Day 27 : Kingston to Bluff to Invercargill 201km cycled

Doing a quick check to see what my last day would entail I realised that I could have just over 200km to cycle today if I couldn't get lift back to Invercargill once I had reached bluff. For some buzzard reason I never contemplated not doing it - wasn't an option having made it this far yet this would be over 60km more to do in one day than I had ever managed to do since I set off. I felt on top form and the weather was perfect - what could go wrong?! This was after all pretty much flat all through this area....

Well flat it wasn't but a breeze all the to Winton it was arriving there by midday and stopping for an hour to grab sandwich and tea. And well then whoever had been keeping an eye on me that day either went out for the night or decided life was too boring watching me do this too easily so it was decided to add a few things to the mix... bit of rain, head wind, increase the traffic and watch those milk trucks laugh as they speed up and send volumes of water hurtling over you and cycle feeling like these next 30km could be your last.

Nightmare only turned as my biker friends honked from behind cheering me on and sending out well wishes and see ya in Invercargill as they passed me by ... turned out to be enough inspiration and two hours from Winton I arrived in Invercargill at 3:15pm amazed I was already here but absolutely soaked through!

Having discovered that this weekend was the Burt Munro Challenge (hero of mine with a record for fastest land speed record for motorbike 1000cc s) I suddenly realised as I passed all these no vacancy signs that accommodation could be an issue that night. Surprisingly though the central Tuatara backpackers had a bed in dorm for me so I soon grabbed the panniers, locked the bike, grabbed a towel and headed for a hot shower... bliss, followed by tea, walk to see the 'Indian' sitting in its case in one of the central malls and throwing my clothes including sneakers into the dryer.

Wasn't till 6pm when the weather changed, my things had dried that I was redressed and on my bike again having debated about seeing my friend James playing instead at the theatre as found out Loons Burlesque was in town. Being so close and flight first thing in morning there was no option but to go now.

Thinking the weather was going my way was soon dispelled as I found myself battling a head wind all the way and the beautifully flat road that I should have been speeding along at around 30km an hour turned into a battle of will vs wind as it took me two hours to reach the 28km and touchdown in Bluff.

Shagged (means exhausted generally) my visions of dancing around to the parade of onlookers clapping enthusiastically to my arrival was tuned down to a brief turn around the pole that was displaying the I made it sign and propping my bicycle up whilst I looked into the camera and mustered up a "I'm here" cry! With the uke remaining firmly inside the pannier and no cars ready to take me back to Invercargill I got back on the bike exhausted and wondering if I would make it through this one horse town and towards the relative metropolis of Invercargill. With a change of heart the wind came to the side then behind me as the daylight soon disappeared and for the first time I turned my cycle lights on. As the final 10km came and I was cycling in darkness the rain decided to join in and an hour and a half from leaving I arrived back into Invercargill and pulled up to the backpackers, showered and eyed up the steep climb to my top bunk before launching into a profound sleep - oh actually before the bed launch I searched food, found MacDonalds instead and satisfied my overgrown hunger with an angus!

Zzzzzzzz

Day 26 Lake Hawea to Kingston 119km via Cardrona

"Core blimey", she said as she pulled up into the Kingston campground "that was a long haul!", little did she realise how far she would be cycling the next day ... but I'm jumping ahead let's wind that back a little to the start of the day.

Left Hawea around 8:30 having to leave key in door as all quiet in main building. Found no matter what I did I couldn't get the odo to work - felt like missing a friend - it was to start again half way through tomorrow!

Quick cycle to Wanaka with wee bit of hill - didn't hang around justa few snaps of the large hand at the lake and a few supplies from supermarket for the journey and carried on. After the miserable weather of the last two days it was a relief to be on the road again in good weather and feeling on good form.

At Wanakai had to make the choice to go over the high road through Cardrona or along the longer but flatter road through Cromwell - hills what hills give me what ya can! So I headed towardsC Cardrona unsure whether (a) I was on the right road and (b) what I was in for!

