…living in and dreaming of…

after two days on gravel it was a nice change to ride on a sealed road again. just at the junction for the von river road we met a swedish couple who sailed in fourteen month from their home to new zealand and found out about the best way to see the country and switched [...]

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the von river road is a gravel road which made the climb from the lake up the valley rather challenging. once on the high plateau the road is quiet flat, there’s hardly any traffic and the scenery of unspoiled beauty. we stopped at the mavora lakes in the evening. it was busy as it was [...]

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tagged as ‘the adventure capital of the world’ queenstown’s main road is a succession of adventure tours and thrill selling shopfronts. i called jens and laurence who were on their way back from a day trip to the milford sound. as their hostel was booked out, i pedalled out of town to the twelve miles [...]

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jens and i were looking for a campsite, but the cheapest was not much savings compared to the price of a hostel. especially when we get the low emission discount at the yha which in this case has a direct view of lake wanaka and the surrounding mountains. after sorting out our luggage and our [...]

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after cycling out of christchurch i realized that i forgot my maps in town. as i was already too far to think about turning back i got instructions from a local which were easy enough to follow without a map. it made me realize how much i depend on maps. not only for the obvious [...]

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as central christchurch was still off limits after the earthquakes, the world buskers festival was happening in hagley park this year. which took away the street feeling of the performances but had the advantage that the audience could easily switch between the different stages. the shows included comedy, theater, stunts, acrobatics, music and more. one [...]

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i stayed one night in christchurch before exploring the nearby banks peninsula. it is always a hazzle to get out of a bigger city and this time i not only wanted to get out but get out at a certain point, the start of the little river rail trail. like australia, new zealand converted some [...]

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after blenheim the scenery changes again with rolling bare hills while the road leads over the dashwood pass. i took the turnoff to marfells beach, another d.o.c campsite and the first one which i left again after i had a look around. the place was completely taken over by locals who seemed to want to [...]

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all the way back towards picton along the queen charlotte drive, one has still the view of the sounds. picton is a very small town and which gets its importance because of the ferry to wellington that departs here. the small place gets quiet crowded before the departure or after the arrival of a ferry [...]

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