http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , New Zealand , North Island , Northland en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:25:36 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:25:36 +0000 Here is a photo of our vehicle yes we will be cozy and won't be able to throw our toys out of the cotWe have a tent and and also an awning that can go off either the side or back of the vehicle so there you go a 3 roomed mobile house. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-462376.html Hey Just want to do a quick post about our day trip to the top of New Zealand before I do a blog about the rest of what's been happening with meSo on Saturday just past we got the bus at 7am to do the tour of pretty much the whole of Northland our bus was actually a lorry modified to get people on like a bus. It needed to be a truck cause the route is on a lot of rubbish roads as well as a b http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-455882.html So we headed to Northland in search of warm weather. We found warm welcomes but not much for weather. Stopping in Whangarei to visit family friends Chip and Barbara who moved from Wilmington a number of years ago and explore the area on our way north. In light wind we sailed around infront of their beautiful farm estate hiked Mt Manaia in heavy winds and caught some fun surf on a sunny day. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-450371.html AK47 FOR Sale New Unused. Orginal AK47. Current owner planned office massacre unless he got time off. He no longer believes the 'American solution' is the answer. This weapon was purchased direct from the Russian manufacturer it is not a cheap imitation from Pakistan's North West Frontier. Owner says must sell and end use is not important but would prefer buyer to be someone with interest in http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-449583.html Arriving in the Hokianga feels like coming home even though I haven't lived here for 40 years and I wasn't born here. But I did have some of my schooling here and there have been family ties with the region since I was ten.So as I pedaled my way to the top of the last steep hill before Omapere it wasn't just the exertion that had me gasping for air. There was also a gasp of recognition of ack http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Kohukohu/blog-447422.html Hey EveryoneI have now been in New Zealand for a little over a month and since my contact with my Canadian life has been slim to none I figured I should probably update you all As it is now obvious because I wouldn be typing this otherwise I did actually manage to make it to NZ without being arrested at the boarder for being covered in explosives or losing all of my luggage because I wasn s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-445946.html It continued to rain for a good few hours and I just read and played guitar. As soon as it stopped though I got up and decided I would head to Rainbow Falls. This turned out to be trickier than I thought I had to make a pretty wet river crossing hopping across some pretty slippery rocks with my shoes and socks in one hand The path was pretty muddy due to all the rain and noone else was in sigh http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Ahipara/blog-439252.html The 2009 Rosco's Rocky Road Patagonia Expedition is now underway...We have loaded the motos into the container and sent it on itrsquos voyage to Valparaiso in Chile.We will fly in on the 31st of October to prepare the release of the motos and pick our adventurers up at the airport on 2nd of November to start our epic 10428 km traverse of the infamous Patagonia.We will begin in Vina Del Mar ri http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Kaitaia/blog-437745.html Saturday morning I was once again up and about early as my body is still struggling to adjust to the time change.Once we were up and the car packed we went for a walk around Pahia itself. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and damp was in the air. Having wandered around the town and decided the weather wasn't good enough to go out on a boat tour of the Bay ofIslands as the rain had started a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-428827.html Driving is as broad as the road unless you know where to drive. Road conditions in new Zealand are excellent so as our Warkworth to Whangarei roadtrip. Angles in Northland are too healthy for the eyes. Luscious forests long green valleys breezy beaches high mountains and nice towns to discover is just an overall awesome i must say. Turning right from Wellsford will take you to the Pakiri Beach http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-418340.html This is the Epiblog of our 2009 High Andes Adventure as I said last year is the end or just another begining I know that this adventure changes the riders perspective on South American travel.We had an uneventful adventure as far as riding mishaps were concerned and would like you to consider joining us in 2010.I took our daughter Geraldine and she rode many days with me on the KLR we http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Pukenui/blog-396893.html Drawing card to Northland perhaps the oldest and largest standing Kauri tree in New Zealand even worthy of its own name Tane Mahuta. Perhaps the romance associated with visiting the northernmost point of the country. Or maybe the thought of putting off autumn for just a little bit longer by climbing up to the warmest latitude New Zealand has to offer. Well the top of New Zealand didn't dis http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-396157.html Wersquore off the trail and back Woofing. Kaitai is the nearest town wersquore about 8 miles northeast. John is our host. He is 62 and has lived here for the past 15 years. Like some places we have stayed he bought the land first and built everything on it by himself including a wind turbine and solar panels which supply him with all the electricity he needs. When John was approaching retir http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-391412.html So wersquove stocked up on food gas and petrol and then make our way north towards the northern most point of NZ. We stay one night at a campsite by the sea and next to an old house called the Subritzky Homestead we only discovered the latter part when we pulled in to the campsite and saw the sign for the house. We had a nosey around and itrsquos an old homestead from 1862 which is being re http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-389521.html Hey AllSean and I spent 3 nights up at the most northern point of the North Island around Cape Reinga. We pitched our tent at a gorgeous little beach on the north east side and did day hikes during the day. Our first full day there we did a 6.5 hour loop of the north end of the cape. We were able to follow the coast line from our campsite up to the cape itself and then down a beach on on the Nor http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-383768.html English versionhere if you want to see them all together rather than having to click on each of them individually and pages 2 and 3 if you want to see more picturesAs I sit in our lounge and ponder over where to start this new blog page I can't help looking up every few seconds to look at the views from the window... and feel a strong urge to pinch myself. It's siesta time on a Friday as I s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-382155.html So Leon picked me up and unlike some of the people that pick me up i had no question that he was a good guy. We chatted for a little while I told him a little bit about myself you know the usual. I asked him if he knew anything about a free campsite I had heard of one in the book but he didn't have a clue. But he did say i could just camp out right on his front lawn I was very th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Ahipara/blog-381811.html So... i was on the road again. I was slightly hung over which didn't help... it seemed like every last night i had somewhere people would want to go drinking and I have found myself only being hung over on my travel days which isn't too fun. My plan was to hitch hike up to the Kauri forests where there are these crazy old awsome trees and camp out around there for a few days until they had http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-381757.html AucklandAfter nearly 6 months in Australia it was sadly time to say goodbye and so on Monday 16th February we undertook a 312 hour flight to Auckland. We arrived in rain and wondered what had we done It was about 7pm when we checked into an YHA hostel and thus the only activities on our minds were eating showering and sleeping. We felt so tired that it was hard to adjust to being only 2 ho http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-379456.html Broken Bones and we haven't left home yet David lsquoBroken Bonesrsquo one of the adventurers fell off his dirt bike a few weeks ago while fooling around out in the forest and broke his shoulder blade well that was a big bugger as it was jeopardising his adventure ride with us. After lots of physiotherapy and taking it real easy like no changing of the babies nappy having his wife http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-378929.html