We had an ugly surprise when we got to the airport. Shad's flight time had been changed and his plane was departing as we walked in the door! There was a good amount of confusion and worry, as he hadn't been notified and we weren't sure what was going to happen. As I got into the check-in line for my own flight, Shad was sent through a maze of offices to find answers. It turns out he somehow fell through the cracks when Air Pacific notified people, so they put him on my flight free of charge. Now he has a 24hr layover in LA instead of two slightly shorter layovers in Fiji and LA. I'm kind of glad he's on my flight. This way we can still get an end of the road picture and truly finish this trip together.

The flight is only slightly miserable. I've gone through two movies so far and will watch another one or two. I doubt I'll sleep much if at all. The plane is full and I can feel the cramped quarters starting to stress me out a bit. I need to put one of my New Zealand lessons to use:
NZ Lesson Number 1 ~ Just Chill Out.

A Great Day to Kick Back

End of the Road

Shad went with me to return the bike, since he needed to get a box to put his own in. Adventure Cycles is kind of a weird shop. When we got there, the owner Bruce put us to work packaging some shoes for him. This was in return for the box... I think. Then he drove us and the box back to Kahu's, giving us a shoebox full of slightly squished or moldy nectarines. He's an interesting character for sure.

I wanted to walk around and see something, and the mall was the only nearby thing I could think of. So Shad and I set off for a walk. At the mall Shad found some packaging supplies and I was disappointed in my window shopping. Malls are kind of stupid places, and I have to go every once in a while to remind myself of that. We had some slightly questionable mall food (my Chinese smorgasbord perhaps a little more questionable than Shad's Indian dish) and left. At least we got out for a walk, right?

We spent the night making things out of discarded bamboo we found in Kahu's bamboo grove. They're not extremely Kiwi souvenirs, but I reckon we made some cool things anyways. Then we spent the rest of the night hanging out with Kahu and one of his friends. I didn't get the blog updated. I didn't really explore Auckland. I didn't call our New Plymouth host Kim like I had said I would. I feel like this trip is ending too quickly, perhaps not too soon, but definitely too quickly.]]> Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105426 0 -36.8666667 174.7666667 I woke up early this morning when the sun streamed through the stained glass window of the gypsy wagon onto my face. I got up and had breakfast - porridge with stewed plums. It was actually pretty tasty. I did my best to wake up Shad and enjoyed the company of Rosalie and her overseas friend. Old women are funny people. They just sort of stop caring what other people think and will do and say all sorts of things you would never expect. Perhaps that's wisdom...

Funny Old Women and Us Without Faces

We only made one wrong turn on our ride from downtown Auckland to Kahu and Beca's house. I'm glad we're staying with them again. I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with them before. When we arrived Kahu asked us if we wanted to go to the beach with his family that afternoon. Of course we agreed. Laying about in the sun always sounds like a good idea.

Tonight we didn't do too much, just spent some time around the house unwinding. We made chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. The pancakes turned out very well, but we didn't notice the ants crawling all over the bottle of syrup (and some even in it) until much too late. I spotted them before pouring it on, but no one else had - just a bit of extra protein right?. I managed four and I think Shad put away seven or perhaps more. I'l need to remember I don't need to eat as much when I get home. This trip has been great for food. We could eat as much as we want and always know we were going to burn it all off. I have a feeling that won't be the case when I'm surrounded by cold and snow and the farthest I have to travel is across the street. ]]> Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105425 0 -36.8666667 174.7666667

We biked a little further then, just until we ran across a store where we picked up some cheese, crackers, and wine to go with the smoked fish that Rob gave us. Biking just a bit further, we then pulled off and went down to sit on some rocks to enjoy our quite decadent meal.

Decadent

As I was riding today I thought about two things. First I was reminded of my childhood and playing make-believe in the woods around my house and out at Grandma's. I also thought about this whole trip. It's ben a much more authentic New Zealand experience than when I was here last time. Even though it's shorter, we've run into and talked with so many Kiwis. Whereas last time I was mainly around other Americans and travellers the entire time. It's truly been a great trip. Today was probably the best bike ride of my life and one of my top 5 life moments altogether.

