1/28 - Hamner Springs to Christchurch

Mileage: 183

And so it ends, as all things do.

I couldn't believe today was the last day of the trip.  I have had the most amazing adventure.  Ok, so maybe I didn't think so WHILE I was riding through the freezing rain cursing and wanting to shake my fist at the sky, but even that only added to the experience and I could now look back and laugh at how miserable I was.


The day was beautiful and I was saddened that it was only about 80'ish miles to Richard and Cheryl's house.  We were to meet up with Richard and ride down to Akaroa for lunch.  My ride was wonderful and bittersweet as I was saying goodbye all too soon to a country that had made such an impact on me.

It was odd to hit traffic as we entered Christchurch as we'd been blessed with little or none, except being held up by a bit of holiday camper traffic now and then.  We arrived at the Marrett residence and relaxed with some coffee and slices of fresh out of the oven homemade chocolate cake.  Yummm...

Richard was assembling some dining room chairs so we chit-chatted, munching on the oh so delicious cake.  With the chairs done, we saddled up and headed out to Akaroa.  The ride was the perfect last ride with which to end the trip.  The sun was bright and the road led us up through the mountains, turning twisty while giving us glimpses of the ocean as we got closer.

Akaroa sat on a peninsula but was surrounded by mountains.  Although a bit windy, the weather stayed warm and we lunched outside.

On the way back, Matt headed off with his helmet cam and Richard offered to take me on a different route.  I made him promise to stop so I could get some photos.  How do you not have a huge shit eating grin when presented with a view like this?

We headed back a different way, but since I didn't remember the exact route, it wasn't reflected on the map above.  Richard led me to a lookout that gave a panoramic of Christchurch.

Richard and I met up with Matt back at the Marrett residence.  Richard and his wife Cheryl, are the loveliest and nicest people.  Richard offered to give us a ride back to the hostel after we returned the bikes and had also invited us to their house for dinner.  Richard followed me to my motorcycle rental shop and waited while I took care of the return.  They didn't have a mechanic onsite to unhook my gps so I gave them the name of the hostel I was staying that night and they promised they would run someone over with the cradle.  The pain in the butt abut the BMW was that the fairing had to be removed in order to access the battery.  I didn't want to keep Richard waiting so headed out, hoping they would keep their word.  I wasn't disappointed.

We picked up Matt at his bike rental shop and headed back to the hostel.  Matt headed out to dinner with the folks he played Monopoly with in Hamner Springs and I ran upstairs to change and headed to Richard's house for dinner.  I offered to take Richard and his family out to dinner for everything he had done for us, but he insisted on treating me to Kiwi hospitality.

As soon as I entered their home, the smell of delicious cooking permeated my senses.  Cheryl had made roasted lamb with rosemary accompanied by rolls and an assortment of yummy veggies. But the coup de grace was the homemade caramel/chocolate meringue pie. *drool*  I would have taken photos of this fabulous dinner Cheryl prepared if a) I had remembered my camera and b) I didn't feel like such a dork taking photos of someone's dinner table.  However, Richard whipped out his trusty camera and his daughter took a photo for us.

It was the perfect ride and the perfect company to round out the perfect trip.