Data:     New Zealand in 21 days:
                map
                3.349 km. =  159,5 km. per day average

Globetrotter Lars Nielsen from Hobro, Denmark has finished another challenge on bike: 3,800 kilometers in 3 weeks in New Zealand. In the following, Lars describes the ordeal and, amongst others, how he was injured after colliding with a car.

After a 1½ day of flying, I landed in Auckland, excited in anticipation for what the next 3 weeks might bring. On the second day, I arrived at my first destination: Rotorua; surrounded by hot springs and geysers. The entire area was wrapped in steam, comming up from the underground; there was clear blue lakes, and boiling mud. What a smell!

Later that day, I visited another "active" area: Waiotapu; also littered with crystalclear green, yellow, and red lakes, really looking their finest in the excellent weather that day. "Say Hello in Hobro", a couple of girls shouted at me. I could also see the 3 vulcanoes in Tongariro National Park; the 2,797 metres high Mount Ruapehu still émitting dust and smoke from it's latest eruption.

My fifth day also became my first rainy day, as I was aiming for the southern point on the northern island. On my way getting there, I saw an seal-colony on one side of the road, and the 2,900 metres high snowcovered mountains on the other side. I meet a girl from Randers in the city of Cheviot, North of Christchurch, early on a day that would prove itself quite eventful!

I had reached Canterbury Plains, when sudeently - in a matter of minutes - the weather turned extremely windy, with sidewinds blowing me repeatedly out in the ditches. This continued for a couple of hours, until I turned southward; thus getting the wind from the back. I picked up the speed; trying to make up for lost time. Consequently, I overlooked a crossing car in Christchurch; Bang!

I grinded the tar; getting some brushes in my face. While I was lying on my back, contemplating the situation, I noticed that passersby carried my bicycle away..."That's it!" I thought, while I stumpled to my feet, surprised that I had gotten away so cheaply. Also the bike had pretty much survived the ride. Some locals took me to the Emergency Room at the local hospital, where I got cleaned up. Later I checked in at a close-by YMCA.

The accident happend on a saturday, so I had to wait until monday to get my wheel repaired, which again meant shortening the trip around the southern parts. But all that mattered little, compared to what could have happened.

Tuesday I saw the strange, circular stones, left stranded at Moeraki Point. From here, there was 400 kilometres to the Southern Islands westcoast, widely known for it's natural, wild beauty. Some highlights was the half a kilometer long sheep herd, which passed the road, and several waterfalls, dropping for hundreds of meteres, down into the rivers. Two and a hald days went by without a cloud in the sky, while I travelled north along the coast, with the blue Tasmanian Sea to the west. The night before, a married couple from Mariager, had driven up along side me, and asked me, if I was from Hobro. They were visiting relatives in Christchurch.

The two next days were completely drowned out by pouring rain and strong winds, and the first day, I had to go for 221 kilometers, before finding a place to sleep! Back on the Northern Island, the weather cleared up, and I took a chance and changed my planned route to see the vulcano Mount Taranaki, rising an impressive 2,600 metres above sealevel.

Now only three days were left, and unfortunately they were rather spoiled by frequent storms and rain, which led me to check out the bird life in Otorohanga Kiwi House. Anyway, I reached Auckland in time, and although my first flight home was cancelled, I got back in Denmark in time.