I’m back from Wellington without incident. Those nice Vietnamese have stamped my passport and delivered it back. There it was sitting on the dining room table. So assuming I get my NZ passport back from the Khazaks in the next couple of weeks I’ll then have a week or so before I go in which the Chinese fellas in Auckland hopefully will rubber stamp me through the Peoples Republic.
I’m hoping the Khazaks won’t be doing what I intend to be doing the next 2-3weeks, and that’s to spend a bit of time in the liquor cabinet. I am finding that there are real benefits in not being a regular soak. When you do need a bit to ease the nerves and make the world go away you don’t need to drink that much. What would have the average NZ teenager just warming up for a night on the town has me praising the virtues of truckers and feeling sorry for them for having to pay so much in road user charges. Two stiff rum and cokes might even have me thinking that the anti-smacking laws were a good thing!
While I was away our poor little Bob got his back foot caught in a wire running along the neighbouring orchards Kiwi fruit vines. Luckily Adi heard him screaming and managed to cut him loose and get him to the vet. Poor little bugger had to go to the vet on the back of the BOB trailer. (Aptly named). Adi thought he’d be more scared on the back of the Vespa. He now has one back leg swollen to the size of a dogs paw and is feeling a bit sorry for himself. What he needs is some time also in the liquor cabinet.
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| Little Big Foot |
The around the world cycle web site http://worldcycleracing.com/ has added me to their list of participants which is nice. So anyone following me around the world will also be able to follow others challenging themselves. Some of the participants will primarily be going for time records and will be travelling as light as possible, over the fastest routes, while others will be more fully equipped doing more circuitous routes. But in the end we’ll all be heading around the world for an adventure on the bike that we‘ll never forget. I’m not sure at this stage whether if I give them my coordinates they will add me to their little icons. But I will post blogs regularly showing my followers where I am the old fashioned way, by way of map and a little bicycle man.
I received a copy of the CTC magazine today in the mail. This was welcome too as I wasn’t sure if I was still a member. I tried to renew my subscription and then the computer seized as I was paying. So for a few months was in the dark as to whether they’d got it.The CTC is one bike club that I will fork out money for. They really do champion cyclist’s rights. And if cyclist’s rights can be preserved in Europe my rights down here in cycle unfriendly NZ, where the car rules cannot be totally ignored.
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| Is this like South America? Looks Somewhat Familiar. |
I should be working on the house today as I’ve still got a list of urgent work that needs to be completed before I go. But it’s a bit drizzly so have been checking out on- line weather sites to see what I’m up for in South America when I turn up. Short of getting pissed I feel the best way to ease the nerves about heading somewhere new is to find out a bit more about it. Now I have found a useful site I will check the weather regularly. So far I have determined not only that it is going to be pretty warm but also that there will be sufficient oxygen for me to survive (although this could be marginal as I cycle over the Andes). The inhabitants are of a carbon base and don’t appear to kill foreigners on sight. I’m hoping that they may even be friendly although they won’t probably speak my language. I have scoured photos for familiar sights such as town squares, park benches, Coca Cola signs, smiling people eating ice creams, and signs of road carnage. I am reassured concerning road carnage that if I can survive cycling in NZ for extended periods, then I should be ok everywhere else. Not totally sure what side of the road they drive on yet though. Maybe it’s like here where we just drive on the left unless going around a corner where we drive which- ever side gives us the shortest distance. Whatever rules they have I’ll just do what we do here. Make it up as I go along and be sure to get impatient with anyone that gets in my way.
After all there’s a world record to be broken!
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