Christmas in New Zealand and meeting the tallest man

 Christmas in New Zealand and meeting the tallest man.

Here is a more detailed report on a couple of posts that I previously wrote about briefly. Some of these photos you may have seen before. Sorry for any typos, its almost 2am.

The eve of Christmas Eve I was only about two kilometers out of Rakaia when I came to New Zealand's longest bridge. The Rakaia bridge spans  1.75 kilometers across a river of the same name. It was the last shopping day before Christmas and less than 60 to the south islands principle city traffic was intense. Many of New Zealand's roads are pretty tight; probably less than a meter but believe me that makes a big difference. In addition, there are dozens of tight bridges. That's the reason I elected to walk the country with a backpack and left Karma, my cart back in Australia. Walking across the Rakaia was a nightmare. Crossing the bridge I whenever there was a gap in oncoming traffic I sprinted as fast as I could and as oncoming traffic approached I waved just to inform them of my presence. There was no footpath, just a narrow ledge which would have been too dangerous to walk on for a stumble could be fatal and I was not ready to be edited from the gene pool of humanity. As always, the real danger wasn't the approaching vehicle but all those following behind that leading vehicle as they had less advance notice of my presence. Much of my time was spent standing on the ledge, about dinner plate-width and squeezing myself against the hand rail which I gripped securely as cars and trucks whizzed by me with less than a metre clearance. I also had ensure that my pack didn't stick out towards passing traffic and ensured all straps were secured just in case a loose strap snagged onto a passing vehicle. 

Eventually, I got to the end of the bridge and was a bit peeved when I saw another one looming in the distance. 

I zoomed in on Maps.me on my smart phone and discovered that there were back roads which were actually two kilometers shorter distance to Christchurch, so it was a nobrainer to leave National Route 1 and walk on the little traveled roads on North Rakaia Road which soon led to a dusty gravel road called Rakaia - Selwyn Road. 

   A couple of hours later I had walked the 19,000 kilometre of my global march. A couple of weeks an Irish man called Paddy Mc Gowan had emailed to offer assistance. I texted him to say that I was getting close to Christchurch. By a stroke of luck he had to go to Ashburton with Astrid, his girlfriend to pick up a David Attenborough book for a Christmas present for her grandad. For my 19 thousand effort he rewarded me with a packet of Tayto crisps and we did a bit of a jig on the road. Also present was Kim, their friend, so I took my lunch and enjoyed a nice chat. We arranged to meet on the road on their way back from  Ashburton and they relieved me of my pack for the rest of the afternoon.

A little later I was walking alongside a long sheltering hedge. Some of these hedges are massive. Often four or five metres high and are used to block out heavy winds and also have a secondary benefit of providing shelter from the sun for cows and sheep. As I approached the entrance of a house which was fronted by one of these large hedges, a man called Tiny who was busy hosing some flowers stopped me for a chat. Soon I was invited inside for a cup of tea with him and Barbara his wife. Eying a delicious piece of Christmas cake Tiny said " You can have it but we are not liable for your teeth!" 

They spoke about a fire which was off to the left of where I was walking towards. Hopefully, I won't be sent back and will be able to walk around it

A little later Paddy, Astrid and Kim came back to meet me on the road. I marked my spot at a junction called Main Road, 22 kilometers were walked and they commute me to Christchurch, 35kms away. I will return to my route after Christmas as they offered to commute me to the city. Astrid is the manager of a plush five star chain hotel called The Heritage. Its an old government building which has been rebuilt into an award-winning five-star hotel. Next thing I know I'm feeling a bit like that hobo who gets looked after for Christmas in the Hollywood movie! She arranged a complimentary night in a swanky suite fit for a rock star.  

That night we were all invited over to Astrid's mothers house for a delicious curry dinner over which lots of wine were consumed.

Next day, Christmas Eve. 

I walked the four kilometers over to Valmai Horlor's house. She is a good friend of many years and I was invited to stay with her for Christmas. Valmai is a great humanitarian and in her lifetime has fostered about 45 children. Many photos of these children adorn the walls of her home alongside community service and volunteering award certificates of appreciation.  We had a delicious Christmas dinner which is always an open door to anyone in need and also to members of her church. Phil, her special friend cooked various meats on the hot barbeque grill and had about 20 guests over for the day. I enjoyed my three night stay and we had many great catch up chats. I also stayed with her when I was here in 2013 on my world run. 

December 27th, Phil drops me back to my pre Christmas location. I had also gotten an invitation to stay the night at the home of Lianna Fitzsimons in Prebbleton. She is the niece of one of my long time supporters Aodhagan Fitzsimons so we dropped my backpack at her house that morning. That day was  a nice handy 27 kilometers after my Christmas break and once again it was almost all on quiet backroads.

Arriving at Líanna and her partner Kahu's house in this small Canterbury village I laughed when I noticed an irish bar called Finnigans! 

Kahu was born in Australia but considers himself more of Kiwi as he moved here aged five and embraces his Maouri heritage. Lianna moved here with her mother from Co. Monaghan, Ireland when she was 16. A few years later her mother returned to Ireland but Lianna loved it here so much that she stayed on and now works as a primary school teacher. 

Suddenly she said to me that Ron Bax, New Zealand's tallest man lives next door. So I just had to pop over for a chat with the man who still dwarfs the worlds tallest man by 20 cms. 

He is a man with a great sense of humor and we had a great laugh. I wasn't sure if he liked me asking him if he played basket ball for his reply was. "So do you play mini golf?"

Not sure what he meant so when I asked him he said. "Because you are closer to the ground than me!"

 If you want to read a newspaper article about the big man please press: 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10598286

 It certainly was an interesting day as my hosts housemate is a man from Colorado, a place I lived in from 1994-2002 and loved it to bits!  Steve Karas, is an American rugby player with a big future who plays both hooker and prop positions. With the help of Kahu he found a job and NZ residency requirements so as he can improve his rugby skills by playing in a local rugby league.