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Published: February 8th 2009
Monday day 18 was a nice, warm sunny morning as I set off from the Lazy Cow backpacker at Murchison, a place which I can thoroughly recommend by the way. It is owned by a nice couple who hail from Somerset and it was there that I met a couple of cyclists from Winnipeg, a vet and his wife, and also a Swiss cycling physiotherapist, who was going to have a day off since she was having leg muscle problems after the climb from Nelson. It was a steady pull up to St Arnoud following the river again. Again it didi not seem to be much of a gradient and indeed sometimes it appeared to be downhill but my legs told me otherwise. 10k before St Arnoud I came across a gliding club and an offer of a ride up, but the wind was still to still and the clouds were not moving on the hill top. Since it would have meant waiting for an hour or more I trundled on and found my digs in the village and could not face going back up the hill to the gliders. Instead I visited the Lake and got bitten by the NZ midges, which are relentless and certainly give a nip. The Travers Sabine Lodge was very good, in a log cabin, and can be recommended.
Tuesday was again a nice day and I climbed for the first 6 miles, which was folllowed by the best 50 miles I have ever ridden. The first 7 were hardly pedalled and tehn the rest was a steady 2% down with a nice tial wind - extacy. Since I had been averaging 10mph including stops for photos and snacks I had arranged with my friend Tony to meet me at Renwick at 2pm. Since the going was so good I had to dawdle, otherwise I would have arrived at 11 oclock. It was 12.15 when I arrived and since I had passed a lot of wineries and stopped at one I bought a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir to celebrate in Picton. Tony picked me up at one in his Jeep Grand Cherokee and took me to his fabulous house overlooking Waikawa bay in Picton. Margaret had designed the house so that each and every room, even the toilets, overlooked the wide expance of the bay. What a fabulous view and such a practical house - amazing. I was made most welcome and spent the next four days chilling out touring the area by car, or should I say several cars including a classic Bentley and Mercedes convertible.
On Thursday the Marlborough Aviation Museum in Blenheim was a very good visit with excellent displays set in authentic surroundings. Friday saw us visiting a Historic Display at Blenheim's Brayshaw Heritage Park, where tractors, cars and motorbikes etc were on display, alongside model railways and boats in operation. In true Antipodean tradition I was treated to several barbeques with Tony, Margaret and their kind neighbours. Lovely people.
On Saturday night I packed my bike in a box cadged from a Blenheim bike shop and joined the 10.30pm ferry to Wellington, North Island for a flight to Melbourne, Australia. I was 7k overwight and suffered a $35 surcharge for the pleasure. I obtained a taxi at 2am to the airport, only to find it did not open until 4am. and so sat on my bag for two hours. My sleep this night consisited of 2 hours nodding on the flight. I now have a week with my son Paul in Geelong with some riding inbetween. have been lucky with the weather, half a day in Geraldine, plus a few showers during the next week or so, and a wet day last Wednesday in Picton, when we took a boat ride around Queen Charlotte Sound.
My overall impressions, so far are that NZ is a very nice country with amazing scenery and very nice people, with better weather than the UK. It reminds me of Norway in many respects. Well worth a visit.
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Joanne Brennand
non-member comment
Greetings!
Hi Dad. Sorry I haven't left a message before now, but we've enjoyed keeping up with your progress. The girls (older two!) keep looking to see what you're up to. Mum said you'd arrived safely at Paul's and were enjoying a barbecue. Australia has been on our news a lot because of all the bush fires, heat and deaths! Keep away from the bush!! Last night we went to Jill's 40th birthday party and got home at 2.30am, when it was a chilly minus 4.5 degrees. I had consumed a little more wine than was sensible, and Kitty woke up just as my head hit the pillow!!! She then woke again at 6.30 for another feed. Torture!! Mum's here now and we are about to have a lunch of roast chicken, Yorkshire pudding etc, which should be good. Looking forward to seeing you next week. Preparations are ongoing for Kitty's Christening - two weeks today. See you soon, Enjoy your last week, lots of love Joanne and gang xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx