“It’s
just this exposed island in the South Pacific.” I always think back to Travis
Rice, a professional snowboarded, saying this in ‘That’s it, That’s All’ about
New Zealand. One day we get perfect conditions and the next gale force
windstorms and rain. Brian and I decided the night before that because of the
stormy conditions and the offer of another night at John and Ann’s. We did not
do much this day beside I offered to make dinner, so we went to the town and I
picked out a nice little lamb roast and picked some fresh veggies from their
garden. The roast turned out really well and was a perfect end to our enjoyable
time with John and Ann, they had been married for 53 years and their banter
back in forth was a pleasant experience.
Leaving
this morning, was another hard departure we had a great time at John and Ann’s
and also I was finding myself dreading our 104km day with a total climb of
1400m. After another sad goodbye and a promise to stop if or when we came back,
we were soon rolling down the road in search of the Wanganui River Road. The
road we had chosen today would go through a closed valley road that had been
shut since June due to flooding and mudslides. We were excited for the
possibility of once again not having any menacing traffic all around and being
to ride side by side and chat. About 15km down the road we found our turn off
and entered on to one of New Zealand’s ‘Great Rides’ according to the sign.
Immediately we were greeted to a 450m vertical climb up a narrow road. You
could instantly tell the devastation that the big flood had caused; all along
the road the cliff was fresh with slips and piles of debris moved off to the
side by road crews. At the summit of the climb, we finally saw the immensity of
our undertaking. Along the winding Wanganui River was draped a rolling road
climbing and falling with nature’s architecture.
With no
road signs or cell coverage the hours rolled on as we peddled through the river
valley no idea of how far we had come or gone. Fortunate for us there was
plenty of scenic views to take in and unfinished road works to avoid. The
valley was blanketed in lush rainforest, like we had seen on the south island,
with water cascading down towering clay walls into the valley below. The
narrowness of the road and the complete lack of anything resembling
civilization sent us back to what New Zealand must have been like when the
Maori people first travelled the to this island in the early 12 century. After
many hours we reached the small remote town of Jerusalam, not the Middle East
one. From here on the road would be steep and full of partial washouts. As we
climbed and climbed, the hills gave no sign of stopping, even the road works
crew didn’t seem to know. Like the machines we are, we finally rolled on to
even ground and to a lookout point where we saw our hard works sum. We were
perched high above the river valley looking down at the sheer forest walls and
canopy of exotic trees. It was the farthest detached I fell from the on goings
of the world and could see why the Maori people of the Wanganui River Valley
had settled this area so many centuries ago. Hoping we had just conquered our
last hill of the day, why do I put myself in these situations, we set down the
hills to high spirits eager to finish this long and arduous day.
100km
may not seem like such a feat to some of you, “it’s only an hour by car,” you
may say. Well when you are covering it under your own power and carrying around
40 pounds with you over relentless hills it gets to you. The downward slope
after what we had thought would be our last had only led us to another small
remote town called Pipriki, where we learned we were still 30km out from our
overnight stay. Those next 30kms were the hardest of the trip, at to that point
my life. We climbed up almost 900m to the highest elevation of the journey on a
seemingly endless hill. The journey took my exhausted and hungry body through
the full range of emotions from sad and wanting to cry, to wanting to shout and
scream and throw my bike into the deep gorge below, and finally to joy at
exiting the rainforest into the rolling hills of what can only be described as
The Shire.
Now
once again you find me here sitting on a bed hand holding my weary head off the
pages of my journal. Today, more than ever, on this trip, I am in awe of the
achievements that we have made and how far I have come. This time last year I
had my face at the bottom of a drink in Sydney, Australia only worrying about
partying as much as I could before school. Now I am climbing hills through a
forgotten rainforest on a bike with all my worldly possessions strapped to the
back. I have a long way to go before I am the person I want to be but this
journey is at least headed in the right direction. Day 18 110km, too tired to
write more.
No comments:
Post a Comment