TalulaT

80 km

The next morning, Friday, December 19th, we headed north on Highway 1, leaving Kaikoura behind us and with Picton a couple hundred kms and couple days ride ahead of us.  I’ll let Mike write about the details of the day, which included some hills, a fair amount of rain, and a little wind (luckily, we left early in the morning to try to avoid as much as possible), a couple of broken spokes, and a slog through gravel and a strong cross wind to a beautiful little protected enclave, designed specifically to satisfy the needs of weary bikers (including one GREAT shower), called Peddler’s’ Rest.

m!ke’s notes on the day:

We took off under a threateningly cloudy grey sky with forecast of “severely heavy rain.”  I had set up this part of our riding with short days in case Chandra was jet-lagged (she was not!) so we were prepared for a potential grunt-fest up the coast.  Besides, we had been warned by many people (but tellingly not Brian whose advice I trust above pretty much anyone else on matters bicycle in NZ) that the wind would be howling and the Kaikoura range would provide little or no shelter.

Our reward for braving the potential storms? A totally gorgeous day along the coast (like RIGHT along the water!) all day seeing and hearing seals, passing crayfish (really rock lobster) shacks along the way, and a generally allaround blissful ride.  No wind.  No rain.

Toward the end of the day, I hit a pothole and broke two rear spokes (more on spoke issues later) on the drive side.  It was a bit of a drag to pull off the cassette and change two more spokes on the roadside, but with kind weather we were making good time and the break was nice anyway.

Soon after the spoke repairs, we reached the end of the shelter of the Kaikoura range from the Northwesterlies that were ripping through and I felt like I hit a wall going downhill as I was cruising at around 40 kph and was slowed to 10 kph in an instant as I hit the wall of wind.  It only lasted for 10 km or so, but as Chandra said, at Pedaler’s rest, it continued to howl like a gale and the sky kept darkening provided foreshadow for the next day.  but….Pedaler’s rest was a blissful retreat.  It’s not run by cyclists – just an entrepreneurial farming couple with a smart use of the old shearer’s shed on their land.  They are located at the perfect place to stop for cyclists on the coast, 1.5 km off the main road (so quiet and secure) and the shed is utilitarian and absolutely perfect for what touring cyclists need right then.

So, a restful night was met by rain in the morning….

19 km

Thursday, December 18th (Happy Birthday Chonan!) was our very sunny rest day in Kairkoura, which we spent hiking around the Kaikoura Peninsula and inefficiently going shopping for food (four visits to three different stores), before coming back to the Top Ten Holiday Park for some Dan Jackson inspired “Sea Creature Stew.”  (See pic, yes, there are banana prawns, mussels, and salmon packed in there!)

NOTE FROM m!ke – the sea creature stew was tear (of joy) creating and I could not have been more stoked.  Especially since we missed the fish and chips we were seeking earlier in the day!

96 km  Waiau to Paia Point (south of Kaikoura)

Wednesday, December 17th saw us ride the remainder of the inner road, leaving the Hamner Range and entering into the Kaikoura range.  It rained.  I don’t much mind biking in the rain.  I would ask for rain, but if it rains and you are biking, there isn’t much you can do about it but keep going and hope that you will eventually find a big lodge in the middle of nowhere with a warm fireplace and a good cup of coffee.   Hey, it happened on the Big Trip as we were riding through Yellowstone, so a girl can dream (pray), can’t she?  And you know, there is a biking god, because lo and behold . . .  there at the top of Lyford pass was exactly that!  A big ski lodge with a big stone fireplace where we stripped of as much wet stuff as would be publicly acceptable, and warmed up over a cup of joe and a generous (read, HUGE) slice of carrot cake and waited for the rain to stop.  Eventually, it did, so we hopped back on the bikes (which caused the rain to start falling again) and rode down hill towards Kaikoura.
Now, just because I said that I don’t mind riding in the rain, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t make me tired, and the second and third days are usually the hardest days of any trip (legs getting used to going around, butt getting used to being in the seat for hours, etc).  And there were more hills again to go up (and down).  But we eventually, made it to the Kaikoura coast, where we stopped again for some fresh provisions and Mike had a discussion with the store keeper as to whether or not I was “dead.”  Mike assured her that I was not (I was simply conserving energy), and got some beta that there was a holiday park just a little further south.
Now, after all the many days and hours that Mike and I have spent biking, we read each other very well.  He knew I was tired, but (more importantly), I knew that when he slowed (but did not stop) at the holiday park, sussed out the fleet of rented caravans packed like sardines into the small camp ground with a run down mini-golf course in the front, and only slowly came to a stop a good six feet past the turn in, and said, “What do you think? Keeping going?”, well, I knew that there was nothing that would make Mike stop at such a place (but for the absolutely insistence of the woman we loved).  And so, I did the only thing a respectable wife-of-Mike would do (besides, I wasn’t staying at that place either no matter how tired I was), and replied, “You think that there are any hills between here and that place Lee recommended at little further south?”  Mike said that he didn’t think so (it doesn’t matter if there are actually hills between one place and another, all one has to do is convince yourself that there aren’t sufficiently so that you can decide to continue on.  If it turns out later that there are hills, there’s nothing to do at that point but climb up them to your destination), and so we continued on a couple more miles (no hills) along the coast, through some small tunnels, until we happened upon the recommended Paia Point, which was much less crowded and vastly more scenic, especially the next morning at sun up (see pic).

