A New Beginning

Day 45
Christchurch Airport to Christchurch Top 10 Holiday Park
Distance: 8.75 k
Time: 31:02
Avg Speed: 16.9 k
Terrain: Urban

“The key to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings”.
Today we said goodbye to my parents. There was definitely sadness and tears but I’m trying not to focus so much on them leaving. I want to focus on the good time we had and the bicycle touring we have ahead of us. We’ve got to keep the positive energy flowing because it will be about a year until we return home for a visit.
My parents were definitely troopers. They adapted quite well to the campervan life; the small sleeping quarters, community bathrooms, and long distances between stops. Hopefully they were as impressed as we are with the natural beauty and welcoming people of New Zealand. We may give them a hard time about being “wiki”, but they are very fun to travel with. We looking forward to the next time they meet up with us. Oh, if anyone else is interested in meeting up with us, send us an email. We’d love for anyone to join us somewhere along the way.
We weren’t sad to return the campervan and get back to depending on our bikes. It was a functional vehicle but a little big to handle at times. My mom thinks I have a future as a truck driver. Maybe I can get a job as an Eco Transit bus driver after the trip…
Christchurch will be our homebase for the next few days. Laundry and packing are the main tasks. Tomorrow we plan to do a ride around the city to get our legs refreshed. Monday we start touring again. We’ve done some research (Lonely Planet guides are essential) and have a good route outlined for the South Island. The majority of the time will be spent south and west from Christchurch. Our only obligation is to be in the Nelson area for Christmas. The high mountains, dry plains and deep river gorges await…
LK