Finality

I'm leaving tomorrow. My bike's all packed in a box and I hope the girls in the lfight companies were right about me just strolling over to qantas and paying 120 aussie dollars for them to fly the big box home to Denmark. We'll see tomorrow. It's very interesting.
It's also very strange to be leaving, it felt so familiar to come back, or home to New Zealand. It's autumnal and recognisable and mountainous and might as well be Scandinavia, just with nikau palms and cabbage trees.

But I do look forward to home, to see my friends, my family, have a job, eat Danish rye bread and liquorice, hold hands with the loved one every day and sleep in the same bed every night, to not share dorm rooms with snooring strangers, to have more than two sets of clothes. It's also slightly scary. What if I forget how wonderful this was and don't go out again? If I just get a nine to five and have kids and tell about back when mum was cool and biked New Zealand and sailed to Fiji?
I don't think I will forget though. I'll probably remember so hard that there is no option but going out again.

Again, again again, I have to come back to this place.

Moce Fiji!

I was absolutely certainmy flight was on the 24th af July, so me and Lou travelled like madmen from Savusavu to Nadi via Suva to have a chance to see Alex before leaving. It's closing in on 18 hours travel over two days, one of the days starting at five in the morning.

And when I'd well arrived in the airport, changed into the travel clothes and left behind the last sunbleched washed out dress in a bin, I wondered why the only flights to new Zealand went to Auckland. It wouldn't be strange if something had gone amiss. Turned out to be me. The flight is leaving at 20.25 on July 25th. In other words; I'd come one day early. Idiot me decided to go out with a bang and got a room at Raffles right across the airport. The basic model, but still, it was absolutely amazing to have an air-con room, a proper bathroom, hot water immediately, toiletpaper and a room to myself. And now I'm wasting the day in the patio with a view to bouganvilleas, pools and gardeners fussing around. It's overcast, but that's ok. It's nice here. I'm just about to go home soon. For the moment it doesn't even bother me that I've missed most of NZ South Island. I'd honestly rather just visit my father in Norway.

Savusavu & Labasa

We've gone on a roadtrip to Labasa. It's only 85 km, but almost three hours by bus over the misty hills of Vanua Levu. Labasa is very much Indofijian, in fact I'm shopping a sari here. I'm not quite sure where or when to wear a sari back home in Denmark, but it's very pretty.
Other than that we've visited the local temple and faffed about in town (there's no beach) and had a beer and sorted photos. There's not so much to do here really, and we're both starting to feel that we've seen what there is to see in Fiji,at least for the time being with our monetary resources.

Don't get me wrong, it is really really nice here, but after a while you realize that the guidebooks are using up every possible ressource to come up with things to do. And much of those things are rather much the same in most islands and places. Closing in on three months of hanging out by the beach or being in rather smallish towns that close down at 7.30 sharp, whereafter you have to entertain yourself is enough for me. I miss my bike and more space and changing weather and, well, ordinary stuff like my kitchen and having things to do in the day and less ordinary stuff like my friends and family and husband.

Tomorrow we're going out to a hindu temple with a growing rock that's shaped like a cobra where they do tricks with milk and popcorn we've been told. And then I guess I'm picking up my sari and we return to Savusavu to have dinner at Joseph's and listen to live music and sunday we go sailing an monday we're heading back to Viti Levu. And all that is not so bad.

Golden string of perfect days

It's been an absolutely fabulous roadtrip aound the Golden Bay on the north west corner of South Island. We've kayaked and hiked in Abel Tasman, hitch hiked with great people, met new friends, played with baby seals, listened to world class violin concerts while drinking manuka beer at The Mussel Inn, made and eaten faboulous dinners,  rock climbed, celebrated St Pattys day around the fireplace and generally just had a magnificent time with fantastic people.
I'll post some pictures and elaborate further - in short, all is well, I'm alive and very happy.

Port Nelson

Nelson is a pretty sweet little place, with happy hippie kiwis, loads of backpackers, a nice atmosphere, a bustling and still industrial harbour, cute cafes, parks to hang in, walks to do, museums to visit. Quite the change from Havelock's population of 400 people.

We've been doing the tourist thing, the art museum is more recommendable than the local history, the japanese park isnice, so is the look-out point, and otherwise we recommend just strolling around. Accent on the park was the first place to be friendly and have beds, and we're quite happy.

And concerning that port that I mentioned, I've been looking for a ship to crew to go to Fiji in May. Trying out findacrew turned up a lot of lonely 40 and 50+ skippers looking for a queeze in the cabin of their nutshell boat, while I'm rather looking for a decent stable ship and an experienced captain who want sto swap sailing experience for good cooking and no further benefits.

