Days 17-18: Franz Josef to Hari Hari

We had originally planned to spend 4 days in Franz Josef doing a fundraiser, but when we got into town, we realized that it was pretty touristy, and unless we were offering tours through the glaciers, we probably wouldn't be getting many donations there, so we just decided to enjoy Franz and move the fundraiser to Hokitika, where there are more locals. 

The plane we jumped out of!

We had our first WWOOFing experience in Franz, staying at the Rainforest Retreat, so we had to do 5 hours of housekeeping to pay for our accommodation.  So after that was finished, we were pleased to see that the sun came out, and we decided to go for a skydive, since we heard that it was the number 2 place to skydive in the world, just under Mt. Everest, so we figured we should take the opportunity when it comes! 

Skydiving!

It was both of our first times skydiving.  We were glad that we did it so spur of the moment, because once we decided to do it, we were totally freaked out right until about 3 hours after it was over!  My jumping tandem partner was a tiny little girl who comforted me by telling me she had done over 8000 jumps.  But as she was pushing my limbs out of the plane and I had nothing to hold onto, she was not exactly my favorite person...well, until the parachute opened and we spent the longest time in the air because we were so light, we could float down really slowly.  Afterwards, we were feeling really shaky and uneasy but high with excitement, constantly re-living the moment of falling out of the plane!  What an amazing feeling!  After the skydive and a great feed at the Rainforest Retreat, we went to the Franz Josef Hot Pools, where we calmed ourselves down, relaxed and eased our sore muscles.  It was a perfect end to an incredible day. 

The Hot Pools!

The next morning, I was lucky enough to meet up with Frankie, a girl I met at Kapas Island in Malaysia, who was a total inspiration, with loads of stories of her bike trip a few years back in England and Ireland!  She was an angel, knowing exactly what we needed, and gave us a bag of candies to keep us going :)  And it was so nice to see a familiar face and to meet her awesome friend Jeff!

With Frankie and Jeff

It may have been the skydive, the hot pools, the excitement of seeing Frankie, or the 2 coffees we had together, but something made that ride our best one yet!  We were flying!  The road seemed easy, the uphills seemed like downhills, and we climbed over Mount Hercules, which we had heard about weeks ago, as one of the hardest hills, and we didn't even have to walk any of it! 

Hari Hari Motor Inn

We stopped off at the Hari Hari Motor Inn for the night, where the owner Penny met with us, shared biking stories with us, and gave us an amazing dinner and forced us to shower and socialize with her staff :)  After some wins and some losses at pool and darts, we headed off to bed, happy to have met another great bunch of people and shared another great night together with them!

Days 15 & 16: Haast to Bruce Bay, Bruce Bay to Franz Josef

Lake Paringa

Picking Berries in Bruce Bay

Another two days of straight riding... Saturday, from Haast to Bruce Bay, it was the most perfect day we could ever ask for.  As promised by the weather reports, we had a beautiful sunny day, although not too hot and we enjoyed the sunshine and the views all the way to Bruce Bay where we stayed with our best HelpX Hosts ever, Thomas and Rina!  They are living on a beautiful farm with lots of animals and we had a great time hearing stories of how they met, and seeing Rina's amazing photographs, and sharing a great Czech dinner made by some of their other guests :)

Breakfast with Thomas and Rina!

In the morning, we had an incredible breakfast (Thank you Thomas!!!) which was a perfect start to the day.  We had waterproofed ourselves up because it was supposed to be rainy on and off...which it was.  Sunday was actually a pretty miserable day with it spitting the whole time, and even though it was only about 70kms, it felt like it took all day.  I think we may just be losing energy.  We took a break in Fox Glacier, but couldn't enjoy it because of the weather, and when we got back on the bikes it felt like torture, with 3 giant hills which we had to climb between Fox and Franz Josef.  When we finally made it, we checked into the Rainforest Retreat, and got lots of junk food for comfort and just stayed in our room exhausted for the night...

Days 12-14: Wanaka to Makarora, Makarora to Haast

I'm racing against the clock here because here in Haast, internet is not so easy to come by!  I'll keep this one short and sweet :) 

All of us staying in the house!

