3 Months later...

So, it's been three months since I got back from my trip. After my last post, I was getting ready to go to Australia. I took a bus from the bottom of the north island to the top at Auckland. I met up with a friend in Auckland that I met a few weeks into my trip and he let me stay at his house, which was good because I was running out of money. He was a cool guy who had also done a few bike tours and had traveled to Japan and worked in Antarctica as well. I got to spend a few days in Auckland while waiting to leave for Australia, so I got to know the city a little better.

I was able to keep my bike and other equipment at his house while I spent a few days in Australia and he was able to give me a ride to the airport, which was a relief because I didn't want to take public transportation at 5:30 in the morning. My plane was to leave at 7:30 and I was cutting it close, getting there at 6:00. Now, getting to New Zealand, all I needed was my passport and when I got to the airport I got a visitor visa stamped in my passport. When I went to check in, the lady asked where my visa was for Australia... oops. It was getting close to 6:30 and I was trying not to have a panic attack, but she informed me that I could get one down the hall at a travel agent booth. So I went down there to find out that it was closed and didn't open until 9:00. I wandered up to some guy standing behind some booth, I don't know what for, and asked where I could get a visa. He asked for my passport and started typing something into the computer, then asked for $30 which I have him and 15 seconds later I had a visa. Apparently that's all you need to get into Australia, $30 and talk to some guy.

Anyways, I made it with a few minutes to spare and was off to the Gold Coast. As soon as I stepped off the plane I had to smile because the weather was perfect. It was sunny, mid-80s and not very humid, and it stayed that was for the time I was there. I got sent through customs again for some reason, apparently I look shady. I got picked up by Craig and Melissa and set off. There's no other way to describe the Gold Coast other than picturesque. The beaches are amazing, the weather is perfect and there was more yet to come.

In the five days I was there we did a lot more and saw a lot more than I thought we would. We went to the zoo first to see the animals that I wouldn't get to see in the wild: dingos, kangaroos and the weirdest thing I've seen, the cassowary, which is what seems to be a cross between an emu, a turkey, a bear and a corythosaurus which is that dinosaur with the crazy horn on its head.

We also went on a few 4wd tracks through the mountains and on the beach and even in the rain forest. We had lunch with some cheeky parrots that were taking people's french fries and cups of ranch. After four wheeling on the beach we set up camp on the beach after passing by several brush fires that no one seemed too interesting in taking care of.

Me and Craig ended up being too adventurous with an inflatable canoe and took it out in the ocean. It did fine for a few hours until we hit a huge wave coming back to shore and were capsized. The canoe was no more and that was it for the day. I was out for about two hours while using sun screen and still got a pretty bad sunburn. The sun is rather intense in Aussie.

It was great fun, but all good things must come to an end and I had to return home. First, I needed to go back to New Zealand to get my stuff and take my plane back to LA. I got back to Auckland, took a bus into town and then took a train to Greg's place to pick up my bike. Actually I took a train going in the opposite direction and had to get off, take a train back then take a train to Greg's place, whoops. He was busy for the next few days with work so I went to stay at a cheap hostel in town.

I spent the next few days planning how I would get from LA back to Illinois. I got back to LA and got picked up by my friend Shoko, who I stayed with my first time through LA. I stayed with them for a night and got on the train the next night for my two DAY long train ride back to Quincy... It wasn't too bad, I spent some time reading then slept for the night. The next day was pretty long. I woke up before sunrise and got to see the sunrise in Arizona which was awesome. The rest of the day was pretty long. I talked to a few people who were going from LA to Chicago and a few other places. One lady was from South Africa who flew into LA to see the New Moon premier as a part of a fan club and was heading to Colorado to stay with some other friends in the fan club. Needless to say, it was frightening.

The next morning I got picked up at the train station by my brother, who I've been living with in Quincy for the last few months. It's been somewhat uneventful. My older brother got married, there were some holidays, I got a temp job doing taxes but now I am wanting to move on. Let's see what happens now.

Day 76 - 77

It was a sunny and warm day leaving Kaikoura and it was fairly flat most of the day. There were nice views of the coast the whole day and little headwinds. Along the way there was a seal colony which was fun to watch, although I almost missed them. I was taking a picture of the coast when I saw something move and noticed there were about 20 seals blending in with the rocks. Perfectly situated between Kaikoura and Picton there is a hostel specifically for cycle tourists. It was also the night before the last day of my trip. Sounds like a trap to me! Thankfully it wasn't, it ended up being a really nice place to stay and I was actually able to get some sleep without constant noise all night. There was one other cyclist who showed up from Salida, CO who was cycling down to the south part of the island to do a marathon.

