Blogs from Northland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 16

Hey All, Sean 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 Northwest side and across some massive sand dunes and back through the bush and onto the road to get back to our campsite. It was a beautiful (albeit incredibly HOT day). The sand dunes where the most neat part of the trek for Sean and I, although we greatly appreciated the shade ... read more

English version Don't miss the videos at the bottom of the page (click url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AU-7WUt5jU&feature=PlayList&p=AD614367607E6EF8&index=0&playnext=1here 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 pictures! As 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 start writing this and it's wonderfully peaceful; it's also rather warm so hopefully I won't fall asleep! The corrugated bit of metal you can see in the first picture is our garage's roof, the green field is a college's sports ground. The blue bit ... read more

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 thankful to have been so lucky. It wasn't a long ride but when we arrived to Ahipara it was getting pretty dark. He dropped me off in the front lawn to set up camp and drove up his driveway to his house. He told me one of his son Ryan ... read more

Broken Bones and we haven't left home yet !!! David ‘Broken Bones’, 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 tie his shoe laces etc. When I say “Take care out there”, that’s sort of what I mean. Anyway, he gave me a call yesterday and has been cleared by the hospital to ride with us, so that’s just great news. Also, you won't find a picture of Murray Goss, he will be driving the chase truck, his yellow local transport is a bit of ... read more

The first experience on NZ soil was an unmitigated disaster. What started out as a leisurely mid-morning flight from Sydney to Auckland was delayed beyond all comprehension and eventually landed at about 10.00 pm in the driving rain in Auckland. We’d experienced a mere 3 brief showers in the three months in Australia, so the cold and wet didn’t brighten the mood. The situation was compounded by our failure to book a hostel. We’d decided to wing it, given our anticipated earlier arrival and the first couple of phone calls proved the magnitude of the mistake. The general story was no room at the inn except for the odd dorm bed, even in the factory hostels in the city centre. We spent our first night on NZ soil in what can only be described as the ... read more