Roll off stage

A journey through the heart of New Zealand farm country to Auckland and onto Eastern Europe. Starting in Istanbul Turkey, the ride will take me East to the Black Sea, North to the Baltic and end somewhere around the Adriatic Sea some 6 months there after. All on my insanely overloaded touring bike.

Perhaps it should have read something more like this


A journey through the North Island where my bike Doris will begin to fall apart and the weather will be windy and cold to the point where I will wear my socks on my hands. I will then make my way via twelve lanes of traffic out of Istanbul and weave my way with no concern for a direct route through eastern europe sleeping in peoples houses, in bus stops and camping on farms all the while not being able to speak english with anyone. Once I get to the original finish date and place I will continue for another 3 months and end up through the Baltics at the start of winter. All the while Doris will continue to fall apart and cause me problems until she completely falls apart in London. I will then jump the pond to Perth lose a day in my tent and make my way across the south coast of Australia looking for wildlife in different places and avoid being hit by road trains. When I get back to New Zealand it will snow in January and I will go fishing with no luck and ride into a typical west coast storm. On days off I will go for bike rides and I will randomly meet up with friends along the way who take me in, look after me and make me feel like I am on an awesome trip....all on my insanely overloaded touring bike.

A round about way to do europe

Pretty straight forward

The short ride home

The way things happened
23,212 Kms (14,423 miles)
28 Countries
20 Currencies
290 days on the road
34 nights paid accommodation (including campgrounds)

Favorite place to Ride - Boarder between Bosnia and Montenegro following the river Tara
Best food - Turkey/Bosnia
Hardest place to ride - Bosnia/Slovenia
Worst road - 1st Serbia, 2nd Sand road Lithuania/Latvia, 3rd Albania
Longest day- 201kms
Most helpful person- George Stan in Romania when I broke 6 spokes at once when the bunji cord holding the tent on the rack came lose and fell in the wheel. I stayed at his house in Bucharest for 3 days while I got it sorted
Hottest day - 50+ in Ceduna Australia (my gauge stopped at 50 Deg C at 11:15am)
Coldest day - -10 in Copenhagan
Water consumed across Australia - 139L (28 riding days)
Weight - Start 86 kg, Finish 77kg
Chased by - A donkey, a goose, a dog (lots of dogs), kittens, a goat
The tent licked by - A Dog, sheep, Cow
Staple Diet - Bread, pasta and soup
Most Chocolate bars - 34 (Romania)
Most cans of soft drink - 30 (Australia)


Doris
Broken Spokes- 19 (plus two rebuilds)
Broken - seat, crank, bottom Bracket, Rear rack, chain, de'railier, kick stand, bottle cage, gear cable, peddle cage, peddle, tire blow out, wheel rim
flat tires - 5
worn out tires - 8
brake pads - 5 sets (10 pads)

DORIS ON DAY ONE

DORIS ON DAY 290

How far is 23,212 kilometers ??

Across Canada 5768 kms

Empire State Building 381m

Great wall of China 8851 kms

Mount Everest 8.8 kms

Amazon River 6259 kms

Around the Earth following the Equator 40,075 kms

Distance to the moon 384,400 kms

New Zealand to Australia 2250 kms

A journey that taught me all about who I am and what I want to be when I grow up. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice and support through Facebook messages, text messages, emails and writing comments on the blog. I have another couple of adventures in the back of the mind and I hope I can get some of them underway in good time. For now I will be based in Nelson and trying my best at keeping my feet from tapping while I am in class learning some new skills that may well take me around the world again. Thank you to every one who took me into their homes and helped me out when Doris was broken and I was hungry. Here's too a fantastic way to see a small part of the world and wet ones appetite for getting out and exploring. Time for the next adventure !!

West wet windy coast

This doesn't need any caption

Deciding to stay the extra day in Te Anau turned out to be a great decision as the wind and rain lashed the town all day but come the following morning the crisp morning gave way to a vivid blue sky and a beautiful sunny push out of town. Of course I was feeling sore and pained from the game of squash with Fi which went down to the wire in another epic battle but I had no choice but to get to Nelson in plenty of time to make sure I had everything done and dusted for the start of my course.

Up and over the crown range proved far more challenging than I had anticipated but then I was not in so much of a hurry that I couldn't stop and get a fill of peanut butter sammies for the final push to the 1000m pass. Then it was a beautiful coast down to the Cardona Hotel for a pint and a kip in the trees for the night. In Wanaka I met with rising multi sport star Dougal Allan (watch for his name on or near the top of the coast to coast this weekend) and we set about catching up for years lost, both indulging in our own pursuits.

