It's been a wild week.
Last Saturday I hitched to Raglan, where Clement left his bike with his cousin. I got a ride from a friendly frenchman named Pierre, but we could not find the cousins property. So we found a spot to camp for the night just off the road. I provided the food, Pierre provided the wine. In the morning we found the property and I got the bike and said goodbye to Pierre. It took a bit of getting used to, riding a bike with panniers, but I loved it - so much faster than walking! That day was wonderful, tons of hills covered in new Zealand fern and amazingly tall white grasses. I got to Huntly just as the sun was setting, and knocked on the door of a house, asking permission to camp somewhere on their lawn. A woman named Sandy opened the door and offered me a spot in a spare bed & a shower. Can you guess my reply?
I got to know her young son Max & nephew Saul in the morning, and Sandy and I chatted until I left, heading for Paeroa. It was a long day riding through flat farmland ("flat" being rolling hills, in Boise terminology). I got to Paeroa and my right knee was pretty sore, but I popped an ibuprofen and the pain went away. I continued towards Karangahake Gorge on the Hauraki rail-to-trail. At Waikino my knee pain was too bad to continue, and I set up my tent in the middle of the trail. I slept fitfully - I heard stags roaring all night, so naturally I dreamt of a dinosaur attack.
In the morning my knee felt ok. It hurt a bit to stand up, but it was nothing I couldn't live with. I cycled by a beautiful river for an hour (passing through an eerie section of thousands of spiderwebs) before arriving in Waihi, where I took a break at a bike shop, as my knee was beginning to flare up. I continued an hour later, climbing some very steep Hills and descending some others - I had made it to the Coromandel Peninsula.
I passed Whangamata and decided that I would try to stop in Opoutere at the YHA if there were any vacancies, rather than continue on to Hot Water Beach. The 12k to Opoutere were agonizing. My knee begged me to stop with every pedal stroke, and it took me over two hours.
At the Opoutere YHA I met a woman named Suzanne, who wasted no time mothering me. She got me ice for my knee, elevated and compressed it, and set her kids Billy and Florence to work waiting on me, bringing fresh bowls of Feijoas (a delicious nz fruit) and chips. We talked and had a great evening, Billy & Florence teaching me kiwi mannerisms and expressions until my head hurt. Fosh & chops, churr mum.
In the morning I took a kayak out onto the bay at hide tide and saw some oyster catchers, black birds with orange beaks, and dotterel, little whiteish birds. When I got back to the YHA Suzanne, Billy, and Florence took me into town to buy a compression pad for my knee, then we jumped off the wharf into the ocean a few times.
At this point they decided I hadn't experience true kiwi cuisine, so they took me to a bakery and bought us two pies, a long donut, some fish, and a lambington. But this wasn't enough - Florence and Billy ran off with Suzanne's money and bought me a fruit-top ice cream (delicious, by the way), and an L&P soda. Then we went to a supermarket and they surprised me with lamb & lambingtons for dinner. Their kindness was overwhelming.
The three kiwis left for Auckland after lunch, leaving me with a big grin & many happy memories. Suzanne convinced me to stay another night at the YHA to rest my knee, and I decided that in the morning if it wasn't improved I would hitch around Coromandel Peninsula instead of riding it.
It was still pretty swollen and achy in the morning, so I hitched out and caught a ride to Cathedral Cove with a German named Patrick. Cathedral cove was gorgeous - white cliffs and gorgeous rock formations, and a cave connecting two coves at low tide. We then went to hot water beach, a huge disappointment, where Patrick left me and I read a book and watched people until the sun went down. I set up a tent and made dinner, and looked to my right to see a cute lil possum within arms reach. My headlamp scared him back a bit, but he watched me from a distance for a while.
I woke up at 5:15 this morning and sat on the beach and watched the sun rise through the clouds. I left and hitched to whitianga, which was fairly uninteresting until I left and saw a massive flock - thousands - of birds dive bombing the water. Big fish had surrounded a huge amount of little fish, and they were jumping out of the water to escape the big fish, giving a great opportunity to the birds.
Then I hitched the rest of the way to the town of Coromandel, where I'm staying in a YHA.
Check my facebook, Facebook.com/phonsinger for photos!