Instead of looking for the needle in the virtual haystack I got lucky in real life and found the boat Alvei docked in the business side of the harbour. She's a schooner type, and her captains sails her as a non profit cooperative sailing school more or less. They're bound for Fiji beginning of April and need some more to crew the boat. I think I'm going to jump at that chance, and have already found a place to store my bike - the nice guys at Stewarts bike shops are saving the day once again. That means of course that the biking is postponed a bit, and I'll return to NZ sometime after Fiji in June or July. It'll be quite interesting to see what the weather is like then and if biking is even a remotely comfy option of transport.

Me and Madeleine will though first go for a little roadtrip, packing only the very basic - I feel rather intimidated by leaving both tent and sleeping bag behind, but there are hostels where we are gong and the plan is to hitch ride, which is a lot easier when you carry less. We've got a couple of days in Abel Tasman to kayak and tramp on daytours, then heading up to Collingwood and the Farewell sandspit, seeing where luck takes us , then head back to Nelson early next week. I'll board ship then and practice knots, setting sails, navigation and such on and Madeleine is going further down south to explore New Zealand.

On the road

Jeg har ikke lavet noget særligt andet end at dalre rundt og vente på cykel og lege strandferie, og i går var den færdig. Rent teknisk er det en lyseblå Bauer, med en falsk bobtrailer til alt mit udstyr, cykeltaske til de dagligste nødvendigheder og en lille cykelstyrstaske foran og ellers udstyret med alt hvad hjertet kan begære på en cykel, inkluderet hjelm & matchende neonvest med refleksstriber, lygter (både baglygte på traileren og selve cyklen) og et lille reparationskit, så jeg er sikker at sende ud på vejene.

Freddy, som jeg har besøgt mange gange i hans butik, var også helt glad og rørt over at jeg nu rent fktisk skulle afsted. Det er i hvert fald sjældent at cykelsmeden hjemme på Nørrebro gav krammere. Han er i øvrigt en af ret få der laver bambuscykler,og hvis I synes det er spændende kan I se mere på Bikeys.

Og nu skal jeg pakke og spise og ud på vejen. Vi tales ved om en fire dages tid i Napier.

I'm off, the bike is here, and it's beautiful. Freddy put all parts together and was pretty much just as excited as me about my tour. He makes bamboo bikes too, and if you need anything bike relatede around Gisborne he's definately recommendable. Check his shop and bikes at Bikeys.
All left do is packing up the last bits and have some late breakfast, so that's what I'll do. See you guys in Napier in about four days!

Ruten

Jeg var på besøg hos Beverly i går aftes; hun bor i Gisborne med sine teenagebørn og er en væver dame i halvtredserne og en ivrig langdistancecyklist. Jeg fik te og kage og en masse gode råd.
Vi spredte kort og bøger ud over hele bordet og planlagde en grov rute over det allermeste af New Zealand. Først fra Gisborne ned til Wellington langs østkysten, nusse lidt rundt vest for Picton i Nelson og Marlborough, til Abel Tasman nationalpark, ned langs vestkysten med diverse stop her og der for vandreture, ind ved Haast til søerne og Queenstown, ned til Invercargill og Bluff of over til Stewart Island og vandre. Så op langs østkysten og ind og se noget af midten af sydøenomkring Otago, op til Christchurch, gennem Arthur's pass og tilbage til Picton og nordøen. Der cykler jeg gennem de centrale dele med Tongariro, Lake Taupo og Rarotonga for at se på bjerge og vulkansk aktivitet, så op til Coromandel Peninsula og en færge til Auckland. Da skulle det gerne være slutningen af Maj, og så hopper jeg på en flyver til Fiji for at se den allerdejligste Jes der.

I've been planing the route with Beverly's help, she is a very nice lady, that I'm strongly tempted to call a pretty cool chick, which I think she´ll be allrigth with. She lives in Gisborne with her teenage kids, and does lots of long distance biking, so I got heaps of good advice and we came up witha tour wich covers pretty much all the parts of NZ, that I haven't seen yet. I'll start with going down to Wellington along the East Coast, then frolick about in Nelson, Marlborough and Abel Tasman National park, go down south along the West Coast and mountains with strategic stops for hiking, relaxing, kayaking and whatever I feell like doing. On Haast I'll be going inland to the lakes and Queenstown, form there all the way to Bluff, pop over to Stewart Island for a hike, do some of Otago, up to Christchurch, over Arthurs pass and up to Picton and back to the North Island. Then I'll go along the central parts, Tongariro, Lake Taupo and Raroronga, up to Coromandel and from there a boat to Auckland. The it should be late May/early June, and I'll hop on a fligth to Fiji to meet my beloved Jes.


