Melbourne

Wednesday, January 25

Auckland, NZ to Melbourne, Australia

Today is a travel day. We flew out of Auckland on a 12:45 flight to Melbourne, AU. The flight was 4 hours with a two hour time change so we arrived at 2:45. Originally Cindy's neice, Erika was to pick us up at the airport. Unfortunately, her Uncle passed away on Sunday and the funeral was this afternoon. We took a taxi to Erika's house where she left us a key so we could get settled in. For the next three days we will be staying with Erika, husband Brownie, and their two beautiful children Lachie and Evie Jean. On Saturday we will move in with Cindy's nephew, Damien, wife Mandy and their daughter Georgie. Cindy wants to play with the kids for the next five days so she will have plenty of that with the three kids.

We had nice dinner with Erika, Brownie, Lachie and Evie.

Tomorrow is a holiday, Australia Day, the day for celebrating the landing of Capt Cook in Australia, equivalent to our Columbus Day. So there will be a family BBQ at Erika's so we will have an opportunity to see all the family at the same time.

Thursday, January 26

Melbourne

Happy Australia Day!

We had a very nice day, took the kids to Brighton Beach to play in the playgound. A BBQ with all the family in the afternoon was lots of fun. Nice to kick back and relax. We haven't any plans for tomorrow.

I have updated our Picasa album if you want to see some pictures here is the link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/denspillane/NewZealand?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPehhams9fSM_QE&feat=directlink

Last few days in New Zealand

Sunday, January 22
Lake Taupo to Rotorua

We left the hotel at about 8:30 and started driving north toward Rotorua. Our first stop was Huka Falls. We had a chance encounter with Donna and Ross, a couple from our bike tour, who were on the north Island visiting their friends Gail and Norm. Gail and Norm live in Wellington so Donna and Ross had taken the ferry from the south island on Wednesday at the end of our bike tour. So here we are in the middle of the north island and we happen to be in the same place at the same time. Gail recommended that we take a tour of a Mauri thermal village that was near Rotorua and that was where they were heading.

After lunch we met Donna, Ross, Gail and Norm at the Whakarewarewa Thermal Village. The tour was very interesting including the history of the Mauri culture and life in the thermal village where there are still people living in the village using the thermal pools for cooking and bathing. There were also geisers adjacent to the village.

We were not far from our hotel so we went directly there so Hugh could get some rest. After a grocery store stop we went to a restaurant within walking distance of our hotel. Tomorrow we head to the east coast for a look at the beach area.

Monday, January 23

Rotorua to Tauranga

Cindy wanted to purchase some wool from a local shop that didn't open until 9:30 so we got a later start. The shop in Rotorua did not have the wool she wanted so we were on the road by 10:00. We drove northeast with a stop in Te Puke to look in the shops and have lunch.

We arrived in Mount Maunganui early afternoon. Mount Maunganui is a beach town with a mountain at the end of the point. The beach was very nice and there were a lot of people. The weather is pretty warm today but I wouldn't call it hot. There are several walks around and over the mount and we chose the 45 minute walk around the base of the mount along the water. The water here is crystal clear and very blue. The cargo ship that ran aground several months ago has caused some beach areas to be closed because of oil.

We arrived at our hotel in Tauranga at about 3:30. Cindy and I drove into town to check out another wool store and this time Cindy was successful in finding what she wanted. After relaxing in our room we went out to dinner at a Fish Market just down the wharf from our hotel. Great fish and chip. Tomorrow is our last day on the road in NZ.

Tuesday, January 24

Tauranga to Aukland

Breakfast in our room and we were on the road at about 8:30. We took mostly back roads so that we can enjoy the beautiful landscape and get to drive along the Bay of Thames. We stopped in a couple of small towns along the way, one for a quick lunch at the community park.

We arrived at out hotel in Aukland at about 2:00. With the four bike cases and our luggage it will not all fit in the car for the trip out to the airport tomorrow morning. Hugh and I drive his two bike cases and one suitcase of theirs out to the car rental place for them to hold until tomorrow morning when the car is returned. Our flight is out first so Hugh and Sandy will drive us to the airport in the the morning before returning the car and picking up their bike cases and luggage.

Hugh and Sandy are flying to the states and Cindy and I are flying to Melbourne, Australia to visit Cindy's brother and his family.

I will have good internet access in Melbourne so I will try and update my Picasa photo album.

Several days

Wednesday, January 18
This morning we flew from Christchurch to Aukland. It's only a 1 ¼ hour flight for Hugh, Sandy, Cindy and I but the others have a 4 hour layover until their flight back to the US. We will pend the next seven days on the north island with Hugh and Sandy.

