The whole trip

Now you can enjoy the bicycle tour from the perspective of my handlebars with high time and data compression.

Final South Island ride

6/2

I started the day with a bowl of peas, as I wouldn't have kitchen facilities for the rest of the trip.

I take a really long time getting to Picton, with lots of breaks. There was even a bike path parallel to the road and rail for a few kilometres out of Blenheim.

There's a cool display that lights up when a bike rider goes past - alerting other road users that there's a bicycle on the bridge.

Bridge bicycle alert

In Picton I check out the old ship, which used to sail around the world including for convict transport, then became floating storage for meat and later coal.

Fish and chips seemed appropriate for lunch in Picton.

Catching the ferry across to Wellington was interesting. There wasn't a great deal of instruction on getting to the ferry once the boarding was open. Once we got to the ramp, everyone from the bus unloaded onto the walkway and people with bicycles pushed with and through the congestion. I think that could have been better handled by the ferry staff.

It was a bit cramped at the bike racks and I was tired. I accidentally snap the gear indicator window off as it pushes against another bike's handlebars.

The journey was pleasant enough to begin with. Some nice scenery and pretty reliable mobile phone signal. Once out of the sounds though, I felt a bit nauseous.

Getting settled into the hotel, I wander down to the food court and have some Korean popcorn chicken for dinner.

`Nearly the end of the gravel`

5/2

Hyperlapse

It about as close to the end of the gravel as we were to civilisation. Lots of climbing with the lumpy terrain. Lots of teasing with sealed road for a few hundred metres at a time. This day's hyperlapse will be in a lower resolution as I didn't have enough battery power to back up the whole memory card, and would have run out of recording space had I kept it at the camera's maximum resolution.

Not wanting to burn out, I took plenty of breaks on this segment.

Scenery is nice, but I think I've absorbed as much as I can.

 It was frustrating to have gravel on the downhills. My brakes were on most of the way down Taylor Pass. There was one part where I was being blown about and lost control (at pretty low speed) taking a turn, downhill on gravel. The final leg was all headwind and James was waiting on the side of the road for me. He reckons he gained 20 minutes.

Meat and chips in Blenheim

Such architecture in Blenheim

Ok, that just looks weird

The dish known as N3

The waitress couldn't handle the name of the dish, nor the English description. So I had to ask for N3 and got N3 served.

Stencil in the urban area of Blenheim

I was also able to pick up a multi connector charge cable at a variety store. It had USB type C, micro USB and lightning connectors. It doesn't seem to have the data lines connected so none of the fancy charge modes can be negotiated. I found my GPD Pocket battery level go down very slowly while plugged in with this cable and being used. There were no suitable cables at The Warehouse and no affordable ones at Harvey Norman. I buy a massage ball to replace the one I left behind in Hanmer Springs (too tired - slipping up).

I then decide that I'll scoot off to Wellington earlier and chill out. James takes the long way to Picton, getting to Wellington a day later.

GTF off the Molesworth

3/2

Having felt reasonably good on the previous day, this morning was pretty rough and I just wanted to clear the section as quickly as possible. Panniers were frosted over. My tent was a bit damp.

James had a chat to a dude who showed up later last night. That dude was going to cut across to the Rainbow Road which we were previously informed was closed. James also got to play a bit of fantasy bike after hearing about the details of the dude's Muru titanium bike.

Bike riding then occured.

I had a good start in the morning but that wore off. The hills and gravel took its toll on me. There was one part where I just came off the bike at low speed and James came down the hill to help push. That was a definite low point of the ride.

The sign at Cob Cottage's water tap was different to the one at last night's campsite. This one implied that it was safe to drink, while at Acheron it did state three minutes of boiling would be prudent.

Towards the end of the day, there was a bit of a tease of paved surface for short segments. Coming up to the picnic ground (possibly Hodder Bridge Picnic Area) that was the aim for the night. It turned out to be a really tiny patch of grass on a clifftop with lots of motorhomes parked on it. Coming up to it, however, was a small wooden sign stating that there was accommodation at Camden Station, and so that became our new target destination.

Hodder Bridge

Accommodation was $30 per person and it was good not to have to worry about fuel for cooking and decent shelter. 

I could have just read about it instead of riding it all.

Bicycle tour operators basically take people out for the fun bits.

Start of gravel hell (uphill too)

It was a drizzly morning and didn't look like a great start for the backcountry crossing. The plan had been to go through Rainbow Station to get to Picton for the final ferry segment. A back up plan was to go on the Molesworth Road, but that journey usually requires two nights camping out.

Advice at the information site in town was that two segments of the Rainbow Road were closed, so James' idea of starting on Molesworth and cutting across on the Tarndale link didn't seem so great any longer.

Since the stations we go through are working farms (but with Department of Conservation rangers patrolling) one is only meant to camp at designated locations. I believe that meant the first day could be either 29km or 89km. Not wanting to fall to hubris, we opted for the conservative approach which meant we could even have lunch in town.

Monteiths pasta lunch

Looking over the edge

I stopped several times going up Jack's pass. The gradient and gravel were demanding and I lost mobile phone coverage, ending my streaming of ABC Newsradio.

