Seriously. OK, it might have rained from about 2:30-4:00 while I was on the bike. But it was just rain. And maybe a little wind. No gale-force winds or hurricanes blowing through. The funny thing is, the weather forecast is always the same for New Zealand, as far as I can tell: winds out of the SSW at 20-30 kph, scattered showers. Highs between 12-20 degrees C. But as a shopkeeper alluded to when I asked about the weather at the beginning of my trip, the forecasters here are rarely right. Ah... just like home.
One of the highlights of the day today was running into Andy and Brian, two recently-retired Irish- and English-turned-Aussies who were on a 10-day road trip of the south island. As I finished chatting with a motorcycling couple from Melbourne, they asked if they could buy me coffee. For a split second I thought about the fact that I needed to get in some miles if I was going to reach my goal of Franz Josef (100+ km away), but it still took me less than 0.9 seconds to accept their invitation.
They chatted enthusiastically about their trout-fishing experience, the beauty of the coast ("you ain't seen nothing yet"), and how fit I would be by the end of my Kiwi cycling adventure ("that old boyfriend will be wanting you back"). Andy whipped out his iPhone to check his stocks (not bad for an OAP) and insisted that I have half of his sandwich that he promised he wouldn't be able to finish (ham and cheese and pineapple - these kiwis are on to something). Just when I began to wonder how I might close this conversation tactfully, they started heading off with perfect timing.
Most of the way was relatively easy going and I managed to pull into Franz Josef at about 4 p.m. (riding a distance of 130 km, which seemed downright preposterous to think of after yesterday's experience), where I ran into a British couple who had been biking in NZ for 5 months! They suggested I check out a hostel with camping, which indeed turned out to be a great deal ($10 NZD, compared to $20 for a campground down the road). I biked up the road and checked out the glacier - from a distance - before heading back to town.
The glacier is a big attraction around here, and the local economy has found many ways to extract money out of tourists in the spirit of "adventure": helicopter tours (starting at $240 NZD), glacier tours, skydiving, skiplane tours, heli-rafting tours, etc. It's all a bit much for me and I'm looking forward to moving on and maybe checking out the local seal colony. I haven't seen any brochures advertising that one, so I think I'll be safe from being inundated by tourists there.
Until I remember that I am one myself!
One of the highlights of the day today was running into Andy and Brian, two recently-retired Irish- and English-turned-Aussies who were on a 10-day road trip of the south island. As I finished chatting with a motorcycling couple from Melbourne, they asked if they could buy me coffee. For a split second I thought about the fact that I needed to get in some miles if I was going to reach my goal of Franz Josef (100+ km away), but it still took me less than 0.9 seconds to accept their invitation.
They chatted enthusiastically about their trout-fishing experience, the beauty of the coast ("you ain't seen nothing yet"), and how fit I would be by the end of my Kiwi cycling adventure ("that old boyfriend will be wanting you back"). Andy whipped out his iPhone to check his stocks (not bad for an OAP) and insisted that I have half of his sandwich that he promised he wouldn't be able to finish (ham and cheese and pineapple - these kiwis are on to something). Just when I began to wonder how I might close this conversation tactfully, they started heading off with perfect timing.
Most of the way was relatively easy going and I managed to pull into Franz Josef at about 4 p.m. (riding a distance of 130 km, which seemed downright preposterous to think of after yesterday's experience), where I ran into a British couple who had been biking in NZ for 5 months! They suggested I check out a hostel with camping, which indeed turned out to be a great deal ($10 NZD, compared to $20 for a campground down the road). I biked up the road and checked out the glacier - from a distance - before heading back to town.
The glacier is a big attraction around here, and the local economy has found many ways to extract money out of tourists in the spirit of "adventure": helicopter tours (starting at $240 NZD), glacier tours, skydiving, skiplane tours, heli-rafting tours, etc. It's all a bit much for me and I'm looking forward to moving on and maybe checking out the local seal colony. I haven't seen any brochures advertising that one, so I think I'll be safe from being inundated by tourists there.
Until I remember that I am one myself!
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Thanks for keeping us up to speed on your adventure. Love hearing about the meets your are having with the locals. I like distance in km, but still prefer mph for speed. Weird I know. Anyway I am inspired to get some bike stuff and ride!
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