It's abut hard to describe the sheer magnificence of the road I found myself on as I started heading closer to the stunning snowy capped mountain range that had been luring me towards its rugged exterior for the last couple of days. It's presence heightened by the hills that were gaining in height and swallowing myself and bicycle into their outstretched arms.

Finding myself on a bit of a plateau the temperature was dropping to a gentil crispness whilst the sun continued to warm from above. Before I knew it I found myself passing the exit to the Cardrona ski field - the barrier down and a closed sign being the only sign of life there.

Cycling on I arrived at the wee township of Cardrona and felt I had dropped into a movie set. The old Cardrona Hotel standing proudly in its newly renovated coat beckoning its clientele with its wizened face and engaging smile... how could I resist stepping back in time by following its lead.

I was greeted by a gorgeous fire already lit at what was now midday. The bar encased in its jail bar frame, door open with barrels peeping out over the wooden bar. I walked up to the bar grabbed a shot of whiskey and thought about the lover I had just shot dead... Whoops that's ma wee song taking over again (see Ed's Bar and Grill for more of that!). Reality ... walked up to the bar and ordered the Devonshire tea ... well those fruit scones looked delicious!

Spent time reading up on history of area from fab book made up by the owners and found another story for my collection. Picked up the guitar from the corner and played 'Ed's Bar and Grill" to the rather dull tourists who were in .. felt this bar make great place for the video minus the current clientele of course...

Headed out to bike and found two blokes - father and son who were from Dunedin and doing my cycling trip the other way - first nz cycle tourers and last that I met over the whole month (aside from me that is). They asked me for advice so gave them my ten top tips of where to stay, roads to avoid etc.

Cycled on climbing higher and higher till the lush green hills gave way to golden tussock and I found myself closed in on all sides until I eventually reached the top. Excitement as I spied two lovely looking motorbikes. Chatted to the bikers who were from Tauranga and had made the bikes. With tales of my cycling experiences being retold they offered to take piccie of me on their bike - of course it would have rude to have declined!

From there leaving the bikers fixing one of the bikes I found myself on a very steep and rapid decline - glad I had changed my brake pads a few days ago!

Bottom of the hill I trotted right towards Arrowtown. Little confusing finding centre but beneath the ironed houses with their perfect lawns lay the original heart of this town with its beautifully preserved historic shops and houses - I was in nineteenth century heaven :-)

An hour looking around, grabbing story and contacts from museum I headed off again turning left before Queenstown, through the industrial mall of Frankton and along the lakeside road that caught me off my bike taking many photos of the surrounding mountains as finally I caught up with those that had been tempting me these last days.

As night began to draw in I saw the distant lights of Kingston and past the Flyer (the steam engine) I pulled up to what turned out to be a somewhat run down and most over priced campsite at $20 for tent - the shower and hot water were welcomed though.

Day 25: Makarora to Lake Hawea

Got up early again this morning and recorded one of my songs of the 1800s that I had written by the fire - should have recorded it by the lit fire the night before but no one was there at that time in the morning 6:30am so good opportunity before they all started having showers.

ANyway I thought the weather was a lot better than the day before despite the locals saying that the farmers had said today would be worse and I should wait another day. Packed up gear and headed over to office to drop off keys to be met by the girl who works in the bar asking me if my name was Rachel and not to panic but the police were looking for me - I instantly knew it would be the fact that I had not been able to drop a line on my blog/facebook page and that my parents were worried. Having spoken to the police to reassure them I was ok and that fortunately I had come over the pass the day before yesterday missing the terrible weather I headed off down the road.

My so called good day lasted an hour before the wind got up to what felt like gale force and the rain hit hard at times almost forming hailstones. The road was beautiful of what I could see of it but the next couple of hours were torture as I could feel my body temperature dropping quickly as the icy winds took hold of me and I started to worry about hyperthermia realising that I was quite a long way from any form of township still....I just kept cycling and walked a couple of times up some hills to try and be able to fold my hands over to keep them warm. I was soaked through and freezing.

