Rain

When we finished breakfast this morning it was threatening rain. By the time we were ready to set off it was a gentle drizzle. We started anyway. The rain kept picking up in intensity but it wasn't too cold, the course was mainly downhill, and the Buller gorge provided some impressive views. A little past the halfway point, at about 30 miles, I was taking break and the van pulled alongside. We were almost at the lunch stop and I knew I would be calling it a day soon, so I hopped in the van, joining three other riders.

We stopped for lunch at Berlin's Cafe and were joined by the rest of the cyclists one and two at a time. It was cold enough that we asked if they could get the fire going. That turned out to be out of the question because "it is supposed to be summer." the rain was really coming down now and all but three hardy souls piled into the vans and headed for the showers at the motel in Westport.

My shoes are stuffed with newspaper to accelerate the drying and the wet clothes have been through the dryer. It is now late afternoon and the rain appears to have stopped. Let's hope tomorrow is drier.

I don't think that I have mentioned it but we have 15 riders plus three guides this week. It's a great group and we are enjoying each other's company.

Westport is on the Tsaman sea on the west side of NZ's South Island. Tomorrow we head south to Punakaiki "on a rolling coastal road that offers many spectacular views and delightful sandy coves." Then we have a rest day. #END
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St Arnaud to Murchison

Wonderful ride today with somewhat less wind and almost all downhill. About 51 miles including an optional 13 mile (round trip) side excursion to Lake Rotorua which was absolutely beautiful AND EMPTY! There was not a boat on it. Then a women's rowing club showed up with several shells and took to the water.

I have noticed that there is almost no litter at all along the sides of the roads. They don't even have trash cans at roadside picnic tables. Everybody packs their trash and takes it with them.

Yesterday we did a group picnic on the ride. Today we packed picnic lunches and ate at times and places of our choosing. Murchison is a tiny town so I don't know what Dinner plans are.

I was walking through the town wearing my "tour of Napa Valley" t-shirt. A kiwi (that's a native) asked where Napa was. After I told him, his next question was whether I rode my Harley. I had to explain that this tour is for "push bikes."

Murchison doesn't have much to photograph, so here is a
BlackBerry photo of one of our support vans. #END
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Motueka to St. Armaud

Today was a great day of cycling, especially if you like wind. We left Nelson by van to avoid the heavy traffic and drove to Motueka. From there we had 60 miles of cycling through beautiful country on lightly traveled roads to St. Arnaud. It was essentially an all uphill day, most of it gradual, although we had two nice steep climbs which then rewarded us with good descents.

I estimate that we did about 3500 feet of climbing. The battery on my GPS quit about 80% of the way through the ride, at which point we had already done 3100 feet.

The first part of the ride was through orchard country with apples, peaches, and of course, kiwi. Shorty after this we came across some large fields of hops, a crop I haven't seen since leaving eastern Washington. We rode along some streams and rivers which were magnificently clean and clear. Naturally we saw lots of sheep, dairy cattle, and also one deer farm.

We can still see snow at some of the higher elevations. We are staying tonight at the Alpine Lodge in St. Arnaud, a very small town.

Its about time for dinner -- I think that I have earned it -- so I will sign off. Today's picture is of a carved tree stump that I saw in a field that we cycled past.

Picton to Okiwi Bay

Thursday -- our first full day of riding. We did a little over 50 miles with about 3300 feet of climbing. We left the hotel in Picton around 8 am in mostly cloudy conditions. 10 am saw the arrival of both the sun and the wind. The sun was in and out most of the rest of the day, but the wind kept picking up, and was quite fierce by the end of the ride at Okiwi Bay.

Basically we rode the main road (Highway 6) that goes from Picton to Nelson. After lunch we had the option of continuing on this road with steadily increasing traffic into Nelson, or veering off on a back road, with an 1100 foot climb, to the scenic Okiwi Bay, and then riding the van to Nelson. We chose the latter, and when we later saw the traffic (and heavy wind) on Highway 6, we were glad that we did. The van trip did have a negative aspect however. We were pulled over because a policeman parked on the side of the road was able to see that one passenger was not wearing her seatbelt. In fact, five of us were not wearing seatbelts, but he could not see that while the vehicle was moving. He gave her (the passenger, not the driver!!!) a $150 ticket. (We'll see that she doesn't have to bear this cost alone.)

