Category: New Zealand

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…

Day 2 At the Rawene Holiday Park, we could have pitched our tent, and still would have had use of shared (kitchen + bath) facilities. But those facilities had limited lounge space, making it less-than-appetizing to camp in this cool weather. They also have a range of cabins, and the most-basic would have solved that…

As we were preparing for bed last night, I was surprised to see my headlamp lighting up small raindrops in front of my face. We were still supposed to be in a rain-free period here! I pulled up the forecast, and yeah, no rain in Northland, “except for an odd shower on the west coast”.…

I think we’ve woken up to a 40-or-below temperature in each of the 8 calendar months that we’ve now been in New Zealand. What’s new is the temperature dropping to 40°F before we’ve even gone to bed. I guess the good news is that it actually “warmed up” to 41°F by the time we groaned…

We’d always been planning to wrap up our time in New Zealand with an exploration of Northland. Not because there was some event happening, or because there was something specific we wanted to see,, or because we were “saving the best for last”. It was simply because the far northern peninsula would be the last…