Wanaka was so great, staying in a big couch surfing house with about 8 people there while we were there.  It was great going into the bar and half of the people in there were staying in the same house!  We all got along great and had fun chatting and telling stories.  Thanks Gavin, for being a wonderful host!

Riding in the Rain

We left Wanaka in the rain, knowing it would be a while before it stopped, but trying to stay on schedule.  We arrived in Makarora sopping wet and miserable, after riding what would have been a beautiful and stunning ride, with lakes along the side of us the entire way, but we were too wet and cold to really enjoy it.  But we were so happy to be greeted by Michelle at the Makarora information center, where she had a perfect little room for us, and we warmed ourselves with soup and a nice hot meal. 

Awesome waterfall!

The next morning we set out to Haast, over the Haast pass, which we've heard so much about.  When we got to the top, we wondered what was so bad about it, but on the way down, realized that the way we went was much easier than going the opposite way, so lucky for us, we were going north!   The rain stopped today just long enough for us to have our lunch, and then started up again afterwards.  So it was another cold and wet one, but it should be nice tomorrow!  Let's hope the weather report doesn't change!!

Days 9-11: Queenstown to Wanaka

On Sunday, we decided to get our butts in gear and start planning for the fundraiser we were to do in Queenstown.  We went around to the local businesses, asking for prize donations for a raffle.  We didn't have much luck because it being a Sunday, all of the managers were away and we were just told to come back on Monday.  So, we decided to do just that, and try out our luck at just sitting in the park and asking for donations. 

Juggling in the Park

The Queenstown crowd may not have been the best people to ask for donations.  It's very much a backpacker town and there are lots of people going around trying to get free stuff.  One couple even thought that we were just trying to make a few extra bucks while throwing out the name World Vision... I guess some people might do that, so good for them I told them, for asking questions and not just giving to anyone who says that the money goes to charity.  We tried a few different ways...juggling, shaking the container, singing, etc.  But in the end we only raised about $30 in the park. 

On the Monday we decided to combine with an event that was already going on and do the raffle there.  We found out about a live band playing at the World Bar, and when I went and met with Gary, the manager there, he was really excited about the idea was more than happy to have us do the raffle there.  So we went out looking for more prizes and we have to send a huge thank you to all of those who made their generous donations for the raffle prizes:

Beautiful Queenstown

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! To...
The British Sweet Shop
The Remarkables Sweet Shop
Starbucks
Small Planet Outdoors Shop
United Video
Wine Tastes
We made up a beautiful prize with all of those donations, took it over to World Bar, and started selling raffle tickets.  We didn't think it would be very hard to sell a $2 raffle ticket to some people coming in to have some drinks, but it was actually quite a challenge!  It was easier selling a bag of nuts!  But we were still happy to be out and enjoying the great music by the band MOJO.  The band was not only very talented, but also really friendly and bought 10 raffle tickets!  They actally ended up winning the raffle, and generously offered to auction off the prize!  After the bidding, the winner was Gary, the manager of the bar!  So we want to give a huge THANK YOU to Gary, the World Bar, the staff there, and Mojo, for all your help and support, and for just making it an enjoyable evening!  We raised about $180 in Queenstown.

Starting up the Mountain!

The next morning, we were back on the road, headed to Wanaka.  There were 2 ways we could have gone.  We could have gone over the mountains (The Crown Range) or around in about double the kilometers.  We were recommended by our Couch Surfing hosts to go over, because although the other route is flatter, it is not flat.  So we figured if it was going to be a challenge anyways, we might as well make it a shorter challenge.  And a challenge it was!  There was about 20kms of straight uphill, with different inclines, but basically we were exhausted for about 3.5 hours, trying to make it up this mountain, biking as much as we could, but we did have to resort to walking it up a few times.  I now know why they call it a 'push bike' :)

Thanks Mark and Ella for the Avocados!

When we were almost to the top, a guy drove by and told me as he drove by that we were only halfway... I guess it was a joke, but I didn't know how far it was, so I was about ready to cry, and then the wind picked up, and then the rain started!  So we threw on the rain jackets, turned the corner and we were relieved to see a sign saying that it would be downhill for the next 4kms!!!  That was probably the best feeling of the day!  We didn't even mind the rain pelting our faces as we screamed for joy down the hill.  Then the rain stopped, the sun came out, and we had a nice downhill ride for the rest of the way until Wanaka. 


