Mountains - lots and lots of Mountains Coming our Way

The rain is clearing after a couple days of drizzles mixed with downpours. This equals hostel living at it's finest, where we made yummy desserts out of our camp food (peanut butter, honey, a bunch of seeds, coconut flakes, ground almond, cocoa powder - and not a drop of gluten free flour = non-gritty yum yum!). Less rain equals good times back on the road - gravel this time, and in the mountains! Lots of beautiful mountains. Good bye, ocean...for now.

Til next time! ~Aloha

Updatey

This is Titirangi Bay! Wow - so lucky!

Haha

Lots of riding since my last post! What stories shall I share?

A short recap:

From the Waikato River Trail, we were battered and exhausted. See...

Bruises
Delirium

huh?

Gratefully, these lovely people took saw us fatigued girls and helped us regain our strength to continue our crazy kiwi venture! Thank you Craig and Wendy and AvantiPlus Taupo!

After Taupo, we set off to the W2K trail - a 16 km treat of a trail that more or less connects Taupo to Kinloch. We found a great spot to get some shut eye for the night. Behind Kate is a downed tree whose enormous chopped trunk provided a great kitchen set-up. Thank you downed tree!

Eventually we made our way to Napier via State Highway 5 - yuck. Traffic on a holiday weekend over a busy and hilly road. But after realizing our trail riding was taking a bit longer than intended, we'd have to sacrifice a few trails to get to Wanaka in time for our race - www.iconicadventures.co.nz

Napier is known for it's art-deco architecture and vibe. It was essentially flattened by a giant earth shaking, better known as an earthquake, in the 30's. The new city was built during the hey-day of art-deconess and the city essentially decided to preserve it instead of dismantle and deconstruct it to smithereens and replace it with concrete blocks...now they have great art deco festivals.

We also had our first official pool swim in prep for swimbikerun fun in Wanaka...the pool was salt water from the ocean!

Look - I'm on the ferry from Wellington to Picton...the South Island- oooooohhhh...aaaaaahhh(to give ourselves some rest and some leeway to get to Wanaka, Kate and I realized it'd be best to hop on a bus from Napier to Wellington).

Our third official run in prep for swimbikerun fun in Wanaka. This is on the Queen Charlotte Track (what a beauty)

Yeah!! Ludo met up with us! We met Ludo in Rotorua...he's combining bike touring and woofing together for his own fun times here. Here is Kate and Ludo (I'm photo-taking) about to start the first 20km of the Queen Charlotte Track. The last7.5 km of the portion we did was not fun...a lot of bike/trailer pushing up steep hills. yeah, not fun. So we hopped on the road before it turned to gravel road to Titirangi Bay...WOW! Thanks Ludo for inviting us along. Such a fun and beautiful place...

This is Kate taking a picture of the Sound and Titirangi Bay. We are so lucky - even though we did have to climb up and over the 800m Mount Stokes to get here...yeah that means 800m of climbing from sea level first thing in the morning...lucky us :)

Memory card and this computer decided not to get along for the rest of the night...so the final update will be without pics for the time being...and therefore more speedy.

Kate, Ludo and I finished out ventures riding the Queen Charlotte Track/Sound/Road route and made our way to Pelorus Bridge...we met up with Margaret and Andrew (thanks for the lawn space and slackriding day!) again - whom we first met on our way to the bay (and special thanks to Ludo and Andrew for picking fresh mussels at Titirangi Bay and cooking them for us - yummy!).

We made it to Nelson at five pm (reminds me of a mini Honolulu - ocean, mountains, towncity beauty all in your backyard...except perhaps much colder winters). The following morning (go us!) Kate and I raced the Coppermine Epic www.coppermine.co.nz - check out the results! What a great track. I LOVE Nelson! Thanks Ludo for being our cheer person and personal photographer...it was also fun seeing people's reactions after they found out we rode to Nelson and raced the next day. One guy even recognized Kate's double braids from a few days prior while we were all on the road in full bike/trailer setup.

