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.