Tonight we're couchsurfing with Rosalie - an older woman who lives with her grown son Mark. Her sister and some friends were also in visiting from abroad, and Rosalie cooked us all a fantastic meal with fish, potatoes, salads, and zucchini fritters. Afterwards we staid up late drinking and talking with Mark. He seemed to not have much direction in life, spending all his spare time drinking and smoking. He spends $80 a week on each. He says he's on the verge of giving them both up, and for his sake I hope he does. he was a good storyteller though, and we had a nice long talk between the three of us. Now Shad and I are scrunched in a small gypsy wagon, hoping we wake up in time for our bus tomorrow morning.]]> Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105424 0 -37.1333333 175.5333333 We woke up early this morning and packed up to leave our stealth campsite before we were discovered. Well... I woke up early. I had to wake Shad up three different times before it finally stuck - and he had been the one who had insisted that we leave as soon as possible! I spent my extra time waiting in the sun where I found a paddock with two huge Clydesdales. They kept me entertained while Shad slept in.

Morning Entertainment

We got out early nonetheless and stopped for breakfast at a hilltop picnic area. There was an unusually high number of cyclists on the road this morning. When we got down to the coastal town of Kuaotunu I discovered why. Kuaotunu had a lovely little cafe with a great view of the beach and there had been some sort of organized bike ride out to meet there for morning coffee. It was so relaxed and peaceful in Kuaotunu, I wanted to spend the whole day there under one of the big shade trees, writing and drinking coffee. Shad wasn't so enchanted with the place though, so before too long we took off again down the road.

My bike made it up the first big hill out of town, but only halfway up the second one before the chain broke again. This time there was no hope in finding the missing link and as we were still without a chain breaker, I was royally screwed. Our only hope was hitchhiking. We walked our bikes up to the top of the hill and miraculously a little blue truck stopped when we stuck our thumbs out. Merv and Janice were an older couple perhaps in their late 50s who were out on a holiday. They offered to take us and our bikes into the next town, and when we couldn't find a mechanic there they drove us all the way to Coromandel Town. We couldn't believe our luck! Merv dropped us off at a garage where they just so happened to have a chainbreaker. We took out a couple of the links and pieced the thing back together. It seemed to work.

It started to spit rain as we made our way through town for lunch at an amazing little cafe on the edge of town that Lonely Planet had recommended. Driving Creek Cafe was fantastic. They had good music playing, very original and warm decor, and free tee with every meal. We spent a lot of time there, Shad on the internet and me writing while we waited out the rain.After it stopped, we spent a little bit of time at the shops in town before setting off to find a campsite. As we left town we still hadn't found a place to do the dishes and refill our water, so we hoped we would come across a stream or gas station or something on the way. We found a little river that we could scrub the dishes in, but the water looked too questionable to drink. Soon we were headed up our second to last huge hill of the entire trip. At the top we found a neat little clearing with all sorts of native plants and trees all labeled. Shad enjoyed digging through the large amount of garbage and bones he found back in the woods. It would have been a decent place to camp, but we still didn't have any water so we had to press on.

The little town at the bottom of the hill had nothing but a school and a few houses, so we dug in and set to climbing the last hill of any reasonable size on our entire trip. We stopped at a panoramic bit that we imagined was the top.

Celebrate?

At the top I tried again to pinch the chain together, and that time it seemed to hold. We tentatively set off down the hill, but about halfway down the road went up a little incline and my chain broke yet again. I was fed up. I chucked the chain in one of my bags, walked up the rest of the hill, and finally FINALLY coasted to the bottom.

The road came down to the beach at Wilson's Bay and there was a little farm house just where I stopped rolling. People were about, so Shad went to ask for water while I tried once again to pinch the chain back together. Minutes later Shad was back with not only full water bottles but also with Marcus, an avid mountain biker who just so happened to have a chainbreaker and some extra links. My chain was fixed within seconds and Marcus even pointed out a nearby campsite where we could spend the night. We bid him farewell and set off for the campsite, only to find Marcus pedaling speedily after us. When he caught up he told us that the farmer had offered to let us stay in his wool shed where we could be sheltered from the wind and even have a shower. We happily accepted.

