In the morning, I left at about 8:30am for Pancake rocks. After about 12kms, I arrived in Ponakiki where the Pancake rocks are located. It was amazing but it was rainy and my camera stopped working so I lost the chance to take some pictures.
I had 80kms more to Hokitika where I was supposed to stay overnight with Bruce who is a friend of Bob's.
The heavy rain was intermittent and I was so tired of the rain. I was completely soaked. After a while I found that the rain is following me and just I am moving with the rain. I dropped by a small shop to have coffee and something to eat to get warm. The rain stopped and it was ok. I began to ride again but very soon I saw it was raining again ahead of me. I slowed down and I was even cycling at 5km/hr to avoid the rain. I could see that the rain is 400m ahead and behind me was dry. For about 30min I was just following the rain. I was so slow and it was boring but I had no choice. If I cycle faster then I would be in the middle of the rain. Finally I decided to cross the rain. I knew that it will be about 10kms of rain and if I push myself for about 10-15kms I will pass the rain and after that it would be dry. It was very hard to enter the rain again but I did and for 12kms I cycled very fast and finally I passed over the clouds and the rain. It was very hard and I was just telling myself that hey Mohammad you are much more stronger than the rain, just go just go and I was just encouraging myself to do that hard job and it worked out very well. Behind me there was rain and ahead was dry. There was still 40kms ahead. I was worried about my camera and the other stuffs which were wet, I had to dry them as soon as possible. So I had to reach the town faster and it was a reason to cycle faster.
About 10kms before the town, the rain started again and I got soaked one more time. But I was counting the kms..just 10, just 9…just 5 and finally I saw the sign of Hokitika. It was a wonderful moment and exactly in that time the rain stopped and the city showed off with a double rainbow and a very nice sunset. I was tired and wet but very happy to finish that hard work. The sunset and the rainbow were the prize for me for that hard work. After a few minutes I was in front of Bruce's house waiting for a warm shower….having a warm shower after that day…woooow, it was just so nice!
The next day, after having a feast for breakfast I left the camping ground when there was a light rain and i was quietly hoping that it will be a nice day, and it was.
I had a very nice day and a very beautiful road ahead. It is hard to explain the beauty of that area. The road was moving through the mountains and forests by the river. A big river that was getting bigger and bigger with many small streams reaching the river by hope of going to the ocean and connecting to the endless calmness.
For many times I stopped to snap some pictures and enjoy the paradise. It was amazing, unbelievably beautiful. I didn’t have much to cycle as I had a point to go which was the Seal Colony near the west port. There is a spot that have many seals living there and a nice spot for visitors to watch the seals in the wild. I arrived there about evening, the sun was sinking on the other side of the ocean and the orange color of the sunset was reflecting on the waves which was hitting the boulders near the beach. There is a secret in the lights, in life and in the ocean and all the lines were ending to the lighting point on the distance, to the sun. for more than an hour I was just gazing at the sun and the waves, at the water and the seals. It was almost dark when i decided to made a move. There was a campground just before the place and I had to go back for about 1km. But I do not want to leave the secrets. I couldn’t leave the place. I know I was not supposed to stay and camp there but I couldn’t leave it. Just when it was completely dark I pitched my tent and squeezed to my little house to listen to the waves to hear the secrets. At night I came out of the tent, the rain has stopped and the sky was full of stars. On the end of the sky the stars were jumping into the ocean and it was another astonishing scenery. The rain began to follow at the middle of the night. The following morning I spent about 2 hours to dry my tent and I left the place about 11am.
On the fourth day, I began to cycle in a very nice weather but it was just for a short time. After a while the rain began and again everything was wet. I had about 60kms to Pancake rocks which is a nice spot to visit in the west coast. I was going to cycle there to visit but after 50kms cycling under the rain I realized that I cannot continue. The rain was very heavy and I was very cold. Anyway it was a good time to visit the Pancake rocks at that time because I couldn’t take any pictures so I decided to just stay somewhere near there and to continue the following day. I needed a roof to camp and at about km52 I found a roof. I jumped off my bicycle and rang the bell. I asked the owner to stay under the roof and he kindly accepted that. I was so happy that I have a roof for the night and I didn’t have to worry about the rain. Again it was a heavy rain and I thought I was safe but I was wrong -- the water came under the tent and I had my worse night. Everything was wet and the water penetrated inside my tent. I had a very difficult time trying to keep my stuffs dry but it was just an exercise in futility.
After I left Nelson I saw myself in a nice road. I was heading west to the west coast. My next stop was Hokitika and I had 4 days ahead and about 350kms to ride.
The first day, I just cycled about 80kms and I found a very nice spot on the side of the road for camping. A very nice place just by the river and some colorful trees around. I was the only one who was camping there. After having a nice night in the morning I was faced with a wet tent, which is a problem that is happening almost every morning. The tent, due to the frost is wet and I have to spend some time to dry it before I move.
After I dried my tent I began to ride again but the rain had started to fall. At first it was very light rain but after a while it became quite heavy and it was very cold. I was very cold and it was really hard to continue but I just told myself to just go, just go. After a while I saw a sign board for a small river. The name of the river was 'Small Hope'. That name envigorated me and I felt very nice after that. I just knew that I have to find a certain place to stay overnight because it was raining and I couldn’t dry my tent so I had to make it dry. After 80kms I found a place to camp out but I didn’t feel good about it so I just I continued riding 10kms more and there I found a very nice camping ground on the top of a hill. The camping ground had a hut which was perfect. I occupied the hut and there were also some camper vans around. After a while I saw another guy looking for a place to stay, I offered him the hut to share but he was happy to stay on his tent. I told him it would be rainy at night and it is better to stay in the hut, however he pitched his tent outside. I was cooking some sausages for dinner when another guy- Moses from Germany- came over to chat. He is traveling alone on a camper van and we had plenty of things to talk about. After a while Eden the other guy joined us and we chatted until 11pm.
