The Papal act that left a shiner.
The day had arrived after a dream was awakened and a team came together with ten months of planning.
The team comprising of the Rio Paralympics’ Paralympian gold medal winner Mary Fisher and her father Mike, my brother Clem, good friend Jon, jo and Andrea good friends plus Hayley and Robin from Laura Fergusson staff and Tim a client. Another two would join the team at St Arnaud’s, good friends Al and Denise from Nelson. Not forgetting Prickly behind, the writer being Phil.
It was Wednesday 3 May 2017, the team boarded the Interisland ferry for the cruise to Picton and thanks to the Interislander the team had complimentary tickets.
The team were off on another Prickly adventure, Prickly being a play on my surname Thorn.
What was this adventure all about, for the one called Prickly behind to hand crank a purpose built tandem low rider recumbent in the rear seat with team members taking turns to pilot him while Mary Fisher and her father Mike would ride a conventional tandem and support riders the 250 kilometre plus coast to coast challenge from Greymouth on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand across the Southern Alp’s via Arthur’s Pass to New Brighton in Christchurch. The ride would celebrate the founding of Laura Fergusson in New Zealand fifty years ago and to raise funds for the charity.
Prickly behind has been a client of Laura Fergusson for close on eight years after being struck with Meningitis in September 2008 which left him in a coma for three weeks and when he finally exited the coma discovered to his horror he had been left deaf and blind plus partially paralysed from the waist down. Laura Fergusson has a number of communities throughout New Zealand where differently abled folks are supported to live as independently as is possible.
The day of the ferry crossing from Wellington to Picton across the Cook Strati turned out to be a good sailing day in spite of forecasts suggesting otherwise earlier that week. The ferry struck technical problems part way along Queen Charlotte Sound and all passengers were issued with paddles. The technical trouble mean a later arrival by half an hour as the cruising speed had reduced by at least half it’s normal cruising speed.
The team opted to have lunch on board rather than a burger and fries stop in Blenheim, our tour coach being Molesworth Tours had been notified of the late arrival and as we descended the decks in the lift to the vehicle deck to prepare to disembark, it would seem the livestock on the stock trucks were getting impatient as well as there was a rich aroma in the air.
Geoff our driver for the five day challenge was in the terminal to greet us and we started to make our way out of the terminal to board the sixteen seater coach and bike trailer when I was overcome with excitement to be back on South Island soil again.
Normally a Papal act of kneeling to kiss the ground is done rather graciously, however in my case a sudden lurch forward say the ground come up to greet me at a fast rate of knots and it wasn’t a case of the lips being pressed against the pavement but the left side of my forehead and eye brow taking the full impact as this had happened so unexpectedly I had no time to prepare my arms and legs for a gracious kneel, more like a Papal collapse and stars were a shining in my mind’s eye.
Oh dear, to add to the whole dramatic arrival, my support executive behind me navigating my Papal mobile had a similar encounter with the South Island pavement landing on her butt. A little gremlin had attached itself it seems from the vehicle deck of the ferry and I am not referring to items from the stock truck but rather an item called grease that had attached itself to the small front wheel of my Papal mobile.
Was this to be the end of the challenge before it had even begun? It was certainly an ouch moment with half a dozen exclamation marks following the ouch and even a few descriptive words were uttered. Mustering all the strength I had endeavouring to be gracious while team members were applying ice packs and checking I wasn’t injuries to badly and straightening out my Papal attire, I pulled myself back into my Papal mobile to gain some composer. IF we were on set, I could have requested a cut and a rerun of that act and got it perfect the second time. But this wasn’t a stunt, this was an ouch reality moment as the team steered me to the doorway of the coach and assisted me to step up and into the coach. The shiner resulting from the Papal act would reveal itself over coming days.
To St Arnaud we were bound near Nelson lakes national park to pick up two more team members, Al and Denise from Nelson, then onwards we went through the now busy Buller gorge as this route is now the main highway South with the earthquake of November 2016 having closed the highway through Kaikoura.
Greymoth our destination for the first night of the challenge staying at Kiwi motels and holiday park where Mary Fisher joined the team having flown in earlier to Hokitika and we were meet by Tim’s uncle and aunt Gary and Julie who kindly got dinner warmed up. Molesworth Tours providing dinner on the first night and good Southern tucker it was too, meat loaf, veggies and mashed potato then a brownie with custard to follow.
As we chatted over plans for the start of the cycle challenge the following morning, with a chill in the air and the smell of coal fires coming in on the breezes, I said to myself, it’s all about to happen, have you toned the body enough, this will be as much a mental challenge as a physical one, will the elements be kind to us and the big one for me, will there be the need at some point for the team to make a decision to pull me off the tandem due to exhaustion or risking my health due to severe weather.
I pulled the covers up as I settled in for the night wondering what the morrow would bring, it would be the most challenging day of the coast to coast, one that will linger for a long time, it would require all that I had and at times to dig deeper.
My next post will take you on the journey from Greymouth through an unexpected wilderness trail to Otira and up to Arthur’s Pass village across one of New Zealand’s most amazing engineering and construction accomplishments, the Otira viaduct.
Kind regards,
Phil.
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