The Road trip: Day 3 Napier

Today we set off for Napier, New Zealand’s Art Deco capital! Napier is Hawke’s Bay’s largest city. Hawke’s Bay you say? It reminds me of something…. And so it should, it is one of the two major wine producing regions in New Zealand so you are more than likely to have seen wines like Trinity Hill gracing the selves of Odd Bins in the UK.

On our way to Napier we stopped at Whitebay, a lavender farm. Lavender is one of my favourite smells so this was paradise for me! The farm was not too big but had a small shop on the side where they made and sold a number of lavender based products. You could get anything from bath oils to lavender jams so after a lot of going back and forward in the end I decided to get some lavender sachets for my drawers back home. So strong was their smell that the whole car is now smelling of lavender!

Present day Napier is largely the result of a major earthquake that flattened the city in February 1931 (75 years ago on Friday). The city was completely rebuilt, adopting an Art Deco style. Walking around the main city centre you feel that you are transported to a different era. From shops to major banks so many beautiful buildings have been very carefully preserved making this a unique place to be.

Our first evening at Napier was a trip back to our teenage years! We had pizza and fizzy drinks by the sea front. But not just any pizza and any fizzy drink! We had "Hell’s Pizza" (apparently "the" pizza in New Zealand) and L&P, a Kiwi lemonade! Our evening of course could never be complete without some ice-cream so Blair managed to track down "Lick This!" the local ice cream shop right before they closed!

The Road trip: Day 2 Orakei Korako, Rotorua and Huka Falls

Today’s theme was nature and more specifically two of NZ’s most powerful features: volcanoes and geothermal energy.

We began with Orakei Korako ("the Place of Adoring"), a valley full of hot springs and geysers. Having left the car we took a little boat across lake Ohakuri and begun a two hour long trek past geysers (most of them were rather sleepy today), mud pools and amazingly colorful rock formations. Through a small patch of New Zealand bush we found our way to a deep cave where hot springs created a little lake. A thousand photographs later we were ready to take the little boat back and onwards to our next destination: Rotorua.

Rotorua is a town on the shores of Lake Rotorua (which like Lake Taupo owes its current shape to a volcanic eruption) full of hot springs. After some lunch by the lake we headed to the Rotorua Museum which is housed in the old Bath House, a grand mock Elizabethan building. The building opened in 1908 and was designed to attract the rich and famous to NZ. Our English (!) tour guide brought the building to life describing all the treatments offered in the spa that ranged from the sumptuous to the truly bizarre! The Bath House also housed an exhibition dedicated to the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886 as well as a collection of the Te Awara Maori treasures.

On our way out of the Bath House we bumped into one of Blair’s old acquaintances: the Blue Baths, a swimming pool opened in the 1930’s. Apparently when Blair was studying one of his projects was to draw perspectives of this building but he had no idea where it was! Imagine the surprise! Obviously we had to visit.

On our way back to Taupo we stopped at the Huka Falls, the biggest in NZ which provide enough power to cover 65% of the North Island’s needs!

Blair: I must admit that some of these attractions I have seen before but nevertheless I knew that Grigoria would enjoy them and you can’t visit this land without learning about the Maori culture and past, which starts in Rotorua.
Before we set off this morning I said to Grigoria "I have a little surprise for you, but wait until we get to Rotorua"…..yes the surprise was the smell of rotten eggs! (Obviously due to the sulphur of the geysers.) I think she’s hoping that the surprises will get better as the days go on.

The blue baths……It is strange, sometimes I find when I’ve see an image (or produced a drawing) of a particular building I get a feeling of how it would be, but there are times when it never quite feels the same. However when we entered this art deco pool it felt like I had actually been here before, I instantly knew the plan and could see how it would have been during that time. Unfortunately the closure of buildings like this, sometimes erase the rich past of the New Zealand people which I feel is a shame.

The Road trip: Day 1 Waitomo Caves and Taupo

Today we embarked on our two week long road trip around the North Island. Our first destination was the Waitomo Glowworm Caves, approximately 3 hours drive from Auckland. The day was very hot (I think both Blair and I got a bit sun burned without even leaving the car!) so we were glad to enter the cool caves! Initially the caves looked like any other, indeed I started to think that as nice as they were they couldn’t compare to the Lake Caves from where I came from in Greece.

