Crossing a Mountain

I'm not sure if I've adequately explained that NZ is one of THE places in the world to do hikes. Here they call them 'tramps' and trails are called 'tracks'. There are several 'Great Walks' of the world here and one that makes the top 10 list of must do walks is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, residing in the heart of the Tongariro National Park. You basically take the whole day (average is anywhere between 6 to 8 hours), crossing over Mt Tongariro - an active volcano with many cones, the most famous of which is called Mt Ngauruhoe. This cone can be climbed as a side trip (adding about 2 hrs to the crossing - so if doing it you must hustle it on the rest of the tramp in order to make the last bus pick up on the other side at 4:30 PM), and is famously (or perhaps infamously) known at Mount Doom (see Lord of the Rings or read the books if you aren't aware of this). I had a hard time finding an accurate reference to the exact total ascent, but it looks like it's somewhere between 1000 and 1100 m, and the total distance covered is 19.4 km according to the DOC website. So, now that I've given you the background on the tramp, I'll take you through my experience of actually doing it. And I should also point out that I am not a seasoned tramper to say the least, and in actual fact doing a lot of walking can be quite painful for me as I have a really bad knee and I find my legs often really stiff from all the cycling. Let's just say I only did this tramp because it's so famous and supposed to be amazing from a scenery standpoint.

We arrived in Turangi, a town not far from the National Park and stayed overnight Friday at a nice backpackers there. The weather forecast for Saturday was looking so-so, but the worst of it they said would be showers that would be easing up and we figured we'd take a chance since often they are wrong about the weather here and even so - the worst would be some light showers right? Might as well. Saturday worked out better for us time-wise anyway - who wants to do a 6-8 hour tramp and then drive 3.5 hrs back home afterward? So we booked a shuttle for 7:30 AM the next morning to take us to the start of the track (and would pick us up on the other side in the afternoon, with two times to choose from: 3 PM or 4:30 PM). The next morning the weather seemed ok. As we got nearer the mountain though, the rain was kicking in. We all had reasonably good clothing on to do a tramp in showers - mostly layers of quick dry clothes (thank you Icebreaker!), tuques, gloves, proper tramping shoes or boots, etc.

Here we are at the Mangatepopo carpark at the start of the track (well 4 of the 6 of us):


The first part of the tramp from the carpark to Soda Springs is fairly flat, a little bit of climbing up and down lava rocks and stuff, but not too bad. It was misty but not too cold or windy and not raining too hard. This took about an hour I guess.

Here is a photo of Mangatepopo stream on the way to Soda Springs:


After Soda Springs you walk a bit further on til you get to a climb called the devils staircase - climbing about 200 m in an hour's time. It was fairly hard and here I got stuck behind a slower group of people (I should mention that there were HEAPS of people on the track, even though the weather was crap - I can't imagine how busy it would be on a really nice day). I decided not to try to pass and just go at the slower pace as it worked better for me anyway but as a result I got separated from my group and they ended up waiting at the top for me for at least 20 mins, maybe half an hour and at the top it was brutal weather-wise. As I climbed these steps carved into the volcanic rock the rain got worse and worse and the wind was picking up. When I met up with my group at the top I was soaked through. My quick drying pants, which had been drying and re-wetting off and on earlier were now sticking to my legs and I'd stopped part-way up the devil's staircase to put on my 'emergency poncho' which I was so glad to have brought since, even though I was wet all the way through, that thing stopped the wind from chilling me and I was still warm inside! Climbing up the side of a mountain doesn't hurt to keep you warm either. At the top of the climb there is a junction at the south crater - although with all the cloud and rain I wouldn't have known it but for the signpost. Here you can choose (on a nice day when it's worth it) to climb Mt Ngauruhoe. Apparently from the top there you can see out the valley and to all the mountains in that range. Would have been nice. But it wasn't meant to be for us that day. So we trudged on.

After leaving the junction we walked on the flat for a little bit - maybe 20 mins at the most in my mind - until we reached the hardest climb (at least I thought it was) to the red crater. This climb was on loose rock and sheer rock face on a ridge and it was steep. There were points where I had to grab onto the rock or others around me for support so I wouldn't fall off the side of the cliff and the wind was pelting me with rain from the side like mad. I was soaking wet. I couldn't get more wet than that. I turned to one of my friends, Bernie, and announced to him that I thought that "This Sucks!!". Indeed. It did. We took a chance and unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side. So, after climbing this relatively precarious ascent we had to descend a very steep section of what is called scoria. It's like scree - very, very loose. So you have to just let yourself slide down taking care with your footing as there are larger rocks in there as well and you don't want to topple down the side, or else you'd end up landing in one of the Emerald Lakes. It smells very strongly of sulphur here and we did get to see a small semblance of a view. The rain started to ease up a tiny bit on us and it was far less windy on this side of the mountain (we are about to start descending now, having been up as high as the track goes on the main crossing). Here I am at Blue Lake (I think this is Blue Lake) looking happier than I actually am, primarily because Bernie and Simon were telling fart jokes and were kind enough to fix my hair for the photo op. (BTW, I have fewer photos than usual of this trek because of the bad weather - bummer) And yes, I am aware of how dumb I look, but hey - I was warm. Not dry, but warm.
The descent continues from Blue Lake to the Ketetahi Hut. People can book to stay in the hut I think, if they choose to do tramping around the area (??). At any rate, there are some toilet/outhouse type things to take a pit stop. Our arrival at the hut marked my the first break from walking - about 3.5 hours in. I'm not joking - I did not stop walking except to let Bernie help put his waterproof pants on me at the top of the devil's staircase. Here we stopped for maybe 15-20 mins and ate. I'd been eating off and on, little bits of PB&J sammies while I walked. Here I dug into my trail mix with Mini Eggs added in for good measure (and extra sugar!).

Here is a view of the valley below and Lake Taupo in the background, on our way to the Ketetahi Hut.

After the hut is a 2 hour descent. I didn't relish descending red crater to the Emerald Lakes in the very steep and loose scoria, but I wished that I had two hours of descending that once I started this one. This descent hurt my knee a lot. However, the weather was continually improving, the rain had ceased and the sun was slowly starting to make an appearance. I was starting to dry out and I was able to stop every so often and stretch my leg to give my knee a break. This helped a lot. We crossed a few more warm sulphur springs and during the last 45 mins to an hour we descended through native forest, which was very beautiful. We arrived at the carpark on the other side of the mountain in record time - just under 5.75 hours. As I mentioned before, the crossing generally takes 6-8 hours, depending on fitness and how many breaks you take to take in the scenery (and whether or not you take the 2 hour side trip to climb and descent Ngauruhoe). We basically crossed a mountain, covering a half marathon distance, in extremely inclement weather in under 6 hours. Wow! Needless to say I was and still am quite sore. My poor muscles are so cycling specific.

