We finished our tourist-time in charming Kerikeri with breakfast at a cafe in the less-charming modern town center. But the cafe itself was still really cute, we were the morning’s first customers, and the food was excellent. While we waited for our eggs to be poached, I wrapped our bike chains in garbage-bag strips and… Read more…

Day 2 Kerikeri has a strange layout. The historic foundation is to the east, at the mouth of the Kerikeri Inlet (a branch of the Bay of Islands). But the modern center is entirely separate, on higher ground a mile or two west, but still a few miles east of the SH10 highway. Our AirBNB… Read more…

We got plenty of light rain pattering on the tent overnight, but thankfully woke to a cloudless sky. Except…it didn’t take long for the mist to return again. I think the mountaintop location is generating precipitation that probably isn’t happening at lower elevations. We were able to do breakfast again under the small shelter, so… Read more…

We still have ten days until our flight out of New Zealand (to Hawaii!), but today will be our last “big” ride on these islands. And staying true to our relatively-unstructured meanderings around this country, we’re taking the long way, climbing high into the mountains and taking two days to reach Kerikeri, when we could… Read more…

We woke to a completely dry tent, inside and out, for perhaps the first time when camping in Northland. And it was relatively warm at 45 degrees, presumably due to our low-elevation proximity to the sea. Still, that’s not exactly balmy, so I really don’t get the people I’ve noticed recently in campgrounds taking morning… Read more…

Yesterday’s day off got us in shape for today’s long ride, so we were once again awake in time to see the sunrise. And once again the deeply-carved ridges and valleys cut by Hokianga Harbor created one of the most beautiful backdrops we’ve seen in this country seemingly constructed of nothing but beautiful backdrops. Once… Read more…