However, after we had a look at the stalactites and the stalagmite formations we were taken to a lower level where the river runs through the caves and boarded a little boat. The boat sailed through some of the darker caves where glowworms were attached to the ceiling and emitted a faint blue light from the end of their strings (to attract their food!). This was an unbelievable sight that resembled the Milky Way. Absolutely amazing!

Our next port of call, where we will base ourselves for the next two days, was Taupo, the skydiving capital of New Zealand! Well, as I am not brave enough to skydive I had to content myself with the beautiful lake Taupo, the largest in NZ.

The lake was formed thousands of years ago after the eruption of a volcano. It has crystal clear waters and attracts a lot of tourism, either for the swimming or the trout fishing.

Blair: Today was my second visit to Waitomo Caves as I first discovered it on a family holiday when I was twelve, so I knew Grigoria would really love it and of course I enjoyed it again too.

Taupo on the other hand is a must see for any tourist to New Zealand and a perfect point to see how this land has changed over time due to the earth’s plate movement. Not only can you fish or swim but annually there is the "Great Lake Cycle Challenge" which covers 160km’s around the perimeter.

The Waterfront and Devonport

New Zealanders seem to hold three sports very close to their heart: rugby, cricket and sailing (my own favorite Kiwi seems to also like cycling but that’s a different story!) it was therefore very fitting that my first proper day in New Zealand seemed to involve all three of them!
Our day started with a walk at the waterfront and the Viaduct Harbour which was redeveloped for the 1999-2000 America’s Cup (for those of you, like me, who have no idea what this is: it is a yacht racing competition that NZ won for two consecutive times in the last decade). It is called the America’s Cup because the US had a monopoly to it for the first century of its existence. The latest holder is Switzerland, no mean feat given that Switzerland itself is land locked!
I am not a big ship/yacht person but some of the ships at the Harbour were truly beautiful and you could see how a whole nation could get so excited to watch them race!

Our next destination for the day was Devonport; a beautiful suburb at the north shore of Auckland. Although you could get there by car we took the ferry from the Waterfront and 15 minutes later we were there!

Devonport seems to be a cross between a fishing village and an affluent suburb. It was full of green spaces with children playing, quirky galleries and shops (including an amazing chocolate shop where I bought my first chocolate fish!), as well as cafes and deli bars. A few hours of exploring later and Blair and I were ready for some food. We found a large bakery that also did food and I ate, yet again, like there was no tomorrow! (I think I can easily get used to the Kiwi generous portions!)

On our way back to Blair’s flat we stopped at an All Blacks shop where you could buy any type of memorabilia you could ever wish for. I resisted the temptation this time around, but who knows maybe on my last weekend in Auckland I will prove my support for the Kiwi rugby team.

So, I’ve mentioned the sailing and the rugby how about the cricket you ask me? Well, behind Blair’s building there is a very nice ale pub with some tables outside. As we were passing by to enter the flats there was a group of people drinking ale at an outside table. Obviously they looked like any other group of friends to me but Blair informed me that I had just seen the NZ one day cricket team!
After that excitement I proceeded to sleep for a couple of hours (my jet lag seems to make me even more sleepy than usual). The day ended with some lovely dinner and watching Footrot Flats: A dog’s tale; a Kiwi children’s favorite!

NZ: A plane Odyssey

As much as I was looking forward to visiting Kiwiland, the one thing I really dreaded was the plane journey. So far the furthest I have flown was 5 hours, the journey to NZ was 26!

For months I have been asking around for advise and what everybody said is try to sleep. As I pride myself to be able to sleep anytime, anywhere (especially at important seminars and lectures) I took this as a challenge!

