Day 27 - 29

Day 27: After leaving Taupo, the road climbs gradually to Tongariro National park which is about 100km away. I’m getting pretty worn down as far as biking goes so I split it up into a two day ride. I stopped halfway at Turangi after a beautiful day’s ride. The skies were clear but since I’m inland now and getting into the mountains, it’s getting colder. The wind chill was around 50 degrees while isn’t great to bike in since I don’t really have cold weather clothes. It’s a lot nicer once I got out of the wind and set up camp. The visibility was great all day which was fortunate because there were a lot of great views of the mountains and Lake Taupo.

Day 28: There is a 6 km climb shortly after Turangi which I could have avoided but enjoyed doing in a way. There were some nice views and going slowly up the hill meant less wind so I was a lot warmer. I miss the hot days, I don’t care for 60 degree weather, I’d rather it be 100 but I don’t think that’ll happen in New Zealand. It should start getting warmer though which I’m looking forward to. The rest of the day was full of climbs but at the end of the day I was at the top which means the next days of riding will be mostly downhill. I took a detour off of the main road because it was still early in the day and there was a sign for the Chateau Tongariro which sounded like something worth checking out. It was 6 km of climbing since it was going directly towards Mt. Ruapehu. The Chateau ended up just being a hotel which pissed me off because that was the only reason I went up. The ride down was easy at least and I set up camp at a DoC site which is always cool because they’re cheap. Plus, I don’t really get to camp out in the open often, I’ve mostly been staying in motor camps and hostels because of the cold. Before the sun went down, the sky got dark with storm clouds and it did get very cold, dropping below freezing.

Day 29: I woke up and it was in the mid forties and raining. I didn’t want to stay at the DoC site but I wanted to stick around the national park so I could do some of the walks around the mountains so I headed to the National Park Village just 6 km away. It was a pretty brutal and I’m glad I only went the 6 km because there were heavy strong winds and the rain felt like ice on my hands. I set up my tent at a hostel and I plan on sticking around for a few days until the weather clears up and I can go for some walks. The weather is shitty and I need a break from biking so it’s a good time to take a few days off.

Day 22 - 26

Day 22 - I got into Matamata early in the day and took the noon tour of Hobbiton, the set for the Lord of the Rings. On the tour bus there were three women bitching the entire time about their plane seats being uncomfortable and how they were going to complain. Then they were complaining about walking maybe one kilometer and that they just wanted to get a hotel and crash for the day, at two in the afternoon. Other than that, it was pretty fun. I got a lot of pictures and I feel like a giant nerd. After that it was pretty late and there was more I wanted to see so I stayed for an extra day.

Day 23 - I went to the Wairere falls early in the day which was really beautiful. Then I spent the rest of the day in the hot springs pool reading "The Hobbit" which I picked up a few days ago. I finished the book and painted a picture, realizing that it was the 10th picture I've painted this trip. I picked up some paint, brushes and a pad of canvas with 10 sheets which has kept me busy on days with lots of downtime. While I had my paint out, I painted eyes on the back of my helmet because I've been being attacked by magpies. I don't know if that actually keeps them off of me, but it looks funny.

Day 24 - I was planning on going to Rotorua, but at the intersection to go east, I decided to go south instead to Taupo. I really want to check out Tongariro National Park and there was nothing I really wanted to see in Rotorua. I got a flat tire near Tokoroa so I stopped there for the day. It is supposed to be a self sealing tire so I figured if I stopped and let it sit overnight it would seal up. I stopped in a parking lot to look at my map and someone drove up to ask if I needed help. He was a teacher at the high school and said I could just camp in his yard because the motor camp in town is really bad. I hung out with him and his wife for the day. I made some pretty amazing hamburgers and read short stories by Steinbeck, weird day.

Day 25 - In the morning my tire was not sealed. The goo inside was coming through the hole but I think the puncture was too big. I put in a new tube, but it's only the first flat I've had so far so I'm not complaining. I've gone over a thousand miles now and I'm really hoping my bike holds together. The weather was amazing all day and there is a hill to climb right before town. At the very top there is an amazing view of Lake Taupo which is the big blue spot in the middle of the north island. Over the lake you can see the mountains of the national park, it's a really nice view. I headed into town and stayed in a hostel for the night because it was only three dollars more than camping at the motor camp in town. I passed a lot of things coming into town and wanted to rest so I am going to stay an extra day in Taupo and go out tomorrow and explore. I met some cool people in the hostel and I went out to a few bars and clubs. It was pretty fun but I couldn't buy beer in the last club without a passport so I just left.

