Happy Thanksgiving!

We know we have lots of posts left to write about where we've been and what we've been up to but the internet connections are a bit fewer and further between than we had anticipated! In the meantime here's some photos of our latest travels, finally having arrived at the East coast beaches, and into Wellington

We've arrived on the east coast to warm weather and a pounding surf

Highway 1 follows the East coast for miles on our way into Wellington

Bays like these dot the coast as we head closer into Wellington

Wellington: we definitely found the happening area of this little city. Large malls with no car access made for great people watching and offered lots of dinng choices for our very non-traditonal Thanksgiving dinner.

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Sheep Shearers and their Sheds!

We're back online again - at a local library in a very very small town. We've had quite an adventure over the last few days. We visited Lake Taupo last Saturday. Taupo summed up our longest day yet at 110 kilometers following many miles of back roads, full of rolling hills. We're learning how to be nice to each other when we're exhausted, thirsty, and hungry. We took ourselves out to an Indian restaurant, learning quickly that our local Indian food in Seattle puts Taupo's to shame. Lake Taupo is a huge lake, dwarfing Lake Washington. The next morning there were hundreds of small racing boats shooting about the lake. We spend Sunday riding around the lake and heading into the mountain ranges of central New Zealand.

Sunday we spent the day climbing up along the central mountain ranges. We had already planned on stealth camping that evening so we could make headway through the ranges the following day. But as it turns out it was our lucky day - a man took pity on us and offered us a ride over the pass. It turned out our chauffeur Simon is a sheep farmer, owning over 9,000 sheep/cows on 1400 acres of land. We ended up heading all the way back to his beautiful farm - where we spent the next day and a half roaming the farm on his 4x4 Quads, herding hundreds of sheep, and playing with his herding dogs. We spent the night in his 19th century shearing shed, sharing it with the nesting birds and little mice.

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Hello all you adoring fans, friends, and family!

We're on our 4th day in New Zealand and the adventure has truly begun. Our blog title has already reflected our trip very well. We've mapped our travels, remapped, and remapped again. Z. dropped the ball on getting all our N.Z. cue sheets (little maps cyclists use for their handlebar map cases to tell them road names and direction changes) printed out for the North Island so we've been working off his memory for mapping our route. We discovered early on that our big waterproof map of N. and S. islands was very inadequate when we tried to make our way from the airport to Auckland city center. After finding a quiet hostel in an alley off the main drag we shopped for all the items we couldn't bring on the plane - and a new road atlas of both islands, which has been invaluable. In true thrifty traveler fashion we cooked rice and blanched veggies in the hostel kitchen the first night and headed to bed early in hopes of an earlyish start to the first day of real touring.

Day 2
We got the going to bed early but we lazed about until about 9 and headed out after some routing consultation around 11. We headed out of Auckland on the train to Papakura which saved us about 3 hours of riding through the industrial suburbs of Auckland. Off the train we stopped and ate our lunch of crumpets and oranges outside a waterpark and Z. got trapped inside the kid proof fence of the waterpark after being let in to fill the water bottles. After escaping the waterpark we set off through some of the most spectacular landscapes we've ever encountered. We were struck by the lush and intense green of the hillsides, the knolls dotted with sheep, the curious cows that trot along the fence lines as we cycle past, and the wonderfully sweet smell of Jasmine in bloom which is ubiquitous. We arrived at our intended destination after battling some late afternoon headwinds along the East coast and wearily we wound the last few pedal strokes into a holiday park (think KOA campground) with a much welcomed hot springs, impressively clean showers, and tons of friendly campers. Met another cycle tourist from the Yukon and a couple from England on a two week holiday. Everyone is incredibly friendly and willing to offer insiders information. Things are expensive but we've controlled our spending well and we're on budget so far.

We've missed our friends and family and find that things all along the way remind us of them. E. found the smell of diesel and fresh cut lumber reminding her of her dad while Z. found some of the long uninhabited stretches and constant search for water reminding him of Victor and the long ride from Seattle to Portland.

More to come! and Pictures!

E. and Z.

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Day 2

We woke around 7 to lots of singing birds nesting in fragrant bushes quite near the head of our tent. Quick breakfast of eggs, toast, and some terrible brown powder the kiwis try and pass off as instant coffee (tastes more like hot prune juice than coffee) in the deserted camp kitchen. Packed up the bikes and headed to the hot spring pool so Z. could soak his legs before taking off. Met a nice Polish Canadian who was also cycling through and who'd already had a run in with the local drivers who tend to cross the center line around the curves. He'd made it through unscathed due in large part to good bike handling. We exchanged route information and made idle chat for quite a while. The pool closed for cleaning shortly after we arrived and we (Z. begrudgingly) pulled on our knee braces and pedaled away into a gorgeous day. The coast is dead flat and the road is quite straight; which is great except when there's a headwind and you're riding directly into and will be until as far as the eye can see! We pedaled our hearts out that afternoon making what felt like little headway until we turned west and headed into the foothills. We arrived in Morrinsville around 4:30, about 20k short of our desired destination. We pulled into the first grocery we saw and sat down to loot at the maps when a big bearded guy of about 45 came by to check out what we were about. He offered to help us plan a better route along the back roads as well as offering up his yard for our camping pleasure. We accepted and headed off to get the makings for dinner and to see about getting online. The library in town took care of the Internet connection to the tune of $2 per 15 minutes. E. posted a quick note and a few pictures about our first day to the blog before the place closed. We headed to Pete's house to setup camp and while we waited for him to arrive, the neighbours introduced themselves by asking tons of questions and offering us bourbon and cokes and insight into everything from our new President to the politics of bicycling in New Zealand. Pete got home around dusk from eel fishing with his wife, two daughters, and a heap of friends in tow. They lit up a fire in the back and brought out the beer all to celebrate another evening with their "family". We laughed, asked and answered questions and eventually got those directions from Pete about staying off the main highway. We sauntered off to bed light from the friendliness and probably a bit from imbibing!

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We made it!

Hello All!

Here we finally are - our much belated post. After a minor plan mechanical at Seatac we made it on time to LA where we flew 12 sleepy hours to Auckland at 5am. We met a couple of cyclists from Canada at the NZ airport and we ended up biking the whole way into Auckland with them. We've been amazed at how many friendly and open people we met within the first day of arrival. We are both safe, in good health (although mildly sunburned :), and in great spirits.

We're onto our second day of beautiful bike riding and we will be posting more soon. The library where this is posting from is currently closing so we must run. We love and miss you!

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