Goal achieved! Queenstown.

Well I'm here. 
Perhaps I should remind you and myself how this all came about.  Well one evening last April Heather and I were having a farewell meal with our friends Judith and Jonathan. They were emigrating to NZ in a few weeks time to start a new life in Napier. During the conversation they said they had a  shipping container which was huge and they wouldn't be able to fill it. I asked if they could pop a bike in for me so I could have one to ride during my visits to see the family. It was agreed and someone said ,how will you get it to Queenstown, a long way and on the South Island . For some reason, may have been the wine, I said I would ride it.
So you see you need to be careful what you wish for !! The idea of fund raising for St Richards Hospice soon became a real possibilty. I am delighted to have been able to make some contribution to there needs.
Yesterday in Cromwell the day dawned grey and overcast with low cloud and quite a breeze. Not what was forcast which was hot and sunny.
However I was up early, eager to make a good start and when I was ready to go the wind had dropped which was great
The last day involved riding up the Kawarau Gorge past Roaring Meg . Interestingly this is an outfall into the Kawarau river which drops a huge amount of water into the main steam from a tributary off the mountain above. The name was reputed to to have been given by the gold miners after an Irish lady of the night who was allegedly very noisy ! Just like the river.
Onwards and upwards up a pretty good hill up to the Gibbston valley. Had a coffee stop at the Winery there , didn't buy wine , too heavy too carry!
I decided to detour through to Arrowtown
to see our friends Bruce and Trudi. She broke her ankle about 2 weeks ago and I wanted to see how she was. Great to see them and I was persuaded to stop for a quick lunch snack. By then the cloud had all gone and it was really hot.
My final 20 or so kms to Queenstown were a delight if a trifle warm!
When I arrived I was met by my two beautiful grandaughters , Lily and Olive, and there other grandmother Jennifer with streamers , baloons and banners. Sadly Dan is still in Auckland and Nichola was still at work at Queenstown Primary School.
It was an amazing way to end the ride.
When Nichola got home we celebrated with a bottle of bubbly!
I have very mixed feelings now I have completed what I set out to achieve.
Number one is probably relief and satisfaction at having finally done it after nearly a year of planning and preparation.
Part of me didn't want it to end, I have met some amazing people and had many great experiences along the way.

I am so grateful for the way so many people have supported the venture financely which has raised well over two thousand pounds, with some donations going direct to St Richards .

I am  feeling pleasantly tired today , I am told I look slimmer and am very well tanned and apart from the knee , which was much better yesterday after the icing I feel very fit.
I want to thank everybody , family, friends and  colleagues from work who have  been so supportive , with messages to keep me going etc. Also the team at Startin for enabling me the time to complete the challenge.

Bye for now, but watch out for next year when I may do the next section down to Bluff!

Nearly there!

Today I am in Cromwell in Central Otago. The weather has come out hot and the wind has gone round 180 deg. Typical could have done with that direction yesterday!

Sadly the last days of my trip have been marred by a sore right knee which is made worse
by big hills and headwinds both of which I have encountered in the last 2 days.

Cromwell is a fascinating place and has a huge amount of history. The town was originally built as  a Gold mining town during the gold rush of the 19th.century. It susequently became an important soft fruit growing area and still is . The biggest part of the original town was flooded in the late 1980s when the Clutha Dam was built downstream as part of a huge Hydro power scheme to provide electricity for the future if NZ. It was hugely contraversial at the time as you van.imagine. The area flooded not only submerged the town but over 30 farms and orchards. The local community managed to take down and re build a very few of the oldest buildings right on what is now the new edge of what is now Lake Dunstan . A new Cromwell has been built on land further back from the edge. I will attach a couple of photos of the area .
The campground here is very busy,  Cavalcade of horse riders , over 300  some with wagons arrived in town yesterday from several areas of the south to re create the original settlers arriving . It's an annual event apparrently. Also there are a lot of kids taking.part in a 2 day swimming gala , from all over South Island. Good kids if a little noisy !
Amazingly I have met up again with a Kiwi couple called Ken and Leone from Auckland who flew down to Christchurch with there bikes and are touring around. I first met them on there first day on the outskirts of Christchurch.
Tomorrow I am of up the  Gorge which will take me to Queenstown via the Gibbston Valley, an important wine area of Otago. Might get a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir if I can fit them in .
Weather looks set fair with Sun and light winds tomorrow, so hopefully a good last day, knee permitting!
Will report again from Queenstown and sum up the whole experience.
Until then .