Our ventures with Ludo came to an end...sniffles, and Kate and I are in downtown Nelson for the night staying at the Shortbread Cottage thanks to warmshowers host Jimmy! What a treat...this is such a cozy and wonderful place if you ever need a place to stay in Nelson.

We will be off again soon to road unknown (well, don't get me wrong...we know where we are going in the next few days but it's top-secret in blogland til after it's actually been done!).

Much aloha y'all...I hope to write more story-esque posts versus update-esque posts in the future. I'm peacin' out to the good night for now. til next time :)

WRT

The WRT

What does WRT stand for? W=Waikato R=River and T=Trail. So, WRT=Waikato River Trail...Yay we can do math!!

This trail was depicted in brochures as one meandering along the riverside for roughly 100 km. Guidebooks also rated it as easy to intermediate-a trail 'the entire family can enjoy' sort of deal.

Let's just say that these guidebooks and brochures were misguided. Very very misguided.

We spent four riding days on the trail. From essentially Arapuni Dam to Atiamuri Dam. First day on the trail was one of the few road sections to Jone's Landing - a lovely campsite on the Arapuni Lake with towering cliffs behind us. We escaped the joys (sarcasm) of Mamaku Forest this day and after a brief stop in the stuck in the 70s architecture of Putaruru, we were treated with an incredible moon setting on the calm lake on a starlit night. The starlit night would gradually turn into a cloud filled sky creating the droplets of water falling from the air above- more commonly known as rain. Lovely.

We would spend much of the following day in the tent waiting out the rain before packing up to the trail head where we'd be greeted with 22 plus switchbacks down the valley to the river's edge.

We detoured to Mike's house for a couple days before the switchbacks and were happy to not have camped on the trail that night due to the pig hunting festivities explained in the previous post.

The switchbacks weren't entirely horrible- especially since we did have gravity with us instead of against us. Good practice for sharp turns as well.

Our legs were already scattered with bruises from Mamaku...but certainly the majority of them were yet to come. The trail from the switchbacks on were pretty much bundles of steep, gravely mess with a few good views here and there.

The country has a cycle way initiative going on now to try and create trails from the top to the bottom of the country. The WRT is one of the trails funded by this initiative...a $3 million investment, in fact. But word on the cycling street is that the makers of the trail weren't so much actually RIDING the trail but walking it after sections were completed. Part of the trail is actually a set of stairs 5 stories tall. We were informed of and well aware of this section, at least...and the swichback...but everything else in between was the misguided part.

Apparently well respected trailmakers for riding tried to give advise but the input wasn't going through so they had to let it go.

Long story short, Kate and my through-biking tour of the WRT left us battered and exhausted.

The last section from Whakamaru to Atiamuri was the most pleasant 25 Km section and most ridable, though there were heavily rooted sections and cattle guard gate things much too skinny for our trailers to fit through. At one point, once every couple of minutes we'd have to dismount the bikes, set one aside and haul the trailer and bike over the gate... Then do the same for the other one! Just another way to add a few more bruises to the legs.

So the WRT was kind of like a slap in the face... We were faced with incredibly steep (and long) inclines/declines that would have been challenging for MOST people WITHOUT hauling a loaded trailer. Better yet, most of these inclines/declines were littered with loose large gravel. The five story stair case, minimal water stops (fortunately we are geared with an H2O pump), the undersized bike gates, tight corners, etc all added to the fatigue and exhaustion we'd face. I can handle these things... But it's much more bearable when it's expected.

Sooooo, Switchbacks are actually our friends...well via mtn bike anyway - especially deceiving switchbacks that are actually switchbacks but you can't really tell they are switchback switchbacks. Those are the best. We were fortunate enough to take the W2K trail from Taupo to Kinloch - the trail skirts along a peninsula against the largest lake in the country, Lake Taupo and is regarded as a work of trail art by many. It was truly a treat to ride up an decent amount of elevation and thoroughly enjoy it as it meandered and curved (widely) through the bush. We arrived in Kinloch and also had our first swim and run on the trip (in preparation for the Xterra race near Wanaka next month).

