Chasing Endless Summer

I couldn’t resist another trip to New Zealand. Even living in Santa Barbara with its year round wonderful weather the long nights of December still challenge my happiness and when we go camping the long cold nights in the tent get old quite quickly.

I also hadn’t been on a long solo Bikepacking trip since before the pandemic and since settling into my relationship with Jesse. In the intervening years I have done most of my Bikepacking with Jesse — I truly and enjoy our trips together, as well as our time at home together. I needed to answer the question: will I still enjoy solo travel or will I miss Jesse too much? Or will some other emotion arise?

Almost two weeks into my trip a couple of things have been revealed. First, I do miss Jesse and wish he were here, but not so much that it interferes with my ability to enjoy my present moment (opinion open to revision in a couple more weeks). While I appreciate the long hours of daylight here, with this being my third trip to New Zealand, the shine has started to wear off a bit. I think semi-regular trips here have probably run their course for me; however, the second half of my trip should involve less time on highways and more time in the remote mountains, so perhaps I will feel differently in a few weeks. Also, as I get older Bikepacking is just plain getting harder. I’m not quite sure what I will do with that information yet.

Speaking of getting older, today is my birthday here in the future! Tomorrow is if you are in the US. I’m hiding from quite chilly weather with intermittent rain at an, um, rustic hostel and spoiling myself by buying a bit more food out and about town than usual. Let’s not talk about NZ food. It’s definitely not the reason to come here. Tomorrow I will pedal to the coastal town of Greymouth and stay in a very nice hostel I have visited previously for the duration of heavy rain over the weekend. I hope summer arrives soon!

Monday the forecast is for “fine” and I am hatching plans for a huge day of mountain biking with some Kiwi friends. It will be wonderful if that works out! It will be nice to ride with friends even if these guys are 10- 20 years my junior and going to kick my a$$!

Before and during the rain at Lake Matiri shown above. I shared a hut with a number of Kiwis and it was quite fun.

I’m fortunate to be in one of my favorite little South Island towns right now, Reefton. The first place in the southern hemisphere to have electricity to the homes! There is a lot of history here and a strong sense of community. The weather and community reminds me of coastal northern California.