Day 26 - I woke up too early and feel drowsy. I went out hoping to check out the waterfall but it was raining so I'll do it later today. I'm glad to be inside though, I might stay an extra night because I heard the weather is bad in the National Park at the moment. We'll see.

Days 14 - 21

Day 14: It was a short ride to Paihia and it was a beautiful day. Before getting to town, I took a detour up to a hilltop to see the bay of islands a little better. Everywhere I went in town there were amazing views and there were small islands all around the bay. I took a ferry ride to Russell and back and just enjoyed my day along the coast.

Day 15: The first 16km after Paihia was very hilly and most hills were too steep to ride up. A few of the hills were under construction so I was riding up these steep hills on loose gravel. The construction workers said I was crazy which sounds about right. After the hills it was pretty flat which was a nice change of pace. I ended the day just north of Whangarei because I didn't want to go into the city. It's fairly large and there was nothing I really wanted to see there except the Whangarei falls which I visited after setting up camp.

Day 16: I was able to avoid going through Whangarei thankfully and headed south. There were still a good amount of hills but they were not so steep that I couldn't ride up them. Once again it was a nice day and there were a lot of amazing things to see. It's starting to be more and more like that. The weather's getting a lot nicer and anywhere I go there's amazing scenery. I'm feeling more in shape now that I'm getting used to the constant rolling hills. I stopped at a hostel and there was only one other person there and he was very talkative and I got trapped into talking to him. It made me realize that I like talking to people that I have things in common with and I'm not the kind of person who has to talk to someone just because they're there.

Day 17: Shortly after leaving I ended up at an intersection. I could either follow the path that I took out of Auckland and follow it back into Auckland. Or I could take a separate route which my cycling book describes as "too hilly" and someone who is "unfit or sane" should not take. The former describes me, however the latter does not so I took that route. It wasn't all that bad, there was no shoulder, there was heavy traffic and it was constant rolling hills at steep grades. What else did I expect? I think New Zealand made a bunch of signs that warned drivers what grade each hill was and about thirty kilometers outside of Auckland they just said screw it because there were too many to mark. Anyways, I stopped short of Auckland and found a really nice camp right by the ocean. All day it was fairly cloudy but I didn't get rained out. However it did rain at night.

Day 18: I woke up and my tent was still wet but it wasn't raining anymore. I really didn't want to go back through Auckland, especially since it was pretty cloudy and it ended up raining as soon as I left the campsite. It didn't really pour but it did rain fairly steady all day. Once I got back into the city I had to navigate my way through once again without a map. I eventually found Devonport and took a ferry all of about 500 meters it seemed like. It did save me some hassle of going around though. After the ferry I got dropped off onto a familiar street and since it was raining and it was late in the evening and I had crashed due to crazy drivers and one of my bags fell off my bike after hitting a bump on a crappy bike lane I just headed back to the hostel I stayed at when I first got to Auckland. Screw you Auckland, screw you.

Day 19: Getting out of Auckland going east was even more of a pain in the ass. No roads go east. Some roads go SSE and some go NNE and I have no idea how that is possible. After zig zaging around I though I had found a street that would take me out of the city when all of a sudden the street just stops even though it doesn't on the map and I just started wandering around. I met a guy named Greg who gave me some directions and gave me a ride a few kilometers closer to the edge of town. He gave me his sister's number who lived in Thames which is where I was headed and said she could help me once I was there. Eventually I made it out of Auckland, soaking wet but glad to be out of there. The ride after Auckland was nice, it was right along the coast and I camped out close to the coast again.

Day 20: It was clear skies in the morning. I didn't know if it would last or not but it was nice to see after a few days of darkness. The ride from Orere point to Thames was all along the coast and it was clear blue skies and there were so many picturesque spots. I got to Thames which is right along the coast and right next to some really steep hills. I was staying at Greg's sister's house who lived inland so I had to go through the hills which ended up being really scenic. She lived right next to a river in the middle of all these rolling hills. I set up camp and hung out with her family for the night.

