Its been a pretty amazing three days in Christchurch but it draws to a close this evening and Im back on the road tomorrow morning heading in the direction of Picton and the ferry to the North Island. Last I wrote here was on Wednesday afternoon and its just been all go in the interim. The short spell has been without a shadow of a doubt some of the best days Ive had of the last nine months for a couple of reasons. Firstly catching up with Darren, an old school and football buddy from Leitrim, was great. Meeting his wife, Eri, and getting the personal tour around the revitalised city was amazing. The reality is that Christchurch has been decimated not once but twice by earthquakes in the last four years. Large portions, even full blocks, of the inner city have had to be levelled. Replaced with temporary car parks for the most part while the rebuild gets under way. Scaffolding and barriers are simply an every day occurrence throughout the metropolitan area. The silver lining is that finding a parking spot has never been easier in any city centre in the world. The city and its people have begun to start their own regeneration through pop up shops and cafés operating out of shipping containers. The buzz around the city is fantastic, a positive, youthful exuberance floats around with the people who have flocked to the city for all the employment created by the rebuild. Its a fantastic city and over the next decade and beyond will grow into the most amazing city as it retakes a new modern shape. I caught up with a few old friends. Andy who, through his adventure biking company Natural High, had organised my first cycle tour around Southern New Zealand in 2011 was great to see again. Seeing our group photos on the wall as I visited him in their depot was a lovely feeling and thanks to him, Dan and Steve for giving the bike the complete once over, service and replacing spare parts. I cant recommend them highly enough if your planning on visiting NZ and wanna get out on two wheels on or off road. On Wednesday evening Darren and Eri treated me to an amazing dinner in Lone Star, a tex mex style restaurant, where Eri couldnt believe myself and Darren both managed to devour an entire plate of ribs. Id considered the option of going for the large portion but on Darrens advice erred on the side of caution. It was a wise move. The last rib took a bit of work and dessert wasnt an option. Amazingly I even turned down my favourite Banoffee Pie. After dinner we went to Darrens local for a drink and got involved in the Karaoke night which was running there. Going with general nationality based stereotypes I had anticipated Eri, who hails from Japan, would be all up for belting out a song or two but the open pub and growing numbers put her off. I put my name down for a song or two, basing my selections on what I felt would go down well with the clientele in the bar. Being an Irish bar and having a few scattered Irish around the bar I went for some safe choices with Let Her Go and Wagon Wheel ticking the ballad and country options perfectly. After the opening act who with all due respect didnt exactly set the bar too high I was next up. The crowd which had swelled considerably in the half hour wed been there had been sniggering the entire way through the opening act. I was hoping for something a bit different. Id even have settled for pure apathy. Given the microphone was silenced for the first two lines, a legacy of the show starter, I was happy enough to just get through the song. By the time my second song popped up on the list I was following a combination of Nicky Minaj, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, One Direction and a few other more recent hits. The general tone was hip hop, R&B with lyrics all about what the artist would like to do to or with their partners. The place was now packed with students from the local university who had pretty much taken over the entire bar. I turned to Darren with what must have been a look of fear when my name was called. Following that genre of music with a country song was gonna be the ultimate buzz kill. I decided to man up and just do it. For myself and my confidence rather than the audience. Amazingly as soon as the title of the song appeared on the big screen behind me the kids in the audience went wild. The first few notes of the intro caught the remaining half of the people who hadnt read the song name originally and we were off and running. I can certainly say Ive never had the response to anything Ive performed before. I could barely hear myself or the music over the screams of the kids just feet in front of the stage and it felt amazing. Considering the frame of mind Id taken to the stage with I was completely flabbergasted. Darren and Eri were both at work the following day so we went home pretty soon after that with the screams, shouts and singing still reverberating through my head. I spent Thursday afternoon and evening with Gemma. An old friend and one of the original fifty blind dates I hadnt seen her in over two years since having the pleasure of her company at the Paralympic Games back in 2012. Since moving back home to Christchurch from Europe recently it was great to catch up with her. I spent the early evening on Friday helping Darren with a bit of renovations around the house. I had warned him that I wasnt particularly useful at DIY but after a trip to the hardware store and a few basic instructions from the boss we made a good start on what should become a pretty cool deck area in their front garden. It felt good to be able to help in a small way for the hospitality I received over the four nights and intervening days. I had planned to leave Christchurch this morning but I had been invited to a birthday party on Friday evening by a friend of this page. Rachael has been liking, commenting and sharing on Pedal The Planet for months and Ive become a big fan of accepting random invites to meet people when and where its possible. The worst thing that can happen is your lose an hour or so of your life, the best is that you make a new acquaintance, friend or group of friends. Attending a party is slightly different than meeting someone on their own so I felt I needed some moral support. I press ganged Gemma into coming along and she graciously agreed to effectively gate crash a joint birthday party. We met a lovely group of women who were all studying together. They were a really close knit group and while some of the in jokes went over our heads, I really enjoyed the hour or so we spent in their company. The energy from them was completely infectious and they made both myself and Gemma feel like two old friends within minutes of arriving at Justines house. Tomorrow morning finally sees me hit the road again. Its going to be a fairly quick spin through to the north island with about three days separating me from Blenheim near the ferry at Picton. Its been a pretty slow week with barely 140km cycled in the last week. Its going to be tough to say goodbye to Christchurch but have a feeling I might be back here at some point in the future.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:22:16 +0000
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