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New Zealand and Australia (March-June 2006)
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New Zealand
Australia
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Back on the track. The second part of my tour around the world starts on New Zealand's southern island in the town of Christchurch. Coming from Holland it's kind of silly to see city bikers wearing helmets, but they are mandatory here. When I started in Canada about two years ago I bought a bike, but since it is rather expensive to transport it by plane, I have hired one here, and tested it in the beautiful hills around Christchurch.
From Christchurch I bicycled south, along the Southern Alps in the direction of Queenstown, through a beautiful hilly and sheepy countryside. Along the way I met George, who offered me a ride as he passed by with his truck and caravan. When I stepped into his vehicle I already noticed some empty bullits on the doorstep. Inside the truck was the pack of new bullets (he bought them by the thousand) to shoot the rabbits right out of his truck window. Furthermore there was a bucket full of sand with living woo-woo bugs to use for fishing bate, a pack of large bullets for the deer and wild pigs, and the fridge in the caravan was packed more bate. But what most impressed me was the big knife: in stead of shooting pigs, he also liked to chase them down with his two dogs, each holding on to one of the pigs ears, while George grabs its rear legs to twist the pig on his back and then shoves the knife right into its chest. To keep the adrenaline going, he throws them onto his 4wd motocycle together with all the other unlucky animals, drives home, and ends the day with some fine water skiing behind his jet boat. George is 62 year old and still going strong, in a few years he will retire and be a hunting guide, and I hope we will meet again so he can teach me more tricks. But that night we just went for some gentle fishing in the dark.
Queenstown. The self-declared adventure capital of the world. Once it must have been a quiet pittoresque mountain village at a nice lake, but now its looks like a crowded shopping mall with an outdoor amusement park. However, it does have a generous choice of bungy jump sites, and since I am here anyway, I might as well do it: the 134 meter bungy jump from a cabin which is suspended with cables above a canyon. Qui non audet, virgo manet...
MOVIE: new zealand bungy jump.avi
West coast. After having crossed the Southern Alpes, the landscape changes suddenly from dry mountains into tropical rain forest, with the emphasis on rain, for which the west coast is famous (or notorious). Since biking in heavy rain is only fun for bike freaks, I took the bus, and visited the Frans Jozef glacier and the Pancake rocks, and when it cleared after a few days, I started bycling again. Since the weather in New Zealand is very unprdictable, I had to do this bus/bike combo a lot of times.
North coast. Golfing in Holland is a snobby elite sport, but in the rest of the world it is just jolly good family fun, so I grabbed the opportunity to perfect my full swing. Most beautiful part of the north coast was the hilly and windy but spectacular Queen Charlotte road along the Marlborough sound.
East coast, Kaikoura, swimming with wild Dusky dolphins. Bonobo's are the apes with most genes in common with humans, and it is well known for their promiscues life style. But this is peanuts compared to Dolphins: they have a very fluent society, don't form couples, and mate all year round. A female Dolphin was once noticed to mate with three different males within three minutes. Moreover, a Dolphin never really sleeps because he shuts of only half of its brain, has practically no enimies, and there is an abundance of food. These boys and girls must have loads of fun! Very very interesting, so I took a closer look at these merry marine mammals. Near Kaikoura are loads of Dusky dolphins, together with whales and seals, and if you take a boat trip and slide in the water, these curious creatures come up to tou to check you out. Now here comes the funny part: if you just lie in the water they don't find you entertaining and take off. But if you swim fast and dive and make silly sounds, they will play with you, sometimes there's five all around you, swimming and curving and sliding with there tail against your body, keeping eye contact. Super super impressive! They must be real intelligent to have us pay to entertain them... (no underwater pictures yet).
An average biking day. Get up and get dressed, skip breakfast, pack the bike, get your ass on the saddle and start pedalling up to the point that your legs hurt a little bit, and keep it there. Refuel on the road with loads of soda and with a brunch. The best part is at the end of the day: the shower to wash the sweat of the body, to make the muscles souple and to wash the clothes. After dinner is the well deserved relaxation, and the day ends with some music and falling asleep on a soft pillow...
Kiwis. This is not only the name of the fruit and of the flawless bird (the icon of New-Zealand), but also the term for the Newzealanders, their language and everything else they are proud of. Most Kiwi's originate form the Brits (termed POM's: Prisoners Of Motherland), and they inheritated their good sense of humour.
Ferry from south to north island. Leaving the sparsely populatd and rough south island for the less dramatic, more flat and "bussier" north island.
Wellington. After weeks of outdoor fun, it's time for some indoor culture in NZ's attractive capital.
Wanganui. I am proud to mention that he friendly owners of the Wanganui hostal named their kitten Rodge, but it is a sad thought that one day his balls will be chopped, brrr...
Tongariro crossing. The centre of the North Island is a vulcanic region, where a trail leads you along vulcanoes, craters, emerald lakes and smoking ditches.
