Blogs from Northland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Planning is well under way for our 2013 High Andes Adventure, with 9 bikes snuggled into the container and safely past the Astrolobe Reef, on their way to Valparaiso, Chile. This adventure started off a bit slow to get rider commitment, but, with only four days before closing the container, I got an urgent call from Jack, who had just been on an adventure ride down South, and he really wanted to come. He worked frantically to sort all the paperwork in one day that some of the others still have not completed!! For this High Andes adventure we have: Radar (Gavin Campbell) from Auckland, riding a KLR (ex Mike Vinsen fame, its already done the High Andes and the Patagonia Expedition). Barry Sproule from Road and Sport Harley Davidson in Hamilton, he is riding a ... read more

Mmm, waar waren we gebleven. Oh ja, 24 december de dag voor Kerst. Wat een ongelofelijke prutdag was dat. Er lag ongeveer 40 kilometers asfalt voor ons klaar toen we s'ochtends op de fiets stapten. Niet veel dus en volgens onze planning zouden we dan ook op tijd in ons volgende hostel aankomen. Gosh, were we wrong! Na 5 minuten vielen de eerste spatjes regen. Na een uur waren we zeiknat en verkleumd en zijn we, halverwege een zware beklimming, in Manganoui een fish en chipstent ingevlucht. Iets vroeger dan gepland aan de lunch maar wel even droog. Na een uur bijkomen, opwarmen en zuchtend naar buiten kijken dan toch maar de stortregen weer ingedoken. Tot op het bot doorweekt kwamen we uiteindelijk aan in het Kahoe Farm Hostel. Hier stond s'avonds een heerlijk Kerstmaal op ... read more

Week 1 – In which our heroes arrive in a very far place, acclimatize, and see more green and blue colors then they thought were possible. We arrived to New Zealand and already a week has passed. The flight Usually parents dread flights and cite the flight as an excuse for not traveling with children. We, on the other hand, understand that the flight, no matter how exhausting, is a onetime event that just needs to be overcome. But this time around we were worried. Two back-to-back 10 hour flights is not easy even for an adult traveling alone to endure. We were facing over 36 hours door-to-door of sleep deprivation, baby holding, children crying hell. After a day of work. This should surly rank as inhumane and unjustly cruel together with waterboarding and torture. Our ... read more

Citroen 2CV’s take on the Roads Less Travelled in the Far North More 2CV Adventure..... After our Shadow of the Andes Expedition earlier in the year and enjoying the little cars so much, it was time to share some of it’s capabilities with other owners, so in consultation with Paul Absolum, in Auckland, we hatched this Raid on the Far North. The plan was to get to the Cape and back by the roads less travelled and keep as far away from main routes and tar seal as possible. After sending out the invitation for 2CV owners to join us on the Far North Raid, we received a very positive response and by start day we had Paul and Melean Absolum, who had joined me on the Shadow of the Andes Expedition to Chile, Argentina, Bolivia ... read more

Come the morning in Matai Bay, although the weather was a little better than the previous day, it was still pretty poor. This however didn’t stop us from taking a stroll along the amazing beach and imagining what it would be like in nice weather in the summer months.Once the rain started to fall a little heavier, we decided it was time to hit the road, and so we set off towards Cape Reinga and the northern tip of the North Island. As we neared Cape Reinga, the weather was still pretty dreary, and so we knew that any real walking or sightseeing was out of the question. We decided anyway just to go see what the road was like leading up to the lighthouse in case it improved tomorrow. Once there, we couldn’t resist walking ... read more