Well . . . . I haven’t been very good about blogging.   In fact, I haven’t blogged at all since I arrived.  So for those of you (maybe just mom and dad) out there that have been dying of anticipation as to what we have been doing since I arrived in Christchurch two weeks ago, I apologize.  But, frankly, we have been too busy biking up and down hills, getting rained on, putting on sun screen, drinking wine, kayaking, gorging on fish and chips, bathing in hot springs, hiking, drinking flat whites in little cafes, laughing, cooking, eating, sailing, splurging, and watching seals, penguins and dolphins to sit down inside and blog about all of it.   We did take a fair number of pictures of everything so eventually the full story will be told.
Here’s just the recap summary.

74 km

On Tuesday, December 16th, we got out of Christchurch with the bikes.  Mind you, we didn’t leave the city actually riding the bikes, but rather rode to the city centre, grabbed a lox bagel, and waited in the sunshine until the shuttle van came and picked us up–bikes, trailer and all.  The Canterbury Plains around Christchurch are flat and somewhat of a busy, boring ride, so we (being on vacation) skipped it and hitched a ride to the more scenic starting point of Waipara.  From there, we did get on the bikes (mine, a standard nothing special Trek 4300 rental and Mike’s faithful and much beat up upon Kona “Muni” (moon-nee)), fully loaded (which means, really that most of the heavy stuff was in Mike’s trailer, rather than my panniers) and hit the hills.  Day one of riding (mind you, I was just over 48 hours from arriving) consisted of 74 kms of riding up and down the inland road from Waipara to Waiau, which takes one through the inner and outer Hamner range.  Mike had warned me that there would be hills that first day, so I was mentally prepared (since the time for physically preparing was long past), but in actuality, the hills were neither long nor steep and the riding felt good.
We pulled into my first (not to be last) NZ “holiday park” which is a somewhat strange amalgamation of a KOA and campsite.  Waiau was a little hot town, burnt to a brown crisp, that reminded me very much of the T-34 stop in South Dakota on the Big Trip.   A quick walk into “town” to the 4-Square (smaller than a real store, larger than a Quik-Trip) to forage for a couple of vegetables . . . but rather than the PBR we had at T34, the 4 Square offered up some cold bubbly . . . so we took it up on the offer and toasted to a successful first day.

So, Lee confirmed I could be insured on his car and then handed me the keys saying “keep left!” and, with directions to the airport, off I went to find Chandra. I must say, I’ve not been so excited about something in a long long time! I had really shifted my focus over the past few days to my meeting up with her and now, like a kid on Christmas morning, it was really going to happen! My cell phone rang and I heard my name over the PA all at the same time – somehow Chandra had passed me where I was waiting and I found her by the post office with her bags already and a smile on her face!

Besides being stoked about seeing each other and catching up, the goal of the day was to keep Chandra awake and entertained. So, we headed off to Sumner for killer fish and chips and coffee, then up to the Summit Road where I was mountain biking the day before to take in the views, have a little hike, and be psyched! Later in the evening, we made our way to Cath’s place in Lyttelton with a few friends and made burritos, had some local ber and wine, and around 10pm, while Chandra was still technically awake, it was certainly time to get the sleep groove going.

The next morning, we picked up Chandra’s rental bike and headed out to Lincoln Ventures (Cath’s workplace until the following day which was her last!) where I gave a talk and had lunch with some of the researchers out there. It was good to connect with folks in Canterbury and get a feel for the groundwater issues they are facing, as well as sharing my research with them. In the evening, Lee made a fabulous dinner of mussels with Champagne (yes, instead of white wine, we steamed the greenshell mussels in bubbly!) and we crashed out knowing in the morning would be the beginning of our riding together! So exciting!!