Here we are in the carpark waiting for our shuttle to take our stinky butts back to the backpackers for much deserved hot showers:



And Sunday, when we drove back to Welly we stopped to take this photo of the park and the terrain we'd covered the day before. Mt Ngauruhoe is the crater you can see there on the left (aka Mt Doom). So we crossed from the other side of that, up the right hand side of Ngauruhoe as you see it there and then across and down heading through the range you can see on the right. I hope I'm explaining that accurately enough that you can imagine it. Needless to say, Sunday would have been the better day to cross. I can only say of the experience that I'm disappointed to not have seen the views that make it worth all the effort; the crossing is very difficult and people do not take into consideration how difficult it is and are often not prepared (one girl we heard of who was wearing jeans - such a no-no - got hypothermia that day, and another gentleman fell and hurt himself and we saw him being helped by others, covered in one of those silver emergency blankets); and finally I'm glad to have had the experience. I didn't know I could do that. Admittedly I didn't do it without a couple of complaints on that ridge to red crater. Maybe if I do come back to NZ one day, and my knee is up for it, I might try this one again in fine weather and enjoy those views.

Kiwiana #4

I'll be posting on my mountain crossing tomorrow I think. In the meantime, I've had this one waiting for a bit, so figured I'd share...

ANZAC = Australia and NZ Army Corps (they make Anzac cookies here in NZ, which I love - apparently started back in WWII era for the soldiers)
bach = holiday home/cottage/cabin (pronounced like the shortened form of bachelor)
chilly bin = cooler
choice = fantastic
dairy = corner store
docket = receipt
pinch = steal (pinched = stolen)
footie = rugby
chunder = vomit
layby = put deposit on goods until they can be fully paid for
knackered = tired/very tired
afternoon tea = dinner
ute = pick-up truck (short for utility vehicle)
wops = the sticks (rural/remote area)
plaster = bandage (or as we like to call them: band aids)
sunnies = sunglasses
gum boots = rubber boots (like wellies)

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!

Stewart Island and the Catlins Coast

Clearly, I really loved Te Anau and Milford Sound. One down side though, is that it rains there 2 days out of 3. It’s still beautiful in the rain, and in fact the waterfalls in the sounds are much more beautiful for having the extra water (and temporary falls due to the rain and the melting snow from that which fell in the mountains this past week).

When I left Te Anau it was still very cold and raining. I hopped off the bus route that the tour bus I have been on takes, and circumvented their schedule, taking the national bus line to get myself to Invercargill. I had arranged to be picked up by a coach that runs with the ferry service to get to Bluff where I caught the ferry to Stewart Island. It was quite the trip. Because of the bad weather (high winds and rain), and road works the bus that I was transferring to in Gore was late; we were 35 minutes late for my pick-up in Invercargill. The driver of my late bus phoned ahead to the i-Site where I was to be picked up so they could let the coach driver know our eta. He rung me up on my mobile as we were entering Invercargill and said that even though we were as late as we were, they were waiting for me. Wow! Mind you, this is a great example of what people mean when they say that NZ is stuck in the 50’s. This is very small-town-NZ, so they aren’t fussed to wait for you for a few minutes. The coach was to get myself and the one other passenger that morning (another Canuck – we’re everywhere!!) to the ferry 30 mins before departure. Considering that I arrived at 11:05 in Invercargill, a mere 20 mins drive from Bluff, we were already beyond the check-in time for the 11:30 ferry. We arrived at 11:30 and the ferry and its passengers were waiting on us. We all boarded right then and there and were off. It’s a small ferry – a pontoon boat that can carry 65 passengers. There were roughly 30 of us that day. I’ve been told that the crossing at the Foveaux Strait is choppy on a good day, but on a rainy, windy day like that it was quite the experience. One person on our boat was sick and I was informed by another backpacker when I arrived that 70% of the passengers on her ferry were sick so I was lucky. Yes, I suppose I was lucky because I had my moments during the one hour trip when I had to silently talk myself through the nausea I was feeling and if more people were sick I may not have succeeded in holding down what was left of my breakfast.

The ferry drops its passengers off at the town of Oban. It’s a cute little place with a little hotel and pub, a few backpackers, some B&Bs and cottages. There are 300-400 residents of the island itself (not sure how many are in Oban) and the primary employer is the sea – fishing. There is even a NZ reality TV show on these days that feature the life of the crayfishermen of Stewart Island. There are a few tracks on the island, which is what most people that I met were there to participate in: tramping – either the 3-day hike or the 10-day hike. I wanted to go kiwi spotting, but I did not. The tour cost $110 and it was SOOOOO cold there I just didn’t have it in me to spend that kind of money to be out in the cold with no guarantee of seeing any kiwi birds. A big highlight of Stewart Island are the yellow-eyed penguins, as they call this and a few other island, and the Otago peninsula home. I went out walking a couple of times to see them but was out of luck. It’s hard to spot a yellow-eyed penguin because they are very shy and any noise at all scares them off and they won’t come ashore. They tend to come ashore anytime after 4 PM and into dusk, although most people I’ve talked to say they more often come in after dark.

A nature lesson for you, as I’ll have more to post on these little guys next time… The yellow-eyed (hoiho in Maori) is the most ancient of all the penguins and can only be found in southern NZ. When the Europeans settled here they brought with them various predators to this little penguin (rats, cats, stoats, etc) and as a consequence their numbers dwindled until they were declared endangered. They are still listed as such. Their colonies are now very closely monitored by conservationists and there is even a penguin reserve on the Otago Peninsula (where I got to see some and will post on it soon). At this time of year they are moulting – they have to shed their feathers and grow a new coat, then spread oil from a gland on their behind all over their new coat to make it waterproof before they can head back out to sea. This takes around 3 weeks, and during this time they stay on land. The way to identify a yellow-eyed penguin is their distinct yellow band around their eyes and head.

