Northland, New Zealand

Where's Forrest?

Wow, the past two weeks have been quite brilliant.  Biking now with a new friend, the pace has been considerably slower but the company has been great.  Johnny put Lauren in touch with me and she brought her bike over from the states.  It's nice going slower and taking more time to enjoy the countryside, especially the beautiful beaches and kauri forests of Northland.

Beach at our first campsite where we arrived just before the sun dipped (the tent was inland on the other side of some dunes in a great little grassy spot where we had a little fire) 

The first night, we left Auckland in one of the smoothest city departures ever.  Cruised down a nice cycle path straight out of the city and soon found ourselves in rolling, hilly countryside.  We ducked a fence and slipped onto some forestry logging roads that took us out to a beach on the west coast.  It was a new moon and a clear night and the stars were out in numbers.  The little campfire we made burnt well into the night, and inspite of the city lights from nearby Auckland, I couldn't take my eyes off the thousands of stars and occasional shooting star.

The next day I awoke to find a broken rear spoke on the cassette side.  13000km, and I finally get a broken spoke... the handmade wheels (quality craftsmanship of John at Budget Bikes in Madison) have treated me very well, and at least I finally got to put to use my chain whip and cassette remover.  Later in the day, my tyre was flat and as I stopped to repair it, Lauren biked ahead.  By the time I caught up to her, she had been called in from the road by a bunch of farmers hanging out at their "boat club."  "What are you doing biking, it's too hot, come have a beer."  I'm glad she followed their advice, and arrived to a large bottle of cold Lion Red beer and a bunch of friendly locals.  After a few more beers, we were invited to spend the night at the house of an older couple - known locally as 'Mouse and Drum' - and they took us in their truck up to the top of one of the hills to catch sunset over the beautiful Kaipara Harbour.

Sunset over Kaipara Harbour

We worked our way north, slowly, getting rained on occasionally, but enjoying the somewhat hilly but mostly mellow roads of Northland.  The next highlight came when we arrived at the ancient, oldgrowth Waipoua Forest, full of massive Kauri trees.  These ancient giants, some of them almost 2000 years old, support a vibrant ecosystem with over 200 different plant species all competing for little rays of sunlight.  All the nutrients in the soil is on the upper 50cm or so, below it, red volcanic clay is a horrible aquifer and doesn't support plant life.  Because of the poor soil, kauri leaves don't have much nutrients in them so they take a long time to decay - in some places they pile up to 1.5 meters deep!  I tip-toed around the forest, barefoot, and absolutely astonished about the soft feel of the ground.  It felt like walking over a big pillow, and with the knowledge that there's nothing poisonous in New Zealand, I let the whole forest embrace every part of me.  The river water was clear and clean and I drank it with no worries, knowing it came from this lush, temperate rainforest.  It was a magical experience.

My perch over the river, holding tight to a beautiful kauri tree.

We made it that night to a spot I spied on my gps, only to find that the road blocked by a locked gate.  After knocking on a nearby house, the farmer gave me the key to the gate which we locked behind us and pedaled out to our private beach for the night.  We cooked some kumara (NZ sweet potato) in a little fire and had it with a tasty peanut sauce and cous cous, and slept like babies on the soft sand.  Next day, we made our way around the Hokianga Harbour, the location that the first Maori to arrive in New Zealand called home.  Few cars troubled us, especially after we took the ferry to the other side of the harbour.  That evening, we biked over the last big hill before 90-mile beach and the northern peninsula.  It was 400 meters of hard, but gradual uphill, followed by one of the best downhill rides of my life.  The corners were banked perfectly, and the asphalt was consistent, fresh, and smooth.  The road wound its way through a kauri forest before coming out to the sheep paddocks of the flatland below.