In the morning it started to rain a little but by the time I got packed up to leave it had dissipated. I was anxious to get to Picton and be done with the trip. It was fairly chilly and overcast until I passed over the last hills before returning to the coast when it suddenly cleared up and was nice for the rest of the day. I got my ferry ticket for Monday and am taking a train from Wellington to Auckland on Tuesday and on Thursday I'm going to Australia! I met a guy in Auckland who is going to let me keep my bike at his house while I am away. I did about 2600 miles in NZ between Aug. 25 and Nov. 8. Not bad concidering the rough terrain and even rougher weather. So that makes it about 5800 miles altogether, next stop, Australia!

Day 53 - 75

I woke up in Greymouth and it was still raining so I decided to stay an extra day. I was reading a book in the afternoon when my Swiss friends showed up and decided to camp at the hostel with me. I spent most of the day reading and walking on the beach looking for jade. I didn’t find any but it was fun and surprisingly relaxing as well.

It was overcast the next morning but I decided to test my luck and see how far I could get before it rained. I didn’t make it too far, about 40km south to Hokitika. I didn’t want to ride in the rain again and thought that doing 40km was better than nothing so I stopped at a motor camp. Most of the time when I stop early in the day, the day tends to drag on, but it didn’t. I spent more time at the beach and finished the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Another uneventful yet relaxing day, moving on.

I was getting tired of not making much progress so I decided that even if it rained I would continue on. The west coast is known for having lots of rain so I would just have to endure it. It was a little chilly in the morning and looked like it might rain but held off for a while. I got about 50km down the coast when I ran into a bad storm. The sky went from fairly clear to pitch black and it was pouring down rain. I had my rain gear on and was keeping fairly warm so I just kept on going. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, it started to hail, bah! Reluctantly I pulled over and asked someone if I could stand in their garage until the hail stopped and they ended up inviting me in for coffee. They were nice, they didn’t speak English very well but we just watched their kids running into the walls and jumping off of things. Eventually the rain let up and it stopped hailing and I took off. My rain gear and gloves that were wet got really cold sitting around so it was a lot worse than before I stopped so I stopped at the next town of Hari Hari. There was a campground there that was also a hotel/pub/restaurant. I got my tent and everything set up and of course once I do all of that, the sky instantly cleared up and it was nice and sunny the rest of the day. Oh well, I got some laundry done and watched all of the townies stumble out of the pub at 6pm.

It rained on and off all night and did the same in the morning. I started taking down my tent when the rain stopped and as soon as I got my rain cover off it started pouring. It really sucks having the inside of my tent wet, especially when there’s no real chance to dry it out. It rained on and off throughout the day, nothing too bad. Staying warm is the hardest part, I can’t stop to rest or I get really cold so I just have to keep biking. I also realized that I had entered into the rainforest. I honestly didn’t know there was a rainforest there but it doesn’t surprise me with all the rain I saw the past few days. I rode 60km and stopped at the Franz Joseph Glacier. I wanted to see the glacier and would have to wait for the weather to clear up for a bit. I got my tent set up and later that night it did clear up and was able to go out and see the glacier. It is a long walk to get to the base of it but I was able to see it from afar. On my way out there were 3 kea (parrots) walking around and I thought that was cool until they started chasing me around which was not cool.

Sleeping next to a glacier in a soaking wet tent is no fun and it got very cold over night. Thankfully it was a nice day with clear skies. After I thawed out, I headed toward the Fox Glacier over three steep hills which were pretty brutal but had some amazing views. I got to the road that headed up to the lookout point for the glacier and thought it would be an easy few kilometers to see it and turn back. It was only about 4km but it was up another steep hill that wasn’t paved in the middle of the rainforest and the view wasn’t even that great, bah! Still, it was worth it. After that the terrain was fairly tame and the weather was nice enough so I tried to make the most of it. I ended up doing 100km and getting to a DoC site at Lake Paringa. It was a nice place but there were sandflies everywhere. Sandflies are like mosquitoes but smaller and more annoying, so I stayed in my tent.

