It's been a brilliant journey and a fantastic way to celebrate 50 years.
Thanks again to everybody who made it so much fun.
Special thanks to Shari for her understanding and patience. Turned out I wasn't just joking after all huh :-)
Cheers aye.
A COUPLE OF RANDOM THOUGHTS...
PPPPP
It’s true, but over-planning to the point of being inflexible leads to frustration when things (invariably) don’t go exactly to plan. Plan well, but remain open minded and flexible.
Research
It’s so easy to get good information these days. If you don’t know something, Google it. Or ask others, someone will know someone who knows what you need.
2 Degrees of separation
New Zealand is amazing for this, use it.
Accept help
People usually genuinely want to help, so accept it and enjoy it.
Don’t let other people’s fears, limits and negativity infiltrate your thinking.
If I had a dollar for every negative comment people gave me about why I couldn’t complete this adventure, I wouldn’t have to go back to work. They were all examples of why they thought they couldn’t do it, not why I couldn’t do it. I mean to say, one of the most common questions I got was “what if it rains”? My answer was “I get water on me”. I wanted to say “water isn’t poisonous, you don’t dissolve in it or anything, you just get wet, so what”.
One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor (thanks Paul Simon)
I had a great example of this in Naseby… most of the people using the Otago Central Rail Trail are ‘Baby Boomers’ and mostly female non-cyclists. They generally target about 15 to 20km for the day and ride for three to five days. Many of them struggle but achieve a great sense of satisfaction from making those distances each day. And good on them for getting out there and doing it. A lot of the people I met on the trail commented that they thought what I was doing was incredible and treated me as some sort of super-hero. A nice head swell but to put it in perspective… I was totally humbled that morning when chatting to a very ordinary looking English chap in the Naseby campground kitchen. The conversation went like this… Pom “Awright mate? You doin a bi’ a marntin bikin’ ararnd ere then”? Me “Nah mate, jist doing some cycle tooring, and jist passing through”, “Ah” goes the Pom “Oive jus come back frim doin’ a bi’ o’ tha’ meself, oi star’ed ovr in Por’land, Oregon and boiked across ti New Yoirk, then went ovr ti Oireland and dun tha’, then dun thi UK ‘n’ France, Spain, Portugal ‘n’ ended up in I’aly. Avrged abart two ‘undred ks a day. I wanna go ’cross Russia next if oi cin toolk thu missus innooit”.
Feeling just a little disheartened, I filled my water bottle and hastily retreated to tackle my mere 129 downhill km to Cromwell. Doh!
Top 10 things to do in NZ
(only includes things that I’ve done and not necessarily from this trip).
From North to South.
1) 90 Mile Beach - You gotta drive it, bike it, land yacht it, whatever, you just gotta do it.
2) Hug Tane Mahuta - Pay homage to the big guy while you still can.
2) Go sailing on the Hauraki Gulf - Get over the fact that it’s next to Auckland, just get out there and enjoy one of the nicest bodies of water in the world. Make sure you include a visit to Tiri Tiri Matangi. Or charter NZL 42...
3) Bike from Clevedon to Miranda for a hot swim. Kawakawa Bay and the Seabird Coast are Beautiful.
4) Do the local double… walk to the top of Mt Karangahake and on a clear day you’ll see as far as Mt Ruapehu. Then walk over to Orokawa and carry on over to Homunga. This track is stunning - but not for nanas.
5) Climb Mt Ngauruhoe - Breathtaking.
6) Visit Lake Waikaremoana - Do some walking and/or paddling and be sure to include the walk up to Lake Waikareiti.
7) Paddle Lake Tarawera - Stay overnight at Hot Water Beach and swim in the hot river. A true Kiwi experience.
8) Paddle The Whanganui River - Just do it, it’s unbelievable.
9) Drive (carefully) over the Akatarawas from Waikanae to Upper Hutt. Or better still do it on a motorcycle or if you really want to punish yourself, bike it.
10) Do Cook Strait on a really rough day just for a laugh but stay outside all the way and really feel the Cook Strait weather.
Ooops, that;s 10 just for the North Island - OK it’s a top 20...
11) Kayak or sail Abel Tasman - Simply superb.
12) Kayak or sail the Marlborough Sounds - As above.
13) Kayak and/or walk Lake Rotoiti from St Arnaud - kayak if you really want to feel isolated.