We picked up our rental Subaru wagon but it still wasn't large enough to carry all our luggage to our hotel that was in downtown Aukland. We left two bicycle cases at the car rental and after getting checked into our hotel Hugh and I went back to the car rental to pick them up. We will be staying at this hotel the night before we fligh out and they have agreed to store our bicycle cases until we return.

Aukland is a large city and in area is the largest city in the southern hemisphere according to the Kiwis. We took a nice walk down to the wharf and stopped at the grocery store to eat dinner in. Not eating in a restaurant was a nice change.

Thursday, January 19

Aukland to Hamilton

We left the hotel at about 9:00 this morning after eating breakfast in our room. We got off the main highway (Rt 1) and took the back road that turned out to be a beautiful drive. The agapanthas, hydrangia, day lillies, gardinias and many other plants and trees were absolutely beautiful. The rolling hills and forests were right out of the Hobit. We got to Hamilton about 12:00. After lunch we check into the hotel and then went to the Hamilton Gardens.

We had dinner at a great restaurant a couple blocks from our hotel.

Friday, January 20

Hamilton to Taupo

We over slept this moring but were on the road by 8:30. We first went to the Hamilton Gardens to see the rose gardens that we missed yesterday. It was a little late in the season to see the full bloom of roses but there were some nice roses and I took several pictures.

We drove to Otorohanga that was a very nice little town. While having a coffee at the train station we met Bill the shuttle driver who gave us some great advice. He recommend that we go to Waitomo to see the glowworm caves, natural bridge and Marokopa Falls. Glowworms are actually magits that attach themselves to the cave ceilings and their bioluminescence create a small spot on the ceiling of the cave. There are thousands of them. The interesting part of the glowworm is they secreat a string that hangs down about 6 inches that has a sticky substance that is poisonous to small flying inscets. They then draw up the string and consume the insect. The natural bridge was a short walk off the road. As with many of the natural formations that we have seen in NZ the paths and access are beautifully maintain and there's no one there. The waterfall was the same, short walk off the road and spectacular. We left Waitomo at about 4:30 and got to our hotel in Taupo at about 7:00. We are in Taupo for two nights.

We had a great Indian meal in town.

Saturday January 21

Taupo to Taupo

Beakfast at the hotel and then we went to the I-site in Taupo to find something to do for the day. First we went to a market where Cindy and Sandy satisfied their shopping needs. They each bought and top and Sandy bought a dress, both very nice.

We then drove about 1 ½ hours to Tongariro National Park. This is a volcanic area with three primary cones, Mt Ruapehu, Mt Napauruhoe and Mt Tongariro. Needless to say we are in the heart of Mauri country, they are the indiginous people of NZ. The drive was absolutely beautiful along Lake Toupo and then into the national park. We went to Whakapapa Village inside to the park to start a walk that was 6 kilometers to Taranaki Falls. There is snow up on Mt Ruapehu and they are skiing at the top. Our hike took us across the volcanic fields and into the forests along the base of the mountain. After lunch and a brief visit to the park chateau we headed back to Taupo.

Today is laundry day so while Cindy is doing the laundry I'm catching up on the blog.

Littleton to Littleton

Last night we took a walk to Christchurch City Centre to see the earthquake damage. It really is a disaster. Several blocks of the city are fenced off. Most of the building that are made of brick or stone cannot be occupied and unfortunately many of these buildings are historic landmarks or churches. There are steel butrises supporting many of these building, others have been or will be completely torn down. The major high rise hotel, the catholic cathedral and the new stadium are being torn down and may not be rebuilt in the same location.

We were at breakfast by 8:00 because the bus picked us up at 9:00 to take us to Littleton. On the way we drove through areas were entire blocks of buildings were fenced off and were just waiting to be torn down. Littleton is the harbor town that supports Christchurch. The plan is to do a ride to the other side of the harbor and then take a ferry back to the port. The 18.5 mile ride included rolling hills some that were pretty steep. We missed a ferry by about 10 minutes so we had lunch while waiting the 50 minutes for the next ferry.

We rode the bus to the Adventure South Depot were our bike cases were waiting. In about 2 hours everyone had their bikes packed and ready to go to the airport tomorrow morning. We had our last happy hour and then our final dinner together. The dinner was good but we had competition from another large group so it was very noisey. Mel and Barbara did a special presentation about the trip which was very eloquent and touching. We said farwell to our guides and those that would not be going to the airport in the morning.

This ends the bicycle phase of our New Zealand south island adventure. We bicycled 498 miles.  We will do our best to continue our blog during our 7 day car tour of the north island. Thanks for sharing our adventure.

