DUNEDIN TO AUCKLAND
The silence of our first overnight at the hotel in Dunedin was broken at 3:30 am when a false fire alarm was triggered. The alarm being right outside Doug's bedroom door and the fact that the electrical room was right beside his bed and that there was someone at 3:45am hammering his way through the door was enough to grant us a complimentary continental breakfast at this establishment this morning.
We take our gift and then drag our bags and bike boxes into a waiting shuttle bound for the small but very lovely Dunedin airport. In one hour and thirty minutes, modern jet technology will wipe away four weeks of old technology pedalling. The view from the plane is great and we both watch the geography of many of the places we cycled past.
We land in Auckland, grab another shuttle to an arranged hotel in this very large and cosmopolitan city and then step outside to explore.
Andy has a contact here. Her name is Robyne and she worked with him at Ernst and Young about a decade ago. We meet up with her down at moderatley new waterfront development called "The ViaDuct". It is hopping down there. We go into a sports bar that puts Cafe Roma on the Drive in Vancouver to shame. Dozens of screens many the size of a house with an important Rugby match on and no room to move. When a goal that pleases the house happens, conversation pretty much comes to a halt as the noise is impossible to talk over. They love the Rugby and Cricket in this country like we love the hockey.
As a side note, we are hearing and seeing nothing about Vancouver now. It is more like being away and isolated now as the end of the Olympics are almost a week in the past.
Anyway, we raise a few pints and then have something to eat before we say goodnight to Robyne - but not before she promises a guided tour via a private vehicle tomorrow. Good score Andy!
Mar 3 - Albatross Hunt
OTAGO PENINSULA - DUNEDIN
This morning we take our bikes - sans our luggage that is normally strapped to the back - and head out for a 60 km return ride around the Otago Peninsula. If you look at a map of the Dunedin area you will notice that this peninsula juts out into the South Pacific creating Dunedin harbour. The ride is similar to riding the seawall around Stanley Park, but going in the opposite direction on the other side of the road.
We leave early, because we need to be back in town between noon and one o'clock for an appointment with Cycle Surgery, the only bike shop in town that would agree to box up our bicycles. This will be our last pedal adventure of our trip - so it is a bit emotional as well.
The ride was cited in our Lonely Planet guide to cycling in New Zealand as the authors all time favorite ride in the country so we couldn't pass up that kind of recomendation. It proved to be that for sure. There were many different moods to this ride.
First, cycling out of the city on bike paths that were literally just a meter or so away from the sea, passing tons of other bikers on their way into the city for work. Then, as the bike path connects to the peninsula proper the mood becomes very serene. We pass several small fishing villiages / tourist traps as we wind our way west. When we come to a village called Portobella we stop for a rest and regroup as the next part of the journey is a one way, no exit road to the very tip where there is an Albatross colony - complete with a tourist visitor centre, gallery and coffee shop. These albatross have it made.
Having had one around my (Doug's) neck for about 14 months, I wanted to cycle out and maybe shoot one - photographically speaking of course.
We pedal all the way there and back and we see a few of these creatures - nothing to write home about - oops I guess I am wrong there.
We stop again in Portobello for lunch and then begin a return ride via Highcliff road. The road name fits its character. Straight up for about 15 kilometers, but at the top we are once again rewarded. Getting home in time for our appointment is becoming an issue as Doug is stopping every hundred metres or so to take another picture or video. There are striking views of the Pacific from this height with large pastures of sheep and goats making up the foreground - and kilometers of old stone fences that demand to be captured. Check out the photos for this day and you'll see for yourself.
Then the downhill. That's the other reward that comes with struggling up a large seemingly endless series of hills. As we approached the apex of this ride, we could see Dunedin in the distance and we could also look down on the road that we travelled at the beginning of this journey. All very beautiful and to tempting for our camera to resists. Yeah, blame our being late on the camera.
We descend into Dundedin in record time - the roads were smooth and the corners were manageable for a high speed entrance into the city. Life is good on the road, as long as you don't end up on the road.
We arrive in time for our appointment, drop off our bikes and we are now officially on foot and our bike riding days in New Zealand are over. We will come back just before closing and lug these two boxes about ten city blocks to our hotel (it would have made an interesting if not embarassing picture but alas there is none to be had).
The rest of the day is spent sitting around Dunedin's Octogon (a city central park-like area), soaking up the sun, drinking beer and eating more of the country's millions of sheep.
STATS:
This morning we take our bikes - sans our luggage that is normally strapped to the back - and head out for a 60 km return ride around the Otago Peninsula. If you look at a map of the Dunedin area you will notice that this peninsula juts out into the South Pacific creating Dunedin harbour. The ride is similar to riding the seawall around Stanley Park, but going in the opposite direction on the other side of the road.
We leave early, because we need to be back in town between noon and one o'clock for an appointment with Cycle Surgery, the only bike shop in town that would agree to box up our bicycles. This will be our last pedal adventure of our trip - so it is a bit emotional as well.
The ride was cited in our Lonely Planet guide to cycling in New Zealand as the authors all time favorite ride in the country so we couldn't pass up that kind of recomendation. It proved to be that for sure. There were many different moods to this ride.
