Otage central rail trail

Speights...............mummmm, yumyum, we liked the tour and the tasting session afterwards. Apricot beer was a hit for me (Denyze) and Rich liked the carbo light beer. We did have a serious job that night of packing the trailer ready for an early start the next day, its fair to say it was not packed fantastically and there were a few bags left loitering on top of the trailer.

So the time had come to set off again on the next leg of the trip and head inland on the Taieri Gorge railway, this was our first 'cheat' of the trip and saved us two days hard cycling up hill so I see nothing wrong with that.... after some stunning scenery we finally made it to Pukarangi which as far as I can make out is a shed on the side of the railway tracks, no village or anything like that. We finally made it to a town called Middlemarch mid afternoon after doing battle with a headwind.

The start of the Otago central rail trail, it was a good start, sidewinds meaning that at times we had to lean the bike at an angle to stop our selves being blow off the bike or the track, one lady coming the other way was not so fortunate and was walking her bike and got blown off the track down the embankment it was that strong (she was fine if a little shaken up and embarrassed). So from the side wind inevitable came the headwind which was an absolute devil. We finally reached our destination after 8 hours of cycling!! Another day from hell followed with the head wind a constant, so much so that when we finally 'got to the top' and started cycling down hill we had to keep pedaling. But by day three the wind had turned (yippee) and we made good time to Alexandra nearly the last town on the trail..... only to find that the trailer after 4 days had developed a fault or rather it was falling apart! so we are holed up in Alexandra waiting for a replacement!! (yeah, right... we have hired a car and are in Queenstown!!)

Dunedin...Rugby & Beer... Man Things!!! Grrr!!!

Well, this is a first, Den has let me loose on the blog without adult supervision. Since last posting, we've huffed and puffed our way over the hills to the north of the Otago penninsular, effort expended well worth it for the views.

We've spent the weekend watching super 14 rugby (Highlands Vs Sharks, with Sharks winning for those that are interested), drinking beer and shopping. Admittedly one of those is not as manly as the title of this post would suggest, but we were buying manly things I can assure you.

Tonight, very exciting, we are going on a tour of the Speights Brewery. Free samples at the end, then a quick trip to the bar next door to carbo load on more beer in preperation for tomorrow's departure from Dunedin.

Tomorrow, we are heading out to a place called Middlemarch at the start of the Otago Rail Trail, which will take us west towards Queenstown and toward the moutains of the Southern Alps. BIG Hills, can't wait!!!!

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH my bum hurts!!!!!!!!!!!

The title of this page neeeds to be read in an accending pitch........ this is a common phrase that I am sure Richard is throughly sick of by now.......oooops.......

Well we (I) could not put it off any longer and we took the plunge on Sunday. Our rough (google maps) route was a little on the long side so had to be revised. Thus we set off for a little place called Raikaia Huts. Unfortunately we did not foresee the massive expanse of blue sky so its fair to say we were heading towards being a little 'well done' by the time we got there, luckily I had the smallest tube of sunblock known to man for 'just in case' moment. We reached our campsite in good time and decided as it was right on the coast and it was soooo blinking hot we would go for a swim in the sea. Well the pacific rollers put us off that and we soon back tracked on the whole swimming idea as the river that emptied into the ocean there was from the mountains and was not the warmest.



From Raikaia we headed out on to highway 1 which is pretty busy with trucks hurtling past at 70 mph, added to the longest (and in my view narrowest) bridge in NZ at 1 mile long that day was a pretty scary day, although still blessedly, gloriously hot, sunscreen applied but still we have a tinge on pink about us. We camped at a place called Tinwald just past Ashburton, over the bridge that had a cycle track, woohoo, only it was not signposted and we missed it boohoo.... we did i get overtaken by a wee cheeky chappy who ended up following us for a while.



Tinwald was an excellent site, with a lovely lake and very good facilities, although when the geese stared honking at 6am it was not the best!! but alas we had to pack up the tent and head off down the road, this time our destination was Temuka, this was a pretty uneventful day save for having our first go on an unsealed road, this was entertaining to say the least but there were no injuries and it sealed the deal on a trailer ASAP and flat bars for Indochina and beyond!

