Rest Day

Had I remembered to set my Garmin watch, I would have called this day 6 and maybe clocked 5 km of walking. But since I didn't, let's call it a rest day.

The weather did not disappoint this morning. I struggled with choosing between hotel coffee and venturing outside. 

This gem of a cafe takes advantage of their leaking roof to water the indoor lemon tree.

I run into a couple of cyclists at the bike shop where I purchase a replacement for my lost mirror. They're from Quebec and riding from the top to the bottom and back. We're currently heading in the same direction, so I'll probably see them tomorrow. 

The hotel is storing my bicycle in a shipping container. It is unclear if they have a shipping container for other purposes or it is there just for bicycles. I need to fix an assembly error which has been rendering my top two gears unusable. This has not been an issue on the gravel, but with sealed roads making up the next several days, I might need the missing gears. They allow me to make some repairs in the container as the rain has not relented. I am afraid the wind will blow the door shut and I don't know if shipping containers can be opened from the inside.

All my clothes save my waterproof pants and jacket fit inside this bag. 

Actually, the jacket bungees to the top of the bag, but I'd look pretty strange in the laundromat wearing only rain pants and no jacket.

Kiwis do not use PayPal or Venmo. Their banks have been providing a similar service for decades.When my American credit card is rejected, people tell me to transfer them money, but I am unable. Except I have a Westpac account that I opened prior to moving to New Zealand. I have no way to access it as I had mostly forgotten about it. I walk into the Greymouth branch, get online banking reactivated, and leave with a new EFTPOS card. Look that up.

The rain has subsided, so I decide to walk to the beach. I wander through this park and a see a sign for a bush walk. The rain is picking up by now and I'm not wearing my water proof pants, so I pass. I discover that my REI comvertible cargo pants are actually pretty water resistant.

I happen on what looks like a brand new hospital. I consider seeking out the pharmacy to talk shop, but decide that even in my disheveled and soggy state I am likely to be offered a job. Greymouth is less than liveable for me.

I reach the beach. I am hit with a blast of sideways rain and my REI convertible cargo pants decide they have repelled enough water today. I am questioning my life decisions that brought me to this place. I am 3 km from the hotel.

Back in town, the cold and/or rain has caused my camera to fog up. The front facing camera is still working so I shoot a selfie with a greenstone sculpture.

I shoot a selfie with the clock tower.

I shoot a selfie with the shipping container and Greymouth's finest hotel.

I am hopeful the rear facing camera will dry out by tomorrow or you will be seeing even more photos of me.

Day 5 Reefton to Greymouth

Distance: 77 km

Time: 3 hours 48 minutes

Travel modalities: bicycling

The forecast called for severe rain and thunderstorms today and tomorrow, with a possible window of not raining from late morning to early afternoon.

I sat in a cafe for an hour waiting for the cold drizzle to stop. Locals recommended I stay in Reefton another day or two.

Most of my photos are taken while I'm stopped to either put on waterproof gear or take it off.  Here's a rare moment where I take a shot while riding. 

If you can read the chalkboard, you'll know this has been the story of my trip so far. There's supposed to be another cafe at the Former Blackpool Hilton, but the GPS does not route me to turn into Blackpool (which looks uphill, so I'm not entirely upset). Still, I'm curious if the Former Blackpool Hilton was once actually a Hilton or it's just quirky Kiwi marketing.

My first glimpse of Greymouth. I stopped to take all the rain gear off in the hopes that I'd be slightly less sweaty when I returned to civilization. The freezing cold headwind made me regret this decision for the last two kilometers.

I've been to Greymouth at least twice before, but I don't think I've ever seen the sun. Forecast looks equally bad tomorrow and the old body thinks it's overdue for a break.

Relive video.

Day 4 Murchison to Reefton

Distance travelled: 122 km

Time: 7 hours, 4 minutes

Travel modalities: Mostly bicycling, with a few steps of walking

Left Murchison at the crack of dawn as AccuWeather warned of a severe weather alert starting at 1 pm.

More cows than I remember.

Here's my bike before a bridge. Theres a climb coming up so this seemed like a good place for a break.

Climbing up a steep, gravel hill isn't all bad. It started drizzling a little here. Would have been pleasant if it wasn't so cold. After crossing some more fords, I realize I could die out here if it actually started pouring.

While the ride was mostly gravel, I notice it's the first day with sealed roads that aren't highways. I enjoy this though just long enough for the road to turn to gravel.

Neither of the two cafes along the way are open. Fortunatel, there's a petrol station amd they serve pies. It's the best thing I've ever eaten.

It starts raining a little garder on the final 8 km climb. A 35 km downhill follows so I stop at the top and put most of my winter gear on. It makes me even slower.

Relive video.