We fixed an appointment for the following morning to have breakfast together and that was the time to sleep and save some energy for the next day.
I arrived in Nelson almost evening and I was looking for the address of my Persian friend Hossein Kouhestani who is now living in Nelson. I made a mistake and after about one hour I found that I am out of Nelson in the other direction, so I just U-turned and tried to find the address. Finally I found the address but it was a little bit late and my friend's shop was already closed. I called him and after a few minutes he was there and I just followed his car to his house to meet his family. Hoss is running a carpet business in Nelson and it was so nice to see many Persian carpets far from home.
I was in Nelson for 4 days. On the third day I was walking on the street when I saw a girl who was so familiar to me, she was Karlota whom I met in Kota Baru in Malaysia last year when I was cycling with Rick. It was wonderful meeting Karlota and Lipo-her partner- in NZ after a year. We hugged each other and just we were laughing for that nice circumstance. We had Asian food in a Thai restaurant and after that we just walked on the street for a while to share our experiences during the last year.
NZ have many caves and is a nice place for caving. I was happy that Hoss is a very keen caver and I could have the chance to do caving there. We talked about it and Hoss decided to take me to one of the caves near Nelson which is quite a difficult cave - it has a deep wall of about 40m and some 6-10 m. Hoss didn’t know about my caving or climbing experience and also it has been more than 3 years that I have never touched the rocks and ropes or any climbing gears. It was very difficult for him to decide if we would go caving or not and finally we decided to do it. It was a great news for me and I was so happy to experience caving in NZ. We were going to visit the Middle Earth cave which is located around Abel Tasman. We left Nelson at 8pm and after 1.5 hours driving we were in front of the cave. We got ready but Hoss was still not very sure about me and it made him worried. I was out of home on the road and he didn’t like for something to happen to me that might make me loose the journey and he was right because we have never climbed together before. I was excited and didn’t care about the danger of what we were going to do. I was just thinking about going inside and visiting the river down inside the cave. It was the only thing I was thinking about. We began to work, after a few small holes and squeezing from the very tiny windows we were exactly on the top of the main deep wall. Hoss fixed the rope for self protection and he was just about preparing the rope to go down through the rope to 40m. He was still worried and at that time he made a right decision….he told me that we should go back, we can't go down and I accepted that because he was responsible and I was just following what he says. It was very hard for me and I was very disappointed but I knew that Hoss is very experienced and what he says is right and he knows everything much better than I do, so we just came back and I saw the sky which was completely dark and cloudy. I missed the chance but I am still alive and fine. However, I hope I can find a chance to do caving in NZ and I am still looking for the chance to do that somehow.
On the last day we went to the beach and I just laid down under the sunshine which was so nice. At night like always, I was awake till very late to pack my bags and in the following morning I left the lovely family and their two beautiful angels to hit the road again and to experience the beauty of the South Island.
While I was in Nelson my Iranian friend contacted the city council and asked them for an opportunity to plant a tree in Nelson.
It was school holidays so there was no chance to go to any school to talk so we just planted a tree at the entrance of the main street in Nelson. On the day of tree planting, Mr.Hossein Kouhestani with his wife and lovely daughters, Jasmine and Vanessa came with one of the city counsellors.
It was wonderful because the two beautiful and lovely angels decided to help and plant the tree, we just helped them to dig a whole and they planted the tree by themselves.
It was another nice day to give the tree a life and give ourselves a small hope for life.
Many thanks to Mr Kouhestani and Counsellor ….and the 2 lovely angels for helping me to plant one more tree.
After having dinner with my Iranian friends, I went to stay with Mr Moaveni for the last night. I left their house early morning and Mr Moaveni accompanied me to the port on his bicycle. It was about and I was the last one who boarded the boat. We left Wellington for the South Island. The sailing took about 3.5 hours and I arrived in Picton which was the first town on my route in South Island. I had a very nice time on the boat, I met many people and for the first time I could see the dolphins in the wild. A group of around 50 dolphins were playing around the boat in the ocean, it was amazing, so beautiful! I was in Picton about 12noon and I headed to a supermarket to buy some supplies for dinner and breakfast before hitting the road. I met 2 cyclists from Europe and we had lunch together and after that they headed for the east coast line and I did for the west. I took the coast road to Nelson, where I will stay for a couple of days. One of the old members of my mountaineering club in Iran, Hossein Houhestani, is currently living in Nelson and I am going to meet him and his family there. There is about 115kms from Picton to Nelson and I was going to do that in two days. I began to cycle in a beautiful road. It was hilly but so nice. I just cycled about 36kms and I found a very nice spot to stay. There was a place for a look out to the 2 bays in 'Have A Look', which is a very small town. I pitched my tent just in front of the bay. It was a full moon that night and just after a short time the moon emerged. The moon just came up from the front side of my tent and it made a very nice light on the water. It was a very cold night but the moonlight was a very good reason for me to stay outside for a long time and I just watched the moon and after that I went to sleep. Fortunately, the Iranian Embassy in Wellington bought me a very nice sleeping bag and some other stuffs that I needed. Many thanks to Mr Nozari and the other people in the embassy for giving me their support, so I could sleep well and enjoy of the warmth of my new sleeping bag. I woke up very early in the morning to watch the sunrise. It is so hard to explain the beauty of the sunrise there and even I couldn’t make it with picture. You have to be there and see it with your own eyes and feel it directly. It was still cold and my tent was wet from the previous night so I had to waitfor my tent to dry and actually I was not in hurry. I had plenty of time, I have only about 80kms to ride to Nelson. So I chatted with a couple and had breakfast with them. I began to cycle to Nelson at about . The road was just amazing. One of the most beautiful roads where I have cycled was that road. I arrived in Nelson at about 5:30pm but I missed the way and I saw myself in the other side of the town going to exit the town so just I called Hoss and I came back into the town to find him. I called Hoss and he came to catch me on the street and after that he took me to his house. I am in Nelson right now staying with Hoss and Cornelia and their two beautiful angels.