Camp Wool Shed

Anyways, we got ourselves cleaned off in an outdoor shower cold enough to wake you up from the grave. Then we hung up our hammocks and made a delicious dinner of spicy salmon burritos. There was so much food we both had three huge burritos each. After dinner we headed over to the house to have a beer with our hosts. ob was the owner and farmer. He bred cattle on the hilly 1000 acres of land behind the house. His wife was from Germany and then there were Marcus and Garth who were visiting them. It was great conversation and we laughed and shared stories for a good while. These people were skilled at the art of conversation. I felt like Shad and I were just there to provide fresh material. Eventually we all grew tired and found our way to bed, Shad and I swinging to sleep in our hammocks in the wool shed.
]]> Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105423 0 -36.8666667 175.4166667

Pretty Breakfast View

Pumpkin Hill was indeed horrible, one of the steepest we've had to climb all trip. My bike wasn't really shifting quite right still, which only made it that much harder. As soon as I saw the top I gave up and just walked the last 50m.

After the morning's mountain climb, the rest of the ride to Haihei seemed relatively easy. We made it there quick and had lunch in town. I'm starting to run short of money, so I limited myself to just a chicken pie and a coffee. After lunch we set out to find Cathedral Cove. The trail started at the top of a huge hill which we had to bike up. There were heaps of people all over the place. It was about a 25 minute walk then down to the cove.

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

After Cathedral Cove we pedaled 8km over to Hot Water Beach. This is a beach where at low tide a section of sand is exposed where you can dig a hole and water from a hot spring will bubble up and fill your little pool. It sounds cool. The reality was a mess of people digging holes in the sand.

After cleaning off the sand, we headed out to the ferry at Cook's Beach. On the other side at Whitianga we filled up on water and Shad bought some beer to go with dinner, then we biked north out of town. We had been hoping to find a campsite before the sun set, but that didn't quite happen. We had to go off into the hills before we found anything suitable. We've ended up on a short cattle road maybe 50ft from the road behind some tall grass and trees. We have to turn our headlamps off everytime we hear a car coming so we don't get discovered. Dinner was mac & cheese with tuna and veggies - it turned out quite deliciously.
]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105422 0 -36.8333333 175.7
Stuart and the HousetruckBy 8:30 we were ready to hit the road. our first job was to go into town to check our couchsurfing emails and make sure we had places to stay in Thames and Auckland. Then I had a look at their little gold mining museum. There's still an active gold mine in Waihi that's been producing gold since the late 1800s. I'm glad mining techniques have gotten better. The old mine is a huge hole in the middle of town where a mountain used to be. The new mine is an underground mine that's not much more than an angled shaft into the earth. We get so many things from the material that's pulled out of mines... I wonder what the world would be like without any of it? Is a bit of rock more useful to us than plants and animals?

After the museum we had a breakfast at a place Stuart recommended called Banana Pepper - french toast with bacon and roasted bananas. Then we headed for the phone and the bike shop. I called the rental company and asked what I should do about my busted chain. They said find a chainbreaker and take the offending links out. I've also been having trouble with my front derailleur. They told me how to adjust it. With this knowledge I borrowed the bike shop's chainbreaker and and just pushed in the pins properly that had come out before. I left shortening the chain for if I had further problems. Then I played with the shifters a bit (riding my bike into a wall in the process). While I managed to improve it, I still couldn't get the bike to shift into third gear. I've been without it almost all trip, so I just let it be. After all this we finally set out for Tairua around noon.

I was making pretty slow time at the start. There was a hill and there was wind and I'm just plain getting tired of biking all the time. Shad wants to take the bus from Thames to Auckland instead of biking it. With each day I get a little more keen to agree to it.

We stopped and had lunch in the little surf town of Whangamata. I wanted to stay longer and was not happy to get back on the bike. A few big hills later we finally came into the last stretch to Tairua. We stopped for a bit at a gas station in the middle of nowhere 12km from Tairua. I think every single employee took turns coming out to have a breack and chat with us. We learned about a good spot to camp on the other side of Tairua 2/3 of the way up Pumpkin Hill. We also learned of the ferry between Cook's Beach and Whitianga that would save us over 30km and only cost a couple bucks.