Day 21: I went back into Thames in the morning to pick up a few things. It was really foggy and a bit chilly so I didn't feel bad delaying my day of riding by roaming around the mall for a few hours. I got a few things and starting riding south. After getting into Thames the hills were pretty much over for the day. There were a few small hills here and there but it was pretty much flat for the next 60 kms. I was planning to stop near Matamata but stopped 30 kms before because I realized I hadn't done laundry in over a week, yikes. So, I got my laundry done finally and tomorrow I'm going to camp near Matamata and do a tour of Hobbiton in the afternoon, huzzah! Then hot springs at night.

Day 10 - 13

Day 10: I left Kaitaia and it was fairly warm outside. I knew it would be an easy day because I had fairly strong tail winds and the first half of my 110km trip was fairly flat. I stopped off at a Kauri wood shop that had a staircase carved into a tree trunk which was pretty cool, other than that it wasn't too exciting. There was a lot of cool scenery along the way, I was pretty much following the coast but would go inland a lot. After 90km I hit a gravel road that took me the last 20km to Cape Reinga. It was a tough 20km because of the steep hills leading to the top and the gravel didn't help but it was worth it. Cape Reinga isn't technically the northern most part of NZ but it is where the Tasmanian Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet in an epic clash of the titans. I made camp about 5km away down by the ocean which was also really pretty.

Day 11: Getting down to the campsite involved me holding my brakes as hard as I could as I plunged straight down a winding gravel road hoping I wouldn't crash and die. I was a little concerned about getting back up so I asked a DoC worker if he would bring me back up the hill in his truck so he did. He ended up dropping me off at the start of the gravel road which was really nice because riding through that is no fun on a bike. Also, the strong winds from the south were still blowing strong so there was a crazy amount of headwinds and it was pretty chilly. I was also noticably fatigued from riding the day before. That did not make for a fun day of riding, however I still did 70km even though I wanted to wuss out much earlier. Since there's only one road going up to Cape Reinga, I had to backtrack so I didn't see anything I hadn't already seen, but there were still a lot of nice things to see, including a herd of cows walking through the road and a lot of wild turkeys.

Day 12: After the first 32km I was no longer backtracking and started making my way to the Bay of Islands. I spent the afternoon by the Doubtless bay and camped at Hihi beach holiday park . It was another day with cold headwinds but I pushed through it and did 80km. I wasted a few kms trying to find hostels that didn't exist plus one hostel that was on top of a steep hill that ended up being way too expensive which made me sad because it took me a while to get up there :(. In the ended I just decided to go 6km off the highway to camp at Hihi and it was pretty nice except that there was no one running the office when I got there and they yelled at me in the morning because I went to leave since there was no one there. However, the owners just got home and lived next door and didn't bother to come over or anything, meh.

Day 13: I slept for 12 hours! Too much sleep and my legs are really stiff. It gets dark around 6:30 so when I camp I go to bed early and it is really cold in the morning so I have a hard time waking up. I struggled to even go up small hills so I walked a lot and did a short day of 60km. I was hoping to be at the Bay of Islands at Paihia, but I will be able to get there early tomorrow since I'm only 20km away. This place is pretty cheap and has free internet so it's all good.

New Zealand Day 1 - 9

So I haven't updated in a while because there's hardly any Internet out here but here it goes.

August 22: I landed in Auckland and got all of my luggage. I had to go through customs because I brought pepper spray (oops) in one of my bags. I was nervous that something I owned would be damaged on the plane so I was reluctant to open up the duffel bag and see how everything turned out. Surprisingly nothing was damaged, even my ukulele which I just shoved into the bag, secretly hoping it would get smashed. After that I unpacked my bike which was also in good shape. Getting all of my stuff there in one piece was one of my biggest concerns so that eased my mind a lot.

I put my bike together, got it packed and took a bus into Auckland. I picked up a pamphlet listing a bunch of hostels and on the way into town I passed right by one that was next to a bike shop so I got off there. Unfortunately, when I got off the bus I forgot one of my bags so I had to wait an hour for the bus to come back around to get the bag back, but luckily I got it.

The next couple of days I spent in Auckland adjusting to the time difference and picking up equipment that I needed. I got a new tent, an air mattress (finally) and a couple other things. I was going to wait before taking off on my bike, but I didn't like the idea of staying in one city so I took off going north a few days after arriving.

