Epiblogue

First off, thanks to all who have been following the blog, particular thanks to those who have taken the trouble to respond, and double special thanks to anyone who negotiated Google's roadblocks and posted comments. As I said in my prologue, I'm new to this and I've not been able to find a way to make commenting more straightforward. Apologies.
We did it, although as has been pointed out, we're only halfway, and arguably the easier half. It's also been pointed out that we should be grateful to the rellies whose visit forced our change of plan, to tackle the South Island first! On that note, I realise how trivial this all is in the great scheme of things, and our thoughts are with everyone affected by the cyclone.
Could I have done it without an ebike? Quite possibly (heck, one of us DID for the last five days!)... Would I have done it without an ebike? Not in this lifetime! It was invaluable to be able to hit that button when the ratio between leg speed and road speed got uncomfortably high, or on that last climb at the end of a long day. My battery was never more than two bars down, Marg's (when it was working) never more than 3.
We weren't quick, but we were determined. And most importantly we enjoyed it! What a what a way to be immersed in New Zealand's amazing countryside. We're still smiling. We're still looking forward to the North Island, when it's practical to do it. There's almost nothing we took that we didn't use, except the first-aid kit and spare tubes! Booking as we went generally worked out well, allowing us to tweak the schedule and keep the pressure off. As always, the minor setbacks just make the stories more interesting... If nothing goes wrong, there's nothing to talk about! Thinking about how we tackled Vonn Hill, we imagine a speeded-up video, set to the Benny Hill theme. Priceless!!
I'll close with thanks to Marg, the love of my life and my inspiration, the driving force behind most of our mad plans. Without her, life would be so much smaller!

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