16th Dec - Milton to Papatowai

Up at 8 to say good bye to Kerry when he left for work. I called my mum and a couple of other people to catch up and tried to do some things on the net. Kerry came back about lunch time and we chatted some more. I ate too much pumpkin soup for lunch.....

I am still trying to get my gps tracks sorted with all of the routes in AUS to upload on to the net and spent a while sorting it out using Kerry's net connection. Kerry kindly gave me a lift to Balclutha as he was going that way back to work and the route to town is on a major highway and not great to bike. We went in Ivan. I love his truck! He got Russian style signs made for the side. A huge character...

It was late in the afternoon by the time I had wandered round town to have a look and buy some fruit and supplies. Again it was cloudy and reasonably cold. The road south of Balclutha was pretty though and quite. It is a hilly road through the Catlins I was planning on going a reasonable distance this afternoon but at about 8 I decided to stop at a lovely little picnic site at Papatowai. Although there was another 1 hour or so of light and my legs and mood were fine to carry on the place was perfect to stop. There were some toilets and no houses over looking. It is not a camping area but as it was late and I was planning on leaving early tomorrow evening I did not think it would be a problem.

There were great views of the ocean and the cliffs. I had my tent up by 8.30 and was sitting reading my book when a german guy called Christoph came along. He had been for an evening swim in the esturary. I was quite impressed as I was freezing cold by that point. My body has not yet addusted to the temperature change from Australia.



There was also a cold wind blowing and it was a cloudy gray night. We sat and chatted till 10.30 about our travels etc. He seemed a really nice guy and offered me his spare sleeping bag - as mine is only a summer one and he took pity on me as at the time I was talking to him I was wearing all of my clothes (about 6 layers). We decided that it might be fun to have some company tomorrow and go off and do some walks etc in the Catlins instead of biking it.

15th Dec - Dunedin to Milton

I was obvious that I really needed to sleep to fight off the cold and catch up a bit on sleep as I woke up at 7ish when I heard the others up and about and then went back to sleep and woke up at 11.30! Felt much better then but still not 100%. Chatted with Jenny and her friend over breakfast and coffee and then biked into Dunedin to have a look round and post my visa applications and some other paper work things. It had been a sunny morning but it had clouded over by midday.

I can understand why they say that Dunedin is the Scottish town in NZ. The whole area really reminded me of Scotland. All of the streets are named after Scottish places: "Forfar Rd", "Kirrimuir Street". There are some nice old buildings - but unfortunately as the day was cold and gray it was not the best time to see the city.




By the time I had got my jobs done, had a look round and bike back to Jenny and Adrian's it was 3.30 and I got on the road by 4. I had checked on google maps for the route to Milton and it had said it was only 55km - easy to do by 6.30ish. However, it turned out that bikes are not allowed on part of the most direct route there and the route along the coast was very lovely but very hilly and 75km! The pass from the coast inland was a really long climb but good views. There really are a lot of sheep in NZ!

On the way I was stopped by Sophie and her Mum (Melissa). They had seen the stocking on the back of my bike and they very kindly donated some chocolate :-) It was great to stop and chat for a while and the chocolate did not last long in the stocking.








I got to Kerry's in Milton about 7.30. He kindly cooked us a meal and we had a good old natter over a few glasses of wine and beer. He has a great sense of humor! I love meeting people on couch surfing. So far everyone that I have met has been really welcoming and friendly. Kerry has done a lot of traveling in the past and is happy for people to visit as they pass through. Who knows I might even see him again over the Christmas/New Year period as he is staying in the same area. Hope so :-)

14th Dec - Waimate to Dunedin

It took ages to get all of my paper work together for visas, get an antivirus program on my machine, speak to Gill (Anty) and Geoff on skype, finish emailing and planning route south and pack..... I did not get on the road until past 1. Pat very kindly gave me a lift some of the way and then I got on my bike for the hilly route to Dunedin.

The weather was lovely when I left Oamaru and the ride along the coast was great. Tail wind.












I started off well today but as the weather turned cold and gray my mood was bad for the first time in the trip. I had checked the stats on my blog in the UK and was disappointed to find that hardly any of my family and close friends had even looked at it in the 3 months that I had been away :-( It left like they had forgotten me. I realise that everyone is busy getting on with their lives and I am off having the time of my life but it is just nice to think that you are being thought about by the people you care for. I have been very happy traveling on my own and not been lonely as I have met loads of great people but today it kinda got me down. I have been fighting off a cold since arriving in NZ, was all hormonal and I was tired having been up late and up early for the last few nights at Pat's. My legs were just not the same as usual.






As I had stopped just thinking about things this lovely other American girl came over to say hello. She is the first other cycle tourer that I have seen on her own. I am rubbish with names (sorry - please email me). Talking with her put me in a much better mood.

