30th March 2009 - FLIGHT TO AUCKLAND & REUNION TIME!!! The flight from Christchurch to Auckland was good....nice change from sitting on a bike seat anyway!! Only a 2 hour flight so no meal but we did get some tea and an apple which was good. I enjoyed my first window seat too...loved it! Looking down I couldn't believe how remote the island is....not built up at all just mountains and greenery with the odd house dotted about here and there....love it!! We landed in Auckland at 4ish and then caught the shuttle straight to the hostel. We had booked to [View Full Entry]

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29th March 2009 - LAST DAY OF SORE BOTTOMS!! My alarm went off at 6.30am. It was still dark outside and felt very early to be up. We didn’t have a choice though as we needed to be on the road by 7.30am as we had a long way to cycle and a bus to catch when we got to Geraldine, our destination. It would be our furthest cycle to date and I hoped it would go smoothly!! We got sorted and set off on time. It was just starting to get light as we set out which was nice as [View Full Entry]

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28th March 2009 - A WALK UP MOUNT JOHN & PRETTY LAKE TEKAPO!! I woke up early and went to have breakfast and watch TV for a while until Nat got up. We weren’t in a rush today and took our time getting ready and sorting out our things for the day before setting out. We planned to do the walk up to Mount John Observatory and back to the town around the lakeside. We expected it to take a good 5 hours or so from the information we had and so we were on our way by 10.30am We set [View Full Entry]

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27th March 2009 - WIND IS A CYCLISTS NIGHTMARE & ARRIVAL AT LAKE TEKAPO!! I got up at 7.45am, dressed and prepared for the day. Other people who were staying at the hut that had come from Lake Tekapo kept on telling us what a lovely flat ride it was. Easily said when you travel along it by car...our peddlers paradise book told a slightly different story, which had plenty more ups than downs! It was only 58km though so I was sure we would get there! We had been more concerned about the weather as rain was on the agenda [View Full Entry]

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26th March 2009 - ACHEY LEGS FOR CYCLING!!! I slept ok apart from the aching legs!! I have done a lot of exercise in my time but I have never felt pain as I did in my legs today after the walk down the mountain. My quads were killing and I could hardly walk properly they were that stiff. Partly my own fault as I failed to stretch once I had got to the bottom of the mountain but by gum…this was pain!! Nat felt pretty much the same and neither of us were looking forward to getting on the bikes [View Full Entry]

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24th March 2009 - TREK UP TO MUELLER HUT - TOUGH BUT WORTH IT!!! I woke up at around 6.30am and was not impressed to find that I was still in bed. I had just had a dream that had got up, showered and prepared myself for the day and now I had to do it all again! Not fair! It was pitch black outside and so I was pleased that I had organised myself the night before and laid all my clothes out. Very Monica Gellar like! I warmed up in a hot shower before going for breakfast where Nat [View Full Entry]

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23rd March 2009 - THE RIDE TO MOUNT COOK VILLAGE.....UP, UP AND UP!!! I woke up early again...think my body clock is set to 7am these days! It was lovely and warm under my covers though and so I stayed there until 8am dozing on and off! I then got up, washed and had breakfast before getting myself ready for the cycle to Mount Cook Village. I was not in a good frame of mind this morning and I did not want to cycle at all. For some reason I felt nervous which is silly but then I am a bit [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 21st March 2009 - A DAY IN OMARAMA....QUIET LITTLE PLACE!! The hostel (Buscott Backpackers) was located just outside of Omarama and the bus driver, as nice as he was, dropped us off on the road just outside the hostel. It feels wrong to call it a hostel as it wasn't your typical backpackers. It was a big farm house located around 1.5km from the road up a gravel path. The place was totally secluded and was a fantastic looking house. It was set out beautifully and had a proper kitchen, dining room and living room that we could use. We [View Full Entry]

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20th March 2009 - FERGBURGERS.......WOW!!! My alarm went off at 9am. I did not want to move but we needed to book another nights accommodation and so I trundled downstairs only to learn that Nat had already been down and booked it at 8.30am. Whilst I was up I had some breakfast & some water to re-hydrate my body before heading back to bed. I was tired and had an alcohol induced headache - sleep was the only cure!! We eventually got up at around midday and lounged around downstairs for a while whilst watching 'Along Came Polly.' I felt like [View Full Entry]

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19th March 2009 - NEVIS BUNGY JUMP........NEVER FELT BETTER!! I woke up at a round 8.30am...slept well for once! I was really excited about doing the Nevis Bungy jump and hoped that it wouldn't be fully booked and I would be able to jump today. Nat was still undecided as to whether to do a smaller bridge bungy jump at 43m high. Being scared of heights it wasn't an easy decision for her and she kept changing her mind throughout the morning. I told her to go for it as the one I did in Taupo was awesome and I thought [View Full Entry]

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