CYCLING TO OZ
Friday, April 13th, 2007Greetings Mates…yes we arrived in Melbourne, Australia last Thursday(5-Apr) from Christchurch after ending our 3 1/2 week bike tour and brief 11-day sojourn with motorized transport exploring the South island of New Zealand. There is nothing more exciting than arriving in a foreign country for the first time and putting you bikes together in baggage claim, loading all your travel possessions for a year, rolling through customs, and heading out for an 18km ride across a large city without a map. Oh yeah, and at night too just to add to the fun. If you haven’t tried this, I highly recommend it as it will give you a whole new perspective on Airport travel as well as make you the conversation piece of customs and airport security. It is also an excellent way to test your marriage. We reckon about one in 100,000 travellers does this at most airports, with most settling for the more mundane taxis, buses, or Supper Shuttles. Where’s the adventure in that? Rolling away from an airport on bikes on roadways 100% NOT designed for bikes is so unique that most cars and taxis give you a wide berth, as people clearly relegate you to the category of “insane but on perhaps on parole”!
LAKE MATHESON REFLECTIONS – MT. TASMAN AND COOK IN THE CLOUDS
We had meant to print out some maps (or buy one) that our friends had emailed, but forget in our haste leaving Christchurch. Luckily, a random guy in customs handed us a city bike map for Melbourne which really helped us once we got closer to the city; however, outside this area were relying on some vague directions printed from the Cycle Victoria web site, but still only had to stop once to ask directions from locals. (Of course, a regular road map doesn’t help you as a cyclist much, since it may put you on a scary semi-highway, up massive hills, or run by a glass factory) So we frequently spent a few turns on the many roundabouts looking for a certain road. Of course one of the brilliant things about Roundabouts is that you can circle until you find your exit or at least review your options. Of course, yelling to Cheryl to turn across lanes of speeding traffic was not always successful, but we seemed to make it out of even the gnarliest double roundabouts (yikes), while always thinking “Stay Left, Stay Left, Stay Left!” There were some lovely four lane splits across tram tracks (which are everywhere in Melbourne) and a few construction nasty construction zones, but overall, I have to say the people of Melbourne were very kind to us on the road as we must of looked like confused ducklings trying to cross the rapids and they would always give us a wide berth (or nearly stop) and never honked! To our credit, we mostly rode in a predictable manner and were very well lit with loads of reflective clothing and gear. I emphasize the mostly.
BRAVE EXPLORERS OF THE FOX GLACIER, NZ
So on the New Zealand End, we rode to the Christchurch airport where we had a relatively easy time getting our bikes ready for the plane as Air New Zealand does not require boxing of bikes (thank you!) and we merely had to take off our pedals, loosen and turn the handlebars, and splice two baggage bags together to cover them (certainly not to protect the bikes, but to protect other luggage from grease according to Air NZ) Luckily as we were dropping off our rental car back in downtown Christchurch we stopped at the airport and left a duffel to lighten our cycle to the airport a bit and verified that they would have bags and tape at the airport, something I recommend prior to travelling with bikes no matter what they tell you on the phone! Oh yeah, and if you are going to travel the world with your bikes, business class really helps too, as they were very kind to us every step of the way. We also said goodbye to Robyn, our wonderful Servas host in Christchurch. She and her husband Alan had been so kind to us from our arrival to our departure 5 weeks later with great hospitality, food, and insight on NZ culture. We also got to know about their family and friends and day to day lives, as they couldn’t get rid of us so easily! Thanks again.
We had a brilliant cycle tour with our friends Mike and Nancy as we biked from Christchurch south to Dunedin, rode the Otago Central Rail Trail, and then head onto the Queenstown (when I last checked in with you) area and finally up the rugged West coast of the South Island.
A REST NEAR HOKITIKA ON THE WEST COAST OF NZ
Our 3 weeks of cycling was remarkably uneventful which is a good thing for bike touring as the wind, rain, and occasional double-long sheep trucks were enough to keep us all focused on our next good meal, some Monteith’s beer, and for Cheryl, of course, a bit of that tasty NZ Sauvingon Blanc. Most of all, it was a time for us to catch up with our great friends and reconnect with the world back home for awhile. And it appears we are all still friends, which is a very good thing. The West coast and glaciers were spectacular, and riding along in the thick and wet rainforest was quite surreal at times with the sounds of water and birds overwhelming the senses.
After a somewhat sad goodbye to Mike and Nancy, we decided that we would suave our sore butts for a bit and opted to rent a car for our last 11 days. We loved cycling in New Zealand, but having a car really gave us a chance to do some wonderful hiking, which is probably the Kiwis favorite past time, perhaps short of watching Rugby. We hiked the coast of Kaikoura, little-known “Sawcut Canyon”, a good day on the Queen Charlotte Track in Marlborough Sounds, and Mount Roberts and Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes NP. There is a lifetime of hiking in new Zealand and we only touched the surface, but it was really nice to have the time to enjoy each trail slowly and enjoy all of the amazingly different ecosystems that the little islands have.
As for Australia, we spent four great days in Melbourne staying with a former colleague of mine and her husband. They have a very peaceful new house in the Kensington neighborhood and graciously hosted us for the long Easter weekend. There is lots to talk about on Melboure, the Yarra Valley, and our trip here so far, but I’m going to wait to get some photos for the silly details. Right now, we’re in Beechworth, Victoria in the High Country area which is beautiful right now but quite dry due to the vicious drought they are experiencing all over Eastern Australia. We took the V-line train with our bikes and all our gear from Melbourne and have been riding the Rail Trail (Murray to the Mountains) and nearby roads for 5 days as a stop on our way to Sydney by train on Sunday. We are frantically looking for apartments in Sydney to call home for 3+ weeks to experience a stability and really get to know the other city by the Bay.
Stay Tuned for more on Hong Kong and other tidbits on the wonderful world of Oz.
Peace -R
rich.coffin