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“My tent trembled from vibrations”...
Because of my injuries, it was not possible for me to cycle further on. On a beautiful sunny day, I met two girls from Bavaria on the campground in Queenstown. After “tough” negotiations,
we put the bike and my gear in the back of their “extremely doubtful car” car.
All three were a story of themselves, the car smoked as somebody would have thrown a smoke grenade under it and one of the girls had
always her “days”, therefore moody she was nearly all the time.
We drove pas t the beautiful Lake Pukaki and the Lake Tekapo, but the “magnificent and
stunning” views were disappointed because of the rain or clouds which hung low in the sky.Mostly we spent our nights on Rest Areas, or on simple campsites made by the Department of Conservation.
From Picton we took than again the Ferry back to the north island, to be exactly, into the capital of New Zealand, named Wellington. After a few days in Wellington, we drove up to Napier
, where we separated again and I hopped back on my saddle (bad tongues say that, because of my smile and my good moods, I would always cycle without one)! The two
girls drove up towards Auckland and I remained a few days in Napier. This city was flattened out by an earthquake in 1931 in the strength of 7,9 on the Richterskala and an
additional fire burst did the rest. The buildings were restored afterwards in the original state, that gave the city a “New Art Deco” flair.
From Napier I cycled on the Highway 2 in northern direction. After Waiaura, I took the road which leads into the Urewera Nationalpark. I skipped the east cape because of
bad weather conditions. The road was, as expected, always hilly and I pushed myself to reach a Rest Area before dawn. Luckily I found one in a small village, and as I had
unpacked my bike, I prepared dinner and threw noodles in my pot. After 10 minutes, a New Zea lander past me, stopped and invited me to his house. I was very pleased, because the sky turned again into dark grey and started to open its gates.
The next morning, I cycled after an extensive breakfast towards the Nationalpark. The smooth sealed road turned kilometers further on into a bumpy gravel road. The gravel road lead
constantly uphill and because of the rain, it turned into a slippery muddy track with plenty of water filled waterholes. In the evening I
reached, soaked to the bone and exhausted, the campground of the Nationalpark. I pitched my tent up in constant rain and pleased myself with a hot shower. Later on, I met
some South Africans which invited me for dinner and we spent the night with many laughs and discussions together. Because of the events on this day, I fell asleep very
quickly, but on the morning I was woken up by the sound of rain sizzling on the roof of my tent. Still in the tent, I packed all my gear in the waterproof Ortlieb panniers, and was
glad that I had such good equipment. Sometimes it is bit more expensive, but in situations like this, the stuff is definitely worth the extra money!
After I packed my bike, I said good bye to my South African friends. The knowledge of two high mountains which I had to cross didn’t make my mood better. The sweat began
to run in rivers over my belly as I pushed myself up the windy road. The views would have been fantastic, but of course, without rain! I cycled through a lushy green rainforest, with
trees covered in moss, misty patches of clouds and waterfalls which sometimes cascaded just beside the road. Unde me on my left side was a huge lake, where you
could do some cruises with boats. The road was very narrow and windy. Later on, I’ve heard from a local that this road was the hardest to drive on in wh ole New Zealand! Well, cycling on it wasn’t easier!
I nearly gave up as I climbed the first mountain. The altitude meter of my Casio watch showed an altitude of 750meters over sea level, and I still had the bigger mountain to climb! So I
couldn’t really enjoy the upcoming downhill. After I reached the summit of the second mountain, I just let my bike go and rolled downhill. In the middle of the descent I stopped and wanted to eat
something. Because of starting rain, I couldn’t pick up my stove, so I threw cold tomato sauce from the day before and tuna down my neck. With new energy I managed to finish
the downhill. The road started to flattened out and the sun started to go down. Now I was looking for a good place to pitch up my tent, but it was hopeless! After a while, I pitched
up my tent 10 meters away from the main road, on a grassy patch. The earth shook constantly as big lorry trucks passed me. Sometimes it felt like that they would drive
through my tent. Some funny bastards used their horns as they spotted me, so I woke up pretty early the next morning.
The next day I reached the volcanic area Rotorua. In this city I noticed a very strong smell
of sulfur, but it didn’t bothered me, because it reminded me of the day before new years eve, when the smell of the fire crackers still hang in the air. I stayed in a youth hostel and
recovered my aching muscles in the 36 °C degrees hot Thermalpool. I remained a couple of days in Rotorua before I headed off (again in the rain) via Tauranga back to
Auckland, where I booked the flight on the 28.4 back to Sydney.
New Zealand is considered as “cycling paradise”, but the facts are bit different! The
roads, particularly on the north island, are windy and narrow, have no shoulders and the drivers are reckless. These drive rs, especially young ones, use a very radical style of
driving. The roads are partly steep and hilly, strange to say that they were better in the South island, even if there are more higher mountains. The roads there were built along rivers and in valleys.
If you have to pass a mountain, you cycle uphill and than down than comes the even part again. In the north island you have to cycle continuously up and down.
Nature is very impressive, but has its price. If you want to see the Milford Sound for example, you have to pay shitloads of money, to cruise around on an
“individual” tour, with 200 other tourists. Even you have to pay for the famous walking treks, which are booked out in advance. For the famous walking treks, like Milford, you
have to book in the peak season at least 4 months in advance!
Theoretically, you can pitch up your tent on every free space, where there is no fence, but
it seems like that the New Zealanders put a fence around every drop of a cow, so it was very tricky to find a spot to camp. The forest was some times that deep that camping was
impossible, also there are quite often water ditch beside the road, which you have to cross, when you want to pitch up beside the road.
Well, I don’t want to put down New Zealand too much, maybe I
had different and higher expectations. In fact it is nice, no question, but all the things which are situated there, we have in Europe, except a rainforest, and of course not in that small space
! And the weather is very similar to the climate in Europe, but exactly the opposite, so when it’s winter in Europe, it will be summer in New Zealand, which makes it to a popular tourist country as well.
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