So we've survived the first week, though not without a lot of pain, rain, wind and mosquitos. We're staying with a friend of a friend in Auckland tonight (it's nice in here...indoors...), its late and we rode 100km today so this will probably be brief. A day-by-day account:
Day One : Dec 1 - Kaitaia to Pukenui 42km
We arrived in Auckland to find that a mixup at the bike shop had prevented us from being able to get the bike until Monday morning. We stayed at a mate's house and headed over there in the morning, picked up the bike (got it on the rack) and drove North to Kaitaia. It was raining the whole way so it didn't look too inviting to ride in...anyhow we got on the road at about 5pm and headed North towards Cape Reinga. After our first flat tyre in the rain at dusk we stayed at Pukenui after a dodgy pizza from the local.
Day Two : Dec 2 - Pukenui to Cape Reinga 68km
We left early after our first night sleeping in bivvy bags and headed north towards Cape Reinga. 20km south of the cape the sealed road ends and the unsealed road for the last 20 was covered in loose rocks and really hilly, and we managed to get ourselves 2 flat tyres. We made it to the Cape exhausted and were planning to camp out there but a friendly Hungarian and his wife gave us a lift back to to Waitiki Landing where the bitumen started again. We camped there for the night. Lots of mozzies and a naughty possum.
Day Three : Dec 3 - Waitiki Landing to Kaitaia 91km
We started heading south for the first time and re-traced our route back to Kaitaia. We stayed at the MainStreet lodge backpackers. Met a guy called Rodurigo who was hiking up to the cape. He'd just finished a few months hiking in California on his own with the bears. Crazy. Shopped up big at the Pak'n'Save for the next day.
Day Four : Dec 4 - Kaitaia to Kerikeri 100km
We decided that the trailer was far too heavy for us to drag the whole way with us so we did a massive cull of our gear. We managed to get rid of (i.e. send home) about 6kg of non-essential gear each and that allowed us to fit everything into Joe's panniers and a new set of panniers that I bought at the local bike shop. We sent our gear home and the trailer back to Auckland. Now 21kg lighter overall, we were ready to tackle the next leg with a bit more speed and a few less clothes. All the stuffing around at the post office meant we didn't get on the road until about 1pm, then headed East towards the coast. Rode through a few nice little coastal towns, then up into the hills and eventually made it as far as a little touristy place called Kerikeri (it had Subway) and stayed at a Top Ten Holiday Park in a cabin. Not exatly 'roughing it', but we were glad for a real bed.
Day Five : Dec 5 - Kerikeri to Whangarei 103km
With the bike that much lighter and our legs getting more used to the riding, we started to cover more and more per day. Then the rain came. We spent the morning with our coats on trying to see through the water on our sunglasses and stopping every few kilometres to ring out our socks. The waterproofing on the panniers worked a treat (built-in on Joe's and "garbage bag" on Simon's). After midday the rain let up and we had a fairly easy run into Whangarei. We dropped in to the local Red Cross as we rode past it (not sure why..just to say gday really) then treated ourselves to a huge meal and a few beers in town. The alcohol tolerance was obviously very low as 2 beers hit us like a truck (no pun intended). We got a patch of grass under a tree next to a creek at a local campground where we set up camp and met a guy called Steve who was also riding through the North Island. Upon telling him of our plan to make it the length of the country, he thought that it was "in the realm of possibility" but it was not going to be easy. (be more constructive with your feedback, please.....did Steve tell you that perchance? Steve....)
Day Six : Dec 6 - Whangarei to Sandspit 108km
Spurred on by Steve's lack of faith in us, we hit the road hard, getting underway in our record early time of....8am. Ok, so we're still not really morning people....yet (and sleep is good when you rode 100km yesterday). About 30km into the day, we hit what can only be described as "a real bastard" of a hill. A hill deserving of it's own restaurant at its peak. After slogging uphill for what seemed like hours, we stopped and each had their "famous" $10 big breakfast. Big mistake. I don't know what was in those sausages, but we were reminded of what they tasted like all afternoon. Nasty. Protein. Earth. Physics. It's all good.