One of the best days of the trip, we spent biking up 90-mile beach (actually only ~50 miles).  The sand was hard packed and flat, with nothing to worry about running into except the occasional little stream running into the sea, and the hundreds of seashells that would crunch under our tyres.  Hardly any cars passed us - we pretty much had the entire beach to ourselves, biking with sand dunes to our right, beautiful crashing surf to the left, and clouds taking all sorts of shapes.  I spent minutes on end staring up at the sky, without a worry of running into anything.  That evening, we gathered some shellfish for dinner; millions of them hiding just an inch or two down in the sand.  We just scooped our hands into the sand and picked up handfulls of them.  One of the tastiest dinners yet!

90 mile beach, looking south. 

Cooking up a dinner of shellfish, eggs and rice on 90mile beach

Cape Reinga where the Tasman Sea meets
the Pacific Ocean

That evening, the sky clouded over, putting a different spin on our intended starry, night ride.  It was a different experience completely.  The clouds blocked out the light of the half moon high in the sky, and the landscape took on the feeling of being in a blurred, hazy painting.  The horizon line of the ocean disappeared into the clouds somewhere in the distance.  Our bikes led us on, however, and by midnight we had almost reached the end of the beach.  After getting up early the following morning, we were surprised by the massive hills that stood between us and the Cape, finally arriving around noon to the north-western most point of the North Island.  It's a very sacred spot to the Maori - the location where spirits depart Earth for the Underworld.  We spent about 2 hours using water from the toilets there to wash the salt and sand off our bikes - 90 mile beach took its toll on our 2-wheeled machines!

Finally headed south, we made it to the Bay of Islands as the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Evan, which had been blowing for weeks and causing lots of destruction on Pacific Islands to the north like Fiji, came ashore.  We holed up in a little hostel in Russell for two nights, waiting for the gale-force winds to shift to the north.  On Christmas day we headed south with great tailwinds and some rain.  Utilizing warmshowers - the hospitality website for touring cyclists, we stayed with two great hosts in Whangarei and Mangawhai.  In Mangawhai, we caught Katchafire, the New Zealand reggae band that is slowly gaining international fame.  It was a show that I have been dying to see for several years now.

Lauren ahead of me, biking along the east coast past blooming Pohutukawa trees - New Zealand Christmas trees!

Unfortunately, due to my own stubbornness at not buying new tyres, I was plagued by flats.  My front Continental TourRide tyre, which I've had since the beginning of my trip across the states and has roughly 13000km on it, finally blew a large hole.  I patched it with some duct tape and rubber cement, but this was still not enough.  I was out of patches and spare tubes, with a large hole in my tyre.  Fortunately, Auckland was only 100km away, and hitching in New Zealand is pretty easy.  Once again, I limped my way back to Auckland to a warm welcome from Alex and Natasha at their apartment in Newmarket.

Headed south now, to the Coromandel Peninsula and Rotorua.  Check out my new pictures of Northland which are posted HERE

Volcanoes and sheep

Where's Forrest Now???

New Plymouth managed to keep me for one more day than I had anticipated.  I spent most of the last day inside on the computer, unfortunately, dealing with job applications and setting up a cell phone plan.  But the day wasn't entirely lost.  I managed to get away and went for a bike ride up Mt. Taranaki as far as I could go.  It was beautiful.  Farms are everywhere, taking advantage of the rich volcanic soil.  The slope was just slight enough so that I didn't notice it too much, inspite of the fierce headwind I was pedalling into.  The road eventually took me to the edge of Egmont National Park, where birdsong was manifest through the lush, rainforest vegetation.  This side of the island gets more rain, so the forest is starkly different than the drier Gisborne Peninsula which I'll be biking around on my return to Wellington.  When it was time to turn around and return to New Plymouth at sea level, I found myself at about 1400ft, with a stiff tailwind to boot.  The gradual downhill of the old volcano was, without doubt, one of the best downhill rides I've ever had...
I'll definitely be back to visit New Plymouth!

