zealand

i started my south island mission around ten. i climbed the first long hill just beyond the picton and then carried on gently rolling terrain. mostly farmland and wineries. it was very pleasant ride. i had enough chocolate and carrots so i always had a reason to stop and chew something.

it was just after reaching the blenheim i realised i miss something. yeah, you’re right. there was no bloody rain or wind approaching. clear sky and fresh air was the only signs of the south island’s attitude. i was happy again. just me, hills, road and my bike.

concentration of the wineries started to be very high as i was in marlborough wine area. i happily passed the MONTANA wine processing plant. now i know what i was drinking back in auckland few times … montana white 7 dollars per bottle. glass was probably more expensive then that almost litre of white stuff inside. nevermind. it was tasty and my head did not split the next day. somewhere on the half way to seddon there was ridiculously long and quite steep hill in front of me. i got a grip on myself and started climbing up. road workers were shaking there heads and several cars gave me honk. on the top of the hill i celebrated my braveness and eat through half sack of pinneapple bites. so good!

i managed to cycle quite fast as i wanted to go to bed early. there was a railway line following the road and everytime i’ve heard some big noise i turned my head to figure out if it’s another truck or transcenic train. it was always a truck and once transcenic appeared i was unprepared without camera in my hand. so i have brown shit rather then a romantic picture of a train running through the beautiful terrain in the sunny weather. possum pancakes were appearing again and i felt everything is ohkay once again.

i made the last hill just before seddon where i wanted to camp somwhere around. when lady in the information site advised me the 15 dollar camp in the centre of seddon i quickly refused. i don’t like the idea of giving somebody money for just pitching the tent. especially in this cold. i’m not that rich to pay someone for my work…. and as i’ve checked my account those piles of money i had at the beginning where rapidly shrinking. i don’t have a pile so thick to kill a whale with it when hitting it’s head anymore. no no. i lived like a king for so long squandering like a nigga gangsta with a heavy chains around the neck and pimp rings on it’s wrists and fingers..

i left seddon far behind me and decided to ask some famer if i could camp on his possession.

friendly fijian farmer chev, manager of that winery area around allowed me to camp over night and next morning invited me for a tea and offered me a work as a master prunner. i rejected as politely as i could and moved on the next morning.

as i’m running out of sweets i just planned very light and ‘lazy’ distance of a village called clerance. there is very nice route i’m following. shore is full of rocks and i’m just expecting when seals will appear. there are signs of detours to the seal colonies nearby but i’m to lazy to do 11 kms just to take few pictures. there is some shop where i bought the energy drink and carried on until my thighs were as red as a fire engines in clerance is very cold and i could see a lot of snow capped mountains from that place. there is one apple tree near the highway. i’m out of water so i picked as many apples as i could because they were just delicious. then i persuaded some very helpful teacher from nearby school to give me some really tasty water and adviced of camping just behind clerance river bridge. cold night with a lots of turnovers.

the next morning there is sun shinning on my tent. so i deconstructed the camp and dried the tent and made those last 40 kms to the kaikoura very quickly. i wanted to do some shopping before it’s got dark and cold too much. i took few pictures of some seals on the way there. i’ve seen seals on my own eyes for the first time in my life in their normal habitat. they look like gigantic shits on the rock. they don’t do anything. they just sleep without any movement. some of them started moving when i burped after finishng apple but that was all. then in kaikoura i went for advice to those nice and chatty girls in the i-site to get info how to reach yha hostel maui. i quickly unmounted my shit from the bike took a bag and went on the other side of the town to buy something for the big feast.

i don’t want to be impolite and make you hungry by writing those long sentences about juicy and well spiced food i’ve cooked. just want to mention fresh tarakihi fillets and poached potatoes in tomato chutney with fresh salad and balsamic dressing…with entree as bluff oysters with lemon (they were canned and in special price as almost gone off

what more can i say when i tell you that it was warm place with electricity and wireless internet…i was in the heaven. third night wasn’t really my intention to stay but that morning i wanted to start cycling again there was snow and hail expected in sea levels. the weather forecast was fullfilled to the last word. i observed that hell from inside warm room of my dorm bed chatting with my friends from the czech republic.