In Wanaka we stayed in a big Couch Surfing house, with lots of random people from all over, so we had a great time chatting and making new friends, and the didn't seem to mind how tired we were :)  We are looking forward to having a day of rest before heading off along the west coast on Thursday...

Days 7 & 8: Lumsden - Queenstown

On Friday morning, Sheree and I got up early for our longest ride yet...100kms!  We left around 8am, and enjoyed a nice few hours of perfect weather, no wind, and flat roads.  Then it seems like we just turned a corner and someone turned on the wind and cut our speed down in half.  It was then way more challenging, feeling like a dog with it's head out the car window, but having to push against it with our legs... After an hour or two the wind slowed down a bit but the hills started getting bigger and steeper.  We made it in about 7 hours, which was better than the 8 that we had expected to take. So yay us!

With Damien and Benjamin

When we got to Queenstown, we stayed the night with a couple of American guys who are opening up a Holistic Retreat Center here, and they gave us lots of tips about things we can do for our bodies to ease the pain of the bike ride :)  They also had 2 other couch surfers staying with them, so the 6 of us enjoyed a nice dinner (Thanks girls!) and a glass of wine, after a relaxing bath in the most luxurious house I've ever been in!  What did we do to deserve to meet these two?!!  Thanks so much Benjamin and Damien!




In the morning we went to meet our other Couch Surfing hosts, and they took us for a rock climb, which was really fun, but the clip fell out and we almost saw Freddy fall to his death... Thank goodness that Fraser reacted quickly enough and caught him before he hit the ground!  After rock climbing we just relaxed and had dinner with them and their flatmates, where I got to catch up with a fellow Canadian, who worked in the Masonville Mall, which is basically where I did all of my shopping back in London!  Small small world...

Days 4-6: The Field Days

The Nut Stand!

Let's back up here for a second... Back on Day 1, that night in Invercargill where we had that great night in the pub, another guy that we met was Al.  Al the nut guy :)  He was in recruiting mode and asked us to come and help him sell some of his nuts at the Field Days.  Since we were planning on resting for a day in Lumsden anyways, we decided to just extend the rest a bit and see what the Field Days were all about, and then we could raise a little money on the side.

Andrea, Ella, Mark, Al, Sheree

Tractors!

Llamas (or Alpacas?)

The Field Days is basically a huge farmer's market, where farmers come from all over the country to buy anything farmerish, like tractors and llamas and chicken feeders...and nuts!  So we said a very sad goodbye to our bikes for a few days ;), and went over with Al to Waimumu.  For 2 days we basically said nothing but nut jokes and also explained to the customers what were were doing for our cycling trip.  We met some really great people.  We caught the attention of the cyclists that passed by, so we learned a lot from them and were really encouraged.  We also managed to raise about $250 there! 

Paula, Roger, Ruby and Sheree

After camping for 2 nights and seeing nuts in our sleep, by Thursday night we were pretty keen to get back on our bikes.  We had a great time with Al and our great camping neighbors.  We shared food, stories and laughs, and were sad to say goodbye, but because it was to rain on Saturday, we figured it was best to get the biking done on Friday.  So Al brought us back to Lumsden, where we were greeted by our wonderful host family, where we had our much needed sleep in a comfortable bed, about to head off the next morning on our longest ride yet...

Days 2&3: Invercargill - Winton, Winton - Lumsden

The Plunkett Family

In the morning we had to say good-bye to our new friends, Dawn and Elijah, their two adorable children, and their dog and cat.  We were just becoming one big happy family, but I guess we couldn't stay there forever.  We packed up our bags and headed to the farmer's market in Invercargill, where we were to do the work part of our help exchange.  That night we were to be biking to Winton, and our host was coming to Invercargill to sell his meat, so we helped him out with that and in exchange he gave us a lovely room, warm shower, and a wonderful home cooked meal!  Thank you Barry for being such a great host!  The work we did for him was very minimal for what he gave us, but we really appreciated it! 