The weather of course didn’t last, it was raining again in the morning. Thankfully this was one of the very few days that the wind was on my side. I didn’t get far when the rain started to pour. It was about 50 degrees without the wind chill and after 30km I had to stop at a picnic area and get under a shelter. I don’t know if that was a good idea or not because I took off my shoes and gloves to try and dry them out and they were freezing cold after putting them back on, making the rest of the day worse. It’s good that it rained early in the day though, I was planning on doing a fair distance that day and if I had gone past the next town I would have been screwed. So, 20km after I took a break I was in Haast, the only town for 100km. I was planning on going to a DoC site about 50km past that but I’m glad I didn’t. So, it was a short day but at least I was making progress, and had a place to dry my clothes. Later that day, around 6pm I saw some familiar faces, the Swiss couple. They were out in the rain and were going to stay at Lake Paringa but it was flooded so they hitched a ride to Haast.

The next day was fairly nice which was good because I had to climb a very difficult pass that day. There is a rule I have followed since I got my first set of flat tires: If my tires aren’t flat, don’t touch them. Every time I check my tire pressure or pump them up or look at them funny something goes wrong. Since I was going over a difficult pass I wanted to have fully inflated tires, silly me. My rear tire had had a puncture in it for the last month. I noticed it had gotten a little bit bigger but not by much. However since the tire had fairly low pressure, it stayed small. The pass was 55km away and it was a fairly flat and scenic ride there, passing through the mountains and seeing lots of waterfalls. The first 3km of the pass climbs 300 meters which is pretty brutal. The next 10km I spent going down part of the mountain and back up at a steep grade. Along the way I noticed the rear tire was making a funny sound and eventually realized that the puncture was getting bigger and there was a bulge forming around it. I wasn’t concerned going up the mountain but at the top I was a little concerned about the tire exploding while going 50kmh. I tried to hitch a ride but there weren’t a whole lot of cars going by and I don’t like to hitch, especially when my bike was technically functional. So I just rode down the mountain. I made it safely to the bottom and 100 meters later there was a loud pop and my tire was done for. The tube poked through the puncture and popped. It wasn’t too late in the day and there was a campground nearby so I figured I’d try to hitch to the next town of Wanaka, about 80km away. I was fairly surprised to get picked up about 30 minutes later by a cool guy named Mike. It was lucky I got picked up, it was Thursday night and bike shops are closed Saturday and Sunday and that next Monday was a holiday so I would have had to wait until Tuesday to get a tire if I didn’t get to a bike shop the next day. I’m a little disappointed to have missed riding the way to Wanaka. The 80km there was just filled with amazing views of the mountains along side Lake Wanaka. I did get to see it though just didn’t get to take any pictures so I can’t be too upset. Mike was cool and dropped my off at a hostel, he was driving through on business so he didn’t mind taking his time and showing me around town first. I spent the night in the dorm which I hadn’t done in a while and I realized why I stay in a tent most of the time. I did get to see the movie “The Goonies” for the first time with a bunch of Germans.

I got a tire early the next morning. I realized I am running extremely low on money and hope that is the last repair I have to pay for on my bike. It was another clear day and I had to go over another mountain pass, the highest sealed road in New Zealand, the Crown Saddle. I didn’t expect to be climbing it the day after climbing the Haast pass, but I’m a badass so I just got it done. It was a steady climb ending with a few kilometers of steep grade but there was an amazing view at the top. I stayed in Arrowtown at the bottom of the pass and had a look around town. On the map of town there was a note that said “Lord of the Rings site” but didn’t say exactly where or what site it was. So I just kind of wandered around and tried to see if I recognized anything, which I didn’t. I had a look at my bank account and realized I’m real low on cash, so my budget went from $40NZ to $23NZ which isn’t a whole lot.

I was going to take a shortcut to Milford Sound, but the ferry was too expensive. I wasted a lot of time getting lost around Queenstown because I had to make new plans but ended up back on the right highway eventually. The views along side Lake Wakatipu made it worth changing the route. I stopped at the town of Kingston at the bottom of the lake which I kind of wish I hadn’t have done because it was a nice day and bad weather was coming.

