march 07 - 19

march 7 tuesday

we decided to stay as long as we need to get over the on the road blues. so we were in no hurry. i did some laundry or rather tried to but gypsie just took it off my arms and threw it into the washing mashine. she had to go to cheviot to pick up jane (one of the four westhighland terriers they have) from the doctor. so i went with her to buy some more food. i was specially keen on flour and yeast to bake a little. that i miss a lot. we again invited cees for dinner, had a delicious homemade pizza and i also did some buns and a loaf of bread. we talked til late and cees supplied us with some more books to read. very important!

march 8 wednesday

and so reading was what we did all day long. sometimes i need that. the book by ruth rendall was fascinating. we were almost alone on hawkswood, no other guests, cees wanted to travel on (very sad, that i don´t like about travelling. to learn to know people and part after a very short time!) and gypsie had to go somewhere with her husband and they would not be back until late. i finished the book in the evening and had not moved all day long. amazing how hungry you can get without any sport! we had lamb and risotto for dinner and gave the new zealand television a try. but it was so boring that we turned it off soon and talked instead.

march 9 thursday

and today i am writing this. almost done and i definitly need some exercise. so we will take off for a little luggage free bike trip soon and decide afterwards if we are going to stay here tomorrow (yes!!!) or head for chrischurch.

march 10 friday


the bike trip yesterday was quite hard. we took the wrong road which lead us straight into the kaikoura mountains. it was uphill all the way and after 13 kms we decided to head back. which was a real good decision as we later found, cos it was a dead end road just leading to a remote farm, gravel of course. anyways. we went "home" and just discussing what to have for dinner when gypsy came in and handed us two premium steaks, some potatoes and vegetables from her garden... we couldn´t believe it! thanked her and had a frugal meal.
this friday would be our last day at hawkswood, we decided and even though we felt we had to leave we were very sad about it. i did some laundry, helped gypsy, cooked some jam from her plums and also a german plum cake and of course we had to pack again... a lot of new trampers were arriving during late afternoon. excited voices everywhere. that made it a little easier for us. had pumpkin and potatoes for dinner and talked about what we were doing with the rest of our trip til late.


march 11 saturday

we woke up to a bright and warm morning. after breakfast we had to say good-bye to gypsy and john. we all were very very sad. erk took some pictures and i had to pull myself tight not to break out crying. there we went, on the road again. after we had biked for about half an hour gypsy came after us to had us a fax she just received. instructions from lindsey, how to find him in christchurch. we were quite touched by this!


met a couple on a tandem in cheviot where we supplied and checked mails. first time after ten days and our parents had been a little worried already...
after that we rode on for another 20 km and had lunch in a forrest with a view. the weather changed, wind picked up and made cycling rough. but we struggled on. and made it to waipara. the tandem couple had told us that there would be a nice camp and it was true! but i couldn´t appreciate it, missed gypsy and hawkswood too much. the kitchen was not really comfy and a guy came in while we were eating, doing his dishes not saying hello or anything and guess where he came from... went to bed early being tired from cycling. had to get used to it again. (81.52 km 4h48)march 12 sunday

the sky was overcast and a little rain fell but we started nevertheless knowing a bed was waiting for us in christchurch. first we went downhill for about 20 kms and then the landscape changed - canterbury plains. i did not like them. reminded me of northfriesland. plains always depress me and these ones were heavily agricultural used and only seperated by ugly thuja hedges... whatsoever. as we arrived a little early and rain began to pour down we decided to have lunch at macdonalds (once a year..). it was ok. we arrived at lindsey´s and sara´s around four in the afternoon, learnt to know bridget (6) and katy (4) and were given an internet flat connection! heaven! talked til late with lindsey. unfortunately sara had to work at night. (58 km 3h18)

march 13 monday

went to town by bus but i am just so full of seeing things that we just went to the hairdresser´s, had an opulent lunch and strolled a little around. went back early and had a nap before emma and peter (friends of lindsey and sara) arrived for barbeque.

march 14 tueday

we were allowed to stay. erk went to town again and i just wrote and relaxed. went to the zoo in the late afternoon. wasn´t to bad for a zoo but we didn´t see the kiwis in the dark room... prepared to leave for the westcoast next morning but decided against cycling the arthur´s pass.

march 15 wednesday

biked to town very early to catch the bus to greymouth at 8 a.m. as i saw the road i was very glad that we decided against cycling. the first stretch was a continuous slight uphill through the endless plains and afterwards two steep narrow passes. day was overcast and cold. arrived in greymouth at lunchtime and went to the "global village" hostel to camp there. nice hostel. we were both so tired and feeling sick that we just slept, read and ate.