The Farmer's market was at a festival called Surf to City, where people from the community could bike, run or walk 12kms from the beach to the city center, also for charity.  We found out about it a bit late so we couldn't participate, but it was still fun to be there and see, as well as work a bit in the farmer's market.  It was a huge community event, and the energy there was incredible!

The band at the Surf to City Festival

Finish Line of the Race!

Us with Barry and Henning on the farm

The ride from Invercargill to Winton was perfect.  We were on flat side roads with no wind and lots of sun but not too hot.  It was only about 40kms so it was a quick ride.  And since there was no one on the road, it gave Sheree and I a chance to ride side by side, share stories, and just get to know each other better :)  And then we were greeted by Barry and his other helpx helper, Henning from Germany. 

Sheree's getting pretty comfortable on the bike!

The next day we got a chance to sleep in, and took our time getting ready, and around noon we headed off to Lumsden.  We rode about 68kms on mostly flat and easy roads, with a few hills towards the end, just to give us a little taste of what we've got ourselves into!  Our next host was another help exchange...

The cows seem to love watching us!

Paula offered to let us stay in exchange for some gardening work.  We love gardening, so this was a great deal for us.  Paula's cooking was amazing, and she even gave us Pavlovas for dessert...which was a first for me!  Everything was amazing and we went to bed early and happy with our stomachs full.  Thank you Paula! 

 We were meant to rest in Lumsden for a couple of days, but we got an opportunity to go to the Field Days in Waimumu, so we decided to do that.  I'll give you an update on how that goes, and we'll continue on biking on Friday or Saturday...

Day 1: Invercargill - Bluff...Bluff - Invercargill!

We woke up on Day 1 to the sound of rain pouring down on the roof and we were a little bit worried.  Rain on the first day is not exactly what we were hoping for.  But after checking just about every forecast we could possibly think of, we found one that gave us somewhat favourable news, that it would be sunny for at least part of the day!  So we chose to believe that one, and raised our spirits up and started getting ready to get this trip started! 

Bluff!

We started by getting a backup plan in case hitchhiking with 2 bikes down to Bluff didn't work.  We went to the information centre and realized that we had just missed the bus by 5 minutes... So our backup plan became just biking down and biking back.  So we headed off down the road to attempt to hitchhike.  When we found a good spot, we gave ourselves until noon to find a ride, or start biking down.  35 minutes later we were pretty keen to bike, as we were cold and there really wasn't much traffic going down, especially ones that would have room for 2 girls and 2 bikes!  So we decided to go for it and just do both ways.  After all, it was to be just a 26km ride. 

Our Newspaper Photo :)

Going down was pretty nice.  It was very flat, sunny for the most part, and just the right temperature for biking, and we were thinking this was pretty easy! Then the wind came... When it was strongest, it cut our speed almost in half, and that was even still on flat ground!  But we made it with our spirits pretty high, and then waited for the newspaper to come and get the photo that they requested from us. 

Cooks on Wheels!

While we were at the Bluff sign, we met a couple of biker dudes who had just come from Cape Reinga, which is where we're going!  Their bikes were actually tricycles, and motorized.  I'd never seen those things before, but was more interested in the riders, who had nothing but great things to say about the journey they had just taken, and we were about to take!  They were very nice, called themselves "Cooks on Wheels" because they were both cooks, and also doing their trip for charity.  They made a donation for ours, and we had fun taking photos and watching the whales together :)

After our First day...

After the photo shoot ;), we started on our actual journey from Bluff up north... We went about 30 seconds and my bike started making a horrible grinding noise!  We're still not sure what it was (could be a stone caught in the chain) but after stopping and trying to figure it out, it eventually fixed itself.  (Thanks Jeff for the great self-repairing bikes!)  Then we stopped, had some fish 'n chips for lunch, and then headed back to Invercargill.  It wasn't as hard, because the wind was behind us this time, but on the way home we stopped of at a couple shops to pick up some stuff, and when we got back on our bikes, we were both moaning in pain!  From now on...when we get off our bikes, we STAY off!  Hahaha. So, what was meant to be a 26km ride for our first day became a 67km first day, with the biking both was, and all the running around town and going all the way down to the Southern most point and back... We were tired, but felt good to get this show on the road :)

Alf!

