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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 90 mile beach, looking south. |
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| Cooking up a dinner of shellfish, eggs and rice on 90mile beach |
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| 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.
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| 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