The last 12km to Tairua took forever. The wind was against us and I was moving slow. When we got there we set about trying to find a campsite close to town. Although the Pumpkin Hill spot sounded nice, the idea of climbing up a hill then descending it to the beach, then climbing it again in the morning was not something that sounded too good. There was some bush down by the beach, but when we checked it out we found too little of it on too steep of an incline to be any good. There were too many people around to do anything more out in open (camping being prohibited on that stretch of beach).

So, stuck with no other options, we were forced to climb up Pumpkin Hill. Our turn-off was more like 4/5 of the way up than 2/3, but we made it alright. At our turn there was a sign pointing us dow a horrible steep road to Sailor's Grave beach. The ride down was fun, but I know already that tomorrow morning is going to be horrible. A little trail through the bush then put us out in an isolated cove on the beach. It was absolutely gorgeous, with a little stream feeding down through some rocks into the ocean. I've got my hammock set up in the trees on one bank of the stream and Shad's got his in some trees on the other bank. A group of 4 Germans have a couple tents set up on a solitary grassy patch in the middle of the valley. Shad and I both washed off in the frigidly cold stream and had a dinner of pasta, chicken, tomatoes, and vegetable. It was alright, but lacked a good sauce or a strong flavor. Now the stars are out and the waves are singing me to sleep.
]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105421 0 -37.0166667 175.85
Melissa After that she took us to the grocery store to buy some supplies for the last leg of our trip. She had to go too because she is hosting her daughter's 4th birthday party tomorrow. We were very grateful for the ride. When we got back I made lunch for everyone. Shad and I had toast and she had toasted sandwiches. Toasted sandwiches are an everyday item down here in New Zealand and Australia, as ubiquitous as meat pies. They're basically a griled cheese with 2 or 3 various ingredients. She had hers with cheese (not always included), capsicum (the down under name for bell peppers), and "capery things" (green onions, apparently). I first tried to find a frying pan to cook them like I'm used to, but Melissa didn't have a frying pan. So I discovered the grill function on the oven and cooked them in a baking dish. I'm not sure if I prepared them right at all, but apparently they came out "perfect". We finished lunch and said our goodbyes around 1:30.

The real trouble didn't start until we got out of town and after Shad had a second lunch of chicken vindaloo at a takeaway Indian place. About 15km out, just after a short break, my chain broke. Shad was in front of me and out of earshot, as I yelled his name at him and he just rode off.. I spent probably 20 min trying to find the borken pieces of link in the roadside gravel and at least another 20 trying to smash the whole thing back together with my pliers. Shad eventually figured out I wasn't behind him anymore and turned back to help me. Together we got the thing pieced back together as best we could, cursing ourselves that the one tool we didn't pack was a chain breaker - the one tool we desperately needed. Our pinch job worked, but I was scared it wouldn't hold if I shifted it around too much or put too much strain on it. So I picked a lower gear and was determined not to shift from it unless I really had to. Then we set off with me praying for forgiving terrain.

The chain actually made it most of the way. About 12km out from Waihi I noticed it breaking again, so we stopped and pinched it back together. Some nice guy noticed us and brought over two oranges for us to snack on. Then we set off to finish the last bit to Waihi.

Because of our delays we didn't make it to our couchsurfing host's house until just after 8pm. He was a real nice guy about it though. His name was Stuart and he was in his 40s, living in a housetruck he built himself while he was a part of the gypsy fair. Now he runs 3 businesses of his own: renting bicycles, renting motorbikes and guiding rides, and doing canvassing work (think boat covers and sunshades). Stuart lived a real "cruisy" life of independence and regaled us with stories of enduro motorbike races, old girlfriends, and life as a gypsy. He drove us into town to a Chinese takeaway place where he was friends with the owners and managed to get enough food to feed all 3 of us for only $10. We just finished having a few beers and a cup of coffee while watching a DVD of an enduro race he was in in Auckland and looking at pictures in various magazines that he had collected to illustrate his stories. Stuart's got a very interesting life, perhaps not one that I would want to live, but very interesting nonetheless. Tonight I'm sleeping up in a loft in the house truck and Shad's got a bed in the office/shed.

