Guilt Ridden Exercise


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April 8th 2007
Published: April 8th 2007
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Smiling for the Camera...Smiling for the Camera...Smiling for the Camera...

whilst the jetboat does a 360 degree spin in the shallow water.

Untitled
Angela and Peter Smyth

Queenstown - Crazy Days



After a sad goodbye at Christchurch airport we boarded our flight to Queenstown and Angela's dad boarded his flight to the UK. We seem to have taken so many extra, cheap flights on this trip - we will have to plant trees for the rest of our lives to make up for our carbon imprint. It is hard to pass up a 45 min flight with views of the mountains when a 6 hour bus ride costs not much less.

Queenstown is the place to head to if you would like to partake in any crazy adrenalin sports on south island. Its set on a lake with beautiful mountains around and is full of young travellers who are trying to get the biggest buzz for the cheapest deal. Most people can't afford to stay more than a couple of days.

Before letting him leave we had palmed off lots of our junk on Ang's dad so he could take it back to the UK for us. One of the things we sent back was the tent which had been our home for the past couple of months. We were now to treat ourselves
The Silver FernThe Silver FernThe Silver Fern

This national symbol is everywhere!
to real beds with real mattresses rather than rollmats; our plan was to stay in hostels for the rest of the trip. After bagging a bed in a past-its-best hostel we headed straight to one of the many tourist offices to book our Skydive-Shotover Combo. We were buzzing so much after the skydive that we dedicated the whole previous blog to those 7 minutes of madness. Yes, it was just as terrifying and amazing as the photos suggest.

To keep our adrenalin levels high we then boarded the Shotover Jetboat for more screaming and laughter. We flew through the beautiful Shotover River canyon shooting within inches of the overhanging rocks and doing 360 degree spins. The power the boat had was amazing - it only needed a 10cm depth of water and moved so quickly. We had a great and wet time(Thanks Barns and Paul).

By this time Ang's dad was just about arriving in Heathrow after his 3 flights. How very different his last 36 hours were to ours (although I'm sure he preferred his!!).


Rail Trail Blazin’



In the two weeks we had spent with Angela’s Dad, Dennis, we had taken advantage of the New Zealand’s excellent and very good value food. As a result we were feeling slightly bloated and decided we should punish ourselves with a few days exercise and hire bikes. (I am sure Ang’s Dad is doing exactly the same!)

Our first plan was to hire bikes in Christchurch and cycle back to Queenstown along the scenic route via Lake Tekapo but the ever present bargain basement flights mentioned above prevented that idea. It might have also had something to do with the steep hills which we encountered driving the same route in reverse - we probably couldn’t have pushed the bikes with heavy panniers up them let alone cycled.

The obvious alternative option was to cycle along the Otago Rail Trail which took us towards Dunedin from Queenstown. The rail trail is along an abandoned railway line and runs from Clyde to Middlemarch for 150km. Being an old railway line we were assured that the gradients could not exceed anything more than 1 in 50 - excellent news. We also felt sure that the coach loads of package tourists could not follow us here and fill the countryside.

We arrived in sleepy Cromwell, which is where we were to hire our bikes and start cycling towards Clyde and the trail. Cromwell is a sweet little town obviously very proud of its fruit industry as it displays 4 giant fruit at its entrance. Nice town which obviously doesn’t have many travellers as when we asked about hostels in the local tourist information office we were told Cromwell does not do backpacker's hostels After sorting out the bike hire and checking into a cabin at the nearby caravan park we decided we would for once be organised and book a couple nights' accommodation on the rail trail. A dozen phone calls later we still could not find available accommodation that was anywhere near our budget. We decided that we should take a tent with us and camp if we couldn't find anything. We had to buy another new tent - our third of this trip. We found a bargain tent for only NZ$50 (about 20pounds) and we later found out that the reason it was cheap may have been due to that it could have been a kids tent. Whilst Ang fitted into the tent snugly, Pete had to curl up into a ball to prevent his
Welcome to CromwellWelcome to CromwellWelcome to Cromwell

Home of the giant fruit?!??
feet from sticking out of the door.

After loading up the bikes with panniers, tents, sleeping bags and of course food, we set off - finally in the right direction after initially leaving town in the completely opposite direction and making a swift u-turn past the giant fruit. The first 30km we had to cycle on the main road to reach the start of the rail trail in Clyde. The roads in the south island are not very busy and are usually made up of a string of buses and pick-ups following a clapped out old camper van struggling up the hills waiting for the next overtaking lane. Also, after driving around the south island for 2 weeks, we knew that the great scenery never stops and being on the bikes meant that we were able to appreciate it even more. We even got to see in more detail the ever-present New Zealand speed bumps - aka squashed possums which are littered all over the roads.

