New Zealand

26/02/08
Good day to you all. Welcome to the Southernmost chapter in my Aotearoa Adventures. That’s New Zealand to most of you 🙂 Today I would like to tell you a little bit about my journey by car and boat to Steward Island, the Island off the south coast of the south island from Bluff. Yup, my main goal of this trip was to get all the way from the far north of New Zealand to the far south, and you can’t get much further than actually leaving the main island and getting onto one of the other smaller islands off the coast. Granted, there are islands much further south, but this was really the best I could do. Things got off to a bit of a shaky start for various reasons for the day, but eventually everything worked out, which it always seems to if you just relax and go with the flow. Check out my map, pictures, and of course read on for the gory details. Or at least some of the details. I’m going to try to be brief, as I find myself again 3 posts behind, which sucks when you’re me 🙂

25/02/08
Hi gang. I bet you’re all wondering what I’ve been up to, aren’t you? Well, the truth is, today was very quiet for me indeed. So why was I so inactive? Well, the title of the post should pretty much give you a clue. It was windier than I could have ever imagined this day in Invercargill. Yesterday’s winds were repeated again, and that pretty much put the kibosh on any plans I might have been formulating to go to Stewart Island. Actually, there are a few reasons for me sticking around. Firstly, I’m tired, okay? Secondly, I was getting caught up on my domestic chores. Also, I had planned to leave for Bluff later in the day, but then decided that didn’t make any sense. Accomodations were fully booked in Bluff and on Stewart Island, which meant I would have had to camp, and rain was definitely going to happen soon. Plus, I figured, why pay for a night down there, when I can just hitch down to Bluff for my Stewart Island day? After all, it’s only 27km between the two. I could get up, and still make the first ferry, then catch the last ferry back and sleep in Invercargill au gratis both nights! That’s really what clinched it for me. Anyway, read on for a little about my restful day. There’s a map, but it’s pretty dull, oh and there are also some pictures over on Flickr.

24/02/08
Well kids, things can really change overnight around here. Yesterday, the riding was seemingly easy, with great weather and good wind. I was in very high spirits for the evening, and decided to stay up a while and have a few beers with all the motorcross people. After all, they were going to be up late and making noise, so there wasn’t much sense in trying to go to sleep early anyway. I also figured that the next day would be a pretty easy day, as I was only heading a little over 85km, and the trip was supposedly pretty much downhill. That meant I could have a somewhat lazy morning, and not have to be on the road right away. However, to add to the issues related to staying up late drinking beers, it also started pouring while we were still all outside on the front deck. Not nice. Luckily, I had the foresight to put my bike, trailer, and most of my gear under a protective roof so that it was kept nice and dry. Anyway, read on, check out the map, pictures, etc.

23/02/08
Welcome back to my world folks. Well, another day is in the bag, but I’m feeling great today! The ride from Te Anau to Tuatapere was over 100km, but I was happy the entire way today. The road was generally downhill, and there was a nice tailwind for most of the ride. I can’t stress enough just how nice that is. There was only one hill of any concern, a 200m climb called Jericho Hill. Apart from that, it was just undulating terrain the whole way. My little map is up and awaiting your inspection. along with some shots for the day. Overall, I didn’t take too many pictures, as the scenery was generally not that remarkable. It was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary or really different from what I’ve been seeing for a lot of the trip. Farmland and rolling fields with sheep and cows. Yippee. Read on for a little more detail on this great riding day.

22/02/08
Hello all, and welcome to another chapter in my ongoing adventures. This day’s story is brought to you by the word Fiord, and not Sound. More on that in a little bit. Essentially, this was another rest day. Not that I necessarily needed it, but simply because I’m in Te Anau, and this is where the only road that heads out to Milford Sound starts and finishes, and I wasn’t going to come all the way to New Zealand without checking out the world famous Milford Sound! As such, I had booked a coach and cruise trip while I was still in Queenstown a few days ago. This was a bit of a gamble, since I didn’t know what the weather would be doing, but things worked out just fine, as you’ll find out if you read on. As per usual, and I’m sure I don’t even need to mention it anymore, you can check out the map I put together for the day, as well as hopefully some pictures that I’ll try to get up on Flickr. Read on, mates!