10 Jan 2025
Thanks to Stéphane’s speedy driving, I arrived at the station in, unusually, good time, only to see that there was a short delay! Why did I expect anything else.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the SNCF Intercity train. It was clean, comfortable and quiet. I passed through Narbonne, Bezier and Montpellier and in no time at all was in Marseille. The change here went without a hitch, and so it was onwards to Nice.
Late afternoon and, on time, I was on the outskirts of Nice. Apartment blocks built to look like cruise liners, complete with roof gardens, and in “le parking” boats that did look like cruise liners replaced the views of the Mediterranean coast that I had been enjoying for the previous hour.
Here was the first hiccough. Somehow I managed to miscount the stops and was not paying attention to the announcements, so I missed my stop and ended up in the centre of Nice. Thankfully this was not to big a hassle; I just had to get the next train back one stop! Que faire?
Finding my hotel was not so easy. It was situated in a maze of high rise buildings with roads, footpaths and cycle paths all looking like one another, and few signposts. I found the building, but then couldn’t find the door! When I did find my way in, it was comfortable, but certainly not luxurious; the room was more a cabin that a room.
With equal difficulty I found a little Korean/Chinese restaurant; it turned out to be less that 100 metres from the hotel entrance, but up one level and hidden in the corner.
Here I had an excellent dinner and struck up a conversation with my dining neighbour who had grown up in the Minervois, was born in Laos, spent his early years in Vietnam during the war there, and then became a French paratrooper.
11 Jan 2025
I learned today that you cannot board an international flight to a country you don’t live in without a ticket out of the country. Thus I had to make a decision and bought a ticket from Christchurch to Melbourne. I added a week to my “planned” departure date, but as the ticket is flexible, I should be OK.
Why Christchurch? A number of reasons: that’s where Belfast is, so it’s as good a place as any to finish; it was the cheapest flight I could find; I can fly the bike from there, even if it may be a little more difficult than from Auckland; and if I have to ship/fly the bike from Auckland, it’s only 1000 kms back to Christchurch, or a bit over a days travel by train! No contest! 🤔
In spite of that minor setback, I got on board the plane and had a reasonably comfortable 5 hour flight to Doha. There followed a 4 hour “break” in the mega-mall that is Hamad International Airport; I escaped with spending nothing more that €2 for the Economist Annual. Next was the big one! 16 hours nonstop to Auckland! Not relishing the prospect, I took a pill just after boarding, and was rewarded with an 8 hour sleep, interrupted only by a meal that I vaguely remember eating, but not what it consisted of.
13 Jan 2024
As if the paperwork before getting to the plane wasn’t enough, the procedure after disembarking added a further insult.
First there was a passport queue; then there was a queue to show your biosecurity declaration; then there was a queue to have your bag scanned – just in case; and finally there was a customs queue. My thoughts as I ploughed my way through all this were along the lines of, “This better be worth it!”
A shuttle took me to the car hire office where without too much ado, I got a car. After driving not very far, a lot of dashboard warning lights lit up. I returned to the office where the lass at the counter tried to convince me this was normal and was due to their monitoring the vehicles for servicing purposes. Unconvinced, I stood my ground until she finally offered to get me another vehicle. This one didn’t have any flashing warning lights, so obviously they only monitor the vehicles on a random basis!
My next stop was the shipping company and here, with another bit of persuasion, the guys agree to let me take the paperwork to customs myself. This requires an appointment, so I headed off for a coffee to while away the 2 hours I had to wait.
The process at customs was straightforward and fast. I was back in the car within 15 mnutes and plotting my route back to the shipping agent when my phone rang. It was the customs guy, sounding somewhat anxious. “I’ll come out,” he said when I told him I was sitting outside.
He pointed out that I had ticked a box indicating that in my unaccompanied baggage – my bike and stuff – I had some cannabis or methamphetamine utensils!
Thankfully he accepted my excuse that I had meant to tick the box below, and I was spared further angst.
I returned to the shipping agent to drop off the papers and then headed south to Pukekohe – I still cannot pronounce it properly, to meet up with Darryll and Helenna Horn, my hosts for the next episode in my journey.
By this time I was beginning to feel the pace, and when Helenna insisted I sit down and put my feet up, I promptly fell asleep! She kindly woke me up a short while later for dinner, and almost immediately after this, I called it a day.
Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike 