Project VELAIA

It’s the 17th of April, 1:22am right now, just past midnight. I’m sitting in front of Rhonda’s wonderful T43 ThinkPad laptop computer and am quite pressured, I couldn’t sleep without having written about the last few days, about the great time with the young CouchSurfing family in Tapu Bay, about the beautiful way to Picton, the set over in the evening to the North Island by ferry, and the totally last minute but marvellous friendly and warm welcome I received from Gaylia and Rhonda Powell, the mother and sister of Olly Powell, chief desorganizer (together with Ting) of the Beijing to Paris 2007 Carfree Rally without whom I wouldn’t be here after all.

I sometimes really feel guilty, guilty of not spending more time and doing more things with these wonderful people I meet during my journey, some of whom I will sadly but for sure only meet once in my life. I’m definitely spending too much time in front of computer displays, keeping my readers up to date in German and English, stitching together panoramas, uploading and communicating.

But I also can’t just stop writing as that would be unfair to the people who follow my journey over the internet, many of those being individuals I have met, some of them close friends and family.

It’s a difficult situation, a dilemma. I’ll probably be typing, including pictures and so on until the early morning hours. But that’s fine with me, it’s just that I think it’s not the right way to do it, the situation gnaws at my conscience.

I think that maybe a compact and long battery life laptop that I just included into my wishlist (model and manufacturer don’t matter) might help. It would allow me to type every evening, to translate, to put it in the right form already, to get the pictures sorted and edited and to sometimes wirelessly connect or just stop by in an internet cafe for half an hour and bring the content online. I could put into practice some of the ideas I often get while cycling and work them out in the evening. Being without computer for a long time turned out to be easier than I had anticipated and I could easily do without on a “just cycling, no reporting” world tour. But it’s this moral conflict I have to solve some way or the other.

There are probably also options I haven’t thought about and I hereby encourage my readers and friends to tell me what you think! I can’t and won’t ask for and wouldn’t even accept any more support from my father, sister and mother – they have done more for me than I could have ever wished for already and are going through hard and exhausting times themselves right now!

Well, now it’s 2am in the morning and I will start writing about the adventures of the last few days.

David, Pania and Vincent were a absolutely new CouchSurfing experience. I had never stayed with a young child in the family even though I love children. And it was so different! A young baby takes a lot of the parents’ attention, at times it strongly influences the mood of everyone else, either warming your heart or making you feel really sad because it’s crying or tired or … There are multiple tasks that can fill the whole day of a mother and/or father and this day for day, week for week, year for year until at some time it leaves the house and starts exploring the world on its own feet (like I’m doing it now). Many fathers would probably secretly envy David for the possibility of working from home and spending a lot of time with his young baby, observing the forming of the first words in Vincent’s mouth and just living through the wholeness of this absolutely stunning period of young human life.

(Dayna (front), Pania and Jade behind)

I am so thankful that they welcomed me at their home and let me participate in the family life for a few days!

We often went to the beach in the evening, walking along the wet and soft sand during low tide and surfing or climbing over rocks with young Vincent in the special baby backpack during high tide. I followed my baking hobby and enjoyed the delicious ginger dishes David and Pania prepared for lunch and dinner.

I left on the third day just before noon as many guests were expected for Vincent’s first birthday party in the afternoon and as much as I would have loved to stay I still had to keep going, keep exploring … the nomad way.

So I almost made it to Nelson in the evening even though I had to recover from a long long night spent on the internet, only having had 4 or 5 hours of sleep. On a grassy spot close to a vineyard I pitched the Exped tent for the night …

… and the long sleep gave me back enough power that brought me to the Nelson city centre in almost no time the next morning. There I watched a event for young children in a community park who were obviously having a lot of fun in the Star Wars game and with other funny activities.

I met George (maybe 60 years old), a touring cyclist from Westport on the west coast of the South Island, who was on his way back to Motueka. He loves cycling the Australian outback and must have cycled more than 50 000km there already. When he saw my Rohloff gear hub he enthusiastically told me about the new bikes his wife and he just bought, the famous Thorn touring bikes from the UK that also come with the Rohloff hubs. He convinced me that I definitely have to come back (with company) to cycle and experience the Australian outback some day.

I then left Nelson, cycled north to Wakapuaka, through Hira and up 3 hills, the first to about 100m, the second to 360m and another one of 200+m before pitching my tent close to the Rai Valley village on the side of the valley.

Over night the valley filled with clouds and fog and the outer layer of the tent was totally wet in the morning, the view had changed dramatically over night.

But soon after I had left it cleared up and I had a dreamlike ride to Havelock, learning Spanish and listening to SomaFM music on the way and being in a Buddha like state of mind with all the great scenery surrounding me.

I turned left to leave HW 6 and turn on the more scenic and quiet direct road to Picton, passing nice holiday houses and yachts in the harbours of Moenui, Linkwater, The Grove and some more villages before meeting Martin, another German touring cyclists whom I had met about 1.5 months ago in a bicycle shop in Christchurch the first time.

Together with him I cycled a few remaining kilometers to Picton, went to the ferry office, was lucky to get a last minute ticket for NZD 45 for rider and bike to Wellington and left only 20 minutes later.

 

The weather changed to rainy and cloudy as we left the Picton Bay on our way to Wellington and I therefore spent most of the time inside.

I arrived half past six as the ferry spit the passengers, cars and trucks off close to the Wellington city centre. When I phoned Gaylia and Rhonda they offered to pick me up but gave me instructions how to easily get to their home in the hills by train when I told them that I’d come with a bike.

Rhonda then collected the stranded cyclist from the train station and brought me home where Gaylia had already prepared black tea and yummy sandwiches. (2:56am now, have to meet Martin somehow tomorrow at 10am)