This picture shows the C141 we flew north in from Antarctica. When we left "the ice" it was freezing and windy. When we landed, it was drizzling and we saw our first darkness in four months.
We have transitioned from a snowy Antarctica to lush and friendly New Zealand. This message describes our bicycle trip through New Zealand.
On February 17 we flew from McMurdo to Christchurch. The next day we reorganized and prepared for the trip through the north of the South Island. We chose this part of New Zealand for its scenic beauty and general lack of rain. It was also an area that Jean barely visited during her previous trip to New Zealand. In one day we rented bicycles, sorted through our luggage, applied for visa extensions and took care of a myriad of other details.
This picture shows the C141 we flew north in from Antarctica. When we left "the ice" it was freezing and windy. When we landed, it was drizzling and we saw our first darkness in four months.
After our day of organizing, we started the next morning on the first 81-mile leg to a town called Hamner Springs. By midday the clouds had cleared and we were riding in short sleeves. By evening, we were sunburned. Apparently, the ozone hole extends to New Zealand resulting in some of the most intense ultraviolet radiation anywhere. This old hotel was about halfway to Hamner Springs and seemed to be a favorite of the "motorbiker" crowd.
The next day we rode another 59 miles over a 3000-foot pass to a town so small there was one person servicing the restaurant/snack bar/motel and another one to handle the gas station. These were the only commercial facilities on this entire stretch of road. New Zealand has a population of less than four million. Most of these people live on the north part of the North Island. The South Island has about a million people, few of whom live outside the main cities. This photo shows the "backpacker" accommodations we stayed in that night.
By our third day on the road, we were so tired and sunburned that we decided to take the bus for 53 miles to Murcheson, the next town. When we arrived, we found that Murcheson didn't have much either, but at least it offered a choice of accommodations and we settled for hotel at NZ$40/night. This equates to about $20 US and was the lowest-priced accommodations we had on the trip. Going to New Zealand is like going back in time, as you can see from this photo. Not all cars on the road were quite this old, but the little store and tearoom with its pink signs is the typical roadside rest stop and convenience store. Murcheson also had a true "general store" that sold everything from hardware to breakfast cereal.
The next day, we cycled 80 miles to a town called Motueka. This town is at the south end of Abel Tasman National Park and the furthest north that we cycled. We stayed in the same bed and breakfast for two nights. From there we organized a day of hiking along the coastal rain forest. This photo shows where the boat dropped us to start our hike.
This photo shows some of the beaches we passed as we hiked along the coast. We were lucky in having a perfectly sunny day for this walk. It would have been a bit more difficult if the trail had been muddy.
There are plenty of choices for transport through the National Park. The people in this photo had rented kayaks and were using these to go along the coast.
From Motueka, we cycled thirty miles to Nelson, the largest town on the north part of the South Island. This was the first town we encountered that had cinemas, so we saw "American Beauty" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley." We were also able to find an internet café for sending emails. Nelson is a pleasant town to relax in for a couple of days. It is the center of the New Zealand fishing industry and is surrounded by a fruit-growing region. We stayed there for two nights before cycling 68 miles to Picton.
One of the advantages of cycling is that you get to see the country. In addition to sheep (that ran when they saw us) and cows (that stared when they saw us), we encountered many decorated mail boxes. Here are two examples.
The last part of the ride from Nelson to Picton follows the coast in an area called the Queen Charlotte Sound. This is an area of bays surrounded by hills that one can spend a whole vacation exploring. There are mailboats that go to various isolated hamlets. It is possible to hike from hamlet to hamlet and stay in various isolated bed and breakfasts along the way.
Picton is at the base of the Queen Charlotte Sound and is the terminus for the ferries to Wellington, on the North Island. The afternoon when we arrived, there was what looked like a muslim "picnic in the park" with people who had made a day trip from Wellington. After the ferry left, the park looked more idyllic, like this.
