Christchurch again.

Well, after staying with the Olympian, I went into Christchurch to look around and replace my now-useless rear tire. Found several bike shops, and got a Schwable Marathon Tire, which (for those of you who don't obsessively follow trends in the bike-tire market) is supposed to be an absolutely fantastic tire. Booked into a backpackers called "Drifters", which was a little odd, but friendly. On the way back to the backpackers from doing a little bit of grocery shopping, I ran into a bunch of people (maybe 30?) with strange bikes (not to mention clothes) congregating in Cathedral Square. Some of them were dressed (and painted) as clowns.
Intrigued, I went up to one of the more organised-looking (?) clowns and asked what it was all about. The gave me a little flyer, and told me everything I already know: Bicycles are good for the planet, cars are bad. They had orchestrated a "Fossil Fools Day" Bike ride through the streets (being April 1st), as some sort of protest against something or other. While I was talking to them, I ran into the guy from the couple I had met at Haast Pass, at Pleasant Flat campground. He was just commuting home (on bike), and had been curious about these people, just as I had.



I ended up riding along with them through Downtown Christchurch for a while (except that I was in the Bike lane for the duration), as some people held banners of some sort, and one guy in the rear rolled along a bunch of speakers in a "Rubbish Bin", blasting (alternately) Gangsta Rap and Folk music. After a while--as the procession was holding up the cars in the streets--a police car could be seen growing nearer. I decided that maybe this would be a good time to slowly increase the distance between me and the other people--which was probably a good idea. There was some sort of altercation (maybe an annoyed motorist?), and the sirens started.



A few people got arrested, and later a paddy-wagon-type thing rolled up and herded some others on-board.
Went back to the Backpackers and cooked a bit of a stir-fry, which sort of worked out. Next day I think I just moped around the library, looking at a random selection of books and learning nothing in particular. I texted the couple from the Haast campground, and spent the night with them. Had a very nice nice dinner, and interesting conversation. Talked about the "Fossil Fools Day" people, and about how they sort of make others LESS likely to want to ride bikes. We came to the conclusion that they were just angry. And liked rebelling against... The MAN.