Driftwood cow. Hokitika

While I decided to take the day off Dougal went to work and left me in the presence of all his flash and shiny toys. Not to miss out on such an opportunity I jumped on his road bike and hammered out just under a hundred k's loving the lightness of the bike and the way everything sounded smooth and efficient. Not exactly like Doris with another worn set of bearings in her peddle causing a loud grinding and clicking with every revolution.

Saying goodbye to Wanaka the road I followed took me towards the head of Lake Wanaka and over the Haast pass through some of the most amazing podocarp forest this country has on offer. A big frontal system had stalled off the south coast and about the time I started the assent to the pass all hell broke loose and the wind became too strong to bike into effectively. Just as I thought I might have to wait it out the system moved on and started dumping heavy rain on me. I pushed on into the early evening and the rain fell in continuous fashion puking 100-150mls on the forest around me. Although I was fairly damp throughout the night due in large part to my worn out tent I woke happy as a monkey in a tree to a blue bird day and raging west coast rivers all cascading down towards the ocean.

Sunset in Hokitika

Particularly impressive were the gates of Haast but many of the tributaries were awesome to watch also. On some advice from friends I stopped into Okarito to have a wander around and bumped into some kiwi tour guides who took me under their wing. Guiding a group of international travelers on a walking, driving, swimming tour of the south island they gave me heaps of food and a few beers on the beach with the waves crashing into the night. My night was not done at this point, I was determined to head off into the bush and find me a rare kiwi localised to this part of Nz. I made the hour walk in and after making some calls I started to dose off to the distant calls of a female Brown kiwi and before I knew it I was lying all curled up on the rocky path trying to keep as warm as I could in the circumstances. Every now and then I would call out to the Kiwis again but they never seemed to come closer than far away throughout the night. Around 4am I decided enough was enough and headed back to the camp ground and continued on my way the following morning.

Muppet

Once I arrived in Hokitika I was making good progress again and a Nelson finish mid week was looking promising. With that in mind I parked up at the beach to watch a group of body boarders playing in the falling light as the sun painted the breaking waves reds and oranges before slipping silently behind the edge of the world. Still in need of a camp I was just on the edge of town when I pitched my tent on a big flat and grassy field, somewhere between the half way line and the try line of the local rugby field with the rolling surf hitting the sand just a stones throw over the back fence. After this point there wasn't a lot of riding to go. a quick jaunt up to Greymouth and a hop over a small hill to Murchison and finally into Nelson.

Jess and I on the final days ride to Nelson

In a the small town of Ross (population 300 people and 300 dogs) a touch shy of Greymouth I was looking to fill my water bottles at the pub when I  noticed the publican sitting outside with a beer. He just told me to go behind the bar and help myself to the tap. A couple of people were sitting outside on picnic tables in the sun enjoying a brew so I sat down and have a rest with them when a lady riding a beater bike and wearing gumboots rolled over. "I've been looking everywhere for my goat" she said "have you seen him anywhere"? "yeah" replied one of the guys behind me "he wandered down the road bout an hour ago so I tied him to the telephone pole" sure enough across the road was a big healthy looking billy goat gruff who trotted off leisurely on his lead as his owner biked away. Only on the west coast I thought.

My bridge about 50km from Nelson

In Murchison I was eating a healthy sized goody goody gum drops ice cream when someone on the street called my name. It took me a moment squinting into the sun to realize it was old room mate from Te Anau who also worked as a sea kayak guide in the fiords a couple of summers ago. Jess took me in and we had a big Bbq at her bosses house and I had a wash in something other than a river for the first time since leaving Wanaka. Jess was also good enough to bike out with me in the morning towards Nelson on her new roady which made me jealous just looking at it but it was fantastic to have the company all the same.

Riding home. Wakefield

It was up to the hope saddle and then a short climb up the spooners range where I got my first glance of nelson since leaving there over nine months previously and from there it was a coast into the valley and into Wakefield. Needing some food I pulled over right at the same moment a car had stopped and the occupants were waving furiously. Mum and Dad had come out to see me with a picnic lunch under a tree along the main road. As the last 10kms ticked by Mum insisted on getting a few more snap shots while dad mounted his mountain bike and peddled along beside me setting a pace I was not accustomed to obviously unaware I was carrying 40kgs worth or weight on the frame.

Dad and I riding home

And then, without fanfare or consequence it was over! I rode the last few meters up the drive into the garage where I dismounted and lent Doris up against the wall. 23000kms, 28 countries, 2 wheels 4 bags and a sore bum later, that is that, all over and not to be repeated for a long time. It was certainly with a heavy heart I set about making the final days of the trip but a good friend suggested this to me. "You cant start the next adventure until you have finished this one" and with that and the sun in my face I biked all the way home to my family with a big smile on my face and a few stories under my belt.

Mum, Dad, Me and of course Doris. Finished!!