; I lingered over breakfast, hoping that the rain would ease for my getaway. No such luck - I headed out onto SH73 wearing my full complement of raingear into a heavy and cold rain. Luckily the first 15km were mostly downhill, and by that time the rain had eased considerably. Another 5km and the golden orb showed its face - wow, what is that yellow thing in the sky? I should have taken a photo of it, because it disappeared after 15 minutes behind the usual heavy clouds. At least I had the chance to divest myself of raingear, and the temperature was quite pleasant, compared to the mountain top anyway.

 After the initial rain today, I did ride through some very scenic and desolate alpine wilderness areas all the way to the pass; beyond that the road began to pass through fertile farmland as I approached the Canterbury Plains once more. There were quite a few areas today with "erratics" - huge rocks and boulders scattered all over the hillsides, that were left behind when the glaciers retreated - reminded me of Newfoundland!

 Porter's Pass at 939m was no big deal, just one section quite a distance prior to the pass was a steep grade - but at least still rideable. After the pass there was a 4km very steep and winding descent - and I mean steep and winding! Do the words "slalom on a bike" conjure up some images for you? But it was certainly fun to ride, especially on dry road with little traffic to worry about. After that initial run, it was 15km of nearly all downhill grade to Springfield. Springfield is another one street village, similar to Arthur's Pass - not much here, but the food store, pub and cafe are pretty well all that I'm looking to use anyway. I'm at the YHA here - a funky old house with creaky narrow stairs and bunks stashed into every available room. But it's dry and warm, much better than chancing the tent in the present changeable weather conditions. Fortunately, I pre-booked a twin, so if no one else shows up, I have the room to myself.

 Tomorrow's ride to Christchurch - which is at sea level - will also be on a slight downhill grade - hopefully all the way - so it should be an easy ride, barring any horrendous headwinds!

Day 28 - Springfield to Christchurch
65km

 Christchurch was the hot spot in New Zealand yesterday, reaching a temperature of 25°C. Today there are only grey skies, accompanied by a cool south wind and temperatures no where near 25°C!

 I gave the Springfield train station the once over yesterday - interesting place. It's a heritage building that's still in full operation. Inside the station house were some marvellous photos and displays from the days of yore when many workers toiled to build the railroad from the east coast through to the west coast along the same route that I had travelled for the past two days - namely, Arthur's Pass and the Otira Gorge. By the way, "Arthur" is Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson, apparently the fellow who first surveyed the route through these mountains.

 Last night in Springfield, it started raining at about 6:00 p.m. and continued on all night. There was a lull as I left this morning, but not far down the road I was into a cold soaking drizzle for the majority of the ride. Only just on the outskirts of Christchurch did it stop - but threatening grey skies remained for the rest of the day. The sun poked out for about two minutes - like, peek-a-boo, here I am - sorry, now I'm gone!

 The ride was quite uneventful... After Sheffield on SH73, I took a quiet rural road all the way into Christchurch (the Old West Coast Road, in fact), and it was that quiet that there wasn't even a stop for second breaky until almost in Christchurch at Yardhurst. But as I figured, it was mostly downhill all the way into the city on a straight-ish road - an easy, but wet ride.

 Once in Christchurch, I had to figure out how to get to the YHA. The city's a maze of one way streets, but apart from the cathedral square blocking off some through streets, relatively easy to find one's way around. Besides the cathedral, there are lots of nice heritage buildings around, together with museums and art galleries etc. Also, many touristy things to do, together with scads of eateries and pubs - I guess that they'll be busy tonight, it's St. Paddy's Day here.

 Day off tomorrow, then I'll be catching the train and ferry back to Wellington on the North Island. One quick night there, then train again to Hamilton, which is about 100km south of Auckland - that will be my next and final day's ride in New Zealand, after which I'll have one day to visit the largest city in New Zealand - Auckland - prior to my return flight to Canada the next day.

 So, what with travel etc., it's about three days off for me - at least I won't have to worry about the weather too much for a few days! I'm really looking forward to the train trips too, in addition to the thrill (for me) of riding the rails, they'll give me an opportunity to see some of the places that I saw a few weeks ago again - like the Kaikoura coast, where I battled headwinds and rain for a good part of the day. Also I'll be able to travel through some of the North Island that I didn't have time to visit by bike - in any case, they were flooded anyway!