The weather wasn’t too bad in the morning, overcast but I was getting tailwinds for the first part of the trip. I was going south but the wind changed to headwinds but after a few hours I was going to be going west. Of course, as I started going west, toward Fiordland, the winds changed and started blowing east and they were a lot stronger. I didn’t get rained on but I didn’t make it to Te Anau like I was hoping to, so I stopped in Mossburn, 60km east. There was a motor camp there that had peacocks and alpaca wandering around for some reason.

It was raining in the morning, but there was no wind and it wasn’t raining hard. It started out at 42 degrees and I figured it would either stop raining or get warmer as the day went on but of course it didn’t. It rained the whole way there and stayed at 42 degrees for the three and a half hour ride. I was in Te Anau though which was my last step before Milford Sound.

It was 120km to Milford Sound and it was a perfect day. The whole ride was amazing, I rode about 96km and got the bottom of the mountain pass going into Milford Sound and I was pretty exhausted and it was a pretty intense ride over the pass. I was advised by everyone I talked to not to bike any of the way to Milford. Before going up the pass there is a sign that says No Bikes and there is a tunnel that’s 1.2km long and barely two lanes. So, for all of those reasons I decided not to risk it and just hitch a ride over the pass. It took about an hour to get a ride and I’m surprised someone picked me up. A German girl named Lola picked me up. The ride through the pass was the best part of the ride to Milford so I decided I would at least ride out of Milford. It was pretty late when we got in and booked a cruise through the Sound.

The next day was raining and foggy so it was kind of hard to see but when it’s raining there are a lot more waterfalls. There were waterfalls everywhere but it was hard to see. We saw dolphins and seals during the cruise so it was worth it. It stopped raining enough that I could ride up the mountain pass and get a view of the pass while it was raining and there were hundreds more waterfalls. At dusk the fog started to clear and I got a good view of Mitre Peak and the rest of the sound. I took hundreds of pictures and it was by far the best part of my trip.

The next day was clear again and rode back up the mountain pass. The snow falls really low there and there was snow along the road. I didn’t want to ride through the tunnel so when I got to the top I tried to hitch but the only place where people could pull over is by a sign that says “Do not stop: Avalanche area” so no one would stop for some reason. While waiting there was a small avalanche close by, so I decided to hurry through the tunnel. The tunnel goes up at a 10% grade and it’s pitch black inside. I walked up holding a flashlight and it was pretty scary, it’s a very narrow tunnel and it was 1.2km long so it took a while. I don’t know exactly how cold it was inside but there were icicles everywhere so I assume it was below freezing. After getting out, I rode back down the pass to the place I hitched a few days before. I had already seen everything from Te Anau up to that point and it was cold and looked like rain and it was already 2pm. By that point I was kind of in a hurry to see as much as I could before heading back to Auckland to catch my plane to Australia so I hitched again back to Te Anau. I got picked up by a couple from Sweden who were at the same motor camp as me back in Charleston.

The next day was a brutal 90km south with strong southerly headwinds. It was very scenic though. The winds were really cold and I was feeling sick, probably from going through that tunnel. I stayed in a free campground at Clifden and went to sleep at 6pm.

I only did 15km to the next town so I could rest up, I didn’t feel well and I climbed the same steep mountain pass two days in a row so I was tired.

The winds were still strong southerlies but I got to the southern coast and started going east so it didn’t effect me as much. It took me a while to realize that I had made it from the top of the north island to the south of the south island. I bought a bus ticket from Invercargill to Christchurch two days from then so I stopped halfway in Riverton.

The ride to Invercargill was easy and stayed there overnight to wait for the bus. Nothing too interesting happened, another easy day.

After Christchurch, it’s 350km to Picton, then I’ll take the ferry to Wellington and take a bus from Wellington to Auckland. I got to Christchurch that night at 8pm. I made some friends at Nelson Lakes and I was going to stay with them. I looked up directions briefly on mapquest and thought I knew the way, but by the time I got there it was getting dark and started to rain just enough to make my glasses wet. Christchurch is a fairly large city and the second biggest in New Zealand. I wandered around for over a half hour in the dark trying to find their house. I had called but the line was busy. I finally got a hold of them and I was only a few blocks away, it’s a pain in the ass finding my way around the city on a bike with no lights.

I left going north and had strong headwinds all day. The winds were supposed to switch to southerlies later that day but never did. At least it was warm, I’m on the east coast now and further north. It is finally starting to feel like spring. This has been the coldest winter in New Zealand for the last 65 years so I’m glad to get some warm weather. Four days of cycling and 290km left to go and that’s the last part of my bike trip.

