Southern Scenic Route

Well, I left Dunedin going south on the Southern Scenic Route, and only made it about 15 kilometers before I stopped. I stayed in a very nice little seaside town called Brighton, which had a fantastic beach! I pitched my tent in the big field there, along with a smattering of RVs and camper-vans. I went for a swim in the sea, which was fun, if a bit cold. Cooked my spaghetti, and went to sleep. The next day, as I was leaving the field, I met a French family of 5 who were all cycle-touring together for a year. There was the mother and father, 11-tear-old girl, 7-year-old boy, and 2-year-old boy. The 2-year-old was riding in a trailer, while the 7-year-old was riding their own bike, and the 11-year-old riding on a tandem with the mother. They had already been all around South America, and now were on New Zealand.
I headed south along the amazing coast, with perfect little beaches every 50 meters or so. I stopped at one to eat my lunch, and saw the French family go past up above me. I sat on a rock which was jutting out, and dangled my feet just over the waves--I'm such a daredevil! Seeing as the tide was coming in, I got a little bit wet in the end.
I clambered up the rocks back to the road, and met a German couple who were cycling the opposite way. We talked for a bit, and gave each-other advice on what lay ahead. Then we went our separate ways. In Taieri Mouth, I crossed the (Taieri) river and turned off to go back inland a bit. I went over a massive hill (which had been a gravel road not 2 weeks ago, but was now paved at least). I got over the hill eventually, and started down the other side.
Its often as I fly down these huge hills with my bike fully-laden, that I think to myself: "Am I really doing this trip? I mean, I'm in the middle of New Zealand, hurtling down a hill on a 20+ year old bicycle, with 40 pounds of gear, and I've been doing it for 6 months." Its always on the downhills that I realize exactly what I'm doing, and I always feel as if its just a bit surreal, or dream-like. But I don't pinch myself, because you need both hands on the handlebars when you're flying down a hill in excess of 50 kilometers per hour!
At the bottom of the hill was the little drive-through town of Lake Waihola, which was by the side of (yep, you guessed it) Lake Waihola. I kept on going to Milton, where I stopped for the night. I stayed in the cheapest fully-equipped campsite I've stayed in so far: NZ$6.50 per night.
While I was sitting in the kitchen, I met a really interesting guy. He was a permanent resident of the holiday park, and was currently working as a milking-shed builder. He has a bit of experience (5 years or so?) doing the actual milking, so his skills and experience are always in demand. He said that because of this he often just quits a job after a good stint, and "Goes bush". Now, in New Zealand this is not a political statement, but rather means that one lives in the middle of the forest for long periods of time, by themselves, unsupported for the most part, sometimes hiding from things. He said that he sometimes goes into Fiordland (an immense National park completely isolated from anything but the occasional helicopter tour or bushman) for 10-20 weeks, living off the land. And I think he was telling the truth. He looked the part, at least.
Next day, I headed through Balclutha to Kaka Point, a nice little town by the sea (there seems to be no end of supply of this type of town in New Zealand), near the popular tourist destination of Nugget Point. In the holiday park there, met a couple--a guy from Austria, whose NZ nickname was "Rangi", and a girl from Somerset who was called Sam. I talked to them for a while, and lent them some cooking oil because they had forgotten to buy any. They were going to go to Nugget Point at 6am in order to get a glimpse of some sea-lions, seals, and penguins, and I asked if I could hitch a ride with them, as it is a steep, narrow, and winding there-and-back gravel road to Nugget point.
So we set off at 5:45am, with it still being dark. As we got closer to Nugget point (and thus closer to the sea), it got foggier and foggier. By the time we got there, it was practically impossible to see anything 20 meters in front of you. We walked the 500m track to the light-house, but couldn't see anything. We could hear the seals barking below us somewhere, but couldn't see them at all. I think that they were actually laughing at us silly humans. We couldn't even see a sunrise, as the only change was that the fog was a bit lighter in colour.