The journey had two legs: London to Singapore (12 hours) and Singapore to Auckland (10 hours), with a 2.5 hour stop-over in between. I was very fortunate to fly with Singapore Airlines, and apart from the limited leg room, they are truly excellent! The food is plenty and great (in the end I had to throw away most of the extra food I took with me, which was painful!) and they had so many movies to choose from it was unbelievable! In the end I watched Adam’s Rib (a wonderful Spencer Tracy – Kathryn Hepbourn movie that I always wanted to see) and Walking the Line (a Johnny Cash biopic which has been very rightly winning most of the awards in town). During the flight I was also planning to spend some time reading the NZ guidebook but true to form I managed to sleep for a good 10ish hours so by the time I got to Auckland, I was as little informed as I was when I when I left!

After going through the passport and biosecurity control I finally arrived in sunny (very sunny!) Auckland. Blair was there to meet me and after a brief search for the car we were on our way to his flat (also affectionately known as the shoebox). After a short power nap we embarked on my first sightseeing tour of the city. We went up Mount Eden and One Tree Hill to get some amazing views of the city. Auckland is built around old volcano craters (my aunt Tina would love it!) but in contrast with any volcano craters I have seen in Greece, these are all beautifully green and full of huge trees.

Although I was surprisingly awake when I first landed in Auckland, by 8 pm only the thought of food could keep me awake! After a great dinner cooked by Blair I was out in a second!

Grigoria's Tour to New Zealand

The day is almost here.....After almost four months and 12,000 miles flying, tomorrow Grigoria will arrive in New Zealand (Auckland).

Follow us on our fun 16 day road trip around the north Island which will take in the culture, beautiful natural landscapes and history of my home country, not to mention some time spent with my family.

So stay tuned for updates as we drive 1200km's from Auckland to Wellington (return) and discover the hidden treasures of Hobbits, Seals, Glowworms and the Kiwi bird!

Until then....

TDU - Day 5

For my last day in Adelaide we had big plans to see a national wildlife centre but the high temperatures again put a stop to this so we just stayed indoors and watched the tennis.

Strangly by mid afternoon a weather change had arrived with the temperatures dropping to a respectable level so we headed into the CBD to see the city sites before my flight. Unfortunatly the tour circuit race had finished so Leigh took us on a tourist route of city highlights taking in the famous cricket oval (Bradman Stand), tennis area and Torrens river.

Later we stopped into "The Wellington" Hotel for a final dinner together before heading to the airport for my 10.25pm flight back home. http://www.wellingtonhotel.com.au

It’s not very often that you see a professioal cyclist in the airport or on the street for that matter but today as I waited with Leigh & Kylie, Julian Dean (Team Credit Agricole) walked passed. As it turned out he was heading home on the same flight, which I thought was rather interesting.
If you make a comparison to the world’s most well known cyclist - Lance Armstrong who fly’s in his own jet, but some one less popular like Julin Dean has to make do with commercial flights.

Unfortunatly the reality of this flight was that I was heading back to work but a nice thought was that I had enjoyied a fabulous time with Leigh & Kylie.

Thanks very much guys, until next time.

TDU - Day 4

After such a tiring day yesterday today’s plan was to chill out and enjoy some wine tasting and that’s just what we did.
After our German breakfast in Hahndorf we headed to one of South Australia’s well known wine regions named McLaren Vale, not only is it the breeding ground for a number of tops wines but several of Kylie’s favourites too.

Wirra Wirra winery (formed in 1840) was the first stop on the trail and lived up to the history. After a few tastes of various wines it was time for a photo holding the massive 6 litre bottle before moving on to our second stop. http://www.wirrawirra.com/












Back on to the tour…..Today’s stage started and finished in Willunga and the route perfectly went along our wine trail, so when we spotted the “5km to finish” sign we just had to stop.

Not long later two breakway riders passed by, with as little as 5km to go these two had a minutes lead and would surely take the stage. Several small groups followed, one of which started emptying their bottle cages so I luckily scored myself a souveneur “Tour Down Under” team bottle!
The peleton soon passed by along with smaller groups who had fallen off the back and although it wasn't particularly long at 140km’s with only climb, a second day of 42˚ was breaking the field apart.