`Mt Taranaki, covered in cloud, with the Ponakai and Patua ranges extending to the right. This photo shows farmland, but the dark green of the National Park surrounding the mountain is quite evident.

By way of the Forgotten Worlds Highway, I made my way east towards Tongariro National Park and the fishing mecca that is Lake Taupo.  The highway brought me up and down steep hills, most of them filled with loud 'baaa-ing' sheep and mental male bulls that wouldn't keep quiet about being separated from all the ladies.  They did make it a little hard to sleep at night...  The native bush that I pedalled through was full of birdsong - an environment that I wish was not just excluded to small conservation areas.  Why has western civilisation destroyed so much of what is naturally beautiful in the world???  Can there be no profit in keeping an area clean and green and as it was before the arrival of humans?  When will the destruction that quenches our thirst for modern unnecessity end? (sorry, I get frustrated sometimes...)

I did spend one excellent night in a sheep paddock.  It was a lookout off the road which was supposed to give a nice view of Ruapehu.  Unfortunately, clouds quickly rolled in, leaving me with the hope that morning would show me beautiful views.  I awoke to rain... which lasted all day...  But it was a nice campsite!  As I biked along the next day, I pedalled by a farm that had a crew there sheering its sheep.  I stopped to check it out and have a chat, and was ushered into the sheep holding pen and shown how to subdue a sheep and hand it off to the guy with the razor.  He would shave off all the wool in about a minute, and I would hand him the next sheep.  The wool was removed from the area and packed into a machine that would compress the it into bales.  The shearing went quite fast and at the end, the razor was handed to me and I gave it a go... It's a lot harder than it looks...

My campsite with a tremendous view in the sheep paddock.  My white tent is in the middle of the photo.

I spent a wet day cycling up to the Volcanic Plateau, and after a night drying off in a backpackers, the clouds cleared for a brilliant day of volcanic vistas.  I ended up climbing Mt Ngauruhoe (2,291m), now more commonly known from the Lord of the Rings movies as Mt Doom.  The climb was brilliant and quite challenging.  The scree-covered slopes made finding stable footing quite tricky.  But the arrival at the crater was well worth the trip, and getting back down was quite enjoyable as I was able to utilise the patches of soft spring snow to boot-ski my way down.

Stopped for a photo op, on the way to climb Mt. Ngauruhoe (left).  Mt Ruapehu is the large snow-capped peak in the center, and the third volcanoe, Mt. Tongariro is to the left of Ngauruhoe and is not pictured.

Me at the top of Mt Ngauruhoe with a vista of the Red Crater and Mt. Tongariro in the background.  Lake Taupo is hidden by the haze on the horizon and came into view occasionally.  It was very cold and windy at the top!

Massive hole and the run-in to Huka Falls

Huka Falls

The weather remained nice for me for one more day as I made my way along the eastern side of Lake Taupo to the city of Taupo where I camped near Huka Falls on the Waikato River.  Lake Taupo was absolutely beautiful and I stopped to swim a couple times in its crystal clear waters.  Huka Falls itself was quite a sight, especially after I had watched some youtube videos of people kayaking it (check it out, it's absolutely ridiculous.  I guess people die in the hole at the bottom of the falls if you don't clear it right...  Looks pretty fun though!)

It then proceeded to rain on me for the next three days as I pedalled down the Waikato river.  It's the longest (425km) and hardest working river in New Zealand with 9 hydro facilities, supplying 13% of the country's energy demand.  To see such a beautiful river full of dams - its deep canyons stripped of rapids where water now turns stagnant in ponds and reservoirs - brought a mix of emotions.  This is the cost of 'clean, renewable' power I guess...  There is hope for the river now, however, as the "Waikato River Cleanup Trust is spearheading an effort to return the polluted lower reaches to their former cleanliness.  The pollution is mostly agriculture runoff from the dairy farms in the region, as well as increased silt from the conversion of native bush to farmland.  The Waikato River Authority aims to work with farmers and landowners to develop sustainable land use methods that will improve water quality.  What an endeavour!  It will be interesting to see how things end up 5-10 years from now.

