Author Archives: Kiwihobos

Today we are heading to Mapua! First of all we need to pack. Second of all we have gear coming which should arrive any moment now. We start by going to the tip shop and the restore with Kelvin, looking for a backpack. We end up finding a vintage bag for $2! We go back and pack our belongings and choose what to leave behind. Only going for a couple of nights, so we don’t need everything. We are all ready and we are going to go but the courier will be here soon and they have my pannier bags! It only takes an hour and a cup of tea and they finally arrive. Best of all the seller threw in a front torch for the bike.  It is even brighter than the one we got Rowan.  Score! 

It is nearly 2pm and we set off up the hill. I notice Rowan’s tire is a little low, a quick stop to pump up the breaks, then carry on. Once up the hill it is a really fun down hill ride to Tahunanui. Then along the rocky mostly flat, little ups and downs by the water. There is a head wind which is rather tiring. When we reach Richmond it has taken us an hour. I was a bit tired but determined, yes let’s make it to the last ferry from Rabbit Island. When we reached rough island I was pretty buggered. I just wanted to stop.

Rowan kept pushing me on and I kept cursing him. The stress of making the ferry at 5pm spurred us on. That and the fact there is no camping allowed and no water. Not that it would have stopped us, but the promise of hot showers and real food made us continue. Phew we made it with time to spare. By this time we are rather wet and cold, sitting and waiting was making me even more cold. There was a lady with us and she said we should call the ferry. So I called him to let him know 3 wet cold passengers are waiting and I hope he realises he still has passengers to pick up. He was lovely enough to come now, nice and early. Which I was greatful for as it got us out of the rain.

On the other side the rain stopped. Typical! It was unanimous to get a scoop of hot chips at the chippy before heading to 4square and campground. The hot chips really hit the spot. Now warmed up and some food in our belly we could make the last 800m to dinner and camp. We broke a lot of our hiking rules today.

• Going late in the day
• Not eating before leaving (Rowan hadn’t eaten at all
• Having a deadline
• No snacks handy

On the upside we can push ourselves to do over 30km on the downside we are pretty slow! Nothing new lol 🐌

Rest day! Today we relax, we have a bit to tinker with but it is relaxing! The bikes need a bit of editing and the cogs and gears are filthy. In to the village for a nosy and we go to the 4square for some food and cleaning supplies. It takes a bit of elbow grease but the bikes are looking much cleaner. Some new chain oil and they’re running smooth. Rowan’s cheap pannier bags from the restore begin to disintegrate, hmm, back to the drawing board. We really should get some waterproof ones like mine. Then we don’t need to worry about any of our gear. As we take a shade break under a tree I notice a bike lock on the tree. Ooo is it unlocked? Yes it is, we have the combination and now have two bike locks. Free is my favourite price! After all that work it was 4pm! Time for a drink.

Waiting on a set of pannier bags from Christchurch to arrive. Actually we are waiting on a fair amount of gear. Bike shorts and shoes. We head into town hoping things arrive but really we are too early. Up one of the steep hills to try on a pair of shoes and I can’t make it up so need to push the bike. I think there will be a lot of bike pushing in my future. After all that sweat the shoes don’t fit! Oh well down hill is fun!

My hiking boots are away to be assessed and have been away a month now. I am over waiting for them, plus better to bike in different shoes so I have ordered some Hoka One One. These are supposed to be the bees knees for comfort so I am pretty excited.

We head to Macpac to pick up Rowan’s bag which needed repair. They lost my silk liner so they had to refund me. We came in on Saturday but they couldn’t find the bag. So we are back hopeful that they have it. Although now we are not hiking it is not the end of the world if they don’t find it. Turns out they still can’t find it and the refund us. I wonder if someone sold it.

