cara

the bike trip

WOW! i can't believe i am actually getting caught up.....here is the exciting details from CARA's FIRST EVER BIKE TOUR EXPERIENCE.....

Yes it's true this was the first time in my life that I had ventured off for more than a one day ride (the Gulf Islands). Like the saying goes, "there is no going back..." I have so many inspiring friends who have ridden far and wide, and are so committed to riding the distance. Honourable mentions: (1) Donald & his Chopper Truck (?) - he rode from Vancouver to Portland OR, on chopper with trailer. (2) Jane & Rusl - rode from Vancouver to Portland (same event as Donald), &&& they they rode thru Europe last year. (3) Donald & Barnett rode Vancouver to Seattle with choppers. You all Rock!!!!

Hey Everyone,

So when we last left off, I had abandoned the car and was setting off on my bike.......with a wave from my Granny and a "be safe" I hit the road with loaded panniers.

THE TRIP MAP:
THERE -- Motueka to Murchison (130km), Murchison to Westport (95km), Westport to Punakaiki (58km), AND BACK -- Punakaiki to Inangahua (roughly 100km)

MOTUEKA TO MURCHISON
So I set off rom Motueka to ride to Murchison. It felt so good to be on the bike after being envious of all the bikers I saw while in the evil car. Riding really is the best ever. You get to have the glorious air rushing over your body, filling your lungs. You get to fell your muscles working and you get to look around at everything (except when farm trucks are passing you).

The first days ride was a long one, it took me roughly 8 hours to get from Motueka to Murchison. In hindsight I would not have ridden that far on my first day. Duh! I was very sore and tired by the time I rolled into the Lazy Cow hostel. But live, experience, and learn (for next time).

Funny Story -- as i was riding along, what seemed the middle of nowhere i passed a group of people yapping by a barn. One of the women yelled out to me, "wanna come to the party with us sweet heart?" At this point I was about 2+ hours off Murchison and I actually considered it, as I was getting weary, but I was in what I thought was 'hicksville' and figured I should ride on. And I was wondering what party she was even talking about.....I waved and kept riding. The she yelled, "you won't make it to Murch before dark", and I worried for a minute, did some calculations and ignored this warning. Ride on....it occured to me that it was Waitungi Day (National Treaty signing holiday)...that was the party.....I rode one.......ABout 45 minutes up the road I passed the party, Alien Nation, a big rave in the middle of nowhere. From what I could see from the road it looked good. I chatted with a few folk on the road and rode on. If I wasn't so looking forward to a hot shower, food and bed I might have stopped. Plus I didn't have a tent with me, other main reason. Plus day one on bike and I wasn't up for any raving.

So I made it to Murchison. Knackered. Ate some food, chatted with a Germany cyclist heading the opposite direction, traded some road stories (where the only coffee shops were on route). Murchisonis in teh middle of a few moutnain ranges, its kinda like Hope. Anyway, it had a big earthquake in 1929 that reshaped the area, kinda neat tibit.

MURCHISON TO WESTPORT
The next day I contiuned heading west. This trip was great cuz it was through the Buller Gorge, a narrow gorge that follows the Buller River to the sea. I was feeling some pain riding a few hours in. This day of riding was fairly easy, no major 'passes' to get up and over, just the gorgeous gorge to follow to the sea.

WESTPORT
Westport is an old, slightly abandoned mining town. Largest northern west coast town. All the travel guides say there is not much to see here. I meet some cool people at the hostel. I got chatting with an Englishman I had seen while riding my bike around town (exploring), and we were staying in the same room. He said he was heading out to Cape Foulwind to see the sunset and I was welcome to join him. Which I did. As we were leaving there were 2 Japanese women smoking and chatting and he offered them to join us too, better fill the car up. At that point another Englishman and Swiss woman were heading to the pub, they ask us all to join them. We mentioned we were going to see sunset but maybe after, so they joined us also. WITHIN 5 MINUTES A GROUP OF STRANGERS WERE OFF TO SEE THE SUNSET TOGETHER. Cape Foulwind is an amazing Cape on the westcoast, probably Westports best feature. It looks north and south up the westcaost of the SOuth Island; windy, rugged, stunning. We hiked out on the Cape, sat and watched the sun go down (a medium sunset as the clouds rolled in to cover it up), but then we climbed around on the rocks for awhile. We were about 3m from a seal! It was fun. We hiked back to cars, headed back to town and headed to the pub. It was so great. We were all travelling solo, having our different experiences and had met and were spending a night together. Cool eh!