Waiotapu thermals. A very bad smelling collection of bubbling mud pools, geysers and colourful lakes.
Roturura. The north island tourist centre.
Waitomo glow worm caving. Imagine abseiling into a cave, then clinging on to a rope and sliding down in the pitch dark and suddenly see the ceiling of the cave covered with twinkling stars: the famous glowwarms. They look like brightly white/blue shining little lights, like LED's, but in fact they are LES's (Light EMitting Shit). Amazing! The journey continued in the underground river, first with inflatable tube, later wading and swimming, and we crawled out the cave upstream through a maze of narrow corridors and waterfalls. (no underground pictures yet).
Kiwi sports. In almost every town in New Zealdn you can raft, bungeejump, skydive, kayak, etc. But what if the spoiled tourist has done it all? Kiwi's just make up new ones:
1. First you wetten your pants in the swoop, something like a semi-circle bungee jump.
2. Then you wetten the rest of your clothes on the jet-boat: 1 to 100 km/h in 4 secs, 180 degrees turn around its axis.
3. Then you get washed out completely when zorbing: a downhill run inside a hollow huge inflatable ball partly filled with water.
4. Finally, to dry yourself, you float in the air above a huge hairdryer as if you're freefalling.
In the afternoon you start biking again, in the rain..
Coromandel peninsula. Hills and beaches.
Kiwi hostals. I brought my camping gear to NZ for nothing since Kiwi hostals are the best, good value for money, and some even have spa's, a climbing hall, or are located right on the beach.
Auckland and the north. Time to kiss my rented bike goodbye in Auckland, have a few more days with the bus in the north to see the giant 2000 year old Kauri trees and the Bay of Islands. ANd finally back to Auckland, where I met Sita, an ex Plaza colleague who emigrated half a year ago to NZ.
March 23-25: Christchurch; 26: Methven; 27: Twizel; 28: Cromwell 29,30: Queenstown 31: Wanaka
April 1: Oaramaro; 2: Fox Glacier; 3: Greymouth; 4, 5: Punakaiki; 6: Inangahua; 7, 8: Nelson; 9: Blenheim; 10, 11: Kaikoura; 12: Picton; 13,14: Wellington; 15: Wanagui; 15,16,17: National Park; 18: Taupo; 19, 20, 21: Rotorura; 22: Waitomo; 23:Tauranga; 24: Whangamata; 25, 26: Whitianga; 27: Auckland; 28:Paihia; 29,30,1: Auckland
Melbourne. Apart from the unpredicting weather a very relaxing and cultural city, where I attended a splendid show of the International Comedy festival. Serious biking in Australia is apparantly not as popular as in New Zealand, because I could not hire a bike or nor buy a second hand, not even in a city as large as Melbourne ,so I had to buy a new bike, and put it on the train to the beginning of the Great Ocean Road.
Great Ocean Road. Through showers of rain and even hail (!) I bycycled the Great Ocean Road, Southwest of Melbourne, a lime stone coastline which is continuously reshaped by the sea.
Peninsulas. South of melbourne are the Mornington and Philip peninsulas with lots of wildlife. Besides lazy Koala's there is the famous penguine parade: each night hundreds of Litlle Penguins come ashore, assemble and waggle across the beach to their nests in the bushes, a wonderful sight.
The mountains. For the first time I had to leave he asphalt and bike on (gravel) roads, through deserted Eucalyptus woods with an abundance of wildlife like wallibies, wombats, parrots and cockatoos. After a week I wanted to go further up into the Snowy Mountains, but hey live up to their name because the snow had set in early this year, so I had to go back to the coast. So much for the dry and hot image of Australia...
Back to the coast. Riding through dairy farms land back to the coast, and with the bus and train to Sydney.
Sydney. The Sydney opera house is Australia's icon and one of the best examples of timeless architecture, still very impressive.
Blue mountains and Jenolan caves. After 3000 km biking with all the camping gear I finally had to use it.
Tui. On the Great Ocean Road I had met an adventurous Kiwi lady named Tui, and I promessed her to meet again at her place in Windsor. Here are some pictures of her paragliding and with her very hospitable friends Robbo and Pauline.
Back to Sydney again. To pick up my Indonesian visa and visit the spectacular aquarium with a.o. a platyphus (vogelbekdier), crocodiles and sharks.
Putty road. 250 km with nothing in between.
Singleton rodeo. Australia's economy is boosting, mainly due the mining industry supplying the increasing Chinese demand of iron, copper. I happened to pass the mining village Singleton at the time of the annual rodeo, which I visited together with Ton & Ineke, Dutch newly-wed immigrants touring around Oz, and their Ozzy relatives John & Jane, all very hospitable! Allthough I was brought up on the farm chasing cows, I was very impressed by these cowboys jumping of horses to grab a young bull by the hornes, and risking their lives sitting on bunking horses and bulls, these Ozzy cowboys are really tough guys!
