Author: Paul Rito (Page 3 of 28)

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We packed up early and rode the very short ride (for us) back to Devonport. Rain was called for and we got some on the way, and we rode to a little bakery near the ferry terminal and had breakfast and coffee. We had a reservation at the Eli Hotel on the other side of the river and headed there in hopes of dropping off our stuff and being free to tour around the city sans extra weight. The hotel folks were delightful and helpful and let us check in early since the people who booked our room the night before never showed. What a surprise bonus.

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In the morning we packed up camp and hiked back up main drag. Got some coffee at a local shop and had our breakfast at a park bench on the busy main street. We got on our way to Sheffield and our intent was to go past a wildlife reserve that also had devils and then do a big climb over to Sheffield. 

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After a good rest and a good breakfast and much discussion with Malcolm, we decided doing the wine trail was not going to be something we could accomplish and make it back to Devonport by Monday for the ferry. So, we decided to head back to Deloraine and on the way visit the Tasmanian Zoo where Tasmanian Devils and other creatures were kept. 

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We had a pretty good night, that is until the video family decided that a common sleeping area, surrounded by dozens of snoring and dozing passengers, was a good place to have a 6 AM video call. Rude, to say the least. We weren’t that close to them, and none of the closer passengers called them out (they were obviously from more polite societies). We did catch a few more Zzzzzs and the ferry was about an hour and a half late getting into Devonport, so we had the extra time.

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Our restful night wasn’t to be. About 2 AM, I was woken by a group of drunk German teens in the kitchen area having a party. I got up and reminded them that it was quiet hours — they settled down for a bit, but by 2:30 were still laughing and I went out again (and sent a note to the host). By 3, they finally settled down, and I was able to get back to sleep. The only thing that got Dana up was my going out — she can normally sleep through a lot of commotion.

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Tuesday morning, 3 AM, Christchurch airport. Everything went smoothly tho I had to pull a ½ kg from both of the bikes boxes to meet the weight requirement. No one pulled out a tape measure, and we got the bikes and our 2nd bags checked, got our boarding passes, finished off all the food we weren’t allowed to bring on the plane.

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It was a dark and stormy night… (Credit: Snoopy!). Windy for sure. We got a bit of water on the floor of the tent, but we stayed dry on our pads. The rain had diminished somewhat. enough to make a break for the kitchen and bathrooms. We fired up the stove and made coffee and oatmeal mixed with granola. If the weather had been nicer, we would have taken the long route around back to Christchurch, but in the end we decided to get back on the ferry, have a stop at Lyttelton, and reassess our options from there. We said good-bye’s to Derrick, Jared, Michelle, Boh & Moss and different points of the morning, and headed out.

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After our good rest, we broke camp and headed to the picnic tables for coffee. Then followed a big debate about what to do next. I wanted to stay closer to Christchurch and Dana wanted more challenging hikes. That was fine, but our first challenge was to get out of Taylor’s Mistake and back into Sumner where it was flat. There were restaurants, and my compromise request for all the upcoming climbing was getting breakfast and charging our phones.

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It was nice to start the day off with hot coffee that wasn’t heated on our little stove. The campground kitchen had a number of water boiler kettles and we used that for our press. Breakfast was granola & yogurt, one of our staples. It was a nice day so we packed up camp and headed for Godley Head.

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We had a great rest and Sheralee and Jean welcomed us for breakfast of granola and yogurt and more touring advice. We headed out about 10 and headed into Christchurch downtown to try to rent the elusive vehicle. No luck. So we headed to a North Brighton park that supposedly allowed tent camping.