Big aloha and many many Thank You's to Craig, Wendy, and Jak at the AvantiPlus store in Taupo. We were two exhausted and battered and stinky cyclist who felt refreshed and rejuvinated thanks to your kindness. My new cassette, chain and chain rings are running beautifully as well and we are slowly learning the wonders of GPS :). Take care and we'll be sure to visit on our return trip to the North Island.

And most importantly, thank you for the clarification that the Waikato River Trail actually is hard and poorly graded. It justifies our bruises a little bit more than the meandering along a river bank trail we thought we were meant to experience :)

Aloha!

A story of bacon...

It's been a while, blogland, huh? Kate arrived into town and it has been an adventure ever since! We hit the road just about two weeks ago and have already had a genuine and adventurous kiwi experience that I never would have thought up in a million years.

First, I will tell you the story of bacon...

Ok, so this is roughly four days into the trip - after a tricky experience in the Mamaku Forest where we had to backtrack out of the Forest to retrieve the much needed for life liquid, also known as water. (Google Earth would later show us that we had taken the wrong fork kilometers before). oops. We've invested in the Garmin Edge 800 (thank you Craig, Wendy, and Jak at Avanti Plus in Taupo - and thanks for the jersey, too - I LOVE it!) so future mis-haps such as these should be minimal and hopefully make for a more enjoyable and less bruise filled trip - we'll see about the less bruises. hmmm, not so sure about that.

Ok, focus, Steph, focus.

Alright, so we made it out of Mamaku! The backtracking and steep gravel roads and thirst and exhaustion had me craving bacon. Bacon, of all things. I don't like bacon. Strange - perhaps my body was craving the salty protein?

Well, we had to detour from our original plans to a surfing town on the west coast called Raglan because of our extra day or two in Mamaku. This led us to the Waikato River Trail (WRT)- a 100+ km mtn bike trail along the...what do you think?? Yeah, along the Waikato River. A stop at the i-site (information site) in Putaruru (pronounced Poot-AIR-oo) to pic up some maps of the trail led us to believe we'd be meandering along the rivers edge along boardwalks (flat), super fancy suspension bridges (flat) and gravel paths (flat). The grades on the brochure maps were labled easy and intermediate. We thought this would be the PERFECT trail to ease into our mtn bike touring, New Zealand style.

Ok, I'm getting off track...back to bacon. So we end up on the WRT and make it to the switchback descent (roughly 24 switchbacks down the valleys edge to the river) around 6 pm. The sun sets at 9 pm in the summer here so we figured we'd go down a bit (we had gravity with us, right?) and pitch the tent along the river somewhere - a picnic table was labled on the map not too far away which seemed like the likely spot. As we start up the path just after the trailhead - which follows a path between two cattle farms, Matt pulls up on an ATV and asks us if we know what's ahead. We smalltalk for a bit and he lets us know that we are welcome to stay at the house just down the way if we decide we don't want to start such a venture so late. We say our goodbyes and check out the descent. It's beautiful - the river inside the valley with a mixture of green native bush and farmland lining the steep valley walls.

We decide to take on the venture in the morning and make our way back to Matt's house. Turns out it's not Matt's house though. He's visiting Mike, the owner of the house and farm. (Don't worry, we are two well-traveled ladies and know how to use our guts to determine if a situation is safe are not - the coast is clear :) We couldn't have been in better hand for the next two adventure-filled NZ style days.

Mike and Matt ask if we want to hop in the truck and take a tour of the property. We agree. Down super steeeeeeeep farm roads with the setting sun in the distance, we make our way to the maize field along the rivers edge. Turns out, the dogs in cages in the back of Matt's truck are hunting dogs and he's going for a little pig hunt. We are invited to follow - how can we decline?! Hehe...

What follows is the most random night of my life. To sum it up: through the maize field (in our cycling shoes!), in knee deep puddles, along thorn filled raspberry bushes, with gps geared dogs (3 are Matt's hunting dogs, and also Snow, Mike's non-hunting dog), Matt's gps -to track the dogs, squealing baby pigs, nighttime showing it's face, a cellphone as a torch (flashlight), 3 other hunting parties - hunting (one of which had a monster spotlight), a fishing boat with a light, lots of yelling in the forest to other hunting parties, glow-worms lining the trail (WOW - so neat), starlit night, hiking in the night as Matt left to find the pig (he told us to keep following the trail and he'd meet back up with us...which he did:)...

and finally,

a single shot...and dead pig (though not by Matt).

