Altogether too many sheep.

Meghan & Francois Travel to New Zealand

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NEW ZEALAND TOP 10

In no particular order…

- Slip saddle track (Francois).

- Adding a new tattoo to my collection (Meghan).

- Last evening  in QT: dinner, piano player, and a warm sunny sunset.

- Our lazy bike ‘stroll’ around Lake Wanaka.

- Mountain biking avec les mouton in Christchurch Port Hills.

- The views from EVERY SINGLE bike track.

- Constantly changing scenery on our road trips.

- The story of the christchurch earthquake and the city’s recovery.

- Finally arriving in NZ.

- Sleeping for 16 hours in Sydney.

That’s the end. Thanks for following along with us!

:-) Meghan & Francois

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RIDE LOGS: Days 4 - 8

The remainder of our bike rides during the trip:

Queenstown Bike Park: http://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/86799/

7 Mile Trail Network:

http://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/87259/

Shuttle with Vertigo Bike up Coronet Peak & Skippers Canyon:

http://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/87575/

Slip Saddle and Bush Creek:  

http://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/88053/

Casual Ride around Lake Wanaka:

http://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/88257/

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Jan 22 - 23: ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END It was our last full day in New Zealand. We decided to make the most of it by waking up at the ungodly hour of 8am (at least ungodly to those of us on vacation). Meghan finally drove the rental car and didn't crash when she dropped Francois off at the top of Coronet Peak. He met up with our fellow Canadian mountain bikers to rock it down a trail Slip Saddle track all the way down the mountain into nearby Arrowtown. Meghan then drove all by herself into Arrowtown and spend a relaxing morning shopping around the old mining town before meeting up again. We said goodbye to our friends as they biked off back to Queenstown while we headed up to explore Wanaka. After a few days of rest Meghan was back on her bike tackling the gravel path trail around Lake Wanaka with Francois. The temperatures climbed up over 25 and we were both ready for shade and a yummy lunch by the time we biked back into town. Sad that our last day had finally arrived, we spent the evening disassembling our bikes and wondering how we ever fit this much stuff into our suitcases. Awake again at the even more ungodly hour of 530am this morning, we dragged our butts from bed to the airport for our flight(s) home. Here we are ready (but not willing) to go. We can't wait to see bebe chien and be home, but wish we never had to leave! LESSON LEARNED: Bikes are goddam expensive to travel with. Like more than a baby. Unless your baby happens to be REALLY over weight, like Lu Hao big (just google it). FAVOURITE MEMORY: Racing down Slip Saddle (Francois). Devouring nachos in Wanaka (Meghan).

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Jan 19 - 21: QUEENSTOWN CHILLIN Forced into a few days without biking due in part to Meghan's shoulder, but mainly because of the rain pouring from the sky we have spent the last few days reluctantly relaxing. Such non-biking activites included strolling through the Queenstown Gardens and eating loads of gelato. This was also the perfect time for a drive through Gibbston Valley touring local wineries and cheeseries. The best were a combination of both. On Tuesday Francois took advantage of a few hours of sunshine to explore the nearby 7 mile bike trails while Meghan and her bum shoulder explored her current book :-P. We spent the evening back up the Skyline Gondola where Francois raced down the mountain on the Luge track and we both gorged ourselves on a serve-yourself dessert platter at the fancy mountaintop restaurant. Today the sun came out in full force. Francois hopped a shuttle ride up to Coronet Peak to ride Rude Rock, Skippers Canyon and Zoot Track. All trails he has been waiting to ride since watching the movie 'Not Bad' and 'Follow Me' and deciding NZ was the place to be. Of course he met two other Canadians (Vancouver Islanders in fact) and has anothing bike date tomorrow morning. Meghan's day was just as eventful with more reading and coffee shop tastings (she did a coffee shop crawl of over three different places and the verdict is still out). After two rescheduled appointments she finally got her tattoo. We will have to see how long this satisfies her until the addiction resufaces, but for now she's smiling. The beautiful day came to a close with our best dinner yet, right on the lake, with amazing wine, dinner and dessert. Wandering back home along the quay we stopped to enjoy a street performer playing classical piano just as the sun set. So hard to imagine we have to head back to 'real life' in just a couple of days! LESSON LEARNED: A little rain never hurt nobody. A little wine and cheese always helps. FAVOURITE MEMORY: Listening to the piano player by the lake as the sun set (a romantic Francois). Finding a lovely sunny spot to read with a yummy iced coffee while waiting for my tattoo appointment (Meghan).