Cookie Break

Cookie Break

Melissa's home had a bright green mailbox and a bright green garage door with kids toys, a kiddie pool, and a little swingset strewn across the lawn. Inside it had all the chaos you would expect in the house of a young single mother. Melissa was making us cookies and a little frozen pizza as we walked in. Once we had the gear off our bikes we sat down and enjoyed the pizza and cookies and got to know our host a bit. She has a 4yr old daughter who is currently on vacation with Grandma. She has dreams of becoming a cop and recently found the motivation and inspiration to get into shape and follow her dream. She's a belly-dancer and enjoys medieval combat reenacting. Fantastic. She invited us to watch the second part of a TV movie about Queen Elizabeth called "THe Virgin Queen". The first part had been on last night and they were showing the second part tonight. After showers, we did just that. I couldn't believe how nice it felt to just sit down and watch a movie at home. It has been a wonderfully relaxing night.
]]> Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105419 0 -37.6861111 176.1666667 I rode back and found that Shad had spent the morning sunbathing and helping Deborah clean for her birthday BBQ party that she had tonight. We did a bit of laundry and headed out to see the sights of Rotorua. We rode our bikes into town and through the geothermal part of Kuirau Park. There were pools of boiling mud, hot springs, a couple of really hot foot baths, and the strong eggy scent of sulfur.

Foot Soak

We continued our ride then down along the coast until we arrived at the government gardens and the Polynesian Spa. The Polynesian Spa housed Rotorua's main thermal pools, and Shad and I decided that was exactly where we wanted to spend the rest of our afternoon. The section we went in had 7 pools, some good for muscle relaxing, others good for your skin. They ranged in temperature from 36 to 40 degrees Celsius and were all fantastic. I think we spent over 2 hours there.

After our soak in the hot pools, we biked back to Deborah's to join her in celebrating her birthday. She had a bunch of her friends over and we enjoyed ourselves by eating huge quantities of food and drinking large quantities of wine, beer, and white russians. Shad really came into his own as a bartender and was producing all sorts of shots for us to drink. Shad, myself, and one of Deborah's friends Raymond staid up the latest, challenging each other to drink the other one under the table. I think we finally called a truce and each went off to pass out in our respective places around the house.

The last bit to Rotorua was decently flat, although the wind (as always) was blowing in the wrong direction. We rode by the airport where the skydiving was. We both wanted to go, if only it didn't cost $400 a jump. In town we spent some time gathering info at the I-site and then another bit of time in a cafe before finally heading down to our couchsurf at Deborah's.

Deborah has a nice little House to herself and her cats up in the hills on the south side of town. After spending some time meting her and her two cats, she took us in to the grocery store to get some food for dinner. Shad and I put together a delicious Chicken parmesan and made chocolate chip cookies and ice cream sandwiches for dessert. The cookies didn't come out quite right, but they were edible enough and tasted loads better with ice cream or dipped in milk.]]> Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105417 0 -38.139822262275 176.246967315674 Paengaroa (32km, 995km total) - Today we had to wake up a lot earlier than we wanted to after a late night of drinking. Checkout time at the holiday park was 10am and we weren't in the mood for paying for another night. Luckily there was a nice beach nearby where we could laze the day away.

Sleeping Off New Year's

On the beach I used my hammock to construct a nice sunshade and took a nice long nap underneath it. I woke up later and went off to check out Papamoa's nearby shops and get some lunch at Turkish to Go, one of my favorite restaurants so far this trip. They have huge kebabs for not too much money. Then it was back to the beach where I got some reading done and scored a wicked sunburn on my left side. We finally hit the road about 5pm. We weren't looking to go very far, just cut down on some of the distance to Rotorua and stealth camp on the side of the road.

A little ways outside of Paengaroa we found a great spot.

Turkish to Go

Going Down Mauao

Looking out from Mauao

We walked back into the festival area then, where they had the roads completely blocked off along the beach, people everywhere, carnival stalls and rides, and two music stages. It sounds great, and it was fairly good. The only problem was that there was no alcohol allowed on the premises except for two cafe/bars down on the far end, where a glass of wine was $10 and a single corona was $9. I sat down and watched the bands on the stage for as long as I could. The cover band was okay... but then they brought out this "musical theater" group (read: paid karaoke singers) who were fairly horrible. AFter listening to them I would have paid anything for a drink, so $9 beers we went.