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Glædelig jul

Glædelig jul

Julen forekom mig egentlig mest at være upraktisk, alting lukker og alle sidder derhjemme med familien; temmelig kedeligt når man er rejsende. Det er også særdeles ujulet at være iført sommerkjole. Hostelet jeg bor på er temmelig højtbelagt med argentinere, der snakker spansk med hinanden og meget unge tyskere. Det forekom umiddelbart ikke så lovende, men da argentinerne fandt ud af at jeg snakker spansk, blev jeg ret hurtigt indlemmet i gruppen og inviteret med til julefest.

Jeg fejrede dog alligevel jul på stranden, for her var en tysk kvinde på min alder, der heller ikke var så begejstret for alt for meet ungdommelig festlighed (altså når det blvier så festligt at man ikke kan holde festen inden for egne præmisser på flere måder). Vi gik ned på stranden for at se på solnedgang og delte en flaske hvidvin og var hjemme igen ved ti-tiden.

Da var der fuld igang i argentinerne,og siden man kunne vælge imellem at være den sure dame, der lå i telte og var irriteret over at de andre var festlige og larmende, elller være med til festen, bestemte jeg mig for at fest var det bedste valg. Der var en lind strøm af mere eller mindre særprægede drinks, salsa og cumbria én masse og da klokken var fem opdagede jeg at jeg var ret fuld og ret træt og at solen var ved at stå op, så det var på tide at gå i seng. Juledag tog vi på stranden og havde tømmermænd.

Dameturtips I

Da jeg i tidernes morgen i begyndelsen af halvfemserne var blevet stor nok til at være iført rigtigt vandretøj og egen rygsæk, fandtes der stort set intet tøj eller udstyr beregnet særligt til kvinder og endnu mindre til piger. I det hele taget var udstyrsræset lidt mere afslappet i forhold til nutiden, hvor det forekommer visse uansvarligt at tage på tur uden gps. Personligt hælder jeg mere til at det er uansvarligt at tage afsted, hvis ikke man kan læse kort og kompas, men det er nu et sidespor. Det drejer sig om tøj i dag.

Nu kan man sagtens købe lækkert, smart damegrej der fungerer som det skal, passer og heller ikke ser helt åndssvagt ud - nogen turtøj vil altid være sådan lidt uformeligt i det, men nu tager man jo heller ikke regntøj på for at være sexet, vel?

Dog er det et minus - det meste outdoortøj er sindssygt hamrende dyrt. En lillebitte ulden trusse koster ofte mellem 180 og 250 kroner, og det bliver ikke billigere jo større tøjstykkerne er.
Det gælder om at fange det på tilbud, og have en røv i en usædvanlig størrelse, så der er noget tilbage der passer, hvis man vil have mærekvaresager.
Et af mine  tricks er at købe uldent mormorundertøj, der ofte findes i herlige butikker med blandede varer såsom føtex, bilka og tøj&sko. Det er meget billigere, bliver slidt en anelse hurtigere, kommer ofte med en chic blondekant og i flere længder og virker udmærket. Til gengæld fås det kun i sort og hvid, og den sorte er for det meste udsolgt og hvid er en meget upraktisk farve at have med på vandretur.
Fordelen med uld er dog at det er nemt at farve, så da jeg forleden fandt en håndfuld af icebreakers underbukser på udsalg i hvid, smuttede jeg forbi matas og købte noget tøjfarve i tropical green. Man kan også få tøjfarve i hobbybutikker. Kunststoffer tager sjældent særligt godt i mod farve, men kan ofte få en tone, der er mere appellerende end gamle svedpletter.

Det vigtigste angående tøjfarve, er at tjekke, hvorvidt det farver ved en temperatur, som ens uldne tøj kan tåle. Hvis det skal koges, kan tøjet kun bruges til dukker bagefter. Det gør sjældent den store forskel hvorvidt man farver i en balje eller i maskine, når det kommer til farvetone, dog har tøjet oftest bedst af baljen fremfor maskinen. Husk at vask det separat et par gange og skyl grundigt før tøjet bruges første gang. Ellers får man selv en sjov farve.

"Hvidt" tøj før farvning. Skøn blanding af ny & gammel uld i forskellige stadier af fesengulnet, og et par gamle shirts i polyester i en lækker grågul nuance efter flere års brug.

Farvebad, 40 grader varmt vand, 500 g salt (uden jod!), en pakke farve, to timers trækketid. Brug ikke din yndlingsgrydeske til at røre rundt i farvebadet, og lad være med at spild på træbordet. Farven er i virkeligheden beregnet til maskine.

Efter farvebad, vask og tørring. Uldtøjet er nydeligt mosgrønt og polyesteren er blevet tandpastafarvet.