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Jan 18: THE WRATH OF SKYLINE BIKE PARK So here's a list of stuff that happened today: - We geared up and enjoyed some really fun trails at the Skyline Bike Park in Queenstown. - We took in scenic views from the Gondola ride up between each lap. - We took a leisurely stroll down the hill to the medical centre when Meghan crashed less than 1m from the bottom. - We were relieved when Meghan's shoulder wasn't broken, only sprained but got the x-rays anyway to be safe. - We went back to the hostel and Meghan took bunch of painkillers and anti-inflamitories then had a nap. - We played uber tourists for the afternoon, walking around town shopping and filling our bellies with giant yummy burgers. Yup, that's it. Sidenote: Our "hostel" is amazing! It's a brand new three floor building and we have a private room with an ensuite. Meghan tried to introduce Francois to the world of hostelling and we ended up in a hotel. A hotel with free breakfast AND dinner AND a cinema room, sauna, and lounge. Go figure. LESSON LEARNED: Dirt is slippery and the ground is very hard. FAVOURITE MEMORY: The really nice staff at the medical centre and my glorious nap (Meghan). Chilling at the medical centre and knowing that Meghan's body armour works (Francois).

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Jan 17: THE WEST COAST EXPRESS Checking out of our beachside hotel in Hokitika, Meghan grabbed a latte from a local cafe and we hit the road. Our goal: to drive down most of the West Coast and make it to Queenstown in one day. It ended up being a 10 hour day, sightseeing stops included. We are both extremely happy we decided to include only one day of driving during our trip. As a driving AND rest-from-biking day, our first stop was at Franz Joesph Glacier. Not to atually see the glacier (A tourist filled insanity, plus we have glaicers at home :-P) but to vitst the Glacier Hot Pools. We had a private Scandinave-Spa type pool to relax in and ease our sore muscles. We topped it off with a pitstop at a local bakery "Picnics" for doughnut day! Road-Tripping along, we stopped at various viewpoints and lookouts. The terrain moved from coastal farmland to tropical-type rainforest, to winding mountain roads as we turned inland through Mount Aspiring National Park. We arrived on the other side at lakes Wanaka and Hawea. We have no words. Seriously. Crystal blue water surrounded by rolling mountains and TWO rainbows arched overhead. Like....WTF?!? So we took pictures. But i'm pretty sure that nothing will capture it except coming here to see it yourself. So do it now. Go book a ticket. After picking our jaws up off the ground we made it to historic Arrowtown for dinner. Mmmm, spanish tapas and friendly bartenders. Now here we sit our hostel in Queenstown. Mission acomplished! LESSON LEARNED: Single lane bridges sound super sketchy, but are actually supremely awesome. They come in many forms: suspension, rail, falling apart (drive over at 10 kms/hr) or brand new with guardrails due to recent landslide. FAVOURITE MEMORY: Relaxing at the Glacier Hot Pools (Francois). Coconut-crusted chicken tapas at La Rumbla restaurant in Arrowtown (Meghan).