There was a tree planting plan in Chartun Park on Saturday and Celia made arrangement for me to be there and plant a tree with the people there. Some Iranian people attended the tree planting, and it was very nice to have them there.
When I was in Wellington, Celia, the person who was hosting me, called one of the Iranian community in Wellington to let them know that I am there and contacted the Iranian people there. After that Mr Moaveni called me and we had lunch at the Wellington Museum, which is called Te-Papa and we talked a lot about my journey, Iran, etc. The following night they made a party and some of my people gathered in a restaurant in Wellington to have dinner together and after that we went to the house of MrYassae, the chief person of the Iranian Cultural Society, to have tea. However the tea was just an excuse and we just like to spend more time together and we read some poems of Hafez. I was happy to be with my people and speak in Persian after a long time. My heartfelt thanks goes to all of them.
I was cycling on the road when I saw some people planting trees at the side of the road. So I just jumped out of my bike and asked them if I can plant a tree and they happily obliged so I planted a tree there. It was so fun and very nice to be able to plant a tree on the road side.
Anne and Jack dropped me
about 20kms after Tokorua and I began to cycle at about 2 in the afternoon.
After a long time not cycling it was a quite hard to cycle and my
body was not working very well. The bicycle was so heavy, about 52kgs
and my muscles were not following my mind. Even a small wind in front was
killing me and it was really hard to cycle.
I still had about 65kms to Taupo and I was cycling in a very cool weather in a
beautiful road. Just about 6kms before the town there is a place where the river gets narrow and the water is moving very fast and crazy, it is
Huko Falls. I had a short stop there to see the waterfalls and then I began to cycle
again. It was very close to the evening and I didn’t have much time to find a place
to stay at night. After cycling 3kms away from Huko Falls I realized that I
have left my water bottle there and I had to go back to take it….oh I really
didn’t like to cycle back when my baggage is so heavy and my body is not working well.
However I had to and I did it and then I continued to cycle to town. After buying some
supplies for dinner and breakfast I saw that there was no more time to go out of the
town to find a place to stay and just I had to cycle back for about 4kms to stay
in a camp ground which is located just by the river where the river is very wide
and the water is so calm. It was very a peaceful place and many people had camped
there or were staying in their motor home. I pitched my tent and snaked inside.
I really don’t like to cycle when I am not fit as I cannot enjoy the scenery. The place was amazing but when I am tired I cannot stay out of my tent to enjoy
the scenery and I just have to sleep, so I have to stay in shape always to enjoy. I had
just cycled for about 68kms but it was like cycling 150kms and I was tired. I had my
dinner but it was hard to sleep because I still don’t have a sleeping bag and it
was a bit cold. I wore more clothes to get warm but still I was feeling cold. However, the night passed and in the morning after I woke up I saw that my
tent was wet from outside and I had to stay to dry it so I began to cycle about
11am. It was another hard day. I couldn’t believe that I cannot cycle and I had to push myself to turn the pedals. After just 60kms I wanted to give up and
stay put somewhere but I knew that I just have to push myself to be fit again,
otherwise I will have a problem in the following days as well so I just pushed myself.
I was cycling on a hill and I told myself that I have no right to stay put before I did 80kms so I struggled to keep myself moving. It is one of the
ways that I use to recover my mind.
I was cycling on a deserted road and there was no shop and nothing and I didn’t
provide any food for myself and I just had some cheese and peanut butter in my
bag and no bread. I was looking to find a shop and buy something to eat but it
was almost evening and still I couldn’t find any shop so I had to stay
somewhere and have a cold night without dinner and breakfast and also no water.
I was so hungry but there was nothing to eat and I had to tolerate it until
the next day when I could find a place to eat. Fortunately I was camping near
the river and I had water to drink from the river.
It was a very cold at night but I already knew how to wear my clothes to keep
me warm and to sleep without a sleeping bag but still it was bloody cold and I woke up
2-3 times at night to burn my stove to warm myself. I didn’t have a good sleep
due to the cold weather and it was not all. In the middle of the night the rain
began and it was colder. Finally, I was able to sleep for a few hours but when I woke
up early morning I saw that it was still raining outside and cold but I had no choice, I had
to begin cycling. Ohh it is really hard to come out when it is raining but I had
to. I collected the tent which was 2kgs heavier and loaded my bike.
I began to hit the road. I was happy because on the third day my body began to
work and I was very comfortable on the bike and I could cycle very well. After
a few hours cycling on the wet road I reached a small town and I just jumped into
the restaurant to have something to eat.