I left Stewart Island, thankful for the rest that the first day of rain there afforded me, but not having seen any of what I went there to see. I wasn’t disappointed though, as it was a nice trip – the crossing was much calmer on the way back – and I got to go as close to Antarctica as I may ever get! I hopped back on the tour bus that I was taking before and reconnected with a new friend I’d made back in Wanaka. Another new friend also hopped on that bus, whom I met on Stewart Island. We spent the day on the bus touring the Catlins. This is a really, really beautiful part of the country. Real, soft sand beaches, sand dunes, beautiful surf, dolphins, fur seals, etc. It was really nice. We stopped for a little while at a place called Waipapa Point where we saw two fur seals and a Fiordland Crested penguin. I only know this because when I later went to the penguin reserve I asked one of the conservation workers to look at my photo of the penguin and identify it for me. This penguin was moulting and was sitting in the tall grass in the dunes off the beach. I was much closer to it than you are supposed to get (although I didn’t realize this at the time). You are supposed to stay a minimum of 5 meters away, preferably more, in order not to stress the penguin if you see one. I think I was maybe 2 or 3 meters away. He was soooo cute!!! And apparently it is VERY rare to see a Fiordland crested – one of the penguin reserve workers there had actually taken a cruise in order to try to see them as he’d never seen one before and he never did get the chance. How lucky were we??? After touring around the Catlins for the day we arrived in Dunedin late in the evening. I will post on Dunedin next time.

Fiordland Crested Penguin

New Zealand fur seals

Fiordland

Even though I’m so very, very tired, I am making the time to record today’s experience and posting it for your reading pleasure. All these uber- early mornings are starting to pile up and wear me down. 8 AM is now sleeping in for me. Holidays can be exhausting! (I’m half joking here)

OK. I have the answer to yesterday’s post confusion… A Sound is an inlet, as stated. A fiord (aka fjord) is an inlet that has been carved out by a glacier, also stated yesterday. This is the main difference. A sound has not been created by a glacier. Milford Sound is inaccurately named, as it in, in fact, a fiord. It should be Milford Fiord. It was discovered by a Welshman named Grono and he actually named it Milford Haven, after his hometown. Cook missed this entrance into Fiordland when he explored here previous to Grono.

Since the fiord is created by a glacier the walls of the rocks surrounding it are cut deeply. As a result, the boat on the cruise I took, sailing around and out of Milford Sound (Piopiotahi – its Maori name), was able to edge itself right up to the shear cliff walls, almost close enough that we could touch them, were it not for the huge waterfalls that we were edging up to check out. Wow!! Yesterday it rained a lot, which made the waterfalls more full and spectacular. There were hundreds of them – some permanent, some just temporary falls from the water that either collected from the rain or from the snow melt (anywhere above 600 meters last night got snow). Despite the cold weather, despite the fact that it rains here about 200 days of the year, today I think I fell in love with Fiordland.

I met more Canuks on today’s trip. I seem to be meeting more and more these days. Funny that. I ended up taking a little tour with a little tour company and really enjoyed it. The ten of us left Te Anau early in the morning and drove to Milford on the only road that can take you there, Milford Road, through the very historical Homer Tunnel – a mountain pass that took 19 years to complete due to a myriad issues. It even took until 1992 before the final sections of this road were sealed (paved with chip seal) – that’s how remote this place is. The Homer is a 1.5 km long, one-way tunnel, where you must wait for a traffic light to turn green before you can take your turn (if you miss the light the wait is about 15 minutes for the next turn – we got green both ways). Arriving in Milford we took our 2.5 hour cruise, then Andrew, our lovely Welsh-born, NZ-converted guide collected us and took us to the Hollyford Track where we entered the start of the 4-day tramp at the suspension bridge (no plans to actually take on the full hike) and tramped for 30 minutes to a lovely waterfall, as if we hadn’t already seen enough of them for one day! Haha! Today’s tour should have been called Waterfall Day Tour. We stopped in a few neat places on the way out and back to snap gorgeous photos of the mountains that are newly snow covered. This place has a high avalanche risk in the winter. Particularly near the Homer Tunnel. After our mini-tramp we headed off to have tea and biscuits near a little river. Andrew made the tea in a neat little camp kettle at the river’s edge using the water straight from the source with no treatment necessary. Nearly all the water here is clear as any water I’ve ever seen.

Today was one of those 100-photo days. This is one of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen. It reminded me that it’s been far too long since I’ve seen the Rockies – the mountains down here looked a lot like them with the snow on top. They aren’t quite as big, but they are as beautiful. This isn’t a place that I could live – too cold and rainy – but wow! This is a really nice place to visit! I’ll post photos the next time I connect.

Southland

I left Wanaka and headed off to Queenstown a few days ago and stayed with one of the friends I've made over the course of my travels down here. It was nice to have a brief reprieve from the backpackers. It was a low-key visit, which was fine by me. Considering where I was (party-central NZ), I could have done it up right, but I was too tired and then today my departure time was 6:15 AM. Eek!

QT is really pretty. There is a really huge lake there. Autumn is upon us down here. I think it comes earlier in the South Island. I'm finding myself in the middle of a cold snap right now. The first night in QT it snowed in the mountains - the first snow of the season. It was really beautiful to wake up to. It doesn't snow much in the city, so I'm told. We took the gondola up for a view of the city and did the luge track while we were up there. It was really windy and cold though, so we didn't stay up there very long.

This morning, bright and early, I left QT for Fiordland. Today I'm settled into Te Anau. It is a wonderfully quaint little town. Another lake. There are many, many lakes down here. It's been raining all day, but off and on, with lots of sunny breaks and many, many rainbows! The rain is heavy though. I hope that tomorrow isn't too bad, as I'm supposed to be doing some tramping and they say that there will be snow in the mountains here tonight as well and cold weather tomorrow. Some facts about fiords and sounds for you...

A sound is a large sea or ocean inlet, larger than a bay or a channel. A fiord is a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea with steep sides that have been carved out by glaciers in years past. Milford Sound is a fiord (fjord). It's confusing isn't it?? ;) Seems the term 'Sound' is often misused. At any rate, Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound are two of the nearby sounds that are part of Fiordland National Park. Where I am today as I write.

The Ups and Downs of Travel

Through experience comes wisdom – or something like that. I realize that so far, bus tours are just not for me. I’m also not a backpacker. I’ve never really been in love with the backpacking lifestyle, however, it is really the only really affordable way to go about seeing places for extended periods of time. Not to mention filling in time with memorable experiences and saving money to do things that are really worthwhile – like helicopter rides up in mountains with glaciers.

