The most common lie we've heard in New Zealand is "Yeah, its mostly flat from here to there," So when people told us it would be flat from Kakoura to Christchurch we took it with a grain of salt, and sure enough we found out fairly quickly that it wasn't even remotely flat. After the first few kilometers along the coast the road turned inland and began climbing some of New Zealand's most consistent features... big rolling hills. We spent that night in a turnout at the bottom of one big hill in Oaro with another big hill in store for us first thing the next morning. Luckily the hills only lasted a few more hours the next day, and then the road flattened out considerably after Cheviot where we stopped for lunch. We covered 103, that day, but ran into a decent rainstorm around 6 that had us both thoroughly soaked before we ran across a little campground for $10 a person and decided to call it a night. We've been trying to avoid paying for camping when we can, but it was totally worth the hot shower, and the skies cleared up enough to allow our tent to dry overnight.
The next morning we got on the road around 930, after talking to a nice couple from Denmark who asked us a few questions about our trip for their local newspaper. Around 11 we stopped at the Brew Moon Brewery and Café for some drinks and nachos, and the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful until we hit the motorway outside Christchurch. A divided highway with 2 lanes and heavy traffic, it wasn't really a road meant for cycling. Luckily we exited fairly soon onto a smaller road into Christchurch, and by 6pm we had arrived safely at Clayton and Pauline's house. Steve met them when the were guests on his zip line tour in Skagway, and they've been our lifelines in New Zealand... giving us advice, helping us sort out what to do with our luggage, and opening their beautiful home to us.
Entrance to Cave Stream We stayed in Christchurch for several days while we waited for our final piece of luggage to arrive from Auckland. Clayton and Pauline showed us around town on Saturday, introduced us to the best Souvlaki in New Zealand and gave us free reign of their kitchen so we could satisfy our craving for homemade enchiladas. Sunday they took us to Cave Stream Reserves to explore the 594 meter long underground stream. We waded through waist-deep water for over an hour exploring all the side passages and tunnels in the cave and marveling at the amazing features the water had carved into the limestone. For dinner they took us to a great little brew-pub where we had the best food we've eaten in New Zealand yet.
On Monday we borrowed their son Patrick's car and drove out to Akaroa, a tiny town about 20k from Christchurch located inside the massive crater of a long-extinct volcano. Part of the crater wall collapsed long ago and filled with water creating a massive harbor leading to the Pacific Ocean. Our friends Lybbie and Hannah, from Skagway, are both living there and working for Black Cat Cruises, so they hooked us up with a free wildlife cruise around the harbor. We saw a bunch of Hector's dolphins, the smallest dolphins in the world at just 4'7 and 100lbs, and we also got to see the worlds smallest penguins and the worlds cutest baby seals. We had dinner at their house overlooking the harbor before heading back to Christchurch.
The next day with our luggage safely stowed and our cycling bags repacked and considerably lighter we headed out of Christchurch for the last leg of our cycle tour, planning to head over to the West Coast and up to Nelson, at least another 1,200k.
For more pictures from Cave Stream and Akaroa check the photo post.
For more pictures from Cave Stream and Akaroa check the photo post.
RSS Feed