It's strange how sometimes seemingly trivial things combine to change your life. A year ago, today, I had a lovely rich chocolatey breakfast, at 'La La Land' in Raglan, then set off to drive home from a weekend of cycling.
Approaching Port Waikato the sun appeared, and I decided to do a short ride to burn off some of that breakfast indulgence. On that ride, I stopped to take a photo, looked at the road ahead and decided I wanted to keep riding.
That led to a major change, a break from work, and cycling all over New Zealand.
In the past ten months I've biked ~7,683km, hiked/walked another 173km, and visited (or revisited) amazing places all over this wonderful country. There's less cash in the bank, but so many more incredible experiences, wonderful people met, and memories banked I have no regrets.
It's an incredible privilege to be able to do this, but if you want to do something however small, make time. You never know where an indulgent waffle might take you...
When I finished work in late September 2021, I circled these areas on the map. While COVID restrictions changed plans to revisit Northland, East Cape, and what I rode on the South Island West Coast most of what I thought about doing is done. The half-ticked central North Island area is the 'Mountains To Sea' trail I'm saving for spring/summer. There are still a few South Island trails, including one in Queenstown opened after I visited, to go back for.
I'm slowly blogging about my travels at: Time Out Drive/Cycling Exploring New Zealand 2021 - 2022
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