2000 Biking New Zealand

Day 13, 20 December 2000, Wednesday
St Arnaud – Nelson; 81.6km @ 17kph, Nigel Brown

What a morning! We have had a heaven-sent 50km. And just in time to lift our flagging spirits too.

We decided to get as early a start as possible to do the climbs we were warned of well before the sun began to take its toll. And arose therefore at 6am, showered, packed, breakfasted – the usual – and were on the road by 7.15am. On a superb day. Cool, partially cloudy, wind-free. On quiet roads through lovely countryside. The three longish climbs we encountered, all done by 11am, were of manageable inclination and doable length. And the downhills to die for doll. One downhill stretch went on for 10km without me once having to touch my pedals (to pedal with that is). We did the first 50km with relative ease therefore and a great deal of pleasure. And at that point our wonderful road dropped us back onto SH6. Just before Foxhill and its convenient pub. Opposite which an elderly hitching Maori with grey beard and backpack stood hitching both when we arrived and when we left some 45 minutes later. We wheeled our bikes round back to their garden pub and sat there under a tree and marvelled at our marvellous morning.

Charl went in to order drinks and met a whenwe (Zimbabwean) who left Zim 30 years ago. He and his New Zealand wife invited us to join them for wedgies and sour cream. They live on a yacht in Melbourne and have been sailing the Pacific for three and a half years, but are in New Zealand for their daughter’s wedding this week. We talked of crime in South Africa and Charl pointed out a poster on the pub wall that stated “Lock it or lose it” – promoting the locking of cars to prevent theft. We laughed at the difference between that and the reality of crime-ridden South Africa. And our Zim friend said the poster should read ‘Steal it and die’. He felt, and we agree, that the poster sends the wrong message. In effect that the victim is responsible for the crime, not the perp.

The next 40km should have been fun too as they were basically all downhill. But after the first ten a rather strong headwind sprang up out of nowhere and hindered our progress on an increasingly busy road. Luckily it was literally downhill almost every inch of the way and a decent shoulder most of the time offered adequate protection from thundering trucks – especially the articulated logging trucks.

We cycled after a while through one village after another – including through Rutherford, named after Nobel Laureate Ernest Rutherford who was born in Nelson in 1871. He was knighted in 1914; was a pioneer of modern atomic science (he was the first to recognise the nuclear nature of the atom); and is considered one of New Zealand’s great sons. Most villages neat and prosperous-looking. Some homes therein offering carnations or sunflowers for sale. Others fruit and veg. Cycled past beautifully-tended vineyards and fields of hops. Past a sheep auction in progress. And once the road got really too busy for comfort, we found and got onto the cycle path to Nelson. And decided to stop at the Honest Lawyer (pub and hotel) just short of Nelson itself. Where they agreed we could leave our bikes overnight in their (open) garage and from where we called Nigel and awaited him drinking bloody Mary’s in the garden overlooking the tide-out bay.

I had been quite anxious about seeing Nigel again after all these years (we had last seen each other in Edinburgh where he was working as a milkman in 1985) and so was pretty tense. But we had a fabulous evening with him. He drove us the 35-odd km to his lifestyle plot complete with small cute cottage-with-a-view, office in a container and huge garage left open despite it containing a myriad stealable goodies. Also an outdoor hot shower backed by bushes, but open to the view of experimental vineyards, hills topped by conifers, neighbour weeding his plot. Both Charl and I braved the neighbour and thoroughly enjoyed our sybaritic showers.

Nigel had invited friends (Steven and his 8 month old son, Derek and Leon) for a barbecue. With a difference. Thick lamb cutlets quickly sealed and slowly cooked on a gas fire. Served sliced on a kumara (Maori potato) and asparagus pyramid with an orange and mint sauce made from goodies from the garden. With side dishes of tomatoes and local goat cheese, green salad, baked potatoes and braaied garlicky mushrooms. Yum. We also managed to get through an inordinate amount of champagne, beer and wine – and some of the guys through cigarettes and cigars too. I finally went to bed at something after one, Charl even later.

Nigel’s friends were really fun. Nige is now 40, Steven a little older, the other two relative youngsters. Like many New Zealanders we have met, they all exhibited a healthy scepticism about politicians and their doings. So…conversation flowed easily and fun was had by all.

Thank you, Nigel.