Finally in the distance I could see Lake Hawea and just kept trying to aim for there whilst the feeling in my legs finally lost all sense of temperature and I knew I was in trouble if I didn't get into a hot shower soon. Having now whshed I had listened to the farmers I finally arrived at the first lodge at Lake Hawea passing the campsite as a definite no ..... I stood in the hallway of the hotel and immediately three of the staff said to me you look blue....very quickly I was given a room key and shown to the showers and handed a towel, stripped off and spent the next what felt like an hour under the shower trying to warm up each part of my body again. Eventually I felt I came back to some sort of normality got dressed had a cup of tea and started to dry my clothes.

The day was spent in front of a very large fire in the main part of the hotel and I grabbed a burger from the closed kitchen grateful for shelter, warmth and hot food. The rain didn't let off till after 3pm and at that stage the day suddenly looked different - I kept feeling I should hop on my bike and go further but everything I had was still drying and so I gave in and stayed for the night realising that that would mean I would have two days to get from here (which was much further than I realised - thought I had only cycled 30km but it was over 50km so that was a good start) to Invercargill and then Bluff.

I would have to go over the Cardrona road which apparently has snow on it at the moment but hopefully that will clear a little by today.

Still that will be tomorrow's story.....

Day 24: Makarora - weather too bad to go

So today was a frustrating day in that I knew that not going today was going to cause me difficulties along the way and relied on tomorrow to get me to Queenstown which turned out to be impossible in the end again because of the weather.

In my dorm which was really a four bedded chalet that I shared with a lovely woman from Holland and we got on really well and spent the evening before chatting and going for a drink at the bar in the lodge and meeting many of the locals there who are also really fab.

The day until midday was spent continuing our chats and showing my roommate what I was up to and talking about the process of how I was writing these songs. Was great to share the whole experience with someone whoo was so interested in the whole thing.
At midday she had to catch her magic bus and head on to Wanaka. We worked out that we would meet in Queenstown the following evening - which unfortunately wasn't going to happen being hampered by the rain. I spent the rest of the day writing up some of the blogs ready to post when I could get cellphone coverage whic wouldn't be until close to Wanaka.

Fell asleep in the room which I now had to myself for a few hours and then popped back to the bar to read a book and catch up with the locals more. Its a really interesting place - only really a handful of people all mainly from different countries but all who once arrived couldn't move on anywhere else - it is a stunning place.

The Pipson family seem to be the earliest family around the area in the 1890s from what I could gather. The fat of making that pass through the Hasst reminds me of all the incredibly hard working people who made the infrastrucutre that we enjoy today - the roads, the train tracks....you can't even begin to imagine what the conditions would have been like and knowing how the weather kicks in at a drop of a hat over here and the extreme conditions you get I am sure there were many casualties along the way.

It was going to be an early start if I was to get to Queenstown the next day. I was relieved not to have tried to go out in today's weather - worst I had seen it since I started...howling winds and rain like the end of the earth had come! Glad I was in my cabin and not my tent...but I was going to have to pay for this luxury in making up the miles lost over my last couple of days.

Day 22: Fox Glacier to Lake Paringa

From the really wet night in Fox Glacier I spent until 11am working on the bike to make sure that all was ok - like changing the brake pads at the front and getting some oil on it and sorting out a few other things - drying the tent etc. Nice to have clean clothes again .

Knew it was quite a short day with just 69km down to Lake Paringa. A number o f hills along the way and met quite a few cyclists usually in twos or threes going the other way. I was trying to work out whether to continue on to the Hasst but as it was over another 50km to get there and having stopped a lot along the way taking piccies of the stunning scenery that wasn't an option as had left too late.

Met a german couple who were cycling in my direction and we passed each other a number of times along the way. Seemed to take a long time to get to Bruce Bay but I think that was due to the fact that I had left late but could feel my mussel around my knees starting to kick in.

