Martin's 50th

Hard to believe I know - for me especially. Anyway, instead of a party we decided to get away from it all. Five days and four nights travelling by canoe down the Whanganui River in the North Island. Brilliant. Didn't even see anyone else all day on my birthday, and we only capsized three times - twice in the first hour of the first day and almost within sight of the end on day five!

Earthquake!

On 4th September 2010, the Christchurch area was rocked by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake - the same magnitude as the one that destroyed Haiti in January. Perhaps fortunately we were still in England. These photos, taken almost three months on, show some of the destruction in Kaiapoi, roughly 6km as the crow flies from our unscathed house.

UK

First week in UK we stayed with Wayne & Jen in London. This is the million dollar view from their lounge!

Asia almost over

Fly out of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia tomorrow 22nd July to Singapore and following day to London Heathrow. To get here in time for the flight we had to cross Brunei by mini van and get a ferry to Labuan Island - back in Malaysia. Stuck there for the night then another ferry here, giving us one free day to do some snorkeling offshore. So the cycling part is over after almost 2700 km.

Miri Northern Sarawak

Ok so we took the bus from Sarikei - there was a stretch of 200 km from Sibu to Bintulu with no hotels which we couldn't cycle and an outbreak of Dengue Fever in Sibu so we decided to skip that too. Only 250 km ish. Cycled on from there via 3 National Parks and another 236 km to Miri. Now we have to be in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah in 3 days and have to cross Brunei. Gonna have to get a bus or fly, or miss our flight out.

Sarikei, Sarawak, Malaysia - 12th July

Nine nights in Kuching and one or 2 beers and even wines - some decent red provided at Interhash and chilled to a decent room temperature. Good to catch up with everyone and see Orang Utans, wild boars and monkeys, but good to be away from the city, tourists and hashers again. Back to being in towns where we're the only tourists.

Just done 400 km in last 5 days on 'undulating' roads. Pretty tired especially after getting up at 2.30 to watch the World Cup Final. Not long to go now. Looking forward to UK & catching up with everyone. 10 weeks in Asia tomorrow.

More Photos

Lake Maninjau, Western Sumatra.

Indonesian long distance cyclists, Bukittingi, Western Sumatra.

Traditional Minankabau house in Payakumbuh, Western Sumatra.

Equator monument, Pontianak, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo.)

Rice fields in southern Bali.

Mount Merapi, Central Java, steaming away, 2 days after we spent the night a third of the way up there!

Donna at Mount Bromo, East Java.

Malaysia at last

Did 2 days of about 90km each, then found a small town to chill for a few days and watch football. Then we discovered the only ATM in town wouldn't take any of my cards when we were down to our last 120000 rupiah - about 9 pounds sterling. Fortunately that was just enough to get us to the border town on a bus after a night with little food and no beer. Cycled over our first International border this morning, and a mere 43km to be within striking distance of Kuching - 60km to go. Hope to watch football here tonight and maybe stay one more night before we hit the bright lights and all the other hashers in Kuching. Interhash kicks off on Thursday. More pics hopefully next time.

Latest update

After the disappointment of the football, we discovered the only boat to Borneo was leaving from Surabaya on Java 3 days later, so we cycled back 137km in one day to the ferry. Had a euphoric night watching NZ scrape a draw with Slovakia, then caught ferry and train to Surabaya. Overnight there and a boat journey who's estimated journey time from staff and other passengers varied from 23 to 48 hours. It took almost 60 including being stuck in a river mouth waiting for a high tide for 11 hours! As a result we missed the football - no bad thing by the sound of it, but I did get Indonesia commentary, and even that sounded bad. Come on you Kiwis tonight! Now recovering in Pontianak, Indonesian Sumatra (Kalimantan), before the ride to Kuching.

Finally something more interesting than cycling distances

Borobudur, Central Java
Real mountain biking at last on Mt Bromo East Java - no panniers!
Mount Batok (right foreground) Mt Bromo, Steaming and Mt Semeru in the background
The worlds largest flower, Rafflesia Arnoldii, near Bukittingi, Central Sumatra. Sadly not the biggest specimen.

