Heading South

Maccas is the best place for free Wi-Fi in New Zealand, in case you are wondering. And they have music playing via monitors playing videos. It's definitely a cool place to chill. Trust me.

This afternoon, just after boarding the ferry to the South Island, this guy said, “It's one of the roughest crossings in the world." So why did the sign say the seas were calm? Because they were. Not rough at all. I didn't trust him. But I was happy when he helped me to secure my bike in the belly of the giant ship. In Japan, on the ferries Jody and I took, the ship staff took very good care of our bikes, which came as no surprise (The Japanese are so friendly!), but here, well, we were left to fend for ourselves.

I met a pretty big group of cyclists at the ferry terminal today. They are going to be riding the same way I am, from Picton to Greymouth, but a bit slower, and then from Greymouth to Queenstown, whereas I plan to stop in Greymouth for about a week. I won't join them on their ride to Nelson tomorrow, since I want to stay here for a day, but I might ride from Murchison to Greymouth with them, assuming I can catch them by then, which is quite possible. I will be riding faster than them, but the advantage of riding with them would obviously be their company. I guess whether or not I cycle with them at all depends on if I do all or part of the Queen Charlotte walk here in Picton, since hiking the entire 71-km track could take 3-4 days...

I'm traveling extremely light again, although I think I might have a bit more weight on the bike this time. The biggest decision I had to make, once I finally made up my mind to bring my bike, was whether or not to bring a sweatshirt. I elected not to, since it would add a lot of weight to my bag. If it gets cold, which I think will be the case, I'll just have to layer.

This crossing takes about three hours and is really beautiful. I'm falling asleep, though... I'm past the halfway point of my trip to New Zealand, so perhaps I have spent too much time up north. I am planning to extend my stay by two weeks, however, if possible, which would give me more time down south.

Down south, I plan to ride to Greymouth, stay there with a family for about a week, and then cycle all the way to the bottom of the island, via Arthur's Pass to Christchurch and then down the east coast...

A Dutch guy I know will coincidentally be cycling from Invercargill (near the bottom of the island) all the way up to Picton at the =j time as I'll be cycling in the opposite direction, but maybe he'll ride to Christchurch with me...

For $7 NZD extra, I can get WiFi for this ferry ride. Unfortunately, there's no McDonald's on board.

I'm still really tired. I want to take a nap, but I don't want to miss the views...

I can already see the South Island, because it actually juts past Wellington on the west side, but before we arrive at the mainland, we have to sail through several sounds...