Methven to Geraldine to Fairlie to Tekapo to Omarama to Queenstown

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So. Long time no update. Time to change that. Route was: Methven to Geraldine, Geraldine to Fairlie, Fairlie to Lake Tekapo, Lake Tekapo to Omarama, Omarama to Tarras, Tarras to Queenstown.

First off. Happy Purim! It was on the 9th and 10th. No synagogues in Geraldine, although apparently there was a big celebration in Christchurch. But no fear, nothing stopped me from honoring the holiday. I made hamantashen (traditional Purim cookie)! And they were delicious. Only ended up being able to eat about half of them though. At another hostel a couple of days later someone apparently mistook them for free cookies and ate all the ones that were left. Couldn't find out who. First bad food experience I've had in a hostel. It was very disappointing. They were excellent cycling food while they lasted.

Hamantashen!

The weather turned miserable on the 10th. Wind strength increased even more, coupled with an unseasonal cold front blowing up from Antarctica. I had to take a bus on one day from Fairlie to Lake Tekapo as it was 0 degrees C when I woke up and the weather forecasts were only calling for it to rise up to between 5 and 10 degrees C. Not good cycling weather at all.

If you look closely you can see the dust blowing off of a dirt road. That was how windy it was.

Rakaia Gorge. Beautiful sight on the way to Methven.

Eventually made my up to Lake Tekapo. Those of you who read the Carroll County Times may have heard of this lake/town; there was an article a month or so ago in it about how the town is trying to become a "starlight reserve". Because of the town's altitude and the amazingly clear skies, the area is really big for stargazing. There are several observatories on the mountain right next to the town, and just from the top of the moutain you can look out over the surrounding countryside (the Canterbury Plains) for miles. It was a stunning sight. I even managed to make out my route for the next day. Couldn't see any stars at night though. Because of all the recent storms, the sky was filled with clouds, but it was a little bit uncanny nonetheless. Even in the pitch black of night you could make out the distinct outlines of the clouds, the sky was so clear. It was easy to see why it's good for stargazing.

View of Tekapo from Mount John.

View from top of observatory.



There are a lot of canals in the area, used to generate hydroelectricity. About 25% of New Zealand's water-generated electricity comes from this region. It was really good for cycling because there was a maintanence road right next to the canals that very little traffic used. Very nice and quiet.

On the way from Omarama to Tarras I had to cross Lindis Pass, the highest point I've been in New Zealand, at 965m. Quite a climb from the 200m elevation at Omarama, but I eventually reached the top. Met a German tourist at the rest area at the top of the pass who shook my hand when I rode in. Apparently he had seen me riding up and was impressed.

The Pass is at the top. You might not be able to make it out.

At the top of the Pass.

Lake by Cromwell.

Cromwell is in the heart of the Central Otago plains, NZ's largest fruit-growing region. I stocked up on apples, plums, and apricots.

I made falafel for dinner. Very hard to do without a blender or food processor.

Quesadillas!

These are Moa. They went extinct about 400 years ago. Would not want to try and outrun one.

There are roses everywhere.

Christchurch to Methven

Buffeted by very strong winds on the ride today. Mostly sidewinds, but strong enough to force me to stop several times just to avoid being swept off the road. Luckily the road was not at all busy. I am heading inland, into the mountains. The area is busier in the winter with ski slopes, but isn't supposed to be too hectic this time of year.

I've been passing a few rather unusual farms in the past couple days of cycling. Neither fruit, vegetable, nor cattle, but: deer. That's right. Deer farms. Apparently New Zealanders haven't yet realized what a pesky beast these non-native stags can be and feel the need to raise them. It is quite a shock to be riding along, caught up in the wanderings of your mind, and then to look up and see vast herds of deer standing stock still gazing at you. They are very calm- the sheep run away as soon as I pass by, but the deer just stand there staring. There aren't any wild deer here, so apparently the only way for New Zealanders to enjoy venison is by getting it from a farm. Definitely not something you see everyday at home.