march 16 thursday

on the bike again. the road along the coast was beautiful but quite hilly. weather was nice and after a long ride we reached punakaiki (that´s where the pancake rocks are - but we decided to have a look at them in the next morning without the people in the tourbusses). erk found a 20$ bill in front of the info center and we went down one more hill to a quite nice motor camp. just the other people staying there all seemed to be in a bad mood and unfriendly... (49.29km 2h54)





march 17 friday


we had a look at the pancakes. amazing. two different materials formed rocks and the softer one got washed away during the last thousands of years. after that it was hills again. i felt sick and tired. but after we had lunch in chesterton where we met two nice guys from germany we decided to go over the next two hills to westport because the camp was ugly and there was no supermarket. we finally reached westport. very tired and talked about the future again. we settled on just cycling the beautiful and easy stretches and going by bus otherwise. erk booked the k-bus for the next morning to tataka in the golden bay region and we felt asleep soon afterwards. (62.59km 4h05)


march 18 saturday

had a whole day busride. talked to a nice german girl and reached tataka climber´s camp late and again very tired.


march 19 sunday

moved to pohara top 10 holiday park directly at the tasman bay. relaxed, walked the beach and enjoyed the sun.

february 26 - march 6

febuary 26 sunday

it had rained during the night but the morning was bright and clear again. we started after a good breakfast and mastered the first hills with ease. in ward we had coffee and ice cream - what else? - at a so called tea room (they sell everything in those small villages from gas to butter).
one last hill had to be climbed afterwards and we reached the pacific ocean. the color of the water was amazing, a caribic light blue but of course the water temperature was much lower.

the road then undulated along the ocean. we had lunch in the dunes and finally reached waipapa bay where we were the only guests on a small roadside campground. it also had no kitchen so i cooked couscous on our little camping stove. and we had to have a cold shower... well, the day was warm enough.
(74.77km 3h59)




febuary 27 monday

i felt worn and tired even after a good night´s sleep. had to get used to cycling again i guess. we started slowly and met a german cyclist going the opposite direction after 12 kms. talked to him for a while and it started gettin´ really warm. stopped to watch seals!

(find the seal !!!)

they were lying lazily in the sun. how nice it must be to be a seal i thought. and afterwards we just pedalled on to kaikoura, supplied in the big "new world" supermarket and pitched our tent at the nearest campground, quite expensive but really new and well equipped. i rested and erk went for a walk along the cliff. talked to a nice french couple after dinner. later a couple from erlangen arrived, also on bikes though they had decided not to be slaves of their bikes and were taking a lot of buses if they felt like.
a big thunderstrom arrived during the night a the temperature dropped significantely. (32.38km 1h55)

febuary 28 tuesday


i talked erk into staying in kaikoura. i felt so tired of moving on and on and on and as a strong southerly wind had developed he agreed quickly. we went for the cliff walk together, checked mails and returned tired in the afternoon. did a lot of talking and reading and had pumpkin and potatoes for dinner, yummy!

march 1 wednesday


decided to stay another day. did laundry, some repairwork that needed to be done for a long time and relaxed in the sun.

march 2 thursday

finally we were ready to move on. although some passes were waiting i felt calm and enjoyed cycling again. the ride out of kaikoura along the coast was beautiful. the first pass was hard and suddenly the weather changed and i got really cold. we were told later that this happens often in new zealand because it is not protected by surrounding continents...
there was one hostel with camp in the "pedaler´s paradise" that should have turned up after 40 km but it didn´t so we thought we had to go on over the next pass into cheviot but after 50 km it was there and luckily i suggested to stay! hawkswood farm!


a nice small non comercial camp and a very friendly lady were waiting for us. i was so tired. some trampers just said good bye and were really excited about the walk they had just done. we pitched the tent and went to the house in order to pay. gypsy (how she calls herself) suggested we should also do the walk and i don´t know why but we decided spontanously to do it (though it was 150$ per person for three days). the walk included accomodations, so we could stay in a nice cabin through the night. in the evening was briefing at j.d´s, the 86 year old owner of hawkswood farm, where we met the other 8 people, who would do the track.

march 3 friday

only packed with a daypack, we started the first part of the kaikoura coast track at 9:00. it led us through native bushland uphill to magnificent views of the coastline, the farmland and the kaikoura mountains. after 2,5 hours of hiking we had lunch at "skull peak shelter" were coffee and tea were provided. it offered a panoramic view all along the pacific coastline. afterwards we were heading to ngaroma loft, our accomodation for the night. we had a nap and spent the rest of the day with reading.

march 4 saturday

the track continued with a quite hard walk along the shore cos the sand was very soft. some were complaining about that, but a beach is a beach and usually not paved. we liked the walk, although the weather was changing into storm and rain. we could see some sleeping seals but no whales or dolphins cos the sea was to rough. after lunch in a little shelter, we walked over farmland to bushland again, so we had a good protection for the increasing rain. at 14:00 we arrived almost dry at "the whare", our next accomodation.

