It was time for the pre-Christmas Facebook Conspiracy Cycle Tour & I flew to Christchurch on Saturday. I took the opportunity to have a look at Christchurch Central, a short walk from the motel. It was perfect sunny weather, pleasant for walking, but I found the city sobering. On previous
Cycling
It started, like many web conspiracies, with an innocent Facebook message. One of the Northland Sojourn Tour cycling bunch suggested: “How about a South Island ride with Bas before Xmas?” A short time later I got a similar message from another of the group. Thus, I wasn’t too surprised
I’m one tourist who sits, hopefully not grumpy, at work clutching a coffee mug remembering cycling the Golden Gate. I love the image and imagery in the words on Rowans blog, click through... The Golden Gate « Rowan Simpson This is my take on that iconic structure
Yet again weather, the wind, dictated a change in plan for the last day. The route map had us heading south from Mangawhai Heads towards Wellsford, down Highway 16, and our Auckland destination. From Wellsford the road follows the Kaipara Harbour coast and climbs to some exposed ridges. This is
It was another day when weather changed the plans. Having a Whangarei local on the trip helped scope out a ride almost opposite to the route map which looped south towards Managawhai Heads. It would have been a bash into the still strong South Easterly wind. Instead we shuttled East
One of the things I like about Adventure South is the flexibility of their plans. Obviously some aspects like accommodation must be pre-booked and you get a detailed itinerary, along with daily ride sheets with profiles, but it might change. Today was one of those days as we were supposed
New Zealand
Monday was a rest day and after something like four hundred, at times challenging, kilometres in the previous few days it was welcome. It’s also intended for the overseas visitors to get out into Bay of Islands on the many boat (classic & modern), jet boat, helicopter and seaplane
New Zealand
From Taipa I was riding into very familiar territory. When I was a kid quite a few of our family Summer Holidays were on the East coast between Taipa & Whangarei. We stayed in a resort hotel in Taipa which was nice but different to most accommodation in the North.
Cycling
It was raining as we set off from Ahipara. After a short shuttle to Kaitaia it was on the bike for two of us headed for the Cape. The rest got shuttled a bit further, starting their ride after a morning coffee. The initial drizzle slowly abated as we headed
New Zealand
We bussed straight to Rawene to avoid some serious road works and to get an awesome breakfast at the Boatshed Café. I had seen this featured on TV and it lived up to its reputation for fine food, coffee and a lovely location. This also meant we made an earlier
After breakfast at "Funky Fish" we rode North on the West Coast. The day started in rolling farm country before climbing into the Waipoua Forest. There were a few challenging hills, ~400m high, but again fine weather and a tailwind made for perfect riding. I had driven this
New Zealand
Wednesday dawned fine and clear. I know this because, unusually for me, I was up. Although not leaving till 8:00 I decided to go into town early to avoid traffic hassles. It was good as just beat the Auckland rush, arriving in town about 7:15. After dumping my
