Leaving Auckland on the ferry
This is an account of our trip to New Zealand in January 2007. Enjoy!
Our travel to NZ was pretty uneventful and we made a few forays into urban Auckland on the bikes. We managed a little sightseeing and a (more…)
October 2, 2008
Rotorua
Hot pools at the Polynesian Spa looking out over Rotorua Lake
Thursday arrived with Dave’s most dreaded part of the journey—the arrival of the campervan. It was not so much that it was a campervan. The problem was the location of the steering wheel (on the left). We had already scared the shit out of ourselves the last couple of days riding around the virtually bike lane free, urban Auckland where the cars where doing exactly the opposite from what you expected. How was it going to be in the faster pace of a campervan?
Thermal Highway
Inferno Crater, Waimangu. I think I have a shirt this color.
We left Rotorua on Sunday morning the 5th to do some sightseeing on the way down to the ferry to the South Island on Monday. Our first stop (more…)
October 1, 2008
Marlborough and the Marlborough Sounds
Huia Vineyards, Marlborough
Tuesday was our day for wine tasting in Marlborough. After checking out of our peaceful B&B, we pedaled out for some wine tasting. We hit a number of spots, found some excellent Sauvignon Blanc, discovered (more…)
To Abel Tasmin and The Awaroa Lodge
Crab in the sand and shells
We left Punga Cove on the first water taxi out accompanied by the gear of the trampers heading down the Track and made it to Picton. From Picton, we took the very scenic Queen Charlotte Drive to Havelock, the self-proclaimed mussel capitol of New Zealand. In Havelock, Becky was finally able to achieve her first New Zealand Mussel Orgasm at the Mussel Pot. From Havelock, we headed over to Nelson, an artsy beach community of around 40K and did some errands, checked (more…)
September 30, 2008
Awaroa Bay to Wanaka
Panorama at Awaroa Bay on departure
We headed out from the Awaroa Lodge to Wanaka. This was set up as a two-day trip with a stop at the western coastal glacier region along the way. We returned via sea taxi that picked us up at Awaroa Bay. After (more…)
Wanaka
On the way to the trails in Wanaka
On Tuesday we did a long ride in The Plantation area with a return on Lakeside Track in Wanaka. The Plantation area is a purpose built bike park that spans an area a little larger than Water Dog in Belmont. The trails start at the edge of the suburbs and extend from the forested hillside down to the lake, where the Lakeside Track is located. There is a high density of trails in the area with trails dropping from both sides of a forested spine (more…)
September 24, 2008
Wanaka to Queenstown
A flawed pano of Lake Wakatipu from the gondola station
After checking out of our lodge, we headed towards Queenstown taking the long route. This route, though unplanned, took us through the center of the Central Otago wine-growing region. This area is (more…)
Queenstown, Day 2
Kawarau River, Roaring Meg segment, with a sledger in the water
The weather at the coast was socked in and our flight to Milford Sound was canceled so we resorted to our back-up plan, river sledging. This, like all other activities in Queenstown, is easily booked at pretty much everywhere you go.
We were picked up by the Frogz van and transported to the Roaring Meg segment of the Kawarau River. River sledging basically involves heading down a river a something resembling a boogie board (see http://www.frogz.co.nz/roaringmeg.html). The Roaring Meg segment is Class II/III whitewater, (more…)
Queenstown and Milford Sound
Southern Alps from the airplane on the way to Milford Sound
At 7 am the weather conditions again did not permit our trip to Milford Sound in New Zealand’s Fjordland National Park. Just as we were giving up hope of making it out there on this trip, the weather changed. After some last minute snafus and a rush to the airport, we made the 10 am trip out to the Sound. The flight took off from the Queenstown airport from the grass field despite a perfectly serviceable paved runway being available.
We headed out to the Sound over the Southern Alps. The views were spectacular, but it was quite turbulent as the pilot seemed to like to fly in the wind rotor of the nearby peaks. All told, this flight segment was more adrenaline inducing than yesterdays river sledging adventure.