This brings us to today,which quite frankly was blinking awful, my bum hurt, it was cold but the sun was still blazing, the hills started and my god it windy, unfortunaly for us it was a headwind which Richard go the full brunt of being at the front with me tucking in behind, although not for long as he managed to spot 1 new mini a 1 old one, so I came back with 2 old and 2 new woohoo, still in the lead (R=21 and D=27). So tonight see us in a sleepy backwater called Waimate, it was a little hilly to get here but I think it is only a warm up for Dunedin.........

New Zeeeeeland.....

Its been a few days since we last wrote on here but we have used that time productively and are now in New Zealand. Elizabeth was an absolute star, what with working in the mornings, driving us places in the afternoon and being nearly 5 months pregnant she sparkled all the way.... and we would just like to say a big thanks and we hope you savour the pickled onion monster munch!!!! With the Hollywood tour complete and two full bellies of cookies and ice cream (for $1.50 the best thing since sliced bread) we said our goodbyes to Elizabeth and Zack, not before I managed to put my back out........again. this was about 5 hours before we got on the plane, pain killers ahoy!!!

We finally landed in the Land of the long white cloud on Thursday having set off from LA on Tuesday, this was a little bizzar and rather anoying as it is a day we can not get back, but if that is the price to pay for a short few days in LA I am happy everytime. so the bike box saga continues..... this time they did not 'forget' to put one on, instead the lovely baggage handles/customs officers decided to have a good old nosy and opened up the boxes, so after a very expensive trip to an airport shop Richard got to work with some packing tape, blimey, is he a worrier.......

At this point I would just like to update you (gloat) on the mini adventure score: Richard 14, Denyze 20!!!!!!!!!!! (disputed)[by the sore loser]

After yet another sports massage from hell, we set to work reconstructing the tandem, or rather for all who know us and my bike building abilities Richard built it and I watched. The best part is I offered to help out right at the very end getting some fiddly thing in (I am sure I should know the name) anyhow, this lady came along and took a photo, so there is a photo for ever more of Richard sat on the chair looking on and me hard at work fiddly with something or other with a bad back, where as in reality it was very much the other way round.

Christchurch city.......Lovely........will be leaving it tomorrow and heading off down to Ashburton, although if my back is anything to go by we may not get there and camp......

Our 'MINI' LA adventure

Our LA adventure has begun, but before I bore you all with my waffle I feel I need to introduce you to the delights of our mini (as in car) game...... it is very very simple, there are many variations out there some complicated and some ever so slightly violent but this is our version and it goes like this: If you spot a mini, you shout 'MINI', you score 1 point for a recent mini, 2 for a clubman and old minis and if you see an old mini traveller then bonus time - 3 points. A car transporter with mini's on is worth 10 points. The game starts when the car is switched on and finishes when switched off. If two people shout mini together with no obvious winner then it is a draw and neither get a point. This is our simple but at times, infuriating game, which like all good visitors, we have introduced to Elizabeth and Zack. Zack is perhaps the quickest learner I have seen and much to my dismay soundly beating me on most car journeys, I blame jet lag and tired eyes.

LA, what a place, it is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea and especially if you don't drive, but being shown around by locals is allowing us to see a different side to a intriguing city. Yesterday, we went to the beach... as in Venice beach and for a stroll along Santa Monica pier taking in the sights at muscle beach, which is smaller than I thought it would be. The places are all familiar from all the years of watching films with the locations in but seeing it in the flesh so to speak is so much better, with the crowds, the odd balls, people trying to hawk you stuff and a guy playing the electric guitar on roller blades complete with flowing robes and purple turban.... Alas there were no lifeguards running along the beach to save someone form a riptide accompanied by corny music, nor were there bikini clan sunbathers (much to Richard's disappointment) but really what did he expect in March??

