The riding has been fun. The road has stayed just shy of the coast for the past 100 miles or so, which makes the hikes down to the beach even better than anticipated.Gorgeous Rocky coast here... reminds us of Oregon. We have mixed feelings about coming to an end of the biking portion of our trip. If we had more time we would love to continue riding around the whole island. It sounds like some of the best rides are still in front of us.
Two thumbs up to the majority of drivers who give us wide berth and pass slowly. To the large hay truck who pushed us off the road, we offer a different finger.
Lessons learned:
- Next time we tour, we will use warmshowers. Warm showers is an online community of bike tourists who open their homes to other bike tourists.You're likely to see Blue Cloud Power Co on the list of places to stay sooner than later.
- New Zealand is expensive.
- We need more time. Most Americans we spoke with think 3 weeks is long vacation; however, mention 3 weeks to a Kiwi, and you get "That's all you got?". Especially for touring--it takes time. Being able to take our time without being on a set schedule would be wonderful.
- Eggs need no refrigeration. You find them on the shelves in New Zealand stores.
I just finished reading a great book, "Kon-Tiki". It's about a Norwegian Grad student who decides to float a balsa wood raft across the Pacific to prove that the Polynesian islands could have been populated from the east instead of the west. It's a great adventure/survival story. I recommend it to anyone.
We just met a wonderful Portuguese couple, Joana and Nuno, who are spending 3 months cycle touring New Zealand. They have done a lot of touring and offered us some great suggestions for places to visit. Nuno spent 3 years traveling the Pan American highway from northern Canada to Patagonia; he passed right through Helena. They are the ones who told us about Warm Showers.
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