WESTPORT TO PUNAKAIKI
The next day I packed up, said goodbye to the folks from the night before and headed off. Along the road 2 of them (the second english guy and swiss woman) passed me as they were driving south.

The ride along the coast to Punakaiki was SO AMAZING!!!!!! It was a warm sunny day, and with only 58km to ride I was excited. The coastline reminded me of the Oregon coast line; huge high cliffs, long sandy beaches. Oh and the colour of the water!!!!!! So amazingingly stunning - a tourqoiuse, aqua blue. WoW! One side of the road is stunning blue ocean, the other side of the road is mutliple layers of green rainsforest. And the FERNS!!!!!

FERNS!
I found a book on ferns and discovered that there are like a bazilllion different varieties of fern. And it took a Dutch travellers to point out to me that is why it is the symbol of NZ (see All Blacks jerseys, Air New Zealand logo). I obviously wan't paying close enough attention. :) Oh wait till you see some photos. The ferns rock the cazbar!

Back to the ride...as I was cruising along, Hilton (Englishman who took me and others to the Cape), honked and pulled over for a visit (about an hour+ outside of Westport). He was also heading to Punakaiki and said he have a cold beer waiting for me. Nothing quite like incentive! On I rode....it was so beautiful..had a minor problem with my front derailler on route....monkeyed around with it the next day...all sorted....

I arrived in Punakaiki, the ride itself took about 3.5 hours, but was longer with stops and swims. Punakaiki is in the middle of nowhere westcoast. It is a major tourist stop, but there is no town or any reals shops (tourist gifts, one cafe & a tavern). Punakaiki is also known as Pancake Rocks! It has these amazing limestone cliffs/rocks that look like a giant stack of pancakes. At this one spot when the tide changes, water rushes into these holes in the limestone and creates these natural blowholes (one of the main reasons tourist buses stop here). But Punakaiki is also surrounded by the Paparpa National Park.

I chose Punakaiki as it was an amazing spot some where along the coast I could spend a couple of relaxing days. And girl did I pick a good spot. The hostel was located right on the beach, a beautiful summer house style place. The hostel had an outdoor hot tub (called a spa pool in nz) that looked out onto ocean, and the caretakers baked fresh muffins everyday. This place has been one of the highlights of my whole trip for sure. I spent the first day laying around the beach reading (a great novel that was a gift; Cider House Rules by John Irving. At first I wasn't sure if I would like it, cuz I hate when books are turned into movies. But the book was so great, I was glued to it the whole time), and walking the long vast sandy banks. The next day I went for a day hike in the Paparoa Park, an amazing route that took me through the jungly rainforest along the Paparoa River. So neat!

Hilton was indeed at the hostel when I arrived. We drank a beer and soaked up the amazing view. He was a really nice guy. He was a school teacher back in England, and he took a year off, after 20 years of teaching, to travel around. He had been in Nepal, Oz, NZ and was on to Latin America next. I didn't get his story, obviously no wife around (dead or divorced?),, but his twin 22yr old daughters were going to be joining him and travelling for a couple of weeks. I'm sure you don't really care about Hilton, but he was a nice guy and we explored around the area together that night -- we went hunting for penguins!!! they have these really small ones in the area, but we didn't see any.

Punakaiki was so great. A special spot indeed.