It was a bit chilly on the other side of the pass, but it would get a lot worse overnight. My sleeping bag was cold to the touch and I filled up my bowl with water just to see.

Frosty panniers

Also, check out the hut. The donation box is on the other side of the fence so financial help for its preservation/restoration is more difficult!

Dinner was pasta, salmon with bits of bone and pesto. The pasta did take a little longer to took. We also used a fair bit of fuel to treat the water. I had my wristwatch set to a three minute countdown, which is what I normally use for Aeropress coffee. It turned out to be the recommended boiling time  to treat the water, which was convenient.

Soggy Ride

2/2

I started the day with cottage pie, which was disgusting, and Aeropressed a coffee. It was wet outside and I bought a pair of dishwashing gloves from Countdown - being one of their first customers for the day.

I got going but also needed to take a dump. There weren't any public toilets in an obvious and convenient location in Rangiora so I pushed on. There was a good tailwind as forecast and it wasn't until Amberley that I took a break (and that shit).

The next part of the road was sketchy as it was a shared route with the main north-south highway, with plenty of articulated trucks kicking up road mist as they passed. Once off the shared route, traffic was bursty and could be avoided by letting it all pass while I pulled off to the side. Burstiness came from the roadworks that controlled the flow of traffic. This seems to be the regular way to fix up a road in NZ... close it down and only allow one direction at a time.

I don't remember much of the remainder of the ride as it was wet and cold. James mentioned he stopped in Waikara due to being blown off his bike and falling on his shoulder! Well today the winds were much better behaved. James joined at Waikara, but soon dropped me as I was riding double the distance.

We had a quick bite in Culverden.

While getting to Hanmer Springs, I was considering getting on a coach on the next day back to Christchurch and making my way home. At some stage during this trip I cycling with the load that I had tipped the experience into unenjoyable. I think some of it can be broken down into:

• extra mass, especially felt going up hills
• awful oscillation when out of the saddle
• long distances
• not enough energy at the end of each day to enjoy the destination

I also realised I had left my USB type-C cable back in Rangiora so I was unable to recharge my computer until reaching civilisation again.

It was also only after reaching Hanmer Springs that James sees the website notice that Rainbow Road is closed!

 

Culture and all that stuff day

1/2

James decides to set off towards Hanmer Springs. He called it at Waikara - about half way. The following day's winds are far more favourable for that direction.

I have a bit more yoghurt with all the probiotics and wait for a lift into town. The ride takes about half an hour and I catch up with a friend from Australia, who also happens to be travelling at the same time (the one that didn't quite sync up for Fox Glacier). We go with their friend (who is doing all the driving) to a cafe that serves curly fries by pneumatic tube. As they had a lunch and onwards engagement, I got to spend the rest of the day in Christchurch as planned.

Christchurch seemed particularly dusty and windy today. I sussed out the Canterbury museum and art gallery.

Real mature

Just you wait for the fidget spinners to land on the top of that midden

The bus station seems pretty modern with screen doors. Cooling wasn't working though.

I took the bus home and that ended up being a trip time of 77 minutes. It was delayed just getting out of Christchurch. The heatwave meant that the driver tried driving with the doors open, something that the girl in front of me made a short video to send to her brother.

It was full of high school students but I got back to Rangiora with enough time to spare.

I wanted to send home a few things.

Over trousers

Mitts

Countdown bag

Random other stuff.

I also bought some supplies for the next few days.

Reused church?

Dinner

Fleeing the storm

31/1

On this day, I got up a bit earlier and made myself an Aeropress coffee. I had resupplied with some 'Havana' beans from New World. We didn't quite make it on the road as early as I had hoped, but it was still a good start. Pulling into Bealey Hotel, we had breakfast there.

Bealey Hotel pancake, bacon, banana... something else breakfast

The sky is angry behind us

But not angry where we are going

We had a brief stop at Castle Hill, where part of Lord of the Rings was allegedly filmed. To me it was a bunch of rocks.

Rocks

People admiring rocks

I also catch up on some messages and the remaining 2/5 of my ciabatta.

We make good time to Porters Pass. Here is the descent. Brakes were applied to remain stationary at the top of the pass.

We roll into Springfield and have a chat with David. I won't mention his nationality, but there does seem to be a trend with almost every young traveller we meet! David has a pretty well beaten bike with the front rack broken and a few spokes missing in the back wheel. He was hoping to make it up Arthur's Pass, even hitchhiking, but with the storm coming in, I suggested ice cream at Darfield instead. He's done just about every significant road in NZ. He also mentioned some ridiculous scheme where the place that he bought his bike will refund him half the purchase price upon return of the bike in any condition.

People off their bicycles at the Springfield Donut

At this point James wanted to book accommodation at Oxford and for once I was the one saying to hold off. We bash our way with a kind of cross-tail wind until we get to Oxford and refuel at the supermarket. It was only 4PM at that time and I wanted to push onto Rangiora, for my own selfish reasons. But maybe I can be a Randian hero today.

So James then books some motel on his phone and we push 30km/h to Rangiora. The motel is quite reasonable but the room is hot. We go to Monteith's for dinner under advice from the motel operator.

$20 mains night

I decide to stay in Rangiora for another night and book the same motel for about $25 cheaper, because that's what I do.

Feijoa yoghurt