Around Christchurch on 2 wheels! (NZ Day 2)

14/9/2011

Second day in New Zealand!

Today's morning was great. Woke up to a clear blue sky, frosty and cold at about 1 degree. I didn't went around the hostel yesterday to have a look at the building to see what it had, so I decided I should go and have a short mini tour around it whilst waiting for my brother to get ready. My 'mini tour' ended in the kitchen where we had our breakfast. Breakfast was a few slices of toasted bread with jam.

My brother in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

In the lounge having our toast with a cup of nice hot tea.

After breakfast, off we went to start our second day in New Zealand exploring Christchurch. We left our accommodation and went to the roadside to hail a cab. We waited in vain for awhile and I spotted one parked some 100 metres away from where we were and we quickly walked toward it, and managed to get it. We took the cab to a bike rental shop to collect our bikes.

When we were there, the place looked weird, not like where a shop was supposed to be. It seemed like an abandoned place where the buildings were unoccupied for ages, scrapped cars and overgrown flora.

Everything's all torn and pulled apart in the car, even the sponge from the seats.

However, I thought that it should be correct because it was stated in the invoice. So I decided to give the phone number stated on the invoice a call.

Craig, the guy from the bicycle rental company picked up the call and after a short conversation, we found out that he was actually waiting outside our accommodation waiting for us to pick our bikes up.

Actually I did drop him a message during the booking process asking whether the bikes would be dropped at our accommodation or do we have to go down to the shop to pick the bikes up. However, we found out later that Craig's mum had an operation on her cataract that caused him to be away from home for two days and didn't have the chance to check his email. Upon returning home after that, he saw my message but couldn't find my email so he wasn't able to confirm it with me and he decided on going to our accommodation, to deliver the bikes to us. And we thought that he didn't see the message and thought we'd play safe by going to the shop.

Ah, just a little miscommunication error. I guess the shop has been relocation to a temporary location due to the earthquake making the previous one unaccessible.

We just waited around for a bit until he came in his blue van, loaded with bikes in it, which didn't take a long time.

The van that he drove to deliver the bikes to us.

Craig is a nice guy. (Actually most Kiwis are pretty friendly and nice people!) He gave us a map of Christchurch and asked us what kind of cycling we were looking for, and recommended some places that matched our preferences. So, we told him that we wanted some off-road mountain biking tracks, and he gave us a location that has one of the best views from the summit.

So after a little chatting, off we went to explore the city. We cycled along the roads and stopping once in a while to check the map and for some photo stops for some awesome views. From the city, along the coast,
all the way to the foot of the port hills mountain range provided many great views.

My brother consulting the map for guidance to the right road we should take.

Those hills at the background were part of the port hills ranges where we were headed to.

Looking towards Southshore with the snow capped mountains of the NZ Southern Alps.

Checking the map again in case we were on the wrong direction.

These containers lined up along the road are to prevent the rockfalls from spilling onto the road.

A family strolling along the beach with their dogs.

Saw a car with a cool license plate describing the car. BLK meaning black and RX8, the car model.

After cycling along on a flat roads, we were at Scarborough Park which was the foot of the hill and afterwards the climb was really long and steep.

A few turns and rests to recover from the seemingly endless climb, we reached the top with views of the suburbs of Christchurch and the city centre which was really far away.

The coastline with the city centre really tiny in this picture. Look at the black strip nearest to the horizon, that's the city centre where we came from.

Sumner within the port hills.

Once we reached the top most point, we had to cross over the hill to reach the beach below. We had a nice roll downhill, accompanied by the screeching sounds from our brakes, and we reached Taylors Mistake.

The wooden signboard welcoming us to the remote Taylors Mistake.

The bay area which looks out all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Once at the bottom of the hills, which was the start of the mountain biking track, we stopped and had a short lunch. Little did we realize that we were not allowed to ride on the track as it was closed due to the earthquake which resulted in some loose and falling rocks and deemed unsafe. What a waste!