Since we hadn't used any of our spare days for emergencies, we decided that we had time to leave the bikes in Picton and take the ferry to Wellington for two days. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and therefore quite cosmopolitan. You can get the New York Times there, for example, but it comes a week late. The city has a reputation for being windy and many provisions have been made to accommodate the wind. For example, all of the trash cans are bolted down so they can't blow away. We were lucky that the wind blew only one of the days we were there. While in Wellington, we visited Te Papa (the national museum), toured the parliament, and went to two lunchtime concerts. New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote. It currently has a woman prime minister. The leader of the opposition party is a woman, as is the head of the New Zealand supreme court.
We should point out that New Zealand is also a highly civilized society where children learn their manners. In this photo you can see a group of schoolchildren who had just gotten off the bus and wanted to use the observation binoculars. Without prompting these kids immediately formed a queue and waited patiently while the first child discovered the binoculars didn't work. Also notice how these children have floppy hats and lots of covering for the intense solar rays.
After returning to Picton, spending the night and picking up our bicycles, we set off southward to Blenheim, which is in the middle of the Marlborough wine region. Montana, the best-known New Zealand wine comes from this region. We stayed in the "Close-in Bed and Breakfast" where Warren and Sylvia Minogue (close-in@xtra.co.nz) took good care of us.
The ride from Picton to Blenheim was only 18 miles, giving us most of the day to explore the area, watch the Americas Cup
races and do laundry.
From Blenheim, we mounted our bicycles to ride to Kaikoura, 81 miles to the south. We had specifically chosen to ride this stretch from north to south because we had heard that the winds can be fierce and generally come from the north. When we started the air was calm. As we rode the headwinds got stronger. By the time we had ridden twenty miles the headwinds had become so fierce it became impossible to make forward progress. Having discussed the alternatives, we decided to try hitchhiking. We were willing to ride in anything, including a sheep truck to get to Kaikoura. Fortunately, we were picked up by Sturrock Saunders, a young car saleman in a pickup truck who had previously cycled in Africa for his OE (Overseas Experience). Since New Zealand is a small and remote country, a tradition has developed that young people take 1-2 years off after finishing school and before starting a career. During this time, they work and/or travel overseas. When they get back, they have a greater international understanding and a greater appreciation for New Zealand.
By the time Sturrock dropped us off in Kaikoura, most of the wind had stopped. It was beautifully sunny. This is the view of the area from the bed and breakfast we stayed in for the next two nights.
The town of Havelock, near Picton, is known as the green mussel capital of the world. During our ride to Kaikoura, Sturrock recommended this restaurant because some of his friends had started the original one in Havelock and were now franchising. We had mussels with various sauces, dessert and wine. It was a feast.
Kaikoura is one of the best places for eco-tourism. About fifteen years ago, they started whale-watching cruises from here. Then someone came up with the idea of taking people to swim with the dolphins. Now, you can also kayak with the dolphins, swim with the seals, swim with the sharks, see the albatross, etc. We chose to do none of these things. Instead, we rode and hiked around this peninsula.
From Kaikoura to Christchurch is 117 miles (190 km) with not to much in the way of towns to stop in between. We decided to ride this all in one day. In ensure we had the energy for this, we ate a giant thick-crust pizza the night before. The next morning at 6:00 AM, we ate a big breakfast, loaded up five quarts of water and started off. During our ride in the morning we ate fruit, fruit bars and other energy snacks. The day got quite hot and we had some stretches with headwinds. For lunch, we stopped, had sandwiches, a couple of milk shakes and refilled our water bottles, which we had completely emptied by that time. We arrived into Christchurch at about 6:00 PM having ridden the most miles we'd ever done in a day.
We are now spending a couple of days in Christchurch and a couple of days in Honolulu before going home. During our unwinding days, we took a tour to Akaroa, a small picturesque village with a harbor about two hours by bus from Christchurch.
Here is another picture we took in Akaroa.
We hope that you've enjoyed touring with us to Antarctica and New Zealand. We will be back in Colorado from March 10 to March 31. After that, we plan to go to Europe for a while.
We hope to see many of you in the weeks and months ahead and hope to get your feedback on these emails and our website. We might make more trips like this and would like to find out what you liked and didn't like about our reports so we can do better next time.
Best regards, Jean and Bert
This page was last updated on \04/20/00.