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RIDE LOGS: Day 1 - 3

For those who are interested, our rides to date:

CRAIGIEBURN DAY 1: http://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/86423/

CHRISTCHURCH PORT HILLS: http://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/86426/

CRAIGIEBURN DAY 2: http://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/86425/

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Jan 16: HOKITIKA, NICE TO MEET YA Heading west, we spent our morning exploring Craigieburn Forest Park for the second time. We trekked straight up toward the ski area and found a couple of true downhill tracks: Luge and Dickson Downhill. Both tracks are a part of a yearly enduro race and had the jumps and techy roots to proove it. We both had a blast bouncing our way down to the bottom. Meghan had full use of her new backpack and brought all her amour so she could race down 'Meghanspeed'. With perfect timing, the rain began to pour down as we drove away from Craigieburn, through Arthurs Pass to the West Coast and the small oceanside town of Hokitika. Arriving just around dinnertime we dumped our bags and headed out for PiPi Pizza - the best joint in town. We chose: chicken, cream cheese with mushrooms and apricot sauce (with half hawaiian thrown in there just in case). It was delish!! Before passing out for the evening, we took in another Hokitia must-see: Glow Worm Dell. Not actually worms, but a type of fungus that glows in the dark. The only problem is that in the middle of summer it doesn't get full dark until after 10pm! In our true old fogey nature, we barely stayed awake long enough to see them light up the night before heading straight back to bed. LESSON LEARNED: Bugs love to eat Meghan alive, no matter which continent she's on. FAVOURITE MEMORY: Finding a couple of trails that make my suspension work (Francois). Taking a stroll around the "Quaintest Town" of Hokitika and finding an awesome old library building turned museum (Meghan).

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Jan 15: EVERYBODY POOPS (ESPECIALLY SHEEP)

Today we kept it local and explored a track called Godley Head Track only a few minutes drive away from our Airbnb. A few minutes down winding Summit Rd with breathtaking views of areas called Sumner and Taylors Mistake (there seems to be a ‘bike with a view’ theme going on here). It was meant to be a rest day, but we ended up biking 13 kms and climbing over 300m - some rest! That 13kms of trailing winding throught fields and fields of sheep. So much sheep. And sheep poop. All over our wheels. Ick.

After our morning spent with the livestock, we ate a quick lunch and headed down to Christchurch’s city centre for our 1/2 day of touristy sightseeting. Francois nerded out the entire time about 2010/2011 earthquake damage as the entire city is bascially one big jobsite. We shopped at a temporary mall built entirely out of shipping containers and (of course) found both a bike shop and a bookstore to check out. Wandering around we saw so many funky art installations and wall murals that have popped up amongst the rubble, empty lots and new buildings popping up. It was a surreal experience. It would be amazing to return in a few years to see the city rebuilt.

Tonight we pack up and say goodbye to Christchurch. It’s off to the West Coast tomorrow!

LESSON LEARNED: One 7.1 magnatude earthquack is rough. One 7.1 PLUS one 6.7 within four months is brutal. Christchurch is an amazingly postive city.

FAVOURITE MEMORY: Analyzing the effect of the earthquakes on all of the city buildings (Francois). Watching Francois sit still for 13 mins to watch a museum video on how a tower was damaged by the earthquake, then rebuilt one floor at a time (Meghan).

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Jan 14: CRAIGIE - BUTT - BURN - ER

It was our first official day of biking. First real day of biking in over a month. So we decided to ‘ease into it’ and takle over 15kms and 650m of climbing. My lower half hurts just typing that out. But Craigieburn Forest Park was worth it. The views were stunning, the weather perfect and the riding was flowy and fast (when not trudging uphill). We can’t wait to go back for another day of fun on our way out to the West Coast.

LESSON LEARNED: NZ weather changes on a dime. Rain in Christchurch = Sunny and warm in Craigieburn. Also: Francois can sunburn! Whodathunkit?

FAVOURITE MEMORY: Pausing to breathe and take in the view, then realizing this is only the first third of the trail and it’s ALL like this! (Meghan). Watching Meghan decide to splash her way through a river on her bike (Francois).