I haven’t been overly enthused about the coach that I decided to try out this time around. I’ve done the full-on solo trips, both by the national bus line and rental car. I’ve toured around with a friend from home with a rental car as well. This time I decided to try one of these hop on hop off things that a few friends whom I’ve met here have done. They both had positive experiences. So is it me, or perhaps the driver of the first couple of legs of this trip that are making me feel less than satisfied so far? Could be a little of both, to be honest. I think I function better on my own. While I don’t want to fly solo all the time, I quite enjoy doing m own thing. I also think that needn’t pay for a coach with a driver who is never on time, quite disorganized, and rarely helpful. I don’t function well with hour-long delays. It has definitely been testing my patience. I’m also not impressed with having to stop at crap-holes in really remote places because it’s a ‘mandatory overnight stop’, only an hour’s drive away from the next town where there is better accommodation – this is just a ploy to keep crappier establishments in business. I was not happy with where I found myself obliged to stay last night – particularly when I found a bed bug on the sheet of the bed I was about to set my stuff down on. I moved rooms, but was quite anxious about the whole thing.

I usually maintain posts on the fun, happy, positive aspects of my journeys, but the reality is that travel, while highly rewarding and usually a lot of fun, also has its moments. It can get stressful and it can test you. But as with all things in life, there is a yin and a yang, and without the bad we cannot fully appreciate the good – and we learn from both.Yesterday I arrived in Wanaka, and as a result of stopping here got off the schedule of that bus and will be picked up by the next one – hoping that things will be better tomorrow with a different driver. I've really enjoyed Wanaka. It is a very, very small place but full of charm. It sits on a really, really big eponymous lake. The backpackers where I chose to stay is really nice and has a beautiful view of the lake. I hired a mtb and rode around the lake and practiced my bunny hops and got my groceries and stuff yesterday. It was a nice afternoon of down time for me. I really enjoyed it. I wish I had one more day here, but I’m off to explore more interesting things over the next few days. As a result of my experience the past four days I’ve decided to alter my trip plans a little so as to accommodate some detours from the coach route. Stay tuned for more as I make my way around the south.

Glaciers and Helicopter Rides

What an fantastic day it has turned out to be in glacier country! I learned the stats yesterday - apparently 60% of all activities (primarily glacier hikes) get canceled here due to the heavy rain. It is located in a rainforest, after all. I wonder how businesses stay open here. Well, perhaps it's the exorbitant prices. I have to say though, the cost is so well worth it!!

Today I took a half-hour long helicopter ride up and over both the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. It was one of the best experiences ever! For one, it was my first time on a helicopter! And then of course, there is the scenery and the experience of landing on top of a mountain! Wow!!! I'm still a bit in awe of the whole thing. I'm feeling that kind of burst at the seams kind of excitement over it all still. Wow!!! Maybe I'll say that again - Wow!!! Yay! I thought I'd be nervous and maybe get some vertigo, etc, but not at all!! I loved every minute of it! Even when we got up into the wind and felt a bit of turbulence. All good. I got to sit in the front seat too - so I had all windows around me. Even down at my feet: windows! We flew up the Franz Josef glacier and then over the top of the mountain to the Fox glacier. We landed on top of that one on the snow at the top and backside of Mt Tasman. We got out and walked around on the snow and took some photos. It was really bright up there on the snow with the sun. It was chilly too, but not overly cold. Then we got back in the helicopter and flew down the Fox glacier, sweeping past the sides of the mountain, then over the edge of it and down into the valley where we followed the winding road back to Franz Josef village. You can really see how the glaciers used to flow all the way to the sea; how they carved out a valley below.


I am so happy that the weather was fine today so that I could experience it! What a great day!!

Back to the Glaciers

Greetings, once again, from Glacier Country!!

I arrived in Christchurch yesterday morning, headed to my backpackers, dropped my bag, and walked into town. It was a short 15 minute stroll. It was cold in Christchurch! The pilot said it was 13C when we landed, and while it was chilly, it didn't feel that cold per se. I like Christchurch (although I was told by some others that it's always cold). It is the town with the most British influence in NZ and you can really feel it. I was relishing how flat it is and how badly I wished I could ride my bike. But alas, this is not that kind of trip, and I was soooooo tired!!! So I walked around, took in the cathedral (which I did not do last time), found the supermarket and picked up a couple of things (I forgot bath soap - doh!), and headed back to the backpackers early and got a good night's sleep.

It was an early start this morning with a 7 AM pick-up to take me to the railway station. I caught the TranzAlpine which takes you from Christchurch to Greymouth via Arthur's Pass. The famous pass which we crossed by car last time in the pouring rain. If I had a better adjective than pouring that could really emphasize the rain we had that day I'd use it, but I do not. Today I had zero expectations and it wasn't until I was on the shuttle and one of the passengers mentioned what a great day it was going to be for a train ride I realized - OMG!!! It was a beautiful, sunny day!! Yay!!! The ride was really amazing. We passed through something like 9 tunnels - the longest of which was 8.5 km long! And about 2/3 of the ride we had a helicopter following us, apparently filming the train as we rode along for a country western movie. Cool as! I met a really nice lady from OZ who sat next to me for the trip and I will meet up with her again here tomorrow when she comes to glacier country as well. The train was full, full, full, and as a result we were quite late leaving about 45 minutes late. I was afraid that I'd missed my connection with the coach that I'm traveling on for the remainder of my trip. The coach, however, was late arriving as well.

The coach, so far, is ok. I can't say it's the best, and yet it's not the worst either. I will reserve judgement. So far I've met 4 new Canuks. There are plenty of us traveling around this country indeed! The French Swiss guy who sat beside me today was probably the best new acquaintance, as I got to speak French all afternoon, which was great! Retracing a route I've already driven here before in much nicer weather made the scenery all that more spectacular. :) The Southern Alps are quite beautiful! Tomorrow, if the weather holds, I will have the chance to explore here, as I hadn't able to on the last visit.

On a side note, I seem to be having quite bad luck with my teeth down under. In November I broke off a piece of a built-up tooth (kind of a fake tooth, but not totally). I didn't deal with it and after it started causing me some pain in January (or was in Feb?? I can't remember now) I got it fixed. Luckily I knew the dentist through the bike shop - fellow cyclist. He did a good job and gave me a good deal. Today I bit into a pear and broke the bottom retainer off one of the two teeth that hold it in place (a relic from the years of orthodontics I painfully endured as a child) and now, in the middle of nowhere, there is no dentist to visit until next week. Luckily when I get to the next possible place to find dentistry (QT), I will be visiting with a friend that I met up in Raglan who is currently living down there and I texted her today to see if she could do me a big favour - find me a dentist and book me an appointment. I got a message back saying it's done! What would I do without such great friends like that?

