Pete's Possum Pies

Last time I wrote an entry into this blog, I was talking about a sore blister on my bum and being in Westport for a few days. Well, loads has happened since then! I've got more than a few photos to show, and plenty of stories, but I'm not sure I have time to type out all the stories. Brian and I are in Franz Josef right now and we're thinking a coffee is in order before we head out to cycle over 600 metres of mountain to get to Fox Glacier. Coffee.. mmmm.... So, here are a select not-so-few photos from the past few days... Enjoy the eye candy. A big storm that surprisingly missed us as we departed Westport: Our first view of the west coast on our cycle tour: Brian and I camped at a shady hostel near Pancake Rocks. The vibe was very strange, but the views from our tent were stellar: Breakfast oatmeal usually has walnuts in it, but on this morning, there were a few left over wasabi peas in the walnut ziplock bag... Whoops. I ended up with both peas in my breaky. Not such a great addition to breakfast.Pancake Rocks that morning were awesome. I saw different things here than when I was here in January with Beth. Sweet morning sky to begin with: My brother, Greg, sent me a photo a while back with him up-side-down on a cool looking rock formation at the Pancake Rocks. I figured I would attempt to do the same, but instead I did a headstand and am looking less than comfortable. Smile still visible. It was a cool, but beautiful morning during the Pancake walk: The big blades of "grass" are turning colour. Does that mean fall is indeed coming? Lunch in Barrytown. I was hoping to leave Barry the Blister in Barrytown, but no such luck. I was for sure not going to pick up any of Barry's freeloading friends. (A.k.a. my butt is feeling better, but the blister hasn't quite yet completely healed). These views along the ocean made for easy riding. The hills seemed like nothing when gawking at the waves: Later in the afternoon, just north of Greymouth, we stopped for some whoppingly huge ice cream cones at this little corner store. Allowing the dairy treat to digest in our tummies, we had a quick game of hacky sac to keep us warm. Dairy treat not quite digested. Upon arrival in Greymouth, we quickly decided not to stay there overnight. Crappy little town. Big grocery store: We decided to continue another twenty kilometres down the road to a camping place, but first came across the bestest cyclist sign ever: One random green bug on our tent the next morning: Our ride this day took us from KJ's camping spot, which used to be an old school building, to Hokitika, a green jade crazed town. We stopped for a coffee at a funky little cafe/movie theatre. This is what the bathroom looked like: After a plate of yummy chocolate cheesecake and two superb coffees, I felt the need to write something in the guest book: "The bathroom in this place is even better than the cheesecake. We also enjoyed a slight seat-grooving to the stellar music whilst eating said cheesecake. Two nut-bar Canadians cycling NZ, Dee & Brian" A quick game of hacki-sac to warm us up before departure from Hokitika: Rain clouds immerging. Rain drops starting. Go-go-gadget rain gear! The rain stopped after three minutes, and in the end, after half an hour of looking at grey clouds and sweating to bits, we took off the rain gear and said, "Forget it, I'm getting more wet sweating in this stuff. It's coming off!" In Ross, we spotted an elderly man taking his billy goat for a stroll: The public toilets had counters on the doors. I was the 29,270th person to take a pee since the counter was set to zero. The corner store in Ross had loads of fun stuff to play with while looking for the perfect/quick dinner. You're looking hot, Brian, real hot: Dinner ended up being Mr. Noodles with extra garlic, bread with vegemite and cheese, and some raw carrots to dance it all up a bit. It was delicious! Our evening was spent at this small pub in Pukekura, also called Puke in short form. The place was fan-freaking-tastic. If I ever throw a big party, it would be at this pub. I'll show more pictures below, but first, I found this awesome entry in the guestbook about these cyclist guys trying to hunt down this group of female mountain bikers, which they refer to them as "Da Muffski's". To those who know me too well, my nickname from mom when I was younger (and sometimes to this day) was something similar, all too similar. Yikes. The pub sold hot Pete's Possum Pies, and a wide variety of beer. The decorations were so great. The softest thing in the place were these fairy lights surrounding the huge tree trunk on the corner of the bar counter: The bar: Brian loving this place, especially the sawdust on the floor: I am sorry to report that I did not actually eat any kind of cooked or uncooked possum while I stayed at this place, but we did enjoy the signage: During the following day's ride, we were hungry a lot. Lunch was awesome, and the location was even better: At the end of a very long day (my butt can only do about six hours or so before breaking down and rejecting anything appearing like a bicycle seat), we stopped in Whataroa at the public toilet/playground and ate canned Irish Stew ($4.50 per can - AHH!), some rice and almost an entire package of coconut cookies. The temperature was goin' down, so we put on all of our clothes (my down jacket coming in very handy, I must say, and feels like a big hug when I wrap myself in it). See package of cookies below: Hot tea, no tea mugs. Small pot doubles as tea mug/handwarmer: The recycling program in Whataroa has an extra super power to assist in the task: Jack Trash! Not sure if you'll be able to see this next photo okay, but our tent is in the foreground with my little head lamp lighting the inside. I wanted some form of evidence of our free camping in the back field of the local elementary school.... Yes, we waited until dark before setting up camp. The next morning was amazing! We were actually up at 7:00AM, which is a stretch for us lazy bones. The shchool yard was stunning with the sunrise: Breakfast back at the public toilets/playground: One quick skinny dip to refresh along the way towards Franz Josef. Uncle Bert, we're doing you proud! The water was brisk, but we felt like new afterwards. We also managed to jump in and run out before any other tourists stopped at the side of the road: So that's it for today. A whole heck of a lot of photos! I'm going to go get that well-deserved coffee and start those really nice hills... Tomorrow will be good! It's going to be a 50-km day of downhill from Fox Glacier to a B&B in the middle of nowhere, and it's my birthday!