(Brisbane, Australia, 4th of February 2017)
Our current accommodation is situated on the edge of the huge city of Brisbane and today we decided to take the bus into the city center to buy some necessities. The bus took 40 minutes and the entire bus system is quite impressive with separate roads for buses with several bus stops underground – very high tech.
I shopped a dress at HM (of all places) and we visited a number of bike shops. Brisbane is a very modern city with a pedestrian street that could be in any major city in the world.
/Christel
(Brisbane, Australia, 3e February 2017)
This morning we had some time to spare before we had to go to Christchurch airport for onward travel to Australia, so we had time for the city’s Art Gallery, which despite two impressive and quite humorous statues outside the gallery did not impress on us.
e also had time for another museum – unfortunately I do not know what it was called – but it was more like a traditional Swedish museum with glass jars and signs with a lot of text …
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(Christchurch, New Zealand, 2nd of February 2017)
Christchurch is a city that has been badly affected by the earthquakes lately, the one year 2011 and now another in November 2016 and many houses are either broken or leveled with the ground. We decided to go for a “Free Walking Tour” to learn more about the city. Our guide was very good and we learned lots of how the city survived the earthquakes, and both I and Johan enjoyed much about what we saw of Christchurch. It is a city despite all the misery contributes to radiating hope and where creativity is part of the cityscape. The container city reStart is an example of this. ReStart is an area of ​​containers painted in happy colors containing shops, restaurants and cafes, with streets decorated with fun sculptures.
(Christchurch, New Zealand, 1st of February 2017)
Our bus to Christchurch left Picton 7.30 in the morning and because we needed time to pack the bikes when we arrived at the bus station, it was a very early morning.
As usual when traveling in New Zealand, one’s a little scared. The driver drove like a madman and I dared barely look forward. The scenery that flew past the window was beautiful although I did not (of the little I saw) think it was a bigger experience than the views on the North Island.
(Picton, New Zealand, 31st of January 2017)
Today’s mission was to travel over to the South Island and to get there you take a ferry from the harbor in Wellington. It works much like an airplane where you check in your bags and get a boarding pass. The bikes we had to transport aboard by ourselves and lock them on special bike racks. We had heard a lot about how beautiful the boat trip over to the South Island would be but I think you get a little spoiled when you have been in New Zealand for a while because everything is so amazingly Beautiful. The view from the boat was certainly beautiful but nothing special compared to other we experienced.
(Wellington, New Zealand, 30th of January 2017)
Our plan was to ride a long bicycle tour around Wellington but as it was cloudy, cold and chilly, it did not seem at all attractive. Besides, I had struck the foot at the bed post in our apartment and my toe did not want to be trapped in a bicycle shoe. Instead we took a bus ride to Weta Cave, a place in Wellington, where they work with special effects and digital production. Among others, they made all the costumes and weapons to the Lord of the Rings and Narnia films, and produced Avatar and King Kong. A fun tour in their workshop where we got to touch the skulls from the Lord of the Rings, see how they produce weapons and other things in a CNC machine and see characters and buildings from different movies.
Some shopping in the afternoon resulted in two pairs of shorts – I hope for warm weather and sunshine in Australia!
/Christel
(Wellington, New Zealand, 29th of January 2017)
Today it was time to see the sights in Wellington. We started the day by taking the Cable Car up the mountain to visit the Wellington Botanical Gardens and see Wellington from above. Wellington turned out not to be so beautiful from afar, as the only thing you see is a bunch of ugly skyscrapers, the city is much more charming up close. We decided to walk back to the city and on the way we passed the greater part of the botanical garden.
(Wellington, New Zealand, 28th of January 2017)
The bus to Wellington resigned from central Hawera and as usual we were in place in good time. When you travel by bus with your bike in New Zealand, we have read that you have to pack it so that it takes up as little space as possible. Johan manages the removal and packing, and always begins with turning the handle, remove the pedals and front wheel. He protects the front fork with a home made protection of corrugated cardboard and wrap the blade and then we stop the cycle in a large plastic bag (the bag that we also use at the hotels where they do not want us to take the bikes into the room).
You become a bit angry when there are two mountain bikers showing up who also want to ride the bus and not have dismantled their bikes at all and their bikes are oiling off on our plastic bags …. We voted between th etwo of us (me and Johan) that they should not be allowed to go with the bus but our bus driver was the nice kind. Read More
(Hawera, New Zealand, 27th of January 2017)
We took it easy this morning, as we had only a short bike ride on 45 km left to Hawera, from where we will take a bus to Wellington tomorrow. And lo and behold – we had a tailwind and only slightly over 300 meters of altitude !! The road we have cycled for the past few days is the Surf Highway, a road we have heard would be so beautiful to ride. When you have cycled at the inner parts of the country among green hills and high mountains with sheep and cows grazing everywhere then a flat stretch of coastline is not particularly impressive. If we had recommended cycling routes in New Zealand this stretch had not been involved. But this day we at least got a glimpse of Mount Taranaki – this beautiful but elusive volcano! Read More
(Opunake, New Zealand, 26th of January 2017)
Breakfast was included in the hotel, which is rare in New Zealand. And what a wonderful breakfast! I had tea in a little pot with dots on and then we had to choose from four different breakfast menus.
I chose fruit salad and toast with homemade plum marmalade and Johan eggs and toast. So nice and luxurious! While we ate, we talked to the hotel owner who told us they lived in Norway and Iceland before they arrived in New Zealand 8 years ago. Read More
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