Since morning I was thinking of what I want to do in the evening. My tent was wet and it would be cold at night. I cannot dry my tent because it is raining
and… but after a while I realized that no matter how hard I think about it, my tent wont
be dry so I told myself to just enjoy and do not think much about it, just cycle 140kms
today and you will find a place to stay at km140. It was a good day and
after a few small hills, I was cycling on a flat road. I cycled about 135kms when I found a place with a shelter but I had already told myself that I have to
cover 140kms so I just ignored it and continued to cycle until 140kms.
At exactly 139.82kms, I met 3
people off the road talking. I stopped by them and asked them for a shelter. I
told them that my tent was wet and I needed a shelter to stay the night due to the rain and
I need a dry place to dry my tent. They kindly pointed me to a house nearby and
told me that the house is empty and that I can stay the night there. Wow, I was
surprised and so happy for that. The men left and I went to the house but
the door was locked. I became disappointed and was going to stay in the garage
when suddenly I saw an open window. I jumped inside the window and I opened the door.
It was great, I could dry my clothes and my tent and I could have a dry place to
stay. After a short time there were so many stuffs hanging around the room to dry. I had a good sleep and early morning the next day I left for Wellington.
After that good day of cycling, I just had 160kms to Wellington and I saw that I can do that on
the same day, just I have to work a bit hard and I did.
After a long day of cycling I arrived in Wellington
about evening and I looked for Island Bay where I was going to stay.
Today I say goodbye to Jocelyn and Brian as I bike
towards Tokoroa to meet Jack and
Anne for coffee. They took me up Colsons Hill where I could see all the
surrounding countryside. Tokoroa has many beautiful trees both native and European.
Annes favourite is the Punga tree fern. After lunch I set off once more to
cycle towards Taupo. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in NZ formed after a very big eruption many hundreds of years ago. Anne with Mohamad
on the road to Taupo Punga Tree Ferns
Tokorua and meeting people from Forest and Bird conservation
After leaving the Balloon Festival in
Hamilton I started to
cycle to Tirau (which is in the South Waikato District) where I was met by
Stewart and Kathleen Gray. They took me to a meeting in Putaruru where I was to
speak to members of the Royal
Forest and Bird Society.
This was all arranged for me by Roberta’s sister, Anne, who is the chairperson for the South Waikato Branch and her husband Jack
who is secretary. The Royal
Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand is
New Zealand’s
largest national conservation organisation. The Society's mission is to
preserve and protect the native plants and animals and natural features of
New Zealand . Forest and Bird is active on a wide range of
conservation and environmental issues. These include the protection of native
forests, tussock grasslands, wetlands, coastlines and marine ecosystems, energy
and resource conservation, sustainable fisheries and sustainable land
management. Forest and Bird is also involved in South Pacific rainforest conservation
work and is working to ensure the protection of Antarctica
from environmental damage. www.forestandbird.org.nz check
out their website. Kiwi Conservation club is the children’s club for
conservation. The New
Zealand Government also have a Conservation
Department DOC also has camping grounds around NZ. check out http://www.doc.govt.nz/ ’s
After a nice lunch I spoke to the group of mainly older people for
30mins, then I traveled with the group to visit
the farm of Joanna and Piet Duitz- Ebbling, who were finalists in the farm
environment awards 2007. Joanna and Piet have planted and fenced off their
stream banks and planted trees to prevent runoff from the soil affecting water
quality. I then planted two trees, a lemonwood and a cabbage
tree. Farmers in New Zealand
can apply for funding for fencing off stream banks and for purchasing trees to
stop farm effluent running into the water. check out.http://www.ew.govt.nz/projects/cleanstreams.htm After afternoon coffee I travelled with
Jack and Anne to Jim
Barnett Scenic Reserve in Waotu, which their branch of Forest
and Bird have been looking after for the South Waikato District Council. This
bush was first cut and milled in 1920, mainly native Totara and Rimu trees.
Today only small fragment remains of the orginal forest which now has very
good regeneration coming through. I walked around and saw all the native trees they have
planted over the last 15 years. Mainly 500-600 trees each year. People may camp
in this beautiful reserve which has many native birds. They showed me a 1000 year old Totara tree. Jack and I in front of the Totara tree I then went to the home of Brian and Jocelyn Pepperill
who I stayed with for Wednesday and Friday night. I shared a lovely evening
meal with my new friends Jack & Anne Groos
and Brian & Jocelyn Peperill. Brian and Jocelyn live
on a small lifestyle block farm and rear beef cattle in Putaruru. Thursday morning
Brian took me to meet Max Rigg at
Putaruru
Primary School . Thursday I stayed with
John and Anne Crabb who live in Tirau.
John and Anne took me to see
Maungatautari Mountain
where they both do voluntary work. The Mountain has been completely fenced with
a predator proof fence. All the predators, goats, deer, possums, rats, mice, stoats,
weasels have all been poisoned so the mountain can be restored to its former
glory. The photo shows the first kiwi chick hatched on the mountain for 100
years. http://www.maungatrust.org/home/index.asp New Zealanders are
called kiwis after this bird
When I arrived to Hamilton I cycled directly to Daphne Bells house. Daphne is Hamiltons city councillor. They very warmly welcomed me and just I found myself with a very friendly and lovely family, Daphne and Mick.
