Monday 14th March -Rest Day

Monday 14^th March   7.30pm

Today has been a day of rest and in view of this I managed to sleep till about 11.30am which I must have needed as I was in bed for 11pm last night. Last night I went for a stroll along the lakeside for a couple of miles towards the centre of Taupo and in search of a restaurant. There is a path that leads from my veranda all along the lake side and follows the shore and it is incredibly peaceful. I took a couple of pictures across the lake from my room then more as I walked along the lakeside as the sun began to set. It was pretty spectacular as you will see from my latest photos.

The walk into Town took in some fantastic lakeside houses with families sitting out having BBQ’s and couples sitting on veranda’s enjoying a quiet drink. It really made me crave some company and the first time I have actually felt a little low all trip. 1, 2, 3 ahhhhhhh !!!

 Taupo is a really relaxed and fantastic place though. It is obviously the place where the rich come to relax and families holiday together. The lakefront is littered with flash hotels and even flasher apartments. What is also noticeable here is the abundance of European cars which I am told  are a sign of wealth. They cost so much to import that only the more wealthy can afford them so a BMW is a bit of a status symbol here rather than a reps car back home ( Sorry Paul , Sorry Dave !! ) My old Volvo C70CC retails at over $100,000 here which is twice the price it is at home.

Anyway, today I went for a spin round town on my bike and tried to find the places I came to 11 years ago. As I rode into town I found something my brother in law Nigel told me to look out for. It was a Hole in one competition set up on the shore with a pontoon around 120 yards out into the lake containing a golf green. The prize for a  hole in one is $10,000 so I had to have a go. It cost $20 for 25 balls so I handed over the cash and waited my turn behind a Chinese couple who had obviously never held a golf club in either of their lives. The guy missed the ball more times than he hit it and his best effort went around 30 yards in the wrong direction. She on the other hand hit the green more than once and totally humiliated her fella much to my amusement. My turn came and my first ball hit the edge of the pontoon and dropped into the water. I managed to land on the green a handful of times but there was no way the ball was ever going to stay on a square green 6 metres square so I failed in my bid to win the cash. I managed the second longest drive of the day but that won nothing.

I moved on into town and was quite surprised at how small Taupo is. I always remembered it as being bigger but then I was drunk more or less the whole time I was here 11 years ago so this is not a great shock. I found where the Holy Cow bar used to be and found that it has been replaced with an Irish bar. An hour later I discovered the same bar does an appalling all day breakfast with sausages that should have carried a Government Health Warning.

I was soon back at the hotel twiddling my thumbs wishing I had decided to cycle today instead as I was bored. I really am no good at relaxing. Eventually I broke out my emergency book and this eventually did the trick.cc I am now sat in that snazzy hotel again next door to mine enjoying a beer and free WIFI …..or at least I was,  as the mingy buggers only let you have it free for 20 minutes then you have to pay $10 an hour.

All around me are wealthy types and I have received more than one disapproving glance as I sit here in my tatty crumpled shorts and T shirt nursing an overpriced beer. Bet they don’t know I’m writing about them especially that American lady opposite who made some very defamatory remarks about her Chicken Liver Parfait a couple of minutes ago. If the chef had heard he would have sliced her up into little pieces. Maybe I will go and tell him !!!!

Well its 8.15pm now and I guess I should find somewhere to eat. I’m not eating here as its way too expensive. Not sure where to go this evening. Maybe I will just make do with my emergency snickers and stop early for breakfast somewhere. I’m back on the road tomorrow and have an 80 mile ride to Cambridge. It’s a bit hilly for the first 30 miles tomorrow so I better get an early night.

Hope your all well wherever you are, I’m still hoping those sausages don’t kill me. !!!      

Sunday 13th March – 5pm

What an amazing day. I am sat in a swanky hotel ( mine is next door !! ) enjoying a cold beer, a bowl of crisps and amazing view of Lake Taupo with the yayhts bobbing in the water just yards away. Life doesn’t get much better. Its times like this when you need company though as I am just not eloquent enough to explain how beautiful this place is.  It was this time yesterday that I was sweating my way over the desert road past Mount Doom hoping that it was not going to be much further that the road went downhill. Now I am here with a day and a half off as a reward for half killing myself yesterday. I think I may have to have a skin-full tonight.