I stopped just outside of Mahitahi to have some lunch and that was my definite downfall - it was a Salmon Farm and had the most gorgeous soup with lots of their local salmon appearing in it. Unfortunately when I hopped back on the bike it was obvious that that was not going to work for me having filled me up too much - still lovely to have had but meant that by the time I had hit Lake Paringa I was ready to stop even though it was only around 70km.

Lake Paringa was beautiful but talk about sandfly city - horrible but lovely people who were staying and met up with this french lass 'Olivia' who was also cycling on her own- the other direction.She seemed to have all my gear plus a whole trailer. How she was getting up the hills I don't understand! Must have great low gears unlike mine. Was really impressed with all she had done- arrived in NZ bought the bike and panniers off Trade Me and then hired the trailer offa local bike shop so there you she obviously had it sorted.

Day 23: Lake Paringa to Makarora

192 km - 55 km = 137km total that day

So this was the most incredible day that I have yet experienced. Whether it was the fact that I couldn't wait to get out of the sandfly city that I had found myself in at Lake Paringa but I was non the road by 8:40am and feeling in great form which made a big change to how I felt the day before. This feeling was to stay with me for the whole day to such an extent that even by the end of it when I had managed to clock up a whopping amount of km I still felt I could carry on cycling - would have gone all the way to Wanaka had the time been with me but decided that 6:30pm was not a good time to decide to continue on to Wanaka form Makarora where I had decided to make my stop having passed by two of the DOC campsites.

The cycling from Lake Paringa was with a few notable hills on the way - the first being a steep climb to Knights Point where I stopped and took some more shots before coasting downhill and then doing the old up and down until I reached Haast where I pulled around midday. Walked into the DOC office and had a good chat to the woman in the centre about how far I should travel that day and if the weather was going to kick in which it was predicted to tdo the following day then getting over the Hasst would be a good idea.

I had originally settled on just getting to Pleasant Point but when I arrived there at 4:30pm after having stopped for lunch at the cafe in Hasst also gettinga few supplies and meeting a lovely Australian family who chatted with me and took piccie of my website on my bike to follow my journey, I aksed this bus driver about the distance and he wasn't sure but then finding myself getting attacked by sandflies once again I felt that this was not a place I wanted to stay and as the weather was good it was better to move on.

So the big climb through the pass started and I found myself having to once again push the bike up a fair bit of it but I didn't mind the workout giving my bum some time out and showing me some amazing views. It was a definite steep continuous climb though but not the horrendous experience I had thought it might be which I was really pleased about.

I stopped a number of times just to get some more water and to give my heart time to calm down again. No one offered to give me a lift but hey I didn't care I was really enjoying it. By the time I realised I had reached the pass itself and was on top pretty much on the flat top I was loving it and made it to the end of the pass before it all started turning into a massive downhill road of ecstacy by 5:30pm.

At this point I felt great and a huge sense of achievement and soo pleaesd that I had carried on and not stopped where I had originally planned for. I continued passed Cameron Flat the other DOC campsite that I had thought about staying in and onto the wee township of Makaroa where there was a great lodge. By this time it was 6:30pm and although I felt so fit and very able to continue down to Wanaka it was the time that put me off goint any further and I must have clocked up loads of kms anyway.

Walked into the lodge to be greeted by the bus driver I had met at Pleasant Point and he was surprised to see me there already. Booked into the dorm for the night as felt I had definitely worked hard for a night on a real bed - the first since leaving Christchurch a few days back now. Turned out my dorm was actually a chalet that I shared with a dutch woman called Petra - lovely person whom I got on really well with.

Day 21: 15km north of Franz Joseph) to Fox Glacier Lake Mapourika

So last night Biddy and Mike offered me a lift to Franz Joseph as that was my intended destination. KNowing that I had to catch up on all my blogs that day I took the 15km lift gratefully and spent the next couple of hours in a cafe in Franz Joseph before deciding to head on my way to Fox Glacier now that the weather seemed to be good.

I knew that today was going to be a day full of hills and I had been warned that that plus catching on of the glaciers would be all that I would feel like that day. Indeed with a few added extras it turned out to be a fabulous day despite the many downpours that I got caught in during the course of it.

