Sailing close to the wind

Three sheet to the wind, and some more sayings. After a few days of not doing so much, beside getting ready to fly to Melbourne with the bicycle, it was time to, quite literally, embark on the next challenge, learning to sail a yacht. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a very…

By hook or by crook

It’s a good thing this was the last day of cycling and camping for a while. Snap, this is the sound which froze me while I was disassembling the tent. The shorter of the two aluminium tubes that form the structure of the tent finally gave up the ghost. You can see from the large…

Last night camping in New Zealand

All the best things in life are free The time on the road in New Zealand is slowly coming to an end, today is the last of the long runs. The plan was always to leave a light last day to see if I could shoehorn in some of the stuff I have to do…

I’m not a racist but…

The privilege of not wanting much. It’s another slow news day, one of the transfer day where the only exciting thing is at the destination rather than on route. This normally means that I get lost in al sort of thoughts and the subject today is something that I’ve been mulling over for a while….

Kauri and kiwi day

Come closer and see, see into the trees … Today is one of those days that starts with some expectations and finishes in a whole different way. It was going to be a 21 miles ride to the Waipoua Visitor Centre in the middle of the Waipoua Forest and to start with it was a…

Zingaro di lusso

The world of the have not and the one of the have yachts. Today has been a day full of reflections. The route was easy and the weather was manageable so there was nothing to do but to think. I met a nice couple of Austrian people last night in the campsite, I had met them…

90 Miles Beach

Cycling 19 miles of 90 Miles Beach I must have got too used to sleeping in the tent as I did not sleep all that well in the hostel, the bed was so so and the beddings a bit too heavy. I was sharing the room with half of the European Union (a boy from Spain,…

Stormy weather

I did not blow away Now that was a night to remember, I knew there was a big front coming my way but I did not quite expect it to be this big. I turns out that Auckland had it a bit worse than me. I was amazed that I went to sleep quite well…

Milestones: 5000 Miles

Five thousand miles, last milestone in New Zealand. So here are the facts and figures for these 1000 miles. Cycling Continents: 1 (Oceania) Countries: 1 (New Zealand) Nations: 1 (New Zealand) Cycled distance so far: 5000 miles (8045 Km) Climbing so far: 196,304 feet (59,833 m) Cycling Days: 24 Rest days: 9 Longest day: 72.10 miles (114.42 Km) Average per day: 49 miles…

Cape Reinga

Good things come to those who wait To say that I was in two mind about today is really an understatement. I had initially not even scheduled a leg toCape Reinga and only changed my plan shaded by Shirley and Andrew. The reason I was not sold on the idea was that I very much…