Progress through Mackenzie Country

It's been a day or two since I managed to blog, sorry about that.
Geraldine where I was heading to when I last blogged is a busy little town and the only place of any size I will come across until I reach Cromwell over in Otago. So had to top up with supplies.
The camp ground in Geraldine was very busy with other cyclists. Something which has been rare up to now. Town was busy too and I managed to get to the Car Museum before they closed up . An interesting collection and for the Triumph enthusiasts among you I will attach a photo of a rare one.
I made a really early start as the weather said it.would be better early. Had an amazing ride going well, through Fairlie , quick pit stop and on to the big hill called Burkes Pass. It is  a long drag and gets steeper towards the top. Absolutely amazing wild country and maybe not as bad as I had feared. However I was totally wasted when I got to the Pass at the top had done around 90 km, I must be getting fitter!  It was getting late with rain threatening so I  made a decision to stop and wild camp .
Good decision because the.next campground is a little way away and it soon started raining, in biblical fashion. It poured all night and didn't stop until 10 am . So late start today over to Tecapo where I had thought I would stop in and  enjoy the thermal hot pools. However weather was cool and cloudy and I decided to press on. My cyclists guide talked about a detour signposted as the Bullock Trail, nothing to do with Sam I  don't think!
Well this road which is tarmac follows the Hydro Canal from Lake Tekapo to Lake Pukaki. It's further than the main road but no traffic . It's private and marked by signs as closed to all traffic . My guide said ignore the signs, there are closed gates but you can wheel your bike around.
What a great ride , about 35 kms along the canal , flat, it curves found as it follows the contours and is slightly further.
When it reached Lake Pukaki, they have just built a cycle track around the lake shore. I tried it , it was unrideable on my loaded bike , gravel too loose. Maybe ok on a light mountain bike. Back to main road.
Mount Cook lookout was busy with Asian tour buses as usual, managed to get a friendly Kiwi lady to take a rare photo of.me and the bike !
Next town.where I am now is Twizel. It  was built when the Hydro scheme was put in in the 60 s at a guess and is struggling to survive by the look of what I've seen .
Nice camp ground , gone for the expensive option of a cabin, $12 more than a tent site, with a proper bed with sheets, no sleeping bag tonight.
NZ is experiencing some bad weather this week, Dunedin Airport wad closed for 2 hours today due to extreme rain and wind. Tonight the gales have reached here , blowing in the wrong direction of course.
See what tomorrow brings.
I will let you know next time. I am  heading now towards Omerama then the last big hill range , the Lindis Pass before dropping down into Cromwell in Otago. Wish me luck!

Party time!

New Zealand is a truly stunning country , both the North Island and the South Island have beautiful and breathtaking places to see and visit.  I will attach a photo of the Rakaia Gorge I cycled  through today , from the photo taken before I descended you can see the enormous rift the river had carved out. Quite a hard pull back up the other  side though!  I have seen so much on this trip on my bike , areas I have travelled through before in a car and this time have seen through fresh eyes.
The beauty of the natural world in NZ is matched and exceeded many  times by the real down to earth people that the Kiwis are. They are so friendly . I have experienced so many examples in my travels of how really nice they are to strangers. One guy stopped his ute ( pick up truck ) while I was sitting by the roadside quietly having lunch and asked if  I was ok and would I like a lift with the bike to the next town. He seemed quite bemused when I explained I was biking down the country. Also the 2 people who gave me lifts when I was hitching a ride with my bike wheel after getting it fixed in Blenheim. One actually turned around and came back specially to pick me up.

