I found this, true, tale of mistaken identity, wrongful conviction and the link to San Francisco history fascinating. Check out the bizarre links in the life of Joe Windred, onetime mayor of Orange, NSW in this ABC radio podcast. Stephen Dando Collins - ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler Stephen Dando
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
Yay, Google Maps now has cycling directions for New Zealand and Map Maker tools so we can add updates. Below you can see Google Maps suggested route from my suburb to the city. It routes cycles to the North Western Motorway (or freeway for US readers) in preference to a
Posts and photos from a 10-day cycle tour around Northland, New Zealand
New Zealand
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
New Zealand
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.
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
New Zealand
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