Last Saturday I hitched to Raglan, where Clement left his bike with his cousin. I got a ride from a friendly frenchman named Pierre, but we could not find the cousins property. So we found a spot to camp for the night just off the road. I provided the food, Pierre provided the wine. In the morning we found the property and I got the bike and said goodbye to Pierre. It took a bit of getting used to, riding a bike with panniers, but I loved it - so much faster than walking! That day was wonderful, tons of hills covered in new Zealand fern and amazingly tall white grasses. I got to Huntly just as the sun was setting, and knocked on the door of a house, asking permission to camp somewhere on their lawn. A woman named Sandy opened the door and offered me a spot in a spare bed & a shower. Can you guess my reply?
I got to know her young son Max & nephew Saul in the morning, and Sandy and I chatted until I left, heading for Paeroa. It was a long day riding through flat farmland ("flat" being rolling hills, in Boise terminology). I got to Paeroa and my right knee was pretty sore, but I popped an ibuprofen and the pain went away. I continued towards Karangahake Gorge on the Hauraki rail-to-trail. At Waikino my knee pain was too bad to continue, and I set up my tent in the middle of the trail. I slept fitfully - I heard stags roaring all night, so naturally I dreamt of a dinosaur attack.
In the morning my knee felt ok. It hurt a bit to stand up, but it was nothing I couldn't live with. I cycled by a beautiful river for an hour (passing through an eerie section of thousands of spiderwebs) before arriving in Waihi, where I took a break at a bike shop, as my knee was beginning to flare up. I continued an hour later, climbing some very steep Hills and descending some others - I had made it to the Coromandel Peninsula.
I passed Whangamata and decided that I would try to stop in Opoutere at the YHA if there were any vacancies, rather than continue on to Hot Water Beach. The 12k to Opoutere were agonizing. My knee begged me to stop with every pedal stroke, and it took me over two hours.
At the Opoutere YHA I met a woman named Suzanne, who wasted no time mothering me. She got me ice for my knee, elevated and compressed it, and set her kids Billy and Florence to work waiting on me, bringing fresh bowls of Feijoas (a delicious nz fruit) and chips. We talked and had a great evening, Billy & Florence teaching me kiwi mannerisms and expressions until my head hurt. Fosh & chops, churr mum.
In the morning I took a kayak out onto the bay at hide tide and saw some oyster catchers, black birds with orange beaks, and dotterel, little whiteish birds. When I got back to the YHA Suzanne, Billy, and Florence took me into town to buy a compression pad for my knee, then we jumped off the wharf into the ocean a few times.
At this point they decided I hadn't experience true kiwi cuisine, so they took me to a bakery and bought us two pies, a long donut, some fish, and a lambington. But this wasn't enough - Florence and Billy ran off with Suzanne's money and bought me a fruit-top ice cream (delicious, by the way), and an L&P soda. Then we went to a supermarket and they surprised me with lamb & lambingtons for dinner. Their kindness was overwhelming.
The three kiwis left for Auckland after lunch, leaving me with a big grin & many happy memories. Suzanne convinced me to stay another night at the YHA to rest my knee, and I decided that in the morning if it wasn't improved I would hitch around Coromandel Peninsula instead of riding it.
It was still pretty swollen and achy in the morning, so I hitched out and caught a ride to Cathedral Cove with a German named Patrick. Cathedral cove was gorgeous - white cliffs and gorgeous rock formations, and a cave connecting two coves at low tide. We then went to hot water beach, a huge disappointment, where Patrick left me and I read a book and watched people until the sun went down. I set up a tent and made dinner, and looked to my right to see a cute lil possum within arms reach. My headlamp scared him back a bit, but he watched me from a distance for a while.
I woke up at 5:15 this morning and sat on the beach and watched the sun rise through the clouds. I left and hitched to whitianga, which was fairly uninteresting until I left and saw a massive flock - thousands - of birds dive bombing the water. Big fish had surrounded a huge amount of little fish, and they were jumping out of the water to escape the big fish, giving a great opportunity to the birds.
Then I hitched the rest of the way to the town of Coromandel, where I'm staying in a YHA.
Check my facebook, Facebook.com/phonsinger for photos!