Some observations on riding in NZ

After many years of looking over my left shoulder for approaching vehicles, I find it's harder to look over my right shoulder - my neck just seems less flexible that way!

The quality of Kiwi drivers varies enormously - some are really great, like the truck driver who blocked traffic for Ciel while she rode up a long, narrow bridge on a big hill north of Auckland, but some are awful. They don't see any problem blasting by us at 140km/h, only inches away (no shoulders on a lot of the roads here)...I wonder how they'd feel if I had a gun and fired off a few shots that went whizzing by, inches from their heads? Would they think "oh, he didn't hit me, so no worries", or would they think "that crazy bastard almost killed me!" The latter is what I think of them....

-mark.

A few more pics uploaded to Picasa

Picasa pictures of the trip from Nelson Lakes National Park to Hanmer Springs.

We got soaked after leaving Murchison, and the day turned out to be longer than we were hoping for. We got to a DoC camp with a little picnic shelter where we managed to get out of the rain for a little while. The next morning was beautiful, and we celebrated by heading up the road a bit and soaking at Maruia Hot springs. The outdoor stone pools were lovely, but the sandflies around them drove Ciel into the traditional Japanese bathhouses - I didn't like this as much, as we couldn't soak together (separate Men's and Women's bathhouses). We left the springs and rode up over Lewis pass to Deer valley DoC site, only 21km for the day! It did go over a big hill though - over 400m elevation gain, I think.

Yesterday we left Deer valley for what should have been an easy coast down to Hanmer Springs, but I was really tired for some reason, and the tailwind turned into a headwind, then the downhill turned uphill in places as well - not big climbs, just enough to knock me out. We stopped at a side road for a couple of hours to rest, then eventually got to Hanmer Springs. We stayed here last night and had a big feast of spaghetti with meat sauce, and today we're taking it easy. I did laundry for the first time in a while, Ciel is reading a big spy novel, we'll buy some groceries and hut tickets in town later for our next foray into the mountains, and stay another night. The Alpine Adventure Holiday Park we're staying at is the best holiday park I've seen so far in New Zealand - clean, well-maintained, and the price is quite reasonable ($25 for 2 adults in a tent - we've paid up to $44).

We want to head up to the Harper pass track for a bit, then get to Arthur's pass, but we don't know how long it will take. Starting Saturday, the weather is supposed to get ugly again, but I hope it's not as bad as the forecast...

-mark.

Rain day - Murchison

We survived a night of horrific sandflies at Kawitiri  Junction. Now it's raining on the way south to Lewis pass...
- mark.

Nelson lakes - Angelus hut

We spent a night at Kerr bay campground, then headed up the road to stash our bikes. The hike into Angelus hut via Speargrass hut was great, and there were enough people in the hut that it stayed reasonably warm even with no firewood for the stove.
Today is spectacular - sunny and warm, just a hint of breeze for the return via Robert Ridge.
-mark.

Daily Reprieve

We cut our losses yesterday with a very stiff headwind and quit half-way or so before St Arnaud, somewhere near the Golden Downs forest. Lots of plantation trees, lodgepole pine and douglas fir - I think I read somewhere it's the largest tract of private forest on the south island. It's weird to see the trees in rows growing on the hillsides, very prim and proper. Anyway, it was a quiet place to camp, nobody came by on the public access road and the birds waking us up this morning were fun to listen to. When Mark is done with cycling, I know that I am done as well.

Yesterday we met nice Kiwi Eleanor who took off work to cycle and visit friends which I thought was quite intrepid, since she only had a short time off work. Smart woman to save the money on the ferry and save the gas money, but she was earning her legs like us battling the headwind, and getting vacation pay. Smart cookie... She was headed down to the West Coast where all the Greenstone comes from. She basically was giving us affirmations about cycling, why we do it and the like and it felt good to talk to someone local. She sometimes cycles to work but said it is a real nuisance cause there isn't really good cycle trails and she was as impressed as we were with the railtrails Nelson has invested in to help cyclists get through the city without having to ride with all the suburban/urban nonsense. In general Kiwi's have a very good sense that they are represented by a lot of drivers who think bicycles simply do not belong on the road. Today we only met one logging truck driver that gave us that impression, thank goodness. Most everyone gives us lots of space except for an occasional motorhome driver who doesn't know how big the rig is.

Mark and I visited this old coachstop called the Top House Historic Hotel which was quite sentimental as the current building had been built in 1887. We were greeted by the owner who didn't seem to quite know what to do with us as I'm sure he didn't think we were planning on staying there. However, as part of our continuing New Zealand stimulus package we ordered me coffee and scone and Mark an apple pie with ice cream. It was great to hang out with the cosy fire and warm up a bit in the ambiance. We learned quite a bit about AirAsia which has very inexpensive flights to all sorts of places we'd like to travel to. I'd like to come back and see how his roses that he planted does. I think it snows quite a bit at the Top House and gets quite cold.

Since arriving on the South Island, the gardens in fronts of houses and along the sides of roadways have been full of blooming roses and it's been quite beautiful. I saw that his lilac tree had already finished up.

Okay, night has fallen and I hope there is a Kiwi song or two. We arrived at Nelson Lakes National Park and will be heading out for a two day walk up to a lake that is frozen. The headwinds are supposed to continue so we figured we'll see some sights here before we move on.

And yes, it is different than being at Slocan Lake.