On the last day of 2014, we booked our flight to New Zealand; departure date Januari 11th. So we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, but we didn’t need it either. All the travelstuff we had just put away had to be repacked.

We left for the airport on Januari 11th. This time we bought our bikeboxes at the airport, which saved us bringing boxes with us. No problems at check-in and we stayed nicely within the bagage limit. We left for our 11 hour flight to Tokyo with more than an hour delay. We didn’t really mind the delay because now we only had to wait 4 hours in Tokyo instead of 5. Japan is a weird world; many people walked around with their mouths covered. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to explore the city; that would have been an interesting experience.

Met/ with KLM

Over ons huis/ over our house

The second flight, from Tokyo to Christchurch, also took 11 hours.

Zonsopkomst/ sunrise

We were happy to finally arrive there. Customs and bagage check took forever; all bagage was checked for foods and traces of soil. The bikes were shining, so they were okay. After the tent was sanitized we were finally ready to enter the country. The bikes had to be assembled and then we were ready to go. We had to find our way to the campground, which wasn’t very hard.

Fietsen inelkaar/ assembling bikes

Klaar voor vertrek/ ready to go

The hardest part was having to ride on the other (left) side of the road. That takes a bit getting used to! Going straight isn’t that hard, but when we have to turn we really need to think about where to go. A helmet is obligatory here and we have to get used to that to. We’re not used to wearing a helmet and therefor don’t like it very much.

After the tent was pitched, we walked to the mall which is nearby. We almost got a heartattack when we saw the prices, also in the supermarkets. Everything is very expensive over here! We knew it wasn’t going to be cheap, but we never expected it to be this expensive. We thought the Yukon and Alaska were expensive, but over here it’s twice as expensive!

The New Zealand way of camping is a bit different than we’re used to. There are many basic campgrounds, but the normal ones are very luxurious with kitchens where you can cook and bake as much as you want. Very convenient, now we don’t have to cook on our little gass stove. It’s also easy to get free food here; since Christchurch is the final destination of many people, they leave behind a lot of left over foods. You can choose from many salt/pepper shakers, bbq’s, tea/coffee, cereals, gass canisters and whatever else is left behind.

Op de camping/ campground

The weather was really good; cloudy but warm. Warm enough to wear shorts and flipflops. Whenever the sun popped out of the clouds, it got really hot. It’s not hard to notice that there’s (almost) no ozon layer around here and the sun has a lot of power. We have to make sure we use plenty of sunscreen! There was a lot of wind and it looked like we would have a headwind (of course!) when we would leave.

After a few days of acclimatising and going to bed very early, it was time to leave. The plan was to go North a bit and then cross over Lewis Pass to the West Coast. Then go (back) South along that coast.

Right now, we have survived the first 2 days of cycling. And those days weren’t easy! It was very hot, sunny and the temperature rose to around 40C/ 100F. And, of course, we had a headwind, sometimes up to gale force. We carried a lot of food because there are not a lot of stores around here and the legs have gotten lazy by not doing much (nothing) the past months. It’s amazing how fast we lost the effects of all the training we did!

Yesterday, we arrived in Hanmer Springs, a very touristy town with hotsprings, very tired and decided to stay here for a day. To take a break, but also to (hopefully) wait out the storm. It looks like there will still be a lot of wind tomorrow, but it might die down later.