It was Wednesday evening when I arrived there and after having dinner I immediately went to bed. On the following morning, Ros Chadwick came and it was the first time that I met her. She came on a very nice car, a new brand by an old design. She picked me up and we went directly to the nursery to collect the trees that we were going to plant in schools and after that just we had a cup of coffee on the corner of a very quiet street so it was the beginning of a very nice friendship with a wonderful person who is Ros. Just after having some talk in coffee shop she took me back to Daphnes house and on the way back home we went to her house and I met Roberta who is leaving with Ros in their house. I went back home and in the afternoon Roberta came and picked me up and she took me to the Hamilton garden which is a beautiful garden with different design from different cultures and after that we went to some pub to visit the night life in Hamilton and having a place to sit and chat. In the following morning we had a very nice program running in Melville Intermediate School for the Kids on Bike program, which I have already written about. In the afternoon I came back home. Daphne and Jack were going to have their weekend on the beach, so I moved to another place to stay with an amazing couple. Claire and Nji, who are Buddhist, welcomed me to their warm house. Clare is working with refugees. I met them in her work at night and just they gave me the address and I began to cycle ahead to their house. it is really hard to explain how I spent time in Hamilton due to every single moment was a wonderful experience and very important for me. I was just learning from every moments and just it was amazing. I stayed with Clare and Nji for 2 days and we had a few long conversations, we talked and talked and talked and there were too many things to learn for me from them. During the time that I was there, they did their best to show me around and have fun. It was funny that they have a quoins tree in their garden which had many fruits. We collected the quoins and I called my mother to ask how to make quoins jam and also we looked at internet to find out the way. We combined some ways and finally in the end of day we had wonderful jam made by quoins which is originally from Persia. It was Sunday and I had to stay 3 more days in Hamilton to finish my work in schools there. I moved to Ros and Robertas house and I stayed the rest of the time with them. On Sunday morning, we went to Ragland black sand beach which is a world well known beach for surfing. Ros has to meet her son and Roberta took me to her sisters farm to show me the farm life in NZ. We drove off the town just for few minutes to the farm. In the farm Roberta asked her nephew to show me around the farm. Sammy who is just 11 years old showed me around and I found him so confident and very experienced. I was surprised with his knowledge about farming and doing work in the farm. I really admire him and his parents as well. On Saturday I had 2 more schools to work and after I finished my work there another family came to pick me up and I stayed with them at night. Abraham and …were a couple who were hosting me at night. On Tuesday I had my last school to work in Hamilton and after that Ros came and picked me up and we went home. I was a quite tired and I needed to rest. In the afternoon I was staying at home doing some work on the Internet and just at night we went to the one spa in their campus. I had to leave there early morning to visit the hot air balloon festival. I said goodbye to Rose but she was happy to wake up very early morning to meet each other before I leave there and Roberta told me she will accompany me to the hot air balloon festival. I was so happy to have such wonderful friends like them. That’s why I never feel alone in this journey. Always I have someone to take care of me and just thanks GOD for all these things. I woke up at 5 am and I saw Ros is making breakfast. We had breakfast and it was the time to say goodbye to a wonderful friend, I hugged her….I looked back from the distance, she was still outside waving her hands….thank you Ros for everything. Clare and Nji were happy for us to meet each other in the morning near the lake where the hot air balloon festival was running. Roberta took me there on her car and we had the last coffee with Roberta, Clare and Nji and after the balloons were all floating on the air everybody left. I jumped on my bicycle and hugged my friends for the last time and said goodbye to them sadly. I was happy to be on the road again and meeting new people and making new friends but always it is hard to leave your friends when you leave the place. My friends are a piece of my heart and everywhere I have to leave a piece of my heart. Just there is a hope that I meet them again somewhere sometime. I was just thinking of them, Clare, Roberta, Nji, Rose, Daphne…..that I saw myself turning the pedals in a soft steep. I had to push much more harder my body to take my bicycle up to the hill. Just I was looking ahead. There was a point to go and just I was looking at that point.
After 2 days holiday and having very nice time with Clare and Nji I moved to stay with Ros and Roberta in their house. Ros also had organized 3 more schools to talk to and plant trees, the first one was PeachGroveIntermediateSchool. I went there on Monday, April 7th and after a short introduction in the morning I went to the one class which is more involved with the environment. David, the teacher in that class, talked to his students briefly and after that we had a nice conversation with the students. I was surprised because it was the first school where the students were happy to talk about trees first and after that we talked about traveling. After that they showed me around the school and their garden and then we continued again our workshop. Finally after having a wonderful class we went ourtside to plant a tree in front of the entrance gate. All the students took a part to plant the tree which was fantastic. Thanks David and to all your lovely students for giving me the chance to be with all of you. I had a very nice time there. Also many thanks to Mrs.Louisa Barham the principal of the school for her co-operation in this project. The students have a weblog which is ………….. you can visit their weblog and read their stories.
As I wrote in my earlier report, I was scheduled to participate in the KOB (Kids On Bike) program in Hamilton on April 4th. KOB is a
program organized by concerned individuals who are concerned about the kids' confidence
and they are trying to give the kids more confidence and also looking for
people to get involved with some kind of charity. They try to raise some funds
by encouraging the people or companies to give donations and then they provide some bicycles for young
students who do not have a bicycle. They are actually looking for some result
which is helping students to have more confidence, getting involved with social
works and make them more responsible about their society.
