kiwission

cobwebs on the bicycle were the best sign i should leave fiordland at last. so i packed my stuff, said my goodbyes to the hosts at barnyard backpackers and hit the road again, hoping for some adventure doing mountain biking around doubtful sound. a long steep gravel road and a final climb to the saddle carrying the bike sounded more than exciting, so when the sun started to mellow, i turned off the road towards borland...the odds were against me though. next morning an army of heavy grey clouds was hardly holding on to the sky and the frost covered window panes. so instead of a mountain challenge i made it a record breaking day getting all the way to invercargill (150km! yey!), a gloomy industrial square-hearted city.
and then, i got KIWISSION - an obsessive thought of spotting a kiwi - a kiwi mission - there's no better a place to do it than stewart island. so not thinking much i jumped on a plane, then a water taxi took me across the inlet on a wild ride against giant swells, and there i was, all ready to experience my very own wild kiwi...24 hours later, after a night spent listening to their screeching calls and walking around in total darkness, i gave up on my hope to see one. and just when i least expected it...there it was! my very first genuine real live KIWI ! hurray! with my mission completed, i went back to invercargill just to make other kiwissioners green with envy :-)
one mission followed another - soon after i was cycling down the catlins, a fierce tail wind pushing me forward to see the abundance of sea life. the weather put me on hold for a day though, with snow and hail regularly banging on the roof. so when the sky opened one eye, i jumped on my karakoram and soon after...got more of that frosty welcome cycling all day with hail chasing me. but it was worth it. next morning i completed another mission - spotting a SEAL fooling around on the beach, showing off and posing like a pro.
as days get shorter and colder though, i'm already chilling out in my mind on a beach somewhere in australia...