An HAppy XMas ANd A MErry NEw TWenty TEn

Hello All,

Gareth:

I’m not usually ultra competitive but, we beat you into 2010. Agggghhhh. In your face U.K. Think I might get myself a little trophy on that win. One Nil. Now take them skinheads bowlin!

Unfortunately, this blog has already fallen into the trap of ‘Gareth’s general ramblings’. This is what happens if you just throw a contemporary pen and paper in front of me. Focus.

We are currently at rest in a city called Dunedin on the South Island and realised, even though we could find 100 other things to do, like walk along the beach, take a stroll round town, or beat up a bus driver. We decided it was about time to pull our fish fingers out and tell the world what a marvellous Christmas and New Year we have had on the South Island. It wasn’t packed full of drink fuelled parties or Saturnalia, if that’s what you want then you’re reading the wrong blog. If you want more stories about cycling long distances and pretty much burning ourselves out through exercise, then this blog is right up your street. I’m going to have to have a look in Alice’s diary to remind me what the hell we were doing so long ago. I think we left you hanging in Wellington with the prospect of us travelling onto the South Island…

Change of plan, instead of me reading the diary, Alice wants to write the blog and I’m going to come in with remarks. I think there is stuff in the diary that she doesn’t want me to read. What she doesn’t know is that I’ve already read it and changed words so now it reads. Gareth is a cook! (I’ve been known to make the odd spag bol) He doesn’t know nothing about ship! (Which is true, I once called a cruiser a battleship! LOL.)  Sometimes cycling can be hard, especially when Gareth is cycling like a ducking duck. (I’m guessing Alice is referring to the times when I’m wearing my Donald Duck outfit when cycling. It does get me a lot of attention. Probably because Donald doesn’t wear any trousers. That’s why she finds it hard.) I’m off to cock a curry. I mean, cock a curry… I’ve said it again!

Alice:

Thanks Gareth, I’ll take it from here.

17^rd Dec

In Wellington we were really glad to have been given a late check out from our hotel, as we were a bit hung-over from the night before!  So we had a leisurely breakfast and packed up our stuff before cycling off down to the harbour to get the ferry.  The ferry ride took about 4 hours and the last part through the Tory channel and Queen Charlotte sound was pretty spectacular, especially as we saw a pod of dolphins playing when we were arriving in Picton harbour.

(Gareth: Alice tells me that she always gets lost on Ferries, this seems to be a running joke in her family. When I heard this I shed a tear and tried to think of the best way to prevent this from happening. So I did a shit in the café.)

Chatting to our friend Armin

Gareth getting the bike on the Inter islander ferry

Bye Bye Wellington

Hello south island

Me getting the bike off the ferry, shot taken shortly before grumpy ferry man told us to get a move on because he didn't have all day!

18^th Dec

We only stayed in Picton over night before setting off down the coast to a place called pedallers’ rest, which was ideally situated for peddalers like ourselves half way between Picton and Kaikoura.  We stopped briefly in Blenheim, Seddon and Ward on the way and as we were cycling down the drive realised we had no cash and I had to organise a lift 10km back to Ward for some money.  While I was there I bought a big tub of ice cream to share with the other people staying in or around the bunkhouse with us, a couple from Singapore and a guy from Seattle.  Unfortunately there was no freezer so we had to eat it all up, shame!

Peddalers' rest bunkhouse

Weird static tent

19^th Dec

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Angela!  Hope you had a great day hun, wish I could’ve been there to celebrate with you.  Think it’s the first one of your birthdays I’ve missed in about ten years!

The next stop down the road was Kaikoura and the road runs right along the coast so it’s a beautiful trip.  About 30km north of Kaikoura we started seeing New Zealand fur seals just lounging around on the rocks between the road and the sea, which were really cute.  When we arrived in Kaikoura I got really excited and made Gareth walk an extra 10km on top of the 80km we’d just cycled to see the fur seal colony there but it was pretty disappointing compared to the one’s we’d cycled past and there were only about 2 seals there.  So we trudged back a bit hot, tired and grumpy but cheered ourselves up with some dinner.

