It felt like a big mistake. As soon as I left I realised that, what was a nice offshore tailwind, was rapidly declining into a hurtling westerly headwind. And so it was for 80km to my next stop at Kurow I had the worst day on the bike so far. It is perhaps the worst time I've had on a bike, ever! The fact that another spoke on my back wheel broke didn't help my mood either. Suffice to say that when I arrived after 5:30hrs in Kurow I was both relieved and very grumpy!
It's funny how easy the body and mind forget hardship though, and after a decent rest and some freshly baked bread (a gorgeous German lass working in Kurow and staying at the campsite, was kind enough to give me some brot straight out of the oven!) I was looking forward to an epic 125km ride through Mackenzie Country - a lonely and solemn place with a charm all of its own.
That was two days ago and of the 125km, 80km was on the notorious gravel roads. Luckily, after the trials of the previous day, Mother Nature was forgiving this day and gave me good weather conditions to play with. I really love the hummocky landscape of Mackenzie Country with its river-carved hills and tussocky grasslands. There's something about the air here too; it's so crisp and clear and the light of day just makes every detail jump to your eye. 
The first climb was the Haka, apparently supposed to be quite hard. I reckon it would have been with a terrible headwind (which would be the norm) but I had it good and got to the top with relative ease. This was 60km in from Kurow and I still had to go through the Mackenzie Plain then up over Mackenzie Pass. I had a great view of the plain at the summit of Haka - a red arid saucer with Mt Cook and his mates in the background.
Mackenzie Country also has good signs to look at too! The first one is of the sign that marked the summit of Haka pass - I reckon this has to be a contender for the sign with the hardest life in the world! The second again made me laugh: at first I thought I really was headed towards Burke's Ass Village, but realised it wasn't his 'Ass' but his 'Pass'! I'm just glad I wasn't going to Dog Kennel Corn. Odd.
Once I was up and over the relatively easy Mackenzie Pass with a nice tail wind, the landscape rapidly changed from barren scrubland to greener hills with decent-sized trees. This told me I was moving into Canterbury and would soon (after another 30km) be able to set up camp for the night at Fairlie. In fact when I arrived, the fella on reception at the campsite was that impressed with my efforts he took a fiver off my camp fees! Legendary.
This morning I left Fairlie with a fairly tight schedule - I had to be in Geraldine 46km to the east to catch a bus just after lunchtime. I decided to time-trial it to cover the ground quickly, safe in the knowledge that on arrival I could have lunch in a cafe then sit on a bus all the way to Christchurch to rest up. I did managed to get one picture early on in the ride looking back towards the hilly countryside around Fairlie.
And here I am again in Christchurch and man am I glad I took the Bus! I've never seen roads as long and straight (boring) as those that traverse the Canterbury Plains. My plan now is to look for a job. I've been reviewing my finances and if I'm going to get back to the lovely IOM I'm going to have to earn some money for my flight. Tomorrow my hunting starts: I'll seek out all the bike shops in the City (that way I can fix my bike too - it's battered!) and if they won't have me I'll try all the Plant Nurseries! And if they won't have me I'm back on the road again for another week before going back to Wellington where I'll just have to take any job going.
Christchurch seems the ideal location for me to set up - it's known as the Garden City and there's the NZ Multisport and Triathlon Centre. Once I've recovered a bit from my exertions over the past 4 weeks (right achilles sore, tired quads etc, knees are good though) I'll be keen to get into another block of training.
-AC