Catch up on posts

Sorry, it has been a few days since I have been able to get connected to the internet.
I have posted our pictures on Picasa, here is the link: 

https://picasaweb.google.com/denspillane/NewZealand?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPehhams9fSM_QE&feat=directlink

Friday, January 13

Oamaru to Lake Ohau

Our guides Craig and Bas were right on about the weather. It was raining very hard in the morning so it was a bus ride into town for shopping. Oamaru is located in a lime stone area so all the buildings were originally built from blocks of lime stone. The old part of town, the warehouses, banks and manufacturing buildings have now been converted to shop. We also went to the Whitestone cheese factory.

Back on the bus in the rain we headed west through the rolling hills and valleys following the intented bicycle route. We passed a series of three lakes with there hydro-electric plants. NZ gets over 90% of their electricity from hydro-electric power throughout the country.

We arrived at the Lake Ohau Resort that is a very quaint resort on the lake. The lake is surrounded by beautiful mountains. The resort is at the end of the road and there is little out here. It's amazing the meal we had for dinner at this remote place.

Tomorrow we are to head to Mt. Cook. The reports are not great for the weather so once again there is a Plan A and Plan B for biking out of Lake Ohau depending on the winds and weather at Mt Cook.

Saturday, January 14
Lake Ohau to Mt Cook

Clear skies and strong winds blowing to the SE this morning. Our next stop is Mt Cook, however, there is a rain storm on Mt Cook and it is N of here directly into the wind. So plan B was put into action. We will bike SE with the wind to our back. Back tracking on our bus ride of yesterday. What a great ride. Fifty-two miles to a picnic lunch on one of the lakes and then another 15 miles to a pub so that we could celebrate Craig's birthday. We had our first bike problem, our rear tire failed. Fortunately it didn't happen on our great down hill where at 50 mph it was time to put on the drag brake. I brought two extra tires so at lunch the tire was changed.

We had a 1 ½ hour bus ride up to Mt Cook where it is cold and raining. It was 6:00 by the time we got check into the hotel and dinner reservations were for 7:30. Enough time to wash out bike clothes, shower and dress for dinner.

Weather tomorrow morning is questionable so we are not sure which plan will be used. Either way it will be another great day in NZ.

Sunday, January 15

Mt Cook to Fairly

We awoke to very bad weather, rain, hail, fog and very cold. The plan for a hike up to one of the high lakes and a glaicer were quickly eliminated. We had a great breakfast and by 9:00 the weather was not clearing so plan B was to ride the bus down the mountain until the rain stopped and the road dried out.
At about 15 miles down the mountain we unloaded the bike and had a great tail wind ride for 30 miles. We rode along the glacier fed lakes that had the most beautifully cloudy aqua color to the water.

We loaded up the trailer and drove to pick up groceries for a picnic. We found a nice grove of trees to have lunch but it was still very cold. From the lunch stop we road the bus to Fairly to do a 16 mile loop ride to finish the day.

Tonight we are staying on a farm. There are 4 host farms so we joined Steve and Roni at a small farm owned by John and Margaret O'Connor. After a dinner of lamb and home grown vegetables John took us on a farm tour. First we drove over to a neighboring dairy farm to see how they milked almost 300 cows two times a day. It's a lot of work to make a quart of milk. John has about 50 sheep and 15 cows on his property. He showed us how his dog herd the sheep and told how he maintains his small herd for the wool and meat for his family. After our tour we were in bed by 10:30.

Monday, January 16

Faily to Christchurch

We had a very nice breakfast on the farm that included eggs from their chickens. We met the rest of our group in Fairly to start our bike ride. It's another clear day in NZ but still cold for us thin blood San Diegans. I have yet to ride in short sleeves. Most often I have on arm warms with my gortex jacket and today is no exception. We fininshed the 41 mile ride in Timaru. Lunch was at the Speights Brew Pub. We had a 2 ½ hour bus ride to Christchurch where we will spend the next two nights.

We arrived at the hotel in Christchurch at about 4:45. We hosted tonight's happy hour with Hugh and Sandy. At about 8:00 we took off for a walk to center city to see the damage from the earthquake. It was a longer walk then I expected and after 9:00 before we found a cafe for dinner. A brisk walk to the hotel helped settle dinner.

