Sventastic

I'm not talking about the ageing womanizing ex-England manager with aspirations to become a sauna repairman (Jonathan McGowan fans will remember), but rather a permagrinning dutchman (hereafter called The Dutchy) who I'm rather convinced is stalking me. He's a great guy, however, so there was no reason for me not to humour him. We first met in Fox Glacier some weeks ago while I was bike touring. We have since then inadverdently met up in Haast, Wanaka (half-planned), Milford Sound and Christchurch. When I walked in to one of the 30 or so hostels in Christchurch (and not a particularly good one at that), who should I find staring in disbelief at the top of the stairs? Only The Dutchy!

It was great timing, actually, because a couple of hours earlier my family had departed from Christchurch for home and I was at a bit of a loose end. We were both up for going out for a few beers so we did exactly that. I thrashed him at pool, and then we tried going to a club but were scuppered by my lack of ID (honestly, did I expect to need it?) New Zealand is very strict on alcohol policy.

Having had no plans I decided to accompany The Dutchy to the Banks Peninsula for one night, where we stayed in a great little hostel called Chez la Mer in Akaroa. We met up with some great people there and had a good evening. It was only made better by the making of pancakes, in true Wanaka style. In the daytime we went out for a nice bike ride down towards the coast.







He's since left for Australia (was it something I said?), and I'm looking forward to meeting up with him there.

I've since come up north to Nelson to bide my time for the last few days before Emma arrives on Tuesday. I've brought my bike up and I'm trying to make the most of some of the excellent mountain biking opportunities here. Tomorrow I'm going on a 2 or 3 day ride, staying at some backcountry huts along the way. Then it's back to Christchurch on Tuesday.