Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula

Dunedin Railway Station

We arrived in Dunedin late evening, as I mentioned in my last post. I checked into my backpackers, and because I decided to circumvent the bus route altogether after that stop (i.e. not get back on again), I had a 4-night stay in this nice town. I really enjoyed Dunedin. It's quite small, has a very large university presence, and some great architecture. Way back when Europeans and Brits were heading over this way, the crown doled out parcels of land to various groups as they came to settle. Dunedin is the Gaelic name for Edinburgh - it is the parcel of land that was given to the Scots. They have heaps of cathedrals - apparently the only requirement to being deemed a city was to have a cathedral. In this case size didn't matter. ;) They have a beautiful train station and part of the railway still run out toward the old gold mining country in the western Otago region (heading back toward Queenstown). Seems the east coast of the South Island has the nicest beaches (on the west they are rocky or stone beaches), and Dunedin (and the whole south east) has some gorgeous, soft sand beaches to enjoy. I took the bus for $2.50 to the suburb of St. Claire and spent most of my afternoon one day at this little beach town and their very large beach. At the end of the school day the kids were out for surf lessons. And yes, it was very cold down south, but I was lucky enough to have 2 warmer days in Dunedin, which enabled a reasonable sit out at the beach with a good book.


St. Clair Beach
The highlight of Dunedin for me was the Otago Peninsula. I was lucky enough to meet some great people on my bus, and 5 of us decided to rent a car together (cheaper and more fun than taking another bus tour) and drive the 70 km to the tip of the peninsula and then make our way back, exploring as many sights as we could. The attraction at the tip of the peninsula, Taiaroa Head, is the only mainland Royal Albatross colony in the world. This bird is something else - with wings measuring up to 3 m!!! This bird traverses the globe regularly and apparently logs about 90,000 km each year. It can fly at 120 kph!!! I was so impressed. We opted not to take the overinflated tour where there was no guarantee of seeing any birds other than the babies in the nests. Instead we hung out at the edge of the cliff and we did see several albatross flying back and forth to the colony with food for the babies! We totally lucked in!

Later we drove 3 km down the road from here and visited the Penguin Place - a reserve for the yellow-eyed penguin (although they do also see some little blue penguins there too). As I'd mentioned before, since the penguins are moulting right now they are land-locked and we got to see some. They've done a great job at helping this fragile little species prosper and have done everything they can to keep it natural and with the most minimal of human contact. They have a penguin hospital where they collect those that are sick and get them healthy enough to be released back into the wild, but otherwise, these are very much wild penguins and this is their natural home - the beach on the edge of a farm. The farmer started this up back in the 1980's and they have had good public support since then (although there are several conservation workers there, they get very little public funding and rely mostly on the revenue from the tour they give to people like me).

Yellow-Eyed Penguin - this guy's name is Flax.

After that we headed down to Larnach Castle, which is the only castle in NZ. It was kinda cool. I didn't go inside, but wandered the grounds and hung out with two of the other girls while we waited for the two who paid to go in.

At the end of our day, we decided to visit the steepest street in the world, Baldwin St, since it's outside of the central city area and if you don't have transport it's kind of a nuisance to get to. At it's steepest part, the pitch of this street is 35%. If you climb up the street, there is a little shop that will give you a certificate for doing so - you have to pay for that though. None of us bought the certificate. We saw lots of tourists driving up it. We opted not to put our rental through that effort.

After four days in Dunedin I flew to Christchurch, spent one more day finding my way around that town and then flew home to Wellington. It's been weird being back here, as when I flew in I felt like I was coming home (so I think I can say that Welly is my 3rd home now), but since I've been back I've woken up at night several times wondering what hostel I'm in and looking around, realizing that I'm in this room that looks really familiar but it takes me a few minutes to realize - 'oh yeah, this is MY room'. I don't have a lot of time left here so I won't likely feel really settled again. More travels in the coming weeks and very soon back to Canada!

On the Bike Down Under

Traveling, exploring the world, and the experience it brings are quite obviously three big reasons for me being down here in NZ for an extended period of time. The ability to spend a bit more time on the bike, however, was a big determining factor for me taking time away from life in Canada. For the cyclists in my life who read here, you'll probably enjoy this post. For those who aren't, it's nap time.