So, we went back to the holiday park and packed up. I found out I had a flat in the rear tire once I packed everything onto the bike, so of course I had to unpack everything to get to the spare tube and replace it. I left Kaka point, and immediately encountered 15 kilometers of gravel road, which I was not particularly keen on after struggling with replacing the tube only 20 minutes prior. I made it unscathed, and by evening I was in Papatowai. I camped in a little green field literally a stones-throw away from the sea, and cooked sausages with instant-mashed potatoes and instant gravy for a little bit of a feast.
When the moon rose in the evening, it was amazing! I was actually setting up my tent by moonlight. I went to sleep. Next day, as I was packing, I met a guy called David who was walking his dogs. He said I could refill my water-bottles at his house, which was just up the road. We talked for a while, and then I kept on going.
On a whim, I decided to stop at a restaurant that was just off the side of the road, as someone had said they had spectacular scones there. Unfortunately, they were sold out. However, I ran into a pair of cycle-tourists from Holland who I had last seen in the very north of the North Island (Paihia), about 3 months ago, who had also decided to stop there. That was fun to catch up with them! It really is a small country. Later on I passed the French family again (I have seen them almost every day so far).
I camped at Curio Bay that night. When I got there, I saw a couple of Hector's Dolphins swimming in Porpoise bay. Later in the evening, I went down to Curio Bay and watched Yellow-eyed penguins come in from the sea to sleep. I also looked at the petrified forest there, and a nice guy from the Department of Conservation showed me a fossilized fern.
The next morning I went for a swim in the ocean (no animals in sight, I'm just too stingy to pay the $2 for a shower), and had a lot of fun messing around in the waves. Then, a seal pokes it's head out of the water about 5 meters away from me and swims around. It was really fun! But then it opened it's mouth and showed me every single one of its yellow teeth, and started swimming very quickly towards me. And this animal probably weighs as much as me. So I scampered out of the water as quickly as I could, to give it a bit of space. Then other tourists came up and tried to jump in the water with it, and scared it off. That was enough excitement for the morning.
I left Curio Bay, and went to Fortrose along some more gravel roads. In Fortrose, I got a flat rear tire--but fortunately it was about 400 meters away from a free camping site! So I ended up staying there for 2 days, putting off fixing the flat. As I had used the last of my new tubes previously in Kaka Point, I had to actually fix this one. Eventually I fixed it (and it only took about 15 minutes). A couple in an RV who were camped there had also been in Brighton on the day I had, so I talked to them for a bit. The guy, Russell, took me out onto the beach to look for pipis and cockles (shellfish) at low tide. We also poked around an old shipwreck (called "Ino).
Later they--Russell and Colleen--invited me over to their RV for dinner--cockle-fritters and sausages, and a veggy dish! It was very nice.
Next day, I headed out towards Invercargill. It was HORRIBLY windy all day, and it was ALWAYS a headwind. While I was struggling along at about 5mph, downhill, pedalling my lowest gear, another cycle-tourist comes from the opposite way, zooming along at a good clip, without even pedalling! I booed him and he laughed at me. We cycle-tourers are so nice!
Later as I pulled over for some lunch, I met another cycle-tourist from Germany who was going the same way. We teamed up and took turns being in front. He could go a lot faster, though, because all of his luggage was in a little trailer close to the ground which was fairly aerodynamic, and he had about half as much gear as me. It was pretty awful, but eventually we got here to Invercargill. We stopped at the supermarket and went shopping (always a bad idea when hungry, and when cycling all day into a headwind positively deadly to the wallet). I polished off a half-dozen Black Forest muffins which were on special, and drank a litre of Apple juice. Stayed the night at a backpacker hostel, and now I'm in the internet cafe across the street.
I am planning to go to Stewart Island soon, but need to plan it out. I may try to do the Rakiura Track, a hiking track there. But we will see.
-Ben