Wednesday 30 January 2008
Bay of Islands/Paihia
Headed out quite late so decided to stop for a long black and a cheese and onion toastie. A nice one, not that special but cheap with fantastic presentation I thought. I`ve never seen a vertical toastie before. Ah, I live on the edge, eh. Soon off the main highway onto Russell Rd and a real nice windy one through farmland and forest and made good profress. Had lunch and a swim at Helen`s bay and found a great campsite right on the beach a few k`s on at Whangaruru South. Next day really hot and not really into it but a beautiful road, up and down, passing many little beaches. At one point 2 parrots flew out near me all multicoloured, don`t know which birds but so beautiful. I looked for them in the trees but I couldn`t see them. Eventually arrived at Russell after going by quite alot of really nice swampy wetland where I got a refreshingly slow old ferry over to Paihia
Auckland to Whangarei
Got the ferry to Gulf Harbour to try and escape the worst of the traffic. Was very busy pretty much the whole day but had a tail wind and head down and ended up covering a decent distance. Stayed the night at a campsite at Mangawhai. Set up my tent in my designated site and was talking to the grandson (I assume) of the couple camped next door and essentially bragging about my great little tent and about how the material is 5 times as strong as most tent fabrics. 5 minutes later a girl runs straight through a guy rope and, yes, rips the mooringy bit off the end of my tent. Talk about instant karma or wot....Anyway on inspection not too disastrous and hopefully I can get it fixed in Kerikeri at a sail-makers there. Then the next mrning as I was pumping up my front tyre my inner tube burst. Grrr...Anyhow cycled off to find my neighbour waiting for me 5k up the road by his car holding my puncture repair kit that I had left on the grass and not realised. How kind. Decided the angels had returned.
Whangarei not far but not really into it though had a nice big stop for lunch and a swim or 3 at Uretiti Beach. Whagerei YHA really nice old little place up on hill above the main part of town with a very comfy lounge area.
Auckland
`Auckland - City of Sails` (makes sense-lots of boats by the sea etc.) or as the new slogan is `Auckland the Big Little City`. People get paid good money to come up with this nonsense.
Anyway it is a nice city to arrive at by boat. Central Auckland at night is full of idiots in cars with no bonnets who think its cool to rev their car engines alot and suffocate anyone in the local area. Having said that had a pretty good coupla days. It was Auckland anniversary weekend so they had fireworks at the harbour and Helen Clarke was on the Spirit of New Zealand a big old clipper ship and there was also a more traditional Maori vessel. She said that this was the weekend `when Auckland meets Rio` which seemed a little optimistic. I`ve seen the Rio carnival on telly and well...The fireworks were pretty impressive to be fair though. Next day met up with my dad`s partner Karen`s step-son (complicated enough for you?) Marcus and his partner Ana who made me a really nice lunch and then we went to the beach on the North Shore which looks out at Rangitoto Island. In the evening went to see the new Ang Lee film `Lust Caution` which was obviously great. Very sad.
Auckland Int. YHA nice and calm in the centre of the city
Waiheke Island
The ferry from Coromandel at Oriapu on the South East part of the Island. Steep windy road through forest and then up into the hills. Very hot and sweating buckets but great riding. Eventually arrived at Onetangi Beach and found a cold beer in a cafe (not something I have done much on this trip) but it was very welcome. Then headed for the one and only campsite which isn`t actually signposted anywhere. Anyway realised I`d gone the way after a few hills the wrong way and spotted a lady doing some gardening. After telling me it was a way back Trisha offereed me a stay at her place which was a rather smart place being decorated. Basically with its own private beach with water clear as glass I had a nice swim at sunset and then relaxed in the Spa Pool under the stars before my comfy bed. http://www.heartsongretreat.co.nz/ if anyone fancy`s a luxury retreat on Waiheke.
Next morning headed off to the ferry terminal which had a very exact parking sign for those of you who appreciate life`s details.