MOVIE: australia rodeo1.avi
MOVIE: australia rodeo2.avi
MOVIE: australia rodeo3.avi
MOVIE: australia rodeo4.avi
Bike trouble. My bike doesn't seem to like the hills and the heavy luggage anymore: one spoke after another broke, not funny if you don't have any spares and the next bike shop is 400 km further.
Aboriginals. Luckily I met Ken MacDonald and his wife Beth who were very hospitable! Ken was a serious cyclist who once raced from Adelaide to Darwin in 15 days, an average of 200 km per day! He helped me fix my spokes and gave me enough spares to make it to Brisbane. Ken and Beth used to work on a Aboriginal missionary in central Australia, and told me the real stories of the Aboriginal communities, because the media only shows the troubles of unemployment, violence and addictions. They even invented non-sniffable petrol...
New England plateau. More lonely farmland, suffering from a severe drought for years on a row. At night it's freezing, down to minus 10, brrr.
Chris. The good thing about biking in the middle of nowhere is that you get to meet locals, and once again: Ozzy locals are very hospitable. Chris invited me to his house, all made of Ozzy hardwood and completely built by himself in the forest, very cool. He only worked two days a week, had a huge garden with all imaginable exotic fruits, and spent the rest of the time sporting, making music and reading books, so we had many interesting discussions.
Nimbin in the Rainbow region. Now I entered the so called Rainbow Region, a beautifull green and hilly countryside full of Ozzy hippies. In the middle of the region is the little hippy village of Nimbin, notorious for its "legal" marijuana but spoilt by the daily coaches of tourists.
Byron Bay. Beautiful surroundings for a surf and backpacker haven, where I had my very first surfing experience. Totally awesome, dude....
Brisbane. Ca suffit pour le moment. After 4000 km with a 50+ kg bike over numerous hills and mountains in all kinds of weather in New Zealand and Australia, here ends my biking for a while to give my sore ass a rest, ha ha. I will be backpacking the rest of Australia and Indonesia by bus, and in Japan I will start biking again. After unsuccessful attempts to ship my bike to Japan, I finally had to sell it, grrr.
Cairns. I skipped the whole northern half of the west coast by taking a plane to a stormy Cairns, where I dived the Great Barrier reef.
Bussing the outback from Cairns to Darwin. A remote trip through the northern outback, the 'real' Australia as most people call it, alltough hardly anyone lives out there. This is the country of endless single lane dirt roads, landscapes like savanne and steppe, huge cattle-stations (owning 20.000 catlle and land bigger than Holland), termite hills, snakes, and of course the impressive road trains.
Darwin. Pub games, pub meals, pub people.
Kakadu. I toured the national park of Kakadu in a truck with 8 women, help, fortunately the guide was male otherwise I would have surely fed myself the crocodiles.
Darwin. My last Australian sunset at the Darwin markets.
Summing up Australia: the most overrated tourist destination.
The most interesting things about Australia are the exotic birds and the people: Ozzies are relaxed, straightforward and very very hospitable, especially on the countryside. Having said that, I'm sorry to say that for the rest it is the most boring country I have ever been to so far (and will probably stay so unless I'll visit Mongolia).
Most tourists come here because Australia has an adventurous outback image and at the same time it is safe and English-spoken, and lots of backpackers to earn a buck as well, but despite its image, the country is very touristy, far from adventurous, and there is little special to see in relation to its size.
The landscapes hardly change for thousands of kilometers on a row. The lifestyle and culture is very US-like. Probably the only spectacular thing to see is Uluru (Ayer's rock), but I am not gonna travel a few thousand kilometer just to see a single beautiful rock in the desert, and certainly not to see heaps of tourists climbing it at thus humiliating a place sacred to the aboriginals.
So if you are afraid of non-whities and non-English speaking people, and you are not a beach-loving surfer or like to travel large distances without much to see, you'd better spent your time in New Zealand, which is about 100 times as small but has a lot more to offer. Fortunately for me, biking is fun wherever you go, and I loved to meet real Ozzies.
May 2-4: Melbourne; 5: Warrnambool; 6: Port Cambell; 7: Apollo Bay; 8: Torquay; 9: Stony Point; 10: Cowes; 11: Foster; 12: Balook; 13: Maffra; 14: Lake Entrance; 15: Batemans Bay; 16, 17, 18: Sydney; 19: Bathurst; 20: Jenola Caves; 21: Bell; 22, 23, 24: Windsor; 25: Putty road; 26, 27: Singleton; 28: Dungog; 29: Gloucester; 30: Nowendoc; 31: Walcha
June 1: Armidale; 2: Herbo; 3,4: Coutt's crossing; 5: Lismore; 6,7: Nimbin; 8,9: Byron Bay; 10-14: Brisbane; 15, 16: Cairns; 17: Croydon; 18: Adel's Grove; 19: Cape Crawford; 20, 21: Darwin; 22, 23: Kakadu NP; 24: Darwin
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