Whew, what a night - and we still had a solid 30+minute hike back to the truck.

Can you imagine how utterly terrified we would have been if we had camped along the river's edge that night?! We would have been smack in the middle of a pig-hunting frenzy. Scared crap-less that's for sure...

Eventually the truck climbs the steep roads back to Mike's house nearing midnight.

"What would you like for dinner?" The guys ask.

"Bacon?"

Yeah, literally the first word out of Mike's mouth was bacon...the one thing I had been craving - rather vocally - at the beginning of our crazy mtn-biking-nz-style adventure.

So we ate wild caught bacon and talked till three in the morning.

Thank you so much Mike and Matt, and Snow (the dog) for such an experience... And big thanks for the helicopter ride, and giving us a glimpse to a day in the life at a dairy farm (we got cow doo-dooed on and learned the process of modern day milking). Intriguing.

And this is just the beginning...

To Tutukaka...and Beyond!

Hey y'all! I'm meeting Miss K at the airport in less than four hours! Wow...in just a few days we'll be pedaling our ways through this amazing country. Just look below to get a glimpse of the beauty surrounding us.

I was so grateful my friend SG (short for Sailor Girl - cause she lived on a boat til she was nearly 9) was in town visiting her family. The timing worked out well because she goes back to the states today - the same day I needed to be in Auckland! Soooooooo, I made a pleasant bus trek up to Whangarei (in the Northland...north of Auckland :) and spent a couple nights with a wonderful family. SG showed me some wonderful spots surrounding her home. Really, words and pictures will never do places like this justice...you just have to go! Or look at the pics below for an idea, at least.

I almost love the isweep panorama feature as much as I love super macro...hm. actually, not really by a long shot...but it's still super cool! The photo above, I am standing on a sand spit...land created by the help of a river, the ocean and proper geography. It's between the river and ocean...and just across the river in the town of Ngunguru (pronounced Nun-guru). Developers wanted to build 100 or so houses on this chunk of sand...but local efforts were against it and convinced the government to purchase the land - yeah!!!

(there's a bit more to the story...but that's a very basic gist).

We kayaked across the river, then went for a jaunt to a very beautiful beach...and beyond. Wow! Really, wow! Much of the land we were surrounded by was established by Maori with terraces, and sacred areas, etc. We made sure to respect the land.

If you can see, there are 9 or so bees in this Pohutakawa flower...and in ALL the flowers on the tree...guess it's pollenating season?

The photos below are the coastline just a walk away from SG's home in Tutukaka...a half hour east of Whangarei. This beach is the BEST beach glass treasure cove I've ever been to. SG's mom speculates that the neighboring motel used the ocean as a dump site? or maybe there was a mighty crash just off shore?? no one knows. yet.

An ancient looking creature...

Meeting of THE boat...this one has inspired me greatly (and the people who lived on it) for the past several years (8 plus years, SG and I counted, that we've been friends).

The photo below represents my time in Auckland. The Sky Tower celebrates the Year of the Dragon! And yeah, still no idea how to flip this photo right side up on blogland...anyone know?

I'm thoroughly enjoying the feel of Auckland...very pleaseant for city standards It's on an isthmus - a rather skinny one...so it's surrouned by water. Can't quite figure how to compare it...maybe a mix of San Francisco and Seattle - except without all the fog and rain...and considerably smaller. So uncomparable, perhaps. I'm comtemplating landing here for a month for my CELTA (english teaching) certification. Though South Island is still pulling me greater...and I've yet to even be there. But not for long!

It is time...almost.

Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow! Holy moly wow! Yeah, it always get me - where does TIME go?! Oooh, this concept of time just behooves me.

The BIG trip is just around the corner. Can you believe it? As in less than THREE days, I meet Kate at the airport in Auckland. Aaah!!