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Jan 13: DAILY CHRISTCHURCH

Our first full day in NZ was spent like any other: running errands. We found ourselves hunting down a Vodafone nano SIM card, buying groceries and touring local bike shops for advice on the best trails (aka ‘tracks’). Basically take an average Sunday in Squamish and transplant it into Christchurch. We topped it off with a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Gustav’s at the Tannery (think On the Farm, but bigger). We had the best service possible, since we were the only customers in the joint! The majority of Christchurch-ians, -ites? -goers? all head up north to Nelson for their summer holidays - the town was ours for the taking!

Airbnb hosts have been fantastic. We have gorgeous views of the city each morning while we munch our breakfast and a glass of wine and appies greet us in the evening. They didn’t even mind when we lost the house keys less than 30 mins after receiving them, less than 20 steps out the front door (2 days of searching and they still elude us!). They also didn’t mind when our phone chargers accidentally blew their downstairs circut (oops). Maybe they can’t wait to get rid of us, but they hide it well.

LESSON LEARNED: GPS is a godsend when driving on the left. Also note that the turn signal and windshield wipers are reversed - people don’t know that fast wipers mean you’re turning!

FAVOURITE MEMORY: Christchurch bike shop tour - especially chatting up the employees at Basic Bikes (Francois). The stunning views from where we are staying in Mount Pleasant neighbourhood (Meghan).

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Jan 11 - 12: SYNDEY IN SIX HOURS Before the trip Meghan (in true Meghan-style) had created a by-the-minute itinerary for our short layover in Sydney including ferry rides, koala tours and the biggest IMAX theatre in the world. However this plan went stright out the window when both Meghan and Francois took a short nap...and accidentally fell asleep for 16 hours! I guess the sleep was needed? Despite the Rip Van Winkle nap and the torrential summer rain, we did manage to take in some of the sights while waiting for our hotel room to become available: - Francois critisized the architect of the Sydney Opera House for his lack of drainage planning while simultaneously amazed at the ceramic tile covering the entire roof. - We both enjoyed a couple of patio beers at the Circular Quay and making friends with the entire wait staff including two rainbow lorikeets (a mated pair that frequented the patio for the free sugar). - Meghan made a tired Francois pose for silly pictures in the Botanical Gardens and introduced him to the traditional game of "Quick! Go pose like that statue!" - We stumbled upon a Sunday Market filling the historic winding streets of The Rocks. - We contemplated going into the Museum of Contemporary Art and then decided not to. - We tought how much more convenient Vancouver would be if it had a SeaBus system that mimiced the Sydney Ferries. All in all, we enjoyed the tiny glimpse of Sydney city life, but can't wait to unpack our bikes in New Zealand! LESSON LEARNED: Don't even attempt to plan anything after more than twenty hours of travel. FAVOURITE MEMORY: Walking around the Sydney Opera House (Francois). Wandering the city streets wearing summer clothes with nowhere to be! (Meghan).

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Jan 9 - 11: TIME TRAVEL We left Vancouver around lunch time on the 9th. Over 24 hours of plane rides later we landed in Sydney, Australia around breakfast on the 11th. Somewhere in the middle we lost: - A whole day (what happened on January 10th? I guess we'll never know..) - Over 2,000 Yuan from our bank accounts for overweight baggage fees in China (we later learned this was $380, but could have been $1,300 if not for a sympathetic travel agent). - And our ability to think in coherent thoughts. But we can now say we've been to China - at least the arrival and departure terminals of the PuDong International Airport. LESSON LEARNED: Don't fly Air China. Ever. At least not with bikes. Or without at least a rudimentary knowledge of Mandarin. FAVOURITE MEMORY: Attemping to cry discreetly while watching The Fault in our Stars somewhere over the Arctic (Meghan). Finding out meals are completely free on longhaul flights! (Francois).

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Saying "Bye Bye" to winter on Friday. Sunny summer biking, here we come!☀️

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Confucius never had to plan a bike trip with us! Less than a week till departure time and the packing begins…

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Bust out the post-it notes and coloured markers, trip planning has begun!  The flights have been booked. The accommodation has been reserved. Ready - Set - GO!