We met a young group of Kiwis at the cafe who insisted that we bring in the new year with them. But at only 17 & 18 years old, I was keen to find a way to lose them in the crowd. That's exactly what I did with about 10 minutes to go. Shad and I were in the middle of the huge crowd in front of the stage with the countdown as the first seconds of 2010 on Earth ticked away. There were fireworks going out over the water and people everywhere. It was sort of a weird new year's. Good... but also odd.

New Year's 00:00

We spent a long time in Whakatane this morning.

Statue of a Girl

There was beautiful weather today and the road was flat. Of course, since the road was flat there was an ungodly amount of wind which, of course, was blowing right in our faces the entire time. It made for very slow and very annoying riding. Just when I would get up a little speed and start feeling good about myself, a fist of wind would hit me and my bike would stop dead in its tracks.

Rainy Day

Shad always eats muffins.

Shad and I wandered around town for a bit and met an American widower who has come to New Zealand to start a new life. We had a nice chat with him and then went to see Sherlock Holmes at the cinema. I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on it. Now I'm back in the room we've got at the Whakatane Hotel. It's hot and humid here, too hot to sleep well even with the window open. Shad's out at the bars searching for the meaning of love and marriage. Tomorrow we'll hopefully be sleeping on the beach somewhere between here and Mt. Maunganui. At least that will be a little bit cooler. It's so hot!

That being said, today was an easier day. We started off with another swim before hitting the road.

Swimming Hole

The trip from here on out should be easy going - I'm glad.]]> Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=103348 0 -38.0833333 177.2833333 Biking today was extremely hot. We decided to forgo the East Coast for the shorter route through the gorge. It pains me a little, since the East Coast is supposed to be THE most beautiful place to bike in all of New Zealand. Alas, next time. Lunch was two huge sandwiches on homemade honey bread: one with ham, half one with homemade salami, half one with avocado and salmon. We also had fresh oranges, fruitcake, and shortbread.

Swimming Hole

Waioeka Gorge Camp

In the afternoon Carol and Greg took us for a drive around Gisborne. We stopped at some great lookouts over the town, bay, and countryside. We even stopped at a store in town so I could buy a new front tire. We headed back tot eh house just long enough to pick up Sam and get the boat ready, then were out to the bay to catch our dinner.

Fishing was perfect.

After that we sped out past Young Nick's Head to try some bottom fishing for snapper. Nobody was catching anything though, and we couldn't figure out why. We couldn't figure it out, that is, until we saw the dolphins. While fish might not like dolphins, humans sure do.

Dolphins!

Back home Greg smoke the kahawai and we rounded out our meal with oysters, pipis (a small New Zealand shellfish), and leftovers from last night. Then after dinner Carol and Nick initiated Shad to New Zealand by teaching him the meaning of a Tim Tam Slam. (I already knew.) All five of us did them while Carol videotaped. There's a video of it out there somewhere. It's so delicious. We have to find a way to recreate this in the states. It has been such an absolutely fantastic day. Thank you Star Mart. Thank you Matt. Thanks Carol and Greg and Sam and Nick. Wonderful.]]> Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11138 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=103346 0 -38.6533333 178.0041667 The day began with my hammock collapsed and me waking up on the ground. I was ready to leave the eel beach, in spite of how beautiful it was. The first 50km were relatively easy after the mess we went through yesterday. We had to stop at a Backpacker's on the side of the road for water, which we got out of a spigot attached to a tank in the back at the seemingly empty establishment. The water came out yellow at first, but it was water, which we needed very badly. There was a hellish climb out of Wairoa, but then it was relatively flat with the only obstacle being the wind. The land was sunburnt and it was very very hot.

Just outside of Nuhaka, a bubble that had been forming in my front tire exploded, ruining not only my tube, but blowing a gash in the tire as well. I was caught unprepared with plenty of spare tubes but no spare tire. The only thing we could do was hitchhike either to Gisborne or back to Wairoa to get it fixed, probably not until tomorrow when shops opened back up. There was no traffic on the road, it being Christmas Day and the worst day ever to need to hitchhike for a new tire. Finally after about half an hour a Maori family stopped, and even though there was no room for me in their car they told us they would make some calls and find us some help. They stopped at the first house down the road, and before I knew it there were kids on bikes and two more cares full of Maori people telling us to come, that they would take care of everything.