The scenery was beautiful for most of the day. The towns are few and far between. Even though Highway 6 is a main road, it is never more than two lanes, and at times it narrows down to one lane for small bridges. We went through the town of Havelock which bills itself as the greenshelled mussel capital of the world. Shortly after that we stopped at a small cafe for lunch. I couldn't pass up the freshly made "mussel fritter." Thats two days in a row for the mussels -- I still have to try the ubiquitous lamb, and the venison that frequently appears on menus.

No picture today because the hotel computer doesn't have an accessible USB port for my card reader.

Christchurch to Picton

I'm starting today's post as we ride north along the coast to Picton. Several of us were picked up in Christchurch and we are traveling the 350 km in a caravan of two cans with trailers. Our bikes are on top of the trailers and our luggage inside. We are sufficienly inland that we don't see the ocean. Instead we are lots of sheep, some cattle, and after the first hour, we begin to see vineyards. The real wine country is further north. We are on highway 1 which is two lanes with very narrow shoulders. I have only seen one cyclist onthis road so far.

We just passed a large field full of deer. Alex, our guide, says that deer farming in NZ is growing in popularity. It is the easiest and most profitable form of farming with good markets throughou Asia for the pelts and antlers as well as the meat.

We have now crested the Kaikoura mountains and are heading toward the Pacific. The water is like a lake with no waves at all. We see a few seals anf lots of crowded campsites.
This is prime whale watching territory. North of Kaikoura we see lots of crayfish stands (rock lobsters ).

We arrived in Picton about 2 PM and immediately had lunch. I had the NZ green shelled mussels.

Then we proceeded to the motel, which is right on the water, and set up our bikes. Today's ride was a very short (20 km) mostly flat ride to familiarize ourselves with the bikes and get used to riding on the left side of the road. It felt good to be back in the saddle again.

The sign in the picture is in Christchurch.

#END
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Arrival in Christ Church

We had good tail winds, and arrived in Auckland at 4:30 this morning, about 35 mionutes ahead of schedule. to my surprise, we did not have to clear customs here -- the baggage went straight through to Christchurch, where it was no problem retrieivng luggage and getting through the formalities since our 737 was only about half full.

New Zealand is very strict about "biosecurity" and explicitly requires that you declare whether you have any hiking boots or other athletic footwear. In anticipation of a possible inspection of my cycling shoes, I was in the lavatory washing my shoes of all dirt at 3 in the morning. I was asked whether they were clean, but they took my word for it and did not actually inspect them.

New Zealand appears very cylcist friendly. I saw lots of cyclists on the way in from the airport, and they are all over the central city. All riding on the left hand side of the road, as the cars do. That will take some getting used to. My hotel offers free use of fat tire bikes to all registered guests. Since I am only here for the one day, I will probably not take advantage of this. Instead, I have been wandering around taking pictures -- the day is absolutely gorgeous, with bright sun and temperatures in the mid-seventies (I would guess.)

Tomorrow I ride to Picton in the Pedal Tours van and then we start our tour. We will be on the west side of the South Island which has had a lot of rain the last few days. I hope that it has spent itself and that the weather will improve for us.

Departure Day

It is 5 PM Sunday here at San Francisco
Airport (2 PM in New Zealand) and I am ready to depart. Checking in and getting through security was much easier than I expected, given the reaction to the Christmas day scare. We leave at seven, so I still have time to blog
I am bringing two digital cameras and am hoping for lots of good pix. Unfortunately, when posting from my BlackBerry, as I am doing now, the only pictures I can add are those taken with it. These are generally pretty poor quality so all I have today is this picture of our 777 getting loaded with dinner.
Until tomorrow from NZ.