The reality of this situation is that I am so ready to embrace simplicity again. To the max style. I live a simple life by most USA-ian standards...but it's filled with a bit more junk and accumulation crap (mostly bead related) than I prefer at the moment. I enjoy grasping the less is more concept. This is when I feel for real FREEeeeeeeeeeEeeEEEeee! Too much internet time is not healthy, either. And this will be practically non-existent on the open road :) (But don't worry - I will find internet from time to time to keep the bloggy blogg blogg in a relatively healthy state of being).

Again, we've had heaps of cycle tourist coming through the doors via Warmshowers. I believe I mentioned that last week we had over 7 tourists on one night! Takes me back to the days of the AT when friendly homeowners would open their doors for sweaty, happy, grumpy, tired, energetic, smelly, etc hikers (over 30 in a few cases). Here in Rotorua, cyclists have been all of the above - except maybe grumpy. We've had sailers, french people, germans, dutch, swiss, austrian, montanans, californians, french canadian, UK-ian (the english sort)...appears to be lots of europeans. They know how to travel :)

Below are pics of some of ventures with warmshowers guests in Whakarewarewa Forest (and its chopped down bits)...in these snapshots, we've got kiwis, germans, californians, and the photographer (me).

Cycling allows the travel to meander slow enough to see the backroads and meander off the beaten path to little gems of a town, yet fast enough that one can actually get some decent distance in a nice timeframe. Plus, unlike driving, you get excersize...BUT because the bike carries pretty much all the weight - including you, it feels breezy and effortless - haha, not. But it is quite a lot easier than carrying a pack and walking miles and miles and miles and miles.

But these cyclists are a fun bunch and hearing their stories gets me super excited...even though I will forever feel a bit of nervous anticipation until out treaded tires hit the road...or dirt :)

Okie dokey - on a bus to Whangarei to meet my friend Shandy...then to Auckland on the 19th to meet Kate at the airport...then it's a life of living with what me, my bike and my trailer can carry for three solid months :)

Let the beautiful crazinesss begin!

Lots of garden flowers and an explanation of aging.

Spending much of my freetime prepping for this trip. Seriously the days fly by...not a fan of this aging thing.

To clarify. I really could care less about aging in terms of wrinkles and skin spots (the non-cancerous sort, of course). I'm not one to dwell on physical appearances "declining" due to age. This is a concern created by societal mind evolution. But in the whole scheme of life, doesn't really matter.

I do moisturize, though...and sunscreen is key. Especially in no ozone land.

Ok. So what gets me about aging...well, the aching joints, obviously. But the not so obvious...every year/day/hour/minute/second is a smaller fraction than it's unit just before. This explains why each year goes by more speedily :( the older we get. Last year was 1/28 - one out of twenty eight units (years) of my life. The year I turned 5, it was one out of five years, or 1/5 of my life. So it's the same measurement (a single year) for when I turned 28 and 5, though when I turned 5, it was a greater fraction of my life. It took soooooooooooooooo long to turn 6 years old. I'm telling you, turning 29 is just around the corner.

Hm, well that was an unintentional tangent. I just meant to post some photos of my recent gardening ventures for the gardens surrounding my current home...and a few more forest run snapshots Lovely flower and plant representations are due to super-macro wonders, and my uber skill, of course. Black and white features are not due to black and white plants. They are due to my discovery of a photoshop-esque feature that apparently came with my computer. ooooooh. aaahhhhhhh.

Enjoy!

Fern from the forest. Also known as "kuru" in these lands.

Dark Periwinkle flower from the garden :)

Ooooooh top secret (I photoshopped a bug out of this flower!)

So I guess rain is sometimes really really cool cause it leaves photogenic droplets like this:

upside down sunrise!

Upside down me! (with creepy me lurking in the background. creeeeeeeeeepy)

Pretty photoshoppedblack and white garden rose.

Regular garden rose.

Artistic garden rose.

Cutey petootee little white garden flowers.

K, I'm done for now. more macro mania coming too your blogland quite soon.