The deer were less skittish than the sheep.

Waipara to Christchurch + 1 day in Christchurch

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Spent Friday biking into Christchurch. Took much longer than anticipated. The area around Christchurch is the Canterbury Plains, a very fertile region, and hence home to many orchards. There were a lot of roadside stands along the way, and I stopped at nearly every one I saw. Loaded up on plenty of fruit- mostly apples, but a few nectarines and plums, and some tomatoes and potatoes. Found a new type of apple called Cox Orange. It was tart, not extremely juicy, would almost be a better baking apple than just for eating. They were delicious though. The lady I got them from gave them to me for free because she so admired my touring the country by bike.

Bananas are an essential energy food.


Lot of vineyards in this region.

Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island, weighing in with between 300,000 and 400,000 people. It is reputedly New Zealand's most English city- plenty of parks, nearly all of the rivers and streets have names like Avon or Oxford, and a plethora of bagpiping. When I was biking in on Friday I saw a bagpiping band practicing in one of the parks close to my hostel. Then on Saturday I passed a huge crowd gathered along one of the main streets. I stopped to see what was going on, and a bunch of pipe bands were parading along. Apparently it was an (inter)national competition between bands from all over New Zealand and Australia. The bands themselves were comprised of people of all ages; I checked with one of them to see whether the bands were from schools and universities but he said no, they were all just people who had gotten together for fun.

Christchurch Cathedral.


One pipe band practicing in a park.


Marching bands.

Also went to two musuems. The first was just an exhibit at the Arts Centre detailing the life of Ernest Rutherford. He was born in Nelson, figured out that atoms are made of clouds of electrons surrounding a nucleus. His portrait is featured on the $100 bill here. New Zealand is very proud of him. The other musuem I went to was the Air Force Museum. More of a musuem of New Zealand's airplane history than solely focused on the Air Force. It was really nicely presented; there were working condition planes of all of the WWII and previous aircraft in the New Zealand Air Force. Also got to see some of the planes that were outfitted for the first Antarctica expeditions. Took a tour of the restoration facility and saw a couple of planes that the musuem is working on restoring, which was really neat to see. Definitely worthwhile.

Part of the restoration room.

Symbol of the NZ Air Force, featuring- what else- a kiwi.

In terms of food... besides fruit I am eating a potato/chickpea/tomato curry that I made on Friday. Had enough leftover for Saturday too. It was pretty simple. Easy to cook up. And delicious. An excellent combination.

Cheviot to Waipara

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The hostel I am staying at tonight is one of the more interesting ones I have been to. It is in the tiny, almost miniscule, town of Waipara. In its heyday the town served the surrounding region as being the main railroad station of the area, but in modern times the railroad has become less essential. The hostel buildings are composed of the now unused rail cars- narrow, but with enough room for bunks and a small lounge room. There's a lot of character. Am moving on to Christchurch tomorrow- the largest city of the South Island- so it should be a change from small towns.

Kaikoura to Cheviot

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I'm moving on today. Most of the other cyclists are staying in Kaikoura for a day, doing various activities, so we are splitting up for now. Will probably meet up later on though. There were a few mountains in today's route, but through much perseverance and as buckets of sweat fell off me I reached the top of them all. Am staying the night in the little town of Cheviot. There aren't any hostels but the hotel in town caters to backpackers/cyclists with cheap one-bed rooms. It is a change to have a room to myself!

Ward to Kaikoura

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Back to civilization, although the route would not have suggested it. There was one tearoom about ten kilometers from the hostel, and then nothing except houses for the rest of the 66 kilometers to Kaikoura. I survived on a bag of peanuts- had eaten all of my other snacks on the hike yesterday- but I was famished by the time I rolled into Kaikoura.

Went out to dinner with a cyclist from Dartmouth and a cyclist from Holland. Kaikoura means "Eat crayfish" in Maori so I got fish for dinner. Blue cod, not crayfish, but still along the same spirit. There are a lot of crayfish in the coasts to the north of Kaikoura, hence the name.