The first hydro-power station on the Waikato River near Arapuni.  As I gazed down from the dam (further upriver) into the gorge, upstream slackwater from this powerhouse sat in a stagnant pond where the river used to gush through the canyon.

As I pedalled down the river towards Auckland, I was confronted by a headwind yet again (it's either headwinds or hills in NZ...) It seemed that the world just didn't want me to make it to the city - especially on the third day when my rear derailleur cable snapped, locking me in the hardest rear gear, 70km outside of Auckland.  After a break at a dairy that involved the purchase of 2 small chocolate bars, an ice cream treat, and a large bar of chocolate to go, I managed to adjust the derailleur limit screws to a middle sprocket that made it possible, with the help of the 3 gears on my crank, to limp into Auckland.

What a trip!  I've been resting up here for the past 3 days at the apartment of Alex Borden, a Wisco friend from Hoofers, getting ready for the beaches of Northland.  The days are getting quite a bit hotter as is the ocean temperature.  Summertime in New Zealand!  Check out my latest pictures HERE

The South West Coast of the North

Where is Forrest Now?

I left Wellington after a week of relaxing and waiting to hear about jobs.  Had one little talk with Beca, a large engineering consulting firm, but they just did a massive intake of entry level engineers.  Summer is just starting here and it seems as if I've missed all the big hires of graduate engineers.  There's still hope though, as vacancies are coming up frequently.

   

My plate of chicken, sprouted beans and roti.  Yummy!

Joshna's fruit store.  Yummy!

In Wellington I stayed with my Mom's friend Joshna who runs a small fruit shop in the central business district (CBD) of Wellington.  It's a super cool store and their selection of fresh fruit and veggies was great.  Plus, Joshna would bring home tons of fruit that wouldn't sell... delicious kiwi fruit and navel oranges and even some mangoes.  MMMmmmmmmmm.

Whats more, we would go over to Joshna's parents' house, some of the most welcoming people I've ever met.  Joshna's Mum would cook delicious indian food most nights and taught me to eat with my fingers.  I went fishing with her dad for herring, but had no luck.  Seems like the Wellington harbour has been quite fished over.  Wellington sure was a cool city with tons of little bays to explore and massive expanses of forested hills.  The national museum is in Wellington - Te Papa - which is free and was a good refresher on NZ history.  The Carter Observatory was particularly interesting as well, as I learned about the southern night sky and especially the remarkable navigational feats of the Polynesians.  Star constellations were particularly important for them, and expert navigators knew where in the Pacific they were, based on the location of constellations rising in the sky.  Thus, they could sail north or south and know when to stop and turn directly east or west to hit land.  They knew how to spot the land from far off by how certain sea birds were acting and the way the clouds looked in the sky - hence, New Zealand's name - Aotearoa - Land of the Long White Cloud.

View of downtown Wellington from Oriental Bay

Upon leaving Wellington, I quickly found out that the wind was not in my favour.  For 4 days I battled the headwind until I rounded Cape Egmont, the western cape of the North Island.  The first night, after battling not just a headwind but Friday afternoon Wellington traffic, I made it to a small town, Paekakariki, and camped in a little reserve in the town.  Beautiful spot overlooking the sea with waves crashing below me.  I didn't spend much time at the site, however, as I found out the village hall that night was bursting with music and fun.  There were 3 bands playing; a great guitarist playing harmonica and singing the blues accompanied by a drum set, a Cuban-Kiwi reggaeton singer, and a local ska band.  Folks of all ages - kids and grandparents - were there dancing the night away and drinking locally brewed beer and sangria.

Mt Taranaki and grazing sheep.  Around the volcano, dairy cows are the more common sight.

New Plymouth, with its power plant and shipping port on the left, Mt Taranaki in the distance, and great surfing beaches around the cape to the right.

