Push me, pull you.

Cycling in New Zealand has a been a lesson in love versus hate, or desire versus reality. My hatred of going fast downhill (or fear) is outweighed by my desire to coast as far as possible on the bike loaded with gear.



My fear of New Zealand drivers, including the very able and aptly named Sonic Shuttles (so named because at any moment they may actually break the sound barrier) has twice won over my hatred of cycling 70 km into a headwind with rain threatening at any moment.

(note on NZ drivers - they go fast. They don't like to move out of their lane, even if no cars are coming towards them in the easily visible and straight opposite lane. yes, even if it means buzzing a cyclist at 100kmh with less then 1 meter to spare.)

But, the love of cycling with friends and Rich definitely wins out over every hardship we've encountered so far. Yeah I know, boo hoo, poor us!





And the sheep viewing never gets old!



Or the kitty petting.



The dogs are all friendly.



And the beer is always cold.

Turning over the pedals in NZ

Boy am I tired. All I can say is that NZ sure has some hills. Or are those mountains? Our friends Mike and Nancy are here and we are all cycling on the South Island.



Today was an 80+km day with warm weather and uphill (not all the way but a lot!). My back hurt and Rich claims his ears hurt from hearing me complain about my back.

However, this is NZ so a fantastic glass of white wine made me feel much better.
It's great to be back on our bikes.

Hong Kong and Hello Kitty

This one is for you Cecily!



And lest you think that is a small little window display of Hello Kitty and her gay vague love interest, Darling Daniel, (Darling Daniel or Darling David - I can't remember) here is the duo with crowd added for scale.



And the poster from the subway. Apparently you could call and get Hello Kitty messages on your cell phone!



I haven't gone online to check - but it appears that Hello Kitty has been married off to this charming little kitty, Daniel. Come on, he does look kinda gay vague.



More on Hong Kong later, it is a wonderful city, (the public transit is the best in the world as far as I can tell) but I had to get these photos out to show what lofty thoughts I pursue on my year off.