I hope to post again tomorrow. Stay tuned...

My First Road Race

Earlier today I composed the first part, but didn't want to jinx the weather, so held off on posting it until finishing up the race tonight (post race analysis follows)...

Four hours until my first road race. We are, thankfully, riding the course we've been using the whole time for our TT's. I say thankfully, as it takes some of the mystique out of something that I'm doing for the first time. I've ridden this course more times than I can count now, so I know it. The unknown is riding with a pack of people with very little group riding skills, let alone having raced. Yes, there are some experienced chicks riding there tonight and I'm going to try my best to stick up there with them. I say this, and yet I'm not experienced at riding in a pack in a race situation. But I am comfortable riding in a pack in general, so I think that will be helpful.

One thing that is totally amazing for tonight is the weather forecast. No, it's not a beautiful, sunny day - it's kinda cloudy actually. But the wind is only 30 kph!!!!!! I've never ridden a race here yet in such little wind!! And check out the satellite image from the weather webpage:

I'm not sure I've ever looked at the weather page and seen this before. Usually there are many little yellow systems circling about those two land masses we like to call NZ, and there is ALWAYS one big one that circles around and over Welly. Tonight however, it is completely clear!! The universe is in alignment with us here today. I'll post later about how it goes.

Things have been busy here this week. I have so much to blog about, actually, and very little time to sit down and put my thoughts down into a coherent block of something for you to read. I will try my best to get something out this weekend... the operative word is 'try'.

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Post Race Analysis!

All afternoon I had this nervous energy about tonight. So much so that I started to hope that I wouldn't expend too much of my energy on nerves. There were 3 groups in the race tonight. They handicapped it. How this works is that you are placed in a group of similar ability based on your TT results. The slowest group (called Limit) starts first. Their goal is to keep up the pace enough that the groups that follow do not pass them. The next group (called Break) starts 2.5 mins later and their aim is not only to pass the group in front, but to also keep away from the strongest group which is starting 2.5 mins after them (that group is called Scratch). They put an experienced rider in each group to ride and coach and encourage people and keep people moving around in the pack to share the work. It was pretty cool. I was in the Break group. I didn't count the people, but I think we were about a dozen. The wind stayed at bay for the most part. There was a headwind as we started out toward the point where the little lighthouse is (see my last post). It was between 35-40 kph. The calmest wind in which I've done a cycling event in this city - ever!

That said, I started off the front with Jess and our experienced leader, Nick. He's the guy that met up with me last week at the start of the TT and was the reason I even did it (read last post). Into the headwind we were clocking about 27 kph. This is the fastest I think I've ever ridden into a headwind. Ouch. My turns at the front were painful. As we rounded the point at the little lighthouse and got the wind at our backs we picked it up. Actually we cranked it right up into high gear. We were now clocking anywhere between 37 and 40 kph when I looked down at my speedo. I started getting a cramp in my side and I also started to feel like throwing up.

The riders in our pack were strong, but fairly inexperienced with the pack dynamic so they were pretty set on holding their same position as they moved through a rotation, not thinking to move into gaps to keep people together, etc. Since I was hurting enough that I couldn't keep making my way to the front for pulls I started looking for spots opening up between bikes and moved in and out of them, trying to stay in the middle. Nick saw me suffering and falling off at one point and pulled me back in and pointed out a good spot. However, the pace just kept going up and we were now maintaining 40 kph. Wow. I can do 40 kph and up, actually, in a sprint. I can do 40 kph a bit longer with a real good (like 50+ kph) tailwind. But I've never been able to keep a steady pace of 40 kph or higher. This I could not keep up. I'm not there yet. Cramp getting worse. Pain going around into my back now. Throwing up - hmmm. Should I? Yeah, that was a thought. I started falling off. Jess was near the back as I was dropping off and she gave me some really kind words of encouragement and tried to pull me back but I told her to go on, as there was no way I'd be able to hang in. I later found out that she only managed to hang in about 3-4 km longer than I had.

Oh, I failed to mention that by this time we'd passed the slowest group (the Limit group). That was really cool. I felt encouraged when we did that and tried my best to stay in our pack, but just couldn't. Luckily, Robyn (experienced leader of the slow group, former NZ Olympian, and captain of the women's club here) had kind of dropped the slow group as it was just too slow for her I guess. She picked me up - surprisingly I was able to keep up 33-34 kph with a massive cramp in my gut, side, and back. She offered to pull me up to the pack, as they actually weren't that far out of reach as of yet. We tried, but the extra effort was soooo painful. I just couldn't. We rode together up to the hill and she stopped halfway up to wait for the slowpokes that she was mentoring through the race and wished me luck.

The hill f-ing hurt. Small ring. Bummer. I got passed on the hill by some of the fast chicks. I was thinking - 'OMG, they are so f-ing fast. I hope I can get that fast in a couple more seasons.' I gained some speed on the descent. I'm starting to love descents again. :) And I came up on a young girl that I've ridden with before. She was all alone and as I passed I asked if she wanted to grab my wheel. She did and we rode the last 2.5 K together. I pulled the most. When I'd caught her she was suffering and I figured if she rested for the first bit she'd be able to pull near the end when I wanted one. My plan worked. She offered to pull around the start of the last km. When we were within 250 m and could see the finish I pulled out around her and said, "You ready?" And I click-clicked it up 2 gears, stood up, and sprinted the f-ing hell out to the finish. That was F-U-N!!! I love sprinting. Maybe I shouldn't put that in writing.

We had a post-race/end of race series gathering at the community centre down the road afterwards. Jess got most improved female!!! I knew she'd get it. Last week she pretty much blew the thing apart! And I got the 'attendance' award. lol! Yes, I went to every single race. My prize is this little wind vest. It actually came in quite handy, as it got quite chilly tonight and it was dark by the time Jess and I were back in town. It's maybe a bit geeky, but it works. :) And it's actually a cool souvenir of riding and racing here in NZ, as the website it lists at the bottom is: www.gw.govt.nz/cycling . And to think that some people I used to work with back home who've visited this country said to me before I left that there wasn't a lot of cycling in NZ - what do they know???