Day 3 Nelson to Murchison

Distance traveled: 163 km, mostly gravel

Time: 9 hours, 50 minutes

Travel modalities: Mostly bicycling, maybe a little walking

A crack of dawn start meant nothing was open in Nelson. Nothing was open in Richmond except McDonald's, so I pressed on. Everything in Wakefield was closed, save the bakery. So I had pie for breakfast. (That's a vegetable pie with a potato top.)

One of the highligh's of this ride is a really long railway tunnel. Headlight required. I can't think of too many things creepier than riding alone in the dark for a mile.

There are too many impossibly beautiful photos to sort through right now. This one has my first glimpse of snow.

Here's my bike resting in front of Lake Rotoroa. The black flies were all over me in seconds, so the break was short.

Some impossible greenness. My phone died somewhere around here, so I was unable to look up the word "ford", which kept appearing on signs with exclamation points.Don't worry, I figured out after the third or forth stream crossing. 

Relive video 

Day 2: Havelock to Nelson the hard way

Distance Travelled: 53 km

Time: 4 hours, 40 minutes

Travel modalities included bicycling and more walking than I'm willing to admit.

The day began with the realization that I'd lost my sunglasses. Fortunately, it wasn't very sunny so I didn't need them.

 

My first time riding any appreciable distance on gravel. I thought it would all be like this: smooth, well maintained, flat. I guess I wasn't expecting flat.

I don't want to say I decided to start walking here, because it was the road that decided for me.The photo does not adequately demonstrate how steep it is. 

Some incredible beauty along the way.

Riding along what I think is the Pelorus river was stunning, but it doesn't look as pretty in the photo.

Relive video.

Really Day One, Picton to a lodging inconveniently past Havelock

Distance covered 144 km

Time: 9 hours

Transport Modalities: Bicycle, Bluebridge Ferry, automobiles x2

Up at the crack of dawn to a view of my next door neighbor. Navigated the streets of Wellington mostly from memory and arrived on time to a delayed ferry. 

I survived about a minute and a half at the front of the boat. I am seriously questioning my warm clothes packing list.

I stop to eat in Picton and make some last minute bike repairs. I am melancholy as the last photograph my mother took was from a park bench in Picton. Sometimes I try to find the bench she took it from, but I do not today.

After about 10 miles I realize I'm enjoying vacation for the first time. Except for everytime a car comes from the opposite direction and I flinch towards it as I think I'm on the wrong side of the street. I notice about here that I've attached my handlebar bag wrong in 3 places.

I've booked a B&B about 7 km past Havelock, which is a pretty small town and the only sign of civilization for a long, long time. The B&B is also at the top of a very long, very steep gravel driveway. Riding back to Havelock for dinner is sounding less than pleasant. My host drives me to the slightly closer Trout Hotel in Canvastown and asks the bartender to drive me home.

Overheard at the community table:

We've got an Uber driver now.

Who?

Phil.

Oh, Phil.

I guess I should count distance cycled: 32 miles total (I missed a couple after getting off the ferry). 

1966 feet climbed.

Thinking of switching to metric so the numbers look more impressive

Relive Video

Day 1 and 2

Distance covered 4650 miles

Time: 18 hours (rounded down)

Transport modalities included: 2 automobiles, 3 planes, and a whole lot of walking (mostly pacing around airports).

The Maui airport is unique in that TSA makes you stand around while they inspect your oversized luggage for anything illegal.

I think this is the device that tortured me for nearly nine hours. They all kind of look alike, so I'm not 100% sure.

Had to remember to walk on the left while transitioning from the international to domestic terminal in Auckland.

Long delay for the last leg put me in the right place for this sunset.

Debated between immediately going to sleep and putting the bike together upon reaching Wellington.

One night in Chicago

Actually, 4 nights in Chicago. 

Let's start with food. Pizza #1 was from Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Company. Pretty much as I remember it, including the 90 minute wait. They take reservations now, but I had not expected everyone to be hungry after 12 hours of flying...

Donuts from Stan's Donuts and Coffee. Note to future self: In the future, just buy six of the same donut to avoid the high likelihood of fights over donuts.

Hot dog and Italian beef from Al's Italian Beef. Sorry, no link. Either their website is dead or American Airline's satellite link has failed. Seeing as my father never took me here, it's probably not very good, but this non-Chicagoan was fooled.

Pizza #2 was a tough decision. Giordano's has always been my preferred traditional Chicago pizza, but the Internet says it's for tourists. My family says go to Lou Malnati's, but the beer list tops out at Stella Artois. Beer is very important when travelling with my children. Pequod's seemed to care at least a little about my happiness and had a reasonable selection. We were starving by the time the pan finally made it out of the oven which may explain why it was the best pizza ever. 

Our hotel claims to have invented the brownie. That's a photo of a regular old fashioned. They also make a brownie old fashioned (not pictured). 

New Phone Day

Nothing fancy, but I've switched to Android, which means there's a blogger app, which means I can write short stupid posts like this one.