Sunday, January 7, 2018

My girlfriend of 43 years.
New Zealand 9
 

New Years Eve I walked a business like 35 kilometres along New Zealand's route one highway. People were still on the move for the holiday season, for me it was a bit strange to see so much camper van activity as back in Ireland festive season traffic is usually light between Christmas and the New Year. Not to mention that the weather that day was a pleasant 25C. Arriving in Cheviot I stopped at the M&M takeaway just before they closed their doors to 2017. I was their last customer of the year and perhaps their strangest! So I ate my blue cod and chips dinner sitting on a park bench. I could have done with a fun night and some live music but not much was happening in Cheviot that night. On I rambled to the Cheviot Trust Hotel, a sports bar where about ten locals were gathered and I had a nice evening socialising, having a couple of drinks and engaging in all the usual small chit chat. A few people drifted home just before midnight, so all that was left was me and a few staff members shooting pool. It was just like any ordinary bar night, and had I went into toilet and missed the short round of 'Happy New Year' shouts and then came out a few minutes later it wouldn't have seemed like a new year, for such things are pretty subdued here.
Still I enjoyed my evening and my stay in the pretty town of Cheviot and was delighted when Trina the hotel manager gave me a hotel bed for the night 😃
  Thankfully, the supermarket was open in the morning and I was able to stock up with snacks for the road. I paused outside The Tea Shop cafe to ask a waitress who was busy pulling down a parasol if she could fill up my thermos mug which contained a packet of noodles with boiling water. A few minutes later I was inside drinking a complimentary cappuccino. That day I walked 32 kilometres and spent my New Years night under canvas at a roadside rest area. There was an SUV parked beside me, I was a little apprehensive about stopping there first but in the end i just pitched my tent. In the morning I was greeted with a cheery smile from Karel and Monika, his wife. They were a young couple from the Chech Rep and were touring New Zealand in a hired vehicle. They though I was a park ranger for freedom camping, as its called here is only allowed in designated areas and even then only with a certified camper van which has a toilet. Yes, this is the only drawback in New Zealand is that its not as camper friendly as Australia and doesn't have as good roadside facilities with toilets and even hot plate barbeque facilities as so many places have in Oz. 
Karel and Monika's vehicle was equipped with a cooker so I was delighted when they boiled up water for my coffee, instant oatmeal and noodles for the road. It was time to move on for the sand flies were biting hard. 
Further on up the road I got talking to a strange Irish motorcyclist whose name and place of birth I will withhold for he is only the third man in almost six years of my travels (between my global run and walk) who refused a photo. Before I asked for the photo we had an interesting chat as he has lived here for about twenty years. We spoke about the Kaikoura November 2016 earthquake which hit the region and registered a 7.8 magnitude. 

 The other two male photo refusals were in a certain country while I was allowed to sleep in a police station. After I returned from a shower I noticed that a substantial amount of dollars were missing from my bag when i returned. As I had no proof and I would probably not recover the money I didn't say anything. However, there was one officer I suspected and my suspicions were confirmed when he was the only officer in the police station who refused to have his photo taken.
The second incident was while running in the Bolivian altiplano area and I stopped for water at a small farm. I stopped to chat for a while to the man there and along I felt he was a pretty shady character. In my experience its rare for a man to refuse a photo, countless women do!
I walked on towards Goose Bay where much to my horror I was told that due to unstable cliff movements in the aftermath of the quake that an eight kilometre section as far as Peketa was closed to pedestrians. I ignored the request from a road traffic control vehicle to get into her car for even though New Zealand is "extra walking" onto this continent which was technically completed when I got to Bondi beach in Sydney, I still want it to be an unbroken path. After she drove on I ran through Raramai tunnel and then down to the ocean and was rewarded by an amazing close up encounter with about ten seals and their pups (please see my recent video) Fearlessly I shot a video and later I was surprised to learn that seals often attack with a ferocious bite if one gets too close. Especially, had I gotten between them and the ocean and obviously anywhere near their pups.
I walked on and along some large rocks and boulders for a while until I came into an exposed section of the road and was spotted by the road traffic controller. As the road closes at 8.30pm and it gets dark around ten I had considered hiding and waiting the three hours until dark. In the end I wouldn't have made it as the rocky beach ran out as the ocean smacked against a cliff wall. Nor would I have gotten far as there was a single lane road. In the daytime I was told that this was a stop and go one way area; not because of lack of road but because the road was so unstable that it couldn't support two way traffic. I also noticed frequent cameras and was later told that the cameras were monitored looking for offenders and they were so powerful that they could see the blackheads on ones face. When I was told that had I not gotten off the road that the police would be called I had no option to get into the road traffic controllers vehicle and be escorted to the end of their zone in Peketa. * NB: Later I was informed by the WRA World Runners Association that this infraction is deemed as 'no mans land.' Please see more detailed information at the foot if this post.

  From there I walked on and past Kaikoura regional airport and stopped for the day at a rest area about an hours walk before the city. I chose the best piece of grass to pitch my tent on which was beside a plush motor home owned by a friendly retired couple from a nearby city called Blenheim. I introduced myself by just asking Richard and Claudie for some boiling water for my noodles and soon I was invited inside to enjoy my snack which was supplemented with tea, Christmas cake and fruit. Richard like to tease people by introducing his wife as his girlfriend of 43 years! Apparently, people usually pick him up on it and ask him why he never married her! Of course he did he just loved teasing the boss! He had worked as a mechanic for the New Zealand defence forces in Singapore and spoke more about the huge humanitarian aid which New Zealand received from the Australian and American navies. It was challenging as the port had raised up fourteen metres so it was a bit challenging for ships to navigate. Much of the aid drooping was done by the Americas who flew it from ships to Kaikoura. (Perhaps Richard can kindly elaborate more in a comment to this post as to which type of aircraft and vessel and any other pertinent information please?)
 Then in the morning my new friends invited me back inside their motorhome for breakfast and another great chat and an invite to stay with them when I get to Blenheim.

NB: Later I was informed by the WRA World Runners Association that this infraction is deemed as 'no mans land.'
The WRA monitors ongoing attempts and provides the most credible rules for adventurers who want to circumnavigate the globe honestly and on foot. In addition they will have a huge experience pool and advice is only an email away. They are more credible and demanding than any other set of rules as the WRA rules were set by and agreed by circumnavagitars with experience and not by an entertainment records manual. Those attempting an around the world foot adventure are advised to contact the WRA.
  No mans land means an area which is barred for the foot traveller and cannot be traversed legally. Such gaps may also occur between sensitive border crossings between countries with historic conflicting issues. For more info on the WRA and the rules please see 
https://worldrunnersassociation.org/constitution/

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