The ride home was good but my cramp never ended. I have two guesses at the cause: 1) maybe what I ate this arvo? 2) I was anaerobic far too long.

Looking at the data, I've confirmed what I thought when I checked in on my HR during the race. Actually, my guess post-race was that I was full-on anaerobic for around 7 km (my HR was around 198 for quite some time!). Looking now at my data, uploaded to my computer, my HR was in zone 5 (anaerobic) for 14 mins!!! I got my blood lactate test done last month and anything over 191 is anaerobic for me. And my max HR is around 200-202 (I reached 200 in my sprint). So I'm figuring that the most likely cause of my cramp is that I was beyond my limit for a bit too long. Ah well. I figure it's good training right? Gotta push beyond that limit as much as possible in these situations. The other rides are about the other stuff. The endurance and fun. Not that this wasn't. Actually, even with the pain and nausea it was one of the funnest nights of cycling I've had here. And the post event stuff was really great!

So ends my dabbling in racing and finding out what I'm made of on the bike here in NZ. And I expect a new beginning for it when I get back home. :) There is still more cycling to be had before I leave - in fact I got the day off work this Sunday and Jess and I have some plans that include spandex and two wheels. But the time is ticking down on this part of my experience here. I'm really happy that I took the chance back in November and headed out to my first time trial. I've had a lot of fun and made new friends and learned a lot more about myself on the bike. As I rode up the long hill home, I felt the smoothness of my wheels turning, the street was quiet, and the air still (wow!), I thought, "I love my bike".

Last TT in NZ

Tonight I rode my last TT here. Last week's got canceled due to a storm, so tonight they went with an ITT in order to handicap us for next week's race. I'm feeling a bit sketched about racing next week, but I'll see how it goes I guess.

At any rate, this evening I felt really, really good. Funny enough, it was a really lovely day here weather-wise and very low winds. As I got ready to head out the wind picked up (we're going to have another big storm here tomorrow). As I rode down to the site of our races (about 1/2 hr ride from my flat) I felt quite discouraged. I'm actually getting real tired of all this wind. It's been great training. I've learned some good skills on how to handle the bike in the wind. I'm gaining a lot more confidence and agility in doing it. But tonight the wind started the break me.As I rode around the bays and suburbs of Welly I looked down at my fork and realized that I'd forgotten my timing tag at home. DOH!! OK. That sealed the deal. If I couldn't even get a properly recorded time I was out. I got to the corner before the turn-off to the start of the TT and waited there for my friend, Jess, deciding to tell her that I was just going to ride around the loop and back home so she wouldn't worry that I wasn't there. Yep. You got it. I gave up on the race. I was sooooo not in the mood to ride hard into a 50 kph headwind tonight. I do realize that TTs are about testing yourself and your will, but as I've said before, I have very little in the way of a head for this, so tonight it was dead in the water for me. As I waited for my friend one of the organizers rode up and chatted with me. I mentioned that I'd forgotten my timing tag and he said, "Oh, no worries. We have heaps of them tonight. You can borrow one". OK. I'm back in. He and I rode over to the start and Jess was already there!

I borrowed a timing tag, got myself on the start sheet, and lined up. We start 30 seconds apart. Jess ended up being first to start since she was there so early. I was fifth. As per usual, the headwind was killer. I'd cooled down enough and couldn't be bothered to warm up again before the start, so that my legs hurt like all get out for the first ten minutes. I started in the big ring, but moved it to the small ring after about a km of pain. Kept warming up and did ok into the wind in the small ring, but still in a reasonably hard gear. I kept gaining on the guy in front of me (a junior, but still, they usually pass me). I felt encouraged. He was having a hard time with the wind. Every time we got a good gust of it he didn't have the experience to push into it and manage how it pushes you all over. I learned how to manage this better from Mario, one of the shop mechanics. I did not move into an easier gear. And I passed this kid as another gust of wind pushed down on us real hard. Sweet.

It's about 3 km out into a headwind on this course when we have a northerly. Then you hit this point, and you are getting absolutely blasted by the wind from the front and the left, but there is this little beacon of hope: a tiny little lighthouse. When you see the lighthouse on the point you know the pain will soon be over, because this is when you turn out of the headwind. As I rounded that corner, being pushed around on the road by the wind, I prepared to move into the big ring again. Around the corner, big ring, and 50 kph tailwind. Sweet as! Now I'm gaining on the girl who was in front of that kid I just passed. I pass her around a beach called Scorching Bay. I was surprised, actually, at how fast I went by her. I big ringed it up this small hill that takes us down into a town called Breaker Bay. At the top of this hill though, I got caught. I have to say, I was wondering when one of the elite girls was going to catch me. They were only started a minute and a half and two minutes behind me. But here we are, on a course that is just under 14 km, and it took this girl, with full aero set-up, until the 11.5 km mark to catch me. I must be improving! I descended the hill, and now with about 2 km to go I get passed by the second girl. I was able to keep them both in sight until the end, which I felt happy about. Even though my legs were hurting a bit at the end I still tried for a sprint and, looking at my data, managed a decent 7 kph increase in speed in the last 250 m. :) Not quite as good as the last one, but on the last TT I was well rested at the end, as I'd sat up for part since I'd been feeling pretty bad that night.

Jess didn't get passed so she started first and was the first to finish. That was really cool! I wish we could've done a TTT this week as we would have kicked some butt!! She and I rode home around the rest of the bays and battled the ridiculous headwind up our 5 km climb on Happy Valley. The final hill to get home out of the Aro Valley is a steep and hurting one, but as it usually happens when we reach the top, it always feels great when you get there and know you've done it. I suppose the endorphins don't hurt. Not to mention the view.

And all of this after initially giving up on doing the TT altogether. Yes. I'm happy that I did it. It felt good. But I will say one thing - I'm really looking forward to a vacation from this wind. And I'm really, really looking forward to riding when I get back home, with no wind. Now that's sweet as.

