My
bicycle road trip from Christchurch to Nelson
Day
1, Thursday: Christchurch to Greta Valley.
Kaiapoi Lakes. Nothing too significant here except it's rather pretty
and it's the first photo I took after leaving.
Ok this building seems to be used exclusively for the storage of broken
chairs but I love the sign.
Well I didn't take many pics on day 1 but I enjoyed the ride.
Unfortunately the battery of my front light had run out by the time I
arrived at Greta Valley. I can thoroughly reccommend the meals served
at Greta Café.
Day 2, Friday: Greta Valley to Kaikoura
A view from Greta Valley Village, not as good a picture as I was hoping
for: I was hoping for the snow to be visible. I hate digital zoom it's
always fuzzy.
I like this boulder.
This is rather pretty. The bridge I took it from is mostly one lane but
in the middle there's a short length where it's wider. It looks funny
but it was good for me the photographer.
Same bridge looking downstream.
Sheep farms just north of Parnassus. I must mention here the very
amusing (in hindsight) incident that happened in Parnassus. Well,
Parnassus is classified as a town but it's actually just a petrol
station in the middle of nowhere. Well I stopped there to get something
extra to eat and drink. I had an athlete's high (when you buzz from
your own endorphins as a result of exercise) and was ignorant enough to
consume Lift Plus (normally harmless except for sugar and caffeine)
while in this state. Well a few moments after said consumption I was
tripping so badly that the pink tamanduas dancing round me started
tripping. I also felt so woozy that I really wanted to lie on the
ground making pathetic noises. Fortunately I recovered from this
experience quite quickly and resumed my journey.
Pretty picture of nothing much.
Ditto
I really like some of these trees. Especially the ones known as cabbage
trees (the ones that look like trees with bunches of grass leaves)
The degree to which this sight was welcome is beyond your wildest
imaginings.
I lie when I say I went to Kaikoura that day: I only made it to some
village just before Kaikoura where I got ripped off by a motel because
there was nowhere cheaper to stay. (I hadn't replaced the battery in my
front light).
Day 3, Saturday: Kaikoura to Seddon
This was actually still on the way to Kaikoura. It snowed the previous
night and I like photographing snowy mountains.
I didn't see Kaikoura itself as pretty enough to be photographed, well
I might have but I wanted to be on my way. This is taken from about an
hour up the road looking back at Kaikoura. One thing I like
photographing almost as much as snowy mountains is the sea.
Well I didn't pack enough food when I left Kaikoura so I ended up
eating here. I like the shop, I like eating crayfish, but I wish I was
not a poor student who becomes paranoid whenever paying that much for a
meal. It was about two in the afternoon when I got here and appart from
the occasional house and a couple of caravans selling crayfish for cash
only it was the only sign that people actually lived north of Kaikoura
until I got to a village whose name I forget around four in the
afternoon. I had replaced the battery in my front light by now so I
rode until I was tired and dossed down where I took the next photo.
Day 4, Sunday: Seddon
I took this photo when I woke up. I got up and rode the 3km or so
remaining to Seddon, bought myself breackfast, and went to church. I
spent the rest of the day with some people who befriended me at church.
Day 5, Monday: Seddon to Rai Forest.
Taken just north of Seddon.
I love Cloudy Bay. That's the best photo I've ever managed to take of
it though because the road doesn't go near enough to it. The railway
goes closer, and I tried to photograph it earlier in the year when I
went past in the train but my camera wouldn't turn on until it was out
of view.
State highway 1: New Zealand.
My favourite animals.
After I took that photo I kind of decided I was in a hurry. I bought
about two days provisions in Blenheim but didn't eat there.
At lunchtime I stopped in Havelock. I wish my parents gave me water
from Havelock when I was little: two different people who went to
school there ended up with Nobel physics prizes and one of them also
got a Nobel chemistry prize.
I stopped for dinner in the Rai forest. I was out of Rai valley: on the
side of Mount Richmond. After dinner it was getting dark and I
discovered I'd lost my lights so I stayed the night there.
Day 5, Tuesday: Rai Forest to Nelson
I took no photos that day because it was foggy so nothing much to see.
Nothing too exciting happened before I arrived except I got to go
really fast down some mountains.
I booked in at Shortbread Cottage backpackers' then spent most of the
day looking round Nelson. That evening I got in touch with a friend and
met him for supper.
Day 6, Wednesday: Nelson to
Christchurch
9am and I caught the bus from Nelson to Blenheim. I just about missed
the connecting bus because I was waiting at the wrong bay. I took no
photos that day either because I was in a bus all day.
I got to Christchurch at 4. I was still at lindy-hop lesson at 7, then
the more advanced lindy-hop lesson at 8, then social dancing at 9:30. I
guess my 500km-ish bike ride wasn't tiring enough.