Saturday 26 January 2008
3000K!!!!!
3000k Monty!
Not bad Jimbob. Have we raised much money yet?
Well Monty, had an update on funds today from Re-cycle and actually its hardly anything.
Oh, thats a shame, we`re almost there.
Yeah it is really. They do great work and have several new projects on the go at the moment that need funds to support them. They sent over 5000 bikes in 2007 alone. Bikes last a long time and can make a huge impact on peoples lives in the kind of places that Re-cycle work in.
So......if you`re reading this and have made a donation, Thankyou thankyou! If you e-mail me at: bigadeboo@yahoo.co.uk and let me know that you have I will put it into a seperate folder and at some point during March or April I`ll let you know exactly whats being done with your money and also attach 5 of my favourite pics from the trip which you could print off or put on your desktop as wallpaper or project onto the ceiling of your nightclub or bedroom. If you do make a donation (see the link on the right of the Blog) please let me know when you do and I`ll do the same. (unless you`d prefer not, obviously)(in which case you wouldn`t, even more obviously)
Beautiful Waiheke Island and Auckland coming soon...
Ngarimu Bay and on to Waiheke Island
Pretty gentle day as I was going to see Pete and Jacqui who i met on the East Cape who invited me to stay at their house which has an awesome deck. Lots of lying around and swimming on the way and such like and spent a really nice evening with them. Jacqui made a really nice risotto and I had a big comfy double bed.
Headed off after breakfast and had another laid back day. Great little beach at Wilson`s Bay and then got the ferry at Coromandel harbour in the late afternoon. Beautiful road with a couple of big hills but fantastic views and nice and sunny so well worth it. Bumped into fellow bicylist Terry who I met the day before who has been moseying around the North Island. He told me he`d been done for speeding twice on his bike. Once in the UK where he was actually taken to court and fined by the police. He has the certificate framed. This also happenned in New Zealand but I think the cop gave up the argument in the end. He is clearly a dangerous man. I hit 70k per hour downhill the other day so I shall obviously have to be careful. On the way there were some kids selling tangelos which was very welcome.
Coromandel
Nice road and a big climb upto the hill over looking Coromandel. Beautiful silver light with all the islands spread out below. THe motor camp there wanted $28 for the night which seemed a bit steep so found a spot a few kilometres south of the town in a feild by a side road after checking it seemed to be empty and put up my tent there. Full moon, clear sky for the first time for nearly a week. Weird hissing noise in the night sort of like a very large snake with a bit of a cold. Anyway didn`t seem to get any nearer so eventually went to sleep. Next morning a ute came by just as I was getting up and a guy told me I shouldn`t really be there though on learning of the price of the campsite agreed he`d have done the same. Then he asked me if I`d seen the big old ram which apparently usually hangs out further down the field round the corner.
Do rams hiss?
Friday 25 January 2008
Opoutere - Opito Beach
Lovely windy road and nice cool misty weather. Stayed the night at Hahei not far from Hot Water Beach. If you find the right spot at low tide and dig a shallow hole in the sand you can make your own thermal pool. Well low tide was 11.30 pm so I`m wandering around the beach with my torch until after about half an hour my feet are suddenly hot but the waves are still rolling in while I stand there feeling a bit foolish. It was kind of cool (well hot) but possibly not worth the extra bike ride and effort involved. Was talking to someone the next day and it turned out the offshore typhoon meant that the tide was much higher than usual.
Next day went to Cathedral Bay which is a 30 minute walk from near Hei hei. An awesome little bay with a big old rock in the most interesting shape and a big cavern open at both ends. (hmmm there`s probably a word for that isn`t there dear reader)
Got the little passengar ferry over to Whitianga and spent the night north east of there off a side road. Beautiful remote place called Opito which had a great simple campsite. I camped next to a haybarn which was good for breakfast as it was pretty windy. Barns smell so good. (Well this one did anyway)
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