50 km mountain biking in the Port Hills

After the experience of working on my bike in the wilderness with a broken chain, spoke issues, and then facing a southerly headwind (cold!) and rain for 140 km to Christchurch, I decided to take a shuttle into town, fix up the bike, and hopefully get some mountain biking in. Cath and Lee, who I joined on the Queen Charlotte Track were super kind in giving me places to stay and helping me with the logistics of being there, not to mention the opportunity to hang out with cool folks again! Cath also had arranged for me to give a talk at Lincoln Ventures where she was working on Monday, after picking up Chandra. It was to be a fun weekend with also some logistics and reuniting with Chandra after a month of solo riding to enter a new phase of travel!

After arriving on the shuttle, I went from the Cathedral Square directly to a bike shop seeking a new chain and (as I figured would be required as well) a new cassette. I replaced both in the Cathedral Square with a rotating audience of curious and enthusiastic tourists. Eventually, I made my way over to Lee’s place for dinner and crashed in Lyttelton for the evening. In the morning, I cranked up the bridle path from Lyttleton to the Summit Road of the Port Hills for a day of outrageous singletrack along the hills above Christchurch, meeting up with Lee about halfway through where we watched some crazy serious downhillers and then sent the Flying Nun which was ridiculously fun and more my speed of downhill action. We ended the day with a Christmas party at David Scott’s place (he’s a legendary hydrogeologist at Environment Canterbury) and then Lee and I made our way to his favourite English pub (The Twisted Hop) for cask ales pulled with a pump and enjoyed several before making our way back to his place. It was late, and the beer was plentiful, and in the morning, my first driving experience would be picking up Chandra at the airport!

First of all, anachronistically, I will note that I’ve been absent from blogging…Why? Because Chandra has arrived and we’re honeymooning. Hopefully I will be able to make the posts catch up, but first, it’s the Rainbow Road through Molesworth Station.

120 km (95 on dirt road).

Starting out from St. Arnaud it was a little cloudy, but the big rain from the day before was a memory. Riding fully loaded with the knobby tires on pavement felt really strange and I was instantly looking forward to getting on to the dirt portion of the ride and the accompanying lack of traffic, solitude, and big remote alpine views. I would not be disappointed (!), but first I had to cover 25 km of pavement. The Rainbow Road passes through the Rainbow Station and Molesworth Station (“station” meaning farm in NZ – Molesworth is the largest in the country). It’s a NZ$5 toll to pass through and permission is graciously provided by the land owners.
The only advantage to the paved part is the relative speed, but soon enough I was on the gravel. I had been told that the road is pretty good near each end, but it deteriorates toward the middle. The beginning was pretty solid so I continued to try and make good time. One thing I was wondering about was the fords of streams. Word was that they were pretty mellow as the stream swelling due to big rains was back down and they should all be passable. The map does not indicate when there are fords versus bridges, and the main crossings were bridges. But…here’s a video of crossing the biggest one of the day – in fact, it was the only one I did not ride through. All the others were fine on the bike (especially after I gave up on bothering to try and keep my feet dry!) and the BOB trailer bag was brilliant at keeping everything dry, even as water ran almost halfway up the side!

I waited to have lunch until I was sure I could cross the Wairau River (which down the valley is Huge!), figuring I might have to hang out to dry myself if it was a deep ford. Of course, it was a bridge, but after a lovely lunch sitting by the river I headed out again, this time wearing my chacos instead of my cycling cleats so I could not care about my feet.
All was going well until I hit a steep spot and my pedals locked up. I looked down to see – disaster! 60 km from either roadhead (about in the middle of the ride!) I had jammed my derailleur into my spokes. After breaking my chain on the Queen Charlotte Track, I should have known that it was in bad shape (OK, I did know) but being a little too frugal sometimes, I had elected not to change it. But now, I sat and looked in amazement at my freshly taco-ed wheel (folded over like a taco – not all the way, of course…) with the derailleur stiffly jammed into a very bent spoke. I started to get pretty fired up but then realized it was time to be resourceful. Thinking the derailleur was crapped out, I instantly had thoughts of having to make my ride a singlespeed with a shortened chain, replace a spoke or two, and limp over the next 60 km. Things got worse before they got better – the derailleur was so jammed I couldn’t pull it out of the spokes! I hit it with my allen wrench (the long heavy one) to no avail, and finally was able to free it with a combination of rocks – one pressed against the arm of the derailleur and the other to strike. It was totally scary to beat on my bike with rocks in the middle of nowhere, but I finally freed it, got out a spoke wrench to tighten up the bent spoke (now THAT is a spoke I know I’ll be replacing later!), and inspected the derailleur. It seemed bent in a bit (from the bus perhaps where it laid on its side in a trailer?) but not broken, so I got ready to move on. As I started off though, there was a serious pinging in the chain and only then did I see the source of my discontent. Another broken link. *SIGH*. So, out came the chain rivet extractor, and another link of the chain (getting short! Limited gears now!). But, I was so relieved to have been saved by the tool given to me by my mom, I had to compose this little (very cheezy, but hopefully entertaining) ode.

