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Central North Island
Tuesday, 28 December 2010 09:57
22.12.2010: our faces are wet from the heavy rain - so are our clothes, shoes, everything. With 11 degrees it’s getting cold on the bikes. „Only 20km to go - you can do it“ I try to convince my muscles to work harder up the hill... On the last stretch we get a magic tail wind that pushes us up to 30km/h - right to the reception of the youth hostel and the hot shower.
The forecast for the next day looks fine. And so it comes - through the morning mist is we can see a shape of a perfect vulcanoe cone. We get blue skies during we get in our walking boots. Time to do the 19km Tongariro Crossing! Speechless we stand, with hundreds of other visitors from all over the world (but mainly Germany) on top of one of the craters: it seems to be the entrance to hell, the most magnificent colours we have ever seen and... There’s now word to describe it. This scenery with it’s colourful rock formations and fumes, with this emerald lakes... Have a look a the photos. That will do.
From the vulcanic alpine landscape we cycle down through rainforest into this wild-romantic sheep country. On the evening of the 24/12 we find ourself sitting on a massive tree root on a farm, dreeming about celebrating Christmas at home. Getting homesick... Tears go by...
25.12.2010: The Wanganui River Rd is one of the best cycling routes in NZ. So - here we are slippery, rough dirt tries to bring us and our bikes down during we try to get through. Lots of swearing. Lots of sweat. At at the end we land in Jerusalem. Jerusalem? Yes - well, it;s Christmas! So here we go and knock on the door of the nuns. We visit a little cathedral with Maori-Marias in the bilbe story. A mix of cultures. Interesting... We camp in London for the nigth. All the small villages along that road have these big-city-names because this road was once the only entrance to the region and pretty busy.
The hills of the North Island are still challenging. Daily we climb about 500 metres in altitude on our bikes. We get the 1000km and 8000 altitude metres on the tacho of our cycling computers - after being 3 weeks on the road. We should have a day of a break soon. A strom is giving us that break soon - 100km/h side wind is no fun and so we stay with the two farmers and their wonderful garden one day longer. And write some reports for you...
We go further to Wellington (New Year) and take the ferry to the South Island 1st of Jan. Along the West coast we cycle south afterwards.
A good start into 2011 wish you Monique and Rene
Rotorua to the East Cape
Saturday, 18 December 2010 02:13
We are on the way to Rotorua - the geothermal area of NZ. A rough dirt track with big rocks on sections and steep climbs leads though fern tree forest and sheep country. A great track, a hard day with 800 altitude meters and 50km. Next day (10th of Dec) we arrive in Rotoura. Rotorua is full of egg-smell from it’s sulfur steams. The little lakes in the city parks are boiling and deep mud holes steam and cook all time. It would be good throwing some breakfast eggs in these hot pools - they’ll be done within minutes....
The first troubles with Moniques bike are coming up: two front spoke nibbles are broken and the front wheel is deformed. It’s fast fixed and we carry some more spare parts... We order a new tent because the „replacement tent poles“ won’t survive any heavier wind. At least our house must be stable.
Our body is getting fitter every day. We ride about 50km a day (the record was 75km so far) and feel not too exhausted in the evening. The hills are often steep (with 8% or more climbs) and the traffic is nerving in places. Big trucks and buses on the windy, steep roads are not too much fun for rinding. Between Opotiki and Gisborne we climb up our first mountain pass - on the other side is rain and cold weather waiting.
The forecast is worse: heavy rains, headwinds up to 100km/h and a very slippery, windy dirt road in Te Urewera NP let us change our plans: we take a bus from Gisborne back to Rotoura which safes us time and strength. So far we could not really access people and landscapes here - everybody has his own business and there’s no time to talk, to ask, no exchange. We miss that a bit. On one place they even wanted to charge us for tab water... No - so far we can’t really share the opinions of other travellers about a „very hospitable country with as fantastic people as landscaps“. We hope it will change one day...
We heading now into Taupo and hopefully the weather is all right to do one of the finest day walks in the world: the Tongario Crossing. After that we head to Wellington for New Years and
take the ferry to the South Island on 1st of Jan.
We wish all our readers a wonderful Christmas Time and a good start into 2011!
Monique and Rene
Start New Zealand
Monday, 06 December 2010 19:31
A last time we smell this wonderful eurcalyptus smells in the air. We ride, without any noise, along the Beach Road of Melbourne to the house which was our home for nearly three weeks. Our two friends, Tim and Bec, have a look at our brand new pushbikes and find "they are monsters". It's hard to find words for the hospitality we experienced in their home. For the help with our bike purchase, fixing stuff and advise. For the long time they let us stay in this wonderful house with the big swimming pool in the early summer heat...
3rd of Dec. Time to start. We are too excited to be sad about leaving Australia and its wonderful people. It's our first time flying with that big bike boxes. We had some troubles to get our luggage-weight in the limit of the airline. But all goes all right and three hours later we find ourselves in Aotearoa. New Zealand.
The quarantine restrictions are as tight as in Australia. If not even more strict. We have no problems because our bikes are brand new. They only check the tent in a back office. We find bike assambly hooks on the wall beside the airport. What a luxury! Three hours later we start our trip. Goodbye Australia - hello New Zealand! When we pitch our tent close to the airport the whole scene changes: our tent poles are gone! The quarantine inspection forgot to put them in the tent! Rene rides the 8km back to the airport and comes back - without anything. What follows is a night under our tarp, besides the landing strip and a farm fence, surrounded by a massive cloud of mosquitos. Our first night in NZ.
The next morning we ride back to the airport. Rene checks with one of the teamleaders the surveillance cameras for finding out what happened to our tent poles. A man, standing beside Rene at the collection booth grabbed them and took them away. Sh... Fortunately the airport has left-over tent poles and some of them fit barely in our tent. At least we have a shelter...
First day riding and 11% uphill. Second day 14%. We try to take it easy but I have to push my bike parts of the steep sections. Otherwise I'll collapse. Rene manages it to ride through. Our bikes weight about 40kg. It's a lot to push up this hills! The weather stays hot and dry - lucky us. On day three we achieve 50km and ride through that Hobbit-landscape with it's lush green, sheep dotted hills and wonderful coast line. Perfect.
Our next aim is Rotorua. We hopefully get there on Monique's birthday (9.12.). After that: East Cape and heading South. We wish you a wonderful Christmas time
journey / reports 
