Last Saturday I met two guys cycle touring New Zealand. One of them, Alex, told me about this amazing hub he's ordered called a Rohloff. It changes gears inside the rear hub, so the chain stays on one ring, requiring less maintenence. It's an amazing contraption, I was astounded when he showed me photos of it. I left Coromandel around 10 and was picked up immediately by Ray, a Kiwi Vietnam Veteran who was going fishing for snapper that day. He offered to let me recover my knee for a few days at his home in Katikati the following day, and I gladly accepted. I made it back to Opoutere that afternoon and relaxed and chatted with another man, Frank, who is cycle touring around the North Island.
The following morning I loaded everything into the panniers and shot off towards Thames, where Ray was going to pick me up and take me to Katikati. The road was beautiful - not overly busy, punga and toitoi flooding the mountains, and very few cars. It was steep - I gained and lost 850m in 50 kilometers of riding. I pedaled into Thames and my knee was shot. Ray and I loaded the bike into his car, then he took me straight to a geothermal pool in Athenree, which felt wonderful on my knee - I could bend it! He then took me to a friend's house to get his snapper filleted, and left me for a couple hours while he went out on a fire call (he volunteers for the fire station). He came back and took me out to dinner at the Returned Serviceman Association, which was fantastic. Over dinner he convinced me to stay with him for a week and let my knee recover - he persuaded me by promising I wouldn't miss out on Rotorua (he used to drive tour busses through Rotorua and promised to give me a grand tour of all the free spots), he told me he'd take my bike back to Raglan if I decided to stop riding, and he told me he'd show me around Auckland!
Over the next few days I decided to stop cycling. My knee was improving as Ray and I continued to go to the hot pools, but I knew it would return to aching pain if I got on a bike. My dad told me he had chondromalacia at my age, and I expect I have the same issue. Ray and I drove to Matamata on Thursday and gave the bike back to Clement.
Ray took me into Tauranga to look at Mt. Maunganui (and shop for precious sweaters), he gave me a tour of his fire station, he took me to a kiwi fruit farm, and yesterday he convinced his mate Steve to take us in his boat out off the coast, fishing for snapper! I reeled in a Kahawiaia, but we caught most of our fish (4 snapper and 5 or 6 kahawiaia) on a long line. It was a beautiful day and I had a great time floating around out there.
Today Ray and I went to Rotorua. We stopped first at Green and Blue Lake. Both of them were very pretty. Then we drove down to Lake Tarawera and took a look at the volcano that buried a Maori village in the 1800's. We left the lake and drove to the Rotoruan Redwood Forest. Giant Sequoia from the California Redwoods were planted there 100 years ago, and fueled by volcanic nutrients, they are already close to the size of the California trees which are over 3x as old. We then headed in the direction of Taupo, first stopping at an amazing bubbling mud pool just out of Rotorua. Next on the agenda was the Aratiatia power station, which we accidentally arrived at a minute and thirty seconds before they released the water. At Aratiatia they release the water a couple times a day, and water gushes down into a basin, then roars down a canyon - then it's silent, as they stop the water. After Aratiatia we visited Huka falls, then drove through a massive geothermal power station, then we landed in Taupo! From Taupo we could see Mt. Ruapehu, but unfortunately the clouds covered Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngaruhoe, which I climbed 2 weeks ago. At Taupo we ate lunch and watched a couple of people bungee jump, then hopped in the car and headed back to Rotorua. It was a fantastic day; I couldn't have asked for a better tour of the Rotorua area!
For photos check my facebook, www.facebook.com/phonsinger
The following morning I loaded everything into the panniers and shot off towards Thames, where Ray was going to pick me up and take me to Katikati. The road was beautiful - not overly busy, punga and toitoi flooding the mountains, and very few cars. It was steep - I gained and lost 850m in 50 kilometers of riding. I pedaled into Thames and my knee was shot. Ray and I loaded the bike into his car, then he took me straight to a geothermal pool in Athenree, which felt wonderful on my knee - I could bend it! He then took me to a friend's house to get his snapper filleted, and left me for a couple hours while he went out on a fire call (he volunteers for the fire station). He came back and took me out to dinner at the Returned Serviceman Association, which was fantastic. Over dinner he convinced me to stay with him for a week and let my knee recover - he persuaded me by promising I wouldn't miss out on Rotorua (he used to drive tour busses through Rotorua and promised to give me a grand tour of all the free spots), he told me he'd take my bike back to Raglan if I decided to stop riding, and he told me he'd show me around Auckland!
Over the next few days I decided to stop cycling. My knee was improving as Ray and I continued to go to the hot pools, but I knew it would return to aching pain if I got on a bike. My dad told me he had chondromalacia at my age, and I expect I have the same issue. Ray and I drove to Matamata on Thursday and gave the bike back to Clement.
Ray took me into Tauranga to look at Mt. Maunganui (and shop for precious sweaters), he gave me a tour of his fire station, he took me to a kiwi fruit farm, and yesterday he convinced his mate Steve to take us in his boat out off the coast, fishing for snapper! I reeled in a Kahawiaia, but we caught most of our fish (4 snapper and 5 or 6 kahawiaia) on a long line. It was a beautiful day and I had a great time floating around out there.
Today Ray and I went to Rotorua. We stopped first at Green and Blue Lake. Both of them were very pretty. Then we drove down to Lake Tarawera and took a look at the volcano that buried a Maori village in the 1800's. We left the lake and drove to the Rotoruan Redwood Forest. Giant Sequoia from the California Redwoods were planted there 100 years ago, and fueled by volcanic nutrients, they are already close to the size of the California trees which are over 3x as old. We then headed in the direction of Taupo, first stopping at an amazing bubbling mud pool just out of Rotorua. Next on the agenda was the Aratiatia power station, which we accidentally arrived at a minute and thirty seconds before they released the water. At Aratiatia they release the water a couple times a day, and water gushes down into a basin, then roars down a canyon - then it's silent, as they stop the water. After Aratiatia we visited Huka falls, then drove through a massive geothermal power station, then we landed in Taupo! From Taupo we could see Mt. Ruapehu, but unfortunately the clouds covered Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngaruhoe, which I climbed 2 weeks ago. At Taupo we ate lunch and watched a couple of people bungee jump, then hopped in the car and headed back to Rotorua. It was a fantastic day; I couldn't have asked for a better tour of the Rotorua area!
For photos check my facebook, www.facebook.com/phonsinger