Since I had four days left and the weather was nice, I wanted to do as far as I could. However, after going 60km I stopped at a store to get food and found out that there was no place to camp for the next 70km. There was one place along the way that I was headed to but it closed down and I didn’t want to do a 130km day so I had to stop. Since I had most of the day left, I went to the beach which was 8km away and hoped to camp there. The beach, Gore Bay, was rather disappointing and there was only one campground there that wanted to charge $20 so I just went back to Cheviot, oh well. I got a cheap campsite in town and there was no one else there which was kind of nice.

I have had some bad experiences with roosters all throughout my trip and this morning was probably the worst. There was one right next to my tent that was crowing at 5am until I left at 10am. Every time I would chase it away it would come back a couple minutes later. I really wanted to kill that little bastard. Before leaving town I ran into someone who told me that there would be southerlies today and I would have an easy day of riding. I also want to kill that little bastard. I was going NNE along the coast and guess where the wind came from all day? That’s right, exactly NNE. I swear, if tomorrow I have headwinds I’m going to lose my shit. At least the scenery is great, I am currently in Kaikoura on the beach and am looking forward to getting to Picton. Two days of cycling left!

Peace!

Day 42 - 52

I spent two nights in Nelson. I don’t know why I spent the extra night, I was in a nice hostel and didn’t want to go back outside I guess. I picked up a sweater and some warmer gloves, so hopefully I can survive the cold weather that I’m headed into. My second night in Nelson I made some friends and for some reason decided that it was a good idea to start a game of monopoly at 11pm and drink boxed wine, what a horrible idea on both fronts.

I got to bed rather late and woke up with a boxed wine hangover, the worst kind of hangover. It was a nice day at least, sunny and warm. I headed along the coast to Mouteka which was a nice town. I went for a bike ride along a bike path by the beach which apparently was a mountain bike path. I got stuck in sand and cringed as I rode across the path which was filled with large stones with my steel framed bike. Other than that, it was nice and rather relaxing.

I was planning on going to Kaiteriteri beach the day before but the people at the information center convinced me to stay in Mouteka because it was supposed to be a long and hard ride. It was only about 12 kilometers away and it took less than an hour, but oh well. It is supposed to be one of the best beaches in New Zealand so I wanted to stay there for the night. It was a good thing I did because it started to rain pretty early in the day and I already had my tent set up so I was happy. It stopped for a little bit at night and I hung out at the beach by myself because everyone else had left because of the rain. The next morning I woke up and it was still raining so I decided to stay an extra day. Someone gave me a ride back to Mouteka to go to the grocery store because there was nothing in Kaiteriteri. By the time I got back all of the roads were flooded and my tent looked like it was about to be swept up. The owner came by and let me stay in a cabin for the night which was awesome, because I don’t like sleeping in a pool of water. So I took the day off, finished the second Lord of the Rings book and started the third. I painted a few pictures, then painted my ukulele because you can’t be a hippie unless you own an instrument that you painted yourself, it’s a law or something.

The next day was clear and the roads were no longer flooded. I later found out that most everywhere else on the south island it snowed, but since I was at the northern part on the coast, it just rained. I was headed inland, which meant a long slow climb up into the mountains. I had some strong and cold headwinds which is never fun on a constant climb. I got 60km and stopped at a nice little town in the mountains. All day there were amazing views of the snow tipped mountains and I camped out within view of them.

I was excited to get going because I was headed for Nelson Lakes, which I saw on the map but didn’t know anything about, but at the campsite last night I saw a picture of it and it looked awesome. Of course, since I wanted to get somewhere, the day went extremely slow. I got a flat tire shortly after leaving, which I just stuck a patch on, which makes two patches on my rear tube and one on my front. I put all of my crap back on the bike and took off and shortly after my bike came to a halt. One of the bungee cords snapped and got tangled up in my rear gears. I finally got all of that untangled and luckily I had a spare bungee cord. I put that on and about an hour later I went to put my jacket under the cords and that one broke too, ugh. So, the rest of the day my rear bag was just barely holding on with one cord. I was getting higher into the mountains so the hills were getting steeper and there was still a lot of cold headwinds. I finally made it to Nelson Lakes and it was the most amazing view all trip. It’s a big lake with snow tipped mountains that look like they’re coming out of the lake. It’s pretty cool and it makes me all the more excited to get down to the Milford Sound.

