Murchison to Westport

Sunday, November 2, 2014

I left my sanctuary at 10am after cooking myself another amazing scrambled egg and toast breakfast (they sell eggs from their own chickens there – did I already say how much I’ve missed eggs!) and then ran across the street to the tavern to see if the All Blacks vs. Eagles rugby game in Chicago was on. It was! I was watching with Megan, John and Meg's cousin Sarah (who were at the game in Chicago!) and Julie, Kristen and Sue (who were up at 3:45am to watch the game in Phnom Penh!).

I didn’t watch the game long as I was worried I’d encounter rain on the road pretty soon (as all the weather predictions said lots of rain Sunday). Really didn’t run into too much along the way – and really didn’t miss much of a rugby match either! (final score: something like 74-6 All Blacks… Americans perhaps should stick to American football…?).

I stopped for lunch at a little shelter at a campsite off the highway, and shortly got right back on the road. About 2.5km later I felt thirsty and went to lift the nozzle from my hydropak water bladder backpack only to discover that it was not there! I freaked out – what the heck?! How could I not realize this backpack (which has basically become a part of me!) was not on my back for this long?! I thought back and thought I had left it on the side of the road a km or 2 back when I stopped to take off my raincoat. I peddled furiously back over the bridge, up the hill, down the hill, and didn’t see it at the spot on the side of the road that I had stopped. I kept going. My wallet and a good amount of US cash were in that bag… important stuff. How did I miss this detail?

I went all the way back to the place where I stopped for lunch and sure enough, there it was inside right where I had left it. How annoying. At least I got it – and I had made pretty good time in getting there. Lol. I turned around and re-rode the part that I had already ridden twice, and got back on track. Really not a big deal in the end…

Finished off the day’s ride by ending at a small little (almost ghost) town called Inangahua (I know, try saying that just one time!). There’s pretty much just some empty houses there and a small backpacker’s place to stay. When I arrived Loraine, the owner, was sitting outside while her sister, Deborah, was standing by the road with her thumb up. Deborah was gorgeous – long, dark dreads with a tanned freckled face and stunning eyes – maybe in her late 30’s or early 40’s. Loraine was the older sister – also beautiful dark hair and tanned skin. Deborah just got back from a year in Australia – turns out she’s traveled SE Asia a lot – and was trying to catch a lift to Motueka to find a job. She gave up for the day when I got there, and after I showered the three of us sat and chatted for a good long while. Super cool, relaxed pair of sisters who loved hearing about what I do in Cambodia.

After we talked for a long time, I retired to my room (no one else was there so I had it all to myself!), and over several cups of tea, finished my book under a blanket on the couch as the rain came down. Wow. Wow wow and wow. What a read. I was moved to tears by the incredible testimony of how the Holy Spirit not only changed Chuck Colson’s life through unbelievably difficult circumstances, but also changed countless lives – some directly and others, to this day, indirectly – through his story. I absolutely love reading testimonies of how God works through ordinary people in incredible ways – I see these stories as just a continuation of the Bible. For those of you who think the Bible is old and out-dated, let’s talk. God is the same today as he was thousands and millions of years ago… and he is still doing crazy amazing things in the lives of people who you would never expect. I love reading these stories because they help me believe that God can do things like this in my life, too. I want more!!

Fell asleep to heavy rains and wind…

Monday, November 3, 2014

This morning I left on-time because there were blue patches and I wanted to beat as much of the predicted rain as possible. Last night (thankfully in the late evening when I was nice and warm and drinking tea and finishing my book in a little studio-apartment style house in Inangahua) the rains came down – for much of the night. 

I biked 10km and then the rains came. At one point as I was going down a hill I thought it was a bit dangerous because I really could hardly see out of my foggy rain-covered sunglasses (reminiscent of a time in Auckland when my foggy sunglasses led me onto a freeway…). I did manage to get my raincoat on but thought it wouldn’t be that bad and didn’t put my rain pants on… and then it was too late. I kept going because at that point if you stop you freeze, but a few kilometers later I came to a bar/café in the middle of nowhere (in a place called Berlins in the Buller Gorge). I stood outside for a few minutes looking in while internally debating: If I go in, I might not come out! But if I didn’t go in, I might freeze to death over the next 35km as there was nothing between this point and Westport, my destination...).

I went in. It was, after all, just after 10am and I only had 35km to go, so I technically could hang out for hours there and still have plenty of time in Westport. I had a coffee and utilized the hand drier in the bathroom for quite some time with much success. Merino wool is wonderful. I will sing its praises and buy more of that stuff before I leave this country. It dries so quickly and is so warm… by the time I left an hour and a half later I had dry shirts, a dry raincoat and I put on my dry rain pants (and took off the wet ones…more detail than you may be interested in, but being dry really matters when it’s less than 10 degrees!!).

Buller Gorge was beautiful! Below is a one-lane pass around the mountain.

The torrential rains did pass, and sun came out. The next 35km were fine. Rain and sun traded off every 30 minutes, but the rain was nothing like the morning and I made it to Westport in the early afternoon. Found a nice, quiet hostel to stay in (although about 2 minutes after I checked in it ceased to be quiet - a massive tour bus of European gap year students filed through the door…).

I rode my bike out to the beach when there was a clear moment (again, rain and sun on and off every 30 minutes). Very windy, and very brown water coming from the mountain water in the river. 

Never seen a chocolate ocean before...

Then did some grocery shopping, ate probably the cheapest fish and chips in the country (I never eat that at home, but when in Rome you just get the craving…), and had a nice convo over a $7.99 bottle of wine with a Japanese girl back at the hostel who is working and traveling in NZ for a year – love the amazing variety of people I meet (in NZ, but in this world in general!).