I've met enough cyclists at this point to know that, while I am an avid cyclist, I'm not a crazy one (yes, believe it or not). I recently read one of my favourite blogs, written by a competitive cyclist, and she said that it takes both passion and crazy to be successful in cycling - and do I ever believe that! I can be quite passionate about this sport, but I love it for the camaraderie, the health and fitness, being outside, and seeing the world using two wheels and my own physical power. I'm not sure I will ever have the mind of a competitive cyclist, and I don't really care if I do or don't. However, I do get a lot of external pressure (mostly from the boys at the shop). And this, if I let it, sometimes negatively affects my perspective on cycling, because when I feel pressure to do more, ride more, ride harder, or whatever the flavour of the day is for them, the less I enjoy my rides.

Is cycling a major component of my life? You bet. Do I really love the sport? Definitely. Would I like to have more time for it? Yep - even today in NZ I could honestly use a little more time on the bike and less with other commitments (do I ever wish I were independently wealthy!!). Am I willing to forsake everything else to do it? No.

So then, what has cycling been like so far in NZ?

I sometimes get nervous being solo on the bike in the middle of nowhere in a country that is still fairly foreign to me. Yesterday I decided to ride a route that I have ridden in company before, but not alone. It was a great thing to do. It's a very nice route. And in the end, quite safe for one to take on their own. Sometimes I just need a little extra coaxing, or maybe a good push to dive into the deep end and test the water.


I took this route yesterday because it goes inland, away from the water, into some hills, and into what I'd hoped would be a more sheltered area. Wrong. The wind here is just simply mad. I can't express this to you enough. They really have aptly named this city. Yesterday it was up to 60 kph, and I was unable to escape it, roaring down the valley between the hills I had climbed up through to get down there. So I had to use some new skills that I've learned here to cope with it - pushing a bigger gear, feeling a bit more in control of the bike when the wind gusted up on me and knocked me around the road a bit. I actually had thought it would be nice to have a heavier bike in those conditions!! How telling! It was a real scorcher yesterday. As they would say here: it was hot as! So the one positive thought I could think was, 'thank goodness for that wind - who knows how much I'd be baking right now without it!'

The roads here are all 'sealed' roads. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but back home we are SPOILED!! Smooth asphalt roads are a luxury here. From what I've seen they lay down some sort of sticky tar-like stuff, flatten a lot of rocks/gravel on top of it, then lay down some more sealant kind of stuff to hold it all together. Sealed roads are not smooth. They are very rough and there is a lot of road vibration. It kind of takes the life out of you when you ride. We sell a lot of 'tyres' at the shop, as the roads wear them down quickly. I have to say, when I get home and I'm riding in pretty much zero wind, on smooth asphalt roads, and hills that are less than 10% grade I won't know what to do with myself!! Ha-ha! I hope I can keep up the hill-climbing fitness that I'm very thankfully getting by riding the hills here.

Speaking of hills... in Wello they are mostly short and steep. My longest climb on the routes I like to ride is about 5 km, and it's the least steep with a pitch averaging around 5% I'd say. The rest of the hills I tend to climb are short, but are most frequently >8% and quite often >10%. Now that I'm getting fitter on the hills I'm starting to wonder if I need to start climbing longer ones. Yesterday as I pondered some of the thoughts I expressed at the beginning of this post, I started to think about setting some goals. I believe that no matter what activity you like to do, it's good to have fitness goals. They keep you motivated to push yourself a bit more and get more out of your sport. Maybe I'm on to something here... should I start looking for a longer climb? Oh boy. Am I starting to sound like someone who actually enjoys climbing hills? That's verging on the side of crazy, now isn't it?