It wasn't long before we started on the rail trail. The pace slowed lots on the gravel trail compared with the smooth tarmac roads. However, with the tranquil countryside scenery we were in no rush and really enjoyed ambling along the deserted trail in peace and quiet. The first half of the Otago Rail Trail, whichever direction you do it, is generally uphill and the second half downhill, so we were expecting the going to be tough on the first day and a half. Nevertheless we set ourselves the target of completing the trail in 3 days including the section from Cromwell. The afternoon section started to go more uphill and we were faced with a very unfriendly headwind slowing us down even more. It was not a surprise that when we spotted the Chatto Creek tavern just off the trail we headed straight inside for some liquid refreshment. Chatting to the locals in the bar we were assured that we still had a long way to go up the hill and, yes, the wind was very strong today! Back on the bikes we grafted on in the lowest gears and eventually reached Omakau for the night stop. This first night we were rewarded with a cheap cabin to sleep in so Pete could stretch out his legs and spared our first night in the wendy house tent. After a burger to eat we were straight to bed to ease our aching legs and prepare ourselves for the next day.

Feeling rather saddle sore we pressed on pleased with the good weather and lack of wind. This section of the rail trail was the most interesting. We crossed many old viaducts and passed through many tunnels, of which some where 200metres long and very dark inside. More importantly, later in the day, we passed the highest point of the rail trail at 618m and that only meant one thing - downhill the rest of the way!!! Chatting to a local later he said that as a Civil Engineer I should appreciate the remarkable engineering of the bridges as they were built just over 100 years ago. I nodded in appreciation and didn’t want to burst his bubble of tales of great bridges like the Ironbridge built in the 18th century and the other much older bridges in the UK. However, the railway was a great feat of engineering solely for the fact that mountains were pretty much moved by hand to carve the railway up through the gorge from Dunedin. As far as things go in New Zealand the railway is
WedderburnWedderburnWedderburn

We'd just come over the hill and had a day and a half of downhill from here.
very, very old.

Our stop that night was in Waipiata - it was meant to be a hostel, but only on arrival did we find out that it had closed down and reopened as a rather expensive B&B. Fortunately we were able to pitch the tent in the garden and camp the night. It was a beautiful setting to stay and the views and sunset were incredible. In the morning we sat in at breakfast with the other guests. They had a full breakfast of almost anything they wanted and we only had our dry toast with Marmite. But we knew they were all jealous of our English Marmite, which Ang’s Dad had smuggled across - far better than any impostor NZ marmite and definitely better than the inedible vegemite.

The third day of cycling went well and we reached the end of the rail trail by 4pm. Along the route there are “checkpoint stamps” with the name of each town and we had been stamping our travel diary along the way. We were very proud that we had all the stamps and only when we reached the final stamp in Middlemarch did we realise that we had
Aniseed balls to keep us rolling onAniseed balls to keep us rolling onAniseed balls to keep us rolling on

(they were slightly harder than diamond and lasted for hours)
left the diary back at the previous stamp checkpost, 6.3km back down the trail. After a sprint back along the trail and with the diary safe in our hands, we completed the railtrail including the 13km encore. We were unlucky that the section of trail we had to cycle 3 times was probably the most boring of all the trail as 6km of the 6.3km track was on a perfect straight line without a bend in sight. “Just think of the extra calories burnt off” Ang said. With that in mind we showered and headed to the local pub where Pete dined on bangers, fried eggs and chips washed down with beer or two.

After speaking with some locals about the cycle ride to Dunedin we were warned that roads were very steep and that the Taieri Gorge Railway would take us and our bikes on the scenic route to Dunedin. After three days and 200km+ of cycling on bumpy gravel roads we let our saddle-sore bums make the decision and booked two tickets on the railway. We still had 21km to cycle to get to the train station which was in the middle of nowhere. We asked a
Camping at the B&BCamping at the B&BCamping at the B&B

saved us NZ$60 by staying in the tent (our 3rd tent of this trip!)
lady at the camp if there were hills on the way to the station and she said pretty much flat. Not reading between the lines we set off on good spirits, which carried on until, nearly at the end, we spotted a strange black stripe veering straight up the side of the hill in front of us. It wasn't until we got closer that we realised that this black stripe was the road and we had to cycle over the hill to get to the train station. It is definitely the hardest bike climb we have ever done as we were knackered and had the heavy panniers on the bikes. It was made worse by the 4 false summits on the hill before we finally reached the top. A quick downhill and we had reached Pukerangi where the train was to pick us up.


