…living in and dreaming of…

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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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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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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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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i choose a route following the coastline for most parts after leaving byron bay. after working in tully which was 3okm from the sea and brisbane also not being famous for its beaches, i was missing the ocean and had plenty of opportunity for a swim despite the water’s dropping temperature on my way south. [...]

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since the east coast is rather busy with people on a camping trip, there are lots of signs to prevent hordes of campers to stay just anywhere. still some seem rather superfluous… hardly readable at, this sign is not only standing in the middle of the forest but is also surrounded by a small lake. [...]

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after a planned project to built a road through the richmond gap connecting queensland with new south wales was cancelled by the government, the local lions clubs (thus the name ‘lions road’) of this area got together and built it as a community development project. lots of volunteer work and fund raising made it possible [...]

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