We got a pair of pannier bags from the restore for $20, they are not waterproof but the other ones coming are. I have a pannier rack from rider18 (a small shop), Rowan still needs the rack. Torpedo7 is having a big sale so we pop into there for a rack, lights, helmet. I have been borrowing one of Kelvins helmets and Rowan’s bike came with a helmet. In our research we found that in Australasia we have some of the highest regulations when it comes to helmets. Shops can’t sell helmets that don’t conform to these regulations. So there is no difference or very little between a cheap helmet and an expensive helmet safety wise. I am sure comfort and other factors are the main difference.

We get one torch for the front which means we can easily bike at dusk if we get caught out. Our two rear lights are actually universal and can blink red or white so we can use them front or back. We just need another front torch for me.

Kelvin & Paula have been amazing letting us stay for so long to get our gear sorted. Tomorrow we plan on going to Mapua for a few nights to get out of their hair. I am a bit nervous for such a long bike ride but it is fairly flat the whole way.

We are struggling getting items for bargains because we don’t have all the time in the world. It is the fast vs cheap! We need to spend some money to get it done faster. We have found a few items at the local dump but we also ended up buying things that don’t work.

Every day we go for a ride, my legs are pretty sore but I am getting more confident. I haven’t been on a bike regularly in over 20 years! I do get nervous as it is all new. Rowan was following closely behind me and a bit further out on my first attempt up a hill on a very busy road. A lady yelled and beeped at us to be in a single file. Rowan promptly yelled back a few words that should not be repeated. That is the first and last time so far that we have had a dickhead driver.

Number one on my list of accessories are tassels. Rowan says I will get annoyed with them, but I don’t care. If I now have to live with a sore butt and legs I am going to do it with tassels. I find a $6 bargain at the warehouse that are sparkly and every 5 year olds dream. I did think about noisy spoke beads but they will drive us nuts.

Jenna leaves today to head to Christchurch. Before the weather turns, we quickly pack up the tent. By the time our stuff is in the car the rain starts. The kitchen only has outdoor seating. We decide to head to a cafe for food and coffee. Breakfast is really good, much better than yesterday’s. Jenna needs the post shop to get a parcel sent to herself so her bags are not too heavy. Jenna drops us off at Kelvin and Paula’s house and we say our goodbyes. It will be strange not travelling with her anymore.

Rowan and I spend the rest of the day doing jobs. We get clothes washed and clean up a few things. The kids are happy to have us here, especially Lucy who adores Rowan. An easy meal tonight of pizza!

Our journey is going to change from here. After traveling with Jenna we have enjoyed a new level of freedom. In hindsight south island hiking would have been a better start for us.

Rowan and I are adding bicycles and we will complete our journey with them. I wish it was electric but we are going with human powered ones. We will be able to complete our tour of Aotearoa by our own steam. This week we will be helping Kelvin and Paula with their pop top caravan and getting gear sorted. We are doing it on a budget. Our aim is under $1k for both of us. So far we have a bike for me $80 and a large frame bike for Rowan $200. Now to get safety gear, panniers, clothing. And probably other gear we never would have though of!

For Jenna’s last day we thought we better have some fun. We started at breakfast in town, it was mediocre but the coffee was fantastic. Then we went to the Nelson Museum, which was great. We got talking to the staff for a while. I got a message from Kelvin that he is having a stall across the road at the markets.

The markets are really small compared to last time. Kelvin points out I was probably at the Saturday Market, not the Sunday one. I find a zebra hoof and show it to Rowan. We talk about it with Kelvin, who tells us to go get it.

From the market we go find sushi and head to the park next to the water to eat it. We end up reading our books and then heading to Kelvin’s house. At Kelvins, I use the vacuum and clean out the inside of the car. Jenna and Rowan help.

From Kevin’s, we head to beach because it won’t be long until our dinner reservation and no point going back to the campground. We go to Mama San for dinner which is an East Asian restaurant. The food is delicious.

We are done fairly early which is fine and we head back to camp for hot chocolates.

