…living in and dreaming of…

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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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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once again i stayed at a d.o.c. campsite, this time at pelorus bridge. a wonderful campsite at a river surrounded by forest with several walking tracks in the area. on top of that it has a kitchen and hot showers. i met another cyclist, guillaume from france. we both cooked two meals each and had [...]

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as i was getting weary of the main road, i took a left turn into a gravel road and exchanged the rather smooth surface of the road with gravel but had only 2 cars within an hours drive. the scenery was untypically sparse for new zealand but not without character. the next morning i bought [...]

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the next day it was only a couple of kilometers until we reached bob’s place. our host arrived 5 minutes later with material for a structure he was planning in his vegetable garden. he had made already quiet an effort to create a level area for the tents and outdoor toilet with view of the [...]

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i arrived in greymouth and checked in at the yha as the weather was getting worse. without asking i got a bicycle discount as a low carbon traveller. the common room looked like the drawing room in an old english country house with comfy couches, tons of books and even a piano which was fun [...]

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i wanted to get into the mountains again and cycling over the arthur’s pass to the west coast seemed like the quickest way to get that. the first day i just cycled outside the city in more or less the same weather as on the day i arrived, but the next day was perfect. sunny [...]

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arriving in christchurch after midnight, there was little else to do after assembling the bicycle then to get some hours of sleep in the designated rest area. bicycle touring seems to be so popular in new zealand that they even have a bicycle assembly area with a bike stand to assist while piecing the bike [...]

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since i arrived in australia i was looking forward to this city and at times it looked like i won’t have the time to see it. so i was glad to spend at least my last days in oz here. a couple of people from the farm in hillston were also in town and i [...]

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i felt rather like cycling for a few days and then spending the last days in the big city than the other way round. so i took a train out of melbourne to frankston and started cycling to sorrento from where the ferry to queenscliff starts across the port phillip bay. there was such a [...]

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