Thursday, January 12, Dunedin to Oamaru

Thursday, January 12

Dunedin to Oamaru

We woke up to very wet streets and overcast. Our plan was to ride the bus out of town over a major climb and start riding about 11 miles out of town. The roads were still wet but it was not raining. We followed along the coast with some significant rollers for about 14 miles. Rather then continuing on a very busy road and some step climbs we loaded back on the bus. We made a stop to see some very interesting geological formations down on the beach. These very spherical bolders have been formed by the wave action and are just lying on the beach. Lunch was at another great restaurant in Moeraki called Fleurs a very famous restaurant here in NZ in a small fishing village. The chowder was unbelievable. Overall the food has been great and as usual we are eating too much. A short ride on the bus after lunch and we were back on our bike. We got lost looking for the hotel so we ended the day with 32.7 miles. Not a lot of miles, but the rollers were pretty step. We have been using our last gear quite often.

Tonight we had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant in the old wharehouse area of Oamaru. As always the food was delicious. After dinner Cindy went back to the room and I went to see the Blue Penguins. Every night the Blue Penguins come out or the ocean in a breakwater area of Oamaru and you can watch them as they walk (waddle) to there colony nests. We got to see about 130 penguins.

A storm is coming into the area tomorrow so we will not be bicycling. Our very resourceful guides are putting together some sightseeing activities and to Cindy's delight will include an opportunity for some shopping in Oamaru.

I have not been able to upload pictures to the Blog so here is a link to our Picasa webalbum if you would like to look at pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/denspillane/NewZealand?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPehhams9fSM_QE&feat=directlink

Two Day Catch up

I'm having to buy internet time that is expensive so uploading pictures becomes very expensive and I'm having problems with Internet Explorer.

Monday, January 9

Our day started with a hike before breakfast. We hiked down to the beach and the Cathedral Caves. These caves were created by ocean waves in to the rock cliffs along the beach. You can only go into the caves at low tide and our timing was perfect. The caves were remarkable. After breakfast at the hotel we were on our bikes at 10:45 for what was to be a short ride 27 miles. It was short but we had our most difficult climbs since starting this trip and the head winds were tremendous. We averaged 9.4 mph. The ride ended at our picnic lunch. After lunch we walked out to the beach to see a sea lion, what a huge beast.

Back on the bus for the last 12 miles to Kaka Point. Dinner was at 6:30 and then be took the bus to Nugget lighthouse. We got to see lots of fur seals and we did spot two yellow eye penguins. These penguins are the rarest of all penguins and are only found on the southern half of the South Island of New Zealand.

Tuesday, January 10

Kaka Point to Dunedin

Todays ride was done in two segments for 39.3 miles. We left the hotel at 8:30 for a 12.7 mile ride to Balclutha for a morning coffee stop. This ride was much different then yesterday, no hills and no head winds and we averaged 17.5 mph. We rode along the coast most of the way and there were still sheep farms. The road from Barclutha to Milton had some very steep hills, long down hills and gravel most of the way. The safe way to do it was to load the bikes on the trailer and ride the bus to Milton. Our bikes were a dusty mess from the gravel roads. Craig and Das, our tour guides, as usual are very resourceful and found a place for us to wash off the bicycles. From Milton we bike the 26.6 miles to Dunedin. We encountered the most difficult hill of the trip and a wild winding down hill into Duneden.

Several teams had to walk the hill but we grunted to the top. Dunedin is a pretty large city and we have a day off here. We don't have any plans yet for our day off but Cindy says it will not include bicycling.

Catch up on four days

Wednesday, January 4

Te Anau to Milford Sound

The group decided to do a hike in the morning instead of a short bicyle ride that would have complicated our trip to Milford Sound. We had to pack an overnight bag for the night on the boat, so that we could leave our luggage and the trailer with our bicycles in Te Anau. Without the trailer the bus would have less difficulty travelling over the pass to Milford Sound and we would have more time for making stops on the way.

Our hike in the morning was great. Bas and Craig gave us a nature walk that was beautiful and very informative. Six of us did a 3 mile nature walk with Bas and the other ten did a 12 mile hike with Craig. Cindy and I took the shorter walk and got some great pictures.

After lunch we were on our way to Milford Sound. We made a few stops on the way to enjoy the mountains, glaciers, wildlife, and beautiful scenery. We arrived at the harbor in Milford Sound at about 4:15 and boarded our boat the Milford Mariner. The boat had small state rooms for 64 passengers. The boat went out the sound and there were only a few waterfalls because there hadn't been rain in a couple days. The massive mountain walls of the fiord were amazing. We went all the way out to the Tasman Sea and moured in a small cove. The ships crew broke out two tender boats and kayaks so that we could get a better look and the walls of the fiord and wildlife. Cindy and I opted to take the tender boat ride, needless to say the water was very cold and not our idea of a kayaking adventure. Those that did go on the kayak had a great time. The naturalist on the tender was very informative. After the water activities the boat moved back into the sound to a more protected cove for the night. The evening meal was unbelievable. The nine crew members of the boat were fantastic. Following dinner the naturalist did a slide presentation. We had a great nights sleep and delicious breakfast while the boat move back out the Sea.