The setback was shortlived and I vowed to replace the chain (and most-likely the cassette) in Christchurch. For now, though, it was moving on with much climbing toward Island Saddle.
I paused in the riding at Berts Creek though – a fitting place to pay silent tribute to Bert Tanner who was a dear family friend we lost this year to cancer. He would have loved and appreciated the spot, and in my heart I felt it had been named for him in advance.
The road for the last 60 km was freshly graded which means that the washerboard texture it is famous for was graded smooth, but the gravel was really loose making it hard to keep a pace of much more than 10 km/hr. This is pretty excruciatingly slow! On the descents it was faster, but it also meant more sliding around than I would normally like to experience.
Island Saddle was the high point (I would like to say I did not get off my bike and walk for a bit (pass storming for the first time in my life!). But, I would be lying. It wasn’t so long though – maybe 100 meters, and that was enough to survive it!). From there, I descended to Lake Tennyson which was recommended by Cath (actually, this whole ride was recommended by her and was the reason I brought my mountain bike to NZ in the first place – thanks Cath!). It was beautiful and empty with great views off to the Alps. Just as I took photos of my solo tent and the lake, two SUVs full of middle-school kids showed up and set up 6 tents right next to me. It turned out they were part of a experiential education trip and the instructors were as cool as the kids were knackered, so everyone (me included!) was asleep early and it turned out fine.
In the morning, I had a slow one – making coffee, hiking across the lake, rolling out of camp around 10. Only 35 km to Hanmer Springs! But…loose gravel the whole way, two broken spokes, and head wind most of the way made it a daylong affair. I must say though, if you have to replace spokes on the drive side (which requires a fair bit of work), spending that 1/2 hour in such a beautiful setting probably cancels any sympathy I might try to garner. It was actually quite pleasant (and was the spot where I recorded the Cheezball video above).
I arrived in Hanmer in Time to set up the tent in the sun before the rain came. I scheduled a bus to Christchurch for the next day (suffering 140 km in rain and rare headwind was not appealing – rather save that energy for mountain biking in Christchurch. more about that later).
Rainbow Road was sort of the spine of my ride, much as Hwy 12 along the Lochsa was the spine of my big tandem ride with Chandra. I planned other plans around riding it, and it was truly spectacular. Only seeing one couple on bikes and about 5 cars in two days was worth all the effort – my first pseudo-wilderness experience on a bike, but not the last!

Having already ridden up the Wairau valley from Picton to St. Arnaud last week, I decided to take a shuttle and make it a rest day. It could not have worked out better! The rain and wind were strong, and when I tried to get a bed at the Old Yellow House backpacker place, the reception folks said they were full up and offered a motel room for $60. I told them that would blow my budget and got ready to head over to the Alpine Inn again, although the bus driver told me there had been a tragic accident and a young woman who tended bar there had crashed her car and dies (“what a waste of fanny” was, I believe, his actual words!). Anyway, I was reluctant to go as I reckoned the mood would be quite dour – today was their memorial service. But….just as I was about to leave, they offered the motel room for $26 and told me they would make it a dorm (i.e. if another person showed up looking for only a bed, they would have them join me). Well, no one showed up, so I got to chill out, get online to handle some more logistics and talk to home, watch a little TV (mythbusters!), make a nice dinner, have a beer, and have a very restful night. Exactly what I needed before heading out onto the Rainbow Road through the high country. More on that tomorrow….

~24km hiking + 27 km mt. biking + 24 km mt. biking
Total now at 1,092 km

First of all, I need to send a great thanks shout out to Cath and Lee for inviting me on this ride/hike and for handling most of the logistics. Second of all, I have become temporarily separated from my USB cable for my camera, so I can’t upload pictures for a few more days. Nonetheless, I thought I would drop the description of QCT and will add photos later.

Update: here are the photos!