Next day I headed to Murchison, nothing too exciting. I was headed in a different direction but the winds hate me and changed directions accordingly so I couldn’t enjoy coming down from the mountains. It was a gradually descending ride but I had to pedal because of the strong headwinds.

Shortly after leaving Murchison, I stopped to take a break and some people came up to me and told me I had to hurry if I wanted to catch up with my friends. I was confused and they said that there were two more cyclists a few miles ahead of me. So, I took off and tried to catch up with them. About an hour later I ran into them while they were taking a break. It’s fun running into other cyclists but awkward sometimes. So few people do cycle touring so I feel excited to see other tourists, but then I realize we don’t have much to talk about. We kind of just look at each other’s bikes and say how long we’ve been out then leave. It’s also awkward because I can either follow them, or just randomly bump into them for the next couple of days. I chose the latter. They were a couple from Switzerland and as a rule foreign couples piss me off. They just whisper between each other whenever you’re around and you feel like you’re in the way by being there. Anyways, I ended up riding 100km to Westport and camped at a hostel. It is a small town famous for coal, complete with a museum dedicated to coal. I decided to pass on that.

I woke up and it was overcast. I spent a few hours deciding what to do, stay or head south along the coast and hope for the best. I eventually decided to leave because I’ve had plenty of days where I decide to stay somewhere and it clears up in the afternoon. On this occasion I made the wrong choice. Ten minutes after heading out it started raining. But I’m stubborn so I kept going. It kept raining harder and harder and I rode for an hour and a half before I found somewhere to stop. By that time I was soaked and just got a cabin for the night so I could dry out all of my stuff. A few hours later the couple from Switzerland showed up and they set up their tent. We didn’t really say much, I felt stupid for being in a cabin when they set up their tent, I don’t know why.

The weather changes quickly so it was a really nice out in the morning. There were a few big hills after Charleston, where I stayed for the night. After all of those climbs, there was a hill going down to the coast. There were a lot of really nice views, it reminded me of Big Sur in California. I stopped at the Pancake flats and met up with the Swiss couple and went on a walk around there, it was pretty cool, check out pictures on Facebook. The rest of the day I spent riding along the coast and ended up in Greymouth camped outside of a hostel. I went to get groceries and there were the Swiss couple again but I don’t think I’ll see them again since they’re taking tomorrow off. It’s nice to be inside using the internet but there’s this two French girls, one of which only talks in shouts and it makes me jump every time she says anything.

And that’s the last few days, I don’t get much time on the internet so I just type really fast, sorry if some things don’t make sense.

Day 30 - 41

I stayed in National Park Village from Tuesday to Friday and left Saturday morning. The weather was horrible all week. I tried to go out Friday morning to do some walks around the mountains but it was just too cold. It went from 20 Celsius to 10 and raining a half hour after I left the hostel. So, when the weather was nice on Saturday I just decided to leave and get out of the mountains.

A few hours after I left the weather was quickly changing for the worst so I stopped in Okahune. It was a nice ski resort type town with a lot of people walking around in their full skiing attire while holding their skis and talking about skiing. It was a nice town right by the mountains so of course it was best known for its giant carrot statue outside of town, obviously.

The next day was a bit nicer and there were nice views of the mountains all day. I headed for Taihape which is the only town on the way to Bulls that has a grocery store and a decent hostel. The hostel was up on the side of a steep hill so it was a bit of a rough climb getting my bike up there but it had a nice view and it was nice to be sleeping inside after sleeping in my tent the last week in the cold rain.

I headed to Bulls which was about 80 km away. Not a long way off, but the longest I'd ridden in a while, I've been slacking as far as distance goes lately. It was mostly downhill since I was halfway to the coast from the mountains. I was hoping it would be a nice relaxing day of riding. The weather was fairly nice in the morning, it was a little overcast, but still fairly warm. There was little wind and there were not many hills to climb. Then about 15km north of Bulls it just started pouring rain and the wind picked up and was hitting me head on. I was still out in the country and there was nothing to hide behind so I just figured I'd ride it out until I got to Bulls. The rain didn't let up and at one point it started to hail a little. It was pretty horrible and I was completely soaked. Luckily I got a cheap cabin with a heater in it and spent the rest of the day drying out my clothes.