Today has been a bit of a “jolly” really with 30 miles of cycling from Turangi this morning. I stretched it out and made it last about 4 hours stopping for breakfast and numerous photo opportunities and chatted to a few people along the way. The route followed the lake for the most part and I was surprised at how clear the lake is. You can look down and see the fish swimming around and there are loads of viewpoints and picnic areas all along the shore. The road is pretty well surfaced for a change and I have been passed my dozens of Ferraris all day as they are having a Ferrari rally here this weekend. It has made a nice change to have classic Italian sports cars wizzing by me rather than logging trucks.

There was just the one hill to speak of today though it was pretty damn steep at 15% on occasions. I was really sweating at one stage probably because I was unprepared for it. The down hill was fab though and took me all the way into Taupo itself at the northern tip of the lake. I have just been informed that Lake Taupo is itself an active volcano and is bubbling away with activity at the very bottom. Regardless of that fact It still looks cold in there so I will be sticking to my heated swimming pool instead thanks.

The last time I was here was 11 years ago on a” Kiwi Experience” Bus tour and I remember a great bar called the Holy Cow. I have really been looking forward to returning there for old time’s sake but I learnt today that it has closed. I am gutted. I remember dancing on the tables in there with a bunch of girls I met and getting steaming drunk. So much for repeating that old memory then !

I was planning on jumping out of a plane whilst here but having pushed the boat out with my hotel I think I may have to show some restraint on that score. I’m not sure what to do tomorrow really except just chill out. I have two 85 mile days after leaving here so it’s probably best to rest whilst I can and let the ankle heal. I will be staying with an old police mate, Tristan in Auckland on Friday so that should be good then its only 3 days to the very top of New Zealand and the end of my challenge. It is all passing by so quickly. I can’t believe 3 weeks is almost up. Oh well, I better grab another beer then and enjoy the present. All this is missing is a certain someone !

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Saturday 12th March 9pm

Well I am well and truly knackered !  Today has been a hellish ride and one that a may not want to repeat in a hurry… actually I will re phrase that…..I may not have the energy to repeat in a hurry. It has actually been a pretty amazing day and one that has taken in some pretty extraordinary scenery. I set off at 9.30am this morning and it was I didn't quite realise that it was uphill from the start. After an hour I was wondering why I could only average about 12/13 mph  when there was no real wind  stopping me and I was beginning to get a little confused. It felt like I was on the flat but when I checked the altimeter I had actually climbed about 800 feet in the first 10 miles hence the slow speed. Within 20 miles I was at 1000 feet and it felt pretty good but just a little slow and I stopped for breakfast and to call my mate Paul back in Manchester. Rather than being down the Pub as per usual for a Friday night he was “polyfillering” holes in his living room wall. Well at least I wasn’t missing anything eh!       

Within another 2 ½ hours I was in Taihape having climbed another 1000 feet albeit rather more as there were several ups and downs along the way. It was now lunch time and I was at my projected  final destination. I scoffed a quick Mc Donalds ( or two ) and saddled up again with a new destination in mind. Turangi which was another 57 miles. I had done 51 already and felt good and I knew that although I still had to climb up to 3500 feet and go over the desert road past the Volcanoes, the last 25 to 30 miles were all down hill so would not take long.

Well it wasn’t all plain sailing as there were some steep climbs to come and just out of Taihapi there was a bitch of a climb which went on for about 3 miles. Once this was over I was at 3000 ish feet and the road became flatter but still a gradual uphill to around 3500 feet near the start of the desert road. I was now in a very barren expanse with Mt Ruapehu and then Mt Ngauruhoe to my west which looked incredible. Both are massive volcanoes and you  may may have seen them in various films such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

The temperature was now pretty damn hot and according to my computer it maxed out at 101 F which I’m not sure I believe. There was a good breeze though so It wasn’t too much. The desert road went on for about 25 kms and apart from a couple of sharp rises was ok. It then dipped down suddenly and for the next hour I just weaved around sharp bends and tried to control my speed as I dropped 2500 feet almost without any uphill or flat sections at all. It was like a roller coaster and almost as scary on occasions. I had white knuckles and aching hands at the end as I passed Rangipo prison and it flattened out to Turangi. I think I may need to get some new brake blocks for the rear as I could smell them disintegrating at one point. I hardly had to peddle for twenty odd miles which is just as well as I didn’t really have the energy. I have completed 108 miles today and climbed just short of 5600 feet. I have taken the first motel room on offer and have a lovely room with a pool outside that I don’t have the energy to walk to. I think I will just lie here and not move till tomorrow. Typing this has used up the last bit of energy I have.