Kelvin has a stall at the local swapmeet, we head off to see him and of course shop around. I relieve Kelvin for a bit so he can go shopping and I sell a few of his goodies. I wasn’t thinking but of course I got to see Jase, a good friend who lives in Blenheim. He sells amazing curios and his stall is always really professional. We ended up getting a screwdriver and a naughty stamp from him. We also saw Nick a dealer from Christchurch. Rowan rummaged in a jewellery pile and got a few goodies. It was a fun few hours.

After the swapmeet we took Jenna through her first car wash since she was a kid. In Germany you need to get out of the car. No way near as fun! Then off to the supermarket for some supplies. The rest of the day we chilled at the campground, went through our goodies and read our books. Tomorrow is our last full day with Jenna.

The rain came, there is no shelter here at the campground so we packed quickly and got moving. Because we are so close to Pelorus Bridge we decide we need to do a full circle, back to where we started. A very atmospheric drive up in the clouds. We got to the cafe at Pelorus and got some morning tea. The place has changed quite a bit since we last visited. They only do cabinet food now, I am guessing low numbers through covid.

We ended up having a very late lunch at a burger place around 3pm. Making life easy we headed back to the Matai Valley campground. Rowan cooked up some small steaks and potato salad for dinner. We had a small meal because we were not hungry form the late lunch.

I wake up for the sunrise and find Rowan did sleep outside all night. We watch the sunrise, it is fairly mild because it is very cloudy. Jenna wakes with a migraine today, not good. It is quite a bad one so we just chill a bit for the morning. Not long though and she agrees we should go explore. Google reckons an hour and a half. It takes us more like 2 hours. Because we stop to take photos. I was hopeful for a beautiful spot to relax on the water. Reality is you get to the end of the road and Port Ligar is private no access. At the end of the Bulwer Scenic Reserve is private properties. There is a small goat track in the reserve that may take you down the the beach. With all that anticlimactic ending we turned around and headed back to camp.

Back at camp, we had a late lunch. Then we headed just up the road to a walkway where there is a lookout and beach access. The lookout wasn’t that exciting and the beach was smaller but really nice because no one else was there the whole time.

We slogged back up the track and headed for the next lookout. This one was much easier to access and I couldn’t help but jump onto the dolphin.

Of course the others needed to join in! Back at camp we got chatting to the neighbours and ended up talking to them all night. A couple from South Africa who have been living in NZ for 12 years. Rowan and I had a swim in the ocean and a cold shower to get the salt off.

I have never been to French Pass before and I have always wanted to explore the area so when the suggestion was made I jumped to say yes. Rowan has been there a few times but only when sailing his yacht. The road is mostly tarmac which is more than we expected. We got high up in the clouds and the views were fantastic. The wind was gusty and we could tell we were in the sounds. Majority of the land is private so you can’t get down to the water edge. In Okiwi Bay is the first chance down at the water.

We booked the DOC site for two nights so we can explore a bit more tomorrow. The DOC site is basic with cold shower. Only 18 sites are there. There is no phone signal which I love apart from the fact I can’t call my Nana for her birthday. I didn’t realise what day of the month we were up to let alone they day of the week. Sorry Nan!

We came across a block with my mums initials. I am upset she didn’t tell us we could stay at her property haha

In the morning we finished off any leftover jobs we needed to do. Rowan had a bit of paining on the tin roof and I put another coat on the boat. Jenna helps trim the horse hooves and then we headed into Motueka. We checked out the op shops and headed to our friend Kelvin in Nelson.

Kelvin & Paula are good friends who we often stay with when we are in Nelson. It was great to catch up with Kelvin. We will come back and stay when Jenna heads home. About 5pm we head off to the Maitai Valley where Nelson Council has a campground. It is a pretty basic place but good enough. We have no reception out here but it will be nice to spend a few days here.

Once it got dark we realised we had set up camp right under the street light for the campground. Hilarious and annoying all at the same time!