From Bulls to Wellington is pretty much flat so I didn't have any troubles there, but the weather is still pretty bad. I was hoping to do 90 km but ended up doing 60 and ended up in Levin because it started raining AGAIN. I didn't want to have to dry out all of my clothes again so I just stopped for the day. I was able to trade in the books I had on me for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Gulliver's Travels so I can keep myself entertained despite the rain.

Because of the heavy traffic and lack of shoulder around Wellington, I decided to take a train into town. The train leaves from Paraparaumu which is 50km away from Levin. I was just outside of Paraparaumu when my bike started acting up again. My gears are getting worn down and the chain has been doing some funny things, like shifting randomly. This happens a lot and I just fix it by pedaling backwards until the chain moves back into place. This particular time, however, the chain didn't go back into place and when I looked down to see why, it was because the rear derailleur had completely disintegrated. I stopped and went back to look for pieces that might have fallen off (there were many) and see if I could fix it. It soon became clear that I did not know anything about derailleurs or how to fix them and I just had a handful of pieces and didn't know if that was all of them or not. I was going to try and hitch a ride to town but I was in a construction zone and there was no place that someone could pull over (I was riding behind the orange cones in the gravel). So I just kind of stood there thinking of what to do when a construction worker came up and asked if I needed a ride. So we shoved the busted up bike into the back of his truck and headed to town. I have a pretty good sense of direction when I am on my bike and pay attention. However, he dropped me off at the mall parking lot and I realized I wasn't paying attention to where I was and it was like being blindfolded and spun around. The sun was behind the clouds and I didn't know which direction I was going in. So I just started pushing my bike around town looking for a place to camp or a bike shop. After several hours and many wrong directions from random people, I ended up at a motor camp and decided what to do.

I was contemplating if I should just scrap the bike and start taking the bus but I don't think I could afford that. I took it to the bike shop the next day to see if they could just fix the part or find a used part or something. The rear derailleur is a pretty expensive piece and had the potential to throw me way off budget for the rest of my trip. I brought in the broken down, rusted up bike and a handful of pieces and asked if it could be fixed. I ended up getting the bike back that day with a new derailleur and they gave me a good price after I told them I've been on the road for the last three and a half months. I was relieved and even more relieved that nothing else on the bike was broken. When the derailleur went out, the chain went into the spokes and made a horrible noise and thought it might have broken a few spokes or something.

Ahh, anyways, with all of that fixed, I took the train the next day into Wellington. It is at the very bottom of the north island and I needed to get a ferry to the south island. I had no idea how long it would take to get a ticket for the ferry or even where the ferry was. I thought I would have to spend the next few nights in Wellington and book a ticket for the ferry. However, I got off of the train and there was the dock for the ferry right there. I got off the train at noon and had a ticket for the one o'clock ferry a few minutes later. The ferry ride was pretty awesome. It rode right through the Malborough Sounds. However, it was fairly cloudy and extremely windy up on deck. I got into Picton that night and wandered around, enjoying the scenery.

The next day was beautiful. It was sunny and warm and clear skies so I could see the Sounds a lot better. I was planning on going south along the east coast but started biking along the coast of the Sounds going northwest and ended up at a campground on the beach. I spent the rest of the day reading and enjoying the nice weather.

The weather was supposed to be nice again, but when I woke up it was cold and cloudy. So right now I'm in Havelock, deciding what to do. It's fairly cold here on the south island and it probably won't be warm for a while. I'm probably going to try and make it to Nelson in the next day or so and pick up some warmer clothes. After that, I don't know yet, I am running low on money which limits my options. I'm thinking of cutting my trip short by a few weeks, but I'm going to wait and see if the weather changes. It's been cold and wet for the last few weeks and it's starting to get a little old.

Day 27 - 29

Day 27: After leaving Taupo, the road climbs gradually to Tongariro National park which is about 100km away. I’m getting pretty worn down as far as biking goes so I split it up into a two day ride. I stopped halfway at Turangi after a beautiful day’s ride. The skies were clear but since I’m inland now and getting into the mountains, it’s getting colder. The wind chill was around 50 degrees while isn’t great to bike in since I don’t really have cold weather clothes. It’s a lot nicer once I got out of the wind and set up camp. The visibility was great all day which was fortunate because there were a lot of great views of the mountains and Lake Taupo.