We just cycled along there

Trans scenic railway running along side SH1t

Shag

Itchy NZ fur seal

Very itchy

20^th & 21^st Dec

We spent another day in Kaikoura doing washing and I got really bad hayfever but couldn’t get any antihistamines because it was a Sunday so had to wait until the following day when we stopped at the pharmacy on the way to Cheviot.

22^nd Dec

There were gorgeous views from the coastal road but we were quite glad when it turned in land because the wind was really strong and cold along the coast.  We climbed over the Hundalees and had lunch at Conway river at a lovely picnic spot there.  Then more climbing and some flat bits until we arrived in Cheviot.

Leaving Kaikoura, there's a fresh snowfall on the hills behind us, it was bleedin' cold.

We just cycled along there and through that tunnel

More NZ fur seal

The Hundalees

Conway river

We had a little foray out into the supermarket for milk and cake and they gave us free Christmas cake so we went back later for dinner and more free Christmas cake!  We bought sausage egg and beans and we bought so much we had it for breakfast too.

23^rd Dec

The next day we decided to try and make it all the way to Christchurch, which was 75 miles away so we set off about an hour earlier than usual and kept a good pace even across the hills.  We were going so well that we didn’t stop for lunch until we’d done 60km and had arrived in Amberley, which was where we’d originally planned to stop for the night!  We had another stop 30km on in Kaiapoi for a scone and a cup of coffee before doing the last bit into Christchurch.  We arrived tired but pretty proud of our selves.

One for all you Reece's out there!

Christmas Eve & Day

Happy Birthday Jebus

We spent the next two days in Christchurch, had a good explore, got a huge meal deal at the chip shop for $15 (£7) that consisted of 3 sausages, 3 battered sausages, 3 fish and a big load of chips!  That lasted us 2 days.  And went to see Avatar in 3D at the cinema which was really good and kept Gareth’s sci-fi addiction in check.

It got to Christmas eve and we had a little chat about what we’d like to spend Christmas doing and we decided to pedal on. The roads would be quiet we thought so that’s exactly what we did and I don’t know whether it was because it was Christmas and we were missing our family and friends or whether it was because it was bleedin’ boiling and humid or because we were on a very uninspiring bit of highway 1 or a mixture of all three but we did not enjoy the 95km we did at all and arrived in Ashburton exhausted, cranky and ready to call the whole thing off! (well, I was anyway). 

To top it off the campsite was apparently a resting place for Kiwi odd balls and we were constantly interrupted in the kitchen by weird people who were either very drunk, or just plane mental and all slagging each other off to us within ear shot of each other.  We politely declined their offers of drinks and retired a bit uneasy to our tent! What a crimbo!

Gareth enjoying himself in Christchurch library

Christmas morning

Christmas lunch

Boxing Day & 27^th Dec

We set off to our next stop Timaru as early as we could the next day and the weather was cooler but mentally I still wasn’t quite with it and found the day hard.  Luckily Timaru was lovely and the campsite was much nicer, not a drunk or obviously crazy person in site!  We had planned to move on to Oamaru but when we woke up still exhausted the next day we decided to have a rest day in Timaru and have many trips to the Pak’n’save just down the road to buy reduced items.

Me looking a bit tired in lovely Timaru harbour

Having a work out in the park!

Gareth wanting to have a look

28^th & 29^th Dec

It was back on the bike again to Oamaru and we were both in much better spirits for having had a rest.  The road was nicer too and the weather was kind to us.  We wanted to stay in Oamaru for an extra day to go and see the yellow eyed penguins they have here which we did and that was great, one climbed all the way up the cliff and popped out of a bush right in front of us so we got some good pictures. 

Lunch outside DB draught brewery

Did he fall or was he pushed?

Which one's Gareth? they both have big ears

Waiting for the yellow penguins

There they are!

(Gareth: The curry is ready, so I’m putting a pause on the blog until we are finished.)