But last night exceeded all these.  I was on the camp ground at Glentunnell, it was fairly quiet. As its just over an hours drive in a car there are a few people who spend as much time as  they can there in there caravans and campers to escape the constant after shocks which keep happening. Anyway I got talking to a lady by the kitchen , we had a good old chat , she asked me about my bike trip etc.  It turned out it was her birthday and she was being taken out for tea ( dinner ) to the local Speights Ale house in the next village, about 4 km away. I mentioned that the camp ground owner had recommended it to me if I didn't fancy cooking and I would probably bike down later. She immediately insisted that they would give me a lift. In fact she said why didn't I join them at there table as  two more friends were joining them.
So that's how I ended up at a birthday party. Judy and her husband David picked.me up at 5.30, they don't eat late in NZ, and we met up with Owen and Brent at the pub. We had a great evening   had good food and talked about all sorts. Owen was driving a new CR-V and when I told him I ran a Honda dealership in England, we were firm friends. It was the tenth CR-V he had owned! His friend Brett was  into classic cars and had a Jaguar XJ6 LWB back at the camp. He was interested in pictures of my Stag .  We ended up back in Owens palatial camper having more drinks and birthday cake and ice cream.
Quite an evening , I wonder if that would have happened in England? They insisted on giving me there addresses in Christchurch and said to call in next time I'm going that way.
I came for the cycling but have appreciated so much more in this trip so far , and a few more days to go.
Todays cycling went well a good day   warm and sunny no wind.
Heading for Geraldine at last tomorrow then really on the last leg to Queenstown, albeit quite a long leg!
Cheers for now.

Beautiful Canterbury

Made it down to Leathfield yesterday its about 16 miles from Christchurch city, where they had another 4.1 earthquake yesterday morning when the Prime Minister was visiting, ironic really. I  decided to check out the beach campground. So pleased I did its great.

Anyway I last blogged as I was leaving Kaikoura in the rain. You see its not all sun , sun here although it is meant to be summer!
It was a hard, hard day, although the rain stopped by lunchtime . The Hunderlees hill range climbs for about 10 kms and I found it difficult. Anyway got to Cheviot , didn't like the look of  campground so struggled on to the Hurunuhi river and wild camped there. Nice!
Awoke Thursday to slight overcast , but the day soon settled into a scorcher. The ride down the Greta Valley was superb. Stopped in the Greta village for a second breakfast, found a lovely new cafe , only.been open 6 weeks according to the lady owner. I met 4 English tourists who when they saw my cycling top with BBC Hfd @ Worc started chatting. I shared a table with them and we swopped experiences. Great people and Keith one of the guys insisted on giving me $20 for St Richards. When the cafe owner heard this she added $10 out of the till. It was a great breakfast too, eggs on toast with bacon. I was almost tempted by the local delicacy of.mince on toast, but decided better of it!
I'm having a rest day today, this cyclings hard work you know, and as my tent is pitched under a pine tree in the edge of a amazing beach it seemed a good idea.
It's very hot today , about 27 deg with a slight breeze off the sea.
The local paper is full of Earthquake stuff as its the 12 month anniversary next week.
I have been talking to some locals here and while no mention is made in UK papers they are still suffering hugely. The lady cleaner has lost her house and is living here in a caravan, several houses around here sufferred damage as well. It's heartbreaking to see it.
Better get on got a lunch to prepare.

Until next time.

Whales not Wales !

Hi all
Kaikoura is the place to go Whale watching in NZ . Won't be going today though got a few hills to ride over before getting to next stop in Cheviot. After that on Thursday  I hope to be in or around Christchurch. Hope its not too rocking and rolling . That will be a big milestone and where I leave the beautiful East coast behind and head for the hills!
Not so beautiful today though , its raining and I'm starting in wet gear .
Yesterday was absolutely amazing , riding right alongside the beach for most of the way, lovely sunny day and had lunch watching the Seals on the rocks .
Better press on got a bike to ride!  Thanks again to all you kind people who are supporting the Ride and raising money for St Richards Hospice.

Picton and southward.

