No journey is complete without an encounter with the law...right?!Saturday, 18 October 2014
So Friday I made the calls… they were risky (as in, if we
didn’t get the lifts to the boat we would be camping on a peninsula with
nothing on it for 3 days waiting for the next boat, or we would be backtracking
and riding several hundred kilometers extra around the huge bay…); but in the
end it somehow all worked out perfectly. (In other words, I got lucky!).
Today Ewoud made the calls and navigated our way from
Helensville to where we were trying to go – his mom’s friend’s brother’s house
in Waitekere, east of Auckland. I didn’t have an internet connection on my
phone because credit ran out, and as it was raining – for once bad weather! –
Ewoud didn’t use his phone but followed the paper map under the lamination on
his front bike bag. Turns out that in this day and age paper maps don’t really
work anymore… ;)
We started on the back roads (I wanted to stay on the main
roads because they were less hilly… But I called the shots the day before when
Ewoud didn’t want to go to the boat, so I relented and followed along). We only
had to go about 35km for the day, and I was glad because it was cold and gray
and at times raining pretty hard. My sunglasses were fogging up and I was wet
all over – the sweat inside my raincoat made things feel nice and wet
everywhere. J
After about 20km I was starting to feel good about the
distance covered and the time we were making, when Ewoud told me to stop. We
had been going in the wrong direction for the last 8km or so and instead of
being south of Helensville, we were now northeast of Helensville. Oops.
So we turned around and went back up the massive hill(s)
that we just sped down, and got back on track. I bit my tongue. ;)
We biked along in the rain, stopped for strawberries…
We eventually made it onto the beginning of Hwy 16. At first
it was just a slow road, and we followed it around a small roundabout and kept
going straight. Since Ewoud told me we would be turning right soon, and there
was traffic merging on our left, I moved to the right side (on-coming traffic
on the right was split from us by a huge green space, so I didn’t think
anything of it. But soon the small highway became a freeway, and we were stuck.
There were no exits, and although on the paper map it looked like we could exit
on the right, we couldn’t. The one lane road we were on quickly became a four
lane highway with cars speeding past us. Imagine how ridiculous we looked
biking in the rain with me cycling on the right side of the highway and Ewoud
on the left. In all fairness, Ewoud did tell me to cross over to the left side,
but I thought we still had to turn right and by now crossing might cost me my
life… lol.
So we kept going, and as there was still a shoulder I didn’t
think too much of it. Until up ahead, an SUV slowed down in front of Ewoud and
they stopped on the left hand side of the road. There was somehow also a big
blue truck stopped behind the SUV – and the guy in the SUV jumped out and
talked with Ewoud. I – on the other side of the road – realized the guy was
telling Ewoud that we should not be on that road, and I waited for a moment to
cross to the other side.
Felix, the SUV driver, was so kind. I don’t know how he
happened to think so quickly to drive slowly in front of Ewoud with his
flashers on to help him, and how there also happened to be a big truck there,
which we eventually loaded our bikes onto to get us off the highway. But within
a few minutes, we were in Felix’s car and our bikes were on the back of the
truck, and they were taking us to the nearest exit. It was crazy. The point
after they picked us up, the shoulder on the road ceased to exist, and it would
have been impossible for us to continue cycling. We must have been a sight…
Apparently we were, because within a few minutes a cop car
with his flashers and siren on pulled behind us as we exited the freeway. Yep,
people had called in and he wanted to have a chat with us in the back of his
car. Felix dropped us off, left us with his number (soooo helpful… quite
possibly an angel and not actually a man… haha), and Ewoud and I proceeded to
sit in the back of the police car. Encounter with the law in NZ, check.
The cop was a jerk, He asked if we were cold (I was
shivering in his car as it was 5 degrees colder in there than out in the rain).
He said, “Well I’m hot under all these layers,” and went ahead and turned the
air up… I could say more but I’ll leave it at that. Ok well one more thing
then. After taking our passports and telling us off for riding bikes on the
freeway (even though we explained our story of innocence!!) he said, “Well,
there’s good news. You (Ewoud) get a warning, and you (Karen) get a $250
ticket.” I asked him to explain. Since I was riding on the right hand side of
the road, that bought me a $250 ticket, and that was that. He was “powerless”
to do anything about it. Yeah right.
Right about that time (actually, a bit before he told us the
“good news”), a woman stuck her head in the front window opposite the cop, and
quickly said: “Um, we followed you off the freeway as we noticed you may want a
cup of hot tea and a place to warm up after you finish here – if you’d like, we
live close by and I can leave you my address, and if you want to come you’re
welcome.” Amazing. Really?!
We said thank you and the cop took down her address (in
Ewoud’s passport, nonetheless, even though I handed him a receipt to write
on…). The cop proceeded to issue me my ticket, and started tell us about the
nice places to visit in the area and traffic in the south island. Really? I
couldn’t give a shit and was fighting back tears (while laughing inside at the
ridiculousness of the day) and just wanted to get out of the car because I was
freezing cold and the guy was not very friendly. If he would have only turned
the air off while I was shivering in the back it would have been a much better
scenario, but instead he just turned up the music.
There he is... giving a peace sign through the window...
We finally got directions to the lady’s place, got out of
the car, reassembled the bikes, and peddled in the direction of her house. We
didn’t actually know if Ewoud’s mother’s friend’s brother was home or not as we
couldn’t connect with him up to that point, so we went to the house and were greeted
by Ethan, the five year old son of Libby – the one who stuck her head in the
cop car to invite us to her home.
They were waiting for us and wondering if we’d come or not.
Libby said afterward she felt a bit silly because after she invited us, she
thought “why would they want to go to a complete strangers’ home?!” But she had
no idea how welcome and appreciated her offer was!!!! Second angel of the day!
Libby was such a sweetheart. Really. She got the towels out, told us to take a
hot shower, boiled tea, and even offered to let us stay the night (since
Ewoud’s connection wasn’t available that night, as it turned out).
So stay we did. We ended up having such a nice night with
Libby and her husband Simon and their son Ethan. Libby and Simon, if you’re
reading this: THANK YOU a million times over. You made getting a $250 ticket
for cycling on a freeway no big deal. The hot shower, steak, potatoes and kumara,
garlic bread, fresh salad and L&P were so incredible, and I so enjoyed
talking with you guys. Was also great to finally be indoctrinated with my first
All Blacks rugby match (glad it was a good game). ;)
Another story for the books… and another wonderful ending to
another adventurous day!
Was such a pleasure randomly meeting you both. Ethan often asks if we have heard from our "visitors" :-) Thank you for your patience with him and your company. I hope you and your Dad have a great time exploring Queenstown and the surrounds. We are here for you if you need anywhere to crash or a lift anywhere. Just give me a ring xxx Lots of love and best wishes from Simon, Libby and Ethan
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