march 5 sunday


the last part of the track began with a steep 640m ascend to mount wilson were we had an amazing 360 degree panoramic view. the southern alps got white peaks ovenight cos it was pretty cold and there were lots of snow in the mountains. in the afternoon we were back at hawkswood and gipsy offered her car for supplying in cheviot, cos we were running out of food. eva drove well, the first time sitting on the righthand side in a car and driving on the left side of the road. we had steak for dinner, which was not as good as the meat in argentina. gipsy said, we could stay in the cabin and had not to go to the campground. so we had our cosy mud-brick cabin again and felt really happy.

march 6 monday

we had a very lazy day on hawkswood farm with a lot of reading. at noon we met cees from holland, who was the only guest on the campground, and were talking for some hours. afterwards we made a little stroll, called the fantail track and invited cees for dinner. we picked delicious prunes in gipsy´s garden for desert and had our favorite baked potatoes and pumpkins and a little bit of wine with a nice conversation in the kitchen of ash house.

february 21 - 25

february 21

we arrived in auckland at 6:00 in the morning after a 12 hours flight, but lost one day in fact of crossing the international date line. the bikes were ok and the customs not so hard as we often heard of. no extra yellow fever vaccination for travellers coming from south america and no desinfection of our tent, but we had to declare all foods and tenting equipment. think its ok, cos new zealand has to take care of its nature.
at 8:00 we made a telephone-call to the hostel, we booked in advance (skyway lodge), to get picked up from the airport. the van arrived 10 minutes later and we were carried to the hostel, which was well organized and run with a lot of restrictions, as we could read on all the warnings on the wall. don´t do this and don´t do that!!!
so we gave the owner the name "the blockward". nevertheless, he was quite helpful, but complained about some bad experiences with german and dutch visitors, who didn´t do their dishes in time! we decided to go as fast as possible to the south island, cos its getting cold in march, so we booked the train-tickets for the "overlander" to wellington, what was very easy compared to book busrides in argentina. we started to assemble the bikes and cos we had a little jetlag, went to bed early.

february 22


after fixing the bikes, we bought a busticket and went to auckland downtown to supply with some camping-stuff. it was hard to recognize that the cheap days were over, when we had a salad (without bread) and a pita-sandwich for lunch. we have to get used to the new prizes and to the traffic, which is lefthanded in new zealand. auckland is just a big city, without a special flair, not like buenos aires or santiago. eva cooked a nice lunch and we repacked our stuff for our biketour.

february 23

we did a 12 hours trainride to wellington, which was scenic but too long after all the long-distance-travelling in busses and plane, so we ended up exhausted in a hostel in wellington, had fish´n´chips and went to bed.

february 24


booked the ferry to the south island and made a short stroll through wellington. the boattrip was nice, because travelling on the sea is very slow and quiet. the weather was sunny and we arrived after 3 hours in picton, where we found a nice campground.

february 25


the hasinos are back on their bikes. we were heading south to christchurch on the eastern side of the island and on the wrong side of the road. feals strange, driving on the left side of the road and to look over the right shoulder to watch the traffic. the roads were in good shape, better than we were, after the long time of backpacking, but we made quite a good distance and climbed the weld-pass to seddon, a tiny, ugly 500 soul-village, which offered a well eqipped and cheap motor camp. it seemed, that all the campgrounds have good kitchens, so we can cook a larger variety of foods, yummy !


after 5 days in new zealand, we miss the always friendly and happy people, we saw in south america. maybe there the sun goes into their hearts and here they use too much sunblocker.

february 11 - 20

on our way back to colonia, we found a nice and very cheap little campground in kiyu, the most "tranquilo-superlindo" village, we have been so far. everybody was relaxed, the girl in the supermarket or the two policemen, sittin on the porch in front of their policestation. we had a tentsite directly at the lovely beach of the rio del a plata. after building up our tent, we had a short bath in the warm water and a stroll along the shore. after watching the sunset we saw lots of "gluehwuermchen", shining like little stars and a "sternschnuppe" appeared on the sky, very romantic.

next day we brought back "el rochito" to the car rental and stayed for the rest of the day in the hostel. we could do our laundry, made a stroll through the beautiful old center of the town and had dinner in a street restaurant.


next day we took the ferry to buenos aires and arrived early, so we could walk some hours through this big city until our bus left to mendoza.

the walk to uvas hostel, where we stored our bicycles, was taking all my nerves, but the bikes were ok and all our luggage still there. we found some boxes in a supermarket and at bmw-argentina, so we could box our bikes. we had a bad peach and got "montezumas revenge" two days before our departure, so we sat almost all night long on the toilet seat and lay in bed the next day. no last bife de chorizo !!!
next morning we got our king-size-bikeboxes into the bus to santiago for 50 extra pesos each and had a long busride to chile, with a two hours stop at the border from argentina to chile in about 4000m altitude, which made us dizzy. in santiago we stored the boxes at the busterminal and had our last stay in one of the best southamerican hostels.

bike transport to the airport was not so difficult and check in was ok, but we had to pay airport taxes, which should have been included in our rtw-tickets. after a one hour delay we sat in the fat airbus, heading east to new zealand.