SINZ Day Thirteen - (Harihari - Hokitika)

Info

Distance

73km

Blog

During the night there was a change in the weather. This was preceded by a final downpour of rain as the remaining clouds dumped their load of moisture. But the morning dawned clear and sunny - a perfect day for riding.

First stop was the fabled hot springs. Local advice about the springs was conflicting: some said they were easy to find; some said even the locals struggled to find them. It would appear that they are not so easy to find, but we enjoyed our little detour and poking about in the river. Then we headed off for textbook standard perfect cycling weather.

However the day was not flawless for all. You may remember at the pre-tour briefing Ken warned us strongly against leaving shoe laces flying loose because of the risk of them wrapping around the cranks and causing a most unpleasant dismount. You see - unicycle cranks only stop moving when the unicycle is stationary. So if it happens while you are at speed the end result is a face plant from a long way up.

Now James had purchased some Airwalk shoes with velcro tie down which are simply perfect for riding unicycles. However after the last few days they had become a little bit (shall we say?) sodden. So he was reluctant to wear wet shoes on such a fine day.

He is a very bright lad James, and he is emphatic that he tucked the shoe laces in properly before starting. However as he zoomed down a nice long hill before the morning tea stop the Bad Fairy Which Unties Shoe Laces struck. What made it worse was the fact that he saw the laces tangle in the crank so he knew for a split second before hand that he was about to take a dive. Fortunately he had purchased a new pair of riding gloves and he credits these with him escaping a severe fall with only minor bruising and lacerations.

For the rest of the day the weather atoned for its prior treachery. We even had a reasonably strong tailwind to blow us to our destination. After prior days of everyone arriving spread out, we all turned up at The Jade Experience Backpackers much at the same time. Here we were welcomed by the Mad Kiwi - Gordon Wells. With quick showers all round and a good feed for dinner, spirits were jovial long into the night.

 

                                                     

SINZ Day Fourteen - (Hokitika Rest Day)

Info

Quotes

Distance

Mostly walking

Blog

There was really only one item of news today. However it was kept a secret from most of us for most of the day so we will keep it a secret for a little bit longer.

Weatherwise it was a beautiful day. Part of staying at The Jade Experience is the chance to work on a item of jade jewellery. You shoose the design, Gordon carves it, then you sand it for a couple of hours to remove any imperfections and polish it, before Gordon applies a final protective seal. The end results look quite good and it was a relaxing way to recuperate from a couple of days' riding. Roger, Connie, Ken and Tony seemed busy all day and were notable by their absence.

All became clear when we polished ourselves up and headed off to the ceremonial dinner. When we were seated Roger and Connie entered dressed in a very high degree of finery and announced that during the afternoon they had travelled to Hokitika Gorge and exchanged wedding vows. This stunned us a little. There had been some secrecy surrounding this dinner at Hokitika and there had been some conjecture, however an actual wedding had not occurred to us. Tony and Ken had acted as aides and photographers - hence their absence during the day. So what we had thought was a formal dinner to mark the occasion of the tour now became a wedding reception.

A good time was had by all till finally Roger and Connie headed off to their hotel room and the rest of us returned to The Jade Experience. Here work on jade jewellery resumed with Gordon and Silke (??) staying up till 1am to make sure all our pieces of jade were completed despite the busy day and the wedding reception. After the miserable experience at Hari Hari here was hospitality way beyond the normal bounds. So it earns Gordon a very strong recommendation for the package he provides at The Jade Experience. If you are passing through Hokitika you really should drop in for a visit.

                                             

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