New Zealand - arrived December 28, 2007

12/26-28

We spent a long time commuting to New Zealand – 3 to 4 hours in the air: Ushuaia to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We paid an extra $200US each to land in the International Airport to avoid transport issues between airports in

Buenos Aires, but our luck: the airlines changed their routes today with no flight from Ushuaia landing at the International

Airport! We found the airline office in BA, explained our dilemma with the bike as an added complication and they paid

the $67US apiece to transfer all three of us(Art, me and Bici) to the proper airport. Thank goodness we had a 6-hour

layover because all these arrangements plus customs and booking into New Zealand took most of that 6 hours

plus the 1.5-hour delay. So, by 1:30am December 27 we boarded our plane and 14 hours later, we landed in

New Zealand at 7 am, December 28,

a total transit time of nearly 24 hours.

We then loaded Bici and rode out of the airport with left-hand drive to find the house of fellow cyclists who

have graciously left the key to their house under the kayak. After a short visit with the information booth

armed with maps, we take off in the direction of the city of Auckland. On the way, a gent decked out in bike

colors, offers to guide us to a bike shop so we can purchase helmets (New Zealand law) and a few accessories

(like a right hand mirror for Judee, our rear view spotter) and then guides us to the ferry over the bay to

Davenport. We follow the road through lovely and luxurious residential homes into Milford, a plush suburb

set between a lake littered with sail boarders and the South Pacific Ocean bordered by pristine beaches. WOW!

1. Auckland 2. Cooking in Milford 3. NZ Postal Service

 

 

On the way we stop in chic shopping neighborhoods, at various bike and sporting goods shops,

plus we scope out grocery stores with more choices than we remember being offered in North American

supermarkets! Many, many dollars later we arrive at our ‘home’ in New Zealand. Silas and Angela have

taken off to ride a long loop around the North Island and have generously left their beautiful sun-filled

sky-lit condo home for us to settle in.

12-30 Today we spent a long and wonderful day back across the bay by ferry to enjoy the Auckland Museum.

The collection of Maori (local native culture of Polynesian heritage) artifacts was staggering and accompanied

by a delightful live presentation of dance and traditions provided the perfect introduction to NZ.

It has been a continuing education over the past 1+year as we learn about indigenous populations,

compare obvious similarities and marvel in the complexity of ancient civilizations.

The museum also introduced us to the lands potentially violent geology due to its location on the

“ring of fire”. There is much volcanic activity here. Bird and animal life is introduced to us including

NZ’s various flightless birds, evolved because the lack of land predators. We now hope we can see these in the wild.

Tomorrow we are lunching with friends (Tom Bishop and his wife and 2 children) of our webmaster, Gary.

We will celebrate New Year’s in NZ watching the daytime clouds and evening stars gather over the bay and

city. Hopefully, we’ll get off and ride soon toward the east and then south toward Wellington.

1. Traditional Mauri Carving 2 & 3 Beach walks

 

1/2/2007

Today we began our travels of NZ, after spending several quiet days, walking and bike exploring Auckland.

It took many hours and mucho kilometers to leave the city of Auckland, through many different communities:

several areas obviously populated by the indigenous Maori people. These little pockets had the second hand stores

(op shops) bargain ‘deals’ and smaller, less prosperous looking houses and other living situations. As we entered the

rural area, sheep and cattle ranches were interspersed with racehorse farms and stables. Everywhere there is

seashore: the Tasman Sea, the South Pacific Ocean and a myriad of bays, fiord, firths, channels, etc. So,

possibly one out of 20 people seem to have a water view.

New Zealand is clean! The roadsides, the beaches, even the busy seaports are crystal clear. What a change

from Latin America and even the US. But it costs for this level of civilized living and everything is expensive.

Housing costs are astronomical and so are food prices. Two coffees and a piece of carrot cake cost

$12NZ/ $9US. Most things must be shipped into this island country, which could account for some of this

high price structure. After South America, this is really a shock for us to pay $25 to camp versus

$25 for a hostel accommodation with breakfast included.

 

1. Rose Garden 2. Agricultural hedges 3. Seaside view

 

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We continue our North Island explorations by riding east out of Auckland toward the Coromandel

Peninsula, which many said was one of the most beautiful places on the Island. We are enjoying the

fine 70’s weather, pleasant winds and outstanding sea views everywhere. In the campground at Thames

we made friends with Rob and Christine, a NZ couple camping next to us. They invited us to join them on

an automobile outing around the peninsula. We delightfully accepted, since we really wanted to see it, and

were debating about spending the 3 to 4 days to go around it by bike. Rob and Christine were excellent

tour guides and travel mates as we lunched and munched our way around seeing the sights and learning

about NZ. That evening, Rob BBQ’d delicious lamb and we all shared in preparations of a communal meal!

Today we ended our day in a campground near the town of Kati Kati where the draw was native bush

forest and hot mineral springs pools. Nice way to end the day.

1. Coromandel Peninsula 2. Rob and Christine 3. Gorge

 

We are trying to get use to the traffic since we’ve had so little through South America and to the costs – also

very different. We tried to internet today, wanting to update our web site, but there are so few places with

service available for public hire and those have limited software, usually only a single machine and cost up to $8 p/h.

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The hills are relentless: short steep up, and then short steep down. There is wind (nothing like Patagonia)

and sun that pours fiercely through the hole in the ozone ‘down under’. The vegetation is lush. The parts of

NZ above Auckland are also above the frost zone and the gardens are luxurious. Hydrangeas of every blue

and rosy hue are blooming on bushes two stores high, often left to run wild by the roadside. Some hedges

of hydrangeas are as long as three football fields. Gardening is huge here and there are 100’s of garden

centers, many with upscale cafes. Nice combination.

The sheep/cattle fields also host lots of wild turkeys, peacocks and an assortment of happy birds and

small mammals: like the big-eared, brown possums which look to Art and I like a wombat. There are

Reserves: land set aside, without development. Some of these preserve native growth; others reserve

large treed areas for future harvesting.

1. Hydrangeas 2. Reserve 3. Fruit and Flowers by the road

 

This is beautiful land, loads of hills with little bike recovery time between. It reminds us how little we’ve

actually ridden in the past month. It is difficult pounding out 80-90 km in these conditions – in our condition!