Riding in Wellington

Now that I’ve settled into Wellington for a couple of weeks I’ve had a chance to get a really good chunk of cycling in. As I alluded to in an earlier post, Wello is mainly built into some pretty big, steep hills that border the southern coastline of the north island. Unless you have a genetic gift, I’ve come to believe that climbing hills on a bike takes a lot of years to get really good at. I’ve only been riding seriously for nearly 5 seasons now. Hopefully as I spend time here climbing more hills than I typically do back home, I’ll see continued improvement in my abilities. I’ve been getting comfortable with the roads and finding my way around certain parts of the city since I built my bike. It’s funny how people will say to you: “You know there are much better rides than around the bays”. But they’ve been living and riding here for years. Can you imagine a nicer way to spend a day than riding your bike along the road that follows the coastline, watching the sailboats, windsurfers, ferries (which I’ve seen on every single ride)? Not really. Back home we have some great roads for riding, but they certainly don’t offer a view of beautiful green hills rising out of an aquamarine pacific ocean, waves crashing in on the rocks, lighthouses, little beaches, and signs warning you to watch for penguins crossing. So I’ll endure the hardship of it all as I continue to become acquainted with the area and feel more comfortable venturing out onto new routes. ;) The only thing I really need to do on an upcoming ride is to capture some of it for you with my camera. As I also mentioned earlier, the roads in the city are winding and steep. I’ve found more than one way back to the flat now, but none are easy going. As with about 85% of the population here: I live on a hill. While some live on the side of one, I live on the top, which is actually a good thing – at least I don’t have to try to come to a stop and enter my flat on a 17% grade or something. I have, however, been climbing some hills that are anywhere between 12-17% grade to get home. This is very good practice, particularly on the windy days when you get to climb those hills in a headwind. It almost seems sadistic doesn’t it? If these can become routine and ‘easier’, the Gats will be a breeze for me when I get home.

I went on my first ladies group ride this week. They call it “bunch” riding. It was really good. The group really focuses on learning new skills and on the flats they ride in a proper echelon which is really cool. I got to practice the smooth transition of the echelon for the first time since I took the learn to race clinic back home this summer. Since it was so windy (we’d had a really bad storm that morning and the winds were only starting to ease up to 50-some odd kph that evening, instead of the 120 kph gusts we'd had earlier) we really stuck together to shelter each other from it as it comes at you from different directions on each bay. Sometimes a headwind, sometimes a crazy crosswind that nearly knocks you off the bike! And nobody was really able to surge ahead too much and cause that elastic band effect. It was a good effort and smooth echelon. Fun stuff! I hope to keep riding with that group each week and see what other new things I can learn and practice.

I have another little project that I want to undertake so I can try to show you the city. Wello is a really cool place, in that, with everything built into the hills, there are little secret, or not-so-secret but sometimes hard to find, pedestrian accessways so you can find shortcuts up and down the hills into the neighbourhoods that make up the city. I mostly travel by foot here, as the place is very compact, but to make it effective you need to find these little paths and stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs. They are everywhere! It’s a really different thing. You won’t have seen anything like it back home. I haven’t. So stay tuned and I’ll try to get some photos and commentary together to share the experience with you.

Kiwiana - #1

There are heaps (an expression used here a lot) of roadside attractions here like the giant kiwifruit in Te Puke that the little towns erect to make themselves stand out and attract tourists. These roadside attractions are one example of kiwiana, although the term itself means anything distinctly kiwi. I hope to capture as many as I can, as I have a few friends who love the roadside attractions. ;) I guess this is something that Kiwis and Canadians have in common.

First I’ll tell you about the housing here. They like to build houses into hills – not just in Wellington, although I’d say it’s one of the more distinctive examples. So there are all kinds of crazy walkways and stairs and driveways in the most unusual spots that you’d never see back home. Or if you did it would be a place of interest and everyone would know about it and go check it out. Most houses here are quite old and were not built with much insulation, nor heating. None – zero, absolutely no heating whatsoever. No furnace, no radiators, no electric baseboards. Nadda. And it’s not warm here. I have to admit – I could not live here during the winter. Spring is quite enough of a taste of it for me thanks. I know, it’s funny to hear that from someone who lives with minus 30 Celsius winters – but we insulate and heat our houses. It’s a damp cold here. at least in Wello it is. Up north wasn't quite as chilly as here, but it still did get down close to single digits at night. I believe it’s quite similar to England. So, to stay warm everyone dresses in layers, and wear shoes in the house, and have little portable electric radiator-looking heater things that you can plug into the wall to heat that one space, and hot water bottles in bed at night, or electric blankets. Yep. That’s how to stay warm here. Considering the drafts that come into the house I believe that this country is not very energy efficient. Now, all this to say, newer houses, I have been told, are better insulated and have central heating. I haven’t been in one though. They really depend on the sun to warm the houses here, so places that are in valleys that lie in the shadows of the hills are not as sought after in which to live. In all the ads and when I visited places in person, everyone would emphasize how much and which rooms got sun. My room gets morning sun which is nice, but I also realize that the rest of the flat will be cold when I open my bedroom door so I’m not that anxious to get out of bed in the morning. Or should I say: get out of air mattress.