Picton was a great place to stop. Campground was small but friendly. Only drawback was I hadn't noticed that the main trunk railway line went right through the camp. NZ doesn't have many trains these days and most are freight. These tend to be very long, heavy and noisy. I was nearly rumbled out of my tent at 12 midnight, 2am and again at 6 am! Still least I didn't oversleep and.made a good start. I treated myself to a meal out in a restaurent on the Wharf. It was excellent fresh local fish.
Today started well, a bit cloudy but it has turned out lovely, hot and blue.
The ride was going really well , made it to Blenheim and had tea and cake in a cafe run by a lady cyclist. She showed me a picture of her taken on a ride last week when she was stung on the tongue by a wasps, it looked gruesome. She advised me to keep my mouth closed when cycling as they were having a plague of wasps.
After Blenheim came a 12 km hill. It's called Weld Pass and goes up and round and up and up !  Did ok and was nearly in Seddon when disaster struck. An odd clicking from back of bike brought me to a sudden stop. On examination the rear tyre was flat. Took all luggage , tent panniers off, up turned bike only to find a large wood screw embedded in my puncture proof tyre. Removed wheel, mended puncture put it all back only to find it was going down slowly. After messing around for ages I found the screw had gone right through the tube and it had a puncture on the inner side as well. All in all it took a couple if hours in the hot sun and I was pretty fed up. I was intending to make it to Ward tonight but found a camp in Seddon, had a shower and put tent up .
I'm intending to buy another spare tube when I get to a bike shop, now I know puncture proof isn't quite!

Wellington, Capital city of NZ

Today is Friday and I am taking my first rest day. I made it to Wellington yesterday and met Mack who guided me me to their beautiful beachside home at Pukerua Bay . Had supper with Pauline and Mack, plus daughters Michelle and Hayley, and their children , Freya who I haven't seen since she was 3 back in 2000. Also Tommy and  Jamie aged 9 and 5 ( I think ).
I have a lovely comfortable bed with a sea view, better than my tent!
Last night at 11pm just got into bed and nearly fell out again, the house rocked with quite a jolt from an Earthquake!  According to Geonet NZ it was only 3.9 and quite deep but very close to the coast just nearby. Scary.
Yesterday was a glorious hot sunny day, see the attached pic of Wellington Harbour. Today I awoke to rain, hope it clears up as I fancied a walk along the beach.

Made it to Masterton!

Well Wed proved to be a good day all round. Weather still a bit cloudy but getting warmer as I head south. Now covered 235kms since Monday.  Went over Mount Bruce  and spent an hour and a half slogging up only to whizz down the other side in about 15 mins.
Found an excellent farm shop called The Wee Red Barn on route . Had to sample there fresh strawberry ice cream.

Day 1 and 2 !

Well today is Tuesday and since I left Napier I have covered 165kms in 2 days . That's around a 100 miles so maybe not as far as I had hoped, but not too bad. Started from Judith and Jonathans house yesterday morning and as  predicted by me, it was raining ! Didn't last long but it was showery all day, wet gear on and off. Found a lovely Domain camp on outskirts of Norsewood. Only me there, great. Rained during the night and set off again in wet gear. Day improved as I cycled south . Had morning tea in Dannivirke and lunch in Woodville. Tonight I am in a lovely quiet campsite, a couple of Maori women in a huge trailor ( caravan ) . And a young couple from Ambleside in England. Small world eh ? Lovely evening now , the sun is out and.hopefully it will be a drier day tomorrow. Off to cook tea now.
Forgot to say I visited the Tui brewery HQ on route today. Very kind people, even had a sample. I still prefer Monteiths though!

Getting ready to go.

Today I collected my trusty Dawes bike from Avanti Plus bike shop in Hastings. They have done an amazing job in re building it with new gear block, rear mech. and loads more.  I am hugely grateful to Jamie who is the boss and Eddie who actually did the work. I rode back to our friends Judith and Jonathans house in Maraekakaho about 28 kms and realised what a great bike the Dawes is and how much I am looking forward to starting the long ride on Monday. Weather is good for cycling , no wind and about 20 deg.  I bet it rains on Monday!

I have completed a preliminary shakedown ride, from Queenstown (where my son lives) to Glenorchy and back. This was over two days with an overnight camp stop in between. All went well, barring a few pannier related issues to do with the temporary pannier rack on my borrowed bike nearly causing me to have an emergency stop in the ditch.

The road is a bit challenging, I'm certain there is not a single flat spot on it in the 103 kilometers I rode. My legs felt that way towards the end anyway.

Aside from that I am now mentally, physically and logistically ready to go!!