Wind and Work

Windy Wellington has certainly been living up to its reputation. While life here the past few weeks has been relatively low key, the wind and weather definitely haven't. Last week I rode my bike once. The other days the wind was up to 70 kph and we had lots of rain. Our race on Thursday was canceled. A bit of an autumn prelude. They do not call autumn, 'fall', as we do back home. I've been working a lot and reading a lot these days. Just kind of settled into a day-to-day life groove here right now. Finished 2 books and onto a 3rd this week - this in only 2 weeks' time. I get into fits and spurts of reading sometimes and it seems I'm in one now. This is good, as I love reading while I travel, so I hope to trade in one of the books I picked up two weeks ago for a used book to take on my next trip - the south of the South Island. I should have far more to post on when my trip gets underway. Fortunately, yesterday we had a turn in the weather and I'm off for a nice ride this evening with my training partner, Jess. :)

Looking for some blog inspiration

Not a lot to post about these days eh. (if you take the intonation of the 'eh' down at the end instead of up the way we do it, you'll be saying it the Kiwi way - they say it just as much as we do) I guess I'm feeling a little uninspired and while I'm sure I'm doing new things that I could fill you all in on, it hasn't felt all that exciting to post for you, however, I will do my best this evening.

Today was a long one and I didn't get home from work at the bike shop til 8 PM. I'm getting more and more comfortable and confident at the shop. I have already learned so much, and continue to learn more every day. Yesterday I learned how we have a few bikes in stock that have all the gears inside the back hub. I actually don't really understand how they work and turn the wheel. Something I need to look up on-line to figure out. I learned how to tune up a few things on my bike now - like my derailleurs. Very handy and important to know. And I've taught quite a few people (including men - which I think they've been slightly embarrassed about) a skill I've been developing for a few years now: how to change an inner tube. I'm getting much faster at it than I used to be! :)

We had a Kiwiana party at our flat this past weekend. It was fun - many people showed up over the course of the evening and we enjoyed far too much kiwi junk food! We had L&P, RJ's licorice, cheerios (although I did not eat these) with Watties Tomato Sauce (this is what they call Ketchup, and Watties, while a kiwi brand, was bought by Heinz a number of years gone by), Pavlova, kumara chips, and other things I cannot remember. The party was much lower-key than I had expected, because from what I know of the Kiwis, they are real hard-core partiers. The bars stay open here til like 3 AM and people continue on til 5 AM quite often. I wasn't overly disappointed, however, that our party was lower-key because I cannot keep up with that. I had to work the next morning, so a 1:30 AM bed-time was plenty late for me to feel fried for the next two days.

This weekend is a long weekend, Friday being a national holiday called, Waitangi Day and I have opted not to take an extra shift at work (as tempting as it might be to be paid time and a half - I already worked the last stat holiday two weeks ago). Instead I will be spending the day in the Wairarapa with a few friends - finally exploring a little outside of the Welly area. The city itself hosts an annual International Sevens Rugby Tournament - pretty much the biggest event of the summer here. The whole place goes wild, I've been told, and there are costumes and mayhem in the streets day and night. The sevens tickets sold out within the first day or two that they went on sale, however I was offered some by a guy who hit on me at the gym last week - but they are far too expensive for my OE budget at this point. I will enjoy the festivities outside of the rugby field.

I have really been enjoying my time here immensely. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the country in the next few months as well. I'm quite sure that I will have mixed feelings when it is time to go since lately I have been missing some of my creature comforts and familiar things from home. Traveling has always, always reminded me how lucky I am and how much I love home no matter how lovely it is anywhere else in the world.

Kiwiana #3

Here we go again...

tog = swimsuit
not fussed = not bothered/doesn't bother me
jandals = flip flops
singlet = tank top
torch = flashlight
stuffed = broken
stuffed up = screwed up/messed up
stuff-up = mix up/screw up
cello tape = scotch tape
mate = friend/buddy
bro = buddy
biscuit/bikkie = cookie
chips = chips or french fries
lolly = any kind of candy (hard candy, jellies, etc)
take a squiz = a quick look (like browsing in a store)
having a little nosey = browsing in a store
bonnet of a car = hood of a car
flash = fancy/expensive

You can imagine the first time someone told me at the shop that they were just "taking a squiz"!! I was a little confused to say the least, but quickly figured what it must have meant and later confirmed it with a Kiwi friend.

Now that I've taught you a little Kiwi lingo, see if you can understand this (might want to refresh your memories by looking back at Kiwiana #1 and #2):

Smile of the Day

This has nothing to do with anything about travel or NZ, apart from the fact that it was while I had a visitor last month here that we started discussing The Muppets and then searched for them on You-Tube and watched a few sketches. Man! I LOVE the Muppets. So here is one that Andrew reminded me of via email today and I thought, 'hey, I should share this'. :)

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?

New Year, New Experiences

I've been lax on updating the blog the past couple of weeks so I do apologize. How bad of me - particularly when most of you are back at work and in need of a distraction from life in the cube farm. ;) I've been busy. Life is full. Things are good. So where to start?

Well, the Christmas holidays mark the start of summer down under and I'm feeling the vibe of the season a lot these days. Every time we have a nice day there are heaps of folks out at the beaches. I've been wearing singlets (kiwi word for tank-top) and jandals (kiwi word for flip-flops) a lot more. I even bought a pair of shorts over the holidays. I've been riding my bike a lot. I'm feeling really good on the bike these days. This was one of the goals associated with taking this time off and away from home. I had hoped that I could start to build some real strength and power on the bike on top of the base I have from the past 5 years of cycling. I think it's starting to come. The hills here are just killer. As Andrew experience when he visited, you really cannot imagine the hills (and the wind of Wello) until you are here. I don't think he truly believed what I'd told him about riding here. There are all varieties: short and steep, long with steep parts, long and gradual - you name it, you've got it. It's the best kind of cycling training I could hope for. And then you just throw in some good 40 kph headwinds every other day for good measure, and you find yourself thinking that relatively windless days and 6% grades are easy. Choosing this particular location to live has been fortuitous in many ways, but this one may be one of the more significant for me. I cannot wimp out and do a flat ride. It's just not possible. Even recovery rides include some form of climbing. So - I have become a little more confident in my abilities on the bike and hopefully this will continue to grow. One of the mechanics at the shop is an ex-Euro-pro and I finally got out and rode with him last week. Now he's keen to ride with me at least once, if not twice a week (as he says I need to do 2 really hard rides per week and he intends on pushing me hard). I'll keep you posted on how that turns out. Protege of an ex-pro? haha! Who knows.

