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| Visiting The Catlins down south on the South Island, New Zealand |
The logistics of meeting up were a bit complicated and
caused for some headaches. It is
hard to plan a detailed itinerary and solidify specific dates when you travel
by bike. I had a rough idea where I would be at different times of the year,
but in order to meet them it meant sticking to a specific route, specific day
and place to find each other. It
just so happened that Cromwell, New Zealand was where we met up after not
seeing each other for a year. That
morning, I left a message with the receptionist at the hotel we reserved for
them to come and find me on route 8 heading south towards Cromwell. I knew they
were in a gray Toyota Corolla, but the rental cars in New Zealand are either
Toyota Corolla’s or Rav 4s. In the
early afternoon, between a long sparse stretch of road, I heard a honk from an
oncoming car. This car continued
to honk and soon there was a hand waving profusely out the window. Ta Dah! Magically they had found me!
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| Part of the perk of having Mom and Dad along was that they could relieve me of some extra weight |
We spent the next 5 days together exploring the far south of
the south island by car rather than bike.
For me, it was a nice break from riding, and a true delight to have some
familiar company. It’s one thing
to visit family and friends on familiar territory, but it’s a completely different
story for both of us to be out of familiar territory traveling. My parents have done a fair bit of
traveling prior to kids, and as a family we did a lot of road trips on the west
coast of the United States. They
were abroad a few times to visit some of us who decided to study abroad in
college and then most recently, they traveled to Barcelona a couple of times
while I was living there. This
trip however, marked a new type of travel for my parents due to the unique
nature of accompanying someone traveling on bike. For my dad, who likes to have everything planned, it was
difficult to fathom not pre-booking hotels and flights or having a day-by-day
itinerary. Six months into
my trip, this style of traveling has become my reality, but I had to change my
mindset slightly when I was with them.
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| They deserve an award for being such flexible travelers and coming all the way from Oregon to find me on my bike |
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| From New Zealand to The Great Ocean Road, we covered a lot of territory together |
It seemed that almost anywhere we went in New Zealand there
was some holiday, event, festival, or race, which made finding a hotel
challenging. Traveling with a tent
you rarely think about fully booked accommodation. Thankfully we never failed to find a hotel which always
seemed luxurious to me! In fact, I
was able to restock my supply of tea, coffee, and toiletries! We ate at small cafes for lunch and
usually tried the local ice cream for a mid-afternoon snack and dined in nice
restaurants during the evening.
The meals were a nice change from my supermarket picnics and basic
cooked dinners at the campgrounds.
The sounds of snores replaced the melody of nighttime bugs and small
rodents so I felt right at home.
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| Queenstown, New Zealand |
When we said good-bye to each other in Queenstown, New
Zealand, I went on my way to a school visit then up and over to the west coast,
completing my loop of the south.
They drove off through the interior and around to the northeast to
complete their figure eight itinerary.
My parents flew over to Melbourne about a week before I did and had some
time to explore the area. Upon my
arrival we started the Great Ocean Road, only this time I was on my bike and
not a passenger in their car. Of
course it took me much longer to cycle the distance to the hotel than them, but
we had designated lunch and rest stops to meet up and they found me several
times along the road and cheered me on from the car. I even cheated for those days and rode with 2 bags rather
than 5! It is hard for me to ride without any weight because I wobble all over
the place and feel naked!
It’s funny how time apart makes you reflect more on the
things you observe. In my “normal”
life, I see my family twice a year and talk weekly on Skype, but a year had
passed since I saw them last. With so many hours on the bike, I’m know myself
better as a person than ever before. When they arrived, all of a sudden I could
see certain traits and quarks of my own personality in each of them.
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| Pops and me,...two lively souls |
There’s no question about it, I’m full of energy. Intense, determined, or stubborn some
might say. This comes my Dad. At
72, he’s got the energy of a 30 year old!
During our time together, he was always the first one up, dressed, and
ready-to-go. He’d eaten, loaded
the car, and studied the itinerary while my mom and I were still in our pajamas
making coffee. Back in Barcelona I
was just like him. By 9am I’ve
gone for an hour swim or run, was at work, reviewed my lessons for the day,
sent emails, and ready for my kids to walk in still half asleep. We’ve got constant energy that keeps us
on the go. We are task-oriented
and can accomplish anything we put our minds to because of our
determination. My dad and I also
have the same exact taste buds and appetite. Without consulting one another, we can study a menu and out
of all the dishes, we order the exact same item. Usually there are two or three
options that sound appealing and since my mom is so easy going, she agrees to
share with us. I don’t advise
sharing with my dad or myself since we always have a huge appetite, we are
“territorial” when it comes to sharing a meal. My dad and I eat almost half of
each of the dishes ourselves and my poor mom goes with the flow and gets
whatever is left! And our sweet tooth
is incredible….makes for lots of great ice cream stops along the road.
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| Hair salon "Pritchard Ladies"....we did a pretty good job! |
By no means is my mom lacking energy, after all, she was a
full time “stay-at-home” mom of 5 extremely active kids. However, she is more laid back and
believe it or not, some of this has been passed down to me! When you take me out of my normal daily
routine, I can tone down the intensity and relax (promise)! In fact, sometimes I disconnect and my
mind wanders so much that I might get a bit spacey, i.e. missing road turns on
my route and leave my passport.
For us, nothing is ever a huge problem. We can go with the flow and
believe that things will just work out in the end. This has been a saving grace on my trip, combined with my
relentless energy. From my mom, I
also get my passion to create, use my hands artistically, and make things, from
sewing, cooking, jewelry, and ceramics.
Before this trip, I never would have attempted to cut my hair myself,
nor would I let my mom touch it.
Yet, together we figured out how to do it and she helped me out with my
third hair cut, all done resourcefully with the mini scissors in my pocketknife
and the utensils found in our hotel’s kitchenette.
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| Nothing beats a familiar home cooked meal |
What I appreciate most from my parents in the simple values
they instilled in me as I was growing up, which I also noticed on our
trip. There were some days where a
trip to the supermarket for bread and cheese became a delicious picnic and when
we cooked in our apartment, craving a familiar recipe from home. Growing up in the Pritchard family we never
had anything fancy or a need to consume and fall into the materialism
trap. The Pritchard kids found joy
and pleasure in the basic things in life from home-cooked family meals, endless
hours of entertainment outside in the yard playing together, and family
holidays in the car to a lot of National Parks, monuments and regional
sights. I am forever grateful for
these values because even on a bike with 3 bags of possessions and pedaling 100
km a day, I am the happiest young lady in the world!
My parents were real “troopers”, to make the effort to come
all the way to the other side of the world to visit me. They had to be completely flexible with
their itinerary in order to accommodate my mode of transportation but ended up
turning their trip into a 6-week holiday, doing the Australia and New Zealand
trip I had heard about for years!
I have a few other visits along my route in Australia with friends,
which I’m looking forward to. It’s
great to be able to meet up with people I haven’t seen for a while, a definite
perk to traveling around the world especially with my global network of
friends!
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