14) Bike the Rainbow Road - yep do it hard and earn your swim at Hanmer. Or take two days and camp somewhere along the way.
15) Spend some time on Christchurch’s Port Hills - Run, walk, bike or kayak in Lyttleton Harbour. It’s really, really cool.
15) Bike the Hakataramea Pass - Driving it’s for sissies (and American tourists). Get dropped off at Dog Kennel Corner and bike to Hakataramea Downs Station. It’s only 40km.
16) Naseby - Yep Naseby, it’s cool. Spend some time in the area and visit the Dansey’s Pass Hotel, check out the Otago Rail Trail and if you’re into mountain biking, Naseby is apparently the bomb, if not there’s always curling and they have a nice pub.
17) Nevis Pass - The big kahuna. If you do this by any means that’s not motorised it’s going to hurt! So maybe as with the Hakataramea, drive the painful bits and bike the rest. Camp overnight. You’ll need 4WD and even driving the road isn’t for the faint-hearted. A motorbike would be awesome.
18) Milford Track - There’s good reason for it being one of the world’s premier walks. Get over the commercialisation and get it done.
19) Drive Skipper’s Canyon - oh yeah, brilliant but absolutely definitely not for nancy boys.
20) The Shotover Jet - Just a good old adrenalin rush.
I know I’ve missed things, and I feel the need to go to Stewart Island to begin to complete the picture, but anyway this is an ‘off the top of my head brain dump’ of good times.
I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts so I can add them to my ‘to do list’ too.
GOOD GEAR
Specialised Epic Expert XC Race Bike - A sweet ride!
Maxxis slick tyres - Great on the road and surprisingly good on gravel.
Maxxis XC Race tyres - Perfect for the gravel and when pumped up hard, OK on the bitumen.
Eggbeater pedals - Great pedals, except they break.
Velo spongy seat - A butt saver.
Topeak top bar bag - For liquorice allsorts and ginger nuts at your finger tips.
Wing Mirror - You look like a plonker but they’re really, really good.
Bike computer - Maybe it’s just me, but I have to know how fast I’m going and how far I have left to go.
Navman - Handy little instrument for finding campgrounds and how far to get there.
Kathmandu Super Light tent - Very cool, very spacious, easy to erect and very light.
Kathmandu sleeping matt - Couldn’t be without it and it rolls up tiny.
Inflatable pillow - As above.
Torpedo 7 panniers - Don’t know if they’re water-proof like they claim because it didn’t rain! But they’re light and robust and still look like new.
Trailequip outboard motor covers - huh? Yep, they fit perfectly over the panniers and the hi-vis orange stands out like dog’s… who knows, they could have been a life saver?
Torpedo 7 bike pants - A comfy combo along with the velo seat cover.
Kathmandu backpack with bladder - Didn’t even know I had it on, even when full with water and tools and extra warm layers.
EeePC - Yep, I’m saying something good about a Windows computer. It took a fair pounding in the handle bar bag and never missed a beat. It hooked up to the www through my (lousy) Nokia E71 phone faultlessly and I think I can even say that Windows 7 isn’t too bad either. No, I’m not going to convert though.
iPods - What would we do without them?
Ear plugs - don’t travel without them.
AVERAGE GEAR
Kathmandu sleeping bag - probably not the bag’s fault but I could have done with a warmer one. But it’s really small and light.
The rear carrier - Good idea and mostly a great piece of kit but it broke twice due to poor design I reckon.
Philips front bag - The bag’s OK but the mounting bracket lets it down.
LOUSY GEAR
Spokes - Soon I'll have replaced all the standard spokes in my rear wheel and won’t have to worry about breaking them any more.
Pedals - I’ve now gone through four pairs of eggbeater pedals (all under warranty) but I’ll persevere because I like the design and when they aren’t broken they work fantastic.
THE NEXT ADVENTURE
I’ve been tossing around three ideas in my head over the last few weeks…
1) Sail Southern Mist from The Bay of Islands to Waihi Beach via the Hauraki Gulf and Great Barrier Island. The weather obviously plays a big role in a trip like this but I’d anticipate about two to three weeks. Any takers for crew?
2) Take the family and drive the same route down the South Island as I just rode, but ride the good bits and also add Stewart Island. Come back via the Catlins, Dunedin and Molesworth Station.
3) Get to all four compass point extremities of both islands by whatever means is appropriate.
In the meantime there’s the 2012 Coast to Coast to conquer… I better get training.
To be continued…
