New Zealand

16/03/08
Hello again, and welcome to another chapter of InactiveSteve’s adventures. It’s now been a full day since my cycle journey ended, but I’m still trying to fill my days with exciting things to do. Today’s post is all about a day trip that I made out to the beautiful Banks Peninsula, and more specifically, the town of Akaroa, one of the only places in the world where the French and the English lived peacefully side by side in the days gone by. There is a history of settlement there by both nations, and the little town the remains there is a very picturesque and charming area, well worth the visit I reckon. The weather wasn’t perfect for my day trip, but at least it wasn’t pouring rain. I sort of wish I’d been able to spend a night there as well, and see the area in better weather, but at least I got to stroll around for a few hours, have a good meal, and sample some tasty cheeses later in the day. As a result of two days worth of accumulated hangover, it was a very low-key day for me, but you can still check out my map and the pics from the ensuing day. Read on and enjoy, friends.

15/03/08
Howdy all! Hope you are all having a great day. I’ve been having a blast since I got off the bike in Christchurch. I immediately set off to book some day trips to get to some spots that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to see while on my train trip heading back up north. The first such tour that I booked was a Backpacker Tour of Hanmer Springs with an outfit called Way Out Tours. They only set up shop this year, and they’re targetting the younger demographic, by enticing us with the offer of Beer School. It was to be their last tour of the season, so expectations were high. Of course, to get the tour started, I had to actually make it out of bed, which proved to be a bit of a challenge, given that I actually didn’t get to sleep until somewhere around 4am! Bars stay open pretty late, and we had ended up at a club called Fat Eddie’s, where the ‘Batmen’ were laying some excellent tunes down. However, since I’d paid for the tour, I forced myself out of bed at 7am to get ready. A quick shower helped as well. Check out the map, and read on for the full details of my adventurous Hanmer Springs Hangover Tour trip.

14/03/08
Well, after over 4200km on the road, pedaling my little heart out, it’s over. I’ve also managed to realize another one of my dreams, which is to spend the night in jail. In fact, it looks like I’ll be spending 4 nights in jail in total for the crimes I’ve committed! Crimes you ask? Okay, I suppose I didn’t commit any real crimes, in fact, I’m paying to stay in jail. Yup, that’s right, I’m writing this blog post from my own cell at the Addington Jailhouse. This building functioned as a prison until the 1990’s, but is now a hostel. I booked it a few days ago to make sure they’d have room for me, as it is a pretty popular place now. In fact, they got 1st place for a BBH hostel this size in NZ, and were also awarded 2nd overall for all hostels in Oceania! Pretty impressive eh? And yes, it really looks like a jail, although a little more pleasant. They preserved one of the old cells as it was for comparison. I’m duly impressed, and happy to end off my cycling tour here. I booked one of the nicer rooms, a 4-bed share room, no bunks, which is double sized. For the rest of the details, please read on and check out the map.

13/03/08
Hello folks, I’m coming to you live from Springfield, NZ at the moment. I haven’t located the Kwik-E-Mart or Moe’s Tavern yet, but I plan to do some exploration after this post just to make sure they aren’t here somewhere hiding. I must admit, I had no idea where I was going to lay my head down tonight, but as it turns out, I think I made the best decision in the end. So why Springfield? After all, it’s not even close to being on my route, and I had to bike uphill to get there. Well, there are a couple good reasons, first, I can say I stayed in Springfield. But secondly, and most importantly for me, it’s 10km from Sheffield. I remembered someone telling me some time ago that Sheffield has the best pies in NZ, and what better way to spend my last meal on the road then eating the best pies in NZ while rolling downhill all the way to Christchurch on a scenic route? I couldn’t think of any either, and that’s why I’m in Springfield. Another option was Darfield, but I’ve since found out that the backpackers accommodations I’d read about no longer exist anyway, so I would’ve been out of luck. Anywho, read on for the rest of my story, and check out the map too.

12/03/08
Hi everyone… I’m back… again! Will I never stop posting and boring you with my stories from the road? Well, in a couple weeks, I suppose the answer will be yes, but for now, there are still a few more things to tell you about, since I’m still biking. I’m well over 4000km into this crazy journey now, for those of you who may be wondering. When I’m done, I’m hoping to be able to put together a ‘super map’ of all my NZ biking, along with a slew of interesting (boring) facts about my cycling. I know Haggerty is already salivating at the thought, but it’ll take quite a bit of work to put it all together. Stay tuned. However, in the meantime, I present to you today’s trip, a leisurely 80km ride from Geraldine to the town of Methven. Methven? Yup, I knew nothing about it either, but it’s quite a place, let me tell you. Check out the map and read on for all the details of this little ride.