I pushed off again, reasonably early, and battled the headwind through fields of sheep, veggies, but mostly dairy cows.  The busy road took me far from the beach, and it wasn't until I passed through the town of Whanganui that the volcanoes became clear.  At one point, I could see both Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Taranaki through the haze on the horizon, but as I neared Taranaki, it became clearer and clearer.  The land was flat, with the only real hills being large decents into river gullys followed by long uphill pushes, usually into the wind.  Ouch.

Calving is over and these inquisitive guys are growing up quick!

The wind blowing off the Tasman Sea was a solid 35km/hr, with gusts up to 45 or so.  It was hard going.  Passing trucks were welcomed by their momentary wind relief, the closer they passed by me, the bigger the relief!  But by the time I got to the Surf Highway-the road that goes around Taranaki next to the sea-I quickly forgot about the wind and thought about the beaches I was passing (and the Packer game I was gonna get to see that night in New Plymouth).  Apparently, the beaches around here - some of them black sand beaches - have some of the best surfing in New Zealand.  Mountain and surf-sounds like a great life to me!  I found a bar with the Packers in New Plymouth, a nice irish bar.  Unfortunately the game was rather forgettable, but at least the Guinness was quite tasty!

I've spent the past 2 days in New Plymouth checking out the city and getting to know the area a little bit.  Unfortunately didn't make it to hike up Taranaki as the top is still quite covered with snow and ice.  But the town is beautiful (~50,000ppl) with large parks, an award winning coastal path (the signs are the most descriptive I've ever seen - like science posters in their description of the area and how the ecology works), a kite surfing beach, great bakeries and indian food... I think I'll have to stop there.  I've given too much away.

I'm headed off now to the Forgotten Worlds Highway and on to Lake Taupo.  Enjoy my pictures on the new album, and if you ever want to see where I am on the road, check out my map of NZ - Where's Forrest? and follow my travels day-by-day with pictures and commentary.

First few weeks in New Zealand

I guess its been awhile since I last updated this blog... High time for a new entry.  Might try adding pictures now, try and spice things up a bit.

I spent about 2 weeks in Christchurch, where I was born and grew up, trying to get to know my old city a little bit and applying for as many jobs as I could.  I went for quite a few bike rides around the city and was made well aware of the earthquake that ripped the city apart in February 2011.  The aftershocks that have been terrorizing the city (imagine being in an earthquake that destroys your city, then feeling little shakes on a near daily basis... if you're in the counseling services it's a good time to be in Christchurch!) have quietened down quite significantly, and I only felt 1 while I was there.  It was a little 3.6 magnitude, 8km deep - which is just as important a measurement - that was enough to make me start up and think about what I would do if the shaking were to continue.

Houses on the flat where the ground was poor and 'liquified' were destroyed, as were houses on the hills where rock slides and land slips took their toll.  Here, the fancy houses up top must be red stickered - uninhabitable- and a row of containers block rocks from entering the road.  It used to be a nice park that I would play in!  Since the containers will be there for quite some time, artwork is being put on them.

Life in Christchurch still continues, however, and some people will admit that's the most powerful thing they learned from the quake.  Although their city can be absolutely ripped apart, life still continues and people find ways to cope - even if it means living with no electricity or running water.  (I mean no offense to any cantabrians, just trying to write what I observed from my time in the city...)  It is a beautiful place to live, getting the best of all outdoor aspects of life.  There's plenty of ocean windsports (kitesurfing, sailing, windsurfing) with the onshore easterly wind picking up almost every afternoon.  Diving in the bay for shellfish and lobster.  Mountain biking around the port hills where sheep graze and the old volcanic slopes are terribly steep.  The mountains are a 2 hour drive away.

Beach at Sumner looking toward Godley Head - popular for surfers (left) and a view of the Southern Alps across the Canterbury plains from the Port Hills (right).

