2450kms to Christchurch and on to Sydney

Since we last posted, a lot has happened:

We said goodbye to our friends in Queenstown, and set out for Christchurch through the Mackenzie District (made famous as the plains of Gondor in LOTR I think) and the plains of Canterbury.

One last look at Queenstown

The type of riding was notably different than in other parts. Most notable were the winds. On one particular day, there was a side/headwind that built all day. At one stage, we had to walk the bikes for several kilometers as we were being blown onto the road by the wind. Thankfully for the last 10 kms of that day, the road took a turn to put the wind at our backs and were soon cruising at 43km/h on the flat without pedaling.

Mackenzie Country - where your icebreaker gear comes from!

More "Plains of Gondor"

A much less gloomy day

Leaving Mackenzie country for Canterbury

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Geraldine, home of jam and Guiness record giant jersey!

In fairness, for each day that we cycled into a headwind, the following day seemed to have a tailwind. The expression on passing cyclists faces were a sure sign of which way it was today. And after a long day of pedaling into a headwind, our 2450km odyssey in New Zealand was finally over when we arrived at New Brighton beach in Christchurch.

Canterbury Plains

Fitting that we get our first "sheep jam" on our last day of riding

New Brighton Beach - 2450kms later

We spent some wonderful time with Rudy and Marlene (friends that we met in Brazil) in Christchurch. They took us on a hike around the hills of Christchurch, loaned me some gear so that I could go kitesurfing with them, showed us some great restaurants, ran us around town to do some last minute shopping/etc for our bikes to prep for SE Asia and treated us like royalty. We were very thankful for the time we got to spend with them and hope we can treat them to the same sometime in the future too.

Cliffs around Christchurch

Great session in Christchurch (yellow kite is me!)

We are now  spending time with another friend from our past, Sarah, and being treated to the sites and sounds around Sydney. We are also frantically trying to prepare ourselves for our imminent arrival in Hanoi in less than 10 days now.

We have just recently had 3 more welcome additions to us cycling around SE Asia. Look for more of John, Bridget and Kristina in the coming weeks! I guess the reviews from Dave, Sharon and Travis must have been positive!