Taieri Railway Gorge



It was such a great relief when we saw the red carriage of the Taieri train approach the station. As it pulled to a stop everyone got off with their cameras and we soon realised that no-one else was taking the train to get from A to B, rather just as an attraction in itself. We were welcomed aboard the train like celebs - many of the people who got off the train took photos and videos of us loading up our bikes and then we were allowed to sit and relax in the buffet car so that we could get views from both sides of the train. Everyone else had to sit in the main carriages. There were supposed to be 2 other cyclists to collect from Pukerangi station, we can only guess that they got stuck on the hills on the journey from Middlemarch.

We hadn’t expected much from this train trip - we were just using is to save our legs in our way to Dunedin. However we soon realised it was an attraction in its own right due to the stunning gorge that it wound its way through. We decided to make the most of our time in the buffet car and ordered Devonshire cream teas (Pete had coffee), relaxed our weary legs and enjoyed the commentary the ticketmaster/rail enthusiast was giving whilst sat on the wonderfully soft seats.


Dunedin


Fuelled with scone, jam and mounds of cream we started the hilly 2.5km
Waipiata SunsetWaipiata SunsetWaipiata Sunset

I don't think the trees were on fire but that could explain the great sunset
cycle to one of Dunedin's campsites. After cycling for 5 minutes we had to dismount and start to push. After pushing for 5 minutes we had to give up and find a city centre place to stay. There was no way we were going to get up the massive, steep hill in front of us.

We spent a couple of days relaxing in Dunedin, a university city on the south east coast. We changed our initial plan to cycle and see the Otago Peninsula and instead went to the cinema and scoffed popcorn. Despite the keen cinema advertising of the kiwi movie "Black Sheep" we didn't opt to watch this classic about when the 40 million sheep in NZ get p*ss*d off and want revenge on the 4 million people!!!


Oamaru


With a week to spare before we flew to Auckland, north island, we decided to break up our journey to Christchurch with a stop at Oamaru. This is a big seaside town (by NZ standards) and we found a wonderful hostel to spend a few nights in. We made ourselves very much at home , relaxing by the wood fire with a bottle of wine, watching movies and even cooking a roast. Things we will take for granted again when we get home.

At the southern end of Oamaru there a 2 penguin colonies - blue penguins and yellow-eyed penguins. We only made it to the yellow-eyed colony (the free one to visit) and saw many penguins coming out of the water and making their ways to nests in the cliff.

Near Oamaru there are many geological and fossil remains. We hired an almost vintage car from "Smash Palace Rentals" for less than the cost of hiring one bike and drove off in search of whale and dolphin remains and interesting rocks. We visited a number of sites including the "Elephant Rocks" (huge limestone rocks) and "Earthquakes" cliffs. Making the most out of our "Smash" rental car we also headed south down the coast to the "Moeraki Rocks". We had fun taking photos at these rocks and trying to time it right to stand on them and pose for pictures. Pete seemed to have better timing than Ang.


A month in South Island over and no Kiwi sightings


We are now back in Christchurch and fly to Auckland tomorrow. We have definitely
Tunnel VisionTunnel VisionTunnel Vision

or lack of vision in the many tunnels which are up to 200m long
had a memorable time here on south island with fantastic experiences, wonderful scenery and friendly people. Many locals have warned us about being disappointed with north island as it doesn't have the beauty of the south. We only have 2 weeks in north island; hopefully enough to see the highlights and drink plenty of Hawkes Bay wine.


Additional photos below
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It wouldn't be a NZ blog without sheep getting in there somewhereIt wouldn't be a NZ blog without sheep getting in there somewhere
It wouldn't be a NZ blog without sheep getting in there somewhere

Hundreds of sheep being herded by 5 efficient dogs
Railtrail EncoreRailtrail Encore
Railtrail Encore

Reaching the end of the trail we had to backtrack 6km to get the abandoned diary - we made sure the stamp was clearly displayed on the page and took out some of our frustration on the Ngapuna stamp
Dark Clouds LoomingDark Clouds Looming
Dark Clouds Looming

Racing to beat the rain - fortunately we were very lucky with the weather and escaped a downpour the whole 3-day ride
Our carriage awaitsOur carriage awaits
Our carriage awaits

After cycling 200km+ we decided the scenic train ride to Dunedin could be justified.


23rd April 2007

Kiwi sighting
Pete and Ang - still following your trip. We only saw one (live) Kiwi and that was at the Mt Bruce National Bird Santuary about halfway between Wellington and Napier. We also saw about 15 other kiwis, but they were all stuffed in the Te Papa musuem in Wellington. Happy spotting.

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