Some road signs.

Blenheim to Pedaller's Rest, Ward

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Weather good enough to cycle, but it's a Sunday, and what does that mean? Farmer's market! I have fresh fruit again at last. This is the Marlborough Farmer's Market in Blenheim, as recommended by one of the market organizers I know at home. It is definitely the largest market here that I have been to, with between 10-20 vendors. I couldn't find any apples, which was a little bit disappointing, but I did manage to score some plums and blueberries. One of the guys running the market also gave me a free omelette so I actually had a half-decent breakfast. It was a very nice change from oatmeal.



Not much cycling news to report. The winds were pretty strong, and for once they were actually a bit of a tailwind, so I managed some decent speeds. Some of the trucks were cutting it pretty close though. New Zealand has to have a lareg number of traffic accidents. There are signs up all along the motorways cautioning people to drive safely. I'll put some of the more interesting ones up in a later post.

The place I'm staying at tonight and last night is a "Bikepackers." The name of the hostel is "Pedaller's Rest," and it is pretty much a hostel that caters exclusively to cyclists. Anyone can stay there who wants to, but it's not that far to the next nearest town in either direction by car so mainly cyclists are the only people who stay there. It is located almost exactly halfway between Blenheim and Kaikoura, so the location is an ideal stopping point. Apparently there are a number of places like this spread across the South Island. I don't think there were any on the North Island. When I first showed up I thought I was going to be spending the night alone, but then two British girls showed up so I have some company. Their names are Alex and Becky. They're the first younger tourers I've met- 24 yrs old- all the other cyclists on the North Island that I met/passed were around the 50 yr old mark.

Pedaller's Rest: As you can see, it's just a pretty basic hut with beds, showers, toilets, and cooking facilities. There were only the three of us staying there the first night, but on the second five other tourers showed up! There are definitely more touring cyclists on the South Island.

Ended up staying another night at this cyclist retreat to go on a supposedly beautiful hike up to a local gorge, Sawcut Gorge, with the British girls. The hike turned out to be a little more difficult than we were led to believe it would be. We made the mistake of not cycling to the start of the actual hike, which was about 11km away from the hut. So we walked. And we walked. And we walked some more. It took about an hour and a half to get to the beginning of the hike. The countryside was pretty scenic, a lot of vineyards and sheep and cattle herds. But this walk was only the first challenge to surmount. About half of the actual walk was literally through a river. The rest was pretty much half-walk, half-climb through the rock/scrub surrounding the river. But we plowed ahead. And two and a half hours later we were rewarded with an extremely picturesque view of the gorge. It was a gigantic ravine through humongous hills with the river running through the bottom. It was so big that it was too large to fit within a camera lens, it was that big.

The troubles didn't end once we finally made it to the actual gorge. One of my flip-flops literally snapped in half from the force of the river's current on the way back to the hostel. And then the other one fell off when I slipped, and it floated away down the river, never to be seen again. I had hiking/biking shoes with me so I didn't have to walk back barefoot; had changed to flip-flops earlier in the day because the biking shoes kept filling up with rocks in the river. So now I need to replace my flip-flops. We were also plagued with a lack of food. Neglecting the sheer magnitude of the hike, we hadn't brought too much in the way of food supplies with us. A bag of cookies, an apple, a nut/oat bar, and a bag of Skittles were all that sustained us the entire day. But this we recovered from. We bought some lamb chops and vegetables from the family running the hostel when we returned, grilled up the chops and stir-fried the vegetables, made some rice. Then we devoured the lot. It was a good ending to the day.

Five other cyclists- not together- showed up at the hostel on this second day. It was really surprising to get back to the hut and see a lot of other people. This bikepackers is definitely a place where the adjective "remote" applies.

A very long walk. This was only one portion. If you squint you can see Alex on the road.

Becky tromping through the river. It was harder than it looked.

Alex in the gorge.