They provide the school kids with very nice bicycles with all equipment but the students have
to learn how to use the bicycle properly and they have to learn from the police how
to follow the law and traffic, how to fix the bicycle and they have to
promise to use the bicycle everyday so the students gain bike dollar for what
they do in this project and after a year if they can gain enough bike dollar
then they will earn the bike for themselves and they will be the owner of
the bicycle. It was a short explanation
about the KOB program and you can read more about that in their website: www.kidsonbikes.co.nz The program started at 8:30
am with a Maori traditional welcoming song. After that someone made a speech and then they gave the bikes to the kids and meanwhile I had few minutes
time to talk and explain what I am doing. It was a very good chance to be there
and talk with all those students. Then we had a break for morning tea and after
that we planted a tree in front of the school. After the KOB program is finished, I
left my bicycle at the school and joined some people to have lunch with them. When I
came back to the school to collect my bicycle later, I had a very good time to talk
with the students there. They are so clever and aware about environment and they
really take care of nature and trees. There is a big hope for the future by having
such a responsible students like them.
There was a program in Hamilton which was Kids
On Bike (later I will explain about it in my reports). The program was scheduled on Friday, 4th of April
but Ros told me that they were going to meet me on Wednesday night. Ros
already had found an accommodation for me and I was supposed to stay with Ms. Daphne
Bell who is the councillor of the city of Hamilton.
In order to arrive as planned, I left Auckland
for Hamilton in the early morning of April 2nd and just I began to cycle down to Hamilton. It was great. After more than one
year cycling in hot and humid countries now I am cycling in a very cool
weather, even in the afternoon I had to wear my cycling rain clothes to keep
myself warm. The night before I left Auckland
I did not have enough sleep and on the road I was feeling so sleepy. After having
lunch in an Indian restaurant I saw that I cannot cycle anymore and I just had
to sleep. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and just I stopped on the side of the road and
laid down on the ground, even I did feel many thorns on the ground and just I zonked out. After about 40 mins I heard someone calling out to me…are you alright? Are
you ok? And I woke up. She was driving and when she saw me sleeping just off
the road she stopped to see if I am fine or not? However I woke up and began to hit the road
again. The road was not in very good condition and it was very hard to cycle in
that road due to the kind of asphalt. Also I had strong winds in front that
made my cycling more difficult.
After about 135km cycling I was in Hamilton
looking for the address which was given to me and I found it easily. A beautiful house
in a very nice street full of trees and so quiet. Daphne and Mick are the couple that I am going to stay with in Hamilton and it was Ros who arranged for me to
stay with them. I was so tired and just I needed a warm shower and a long
sleep.
Sorry my friends that I
didn’t write for a long time. After a long and tiring flight to Auckland, I arrived there early Friday morning, 28 March. It
was about 6:30am but the sky was still completely dark. The process in the immigration
was very complicated and it was a long process for me. Because it is highly dependent on its agriculture, NZ has many
rules and laws to protect the country and expose it to a minimum level of risk. Passengers are not allowed to bring even food into the country and many more things. I brought my used
outdoor stuffs with me and I had to declare these and the customs authority had to check my tent
and bicycle, so it took me a little bit more time than usual to clear immigration. But it was all ok and I was happy that finally I could do what I was looking
for. I came out of the transit hall and just looking for the friend who was going
to meet me there. Just after about 10min I saw someone holding a sign with my name on it.
It was Mayada, who is originally from Iraq and a friend of Gail Rogers. When Gail asked her
friends in NZ to support me she was one of the many people who wrote to me and offered to help me. Mayada is so kind and friendly and I was really happy to have someone
in the airport to meet me. As we have planned, Mayada was to take me to the house of Gaye and
Stu Andrews so she took me there and told me that she will come to pick me up
for dinner in the afternoon.
Roz Chadwik is another friend of Gail who is living in Hamilton. Gail
also contacted Gaye and asked them to host me and take care of me in Auckland. I arrived in Gaye's & Stu's house
very tired and just directly I went to the room that they provided for me. By the
first minute, I found how very nice and friendly they are, it is true, they are
so lovely. During the time that I was in Auckland Gaye and Stu took care of me
like their own son and just I am amazed how they can be so nice to me who is a
stranger. Just after a short rest Stu drove me around the town to show me the
town but I was so tired and on the way just I slept inside the car and Stu
brought me back home to have a rest. In the afternoon Mayada came with her son
Mohammad and we went to their house. We had a wonderful dinner with her family-- Mayada,
Manaf, Mohammad and Omar. They are wonderful and so kind to me. I was amazed
thinking to myself that just a few years ago, people in our respective native countries were fighting and killing each other
and now they are treating me like their own son. It was such a bloody war and thousands of
people died for nothing, just because of the demand of a few people and now we already
have forgotten the history and just looking at each other as a human being what we had to do before. Anyway, thank you Mayada and Manaf for your kindness and your
warm hands and kind hearts.
In the days that followed just everyday we had cycling with Gaye and Stu and their
friends. I really enjoyed their accompany and the very cool weather in NZ. Meanwhile
I had to check my bicycle and after I brought itto the bicycle shop I found that my rear rim was broken and it wont work anymore. I had to change the rim and do some more
work on bicycle as well. I left the bicycle at the shop to get fixed and the next day when Stu took me there to collect it I found that the repair of my bicycle has been taken cared of by Stu
and Gaye. Thank you very much Gaye and Stu for your help and support. It was the time that my
website was out of order and Mark Andrew the son of Gaye tried a lot to help
me, he spent so much time for that but the problem was from back home and Jalal
was looking after that to fix it. I had a very nice time in
Auckland, then it was time to leave for Hamilton. The weather was
going to become cold and in the morning it is a little bit chilly. Gaye was so
worried about me, it gaveme very nice feeling that someone is looking after me
like a mother and I really felt I am at home. Even in the last minute when I
was leaving there she gave me warm clothes, she couldn’t see that I am leaving
without any warm clothes. Thank you Gaye for everything. It was what happened in
Auckland and just one thing more happened which was wonderful for me and it was
meeting a friend. I met Stephanie in Kathmandu last year and at that time she used to live in Canada, but when I sent an email to my contact list she
told me that she is now living in Auckland. She was so busy in those days but she
made a short meeting to have a coffee and have a short chat about our life. It
was really nice meeting her after exactly one year.