Thursday, January 5

It had started raining early in the morning and the waterfalls were flowing and gorgeous. The boat was back in port about 9:30 where Bas met us with the bus and we were headed back to Te Anau. Along the way we had made a couple stops to look at the waterfalls that were not there on our way over yesterday.

We arrived in Te Anau at about 12:00, changed in to bicycling clothes picked up our luggage and the trailer with our bikes. A box lunch in the bus for a short ride to Manapouri where we got on our bikes for a 40 mile ride with significant head winds. We were picked up by the bus for the last 12 miles to Otautau where we met our farm host.

Conrad, Barbara, Steve, Roni, Cindy and I stayed with Jill and Ray Lindsay on their sheep farm. Jill and Ray have about 3000 sheep that are raised primarily for their meat and also sheared them once a year for the wool. They have been very successful, especially over the past couple of years with a steep rise in lamb and wool prices. Ray took us out to the barn and fields and showed us the exquipment for his field planting and sheep shearing. Grunt, their herding dog showed us how he rounded up the sheep and brought them over to the gate. We had a great meal that include lamb and fresh vegetables from the garden.

Friday, January 6

We had a great nights sleep on the farm and a hearty breakfast before Jill and Ray drove us back to Otautau to meet the others and start our bike ride for the day.

We had another perfect day of cycling for 54 miles with a great stop for snacks and lunch. We were in Riverton by about 4:00 so we loaded up the bus to drive the last 12 miles to Invercargill and the Homestead Villa Motel. We did our laundry and are now off to dinner.

Saturday, January 7

Early morning for the bus ride from Invercargill to Bluff to catch the ferry to Stewart Island. No biking today they will stay on the trailer in Bluff with the bus.   No cars on Stewart Island except for residents. The ferry ride was about 45 minutes, we dropped our bags off at the hotel and then took a ferry to Ulva Island that is a state preserve. The forest was absolutely beautiful and the birds were great. We were back at the hotel at about 4:00 to relax before dinner.

Tonight we are going over to another island to see Kiwis. They are nocternal to see them we will search for them with flash lights. Tell you more when with my next  good internet connection. Not able to load pictures with this connection.

Queenstown to Te Anau

The day started early. After breakfast at the hotel the bus drove us about 6 miles out of town where we started biking. We went down the west side of Lake Wakatipu in to the deer, cattle and sheep ranches. At 51 mile we had lunch in Five Rivers, where there aren't any rivers. The bikes were loaded onto the trailer and we rode the bus 47 miles into Te Anau which is on Lake Te Anau. After showers and laundry we walked into town to see a movie production called Fiordlands. The movie was photographed from a helocopter with the most spectacular views of the fiords, waterfalls, rainforests and glaciars. This area gets 9 meters of rainfall a year.

Poor internet connection tonight I'm unable to upload pictures.

Tomorrow night we are on a boat in Milford sound so I will probably not be posting to the blog.

First day of bicyling

If half of the next 17 days are this nice it will be a great trip. We rode along the east side of Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown to Glenorchy. The weather was perfect; the terrain had it's challenges and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We rode the 31 miles to Glenorchy and then loaded the bikes on the trailer and rode the bus back to Queenstown so we got to enjoy the most beautiful blue lake water we have ever seen twice. Lunch at the Glenorchy Cafe was great and Mel says that the lunch stop tomorrow is even better.

Mel and Barbara Kornblah, our ride organizers, have told us how beautiful New Zealand is and we are experiencing it first hand.

Craig and Bas are our Adventure South guides and in the two days that we have been with them we have learned so much about New Zealand.

Queenstown, 1st night downunder

The new year is here and we are in Queenstown, New Zealand. We left home at about 3:30 PM not knowing how bad the traffic might be from home to LAX. The traffic for Friday was pretty light. We arrive at LAX at about 5:40, returned the rental car and got checked-in by 6:30. It was a long wait for our 11:25 flight but it gave use time to renew friendships with the 5 other couples that met at LAX. We had a twelve hour flight from LAX to Auckland, three hour layover, and a two hour flight to Queenstown. We got about 6 hours of sleep and watched 2 movies.

After getting check into the hotel we put together our tandam that made the long trip without an inspection or damage. We had the bike together and ready to ride by 6:30, just enough time to clean up and head to the restaurant for our first group dinner. The food at the Prime restaurant was delicious. Queenstown is a real nice small city. We will be here for two night so after tomorrows 29 mile ride we will explore this city some more.