Queyssel

So as the theme of the trip so far was badly thought out ideas that somehow managed to work out fine I decided it would be appropriate to end in the same way. To make a grand finale I picked a bad idea that I had when I was about 9 or 10 and decided to fulfil it. My Granddad has lived in the south of France, east of Bordeaux, since before I was born and as I child (well as a younger child) I used to watch the tour de France and want to ride my bike home from my Granddad's... so now seemed the perfect time to give it a shot. My intense preparations for this stupid task was visiting the gym 9 times to do 30 minutes on the static bike. After that how could I fail...

After flying into Paris I took the TGV to my Granddads to see him for the first time in over 3 years! I spent nearly 2 weeks down at my Granddads eating, drinking, reliving childhood memories and ruining any fitness I had picked up in New Zealand. 

Eventually I sorted out the gear I would need for the ride and drew a straight line on a one page map from Queyssel to Dieppe. I figured if a tourist map could get me and Pete through Vietnam then the same would work in France. Luckily the weather for the whole time I had been down there had been overcast and relatively cool, not great for a holiday but perfect for cycling. After one 25km bike ride to test out my fancy new cycling shoes I decided I was definitely ready to set off on a 1000km plus bike ride...

Queenstown

There has been a bit of a gap since I managed to write my last entry, partly due to a broken netbook, partly due to spending nearly 2 weeks in the French countryside 5 miles from the nearest shop and partly due to spending nearly 2 weeks living on a bike, but more on that stuff later. After the unexpected stop at Tekapo I managed to get on a coach the next day that was going over the mountains to Queenstown.

Due to the extra day it took to get down and the awkward bus times to get back up to Christchurch for my flight back towards home it would only be a brief visit to Queenstown. Luckily it was enough to enjoy the town and the company of a familiar face. Whilst in town I managed to meet up with Jess, a friend from back in Stone, who took me to some of the better bars around town and also up one of the nearby ski slopes.

Thanks to Jess I managed to save a lot of money by borrowing all the snowboarding gear I would need (except for a board and boots thanks to my extra large feet). We went up to the Remarkables, one of the closest ski fields to Queenstown for my first taste of snowboarding. Thanks to Jess and one of her friend's amazing help I was soon able to turn and make it down the (baby) slope without falling.

Though the time up on the slopes was a lot of fun, it left me in pain for the next week! Apparently all that falling down practice takes its toll on the body. After leaving Queenstown I returned to Christchurch for one last night before hopping on my plane first to Kuala Lumpur and then onwards to Paris. Luckily despite my cheap-ass seats on AirAsia my flights were actually not that bad due to having the whole row to myself both time. The incredible views across the south island of New Zealand also made the start of the flight interesting

During my brief stopover in KL I fully embraced the culture by watching Soul Plane in my hotel room and eating Pizza Hut. The only thing I really did whilst in KL was get a photo of a bizarre motorbike graveyard that I noticed when we visited previously...