Yesterday we had been so stressed out by the traffic that we didn’t do any proactive grocery shopping; we only had the mental capacity to select the absolute minimum of what we needed for dinner. Plus I needed time to figure out exactly how-limited our shopping opportunities would be over the next couple days before… Read more…

We knew rain was supposed to come in the morning, but it held off long enough (as forecasted) to allow us to get the tent packed up dry (surprisingly, we didn’t even have any condensation inside after pitching on the grass in this relatively-humid climate…I hope that continues!) We had been smart enough (a rarity… Read more…

We were sad to leave our beautiful island house, but so grateful (and even slightly mystified) for the generosity and trust that our hosts extended to us. We weren’t quite ready to leave the island though, so we were going to move to a campground for our final night, which would give us an opportunity… Read more…

The day’s forecast was clear with light winds (a rarity here!), and since we didn’t need to move out of our hosts’ home until tomorrow, we took the opportunity to do an unloaded day-ride around the island. The downside was that the combination of “midweek” + “not quite yet summer” meant that the weekender-focused wineries… Read more…

Four weeks of sleeping in the same bed opened up a space in which we could relax and reset in this new country, but now it’s time to resume our forward motion. This time we had a helpful assist to break the sticky force of inertia; weeks ago Rett had mentioned to our hosts in… Read more…

Week 3 The big excursion this week was a bike ride over the Waitakere Ranges to Piha Beach. And even with our bikes unloaded and an assist from a train, it was still one of the toughest rides we’ve done, with over a mile of climbing! I mean, generally when we’re touring with our full… Read more…