Actually I need food so I may have to walk across the road. I must have a few thousand calories to consume to break even even though I don’t really look like I’ve lost a pound. L

The good news is that instead of 80 miles to do tomorrow I only have 32 so I get a day and a half off. I may do a parachute jump or something. Actually my ankle may not like that, Maybe I will just find a thermal bath and turn myself into a prune.

Friday 11th March

I set off this morning at 8.30am from Upper Hutt for the 80 mile ride to Bulls on the West Coast in good weather and against the wind again. The first part of the trip involved a big climb over the Akatarawa Pass which runs due north from Upper Hutt to the Coast. The climb is just over 1500 feet and is very rolling so you end up climbing 2500 feet in total as the road keeps dropping down annoyingly after a steep climb meaning you have to gain the height all over again. It was a beautiful road though and I only saw about 6 cars for 23 miles. The road peaked at 18 miles and there was a great view towards the coast at this point. I took some photos but it was pretty cloudy by this point so they are not that great. The down hill was fantastic and went on for 5 miles with hundreds of twists and turns. I couldnt ge up any serious speed or I would have plummetted over a 100 foot drop but it was nice to take it easy and just coast down.
Once on the flat I stopped at Waikanae at a "Subway" for a breakfast meatball sandwich and got talking to a Kiwi bloke who kept asking me contentious questions about our Class System in the UK and why we all winge a lot.I so enjoyed his company!!. He then started to make comments about my thighs and asked me how I built them up so much, At this point i made a polite excuse and left leaving half a meatball sandwich and most of my coffee. Its amazing how quickly you can lose your appetite isn't it ?
Once safely back on my bike it was 60 miles of flat road ahead of me which in theory was great. The only problem was the dratted north westerly wind that insisted on blowing me backwards for the next 5 hours. Its so typical that as soon as I get a nice flat easy section to ride mother nature decides to break wind in my face.
Its a pity that the road I was on never really gave me a glimpse of the sea as that would have made it all so worth while. I got to see lots of trucks though and some of them up very close indeed !!!
Once at Levin at the 50 mile mark I pulled in and lookd for a place that may sell carrot cake as this is my personal rocket fuel. I dropped lucky straight away and sat on my own in a deserted cafe for a whole hour. It almost got that boring that I almost hoped the "Thigh Guy" would walk in........I do stress " Almost " though as he was quite strange.
Within a couple of hours I was peddling into Bulls where my Brother in laws mate Kvin lives with his wife and family. I was greeted with a beer in proper Kiwi fashion and have watched the rugby eaten a great meal and skyped home. All in all a great day and no real problems off the ankle. I think i may feel it in the morning though. Tomorrow is a 4000 feet climb up to Taihape so I will need a good sleep tonight. So far so good though. Catch you all later

Thursday 10th March - Lazy day

Today has been a very lazy day and to be honest I have hardly done a thing. I went for a quick ride into town to see how my ankle felt and to get some flowers for the lady of the house for looking after me. On route I realised that my headset on the bike was  a bit knackered so took the bike into a local bike shop and they fixed it for me free of charge in half an hour. How good is that ?
The ankle feels a bit better so I will be testing it out properly by heading to Bulls tomorrow morning some 133 kms away. There is a 1550 foot climb to start with so that should either make me or break me. Cant wait to get going again though as there is so much to see and I'm looking forward to heading up into the mountains where all the volcanos are. The scenery is amazing especially the desert crossing in Tongararo.
I have an early start tomorrow so this is short and sweet . Wish me luck !

Wednesday 9th March - Rest Day

Wednesday 9^th March  1030pm                                                             

Today has been a much needed rest day in Upper Hutt, Wellington with Richard and Clare and their three young sons Jack aged 6, Ollie aged 4 and Tom aged 2. Three little whirling durbishes!