But i digress... them there hills as one would say were certainly that and the 21km felt long and arduous with me walking a fair bit of it with the cycle since the weight of the bike and the lack of really low gears showed itself once again....struggling with a bike up those hills is not so easy....my cycle is 18 kilos and the combined tent and two panniers are another 20 or 25 at least so imagine a very heavy suitcase that you are lugging up and down hills -well I did cycle some of the way....still those 21km took me two hours to do!

Once arrived I checked out a few likely staying places - eyed up the backpackers but felt it was too indulgent even though I had stayed at two doc sites the last two nights....went down to the Holiday Park (not my favourite places) but the lady was so friendly and once she found out I was doing this cycle for CHch Women's Refuge and she was from Christchurch she insisted I stayed for free - I was really grateful for the generosity and for the thought and understanding abou the difficulties that so many are facingi in Christchurch and how hard it seems to be for people to understand that so many are still without a normal living -broken homes that they have to stay in, no decisions about their home, many lost their jobs, suicide has increase rapidly as has domestic violence -its the emotional struggles that are coming to the fore now as people have to deal with out of the ordinary circumstances.

So pitched the tent and headed around town to check out the few buildings and think about when to go to the glacier. By this time the weather started packing in and by the time I reached the very welcoming bar/cafe/saloon it was a downpour. Grateful for my tent being up and me in a place with a fire I wondered whether I had made the righ choice about camping.

Few hours later and most of the blogs and emails done and photographs moved across the sun came out and I decided after my pint of Monteiths and a crazy amount of chips that I was given (not a fan of hot chips at the best of times but cheapest thing on the menu and the beer was heaven!) I headed off to the glacier thinking of recording a song out there as a trial.

Anyway it turned out I struck this amazing cycle path all the way to the carpark which went through this magical underworld - hard to describe it and the piccies don't do it justice either but you know The Lord of the Rings aka Peter Jackson special well I was there in that magical world between the hobbits and David Bowie and his Labyrinth....I had the best time cycling through that track and with only one pannier I was as light as a feather an able to cope with the offroad cycling path -with my slick tires! I did remember though that I had still not changed my front brake pads - tomorrow's important task before heading off!

So from there it was to the glacier - I was hoping darkness wouldn't come about too soon as it was already about 6:30pm. Made it to the glacier experimenting with my camera on the way trying to take a video of me cycling once I met the unsealed road heading to the carpark.....from there its a reasonable walk to the glacier.

I had no idea whether that worked or not but it was quite a mission riding with one hand on the cycle and the other holding the camera trying to get some good shots whilst navigatingthe rocky road and the odd passing car.

Once at the carpark I locked the bike and the weather still seemed to be good so started heading to the glacier. Passed a few people and walked briskly knowing that time was not on my side. After 15 mins walk/run I made it to a spot with a good view of the tip and set up my ipad to record my firs video with me and the uke. Decided on an oldy - Laid Down and Put to Rest that I had written as part of the Ed's Bar and Grill album a couple of years ago and had a go - seemed to be ok.

Just as I finished I noticed the clouds had gathered and were threatening the relative sunny conditions with a definite desire to rain on all... packing up the gear quickly into my panier I legged it to the car park passing a couple of people who I advised to turn back because rain was coming soon.

Made it to the carpark just as the rain started and ducked into the toilet shelter with bike and all hoping it would pass.With a wee break I took off down the road but was soon greeted with a heavy downpour and hada 6km cycle back to the township in my only change of clothes that were now sodden...

Making it back to the campsite I gathered the last dry and clean bitsleft which were my thermals,a pair of shorts and my tshirt for night, stripped to my knickers and bra in the laundry whilst two french girls looked out for me and shoved everything I had into the washing machine.....phew all done..

Took to the hot showers and made some soup and toast with brie for dinner - the second pint of beer was forgotten as I set to being warm. Spent the rest of the evening sorting out gear and catching up on more blogs and adding video and planning tomorrows day.

