Daily archives: March 24, 2008

23/03/08
No, that’s not a typo in my title. I mean to spell it like that. Why? Well, because I spent the better part of today in the Luckie Strike cave system on a caving expedition being led mostly by me! Of course, if you’ve been following along in my stories, you were already aware that I had planned on caving today, so this will come as no surprise to you. If you haven’t been following along, well then shame on you 🙂 After a good night of sleep at the Kiwitown Holiday Park, I was picked up my Emma from Absolute Adventures and whisked off to their cave system for a day of fun. From there, it was back to the train station for the final leg of my journey back to Auckland, and where I started my grand bike tour over three months ago. It was a bittersweet moment, and had some sense of finality to it. To read more about the caving and the final trip to Auckland, read on. Sorry, no maps of course, as the GPS remains dead. [No blog picture until I convert the pics from CD to my USB key, probably not till I get home]

22/03/08
Good morning all. I’m blogging to you from the rails between Wellington and Otorohanga. That will be my destination on the day, as tomorrow, I’m gong caving all day in that region, and luckily, the train line stops pretty close to where I need to be. It’s the second last day of my trip, and the skies are overcast, with rain looking likely at some point. Too bad I’m camping tonight, isn’t it? Luckily, tomorrow night, I’ll be back in Auckland, so I’ll be able to dry the tent out and anything else if need be. Most of the scenery I’m passing through today is a repeat for me, so it’s unlikely that I’ll take too many pictures, although I do have to find a suitable one to go with this post, so I’ll see what I can do over the next 9 hours. Yup, that’s how long I’ll be on the silver tracks today. It’s a pretty significant chunk of the trip back to Auckland. Tomorrow I’ll be left with a mere 3 hour journey to the heart of Auckland. Read on for a few more thoughts on this ‘training’ day. Hee hee, ‘training’. Get it? Clever, don’t you think?

21/03/08
Howdy folks. Welcome back. Today sadly marked my departure from New Zealand’s South Island, on my return journey to Auckland, and ultimately my leaving of Aotearoa, after an awesome three and a half months. In order to make it a little more symbolic, I chose to ride my way off the island. I stayed in Blenheim last night, which is about 30km from Picton, where the ferry terminal is. My plan was to get up, cycle into Blenheim first to see that a little bit, then make the final journey up to the ferry terminal in Picton. I had an awesome night’s sleep at Ann and Murrays, and was up the next morning and sitting at the breakfast table with them by 8am. Of course, it was also Good Friday, which meant that most shops would be closed, so it was a good thing I ate with them, because finding a pie might have been tough :-). Read on for a little more info on my final day on the South Island. No really big stories, just a short narrative.