At first we didn't know that it was closed. We were looking at the map near the start of the cycling track and a cleaner from a nearby toilet came to us and told us that the whole place was closed. Since we could not do any off-road riding we decided to look around the city on our two-wheeler.

Using the map given to us earlier, we planned to explore elsewhere, and we went back the way we came from, but headed towards Cashmere and up Dyers Pass road to somewhere we thought had an interesting name (from the map we were given).

The bench where we rested for our lunch.

This was supposed to be the start of the mountain biking track which will lead up the hill on the right.

The view of Christchurch again while we were on the way back down.

We were up there on the top of the hills earlier.

The road sign showing the direction to Cashmere.

We headed uphill again once we were at Cashmere, this time it was much longer than the previous one. At some point we had to get off our bikes and push it up while catching our breaths.

So we were headed to this place that we saw had an interesting name called - Signs of the Takahe. The map didn't indicate what that was and we just thought we should just have a look at what it really was.

My brother pushing the bicycle uphill.

Another cyclist behind us struggling to cycle up. See some tall buildings far away in the background? That was around where we got out bikes and started cycling. We've come a long way!

After battling a grueling climb up, we reached the place we planned to go. It surprised me when we came to a stop at a building, with a sign pointing towards it saying 'Signs of the Takahe', all fenced up. I wasn't surprised about it being fenced up, but more so that it was a building. I had an impression from the name that it would be something like, maybe a park, or some sort of children place.

Our bikes resting on the floor in front of the building.

After some photos, we went leisurely downhill and made a stop at a cafe for some drinks and snacks. While cycling up earlier, I had a glance on their chalk drawn signboard which says 'Coffee with a view', and I told my brother we should go take a look at what they meant on the view.

And indeed it really had an unobstructed view of Christchurch and the Canterbury region.

But it wasn't Coffee with a view for me. I didn't order any coffee, but rather Brownie and apple juice with a view.

It was already 4pm and the staff went to change the sign on the main door from Open to Closed. We quickly finished our last bite then left the shop, 10 minutes after closing time.

Since we had such a tiring long uphill, now it will be a nice downhill back to flat ground. Those tall buildings were what I was talking about in the image a little while back.

Once we were back onto flat ground, we cycled through the long straight Colombo Street which was suppose to go straight all the way cutting through the beautiful city centre. The city centre is one of the most active area in Christchurch with lots of tourist attraction, shops, restaurants, cafes and of course it's Cathedral. Thankfully, I managed to see all of that last year before the earthquake decided to put an end to all of those. The area is now off limits to public.

On the road back to our accommodation.

Looking back at the Port Hills, where we came down from.

When we reached the cordon, we had to make a detour and cycle around it, and managed to come to a point where the cordon was closest to the city center where many people was there. We could see the destroyed Christchurch Cathedral and many other buildings in ruins.

On the tramway track that leads into the city centre. I was walking here last year with my friends and it was bustling with people, now it's just a quiet place void of people except for one or two workers.

At the cordon where the Christchurch Cathedral could be seen.

A message to Christchurch.

The avon river.

Looks like really badly destroyed building that looks like a church.

Raising my arms high up, barely reaching above the fence to take a picture.

After touring the earthquake distraught city centre, we went back to our accommodation and waited for Craig to pick up our bikes. On the way back we passed by a fruit store and bought some fruits to eat after dinner.

Some promotional boards from the fruit store.

My brother choosing the best apples from the basket.

A cyclist going across a road junction with the awesome sunset!

My brother's and my shadow as we were cycling along Bealey Avenue, almost reaching our accommodation.

When we got back, we waited a while for Craig to arrive, then we returned him the bicycles and went to look for dinner. About 5 blocks down the road from our hostel, we came across a thai food mobile store and bought our dinner from there. It was authentic thai food!

Quite a number of people waiting for their orders.

We got our orders after about 15 minutes later, and went back to our room to have our dinner. Tiring legs from the entire day of cycling!