So that's it - clothes washed and dried - tent was cold last night but I slept anyway and today the sun is back after the continuous rain last night so lets hope it stays away for a while......x

Day 20: Lake Mahinapura to Lake Mapourika 115km

Is that spelt correctly? Will have to double check at a later date. You will have to forgive me about these blogs but the gear I'm using does mean a few things are limited -like I can't resize the piccies and pop them in the right place in the blog and well don't always double check my spelling so you'll have to forgive the general casual nature of this but well at least you're getting something!

Anyway started from this great DOC campsite (stands for Department of Conservation if you don't know the reference and I can honestly say that every camping site that belongs to DOC has been superb apart from the free one which was a bit of a knoblbly field and didn't feel so safe.

Anyway this was a long day cycling in fact 115 km - to date the longest cycle yet. I was honoured by a glorious day which meant that I stopped rather a lot to take piccies and most importantly to to collect some more information on women in this area. I spent over an hour in a tiny wee place called Ross which is connected to Hokitika because of its gold mining past - a past that still continues today but unfortunately not in the way it used to be. Before I ran about that let me say how welcome the lady at the wee museum made me feel and she soon showed me to the right collections to find what I was searching for. There are a couple of women here that would be worth looking into further and both with interesting stories to tell. Her museum colleague was going to do some further investigation to see what they could bring up locally also so that was great and I went around taking lots of piccies.

We also spoke about the gold mining and the museum lady told me that the gold mining was still going on but modern methods are a far cry from the individual miners who roamed NZ fossiking for gold and taking small bits that helped them get by. Nowadays its the large machines owned by essentially a businessman who has nothing to do with the locals rape the land-that is the only way as harsh as it sounds that I can use to put across the horrendous scarring that is going on just outside Ross. She told me to look at what was going on on my way out and to see why the locals are so upset and yet powerless to do anything about it. All this going on in some of the most previously unspoilt natural bush we have. We have learnt nothing and the continuous placcards with the ever smiling businessman John Key kept reminding me of the New Zealand that I continuously struggled to comprehend.

After the mixed emotions of leaving Ross behind I made my way south through what I can only describe as some of the most spectacular sceney to date. Immediately I say now to skip the rest of NZ and head to the West Coast for full gorgeous beaches, ever growing mountains capped with snow as you gently make your way across rolling roads through the rugged landscape that cries out "Just you try and make something so beautiful"....I swear I spent most of the time on the cycle completely in awe.

I fell in love with a town that consisted of two buildings - a pub and a cafe - all you need to survive I feel. The former closed the other my stop for a cup of tea and a lovely fruit scone and a chat with the owner. It was like cowboy/bushman heaven and inside two guys sitting down looked up and one of them laughed and said - you're doing alright I passed you by in Ross and you've caught up with me!!

With the seats covered in the different species that had been shot by the owners over the twenty years that they were there I laughed at all the antics on display - with many a pointed placard set up to delve into the disastifactions that I had been feeling since returning to NZ - I had felt like I had found my home here in the minds of the Westies? My favourite placard added to my photo album below.

So the day was to move on and I clocked up 100km before the sore legts started kicking in and managed another 15km before the temptation of a DOC campsite by a river 15km from what was going to be my final destination (Franz Joseph) won me over - especially as lovely English couple pulled up behind me in their camper as I was negotiating with myself to invite me to dine with them on the grounds that they had offered a glass of wine only to realise they had drunk it the night before!!

With the kindness of the offer and the promise of a lovely evening chatting with new friends I found a spot for my tent on top of the bank over lookingg the river whilst a number of camprs over the evening appeared and disappeared and stayed.....

Turns out that Mike and Biddy are from Exeter and Mike had just completed a five month cycle through the USA - - Biddy had met him in NZ and together they were touring NZ in the campervan. I was in awe of Mike's adventure with bear stories and other fascinating tales. I would love to cycle through the states but I fear after the bear encounters I would want to do that with someon else with me - we just have a few birds that come out to play - like my friendly weka last night that was trying to make off with the rest of the pasta I had made in my wee pot.