I arrived swearing never to cycle again such was the pain in my left achilles and the situation still hasn’t changed drastically. I have struggled to walk today and my sight- seeing tour kindly lead by Richard has been mainly by car.

 I had a lovely long lie in this morning and woke to a cooked breakfast which was inhaled in record time. I have built up quite an appetite in the last few days after my body has finally recognised that I will be exerting myself more or less every day from now on and needs the fuel. I haven’t really gone on about calorie intake much for fear of being boring but my fancy cycle computer kindly donated by POLAR ( thanks Lynne) tells me I am consuming around 800 cals an hour on the bike which means on average my body needs around 5600 extra calories if I cycle for 7 hours. I really struggle to eat that much so have lost around 8lbs so far. I’m hoping my beer intake will make up the difference though as I have no problems drinking.

Today Richard and I went into Wellington as I mentioned earlier and he showed me the Parliament building, and many of the other significant landmarks. One thing that is very apparent here is pride they take in the city. It is very relaxed, clean and manicured with well defined areas of use. The city itself has a Central Government area, a Retail area, an Industrial Sector and a Party area where all the bars are. It looks like a great city for socialising and everywhere you look you see the mountains behind with an abundance of trees making you feel that you are in a small industrious oasis carved out of a giant forested mountain range. Everywhere you look you see places that you would love to own a house because the views from the hillsides are spectacular. We drove up to Mount Victoria which overlooks the city and has a great viewpoint that takes in not just the city but the surrounding suburbs, airport and marina’s. I just clicked away with my camera like a Japanese Tourist as every view was amazing. It helped that today has been a beautiful day but all the same, this is a place I could live as it is relatively compact, exceptionally well laid out and attractive and many of the houses are individually designed, inventive and have plenty of space. It feels like one big friendly village.

We toured a couple of suburbs around Upper Hutt to see land plots and building sites and I was gobsmacked by the value for money you get here. For the price of my 2 bed city centre pad I could buy a 4 dbl bedroomed 250 sq meter luxury house with a dbl garage and half an acre of land on a hillside overlooking a fantastic view. Wellington really is a fabulous place to live,  full stop! I’ve no plans to move here though so don’t get your hopes up !

Finally today I managed to get to see another Physio who no sooner looked at me she stuck a bunch of acupuncture needles in my legs. I also had some ultra sound on the offending achilles and was diagnosed with Achilles Tendonitis, which I knew already thanks to the internet. It was no surprise when she strapped my ankle up and told me to give up on my cycling trip and lay off exercise for at least two weeks. Yeah Right !  I said.

 I now find myself with a dilemma as I don’t want to do myself irreparable damage and I don’t want to fail in my endeavour. I have decided for the moment to take another rest day tomorrow and have re-jigged my route so it’s a little shorter and less mountainous. This way it should be easier on the ankles and I have slightly longer to repair. I’m not entirely sure my ankle will be ok as the pain was unbearable yesterday but I am determined to give it my best shot. Richard and Claire have been great and are looking after me. In return I read stories to the boys and act as their punch-bag. It’s a fair deal I guess.

I guess in the meantime I can write more dross for you to read with your morning coffee and upload some more boring pictures of roads. Enjoy!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Monday 7th March & Tuesday 8th March

Monday 7^th March - 9.30pm

What a great day !  I didn’t get as far as I wanted to get as I am now in a small village called Ward around 25 miles south of Blenheim but it has been a good ride today.  I set off pretty early at around 8.30 and stopped for breakfast early on and to upload yesterday’s blog. After a quick breakfast  it was back on the bike and off towards Kaikoura, famous for whale watching. The only problem was a range of mountains in-between called the Hundalee’s.

Due to the fact that the map I have been using is completely crap I didn’t really know where these mountains started but what was apparent was that the road was no longer flat and the landscape became rolling again with barely a flat or straight section at all. To be honest it made a pleasant change though obviously it wasn’t quite as easy. After an hour the road started getting steeper and I thought, “well here we go, this is gonna be a slog” !, but it didn’t really get that difficult and after another 5 to 8 miles of rolling hills it straightened out.  I thought “well that wasn’t so hard was it” but I spoke too soon. On rounding the next corner Mount Everest loomed before me and I took a sharp intake of breath “ Shit !”  For the next 15 miles I climbed one steep road after another and although they didn’t really go beyond 800 feet climbs there were plenty of them and many were 13% gradients or more.