(Gareth: Right, we are finished)

30^th Dec

Having had a nice relaxing day we decided to push on to Dunedin for New Year so we packed up and set off as usual.  We pedalled down the road and Gareth popped into the supermarket to get some stuff for lunch.  I waited outside with the bike and witnessed the fastest change in the weather I’ve ever experienced.  It went from sunny and calm to grey, rainy and very windy in about 5 minutes and I was a bit worried.  However, having packed everything up we decided to set off anyway.  We tackled the huge hills out of Oamaru aiming for the coast road which we figured would be quieter that the SH1t (see what we did there? …..State Highway one? ….With a t at the end? Because it’s a horrible road?) and that it was, however it was also as windy as a wind tunnel that was being put through its paces in the strong man of wind tunnel events in wind town.  We were blown off the road twice and could only manage a very slow 9km/h as opposed to our usual 20km/h.  After the second de-roading incident Gareth suggested we turn around and go back.  Or at least that’s what I assumed he said with the pointing and the mouthing words, I couldn’t actually hear him.

So about turn we did and went back over the massive hill which was substantially easier with the wind behind us.  We went to the tourist info and asked about buses to Dunedin but no joy, they’d all left earlier in the morning.  So even though I tried to convince Gareth to try and give it another go he insisted that a lot of people were relying on him to look after me and he didn’t want to have to tell them we’d been blown into the sea or into an on coming lorry.

Talking of Gareth he just piped up with this comment:

‘Do you remember that guy that was an artist and his girlfriend died in a bath of cocaine and about two weeks later he went off and hung himself. What a waste.’

So there you go.

Anyway, the outcome was we stayed in Oamaru for another day had fish and chips and played Diablo 2 in the camp kitchen.

New Years Eve

The next day the wind was less severe but still in our faces, so away we pedalled once again.  For some reason I had become an emotional wreck and was finding the pedalling pretty hard so Gareth had to give me fairly regular hugs and rest stops before we eventually arrived, 95km later and with a little stop to see the Moeraki boulders, in Waikouaiti for New Year.  The campsite was heaving but we got a space to pitch the tent in and then sat in the camp kitchen like rabbits in headlights grasping cups of coffee and trying to recover while a storm of families, children, mess and crying raged around us.

Later on we decided to go for a few drinks in the local pub to celebrate the New year.  The barmaid befriended us and we chatted to her for a while and drank two whole beers each while watching the locals wobble around on the make shift dance floor a little bit worse for ware.  We were back in the tent by 11.45 and were just dozing off when the tune of Auld Lang syne reached us from the stage in the field next to our tent, we woke up sufficiently to squeeze each other’s hands then drifted off to sleep.  Happy New Year everyone.

Moeraki boulders

Trying to take our own photo on New Years Eve

Drunk person offered to take it for us, bit shaky!

2010

The New Years day weather was lovely so we packed up and headed off to Dunedin. 

(Gareth: Got a call from Andrew who was in Goa for a New Year holiday. No idea how much the call cost us, but what a lovely picture Andrew paints with his word pie story. Thanks for the New Year wishes and congrats on the promotion)

There was a very substantial hill to climb along the coastal route that we chose but we managed it only to come down and have to do one twice as high!  Dunedin is surrounded by large hills so we chose the 8km up to the top of Mt Cargill which is 400m high, it took us about an hour but we had a 10m rest half way up and reminded ourselves of our very first outing up a similar hill that took us half a day.

The views from the top over Port Chalmers and the Otago harbour were stunning and from then on it was a white-knuckle ride down the other side into Dunedin (literally white knuckle for me, hanging on to the back while Gareth went down faster than the cars).  We stopped briefly to take pictures of the world’s steepest street before having lunch at Subway and heading off to the campsite.

Dunedin feels like a huge milestone for us, we’ve cycled over 2,300km (about 1,500 miles) in about 2 months and we’ve just cycled the 700km down the east coast of the south island in about 2 weeks!  When we set off it took us 2 weeks to get to Whangarei, which, by our route, was about 300km from Auckland.  As mentioned though we are pretty tired, especially me!  I definitely needed a break and Gareth granted my wish, even though I could tell he secretly wanted to carry on.  So we’ve stayed in Dunedin for the past 4 days and tomorrow we’ll be getting the bus to Invercargill to catch up with the schedule.  All in all I think we’ll have a week off to recuperate and eat!  Need to feed Gareth up as he is wasting away, he weighed about 14 ston before we set off and when he hopped on the scales in the pharmacy the other day he weighed a teency 12 ston, which is the smallest I’ve ever known him.  Don’t worry Marilyn, I’m making sure he eats enough now!