Kuta - Bali 13th June

Took the bus and boat to Bali then cycled 130km one day and about 20 the next to get to Kuta to watch the football at 2.30 this morning. Should have stayed in bed. Taking it easy today. Got to check out some boats tomorrow. Got to get to Borneo soon. Still can't get to upload photos.

2010 Tour

No photos at the moment, but here is the tour so far. Flew to Singapore on May 4th. Two nights there, one to recover and one to sort some details of the next stage. Caught boat to Batam Island (only 45 min from Singapore) early morning but missed connecting ferry to Sumatran mainland so cycled 15km or so to find a hotel & spent the day and night there. Cycled back to wharfe with a very early start and caught ferry (6hrs) to mainland followed by bus (about 4 hours o n dreadful roads) to Pekanbaru. Had 2 nights here to recover and get more supplies - we travelled very light, then started cycling.
Day 1 60km early start in rain, folowed by hot finish late morning to Bankinang.
Day 2 128 km over a mountain range - sea level to 500m via a 900m pass and a 14km steep ascent. Downhill finish in the rain to Payakumbuh.
Day 3 14km (yes 14km - what do you expect after yesterday) to Harau valley for a relaxing day in abeautiful spot with lots of waterfalls
Day 4 day off - in theory - end up taking an English class at a local school - long story!
Day 5 49km to Bukkittingi
Day 6 52 km round trip to see Rafllesia Arnoldii, the worlds largest flower
Day 7 30km to Lake Maninjau, but including an ascent to 1100 metres the highest point so far and descent of almost 600m
Day 8 lots of descent to coast then hot run along coast road to Pariaman 84km
Day 9 51km to Padang, rest in midday sun then 23 km to Bungus, room on the beach.
Day 10 rest day
Day 11 61 km to Painan
Day 12 74 km to Belai Selasa
Day 13 130 km to Muko Muko
Day 14 103 km to Ipuh
Day 15 120 km to Lais
Day 16 47 km to Bengkulu

Enough of this after 3 days of constant up and down on terrible roads. We had a rest day then stuck the bikes on a bus to Jakarta. Jakarta was horrendous - couldn't see the city for the smog, so got another bus to Yogyakarta. Cycled to Borobodour then Kaliurang for Mt Merapi - no longer flowing with lava. Back to Jogja then cycled south east where an Ageing ozzie hippy motorcyclist told us was a great cycling area. 110 km first day. 2nd day only about 35 km going all day. Steepest roads I ever saw pushing slowly up and cycling slowly down because so steep and rough. Ran out of daylight so hired a lift to take us to next town.

Combination of bus and trains over next few days got us to Mt Bromo. Staying at 2200 metres was a welcome relief from the heat, but cold shower was rough and we were wearing fleeces at night. Some stunning view including into the steaming crater of Mount Bromo and to the puffing cone of Mt Semeru.

Over 5 weeks into the trip. Headed for Bali today or tomorrow.

Feb 09

Donna, Brenda & Amy, Flock Hill Station, near Arthurs Pass,

Kayaking on Lake Pearson near Arthurs Pass.

Christmas & New Year 09/10

Overlooking Rangitikei river on our way back to Dannevirke 8th January.

Walking in Tongariro National Park, central North Island.

Mount Ruapehu, central North Island - 5th January.

View of Auckland from Northcote, out walking near Donna's dads on 4th Jan.

Christmas day in Dannevirke. Bruce (Noels cousin), Donnas mum, Uncle Bill, Donna, Brandon (Bruces son), Auntie Emma, and cousin Debbie.

The 'New' van

The van with newly installed pop top, taken April 09 - Between Springs Junction & Lewis Pass.

Visitors From Milton Keynes - Dec 09

Tina and Steve, Hashers from Milton Keynes - our only UK visitors of 2009. A few weeks later Steve was doing some work on the house in Bradwell for us with Marcus.

Hanmer Springs Dec 09

'The Waterfall', Hanmer Springs.

The Summit of Mt Isobel, just over 1300 metres.