Day 28: There is a 6 km climb shortly after Turangi which I could have avoided but enjoyed doing in a way. There were some nice views and going slowly up the hill meant less wind so I was a lot warmer. I miss the hot days, I don’t care for 60 degree weather, I’d rather it be 100 but I don’t think that’ll happen in New Zealand. It should start getting warmer though which I’m looking forward to. The rest of the day was full of climbs but at the end of the day I was at the top which means the next days of riding will be mostly downhill. I took a detour off of the main road because it was still early in the day and there was a sign for the Chateau Tongariro which sounded like something worth checking out. It was 6 km of climbing since it was going directly towards Mt. Ruapehu. The Chateau ended up just being a hotel which pissed me off because that was the only reason I went up. The ride down was easy at least and I set up camp at a DoC site which is always cool because they’re cheap. Plus, I don’t really get to camp out in the open often, I’ve mostly been staying in motor camps and hostels because of the cold. Before the sun went down, the sky got dark with storm clouds and it did get very cold, dropping below freezing.

Day 29: I woke up and it was in the mid forties and raining. I didn’t want to stay at the DoC site but I wanted to stick around the national park so I could do some of the walks around the mountains so I headed to the National Park Village just 6 km away. It was a pretty brutal and I’m glad I only went the 6 km because there were heavy strong winds and the rain felt like ice on my hands. I set up my tent at a hostel and I plan on sticking around for a few days until the weather clears up and I can go for some walks. The weather is shitty and I need a break from biking so it’s a good time to take a few days off.

Day 22 - 26

Day 22 - I got into Matamata early in the day and took the noon tour of Hobbiton, the set for the Lord of the Rings. On the tour bus there were three women bitching the entire time about their plane seats being uncomfortable and how they were going to complain. Then they were complaining about walking maybe one kilometer and that they just wanted to get a hotel and crash for the day, at two in the afternoon. Other than that, it was pretty fun. I got a lot of pictures and I feel like a giant nerd. After that it was pretty late and there was more I wanted to see so I stayed for an extra day.

Day 23 - I went to the Wairere falls early in the day which was really beautiful. Then I spent the rest of the day in the hot springs pool reading "The Hobbit" which I picked up a few days ago. I finished the book and painted a picture, realizing that it was the 10th picture I've painted this trip. I picked up some paint, brushes and a pad of canvas with 10 sheets which has kept me busy on days with lots of downtime. While I had my paint out, I painted eyes on the back of my helmet because I've been being attacked by magpies. I don't know if that actually keeps them off of me, but it looks funny.

Day 24 - I was planning on going to Rotorua, but at the intersection to go east, I decided to go south instead to Taupo. I really want to check out Tongariro National Park and there was nothing I really wanted to see in Rotorua. I got a flat tire near Tokoroa so I stopped there for the day. It is supposed to be a self sealing tire so I figured if I stopped and let it sit overnight it would seal up. I stopped in a parking lot to look at my map and someone drove up to ask if I needed help. He was a teacher at the high school and said I could just camp in his yard because the motor camp in town is really bad. I hung out with him and his wife for the day. I made some pretty amazing hamburgers and read short stories by Steinbeck, weird day.

Day 25 - In the morning my tire was not sealed. The goo inside was coming through the hole but I think the puncture was too big. I put in a new tube, but it's only the first flat I've had so far so I'm not complaining. I've gone over a thousand miles now and I'm really hoping my bike holds together. The weather was amazing all day and there is a hill to climb right before town. At the very top there is an amazing view of Lake Taupo which is the big blue spot in the middle of the north island. Over the lake you can see the mountains of the national park, it's a really nice view. I headed into town and stayed in a hostel for the night because it was only three dollars more than camping at the motor camp in town. I passed a lot of things coming into town and wanted to rest so I am going to stay an extra day in Taupo and go out tomorrow and explore. I met some cool people in the hostel and I went out to a few bars and clubs. It was pretty fun but I couldn't buy beer in the last club without a passport so I just left.

Day 26 - I woke up too early and feel drowsy. I went out hoping to check out the waterfall but it was raining so I'll do it later today. I'm glad to be inside though, I might stay an extra night because I heard the weather is bad in the National Park at the moment. We'll see.