Another great thing about Wello is that so many of my friends have been coming through to visit. I even just hosted a friend of a friend of a new friend. Haha! Yes. An American girl (and bike mechanic) on her way through to the south island on a solo bike trip - all of her gear on her bike. I picked her up at the airport on my bike and we rode into town around the bays together. She loved the intro to the city. At the same time I had another friend in town visiting (one of the first people I met when I arrived in NZ three months ago) and the three of us hung out the rest of the day and just had a blast. We even got video-taped sitting out at a cafe downtown for the city council's website advertisement for tourism here. Too funny. I'll let you know if we get our 30 seconds of fame or not. I have at least two more friends coming to town in the next few weeks. And I shouldn't forget to mention that I've been having a blast with my new kiwi friends and my flatmate. They've been introducing me to kiwiana every chance they get and they are simply very kind to me. We have decided to have a kiwiana-themed party at our flat later this month. Should be fun!

I'm happy to report that so much of what I have wanted from this experience is coming together. I'm taking a break from life as I knew it and finding the time to breathe. I'm learning more about the bike - in every sense (I even know the difference between a hard-tail and a full suspension MTB - haha!! Who woulda thunk it?). I'm immersed in a different culture than my own and having a ton of fun with it. I'm connecting with others and making heaps of new friends from many different countries. I'm carving out new opportunities for the future. And I continue to learn about myself and grow. What else can one hope to achieve?

More on the south island and Noel down under

Kia ora and merry Christmas from NZ!! Today is Christmas Eve down under and we have rain. Just arrived back from the south island adventures yesterday (really it was 1 AM when we arrived so we had the whole day here). The weather was fantastic the last two days of our trip, but we had some really crazy weather on the west coast.

Last I posted, I was in Nelson enjoying some sunshine and riding the bike. The following morning we packed up and headed out on a very long drive down on the west coast to glacier country. We traveled through some interesting and cute towns, full of gold mining history (many of them are only a whisper of the towns they once were back in the gold mining hay-days) and on to Okarito, where we had rented a bach (what we would call a cottage in Canada) on the beach. This was a really nice reprieve from backpacking life and a good chance for free washing machine facilities to launder our clothes. haha! But seriously, the bach was really amazing. I have lots of photos of it. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, but lucky us - we experienced a typical west coast rain system. Fantastic. The glaciers are a 20 minute drive from Okarito, and the following morning we got up early and set out, hoping that maybe the rain would ease up and we'd have a decent day for glacier hiking. Not. We arrived 45 mins later in Fox Glacier and proceeded on to Lake Matheson where we did a quick trek along a walking track around the lake. Unfortunately due to the inordinate amount of rain and mist and fog we weren't able to get the really great views of the mountain and glaciers that you would normally see at the lake. However, we made due. There is one thing you really cannot control in life: that's the weather. Not sufficiently soaked, we decided to do another 30 min trek on hiking trails around the Fox glacier to get views of it. The Fox glacier is the largest of the sixty some odd glaciers in the area. They descend into rainforest and right down to sea level at the west coast. It's truly a sight. We hiked through rainforest to get views of the glacier. Apparently on really rainy days you can still hike on the glacier itself but it's not so fun so we opted instead to head back up to Franz Josef (which we'd driven through to get to Fox) and went for a massage and a hot tub at their new spa pools in the town. Sweet as! Our massage therapist was a Canadian lady who'd been living in glacier country for a few years now and got there by doing cycling tours. Did we ever have a lot to talk about!!

The next day we left Okarito, unfortunately unable to do the famous kayaking in the Okarito Lagoon - home of the white heron. We had hoped the rain would ease up, but instead it got heavier. Our drive north and then east was precarious at best. There was flooding along many roads (luckily this is commonplace enough that they have road signs to warn you so you know to expect to slow down and drive through the flooding in a safe manner). When we got to the highway that leads to Arthurs Pass (the famous pass we wished to cross over to Christchurch - and which Andrew had planned to ride on his bike, weather permitting of course), there was a road closure and the nice kiwi gentleman manning the closure informed us that there was a "slip" (i.e. a landslide) and a bridge was washed out. We had to do a detour. Luckily it was before the one place that the detour rejoined the pass and we didn't have to abort our plan. If it had been further up, a detour would have meant taking Lewis Pass (consult your map of NZ) further north and frankly, would have changed our plans altogether - cancelling a visit to Christchurch. At any rate, this did not happen and we simply added an hour to our drive and got to Arthurs Pass. It was a cool thing to see, but the views were not as dramatic as they would have been given a clear day. There was a lot of fog and mist and the rain was still coming down hard. Andrew, quite obviously, did not ride as it would have been quite dangerous. There were a few things which I cannot describe clearly enough, that divert the water from such rainfalls from the road on the pass. Here is a photo to more clearly explain:We arrived in Christchurch pretty tired from the trip and it was raining there too. It was quite chilly and I'd wished I brought some gloves to be honest. We had some nice Thai food though and relaxed in our little backpackers hoping for a change in the weather (which NZ is famous for - ever changing weather). The following morning we woke to the weather on the verge of clearing so we headed to a little town on the Banks Peninsula called Akaroa. This is a primarily French settlement, which is kind of neat for NZ. As the day went on the weather continued to improve, so much so that we decided that since we were taking the late ferry the following day we'd have enough time for a bike ride in the morning. And that's just what we did. The following morning we got up early, packed up, and headed out for a ride up Dyers Pass in Christchurch - quite the climb. Here is one photo of the view of the city from 2/3 of the way up (if you look closely you can see the mountains in the back):
We then went back to the backpackers and showered, changed, and headed off on our drive back up to Picton for our late-night ferry ride back to Wello. On the way we stopped in a really cute little town, famous for its whale-watching tours, Kaikoura. The drive was fantastic and the views out of this world. We drove up through the foothills and into the wine country of Marlborough. We had a really nice dinner in Blenheim, after touring its vineyards and quirky little spots. And then as night-time set in we got on the ferry, loaded onto the train deck (yep, where they would put the train cars if there were a train on board) and headed back to Wellington. Here is a nice shot of the city as we came into the harbour:
I feel like I'm leaving out so much. It's hard to post so long after doing many of the things on the trip. I hope to be more on top of the blogging on future trips so I can give more detail on each place. When we got back here yesterday the weather, as I mentioned, remained gorgeous so we headed out for a nice ride and then to a proper Kiwi BBQ at Lauren's house. It was fab!! Today we explored Te Papa since it was raining, as well as getting up to date on things we'd missed while traveling (like email etc). I have uploaded the first installment of photos from the south island trip. Will update you as more become available (if I don't run out of space on my web album!!!).

Well, I wish you all a very merry Christmas! It will certainly be a different one for me (it's not feeling much like Christmas right now). I will post more on what it's like to be here for the holiday season over the next couple of days. Until then - stay warm, and drink a rum and eggnog for me!