We walked our bikes to the house and were immediately introduced to every member of the Wesch family: aunts, uncles, cousins, everybody. One of the uncles immediately set about trying to find me a replacement tire. He measured my wheel and was off. A mom or an aunt made sure we had shade, cold water, and juice to drink. Then when she found out we hadn't had a proper lunch, she spread a huge Christmas feast before us. There was a roast ham, fresh fruit, potatoes, a mix of seafood, salads, cream buns, fresh bread, and shepherd's pie. It was so so delicious. The uncle got back with a rusty old 24" tire he had found who knows where in the field across from the house. He suggested it would "be just like a hot rod". I was dubious at first, but the wheel spun and held air, so we swapped out my 26" tire for the rusty 24" one. We strapped my other tire to Shad's pack and one of the girls ofered to drive us up to the top of the next hill, Morere Hill - a 15km unfriendly climb. I hopped in front and Shad and the uncle hopped in back with the bikes and she drove us nearly 20km to a lookout point at the top of a very long and ugly looking hill. I didn't stop thanking her the entire way up. Shad, meanwhile, got a wind blitzed tour from the uncle in the back of the truck.

Beautiful People

We stopped at a hotel, the first place we could find to use a phone. We needed to get a hold of our host Carol, who had remembered to give us her phone number but not her address. The hotel was closed, but I walked around back to find a private party going on and was able to phone her. Unfortunately she didn't answer! I knew she had mentioned Bushemere Rd and Matawai Rd, but no address. We learned Bushmere Rd was close and set off, hoping to get lucky.

Finding a quick search down a very long Bushmere Rd to be dumb and fruitless, we made for a nearby gas station, Star Mart. The Maori attendant Matt took pity on us and graciously offered to let us use his phone to first send a text, then when that turned up noting, to try a phone call even though he had very very few minutes left on his phone. When we still got no answer he even offered to let us stay at his place if we couldn't find anything else.

I was very thankful, but also getting exceedingly frustrated with our situation. I encouraged Shad to try one more bikeride down the road, looking for the intersection of Bushmere and Matawi Rd. 15 minutes in, I gave up. There was nothing left to do. We rode back tot eh Star Mart, defeated. I drowned my sorrows in a meat pie and we began to look through my Lonely Planet book for a hostel or a motorcamp for the night. Then when all hope had been lost, Matt cam cheering out of the store with Carol on the line! She quickly apologized and offered to come pick us up with her trailer! God bless Matt and God bless Star Mart! Matt let me celebrate with a free coffee.

I was so happy to see Carol pull up. We got to her house, a beautiful 10 acre sprawl up the side of a hill with all sorts of animals and fruit trees. They had a BBQ going and we soon had beer, sausages, steak, squid, salads, and trifle for dessert.

Carol

When we left Napier the road was still good for about 20km. We stopped in at a really cool winery with a unique patio, a mix of rustic and buddism and comfort. They charged for tastings though, so we didn't stay very long. When the road started climbing into the hills, it went from friendly to very very mean. We passed through a lot of steep gorges, an endless series of ups and downs. The worst was a breakneck decline with a 180 degree turn at the bottom, followed by a super steep incline up the other side. (I would later learn this is called the "Devil's Elbow".) We passed a nice set of lakes, but then immediately got back into the hills.

When we finally did get to the downhill I let loose on the brakes and flew down as fast as I could. I was ready to be done. At the bottom I looked back for Shad, but he wasn't there. I waited and as the minutes ticked by I got more and more worried. Had he fallen again like he did coming out of Marokopa? As I waited there, cars began to stop. The first one told me my friend's tire exploded and he was on the side of the road. The second one to stop told me my friend had been hit by a car! Worried, I stashed my bike under a bush and went out to flag down the next car to come by. I was picturing Shad with a broken arm or a concussion or any number of ill fates. The first car to pass stopped immediately and offered me a ride to the top. They had been the first ones to stop and help Shad and had been sent to get me. When we got to the top Shad's bike was upside down and his hands were covered in blood. They had been the first things to hit the ground when he went down and gotten sufficiently torn up.

Shad's Hands

Christmas Lights

Our Christmas Family Photo