Introduction

The nice thing about doing project related work, is that projects start, and that they end. The period in between two projects appears to be a great time for me to take a bit of a longer holiday and go out exploring with my bike. This year my project ended at the end of January, meaning that I could easily take some time off in February. The next step was to determine where the weather would be nice during this time of year, narrowing my choices down to the Southern hemisphere.

My last trip brought me to South Africa, and I wouldn't know where to start with "just" five weeks in South America. Work will undoubtfully bring me back to Asia at some point, and I already travelled along the east coast of Australia by car. However, the distance between Auckland and Queenstown in New Zealand seemed to be quite manageable in 5 weeks. And next to that, New Zealand seems to be very much appreciated by the rest of world. So without having any specific preference, I found myself drawn to New Zealand for this year's trip :-)       

20/02/27, the end of the trip

So after 33 days of moving forward, I now started to make my way back home, which actually is a multi day venture on its own. It took me one day to get back from Te Anau to Auckland. I had arranged for a bus to take me and the bike back to Queenstown. It was raining cats and dogs when I left the hostel, so I dressed up in my rain gear and made my way to the pick up point. There I waited in the streaming rain till the bus came. After it arrived we put my bags in the trailer and strapped my bike to the trailer. The bus then took 3 hours to get to Queenstown airport.

20/02/26, Day 33, Te Anau / Milford Sound

My little brother and my parents were really enthusiastic about this thing: the Milford Sound, which actually is a fiord :-) So when I told my mum that I was going to New Zealand, she made me promise to visit the Milford Sound. And so I did that today:-)

A few days back I arranged the tour and made sure that I would be with a small group. Pick up was at 745, so I got out of bed at 700 and stood outside my hostel at 745... Together with 75% of all the other people that stay at the hostel. And other hotels on the street were emptying out as well. Everybody came out to be picked up to visit the fabled Milford sound. This didn’t start out too well :-(

20/02/25, Day 32, Mavora Lakes to Te Anau

I slept remarkably well :-) Of course there are many sounds around. The water flowing from the lake into the river. Fish jumping up out of the water. Ducks splashing around. Geese honking. Other birds making their own noises. The nearby suspension bridge squeaking. Leaves rustling. A hedgehog or some other animal rummaging around. Being alone like this puts all your senses on high alert. Simultaneously you know that there is nothing around. So while reading my book, I fell asleep :-) I did wake up a few times during the night because it actually got quite cold. This was the first time that I crawled deep into my sleeping bag, but it kept me nice and warm :-)

20/02/24, Day 31, Queenstown to Mavora Lakes

So even the plans that were not even in the original plan don’t go as planned :-) 

I’ve experienced that it’s still high season here in New Zealand and that because of that, things tend to sell out. Like beds in hostels, but other stuff as well. So I started planning things ahead, which is absolutely not my style :-)  I do like to know what’s waiting for me and whether I will be able to survive that, but I also like to stay flexible. Booking things ahead is detrimental to staying flexible :-)

20/02/23, Day 30, Wanaka to Queenstown

I was on my way around 730. And it was freezing! Breath clouds all over again :-) The sky was a clear pristine blue though, so I shouldn’t be allowed to complain :-) And I’m actually back on my original route again :-)

Today started with a 40k climb up the Crown Range. It started out very gradual but became a lot steeper towards the end.  After about 25k I got overtaken by a train of not 1, not 2, not 3, but many riders. Later it turned out that there were 12 of them. They were a lot faster than me. They carried some gear, but just limited amounts of it.

20/02/22, Dag 29, Omarama to Wanaka

After I got back to my tent yesterday night after diner, I was ambushed by two Swiss cyclists. They showed some interest in my bike and I politely returned some interest in theirs. We had a nice chat, but I was just too tired to sustain it. They’ve been here fore three months, for the 2nd time in two years, doing 45k a day. I feel like a mad person looking at the distance I’ve covered in just 18 days on the bike. I should chill out more :-D