Day 1 Tuesday Aug 25: I took off going north out of Auckland. Of course, as soon as I started to leave, it started raining. Another wonderful way to start the trip. It took forever just to get out of the city and it was a bit difficult to navigate but I made it. I did 60 KM the first day and made it to Hellensville. I feel really out of shape. I have picked up a few extra pounds with more clothes and haven't traveled fully loaded in a week or more. There was a nice (overpriced) hostel there which I stayed at pretty much by myself. I am probably going to be staying mostly in hostels until it gets a little bit warmer.

Day 2: I took off not feeling well and feeling out of shape. There were a few really steep hills (9, 10 and 11% grade hills, damn you New Zealand) and only did another 60 km. There were no campgrounds and the nearest hostel was a ways away so I stayed in a pub. It was fairly cheap ($30 NZ) and it was ... well a pub. It was a small and dirty room but at least it was indoors because it was raining again. I felt sick and this place didn't help.

Day 3: I woke up feeling worse, with a sore throat. It was another chilly day and managed to do another 60 km. Not much, but with the hills, my health and the temperature it wasn't bad. I got to Paparoa feeling pretty wiped. I found a motor camp and was going to camp but the guy let me stay in a trailer for the same price. I wasn't too excited but it rained AGAIN and it was heated and had a TV (yey Friends reruns). I spent the rest of the day in my sleeping bag hoping to feel better but no dice.

Day 4: I still felt like crap so I packed up and went all of about 6 km to the next town. There was a nice museum there where I spent most of the day. Then I got a tent site with a nice view and relaxed the rest of the day. A lot of camp sites out here have kitchens in them which is nice so it doesn't feel like camping, which is a good thing. I got to test out the tent and air mattress and both are much nicer than what I was using before.

Day 5: I'm feeling a little better, but still feeling out of shape. It was a flat, 50 km ride to the town of Dargaville where I spent the night. I've been feeling really weak the last few days, I think mostly due to being sick. Even after 50 km on a flat surface I was pretty tired. It was a decent size town but a little run down. So far I've spent most of my time sick in the farm lands of New Zealand, but I'm almost feeling better...

Day 6: It ended up being a really nice day outside and on my way north I decided to take a detour and go 11 km off the path to some lakes that I heard about (Kai Iwi Lakes). I got there pretty early and it was really nice out and there were some people there so it was nice. Then around two in the afternoon it got pretty dark outside and started to rain and got really windy and everyone left but me. It was a little hard to sleep because the wind kept blowing my tent in to the point where I thought it would break. Luckily it didn't.

Day 7: I woke up and it was still very windy and cold and sprinkling rain every so often. The day ended up being very difficult. There was a lot of strong head winds, a lot of steep hills and a lot of swearing from me. I did close to 80 km which still isn't much, but getting close to what my average was across the US. At the very end of the day, after being too exhausted to ride on flat land, I ran into a hill... or rather, a wall. I don't know how steep it was, but there were hills I rode earlier that week marked 11% grade and this hill was much steeper than that. In my book it shows it being 1km long and 200 meters high which is a 20% grade but I doubt it was THAT steep, though it sure felt like it. I somehow made it up then back down to a small town where I found a hostel to crash for the day. I almost passed out from exhaustion at 4 in the afternoon but drank about 5 cups of coffee and managed to stay awake until 9.

Day 8: I took the day off to recover. I think I'm finally over whatever sickness I had and I'm starting to feel like I'm back in shape after pushing myself yesterday.

Day 9: I took off today feeling pretty good. I left at 9:15 and was told the ferry I needed to catch left at 10:30 and 11:3o and was 22km away. So I hauled ass to get there. It ended up being 26 km away and I missed it by five minutes. Still, I felt good going there even though I ran into some decent hills. I got on to the 11:30 ferry and from there on out I was feeling good. I made it 70 km and was halfway up a 5 km climb when a dry cleaning van asked if I wanted a ride to the top. I was pretty tired and took them up on the offer. They ended up just driving me all the way to Kaitaia which was all right by me. So, now I'm in Kaitaia and tomorrow I'm going to shoot for Cape Reinga which is almost the very northern part of the north island.

So I hope to update again soon, but there seems to be very little internet out here, and when there is, it's expensive and not reliable. Wish me luck!