PUNAKAI TO INANGAHUA
So I sped off two days later, to start the return trip. I had to retrace my ride, which was fine as the route was so beautiful. I had seen further down the coast when I had the car, plus the inland route wasn't as scenic. So back up the coast I rode, determined to beat my time back to Westport. Just after setting off, I passed an elderly couple pulled over on the side of the road for tea, as I approached them, the hollered out "would you like to stop for a cuppa?" (cuppa is kiwi lingo for hot drink). As I was on a race with myself I didn't stop, but it was so sweet. Had another fab ride back to Westport, then started the trek inland, back up the Buller Gorge. I was looking forward to heading back up it, as I got to ride on the same side as the Gorge the whole way up. So beautiful (am i saying that enough :). I didn't have a plan as to where I was going to stay, I figured I'd camp wild as there were no hostels between Westport and Murchison (and I wasn't going to be making it their that day). Along the way I stopped at the only hotel along the Gorge for a break. One of the locals in the pub (middle of no where), advised me not to stay at the campsite I had eyed up (weirdos and brutal sandflies he warned), and he mentioned some place near Inangahua. Got to love the locals tips!

I had planned on getting near Inangahua (as I was going to catch the bus there for the rest of the trip back to Motueka. I didn't want to ride the 130km stretch in one day again, plus the bus was only $25: 2hours on bus vs 8 hours on bike). I had a great day riding and was scooping around Inangahua area for a place to sleep. I was actually looking for a good brige to sleep under after my Hokitika experience. It had started to rain, and I wasn't having any luck, the best place I had come up with was a Gazebo at the local school (I had no tent). Inangahua is a community of about 70 people (or less), so there really ain't anything around. I rode around a bit when I say a sign for a farmstay. While I like to think I am a tough guy (camping wildish), if there was a cheap bed for me I was willing to splurge. I enquired if there was any room, but they were full. I asked if they might have a shed or barn I could sleep in out of the rain, and the lady hooked me up with an old bunkhouse/shed. I was so happy to be out of the rain for the night, especially when I was braced for a night in the bush. I slept well that night after a long ride. (She told me in the morning 3 others had enquired after me for a place to stay and she had turned them away. Lucky me).

Inangahua -- before catching the bus the next morning I checked out the Inangahua Historical Centre. Inangahua had a major earthquake in 1968 and the town was flattened. The Centre had all kinds of photos and old news articles. I talked with the old guy running it about our fault lines back home, and the ever pending 'Big One'. The Centre had a funny history of who was burried in the local cemetary - one between the years 1879 to 1930 and a second on from 1931 to 1968. Back then (1879-1930) people sure didn't live long. Most people died in their 40's, bt some lucky folk lived into their 70's. A funny little thing to read. [on another note, my dad's family moved to NZ from South Africa in 1967, right before the major earthquake]

I was happy to catch the bus back. I was returning home about 3 days before I was due to start work. With enough time to relax, hang with folks and family, and get sorted for apple picking.

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OTHER STUFF....

CAR LICENSE PLATES
One thing I have noticed after spending oh so many hours on the road is that I miss having a variety of car license plates to look at. Seeing I am in one country, NZ, and there are no cars here from other countries, it makes it a little limiting. That is one thing I like about HOME - we have all the different Canadian plates, plus all the Yankee ones. When ever I do a trip back home I keep track of all the different ones I see. Even when I am not on trips I do, for example in the summer, when there are lots of tourists coming thru town. I'll make a mental note and review them at the end of the week. Also, if I see ones from real far away, like Rhode Island, I'll wave or say "welcome to BC" if I get a chance. Ha! Am I messed!?

OTHER HOME THINGS
I have heard NEko Case on the radio twice now, I think both times on the local community station. Cool eh!

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I think I will leave this installment here.....need to get refreshed. Lots more to tell....ok here is a preview.....a ride over a big 'fuck off' hill and rock climbing next.....sounds exciting doesn't it.????!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by cara at February 28, 2004 12:48 PM