Jan 10, Ngakuta Bay, New Zealand (South Island)

Hi everyone! I took yesterday off in Wellington. What an interesting place! I spent some time at Captial Cycles, working with the folks there to find a tire that fit on my bike. I did, and should now be good until I leave New Zealand. They also adjusted the headset on my bike which seems to have loosened a bit over the past few months.

Capitol Cycles–the Go To shop in Wellington!

I somehow found some time to ride over to the local microbrew (imagine that!). This was the Parrotdog Brewery. My favorite was their “Bitterbitch” IPA, which has all the flavor, without going over the top, like so many IPAs do.

Parrotdog Brewery

It was great hanging out with Mike Nyland and his family. Mike had contacted me after the Radio New Zealand interview and offered to let me crash at his place for a while. They made me a bed in the living room, and I felt quite at home!

I did have a rather unfortunate thing occur. Many of you know that I carry a spice with me called Cavenders. It’s a great seasoning. The whole company is run by just a few individuals and they ship all over the world. I’ve had a can with me since Alaska. Some of you may also know that I carry a pair of proper tennis shoes on my bike. To save space, I have always kept the Cavandars inside my right shoe. Well, I figured that the cavendars would be a nice thing for me to contribute to the meal served by the Nylands my first evening there. I went to retrieve it from my shoe–the container came out, but the spice did not. The top came off and the entire contents dumped inside my shoe! Of course I recovered it. From now on, my spice will have an etra little flavor…

Cavender’s all purpose spice

I spent much of yesterday afternoon hanging out with my friend Marcos Van Dam, a fellow optics colleague. I got to ride in a 1924 Fiat–restored by Marcos’ step father–Norman–and it was incredible.

1924 Fiat

We played a game of minature golf in perhaps the most unique course I have ever seen. It is built into the side of a cliff, and contains all manner of Rube Goldberg obstacles, constructed from welded iron art.

Minature golf!

I got an early start today so I could make a 9:00 AM ferry to the South Island. I was impressed that they let me (a cyclist) ride right up to the main door of the ferry.

First to leave the ferry

The ride into Picton was beautiful!

The ferry ride to Picton might as well have been a cruise

Tomorrow, I will finish the ride into Nelson. Cheers, Scott