Another person we met at the Bluff sign was a musician from London named Alf.  He was very friendly and he invited us to come to the pub where he was performing at that evening.  We decided to come for just one drink, even though we were pretty tired.  One of our great hosts, Dawn, joined us as well while Elijah stayed home with the kids.  So it was a girls night out!  When we arrived, Alf made an announcement to the people in the pub of what we were doing, and dedicated songs to us all night.  A couple of dances and drinks (non-alcoholic of course!) and chats later, we had raised about $80 from people's donations!  Thanks so much Alf!  It was a great encouraging start to our trip!

Sizzlin' Sausages!

Flying over Great Barrier Reef

Our adventure began at about midnight last Sunday night.  Andrea arrived in Auckland and was greeted at the airport by Sheree, which was where we had our first face to face meeting.  We had a started to get to know each other on the way back to Sheree's hometown, and in the morning we jumped right into planning mode! 

Jeremy driving us to the Airport

We went back to Auckland on Tuesday where we met our first Couch Surfing host, a wonderfully pleasant guy named Jeremy.  He was sweet enough to offer to wake up early and drive us to the airport in the morning, even after working late the night before.  Thank you Jeremy! 

The flight from Auckland to Dunedin was super easy, without even an ID check!  We just hopped on the plane, slept a few hours, and woke up in Dunedin.  We were offered a ride into the town center by a local artist couple.  Euwin is a painter, and we found his beautiful photos in a book in the local art gallery, and Sarah is a playwrite, who is was quite well known within the Dunedin community, and her plays are also perfomed in London! 

Paul and our New Bikes!

When we got to town we spent most of the day getting our bikes sorted out.  We want to thank Cycle World, and our new best friend Paul for giving us a great discount on our bikes and all the gear we could think of, and lots of lessons on cycling and repairing, and also for putting up with two clueless girls taking up all of his day with a million questions and comments and giggles!  And also thanks to our French friend at Cycle World...we appreciate all your help as well!

Us with Miriam and Jordan

So we got our bikes!  We were super excited and started out by riding them to our next Couch Surfing host...Jordan!  Jordan and his roommate Miriam were both so nice and our plan of sleeping early turned into chatting at the dinner table until we were in complete darkness, but we didn't seem to notice as we were talking the night away and realized it was once again another late night.  But definitely worth it!  We got caught up again in the morning with another breakfast chat, which made us 2 hours later than we expected, to get on the road and head off to Invercargill.  But it was no problem because hitchhiking was so easy for 2 girls in New Zealand...we got 4 rides, and a normally 2.5 hour ride, took us a total of 3 hours, and the most we waited was 20 minutes!  We had amazing luck because our last ride was from a guy named Chris, who was an Invercargill local who knew the city in and out, and was staying around the corner from where we were staying!  After taking us to our next hosts, he even took us around town and we had dinner together.  I must say...I love hitchhiking in NZ!  Way better than Thailand (for any of you who've heard my Thailand hitchhiking story :))

Our First Fundraiser ~ Sausage Sizzles!

Today we did a kickstarter fundraiser to get us excited about this trip.  So we did a sausage sizzle (or bbq, for my Canadians ;)) outside the Warehouse.  We stayed all day since there were constantly people wanting to buy them.  We got there around 11:30am and by 8, we had sold 14kgs of sausages, making a profit of $268!  We were pretty happy with that, and we had lots of encouragement from the locals.  Thanks to everyone who got a sausage, made a donation, or even stopped to talk to us!  We really appreciate it!  Also, a special thanks to THE WAREHOUSE for giving us the BBQ and gas, and for the perfect location!  Obviously this wouldn't have been possible without you!  And thank you so much to Pak 'n Save, for the voucher which let us buy the first batch of sausages and bread.  Everyone loved the sausages! 

Well...a lot has happened in the last few days!  We are pretty exhausted, and we haven't even started!  But I know that if you're determined, you can get through anything.  Tomorrow is the big starting day, so we're hoping it'll be as good as it's been leading up to it.  We've had nothing but good luck so far, and I know with this long of a trip, bad luck is bound to come our way on some days.  We're just hoping it's not on our first day!  I hope lots of you keep on encouraging us, and following us on here.  You've all been great so far...don't leave us now!  I'll be posting again tomorrow to let you know how Day 1 turns out...