And so endeth one of the most satisfying cycling days over number of hills but forever heading towards the mountains and the glaciers.

Day 19 Christchurch to Greymouth to just south of Hokitika - train and cycle

So finally I was on the road again. Having left my music gear behind at Susan's in still war torn Christchurch I headed off finding the train station and making it on time despite the rather early 7:45am check in time! Off we went at 8:15 and I had been looking forward to this immensely as it was taking me across Arthurs Pass and through some really magnificent scenery. Unfortunately the train did not match the wonderful smooth trip I had had the day before on the new train that they had actually made in Dunedin - after much harranging the governmnet not to get it made overseas. It was certainly not a patch on that....

Still despite the somewhat jolty ride and the busy train with too many tourists trying to get shots in the one open viewing car for my liking - the journey was great. I was a bit tired after the antics of the night before and hoped I would get some energy soon for the coming cycling afternoon.....a wee bit of a snooze and plenty of photo shots saw me come right and after arriving at 1pm at Greymouth I got my bits together knocking off my sunglasses in the processes thinking rain was coming and then forgetting to pick them up. Unfortunately realising five minutes later and dashing back to the platform was five minutes too late as someone had popped them into their own pockets - was surprised that they had not been handed in. As I was quietly niggling at the dishonesty of people wondering if it was someone who had hopped on a tourist bus this guy comes up to me and hands me over his sunglasses having heard of what had taken place. After his insistence and remark that they were returning to the UK tomorrow and there was no sun there anyway I gratefully accepted his generosity and headed south feeling he had made up for the pre thief!

It turned out that the road from Greymouth to Hokitika was a dream - so lovely and flat and my cycle and I covered the ground quickly soon arriving 40km down the road into Hokitika. I stopped off to a cafe for acup of tea and a look round a gallery and was singing one of my new songs "Barbara Weldon" as I walked down Revell Street where she had once swaggered through in her slightly drunken state before finding some work for the night - keeping at least body alive if not soul.

Her world seemed so far away from the streets that I now saw as the hotels closed down to tourist shops, the cafes inviting passing tourists but not offering the morsels she had for sale.....only a hundred and forty years.....gone were those bustling streets that saw forty hotels on Revell St in its gold mining prime and here were the remnants of those days displayed in the fab museum and in a few random signs hinting at days of glory ? gone by.

As the clear blue sky gave way to thickening clouds I took that as a hint to make my way to the DOC campsite before getting caught in the coming rain. 10km down the road did see me caught out slightly but fortunately enough time to get into camp with ten t up and gear inside before too much damage was done. An hour of brief sunshine gave me time to wander around the lake, make dinner on my stove and get all done before putting on the thermals for the night - the air was decidedly colder tonight.

Day 18 Picton to Christchurch Train

So in order to catch up to my schedule (I was on a tight schedule having to meet in my flight from Invercargill to Chch on the morning of the 24th November) I decided that I would be taking the train ( a new south island experience for me) from Picton to Chch and then the following morning catching the train from chch to Greymouth.

I managed to get the gear across to the train in plenty of time which was good as it took about an hour to sort all out and get it ticketed, stored and finally handed over when the train arrived. I was very nervous about the safety of my guitar after the train guys popped it ontop of backpacks saying it was safest up there- I had visions of it all coming tumbling down and my expensive gibson at the bottom of the heap.....I managed to distract myself with the magnificent scenery and the just fabulous train journey. I loved every minute of it and its whole four hours whisked me away in sheer awe of this beautiful country I come from. Defo a must for all those kiwi and tourists when you come to town....

It was only capped off from the sheer delight in seeing my friend Susan - or Camp Mother as she has become and I Camp Leader (Topp Twins if you are confused look em up!). Needless tosay the evening was just not long enough and plenty of merriment was hard on on guitar and banjo alike with perhaps a bottle of white along the way...not easy to wake up the next day from a day like that!