The roads in Wellington are narrow and winding. Well, it is a city built into hills after all. I was a little nervous heading out on the bike for the first time. I’m glad I didn’t wear my HR monitor that time, as I’m sure it was elevated just from stress. It went well though, and I think I will get comfortable with it. Most drivers here are quite familiar with cyclists. There are lots of them here. As many people seem to commute by bike as by bus or on foot. There are some cycling lanes and lots of signs telling motorists to watch out for cyclists. Parking is at a premium in town. Many residents park their cars on the street, as it’s not always easy to build a driveway into a hill or up one. So while cycling you have to be really careful of all the parked cars. There aren’t a plethora of roads, so you really must ride in the city to get out of it, but once you do there is great riding to be had! I rode partway around the bays on my last two rides and it was fantastic!!! I saw heaps of cyclists out as well.

More kiwiana next time…

Turangi and beyond...

This will be my last post on travels for a little while, as I am now in the midst of setting up some semblance of a routine, living and working in NZ, instead of being a constant tourist. Can you believe it’s been 3 weeks since I left for the other side of the world? Time really does fly and I’m sure I will be home sooner than I’d almost like, but I will make the best of my time here. In the next few posts I’ll try to gather some of my thoughts for you on life here: from driving on the left side of the road, to un-insulated houses. I’ll give you a taste of the kiwi way of life and how it’s different from home.

Since I left Wellington and headed back to Auckland, I have been making my way back down to the south end of the north island. I stayed in Auckland for one night and then picked up a car (as they say here: I ‘hired’ a car) and finally picked up my bike which was being stored for me. It’s been so long since I’ve been riding! I think I might forget how!! I got a cute little rental and stuffed it full with my backpack, bike in box, and my suitcase (which had also been stored – it has mostly bike stuff in it along with a small sampling of work clothes). I hit the road. I almost went back to Raglan for a couple of days, as people I’d met there were still there hangin’ out and I liked the place so much, but I also wanted to see a bit more of the country so in the end I decided not to. For now I’ve skipped the tourist trap that is Rotorua. I think I will go see it at some point, as the acidic pools of water there are supposed to be quite the sight, but this time around I decided to take it easy. I made my way down to Turangi, at the bottom of Lake Taupo.

A side note on Taupo: I never thought to check it out as a potential place to live, even though they have a major cycling event there every November. It’s a road race around the lake: 160 km. Needless to say, when I went through the town I saw quite a few cyclists. I doubt, however, that Taupo would be the best choice of place to live, as I think I would run out of cycling routes and it’s not the best jumping off spot for more touring around NZ or abroad.

Turangi, at the bottom of Lake Taupo, is the place to stay when embarking on the Tongariro Crossing. This is a famous hike across the volcano in the national park of the same name. There are three peaks in the park: Tongariro, Ruapehu, and Ngauruhoe. The latter being the most conical, hence used as Mount Doom in the famous LOTR movies. I stayed at a great backpackers and just chilled out – in fact, I was offered a two-week job there running the place while the owner goes on vacation. I was tempted, but at the same time without a vehicle it would be quite isolating and I really wanted to get back to Wellington and get settled and on to the main purpose of my OE. I didn’t do the crossing this time, but I intend to go back to do it as it’s supposed to be really great! One afternoon I took in the geothermal pools in Turangi - very nice and super affordable ($8)! I drove out of the park on Saturday and made my way down to Plimmerton – a little town about 25 km outside of Wellington.