Our goal for the day was Wellsford, but on our arrival here we found that nobody wants to stay there, so there are no campsites. We kept on for another 20km to Warkworth, but again they had the same problem, so we ended up riding 8km off the highway to a nice little seaside spot called Sandspit where we spent the night wondering if other guests of the caravan park would see us in time to avoid running over us in our sleep. But what a sleep it was. The bike was covered in 'cement' dust from some roadworks that we had encountered and the gears were not working as well as the should, so we gave the beast (yet to be named) a good tweaking and a bit of a lube.
Day Seven : Dec 7 - Sandspit to Auckland 95km
Apart from the chain coming off about 2 minutes into the day's ride, our bicycle mechanic efforts seemed to be successful. We were now able to get into the lowest gear for those uphill slogs, and on a bike with 27 gears, thats pretty low. We opened with what we now affectionately call "the Death Climb" with about 3cm of shoulder on the road and increasingly heavy traffic becoming more and more terrifying for our brave travellers. The first of these near-death climbs led into what can now only be described as "the second Death Climb" which of course came hand in hand with some sweet downhill action. We took a video of one of these descent-climb-descents coming into the coastal town of Orewa where we had a break on the beach. Very nice. Half of New Zealand (every one of whom own cars) were out enjoying their Sunday afternoon. It was hot. We followed the East Coast road into the heart of Auckland (to avoid the motorway) and got onto a ferry across the harbour at Davenport to the CBD. We met a lovely American couple and discussed politics over a kebab all the while fighting off intrepid sparrows who wanted a free lunch. Luckily we had a free dinner coming our way. We are staying tonight with a schoolfriend of a mate from Brissy (thats you Kate). Had a great bbq dinner and discussed our proposed route south with them as they are both keen cyclists also. Thanks heaps to Jenny and Steve for your hospitality!
Well - one week down and we're still going strong. The legs, while not exactly 'enjoying' the experience, are certainly becoming better able to take the abuse and we hope this continues to be the case in the weeks ahead. Tomorrow we're heading south towards Hamilton, but we're just going to ride and see how far the roads (and our legs) take us. We would put up photos, but to be completely honest, we'd rather just go to bed so that might have to wait until next time. Sorry folks, we know you're all hanging out to see us in bike pants.
Miss you all back home,
- Simon & Joe
Day One : Dec 1 - Kaitaia to Pukenui 42km
We arrived in Auckland to find that a mixup at the bike shop had prevented us from being able to get the bike until Monday morning. We stayed at a mate's house and headed over there in the morning, picked up the bike (got it on the rack) and drove North to Kaitaia. It was raining the whole way so it didn't look too inviting to ride in...anyhow we got on the road at about 5pm and headed North towards Cape Reinga. After our first flat tyre in the rain at dusk we stayed at Pukenui after a dodgy pizza from the local.
Day Two : Dec 2 - Pukenui to Cape Reinga 68km
We left early after our first night sleeping in bivvy bags and headed north towards Cape Reinga. 20km south of the cape the sealed road ends and the unsealed road for the last 20 was covered in loose rocks and really hilly, and we managed to get ourselves 2 flat tyres. We made it to the Cape exhausted and were planning to camp out there but a friendly Hungarian and his wife gave us a lift back to to Waitiki Landing where the bitumen started again. We camped there for the night. Lots of mozzies and a naughty possum.
Day Three : Dec 3 - Waitiki Landing to Kaitaia 91km
We started heading south for the first time and re-traced our route back to Kaitaia. We stayed at the MainStreet lodge backpackers. Met a guy called Rodurigo who was hiking up to the cape. He'd just finished a few months hiking in California on his own with the bears. Crazy. Shopped up big at the Pak'n'Save for the next day.
Day Four : Dec 4 - Kaitaia to Kerikeri 100km
We decided that the trailer was far too heavy for us to drag the whole way with us so we did a massive cull of our gear. We managed to get rid of (i.e. send home) about 6kg of non-essential gear each and that allowed us to fit everything into Joe's panniers and a new set of panniers that I bought at the local bike shop. We sent our gear home and the trailer back to Auckland. Now 21kg lighter overall, we were ready to tackle the next leg with a bit more speed and a few less clothes. All the stuffing around at the post office meant we didn't get on the road until about 1pm, then headed East towards the coast. Rode through a few nice little coastal towns, then up into the hills and eventually made it as far as a little touristy place called Kerikeri (it had Subway) and stayed at a Top Ten Holiday Park in a cabin. Not exatly 'roughing it', but we were glad for a real bed.
