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New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
It’s been a while since my last post on this thread. The main reason is that I just haven’t really felt like writing anything.
The other is how I feel about this part of our travels.
I think that I find it easier to be destination driven. Not to the extent where it’s a race to the finish line and the expense of everything else but the Australian part of our journey had a goal set before we started. To ride a lap. I wouldn’t have minded if we hadn’t done the lap or changed our minds on route. We never had a pre planned route anyway.
New Zealand has been a bit more ‘where shall we go’ and it’s working although at times the hoards of tourists and campervans has become a bit tiresome.
I know, I know, we’re tourists too.....
The last little while has been a mixture of city stays and some cracking bike roads that despite my comments re tiresome hoards of other people, have been relatively traffic free and just great.
My last post saw us at Cromwell which was back on the 21st of Feb. From there we had a great ride to Dunedin alongside an old railway line.
We stopped at an abandoned station in Middlemarch and had a picnic lunch in the sunshine.
Dunedin saw us in a cabin for a few nights. Situated a 40 minute walk from the city centre it was quite and perfect for us.
The comfort was appreciated the day that it rained heavily on and off. We had tea, milk and supplies so didn’t even open the door that day.
Two happy people, two happy bikes.
The other is how I feel about this part of our travels.
I think that I find it easier to be destination driven. Not to the extent where it’s a race to the finish line and the expense of everything else but the Australian part of our journey had a goal set before we started. To ride a lap. I wouldn’t have minded if we hadn’t done the lap or changed our minds on route. We never had a pre planned route anyway.
New Zealand has been a bit more ‘where shall we go’ and it’s working although at times the hoards of tourists and campervans has become a bit tiresome.
I know, I know, we’re tourists too.....
The last little while has been a mixture of city stays and some cracking bike roads that despite my comments re tiresome hoards of other people, have been relatively traffic free and just great.
My last post saw us at Cromwell which was back on the 21st of Feb. From there we had a great ride to Dunedin alongside an old railway line.
We stopped at an abandoned station in Middlemarch and had a picnic lunch in the sunshine.
Dunedin saw us in a cabin for a few nights. Situated a 40 minute walk from the city centre it was quite and perfect for us.
The comfort was appreciated the day that it rained heavily on and off. We had tea, milk and supplies so didn’t even open the door that day.
Two happy people, two happy bikes.
Last edited by OnHellas on Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
Dunedin did supply some sunny days too and we chose one of those to take a boat trip out to see the Albatross colony.
There were also Little Blue Penguins but I didn’t see any. Sarah did, briefly, they’re difficult to spot in the water as they are blue and small. The worlds smallest penguins in the world apparently.
Definitely not small birds are the Royal Albatross. Fully grown they can have a 3.2 meter wingspan.
We saw them flying, bobbing about on the water and sitting in their nests looking after their young.
This piece of land is the only land that they ever step foot on. The rest of their life is in the air or on the ocean fishing. They can travel up to 4,000,000 km during their lives. So I reckon us ‘Adventure Riders’ have some catching up to do!
Done in Dunedin we headed west and north and spent a night up in Twizel. The cottage we found was actually a converted storage shed, but hey, cheap, en-suite and very clean....happy days.
From there we headed back to a city. This time Christchurch. We left at our usual 9.55am and noticed a massive angry looking cloud. Hoping to out run the rain we could see failing over the mountains we didn’t even give a thought that the wind had picked up.
After 5 or 10 minutes out on the open road it started to blow. For about 45 minutes it was so strong that we were down to 45 mph and it wasn’t a very enjoyable 45 minutes. There was no point going back and I hoped that when we got off of that plain/very wide valley and into the next that the wind would die down.
It did, it was like a different day. On we trundled to Christchurch.
We were to stay for four nights and as the room had a TV with Netflix we ended up watching a few films.
The cathedral tells the story of the earthquake from a few years ago. There is still a huge amount of construction going on. Other than that we did a bit of shopping, replacing a few bits and stocking up with supplies again.
We are now on the West Coast again at Westport. The ride over the Lewis Pass was a very nice route to ride. Yesterday we rode up to Karamea and then the gravel road out to see the Operara Arch.
A Wow! of nature. The photos don’t do it justice but I took a pic of the board telling you how big the thing is. And all carved by water.
The 16km dirt road was fine, the 20 minute walk to the arch in full riding gear though. Hot! We had to walk back too....
Sarah’s back tyre looked a bit soft and on checking certainly needed some air. It held up on the ride back to Westport and I’m hoping that when I get up in a minute and look outside, we’re in a cabin again, that it won’t be flat.
If it is I’ll be spending a bit of time putting a new tube in and if it isn’t we’ll be off for a ride. The tent is the destination, which town the tent will be taken to is yet to be decided. Murchison probably.
So with the curtains still closed it’s...
Two happy people, two happy bikes.
There were also Little Blue Penguins but I didn’t see any. Sarah did, briefly, they’re difficult to spot in the water as they are blue and small. The worlds smallest penguins in the world apparently.
Definitely not small birds are the Royal Albatross. Fully grown they can have a 3.2 meter wingspan.
We saw them flying, bobbing about on the water and sitting in their nests looking after their young.
This piece of land is the only land that they ever step foot on. The rest of their life is in the air or on the ocean fishing. They can travel up to 4,000,000 km during their lives. So I reckon us ‘Adventure Riders’ have some catching up to do!
Done in Dunedin we headed west and north and spent a night up in Twizel. The cottage we found was actually a converted storage shed, but hey, cheap, en-suite and very clean....happy days.
From there we headed back to a city. This time Christchurch. We left at our usual 9.55am and noticed a massive angry looking cloud. Hoping to out run the rain we could see failing over the mountains we didn’t even give a thought that the wind had picked up.
After 5 or 10 minutes out on the open road it started to blow. For about 45 minutes it was so strong that we were down to 45 mph and it wasn’t a very enjoyable 45 minutes. There was no point going back and I hoped that when we got off of that plain/very wide valley and into the next that the wind would die down.
It did, it was like a different day. On we trundled to Christchurch.
We were to stay for four nights and as the room had a TV with Netflix we ended up watching a few films.
The cathedral tells the story of the earthquake from a few years ago. There is still a huge amount of construction going on. Other than that we did a bit of shopping, replacing a few bits and stocking up with supplies again.
We are now on the West Coast again at Westport. The ride over the Lewis Pass was a very nice route to ride. Yesterday we rode up to Karamea and then the gravel road out to see the Operara Arch.
A Wow! of nature. The photos don’t do it justice but I took a pic of the board telling you how big the thing is. And all carved by water.
The 16km dirt road was fine, the 20 minute walk to the arch in full riding gear though. Hot! We had to walk back too....
Sarah’s back tyre looked a bit soft and on checking certainly needed some air. It held up on the ride back to Westport and I’m hoping that when I get up in a minute and look outside, we’re in a cabin again, that it won’t be flat.
If it is I’ll be spending a bit of time putting a new tube in and if it isn’t we’ll be off for a ride. The tent is the destination, which town the tent will be taken to is yet to be decided. Murchison probably.
So with the curtains still closed it’s...
Two happy people, two happy bikes.
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
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It was flat out tourist coach central though, a quick look, photo, and go.
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?
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