After a long time in Jakarta, finally I can continue my journey. I was supposed to fly to New Zealand on Monday, 24 March. On that day, I happily went to the airport and went to queue at the Brunei Airlines counter. People were checking in and after a while it was my turn to check-in. Confidently I handed my passport and ticket to the agent and I put my bags on the trolley, then was waiting for my boarding pass. The airline staffs looked at my documents and after some discussion between them they asked me for my onward ticket from NZ to the third country!! what? The NZ Embassy didnt tell me anything about that nor the airline. They sent a telex to NZ and after a few minutes the answer was NO....oh my goodness. There was no time to buy another ticket and the only airline available was so expensive. I was running around to find a way, I even called Mr.Bob McKerrow from IFRC. But it seemed that my destiny is not going to bring me to NZ at that time. I knew that I just have to keep relaxed and I shouldnt get angry or...otherwise I cannot continue this journey. I called Ariane and told her about what happened and after one hour I was again back in Jakarta, tired and sleepy.
However, the only way in front of me was to purchase a ticket from NZ to Australia and I had 2 days time to do that since the next Brunei Airlines flight to Auckland is leaving Wednesday midnight. So after checking on the Internet I found a cheap flight for 168$ and I bought the onward ticket to Australia.
I am at the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta right now (1:30am on 26March). Many thanks to Ariane for her help and support. While I was staying in Jakarta she was the person who supported me and she provided what I needed. I had to change many stuff and buy new ones and she did them all. Even in the last minute she took me to the airport by her car and she called her friend at the executive lounge in the airport to take care of me. (Thats why in this time I have Internet to use). Also many thanks to Joe who is Arianes friend here for his help.
Ok, finally now I am in transit at Brunei airport and in the next 2 hours I will fly to NZ but first I have to write something here.
I have to say that NZ is my first country out of Asia and also the first country in my trip where I already have some friends before I arrived there. A few weeks ago I received a comment from Ms.Gail Rogers who is from NZ but is currently living in Guatemala. After some e-mail exchanges, she sent an e-mail to her family and friends in NZ and through her I found some friends in NZ. Just right after Gail's e-mail I got an e-mail from Ms.Roz Chadwick from Hamilton letting me to know that there is a function on 4 April which is the launching of the "Kids on Bike" project. She kindly invited me to the function and she did a lot for me. She is making a lot of arrangements for me and working very hard to help me...I am really surprised that a person who doesnt know me is trying to help me. I really appreciate it and just thanks to Roz. She contacted her son Paul and her friends Gaye and Stu Andrews to host me in Auckland. Thank you Gaye & Stu. But that is not all. Mayada Ghanim, another friend of Gail who is a teacher is preparing a speech in her school and she will come to pick me up from the airport at 3:40 in the morning. I really feel that in this trip I am going to go home to visit my family.
Still more hospitality from people in NZ. Mr. Bob McKerrow, who is the Head of Mission of the IFRC and the one who helped me to get my visa for NZ and Australia is actually from NZ. He wrote some letters directly to the Australian and NZ ambassadors and his letters worked like magic. And he is still helping me. He sent an e-mail to his family and friends in NZ to help and support me and I received some answer. Even his daughter Aroha has offered to host me.
I am leaving Asia very happy. But I have not finished Asia yet and I will come back again to finish it. I still have a lot of work to do in Asia. In the meantime, I am very happy and so looking forward to be cycling in NZ.
I am in Jakarta for a long time but still I don’t
know very much about this city due to the cities never attract me and I don’t
like them very much. I am not very interested to visit the nice buildings and
malls and shopping centers.
Actually Jakarta
is not a touristy city and it is a commercial city with many towers and so busy
roads and for sure too much pollution. I am not going to explain the town due
to I wrote before that I didn’t see much around the town just I saw something
which was so hard to believe. In Jakarta you can easily find many nice
restaurant which are full of people. You see people easily spend big money for
a meal but just you need walk for a 100 of meters to see people who has nothing
to eat and they are standing just by 1$ a day.
there is a Golden triangle which is the most important part of business between
2 streets named Sudirman, Gatot Soebroto and Rasuna Said. Almost all the towers
and most of the money is in this area. On the north of these streets where they
are connected by a rail track you can see another view of the Jakarta
what you can see a lot in Jakarta.
I watched before the War photography a documentary from James Nachtwey about
people who are living between the tracks. I took my camera and bicycle and just
within 5 minutes I went to the poorest part which is located in the best part
of the town.
it is not easy to explain how people are living there. Just let me explain the situation
. there is a big river full of dirt and garbage and for sure many houses are
draining their waste water to that river and the rail way is parallel and just
next to the river. I saw people who are catching the plastic by a long stick
from the small bridge over the river, if there is heavy rain and flood they are
happy due to they can catch more garbage, we asked them how much you earn for a
day…the answer was 1$...... I am not going to say how they are poor due to also
in the other hand it is their mistake. They left their town or village and came
to Jakarta to live in a big town having better life. But actually they not only
have a better life but also they are living in a worth situation you can
imagine. I was there taking picture
that the children informed me about a train which was coming, I didn’t hear
anything but they are used to smell the train from distance. ok I can say that
the people there has made a mistake to come there but what about the children?
