About 4 weeks ago I banged my knee heavily while out mountain biking, an almighty smash that had me swearing out loud in the middle of the forest. From not being able to sit for more than a minute or so with bended knee it gradually improved to the extent I thought it was going to be OK for this trip. A niggle on Tuesday I blamed on the long flight but after Wednesday's adventure it felt worse. With 5,700kms of cycling ahead of me it was perhaps time to do the sensible thing.
So now I am the proud driver of a rental car! The extremely helpful guy on reception at the YHA hostel in Wellington (a great hostel!) called around and got the best deal so for the 15 days I'm on the North Island I'll have the car. I plan to give the cycling a rest for a couple of days and see how it feels, then do some cycling in the mornings before driving on to the next destination or in the afternoons when I get there. Car hire is amazingly cheap here - $25 per day (about 12 GBP).
Then I can of course see a lot of benefits of having the car. Avoid bad weather, get to see more of the country, more flexibility if a place pops up that looks worth visiting and easier getting up the hills ;) But more about that later!
So after the first couple of hours of disappointment I'm actually now quite pleased and very comfortable with my decision.
Before the car rental company picked me up I had a few hours to get breakfast (at a cool place called "Sweet Mother's Kitchen", walk around Wellington then visit the excellent Te Papa National Museum of New Zealand. Free entry, a great variety of themes and exhibits and a solution to one of the day's biggest problems.
Being in New Zealand I'd expect a photographic theme of "sheep of the day " shouldn't be too much of a problem. Then going through the country's largest cattle station on day 2 didn't make things easy. What could save me today - in the middle of New Zealand's 2nd largest city?
Cue Shrek:-
Before (background) and after (foreground) shearing - a task undertaken by no less than New Zealand's champion shearer. 27 kilos of wool. Poor bugger needed a coat after losing it's fleece!
Otherwise there was a good art installation:-
and a great view of Wellington harbour from the roof terrace:-
Walked back around to the hostel, past an interesting car park wall "borrowed" by the anti shark finning movement.
Striking!
Once I'd got the car sorted out I then drove off, following exactly the route I'd planned to cycle. Not long out of the city's suburbs you then can choose to drive up through a dramatic and very steep gorge. A very narrow road, so winding that my Garmin regularly beeped at me to warn that I was "off course". I have little doubt that I would NOT have made it all the way up this climb on the bike without getting off and walking.
Once up at the top I got a quick view of the surroundings before the equally steep and winding descent.
It would be an amazing challenge if the roads were closed to traffic but a nightmare otherwise - and that's coming from someone who's worked as a cycling guide in mountainous terrain!
It wasn't then far from the sub-tropical slopes of the gorge to the endless sandy beaches of the west coast, where I stopped for lunch and a stroll up the beach.
Took some pictures of a couple of guys "wake boarding", some driftwood, a group of whitebait fishermen and an arrangement of sea shells. Stunning!
Then of course one mustn't forget the "panorama of the day" :-
There then remained about an hour's drive to my overnight stop at Palmerston North, or "Palmy".
So far New Zealand has been totally amazing - stunningly contrasting and beautiful scenery, very friendly people and a laid back but seemingly efficient and high quality of life. However there's no point trying to pull the wool over your eyes when it comes to Palmy. It is a shithole approaching the standards previously created by Amarillo, Texas. However I found a supermarket, made a good meal back at the hostel (which is quite OK) and will now enjoy a bottle of Monteith's before retiring for the night.
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