I did not have very far to bike today verses the distance that I had been doing the week before in Aus but I really struggled today - I was being a pathetic girl! I found out that I could not bike the highway 1 (the most direct route to Dunedin) and I still had a hilly 20km to go to get to Dunedin by 7.30 at night (I had done 100km by that point). Jenny and Adrian (from warm showers) very very kindly picked me up and drove me back to theirs. It was great to get warm in a shower and then have some fish pie and great company.




They are very friendly people from the UK that moved over to NZ 4 years ago. They have also done loads of bike touring. It was really interesting to hear there take on the differences between the 2 countries and how great NZ is for outdoor people. They also said that Dunedin has a great community spirit and loads going on socially. We had lovely evening and an early night.

They are cycling on the West Coast over Christmas and so it may work out that I can meet up with them and bike for part of the trip with them :-) Hope so.

13th Dec - Waimate

Had an awesome day exploring Waimate and NZ culture and countryside.

I spent the morning on the internet sorting out my visas for India and Nepal and also doing my blog and photos, emails and planning my route round the south island of NZ etc.

Pat took me into town to post all of my Christmas cards and some things home, pop to the bike shop (bike shop come fishing shop come mechanical things come everything a small town wants) and a couple of other things for my visa applications. We then went on the school run (he drives the primary school children from all of the farms back and forth to work). It was a real insight into NZ rural culture. The children were discussing who's farm was biggest. The farms are all quite big and accessed by gravel roads. The hills at the back of Waimate are rolling and very pretty. It was a lovely sunny day - cool though. My body is not used to the change in temp from Aus yet.

This is a photo of an old petrol pump - they used to all have petrol stations on the farms as they could not transport the petrol.










This lovely lad showed me his new puppy when we dropped him home from school.











There are loads of bee hives all over the hills..... I have not seen so many like this in the UK.







This is the flour mill in the middle of town.











We went back into town to pick up my passport photos (not from a photo booth but an actual person taking the photo and post processing) and then visited the best coffee shop in the world!

http://www.southisland.org.nz/Waimate/Waimate/Cafes/ARTrio-Art-Cafe_ov=2353_.html
http://www.artrio.co.nz/

It is owned by the most welcoming Malaysian chaps ever. We ordered 2 coffee's and some Malaysian warm sponge deserts to try. By the end of the time they had bought us free green tea, crunchy biscuits to try and a curry pastry (which they were going to throw out as they were closing) - all for free. They were so lovely. The walls are covered in their art work and photographs. If you are ever in NZ you HAVE to go to this coffee shop :-)

Pat then took me up to the waterfall walk at the back of town and we then went for a long run up the hill to the white horse (which over looks the town). The views were fab and it was good to stretch my running legs rather than just bike all of the time :-)







We then went back and I decorated and cleaned my bike - Pat was not so impressed with the decor......

We then had a very late night trying to get computers working so that I could print out everything I needed for applying for India and Nepal visas in NZ (could not do before I left the UK as they would expire too early).


The thing about New Zealand is that people do not have the same issues as in the UK where we have to update everything however fully functioning the old stuff is :-)

Pat's home is very cosy and welcoming.

12th Dec - Christchurch to Waimate

Spent the morning organising my stuff and blog etc. I wanted to see what I still had in NZ verses when I started in Aus. I took photos of all of my stuff and videoed it.... Sad git!

Had breakfast with Stuart and then Pat and Fiona arrived. They had kindly offered to drive me the scenic route to Waimate as the bike ride is not that great from Christchurch. I had spoken to several people and they said that rather than riding for 2 days to get there I should get a lift and then spend longer around other areas such as Milford Sounds.

There was lots of earth quake damage as we traveled trough Christchurch. The spire of this church had fallen off and was in the garden in front ready to be put back up!












Pat and Fiona were very welcoming. They took me along all of the back roads and up the hills to see the views. We stopped off for lunch in Littlyton at a lovely little cafe over looking the harbor.




My first impressions of NZ is that it is like the UK 20-30 years ago - very quaint. Unlike the Brits they do not throw away things that work perfectly well just because it is old. They don't have the same obsession with having to have the newest kitchen and bathroom etc. I loved this medicine cabinet - it has not changed in years.




When we got to Waimate we had a great evening with Steak and a bit too much red wine and Jamesons. Good to have a chilled day off the bike and still see loads of things. :-)

Christmas Time!

11th Dec - Bike ride around Christchurch and Picnic

Up at 8. Beautiful sunny day with bright blue skies. I put my bike back together again and we left after 10 to go and meet Neil, a cycling friend of Stuart's. The boys took me on a great ride Up the hills at the back of Christchurch and then round to Sumner beach and back to Christchurch. It was a easy but hilly 50km.

Great views from the top over Christchurch.







Sumner Beach








The Penguin Bus!








The trams in Christchurch











We wandered through Christchurch and I did some shopping for food and gas etc for the next leg of my trip.









There is still lots of evidence of the earth quake in September!

I still find it strange to have Christmas in the SUMMER.















Picnic on the beach in the evening with Sarah and Stuart.

Thanks so much to Stuart for showing me round Christchurch and putting me up for 3 nights. Hope you follow your dreams and go on a bike tour again :-)