To be honest I still felt very strong and it didn’t get too much though I did have to pop more than a couple of pain killers when the Achilles problem returned. It definitely hurts more when I’m going uphill.  After 32 miles the Hundalee’s swept down to the ocean affording some amazing views and a twisty 38 mph decent which flattened out into a 12 mile coastal run through numerous tunnels. I was always within a few feet of the sea and I kept stopping to take photos as round every headland there was a better view. Eventually I arrived in Kaikoura with a massive appetite and ordered two main courses at a local café. Kaikoura is rather bohemian with lots of travellers ( not the ones who tarmac your drive badly ) and an abundance of people with dreadlocks, goatee beards and sandals.  I felt right at home… !

After spending an hour on lunch I saddled up again and headed north onto a flat road heading inland for a while then back out to the sea again to follow the beach for the next 40 miles. With a slight southerly wind I flew along the coast at around 18mph for ages only slowing for the odd climb or on one occasion when a truck came so close to me the wind pressure it created sent me into a ditch ! ( I’m ok though mum J )

Finally the road turned inland and a sign came up saying Blenheim 55kms. I looked at my watch and it was 6.30pm. I was never going to make it before dark. The venture into the ditch had resulted in a lost map and a busted front torch so I wasn’t going to be cycling in the dark even though I felt able to. I really wanted to do the 120 miles to Blenheim today as I felt so good.

A few miles later around 7pm and after 96 miles I came to a small village called Ward which has a small pub/Inn and a motel. There was no room at the Inn so I ventured on to the motel which also had no room. Fortunately they had a rickety old caravan in the corner at $25 a night so this is where I now sit tapping away on my laptop. There was nowhere open to eat so the Manager kindly gave me some bread and a can of beans so it was  ”Beans a la Toast” for me tonight. I have spent the last hour or so  nattering away to a group of people on a four wheel drive holiday across the remote areas of the south island. They were a great bunch and are having a ball. It looks like great fun. They even gave me a beer and some good advice on where to avoid on the north island.

So I guess this means that I leave the south island tomorrow as it is only about 42 miles to Picton where I catch the ferry to Wellington. It’s been emotional as they say. It has been a beautiful and incredibly friendly place to travel and although I have only stuck to the main route ( The A1 ) I have seen some great sights. The best thing though has been the people and everyone has been brilliant. Complete strangers have been really generous, I have made some new friends and obviously I have experienced some sobering sights in Christchuch. I have even felt my first earthquake and 13 more on top of that so that is something I will always remember.  I have even stuck to my schedule which for me is a first.

Tomorrow night I will be with Richard (Plug) and Clare in Upper Hut above Wellington and then it’s a day off again, thank god. This is of course if I manage to get on the Inter-islander Ferry as I haven’t booked a ticket !!!!!

Tuesday 8^th March -  3pm

Well I am now sat on the Interislander Ferry between Picton and Wellington waving goodbye to the south island ( not literally though as people would think I was strange !) and more than ready for a rest day with Richard and Clare in Upper Hutt. The cycle this morning was not easy as my left ankle is now worse than ever and quite frankly I cannot cycle on it any more. It has taken me a while to get from Ward this morning as it has was pretty hilly to start with and cycling uphill is way more painful. The extra strong painkillers have ceased to have any effect so I will have to see another physio asap. I may need two days off if I am to complete this trip which is a little worrying.

The scenery on route today was beautiful with vineyards lining every hillside and winding roads affording great views. I was in too much of a hurry to stop and take photos and quite frankly it hurt too much to twist my ankle to uncleat my left shoe from my peddle so it was better to keep moving. Blenheim looked really nice but passed me by in a blur and I arrived just in time to book on the next ferry at 2pm.

I now have a 3 hour journey to Wellington to try and find out if painkillers and alcohol work better than just painkillers alone. This could be interesting !!