I knew that the more populated North Island of New Zealand would challenge me in some ways, but I hoped that I would see enough beauty and explore enough wild places that it would be worth it. I can now say that I have experienced it for myself; I’ll save my recommendations for the end,…
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Tongariro Crossing
After arriving in National Park via the Mountains to Sea route I rallied to hike the Tongariro Crossing the next day before the good weather window ended. This hike is billed as one of the best day hikes in New Zealand and was the reason I routed myself through National Park. It is a 20km…
Sea to Mountains
One of the “Great Rides” on the North Island of NZ is the Mountains to Sea trail and only a small portion of the “trail” is really single track, with most being quiet country roads. Riding a track with net downhill would be lovely; however, since I am trying to get north for my flight…
Getting Back on the Horse
Ooph! Once a let some time lag it seems overwhelming to start logging again. So much has happened! Do I just skip it all and start with recent events? Or do I try and post a summary? I think I’m going to attempt a summary, let’s see what happens… Technology fail is what happened! I’ve…
Making the Most of Sunny Days
Following days of heavy rain in Greymouth sun was finally forecast. Time to ride! I rose a relatively quiet paved road through farmlands for an afternoon to reach the Waiuta Lodge ($15 advanced registration required) at the well maintained Waiuta gold mine ghost town. The lodge was really a mountain hut, but with electricity and…
Being Still
It’s raining. It’s been raining for about seven days now. Rivers are flooding, bridges all over the island are out. I’m practicing being still. I’m actually quite good at doing nothing, as long as I don’t start concerning myself with the opinions of others and what I “should” be doing. Theoretically the rain and wind…
On Slowing Down
Spending ten days riding so many great trails with friends was a fabulous kick off to my New Zealand trip. However, since their comfortable touring mode pace is significantly faster than mine I was pretty wiped out by doing more mileage most days than I would have on my own. I was really looking forward…
The Queen Charlotte Track, the Heaphy Track, and the Most Beautiful Awful Campsite Ever.
What better way to spend the night before international travel than puking your guts out? Fortunately it seemed to be a one night bug and I did not get ill on the flight, but it was about six days before my appetite returned. That included riding the entire Queen Charlotte Track on minimal calories, but…
Do You Need Keys to Have a Home?
Anytime I travel completely key free it is so liberating! Every summer for the past ten years I would leave my house key with the person subletting my room while I traveled and my work keys definitely stayed home, but often I still had a car key to keep track of during my travels. Then…
What Do You Want From Each Day?
All summer I had so much fun riding my bike for a few hours at a time and no motivation to go bikepacking. I didn’t want to deal with all the time and effort of digging the bikepacking gear out of my car and getting it all on the bike– a process that I knew…