First, cycling out of the city on bike paths that were literally just a meter or so away from the sea, passing tons of other bikers on their way into the city for work. Then, as the bike path connects to the peninsula proper the mood becomes very serene. We pass several small fishing villiages / tourist traps as we wind our way west. When we come to a village called Portobella we stop for a rest and regroup as the next part of the journey is a one way, no exit road to the very tip where there is an Albatross colony - complete with a tourist visitor centre, gallery and coffee shop. These albatross have it made.
Having had one around my (Doug's) neck for about 14 months, I wanted to cycle out and maybe shoot one - photographically speaking of course.
We pedal all the way there and back and we see a few of these creatures - nothing to write home about - oops I guess I am wrong there.
We stop again in Portobello for lunch and then begin a return ride via Highcliff road. The road name fits its character. Straight up for about 15 kilometers, but at the top we are once again rewarded. Getting home in time for our appointment is becoming an issue as Doug is stopping every hundred metres or so to take another picture or video. There are striking views of the Pacific from this height with large pastures of sheep and goats making up the foreground - and kilometers of old stone fences that demand to be captured. Check out the photos for this day and you'll see for yourself.
Then the downhill. That's the other reward that comes with struggling up a large seemingly endless series of hills. As we approached the apex of this ride, we could see Dunedin in the distance and we could also look down on the road that we travelled at the beginning of this journey. All very beautiful and to tempting for our camera to resists. Yeah, blame our being late on the camera.
We descend into Dundedin in record time - the roads were smooth and the corners were manageable for a high speed entrance into the city. Life is good on the road, as long as you don't end up on the road.
We arrive in time for our appointment, drop off our bikes and we are now officially on foot and our bike riding days in New Zealand are over. We will come back just before closing and lug these two boxes about ten city blocks to our hotel (it would have made an interesting if not embarassing picture but alas there is none to be had).
The rest of the day is spent sitting around Dunedin's Octogon (a city central park-like area), soaking up the sun, drinking beer and eating more of the country's millions of sheep.
STATS:
Mar 2 - Welcome back to the South Pacific
MILTON TO DUNEDIN
Again as we retire for the night there are forecasted threats of wet weather, but we are getting used to these empty threats.
We arise early - not because we have far to go - our trip today should be less than 60 kms, but because by now it's hard to stay awake past 9 o'clock or so. So we sleep in to 7:00 am and once the bags are packed and we have breakfast in our room we are on the road by 8:00am.
It is to Andy's credit that while sitting around watching the closing ceromonies last night and studying all of our travelling reference material that we discovered a road less travelled that would get us to Dunedin via a road much closer to the coast. We decided on this one. And what a great decision it was.
About 10 kilometers outside of Milton at a place called Waihola (that's where the sneaker fence is), we turned right and headed towards the coast. We didn't know that we had to climb over a very large hill - the steepness of which rivalled just about everything up to this point. But as always a good steep climb has it's rewards and we cashed in on these rewards with breathtaking scenes of the lakes we had just cycled past as we exited Milton.
We carried on across this mountain and finally the coast of the South Pacific was in our sights. It was good to get back to the ocean as we hadn't seen it for almost 10 days.
The remainder of our trip into Dunedin was fantastic. To our left were large pastures with images of sheep being herded by a border collie, and other livestock enjoying the sunny day. To our right was the ocean - beach mostly - large expanses of smooth dark sand with large crashing waves, rough rocky cliffs and lush tropical vegetation. Not bad for a day's work.
We cycle into Dunedin, finding our way into this moderately large city with some degree of difficulty but we finally make it and find accomodations for the next two nights.
STATS:
Again as we retire for the night there are forecasted threats of wet weather, but we are getting used to these empty threats.
We arise early - not because we have far to go - our trip today should be less than 60 kms, but because by now it's hard to stay awake past 9 o'clock or so. So we sleep in to 7:00 am and once the bags are packed and we have breakfast in our room we are on the road by 8:00am.
It is to Andy's credit that while sitting around watching the closing ceromonies last night and studying all of our travelling reference material that we discovered a road less travelled that would get us to Dunedin via a road much closer to the coast. We decided on this one. And what a great decision it was.
About 10 kilometers outside of Milton at a place called Waihola (that's where the sneaker fence is), we turned right and headed towards the coast. We didn't know that we had to climb over a very large hill - the steepness of which rivalled just about everything up to this point. But as always a good steep climb has it's rewards and we cashed in on these rewards with breathtaking scenes of the lakes we had just cycled past as we exited Milton.
We carried on across this mountain and finally the coast of the South Pacific was in our sights. It was good to get back to the ocean as we hadn't seen it for almost 10 days.
The remainder of our trip into Dunedin was fantastic. To our left were large pastures with images of sheep being herded by a border collie, and other livestock enjoying the sunny day. To our right was the ocean - beach mostly - large expanses of smooth dark sand with large crashing waves, rough rocky cliffs and lush tropical vegetation. Not bad for a day's work.
We cycle into Dunedin, finding our way into this moderately large city with some degree of difficulty but we finally make it and find accomodations for the next two nights.
STATS:
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