Here’s Gareth now to fill you in on what’s been going on in Dunedin but just before he does I have another Happy Birthday to do for the 1st!  Happy birthday Becky and Manda!  Hope you had a great birthday and got lots of lovely prezzies.

Leaving Waikouaiti River Mouth

At the top of Mt Cargill over looking Port Chalmers

Worlds steepest street

Gareth:

1^st Jan

• Arrived in Dunedin
• Saw a steep road (see above)

2^nd Jan

• Went to the library - It was shut!
• Went round an art gallery.
• Stocked Alice up with hay fever tablets at the pharmacy. She’s suffering a bit.
• Went for a walk along the beach and saw a Hooker’s sealion which apparently is quite rare
• The sealion didn’t like me getting too close and chased me.
• Didn’t get much sleep as the wind was blowing the inside of the tent in on top of us so it kept hitting me.

Lunch in Dunedin shopping centre

Sealions on St Kilda beach

The one on the left wanted to make friends

The one on the right didn't

3^rd Jan

• Laundry
• Put the guide ropes on the tent for the first time
• Weather cleared up
• Went to the Library – found out they didn’t have wireless internet anyway!
• Went to an internet café to download the latest Dr Who
• Went for an explore around the church. Didn’t find Jebus
• Went for an explore around the railway station. Still didn’t find Jebus
• Booked bus tickets to Invercargill Perhaps Jebus will be there?
• Saw a fight between two women.*
• Watched Dr Who. Note to self – Possibility that the new Dr Who could be Jebus

* Thought I would jump out of bullet points to tell you about the fight between these women. It was between a bus driver and the girlfriend of a guy who had parked at the bus stop. When we got out of the tourist information, I heard the bus driver yelling abuse at the car and then a girl came out carrying a big ice cream and tried to get in the car and the bus driver had a go at her to tell them they can’t ducking park there. The girl got in the car and I thought the incident was over, but after a bit more abusive language the girl leapt back out of the car and shoved the ice cream in the bus drivers face. The fight began, and loads of people ran to try and break it up, I got out my camera. I didn’t get the best shots, cause as these women were fighting the boy racer driver leapt out and ran round and pulled the bus driver to the ground. As she went down, she grabbed the girls hair and they both carried on scrapping on the floor. People pulled them back up, and they were still trying to get at each other, but the guy got his girlfriend back in his pimped up banger and wheel span his car away like a right gooch. I think the bus driver rang the police, but Alice accused me of making a scene so we left.

Downloading Dr Who

Girl on the floor next to the bus

Fight! Fight! Fight!

4^th Jan

• Got the bus out to the peninsula to see some Royal Albatrosses at Taiaroa heads
• It cost $40 / adult for the cheapest tour – Rip off, couldn’t afford it, so we didn’t go in (they don’t tell you that until you get there)
• No busses for about 3 hours, so began to walk the 10 miles to the next nearest town. Bum!
• Wind was really tough to walk against
• After about 8 miles some couple stopped and picked us up
• They gave us a lift back to Dunedin, which was nice cause then we didn’t need to get the bus again saving us some money.
• I left Alice’s camera bag and lenses in the car. Double Bum!
• We realised but it was too late to run and catch them
• We walked around town for about 2 hours looking for the car / couple
• Walked back to the campsite defeated calling it quits
• Phoned the police to report the missing item
• Went to have a coffee
• About 2 hours later the campsite woman came in holding the missing camera bag and lenses. Bonus!  The guy had managed to work out where we were staying and dropped them off!
• Finished the next level on Diablo II. Double Bonus!
• Wind really bad now and the tent isn’t in the best position and taking the brunt of it. Tried to move the tent!
• Tent move very difficult and stressful, think one of the poles might have bent a bit, but not too sure until we dismantle it. Tent much more sheltered now
• Watched a poor film on T.V.
• Wind died down now we have moved the tent. Had a bit of an easier night now it’s secured though

Gareth and Alice's fun day out

Another shag

Royal spoonbill

5^th Jan (Today)

• Walked on the beach for a couple of hours enjoying the sun
• Went to supermarket and bought the ingredients for a curry
• Chilled out and wrote the blog
• Made a curry
• Ate the curry
• Thought about buying some internet time to post the blog
• The time is 10:00pm
• Going to pick the pics for the blog and post it tomorrow morning over breakie

Bye