Day Five : Dec 5 - Kerikeri to Whangarei 103km
With the bike that much lighter and our legs getting more used to the riding, we started to cover more and more per day. Then the rain came. We spent the morning with our coats on trying to see through the water on our sunglasses and stopping every few kilometres to ring out our socks. The waterproofing on the panniers worked a treat (built-in on Joe's and "garbage bag" on Simon's). After midday the rain let up and we had a fairly easy run into Whangarei. We dropped in to the local Red Cross as we rode past it (not sure why..just to say gday really) then treated ourselves to a huge meal and a few beers in town. The alcohol tolerance was obviously very low as 2 beers hit us like a truck (no pun intended). We got a patch of grass under a tree next to a creek at a local campground where we set up camp and met a guy called Steve who was also riding through the North Island. Upon telling him of our plan to make it the length of the country, he thought that it was "in the realm of possibility" but it was not going to be easy. (be more constructive with your feedback, please.....did Steve tell you that perchance? Steve....)
Day Six : Dec 6 - Whangarei to Sandspit 108km
Spurred on by Steve's lack of faith in us, we hit the road hard, getting underway in our record early time of....8am. Ok, so we're still not really morning people....yet (and sleep is good when you rode 100km yesterday). About 30km into the day, we hit what can only be described as "a real bastard" of a hill. A hill deserving of it's own restaurant at its peak. After slogging uphill for what seemed like hours, we stopped and each had their "famous" $10 big breakfast. Big mistake. I don't know what was in those sausages, but we were reminded of what they tasted like all afternoon. Nasty. Protein. Earth. Physics. It's all good.
Our goal for the day was Wellsford, but on our arrival here we found that nobody wants to stay there, so there are no campsites. We kept on for another 20km to Warkworth, but again they had the same problem, so we ended up riding 8km off the highway to a nice little seaside spot called Sandspit where we spent the night wondering if other guests of the caravan park would see us in time to avoid running over us in our sleep. But what a sleep it was. The bike was covered in 'cement' dust from some roadworks that we had encountered and the gears were not working as well as the should, so we gave the beast (yet to be named) a good tweaking and a bit of a lube.
Day Seven : Dec 7 - Sandspit to Auckland 95km
Apart from the chain coming off about 2 minutes into the day's ride, our bicycle mechanic efforts seemed to be successful. We were now able to get into the lowest gear for those uphill slogs, and on a bike with 27 gears, thats pretty low. We opened with what we now affectionately call "the Death Climb" with about 3cm of shoulder on the road and increasingly heavy traffic becoming more and more terrifying for our brave travellers. The first of these near-death climbs led into what can now only be described as "the second Death Climb" which of course came hand in hand with some sweet downhill action. We took a video of one of these descent-climb-descents coming into the coastal town of Orewa where we had a break on the beach. Very nice. Half of New Zealand (every one of whom own cars) were out enjoying their Sunday afternoon. It was hot. We followed the East Coast road into the heart of Auckland (to avoid the motorway) and got onto a ferry across the harbour at Davenport to the CBD. We met a lovely American couple and discussed politics over a kebab all the while fighting off intrepid sparrows who wanted a free lunch. Luckily we had a free dinner coming our way. We are staying tonight with a schoolfriend of a mate from Brissy (thats you Kate). Had a great bbq dinner and discussed our proposed route south with them as they are both keen cyclists also. Thanks heaps to Jenny and Steve for your hospitality!
Well - one week down and we're still going strong. The legs, while not exactly 'enjoying' the experience, are certainly becoming better able to take the abuse and we hope this continues to be the case in the weeks ahead. Tomorrow we're heading south towards Hamilton, but we're just going to ride and see how far the roads (and our legs) take us. We would put up photos, but to be completely honest, we'd rather just go to bed so that might have to wait until next time. Sorry folks, we know you're all hanging out to see us in bike pants.
Miss you all back home,
- Simon & Joe
3 comments:
Well done boiz! Keep up the great work! Looking forward to the next installment...
Well done lads. I know the Sandspit campground well. I fondly remember watchin NZ beat Australia in the netball there when i was younger. Still planning on passing thru Palmy? I'll let the folks know. Should be plenty of space.
Great effort and enjoy your trip....I did a similar cycling and boozing tour with the RN many moons ago, a great way to see NZ :)
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