Saturday we ended up having a major storm system come through a good part of the north island. The crossing was inaccessible that day, as it was snowing in the mountains, and as I drove into the Rangipo Desert I listened to the radio warnings regarding driving on the highway that day, as there was a strong windstorm. I’ve never driven in a windstorm through a desert before – sand everywhere! As I continued down toward the western coast it got greyer and colder. I was wearing Capri pants when I left (even though it probably wasn’t really warm enough for it) and caved in and changed into my jeans in the car at a vegetable stand on the side of the highway. J I bought some veggies too! As the highway straddled the coast, I could see the waves crashing like mad into the shoreline. I was almost in the greater Wellington area when I found a radio station that was reporting gale-force winds and gusts of up to 140 kph. I held tightly onto the car door when I opened it upon my arrival at the backpackers in Plimmerton – didn’t want to lose the door to the wind!

The place I’ve been staying at here is beautiful! It faces a road that skirts the bay. On Sunday morning I sat in the lounge (that’s what they call the living room here) and watched the weekly sailboat race as I answered emails from some of you. Oh yes, and as the weather had changed from gale-force winds and rain to warm and sunny, I enviously watched the cyclists ride down the road and back out to Wellington, thinking that I will do that soon too. I spent some time looking at a few more flats Sunday afternoon and dropped my bike off at Lauren’s for safekeeping until I can move into my own flat. The two flats we saw weren’t right for me, both for different reasons. I thought I’d be staying at the YHA and continuing my search for the remainder of the week when I received a text from the people whose flat I visited last week with the good news that I could rent the room there if I’d like! This flat is in a great location and with two young professionals around my age. I’m stoked! I should be moving in there this week… will keep you posted on the move and, like I said, life in NZ.

More Photos

More photos are up - Raglan & Wellington. I should be adding to the Wellington photos as we go though. So check them out using the link on the right under the travel section. :)

Spud Island

I've been off the computer for over a week now: on vacation. It was a really nice break. Quite busy though. Lots of riding. :) The weather was all over the place, but we managed to get rides in regardless. There were 11 of us and we rode most days all together. A few days we split into smaller groups or did individual rides. Visited my grandmother while on the island. Spent a day at the beach. Ate a lot of fish. Here are some photos. Perhaps I'll be inspired to write more later...

A few SF Photos

Happy to be home... thought I'd share some snaps that I liked from my trip. I also got into this Buddhabar music on the flight home - man, those new entertainment systems that they've installed on the airplanes now are so cool!!!

Tuna Casserole

So my weekend had a theme of an "attempt at self care". I think I did not too badly. After a very hectic week and low spirits I tried my best to do things that would just make me happy. I had an amazing dinner with some friends on Friday night at a restaurant I would highly recommend. I skied - a lot. Since I wasn't doing so well at learning skate up in the park Saturday morning (1/2 an hour spent battling hills when I should have been working on my gliding technique), I went home, had a nice lunch (pictured above) and rested. Then I headed over to the TF complex once I figured the xc lessons would have wrapped up, and I practiced loops and loops of gliding without my poles. Before I left though, I had phoned up one of my friends and when she joined me later I switched over to my classic gear and did a loop of that park with her. Enough exercise for me? ;) I should hope so. After that I had dinner with she and her hubby where they had a special dessert for me (in celebration of the upcoming date of my birth). Today I slept in and then bummed around most of the morning. I finally got my butt out the door - brrrrr, it's a cold one today! And headed to the gym to do my strength training. Once home I cleaned a bit, studied for my exam, road the bike for 40 mins and then dinner, laundry and now this. Not bad. Today might not have been as relaxing as it could have been for a self care initiative, however, the total lack of doing anything until 1 PM likely made up for it!

As for the picture I posted... my new little treating myself thing - which I just started this weekend with that meal. My sister made me that little tray for Christmas - cute eh?! Talented little sister I've got. And it's my favourite colours and all. Makes me happy. So now I'm going to take all my meals to the living room on that tray - like a weird old lady. lol.

My Week

Yep. This is how I've been feeling this week. Since my last post really.

And Sunday wasn't really as nice as it usually is. Certainly not as fun as it looks for Snoopy.

What I'm thinking: 'this too shall pass'. Hope to have more fun stuff to blog on soon.

Year in Review

Yesterday I wrote this, but now I've changed a few things after playing around some more. Now you can just click and go to a set of photos. I tried to get it to go to a slideshow, but I was having difficulty with the code. I'm not that adept - yet.

As you can clearly see, I am very easily finding my way back into the work groove.
Since it's working out so well for me, I've decided to take tomorrow off to go skiing.
And in the meantime, share my favourite images from 2007...

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