Who care about them. They didn’t come there by their own and just they are born
there. No education and no hygiene, no clean water and ….I can not believe it.
And in that situation the mafia of beggars who are taking the children from
poor families to place on the junctions and pay them just a little money and
even no money just some small thing to eat. .........
still the ugly face of Jakarta has not finished. Sorry that I am writing these
matters because I amuse to write about beauties and joys but I can not close my
eyes on these stuff.
now I am going to talk about most corruption police which I have seen in my
life. Indonesian police. Just it is enough to say that if police stopped you
just put a bill of 50000IDR in your paper and hand it to the police man
otherwise you will be in trouble. Almost all the police mans in Jakarta easily
asking you money. However in many countries police is so corrupted like
Malaysia but here is the worth. Just they show you a bill and then they tell
you I can help you and it is your turn to help them to have a nice breakfast or
dinner ….if I can not say I hate them just I can not say I like them.
however I can not ignore wonderful people from Indonesia. As I wrote before
Indonesia and specially Sumatra is the best place which I have seen with the
most hospitalable and friendly people. The country is just beautiful and people
are great. I love Indonesia and its people. I made many friends here, they all
like to help people and they are so kind and warm. I will write an article
about Indonesia separately and will explain it in better view.
After having a silent day in Denpasar (Bali) I had to leave there on 8th March early
in the morning. I was planning to ride to the port between Bali and Java which
was about 130km and from there drive a bus to Jakarta to be in Jakarta at 9th
to do my work and then follow my administration work at 10th due to
my visa was running out at 11th March and still there was no news
from Australian embassy for my visa. So just I had to sleep early and pack my
bags at night and just I would like to take my bicycle early morning and not
having ant work to do then. In the silence day I was whole day at home and
writing and chatting with Anna and Lupo and it was the reason that I couldn’t
pack my bags early at night and I had to do them late. It was a bout 23:30 that
I began to pack my bags. I was cleaning everything and packing. I was
disconnecting the tube of my stove from the burner that I made a bad mistake( I
was so tired and sleepy but it is just an excuse, I did like a stupid person).
I didn’t push out the extra excess air from
the fuel bottle and when I was opening the tube some petrol purred out on the
ground. I didn’t care about that very much and just I took the rest of stuff
away from the fuel and continued to pack ,mainwile I made a very bad mistake
and just I was taking the lighter but I lit it and suddenly I saw a big fire
around myself and the worth thing there was burning the cover of the fuel
bottle and it was very dangerous due to if it became hot it would explode, just
I took it and very fast I pull the cover out when it was burning and my fingers
burnt and then I threw it outside and I looked back….oh ,my GOD the curtain was
burning and a big fire inside the room. The room was completely dark due to a
huge amount of black smoke and just in a moment I looked at the curtain and its
fire which was very close to the roof , the roof was made by wood and ready to
burn very fast. Just I pulled the curtain down but it was not everything, there
was more fire down on the ground where the fuel was there. I began to fight
with that fire with the burning curtain and after a while I could make it. The
fire finished finally then I found myself in a dark room with black wall and
people on the window who were looking at me silently and when they became sure
about the fire they left me to their room. It was midnight and I had to clean
the wall and ground and push out the smoke from the room. After having some hard days on the road this
circumstance made me down. I saw myself middle of nowhere, the length of
staying in Jakarta had got very long, my visa
was running out and still no visa for Australia,
coming to Bali in a day that O could do nothing and having rush to go back to Jakarta and they all came
with a fire in my room. I was down and I had to find a way to recover myself.
I had no good sleep in that night and all the night I was having bad dreams. In
the following morning I woke up at 5am but very tired in my body and mind but
there was no choice and I had to go. I began to cycle and I was thinking about what
was happening around myself, just I was telling myself that “Hey Mohammad there
is something nice is coming and these circumstances are just before the nice
thing which you are getting” it is the way that always I recover myself and
always it works.but it was not all and there was something else coming. Always when I am riding I am very careful about
the small animals on the road which are mostly bogs, ants and worms to do not
pass over them. I really care about them but in that day I was thinking and I
was not concentrating to the road and just I saw a big snake passing the road
and I passed over that. The snake was turning around itself having pain and ran
away from the road. It is true that if I was not passed over that it would die
on the road but I was so sad of passing the snake. I was going more down. Finally I arrived to the Bangowangi the first
town in Java at 4pm and directly I went to bus station to take a bus for Jakarta. There was no bus
for Jakarta and just I could go to Surabaya a town 300km from there and 1100km
from Jakarta. There was many buses leaving there every 20min but non of them
accepted me due to I had a bicycle. You can imagine that after having some days
like that you need rest and a place to cool down but still more problem. I went
to the road and after 30min a truck stopped for me and I threw my bicycle to
the truck happy to find a way to go to Surabaya. 300km and 7 hours driving in a very narrow road.
We arrived to Surabaya at 0:30 am and directly I went to the bus station to
catch a bus for Jakarta but I faced with this sentence “ The last bus left
10min before and the next bus is 10am on the following day” ohhhh, I pissed off
but I was not going to stay there at night,
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