I got on my bike finally and headed north towards Wellington.  My chosen route took me inland away from the busy road along the coast and into the Southern Alps along a rough 4x4 road.  Although the grades were absolutely ridiculous and the washboarded road was sometimes quite teeth-chattering, the route was absolutely well worth it.  Cars weren't a worry at all I was virtually on my own.  The rivers ran so clear I could see every rock (and sometimes fish) at the bottom.  I did purchase a 4 piece breakdown rod and a licence and got some fishing in, but no bites yet :(  Clean drinking water was not a problem, even if I felt wary about drinking from the main river, there were plenty of streams careening down the steep slopes beside me.

View of the road and my campsite at the base of the peaks straight ahead.

After 2 days in the mountains, I traveled all the way down the Wairau river, seeing open cattle range change into sheep and dairy paddocks, which eventually turned into the heartland of the Marlborough area of New Zealand wine.  I passed vineyard after vineyard, some of them powered by wind turbines to pump water from the great river and the ground.  I made it to Blenheim after fighting a stiff onshore headwind and 4 magpie attacks.

The Australian Magpie, I must mention now, is the most evil bird I've ever encountered.  The birds are black and white, about the size of a crow, have a pointy sharp beaks, and beady red, devil eyes.  Some say they have a highly developed song.  I think it sounds more like a squawk from a bird that's been a smoker its whole life.  The male is highly territorial and I remember, as a child, seeing one going after, and getting a peck at, my 4 year old little sister.  They were introduced to New Zealand to control insect pests on farms and were actually protected through the 1950's!  Since then, they've been accused of driving out native bird species here and can be legally killed.  Common territorial behavior is to drive out any threat to their nest.  Apparently bicycles traveling along roads where all humans travel is a threat to the nest.  In one hour traveling down the Wairau valley, I fended off THREE attacks.  Fortunately, I glimpsed their initial dives out of the corner of my eye and, with a wave of my arm in their direction (they come from above and behind...) they back off for a moment before beginning their next attack.

My first experience with the magpies wasn't so successful and has led to an irrational fear of birds that I'm developing.  I was on a day ride around Christchurch and pedaling down the road, minding my own business, all of a sudden was surrounded by a big object flapping and pecking at my helmet.  "WTF" I repeatedly called out in utter shock and surprise and started pedaling faster when I turned to see the bird backed off and beginning its next attack.  I waved my arm around at it, but to no avail, eventually losing my sunglasses in the middle of the road.  I warded off one more pecking, flapping attack before the bird flew away and I circled around to pick up my sunglasses - fortunately undamaged...  Any magpie I now see immediately generates a flood of adrenaline as I increase my cycling speed and prepare for battle.  In fact, any flap of wings or sudden 'squawk' makes me jump as more adrenaline surges through my system.  I dream of ways to destroy the birds from my bike, rather than just fend off the attacks.  I still don't have any good ideas - it's hard to fight them when both hands are important to steer and they come from behind.  I hate these birds with a passion - so if you have any extermination ideas I'd be overjoyed to hear them...

Through Blenheim I traveled, and I took the long way to get to the ferry to Wellington from Picton.  The road, once again, was loose gravel and had horribly steep grades but the views and scenery made it completely worth it.  It took my 4.5hrs to travel the 60km scenic route up and down some MASSIVE hills, and made it to the ferry with 15 minutes to spare!  Now in Wellington, getting a bit of rest and hopefully some job interviews!

The loose gravel road and a view of the Marlborough Sound on the way to Picton.

To see more about my route and more frequent updates, see my MAP which can also be found at the top right under "Additional Stuff."  An app on my new space phone allows me to record GPS locations of where I am and attach a photo and a comment - check it out, it's pretty neat.  Keep in mind, the waypoints I leave are connected by straight lines, so you'll have to investigate the map to view the road and the exact route I took.  Also more pictures can be found HERE, which is the same link that's accessible under "additional stuff."