Lee arranged with Cougar Lines for water taxi transfers for this trip which meant three days of minimal carrying both on feet and on bikes! What a luxury! We got up early to catch the water taxi and it took us to Ship Cove where Cpt. Cook hung out a bunch on several occasions. The first section from Ship Cove to Punga Cove/Camp Bay is closed to bikes in the high season (starting only about a week ago!) so we walked it. It was nice to use different muscles and move at the pace that allows conversation (well, and to have someone to have a conversation with!). Poor Cath and Lee must think I talk nonstop. Not only are they nice folks and easy to get along with, but we were all able to geek out about our research. It was a group of three doctors, none of which could help you if you were sick, but we can mathscience our way through all kinds of problems .
Here’s a map of the entire 71km route:

The scenery was amazing with sweeping views through the native bush out into the sounds – we could seethe North Island in a few spots too! The first climb out of Ship Cove is a serious grunt – would be hard to ride – but the reward was worth it. After that big climb, the rest of the day was rolling along ridges and over the convoluted shoreline. Any hope of keeping track of direction is quickly abandoned in this terrain, but the trail is well-marked and we just marched on. At the end of the day, my legs were tired and sore, and as the day heated up, I was parched a bit. So, setting up camp, making dinner, and crashing in the tent was all very welcome! We walked out to the jetty to look at the stars as much as we could see through the clouds, and on the way, under a steep section of roots next to the trail I saw glow worms for the first time! So cool – just these little white bioluminescent spots against the black dark soil. I was totally captivated, and now I see why the glowworm caves are so popular. These were just a few, not the entire ceiling of a cave.
In the morning, we were running a bit late so we heard the water taxi arrive for our bags while we were still packing! Not a big deal, except the jetty is 500m or so from camp. Running in my cleats with my very full (and poorly packed – sorry stokergirl!) trailer bag on my head was a harsh start to the day! The taxi that picked up our bags also dropped off our bikes (how pimp is that!?). It was nice to see my bike with knobbies, all ready for the single track, with only a light-ish daypack on my back. Off the couch was a pretty big but manageable climb and then just floating and flowing over ridges with sick views all over. The descent into Portage though was worth the price of admission ten times over! The trail is right on the edge of some huge (350 meter or more) drop offs, punga ferns all over, and just easy but exciting riding. Portage itself is a seriously posh resort with a DoC campground close by. We got the best of both worlds – a nice mellow camping experience, but not above walking to the resort for a swim, taking in the view of the bay, and a coffee and beer.
The final morning was lower key – not the big rush of the first morning, and then riding up a road to Torea Saddle and on to Anakiwa. The climbs in the morning were unreal! I had to walk in more than a few spots – a combined result of cumulative leg output over the past three weeks, very steep terrain, and mfy lack of pride about it . Well, the pride thing got recalibrated after I broke my chain struggling up a particularly steep section! Luckily, I was able to remove a link and keep going. The Kenett Brothers mountain bike book that is the bible of NZ single track describes the last section into Anakiwa as mountain biking as good as it gets. Sweeping riding through native bush over the water. I couldn’t really improve on that! It was about the most beautiful riding I’ve ever done. The sky clouded over which was a relief from the heat we had been experiencing. The only downside was some surly hikers. I tried to be EXTRA considerate which backfired – they clearly just didn’t want us there. It seems like maybe the first section should be open and THIS section closed in high season, but then again, it is some of the best single track in the world, so I’m not complaining. I’ll accept some annoying annoyance from a few tourons in exchange for that kind of riding.
So tomorrow, it’s off to St. Arnaud (by bus this time) and the Rainbow Road. It’s raining hard, but it’s meant to clear in the next few days, so I should have good mountain riding up there. Can’t wait – it’s a trajectory from here to Christchurch and a rendezvous with stoker girl!
Again, I really can’t thank Cath and Lee enough for making this section possible. I never would have thought to do it on my own, but it was a huge highlight of this whole venture – and nice to make a couple new friends in the process! Thanks guys – see you Friday!

Today 30 km total 1030 km

Today was really just a rest day, but I had to transfer myself from Blenheim to Picton. Got groceries in Blenheim before heading out, and rode very slowly on tired legs to Picton where I checked in to the cabin where I will meet Cath and Lee tonight.
Picton is really just a little Ferry Port town and services kayaking and hiking/riding trips up in the sounds with water taxis, etc. Since lots of people end up spending a night or two on one or the other side of the Wellington ferry or a backcountry trip, there are plenty of bars and restaurants. Le Cafe was recommended by Sterling and Emi and I checked it out for a great coffee and sandwich! The photo below is the view out into the sounds and it wasn’t hard to wile the day away strolling around, handling last-minute logistics, and getting online to connect with home a bit.
Cath and Lee arrive late tonight and tomorrow it’s off to the Queen Charlotte Track! Stoked!