So again onto the wine trial…..with the next stop being Kylie’s favourite, Tapestry winery. As they’d advertised a tapa’s platter, we just had to stop to enjoy some food, wine and the perfect view over looking the winery’s below. http://www.tapestrywines.com.au

With two winery’s down it was time to head home but not before Kylie insisted we do a drive-by passed the hospital where she was born. With her early years spent around this area it was something special for her to share that with us.

Later in the evening we hosted a BBQ with Kylie's family, Leigh's sister & husband. This time spent with them all made me feel part of the family, espeacially when the power went out for three hours – a cause of too many air conditiong units going apparently!

TDU - Day 3 "Be Active Tour"

Yet again another early get-up, 5am to be exact and yes the temperature needle was sitting on 30˚ Celsius! So again it was going to be a hot day. Once I had some breakfast, Leigh & Kylie were up, then it was time to pack the car and head off to the start line in Strathalbyn.
Strathalbyn is located 60km south east of Adelaide city centre but only 40mins drive from Bridgewater which gave us enough time to get my bike all sorted before the start time of 7.30am.
This “be Active Tour” Stage was 154km from Strathalbyn heading south west along the coastline and over the Second Valley hills to the remote coastal town of Yankalilla. Although the course wasn’t mountainous it would still looked to be very challenging and I had a feeling that once the high cloud burnt off the heat would play a major factor.

When we arrived, found a park I headed for the registration area, what a queue I faced when I got there. The organisers hadn’t thought very hard about how to register 2625 riders all within 90mins and I was beginning to get rather concerned with the time.

Fortunately by the time I got back to the car Leigh had the bike out and the front wheel clipped on, he was starting to look like a team mechanic already! With 15mins to go I quickly got my shoes, helmet / glasses on and stuffed food into the back pockets before wheeling on to the start line.

As you could expect a small town like this
probably had a population the size of this field and naturally the start was very slow over the first 10 km's. On the route map it showed a steep hill within the First 5km’s but in reality it was only a long gradual gradient.
Once we got over the top the pace increased with small packs forming which allowed my legs to move out of the warm-up phase and into some work.
It wasn’t long until the fast descents and flat straights pushed the average speed up to 31km/hr.
As we approached the first water stop (30km mark) the cloud had lifted along with the heat, just over and hour on the bike and I was beginning to feel I would have to pace myself. Unfortunately upon leaving the water stop I didn’t tag up with a pack and found myself spinning along pretty much alone.

The next 30km section generally involved
descents and long straights, no climbing,
that was to come.
As I approached the second stop (60km, 94km to go) I was feeling the heat badly. Although I had been tipping water over my head for some time now but it wasn’t making much difference. So I wheeled on from this stop feeling a bit low and again I failed to tag on to a pack, solo riding isn’t good for the morale.

The next 25km section took us closer to the coastline, in/out of some small towns and then into the climbs. As I got closer to the first climb I felt rather nauseous so I took a quick breather.
It was only a 3km’s climb but went from sea
level to 150m altitude which meant a fairly steep section.
As I climbed it I felt ok and in fact when I
spotted Leigh & Kylie at the summit I was feeling strong but this feeling didn’t last long once I got to the top! (85km’s down and 69 to go) I felt really nauseous. Luckily I had my team which consisted of a Nurse & Radiography / Mechanic (Kylie & Leigh) to advise me of the consequences if I vomited otherwise I may have made a different decision.
Today I had to admit that I would be defeated by the 42˚ temperatures, So after 30 minutes of tipping water over my head it was time to load the bike into their car and appreacate the air conditioning.

We decided to drive to the next water stop (approximately 40km’s) and then I would assess how my head felt and whether to ride the final 20km’s into the finish. Well I think we all agreed how wise that idea was when we saw so many riders suffering over this section in the heat; it wasn’t a pleasant sight seeing them pulling over and vomiting or taking cover under trees.

The fourth and final water stop soon arrived;
I decided that my head and stomach had settled enough to spin out the final 20km’s, So again Leigh got the bike out and ready (a true mechanic already) and pushed me off on route to the finish. With only 20km’s to go I knew I could push myself a bit and ride in strong and so I should given that I just sat in the car for 40km!
The final section seemed far hillier than the briefing notes but it wasn’t long until I was down on the flat and hammering past the “5km to finish” sign, then 3km, 2km, 1km and finally the finishing straight was in front of me.