Now on to the highlight of the day the Oscars, E and Z's friends were hosting an Oscar party, Richard was in his element as they had Port Salut and brie cheese and for anyone not in the know this is his amber nectar..... so once he was pulled away from the cheese board we voted on the different categories and entered the competition..... this is similar to the Eurovision parties but not quite so damaging to the liver as we were not required to drink every time we won a point!! The hosts Andrew and Taylor have theeeee sweetest puppy going, who came in and joined the party sooo cute, I was warned that it would not fit in a pannier so no abduction attempts were made. The best logistical part of the party was the fact that we started slightly later than the actual ceremony and were watching a recording so fast forwarded all the boring speeches and adverts. Its fair to say that our combined knowledge of all the films up for Oscars was sketchy at best so Richard went for the 'educated guess' approach where as I went for the 'tick the top option' approach with the view that at least one would be right!!! Needless to say we were not ranked in the medal positions!! hummm really don't think we are going to be any better with the Oscars next year either.

The Big Day...... Thursday 4th March 2010

The big day finally arrived, with it a list of last minute jobs that was as long as your arm, luckily Rachel, Richard's sister came down to help out, which was very handy as I had sold my car on the Wednesday evening and we ended up running all over town, mainly looking for a sports massage; I had handily wrecked my back tidying the garden on Wednesday. Not the best thing to do considering what we are about to embark on.

So, having been talked into having a massage over a bottle or two of wine on Wednesday evening I set off for Iffley Road running track and Peak Performance for one of the THE most painful hours of my life. I have never experienced pain like it, but my god was it effective, I entered the building practically on my knees in pain from just walking and by the end of it could bend down to do up my shoes with out any problems..... miracle or what, I have the number and would highly recommend the place and will be going back, I am pretty sure in a years time I will be needing it!!

With the back fixed as best as can be, we headed back to stress central a.k.a. my house for last minute packing, sorting, cleaning and bickering, luckily David (my Brother) who was giving us a lift was delayed so we had a little more time to play with. But, the time had come to say our goodbyes and head off to the airport. Which sounds pain free and uneventful..... this is without the help of a great ruddy stone, which just happened to take umbrage against the radiator of my brother's van (how rude) and caused us to spend just a little too much time in an ASDA carpark waiting for the AA to arrive. After 2 hours too long in the carpark in freezing conditions (the store was not much warmer), 16 liters of water, a bottle of rad welled and an AA man with long nosed pliers we set off again for the airport. Luckily in some kind of psychic premonition I had decided that we needed to spend Thursday night in an airport hotel so we were not racing to catch a flight else we would have been in serious trouble and had to pull in a favour, or two considering the size of the bike boxes.

The flight itself was very uneventful, thank goodness, however when a very helpful BA customer services man told us that, Ooops..... there was only one box on the flight and that the other one was hopefully on the next flight the stress levels went through the roof. Not sure if people are aware, but it is really difficult to ride half a tandem. but finally the second box has arrived (at this point I should say that we are staying with my friend Elizabeth and her husband Zack in LA for 4 days) it was a little worse for wear with a crank sticking out one end and the front chain ring looking like it tried to make a bid for freedom at some point, fingers crossed we can find a new bike box to get it to Christchurch, NZ our first port of call for cycling, but for now let the LA adventure and star spotting begin.........

Final Soggy Test Ride

We've been putting off loading the tandem up with luggage and taking it out due to the weather, which we know isn't going to be an option on the trip, but when we have the luxury of choice it's become clear that we are fair weather cyclists at heart. Anyhow, come Saturday (weather: raining), then we really couldn't delay any more, so we packed our kit into the panniers, loaded them onto the bike and set off on a test ride that would replicate the sort of stresses and strains that we would be encountering on our trip.

So, after ten minutes on the flat smooth cycle track that runs next to Oxford's ring road, we both heartily agreed that both us and the bike were ready for the worst a Himalayan mountain pass could throw at us. We retired for a well earned bacon and egg roll... well, in Den's case an egg roll.

Finally we have declared ourselves ready for the off..... well apart for that tool that Richard needs to get, the important one for the brake!! and the packing of the luggage and the cleaning of the house and the hundred and 1 other things that I am now starting to remember, but I am sure it will all come together in the end I just hope that it is before Thursday evening!!!!!

First port of call on Friday is LA - bring on the sun.......

Projected tandem milage Zero...... (and it will remain boxed for the 4 day LA holiday before the adventure/pain/torture/fun begins in New Zealand a week on Thursday)

There will be pictures at the next posting as the ones that we wanted to post are not available to us owing to a small incident with a Nissan Micra, a memory card and a trip to Swansea.