I had passed under the sign feeling a little happier than
1 ½ hours ago when I felt I wasn't going to ride much further. As it turned out I wasn’t the only one who suffered in the heat, in fact one rider required a drip to rehydrate him.

After a clean up and lunch we stood roadside and watch the pro’s blast it over the finish line in 3hrs 43mins, they’re truly amazing athletes to get around that course in under 4 hours.

Our day ended with dinner and a swim with Kylie’s family before dropping into bed for a well earned rest.

TDU - Day 2

The best part of holidaying is you get to decided when to get up and today was a well earned sleep-in but I did feel for Kylie & Leigh who had to head into work (real troopers) while I lazed around.

Back to the tour though……Today’s stage started from a little town called Stirling (Adelaide seems to have a lot of English named towns) so I peddled the short 5km uphill route to stand alongside the many locals and cycling fans. Not only was it a good chance to test the bike but also interesting to see how my body would cope in these hot South Australian conditions.

Once the parade vehicles, police escorts, team cars and riders went through, I decided to head down to Hahndorf for the real action.

Hahndorf is a small town which carry's a
strong Belgium influence and was somewhat
strange to stumble across in the Australian countryside but also rather nice.

Back to the tour......Today’s stage finished and passed through in Hahndorf with a 3 lap circuit down the main street over the 140km distance. However due to the intense 40 degree temperatures I decided to only watch one lap and then get back and out of the sun.

With my ride (Be Active Tour) coming up in less than 24 hours I need to get back as soon as possible to ensure I have plenty of fluids / carbs in my system. Although I was feeling the heat, the legs felt strong, who knows maybe tomorrow will bring something special.

TDU - Day 1

3am get-ups are always rather harsh but they tend to be a common occurance when it comes to bike trips away, although this time it was more the infrequient Auckland – Adelaide flights which dictated it.

After a some what bumpy 4 ½ flight it was great to be met by Leigh at the airport and although we inially only had a short time to catch up before he headed into work. It was still nice to be dropped off at their house in Bridgewater (North Eastern hills).

This gave me a good opportuntity to unpack the bike and check that it was all in order, not like Thor Hushovd's bike (Team Credit Agricole) only a few days earlier. Then I settled into feeling at home in their nice house “Also known as "Braewood Cottage”.

Later afternoon when Leigh returned we headed into the CBD so I could have a look around the “Tour Village” to see what was hot or not and after all it was a perfict opportunity to get to know “Oppy” (see image) the TDU kangaroo masgot.

This “Village” concept is very unusal for professional cycling tours, you wouldn’t ever see it in place at the Tour de France or Giro d'Italia as they’re more concerned with secrecy and mistrey in terms of who has the fastest bike or the lastest frame aerodynamics. This tour was more about allowing the public to come in & see the team machanics clean, tune and later store the bikes for the next days stage, right in front of their eyes. I think it gave Leigh (and the public) a real insight into what pro bike racing is all about.

So after a a considerably time of me foming at the mouth and boring Leigh senseless with the technical aspects of each teams bikes, Kylie arrived from work as she’d been based at a clinic not far away.

As Kylie was far less interested (I mean who wouldn’t blame her) we left the villiage and headed to the south beach for a sunset dinner. Some might go so far as calling it romantic but for three! I’m not so sure. Still it was a beautifully sunny and warm night so it was a good choice of Leigh & Kylie to take me there and close the first day with this great setting.

Tour Down Under!! - Bring it On........

After a couple of months training back in New Zealand I'm now ready
to try my hand at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia. http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/

Come Friday I like thousands of amateur cyclists will be riding Stage 3 of the Tour route from Strathalbyn to Yankalilla (154 km's) before the professionals start racing 3 hours later.

So if you have SKY then stay tuned as you never know, you may just see me hanging off the back of the peleton as they blast past, if not I'll be the one who is lying on the road dying of exhaustion.

In addition to the great riding it is a good opportunity to catch up with some good friends (ex London flatmates) Leigh & Kylie.

So stay tuned for Tour updates live from Adelaide.....